Monday of Holy Week
(Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11)
Pope John Paul II has been called the person most seen in all of history. Although, of course, there are no official statistics, the statement can hardly be doubted. In many of his one hundred and four apostolic journeys outside Italy, he appeared before millions of people. It is hard to imagine anyone – even emperors or athletes -- having larger audiences.
The costs of the pope’s travels often provoked criticism. He did not stay at Ritz-Carlton hotels, but necessary security measures entailed the spending of millions of dollars to accommodate a papal visit. When he visited poor countries like Kenya or Timor, people wondered -- as Judas does in the gospel today -- whether the money should not have been spent in direct relief of the poor.
Surely, however, such criticisms are myopic. The pope did much more for the poor on his travels than possibly could have been accomplished if all the expenses were summed together and the money paid to Catholic Relief Services. Everywhere John Paul II went, he preached care for the poor. His gracious presence to many indigent people lifted their minds and hearts beyond the squalor of their daily lives. The first reading speaks of the Suffering Servant “establish(ing) justice on the earth.” In imitation of Jesus, John Paul’s apostolic journeys fulfilled this prophecy by calling rich and poor to solidarity in Christ.
Homilette for March 14, 2008
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
(John 10:31-42)
Reading the Passion according to Matthew on Palm Sunday and the Passion according to John on Good Friday, we will notice several differences between the two narratives. Most striking will be the way Jesus dies. In John he calmly bows his head and says, “It is finished.” In Matthew, after crying out almost desperately, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Jesus shrieks again and gives up his spirit.
A subtler difference between the two is the way the so-called Jewish trial of Jesus in John’s gospel is truncated. The narrative pictures only Annas, a former high priest, and some temple guards with Jesus. No one presents testimony regarding Jesus although Annas is said to question him. Matthew’s account, by contrast, pictures a crowded room of Jewish leaders along with the sitting high priest Caiaphas judging Jesus. Two evidently false witnesses accuse Jesus of threatening to destroy the Temple, and Caiaphas directly asks Jesus if he is the son of God. How might we explain these discrepancies?
Since we have no transcripts of the proceedings, we cannot say what exactly took place at the proceeding. However, we can note a few things that will aid our appreciation of the gospel traditions. On reason John’s account does not speak of normal trial procedures if that throughout the gospel Jews come forward with similar accusations and questions that we find in Matthew’s proceeding before the Jewish council. In today’s gospel passage, for example, the Jews accuse Jesus of making himself to be God. Also to be noted today is Jesus’ testimony that the Father has consecrated him as if he were a temple. This statement relates to his famous prediction that when the Jews destroy “this temple,” meaning his body, in three days he would raise it up (cf. John 2:19) – the crux of the charge that Jesus threatens to destroy the temple in Matthew’s Jewish trial. Thus, we see that both gospels attest to the same basic accusations against Jesus although at different times and in different ways.
The breadth of meaning offered by Jesus’ passion and death exceeds our ability to understand the events. Yet we may appreciate them more by attentively listening to the gospel readings on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. We will notice certain similarities and subtle differences. The similarities assure us that our belief in the events’ power to save has solid foundation. The differences indicate the manifold ways that salvation touches us.
(John 10:31-42)
Reading the Passion according to Matthew on Palm Sunday and the Passion according to John on Good Friday, we will notice several differences between the two narratives. Most striking will be the way Jesus dies. In John he calmly bows his head and says, “It is finished.” In Matthew, after crying out almost desperately, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Jesus shrieks again and gives up his spirit.
A subtler difference between the two is the way the so-called Jewish trial of Jesus in John’s gospel is truncated. The narrative pictures only Annas, a former high priest, and some temple guards with Jesus. No one presents testimony regarding Jesus although Annas is said to question him. Matthew’s account, by contrast, pictures a crowded room of Jewish leaders along with the sitting high priest Caiaphas judging Jesus. Two evidently false witnesses accuse Jesus of threatening to destroy the Temple, and Caiaphas directly asks Jesus if he is the son of God. How might we explain these discrepancies?
