Today’s First Reading is from the First Book of Maccabees (2:15-29):
The officers of the King, who were forcing the people to turn from God, came to the town of Modein to force the people there to offer pagan sacrifices. Many of the Israelites came to meet them, but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.
The king's officials said to Mattathias: “You are a respected leader in this town, and you have the support of your sons and kinfolks. Why not become the first one here to do what the king has commanded? All the Gentiles, the people of Judea, and all the people left in Jerusalem have already done so. If you do, you and your sons will be honored with the title of Friends of the King, and you will be rewarded with silver and gold and many gifts.
Mattathias answered in a loud voice: “Even if every Gentile in this empire has obeyed the king and yielded to the command to abandon the religion of his ancestors, my sons, my kinfolk and I will continue to keep the covenant that God made with our ancestors. With God's help we will never abandon his Law or disobey his commands. We will not obey the king's decree, and we will not change our way of worship in the least.”
Just as he finished speaking, one of the Jews decided to obey the king's decree and stepped out in front of everyone to offer a pagan sacrifice on the altar that stood there. When Mattathias saw him, he became angry enough to do what had to be done. Shaking with rage, he ran forward and killed the man right there upon the altar. He also killed the royal official who was forcing the people to sacrifice, and then he tore down the altar. In this way Mattathias showed his deep devotion for the Law, just as Phineas had done when he killed Zimri son of Salu.
Then Mattathias went through the town shouting, “Everyone who is faithful to God's covenant and obeys his Law, follow me! With this, he and his sons fled to the mountains, leaving behind all they owned. At that time also many of the Israelites who were seeking live according to righteousness and in obedience to the Law went out to live in the wilderness.
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In this reading, we see Mattathias turn down bribes of gold and silver, and reject the offer to become one of the Friends of the King, so that he can fulfill the covenant he has made with the Lord. He holds steadfastly to this covenant, even to the point of resorting to violence before leaving the city to join the Jews who have fled to the wilderness, where they can live in peace, and in obedience to God’s will and to the Law of Moses.
Mattathias’ rampage in verses 23-26 of this reading finds a parallel in John 2:13-17, Jesus chasing the money changers out of the Temple, and the writer’s comment “In this way Mattathias showed his deep devotion to the Law”, is echoed in John’s citation of Psalm 69:9: “Zeal for God’s house will consume me.”
God calls us to keep our own covenant with him, by practicing our faith with zeal. We also are offered gold and silver, whether metaphorical or monetary, to induce us from the path of righteousness. Each of us must trust in God to give us the strength to fulfill our own covenant with Him and with his people.
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Today’s Gospel is taken from Luke (19:41-44):
Jesus is going up to Jerusalem, and his journey is coming to an end. In the previous verses, the people were singing and shouting for joy, strewing palm branches in his path as he approaches the city gates. Suddenly, the mood changes: As Jesus sees the city, he begins weeping over it, saying, “Would that you, the city of peace, had known today what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. For behold, the days are coming when your enemies will raise a palisade against you. They will encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
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Across the Kedron valley from the city of Jerusalem there is a chapel I visited nearly forty years ago on a pilgrimage-retreat during Holy Week, early in April, 1964. The little church is called “Dominus flevit”, which means, “The Lord wept”. On the base of the altar there is a mosaic depicting a mother hen with her chicks gathered under her wings for protection, some of them peering out in the way chicks are wont to do. It is the only representation I have ever seen of Jesus lamentation, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34) It is a motherly image, warm and protective.
If you think it is too sentimental an image, look at it this way: We used to call the Church on earth “the Church militant”, a rather belligerent image, suggesting military conflict. Yet it was meant to convey that our struggle is to resist temptation, avoid sin, and, with the help of God’s grace, to direct our thoughts and actions toward what is true and what is good.
The trouble is that we find it all too easy to be militant against others who disagree with us, but, when it comes to struggling with ourselves, we are chickens.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Well Done, You Good And Faithful Servant!
Today’s First Reading is taken from the Second Book of Maccabees (7:1, 20-31)
In the days of King Antiochus Epiphanes, a Jewish mother and her seven sons were arrested. By the King’s orders, they were beaten with whips and scourges to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law.
The mother was most admirable and worthy of an everlasting place in our memory, for although she saw her seven sons perish in a single day, she endured it with great courage because she trusted in the Lord. She combined womanly emotion with manly courage and spoke words of encouragement to each of her sons in the language of their ancestors.
I do not know how your life began in my womb; I am not the one who gave you life and breath. Nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed.
It was God who did it, God who created the universe, the human race, and all that exists. He is merciful and he will give you back life and breath again, because you love his laws more than you love yourself.
Antiochus, suspecting that the mother was making fun of him, did his best to convince her youngest son to abandon the traditions of his ancestors. He promised not only to make the boy rich and famous, but to place him in a position of authority and to give him the title
Friend of the King. But the boy paid no attention to him, so Antiochus tried to persuade the boy's mother to talk him into saving his life, and after much persuasion she agreed to do so. Leaning over her son, she fooled the cruel tyrant by saying in her native language:
My son, have pity on me. Remember that I carried you in my womb for nine months and nursed you for three years. I have taken care of you and looked after all your needs up to the present day. So I urge you, my child, to look at the sky and the earth. Consider everything you see there, and realize that God made it all from nothing, just as he made the human race. Don't be afraid of this butcher. Give up your life willingly and prove yourself worthy of your brothers, so that by God's mercy I may receive you back with them at the resurrection.
She had scarcely finished speaking when the boy said: “What are you waiting for? I refuse to obey the King’s orders. I only obey the commands in the Law which Moses gave to our ancestors. You have thought up all kinds of cruel things to do to our people, but you will not escape the punishment that God has in store for you.”
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 17
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Hear, O LORD, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.
My steps have been steadfast in your paths,
my feet have not faltered.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my word.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
But I in justice shall behold your face;
on waking, I shall be content in your presence.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Today’s gospel is taken from Luke (19:11-28):
While people were listening to Jesus speak, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was now close to Jerusalem, and they thought the reign of God might dawn at any moment.
