Memorial of St. Catherine of Sine, virgin and doctor of the Church
(John 16:5-11)
If we are left scratching our heads over what Jesus means in the gospel today, we are in good company. It is said that St. Augustine avoided the passage because of its difficulty. But the passage is not impossible to understand. To do so, however, we should note that the word convict is too literal a translation of the Greek and does not fit well with each object. It would be better to say that the Spirit Advocate proves the world wrong regarding sin, righteousness, and condemnation.
The world sees Christians as sinful for believing in Jesus. But the Spirit Advocate’s presence among Christians, sent upon Jesus’ return to the Father, reveals that those who refuse to believe in Jesus are the real sinners. These include those who doubted Jesus’ relation to God after seeing him work a sign and those who still shake their heads after being told about Jesus’ resurrection. The error of righteousness concerns the Jews’ putting Jesus to death for claiming to be God’s son. The Spirit Advocate moving Christians to love one another shows them to be righteous, not those who crucified him. The final error regards the condemnation of Satan, the prince of this world. Since Jesus is vindicated by his resurrection and return to the Father, his adversary Satan is condemned. We might ask, how is it that Satan is at liberty to ensnare humans? The gospel would answer that Satan is powerless over true believers and his limited domination will last only until Jesus returns in glory.
We can see in the life of St. Catherine of Siena a person who exhorted other Christians to manifest the Spirit Advocate that is given to them. She famously convinced Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome after years of refuge in Avignon. Not so well known is her ministry to a condemned man who refused to see a priest for reconciliation. The convict asked Catherine to be present at his execution, which she was. He died surrendering his soul to God with the names “Jesus” and “Catherine” on his lips.
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.
(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 Friday, April 25, 2008
Feast of St. Mark, evangelist
(Mark 16:15-20)
The Gospel according to Mark represents a literary landmark. It is not only the first of the four canonical gospels, but the first gospel of any kind. Never before had the world witnessed a pronouncement of “good news” (what “gospel” literally means) based on one man’s work, death, and glorious aftermath. We might say that the originality and sheer wonder of Jesus’ story required a new form of literature. As Jesus says in the same gospel, “new wine...new wineskins.”
We may enjoy reading Mark’s Gospel because it exhibits an earthiness about Jesus that is true of his Palestinian roots. Only in Mark of the four gospels is Jesus called a carpenter. Only Mark mentions Jesus living among wild beasts in the desert during his long pre-ministry retreat. Only in this gospel does Jesus use both fingers and spittle at the same time to cure the deaf mute. And only Mark quotes Jesus healing in Aramaic, his native tongue, when he tells the dead girl to arise, “Talita koum.” Jesus is a man of his times in Mark but also one that transcends those times because of his divine mission.
For almost the entire gospel Mark treats the disciples as dim-witted and cowardly. After Jesus feeds the five thousand and walks on water, Mark says that the disciples still do not understand. Likewise, they abandon Jesus like thieves in the night when he is arrested in Gethsemane. The disciples must await the grace of the resurrection in order to understand who Jesus is and to carry out his mission. In today’s gospel passage we see them going forth charged by that grace which accompanies Jesus’ commands. And that is where we are today – renewed and mandated to show God’s love to the world.
(Mark 16:15-20)
The Gospel according to Mark represents a literary landmark. It is not only the first of the four canonical gospels, but the first gospel of any kind. Never before had the world witnessed a pronouncement of “good news” (what “gospel” literally means) based on one man’s work, death, and glorious aftermath. We might say that the originality and sheer wonder of Jesus’ story required a new form of literature. As Jesus says in the same gospel, “new wine...new wineskins.”
We may enjoy reading Mark’s Gospel because it exhibits an earthiness about Jesus that is true of his Palestinian roots. Only in Mark of the four gospels is Jesus called a carpenter. Only Mark mentions Jesus living among wild beasts in the desert during his long pre-ministry retreat. Only in this gospel does Jesus use both fingers and spittle at the same time to cure the deaf mute. And only Mark quotes Jesus healing in Aramaic, his native tongue, when he tells the dead girl to arise, “Talita koum.” Jesus is a man of his times in Mark but also one that transcends those times because of his divine mission.
For almost the entire gospel Mark treats the disciples as dim-witted and cowardly. After Jesus feeds the five thousand and walks on water, Mark says that the disciples still do not understand. Likewise, they abandon Jesus like thieves in the night when he is arrested in Gethsemane. The disciples must await the grace of the resurrection in order to understand who Jesus is and to carry out his mission. In today’s gospel passage we see them going forth charged by that grace which accompanies Jesus’ commands. And that is where we are today – renewed and mandated to show God’s love to the world.
Homilette for Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter
(Acts 15:7-21)
Many years ago Cardinal Avery Dulles wrote an instructive book titled Models of the Church. The work answers the question, what is the Church? Is it an institution with organizational offices and a clear line of authority? Or is it a messenger announcing the divine offer of salvation? Or perhaps it is a servant of the world caring for the weak and instructing the powers? Maybe it is a sacrament, a sign of God’s ongoing presence among humans?
