thoughts and observations on the daily readings
Wednesday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions (Photo credit Philipp Jakob) In the passage from Mark 12, we again see Jesus’ opponents trying to entrap Him with words. They imagine that their question is clever, but Jesus once again eludes the trap and reveals the fundamental dishonesty of His opponents. They have chosen sophistry over truth. They do not oppose Jesus because His words or deeds go against God, but because His authenticity challenges their personal privilege and power. We have honest rhetoric in the passage from Paul’s letter to Timothy. We have been enriched because Paul needed to use letter writing to communicate with his far-flung communities and their leaders. In this passage, we see words that communicate truths of encouragement and exhortation. This rhetoric is powerful because it is founded on the truth of Paul’s ministry and his close trusting relationship with his communities. This is not clever debate, but the wisdom of love. On this memorial when we remember the courage of new Christians who suffered terrible martyrdom we have the added witness of martyrs who lived (and died) the truth of the message Paul wrote to Timothy. Charles Lwanga gave his life to protect the innocent and to proclaim his abiding faith in Jesus. He strengthened, and was strengthened by, the companions that shared in his suffering at the hands of a delusional tyrant. In our own day, there is far too much cleverness among our pundits and leaders and far too little wisdom to be found in our culture or in the violence of the moment. Perhaps this is a moment to seek the intercession of Saint Charles Lwanga to help us to have courage and faith. Like him, and Paul, we know Him in whom we have believed. It is His wisdom, the wisdom of love that has been entrusted to us.
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Tuesday of the 9th Week of Ordinary Time
Readings may be found here This passage in the gospels is an immediately recognizable even in secular settings. Rightly and wrongly, the language and imagery of the exchange between Jesus and His opponents has been taken up in debates about taxation, the legitimacy of authority, opposition to totalitarianism, and many other debates in many other contexts. Because the passage is so often drawn into those other debates, it is important to hear it in its original context if we wish to do it justice. Jesus belonged to conquered people, subject to oppression and injustice by a vastly wealthier and more powerful Roman Empire. Many of His fellow Jews of the day considered it a moral and religious imperative to openly or covertly oppose that oppression. Other accommodated themselves to the overwhelming power of Roman authority and then risked the wrath of their fellow Jews. Openly threatening Roman rule might see you executed by the authorities. Open support of their oppression might bring a knife in a dark alley from an aggrieved fellow countryman. In this passage “Pharisees” and “Herodians” approach Jesus to test Him. This is surprising given that they represent the two poles of the ideological fight. Somehow, these two bitter enemies find common. Their question, as the passage indicates, is a trap that hopes to force Jesus to take one side or the other, allowing His opponents to denounce Him either to the Roman authorities or to violent revolutionaries. Jesus defeats them at their own rhetorical game. He asks them to bring a denarius for Him to see. The fact that they readily possess this valuable coin – one used primarily by the Roman soldiers and officials – is telling. Next Jesus counters their question with one of His own: “whose image is this?” With their answer, they fall into Jesus’ trap. The coin is stamped with Roman propaganda promoting false claims about the divine authority of the Roman Emperor – “the son of the divine Augustus.” Jesus simply acknowledges that the coin belongs to the Emperor while reminding His listeners of their duty to God. In this brilliant turn of events, Jesus’ authority and wisdom are front and center. In the gospels, we do not see Jesus railing against Roman oppression or joining the aggrieved revolutionaries of His day. We do, however, see two critical truths that respond to that environment of injustice, oppression, and violence. The first is the contrast between “the son of the divine Augustus” who claims absolute sovereignty over the world and the true Son of God Who is the Lord of Love and teaches that authority is service and that power is found in the gift of self. The second truth is that Jesus does in fact seek a revolution. His revolution, though, is not about returning hatred and violence for hatred and violence. His revolution is one that overturns hearts. To “render unto God” is to see our selfishness and hatred overturned by love, compassion, and generosity. Monday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church Readings may be found here Are you afraid of God? If we are honest, the reality of God is overwhelming. The Scriptures certainly make it clear that God is awesome and frightening. Old Testament ritual law presumes that entering the presence of God unworthily is deadly – hence the care and reverence surrounding the Holy of Holies. The Absolute, the Infinite, frightens us who are mere mortal creatures. How many of us rest easy with the notion that God sees and knows every dark corner of our hearts? In the passage from Genesis, Adam hides from God because he is naked. He is afraid to appear before God defenseless, revealed. We might say this is irrational given that God Who created Adam already knew him and had provided life and protection. He should not fear and yet he does. That passage of Adam’s fear is paired with the passage from John 19 describing the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus is stripped and defenseless and tormented with the worst kind of violence. This New Adam does not fear to be vulnerable and naked before God or us. We see His glory - the courage and beauty of trusting love and total offering for our sake. This glory is reflected in His mother who does not fear to accompany her son in this most painful moment. She offers a model of trust and openness and He entrusts us to her as our mother. They say that crisis lays bare the heart. Maybe this is a moment for all of us to bare our hearts to the Lord – to trust the One Renewal
Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter Readings may be found here Last year, on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, our group had the opportunity to visit the Basilica of Saint Peter in Gallicantu, built over the ruins of the house of the High Priest. Jesus was brought there on the night before He died. With great emotion, we prayed Psalms in the pit where Jesus was imprisoned. Just outside, in the courtyard, Peter had denied the Lord. That deeply painful moment in the gospel evokes an awareness of our own fears and limits when it comes to the call of discipleship. The passage we hear today is equally emotional. Jesus greets the disciples as they are fishing. Peter, with that characteristic enthusiasm, jumps from the boat and rushes to the Lord. On the shore of the Sea of Galilee there is a deeply moving exchange. Peter had denied the Lord three times and fled from the terrors of Good Friday. Now, he appears to want to reclaim his place at the Lord’s side. Jesus is seated by a “charcoal fire” and addresses him by his old name – Simon – allusions perhaps to Peter’s failure? Three times the Lord asks “do you love me?” While this is a moment of deep distress for Peter, it is also a moving moment of renewal. The Lord is healing the wound of Peter’s denial. Jesus is also teaching Peter that his devotion to the Lord will now be directed to His new family of faith: “feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.” The Lord Who prophesied Peter’s denial now prophesies Peter’s faithful witness even to death. Peter is forgiven and renewed and drawn back into friendship with the Lord and a share in His mission of mercy. Never forget this redeeming merciful love of the Lord Jesus for His own. Wherever life has taken you, whatever your sins and failures, however many times your words or actions may have denied Him, He is waiting by the shore, gazing upon you with love, and thirsting to draw you back into His Friendship and the life of grace. Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Readings may be found here The conversion of St. Paul fascinates me for the way in which Paul is genuinely changed on the road to Damascus even as his personal qualities remain. Before his conversion, Paul was willing to use violence to enforce his beliefs; after he became a man of service who sought to persuade free hearts to come to faith. Before he was tribal in his focus on Judaism; after he became a man for all nations. The whole of his life was altered by the encounter with the Lord, yet his passion and conviction, his knowledge of the scriptures, and his devotion to mission all remain in his new life as a disciple of Jesus. We see these qualities on display in the reading from Acts as the intrepid Paul outwits his opponents and unwaveringly follows the directions of the Lord. In order to understand this mix of a man changed and still himself, we need to consider Jesus’ prayer in the gospel passage. Here, Jesus is speaking of the communion of love that exists between him and the Father – a love that the Lord opens to His disciples. Divine love is not about control or domination, but willing the good of the other. In this way love changes us at the same time that it empowers us to become our truest selves. The Lord’s love for Paul and His personal call to Paul did not oppress Paul. That love liberated Paul from his anger and hatred and saw his gifts expand as Paul participated passionately in that invitation to the communion of love. Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter Readings may be found here People often equate holiness with morality – holy people do and say the right thing. This is not wrong, but the biblical notion of holiness runs deeper. In the Old Testament worldview, holiness is about separation – being set apart for the things of God. Consider the example of the chalice in the Holy Mass. It would be unthinkable to use the chalice for anything other than the celebration of the Mass – it is set apart, consecrated to the service of God. In the prayer of Jesus in John 17, the Lord speaks of His own consecration for His disciples (and us) and His prayer that they (and us) be consecrated. He is making them holy, set apart to be vessels of His presence and work. Each one of us, baptized and anointed, have been consecrated to the Lord, set apart for Him alone. We too are vessels and though we may be unworthy, He offers us the grace of participation in His life and mission. When you pray at Mass in person or by the distance means of the moment, look at the chalice and know this: you and I are called to be the chalice, vessels of the very presence of Our Lord. And if that truth touches your heart, consider watching this spectacular address on “Old Pots” from venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen: Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Readings may be found here In the passage from Acts, Paul offers a “farewell” address to Christian leaders. He reminds them that he has lived and preached the faith among them. Compelled by the Spirit, he must now go to Jerusalem, knowing that hardship awaits him there. Paul has given witness with words and deeds, but now another kind of witness emerges – Paul’s life follows the pattern of the Lord’s own ministry. Jesus had “set His