The parable is based on a true incident. Herod the Great ruled over most of Palestine, and the lands beyond the Jordan, as a client of the Roman Empire. He promised his son Archelaus that he would inherit the kingdom. After Herod’s death, Archelaus went to Rome, and asked the emperor to appoint him King, but the emperor refused. A delegation of fifty Jews went to Rome to oppose him. As a result, the territory ruled by Herod was divided among three of his sons: Archelaus, his son by his fourth wife Malthace, received the lion's share of the kingdom; Judea, and Samaria; Herod Antipas, Archelaus’ full brother, became Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea; Philip, Herod’s son by his fifth wife, Cleopatra of Jerusalem, became Tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis. Jesus applied the story of Herod and his sons to himself.
He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. (A mina was worth about three months’ wages.) 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.'
"But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king.' "He was made king, however, and returned home.
Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. "The first one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more.' 'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.'
"The second came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned five more.' His master answered, 'You take charge of five cities.'
"Then another servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.'
"His master replied, 'I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?'
"Then he said to those standing by, 'Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.'
'Sir,' they said, 'he already has ten!'
"He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me."
After he had said this, Jesus proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.
+++ +++ +++ +++
In today’s Scriptures, we read two stories about kings and their subjects. In Maccabees, a pagan king takes over the land given to the children of Abraham, and orders the people to give up their obedience to the Mosaic Law, and the worship of the God who gave the Law to Moses. A mother and her seven sons chose to remain faithful to the eternal King, at great cost to themselves, not only the loss of their lives, but the great pain that they endure before dying. In the gospel, a noble man is appointed king in a distant country. Before he leaves, he gives ten of his servants the equivalent of 2 ½ years wages, and tells them to invest them. When he returns, he rewards the servants who made profit: one 100%, the second 50%. But the third, who buried his money in a hole in the ground, lost his original investment, which was given to the first man. Then, he goes back to the country where he was made king, and has his opponents executed.
In commenting on this gospel, Cyril of Alexandria (375-44) wrote, “The distribution (of the coins) was suitable to the measure of each one’s abilities. As to those who were entrusted with them, let us to the best of our ability determine who they are. They are those whose intellectual senses are exercised in the discernment of good and evil. They are those who are acquainted with the sacred teachings, and skilled in instructing them correctly. They know how to direct both themselves and others. In short the wise disciples were above all the others.”
Are you convinced? Does God give his gifts only to those who deserve them, to those who have been judged “above the others”? That doesn’t seem to be God’s way. If only the deserving received such gifts, they would be wages, not rewards.
It seems that God spreads gifts about at random, not according to some scale of merit. But then, everything depends on how we use the gift that we’ve been given. If someone has a gift, it will bear fruit if it is cultivated, and it will lie fallow if it is neglected. (Take, for example, a talented student of music who neglects the need to practice.) The same must be true for intellectual and spiritual gifts: to someone who uses the intelligence he or she possesses, greater knowledge and understanding will be given; to one who prays sincerely, a deeper prayer life becomes possible. One who truly loves God and neighbor will be granted a greater capacity for love, even to martyrdom: “Greater love than this no one has, but to give one life for the beloved.”
In his gospel Luke offers two slightly different versions of the negative form of this axiom: “From those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away (8:18), and the present text, “As for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.” The latter version is the paradox in its full force (as it is in Matthew 13:12, 25:29, and Mark 4:25). It is repeated so often that it can be seen as a basic axiom of Gospel teaching.
What does this mean? How can something be taken away from me if I don’t have it to begin with? I believe the answer is this: Even if I don’t have something, I may have the capacity for it, and the awful truth is I can lose even that. If I lose something, I might recover it. But if I lose the capacity for something, then I will not be able to accept it, even if the whole world were to drop it into my lap.
God is never going to deprive us of our capacity for faith, hope, love and all of the other moral virtues. On the other hand, the axiom, “Use it or lose it” appears to apply.
In the days of King Antiochus Epiphanes, a Jewish mother and her seven sons were arrested. By the King’s orders, they were beaten with whips and scourges to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law.
The mother was most admirable and worthy of an everlasting place in our memory, for although she saw her seven sons perish in a single day, she endured it with great courage because she trusted in the Lord. She combined womanly emotion with manly courage and spoke words of encouragement to each of her sons in the language of their ancestors.
I do not know how your life began in my womb; I am not the one who gave you life and breath. Nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed.
It was God who did it, God who created the universe, the human race, and all that exists. He is merciful and he will give you back life and breath again, because you love his laws more than you love yourself.
Antiochus, suspecting that the mother was making fun of him, did his best to convince her youngest son to abandon the traditions of his ancestors. He promised not only to make the boy rich and famous, but to place him in a position of authority and to give him the title
Friend of the King. But the boy paid no attention to him, so Antiochus tried to persuade the boy's mother to talk him into saving his life, and after much persuasion she agreed to do so. Leaning over her son, she fooled the cruel tyrant by saying in her native language:
My son, have pity on me. Remember that I carried you in my womb for nine months and nursed you for three years. I have taken care of you and looked after all your needs up to the present day. So I urge you, my child, to look at the sky and the earth. Consider everything you see there, and realize that God made it all from nothing, just as he made the human race. Don't be afraid of this butcher. Give up your life willingly and prove yourself worthy of your brothers, so that by God's mercy I may receive you back with them at the resurrection.
She had scarcely finished speaking when the boy said: “What are you waiting for? I refuse to obey the King’s orders. I only obey the commands in the Law which Moses gave to our ancestors. You have thought up all kinds of cruel things to do to our people, but you will not escape the punishment that God has in store for you.”
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 17
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Hear, O LORD, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.
My steps have been steadfast in your paths,
my feet have not faltered.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my word.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
But I in justice shall behold your face;
on waking, I shall be content in your presence.
R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Today’s gospel is taken from Luke (19:11-28):
While people were listening to Jesus speak, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was now close to Jerusalem, and they thought the reign of God might dawn at any moment.
The parable is based on a true incident. Herod the Great ruled over most of Palestine, and the lands beyond the Jordan, as a client of the Roman Empire. He promised his son Archelaus that he would inherit the kingdom. After Herod’s death, Archelaus went to Rome, and asked the emperor to appoint him King, but the emperor refused. A delegation of fifty Jews went to Rome to oppose him. As a result, the territory ruled by Herod was divided among three of his sons: Archelaus, his son by his fourth wife Malthace, received the lion's share of the kingdom; Judea, and Samaria; Herod Antipas, Archelaus’ full brother, became Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea; Philip, Herod’s son by his fifth wife, Cleopatra of Jerusalem, became Tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis. Jesus applied the story of Herod and his sons to himself.
