Holy Innocents

(December 28, 2009)

“If we say, ‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”

Scriptures: 1Jn 1: 5 – 2: 2; Ps 124; Mt 2: 13 -18

How do I react to gift in another person, in other people? “Of what use is it to have eyes if the heart is blind?”

There is a point of “communion” between us and God, between us and other people. For John it is the light. The first truth this light of God reveals is that we are sinners in need of God’s help. Relating to God means seeing more and more clearly what we need to work on with God’s grace to strengthen our identification with his Son like these innocent children. The psalm affirms the certainty of this rescue by our God who keeps sending his light to guide our steps into the way of peace.

The gospel presents a contrasting picture. Herod has “communion” with Christ in kingship, but he cannot stand it. Why? Partly because he cannot bring himself to see his limitations as ruler; he cannot handle his need of ‘external help’. If there should be any ‘real messiahs’ they should come from the house of Herod – he thinks. That is his darkness and blindness made explicit by the fact that the scriptures in which he and his sages believed indicate clearly such prophecies from the living God. Herod is portrayed as the perfect example of one in whom the truth does not dwell at all. Before I read for you my understanding of God is calling you to do with somebody else’s giftedness through a story, I need to say that Jesus is the main character for us to consider. The coming of Christ on earth, as the fathers have taught us sends to heaven those on earth who are his own: Stephen the first martyr on the 26^th, John the apostle and evangelist on the 27^th, the holy innocents today. Men, women and children of all walks of life are called to be close friends of Christ in different ways. They all said “Yes” with various degrees of awareness and levels of consent. We are therefore in good company with them in our own struggles to say, “Yes Lord, I will follow you wherever you lead me!”

Here is the story of how to receive the blessings given by God to other people, with the spirit of John the Baptist and the spirit of Christ Jesus: a spirit of thankfulness for having others as spouse, siblings, friends, colleagues…etc. Our innocent comes from knowing God’s greatness, even through others.

A story, originally from  Anthony de Mello, S.J.

A holy man dedicated to prayer and contemplation in a secluded place receives an unexpected visitor: the abbot of a well-known monastery.

“What is it you seek?” asked the holy man.

The abbot recounted a tale of woe. At one time, his monastery had been famous throughout the western world. Its cells were filled with young aspirants and its church resounded to the chant of its monks. But hard times had come on the monastery. People no longer flocked there to nourish their spirits, the stream of young aspirants had dried up, the church was silent. There was only a handful of monks left and these went about their duties with heavy hearts.

Now this is what the abbot wanted help in discernment about: “Is it because of some sin of ours that the monastery has been reduced to this state?”

“Yes,” said the holy man, “a sin of ignorance.”

“And what sin might that be?”

“One of your number is the Messiah in disguise and you are ignorant of this.” Having said that the holy man closed his eyes and returned to his contemplation of God.

Throughout the arduous journey back to his monastery the abbot’s heart beat fast at the thought that the Messiah –the Messiah himself—had returned to earth and was right there in the monastery. How was it he had failed to recognize him? And who could it be? Brother Cook? Brother Sacristan? Brother Treasurer? Brother Prior? No, not he; he had too many defects, alas. But then, the holy man said he was in disguise. Could those defects be one of his disguises? Come to think of it, everyone in the monastery had defects. And one of them had to be the Messiah!

Back in the monastery he assembled the monks and told them what he had discovered. They looked at one another in disbelief. The Messiah? Here? Incredible! But he was supposed to be here in disguise. So, maybe. What if it were so-and-so? Or the other one over there? Or. . .

One thing was certain. If the Messiah was there in disguise, it was not likely that they would recognize him. So they took to treating everyone with respect and consideration. “You never know,” they said to themselves when they dealt with one another, “maybe this is the one.”

The result of this was that the atmosphere in the monastery became vibrant with joy. Soon dozens of aspirants were seeking admission to the Order—and once again the church echoed with the holy and joyful chant of monks who were aglow with the spirit of love.

As we receive strength from the Eucharist, let us ask God for the grace of constant discerning of our pathway in friendship with his incarnate son: good community life for these monks, good family life for most of us, and our various involvements for the well-being of the larger world.

Holy Family of Jesus Mary and Joseph

(December 27, 2009)

“Whoever obeys his father brings comfort to his mother”

Scriptures: Sirach 3: 2 – 6, 12 – 14; Ps 84; Col. 3: 12 – 21; Lk 2: 41 – 52

Theme: The very ‘natural’ revelation of God’s love in the family if of Christ.

Introduction: Today we hear Jesus speak for the first time in his own voice, in his own words. Jesus is slowly coming of age and developing some convictions. It is true that the age of 12 was the entering of a young man into adulthood as regards the Jewish Torah in which he would be schooled for basic living knowledge or greater mastery of God’s will in order to teach others. Jesus is God’s Son; he does not obey all natural and customary laws as the gospels try to teach us, yet he appears to be like all boys of his age. Mary and Joseph, who, like us focus on Jesus, are parents like all parents, giving the best they have and know to their child, with great love on their part. Like all parents, they cannot comprehend all the desires and inner world of their child. The call is therefore to do our best and give from our heart. God will take care of all the rest. That trust in God’s fulfilling his own law in the heart of a child is also part of being a parent as Scripture teaches us today.

(1) A Normal Family

The Holy Family is foremost a very normal family. They live by the Jewish piety of going every year to the Passover celebration in Jerusalem. We all know that the Passover is the symbolic beginning of the Jewish faith in God’s love and commitment to his people. The going out of their homes and villages to the temple added a surplus of sensitivity to the desert journey for those who came from a distance, like Mary and Joseph coming from Nazareth in the North. The prayers, rituals and gift offerings in the temple are part of the formation of a community dedicated to God. The family is the basic unit of this community of God-lovers. Like our own context shows, Mary and Joseph were kind of geographical ‘inter-racial’ couple, yet both related to David’s house, hence from the same tribe, that is God’s choice.

This normal family obeys the customs of women walking together and men walking together. One day-journey of re-uniting led Joseph and Mary to realize that their child did not associate with either group. He prefers the temple atmosphere and the total dedication to studying and expanding the Torah-Law in Jerusalem. Again, this child is beyond gender-divides. He is God’s child, the savior of all humanity on this textual bridge announcing his public ministry. This family is on its Exodus of love of God. We remember all the troubles in Mary’s life since the coming of the angel Gabriel. We remember the troubles of Joseph who had to grapple with these unpleasant events around his sweetheart’s life. Now we see them anguished by the Way of their Son. They are out seeking the constitution of a new large family of God from the natural feelings for family life: missing each other, communicating thoughts and feelings, sharing everything. In this natural environment any child learns from parents; he or she obeys them. Scripture teaches that this obedience does not take away in any sense the freedom and authentic God-given personality of the child. True education belongs to parents who are called to pass on the values they judge most authentic, the values of love, and the values of mutual concerns.

The book of Sirach and the Colossian epistle confirm this by encouraging family members to honor each other. Children in particular are encouraged to revere their parents who stand as God’s representatives. A sinless family in this light is a family where mutual respect is the rule of love. In other words, there is no way of loving and serving God (except for unusual/exceptional graces of conversion through healing), unless we experience good/just family life. Many adults cannot value paternal imagery because they have not touched the kindness of a human father. Likewise, it is hard to value motherhood if you have never perceived the anguished heart of a tender mother who cares about what happens to you. Paul likewise says to the Colossians, that family relations are better when ruled by forgiveness, the “bond of perfection”. Holiness in a family consists simply in being thankful for one another and swift to forgive one another. Then he gives the three-part guideline for action towards each other: subordination, love and compassionate care. When husband and wife have the peace of Christ in their hearts these attitudes are its fruit. Wild human nature cannot teach subordination without inviting for sinful domination and oppression. But love wishes to submit to every wish of the beloved. This wisdom is difficult to explain or teach.  In following the order current society gives, the joy of being married will come from the enjoyment of loving the other person for who he or she is and for whom he or she is not yet as far as my knowledge goes. I do not know of anyone who has figured out what the order of society and family is in our days as regards this teaching from the world of Pauline spirituality. Is there a need of subordination and of love the way Paul understands them, or do we just live by contract of self-interests colored by the interests of the other just as one condition to fulfill our own dreams and pursuits of happiness?

