Monday, May 28, 2018

Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Memorial Day)

(I Peter 1:3-9; Mark 10:17-27)

Today the United States celebrates Memorial Day.  For generations Americans have isolated a day at the end of May to pray for their war dead.  These primarily include young men who died in wars fought to defend their country.  Because they were young, they tended to rashly follow their hearts’ desires.  The prayer is that God will forgive them any sins and reward them for serving their country.  In this way they too will partake of the rich inheritance promised in today’s reading from I Peter.

The Letter of Peter is written for Christians who suffer persecution.  The suffering may stem from friends whose corrupt pleasures the disciples of Christ no longer share.  Or it may come from authorities who cannot tolerate their abandoning the ancient gods.  The letter exhorts those Christians to carry on the struggle.  It holds up as a reward the prize of heaven.  It also suggests as an even more basic reason to resist temptation in their relationship with Jesus.  He will one day be revealed as savior of the whole world.

As well as our war dead we should pray today for those who are being persecuted for their faith.  Whether they are Christians in Pakistan, Muslims in Myanmar, or Baha’is in Iran, we pray that they will realize the promise of Jesus Christ.  Having tried, as they did, to serve others, we pray that God will welcome them into eternal life.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

Memorial Day is sometimes called Decoration Day.  This is so because on this day Americans have traditionally put flowers on the graves of their deceased loved ones.  The custom started after the Civil War which claimed the lives of more Americans than any other.  In time people decorated the graves of all loved ones, not just fallen soldiers.

Flowers symbolize new life.  They are fitting for Christian graves because Christians believe that the dead will live again.  The Holy Spirit will reintegrate their bodies and unite them with their souls.  Then they will praise God in joy for eternity.  We have a foreshadowing of this day in today’s first reading.

Paul meets twelve Ephesians who identify with the Jesus.  Perhaps because they do not exhibit much joy, Paul asks the twelve if they have received the Holy Spirit.  When they admit ignorance of the Spirit, Paul baptizes them in Jesus’ name.  The effect is wonderful.  The Spirit moves the Ephesians to pray in tongues and to tell the wonders of God.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 17:20-24; Mark 10:17-27)

In The Red Wheel novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn pictures a young army officer seeking advice from a priest about the morality of war.  The officer wonders what Jesus meant when he told his disciples not to resist evil.  He asks whether the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy was not correct to interpret the passage as a condemnation of war.  The priest responds that there are worse evils than war and that war is the necessary price for living together in a state.  On this Memorial Day we might understand the gospel in this light.

When Jesus tells the young man that he must give up everything and follow him to have eternal life, he means of course that the man becomes one of his disciples.  But cannot a disciple fight in the army to protect the common good?  The army is a great equalizer.  Soldiers give up individual privileges to become an effective fighting unit.  Often enough they are also called to give up their lives.  When they do these things out of love for country, they should indeed be considered as Jesus’ followers.

Today we honor especially those who have died in war.  Perhaps some did so reluctantly and maybe some fought for reasons other than love of country. We also pray for them that they may be judged for the good that they did.  After all, we hope to be judged ourselves according to the same measure.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Memorial of Saint Philip Neri, priest

(Acts 16:11-15; John 15:26-16:4a)

More than a salute to military veterans and certainly more than a long weekend, Memorial Day gives tribute to the war dead.  The holiday originated after the Civil War, the deadliest conflict in American history, to honor the patriotism of those who gave their lives for their country.  As in all cases the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promises to send in today’s gospel, enlightens the understanding of this critical virtue.

Patriotism, the love of one’s country, enables the fulfillment of the fifth formulation of the natural law – to live in society.  It calls forth sacrifice on a national level which can, at times, supersede personal and local concerns.  Patriotism should not be regarded as the reckless pursuit of national dominance.  Rather, it is the judicious promotion of the common good.  Sadly, often enough such effort involves the bearing of arms and the giving of lives.

The best that we can do for our war dead -- indeed for all the dead -- is to pray for them.  War often incites irresponsibility in men and women for which they may be severely judged.  We should God, who is always merciful, to forgive the excesses of the war dead and to reward them on the merit of their patriotism.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 17:20-24; Mark 10:17-27)

In northern climes it is customary to think of death toward the end of the year when days grow short and winds chill the bones.  Perhaps this is why All Souls Day is fixed in November.  But today is a good day to reflect on death as the United States government has set it apart to remember the dead.