He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. (A mina was worth about three months’ wages.) 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.'
"But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king.' "He was made king, however, and returned home.
Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. "The first one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more.' 'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.'
"The second came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned five more.' His master answered, 'You take charge of five cities.'
"Then another servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.'
"His master replied, 'I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?'
"Then he said to those standing by, 'Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.'
'Sir,' they said, 'he already has ten!'
"He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me."
After he had said this, Jesus proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.
+++ +++ +++ +++
In today’s Scriptures, we read two stories about kings and their subjects. In Maccabees, a pagan king takes over the land given to the children of Abraham, and orders the people to give up their obedience to the Mosaic Law, and the worship of the God who gave the Law to Moses. A mother and her seven sons chose to remain faithful to the eternal King, at great cost to themselves, not only the loss of their lives, but the great pain that they endure before dying. In the gospel, a noble man is appointed king in a distant country. Before he leaves, he gives ten of his servants the equivalent of 2 ½ years wages, and tells them to invest them. When he returns, he rewards the servants who made profit: one 100%, the second 50%. But the third, who buried his money in a hole in the ground, lost his original investment, which was given to the first man. Then, he goes back to the country where he was made king, and has his opponents executed.
In commenting on this gospel, Cyril of Alexandria (375-44) wrote, “The distribution (of the coins) was suitable to the measure of each one’s abilities. As to those who were entrusted with them, let us to the best of our ability determine who they are. They are those whose intellectual senses are exercised in the discernment of good and evil. They are those who are acquainted with the sacred teachings, and skilled in instructing them correctly. They know how to direct both themselves and others. In short the wise disciples were above all the others.”
Are you convinced? Does God give his gifts only to those who deserve them, to those who have been judged “above the others”? That doesn’t seem to be God’s way. If only the deserving received such gifts, they would be wages, not rewards.
It seems that God spreads gifts about at random, not according to some scale of merit. But then, everything depends on how we use the gift that we’ve been given. If someone has a gift, it will bear fruit if it is cultivated, and it will lie fallow if it is neglected. (Take, for example, a talented student of music who neglects the need to practice.) The same must be true for intellectual and spiritual gifts: to someone who uses the intelligence he or she possesses, greater knowledge and understanding will be given; to one who prays sincerely, a deeper prayer life becomes possible. One who truly loves God and neighbor will be granted a greater capacity for love, even to martyrdom: “Greater love than this no one has, but to give one life for the beloved.”
In his gospel Luke offers two slightly different versions of the negative form of this axiom: “From those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away (8:18), and the present text, “As for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.” The latter version is the paradox in its full force (as it is in Matthew 13:12, 25:29, and Mark 4:25). It is repeated so often that it can be seen as a basic axiom of Gospel teaching.
What does this mean? How can something be taken away from me if I don’t have it to begin with? I believe the answer is this: Even if I don’t have something, I may have the capacity for it, and the awful truth is I can lose even that. If I lose something, I might recover it. But if I lose the capacity for something, then I will not be able to accept it, even if the whole world were to drop it into my lap.
God is never going to deprive us of our capacity for faith, hope, love and all of the other moral virtues. On the other hand, the axiom, “Use it or lose it” appears to apply.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Son Of Man Has Come To Seek And To Save What Was Lost.
Today’s First Reading is taken from the Second Book of Maccabees (6:18-31):
There was an elderly and highly respected teacher of the Law by the name of Eleazar, whose mouth was being forced open to make him eat pork. But he preferred an honorable death rather than a life of disgrace. So he spit out the meat and went willingly to the place of torture, showing how people should have courage to refuse unclean food, even if it costs them their lives.
Those in charge of the sacrifice had been friends of Eleazar for a long time, and because of this friendship they told him privately to bring meat that was lawful for him to eat. He need only pretend to eat the pork, they said, and in this way he would not be put to death. But Eleazar made a decision worthy of his gray hair and advanced age. All his life he had lived in perfect obedience to God's holy laws, so he replied:
Kill me, here and now. Such deception is not worthy of a man of my years. Many young people would think that I had denied my faith after I was ninety years old. If I pretended to eat this meat, just to live a little while longer, it would bring shame and disgrace on me and lead many young people astray. For the present I might be able to escape what you could do to me, but whether I live or die, I cannot escape Almighty God. If I die bravely now, it will show that I deserved my long life. It will also set a good example of the way young people should be willing and glad to die for our sacred and respected laws.
As soon as he said these things, he went off to be tortured, and the very people who had treated him kindly a few minutes before, now turned against him, because they thought he had spoken like a madman. When he had been beaten almost to the point of death, he groaned and said:
The Lord possesses all holy knowledge. He knows I could have escaped these terrible sufferings and death, yet he also knows that I gladly suffer these things, because I fear him.
So Eleazar died. But his courageous death was remembered as a glorious example, not only by young people, but by the entire nation as well.
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Eleazar, the learned and wise scribe, had the courage to refuse to eat pork, a meat forbidden by the Law. He also declined his friends’ suggestion that he merely pretend to eat the meat in order to save his own life. Today, he is venerated as a hero by Jews and Christians alike, a hero who died in the name of virtue. Although Eleazar lived and died more than two thousand years ago, the question remains today: Am I prepared to defend the beliefs, values and virtues of my religion? Am I willing to suffer and die in witness to my faith?
I can easy write “Of course I am!” as the next line of this reflection. But I am sitting at the computer desk, not standing as a prisoner before soldiers who will bring my life to a sudden and painful end if I don’t renounce my faith. Maybe it was easier to believe with certainty and to be willing to give one’s life for the faith in the days of the martyrs. Maybe the graces of faith and courage to endure martyrdom come only to those who are faced with that challenge, not to us who speculate about it.
There are some friends and family members of every generation from my grandparents’ to my own who have seen combat in every conflict this nation has been involved in during the 20th century. All of them had buddies who were tortured; some of them experienced torture themselves. All of them attested that someone who was tortured would never tell the truth, but instead, tell “credible untruths” with two purposes: to deceive the enemy and even more critically, to stay alive. What about myself? I’d like to think that I would tell an untruth to put an end to the torture and preserve my life, in a military situation, but that’s easier to say sitting here at my computer desk than if I was in a prison camp. In a situation like Eleazar’s, would I be able what he did, offer his life rather than denounce his faith? To tell the truth, I cannot answer that question. I can only hope and pray that I, and each of you, would say yes to witness, even if witness meant martyrdom.
