Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Ezekiel 9:1-7.10:18-22; Matthew 18:15-20)

Internet applications like Skype and Facetime give contemporary women and men the experience of talking to others face-to-face without actually being in their presence. However, marvelous such conversations may be, they are hardly as intimate as being in one another’s presence.  In fact one of the current issues in prison reform is assuring that prisoners have direct, not electronic, access to visitors. In the first reading today, Moses is exulted for having known the Lord “face to face.” But what do these words mean and how do they compare with Christian belief that Christ saw the Father?

Various interpretations of the words are given.  Some say they do not indicate a direct encounter with the Lord because in the Book of Exodus God tells Moses that “’no one shall see me and live’” (33:20).  Of course, there is also the very real question of God, a purely spiritual being, having a material face.  It is best to conclude that Moses enjoyed a spiritual intimacy with God like no one else before the writing of the Book of Deuteronomy. 

At one point in Deuteronomy Moses himself mentions another prophet who will come after him.  This prophet will have God’s own words in his mouth and bring a definitive revelation of God’s will.  We find fulfillment of this prophecy in Jesus Christ.  The Gospel of John quotes him as saying, at least indirectly, that he has seen the Father: “’Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father’” (6:46).  His seeing of the Father constitutes a knowing that goes beyond Moses’ spiritual intimacy.  It is a divine indwelling whereby as Jesus again says in John: “(He) and the Father are one’” (10:30).  An approximation of this indwelling with its accompanying knowledge of God is what is promised to followers of Jesus in the beatitudes: “’Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God’” (Matthew 5:8).

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Revelation 19a.12:1-6a.10ab; I Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56)

In its first few centuries the Church had to distinguish itself from Gnosticism.  This is the belief that the human self is primarily his or her mind that lives in a body much like an idea can be said to be contained in a book.  Adherents of Gnosticism, called Gnostics, have a love-hate relationship with their bodies. Some consider their bodies as all material reality; i.e., doomed to extinction.  They loathe their bodies as the font of sin.  Others hold that since their bodies do not matter in the long run, they may take advantage of them in any way they like.  They can enjoy the pleasures of wanton eating and sex without worrying how these actions might affect them.  What is more, they think that until the mind develops and when it deteriorates beyond awareness, no person is present so that the body may be destroyed.

Christian faith, of course, takes a very different view.  Since we believe that God took on human flesh, for us the body is more than the soul’s container.  It interacts with the soul to form a dynamic entity.  We could not be who we are without our bodies.  More than that, since we believe that Christ rose bodily from the dead and that his followers are destined to experience the same resurrection, our bodies have eternal importance.  For this reason we take care of our bodies, we know that abortion and euthanasia are wrong, and we realize that it is important to keep marriage as a monogamous relationship between a man and a woman.

Today’s celebration recognizes the importance of the human body.  We see in Mary’s being assumed body and soul into glory God’s validation of the human body as good and permanent.  Of course, this was first done with Jesus’ resurrection, but now we are even more assured that it is the destiny of all Jesus’ followers.  Mary herself recognized the importance of the body as she sings God’s praises when Elizabeth mentions that she bears the Lord in her womb.  Likewise – and this is something that all of us should imitate – Mary demonstrates the importance of the body as she goes to personally visit Elizabeth when she hears of her pregnancy.

Monday, August 14, 2017

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, martyr

(Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Matthew 17:22-27)

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan friar working in Poland until he was arrested by the Gestapo.  Committed to Auschwitz, Kolbe saw an opportunity to show his love for God when another prisoner was being sent to death for a crime that he did not commit.  Because the man had a family, Kolbe offered himself as a substitute.  Pope St. John Paul II considered this act a genuine witness to the faith and canonized Maximillian Kolbe as a martyr.  In today’s first reading Moses exhorts the people to likewise give witness to their love of God.  But he does not ask them to die for God but to live for him.

The Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land.  They have every reason to hope that they and their children will have all the resources they will need to live in prosperity.  But Moses, conveying the will of God, wants more than that for them.  He wants them to fulfill their destiny of being a model of God’s justice.  So he exhorts them to remember God’s graciousness to them and to their ancestors.  He is especially concerned that they treat other peoples fairly for, he says, “…you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.”

As mass immigration has become a reality in all parts of the world, we should highlight these words of Moses.  It is difficult to sojourn in different lands with different customs and a different language.  Immigrants need understanding, fairness and even compassion.  Such treatment would show our solidarity not just across national boundaries but among generations.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Memorial of Saint Clare of Assisi, virgin

(Deuteronomy 4: 32-40; Matthew 16:24-28)

The Book of Deuteronomy reads like a reflective summary of the first four books of the Pentateuch.  It literally means second law: that is, the review of the law that God gave Moses for Israel.  In today’s reading Moses exhorts the people to remember all the good things that the Lord has done for them and to respond to His love by being faithful to His commands.

God’s goodness began with His choosing Israel from all the peoples of the earth to be especially His own.  Certainly Abraham trusted God, but there were other faithful men and women people whom God did not choose to parent His people.  God also rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt in quite astounding ways.  Finally, God taught His people justice so that they might prosper not just for a generation or a century but forever.

However God’s plan was not to limit Himself to the Semitic nation on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean.  Rather, he meant to include all nations into His people.  This has been accomplished through His Son, Jesus.  If Deuteronomy is a second law in the sense that it reviews the law already given, Jesus gives a fresh second law that touches deeper dimensions of the human spirit.  Today’s gospel expresses part of what Jesus’ law entails: anyone and everyone might join God’s people by choosing to walk with him.  Like Jesus we are not to evade our responsibilities – our crosses.  Rather we are to carry them out to completion.  

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr

(II Corinthians 9:6-10; John 12:24-26)

In Italy today’s feast of St. Lawrence may be celebrated by looking up at the night sky.  It is the time of year when shooting stars instill a sense of awe in the observer.  Stories about St. Lawrence provide hearers with a similar awe.

Lawrence was the deacon of the Church of Rome in charge of its treasury at the time of the persecution of the emperor Valerian.  When government officials demanded that he produce for them the church’s treasures, Lawrence led them to the city’s poor.  For this act of defiance, he was sentenced to death by burning.  It is said that during his execution he quipped to his executioners that he was well done on one side and they might turn him to be roasted on the other.

Most everyone wants to be recognized as unique in some way.  Currently it is fashionable to have one’s body tattooed in a singular way.  That seems like a dubious way to stand out.  We might encourage our young people to aspire to be different like St. Lawrence.  Rather than being known for doing something odd, they should want to excel in caring for others and enduring trials patiently.