Morning Offering:
O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the
prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions
of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I
offer them especially for the Holy
Father's intentions:
Pope Benedict
XVI'sgeneral prayer
intention
for January 2008 is: "That the Church may
strengthen her commitment to full visible unity in order to manifest in
an ever growing degree her nature as community of love, in which is
reflected the communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." Pope
Benedict XVI'smissionary intention
for January 2008 is: "That the Church in Africa, which is preparing to
celebrate her Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, may
continue to be the sign and instrument of reconciliation and justice in
a continent which is still marked by war exploitation and and poverty."
(January 1) Mary,
Mother of
God
Mary’s divine motherhood broadens the Christmas spotlight. Mary has an
important role to play in the Incarnation of the Second Person of the
Blessed Trinity. She consents to God’s invitation conveyed by the angel
(Luke 1:26-38). Elizabeth proclaims: “Most blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43, emphasis
added). Mary’s role as mother of God places her in a unique position in
God’s redemptive plan. Without naming Mary, Paul asserts that “God sent
his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Paul’s
further statement that “God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying out ‘Abba, Father!’“ helps us realize that Mary is mother to all
the brothers and sisters of Jesus. Some theologians also insist that
Mary’s motherhood of Jesus is an important element in God’s creative
plan. God’s “first” thought in creating was Jesus. Jesus, the incarnate
Word, is the one who could give God perfect love and worship on behalf
of all creation. As Jesus was “first” in God’s mind, Mary was “second”
insofar as she was chosen from all eternity to be his mother. The
precise title “Mother of God” goes back at least to the third or fourth
century. In the Greek form Theotokos (God-bearer), it became the
touchstone of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation. The Council
of Ephesus in 431 insisted that the holy Fathers were right in calling
the holy virgin Theotokos. At the end of this particular session,
crowds of people marched through the street shouting: “Praised be the
Theotokos” The tradition reaches to our own day. In its chapter on
Mary’s role in the Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times.
Other themes come together at today’s celebration. It is the Octave of
Christmas: Our remembrance of Mary’s divine motherhood injects a
further note of Christmas joy. It is a day of prayer for world peace:
Mary is the mother of the Prince of Peace. It is the first day of a new
year: Mary continues to bring new life to her children—who are also
God’s children. “The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined, in
conjunction with the incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother
of God. By decree of divine Providence, she served on earth as the
loving mother of the divine Redeemer, an associate of unique nobility,
and the Lord’s humble handmaid. She conceived, brought forth, and
nourished Christ” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
61).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
The shepherds went
with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the
manger. Having seen, they understood the word that had been spoken to
them concerning this child. All those who heard what was told to them
by the shepherds wondered and Mary treasured all these things,
pondering them in her heart. The shepherds returned glorifying and
praising God for all the things they had heard and seen as it was told
to them. After eight days the child was circumcised and he was given
the name JESUS, which was given to him by the angel before he was
conceived in the womb. (Luke 2: 16-21)
When Cardinal Carol
Wojtila was elected Pope in 1978 he chose for his papal banner a simple
and unusual design. It was a plain cross on the shield and under the
cross the letter M: symbolic of Christ on his cross with Mary standing
nearby. That is to say, at the outset of Pope John Paul II’s
pontificate Christ with Mary
his mother were presented before the Catholic, non-Catholic and
non-Christian world. Today, at the very beginning of the new civil year
the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Mary the mother of God. It
is probably a surprise and even a shock to some Protestant Christians
to see the prominence of Mary in the Catholic scheme, but it is the
most natural thing in the world for Catholic and Orthodox Christians.
They honour Mary just as Christ honours her and they treat her as their
mother just as Christ treats her as his mother. Let us consider the
place of Mary in Christian devotion in a wider historical context.
Prior to its rejection by the Protestant Reformation beginning
implicitly with John Wycliffe in England during the fourteenth century,
passing somewhat to Jan Huss in Bohemia in the fifteenth century, and
then taken up explicitly and in powerful earnest by the Protestant
Reformers in the sixteenth, the cult of Mary was the most normal thing
in the world for the Christian. It was always judged and encouraged by
the Church as a wonderful doctrinal and devotional development of
Christian doctrine. Just as any idea develops, indeed just as any
living thing develops, so did the understanding of and devotion to
Mary. Of course, not all changes are true developments, and the Church
is constantly vigilant against those changes that it judges to be
deformations. The Protestant Reformation was a case in point. Luther
proposed and insisted on certain teachings which the Catholic Church
judged not to be developments but profound misconceptions. This raises
the question of who in the Church has been granted the authority from
on high to determine what is a true development and what is a
deformation.
The Catholic Church
gives its clear answer. The charism to make such a judgment resides in
the successors of the Apostles who must act in union with and subject
to the successor of St Peter. The Pope judges and states, or more
usually the bishops of the Church together with and subject to him
judge and state, what is to be believed as having being revealed by
Christ. So it is that over the two thousand years of the Church’s life
devotion to and understanding of Mary the mother of the Saviour has
grown in the life and devotion of Christ’s faithful. This development
has occurred under the Church’s supervision. Mary is the Woman, as our
Lord addresses her in St John’s Gospel, who interceded for those in
need at the wedding feast of Cana. She is therefore our help, the help
of Christians. She helps us with her intercession as the Queen Mother
and inspires us with her example as the one who was totally obedient to
the word of God. She is the Woman, as our Lord addresses her on the
Cross, whom he gave to his beloved disciple to be his mother. In him
she was given to all of Christ’s disciples to be their mother. She is
the mother and model of the Church because she is, as the Council of
Ephesus taught, the mother of God. This is her fundamental prerogative.
She is Christ’s mother and therefore she is the mother of the Son of
God made man. What dignity is hers! At the beginning of the civil year
the Church with good reason places before all of Christ’s faithful the
figure of the most exalted human person in the sight of God, Mary the
mother of the Second Divine Person made man. She is, as the Angel said
to her, full of grace and the Lord is with her. She is, as Elizabeth
said to her, blessed among women and blessed is the fruit of her womb.
Therefore we constantly address her as our mother because she is Holy
Mary, Mother of God. We ask her to pray for us sinners now and at the
hour of our death. This we ask of her daily. At the beginning of the
year we ought entrust ourselves to Mary’s maternal care and ask her to
keep us close to Jesus who is the Object of hers and our whole being.
Let us as
Christians cultivate a true devotion to Mary, one that will please both
her and her divine Son. That devotion is one that leads us to love God
with all our mind, heart, soul and strength, and our neighbour as
ourself. Mary is our help in this. She is the help of Christians in
their work in life which is to be true disciples of Christ. Let us not
separate ourselves from her who is our great help, Mary the Mother of
God whose feast we celebrate today.
(E.J.Tyler)
O King of peace, give us your peace and pardon our sins. Dismiss the
enemies of the Church and protect her so that she never fail. Emmanuel
our God is in our midst in the glory of the Father and of the Holy
Spirit. May he bless us and purify our hearts and cure the sicknesses
of our soul and body. We adore you, O Christ, with your good Father and
the Holy Spirit because you have come and you have saved us.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
January
2, Wednesday of the second week in Christmastide
(January 2) St.
Basil the Great (329-379)
Basil was on his way to becoming a famous teacher when he decided to
begin a religious life of gospel poverty. After studying various modes
of religious life, he founded what was probably the first monastery in
Asia Minor. He is to monks of the East what St. Benedict is to the
West, and his principles influence Eastern monasticism today. He was
ordained a priest, assisted the archbishop of Caesarea (now
southeastern Turkey), and ultimately became archbishop himself, in
spite of opposition from some of his suffragan bishops, probably
because they foresaw coming reforms. One of the most damaging heresies
in the history of the Church, Arianism, which denied the divinity of
Christ, was at its height. Emperor Valens persecuted orthodox
believers, and put great pressure on Basil to remain silent and admit
the heretics to communion. Basil remained firm, and Valens backed down.
But trouble remained. When the great St. Athanasius died, the mantle of
defender of the faith against Arianism fell upon Basil. He strove
mightily to unite and rally his fellow Catholics who were crushed by
tyranny and torn by internal dissension. He was misunderstood,
misrepresented, accused of heresy and ambition. Even appeals to the
pope brought no response. “For my sins I seem to be unsuccessful in
everything.” He was tireless in pastoral care. He preached twice a day
to huge crowds, built a hospital that was called a wonder of the world
(as a youth he had organized famine relief and worked in a soup kitchen
himself) and fought the prostitution business. Basil was best known as
an orator. His writings, though not recognized greatly in his lifetime,
rightly place him among the great teachers of the Church. Seventy-two
years after his death, the Council of Chalcedon described him as “the
great Basil, minister of grace who has expounded the truth to the whole
earth.”
St. Basil said: “The bread which you do not use is the bread of the
hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who
is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who
is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the
poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many
injustices that you
commit.”
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 John 2: 22-28;
Psalm 97; John 1:19-28
This is
the testimony of John when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and
Levites to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny,
“I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “Well then, are you Elias?”
And he said: “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
They said therefore to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to
those who sent us? What do you say of yourself?” He said, “I am the
voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the
Lord, as the prophet Isaias said.” Those who were sent were of the
Pharisees, and they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not
Christ, nor Elias, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize
with water; but there stands in the midst of you one whom you do not
know. He will come after me who is preferred before me, the latchet of
whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.” These things were done in
Bethany, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.(John 1: 19-28)
In the first
chapter of St John’s gospel a good bit of space is given over to John
the Baptist. All recognized his greatness and John the Evangelist,
writing long after his death tells us more of him. We read in the Acts
of the Apostles of various followers of John the Baptist found here and
there across the ancient world who were profoundly influenced by him.
Our Lord on one occasion said that no one born of woman had been
greater than he. Our Lord’s precise meaning here would need to be
considered carefully because far
greater in personal holiness was our Lord’s own mother, and our Lord
himself went on to say that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven was
greater than John the Baptist. However, our Lord is certainly saying
that John the Baptist was a great and wonderful man. Now, let us ask in
what did his greatness consist? Obviously he heard the word of God,
accepted it totally and put it into practice with utter dedication. He
was a prophet and recognized by all as such. There were prophets in the
Old Testament who were less than worthy of their calling, but such was
not John the Baptist. The priests and Levites from Jerusalem were sent
to ask him who he claimed to be in the scheme of God’s plan for his
people. For instance, did he understand himself as being the Prophet
Moses had predicted was to come? No, I certainly am not, replied John.
Was he then Elijah whom the Scriptures foretold would come again to
prepare a people fit for the Lord? No. John saw himself as being none
of these exalted figures - although be it noted that our Lord told his
disciples after his Transfiguration that John indeed had been the
Elijah who was to come. So John was profoundly humble. He was fearless,
he was wholly given over to bearing witness to the word of God, but he
was profoundly humble. He sought no personal status in the eyes of
others. Who then did he see himself as being? I am, John said, nothing
other than a voice, a voice crying out in the wilderness.
He was a voice
announcing the arrival of Another. As we think, then, of the greatness
and the humility of John, we think of the One to whom he bore such
splendid and disinterested witness. He was a voice crying out to all
that they prepare a way for the Lord. St John’s the Evangelist’s
purpose in narrating these scenes of John the Baptist - and St John
himself had been a disciple of the Baptist and therefore probably a
personal witness to what he was narrating about him - was to set forth
the figure of Jesus. I am not fit to undo the straps of the one who is
coming, John said to his questioners (John 1:
19-28). What a testimony this is! St John tells us in the
passage that “this is how John appeared as a witness.” He appeared as a
witness by refusing all personal honours and by attributing all honour
and glory to the One who was already in the midst of them. Let us ask
ourselves this question: in my heart of hearts do I think that “I am
not fit to undo the sandal straps” of Jesus, whose disciple I am? Let
us ask this question of our Jewish and other non-Christian brethren,
what is your view of John the Baptist? Do you regard him as having been
a holy man and a prophet? All who do thus regard him should take heed
of his testimony in respect to the person of Jesus. John the Baptist
said of Jesus that he, John, was not worthy to bend down to undo his
sandal strap. I suspect that considerable numbers of Christians do not
have anything like this degree of veneration and reverence for the
person of Jesus Christ. In this matter of sheer reverence for the
person of Jesus, John the Baptist is a model for the modern Christian.
He is a model as to the kind of witness each Christian ought bear in
respect to Jesus. We ought be humble and profoundly reverent. We ought
pray for the grace so to revere Christ that we too can say from the
depths of our hearts that we are not fit to kneel down and undo his
sandal-straps. This reverence ought show itself in the way we refer to
Christ and in how we speak of all that has come from him such as his
Church and his Sacraments.
Every person who
has discovered Christ has a great work to do in life. It is to be
faithful to the word of Christ and to bear witness to him. John the
Baptist provides us with an outstanding model in respect to witness.
Let us be humble in respect to ourselves and profoundly reverent in
respect to the person of Jesus. It has often been remarked that modern
man tends to lack reverence. John the Baptist can help us in this.
(E.J.Tyler)
Enter into the wounds of Christ Crucified. There you will learn to
guard your senses, you will have interior life, and you will
continually offer to the Father the sufferings of our Lord and those of
Mary, in payment of your debts and the debts of all men.
(The Way, no.288)
Remain in peace, O Altar of God. May the offering that I have taken
from you be for the remission of my debts and the pardon of my sins and
may it obtain for me that I may stand before the tribunal of Christ
without condemnation and without confusion. I do not know if I will
have the opportunity to return and offer another sacrifice upon you.
Protect me, O Lord, and preserve your holy Church as the way to truth
and salvation. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 3) Most Holy Name of Jesus
In a world of fiercely guarded corporate names and logos, it should be
easy to understand this feast. The letters IHS are an abbreviation of
Jesous, the Greek name for Jesus. Although St. Paul might claim credit
for promoting devotion to the Holy Name because Paul wrote in
Philippians that God the Father gave Christ Jesus “that name that is
above every name” (see 2:9), this devotion became popular because of
12th-century Cistercian monks and nuns but especially through the
preaching of St. Bernardine of Siena, a 15th-century Franciscan.
Bernardine used devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus as a way of
overcoming bitter and often bloody class struggles and family rivalries
or vendettas in Italian city-states. The devotion grew, partly because
of Franciscan and Dominican preachers. It spread even more widely after
the Jesuits began promoting it in the 16th century. In 1530, Pope
Clement V approved an Office of the Holy Name for the Franciscans. In
1721, Pope Innocent XIII extended this feast to the entire Church.
Jesus died and rose for the sake of all people. No one can trademark or
copyright Jesus' name. Jesus is the Son of God and son of Mary.
Everything that exists was created in and through the Son of God (see
Colossians 1:15-20). The name of Jesus is debased if any Christian uses
it as justification for berating non-Christians. Jesus reminds us that
because we are all related to him we are, therefore, all related to one
another. “Glorious name, gracious name, name of love and of power!
Through you sins are forgiven, through you enemies are vanquished,
through you the sick are freed from their illness, through you those
suffering in trials are made strong and cheerful. You bring honour to
those who believe, you teach those who preach, you give strength to the
toiler, you sustain the weary” (St. Bernardine of
Siena.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 John
2:29-3:6; Psalm 97; John 1: 29-34
The next
day, John
saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me there
comes one who is preferred before me because he was before me. I did
not know him, but for this have I come baptizing with water that he
might be manifest in Israel.” John gave testimony, saying: “I saw the
Spirit coming down as a dove from heaven, and he remained upon him. I
did not know him but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me:
‘He upon whom you will see the Spirit descend and remain, he it is who
baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw and I have given testimony that
this is the Son of God.”(John 1:
29-34)
At the outset of
the Gospel of St John we are presented with testimonies as to the
identity of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel opens with St John’s own
Prologue setting forth his profound reflections on the person of Jesus.
He is the eternal Word of God who had always been with God. He is the
only-begotten Son of the Father, God himself made man. St John then
introduces the great figure of John the Baptist in order to inform the
reader of what John said of Jesus. It is a marvel that John the Baptist
gave the
testimony that he did. It is clear from the synoptic Gospels (Matthew,
Mark and Luke) that John pointed Jesus out as being the promised
Messiah who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist’s
mission in life was to prepare the people for his coming and to alert
the nation to the fact that it was in and through Jesus of Nazareth
that the plans of God for his people and for the world would be
fulfilled. Now, St John the Evangelist had been a disciple of John the
Baptist and there are a couple of significant additions in his account
of the Baptist’s testimony. The Baptist makes it clear that our Lord’s
mission was to take away the sin of the world and to confer the Holy
Spirit. “John saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world’.” We are not told if John had any
conception of how this would be done, but his image of the Lamb of God
would suggest a sacrificial process. Perhaps he understood dimly that
this great Servant of Yahweh would be the Suffering Servant portrayed
in Isaiah. Especially remarkable was his deliberate and emphatic
testimony that this one who was God’s Lamb was in fact God’s Son. “I
saw and I have given testimony that this is the Son of God.” (John 1: 29-34) It is clear that John
did not regard him as a son of God merely in a way that might have been
applicable to any prophet. He was the Son of God, though there is
nothing to indicate that John gave any formal explanation of what
precisely he meant by the term.
This is to
say that John the Evangelist in writing his Gospel in order to show
that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God (John 20:31) distinctly states
that before the public work of Christ began John the Baptist bore
witness to this too. I once met a couple who had on their car a sign
saying, “Jews for Jesus.” I stopped and asked them what the sign
signified. They told me that “Jews for Jesus” referred to a movement of
Jewish people who recognized that Jesus was the Messiah. John, whom the
people recognized as a great prophet, bore testimony that Jesus was the
promised Messiah. But there is far more to the person, the work and the
mystery of Jesus than this. Most critically, there is the fact that he
is God’s Son. St John goes on in his Gospel to show that Christ claimed
to be the Son of God and that it implied not only in his own mind but
clearly in the mind of his enemies that he was equal to God. It was
this truth that Christ bore witness to in the presence of the highest
religious authorities in the land. It was in order to render this
witness that he allowed himself to be delivered into their hands. It
was for this claim that they demanded his death from Pontius Pilate -
“for pretending to be the Son of God” (John 19:7). Down through the
centuries it has been the litmus test of the Christian. Does one accept
that Jesus is not only the Messiah but the very Son of God? This is
refused by our Jewish brothers and of course it is refused by our
Muslim friends. It is the great claim of the Christian Church, and it
is the reason why Christ is understood by the Christian faithful to
have all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the King of kings and
the Lord of lords above all because he is the very Son of God. He is
the second Divine Person, and is just as much the one God as is the
Father. In him resides the fullness of the Godhead, and the fullness of
Christ resides in his body the Church. The Church contains this
wondrous treasure, the person of Jesus Christ the Son of God made man,
and those who by baptism become members of the Church receive a share
in the divine life of Jesus Christ.
Let us place
ourselves in the Gospel scene of today and listen to the testimony of
John about Jesus. He is the Christ, the Messiah who is the Lamb of God
taking away the sin of the world. He is the Saviour of man, and there
is nothing lacking in him. In him comes every heavenly blessing because
he is the very Son of God. Let us make him the entire object of our
life and follow in his footsteps no matter what may be the cost. He is
our Way, our Truth and our Life.
(E.J.Tyler)
Your holy impatience to serve him does not displease God. But it will
be fruitless if it is not accompanied by a real improvement in your
daily conduct.
(The Way, no.289)
God of the spirits and of all flesh, who have trampled death and
annihilated the devil and given life to your world, may you yourself, O
Lord, grant to the soul of your deceased servant N. rest in a place of
light, a verdant place, a place of freshness, from where suffering,
pain and cries are far removed. Do You, O good and compassionate God
forgive every fault committed by him in word, work or thought because
there is no man who lives and does not sin. You alone are without sin
and your justice is justice throughout the ages and your word is truth.
Since you, O Christ our God, are the resurrection, the life and the
repose of your deceased servant N., we give you glory together with
your un-begotten Father and your most holy, good and life-creating
Spirit, now and always and forever and ever.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 4) St.
Elizabeth
Ann Seton (1774-1821)
Mother Seton is one of the keystones of the American Catholic Church.
She founded the first American religious community for women, the
Sisters of Charity. She opened the first American parish school and
established the first American Catholic orphanage. All this she did in
the span of 46 years while raising her five children. Elizabeth Ann
Bayley Seton is a true daughter of the American Revolution, born August
28, 1774, just two years before the Declaration of Independence. By
birth and marriage, she was linked to the first families of New York
and enjoyed the fruits of high society. Reared a staunch Episcopalian
by her mother and stepmother, she learned the value of prayer,
Scripture and a nightly examination of conscience. Her father, Dr.
Richard Bayley, did not have much use for churches but was a great
humanitarian, teaching his daughter to love and serve others. The early
deaths of her mother in 1777 and her baby sister in 1778 gave Elizabeth
a feel for eternity and the temporariness of the pilgrim life on earth.
