August 2007 (18th Sunday to 21st Week)
Morning Offering:
O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the
prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions
of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I
offer them especially for the Holy
Father's intentions:
Pope Benedict
XVI's
general prayer intention
for the month of August
2007:"That all
those who are going through moments
of inner difficulty and trial may find in Christ the light and support
which leads them to discover authentic happiness."
Pope Benedict
XVI's
missionary prayer
intention for August 2007:
"That the Church in
China may bear
witness to ever greater inner cohesion and may manifest her effective
and visible communion with Peter's Successor."
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Eighteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Prayers this week:
God, come to my
help. Lord, quickly give me assistance.
You are the one who helps me and sets me
free: Lord, do not be long in coming. (Ps 69:2.6)
Father of everlasting
goodness, our origin and guide, be close to us and hear the
prayers of all who praise you.
Forgive
our sins and restore us to life. Keep us safe in your love.
We
ask this through our
Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God.
(August
5) Dedication
of St. Mary Major
Basilica (St.
Mary of the Snows)
First raised at the order of Pope Liberius in the mid-fourth century,
the Liberian Basilica was rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III shortly after the
Council of Ephesus affirmed Mary’s title as Mother of God in 431.
Rededicated at that time to the Mother of God, St. Mary Major is the
largest church in the world honouring God through Mary. Standing atop
one of Rome’s seven hills, the Esquiline, it has survived many
restorations without losing its character as an early Roman basilica.
Its interior retains three naves divided by colonnades in the style of
Constantine’s era. Fifth-century mosaics on its walls testify to its
antiquity. St. Mary Major is one of the four Roman basilicas known as
patriarchal cathedrals in memory of the first centres of the Church.
St. John Lateran represents Rome, the See of Peter; St. Paul Outside
the Walls, the See of Alexandria, allegedly the see presided over by
Mark; St. Peter’s, the See of Constantinople; and St. Mary’s, the See
of Antioch, where Mary is supposed to have spent most of her life.
One legend, unreported before the year 1000, gives
another name to this feast: Our Lady of the Snows. According to that
story, a wealthy Roman couple pledged their fortune to the Mother of
God. In affirmation, she produced a miraculous summer snowfall and told
them to build a church on the site. The legend was long celebrated by
releasing a shower of white rose petals from the basilica’s dome every
August 5.
Theological debate over
Christ’s nature as God and man reached fever pitch in Constantinople in
the early fifth century. A chaplain to Bishop Nestorius began preaching
against the title Theotokos, “Mother of God,” insisting that the Virgin
was mother only of the human Jesus. Nestorius agreed, decreeing that
Mary would henceforth be named “Mother of Christ” in his see. The
people of Constantinople virtually revolted against their bishop’s
refutation of a cherished belief. When the Council of Ephesus refuted
Nestorius, believers took to the streets, enthusiastically chanting,
“Theotokos! Theotokos!”
“From the earliest times the Blessed Virgin is honored under the title
of Mother of God, in whose protection the faithful take refuge together
in prayer in all their perils and needs. Accordingly, following the
Council of Ephesus, there was a remarkable growth in the cult of the
People of God towards Mary, in veneration and love, in invocation and
imitation...” (Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, 66).
(Saints)
Scripture: Ecclesiastes
1:2; 2:21-23; Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-14, 17; Colossians
3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the
crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance
with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge
and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against
all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of
possessions.” Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose
land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is
what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.There
I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself,
“Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this
night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have
prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store
up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”
(Luke
12:13-21)
If you wish to
view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel,
click here
In
the daily news of the modern world the economy features prominently.
The possession and use of the material goods of life is of profound
importance to man, and his happiness depends to a fair extent on the
degree to which he meets his needs by gaining and using these goods. We
need food and clothing. We need material shelter. We need to be able in
some form to store up what we have for our future security and also in
order to enjoy some leisure. All this means that our happiness in life
depends to a greater or lesser extent on our possessing things or
having them at hand for our use. However, while material possessions
can bring a certain happiness, as is obvious 
from what we see
around us their possession and use can cause strife and suffering. A
person can work so exclusively at gaining many possessions that he can
easily neglect other more important things. For instance, a person who
works night and day to gain a lot of money - perhaps for good purposes
too, such as to provide a quality education for his children - can
easily neglect putting in time to be with his family and time for his
relationship with God. His desire to gain things could in due course
seriously affect his relationships with many others, and nations have
gone to war because of their desire for material goods. It does not
take much ordinary human reasoning to appreciate that it is all too
possible to become over-attached to material things, in a word to
become quite avaricious to the neglect of a life of unselfish love.
About two and a half thousand years ago Buddha in India set out on a
quest to find the key to happiness. He decided that it consisted in
detachment from all desire for things and the attainment of what he
called Enlightenment. There is a certain truth in what he said, but it
did not go far enough. God wants us to be rich, but the question is,
rich in what sense? What does God really want us to have, and how does
the possession of material things fit into this?
In our Gospel passage
today a person in the crowd asks our Lord to adjudicate justly on his
behalf with his brother who would not share the inheritance. Our Lord
told him he had not come to perform that kind of service, but went on
to warn against avarice of any kind. If our life, our Lord explains, is
given over just to the acquisition of material goods, what will happen
to them when we die? Whose will they be then? Let us often ponder on
our Lord’s very simple story of the “rich man whose land produced a
bountiful harvest” (Luke
12:13-21).
