Friday, November 1, 2013

Solemnity of All Saints

(Revelation 7:2-4.9-14; I John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a)

A distinguished attorney is asked, “Who is the most important person in the courtroom (to assure justice).”  Perhaps it is the judge who sees that that due process is followed.  Or maybe it is the collective members of the jury who make the final decision regarding innocence or guilt.  Or possibly it is the defense lawyer himself who must investigate his client’s case and persuade the jury with convincing evidence.  The man responds that after many decades practicing law as prosecutor, judge, and defense attorney, he believes that the most important person in a courtroom is a reliable witness.   Such a witness’s truthfulness and conviction become the determining factors in bringing about justice.

We can define saints as reliable witnesses to Jesus.  By relying on God, by striving after righteousness, by reconciling opponents, and by practicing all the beatitudes, saints witness to the primacy of Jesus’ message and the efficacy of his grace.  Their words and, more so, their actions provide testimony that Jesus has risen from the dead to actively support his followers.

The Church has officially declared only seven thousand or so saints.  But this number hardly indicates all the people throughout twenty centuries of Christianity who have lived the beatitudes.  Today we celebrate the millions of un-proclaimed saints who have given reliable witness to Jesus.  Their number includes an African-American slave who lived so graciously that the slave-owning family buried her in the family plot proudly claiming her as kin.  All of us have known people much better than ourselves who, we are sure, belong to the legion of reliable witnesses to Jesus. 

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:312b-39; Luke 13:31-35)

In Vergil’s classical poem The Aeneid the protagonist learns of his destiny to found the city of Rome.  Although the end is preordained, he does not understand it as inevitable.  Rather, he continually applies himself to achieve it.  The project requires strength and self-sacrifice, which Aeneas never fails to exert.  Today’s passage from the Gospel of Luke shows Jesus making similar effort to fulfill his destiny.

Jesus knows that Herod Antipas is not one to trifle with.  He beheaded John the Baptist on the whim of his step-daughter as well as married his brother’s wife (and also his niece) Herodias.  Because he surely could kill Jesus also, Jesus takes the Pharisees’ (his unlikely informers) advice to leave Galilee and proceed to Jerusalem according to plan.  There, of course, he will meet his destiny which is to be crucified and to rise from the dead on behalf of both the Jewish nation and the whole world. 

Perhaps Paul in today’s first reading expresses best the accomplishment of Jesus. By his cross and resurrection -- both divinely instituted before the beginning of time and executed through his intentional actions – Jesus assures us of God’s love.  We no longer are to live in fear or doubt but can live in righteousness knowing that our destiny of eternal life is secure.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:26-30; Luke 13:22-30)

Fr. Richard Rohr speaks convincingly of the two halves of human life.  In the first half people learn to control their egos from running wild.  Then need to have laws imposed so that at least they may live with others without mortal conflict.  During the second half of life, Rohr sees a different challenge.  By this time people have learned some self-control, but there is still need to be transformed into gentle, caring subjects.  They may be driven by their culture or perhaps their instincts to work against this need.  For this reason believers at least are endowed with the Holy Spirit of which St. Paul writes to the Romans as seen in today’s first reading.

Paul says that the Spirit intercedes on behalf of believers asking for what the heart does not know it needs.  The heart wants solutions to what it sees as problems confronting the human person.  But the Spirit knows that what is essential is not outer domination but inner peace that comes from knowing God as Father.  We may pray for insight and strength, but the Spirit prays in us for docility and humility.

The human project which each of us faces is an enormous task.  Simply put, it is to become a saint.  Unfortunately, we have only one opportunity to work it out.  Fortunately, we have the Spirit within moving us to sanctity and praying for us to succeed.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:18-25; Luke 13:18-21)

The window of the car on the highway opened and out went an object – perhaps a plastic cup – littering the road.  It was a small act of defiance of both law and public decency indicative of a careless people.  But little things add up.  An estimated fifty-one billion articles of litter are deposited on the roads of the United States alone every year. 

Nevertheless, would it be that litter were today’s biggest environmental problem!  In truth there are many greater worries.  The burning of fossil fuels creates pollution and likely contributes to global warming.  The depletion of forests ruins the habitats of most of earth’s animals and causes the land to dry up.  What St. Paul writes to the Romans in the first reading today about the creation groaning makes perfect sense to environmentalists.

Yet Paul also extends a signal of hope.  He says that creation will be set free by a redeemed humanity fully in the grasp of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit will change our hearts to value the environment as a common patrimony.  All good people will cooperate to protect natural resources so that future generations may know the wonder of otters, ocelots,  and owls. 

Monday, October 28, 2013

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude

(Ephesians 2:19-22; Luke 6:12-16)

Today’s Feast of Saints Simon and Jude is celebrated in many places with all the vigor of a local patron.  Little is known about either apostle.  The reason for the popularity is that St. Jude has been labeled the patron of hopeless causes with which many identify.

The devotion stems from the lively faith of many Catholic people.  They know God loves them and will assist them in their need.  Jude, the last mentioned of the twelve in Luke’s gospel, matches their sense of being overlooked in the normal course of events.  Yet he sits at the Savior’s table and has proven willing to intercede on behalf of those who call on his name.

The feast should remind us to never give up praying for just needs.  God will turn bad situations into good ones even though the outcome may not be what we had in mind.  It is not just a matter of our changing perspectives to accept the inevitable.  Rather it is the work of an all-caring God who has the powers of creation at His disposal to meet our needs.