Friday, April 7, 2017

Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

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

Today’s gospel looks forward to next Friday when the Passion of the Lord will be celebrated.  The action takes place on the Feast of the Dedication, known as Hanukkah today.  The Jews are celebrating the rededication of the temple altar that was defiled during the despotic reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.  In the vision of John the Evangelist the Jews do not realize that they are committing a more serious crime in trying to kill Jesus.

The Jews pursue Jesus because he has called himself the “’Son of God.’”  They rightly conclude that making such a claim Jesus is equating himself to God.  Jesus defends himself by observing that Scripture itself calls some people “’gods.’”  He says that he has even more right to the title because God has consecrated him and sent him into the world.  Being consecrated or dedicated like the temple altar, Jesus’ body becomes the place of true sacrifice when he dies on the cross.

Although we anxiously await now the annual commemoration of Jesus’ paschal sacrifice, we celebrate the same sacrifice today.  In every Eucharist Jesus’ body becomes the locus of the perfect sacrifice where our sins are forgiven and we receive the blessing of eternal life.  We do not need any church structure, much less the Jewish temple, to realize these benefits.  All that is necessary are bread and wine, the words and actions of a priest, and our faith.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-59)

The fourth century heretic Arius had the same problem which vexes the Jews in today’s gospel.  If God is infinite, he argued, then he could not become incarnate in a singular subject.  He claimed that this would be like putting a mountain into a box.  Therefore, Arius concluded, Jesus must have been created like all other beings and then raised to a divine status.  In the gospel the Jews reason similarly.  Because they think that Jesus came to be in time like everything else, he is wrong to claim equality with God by calling himself “I AM.”    

A few years ago theologian Robert Barron, now a bishop, published an essay which can be used to explain how Arius and the Jews are mistaken.  Like the great thinkers of the Catholic tradition, Bishop Barron understands God not as just the highest being but qualitatively different from all other beings.  Therefore, He cannot be compared to any other.  God gives glimpses of who He is throughout Scripture and especially in Jesus, but His nature is beyond human understanding. Only because of God’s revelation can it be said that He became human.  How this came about is also beyond human reckoning although it remains a truth of faith.

We can say, however, that God became human so that we can become like God.  Knowing ourselves as sinners, this may seem incredible although the saints provide us a glimmer of hope.  Jesus’ death and resurrection has given them the grace to become holy.  The same Easter mystery will sanctify us if we allow it.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the young prince is looking for evidence to convict his uncle of murdering his father.  He gets an idea when a troupe of actors comes to town.  He will devise a play that shows how the murder took place.  When his uncle watches the action, his visible reaction should betray his guilt.  Something similar is taking place in today’s gospel passage.

John’s Gospel not only tells the story of Jesus but contains hidden in the action the fate of the Christian community he left behind.  The controversy in today’s passage shows how part of that community -- “those Jews who believed in him” – lack a firm faith.  They accept Jesus as a prophet but do not see him as the only source of freedom which is equivalent to salvation.  They think that they are free by virtue of being children of Abraham.  Their opposition to Christians who find Jesus as the only way to salvation is dramatically portrayed when Jesus says that “are trying to kill” him.  The Judaizers who incurred St. Paul’s wrath by insisting that the Galatians be circumcised are equivalent to these half-hearted Christians.

We live in a time when many see other ways to salvation besides Jesus.  Some believe that freedom comes from not being bonded to other people.  Others think that freedom is the right to do whatever one wants short of physically hurting others.  We believe that Jesus’ way of selfless love for others brings the freedom of the children of God.  Next week we will celebrate the bestowal of that freedom in the paschal mysteries.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

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

In 1939 Albert Einstein signed an important letter to Franklin Roosevelt.  He told the president of the certain possibility of creating an atomic bomb by means of nuclear fission.  He also said that Germany was likely already testing uranium for this purpose.  The letter received due attention.  Roosevelt set up an advisory committee which led to the Manhattan Project.  In today’s gospel Jesus has a message for the Jews with the same urgency as Einstein’s letter to Roosevelt.

Jesus realizes that there is little time left.  He will be going back to the Father soon.  He tells the people that they must make a decision for him or they will die.  But the people hesitate because they do not know Jesus.  So he gives them a sign to look for.  When he is raised up on the cross, they will realize who he is.  Evidently the prediction of a sign has effect.  Many Jews come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah worthy of their allegiance.

We must hold onto that belief.  Next week we commemorate Jesus’ being lifted up, his crucifixion.  It is a scandalous sight in one way – a man being executed in the cruelest of ways.  Some may wonder if it was not all over then.  We, however, accept the testimony of his disciples that he rose from the dead.  And because of his resurrection we believe that we have the freedom to live righteous lives that last for eternity.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 13:1-9.15-17.19-30.33-62; John 8:1-11)

Elderly people fear the loss of their minds. When they begin to forget names, they wonder if they are experiencing the effects of Alzheimer’s.  When they no longer have the acuity to resolve conundrums, they believe that the end has begun.  As terrible as loss of mental capacity with age is, it is even more tragic when old people act unwisely.  This is seen in today’s first reading.

The old men lust after Susannah.  They should not be condemned for having sexual desire which does not evaporate with age.  But they are guilty of not controlling it.  They certainly should have gained enough wisdom to recognize that sexual relations must be reserved for marriage.  The young Daniel understands this truth as he cleverly ferrets out the lechers’ scheme. Jesus shows even more perspicacity in the gospel.  He upholds justice as he tells the chastised woman “not to sin anymore.”  More importantly, he teaches that mercy must temper justice.  With a justice that is too strict for mercy, most people would suffer perpetual punishment.

Hopefully we have been chastened by almost five weeks of penance.  After discovering how we offend God in both small and great ways, we can see more clearly the need of mercy.  We are like that miserable woman standing in guilt before Jesus.  Like her as well, we will be sent away forgiven and renewed to live righteously.