Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(II Maccabees 6:18-31; Luke 19:1-10)

We look to the aged for prudence.  Experience has taught them not to delay something which must be done and to work diligently.  We also expect faithfulness in our elders.  They have learned the value of keeping commitments over the long haul.  Generosity is another virtue associated with the silver years.  Seniors have come to realize that giving has never made anyone poor.  Today’s first reading celebrates old age with the story of Eleazar, a virtuous Jew.

Eleazar refuses to eat pork to save his life.  He does not care that he will be tortured, much less that his das are ended.  What matters to him is keeping faith in God who created him.  Even when he is offered a ploy to avoid execution, he refuses.  Eleazar understands that being part of a people makes one responsible for others.  In this case he does not want to create scandal by giving bad example.  He is particularly conscious of the young who might be led astray.  They need to learn the nobility of the nation’s traditions.

We live in an age of individualism.  People care mostly about themselves and the circle immediately around them.  Too often the elderly lack a sense of intergenerational responsibility.  We need them to act like heroes as Eleazar does.  We need them to show us how not to live only for ourselves but for others.  We need them to assure us that God’s ways will lead to glory.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 13:1-9.15-17.19-30.33-62; John 8:1-11)

Elderly people fear the loss of their minds. When they begin to forget names, they wonder if they are experiencing the effects of Alzheimer’s.  When they no longer have the acuity to resolve conundrums, they believe that the end has begun.  As terrible as loss of mental capacity with age is, it is even more tragic when old people act unwisely.  This is seen in today’s first reading.

The old men lust after Susannah.  They should not be condemned for having sexual desire which does not evaporate with age.  But they are guilty of not controlling it.  They certainly should have gained enough wisdom to recognize that sexual relations must be reserved for marriage.  The young Daniel understands this truth as he cleverly ferrets out the lechers’ scheme. Jesus shows even more perspicacity in the gospel.  He upholds justice as he tells the chastised woman “not to sin anymore.”  More importantly, he teaches that mercy must temper justice.  With a justice that is too strict for mercy, most people would suffer perpetual punishment.

Hopefully we have been chastened by almost five weeks of penance.  After discovering how we offend God in both small and great ways, we can see more clearly the need of mercy.  We are like that miserable woman standing in guilt before Jesus.  Like her as well, we will be sent away forgiven and renewed to live righteously. 

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(II Maccabees 6:18-31; Luke 19:1-10)

There is a cliché saying that old age with all its limitations is better than the alternative, meaning death.  Eleazar in the reading from II Maccabees today disproves that line.  At once he shows where true glory lies and how to attain it.

The situation is hardly impossible although it may seem far-fetched in many societies today.  Eleazar is coaxed to fake eating pork, prohibited in the Jewish diet, in order to conform to the dictates of the cultural imperialists of his time.  Made wise with his years, Eleazar realizes that old men and women are to teach youth the virtues of loyalty and devotion.  Even though it will cost him his life, he knows that he must not lead younger people astray by pretending to eat the tabooed meat.  Of course, he realizes as well that his persecutors could only spare his physical life.  They cannot bestow upon him eternal life which comes as a gift from God to those who do his will.

Too often today old people emulate youth rather than vice versa.  It is not that young people have nothing to teach the elderly.  Some demonstrate edifying toleration for different kinds of people that is worthy of imitation.  Nevertheless, as we grow old, we hopefully become wise and pass our wisdom to younger generations.

Homilette for Friday, September 4, 2009

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 5:33-39)

It is always perplexing to hear people seemingly without a prejudiced sentiment in their soul deride old age. Perhaps they invert a friend’s age saying that she is “thirty-seven” rather than “seventy-three.” Or maybe they repudiate that the friend has any age at all be calling her “seventy-three years young.”

What is it about old age that we don’t like to think of ourselves or those whom we love as having any part in it? When living things become old, they naturally die so humans at least fear growing old for that reason. Similarly we know that in old age people experience a decrease in ability, be it physical -- the capacity to work day and night, or mental – the tendency to forget. But becoming old has positive connotations as well. People often correct destructive behavior patterns in old age, and there is some truth to the celebrated “wisdom of old age.” Antiques have a definite charm as they imply craftsmanship and originality. In today’s gospel Jesus reminds us of an item that generally improves with years – wine.

American Catholics need to be wary of denigrating old age because both their faith tradition and their government are practically ancient. The Catholic Church is sometimes subtitled “the oldest institution in the world.” Likewise, there are few constitutional governments older than that of the United States. We can say that it is good to be old when age has a regenerating element that self-corrects corrupting tendencies and adapts to current ways of life. In the Church we recognize this factor as the Holy Spirit. In American society we see it as a sense of human equality that recognizes the value of every person whether native born or emigrating from another land.