Jesus, Mary and Joseph are seen as ‘forgiving’ each other and living according to the family code of their nation and religion. Jesus naturally obeys his parents and they watch over his natural and grace-filled growth. Yet God is the Father and Lord of all, singularly present in Jesus.

(2) The Unique personality of Jesus the normal man

Following the Exodus motive, Jesus goes to Jerusalem accompanying his parents for the first time. But for the last time, he will be accompanied by his disciples. His Father’s House, his heavenly family is a ‘city of peace’ not built by human hands but by the word of God. In the exact same way as he stays in Jerusalem for the first time, he will stay there for the last time, giving appointment to his disciples in the ‘Galilee of the dispersion’ for their restoration as a new people of God. In that sense, Jesus is presenting himself as a unique human character radically marked by God’s grace. He is God’s own Son. Seeing how these saintly people of his human family struggle to gradually understand who he was, we know that any true association with Jesus will lead us to experiences that we could not dream about on our own.

This unique character of Jesus responds to the call of the wisdom of Sirach, “My son, take care of your father when he is old,” by the place Mary and Joseph occupy in the Church’s piety, that is the earthly special home of Jesus to which Mary and Joseph eminently belong. We honor them as he honors them in heaven. If we keep doing so, the three of them will indeed teach us what Paul calls “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Jesus reveals his divinity to those who have a heart capable of love; that means all humanity. However, he wants to honor the Exodus tradition by encountering us on our way of searching for the truth. This truth today is, “Where is Jesus our Son?” Am I personally interested in knowing more about Jesus, in wanting him close to me? Do I feel when he seems distant from me? Do I take action to close the gap to the best of my ability? For us sinners, Mary and Joseph express the act of repentance, of return to Jesus when we lose sight of him due to our sin. We cannot go our own way without his unique character on us. Although we are adults and doing the works of charity, we constantly need the instructions and presence of the Lord in all that we do. There is no ‘absolute point’ coming of age in the kingdom of God except growing in love, and growing in love increases the desire to be with the beloved. In being close to the beloved, we learn that we can never know him or her or them completely. Every day is a new day with them. More so is it with Jesus our Lord. He instructs us by reminding us that he is the “Son of God,” or by showing us a particular instance of what it means to be God’s Son. We are filled with gratitude by belonging to the family of Jesus Christ in the Church, and we sing to God “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” of praise for knowing about these things.

(3) The extended Family of Jesus

Finding Jesus in what matters to Him is becoming a member of his family. Does he not say, “the one who listens to my words and puts them in practice is father/mother/brother/sister to me”? Mary and Joseph, the family of Jesus according to the flesh did also the work of faith in Christ the Lord by seeking his heart, and by giving him to his broader mission. As we see in today’s gospel, their hearts were filled with anxiety (as normal parents experience it), about him. They put their trust in God whose kingdom is the sole comfort of the mother in the case of a son like Jesus. By doing the natural things parents do, they grew into the spiritual family of their Son who is also their Lord and God. What do we learn from their example? Do what is our immediate duty and responsibility to the things of our current life. We value order in society and relationships on various levels. We care about our natural family, we live by the common piety of the Church, particularly the Eucharist. And we let our hearts question what we do by increasing attention to what the Lord is saying, and the ever new ways in which he is communicating his divinity to us. These ways of the Lord are often too ‘natural’ for unprepared hearts to perceive as divine. In that sense Mary and Joseph who experience the coming of the Lord into the flesh were not better prepared than we who believe today. They had the love needed to accept to be transformed by the mystery of God come close. As family of God, the Church presents to us the mystery of God’s incarnation in ways that sound sometimes incredibly simplistic to sophisticated minds, or too unlikely for the skeptical. But for the one who has faith (neither stupidity nor scientism), “nothing will be impossible to God,” and this is not mindless credulity as we can see in Mary who keeps searching for the deeper meaning of the words of the angel when her son grows up. We grow up with the evolutions of our world in science, technology and various awareness-levels of our common heritage. This evolution makes our faith even more viable, for it is simply the beauty of love made real in concrete relations of respect to the knowledge of others and respect to the mystery of others, made in God’s image, after the Only Son.

Conclusion: Let us pray brothers and sisters that our hearts remain open to the refreshing newness of God’s revelation of his presence to us through the various means and instances of our journeys of faith, and our natural journeys of life. All is from God who has united us to Christ, to form a family of God-lovers and lovers of his Peace. The introductory terms of ‘natural’ and revelation come together for one who loves truly, for that person will see what ‘natural’ eyes cannot perceived; This is so because love reveals the orderly nature of God who is Love.

Christmas 2009

Scripture: Is. 9: 1 – 6; Titus 2: 11 -14; Lk 2: 1 -14

“The whole world should be enrolled,” “for the grace of God has appeared, saving all.”

Theme: The world is a creation of God. In it, all peace-lovers enjoy God’s “dominion” and call Him “Father-Forever.”

Introduction: The birth of a child was culturally more important in the Palestine of Jesus days than ours in which voices even cry for prevention of such great events. The meaning of Christmas as  the simple joy of humanity rejoicing in a family event is tainted by the understanding of what a blessing a child could be to parents today. We have many other events that we celebrate but this is God’s way of relating to us: becoming one of us in this particular child, Jesus. Our short reflection may just consist of listing some of things we readily notice as gift and blessings and other realities we need more focus to see, and then the things that only God shows us as sure signs of his love. One guiding question might be who counts as belonging to our Church family of St John the Baptist in El-Cerrito? What place do we have for those we do not yet know? How are we intentionally mindful of “hidden presences?”

(1) Elements of the world readily known and counted

Some people are counted, well respected: Augustus Caesar, Quirinus and other rulers. Joseph and Mary and other citizens. Human passions are recognized. Through passions, many good things have been achieved in our world. Justice and temperance are virtues that we can name. Our own town and cultures count. Our own history counts, the rich count, the priests and leaders of the people count. Those who have given us something or given us love count. Gratitude is important, and knowledge of facts is important. But, are we open to growth?

(2) Elements accepted with due effort

Some groups are barely visible: Shepherds, unborn children, the  poor. The invisible people of prophet Isaiah are now in the light. The “lifting of pressure from those oppressed” by various ills takes the effort of one who cares to remove the obstacles others neglect. Indeed, they will all hang on the shoulder of a little child in the future, whose personality is difficult to perceive now. Some of the obstacles, some of our enemies, we can overcome with great, consistent and sustained effort. However, there are battles and wars that we cannot win without ‘external ‘aid’. We may, with some training and discipline attain a certain level of devout life: willing what God wills for us. The effort can be summarized in the overcoming of fear: fear of the new, fear of opinion, fear of suffering, fear of loneliness. Work at progress is important. But are we open to grateful reception of surprises (beyond what we make)?

(3) God’s consecration of elements beyond our grasp

Things that only God reveals: The angels, the divinity of this particular child, “Christ and Lord” are pure gifts from God to our knowing ability. The unexpected victories in life and miracles come from God. Our “cleansing from lawlessness by our great God and savior Jesus Christ” is beyond the Law that is the highest authority over every citizen. Who among us is totally shaped into pure willingness to do the good? Jesus’ own eagerness to do just what is good by not even having the inclination to do wrong is divine, God’s favor to humanity by coming in the flesh. Let us relish our humanity with the birth of Christ today.

Conclusion: The enrollment of the whole world means ability to count all those parts that are not yet on the common list. We are called to remain open in our hearts to encounter God in ways not yet revealed. Christmas is about pointers of love around us. Some of them we can see, some take some searching and others come from the light of pure grace. Let our hearts and mind shower peace upon the entire world: on those who share our faith and those who do not, those we love and those we love less. Let us ask God to make the universe his home and give us His peace.

First Sunday of Advent C

(November 29, 2009)

“It is our business to see that we do right; God will see that we come out right.”

Scripture: Jer. 33: 14 – 16; Ps 25: 4-5, 8-10, 14; 1 Thes. 3: 12 – 4: 2; Lk 21: 25 – 28, 34 – 36.