Since we have no transcripts of the proceedings, we cannot say what exactly took place at the proceeding. However, we can note a few things that will aid our appreciation of the gospel traditions. On reason John’s account does not speak of normal trial procedures if that throughout the gospel Jews come forward with similar accusations and questions that we find in Matthew’s proceeding before the Jewish council. In today’s gospel passage, for example, the Jews accuse Jesus of making himself to be God. Also to be noted today is Jesus’ testimony that the Father has consecrated him as if he were a temple. This statement relates to his famous prediction that when the Jews destroy “this temple,” meaning his body, in three days he would raise it up (cf. John 2:19) – the crux of the charge that Jesus threatens to destroy the temple in Matthew’s Jewish trial. Thus, we see that both gospels attest to the same basic accusations against Jesus although at different times and in different ways.
The breadth of meaning offered by Jesus’ passion and death exceeds our ability to understand the events. Yet we may appreciate them more by attentively listening to the gospel readings on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. We will notice certain similarities and subtle differences. The similarities assure us that our belief in the events’ power to save has solid foundation. The differences indicate the manifold ways that salvation touches us.
Homilette for March 13, 2008
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
(John 8:51-59)
Albert Einstein once said, “Time exists so that everything does not happen at once.” That’s important. We get upset when two things happen at once – we’re preparing dinner and the doorbell rings. How could we ever cope with everything happening at the same time? But is it possible that someone exists outside of time? That one would have created time and everything else. Philosophers call this being who exists outside of time “God.” In the gospel today Jesus equates himself with that One, Being, or God. This is what he means by saying, “I Am.”
Of course, all this is difficult to comprehend. The Jews may be resisting belief in Jesus but not without cause. They ask, how can a man whose date of birth is known and who will one day die be God? That’s another good question. We have an answer, however. The Son of God existed from all eternity but joined himself to a human body and soul. He did this to redirect humanity from sin, which displeases God, to virtue which God favors. God’s becoming human demonstrates His great care for us.
Abraham is father of three great world religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three see the Bible as God’s revelation although Jews do not accept the New Testament and Moslems look to the Koran as the ultimate word of God. Christianity seems the most daring of the three and the most hopeful. It is “daring” because of our belief that God has made Himself accessible in Jesus Christ. It is “hopeful” because Jesus has left the sacraments which assist us in two ways. First, they strengthen us for those times when everything seems to happen at once. Second, they prepare us for life with God outside of time.
(John 8:51-59)
Albert Einstein once said, “Time exists so that everything does not happen at once.” That’s important. We get upset when two things happen at once – we’re preparing dinner and the doorbell rings. How could we ever cope with everything happening at the same time? But is it possible that someone exists outside of time? That one would have created time and everything else. Philosophers call this being who exists outside of time “God.” In the gospel today Jesus equates himself with that One, Being, or God. This is what he means by saying, “I Am.”
Of course, all this is difficult to comprehend. The Jews may be resisting belief in Jesus but not without cause. They ask, how can a man whose date of birth is known and who will one day die be God? That’s another good question. We have an answer, however. The Son of God existed from all eternity but joined himself to a human body and soul. He did this to redirect humanity from sin, which displeases God, to virtue which God favors. God’s becoming human demonstrates His great care for us.
Abraham is father of three great world religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three see the Bible as God’s revelation although Jews do not accept the New Testament and Moslems look to the Koran as the ultimate word of God. Christianity seems the most daring of the three and the most hopeful. It is “daring” because of our belief that God has made Himself accessible in Jesus Christ. It is “hopeful” because Jesus has left the sacraments which assist us in two ways. First, they strengthen us for those times when everything seems to happen at once. Second, they prepare us for life with God outside of time.
Homilette for March 12, 2008
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
(John 8:31-42)
Perhaps you have heard the term “cultural Catholics.” It refers to those who identify themselves as Catholics but only minimally practice the faith. They see their occasional Mass attendance more as a family tradition than an expression of religious commitment. Also, they dissent from many of the Church’s teachings like the crime of abortion and the infallibility of the Pope. Today’s gospel pictures Jesus addressing himself to these Catholics as the “Jews who believed in him.”
Cultural Catholics in the United States and Europe adhere to a strictly political notion of freedom. A product of the Enlightenment, political freedom means the absence of external constraint on an individual’s actions. Since this kind of constraint typically comes from government, an example would be the right to practice one’s religion without official censure. The Jews in the gospel express their adherence to this notion of freedom when they say that they have “never been enslaved to anyone.” However, like cultural Catholics today, they overlook a critical dimension of freedom when they refute Jesus for speaking of enslavement to sin.
