August 2008
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's general
prayer intention for August 2008 is: "That the human family
may know how to respect God's design for the world and thus become ever
more aware of the great gift of God which Creation represents for us."
His
mission intention for August 2008 is: "That the answer
of the entire people of God to the common vocation to sanctity and
mission may be promoted and fostered, with careful discernment of the
charisms and a constant commitment to spiritual and cultural formation."
(August 2 and 5 videos)
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Friday of the seventeenth week in Ordinary Time II(August 1) St
Alphonsus Ligouri (1696-1787)
Moral theology, Vatican II said, should be
more thoroughly nourished by Scripture, and show the nobility of the
Christian vocation of the faithful and their obligation to bring forth
fruit in charity for the life of the world. Alphonsus, declared patron
of moral theologians by Pius XII in 1950, would rejoice in that
statement. In his day, he fought for the liberation of moral theology
from the rigidity of Jansenism. His moral theology, which went through
60 editions in the century following him, concentrated on the practical
and concrete problems of pastors and confessors. If a certain legalism
and minimalism crept into moral theology, it should not be attributed
to this model of moderation and gentleness. At the University of Naples
he received, at the age of 16, a doctorate in both canon and civil law
by acclamation, but soon gave up the practice of law for apostolic
activity. He was ordained a priest and concentrated his pastoral
efforts on popular (parish) missions, hearing confessions, forming
Christian groups. He founded the Redemptorist congregation in 1732. It
was an association of priests and brothers living a common life,
dedicated to the imitation of Christ, and working mainly in popular
missions for peasants in rural areas. Almost as an omen of what was to
come later, he found himself deserted, after a while, by all his
original companions except one lay brother. But the congregation
managed to survive and was formally approved 17 years later, though its
troubles were not over. Alphonsus’ great pastoral reforms were in the
pulpit and confessional—replacing the pompous oratory of the time with
simplicity, and the rigorism of Jansenism with kindness. His great fame
as a writer has somewhat eclipsed the fact that for 26 years he
traveled up and down the Kingdom of Naples, preaching popular missions.
He was made bishop (after trying to reject the honour) at 66 and at
once instituted a thorough reform of his diocese. His greatest sorrow
came toward the end of his life. The Redemptorists, precariously
continuing after the suppression of the Jesuits, had difficulty in
getting their Rule approved by the Kingdom of Naples. Alphonsus acceded
to the condition that they possess no property in common, but a royal
official, with the connivance of a high Redemptorist official, changed
the Rule substantially. Alphonsus, old, crippled and with very bad
sight, signed the document, unaware that he had been betrayed. The
Redemptorists in the Papal States then put themselves under the pope,
who withdrew those in Naples from the jurisdiction of Alphonsus. It was
only after his death that the branches were united. At 71 he was
afflicted with rheumatic pains which left incurable bending of his
neck; until it was straightened a little, the pressure of his chin
caused a raw wound on his chest. He suffered a final 18 months of “dark
night” scruples, fears, temptations against every article of faith and
every virtue, interspersed with intervals of light and relief, when
ecstasies were frequent. Alphonsus is best known for his moral
theology, but he also wrote well in the field of spiritual and dogmatic
theology. His Glories of Mary is one of the great works on that
subject, and his book Visits to the Blessed Sacrament went through 40
editions in his lifetime, greatly influencing the practice of this
devotion in the Church.
St. Alphonsus was known above all as a
practical man who dealt in the concrete rather than the abstract. His
life is indeed a “practical” model for the everyday Christian who has
difficulty recognizing the dignity of Christian life amid the swirl of
problems, pain, misunderstanding and failure. Alphonsus suffered all
these things. He is a saint because he was able to maintain an intimate
sense of the presence of the suffering Christ through it all. Someone
once remarked, after a sermon by Alphonsus, "It is a pleasure to listen
to your sermons; you forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ." (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: Jeremiah 26: 1-9;
Psalm 68; Matthew 13: 54-58
(click here for readings)
Coming to
his home town, Jesus began teaching the people in their synagogue, and
they were amazed. Where did this man get this wisdom and these
miraculous powers? they asked. Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't
his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon
and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get
all these things? And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them,
Only in his home town and in his own house is a prophet without honour.
And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
(Matthew 13: 54-58)
In the history of
religions there are many things the gods are portrayed as doing but
even in the times when such religions were in possession it was
accepted by many that these divine activities were 
mythical. Those who were
more educated - say, the Greek philosophers - progressively dismissed
popular religion as being the product of the imagination and nothing
more. But in the most startling of the beliefs of the Christians - that
the one only God became a man - the Christian Church insisted that
there was nothing mythical about that. It was a hard fact and occurred
at a precise date and in a very precise location. It is indeed a the
most startling of assertions which is made of a particular person in
history. Some have gone to the length of calling into question the
existence of Jesus Christ but that is so far beyond any reasonable
attitude to historical evidence that it simply does not warrant
consideration. More common (among agnostics and, of course, atheists)
is the denial of the Christian claim about Jesus, that he is divine and
that he is a Messiah. Much of this rejection seems very plausible
precisely because Jesus was so truly a man. If it was the divine plan
that the eternal Word become flesh and dwell among us as man, then
necessarily the Son of God made man was exposing himself to the risk of
not being accepted for who he was. The fact that his claim to be both
Messiah and Son of God was rejected by many and even most of his
contemporaries, and by many from generation to generation ever since,
shows how complete was the Incarnation. The man Jesus was so obviously
a man that many would not accept that he was the Messiah and God. Our
Gospel passage today is a case in point. Jesus had grown up as a member
of a very human family. He had a human mother and many relatives. The
small town where he lived for so many years knew him intimately and had
seen him at his work with Joseph his foster-father. It was as plain as
the day that he was a man. This fact is a tribute to the thorough-going
character of the Incarnation.
By taking the step
he did for our salvation, God was exposing himself to rejection on the
grand scale. He became fully man, and we see the humanity of Jesus
Christ acknowledged in the words of his townspeople in our Gospel
today. “Coming to his home town, Jesus began teaching the people in
their synagogue, and they were amazed. Where did this man get this
wisdom and these miraculous powers? they asked. Isn't this the
carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers
James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where
then did this man get all these things? And they took offence at him.” (Matthew 13: 54-58) As we gaze on the
figure of Jesus of Nazareth in our mind’s eye, a figure so very and
fully human, we ought wonder at the spectacle. The infinite divine
Being, pure Being as he is and the ongoing source of all other beings
whether visible or invisible, stands before us all as a humble man. He
was humble, meek, strong and totally good. The infinite God had taken
to himself a limited though sinless human nature and in this way made
himself totally accessible and very vulnerable. He could be insulted,
rejected, attacked and beaten to death. In fact, all this did happen to
him, and he was God himself upon whom the entire universe constantly
depended. But there is more to this consideration. In the divine plan
our salvation depends on the acceptance of Jesus Christ and his word.
Of course, Christ’s salvation reaches those who through no fault of
their own do not know or believe in Jesus Christ and who yet strive to
be good in God’s sight by sincerely following their conscience. That
granted, nevertheless faith in Jesus Christ and the acceptance of his
claims and teaching is the divinely established path to salvation. The
centrality of faith in Jesus is also hinted at in our Gospel of today.
We read that “Jesus said to them, Only in his home town and in his own
house is a prophet without honour. And he did not do many miracles
there because of their lack of faith.” This difficult act of faith in
Jesus is the path to heaven.
Yes, it is
difficult for ordinary human reason and the ordinary human heart to
believe that the man Jesus Christ is the Messiah and Son of the living
God. But it is through believing in his name that we are saved. What
then is the way ahead? It is to ask God for the gift of faith in Jesus
because it is a gift of grace. We shall not do it of ourselves. But in
that gift granted definitively at Baptism we receive a divinely given
readiness and ability to see and accept who our Lord really is. Faith
then becomes easy. Life’s work will then be to nourish that faith and
to live by it, following Christ closely.
(E.J.Tyler)
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We go to Jesus — and we 'return' to him — through Mary.
(The Way, no.495)
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Benedict XVI's Address to Catholic
Educators, Washington, April 17 2008, Visit to USA
This same dynamic of communal identity -- to whom do I belong? --
vivifies the ethos of our Catholic institutions. A university or
school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of
Catholic students. It is a question of conviction -- do we really
believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the
mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes,
22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self -- intellect and will, mind
and heart -- to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the
faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent
expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of
charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God's creation? Only in
this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and
what we uphold.
From this perspective one can recognize that the contemporary "crisis
of truth" is rooted in a "crisis of faith". Only through faith can we
freely give our assent to God's testimony and acknowledge him as the
transcendent guarantor of the truth he reveals. Again, we see why
fostering personal intimacy with Jesus Christ and communal witness to
his loving truth is indispensable in Catholic institutions of learning.
Yet we all know, and observe with concern, the difficulty or reluctance
many people have today in entrusting themselves to God. It is a complex
phenomenon and one which I ponder continually. While we have sought
diligently to engage the intellect of our young, perhaps we have
neglected the will. Subsequently we observe, with distress, the notion
of freedom being distorted. Freedom is not an opting out. It is an
opting in -- a participation in Being itself. Hence authentic freedom
can never be attained by turning away from God. Such a choice would
ultimately disregard the very truth we need in order to understand
ourselves. A particular responsibility therefore for each of you, and
your colleagues, is to evoke among the young the desire for the act of
faith, encouraging them to commit themselves to the ecclesial life that
follows from this belief. It is here that freedom reaches the certainty
of truth. In choosing to live by that truth, we embrace the fullness of
the life of faith which is given to us in the Church.
(Continuing)
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Saturday of the seventeenth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 2) St. Eusebius of Vercelli (283?-371)
Someone has said that if there had been no Arian heresy it would be very difficult to write the lives of many early saints. Eusebius is another of the defenders of the Church during one of its most trying periods. Born on the isle of Sardinia, he became a member of the Roman clergy and is the first recorded bishop of Vercelli in Piedmont. He is also the first to link the monastic life with that of the clergy, establishing a community of his diocesan clergy on the principle that the best way to sanctify his people was to have them see a clergy formed in solid virtue and living in community. He was sent by Pope Liberius to persuade the emperor to call a council to settle Catholic-Arian troubles. When it was called at Milan, Eusebius went reluctantly, sensing that the Arian block would have its way, although the Catholics were more numerous. He refused to go along with the condemnation of Athanasius; instead, he laid the Nicene Creed on the table and insisted that all sign it before taking up any other matter. The emperor put pressure on him, but Eusebius insisted on Athanasius’ innocence and reminded the emperor that secular force should not be used to influence Church decisions. At first the emperor threatened to kill him, but later sent him into exile in Palestine. There the Arians dragged him through the streets and shut him up in a little room, releasing him only after his four-day hunger strike. They resumed their harassment shortly after. His exile continued in Asia Minor and Egypt, until the new emperor permitted him to be welcomed back to his see in Vercelli. He attended the Council of Alexandria with Athanasius and approved the leniency shown to bishops who had wavered. He also worked with St. Hilary of Poitiers against the Arians. He died peacefully in his own diocese at an advanced age. (AmericanCatholics.org)
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Scripture today: Jeremiah 7: 1-11; Psalm 83; Matthew 13: 24-30 (click here for readings)
Jesus
told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who
sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his
enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the
wheat sprouted and formed ears, then the weeds also appeared. The
owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed
in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 'An enemy did
this,' he replied. The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and
pull them up?' 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the
weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together
until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First
collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the
wheat and bring it into my barn.'
(Matthew 13: 24-30)
There are many ways to
God and there are many ways of trying to demonstrate his existence and
character. Many think of these ways of proving the existence of God to
be proofs and there have been in the past authors who have tried to set
out 
those
proofs in a strictly logical form. For myself, I am not sure that this
of itself will be convincing. I prefer to regard the proofs for the
existence of God as ways to him, ways to follow in one’s reflection on
the world and on oneself. But as with any way that one is following one
has to be eager to follow the way, looking out for whatever indications
there are of the goal being sought. Take the way to God by reflection
on the order that is to be observed in objective reality. Reality is
not chaotic, random and radically the fruit of chance. There is
permanence, predictability and settled patterns that are constantly
being discovered. For this reason the world is a liveable place and the
human race is able to flourish as can the rest of life. How came the
order? It bespeaks a creative Mind. But we must not be simplistic about
this because a person who is reluctant to see the imprint of Mind on
all of reality may point to the disorder in things. There are tidal
waves that destroy thousands of people, together with earthquakes,
plagues and various other catastrophes. Evil men are able to flourish
and get away with terrible injustices. How is it possible that there
can be a holy and all-powerful Mind ordering things when this happens?
In other words, a person who stresses this sees not order but disorder
and a disorder that flies in the face of morality. Now, this is not the
place to answer that very important question: it is usually called by
the theist the problem of evil because it is indeed a problem. We just
do not fully understand why God allows such evils in the world when he
is God the all-holy creator of all. But part of the answer is surely
that Order in the sense of Good will eventually come. For instance the
disorder involved in a toothache is made bearable by the thought that
"order" among one’s teeth will soon come. The dentist will fix the
tooth.
Yes, order will ultimately prevail. That order will come with the judgment of God on all. Our Lord speaks of this in very simple terms in our Gospel passage today. He draws from everyday life to show the reasonableness of what God is doing in our world. A farmer sows good seed in his field and then his enemy comes and sows weeds among the good seed (Matthew 13: 24-30). God is the farmer, Satan is the enemy. Evil comes not from God, of course, but from the evil choice of created free will - in the first instance the evil choice of certain among the angelic world, and secondly the evil choice of man. Why has God permitted this to happen? We do not know, except that in giving to created persons the gift of freedom - a necessary gift if the one created is to be a person - then there is the risk God takes of such a person doing evil within creation. And so it happened. God’s enemy sowed weeds among the wheat. Why did God not root out the weeds once the enemy had done this? We do not know, but our Lord invites us to consider the farmer. He directs his servants not to pull out the weeds because in doing this some of the wheat may come out as well. In other words, in the judgment of God more good will be done by allowing the weeds a certain existence but the time will come when those weeds will certainly be uprooted and thrown out to be burned. That will be the time of harvest when the wheat is separated from the weeds. So it will be at the end. By the "end" I mean the end of each person’s life and especially the end of the world. God will separate out the good from the bad and the bad will be like the weeds that are tied in bundles to be burned, while the wheat will be gathered into the barn, the barn of heaven. It is then that a full order will be restored. The judgment of God will set all things right forever and the so-called problem of evil will be resolved. Order will ultimately prevail. This is not the full answer to the problem of evil but it is part of it, and that answer comes from God.
However difficult life may seem, we must cleave to God and his holy will. Whatever reversals come our way, the one constant that we must hang on to is the person of Christ who endured what we might call the greatest reversals of all. They were not really reversals because it was all part of God’s hidden plan. The only true reversals are those that involve a refusal to accept the will of God. If we resolutely keep to the will of God in union with Christ, all will be righted at the judgment of God. Our reward will then come, and all will be finally and eternally well.
(E.J.Tyler)
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How people like to be reminded of their relationship with distinguished figures in literature, in politics, in the army, in the Church!... Sing to the Immaculate Virgin, reminding her: Hail Mary, daughter of God the Father: Hail Mary, Mother of God the Son: Hail Mary, Spouse of God the holy Spirit...
Greater than you, none but God!
(The Way, no.496)
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(Continuing) Benedict XVI's Address to Catholic Educators, Washington, April 17 2008, Visit to USA
Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith. Only in faith can truth become incarnate and reason truly human, capable of directing the will along the path of freedom (cf. Spe Salvi, 23). In this way our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly serve society. They become places in which God's active presence in human affairs is recognized and in which every young person discovers the joy of entering into Christ's "being for others" (cf. ibid., 28).
The Church's primary mission of evangelization, in which educational institutions play a crucial role, is consonant with a nation's fundamental aspiration to develop a society truly worthy of the human person's dignity. At times, however, the value of the Church's contribution to the public forum is questioned. It is important therefore to recall that the truths of faith and of reason never contradict one another (cf. First Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith Dei Filius, IV: DS 3017; St. Augustine, Contra Academicos, III, 20, 43). The Church's mission, in fact, involves her in humanity's struggle to arrive at truth. In articulating revealed truth she serves all members of society by purifying reason, ensuring that it remains open to the consideration of ultimate truths. Drawing upon divine wisdom, she sheds light on the foundation of human morality and ethics, and reminds all groups in society that it is not praxis that creates truth but truth that should serve as the basis of praxis. Far from undermining the tolerance of legitimate diversity, such a contribution illuminates the very truth which makes consensus attainable, and helps to keep public debate rational, honest and accountable. Similarly the Church never tires of upholding the essential moral categories of right and wrong, without which hope could only wither, giving way to cold pragmatic calculations of utility which render the person little more than a pawn on some ideological chess-board.
(Continuing)
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Eighteenth Sunday
in Ordinary Time A
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.
(Psalm 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 for ever and ever.
(August 3) St. Peter
Julian Eymard (1811-1868)
Born in La Mure d'Isère in southeastern France, Peter Julian's faith journey
drew him from being a priest in the Diocese of Grenoble (1834) to joining the
Marists (1839) to founding the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament (1856). In
addition to those changes, Peter Julian coped with poverty, his father's initial
opposition to Peter's vocation, serious illness, a Jansenistic striving for
inner perfection and the difficulties of getting diocesan and later papal
approval for his new religious community. His years as a Marist, including
service as a provincial leader, saw the deepening of his Eucharistic devotion,
especially through his preaching of Forty Hours in many parishes. Inspired at
first by the idea of reparation for indifference to the Eucharist, Peter Julian
was eventually attracted to a more positive spirituality of Christ-centred
love. Members of the men's community, which Peter founded, alternated between an
active apostolic life and contemplating Jesus in the Eucharist. He and
Marguerite Guillot founded the women's Congregation of the Servants of the
Blessed Sacrament. Peter Julian Eymard was beatified in 1925 and canonized in
1962, one day after Vatican II's first session ended.
“The Eucharist is the life of the people. The Eucharist gives them a centre of
life. All can come together without the barriers of race or language in order to
celebrate the feast days of the Church. It gives them a law of life, that of
charity, of which it is the source; thus it forges between them a common bond, a
Christian kinship” (Peter Julian Eymard). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: Isaiah 55: 1-3; Psalm 144;
Romans 8: 35.37-39; Matthew 14: 13-21
(click here for readings)
When
Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary
place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When
Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their
sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a
remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they
can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, They do not
need to go away. You give them something to eat. We have here only five loaves
of bread and two fish, they answered. Bring them here to me, he said. And he
directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two
fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave
them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate
and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken
pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand
men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:
13-21)
One of the great benefits of the gradual
spread of democracy in the world is that the average man and woman has been able
to exert an influence on the goals of government. Every government has values
and
because of these values it seeks to achieve certain goals, but the danger is
that these values and goals can lack a thoroughgoing critique. Moreover,
majorities in society also will have values and so will come to have goals.
Goals and values spread within societies and can be unthinkingly accepted by the
people of those societies especially when those values are those of the mass
media. This is one reason why a democracy is so important. In a democracy that
is truly functioning as such the values of governments or of societies or of the
media can be subjected to critique from various quarters. That critique ought
have as its aim the attainment of the truth of the matter. The abiding danger in
a democracy is that the majority view can be taken as being, in the nature of
the case, the true view. The voice of a society is unconsciously taken to be the
voice of truth. For instance, if a view prevails in a society that abortion is
to be made liberally available, then without necessarily saying as much, that is
often subconsciously regarded as objectively the true one. Many simply accept as
true the basic values of the majority around them. A democracy offers the
opportunity to maintain a critique of the view held by a Government that is in
power or of a view held by a majority in a society. A minority who can see the
truth of a matter has the opportunity to press for the acceptance in society of
the truth and matters become serious when democratic opportunities are shut down
by force or by manipulation. Now, one truth which is so important in society is
the supreme importance of the human person. Each individual person must be
respected in his basic and inalienable rights. This, probably more than
anything, is always in danger of being forgotten in society both by those in
power and by the majority. The temptation is to think that what is good and
useful to the many is the supreme value even if it is at the expense of basic
rights of the individual.
We are reminded of this in our Gospel
passage today. Our Lord “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing
of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and
saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” Our Lord is
filled with compassion for each person in need, and we read that “as evening
approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place, and it's
already getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go to the villages
and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, They do not need to go away. You
give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14: 13-21)
As we contemplate the scene we are surely reminded by our Lord’s
unfailing compassion for each and every person that it is precisely the
individual who ought be at the centre of all human and social action. The
individual in his basic rights must not be set aside for the convenience of the
majority, let alone for the convenience of the ones in power. A person who holds
Christ for his example, a person who wishes to put on the mind of Christ, holds
as precious the least in need, the very least. And we have powerful incentives
for this. Our Lord in describing the General Judgment of all the nations tells
us (in Matthew 25) that the King will take his seat on his throne of glory. He
will then tell those on his right and his left that whatever they did to the
least of his brothers they did to him. That is to say, the least person even if
unborn has an absolute value in that his basic and inalienable rights must be
respected. He must not, for instance, be harmed for the convenience of the many.
This is not just a matter for society at large to remember. It is not just a
principle for the critique of public and social policy. It is a fundamental
principle for each of us in our daily life and interaction with all others.
Whether we are at home, at work or wherever, we must orientate our lives towards
the love and respect and consideration of each individual person, recognizing in
that person one whom Christ loves and for whom he died.
Christ died for each of us. He did not
simply die for a certain percentage of mankind, but for each individual person.
That alone shows how tremendously important is each person, no matter how little
in the sight of the world. Christ identifies with the least and he expects to be
recognized in the least. All this is to say that while the family and civic
community are necessary for the flourishing of the human person, the human
person is and ought to be the principle, the subject and the end of all social
institutions. It is central to the vocation and mission of the lay members of
Christ’s faithful that they implant and embed this great truth in the soul of
every society.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1877-1882, 1890-1891.
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Say to her:
Mother, my Mother — yours, because you are hers on many counts — may your love
bind me to your Son's Cross: may I not lack the Faith, nor the courage, nor the
daring, to carry out the will of our Jesus.
(The Way, no.497)
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(continuing) Benedict XVI's Address to Catholic Educators,
Washington, April 17 2008, Visit to USA
With
regard to the educational forum, the diakonia of truth takes on a heightened
significance in societies where secularist ideology drives a wedge between truth
and faith. This division has led to a tendency to equate truth with knowledge
and to adopt a positivistic mentality which, in rejecting metaphysics, denies
the foundations of faith and rejects the need for a moral vision. Truth means
more than knowledge: knowing the truth leads us to discover the good. Truth
speaks to the individual in his or her the entirety, inviting us to respond with
our whole being. This optimistic vision is found in our Christian faith because
such faith has been granted the vision of the Logos, God's creative Reason,
which in the Incarnation, is revealed as Goodness itself. Far from being just a
communication of factual data - "informative" - the loving truth of the Gospel
is creative and life-changing - "performative" (cf. Spe Salvi, 2).
With confidence, Christian educators can liberate the young from the limits of
positivism and awaken receptivity to the truth, to God and his goodness. In this
way you will also help to form their conscience which, enriched by faith, opens
a sure path to inner peace and to respect for others.
It comes as no surprise, then, that not just our own ecclesial communities but
society in general has high expectations of Catholic educators. This places upon
you a responsibility and offers an opportunity. More and more people - parents
in particular - recognize the need for excellence in the human formation of
their children. As Mater et Magistra, the Church shares their concern. When
nothing beyond the individual is recognized as definitive, the ultimate
criterion of judgment becomes the self and the satisfaction of the individual's
immediate wishes. The objectivity and perspective, which can only come through a
recognition of the essential transcendent dimension of the human person, can be
lost. Within such a relativistic horizon the goals of education are inevitably
curtailed. Slowly, a lowering of standards occurs. We observe today a timidity
in the face of the category of the good and an aimless pursuit of novelty
parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every
experience is of equal worth and a reluctance to admit imperfection and
mistakes. And particularly disturbing, is the reduction of the precious and
delicate area of education in sexuality to management of 'risk', bereft of any
reference to the beauty of conjugal love.
(Continuing)
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Monday
of the eighteenth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 4) St. John
Vianney (1786-1859)
A
man with vision overcomes obstacles and performs deeds that seem impossible.
John Vianney was a man with vision: He wanted to become a priest. But he had to
overcome his meagre formal schooling, which inadequately prepared him for
seminary studies. His failure to comprehend Latin lectures forced him to
discontinue. But his vision of being a priest urged him to seek private
tutoring. After a lengthy battle with the books, John was ordained. Situations
calling for “impossible” deeds followed him everywhere. As pastor of the parish
at Ars, John encountered people who were indifferent and quite comfortable with
their style of living. His vision led him through severe fasts and short nights
of sleep. (Some devils can only be cast out by prayer and fasting.) With
Catherine Lassagne and Benedicta Lardet, he established La Providence, a home
for girls. Only a man of vision could have such trust that God would provide for
the spiritual and material needs of all those who came to make La Providence
their home. His work as a confessor is John Vianney’s most remarkable
accomplishment. In the winter months he was to spend 11 to 12 hours daily
reconciling people with God. In the summer months this time was increased to 16
hours. Unless a man was dedicated to his vision of a priestly vocation, he could
not have endured this giving of self day after day. Many people look forward to
retirement and taking it easy, doing the things they always wanted to do but
never had the time. But John Vianney had no thoughts of retirement. As his fame
spread, more hours were consumed in serving God’s people. Even the few hours he
would allow himself for sleep were disturbed frequently by the devil. Who, but a
man with vision, could keep going with ever-increasing strength? Recommending
liturgical prayer, John Vianney would say, “Private prayer is like straw
scattered here and there: If you set it on fire it makes a lot of little flames.
But gather these straws into a bundle and light them, and you get a mighty fire,
rising like a column into the sky; public prayer is like that.”
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Jeremiah 28: 1-17; Psalm 118;
Matthew 14: 13-21
(click here for readings)
When
Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary
place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When
Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their
sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a
remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they
can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, They do not
need to go away. You give them something to eat. We have here only five loaves
of bread and two fish, they answered. Bring them here to me, he said. And he
directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two
fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave
them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate
and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken
pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand
men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:
13-21)
If we think of the sweep of human
history it is obvious that religion is essential to the human story. Historians,
anthropologists and archeologists who themselves might be agnostic or only
minimally religious
would presumably readily allow that religion has played an important part in the
shaping of civilizations, even if some reduce religion to some other function of
human life. As has often been said, while man is a rational animal, he is also a
religious one. All this is to say that even an empirical study of man - an
empirical study in the broadest sense - shows that he yearns for the divine, for
the numinous, for the world beyond this one. But there has been a persistent
attack on religion coming from many who are not impressed by what they see as
the result of this. They see a yearning for the Above and at the same time a
tragic forgetfulness of the Below. They see prayers and ceremonies in the midst
of material degradation. They see monasteries with squalor in the immediate
surrounds. That is, they do not see anything like a sufficient concern for the
welfare of man where they see the dominance of a concern for God. This sort of
objection has many forms and comes from many sources. It was one reason for the
anti-religious and atheistic character of Marxist and Leninist and Maoist
communism. Or again, a person who does not observe the Sabbath Day at all
criticises those who do and justifies his own non-observance by saying that
those who go to Church on Sundays live a life lacking concern for and justice to
others during the rest of the week. Let us set aside the obvious answer that
this ignores the striking material and social benefits that so many of those
motivated by religion have actually brought to the poor and needy in society.
Let us admit that all too often many who are religious have not been
sufficiently humane. What are we to say about this? What should be the character
of religion in relation to human need?