The rich man of the parable thought of nothing else, wanted nothing
else, and prepared for nothing else. He forgot that he was mortal,
indeed that life was short and very precarious, and that following
death there is the judgment of God. In thinking of death and the
judgment of God we think of the climax of life and all we do during
life ought be done in light of it. This thought will teach us that few
things are needed, indeed only one and that is God and living in a way
that is pleasing to him. If that is all that matters ultimately then
that is all that matters here and now and every day of our life. It
means that in all our daily efforts to gain the material things we need
for ourselves and for our families what matters is God and doing all
this in a way that is pleasing to him. In other words we should strive
to be totally attached to God and his holy will, and committed to
gaining and using material things only to the extent and only in the
way that God wants. What matters is God, God in Christ our Lord, and
being pleasing to him. The truly important thing in life is succeeding
in the love of God, not succeeding in simply gaining plenty of money
and in the process losing God. If we are indeed successful in gaining
money, all the money that we gain ought be used for the love and
service of God, whatever that will mean in the context of our
particular calling.
This is an extremely
important lesson to be learned by every man or woman in the world. In
all our dealings with the world and all it offers, the important thing
is Christ our Lord and all that he offers. What he offers is friendship
with him. This is the one thing necessary and it is this which should
be at the heart of all the work we put in to gain the material
possessions we undoubtedly need. This lesson can be learnt in large
part by reflecting often on the precariousness and shortness of life to
be followed by the judgment of God. If our life is marked by a profound
attachment to Christ and a detachment from the other things we must
necessarily deal with in life, our death will be the supreme moment of
union with Jesus when we surrender all into his keeping. Our death will
be the final act of detachment from this world and total abandonment to
the will and the care of God. It will be the supreme act of union with
Jesus, a share in his supreme act of union with his Father in his
sacrifice at Calvary. Let us then resolve to make holy all our use of
this world’s goods so that this world’s goods will serve their true
purpose, which is our sanctification. Let us so deal with the things of
this world that we and the world are sanctified.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no 2534-2550, 1681-1683, 988-1014.
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'What a wretched man am I! Who will rescue me from this body
doomed to death?' The cry is Saint Paul's. — Courage: he too had to
fight.
(The Way,
no.138)
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What are the principal sins against
chastity?
Grave sins against chastity differ according to their object: adultery,
masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, and
homosexual acts. These sins are expressions of the vice of lust. These
kinds of acts committed against the physical and moral integrity of
minors become even more grave. (CCC 2351-2359, 2396)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.492)
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Tuesday
of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time II
(August 7)
Pope St. Sixtus (XYSTUS). Elected 31 Aug., 257,
martyred at Rome, 6 Aug., 258. His origin is
unknown. The "Liber Pontificalis" 
says
that he was a Greek by birth, but this may be a mistake, originating
from the false assumption that he was identical with a Greek
philosopher of the same name, who was the author of the so-called
"Sentences" of Xystus. During the pontificate of his predecessor, St.
Stephen, a sharp dispute had arisen between Rome and the African and
Asiatic Churches, concerning the rebaptism of heretics, which had
threatened to end in a complete rupture between Rome and the Churches
of Africa and Asia Minor. Sixtus II, whom Pontius (Vita Cyprian, cap.
xiv) styles a good and peaceful priest (bonus et pacificus sacerdos),
was more conciliatory than St. Stephen and restored friendly relations
with these Churches, though, like his predecessor, he upheld the Roman
usage of not rebaptizing heretics.
Shortly before the pontificate of Sixtus II the
Emperor Valerian issued his first edict of persecution, which made it
binding upon the Christians to participate in the national cult of the
pagan gods and forbade them to assemble in the cemeteries, threatening
with exile or death whomsoever was found to disobey the order. In some
way or other, Sixtus II managed to perform his functions as chief
pastor of the Christians without being molested by those who were
charged with the execution of the imperial edict. But during the first
days of August, 258, the emperor issued a new and far more cruel edict
against the Christians, the import of which has been preserved in a
letter of St. Cyprian to Successus, the Bishop of Abbir Germaniciana
(Ep. lxxx). It ordered bishops, priests, and deacons to be summarily
put to death ("episcopi et presbyteri et diacones incontinenti
animadvertantur"). Sixtus II was one of the first to fall a victim to
this imperial enactment ("Xistum in cimiterio animadversum sciatis
VIII. id. Augusti et cum eo diacones quattuor"—Cyprian, Ep. lxxx). In
order to escape the vigilance of the imperial officers he assembled his
flock on 6 August at one of the less-known cemeteries, that of
Prætextatus, on the left side of the Appian Way, nearly opposite
the cemetery of St. Callistus. While seated on his chair in the act of
addressing his flock he was suddenly apprehended by a band of soldiers.
