Monday, May 25, 2020

(Optional) Memorial of St. Gregory VII, pope

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

Today the Church celebrates various saints.  Among them is Pope St. Gregory the Great, an eleventh century Church reformer.  Gregory is famous for excommunicating the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. The emperor refused to allow the Church to invest in office the bishops it chose.  In order to have the sentence lifted, Henry stood in the snow outside Gregory’s quarters as a kind of penance.  But once pardoned, Henry turned on Gregory and forced him into exile where he died.  No doubt Gregory felt some of the abandonment that Jesus speaks of in today’s gospel.

In the Gospel of John Jesus is prescient of all that is taking place.  He knows that he will be crucified and that his disciples will abandon him.  Yet he stands firm in his resolve to complete the mission of his Father.  He also knows that the Father will stand by him.  He further encourages his disciples to trust in him as he does in the Father.  Doing so, they will experience peace when are persecuted for proclaiming Jesus .

Jesus offers the same peace to us.  We may feel especially anxious because of the virus.  It really does threaten our safety and also our livelihood.  Praying for help, we will receive Jesus’ support.  He will enable us to make prudent decisions regarding when to act and when to wait.  He will also assure us that even if our decisions turn out mistaken, we will not perish.

Friday, May 22, 2020

Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 18:9-18; John 16:20-23)

The passage from Acts today highlights two separate issues of importance.  The first regards the dating of St. Paul’s stay in Corinth.  From another source we know that the proconsul Gallio was in Corinth only in the years 51-52.  Since he adjudicated the complaint by the Jews against Paul and Paul was there for a year and a half, his stay must have been coincided with at least in part with those years.

The other issue is more significant.  Gallio, a government official, refuses to interfere in religious questions.  Nineteen centuries later the Second Vatican Council advocated for a similar stance by governments toward religion.  The council reasoned that religion is a matter of conscience which humans have to be free to follow.  A government must allow people and, indeed, religious organizations to practice what they believe to be God’s will.

Currently freedom of religion is being contested over refusal to provide contraception as an employee insurance benefit.  Some Catholic employers rightfully see providing such a benefit unconscionable.  Can the government, which mandates insurance benefits, force them to do so anyway?  Because the issue involves sexual behavior, logic is often set aside.  However, it is, I believe, fair to say that since contraception is usually not necessary for a woman’s health, it could be dismissed as an insurance benefit in most cases.  The matter in the United States is now waiting a Supreme Court judgment.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 18:1-8; John 16:16-20)

A sixteen year-old girl was taken to the hospital last week.  She was complaining of a headache that would not go away.  The medical personnel tested her for the Corona-19 virus.  She didn’t have it, yet two days later she died.  How great the grief of her family!  Words are not able to express the sudden loss of a young life. Jesus is preparing his disciples for such an experience in today’s gospel.

The disciples display confusion over what Jesus is saying.  They cannot register that Jesus is about to be sacrificed for the salvation of the world.  They see him as a man at the height of his powers.  In their eyes he is ready to claim his position as King of Israel.  Now Jesus tells them that they soon will be mourning his loss.  And then, not much after that, they will rejoice at his return. 

We know that Jesus is referring to his death and resurrection.  We should glimpse that he is also referring to our death and resurrection as well.  Those who commit themselves to the Lord in Baptism – he assures us – will have eternal life with him at death.  The mother of the sixteen year-old who recently died need not think her daughter is lost forever.  She can hope to cherish her again in Jesus’ resurrection.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 7:15.22-18.1; John 16:12-15)

It is said that St. Paul made a strategic move in leaving Athens for Corinth.  In the first century Athens was an old city more like a museum than an incubator of dreams.  Corinth, on the other hand, was a crossroads where new ideas circulated with the world’s merchandise.  Today’s first reading relates Paul’s humbling experience in preaching to Athenians.

Paul tries to be practical not hypothetical as he addresses his audience at the Areopagus.  He refers to the Unknown God whose altar stands in their midst.  Then he relates this god to the Creator of the Jewish Scriptures.  Some of his audience may give Paul their attention. But when he mentions that his God raised Jesus from the dead, the people dismiss him as a lunatic.  In the less sophisticated, more enterprising Corinth the people will respond enthusiastically to the prospect of the resurrection.

We do as well.  We botch up things so much that we long to make amends to people who are no longer among us.  Reconciling with them in the resurrection of the dead is not just wishful thinking.  We have testimony of Jesus’ resurrection and his promise to come back for those who love him.  We yearn to go with him to the dwelling place of our beloved.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 16:22-34; John 16:5-11)

Some wonder why the Church does not use the word ghost in referring to the third person of the Holy Trinity.  A hundred years ago it was used in the standard translation of the Latin Spiritus Sanctus. Now the translation is made almost exclusively by Holy Spirit.  Ghost and spirit have very similar original meanings – vigor, breath, soul, etc.  In recent times, however, ghost has become more associated with the disembodied soul of a dead person or a demonic being.  Spirit, on the other hand, retains the fuller range of meanings that are helpful in understanding today’s readings.

The earthquake freeing St. Paul and Silas should not be thought of as a random act of nature.  It clearly represents the work of the Holy Spirit.  The same Spirit is said to have filled the disciples as they prayed and the earth shook earlier in Acts (4:31).  Jesus promises to send the Spirit in today’s gospel with earth-shaking results.  The Spirit will show the world wrong on three counts.  The world refuses believe in God’s Son.  It fails to see that the Son practiced true righteousness. And it does not notice that the real enemy, the devil, is now cast out, at least for those associated with Jesus.

We all need help to live in the world with a modicum of peace.  The help we need above all is the grace of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit fills us with a sense of gratitude for all God has done for us.  More than that, the Spirit moves us to love others with acts of kindness.  The Spirit shakes our foundations to think less of ourselves and more of God.