Our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 14: 13-21) gives us a very clear
answer to this in the figure of the great archetype of the religion of man. The
Christian position is that when we think of religion we ought in the first
instance think of the person of Jesus Christ. We ought not think firstly of this
or that indigenous religion, or this or that great founder such as Zoroaster,
Buddha, Mahomet or whoever. We ought not think in the first instance of this or
that religious period or this or that religious institution such as a particular
grouping or series of monasteries or religious revivals such as the Evangelical
Revival in eighteenth century England. We ought think of the person of Jesus
Christ. He is the perfect Man in history and the exemplar of what it is to be
religious. What do we see in him? We see compassion for those in need and a
great impulse to meet the need. His mission was more than anything to answer the
problem of sin which is the root of all man’s problems. But in our passage today
we see him filled with compassion. We read that “When Jesus landed and saw a
large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening
approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place, and it's
already getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go to the villages
and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, They do not need to go away. You
give them something to eat.” Our Lord’s many miracles were precisely in answer
to human need. St James in his Letter speaks of religion “pure and undefiled” as
being keeping oneself pure from sin and coming to the aid of those in need. So
great has been the commitment of the Christian religion to the practice of
justice and charity that in much of popular thinking to be a Christian simply
means being truly benevolent. The notion of the Christian religion in their
minds has lost its central element which is the love of God because all they
think they see is love of neighbour. But it does show that the mind of Christ is
that an absolutely central component of true religion is the service of
neighbour.
So much is this so that there is a
terrible divine sanction hanging on those who neglect this in life. In Matthew
chapter 25 Christ describes the General Judgment on all of mankind, a Judgment
each of us will see in the fullness of time. The King will say to those on his
right, come you who are blessed for I was hungry and you gave me food. Whenever
you did this to the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me. Then he
will say to those on his left, depart from me to the everlasting fire because
when I was hungry you did not assist me. God is a God of mercy and he requires
of us that we be merciful. If we are not, to that measure will mercy be refused
us.
(E.J.Tyler)
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All the
sins of your life seem to rise up against you. Don't lose confidence. Rather,
call on your holy Mother Mary, with the faith and abandonment of a child. She
will bring peace to your soul.
(The Way, no.498)
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Benedict XVI's Address to Catholic Educators,
Washington, April 17 2008, Visit to USA (cont)
How
might Christian educators respond? These harmful developments point to the
particular urgency of what we might call "intellectual charity". This aspect of
charity calls the educator to recognize that the profound responsibility to lead
the young to truth is nothing less than an act of love. Indeed, the dignity of
education lies in fostering the true perfection and happiness of those to be
educated. In practice "intellectual charity" upholds the essential unity of
knowledge against the fragmentation which ensues when reason is detached from
the pursuit of truth. It guides the young towards the deep satisfaction of
exercising freedom in relation to truth, and it strives to articulate the
relationship between faith and all aspects of family and civic life. Once their
passion for the fullness and unity of truth has been awakened, young people will
surely relish the discovery that the question of what they can know opens up the
vast adventure of what they ought to do. Here they will experience "in what" and
"in whom" it is possible to hope, and be inspired to contribute to society in a
way that engenders hope in others.
Dear friends, I wish to conclude by focussing our attention specifically on the
paramount importance of your own professionalism and witness within our Catholic
universities and schools. First, let me thank you for your dedication and
generosity. I know from my own days as a professor, and I have heard from your
Bishops and officials of the Congregation for Catholic Education, that the
reputation of Catholic institutes of learning in this country is largely due to
yourselves and your predecessors. Your selfless contributions - from outstanding
research to the dedication of those working in inner-city schools - serve both
your country and the Church. For this I express my profound gratitude.
(Continuing)
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Tuesday of the eighteenth week in Ordinary Time II
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Jeremiah 30: 1-2.12-15.18-22; Psalm 101; Matthew 14: 22-36 (click here for readings)
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead
of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had
dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When
evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a
considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves
because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night
Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him
walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said, and
cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: Take courage! It
is I. Don't be afraid. Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to
come to you on the water. Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the
boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the
wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me!
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little
faith, he said, why did you doubt? And when they climbed into the boat,
the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshipped him,
saying, Truly you are the Son of God. When they had crossed over, they
landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognised Jesus,
they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their
sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his
cloak, and all who touched him were healed.
(Matthew 14: 22-36)
Our Gospel scene today
places right at the forefront of our considerations the act of faith.
We read that when evening came, Jesus was there on the hill alone where
he had gone to pray, and the boat containing the disciples "was already
a
considerable distance
from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on
the lake." It was a remarkable miracle and threw the disciples, already
stressed by their difficult situation in the storm, into a tremendous
consternation. Then Jesus announced to them from the midst of the
pounding sea that it was he, telling them not to be afraid. He was
calling on them to have faith, for he was there. Simon asked him from
the boat to bid him to step into the sea and approach him across the
water, which Christ did - again, calling on him to have faith. In a
spirit of immediate faith, Simon did so but then at the sight of what
he was up against his faith faltered. He sank and was immediately saved
by Christ who said to him, "You of little faith, he said, why did you
doubt?" At that he and Simon entered the boat, the wind dropped, they
reached land and our Lord proceeded to assist with his divine power
numerous others who were in need and who came to him in faith. The
heart of our Gospel passage today is the acknowledgment by his
disciples that he, Jesus, is the Son of God and the lesson of the
passage is that when Jesus Christ the Son of God makes known his
presence the one essential act that is called for from us is faith. God
asks of us faith in who Jesus has revealed himself to be, and faith in
his love and saving power. This in effect means the acceptance of the
witness and proclamation of the Church about the living Jesus. Christ
is in our midst and is to be found in his body the Church. By means of
life in the Church we can live in Jesus and grow in his life and in
this way attain that union with God to which we are called.
There are, however, some notable obstacles facing the modern man and woman when the Church invites to faith. Modern man is typically secular, which is to say he does not begin with the expectation that God is there in the midst. He assumes that all that is there is what he sees around him. He assumes that the Church is deluded in thinking that there is anything more than the hard and palpable facts of nature, and in a sense this is one of the things we must expect of a civilization that has learned to exercise a critique on traditional positions. But such is the situation, and while the Church must take this into account, modern man, if he is to attain the truth of things, must himself take into account what he might come to see as a tremendous intellectual blind spot. That is to say, if we notice in ourselves an instinctive and habitual suspicion that faith in realities beyond what can be seen and felt are illusory, then we should critique not only this call to faith but our very selves. If Christ is indeed the Son of God then our fundamental indisposition to believe in him is an unfortunate obstacle we should strive to remove. It is an indisposition arising from assumed starting points, unproven first principles. If that lack of readiness to believe is not dealt with then we shall never arrive at the blessing of life in Christ. We shall never find ourselves actively in Christ’s company because it depends on faith. We shall never take that step that Simon Peter took of leaving the boat to go towards Christ, let alone actually reaching him. Our lives will be too full of suspicion and doubt, and Christ will have to say to us, "You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14: 22-36) In actual fact, there are even deeper issues for modern man. He tends to doubt that there is any absolutely objective moral obligation. The call to duty itself seems doubtful except as a working hypothesis because he is doubtful and suspicious about the possibility of objective truth itself. A vague scepticism about truth, about duty and about faith tends to cloud the mind and heart of modern man.
What to do? If there is something of this in us, we ought begin by resolving to take seriously the claims of the Church about Christ for, we must surely accept, they just might be true. Then we should ask for light from Above. We must ask for help from God. Indeed, we all must ask for this including all who are blessed with faith and who are disciples of Christ. We ought continually pray for help from the Holy Spirit that he will sustain and nourish our faith in Jesus and lead us to live in him and follow him in his constant obedience to the will of the Father.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Mary, the most holy Mother of God, passes unnoticed, as just one more among the women of her town.
Learn from her how to live with 'naturalness'.
(The Way, no.499)
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(Continuing) Benedict XVI's Address to Catholic Educators, Washington, April 17 2008, Visit to USA
In regard to faculty members at Catholic colleges universities, I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church's munus docendi and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.
Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual.
(Continuing)
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Wednesday of the eighteenth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 6)
Transfiguration of the Lord
All three Synoptic Gospels tell the story of the Transfiguration (Matthew
17:1-8; Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36). With remarkable agreement, all three place
the event shortly after Peter’s confession of faith that Jesus is the Messiah
and Jesus’ first prediction of his passion and death. Peter’s eagerness to erect
tents or booths on the spot suggests it occurred during the Jewish weeklong,
fall Feast of Booths. In spite of the texts’ agreement, it is difficult to
reconstruct the disciples’ experience, according to Scripture scholars, because
the Gospels draw heavily on Old Testament descriptions of the Sinai encounter
with God and prophetic visions of the Son of Man. Certainly Peter, James and
John had a glimpse of Jesus’ divinity strong enough to strike fear into their
hearts. Such an experience defies description, so they drew on familiar
religious language to describe it. And certainly Jesus warned them that his
glory and his suffering were to be inextricably connected—a theme John
highlights throughout his Gospel. Tradition names Mt. Tabor as the site of the
revelation. A church first raised there in the fourth century was dedicated on
August 6. A feast in honour of the Transfiguration was celebrated in the Eastern
Church from about that time. Western observance began in some localities about
the eighth century. On July 22, 1456, Crusaders defeated the Turks at Belgrade.
News of the victory reached Rome on August 6, and Pope Callistus III placed the
feast on the Roman calendar the following year.
“At his Transfiguration Christ showed his disciples the splendour of his beauty,
to which he will shape and color those who are his: ‘He will reform our lowness
configured to the body of his glory’” (Philippians 3:21) (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theologiae). (AmericanCatholic.org)
August 6: Anniversary of the death in 1978 of the
Servant of God Pope Paul VI (Giovanni B. Montini)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Jeremiah 31: 1-7; Psalm Jeremiah 31; Matthew 15: 21-28
(click here for
readings)
Leaving
that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman
from that vicinity came to him, crying out, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on
me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession. Jesus did not
answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, Send her away, for
she keeps crying out after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of
Israel. The woman came and knelt before him. Lord, help me! she said. He
replied, It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.
Yes, Lord, she said, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their
masters' table. Then Jesus answered, Woman, you have great faith! Your request
is granted. And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
(Matthew 15: 21-28)
As is the case with so many scenes of
the Gospel, our passage today gives rise to many reflections especially on the
central personage, our Lord Jesus Christ. An immediate thing to be noticed is
that, when pressed by his disciples to accede to the request of the
importunate
pagan woman so as to be rid of her, our Lord defines his mission. The specific
mission he had been given by his heavenly Father was “to the lost sheep of
Israel.” We remember how at the beginning of his public ministry and after he
had been baptized by John our Lord was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. One
of the temptations was to be lord of the world. All these kingdoms I will give
to you, Satan alluringly promised, if you but worship me. The temptation was
rejected out of hand for it was utterly preposterous. But that event too serves
to remind us that our Lord’s specific mission was not to the kingdoms of the
world but to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” All the nations would come
then. Just before his ascension into heaven he told his disciples that all
authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. So having entered into
his glory the man Jesus had been constituted Lord of the world. They were to go,
then, to the whole world and make disciples of all the nations. Here in our
scene today (Matthew 15: 21-28) our Lord
tells his disciples that his mission prior to his being glorified was to “the
lost sheep of Israel.” But again, let us notice how our Lord formulates his
mission here. It is especially to “the lost sheep” of Israel. It is to man as
having fallen that God has sent his divine Son. He has come to save, to redeem,
to raise up from the degradation and misery of sin, and his personal work was to
begin with the house of Israel. The assistance he extends to the pagan Canaanite
woman is a pointer to what is to come after he had risen from the dead. In that
woman so desperate for divine help we are reminded of all mankind. In assisting
her Christ is acting as Saviour of the world.
In portraying Christ responding to the
prayer of the pagan woman, St Matthew is not only presenting Christ himself as
Saviour of Israel and Saviour of the world, but he is presenting the example of
the Canaanite woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon. She did not know much
about our Lord, enough to know his famed title as Son of David and to know his
holiness and power before God. But she knew little else, we must presume. Yet
she came to Christ and would not give up on her prayer. She had faith in him and
that faith is manifest in her persistence. Her persistence in the face of
silence and seeming rebuff, not only from the disciples but from our Lord
himself, won the day. She would not give up. Our Lord did not tell her to be
gone, he just remained silent. He was obviously testing her. Her faith was being
tested by the silence of God. Our own experience is often comparable to the
experience of that pagan woman in her prayer. It may seem that God is often, all
too often, silent in the face of our entreaties. But what do we do? Do we give
up and go away, thinking that God is not there, or he is uninterested, or he is
not able to help? Do we fail in our faith when God does not answer immediately
or very soon after, or perhaps does not accede to the specifics we have asked of
him? Is this what happens all too often in life? If so, we ought contemplate the
example of the woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon. She was discouraged by
our Lord’s disciples, and received no response from our Lord initially. When I
say she received no response from him, I mean that she saw no response. But our
Lord was indeed responding and was testing her faith so as to reward it. It is
clear that he was delighted with the persistent faith of the pagan woman and he
rewarded it accordingly. Let us do likewise. Let our prayer be earnest and
persistent, especially for those things that do matter in the sight of God,
which is to say those things that will help us to be truly pleasing to God our
Father.
There are many things that cause us to
be weary and overburdened. On one occasion our Lord said, Come to me all you who
are weary and overburdened and I will give your rest. Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. The greatest grace we ought ask for is precisely to be able to come to
our Lord with faith and love and find our rest in his love and company. We ought
ask for the grace to take his yoke upon our shoulders and to learn from him, for
man’s salvation is found in Jesus Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Wear on
your breast the holy scapular of Carmel. There are many excellent Marian
devotions, but few are so deep— rooted among the faithful, and have received so
many blessings from the Popes. Besides, how maternal this sabbatine privilege
is!
(The Way, no.500)
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(Continuing) Benedict XVI's Address to Catholic
Educators, Washington, April 17 2008, Visit to USA
I wish also to express a
particular word of encouragement to both lay and Religious teachers of
catechesis who strive to ensure that young people become daily more appreciative
of the gift of faith. Religious education is a challenging apostolate, yet there
are many signs of a desire among young people to learn about the faith and
practice it with vigour. If this awakening is to grow, teachers require a clear
and precise understanding of the specific nature and role of Catholic education.
They must also be ready to lead the commitment made by the entire school
community to assist our young people, and their families, to experience the
harmony between faith, life and culture.
Here I wish to make a special appeal to Religious Brothers, Sisters and Priests:
do not abandon the school apostolate; indeed, renew your commitment to schools
especially those in poorer areas. In places where there are many hollow promises
which lure young people away from the path of truth and genuine freedom, the
consecrated person's witness to the evangelical counsels is an irreplaceable
gift. I encourage the Religious present to bring renewed enthusiasm to the
promotion of vocations. Know that your witness to the ideal of consecration and
mission among the young is a source of great inspiration in faith for them and
their families.
To all of you I say: bear witness to hope. Nourish your witness with prayer.
Account for the hope that characterizes your lives (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) by living
the truth which you propose to your students. Help them to know and love the One
you have encountered, whose truth and goodness you have experienced with joy.
With Saint Augustine, let us say: "we who speak and you who listen acknowledge
ourselves as fellow disciples of a single teacher" (Sermons, 23:2). With these
sentiments of communion, I gladly impart to you, your colleagues and students,
and to your families, my Apostolic Blessing.
(Concluded)
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Thursday
of the eighteenth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 7) St.
Cajetan (1480-1557)
Like most of us, Cajetan seemed headed for an “ordinary” life—first as a lawyer,
then as a priest engaged in the work of the Roman Curia. His life took a
characteristic turn when he joined the Oratory of Divine Love in Rome, a group
devoted to piety and charity, shortly after his ordination at 36. When he was 42
he founded a hospital for incurables at Venice. At Vicenza, he entered a
“disreputable” religious community that consisted only of men of the lowest
stations of life—and was roundly censured by his friends, who thought his action
was a reflection on his family. He sought out the sick and poor of the town and
served them. The greatest need of the time was the reformation of a Church that
was “sick in head and members.” Cajetan and three friends decided that the best
road to reformation lay in reviving the spirit and zeal of the clergy. (One of
them later became Paul IV.) Together they founded a congregation known as the
Theatines (from Teate [Chieti] where their first superior-bishop had his see).
They managed to escape to Venice after their house in Rome was wrecked when
Charles V’s troops sacked Rome in 1527. The Theatines were outstanding among the
Catholic reform movements that took shape before the Protestant Reformation. He
founded a monte de pieta (“mountain [or fund] of piety”) in Naples—one of many
charitable, nonprofit credit organizations that lent money on the security of
pawned objects. The purpose was to help the poor and protect them against
usurers. Cajetan’s little organization ultimately became the Bank of Naples,
with great changes in policy. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Psalm 50; Matthew 16: 13-23
(click here for
readings)
When Jesus came to the region of
Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is?
They replied, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,
Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you? he asked. Who do you say I
am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus
replied, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you
by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on
this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will
be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. From
that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to
Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and
teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised
to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord! he said.
This shall never happen to you! Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me,
Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of
God, but the things of men. (Matthew 16: 13-23)
By any standards this must be regarded
as a tremendous text of the Gospels. There are twenty eight chapters in the
Gospel of St Matthew and so we can regard this passage as being more or less in
the heart of his account. Christ’s preaching was filled with references to the
Kingdom of heaven and what is required in order to enter it. Here, away from the
crowds and alone with his disciples he begins with a critical question: who he
himself is. It implies that he himself is at the centre of the Kingdom of heaven
and entry into this Kingdom is inextricably tied to one’s belief in and
acknowledgment of him. In fact, Christ himself is the embodiment of this Kingdom
because the Kingdom is nothing other than the lordship and rule of God and that
rule is present in its fullness in Jesus. Entry into the Kingdom is entry into
union with him. And so he elicits from Simon a magnificent profession of faith,
that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the living God, a profession which
Christ not only accepted but stated as having its origin in the action of the
Father. It was Christ’s Father in heaven who revealed this to Simon. Simon had
received the gift of faith. But now, our Lord introduces a new thing. To this
point he had been preaching and instructing about the promised Kingdom of God.
Now he speaks of his Church. He has received Simon’s profession of faith, a
profession he gives on behalf of the Apostles. Our Lord now proceeds to formally
lay the foundations of his Church and to indicate the connection between his
Church and the Kingdom he had been preaching. Simon now receives the title of
the Rock, Peter. It is on this Rock which is Simon that he will build his Church
and his Church will not be overcome by the forces of Hell. There will be a new
people built on and developed from the old. The Apostles will be its twelve
patriarchs and Simon Peter at their head. Simon will be the visible rock and
foundation of the building that Christ will create and it will be entirely
secure despite the human failings and limitations embodied in Simon himself.
(Matthew 16: 13-23)
There is more in this surprising
revelation of Christ’s intentions. The Kingdom that Christ has to this point
been preaching will have an entry and keys to that entry. Those keys would be
entrusted to a specific person. Christ says he will give to Simon the keys to
the Kingdom of heaven - the action is future in tense and so it speaks of what
Christ will do with Peter. Simon Peter will have in his hands the keys to give
access to the lordship and rule of God together with the blessings this
contains. The keys will be held by him. So Simon will be the chief minister of
the Kingdom, and Christ its King. Simon will represent the King and will make
his presence visible in his own limited and all-too faulty person. Simon will be
Christ’s vicar and whatever he chooses to bind up or loosen would be ratified in
heaven. So Simon’s authority will be great. Those seeking entry into the Kingdom
of heaven which is union with Jesus and all that this brings and requires will
have the singular advantage of knowing to whom they are to go. A specific person
is to be constituted by Christ to represent him, clearly after he has gone. That
person is Simon Peter and the Twelve must live out their mission in communion
with him. Our Lord is pointing to his death and departure from the scene and he
is making permanent provision for this until he returns again at the end of the
age. That provision is contained in his Church which he is to build, at the head
of which is his appointee, Simon Peter, who is to hold the keys. Having
announced his momentous step in the establishment of the Kingdom, Christ speaks
of his Passion, his Death and his Resurrection. Immediately Simon, having been
told of his exalted calling, shows his all-too limited grasp and brings down on
himself a sharp rebuke from Christ. The way to glory and to the fullness of the
Kingdom is through suffering and death. It is to be, then, the way Simon and the
Apostles must follow as must all who wish to be in Christ.
Let us strive to appreciate the wonder
of the Church which Christ has built. Peter is at its head and he holds the keys
to the kingdom of heaven. To access the kingdom, in Christ’s plan we must turn
to the Church and gain entry by her. The Church which is nothing other than the
body of Christ - his visible presence and dwelling place here on earth - is the
divinely established means of entry into the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom is
found in the person of Christ and so the goal of life is union with him. Peter
holds the keys. Let us then ponder this dramatic text and let us pray for the
grace to love the Church which brings to us the salvation that is union with
Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
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When you
were asked which picture of our Lady aroused your devotion most, and you
answered — with the air of long experience — 'all of them', I realized that you
were a good son: that is why you are equally moved — 'they make me fall in
love', you said — by all the pictures of your Mother.
(The Way, no.501)
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Benedict XVI's Address to Interreligious Leaders during his visit to the USA
(April 17, 2008)
Pope John Paul II Cultural Centre. "A United Society Can Indeed Arise From a
Plurality of Peoples"
My dear friends,
I am pleased to have this occasion to meet with you today. I thank Bishop Sklba
for his words of welcome, and I cordially greet all those in attendance
representing various religions in the United States of America. Several of you
kindly accepted the invitation to compose the reflections contained in today's
program. For your thoughtful words on how each of your traditions bears witness
to peace, I am particularly grateful. Thank you all.
This country has a long history of cooperation between different religions in
many spheres of public life. Interreligious prayer services during the national
feast of Thanksgiving, joint initiatives in charitable activities, a shared
voice on important public issues: these are some ways in which members of
different religions come together to enhance mutual understanding and promote
the common good. I encourage all religious groups in America to persevere in
their collaboration and thus enrich public life with the spiritual values that
motivate your action in the world.
(Continuing)
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Friday of the eighteenth week in Ordinary Time
II
(August 8) Blessed Mary MacKillop 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.
(click here for more)
(Universal calendar:) Saint Dominic (Turn to
August 5, August page of this website)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Nahum 2: 1.3; 3:1-3.6-7; Deuteronomy 32; Matthew 16: 24-28
(click here
for readings)
Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it
be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a
man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his
Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to
what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not
taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
(Matthew 16:
24-28)
I have known people who when they heard that a young person they knew wished to
be a priest
thought it was crazy. It was a waste of a life. That young person was foregoing
marriage, a career in the
world, success in life and a variety of other things
besides. But take it a step further and consider the person who hears the call
of Christ to be his disciple - whatever may be the particular vocation in life
that is his or hers. A careful reading of the Gospel and the words of the Church
about the Christian life reveal to him new demands that at first sight seem
crazy. For instance, consider the young man in the Gospel who came in haste to
our Lord and asked in all sincerity what he must do to inherit eternal life. He
had kept God’s commandments from his earliest years. He wanted to know what
further God was expecting of him. Our Lord, we are told, looked on him and loved
him. He then took a risk. He said to the young man that if he wanted to be
perfect, he ought sell all he had and give it to the poor. Then he ought come
and follow him. Our Lord was asking him to deny himself very radically. A change
came over the young man’s face. It fell. What our Lord just said to him seemed
crazy and unnecessary, and he went away sad for he had many possessions. In our
Gospel passage today (Matthew 16:
24-28) our Lord says to his disciples that if anyone would come
after him he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow him. It is a
variation of what he told the rich young man, only this time it is even more
general. The Christian is to choose the path of self-denial. He is to take up
his cross. Let us notice our Lord’s specific mention of “the cross”. In the
previous passage Christ had made it plain to his disciples that his path was to
be that of suffering and death, and he had sharply rebuked Simon for attempting
to dissuade him from this path. It had seemed crazy to Simon. I suspect that the
active choice by Christ of the path of suffering and death would basically seem
meaningless to most of the non-Christian religions of the world, including to
Mahomet and Islam.
Christ foresaw his own death on the cross, but the point to notice here in our
passage today is that our Lord uses the cross in reference to the following of
him. Just as his own path involved a denial of himself unto death, so too his
disciple must deny himself and take up his cross. With the Roman occupation
every Jew would be familiar with execution by crucifixion. Criminals were
crucified publicly and this was meant to serve as a powerful deterrent. All
would be familiar with the condemned person taking up his cross and being forced
to make his way to the place of his death. Our Lord uses this striking metaphor
to describe the path of his disciples. But there is also this. The disciple must
do this willingly for love of Jesus. He is to “take up his cross” on his own
initiative and not as something forced upon him. So the acceptance and choice of
the cross is part of a loving following of Jesus. This may seem crazy even to
many who count themselves as Christ’s disciples but who have not taken to heart
these words in our Gospel today. It is the choice of the path of self denial out
of love for Jesus, precisely because Jesus chose that path. What constitutes
this cross? Well of course, there are the difficulties in doing God’s will.
There are all the difficulties that are allowed by the providence of God such as
bad health, lack of opportunities in one’s career, the fact that others are
better positioned gain those opportunities, the lack of recognition by others
that comes with very limited talents and capacities, one’s own mistakes that
lead to various sufferings, and so it goes on. Life brings many difficulties and
these are allowed by God. That constitutes a “cross” that ought be accepted for
love of Jesus. There is also the suffering that comes with injustices and
humiliations perpetrated by others. That “cross” is to be taken up. But there is
more still. There is the active choice of things that will involve the denial of
oneself, the choosing of the lower place, the choosing of a more mortified
practice, the choosing to be more meek and humble of heart, the acceptance of
humiliations, and all for love of Jesus.
Inasmuch as Christ’s path of suffering and death is one of the most mysterious
features of the Atonement by him for sin, the following of Christ in this same
path is one of the most difficult things to accept and embrace in the Christian
life. It requires a grace from God that illuminates the mind and brings a change
of heart. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, St Paul writes. We
ought pray for the grace to understand the contents of our Gospel passage today,
and for the desire to live it out in the way God intends.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Mary, teacher of prayer. See how she asks her Son, at Cana. And how she insists,
confidently, with perseverance. And how she succeeds.
Learn from her.
(The Way, no.502)
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(Continuing) Benedict XVI's Address to Interreligious Leaders, USA (April 2008)
The place where we are now gathered was founded specifically for promoting this
type of collaboration. Indeed, the Pope John Paul II Cultural Centre seeks to
offer a Christian voice to the "human search for meaning and purpose in life" in
a world of "varied religious, ethnic and cultural communities" (Mission
Statement). This institution reminds us of this nation's conviction that all
people should be free to
pursue happiness in a way consonant with their nature
as creatures endowed with reason and free will.
Americans have always valued the ability to worship freely and in accordance
with their conscience. Alexis de Tocqueville, the French historian and observer
of American affairs, was fascinated with this aspect of the nation. He remarked
that this is a country in which religion and freedom are "intimately linked" in
contributing to a stable democracy that fosters social virtues and participation
in the communal life of all its citizens. In urban areas, it is common for
individuals from different cultural backgrounds and religions to engage with one
another daily in commercial, social and educational settings. Today, in
classrooms throughout the country, young Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus,
Buddhists, and indeed children of all religions sit side-by-side, learning with
one another and from one another. This diversity gives rise to new challenges
that spark a deeper reflection on the core principles of a democratic society.
May others take heart from your experience, realizing that a united society can
indeed arise from a plurality of peoples -- "E pluribus unum": "out of many,
one" -- provided that all recognize religious liberty as a basic civil right
(cf. Dignitatis Humanae, 2).
(Continuing)
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Saturday
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 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.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Habakkuk 1:12-2:4; Psalm 9;
Matthew 17: 14-20 (click
here for readings)
When they came to the crowd, a man
approached Jesus and knelt before him. Lord, have mercy on my son, he said. He
has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the
water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him. O
unbelieving and perverse generation, Jesus replied, how long shall I stay with
you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me. Jesus rebuked
the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then
the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, Why couldn't we drive it out?