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Today’s Gospel is taken from Luke (19:1-10):
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
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The story of Zacchaeus is unique to Luke, as are the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. Luke seems to have an eye for what is lost, and he even sees tax collectors in a good light (3:12; 7:29; 15:1; 18:10). But the situation here is ambiguous, since Luke typically portrays wealthy folk in a bad light. How will Zacchaeus be categorized, since he is both a tax collector and a wealthy man?
In fact, Zacchaeus was a “chief tax collector”, the epitome of revenue agents. They were despised by their own people, since the taxes they were collecting were going to the forces of occupation, the Romans. But there was something about Zacchaeus that remained open to grace. Jesus responded immediately: “Today I must stay at your house … today salvation has come to this house”, Jesus said. The word “today” is an important word in Luke’s vocabulary, as it must have been when Jesus spoke. How, then, does Jesus seem to be satisfied with Zacchaeus’ pledge for tomorrow? "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." In the Greek, these verbs are in the present tense, but many scholars, including the translators of this version, the New Revised Standard Version, see the meaning as future. The present tense would show the tax collector as boastful, which would certainly not impressed Jesus positively. Moreover, it would be hard to understand the crowd’s hostility to the tax collector if he had already mended his ways. It seems clear that Zacchaeus was not talking about what he was already doing, but about what he was going to do.
Why did Jesus accept his pledge? The point is that he was able to see his face, and his heart, which is impossible for us. The full message is not given by the words a person uses, but the person’s entire demeanor. Jesus saw that he was lost, and he also saw that he was open to being found again.
There was an elderly and highly respected teacher of the Law by the name of Eleazar, whose mouth was being forced open to make him eat pork. But he preferred an honorable death rather than a life of disgrace. So he spit out the meat and went willingly to the place of torture, showing how people should have courage to refuse unclean food, even if it costs them their lives.
Those in charge of the sacrifice had been friends of Eleazar for a long time, and because of this friendship they told him privately to bring meat that was lawful for him to eat. He need only pretend to eat the pork, they said, and in this way he would not be put to death. But Eleazar made a decision worthy of his gray hair and advanced age. All his life he had lived in perfect obedience to God's holy laws, so he replied:
Kill me, here and now. Such deception is not worthy of a man of my years. Many young people would think that I had denied my faith after I was ninety years old. If I pretended to eat this meat, just to live a little while longer, it would bring shame and disgrace on me and lead many young people astray. For the present I might be able to escape what you could do to me, but whether I live or die, I cannot escape Almighty God. If I die bravely now, it will show that I deserved my long life. It will also set a good example of the way young people should be willing and glad to die for our sacred and respected laws.
As soon as he said these things, he went off to be tortured, and the very people who had treated him kindly a few minutes before, now turned against him, because they thought he had spoken like a madman. When he had been beaten almost to the point of death, he groaned and said:
The Lord possesses all holy knowledge. He knows I could have escaped these terrible sufferings and death, yet he also knows that I gladly suffer these things, because I fear him.
So Eleazar died. But his courageous death was remembered as a glorious example, not only by young people, but by the entire nation as well.
+++
Eleazar, the learned and wise scribe, had the courage to refuse to eat pork, a meat forbidden by the Law. He also declined his friends’ suggestion that he merely pretend to eat the meat in order to save his own life. Today, he is venerated as a hero by Jews and Christians alike, a hero who died in the name of virtue. Although Eleazar lived and died more than two thousand years ago, the question remains today: Am I prepared to defend the beliefs, values and virtues of my religion? Am I willing to suffer and die in witness to my faith?
I can easy write “Of course I am!” as the next line of this reflection. But I am sitting at the computer desk, not standing as a prisoner before soldiers who will bring my life to a sudden and painful end if I don’t renounce my faith. Maybe it was easier to believe with certainty and to be willing to give one’s life for the faith in the days of the martyrs. Maybe the graces of faith and courage to endure martyrdom come only to those who are faced with that challenge, not to us who speculate about it.
There are some friends and family members of every generation from my grandparents’ to my own who have seen combat in every conflict this nation has been involved in during the 20th century. All of them had buddies who were tortured; some of them experienced torture themselves. All of them attested that someone who was tortured would never tell the truth, but instead, tell “credible untruths” with two purposes: to deceive the enemy and even more critically, to stay alive. What about myself? I’d like to think that I would tell an untruth to put an end to the torture and preserve my life, in a military situation, but that’s easier to say sitting here at my computer desk than if I was in a prison camp. In a situation like Eleazar’s, would I be able what he did, offer his life rather than denounce his faith? To tell the truth, I cannot answer that question. I can only hope and pray that I, and each of you, would say yes to witness, even if witness meant martyrdom.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Today’s Gospel is taken from Luke (19:1-10):
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
+++
The story of Zacchaeus is unique to Luke, as are the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. Luke seems to have an eye for what is lost, and he even sees tax collectors in a good light (3:12; 7:29; 15:1; 18:10). But the situation here is ambiguous, since Luke typically portrays wealthy folk in a bad light. How will Zacchaeus be categorized, since he is both a tax collector and a wealthy man?
In fact, Zacchaeus was a “chief tax collector”, the epitome of revenue agents. They were despised by their own people, since the taxes they were collecting were going to the forces of occupation, the Romans. But there was something about Zacchaeus that remained open to grace. Jesus responded immediately: “Today I must stay at your house … today salvation has come to this house”, Jesus said. The word “today” is an important word in Luke’s vocabulary, as it must have been when Jesus spoke. How, then, does Jesus seem to be satisfied with Zacchaeus’ pledge for tomorrow? "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." In the Greek, these verbs are in the present tense, but many scholars, including the translators of this version, the New Revised Standard Version, see the meaning as future. The present tense would show the tax collector as boastful, which would certainly not impressed Jesus positively. Moreover, it would be hard to understand the crowd’s hostility to the tax collector if he had already mended his ways. It seems clear that Zacchaeus was not talking about what he was already doing, but about what he was going to do.
Why did Jesus accept his pledge? The point is that he was able to see his face, and his heart, which is impossible for us. The full message is not given by the words a person uses, but the person’s entire demeanor. Jesus saw that he was lost, and he also saw that he was open to being found again.
