Christmas Weekday
(I John 4:11-18; Mark 6:45-52)
If we were asked to describe the meaning of Christmas, how would we reply? Would we speak of a societal surge in buying to strengthen the economy? Economic activity is certainly characteristic of the celebration of Christmas but hardly explains its meaning. Would we offer the experience of family togetherness about the decorated fur tree? Surely many people celebrate Christmas “at home” with loved ones who have cared for them all their lives. But there is a deeper, more comprehensive meaning that we would want to relate.
We hardly could find a better description of the meaning of Christmas that the familiar verse from the Gospel of John: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son...” At Christmas we rejoice in our certainty of God’s love and marvel at its enormity. God’s love moves us to come out of ourselves – to share what we have with others, not just our families but with friends and needy people around the world.
The reading from the First Letter of John explains some of the dynamic of divine love. God shares his Spirit of love with us. This Spirit drives out the fear that distances us both from God and from one another. We no longer resent God as a judge who might condemn us; rather, we love Him as a Father who will bestow on us eternal life. Likewise, we know that other people cannot do permanent harm to us because God promises us eternal life. We wish to care for them out of imitation of our benevolent Father.
Homilette for Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Christmas Weekday
(I John 4:7-10; Matthew 6:34-44)
A guest at a soup kitchen once questioned the affection of a volunteer who served him. “Miss Bea,” the man said, “do you love me?” The wife and mother replied, “Yes, Henry, I love you.” “Miss Bea,” the man went on, “would you come home with me?” “It ain’t that kind of love, Henry,” the woman objected.
There are different ways of loving which the wise person distinguishes. But there is only one love which is a thrust for unity. Married couples express love for one another in varied ways, most especially by the act of physical union. The volunteer showed her love for the poor man by her service. Where the first reading today says, “God is love,” it means that God desires to be one with everything that is. God’s love transcends natural love in that its scope includes the undesirable. For example, God loves us in our sinfulness. Indeed, God desires us so much that He came to live among us and died so that we might partake of His life.
God has also graced us with His love. We can desire to be with God even though we cannot see Him. We can also love others even though they have little to do with us and, indeed, even though they mistreat us. Choosing to love both God and others, we participate in God’s own life. This is eternal life. It begins here in our loving both appropriately and universally and not, as some think, in death.
(I John 4:7-10; Matthew 6:34-44)
A guest at a soup kitchen once questioned the affection of a volunteer who served him. “Miss Bea,” the man said, “do you love me?” The wife and mother replied, “Yes, Henry, I love you.” “Miss Bea,” the man went on, “would you come home with me?” “It ain’t that kind of love, Henry,” the woman objected.
There are different ways of loving which the wise person distinguishes. But there is only one love which is a thrust for unity. Married couples express love for one another in varied ways, most especially by the act of physical union. The volunteer showed her love for the poor man by her service. Where the first reading today says, “God is love,” it means that God desires to be one with everything that is. God’s love transcends natural love in that its scope includes the undesirable. For example, God loves us in our sinfulness. Indeed, God desires us so much that He came to live among us and died so that we might partake of His life.
God has also graced us with His love. We can desire to be with God even though we cannot see Him. We can also love others even though they have little to do with us and, indeed, even though they mistreat us. Choosing to love both God and others, we participate in God’s own life. This is eternal life. It begins here in our loving both appropriately and universally and not, as some think, in death.
Homilette for Monday, January 5, 2009
Memorial of St. John Neumann, bishop
(I John 3:22-4:6; Matthew 4:12-17; 23-25)
The gospel passage says that Jesus “withdrew to Galilee.” We should not think, however, that Jesus is beating a retreat. Actually, he is charging to the battlefront. Herod Antipas has just arrested John the Baptist for criticizing his unlawful marriage. Jesus leaves the solitude of the Jordan desert to take up John’s banner in Galilee. His message is even the same as John’s, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” Herod Antipas, the Baptist’s nemesis, can hardly ignore it.
Like Jesus we are sometimes called to show courage. A shouting match turns into a fist fight where someone is going to get hurt. We should intervene or, at least, call for help. More often we exhibit courage by facing difficult tasks with calmness and determination. “When the going gets tough,” an adage declares, “the tough get going.” Courage is the operative virtue here.
St. John Neumann obviously demonstrated courage many times in his life. As a young man, he came to the United States from his native Bohemia. Newly ordained, his territorial parish included all of western New York State! Ordained a bishop, he started the first system of parochial schools and inaugurated eighty parishes in the Diocese of Philadelphia. Courage allows soldiers to conquer fear in battle. It also enables saints to overcome desire for comfort and weariness in daily life.
(I John 3:22-4:6; Matthew 4:12-17; 23-25)
The gospel passage says that Jesus “withdrew to Galilee.” We should not think, however, that Jesus is beating a retreat. Actually, he is charging to the battlefront. Herod Antipas has just arrested John the Baptist for criticizing his unlawful marriage. Jesus leaves the solitude of the Jordan desert to take up John’s banner in Galilee. His message is even the same as John’s, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” Herod Antipas, the Baptist’s nemesis, can hardly ignore it.
Like Jesus we are sometimes called to show courage. A shouting match turns into a fist fight where someone is going to get hurt. We should intervene or, at least, call for help. More often we exhibit courage by facing difficult tasks with calmness and determination. “When the going gets tough,” an adage declares, “the tough get going.” Courage is the operative virtue here.
