Thursday, December 23, 2021

 Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent – December 23

(Malachi 3:1-4.23-24; Luke 1:57-66)

After doing something seriously wrong, we may feel out of sorts.  Guilt weighs on our conscience.  One thing after another seems to go south.  In Shakespeare’s Macbeth after killing the king, both Macbeth and his wife experience a serious of setbacks.  She goes out of her mind, and he is routed.  In the gospel Zechariah commits a serious sin, suffers consequences, but shows himself capable of reform.

Zechariah expressed doubt that the good news of the angel Gabriel could come to pass.  When told that he and his barren wife Elizabeth would bear a son, he questioned God’s authority.  As a result, he was struck speechless.  In today’s passage, the child is born.  Zechariah shows acceptance of God’s authority by naming his son “John” as Gabriel ordained.  Only then is Zechariah’s speech restored.

When John grows up, he will announce the coming of the Lord.  Doing so, he fulfills the prophecy of today’s first reading.  John preaches repentance to prepare the people for Christ’s forgiveness. We too must repent when we do something wrong.  Then, like Zechariah, we can be refreshed to give praise to God.

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 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.

Homily for Sunday, April 15, 2007

II SUNDAY OF EASTER

(John 20)

Today, the second Sunday of Easter, used to be called Low Sunday. The rather unspectacular reason for this name was that the first Sunday of Easter was called the “high feast of Easter.” The second Sunday, when the people were still celebrating the resurrection of the Lord, was then named the “low feast of Easter.”

The gospel today relates Jesus’ appearances to his disciples both on the day he rose from the day and a week later. We all know the story well since we hear this same gospel on the second Sunday of Easter every year. Thomas is not present when Jesus first appears to his followers. But there he stands before Jesus the second time around. Since Thomas has insensitively said that he would not believe unless he touches Jesus’ wounds, Jesus invites him to do just that! The scene ends with Jesus blessing all those who believe without seeing. We can conclude then that this gospel passage is meant to confirm our faith in Christ’s resurrection.

Seven years ago, Pope John Paul II declared that this second Sunday of Easter would be known as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” The reason for this title may also be found in the same gospel passage. On the evening of his resurrection when Jesus appears to his disciples, he breathes on them the Holy Spirit. Sending them into the world with the power to forgive sins, Jesus makes them agents of God’s mercy.

With all the talk of a “crisis of faith,” we might think that most people no longer believe in life after death. Likewise, we might want to proclaim divine mercy since many people seem to reject God because they see Him as a task master. However, Americans overwhelmingly believe in an afterlife and also that they will experience heaven! A poll taken a few years ago showed that eight out of ten Americans accept life after death and another one in ten is at least uncertain about it. When asked whether they expect to get to heaven, almost two Americans in three said “yes.” Not surprisingly, therefore, only one person in two hundred sees herself or himself as literally damned.

Since so many people already accept the resurrection of the dead and believe in God’s mercy, why bother repeating this gospel year after year? We might find another reason in what Thomas proclaims after Jesus challenges his disbelief. Thomas calls Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas speaks on behalf of all of us, doesn’t he? Jesus is our Lord and our God. This means that we submit our will to his; we will keep his commandments. The one commandment that he emphasizes, at least in the Gospel of John, is that we love one another as he has loved us.

Such love sounds as simple as “2+2” but many make it as complex as calculus. A man is taking care of his wife with Alzheimer’s disease. He asks his children to help out by calling their mother from time-to-time. Of course, he tells them, it is hard to carry on a conversation, but she so much enjoys hearing their voices. Still, they resist – at least, three of the four siblings. Loving one another at least demands that we care for the people whom God has put close to us.

When the new king is proclaimed at the end of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, all characters make a grand bow. He is their “lord,” the one whose commands they will keep. We recognize Jesus as someone greater. He is for each of us “my Lord and my God.” To him we bow not just our bodies but our wills as well. To him we bow our wills.