Monday, November 8, 2021

 

Monday of the Thirty-second Week in ordinary Time

(Wisdom 1:1-7; Luke 17:1-6)

More than most of us, government officials are subject to corruption.  People pursue them because fortunes – no longer millions or billions, but sometimes trillions – are dependent on their decisions.  To stay morally righteous, they need wisdom.  To provide them with it, the author of the Book of Wisdom wrote his text.

Today’s passage constitutes the book’s beginning.  The author urges officials to love justice.  He does not mean the police or social equality but a solidly moral life.  He says that God cannot abide a deceitful person.  People commonly say, “God helps those who help themselves.”  The author has a different message.  He says that God helps those who seek Him with integrity.  That is, God will assist those who obey His commands and pray to Him for guidance.

Of course, the admonishments offered in this text applies to all of us.  We have to live righteously if we expect God to come to aid us.  We are wise as well to ask for the specific assistance we need to fulfill our responsibilities.

Sunday, November 7, 2021

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(I Kings 17: 10-16; Hebrews 9: 24-28; Mark 12: 38-44)

A writer contrasts the trajectories of two young women. She wants to show that a primary motive for abortion that feminists propose can be a lie. In the gospel Jesus will contrast the scribes with the poor widow in a similar way.

The writer tells of Patricia and Kelly. At nineteen the two were two months pregnant. Both shed tears because of their lot and considered aborting their babies. Patricia was a college student like the baby's father. Kelly worked as a receptionist. Her boyfriend also had a job.

Patricia had the abortion and continued in college. As almost always in these cases, her boyfriend left her. Later, she enrolled in law school and eventually landed a position with a prestigious law firm. From there her career took off. She worked long hours, but she also traveled to various parts of the world. Not wanting to marry, she had several lovers. However, at age thirty-five she began to worry about not having her own family. She then yielded to a man who had long sought her love. Because of having used contraceptives for years, Patricia could not conceive. Only with in vitro fertilization did the couple have a child. Patricia celebrated her fifty-fifth birthday with her husband in Europe. They had to leave their son with a sitter at home. At the age of sixty-eight, Patricia died of cancer. In her last days she had some visitors among whom was her son. Her ashes were scattered over the river in her city.

Kelly, the other young women, was unable to proceed with the abortion. Her mother was furious at first, but she ultimately helped her. As almost always in these cases, her boyfriend left her. Within six months Kelly was experiencing the most acute pain of her life with the birth of her child. She was then concerned about how she was going to attract a boyfriend if she had to always take her child with her. But in time she could not imagine life without her daughter, much less how she ever thought of aborting her. Kelly married a responsible man, and the two had twins along with Kelly's baby girl. In fifteen years the lives of the entire family were filled with soccer games and theatrical plays at the high school which the twins attended. Kelly and her family celebrated her fiftieth-fifth birthday at a Spaghetti Factory in their town. The twins already had their careers, and Kelly baby-sat the two children of her daughter and her son-in-law. At the age of sixty-eight, Kelly also died of cancer. Many family members and friends visited her before her death, and the church was filled for her funeral.

Some say abortion is necessary so as not to burden the lives of young people who become unexpectedly pregnant. But the full lives of Patricia and Kelly, which seem quite realistic, show that this assumption is at least questionable. Because life is good and full of possibilities, it is very possible that in time an abortion will seem tragic to everyone. Meanwhile raising a child will usually fill a person with great satisfaction.

In the gospel today Jesus comments on two types of people not very different from Patricia and Kelly. He says that the scribes, who seem to have everything going for them now, are to be punished.  The punishment may take place either before or after death. Meanwhile, the widow, who gives to the temple all that she has, already has found the Lord's approval. Her prize in heaven will be even greater.

Friday, November 5, 2021

 

Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 15:14-21; Luke 16:1-8)

 When Grant Desme gave up the very real possibility of playing major league baseball to study for the priesthood, many probably thought he was following a “higher calling.”  Priesthood has traditionally been considered a way to serve God in a noble way.  Even in St. Paul’s time this was true as he intimates in today’s reading from his Letter to the Romans.

 Paul writes that in preaching the gospel he is performing a “priestly service.”  He doesn’t mean that he is acting like an ordained priest in the contemporary sense.  Rather he intends that in enabling others recognize the Lordship of Jesus, he serves like an Old Testament priest.  The fact that Paul mentions it at the culmination of his letter indicates that he too considers this work a “higher calling.”

 The same calling "higher calling" is given to all of us.  In responding to the challenge of the New Evangelization, we help others can find their way to Christ.  This priestly ministry is not foreign or out of character to laypersons.  Rather as baptized members of Christ’s body, we too share in his priestly office. 

Thursday, November 4, 2021

 Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, bishop

(Romans 14:7-12; Luke 15:1-10)

St. Paul asks, perhaps rhetorically, “…why do you look down on your brother and sister?’  The question is not difficult to answer.  People look down on one another in order to make themselves seem superior.  Since others, looking down upon them, made them feel subservient, they want to have the pleasure of looking down upon others.  It seems to be an endless chain of unequal relations.

Paul, however, notes that the vicious cycle has been broken.  Christ has died for all.  Those who believe in him are lifted up so high that they are not subservient to anyone.  Yet they live in humble submission to Christ.  Doing so, they do not insist on their own will, but try accommodating their will to others’.

St. Charles Borromeo at least listened to others.  He is famous for calling many councils and synods as Archbishop of Milan.  His sense of humble service was highlighted in his personal care for plague victims in the sixteenth century.

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

 (Optional) Memorial of Saint Martin de Porres, religious

(Romans 13:8-10; Luke 14:25-33)

Two years ago Patrick Johnson, an inmate of a Florida prison, published a novel featuring St. Martin de Porres.  Martin does not have a primary role in the story.  He stays in the background emerging at times to help the main character.  Nor does Martin perform any of the tasks for which he is famous.  He  does not feed the hungry, heal the sick, or serve the friars.  He just saves the protagonist from harm.

Mr. Johnson has captured the essence of this saint.  Martin helped people in distress.  He was so present to the distraught that he seemed on occasion to be in two places people at the same time.  Yet just saying that Martin was good at helping others falls short of describing his accomplishment.  Martin treated others in agony as would have treated the crucified Lord.  He loved them with his whole heart as from childhood he would spend hours at a time before the crucifix. 

Martin makes a marvelous patron for any and all.  Being poor and humble, he models the remedies of overindulgence and self-promotion that characterize our age.  Being devout and responsible, he exemplifies for us Jesus’ two great commandments.  Man or woman, rich or poor, Black or White, we can find in Martin qualities to emulate.  Doing so will move us closer to him on the road to eternal life.