There is some doubt whether he was beheaded forthwith, or was first
brought before a tribunal to receive his sentence and then led back to
the cemetery for execution. The inscription which Pope Damasus (366-84)
placed on his tomb in the cemetery of St. Callistus may be interpreted
in either sense. The entire inscription is to be found in the works of
St. Damasus (P.L., XIII, 383-4, where it is wrongly supposed to be an
epitaph for Pope Stephen I), and a few fragments of it were discovered
at the tomb itself by de Rossi (Inscr. Christ., II, 108). The "Liber
Pontificalis" mentions that he was led away to offer sacrifice to the
gods ("ductus ut sacrificaret demoniis"—I, 155).
St. Cyprian states in the
above-named letter, which was written at the latest one month after the
martyrdom of Sixtus, that "the prefects of the City were daily urging
the persecution in order that, if any were brought before them, they
might be punished and their property confiscated". The pathetic meeting
between St. Sixtus II and St. Lawrence, as the former was being led to
execution, of which mention is made in the unauthentic "Acts of St.
Lawrence" as well as by St. Ambrose (Officiorum, lib. I, c. xli, and
lib. II, c. xxviii) and the poet Prudentius (Peristephanon, II), may be
a mere legend. Entirely contrary to truth is the statement of
Prudentius (ibid., lines 23-26) that Sixtus II suffered martyrdom on
the cross, unless by an unnatural trope the poet uses the specific word
cross ("Jam Xystus adfixus cruci") for martyrdom in general, as
Duchesne and Allard (see below) suggest. Four deacons, Januarius,
Vincentius, Magnus, and Stephanus, were apprehended with Sixtus and
beheaded with him at the same cemetery. Two other deacons, Felicissimus
and Agapitus, suffered martyrdom on the same day. The feast of St.
Sixtus II and these six deacons is celebrated on 6 August, the day of
their martyrdom. The remains of Sixtus were transferred by the
Christians to the papal crypt in the neighbouring cemetery of St.
Callistus. Behind his tomb was enshrined the bloodstained chair on
which he had been beheaded. An oratory (Oratorium Xysti) was erected
above the cemetery of St. Prætextatus, at the spot where he was
martyred, and was still visited by pilgrims of the seventh and the
eighth century.
For some time Sixtus II was
believed to be the author of the so-called "Sentences", or "Ring of
Sixtus", originally written by a Pythagorean philosopher and in the
second century revised by a Christian. This error arose because in his
introduction to a Latin translation of these "Sentences". Rufinus
ascribes them to Sixtus of Rome, bishop and martyr. It is certain that
Pope Sixtus II is not their author (see Conybeare, "The Ring of Pope
Xystus now first rendered into English, with an historical and critical
commentary", London, 1910). Harnack (Texte und Untersuchungen zur
altchrist. Literatur, XIII, XX) ascribes to him the treatise "Ad
Novatianum", but his opinion has been generally rejected (see Rombold
in "Theol. Quartalschrift", LXXII, Tübingen, 1900). Some of his
letters are printed in P.L., V, 79-100. A newly discovered letter was
published by Conybeare in "English Hist. Review", London, 1910.
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Numbers
12:1-13; Psalm 51:3-4,
5-6ab, 6cd-7, 12-13; Matthew 14:22-36
Jesus made the
disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other
side of the sea, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went
up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there
alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being
tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the
fourth watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea.
When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It
is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke
to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him
in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the
water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became
frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to
him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into
the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him
homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” After making the
crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret. When the men of that place
recognized him, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People
brought to him all those who were sick and begged him that they might
touch only the tassel on his cloak, and as many as touched it were
healed.
(Matthew 14:22-36)
If you wish to
view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel,
click here
Who is there is all
of history who can compare with Christ in his power
and goodness? For instance, I am not aware of anyone in all of history
who is
recorded as having done what Jesus did on the occasion narrated in our
Gospel of today. Our Lord, having dismissed the crowds, directed his
disciples to go across the sea to the other side. He then went up the
mountain to pray alone in the Spirit with his heavenly Father. Then
“during the fourth watch of the night” he walked on the sea towards
them in the midst of the wind and the tossing waves.
Presumably there
was moonlight, and what a spectacle for the disciples to behold! Think
of the mightiest personages in the history of the world. Who of them
have done this - not to mention the many other prodigies worked by
Christ! But now, gaze upon him. There he stands speaking to them, “Take
courage, it is
I; do not be afraid.” (Matthew
14:22-36) What a voice to come to
them from the midst of
the sea, the waves, the darkness and the wind! Simon Peter appeals to
Jesus in his impetuous and sinking faith and is sustained by the calm
and strong hand of Christ who helps him, from the sea, back into the
boat. The overwhelming impression that Christ gives to his disciples is
of power, the power to be with them in any difficult circumstance and
the power to save. It is the very power of Yahweh whose name means, I
am I, the one who is and who is there with you. How similar to the
words of Yahweh to Moses at the Burning Bush (“I am!”) are our Lord’s
own words to his disciples from the midst of the wind and the waves:
“It is I.” I am the ultimate source of strength and security, the one
firm rock of all that is, the one who is always with you and on
whom you can rely. There is no need to fear, for I am with you.
Therefore I bid you, do not be afraid. Christ’s words from the storm
ought be our stay whatever life may bring. The one thing that will lead
us to sink is if we do not believe them.
