Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest

 Lectionary: 405

Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.
They were astonished and said,
“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter’s son?
Is not his mother named Mary....

Surely, by now, every American has visited Thornton Wilder's Our Town, and admitted that we habitually overlook the most wonderful gifts. Because they're wrapped in ubiquity, and not one of these gifts could not be better, nicer, and more nearly perfect, we simply don't see their blessedness. And then one day they're irretrievably gone and we grieve because they left an emptiness where we had never noticed their wonderful fullness. 

Our Town describes Emily Webb's one day visit to her former life in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. The young woman died while giving birth, and from her grave she has been granted a brief moment to relive her twelfth birthday. But even on that ceremonial day, her parents, friends, and neighbors cannot see anything special in her being young, alive, and beautiful. They cannot see the tween who is about to burst into womanhood because, to paraphrase the Lord's remarks, worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit.

In today's gospel, the Lord himself has returned to his hometown and, like Emily Webb, his old friends, family, and neighbors can see no one but the carpenter's son. Christians might feel pretty smart as they think they know who the Lord is. But many of them are sorely distracted by a different set of thorns and thistles: when they hear this passage. They hesitate, worry, and speculate about James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas and  his sisters. 

Thornton's Emily is helpless; she cannot open the eyes of her loved ones. Wonder and awe often arouse the same helplessness in us, and perhaps that's why we'd rather not see what Emily sees; and will not permit the Lord to reveal himself. "We know who you are!" we say before he's even entered our life. 

Faith is more than awe and wonder. To see what the Lord would show us, we must practice being amazed. We say "thank you" for every small blessing and recognize ordinary acts of kindness. In prayer, we pay attention to the words and phrases, recalling the memories they bear. We notice the goodness of food, the satisfaction of breathing, and the reliability of our heartbeat. We realize that we will pass into eternity just as our forebears have. 

The elderly notice that they're not as strong as they used to be; and say, "It was good while it lasted." But  neither are they as foolish as they used to be; for which they give thanks. 

Postup notes on mirrors and telephones may help for a while, as do signs, posters, and tattoos. Deliberate, intentional habits of daily prayer -- marking feastdays, solemnities, and ordinary time -- can help a lot. 

And with those habits we beg the Lord to deliver us out of this endless series of dark nights of the soul, into his Eternal Light and Life. 

Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

St Peter Chrysologus

 Lectionary: 404

Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, 
he tried again,
making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
Can I not do to you, house of Israel,
as this potter has done? says the LORD.
Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,
so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

I can hear my favorite heretic using Jeremiah's parable to argue that God can refashion the Catholic Church in any way which might please the Lord; and if He (or She) wanted the Church to ordain women, remarry divorced persons, or scrap the papacy, HESH could do so without regard to human traditions and customs. 

But the Gospel is more demanding than perpetual flexibility. And  I can hear myself fuming, "You misread this parable entirely! With your inflexible relativism, you cannot allow yourself to be molded into something that pleases the Lord!" The amicable conversation would deteriorate from there, and so I avoid these conversations. 

My inflexible relativist friend doesn't like the doctrine of Original Sin, and thinks the God of the Old Testament is, to use the Reverend Shannon's expression in Tennessee Williams' Night of the Iquana, "a bad-tempered childish old, old, sick peevish man."

The doctrine of Original Sin assures of what we have suspected all along: there is something seriously wrong with human life. Despite our artistic creations, astonishing accomplishments, and amazing technologies which promote human flourishing we turn around and destroy everything we have created, including our own children, without apparent remorse or regret. In the face of that perversity, sensitive souls like Tennessee Williams and his Reverend Shannon resort to self-destructive depression and alcoholism. 

But that cannot be, and is not, the response of God's faithful people. Rather, we acknowledge our sins, and the sins of our fathers. We recognize that our sin began with our prehistoric ancestors, the mythical Adam and Eve. We have always sinned despite the invitation to grace which God gives to every generation. We continually build systems laced with evil desires, and declare, "Thus has it always been, and it's God who made it that way! Just look at the evil violence of lion's toward lambs and snakes toward children!" 

