Memorial of Saint Jerome, priest and doctor of the Church
(Job 19:21-27; Luke 10:1-12)
The gospel today sounds like an episode of times past. It needs adaption. Just as St. Jerome translated the Bible from Greek into Latin so that more people may readily read its content, we must apply this passage’s lessons to our day.
For sure the harvest is abundant. Most people are aware of the gospel message through the preaching of Jesus Christ for twenty centuries. But there are wolves among them who not only evade the gospel call to repentance but also entice others to abandon the way of virtue. If we remind them of the need to come to church, they may respond that they are “spiritual not religious.” Or, alternatively, they may say that there is but “one God and each person may worship Him in her or his own way.” Or, they may challenge us to show that God indeed exists and cares about us. How are we to respond to these objections?
Jesus first would have us model the glory of gospel life by our simplicity and joy. We do not brag about our accomplishments or show off our successes but humbly and happily serve those whom we encounter. As we know, right living relays a powerful message. Then we address the contemporary objections to faith. The spiritual life points to the presence of God who has revealed Himself in the community of believers. One cannot be spiritual and, at the same time, abandon religious practice. Also, history shows how that the faith community has grown through the centuries with some aberrations that no longer follow the practices prescribed by traditions going back to Christ, the Son of God who came to reveal the Father’s will. All believers may worship the same God but not necessarily in the ways that God prescribes. Finally, we cannot prove that God loves us because that is a matter of faith. However, believing has brought peace to millions throughout time as it can to doubters today.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels
(Daniel 7:9-10.13-14; John 1:47-51)
Quantum mechanics proposes that positions of subatomic particles cannot be determined with certainty. Indeed, it presumes that a particle can be in two places at the same time. Albert Einstein refuted this idea saying that there must be specific position for each particle because “God does not play dice with the universe.”
Just as Einstein and other contemporary physicists have speculated over the movement of subatomic particles, Thomas Aquinas and other theologians in the Scholastic Age contemplated the presence of angels on a pinhead. Their purpose was not to count angels but to indicate God’s presence to humans in distress. The scholastics, following Scripture, maintain that God’s ways are infinite since He uses these spiritual entities to carry out His will.
Today’s feast of the archangels encourages us to trust in God’s Providence by offering a glimpse into the mechanics of God’s ways. In the gospel Jesus predicts that his disciples will see the Father assist him bear the greatest of human suffering by sending angels over him. Similarly, we can be reassured that God will help us when we turn to Him with our needs.
(Daniel 7:9-10.13-14; John 1:47-51)
Quantum mechanics proposes that positions of subatomic particles cannot be determined with certainty. Indeed, it presumes that a particle can be in two places at the same time. Albert Einstein refuted this idea saying that there must be specific position for each particle because “God does not play dice with the universe.”
Just as Einstein and other contemporary physicists have speculated over the movement of subatomic particles, Thomas Aquinas and other theologians in the Scholastic Age contemplated the presence of angels on a pinhead. Their purpose was not to count angels but to indicate God’s presence to humans in distress. The scholastics, following Scripture, maintain that God’s ways are infinite since He uses these spiritual entities to carry out His will.
Today’s feast of the archangels encourages us to trust in God’s Providence by offering a glimpse into the mechanics of God’s ways. In the gospel Jesus predicts that his disciples will see the Father assist him bear the greatest of human suffering by sending angels over him. Similarly, we can be reassured that God will help us when we turn to Him with our needs.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
(Job 3:1-3.11-17.20-23; Luke 9:51-6)
Lest the parable of the “Good Samaritan” make us think that Samaritans incarnate virtue, today’s gospel notes Samaritan intolerance. For practical purposes Jesus is denied hospitality in a Samaritan village simply because he is a Jew. We may conclude that prejudice is a human defect that is seen when a majority people feels threatened by a minority. It seems that this phenomenon is showing itself among Americans today with the influx of Latin immigrants.
Where the disciples are ready to respond quite aggressively to Samaritan hostility, Jesus shows restraint. As a matter of fact, he shows disfavor with the disciples for their impulsiveness and not with the Samaritans for their lack of neighborliness.
At one point in this same Gospel According to Luke, Jesus says that he did not come to bring peace. But that is a very relative statement. He is not here to abet the peace of self-satisfaction and indifference. Rather, he means to assist his followers conquer their prejudices and agressiveness, even when victory means setting them apart from family and friends. The end result, however, is a purer love for everyone – friend, foe, and especially God.
(Job 3:1-3.11-17.20-23; Luke 9:51-6)
Lest the parable of the “Good Samaritan” make us think that Samaritans incarnate virtue, today’s gospel notes Samaritan intolerance. For practical purposes Jesus is denied hospitality in a Samaritan village simply because he is a Jew. We may conclude that prejudice is a human defect that is seen when a majority people feels threatened by a minority. It seems that this phenomenon is showing itself among Americans today with the influx of Latin immigrants.
Where the disciples are ready to respond quite aggressively to Samaritan hostility, Jesus shows restraint. As a matter of fact, he shows disfavor with the disciples for their impulsiveness and not with the Samaritans for their lack of neighborliness.
