Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 3:1-10.19-20; Mark 1:29-39)

Many people discern a call to serve the Church, but few believe that God may be asking them to remain unmarried.  They fear being left unfulfilled as human beings if they do not give themselves to another in sexual intimacy.  Entertainment conveys this message, and parents encourage their children to give them grandchildren.  Albeit in an oblique way, the first reading today addresses this question of vocational celibacy.

The biblical author indicates that a vocation is not easily discerned by commenting that “a revelation of the Lord was uncommon.”  Yet the Lord does not cease to knock at Samuel’s door.  The priest Eli provides the key to discernment of God’s call.  Samuel must converse with the Lord in deliberate prayer if he is to understand what God wants of him. 

We should understand that the Church does not hold virginity and celibacy high because sexual intimacy is suspect.  Quite the contrary, it recognizes the beauty and, indeed, the necessity of married love.  But it also is alarmed by the fascination of uncommitted sex today.  By holding its priests to celibacy and by encouraging women to consecrate their lives to Christ, it underscores the existence of the One who orders our lives.   God not pleasure gives us lasting happiness. Deep and continual prayer will tell whether God is calling us to testify to Him in this special way.

Tuesday, January 10, 2016

Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 1:9-20; Mark 1:21-28)

The couple had been hoping for a baby for years.  As they had not conceived, they decided to adopt.  Fortunately, they were awarded a baby.  Then the woman became pregnant.  Soon enough they had two children to care for.  Today’s first reading tells a similar story.

Hannah spends so much time praying for a child that she appears to overdo it.  The priest Eli chides her for drinking to excess, only to learn that his criticism is excessive.  Then he blesses Hannah, and she and her husband conceive a child.

Many wonder if it is wrong to seek expert advice today in order to conceive.  Or, should a couple just go on praying if they want children?  The Church teaches that fertility counselling can be advantageous as long as the couple realizes that not everything recommended by the medical profession is morally licit.  In vitro fertilization, for example, wrongfully separates the unitive and procreative dimensions of marital relations.  In any case, prayer should accompany all efforts to conceive.  We pray not only that we may have children if that is our desire but that our children grow strong in faith and in love,

Monday, January 11, 2016

Monday of the First Week in ordinary Time

(I Samuel 1:1-8; Mark 1:14-20)

When St. John Paul II was elected pope, he said that the celebration of the new millennium would be the hallmark of his papacy.  He then methodically carried out a program with synods in all parts of the world, apologies for the crimes of church people throughout the centuries, and finally the great events of the year 2000.  We see Jesus in the gospel today working with as much deliberation.

Jesus has just been baptized in the Jordan and tested in the desert.  Now he begins his ministry.  He preaches his basic message: salvation is at hand; accept it by opening your lives to the Lord. Then he calls followers whom he will train to continue preaching the message.  Three observations are in order.  First, Jesus dispenses with the custom of the time of disciples seeking out a teacher.  Jesus personally chooses his followers.  Second, Jesus chooses simple fishermen, not students for his following.  Scholars like Paul will preach the gospel in time, but for now Jesus wants men who know how to seek out those who are hidden.  Finally, his call is urgent.  There is no time for followers to discern a call.  He demands that they come at once.

Today we begin what the Church calls “Ordinary Time.”  The phrase comes from the fact that the period is categorized by weeks with ordinary numbers – first, second, third, etc.  We hear the term as indicating nothing special.  Perhaps that is a sufficient way of thinking about it.  Ordinary Time represents the opportunity to open our lives to God’s love as Jesus preaches it in the gospel today.  But our response does not have to be immediate.  Rather we should make a deliberate decision to follow him.  But to follow him means that we bring his message to others by manifesting God’s love everywhere.  

Friday, January 8, 2016

Friday after the Epiphany

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

Today’s first reading speaks of three witnesses giving testimony that Jesus is the Son of God.  The first testimony is water which may be a reference to Jesus being born of a woman and all the works he did.  He showed himself to be sent from God by his preaching and healing.  Of course, his supreme work was his death which is symbolized by his blood.  It was on the cross that he showed the extent of the Father’s love for humanity.  The Spirit which the Father has sent through him is active in Christians who continue his saving work. 

The Spirit enables us to perform heroic deeds.  We can help the oppressed even though it may bring about some loss.  One man has driven fifty miles every week for over twenty years to lead inmates of a state prison in prayer.  He is a cursillista who chose prison ministry as his apostolate.

Some of us are called to give even fuller testimony.  After ISIS made a spectacle of its bloody execution of Christians on the shores of Africa last year, there was no mass exodus of Middle Eastern Christians from the faith.  Jesus’ followers in Egypt, Syria and Iraq have maintained their testimony of love for him and their fellow human.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Memorial of Saint Raymond of Peñafort, priest

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

When Jesus stands up in the synagogue of Nazareth to give what has been called his inaugural sermon, he seems like a starry-eyed charismatic.  He makes no reference to the Law by which the Jews lived.  Rather he emphasizes the Spirit that has come upon him to various oppressed groups.  But before one takes up the banner of Jesus as a free spirit, some consideration of the value of law should be made.

As much as law is sometimes dismissed as restricting people’s freedom, it more regularly protects it.  Only the powerful would enjoy freedom of speech if there were no law protecting one’s right to air her opinion in public.  Similarly, unless there were laws directing traffic, going to work in the morning would be a peril.  We can truthfully say that Jesus did not mean to abolish laws but to assure that the poor be included in their reach.

Today the Church celebrates the patron of lawyers, especially canon lawyers, St. Raymond of Peñafort.  Raymond systemized previous papal decrees into a body of law that served the Church from the thirteenth to the twentieth century.  A Dominican priest who served as Master General of the Order, Raymond also revised the Order’s constitution which also withstood the vagaries of time.  Raymond of Peñafort died on this date in 1275, the hundredth year of his life.