He replied, Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have
faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here
to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
(Matthew 17: 14-20)
Most people accept the importance of the
study of history. History is studied in schools and it is an important subject
in Arts faculties at University level. However, it is interesting to notice the
fields of history that are given most emphasis. Economic and political history
is largely assumed to be of most importance, whereas a case could easily be made
for an emphasis on other fields that often do not even get a look-in. I am
thinking of, for instance, the history of ideas and especially the history of
philosophy and perhaps too the history of man’s religions. Be all that as it
may, when it comes to the history of philosophy it is of value to notice what
have been the concerns of philosophers. They have been the nature of morality,
the world of our experience, the nature of history, human knowledge, and a host
of other basic questions. Within the Anglo-Saxon philosophical world human
knowledge has been at the forefront of interest. How can we be certain of
anything and what are the means of attaining the truth, if there be any
objective truth? Now, over the past couple of centuries the assumption has grown
that the criterion of truth is its demonstrability. That is to say, if a truth
can be demonstrated mathematically or scientifically - meaning in the main,
empirically - then it can be accepted as true. Now, of course, if a truth can be
demonstrated in this way, then it can be accepted as true. The problem is that
this is taken to be a total criterion of truth, which is to say that it is a
test to be applied to all truths. It is part of the naturalist assumption of
much of modern thought: the only reality that can be admitted is that which lies
within the boundaries of our sense-experience. Hence it is that there is a
strong suspicion against any truths which rely for their apprehension and
acceptance on faith. Typically we are not disposed to accept assertions which
rely on faith in another. That is our contemporary bias, and we need to come to
grips with it if we find it in ourselves because it will make us slow to accept
immensely important truths that come from entirely reliable sources.
Let us take our Gospel passage today,
for example. Our Lord is presented with a boy who is in the grip of some form of
demonic possession and he is told that his disciples are quite unable to cast
out the demon from the boy. At a word our Lord expels the demon and in private
he is asked by his disciples why they were unable to cast it out. Our Lord
replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have
faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here
to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
(Matthew 17: 14-20) Let us prescind from a
detailed discussion of this particular case of the exercise of faith to the
general point that our Lord made the appeal for faith a cornerstone of his
public ministry. He was continually asking for faith. When he returned to his
home town and presented himself as the one foretold by the prophets he received
an entirely negative response. We are told that our Lord did not work many
miracles there because of their lack of faith. Time and again when he was
approached by those who were suffering from one ailment or another he asked them
if they believed that he could do this for them. When he arrived in Bethany four
days after his friend Lazarus had died, he was met by Martha. Our Lord told her
that he was the resurrection and the life and that anyone who believed in him
would live even if he died. Then he asked Martha if she believed this. She told
him that she did, that she believed that he was the Messiah, the Son of the
living God. He then proceeded to work his astounding miracle of raising Lazarus
forthwith from the grave. Faith in his person was the door to divine truth. Our
Lord did not ask people if they had through their own independent tests had come
to see that what he claimed and taught was true. No, he asked them if they
believed in him. Faith in Jesus is the way to revealed truth. When our Lord rose
from the dead and was about to ascend to his Father, he gave his final
commission to his disciples to go to the whole world, making disciples of all
the nations. Those who believed would be saved, while those who knowingly
refused would not.
Let us take to heart our Lord’s constant
call to believe. Believing in Jesus the Son of God is the most reasonable thing
we can do. Our salvation depends on hearing the word of Christ and accepting it
in faith. We use our reason to examine and consider his person, but in the final
analysis the act of faith will be necessary. This faith, once given, must be
maintained and helped to grow strong, and never be allowed to wane. There are
two wings taking us to truth, both reason and faith. The truth they take us to
is above all the divine truth that is the person of Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Mary's
loneliness. Alone! She weeps, forsakenly.
You and I should keep our Lady company, and weep also, for Jesus has been fixed
to the wood, with nails — our sins.
(The Way, no.503)
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Continuing Benedict XVI's Address to
Interreligious Leaders during his visit to the USA (April 2008)
The
task of upholding religious freedom is never completed. New situations and
challenges invite citizens and leaders to reflect on how their decisions respect
this basic human right. Protecting religious freedom within the rule of law does
not guarantee that peoples -- particularly minorities -- will be spared from
unjust forms of discrimination and prejudice. This requires constant effort on
the part of all members of society to ensure that citizens are afforded the
opportunity to worship peaceably and to pass on their religious heritage to
their children.
The transmission of religious traditions to succeeding generations not only
helps to preserve a heritage; it also sustains and nourishes the surrounding
culture in the present day. The same holds true for dialogue between religions;
both the participants and society are enriched. As we grow in understanding of
one another, we see that we share an esteem for ethical values, discernable to
human reason, which are revered by all peoples of goodwill. The world begs for a
common witness to these values. I therefore invite all religious people to view
dialogue not only as a means of enhancing mutual understanding, but also as a
way of serving society at large. By bearing witness to those moral truths which
they hold in common with all men and women of goodwill, religious groups will
exert a positive influence on the wider culture, and inspire neighbours,
co-workers and fellow citizens to join in the task of strengthening the ties of
solidarity. In the words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "no greater
thing could come to our land today than a revival of the spirit of faith".
(Continuing)
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Nineteenth
Sunday of Ordinary Time A
Prayers
this week: Lord, be true to your covenant,
forget not the life of your poor ones for ever. Rise up, O God, and defend your
cause; do not ignore the shouts of your enemies.
(Psalm 73: 20.19.22.23)
Almighty and ever-living God, your Spirit made us your children, confident to
call you Father. Increase your Spirit within us and bring us to our promised
inheritance. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
(August 10)
St. Lawrence (d. 258?)
The esteem in which the Church holds Lawrence is seen
in the fact that today’s celebration ranks as a feast. We know very little about
his life. He is one of those whose martyrdom made a deep and lasting impression
on the early Church. Celebration of his feast day spread rapidly. He was a Roman
deacon under Pope St. Sixtus II. Four days after this pope was put to death,
Lawrence and four clerics suffered martyrdom, probably during the persecution of
the Emperor Valerian. A well-known legend has persisted from earliest times. As
deacon in Rome, Lawrence was charged with the responsibility for the material
goods of the Church, and the distribution of alms to the poor. When Lawrence
knew he would be arrested like the pope, he sought out the poor, widows and
orphans of Rome and gave them all the money he had on hand, selling even the
sacred vessels to increase the sum. When the prefect of Rome heard of this, he
imagined that the Christians must have considerable treasure. He sent for
Lawrence and said, “You Christians say we are cruel to you, but that is not what
I have in mind. I am told that your priests offer in gold, that the sacred blood
is received in silver cups, that you have golden candlesticks at your evening
services. Now, your doctrine says you must render to Caesar what is his. Bring
these treasures — the emperor needs them to maintain his forces. God does not
cause money to be counted: He brought none of it into the world with him — only
words. Give me the money, therefore, and be rich in words.” Lawrence replied
that the Church was indeed rich. “I will show you a valuable part. But give me
time to set everything in order and make an inventory.” After three days he
gathered a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed
persons and put them in rows. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence simply said,
“These are the treasure of the Church.” The prefect was so angry he told
Lawrence that he would indeed have his wish to die—but it would be by inches. He
had a great gridiron prepared, with coals beneath it, and had Lawrence’s body
placed on it. After the martyr had suffered the pain for a long time, the legend
concludes, he made his famous cheerful remark, “It is well done. Turn it over
and eat it!” The church built over Lawrence’s tomb became one of the seven
principal churches in Rome and a favourite place for Roman pilgrimages.
Once again we have a saint about whom almost nothing is
known, yet one who has received extraordinary honour in the Church since the
fourth century. Almost nothing—yet the greatest fact of his life is certain: He
died for Christ. We who are hungry for details about the lives of the saints are
again reminded that their holiness was, after all, a total response to Christ,
expressed perfectly by a death like this. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
1 Kings 19:9.11-13; Psalm 84; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:
22-33
(click here for readings)
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get
into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the
crowd. After he had
dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening
came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from
land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth
watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the
disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they
said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: Take courage!
It is I. Don't be afraid. Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to
you on the water. Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on
the water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and,
beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me! Immediately Jesus reached out his
hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt? And when
they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat
worshipped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God.
(Matthew 14: 22-33)
It is very clear that a principal lesson
of our Gospel event today is that faith in Jesus is the great act that God
expects of us his children. Jesus is the Son of God, as he demonstrated so
clearly in the event portrayed in the Gospel. He came walking to the disciples
on the water and calmed the sea after he had joined them. Courage, he said, it
is I. He said to Simon, why did you doubt? (Matthew 14:
22-33)
Our Lord is asking for full and complete faith in him and in his
word. The thought of Simon asking our Lord to bid him come to him across the
water and then proceeding to do so at the invitation of Jesus, reminds us that
we are called to stake everything on our faith in Christ. He is to be the only
true and certain basis of our life. His word is what we follow and we obey his
word because of our faith in him. Simon took his first steps in this direction
during the storm, but then at the sight of the storm his faith in our Lord
faltered. All this is to say that the most basic act of our lives which serves
as the foundation of all our other acts should be our act of faith in Jesus.
Faith in Jesus is, in God’s intention, the foundation of our life and we ought
strive to make it so every day from the first moment of rising. However, there
is an aspect of this which ought be clearly appreciated. Yes, this act of faith,
so basic in the life of the Christian, is a deeply personal thing. It is the
foundation of my personal relationship with God. Yes, it is my act, my personal
act of faith. That having been said, we must immediately add that this is not
the whole story. It is not just a personal act of mine. That is to say, my faith
in Jesus is the very faith that the entire Church shares in. What I believe is
what we all believe, all of us who make up Christ’s Church. The Creed is not
only my Creed but it is our Creed. The Apostles’ Creed which is typically the
Creed of the individual’s Baptism begins with the words, I believe. At the same
time, in the past we commonly have begun our recitation of the Nicene Creed during the Church’s
worship with the words, We believe (though this is soon to change because the
Latin is "Credo: I believe"). The faith of the individual Christian is to
be the faith of the Church which Christ founded and the mission of the Church is
to bring this one faith to the nations.
All this is to say that my act of faith
in Jesus is not just something I have arrived at myself and which I determine
for myself. If we think of our faith in Jesus as a purely personal act we might
instinctively imagine it as isolated from the faith of the Church, and that,
being my own act of faith, it therefore is for me to determine just what I
believe. We might also be tempted to think that the Church, or rather a church,
is simply a body of faithful who happen to have a similar faith to mine, because
faith is very personal and is a matter between me and Jesus. But no. In the plan
of God I have received my faith from the Church. My faith is derived from the
Church. In this sense the Church is my mother, or rather our mother. Being our
mother from whom we have received the faith the Church is also my teacher, or
rather our teacher. The Church is mother and teacher not only to me but to all
of us who believe. For this reason we not only say I believe at the start of the
Apostles’ Creed, but in the past at Mass we have customarily said, We believe, at the start of the Nicene
Creed. The Nicene Creed was formulated by the Church in order to expose and
exclude errors about Christ’s person, and in order to insist that the "I believe"
uttered by each person be identical with the "We believe" uttered by the whole
Church. We are reminded of this by our Gospel scene today, in which all the
disciples together arrived at and professed faith in Jesus as the Son of God.
That boat which received the presence of Jesus provides us with an image of the
Church. In it is Simon Peter with the others, and Christ is in their midst. The
faith of each in the boat is the faith of all, the faith of the incipient
Church, and Christ is there with them. So yes, the Christian nourishes his own
faith in Jesus by daily prayer, assiduous reading of the Scriptures, by a devout
reception of the Sacraments and by a good and holy daily life. But he also
constantly looks to the faith of the Church, that faith of those in the barque
of Simon and the Twelve. There, no matter how buffeted the boat may
be, Jesus dwells in their midst. This faith of the Church is the faith I receive
and by which I am constantly guided. I must never live my faith in Jesus in
isolation from the Church Christ founded and in which he constantly abides,
whatever be the storms that assail her. My faith has come through the Church who
is my mother and teacher of faith.
In our Gospel scene today our Lord, as
he does on numerous other occasions in the Gospels, stresses the absolutely
central place of faith in the life of his disciple. Why did you doubt? We must
not doubt him, neither must we must doubt his word and his teaching. He and his
word come to us in the ministry and life of the Church he founded, that Church
where Simon is to be found. Our very personal and individual faith, coming via
the Church must be guided by the Church, which in the plan of God is our mother
and teacher in faith.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos.
168-169
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The holy
Virgin Mary, Mother of Fair Love, will bring relief to your heart, when it makes
you feel that it is of flesh, if you turn to her with confidence.
(The Way, no.504)
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(continuing) Benedict XVI's Address to
Interreligious Leaders (visit to the USA, April 2008)
A concrete example of the contribution religious communities make to civil
society is faith-based schools. These institutions enrich
children
both intellectually and spiritually. Led by their teachers to discover the
divinely bestowed dignity of each human being, young people learn to respect the
beliefs and practices of others, thus enhancing a nation's civic life.
What an enormous responsibility religious leaders have: to imbue society with a
profound awe and respect for human life and freedom; to ensure that human
dignity is recognized and cherished; to facilitate peace and justice; to teach
children what is right, good and reasonable!
There is a further point I wish to touch upon here. I have noticed a growing
interest among governments to sponsor programs intended to promote inter
religious and intercultural dialogue. These are praiseworthy initiatives. At the
same time, religious freedom, inter religious dialogue and faith-based education
aim at something more than a consensus regarding ways to implement practical
strategies for advancing peace. The broader purpose of dialogue is to discover
the truth. What is the origin and destiny of mankind? What are good and evil?
What awaits us at the end of our earthly existence? Only by addressing these
deeper questions can we build a solid basis for the peace and security of the
human family, for "wherever and whenever men and women are enlightened by the
splendour of truth, they naturally set out on the path of peace" (Message
for the 2006 World Day of Peace, 3).
(Continuing)
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Monday
of the nineteenth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 11)
St. Clare (1194-1253)
One of the more sugary movies made about Francis of Assisi
pictures Clare as a golden-haired beauty floating through sun-drenched
fields,
a sort of one-girl counterpart to the new Franciscan Order. The beginning of her
religious life was indeed movie material. Having refused to marry at 15, she was
moved by the dynamic preaching of Francis. He became her lifelong friend and
spiritual guide. At 18, she escaped one night from her father’s home, was met on
the road by friars carrying torches, and in the poor little chapel called the
Portiuncula received a rough woollen habit, exchanged her jewelled belt for a
common rope with knots in it, and sacrificed the long tresses to Francis’
scissors. He placed her in a Benedictine convent which her father and uncles
immediately stormed in rage. She clung to the altar of the church, threw aside
her veil to show her cropped hair and remained adamant. End of movie material.
Sixteen days later her sister Agnes joined her. Others came. They lived a simple
life of great poverty, austerity and complete seclusion from the world,
according to a Rule which Francis gave them as a Second Order (Poor Clares).
Francis obliged her under obedience at age 21 to accept the office of abbess,
one she exercised until her death. The nuns went barefoot, slept on the ground,
ate no meat and observed almost complete silence. (Later Clare, like Francis,
persuaded her sisters to moderate this rigour: “Our bodies are not made of
brass.”) The greatest emphasis, of course, was on gospel poverty. They possessed
no property, even in common, subsisting on daily contributions. When even the
pope tried to persuade her to mitigate this practice, she showed her
characteristic firmness: “I need to be absolved from my sins, but I do not wish
to be absolved from the obligation of following Jesus Christ.” Contemporary
accounts glow with admiration of her life in the convent of San Damiano in
Assisi. She served the sick, waited on table, washed the feet of the begging
nuns. She came from prayer, it was said, with her face so shining it dazzled
those about her. She suffered serious illness for the last 27 years of her life.
Her influence was such that popes, cardinals and bishops often came to consult
her—she never left the walls of San Damiano.
Francis always remained her great friend and inspiration. She
was always obedient to his will and to the great ideal of gospel life which he
was making real. A well-known story concerns her prayer and trust. She had the
Blessed Sacrament placed on the walls of the convent when it faced attack by
invading Saracens. “Does it please you, O God, to deliver into the hands of
these beasts the defenceless children I have nourished with your love? I beseech
you, dear Lord, protect these whom I am now unable to protect.” To her sisters
she said, “Don’t be afraid. Trust in Jesus.” The Saracens fled.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Ezechiel 1:2-5.24-28; Psalm 148; Matthew 17: 22-27
(click here for
readings)
When they came together in Galilee,
Jesus said to his disciples, The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the
hands of men. They will kill
him, and on the third day he will be raised to life. And the disciples were
filled with grief. After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the
collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, Doesn't your teacher
pay the temple tax? Yes, he does, he replied. When Peter came into the house,
Jesus was the first to speak. What do you think, Simon? he asked. From whom do
the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes— from their own sons or from
others? From others, Peter answered. Then the sons are exempt, Jesus said to
him. But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line.
Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma
coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.
(Matthew 17: 22-27)
The Gospels present our Lord given over
to his public ministry of announcing and establishing the Kingdom of God by his
teaching, his miracles, his formation of the Apostles and other disciples, and
finally by the greatest act of his life, his passion and death. We are also
given
the occasional glimpse of another side of our Lord’s life, his being a citizen
of his nation. By that I am referring to his activities and rights and duties as
a citizen. As St John writes in the Prologue of his Gospel, the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us. This involved being a citizen of a particular society,
the people of Israel. This people was subject to the Empire of Rome which
appointed or approved officials, administered taxes, and so forth. At the very
beginning of his life, Christ is seen to be subject to these political and
social realities. His parents while he was still in the womb had to travel to
Bethlehem because of a decree of the emperor requiring a census to be taken.
Soon after his birth his parents take him to Jerusalem for his presentation in
the Temple, and that was subject to religious and social regulations. At the end
of his life, Christ was brought before the Roman procurator. The Son of God was
subject to a pagan governor. It was all the result of his Incarnation. In our
Gospel today we see our Lord being asked if he paid the Temple tax: “After Jesus
and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax
came to Peter and asked, Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax? Yes, he does,
he replied.” (Matthew 17: 22-27) Peter’s
reply shows that our Lord certainly paid the Temple tax. We remember how our
Lord was accosted by the scribes and Pharisees who wished to trap him and asked
if it was lawful to pay the Roman tax. Our Lord’s reply was that what was
Caesar’s is to be given to him. So we may presume that our Lord also paid the
Roman tax. The point I am making is that our Lord was a good citizen. Were he
living in our day, he would respect the laws of society and live as a good
citizen, though his mission would not have been a secular one.
The point I wish to highlight is that
the one who wishes to be Christ’s disciple must also be a good citizen. The
great majority of Christ’s Faithful are called by God to live specifically in
the world and in service of the world. For the first thirty years of his life,
this was our Lord’s own calling. He was a carpenter with his foster-father in
the village of Nazareth. He lived at home with his mother Mary and foster-father
Joseph, lived a daily round in the midst of his wider family of relations and
among his acquaintances of the district. He worked every day as a
builder-carpenter, earning money for the small family circle, giving some of it
- and perhaps a considerable portion of it - to the poor. He went to the
Synagogue every Sabbath and participated quietly in the life of the town. He
lived as a citizen. Then came the moment of his - let us call it - ordination
for mission during his Baptism in the Jordan. The Holy Spirit came upon him and
consecrated him to begin his public work as Messiah. But to that point, though
he was the Messiah and already within his ordinary life engaged in the
redemption of the world, he was living as a simple citizen of his country as was
his holy mother and his saintly foster-father. It is this which is the calling
of most of Christ’s Faithful. They are called to live out their lives as
citizens and to serve Christ and God by serving the world in which they find
themselves, just as our Lord himself did for the first thirty years of his life,
and just as St Joseph his foster-father did for the whole of his life. The lay
faithful are called to holiness of life in the fulfilment of their daily
responsibilities to their family, to society and to the world around them. They
do this precisely as members of the Church and they find their daily spiritual
sustenance in the life and ministry of the Church, in her Sacraments, in her
preaching and in her ministry. From the Church they receive their life in Christ
and in that life they serve society and the world in which they live. The
redemption and sanctification of the world depends on a holy and deeply
Christian laity.
Let every lay member of Christ’s
Faithful understand clearly that their presence in the world constitutes a most
important vocation from Christ himself. They belong to Christ by baptism and by
the other Sacraments they have received. Christ has placed the lay faithful in
the world to serve him there and to win the world to him by their being very
good citizens and by their bearing witness to him before others. This they do by
their example, by their discrete and appropriate words, by their professional
service, by their observance of the laws of society, and by a quiet and daily
apostolate of drawing others to the person of Jesus. Let them look to Jesus as
he lived at Nazareth. Let them look to the holy family of Nazareth. Let them
bear in mind our Gospel scene today. Our Lord was a good citizen. So too must
the Christian be.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Love for
our Lady is proof of good spirit, in organizations and in individuals.
Distrust the undertaking that lacks this characteristic.
(The Way, no.505)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benedict XVI's Address to Interreligious Leaders
during his visit to the USA (April 2008)
We
are living in an age when these questions are too often marginalized. Yet they
can never be erased from the human heart. Throughout history, men and women have
striven to articulate their restlessness with this passing world. In the
Judeo-Christian tradition, the Psalms are full of such expressions: "My spirit
is overwhelmed within me" (Ps 143:4; cf. Ps 6:6; 31:10; 32:3; 38:8; 77:3); "why
are you cast down, my soul, why groan within me?" (Ps 42:5). The response is
always one of faith: "Hope in God, I will praise him still; my Saviour and my
God" (Ps 42:5, 11; cf. Ps 43:5; 62:5). Spiritual leaders have a special duty,
and we might say competence, to place the deeper questions at the forefront of
human consciousness, to reawaken mankind to the mystery of human existence, and
to make space in a frenetic world for reflection and prayer.
Confronted with these deeper questions concerning the origin and destiny of
mankind, Christianity proposes Jesus of Nazareth. He, we believe, is the eternal
Logos who became flesh in order to reconcile man to God and reveal the
underlying reason of all things. It is he whom we bring to the forum of
interreligious dialogue. The ardent desire to follow in his footsteps spurs
Christians to open their minds and hearts in dialogue (cf. Lk 10:25-37; Jn
4:7-26).
(Continuing)
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Tuesday
of the nineteenth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 12)
St. Louis of Toulouse (1274-1297)
When he died at the age of 23, Louis was already a
Franciscan, a bishop and a saint! Louis’s parents were Charles II of Naples and
Sicily and Mary, daughter of the King of Hungary. Louis was related to St. Louis
IX on his father’s side and to Elizabeth of Hungary on his mother’s side. Louis
showed early signs of attachment to prayer and to the corporal works of mercy.
As a child he used to take food from the castle to feed the poor. When he was
14, Louis and two of his brothers were taken as hostages to the king of Aragon’s
court as part of a political deal involving Louis’s father. At the court Louis
was tutored by Franciscan friars under whom he made great progress both in his
studies and in the spiritual life. Like St. Francis he developed a special love
for those afflicted with leprosy. While he was still a hostage, Louis decided to
renounce his royal title and become a priest. When he was 20, he was allowed to
leave the king of Aragon’s court. He renounced his title in favour of his
brother Robert and was ordained the next year. Very shortly after, he was
appointed bishop of Toulouse, but the pope agreed to Louis’s request to become a
Franciscan first. The Franciscan spirit pervaded Louis. "Jesus Christ is all my
riches; he alone is sufficient for me," Louis kept repeating. Even as a bishop
he wore the Franciscan habit and sometimes begged. He assigned a friar to offer
him correction — in public if necessary — and the friar did his job. Louis’s
service to the Diocese of Toulouse was richly blessed. In no time he was
considered a saint. Louis set aside 75 percent of his income as bishop to feed
the poor and maintain churches. Each day he fed 25 poor people at his table.
Louis was canonized in 1317 by Pope John XXII, one of his former teachers.
When
Cardinal Hugolino, the future Pope Gregory IX, suggested to Francis that some of
the friars would make fine bishops, Francis protested that they might lose some
of their humility and simplicity if appointed to those positions. Those two
virtues are needed everywhere in the Church, and Louis shows us how they can be
lived out by bishops. "All the faithful were edified by the fervour of his
devout celebration of Mass, the efficacy of his deep humility, his tender
compassion, his upright life, the harmonious congruity in all his actions, words
and bearing. Who without wonderment could look upon a most charming young man,
the son of so mighty a king, outstanding for his generosity, raised to such
dignity, renowned for his influence, pre-eminent for humility, living a life of
such mortification, endowed with such wisdom, clothed in so poor a habit yet
renowned for the charm of his discourse and a shining example of upright life?"
(A contemporary biography). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Ezechiel 2:8-3:4; Psalm 118;
Matthew 18:1-5.10.12-14
(Click here for
readings)
At that time the disciples came to Jesus
and asked, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called
a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: I tell you the truth,
unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this
in my name welcomes me. See that you do not look down on one of these little
ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my
Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of
them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look
for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is
happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little
ones should be lost. (Matthew 18:1-5.10.12-14)
I have a book entitled Among God’s
Giants. The book is a study of a few very influential persons in the
last few centuries of Christianity. That word “Giants” intrigued me. I could not
help thinking - setting aside
this particular book - that all too often we think of great Christians as
“giants” in the sense of their being great in influence and notice among men. In
such a view, the greatest Christians are those who are very notable in the eyes
of society and in their public influence. Of course, this can be the case. We
can think of many truly holy Christians who have had a very public role to play
and are famous in their own lifetimes. But it need not be the case at all and
there are persons who feature in the Scriptures who had little or no notoriety
in their own lifetime. Consider the Virgin Mary, mother of Christ. She was
addressed by the Angel as “full of grace”. The Angel said that the Lord was with
her. Elizabeth her kinswoman, filled with the Holy Spirit, said that she was
“blessed among women”. Mary herself in her inspired prayer which we usually call
the Magnificat said that the Lord had done great things for her and that all
generations would call her blessed. The Church has formally taught that she who
was the Mother of God the Son made man was conceived without sin and that she
was taken at the end of her life body and soul glorious into heaven because no
sin ever touched her. She is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, the giant of
God’s giants, we might say, and yet she was hidden from notoriety in her own
lifetime. Or let us take her husband, the holy Joseph. What intimacy he enjoyed
with Christ during those years at Nazareth! Holiness consists in union with
Jesus. How holy Joseph must have been then, and yet his life was shrouded in
obscurity. God’s giants, as we might call them, are to be found in every human
situation be it public, be it hidden. Every ordinary member of Christ’s Faithful is
called to holiness of life, and in that sense to be a giant of God.
It is one of the deepest cravings of man
to be noticed and esteemed. It springs from his very personhood as one who has
an absolute value and who desires and deserves to be loved and respected. The
question is, how are we to satisfy this? Some seek to satisfy it by seeking the
notice and the honours of the world. The Christian, finding his inspiration
especially in Christ, understands well that this in itself is a mirage and that
the love and esteem to be sought is above all that which comes from God who
knows us through and through. Christ was meek and humble and his chosen path was
that of opprobrium and rejection by those who mattered in society. Out of love
for him the Christian is ready to follow a similar path in which praise, acclaim
and notoriety are denied him. He knows that true greatness does not come in such
a way. What, then, does our Lord himself say about what it is to be great? Let
us listen again to his words in our Gospel passage today. “At that time the
disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: I tell you
the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never
enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew
18:1-5.10.12-14) So then, whatever may be the notoriety and esteem
that come our way in life or the lack of it, the one thing necessary for true
greatness in the kingdom of heaven is humility. One must seek humility, which is
to say, the lower place - firstly in one’s own estimation, but also readily to
accept the lower place in the estimation of others. To be great in the
kingdom of heaven one must be small in one’s own sight. The path to greatness
lies in following Christ in his humility. Humbling oneself is perhaps the most
difficult project of the Christian life because it goes contrary to our
yearnings to be great before others.
