Monday, September 18, 2017

Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 7:1-10)

Persecutions in the early Church were evidently not as severe and as frequent as sometimes thought.   Historians say the Romans were generally lax about religious laws.  They only insisted that people pay respect to the Roman gods without necessarily abandoning their own.  Of course, Christians would not acknowledge the existence of other gods and were persecuted when politically expedient. Today’s first reading indicates the early Christian desire to exist in peace with Rome. 

Paul, or perhaps his disciple, exhorts Christians to pray for those in authority.  His intention is to have them avoid persecution as much as possible.  It is not to be a prayer for show but a testimony to God’s will for universal salvation.  The gospel likewise has this in mind as it shows Jesus praising the faith of a Roman officer.

Some may find it unnecessary today to pray for the salvation of non-Christians given Vatican II’s acknowledgment that one following his or her conscience will be saved.  However, Pope Benedict offered some insight when he asked the poignant question: Can people be saved if they convert their opinions and desires into norms of conscience so that they do anything they wish?  No, such salvation is doubtful.  The world desperately needs the saving truth of Jesus as a guide to the world.  Even if not all embrace belief in his divinity, the world needs his light.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

(I Timothy 1:1-2.12-14; John 19:25-27)

When the son of an eighty-plus year-old man died, the father said that it was hard to describe the loss he felt.  Every day his son used to call him at noon.  With the son’s death noontime, like a bell without a clapper, rang completely hollow.  No doubt Mary feels some of this grief at the cross.  Far from glorying in her son’s triumph over sin, she experiences the emptying of her soul with his.

In the gospel Jesus entrusts his mother to his beloved disciple.  The act not only guarantees her welfare but in a more profound way represents the beginning of the Church.  Mary will form the heart of the community by both remembering Jesus’ earliest days and telling the significance of his mission.

Many old men and women sit alone in apartments and nursing homes.  Their physical needs may be provided for, but they long to hear the voices of people who care about them.  We can never replace a son or daughter who is no longer or perhaps never was there for them.  But like the beloved disciple to Mary, we may provide them some consolation.  

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

(Numbers 21:4b-9; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17)

Beholding jeweled crosses and hearing how perfect the cross is as geometric design, we have difficulty contemplating its scandal for early Christians.  It is said that people mocked the first followers of Jesus when they found out that he was nailed to a cross.  We might as easily chide a teenager today for idolizing a rock star.  In Jesus’ day crucifixion was the basest of punishments the state imposed because it entailed the most gruesome suffering.  We do not consider it an alternative form of execution today precisely because it comprises “cruel and unusual punishment.”  Yet the cross is the instrument by which Christ won our salvation. 

The gospel today curiously does not mention the cross.  It merely states that those who believe in Jesus “lifted up” will be saved.  In the Gospel of John Jesus is lifted up twice – first on the cross and then in the resurrection.  Either time when we look on him with faith, we find ourselves in the magnetic field of salvation.

However, faith is more than paying lip service that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead.  Faith indicates our willingness to make sacrifices for his sake.  But the cross in its utter barbarity, as much as the resurrection in its sheer magnificence, indicates that faith in Christ, and not in the quality or quantity of our works, brings salvation.  As when we were little children with nothing to repay our relatives for the gifts they brought us at Christmas, we cannot earn eternal life.  We can only say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you” for his death on the cross.

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor of the Church

(Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 6:20-26)

Christians in the West may not know St. John Chrysostom, but within Orthodoxy he is more famous than St. Augustine.  There are similarities between the two.  Neither grew up Christian, and both studied rhetoric as young men.  Both became bishops although Augustine’s diocese was backwater while John’s see was the imperial city of Constantinople.

John was both an eloquent preacher (Chrysostom means golden mouth) and an outspoken social critic.  He had little patience with imperial protocol and openly appealed to the wealthy to assist the needy before adorning a church.  In a famous sermon he said, "Give (Christ) he honor prescribed in his law by giving your riches to the poor. For God does not want golden vessels but golden hearts.”

John Chrysostom actually echoes both readings today.  The Letter to the Colossians admonishes: “’Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.”   In the gospel Jesus is much more emphatic as he tells his disciples: “Blessed are you who are poor…But woe to you who are rich.’” He does not mean to say that the rich are damned only that to find their salvation they must help those in need.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 2:6-15; Luke 6:12-19)

Gnosticism may very well be the “empty, seductive philosophy” mentioned in today’s passage from the Letter to the Colossians.  This ancient practice held that spiritual creation is inherently good while material creation is evil.  Consequently, according to Gnostics, the body is corrupt and concern for the body, trivial.  Nevertheless, some followers engaged in promiscuous sexual activity with the justification that the best way of showing contempt for the body is to flout the rules of morality. 

The Letter to the Colossians looks to Christ as the way through such charming ideas.  His salvific death on the cross confirms the value of the body.  More than that, it unites Jew and Greek by providing a common forgiveness of sins.  It liberates the former from the guilt of failing to fulfill exactly the letter of the Law and the latter from sexual libertinism.

The Letter urges its readers, which includes us, to hold on to the faith.  In ancient times, perhaps no less than today, there were many spinoffs of apostolic teaching.  Yet the Church remains its true interpreter.  We can take pride in leaders like the recent popes who are so kind, learned, and diligent.  But even when Church officials leave us embarrassed, the Holy Spirit assures that its teachings chart for us the course of salvation.