Solemnity of All Saints
(Revelation &:2-4.9-14; I John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a)
Mike is a simple, honest fellow. He never went to college but has been able to earn a comfortable living by working with unions. He sees himself as so fortunate that he wants to give back to others some of what God has bestowed on him. Unlike many with similar motivation Mike helps people anonymously; that is, he tries not to make a show of his generosity. Someday Mike may be among the people that we celebrate today, the Feast of All Saints.
In Matthew’s gospel, after Jesus calls “blessed” those who are poor and meek, yearn for justice, and suffer persecution, he tells his disciples that they should strive for holiness without calling attention to themselves. As if it were possible, they are not even to let their left hand know what their right hand is doing. Because many have followed Jesus’ admonition through the ages, the number of saints vastly exceeds the 10,000 or so that are on the Church’s books. Especially these anonymous ones are called upon today for assistance.
But, of course, invocation of the saints is only half our responsibility. We must imitate the saints’ holiness as well. Our “random acts of kindness” should also be “anonymous acts” as much as possible. When we live in this way, we will find ourselves not just pleasing God but also living in peace.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 11:29-36; Luke 14:12-14)
A religious education program conducted its classes prior to Halloween every year in the parish cemetery. When daylight ebbed, the children grew skittish and ran back to the cemetery entrance where they might feel the security of numbers. The experience provided a spark in the religious ed curriculum but was actually a missed opportunity. Rather than provide a lesson on eternal life, the organizers of the event only added a thrill in an overheated season of excitement. Today is a teachable moment when a walk through a cemetery may reveal God's goodness to people accustomed to taking it for granted.
Humans are created with souls united to bodies as intimately as words and music make up a song. Death separates the two bringing the body to decay and the incorruptible soul (or spirit if you wish) to carry on alone. But there are few historical records of mischief-making spirit-sightings. More likely spirits yearn for bodily reunion perhaps like we feel when we have a tune in our head but have forgotten the words that match it.
Here we see the unsearchable ways of God that St. Paul refers to in the first reading. The souls of the saved are destined to be reunited with their bodies at the end of time just as Jesus' body and soul came together in his resurrection with the result of actual sightings. It promises to be even more glorious than the finale of Beethoven's Choral Symphony where words and music are joined to God’s eternal glory.
(Romans 11:29-36; Luke 14:12-14)
A religious education program conducted its classes prior to Halloween every year in the parish cemetery. When daylight ebbed, the children grew skittish and ran back to the cemetery entrance where they might feel the security of numbers. The experience provided a spark in the religious ed curriculum but was actually a missed opportunity. Rather than provide a lesson on eternal life, the organizers of the event only added a thrill in an overheated season of excitement. Today is a teachable moment when a walk through a cemetery may reveal God's goodness to people accustomed to taking it for granted.
Humans are created with souls united to bodies as intimately as words and music make up a song. Death separates the two bringing the body to decay and the incorruptible soul (or spirit if you wish) to carry on alone. But there are few historical records of mischief-making spirit-sightings. More likely spirits yearn for bodily reunion perhaps like we feel when we have a tune in our head but have forgotten the words that match it.
Here we see the unsearchable ways of God that St. Paul refers to in the first reading. The souls of the saved are destined to be reunited with their bodies at the end of time just as Jesus' body and soul came together in his resurrection with the result of actual sightings. It promises to be even more glorious than the finale of Beethoven's Choral Symphony where words and music are joined to God’s eternal glory.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, apostles
(Ephesians2:19-22; Luke 6:12-16)
“Jude the Obscure” is the title of a novel by English author Thomas Hardy, but it might as well be the name of the second of the two apostles whom we celebrate today. Besides its appearance on the lists of apostles given by Luke, Jude’s or, since in Greek the two names are spelled in the same way, not the traitorous Judas’ name is mentioned only in the Gospel according to John where he asks Jesus why he will reveal himself to his disciples apostles but not to the world (John 14:22). It is not likely that this apostle wrote the New Testament letter that bears the same name.
Simon’s story is a bit thicker than that of Jude although all that we know of him comes from the distinction the evangelists make between him and Simon Peter. Luke says that he is known as “a Zealot,” meaning that he is passionate about fulfilling the Jewish law. Nevertheless, we should not think of him as a member of the revolutionary band that is known as Zealots a generation after Jesus. In Matthew and Mark, the same Simon is designated “the Cananean” which stems from the Aramaic equivalent of the Greek word zelotes.
The first three evangelists are in accord that Jesus intentionally chooses only twelve men to form his core group of disciples. They also show that the disciples come from different backgrounds -- fishermen and a tax collector, for example. The fact that Simon is a zealot about the Law while Matthew’s (or Levi’s) tax collecting downplays the Law’s authority further indicates that Jesus has a plan in mind. He wants his followers to resolve their differences as a sign that he has come to reunify the twelve tribes of the Kingdom of Israel. Inclusion of non-Jews into the Kingdom is also anticipated in the gospel, but it must wait the inauguration of the Church after Pentecost.
(Ephesians2:19-22; Luke 6:12-16)
“Jude the Obscure” is the title of a novel by English author Thomas Hardy, but it might as well be the name of the second of the two apostles whom we celebrate today. Besides its appearance on the lists of apostles given by Luke, Jude’s or, since in Greek the two names are spelled in the same way, not the traitorous Judas’ name is mentioned only in the Gospel according to John where he asks Jesus why he will reveal himself to his disciples apostles but not to the world (John 14:22). It is not likely that this apostle wrote the New Testament letter that bears the same name.