Far from being brooding and sullen, she faced each new “holocaust,” as
she put it, with hopeful cheerfulness. At 19, Elizabeth was the belle
of New York and married a handsome, wealthy businessman, William Magee
Seton. They had five children before his business failed and he died of
tuberculosis. At 30, Elizabeth was widowed, penniless, with five small
children to support. While in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth
witnessed Catholicity in action through family friends. Three basic
points led her to become a Catholic: belief in the Real Presence,
devotion to the Blessed Mother and conviction that the Catholic Church
led back to the apostles and to Christ. Many of her family and friends
rejected her when she became a Catholic in March 1805. To support her
children, she opened a school in Baltimore. From the beginning, her
group followed the lines of a religious community, which was officially
founded in 1809. The thousand or more letters of Mother Seton reveal
the development of her spiritual life from ordinary goodness to heroic
sanctity. She suffered great trials of sickness, misunderstanding, the
death of loved ones (her husband and two young daughters) and the
heartache of a wayward son. She died January 4, 1821, and became the
first American-born citizen to be beatified (1963) and then canonized
(1975). She is buried in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Elizabeth Seton had no extraordinary gifts. She was not a mystic or
stigmatic. She did not prophesy or speak in tongues. She had two great
devotions: abandonment to the will of God and an ardent love for the
Blessed Sacrament. She wrote to a friend, Julia Scott, that she would
prefer to exchange the world for a “cave or a desert.” “But God has
given me a great deal to do, and I have always and hope always to
prefer his will to every wish of my own.” Her brand of sanctity is open
to everyone if we love God and do his will. Elizabeth Seton told her
sisters, “The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will
of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly, to
do it because it is his
will.”
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 John 3:7-10; Psalm
97; John 1:35-42
The next
day John stood with two of his disciples watching Jesus walking, and he
said “Behold the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard him speak, and
they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and seeing them following him said to
them, “What do you seek?” They said to him, “Rabbi, (which is to say,
Master,) where do you dwell?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They
came, saw where he was dwelling, and they stayed with him that day. It
was about the tenth hour. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one
of the two who had heard what John had said, and had followed Jesus. He
found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah,
which, interpreted, is the Christ.” And he brought him to Jesus. And
Jesus looking upon him, said, You are Simon the son of Jonah: you will
be called Cephas, which translated is Peter.(John 1:35-42)
I have often
considered that this scene is one of the most beautiful scenes in the
Gospel, occurring right at the beginning of the public ministry of our
Lord. Inasmuch as there are only three persons involved (except for the
Baptist at the beginning) the source for this must be one of the two
disciples of John who followed Jesus. Let us presume it was the one
other than Andrew - probably John the Evangelist himself, the author of
the Gospel.. He remembers long afterwards the scene of his first
meeting with Jesus. He met Jesus together with Andrew the brother of
Simon Peter. It came about because of what John the Baptist said of
Jesus to his disciples, that he was the Lamb of God, that he was at the
very centre of God’s plans for his people and for the world, that he
was the Messiah. John was encouraging his two disciples to follow Jesus
and this they did. Think of the respect and perhaps awe with which they
followed Jesus having heard these words of John! Why did they follow
him? They yearned for God and they loved what was good. It was this
which had drawn them to John the Baptist and had led them to place
themselves at his feet as his disciples. Now they were taking their
first steps to something far greater than the Baptist himself, indeed
they were within close proximity of the very best that God had sent. So
they followed Jesus respectfully, diffidently and at a little distance,
with yearning and love. They had before them the greatest of treasures,
and lo! Jesus turns and gazes at them with simple friendliness, asking
them what they were looking for. All they could say was, “Master” -
implying their desire to listen and learn from him and be his disciples
- “where do you live?” (John 1:35-42)
Could we follow you there and listen to you? Could we have that
privilege? Could we be with you? With a smile (so we may imagine) our
Lord replies, “Come and see.” So they went and stayed with him that
day, seeing for themselves that he, Jesus, was indeed the promised
Messiah.
There are many
things we could comment on in respect to this scene, so pivotal for
these first two of our Lord’s Apostles. Reading the other Gospels we
gather that at a certain point early during his public ministry our
Lord formally called these very Apostles to follow him and they left
their nets and did so (Matthew 4:18-22). But our Gospel scene today
places us prior to this formal call and lets us glimpse at the first
encounter and the rise of their commitment to Jesus. How did it come
about? There were several factors, beginning with John the Baptist’s
clear and lofty testimony to Jesus. He was the Messiah, the Lamb of God
who would take away the sin of the world. John’s holy life and immense
prophetic authority conferred on Jesus a powerful aura at the outset
and constituted a positive encouragement for the two disciples to
follow him. Secondly, our Lord’s own simple friendliness immediately
drew the two disciples into his life and person, convincing them at
first hand of the truth of what John their prior master had said of
him. But there was a third and indispensable element and that was their
own active disposition. They truly wanted to know our Lord and to be
his disciples. There was something in them that impelled them towards
him and made them responsive to the testimony of John and wide open to
the invitation, the friendship, the teaching and the authority of
Jesus. In a word, they had the right dispositions. They were, to use
the words of one of our Lord’s parables in a different Gospel, very
good soil for the word to produce its crop. Their heart desired God and
they saw in Jesus the full presence of God. There were others who would
interact with our Lord who would not have these dispositions - quite to
the contrary. Their hearts were not right. There was even one of his
disciples who presumably actively desired to be in our Lord’s company
and whom our Lord not only called but chose as one of the Twelve, but
who betrayed him. Let us then humbly and perseveringly ask God for the
right fundamental dispositions for discipleship while we ourselves work
daily at acquiring them.
All through life we
must listen to the testimony of the Church about Christ the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world. We have the example of these two
disciples and their response to John’s testimony. But to listen well
our hearts must be properly disposed . We must attend to the state of
our heart and we must every day work at eradicating the sin that lodges
there and which will spoil the response we could give to Christ and his
word. Let us entrust ourselves to the care and grace of the Holy Spirit
whom we received at our baptism, and who abides with us in order to
lead us to Jesus.
(E.J.Tyler)
O my God, I firmly believe
that you are one God in three divine Persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I believe that your divine Son became man
and died for our sins and that he will come
to judge the living and the dead.
I believe these and all the truths
which the Holy Catholic Church teaches
because you have revealed them
who are eternal truth and wisdom,
who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
In this faith I intend to live and die.
Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 5) St.
John
Neumann (1811-1860) Perhaps
because the United States got a later start in the history of the
world, it has relatively few canonized saints, but their number is
increasing. John Neumann was born in what is now the Czech Republic.
After studying in Prague, he came to New York at 25 and was ordained a
priest. He did missionary work in New York until he was 29, when he
joined the Redemptorists and became its first member to profess vows in
the United States. He continued missionary work in Maryland, Virginia
and Ohio, where he became popular with the Germans. At 41, as bishop of
Philadelphia, he organized the parochial school system into a diocesan
one, increasing the number of pupils almost twentyfold within a short
time. Gifted with outstanding organizing ability, he drew into the city
many teaching communities of sisters and the Christian Brothers. During
his brief assignment as vice provincial for the Redemptorists, he
placed them in the forefront of the parochial movement. Well-known for
his holiness and learning, spiritual writing and preaching, on October
13, 1963, he became the first American bishop to be beatified.
Canonized in 1977, he is buried in St. Peter the Apostle Church in
Philadelphia. Neumann took seriously our Lord’s words, “Go and teach
all nations.” From Christ he received his instructions and the power to
carry them out. For Christ does not give a mission without supplying
the means to accomplish it. The Father’s gift in Christ to John Neumann
was his exceptional organizing ability, which he used to spread the
Good News.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 John 3:11-21; Psalm
99; John 1: 43-51
On the following
day Jesus intended to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him,
”Follow me.” Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael and said
to him, “We have found the one of whom Moses in the law and the
prophets wrote, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth. Nathanael said to
him, “Can any thing of good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him
“Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him,
“Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.” Nathanael said
to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called
you, when you were under the fig tree I saw you.” Nathanael answered
him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.” Jesus
answered, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, you
believe. You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him,
“Amen, amen I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of
God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” (John 1: 43-51)
In a pluralist
world of various and indeed opposite opinions, people take up their
positions. They form their own views and convictions, even if it be the
view that it is not possible to be ultimately certain about anything. A
philosopher may come to describe himself as a theist, or an Hegelian,
or a positive atheist. A self-confessed religious
person
may describe himself as a Christian by conviction, or as a man not of
religion but of so-called spirituality. Whatever it be, the person we
are talking of has formed and adopted a position. Now, when it comes to
being a Christian this way of talking can miss a fundamental element.
Being a Christian does not simply involve embracing the Christian
system as a body of thought. It means having met and in some sense
embraced a living and real Person, the person of Jesus. I suppose we
could compare it with how a spouse describes his relationship with his
partner, or a member of a family describes his relationship with his
family. It is to be described in terms of personal relationships and
not just in terms of intellectual conviction. “I know and love her” he
would say, and not just that “I fully agree with her position.” The
authentic Christian says, “I know and love Christ” and not just that “I
fully agree with Christ’s teaching” - even though the love of Christ is
expressed and sustained by the full acceptance of his teaching. His
teaching is accepted not primarily because it commends itself to my
mind (which it does anyway) but precisely because it comes from him
whom I know, love and fully accept. But there is an even more
fundamental element in the life of the Christian. It is that I know and
love Jesus because he has known, loved and chosen me first. Christ is
not just a philosopher or teacher or great light whom I have chosen to
approach and attach myself to. He has taken the initiative - though I
may not have realized it - to approach me and invite me to himself. Of
course, on reflection I myself may have found myself drawn to him, but
the prior thing is his choice of me.
In our Gospel today
we are reminded of this pattern that is so fundamental in the life of a
Christian. We read that on the following day Jesus intended to go to
Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ”Follow me.” (John 1: 43-51) Christ “found” Philip
and invited him to follow him. Of course he would have seen in Philip
the dispositions necessary to be a true disciple, but nevertheless the
fundamental thing was his personal entry into Philip’s life by inviting
him to follow him. Philip’s Christian life involved, yes, the
acceptance of Christ’s teaching. But it primarily involved Christ’s
entry into his life as his friend and master at that moment of his call
and invitation. The Christian life is not primarily - though it
includes - the embrace of the Christian position. It is primarily a
personal relationship of reverent and loving friendship with a living
Person, the person of Jesus Christ. That relationship has its ultimate
roots in Christ’s call to be his friend, disciple and ardent follower.
The choice comes from Christ in the first instance, which means it
comes from God. In our Gospel passage today Christ’s call to Philip is
transmitted through Philip to Nathanael, and then confirmed by Christ
himself when Nathanael meets him. So it is with every Christian.
Indeed, the origins of this personal choice and call lie in eternity.
St Paul tells us in one of his Letters that before the world began, God
chose us, chose us in Christ to be holy and full of love in his sight.
Both Philip and Nathanael henceforth knew that Christ had chosen and
called them to himself, to be his friends and disciples. What a
privilege this was! What an incentive to live a life worthy of this
call! How tragic (as in the case of Judas) if this call were to be
gradually refused. Let us then ground our Christian life and “position”
not primarily in a correct intellectual conclusion (though this must be
part of it) but primarily in the knowledge and love of the living
person who has chosen and called us to himself.
This is to say that
the daily life of the Christian must be based on personal prayer. This
is the only way the living and risen Jesus will be encountered. It is
the only way his personal call will be heard. On that basis, and
together with it, one reads, ponders, thinks things through, and one
comes to understand and accept the Christian position - but always as
that which comes from the living Master. It is because of our faith and
hope in him and our love for him who has chosen us for himself that we
accept his teaching - and not simply because we have come to agree with
it.
(E.J.Tyler)
O Lord God,
I hope by your grace for the pardon
of all my sins
and after life here to gain eternal happiness
because you have promised it
who are infinitely powerful, faithful, kind,
and merciful.
In this hope I intend to live and die.
Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
Prayers this week:
The Lord and ruler is
coming; kingship is his, and government and power.(Ml 3:1; 1Ch 39:12) Father,
you revealed your Son to the nations by the guidance of a star. Lead us
to your glory in heaven by the light of faith. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(January 6) St.
Nicholas (d. 350?)
The absence of the “hard facts” of history is not necessarily an
obstacle to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas
shows. Both the Eastern and Western Churches honour him, and it is
claimed that, after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured
by Christian artists. And yet, historically, we can pinpoint only the
fact that Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in
Lycia, a province of Asia Minor. As with many of the saints, however,
we are able to capture the relationship which Nicholas had with God
through the admiration which Christians have had for him—an admiration
expressed in the colourful stories which have been told and retold
through the centuries. Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas
concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide
dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see
them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold
through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus
enabling the daughters to be married. Over the centuries, this
particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s
feast. In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a
twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further expanding the example of
generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.
“In order to be able to consult more suitably the welfare of the
faithful according to the condition of each one, a bishop should strive
to become duly acquainted with their needs in the social circumstances
in which they live.... He should manifest his concern for all, no
matter what their age, condition, or nationality, be they natives,
strangers, or foreigners” (Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office,
16). (AmericanCatholic.org)
When Jesus
therefore was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of king Herod,
behold, there came Magi from the east to Jerusalem. They said, “Where
is he that is born king of the Jews? For we
have seen his star in the east, and have come to adore him.” And king
Herod hearing this was troubled, and all of Jerusalem with him. And
assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the
people, he inquired of them where Christ would be born. They said to
him, “In Bethlehem of Judea. For it is written by the prophet, “You
Bethlehem of the land of Judea are not the least among the princes of
Judea, for out of you will come forth the captain who will rule my
people Israel.” Then Herod, privately calling the wise men, carefully
learned of them the time of the star which appeared to them. Then
sending them on to Bethlehem, said “Go and diligently inquire after the
child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also
may come to adore him.” Having heard the king they went their way; and
behold the star which they had seen in the east went before them until
it came and stood over where the child was. Seeing the star they
rejoiced with very great joy. Entering the house they found the child
with Mary his mother and falling down they adored him. Then opening
their treasures they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Having received a word in a dream that they must not return to Herod,
they went back via another route to their country.
(Matthew 2:1-12)
In our Gospel
passage today for the feast of the Epiphany St Matthew presents us with
one of the several extraordinary facts associated with our Lord’s birth
which reverberated on a limited scene. The chapter opens with a
matter-of-fact reference to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judah in
the days of King Herod. Again, in a matter-of-fact manner,
Matthew records that “there came Magi from the east to Jerusalem
asking, where is he who is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his
star in the East and have come to adore him.”
(Matthew 2:1-12) It is a sign from
heaven that this Child is the child of the ages, the child whose work
would be of world significance, the child long predicted as the
Messiah-King. God revealed through his angel the nature and work of
this Child to Mary and Joseph (in Matthew chapter 1), and now he
reveals something of it to the Gentiles. He is the King of the Jews. He
cannot have been perceived by the pagan Magi as just any ordinary
future King (like, say, Herod with whom they spoke) because they
themselves felt entirely touched and involved by the birth. This Child
was a King whose reach would touch them and their world. There was a
love and veneration in their attitude which meant that this future King
would be a boon to them. It is intriguing, incidentally, that this
small company of learned pagans who arrived to pay their respects to
the as-yet unknown Child came from the East, and not, say, from the
West and from Rome. If the entire scene were just a symbolic fiction
would it not have been more impressive if Matthew had invented a few
learned people arriving from, say, Rome to adore the Child? After all,
Rome was already the master of the world, and Herod himself occupied
his throne only by Rome’s permission. But no, they came from the East
and perhaps they were Zoroastrian Magi. This adds, in my view, to its
undoubted credibility. The point, though, is that the event of their
journey, their arrival and their words bore witness to the fact that
this obscure Child was the Messiah.
So Matthew’s
account of these profoundly religious pagans from the East bowing down
before the Child Jesus invites us to rest our gaze on Christ and to
join with them in their faith and in their adoration of him. “And
entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and
falling down they adored him; and opening their treasures, they offered
him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Jesus is the Messiah-King of
the Jews but also the King of all the nations. Matthew sees in the
action and words of the Magi heavenly testimony to the fact that the
Christ-Child is the universal Lord and King of the world. What happened
was a fact, but a fact full of significance and symbolism. Moreover,
not only does it tells us about Christ but it tells us about what God
can do and is doing in the hearts of those who do not know him. If we
assume that the little band of Magi were, say, Zoroastrian priests and
scribes, then God was not simply leaving them in an unrevealed
darkness. God was leading them on to Christ. Christ is the true
revelation and religion of God, but God was using their own efforts to
attain the light to bring them to the Light. He gave them a star, which
might have in fact been an Angel appearing as if a star. After all, an
Angel enlightened Mary and Joseph in the first Chapter. Now in the
second Chapter God was enlightening the pagans through a star. But the
point I am making here is that these good and conscientious pagans
searching from within their own religious tradition were not being left
to their own unaided powers. God was leading them on not to a fuller
truth in their own religion but to revealed truth beyond it. They were
well disposed, and more so than their more religiously blessed
interlocutors in Jerusalem, and they were using in good faith the means
providence had placed at hand. One would think that Matthew saw these
events as symbolic of the hand of God and his call in the life of the
nations. God was present in the fallen religious life of the pagan
world drawing and calling those with goodwill to the Saviour, the King
of the Jews.
The word Epiphany
in Greek means “manifestation.” We think of the manifestation or
revelation of Christ to those of goodwill from the pagan world. Jesus
Christ is the Messiah-King of the Jews, but he is also the Messiah-King
of the world. He is the Lord of lords and all authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to him. God is at work in the heart of the
world calling it to the person of Christ. The fulfilment of the world
will consist in it acknowledging Jesus as its Lord, and living its life
accordingly. Let us join with Jesus in bearing witness to Jesus before
the world, knowing that the grace of God has gone ahead of us to make
our testimony fruitful.
(E.J.Tyler)
O Lord God, I love you above all things
and I love my neighbour for your sake
because you are the highest, infinite and perfect
good, worthy of all my love.
In this love I intend to live and die.
Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 7) St.
Raymond of Penyafort (1175-1275)
Since Raymond lived into his hundredth year, he had a chance to do many
things. As a member of the Spanish nobility, he had the resources and
the education to get a good start in life.By the time he was 20 he was
teaching philosophy. In his early 30s he earned a doctorate in both
canon and civil law. At 41 he became a Dominican. Pope Gregory IX
called him to Rome to work for him and to be his confessor. One of the
things the pope asked him to do was to gather together all the decrees
of popes and councils that had been made in 80 years since a similar
collection by Gratian. Raymond compiled five books called the
Decretals. They were looked upon as one of the best organized
collections of Church law until the 1917 codification of canon law.
Earlier, Raymond had written for confessors a book of cases. It was
called Summa de casibus poenitentiae. More than just a
list of sins and penances, it discussed pertinent doctrines and laws of
the Church that pertained to the problem or case brought to the
confessor. At the age of 60, Raymond was appointed archbishop of
Tarragona, the capital of Aragon. He didn’t like the honour at all and
ended up getting sick and resigning in two years. He didn’t get to
enjoy his peace long, however, because when he was 63 he was elected by
his fellow Dominicans to be the head of the whole Order, the successor
of St. Dominic. Raymond worked hard, visited on foot all the
Dominicans, reorganized their constitutions and managed to put through
a provision that a master general be allowed to resign. When the new
constitutions were accepted, Raymond, then 65, resigned. He still had
35 years to oppose heresy and work for the conversion of the Moors in
Spain. He convinced St. Thomas Aquinas to write his work Against the
Gentiles. In his100th year the Lord let Raymond retire. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 John 3:22-4:6;
Psalm 2; Matthew 4: 12-17.23-25
When Jesus heard that
John had been arrested he retired to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth he came
and dwelt in Capharnaum on the sea coast within the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim. This was
in order that it might be fulfilled what was said by Isaiah the
prophet: ‘Land of Zabulon and land of Nephthalim, the way of the sea
beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people that sat in
darkness, has seen a great light. For those who sat in the shadow of
death a light has dawned.’ From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Do
penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus went about all
Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity among
the people. His fame spread throughout all Syria and they presented to
him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and
torments. Such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics, and those
that had palsy, he cured. Many followed him from Galilee, from
Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from Judea and from beyond the Jordan.(Matthew 4: 12-17.23-25)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM_GcJ4Kcb8
Routine is a
natural and indeed good feature of life, and the regular course of
action that constitutes routine is necessary in the development of most
good things. Generally the development of anything requires a certain
repetition and this repetition is often lifelong. We need homes, and
there is a certain routine in the construction of them. In the keeping
of a home there are much the same duties to be done - such as cleaning
and maintaining - and this constitutes a certain routine. A husband and
wife follow a regular
course of action day by day in their very relationships: they live
together, they dine together, they do many different things together
and they do these good things repeatedly. There is, in other words, a
certain routine in the living out of their married lives. Man is
perfectible and is called to seek that perfection, and routine is a
necessary feature of the process. But because of the sameness in any
regular course of action, we can lose interest. A spouse can lose
interest in his partner because he gets bored with the sameness. He has
forgotten that the regular and repetitive nature of life with one
another is not only necessary but full of possibility for development.
