Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Christmas Weekday

(I John 4:11-18; Mark 6:45-52)

The Renaissance political thinker Niccolo Machiavelli famously compared fear and love.  He said that for a leader it is good to be both loved and feared.  But, he added, if a leader had to choose one, it is better to be feared than loved.   Fear touches most people more deeply than any other emotion.  It more likely makes a person submit to authority.  Yet both readings today at least hint that God wants to be loved, not feared.

The first reading from I John says that perfect love casts out fear.  It means that when one really loves God, she has nothing to fear.  God will meet all her needs.  In the gospel reading the disciples are terrified when they see what appears to them as a ghost.  Despite knowing Jesus, their love for God is still shallow.  They lack the Holy Spirit.  They cannot yet appreciate that God will meet their every need when they trust Him.

We have received the Holy Spirit through the sacraments.  Yet our love is often meager and our fear substantial.  As a surgeon has to perform an operation dozens of times before he perfects his skill, we need to practice loving God continually.  By prayer, fasting, and study we will come to know God and to love Him.  Then we will fear minimally if at all. 

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Tuesday after the Epiphany

(I John 4:7-10; Mark 6:34-44)

Eating until all “were satisfied” describes many households after the Christmas holidays.  But perhaps eating until all were more than satisfied tells a more accurate story.  Many feel relieved that holiday goodies are finally diminished.  Now they can more easily control their diet.  It may seem that today’s gospel’s feeding story is primarily about food.  But the fare that Jesus provides is really greater.

Jesus sees that the people are in need of instruction.  They are lost like “sheep without a shepherd.”  He spends the day teaching them “many things.”  Much more than giving catechism answers, he teaches them how to live righteously.  That is, he instructs them how to love wisely both God and neighbor.  The story of the feeding comes at the end as a symbolic expression of his lessons.  As Jesus feeds the people with bread, he has nourished their souls with wisdom.

We are sensitive to the hungry.  Fortunately, the numbers of hungry people in the world continue to decrease.  It is said that there are more people obese in the world today than hungry.  Yet people still starve to death.  They do so because of war and other forms of pride and hatred.  We Christians should follow our Lord by teaching care for one another.  The lessons begin at home with our families.  They extend wherever we go and beyond to the people we pray for.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Monday after Epiphany

(I John 3:22-4:6; Matthew 4: 12-17.23-25)

A biblical commentary points out that Jesus does not really “withdraw to Galilee.”  Rather he, more or less, charges there to take up the torch John the Baptist left upon being arrested.  He preaches the same message as John, “’The Kingdom of heaven is at hand,...’”.  Because Herod Antipas, who arrested John, is still king, Jesus risks a similar fate.

Galilee may be part of old Israel, but it is hardly all-Jewish.  It has been termed a “shadowland.” Gentiles inhabit the land in probably about equal numbers.  Jesus does not preach to them, however, but concentrates on shoring up the faith of the Jews.  He proclaims the kingdom not just with words but with cures and exorcisms as well.  The Jews of Galilee, cut off from the source of their spiritual life in Jerusalem, experience in Jesus a light of hope.

Western culture has become a kind of Galilee, a “shadowland.” Remnants of Christianity exist but the culture is more secular than Christian.  Public schools, for example, do not promote Christian belief nor does entertainment exhibit Christian practice.  In this environment the Church must strive to shore up Christian faith.  It does so by a coherent and compelling explanation of gospel values and by an open practice of its customs.  The Church will then serve, as Jesus, called it, a “the light of the world.”

Friday, January 3, 2020

Friday, Christmas Weekday

(I John 2:29-3:6; John 1:29-34)

Even when humans admit to sin, they often present excuses.  They can say that their sins are small compared to others’.  Or they may blame others for causing them to sin.  Sometimes they claim that they could not have avoided the sin.  These excuses or the outright denial of sinning are tragic in a way.  They add up to a denial of the need for a savior from sin.  In other words they separate the persons from an intimate relationship with Jesus.

Both readings today emphasize that Jesus came to save humans from their sins.  The first reading says outright, “… (Jesus) was revealed to take away sins…”  In the gospel seeing Jesus, John the Baptist says, “’Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’”  That “sin of the world” is nothing less than the collective betrayal of God by every person.

In many places Christmas has degenerated into an end-of-the-year family reunion.  It should be more than that with us Christians.  We celebrate the one who came to take away our sins.  Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we are being formed into God’s daughters and sons.  The process presumes that we recognize our sins and turn to Christ for forgiveness.

Thursday, January 2, 2019

Memorial of Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church

(I John 2:22-28; John 1: 19-28)

Some paintings of the crucifixion include John the Baptist.  “What is he doing there?” we might ask, “Wasn’t he killed before Jesus?”  Of course, he was.  But he is pictured at the cross where his prophecy, made at the beginning of John’s gospel, is realized.  Jesus is the Lamb of God whose sacrifice redeems the world.  By all right he should increase all others must decrease in comparison to him.

Today’s gospel forms the first part of that prophecy.  Little is said here of John baptizing.  John, the evangelist, is not interested in Baptism here, but in the Baptist’s testimony.  In the first century some considered John the long-awaited Messiah.  The evangelist makes it clear that he is not and that Jesus is greater than he. 

People like to exaggerate their own importance.  They talk about their accomplishments or use their money to attract notice.  John the Baptist’s testimony helps us to know better.  As great as he was, he recognizes Jesus as greater.  Jesus, not ourselves, is the one who deserves everyone’s attention and honor.