Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Galatians 3:1-5)
Paul’s frontal against the Galatians – “O stupid Galatians, who has bewitched you?” – makes us wonder what kind of people would tolerate such criticism. Most likely Paul is addressing a community of Christians he founded in the northern part of the province of Galatia. The fair-haired and light complexioned inhabitants of that area migrated in the third century before Christ from the region of the Pyrenees separationg what is presently France and Spain. “Galatians” comes from the same root as the Latin word Gallia which refers to the expansive tract of Western Europe that includes modern France.
In Paul’s day Galatians were considered something like the Brobdingnagians of Jonathan Swift’s famous novel Gulliver’s Travels. One author describes them: “large, unpredictable simpletons, instinctively generous, ferocious and highly dangerous when angry, but without stamina and easy to trick.” Paul evidently considered them good-hearted enough to accept his sharp disapproval without rejecting his message. He probably had developed a deep rapport with them when ill health caused him to stay with them for a protracted amount of time.
Paul’s language, however, reveals more about himself than about the Galatians. For Paul the single, most important fact of life was God’s redemption of humanity in Jesus Christ. For some mysterious reason Christ had commissioned him to preach this truth to non-Jews. He did not mean to subjugate anyone but only to express his love for his hearers as Christ showed his love for all by his death on the cross. If strong language was necessary for a people to accept redemption, he would use it. If refined rhetoric would do the job, he would argue with great sophistication. As he himself would write to the Corinthians, “I have become all things to all, so that I might save at least some” (I Cor 9:22).
Homilette for Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Luke 11:1-4)
With Halloween approaching we might want to reflect on the first petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “hallowed be your name.” The word Halloween comes from a form of hallowed. It is actually short for all hallows even, or the eve of all saints. American Catholics have a sense of this meaning since we are obligated to attend mass the next day, the Feast of All Saints.
Obviously then, “hallowed” is connected with sanctity. Indeed, it is an ancient way of saying “holy.” When we pray “hallowed be your name,” we express our wish that God’s name be reverenced throughout the world. Here a name is more than a way to call something or somebody; rather, it means one’s fame or reputation. We can look at two famous Shakespearean quotes to appreciate the difference. In Romeo and Juliet the heroine downplays the importance of a name when she tells her lover, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by another name would smell so sweet.” The character Cassio in Othello captures more the biblical idea of name when he speaks of reputation, “Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself...”
When the world calls upon God with reverence – our petition here – it will first recognize God as father. More than that, it also sees God as deserving of awe and absolute attention.
(Luke 11:1-4)
With Halloween approaching we might want to reflect on the first petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “hallowed be your name.” The word Halloween comes from a form of hallowed. It is actually short for all hallows even, or the eve of all saints. American Catholics have a sense of this meaning since we are obligated to attend mass the next day, the Feast of All Saints.
Obviously then, “hallowed” is connected with sanctity. Indeed, it is an ancient way of saying “holy.” When we pray “hallowed be your name,” we express our wish that God’s name be reverenced throughout the world. Here a name is more than a way to call something or somebody; rather, it means one’s fame or reputation. We can look at two famous Shakespearean quotes to appreciate the difference. In Romeo and Juliet the heroine downplays the importance of a name when she tells her lover, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by another name would smell so sweet.” The character Cassio in Othello captures more the biblical idea of name when he speaks of reputation, “Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself...”
When the world calls upon God with reverence – our petition here – it will first recognize God as father. More than that, it also sees God as deserving of awe and absolute attention.
Homilette for Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
(Galatians 1:13-24)
The Black preacher began his sermon by identifying himself. He said, “I’m just a nobody, who came to tell anybody, about somebody, who died to save everybody.” In the first reading today, Paul uses more words but means to say essentially the same thing.
The passage contains Paul’s own account of God’s revelation to him of Jesus Christ. Biblical students note that the story lacks the embellishments of the three accounts of the incident in the Acts of the Apostles. Paul does not give details because his purpose is not primarily to tell his story. Rather, he intends to extol the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Neither does Paul dwell on Peter and the other apostles. They also pale in comparison to the unwarranted gift of grace.
Paul wants to impress upon his readers – which certainly include us along with the Galatians – that nothing which we do or anyone else does – be the person a Presidential candidate or a World Series hero – can be as significant for us as the love of God. Therefore, Paul indicates, it is only right that we stop calculating our own salvation and live completely for Christ. The irony (or mystery if you prefer) is that when we do so, we gain infinitely more than we can by our own efforts.
We might see praying the rosary as an example of what Paul intends here. Meditating on the mysteries of Jesus’ life as we recite the prayers by now as much part of us as the alphabet, we lose ourselves in thought. But our needs are not ignored. Rather, the Almighty takes them up for fulfillment.
(Galatians 1:13-24)
The Black preacher began his sermon by identifying himself. He said, “I’m just a nobody, who came to tell anybody, about somebody, who died to save everybody.” In the first reading today, Paul uses more words but means to say essentially the same thing.
The passage contains Paul’s own account of God’s revelation to him of Jesus Christ. Biblical students note that the story lacks the embellishments of the three accounts of the incident in the Acts of the Apostles. Paul does not give details because his purpose is not primarily to tell his story. Rather, he intends to extol the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Neither does Paul dwell on Peter and the other apostles. They also pale in comparison to the unwarranted gift of grace.
Paul wants to impress upon his readers – which certainly include us along with the Galatians – that nothing which we do or anyone else does – be the person a Presidential candidate or a World Series hero – can be as significant for us as the love of God. Therefore, Paul indicates, it is only right that we stop calculating our own salvation and live completely for Christ. The irony (or mystery if you prefer) is that when we do so, we gain infinitely more than we can by our own efforts.
