Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 456

When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem....

This moment in the Gospel of Luke represents a major event in the life of Jesus. He sets out on a fateful journey to the one city in the world where he should be welcomed. The entire populace should turn out for him, as the elect will do upon his Second Coming, according to Saint Paul. 

To this opening sentence, Saint Luke adds, "he sent messengers ahead of him." Not long after that, in chapter 10, we shall learn that he "appointed seventy[-two] others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit." 

The Lord was organizing an enormous campaign, like a political or military campaign, which would move toward Jerusalem, arrive ahead of him, and greet him on the Sunday before the Passover. 

The Jewish feast commemorated the founding incidents of their nation: the exodus from Egypt, sojourn in the Sinai wilderness, and their oath that they and their descendants would live by the Law of God forever. 

But we must remember that every commemoration of historical events contains a future dimension. We celebrate the past because we have hope for the future. 

The Lord's arrival in Jerusalem anticipates the Day when his human nature will be glorified by his divine dignity. He will appear as obviously human and undeniably divine with such brilliance that even the "demons will bend the knee and proclaim that Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2: 10) 

The Apostles James and John understand that well enough, but their eagerness to call down apocalyptic fire from heaven on a recalcitrant Samaritan village is hugely premature. These are the same "sons of Zebedee" who will ask the Lord if they can sit upon his right and left hand when he enters his glory. They are undeniably zealous but they have no idea what they're asking for. It will cost far more than anyone can expect or anticipate. Only the Holy Spirit can prepare them for what must happen; it is beyond our human nature. 

The scriptures teach us to wait; and after we have waited a long time, to wait some more. The scriptures give us God's word in the form of a promise of things to come. It is like an endowment which we may borrow against. 

We live in that promise and do great and wonderful things. We have built churches, shrines, hospitals, orphanages, universities and schools, retreat centers and soup kitchens, monasteries and friaries, and institutions we cannot even remember, as we expect a better, far more joyous future. There is no end to the power and creativity of our hope. 

But we do not call fire down from heaven upon our enemies. And thank God! May that day never come!

Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels

 Lectionary: 647

"Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this."
And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Today we celebrate a holy trinity of angels. The medieval Church gratefully assigned different feast days to three archangels as they  remembered the many ways in which angels serve God and his people. 

• September 29. St Michael; 
• March 24, St Gabriel; and 
• October 24, St Raphael. 

A strict reading of the Bible, without reference to extra-biblical literature, Christian or Jewish, finds only a few references to today's honorees; and assigns different chores to each of them. 

• Saint Michael is the warrior: 
• Daniel 10:13: As one of the chief princes in God's kingdom, he comes to the aid of another angel who is withstanding the prince of Persia. 
  
• Daniel 12:1: "At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands for your people". 
  
• Jude 1:9: Michael disputes with Satan over the body of Moses. 
  
• Revelation 12:7-9: "War broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back... the dragon was hurled down to the earth, with his angels hurled down with him". 
• Saint Gabriel is the messenger from God. 

• Daniel 9:20-25 -- He reassures the prophet that the people's prayers and penance have been heard and that relief in on the way. 
• He reappears in Luke 1 with more good news as he announces the births of John the Baptist and Jesus to Zechariah and Mary of Galilee. 
• Saint Raphael guided Tobit's son Tobiah to meet his future wife Sarah, and to heal Tobit's blindness. He says he stands with six other angels in the presence of God.  

(Saint Uriel has also been counted as an archangel in some Christian traditions but appears only in extra-biblical literature.)

Although many people today, including Christians, doubt the existence of angels, they appear in every book of the Bible. To suppose that we know better than many generations of practicing Jews and Christians amounts to conceit. We have no evidence to show they do not exist; and innumerable witnesses, living and dead, to show they do. 

Nor do they only protect children. The archangels exercise great authority in battle against demons as we find in the Books of Joshua, Daniel, and Revelation. They are powerful friends and allies to everyone who would resist evil. Saint Gabriel speaks of their continual ministry in the presence of God; and Raphael is approachable and helpful with astonishing authority to heal. 

As he prayed in Saint Damien's abandoned chapel below Assisi, Saint Francis found that he had entered the presence of Mary, the Queen of Angels. The place was full of them, singing her praises and continually ready to obey her commands! The very humility of the dusty old shrine spoke of her poverty in Galilee and her majesty in heaven. I experienced something similar when, for two years, I celebrated Mass alone in the VA chapel during the COVID epidemic. I knew the room was willed with worshiping angels and singing saints. 

