Friday, November 9, 2018

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

(Ezekiel 47:1-2.8-9.12; I Corinthians 3:9c-11.16-17; John 2:13-22)

It would be hard to over-exaggerate the importance of the Jewish Temple in Jesus’ day. Religiously, it served as the one place where Jews could give due reverence to God.  Economically, it provided most Jerusalemites with livelihood. If it could be compared with any structure today, it would be the great mosque in Mecca which millions of Muslim pilgrims give homage to God every year.  It should cause little wonder then why Jesus’ action in today’s gospel creates such consternation.

Jesus disrupts the usual business at the Temple.  He virtually starts a riot as he drives away the merchants along with their livestock and the money changers.  The Jews misconstrue his motives as much as they misunderstand his words.  They think that he is an upstart looking to make a name for himself.  When Jesus tells them that if they try to destroy him, he will rise again, they believe he is referring to the Temple.

In celebrating the Lateran Basilica in Rome today, we celebrate all Catholic churches.  The giant structure serves as a sign for all places where Christians come together to offer bread and wine to God and receive in return the body and blood of Jesus.  The feast indicates that we don’t have to go to Rome to give true worship to God.  Our parish church serves quite well in providing space for offering the sacrifice of our salvation.

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Thursday if the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

(Philippians 3:3-8A; Luke 15:1-10)

Last week in a perceptive column author David Brooks analyzed the social ecology of American society.  He said that Americans are becoming increasingly lonely.  We spend way too much time by ourselves often in front of a computer.  We do not join organizations as our parents and grandparents did.  The resultant isolation triggers bizarre fantasies of power, suicide, or the yearning for drugs.  Brooks calls for a war on “division, discord, and isolation.”  But, he writes, the war is to take place not among different kinds of people but inside every human heart.  Today’s gospel indicates both the ongoing war of the heart and the spiritual weapon necessary to win it.

Jesus tells the Pharisees and scribes of the need for repentance.  He points to the tax collectors who are giving up their propensity to extort money from the people.  He says that their moral turnarounds cause rejoicing in heaven.  But it is not that the Pharisees and scribes are so righteous that they cannot precipitate a party among the saints.  Rather, they and the rest of humanity have dark sides that need illumination.  All people have hearts divided between loving and loathing, between serving and being served.

As wealthy, our society affords many people opportunities to live distant from others.  Not only do many have their own households, they can also can work, shop, and recreate without leaving home.  As luxurious as this may seem, we must resist at least some of it.  If we are going to live in harmony with ourselves, we must interact with others.  Jesus has already shown us how to do it.  We should follow his example of civility, service, and friendship.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary time

(Philippians 2:12-18; Luke 14:25-33)

St. Paul’s words about perversity ring in most people’s minds these days.  However, the people are divided about what it comprises.  Some see perversity in the attitude and actions of the American president and his supporters.  These people find the equating of racial bigots with civil rights activists outrageously scornful.  They judge fear-mongering about falsely documented immigrants as merciless and hateful. 

Another ideological bent judges as bankrupt many of contemporary society’s mores.  The people of this large segment are indignant over the increasingly high percentage of children born outside of marriage.  They reel at the indifference with which many, concentrating on their smart phones, ignore one another.  Generally elderly, these folk yearn for the past when civility meant addressing a stranger by her or his last name with the proper salutation.

Both sides of the ideological divide can build up arguments for their moral persuasions.  Today’s reading from Philippians tells us that present outrage is nothing new.  Sin and injustice have been rooted in the world since almost the beginning.  But it exhorts us to rise above the mire by following Jesus, the Lord.  Later in the letter Paul tells his readers: “…our citizenship is in heaven.”  We care about the world because Jesus died to redeem it. But if we have embraced him, we know that soon enough either we will pass or it will pass away.  In either case we will take our places in a new world of justice and love.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

 (Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 14:15-24)

The parish has a small community named after Saint Monica.  She was the mother of Saint Augustine who prayed for her son’s conversion and lived to see it happen.  The small community took the name because its members were likewise praying for the conversion of their adult children. 

Young people are abandoning the faith in large numbers.  Although they are baptized and confirmed, they often report to have no religion at all. They seem like the invited guests in Jesus’ parable who do not show up for the wedding feast.  Like these guests, they have reasons for giving up on the faith.  They say clerical abuse, boring masses, and a lack of coherency between faith and lifestyle among Catholics have disillusioned them.  Will they be left out of the Kingdom of God?

We certainly hope not.  But we also must be clear.  The Kingdom of God is not for the average Alan or Allison.  One certainly does not have to be White or educated to belong, but one must have the same attitude as Jesus.  The first reading describes what that means.  We all fall short, but we can ask God’s mercy.  We only pray that youth today will remember to do that.

Monday, November 5, 2018

Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

(Philippians 2:1-4; Luke 14:12-14)

Most of us find ourselves competing with others.  We resent when a peer receives attention, and we are ignored.  We become envious when he is promoted and we are left behind.  We begin to calculate in our minds how we are as good, maybe better than the one others admire.  In today’s first reading Paul beseeches the Philippians not to engage in such unproductive thoughts.

Paul has a special affection for the Philippians.  According to Acts, it is the first community he evangelized after crossing over from Asia to Europe.  In this letter he will share with them personal ambitions and intimate thoughts.  At its beginning, however, he exhorts unity within the community. They are to do nothing out of selfishness but to judge everyone as better than themselves.

It seems that a distorted sense of self-worth often causes our mentally competing with others.  We need to recognize that our basic dignity comes from being created in God’s image and knowing Jesus Christ.  More than anything we can do, this gives us importance.  How others judge us in the end makes little difference.  As God’s servant and Jesus’ friend, we should strive to serve one another, not to better them.