Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the young prince is looking for evidence to convict his uncle of murdering his father.  He gets an idea when a troupe of actors comes to town.  He will devise a play that shows how the murder took place.  When his uncle watches the action, his visible reaction should betray his guilt.  Something similar is taking place in today’s gospel passage.

John’s Gospel not only tells the story of Jesus but contains hidden in the action the fate of the Christian community he left behind.  The controversy in today’s passage shows how part of that community -- “those Jews who believed in him” – lack a firm faith.  They accept Jesus as a prophet but do not see him as the only source of freedom which is equivalent to salvation.  They think that they are free by virtue of being children of Abraham.  Their opposition to Christians who find Jesus as the only way to salvation is dramatically portrayed when Jesus says that “are trying to kill” him.  The Judaizers who incurred St. Paul’s wrath by insisting that the Galatians be circumcised are equivalent to these half-hearted Christians.

We live in a time when many see other ways to salvation besides Jesus.  Some believe that freedom comes from not being bonded to other people.  Others think that freedom is the right to do whatever one wants short of physically hurting others.  We believe that Jesus’ way of selfless love for others brings the freedom of the children of God.  Next week we will celebrate the bestowal of that freedom in the paschal mysteries.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels

(Revelation 12:7-12ab; John 1:47-51)

In Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet is alone when his father’s ghost reveals how he was murdered.  Then Hamlet’s friends arrive asking what just happened.  Before he tells them, Hamlet demands an oath of secrecy.  At this point the voice of the ghost chimes in to underscore the need of secrecy.   Hearing the voice but seeing nothing, Hamlet’s companion exclaims, “...this is wondrous strange,” to which Hamlet counters, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Like Horatio says of the ghost’s voice, many people find the doctrine of angels “wondrous strange.”  Believing that only what they can see and hear actually exists, they doubt the reality of angels.  To paraphrase Hamlet, angels are not parts of their philosophy.  But we Catholics, who accept a spiritual order of reality, forthrightly admit the reality of angels.  As Scripture attests in numerous places, angels exist as God’s attendants carrying out His commands.

The stories of the three archangels further reveal how angels extend God’s mercy.  Michael wages war against Satan to free humans from tyranny; Gabriel announces the coming of mercy incarnate, Jesus Christ; and Raphael leads Tobias from peril to peace.  We should happily admit that God sends angels as means for reaching our eternal destiny. 

Friday, January 3, 2014

Friday, Christmas Weekday

(I John 2:29-3:6; John 1:29-34)

It is not uncommon in a Shakespearean drama to have the main character talked about before he is presented on stage.  In the first scene of Hamlet, for example, the protagonist’s friends flirt with his father’s ghost and then say that he will make the ghost speak.  In the Gospel of John, the most dramatic of the four, Jesus is likewise not present in the initial scene but is referenced by John the Baptist.  Today’s passage relates this opening scene.

John the Baptist first describes Jesus as “’…the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,’” that is the one whose sacrificial death will free humanity from the bondage of sin.  Then he uses a paradox -- “’A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me’” – which refers Jesus’ preexistence as God’s eternal Son.  Finally, the Baptist relates how he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove to indicate that he has the definitive power to bestow full life on a diseased people.  It is a very brief scene that telescopes all that Jesus will accomplish in the rest of the gospel.

As Christmas carols worthy of the name incessantly remind us, Jesus came to save us from the folly of our sins and the annihilation of death.  John the Baptist gives the same message here at the beginning of John’s gospel but without the soothing images of a babe at his mother’s side.  Yet our response should approximate the song of the angels over Bethlehem: “Glory to God in the highest…” 

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 22:30.23:6-11; John 17:20-26)

“Suit the action to the word, the word to the action,” Prince Hamlet instructs a troupe of actors in Shakespeare’s famous drama. The mandate fittingly describes what is taking place in today’s gospel.