Monday, November 16, 2009
They Preferred To Die Rather Than Break The Holy Covenant.
Today’s First Reading is taken from the First Book of Maccabees (1:10-25, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63):
Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus the Third of Syria, was a descendant of one of Alexander's generals. Antiochus Epiphanes had been a hostage in Rome before he became king of Syria in the year 137.
At that time there appeared in the land of Israel a group of traitorous Jews who had no regard for the Law and who had a bad influence on many of our people. They said: Let us come to terms with the Gentiles, for our refusal to associate with them has brought us nothing but trouble. This proposal appealed to many people, and some of them became so enthusiastic about it that they went to the king and received from him permission to follow Gentile customs. They built in Jerusalem a stadium like those in the Greek cities. They had surgery performed to hide their circumcision, abandoned the holy covenant, started associating with Gentiles, and did all sorts of other evil things.
Antiochus then issued a decree that all nations in his empire should abandon their own customs and become one people. All the Gentiles and even many of the Israelites submitted to this decree. They adopted the official pagan religion, offered sacrifices to idols, and no longer observed the Sabbath.
On the fifteenth day of the month of Kislev in the year 145, King Antiochus set up the Horrible Abomination on the altar of the Temple, and pagan altars were built in the towns throughout Judea. Pagan sacrifices were offered in front of houses and in the streets. Any books of the Law which were found were torn up and burned, and anyone who was caught with a copy of the sacred books or who obeyed the Law was put to death by order of the king.
But many people in Israel firmly resisted the king's decree and refused to eat food that was ritually unclean. They preferred to die rather than break the holy covenant and eat unclean food and many did die. Terrible suffering was inflected upon Israel.
+++
Today’s Gospel is taken from Luke (18:35-43):
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
"Lord, I want to see," he replied.
Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."
Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Today is the twentieth anniversary of the assassinations of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter, at the University of Central America (UCA) in El Salvador, an institution of Christian inspiration that had made a preferential option for the poor, the vast majority of the country’s citizens. But the martyrdoms of November 16, 1989, were hardly the first or only instances of persecution of the church and repression of movements for social change by the U.S.-supported armed forces of the Salvadoran government from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. The litany of dead and disappeared, including the saintly and prophetic Archbishop Oscar Romero, as well as four U.S. women missionaries, is heartbreakingly long, numbering in the tens of thousands.
An infamous slogan of the day was “Be a patriot! Kill a priest!” Women, including pregnant women, and children, including infants, were not spared. Unspeakable massacres at the Rio Sumpul and in the village of El Mazote seemed intended to wipe out the next generation of peasants – potential “subversives” – and to terrorize the current generation into submission.
“In those days there appeared in Israel men who were breakers of the law, and they seduced many people,…abandoned the covenant,…and sold themselves to wrongdoing… Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant…was condemned to death by royal decree.” Apparently persecution of the righteous by the ruling powers is nothing new, as the story of the Maccabees in the second century before Christ makes clear. “But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts…[and] preferred to die rather than…to profane the holy covenant.” And so was born the idea of religious martyrdom.
Faced with such inhumanity and idolatry, one cries out to God, with the Psalmist, “Indignation seizes me because of the wicked who forsake your law.” One begs the Lord, “Redeem me from the oppression of men, that I may keep your precepts.” When wicked men rule, as in the time of the Maccabees, or of Jesus, or of Romero and the UCA Jesuits, observing the commandments to love God and one’s neighbor as oneself becomes subversive and makes the righteous targets for violence.
In such a broken world, when the risen Jesus passes near, for what do you beg? How do you respond to his question to the blind man of Jericho, “What do you want me to do for you?”
I find myself praying for the courage to sustain compassion when so many suffering people around the world and over my back fence cry out for justice and solidarity. I find myself praying for the courage to be faithful to the covenant when it might be risky to speak out. I find myself asking for mercy, since I know from long past experience that my courage will sometimes be found wanting.
I find myself begging for sight, to see the world as it really is, in all its beauty and all its misery, its love and its hate, and to see it through the eyes of Jesus. I pray that I will never grow too tired, or cynical, or comfortable, to experience indignation in the face of yet another atrocity.
From the Maccabees to Jesus, and from Jesus to the Salvadoran martyrs, we have examples before us of those who persevered and paid the price. Dare we pray to have that kind of subversive faith?
Roger Bergman has been the director of the Justice & Peace Studies Program in the College of Arts & Sciences since 1993. He began teaching theological ethics at Creighton University in 1989.
Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus the Third of Syria, was a descendant of one of Alexander's generals. Antiochus Epiphanes had been a hostage in Rome before he became king of Syria in the year 137.
At that time there appeared in the land of Israel a group of traitorous Jews who had no regard for the Law and who had a bad influence on many of our people. They said: Let us come to terms with the Gentiles, for our refusal to associate with them has brought us nothing but trouble. This proposal appealed to many people, and some of them became so enthusiastic about it that they went to the king and received from him permission to follow Gentile customs. They built in Jerusalem a stadium like those in the Greek cities. They had surgery performed to hide their circumcision, abandoned the holy covenant, started associating with Gentiles, and did all sorts of other evil things.
Antiochus then issued a decree that all nations in his empire should abandon their own customs and become one people. All the Gentiles and even many of the Israelites submitted to this decree. They adopted the official pagan religion, offered sacrifices to idols, and no longer observed the Sabbath.
On the fifteenth day of the month of Kislev in the year 145, King Antiochus set up the Horrible Abomination on the altar of the Temple, and pagan altars were built in the towns throughout Judea. Pagan sacrifices were offered in front of houses and in the streets. Any books of the Law which were found were torn up and burned, and anyone who was caught with a copy of the sacred books or who obeyed the Law was put to death by order of the king.
But many people in Israel firmly resisted the king's decree and refused to eat food that was ritually unclean. They preferred to die rather than break the holy covenant and eat unclean food and many did die. Terrible suffering was inflected upon Israel.
+++
Today’s Gospel is taken from Luke (18:35-43):
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
"Lord, I want to see," he replied.
Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."
Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Daily Reflection
Creighton University's Online Ministries
Today is the twentieth anniversary of the assassinations of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter, at the University of Central America (UCA) in El Salvador, an institution of Christian inspiration that had made a preferential option for the poor, the vast majority of the country’s citizens. But the martyrdoms of November 16, 1989, were hardly the first or only instances of persecution of the church and repression of movements for social change by the U.S.-supported armed forces of the Salvadoran government from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. The litany of dead and disappeared, including the saintly and prophetic Archbishop Oscar Romero, as well as four U.S. women missionaries, is heartbreakingly long, numbering in the tens of thousands.