Christ enters the
boat having helped Simon back into it, and takes his
place. The wind forthwith dies down. Christ is lord not only of
sickness and human afflictions but of the world and its unruly
elements. It is a pointer to what he will say after his glorification
following his resurrection, that all authority in heaven and on earth
had been given to him. He takes his seat in the boat and his disciples
in wonderment and veneration before him proclaim him as being truly the
Son of God. Christ accepts the title for that is who he is. This man,
so accessible, so humble, so meek, so compassionate and loving, is the
living God in all its literal truth. He is the Powerful One. He is the
one God, though not the Father who is also the one God. Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the living God and he has come to be with afflicted
man amidst the storms of his precarious existence so beset with sin. He
comes with the message man longs to hear: “Courage, it is I. Do not be
afraid!” When we fail to believe he says to us, “O you of little faith,
why did you doubt?” Modern secular man does doubt, and doubts
profoundly. Peter sank because he did not believe. If we do not
believe, we shall sink also. We must appeal to Christ as the One who is
most real, who is really out there and yet so very near. Christ is a
fact, and the facts of our Gospel account of today were witnessed. I
read an article once by a (a theist) professor of Philosophy
who stated
in passing that pure philosophy brings little that is certain. That was
an interesting admission and one that I would cavil at. But it reminds
us that Christianity is not a philosophical or religious theory. It is
a religion based on hard facts, facts that happened. These facts were
witnessed and the Christian accepts the testimony of the witnesses
because it is trustworthy. The unique person of Jesus is the heart of
the Christian religion, and he is a fact, and we have some of those
facts in our Gospel passage today. Our faith in the midst of troubles
is based on the hard fact of Jesus.
Let us place
ourselves daily in the scenes of the Gospel and exult in
the person of Jesus who is portrayed there in all his living reality.
This same Jesus lives now and he is present with us above all in the
Church his body. This Church, founded on the Apostles gathered around
the Master, offers to everyone abundant access to the person and
blessings of Jesus her head and bridegroom. Let us look to him always,
hearing his consoling words, “Courage. It is I. Do not be afraid!”
(E.J.Tyler)
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Whatever happens, there is no need to worry as long as you don't
consent. For only the will can open the door of the heart and let that
corruption in.
(The Way,
no.140)
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What is the
responsibility of
civil authority in regard to chastity?
Insofar as it is bound to promote respect for the dignity of the
person, civil authority should seek to create an environment conducive
to the practice of chastity. It should also enact suitable legislation
to prevent the spread of the grave offenses against chastity mentioned
above, especially in order to protect minors and those who are the
weakest members of society. (CCC 2354)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.494)
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Wednesday
of the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time II
(August 8) Blessed
Mary MacKilllop 1842 - 1909 (Australia) On January 15,
1842 Mary MacKillop was born of Scottish parents, Alexander MacKillop
and Flora 
MacDonald in
Fitzroy, Victoria. This was less than seven years after Faulkner sailed
up the Yarra, when Elizabeth Street was a deep gully and Lonsdale
Street was still virgin bush. A plaque in the footpath now marks the
place of her birth in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Mary, the eldest of
eight children, was well educated by her father who spent some years
studying for the priesthood in Rome but through ill health had returned
to his native Scotland until 1835 when he migrated to Australia with
his parents. Unfortunately, he lacked financial awareness, so the
family was often without a home of their own, depending on 
friends
and
relatives and frequently separated from one another. From the age of
sixteen, Mary earned her living and greatly supported her family, as a
governess, as a clerk for Sands and Kenny (now Sands and MacDougall),
and as a teacher at the Portland school. While acting as a governess to
her uncle's children at Penola, Mary met
Father Julian Tenison Woods who, with a parish of 22,000 square
miles/56,000 square kilometres, needed help in the religious education
of children in the outback. At the time Mary's family depended on her
income so she was not free to follow her dream. However, in 1866,
greatly inspired and encouraged by Father Woods, Mary opened the first
Saint Joseph's School in a disused stable in Penola.
Young women came to join Mary, and so the
Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph was begun. In 1867, Mary was
asked by Bishop Shiel to come to Adelaide to start a school. From
there, the Sisters spread, in groups to small outback settlements and
large cities around Australia, New Zealand, and now in Peru, Brazil and
refugee camps of Uganda and Thailand. Mary and these early Sisters,
together 
with
other Religious Orders and Lay Teachers of the time, had
a profound influence on the forming of Catholic Education as we have
come to know and experience it today. She also opened Orphanages,
Providences to care for the homeless and destitute both young and old,
and Refuges for ex-prisoners and ex-prostitutes
who wished to make a fresh start in life. Throughout her life, Mary met
with opposition from people outside the Church and even from some of
those within it. In the most difficult of times she consistently
refused to attack those who wrongly accused her and undermined her
work, but continued in the way she believed God was calling her and was
always ready to forgive those who wronged her.
Throughout her life Mary suffered ill health.
She died on August 8, 1909 in the convent in Mount Street, North Sydney
where her tomb is now enshrined. Since then the Congregation has grown
and now numbers about 1200, working mainly in Australia and New Zealand
but also scattered singly or in small groups around the world. The
"Brown Joeys" may be seen in big city schools, on dusty bush tracks, in
modern
hospitals, in caravans, working with the "little ones" of God - the
homeless, the new migrant, the Aboriginal, the lonely and the unwanted,
in direct care and in advocacy, in standing with and in speaking with.