Nor does it help to point out they've misquoted Isaiah's promise of a new Eden: 

....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. Is 11:6-9

Jeremiah's potter demonstrates God's endless patience as He destroys our misbegotten schemes and institutions, and reshapes our hearts and minds toward the dignity and beauty of his original intentions. We find that dignity and beauty in the very places that my favorite heretic despises: the Magisterium, sacraments, traditions, and spirit of Roman Catholicism. Because we are familiar with our history of sin and reconciliation, we can recognize God's handiwork, and cooperate with him in the building of His Kingdom. 

That project, I don't suppose, will be completed in my lifetime. Unlike the future histories which we create -- things like the worker's paradise, ecological sustainability and the Gaia Principle -- Salvation History cannot be predicted. As Saint Paul said, 

"Eye has not seen, 

ear has not heard, 

and what has not entered the human heart,

what God has prepared for those who love him." 

Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

Lectionary: 403/607

Thus the LORD answered me:
If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand;
If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece.
Then it shall be they who turn to you, and you shall not turn to them;
And I will make you toward this people a solid wall of brass.

Today's first reading from the Prophet Jeremiah follows the track of yesterday's and tomorrow's first reading, which are also from Jeremiah. The "holy family of Bethany" -- Martha, Mary, and Lazarus -- would have been familiar with the Prophet's sayings; and might have recognized him as a type of the One who made their home his "home away from home." Before his final days in Jerusalem, Jesus stayed in Bethany where his disciples, admirers, and enemies found him. 

The Prophet's words can be used to study the home life of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus: 

• "If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand;
• Clearly, they enjoyed his presence despite Martha's rather stormy entrance into her own living room, while the Lord spoke to his disciples. Perhaps Martha did  lightened up and come back to herself after hearing the Lord twice call her name. 
• "If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece."
• When Mary prophetically anointed the feet of Jesus with myrhh just days before he died, she brought "forth the precious without the vile," and her silent gesture spoke more loudly than any mouthpiece.
• "Then it shall be they who turn to you, and you shall not turn to them;
• The Church gratefully turns to this trio who remained his faithful friends and disciples. As the Shunnamite woman had provided a place for the Prophet Elisha when he turned to her and her husband, they provided a home for Jesus when he turned to them. 
• Consequently, they did not turn to Jerusalem but practiced their faith outside the doomed city.  
• "And I will make you toward this people a solid wall of brass."
• Although the New Testament does not record more of their story after the Lord's passion, death, and resurrection, we can be sure they became "a solid wall of brass" outside of Jerusalem as more and more people came to believe in him. Their home would be a sturdy shrine despite the opposition of local authorities. 

Jeremiah has described the faithful disciple of Jesus and the Evangelists Luke and John have given us these few stories about the Bethanite family to help us see how we might serve the Lord in our homes, especially as few of us are called to imitate his mendicant way of life. 

Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 402

We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness,
the guilt of our fathers;
that we have sinned against you.
For your name's sake spurn us not,
disgrace not the throne of your glory;
remember your covenant with us, and break it not.

Our recent ancestors, the migrants who brought Catholicism to North America, would be amazed that Catholics of the 21st century receive the Eucharist often but rarely attend the Sacrament of Penance. They had learned in early childhood that they were sinners like everyone else, but might receive Communion often if they went to confession as often. 

Unfortunately many of them were so possessed by that doctrine they could not enjoy the graces of both Sacraments; or if they did, the pleasure lasted only a few minutes. The least unpleasant emotion of anger, pleasure, or desire might throw a wet blanket of remorse over their sanctified hearts. We might think we know better than they did, but we must admire the generosity that built enormous churches with spacious high ceilings and splendid windows. Given inflation, our new churches today don't cost half as much, although some are equally beautiful. 

But I digress and must return to Jeremiah's dirge over the Holy City Jerusalem. The several armies of Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt punished the Lord's people repeatedly; and the Hebrew prophets understood these incursions as the will of God. There could be no other explanation. And the reason for God's severe judgments could only be the Obvious -- the descendants of Abraham had repeatedly failed to reflect the Holiness of God:

For I, the LORD, am your God. You shall make and keep yourselves holy, because I am holy.... Since I, the LORD, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt that I might be your God, you shall be holy, because I am holy. (Leviticus 11: 44-45)

If we enjoy relative peace today, we should not suppose it's because we reflect the Holiness of God better than our Jewish ancestors. It's said -- and I believe -- that every age is violent. However, modern societies have learned to isolate violence better than earlier nations -- with stronger prisons, guarded national boundaries, and an effective, omnipresent threat to citizens who misbehave. 