Homily

Advent is a time of expectation and hope.[1] Officially, we all expect the coming into the flesh of God’s Son, the birth of Jesus at Christmas. What do we want to ask of him? What do we want to offer him?[2] This is a season for making our every desire known to God and to ourselves for a deeper appropriation and perhaps for a better perspective.

The Scriptures of this day present to us a horizon in the future where God’s power will be felt and known. In the light of this coming event, the same scriptures teach us a way to wait for the realization of the promise. Jesus indeed teaches us how to live today in holy expectation.

Our reflection bears on the healthy vision of the wonderland of promise in touch with the here-and-now of joyful but constant labor.[3] In other words, while our attention is on the Lord who is coming, our awareness watches over every step of the journey, in the Spirit of God.

1) God is coming

In the first reading prophet-Jeremiah announces the coming of the Lord in fulfillment of a promise made to David that his kingdom will not know destruction.[4] The God who comes is a God of peace and tranquility. His justice consists of restoring security to Jerusalem, and his agent is a “just shoot” from David. The coming of God through this “just shoot” does not seem to involve military power or anything else but doing “what is right and just.” Safety comes from righteousness of individuals and justice in social institutions could we push the argument to match our contemporary language, and it is a never-ending process, always forward into the future.

In the letter to the Thessalonians, our second reading, the coming of the Lord is the second coming of Jesus Christ “with all his holy ones.” [If this clause helps your understanding of the communion of the saints in the life of the Church, you may take good notice]. When Christ comes, we stand before God the Father. The future in this context is a time of revelation of holiness. Our own degree of holiness will appear in full light. It is a time when embarrassment can be huge if one is not careful now, and greatness unambiguous, if we obey now.

Finally, the Gospel talks of the shaking of heavenly powers and the roaring of earthly powers. Nevertheless, the coming of God is visible in the coming of the “Son of Man in a cloud with power and great glory.” This coming of God is now a day of “standing erect” and of “raising heads.” This coming is simply an invitation to stand before the Son of Man. Two great dangers threaten people ahead of that day: deadly fright, and tribulations or suffering. However, the Lord is clear that these tremendous signs including people’s dismay and death only announce our “redemption at hand.” Shall we then understand that every assault on our relationship with God is a sign of some form of imminent liberation coming our way? Can we then see in temptations (always imminent) the closeness of the Lord and remain firm in his word of promise?[5]

For us today, we are looking forward to the coming of the Son of Man at Christmas when we can stand before the crib to greet the baby and his parents. Again, how much can we put aside to buy him gifts? What shall we do to prepare for this day of power and glory, clouded by the humility of Jesus?

2) We live for God today

“Be vigilant and pray,” says the Lord Jesus for the strength to escape tribulations and to “stand before the Son of Man.” These two are the commandments we receive from him who has the words of eternal life, the one in whom the Father is well pleased, the one Moses announced and commended to the people.[6]

Saint Paul, on his part, exhorts the church in Thessalonica to follow the sure instructions received from him. The teaching that Paul himself had received from the first witnesses will bring forth right conduct pleasing to God.[7] Before he gives his exhortation, Paul first prays for the community, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love…” The strength of heart he invokes for them comes from the life of charity for each other, according to the doctrine and example of the apostle himself. But it is all about the Lord Jesus. The doctrine of Jesus is about a human heart fully alive to God today – every day. The only risk Jesus lists for us is “drowsy heart.” The habits leading to that kind of death are carousing, drunkenness and anxieties of daily life.[8] The various ways of preparing ourselves to receive the Eucharist are parts of this willingness of ours to stay awake. Above all, the Sacrament of reconciliation is a great help to keep constantly alert and stand prepared. I will suggest some practical ways, in case they help anyone.

Application: Before Christmas, take the time to read the instructions of Luke the evangelist in the Gospel of Luke, with this simple question in mind: Lord how do you want me to be blameless before you? Through the teaching of Luke, we may know our daily traps and the safety escapes that consist of gazing at the Lord in his life and ministry and learning from him. The Eucharistic presence summarizes it all and gives us the power to do it. The Lord is the one whom we want to know more and to love more.[9]

After Easter (supposing that your first day of the year is a foundation that you can remember), take the time to read the Acts of the Apostles from the same evangelist, with another simple question at heart: Lord, how do you want me to serve you?

The whole year, take the time to do something gratuitous every day. Something with “no strings attached” to it. This good action could minimally be an attentive and insistent prayer for someone who does not suspect that you are offering him or her such a marvelous gift; therefore he/she will not return it directly to you.

Conclusion: By doing these or any good old habits or new resolutions for this new liturgical or church year, we will be responding to the two commands of our Lord. “Be vigilant” to see that there is always a door open for us to practice charity in little or big ways, and “pray” to know that it is God who saves us from this “fright” and the risks of despair in suffering. Our Advent and Year C efforts may consist of faithfully asking every morning, “How do I wish to stand before the Lord today?” And before retiring at night, “If I stood before you today Lord, what have you noticed about me?” This deep communion with the Lord in desire, practice and dialogical evaluation will keep us indeed alert, vigilant and prayerfully loving.

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[1] There is a stressful kind of expectation in the story of Verna who “was wearing a T-shirt with the words: Be Nice to Me. I Had a Hard Day. Little Eric looked at the words and said, “How can you tell this early in the morning?” Our expectation is a living hope to see with our eyes God’s righteousness at home with us. We start on a journey full of promises and surprises. As some say, “There is no way one can take an unborn child to the hairdressers;” yet we do get, (without boredom), many things ready before its birth.

[2] I may want to ask the Lord for peace on earth, harmony in my family. I may think of asking him to live in his simplicity of heart, or his courage to draw closer to someone I really wish to help, with true generosity. I may want to offer Jesus the one thing I do well in this life, in gratitude. I may want to offer him the shortcoming I have failed to overcome, in humility and trust, or my neediness. I may consider offering some social progress I feel good about, or simply my perceived decline, in truth. I will then take this Advent season to meditate (as if buying and wrapping my gift), on my intended-offer to the Lord.

[3] In his second Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, Saved in Hope, of November 30, 2007, par. 2, Pope Benedict XVI comments on this letter to the Thessalonians. He says, “Here too we see as a distinguishing mark of Christians the fact that they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness.”

[4] See 2 Sam 7: 12, “And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm.” And 2 Sam 7: 16, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.”

[5] A wisdom saying declares, “An untempted minister will never do us any good, and an untried man will talk over our heads.”

[6] See Deut. 18: 15, “A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen.”

[7] 1 Cor. 15: 1 & 3.

[8] Mk 13: 37 is strongly explicit about this command, “What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” Mt 26: 41 or Mk 14: 34 goes further, “Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” You may also see how Moses prepares to receive the Law for the people in Deut. 9: 9 – 10, and how Jesus prepares for his ministry in Mt 4: 2 & 10. The acquisition of any good passes through some form of hardship/work. So is it with the true joy of Christmas, and with daily communion with the Lord.

[9] Saint Augustine, in his Sermons, 256, (see second reading in the Liturgy of the Hours, week 34), says, “You have entered upon a time of trial but you will come to no harm – God’s help will bring you through it safely. You are like a piece of pottery, shaped by instruction, fired by tribulation. When you are put into the oven therefore, keep your thoughts on the time when you will be taken out again; for God is faithful, and he will guard both your going in and your coming out.”

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

(Nov. 9, 2009

Extract from the hymn to matter of P. Teilhard de Chardin, S.J

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‘Blessed be you, perilous matter, irresistible march of evolution, reality ever new-born; you who, by constantly shattering our mental categories, force us to go ever further and further in our pursuit of the truth.

‘Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time, boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations: you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards or measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God.

‘Blessed be you, impenetrable matter: you who, interposed between our minds and the world of essences, cause us to languish with the desire to pierce through the seamless veil of phenomena.

‘Blessed be you, mortal matter: you who one day will undergo the process of dissolution within us and will thereby take us forcibly into the very heart of that which exists.

‘Without you, without your onslaughts, without your uprooting of us, we should remain all our lives inert, stagnant, puerile, ignorant both of ourselves and of God. You who batter us and then dress our wounds, you who resist us and yield to us, you who wreck and build, you who shackle and liberate, the sap of our souls, the hand of God, the flesh of Christ: it is you, matter that I bless.

