Monday, January 13, 2013

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 1:1-18; Mark 1:14-20)

Many rabbis in ancient Israel had disciples.  But none treated their disciples like Jesus did his.  Other rabbis received students who came to them for instruction.  Jesus went out to seek his disciples as today’s gospel shows.  The duty of other rabbis was to teach their disciples the law.  Jesus, however, has another purpose  – to make his disciples fishers or gatherers of people.  Other rabbis had their disciples serve them; Jesus, on the other hand, came “to serve, not to be served.”

Jesus’s ways are so distinctive because he comes to proclaim the arrival of God’s Kingdom.  He knows that now is not the time to study God’s law; it is time to embrace the fulfillment of all that the law promises.  It is the difference between preparing for a feast and sitting down at table.  The people must be moved to give up prejudice toward other nations and hostility toward one another.  They must be shown that God, the Father of all, calls all to solidarity.

It may seem to some that the moment of the Kingdom has passed, that we live in post-religious times when the best we can hope for is growing the world economy so that everyone will have access to the Internet.  But this is not so.  The Kingdom is still within our grasp because Jesus is not a mere human whose bones have long rotten.  He is the resurrected Lord who always calls us to greater love.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Friday after the Epiphany

(I John 5:5-13; Luke 5:12-16)

Today’s first reading speaks of the Spirit of Jesus testifying to his being Son of God.  It is saying what Jesus himself expresses in the synagogue of Nazareth according to Luke’s gospel: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”  That is, Jesus’ marvelous deeds give testimony to his divine origin.  Something very similar can be said about Jesus’ followers.

Christians, including us, have been given the Spirit at Baptism to perform loving deeds.  We are enabled to assist others without concern for personal gain.  Indeed, we can help the oppressed even though it may bring about some loss.  One man has driven fifty miles every week for over five years to visit inmates in a state prison.  He is a cursillista who chose prison ministry as his apostolate.

Some of us are called to give further testimony.  These are the martyrs like the 500 Christians in India who were slaughtered by Hindu radicals in 2008.  Their adhesion to the faith despite the constant threat of persecution gives the most eloquent testimony to Jesus’ Spirit acting in them as well as Jesus’ being God’s Son.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Thursday after Epiphany

(I John 4:19-5:4; Luke 4:14-22)

According to baseball lore Babe Ruth stepped up to bat during the World Series in Chicago and pointed to the centerfield fence.  He was evidently indicating that he would hit the ball beyond it and that is what many people have said that he did.  In fact, so many people have testified that saw Ruth that day “call his shot” that one radio host commented that there must have been 500,000 thousand people attending the game!   In the gospel today Jesus in a sense calls his shot although, of course, before a much smaller number of viewers.

The passage does not say that Jesus chooses the scroll he is to read.  Rather it presumes that it is given him randomly.  Yet it seems to be the one he wants as he reads the famous passage from the prophet Isaiah that speaks of one being anointed to bring relief to the oppressed.  Then Jesus boldly suggests that the passage is fulfilled in his person.  And the rest of Luke’s gospel testifies to that fact.

Christmas reminds us that Jesus has come to save us from distress.  He brings glad tidings that we don’t need as much as we think we do nor do we have to produce as much as others.  But he insists that we trust him by showing compassion on those less fortunate than we.

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.