Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Christmas weekday

(I John 4:11-18; Mark 6:45-52)

“Are we to fear God?” the man asked the priest after mass.  When the priest gave a qualified “yes,” the man walked away disappointed.  “Why would one fear God who loves him or her so much that He gave the world His Son?” the man seemed to be asking in his retreat.  The first reading today casts some light on the question.

Implying that fear of God is natural, John writes, “…perfect love drives out fear.”  In the beginning fear reigns because the force that created the stars and the mind that designed the human brain compel awe with accompanying fear and trembling.  But in Jesus Christ God has revealed Himself to be tenderer than a happy mother toward her child.  To the extent that one accepts Christ’s revelation, he or she no longer need fear God but can delight in His favor.  The person then imitates God in His love for others.

Of course, faith sometimes wanes.  We don’t necessarily lapse into fear but replace as our heart’s desire the God created us with a poor substitute – most often, fun, fame, or fortune.  We no longer imitate God’s tenderness but become hardened in our pursuit of satisfaction.  For this reason the Church retells the story of God’s love every year with Christmas.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Tuesday after Epiphany

(I John 4:7-10; Mark 6:34-44)

A guest at a soup kitchen once questioned the affection of a volunteer who served him.  “Miss Bea,” the man said, “do you love me?”  The wife and mother replied, “Yes, Henry, I love you.”   “Miss Bea,” the man went on, “would you come home with me?”  “It ain’t that kind of love, Henry,” the woman objected.

There are different ways of loving which the wise person distinguishes.  But love itself is a thrust for unity.  Married couples express love for one another in varied ways, especially by the act of physical union.  The volunteer showed her love for the poor man by caringly serving his need to eat.  Where the first reading today says, “God is love,” it means that God desires to be one with everything that is.  God’s love transcends natural love in that its scope includes the undesirable.  For example, God loves us in our sinfulness.  Indeed, God desires us so much that He came to live among us and died so that we might partake of His life. 

God has also graced us with His love.  We can desire to be with God even though we cannot see Him.  Our desire to love Him leads us to care for all His creatures even though they have little to do with us and, indeed, even though they mistreat us.  Choosing to love both God and others, we participate in God’s own life.  This is eternal life.  It begins here in our loving both appropriately and universally and not, as some think, in death.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Christmas Weekday

(I John3:22-4:6; Matthew 4:12-17.23-25)

Driving in the country, one feels relief when the lights of a city appear ahead.  The driver is assured that he or she is not alone and that if necessary, food, fuel, and lodging will soon be available.  The gospel today speaks of Jesus as a similarly reassuring light shining in the rural darkness of Galilee.

Jesus begins his preaching away from Jerusalem.  Of course, he comes from Nazareth in Galilee, but there is a strategic reason to preach at first away from the cultural center.  Sophisticated city-dwellers are likely to reject out of hand Jesus’ message of God’s radical love for sinners and the correspondent response that this love elicits.  But after the message gains traction in rural areas, the people of Jerusalem will more likely listen to him.

Spiritual darkness surrounds us today in many ways.  Self-satisfaction has replaced family and community as the principal object of people’s concern.  Religion is often less important than devotion to one’s football team. In the midst of this darkness we, at least, glimpse the church which Jesus left behind as a lighthouse leading us safely home.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Friday, Christmas Weekday

(I John 2:29-3:6; John 1:29-34)

It is not uncommon in a Shakespearean drama to have the main character talked about before he is presented on stage.  In the first scene of Hamlet, for example, the protagonist’s friends flirt with his father’s ghost and then say that he will make the ghost speak.  In the Gospel of John, the most dramatic of the four, Jesus is likewise not present in the initial scene but is referenced by John the Baptist.  Today’s passage relates this opening scene.

John the Baptist first describes Jesus as “’…the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,’” that is the one whose sacrificial death will free humanity from the bondage of sin.  Then he uses a paradox -- “’A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me’” – which refers Jesus’ preexistence as God’s eternal Son.  Finally, the Baptist relates how he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove to indicate that he has the definitive power to bestow full life on a diseased people.  It is a very brief scene that telescopes all that Jesus will accomplish in the rest of the gospel.

As Christmas carols worthy of the name incessantly remind us, Jesus came to save us from the folly of our sins and the annihilation of death.  John the Baptist gives the same message here at the beginning of John’s gospel but without the soothing images of a babe at his mother’s side.  Yet our response should approximate the song of the angels over Bethlehem: “Glory to God in the highest…” 

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Memorial of Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen

(I John 2:22-28; John 1:19-28)

Saints Basil and Gregory Nazianzen were fourth century bishops in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.  Because of their intimate friendship, they share a common feast day.  They also played a significant role in defending the divinity of Christ against the Arian heresy.  Their testimony to Christ may be likened to that of John the Baptist in today’s gospel.

In the Gospel of John the Jews from Jerusalem are set against Jesus.  Later in the gospel they will contest his claim that he gives his flesh to eat.  Here they play a similar role vis-à-vis John.  They first ask who he is and then if he might be related to the expected Messiah.  John’s replies must have frustrated them as he only claims to be the precursor of one is greater than he. 

We think that we may know who Christ is by saying that he is the Son of God.  But because he is that, we can never know him completely.  Yet this fact should not keep us from trying to know him more.  He will keep surprising us by both his gentleness and strength.  As the New Year takes shape, let us promise ourselves to make every effort to dialogue with Christ in order to know him better.