‘I bless you, matter, and you I acclaim: not as the pontiffs of science or the moralizing preachers depict, debased, disfigured – a mass of brute forces and base appetites – but as you reveal yourself to me today, in your totality and your true nature.

‘You I acclaim as the inexhaustible potentiality for existence and transformation wherein the predestined substance germinates and grows.

‘I acclaim you as the universal power which brings together and unites, through which the multitudinous monads are bound together and in which they converge on the way of the Spirit.

‘I acclaim you as the melodious fountain of water whence spring the souls of men and as the limpid crystal whereof is fashioned the new Jerusalem.

‘I acclaim you as the divine milieu, charged with creative power, as the ocean stirred by the Spirit, as the clay molded and infused with life by the incarnate Word.

‘Sometimes, thinking they are responding to your irresistible appeal, men will hurl themselves for love of you into exterior abyss of selfish pleasure-seeking: they are deceived by a reflection or by an echo.

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All Saints (November 1, 2009)

“We praise you God in the company of your saints!”

Scriptures: Rev. 7: 2 – 4, 9 – 14; Ps 24; 1Jn 3: 1 – 3; Mt 5: 1 – 12a

Homily

Introduction

God’s congratulations go forth to: 1) The poor in spirit, 2) They who mourn, 3) The meek, 4) They who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) The merciful, the clean of heart, 6) The peacemakers, 7) They who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, You when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you -falsely- because of [Jesus].

God recognizes/knows such people as his own, less for the external signs as for the disposition and spirit that consistently animates the living person. For the Lord Jesus, the sign contains in seed the certainty of the anticipated glory. This is an incredible blessing and amazing word of promise.

Question: What signs allow you to say that you truly know another person? And, what have you ever passionately or strongly noticed that needed attention/change in your area, church, society?

Blessed are you for noticing what you have seen. May God support and fulfill your longing for change, as Jesus promises today!

From the few selected holy ones (144 thousand), to an uncountable number of elect, we see the increasing of inclusion in the book of Revelation, our first Reading. Ps 24 sings the praises of the Mighty God who organizes life in its various dimensions. The first letter of John defines holiness as being “children of God,” and “incapable of sinning.” This idea of incapacity to sin tormented our fathers in the faith in the first centuries of Christianity. Today, we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation to bring us back when we sin after baptism. Jesus lists for us eight signs of “holiness,” to say, everything you truly notice may lead you to God who is thus paving your way into his Kingdom. We shall break the word in two steps of meditation: 1) some signs from our predecessors in the faith; 2) the indications that they were from God.

1. Some signs of holiness in history

Congratulations to, happy, blessed are those who “won victory through their perseverance” against poverty, grief, violence, iniquity, hatred and harm, temptations of idolatry, brokenness, persecutions for doing what is right, and rejection!

[Dr Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister who is however close to many among us, as a model of courageous truthful and authentically inclusive living in the twentieth century United States. He has peace-making brothers and sisters, and even mentors who, all, persevered against violence and rejection, in the name of the common love that comes from God the Creator, who is ultimately the One we reject when we groundlessly exclude others. King thirsted for justice, and thus preached the gospel from the down side of social reality. The blood and moral martyrs of faith likewise, live as signs and call to go higher towards God. They come from all continents and from all ages of history. We know just a few.]

St. Juan Diego of Mexico (1474 – 1548, canonized in 2002) and St Rose of Lima/Peru, Patroness of the Americas (1586 – 1617; canonized in 1671), persevered against misunderstandings and rejections, showing an example of humility devotion and love. The Ugandan martyrs of Africa (1885 -86) persevered against idolatry immorality and persecutions. They are 22 Catholic young men who are pure of heart by relying on God in time of need. Some Anglican converts also shared their fate in Christ. Charles Lwanga is the name of the head-person among the Catholic new converts. Pope Paul VI canonized them in 1964 and we celebrate their feast on June 3, every year.

1. The indications that these blessed people were of God

a) The one thing no one can take away from them

The “dream,” the light of God and the courage of faith are their strength. St Rose of Lima was very beautiful in soul and body and very devout. St Ignatius Loyola (1491 -1556) held creation by God in ways that no advanced theologian or antagonistic authority could take away from him from a vision he received at the Cardoner River in Manresa. Littleness cannot be taken away from St. Juan Diego: “I am a nobody,” says Juanito. The Ugandan martyrs had joy and serenity. One of them named Joseph had his father among the executioners, and he chose Christ over against the local king and that biological father. From St Joseph, you could not take away the habit of acting with justice and love. And, from the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, you could not take away the Word of promise delivered by the heavenly messenger. The specific way in which God’s love is engraved upon our hearts leads our action in shaping our habits. Love is a big Reality with various smaller names. For us to recognize these names, we have to know God as Mystery and Presence of Love. Then we can read God’s mark on his creatures and on his elects. The saints are people who know this God, even from a tiny partial vision of God’s glory. What do they see?

b) The one thing they see

St Rose of Lima saw God’s beauty through the Blessed Sacrament; this beauty is worth leaving everything aside to pursue with great penance and severe discipline. St Faustina saw the inexhaustible Mercy of God as the one unforgettable truth. St Juan Diego saw that the Virgin Mother was a native woman who spoke Nahuatl, who could heal his diseased uncle and who provided during winter (December 9, 1531 on Tepeyac Hill), flowers that grew only in Castile/Spain. She was the bringer of God’s salvation. The African martyrs from Uganda saw obedience to God as unconditional. One cannot compare or reverse this order where God is Supreme. St Ignatius Loyola saw God in everything, thus denying the enemy all claims to ownership over creation and over our lives. The Queen of all saints, our heavenly Mother saw loving service to God in everything and in all people as the ultimate truth on earth. The one necessary thing bears the name of our calling. It is special and unique, but it is connected to all other callings and mission-nings of people from God. These saints have developed the “one necessary thing” into multiple opportunities for others, all originating in this one word or one vision. We may look at some examples of manifestations of God’s gift in them.

c) The Manifestation of Grace through them

In St. Juan Diego, there was a surplus of energy and vitality, to the extent that he seemed to be serving in more than one place at given times – oral tradition says. In the Ugandan martyrs, the light and straight affirmations of truth confounded their 19^th century royal court and convinced the people of their blessing and approval by God. They sang songs until the fire consumed them out of earthly life – tradition says. Those of you who heard of Padre Pio also hear about his bi-location ability – as tradition narrates— the zeal to serve God through others is so pure that it becomes tangible and visible to people. All these external signs refer to the more fundamental side that is a burning love of God that also makes of many of them unsettling friends to live with. The miraculous side is certainly not the most important, but the daily humble devotion to God that uplifts others around, making them freer to love and serve their God. Through the saints, God attracts many souls to salvation. We can even make our own the following fragments of the words of the Blessed Mother to Juan Diego and to his church community: “I vividly desire [to] be present and give my love, compassion, help, and defense. [As your] most devoted mother [I will] hear your laments and [ ] remedy all your miseries, pains, and sufferings.” The saints are signs of God’s love. They affirm concretely “God is with us,” Jesus-Christ.

Conclusion

Most often, we affirm knowing someone when we can securely anticipate and predict about him or her in the best sense. As we often say, “I do not recognize you in this,” or “From what I hear, I recognize this person in this particular pattern described to me,” God, the Loving Father of Jesus Christ recognizes our spirit in what we pray for and why we do so. Let us join the company of all the holy men and women, keeping in mind our favorite saints, friends in heaven in praising God.[1] As much as memory is selective about what to keep and what not, our soul is also selective about what we notice and otherwise. Our friendship with particular saints comes from the same selective source. Many people who understand passionate love or the power of the little way take Theresa of Lisieux for model. Other virtues make different spiritual relations, which the Church always encourages in upholding the communion of the saints. The things we therefore notice are clues to our life-story with God if we allow ourselves to look at them intentionally. This is what the saints did, and they can help us sort out and order our values.  They took time to notice what God was doing in their lives.  Juan Diego hears the song of birds and the voice of one like an “Aztec princess” on his 15 mile-way to Church; he believes and follows the signs. We now share his graces from our Lady of Guadalupe.  St Rose of Lima sees the source of all beauty in the work of the self-donating God; she places all her satisfactions in the Eucharist as she embraces the cross of her Lord. The cloud of witnesses to God’s love – the saints— celebrated today, “saw and believed,” and practiced love. This is what we are called to do, as if we were just praying, “May your Kingdom Come!” – praying Just for love of our God.

