The Feast of the Visitation
(Zephaniah 3:14-18a; Luke 1:39-56)
Forty years ago two Peace Corps volunteers went on an expedition upriver in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. They wanted to meet the area’s native Iban people who lived with extended families in longhouses. Ibans at one point in history had been notorious headhunters but became pacified long before the Peace Corps volunteers arrived. Many converted to Christianity. The volunteers were advised to take gifts of canned food to the people who often ate little beyond a daily ration of rice. They were also told that they could expect hospitality. As it turned out, they were more than graciously received, but the Ibans would not accept the food for their own use. Rather they served it to their guests whom they seemed delighted to host so that their children might know some foreigners.
The meeting of the Peace Corps volunteers with the Ibans mirrors in a way Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. Mary is poor as she implies with the words, “He has looked with favor on his lowly servant.” Yet the lack of material wealth is not a curse for her because she possesses God’s blessing. We should see Mary as representing the faithful poor or anawim of Israel who long awaited the Messiah. Now he has arrived and Mary, his mother, is the first to feel the excitement of his presence. Knowing that he is there fills Mary and Elizabeth with a joy that the treasures of Egypt could not provide. He is going to bring justice to the people, freedom to the oppressed, health to sick. The fidelity of the thousands like these two women is vindicated.
The promise of the Messiah has been fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus, especially in his paschal victory. Now stirred by that triumph, Christians eagerly await his return in glory. Like the Ibans of Sarawak, we show kindness to neighbors and make every effort possible for the development of our children. We know that God will bless us when he comes again. Indeed, He blesses us continually with graces that far exceed the luxuries that money can buy.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Peter 4:7-13; Mark 11:11-26)
We should not be distressed when Jesus curses the fig tree. He is not in league with BP Incorporated; he is only making a symbolic gesture for what is coming in Jerusalem. The people at the Temple will not recognize him as Israel’s Messiah who will provide perfect worship as well as true leadership. Rather, when he comes into the Temple area, he will find business as usual -- men paying prescribed amounts for sacrifices that can hardly make up for their unrighteous lives. This charade, symbolized by the fig tree with the splendor of its leaves but no fruit, is what has to go.
In just a few days Jesus will be hanging on a cross outside the same Jerusalem. It will seem to many Jews as the execution of a troublemaker. But his followers will know that the people have had God’s beloved killed. This will become the sacrifice which renders the Temple superfluous. From that point on all people will have to do to find a worthy sacrifice is offer bread and wine as Jesus prescribes at his final supper. Of course, their act of worship must be accompanied by lives given to the holiness which Jesus lived.
It may be a shame to see Jesus as anti-environmental, but it would be a greater shame to see Christianity as opposed to Judaism. Certainly hypocrisy had its play among Jews in Jesus’ day just as today many Christians embarrass the Church. But Judaism is not just the root onto which Christianity was grafted but the pot in which it incubated. Faithful Jews deserve our respect and attention. They have much to tell us of the kind of Savior that we have in Jesus.
(I Peter 4:7-13; Mark 11:11-26)
We should not be distressed when Jesus curses the fig tree. He is not in league with BP Incorporated; he is only making a symbolic gesture for what is coming in Jerusalem. The people at the Temple will not recognize him as Israel’s Messiah who will provide perfect worship as well as true leadership. Rather, when he comes into the Temple area, he will find business as usual -- men paying prescribed amounts for sacrifices that can hardly make up for their unrighteous lives. This charade, symbolized by the fig tree with the splendor of its leaves but no fruit, is what has to go.
In just a few days Jesus will be hanging on a cross outside the same Jerusalem. It will seem to many Jews as the execution of a troublemaker. But his followers will know that the people have had God’s beloved killed. This will become the sacrifice which renders the Temple superfluous. From that point on all people will have to do to find a worthy sacrifice is offer bread and wine as Jesus prescribes at his final supper. Of course, their act of worship must be accompanied by lives given to the holiness which Jesus lived.