In their endeavours to reverence the human dignity of others and to
change unjust structures, the Sisters and those many others who also
share the Mary MacKillop spirit continue the work which she began. This
great Australian woman inspired great dedication to God's work in the
then new colonies. In today's world, she stands as an example of great
courage and trust in her living out of God's loving and
compassionate care of those in need.
(Saints)
Scripture: Num 13:1-2,
25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35; Ps 106:6-7ab, 13-14, 21-23; Mat 15: 21-28
At that time Jesus
withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman
of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of
David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word
in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for
she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him
homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to
take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said,
“Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the
table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman,
great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her
daughter was healed from that hour. (Matthew 15:
21-28)
If you wish to
view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel,
click here
It is especially
when things are difficult that the ways of God seem incomprehensible.
It was when the just man Job was struck with afflictions of all kinds
that the problem of God and his ways bore down on him. Why is God
allowing all this, since - if - he is the good God? It is a question
which rises from the heart of man from generation to generation. What
is to be said of 9/11, the great terrorist attack in the United States
that destroyed the lives of thousands in a matter of moments? There is
so much bewildering suffering borne by so
many people who may not question the existence or goodness of God, but
whose ways are a mystery to them. In the case of others, this
unexplained suffering tempts them to reject God and they often do
reject him. Others cannot understand how it is that God seems to ignore
their prayers for relief. Terrorists capture a group of innocent
tourists or aid workers and demand the release of their own people by
the authorities. If they are not released they will begin executing the
hostages. Full of anguish the families of those captured pray to God
for the release of their hostage relatives. The terrorists begin
executing them because their demands are not met. What was God doing in
all of this? He was there, so why did he not stop it because, after
all, he is God? In the case of so many persons in so many different
situations of difficulty, God seems to make no difference despite all
their prayers. It is the problem the apparent silence of God in the
face of evil. To some God seems to be dead, and to others he seems to
be strangely absent. To others he seems not to care. Others do not
doubt the presence and goodness of God but it truly tests their faith.
Can the Gospel portrayal of Jesus throw some light on God’s apparent
lack of response to human need, and to his lack of response to prayer
for help?
This question
cannot be answered in a few lines. Cardinal Newman in his Apologia
Pro Vita Sua
(1864) openly acknowledges the daunting problem of evil and states that
were it not for the instinctive and unmistakable testimony of his
conscience assuring him of the reality of God, the problem of evil
would probably have led him into unbelief. Well then, does our Gospel
passage of today help us in any way? Consider the setting (Matthew 15:
21-28). Christ has sought a
temporary respite from his public ministry by going with his disciples
to a Gentile territory, that of Tyre and Sidon. It was not his
intention to engage in ministry at that point. That is to say, it was
in the plan of God to leave untouched by miracles the needs of those
who were suffering in that region. But somehow word reached the ears of
the desperate Canaanite woman and she pursued our Lord refusing to
accept any rejection. Our Lord answered her not a word. On this
occasion he was silent in the face of need and requests. Why was this?
We are not told. In view of the upshot we can say that he was testing
her. But also, in view of his prior intention, it was simply not our
Lord’s intention to engage here and now in the healing ministry that
was part and parcel of his mission to the House of Israel. Furthermore,
he was sent only to the chosen people. He would reach the Gentiles in
due course through the activity of his Church. So for various reasons
our Lord was silent before the pleas of the crying woman and neither
the woman nor our Lord’s disciples understood his reasons. The lesson
is that there are various reasons - known only to him - why from
generation to generation our Lord remains seemingly silent before the
pleas of this or that suffering man, woman or society, for whom he died
on the cross. But what did the Gentile woman do in the face of this
silence? She did not simply give up and leave full of disappointment
and resentment. She kept up her petitions. Her clamours increased
because she knew that our Lord was powerful and very good. Our Lord
joyfully gave in, and commended the woman for her great faith. She was
persistent and her wish was granted.
There is no one
answer to the problem of evil, and what happened in the case of the
Canaanite woman here is not the way God necessarily works in all cases.
But our Lord doesteach elsewhere in the Gospel that we are to pray
unceasingly and never lose heart. In her own way that is what the woman
of our scene did. The message is that if we pray to God perseveringly
and not lose heart he will answer our prayers not necessarily in the
way we have asked, but in a way that will surprise and truly benefit
us. He is our loving Father.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You seem to hear a voice within you saying.
'That religious prejudice!' And then the eloquent defence of all the
weaknesses of our poor fallen flesh: 'Its rights!'
When this happens, tell the enemy that there is a natural law and a law
of God... and God! And also hell.
(The Way,
no.141)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What are the goods of conjugal love to
which sexuality is ordered?
The goods of conjugal love, which for those who are baptized is
sanctified by the sacrament of Matrimony, are unity, fidelity,
indissolubility, and an openness to the procreation of life. (CCC
2360-2361, 2397-2398)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.495)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time II
(August 9) St.
Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) (1891-1942)
A brilliant philosopher who
stopped believing in God when she was 14, Edith Stein was so captivated
by 
reading the
autobiography of Teresa of Avila that she began a spiritual journey
that led to her Baptism in 1922. Twelve years later she imitated Teresa
by becoming a Carmelite, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Born into a prominent Jewish family in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland),
Edith abandoned Judaism in her teens. As a student at the University of
Göttingen, she became fascinated by phenomenology, an approach to
philosophy. Excelling as a protégé of Edmund Husserl, one
of the leading phenomenologists, Edith earned a doctorate in philosophy
in 1916. She continued as a university teacher until 1922 when she
moved to a Dominican school in Speyer; her appointment as lecturer at
the Educational Institute of Munich ended under pressure from the
Nazis. After living in the Cologne Carmel (1934-38), she moved to the
Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. The Nazis occupied that
country in 1940. In retaliation for being denounced by the Dutch
bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had become Christians.
Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died in a gas
chamber in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942. Pope John Paul II (himself with
a background in phenomenology) beatified Teresa Benedicta in 1987 and
canonized her in 1998.
The writings of Edith Stein fill 17 volumes, many of
which have been translated into English. A woman of integrity, she
followed the truth wherever it led her. After becoming a Catholic,
Edith continued to honour her mother’s Jewish faith. Sister Josephine
Koeppel, O.C.D. , translator of several of Edith’s books, sums up this
saint with the phrase, “Learn to live at God’s hands.” In his homily at
the canonization Mass, Pope John Paul II said: “Because she was Jewish,
Edith Stein was taken with her sister Rosa and many other Catholics and
Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where
she died with them in the gas chambers. Today we remember them all with
deep respect. A few days before her deportation, the woman religious
had dismissed the question about a possible rescue: ‘Do not do it! Why
should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage
from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters,
my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed.’” Addressing himself to the
young people gathered for the canonization, the pope said: “Your life
is not an endless series of open doors! Listen to your heart! Do not
stay on the surface but go to the heart of things! And when the time is
right, have the courage to decide! The Lord is waiting for you to put
your freedom in his good hands.”
(Saints)
(Let it be noted
that, as mentioned above, the occasion for
Edith’s deportation and that of numerous others was the denunciation of
the Nazis by the Dutch bishops. In view of this course of events the
saintly Pius XII was urged to be
prudent in the matter of denunciation of the Nazi regime lest it lead
to a further great loss of life. He ought never be simplistically
blamed for
refraining from rashly doing what had already proved to be harmful.)
Scripture
today: Numbers
20:1-13; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7,
8-9; Matthew 16:13-23
Jesus went into the
region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people
say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist,
others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said
to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in
reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has
not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you,
you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates
of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the
keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he
was the Christ. From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the
chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be
raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God
forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and
said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You
are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Matthew
16:13-23)
If you wish to
view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel,
click here
Consider the great
personages of human history and ask yourself, whose claims are the most
arresting and who, more than anyone in history, must each person make a
decision over? There are some who have dominated the stage in a
political, military, economic or literary sense and yet about whose
identity there is no issue or question. Take Alexander the Great, or
Julius Caesar, or Aristotle, or any one of a number of great figures of
the past, and of course they have come and gone. They do not claim the
loyalty of our hearts and there is no discussion as to their ultimate
personal authority. The case is somewhat different with certain outstanding
religious figures who have initiated entire religions. A religion
necessarily commands the soul of its adherent. Consider Zoroaster, or
Buddha, or Confucius, or Mahomet, and many other founders of religious
traditions and movements who have lived since them. Their persons live
on in their teachings and legacies and they command the allegiance of
the hearts of their followers who choose to shape their lives according
to their doctrine and example. But who is there among this select
category of persons in human history whose claims transcend all others,
and the quality of whose life no one can dismiss? The one that stands
out is Jesus Christ. Mahomet made claims to a unique revelation -
although to many observers it appears clear that his religious
experiences were interpreted in dependence on elements of Christian and
especially Jewish revelation. Islam claims for Mahomet the status of
greatest of
prophets, but - incidentally - was that Mahomet’s own claim, or that of
those who followed him? Whatever of that aside, the claims of Jesus
Christ transcend all others as does the moral stature of his person.
His figure, as presented by those who witnessed him and as presented by
the great Tradition about him, is the most arresting of all. It all
means at least this that, if one professes to seek the truth, one must
turn to consider the person of Jesus Christ.
Ponder on the
Gospel passage of today in which our Lord directly asks the question
which, because of his own greatness, may be asked in any generation.
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” This question cries out for
an answer because one’s whole life is at stake in it as is the life of
nations. We can ask the same question of the greatest of philosophers,
writers, economists, statesmen and military commanders and the answer
is given as to his identity without more ado. Not so with Jesus Christ.