Now, this danger can afflict a person’s religious life and in
particular his life with Christ. St John’s Gospel tells us that at the
Last Supper our Lord said that eternal life is this, to know the Father
and him, Christ, whom the Father sent. But if we are to come to know
Christ we must be prepared to work at it day by day all through life.
There must be a routine of daily prayer, reading, spiritual attention
and effort, and this routine must be lively. Many give up because of
the routine, and seek distractions instead. It is precisely through a
persevering spiritual routine or plan of spiritual life that we come to
know the freshness, the grandeur, the reality and the uniqueness of the
person of Jesus Christ.
That having been
said, let us endeavour to appreciate Christ’s towering grandeur as it
is portrayed in our Gospel passage today (Matthew
4: 12-17.23-25). Christ returns to Galilee after the arrest
of John. Through his reference to the prophecy of Isaiah St Matthew
endeavours to show Christ’s spectacular greatness. The prophet speaks
of a “Galilee of the Gentiles. The people that sat in darkness, has
seen a great light. For those who sat in the shadow of death a light
has dawned.” Two things strike the reader in St Matthew’s account in
our passage today. Firstly that Christ is a very great light dispelling
a darkness that is the shadow of death, and secondly that he is
almighty. We read that “from that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Do
penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Jesus went about all
Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity among
the people.” John preached at the Jordan, but Christ went everywhere
throughout Galilee and though he was sent to the House of Israel,
Galilee was a land with many Gentiles. He appeared as a great light and
the personal authority to teach and pronounce on God’s plan which he
displayed was astonishing to the people and disconcerting to the
leaders. He presented himself as the supreme light who needed no other
and those who refused him he declared to be in the darkness, a darkness
that would lead to death. We need to appreciate the freshness and the
grandeur of Christ as the light of the world both now and for all the
ages. His word is supreme. Not only that, but his power was without
limit in the service of good. “Such as were possessed by devils, and
lunatics, and those that had palsy, he cured.” Philosophers speak of
the Absolute, the absolute reality. The Christian identifies this
Absolute in history. This Absolute was a particular person at a
particular point of history in a particular locale. He is Jesus of
Nazareth and he lives now.
Let us not allow
ourselves to lose interest in Jesus, for we do so at our peril. Through
a wholesome and necessary spiritual routine we must come to know him.
He is real, he lives, and he is the Light and the Power of the world.
He is our guide and he is our mainstay. He is the Ruler of the kings of
the earth, though unseen. His kingdom will never end and it has already
begun. It will be manifested in all its glory at the end and we had
better be part of it. If we are not, all is lost for us. So then, let
us take our stand with Jesus because as he says in the Gospel, all who
do not gather with him will be scattered.
(E.J.Tyler)
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest
all my sins because of thy just punishments, but most of all because
they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my
love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to
avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 8) Blessed
Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
Some saints show marks of holiness very early. Not Angela! Born of a
leading family in Foligno, she became immersed in the quest for wealth
and social position. As a wife and mother, she continued this life of
distraction. Around the age of 40 she recognized the emptiness of her
life and sought God’s help in the Sacrament of Penance. Her Franciscan
confessor helped Angela to seek God’s pardon for her previous life and
to dedicate herself to prayer and the works of charity. Shortly after
her conversion, her husband and children died. Selling most of her
possessions, she entered the Secular Franciscan Order. She was
alternately absorbed by meditating on the crucified Christ and by
serving the poor of Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their needs.
Other women joined her in a religious community. At her confessor’s
advice, Angela wrote her Book of Visions and Instructions. In it she
recalls some of the temptations she suffered after her conversion; she
also expresses her thanks to God for the Incarnation of Jesus. This
book and her life earned for Angela the title "Teacher of Theologians."
She was beatified in 1693.
People who live in the United States today can understand Blessed
Angela’s temptation to increase her sense of self-worth by accumulating
money, fame or power. Striving to possess more and more, she became
more and more self-centred. When she realized she was priceless because
she was created and loved by God, she became very penitential and very
charitable to the poor. What had seemed foolish early in her life now
became very important. The path of self-emptying she followed is the
path all holy men and women must follow. Pope John Paul II writes:
“Christ the Redeemer of the World is the one who penetrated in a
unique, unrepeatable way into the mystery of the human person and
entered our ‘hearts.’ Rightly therefore does the Second Vatican Council
teach: ‘The truth is that only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word
does the mystery of the human person take on light.... Christ the New
Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and his love,
fully reveals human beings to themselves and brings to light their most
high calling’” (Redemptor Hominis,
8).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 John 4: 7-10; Psalm
71; Mark 6: 34-44
And Jesus
going out saw a great multitude: and he had compassion on them, because
they were as sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them
many things. And when the day was now
far spent, his disciples came to him, saying: This is a desert place,
and the hour is now past:
Send them away, that going into the next villages and towns, they may
buy themselves meat to eat. And he answering said to them: Give you
them to eat. And they said to him: Let us go and buy bread for two
hundred pence, and we will give them to eat. And he saith to them: How
many loaves have you? go and see. And when they knew, they say: Five,
and two fishes And he commanded them that they should make them all sit
down by companies upon the green grass.
And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties. And when he had
taken the five loaves, and the two fishes: looking up to heaven, he
blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave to his disciples to set before
them: and the two fishes he divided among them all. And they all did
eat, and had their fill. And they took up the leavings, twelve full
baskets of fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat, were
five thousand men.(Mark 6: 34-44)
Years ago I read a
piece by the famous British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, since
deceased. Muggeridge was an outstanding commentator and contributed
significantly to bringing the person of Mother Teresa to the attention
of the world. In his article he wrote that he always had the ambition
of being a light for others. From being an agnostic (perhaps even an
atheist) he came to embrace Catholicism, through, I think, his
association with Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Being a light - that was
his ambition. He became a light because of his Christian faith and the
talents he had to manifest it. Muggeridge’s article reminded me of the
world’s need for a light. In every generation there are numerous
persons clamouring for prominence and who claim in one way or another
to be a light. A communist regime holds control of a vast country and
refuses any other opinion. It believes itself to be the light for that
nation while itself being in darkness and doing much harm in the
process. A populist gains power through a country’s democratic
processes and gradually exploits his position to impose a dictatorship
in the name of a socialism for the sake of the poor. He regards himself
as the light for the people and proceeds to suppress freedoms and to
curtail the rights of the Church. He is oblivious to the darkness that
envelops him and which from him spreads to so many others. One of the
fascinating things to consider in human history is simply the
contrariety of viewpoints and firmly held convictions. People hold
diametrically opposed views with utter conviction as to their truth.
This recurring and almost universal phenomenon generation after
generation has led many philosophers and those influenced by them to
think that there is no such thing as an objective truth and that the
only truth is what is useful or preferable. Others implicitly accept
the possibility that opposite convictions may each be true. But the
absurdity of all this will not do.
The long and the
short of it is that the human race needs a Light from on high. In our
Gospel passage today we read that “As Jesus stepped ashore he saw a
large crowd, and he took pity on them because they were like sheep
without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length” (Mark 6: 34-44). The large crowd that
awaited our Lord we can surely view as an image of the world, except
for the fact that so very much of the world does not understand its
plight. But the world awaits its Teacher, and the Christian claim is
that Christ is the true Light of the world. This claim derives from
Christ himself. He claimed to be the Light of the world, and that
anyone who does not walk in the light which is him walks in the
darkness. Of course, the light of the Son of God pervades creation
because it is through him that all things come to be. But the point
here is that it is from him that man’s true light derives. Its source
is Jesus Christ the Son of God made man, and in our Gospel passage
today we have this very Person stepping forward to guide the crowds,
who were like sheep without a shepherd. Moreover, he was filled with
pity for them, symbolizing in the process the pity that fills the heart
of Christ for all men and for each of us as we search our way towards
salvation. Christ had no doubt about the matter, nor did he leave any
doubts in the minds of his disciples - he himself was the Light of the
world and the only Light. He was the only way to the Father. He is the
Way, the Truth and the Life. No other religious leader or philosopher
would have dared to make such claims, but Christ did so with calm and
consistent assurance. We who are his disciples similarly must bear calm
and unambiguous witness to the central role the Person of Jesus
occupies in our unceasingly troubled world. The great family of man is
like a vast concourse of sheep without a shepherd. Christ is the good
Shepherd who looks on all with compassion and who is the guide and the
light of each and all.
Let us place
ourselves in the company of Jesus and resolve to be his disciples in
real earnest. Let us understand very clearly that of ourselves we are
like sheep without a shepherd as is the world around us. Let us then
take our stand with him and resolve to bring others to the recognition
that in him we have the answer to our plight, an answer that has come
to us from above. That answer is the person of Jesus in whom, as St
Paul writes, is to be found every heavenly blessing.
(E.J.Tyler)
1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your mind.
2. You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 9) St.
Adrian of Canterbury (d. 710)
Though St. Adrian turned down a papal request to become Archbishop of
Canterbury, England, Pope St. Vitalian accepted the rejection on the
condition that Adrian serve as the Holy Father’s assistant and adviser.
Adrian accepted, but ended up spending most of his life and doing most
of his work in Canterbury. Born in Africa, Adrian was serving as an
abbot in Italy when the new Archbishop of Canterbury appointed him
abbot of the monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul in Canterbury. Thanks to
his leadership skills, the facility became one of the most important
centres of learning. The school attracted many outstanding scholars
from far and wide and produced numerous future bishops and archbishops.
Students reportedly learned Greek and Latin and spoke Latin as well as
their own native languages. Adrian taught at the school for 40 years.
He died there, probably in the year 710, and was buried in the
monastery. Several hundred years later, when reconstruction was being
done, Adrian’s body was discovered in an incorrupt state. As word
spread, people flocked to his tomb, which became famous for miracles.
Rumour had it that young schoolboys in trouble with their masters made
regular visits
there. (This on video)
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 John 4:11-18; Psalm 71; Mark 6:45-52
Jesus
immediately ordered his disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of
him to Bethsaida while he dismissed the people. When he had sent the
people off he went up the mountain to pray. When it was late the boat
was in the middle the Lake and himself alone on the land. It was about
the fourth watch of the night and seeing them in difficulty (for the
wind was against them) he came to them walking across the water, and
made as if to pass them by. When they saw him coming on the water they
thought it was a ghost and cried out for fear. Immediately he said to
them, “Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid.” He thereupon alighted
the boat and the wind ceased. They were dumbfounded, for they had not
understood the event of the loaves. Their minds were closed.(Mark 6:45-52)
There was a time
when the Argument from Design, or the Fifth Way of Aquinas, was
regarded as the simplest and clearest proof of the existence of God.
Two centuries ago Paley was writing of the proofs of the existence of
God and he used it at length. If you found a watch would you not think
that it required a designer? So too does the world
require a Designer. Fair enough, although rather than making it an
argument from the design that is seen in things, perhaps a better word
would be order. There is a radical order in the universe and it
requires an Orderer. The problem is that very many people are struck
not so much with the order in things (as against a radical chaos) but
with the degree of disorder everywhere. If God is all-powerful, could
he not have put better order into things? If this is the best he can
do, is he really what we mean by the infinite and all-good God?
Whatever about that response to an argument which while quite valid
needs constant refining, it is a response that reminds us once again of
the problem of evil and suffering. Why am I suffering this meaningless,
unnecessary and very painful circumstance? A large number of innocent
people alight a plane and it goes down in a terrible storm and all are
destroyed. Untold suffering visits their families. Disease, famine,
natural disasters, rampant terrorism strike right and left and reveal
the radical vulnerability of every visible thing. This disorder could
suggest, incidentally, that a principle of disorder has been introduced
from some other source. It could also suggest that the divine Orderer
has given to us his children an ongoing share in the work of ordering
the world in accord with his plan. In fact God has revealed this to be
the very case. Be that as it may, the problem of evil remains and the
human family yearns for a solution. Is there something concrete that
the human family can turn to in the midst of the disorder of the world,
and which will deliver man from the evil of his situation?
Yes indeed, there
is. In our Gospel today (Mark 6:45-52) we
are presented with the grand figure of Jesus. He has dismissed the
crowds after having effortlessly fed them to their entire satisfaction.
With a handful of food he fed thousands of people and there were
several baskets full of the scraps left over. Earlier he had cured
people of all kinds of debilitating sicknesses and diseases. Now he
sends them home and goes up the hill to pray by night, having sent his
disciples ahead of him to cross the Lake. He makes no mention of how he
will rejoin them. They do as he tells them and in the process of doing
so difficulties strike them. How typical of the situation of man! God
places him in this world with the gift of life and gives him his work
and responsibilities. He does what he is told to do, or perhaps he does
not. Whatever way, difficulties strike him. In our Gospel passage today
our Lord’s disciples are in the process of doing exactly what our Lord
asked them to do - which was to cross the Lake to the other side - and
they find themselves in difficulties. But lo! He comes to them in the
midst of their difficulties and in a way that would seem impossible.
How could it be expected that Christ would be with them far out on the
Lake in the midst of these bad conditions? It is a lesson for man in
all his situations. Christ now lives, and whatever was his power then
when he walked the earth, now that he is risen it is unrestricted by
all that relates to death. He lives in glory. Death and difficulty
cannot touch him. In his risen glory he is always near, near to us in
all our difficulties. Whatever be the storm and the trouble afflicting
man, Christ will be coming to him within that storm. He repeats to each
of us in our difficulty, “Have courage, it is I. Do not be afraid!” He
may not choose to banish the difficulty (but of course he may!), but he
who is the Saviour of the world will be there. He came to the disciples
during this Gospel scene, we can be assured that he will come to us.
With him by our side all will ultimately be well. We need not be
afraid. Christ is with me. As St Thomas More said, though I lose my
head I’ll come to no harm.
Let us look on the
difficulties of this life and the turmoil of the world in the light of
today’s Gospel. Christ the Redeemer of man is there in the midst of
every affliction. He has been through it all and understands. His own
sufferings were not taken away and those sufferings brought life to the
world. Let us take our stand with him placing our entire faith in him
whatever be our circumstances. With him we are safe. Separated from him
we are vulnerable indeed.
(E.J.Tyler)
1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your mind.
2. You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 10) St.
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 330-395)
The son of two
saints, Basil and Emmilia, young Gregory was raised by his older
brother, St. Basil the Great, and his sister, Macrina, in modern-day
Turkey. Gregory's success in his studies suggested great things were
ahead for him. After becoming a professor of rhetoric, he was persuaded
to devote his learning and efforts to the Church. By then married,
Gregory went on to study for the priesthood and become ordained (this
at a time when celibacy was not a matter of law for priests). He was
elected Bishop of Nyssa (in Lower Armenia) in 372, a period of great
tension over the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ.
Briefly arrested after being falsely accused of embezzling Church
funds, Gregory was restored to his see in 378, an act met with great
joy by his people. It was after the death of his beloved brother,
Basil, that Gregory really came into his own. He wrote with great
effectiveness against Arianism and other questionable doctrines,
gaining a reputation as a defender of orthodoxy. He was sent on
missions to counter other heresies and held a position of prominence at
the Council of Constantinople. His fine reputation stayed with him for
the remainder of his life, but over the centuries it gradually declined
as the authorship of his writings became less and less certain. But,
thanks to the work of scholars in the 20th century, his stature is once
again appreciated. Indeed, St. Gregory of Nyssa is seen not simply as a
pillar of orthodoxy but as one of the great contributors to the
mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism
itself. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 John 4: 19- 5:4; Psalm 71; Luke 4: 14-22
Jesus returned in
the power of the Spirit to Galilee and the fame of him went out through
the whole country. He taught in
their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth where he
was brought up and went into the synagogue, according to his custom, on
the Sabbath day. He stood up to read, and the book of Isaiah the
prophet was handed to him. As he unfolded the scroll he found the place
where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Therefore he
has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to
heal the contrite of heart, to preach deliverance to the captives and
sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward.” When he had
folded up the scroll he handed it to the leader and sat down. The eyes
of all in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to say to them:
“This scripture you have heard is this day fulfilled.” All gave
testimony to him and marvelled at the graceful words that flowed from
his lips, saying: “Is not this the son of Joseph?”(Luke 4:14-22)
One of the notable
features of our Gospel passage today is its vivid factual detail. At
the beginning of his Gospel St Luke carefully informs us that “many
have been at pains to set forth the history” of Jesus’ life and work,
based on “the tradition of those first eyewitnesses”. Luke too has
resolved to put the story in writing, and has “traced
it carefully from its first beginnings” (Luke 1:1-3). He means to write
history and at times he includes copious detail. Our scene today is
that of our Lord’s return to his hometown and the sensation his address
in the synagogue caused. So special was the event that Luke describes
it in detail. He tells us how our Lord went to the synagogue on the
Sabbath day as he had long been accustomed to. He describes how our
Lord stood up to read, how he was handed the scroll of the prophet
Isaiah - the book he was handed is actually specified - and how he
looked for a particular passage and found it. He then read it, folded
up the scroll, handed it back, sat down and proceeded to give an
arresting and profoundly moving address. All this detail!
(Luke 4:14-22) The scene is so
easy to imagine and it leads us to long to see the face of Jesus. We
can only conjecture where Luke obtained his information, but my strong
surmise is that it came from the mother of Jesus, the mother of the
early Church. Perhaps at the time of our Lord’s return she still
resided in Nazareth and perhaps he stayed with her in their old home.
Perhaps they went to the synagogue together with some of our Lord’s
disciples. There was Mary in the congregation listening to her divine
Son and observing the impact of his words. She would experience the
trauma of his rejection by his own town. But here we are presented with
the commanding and beautiful figure of Jesus of Nazareth presenting
himself with utter assurance as the one the prophet Isaiah had long
before foretold. I would be surprised if any individual had made such
claims before. In me you see the Messiah, he calmly announced. I am the
one God would send to redeem his people from their oppression, as
expressed in the figure painted by the prophet.
This Jesus who
presents himself so serenely and yet powerfully in the Gospel account
is not just a figure of the dim and distant past. He lives now. He is
risen from the dead and is God-with-us here in our age. He can be
located. He abides within the Church he founded and he is to be
encountered in the Church’s preaching, teaching and Sacraments. Those
who receive the Church’s Sacraments with faith live in him and he lives
in them. He is just as real now as he was in the synagogue of Nazareth
then. Knowing this, let us place ourselves in the synagogue of Nazareth
of long ago with the Gospel account filling the thoughts of our heart,
and let us gaze on the person of Jesus. We have the factual detail of
Luke’s account to aid us in our prayerful memory of him. More still,
let us take our place with Mary in that synagogue, perhaps with at
least a few of our Lord’s disciples or close relatives who became his
disciples also present. Let us listen to Jesus, hear the sound of his
voice and observe the serene and holy expression that filled his
countenance. There speaking before us is the Man of the ages. Behold
the Man! These would be the words of Pontius Pilate during his passion
and they are the words we can use to express our loving reverence.
Behold the Man, the Man who is at the same time God, God the Son become
man. What an unspeakable gift he is from God to humanity! The prophets
had promised, and the Scriptures recorded the coming gift of the
Messiah, but what a Messiah! Who would have guessed that the Messiah
would be God himself? The Christian religion is not just a system of
religious doctrine, or the revelation of a way to become holy. The
heart and soul of the Christian religion is a real and living person,
the person of Jesus Christ and the religion of the Christian is at its
heart a personal relationship with that person, Jesus Christ. In our
Gospel scene today this jewel of mankind, Jesus Christ, presents
himself to his own townspeople as the object of their yearnings. Sadly,
he was rejected. Let us not allow anything in us to be part of that
rejection.
Every day in the
life of the Christian ought be a new beginning in his relationship with
Jesus. Every day ought involve a fresh discovery of Christ’s grandeur
and beauty and love. This will only happen if we place ourselves daily
in the presence of Jesus and listen to him speaking to us above all in
the Gospel text. Let this Nazareth scene be a privileged place in which
to do this, as we gaze upon Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God, the
redeemer of man and the world.
(E.J.Tyler)
It is hard to read that question of Pilate's in the holy Gospel: 'Whom
do you wish me to release to you, Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called
Christ?' — It is more painful to hear the answer: 'Barabbas!'
And more terrible still when I realize that very often by going astray
I too have said 'Barabbas!' and added 'Christ?... Crucify him!'
(The Way, no.296)
Der Gott Jesu Christi by
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI]
"He saw that they were tossed about while rowing.. . About the fourth
watch of the night, he came toward them"
The apostles were crossing the lake. Jesus alone is on land, while they
are wearing themselves out in rowing without making any headway since
the wind is contrary. Jesus is praying and, in his prayer, he see them
struggling on. So he comes to meet them. Clearly this text is full of
ecclesiological symbols: the apostles on the sea with the wind against
them and the Lord with the Father. But what is decisive is that while
praying, when he is “with the Father”, he is not removed from them;
very much to the contrary, it is while praying that he sees them. When
Jesus is with the Father, he is present to the Church. The problem of
the final coming of Christ is here deepened and transformed in a
Trinitarian way: Jesus sees the Church in the Father and, by the
Father’s power and the strength of his communication with him, is
present to her. It is precisely this communication with the Father when
he is “on the mountain” that makes him present and, conversely, the
Church is, so to speak, the object of the encounter between Father and
Son and thus herself anchored in the Trinitarian life.