St. John Neumann obviously demonstrated courage many times in his life. As a young man, he came to the United States from his native Bohemia. Newly ordained, his territorial parish included all of western New York State! Ordained a bishop, he started the first system of parochial schools and inaugurated eighty parishes in the Diocese of Philadelphia. Courage allows soldiers to conquer fear in battle. It also enables saints to overcome desire for comfort and weariness in daily life.
Homilette for Friday, January 2, 2009
Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzan, bishops and Doctors of the Church
(I John 2:22-28; John 1: 19-28)
Today the Church honors two theologians, Basil (called “the Great”) and Gregory Nazianzen. It celebrates them together not just because they were contemporaries but also because they were friends. The Church seems to be calling us to reflect on friendship as we begin the new year.
Gregory Nazianzen once preached about his friendship with Basil. He said that both came to Athens as students where they competed with one another to learn as much as possible. But, he went on, their rivalry never resulted in envy over each other’s achievements; rather, out of mutual love, they gladly yielded to one another the highest honors.
Aristotle sees various levels of friendship. He says that we befriend some people because they are useful for economic purposes and others because of their good humor or interesting viewpoints, but we reserve our deepest love for virtuous people in whom we see reflections of our ideal selves. These friends possess the goodness that we wish to attain. More than that, they help us achieve virtue by their honest and caring conversation.
At the end of the Gospel According to John, Jesus tells his disciples that they are his friends. He loves them deeply and wants them to share in the unity which he enjoys with God. One worthwhile resolution for the new year is to strive to be better friends to all our acquaintances and especially to Jesus, our perfect friend.
(I John 2:22-28; John 1: 19-28)
Today the Church honors two theologians, Basil (called “the Great”) and Gregory Nazianzen. It celebrates them together not just because they were contemporaries but also because they were friends. The Church seems to be calling us to reflect on friendship as we begin the new year.
Gregory Nazianzen once preached about his friendship with Basil. He said that both came to Athens as students where they competed with one another to learn as much as possible. But, he went on, their rivalry never resulted in envy over each other’s achievements; rather, out of mutual love, they gladly yielded to one another the highest honors.
Aristotle sees various levels of friendship. He says that we befriend some people because they are useful for economic purposes and others because of their good humor or interesting viewpoints, but we reserve our deepest love for virtuous people in whom we see reflections of our ideal selves. These friends possess the goodness that we wish to attain. More than that, they help us achieve virtue by their honest and caring conversation.
At the end of the Gospel According to John, Jesus tells his disciples that they are his friends. He loves them deeply and wants them to share in the unity which he enjoys with God. One worthwhile resolution for the new year is to strive to be better friends to all our acquaintances and especially to Jesus, our perfect friend.
Homilette for Thursday, January 1, 2009
Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
(Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)
We call the first month of the year “January” after Janus, the pagan god of gates and doors. Statues of Janus have two heads like a door has two sides -- one looking backward and the other forward. Certainly in January we look in these two directions. We repeatedly refer to the old year, sometimes mistakenly writing its number on checks. But as the month moves along, we think more of the possibilities lying in the year just begun.
The Nativity scene with Jesus lying in a manger also calls us to look both backward and forward. The manger is not meant to indicate Joseph and Mary’s poverty, but to recall what the prophet Isaiah said of Israel. “An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master’s manger,” Isaiah observed, “but Israel does not know, my people has not understood (me)” (Is 1:3). Now, the evangelist Luke shows, the shepherds of Israel see and know their Lord. The Lordship of Jesus, however, will only be revealed to all lands in the future. After Jesus is crucified, rises from the dead, and send his Spirit upon them, his apostles will preach his name throughout the world.
New Year’s Day is generally reserved for rest and visiting (and, for some, football). But the Church calls us to mass to reflect on the significance of what has taken place during the past week. We have heard the story of Christmas retold. We have celebrated Christ’s coming by acts of kindness and generosity. And we have found ourselves immersed in an atmosphere of peace and goodwill. Like Mary in the gospel we are to reflect on these things in our hearts in order to distill their meaning for the year ahead.
(Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)
We call the first month of the year “January” after Janus, the pagan god of gates and doors. Statues of Janus have two heads like a door has two sides -- one looking backward and the other forward. Certainly in January we look in these two directions. We repeatedly refer to the old year, sometimes mistakenly writing its number on checks. But as the month moves along, we think more of the possibilities lying in the year just begun.
The Nativity scene with Jesus lying in a manger also calls us to look both backward and forward. The manger is not meant to indicate Joseph and Mary’s poverty, but to recall what the prophet Isaiah said of Israel. “An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master’s manger,” Isaiah observed, “but Israel does not know, my people has not understood (me)” (Is 1:3). Now, the evangelist Luke shows, the shepherds of Israel see and know their Lord. The Lordship of Jesus, however, will only be revealed to all lands in the future. After Jesus is crucified, rises from the dead, and send his Spirit upon them, his apostles will preach his name throughout the world.
New Year’s Day is generally reserved for rest and visiting (and, for some, football). But the Church calls us to mass to reflect on the significance of what has taken place during the past week. We have heard the story of Christmas retold. We have celebrated Christ’s coming by acts of kindness and generosity. And we have found ourselves immersed in an atmosphere of peace and goodwill. Like Mary in the gospel we are to reflect on these things in our hearts in order to distill their meaning for the year ahead.
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