Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ephesians 4:32-5:8; Luke 13:10-17)
It is a sin against the first commandment to put one’s trust in another god, but does this mean that you cannot keep a tiger tooth for good luck? It is a sin against the second commandment to take the Lord’s name in vain, but does this mean that you sin by saying, “Oh God,” when you see something awesome? It is a sin not to honor one’s father and mother, but what are you to do when they tell you that they do not want to hear from you again? In today’s gospel Jesus addresses a knotty question such as the ones posed here.
Apparently nothing in the Mosaic Law expressly forbids healing on the Sabbath. However, certain Pharisees at the time of Jesus apparently consider such action work. Following such an interpretation, the leader of the synagogue chastises the crowd for seeking cures from Jesus. Knowing that the leader is making a dubious distinction, Jesus corrects him. He knows that his Father’s activity is essentially liberating. God freed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and constantly liberates their descendants from moral and spiritual blindness with the Law. Now Jesus imitates his Father by freeing the woman from a particularly gruesome malady.
It would be unfair to say that Jesus is rationalizing his action. Again, the Law does not forbid Sabbath healing. More to the point, he is appealing to the people’s sense of justice and prudence in interpreting the Law. Always, he indicates, we have to use our intelligence aided by the virtues to determine what the Lawgiver expects with any given statute.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ephesians 4:1-6; Luke 12:54-59)
In his poem “The White-Tailed Hornet,” Robert Frost observes that humans do well to compare themselves with higher beings. If they do not, he predicts that they will suffer one catastrophe after another. Frost’s lines are worth remembering: “As long on earth/ As our comparisons were stoutly upward/ With gods and angels, we were men at least,/ But little lower than the gods and angels./ But once comparisons were yielded downward,/ Once we began to see our images/ Reflected in the mud and even dust./ ‘Twas disillusion upon disillusion.” The passage from the Letter to the Ephesians today bears a similar wisdom and elegance.
Ephesians urges its readers “to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.” It claims that they have been chosen by God to be members of God’s family. As God’s children then, they are to live not only peacefully as if the absence of quarrelling was all that matters, but in such unity that all strive to have a like mind and heart based on truth. It is a tall order, but it can be accomplished with God’s grace which is “over all and through all and in all.”
Anger is a definite roadblock to peace and unity. We must get over our outrage with what others appear to say and do. In place of it, we should pray for the supposed opposition and then try to dialogue with it.
(Ephesians 4:1-6; Luke 12:54-59)
In his poem “The White-Tailed Hornet,” Robert Frost observes that humans do well to compare themselves with higher beings. If they do not, he predicts that they will suffer one catastrophe after another. Frost’s lines are worth remembering: “As long on earth/ As our comparisons were stoutly upward/ With gods and angels, we were men at least,/ But little lower than the gods and angels./ But once comparisons were yielded downward,/ Once we began to see our images/ Reflected in the mud and even dust./ ‘Twas disillusion upon disillusion.” The passage from the Letter to the Ephesians today bears a similar wisdom and elegance.
Ephesians urges its readers “to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.” It claims that they have been chosen by God to be members of God’s family. As God’s children then, they are to live not only peacefully as if the absence of quarrelling was all that matters, but in such unity that all strive to have a like mind and heart based on truth. It is a tall order, but it can be accomplished with God’s grace which is “over all and through all and in all.”
Anger is a definite roadblock to peace and unity. We must get over our outrage with what others appear to say and do. In place of it, we should pray for the supposed opposition and then try to dialogue with it.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ephesians 3:14-21; Luke 12:49-53)
The juxtaposition of the first reading and the gospel today disturbs the spirit. The gentle words from Ephesians about the Christian as rooted in love sound diametrically opposite the jarring gospel where Jesus promises to judge the world with fire. An outsider might wonder if Jesus were a lion or a lamb.
If we have difficulty with the two clusters of images, perhaps we should examine what love is about. It desires not so much the comfort of others as their wholeness. President Obama describes his mother’s love for him with the story of her getting him out of bed at four in the morning to review his lessons. When he complained, she told him, “This is not a picnic for me either, Buster.”
Jesus’ love moves him to die so that we might experience eternal life. Reaching it demands our acceptance which may in turn involve the sacrifice of pleasure and even of relationships. But we should never underestimate the value of belonging to the Lord. As the Letter to the Ephesians says, it is “the breadth and length and depth” of happiness.
(Ephesians 3:14-21; Luke 12:49-53)
The juxtaposition of the first reading and the gospel today disturbs the spirit. The gentle words from Ephesians about the Christian as rooted in love sound diametrically opposite the jarring gospel where Jesus promises to judge the world with fire. An outsider might wonder if Jesus were a lion or a lamb.
If we have difficulty with the two clusters of images, perhaps we should examine what love is about. It desires not so much the comfort of others as their wholeness. President Obama describes his mother’s love for him with the story of her getting him out of bed at four in the morning to review his lessons. When he complained, she told him, “This is not a picnic for me either, Buster.”
