Monday, August 6, 2018

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

(Daniel 7:9-10.13-14; II Peter 1:16-19; Mark 9:2-10)

When Pope St. John Paul II visited the United States in 1987, I and perhaps others had a moment of truth.  At the time the world was being traumatized by the AIDS epidemic.  Many feared that not just any contact but simply being the presence of an AIDS patient risked contamination.  John Paul, however, showed the world that AIDS patients deserve care not isolation.  In San Francisco he hugged the AIDS patients that were invited to meet him.  With all his strictness he proved to be a person of compassion more likely expressing the will of God than any of his critics.  In today’s gospel a similar revelation takes place.

Jesus’ disciples have an inkling of his divinely appointed leadership.  Peter had recently declared that Jesus was the Messiah.  But then Jesus, quite astoundingly, said that he would have to suffer and die at the hands of men.  A question no doubt arose in their minds, “Can Peter have been right in seeing him as the long-awaited king of Israel?” Jesus then takes his most prominent disciples to the mountain where his glory is revealed.  Peter named him correctly.

As we know too well, we live in an age of disbelief.  People no longer believe that God, His angels and saints are here to help us.  We too can find reassurance in the episode of the Transfiguration.  Yes, Jesus is the Messiah.  He died to free us from the burden of our sins.  He is leading us to the glory of the saints.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Memorial of Saint Marianne Cope, virgin

(Hebrews 7:1=3.15-17; Mark 3:1-6)

Back when there was concern that the AIDS virus might be transmitted through touch, a woman visited an old friend dying of the disease in a hospital. While taking leave, she did not hesitate to embrace him as a sign of her affection. The words of Marianne Cope, whose feast is celebrated for the first time today as a saint, echo with the woman’s action: we are “to make life as pleasant and as comfortable as possible for those of our fellow-creatures who God has chosen to afflict.”

Marianne came to the United States from Germany as an infant. At twenty-four, she entered religious life and promptly showed her ability as a school teacher. She also was instrumental in founding the first Catholic hospitals in mid-state New York. Missionary zeal must have moved Sr. Marianne to help the lepers with whom St. Damien worked in Hawaii before the islands became American territory. She continued her mission with lepers and children there until her death in 1918.

Today’s gospel pictures Jesus as performing the same kind of compassionate service as Marianne Cope. Indeed, he no doubt inspired her ministry. In healing the paralytic Jesus shows that he is not afraid of the consequences of doing a truly good deed. Despite the inevitable criticism for healing on the Sabbath – an act which the puritanical find defiant of the Law – he knows that showing such mercy pleases the Father.

Homilette for Friday, June 27, 2008

Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

(Matthew 8:1-4)

We often think of pariah as describing the untouchables of the Indian caste system. The actual term, however, is dalit. Dalits are considered as not having been formed from any of the body parts of a Hindu divinity. Dalits include leather workers, street cleaners, landless peasants, and a host of other humble professions. Discrimination against dalits has largely disappeared in urban areas and in the public sphere. It still exists, however, in rural areas of India where Dalits may be blocked from eating places and water sources.

In the gospel Jesus meets a “dalit” of his time and place. Lepers were so feared among ancient Jews that they were banished from populated areas and had to wear a bell to warn others of their presence in rural places. Yet Jesus shows no fear of the leper who encounters him as he descends the mountain after delivering his famous sermon. Showing what it means to treat others as he would be treated, he touches the untouchable and cures him of leprosy.

And the dalits of contemporary times, who are they? Twenty years ago people were often afraid to touch AIDS patients. In some locales today the undocumented may be resented with the animus felt for dalits in rural India. Alzheimer patients and, often enough, elderly living in nursing homes suffer such neglect that they may feel as if they lacked any relationship to divinity. Like Jesus we must remember to treat all these groups as we wish to be treated.