Sunday, November 6, 2022

 

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(II Maccabees 7:1-2.9-14; II Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Luke 20:27-38)

There is a woman who is over a hundred years old. Because she has various medical issues, it has been suggested that she accept a type of hospice. But she rejects the offer. She says that she is not ready to die. She like most people has a strong will to live. If we asked them why, they would say something like they want to continue enjoying life. They would consider eating tasty food, viewing different artistic expressions, and interacting with interesting people as joys of life. Perhaps the king in the first reading today believes that the seven brothers would eat the forbidden pork so that they would have these kinds of experiences.

However, the brothers do not find these pleasures, nor any other worldly experience, as valuable compared to faithfulness to God. Above all in life, they try to please God, their Creator and Redeemer. They know that what is worth living is worth dying for. And they wouldn't die merely to eat chocolates or chat with the mayor. No, they would die to save the life of a family member, to defend the homeland from aggressors, and, most importantly, to maintain a firm relationship with God. Actually, the first two reasons to die may be enfolded into the third. When we sacrifice ourselves for the good of family or country, we fulfill the commandments of God.

However, when we try to live only for worldly goods, we are limiting our horizon. We're going to reach it if not this year, then in another.  You see, we are programmed to lose the taste of food and the ability to relate to others. Our bodies just cannot last more than five or six scores of years. Death is as sure as the setting of the sun every evening.

The young men of the reading are aware of another reality hidden from the world but perceptible to people of faith. They intuit from the Scriptures that God will resurrect men and women who live for Him. Since God wants everyone in His family, all those who dispose themselves to live for Him will live with Him forever. Their horizon will have no limits.

When the Sadducees in the Gospel today question Jesus about eternal life, he confirms the position of the brothers. He draws on the Scriptures to show that the righteous live forever. He has found in Genesis this understanding. God is (not only was) the Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, they must be alive.  Also, his entire mission has suggested this outcome.  He has preached the need for repentance because the Kingdom of God (that is, God in all His love) is ready to reward those who return to Him. His miracles, particularly his raising the dead to life again, have indicated this power to resurrect the faithful. Of course, at the end of this mission, Jesus will give his life for the good of the people in accordance with the will of God the Father. The result of his supreme sacrifice will be God’s raising Jesus from the dead as the firstfruits of eternal life.

We are not the first to ask, what is worth dying for? Enthusiasts have answered their own question with such things as palaces or cruises. We are not so naive that we believe them. What is worth dying for? Only life in Christ because it is life forever. It is the life of love for our families, for our country, and above all for our God.

Friday, November 4, 2022

Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, bishop

(Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 16:1-8)

The Reformation of the sixteenth century challenged the Church to its core.  Many Europeans joined Protestant communities.  Religious brothers and sisters left their convents in droves.  The laxity of bishops and priests were made manifest.  Long overdue, the Council of Trent dictated the necessary reforms, and bishops like today’s patron saint, Charles Borromeo, made sure that they were carried out.

An extremely capable man, Charles governed the Church in Milan and other parts of northern Italy.  He reorganized Church administration, called provincial councils and diocesan synods, made regular pastoral visits, opened a seminary, employed the reform religious orders and founded one himself, and founded as well various educational and charitable organizations.  During the plague of 1576, which was comparable to Covid-19, Charles spent huge sums of church money to provide for the sick, dying, and dead.  He also nursed the sick himself. Like St. Paul in today’s first reading, Charles encountered severe opposition to his reforms.  He was twice fired upon in Milan. 

We too will meet opposition when trying to fulfill the Lord’s will.  Sometimes those who oppose us think that they are doing what is right. That should neither us nor invite vindictiveness.  There is always some need for evaluation, but we should prayerfully pursue what we know to be good.  It does not matter what others think when we are faithful to him.

Thursday, November 3, 2022

 (Optional) Memorial of Saint Martin de Porres, religious

(Galatians 3:26-28; Matthew 11:25-30)

St. Martin de Porres lived four hundred years ago in a provincial setting.  At least part of his spirituality, like flagellating himself with a chain, seems weird today.  He never attended a university nor received seminary training.  Could he mean more to us than a representative African American on the long list of saints?  Absolutely.  Looking beyond the peculiarities of his situation, we can see that Martin has much to say to the contemporary world.

