Thursday, December 13, 2018

Memorial of Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr

(Isaiah 41:13-20; Matthew 11:11-15)

Martyrs are celebrated throughout the year.  They are the heroines and heroes of the Church.  But Advent particularly favors martyrs.  After all, they reflect the hope which characterizes the season.  They hoped for the eternal life Jesus promises as they died in witness to his Lordship. St. Lucy was an early Sicilian martyr.  As with most martyrs of antiquity we know little about her.  She stands out almost exclusively for the fact of her martyrdom.

In today’s gospel Jesus praises John the Baptist who suffered a martyr’s death.  He calls him the greatest of the prophets because John announces the coming of the Messiah.  Yet he did not know Jesus as the Messiah.  For this reason Jesus says that anyone who knows himself, the embodiment of God’s Kingdom, is greater than John. Those who have known him like St. Lucy and all who believe in the gospel should be ready to die for him.

Is this asking too much of us?  To be sure, it is not asking that we seek to be killed by extremist haters of Christianity.  But it is demanding that we give witness to the Gospel by dying to ourselves.  It means that we always do to others what we would want them to do to us. It also means that we desist seeking our own importance, wealth, and pleasure.  But it means as well that we find joy in Jesus’ company – one that will last forever.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

(Revelation 11:19.12:1-6; Luke 1:39-48)

The most astounding statement at the recent assembly of Hispanic leaders was not made by a bold youth.  Nor was it uttered by a veteran Hispanic rabble rouser.  Nor was it proclaimed by a pious bishop devotee of the Blessed Mother.  As a matter of fact the person who pronounced it was neither young, ordained, nor even Hispanic.  The Honorable Carl J. Anderson has been Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus for eighteen years.  He served as a government lawyer in the administration of Ronald Reagan and has authored several books.  At the Quinto Encuentro, the Hispanic assembly, Anderson told the audience that he is looking forward to the day when the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe replaces that of the Immaculate Conception as the patronal feast of the United States.

The reason for the change is straightforward.  Our Lady of Guadalupe has an American origin.  She appeared to a native peasant on a hillside outside Mexico City almost 500 years ago.  There she claimed to be protector of the people of this land.  At first, only the indigenous saw in her motive to believe in her son, Jesus Christ, as their savior.  Not long afterwards the whole of Mexico – white, brown, and mestizo -- adopted her as their patron.  Pope St. John Paul II proclaimed the Virgin of Guadalupe “patroness of the Americas.”  Now as Hispanics are poised to become the majority of Catholic Church in the United States, it is not far-fetched to name her as its favorite model and intercessor.

Of course, substituting the Virgin of Guadalupe for the Immaculate Conception represents no real change at all.  Both names point to the same woman, Mary of Nazareth, who trusted the Lord enough to accept the offer of conceiving His Son.  If her patronage of the United States is ever recognized, she will not be gratified any more than before.  She will always say, as she does to Elizabeth in today’s gospel, that God is the One to whom our attention is due. Or, as she puts it, “’My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.’"

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

(Isaiah 40:1-11; Matthew 18:12-14)

Secularists sometimes have a conception of God; they are not all strict atheists.  They may theorize that God is a supreme force which set in motion the universe.  What they cannot fathom is a God who cares about humans.  “Why,” they might ask, “should the Creator love rational beings who often rather viciously disturb the order of being?”  The readings of today’s mass do not provide an explanation, but they do testify to God’s care for people.

Isaiah speaks of God’s concern for exiled Jews exiled in Babylon. He announces that their punishment for disobedience has ended, that the Lord has heard their pleas for mercy.  In fact, the prophet says God is preparing a highway through the desert for them to return to Jerusalem.  The gospel gives a tender image of God’s loving concern.  As a shepherd might carry a sheep that has gone astray back to the flock, God pardons the sinner and returns him to the community.

We believe that God not only loves us, but also becomes one of us and then dies on our behalf.  It’s like someone donating not only a kidney but also a lung and part of her heart that we might not die.  What are we to do but thank that person continuously after we rejoice profusely for a new lease on life.

Monday, December 10, 2018

Monday of the Second Week in Advent

(Isaiah 35:1-10; Luke 5:17-26)

For most of us it is easier to say to a crippled person, “Your sins are forgiven,” than to say, “Stand up and walk.”  This is so because most of us say things to win the approval of others.  No one will know whether the crippled person’s sins are really forgiven.  But if the person does not stand up, they will think us foolish for telling the person to do so. 

Jesus shows himself to be a prophet because he cares about the truth of his words.  He will not say to a person that her sins are forgiven unless he has the authority from God to forgive.  In today’s gospel he shows that authority by healing the cripple.  He also shows himself to be the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy.  He has come to make firm the knees of the weak and to make the lame leap.  He has come to save us from lies and deceit.  He has come to give us joy and gladness.

As that paralyzed man in the gospel cannot walk, we are paralyzed by our social environment so that speaking with complete honesty is difficult.  Jesus heals us of this paralysis so that we not just tell the truth but do so in love.  In this way those around us will give more than a nod of approval.  They will thank God for our presence to them.

Friday, December 7, 2018

Memorial of Saint Ambrose, bishop and doctor of the Church

(Isaiah 29:17-24; Matthew 9:27-31)

Saint Ambrose was not raised a Catholic.  His father was a Roman patrician who afforded Ambrose a classical education.  Ambrose became a government official and served as governor of the Roman province around Milan. While there, he decided to join the Christian catechumenate.  In this way he completed his intellectual formation from the perspective of faith in Jesus Christ.  It might be said that he was seeking a new way of seeing reality.  No longer would people be objects with only utilitarian value.  As a Christian, he would see them as images of the Creator worthy of respect and love.  Ambrose’s new way of seeing parallels the new sight Jesus gives to the two blind men in today’s gospel.  These cures are significant because they fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy in the first reading.

Isaiah prophesizes that in the fullness of time blind persons would no longer live in darkness.  Jesus again provides this blessing.  But his cures of blindness do not stop there as if seeing sunrays were the epitome of human desire.  More importantly, Jesus confirms the faith of the blind men in him as Lord.  This gift moves them beyond the challenges of life to the road to eternal happiness.

Like Ambrose we believe in order to see.  That is, we accept the truths of faith so that we can have a rightful understanding of the world.  We need not fear that faith conflicts with science as secularists say.  The two -- faith and science -- cover different realms of being and are compatible.  Belief even aids research as it provides scientists with increased motivation.  Faith-filled scientists do their research not just to make a living and to develop knowledge but for a higher purpose.  They fulfill the human task of praising the Creator by discovering the wonder of His work.