It may be a shame to see Jesus as anti-environmental, but it would be a greater shame to see Christianity as opposed to Judaism. Certainly hypocrisy had its play among Jews in Jesus’ day just as today many Christians embarrass the Church. But Judaism is not just the root onto which Christianity was grafted but the pot in which it incubated. Faithful Jews deserve our respect and attention. They have much to tell us of the kind of Savior that we have in Jesus.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Peter 2:2-15.9-12; Mark 10:46-52)
Is there any virtue more American than autonomy? More than anything else Americans want control over their own lives. We want our own car, even our own home. When we are sick, we ask to be kept abreast of our condition. We want to die when we are ready, and then we want to write our own funeral script.
Autonomy is good for it allows us to give ourselves in faith to the Lord. In the gospel passages for Monday and today we meet two contrasting figures – one autonomous from the start and the other made so by Jesus. The man who approached Jesus asking what he must do to attain eternal life was perfectly autonomous. He came looking for Jesus under his own power and ably put to him his question. Disappointed with Jesus’ answer, he left because he had many possessions – another sign of autonomy. On the other hand, the blind man must sit and wait for Jesus to pass by. He is completely at Jesus’ mercy in that if Jesus chooses to ignore him, there would be no way for him to make his request. Jesus’ bestowal of sight grants the blind man autonomy. The man makes good use of it: he follows Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. In his case, but not in the first man’s, autonomy leads to salvation.
A woman of indeterminate age was standing in church at mass. You could not tell her age because she was little more than two feet tall! She looked mature but it also appeared that she was part of a family with children who were nine or ten. Her situation was freakish and yet she appeared to be content. She eagerly participated in the peace rite and then took communion. Looking at her, one feels sorry but perhaps that such sorrow is misplaced. Like the blind man of today’s gospel, she apparently uses whatever autonomy she has to follow Jesus. Like the blind man, her autonomy apparently ends in salvation.
(I Peter 2:2-15.9-12; Mark 10:46-52)
Is there any virtue more American than autonomy? More than anything else Americans want control over their own lives. We want our own car, even our own home. When we are sick, we ask to be kept abreast of our condition. We want to die when we are ready, and then we want to write our own funeral script.
Autonomy is good for it allows us to give ourselves in faith to the Lord. In the gospel passages for Monday and today we meet two contrasting figures – one autonomous from the start and the other made so by Jesus. The man who approached Jesus asking what he must do to attain eternal life was perfectly autonomous. He came looking for Jesus under his own power and ably put to him his question. Disappointed with Jesus’ answer, he left because he had many possessions – another sign of autonomy. On the other hand, the blind man must sit and wait for Jesus to pass by. He is completely at Jesus’ mercy in that if Jesus chooses to ignore him, there would be no way for him to make his request. Jesus’ bestowal of sight grants the blind man autonomy. The man makes good use of it: he follows Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. In his case, but not in the first man’s, autonomy leads to salvation.
A woman of indeterminate age was standing in church at mass. You could not tell her age because she was little more than two feet tall! She looked mature but it also appeared that she was part of a family with children who were nine or ten. Her situation was freakish and yet she appeared to be content. She eagerly participated in the peace rite and then took communion. Looking at her, one feels sorry but perhaps that such sorrow is misplaced. Like the blind man of today’s gospel, she apparently uses whatever autonomy she has to follow Jesus. Like the blind man, her autonomy apparently ends in salvation.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Peter 1:18-25; Mark 10:32-45)
The gospel describes the disciples as “amazed” and some of them as “afraid” as Jesus sets his sights on Jerusalem. They are, no doubt, traumatized because they know that nothing but ill awaits Jesus in the center of Jewish ritual. On the other hand, we are amazed at the obtuseness of the Twelve disciples who make up Jesus’ closest confidantes. As Jesus is facing the supreme test, two of them have the brazenness to jockey for the highest positions of glory when he emerges victorious.