The passage concludes Jesus’ “priestly prayer” at the end of the long Last Supper discourse. He has prayed to the Father for his disciples to whom he has revealed the Father’s love. Now he will proceed to give the perfect demonstration of that love with his sacrificial death. It is the Father’s love because, as he says, he and the Father are one. The prayer includes the petition that his disciples may be one with him and the Father.

We are to consider ourselves among the beneficiaries of Jesus’ prayer. The word handed down to us has made us one with him. In giving testimony to him by our charity toward all, we have his support as well as his instruction. He will come to us as he does to Paul in the first reading saying, “Take courage….”

Monday, June 14, 2010

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 21:1-16; Matthew 5:43-48)

“’Frailty, thy name is woman,’” Prince Hamlet says of his mother, the queen, in Shakespeare’s play. But it is not true. Some women, like Lady Macbeth in another Shakespearean play, are as hard as the seats in the church basement. There is nothing frail either about Queen Jezebel in the first reading. As her husband, the king, pouts over not being able to obtain a parcel of land, she cooks up a treachery that would impress the Godfather. She not only defrauds but murders to steal the land away. Then she triply defies God’s law by arranging false witnesses testify that they heard poor Naboth curse God. Not frailty but pure wickedness characterizes this dame!

Some may see Jezebel as a figure of the archetypal Eve and cast all women in a negative hue. But we must resist the temptation. In Genesis, both Adam and Eve willingly share the forbidden fruit. In contemporary life, men much more typically than women commit heinous crimes. What sin always demonstrates, however, is the human need of redemption. Somehow men as well as women must be freed from the burden of guilt attached to their crimes.

“...all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus...,” declares St. Paul in the Letter to the Romans. Christ has freed Jews and Greeks, men and women, the dark and the light complexioned from the guilt which would hold them in sin like a car stuck in sand. We celebrate this redemption in the Eucharist. Here he frees us from our wanton desire to possess and to dominate like King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.

Homilette for Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels

(Revelation 12:7-12ab; John 1:47-51)

In Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet is alone when his father’s ghost reveals how he was murdered. Then Hamlet’s friends arrive asking what just happened. Before he tells them, Hamlet demands an oath of secrecy. At this point the voice of the ghost chimes in to underscore the need of secrecy. Hearing the voice but seeing nothing, Hamlet’s companion exclaims, “...this is wondrous strange,” to which Hamlet counters, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Like Horatio says of the ghost’s voice, many people find the doctrine of angels “wondrous strange.” Believing that only what they can see and hear actually exists, they doubt the reality of angels. To paraphrase Hamlet, angels are not parts of their philosophy. But we Catholics, who accept a spiritual order of reality, forthrightly admit the doctrine of angels. As Scripture attests in numerous places, angels exist as God’s attendants carrying out His commands.

The stories of the three archangels further reveal how angels extend God’s mercy. Michael wages war against Satan to free humans from tyranny; Gabriel announces the coming of mercy incarnate, Jesus Christ; and Raphael leads Tobias from peril to peace. We should happily admit that God sends angels as means for reaching our eternal destiny.

Homilette for Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 2:14-18; Mark 1:29-39)

For centuries the Church believed that St. Paul wrote the Letter to the Hebrews. There were a few dissenters in early times, but only in the sixteenth century did the great Erasmus begin to persuade the majority of scholars that Paul could not have authored the document. As a preeminent theologian of the third century put it, “everyone who is able to discern differences in style” would know that the letter did not come directly from the pen of Paul. The identity of the author remains unknown today.

Determining authorship is only one of the difficulties in studying the Letter to the Hebrews. It is also full of obscure terms that challenge the modern mind. In today’s passage, for example, we scratch our heads trying to interpret the meaning of how humans “through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life.” Is the letter trying to say, like Prince Hamlet in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy, that humans are not free to do what they want because they fear death?

