Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 5:1-6.13-14.16-17.23-28; Luke 21:12-19)

Recently Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C., the president of the University of Notre Dame, publicly defended one of the university’s faculty members from an unjust accusation.  When a law professor of the university was nominated for a federal judgeship, a number of senators attacked her as living by dogma.  What bothered the senators was the professor’s conviction that abortion is wrong.  Fr. Jenkins wrote an open letter saying that he too lived by dogma as do millions of other Americans.

The implied criticism of Church dogma reflects today’s gospel.  Jesus tells his disciples that they will be persecuted because they preach him.  The persecution begins soon after his death and resurrection as attested in the Acts of the Apostles.  It waxed and waned for three hundred reaching a climax just before the Emperor Constantine granted Christians religious freedom.  And it has never really ended until the present day.  Christians themselves have sometimes provoked harsh reactions, but more often people resent the Church for preaching the justice of God’s kingdom.

We should not be surprised if we hear snide remarks made against us.  A generation ago Catholics were supposedly undermining the common good by having large families.  More recently we are ridiculed for believing in what the sophisticated call fantasies such as the resurrection of the dead.  As Jesus advises, we should not become too outraged.  Rather our stance should always be like his cool defense of what we believe.  It does not rest on sophisticated argument but on the gospel we receive from him.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Revelation 14:14-19; Psalm 96; Luke 21:5-11)

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias” relates how the statue of an ancient Egyptian king was found in the middle of a desert.  The statue’s shattered state belied the sign it bore naming the figure “Ozymandias, King of Kings” and telling the on-looker to despair in awe.  The poem reminds the reader that the greatest works of art as well as the greatest people are all time-bound.  Their fame hardly lasts for centuries, much less for eternity.

In the gospel Jesus relates the same prophetic message.  People gaze starry-eyed at the wonders of the Temple, but Jesus tells them not to be impressed.  The Temple, he says, will fall as it indeed did barely a generation after his death.  Jesus also warns his disciples not to follow unreservedly the great personages who may claim to be like him.  These men and women will also pass away.

We Christians give full allegiance only to God.  He is the source and goal of our lives.  Yes, we cooperate with others in effort to make of the earth a decent habitat for all humans.  But we should not become too comfortable and never complacent here.  We seek a peaceful earth so that we might come to know and love God who promises us heaven as our true home.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 1:1-6.8-20, Luke 21:1-4)

A man with a Ph.D. in biology enjoys talking about the diet of Chinese peasants.  He says that since they are dirt poor, Chinese peasants can afford little meat and dairy products.  Rather, he explains, they mainly eat vegetables and receive the protein that their bodies require from beans and other legumes.  The authority is convinced that this diet is not inferior but significantly superior to richer, western diets.  He believes that the fats westerners assimilate from eating meat not only threatens their hearts but also are related to cancer.

The results of the vegetarian experiment related in the first reading today, then, should not be surprising.  Although the chamberlain believes that Daniel and his companions would be undernourished by the diet, actually they prove to be healthier than the others because of it.  But, of course, good nutrition is not the prophet’s point in relating this story.  He means to tell us that when we abide by the Lord’s will, things always work out for the best.  We do not need to worry, as Jesus says, about what we eat and drink or about what clothes we wear when seek first God’s kingdom.

Jesus reaffirms this lesson in the gospel today.  He praises the poor widow for generosity, a virtue extolled throughout this Luke’s gospel.  Sometimes we think that we might ignore God’s will as expressed by Jesus in order to secure more of a desired good.  Some people argue, for example, that it would be all right to take the life of a patient suffering from incurable cancer so that she does not suffer.  But such an action would violate the sanctity of human life, one of the highest principles of God’s law.  No, we want to go out of our way to comfort and console those in agony.  When we do so, both they and we will benefit. 

Friday, November 24, 2017

Memorial of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions, martyrs

(I Maccabees 4:36-37.52-59; Luke 19:45-48)

Today Vietnamese Catholics celebrate their heroes.  St. Andrew Dung-Lac and companion martyrs gave their lives rather than relinquish their Christian faith.  These “ultimate sacrifices” have made it possible for their descendants to look forward to eternal life.  The celebration is similar to that described in the mass’s first reading.

The passage tells of how the Jews burnt offerings and sang hymns of praise for eight days.  They were celebrating the rededication of the Temple that had been desecrated by pagan overlords.  Many valiant Jews died in the hostilities that liberated the land from foreign rule.  In his day Jesus too celebrated the feast, which is commonly known as Hanukkah.

More important, for our purposes today at least, is Jesus’ great sensibility for the Temple itself.  As the meeting place of God and humanity, he chases the money changers from its confines.  His followers will later note how Jesus himself is the prime referent for our encounter with God.  In this sense he has replaced the Temple with his flesh and blood.  Nevertheless, Christians still need places to pray so they construct temples, which we usually call “churches.”  Still at the dedication of a Catholic church it is always Jesus who is glorified.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

(for Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time see below)

Thanksgiving Day

(Sirach 50:22-24; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Luke 17:11-19)

Huntington’s Disease is one of the worst maladies known in medicine.  It attacks the brain leaving bearers of the disease physically and mentally incapacitated.  In listening to testimonies of Huntington Disease sufferers, one is surprised to hear some describing themselves as “blessed.”  It is not a universal claim, but it is heard from different patients.  People have been good to them and they have experienced something of the sweetness of life.

On Thanksgiving Day most people likewise sense that they are blessed.  There is time to reflect on all that they have and are.  They can name some of those who provided them education and opportunity, but they realize that the list cannot be exhausted.  Indeed, most get an inkling that the blessing has been bestowed from on high.  We know this elusive, benign benefactor as the Lord God who made us and sustains us.

The Samaritan in today’s gospel has a true insight into the extent of God’s blessing.  After being cured of his leprosy, he goes to thank Jesus.  He might have followed his nine companions to the Temple.  There he would have paid homage to God as well as have received the confirmation of healing from the priests.  But the Samaritan realized that Jesus had something fundamental to do with his fortune.  And so should we!  God has not only blessed us with human life; through His Son Jesus Christ He has granted us a share in His eternal life.  We experience a foretaste of this new life when we come together for the Eucharist.  We also receive a sense of eternal life as we gather with family and friends around the Thanksgiving table.

Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(I Maccabees 215-29; Lucas 19:41-44)

A proverb says, “The old man who will not cry is a fool.”  Everyone should come to tears as she or he realizes that life is often tragic because people fail to learn its most important lesson.  The lesson is to give glory to God by caring for one another.  Too often humans take life as a game in which they are to gain as much prestige and prosperity for themselves as possible.

In the passion account of Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells the women of Jerusalem that they are not to weep for him but for their children.  In today’s passage he does exactly this.  Jerusalem refuses to learn life’s lesson taught in the Law, reiterated by the prophets, and confirmed by Jesus himself.  Its inhabitants would rather retain its values of wealth and honor.  Although Jesus is hardly an old man, in his day at thirty-three years he has already entered middle age.  In any case he shows himself as wiser than the ages with his tears.

Should we cry at what we see around us?  There is, for sure, enough egotism about to make even children weep.  After we shed our tears we should resolve to live lives worthy of the gospel.  That is, we should amend our ways by placing the good of others alongside our own and by praying that God turn the situation around.