Thursday, August 7, 2014

Thursday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Jeremiah 31:31-34; Matthew 16:13-23)

One of the greatest insights of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae is contained in an article that refers to the first reading today.  Near the end of the Prima Sacundae Thomas turns his attention from the Old Law to the New Law.  He makes no fanfare as he treats of this entirely different kind of law, which is to the Old Law what a computer is to a typewriter.

Thomas says that the New Law fulfills the prophecy of Jeremiah that says it will be written on the hearts of God’s people.  He understands this law to be not merely a list of rules or even a series of stories that illustrate righteousness.  No, for Thomas and henceforth for the Catholic tradition the New Law is nothing less than the grace of the Holy Spirit that fills the hearts of those who believe in Jesus.  It is as if the heart were given an entirely new shape, now designed to love as the old form was designed to seek personal satisfaction.

We express our belief in Jesus not just by testifying, as Peter does in today’s gospel that he is “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” but by following his commands.  For Christians orthopraxis is as important as orthodoxy.  But the challenge is not all that overwhelming because the grace of his Spirit is moving us to do so from within.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

(Daniel 7:9-10.13-14; II Peter 1:16-19; Matthew 17:1-9)

Some people may feel confused about Christopher Columbus.  As little children, they were taught that he was a hero bravely sailing into the unknown for the purpose of discovery.  But as the 500^th anniversary of his historic voyage approached, they were told that their history lessons were a whitewash and that in truth he was a marauder and even a fool thinking he reached China.  Recently a historian from Stanford University studied the pertinent documents of the times and Columbus’ personal papers.  She gives objective testimony that he was indeed a great man with sensitivity toward the people he encountered in his journeys.  The Transfiguration provides similar testimony for, at least, Peter, James, and John who had been puzzled about Jesus.

Although Peter has already acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, neither he nor the others had a proper concept of what the terms mean.  Peter in fact was unwilling to accept that being God’s anointed entails undergoing suffering and rejection for the sake of the people.  With the Transfiguration on the mountain the three disciples receive more insight into Jesus’ divine mission.  Peter’s desire to build three booths is not a wild gesture, but an understanding that the Messiah has indeed arrived as it was understood that the people would live in tents upon his coming as they had done during the forty year sojourn in Sinai.  True the three descend the mountain wondering what Jesus means by saying that he will rise from the dead, but they no longer refute him when he speaks of dying.

Living in a secular age we sometimes feel the ground of our faith swerving beneath us.  Yet there are moments in all of our lives when we feel the solidity of our beliefs like mountain boulders.  These are Transfiguration experiences, and we must hold on to them and indeed tell others about them.  They will assist us in being faithful to the Lord who gave himself entirely for our salvation.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Jeremiah 30:1-2.12-15.18-22; Matthew 15:1-2.10-14)

A lovely story is told about St. John Paul II’s visit to the World Youth Day in Toronto.  The youth group at a local parish invited a young woman of the streets whom they knew to accompany them to the beloved pope’s mass.  The woman, who really was a prostitute, decided to go along.  There she was converted by the pope’s graciousness.  She said that he changed her life as many men had said to her before that they loved her but that this one meant it.  The story mirrors the prophecy of Jeremiah in today’s first reading.

The first half of the prophecy pictures Judah as a forlorn wanton woman, all of whose lovers having forgotten her.  In the second part, however, there is a complete change of tenor.  God promises to turn the fate of the nation around.  It will become strong and happy, and noted especially for its leader.  His integrity will be so great that he will approach the majesty of the Most High without having to flinch.  Of course, this is a vision of the Lord Jesus.

Too often we see people ruining their lives by following frivolous passions.  Sex, drugs, alcohol can lead a people from the road of righteousness down a path to perdition.  Jeremiah’s vision today gives us at least a bit of hope that such people are not necessarily lost.  We can and should offer our support so that they might return to the Lord.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Memorial of Saint John Vianney, priest

(Jeremiah 28:1-17; Matthew 14:22-36)

A man tells of a particularly trying time.  His wife was just diagnosed with cancer, and he felt his world crumbling.  He had the responsibility of closing his parish church every night and this night he stopped in his rounds with a plea for mercy.  Then, he says, he felt what seemed like an arm grasping him around the back and a voice telling him that everything will be okay, not to worry.  How else could the man interpret this experience except as a divine intervention?  He felt like the apostles in today’s gospel after seeing the Lord Jesus.

The passage is often taken as an allegory for the early Church in crisis.  Jesus is risen and ascended into heaven.  The nascent Church, symbolized by the little boat, is having great difficulty, perhaps from persecution or maybe from internal disputes.  The stormy sea represents primordial, destructive forces that always threaten human projects with annihilation.  But the Lord, who seemed to the apostles to be absent, is actually on his way to help them.  He tells them not worry.  He even bids their leader to act boldly in face of the chaos.

Just as much as forces of destruction are constantly threatening the order of creation, we should realize that Jesus, whom Peter rightly identifies in the passage as “Lord,” stands on guard.  He will help us, but let us not forget in our distress to call on him.

Friday, August 1, 2014

Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Ligouri, bishop and doctor of the Church

(Jeremiah 26:1-9; Matthew 13:54-58)

If a bank robber threatened you with your life to act as his accomplice by driving his get-away car, could you do so without committing a sin?  It’s not an easy question to answer since it seems that you would be giving immediate material cooperation that is generally forbidden.  Moralists are likely divided on the issue which brings us to St. Alphonsus Ligouri whose feast day is today.

Alphonsus lived during a time of great debate among moral theologians. Some, called probablists, held that one could take a position in favor of freedom on a difficult issue – in the above, that it would be permissible to cooperate with the bank robber – if at least one accredited moralist held that position.  Others, named probabilorists, believed that it is always necessary to follow the opinion with the most internal reasons.  St. Alphonsus settled the issue with his typical wisdom.  He wrote that one could take a position of freedom if there are as many internal arguments in its favor as there are in favor of the law.

We live in an age that exalts information.  Especially through the Internet a mountain of facts are at one’s fingertips.  But there is a scarcity of wisdom, the ability to live rightly in any circumstances in which we find ourselves.  People like St. Alphonsus are gifts from God to be heeded and followed.