So how is this to be attained? To begin
with, we must strive to be profoundly grateful to God for gratitude implies that
all comes from him and not just from ourselves. Moreover, if in one or other
sense we are placed in the lower place it will hasten our progress in humility
if for love of Christ we humbly accept that lower place. And again, where there
is a true option, we will advance in humility if for love of Christ we choose
the lower place rather than choosing the higher one. The task in life is to grow
in the spirit of humility, humbly accepting and preferring the truth about
ourselves rather than honour coming from what is not the truth about ourselves.
Let us then have the ambition to be great in the kingdom of heaven by humbling
ourselves, as our Lord directs us in today’s Gospel.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The Virgin
of Sorrows. When you contemplate her, look into her Heart; she is a Mother with
two sons, face to face: He... and you.
(The Way, no.506)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuing Benedict XVI's Address to
Interreligious Leaders during his visit to the USA (April 2008)
Dear
friends, in our attempt to discover points of commonality, perhaps we have shied
away from the responsibility to discuss our differences with calmness and
clarity. While always uniting our hearts and minds in the call for peace, we
must also listen attentively to the voice of truth. In this way, our dialogue
will not stop at identifying a common set of values, but go on to probe their
ultimate foundation. We have no reason to fear, for the truth unveils for us the
essential relationship between the world and God. We are able to perceive that
peace is a "heavenly gift" that calls us to conform human history to the divine
order. Herein lies the "truth of peace" (cf. Message for the 2006 World
Day of Peace).
As we have seen then, the higher goal of interreligious dialogue requires a
clear exposition of our respective religious tenets. In this regard, colleges,
universities and study centers are important forums for a candid exchange of
religious ideas. The Holy See, for its part, seeks to carry forward this
important work through the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the
Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, and various Pontifical
Universities.
Dear friends, let our sincere dialogue and cooperation inspire all people to
ponder the deeper questions of their origin and destiny. May the followers of
all religions stand together in defending and promoting life and religious
freedom everywhere. By giving ourselves generously to this sacred task --
through dialogue and countless small acts of love, understanding and compassion
-- we can be instruments of peace for the whole human family.
Peace upon you all!
(Concluded)
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Wednesday
of the nineteenth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 13)
Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus (d. 235)
Two men died for the faith after harsh treatment and exhaustion in the mines of
Sardinia. One had been pope for five years, the other an antipope for 18. They
died reconciled.
Pontian was a Roman
who served as pope from 230 to 235. During his reign he held a synod which
confirmed the excommunication of the great theologian Origen in Alexandria.
Pontian was banished to exile by the Roman emperor in 235, and resigned so that
a successor could be elected in Rome. He was sent to the “unhealthy” island of
Sardinia, where he died of harsh treatment in 235. With him was Hippolytus (see
below) with whom he was reconciled. The bodies of both martyrs were brought back
to Rome and buried with solemn rites as martyrs. Hippolytus. As a presbyter in
Rome, Hippolytus (the name means “a horse turned loose”) was at first “holier
than the Church.” He censured the pope for not coming down hard enough on a
certain heresy—calling him a tool in the hands of one Callistus, a deacon—and
coming close to advocating the opposite heresy himself. When Callistus was
elected pope, Hippolytus accused him of being too lenient with penitents, and
had himself elected antipope by a group of followers. He felt that the Church
must be composed of pure souls uncompromisingly separated from the world, and
evidently thought that his group fitted the description. He remained in schism
through the reigns of three popes. In 235 he was also banished to the island of
Sardinia. Shortly before or after this event, he was reconciled to the Church,
and died with Pope Pontian in exile.
Hippolytus was a
rigorist, a vehement and intransigent man for whom even orthodox doctrine and
practice were not purified enough. He is, nevertheless, the most important
theologian and prolific religious writer before the age of Constantine. His
writings are the fullest source of our knowledge of the Roman liturgy and the
structure of the Church in the second and third centuries. His works include
many Scripture commentaries, polemics against heresies and a history of the
world. A marble statue, dating from the third century, representing the saint
sitting in a chair, was found in 1551. On one side is inscribed his table for
computing the date of Easter, on the other a list of how the system works out
until the year 224. Pope John XXIII installed the statue in the Vatican library.
Hippolytus was a strong defender of orthodoxy, and admitted his excesses by his
humble reconciliation. He was not a formal heretic, but an overzealous
disciplinarian. What he could not learn in his prime as a reformer and purist,
he learned in the pain and desolation of imprisonment. It was a fitting symbolic
event that Pope Pontian shared his martyrdom.
“Christ, like a skilful physician, understands the weakness of men. He loves to
teach the ignorant and the erring he turns again to his own true way. He is
easily found by those who live by faith; and to those of pure eye and holy
heart, who desire to knock at the door, he opens immediately. He does not
disdain the barbarian, nor does he set the eunuch aside as no man. He does not
hate the female on account of the woman’s act of disobedience in the beginning,
nor does he reject the male on account of the man’s transgression. But he seeks
all, and desires to save all, wishing to make all the children of God, and
calling all the saints unto one perfect man” (Hippolytus, Treatise on
Christ and Antichrist). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Ezechiel 9:1-7; 10:18-22; Psalm 112; Matthew 18: 15-20
(click here for
readings)
Jesus said to his disciples, If your
brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of
you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not
listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established
by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them,
tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him
as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind
on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed
in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything
you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or
three come together in my name, there am I with them.
((Matthew 18: 15-20)Matthew
18: 15-20)
One of the things that goes very much
against the grain of modern man is any tendency to oppose and judge negatively
his religious and moral beliefs. This is especially the case in areas of very
personal
morality. The Church’s condemnation of artificial methods of birth
control has long been unacceptable to much of modern society, as has the
Church’s condemnation of various forms of sexual immorality. Yet if there is to be
a light in the world at all, it will mean the presence in the world of
condemnation of error. When we look at the accounts in the Old Testament of the
work and preaching of the prophets we see that most of their teaching is taken
up with the condemnation of error. The book of Jonah tells the tale of the
prophet Jonah going to the great city of Nineveh and preaching repentance from
sin, and the city repented from its sins. What was at stake was the life of the
nation. The prophets insisted that unless the people converted from their sins
of idolatry, social injustice, and other moral and religious evils, destruction
would descend. John the Baptist came announcing a wonderful good news, but it
meant repentance on the part of the people. He vigorously pointed out error, and
called on the people to renounce their sins and prepare for the coming of God.
Our Lord came announcing a joyful good news, that the promised kingdom of God
was very near. But he called for repentance, and pointed out error and sin.
Unless you repent, he said on one occasion, you will all perish as they did. All
this is alluded to in our Gospel passage today, in which our Lord advises his
disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just
between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter
may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to
listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the
church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”
(Matthew 18: 15-20)
So it is that throughout the Church’s
history, the unmasking of religious and moral error has been part and parcel of
her service to humanity. Very early there was the question of error about the
person of Jesus Christ. So it was that in the early centuries of the Church
several great ecumenical Councils were held and ratified by the Bishop of Rome.
The Council of Nicaea in 325 laid it down that Jesus was truly divine, and this
was followed by other councils rejecting errors about Christ and insisting on
the faith of the Apostles. As the history of the Church advanced, so did the
Church’s battle with religious error. In our Gospel passage today our Lord hints
at the power of the Church to excommunicate. “If he refuses to listen even to
the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”
(Matthew 18: 15-20). Popes decreed against
various errors, and ecumenical Councils gathered to clarify the truth. The
Council of Trent (over several sessions from 1548 to 1563) condemned what it
taught to be various errors arising in the sixteenth century. Those errors
spanned the gamut of Christian teaching. But in the very exercise of this
ministry of pointing out doctrinal and moral error, the Church’s knowledge of
revealed truth advanced. Several decades ago, Pope Paul VI condemned artificial
contraception in his famous Encyclical Humanae Vitae. It provoked
a world-wide outcry among very many, but it was a service to the truth and its
teaching prompted a new appreciation and exploration of the truth of
conjugal love which John Paul II took up and developed. The Church is in the
line of the prophets, and her prophetic voice has to be raised in defence of the
truth and in condemnation of error. Such a mission runs very counter to much of
modern philosophy which is especially distinguished for its reluctance to admit
of objective truth and the mind’s capacity to know it accurately. Truth is
perceived as being relative to the individual, and a Church that insists on
objective truth and error is deemed not worthy to be taken seriously.
In considering the Church’s ministry on
behalf of the truth we ought constantly bear in mind that the Church is Christ’s
body and the bearer before the world of the person of Jesus. It is Christ who
speaks in and through her and it is Christ who teaches the truth and condemns
error in and through her teaching. Let us then transcend our intellectual
assumptions and listen with humility and readiness to the Church’s teaching. As
our Lord says to his disciples in today’s Gospel, “whatever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven.”
(E.J.Tyler)
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The
humility of my holy Mother Mary! She is not to be seen amid the palms of
Jerusalem, nor at the hour of the great miracles — except at that first one at
Cana.
But she doesn't escape from the contempt at Golgotha; there she stands, juxta
crucem Jesu, the Mother of Jesus, beside his Cross.
(The Way, no.507)
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Benedict XVI Meeting with Young People and
Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008.
Your
Eminence,
Dear Brother Bishops,
Dear Young Friends,
“Proclaim the Lord Christ … and always have your answer ready for people who ask
the reason for the hope that is within you” (1 Pet 3:15). With these words from
the First Letter of Peter I greet each of you with heartfelt affection. I thank
Cardinal Egan for his kind words of welcome and I also thank the representatives
chosen from among you for their gestures of welcome. To Bishop Walsh, Rector of
Saint Joseph Seminary, staff and seminarians, I offer my special greetings and
gratitude.
Young friends, I am very happy to have the opportunity to speak with you. Please
pass on my warm greetings to your family members and relatives, and to the
teachers and staff of the various schools, colleges and universities you attend.
I know that many people have worked hard to ensure that our gathering could take
place. I am most grateful to them all. Also, I wish to acknowledge your singing
to me Happy Birthday! Thank you for this moving gesture; I give you all an “A
plus” for your German pronunciation! This evening I wish to share with you some
thoughts about being disciples of Jesus Christ ? walking in the Lord’s
footsteps, our own lives become a journey of hope.
(Continuing)
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Thursday of the nineteenth week
in Ordinary Time II
(August 14)
St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe (1894-1941)
“I don’t know what’s going to become of you!” How many parents have said that?
Maximilian Mary
Kolbe’s
reaction was, “I prayed very hard to Our Lady to tell me what would happen to
me. She appeared, holding in her hands two crowns, one white, one red. She asked
if I would like to have them—one was for purity, the other for martyrdom. I
said, ‘I choose both.’ She smiled and disappeared.” After that he was not the
same. He entered the minor seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in Lvív (then
Poland, now Ukraine), near his birthplace, and at 16 became a novice. Though he
later achieved doctorates in philosophy and theology, he was deeply interested
in science, even drawing plans for rocket ships. Ordained at 24, he saw
religious indifference as the deadliest poison of the day. His mission was to
combat it. He had already founded the Militia of the Immaculata, whose aim was
to fight evil with the witness of the good life, prayer, work and suffering. He
dreamed of and then founded Knight of the Immaculata,, a religious magazine
under Mary’s protection to preach the Good News to all nations. For the work of
publication he established a “City of the Immaculata”—Niepokalanow—which housed
700 of his Franciscan brothers. He later founded one in Nagasaki, Japan. Both
the Militia and the magazine ultimately reached the one-million mark in members
and subscribers. His love of God was daily filtered through devotion to Mary. In
1939 the Nazi panzers overran Poland with deadly speed. Niepokalanow was
severely bombed. Kolbe and his friars were arrested, then released in less than
three months, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In 1941 he was arrested
again. The Nazis’ purpose was to liquidate the select ones, the leaders. The end
came quickly, in Auschwitz three months later, after terrible beatings and
humiliations. A prisoner had escaped. The commandant announced that 10 men would
die. He relished walking along the ranks. “This one. That one.” As they were
being marched away to the starvation bunkers, Number 16670 dared to step from
the line. “I would like to take that man’s place. He has a wife and children.”
“Who are you?” “A priest.” No name, no mention of fame. Silence. The commandant,
dumbfounded, perhaps with a fleeting thought of history, kicked Sergeant Francis
Gajowniczek out of line and ordered Father Kolbe to go with the nine. In the
“block of death” they were ordered to strip naked and the slow starvation began
in darkness. But there was no screaming—the prisoners sang. By the eve of the
Assumption four were left alive. The jailer came to finish Kolbe off as he sat
in a corner praying. He lifted his fleshless arm to receive the bite of the
hypodermic needle. It was filled with carbolic acid. They burned his body with
all the others. He was beatified in 1971 and canonized in 1982.
Father Kolbe’s death was not a sudden, last-minute act of heroism.
His whole life had been a preparation. His holiness was a limitless, passionate
desire to convert the whole world to God. And his beloved Immaculata was his
inspiration. “Courage, my sons. Don’t you see that we are leaving on a mission?
They pay our fare in the bargain. What a piece of good luck! The thing to do now
is to pray well in order to win as many souls as possible. Let us, then, tell
the Blessed Virgin that we are content, and that she can do with us anything she
wishes” (Maximilian Mary Kolbe, when first arrested). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Ezechiel 12: 1-12; Psalm 77; Matthew 18:21-19:1 (click here for readings)
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my
brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you,
not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is
like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the
settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he
was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children
and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees
before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'
The servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go. But
when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow- servants who owed him a
hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe
me!' he demanded. His fellow- servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be
patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off
and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other
servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told
their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant
in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I cancelled all that debt of yours because
you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow- servant just as I
had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured,
until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat
each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. When Jesus had
finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea
to the other side of the Jordan. (Matthew 18:21-19:1)
I am convinced that one of the most long-lasting problems in the life of very
many is the sense of personal injury. It could be some incident - or many
incidents - in one’s childhood. It could be the memory of harshness and
impatience on the part of one’s parents, teachers, superiors or colleagues. It
could be some injustice experienced at some point in one’s career. This memory
could well include the awareness that there was some justification for the
harshness meted out, but nevertheless the effect is a legacy of bitterness. That
sense of injury remains and it can remain for the entirety of one’s life. The
memory lingers and never leaves. It fuels anger and resentment and saps away at
the residue of joy that life can normally contain. The memories of injuries done
can in large measure destroy a person’s prospects of happiness - that is, if the
injuries remain unforgiven. There is this further fact of life that these
memories tear away at the happiness of society. For decades upon decades
northern Ireland was wracked with revolutionary activity. Fuelling much of the
murder and mayhem was the memory of injuries done in the past. Consider the
protracted and seemingly intractable strife in the Middle East, and in
particular the Israeli-Palestinian strife. I am convinced that the memory on
both sides of injury done is a principal cause of the ceaseless conflict.
Ordinary human experience and reflection indicate that both at the individual
level and at the level of society there is no avoiding the necessity of
forgiveness. Somehow a way must be found by the individual and by society to
come to the point of forgiving the one who is perceived as having caused the
injury. The failure to forgive, the unwillingness and refusal to forgive, is a
fundamental human problem and a fundamental obstacle to happiness. The question
is, what is the way to attain a breakthrough to this marvellous virtue?
The first thing to remember is that like any virtue it comes only gradually and
with repeated acts. I become able to forgive only by repeatedly and
perseveringly forgiving the injury that has been done to me. Secondly, as is the
case with any great difficulty that must be faced, I must ask the help of God.
By his grace he enlightens me as to the good to be done and inspires and
strengthens my will for the doing of it. All too often the fundamental problem
is that I simply do not want to forgive. I must ask God to help me to change so
that I want to forgive the one who has injured me. As long as secretly I do not
want to do this, I will never bring myself to do it. What will help me greatly
is the love of Christ. If I love Christ and wish to follow him, his example and
teaching on forgiveness from the heart will help me to forgive. So then, let us
consider what our Lord has to say about forgiveness in our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 18:21-19:1).
To begin with, our Lord of course allows that we do indeed suffer injuries. The
servant when he left the presence of his master came across a fellow servant who
owed him one hundred denarii - a not inconsiderable sum. It seems to have been
equivalent to about fourteen weeks’ work. It is understandable that he felt
impatient and resentful. But this sum was utterly insignificant in comparison
with what the servant already owed his master. What he owed his master was an
immense sum, and his master out of pity for him had both forgiven him his debt
and dispensed with his intention to sell him and his family into slavery in
order to reclaim it. How then are we to overcome our unwillingness to forgive?
We ought think of our own far greater debt to God and the injustice of our sins
before him, and of how God has forgiven us and continues to do so if we ask him
to pardon us. There is this further and most important consideration. If we do
not forgive and from the heart, God will judge us severely. The thought of the
divine judgment can help us to forgive our brother his offences.
Our Lord requires of us that we forgive our brother from the heart. The prayer
that the Lord taught his disciples lays special stress on our commitment to
forgive. We must want to forgive for love of God, and this is the basis of our
prayer for Christ’s forgiveness of ourselves. It ought be a life-long ambition
to come to the end of life having finally forgiven everyone. What a beautiful
death! If we leave this life having forgiven absolutely everyone we can expect,
Christ says, the forgiveness of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Marvel at Mary's courage: at the foot of the Cross, with the greatest of human
sorrows — there is no sorrow like her sorrow — filled with fortitude.
And ask her for that same strength, so that you too can remain beside the Cross.
(The Way, no.508)
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(Continuing) Benedict XVI's meeting with Young People and Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
In front of you are the images of six ordinary men and women who grew up to lead
extraordinary lives.
The Church honours them as Venerable, Blessed, or Saint:
each responded to the Lord’s call to a life of charity and each served him here,
in the alleys, streets and suburbs of New York. I am struck by what a remarkably
diverse group they are: poor and rich, lay men and women - one a wealthy wife
and mother - priests and sisters, immigrants from afar, the daughter of a Mohawk
warrior father and Algonquin mother, another a Haitian slave, and a Cuban
intellectual.
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Neumann,
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Venerable Pierre Toussaint, and Padre Felix Varela:
any one of us could be among them, for there is no stereotype to this group, no
single mould. Yet a closer look reveals that there are common elements. Inflamed
with the love of Jesus, their lives became remarkable journeys of hope. For
some, that meant leaving home and embarking on a pilgrim journey of thousands of
miles. For each there was an act of abandonment to God, in the confidence that
he is the final destination of every pilgrim. And all offered an outstretched
hand of hope to those they encountered along the way, often awakening in them a
life of faith. Through orphanages, schools and hospitals, by befriending the
poor, the sick and the marginalised, and through the compelling witness that
comes from walking humbly in the footsteps of Jesus, these six people laid open
the way of faith, hope and charity to countless individuals, including perhaps
your own ancestors.
(Continuing)
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The
feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Friday of the nineteenth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 15)
The Assumption of the Virgin Mary
On November 1, 1950, Pius XII defined the Assumption of
Mary to be a dogma of faith: “We
pronounce,
declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the immaculate Mother
of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life,
was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” The pope proclaimed this dogma
only after a broad consultation of bishops, theologians and laity. There were
few dissenting voices. What the pope solemnly declared was already a common
belief in the Catholic Church. We find homilies on the Assumption going back to
the sixth century. In following centuries the Eastern Churches held steadily to
the doctrine, but some authors in the West were hesitant. However, by the
thirteenth century there was universal agreement. The feast was celebrated under
various names (Commemoration, Dormition, Passing, Assumption) from at least the
fifth or sixth century. Scripture does not give an account of Mary’s Assumption
into heaven. Nevertheless, Revelation 12 speaks of a woman who is caught up in
the battle between good and evil. Many see this woman as God’s people. Since
Mary best embodies the people of both Old and New Testament, her Assumption can
be seen as an exemplification of the woman’s victory. Furthermore, in 1
Corinthians 15:20 Paul speaks of Christ’s resurrection as the firstfruits of
those who have fallen asleep. Since Mary is closely associated with all the
mysteries of Jesus’ life, it is not surprising that the Holy Spirit has led the
Church to belief in Mary’s share in his glorification. So close was she to Jesus
on earth, she must be with him body and soul in heaven.
In the light of the Assumption of Mary, it is easy to pray
her Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55) with new meaning. In her glory she proclaims the
greatness of the Lord and finds joy in God her saviour. God has done marvels to
her and she leads others to recognize God’s holiness. She is the lowly handmaid
who deeply reverenced her God and has been raised to the heights. From her
position of strength she will help the lowly and the poor find justice on earth
and she will challenge the rich and powerful to distrust wealth and power as a
source of happiness.
“In the bodily and spiritual glory which she possesses in
heaven, the Mother of Jesus continues in this present world as the image and
first flowering of the Church as she is to be perfected in the world to come.
Likewise, Mary shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come (cf.
2 Peter 3:10), as a sign of certain hope and comfort for the pilgrim People of
God” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 68).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Apocalypse 11:19; 12:1-6.10;
Psalm 44; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-58
(click here for
readings)
At that time Mary got ready and hurried
to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and
greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her
womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she
exclaimed: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon
as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for
joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be
accomplished! And Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices
in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done
great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he
has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down
rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry
with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant
Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants for ever, even
as he said to our fathers. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and
then returned home. When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave
birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her
great mercy, and they shared her joy. (Luke
1:39-58)
Each year on August 15 the Church
celebrates the Assumption of Mary the mother of Christ body and soul into heaven
at the end of her mortal life. This feast has been celebrated in the Church for
very many
centuries and we find homilies on the Assumption of Mary back in the
sixth century. What does the Church teach on this matter? After a broad
consultation with bishops, theologians and laity, on November 1, 1950, Pius XII
defined the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of faith. He wrote: “We pronounce,
declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the immaculate Mother
of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life,
was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” The pope did not declare that this
doctrine is explicitly expressed in Scripture although his text shows that he
regarded it as implied in Scripture. What is formally declared is that this
dogma is divinely revealed and so must be held to be true by the Church’s
Faithful. One of the things that this immediately challenges is the notion that
only what is explicitly stated in Scripture, and judged by all as being explicit
in Scripture, can be taken to be divinely revealed. The notion that Scripture
alone is the source of revealed doctrine was never the Church’s teaching, nor is
it taught by Scripture itself. It is an innovation that had grown during the
second millennium, and the Council of Trent formally condemned it. It was also
an innovation to have claimed that revealed doctrine is determined not by the
judgment of the successors of the Apostles and in particular by the Successor of
Peter but by the private judgment of the individual reader of Scripture. This
too was never the teaching of the Church, nor is it the teaching of Scripture,
and it too has been condemned by the Church. Revelation is entrusted by God to
the Church and the Church guards it by means of her divinely inspired Scriptures
and her dogmatic definitions and teaching during the course of her history.
The Church has declared Mary’s
Assumption body and soul into heaven to be divinely revealed so that the person
of Mary may be honoured the more by Christ’s Faithful, and imitated in her
obedience to the word and will of God. She is the perfect servant of the Lord,
his perfect handmaid. She is, as the Angel Gabriel said to her, full of grace.
The Lord is with her absolutely and without qualification. She is blessed among
women, as her holy kinswoman Elizabeth acknowledged, under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit. She is the Queen-mother, mother of the King of kings and Lord
of lords, mother of the Messiah and mother therefore of God the Son. None of
God’s creatures can be compared with her in her dignity as the holy mother of
God, holy in her sinlessness. On one occasion in our Lord’s public ministry a
woman from the crowd cried out that his mother was blessed in having had such a
son as he. Blessed rather, our Lord replied, are those who hear the word of God
and keep it. This was Mary’s truest source of greatness. She perfectly fulfilled
the word of God. The Church has also declared as divinely revealed that Mary was
conceived free of original sin and that her holiness remained unsullied by sin
during the whole of her earthly life. She heard the word of God and fulfilled it
perfectly. This, in fact, is the fundamental reason for her Assumption into
heaven. Sin never touched her, and so the wages of sin which is death could not
hold her. All of this was granted to her as God’s gift because of the sacrifice
and merits of her Son. As she says in her prayer in our Gospel passage today,
the Almighty looked on his lowly handmaid and did great things for her. All
generations will call her blessed (Luke 1:39-58).
So where Christ her son went, she followed. There in heaven she now cares for us
as our mother, bringing before her son all our needs. She is the help of
Christians, our mother and our model in our work of imitating her son and in
following in his footsteps.
May I suggest you take to heart that
famous prayer to Mary the mother of Christ and mother of all Christ’s Faithful
who is now body and soul glorious in heaven. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord
is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb,
Jesus. Holy Mary mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our
death. Amen.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Mary, teacher of the sacrifice that is hidden and silent!
See her, nearly always in the background, co-operating with her Son; she knows,
yet says nothing.
(The Way, no.509)
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Continuing Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young
People and Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
And
what of today? Who bears witness to the Good News of Jesus on the streets of New
York, in the troubled neighbourhoods of large cities, in the places where the
young gather, seeking someone in whom they can trust? God is our origin and our
destination, and Jesus the way. The path of that journey twists and turns ? just
as it did for our saints ? through the joys and the trials of ordinary, everyday
life: within your families, at school or college, during your recreation
activities, and in your parish communities. All these places are marked by the
culture in which you are growing up. As young Americans you are offered many
opportunities for personal development, and you are brought up with a sense of
generosity, service and fairness. Yet you do not need me to tell you that there
are also difficulties: activities and mindsets which stifle hope, pathways which
seem to lead to happiness and fulfilment but in fact end only in confusion and
fear.
My own years as a teenager were marred by a sinister regime that thought it had
all the answers; its influence grew – infiltrating schools and civic bodies, as
well as politics and even religion – before it was fully recognized for the
monster it was. It banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and
good. Many of your grandparents and great-grandparents will have recounted the
horror of the destruction that ensued. Indeed, some of them came to America
precisely to escape such terror.
(Continuing)
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Saturday of the nineteenth week
in Ordinary Time II
(August 16) St. Stephen of Hungary (975-1038)
The Church is universal, but its expression is always affected—for good or
ill—by local culture. There are no “generic” Christians; there are Mexican
Christians, Polish Christians, Filipino Christians. This fact is evident in the
life of Stephen, national hero and spiritual patron of Hungary. Born a pagan, he
was baptized at about the age of ten, together with his father, chief of the
Magyars, a group who migrated to the Danube area in the ninth century. At 20 he
married Gisela, sister to the future emperor, St. Henry. When he succeeded his
father, Stephen adopted a policy of Christianization of the country for both
political and religious reasons. He suppressed a series of revolts by pagan
nobles and welded the Magyars into a strong national group. He sent to Rome to
get ecclesiastical organization—and also to ask the pope to confer the title of
king upon him. He was crowned on Christmas day in 1001. Stephen established a
system of tithes to support churches and pastors and to relieve the poor. Out of
every 10 towns one had to build a church and support a priest. He abolished
pagan customs with a certain amount of violence, and commanded all to marry,
except clergy and religious. He was easily accessible to all, especially the
poor. In 1031 his son Emeric died, and the rest of his days were embittered by
controversy over his successor. His nephews attempted to kill him. He died in
1038 and was canonized, along with his son, in 1083. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Ezechiel 18:1-10.13.30-32; Psalm 50; Matthew 19:13-15
(click here for
readings)
Then little children were brought to
Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples
rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, Let the little children come to me,
and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. When
he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
(Matthew 19:13-15)
Consider our Gospel scene today that I
read. Our Lord is immersed in his ministry for the crowds and power is going out
from him as it usually did. He preached, he taught, he healed, at times he
forgave sins. In the midst of his busy and exhausting ministry parents bring
their children to him for him to bless them with his prayer. Our Lord’s
disciples, undoubtedly thinking of their weary master, actively discourage
parents from imposing on Jesus in this way and try to turn them away from him.