We may also be amazed at what some fellow Catholics are doing. Teens almost as soon as they are confirmed are leaving church behind. Mothers divorced from their spouses have live-in boy friends. Veteran Catholics blithely miss Sunday mass at almost any inconvenience. “Have the commandments been changed?” some wonder.
Jesus would answer "no," there is no justification for such practices. When he calls his disciples to serve one another, Jesus intends that all of us sacrifice individual autonomy to achieve divine authenticity. That is, rather than doing what pleases us, we are to imitate Jesus’ compliance with God’s will. Sometimes the challenge is daunting as it is for Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. For this reason we pray, “Lead us not into temptation...” This prayer alone assures us of the grace of the Holy Spirit to overcome any difficulty.
(I Peter 1:18-25; Mark 10:32-45)
The gospel describes the disciples as “amazed” and some of them as “afraid” as Jesus sets his sights on Jerusalem. They are, no doubt, traumatized because they know that nothing but ill awaits Jesus in the center of Jewish ritual. On the other hand, we are amazed at the obtuseness of the Twelve disciples who make up Jesus’ closest confidantes. As Jesus is facing the supreme test, two of them have the brazenness to jockey for the highest positions of glory when he emerges victorious.
We may also be amazed at what some fellow Catholics are doing. Teens almost as soon as they are confirmed are leaving church behind. Mothers divorced from their spouses have live-in boy friends. Veteran Catholics blithely miss Sunday mass at almost any inconvenience. “Have the commandments been changed?” some wonder.
Jesus would answer "no," there is no justification for such practices. When he calls his disciples to serve one another, Jesus intends that all of us sacrifice individual autonomy to achieve divine authenticity. That is, rather than doing what pleases us, we are to imitate Jesus’ compliance with God’s will. Sometimes the challenge is daunting as it is for Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. For this reason we pray, “Lead us not into temptation...” This prayer alone assures us of the grace of the Holy Spirit to overcome any difficulty.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Peter 1:10-16; Mark 10:28-31)
Novelist Ann Lamott tells the story of a young tennis player who is prone to cheat. She calls balls that hit the line “out” in order not to lose a point. A man sees her doing this and tells her so. But more than correcting her, he befriends her and admits, “I did what you did....I cheated.” At the end of the story the young player overcompensates by calling balls that go beyond the line “in” so as not to appear dishonest. But then she summons the courage to call a long shot as out. With that the man stands up to leave the match which causes the girl’s mother to ask, “’Aren’t you going to stay and watch Rosie win?” The man answers, “’I already have.’”
Peter’s letter to the Christian community calls us to the same kind of integrity. We are to give up “the desires of our former ignorance” in order to live in accord with the holiness of God. Honesty needs to be as implicit with us as we expect a nurse to treat his patients with care. More than that even, we are to set a model example in whatever we do – whether people expect it of us as, for example, when we refrain from cursing and when it is most difficult as occurs at times when women are called to carry a baby to term despite danger to their own lives.
(I Peter 1:10-16; Mark 10:28-31)
Novelist Ann Lamott tells the story of a young tennis player who is prone to cheat. She calls balls that hit the line “out” in order not to lose a point. A man sees her doing this and tells her so. But more than correcting her, he befriends her and admits, “I did what you did....I cheated.” At the end of the story the young player overcompensates by calling balls that go beyond the line “in” so as not to appear dishonest. But then she summons the courage to call a long shot as out. With that the man stands up to leave the match which causes the girl’s mother to ask, “’Aren’t you going to stay and watch Rosie win?” The man answers, “’I already have.’”
Peter’s letter to the Christian community calls us to the same kind of integrity. We are to give up “the desires of our former ignorance” in order to live in accord with the holiness of God. Honesty needs to be as implicit with us as we expect a nurse to treat his patients with care. More than that even, we are to set a model example in whatever we do – whether people expect it of us as, for example, when we refrain from cursing and when it is most difficult as occurs at times when women are called to carry a baby to term despite danger to their own lives.
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