In the atmosphere of today's social polarizations and deep anxiety, it doesn't take much to trigger severe penalties from an apparently benevolent society. Many suspicious-looking persons have been killed by nervous law enforcement. And the killers were shown the same lenience as the invading soldiers of ancient Assyria and Babylon. 

Throughout the scriptures we hear Jeremiah's refrain: 

We recognize, 

O LORD, our wickedness,

the guilt of our fathers;

that we have sinned against you.

With the practice of frequent confession, Catholics remember that we are like our ancestors, both devout and sinful; and must plead continually for God's guidance and protection in an increasingly violent world. We are still God's holy people and must take that responsibility seriously. 

 

Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 401

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables, I will an-nounce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

Our faith comes to us through rituals; that is with familiar routines, gestures, oft-repeated phrases, songs, and stories. As they shape our imagination they also shape our experience. Two persons -- one who has grown up in a religious tradition while the other has not, recalling the same incident, describe very different experiences. One might have seen courage; and the other, cowardice. The Catholic who gazes upon a crucifix sees the Love of God for every human being. The other sees only horror and wonders, "Why does God permit such things to happen?" 

Both might hear Jeremiah's story of the loincloth. One might think the prophet was a fool to bury a brand-new item in the muck of a river; and then, some time later, dig it up and go strutting about town in nothing but the same rotten fabric. The other will remember the familiar image of Jesus crucified, wearing nothing more than a crown of thorns and a loincloth. 

There is a third party, however, Christian critics who have examined the Scriptures with the modern tool of critical analysis. They suppose that Roman soldiers would not have respected the modesty of their Jewish victims nor the scruples of Jewish citizens who witnessed his death. "There was certainly no loincloth!" they would sneer; and then ignore everything else that might be said about the Lord's passion and death. Being "modern" they judge by appearances and suppose our ancestors in the faith were primitive and stupid. 

Neither the critic nor the irreligious can grasp the meaning of what has "lain hidden from the foundation of the world;" much less appreciate the invitation and challenge of our faith. In John 6, we hear of critical disciples who scoffed at his command to eat his flesh and drink his blood; and then left him. All four gospels tell us the disciples fled from Jesus when he was arrested. Shocked and horrified that his predictions had finally come true, they could not bear what was happening.

But some turned back. Peter and John followed the mob who had arrested Jesus at a distance, and then entered the courtyard where he was tried. Many women stood at a distance watching and weeping as he was crucified. Mary, John, and Mary Magdalene stood with him on Calvary. And Ten clung together in the Upper Room, where Jesus found them on that Easter Sunday evening. 

Tomorrow we will hear the next verses from Saint Matthew's gospel. 

   "His disciples approached him and said,"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

The faithful remain with the Lord. waiting with open minds and hearts, ready to hear explanations and understand hidden truths that have been unsuspected and unintelligible since the foundation of the world. They do not hesitate to ask the hard questions about suffering and evil, but are willing to admit their ignorance and be instructed. They might suffer much anxiety and persistent, nagging doubt during their patient waiting; they might complain as loudly as Job! 

But they remain. They are the faithful who will be redeemed. 

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 109 

Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?"

We have heard in our first reading today, King Solomon’s prayer for the gift of wisdom, “for who is able to govern this vast people of yours?” 

By today’s standards of government and nations, the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah were laughably small. Even at the time, Egypt and Assyria were much larger, ruling far more people and greater tracts of land, with bigger economies, larger armies, and more cultural influence on their neighbors. 

But Solomon prayed wisely as he asked for the gift of wisdom; he had been given responsibility not only for the land and people but also for the nation that must remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob forever, not to mention the Law of Moses, and God’s promise to King David. He and his people must announce the Kingdom of God to the entire world. 

Was he thinking of that when he prayed? Probably not. Did it ever occur to him when his reputation for wisdom became an international phenomenon? Perhaps, but neither he nor his administration nor his heirs seemed inspired by the promise God had made to Abraham, 

“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will find blessing in you.”

If Solomon was not thinking of the promise, it remained nonetheless in their national memory, in their stories, and in the mind of God, whose Word endures forever, who does not forget his promises. 

