Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Tuesday of the First Week in Advent

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

A woman once described how she could no longer watch nature films on television.  Viewing the drama of a killer whale chasing a smaller whale and her calf left her permanently disgusted.  She said that the film crew followed the predator stalking mother and calf for hundreds of miles.  Then it recorded the killer whale separating the two before making its kill.  The visual experience was so jarring that the woman now dreads the sight of animals preying on one another.

We may think that original sin has caused alienation between humans and God and among other humans, but the transgression has even wider effect.  The sin of Adam and Eve is said to have imperiled relationships among animals as well and, really, among all beings of creation.  For this reason Paul writes the church in Rome, “...creation waits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God” (Rom 8:19). 

In the first reading the prophet Isaiah strikingly illustrates how the alienation is about to end.  A ruler shall come from the line of King David who will restore original justice.  He will cast out evil and lift up the oppressed.  His actions will teach everyone fear of the Lord, the lack of which characterizes the present state of universal victimization.  Proof of the new reign of justice will be found when the most vicious of animals fraternize with the most defenseless.  We see this prophecy’s fulfillment in Jesus Christ.  As today's gospel indicates, he brings knowledge of God the Father to all who care to listen.  He humbles the arrogant and lifts up the lowly.  With his expected return in glory soon, peace will reign everywhere.

Monday, December 4, 2017

Monday of the First Week of Advent

(Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 8:5-11)

At the end of World War II the British air force almost completely destroyed a German city.  There was, however, a Catholic church with a tall steeple still standing.  The pastor of the church looking from the steeple saw a single bomber flying near. He thought that the plane would target the church and quickly evacuated the premises.  Sure enough, the church was bombed but the priest saved his life.

War is terrible.  It destroys the spirit as well as the body. It is dismissive to physical structures, no matter their value or significance.  For this reason Isaiah in today’s first readings looks toward war’s end.  He foresees the time when peace will reign perpetually on the earth.  Then, all nations will come to Jerusalem to learn God’s righteous ways.  To hasten the coming of that time, Isaiah says, Jews have to walk in God’s ways today.

During Advent we Christians take to heart Isaiah’s message.  We express aloud our yearning for lasting peace and strive to purify our lives of hatred.  But we realize that eternal peace is not in the end our doing.  We have a part to play for sure, but Christ is the one who is to transform our world.  He will turn the tables on the hostile and promote clean-hearted.  We raise our heads along with our hopes for his coming. 

Friday, December 1, 2017

Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 7:2-14; Luke 21:29-33)

John Donne’s meditation “No Man is an Island” is reminiscent of Jesus’ parable in today’s gospel.  A bell tolls in Donne’s essay, and people ask, “Who died?”  The point is that a tolling bell should remind everyone that she or he is going to die.  Similarly Jesus uses the image of a fig tree to tell his disciples to take notice to what is happening around them.

Just as the budding of the fig tree foretells the coming of summer, the destruction of Jerusalem augers the return of Jesus in glory.  Although his return has not yet taken place in a definitive way yet, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70.  Apparently the “times of the Gentiles,” which Jesus refers to earlier in the long passage, is still in effect.  Nevertheless, billions of people have come to their individual end in death.  Jesus’ words then should be taken as a warning of this eventuality.

We prepare for death by living as justly as possible.  First, we owe God constant and fervent thanks.  Then we must care for ourselves and those closest to us – family, co-workers, and friends.  Finally, we need to assist the poor.  We have to use our resources to help them live with dignity.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Feast of Saint Andrew, apostle

(Romans 10:9-18; Matthew 4:18-22)

In his seminal exhortation on evangelization, Pope Paul VI wrote: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”  Little is said about the apostle Andrew in the gospels outside of the stories of his being called by Jesus.  But as Paul VI said, the witness that he gives in these calls speaks forcefully through the ages.

Peter and Andrew are probably like most fishermen.  They love the sea not only as the source of food for the table but also for the freedom it brings.  On the sea in their boat no one is tells them what to do.  But for the two brothers in today’s gospel the call of Jesus is more powerful than the attraction of the sea.  They tarry not a minute but respond to his beckoning at once.  Their leaving boat and even their father testifies to Jesus’ primacy over everything else. 

We need to give witness as well.  It starts with how we present ourselves.  Do our homes feature a cross identifying Jesus as he who brings peace to our lives?  Do we mention Jesus as the source of any goodness we have and the goal of our lives beyond death?  Exhibiting a cross and indicating Jesus’ authority in our lives serve to purposes.  They evangelize others, and they keep us rightly focused.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 5:1-6.13-14.16-17.23-28; Luke 21:12-19)

Recently Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C., the president of the University of Notre Dame, publicly defended one of the university’s faculty members from an unjust accusation.  When a law professor of the university was nominated for a federal judgeship, a number of senators attacked her as living by dogma.  What bothered the senators was the professor’s conviction that abortion is wrong.  Fr. Jenkins wrote an open letter saying that he too lived by dogma as do millions of other Americans.

The implied criticism of Church dogma reflects today’s gospel.  Jesus tells his disciples that they will be persecuted because they preach him.  The persecution begins soon after his death and resurrection as attested in the Acts of the Apostles.  It waxed and waned for three hundred reaching a climax just before the Emperor Constantine granted Christians religious freedom.  And it has never really ended until the present day.  Christians themselves have sometimes provoked harsh reactions, but more often people resent the Church for preaching the justice of God’s kingdom.

We should not be surprised if we hear snide remarks made against us.  A generation ago Catholics were supposedly undermining the common good by having large families.  More recently we are ridiculed for believing in what the sophisticated call fantasies such as the resurrection of the dead.  As Jesus advises, we should not become too outraged.  Rather our stance should always be like his cool defense of what we believe.  It does not rest on sophisticated argument but on the gospel we receive from him.