But our Lord rebukes them and welcomes the children with their parents and
readily places his hands on them, a gesture showing the blessing that he is
conferring on them. He loved children and said that it was to such as these that
the kingdom of heaven belongs. Consider for a moment the power of his blessing.
At a word he could quell a storm. At a word he could raise a person from the
dead or heal his paralysis. At a word he could drive out demons. How wonderful
must his blessing have been! Consider the mother who with faith brought her
child before him and consider the child who with trust and openness received
that blessing (Matthew 19:13-15). The child
would have been blessed indeed and who knows what it may have led to in the
lives of the children our Lord blessed. Well, let us apply this simple scene to
ourselves. The same Jesus is always near, especially if we have been baptized
into him. Our Lord often said that unless we become like little children we
shall never enter the kingdom of heaven. He invites us to approach him like
little children. We, then, in a spirit of faith, ought often and even daily
approach our Lord in prayer in the spirit of the children of our Gospel passage
and ask for his blessing. We ought ask him to bless our days, our undertakings,
our daily duties. Every time we even eat, we have the opportunity in our “grace
before meals” to ask Jesus to bless us and his gifts which due to his goodness
we are about to receive. And the same thing applies to all we do and receive.
Apart from endeavouring to approach
Jesus in the spirit of a little child, we ought do all we can to introduce
children to Jesus. What a wonderful thing if, due to our example, or our word,
or due to some other action we take, a child is introduced to the unseen living
Jesus. There are so many ways the Christian can assist children to come to know
Jesus. In every town there is a school, a public school. At least in Australia,
the public school has in place the opportunity for authorized volunteers to
teach the Christian faith regularly to its pupils. That is a wonderful
opportunity to introduce the child to Jesus, and thousands of volunteers do this
throughout the nation. What good they do! They are like the parents who brought
their children to Jesus for him to lay his hands on them and give them his
blessing. That is what the volunteer religion teacher in the public school is
doing. He or she is inviting the child to come to know Jesus and to step forward
in prayer to meet him and obtain his blessing, indeed to become his disciple.
What a beautiful thing it is if due to these efforts a child in fact does just
this. There have been children who have come to know Jesus profoundly and to
have set out on the path, as children, of a profound friendship with him. All
too often this opportunity is missed, and the child learns, rather, the path of
sin. So what is it to be for the average child? Is it to be Jesus, or is it to
be sin? Every adult ought ask himself or herself that question, and ask what he
or she is going to do about it. One of the great gains in recent years has been
the new sense of the importance and rights of the child - even though there is
the profound anomaly of a disregard of the rights of the unborn child. Well,
when we think of the rights of the child, the first and greatest right we ought
think of is the right of the child to come to know God, God in the person of
Christ his Son. What can we do to help the child to come to know Jesus and to
receive the blessings he came among us to give?
As we think of our Gospel passage today
in which children are brought to Jesus for his blessing, let us resolve to be
like those children ourselves in our desire for the blessing of Jesus. Let us
approach him with a childlike dependence on him, asking for his favours. Let us
also have profound reverence for each child and do all we can to assist every
child to come to know and love the risen Jesus, and to desire his blessing. How
Christ must have loved each child!
(E.J.Tyler)
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You see how
simply she said it? Ecce ancilla, 'I am the handmaid of the Lord!' — And the
Word became flesh.
That is how the saints worked: without any outward show. What there was, was in
spite of them.
(The Way, no.510)
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Continuing Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young
People and Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
Let
us thank God that today many people of your generation are able to enjoy the
liberties which have arisen through the extension of democracy and respect for
human rights. Let us thank God for all those who strive to ensure that you can
grow up in an environment that nurtures what is beautiful, good, and true: your
parents and grandparents, your teachers and priests, those civic leaders who
seek what is right and just.
The power to destroy does, however, remain. To pretend otherwise would be to
fool ourselves. Yet, it never triumphs; it is defeated. This is the essence of
the hope that defines us as Christians; and the Church recalls this most
dramatically during the Easter Triduum and celebrates it with great joy in the
season of Easter! The One who shows us the way beyond death is the One who shows
us how to overcome destruction and fear: thus it is Jesus who is the true
teacher of life (cf. Spe Salvi, 6). His death and resurrection
mean that we can say to the Father “you have restored us to life!” (Prayer after
Communion, Good Friday). And so, just a few weeks ago, during the beautiful
Easter Vigil liturgy, it was not from despair or fear that we cried out to God
for our world, but with hope-filled confidence: dispel the darkness of our
heart! dispel the darkness of our minds! (cf. Prayer at the Lighting of the
Easter Candle).
(Continuing)
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Twentieth
Sunday of Ordinary Time A
Prayers
this week: God our protector, keep us in
mind; always give strength to your people. For if we can be with you even one
day, it is better than a thousand without you.
(Psalm 83: 10-11)
God our Father, may we love you in all things and above all things and reach the
joy you have prepared for us beyond all our imagining. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
(August 17)
St. Joan of the Cross (1666-1736)
An encounter with a shabby old woman many dismissed as insane prompted St. Joan
to dedicate her life to the poor. For Joan, who had a reputation as a
businesswoman intent on monetary success, this was a significant conversion.
Born in 1666 in Anjou, France, Joan worked in the family business—a small shop
near a religious shrine—from an early age. After her parents’ death she took
over the shop herself. She quickly became known for her greediness and
insensitivity to the beggars who often came seeking help. That was until she was
touched by the strange woman who claimed she was on intimate terms with the
deity. Joan, who had always been devout, even scrupulous, became a new person.
She began caring for needy children. Then the poor, elderly and sick came to
her. Over time she closed the family business so she could devote herself fully
to good works and penance. She went on to found what came to be known as the
Congregation of St. Anne of Providence. It was then she took the religious name
of Joan of the Cross. By the time of her death in 1736 she had founded 12
religious houses, hospices and schools. Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1982.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Isaiah 56:1.6-7; Psalm 66; Romans 11:13-15.29-32;
Matthew 15:21-28
(click here for
readings)
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to
the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him,
crying out, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering
terribly from demon-possession. Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples
came to him and urged him, Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us. He
answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. The woman came and knelt
before him. Lord, help me! she said. He replied, It is not right to take the
children's bread and toss it to their dogs. Yes, Lord, she said, but even the
dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered,
Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted. And her daughter was
healed from that very hour. (Matthew 15: 21-28)
There is a detail of our Gospel scene
today on which I would like briefly to comment. Our Lord has withdrawn to the
pagan region of Tyre and Sidon and a woman from the area hearing that the
miracle
worker from Galilee has arrived comes seeking him. She is desperate and
will not desist till she has obtained what she wants, which is the cure of her
daughter. She loudly makes herself heard and ignores the irritated looks of our
Lord’s disciples. Our Lord did not answer her a word. Let us notice,
incidentally, that it was in response not to the woman but to his disciples that
our Lord made his remark about his mission being only to the lost sheep of
Israel. Despite their request, he did not summarily send her away. He was, it
seems to me, allowing the pagan woman to keep asking, which she did. He was
bringing her by the test of his silence to the point of a greater faith in him.
So she came to him full of respect, addressing him by two Scriptural titles -
Lord, and Son of David - and asking his help. We know the result. Due to her
great faith, her request was granted. But let us for today pass over the obvious
lesson of the Gospel scene, which is the critical importance of faith in Jesus,
and consider a different detail in the event portrayed. The woman came to Jesus
as a pagan. She would have known little of revealed doctrine as contained in the
Scriptures. She heard of the renown of Jesus, and she comes to him using
hallowed expressions, the language we might say, of the Scriptures. She
addressed him as Lord, Son of David, and asks for pity and mercy
(Matthew 15: 21-28). She came to him with,
perhaps, her different language - presumably Greek - but makes attempts at using
the language of revealed faith in dealing with Jesus. He is Lord, Son of David.
I like to think of this scene as reminding us of the importance of the language
and terms of our faith, the language of the Church our mother, the language of
the Church’s teaching, the language which we as children of the Church learn in
all matters of the Faith. Now, we ought treasure this language of faith and
allow it to nourish our life in Christ.
There in our Gospel scene are the
Twelve, the Church in embryo, and Jesus is there in their midst. So it is in
every generation. The Church our mother has Jesus in her midst, and her mission
is to bring all into personal contact with him. He is her treasure and her
mission. The Church is the pillar and the bulwark of the truth about Christ and
she guards the memory and actuality of Christ’s person, and his words and his
teaching. From generation to generation she hands on the confession of Peter and
the Apostles about him. She does so with her own language. As mother of Christ’s
Faithful she teaches her children to speak and to understand her language of
faith in Jesus, that language which gradually develops with her ever deepening
understanding of what Christ has entrusted to her. For instance, the Church
teaches us that the living Jesus is a divine person with two distinct natures,
and that the Mass is Christ’s one Sacrifice at Calvary made present. We ought
try to understand these treasured terms and allow them to nourish our union with
him. We learn the language of faith from the Church our mother and we ought
treasure that language for it brings us the knowledge and love of our Redeemer.
It is the language she uses about Christ and his revelation, about God the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, about man and his destiny. It is a language that
has evolved for two millennia and which has become hallowed through its having
expressed the revelation that God has made to her in Christ. It is the language
of her Catechism, especially in our day the great Catechism of the Catholic
Church. It is the language she uses in her liturgy, the language of papal
teaching, the terms and expressions that she has sanctioned in resisting error
and in bringing her children to holiness in Christ. It is the language of the
Church’s dogmas and formulas which enable us to believe with objective accuracy
in the realities they express. By this language we are able to express the faith
and hand it on to others, to celebrate it in the Church’s life and to assimilate
it and to live it more and more.
Let us think of that pagan woman coming
to Jesus with the expressions of Scripture on her lips and winning from him his
commendation for her faith. Let us love what the Church teaches us about our
divine Lord and Redeemer and his saving plan for us, treasuring her terms and
doctrines and expressions so that they may bring us to a living and profound
union with Jesus. It is with a sure knowledge of her language that we then in
our turn will be more equipped to pass on in the very different language of
modern secular man the revealed doctrine it expresses.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1701-71
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ne
timeas, Maria.' Do not be afraid, Mary!' Our Lady was troubled at the
presence of the Archangel.
And to think that I want to throw away those details of modesty, that are the
safeguard of my purity!
(The Way, no.511)
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Continuing Benedict XVI's meeting with Young
People and Seminarians, USA, April 2008
What
might that darkness be? What happens when people, especially the most
vulnerable, encounter a clenched fist of repression or manipulation rather than
a hand of hope? A first group of examples pertains to the heart. Here, the
dreams and longings that young people pursue can so easily be shattered or
destroyed. I am thinking of those affected by drug and substance abuse,
homelessness and poverty, racism, violence, and degradation – especially of
girls and women. While the causes of these problems are complex, all have in
common a poisoned attitude of mind which results in people being treated as mere
objects ? a callousness of heart takes hold which first ignores, then ridicules,
the God-given dignity of every human being. Such tragedies also point to what
might have been and what could be, were there other hands – your hands –
reaching out. I encourage you to invite others, especially the vulnerable and
the innocent, to join you along the way of goodness and hope.
The second area of darkness – that which affects the mind – often goes
unnoticed, and for this reason is particularly sinister. The manipulation of
truth distorts our perception of reality, and tarnishes our imagination and
aspirations. I have already mentioned the many liberties which you are fortunate
enough to enjoy. The fundamental importance of freedom must be rigorously
safeguarded. It is no surprise then that numerous individuals and groups
vociferously claim their freedom in the public forum. Yet freedom is a delicate
value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness
which we all expect it to yield, but to a dark arena of manipulation in which
our understanding of self and the world becomes confused, or even distorted by
those who have an ulterior agenda.
(Continuing)
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Monday
of the twentieth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 18)
St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1562-1641)
Jane Frances was wife, mother, nun
and founder of a religious community. Her mother died when Jane was 18 months
old, and her father, head of parliament at Dijon, France, became the main
influence on her education. She developed into a woman of beauty and refinement,
lively and cheerful in temperament. At 21 she married Baron de Chantal, by whom
she had six children, three of whom died in infancy. At her castle she restored
the custom of daily Mass, and was seriously engaged in various charitable works.
Her husband was killed after seven years of marriage, and she sank into deep
dejection for four months at her family home. Her father-in-law threatened to
disinherit her children if she did not return to his home. He was then 75, vain,
fierce and extravagant. Jane Frances managed to remain cheerful in spite of him
and his insolent housekeeper. When she was 32 she met St. Francis de Sales, who
became her spiritual director, softening some of the severities imposed by her
former director. She wanted to become a nun but he persuaded her to defer this
decision. She took a vow to remain unmarried and to obey her director. After
three years Francis told her of his plan to found an institute of women which
would be a haven for those whose health, age or other considerations barred them
from entering the already established communities. There would be no cloister,
and they would be free to undertake spiritual and corporal works of mercy. They
were primarily intended to exemplify the virtues of Mary at the Visitation
(hence their name, the Visitation nuns): humility and meekness. The usual
opposition to women in active ministry arose and Francis de Sales was obliged to
make it a cloistered community following the Rule of St. Augustine. Francis
wrote his famous Treatise on the Love of God for them. The congregation (three
women) began when Jane Frances was 45. She underwent great sufferings: Francis
de Sales died; her son was killed; a plague ravaged France; her daughter-in-law
and son-in-law died. She encouraged the local authorities to make great efforts
for the victims of the plague and she put all her convent’s resources at the
disposal of the sick. During a part of her religious life she had to undergo
great trials of the spirit—interior anguish, darkness and spiritual dryness. She
died while on a visitation of convents of the community.
St. Vincent de Paul said of Jane Frances: “She was full of
faith, yet all her life had been tormented by thoughts against it. While
apparently enjoying the peace and easiness of mind of souls who have reached a
high state of virtue, she suffered such interior trials that she often told me
her mind was so filled with all sorts of temptations and abominations that she
had to strive not to look within herself...But for all that suffering her face
never lost its serenity, nor did she once relax in the fidelity God asked of
her. And so I regard her as one of the holiest souls I have ever met on this
earth” (Butler’s Lives of the Saints). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Ezechiel 24:15-24; Psalm
Deuteronomy 32; Matthew 19:16-22
(click here for
readings)
Now
a man came up to Jesus and asked, Teacher, what good thing must I do to get
eternal life? Why do you ask me about what is good? Jesus replied. There is only
One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments. Which ones?
the man enquired. Jesus replied, 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not
steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother,' and 'love
your neighbour as yourself.' All these I have kept, the young man said. What do
I still lack? Jesus answered, If you want to be perfect, go, sell your
possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then
come, follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had
great wealth. (Matthew 19:16-22)
One of the results of a broad study of
history is that a person who engages in this study is less likely to be confined
in his thinking to the opinions and assumptions of his own time. One of the
points of view characteristic of our own time is that which is generally called
Naturalism. What is real is that which is subject to sense experience or
verification. There is nothing beyond what we normally call nature - hence there
is nothing of the supernatural, no reality beyond this world. A study of history
shows how much of an anomaly this view is in human thought, because mankind has
overwhelmingly accepted the reality of the unseen world. A corollary of this is
the acceptance by most of mankind, but with less unanimity, of the reality of
the Afterlife. But revealed religion, and in particular Jesus Christ, has not
only confirmed the fact of the supernatural and told us of God to an extent far
beyond what man could have arrived at, but has revealed the Afterlife. The
essentials of what happens beyond death is now known to us with a vividness
otherwise unattainable, thanks to God’s revelation, and in particular the
revelation of his Son Jesus Christ. There is open to us an abundant eternal
life, a life forever of happiness in the direct presence of God our infinite and
loving Father. There is also revealed to us an awesome fact. There is one only
alternative to this joyous prospect. It is the prospect of Hell. So the
all-important question for every man and woman on the face of the earth is this:
What must I do to gain eternal life? It is terrible beyond imagining that a
person may miss out on an Afterlife with God, and instead forever live in the
utter misery of separation from him. For beyond this life there is nothing other
than God. With him a person has the infinite Good. Without him one has the
unending misery of living with nothing except sin. So, what must I do to inherit
eternal life?
Many persons take no account whatever
that this life, so short, places one at the threshold of a wondrous and awesome
eternity. They live for this life only and simply do not look ahead to when it
is over. If they do, they think there is nothing beyond it worth striving for.
This was not the case with the rich young man of our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 19:16-22). His all-important
question was - and he was so concerned that he came to our Lord to put the
question to him - what must I do to inherit eternal life? He wanted to know what
more he needed to do that he had not yet done. Our Lord gave him the answer that
he already knew - he had to keep the Ten Commandments and these he had kept from
his youth. He was an exceptional young man and was on the way to heaven. Behind
the question of the rich man there was, it seems, the desire to do even more in
his obedience to God, and so our Lord directly addresses this desire. “If you
wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” So there is a path to a high
place in heaven, a path to perfection in the loving service of God, and that
path is the following of Jesus. One does not get the impression that the
difficulty for the young man was the thought of following Jesus. What made his
face fall was the thought of abandoning his possessions, giving the proceeds to
the poor, and life in relative poverty. In his spirit he clung to his material
possessions. This attachment to his riches led to his shock at Christ’s answer,
his recoil at the thought of going further, and his turning away. We have no
reason to think he lost his soul (but only God knows that) but he turned away
from the path of perfection, that perfection that is found in living in the
company of Jesus and in following his way. He was a person of very great promise
and our Lord saw that in him. But it came to little because of his attachment to
the things of this world.
It has been revealed to us that
following death there is an Afterlife, and that Afterlife consists in either
heaven or hell. If we want to get to heaven, we must keep God’s commandments.
However, we may aspire to much more. We may aspire to the perfection of the love
and service of God. That is attained by the following of Jesus. There is one
thing that can prevent this, and it is our attachment to all that is not Jesus
and his way. Let us pray to be able to grow in a true detachment from the things
of this world so as to be totally attached to the will of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mother, Oh
Mother! With that word of yours — fiat,' be it done' — you have made us brothers
of God and heirs to his Glory.
Blessed art thou!
(The Way, no.512)
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Continuing Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young
People and Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
Have you noticed how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring
to the truth of the human
person?
Some today argue that respect for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to
seek truth, including the truth about what is good. In some circles to speak of
truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the
private sphere. And in truth’s place – or better said its absence – an idea has
spread which, in giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to assure
freedom and to liberate conscience. This we call relativism. But what purpose
has a “freedom” which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong?
How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or
experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to
hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to
the taking of their own life? Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is
it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the
One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because
ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not
an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and
allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s very being for others (cf. Spe
Salvi, 28).
(Continuing)
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Tuesday
of the twentieth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 19)
St. John Eudes (1601-1680)
How little we know where God’s grace will
lead. Born on a farm in northern France, John died at 79 in the next “county” or
department. In that time he was a religious, a parish missionary, founder of two
religious communities and a great promoter of the devotion to the Sacred Heart
and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He joined the religious community of the
Oratorians and was ordained a priest at 24. During severe plagues in 1627 and
1631, he volunteered to care for the stricken in his own diocese. Lest he infect
his fellow religious, he lived in a huge cask in the middle of a field during
the plague. At age 32, John became a parish missionary. His gifts as preacher
and confessor won him great popularity. He preached over 100 parish missions,
some lasting from several weeks to several months. In his concern with the
spiritual improvement of the clergy, he realized that the greatest need was for
seminaries. He had permission from his general superior, the bishop and even
Cardinal Richelieu to begin this work, but the succeeding general superior
disapproved. After prayer and counsel, John decided it was best to leave the
religious community. The same year he founded a new one, ultimately called the
Eudists (Congregation of Jesus and Mary), devoted to the formation of the clergy
by conducting diocesan seminaries. The new venture, while approved by individual
bishops, met with immediate opposition, especially from Jansenists and some of
his former associates. John founded several seminaries in Normandy, but was
unable to get approval from Rome (partly, it was said, because he did not use
the most tactful approach). In his parish mission work, John was disturbed by
the sad condition of prostitutes who sought to escape their miserable life.
Temporary shelters were found but arrangements were not satisfactory. A certain
Madeleine Lamy, who had cared for several of the women, one day said to him,
“Where are you off to now? To some church, I suppose, where you’ll gaze at the
images and think yourself pious. And all the time what is really wanted of you
is a decent house for these poor creatures.” The words, and the laughter of
those present, struck deeply within him. The result was another new religious
community, called the Sisters of Charity of the Refuge. He is probably best
known for the central theme of his writings: Jesus as the source of holiness,
Mary as the model of the Christian life. His devotion to the Sacred Heart and to
the Immaculate Heart of Mary led Pius XI to declare him the father of the
liturgical cult of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Holiness is the wholehearted openness to the love of God. It
is visibly expressed in many ways, but the variety of expression has one common
quality: concern for the needs of others. In John’s case, those who were in need
were plague-stricken people, ordinary parishioners, those preparing for the
priesthood, prostitutes and all Christians called to imitate the love of Jesus
and his mother. “Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form
Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his
desires and his disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises
should be directed to this end. It is the work which God has given us to do
unceasingly” (St. John Eudes, The Life and Reign of Jesus in Christian
Souls). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Ezechiel 28:1-10; Psalm
Deuteronomy 32; Matthew 19:23-30
(click here for
readings)
Then
Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, Who then
can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but
with God all things are possible. Peter answered him, We have left everything to
follow you! What then will there be for us? Jesus said to them, I tell you the
truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious
throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred
times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be
last, and many who are last will be first.
(Matthew 19:23-30)
There have been ideologies in the last
few centuries, especially in the last two, which have denied the right to
private property. The most obvious has been that of Karl Marx. The Church has
defended the
right
to private property and has taught that its denial will lead to serious harm in
society. At the same time the Church has condemned the unrestricted acquisition
of private property, teaching that this right is qualified by the right of
others to a due share of the goods of the earth. I suppose one factor in the
rise of philosophies that only allow a common or state ownership of material
goods and reject a private ownership is the sight of private ownership running
amok and trampling on the rights of the poor. Be all that as it may, this matter
of ownership of goods has a profound bearing not only on this life but on the
next. In particular, our Lord tells us in today’s Gospel that the man whose
heart is set on being rich in this world’s goods will find it hard to enter the
kingdom of heaven. Our Lord does not say that this world’s goods are evil, nor
does he say that the possession of them is evil. After all, we may presume that
the holy family of Nazareth - Joseph and Mary and Jesus - owned their dwelling
and various other things. He is saying that the one who makes himself rich will
find it hard to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is because he will tend to
become very attached to the things of this world, to the things he owns and more
besides, such that without his even realizing it, the preference of his heart
will be for them rather than for God. He will tend to find his delight and his
security in them rather than in the God from whom they come. The further snare
is that he will in all likelihood be unaware of his attachment to them until the
moment of decision suddenly comes when he must make a choice. Without his
realizing it, his heart may have become truly attached to what he owns and it
may be very hard indeed for him to choose Christ. This is what happened to the
rich young man. For all, the crunch time in this respect will be the hour of
death.
Christ asks us to be detached from the
goods of this world. We must seek them and to an extent we must own them and to
an extent we must use them. We must, though, beware of becoming attached to them
because if we do we shall find it hard to enter the kingdom of heaven. That
kingdom consists essentially in union with Jesus and in life in him. Our
attachment must be for him and all else that we have and use or are attached to
must be within the context and framework of our attachment to him. A father of a
family works hard at his career and advances himself in it, seeking a higher
salary and further possessions. But this quest must be for love of Christ and
his kingdom and his will. It is Christ’s interests and will which should be
motivating him and guiding his decisions more and more. It is for love of Christ
that he should be doing better at his profession or trade or business, so as to
improve the prospects of his family and children, or to educate them better in
life in the Christian faith, or to serve the public better in his work, or
whatever. Basically it is to be all for Christ. So the disciple of Christ must
work at detachment from the goods of this world - which are not just material
goods but other goods besides - and become progressively attached to Christ and
his mission for mankind. In our Gospel passage today our Lord tells his
disciples who have left everything for him that they will be blessed indeed.
“Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or
children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will
inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:23-30)
The disciples did this in a way appropriate to their vocation. Each Christian
must do it in a way appropriate to his vocation. The crucial thing is the spirit
of detachment from all things so as to be totally attached in spirit to Christ.
Now the question is, how is this to be done? Through the power of grace. As our
Lord says, with God all things are possible. Let us ask then for his grace to
attain this all-important attachment of our hearts to him.
Let us not reach the end of our lives
with our hearts profoundly interwoven with the things of this world because if
that is the only treasure our hearts have come to possess, then we shall leave
this life with absolutely nothing except a love for self that has been fed by
this love of the goods of this world. We must aim to come to the end of life
with our hearts attached entirely to God and Christ, and attached to the things
of this world only in him. We love and use and possess the things of this world
only to the extent that it is God’s will and only for love of him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Before, by
yourself, you couldn't. Now, you have turned to our Lady, and, with her, how
easy it is!
(The Way, no.513)
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Continuing Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young
People and Seminarians, USA, April 2008
How
then can we as believers help others to walk the path of freedom which brings
fulfilment and lasting happiness? Let us again turn to the saints. How did their
witness truly free others from the darkness of heart and mind? The answer is
found in the kernel of their faith; the kernel of our faith. The Incarnation,
the birth of Jesus, tells us that God does indeed find a place among us. Though
the inn is full, he enters through the stable, and there are people who see his
light. They recognize Herod’s dark closed world for what it is, and instead
follow the bright guiding star of the night sky. And what shines forth? Here you
might recall the prayer uttered on the most holy night of Easter: “Father we
share in the light of your glory through your Son the light of the world …
inflame us with your hope!” (Blessing of the Fire). And so, in solemn procession
with our lighted candles we pass the light of Christ among us. It is “the light
which dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings
mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride” (Exsultet).
This is Christ’s light at work. This is the way of the saints. It is a
magnificent vision of hope – Christ’s light beckons you to be guiding stars for
others, walking Christ’s way of forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, joy and
peace.
(Continuing)
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Wednesday
of the twentieth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 20)
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153)
Man of the century! Woman of the century! You see such terms applied to so many
today—“golfer of the century,” “composer of the century,” “right tackle of the
century”—that the line no longer has any punch. But the “man of the twelfth
century,” without doubt or controversy, has to be Bernard of Clairvaux. Adviser
of popes, preacher of the Second Crusade, defender of the faith, healer of a
schism, reformer of a monastic Order, Scripture scholar, theologian and eloquent
preacher: any one of these titles would distinguish an ordinary man. Yet Bernard
was all of these — and he still retained a burning desire to return to the
hidden monastic life of his younger days. In the year 1111, at the age of 20,
Bernard left his home to join the monastic community of Citeaux. His five
brothers, two uncles and some 30 young friends followed him into the monastery.
Within four years a dying community had recovered enough vitality to establish a
new house in the nearby valley of Wormwoods, with Bernard as abbot. The zealous
young man was quite demanding, though more on himself than others. A slight
breakdown of health taught him to be more patient and understanding. The valley
was soon renamed Clairvaux, the valley of light. His ability as arbitrator and
counsellor became widely known. More and more he was lured away from the
monastery to settle long-standing disputes. On several of these occasions he
apparently stepped on some sensitive toes in Rome. Bernard was completely
dedicated to the primacy of the Roman See. But to a letter of warning from Rome
he replied that the good fathers in Rome had enough to do to keep the Church in
one piece. If any matters arose that warranted their interest, he would be the
first to let them know. Shortly thereafter it was Bernard who intervened in a
full-blown schism and settled it in favour of the Roman pontiff against the
antipope. The Holy See prevailed on Bernard to preach the Second Crusade
throughout Europe. His eloquence was so overwhelming that a great army was
assembled and the success of the crusade seemed assured. The ideals of the men
and their leaders, however, were not those of Abbot Bernard, and the project
ended as a complete military and moral disaster. Bernard felt responsible in
some way for the degenerative effects of the crusade. This heavy burden possibly
hastened his death, which came August 20, 1153.