(from The Daily Gospel)
(January 11) Blessed
William Carter (d. 1584)
Born in London, William Carter entered the printing business at an
early age. For many years he served as apprentice to well-known
Catholic printers, one of whom served a prison sentence for persisting
in the Catholic faith. William himself served time in prison following
his arrest for "printing lewd [i.e., Catholic] pamphlets" as well as
possessing books upholding Catholicism. But even more, he offended
public officials by publishing works that aimed to keep Catholics firm
in their faith. Officials who searched his house found various
vestments and suspect books, and even managed to extract information
from William's distraught wife. Over the next 18 months William
remained in prison, suffering torture and learning of his wife's death.
He was eventually charged with printing and publishing the Treatise of
Schisme, which allegedly incited violence by Catholics and which was
said to have been written by a traitor and addressed to traitors. While
William calmly placed his trust in God, the jury met for only 15
minutes before reaching a verdict of "guilty." William, who made his
final confession to a priest who was being tried alongside him, was
hanged, drawn and quartered the following day: January 11, 1584. He was
beatified in 1987.
William gave his life for his efforts to encourage his brothers and
sisters to keep up the struggle. These days, our brothers and sisters
also need encouragement—not because their lives are at risk, but
because many other factors besiege their faith. They look to
us. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 John 5:5-13; Psalm
147; Luke 5: 12-16
It
happened that when Jesus was in a certain town a leper, seeing Jesus,
fell on his face and pleaded with him, saying: “Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean.” Stretching out his hand, he touched him, saying: “I
will. Be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him. He ordered him to
tell no one but “Go, show yourself to the priest and make an offering
for your cleansing as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But the
fame of him went abroad the more, and great multitudes came to listen
and to be healed of their infirmities. And he would retire into the
desert to pray. (Luke 5: 12-16)
Our age is striking
for its technological superiority. Consider any figure of one hundred
and fifty years ago - say, in England, the world’s leader in technology
- and ask what would have been his reaction had he had a glimpse of our
day. Were he to have had a glimpse of television, mobile phones,
computers, the Internet, air travel, modern medical
advances, how great would have been his astonishment! Yet despite this,
I cannot help doubting that in the main the lot of mankind has improved
very greatly - if we include the underdeveloped world. While great
numbers live in apparent security, great numbers certainly do not. Be
that as it may, there is no doubt that however much our technology
improves we still are creatures in absolutely radical need. Death can
be put off but it cannot be avoided. We remain inveterately vulnerable.
For this reason we can identify with the condition of the leper in our
Gospel passage today. Seeing Jesus he fell on his face and pleaded with
him, saying “Lord, if you will you can make me clean.” The leprosy of
this man we can view as symbolic of the condition of man at the various
levels of his existence, be it physical, emotional or spiritual. Let us
ask, though, are we so much as capable of offering the prayer that the
leper offered to Christ? Consider what am I suggesting. I am suggesting
that of course we ought recognize our need as did our leper in today’s
Gospel, but more importantly we ought ask ourselves if we are able to
pray as did the leper. He prayed immediately and unhesitatingly to
Christ that his leprosy be taken away. I wonder if many of us are able
to petition God with the faith that he had. Our problem, I am
convinced, is that all too often we do not pray with faith. We do not
have the faith to pray for what we need. In one of his books St
Alphonsus Ligouri writes that the reason why we do not receive much
more from God is that we ask so little from him. Why do we ask so
little from him? We ask for so little because we do not really and from
the heart believe that he is able or willing to answer our prayer.
This is why we need
to pray daily with the Gospel text in our hands, listening to and
gazing upon the figure of Jesus who said that he who sees him sees the
Father. The leper came to our Lord and told him from the heart that if
he so willed he could cure him of his leprosy. Do we truly believe that
God either wants to, or can, send rain to drought-stricken areas? Do we
truly believe that God wants to and can bring peace to, say, the Middle
East? If we believe this we shall pray for these very worthy
intentions, but if we do not believe it - though we may not admit this
to ourselves - then we shall hardly pray for them. Furthermore, we may
indeed believe in the value of praying for some personal intention or
need, or for the needs of a friend or relative, but it can be another
matter praying for the needs of the world. In my heart of hearts I may
think that (without formalizing the thought) this is impossible for
God. But Christ teaches time and again that all things are possible for
God. The leper came to him and asked him earnestly and genuinely to
cure him. He knew he could do it if he just willed it. The response
from our Lord was immediate: “I do indeed will it. Be cleansed.” It
strongly suggests that if only the entire Church would pray with
greater faith and perseverence, the world would be a significantly
better place through the power of God and the prayer of the Church.
However, there is this further point that the most important needs are
those of a spiritual and religious character. Our Gospel passage today
gives us one among many examples that could be cited from the Gospels
showing that our Lord, great and effortless as his miracles were, did
not see himself as primarily a miracle worker. He did not come
primarily to answer that need. He came to deal with the root problem
which is sin and alienation from God. One man may suffer from this
sickness, another man that. But all suffer from the primordial sickness
which spawns the rest of the evils striking mankind. That primordial
fault-line is the presence in man of sin.
Jesus is the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world. It is this which more than
anything he does for us, and yet at the same time he truly wills to
help us in our afflictions. The
problem is that all too often we do not believe that he wants to or
can. We need to learn from the leper in our Gospel passage today. He
uttered a wonderful prayer that wrought immediate fruit.
(E.J.Tyler)
All that, which worries you for the moment, is of relative importance.
What is of absolute importance is that you be happy, that you be saved.
(The Way, no.297)
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will
be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all
kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
(The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 12) St.
Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700)
“God closes a door and then opens a window,” people sometimes say when
dealing with their own disappointment or someone else’s. That was
certainly true in Marguerite’s case. Children from European as well as
Native American backgrounds in seventeenth-century Canada benefited
from her great zeal and unshakable trust in God’s providence. Born the
sixth of 12 children in Troyes, France, Marguerite at the age of 20
believed that she was called to religious life. Her applications to the
Carmelites and Poor Clares were unsuccessful. A priest friend suggested
that perhaps God had other plans for her. In 1654, the governor of the
French settlement in Canada visited his sister, an Augustinian canoness
in Troyes. Marguerite belonged to a sodality connected to that convent.
The governor invited her to come to Canada and start a school in
Ville-Marie (eventually the city of Montreal). When she arrived, the
colony numbered 200 people with a hospital and a Jesuit mission chapel.
Soon after starting a school, she realized her need for coworkers.
Returning to Troyes, she recruited a friend, Catherine Crolo, and two
other young women. In 1667 they added classes at their school for
Indian children. A second trip to France three years later resulted in
six more young women and a letter from King Louis XIV, authorizing the
school. The Congregation of Notre Dame was established in 1676 but its
members did not make formal religious profession until 1698 when their
Rule and constitutions were approved. Marguerite established a school
for Indian girls in Montreal. At the age of 69, she walked from
Montreal to Quebec in response to the bishop’s request to establish a
community of her sisters in that city. By the time she died, she was
referred to as the “Mother of the Colony.” Marguerite was canonized in
1982.
In his homily at her canonization, Pope John Paul II said, “...in
particular, she [Marguerite] contributed to building up that new
country [Canada], realizing the determining role of women, and she
diligently strove toward their formation in a deeply Christian spirit.”
He noted that she watched over her students with affection and
confidence “in order to prepare them to become wives and worthy
mothers, Christians, cultured, hard-working, radiant
mothers.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: 1 John 5:14-21;
Psalm 149; John 3:22-30
After
this Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea. There he
abode, and baptized. John also was baptizing in Ennon near Salim
because there was much water there. They came and were baptized for
John was not yet cast into prison. There arose a question between some
of John's disciples and the Jews concerning purification. They came to
John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan to
whom you testified is baptizing and all are going to him.” John
answered, “A man cannot receive any thing unless it be given him from
heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am not Christ
but that I am sent before him.’ He that has the bride is the
bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him
rejoices because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is
fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”(John 3:22-30)
Each of the Gospels
stresses the ministry of John the Baptist as the Precursor of the
Messiah. He pointed to Christ as the One who was coming, the promised
One. The people held John to be a prophet, and Christ confirmed their
conviction, telling the people that John was greater than all the
prophets before him. All this is manifest from the Gospels and most of all in the
Gospel of St John who had himself been a devoted disciple of the
Baptist. It is generally agreed that the Gospel of St John was the last
of the Gospels to be produced and I have often thought that the
extensive testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus is given there for
two purposes. It is given, firstly of course in order to set forth the
unique figure of Jesus and secondly, I suspect, to set straight the
record about the Baptist for those who continued long afterwards as his
disciples. It would seem that many who were profoundly influenced by
the teaching and holiness of John did not hear his testimony about
Jesus - although that many others did is clear from the Gospels. For
even before his enemies among the leaders our Lord appealed to the
testimony of John about him. Primarily, though, the Evangelist reports
the testimony of the Baptist about Jesus precisely for that: to testify
to the person of Jesus. The prophets before him had borne testimony to
the will, the plan and the promises of God which included the coming of
the Messiah. Many texts could be cited such as those of the Suffering
Servant in the book of Isaiah. But the Messiah was delineated there
without high precision. In John the Baptist the people had a prophet
who was able to indicate precisely and without any mistake just who the
Messiah was. He specified a particular individual and spoke of his
holiness, his greatness and his mission. He was extraordinarily
precise. He could see, and was being told, that “he who was with you
beyond the Jordan to whom you testified is baptizing and all are going
to him”, and his response was to testify even more to the person of
Jesus.
Consider John’s
testimony in our Gospel passage today
(John 3:22-30), and there is
further and even richer testimony in other passages. He reminds his
disciples that he has told them that, whatever might be their esteem of
him, he himself is not the Messiah. The one to whom “all are going” now
is the Messiah. His own mission has been to go before him and to
announce his arrival: “I am sent before him.” This Jesus to whom he had
testified is the bridegroom of God’s people and he, John, is no more
than the friend of the bridegroom. John’s reference to Jesus as “the
bridegroom” is somewhat remarkable. Our Lord referred to himself as the
bridegroom when approached by John’s disciples for an explanation as to
the apparent laxity of his disciples in respect to fasting. Christ is
the bridegroom. No other prophet had been referred to in that way,
indeed the only One certain prophets had called the bridegroom was God.
Yahweh is the bridegroom of his people, their husband. It would seem
that John the Baptist had been granted an extraordinary insight into
the person and mission of Jesus of Nazareth, his younger relative. He
calls him the Messiah and the bridegroom of the people. There are other
things John reveals about Jesus in other passages - such as that he is
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world - all of which
shows that John was indeed the greatest of the prophets in what had
been revealed to him by God about Jesus, and in what he then
prophetically revealed to the people and especially to some of his
disciples. At the conception and birth of Jesus Heaven had revealed
great things about Jesus to Mary his mother and to Joseph his
foster-father. But they had no mission to reveal this to the people.
Years later it was given to John to know many of these things and to
reveal them precisely in his office as prophet of God. In his humility
and his testimony he is a grand model for all of Christ’s disciples and
undoubtedly the authors of the Gospels regard him as such. That is to
say, as John testified to Jesus, so should we.
More than anything
the object of our Gospel passage today is the person of Jesus. He must
increase, we must decrease. We are friends of the bridegroom, and he,
Jesus of Nazareth, is the promised Messiah and the bridegroom of God’s
people. He is God the Son made man, the Second divine person, God from
God and Light from Light, mankind’s redeemer. Let us spend our lives
coming to know and love him and to bear witness to him every day to the
world around us.
(E.J.Tyler)
New lights! What joy you feel that God has let you 'discover' an old
discovery!
Make the most of the occasion: it is the moment to break into a hymn of
thanksgiving: it is also the moment to clean up odd corners of your
soul, to get out of some rut, to act more supernaturally, to avoid
giving bad example to your neighbour.
In a word: let your gratitude show itself in some concrete resolution.
(The Way, no.298)
The
Baptism of the Lord A (First Sunday in Ordinary Time A)
(January 13) St.
Hilary (315?-368)
This staunch defender of the divinity of Christ was a gentle and
courteous man, devoted to writing some of the greatest theology on the
Trinity, and was like his Master in being labeled a “disturber of the
peace.” In a very troubled period in the Church, his holiness was lived
out in both scholarship and controversy. Raised a pagan, he was
converted to Christianity when he met his God of nature in the
Scriptures. His wife was still living when he was chosen, against his
will, to be the bishop of Poitiers in France. He was soon taken up with
battling what became the scourge of the fourth century, Arianism, which
denied the divinity of Christ. The heresy spread rapidly. St. Jerome
said “The world groaned and marvelled to find that it was Arian.” When
Emperor Constantius ordered all the bishops of the West to sign a
condemnation of Athanasius, the great defender of the faith in the
East, Hilary refused and was banished from France to far off Phrygia.
Eventually he was called the “Athanasius of the West.” While writing in
exile, he was invited by some semi-Arians (hoping for reconciliation)
to a council the emperor called to counteract the Council of Nicea. But
Hilary predictably defended the Church, and when he sought public
debate with the heretical bishop who had exiled him, the Arians,
dreading the meeting and its outcome, pleaded with the emperor to send
this troublemaker back home. Hilary was welcomed by his
people.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: Isaiah 42: 1-4.6-7;
Psalm 29; Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38; Matt 3:13-17
Jesus
came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John
resisted him, saying “I ought to be baptized by you, and you come to
me?” Jesus answered him, “Allow it to be so for now. For it is fitting
that we fulfill all that is right.” Then he consented. Jesus being
baptized immediately came out of the water, and lo, the heavens were
opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming
upon him. And a voice from heaven, saying “This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.”(Matthew
3:13-17)
I once met a
scholar of the Mandaean religion, a religion which gives to John the
Baptist a very high status as a prophet. I think one could say that the
Mandaeans give to John the Baptist the status which Islam gives to
Mahomet. That is to say, he is the supreme prophet of God’s revelation
to his people. Of course, from the Christian perspective the Mandaeans
in their special veneration of John the Baptist are much nearer the
truth than Islam although the Christian goes on to say that the
Mandaeans have
completely misunderstood John the Baptist. The Mandaean scholar I
referred to - himself a Mandaean - was a very well educated man, having
reached the end of his second Ph.D when I met him. I have not studied
the history of the Mandaean religion but it reminds us of the very
great impact of John the Baptist and we read in the Acts of the
Apostles of Paul meeting various groups of disciples of John during his
travels. The Gospels provide us with important information about him.
He was indeed a great prophet, and Christ said of him that no one born
of woman was greater than he - but, he added, the least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater still. That is to say, however exalted might be
the Covenant of Abraham and Moses as represented by John its greatest
prophet, more exalted still is Covenant and Kingdom established by
Christ as represented by even the least of its children. John pointed
to what was coming and testified that it was far greater than the
blessings he enjoyed and represented. He was directing the attention of
the people and his disciples to the Messiah. Today, the feast of the
baptism of our Lord, we think of the public appearance of the Messiah
and the revelation of him by the Father and the Holy Spirit. It
occurred at his baptism by John in the river Jordan
(Matthew 3:13-17). In honouring the
baptism of John by his own participation our Lord was pointing to its
grand fulfilment in himself. He is the centrepiece of the scene. He,
the Son, is the gift of the Father and the Holy Spirit to God’s people
and to mankind and his reception of John’s baptism points to our
reception of Christ's baptism.
Scattered
throughout the New Testament are repeated references to the critical
importance of baptism into Christ. John the Baptist himself predicted
that while he baptized with water the Messiah who was already in their
midst would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In the Gospel
of St John our Lord tells Nicodemus that one cannot enter the Kingdom
of Heaven unless one is born again of water and the Spirit. Just before
he ascended into heaven our Lord charged his disciples to go to the
whole world and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. As St
Paul writes, at our baptism we are immersed in Christ and in particular
into his death and we emerge from that divine washing sharing in
Christ’s risen life. By that simple rite, provided it is performed as
the Church directs and with the Church’s intention, immense blessings
come to the soul. The presence and the guilt of sin is taken away and
the soul is embedded in Christ, spotless in a resplendent sinlessness.
We become members of his body the Church and his divine life pulses
thenceforth through our souls. But the tendency to sin remains though
the soul is endowed with gifts of grace to resist it. A great battle of
repeated falling and rising lies ahead if the soul is to grow in Christ
and attain the holiness intended by God. But the means of grace are at
hand in the life of the Church, especially in the Sacraments and the
ministry of the word. The feast of our Lord’s Baptism when Christ
identified with sinful man ought remind us of our own baptism when we
received the blessings won for us by Christ. We became children of God
and members of his family the Church, that Church founded on the
Apostles with Peter at their head. Our souls became filled with grace
and we were placed in Christ. We entered into him and he in us. Though
unseen and unheard, the Father said of each of us, this is my beloved
son, adopted by grace. The Holy Spirit came and rested upon us. We each
of us who were baptized received our vocation to become holy in Christ.
The baptism of Christ by
John in the river Jordan symbolized the sinless Christ’s oneness with
sinful humanity. He became one with us as the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world. That sin is taken away in the first instance
at Christian baptism. The Christian is empowered then and there to take
the fight to the enemy by renouncing sin and continuing that
renunciation daily. Let us bring the work to completion by making
personal holiness in Christ the project of our daily life.
(E.J.Tyler)
The
Baptism of the Lord A (First Sunday in Ordinary Time A)
(January 13) St.
Hilary (315?-368)
This staunch defender of the divinity of Christ was a gentle and
courteous man, devoted to writing some of the greatest theology on the
Trinity, and was like his Master in being labeled a “disturber of the
peace.” In a very troubled period in the Church, his holiness was lived
out in both scholarship and controversy. Raised a pagan, he was
converted to Christianity when he met his God of nature in the
Scriptures. His wife was still living when he was chosen, against his
will, to be the bishop of Poitiers in France. He was soon taken up with
battling what became the scourge of the fourth century, Arianism, which
denied the divinity of Christ. The heresy spread rapidly. St. Jerome
said “The world groaned and marvelled to find that it was Arian.” When
Emperor Constantius ordered all the bishops of the West to sign a
condemnation of Athanasius, the great defender of the faith in the
East, Hilary refused and was banished from France to far off Phrygia.
Eventually he was called the “Athanasius of the West.” While writing in
exile, he was invited by some semi-Arians (hoping for reconciliation)
to a council the emperor called to counteract the Council of Nicea. But
Hilary predictably defended the Church, and when he sought public
debate with the heretical bishop who had exiled him, the Arians,
dreading the meeting and its outcome, pleaded with the emperor to send
this troublemaker back home. Hilary was welcomed by his
people.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: Isaiah 42: 1-4.6-7;
Psalm 29; Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38; Matt 3:13-17
Jesus
came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John
resisted him, saying “I ought to be baptized by you, and you come to
me?” Jesus answered him, “Allow it to be so for now. For it is fitting
that we fulfill all that is right.” Then he consented. Jesus being
baptized immediately came out of the water, and lo, the heavens were
opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming
upon him. And a voice from heaven, saying “This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.”(Matthew
3:13-17)
I once met a
scholar of the Mandaean religion, a religion which gives to John the
Baptist a very high status as a prophet. I think one could say that the
Mandaeans give to John the Baptist the status which Islam gives to
Mahomet. That is to say, he is the supreme prophet of God’s revelation
to his people. Of course, from the Christian perspective the Mandaeans
in their special veneration of John the Baptist are much nearer the
truth than Islam although the Christian goes on to say that the
Mandaeans have
completely misunderstood John the Baptist. The Mandaean scholar I
referred to - himself a Mandaean - was a very well educated man, having
reached the end of his second Ph.D when I met him. I have not studied
the history of the Mandaean religion but it reminds us of the very
great impact of John the Baptist and we read in the Acts of the
Apostles of Paul meeting various groups of disciples of John during his
travels. The Gospels provide us with important information about him.
He was indeed a great prophet, and Christ said of him that no one born
of woman was greater than he - but, he added, the least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater still. That is to say, however exalted might be
the Covenant of Abraham and Moses as represented by John its greatest
prophet, more exalted still is Covenant and Kingdom established by
Christ as represented by even the least of its children. John pointed
to what was coming and testified that it was far greater than the
blessings he enjoyed and represented. He was directing the attention of
the people and his disciples to the Messiah. Today, the feast of the
baptism of our Lord, we think of the public appearance of the Messiah
and the revelation of him by the Father and the Holy Spirit. It
occurred at his baptism by John in the river Jordan
(Matthew 3:13-17). In honouring the
baptism of John by his own participation our Lord was pointing to its
grand fulfilment in himself. He is the centrepiece of the scene. He,
the Son, is the gift of the Father and the Holy Spirit to God’s people
and to mankind and his reception of John’s baptism points to our
reception of Christ's baptism.