And so Solomon governed as best he could, with limited insight; and there is plenty of evidence in the Bible that he and his government were as inefficient, wasteful, and corrupt as most governments. He wasn’t cold in his grave before the two nations split and were never reunited. Israel disappeared in the seventh century BC, and Judah in the sixth; and only the dream of a united nation, like the dream of Camelot, survived….

Until, many centuries later, in Galilee, a backwater of the Roman Empire, far from the halls of power and the schools of wisdom, a child was born of a virgin. The infant born to the House of David was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. 

Eight days later, Mary and Joseph would name their child Jesus, as the Angel had told them. “He would be great and would be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God would give him the throne of David his father, and he would rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there would be no end.”

We believe that Jesus is the answer to Solomon’s prayer; he is the Wisdom of God made flesh, that is, the incarnate Word. He is the wisdom and knowledge of God given to the Church for all ages, and presented to all nations as the most perfect way to know God. Jesus, the man who is God, provides the ideal and the model for the most perfect way to govern billions of people, vast tracts of land, international corporations, complicated economies, medical and educational institutions, and communications of every sort, including the Internet, social media, and Artificial Intelligence. This descendant of King Solomon is the Lord of All.

If that sounds like more than anyone or any religion should expect, read the Holy Father’s recent encyclical in which he reminds every nation and every institution that their policies, to be successful, must begin with a profound respect for human dignity and the human person – precisely because truth has become a human being. Machines and technology and systems should serve that Man, and all human beings, and the only planet we call home. 

We were not created in the image and likeness of God to be slaves of any pharaoh. king, president, or dictator. We do not give our lives to any philosophy, idea, or ideology; much less to a computing machine, no matter how clever. Knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence – both artificial and real – serve the human being who is called to serve God; and not the other way around. Nor are men, women, children, the dying, or the unborn created as commodities to be exploited, bought or sold according to anyone’s plan, system, or scheme. If we fail to honor and respect one another, we should expect catastrophes, and we have seen too many already. 

As human beings on this dangerous, dynamic planet, we are created to husband and care for the earth. If we fear nature it is a holy fear which remembers that God has given us dominion over the earth, and that is not the authority to abuse, exploit, or enslave. It is rather to cultivate and care. All industries – and not just our farms – must “cultivate and care for the earth.” Human dignity will not let us forget that the Earth is a gift from God. 

If we find ways to put human beings on the Moon or Mars, that too should help care for the Earth. This is where we belong and will always be. Each day, and many times a day, we pray, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven,” which means that God cares for the sun, moon, and stars of heaven. We have our hands full caring for the Earth which gives birth to us and witnesses our death. 

We should pray daily that Solomon’s petition might be answered; that rulers, governors, and caretakers of this world receive his Spirit of Wisdom; and hear Pope Leo’s insistence that the Image of God is and will always be incredibly, incomprehensibly magnificent.

In today’s Gospel, the Lord reminds us that, “"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

The Wisdom of God – that is, the Word of God – is a priceless, hidden treasure; it costs everything we have and far more than we can afford. But we cannot afford not to invest everything we have in it. We have seen enough of wars, injustice, violence, the exploitation of people, and waste of the earth. Like Solomon, we must turn to God daily, and many times a day, praying that He will give us, “an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.”

Feast of Saint James, Apostle

 Lectionary: 605

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.

Truth is given to us with enormous authority, but with little power. The world often notices that failing and takes advantage of it. "How many battalions does the pope have?" Lenin asked when told that Rome opposed his Communist rule in Russia. 

We have seen the enormous teaching authority of the Church flouted recently in Switzerland when Archbishop Lefebvre's disciples anointed another generation of bishops. Several of those men were anointed without Rome's permission by the late archbishop. Although Pope Benedict lifted the excommunication they had brought upon themselves; they apparently accepted the reconciliation cynically, as if Benedict had admitted Saint John Paul II was wrong. They have taken their disobedience even further from fidelity. But, of course, feel they are treated unjustly. 

The Church can only watch with sadness. We do not, and would not want, the power to force external compliance or internal obedience to the Magisterium of the Church. If the Lord God would not force anyone to obey him, we should never think of it. 

Jesus knew his disciples would flee from the Garden of Gethsemane when his enemies arrested him. And he knew several would return when he rose from the dead. Judas made his decision when he hanged himself. The others took extra time to reconsider. 

