Thursday, March 23, 2017

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

(Jeremiah 7:23-28; Luke 11:14-23)

Almost twenty-five years ago Pope St. John Paul II proclaimed a “New Evangelization.”  He said that it would be directed not only to the nations where Jesus is unknown and to Christians who have lost a living sense of their faith.  It would also go out to those who practice the faith!  All people -- good and bad alike -- need to hear God’s call to reform.  Taking His word into account, many who have thought of themselves as good will have to make a new appraisal.  Both Scripture readings today focus on this last group. 

In the first reading Jeremiah laments the reality of his day.  The people of Jerusalem are paying lip service to God.  They may go to the temple, but they do not practice love of God and neighbor that the law tries to instill.  In the gospel Jesus shows compassion when he enables a mute man to speak.  The people around him, however, refuse to acknowledge that Jesus’ power comes from God.  They say to the contrary that he heals because he is in league with the devil.  The passage ends with Jesus condemning those who deny his goodness. “…whoever does not gather with me,’” he says, “’scatters.’”

During the season of Lent, especially, we are being called to a true examination and conviction of self.  We may not be the biggest sinners, most of us at least, but we do gossip and curse others (while driving).  We fail to see the sufferings others undergo and often exaggerate our own challenges. There is plenty of room for improvement which must be made if we are to experience eternal life.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

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

Fifty years ago the words law and order had a connotation of severity.  Politicians, sensing public disgust with civil unrest, promised “law and order” if elected.  Today, however, perhaps because of a popular television show with that title, law and order has a more congenial tone.  This change parallels the development of the term law that is seen in the readings today.

The Book of Deuteronomy presents the law as the lifeline of Israel.  Its purpose is to regulate the ways of the people to conform to a public vision of holiness.  It emphasizes the importance of remembering and teaching to posterity the code.  Jesus says that he comes “to fulfill,” not to change and much less to abolish, the law.  He goes beyond outer behavior to inner motives so that people may truly become holy.  It will seem to some that Jesus is exhorting strictness, but that view is narrow-minded.  Jesus means to liberate the human heart from attachments to worldly desires.  In this way people can freely and easily live holy lives.

It is our purpose in Lent to be freed from excessive worldly attachments.  In part this comes about by our efforts to abstain from material goods and to assist those in need.  It also requires prayer – constant and sincere – that the Holy Spirit displace the material desire with a desire for genuine holiness.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:25.34-43; Matthew 18:21-35)

Protestants often criticize the Catholic practice of confessing to a priest.  They ask, “Why do you have to tell your sins to a man?  It is God who forgives sins.”  Yes, certainly sins offend God, and He alone can forgive them, but Jesus has given his apostles authority to carry out this function (Matthew 18:18).  There is a further reason.  When a Christian sins, she or he does harm to the Church which is entrusted with the mission of announcing God’s love to the world.  Gossiping, viewing pornography, or cheating on taxes hinders the deliverance of this message.  The readings today present examples of a sincere confession and what proves to be a faulty one.

The first reading pictures Azariah, one of the three Jewish youths chosen to serve the king of Persia, expressing contrition for the sins of his people.  As the prophets tell, God desires such a contrite heart more than sacrifices.  The servant in the gospel parable sounds like he has undergone a change of heart as he pleads with his master for an extension of his debt, but actually he has not.  If he were sincere, he would show the same understanding to a fellow servant who is indebted to him.

All Catholics should go to Confession during Lent whether or not they are in mortal sin.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation humbles us to admit that we make mistakes -- sometimes grave ones -- that divert us from the path of holiness.  Also significant, Reconciliation reminds us that religion is not just a personal affair between God and me but a communal enterprise in which all of us have a role to carry out.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(II Samuel 7:4-5a.12-14a.16; Romans 4:13.16-18.22; Matthew 1:16.18-21.24a)

The Church celebrates St. Joseph’s day as a solemnity.  This means it is given the highest reverence.  At mass both the Gloria and the Creed are recited or sung.  On solemnities in Lent Catholics are not supposed to fast but to rejoice as if it were a Sunday.  This change should not be taken as a corruption of the season but as a reminder that the gospel, which has its challenges, is fundamentally good news.

Not much is said about St. Joseph in the four gospels.  Because Jesus is called the carpenter’s son, it is presumed that Joseph was a carpenter or craftsman.  Very importantly, Joseph gives Jesus his royal heritage as both Matthew and Luke cite him as a direct descendant of King David.  Joseph stands out as a just or righteous man.  In today’s gospel, even before his famous dream, he decides not to cause Mary any trouble by a public divorce.  More self-sacrificingly, he acts on the word of God given to him by the angel when he brings the mother of God’s son into his home.  And when he is told in other dreams to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt out of harm’s way and to move his family to Nazareth, he obeys willingly.

We should see Joseph not just as a righteous builder but the builder of righteousness.  He collaborated with Mary to raise Jesus as a person of fidelity to God’s word.  No doubt he imparted to Jesus a sense of nobility; that is, Jesus had an obligation to serve the good of all.  As we are Jesus’ adopted sisters and brothers like Jesus was Joseph’s son, we can look to him for guidance.  We should find in St. Joseph a model of virtue to emulate and an intercessor to beseech.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Friday of the Second Week of Lent (St. Patrick’s Day)

(Genesis 37:3-4.12-13a.17b-28a; Matthew 21:33-43.45-46)

The two readings today are meant to parallel one another.  In the reading from Genesis Joseph is his father’s favorite son.  His brothers hate him for that fact.  To get rid of him they give him to foreign traders.  In the gospel Jesus presents himself as God’s beloved son.  His fellow Jews resent his unveiling of their malevolent desires.  They will have him arrested when the moment is favorable and deliver him to the foreign occupiers of Israel.

Resentment and hatred sour the soul.  They move people to commit atrocities.  They may be purged but at great cost.   Jesus died to redeem his people and the whole world.  St. Patrick made a great sacrifice in returning to Ireland to convert the people among whom he lived as a slave.  Descriptions of his life include mention of the risk that he incurred in carrying out his mission.

During Lent we should make every effort to purge ourselves of resentment and hatred.  First, we need to recognize where it exists.  Perhaps we feel animosity toward people of a particular race, religion, or lifestyle.  We should be fasting in repentance for the times when our hatred took active form.  Finally, we pray to Christ for mercy.  If we take these steps, we may be confident that at the celebration of the resurrection we will be raised from the scum of hatred.