We might see praying the rosary as an example of what Paul intends here. Meditating on the mysteries of Jesus’ life as we recite the prayers by now as much part of us as the alphabet, we lose ourselves in thought. But our needs are not ignored. Rather, the Almighty takes them up for fulfillment.
Homilette for Monday, October 6, 2008
Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Luke 10:25-37)
Commentators on Scripture note that the priest and the Levite who ignore the dying victim have some reasons to pass him by. As we might not offer help to a man standing beside a car with hood open out of wariness for a trap so too the priest and Levite might fear that the apparent victim is actually a decoy. Also, the Jewish clergy may be traveling on the other side of the road because they are on the way to Jerusalem to participate in Temple sacrifice. Handling a corpse would have prohibited the men from performing their professional services.
Still their lack of response to a person likely in desperate need is hardly commendable, much less worthy of eternal life. Entering God’s kingdom requires that we go out of our way to assist others. It happens the moment that our love as eros, seeking our own benefit, melts into love as agape, striving for the good of the other as unrelated to our own. To be sure, there is a connection between the two ways of loving. Human love always begins with eros, which is not necessarily selfish. God’s grace, however, transforms it into His unique and supreme way of caring.
Joe Biden’s story during the vice-presidential debate the other night may help us appreciate this parable. Biden remarked how as a young senator the Majority Leader Mike Mansfield corrected him for criticizing conservative senator Jesse Helms as an awful person. Mansfield told Biden that Helms and his wife had adopted a child with cerebral palsy, a deed indicating goodness. Biden’s lesson was to never judge a person’s motives; one may only judge the person’s actions. The priest and the Levite perhaps passed by the injured man for some plausible reason. But the situation called for a rescue effort, which, from all we know, they failed to provide. The Samaritan, on the other hand, showed himself to be worthy of eternal life by responding heroically to the urgent need.
(Luke 10:25-37)
Commentators on Scripture note that the priest and the Levite who ignore the dying victim have some reasons to pass him by. As we might not offer help to a man standing beside a car with hood open out of wariness for a trap so too the priest and Levite might fear that the apparent victim is actually a decoy. Also, the Jewish clergy may be traveling on the other side of the road because they are on the way to Jerusalem to participate in Temple sacrifice. Handling a corpse would have prohibited the men from performing their professional services.
Still their lack of response to a person likely in desperate need is hardly commendable, much less worthy of eternal life. Entering God’s kingdom requires that we go out of our way to assist others. It happens the moment that our love as eros, seeking our own benefit, melts into love as agape, striving for the good of the other as unrelated to our own. To be sure, there is a connection between the two ways of loving. Human love always begins with eros, which is not necessarily selfish. God’s grace, however, transforms it into His unique and supreme way of caring.
Joe Biden’s story during the vice-presidential debate the other night may help us appreciate this parable. Biden remarked how as a young senator the Majority Leader Mike Mansfield corrected him for criticizing conservative senator Jesse Helms as an awful person. Mansfield told Biden that Helms and his wife had adopted a child with cerebral palsy, a deed indicating goodness. Biden’s lesson was to never judge a person’s motives; one may only judge the person’s actions. The priest and the Levite perhaps passed by the injured man for some plausible reason. But the situation called for a rescue effort, which, from all we know, they failed to provide. The Samaritan, on the other hand, showed himself to be worthy of eternal life by responding heroically to the urgent need.
Homilette for Friday, October 3, 2008
Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
(Job 38:1; 12-21; 40:3-5)
"Their’s not to make reply, Their’s not to reason why, Their’s but to do and die." These well-known lines of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, exalt the valor of the British cavalry in the Crimean War. The horsemen were ordered against impossible odds to attack the Russian front. When they did, their losses were heavy. Is it God’s intention in His answer to Job that humans are likewise “not to make reply” to the evil we face? Are we prohibited from reasoning, “'Why’ is this happening to me?” Must we only suffer and sacrifice?
From the first reading today it may seem so. In answering Job’s complaints that he has suffered unjustly, God indicates that His purposes are more complicated than Job could imagine. God knows the intricate relationships among all components of heaven and on earth. Job only knows how to run a farm.
However, God never says that it is wrong for Job to question. After all, He created Job with a heart to feel, a mind to think, and a mouth to ask. God tolerates Job’s questions; he does not punish him for asking. In the end God even provides some answers. The day will soon come when God will reveal more of His purpose to Job-like questioners. When God sends His son into the world to die upon the cross, God shows that He acts first and foremost out of love for humans.
(Job 38:1; 12-21; 40:3-5)
"Their’s not to make reply, Their’s not to reason why, Their’s but to do and die." These well-known lines of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, exalt the valor of the British cavalry in the Crimean War. The horsemen were ordered against impossible odds to attack the Russian front. When they did, their losses were heavy. Is it God’s intention in His answer to Job that humans are likewise “not to make reply” to the evil we face? Are we prohibited from reasoning, “'Why’ is this happening to me?” Must we only suffer and sacrifice?
From the first reading today it may seem so. In answering Job’s complaints that he has suffered unjustly, God indicates that His purposes are more complicated than Job could imagine. God knows the intricate relationships among all components of heaven and on earth. Job only knows how to run a farm.
However, God never says that it is wrong for Job to question. After all, He created Job with a heart to feel, a mind to think, and a mouth to ask. God tolerates Job’s questions; he does not punish him for asking. In the end God even provides some answers. The day will soon come when God will reveal more of His purpose to Job-like questioners. When God sends His son into the world to die upon the cross, God shows that He acts first and foremost out of love for humans.
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