Bernard’s life in the Church was more active than we can imagine
possible today. His efforts produced far-reaching results. But he knew that they
would have availed little without the many hours of prayer and contemplation
that brought him strength and heavenly direction. His life was characterized by
a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother. His sermons and books about Mary are
still the standard of Marian theology. Bernard wrote: “In dangers, in doubts, in
difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your
lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may more surely obtain
the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for
guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose
heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she
holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear;
if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favour, you
shall reach the goal”. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Ezechiel 34:1-11; Psalm 22;
Matthew 20:1-16
(click here for
readings)
For the kingdom of heaven is like a
landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.
He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the market-place
doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will
pay you whatever is right.' So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour
and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out
and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been
standing here all day long doing nothing?' 'Because no-one has hired us,' they
answered. He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' When evening
came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay
them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'
The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a
denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive
more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they
began to grumble against the landowner. 'These men who were hired last worked
only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne
the burden of the work and the heat of the day.' But he answered one of them,
'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?
Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I
gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you
envious because I am generous?' So the last will be first, and the first will be
last. (Matthew 20:1-16)
A principal issue in Western societies
ever since the Industrial Revolution has been remuneration for and conditions of
work. Is the pay received for work and the conditions in which it is done just?
Great numbers of poor were exploited for their work. Many still are. They had no
power individually before the might of the employer, and so society saw the rise
of trade unions and the development of the Church’s social teaching in respect
to the worker. The Church gradually unfolded the centrality of work in man’s
life and development. However, one aspect of the fight for the rights of the
ordinary worker was the loss in many cases of the realization that one’s daily
work is not simply a means of gaining a salary but has a central importance in
attaining life’s true meaning. That is to say, in a certain sense we live in
order to do our work in life. Our work is the precious means whereby we serve
God and others in daily life. It is our means of living a life of justice and
charity, and therefore of growing in a life of religion. If we neglect our work,
or if we neglect to work, then our lives will be wasted. Even for those who
cannot work in the usual sense of the term because of sickness of forced
unemployment, they too have a work in life in that they are called to serve
others. The sick person can make a work of his sickness by living through his
condition in union with the crucified Christ for the salvation of the world. All
are called to use the gift of life to work and in this way we are able to be
like God himself, whom our Lord said is always working. On one occasion when our
Lord was accused of breaking the Sabbath by curing someone he replied that my
Father is working, so I work. By means of our work we are able to live as God’s
children, and grow in our love and service of him. Let this thought be in our
minds as we turn to our Gospel parable today in which our Lord describes the
owner of the vineyard inviting all he met not to stand idle but to come and work
in his vineyard. All who worked in the master’s vineyard would receive a wage at
the end of the day.
So our work is critically important for
our very sense of meaning in life. Work ought not be regarded as just an
unfortunate necessity in order to gain life’s real goal, money and leisure. But
there is another aspect of work which has to be understood. In the nature of the
case, much of our work is humdrum, tedious and very ordinary. Great numbers of
people spend their lives doing work that is menial and of little apparent value
in the sense that it wins little notice or praise from others. They are like the
donkey that goes round and round pulling the lead that in turn keeps the village
water running. All the donkey does is walk round and round the moving stone
pulling the rope that keeps the water flowing. But what does our Lord’s parable
remind us of? (Matthew 20:1-16) It reminds
us that God sees what is important and he will reward accordingly. The ones he
found late in the day he invited to go to his vineyard and work - he would give
them a wage. At the end of the day he upset the others who had worked all day
because he gave the latecomers an equal wage. Our Lord is not meaning to teach
injustice in wage rights. Rather, he is teaching that the ultimate value of our
work in God’s sight is not to be determined by human standards and values. The
ordinary worker who does nothing other than roll large drums day after day from
one position to another, if done for God and for love of him and neighbour will
be rewarded greatly by God. He has sanctified his work, offered up the
sacrifices and tedium of his days to God, and has been an instrument in the
sanctification of society. He will be rewarded for his good work and perhaps
more abundantly than a person who does “more important” work in the eyes of the
world. The one who does what the world deems more important work may not be
serving the master of the vineyard at all, but himself. He may not be
sanctifying his work. The parable of the workers invited to the vineyard reminds
us that in all our work we must strive to serve God truly well.
Let us every day place great store on
our daily work. We are called by God to work, to work at our work we might say,
in the sense of doing it well and for God. By means of our work we serve God and
our neighbour with growing love, so we ought aim to do it well in all its parts.
Whatever kind of work life brings us and sets before us, we ought aim to make it
something holy and able to be offered daily to God. Let us sanctify our work,
and through it be sanctified ourselves and contribute to the sanctification of
others.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Have
confidence. Return, call on our Lady and you will be faithful.
(The Way, no.514)
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Continuing Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young
People and Seminarians, USA, April 2008
At times, however, we are tempted to close in on ourselves, to doubt the
strength of Christ’s radiance, to limit the horizon of hope. Take courage! Fix
your gaze on our saints. The diversity of their experience of God’s presence
prompts us to discover anew the breadth and depth of Christianity. Let your
imaginations soar freely along the limitless expanse of the horizons of
Christian discipleship. Sometimes we are looked upon as people who speak only of
prohibitions. Nothing could be further from the truth! Authentic Christian
discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder. We stand before the God we know and
love as a friend, the vastness of his creation, and the beauty of our Christian
faith.
(Continuing)
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Thursday of the twentieth week in
Ordinary Time II
(August 21)
St. Pius X (1835-1914)
Pope Pius X is perhaps best remembered for his encouragement of the frequent
reception of Holy
Communion, especially by children. The second of 10 children
in a poor Italian family, Joseph Sarto became Pius X at 68, one of the twentieth
century’s greatest popes. Ever mindful of his humble origin, he stated, “I was
born poor, I lived poor, I will die poor.” He was embarrassed by some of the
pomp of the papal court. “Look how they have dressed me up,” he said in tears to
an old friend. To another, “It is a penance to be forced to accept all these
practices. They lead me around surrounded by soldiers like Jesus when he was
seized in Gethsemani.” Interested in politics, he encouraged Italian Catholics
to become more politically involved. One of his first papal acts was to end the
supposed right of governments to interfere by veto in papal elections—a practice
that reduced the freedom of the conclave which elected him. In 1905, when France
renounced its agreement with the Holy See and threatened confiscation of Church
property if governmental control of Church affairs were not granted, Pius X
courageously rejected the demand. While he did not author a famous social
encyclical as his predecessor had done, he denounced the ill treatment of the
Indians on the plantations of Peru, sent a relief commission to Messina after an
earthquake and sheltered refugees at his own expense. On the eleventh
anniversary of his election as pope, Europe was plunged into World War I. Pius
had foreseen it, but it killed him. “This is the last affliction the Lord will
visit on me. I would gladly give my life to save my poor children from this
ghastly scourge.” He died a few weeks after the war began.
His humble background was no obstacle in relating to a personal God and to
people whom he loved genuinely. He gained his strength, his gentleness and
warmth for people from the source of all gifts, the Spirit of Jesus. In
contrast, we often feel embarrassed by our backgrounds. Shame makes us prefer to
remain aloof from people whom we perceive as superior. If we are in a superior
position, on the other hand, we often ignore simpler people. Yet we, too, have
to help “restore all things in Christ,” especially the wounded people of God.
Describing Pius X, a historian wrote that he was “a man of God who knew the
unhappiness of the world and the hardships of life, and in the greatness of his
heart wanted to comfort everyone.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Ezechiel 36:23-28; Psalm 50;
Matthew 22:1-14
(click here for
readings)
Jesus spoke to them again in parables,
saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for
his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to
tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and
said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen
and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the
wedding banquet.' But they paid no attention and went off — one to his field,
another to his business. The rest seized his servants, ill-treated them and
killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those
murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding
banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street
corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So the servants went out
into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad,
and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see
the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.
'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man
was speechless.
Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him
outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
For many are invited, but few are chosen.
(Matthew 22:1-14)
There is no doubt that one of the many
distinguishing elements in the teaching of Jesus Christ is his revelation of the
divine judgment on each person. Of course, throughout the Old Testament - the
Hebrew Scriptures - the idea of the divine judgment on wrongdoing is
all-pervasive. The prophets continually inveighed against the neglect, the
immorality and the disobedience of the chosen people, and on God’s behalf they
threatened retribution especially in this life. The people would be invaded.
They would be ruined. If they turned back to the Lord, things would improve.
Generally the prophets spoke of the judgment as manifesting itself in this life.
Rewards too were often conceived as being granted primarily in this life. In the
teaching of Christ the judgment of God is especially manifest in the Afterlife.
But my point here is that what is notable is the extent to which our Lord refers
to the judgment of God. In our Gospel passage today the kingdom of heaven is
again described and this time it is in terms of a wedding banquet. The
bridegroom is the king’s son, the king of course being the Lord God and the son
being Jesus his only-begotten divine Son. The wedding is that between his Son
and his bride the Church, all those chosen by God to be in him. We remember how
John the Baptist referred to Christ as the bridegroom and to himself as merely
the friend of the bridegroom, and how our Lord too spoke of himself to the
disciples of John as the bridegroom. The wedding in the parable is the great
union with Jesus to which we are all called - that is to say, the kingdom of
heaven is the lordship of God which is found in Jesus and in union with him by
faith and baptism. The goal of human history and of every man and woman is this
union with Jesus. This is the wedding feast for which the king sent out
invitations to all. God has revealed that all mankind is called to a most bright
prospect and the door to it is acceptance of and love for his own divine Son
made man, Jesus Christ.
That is what God intends for man. That
is what he has predestined him for. But he must be judged worthy. Our parable
today opens with the wedding feast all ready: the Son is there awaiting the
arrival of all who had been invited. But they were not interested in the Son. We
are told that “they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said,
'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and
fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the
wedding banquet.' But they paid no attention and went off — one to his field,
another to his business. The rest seized his servants, ill-treated them and
killed them.” (Matthew 22:1-14) So it is not
enough to be called, to have been predestined by God for this happiness. One
must respond and come to Christ. The ones invited refused and what was the
result? We read that “The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those
murderers and burned their city.” Apart from the general point about the
judgment of God, presumably our Lord is also referring to the future sack of the
holy city. But then the invitation went out to all. “Then he said to his
servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to
come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So
the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could
find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”
Presumably our Lord is referring to his commission to his disciples to go to the
whole world and make disciples of all the nations. But even so, belief must be
genuine and shown in one’s way of life. As our Lord said on another occasion, it
is not enough to say to me Lord, Lord. One must also do the will of my Father in
heaven. One of the guests who had arrived was not wearing the wedding garment.
He surely represents all who fail to do this. God will judge each person on his
chosen deeds.
We just must bear in mind the final
things that each of us will face. Life is short and eternity is long. Our
judgment will hinge on our explicit or implicit response to the Good News of
Christ, and on how we have lived this out in everyday life. We must come to the
wedding of the King’s Son, but clothed with the wedding garment too. Where is
Christ so that we may be with him? He is found in his body the Church and it is
faith and baptism that brings us into the Church. But once there we must live
accordingly. If you love me, our Lord said, you will keep my commandments. In
this way we shall be found wearing the wedding garment. Let us live every day
with these fundamental issues in mind.
(E.J.Tyler)
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So your
strength is fast failing you? Why don't you say to your Mother, 'comforter of
the afflicted, help of Christians... our hope, queen of apostles'?
(The Way, no.515)
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Continuing Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young
People and Seminarians, USA, April 2008
Dear friends, the example of the saints invites us, then, to consider four
essential aspects of the treasure of our faith: personal prayer and silence,
liturgical prayer, charity in action, and vocations.
What matters most is that you develop your personal relationship with God. That
relationship is expressed in prayer. God by his very nature speaks, hears, and
replies. Indeed, Saint Paul reminds us: we can and should “pray constantly” (1
Thess 5:17). Far from turning in on ourselves or withdrawing from the ups and
downs of life, by praying we turn towards God and through him to each other,
including the marginalized and those following ways other than God’s path (cf.
Spe Salvi, 33). As the saints teach us so vividly, prayer becomes
hope in action. Christ was their constant companion, with whom they conversed at
every step of their journey for others.
(Continuing)
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Friday
of the twentieth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 22)
Queenship of Mary
Pius XII established this feast in 1954.
But Mary’s queenship has roots in Scripture. At the Annunciation Gabriel
announced that Mary’s Son would receive the throne of David and rule forever.
At
the Visitation, Elizabeth calls Mary “mother of my Lord.” As in all the
mysteries of Mary’s life, Mary is closely associated with Jesus: Her queenship
is a share in Jesus’ kingship. We can also recall that in the Old Testament the
mother of the king has great influence in court. In the fourth century St.
Ephrem called Mary “Lady” and “Queen” and Church Fathers and Doctors continued
to use the title. Hymns of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries address Mary as
queen: “Hail, Holy Queen,” “Hail, Queen of Heaven,” “Queen of Heaven.” The
Dominican rosary and the Franciscan crown as well as numerous invocations in
Mary’s litany celebrate her queenship. The feast is a logical follow-up to the
Assumption and is now celebrated on the octave day of that feast. In his
encyclical To the Queen of Heaven, Pius XII points out that Mary deserves the
title because she is Mother of God, because she is closely associated as the New
Eve with Jesus’ redemptive work, because of her preeminent perfection and
because of her intercessory power.
As St. Paul suggests in Romans 8:28–30, God has predestined
human beings from all eternity to share the image of his Son. All the more was
Mary predestined to be the mother of Jesus. As Jesus was to be king of all
creation, Mary, in dependence on Jesus, was to be queen. All other titles to
queenship derive from this eternal intention of God. As Jesus exercised his
kingship on earth by serving his Father and his fellow human beings, so did Mary
exercise her queenship. As the glorified Jesus remains with us as our king till
the end of time (Matthew 28:20), so does Mary, who was assumed into heaven and
crowned queen of heaven and earth.
“Let the entire body of the faithful pour forth persevering prayer
to the Mother of God and Mother of men. Let them implore that she who aided the
beginnings of the Church by her prayers may now, exalted as she is in heaven
above all the saints and angels, intercede with her Son in the fellowship of all
the saints. May she do so until all the peoples of the human family, whether
they are honoured with the name of Christian or whether they still do not know
their Saviour, are happily gathered together in peace and harmony into the one
People of God, for the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity” (Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, 69). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Ezechiel 37:1-14; Psalm 106;
Matthew 22:34-40
(click here for
readings)
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the
Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested
him with this question: Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?
Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And
the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the
Prophets hang on these two commandments.
(Matthew 22:34-40)
When a person discovers Christ, or
having discovered Christ asks what Christ expects of him, he will sooner or
later realize that very much part of the Christian vocation is to contribute
towards changing the world. There is an immense task ahead for all those who are
in Christ. The kingdom of God in which Christ is accepted as Lord must be
extended. The world is to be shaped and ordered according to the mind of Christ
and the will of God and the Christian’s calling is to be a leaven in this
process. Now, in realizing that his task is to fulfil this great objective work
which is evangelization in its multiform aspects the Christian can find himself
forgetting that this task begins with one’s own very self. And after all, there
are enormous limits on what one can do for God in the world. There are the
limits inherent in one’s own capacities. One person may be a very good speaker,
but another has no gift for this at all. There are the limits imposed by the
course of events in which certain opportunities come to some, but not to others.
But whatever be the limits of what one can do for God in the world of one’s
everyday life, every person has immediately before him the prospect of
sanctifying his very own life and self - that is, his very own heart. This is an
enormous challenge in itself and it is one’s immediate responsibility. The first
responsibility that each person has is to sanctify himself - which of course is
done by loving God and one’s neighbour. For this reason our Gospel passage today
is so very important, and is a wonderful passage to consider. Our Lord is asked,
which is God’s greatest and most important commandment, the commandment which
more than anything else he wants us to fulfil? Our Lord’s answer is immediate:
we are to strive to love God with all our being, and our neighbour as ourself.
So whatever be our circumstances in life, with all the limitations they impose
on us for doing good, the first thing is that we strive to love God perfectly in
all we actually do. Both the washerwoman and the ruler must aim for the
perfection of love, whatever be the scope of their activities.
We are called to engage in a daily and
unremitting struggle for personal sanctity. As our Lord tells us, “'Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these
two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40) I
remember years ago I was attending a clergy conference and it was announced that
a medical team was in the vicinity and wished to conduct medical tests on the
clergy, testing their health risk status. I remember being told by a member of
the team that the two groupings in society that were found to be of highest
health risk were clergy and doctors. It was thought that in their service to
others they constantly neglected their own health. That related to physical
health. But the same thing can happen in the spiritual life of the Christian. He
can neglect his own spiritual life. St Paul wrote that he had to be careful lest
he save others and yet be a castaway himself. So what must we do to nourish our
own spiritual life? We must cultivate the love of God in our hearts. A married
couple must work on their marriage, which is to say that they must not take
their relationship for granted for it can gradually deteriorate through all
kinds of little failures against one another. There needs to be a daily
vigilance against threats to the relationship and a daily effort to improve the
love between them. So too in our relationship with the unseen living Jesus in
whom we live by faith and baptism. We must put aside daily time for prayer. We
must engage in regular reading that will nourish our relationship with the Jesus
of the Scriptures and the Church. We must do all we do for love of him and in
his presence. We must partake of the Sacraments because he comes to us
especially in them. We must deepen our bond with the Church his body, being
guided by the Church’s teaching. In a word, we must not take the love of God for
granted. It has to be worked on daily in the way the Church advises.
Christ tells us that God’s will comes
down to this, that we strive to love him with all our heart, and our neighbour
as ourself. So we must work every day at the full growth of love in our hearts,
that love that Christ embodies and exemplifies, that love that is implanted in
us with the gift of the Holy Spirit at our baptism and which is nourished in the
Sacraments, that love which is the essence of Christian sanctity, that love
which we are called to show to all others and to draw the world to. Whatever be
our particular calling in life, that is the one thing we are all called to do.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Mother!
Call her again and again. She is listening, she sees you in danger perhaps, and
with her Son's grace she, your holy Mother Mary, offers you the refuge of her
arms, the tenderness of her embrace. Call her, and you will find yourself with
added strength for the new struggle.
(The Way, no.516)
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Continuing Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young
People and Seminarians, USA, April 2008
There is another aspect of prayer which we need to remember: silent
contemplation. Saint John, for
example,
tells us that to embrace God’s revelation we must first listen, then respond by
proclaiming what we have heard and seen (cf. 1 Jn 1:2-3; Dei Verbum, 1). Have we
perhaps lost something of the art of listening? Do you leave space to hear God’s
whisper, calling you forth into goodness? Friends, do not be afraid of silence
or stillness, listen to God, adore him in the Eucharist. Let his word shape your
journey as an unfolding of holiness.
In the liturgy we find the whole Church at prayer. The word liturgy means the
participation of God’s people in “the work of Christ the Priest and of His Body
which is the Church” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7). What is that
work? First of all it refers to Christ’s Passion, his Death and Resurrection,
and his Ascension – what we call the Paschal Mystery. It also refers to the
celebration of the liturgy itself. The two meanings are in fact inseparably
linked because this “work of Jesus” is the real content of the liturgy. Through
the liturgy, the “work of Jesus” is continually brought into contact with
history; with our lives in order to shape them. Here we catch another glimpse of
the grandeur of our Christian faith. Whenever you gather for Mass, when you go
to Confession, whenever you celebrate any of the sacraments, Jesus is at work.
Through the Holy Spirit, he draws you to himself, into his sacrificial love of
the Father which becomes love for all. We see then that the Church’s liturgy is
a ministry of hope for humanity. Your faithful participation, is an active hope
which helps to keep the world – saints and sinners alike – open to God; this is
the truly human hope we offer everyone (cf. Spe Salvi, 34).
(Continuing)
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Saturday
of the twentieth week in Ordinary Time II
(August 23)
St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617)
The
first canonized saint of the New World has one characteristic of all saints—the
suffering of opposition—and another characteristic which is more for admiration
than for imitation—excessive practice of mortification. She was born to parents
of Spanish descent in Lima, Peru, at a time when South America was in its first
century of evangelization. She seems to have taken Catherine of Siena as a
model, in spite of the objections and ridicule of parents and friends. The
saints have so great a love of God that what seems bizarre to us, and is indeed
sometimes imprudent, is simply a logical carrying out of a conviction that
anything that might endanger a loving relationship with God must be rooted out.
So, because her beauty was so often admired, Rose used to rub her face with
pepper to produce disfiguring blotches. Later, she wore a thick circlet of
silver on her head, studded on the inside, like a crown of thorns. When her
parents fell into financial trouble, she worked in the garden all day and sewed
at night. Ten years of struggle against her parents began when they tried to
make Rose marry. They refused to let her enter a convent, and out of obedience
she continued her life of penance and solitude at home as a member of the Third
Order of St. Dominic. So deep was her desire to live the life of Christ that she
spent most of her time at home in solitude. During the last few years of her
life, Rose set up a room in the house where she cared for homeless children, the
elderly and the sick. This was a beginning of social services in Peru. Though
secluded in life and activity, she was brought to the attention of Inquisition
interrogators, who could only say that she was influenced by grace. What might
have been a merely eccentric life was transfigured from the inside. If we
remember some unusual penances, we should also remember the greatest thing about
Rose: a love of God so ardent that it withstood ridicule from without, violent
temptation and lengthy periods of sickness. When she died at 31, the city turned
out for her funeral. Prominent men took turns carrying her coffin.
“If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw
it away. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled than with
two hands or two feet to be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you
to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life
with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into fiery Gehenna” (Matthew
18:8–9). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Ezechiel 43:1-7; Psalm 84; Matthew 23:1-12
(click here for
readings)
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his
disciples: The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in
Moses'
seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what
they do, for they do not practise what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and
put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a
finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their
phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of
honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to
be greeted in the market-places and to have men call them 'Rabbi'. But you are
not to be called 'Rabbi', for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, and he is
in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher', for you have one Teacher, the
Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself
will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
(Matthew 23:1-12)
One of the most striking things in the
history of man is the presence and influence of religion. Consider the work of
the average archaeologist as he examines or digs for ruins of the past. He is
continually
discovering
materials that reveal the religion of the civilization he is examining. Take
various indigenous societies. Their remains reveal their religion. It is the
case with East and West, developed societies and undeveloped ones. The obvious
exception is the West of the last few centuries with the onset of secularism. It
is the same with so much of anthropology. Man yearns for the unseen Absolute, or
the powers above. He depends on the higher powers and he wishes to be pleasing
to them. At the same time the practice of so much of religion is deeply flawed.
There is pride, cruelty, the desire to dominate, self-indulgence - in short,
there is a lot of sin in the practice of much of religion. The gods of many
religions are often very sinful too because so many of them are but a projection
by the imagination of sinful man. With revealed religion, we have the all-holy
God indicating to man how he, God, is to be worshipped, and how man is to live
in his presence. In his public ministry time and again our Lord shows his
profound respect and veneration for the religion revealed by his heavenly
Father, together with its hallowed institutions. At the same time he shows how
sin is present in much of its practice. And so we read in today’s Gospel
(Matthew 23:1-12), our Lord said to his
disciples, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you
must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for
they do not practise what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on
men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move
them. Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries
wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honour at
banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted
in the market-places and to have men call them 'Rabbi'.”
The purpose of religion is to exalt God.
It is to honour and glorify him. But the temptation is, as in every human
activity, to exalt oneself. The tendency of fallen man even in his religion is
to honour and glorify himself. Our Lord pointed to many of the teachers of the
law and the Pharisees as exemplifying this. Many of them were, in their practice
of religion, proud, vain, hard and uncharitable. So our Lord says to his
disciples that they were to be on guard against being like them. The greatest
among them must be servant to all and must prefer the lower place. Their desire
must not be to exalt themselves, rather it must be to humble themselves. The
truly religious person is humble, and prefers the lower place. Now this virtue
of the heart must be worked at for it will not come naturally. The Christian
must keep his eyes on Christ and observe his virtues. Our Lord said on one
occasion that all who laboured and were overburdened should come to him and
learn of him for he is meek and humble of heart. So we should come to Christ
every day and be with him, learning by our contemplation of the scenes of the
Gospels the humility of Christ. He who is God and man is profoundly humble. He
chose the lowly path and willingly accepted opprobrium poured on him by the
leaders and those of influence. His very Incarnation was an act of profound
humility. He who is God did not hesitate to set aside his divine glory to become
as we are and he was humbler still, even to death on a cross. So there are two
Standards. On the one hand we have the witness of much of humanity for vainglory
and pride. On the other we have the witness of Jesus for humility and the choice
of the lower place. Let us take our stand with Jesus and his way. More than
anything, let us pray for the grace to choose the lower place and to value most
highly the virtue of humility. The challenge of life is eventually to be humble
after the manner of Christ. It is a life-long undertaking involving a great
struggle against pride and vainglory. We can only do it with the grace of God
and perseverance.
Our Lord finishes his words in our
passage today with the simple yet ominous saying that “whoever exalts himself
will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
(Matthew 23:1-12) As our Lord often told his
disciples, the Son of Man had to suffer if he were to enter his glory. He warned
them that he was soon to be rejected and to be put to death. Then he would rise
again. Humility is the foundation of the Christian life. Let us then pray for
this grace and in various little ways during life let us practice this virtue of
choosing the lower place. In that way we shall be exalted, as was Christ
himself.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Et unam,
sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam! — I can understand why you
pause to relish your prayer: I believe in the Church, one, holy, Catholic and
apostolic...
(The Way, no.517)
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Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young People and
Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
How then can we as believers help others to walk the path of freedom which
brings fulfilment and lasting
happiness? Let us again turn to the saints. How did their witness truly free
others from the darkness of heart and mind? The answer is found in the kernel of
their faith; the kernel of our faith. The Incarnation, the birth of Jesus, tells
us that God does indeed find a place among us. Though the inn is full, he enters
through the stable, and there are people who see his light. They recognize
Herod’s dark closed world for what it is, and instead follow the bright guiding
star of the night sky. And what shines forth? Here you might recall the prayer
uttered on the most holy night of Easter: “Father we share in the light of your
glory through your Son the light of the world … inflame us with your hope!”
(Blessing of the Fire). And so, in solemn procession with our lighted candles we
pass the light of Christ among us. It is “the light which dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out
hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride” (Exsultet). This is Christ’s
light at work. This is the way of the saints. It is a magnificent vision of hope
– Christ’s light beckons you to be guiding stars for others, walking Christ’s
way of forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, joy and peace.
(Continuing)
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Twenty first Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Prayers
this week: Listen, Lord, and
answer me. Save your servant who trusts in you. I call to you all day
long, have mercy on me, O Lord. (Psalm 85: 1-3)
Father, help us to seek the values that will bring us lasting joy in
this changing world. In our desire for what you promise make us one in
mind and heart. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
(August 24) St. Bartholomew In the New Testament, Bartholomew is mentioned only
in the lists of the apostles. Some scholars identify him with Nathanael, a man
of Cana in Galilee who was summoned to Jesus by Philip. Jesus paid him a great
compliment: Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him (John 1:47b).