Although Cardinal Dulles indicates a preference for the sacramental model since it suggests a spiritual core, he concludes that the Church encompasses all the given models. Without having an institutional structure, the Church could not address issues that arise. Without preaching the Good News, the Church would not fulfill the mission given her by Christ. Without caring for the poor, the Church would not practice what she preaches. And without representing Christ in the world, the Church would not be his Body.
People sometimes wince at Church bureaucracy wondering if Christ intended all the pomp. The regalia of bishops and monsignors is not necessary, but order is essential. We see the order functioning in the first reading from Acts today. Peter, the head apostle, speaks first to the issue of Gentiles’ following the Jewish Law. Then James, the chief elder of the Jerusalem flock, presents his view. Finally, the reading indicates, all Apostles and community leaders decide the matter. Today’s system of pope and curia with dioceses and religious institutions represents a significant evolution of structure. But we can be assured that the Church has always had and will always need to be a visible institution.
(Acts 15:7-21)
Many years ago Cardinal Avery Dulles wrote an instructive book titled Models of the Church. The work answers the question, what is the Church? Is it an institution with organizational offices and a clear line of authority? Or is it a messenger announcing the divine offer of salvation? Or perhaps it is a servant of the world caring for the weak and instructing the powers? Maybe it is a sacrament, a sign of God’s ongoing presence among humans?
Although Cardinal Dulles indicates a preference for the sacramental model since it suggests a spiritual core, he concludes that the Church encompasses all the given models. Without having an institutional structure, the Church could not address issues that arise. Without preaching the Good News, the Church would not fulfill the mission given her by Christ. Without caring for the poor, the Church would not practice what she preaches. And without representing Christ in the world, the Church would not be his Body.
People sometimes wince at Church bureaucracy wondering if Christ intended all the pomp. The regalia of bishops and monsignors is not necessary, but order is essential. We see the order functioning in the first reading from Acts today. Peter, the head apostle, speaks first to the issue of Gentiles’ following the Jewish Law. Then James, the chief elder of the Jerusalem flock, presents his view. Finally, the reading indicates, all Apostles and community leaders decide the matter. Today’s system of pope and curia with dioceses and religious institutions represents a significant evolution of structure. But we can be assured that the Church has always had and will always need to be a visible institution.
Homilette for Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
(John 15:1-8)
Few people want to suffer. Suffering is unnatural and evil. Our bodies revolt at the proximity of pain. There are, no doubt, one or two who seek suffering per se. We term this behavior masochism and rightly see it as abnormal and harmful. Yet suffering may be accepted for a concomitant good. A cancer patient undergoes chemotherapy for this reason. Even when the benefit sought is not self-evident as the decrease in the size of a tumor or the amputation of a leg to save a life, suffering may occasion a benefit. Cardinal Avery Dulles, one of the Church’s great theologians, is suffering from increasing paralysis of limbs and mouth. He does not rail against the trouble. Rather he says, paraphrasing St. Paul, “I know that (Christ’s) power can be made perfect in infirmity.”
In today’s gospel Jesus indicates how suffering can lead to a positive outcome. He tells his disciples that the Father prunes productive branches so that they might yield more fruit. Of course, his metaphorical language describes the good that Christians do with the help of divine grace. Pruning is the invasive cutting back of superfluous branches that makes the remaining ones heartier. It implies suffering, but the end result obliterates suffering’s evil dimensions. Like the case of Cardinal Dulles, Christ’s power is being perfected.
All of us suffer slight setbacks if not major traumas. Perhaps our best efforts are criticized as unworthy or an illness causes us to miss an opportunity we have been counting on. Perhaps a close friend has died or we cannot afford central air-conditioning in hundred degree heat. Rather than consider these conditions as bad luck, punishment for past wrongs, or the triumph of evil, we should think of them for what they likely are – God’s pruning us of excess so that we might render more abundant fruit.
(John 15:1-8)
Few people want to suffer. Suffering is unnatural and evil. Our bodies revolt at the proximity of pain. There are, no doubt, one or two who seek suffering per se. We term this behavior masochism and rightly see it as abnormal and harmful. Yet suffering may be accepted for a concomitant good. A cancer patient undergoes chemotherapy for this reason. Even when the benefit sought is not self-evident as the decrease in the size of a tumor or the amputation of a leg to save a life, suffering may occasion a benefit. Cardinal Avery Dulles, one of the Church’s great theologians, is suffering from increasing paralysis of limbs and mouth. He does not rail against the trouble. Rather he says, paraphrasing St. Paul, “I know that (Christ’s) power can be made perfect in infirmity.”
In today’s gospel Jesus indicates how suffering can lead to a positive outcome. He tells his disciples that the Father prunes productive branches so that they might yield more fruit. Of course, his metaphorical language describes the good that Christians do with the help of divine grace. Pruning is the invasive cutting back of superfluous branches that makes the remaining ones heartier. It implies suffering, but the end result obliterates suffering’s evil dimensions. Like the case of Cardinal Dulles, Christ’s power is being perfected.
All of us suffer slight setbacks if not major traumas. Perhaps our best efforts are criticized as unworthy or an illness causes us to miss an opportunity we have been counting on. Perhaps a close friend has died or we cannot afford central air-conditioning in hundred degree heat. Rather than consider these conditions as bad luck, punishment for past wrongs, or the triumph of evil, we should think of them for what they likely are – God’s pruning us of excess so that we might render more abundant fruit.
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