The disciples give our Lord various answers that can be expected of any
era: basically that he is a great religious teacher and leader, one who
is in touch with God and who gives God’s word to mankind. In a word,
that he is a true and great prophet. Plenty of persons before him laid
successful claim to being a prophet, but for Christ this was in no way
the answer to his question. “But who do you say that I am?” Simon
Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For
flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father”
(Matthew 16:13-23). Christ claimed to be
the promised Messiah and the very Son of the living God. He came
bearing in his own person the kingdom of heaven which is God’s lordship
over men. He now moves to establish his Church on a visible rock as the
means for all to attain entry into this divine kingdom. Simon is that
rock and to him Christ gives the keys to this kingdom. Everything is at
stake here. All this means that every person must take seriously the
person of Jesus Christ for his claims are utterly unique and carry
enormous
ramifications. By implication each must take seriously the Kingdom he
claimed to establish here on earth, the Church he built as the
means to access this Kingdom, and the one rock on whom Christ built his
Church and to whom he gave the keys. Our Gospel passage of today is
such that the person of Christ cannot be taken casually. Everything
hinges around and on him.
Let us place
ourselves in the company of the living risen Jesus to whom all
authority in heaven and on earth has been given. He is Lord of lords
and King of kings. His empire will never be destroyed. Each of us can
say with Thomas after the resurrection that he is “my Lord and my God.”
There is no one like him and as St Paul writes, in him is to be found
every heavenly blessing. Let us then cast our whole lot with him and
allow nothing to lead us from him.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“On this rock I will build my church.”
(Matthew 16:13-23)
St Leo the Great
(? –461), Pope and Doctor of the Church (Anniversary of his
Ordination as Bishop)
Brothers, when it comes to fulfilling my duties as bishop, I discover
that I am weak and slack, weighed down by the weakness of my own
condition, while at the same time, I want to act generously and
courageously. However, I draw my strength from the untiring
intercession of the almighty and eternal Priest who, like us but equal
to the Father, lowered his divinity to the level of man and raised
humankind to the level of God. The decisions he made give me a just and
holy joy. For when he delegated many pastors to care for his flock, he
did not abandon watching over his beloved sheep. Thanks to that
fundamental and eternal help, I in turn have received the protection
and support of the apostle Peter, who also does not abandon his
function. This solid foundation, on which the whole of the Church is
built, never grows tired of carrying the whole weight of the building
that rests on it.
The firmness of faith, for which the
first of the apostles was praised, never fails. Just as everything that
Peter professed in Christ remains, so what Christ established in Peter
remains… The order willed by God’s truth remains. Saint Peter
perseveres in the solidity that he received; he has not abandoned the
governance of the Church, which was placed in his hands. That, my
brothers, is what that profession of faith inspired by God the Father
obtained in the heart of the apostle. He received the solidity of a
rock, which no assault can shake. In the entire Church, Peter says
every day: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Domine! — Lord — si vis, potes me mundare, —
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.'
What a beautiful prayer for you to say often, with the faith of the
poor leper, when there happens to you what God and you and I know! You
will not have to wait long to hear the Master's reply: 'Volo, mundare!
I will: be thou made clean!'
(The Way,
no.142)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the meaning of the conjugal act?
The conjugal act has a twofold meaning: unitive (the mutual self-giving
of the spouses) and procreative (an openness to the transmission of
life). No one may break the inseparable connection which God has
established between these two meanings of the conjugal act by excluding
one or the other of them. (CCC 2362-2367)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.496)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr
(Friday
of
the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time II)
(August 10) Saint
Lawrence, deacon and martyr Saint Lawrence was one
of seven deacons who were in charge of giving
help to the poor and the needy. When a persecution broke out, Pope St.
Sixtus was condemned to death. As he was led to execution, Lawrence
followed him weeping, "Father, where are you going without your
deacon?" he said. "I am not leaving you, my son," answered the Pope.
"in three days you will follow me." Full of joy, Lawrence gave to the
poor the rest of the money he had on hand and even sold expensive
vessels to have more to give away. The Prefect of Rome, a greedy pagan,
thought the Church had a great fortune hidden away. So he ordered
Lawrence to bring the Church's treasure to him. The Saint said he
would, in three days. Then he went through the city and gathered
together all the poor and sick people supported by the Church. When he
showed them to the Prefect, he said: "This is the Church's treasure!"
In great anger, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death.
The Saint was tied on top of an iron grill over a slow fire that
roasted his flesh little by little, but Lawrence was burning with so
much love of God that he almost did not feel the flames. In fact, God
gave him so much strength and joy that he even joked. "Turn me over,"
he said to the judge. "I'm done on this side!" And just before he died,
he said, "It's cooked enough now." Then he prayed that the city of Rome
might be converted to Jesus and that the Catholic Faith might spread
all over the world. After that, he went to receive the martyr's reward.
Saint Lawrence's feast day is August 10th.
(Saints)
Scripture
today: 2 Corinthians
9:6-10; Psalm 112:1-2, 5-6, 7-8,
9; John 12:24-26
Jesus said to his
disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain
of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of
wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life
loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for
eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there
also will my servant be. The Father will honour whoever serves
me.”
