Thursday, March 7, 2019

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

(Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9:22-25)

Yuval Noah Harari lectures at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  He has authored a couple of best-selling books critiquing Western Civilization.  In one he describes the driving forces behind contemporary life.  One force is that there is no morality other than what feels right to the individual.  Basically this position is a development of David Hume’s made during the Enlightenment.  A second force is evolution.  Nature including humanity evolves by chance with no final cause or purpose.  Of course, this idea is based on the work of Charles Darwin.  Finally, for now, Harari sees capitalism as humankind’s mechanism for satisfying human desires.  Capitalism has enabled more and more people to live in comfort while avoiding the scourges of war, famine, and disease.  Harari leaves no room for divine initiative, sustenance, or finality.  God for him is simply beside the point, and traditional religion a dampener to true human interests.  For Harari this is the contemporary human condition.  We buy into it with the air we breathe coming out of our mothers’ womb.

Needless to say, we do not accept Harari’s theses.  We know that there is a moral law which supports our necessary social institutions.  We further believe in God.  He is not just the Creator but the one who helps us through our daily struggles and will be there when all else is gone.  And we know that God wants us to take care of the needy so that everyone experiences His mercy.

Lent is our time of reorientation.  During this stretch of time we take a stand for life as Moses sees it in today’s first reading.  We acknowledge God as our Lord.  We pledge to leave aside our baser instincts of what feels right to obey His laws.  More than that during these forty days we take up our crosses to follow Jesus.  He will lead us beyond self-centered desires to the state of universal love which is eternal life.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Ash Wednesday

(Joel 2:12-18; II Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6.16-18)

World Youth Day events in Panama attracted approximately 500,000 pilgrims from around the world.  Needless to say, there was not enough hotel space for all those people.  But hotels were not necessary as schools, churches, even private homes opened their doors.  They not only provided lodging but in some cases food as well.  Panamanians showed needed solidarity with their guests.

Lent may be thought of as a pilgrimage requiring solidarity.  All Christians support one another in this annual drive to become more Christ-like.  Without mutual support most people would not aspire to fasting, prayer, and good works that characterize their savior.  Many others would falter in the long but necessary course of forty days.

We wear signs of ashes today to indicate the common need to repent of sinfulness.  Thus, we sport them both humbly and proudly.  We say “humbly,” of course, because they indicate that we have been selfish.  We add “proudly” because they indicate our faith in Christ to transform us.

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 35:1-12; Mark 10:28-31)

Americans call the day before the beginning of Lent “Mardi Gras” which means Fat Tuesday.  The name comes from the medieval custom of consuming all the lard and butter in the house before the time of fasting begins.  In those times during Lent the people abstained from fatty foods as a sacrifice to God.  The first reading today aids in appreciating such sacrifices.

Sirach tells his readers how various sacrifices please the Lord.  Most of all God appreciates offerings of obedience.  The people who carry out His law, especially the commandment to love God and neighbor, please Him most.  Physical sacrifices offered in tandem with living righteously are doubly gratifying.  Of course, God does eat the animals brought to the Temple any more than a mother consumes the flowers brought to her on Mother’s Day.  But knowing that His daughters and sons desire to please Him by offering what is satisfying to them brings satisfaction.

We make such sacrifices by refraining from what we enjoy during Lent.  Again, in tandem with love for others such acts of self-denial especially please God.  We would be deeply touched if a child were to all her savings to buy us a gift.  We can also appreciate God’s satisfaction with our sacrifices however small they might be to Him.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 17:20-24; Mark 10:17-27)

The old funeral director said that he had heard many sermons on death.  He concluded that there was a change in the Church’s thinking since Vatican II.  Before 1965 he had listened to preachers emphasizing the fires of hell and the need to avoid them.  Since then, he has had the idea that everyone winds up in heaven.  Does this optimistic account of everyone’s fate square with today’s readings?

The passage from the Book of Sirach holds that sinners must repent before death if they are to live with God.  Even the greatest sins, the author implies, God will forgive if sinners acknowledge their faults and ask mercy.  In the gospel Jesus also demonstrates the need to change one’s ways.  He says that to be a beneficiary of eternal life the rich must trust in God, not in their wealth.  God, he says, makes everything possible.

Vatican II did not really change the Church’s teaching regarding heaven and hell.  Always a life of grace is necessary for salvation.  What has changed with the council has been the Church’s readiness to judge.  No longer should it be presumed that people ostensibly living in serious sin are necessarily guilty of it.  Because the human condition is limited in many trying ways, people may not be fully responsible for the errors they make.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 6:5-17; Mark 10:1-12)

Much like Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the Book of Sirach today notes different types of friendships.  The philosopher writes of friendships of utility and of pleasure.  In the first category are acquaintances for business purposes and in the second, pals to drink beer with.  Sirach might call both these kinds of friendship “fair-weathered.”  They will not likely last a lifetime, especially if the people move apart.  A third kind of friend both authors see as “another self.”  These are good people who can be trusted with the secrets of one’s heart.  They will respond honestly and wisely.  Sirach calls such a friend a treasure beyond any price.

In today’s gospel Jesus may be seen as enabling husband and wife to have this third kind of friendship.  He recognizes that divorce is the easy way out of a relationship that was meant to last until death.  Although he cites the first creation story to support the prohibition of divorce, he might have used the second as well.  By that account the woman was created from the man’s rib so that she might be his lifelong companion.  In everyday life such a relationship must overcome considerable differences of background and emotional response.  The task requires both time and effort which do not admit divorce.

We should count on God as our most esteemed friend.  He will listen to our heart-felt needs and respond in His myriad ways.  He will help married couples overcome the obstacles to loving relationships.  And He will assist all transcend any resistant fair-weathered-ness to become wise and enduring friends of others.