Friday, February 21, 2014

Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

(James 2:14-24.26; Mark 8:34-9:1)

Most people today would say that great non-Christian humanists like Socrates and Maimonides have a place in eternal life.  Yet  a century ago Christians would have despaired of their salvation because they were never baptized.  Of course, who’s in and who’s out of heaven is up to God, but ever since Vatican II Catholics are eager to give people such as these the benefit of the doubt.  The first reading today may be employed for argumentation.

Of course, James is not making a case for salvation of non-Christians.  He is merely saying that a professed faith alone is not enough to gain eternal life.  One must animate that faith by works of charity.  James is actually refuting radical interpretations of St. Paul’s doctrine of justification.  But even Paul would admit that belief without love is as sterile as reading a book in an unknown language.  Today the opposite claim is made: that good works are all that is required for salvation.  How does this come about?  Works of charity imply faith in God who commands love of neighbor.

We should not presume salvation because one performs random acts of kindness just as we cannot exclude it because another lacks a profession of faith.  We are wise to look for coherency and consistency.  When one practices charity regularly, he or she likely does so from a system of values that approximates faith in Jesus.  

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

(James 2:1-9; Mark 8:27-33)

In a disturbing book published a few years ago sociologist Charles Murray wrote that the rich are more likely to have Christian values than the poor.  That is, they are more likely to go to church, to get married, and to work than their poor counterparts.  The report raises the question about how to respond to James’ assertion in today’s first reading that the poor, not the rich, deserve praise.

James is making a sweeping but not inherently unfair generalization that the poor are often ignored while the rich receive most people’s favor.  As everyone knows, the rich have fluid resources (money) that might be employed for any cause.  The poor on the other hand  have problems that are hard to deal with.  Yet the poor are not only created in the image of God, but they also represent Christ who walked the earth as a poor man.  James urges that Christians concern themselves with their needs at least as much as they court the rich for possible favors.

For decades faith based community organizing linked church-goers from well-to-do areas with the inner-city faithful in alliances working for the common good.  The results were both tangible and spiritual.  Laws were passed that improved community life, and people of all stripes knew one another as colleagues.  Sadly many of these coalitions fell apart from the lack of a coherent political vision.  Somehow the spirit of the community organizations must be revived to allow the poor to thrive along with the rich in the sight of God.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

(James 1:19-27; Mark 8:22-26)

Faith is said to be a new way of seeing.  One sees through the empty promises of sin to the care which Jesus exemplifies.  Today’s gospel demonstrates faith taking shape in two stages.  In the first, preliminary stage Jesus rubs spittle on a blind man’s eyes.   He sees, but weirdly.  Then Jesus touches the man’s eyes again causing him to distinguish clearly.  The first stage of the cure represents the insufficient way Jesus’ disciples accept him as Messiah.  They see him as a warrior who will somehow ignite a revolution to liberate Israel from foreign rule.  In the second stage the disciples see Jesus for whom he really is – the suffering servant who will sacrifice himself to free humanity from enslavement to sin.

The coming to a deeper, truer faith in Jesus is replicated in many persons’ lives.  One woman lived what today is a rather common life.  She had sexual relations with her boyfriend, whom she eventually married, and submitted herself to the man’s whims.  Then, taking her baptismal faith seriously, she repented of the reckless life she had and became an exemplary Christian, wife, and mother. 

We too want to move to a deeper relation of faith in Jesus.  Our avenue is prayer – speaking to Jesus from the heart and listening to him in the gospel.  Such faith allows us to put everything in proper perspective.  It enables us, like the man Jesus cures in the gospel, to see clearly. 

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

(James 1:12-18; Mark 8:14-21)

The Letter of James is often said to counterbalance the Letters of St. Paul where the latter emphasizes faith as the sole criteria for salvation.  James says in distinction that unless faith is lived in charity, it is useless.  In today’s passage James corrects another frequently misunderstood dictum in Scripture.

In the “Our Father” Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, “’Lead us not into temptation…’” Is he implying that God might tempt people to sin as a lustful young man might tempt his date into his apartment?  That cannot happen, and James intends to chase the idea from people’s mind lest they make excuses for their sins.

Nevertheless, Jesus’ prayer has real meaning.  God seems to permit that humans be tried until their faith is about to break.  Parents suffer the loss of children, and the lonely feel drawn to ruinous pleasures.  At these junctures we should cling to James’ advice.  He says that God created us in love and will provide the means to overcome all threats to our salvation.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

(James 1:12-18; Mark 8:14-21)

Jesus’ statement in the gospel that no sign will be given to the people of his generation sounds odd.  He has already worked many marvelous deeds in Mark’s story, which John’s gospel name as “signs.”  What Jesus may be saying is that nothing will be done that the Pharisees will recognize as signs.  This is so because the Pharisees brashly demand a special demonstration of divine authority as if they were immigration officers checking travel documents.  But it is God’s prerogative, not man’s, to seek verification of another’s authenticity.

People today also challenge God to work a wonder so that they might believe.  They confess that they no longer believe because God took their child or because God did not come to assist them in need.  It seems that they also forget who is who.  God has the sovereign right to demand faith from human beings or at least openness to belief.  He does not take orders from human beings although He wants subjects to come to Him plaintively and confidently as a child might approach her father with the request for lunch money.

We should not hesitate to go to God with our needs, even the small ones.  But let our request for help always be framed on one side by the willingness to accept His will and on the other by the assurance that He will never abandon us.