When we are sore beset with troubles, we should remember God's help; it comes to us in battalions of angels, as Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane. We should never doubt their eager readiness to stand with us. We should never hesitate to call upon them in the hour of need. 

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 138

They drink wine from bowls
 and anoint themselves with the best oils;
 yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph!
 Therefore, now they shall be the first to go into exile,
 and their wanton revelry shall be done away with.

We may easily suppose that the targets of God's wrath, as we hear them described in the prophecies of Amos, and in the parable of the rich man and Dives, are those fabulously wealthy but incredibly few men and women  who control most of the world's wealth. They are often described as one hundredth of one percent (.01%) of the world's population. 

If these people rarely appear in public for the television and Internet cameras, we can watch their pets -- that is, the entertainers of Hollywood, Broadway, and the major opera houses of the world. We can suppose they also underwrite the insane salaries of CEOs, super-models, and super-athletes. 

Nor do they seem even vaguely aware of the violence and danger which daily confronts the world's poor. As Amos said, "...they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph!" Although they are obsessed with growing wealthier, and have an army of lawyers, politicians, and influencers to maintain they momentum, they cannot know the anxiety of the middle class who worry daily about falling into poverty. They live far above the bull and bear markets, booms and busts, depressions, recessions, and expansions of our world.  

What is more difficult to imagine is how God might do away with this class of people, and send them into a well-earned "exile (where) their wanton revelry shall be done away with." (As Amos desires.) We cannot imagine a real time closing of the wealth gap that has been widening since long before history was recorded. 

Periodically, people imagine a mythic, golden age and place -- perhaps in Africa (Wakanda), the Himalayas (Lost Horizon), or some mysteriously warm oasis in Antarctica, or in the 25th century (StarTrek) -- but, given the epic struggle to create equality among America's races, religions, and mysteriously increasing genders, these stories of an idyllic, edenic, prehistoric or post-historic age of equality seem laughably implausible. It just never happened, and never will.  

Philosopher Richard Weaver, in his book, Ideas have Consequences, pointed to the myth of equality as one of America's gravest errors. Some people are larger than others; some are smarter; some are more athletic; some are less intelligent; many are born in poverty and neither they nor their children will ever escape it. Many people demonstrate genius in one field or another, but most of us are very good at nothing in particular. Where is this mythical equality that should govern us?

Human beings make decisions through hierarchic systems, ascribing more authority to some than to others. And that's because we must make thousands of decisions daily, and the practice of consensus -- as lovely as it is when it works -- cannot make every major and minor decision. Someone has to decide, and we want someone to do so. 

And -- no surprise -- decision makers often prefer themselves, their families, their friends, and people like them over everyone else. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius tried valiantly to discipline his own ambitions, and has been admired for doing so; but he was only one, rather odd fellow among a host of avaricious, greedy, and demented tyrants who ruled the Roman empire. Should a wealthy man not share his privilege with his wife, children, and grandchildren? Should he not provide them with all the health benefits and education that money can buy? 

Periodically, something happens that corrects the worst of imbalances. It may be a civil war, a foreign invasion, disease, famine, an earthquake or tsunami. It will feel apocalyptic in nature, as if the end of the world has come. Pearl Buck, in her novel The Good Earth, described a mini-revolution in which the poor of a Chinese city invade and destroy a home of fabulous wealth. 

Saint Francis of Assisi renounced his father's hard-earned fortune to espouse poverty, or "Lady Poverty," as his peculiar way to know the Lord Jesus. His example inspired Bernard of Quintavalle to abandon his extravagant wealth. He and Francis opened the Quintavalle palace to anyone who wanted to take anything, and within a few hours the building was stripped of everything. 

