Monday, March 31, 2014

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

(Isaiah 65:17-21; John 4:43-54)

Last year during his Holy Thursday mass Pope Francis made an extraordinary gesture.  He washed the feet of two young women and one Muslim.  He obviously intended the action as a sign to the world that Jesus Christ has come to serve all people. In today's gospel, Jesus also gives a sign to the world.

In curing the official's son from a distance, Jesus shows to the people of Galilee that he is the one sent from God to heal the world.  The time is coming soon when he will hang on the cross to take away human guilt.  As the first reading from Isaiah intimates, God is about to do great things on behalf of humanity.

Still some of us doubt the good news in the gospel.  We tire of being told that Jesus has saved us from our sins when we find ourselves ever struggling with same temptations.  Perhaps our problem is that we fail to turn to the Lord with these needs.  We will find his grace strengthening our spirits when we turn to him to reform our sinful ways.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Friday of the third Week of Lent

 (Hosea 14:2-10; Mark 12:28-34)

 The popular children’s book The Giving Tree tells how an apple tree benefits a man from childhood to old age.  In youth the tree provides a boy food and a place of recreation.  As he grows older, the tree becomes a man’s source of income and lumber.  And in old age the tree supports the elder’s need for rest.  In today’s first reading the prophet Hosea speaks of Israel having such gracious qualities as the “giving tree.”

 The Lord says that after its chastening, Israel will return to His justice.  It will look to neither idols nor allies for salvation, but find the path of righteousness. Then it will flourish like cedar, cypress, and olive trees.  The prophet’s poetry is given more meaningful expression in Jesus’ description of God’s greatest commandments as love of God and neighbor.

 Love of others seems like a simple lesson, but it takes most of us a lifetime to figure out.  Even children demonstrate greed and vindictiveness.  It is a practice that originates in the Word of God, is conditioned by suffering, and is nurtured by prayer. 

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

 (Jeremiah 7:23-28; Luke 11:14-23)

 Hesed is the Hebrew word for steadfast love. It epitomizes God's disposition toward humans and belies human relations with God. Where God is always merciful, ready to forgive human failings, people almost invariably evade completion of God's will. As the Lord tells Jeremiah in the first reading, "Faithfulness has disappeared..."

What is true in Jeremiah's time applies to Jesus' day. In today’s gospel some refuse to accept his message with the excuse that Jesus is in league with the devil. It characterizes as well the position of many today who will not acknowledge that humanity has been spared of sin through the cross of Jesus.  They deny the  reality of sin saying that human actions are not free, or they ignore the cross questioning its efficacy.

We can do better. Formed by Jesus' teaching, we can be faithful to the covenant that he established between us and the Father. Yes, it will entail measurable sacrifice as anything worthwhile does. But it foresees an immeasurable reward because its guarantor is the ever faithful God.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Wednesday of the Third Week in Lent

(Deuteronomy 4:1.5-9; Matthew 5:17-19)

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” Robert Frost wrote at the beginning of a famous poem.  We might change “wall” to “law” and come up with a similar truth.  Laws(like walls) can obstruct the good as well as serve it.  For example, privacy laws can make clerical visits in hospitals problematic.  It seems that the apostle Paul had little use for law. He wrote the Letters to the Galatians and the Romans refuting the need for Christians to be circumcised as the Jewish Law prescribes.

Still laws are necessary.  They guide us in the pursuit of the good.  Without some laws, at least, we would likely make repeated mistakes and hurt people in the process.  We also need laws to protect us from the unscrupulous who would not allow common respect for others inhibit their desires.  In the readings today both Moses and Jesus extol the Law which God has given to the Israelites.  Moses believes that there are no statutes and decrees more just than those contained in Israel’s Law.  Jesus finds the same Law binding until all things come to pass.  Then how can Paul dismiss it so forcefully?  And why do we not practice that Law today?  

The Ten Commandments have always served as a guide to morality and still bind Christians.  It is true, however, that the ritualistic parts of the Law have lost their force because with Jesus’ death and resurrection all things indeed have come to pass.  Finally, we should not understand Paul as rejecting the Law completely but as saying that alone the Law has proven ineffectual at producing the righteousness of salvation.  For that, he says, we need the grace of Christ.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

(Isaiah 7:10-14.8:10; Hebrews 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38)

“What if Mary said “no” to Gabriel?” the proponents of human freedom like to speculate.  “Can anyone resist the efficacy of grace?” defenders of divine authority counter.  In a reflection on Sandro Botticelli’s painting of the Annunciation appearing in America magazine last year, Professor Jerome Miller shows how the artist reconciles these two issues. 

Professor Miller writes that as Gabriel hails Mary, God comes to her not in control of the future but as the future.  At the same time both summoned and attracted, Mary willingly responds favorably to the divine possibilities in the present that this future holds.  In other words, she concedes to the will of God to bear His son so that the world may be freed from sin.  The magnificence is not just in the theology but in Botticelli’s conception of it.  He paints a hunched Gabriel pointing a hand of urgency to the young woman and a curved Mary relating both an awe of and openness to God.

Professor Miller points out that God hails all of us, like Mary, by name and presents us with His future.  Our openness to his word, which is another way of saying the grace in our hearts, shapes our response.  Moved by grace to respond favorably to God’s beckoning, we let go of egotism and respond in love to the needs of others.