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[1] Psalm 4 asks, “How long will you people mock my honor, love what is worthless, chase after lies?” Envy/jealousy is a mockery to God’s honor. The innumerable types of blessings and people acceptable to God states this clearly. Let us work out new incentives for excellence, positively based. It is often said, “Envy is the bitterness of the heart just as, by contrast, love is its sweetness.” May sweetness prevail in us and in our world!

Arguably the most important document to come from the Second Vatican Council was its Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum. The final paragraphs dreamed of a people of God committed to living by the Scriptures at every level of their lives. The council yearned for the whole Church to be renewed spiritually through the Scriptures and to become much more biblical in all aspects of her existence. (Fr. Gerald O’Collins, S.J.)

29^th Sunday B

(October 18, 2009)

We are praying and supporting our brethren devastated by natural and social disasters: in the Philippines, in Indonesia in Darfur/Sudan, Eastern Congo, Afghanistan, Palestine, and sufferers everywhere. Now, has anyone ever asked to suffer like them by association or compassion? These places symbolize cross-bearers, friends of Jesus in one sense. The illustration might help us to keep grappling the exclamation of Jesus: “You do not know what you are asking!”[1]

Scriptures: Is. 53: 10 – 11  ; Ps 33: 4-5, 18-19; Heb. 4: 14 – 16  ; Mk 10: 35 – 45

Homily

Introduction: God’s suffering servant redeems God’s people as prophet Isaiah says, and Jesus Christ, our powerful high priest in the letter to the Hebrews is identified with this suffering servant. Jesus, in the Gospel affirms having come to serve and give his life as ransom for many. These readings make me ask the question of Jesus’ identity and the quality of his sway or kingdom among us. Who is Jesus for us today, and how does he want us to bear witness to him in this world?

1) Jesus, and the rest of us

Two weeks ago, we saw Jesus indignant because his disciples were banning children from entering his presence. Today, the disciples (ten of them) are indignant because two among them asked to hold the highest ranking around the leader Jesus. There seems to me a difference in their respective indignations. The same feeling is experienced, but the cause and the purpose are different, from Jesus to the disciples. How often do we identify with Jesus’ feelings? And how often do we identify with the disciples’ feelings about life? In other words, what gets me/you indignant? What makes me angry? Why? And what do I do after experiencing my frustration? Where do I take it?

One prophet of old said on God’s behalf, “My people perish for lack of knowledge.”[2] Jesus’ indignation is about a similar situation: “My disciples don’t know my heart,” that is a heart of a child, calling people to retrieve their childhood in matters of love and genuine relations. “My disciples do not know my heart,” that is Jesus’ overall approach to human life. How does Jesus come to experience such feeling?

James and John request the highest intimacy with the Lord: one at the left, and one at the right. Just like us, they want to own what they love. They want to appropriate this wonderful companionship, more than other, and they are even ready to pay the price. This is close to the spirit of competitive progress as we all experience today: everybody wants the upward movement, the climbing of the social ladder. From Assistant professor, one becomes full Professor – for example. Sometimes, there is a specified reason: some people want to please parents and mentors for their good support; others want to prove to themselves what they are capable of; others want a different objective as they climb this specific ladder, for it avails another desired place. Being close to the teacher would allow James and John to teach as admirably as he does. Still others do not know too well why they want to go upward (everybody else does so, or they don’t even need to think about whys). Is Jesus validating the desire of James and John that passes the moral test by their strong agreement to pay for it (“We can,” they say.)? Jesus is doing the work his Father in whom he invites the disciples to have faith and trust. When the Father picks one among them for a specific mission Jesus submits to the father’s will – there is no competition between Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is not a spirit of conflicting competition. We see this submission of the Son when he tells Peter that The Father, by revealing hidden things to him was making him the leader among the twelve (mission is always for “those for whom it is prepared”).

The other disciples get vent of this request and feel unfairly treated (“indignant”) by the two brothers who are literally “going tribal” about being with the Lord – [long live the tribe of Zebedee!]. I doubt  whether there is one among us who has never felt that someone else should not be where they are, doing what they are doing, being who they are – because they thus take what belongs to “me/us”— at a given moment. The ten are just like us in this regard: “Who do you think you are James and John?” Are we not here on the same call? Have we not been as faithful as you did to the Lord, have we not been as loving? Why do you want more “privileges” than others? Clearly their question is about, “Who will be the greatest among us?” They don’t seem to have an idea about what their call and their mission means. Imagine a family of 12 brothers and sisters who gather to celebrate the life of the deceased patriarch or matriarch. Will they ever asked, “Who among us will volunteer to be next in death?” Such question is rarely asked. “Who holds the first rank in the family now?” That’s readily expected. It therefore did not occur to the ten others disciples to perceive the request of James and John in that sense of sharing in the Lord and servant’s suffering and death. They also did not know what they were “indignant” about.

Jesus takes this opportunity to state clearly who he is: the child of God, servant of God’s people, the one who works hard so that others may have more rest, since they are already burdened with several afflictions: blindness, hardness of heart, guilt and unrighteousness. “I am here to serve and give my life as a ransom for many.” This expression ransom needs some explaining today. When a woman’s husband died leaving her childless, the brother of the deceased would redeem her by begetting children for his brother.[3] When someone becomes unsolvable before the bank, a corporate or individual helper redeems him by offering an equivalent value or equal amount. When a student struggles honestly with studies, a teacher redeems him or her by suggesting different framings of the same questions or exercises of equivalent grade that will require the same amount of effort, until the student owns the principles. In basketball, scoring redeems one’s team from defeat. Ransom is this price paid for satisfaction, to fill in the gap. Jesus’ life is a “ransom for many.” We are part of the many. How is Jesus’ life a ransom/rescuing-help for you personally and for your/our community? Jesus is drinking a cup, and receiving a baptism, which, both, seem repulsive. It is by reading from prophet Isaiah (before Jesus coming in the flesh), and from the letter to the Hebrews (after his identity was made plain by the Holy Spirit to his disciples), that we know that Jesus is the suffering servant whose life brings us back into life when we are crushed by iniquity, or by our own selfishness, or by some natural or social unwanted forces. Jesus is the life that calls us back to our senses, for he is “innocent” and yet he offers himself to atrocious treatment so that our hearts will never faint. There is no aspect of our current life that is not touched by the life of Jesus (from power and success, to failure and rejection). If we trust him, we will look at him for guidance and for better understanding of our own thriving and receding. If you take the time to look at Jesus and to ask him the right question, he will surely not fail you, for his life is “ransom” for many, for all those who relate to him really and trustingly. It is in that context that he explains to both groups (the two on one side and the ten on the other side) the full meaning of discipleship and living in the kingdom of God, among us.[4]

2) The quality of the Kingdom of God among us

“The greatest is the little boy/servant among you.” Do we now remember how the highly favored one, Mary is the silent woman whose effectiveness shines through the apostles, after the Son? For the Archangel Gabriel to greet Mary as “Highly favored,” Heaven had first seen the possibility of Earth’s response to God’s call to obedience. In response to the rebellion of the wicked angels who decided to be “like God,” proposing to humanity to make the same choice, Archangel Michael asks, “Who is like God?” Mary echoes Michael on Earth, “I am the servant of the Lord!” Jesus is the Son of this response of humanity to God: pure obedience in love. Therefore, “among us” who believe in Jesus Christ, who put our trust in him to intercede as our high priest, for us with his Father, relations are different from relations in the world.[5] We do not “throw our weight around.” We try to be transparent to God, and to let others see God in us. This is a sacrificial life, but it is no more sacrificial than forfeiting the truth of who we are for the lie of trying to be like God. I will always insist that, “we suffer with sin or we suffer with love;” there is no place between, so long as we are on earth. Suffering does not always mean ordeal or atrocity, but certainly unfulfilled desires. Have we learned to surrender to God? If we take the time to check in our experience, we will see that the significant events in which we held the first role were full of tensions and much work of overseeing. Those events at which we held secondary roles felt different, maybe a little more relax. But in the second case, we do not get all the attention; we mostly see our part of the work. If we resent not being the centre of attention, Jesus has much to teach us today. If our joy is in serving and contributing as best as we can, even in the role of number-one-person whenever that happens, then we understand the willingness of James and John to drink the cup and receive the same baptism as Jesus.[6] Having understood this, we cannot resent them for asking for more suffering to be united with their Lord, just as several saints and mystics of the Church are reported to have done. We can just ask for the same “privileges” of carrying the cross of our Lord so that we may share more intimately in his joy, in his kingdom. For the kingdom of God is about a demanding, yet gentle and humble service of communion in the life of God.