Martin disciplined his body to seek the favor of the Lord, not his own comfort.  He slept over a cowskin with a torn pillow, much like Jesus with no place to lay his head.  Today’s world, in great contrast, seems geared to comfort and pleasure.  To reassure access to sexual pleasure, many are calling for abortion on demand.  Many, as well, are unwilling to make any sacrifice to conserve the burning of fossil fuel.  St. Martin shows how discipline does not lead to misery but to glory.

Martin, as a person of mixed race, had to endure prejudice and no doubt contempt at times.  Yet there is no record of his becoming resentful, much less rebellious.  He remained tolerant of all to the extent of caring for the dirtiest and most wretched.  No great end in itself, tolerance at least allows people to communicate with those whose manners or traditions they find repugnant.  There is need for public order, but its pursuit should not unduly restrict self- and, much less, cultural expression.

Martin's biographers highlight the fact that he not only cared for the sick but also cured them.  Searching for and using different herbs to create medicines, he may be considered a scientist as well as a healer.  He was also very attuned to nature because of his sympathy for animals. Martín teaches today’s world the need to protect the environment.  Plants and animals should be used for human good.  They should never be abused for profit or even entertainment.

Above all, Martin de Porres was a humble servant. For this reason, he is associated with the broom he used to clean the priory in which he lived. Like Jesus inviting people to come to him in today’s gospel, Martin was willing to help everyone, no matter a person’s ethnic background or social class.  Today, when public service is almost a joke, Martin provides a model to imitate.

As a last characteristic to instruct contemporaries, Martin prayed constantly.  He spent most of the night standing before a crucifix or a statue of the Virgin Mary.  No doubt, he prayed for the people to whom he ministered, but also he likely prayed for himself.  Martin was aware of sins that people would think are not more than foibles today.  Especially Americans are preoccupied with self-improvement.  Martin’s life tells them to go to God first.           

Martin left no books, articles, speeches, or sermons behind to give a clear picture of how or what he thought.  The testimonies of his life indicate that he was an exemplary religious and humanitarian.  From all that is known of him, we see virtues to be emulated and sanctity to be beseeched.

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

 Commemoration of All the Faithfully Departed

(John 6:37-40)

All Souls Day is like no other in the liturgical year. It is not a feast on which we recite the Gloria during mass. Much less is it a solemnity on which we profess the Creed.  Nor is it memorial like tomorrow when we celebrate San Martín de Porres. Yet it must be observed.  Like a bitter pill it is provided by the Church to heal us of sickness.  On All Souls Day we recover from the forgetfulness of our dead as well as our own deaths.

Other than perhaps our parents, a spouse, a sibling, or in rarer cases a friend, we too easily forget our dead loved ones.  Yet their souls remain for us to help with our prayers.  We pray that the Lord will be merciful to them.  Perhaps they were not as guilty of sin as it seemed because of some cultural or personal condition.  Perhaps as well, they made an act of contrition before dying. 

Today, a good day to visit the cemetery, we are reminded that we too will die.  This being so, we want to renew our faith in the efficacy of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  We remind ourselves especially today that his passover from this world to the Father promises the same destiny to those who stay close to him.

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

 Solemnity of All Saints

(Revelation 7:2-4.9-14; I John3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a)

 Halloween traditions have a murky background.  Do the wearing of masks and the prominence of skeletons celebrate a time-conditioned rising from the dead?  Or are customs of dressing in clothes of various cultures and periods indicative of the plethora of saints in Church history.  Because Halloween immediately precedes All Saints and not All Souls Day, the latter answer appears more on target.

Today’s readings testify to many kinds of people becoming saints throughout the centuries.  Revelation says it directly.  A “great multitude…from every nation, race people, and tongue” participate in the heavenly court.  John’s letter indicates that people must purify themselves to gain such a standing.  The beatitudes describe those who have gone through the process of purification.  They are the poor and humble, peacemakers and pursuers of justice. 

All Saints Day reminds us of the past which we readily forget as we preoccupy ourselves with the here and now.  It tells us of the faith of our predecessors in God whom we can marginalize in our quest for self-fulfillment.  It emboldens us to imitate their virtue so that we too might reach their standing in eternal life.