Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 1:1-7; Luke 11:29-32)
This epithet was once given for a foolish man: “He is often wrong but never in doubt.” Unfortunately sometimes humans are reluctant to even recognize the possibility of having erred. Even when faced with the loss of family or life, for example, some alcoholics refuse to admit the inability to control their intake of liquor. Yet recognition of one’s faults and the courage to change are necessary for positive growth. Winston Churchill stated the process well: “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” Jesus tells us something similar in the gospel today.
The people whom Jesus addresses are not what we would consider bad people. They are not thieves, murderers, adulterers, or the like. But they do identify God’s will with their own ways of thinking. Samaritans, they might say, are damned because they do not worship correctly. People are poor, they may add, because they have sinned. Jesus tries to correct these mistaken ideas with fundamentally two parallel truths: God is love and God wants humans to love one another. These truths, however, run against the human tendency to see God as a judge given to punishment and to love others
selectively.
We cannot escape the sinful human situation with its prejudices. But we can change our positions when we find them in error. The key is to discover the sources that will reveal the truth to us and indicate the ways we need to change.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
(Joel 1:13-15.2:1-2; Luke 11:15-26)
“Ten for joy, five for sorrow” described the rosary for most of its trajectory. That is, the original fifteen mysteries were divided into three equal groups featuring stories surrounding either the birth of Jesus or his paschal triumph. Few people argued for the need of reflection on the ministry of Jesus although Blessed Pope John Paul II noted the lacuna. In the year 2002 he inaugurated the luminous mysteries to help Catholics understand the words and actions of Jesus as integral to his saving mission.
Today’s gospel provides an illustration of a luminous mystery. Jesus’ proclamation of the reign of God does not go without opposition. People wonder, could his marvelous deeds be done by virtue of diabolical power? No, Jesus claims, if the devil were behind his power to save, he would not allow Jesus to remove other demons. Jesus then invites people to recognize the too-good-to-be-true truth: his authority over demonic power comes directly from on-high. He is not someone to be shunned but embraced and followed.
The rosary, which we celebrate today, may not be every Catholic’s cup of tea. But especially as we become older, we may find great consolation in reviewing the gracious events of our salvation while beseeching the Lord, especially through Mary’s intercession, for help with personal struggles.
(Joel 1:13-15.2:1-2; Luke 11:15-26)
“Ten for joy, five for sorrow” described the rosary for most of its trajectory. That is, the original fifteen mysteries were divided into three equal groups featuring stories surrounding either the birth of Jesus or his paschal triumph. Few people argued for the need of reflection on the ministry of Jesus although Blessed Pope John Paul II noted the lacuna. In the year 2002 he inaugurated the luminous mysteries to help Catholics understand the words and actions of Jesus as integral to his saving mission.
Today’s gospel provides an illustration of a luminous mystery. Jesus’ proclamation of the reign of God does not go without opposition. People wonder, could his marvelous deeds be done by virtue of diabolical power? No, Jesus claims, if the devil were behind his power to save, he would not allow Jesus to remove other demons. Jesus then invites people to recognize the too-good-to-be-true truth: his authority over demonic power comes directly from on-high. He is not someone to be shunned but embraced and followed.
The rosary, which we celebrate today, may not be every Catholic’s cup of tea. But especially as we become older, we may find great consolation in reviewing the gracious events of our salvation while beseeching the Lord, especially through Mary’s intercession, for help with personal struggles.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Malachi 3:13-20b; Luke 11:5-13)
Why do some people have difficulty asking God for help? Perhaps they do not want to feel foolish should God not grant what they ask. Or maybe they like to consider themselves as not owing God any favors. Or perhaps they just don’t think God cares enough to help. In the gospel today Jesus provides two images to free people from these errant ideas about God.
First, Jesus suggests that God may be considered a friend to whom we may go with little as well as big problems. That is, we might ask God for a loaf of bread just as well to heal mother’s cancer. But, Jesus indicates, God is better than a friend because He will assist us not just to avoid the embarrassment of denying someone He knows. No, God is like a father – the second image – who grants what we need because He deeply loves us. That is, God seeks only what is good for us. The difference between God’s friendship and every other friendship -- or, for that matter, God’s Fatherhood and any other fatherhood -- is that God can bestow the perfect gift, the Holy Spirit, who fills us with joy, love, and peace.
(Malachi 3:13-20b; Luke 11:5-13)
Why do some people have difficulty asking God for help? Perhaps they do not want to feel foolish should God not grant what they ask. Or maybe they like to consider themselves as not owing God any favors. Or perhaps they just don’t think God cares enough to help. In the gospel today Jesus provides two images to free people from these errant ideas about God.