When Nathanael asked how Jesus knew him, Jesus said, "I saw you under the fig
tree" (John 1:48b). Whatever amazing revelation this involved, it brought
Nathanael to exclaim, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of
Israel" (John 1:49b). But Jesus countered with, "Do you believe because I told
you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this"
(John 1:50b). Nathanael did see greater things. He was one of those to whom
Jesus appeared on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias after his resurrection (see
John 21:1-14). They had been fishing all night without success. In the morning,
they saw someone standing on the shore though no one knew it was Jesus. He told
them to cast their net again, and they made so great a catch that they could not
haul the net in. Then John cried out to Peter, It is the Lord. "When they
brought the boat to shore, they found a fire burning, with some fish laid on it
and some bread. Jesus asked them to bring some of the fish they had caught, and
invited them to come and eat their meal. John relates that although they knew it
was Jesus, none of the apostles presumed to inquire who he was. This, John
notes, was the third time Jesus appeared to the apostles.
Bartholomew or Nathanael? We are confronted again with the
fact that we know almost nothing about most of the apostles. Yet the unknown
ones were also foundation stones, the 12 pillars of the new Israel whose 12
tribes now encompass the whole earth. Their personalities were secondary
(without thereby being demeaned) to their great office of bearing tradition from
their firsthand experience, speaking in the name of Jesus, putting the Word made
flesh into human words for the enlightenment of the world. Their holiness was
not an introverted contemplation of their status before God. It was a gift that
they had to share with others. The Good News was that all are called to the
holiness of being Christ's members, by the gracious gift of God. The simple fact
is that humanity is totally meaningless unless God is its total concern. Then
humanity, made holy with God's own holiness, becomes the most precious creation
of God.
Like Christ himself, the apostles were unceasingly bent upon
bearing witness to the truth of God. They showed special courage in speaking the
word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31) before the people and their rulers. With a
firm faith they held that the gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation
for all who believe.... They followed the example of the gentleness and
respectfulness of Christ (Declaration on Religious Freedom, 11).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Isaiah 22:19-23; Psalm 138:1-3, 6, 8; Rom 11:33-36;
Matthew 16:13-20
(click here for readings)
When
Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do
people say the Son of Man is? They replied, Some say John the Baptist; others
say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about
you? he asked. Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,
for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell
you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he warned his disciples not to
tell anyone that he was the Christ. (Matthew
16:13-20)
Let us consider the Gospel passage just
read. Our Lord asks his disciples who people say he is. There are a variety of
answers, some saying one thing, others another. Jesus is John the Baptist risen
from the dead. He is Elijah. He is Jeremiah. He is one of the old prophets.
If people had been asked other questions, this time about his teaching, once
again there would have been a variety of answers. Some would have said he taught
this, others that he taught that. This aspect of the dialogue has its echo
throughout the centuries. We may imagine the risen Jesus asking who men say he
is and what they say is his teaching. There is a profound disunity in respect to
him in the answers among the peoples and the religions. They are often far from
the truth. But then, with this disunity as the backdrop of the conversation,
Christ asks his own disciples who they say he is, and in them he is asking his
Church in embryo. Implied in his question is the fact that there is one
objectively true answer and this truth should unite his disciples and
distinguish them from the rest who are not in possession of the truth about him.
There is one objective truth about the person and teaching of Jesus and he
expects to hear it professed by his disciples. This truth is what unites them
all. There is only one Christian Faith in terms of what has been objectively
revealed, and it is this one Faith which God wants to see accepted and professed
by his disciples, and through their witness, brought to the nations. We ought
bear this in mind whenever we think of this very important dialogue between our
Lord and his disciples. In the modern age when disagreement as to the truth, and
in particular the truth about Christ and his teaching, is so widespread as
evidenced in the multiplicity of Christian communions, we can have the attitude
of shrugging our shoulders before the fact. We can even slip into thinking that
this does not matter very much, and that the important thing is, not that people
possess the truth, but that they be sincere. But our Lord's question was not,
are the people who think these different things about me and my teaching
sincere, but do they possess the truth about me?
It is this truth which unites his Church
wherever his Church is found. Through the centuries, in so many languages,
cultures, peoples and nations the Church has constantly confessed this one faith
received from the one same Lord, transmitted by one Baptism, and grounded in the
conviction that all people have only one God and Father, the God and Father of
Jesus Christ his only begotten divine Son. This one faith which our Lord
expected to hear from his disciples and which was professed by the lips of Simon
in our Gospel passage today, is the faith our Lord expects to be believed and
professed by all Christians. Thus it is that our Lord founded one Church and not
just a movement, as it were, from which any number of churches disagreeing with
one another could naturally be expected to flow. It is this one Church he
intended all his disciples to be members of, and the fact of very many churches
and religious communions is not according to the plan of Christ. From this one
Church the truth about his person and teaching is to received. In our Gospel
today our Lord hears from Simon the truth about himself, a truth which, our Lord
observes, had been revealed to him by the Father. For this reason, Simon was
blessed. He had been granted the gift of faith in him that contained the truth
about him. So Christ proceeds to lay the foundation of his Church. That visible
foundation is to be Simon, the Rock of the Church. "You are Peter, and on this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
(Matthew 16:13-20) Just as there is one
faith, one truth about Christ and his teaching, so there is to be one Church
built on one rock which knows it, possesses it and proclaims it to all. Those
who wish to know the truth listen to Peter and to those in communion with him.
Those who wish to enter the Kingdom of Christ go to the one to whom Christ gave
the keys, and that one is Peter.
Pope Benedict became famous for having
coined the phrase - now widely used - the dictatorship of relativism. That is to
say, there is no objective truth or it is unattainable, suggested by the lack of
consensus. There is no truth but what seems true to you or me. But Christ has
revealed the truth to us about himself and his teaching, and this truth is to be
found in his Church built upon the Rock which is Peter and his successors. He
holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Let all men know that Christ and his
truth is to be found therein.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.172-175
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What joy to be
able to say with all the fervour of my soul: I love my Mother the holy Church!
(The Way, no.518)
Click here for spiritual reading (some classic spiritual authors)
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Benedict XVI's
Meeting with Young People and Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
At times, however, we are
tempted to close in on ourselves, to doubt the strength of Christ’s radiance, to
limit the horizon of hope. Take courage! Fix your gaze on our saints. The
diversity of their experience of God's presence prompts us to discover anew the
breadth and depth of Christianity. Let your imaginations soar freely along the
limitless expanse of the horizons of Christian discipleship. Sometimes we are
looked upon as people who speak only of prohibitions. Nothing could be further
from the truth! Authentic Christian discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder.
We stand before the God we know and love as a friend, the vastness of his
creation, and the beauty of our Christian faith.
(Continuing)
To consult The Catechism of the Catholic Church (with search engine) click here
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Monday
of the twenty first week in Ordinary Time II
(August 25)
St. Louis of France (1226-1270)
At his coronation as king of France, Louis bound himself by
oath to behave as God’s anointed, as the father of his people and feudal lord of
the King of Peace. Other kings had done the same, of course. Louis was different
in that he actually interpreted his kingly duties in the light of faith. After
the violence of two previous reigns, he brought peace and justice. He was
crowned king at 12, at his father’s death. His mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled
during his minority. When he was 19, (and his bride 12) he was married to
Marguerite of Provence. It was a loving marriage, though was not without
challenge. They had 10 children. Louis “took the cross” for a Crusade when he
was 30. His army took Damietta on the Nile but not long after, weakened by
dysentery and without support, they were surrounded and captured. Louis obtained
the release of the army by giving up the city of Damietta in addition to paying
a ransom. He stayed in Syria four years. He deserves credit for extending
justice in civil administration. He drew up regulations for his officials which
became the first of a series of reform laws. He replaced trial by battle with a
form of examination of witnesses and encouraged the beginning of using written
records in court. Louis was always respectful of the papacy, but defended royal
interests against the popes and refused to acknowledge Innocent IV’s sentence
against Emperor Frederick II. Louis was devoted to his people, founding
hospitals, visiting the sick and, like his patron St. Francis, caring even for
people with leprosy. (He is one of the patrons of the Secular Franciscan Order.)
Louis united France—lords and townsfolk, peasants and priests and knights—by the
force of his personality and holiness. For many years the nation was at peace.
That very day Louis had 13 special guests from among the poor to eat with him,
and a large number of poor were served meals near his palace. During Advent and
Lent, all who presented themselves were given a meal, and Louis often served
them in person. He kept lists of needy people, whom he regularly relieved, in
every province of his dominion. Disturbed by new Muslim advances in Syria, he
led another crusade in 1267, at the age of 41. His crusade was diverted to Tunis
for his brother’s sake. The army was decimated by disease within a month, and
Louis himself died on foreign soil at the age of 44. He was canonized 27 years
later.
Louis was strong-willed, strong-minded. His word was trusted
utterly, and his courage in action was remarkable. What is most remarkable was
his sense of respect for anyone with whom he dealt, especially the “humble folk
of the Lord.” To care for his people he built cathedrals, churches, libraries,
hospitals and orphanages. He dealt with princes honestly and equitably. He hoped
to be treated the same way by the King of Kings, to whom he gave his life, his
family and his country. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12; Psalm 96:1-5; Matthew
23:13-22
(click here for
readings)
Jesus said to the crowds and to his
disciples: Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor
will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert,
and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means
nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his
oath.' You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the
gold sacred? You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but
if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men!
Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore,
he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who
swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who
swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.
(Matthew 23:13-22)
It has often been observed that modern
man tends to be casual in respect to the seriousness of sin. That is to say, he
tends not to have much sense of its evil. Elements of popular literature and
drama
are
revealing in this respect. Decades ago movies would portray good and bad
characters in perhaps too simplistic a fashion, but nevertheless there tended to
be no confusion about what was good and what was bad, who were good and who were
bad. But this came to change. The heroes became profoundly ambiguous in their
moral life. Take James Bond, a great and effective fighter against public
wrongdoers, but in his private sexual life altogether immoral. It reflected, I
think, the assumption that private morality is just that: it is a private
matter, a matter of personal opinion. One never hears a public acknowledgment
(in say, the secular media or in business or government) of the reality and
seriousness of sin, sin understood not just as moral wrongdoing but as
wrongdoing considered in its deepest aspect, as an offence against God. The word
is not mentioned. This is because society now relegates God to the realm of
private opinion. He is not an objective public fact to be taken account of
civilly and objectively. The laws of the land are developed without reference to
God except inasmuch as God might be a cherished belief of a portion of the
population, and therefore account is taken of, say, blasphemy. All of this
serves to reduce God in the popular imagination and culture to an image, a
thought, and divorces him from the public and private conscience. The thought of
God’s judgment fades away as does the thought of God’s displeasure and anger at
sin. But consider our Gospel passage today (Matthew
23:13-22) and how our Lord inveighs against the attitudes and actions
of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. He says to them, Woe to you! That
is to say, the judgment of God is coming upon you. You shut up the kingdom of
God from others who wish to enter. You do this by your blindness, your
foolishness and your hypocrisy. You make of your convert “twice as much a son of
hell as you are.”
The point I am here meaning to bring out
is not so much the failures of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees but our
Lord’s severe condemnation of deliberate and unrepented sin. It is sin, and the
hardening of sin, which is the great evil in our Lord’s sight. He is severe in
his condemnation of it. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were blind to
their sin and to its seriousness. We ought ask ourselves if we are not somewhat
the same in respect to our attitude to sin. Are we concerned to avoid sin - not
just public wrongdoing or the wrongdoing that is evident to others, but to
anything which is offensive to God? A truly religious life, and the Christian
life in particular, requires that we regularly examine our consciences to bring
sin to light and to renounce it. We must become aware of our sinfulness and
repent of our sins so as to be reconciled to God. If we do not, we shall
continue in them and the judgment of God will eventually come upon us for our
unrepented sins. The woe that Christ pronounced on the Pharisees he will
pronounce on us. On the other hand, if anything delights the heart of God is the
recognition of one’s sins and coming to him in a spirit of repentance to ask his
pardon. On one occasion our Lord said that there is more joy in heaven over one
repentant sinner than over ninety nine who did not need to repent. We all need
to repent, but our Lord is making the point that the sinner need have no fear of
turning back to God and with his grace renouncing his sins. Sin is the greatest
evil in the universe. We are regularly horrified by natural disasters such as
earthquakes, fires and famine. But the greatest plague in the universe, a plague
that is raging continually in the hearts of countless men and women, is the
plague of sin and its lack of recognition. God sent his Son to the world to take
away the world’s sin, and our Gospel passage today gives us a specimen of the
divine hatred of deliberate and unrepented sin. It is what destroys man, man who
is the work of God’s hands.
John Henry Newman often said in his
sermons that the fact of sin is not what God came specifically to reveal because
that fact should be obvious to the conscience of man. But as Newman points out,
God did include in his revelation the fact of sin, and Scripture is full of the
fact. In particular, our Lord himself spoke time and again of the fact and evil
of sin, and an assiduous reading of the Scriptures and of the Gospels will help
us to be aware of its tremendous evil. Let us pray for the grace to renounce sin
and to live for God by a close and daily following of Jesus Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
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In that cry
serviam! you express your determination to 'serve' the Church of God most
faithfully, even at the cost of fortune, of reputation and of life.
(The Way, no.519)
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Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young People and
Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
Dear friends, the example of the saints
invites us, then, to consider four essential aspects of the treasure of our
faith: personal prayer and silence, liturgical prayer, charity in action, and
vocations.
What matters most is that you develop your personal relationship with God. That
relationship is expressed in prayer. God by his very nature speaks, hears, and
replies. Indeed, Saint Paul reminds us: we can and should “pray constantly” (1
Thess 5:17). Far from turning in on ourselves or withdrawing from the ups and
downs of life, by praying we turn towards God and through him to each other,
including the marginalized and those following ways other than God’s path (cf.
Spe Salvi, 33). As the saints teach us so vividly, prayer becomes
hope in action. Christ was their constant companion, with whom they conversed at
every step of their journey for others.
(Continuing)
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Tuesday of the twenty first
week in Ordinary Time II
(August 26)
St. Joseph Calasanz (1556-1648)
From Aragon, where he was born in 1556, to Rome, where he died 92 years later,
fortune alternately smiled and frowned on the work of Joseph Calasanz. A priest
with university training in canon law and theology, respected for his wisdom and
administrative expertise, he put aside his career because he was deeply
concerned with the need for education of poor children. When he was unable to
get other institutes to undertake this apostolate at Rome, he and several
companions personally provided a free school for deprived children. So
overwhelming was the response that there was a constant need for larger
facilities to house their effort. Soon Pope Clement VIII gave support to the
school, and this aid continued under Pope Paul V. Other schools were opened;
other men were attracted to the work and in 1621 the community (for so the
teachers lived) was recognized as a religious community, the Clerks Regular of
Religious Schools (Piarists or Scolopi). Not long after, Joseph was appointed
superior for life. A combination of various prejudices and political ambition
and maneuvering caused the institute much turmoil. Some did not favor educating
the poor, for education would leave the poor dissatisfied with their lowly tasks
for society! Others were shocked that some of the Piarists were sent for
instruction to Galileo (a friend of Joseph) as superior, thus dividing the
members into opposite camps. Repeatedly investigated by papal commissions,
Joseph was demoted; when the struggle within the institute persisted, the
Piarists were suppressed. Only after Joseph’s death were they formally
recognized as a religious community.
No one knew better than Joseph the need for the work he was doing; no one knew
better than he how baseless were the charges brought against him. Yet if he were
to work within the Church, he realized that he must submit to its authority,
that he must accept a setback if he was unable to convince authorized
investigators. While the prejudice, the scheming, and the ignorance of men often
keep the truth from emerging for a long period of time, Joseph was convinced,
even under suppression, that his institute would again be recognized and
authorized. With this trust he joined exceptional patience and a genuine spirit
of forgiveness.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today:
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a, 14-17; Psalm 96: Ps 96:10-13; Matthew
23: 23-26
(click here for readings)
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “Woe to you, teachers of the law
and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices— mint, dill and
cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law— justice,
mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter, without neglecting
the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Woe to
you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of
the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind
Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also
will be clean. (Matthew 23: 23-26)
We see in the Gospels that time and again our Lord condemned those whom he
accuses of being hypocrites. I suppose we could say that in this religious
context the hypocrite is a person who intends to
give the impression of being
good and religious by doing things that he knows others will judge to be good,
while in his heart cultivating attitudes and thoughts that he knows are bad -
and even secretly performing actions he knows are sinful. He may deliberately
give the impression of kindness while harbouring in his heart many hatreds, and
deliberately so. He may deliberately give the impression of being religious by
obvious acts of piety while consciously doing things that are absolutely
contrary to the practice of religion. We could say that hypocrisy is the
cultivation of a praiseworthy exterior while consciously pursuing a blameworthy
interior. It is in this sense deliberately to live a lie and thus to gain the
praise of men for what is a falsehood. Christ repeatedly attacked this violation
of the truth, and I suppose we could say that it is the temptation of religious
people and of those who live in a society or community that values the practice
of religion. Now, in our day and age I think that rather than out and out
hypocrisy the danger is the presence of hypocrisy in more subtle ways, in ways
that are less evident and more difficult to detect. We must live the truth
totally. Our Lord does not condemn the teachers of the law and the Pharisees for
giving “a tenth of your spices— mint, dill and cummin”. He said, rather, that
their sin was to have “neglected the more important matters of the law— justice,
mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter, without neglecting
the former. You blind guides!”, he said (Matthew 23: 23-26). I tend to think that humour came often
into our Lord’s teaching and in his use of certain images, and here we see it
again. He said that they strained out a gnat in order to drink or eat what was
pure and clean, but in fact they swallowed a camel - meaning that they committed
great sins in their public care to avoid little offences.
Our Lord expects a thoroughgoing religion of the heart and of the whole of life.
He wants to see “justice, mercy and faithfulness” - in other words, the more
important matters of the law of God, while not neglecting the matters of less
importance. Our Lord wants to see a wholehearted love of God in mind, heart and
soul, and a genuine love of neighbour. Most importantly, this means a religion
of the heart, a religion in which the heart is serving God in its thoughts and
desires. We ought ask ourselves what is going on in our minds while we live in a
respectable way in the sight of others. What images are we allowing to fill our
imaginations, and what desires are we allowing to fill our hearts? What are we
doing when no one is around? What are we watching on the Internet or on
television when we are alone? It is the secret interior that is the real
battleground of goodness and sanctity. At the end of life we shall be the
persons we are largely because of what we have allowed to go on in our minds and
hearts. We may go to Mass every Sunday and observe the more obvious laws of God
and the more obvious precepts of the Church, but are we forgiving those who have
injured us, or are we at least trying to forgive them? Perhaps we have not even
made the decision to try to forgive them, however difficult that may be. We may
condemn the lack of forgiveness we see in various parts of the world and the
violence it leads to, such as in the Middle East and in centres of terrorism,
all the while knowing that we ourselves are secretly refusing to forgive those
who have caused us unhappiness. This refusal to forgive may be embittering us in
our inmost heart, reducing our capacity to love as Christ loves, and yet despite
this harm to ourselves we still refuse even to attempt to forgive. We are time
and again carried away in our thoughts of anger and resentment, and no one knows
about it but God. In so many ways we can be hypocritical as were the Pharisees
our Lord condemns in today’s Gospel.
Hearing our Lord’s strictures on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, let
us resolve to be thoroughgoing in our following of him, not only in our more
obvious deeds, but in our thoughts and words, no matter how secret they may be.
God sees all. All we do, think or say is done in his presence, for he holds us
continually in his hand. Let us be especially intent on serving God with our
whole heart, remembering what St Paul wrote: Let this mind be in you that was in
Christ Jesus.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Catholic, apostolic, Roman! I want you to be very Roman. And to be anxious to
make your 'path to Rome', videre Petrum — to see Peter.
(The Way, no.520)
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Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young People and Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
There is another aspect of prayer which we need to remember: silent
contemplation. Saint John, for example, tells us that to embrace God’s
revelation we must first listen, then respond by proclaiming what we have heard
and seen (cf. 1 Jn 1:2-3; Dei Verbum, 1). Have we perhaps lost something of the
art of listening? Do you leave space to hear God’s whisper, calling you forth
into goodness? Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness, listen to God,
adore him in the Eucharist. Let his word shape your journey as an unfolding of
holiness.
In the liturgy we find the whole Church at prayer. The word liturgy means the
participation of God’s people in “the work of Christ the Priest and of His Body
which is the Church” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7). What is that
work? First of all it refers to Christ’s Passion, his Death and Resurrection,
and his Ascension – what we call the Paschal Mystery. It also refers to the
celebration of the liturgy itself. The two meanings are in fact inseparably
linked because this “work of Jesus” is the real content of the liturgy. Through
the liturgy, the “work of Jesus” is continually brought into contact with
history; with our lives in order to shape them. Here we catch another glimpse of
the grandeur of our Christian faith. Whenever you gather for Mass, when you go
to Confession, whenever you celebrate any of the sacraments, Jesus is at work.
Through the Holy Spirit, he draws you to himself, into his sacrificial love of
the Father which becomes love for all. We see then that the Church’s liturgy is
a ministry of hope for humanity. Your faithful participation, is an active hope
which helps to keep the world – saints and sinners alike – open to God; this is
the truly human hope we offer everyone (cf. Spe Salvi, 34).
(Continuing)
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Wednesday
of the twenty first week in Ordinary Time II
(August 27)
St. Monica (322?-387)
The circumstances of St. Monica’s life could have made her a
nagging wife, a bitter daughter-in-law
and
a despairing parent, yet she did not give way to any of these temptations.
Although she was a Christian, her parents gave her in marriage to a pagan,
Patricius, who lived in her hometown of Tagaste in North Africa. Patricius had
some redeeming features, but he had a violent temper and was licentious. Monica
also had to bear with a cantankerous mother-in-law who lived in her home.
Patricius criticized his wife because of her charity and piety, but always
respected her. Monica’s prayers and example finally won her husband and
mother-in-law to Christianity. Her husband died in 371, one year after his
Baptism. Monica had at least three children who survived infancy. The oldest,
Augustine, is the most famous. At the time of his father’s death, Augustine was
17 and a rhetoric student in Carthage. Monica was distressed to learn that her
son had accepted the Manichean heresy and was living an immoral life. For a
while, she refused to let him eat or sleep in her house. Then one night she had
a vision that assured her Augustine would return to the faith. From that time on
she stayed close to her son, praying and fasting for him. In fact, she often
stayed much closer than Augustine wanted. When he was 29, Augustine decided to
go to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monica was determined to go along. One night he
told his mother that he was going to the dock to say goodbye to a friend.
Instead, he set sail for Rome. Monica was heartbroken when she learned of
Augustine’s trick, but she still followed him. She arrived in Rome only to find
that he had left for Milan. Although travel was difficult, Monica pursued him to
Milan. In Milan Augustine came under the influence of the bishop, St. Ambrose,
who also became Monica’s spiritual director. She accepted his advice in
everything and had the humility to give up some practices that had become second
nature to her (see Quote, below). Monica became a leader of the devout women in
Milan as she had been in Tagaste. She continued her prayers for Augustine during
his years of instruction. At Easter, 387, St. Ambrose baptized Augustine and
several of his friends. Soon after, his party left for Africa. Although no one
else was aware of it, Monica knew her life was near the end. She told Augustine,
“Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is
now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being
now fulfilled.” She became ill shortly after and suffered severely for nine days
before her death. Almost all we know about St. Monica is in the writings of St.
Augustine, especially his Confessions.
When Monica moved from North Africa to Milan, she found
religious practices new to her and also that some of her former customs, such as
a Saturday fast, were not common there. She asked St. Ambrose which customs she
should follow. His classic reply was: “When I am here, I do not fast on
Saturday, but I fast when I am in Rome; do the same and always follow the custom
and discipline of the Church as it is observed in the particular locality in
which you find yourself.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today:
2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18; Psalm 128:1-2, 4-5;
Matthew 23:27-32
(click here for
readings)
Jesus
said, Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are
like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside
are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the
outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of
hypocrisy and wickedness. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the
righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we
would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So
you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who
murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your
forefathers! (Matthew 23:27-32)
In our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 23:27-32) our Lord continues his
condemnation of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees for their studied
efforts to appear to people as righteous while secretly
being
full of hypocrisy and wickedness. He appears to be far more severe on them than
on sinners generally, let alone sinners who wanted to repent. We remember how
when our Lord was passing through Jericho a chief tax collector, one who had
exploited many persons in his work of extracting taxes for the Romans, ran ahead
of the crowd so as to see Jesus. Our Lord had not met him, yet when he came to
the spot where Zacchaeus, the tax collector, was perched in the tree to see him
pass by, he called him down and told him he was dining with him that day. We can
imagine the smile of love that our Lord showed Zacchaeus as he said this. He
converted Zacchaeus on the spot. We remember how when our Lord called Matthew
the tax collector to follow him, he subsequently dined with the sinners and tax
collectors in the house of Matthew. He told the complaining Pharisees that he
had come to be a doctor to those who were sick, and to call sinners to
repentance. We remember how when the religious leaders brought before him the
woman caught in the act of adultery, he bent down and began writing silently on
the ground. They could not get him to condemn her. He said in response that the
one who was without sin could be the first to throw a stone. One by one they
left, their guilt gradually becoming evident to them, but without a true
repentance. To the woman herself our Lord asked, has no one condemned you? Then
he said that he would not condemn her either, but that she should go and not sin
any more. Our Lord did not speak to sinners who had a sense of their sin in the
way he spoke to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. To the one he was
full of kindness and mercy. To the other he was severe and uncompromising.
Nor must we think that our Lord
condemned the teachers of the law and the Pharisees all and sundry. It is clear
that he accepted invitations to the homes of Pharisees, even though he did not
hesitate to correct them even in their own homes. But the fact that he did
receive these invitations demonstrates that they did not feel that he was in any
way hostile to them as such. It was their pride and hypocrisy he opposed. We
remember that Nicodemus, a teacher of the law, came to Jesus by night for
conversations. He must have felt fully accepted by our Lord, though undoubtedly
he too would have received corrections when they were due. Nicodemus was a
genuine seeker after divine truth and he was a truly good man and his defence of
our Lord among Sanhedrin members and his reverent burial of our Lord show this.
He was not what our Lord would have called a hypocrite. Let us remember this
too. Somewhere in the background was the young Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee
and had been educated in the best religious school. Presumably he knew of our
Lord for he was certainly a contemporary. We know nothing of his attitude to our
Lord during our Lord’s public ministry nor during his passion and death. It was
when the infant Church began to proclaim the Resurrection boldly that Saul of
Tarsus actively persecuted the first Christians. But our Lord intervened and
appeared to him, converting him with his powerful grace. He certainly was not a
hypocrite. Our Lord showed him kindness, even though he had been persecuting
him: “Why do you persecute me?”, he had asked from heaven. Paul came to regard
himself as a great sinner, and we can presume that in some sense he had hardened
his heart against the truth in the process of persecuting the early Christians.
But he was no hypocrite. He genuinely sought to do what he thought was right.
Christ loved him and called him, as he had called other sinners, to follow him.
Paul did so, and with marvellous results.
Let us avoid all efforts to live a lie,
striving to appear righteous while inside our hearts tolerating deliberate sin.
Let us avoid all hypocrisy, remembering Christ’s condemnation of those who were
hypocritical. Let us treasure whatever light has been given to us, and ask God
for still more light. Let us live according to the light granted us, and more
will be granted. Let us recognize our sinfulness and come to Jesus as the
Redeemer. Let us seek his pardon for our sins and every day resolve to follow
him closely.
(E.J.Tyler)
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How good Christ
was to leave the Sacraments to his Church! They are the remedy for all our
needs. Venerate them and be very grateful both to God and to his Church.
(The Way, no.521)
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Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young People and
Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
Your personal prayer, your times of silent
contemplation, and your participation in the Church’s liturgy, bring you closer
to God and also prepare you to serve others. The saints accompanying us this
evening show us that the life of faith and hope is also a life of charity.
Contemplating Jesus on the Cross we see love in its most radical form. We can
begin to imagine the path of love along which we must move (cf. Deus
Caritas Est, 12). The opportunities to make this journey are abundant.
