Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

(Isaiah 11:1-10; Luke 10:21-24)

A woman writes of her faith as the glue that holds her life together.  She says that when her seven-year-old was hit by a car, she stormed heaven that his life might be spared. Her son’s life was spared, and she remains imminently grateful.  Jesus almost sings with similar gratitude in the gospel today.

                                      

The setting is Jesus’ welcoming back the seventy-two disciples he sent on a missionary expedition.  He is delighted that they witnessed wonders like demons being repulsed in his name. He breaks into praise of God who provided such powerful testimony that they, like the woman who stormed heaven, may trust completely.

During Advent we raise our expectations to see the wonders of God.  We must look beyond the goodwill of Christmas which is short-lived and really meager.  We dare to find in the vision of the first reading from Isaiah our hope.  We believe that the time is coming when enemies will live in peace together.  The adversaries we have in mind are not bears and cows but Palestinians and Jews, Muslims and Christians.  We redouble our efforts and prayers in this special season for a world of lasting peace. 

Monday, November 28, 2016

Monday of the First Week of Advent

(Isaiah 4:2-6; Matthew 8:5-11)

The centurion in today’s gospel expresses Advent faith.  Because he has evidently heard of Jesus’ power over disease, he does not require his presence to heal his servant.  As a man of authority, he is confident that Jesus only has to command the healing for it to happen. 

Some of us wait impatiently for Jesus to return.  We wonder if we have misinterpreted his promise or, more darkly, if the gospels have misinformed us.  We need to appropriate the centurion’s advent faith.  We have seen evidence of Jesus’ power over evil – how things go right when we pray to him, how his words echo profound truth to the present day, and how his followers have shaped civilization in benign ways. We can accept Jesus at his word.

During Advent we renew our commitment to stay the course.  Jesus may not arrive in flesh and bone this year, but he will continue to send signs of his coming.  In the meantime we wait not so much patiently as actively.  We want to prepare his way by promoting goodwill so that all will receive him.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Revelation 20:1-4.11-21.2; Luke 21:29-33)

Apocalypse is the Greek word for revelation.  For this reason the last book of the Bible, from which we take today’s first reading, is alternatively called the Apocalypse or the Book of Revelation.  Apocalyptic literature, however, of which the Book of Revelation is the Bible’s only full example, has a meaning beyond revelatory.  It further refers to the cosmic struggle between God and the powers of darkness.  This metaphoric war will lead to the transformation of the world into the heavenly Kingdom.  Today’s first reading gives an account of the struggle and the coming Kingdom characterized by “a new heaven” and “a new earth.”

Since the destiny of the present world is transformation and renewal, some have questioned the value of working for a better world.  They see the aim of every human to be avoiding evil to save her soul.  The Constitution on the Church in the Modern World of the Second Vatican Council, however, declares: “…the expectation of a new earth must not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one.”  In working for a better world, humans show themselves as true disciples of Jesus.  He came as the inaugurator of God’s Kingdom and will come again ushering its fullness. 

As we close the liturgical year with references to the coming Kingdom in both readings, we should renew our efforts to see it happen.  This means not retreating in self-defense but moving forward to the margins of society.  There we are to offer a hand of support to the poor.  The Kingdom is God’s doing and will be realized when Christ comes in glory.  But our efforts spur the hope that it will not be long in arriving. 

November 24, 2016

Thanksgiving Day

(Sirach 50:22-24; I Corinthians 1:3-9; Luke 17:11-19)

Europeans are said to become indignant with Americans for their politeness.  They cannot understand why their neighbors across the western sea always say, “Thank you.”  Even when the person offering them a service for which she is well paid or which is of no value to them, Americans are likely to express appreciation.  But gratitude becomes a person even when its expression is not sincere.  It is also true that when thanks are given to God, they can never be over-exaggerated.

All three readings today exhibit a grateful heart.  In the first Jesus ben Sira credits God for assuring the growth of every human.  He recognizes that the magnificence of the mind and body are the handiwork of a benevolent designer.  In the second St. Paul thanks God for allowing the Corinthians to experience the grace of Jesus Christ.  God has blessed them with every kind of spiritual gift.  The gospel shows the Samaritan going out of his way to thank Jesus.  The man would naturally want to share his joy with his family, but he shows the due priority.  God, the author of life and of grace and of virtue, is always to be thanked first.

Perhaps the importance of giving thanks has been etched in American minds because we celebrate Thanksgiving.  The celebration started with early American immigrants giving thanks to God for survival.  It was given national prominence by President Lincoln as an expression of gratefulness to God for sustenance.  It continued through the years of the prosperity during the twentieth century.   And we do not stop today because we know that the gift of creation and the grace of salvation are much more than our doing. 

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Revelation 15:1-4; Luke 21:12-19)

Preachers used to talk a lot about the wrath of God.  The topic easily captured people’s attention.  Also, there is enough reference to it in Scripture to make it seem very important. Today's first reading refers to it quite directly.  Seven angels hold the last seven plagues of God's fury.

However, we must be careful in using human qualities to describe God.  He (forgive this gender reference, but it is the language used to reveal God in Scripture) is beyond human emotion since he is pure Spirit.  Indeed, God is beyond our ability to describe Him.  Yet a few qualities stand out because they were used by Jesus in speaking of his Father.  God is just, for example.  Indeed, justice is what Revelation is trying to get at when it refers to God’s wrath.  For all human indifference to God's goodness, justice would seem to require the imposition of severe punishments.  But God’s justice is not a tit for tat.  Its aim is to make humans just, and its primary tool is mercy.  Both the Old and the New Testaments constantly show God acting mercifully toward His people so that they might finally learn His ways.

We cannot imitate God by becoming angry.  Although anger is not necessarily sinful, it is neither an attribute of God.  We do imitate God when we show mercy, but not mercy as permissiveness.  No, when we show care for others, are willing to pardon their transgressions, and firmly hold them accountable to improvement, we give testimony to God’s love.