Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Tuesday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 49:1-6; John 13:21-33.36-38)

At the end of the Civil War movie “Glory” a troop of African-American soldiers go into battle.  They will bring glory to their country and to themselves by dying on its behalf.  The show suggests the kind of glory of which Jesus speaks in today’s gospel.

The hour is at hand for the Son of God to give his life for the salvation of the world.  He will duel with evil in its most pernicious forms.  The world already has begun to fall apart.  A disciple leaves in order to betray him.  Another foolishly boasts of how he will defend him.  Jesus is to fulfill the role of the Suffering Servant which Isaiah speaks of in the first reading.  His death and resurrection will give rise to a new Israel which will be faithful to God’s commands.  The new creation will transcend the old one by including all nations on earth in its company.

It is time for us to set back and reflect.  We can ask, “What kind of glory do we seek?” Are we here to gain attention for ourselves? Or are we, like Christ, to give ourselves for the glory of God?  If it is the latter which we seek, then we are to humble ourselves in service to God’s many children.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Monday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11)

The philosopher Blaise Pascal, a fervent Catholic, wanted to receive the Eucharist on his death bed.  Because he could no longer keep any food down, he proposed a workable substitute.  He asked that some poor people be brought into his presence.  Since he could not communicate with Christ, the Head, he reasoned, then he would “communicate at least with the body.” In the gospel Jesus points to the poor as being perennially on hand to assist.

Curiously, the passage has been understood as an excuse not to address poverty.  “Why bother?” some would ask if even Jesus testifies that the poor will always be around.  Then, we might ask, why bandage a wound if someday something will kill us or, for that matter, why eat lunch?  In another gospel Jesus identifies himself with the miserable by saying that what is done for them is actually done for him.  John’s gospel is more subtle here.  Jesus feeds the hungry masses and washes the feet of his disciples saying that they are to wash “one another’s feet.”  We should interpret this remark as meaning that he wants us to look on all people as “one another.”

During Holy Week we sense a special call to holiness.  This certainly means added time in prayer but also more consideration of the needy.  Perhaps we can visit to a nursing home or make a check to charity.  Such deeds will enhance our worship.

Friday, April 7, 2017

Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Jeremiah 20:10-13; John 10:31-42)

Today’s gospel looks forward to next Friday when the Passion of the Lord will be celebrated.  The action takes place on the Feast of the Dedication, known as Hanukkah today.  The Jews are celebrating the rededication of the temple altar that was defiled during the despotic reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.  In the vision of John the Evangelist the Jews do not realize that they are committing a more serious crime in trying to kill Jesus.

The Jews pursue Jesus because he has called himself the “’Son of God.’”  They rightly conclude that making such a claim Jesus is equating himself to God.  Jesus defends himself by observing that Scripture itself calls some people “’gods.’”  He says that he has even more right to the title because God has consecrated him and sent him into the world.  Being consecrated or dedicated like the temple altar, Jesus’ body becomes the place of true sacrifice when he dies on the cross.

Although we anxiously await now the annual commemoration of Jesus’ paschal sacrifice, we celebrate the same sacrifice today.  In every Eucharist Jesus’ body becomes the locus of the perfect sacrifice where our sins are forgiven and we receive the blessing of eternal life.  We do not need any church structure, much less the Jewish temple, to realize these benefits.  All that is necessary are bread and wine, the words and actions of a priest, and our faith.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-59)

The fourth century heretic Arius had the same problem which vexes the Jews in today’s gospel.  If God is infinite, he argued, then he could not become incarnate in a singular subject.  He claimed that this would be like putting a mountain into a box.  Therefore, Arius concluded, Jesus must have been created like all other beings and then raised to a divine status.  In the gospel the Jews reason similarly.  Because they think that Jesus came to be in time like everything else, he is wrong to claim equality with God by calling himself “I AM.”    

A few years ago theologian Robert Barron, now a bishop, published an essay which can be used to explain how Arius and the Jews are mistaken.  Like the great thinkers of the Catholic tradition, Bishop Barron understands God not as just the highest being but qualitatively different from all other beings.  Therefore, He cannot be compared to any other.  God gives glimpses of who He is throughout Scripture and especially in Jesus, but His nature is beyond human understanding. Only because of God’s revelation can it be said that He became human.  How this came about is also beyond human reckoning although it remains a truth of faith.

We can say, however, that God became human so that we can become like God.  Knowing ourselves as sinners, this may seem incredible although the saints provide us a glimmer of hope.  Jesus’ death and resurrection has given them the grace to become holy.  The same Easter mystery will sanctify us if we allow it.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the young prince is looking for evidence to convict his uncle of murdering his father.  He gets an idea when a troupe of actors comes to town.  He will devise a play that shows how the murder took place.  When his uncle watches the action, his visible reaction should betray his guilt.  Something similar is taking place in today’s gospel passage.

John’s Gospel not only tells the story of Jesus but contains hidden in the action the fate of the Christian community he left behind.  The controversy in today’s passage shows how part of that community -- “those Jews who believed in him” – lack a firm faith.  They accept Jesus as a prophet but do not see him as the only source of freedom which is equivalent to salvation.  They think that they are free by virtue of being children of Abraham.  Their opposition to Christians who find Jesus as the only way to salvation is dramatically portrayed when Jesus says that “are trying to kill” him.  The Judaizers who incurred St. Paul’s wrath by insisting that the Galatians be circumcised are equivalent to these half-hearted Christians.

We live in a time when many see other ways to salvation besides Jesus.  Some believe that freedom comes from not being bonded to other people.  Others think that freedom is the right to do whatever one wants short of physically hurting others.  We believe that Jesus’ way of selfless love for others brings the freedom of the children of God.  Next week we will celebrate the bestowal of that freedom in the paschal mysteries.