Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 7:31-35)

A preacher once described the difficulty in preaching about love.  He said something like, “The only place where we are sure what love means is in tennis.  And there it means ‘nothing at all.’”  St. Paul has some difficulty in speaking about love.  In his famous “ode to love” making up the first reading today he makes no attempt to define it.  Rather he gives a phenomenological description telling us first the importance of love, then its similarities and dissimilarities, and finally its uniqueness. 

St. Thomas Aquinas affirmed that love animates the other virtues.  This means, as Paul illustrates in the text, that faith and generosity will come to nothing if love does not shape their ends.  Love saves faith from being ideology and makes it the way to eternal life.  Similarly, it rescues generosity from wastefulness and allows us to resemble God, our Father.

Paul never equates God with love like the First Letter of John, but he seems on the verge of this conclusion when he writes that of the three enduring virtues, love is the greatest.  Evidently, even in the Beatific Vision there will be need of faith, probably because God is an incomprehensible mystery, always beyond our understanding.  We may wonder about the need for hope if in everlasting life the human person has fulfilled her or his goal.  In any case, love is certainly the greatest theological virtue because it alone participates in God’s supreme activity.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Memorial of Saint Cornelius, pope and martyr, and Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr

(I Corinthians 12:12-24.27-31a; Luke 7:11-17)

Solanus Casey was a Capuchin friar of the early part of the twentieth century.  Because he had difficulty with studies, he was almost denied ordination to the priesthood.  After he was ordained, however, he established himself as a gifted speaker.  But he really distinguished himself -- oddly enough – in his duties as a porter for the monastery where he was assigned.  Like St. Therea of Liseaux and St. John Vianney he found a vocation in loving anyone and everyone.  In time he was recognized as a saint and today the cause of his beatification is well under way.  The life of Solanus Casey gives testimony to what St. Paul tells us today in the first reading.

Paul is addressing the problem of rivalry in the Christian community.  Some seem to be claiming rank because they speak in tongues. No, Paul says, the rank is clearly established: “first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers” and so forth.  He tells the Corinthians that people should strive to develop their talents to be one of these.  But he goes on that there is still something even better than attaining the highest ranks.  This is to love like Christ.

But how is that?  Love means to see others as brothers and sisters.  It means to want their best – not material success but spiritual deepening.  Finally, it means making a commitment to assist them on that difficult road.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

(I Corinthians 11:17-26.33; John 19:25-27)

Reading the passion of Jesus in John, we don’t find any tears.  It is hard not to imagine a mother weeping for a dying son, but that is not how this gospel depicts the scene.  In truth the account does not mention what Mary or the others are doing.  It focuses on Jesus as the one who even in death directs all the action. 

Jesus presents his beloved disciple to his mother and his mother to him.  This is the Church’s beginning.  Indeed, the scene can be truthfully called “another Pentecost.”   In just a moment the gospel will specify that Jesus hands over his Spirit.  There is none there to receive it but these two and the two other women who love Jesus dearly.

We have joined this communion of love.  Whether or not there were tears at the cross, there are moments of sorrow in our lives.  We “weep with those who weep” to give them comfort.  But more than that, we rejoice with everyone because the same Jesus is delivering us from our sins.  He is shaping us to be like himself so that when we die, we will know his glory.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 9:16-19; Luke 6:39-42)

In Frederico Fellini’s film memoir Amarcord all the townspeople including a blind man go to the bay to welcome a luxury liner.  When the vessel comes into sight the blind man feels the excitement of the crowd and exclaims, “I can see it! I can see it!”  The people have conveyed to him not just the appearance of the liner but its magnificence in the bay on a balmy summer night.  In the gospel today Jesus exhorts his disciples to prepare themselves to give similar testimony.

Faith, we may say, is a new way of seeing. It transcends our limitations. Like the blind man "seeing" the luxury cruiser, faith allows us to perceive what is invisible to the eye.  It tells us that we are loved with greater intensity than we can imagine.  It assures us that our struggle to follow Christ has eternal value.  Somehow we must convey these realities to those who think that only what their hand can touch has existence.

We give testimony to faith by both saying and doing.  Publicly thanking God for the benefits we receive reminds others of His existence.  Forgiving others’ faults testifies to His love.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 8:1b-7.11-13; Luke 6: 27-38)

Both St. Paul in the epistle and Jesus in the gospel today speak of love.  Neither makes the claim that it is easy, much less delightful.  Paul would have his readers sacrifice what they have a right to for the sake of a skittish soul.  He suggests that they fast from meat if one in their numbers is an animal lover.  Jesus typically goes a mile farther.  His followers are to allow others to take from them without making compensation!

Something should be said about the precise meaning of these passages.  The Church has people who are scandalized over small things like buying milk on Sunday.  Following Jesus literally, one might conclude that she should leave her house unlocked.  But there can be no doubt that love tries the soul.  As Dorothy Day both pointed out and lived: “…(L)ove in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.”  

It would be a worthy exercise for us to list the people whom we know.  Then next to each name we should write what sacrifices we made for that person.  If the sacrifices are costly, we can say that we are fulfilling today’s gospel mandate.