Thursday, November 13, 2014

Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin

(Phil 7-20; Luke 17:20-25)

However arrogant the Pharisees appear in the gospels, they also sincerely want to know about God.  In today’s gospel, the Pharisees ask Jesus when the Kingdom of God will come about.  Like us they long for a society where everyone lives as God commands.

Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees resonates with what he has said before.  The Kingdom presents itself gradually like wheat growing in a field.  It is there even as Jesus speaks.  As a matter a fact, it has come in the person of Jesus who stands before them.  It is found in us as well as we have been incorporated into Christ through Baptism.

The Kingdom of God is present when we make ourselves “Advent Angels” or some other kind of caregiver.  It is there when the man stops on the highway to assist a driver with a flat tire and no idea how to jack up a car.  It is found as well when we just smile and not curse at the car which abruptly swerves into our lane.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Memorial of St. Josaphat, bishop and martyr

(Titus 3:1-7; Luke 17:11-19)

The story of St. Josaphat reflects the turmoil of modern Ukraine.  Josaphat was born John Kuncewicz in an area that straddles Poland and Ukraine in the latter part of the sixteenth century.  He joined a monastery and took the name Josaphat.  Later ordained a priest of the Byzantine Catholic Church, he advocated the union of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with Rome.  Then he was successively appointed bishop of two sees in Russia where there was resentment against Catholics.  Josaphat was killed by a mob in 1623.  Two centuries later Rome canonized him the first saint from the Eastern churches.

The political divisions in the Ukraine have religious parallels.  The eastern half of the large country is closer to Russia, and its citizens are largely Russian Orthodox.  The move to secede from the Kiev government and to join Russia is fomenting there.  The western part of the country is mainly Orthodox but not under the Russian Orthodox authority.  Catholics form about ten percent of the population and live mainly in the west, near to Poland.  It is hoped that these principal churches in the Ukraine can transcend the political and ethnic differences in Christian unity.

Today’s first reading from the Letter to Titus reminds us to be obedient to the “every good enterprise” of civil authority.  We have to work with government to create a society where each member may prosper.  The challenge is especially significant in the Ukraine where divisions have been deepened now by the shedding of blood.  Yet the people there are under the same mandate of Scripture to work for peace with legitimate government.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, bishop

(Titus 2:1-8.11-14; Luke 17:7-10)

The Letter to Titus today tells its readers to reject the ways of the world so that they may live holy lives.  Today’s patron saint gives us good example. 

Martin of Tours was born in what is now Hungary.  He became a soldier like his father although it is said that he was inducted into the army against his will.  He served in France where he had a vision of Christ after helping a beggar.  The vision moved Martin to join the Church and eventually to withdraw from the army.  Later Martin again showed his distaste for killing when he tried to intervene in the state execution of a heretic.   

Today, both the Feast of St. Martin and Veterans’ Day, calls for Christian reflection on the military.  Soldiers perform a Christian service when they defend their nations from foreign aggressors.  They are not to take advantage of their strength or their weapons to oppress people.  Rather, they like Martin are to live as the Letter to Titus dictates: temperately, justly, and devoutly…”

Monday, November 10, 2014

Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, pope and doctor of the Church

(Titus 1:1-9; Luke 17:1-6)

St. Leo deserves the distinction “the Great.”   He left a legacy of sermons that express the meaning of the Church’s major holydays.  He also made a critical contribution to theology by providing the framework for the Council of Chalcedon to explain how Christ is both God and human.  Finally, and most memorably, he faced Attila the Hum with a plea to spare Rome of destruction.  We might see him as the perfect fulfillment of the Letter to Titus’ profile of a bishop.

The Letter to Titus was probably written by a Pauline disciple late in the first century.  It describes some of the structure and also the issues of the Church at that time. Presbyters in today’s reading are the same as bishops.  It is not warranted to consider either quite like the priests and bishops that will emerge in time.  The supreme quality for Church governance in the letter seems to be blamelessness.  A presbyter-bishop should not have any vices.  The letter also emphasizes doctrinal competence to refute the errors that crop up because of diverse human thinking. 

We tend to think of ourselves as being better than people of past eras.  We may know more, but do we act better?  And have we forgotten valuable lessons known in former times?  Certainly there is much for us to ponder from both the life of Leo the Great and the Letter to Titus.  Leo shows us the need to confront our problems head-on and to be judicious in proclaiming truth.  Titus reminds us of the need to develop virtue to stem our tendency to sin.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

(Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 16:1-8)

On a tour of the restored Pompeii the guide stopped in front of a house to point out an adornment.  It was a statue of a man which when the gate to the yard opened touched exposed the representation of a giant phallus.  Obviously, the stimulus for such crudeness did not die out with antiquity but remains strong today.  St. Paul’s warning in the first reading today is as valid now as two thousand years ago.

Paul urges his readers not to copy the ways of the pagan majority.  He sees the obsession with fine dining and the ubiquitous references to sex in Greek society as anti-Christian.  Disciples of Jesus, he would say, do not belong to such a realm.  According to him, their homeland is the kingdom of God which is still to come in fullness.  For now, he would recommend that they only to comply with the laws of the land like mindful immigrants but not its mores.  They are to receive directives for living from the gospel.

Today, in part because of the success of Christianity to humanize the world, we find many positive elements in secular society.  To be sure, we must proceed prudently.  Still, we can actively participate in social affairs without undue worry of contamination.  Indeed, the Second Vatican Council promoted such engagement.  It called especially lay people to prepare the world for the coming of God’s kingdom in its fullness.