Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter
(Acts 18:1-8; John 16:16-20)
We know the mechanism of weeping. It is caused by secretion of fluid from the lachrymal glands to lubricate the surface between the eyeball and the eyelid. But exactly why people cry is an open question. Some say simply that it is a response to strong emotions. Others, proceeding from biochemical analysis, claim that it removes hormones associated with stress.
Self-introspection associates crying with loss of affection. We cry when those who love us take their leave. So parents sob at weddings, and the bereaved weep at funerals. For this reason Jesus anticipates the tears of his disciples on the night before his death in the gospel today.
In another gospel and with a different context Jesus tells his disciples, “Blessed are they who mourn for they will be comforted.” The result of tear-shedding in both cases, however, is the same. Crying will not necessarily produce heavenly comfort, but it does when the cause of the tears is the need for Jesus to direct us through moral turmoil and to share our suffering. Also, we must remember that he is not completely gone. Rather he has sent his Spirit to accompany us. The Holy Spirit brings us a foretaste of the joy which comes to fullness as we enter eternal life.
Homilette for Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
(Acts 17:15.22-18:1; John 16:12-15)
The scene of the first reading will inspire many Christians. Athens represents the epitome of Western Civilization, the home of the philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; of the playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, and Euripides; and of the historians Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. Now Paul, the best educated and most successful of Christian missionaries, clears his throat to speak to the learned populace. His words do not disappoint us. They, in colloquial terms, “meet the people where they are.” They hint at the superior Greek culture and mention its traditional regard for religion. They also appeal to the people’s strong sense of justice. Certainly, we feel, Paul will win Athens for Christ.
Of course, the result of Paul’s preaching is catastrophic. The Athenians not only reject his ideas; they scoff at him. Their response, “We should like to hear you on this some other time,” is only a nice way of saying, “Get lost.” But Paul learns from this bitter experience. No longer will the apostle meet his audiences with lofty elocution. He will tell the Corinthians that he came preaching Christ crucified. Following Paul, Christianity through the centuries has often defended the gospel with reasonable argument. But it has realized all along that faith is God’s gift that neither rhetoric nor logic can implant.
(Acts 17:15.22-18:1; John 16:12-15)
The scene of the first reading will inspire many Christians. Athens represents the epitome of Western Civilization, the home of the philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; of the playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, and Euripides; and of the historians Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. Now Paul, the best educated and most successful of Christian missionaries, clears his throat to speak to the learned populace. His words do not disappoint us. They, in colloquial terms, “meet the people where they are.” They hint at the superior Greek culture and mention its traditional regard for religion. They also appeal to the people’s strong sense of justice. Certainly, we feel, Paul will win Athens for Christ.
Of course, the result of Paul’s preaching is catastrophic. The Athenians not only reject his ideas; they scoff at him. Their response, “We should like to hear you on this some other time,” is only a nice way of saying, “Get lost.” But Paul learns from this bitter experience. No longer will the apostle meet his audiences with lofty elocution. He will tell the Corinthians that he came preaching Christ crucified. Following Paul, Christianity through the centuries has often defended the gospel with reasonable argument. But it has realized all along that faith is God’s gift that neither rhetoric nor logic can implant.
Homilette for Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
(Acts 16:22-34; John 16:5-11)
The pious story of how Paul and Silas save the jailer from self-destruction almost misses the point that the jailer becomes Paul’s first convert in Europe. Philippi is Paul’s initial stop on the new continent. He has spoken with the women at the riverside but these are Jews with a definite belief in God. The jailer, however, is presumably a pagan who comes to know God through the testimony of the two missionaries. For this reason the passage ends by stating that the jailer and his household “come to faith in God.”
Still, most likely Paul is not the first missionary on European soil. We know that he will write to an established church in Rome only six to eight years later. Yet his work in Philippi is historic because it chronicles the inexorable movement of the Holy Spirit to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. We see this progress continuing today with the growth of the Church in Africa and Asia. We might also find the Spirit at work in ourselves converting all our thoughts and desires to what is truly good and holy.
(Acts 16:22-34; John 16:5-11)
The pious story of how Paul and Silas save the jailer from self-destruction almost misses the point that the jailer becomes Paul’s first convert in Europe. Philippi is Paul’s initial stop on the new continent. He has spoken with the women at the riverside but these are Jews with a definite belief in God. The jailer, however, is presumably a pagan who comes to know God through the testimony of the two missionaries. For this reason the passage ends by stating that the jailer and his household “come to faith in God.”
Still, most likely Paul is not the first missionary on European soil. We know that he will write to an established church in Rome only six to eight years later. Yet his work in Philippi is historic because it chronicles the inexorable movement of the Holy Spirit to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. We see this progress continuing today with the growth of the Church in Africa and Asia. We might also find the Spirit at work in ourselves converting all our thoughts and desires to what is truly good and holy.