Because he wanted to know Jesus, Saint Francis had a passionate love for the suffering of the cross. It was a crucifix that first directed him toward his penitential way of life. When he was asked what kind of habit his friars should wear, he said, “Let us put on the cross of Christ;” and so our habit is a single piece from neck to ankle, with the arms of the cross. Two years before he died, he saw a vision of the Crucified Lord, and then the stigmata of the Lord’s wounds appeared on his hands, feet, and side. He reminded the medieval Church that, if we would love the Lord, we must love his cross; and he taught the Church this now familiar prayer, “We worship you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”

If the nations of the world are ever to close the wealth gap, and end our continual upheavals and wars, which get deadlier every day, we must welcome the cross. Some people complain when we say, “Without the Church there is no salvation.” But we must take it further, “Without the cross there is no salvation.” As the Quaker William Penn said, “No cross, no crown!” 

Jesus has shown us that the cross is more than bearable; it is the golden opportunity that everyone, rich and poor, strong and weak, educated and illiterate, male and female – everyone is given their crosses to carry. No one can blame others for their cross, no one is excused from carrying theirs. For without the love of the cross, the world has no hope. 

To paraphrase Saint Paul, “If I give away everything I own, and if I hand over my body to be burned… but do not love the cross, I gain nothing.” If all the wealthy nations and all the wealthy families stripped themselves of their wealth, nothing would change until they love the cross, and do so in imitation of Jesus Christ. 

Recently, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in our Liturgy of the Hours, the Church sang,

How radiant is that precious cross which brought us our salvation.  

In the cross we are victorious.  

Through the cross we shall reign.  

By the cross all evil is destroyed.

 

Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest

Lectionary: 454

I asked, "Where are you going?"
He answered, "To measure Jerusalem,
to see how great is its width and how great its length."

Many people step on the bathroom scale daily, to check their weight. That is, to measure their progress or regress in the endless struggle for health. Like the angel's measuring line, they use the instrument to judge their bodies; and they might be satisfied, dissatisfied, or seriously disappointed. 

Periodically, the Lord must measure his Church to see if it is prepared for an influx of the nations, for a rebirth of wonder in the truth about Jesus Christ. 

Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day,

and they shall be his people and he will dwell among you.

The Church has been tested lately. First there was the trial of changes with the Second Vatican Council. The rituals, so familiar and comfortable, despite their indecipherable obscurity in a long dead language, were less familiar with the use of more familiar English words. Many Veterans of the Vietnam conflict and afflicted with terrible grief and profound confusion upon their return, looked forward to that moment when they might come back to that dear old, neighborhood church. What they found was something quite different, utterly strange, without meaning or significance. Many of them have never reentered another church.

Those changes were accompanied by an unexpected teaching about birth control. Suddenly the Church and the World had a profound disagreement about how husbands and wives should conduct their most personal transaction. That challenge led to thousands of women leaving the convent, and men leaving the religious life and the priesthood. Even bishops abandoned their dioceses. 

And then the pedophilia scandal, which seemed at the time entirely about priests, although its roots went much deeper into every organization that was supposed to form children into adults. 

Today, American Catholics find their families and churches deeply divided, even polarized, by partisan politics. And, very often, we're targeted by hate groups for our teachings and beliefs. 

But -- we're still here. We still love our Catholic Church; we still believe in the Most Blessed Sacrament and our dear Blessed Mother. We're being tested; and our tent is being stretched to include men and women of every race, nationality, and language. They will bring their confusion and ignorance along with their beliefs and convictions, and they will want to know what we believe even as they try to tell us what we should believe. And they will find around us an encircling wall of fire to purify them as they enter the holy city, a fire which cleanses us of the world's nonsense. 

But He is the glory in our midst, and we will sing and rejoice with Mary, and the saints and martyrs of every age. For His truth is marching on. 

Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 453

...he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”

As the saying goes, "Everyone has an opinion...." I have found that even those who might ask about something -- frankly admitting they don't know and want to know -- often interrupt a careful explanation. They just cannot wait to learn something without letting themselves get in the way of learning. 

When the disciples set out to announce the Good News of the Lord's death and resurrection to the whole world, they often found their hearers ready to fit the Gospel into something they already knew. The world was just as full of ideas and opinions then as it is today, and many people are more fascinated by what they already know than by something new, regardless of how unexpected and healing it might be. 

