Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 5:1-6.13-14.16-17.23-28; Luke 21:12-19)

In today’s gospel Jesus warns his followers that some of them will be put to death before he comes again.  Short of that, they will be betrayed and persecuted.  Yet, he says, they are not to lose courage or give up.  He promises to assist them in their trials.

Jesus’ prediction has proved true until the present day.  Christians in different parts of the world are being harassed, injured, robbed, and even killed. Numbers are disputed.  Some say as many as 100,000 a year.  In any case persecutions are distressingly many.

As most of us live in areas without systematic persecution, we tend to think that Christians everywhere live in peace.  After all, Christ taught us to love, not to hate our neighbors.  However, whether it be from others’ religious zealotry or in reaction to our failure to follow Christ, Christians are suffering violence today.  Our response must not be to prepare ourselves for battle.  Rather, as much as possible, we are to give testimony to Jesus’ own long-suffering, peace, and love.

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 11, 2015

Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

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

Videos of extremist Muslims massacring Christians authenticate Jesus’ prophecy in today’s gospel.  Men and women thinking that they are doing God’s will are killing his disciples.  As there is cause for outrage, there is also need for reflection on what is taking place.

First of all, not all, not even a sizeable minority of Muslims agree with such persecution.  There are certainly fundamentalist interpretations of the Koran which deny basic rights of peoples of other faith traditions.  But murder is not tolerated, much less condoned by the vast majority of Muslim people.  Still, in many nations with Muslim majorities there is need for recognizing the full range of human rights to non-Muslims just as Muslims thrive with these freedoms in most countries.

It should also be noted that Jesus does not even hint of retaliation for the abuses he visualizes.  Throughout the gospel he promotes a spirit of love among his people.  True, in the Gospel According to John Jesus emphasizes love within the community, but surely this disposition of goodwill affects our outlook toward others.  Indeed, by our readiness to forgive wrongs, we testify to the knowledge of God which Jesus sees lacking among religious persecutors.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Memorial of Saint Cornelius, pope and martyr, and St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr

(I Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 7:1-10)

Persecutions in the early Church were not as severe and frequent as sometimes imagined but they did occur.  The Romans were generally lax about religious laws only insisting that people pay respect to their gods without necessarily abandoning their own.  Of course, Christians could not acknowledge the existence of other gods and, therefore, were persecuted when it was politically expedient. St. Cyprian was executed as a witness to faith in Christ while St. Pope Cornelius died in exile for being Christian. 

In the first reading today, Christians are exhorted to pray for those in authority so that they might avoid persecution.  It is not to be a prayer for show but, as the author states, that the authorities might realize God’s will of universal salvation.  The gospel likewise testifies to this purpose as Jesus praises the faith of a Roman officer.

Some may find it quaint today to pray for the salvation of non-Christians given Vatican II’s acknowledgment that one following his or her conscience will come to be saved.  However, Pope Benedict has offered some insight into the situation when he asks whether people who convert their opinions and desires into norms of conscience and do anything they wish may be saved.  No, the world desperately needs the saving truth of Jesus if everyone is going to be transformed into a saint.

Homilette for Monday, May 18, 2009

Monday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time

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

Jews have been persecuted so much throughout history that it is hard to imagine them persecuting others. Yet this is the claim of Palestinians who say that Israelis occupied their land after World War II and continue taking it today on the West Bank. It is also the charge of Jesus in the gospel who foresees the eviction of Christians from Jewish synagogues in the latter part of the first century.

Christian Jews prayed alongside other Jews for almost forty years after the crucifixion. Evidently they looked on one another something like contemporary Charismatics from various Christian denominations praying in the churches of their childhood on Sunday morning but coming together at other times for meetings featuring the Holy Spirit. Regular Jews accepted the diversity of belief in the synagogues until the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. catalyzed a reform. Then they systematically expelled Christian Jews from their midst with the charge that Christians adulterated worship with teachings about Jesus. In today’s gospel Jesus refers to the expulsion proceedings when he says that he will send the Advocate to testify that Christians truly worship God.

This Advocate, more literally “the Paraclete,” is the Holy Spirit who remains with the Church always. Today we might discern its presence in the Church’s consistent sexual ethic despite society’s acceptance of immoral practices like premarital cohabitation.

