Friday, October 23, 2020

 Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

 (Ephesians 4:1-6; Luke 12:54-59)

 In his poem “The White-Tailed Hornet,” Robert Frost observes that humans do well to compare themselves with higher beings.  If they do not, he predicts that they will suffer one catastrophe after another.  Frost’s lines are worth remembering: “As long on earth/ As our comparisons were stoutly upward/ With gods and angels, we were men at least,/ But little lower than the gods and angels./ But once comparisons were yielded downward,/ Once we began to see our images/ Reflected in the mud and even dust./ ‘Twas disillusion upon disillusion.”  The passage from the Letter to the Ephesians today bears a similar wisdom.

 Ephesians urges its readers “to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.”  It claims that they have been chosen by God to be members of God’s family.  As God’s children then, they are to live peacefully avoiding quarrels.  More than they, they are to strive to have a like mind and heart based on truth.  It is a tall order, but it can be accomplished with God’s grace which is “over all and through all and in all.”

 Anger is a definite roadblock to peace and unity.  We must garner the courage to lay aside outrage with what others say and do.  In place of getting angry, let us try to put ourselves in the place of those who provoke our anger.  We also should pray for them.  These measures will lessen our animus and increase our understanding.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

 (Optional) Memorial of Saint John Paul II, pope

(Ephesians 3:13-21; Luke 12:49-53)

The two Scripture passages today seem at odds with one another.  In the first the author writes of Christ as the root of the love in the believer’s heart.  In the gospel Jesus sounds like the source of rancor and division.  “’I have come to set the world on fire,’” he declares.  But there is no contradiction in Jesus.  He is the face of God’s love for the world.  It is such an extreme love that people will reject it as overbearing.

In Dostoyevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov, the monk Fr. Zossima exemplifies the paradox of love in the two readings.  When he was young, Zossima was an arrogant army officer.  He challenged a civilian to a duel knowing that he could easily defeat him.  But before the duel took place, Zossima had a revelation of his cruelty and repented of his many sins.  In the duel he allowed his opponent to shoot first.  When the shot only grazed him, Zossima refused to fire back.  Some of his fellow officers despised him for dishonoring the army.  However, Zossima’s life had been completely changed from preoccupation with self to love of all.

Today we honor a saint whom many of us remember well.  St. John Paul II possessed a great love for the world.  He seemed to have no difficulty embracing victims of the AIDS virus and visiting the man who attempted to take his life.  Yet some people, even within the Church, reject him because of what they perceive as an entrenched conservatism. That is regrettable.  We are wise to emulate his love rooted in Christ.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

 Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

 (Ephesians 3:2-12; Luke 12:39-48)

 Today’s gospel seems to have church officials in mind. Peter asks Jesus if his warning applies to the disciples, that is Jesus’ selected leaders.  His affirmative answer makes many of us think of sexual abuse scandal.  But the warning also applies to every person with authority over others.

Parents, teachers, managers, and others will be held accountable for their treatment of underlings.  They must model right behavior and show charity.  They should consider their positions not as a privilege but as a responsibility.  In the end they will be judged, at least in part, for their effect on those they lead.

The first reading conveys the proper relationship between a person of authority and those who are subject to him.  On behalf of St. Paul, the writer speaks of a stewardship of the word of God.  It is a grave responsibility to talk about God to others as it is to teach mathematics or to instill productive work habits.  But we need not be burdened with worry when we find ourselves in such positions.  We can turn to Christ in prayer for help. Then, like the writer, we may count on God’s grace to fruitfully carry out our responsibilities.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

 Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

(Ephesians 2:12-22; Luke 12:35-38)

 John Kennedy told the story of a colonial legislature hard at work when a towering thunderstorm darkened the skies.  The occasion seemed so ominous that some of the legislators, fearing it was the biblical “day of the Lord,” thought it would be best to adjourn the session.  They wanted to return to their families for the Lord’s arrival.  The Speaker of the chamber, however, thought differently.  He spoke up, “If it is the ‘Day of the Lord,’ then we will want to be found at work when He comes.  If it is not, then we would look foolish for becoming terrified over a thunderstorm.  Therefore, I say, bring in the candles.”

The Speaker of the chamber must have had today’s gospel in mind. He wants the legislators not only to be at their posts but also diligently at work should the Lord come.  What is surprising about the gospel passage, however, is Jesus’ promise.  He will turn around and take care of his good servants. Later in this same Gospel according to Luke, Jesus will say that a servant who only does his duty should not expect a reward (cf. Luke 17:9-10).  But he himself is such a lenient master that he becomes the “servant of servants.”

The Lord wants us to wait for his return but not to “play a waiting game.”  We wait for him by serving in his name.  Our service may be a formal or informal church ministry or, perhaps, meeting an urgent family or social need.  In any case, we want to serve as if the Lord himself were coming to inspect our work.

 

Monday, October 19, 2020

 Memorial of Saints John Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Companions, martyrs

(Ephesians 2:1-10; Luke 12:13-21)

Sts. John de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues were not martyred together.  Neither were their “companions” killed with them.  They represent the efforts of many Jesuits working with native Americans on the American continent.  Both de Brebeuf and Jogues had two tours in the North American missions.  Brebeuf was sent back to France when the English expelled Jesuits from Quebec.  Jogues returned to France after suffering torture by the Iroquois.  He asked to return to America.  Shortly afterwards on a peace mission to the Iroquois he was captured by a Mohawk war party and beheaded.

Both Brebeuf and Jogues seem to have had a special love for Native Americans, at least the Hurons among both worked.  But in explaining what motivated them to persist in their missionary activity despite hardship and persecution one must go deeper than that.  The Letter to the Ephesians provides a satisfactory reason.  Grace recreated them in Christ so that they might sacrifice themselves for others.  Grace moves martyrs not only to love Christ but many others as well.

Despite their dedication to the people, no doubt the North American Jesuits have detractors criticizing their apostolic zeal.  In their defense something needs to be said.  The missionaries changed peoples’ culture so that the people may know the love of God.  This change does not disrupt culture so much as deepen it.  It keeps what is noble and infuses it with selfless love. To criticize such a change is tantamount to saying that selfless love is unbecoming of greatness.  But what is greater, more admirable that selfless love?