Scattered
throughout the New Testament are repeated references to the critical
importance of baptism into Christ. John the Baptist himself predicted
that while he baptized with water the Messiah who was already in their
midst would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In the Gospel
of St John our Lord tells Nicodemus that one cannot enter the Kingdom
of Heaven unless one is born again of water and the Spirit. Just before
he ascended into heaven our Lord charged his disciples to go to the
whole world and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. As St
Paul writes, at our baptism we are immersed in Christ and in particular
into his death and we emerge from that divine washing sharing in
Christ’s risen life. By that simple rite, provided it is performed as
the Church directs and with the Church’s intention, immense blessings
come to the soul. The presence and the guilt of sin is taken away and
the soul is embedded in Christ, spotless in a resplendent sinlessness.
We become members of his body the Church and his divine life pulses
thenceforth through our souls. But the tendency to sin remains though
the soul is endowed with gifts of grace to resist it. A great battle of
repeated falling and rising lies ahead if the soul is to grow in Christ
and attain the holiness intended by God. But the means of grace are at
hand in the life of the Church, especially in the Sacraments and the
ministry of the word. The feast of our Lord’s Baptism when Christ
identified with sinful man ought remind us of our own baptism when we
received the blessings won for us by Christ. We became children of God
and members of his family the Church, that Church founded on the
Apostles with Peter at their head. Our souls became filled with grace
and we were placed in Christ. We entered into him and he in us. Though
unseen and unheard, the Father said of each of us, this is my beloved
son, adopted by grace. The Holy Spirit came and rested upon us. We each
of us who were baptized received our vocation to become holy in Christ.
The baptism of Christ by
John in the river Jordan symbolized the sinless Christ’s oneness with
sinful humanity. He became one with us as the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world. That sin is taken away in the first instance
at Christian baptism. The Christian is empowered then and there to take
the fight to the enemy by renouncing sin and continuing that
renunciation daily. Let us bring the work to completion by making
personal holiness in Christ the project of our daily life.
(E.J.Tyler)
(January 14) Servant
of God John the Gardener (d. 1501)
John was born of poor parents in Portugal. Orphaned early in life, he
spent some years begging from door to door. After finding work in Spain
as a shepherd, he shared the little he earned with those even more
needy than himself. One day two Franciscans encountered him on a
journey. Engaging him in conversation, they took a liking to the simple
man and invited him to come and work at their friary in Salamanca. He
readily accepted and was assigned to the task of assisting the brother
with gardening duties. A short time later John himself entered the
Franciscan Order and lived a life of prayer and meditation, fasting
constantly, spending the nights in prayer, still helping the poor.
Because of his work in the garden and the flowers he produced for the
altar, he became known as "the gardener." God favoured John with the
gift of prophecy and the ability to read hearts. Important persons,
including princes, came to the humble, ever-obedient friar for advice.
He was so loving towards all that he never wanted to take offense at
anything. His advice was that to forgive offences is an act of penance
most pleasing to God. He predicted the day of his own death: January
11, 1501. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: 1 Samuel 1:1-8;
Psalm 115; Mark 1:14-20
When John
was imprisoned, Jesus went into Galilee preaching the gospel of the
kingdom of God, saying: “The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of
God is at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.” Passing by the sea
of Galilee he saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the
sea (for they were fishermen). Jesus said to them: “Come after me, and
I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately leaving their nets they
followed him. Going on from there a little, he saw James the son of
Zebedee and John his brother who also were mending their nets in the
boat. Immediately he called them, and leaving their father Zebedee in
the boat with his hired men, they followed him.(Mark 1:14-20)
Decades ago in
Australia there was no thought of the study of religion being included
in the final examinations of High School. As I recall there was very
little opportunity to study for academic degrees in religion at
University level either. All that has changed. Religious studies is
widely taken at Secondary level and at least in New South Wales a great number of students
include it among their Higher School Certificate subjects. Very many do
studies in religion at University. Now, in general state Secondary and
University studies in religion are studies in comparative religion. For
the Christian student this offers positive opportunities and certain
negative ones. On the negative side the student can gradually form the
view that there is no objective falsehood in religion and that the
value of a religion lies in its appeal to one’s preferences. The reason
for its attraction will constitute its validity. That is to say the
search for truth in religion can be set aside as being subjective, or
peripheral, or even impossible. On the positive side for the Christian
student the comparative study of religion offers the chance to
appreciate the distinctiveness of the religion revealed by Christ. The
person of Christ can stand out the more when he is placed in the
context of the religions and thought systems of man. Our Gospel passage
today recording the beginning of our Lord’s public ministry can be
appreciated the more when we think of other leaders of thought and
religious life. No other prophet announced that a Kingdom was at hand,
God’s own Kingdom. The one exception to this was John the Baptist and
his announcement was a preparation for what Christ would announce. He
pointed to the person of Jesus. The other prophets pointed vaguely to
the future Kingdom. Christ announced its arrival: “The time has
arrived. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the Good
News.” And what other religious leader had ever announced that God had
come to establish on earth his Kingdom?
But more is
suggested in our Gospel passage (Mark 1:14-20).
Our Lord announces the arrival of the Kingdom and calls to himself
disciples. He goes to them and asks that they follow him. It was to be
a very personal following and not just an acceptance of his doctrine -
essential though that too would be. Typically a great religious leader
or thinker simply finds his disciples and students gathering around him
and they proceed to study and listen to his doctrine. But the object of
Christian discipleship is above all the following of a Person. He is
the object of their quest and their heart rests not simply in his
doctrine but above all in him. It is because of their faith and hope in
him and their love for him that they accept wholeheartedly his
doctrine. Christ calls his disciples not just to be his students, but
his personal friends. It is a one-to-one relationship with Jesus, but
as a community - which is to say, in his Church. The Christian life is
not just the mastery of Christ’s system of thought and perhaps passing
it on to others who enter the school. It is a life of love for him
leading to a personal following of him and, indeed, to an abandonment
of all that interferes with this personal following. “Come after me,”
Christ says to each of us. Enter into my company and friendship and as
my friend embrace and live according to my doctrine. Total belief in
what I teach even to the point of martyrdom will flow from faith in and
love for me and sharing my life. Moreover, part and parcel of sharing
my life will be seeking to draw others into my company, the Church. I
will help you become fishers of men so that they too will become my
friends. This personal friendship with Jesus which is at the heart of
the Christian religion is the result not simply of our personal
decision, but it has its roots in Christ’s choice of me and of us. He
chose us to be his friends. The Christian life consists in a total
response to this invitation. The great Christian is one who like these
first Apostles becomes totally attached to Christ.
Every day we ought
strive to hear anew the invitation Christ has extended to us. He says
to each of us, “Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men.” He has
chosen each baptized person to be his personal friend and on the basis
of that friendship, a friendship with the Son of God made man, we
accept and embrace his teaching as it comes to us in Scriptures and the
teaching of the Church he founded. Let us every day lay renew this
personal foundation of our Christian life.
(E.J.Tyler)
Your personal experience — those feelings of restlessness, despondency
and bitterness — makes you realise the truth of those words of Jesus:
no one can serve two masters!
(The Way, no.300)
1. Wisdom
2. Understanding
3. Counsel
4. Fortitude
5. Knowledge
6. Piety
7. Fear of the Lord
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 15) St.
Paul the Hermit (c. 233-345)
It is unclear what we really know of Paul's life, how much is fable,
how much fact. Paul was reportedly born in Egypt, where he was orphaned
by age 15. He was also a learned and devout young man. During the
persecution of Decius in Egypt in the year 250, Paul was forced to hide
in the home of a friend. Fearing a brother-in-law would betray him, he
fled in a cave in the desert. His plan was to return once the
persecution ended, but the sweetness of solitude and heavenly
contemplation convinced him to stay. He went on to live in that cave
for the next 90 years. A nearby spring gave him drink, a palm tree
furnished him clothing and nourishment. After 21 years of solitude a
bird began bringing him half of a loaf of bread each day. Without
knowing what was happening in the world, Paul prayed that the world
would become a better place. St. Anthony attests to his holy life and
death. Tempted by the thought that no one had served God in the
wilderness longer than he, Anthony was led by God to find Paul and
acknowledge him as a man more perfect than himself. The raven that day
brought a whole loaf of bread instead of the usual half. As Paul
predicted, Anthony would return to bury his new friend. Thought to have
been about 112 when he died, Paul is known as the "First Hermit." His
feast day is celebrated in the East; he is also commemorated in the
Coptic and Armenian rites of the Mass.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: 1 Samuel 1: 9-20; 1
Samuel 2; Mark 1: 21-28
They
entered Capharnaum and immediately going into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day Jesus began to teach. They were astonished at his doctrine,
for he taught them as one having authority and not like the scribes.
Now there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he
cried out, “What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you
come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Jesus
threatened him, saying: “Speak no more, and go out of the man.” The
unclean spirit convulsed him, and crying out with a loud voice went out
of him. They were all amazed and they questioned among themselves,
saying: “What is this? What is this new doctrine? With authority he
commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” And his fame
spread immediately throughout all of Galilee.(Mark 1: 21-28)
There are two
things we notice about the activity of our Lord as reported in our
Gospel passage today. Firstly, we see that he teaches. There are
countless forms of wonderful service that the stream of mankind is
engaged in, and the Son of God made man could have come to serve man in
any one of them. For the years of his hidden life our
Lord served as a carpenter-builder, but once his public mission began
his work was to teach, to teach and preach the word of God as the
Prophet long foretold. Let us notice that his distinguishing
characteristic precisely as a teacher in the eyes of the people was his
authority. His authority as a teacher appeared to be supreme. While
other rabbis and scribes quoted authorities and supporting opinions,
Jesus deferred to no one. In his capacity as teacher he spoke and acted
as if his own authority was supreme and as if, to use the common
expression, no one could hold a candle to him. John the Baptist, even
before our Lord had so much as begun his ministry and before he had
something of a record to his credit, had said that he himself was not
worthy even to undo his sandal straps. We read in the Gospels how if
any of the leaders of the people chose to challenge him they were
effortlessly worsted in debate. He silenced them all to the extent that
finally no one, we read in the Gospels, dared to question him further.
Indeed, if we think of the broad sweep of human history it would be
difficult to think of any other individual who claimed and exercised
such authority to teach as did Jesus. It provoked a tremendous jealousy
among the leaders of the people, which even Pilate could see when they
brought Christ before him. But there is a second feature of Christ’s
ministry which our passage today highlights. It is his sheer power. I
do no mean a power over others derived from political or sociological
influence. I mean his power over nature and over the supernatural. He
effortlessly dominated and silenced the unseen demons. Whence came the
power? It was innate to him because of his divine nature. He was God.
But now, the
wonderful thing is that this same Jesus lives still in his entire
reality and he continues to teach and to exercise the power he
manifested then. Take any teacher of the past, any great religious
founder, any philosopher or theorist. He is dead and it is his teaching
that lives on in the minds of those who choose to study his thought and
writings. But Christ is not dead. He is alive and alive not just in his
spirit but in his entire spiritual and bodily reality - but of course
unseen. Christ rose from the dead and lives now. But where is he? Where
can he be located and reached? Where does he continue to act just as he
acted in our Gospel passage today? His abode is the Church he founded.
His House, his Temple, his body is the Church he founded on Peter. “You
are Peter,” he solemnly said to Simon, “and on this rock I will build
my Church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. I give to you
the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven.” The Christ of the Gospels abides in his Church and
the Church’s purpose is to enable whoever wishes to approach Christ and
to live in union with him to be able to do so. The Church’s purpose is
to bring her treasure which is Christ to the world. The world’s
everlasting jewel is the person of Jesus, and he dwells among us still
in all his risen reality, and he does so in his body the Church. It is
through the ministry of his Church that he comes to abide in the hearts
of the baptized. What is Christ doing in the life of the Church? He is
doing what he did in our Gospel scene today (Mark
1: 21-28)
but at a deeper and more significant level. He teaches the word
of God with all authority and he does this above all in the teaching of
the Church and in the Church’s own Book, the Holy Scriptures. He
exercises his saving power in the channels of grace which are the
Sacraments. In each of the Sacraments it is Christ who is encountered.
It is there that he drives out sin and Satan and fills the soul with
his life. All this is to say that the Christ of the Gospels lives and
ministers still in his Church, and the Church is nothing other than his
body, he her head.
The exciting thing
about the Church and about being a member of the Church is that the
living and real person of Jesus is there in the Church’s midst. The
Church is Christ’s creation. He is the life and the centre of the
Church’s ministry. It is he who teaches when the Church teaches. It is
he who acts when the Sacraments are administered. It is he who preaches
when the authorized pastors of the Church preach. He is the head and we
the Church’s members make up his body. Let us realize where our great
treasure is, and that in and through us the Church brings him to the
world.
(E.J.Tyler)
A secret, an open secret: these world crises are crises of saints.
God wants a handful of men 'of his own' in every human activity. And
then... 'pax Christi in regno Christi — the peace of Christ in the
kingdom of Christ'.
(The Way, no.301)
(January 16) St.
Berard
and Companions (d. 1220)
Preaching the gospel is often dangerous work. Leaving one’s homeland
and adjusting to new cultures, governments and languages is difficult
enough; but martyrdom sometimes caps all the other sacrifices. In 1219
with the blessing of St. Francis, Berard left Italy with Peter, Adjute,
Accurs, Odo and Vitalis to preach in Morocco. En route in Spain Vitalis
became sick and commanded the other friars to continue their mission
without him. They tried preaching in Seville, then in Muslim hands, but
made no converts. They went on to Morocco where they preached in the
marketplace. The friars were immediately apprehended and ordered to
leave the country; they refused. When they began preaching again, an
exasperated sultan ordered them executed. After enduring severe
beatings and declining various bribes to renounce their faith in Jesus
Christ, the friars were beheaded by the sultan himself on January 16,
1220. These were the first Franciscan martyrs. When Francis heard of
their deaths, he exclaimed, "Now I can truly say that I have five
Friars Minor!" Their relics were brought to Portugal where they
prompted a young Augustinian canon to join the Franciscans and set off
for Morocco the next year. That young man was Anthony of Padua. These
five martyrs were canonized in 1481.
Before St. Francis, the Rules of religious orders made no mention of
preaching to the Muslims. In the Rule of 1223, Francis wrote: "Those
brothers who, by divine inspiration, desire to go among the Saracens
and other nonbelievers should ask permission from their ministers
provincial. But the ministers should not grant permission except to
those whom they consider fit to be sent" (Chapter
12).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 Samuel
3:1-10.19-20; Psalm 39; Mark 1:29-39
Then
going out of the synagogue he came with James and John to the house of
Simon and Andrew. Simon's wife's mother lay in a fit of a fever: and
immediately they told him of her. Coming to her he lifted her up,
taking her by the hand; and immediately the fever left her and she
served them. Then when it was evening, after sunset, they brought to
him all who were ill and possessed by devils and the whole town
gathered at the door. He healed many who were troubled with various
diseases and he cast out many devils, not allowing them to speak
because they knew who he was. Rising very early, he went out into a
desert place and there he prayed. Simon and those who were with him
followed him and when they had found him said to him, “All are looking
for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go into the neighbouring towns
and cities, that I may preach there also; for to this purpose have I
come.” And he continued preaching in their synagogues and in all of
Galilee, casting out devils.(Mark
1:29-39)
Our Gospel scene
today opens with Jesus effortlessly dealing with the burdens and
afflictions of the people. He enters the house of Simon and Andrew and
at their request he cures Simon’s mother-in-law of her fever by just
taking her hand. She rose and proceeded to wait on them. Then after
sunset (when people had finished the day’s work) all who were ill and
possessed by devils were brought to him at the door of the house. He
healed them and expelled the demons. Early in the morning he rose and
went out alone to pray, and Simon
and his companions sought him out. They then made, I would suggest, a
very significant statement: “All are looking for you.” All wanted him
and saw in him the answer for all their needs, as indeed he was. They
wanted him to stay with them. With him among them all would be well.
Setting aside the issue of their inadequate notion of what our Lord had
come to do for them and what they were seeking him for, those words are
surely symbolic of the world’s need for Christ. “All are looking for
you.” Whether it realizes it or not, the world seeks and needs God and
wants God to stay. But where is God? I remember watching a brief debate
between a very intelligent Anglican bishop and an atheist. The bishop
dealt well with all the atheist’s objections, but one point I remember
especially well among his remarks was his answer to the question, who
is God? He replied, “God is Jesus.” The bishop’s point was that God can
be located and precisely identified in space and time. As St Paul
writes, in Christ dwells the fullness of the godhead bodily. All this
is to say that the world, without knowing it, seeks and needs the
person of Jesus. So the words of Simon and his companions are very
potent: “All are looking for you.” They wanted him to stay with them.
But what was Christ’s answer? It was that he had to go. He had to move
on and leave them for the sake of many others. “For this purpose have I
come” that the others too may hear me, know me, and be blessed as a
result.
And so Christ moved
on “preaching in their synagogues and in all of Galilee, casting out
devils” (Mark 1:29-39). He could
not stay constantly in the company of particular communities of the
children of Israel such as Capernaum. He was constantly moving on. This
was a necessary condition of his becoming man. The Incarnation involved
dwelling among men as man, but being constantly at a bit of a distance,
as it were. He was limited by space and time. He was the treasure of
each man, the treasure of his people (though many would not accept
this) and the treasure of the world, and yet he had to be moving on for
the sake of the others who needed him. “All are looking for you”, but
Christ could not stay. If they wanted to be with the Saviour, they had
to physically follow him and often vast crowds did follow him. Now, all
this changed with his death, his resurrection, his ascension and then
the descent of the Holy Spirit to the Church. The risen Christ then
remained with each of his disciples while being able to continue to
move on. All those looking for him were then able to remain with him.
The risen living Jesus now abides within his body the Church and every
member of the Church can be with him constantly and in full intimacy.
Wherever the Church built on the Apostles with Peter at their head is
to be found, there the whole, living, risen and bodily (though unseen)
Christ dwells. He is present in the Church’s preaching and teaching and
in her Sacraments. When the Church pronounces and teaches the word of
God (and here I especially include the teaching of the Pope and Bishops
in union with him) there is the unseen Christ present and teaching.
Wherever the Mass is celebrated and the Eucharist administered, there
is Christ present in his fullness. The person in the state of grace
enjoys the presence of Christ dwelling within him, together with that
of the Father and the Holy Spirit. All this is to say that while during
his earthly life Christ had to move on, now he remains present for each
and every believer. He truly is God-with-us. He moves on to others by
means of the Church’s witness and missionary work, but he stays with
each of us to be our life and our salvation. He had to move on then. He
never leaves us now. To the cry, “all are seeking you” he now answers,
I am with you forever.
Let us be filled
with the thought of the blessing we have in the person of Christ. He is
our all, and we can say with Simon Peter, “all are looking for you,”
including each of us. His reply to each of us is, I shall stay with you
forever as your Saviour and your God. I shall never leave you because I
abide to the end in the Church which is my body and of which you are
members. I must move on to preach and be with all others, but you I
shall never leave. Let us treasure our membership in Christ’s Church,
for by the plan of God where the Church is, there is Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
Your Crucifix. — As a Christian, you should always carry your Crucifix
with you. And place it on your desk. And kiss it before going to bed
and when you wake up: and when your poor body rebels against your soul,
kiss it again.
(The Way, no.302)
1. You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and
remain free from work or activity that could impede the sanctification
of such days.
2. You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
3. You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the
Easter season.
4. You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by
the Church.
5. You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 17) St.
Anthony of Egypt, Abbot (251-356)
The life of Anthony will remind many people of
St. Francis of Assisi. At 20, Anthony was so moved by the Gospel
message, “Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor” (Mark
10:21b), that he actually did just that with his large inheritance. He
is different from Francis in that most of Anthony’s life was spent in
solitude. He saw the world completely covered with snares, and gave the
Church and the world the witness of solitary asceticism, great personal
mortification and prayer. But no saint is antisocial, and Anthony drew
many people to himself for spiritual healing and guidance. At 54, he
responded to many requests and founded a sort of monastery of scattered
cells. Again like Francis, he had great fear of “stately buildings and
well-laden tables.” At 60, he hoped to be a martyr in the renewed Roman
persecution of 311, fearlessly exposing himself to danger while giving
moral and material support to those in prison. At 88, he was fighting
the Arian heresy, that massive trauma from which it took the Church
centuries to recover. “The mule kicking over the altar” denied the
divinity of Christ. Anthony is associated in art with a T-shaped cross,
a pig and a book. The pig and the cross are symbols of his valiant
warfare with the devil—the cross his constant means of power over evil
spirits, the pig a symbol of the devil himself. The book recalls his
preference for “the book of nature” over the printed word. Anthony died
in solitude at 105.
