Thursday, December 20, 2018

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

(Isaiah 7:10-14; Luke 1:26-38)

Jerome Miller, a Catholic theologian, wrote a reflection on the Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli’s depiction of the Annunciation.  According to Miller, the artist, like any exegete, has much to teach us about this critical moment in the history of salvation.   

Miller begins his study by noting how the action of the painting takes places on a floor of perfectly arranged rectangles.  He says these figures represent lives that are dominated by order which brings meaning and gives a platform for action.  Then Miller notes how the angel appears as an eruption of grace into Mary’s well-ordered life.  In the painting the angel’s hand makes a gesture of command: she is to give birth to the Son of God who will bring peace to earth.  The hand is open and not pointing directly to Mary but giving her permission to refuse the mandate.  Mary, however, is pictured as all receptivity.  Her body curves in what can be seen as a bow of compliance.  Her hands are open like Jesus’ on the cross.  Their positioning indicates awareness that her decision will cause her suffering.

All of us are so approached in life with a proposition of divine grace.  We are called out of the ordinariness of making a living to sacrifice ourselves for others.  Of course, our consent to grace will make us vulnerable to suffering.  But we should not shrink from the mission.  We like Mary are nothing greater, but nothing less either, than servants of the Lord.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Judges 13:2-7.24-25a; Luke 1:5-25)

The other day the reading from the gospel of Matthew gave the genealogy of Jesus beginning with Abraham.  The starting point is significant.  Abraham represents a break with the past.  Humanity reached a nadir in its attempt to storm heaven with the Tower of Babel.  There is no indication that the situation improved in the stretch between the confusion of languages and mention of Abram.  Then God initiates the human race’s long trek back to virtue.  Abram proved to be a man of faith, and God marvelously rewarded him and his barren wife with a son.  Through one of their descendants humans have both an exemplar of virtue and a redeemer from sin.  Jesus’ death on the cross not only revealed God’s love but also provided humans the grace to imitate it.  In today’s gospel Luke pays a similar tribute as Matthew to Abraham.

The first reading is intended to compare Zachariah and Elizabeth of the gospel to the parents of Samson.  Nevertheless, the gospel also conveys a profound similarity to the story of Abraham and Sarah.  Both Abraham and Zachariah are very old when they receive a divine revelation that they will father a child.  Both respond with the same question, “’How shall I know this?’”  And in both cases the prophecy is fulfilled.  Both fathers will take delight in their sons.

As God works out human salvation in and through Abraham and Zachariah, He is acting in us.  He has sent His Son to assure us of His care.  Boosted by Jesus’ support we befriend the lonely, the needy, and the poor.  In the process we both become virtuous and lead others to virtue.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Jeremiah 23:5-8; Matthew 1:18-25)

Jesus wants us to be perfect.  He says so in the Sermon on the Mount: “’Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.’”  If that sounds impossible or unhealthy, consider this: perfection is not perfectionism.  Perfection is not a self-conscious pursuit of never being seen with any fault.  It is the justice that the prophet Jeremiah speaks of in today’s first reading.

Jeremiah tells the people that the Lord will raise up “a righteous shoot to David.”  Israel has experienced numerous unrighteous kings.  Now God is going to change that.  He will place on David’s throne one who rules with justice.  The justice begins with the king’s father who emanates goodness in everything he does.  In a very trying situation Joseph shows control over his passions.  Rather than making a scandal of Mary for supposedly violating their marriage covenant, he decides to separate from her quietly.  He may lose his dowry, but he will save Mary shame.  Joseph is demonstrating the perfection that the Law is designed to produce not a literal following of the rule as far as it goes, but a life of virtue.

Jesus provides us a much fuller demonstration of righteousness.  More than example, however, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit so that we might carry out perfection in the most difficult of situations.  It may be harder than ever to live righteously with all the temptations to self-promotion and hedonism today.  We desperately need Jesus’ witness and the grace of the Holy Spirit to carry out his demand to be perfect.

Monday, December 17, 2018

Monday of the Third Week in Advent

(Genesis 49:2.8-10; Matthew 1:1-17)

Some people would not have this gospel passage read at mass because names like Shealtiel are too hard to pronounce.  Others don’t see the point of all the “begatting” as an older translation had it.  Perhaps a few pious people are scandalized by the reference to cruel characters like King Rehoboam .  This son of Solomon when counseled to relieve the tax burden his father imposed responded by promising to increase taxes tenfold.  Thus, he precipitated the breakup of Israel into two kingdoms.  A few people might also ask, what is the point of mentioning the ancestors of Jesus like Achim and Eliud who are not known in any other part of the Bible?

St. Matthew, however, thought the whole list of names important.  He recognized that it not only shows Jesus’ human and kingly origins, but indicates something else almost as significant.  For Matthew God works through sinful and even incompetent people as well as great ones to produce His just ends.  He patiently and diligently saves humans from their sins by the agency of all kinds of people.

We, who may doubt God’s plan or even question the existence of God, should take note.  Evil is present everywhere, but God constantly turns it over for positive results.  We cannot exclude ourselves from His work.  That is, we cannot use our shortcomings, be they sins or disabilities, as an excuse not to act on God’s behalf.  We have to call others by word and example to join the Church in her work of salvation.

Friday, December 14, 2018

Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, priest

(Isaiah 48: 17-19; Matthew 11: 16-19)

St. John of the Cross lived in the turbulent sixteenth century.  The Protestant Reformation split the Western Church in half.  The decadence of the Renaissance popes was being corrected by the reforms of the Council of Trent.  Reformers of major religious orders were calling their numbers back to their original ideals.  John of the Cross played such a role in the Carmelites of Spain. 

John believed that the Carmelites had long abandoned the semi-eremitical life of their foundation in the twelfth century.  Along with others he founded a monastery of friars who would live a solitary life of contemplation and praise to God.  In this endeavor he pairs well with John the Baptist whom Jesus extols in today’s gospel.  Of course, John of the Cross also composed theological treatises exploring the mystical life. 

Jesus presents John as the yang to his yin.  John called for reform so that people could escape the wrath of God who was sending his Messiah to judge them.  Jesus, the actual Messiah, urges reform so that the people could experience the tender love of God.  This message does not oppose John’s complimented it.  The people, as today’s reading testifies, found excuses to sidestep both figures. 

Our society finds itself in the position of those people.  We can hear voices urging reform both to avoid the turmoil of civil unrest and to experience the solace of social harmony.  We await the return of Christ who will bring justice to the earth.