Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 5:1-6.13-14.16-17.23-28; Luke 21:12-19)

Franz Jägerstätter was an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II.  Taking cues from his Catholic faith, he refused to fight for the Nazis.  Indeed, he wanted nothing to do with the Third Reich.  In a plebiscite calling for Austrian unification with Germany, Jägerstätter was the only person in his village to vote against the resolution.  He was finally tried and summarily executed for his stand.  Not too many years ago Pope Benedict XVI declared him a martyr of the Church.  How can his story be understood in the light of today’s gospel?

Jesus tells the people that when they are persecuted, he will give them words to refute their detractors.  He is descriptive enough to say that “not a hair on your head will be destroyed.”  Taken at face value, his words seem betrayed by the stories of martyrs throughout the centuries.  But the life that he promises to secure is not natural life but eternal life.  The indestructible hair eluded to must be body parts that will be enhanced not diminished as a saint is inducted into glory.

This may sound surreal.  Persecution and death are no small matters to be marginalized by anticipating future gain.  They necessitate a deep commitment to the truth which is Christ.  He opens us to God’s love which alone can make a hero of any of us. 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 2:31-45; Luke 21:5-11)

The United States, as powerful a nation as it is, cannot control the course of history.  It has had a most difficult time trying to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon.  Efforts at negotiation have been hampered by the distrust Iran has felt since 1953 when America and England orchestrated the murder of Iran’s democratically-elected prime minister.   After the traumas in Iraq and Afghanistan along with the setback in Iran, the United States must reassess its purposes as the prophet Daniel proposes in today’s first reading.

The Book of the Prophet Daniel is more historical novel than Israelite prophecy.  Yet there is real truth in its message.  In today’s reading the book’s protagonist warns the king of Babylonia that his rule is soon to come to its end.  However, the author (whoever he may be) has all the rulers of the earth in mind.  His message is that they should not strive to conquer more lands but to establish justice where they rule.  Such statesmanship is necessary because in the end God will judge the nations.  In the author’s prophetic imagination, God’s kingdom is the stone that becomes a mountain filling the whole earth.

Americans have cause to be grateful for the blessings heaped upon their country.  In its best days the United States has responded graciously by contributing to a better world.  Certainly standing up to the tyranny in the Soviet Union benefited all humanity.  But Americans should not think that their country’s every initiative is just.  Its leaders have spawned injustice in certain times and places for which they are subject to God’s judgment. 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 1:1-6.8-20; Luke 21:1-4)

The Book of the Prophet Daniel is misplaced alongside of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.  Where the latter exhort the people of Israel to change their ways or suffer God’s wrath, Daniel tells the story of a Jewish man’s faithfulness and God’s ultimate destruction of his persecutors.  Daniel was written centuries after the events it relates in order to shore up the flagging hopes of Jews under persecution by the Hellenist tyrant Antipas IV Epiphanes.  It is rightly regarded as historical fiction.

Today’s reading from Daniel introduces the main character and his companions.  The moral is self-evident – it is not a superior diet that makes one excel but attention to God’s law. 

Most people today do not suffer the religious persecution of Daniel and friends.  Yet there is a cultural imperialism promoting casual sex and the marginalization of religion to be dealt with.  Daniel serves us also an example of faithfulness to God in an age that would just as soon forget His presence.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Memorial of Saint Cecilia, martyr

(I Maccabees 4:36-37.52-59; Luke 19:45-48)

Today’s first reading from I Maccabees gives the biblical reference for the contemporary Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.   The passage tells of how the Jews burnt offerings and sang hymns of praise for eight days to celebrate the rededication of the Temple 165 years or so before Jesus’ birth.  According to one tradition after plans for the festivity were decreed, the people discovered that there was only enough consecrated oil left to burn for one day.  Undeterred, they went ahead with the celebration as planned and to their amazement found the oil burning for the full eight days.  For this reason Hanukkah is sometimes called the “Feast of Lights.”  As a testimony to the miracle of the oil, Jews today will eat fried foods throughout the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah.

Jesus not only celebrated the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, as Hanukkah is more traditionally named, he had a great sensibility for the Temple as the meeting place of God and humanity.  For this reason he chases the money changers from its confines as today’s gospel relates.  His followers later noted how Jesus himself is the prime referent for the human encounter with God and in this sense has replaced the Temple.  Nevertheless, Christians still need places to pray so they construct temples, which in English at least are usually called churches.  But at the dedication of Catholic churches it is always Jesus who is glorified.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(I Maccabees 2:15-29; Luke 19:41-44)

With secure ways to imprison violent convicts most Western countries and many American states have abandoned capital punishment for most crimes.  The exception to this rule is treason which still carries the death penalty in states like Michigan, the first English-speaking jurisdiction to ban it for other felonies.  These facts provide context to understanding the two killings that shock sensitive readers in the passage from I Maccabees today.

Mattathias takes the lives of a Jew who was offering an illegitimate sacrifice and of the king’s messenger, probably not Jewish, who is promoting the abominable sacrifices.  At least the death of his first victim is mandated by the Law (Deuteronomy 13:7-10).  But both killings should be taken as legitimate execution.  Just as some contemporary jurisdictions treat treason as the only capital crime, sacrifice to idols in ancient Israel is uniquely offensive.  It violates the Covenant in a way that not only affronts the Lord but diminishes the people’s faith, which is necessary for Israel’s survival.

Although we cannot commend actions such as Mattathias’ if done today, we should be cautious about condemning the Jewish hero.  Jesus never faces such a critical situation although he does use force in cleansing the Temple.  It is his teaching, however, that inclines us to veer away from capital punishment.  He implores us to love our enemy, which does not preclude putting him to death, but certainly bids mercy.  Capital punishment, as the Church teaches, is a penalty of last resort when the common good is genuinely and severely threatened.