What consumers want, consumers get. Whether its abortion, drugs, alcohol, guns, gambling, or the Traditional Latin Mass, providers will be found. Providers and consumers will agree they are well within their rights to sell and purchase these goods. The devout might even cite the Second Vatican Council when they argue that consumers demonstrate sensus fidelium when they split from the Church. Hasn't the United States regarded their democratic mandate to the nations as the right to promote consumer rights and universal shopping? 

Above ourselves, we must love and obey the Truth. She is more beautiful than anyone or anything; and demands more than the world can offer. We must make every sacrifice for her, and in her name. We must go with her wherever she leads. The only external signs we'll ever have of her reliable presence in the world is the Roman Catholic Church and those Orthodox Catholic Churches who are in union with Rome. 

I've told this story before: On a summer day in August, several years ago, while serving as the Catholic chaplain in the VA hospital, a Protestant minister asked what the "Assumption of Mary" meant. When I explained it as simply as I could, without many citations of the Bible, he asked, "Do you believe that?"

I was taken aback. "Of course, I believe it! Why would I not believe it? It's what the Church teaches and what we have always believed. Better minds than mine, with better understanding of scripture, liturgy, and theology have taught it for many centuries. Would I oppose them because I have a right to believe what I feel is right? I may have been born at night, but I wasn't born last night! Of course I believe it!

We must pray for schismatics who name their sect after a canonized Pope. Their consumers will soon recognize the pious arrogance of these bishops and priests, but only some will return to the Church. The rest will be lost; therein lies the tragedy of sectarianism. 

 

Optional Memorial of Saint Sharbel Makhlūf, Priest

Saint Charbel Makhluf

 Lectionary: 399

But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

Jeremiah, speaking for the LORD in today's first reading, invites everyone to,

"Return, rebellious children, for I am your Master; I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion.

To paraphrase President Roosevelt, we have nothing to lose but the loss of our fears. for the Lord is kind and merciful. 

I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart,

who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.

In his History of Western Philosophy, written during World War II, English philosopher Bertrand Russell, described the widespread loss of religious faith in Europe, and its replacement by nationalism. God was displaced by a religious faith in the state, and then in the one man who represents the state. 

At the time, Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Mussolini were the new demigods of Germany, Russia, and Italy. Each promised to "shepherd you wisely and prudently," and each one failed spectacularly. Of the three only Stalin and his State survived the War because, rather late in the war, he joined the Allies in their war on Germany. Mussolini was savagely murdered by Italian mobs, and Hitler apparently killed himself as the Allies closed in. 

Russell also described how the ideology of nationalism first promises freedom to every citizen and then, with growing opposition from other nations and divisiveness within the country, the same free citizens surrender their freedom to the dictator. He -- invariably he -- becomes the only "free" person in the country; and he can do whatever he wants with unanimous and overwhelming support from his people. They refuse to see his stupidity, dishonesty, and lack of foresight. Even when his more competent sycophants know he is making fatal errors they cannot and dare not speak up. Apparently even brilliant men like German Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel put more faith in Der Fuhrer's mistakes than their own competence. 

Henry Kissinger predicted the fall of every ruler who builds the state around himself. Brittle and inflexible, their regimes inevitably disintegrate as readily as the statue in Nebucchadnezzar's dream: 

“In your vision, O king, you saw a statue, very large and exceedingly bright, terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.

Its head was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs bronze,

its legs iron, its feet partly iron and partly clay.

While you watched, a stone was hewn from a mountain without a hand being put to it, and it struck its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces.

The iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once, fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer, and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

“This was the dream; the interpretation we shall also give in the king’s presence. Daniel 2:31ff

Perhaps Kissinger referred to the Prophet Daniel; the principle is the same. As the Psalmists assures us:

I have seen a ruthless scoundrel,

spreading out like a green cedar.

When I passed by again, he was gone;

though I searched, he could not be found. Psalm 37:35

In the silence which follows the scoundrel's disappearance, we hear the Word of the Lord:

"...the seed sown on rich soil

is the one who hears the word and understands it,

who indeed bears fruit 

and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

 

Optional Memorial of Saint Bridget of Sweden, Religious

 Lectionary: 398

Be amazed at this, O heavens,
and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD.
Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water.