Conclusion: By rescuing James and John from greed and by rescuing the ten other disciples from jealousy, Jesus shows the quality he expects from our life of faith. Among us, service is not a matter of competition for roles or domination, but a deep joy of sharing the Lord’s life, which is a ransom given for our salvation, if we do what it takes to be part of the many, still few. Let us pray to the Spirit of Christ, to tame our greed and non-discerned or lustful generosity, and to increase our creative participation in the life of his brothers and sisters among and around us, just as we share at the same table, in the Eucharist, and outside of this table, in the resources of this world. Let the Eucharist ransom us into generous love today!

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[1] Mk 10: 38. Alternatively, if your child saw on TV a show of war actions and decided to identify with the hero. You surely will say, “You do not want to be on that battle front my son!”  If he insisted, you will put him through the process that takes people there he is validly approved to be sent to that place where he wishes to offer his service. It takes time, training and a “call” to be a hero. It is God’s choice to incarnate in Jesus and to call people for specific kinds of holiness.

[2] Hosea 4: 6. And prophet Isaiah interprets God saying, “An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master’s manger; But Israel does not know, my people has not understood.”

[3] Dt. 25: 5 – 6. Bailing out, rescuing and redeeming amount to helping someone to live better.

[4] The people of God brought into the “Kingdom” as Jesus the descendant of David does, were divided into Northern kingdom (Israel) with ten tribes, and Southern kingdom with two tribes, constantly quarrelling with each other, theologically and politically. These sometimes bloody conflicts are narrated with high sophistication in the First (Old) Testament. Why would God dwell on Mount Zion (Jerusalem in Judea; cf. 1Kg 8:1, Ps. 9:12, Ps 48:12) and not on Mount Gerizim (North in Samaria: Dt 11: 29, Dt 27: 12) Ps 78:68 says, “God chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he favored.” And Ps. 87:2 says that God “Loves the gates of Zion more than any dwelling in Jacob.

[5] The spirit-of-the-world among us seeks the mighty-greatest. But the Spirit of Christ makes the self-giving servant who loves freely without expecting compensation, even a place on left or right – just loving service for the good of others.

[6] The tradition according to which James died a martyr’s death first among the apostles and John died last among them of old age may be the positive answer to their request. Indeed they died (dismembered or dislocated) for the Lord and for his Gospel.29t2

[“Arguably the most important document to come from the Second Vatican Council was its Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum. The final paragraphs dreamed of a people of God committed to living by the Scriptures at every level of their lives. The council yearned for the whole Church to be renewed spiritually through the Scriptures and to become much more biblical in all aspects of her existence.”] Fr. G. O’Collins, S.J.

27^th Sunday Ordinary B

(October 4, 2009)

It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to “receive” the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ. This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ’s cross, the source of all Christian life.[1]

Scripture: Gen. 2: 18 – 24; Ps. 128; Heb. 2: 9 – 11; Mk 10: 2 -16

Introduction:

Last Sunday, we were invited to – if necessary – “cut off” whatever “limb” in us that does not help our entering into the Kingdom of God. Next Sunday, we will be invited to – if we wanted to be perfect – follow the hard way of Christ beyond the simple habitual practice of the religious/cultural laws. Between the hardship of “mutilating” ourselves or refraining from certain strong drives and the hardship of setting aside everything to follow Christ, we have Jesus’ hard teaching on marriage and divorce today. When are we going to relax? Everything has been so serious lately! It is indeed a hard teaching about the Way of Christ. I have decided to approach this Gospel through the lens of these two surrounding gospels: divorce as the hardship of cutting off part of oneself, and marriage as letting behind everything to follow Christ. I do not know about you, but these words bring to my attention various issues in my own life and the lives of people dear to me. In case they work the same effects for you, stay close to Christ whose Word I am meditating upon in the light of our context today. Common wisdom says, “The soul is the place where man’s supreme and final battles are fought. [But] what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

For the context, let us imagine Jesus of whom someone asks a question such as it would be for a person working for the U.S White House in 2002: “Is it lawful to wage war on another nation for any reason?” In a local context, imagine yourself today; and imagine a fictional boss at office, who happens to have issues pertaining to sexuality, much at odds with Catholic teaching; yet you hear your boss’ “brother” asking you: “What is your stand on California, 2008, Proposition 8?” This is the type of hot spot for Jesus today. We recall that he is on his way to Jerusalem. The imaginative symbols aim also at stating my own struggle to understand and explain the application of divine teachings like these, to God’s people like this Church, knowing that most of you have had profound experiences of life and of relations. Yet I cannot deny seeing the theme of the day: marriage and divorce. You surely remember that it was not easier for me to talk about my experience of the priesthood either. Matters of vocation are important and much beyond words and concepts. Therefore, God will bless us all us we reflect together through my words.

Part I:

Divorce and remarriage, according to experts on the question, were happening in the administrative court, like the Governor’s office today (or any other administrative entity) and with many other governors around the country in Jesus’ time, living and tolerating that act. In other words, the interlocutors of Jesus came to hear him speak like John the Baptist (against Herod-and-Herodias), so that Jesus will attract more hatred, and that will lead more rapidly to his demise. Not only was he going to be in conflict with the actual situation of the powers in place, but also with the religious tradition of Moses (if he says simply “divorce is unlawful”), since Moses set in Deut. 24:1 the conditions for such juridical acts, that came to be overused by common practice.

Jesus wisely uses an earlier passage of Moses’ Law, namely Gen. 1: 27ff, and the absolute authority of God who spoke to Moses and who instituted kings and rulers. God ordained marriage. Human wickedness distorted it. Moses allowed a way out that consisted of “cutting off” the “evil limb” of the one single body, only in case of extreme necessity (something indecent happened). God’s people were seeking the highest possible justice within a corrupted situation. Jesus is here to restore the initial plan of God. I understand that he wants to say, “Live your marital life in such a way that you will never need to divorce, because God did not intend the common life of spouses to be hell, but heaven, communion with God Himself. Love your whole ‘body’ so that you may enter into the Kingdom of God with every part of it, with your whole community of life.”[2]

The Church teaches that God created woman to be man’s helper, just as God himself was supporting man in the first garden of life (CCC 1605 talks of “helpmate” representing God). Marriage, therefore, “is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics.” (See CCC, 1603). The history of the Church and many stories of believers confirm the truth of this hard teaching. The following lines are a dialogue of our time with issues already raised in the 12^th century of our Era:

Though inextricably linked to the world and its affairs, both social and economic, marriage can bring the partners to union with Christ if they persevere faithfully in their commitment to Christ in one another and if they take appropriate ascetical measures to offset the distractions and temptations that the world of commerce sets in their path….A Christian may respond to the call of Christ in the vocation of marriage, the saintly Abbot Aelred affirms, confident that it will bring her to Christ, knowing that it expresses her commitment to his cross. Her commitment will involve continual struggle: she will have to engage fully in the economic sphere of the common good even while fighting against its myriad temptations. She will have to work at fidelity. But she enters the boat of marriage as her husband’s friend and equal partner in sailing and bailing and will reach the other side together with him. Their friendship, with its sweetness and challenges, will give her a foretaste of divine love and become “a stage bordering upon that perfection which consists in the love and knowledge of God.[3]

These conditions created by God, re-affirmed by Jesus, and which the Law of Moses and other cultural norms support by just allowing exceptions when the failure of the relation is unbearable by the spouses, namely divorce, are the best conditions we can think of for raising children. Although perfect situations are not always possible, these conditions remain our ideal of family life. [Here is what happens at a certain stage of marital life: “One woman’s (creative) definition of retirement: “Twice the husband at half the salary.”]