Today we might hear that, 

• Jesus only appeared to be dead, and that probably the ancients knew of some mysteriously powerful medicine that would revive a man who has bled out on a cross while his professional killers watched. And, sadly, we have lost that marvelous elixir in the two millennia since! 
• Or that the disciples cooked up the story of his resurrection and told everyone about it, despite the fate the Lord had suffered, and that his disciples would suffer if they kept talking about him. 
• Or that, his disciples spoke only of his wonderful teaching and that, in the course of centuries, the legend grew until it became an outlandish myth of a man rising from the dead. 
• After all, didn't Osiris also rise from the dead? Or something like that? 
• And that the ancients were not half as clever and skeptical as we are, and would believe any ridiculous story no matter how implausible.
• but, yes, there must be intelligent life elsewhere in the universe!  
• And so forth....

The point is not that there may be another explanation. The point is they don't want to believe in the Good News, and would rather call us misguided fools (at best) or perverts (at worst) lest they have to "repent and believe the good news." 

"Who do you say that I am?" Jesus asks. Or, "Never mind what this world's wisdom says, who do you say I am?" 

The question comes directly from the Lord, and we must answer him directly. 

And then, when we answer correctly, Jesus,

...rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly

and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

And that's precisely why the world doesn't want to know Jesus. It costs too much! 

Because we believe in the Lord we listen to his words about suffering and death, and take them to heart. 

Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 452

This people says:
"The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD."
(Then this word of the LORD came through Haggai, the prophet:)
Is it time for you to dwell in your own paneled houses,
while this house lies in ruins?

In May, the world and the United States were astonished to learn the cardinals had elected an American, Cardinal Robert Prevost, to the highest office in Roman Catholicism. Whenever a new Pope is elected the world wonders what new changes he might introduce, or reforms he'll enforce. Is he conservative or liberal, and how energetic, charming, and approachable? But given America's passion for new ideas and unheard of initiatives, that fearful expectancy might have increased with the news of an American pontiff. 

So far, it's been pretty quiet. Pope Leo XIV has not repudiated anything Pope Francis said or did, and many of the latter's initiatives continue. The Holy Father has spoken of climate change and met quietly with Father James Martin, a champion of "gay rights." More importantly, he has signaled his concern about Artificial Intelligence, and reminded Catholics that we have something important to contribute to that conversation. 

But Pope Leo XIV is also calling our attention to the practice of faith. This, I must admit, has been my concern for the past few years. As a priest chaplain in the VA hospital, I was the only man in the building who wore a black shirt and Roman collar, and I found that I was welcome everywhere, and by (nearly) every patient. (There were a few exceptions.) They wanted me to be religious, holy, and a man of prayer. 

It took me awhile to appreciate what they wanted. I wasn't that TV icon, the easy going, short-sleeved priest-buddy known by his first name. I didn't need to know football teams, or speak with authority about quarterbacks. Nor was I permitted to use certain taboo words that others might use. I should not hear or laugh at certain jokes others might enjoy. It was good that I do not drink alcohol, and I quit smoking a pipe. None of that fit the image the Church and the world were giving me. 

Eventually, as I listened to many scurrilous notions about "spirituality," I realized they're all nonsense; and I would not promote spirituality. When asked to meet with Veterans in "spiritual discussion" I presented philosophical topics like freedom, the importance of ritual, names, and story telling. I know of many spiritualities, (Franciscan, Benedictine, Carmelite, etc) but that was Greek in the VA hospital. I had to teach my word processing computer that spiritualities is the plural of spirituality. I often said, "I am not a spiritual person, I am a religious person." 

I do religion. I love our Catholic faith, heritage, doctrines, and traditions. Once, when I explained the doctrine of the Assumption to another chaplain, he asked, "Do you believe that?" I was astonished, "Why would I not believe it? It's what we believe. It's what some of the greatest minds in human history have taught! And I should have a different opinion -- my own precious opinion because 'I gotta be me?' I don't think so.

Like every American I have opinions about DEI, (liberté, égalité, fraternité) but they're not important. I am concerned about climate change, depopulation, and handguns; but as a citizen, not as a priest.

My being Catholic, a priest, and a Franciscan is more important than my citizenship of any particular nation. I think I share that conviction with the Pope, although he is an Augustinian. 

Catholics must come together now as practicing, devout Catholics if we would love whichever nation we belong to. That is our gift as citizens and as children of Adam and Eve. Our religion, and not just our faith, should be out there where people can see it. We will no longer apologize for being, acting, and thinking religiously. 

And we say as Roman Catholics to our fellow Americans, "We're still here. We love it here. We're not going away. Come join us!" 

Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 451

Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority
over all demons and to cure diseases,
and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey,
neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money,
and let no one take a second tunic.

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away." said Holy Job. How many times have we been reminded of God's sovereign authority over our lives with those words. 

In today's Gospel we hear the Lord giving the Twelve astonishing authority. They will drive out demons, heal the sick, and proclaim the Kingdom of God. With the first two they will demonstrate their authority; and when they announce the Kingdom of God, everyone will understand what that power means and where it comes from. The Kingdom of God is upon these missionaries! And it is upon those of us who welcome them. 

But the Lord also takes away. In this gospel Jesus strips his travelling missionaries of everything a traveler needs: a walking stick, food, a leather sack for drink, and a change of clothes. These powerful men and women will be visibly impoverished and needy. And those who welcome their healing authority will have to respond by sharing from their resources, which might not amount to much. The Lord's missionaries will be like one who has nowhere to lay his head. 

That teaching has never been lost to the Church, as the Acts of the Apostles clearly shows. Saints Peter, John, Barnabas and Paul hurried from city to city and town to town, and then throughout the Mediterranean Basin, and never seemed to use money as they went. How did they eat? Or book passage on a ship? Or stay overnight? It was just provided. Saint Luke doesn't even mention those matters. They were taken care of. 

Nor did they have too much. We know from his epistles that Saint Paul urged his churches to support the Church in Jerusalem with a collection of money because the region had been struck by famine. But he did not handle the money, or take it to Jerusalem. He avoided any appearance of misdoing. 

So, at Jesus' insistence, we have this powerful witness in the Church. Those who announce God's kingdom by word and deed, by prayers and sacraments, must rely on the generosity of others. If they are not poor, they should be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 

Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest

Lectionary: 450

They completed this house on the third day of the month Adar,
in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
The children of Israel–priests, Levites,
and the other returned exiles–
celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.
For the dedication of this house of God,
they offered one hundred bulls....

As a young priest in Australia, I heard the story of a bishop's conversation with a priest. "I have bought this property out beyond the city boundaries," the bishop said, "and developers are moving into that district. They are building streets, bridges, and homes. They have already marked out school, park, and commercial districts. Go to the banks, borrow a few million dollars, and build a Catholic Church. They'll be happy to loan you the money and you can service the debt for the next hundred years. By then inflation will have reduced the capital to a pittance and your successor will pay it off. As Catholics arrive for Mass you can hand them the parish debt." 

It was a story of confidence in the future, and in God's people. And it exceeded anything this young priest could imagine. I hoped and prayed that I might never be given such a responsibility; and God has spared me. For which I am grateful,

And I am still amazed when I enter a large church or basilica and remember the effort, determination, and sacrifices people made to build this church. Their homes were "working class" which now house the poor but their churches were first class magnificent. I see them wherever I go. 

But they're empty on Sunday because Mass attendance is sparse. These few Catholics have often arrived from the outer reaches of the metropolitan area. They love this dear old church which their grandparents built in the old part of town; but they belong geographically to suburban parishes which they're not supporting.

Our ancestors built churches and a nation, but we're strangers in a strange land, and no longer at home in this place. Rather than building churches, we're combining and renaming because we have neither the priests to serve the parishes nor the people to fill them. We have fond memories but cannot see the future. 

We hope for a rebirth of wonder like that described in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. After the Babylonian Exile, the descendants of the refugees returned to the ruins of Jerusalem and the blasted land of Judah. Their welcome was forced from the new occupants who had to obey the decrees of the Persian emperors Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged them with the assurance of God's word. 

Their new temple was a pale reflection of Solomon's Temple; and the oldest folks, who had been children when they were driven from the land, sadly compared the new one with their memories. But God proved his presence with them as they completed construction and reconsecrated the site. They had seen history unfolding before their eyes as they watched. And they remained faithful as God is faithful. 

We're still here. The Real Presence of our Eucharistic Lord with the Apostolic Succession of bishops and priests still supports us. We're not going away. 

Monday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 449

For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible,
and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.
Take care, then, how you hear.

Have you heard the latest?" my friend would greet me with that alarming question. He'd often introduce the question with, "OMG!"

"Now what?" I'd reply. It was usually nothing to be alarmed about, but he enjoyed being alarmed. 