Memorial Day originated after the Civil War to remember the more than one-half million fallen soldiers in that conflict.  It was placed at the end of May when flowers are in full bloom to decorate the graves of the war dead.  Americans soon came to cemeteries on Memorial Day to pray for all their beloved dead.  Nowadays many people tend to take a vacation on the extended weekend, but some consideration of the dead is still in order.  After all if people to do not sufficiently reflect on death, they cannot adequately understand life.

The author of today’s first reading believes that death is the final event for a person.  The dead may be remembered afterwards, but they will have no consciousness of the tribute. In the gospel Jesus suggests another view of death.  Acknowledging the validity of the man’s question about eternal life, Jesus assumes that death can be transcended.  For this to happen, one must rely not on one’s resources – be it wealth, education, or energy -- but completely on God.  Unfortunately, the man in the gospel is not willing to go that far in faith.  We pray now that our dead loved ones along with all those who died defending their country have submitted themselves to God in faith.  We also pray for ourselves, as the reading from Sirach suggests, that we too may come to complete reliance on God.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Memorial Day)

(I Peter 1:3-9; Mark 10:17-27)

“Where have all the flowers gone?” asks a popular folk song of the 1960s. It answers its own question: flowers have gone to young girls, who have gone to soldiers, who have gone to graveyards, from which have sprouted more flowers. And so the world never seems to learn that war terribly wastes human life. Today the United States remembers its war dead, mostly young men who were killed in military actions instigated by others. Many will pray that all those who have given their lives in defense of their country will receive the inheritance afforded by Christ as the reading from the first letter of Peter states.

The letter is obviously meant to shore up the hope of early Christians suffering persecution. The author reminds them that faith has eternal salvation as its goal. He assures them that whatever trial they experience will be richly rewarded if they can, like their brother Jesus, love those who oppose them even when their enemies’ swords are raised against them.

Since expecting soldiers in battle to love their enemies means more self-denial than most people can muster, we pray that God will be merciful to the dead ones. We hope that He will examine their lives to find one selfless deed reminiscent of His Son and for that allow them a dwelling place in His kingdom.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 16:11-15; John 15:26-16:4a)

Since its recent turnover of government, Egypt has been added to the list of “countries of particular concern” published by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Other nations with the doleful distinction include Burma, China, Iran and Iraq. Most of these rights-violating countries are either Muslim or Communist led, but Christian nations have often shown intolerance. In the gospel today Jesus foresees his followers being persecuted. No doubt he would have wept if he saw religious intolerance carried out in his name.

Jesus goes on to promise his disciples the “Spirit of truth” so that, among other testimony, they may bear witness to his patience with people who hold different viewpoints. As he deplores the persecution of those who proclaim him as Lord, he does not intend that belief in him be forced upon anyone.

Today the United States remembers its war dead. Although our country has often mixed good and questionable motives for engaging in war, we say with grateful pride that our soldiers have typically given their lives for the cause of freedom. Here it should be emphasized that the practice of one’s religion without harassment constitutes the most basic freedom.

Homilette for Monday, May 25, 2009

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

As we pray for our war dead today, we need to face the horror of it all. Once a movie featuring the British Air Force during World War I exposed the frivolousness with which aviators spoke about battle. The film made clear that only because they never witnessed the actual deaths or saw the remains of fallen comrades, could pilots boast of the glory of combat. Surely, a more realistic viewpoint is that of the infantryman like Wilfred Owen, the English poet who died in World War I. He writes that if we could see war’s vile and gore, we would not say “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” (that it is a sweet and noble thing to die for one’s country).

In the gospel Jesus assures us that despite the horror of war or of any other evil, we can be at peace. We need not worry because he has conquered the twin nemeses of evil and death. We only have to remain close to him. And if we, like his disciples, find ourselves separated from him, we only have to turn again in his direction asking forgiveness.