However, we do not have to be overcome by guilt when we acknowledge failure and take action, with reverence to our feelings-for-life. God always loves us – His Mercy will save us. Our sins do not remove his Holiness; He loves us even more when we tend to depart from him through sin and suffering. The truth of our acceptance of successes and failures on the Way of Christ will “set us free” (Jn 8: 32, Mk 14: 72). The last section of our gospel seems to be an appeal from Jesus for parents’ ability and willingness to expose children to the grace of God very early on. Jesus is indignant when adults do not judge children worthy of drawing near to him. Feel that feeling of his, and get the lesson from him! We cannot enjoy Jesus alone. His spiritual space is large enough to welcome new comers. Between God’s intention that children should be part of the sealed love of husband and wife, and what we can practically afford in our real context, the Spirit of God guides us to sobriety of mind and humility of heart in the decisions we make: Never to raise our  failure as norm, against God.

Part II:

Practically, children constitute a key component of marital life: their coming as fruit of the union and their being nurtured by the originating love of the parents. Children are important for Jesus because, it is only those who keep their attitude of receptivity to the gift and values of the Kingdom that Jesus reveals himself, and it is for their sakes that efforts are worth our self-giving. Simplistically, if tomorrow did not exist, and if there were no person to pass something on to, we would surely be much more careless in our daily living. Jesus passes on to children his ministerial power through the blessing. Faith is living a child-like life. Indeed the blessing with hand that we practice more often today, Jesus used to touch the sick, the needy and the socially “untouchable”. As reported in Scripture, only special people received a blessing from Jesus’ own hands, and these include the apostles whom he blesses officially only when ascending into heaven so that they will keep his teaching alive through the centuries down to us today.

Conclusion:

The hard teachings of Jesus show us who God is: Holy, Loving Father and supportive Presence. But how can we enjoy God? By keeping alive the Teaching, which is an integral part of his Love. At times, the words, “You shall not eat the fruit of that particular tree” (Gen, 2:17) will be his only presence in our dryness of heart and mind – Our memory. That is the moment when a teaching is hard, a moment when we really feel the cross, when our eyes catch sight of the “tree of life,” formerly “in the middle of the [first] garden” (Gen. 2: 9), now the Cross of Christ. With the risen-life of Christ in mind, God is still Love in our crucial moments. More ordinarily, God consoles us by good feelings about his commandments, nourishes us in the Eucharist and the other sacraments; and God places friends on our ways to remind us of how he sees us and how big he “dreams” of our future. May we all enjoy God today, with others. Amen!

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[1] Catechism of the Cathlolic Church, 1615. The Scripture reference is Mt 19: 6, “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” It is also interesting to see how the following paragraphs (1618 – 1620) associate “Virginity” to “Matrimony”. Our today’s Gospel presents Jesus (the perfectly consecrated Man) blessing children in a way different from the father of a house having them around the family table (Ps 128: 3).

[2] This illustration might help grasp the notion and task around the indissoluble character of marriage: “When you stand beside a 747 jet on the runway, its massive weight and size makes it seem incapable of breaking the holds of gravity. But when the power of its engines combines with the laws of aerodynamics, the plane is able to lift itself to 35, 000 feet and travel at 600 miles per hour. Gravity is still pulling on the plane, but as long as it obeys the laws of aerodynamics, it can break free from the bonds of earth.” Rom. 8: 2 says, “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

[3] The italics are mine. Marie Anne Mayeski Ph. D. reflects upon this view (from Sermon 21) of the Cistercian Abbot Aelred of Rievaulx (ca. 1110 – 1167). Her argument is against certain traditional and oppressive positions that tend to subordinate women to men, or that present marriage as anything else but friendship, and more precisely spiritual friendship. The lord-servant model of union, or marriage conceived as a remedy for lust may not be very helpful at this point. Just as Christ calls his disciples “friends,” spouses are real friends before God and before society. (If this quote excites your curiosity about the topic, and for study, see the full text in Theological Studies, Vol. 70, N0. 1, March 2009, 92 – 108).

24^th Sunday Ordinary Time B (Sept. 13, 2009)

“You are the Christ!”

Homily

Scripture: Is. 50: 4c – 9a; Ps 116 (1-6; 8-9); James 2: 14 – 18; Mk 8: 27 – 35

Introduction: The First Reading presents a specific kind of blessing: “The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.” The Psalm affirms: “The LORD protects the simple; I was helpless, but God saved me.” In the second Reading we hear “words of blessing: “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well.” The Gospel informs us that Jesus is “the Christ,” the Anointed One, who comes in the Name of God Most High, Blessed forever. ‘Brk’ (blessing) has multiple-meanings.

Question: What is a blessing for me? Answer: in three points: 1) Wisdom from Isaiah; 2) Wisdom from James; 3) God saves.

1) Wisdom from Isaiah (“Blessed is the one who endures trial”)

The Lord makes us strong in the face of persecutions. The strength of the faithful comes from his or her faithfulness to God. God Himself is the Primal Model of faithfulness. In that sense, God cannot, not be God. Therefore, there is no limit to God’s bounty in self-giving. Human wickedness is the surest sign of delusion; but woe to the one who engages in the same delusion by considering wickedness as powerful, or by joining the “band of scoffers” because of the potential of their malice to destroy. Life is transformed under the influence of hostility and opposition. “All is grace,” but some graces come to us under very strange forms. When we become able to boast like St Paul in our weaknesses, then we understand more fully that we are “boasting in the Lord.” Psalm 115 indeed says, “Not to us God, not to us, but to your Name give the glory, for your faithful love and constancy,” or “merciful and upright is God, and I am filled with love.” It is, in a way, just counter-intuitive to trust that nothing escapes God’s attention and nothing lies outside of the scope of God’s Love and our own deepest capacity to love in return. The prophet is challenging us with an ideal level of faith: a faith that blesses the day and the seasons, a faith that blesses those who curse us, and prays for those who do us evil. Our Lord Jesus-Christ did it and said that we can do it. Are we willing to, at least, consider thinking about it? The blessing here is to know Him and to be inwardly strong in God.

2) Wisdom from James (Blessed is the one who acts justly)

Action makes me strong, works of justice make my light shine, contrary to the results of mere words of a dream and godly intentions: (“the way to hell is paved with good intentions,” – it is well known). Doing the simple things of everyday life by being attentive to others’ needs is practical wisdom. Wisdom is in action, not in feeling, thoughts or words. The stress is not on showing what we are up to; but our call is to let the light of our heart shine like the sun at noon. Our task is to unveil or remove all obstacles covering the radiance of the values that we carry, to bring them out. To this effect, the law outwardly helps people do what is right; in our positive languages, there still is greater and lesser good, even when we believe that “all is grace,” by the very facts of life. The blessing here consists of being active and accurate in what we do, even if our lowest motives come from others’ expectations, or from the fear of exclusion and harm. To survive is part of the final victory, humanly speaking. James’ letter, often red through the simple concept of “works,” in fact, goes much deeper.

Between those two interconnected dimensions of our lives, the internal and the external, Psalm 116 makes a coherent unity by using the language of love, given and reciprocated, from God to us. It describes our action poetically and liturgically as “raising the cup of salvation and invoking God’s own Name,” just as Peter does in the Gospel by uttering, “You are the Christ!”

3) God saves: Jesus (Blessed be God & silent Adoration)

Neither security or strength, nor right action “saves” anyone spiritually. “Somebody” saves, and this somebody is God. Salvation, though a promise, is in its form, more of a surprise-gift than a result of right calculations. Human beings indeed think in terms of mathematical calculations, just like Peter rebuking Jesus on the thought of suffering and death. We mostly feel our need of certainty and of sure grounds. Faith, when embraced with such mindset, produces evil. Any value system on this Earth has potential to generate evil, when sought with that spirit. God saves. God also saves through us. How do we then figure out our role in God’s saving plan? Let us use our imagination:

*You are Moses; you come down from the mountaintop to find your people worshipping a golden calf, a forged or forced, but false value; what will you do? Will you validate this “lesser good?” Alternatively, will you take your people out of the lesser to the greater? How would you do that? How do you help others? Again, you are Moses, and only Caleb and Joshua (two Valliant men) are ready to fight for the Promised Land – the greater good – will you use the democratic model or rule-of-minority-versus-majority, and return to Egypt or will you be paralyzed and say, “We cannot decide?”