Simon’s story is a bit thicker than that of Jude although all that we know of him comes from the distinction the evangelists make between him and Simon Peter. Luke says that he is known as “a Zealot,” meaning that he is passionate about fulfilling the Jewish law. Nevertheless, we should not think of him as a member of the revolutionary band that is known as Zealots a generation after Jesus. In Matthew and Mark, the same Simon is designated “the Cananean” which stems from the Aramaic equivalent of the Greek word zelotes.
The first three evangelists are in accord that Jesus intentionally chooses only twelve men to form his core group of disciples. They also show that the disciples come from different backgrounds -- fishermen and a tax collector, for example. The fact that Simon is a zealot about the Law while Matthew’s (or Levi’s) tax collecting downplays the Law’s authority further indicates that Jesus has a plan in mind. He wants his followers to resolve their differences as a sign that he has come to reunify the twelve tribes of the Kingdom of Israel. Inclusion of non-Jews into the Kingdom is also anticipated in the gospel, but it must wait the inauguration of the Church after Pentecost.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 8:31b-39; Luke 13:31-35)
When St. Paul writes of nothing separating the Christian from the love of Christ, he no doubt has his own experience in mind. He not only felt the existential pain of distancing himself from friends and -- who knows? – family when he left mainline Judaism but went on to endure torture and the miseries of third class travel in the first century. The latter included walking long distances and scaling mountains always with the fear of robbers. Or, as an alternative, Paul endured the misery of deck passage with the difficulties of cooking, resting, and relieving oneself. In all these trials he still felt the love of Jesus.
But Paul’s personal encounter with the resurrected Christ propelled him forward. It was not a spiritual experience but, as he wrote to the Corinthians, an appearance every bit as real as the one to the other apostles. The encounter engraved in Paul’s heart the love of Jesus for him so that he could endure hardships and eventual martyrdom.
We may wish for such a personal encounter with the Lord like Paul’s, but how many are ready to endure the trials that such an experience brought? We are grateful for the spiritual experiences of Christ that we have in the good people we meet and in the Eucharist we share with fellow believers.
(Romans 8:31b-39; Luke 13:31-35)
When St. Paul writes of nothing separating the Christian from the love of Christ, he no doubt has his own experience in mind. He not only felt the existential pain of distancing himself from friends and -- who knows? – family when he left mainline Judaism but went on to endure torture and the miseries of third class travel in the first century. The latter included walking long distances and scaling mountains always with the fear of robbers. Or, as an alternative, Paul endured the misery of deck passage with the difficulties of cooking, resting, and relieving oneself. In all these trials he still felt the love of Jesus.
But Paul’s personal encounter with the resurrected Christ propelled him forward. It was not a spiritual experience but, as he wrote to the Corinthians, an appearance every bit as real as the one to the other apostles. The encounter engraved in Paul’s heart the love of Jesus for him so that he could endure hardships and eventual martyrdom.
We may wish for such a personal encounter with the Lord like Paul’s, but how many are ready to endure the trials that such an experience brought? We are grateful for the spiritual experiences of Christ that we have in the good people we meet and in the Eucharist we share with fellow believers.
Wednesday, Octobr 26, 2011
Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 8:26-30; Luke 12:22-30)
Jack Bernowitz was working at a financial company into middle age. When the economy turned south a few years ago, Jack lost his job. Rather than worry about finding more work in finance, Jack followed a long-held inkling to learn to cook. He enrolled in culinary school and now works as a pastry chef. As St. Paul says in the Letter to the Romans, “All things work for good for those who love God.”
Paul’s encouragement has enabled theologians to resolve the problem of evil. No one -- good or bad -- can escape suffering in life. Disease, death, the hardness of others, and self-deception touch every human life, sometimes in quantities that seem disproportionate and even unjust. Most always, however, as Paul writes, the situations resolve themselves for the better if those involved do not lose faith. Even when life ends on a bitter note, Christians look forward to eternity where the hand of the Almighty is not obscured from sight.
When we know people who experience the scourge of evil, we need to offer consolation. But often such moments are not the times to talk about things working out for the good. As God’s witnesses we go forward with the proverbial shoulder to cry on. Our presence alone witnesses God’s mercy. The few words of comfort we offer are enough to insure God will improve the situation.
(Romans 8:26-30; Luke 12:22-30)
Jack Bernowitz was working at a financial company into middle age. When the economy turned south a few years ago, Jack lost his job. Rather than worry about finding more work in finance, Jack followed a long-held inkling to learn to cook. He enrolled in culinary school and now works as a pastry chef. As St. Paul says in the Letter to the Romans, “All things work for good for those who love God.”
Paul’s encouragement has enabled theologians to resolve the problem of evil. No one -- good or bad -- can escape suffering in life. Disease, death, the hardness of others, and self-deception touch every human life, sometimes in quantities that seem disproportionate and even unjust. Most always, however, as Paul writes, the situations resolve themselves for the better if those involved do not lose faith. Even when life ends on a bitter note, Christians look forward to eternity where the hand of the Almighty is not obscured from sight.
When we know people who experience the scourge of evil, we need to offer consolation. But often such moments are not the times to talk about things working out for the good. As God’s witnesses we go forward with the proverbial shoulder to cry on. Our presence alone witnesses God’s mercy. The few words of comfort we offer are enough to insure God will improve the situation.
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