An infamous slogan of the day was “Be a patriot! Kill a priest!” Women, including pregnant women, and children, including infants, were not spared. Unspeakable massacres at the Rio Sumpul and in the village of El Mazote seemed intended to wipe out the next generation of peasants – potential “subversives” – and to terrorize the current generation into submission.
“In those days there appeared in Israel men who were breakers of the law, and they seduced many people,…abandoned the covenant,…and sold themselves to wrongdoing… Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant…was condemned to death by royal decree.” Apparently persecution of the righteous by the ruling powers is nothing new, as the story of the Maccabees in the second century before Christ makes clear. “But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts…[and] preferred to die rather than…to profane the holy covenant.” And so was born the idea of religious martyrdom.
Faced with such inhumanity and idolatry, one cries out to God, with the Psalmist, “Indignation seizes me because of the wicked who forsake your law.” One begs the Lord, “Redeem me from the oppression of men, that I may keep your precepts.” When wicked men rule, as in the time of the Maccabees, or of Jesus, or of Romero and the UCA Jesuits, observing the commandments to love God and one’s neighbor as oneself becomes subversive and makes the righteous targets for violence.
In such a broken world, when the risen Jesus passes near, for what do you beg? How do you respond to his question to the blind man of Jericho, “What do you want me to do for you?”
I find myself praying for the courage to sustain compassion when so many suffering people around the world and over my back fence cry out for justice and solidarity. I find myself praying for the courage to be faithful to the covenant when it might be risky to speak out. I find myself asking for mercy, since I know from long past experience that my courage will sometimes be found wanting.
I find myself begging for sight, to see the world as it really is, in all its beauty and all its misery, its love and its hate, and to see it through the eyes of Jesus. I pray that I will never grow too tired, or cynical, or comfortable, to experience indignation in the face of yet another atrocity.
From the Maccabees to Jesus, and from Jesus to the Salvadoran martyrs, we have examples before us of those who persevered and paid the price. Dare we pray to have that kind of subversive faith?
Roger Bergman has been the director of the Justice & Peace Studies Program in the College of Arts & Sciences since 1993. He began teaching theological ethics at Creighton University in 1989.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Heaven And Earth Will Pass Away, But My Words Will Not Pass Away.
Today’s First Reading is taken from the Book of the Prophet Daniel (12:1-3)
When the time arrives for this world to come to an end, Michael, the great prince of angels, the guardian of God’s people, will arise. There will be a period of great distress, such as has not occurred from the beginning of time until then. But God has promised that the angels will help his people, and rescue them, so that everyone whose name is inscribed in the book of life will be saved.
At that time, those who have died will come back to life, and a final judgment will occur. Some will be called to eternal life, others to everlasting horror and disgrace. Those who are truly wise will learn that the surest path to enter the kingdom of heaven is to lead others to righteousness. The lesson is beautifully illustrated in the tale of two pilgrims going to Jerusalem. The blind pilgrim carried the lame pilgrim on his shoulders, while the lame pilgrim pointed the way.
+++
Today’s Second Reading is taken from the Letter to the Hebrews (10:11-14, 18)
Day after day, the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem stood to perform their ministry. Over and over again they offered the sacrifices called for in the Law of Moses. But however often the ritual sacrifices were repeated, they could never take away the people’s sins.
But, when Jesus offered himself as the Lamb of God, he accomplished the perfect and complete sacrifice which atoned to the Father for the sins of his brothers and sisters from Adam and Eve to those still alive in the flesh at the moment He comes again in glory. Having completed this sacrifice, he took his seat forever at the right hand of God. (Cf. Psalm 101:1 “The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”.) By this one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. For when God has forgiven sin, there is no longer a need for sin offerings.
+++
Today’s Gospel is taken from Mark (13:24-32):
Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the “end times” when he will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. He uses the same imagery as the prophets of the Old Testament: "But in those days, following that distress, 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly powers will be shaken.”
He continues with a reference to the prophet Daniel: "At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” At the time, God will send the angels to gather the chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky.
Jesus then uses a horticultural image: “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the gates.” Here, there is a subtle reference to the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah in Micah 4:3-4:
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Every man will sit under his own vine
and under his own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the LORD of Hosts has spoken.
This gospel concludes with a prophecy that has caused controversy and concern from the early days of the Church until the present: I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Mark 13:30-31)
After the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the disciples believed that Jesus would return in glory very soon. But the time of Jesus’ return remains known only to God. We have been waiting for that day for two thousand years, and it has not yet arrived. Perhaps we would be better served by paying greater attention to the last verses of the prophesy, the conclusion of today’s gospel: “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
The last word is one you have heard before: “Live this day as if it were the first day, the last day, the only day of your life. One of these days, it will be.”
When the time arrives for this world to come to an end, Michael, the great prince of angels, the guardian of God’s people, will arise. There will be a period of great distress, such as has not occurred from the beginning of time until then. But God has promised that the angels will help his people, and rescue them, so that everyone whose name is inscribed in the book of life will be saved.
At that time, those who have died will come back to life, and a final judgment will occur. Some will be called to eternal life, others to everlasting horror and disgrace. Those who are truly wise will learn that the surest path to enter the kingdom of heaven is to lead others to righteousness. The lesson is beautifully illustrated in the tale of two pilgrims going to Jerusalem. The blind pilgrim carried the lame pilgrim on his shoulders, while the lame pilgrim pointed the way.
+++
Today’s Second Reading is taken from the Letter to the Hebrews (10:11-14, 18)
Day after day, the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem stood to perform their ministry. Over and over again they offered the sacrifices called for in the Law of Moses. But however often the ritual sacrifices were repeated, they could never take away the people’s sins.
But, when Jesus offered himself as the Lamb of God, he accomplished the perfect and complete sacrifice which atoned to the Father for the sins of his brothers and sisters from Adam and Eve to those still alive in the flesh at the moment He comes again in glory. Having completed this sacrifice, he took his seat forever at the right hand of God. (Cf. Psalm 101:1 “The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”.) By this one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. For when God has forgiven sin, there is no longer a need for sin offerings.