In today's gospel the disciples asked the Lord why he speaks to the crowds in parables. He explained, 

“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.

The Lord might have answered that prophets usually speak in parables, like the prophet Jeremiah who complained that the people dug broken sisterns that held no water. I'm sure their engineers would have quarreled with Jeremiah; their cisterns held water just fine! Obviously they missed the point. 

Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven is not given to fools; and so they may be called leaky cisterns. No reasonable person gives holy things to dogs, even in pet-obsessed America; nor do they throw their pearls to swine. But fools do that sort of thing. As the wise man, "There's no cure for stupid." 

Hosea saw it clearly as he toured the northern kingdom of Israel. They had cut themselves off from Jerusalem and the temple. Although they were more prosperous than Judah, and felt like they had better standing among the nations of the world, they had turned away from God. Like thousands of other cities and nations, they would disappear into the insatiable maul of history. 

The Word of God endures forever and protect those who receive it with open hearts and minds, without prejudice for any persons, possessions, ideas, countries, ideals, or pets. Taking up the crosses which are given to us, receiving them with humble, penitential gratitude, we return with Him to Jerusalem. 

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

 Lectionary: 603

Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh;
even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh,
yet now we know him so no longer.
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.

There are many websites singing the praises of God in many languages with the symbols of many religions, but there are an awful lot of pornographic sites appealing to the same audience. Amid that widespread horror, Pope Francis named Mary Magdalene as "the Apostle to the Apostles" and gave her a feast day apart from Saints Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. 

According to one survey, 40% to 50% of American men view pornography weekly or daily; and many women. Pornography provides most Americans with their first experience of sex, and earliest sexual memories; and profoundly effects their expectations, suppositions, and presumptions about sexual relationships. They are led to believe the purposes of sex are pleasure, gratification, relaxation, diversion, entertainment and spiritual fulfillment. Procreation, however, must be avoided -- at all costs.

While pornography was certainly widespread long before the Internet, it has grown to proportions beyond anyone's imagination, and it threatens families, society, and nations with universal disintegration. There is evidence that pornography viewed by children is the root cause of sexual dysphasia; and may arouse homosexual desires even among persons from the most stable, healthy, religious families. 

Politics, of course, plays a part in the story, especially as researchers who might research the causes of sexual disorders like homosexuality have been denied sponsorship and grants. The same thing happened when tobacco producers suppressed cancer research, and gun manufacturers squelched the notion that gun ownership is a health risk. No money means no research means no "proof" of certain obvious, common sense facts. And without "scientific proof," the gullible majority believes whatever they're told to believe. 

However, politics and ideologies cannot suppress truth, and the Church can still celebrate Saint Mary Magdalene despite the rage of foes. Although her past is only suggested by the scriptures and even her historical identity is unclear, the Church has always known her as one who repented for her past sins, loved the Lord intensely, and was the most prominent among his female disciples. She was the only single individual whose conversation with the Risen Lord the Gospels report in detail. 

(Saint Luke said that Peter also had a vision (Luke 24:34 and 1 Cor 15:4); and the Church has long supposed that the Lord must have appeared to his Blessed Mother on that first Easter Sunday.) 

Saint Mary Magdalene, the "apostle to the apostles," reminds every Christian that to know the Lord we must do penance. And just as she turned when she saw the Lord and turned again when she heard him call her name, so we must turn and turn again in the practice of our faith. Baptism is not sufficient for salvation without the sacraments of Eucharist, Confirmation, and Reconciliation. We also need the sacraments of healing, priesthood, and marriage. 

The last, in particular, heals our imagination, orientation, and relationships to family, neighbors, friends, and foes. Through the Sacrament of Marriage we establish proper relationships with spouses, children, parents, cousins, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews. Even those who never marry witness the beauty of chaste married couples and are healted. 

Through the Sacrament of Marriage parents discover the creativity of God who made us in his own image and likeness. Before they can speak children demand that their parents, "Grow Up!" They must put aside the thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and impulses of children. "It's my turn now!" the children say. Penance enables that maturity for married and unmarried alike. 

Today, as we pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, let us pray to Saint Mary Magdalene for vocations to Christian marriage; that is, for monogamous, stable families where men and women invite God to be the Spirit and Head of their household; and where children are born, saved, formed and raised into adulthood. 