Look about you with Christ’s eyes, listen with his ears, feel and think with his
heart and mind. Are you ready to give all as he did for truth and justice? Many
of the examples of the suffering which our saints responded to with compassion
are still found here in this city and beyond. And new injustices have arisen:
some are complex and stem from the exploitation of the heart and manipulation of
the mind; even our common habitat, the earth itself, groans under the weight of
consumerist greed and irresponsible exploitation. We must listen deeply. We must
respond with a renewed social action that stems from the universal love that
knows no bounds. In this way, we ensure that our works of mercy and justice
become hope in action for others.
(Continuing)
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Thursday
of the twenty first week in Ordinary Time II
(August 28)
Saint Augustine (354-430)
A Christian at 33, a priest at 36, a bishop at 41: many people are familiar with
the biographical sketch of Augustine of Hippo, sinner
turned
saint. But really to get to know the man is a rewarding experience. There
quickly surfaces the intensity with which he lived his life, whether his path
led away from or toward God. The tears of his mother, the instructions of
Ambrose and, most of all, God himself speaking to him in the Scriptures
redirected Augustine’s love of life to a life of love. Having been so deeply
immersed in creature-pride of life in his early days and having drunk deeply of
its bitter dregs, it is not surprising that Augustine should have turned, with a
holy fierceness, against the many demon-thrusts rampant in his day. His times
were truly decadent—politically, socially, morally. He was both feared and
loved, like the Master. The perennial criticism levelled against him: a
fundamental rigorism. In his day, he providentially fulfilled the office of
prophet. Like Jeremiah and other greats, he was hard-pressed but could not keep
quiet. “I say to myself, I will not mention him,/I will speak in his name no
more./But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,/imprisoned in my
bones;/I grow weary holding it in,/I cannot endure it” (Jeremiah 20:9).
Augustine is still acclaimed and condemned in our day. He is a prophet for
today, trumpeting the need to scrap escapisms and stand face-to-face with
personal responsibility and dignity.
“Too late have I loved you, O Beauty of ancient days, yet
ever new! Too late I loved you! And behold, you were within, and I abroad, and
there I searched for you; I was deformed, plunging amid those fair forms, which
you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you. Things held me far from
you—things which, if they were not in you, were not at all. You called, and
shouted, and burst my deafness. You flashed and shone, and scattered my
blindness. You breathed odours and I drew in breath—and I pant for you. I
tasted, and I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for your peace”
(St. Augustine, Confessions). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 1: 1-9; Psalm
144; Matthew 24: 42-51
(click here for
readings)
Jesus said to his disciples: Therefore
keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But
understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the
thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be
broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an
hour when you do not expect him. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom
the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their
food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him
doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all
his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My
master is staying away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his fellow-
servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will
come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He
will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew
24: 42-51)
When it comes to being intelligent and
wise, there are some tremendous anomalies. What do I mean? Consider the
intelligence displayed by various people in their several walks of life. A child
prodigy in Mathematics gains his Ph.D while still in his mid teens. He goes on
while still young to occupy important academic positions and to make important
discoveries in numbering or some other aspect of his field. It could be a young
man or woman in business building up from virtually nothing a multi-billion
dollar computer or Internet company that amazes all with its commercial success.
We could cite many other examples of proven intelligence in the fields of war,
politics, business, research or whatever. Apart from outstanding cases of
intelligence there are so many who do well in their fields and who shine among
their friends and acquaintances. Yet, strangely, it can easily happen that they
do not see beyond a certain point. For instance, a person sets his sights on
material wealth alone and neglects his marriage as a result. That is not very
smart. But there are more fundamental goals still that the intelligent person
can forget. In all his success in attaining important and legitimate goals such
as family happiness and success in career a highly talented person can think
only of this life. I still vividly remember years ago a leading businessman in
Australia who at fifty years of age had become a billionaire and who seemed to
turn to gold everything he touched. But suddenly at 52 he died and was cremated.
He could take absolutely nothing with him. All there was were some ashes. His
spirit had gone before the judgment seat of God and the question in respect to
him which of course only God could answer is, did he go to God in union with or
separated from God? One wonders whether he had forgotten that at any point this
life can suddenly end and then a profound reckoning is to be taken, a reckoning
that carries with it an eternal reward or punishment, a reckoning that takes
account of all our thoughts, all our words and all our deeds. I refer to the
judgement of God.
Our Lord time and again refers to the
judgment of God. In his famous sermons John Henry Newman often referred to the
criticism that Christianity was a gloomy religion. It is not a gloomy religion
but he was referring to the last things that everyone must face: death, God’s
judgment and then either heaven or hell. A person who bears these ultimate and
yet ever imminent facts in mind is bound to be somewhat more serious about
things. Too much is at stake. In our Gospel passage today our Lord refers to
this very point. He warns us to keep watch because we simply do not know at what
hour God will come to call us to himself. Life is absolutely uncertain and
absolutely precarious. We must take this into account and life such that
whatever happens we shall be ready for God’s judgment. To do anything less is to
be foolish and not very smart. How do we do this? We do this by doing God’s will
as well as we can and for love of him at every point of life. If when he comes
God finds us doing this, then we shall be ready for him. The task of life and
the key to being always ready is always to be striving to do the will of God.
And so our Lord tells us in today’s Gospel: “Who then is the faithful and wise
servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to
give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose
master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him
in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to
himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his
fellow- servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant
will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware
of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew
24: 42-51) The sensible and wise person does this, however gifted or
otherwise he may be.
Let us every day begin with the
intention to offer to God all that we think, say or do, striving to think, speak
and act in ways that will please him. How do we please God? We please God by
depending on him who is our Father and by trying to know his will and to put it
into practice. It is not those, our Lord said, who say to me Lord! Lord! who
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in
heaven. Let us make that our program of life.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Have veneration
and respect for the holy Liturgy of the Church and for its ceremonies. Observe
them faithfully. Don't you see that, for us poor men, even what is greatest and
most noble must enter through the senses?
(The Way, no.522)
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Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young People and
Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
Dear young people, finally I wish to share a word about vocations. First of all
my thoughts go to your parents, grandparents and
godparents. They have been your primary
educators in the faith. By presenting you for baptism, they made it possible for
you to receive the greatest gift of your life. On that day you entered into the
holiness of God himself. You became adoptive sons and daughters of the Father.
You were incorporated into Christ. You were made a dwelling place of his Spirit.
Let us pray for mothers and fathers throughout the world, particularly those who
may be struggling in any way – socially, materially, spiritually. Let us honour
the vocation of matrimony and the dignity of family life. Let us always
appreciate that it is in families that vocations are given life.
Gathered here at Saint Joseph Seminary, I greet the seminarians present and
indeed encourage all seminarians throughout America. I am glad to know that your
numbers are increasing! The People of God look to you to be holy priests, on a
daily journey of conversion, inspiring in others the desire to enter more deeply
into the ecclesial life of believers. I urge you to deepen your friendship with
Jesus the Good Shepherd. Talk heart to heart with him. Reject any temptation to
ostentation, careerism, or conceit. Strive for a pattern of life truly marked by
charity, chastity and humility, in imitation of Christ, the Eternal High Priest,
of whom you are to become living icons (cf. Pastores Dabo Vobis,
33). Dear seminarians, I pray for you daily. Remember that what counts before
the Lord is to dwell in his love and to make his love shine forth for others.
(Continuing)
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Friday of the twenty first week in Ordinary Time II
(August 29)
The Beheading of John the Baptist
The drunken oath of a king with a shallow sense
of honour, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combined to bring
about the martyrdom of John the Baptist. The greatest of prophets suffered the
fate of so many Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom. The
“voice crying in the desert” did not hesitate to accuse the guilty, did not
hesitate to speak the truth. But why? What possesses a man that he would give up
his very life? This great religious reformer was sent by God to prepare the
people for the Messiah. His vocation was one of selfless giving. The only power
that he claimed was the Spirit of Yahweh. “I am baptizing you with water, for
repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not
worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”
(Matthew 3:11). Scripture tells us that many people followed John looking to him
for hope, perhaps in anticipation of some great messianic power. John never
allowed himself the false honour of receiving these people for his own glory. He
knew his calling was one of preparation. When the time came, he led his
disciples to Jesus: “The next day John was there again with two of his
disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God.’
The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus” (John 1:35-37). It is
John the Baptist who has pointed the way to Christ. John’s life and death were a
giving over of self for God and other people. His simple style of life was one
of complete detachment from earthly possessions. His heart was centred on God
and the call that he heard from the Spirit of God speaking to his heart.
Confident of God’s grace, he had the courage to speak words of condemnation or
repentance, of salvation.
“So they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, the one
who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing
and everyone is coming to him.’ John answered and said, ‘No one can receive
anything except what has been given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify
that I said [that] I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. The one
who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for
him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been
made complete. He must increase; I must decrease’” (John 3:26–30).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
1 Corinthians 1:17-25; Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11; Mark
6:17-29
(click here for readings)
Herod himself gave orders to have John
arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of
Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. For John had been
saying to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. So
Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not
able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a
righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he
liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod
gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading
men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased
Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, Ask me for anything you
want, and I'll give it to you. And he promised her with an oath, Whatever you
ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom. She went out and said to her mother,
What shall I ask for? The head of John the Baptist, she answered. At once the
girl hurried in to the king with the request: I want you to give me right now
the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The king was greatly distressed, but
because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he
immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went,
beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He
presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this,
John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
(Mark 6:17-29)
Today (August 29) we think of the
martyrdom of John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets of who preceded
Christ. He was the greatest of them in that his mission was not only to prepare
the way for the coming of the Messiah in a general sense as did all the
prophets, but in the specific sense of announcing his imminent coming and to
point to who he was. John called on the people to prepare for the coming of the
Messiah and pointed to Jesus as that Messiah, the Lamb of God who would take
away the sin of the world. He died a martyr’s death. Two persons brought about
his death, Herod and Herod’s wife Herodias. Let us consider each of these two
persons for a moment so as to see exemplified St Paul’s statement that the wages
of sin are death. Firstly, the one who initiated the death of John was Herodias.
John had denounced Herod’s marriage with Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
Herodias was furious. Her heart burned with spite and hate and she sought some
way of doing away with John. But there was no way she could do so because Herod,
superstitious as he was, feared John for his manifest holiness. He was in awe of
him. Herodias, it seems, was not in awe of John. She simply hated him but was
helpless to act on her desires. Once the chance came, she pounced. Her daughter
delighted Herod and his guests with her dancing and she directed her daughter to
ask for John the Baptist’s head. She had no concern for her daughter’s spiritual
life or condition and for the terrible sin which she, her mother, immediately
led her daughter into. She had no concern for her destruction of a most holy
life, nor for the judgment of God. All of this was ignited by her resentment and
grudge against John for speaking so directly against the marriage. She was the
archetypal Lady MacBeth. What does it teach us? It teaches us the danger of
resentments. A resentful person spontaneously wants to do harm to the person
against whom he bears his grudge. In principle it leads to murder.
We might say that Herodias was the
active agent in bringing about John’s death, but nothing would have come of her
wishes had not Herod given the order for it to be done. So what was it that led
Herod to his terrible action? While it was resentment and hate that led Herodias
to sin, it was human respect and the love of approval that led Herod. We read
that “on his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military
commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in
and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl,
Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you. And he promised her with
an oath, Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
(Mark 6:17-29) Herod craved popularity and
being esteemed and loved by those who were considered important, his high
officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. Consider those
persons and how far they were from the ones our Lord had about him and the
disciples whom John the Baptist had gathered about him. Indirectly by their
playing to Herod’s tune they too had a part in John’s death. Herod wanted to
please them and could not bring himself to back down from his oath, inspired by
a bravado in the presence of his guests. Both Herod and Herodias were in the
grip of sin, sin in different forms, and it led directly to the death of John
and to an immense offence against God. Just as the Christian gains an
understanding of the evil of sin by looking on the crucified Christ for Christ
died because of the sins of mankind, so we can gain an understanding of the evil
of sin by contemplating our Gospel scene today. It was sin that led Herod and
Herodias to do what they did. As our Lord says in the Gospel of St John, anyone
who sins is a slave of sin, and as St Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans,
the wages of sin are death. The path to life is holiness, and in particular life
in Christ.
Herod and Herodias represent the demonic
and deadly path of sin, while John the Baptist represents the path of holiness
that leads to life. John pointed to Jesus, and by the grace of Jesus Christ we
can follow the path of holiness which consists in endeavouring in union with
Jesus to do the will of God generously and in all its details every day.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The Church
sings, it has been said, because merely to speak would not satisfy its desire
for prayer. You, as a Christian — and a chosen Christian, — should learn to sing
liturgically.
(The Way, no.523)
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Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young People and
Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
Religious Sisters, Brothers and Priests contribute greatly to the mission of the
Church. Their prophetic witness is marked by a profound
conviction of the primacy with which the
Gospel shapes Christian life and transforms society. Today, I wish to draw your
attention to the positive spiritual renewal which Congregations are undertaking
in relation to their charism. The word charism means a gift freely and
graciously given. Charisms are bestowed by the Holy Spirit, who inspires
founders and foundresses, and shapes Congregations with a subsequent spiritual
heritage. The wondrous array of charisms proper to each Religious Institute is
an extraordinary spiritual treasury. Indeed, the history of the Church is
perhaps most beautifully portrayed through the history of her schools of
spirituality, most of which stem from the saintly lives of founders and
foundresses. Through the discovery of charisms, which yield such a breadth of
spiritual wisdom, I am sure that some of you young people will be drawn to a
life of apostolic or contemplative service. Do not be shy to speak with
Religious Brothers, Sisters or Priests about the charism and spirituality of
their Congregation. No perfect community exists, but it is fidelity to a
founding charism, not to particular individuals, that the Lord calls you to
discern. Have courage! You too can make your life a gift of self for the love of
the Lord Jesus and, in him, of every member of the human family (cf. Vita
Consecrata, 3).
(Continuing)
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Saturday
of the twenty first week in Ordinary Time II
(August 30)
Blessed Jeanne Jugan (1792-1879)
Being of humble origins needn’t keep us from doing
great things for God. Blessed Jeanne Jugan is proof of that. Born to a poor
family in Brittany, France, she learned the meaning of hard work at an early
age. She also learned the beauty of the faith passed on to her by her widowed
mother. At the age of 16, Jeanne became a kitchen maid for a family whose
mistress often took the young girl on visits to the sick and poor. Over time
Jeanne developed a special love for the aged, particularly poor widows. She did
hospital work and domestic service for years. At age 47 several other women
moved into Jeanne’s home, where they became an informal prayer community and
eventually elected Jeanne as superior. They supported themselves through
domestic work; in their free time they catechized children and aided the poor as
best they could. Over time the community came to be known as the congregation of
the Little Sisters of the Poor. Their members, who begged for the needs of the
elderly in their care, took vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and
hospitality. A benefactor provided the growing community of women with a
convent; other houses were soon established. Members begged for the needs of the
elderly in their care and ate only leftovers. Sister Mary of the Cross, as she
was known, proved to be a talented organizer and fundraiser, but jealousies and
squabbles forced her to step down as superior. Her spiritual director instructed
her to “remain in a hidden life behind the walls of the motherhouse.” Her last
27 years were spent in obscurity. She quietly supervised the manual work of the
postulants, who were unaware of the real story behind the humble, elderly nun
who loved and encouraged them. She lived to see Pope Leo XIII approve the
constitutions for the Little Sisters of the Poor in 1879. But Jeanne Jugan was
not officially recognized as the founder of the congregation until 14 years
after her death. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1982.
Charles Dickens, a contemporary of Jeanne Jugan, said of her:
“There is in this woman something so calm, and so holy, that in seeing her I
know myself to be in the presence of a superior being. Her words went straight
to my heart, so that my eyes, I know not how, filled with tears.”
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Psalm 33:12-13, 18-21; Matthew
25:14-30 (click
here for readings)
Jesus told his disciples this parable: A
man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted his property to them.
To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one
talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man
who
had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained
five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man
who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his
master's money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and
settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought
the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I
have gained five more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of
many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' The man with the two
talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I
have gained two more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of
many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' Then the man who had
received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard
man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not
scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground.
See, here is what belongs to you.' His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy
servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I
have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with
the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with
interest. 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten
talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.
Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that
worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.' (Matthew 25:14-30)
I have been reading again a short
biography by Michael Trappes-Lomax of Bishop Richard Challoner, the Catholic
Bishop of the London district for most of the latter part of the eighteenth
century. The technical name of the Bishops of England during that period
was
Vicar-Apostolic, as a properly established Catholic hierarchy was to come only
in the following century. One of the many distinguishing qualities of Challoner
was his constant and effective work. He was a very holy priest, both learned and
pastoral. But he seems to have had an enormous capacity for using every minute
of his time over a long life to work and to work effectively. I myself find his
book, Meditations for Every Day of the Year, still to be most
useful. Work. Whether one is religious or not, every person understands that a
most fulfilling experience of life is to do good work, work that is a true
service to others. At the end of life one of the most disappointing experiences
will have been to remember of opportunities for good work left undone. From the
purely natural point of view work is at the centre of man’s concerns. His work
is the means whereby he gains the resources - which is to say the income - to
provide for his fundamental needs, to care for those who depend on him, and to
develop himself in his higher capacities by means of a good use of his leisure.
But more than anything, his work is the means whereby he serves others and he
instinctively knows that the value of his life depends on his engaging in a good
service of others. Man naturally understands that he lives in order to work, and
the value of his life will depend on the way he works. Of course, he also
understands that this principle must be interpreted broadly because a person who
cannot work in the normal sense can work in more indirect ways. He can serve
others from the sick bed and very many have done just this. This entire insight
as to the central importance of work in life is a natural one and is accessible
to all. All understand the importance of work for human fulfilment, and they
understand the duty of all to work.
Our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 25:14-30) makes it clear that this
natural insight is a reflection of the mind of God. God desires us all to work.
Our Judgment will in large measure revolve around the question of our work in
life. Consider the parable our Lord tells us in today’s passage. The master of
the three servants goes off on his journey having entrusted his goods to them
each according to the measure of their ability. He eventually returns and
expects to see his interests advanced by his servants making good use in their
work of what he had placed in their hands. They had had a long time to do
something of value with what he had left them and two of them turned out to have
worked well. Each made more with what they had been given. They were handsomely
rewarded, each in proportion to the good work done. But this was not the case
with the third, the one with least ability and who accordingly had been
entrusted with only the one talent. He had done nothing with the talent he had
been given. He had simply buried it and left it there, and spent the long time
of his master’s absence doing nothing. All he did was to hand back to the master
the single talent he had been given long before. The master was profoundly
displeased, regarding this servant as wicked and lazy. He took the one talent
and threw him out into the darkness. God wants us to use our life to work well
and for his interests, doing his will. If we do nothing then we shall be judged
unworthy. Our Lord often, time and again, speaks of the judgment on each person
at the end of life and of how it is only those judged worthy who will be granted
a place in glory. The parable shows that our work will be an essential element
in our judgement. It also shows that it is especially the little man, the person
of ordinary and even meagre talents who must take note of this, and who must
beware of doing little or nothing with what he has been given. Every day he is
called to work as well as he can for his Lord and Master.
Let us place our work, our daily work,
at the centre of our life’s project. It is by means of our work that we shall
serve others and ourselves and above all God himself. Let us so work that we
will effectively give glory to God and sanctify others and ourselves. It is the
ordinary work of the ordinary person that transforms an ordinary life into a
life of grandeur.
(E.J.Tyler)
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'I just can't
help singing', said a soul in love, when he saw the wonders that our Lord was
working through him
And that is the advice I give to you: sing! Let your grateful enthusiasm for
your God overflow into song.
(The Way, no.524)
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Benedict XVI's Meeting with Young People and
Seminarians, Visit to USA, April 2008
Friends, again I ask you, what about today?
What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope which never
disappoints is Jesus Christ. The saints show us the selfless love of his way. As
disciples of Christ, their extraordinary journeys unfolded within the community
of hope, which is the Church. It is from within the Church that you too will
find the courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal
prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church’s liturgy you will discover
the particular vocation God has for you. Embrace it with joy. You are Christ’s
disciples today. Shine his light upon this great city and beyond. Show the world
the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the truth
that sets you free. With these sentiments of great hope in you I bid you
farewell, until we meet again in Sydney this July for World Youth Day! And as a
pledge of my love for you and your families, I gladly impart my Apostolic
Blessing.
(Concluded)
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Twenty
second Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Prayers
this week: I call to you all day long, have
mercy on me, O Lord. You are good and forgiving, full of love for all who call
on you. (Psalm 85: 3.5)
Almighty God, every good thing comes from you. Fill our hearts with love
for you, increase our faith, and by your constant care protect the good you have
given us. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
(August 31) Saints Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
The actions of these two influential Jewish leaders give
insight into the charismatic power of Jesus and his teachings—and the risks that
could be involved in following him. Joseph was a respected, wealthy civic leader
who had become a disciple of Jesus. Following the death of Jesus, Joseph
obtained Jesus' body from Pilate, wrapped it in fine linen and buried it. For
these reasons Joseph is considered the patron saint of funeral directors and
pallbearers. More important is the courage Joseph showed in asking Pilate for
Jesus' body. Jesus was a condemned criminal who had been publicly executed.
According to some legends, Joseph was punished and imprisoned for such a bold
act.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and, like Joseph, an important
first-century Jew. We know from John's Gospel that Nicodemus went to Jesus at
night—secretly—to better understand his teachings about the kingdom. Later,
Nicodemus spoke up for Jesus at the time of his arrest and assisted in Jesus'
burial. We know little else about Nicodemus. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 63:2-6,
8-9; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27
(click here for
readings)
From that time on Jesus began to explain
to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the
hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be
killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to
rebuke him. Never, Lord! he said. This shall never happen to you! Jesus turned
and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do
not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Then Jesus said to
his disciples, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he
gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange
for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his
angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
(Matthew 16:21-27)
In our Gospel scene of today we read
that “from that time on” our Lord began to tell his disciples what he “must” do:
“he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders,
chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the
third day be raised to life.” Notice our Lord’s use of that word, “must.” It was
his mission to suffer and to die, and so to enter his glory, and thus to open
the way to a share in his glory for all mankind. Our Lord says this is something
he “must” do. It is not a word that denotes compulsion because on other
occasions our Lord said that he would freely lay down his life, and would freely
take it up again. The word “must” denotes, rather, his inflexible will to fulfil
the divine plan. It expresses the complete union of his will with that of the
Father. His food was to do the will of his heavenly Father, he said. I always do
what pleases him, he said on another occasion. He challenged his enemies, Can
any of you convict me of sin? In the vast scene of broken humanity, there stands
forth one Man who is utterly and without qualification holy because his person
is divine. He is the very source of holiness and his is the Spirit of holiness.
The point here is that he is the one who beyond all others acknowledged in every
way that his Father is Lord and God. I am the Lord your God, was God’s
revelation of himself and Jesus Christ shows mankind what it is truly to
acknowledge God. Acknowledging this means doing the Father’s will whatever be
the cost. For this reason he said that he “must” suffer and die in bearing
witness to the truth. He rebuked Simon - who loved him so much - for he was
acting like Satan in trying to dissuade him from his path of suffering and
death. And so he said to his disciples that “if anyone would come after me, he
must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” As we
think of all this, let us consider what is implied in affirming with adoration
that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is our one and only God.
It means that we who are Christ’s
faithful and members of his body the Church must guard and continually activate
the fundamental virtues of faith, hope and love that we received at our baptism.
These gifts of the Holy Spirit enable us to place our faith and hope in God, to
adore him, and to love him with all our hearts. By faith we believe in God and
reject everything opposed to what God has revealed of himself as it is explained
and taught by Christ and his Church. Christ’s faithful must reject all
deliberate doubt, all unbelief, anything leading to heresy, abandoning the
Catholic Faith for another faith, or separating from the Church. Especially we
must guard against any deliberate doubt about the Church’s teaching. The gift of
faith enables us to guard against all this. By the gift of hope we trustingly
await the vision of God and his grace, avoiding any temptation either on the one
hand to despair or on the other to presumption. So, we believe in God and his
revelation, and we hope in his power and love to bring us to him, all the while
aware of our sinfulness and proneness to sin. By the gift of charity, and on the
foundation of our faith and hope we strive to love him with all our hearts,
showing this in our resolve to do his will whatever be the cost. We strive every
day to bring the seed of love implanted in us at our baptism to its perfection.
It means repudiating all indifference to God and his revelation. We repudiate
ingratitude, lukewarmness, sloth or spiritual indolence, and of course any
semblance of hatred for God that is born of pride. We who are baptised have been
granted priceless gifts by the Holy Spirit, the supernatural gifts of faith,
hope and love, and these gifts if acted on day by day will unite us to Jesus and
enable us to follow in his footsteps. That path that Christ trod is the path of
acknowledging in every way that his Father and our Father is the one and only
Lord and God. By our life we must bear witness in union with Jesus that our God
is the one and only Lord of all.
Let our reading of the Gospel passage of
today (Matthew 16:21-27) help us to enter
into the mind and heart of Jesus our Lord in his total acknowledgement of his
Father and our Father, his God and our God. The way to God is Jesus. The truth
about God and the truth of God is Jesus. He is the Truth. The life of God that
transforms our sinful lives and makes them holy with a share in the divine life
is found in Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the
Father except through him. He who sees Jesus sees the Father. Let us then live
in Jesus and live for him, knowing that by doing this we live in God and live
for him.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.2084-2094
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To be 'Catholic'
means to love your country and to be second to no one in that love. And at the
same time, to hold as your own the noble aspirations of other lands. — So many
glories of France are glories of mine! And in the same way, much that makes
Germans proud, and the peoples of Italy and of England..., and Americans and
Asians and Africans, is a source of pride to me also.
Catholic: big heart, broad mind.
(The Way, no.525)
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Pope Benedict's Message to Australia and Youth
Pilgrims
"If You Wish to Remain Young, Seek Christ"
SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 13, 2008 - Here is
the text of the message Benedict XVI wrote ahead of his trip to Australia to the
people of the nation and the young pilgrims who took part in World Youth Day,
held in Sydney from July 15 to 20.
* * *
"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you will be
my witnesses" (Act 1:8)
The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of
you! In a few days from now, I shall begin my Apostolic Visit to your country,
in order to celebrate the Twenty-Third World Youth Day in Sydney. I very much
look forward to the days that I shall spend with you, and especially to the
opportunities for prayer and reflection with young people from all over the
world.
First of all, I want to express my appreciation to all those who have offered so
much of their time, their resources and their prayers in support of this
celebration. The Australian Government and the Provincial Government of New
South Wales, the organizers of all the events, and members of the business
community who have provided sponsorship – all of you have willingly supported
this event, and on behalf of the young people taking part in the World Youth
Day, I thank you most sincerely. Many of the young people have made great
sacrifices in order to undertake the journey to Australia, and I pray that they
will be rewarded abundantly. The parishes, schools and host families have been
most generous in welcoming these young visitors, and they too deserve our thanks
and our appreciation.
"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you will be
my witnesses" (Act 1:8). This is the theme of the Twenty-Third World Youth Day.
How much our world needs a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit! There are
still many who have not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, while many others,
for whatever reason, have not recognized in this Good News the saving truth that
alone can satisfy the deepest longings of their hearts. The Psalmist prays:
"when you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of
the earth" (Ps 104:30). It is my firm belief that young people are called to be
instruments of that renewal, communicating to their peers the joy they have
experienced through knowing and following Christ, and sharing with others the
love that the Spirit pours into their hearts, so that they too will be filled
with hope and with thanksgiving for all the good things they have received from
our heavenly Father.
(Continuing)
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