Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Memorial of Saint Martha

(Jeremiah 10:15.16-21; John 11:19-27)

We are accustomed to thinking of time and space as having different coordinates. Space has its set which marks a person’s locale.  Time gives another dimension that places a person in different locales at different moments.  Einstein showed how time and space can be brought together with one set of coordinates.  These coordinates can expand space to virtually infinite distances or, alternatively, stretch time virtually to forever. In the gospel Jesus invites Martha to think of him in a comparable way.

Jesus asks Martha if she believes that he is “the resurrection and the life.”  He does not refer to himself as destined to rise again but expresses himself as the resurrection itself.  Anyone who knows Jesus, therefore, experiences the resurrection. The person is put on the space-time continuum such that she is catapulted out of the ordinary space and time sets of coordinates into a new kind of existence.  This existence has universal range and lasts for forever.

But what does it mean to “know Jesus”?  It is to be touched by him whose love is oceanic deep and nuclearly powerful so that we are utterly transformed.  Like iron is magnetized after being rubbed by a magnet, we are made into perfectly loving creatures by being touched by Jesus.  We are we so touched by reading intently the Word of God and, most of all, by receiving sincerely the Eucharist.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Numbers 21:4-9; John 8:21-30)

In 1939 Albert Einstein signed an important letter to Franklin Roosevelt.  He told the president of the certain possibility of creating an atomic bomb by means of nuclear fission.  He also said that Germany was likely already testing uranium for this purpose.  The letter received due attention.  Roosevelt set up an advisory committee which led to the Manhattan Project.  In today’s gospel Jesus has a message for the Jews with the same urgency as Einstein’s letter to Roosevelt.

Jesus realizes that there is little time left.  He will be going back to the Father soon.  He tells the people that they must make a decision for him or they will die.  But the people hesitate because they do not know Jesus.  So he gives them a sign to look for.  When he is raised up on the cross, they will realize who he is.  Evidently the prediction of a sign has effect.  Many Jews come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah worthy of their allegiance.

We must hold onto that belief.  Next week we commemorate Jesus’ being lifted up, his crucifixion.  It is a scandalous sight in one way – a man being executed in the cruelest of ways.  Some may wonder if it was not all over then.  We, however, accept the testimony of his disciples that he rose from the dead.  And because of his resurrection we believe that we have the freedom to live righteous lives that last for eternity.

Homilette for Thursday, March 29, 2007

Thursday, V Lent

(John 8)

Albert Einstein once said, “Time exists so that everything does not happen at once.” That’s important. We become upset when two things happen at once – we’re preparing dinner and the doorbell rings. How could we ever cope with everything happening at once? But is it possible that someone exists outside of time? That One would have created time and everything else. Philosophers would call this Being who exists outside of time “God.” In the gospel today Jesus equates himself with that One, Being, or God. This is the meaning of his statement, "I Am."

Of course, this is all difficult to comprehend. The Jews may be resisting belief in Jesus but not without cause. How can a man whose date of birth is known and who will one day die be God? That’s another good question. We have an answer, however. The Son of God existed from all eternity but joined himself to a human body and soul. He did this to redirect humanity from sin which displeases God to virtue which God likes. God’s becoming human shows God’s great care for us humans.

Abraham is father of three great world religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three see the Bible as God’s revelation although Jews do not accept the New Testament and Moslems look to the Koran as the ultimate word of God. Christianity seems the most daring of the three and the most hopeful. We say “daring” because of our belief that God has made Himself accessible in Jesus Christ. We say “hopeful” because Jesus has left the sacraments which assist us in two ways. First, they strengthen us for those times when everything seems to happen at once. Second, they prepare us for life with God outside of time.