Monday, March 4, 2019

Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 17:20-24; Mark 10:17-27)

The old funeral director said that he had heard many sermons on death.  He concluded that there was a change in the Church’s thinking since Vatican II.  Before 1965 he had listened to preachers emphasizing the fires of hell and the need to avoid them.  Since then, he has had the idea that everyone winds up in heaven.  Does this optimistic account of everyone’s fate square with today’s readings?

The passage from the Book of Sirach holds that sinners must repent before death if they are to live with God.  Even the greatest sins, the author implies, God will forgive if sinners acknowledge their faults and ask mercy.  In the gospel Jesus also demonstrates the need to change one’s ways.  He says that to be a beneficiary of eternal life the rich must trust in God, not in their wealth.  God, he says, makes everything possible.

Vatican II did not really change the Church’s teaching regarding heaven and hell.  Always a life of grace is necessary for salvation.  What has changed with the council has been the Church’s readiness to judge.  No longer should it be presumed that people ostensibly living in serious sin are necessarily guilty of it.  Because the human condition is limited in many trying ways, people may not be fully responsible for the errors they make.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 6:5-17; Mark 10:1-12)

Much like Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the Book of Sirach today notes different types of friendships.  The philosopher writes of friendships of utility and of pleasure.  In the first category are acquaintances for business purposes and in the second, pals to drink beer with.  Sirach might call both these kinds of friendship “fair-weathered.”  They will not likely last a lifetime, especially if the people move apart.  A third kind of friend both authors see as “another self.”  These are good people who can be trusted with the secrets of one’s heart.  They will respond honestly and wisely.  Sirach calls such a friend a treasure beyond any price.

In today’s gospel Jesus may be seen as enabling husband and wife to have this third kind of friendship.  He recognizes that divorce is the easy way out of a relationship that was meant to last until death.  Although he cites the first creation story to support the prohibition of divorce, he might have used the second as well.  By that account the woman was created from the man’s rib so that she might be his lifelong companion.  In everyday life such a relationship must overcome considerable differences of background and emotional response.  The task requires both time and effort which do not admit divorce.

We should count on God as our most esteemed friend.  He will listen to our heart-felt needs and respond in His myriad ways.  He will help married couples overcome the obstacles to loving relationships.  And He will assist all transcend any resistant fair-weathered-ness to become wise and enduring friends of others.

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 5:1-8; Mark 9:41-50)

The Missionaries of Charity were founded by St. (Mother) Teresa of Kolkata to work with the marginalized. Peeking into one of their chapels, one notices a crucifix with the words, “I thirst” pasted at its side.  The peeper will ask, “Why is that phrase there?”  Of course, Jesus emits those words from the cross in the Gospel of John.  But why do the Missionaries of Charity focus on them and not on more famous “last words” like “’Father, forgive them?”

The answer to these questions may be found in today’s gospel.  Jesus is identifying with those who are in great need.  They are Mark’s gospel’s equivalent to what he says at the end of Matthew’s: “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do unto me.’”  The Missionaries of Charity rightly see themselves as attending to the suffering Christ as they serve the marginalized.  As St. Teresa said, they are “Christ in disguise.”

We see the marginalized on street corners begging for money.  But these represent a small minority of their number.  They inhabit hovels and rented rooms in most big cities.  They live in vastly disproportionate numbers in Africa and South America.  Like Jesus on the cross, they cry out for assistance.  As we would have wanted to give Jesus a drink of water, we should move to help them.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 4:11-19; Mark 9:38-40)

L’Chaim is the Hebrew toast to life.  Most everyone will lift a glass to it.  We all want to live and to live well. To do the latter requires wisdom which looks beyond the superficial.   Wisdom peers into the heart of reality informing us what is truly beneficial and what is harmful.  As Sirach says in today’s first reading, “He who loves (wisdom) loves life.”

Sirach goes on to describe how wisdom may be a hard taskmaster.  It often tells us things that are not of our liking.  Wisdom recommends that we do not try to manipulate human life by producing children without the marriage act.  For a childless couple this seems unfair.  The husband and wife only want the good of raising a child like the majority of families.  Wisdom provides reasons, however.  In the case of procreation wisdom speaks of the rights of the child.  She should know that she was conceived through an act of love between her father and mother.

Many today embrace the “technological imperative.”  This false axiom stipulates that what can be done must be done.  Pursuing it will lead to the ambiguous identity of human clones, to the dangerous instability of global nuclear weapons, and to a host of other threats to well-being.  No, before saying it must be done, we must ask if it is good to do it.  Only following wisdom in this way can we avoid disaster for ourselves and for the world.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 2:1-11; Mark 9:30-37)

There is a story about Don Ramon, an old man who lived in a village in the state of Tabasco in Mexico.  Every day Don Ramos was seen sitting in front of the hut where he lived with an open Bible on his lap.  One day a passer-by, a visiting priest from the United States, stopped to talk with the old man.  “Don Ramon,” the priest asked, “what are you reading in the Bible?”  The old man looked at the priest and said: “Padrecito, I do not know how to read.  So I sit here every morning and ask God to teach me something from his Word.  And every morning He does.  God has never failed me!”  This story of Don Ramon exemplifies the message in today’s first reading.

Sirach, the Old Testament sage, tells his readers, “Wait on God, with patience, cling to him, …Trust God and God will help you; trust in him, and he will direct your way…”  God does not abandon those who seek him.  Rather they will learn that it is He who has sought them first.  Sirach probably learned this lesson from bitter experience.  During his time Israel was occupied by Greek rulers who tried to forcibly change Jewish ways and customs.  They even desecrated the Temple!  Sirach preaches patience and trust.  The Lord will show the Jews what to do.  They must wait on him.

We live in a trying time as well.  (Perhaps all times are trying.)  The Church appears under siege, and many people are angry about one thing or another.  We have to heed Sirach’s advice.  Like Don Ramon we are wise to wait on the Lord every day.  We have the advantage of being able to search the Scriptures for an inspiration.  There He will advise us how to not become discouraged but to help improve the situation.