Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the Church

(I Kings 18:41-46; Matthew 5:20-26)

 “How long will you straddle the issue?” Elijah asks the people of Israel.  He is challenging them to choose between the Lord God and Baal.  The former is credited with liberating Israel’s ancestors from servitude.  Baal is associated with fertility.  He is thought to produce rain for the people’s crops.  The people must decide now to whom they will give allegiance.

First, however, they should take note how the Lord is active in their lives every day.  He has provided the Law to guide them to justice.  He also has responded to their pleas on numerous occasions. He does so in today’s passage.  Elijah calls out to the Lord in need.  Once again, the Lord acts with mercy and power.

People today continue to straddle the same issue.  They know of Jesus Christ who has given them a more perfect Law.  With him they can freely, even joyfully live in righteousness.  They also know of humanly made gods with far-reaching influence.  Technology which enthralls as well as makes living easier is the best example.  People worship it, in a sense, by pursuing constantly new inventions. Which one will we choose?  Christ who works from within enabling us to love unselfishly or the world of endless fascination.  We cannot straddle the issue forever.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 11:1-9; Mark 8:34-9:1)

Not only athletes but quite regular men and women look to artificial sources for self-enhancement. After all, if steroids could turn an average hitter into superstar, might they not make any body everyone’s desire or envy by adding proportion? The reading from Genesis today teaches us that the use of technology to boost oneself is really almost as old as the human species itself.

The inhabitants of Babel live not long after Noah who was the first born human after the death of Adam. God told Noah and his sons to “multiply and fill the earth.” Yet some of his descendants come together to build the city of Babel! By their own admission their purpose is egotistical. They want “to make a name for themselves” by means of technology -- molding bricks and hardening them with fire. They seem to think that they might rival God by constructing a tower so high that it reaches heaven. The idea is ludicrous, of course. God has to go down to stop the folly before the people destroy themselves.

What Genesis is critiquing is not the desire of humans to improve themselves but the hubris or pride that drives them to win the adulation of others. People want to become idols – to be considered gods among their peers. God is not jealous. He knows quite well that whatever humans make of and by themselves, they will never be even cockroaches in comparison to Him. But God wants His noblest creatures to do better than that. He confuses their languages and resends them throughout the world to open their eyes as it were. God wants us to respect and admire the richness of different individuals and cultures so that we might turn back to him in awe and gratitude.