First, Jesus suggests that God may be considered a friend to whom we may go with little as well as big problems. That is, we might ask God for a loaf of bread just as well to heal mother’s cancer. But, Jesus indicates, God is better than a friend because He will assist us not just to avoid the embarrassment of denying someone He knows. No, God is like a father – the second image – who grants what we need because He deeply loves us. That is, God seeks only what is good for us. The difference between God’s friendship and every other friendship -- or, for that matter, God’s Fatherhood and any other fatherhood -- is that God can bestow the perfect gift, the Holy Spirit, who fills us with joy, love, and peace.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Jonah 4:1-11; Luke 11:1-4)
Emergency airline safety often requires speed. In the case of an evacuation, everyone should be out of the plane in ninety seconds – a real feat as it takes at least ten times that to fill up the plane. Of course, to facilitate rapid exit, personal belongings are left behind. This represents a considerable sacrifice when one must leave behind a computer. Yet there is no real alternative when human lives are at stake. In the first reading God calls upon Jonah to make a similar realization.
The Book of the prophet Jonah was written after Jews became aware that the Lord God was more than their personal savior. He is, of course, creator and redeemer of all peoples. Because Jonah at first does not understand the universality of divine love, God utilizes a simple plant to teach him. As God says, if Jonah could mourn the demise of a plant, should not He (God) have greater remorse over the possible loss of the men and woman He created?
Sometimes we feel frustrated over inconveniences that are forced upon us for the sake of others. A good example is having to park our cars away from our destination while handicap parking is readily available nearby. In these instances we might remember Jonah’s lesson. People with great needs may be the beneficiaries of our sacrifices.
(Jonah 4:1-11; Luke 11:1-4)
Emergency airline safety often requires speed. In the case of an evacuation, everyone should be out of the plane in ninety seconds – a real feat as it takes at least ten times that to fill up the plane. Of course, to facilitate rapid exit, personal belongings are left behind. This represents a considerable sacrifice when one must leave behind a computer. Yet there is no real alternative when human lives are at stake. In the first reading God calls upon Jonah to make a similar realization.
The Book of the prophet Jonah was written after Jews became aware that the Lord God was more than their personal savior. He is, of course, creator and redeemer of all peoples. Because Jonah at first does not understand the universality of divine love, God utilizes a simple plant to teach him. As God says, if Jonah could mourn the demise of a plant, should not He (God) have greater remorse over the possible loss of the men and woman He created?
Sometimes we feel frustrated over inconveniences that are forced upon us for the sake of others. A good example is having to park our cars away from our destination while handicap parking is readily available nearby. In these instances we might remember Jonah’s lesson. People with great needs may be the beneficiaries of our sacrifices.
Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi, religious
(Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 10:38-42)
In 1219 Francis of Assisi went to Egypt on a missionary journey. When by a stroke of luck he was able to meet Sultan Malik al-Kamil, the two tried to convert each other. Kamil challenged Francis to walk across the image of a cross woven into a carpet thus committing apostasy. Francis did so but reminded the sultan that there were three crosses on Calvary and he had trod on the cross of the bad thief. Then Francis offered to walk across burning coals if the sultan would convert to Christianity. The sultan demurred saying that if he would forsake Islam, both he and Francis would be executed.
Francis may not have converted the sultan, but his experience did change the heart of his own order. When his friars established the norms for missionary activity among Muslims, Francis insisted that they prohibit any attempt to use weapons as a means of conversion. Nor were they to taunt Muslims into making martyrs of them. The same “conversion of ourselves” is at work in the Book of Jonah. The story of a mass conversion in Nineveh is apocryphal, but the purpose of the book is to move Jews to a conversion of heart. They are to note the attentiveness of the pagan Ninevites to the word of God and to respond with similar thoroughness.
Franciscan friars at their best still call us to renewed conversion. Walking in their habits, attending to the needs of the poor, bringing goodwill to all, Franciscans call us out of the narrow concerns into which even pious people may wander. They urge us, as did their great founder, to compassion, simplicity, and holiness.
(Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 10:38-42)
In 1219 Francis of Assisi went to Egypt on a missionary journey. When by a stroke of luck he was able to meet Sultan Malik al-Kamil, the two tried to convert each other. Kamil challenged Francis to walk across the image of a cross woven into a carpet thus committing apostasy. Francis did so but reminded the sultan that there were three crosses on Calvary and he had trod on the cross of the bad thief. Then Francis offered to walk across burning coals if the sultan would convert to Christianity. The sultan demurred saying that if he would forsake Islam, both he and Francis would be executed.
Francis may not have converted the sultan, but his experience did change the heart of his own order. When his friars established the norms for missionary activity among Muslims, Francis insisted that they prohibit any attempt to use weapons as a means of conversion. Nor were they to taunt Muslims into making martyrs of them. The same “conversion of ourselves” is at work in the Book of Jonah. The story of a mass conversion in Nineveh is apocryphal, but the purpose of the book is to move Jews to a conversion of heart. They are to note the attentiveness of the pagan Ninevites to the word of God and to respond with similar thoroughness.
Franciscan friars at their best still call us to renewed conversion. Walking in their habits, attending to the needs of the poor, bringing goodwill to all, Franciscans call us out of the narrow concerns into which even pious people may wander. They urge us, as did their great founder, to compassion, simplicity, and holiness.
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