Homilette for Monday, May 27, 2008

I am posting two reflections here -- the first explicitly for Memorial Day and the second focusing on the readings for Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time. cm

Memorial Day

In Shakespeare’s play Henry V, the king under disguise speaks with his troops before battle. One soldier claims that the king would be guilty of all the sins of those who die in battle if his cause is not just. Henry disagrees. “The King is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers...,” he says, “for they purpose not their death when they purpose their services.”

Henry seems to make the better argument. For this reason we come here to pray for dead soldiers and sailors, not for dead Presidents. We can easily imagine the temptations of those going off to war. They may become over-zealous in killing during battle, or they may behave immorally in recreation away from home. Whether their sins are grave or light, they deserve our prayers. After all, they gave their lives that we might enjoy freedom and dignity.

Catholics show themselves as worthy Americans on Memorial Day by remembering at Mass our country’s war dead. Few practices are more uniquely Catholic than praying for the dead. And there is no better way to pray for the dead than offering for their sake the memorial of our Savior’s death.

Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Mark 10:17-27)

Preachers used to have a solution to the absurdity of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. They claimed that there was a gate in Jerusalem called “the needle eye” which a camel might enter if it ducked enough. So, they concluded, Jesus allows the possibility of the rich saving themselves after all.

Such an interpretation of Jesus’ words, however, misconstrued the point Jesus is making. Because they think of riches as a blessing from God, the disciples figure that God will continue to bless them with a ticket to heaven. Jesus disabuses them of this idea by saying that the chances of the rich entering heaven are as impossible as a ten-foot animal’s passing through a quarter-inch opening.

Do the poor have a greater chance? Jesus would answer “yes” because the poor tend to ask God’s help more regularly. The rich too can be saved if they sincerely turn to God for assistance. Jesus wants to impress upon all that on our own we cannot cross the divide that separates us from God. Whether we are as rich as Bill Gates or as strong as Mr. Atlas our resources are insufficient. But God can get us across so let us implore His help and live up to His commands.

Homilette for Monday, May 28, 2007

Monday, VIII Week

Memorial Day Mass

In Shakespeare’s play Henry V, the king under disguise speaks with his troops before battle. One soldier claims that the king would be guilty of all the sins of those who die in battle if his cause is not just. Henry disagrees. “The King is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers...,” he says, “for they purpose not their death when they purpose their services.”

Certainly, Henry makes the better argument and for this reason we come here to pray for dead soldiers and sailors, not for dead Presidents. We can easily imagine the temptations of those going into battle. They may become over-zealous in their killing or they may victimize not only enemy combatants but their non-combatant family members as well. But whether they have committed grave sins or venial ones, they deserve our prayers. After all, they gave their lives that we might enjoy freedom and human dignity.

Catholics show themselves as worthy Americans today as we pray for our country’s war dead. Few practices are more uniquely Catholic than praying for the dead. And certainly there can be no better way to celebrate Memorial Day than asking God’s mercy on those who have died in service of our country.

Homilette for Saturday, May 26, 2007

Saturday, VII Easter

(Acts 28 and John 21)

I wonder how many of us feel more aware that this is Memorial Day weekend than that this is Pentecost weekend. It is easily understandable how a summer holiday weekend will so affect our lives in satisfying ways that we will give it first attention. Perhaps a few of us as well are looking forward to remembering our war dead in this time of hostility or of our beloved who have gone before us into the night.

But just for a few moments let us try to feel the excitement of the celebration of Pentecost. We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the group of disciples and upon us. The Spirit will unite us together. He sends us forth to renew the face of the earth – that is, to transform our neighborhoods from indifferent, maybe hostile, places to friendly and caring communities. He also breathes life into our dead so that they just don’t linger in our memories until we join them.

The Scripture readings today present two characters to help us celebrate Pentecost. If anyone has ever been moved by the Spirit, surely Paul of Tarsus has. In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles he is in captivity. Yet he continues to preach the Good News. We would do well not just to admire but to imitate his desire to tell others about Jesus Christ. The gospel focuses on the Beloved Disciple. We really do not really know his name. But he stands out among all the disciples for just one quality – his love for Jesus. Peter may be the caretaker of Jesus’ flock and Thomas his proclaimer as “Lord and God.” But no one loves him quite as much as the Beloved Disciple. This is something else that we should imitate as well as admire.