Monday, December 17, 2018

Monday of the Third Week in Advent

(Genesis 49:2.8-10; Matthew 1:1-17)

Some people would not have this gospel passage read at mass because names like Shealtiel are too hard to pronounce.  Others don’t see the point of all the “begatting” as an older translation had it.  Perhaps a few pious people are scandalized by the reference to cruel characters like King Rehoboam .  This son of Solomon when counseled to relieve the tax burden his father imposed responded by promising to increase taxes tenfold.  Thus, he precipitated the breakup of Israel into two kingdoms.  A few people might also ask, what is the point of mentioning the ancestors of Jesus like Achim and Eliud who are not known in any other part of the Bible?

St. Matthew, however, thought the whole list of names important.  He recognized that it not only shows Jesus’ human and kingly origins, but indicates something else almost as significant.  For Matthew God works through sinful and even incompetent people as well as great ones to produce His just ends.  He patiently and diligently saves humans from their sins by the agency of all kinds of people.

We, who may doubt God’s plan or even question the existence of God, should take note.  Evil is present everywhere, but God constantly turns it over for positive results.  We cannot exclude ourselves from His work.  That is, we cannot use our shortcomings, be they sins or disabilities, as an excuse not to act on God’s behalf.  We have to call others by word and example to join the Church in her work of salvation.

Friday, December 14, 2018

Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, priest

(Isaiah 48: 17-19; Matthew 11: 16-19)

St. John of the Cross lived in the turbulent sixteenth century.  The Protestant Reformation split the Western Church in half.  The decadence of the Renaissance popes was being corrected by the reforms of the Council of Trent.  Reformers of major religious orders were calling their numbers back to their original ideals.  John of the Cross played such a role in the Carmelites of Spain. 

John believed that the Carmelites had long abandoned the semi-eremitical life of their foundation in the twelfth century.  Along with others he founded a monastery of friars who would live a solitary life of contemplation and praise to God.  In this endeavor he pairs well with John the Baptist whom Jesus extols in today’s gospel.  Of course, John of the Cross also composed theological treatises exploring the mystical life. 

Jesus presents John as the yang to his yin.  John called for reform so that people could escape the wrath of God who was sending his Messiah to judge them.  Jesus, the actual Messiah, urges reform so that the people could experience the tender love of God.  This message does not oppose John’s complimented it.  The people, as today’s reading testifies, found excuses to sidestep both figures. 

Our society finds itself in the position of those people.  We can hear voices urging reform both to avoid the turmoil of civil unrest and to experience the solace of social harmony.  We await the return of Christ who will bring justice to the earth.

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Memorial of Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr

(Isaiah 41:13-20; Matthew 11:11-15)

Martyrs are celebrated throughout the year.  They are the heroines and heroes of the Church.  But Advent particularly favors martyrs.  After all, they reflect the hope which characterizes the season.  They hoped for the eternal life Jesus promises as they died in witness to his Lordship. St. Lucy was an early Sicilian martyr.  As with most martyrs of antiquity we know little about her.  She stands out almost exclusively for the fact of her martyrdom.

In today’s gospel Jesus praises John the Baptist who suffered a martyr’s death.  He calls him the greatest of the prophets because John announces the coming of the Messiah.  Yet he did not know Jesus as the Messiah.  For this reason Jesus says that anyone who knows himself, the embodiment of God’s Kingdom, is greater than John. Those who have known him like St. Lucy and all who believe in the gospel should be ready to die for him.

Is this asking too much of us?  To be sure, it is not asking that we seek to be killed by extremist haters of Christianity.  But it is demanding that we give witness to the Gospel by dying to ourselves.  It means that we always do to others what we would want them to do to us. It also means that we desist seeking our own importance, wealth, and pleasure.  But it means as well that we find joy in Jesus’ company – one that will last forever.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

(Revelation 11:19.12:1-6; Luke 1:39-48)

The most astounding statement at the recent assembly of Hispanic leaders was not made by a bold youth.  Nor was it uttered by a veteran Hispanic rabble rouser.  Nor was it proclaimed by a pious bishop devotee of the Blessed Mother.  As a matter of fact the person who pronounced it was neither young, ordained, nor even Hispanic.  The Honorable Carl J. Anderson has been Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus for eighteen years.  He served as a government lawyer in the administration of Ronald Reagan and has authored several books.  At the Quinto Encuentro, the Hispanic assembly, Anderson told the audience that he is looking forward to the day when the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe replaces that of the Immaculate Conception as the patronal feast of the United States.

The reason for the change is straightforward.  Our Lady of Guadalupe has an American origin.  She appeared to a native peasant on a hillside outside Mexico City almost 500 years ago.  There she claimed to be protector of the people of this land.  At first, only the indigenous saw in her motive to believe in her son, Jesus Christ, as their savior.  Not long afterwards the whole of Mexico – white, brown, and mestizo -- adopted her as their patron.  Pope St. John Paul II proclaimed the Virgin of Guadalupe “patroness of the Americas.”  Now as Hispanics are poised to become the majority of Catholic Church in the United States, it is not far-fetched to name her as its favorite model and intercessor.

Of course, substituting the Virgin of Guadalupe for the Immaculate Conception represents no real change at all.  Both names point to the same woman, Mary of Nazareth, who trusted the Lord enough to accept the offer of conceiving His Son.  If her patronage of the United States is ever recognized, she will not be gratified any more than before.  She will always say, as she does to Elizabeth in today’s gospel, that God is the One to whom our attention is due. Or, as she puts it, “’My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.’"

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

(Isaiah 40:1-11; Matthew 18:12-14)

Secularists sometimes have a conception of God; they are not all strict atheists.  They may theorize that God is a supreme force which set in motion the universe.  What they cannot fathom is a God who cares about humans.  “Why,” they might ask, “should the Creator love rational beings who often rather viciously disturb the order of being?”  The readings of today’s mass do not provide an explanation, but they do testify to God’s care for people.

Isaiah speaks of God’s concern for exiled Jews exiled in Babylon. He announces that their punishment for disobedience has ended, that the Lord has heard their pleas for mercy.  In fact, the prophet says God is preparing a highway through the desert for them to return to Jerusalem.  The gospel gives a tender image of God’s loving concern.  As a shepherd might carry a sheep that has gone astray back to the flock, God pardons the sinner and returns him to the community.

We believe that God not only loves us, but also becomes one of us and then dies on our behalf.  It’s like someone donating not only a kidney but also a lung and part of her heart that we might not die.  What are we to do but thank that person continuously after we rejoice profusely for a new lease on life.