Thursday, October 15, 2015

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church

(Romans 3:21-30; Luke 11:47-54)

This year marks the 500^th anniversary of St. Teresa of Avila’s birth.  Interestingly, the Spanish Inquisition condemned her paternal grandfather of falsely converting from Judaism to Christianity.  But Teresa’s devotion to the Lord was not in the least insincere.  She lifted the decaying Carmelite tradition to new glory.  Her written have become classics in Christian spirituality.  Her success in the reform of the Carmelite Order buttressed the Church in a period of great trial.  Although she was a person of great accomplishment, she adhered to St. Paul’s fundamental insight that humans are saved through faith.

Paul’s own story reflects something of Teresa’s.  He was an accomplished Jewish scholar and reformer.  Yet he came to realize by reason of a special revelation that his achievements could not bring about his salvation.  That was to be done only through faith in Christ Jesus.  Paul dedicated the rest of his life to preach that message to the world.

We are wise to ask ourselves if we allow pride to eclipse the salvation won by Christ for us.  Often we fail to give due recognition to Christ for the grace to be who we are.  We prefer to dwell on our own accomplishments.  In the end, however, we should come to realize that personal efforts by themselves are in vain.  We need Christ to stay the course and reach our destiny.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 2:1-11; Luke 11:42-46)

The psychoanalyst C.J. Jung observed that people frequently criticize in others what they dislike about themselves.  He calls the shunned characteristic the “shadow.” Just as a shadow stays close to the one creating it, Jung advised that people take hold of their psychological shadows.  If they refuse to do that, he predicted they will wreak havoc on themselves as well as others.  Jung developed the concept of shadow to name the same evil that St. Paul describes in today’s reading from Romans.

Paul is making a diatribe.  He does not actually have his readers in mind when he accuses people of ignoring the defects in themselves that they criticize in others.  The “man” addressed is all men and women who think of themselves as better than others by ignoring their own shortcomings.  Paul adds that purposeful blindness merits punishment.

Taking hold of our shadow means more than recognizing our faults.  We need to accept them in the context of the benefits that God has bestowed.  He has permitted the faults for a reason.  Be they common vanity or something darker, in correcting them with His grace we may grow both more grateful and more virtuous.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)

A famous line from the Declaration of Independence reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal…”  It was not entirely composed by Thomas Jefferson.  Rather Benjamin Franklin changed Jefferson’s original wording, “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable,” to what is now familiar to most Americans.  Franklin’s reasoning for suggesting the change was to remove the equality of humans from the realm of religious belief to undeniable fact.  St. Paul proceeds in the same way in the first reading today.”

Paul writes that Greeks have no excuse for not believing in God.  He says that God made His power and divinity evident to them in creation.  He concludes that they refused to accept this truth out of vanity.  That is, in Paul’s mind, the Greeks refused to subject themselves to God’s authority by following natural law.  The result was sexual perversity and the absurdity of worshipping idols.

The world needs to take to heart Paul’s observations.  Living righteously is difficult enough with a belief in God’s power to judge.  Without that belief, atrocity will always be just around the corner.  The gospel brings depth and eloquence to our knowledge of God.  The more we live it, the more the world should accept the God it proclaims.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 1:1-7; Luke 11:29-32)

St. Augustine once wrote, “With you I am a Christian; for you I am a bishop.”  The first title, he went on, filled him with consolation while the second one made him fearful.  Augustine, like Paul in his salutation to the Romans which we read today, realizes that Christ comforts his people.  On the other hand, to be a bishop means to stand in the place of Christ – which is the daunting task of approximating his love for others.

In the reading Paul calls himself a “slave of Christ.”  All Christians need to understand themselves in this way.  We are to do what he commands.  But this term by no means exhausts our identity.  More than that, we are Christ’s sisters and brothers, adopted into God’s family as daughters and sons.  This means that we carry out Christ’s commands not out of submission but out of freedom.  In other words we do not see God as a prisoner views the warden watching every move the latter makes.  We rightly view God more like a mother observing her baby begin to walk and ready to assist the child at every step.

Paul also emphasizes that Christ has sent him out as his apostle.  But he does not claim any particular privilege for being so named.  Rather he realizes the terrible burdens that Christ has laid upon him with the sending.  In other writings Paul lists the sufferings that he has undergone in bringing the gospel to others.  For now he is content with mentioning how the call to apostleship links him with women and men in different places as sisters and brothers.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Joel 1:13-15.2:1-2; Luke 11:15-26)

The “Crucifixion” by the Spanish painter Velazquez merits meditation. It shows an almost nude Christ with arms outstretched.  He does not appear to be hanging so much as presiding in a supreme act of sacrifice. His long hair drapes half his face as if the painter wants to show that Christ’s humanity hides his divinity.  But his divinity shines through in the brilliance of Christ’s skin which contrasts with the totally dark background.  The painting expresses what the prophet Joel in the first reading warns Judah to prepare for.  This is “the day of the Lord.”

Velazquez may have taken his theme from any of the four gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have the sky darken as Jesus dies on Calvary.  This accords with the darkness and gloom that Joel foresees.  The first three evangelists indicate – as John does in a unique way – that the cross presents the moment of judgment for the world.  Those who recognize Jesus as the Son of God by the sheer graciousness of his death are saved.  Those who cannot distinguish Jesus’ goodness from the darkness of the world are doomed. 

Of course, recognition here implies willingness to conform to his ways. Jesus is, after all, our teacher, our elder brother, and our hope.  Not following him would be like not following the instructions of the pilot of a rescue ship when we are drowning in the sea.