No, it is not that. Such a fear would at least have us doing what is right. The fear to which the letter refers is a deeper anxiety that would paralyze us from doing any good at all. It is a fear that would so preoccupy us with the terror of death that we could not love God or neighbor. The letter tells us, however, that Christ has eliminated this kind of fear by his resurrection from the dead. Now we can, in the words of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, “befriend death” because it only unites us securely with God, the object of our living.

Homilette for Monday, September 29, 2008

Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels

(Revelation 12:7-12)

When the ghost of his father appears to Hamlet in Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet is alone. The ghost then explains to Hamlet how he was murdered. When Hamlet’s friends arrive and ask what news he has, Hamlet demands an oath of secrecy before he will tell them. The voice of the ghost chimes in to underscore the need of swearing secrecy. Hearing that voice, Hamlet’s companion Horatio blurts, “...this is wondrous strange.” The grand protagonist counters, “...There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, then are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Many people today – as, no doubt, in other ages -- find the doctrine of angels “wondrous strange” as Horatio found the ghost’s voice. Believing in only what they can see and hear, they doubt the existence of heavenly spirits. As Hamlet would say, angels are not parts of their philosophy. But we Catholics, who accept the spiritual realm where God dwells, should forthrightly accept the doctrine of angels. As Scripture attests in numerous places, angels exist as attendants to God carrying out His commands.

Today’s feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael really celebrates God’s mercy. As the stories of these angels show, God uses angels to assist humankind. As Michael wages war with Satan, as Gabriel announces the coming of Christ, and as Raphael guides the journeyer Tobias, so God continually sends angels to provide us the means to reach our eternal destination. We can think of angels as God’s loving hand extended to us in need.

Homilette for Monday, June 16, 2008

Monday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time

I Kings 21:1-16

“`Frailty, thy name is woman,’” Hamlet says of his mother Queen Gertrude in Shakespeare’s famous play. Not really. There is certainly nothing frail about Queen Jezebel in the first reading. As her husband King Ahab pouts over not being able to obtain a parcel of land, she devises a scheme to steal it away. Her treachery breaches human law with theft and murder. Then it doubly defies God by having false witnesses swear that they heard poor Naboth curse God. Not frailty but sheer audacity characterizes this dame.

Some may see Jezebel as an archetypal Eve committing the original sin and inducing her husband to likewise offend God. She may also remind us of another Shakespearean female, Lady Macbeth. But we must be careful not to attribute evil to women as if they are not frail but singularly malicious. That does not seem to be the Bible’s perspective as both Adam and Eve together share the forbidden fruit. Likewise, Macbeth is capable of outrage acting alone. Nor does it bear out in contemporary experience where, if anything, masculine crime is more heinous and pervasive. What sin always demonstrates, however, is the human need of redemption. Somehow both men and women must be freed from the burden of guilt attached to their crimes.

“...all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus...,” declares St. Paul in the Letter to the Romans. Christ has freed Jews and Greeks, men and women from the guilt which holds them in sin like a car stuck in mud. We celebrate this redemption now in this Eucharist. Right here he frees us from our wanton desires to possess and to dominate like Ahab and Jezebel.

Homilette for Monday, May 21, 2007

Monday, VII Easter

(Acts 19)

Talking with a few young men recently, I asked them if they knew who Pete Seeger was. They answered like the disciples in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles. They said something like that they had never even heard of Pete Seeger.

As edifying as it is to have heard Pete Seeger in concert, the experience can hardly be compared to having the Holy Spirit. The Spirit makes us children of God. We perhaps can say that the Spirit makes us God-like. We are peaceful, united and above all loving because of the Holy Spirit.

Is it necessary that we know about the Holy Spirit? Or is it enough that we have Him? Of course, discursive knowledge is not as crucial as having the Holy Spirit. However, knowing who the Spirit is and what He can do for us should help our appreciation of Him. The more we reflect on this greatest of gift, the more ways we might put it to use for everyone’s benefit. It’s like Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The more we reflect on it, the more we know ourselves and the world around us.