It matters how we hear things. With the grace of God we can choose the manner of our hearing, its volume, and its importance. Beginning each day with silent prayer and reflection on the Word of God helps us listen more quietly. 

By prayer, we are inoculated against FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out. Nothing more important than the Resurrection of Jesus has happened recently. Nothing will happen today of that much importance. Nor nor do we expect anything more important very soon, except his Second Coming. We have His Word for that!

So when Jesus teaches us to, "Take care then how you hear?" we know how to approach each new day and its "evil thereof." Carefully; and with the Lord watching over our shoulders. 

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 135

"For the children of this world
are more prudent in dealing with their own generation
than are the children of light.
I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth,
so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Throughout his gospel, Saint Luke describes a God who clearly favors the poor over the rich, and consistently chooses the overlooked, the elderly, the sick, crippled, blind, mute, and deaf. In a patriarchal society, He also has a predilection for women. The Jesus the Evangelist gives us is born in a manger, homeless, despised, mocked, crucified, and finally buried in a borrowed grave. Although the Messiah is of a noble family, Joseph and his kin are nonetheless unknown nonentities in the halls of power. Anyone might claim descent from King David, but that’s not a free ticket to anywhere. When the Lord God chose to be born in the world, he chose poverty, homelessness, and obscurity.

Where Saint Matthew says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," Saint Luke says simply, "Blessed are the poor." He does not qualify their poverty with any particular virtue; rather, they are beloved and favored by God because they have only God as their support. When God appears in human flesh, he is welcomed by poor shepherds, devout old people, an itinerant construction worker and his betrothed. 

Although we love the Lord, few of us can claim the poverty of his Holy Family. We are not destitute and we use the wealth of this world despite Saint Luke's calling it dishonest. For we know that all money is tainted. 

Tellers and cashiers know that; they wash their hands often. But more importantly, the money we earn, spend, and save has been used by drug dealers, kidnappers, scam artists, thieves, greedy capitalists, avaricious investors, and corrupt politicians. We are immersed in the same currency that was used to buy slaves in the 19th century; contraband alcohol during Prohibition; and drugs since the 1960s. Currency may change from American dollars and European euros to English pounds, Chinese Yuan, Mexican Pesos, and Indian Rupees; but it's the same money that controlled human life before the Roman empire collapsed. Roman soldiers were gambling at the foot of the cross with the money in our pockets.

If Roman Catholics can boast of our apostolic succession from St. Peter to Pope Leo XIV, everyone can boast of the money that has been used since Jacob's sons sold their brother Joseph into Egyptian slavery. Money may be used for sacred purposes, but it has never been baptized. 

In Italy, in the early years of the thirteenth century, Saint Francis urged his friars to avoid all contact with money. They should work for food only, and beg if necessary. But they should never own or carry gold, silver, or copper coins. His statue in our chapel shows him treading on a bag of coins while, in the opposite corner, the Virgin Mary crushes a serpent underfoot. They despise both.

In today's world Francis might urge his disciples to use cash only, and never to buy on credit. But it's impossible to carry out the work of the gospel without air travel and online purchasing, and so we use credit cards freely, and without scruples. 

As Catholics and Christians, we may have earned our money honestly, but we know it's tainted. And so Saint Luke's Gospel urges us to "make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."

It will fail someday. We know that. Sometimes coins, cash, and bank accounts are useless even in this world. In an economy stricken with hyperinflation money becomes practically useless; you can’t buy a loaf of bread with a wheelbarrow of cash. Anyone without friends, family, and connections starves during hyperinflation.. 

The older we get, and the more often we attend funerals, we remember that you can’t take it with you. We ask the Lord to remember the virtue and good deeds of our loved ones, for we know their wealth means nothing to God. When Jesus declared, “It’s easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye than for the wealthy to be saved!” his astonished disciples asked, “Then who can be saved?” 

He replied, “It’s impossible for men, but for God all things are possible.”

In today’s Gospel, his warning is more ominous, 

No servant can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other,

or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and mammon."

We use money; but we do not love it. We own it; but it must never own us. 

What happens to people who love money more than God? 

