Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

(Ephesians 2:12-22; Luke 12:35-38)

Romeo and Juliet is never considered one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies.  Its poetry at points supersedes its plot, and its heroes are too immature to have truly tragic dimension.  Yet more than Hamlet, Macbeth, or other of the more esteemed works, Romeo and Juliet accomplishes the purpose of the tragic form.  It purges viewers of the destructive flaw in their lives that brings about catastrophic outcomes. Romeo and Juliet works in a way like the Christ event in today’s first reading.

As the death of the young lovers brings peace to their feuding families, the death of Christ reconciles the world to God.  It says that Jesus preached peace to Jews and Gentiles. Although his main thrust was among Jews, Jesus also proclaimed his Father’s love by healing Syro-Phoenecian woman’s daughter and driving the demons from the Geresene strongman.  A conspiracy of Jews and Gentiles brought about his death although he was innocent of all sin.  Yet he offered himself to it in obedience so that all human disobedience may be forgiven.  All can now look at his crucified image to experience a wave of contrition followed by a spring of transforming grace.

Beyond thanks our response to Christ’s reconciling death is to seek peace with others.  Through dialogue and patience we strive for understanding and care of all people.  As Christ is brother of all, we become family to members of other nations, beliefs, and races.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

(Ephesians 2:12-22; Luke 12:35-38)

We often hear Christ referred to as the "prince of peace," but the Letter to the Ephesians sounds quaint calling him "our peace." To help us understand what the letter means we can think of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." At the end of the drama, with both hero and heroine lying dead because of their families' mutual antagonism, the two opposing patriarchs vow to reconcile their differences. Christ similarly serves as the impetus to peace among all nations.

As a human, Christ models all that is virtuous so that every considerate person will naturally feel contrite to hear how human folly caused his death. As God, Christ’s death frees us from the bondage that sin has imposed. Sin offends God, but it really hurts us. It estranges us from God’s love and even from one another’s support. Christ’s sacrifice of himself for our sake makes up for these shortcomings by renewing our relationship with God and with one another. We may think of having a brother doing a heroic feat after we messed up in an ordinary challenge. Associated with our brother, we no longer feel the shame of our own failure and spontaneously desire to act like him.

But we must not think that Christ’s victory means that all accomplishment comes without effort. No, we must especially avoid giving into temptation which can undermine the best of our intentions.

Homilette for Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

(Ephesians 2:12-22)

It is said that Jesus enjoyed eating and drinking so much that he chose to spend his last hours with his disciples doing just that. We must not trivialize the meaning of the Last Supper by talking of it as a “going-away party” among friends. It was that and much more. Jesus used it as the occasion to symbolize all that he did in the world. He transformed a meal – in this case the traditional Passover Supper – into the way he would be remembered forever. The reading from the Letter to the Ephesians today summarizes what that meal, which we know as the first Eucharist, means.

The Letter calls Jesus “our peace ... who broke down the dividing wall of enmity through his flesh.” Jesus becomes our peace at the Eucharist not primarily because we begin mass with the penitential rite, but because in the mass we re-member or reconstitute Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross at Calvary. He gives his flesh and blood to reconcile us to God and to one another. It is the latter peace that the Letter to the Ephesians underscores here, but it is only through reconciliation with God that our reconciliation with one another can take place. As the Second Eucharistic Prayer of Reconciliation puts it: “You gave him up to death so that we might turn again to you and find our way to one another.”