face” towards Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) knowing that He would experience rejection and terrible suffering. In the passage from John today, we hear from Jesus’ prayer for His disciples on the night before His passion. The “hour has come,” but Jesus does not hesitate. He is concerned more for the disciples than for Himself. His suffering will reveal the glory of God as it will accomplish the work of redemption – the plan alluded to by Paul in the first reading. Paul is not the only character whose life follows the pattern of Jesus’ own. Paul himself had been present (as Saul) when Stephen prayed for his persecutors “forgive them for they know not what they do.” Peter and John performed miracles of healing “in the Name of the Lord Jesus” that mirrored miracles from Jesus’ own ministry. The Spirit empowers us as disciples to proclaim the Word and to live in a manner that gives witness. Some among us, noted for their holiness of life go further as the shape and pattern of their lives begin to give witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And that kind of witness is not limited to the Apostolic age. Today we celebrate St. Philip Neri who lived in an age when serious Christian life was often relegated to monastic settings. Philip made the choice to walk with people along the “way” in just the way that Jesus had formed His disciples. Philip’s simple, generous, and authentic living of the gospel among ordinary people brought about a remarkable revival of faith by words, deeds, and a life patterned on that of the Lord. Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Readings may be found here Repentance is itself a gift of the Lord. The foundation for our repentance and for forgiveness is the person of Jesus Christ. It is our relationship with Him that brings us to regret sin and desire the grace He offers. In the Acts today, Paul encounters believers who had responded to the call for repentance – the baptism of John. Paul now confers upon them the gift of the Spirit, drawing them into an active, ongoing relationship with the Lord Jesus. In the gospel passage, we see the same focus on relationship with the Lord Jesus. Even as Jesus faces the hour that will look like defeat, His passion, He asserts that He has the victory. No power, not even death, will overcome the love and grace of God. It is a good thing when our conscience calls us to repentance, but we are mistaken if we imagine that we have the capacity to change and put our sin behind us by our own efforts to reform. True repentance begins with the Good News of the Lord’s love for us – His victory and His mercy. Repentance is a response to grace. Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Readings may be found here The Gospel of John speaks frequently of Jesus’ intimate communion with the Father. The poetic prologue to the Gospel introduces this truth: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2) In the course of its narrative, we hear Jesus communicate this as well: He has come from the Father (6:29); He does the work of the Father (5:19-20); the Father testifies to Him (5:37); He does the will of the Father (6:38); He speaks the message of the Father (7:16); to see and know Him is to see and know the Father (8:19). Now in Chapter 16 as Jesus offers a farewell address to the disciples, we learn that this departure is a return to the Father. As the passion looms, the story has come full circle and Jesus returns to the Father Who sent Him. In this same passage Jesus acknowledges that the disciples “have come to believe” that Jesus is from the Father. Consider the verses that follow in the prologue immediately after the introduction of the Word: “All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race…” What is true of Jesus, that He comes from the Father and that He returns to the Father, is true of us. As Jesus reveals the face of the living God, He also reveals our truest selves, made in the image and likeness of God and called into communion through Christ Our Lord. Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter Readings may be found here Today is the feast of Saint Rita of Cascia. She was married at too early an age to a cruel and violent man. Amid great suffering, this woman of faith devoted herself to changing hearts. In an age of vendetta, she taught forgiveness and reconciliation. She demonstrated tenacity of faith in some of the worst experiences that life can throw at us: abuse, betrayal, violence, and illness. And for that tenacity, she remains revered by Catholics. On her feast day in the Basilica where she lies beneath the altar, the faithful come in great numbers and receive a rose. On her deathbed, Saint Rita asked for a rose. Even though it was winter, the sisters found one perfect rose in the frozen garden and presented it to her, a rose who had been beauty amid the thorns. Saint Rita gives witness to the truth spoken by Jesus in the gospel passage today. As he continues to prepare His disciples for the terrible events of His passion and their future suffering, He speaks to them of the image of a woman in childbirth. She endures the suffering knowing that her purpose is a thing of joy. He reassures them, and us, that the anguish will pass and joy will endure. During this pandemic when there is universal suffering, I wonder if we are all learning to be more aware of each other, deepening our capacity for empathy and compassion? Is it possible for us to understand with new insight that so many were suffering before anyone heard the term Covid-19? In light of Saint Rita, patroness of abused wives and impossible causes, today might be a moment to see the suffering that was often hidden or ignored. As we desire to see that joy promised by the Lord, might we need to be renewed in our commitment to do the “labor” of bearing that joyful life into the world? |
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