I have been a chaplain in two hospitals and I have heard, from the edges of a conversation, how hospitals, HMOs, and insurance companies negotiate for patients as if they are widgets, commodities, or sacks of rice to be bought, sold, invested, and traded. We have so many beds we need to fill. To improve our income and expense balance, we have to risk increasing the number of surgeries we perform, of organs harvest and transplant. We hear of human trafficking within the United States; and surrogate mothers, and wombs for rent, and black markets who deal with living, human organs. It's all about money. Aldous Huxley, writing Brave New World in 1931 predicted a factory where mentally impaired women are used as wombs; but these unfortunate souls suffer no loss since they were carefully bred for that purpose. They have no pain in childbirth and enjoy their special sisterhood. 

This is what must happen to any people, to any society, to any nation who loves its money more than its God.

Saint Augustine sadly remarked, “We use the things we should love and love the things we should use.”

“Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” We might save money but it cannot save us. We might own it, but it cannot own us. We use it, but it uses fools who think they own, control, or manage money. Remember the poverty of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph; and handle money like you handle rat poison. 

Memorial of Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs

 Lectionary: 448

As for the seed that fell among thorns,
they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along,
they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, 
and they fail to produce mature fruit.

Supposing that my readers enjoy a self-image similar to my own -- which is to say, "a pretty good fellow whose merits are out front, whose faults are apparent, who hopes he gets no worse, and is not not likely to change in any case" -- I direct our attention to this third warning about the seeds "choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and fail to produce mature fruit." 

We face that ennui or acedia so familiar to spiritual writers of ancient and contemporary literature. Wikipedia has a perceptive summary about it; and recalls its Old Testament reference to Psalm 91:6, "the plague that ravages at noon." The same verse in the Douay-Rheims translation reads, 

"...of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil."

I've heard it recently described as the fatigue of familiarity which is common to Christians of every denomination and age. I remember having daily Mass in one church. There were a certain number in the church to begin; and as the ritual proceeded others would show up at the same time they'd appeared the day before, and the week before, and the month before. As we finish the opening song, there is Jane walking up the right aisle. The Collect greets Bill in the center. As the first reading is heard, Joe comes in from the side door; and so forth. In the winter everyone dons their jackets and scarves during the closing prayer, if not before. 

On Sunday, before anyone leaves, parish announcements must be made immediately after Communion, while the congregation should be enjoying the Eucharistic Miracle in deep silence. Pastors sometimes post signs at the back door, "Judas was the first to leave Mass early!" 

But the priest-presiders are often no better, recounting the same three, tiresome homilies year after year, with the same cliches and anecdotes. Some always begin with a joke, no matter how irrelevant or long it takes. 

The fatigue of familiarity. The Noonday Devil. Acedia. Ennui. Call it what you will. Each one of us must challenge themself; we have to address it communally, and in both the forms of the Sacrament of Penance.

Frequent reading of spiritual and theological essays, articles, and books can help. Bible study discussion can arouse one's curiosity. Pilgrimages provide a variety of Catholic experience and windows into other spiritualities. As do meetings with younger, newer Christians. In conversation, we may have to encounter ideas that sound suspicious but nonetheless attract some people. Maybe there's something there. Spiritual writers often recommend the Lives of the Saint; there's thousands of them, and new ones added often. With more in the pipeline toward canonization. 

We can do better than to stagnate. We have only to apply ourselves, and remember the fate of the weeds which are bundled and burned for winter fuel. 

Finally, every morning, Psalm 95, the invitation to the Liturgy of the Hours, gets my attention, and I take it seriously:

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,

as on the day of Massah in the desert.

There your ancestors tested me;

they tried me though they had seen my works.

Forty years I loathed that generation;

I said: “This people’s heart goes astray;

they do not know my ways.”

Therefore I swore in my anger:

“They shall never enter my rest.” 

Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 447

For the love of money is the root of all evils,
and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith
and have pierced themselves with many pains.
But you, man of God, avoid all this.
Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion....

The Apostle Saint Paul speaks with experience when he warns Bishop Saint Timothy about those Christians whose faith is tainted with the love of money. Inevitably, they stray from the faith, for "You cannot love both God and mammon." 

If Jesus was the first to teach the contrariety of God and wealth, he was simply applying the ancient principle of monotheism; as the Law of Moses insisted, 

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You shall not have other gods beside me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;

you shall not bow down before them or serve them. 

For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ 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.

We have good evidence out of Egyptian archaeology that the Jews were not the first to believe in a single God who created and governs the universe. But only the descendants of Abraham would know of God's choice of them, their deliverance out of slavery by God's hand, and his abiding blessings to the thousandth generation of those who love him. 

