Sunday, February 13, 2022

 SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(Jeremiah 17:5-8; I Corinthians 15:12.16-20; Luke 6:17.20-26)

Everyone knows the Gospel story of the servant whose ear was cut off. But few are aware of how the narratives of the story differ in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is seen as the great teacher. When his disciple cuts off the servant’s ear, Jesus gives all a lesson: "Put the sword back in its sheath, for all who take sword will perish by the sword.'" In the Gospel according to Luke, the ever-gentle Jesus immediately heals the wound.  It is similarly worthwhile to compare the beatitudes in these two gospels.

The beatitudes of the Gospel of Matthew are more widely known. They are popular because they include all kinds of people. The rich along with the destitute can be "poor in spirit." The well-fed along with beggars may "hunger and thirst for justice." Not so in the Gospel of Luke. Only those without material resources and empty stomachs are called “blessed.” The poor and the hungry are counted as blessed because Jesus has come to save them. He is the personification of the Kingdom. Wherever Jesus goes, there are the fruits of the kingdom: justice, peace, and love. This is the same message that Jesus delivered at Nazareth. There - we remember - he told the people that Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled by his presence. Anointed with the Spirit, Jesus proclaims the good news to the poor and announces release to captives.

Another difference between the two accounts of the Sermon is the “woes”. Saint Luke, but not Saint Matthew, warns the rich and the well-fed that they are headed for perdition. Are all the rich going to be lost?  No, at the end of the gospel Jesus will bless the rich man Zacchaeus who shares half his wealth with the poor. Jesus has headed for destruction those people described by the prophet Jeremiah in the first reading. They rely on expert advice for earthly reward. They look for financiers to increase their wealth, not the needy who can use their help. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their houses and pay immigrants only the minimum wage.

America today is known for the superabundance of goods. In this environment it is easy for comfort to twist our hearts. We are always tempted to invert the meaning of the Beatitudes. Instead of saying "blessed you poor," we want to say "blessed you who have a 54-inch TV to watch the Superbowl." Instead of saying "Woe to you, those who are filled now ", we want to say "Woe to you who have to ride the bus to work." Even if we have a big screen TV and a Camry in the garage, we have to remember that the goods of the earth originate with God, the Father of all. Therefore, we are obliged to share our goods with the poor, our brothers and sisters.

How is it that when we recall the happiest experiences of our lives, moments when we were poor come to mind? We want to relive the times when we visit our grandparents on Sunday, not the times we took tours of big cities. Visiting grandparents, we felt the affection of people who really cared about us. 54-inch TVs weren't necessary to make us feel blessed. Rather we could just go outside and throw around a football. Yes, blessed are you poor!

Friday, Gebruary 11, 2022

 (optional) Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes

(I kings 11:29-32.12:19; Mark 7:31-37)

Today’s gospel has the descriptive power of Homer’s Iliad. Jesus takes the deaf man with a speech impediment aside.  He puts his fingers in the man’s ears and spits on his tongue.  Then in his native language pronounces, “Ephphatha (be opened)!” The unfortunate man immediately receives both hearing and articulation.

We probably don’t have difficulty hearing or speaking.  Yet most of us need to be opened!  We are closed to a strong faith in the Lord.  We think that science will keep advancing to resolve our problems until we die.  Then the same science will progress to take care of the problems of our descendants.  But the truth is that the same problems keep recurring.  They are like the pesty mouse that cannot be caught.  These are the defects of love and of wisdom that we experience.  Their resolution is found in being opened to the Lord.  Allowing him to enter our lives fully will heal the heart’s wounds.  It will provide the grace and wisdom to live righteously.

Today we remember Our Lady of Lourdes and the many, many miracles worked where she appeared.  We may not be sick with cancer or other life-limiting disease.  But we are likely sick anyway.  We suffer from lack of full faith in the Lord.  We too need Our Lady’s intercession.

Thursday, February 10, 2022

 Memorial of Saint Scholastica, virgin

(I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:24-30)

Solomon started his rule pleasing the Lord.  He asked for wisdom, not riches, and God gave him both.  At the end of his reign, however, his heart turns to pleasing his wives.  He abandons God for foreign idols. Today’s gospel tells of a woman who moves in the opposite direction.

The passage says the Syrophoenician woman is Greek.  It means that she is a pagan.  Yet hearing of the holy one, Jesus, she turns to him in her need.  She humbles herself beseeching Jesus to help her possessed daughter. To show that God’s mercy extends to the whole world, he grants her request.  Without so much as seeing the woman’s daughter, he relieves her of the demon.

When we turn our hearts to God, we will not be disappointed.  The effort requires humility and persistence.  God will reward us in ways we do not expect.  When we set our hearts on pleasure, we are bound to become dissatisfied.  Pleasures come and go quickly.  Pursued relentlessly, they will draw us away from happiness.

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

 

Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 10:1-10; Mark 7:14-23)

As we prepare for Lent, we might ask ourselves the following questions: How can the Church’s prohibition of eating meat on Lenten Fridays be justified in light of today’s gospel?  If Jesus really meant that “’that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,’” how can it be a sin for a Catholic to eat meat on a Lenten Friday?

There is some doubt whether Jesus actually made a statement to the effect that Jews could eat non-kosher foods.  More likely -- many scholars say -- the words were added to Jesus’ teaching on sins of the heart.  After all, the evangelist Mark wrote for a primarily non-Jewish community. These Christians needed reassurance that the agreement worked out by Paul and Barnabas at the so-called Council of Jerusalem was valid.

It is also true that what defiles a person is not simply the act of eating pork or shellfish but the defiance of God’s authority.  For this reason Jesus does condemn arrogance in this same passage.  Considering the action in this way legitimizes the Church’s capacity to bind its members on matters such as fasting and attending mass.

It is also likely that we often think much differently than Jesus.  We are usually concerned about doing the minimal amount to achieve our goal.  So we ask, “Is abstinence necessary?”  Or, “How about confession; do I have to go if I have not committed any mortal sins?”  Jesus, on the other hand, wants us to love God with our whole heart.  Living in his way, we will likely abstain from more than meat on Lenten Fridays and avail ourselves of Penance more than the Church-mandated once a year.  We will readily make sacrifices of time and energy to know and love the Lord better.

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

 Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 8:22-23.27-30; Mark 7:1-13)

People today seldom have to be out of earshot or even sight.  The technological revolution has brought family, friends, even teachers together in unimaginable ways.  Products like Zoom and Facebook have eased the burden of the Covid pandemic.  But they cannot substitute for one another’s physical presence.  Likewise, the temple which Solomon has built performs this unique function.

In the first reading Solomon addresses the Lord regarding that temple.  He acknowledges that God cannot be restricted to it.  God is everywhere.  But, Solomon says, God has designated the Temple as His preferred place of encounter.  People are to go there to offer sacrifice of animals and, whenever possible, just to pray.

Our bodies too are temples of the Holy Spirit.  Still, we need special places of encounters with God.  These places remind us of the divine by their structure and their accoutrements.  We can and perhaps should pray everywhere.  But we cherish prayer in places designated as the “house of God.”