Sin -- an internal restraint -- often undermines freedom more than religious or political oppression. Many find themselves entrapped in pride, lust, anger, or another of the so-called capital sins. They cannot put their lives in order often because they do not even recognize that sin has a grip on them. Jesus, of course, offers to save all from sin by sending his Holy Spirit. The Spirit enlightens us to recognize sin’s entrapments and empowers us to resist them. But we have to call on Jesus with true faith to receive the Spirit.
(John 8:31-42)
Perhaps you have heard the term “cultural Catholics.” It refers to those who identify themselves as Catholics but only minimally practice the faith. They see their occasional Mass attendance more as a family tradition than an expression of religious commitment. Also, they dissent from many of the Church’s teachings like the crime of abortion and the infallibility of the Pope. Today’s gospel pictures Jesus addressing himself to these Catholics as the “Jews who believed in him.”
Cultural Catholics in the United States and Europe adhere to a strictly political notion of freedom. A product of the Enlightenment, political freedom means the absence of external constraint on an individual’s actions. Since this kind of constraint typically comes from government, an example would be the right to practice one’s religion without official censure. The Jews in the gospel express their adherence to this notion of freedom when they say that they have “never been enslaved to anyone.” However, like cultural Catholics today, they overlook a critical dimension of freedom when they refute Jesus for speaking of enslavement to sin.
Sin -- an internal restraint -- often undermines freedom more than religious or political oppression. Many find themselves entrapped in pride, lust, anger, or another of the so-called capital sins. They cannot put their lives in order often because they do not even recognize that sin has a grip on them. Jesus, of course, offers to save all from sin by sending his Holy Spirit. The Spirit enlightens us to recognize sin’s entrapments and empowers us to resist them. But we have to call on Jesus with true faith to receive the Spirit.
Homilette for March 11, 2008
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
(John 8:21-30)
“What’s My Line?” was a favorite television quiz show fifty years ago. Contestants with varied occupations would challenge the celebrity panel to guess what they did to earn a living. The celebrities were informed of a contestant’s name and whether she or he was hired or self-employed. Then they would conduct an investigation by asking questions with “yes” or “no” answers.
In some ways John’s gospel today mimics “What’s My Line?” The Jews try to figure out what Jesus is doing among them. They ask him questions as we hear today, “Who are you?” They also have Jesus’ marvelous “signs” like changing the water into wine to help them determine who he is. But most of the Jews do not catch on because they are predisposed against Jesus. They are looking for a political Messiah who will defeat aggressive enemies like the Romans now occupying their land. They do not realize that the Messiah has come to save them from a far greater enemy – sin. Even when Jesus is lifted up on the cross, as he mentions in the reading, with writing in four languages declaring him “King of the Jews,” the majority of people do not understand who he is.
Perhaps we have wished that we would have been alive in Jesus’ days. We might have questions that we would like to put to him to clear up some of our doubts. Odds are, however, that our questions would never be answered to our satisfaction. Sooner or later, we would have to make the same act of faith in him that the Jews are challenged to make throughout the Gospel of John. Do we believe that this man of marvelous works and wise judgments is God’s own Son?
(John 8:21-30)
“What’s My Line?” was a favorite television quiz show fifty years ago. Contestants with varied occupations would challenge the celebrity panel to guess what they did to earn a living. The celebrities were informed of a contestant’s name and whether she or he was hired or self-employed. Then they would conduct an investigation by asking questions with “yes” or “no” answers.
In some ways John’s gospel today mimics “What’s My Line?” The Jews try to figure out what Jesus is doing among them. They ask him questions as we hear today, “Who are you?” They also have Jesus’ marvelous “signs” like changing the water into wine to help them determine who he is. But most of the Jews do not catch on because they are predisposed against Jesus. They are looking for a political Messiah who will defeat aggressive enemies like the Romans now occupying their land. They do not realize that the Messiah has come to save them from a far greater enemy – sin. Even when Jesus is lifted up on the cross, as he mentions in the reading, with writing in four languages declaring him “King of the Jews,” the majority of people do not understand who he is.
Perhaps we have wished that we would have been alive in Jesus’ days. We might have questions that we would like to put to him to clear up some of our doubts. Odds are, however, that our questions would never be answered to our satisfaction. Sooner or later, we would have to make the same act of faith in him that the Jews are challenged to make throughout the Gospel of John. Do we believe that this man of marvelous works and wise judgments is God’s own Son?
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