In an age that smiles at the notion of devils and
angels, a person known for having power over evil spirits must at least
make us pause. And in a day when people speak of life as a “rat race,”
one who devotes a whole life to solitude and prayer points to an
essential of the Christian life in all ages. Anthony’s hermit life
reminds us of the absoluteness of our break with sin and the totality
of our commitment to Christ. Even in God’s good world, there is another
world whose false values constantly tempt us.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 Samuel 4:1-11;
Psalm 43; Mark 1:40-45
There
came a leper beseeching him, and kneeling down he said to Jesus, “If
you will you can make me clean.” Jesus felt compassion for him and
stretched forth his hand and touching him, said, “I do will it. Be made
clean.” Having spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was
clean. He strictly charged him, and immediately sent him off telling
him, “See you tell no one; but go and show yourself to the high priest
and offer in testimony for your cleansing what Moses commanded. But
having gone, he began to broadcast everything everywhere so that Jesus
could not openly go into the city, but remained out in desert places.
They flocked to him from all sides.(Mark
1:40-45)
Our Gospel scene
opens today with the poignant spectacle of a leper in all his
impossible predicament coming and actually kneeling down before Jesus
to ask him for a healing. His prayer is heartfelt, it is worthy, it
presents a true and pressing need, and it is full of faith. He tells
Jesus that “if you will, you can make me clean.” It evoked the power
and compassion of Jesus and at a word he cured him: “I do will it.
Become clean!” Immediately the leprosy disappeared. This entire scene
prompts many thoughts, but one
is this - and it is an ever-recurring thought in a very broken world.
Our Lord had the power and he certainly had the compassion, why then
did he not seek out the rest of the lepers in the land and do something
for them? Numerous persons afflicted with various diseases were brought
to him or sought him out and he cured them. Well then, why did he not
go further and do something for those others who did not make personal
contact with him? What was he doing all those years in Nazareth quietly
working at his trade? He could have been out and about curing people of
their afflictions and raising even more people from the dead and so
bringing consolation to so many - just as he did for the widow of Nain.
It is the old question of, where was God when people were suffering?
Was he asleep during the holocaust? Did he exist? Consider our Gospel
passage again and notice that when our Lord did cure the leper he
“strictly charged him” him not to tell anyone about it: “See you tell
no one.” It looks as if, much as our Lord responded to the afflictions
of people who came for him to take them away, that was not the
essential mission he had come to fulfil. The lifting of suffering had
its place in his work but it was not the fundamental need to be met. In
fact the leper did what our Lord told him not to do - he broadcast
everything. The result was that hoards of people came seeking our Lord
to get him to take away their sufferings. The result? The Gospel tells
us that “Jesus could not openly go into the city, but remained out in
desert places. They flocked to him from all sides.”(Mark 1:40-45)
All this is
instructive. Our Gospel scene shows that Christ had a greater goal and
one that allowed for the presence of suffering. His goal, as the
Scriptures make clear, was as the Lamb of God to take away the root
cause of the evils in the world, which is sin. He came to fix the
universe at its core and that core problem is man’s sin. Christ
suffered and died and then rose from the dead, having in this
unexpected and mysterious way implanted at the heart of the world the
principle that would gradually make all things new. That principle is
redemption and the gift of the Holy Spirit. But what of suffering after
the root problem was dealt with? It is still not eliminated, indicating
that the elimination of suffering from human life is not the first
priority in the plan of God, though God wants us, in union with Christ
(who said “I do will it. Be clean”), to do all we can to alleviate and
lessen it. Suffering is still with us even though the Messiah has come
and gone. There are forms of Christian spirituality which in the face
of suffering simply respond by praying for healing as did the leper.
They see no other response than that of the leper and the crowds that
sought our Lord for him to take away their afflictions. But no.
Suffering has not been taken away. Rather it has been given a new
meaning and possibility. There is a far richer spirituality, a fuller
putting on of the mind of Christ in the face of suffering, and the
saints knew how to live it. Their sufferings were the means of deep
union with Christ who suffered and died for sin. Christ himself
suffered beyond imagining and his sufferings were essential to his life
and mission. Suffering is redemptive and sanctifying if it is marked by
union with Christ. Just as Christ’s highest and greatest moment was the
moment of his obedient suffering, so too the Christian’s greatest
moments are those when he suffers in union with Christ. Great as is the
blessing of being freed of our suffering - if God grants this blessing
- greater still is the blessing of suffering with Christ for our own
sanctification and for the redemption of the world.
It is clear from
the life and work of Christ that though God hates to see his children
suffer, and though he commands us to do all we can for those who do
suffer - and our judgment by God will depend on it - nevertheless, the
presence of suffering does not prevent the triumph of good. Indeed, God
in Christ has transformed suffering from being a pointless burden to
being a means of new life. This is what Christ did through his obedient
suffering. And so the mark of a true disciple of Christ? It is to take
up one’s cross every day and to follow in Christ’s footsteps, right to
Calvary. If we suffer and die with Christ we shall experience the power
of his resurrection and contribute in and with Christ to the redemption
of the world.
(E.J.Tyler)
1. Feed the hungry.
2. Give drink to the thirsty.
3. Clothe the naked.
4. Shelter the homeless.
5. Visit the sick.
6. Visit the imprisoned.
7. Bury the dead.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 18) St.
Charles of Sezze (1613-1670)
Charles thought that God was calling him to be a missionary in India,
but he never got there. God had something better for this 17th-century
successor to Brother Juniper. Born in Sezze, southeast of Rome, Charles
was inspired by the lives of Salvator Horta and Paschal Baylon to
become a Franciscan; he did that in 1635. Charles tells us in his
autobiography, "Our Lord put in my heart a determination to become a
lay brother with a great desire to be poor and to beg alms for his
love." Charles served as cook, porter, sacristan, gardener and beggar
at various friaries in Italy. In some ways, he was "an accident waiting
to happen." He once started a huge fire in the kitchen when the oil in
which he was frying onions burst into flames. One story shows how
thoroughly Charles adopted the spirit of St. Francis. The superior
ordered Charles — then porter — to give food only to traveling friars
who came to the door. Charles obeyed this direction; simultaneously the
alms to the friars decreased. Charles convinced the superior the two
facts were related. When the friars resumed giving goods to all who
asked at the door, alms to the friars increased also. At the direction
of his confessor Charles wrote his autobiography, The Grandeurs of the
Mercies of God. He also wrote several other spiritual books. He made
good use of his various spiritual directors throughout the years; they
helped him discern which of Charles’ ideas or ambitions were from God.
Charles himself was sought out for spiritual advice. The dying Pope
Clement IX called Charles to his bedside for a blessing. Charles had a
firm sense of God’s providence. Father Severino Gori has said, "By word
and example he recalled in all the need of pursuing only that which is
eternal" (Leonard Perotti, St. Charles of Sezze: An Autobiography, page
215). He died at San Francesco a Ripa in Rome and was buried there.
Pope John XXIII canonized him in 1959.
The drama in the lives of the saints is mostly interior. Charles’ life
was spectacular only in his cooperation with God’s grace. He was
captivated by God’s majesty and great mercy to all of us. Father Gori
says that the autobiography of Charles "stands as a very strong
refutation of the opinion, quite common among religious people, that
saints are born saints, that they are privileged right from their first
appearance on this earth. This is not so. Saints become saints in the
usual way, due to the generous fidelity of their correspondence to
divine grace. They had to fight just as we do, and more so, against
their passions, the world and the devil" (St. Charles of Sezze: An
Autobiography, page viii). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 Samuel 8:4-7.10-22;
Psalm 88; Mark 2:1-12
After some days
Jesus again returned to Capharnaum. People learnt that he was in the
house and so many came together that there was no room, not even at the
door. He preached the word to
them. A person sick with the palsy was brought to him carried by four.
When they could not reach him because of the crowd they uncovered the
roof where he was, and opening it they let down the bed on which the
man sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the
palsied man “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” There were some of the
scribes sitting there who thought in their hearts, “Why does this man
speak thus? he is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins, but God only?”
Jesus immediately knew that they were thinking thus and he said to
them, “Why are you thinking thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to
say to the palsied man ‘Your sins are forgiven you’ or to say ‘Arise,
take up your bed, and walk?’” But that you may know that the Son of man
has power on earth to forgive sins, (he said to the sick man,) I say to
you “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he
arose, and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all, so that
all wondered and glorified God, saying “We have never seen the like.”(Mark 2:1-12)
It is generally
recognized that the Gospel of St Mark is really the Gospel of St Peter,
which is to say that Mark was Peter’s companion and assistant, and that
the Gospel he wrote was the record of Peter’s teaching and preaching
(probably at Rome). Well then, let us notice a detail in our passage
today. It contains the first great shock that our Lord gave to “the
scribes”, according to the recollection of St Peter as recorded in
Mark’s account. The occasion was our Lord’s calm, assured, unhesitating
and very public forgiveness of sin. He was in the presence of a great
number of people. The sick were everywhere and scribes of the Law were
included in the throng listening to Jesus teach and heal. This occasion
included the first great surprise to the scribes of what we might call
a doctrinal character that led to their rejection of Jesus. Jesus
forgave the palsied man his sins - which is to say that he uttered the
words “Your sins are forgiven” in such a way as to indicate
unmistakeably that on his own authority he was forgiving sins. He was
not just declaring that in view of the repentance of the palsied man
God had forgiven him his sins. He was taking God’s place and doing what
belonged exclusively to God to do. The scribes had not objected to what
the Baptist had done and what initially our Lord’s disciples also had
done. This was to administer a rite in which a person declared his sins
in a spirit of repentance, and was then washed in a baptism that
indicated faith in God’s pardon. No, what Jesus did here was very
different. He read the heart of the sick man and forthwith personally
and with unhesitating authority forgave his sins as would God himself.
John the Baptist had not done this, nor had any prophet in the history
of God’s people. It was a display of singular power and authority in
the life of God’s chosen people and it startled the scribes, who
thought “Why does this man speak thus? He is blaspheming. Who can
forgive sins, but God alone?” They saw the implications immediately. It
was an omen of more to come. In Mark’s account (and therefore in
Peter’s recollection) this happened early in our Lord’s public ministry
and it was part of a piece in our Lord’s extraordinary claims.
“Why does this man
speak thus? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
(Mark 2:1-12) This is a response
that has been heard at various times in the Church’s long ministry of
the forgiveness of sins. Before our Lord began his ministry John the
Baptist pointed him out to his disciples as the Lamb of God who would
take away the sin of the world. The forgiveness of sin was at the
forefront of Christ’s mission. He forgave the sins of various people
during his public ministry as a sign of what was to come. The
forgiveness of sins is a principal benefit of the Kingdom of God and
those who enter the Kingdom, as present in the Church Christ founded,
have access to this inestimable benefit. On the first day our Lord rose
from the dead he appeared to the Eleven and breathed on them the gift
of the Holy Spirit and entrusted them with a share in his mission. Then
what did he do? He gave to them the power to forgive sins: “whose sins
you forgive, they are forgiven them.” Christ entrusted to the Apostles
a share in this power which he exercised repeatedly during his public
ministry, which no other before him had presumed to exercise, and which
was part and parcel of his unfolding claim to be the very Son of God.
The Apostles were endowed with this ministry and it is transmitted from
them to all those who receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders in the life
of the Church. Thus it is that the forgiveness of sins is so readily
available to all the Church’s faithful. It is available in the
Sacrament of Penance administered by the ordained priest through whom
Christ continues to forgive sins. The forgiveness of sin occurs in the
first instance, of course, at the moment of baptism. It occurs in
various other ways too, such as when a person makes what the Church
calls a genuine and true act of contrition. But repeatedly and easily
and completely and with power it is available in the Sacrament of
Penance. All of Christ’s faithful, all the Church’s children ought to
receive this Sacrament repeatedly and often and, of course, with true
repentance. The Catholic Church has insisted on this Sacrament and has
condemned in the past those who have denied its legitimacy.
“Your sins are
forgiven you”, Christ said to the sick man. The response of the scribes
was, “Why does this man speak thus? Who can forgive sins but God
alone?” Christ as present in his body the Church continues to forgive
sins through the ordained priest. He does so in the Sacrament of
Penance, a Sacrament we should devoutly and with gratitude avail
ourselves of all through life on our path to holiness in Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
1. Counsel the doubtful.
2. Instruct the ignorant.
3. Admonish sinners.
4. Comfort the afflicted.
5. Forgive offences.
6. Bear wrongs patiently.
7. Pray for the living and the dead.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
(January 19) St.
Fabian (c. 250)
Fabian was a
Roman layman who came into the city from his farm one day as clergy and
people were preparing to elect a new pope. Eusebius, a Church
historian, says a dove flew in and settled on the head of Fabian. This
sign united the votes of clergy and laity and he was chosen
unanimously. He led the Church for 14 years and died a martyr’s death
during the persecution of Decius in a.d. 250. St. Cyprian wrote to his
successor that Fabian was an “incomparable” man whose glory in death
matched the holiness and purity of his life. In the catacombs of St.
Callistus, the stone that covered Fabian’s grave may still be seen,
broken into four pieces, bearing the Greek words, “Fabian, bishop,
martyr.”
We can go
confidently into the future and accept the change that growth demands
only if we have firm roots in the past, in a living tradition. A few
pieces of stone in Rome are a reminder to us that we are bearers of 20
centuries of a living tradition of faith and courage in living the life
of Christ and showing it to the world. We have brothers and sisters who
have “gone before us marked with the sign of faith,” as the First
Eucharistic Prayer puts it, to light the way for us. “The blood of the
martyrs is the seed of the Church”
(Tertullian).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 Samuel 9:1-4,
17-19; 10:1; Psalm 21:2-7; Mark 2:13-17
Jesus
went forth again to the sea side and all the multitude came to him, and
he taught them. When he was passing by he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus
sitting at the receipt of custom and he said to him, “Follow me.” And
rising up, he followed him. It came to pass that as he sat at table in
his house many publicans and sinners sat together with Jesus and his
disciples, for they were many who also followed him. The scribes and
the Pharisees, seeing that he ate with publicans and sinners, said to
his disciples, “Why does your master eat and drink with publicans and
sinners?” Jesus hearing this said to them, “Those who are well have no
need of a physician, but those who are sick do. I came not to call the
just, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17)
Surely any observer
would recognize that one of the mightiest phenomena of the world’s
history is the fact of Christianity. Its enormous spread and influence
and especially its power to penetrate cultures and its force for good
and holiness of life all make of it the worthiest subject of study and
consideration. But of course the study and consideration of
Christianity means in the first instance the study and contemplation of
the person of Christ. By any standards he is a giant of history, while
of course if one judges as a Christian, Christ is the giant of history
with whom no one can compare. The gospels enable us to enter his mind
and draw near to him at the level of the heart. He says, “come to me
all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest. Learn
from me for I am meek and humble of heart.” He invites us to draw near
to him, to learn from him, and to take our rest in him, and we must do
this as to a living person and not just to a distant figure of the past
who remains a model and teacher through historical records. Christ
lives and we contemplate his person in the gospels so as to know the
mind and the heart and the action of the living Jesus. Well then, let
us observe what he is doing in our Gospel passage today. The great
phenomenon of Christianity began in simple, ordinary events. Jesus
passes by the office of a tax collector, Levi the son of Alphaeus
(probably Matthew the evangelist), and simply asks him to follow him:
“Follow me”, he said. Jesus disregards the opprobrium attached to
Levi’s profession and wins his heart. That is to say, he loves him and
honours him with the invitation to be part of his company and mission.
Christ loves the one in the lowly spot and lifts him up, in this case
raising him to friendship with him. Levi will go on to write the
wonderful First Gospel and through that Gospel will present Christ to
the Church and to the world till the end of time. Jesus is the One who
loves sinners and who calls them to repent and to be part of his
company.
Our Lord’s call to
Levi and Levi’s immediate acceptance of the call led to the surprising
event - surprising to the scribes and the Pharisees - of our Lord
dining and mixing with a concourse of tax collectors and sinners. We
read that “it came to pass that as he sat at table in his house many
publicans and sinners sat together with Jesus and his disciples, for
they were many who also followed him” (Mark
2:13-17). Our Lord was in the midst of some of the most
disreputable people in the country and was showing perfect ease in this
situation. The tax collectors and the sinners who were dining and, we
might say, partying in his presence, felt at ease with him and felt
loved by him. They loved him. This was, perhaps, one of the
distinguishing features of Jesus precisely as a prophet. He attracted
sinners and showed that he loved them and liked being with them,
provided, of course, they understood that he expected of them
repentance from sin. The sinful woman entered the house of the Pharisee
where she knew Jesus was dining, and proceeded to pour oil on his head
and to wash his feet with her tears. She felt at ease in his presence
and felt loved by him. She went away with her sins forgiven and
undoubtedly with her life changed. Zacchaeus the leading tax collector
ran ahead and climbed the Sycamore tree to see Jesus who, when he
arrived at the tree, looked up and (undoubtedly with a smile) invited
himself to Zacchaeus’s home for dinner. Zacchaeus was completely
converted by the love for him that Jesus, the all-holy prophet, showed.
We notice too that whenever a Pharisee invited our Lord to his house to
dine there as a guest he willingly accepted, thus showing his love for
them too. But our Lord did not find in them the recognition that they
were sinners. They resisted and were hostile to his corrections. They
were like the Pharisee in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican
praying in the Temple. Our Lord’s love and holiness could not penetrate
their pride and jealousy.
Christ tells us in
our Gospel passage today that he came to call sinners. That means us.
He comes to call us to his friendship. This means sharing his life,
accepting totally his doctrine, and living in his company which is the
Church he founded. What we get is the inestimable benefit of his
friendship and the singular privilege of sharing in his mission. We
grow in his friendship by daily prayer and the work of our life, both
done out of love for him. We engage in his mission everyday through the
theatre of our work and any other apostolates we are led to participate
in. Let us then firmly resolve to follow Jesus who came to call sinners
to himself.
(E.J.Tyler)
Prayers this week:
May all the earth give
you worship and praise, and break into song to your name, O God, Most
High.(Psalm 65: 4) Father
of heaven and earth, hear our prayers and show us the way to peace in
the world. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(January 20) St.
Sebastian (257?-288?)
Nothing is historically certain about St.
Sebastian except that he was a Roman martyr, was venerated in Milan
even in the time of St. Ambrose and was buried on the Appian Way,
probably near the present Basilica of St. Sebastian. Devotion to him
spread rapidly, and he is mentioned in several martyrologies as early
as AD 350. The legend of St. Sebastian is important in art, and there
is a vast iconography. Scholars now agree that a pious fable has
Sebastian entering the Roman army because only there could he assist
the martyrs without arousing suspicion. Finally he was found out,
hauled before Emperor Diocletian and delivered to Mauritanian archers
to be shot to death. His body was pierced with arrows, and he was left
for dead. But he was found still alive by those who came to bury him.
He recovered, but refused to flee. One day he took up a position near
where the emperor was to pass. He accosted the emperor, denouncing him
for his cruelty to Christians. This time the sentence of death was
carried out. Sebastian was beaten to death with clubs.
The fact that
many of the early saints made such a tremendous impression on the
Church—awakening widespread devotion and great praise from the greatest
writers of the Church—is proof of the heroism of their lives. As has
been said, legends may not be literally true. Yet they may express the
very substance of the faith and courage evident in the lives of these
heroes and heroines of Christ.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
The next
day John saw Jesus coming to him and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God,
behold the One who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom
I said, ‘After me there comes a man who is preferred before me because
he was before me.’ I did not know him, but it is in order that he may
be manifest in Israel that I have come baptizing with water.” John gave
his testimony, saying: “I saw the Spirit coming down as a dove from
heaven and he remained upon him. And I did not know him. But he who
sent me to baptize with water said to me: ‘The one upon whom you will
see the Spirit descending and remaining, he is the One who baptizes
with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and have given testimony that this is
the Son of God.”(John 1:29-34)
It is well known to
any reader of the New Testament that the inspired authors gave a
special prominence to the person and testimony of John the Baptist. He
was accepted by the people as a prophet and Christ confirmed
that he was the greatest of the prophets. The New Testament makes it
abundantly clear that he formally testified both to Jesus himself as
the long awaited Messiah and to his mission. It seems that some who at
one point or other had been disciples of John were not aware that he
had identified Jesus as the Christ, and we read in both Acts 18:25 and
Acts 19:1-5 of their being made aware of this by Christians. Perhaps
the Baptist had had disciples who came and went at various points
during his ministry, and had not heard his testimony about Jesus. One
does not gain the impression, incidentally, that John the Baptist
sought disciples as such, but rather that they sought him. His humility
may have led him readily to allow or encourage them to pass on from him
and we see an instance of this in the first chapter of St John when two
of his disciples leave his presence to go after Jesus. His mission was
to bear witness to Jesus and once he had done this he surely saw Jesus
as the Master to whom all disciples ought go. In this respect he was
very different from our Lord who sought disciples and who taught that
life would be theirs if they remained his disciples always whatever
might be the cost. Life for the Christian is to be a total love for and
following of Jesus the Master. Indeed, the very mission of his Church
would be to go to the whole world and make of all the nations his
ardent and loving disciples. John pointed to the one who is to be at
the centre stage of every human life. Our Gospel passage today (John 1:29-34) presents John’s amazing
prediction about One who was still unknown to the public. It sums up in
what we might call embryonic form the teaching of John’s Gospel about
Jesus because John tells us that he wrote his Gospel so that the reader
“may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that
believing this” he “may have life through his name.” (John 20:31).
