Thursday, June 4, 2026

 

Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Timothy 2:8-15; Mark 12:28-34)

We nod affirmingly to the words of Jesus in today’s gospel.  “Yes,” we say, “we are to love God above all and to love our neighbors as ourselves.”  But then, as Paul points out in the first reading, we quibble about words.  “What does it mean to say, “above all”?  we ask, and “How can I be expected to show the same love to another household as I do my own?”

Responses to our queries need not be abstract.  “Above all” means that we realize, as Bishop Robert Barron frequently says, that our lives are not about ourselves but about God.  We are to seek what He wants of us, not what we may like for ourselves.  I might enjoy watching sports events at the bar with my friends on Sunday evenings, but my conscience – that is God speaking -- tells me to spend time at the nursing home visiting an old relative.

As everything else in the world, love should be ordered.  We can hardly pay as much attention to the needs of all who are around us as we do to ourselves and our families.  Loving our neighbor as ourselves means that we don’t forget them as we proportion our resources.  Certainly, our children have a greater claim on our time than the neighbor’s children.  But those children too require our consideration and effort. 

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 7:36-50)

When preaching, Bishop Robert Barron often refers to himself as a sinner.  He does not confess his sins publicly.  Rather, he reminds his audience that they, like he, stand in need of forgiveness.  Unlike Bishop Barron, the Pharisee in today’s gospel does not acknowledge his sins.  Yet he judges the woman who anoints Jesus as a sinner.  Meanwhile, the woman openly demonstrates that she is a sinner seeking God’s forgiveness.  As in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector, she will go home justified while the Pharisee remains in his unacknowledged sins.

People often have difficulty remembering their sins.  They can frustrate priests in Confession when they almost brag that they have not sinned.  Probably the dramatic decrease in confessions over the last century has been caused by people not recognizing how they have offended God.  Yet it is a special grace to become aware of one’s sins so that one can receive forgiveness.

We do well to make an examination of conscience at the end of every day.  We might write down our offenses against Lord and neighbor.  We will want to bring these sins to Confession.  This practice will also help us avoid committing the same sins in the future.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-59)

The fourth century heretic Arius had the same problem which vexes the Jews in today’s gospel.  If God is infinite, he argued, then he could not become incarnate in a singular subject.  He claimed that this would be like putting a mountain into a box.  Therefore, Arius concluded, Jesus must have been created like all other beings and then raised to a divine status.  In the gospel the Jews reason similarly.  Because they think that Jesus came to be in time like everything else, he is wrong to claim equality with God by calling himself “I AM.”    

A few years ago theologian Robert Barron, now a bishop, published an essay which can be used to explain how Arius and the Jews are mistaken.  Like the great thinkers of the Catholic tradition, Bishop Barron understands God not as just the highest being but qualitatively different from all other beings.  Therefore, He cannot be compared to any other.  God gives glimpses of who He is throughout Scripture and especially in Jesus, but His nature is beyond human understanding. Only because of God’s revelation can it be said that He became human.  How this came about is also beyond human reckoning although it remains a truth of faith.

We can say, however, that God became human so that we can become like God.  Knowing ourselves as sinners, this may seem incredible although the saints provide us a glimmer of hope.  Jesus’ death and resurrection has given them the grace to become holy.  The same Easter mystery will sanctify us if we allow it.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-59)

The charismatic heretic of the fourth century Arius had the same problem which vexes the Jews in today’s gospel.  If God is infinite, he argued, then he could not become incarnate in a singular subject.  This, he claimed, would be like putting a mountain into a box.  Therefore, Arius concluded, Jesus must have been created like all other beings and then raised to divine status by God’s special indulgence.  In the gospel reading the Jews critique Jesus as coming to a similar erroneous conclusion when he claims, “Before Abraham came to be, I AM.”  The Jews think that Jesus is identifying himself with the eternal “I AM” when he is obviously a creature born in time. 

Recently Fr. Robert Barron, one of today’s gifted theologians, published an essay which can be used to explain how Arius and the Jews are mistaken.  Like his great predecessors Saints Augustine, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas, Fr. Barron understands God not as just the highest being but qualitatively different from all other beings so that he cannot be compared to any other.  We have glimpses of who God is through Jesus, but His nature is really beyond human understanding. It is only because God has revealed it that we can say He became human.  Again how this happens is beyond reckoning.

God became human in Jesus so that humans can become like God.  Knowing ourselves as sinners, this may seem incredible although the saints provide us a glimmer of hope.  Jesus’ death and resurrection has given them the grace to become holy.  The same Easter mystery will sanctify us.