Memorial of Saint Lawrence of Brindisi: Franciscan Priest, and Doctor of the Church

 Lectionary 396

As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt,
show us wonderful signs.Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt
and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;
Who does not persist in anger forever,
but delights rather in clemency....

A casual reader of Saint Matthew's Gospel, unfamiliar with Catholic devotions and doctrine, might suppose the Lord refused to see his mother and brothers when they arrived. When someone told him they were outside, he didn't immediately wrap up his teaching and go out to see them. 

Rather, he took their arrival as an opportunity to say something very important, and rather startling. That abrupt reply might remind us of what Micah was teaching us about God in today's first reading, "Who is there like you?" 

Jesus had been given the authority of God himself; He redefined relationships according to God's original plan. A family, even his own, might not be what we thought it was!

As I read the scriptures and consider the Sacrament of Marriage, I notice that the "ur-marriage" is not that of Adam and Eve. It is the covenant of the God of Abraham and the People of Israel. Christians understand it as the marriage of Jesus and his bride, the Church. Saint Paul alludes to that covenanted human relationship in his letter to the Ephesians, 

Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. 

As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,

that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Saint John's Revelation, chapter 21, describes the nuptial appearance of the Church as 

...the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them.

Growing up in a family where husband and wife love one another and their children -- as God intended -- a Catholic child supposes that God is like their own father, and Mary is like their own mother. This can be a wonderful thing for a fortunate child. However, it can be a serious impairment where the child's parents are not happily married, where their relationship is troubled and emotionally, sexually, or physically violent. Children, told that their parents love one another and them, suppose that love is how their parents act. That might not be helpful. 

Eventually every Christian has to recognize their father and mother as brother and sister in the Lord. The Father of Jesus is my father; and the Mother of Jesus is my mother. 

Likewise we must find our true brothers and sisters among those who "do the will of my heavenly Father. They are my brothers and sisters and mother." We certainly should love our biological kin, and show them deep respect and dependable affection. But we might not look to them for the support of a faith community or fellowship in Christ. For that every Christian must turn to the Church and to the Lord, especially to the Holy Spirit who draws us together. 

I hear the apartness of one's kin and the Church in Micah's words where we appear as the Lord's sheep:

Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock of your inheritance,

That dwells apart in a woodland,

in the midst of Carmel.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,

as in the days of old....

We are his people, the flock of the Lord. We are his sheep, and he is our shepherd. In Him we find wisdom, authority, and our mission of love for friend and foe, kith and kin. 

Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 395

For the LORD has a plea against his people,
and he enters into trial with Israel.

O my people, what have I done to you,
or how have I wearied you? Answer me!

Catholics recognize the Lord's plea from the Book of the Prophet Micah as a song from our Good Friday Service. It must remind us both of the Lord's patience and of our persistent turning from Him. Created in the image of God, we should find our freedom in reflecting the joyful obedience of both the Son and the Holy Spirit to the Father, who in turn surrenders all authority in heaven and earth to them. Our place within that joyous communion finds expression in divinely inspired creativity.  

But, since the day Adam and Eve heard Satan's insinuating sneer and took his advice, we have supposed we might find a better way than obedience to our Creator. Preferring a faux creativity, we continually experiment with what feels good and appears right. Predictably, that creativity lacks originality for it only copies the Original Sin. 

We are like sheep without a shepherd; our eyes, being too close to the ground, cannot see over the nearby hills and the threats that come from every direction. 

Distressed by the calamities we have brought upon ourselves, but nonetheless hypocritical, we ask ourselves: 

With what shall I come before the LORD,

and bow before God most high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

The real answer, although we have been told, also lies beyond of our range of vision:

You have been told, O man, what is good,

and what the LORD requires of you:

Only to do the right and to love goodness,

and to walk humbly with your God.

Shall I give my first-born for my crime,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Rather than our children, God tells us to sacrifice His first-born Son for our crimes, the fruit of Mary's body for the sins of our soul. This is a sacrifice we can make as we celebrate the Mass and contemplate the marvelous work that God has done for us. 