Well, this is exactly what in seminal form the Baptist said of Christ
before our Lord showed himself publicly.
Just as all his
life John the Evangelist lovingly remembered and meditated on the words
and testimony of the Baptist about Christ, so too ought we. Let us
think of the scene of our Lord walking towards John the Baptist and
then the Baptist saying to a few of his disciples nearby that there was
the Lamb of God. He would take away the sin of the world. What an
extraordinary thing to say, said by a great prophet of one who was
nearby and who was as yet unknown in a public sense, a statement made
of no other person in the Old Testament to that point. He takes away
the sin of the world! He is God’s Lamb, hinting at the idea of
sacrifice, a sacrificial Lamb, a Lamb of God perhaps in the sense that
God himself had provided the Lamb. It seems to intimate the Suffering
Servant of Yahweh presented in the book of Isaiah, and that this
particular individual coming to him is all of that. The image of the
Lamb of God contains in seminal form the doctrine that this man Jesus
is the Messiah and the Suffering Servant whom God had sent to atone for
the sins of the world by his sufferings and death, which in the event
was death on the Cross. It was an extraordinary light given to him and
for good reason did Christ state that John was the greatest of the
prophets. But there is more. Not only is Jesus the Lamb of God who as
sacrificed takes away the sin of the world, but he is the one who
fulfils the prophecy of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on mankind.
The prophet Joel (3:1-5) had prophesied that this baptism of the Spirit
of God would occur, and John the Baptist now states that he saw the
Spirit of God descending on Jesus, and that he had then been told by
God that he is the one who would pour out on others this baptism of the
Holy Spirit. In seminal form it predicted not only the redemptive
sufferings of Jesus but his sending of the Holy Spirit to mankind,
which in the event would follow his resurrection and ascension, and
which would be done by means of the ministry of his Church of which he
is the Head. To crown it all, John the Baptist solemnly affirmed that
Jesus is the Son of God.
In embryonic form
and perhaps without realizing fully all the implications of his
inspired prophecy John gave testimony not only to the doctrine of the
Atonement from sin but to the doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus is the Son
of God. Thus it was that prior to our Lord’s public ministry the Good
News of Jesus Christ had been already intimated. This Good News would
be made more and more public by our Lord himself. His redemptive death
would be in witness to the truth about himself. Let us embrace in our
hearts the person of Christ and his truth, and then be faithful to it
every day. He is the only Saviour of the world, the Lamb of God who was
sacrificed for the sin of the world, the one who gives the Holy Spirit
to mankind through the ministry of his Church, the Son of God and Lord
of lords. Let us live for him and bear witness to him, with John the
Baptist as our inspiration.
(E.J.Tyler)
(January 21) Saint
Agnes, virgin and martyr (d. 258?)
Almost nothing is known of this saint except that she was very young—12
or 13—when she was martyred in the last half of the third century.
Various modes of death have been suggested—beheading, burning,
strangling. Legend has it she was a beautiful girl whom many young men
wanted to marry. Among those she refused, one reported her to the
authorities as being a Christian. She was arrested and confined to a
house of prostitution. The legend continues that a man who looked upon
her lustfully lost his sight and had it restored by her prayer. She was
condemned, executed and buried near Rome in a catacomb that eventually
was named after her. The daughter of Constantine built a basilica in
her honour.
Like that of modern Maria Goretti, the martyrdom of a virginal young
girl made a deep impression on a society enslaved to a materialistic
outlook. Like Agatha, who died in similar circumstances, Agnes is a
symbol that holiness does not depend on length of years, experience or
human effort. It is a gift God offers to all. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: 1 Samuel 15:16-23;
Psalm 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23; Mark 2:18-22
The
disciples of both John and the Pharisees used to fast. People came to
Jesus and said to him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the
Pharisees fast; but your disciples do not?” Jesus said to them, “Can
the wedding guests fast as long as the bridegroom is with them? As long
as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days
will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they
will fast. No man sews a piece of raw cloth on to an old garment.
Otherwise the new piece pulls away from the old and a greater rent is
made. And no man puts new wine into old skins. If he does the wine
bursts the skins and the wine is spilt and the skins lost. New wine
must be put into new skins.”(Mark 2:18-22)
There are
indications in the Gospels that for many people Christ was
disconcerting in the newness of his person, his religious style, and of
course his practice and doctrine. He did not observe a number of the
Sabbath prescriptions laid down by the scribes and the Pharisees,
saying that they were the traditions of men and not the Law of God - and indeed that in the
process of observing their own traditions the Pharisees were
disregarding the weightier matters of the Law. There were many other
things too, such as his calm and sovereign forgiveness of sin. Examples
could be given of the newness of his doctrine, such as, for instance,
that while it had been said that one must not commit adultery, he,
however, lays it down that anyone who even looks at another lustfully
already commits adultery in his heart. Most new was his teaching about
himself. In our Gospel today people approach him puzzled at the
apparent laxity of his disciples at least by comparison with the
disciples of John and the Pharisees. His disciples did not seem to
fast. Why was that? Our Lord’s reply confirmed the newness which his
presence constituted. There is nothing wrong with fasting - on the
contrary, his disciples would in due course be fasting. But now is not
the time because they have him in their midst. A reply such as this
once again reveals the uniqueness of Jesus and points to him as the
object of revealed religion (Mark 2:18-22).
The fast of John and the Pharisees is meant to direct the attention and
the life of their disciples to God through renunciation from that which
can distract them. But with Jesus present among them, there is present
in their midst the very object of their life. At this point there is no
danger of their being distracted from him because he is there before
them, he the bridegroom. Our Lord’s reply sets forth his own very
person as being the centre of religion. Moreover, in describing himself
as the bridegroom he is intimating, insinuating, that he himself is far
more than any prophet or religious guide as was John or any one of the
Pharisees. As all knew, the word bridegroom is a word
used of God in the Old Testament and Christ claims here to be the
'bridegroom'. John the Baptist had used this term of Christ too.
Just as Yahweh God
is the centre of revealed religion for he is the bridegroom of his
people, so too is Jesus. He is present among them to be seen and his
presence is a cause of rejoicing. It points to St Paul’s directive that
the Christian is to rejoice. “Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say,
rejoice!” The complaint that our Lord was not insisting on notable
fasts among his disciples not only drew forth his emphasis on the
uniqueness and place in religion of his own very person. It also
illustrated the joy which his presence brings. The Christian life ought
always involve joy and the foundation of Christian joy is the presence
of Jesus. Whatever be the situation a Christian finds himself in, his
life ought be marked by joy. The source of this joy is that the
Christian is in Jesus and Jesus is in him. So it is a joy no one can
take away, and if the Christian is not living a life of joy then Christ
does not yet occupy the place in his life which he should. This joy can
coexist with suffering because Christ will be especially present when
he is suffering. Not only that, but - mysteriously - suffering is a
most special time when Christ will be present provided that time of
suffering is characterised by the desire to accept and do the will of
God. The saint finds his deepest joy in being constantly near to Christ
as Christ makes his way to Calvary. In his own suffering the saint
unites himself to Christ on the Cross, and therein lies his surest joy.
It is the joy that comes from love and union with the Beloved. Christ
said that if anyone wishes to be his disciple he must take up his cross
daily and follow in his footsteps. Every Christian is called to
discover in lived practice this secret to joy in Christ. The bridegroom
is present. However, our Lord makes it clear to those who approached
him that while he did not instruct his disciples to fast while he was
with them, fasting will certainly be part of his life when he is gone.
For when he is gone from sight, then the Christian can be tempted to
lose sight of Christ in his heart. So self-denial is an essential part
of the life of the Christian now, and the lives of the saints show
this. Their lives are lives of joy and the cross.
In one of his Letters St
Paul tells us what is the mystery now revealed. It is “Christ in you,
your hope of glory!” By our baptism and membership in his Church we
live in Christ by grace. He is with us, he the bridegroom of the
Church, and the bridegroom of our souls. Therefore, as St Paul says, we
should rejoice in the Lord always. He is near and with us always, in
good times and in bad. But we on our part must put in our best efforts
to remain with Christ and faithful to him, living a life of true
self-denial. Christ has gone from our sight, and so we do now fast.
(E.J.Tyler)
That supernatural mode of conduct is a truly military tactic.
You carry on the war — the daily struggles of your interior — far from
the main walls of your fortress.
And the enemy meets you there: in your small mortifications, your
customary prayer, your methodical work, your plan of life: and with
difficulty will he come close to the easily-scaled battlements of your
castle. And if he does come, he comes exhausted.
(The Way, no.307)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (Spe Salvi, 30 Nov. ‘07)
TO THE BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND DEACONS, MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS, AND ALL
THE LAY FAITHFUL ON CHRISTIAN HOPE
Introduction
1. “SPE SALVI facti sumus”—in hope we were saved, says Saint Paul to
the Romans, and likewise to us (Rom 8:24). According to the Christian
faith, “redemption”—salvation—is not simply a given. Redemption is
offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy
hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if
it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if
we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to
justify the effort of the journey. Now the question immediately arises:
what sort of hope could ever justify the statement that, on the basis
of that hope and simply because it exists, we are redeemed? And what
sort of certainty is involved here?
(Continuing)
(January 22) St. Vincent
(d. 304)
When Jesus deliberately began his “journey” to death, Luke says that he
“set his face” to go to Jerusalem. It is this quality of rocklike
courage that distinguishes the martyrs. Most of what we know about this
saint comes from the poet Prudentius. His Acts have been rather freely
colored by the imagination of their compiler. But St. Augustine, in one
of his sermons on St. Vincent, speaks of having the Acts of his
martyrdom before him. We are at least sure of his name, his being a
deacon, the place of his death and burial. According to the story we
have (and as with some of the other early martyrs the unusual devotion
he inspired must have had a basis in a very heroic life), Vincent was
ordained deacon by his friend St. Valerius of Saragossa in Spain. The
Roman emperors had published their edicts against the clergy in 303,
and the following year against the laity. Vincent and his bishop were
imprisoned in Valencia. Hunger and torture failed to break them. Like
the youths in the fiery furnace (Book of Daniel, chapter three), they
seemed to thrive on suffering. Valerius was sent into exile, and Dacian
now turned the full force of his fury on Vincent. Tortures that sound
like those of World War II were tried. But their main effect was the
progressive disintegration of Dacian himself. He had the torturers
beaten because they failed. Finally he suggested a compromise: Would
Vincent at least give up the sacred books to be burned according to the
emperor’s edict? He would not. Torture on the gridiron continued, the
prisoner remaining courageous, the torturer losing control of himself.
Vincent was thrown into a filthy prison cell—and converted the jailer.
Dacian wept with rage, but strangely enough, ordered the prisoner to be
given some rest. Friends among the faithful came to visit him, but he
was to have no earthly rest. When they finally settled him on a
comfortable bed, he went to his eternal rest.
“Wherever it was that Christians were put to death, their executions
did not bear the semblance of a triumph. Exteriorly they did not differ
in the least from the executions of common criminals. But the moral
grandeur of a martyr is essentially the same, whether he preserved his
constancy in the arena before thousands of raving spectators or whether
he perfected his martyrdom forsaken by all upon a pitiless flayer’s
field” (The Roman Catacombs, Hertling-Kirschbaum).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: 1 Samuel 16:1-13;
Psalm 89:20, 21-22, 27-28; Mark 2:23-28
It
happened that as the Lord walked through the corn fields on the Sabbath
his disciples went ahead to pluck the ears of corn. The Pharisees said
to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath
day?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and
his companions were hungry and needed to eat? How he went into the
house of God, under Abiathar the high priest, and ate the loaves of
proposition which only the priests were allowed to do, and then gave to
them who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for
man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord of
the Sabbath also.”(Mark 2:23-28)
There is no getting
away from it. In passage after passage of the Gospels Jesus makes
extraordinary personal claims and in this he is like no other prophet.
In the case of the prophets, their claims were far beyond the ordinary,
but essentially their claims came down to having received a revelation
from God. The prophets of the Old Testament up to
John in the New claimed that God had spoken to them and had sent them
to his people with a message. Generally the message was a call to
repent or else either a great opportunity would be missed or a great
punishment would be suffered. In the process of this warning the
prophet would remind the people of what God had revealed about himself
and his covenant and he might perhaps contribute to this revelation -
such as in the prophecies of Daniel about the Son of Man or those of
Isaiah about the Suffering Servant. But except for the fact that the
prophets claimed to have received a particular revelation they did not
direct the attention of their hearers to themselves. They themselves
were not part of the revelation. The revelation was about Yahweh and
they the prophets were merely his servants. But the case is very
different with Jesus of Nazareth. He was accepted by the people as a
prophet, and John the prophet before him had borne testimony to him.
Now, John’s testimony pointed above all to the very person of Jesus.
Elijah had passed on his mantle to Elisha who received, as it were, a
double portion of his prophetic spirit. In this particular respect we
could even see a likeness between those two prophets and John and
Jesus. But again, the case is very different. Neither Elijah nor Elisha
pointed to themselves. John pointed to Christ, and Christ pointed to
himself. He pointed to himself as the only way to the Father. He is the
Way, the Truth and the Life. No one could come to the Father except
through him. The prophetic process stopped with Christ. All pointed to
him and he pointed to himself. He who sees me, he stated, sees the
Father. Our Gospel passage today is one such instance of this(Mark 2:23-28).
One could say that
a very great deal of the living of Jewish religion hinged around the
observance of the Sabbath. It celebrated communally the very fact of
the one and only God on whom the entire creation depended for its
existence. At the end of his work of creation, we read in Genesis, God
rested, and the Sabbath rest was given over to the acknowledgment of
God’s reality and that all creation depended on him. The Sabbath bore
witness to God’s lordship. It was sacred and great efforts were
expended to preserve its sacredness in the life of the chosen people -
in fact, as we read in the Gospels, these efforts ran aground with
numerous abuses. The entire Sabbath was often smothered with man-made
rules. Our Gospel passage today reports the Pharisees complaining to
our Lord that his disciples were violating the Sabbath rest by picking
ears of corn as they passed through the fields. Our Lord’s reply? They
had forgotten to consider Scripture itself (as in David’s action) and
how the Scriptures portray the observance of the Sabbath. God
instituted the Sabbath to help man and not to oppress him, to help man
to honour him and not to crush him. But more still, the Pharisees were
to understand that he, the Son of Man (a title, surely, alluding to
Daniel’s prophecies), that he was the Lord of the Sabbath. No one in
all Judaism would have claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath. No
prophet ever claimed this, not even Moses who received the Ten
Commandments from God, including the third which stipulated the
observance of the Sabbath. Only Christ claimed to be the Lord of the
Sabbath itself, and he claimed this with the effortless assurance that
was characteristic of his many other claims. It was a claim
unparalleled in the Old Testament, having no precedent, yet Christ made
it with simple and sovereign serenity. He was the Sabbath’s Lord - and
he was speaking here of the Jewish Sabbath. Of course, within the life
of Christ’s Church the new Sabbath (Sunday) has Christ as its Lord and
living Object, but here we are merely considering the person of Jesus
in view of his claims.
At the end of the
Gospel of St John the risen Jesus appears to the Eleven and turns to
Thomas, who had not believed their testimony that he had risen from the
dead. He shows Thomas his wounds, and Thomas adores him. He adores him
as God, saying, “My Lord and my God!” Our Gospel passage today is one
among the numerous striking indicators of his transcendent and unique
status among the children of men. He is even the Lord of the Sabbath.
(E.J.Tyler)
You write: 'My joy and my peace. I will never have real happiness if I
have not peace. And what is peace? Peace is something closely
related to war. Peace is a consequence of victory. Peace demands of me
a continual struggle. Without a struggle I will never have peace.'
(The Way, no.308)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
Faith is Hope
2. Before turning our attention to these timely questions, we must
listen a little more closely to the Bible's testimony on hope. “Hope”,
in fact, is a key word in Biblical faith—so much so that in several
passages the words “faith” and “hope” seem interchangeable. Thus the
Letter to the Hebrews closely links the “fullness of faith” (10:22) to
“the confession of our hope without wavering” (10:23). Likewise, when
the First Letter of Peter exhorts Christians to be always ready to give
an answer concerning the logos—the meaning and the reason—of their hope
(cf. 3:15), “hope” is equivalent to “faith”. We see how decisively the
self-understanding of the early Christians was shaped by their having
received the gift of a trustworthy hope, when we compare the Christian
life with life prior to faith, or with the situation of the followers
of other religions. Paul reminds the Ephesians that before their
encounter with Christ they were “without hope and without God in the
world” (Eph 2:12). Of course he knew they had had gods, he knew they
had had a religion, but their gods had proved questionable, and no hope
emerged from their contradictory myths. Notwithstanding their gods,
they were “without God” and consequently found themselves in a dark
world, facing a dark future. In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus
(How quickly we fall back from nothing to nothing) (1) so says an epitaph
of that period. In this phrase we see in no uncertain terms the point
Paul was making. In the same vein he says to the Thessalonians: you
must not “grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Th 4:13). Here too
we see as a distinguishing mark of Christians the fact that they have a
future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but
they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness.
Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become
possible to live the present as well. So now we can say: Christianity
was not only “good news”—the communication of a hitherto unknown
content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not
only “informative” but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not
merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes
things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the
future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently;
the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.
(Continuing)
(January 23) Blessed
Mother Marianne Cope (1838-1918)
Though leprosy scared off most people in 19th-century Hawaii, that
disease sparked great generosity in the woman who came to be known as
Mother Marianne of Molokai. Her
courage helped tremendously to improve the lives of its victims in
Hawaii, a territory annexed to the United States during her lifetime
(1898). Mother Marianne’s generosity and courage were celebrated at her
May 14, 2005, beatification in Rome. She was a woman who spoke “the
language of truth and love” to the world, said Cardinal Jose Saraiva
Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. Cardinal
Martins, who presided at the beatification Mass in St. Peter’s
Basilica, called her life “a wonderful work of divine grace.” Speaking
of her special love for persons suffering from leprosy, he said, “She
saw in them the suffering face of Jesus. Like the Good Samaritan, she
became their mother.” On January 23, 1838, a daughter was born to Peter
and Barbara Cope of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany. The girl was named after
her mother. Two years later the Cope family immigrated to the United
States and settled in Utica, New York. Young Barbara worked in a
factory until August 1862, when she went to the Sisters of the Third
Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York. After profession in
November of the next year, she began teaching at Assumption parish
school. Marianne held the post of superior in several places and was
twice the novice mistress of her congregation. A natural leader, three
different times she was superior of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse,
where she learned much that would be useful during her years in Hawaii.
Elected provincial in 1877, Mother Marianne was unanimously re-elected
in 1881. Two years later the Hawaiian government was searching for
someone to run the Kakaako Receiving Station for people suspected of
having leprosy. More than 50 religious communities in the United States
and Canada were asked. When the request was put to the Syracuse
sisters, 35 of them volunteered immediately. On October 22, 1883,
Mother Marianne and six other sisters left for Hawaii where they took
charge of the Kakaako Receiving Station outside Honolulu; on the island
of Maui they also opened a hospital and a school for girls. In 1888,
Mother Marianne and two sisters went to Molokai to open a home for
“unprotected women and girls” there. The Hawaiian government was quite
hesitant to send women for this difficult assignment; they need not
have worried about Mother Marianne! On Molokai she took charge of the
home that Blessed Damien DeVeuster (d. 1889) had established for men
and boys. Mother Marianne changed life on Molokai by introducing
cleanliness, pride and fun to the colony. Bright scarves and pretty
dresses for the women were part of her approach.
Awarded the Royal Order of Kapiolani by the Hawaiian government and
celebrated in a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Mother Marianne
continued her work faithfully. Her sisters have attracted vocations
among the Hawaiian people and still work on Molokai. Mother Marianne
died on August 9, 1918.
The government authorities were reluctant to allow Mother Marianne to
be a mother on Molokai. Thirty years of dedication proved their fears
unfounded. God grants gifts regardless of human short-sightedness and
allows those gifts to flower for the sake of the kingdom. Soon after
Mother Marianne died, Mrs. John F. Bowler wrote in the Honolulu
Advertiser, “Seldom has the opportunity come to a woman to devote every
hour of 30 years to the mothering of people isolated by law from the
rest of the world. She risked her own life in all that time, faced
everything with unflinching courage and smiled sweetly through it
all.”