+++
Today’s Gospel is taken from Mark (13:24-32):
Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the “end times” when he will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. He uses the same imagery as the prophets of the Old Testament: "But in those days, following that distress, 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly powers will be shaken.”
He continues with a reference to the prophet Daniel: "At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” At the time, God will send the angels to gather the chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky.
Jesus then uses a horticultural image: “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the gates.” Here, there is a subtle reference to the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah in Micah 4:3-4:
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Every man will sit under his own vine
and under his own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the LORD of Hosts has spoken.
This gospel concludes with a prophecy that has caused controversy and concern from the early days of the Church until the present: I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Mark 13:30-31)
After the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the disciples believed that Jesus would return in glory very soon. But the time of Jesus’ return remains known only to God. We have been waiting for that day for two thousand years, and it has not yet arrived. Perhaps we would be better served by paying greater attention to the last verses of the prophesy, the conclusion of today’s gospel: “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
The last word is one you have heard before: “Live this day as if it were the first day, the last day, the only day of your life. One of these days, it will be.”
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Will Not God Secure The Rights Of Those Who Call Upon Him?
Reading 1
Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9
When peaceful stillness compassed everything
and the night in its swift course was half spent,
your all-powerful word, from heaven’s royal throne
bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land,
bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree.
And as he alighted, he filled every place with death;
he still reached to heaven, while he stood upon the earth.
For all creation, in its several kinds, was being made over anew,
serving its natural laws,
that your children might be preserved unharmed.
The cloud overshadowed their camp;
and out of what had before been water, dry land was seen emerging:
Out of the Red Sea an unimpeded road,
and a grassy plain out of the mighty flood.
Over this crossed the whole nation sheltered by your hand,
after they beheld stupendous wonders.
For they ranged about like horses,
and bounded about like lambs,
praising you, O Lord! their deliverer.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 105
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
Then he struck every first born throughout their land,
the first fruits of all their manhood.
And he led them forth laden with silver and gold,
with not a weakling among their tribes.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
For he remembered his holy word
to his servant Abraham.
And he led forth his people with joy;
with shouts of joy, his chosen ones.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
Gospel
Luke 18:1-8
Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, “There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.’”
The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call upon him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
+++ +++ +++ +++
Saint Augustine wrote: “[The Lord] taught us … not to use a lot of words when we are praying, as if the more words we used, the more likely we would be heard. He said, “The Father already knows what you need before you ask him.” On the other hand, though he warns us against using too many words, and assures us that the Father knows what we need even before we ask, Jesus still urges us “pray constantly, and never lose heart.”
Augustine understood that the unjust judge in the parable was not an image of God. Jesus is not comparing them, but contrasting them. If an unjust judge will respond positively to repeated requests, how much more will God, who is good? “The Lord wishes us to understand how much God cares for those who pray to him, since God is both just and good.”
Once, probably during a hospital visit, I asked a man how often he prayed. He assured me that he prayed every night before he went to bed. I was impressed, and asked him how he prayed. He said, “Even when I am very tired, I never forget at least to say, ‘Good night, God’”. That brings us back to Augustine’s question: If God is a just and loving God, who knows what we need even before he ask, why would need to go beyond “Good morning” and “Good night”? Why would we need to be persistent in prayer?
If we feel we have to be persistent, it is not because God is reluctant to give us what we need. It is not God, but ourselves, that we have to convince. Sometimes – often, I should say – we hardly know what we want, never mind what we need. By our persistent prayers, we are preparing ourselves to receive what God is going to give – or to do without what God is going to withhold for our own good. We are cooperating in God’s work within us. In the words of the English mystic Julian of Norwich, God says, “I am the ground of your praying. First, it is my will that you should have something, then, I make you wish for it, and finally, I make you pray for it.”
Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9
When peaceful stillness compassed everything
and the night in its swift course was half spent,
your all-powerful word, from heaven’s royal throne
bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land,
bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree.
And as he alighted, he filled every place with death;
he still reached to heaven, while he stood upon the earth.
For all creation, in its several kinds, was being made over anew,
serving its natural laws,
that your children might be preserved unharmed.
The cloud overshadowed their camp;
and out of what had before been water, dry land was seen emerging:
Out of the Red Sea an unimpeded road,
and a grassy plain out of the mighty flood.
Over this crossed the whole nation sheltered by your hand,
after they beheld stupendous wonders.
For they ranged about like horses,
and bounded about like lambs,
praising you, O Lord! their deliverer.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 105
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
Then he struck every first born throughout their land,
the first fruits of all their manhood.
And he led them forth laden with silver and gold,
with not a weakling among their tribes.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
For he remembered his holy word
to his servant Abraham.
And he led forth his people with joy;
with shouts of joy, his chosen ones.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
Gospel
Luke 18:1-8
Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, “There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.’”
The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call upon him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
+++ +++ +++ +++
Saint Augustine wrote: “[The Lord] taught us … not to use a lot of words when we are praying, as if the more words we used, the more likely we would be heard. He said, “The Father already knows what you need before you ask him.” On the other hand, though he warns us against using too many words, and assures us that the Father knows what we need even before we ask, Jesus still urges us “pray constantly, and never lose heart.”
Augustine understood that the unjust judge in the parable was not an image of God. Jesus is not comparing them, but contrasting them. If an unjust judge will respond positively to repeated requests, how much more will God, who is good? “The Lord wishes us to understand how much God cares for those who pray to him, since God is both just and good.”
Once, probably during a hospital visit, I asked a man how often he prayed. He assured me that he prayed every night before he went to bed. I was impressed, and asked him how he prayed. He said, “Even when I am very tired, I never forget at least to say, ‘Good night, God’”. That brings us back to Augustine’s question: If God is a just and loving God, who knows what we need even before he ask, why would need to go beyond “Good morning” and “Good night”? Why would we need to be persistent in prayer?
If we feel we have to be persistent, it is not because God is reluctant to give us what we need. It is not God, but ourselves, that we have to convince. Sometimes – often, I should say – we hardly know what we want, never mind what we need. By our persistent prayers, we are preparing ourselves to receive what God is going to give – or to do without what God is going to withhold for our own good. We are cooperating in God’s work within us. In the words of the English mystic Julian of Norwich, God says, “I am the ground of your praying. First, it is my will that you should have something, then, I make you wish for it, and finally, I make you pray for it.”