Jesus’ love moves him to die so that we might experience eternal life. Reaching it demands our acceptance which may in turn involve the sacrifice of pleasure and even of relationships. But we should never underestimate the value of belonging to the Lord. As the Letter to the Ephesians says, it is “the breadth and length and depth” of happiness.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ephesians 3: 2-12; Luke 12:39-48)
“How odd of God,” wrote Ogden Nash, “to choose the Jews.” The Letter to the Ephesians today would turn this verse on end. “How odd of God,” it seems to say, “to include Gentiles.” It is odd because Gentiles have not spent forty years in the wilderness learning God’s ways. They have not been steeped in the Law which teaches that family and community must be placed above individual desires. A Jewish bioethicist provides an example of what is meant here. He has considered the possibility of assisted suicide if in old age he becomes a burden to his family. Then he reconsiders realizing that hastening his death would deprive his children of the opportunity to express their care and fulfill their responsibilities to their parents.
Too often Christians spurn Jewish faith as if it worshipped a hostile God. Yes, Jesus enhanced our appreciation of God by calling him “Father” and by revealing himself as Son. But we must remember that this, at least in part, came from his mastering Jewish traditions. When we can embrace Jews as our elder sisters and brothers in faith with much to teach us and turn to Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and people of other religious beliefs or no beliefs at all as if they were younger siblings in need of Christian example, then we approach realization of the mystery of Christ envisioned in the Letter to the Ephesians.
(Ephesians 3: 2-12; Luke 12:39-48)
“How odd of God,” wrote Ogden Nash, “to choose the Jews.” The Letter to the Ephesians today would turn this verse on end. “How odd of God,” it seems to say, “to include Gentiles.” It is odd because Gentiles have not spent forty years in the wilderness learning God’s ways. They have not been steeped in the Law which teaches that family and community must be placed above individual desires. A Jewish bioethicist provides an example of what is meant here. He has considered the possibility of assisted suicide if in old age he becomes a burden to his family. Then he reconsiders realizing that hastening his death would deprive his children of the opportunity to express their care and fulfill their responsibilities to their parents.
Too often Christians spurn Jewish faith as if it worshipped a hostile God. Yes, Jesus enhanced our appreciation of God by calling him “Father” and by revealing himself as Son. But we must remember that this, at least in part, came from his mastering Jewish traditions. When we can embrace Jews as our elder sisters and brothers in faith with much to teach us and turn to Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and people of other religious beliefs or no beliefs at all as if they were younger siblings in need of Christian example, then we approach realization of the mystery of Christ envisioned in the Letter to the Ephesians.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ephesians 2:12-22; Luke 12:35-38)
We often hear Christ referred to as the "prince of peace," but the Letter to the Ephesians sounds quaint calling him "our peace." To help us understand what the letter means we can think of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." At the end of the drama, with both hero and heroine lying dead because of their families' mutual antagonism, the two opposing patriarchs vow to reconcile their differences. Christ similarly serves as the impetus to peace among all nations.
As a human, Christ models all that is virtuous so that every considerate person will naturally feel contrite to hear how human folly caused his death. As God, Christ’s death frees us from the bondage that sin has imposed. Sin offends God, but it really hurts us. It estranges us from God’s love and even from one another’s support. Christ’s sacrifice of himself for our sake makes up for these shortcomings by renewing our relationship with God and with one another. We may think of having a brother doing a heroic feat after we messed up in an ordinary challenge. Associated with our brother, we no longer feel the shame of our own failure and spontaneously desire to act like him.
But we must not think that Christ’s victory means that all accomplishment comes without effort. No, we must especially avoid giving into temptation which can undermine the best of our intentions.
(Ephesians 2:12-22; Luke 12:35-38)
We often hear Christ referred to as the "prince of peace," but the Letter to the Ephesians sounds quaint calling him "our peace." To help us understand what the letter means we can think of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." At the end of the drama, with both hero and heroine lying dead because of their families' mutual antagonism, the two opposing patriarchs vow to reconcile their differences. Christ similarly serves as the impetus to peace among all nations.
As a human, Christ models all that is virtuous so that every considerate person will naturally feel contrite to hear how human folly caused his death. As God, Christ’s death frees us from the bondage that sin has imposed. Sin offends God, but it really hurts us. It estranges us from God’s love and even from one another’s support. Christ’s sacrifice of himself for our sake makes up for these shortcomings by renewing our relationship with God and with one another. We may think of having a brother doing a heroic feat after we messed up in an ordinary challenge. Associated with our brother, we no longer feel the shame of our own failure and spontaneously desire to act like him.
But we must not think that Christ’s victory means that all accomplishment comes without effort. No, we must especially avoid giving into temptation which can undermine the best of our intentions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)