Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 1:1-8; Luke 4:38-44)

The Gospel according to Luke presents Jesus in many different ways.  He is the preeminent man of prayer.  It is said that in the third gospel Jesus prays before taking every significant action. Jesus appears here as one of the world’s greatest story-tellers.  Who could argue that his most moving parables are not found in Luke’s gospel?  Luke also presents Jesus as the great reconciler.  Even Herod and Pilate become friends after dealing with Jesus.  It also may be said that in Luke’s gospel Jesus is peripatetic; that is, he is always on the go.

Today’s gospel shows Jesus ready to hit the road again.  It also gives the reason for his constant travelling.  He says, “’…I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.’”  Jesus is intent on moving from place to place because his message is vital.  The “Kingdom of God” is nothing less than God Himself.  Jesus is saying that now God is at hand in a way never seen before.  Through Jesus God gives the people practical help.  Jesus with God’s grace drives out demons, cures illnesses, and reconciles enemies.

Surely today the same message needs to be preached.  In many ways the world is losing its moorings.  The increasing number of refugees manifests the lack of social justice.  We need God to save us from our excesses and to lead us to genuine care for one another.  And so we are needed to follow Jesus in proclaiming God to the world.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the Church

(I Thessalonians 5:1-6.9-11; Luke 4:31-37)

In the choir loft of an old church there are images of St. Cecilia and St. Gregory the Great, today’s patron.  Very little is known with certainty of Cecilia.  But Gregory’s incredibly productive papacy is well documented.  He evidently at least dabbled in music so that “Gregorian chant” is attributed to him.  Gregory also promoted missions and wrote theological treatises.  He was a Renaissance man, nine hundred years before the Renaissance unofficially began!  As people are amazed at Jesus in today’s gospel, others stood in awe of this great churchman.

Jesus speaks with such authority that demons supposedly heed his words.  The reservation implied by “supposedly” is not meant to deny evil spirits.  The Greek word daimon originally meant an uncontrollable urge, perhaps to do something evil.  It may be that Jesus is speaking with such insight and authority that people take control of their lives.  His words may fortify them to act justly despite the impulse to do otherwise.

People often confess the same sin time after time.  It may be anger or lack of attention to prayer, but the most confessed sin is lust.  More specifically, it is viewing pornography.  We have to look to Jesus to overcome this demon.  Gregory the Great, who wrote a famous treatise on morals, would certainly recommend a turn toward Jesus.  It may take time, but asking our Lord for help in prayer can arrest any urge however seemingly uncontrollable.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Luke 4: 16-30)

It was customary for presidential candidates to begin their political campaigns on Labor Day.  They often returned to their hometowns to present their policy agenda.  Jesus does something similar in today’s gospel.

Jesus is about to launch his career as a reforming prophet.  Quite dramatically, he returns to Nazareth to lay out his objectives.  By no means does he profess “a rising tide will lift all boats.”  No, he will direct himself to the needs of the poor, the sick, and the oppressed.  However, everyone – poor and rich alike – will have to reform their ways.  The townspeople think that they might be privileged because they know Jesus’ family.  But Jesus quickly disabuses them of the idea.  To participate in the Kingdom of God, he indicates, one has to work for the common good.  That goal takes precedence over individual desires.

Today, Labor Day in the United States, bespeaks the need to reflect on the nature of work.  Whether it is to heal, to build, or to clean we should see it as both a gift received and a gift given.  We not only have received a job but, more basically, the ability to work.  We work not only for our own benefit but also to make the world a better place.  As Jesus hints in the gospel, with this frame of reference we prepare ourselves for God’s Kingdom.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

(I Thessalonians 4:1-8; Matthew 25:1-13)

Should not the five virgins who brought extra oil have shared their excess with the ones who didn’t?  Perhaps, but that is not what Jesus was getting at in this parable.  A parable is not just a moral lesson; it is a comparison that engages the listener to make a point.  In this case the point is not the need to be generous but something deeper.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells his disciples that they are the “light of the world.”  In other words, they are to shine like the lantern in a lighthouse to give testimony to him.  They thus shine when they perform works of charity.  The lamp oil of today’s parable is the goodness that is transformed into charitable works for the world to see Jesus.

We too are Jesus’ disciples with the mandate to give light to the world.  In doing this we not only assist the poor but also show kindness to those around us.  People will take note and give glory to God.  They will recognize us as Jesus’ disciples fulfilling his mandate to enlighten the world.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist

(I Thessalonians 3:7-13; Mark 6:17-29)

In the gospel reading today and in one of the first readings last week a man makes an oath to do something that turns out to be immoral.  Herod promises his stepdaughter anything that she might ask.  He does not imagine her wanting him to murder.  In the Book of Judges Jephthat promises to sacrifice the first thing that emerges from his house upon his return if God grants him victory.  Does he likewise not contemplate the possibility of killing someone?  In any event he was not thinking of making a holocaust of his own daughter.  We must ask, “Are such oaths binding?”

No, they are not because they involve doing something evil which is always wrong.  In both cases, unfortunately, the men are so proud that they see themselves as God whose word of necessity is efficacious.  They need humility.  The should humble themselves by begging forgiveness from God for their mindlessness.  Instead each carries out an unconscionable act.

Of course, today’s celebration of the passion of John the Baptist should be for us more than a lesson on oath-taking.  John dies like an Old Testament prophet giving witness to the truth.  His manner of death prefigures Jesus’.  A civil system that arrests a man for speaking out against immorality will hardly tolerate one who seeks to inaugurate an even higher righteousness throughout the land.  A more perfect man than John the Baptist, Jesus will suffer a more brutal death.