Friday, November 13, 2009
We Are God's Children Now.
First Reading
Wisdom 13:1-9
Anyone who does not know God is simply foolish. Such people look at the good things around them and still fail to see the living God. They have studied the things he made, but they have not recognized the one who made them. Instead, they suppose that the gods who rule the world are fire or wind or storm or the circling stars or rushing water or the heavenly bodies. People were so delighted with the beauty of these things that they thought they must be gods, but they should have realized that these things have a master and that he is much greater than all of them, for he is the creator of beauty, and he created them. Since people are amazed at the power of these things, and how they behave, they ought to learn from them that their maker is far more powerful. When we realize how vast and beautiful the creation is, we are learning about the Creator at the same time.
But maybe we are too harsh with these people. After all, they may have really wanted to find God, but couldn't. Surrounded by God's works, they keep on looking at them, until they are finally convinced that because the things they see are so beautiful, they must be gods. But still, these people really have no excuse. If they had enough intelligence to speculate about the nature of the universe, why did they never find the Lord of all things?
+++
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 19
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
+++
Gospel
Luke 17:26-37
Jesus said to his disciples: As it was in the time of Noah so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. Everybody kept on eating and drinking, and men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat and the flood came and killed them all. It will be as it was in the time of Lot. Everybody kept on eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. On the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and killed them all. That is how it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day someone who is on the roof of a house must not go down into the house to get any belongings; in the same way anyone who is out in the field must not go back to the house. Remember Lot's wife! Those who try to save their own life will lose it; those who lose their life will save it. On that night, I tell you, there will be two people sleeping in the same bed: one will be taken away; the other will be left behind. Two women will be grinding meal together: one will be taken away; the other will be left behind.
The disciples asked him, Where, Lord? Jesus answered, “Wherever there is a dead body, the vultures will gather.”
+++ +++ +++ +++
This passage of Luke’s gospel is rather obscure. It’s not easy to know what Jesus is saying, except that no one knows when “the day the Son of Man is revealed” will come. The imagery is drawn from Old Testament prophecy; all of the cosmic convulsions are there, as they are in the prophetical books, and in the books of Wisdom. “That day” seems to be a reference to that day when He will come in glory to judge the living and the dead.
The emphasis here is on the suddenness and the newness of it all. The normal routing of “eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building” will be disrupted. It will even make your most familiar companions look like strangers. When there is a cataclysm of some kind, people remember vividly what they were doing just as it struck. Those normal routines are seen now from a different perspective: from high in the air, as it were, rather than from the familiar ground.
Though we are largely at a loss when it comes to understanding this passage, its urgency is good for us, no doubt. Perhaps we become too complacent, too detached, too ‘knowing’. The impact of the 19th century Danish philosopher Kierkegaard’s writing in his own world was explosive: he castigated his age as “an age without passion, with no values, an age that reduces everything to ideas.” It was said of Karl Barth, the 20th century Protestant theologian, that his impact on his contemporaries was “like a bomb exploding in their back garden.” He stressed the "total otherness of God.” We make God a kind of private ineffectual daydream or a monthly or annual liability like rent or tax. We make God “part of our life”, even though God cannot be part of anything; God can only be whole. We are God's children now; our lives should radiate his life within us.
Wisdom 13:1-9
Anyone who does not know God is simply foolish. Such people look at the good things around them and still fail to see the living God. They have studied the things he made, but they have not recognized the one who made them. Instead, they suppose that the gods who rule the world are fire or wind or storm or the circling stars or rushing water or the heavenly bodies. People were so delighted with the beauty of these things that they thought they must be gods, but they should have realized that these things have a master and that he is much greater than all of them, for he is the creator of beauty, and he created them. Since people are amazed at the power of these things, and how they behave, they ought to learn from them that their maker is far more powerful. When we realize how vast and beautiful the creation is, we are learning about the Creator at the same time.
But maybe we are too harsh with these people. After all, they may have really wanted to find God, but couldn't. Surrounded by God's works, they keep on looking at them, until they are finally convinced that because the things they see are so beautiful, they must be gods. But still, these people really have no excuse. If they had enough intelligence to speculate about the nature of the universe, why did they never find the Lord of all things?
+++
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 19
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
+++
Gospel
Luke 17:26-37
Jesus said to his disciples: As it was in the time of Noah so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. Everybody kept on eating and drinking, and men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat and the flood came and killed them all. It will be as it was in the time of Lot. Everybody kept on eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. On the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and killed them all. That is how it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day someone who is on the roof of a house must not go down into the house to get any belongings; in the same way anyone who is out in the field must not go back to the house. Remember Lot's wife! Those who try to save their own life will lose it; those who lose their life will save it. On that night, I tell you, there will be two people sleeping in the same bed: one will be taken away; the other will be left behind. Two women will be grinding meal together: one will be taken away; the other will be left behind.
The disciples asked him, Where, Lord? Jesus answered, “Wherever there is a dead body, the vultures will gather.”
+++ +++ +++ +++
This passage of Luke’s gospel is rather obscure. It’s not easy to know what Jesus is saying, except that no one knows when “the day the Son of Man is revealed” will come. The imagery is drawn from Old Testament prophecy; all of the cosmic convulsions are there, as they are in the prophetical books, and in the books of Wisdom. “That day” seems to be a reference to that day when He will come in glory to judge the living and the dead.
The emphasis here is on the suddenness and the newness of it all. The normal routing of “eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building” will be disrupted. It will even make your most familiar companions look like strangers. When there is a cataclysm of some kind, people remember vividly what they were doing just as it struck. Those normal routines are seen now from a different perspective: from high in the air, as it were, rather than from the familiar ground.
Though we are largely at a loss when it comes to understanding this passage, its urgency is good for us, no doubt. Perhaps we become too complacent, too detached, too ‘knowing’. The impact of the 19th century Danish philosopher Kierkegaard’s writing in his own world was explosive: he castigated his age as “an age without passion, with no values, an age that reduces everything to ideas.” It was said of Karl Barth, the 20th century Protestant theologian, that his impact on his contemporaries was “like a bomb exploding in their back garden.” He stressed the "total otherness of God.” We make God a kind of private ineffectual daydream or a monthly or annual liability like rent or tax. We make God “part of our life”, even though God cannot be part of anything; God can only be whole. We are God's children now; our lives should radiate his life within us.
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