Monday, March 30, 2015

Monday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11)

The woman spoke up at the request for intercessory petitions.  She prayed, “For my son who is being sent to Afghanistan in June.”  She realizes that the young man may be injured or even may encounter the unmentionable.   In today’s gospel Mary makes a similar gesture. 

The passage describes two very different responses to Jesus.  Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anoints the feet of Jesus with a liter of perfume and wipes them with her hair in preparation for his burial.  She recognizes that Jesus is, as her sister Martha proclaimed earlier, “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Judas, on the other hand, cannot recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world.  He is blinded by greed which recognizes money as what needs saving.  Throughout the Gospel of John people are faced with the same challenge.  They have to choose between Jesus as the way to life’s goal or take another path in life, which will ultimately lead to dissolution.

Now that we have entered Holy Week we have to concentrate on the choice before us.  Let’s be sure that following Jesus is not always easy.  At times it will mean going against not just what the majority of people but even our own friends and family think.  The reason for doing so is, of course, that we have the joy and peace that Jesus’ companionship brings.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Friday of the Fifth Week in Lent

(Jeremiah 20:10-13; John 10:31-42)

Among the gestures made in church we bow to the altar.  Some perhaps think that they are reverencing the tabernacle which is often placed behind the altar.  But the altar itself is a symbol of Jesus.  We bow to him.  The gospel today indicates the association.

The setting is the Jewish feast of the dedication of the temple altar.  Jesus has come to Jerusalem to celebrate.  In the ensuing discussion with the Jews, he says that God has consecrated him as well.  In fact, he will replace the temple altar as the locus of true worship.  His crucifixion becomes the only perfect sacrifice which redeems humanity.  It atones not just of individual sins but the multiplication of guilt through the ages.

The Jews understandably have difficulty accepting Jesus’ claims.  We, however, have the benefit of numerous testimonies to his resurrection from his apostles and from saints throughout the ages.  Following in their way, we find that in joining him we have not given up our freedom but are actually freed from the attractions that undermine our desire for eternal life.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Genesis 17:5-9; John 8:51-59)

In the Gospel of John Jesus is not tried before the Sanhedrin.  Unlike the three other gospels, after being arrested Jesus is given only a brief interrogation by the former high priest Annas. He is then brought to the house of Caiaphas before being delivered to Pilate.  But this is not to say that Jesus is not tried by the Jews in the Gospel of John.  Indeed, he is asked the same kind of questions in passages like today’s gospel that Matthew, Mark, and Luke have him face in the Sanhedrin trial.  John has typically reworked the sayings about Jesus that were handed down in the apostles’ preaching.

“Who do you make yourself to be?” the Jews ask Jesus.  In the Gospel of Mark the high priest asks Jesus a similarly pointed question, “Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?”  In both cases Jesus answers with the same, “I am,” echoing God’s name for Himself in Exodus.  It is a moment of truth, and Jesus, as he says in the passage, cannot deny that he is God’s Son. 

It is time for us also to give testimony.  Jesus touches our lives every day.  We may not be able to say that we have seen him, but we pray to him.  Invariably, it seems, he saves us from failure and distress.  We can truly say that he is the Son of God.

Wedensday, March 25, 2015

SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD

(Isaiah 7:10-14.8:10; Hebrews 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38)

The story of the “Christmas truce of 1914” has been verified by accounts sent home by the soldiers.  It happened that as the First World War became a miserable reality for both sides in the trenches, the Germans made an offer to the British to stop the fighting on Christmas Day.  They sent the message along with a chocolate cake.  The British accepted the offer with a gift of tobacco for the German troops.  Today we take a similar day off in Lent to celebrate the beginnings of Jesus Christ.

It is exactly nine months before Christmas.  Figuring that Jesus had a normal gestation, the Church has consecrated today as the day of his conception.  It proclaims the gospel story of Mary’s acceptance of God’s offer to be the mother of His Son, Jesus.  He will fulfill God’s ancient promise to Israel of a king who will rule forever with peace and prosperity.

We should not hesitate to have a glass of wine today and perhaps a sweet roll with coffee.  But beyond breaking our fast, we do well to relate the significance of this day to our Lenten journey.  The Son of God became human to proclaim God’s love for the world.  Being enmeshed in sin, humans abused the gift and killed him for the Good News.  That story unfolds next week in our celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Numbers 21:4-9; John 8:21-30)

Pope Francis has become what might be called a "sign of contradiction."  He is the Roman pontiff who stands for belief in God and an ethics of self- sacrifice.  One would expect that the world would reject such an icon out of hand.  But Francis is revered by non-Catholics and Catholics alike.  The Scripture readings today speak of two incidents of other religious "signs of contradiction."

In the first reading God tells Moses to erect a pole with a bronze serpent to heal the Israelites of snake bites.  The image of the very beast that menaced the people becomes the source of their welfare.  In the gospel Jesus says that his being lifted up on the cross in death will become the source of eternal life for those who can look and recognize him as Lord.  

Like Pope Francis we are to become signs of contradiction in the world.  Knowing that we are destined to eternal life, we should share that joy with others and invite them to come and see the goodness of God.