Monday, January 2, 2017

Memorial of Saints Basil and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church

(I John 2:22-28; John 1:19-28)

The saints celebrated today, Basil and Gregory, worked in a time of great theological controversy.  Although the Council of Nicea proclaimed Christ as Son of God and coeternal with the Father, many Christians believed that the proposition contradicted monotheism.  Even some of those who accepted the Nicene Creed had distorted ideas about how Jesus was both God and human.  There was also the question of how the Holy Spirit related to the Father and the Son.  These questions were similar to the ones asked in today’s readings.

It is not certain what John, the presbyter, has in mind when he condemns those who deny the Son.  But it likely has something to do with Jesus’ divinity.  Likewise, the gospel reading seems to be directed toward a Christological question: was John the Baptist or Jesus the Messiah of Israel?  The answers given to these inquiries, implied in each reading, are formative as we begin another year, another milestone in history.

Many look to Jesus as only a great teacher whose wisdom deserves consideration.  We, however, profess him to be the final word of a loving God.  Through his death and resurrection his Father imparts to us his Spirit.  This gift leads us outside the narrow confines of self-interest into the wonders of God’s love.  Here we find the fullness of life that overcomes even death.  Each day of this new year we look forward to delving more deeply into this mystery.

Friday, December 30, 2016

The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

(Sirach 3:2-6.12-14; Matthew 2:13-15.19-23)

A painting of the Holy Family in Egypt shows Mary lying with Jesus in her bosom on the paw of a sphinx.  Meanwhile Joseph reclines away from the two to guard the approach to their resting place.  In this way the artist depicts the traditional belief that the couple never shared intimate relations. 

Scripture asserts that Mary conceived of Jesus as a virgin and never says that she had sexual relations.  St. Jerome, the preeminent Biblical scholar of the Patristic era, believed that Joseph also was a virgin.  The two – Mary and Joseph – obviously were of the same mind and heart, but they did not share the same bed. 

Mary and Joseph model many virtues that are necessary for us as citizens of both earthly and heavenly society.  Compassion, courage, and charity name but a few.  To recognize them also as exemplars of sexual self-restraint is also constructive in our age of over-stimulation.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

The Fifth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord

(I John 2:3-11; Luke 2:22-35)

A biblical scholar once ignited a holy man’s ire by calling John’s letters, “New Testament baby-talk.”  The scholar meant that John’s letters possess simplicity and directness as if they were written for children.  We see this in today’s first reading.  “Whoever loves his brother remains in the light...,” John writes, “Whoever hates his brother remains in darkness...”

John does not have enemy-love in mind here as if he were challenging Arab Christians to love soldiers.  Nor does he mean exactly that Christians have affection for blood brothers and sisters.  He is simply reiterating Jesus’ commandment to his community of disciples that they love one another.  It may sound easy, but hard feelings can sprout like weeds in a cow pasture when humans get together.  Disputes have originated among Guadalupanas and among Knights of Columbus as if these associations were different bands of pirates searching for the same treasure.  Most everyone feels frustration, envy, and even enmity with his or her associates at times.  John is saying that we must let go of these troublesome sentiments and treat one another with respect.

John would be oversimplifying if he meant that we may limit our love to those with whom we go to church.  Certainly such love for brothers and sisters in the religious or parish community teaches toleration, care, and compassion so that we in turn may love even those who hate us. 

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs

(I John 1:5-2:2; Matthew 2:13-18)

In Europe you might find your car’s tires without any air today.  Or perhaps there will be three pizzas which you didn’t order, delivered to your door.  The Feast of the Holy Innocents is Europe’s equivalent to the American April Fools Day.  It is a time to play practical jokes on good-natured people.

Some may be shocked by the European frivolity on a day that memorializes the slaughter of children.  Perhaps Holy Innocents Day jokesters just take to heart the belief that the infants have gone to God.  “So why not rejoice?” they might ask.  Somehow, however, that is just too casual an attitude.  It fails to consider the grotesque injustice of the blood of children.  It mocks, for example, the outrage at a public policy which permits abortion on demand.  It begs the question, “Why be born at all?”

Catholics educated before Vatican II easily recite the answer to this last question.  We live “to know, love, and serve God in this world and to be happy with him in the next.”  The tragedy of children dying, then, is the irreversible equivalent of their minds being wasted.  Dead children cannot come to know God very well.  Yes, they should receive the beatific vision. And there might be something marvelous about seeing God through children’s eyes.  But just as the art connoisseur will appreciate aspects of a Rubens painting that completely escape the uncultured so growing in wisdom should make us more enthralled at God’s glory.  It is good to grow old if we accordingly grow in wisdom.  Reciprocally, it is a tragedy when we die young.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Feast of Saint John, apostle and evangelist

(I John 1:1-4; John 20:1a.2-8)

Once a disillusioned pilgrim returned from the Holy Land lamenting the conditions he encountered.  Not only was there strife between Jews and Arabs, but hawkers constantly besieged him with souvenir trinkets.  Even in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born on a serene night, he found conflict.  The man marveled at how times had changed since the serene night when the animals crowded around the infant Jesus to give him warmth.  However, he only had to read the Scriptures closely to realize that trouble is nothing new to the area.

Although the Gospel of Luke depicts a tranquil setting for Jesus’ birth, there is much evidence of conflict in New Testament times.  In John’s gospel Jesus conducts a running debate with the Jews who try to kill him.  The Letters of John report a feud between the community of the beloved disciple and a secessionist group who apparently believed that morals do not matter.  Of course, there is the acrimonious debate between Jesus and the Pharisees which is believed to reflect trouble between the first Christians and their Jewish countrymen.

In spite of all this conflict, the writer of the First Letter of John offers a testimony of hope.  Much more than a dream or vision, his testimony involves a living human being whose countenance he saw, whose voice he heard, and whose body he touched.  We do not look to this one so much for deliverance from the pressures of life.  Rather we count on him for the courage to address our problems with justice and justice.