Tuesday, January 18, 2018

Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 16:1-13; Mark 2:23-28)

Samuel is an old man in today’s first reading.  He grieves for Saul or, better, on account of Saul.  Samuel believed that Saul would lead Israel to greatness as a nation.  He no doubt hoped that Saul would not only unite the nation and defeat its enemies, but also bring about a divine righteousness.  Reality has proven otherwise.  Saul himself has been disobedient to the Lord’s commands.  Samuel probably wonders if all his efforts were for nothing, if human endeavor could ever bring forth social progress.  However, God is more patient with people than Samuel.  He does not give up on humanity but constantly renews its hope.  He sends Samuel on a mission to find the man who might fulfill the destiny that Samuel once envisioned. 

The tale is reminiscent of a recent book that has been published regarding the education of today’s youth.  The author laments that young people today are not being prepared for the responsibilities of adulthood.  Rather than being challenged and duly criticized as in previous generations, the author finds the young being continually coddled.  The author seems much like Samuel in his lament over Saul.  But it should be remembered that old men and women have always fretted over younger generations.  They have perennially considered the young as lacking basic preparation to meet life’s challenges.  Although education for the future is always a legitimate concern, people often lack the perspicacity to evaluate its potential.

We believe that God has revealed what He expects of humans in Jesus.  In a very real sense, humans have reached their pinnacle in him.  Even more than Shakespeare in drama or Beethoven in music, Jesus shows us how we should live.  We are wise to evaluate our progress of virtue not so much in comparison to past generations but mostly to him.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 15:16-23; Mark 2:18-22)

Jesus brings Israel a new holiness.  Seeing saw how many practitioners of the law have become hard-hearted, he provides a fresh interpretation.  He extends some precepts like love to include one’s enemies.  He also accentuates what the law has taught for centuries with uncommon vigor.  He compares this new holiness to “new wine” and warns that it requires “fresh wineskins.” By this he means that the people need to change the way they live.   They must move from an obsession with personal righteousness to a heart-felt care for others.

Today is the ninetieth birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  In a very significant way his ministry resembles that of the Lord Jesus.  He too strove to change people’s minds and hearts.  Where many people thought that laws were fair because they were “on the books,” he showed that some were patently unjust.  More importantly, he always preached respect, even love, for others.  Dr. King is not only an American hero exemplifying both courage and racial justice.  He is also a Christian saint dying, like Christ, for selfless love.

We can test ourselves as being “fresh wineskins” by asking how we see people of different skin color.  If we judge them inferior mentally or morally for that reason, we are old wineskins.  We will fall apart trying to accommodate Jesus’ teaching.  But if we respect them for their differences, then we should be able to follow Jesus to the end.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 8:4-7.10-22a; Mark 2:1-12)

Jesus’ enigmatic question, “Which is easier…?” may be applied to today’s first reading as well as the gospel.  Is it easier for God to create a conquering nation or a holy people? Most will respond unreflectively, “a conquering nation,” but the simple truth is that it is much harder to make a people holy.  Yet this is precisely Jesus’ purpose.

Jesus builds on already present faith.  The reading says, “Jesus saw their faith.” It may be referring to the faith of all present, not just to that of the paralytic’s porters. That is, Jesus may be responding to the faith of all who are coming to believe in him as God’s “favored one.”  Through Jesus’ teaching they begin to see that a nation’s true greatness consists not in having a victorious army but in being a loving people.  The people’s care will extend especially to those most in need – paralytics and the poor.

Pope Francis is making every effort to extend this concept of greatness through compassion.  He is sometimes criticized for insufficient concern about orthodoxy.  By all means preserving the apostolic faith is one of the prime responsibilities of the Bishop of Rome.  For this reason Francis continually asks prayers that he does not fail in his duties.  It might be added, however, that the pope is above all the head of apostles.  His primary task is to carry out Jesus’ mission of forming a holy people who will imitate God’s love for all.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 4:1-11; Mark 1:40-45)

After every human tragedy – earthquake, hurricane, tsunami – humans ask themselves why it happened.  They wonder whether God is capricious, whether they did not respond properly to His initiatives, or whether He exists at all.  Such questions echo the elders of Israel in today’s first reading.

 “’Why has the Lord permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines?’” the men ask themselves. Apparently assuming that the problem lies with God’s lack of attention, they summon the Ark of the Covenant to be brought to the battlefront.  “Surely the Lord will wake up,” the elders seem to say, “when He sees His people’s need.”  Of course, the tactic fails.  God knows quite well what their situation, yet chooses not to support the Israelites. 

God has His reasons which will always, to some degree at least, remain obscure to humankind.  We might speculate in the case under consideration that God is changing the center of human authority from judges to a king as well as the center of cultic worship from Shiloh to Jerusalem. Or it may be that God is chastening his people for thinking that the mere presence of holy things, not their becoming wholly dedicated to God, is what is most important.  Still, God’s ways are often inscrutable.  If we could figure them out, we would sit on an equal level with God.  But this does not mean that God caresses and despises humans at whim.  No, He has definitively shown favor toward all of us in Jesus Christ.  Like the leper Jesus cures in today’s gospel, God loves us despite our not always heeding His commands.  

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 3:1-10.19-20; Mark 1:29-39)

The reference in today’s gospel that Peter had a mother-in-law is the only indication that he was married.  Ironically, the Roman Catholic tradition, which looks to Peter as the key figure in its theology of Church, has insisted on celibacy for a clerical norm.  In contrast, Protestant traditions find in Paul, the attested bachelor, its ecclesiastical model.  Of course, Jesus too was a committed celibate and defended that state of life as summoned by God on behalf of His kingdom.  At least one prominent biblical theologian thinks it necessary that celibacy be maintained as a discipline to preserve this insight of Jesus.

Still the argument for relaxing the discipline within the Catholic Church is cogent.  In both countries with a long Christian heritage and those where the Church is still getting started there is a need for more priests.  Most people think that ordaining married men would result in a spike of vocations to the priesthood.  But counterarguments to ordaining married men to the priesthood also have considerable force.  There are the traditional problems of patrimony to the offspring of the priest.  More critical is celibacy’s concrete testimony of the priority of God in a world obsessed with sexual curiosity.

We should be wary of simplistic ideas on either side of the argument for a married clergy.  Certainly many married men can perform the duties of a priest.  On the other hand, most married men will not want to live in extremely deprived areas where the gospel needs to be preached.  What is paramount is that we continue to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the field.