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
sing of his glorious name;
give him glorious praise.
Say to God: “How awesome your deeds!
Before your great strength your enemies cringe.
All the earth falls in worship before you;
they sing of you, sing of your name!” Psalm 66

 

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 106

He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

The Bible often speaks of mysteries, which are hidden since the foundation of the world. There is nothing obvious about God, or man, or woman for that matter. Too often we think we know why we’re doing something, only to turn around the next day, or a week later, or many years later and say, “What was I thinking?” When our human ways so often make no sense, do we really expect to know the ways of God?

 

The word mystery appears often in the Bible, and most often in the New Testament. But clearly Abraham was awestruck and terrified by his first encounters with God. In the Book of Genesis, soon after their friendship began, when the LORD told Sarah she would have a son, we are told about God's musing; that is, his inner conversation:

The LORD considered: Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, now that he is to become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him? Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his children and his household in the future to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD may put into effect for Abraham the promises he made about him. (Genesis 18:16ff)

The story of Abraham's dickering with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah follows:

"If there are only fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, ten good men, will you destroy the cities?" 

 Clearly, Abraham doesn't know with Whom he is dealing. But then he watched burning pitch fall from the sky, and a fiery, mushroom cloud rise over the Cities of the Plain, destroying livestock, homes, temples, marketplaces, men, women, and children.

The Patriarch had never asked to know God, and never expected to meet God. But for reasons God only knew he had chosen Abraham and would be known as the Friend of Abraham.

Several years later, as Abraham bowed before the Lord, he was told to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved Son. In obedience to the LORD's command, he proved himself a worthy friend of God; although God intervened again and the boy was spared. . 

Almost two thousand years later, St Paul worried, fretted, and fumed throughout his Letter to the Romans over another great mystery: why the descendants of Abraham would not sacrifice their old conceptions about the Law of Moses and accept Jesus as their Messiah and Lord. 

After his encounter with the Son of God on the road to Damascus, he saw it so clearly. The Gospel of the Lord’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection fit so perfectly into the entire history of the Bible as he read it. The Gospel satisfied every prescription of the Law, every verse of the psalms, and every proverb in Wisdom literature; how could Abraham’s people not see it? 

But there finally came a day when the Apostle would surrender to God’s mysterious ways. Supposing that the intransigence of most Jews also fit into God’s plan, the Apostle had to bow down before the unfathomable wisdom and mystery of God and submit to

…the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” (Romans 11:33)

In the nineteenth century many thoughtful people in Europe and America thought they knew, if not the ways of God, at least the ways of men. Europeans and white Americans were supposed to be rational creatures who knew up from down, right from left, and right from wrong pretty well. Not only had we figured those things out, but we were rapidly building faster railroads; bigger coal-powered steamboats,  faster communications; and bigger governments with larger armies than the world had ever seen. In fact, the world didn’t need God or the Word of God anymore because we had the power of reason and could make sense of anything. 

And then the First World War happened, and millions of civilized, educated, disciplined, and honest young men marched across Europe and slaughtered one another for no apparent reason. Historians are still trying to understand why the First World War happened. And if they ever do, then they might explain the Second, which exterminated even more defenseless men, women, and children, and incinerated far more cities than Sodom and Gomorrah.  

Why did rationality fail? And why are we still investing billions of dollars and millions of lives in finding better ways to obliterate each other? Why do we still not study theology, the queen of the sciences? And philosophy, the mother of the sciences? Are we condemned to destroy one another because God hates the world He has made? But we thought there is no such thing as god!

Without the Church which still believes that God created us, loves us, and saves us from the hell we create for ourselves, many people live without hope, without purpose, without any expectation of satisfaction or eternal life. They occupy themselves in this world with work and play, making money and spending it. They idle themselves with billions of useless hours of entertainment. And when they suffer chronic illness, they legalize what they call MAiD – “medical assistance in dying.” That’s a euphemism for suicide, self-murder, the intentional rebuke of God and his purposes. 

The Church calls us to ponder again the mysterious ways of God, especially as we find God in failure, disappointment, loneliness, chronic illness, disabilities, and the tedious process of dying. We must discover who we are in depending on one another, and not in the popular myth of the Lone Ranger.

If we want nothing but success, comfort, ease, and security; if we want a life with no challenges, no complexity, and everything suited to our middling standards, we aspire to godless, pointless futility. There is nothing blessed in that; nor is that what our Father intends for the descendants of Abraham, whose ransom he paid not in gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Jesus, 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Is 55:8-9