Monday, December 2, 2019

Monday of the First Week of Advent

(Isaiah 4:2-6; Matthew 8:5-11)

Advent periscopes the coming of the Lord.  We stand in expectation throughout the year.  But in Advent we keep our eyes wide open so that we might glimpse him moving toward us.  These days become joyful because we know that the long wait is almost over. Today’s gospel relates how one man did not need the Lord to come to his house.  He trusted Jesus’ word that things will turn out all right.

The man who trusted is not a Jew with reason to believe in the prophet Jesus.  He is a Roman army officer with a good heart.  He cares enough about his servant, who is probably Jewish, that he comes looking for Jesus. He recognizes Jesus’ authority which must radiate as prominently as the beauty of a professional model. No doubt, as well, he has been informed of Jesus’ reputation as a healer.   In any case the officer does not tie up the Lord.  He only states that just as his subordinates submit to his authority so will spiritual forces submit to Jesus’.

It is time for us to renew our hope in Jesus’ authority.  He is the Lord of heaven and earth.  We only have to seek his assistance.  We can trust that he will take note of our good will and help us.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 7: 2-14; Luke21:29-33)

Apocalyptic literature shows God coming to the rescue when things seem most dire.  For many today such writing seems more cartoonish than the stuff of good drama. Yet it engages people’s consciousness when they are threatened by a calamity.  Apocalyptic writers offer hope to those who have experienced a long, hard struggle. 

The only example of a completely apocalyptic work in the New Testament is the Book of Revelation.  There faithful Christians are assured victory over their Roman persecutors.  In the Old Testament the Book of the Prophet Daniel is the prime example of the apocalyptic.  It was written in the second century before Christ the wicked Antiochus IV Epiphanes was oppressing Israel. The book foresees an eventual reversal of lots.  Today’s grotesque passage is apparently an alternative account of the reading from Daniel heard at mass on Tuesday.  The four beasts represent the succession of empires leading to the everlasting reign of God.  The passage foresees God eventually triumphing over the successive reigns of terror. 

Some understand apocalyptic literature as a literal description of the future.  It is better for us to spiritualize its meaning. We will not face fiercely shaped beasts in the future.  But we will struggle against evil everyday of our lives.  Evil takes the form of illegitimate desire for pleasure, possessions, or power.  As God comes to the rescue in apocalyptic literature, we beg His help in our struggles. 

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Thanksgiving Day

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

A mother was saying how her daughter was celebrating Thanksgiving in Japan.  Away from home for the first time, the daughter had received recipes and other ideas for a Thanksgiving feast.  Most Americans abroad try to come together for the holiday.  It seems that they are drawn by something more than the custom of eating turkey with cranberries and sweet potatoes.  They appear to instinctively feel the need to give thanks.

Humans are built to depend on one another.  We will be able to get along without a particular person, but we always need others to grow, even to survive.  Someone has to provide food for a child.  Everyone needs teachers and doctors.   There cannot be industry without workers.  Although people are paid for their services, we still are grateful to them for work done well.  We also give thanks for the source of all the benefits we enjoy.  We recognize that the same Creator of the earth also moves human hearts to assist others.

Today’s first reading expresses the spirit of Thanksgiving Day.  It calls on everyone to give thanks to God, the source of all goodness.  It further recognizes that our dependence upon God never ceases.  We must pray to God not only for the basic needs of life but also for the peace that makes life worth living.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

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

 “Can’t you read the ‘writing on the wall’?”  People ask this question when the meaning of a situation appears clear to them but not so to the other.  The term originated in the passage from the Book of the Prophet Daniel read today.

The words “Mene,” “Tekel,” and “Peres” may sound esoteric, but they are not incomprehensible.  Scholars say that mene means to count.  Tekel is the root word for the ancient weight and then coin, “shekel.”  It means to weigh.  And peres is related to the root for “Pharisee” – the people separated out from commoners for their strict observance.  The “writing on the wall” then is a message to the people who are committing sacrilege by using the vessels from Jerusalem’s temple.  Their deeds are being counted and weighed. They will be separated out for punishment.

The same is true for all of us.  Our deeds, observed and judged, will merit us salvation or damnation.  As today’s gospel relates, we want to give testimony to Christ.  It’s easy to say what we are to do but at times difficult to carry out the tasks.  We are to love one another as Jesus loves us – earnestly, patiently, self-sacrificingly.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Daniel 2:31-45; Luke 21:5-11)

In “Ozymandias” Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley tells a tale like Jesus’ in today’s gospel.  “Ozymandias” is the Greek name for the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II.  The discovery of a statue of the king in the desert occasions the poem.  Shelley writes that the inscription on the statue’s base commands the resignation of viewers.  “’Look on my works…’” it reads, ‘”and despair!'”  The sad truth is, however, that the statue itself lies shattered in the sand.

Jesus gives the people marveling at the grandeur of the temple a similar lesson. He foresees the temple’s destruction which indeed took place forty years hence.  He is saying that even this grand tribute to God lacks ultimate importance.  In fact, he would say, everything material will be come to ruin.  Only discipleship of himself remains with lasting value.  But even at that, he continues, people have to take care that they do not follow false messiahs.

Lay person or consecrated religious, we must not become distracted by material objects.  Cars, houses, and large expense accounts must not turn us away from following Jesus.  Neither should ideologies lead us from the truth that Jesus teaches.    If we want eternal life, we must follow his way of self-giving love.