Only they could give an adequate response to God's initiative. If kids in your neighborhood liked and admired your father, his preference was nonetheless on you. Only you and your siblings could love him as his true children. And only you could break his heart as severely.

While anyone might insist they "believe in God," they often mean that, in their opinion, monotheism makes sense. That opinion is infertile; it has no more effect than the idea that the Earth orbits the Sun; and the Sun, the Milky Way. It's a good theory to explain some things, and since everyone agrees with it, so do they. 

But that belief means nothing to a jealous God. Tepid devotion leaves a parent's heart cold. God's love demands more of us. If his demand seems unwarranted and unreasonable we have failed the God who shows love down to the thousandth generation for those who love him and keep his commandments. 

The god of wealth is far too small. That God who must have created the universe with all its billions and billions of galaxies and stars is far too small. 

As is the God who saved me, if I think of only my salvation. Many Americans have experienced deliverance from alcoholism, drug abuse, and innumerable obsessive compulsions. (I put myself in that story with my history of depression.) But they are still prey to that god who is Mammon until they claim their oneness with God's people and our ancestors as their own.  

Jews and Christians must find themselves in that assembly, and within its history -- which is why we treasure the Old and New Testaments. 

We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:25

However, those immersed in wealth are sorely tempted to shun the messy, tainted complexity of belonging to a crowd of people. Money assures independence from others. Wealthy people don't need others except, perhaps, to receive their generous munificence. 

For there is no salvation outside of the Church. Only a fool would suppose that God ought to love everyone regardless of their standing in the church, and opt out of the invitation. I, for one, will not tell our Just and Merciful God what he ought to do; or explain to God what justice and mercy mean. 

Jesus spoke realistically of the wealthy man's hopes for salvation: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle." Which is to say, "Don't bet on it." 

Rather, let us put ourselves and our wealth -- for everyone owns something -- at God's disposal, and let us be ready to surrender everything at a moment's notice. 

Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 446

Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment,
she stood behind him at his feet weeping
and began to bathe his feet with her tears.
Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment.

Until recently, the woman in this story was thought to be Mary Magdalene, and was the first of three important stories. The second concerned Lazarus, because the same woman was deemed the woman we know as Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus. And the third was his appearance to her alone at the tomb of Jesus. In medieval paintings, she was also with his Mother and the Beloved Disciple on Calvary. 

Recent biblical scholarship has disproven that particular narrative, despite its universal acceptance from the 6th century teaching of Pope Saint Gregory the Great. However, the threefold story of forgiveness, enlightenment, and mission should not be lost. No harm to women was intended by the belief that she had been a prostitute. 

Rather, Mary Magdalene was regarded as blessed among women, second only to Mary the Mother of God. Her journey from repentance and enlightenment to being sent with the Good News of his Resurrection is every Christian story about maturity as God's people. The woman whose presence seemed to stain anyone she touched except Jesus became an "apostle to the apostles."

The saints universally acknowledge the alarming, disturbing recognition of guilt, shame, and remorse in the presence of Jesus. Whether they were notorious as this unnamed woman seemed to be, or as innocent as Therese of Lisieux, they are deeply distressed upon looking into the mirror of perfection. 

A woman explained that mysterious and very popular medieval image to me. First, medieval monks and nuns, upon entering the monastery, never saw another mirror. Why would they own a mirror when they should have no vanity about their appearance? Secondly, when a woman looks at herself in a mirror, she never likes what she sees. (Whereas men are usually rather pleased!) Remember, Snow White's wicked godmother who was so upset by what the mirror told her.

So when we look at Jesus, Mary, and all the saints and martyrs, as into a mirror, we invariably see how deeply grace has penetrated their lives, as compared to its disappointing impact on us. We may have come a long way, and God may be pleased with our progress; but we clearly have much, much further to go toward satisfying God's expectations. We can, and should have, done better by now! As Saint Francis said toward the end of his life, "Let us now begin for hitherto we've done but little."

Nor does it help to suppose I am better than this notorious woman who has invaded the  Pharisee's soiree. The Lord's mirror floods one's consciousness and does not permit comparisons. Rather, we remain in that place of remorse, shame, and humiliation until we hear him say, "Your sins are forgiven."