Thursday, May 2, 2013

Memorial of Saint Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church

(Acts 15:7-21; John 15:9-11)

The name Athanasius means immortal.  St. Athanasius, of course, died, but he now enjoys eternal life.  He came to it by making good use of the grace bestowed on him.

Athanasius both ingeniously defended the divinity of Christ and severely suffered for his efforts.  When Arius taught that Christ could not be on the same level of the Father, Athanasius rose in defense of the traditional teaching.  He agreed with Arius that it is unimaginable how God could constrict himself into a human body.  But, in contrast to the heretic (as we think of him), he realized that God’s ways are infinitely beyond human imagining.  Political machinations favored Arian teaching for a time, and Athanasius was exiled repeatedly for his insistence on Christ’s complete divinity.  In the end, however, his status as bishop of the prominent see of Alexandria was restored.

We do well to keep in mind Athanasius’ insight that God’s ways transcend human understanding.  Partly on the authority of his genius and partly on our own experience of Christ’s love, we hold fast to our belief that God made us, loves us, and reveals Himself to us in Jesus Christ. 

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

(Acts 15:1-6; John 15:1-8)

A theologian of some repute once challenged Mother Teresa’s famous dictum that the Lord does not ask us to be successful but only to be faithful.  The theologian reasoned that it is a waste of talent and time to go about oblivious to the effects of our actions.  Rather, he would say, it is only prudent to make our efforts as productive as possible. 

As often happens, both sides in this debate have a hand on the truth.  Certainly Jesus calls us to accountability for what we do.  Wasting resources and producing results which harm as much as they help are not the fruits that he looks for.  But some fruit trees, like the tropical mangosteen, take over a dozen years to grow from seed.  Faithfulness on the part of the planter is required if their fruit is ever to be harvested and enjoyed. Just so, sometimes our best efforts require years to produce the results we desire.

In today’s gospel Jesus prescribes faithfulness as the one indispensable quality to produce any worthwhile fruit.  He calls himself the vine to which we must stay connected.  Apart from him our well-intended actions either devolve into egotism or are summarily abandoned.  Both results are like incipient fruit that shrivels when plucked off the vine.  Staying connected to Jesus we produce a harvest which both benefits people and glorifies God.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

(Acts 14:19-28; John 14:27-31a)

Sometimes parishes celebrate the paying off of their mortgage with a social.  Parishioners feel relieved not to have to channel their efforts to raising money.  Now they can concentrate on the more fundamental tasks of evangelization and caring for the community.  Relief from debt indicates why Jesus can say in today’s gospel that his peace is different from the world’s.

Jesus’ peace is the conferral of the Holy Spirit on his disciples.  It comes with his appearance on the night of his resurrection.  He announces peace, breathes on them, and sends them forth with the Holy Spirit to forgive sins.  They and those to whom they in turn announce “peace” can live without worry that past sins -- or debts -- will overwhelm them.  The world’s peace is temporary – a mere respite from the continual battle to keep ahead of creditors.

Too often we worry about what others think of us.  Such fret wastes our energy.  Ever more reassuring is seeking the peace Jesus bestows by examining our consciences, confessing our sins, and trusting in his mercy.  

Monday, April 29, 2013

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor of the Church

(Acts 14:5-18; John 14:21-26)

An expert in medieval music was commenting on the composition of a nun from that era.  The expert mentioned how the nun was motivated by love for her spouse, Jesus Christ.  To the expert’s credit she did not doubt the reality of the nun’s spousal love or the possibility of its enhancing the ability to compose beautiful music.  Catherine of Siena demonstrated such love for the same Jesus.

Catherine also considered herself the spouse of Christ as indeed we all should.  Her love moved her to enter in such profound spiritual union with Jesus that she thought of his heart as being hers.  She used to pray, “Lord, I give you your own heart.”  Out of love for Christ, Catherine exhausted herself seeking the reunification of his Body, the Church.  She died in effort to bring the pope back to Rome from Avignon where he lived in self-imposed exile.

In today’s gospel Jesus asks his disciples to love him which in sum means to love one another.  We should not hesitate to do this because we wonder whether our love will go unrequited.  No, Jesus loves each of us with even greater intensity than Catherine loved him.  He can have such love for all not because he is human but because he is God.  We need only to trust in his love to realize its richness.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 13:26-33; John 14:1-6)

Projection is the psychological phenomenon by which a person hides from himself an inner evil by projecting it on another.  There he can condemn the evil without feeling any guilt.  So it happens that people often see and hate in others what is most repellant about themselves.  In today’s first reading Paul enables the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia see their own sins by telling them of the crime of their coreligionists in Jerusalem.

Paul says that the Jerusalemites condemned Jesus as a false prophet and had Pilate crucify him.  But, Paul concludes, God confirmed the truth of Jesus’ message and, indeed, his whole life by raising him from the dead.  Now, he will go on to say, his hearers may have their own sins -- which by association are the same as those of Jerusalem Jews – forgiven by accepting Jesus as God’s Messiah.

We too should find our sins among those of the Jews who had Jesus crucified.  Our jealousy and envy is reflected in the Jewish leaders who wanted Jesus out of the way.  Our prejudice against others kinds of people finds a parallel in the attitude of the Jerusalem Jews toward the carpenter from Galilee.  Our failure to recognize every person as an image of God likewise is seen in the rush to have Jesus executed.  We too must repent and believe in Jesus.