(John 12:24-26)
If you wish to
view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel,
click here
The outstanding
twentieth century preacher, Archbishop Fulton Sheen,
used to write that Christ was born in order to die. He was pointing out
that Christ’s death was the supreme goal of his life and the principal
means of attaining his redemptive mission for it was precisely by his
death that he expiated for mankind’s sin. We could perhaps say that
just as the high point of a plant’s life is its production of its
flower, so is the high point of mankind’s history the death and
resurrection of Christ. That is mankind’s flower, its greatest
achievement and its most acceptable offering to God. There is nothing
more beautiful that has been done and its fragrance permeates the
history of the peoples and rises continually to the highest heavens. It
has also transformed the meaning of death and has made of death the
greatest manifestation of love, a love from which flows life. While as
St Paul says death is the wage of sin, I would suggest that the death
of Christ also throws light on why God permits death to abound, and our
Lord alludes to this in his reference to the grain of wheat falling to
the ground. The grain of wheat dies and produces fruit. Consider all of
life. Those things that live have their lives snatched from them in
order that others things may live. The living grass is eaten by the
deer, and so it dies in order that the deer may live. Its life is
unthinkingly sacrificed for the sake of the other - a dim reflection of
the love that is the Creator, and a dim reflection of the sacrificial
death of Christ on the cross in order that we may live. The deer,
having eaten of the grass and the herbs, is killed and eaten by the
lion or the tiger. It too, then, is sacrificed in order that the other
may live. The lion is then perhaps killed by man for his own purposes.
This difficult pattern could be seen as an ubiquitous cruelty, or it
could be seen as an all-pervasive reflection in creation of the life of
sacrificial love that is God, a love revealed in the life and death of
Jesus Christ. What of man? He finds his truest happiness in pouring out
his life in the service of others. Sacrificial love, I suggest, is the
ultimate meaning of Nature’s pattern and that pattern reflects the
Revelation that has come from God in Christ.
Our Lord asks us to
look at the grain of wheat and observe how it dies
to produce its fruit. He says that “Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal
life” (John
12:24-26).
We often see our Lord using dramatic and
picturesque language to make his point forcefully. He says we must
“hate” our life in order to preserve it, which is to say we must act
towards our life in the way one might act towards something he hates.
If a person hates something he does away with it. So too does the
person who truly loves his life: he does away with it - he gives it up
- out of love for God and others. The heart and soul of such a life is
the following of Jesus the Master. “Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honour
whoever serves me” (John
12:24-26).
Every day the one who has placed
his faith in Jesus and who wishes to be his friend and servant sets out
to follow him in his self-sacrificial death. We are called to make of
our daily life a sharing in the death and resurrection of Christ. We do
this by our prayer and by our work. The great St Benedict was the
founder of Western monasticism, and as such he was one of the great
founders of Christian Europe for the monasteries were decisive in
gradually forging an all-pervasive Christian culture. He provides us
with a great example for our day when the Church has been calling on
all to be part of a new evangelization. Now St Benedict’s proposals (as
in his Rule) hinged on the life of prayer and work and it is through
our daily prayer and our daily work, each pervading the other, that our
self-denying following of Christ will be lived out. It is through our
prayer and our work that the grain that is each of us in Christ falls
to the ground and dies, and in the process bears fruit. It is by
prayer, expiation and work that Christ lives in us and we in him.
A great modern
saint for the laity was the Spanish priest St Josemaria
Escriva de Balaguer. He strove to teach the laity that they are called
to be saints in the world of their everyday work. Through our prayerful
and expiatory work we share in Christ’s sacrificial death and in this
way the fruit of sanctity, sanctity in oneself and sanctity in the
other, flowers to the glory of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow,
Saint
Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush, Saint Bernard plunged into an
icy pond... You..., what have you done?
(The Way,
no.143)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When is it moral to regulate births?
The regulation of births, which is an aspect of responsible fatherhood
and motherhood, is objectively morally acceptable when it is pursued by
the spouses without external pressure; when it is practised not out of
selfishness but for serious reasons; and with methods that conform to
the objective criteria of morality, that is, periodic continence and
use of the infertile periods. (CCC 2368-2369, 2399)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.497)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the eighteenth week of Ordinary Time
(August
11) Saint
Clare, virgin Clare
was born in 1193 to the wealthiest and most powerful family in Assisi.
Yet she
longed for more than earthly riches. She spent most of her youth
serving the needs of others and giving food to the poor. By the age of
sixteen, Clare knew that she wanted to become the bride of Christ. She
shared her longing for holiness with Francis di Bernardone, who has
recently given up his frivolous ways and had embraced a life of Gospel
simplicity. For two years Clare was counseled by Francis. Then, on Palm
Sunday in her eighteenth year, Clare left her family home forever and
joined the poor men of Assisi. Francis greeted her at the chapel of the
St. Mary of the Angels and Clare consecrated herself to the Lord. Soon
other women came to join Clare in her desire to live the poverty of
Christ. A community of sisters formed at the tiny sanctuary of San
Damiano, where Clare remained in contemplation and service until her
death in 1253 at the age of 60. The community continued to grow and
many new monasteries of "Poor Clares" have been established throughout
the world. Saint Clare of Assisi was canonized two years after her
death. In 1958, she was named by Pope Pius XII as the "patroness of
television" in honour of a particular vision that she had one Christmas
Eve.
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Deuteronomy
6:4-13; Psalm 18:2-4, 47 and 51; Matthew
17:14-20
A man came up to
Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, “Lord, have pity on my son, who
is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often
into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure
him.” Jesus said in reply, “O faithless and perverse generation, how
long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here
to me.” Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that
hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private
and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” He said to them, “Because of
your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a