Homilette for Monday, May 18, 2009
Monday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time
(Acts 16:11-15; John 15:26-16:4)
Jews have been persecuted so much throughout history that it is hard to imagine them persecuting others. Yet this is the claim of Palestinians who say that Israelis occupied their land after World War II and continue taking it today on the West Bank. It is also the charge of Jesus in the gospel who foresees the eviction of Christians from Jewish synagogues in the latter part of the first century.
Christian Jews prayed alongside other Jews for almost forty years after the crucifixion. Evidently they looked on one another something like contemporary Charismatics from various Christian denominations praying in the churches of their childhood on Sunday morning but coming together at other times for meetings featuring the Holy Spirit. Regular Jews accepted the diversity of belief in the synagogues until the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. catalyzed a reform. Then they systematically expelled Christian Jews from their midst with the charge that Christians adulterated worship with teachings about Jesus. In today’s gospel Jesus refers to the expulsion proceedings when he says that he will send the Advocate to testify that Christians truly worship God.
This Advocate, more literally “the Paraclete,” is the Holy Spirit who remains with the Church always. Today we might discern its presence in the Church’s consistent sexual ethic despite society’s acceptance of immoral practices like premarital cohabitation.
(Acts 16:11-15; John 15:26-16:4)
Jews have been persecuted so much throughout history that it is hard to imagine them persecuting others. Yet this is the claim of Palestinians who say that Israelis occupied their land after World War II and continue taking it today on the West Bank. It is also the charge of Jesus in the gospel who foresees the eviction of Christians from Jewish synagogues in the latter part of the first century.
Christian Jews prayed alongside other Jews for almost forty years after the crucifixion. Evidently they looked on one another something like contemporary Charismatics from various Christian denominations praying in the churches of their childhood on Sunday morning but coming together at other times for meetings featuring the Holy Spirit. Regular Jews accepted the diversity of belief in the synagogues until the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. catalyzed a reform. Then they systematically expelled Christian Jews from their midst with the charge that Christians adulterated worship with teachings about Jesus. In today’s gospel Jesus refers to the expulsion proceedings when he says that he will send the Advocate to testify that Christians truly worship God.
This Advocate, more literally “the Paraclete,” is the Holy Spirit who remains with the Church always. Today we might discern its presence in the Church’s consistent sexual ethic despite society’s acceptance of immoral practices like premarital cohabitation.
Homilette for Friday, May 15, 2009
Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter
(Acts 15:22-31; John 15:12-17)
There is no inherent contradiction in being both Christ’s slaves and his friends. A slave can win the confidence of his or her master to be treated as a friend or even as a relative. Bishop Edward Braxton once wrote an article about a slave in Georgia who labored for a Catholic family. There was such mutual love between slave and masters that the woman chose to stay with the family after Emancipation and was eventually buried in the family plot.
Being slaves to Christ means that we follow him unreservedly. If he tells us – as he does – that it is a sin to divorce one person in order to marry another, then we do not divorce, at least in the sense that the Church interprets the word. In calling his disciples “friends” Jesus underscores his confidence in us. He trusts us implicitly to listen to his words and to carry out his will.
The two terms – slaves and friends – should be seen as complimenting one another. At times we may have difficulty following what Jesus says. It is hard, for example, for the family of a murder victim to pray for the perpetrator of the crime. Yet it does so out of faithfulness to its master. Most of the time, however, we can reflect on and appreciate the wisdom of Jesus, our friend, as when he invites us to eat his flesh in the Eucharist.
(Acts 15:22-31; John 15:12-17)
There is no inherent contradiction in being both Christ’s slaves and his friends. A slave can win the confidence of his or her master to be treated as a friend or even as a relative. Bishop Edward Braxton once wrote an article about a slave in Georgia who labored for a Catholic family. There was such mutual love between slave and masters that the woman chose to stay with the family after Emancipation and was eventually buried in the family plot.
Being slaves to Christ means that we follow him unreservedly. If he tells us – as he does – that it is a sin to divorce one person in order to marry another, then we do not divorce, at least in the sense that the Church interprets the word. In calling his disciples “friends” Jesus underscores his confidence in us. He trusts us implicitly to listen to his words and to carry out his will.
The two terms – slaves and friends – should be seen as complimenting one another. At times we may have difficulty following what Jesus says. It is hard, for example, for the family of a murder victim to pray for the perpetrator of the crime. Yet it does so out of faithfulness to its master. Most of the time, however, we can reflect on and appreciate the wisdom of Jesus, our friend, as when he invites us to eat his flesh in the Eucharist.
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