Homilette for Monday, April 28, 2008

Monday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time

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

Jews have been persecuted so much throughout history that it is hard to imagine them persecuting other peoples. Yet this is the claim of Palestinians today who say Israelis have occupied their land, especially in recent years on the West Bank. It is also the charge of Jesus in the gospel who foresees the eviction of Christians from Jewish synagogues.

Christians prayed alongside Jews for almost forty years after the crucifixion. We see this in the first reading where Paul goes to the riverside to meet the Jewish wives of pagan Greeks gathering there for prayer. Then, with the reforms of Judaism after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., Jews expelled Christians from synagogue worship. Jesus refers to this expulsion in the gospel where he says that he will send the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, to testify that Christians truly worship God.

This Advocate, whom we just call “the Holy Spirit,” remains with the Church in contemporary times. It assists her in discerning what is true and good. When necessary, it also defends her from persecution. The revisionist criticism of Pope Pius XII serves as an example. For nearly twenty years after World War II, Jews considered Pius XII a hero for his efforts to rescue the Italian Jewry from the Nazis. In the 1960s, however, critics began claiming that Pius was in league with the Nazis. With the help of the Spirit of truth scholars today are coming to the truth of the matter. Pius XII did act compassionately on behalf of many Jews. It is true that he might have spoken out more forcefully against Nazi persecution. However, such denouncement likely would have resulted in more, not less, persecution against Jews and prompted severe reprisals against the Church as well. We pray today that the Advocate continues to guide the Church and our own lives in ways of truth and goodness.

Homilette for March 7, 2008

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

(Wisdom 2:1a.12-22; John 7:1-2.10.25-30)

Few Americans have distinguished themselves more than George C. Marshall. As Army Chief of Staff during World War II, he oversaw the Army’s build-up that saved the world from Nazi and radical Japanese tyranny. Later as Secretary of State, he introduced the foreign aid plan that rebuilt the European economy and assured American prosperity. In recognition of these efforts Marshall received the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet Senator Joe McCarthy attacked Marshall as feeble, stupid, and responsible for China turning Communist!

Today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom soberly assures us that even the most righteous of people, like George Marshall, suffer persecution. Certainly the Gospel of John portrays Jesus as being so persecuted. By rehabilitating the hopelessly infirm and working other wonders, Jesus shows himself to be sent from God. By performing such acts on the Sabbath, he further reveals that the age of the Law, that prohibits Sabbath work, has ended. The Messiah or Christ, God’s anointed Son, has arrived in his person. Believing in him, not following the Law, leads to salvation. The gospel segment today pictures Jewish rulers, having their power threatened by faith in Jesus, as plotting to kill him.

When we pursue what is good, we will sometimes find our efforts criticized and our intentions misconstrued. It happened to Jesus, and, as his followers, we can expect it to happen to us. But suffering persecution is no reason to give up doing what is right. We might check our work and question our motives to assure that they are properly ordered. If so, then there is reason to stay the course. After all, Jesus promises those who suffer persecution for sake of righteousness will be awarded the Kingdom of heaven.

Homilette for Monday, April 23, 2007

Monday, III Easter

(Acts 6)

A mother comes forth. “What do you do,” she asks, “when your daughter doesn’t listen to you?” The woman feels persecuted by her own family! Probably she is not an isolated case. We may not be threatened anymore with death from persecutors. But many are frustrated by the difficulty they have in passing on the faith to the next generation.

Stephen provides us with at least a hint of a response. He has the face of an angel because he does not become upset with those whom he is debating. He merely speaks to them the truth in love. In his gospel St. Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles as well, quotes Jesus twice as saying that when persecuted, his disciples are not to prepare an elaborate defense. No, Jesus will give them the necessary wisdom to proclaim.

In speaking to a younger generation on their obligations to God the best we can do is to be calm and gentle. Blinded by the dazzling lights of fame, fortune, and fun which our culture flashes at every turn, they may not be able to understand our desire to please God. Nor may they appreciate our fear of being separated from God. But how could they fail to be impressed if we tell them of our love for God and show it by treating them with respect? Along with our prayers, our words of love related with goodwill may turn rebellious youth into true believers.