*In a second hypothetical situation, you are a Platonic philosopher (wisdom-lover); you know that your people are in the “cave,” seeing only shadows; but none of them is ready to come to the light and see things as they really are, in the light or with discerning eyes and hearts. [For us, this light is God’s Love as seen in Christ Jesus.] Will you stay around your folks, with-them in the darkness? Will you again obey the “democratic” voice? ‘Since they want it, let them have it!’ What else can you do?

*Lastly, you are Jesus, and your friends object to your dangerous lifestyle for security purposes, just like Peter in our today’s gospel. What do you decide?

Christ decides to follow the voice of his Heart, that is God his Father whose most powerful secret is that He is less a “force” than an incredible Love that never fades; a love that may operate through some secondary forces, yet never confused with them. Pope Benedict has consistently been teaching about God’s loving identity and operations towards us. Jesus and his friends are people who act in accordance with a rule that comes from deep and eternal values, regardless of what “the people” see about them. These persons combine right action with right intention supported by the bottomless Origin and the limitless Destination, that is God’s Love, and they live unhindered by all other forces that they may experience along the way.

Conclusion: The life of Jesus is the way God saves. By lifting the Eucharistic cup of salvation, and by recognizing Christ as Lord and Savior, we are true disciples, in the footsteps of Peter. Our task however is to watch, not to make new obstacles, however with the good intention to protect the gift, the new insight, the treasure of our life as though God were exhausted, had grown indifferent, unconcerned or limited in his creativity. Our faithfulness consists of allowing the Gospel to develop its own life within us, and never for us to turn into its masters or experts. Let our renunciation to all forms of arrogance be our cross, as we proclaim Jesus Christ as our Lord and our God and as we receive his body and blood to be one with him, our blessing.

Ascension of the Lord

(May 24, 2009)

Scripture: Acts 1: 1 – 11, Ps. 47, Eph. 4:1 – 13, Mk 16: 15-20

Preliminary question: When and how did you realize that you were an adult? (Memory and feelings)

For younger people, when and how do you expect to become an adult? (Heart’s Desire).

Homily

“Everything is possible to one who has faith”. This faith comes from Abraham our ancestor and it is faith in one Lord, and one God of All who is Spirit and Love, our bond of Unity and foundation of world Peace.

Introduction: In returning to heaven where Jesus maintained his divinity while on earth as human, he is signing the certificate of our coming of age. We are now 21 and above. For 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus remained on earth to remind his disciples of the things he taught them and which had been taken away by the excruciating pain of losing the physical presence of the Master and Lord crucified by the empire because rejected by the conclave of religions. Today he tells them to stay in the city until they clothed with power from on high. Jesus’ second coming is clearly announced in this: in the Holy Spirit, Jesus will dwell forever in the heart of his disciples.

What do parents do until a child is 21? They equip him or her with what is needed to go through life as safely and as happily as possible. Let us review a few elements of the life-equipment provided by parents:

1) Identity

Parents will give a child a name at birth. By calling that name, they teach the child to accept and love the frame in which others see and perceive him or her. Here in America (not so everywhere in the world), there is a family name representing the common origin of all like-blooded people, and a first name that has to do with the experience of the parents; and maybe a middle name, for another experience and wish of parents.

Besides naming, parents teach a child to appreciate his/her family, even with all possible dysfunctions and tensed relations, family is family, and there is a cycle of certain rituals of reunion. And within the family, the child is taught to love himself/herself, with his/her feelings, thoughts and self-presentation to others. Along with self-acceptance, are communicated some values about identity creation and sustenance, and values about success in the larger society.

2) Education

Education is geared towards making a place for oneself in society, but it contributes to character formation, which we tend to lose nowadays, because of the high level of competition for jobs and for positions in the jobs. The choice is done according to what parents observe in the child and in the context where he will have to use his talents. What he might be good at, what he likes, and what is marketable in the place. Something concrete becomes the path of education: computer science, engineering, political science, economics, religious studies…etc, something not in the sky.[1] By the time a child graduate with a Ph.D at College, he is no more a child, and he has gone through so many layers of specificity even in the very peculiar field chosen, that he has now an educated identity, and a hard won set of values, freely embraced, (though within a guiding system that supports his efforts and his incremental growth).

3) Support

Everyone is first supported, before we support others. The receiving dimension comes first. Parents give affective and protective support to children and finances are engaged in raising children, along with all the connections/relations parents have. Children are equipped with a relational network on which they learn to depend and to which they would gladly give back in support. The institutions children are taken to are part of this networking act of equipping a child for life. Again, by the time someone graduate with a Ph.D., they have their own world (job, money, and constructed relational identity), and most people have already a family or a clear plan for how family and relations should look like should God be pleased to send Mr or Mrs right. Shall we now look at Jesus as an educator/parent?

On identity, the best Jesus came up with was to call the disciples “friends,” not only followers, but equal in dignity, and soon (at Pentecost) to be also equal in power and grace. What does it mean to be friends with Jesus? To be God’s beloved, to belong to the universe as one’s own home, and to aim at becoming able to call every other person “friend” regardless of what they do and where they come from. This way of relating is only possible through love. Therefore, the identity Jesus confers on us is “Love,” that is our family name. Our first and middle names are given through the particular contexts of our individual and communal lives.

On education, Jesus trains his disciples, one as Cephas, another as John and another as James…etc. We cannot be generic Christian: communities and individual are unique. The particularity of our vocation offers us a different opportunity to express and reveal our family name, “Love” concretely. God calls us to do what we are good at, what we love to do, and in the midst of a people he wants us to serve. By the time we graduate from this life (at death), we have learned to love and serve the world, even in a very small and local service to a limited group of people. That is “saving the world with Christ,” knowing the power of God through that specific channel of contextual grace. And Jesus makes sure we choose out of free will. We can leave him anytime we want to, but we will always find him waiting outside (if we return), to give us the continued support we need, and which now bears a new name: forgiveness and restoration of a lost dignity as son/daughter in the house.[2]

On support, Jesus gives us the group of other disciples: “If you love one another, you will be fine,” “if you find a welcoming family on the way of your mission, stay there and enjoy hospitality,” “If one town rejects you, go to the next town,” “forgive one another 70 times 7,” “correct one another if you happen to have grudges,” “have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with all others”. Then he offers himself as support, “come to me when you are burdened and tired by labor and stress,” “pray to the Father in my name and obtain,” “rely on the Holy Spirit who will soon come to you”. Learn from my Word, draw strength from my body and my blood, the Eucharist.

These, and much more are at the background of Jesus’ sending of his disciples in the Gospel we have just heard. Go and spread the Good News that people can live all as “friends” because we have all one family name: Love. Whatever specific area we labor in, either because we are good at it, or we love to do that, or there is a need for us to give a helping hand to that, is our given name which does not remove the common name from others who do different things, differently. We are members of one body: Christ. This is our new language: the language of friendship as sharers at the Lord’s table, sharers in the world resources, sharers in being a creature like others. This is the secret of becoming harmless and above the harm of adversity. Having understood this as the teaching of our Lord, we now pray in hopeful expectation of the coming of the Holy Spirit (celebrated next Sunday), to give us the power to practice the name of Jesus, to transform the world into a friendly place because of our faith in One God who is Love, and has given us his Name.

Homework: 1) Give thanks to God for somebody (Christ’s proxy: parent, friend, teacher, challenger) whose life, like an open book, instructed and formed your character; pray for them wherever they may be today. 2) Pray this week that God will give you again, an experience of the Holy Spirit, as if it were for the first time, on this Pentecost.

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[1] “Education is defined as the process of character-formation in the context of a particular culture”. I here combine with literacy, which is to many people the only understanding of education. Jesus educates, not to “letters,” but to spirit. The great deserts fathers used to say, “The one who has good sense does not need letters.” Outside of monastery, we need both together in order to avoid monstrosity, lopsided development.

[2] Cf John 6:67, and Lk 15:20. The constant use of parables is another indication of his absolute respect for the freedom to be his friend, since each one’s understanding will be the final measure of what to get out of the teaching.