At one point in this same Gospel According to Luke, Jesus says that he did not come to bring peace. But that is a very relative statement. He is not here to abet the peace of self-satisfaction and indifference. Rather, he means to assist his followers conquer their prejudices and agressiveness, even when victory means setting them apart from family and friends. The end result, however, is a purer love for everyone – friend, foe, and especially God.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, priest
(Job 1:6-22; Luke 9:46-50)
Fr. Jack Hickey founded the original Dismas House, a refuge for ex-offenders just released from prisons. He died a premature death twenty-five years ago but is recognized within Dismas Inc. as its inspiration. Of course, to establish such institutions requires money which Jack pursued with all due urgency. He is quoted as saying that he would have accepted money from the devil for Dismas Houses. Of course, such establishments must avoid material and most formal cooperation with evil, but we see the writer of Job picturing God in a certain sense colluding with evil in the first reading today.
Very critically, God does not perpetrate evil in Job even though He does not restrain it entirely. The reason for this reality will be explained by the story in due time. Today we should only make a few notes. First, as we have said, God does not directly cause evil. Second, the whole of creation, even Satan himself, serves God’s purposes. And third, the good person Job complies implicitly with God’s will to give us a model of how to respond when evil touches our lives. Faithful Jews and Christians for millennia have said with him, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”
More often than ever, perhaps, humans are tempted with the idea that God as we know Him from the Bible does not exist. Science seems to explain most everything that humans once attributed to God. But we should not become disillusioned. Science can and should explain the natural universe. But it cannot explain nature’s creator whom we know as “God.” We believe God is completely beyond us, a being infinitely more mysterious than even general relativity and quantum mechanics. Yet God has chosen to reveal Himself to us out of love. We have prospered with this belief and following His same love.
(Job 1:6-22; Luke 9:46-50)
Fr. Jack Hickey founded the original Dismas House, a refuge for ex-offenders just released from prisons. He died a premature death twenty-five years ago but is recognized within Dismas Inc. as its inspiration. Of course, to establish such institutions requires money which Jack pursued with all due urgency. He is quoted as saying that he would have accepted money from the devil for Dismas Houses. Of course, such establishments must avoid material and most formal cooperation with evil, but we see the writer of Job picturing God in a certain sense colluding with evil in the first reading today.
Very critically, God does not perpetrate evil in Job even though He does not restrain it entirely. The reason for this reality will be explained by the story in due time. Today we should only make a few notes. First, as we have said, God does not directly cause evil. Second, the whole of creation, even Satan himself, serves God’s purposes. And third, the good person Job complies implicitly with God’s will to give us a model of how to respond when evil touches our lives. Faithful Jews and Christians for millennia have said with him, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”
More often than ever, perhaps, humans are tempted with the idea that God as we know Him from the Bible does not exist. Science seems to explain most everything that humans once attributed to God. But we should not become disillusioned. Science can and should explain the natural universe. But it cannot explain nature’s creator whom we know as “God.” We believe God is completely beyond us, a being infinitely more mysterious than even general relativity and quantum mechanics. Yet God has chosen to reveal Himself to us out of love. We have prospered with this belief and following His same love.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-11; Luke 9:18-22)
In Umberto Eco’s novel The Island of the Day Before the main character is shipwrecked at a point just beyond the International Date Line. He sees his salvation in reaching an island that is on the other side of the Date Line, seemingly existing in a previous time. If he can get there, the reader gathers, perhaps he might undo the ills that have happened in his life. But, of course, it is an impossible quest. The island does not exist in a time past. Rather, the “day before” is only part of the time differentiations which humans construct to make sense of day and night around the world.
In the well-known passage from Ecclesiastes that we read today, the author Qoheleth speaks of another futile effort involving time. It tells us that no matter how much time or toil we put into the project, human effort cannot achieve salvation because that is in God’s hands. The text admonishes us to follow God’s ways according to the schedule He laid down in the Mosaic Law.
However, God does not abandon us in our quest for the eternal. Rather, although it was beyond the view of Qoheleth, salvation does come through the Paschal event of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He is the fulfillment of the timeless hope, noted by Qoheleth, that rests in every human heart.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-11; Luke 9:18-22)
In Umberto Eco’s novel The Island of the Day Before the main character is shipwrecked at a point just beyond the International Date Line. He sees his salvation in reaching an island that is on the other side of the Date Line, seemingly existing in a previous time. If he can get there, the reader gathers, perhaps he might undo the ills that have happened in his life. But, of course, it is an impossible quest. The island does not exist in a time past. Rather, the “day before” is only part of the time differentiations which humans construct to make sense of day and night around the world.
In the well-known passage from Ecclesiastes that we read today, the author Qoheleth speaks of another futile effort involving time. It tells us that no matter how much time or toil we put into the project, human effort cannot achieve salvation because that is in God’s hands. The text admonishes us to follow God’s ways according to the schedule He laid down in the Mosaic Law.
However, God does not abandon us in our quest for the eternal. Rather, although it was beyond the view of Qoheleth, salvation does come through the Paschal event of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He is the fulfillment of the timeless hope, noted by Qoheleth, that rests in every human heart.
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