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 Samuel 17:32-33,
37, 40-51; Psalm 144:1b, 2, 9-10; Mark 3:1-6
Jesus
went into the synagogue again and there was a man there who had a
withered hand. They watched him whether he would heal on the Sabbath
day in order that they might accuse him. He said to the man who had the
withered hand, “Stand up in the middle.” And he said to them, “Is it
lawful to do good on the Sabbath day, or to do evil? to save life, or
to destroy it?” But they remained silent. And looking round on them
with anger, being grieved for the blindness of their hearts, he said to
the man, “Stretch forth your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand
was restored to him.” And the Pharisees going out immediately made
plans with the Herodians as to how they might destroy him. (Mark 3:1-6)
John Henry Newman,
the great leader of the Anglican Oxford Movement in nineteenth century
England and future Cardinal of the Catholic Church, was once visited
during his Oxford years by members of Cambridge University. He was told
about various persons at Cambridge, and he replied that their problem
was that they lacked fear. He meant by this that their
image of God was of one who is entirely “benevolent” and from whom,
therefore, there is nothing ever to fear. They lacked a sense of the
wrath and anger of God in respect to unrepented and deliberate sin. In
various of his discourses he attacked the prevalent image of God as of
One who is simply “benevolent” and from whom nothing could be expected
other than happiness - despite deliberate sin. Indeed, he wrote, there
was a widespread assumption that a moral God (in the very nature of the
case) could only be “benevolent” and that a good God could not be
judgmental and punishing of wrongdoing. In his various sermons he spoke
at times of the loving kindness of God, and at other times of his anger
and judgments and made the point that the infinite richness of God
includes both his boundless love and his holy abhorrence of sin.
Scripture illustrates time and again the holy anger of the all-loving
God in respect to sin - difficult though it might be to express this
theologically and philosophically. But it is by no means unimportant,
for Newman says elsewhere that the first principle of religion itself
is the thought of a judgment, which evokes fear. The thought of being
sentenced to Hell for serious and unrepented sin can lead a person to
turn to the all-loving God who is our Father. All this is to say that
it is part of divine revelation that in a sense analogous to human
indignation God is angered by unrepented and deliberate sin and that it
is deeply offensive to him. His anger at sin is shown in his judgments,
and his judgment on sin is likewise part of divine revelation. The
answer to the fact of sin is not to deny that it offends God, but
genuinely to repent of it and thus to discover his infinite love.
We surely catch a
glimpse of this in our Gospel scene today in which our Lord is
portrayed as being angry. Inasmuch as our Lord was and is God himself,
God the Son made man, our Gospel scene today portrays the anger of God.
Our passage tells us that he asked the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do
good on the Sabbath day, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy
it?” But they remained silent. And looking round on them with anger,
being grieved for the blindness of their hearts, he said to the man,
“Stretch forth your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was
restored to him.”
(Mark 3:1-6). The setting is that
of the synagogue and there was a man there with a withered hand. The
Pharisees were present watching like vultures to spot any violation of
the Sabbath so as to be able to accuse Christ of religious wrongdoing.
Would he heal the injured man? Their attitude was one of cold and
determined hostility and a refusal of the light. Christ challenged them
with his question and none were willing to answer - undoubtedly for
fear of being publicly and resoundingly refuted. Their silence placed
them beyond the reach of Christ’s light and grace, and his love showed
itself in his anger. He loved goodness, he loved truth, and he loved
them. Their silence manifested their unrepentant sin against the light
and it constituted a hard resistance against the divine power to save.
Christ’s reaction? He looked round on them with anger, sorely grieved
at their deliberate and sinful blindness. God the Son was angry at
their deliberate refusal to see and assent to his truth. It is a
warning to us that we ought have a wholesome fear of the anger of God.
We must strive never to commit a deliberate sin and if we do then we
must repent of it. God loves the repentant sinner, but the refusal to
repent grieves him in the way it did Christ and that loving grief of
Christ showed itself in a holy anger. This is not the only time that
Christ’s anger is shown in the Gospels but it reminds us that sin is
offensive to God.
It all comes down
to this that the God who revealed himself to Abraham and Moses, the God
who is the Father of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, is an all loving
and at the same time an all holy God. He is love, as St John writes,
but it is a holy love. He commands us to be holy, for he is holy. If we
disregard this and choose the path of unrepented sin, God will not be
pleased. He will be offended and his judgment on sin will come. So let
us resolve to show our love for Christ by renouncing sin and striving
to repent of it all through life. Let us live and die truly repentant.
(E.J.Tyler)
What depths of mercy there are in God's justice! For, in the judgments
of men, he who confesses his fault is punished: and in the Judgment of
God, he is pardoned.
Blessed be the holy Sacrament of Penance!
(The Way, no.309)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
Faith is Hope (cont)
3. Yet at this point a question arises: in what does this hope consist
which, as hope, is “redemption”? The essence of the answer is given in
the phrase from the Letter to the Ephesians quoted above: the
Ephesians, before their encounter with Christ, were without hope
because they were “without God in the world”. To come to know God—the
true God—means to receive hope. We who have always lived with the
Christian concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it, have almost
ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real
encounter with this God. The example of a saint of our time can to some
degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with
this God for the first time. I am thinking of the African Josephine
Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869—she
herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of
nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and
sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found
herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general,
and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this
she bore 144 scars throughout her life. Finally, in 1882, she was
bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani,
who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the
terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came
to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which
she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the
God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who
despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave.
Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the
Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She
came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that
he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the
supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more
than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What
is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged
and now he was waiting for her “at the Father's right hand”. Now she
had “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who
would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and
whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is
good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer
a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when
he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and
without God in the world—without hope because without God. Hence, when
she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not
wish to be separated again from her “Paron”. On 9 January 1890, she was
baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the
hands of the Patriarch of Venice. On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she
took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from
that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter's
lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to
promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her
encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it
had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of
people. The hope born in her which had “redeemed” her she could not
keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.
(Continuing)
(January 24) Saint
Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church (1567-1622)
Francis was destined by his father
to be a lawyer so that the young man could eventually take his elder’s
place as a senator from the province of Savoy in France. For this
reason Francis was sent to Padua to study
law. After receiving his doctorate, he returned home and, in due time,
told his parents he wished to enter the priesthood. His father strongly
opposed Francis in this, and only after much patient persuasiveness on
the part of the gentle Francis did his father finally consent. Francis
was ordained and elected provost of the Diocese of Geneva, then a
centre for Calvinists. Francis set out to convert them, especially in
the district of Chablais. By preaching and distributing the little
pamphlets he wrote to explain true Catholic doctrine, he had remarkable
success. At 35 he became bishop of Geneva. While administering his
diocese he continued to preach, hear confessions and catechize the
children. His gentle character was a great asset in winning souls. He
practised his own axiom, “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than
a barrelful of vinegar.” Besides his two well-known books, the Introduction
to the Devout Life and A Treatise on the Love of God,
he wrote many pamphlets and carried on a vast correspondence. For his
writings, he has been named patron of the Catholic Press. His writings,
filled with his characteristic gentle spirit, are addressed to lay
people. He wants to make them understand that they too are called to be
saints. As he wrote in The Introduction to the Devout Life:
“It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible
with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married
woman.... It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert
who had preserved it in the world. ” In spite of his busy and
comparatively short life, he had time to collaborate with another
saint, Jane Frances de Chantal, in the work of establishing the Sisters
of the Visitation. These women were to practice the virtues exemplified
in Mary’s visit to Elizabeth: humility, piety and mutual charity. They
at first engaged to a limited degree in works of mercy for the poor and
the sick. Today, while some communities conduct schools, others live a
strictly contemplative life.
Francis de
Sales took seriously the words of Christ, “Learn of me for I am meek
and humble of heart.” As he said himself, it took him 20 years to
conquer his quick temper, but no one ever suspected he had such a
problem, so overflowing with good nature and kindness was his usual
manner of acting. His perennial meekness and sunny disposition won for
him the title of “Gentleman Saint.” Francis tells us: “The person who
possesses Christian meekness is affectionate and tender towards
everyone: he is disposed to forgive and excuse the frailties of others;
the goodness of his heart appears in a sweet affability that influences
his words and actions, presents every object to his view in the most
charitable and pleasing
light.”
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 Samuel 18:6-9;
19:1-7; Psalm 56:2-3, 9-10-13; Mark 3:7-12
Jesus
retired with his disciples to the sea and a great multitude followed
him from Galilee and Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond
the Jordan, and from the area of Tyre and Sidon. A great number,
hearing the things which he did, came to him. He directed his disciples
to make a small boat ready for him lest the crowds overwhelm him. He
healed many and all who suffered evils pressed on him to touch him. The
unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and cried,
saying, “You are the Son of God.” And he strictly charged them that
they should not make him known.(Mark
3:7-12)
Not many can be
found who, knowing of Jesus of Nazareth, would deny his greatness in
one or other sense. The Dalai Lama acknowledged him on one occasion,
referring to him as a great instance in history of the spirit of the
Buddha. Islam readily admits his greatness as a prophet, and no one
could possibly deny his outstanding influence on the
world. The issue is not his greatness for all admit of this. Even the
scribes and Pharisees who gradually became - out of jealousy - his
implacable enemies, could not avoid his greatness. The issue is above
all over the claims - especially one - as to his person. It is obvious
that he was a man and a very great one at that - although some
gnostic groups in the early Church even called into question that he
was a true man. The claim that provoked the outrage of the
Pharisees and provided the excuse they needed to move against him is
expressed in our Gospel passage today. It is that, while being truly
man (which was obvious to all and which Christ knew to be so) he is the
Son of God. Our Gospel passage reports the devils shouting this great
fact out. The devils had divined that this person before them who
possessed such invincible spiritual power and unassailable holiness was
the Son of God, and Christ imposed silence on them not to make him
known. It was the great mystery which our Lord revealed only gradually
but nevertheless unambiguously. We read in the Gospel of St John that
our Lord referred to God as his own Father, and the scribes and
Pharisees attempted to stone him for, they said, he was only a man and
yet he was making himself equal to God. Finally before the Sanhedrin
our Lord bore witness to the truth of his person. He was the Son of the
Living God, and they would see him coming on the clouds of heaven
seated at the right hand of the divine Power. He was God’s Son and
equal to God. It is the crunch point, the claim that Christ himself
made, that his disciples make of him, and that the Catholic Church
makes and has made of him from the beginning. It is the parting of the
ways between Catholic Christianity and Judaism, the parting of the ways
between Christian doctrine and the doctrines of the many great and not
so great religions of mankind.
This matter of the
claim of Christ and his followers that he is divine is no mere
curiosity. It is not a mere academic matter. It relates directly to
what Christ claimed to do and what mankind can therefore expect to
benefit from him. In our Gospel passage today our Lord is shown
attracting vast crowds to him and “he healed many and all who suffered
evils pressed on him to touch him.” (Mark
3:7-12)
Those who came to him and who benefited from his healing and
exorcising power did not know that this man who was dispensing such
benefits was God the Son. Rather, he was obviously a great prophet
acting as an instrument of the power of God. But Christ did not come
simply to heal, to raise to life some who had died, and to drive out
many devils. These were just signs of something far greater to come
which he would do for man, and that was to take away the sin of the
world and to make men children of God. It is especially here that his
divinity was so absolutely necessary. No mere man could possibly take
away the sin of the world and in principle make it new by pouring out
the Holy Spirit on mankind. At the threshold of his public ministry
before he was publicly known, John the Baptist had revealed to some of
his disciples our Lord’s mission. He was the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world and who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. He had come
to give man a share in the divine nature, making of him an adopted
child of God. It is for this essential work that our Lord’s divinity
would be so necessary. That is why so much hangs in the balance of
acceptance of his claims of being divine. Time and again during his
public ministry our Lord showed that faith in him was the prelude to
receiving from him his blessings. Likewise faith in his divinity, in
his claim to be the Son of God and equal to the Father, is the prelude
to receiving from him the blessings of salvation from sin and
sanctification to holiness. Belief in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son
of God is the intended door to redemption.
Let us day by day
take our stand with Jesus and contemplate his person, his words and his
claims. Let us draw near to him for, as he says, he is meek and humble
of heart, and we shall find rest for our souls. He is at the centre of
the universe and is its Lord. He is the Lord of lords and the King of
kings, and of his Kingdom there will be no end. He is the Son of God
made man, and it is he and he alone who takes us to the Father. Let us
cleave to him and thus find life in his name.
(E.J.Tyler)
'Put on the Lord Jesus Christ', says Saint Paul to the Romans. It is in
the Sacrament of Penance that you and I put on Jesus Christ and his
merits.
(The Way, no.310)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
The concept of faith-based hope in the New Testament and the early
Church
4. We have raised the question: can our encounter with the God who in
Christ has shown us his face and opened his heart be for us too not
just “informative” but “performative”—that is to say, can it change our
lives, so that we know we are redeemed through the hope that it
expresses? Before attempting to answer the question, let us return once
more to the early Church. It is not difficult to realize that the
experience of the African slave-girl Bakhita was also the experience of
many in the period of nascent Christianity who were beaten and
condemned to slavery. Christianity did not bring a message of social
revolution like that of the ill-fated Spartacus, whose struggle led to
so much bloodshed. Jesus was not Spartacus, he was not engaged in a
fight for political liberation like Barabbas or Bar-Kochba. Jesus, who
himself died on the Cross, brought something totally different: an
encounter with the Lord of all lords, an encounter with the living God
and thus an encounter with a hope stronger than the sufferings of
slavery, a hope which therefore transformed life and the world from
within. What was new here can be seen with the utmost clarity in Saint
Paul's Letter to Philemon. This is a very personal letter, which Paul
wrote from prison and entrusted to the runaway slave Onesimus for his
master, Philemon. Yes, Paul is sending the slave back to the master
from whom he had fled, not ordering but asking: “I appeal to you for my
child ... whose father I have become in my imprisonment ... I am
sending him back to you, sending my very heart ... perhaps this is why
he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for
ever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother
...” (Philemon 10-16). Those who, as far as their civil status is
concerned, stand in relation to one another as masters and slaves,
inasmuch as they are members of the one Church have become brothers and
sisters—this is how Christians addressed one another. By virtue of
their Baptism they had been reborn, they had been given to drink of the
same Spirit and they received the Body of the Lord together, alongside
one another. Even if external structures remained unaltered, this
changed society from within. When the Letter to the Hebrews says that
Christians here on earth do not have a permanent homeland, but seek one
which lies in the future (cf. Heb 11:13-16; Phil 3:20), this does not
mean for one moment that they live only for the future: present society
is recognized by Christians as an exile; they belong to a new society
which is the goal of their common pilgrimage and which is anticipated
in the course of that pilgrimage.
(Continuing)
Conversion
of St Paul(Friday of the second week in Ordinary Time II)
(January 25) Conversion
of Saint Paul, Apostle
Paul’s entire life can be explained in terms of one experience—his
meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. In an instant, he saw that
all the zeal of his dynamic personality was being wasted, like the
strength of a boxer swinging wildly. Perhaps he had never seen Jesus,
who was only a few years older. But he had acquired a zealot’s hatred
of all Jesus stood for, as he began to harass the Church: “...entering
house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over
for imprisonment” (Acts 8:3b). Now he himself was “entered,” possessed,
all his energy harnessed to one goal—being a slave of Christ in the
ministry of reconciliation, an instrument to help others experience the
one Saviour. One sentence determined his theology: “I am Jesus, whom
you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5b). Jesus was mysteriously identified
with people—the loving group of people Saul had been running down like
criminals. Jesus, he saw, was the mysterious fulfilment of all he had
been blindly pursuing. From then on, his only work was to “present
everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labour and struggle, in accord
with the exercise of his power working within me” (Colossians
1:28b-29). “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also
in power and in the Holy Spirit and [with] much conviction” (1
Thessalonians 1:5a). Paul’s life became a tireless proclaiming and
living out of the message of the cross: Christians die baptismally to
sin and are buried with Christ; they are dead to all that is sinful and
unredeemed in the world. They are made into a new creation, already
sharing Christ’s victory and someday to rise from the dead like him.
Through this risen Christ the Father pours out the Spirit on them,
making them completely new. So Paul’s great message to the world was:
You are saved entirely by God, not by anything you can do. Saving faith
is the gift of total, free, personal and loving commitment to Christ, a
commitment that then bears fruit in more “works” than the Law could
ever contemplate.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not
pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own
interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it
does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears
all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: Acts 22:3-16 or Acts
9:1-22; Psalm 117:1bc, 2; Mark 16:15-18
Jesus
said to his disciples, “Go into the whole world and preach the gospel
to every creature. He who believes is baptized will be saved, but he
who does not believe will be condemned. These signs shall follow those
who believe: In my name they will cast out devils. They will speak with
new tongues. They will take up serpents and if they drink any deadly
thing, it will not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick and
they will recover.”(Mark 16:15-18)
Traditionally, the
distinguishing marks of the Catholic Church are that it is one, holy,
catholic and apostolic. This is not the place to discuss the nature of
these marks and how they apply to the Catholic Church. However the
Gospel of this day, the feast of the conversion of St Paul, places at
least one of them into sharp prominence. It is the mark of catholicity, or
universality. St Mark (and let us remember, Mark’s Gospel consists of
Peter’s preaching about Christ) presents us with the risen Lord’s final
charge to his disciples before ascending into heaven. They were to go
everywhere and bring the Gospel to the entire world. If we set our Lord
in the context of the entire prophetic tradition before him, this is a
new and unique step. There is no prophet before him who laid on his
disciples such a charge. The prophets had their disciples, and some of
them were very notable. Consider Elisha, the disciple of Elijah and his
successor. He was granted a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. But
Elijah did not require of Elisha that he go to the whole world and
preach his doctrine. John the Baptist (the Elijah who was to come
again) did not ask this of his disciples. No one in the history of
God’s people asked this, but it was a requirement of discipleship in
the school of our Lord. They had to be missionary and their outreach
was to the entire world. Indeed, so important was their message - the
Gospel of Christ - that the salvation of people would depend on their
acceptance of it: “He who believes is baptized will be saved, but he
who does not believe will be condemned.”
(Mark 16:15-18) Indeed, not only
do the prophets before our Lord not expect this universality, but I am
not aware of any other religion requiring it. Mahomet did not expect
this universal and missionary outreach from his disciples and,
widespread though Islam became, it never became what we might call
universal. Nor did Zoroaster expect this, nor did Buddha, nor did
Confucius, nor did any of the great Greek philosophers expect this of
their disciples. I would be hard pressed to think of anyone commanding
the genuine respect of history who required this, but Christ most
certainly did for the salvation of the world depended on it.
At the very
beginning and through till now, Christ requires of his Church that it
be missionary in a universal sense. It is to go everywhere, it is to be
everywhere, it is to be world-wide. It is to be the Church of the
nations, embracing their cultures while embedding Christ's doctrine in
all of them so that their peoples might more easily accept Christ as
their Saviour totally. Christ established his Church on the basis that
it would be catholic (i.e., universal), and we notice that at Peter’s
first sermon following the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost those
converted by his preaching were drawn from all over the world. The
Church instantly was catholic, universal. So both in the intention of
Christ and in the facts of the case the Church of Christ is Catholic.
This has to be so because Christ is the one and only Saviour of the
world and if the world is to be saved then the Church, which bears
within herself the person of Christ, has to go everywhere and be
everywhere to preach him. As already mentioned, nothing less than the
salvation of men is at stake because it is belief in the Church’s word
about Christ together with baptism into him that saves. A knowing and
deliberate refusal brings condemnation. This is the case because Christ
is present within the Church and acts through it as its head. The
Church is a kind of sacrament of Christ who abides within her midst
working through her preaching, teaching and ministry. That is why our
Lord said that miracles would accompany her work. It is he himself who
is constantly working within her. The Church is Christ’s body and one
who loves Christ will love his Church and accept the testimony and
teaching of the Church as coming from him. When the Church ministers to
others, it is Christ who is ministering within her. Above all, when the
Church preaches and teaches the word, and when the Church administers
the Sacraments, it is Christ who is doing all this. There must never be
the attitude expressed in the caption: Christ yes, but the Church no.
Christ comes to the world in the ministry of the Church. For that
reason the Church is essentially universal, catholic.
Today is the feast
of the conversion of St Paul the Apostle. When Paul fell to the ground
on the way to Damascus, Christ spoke to him saying, “Paul, why do you
persecute me?” Christ identified with his body the Church, and he
called Paul to devote himself to bringing the Church to the world. Let
us take our cue from St Paul and in the living out of our vocation,
whatever it might be, let us endeavour daily to bring Christ to the
world and to the world of our own everyday life.
(E.J.Tyler)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
The concept of faith-based hope in the New Testament and the early
Church (cont)
5. We must add a further point of view. The First Letter to the
Corinthians (1:18-31) tells us that many of the early Christians
belonged to the lower social strata, and precisely for this reason were
open to the experience of new hope, as we saw in the example of
Bakhita. Yet from the beginning there were also conversions in the
aristocratic and cultured circles, since they too were living “without
hope and without God in the world”. Myth had lost its credibility; the
Roman State religion had become fossilized into simple ceremony which
was scrupulously carried out, but by then it was merely “political
religion”. Philosophical rationalism had confined the gods within the
realm of unreality. The Divine was seen in various ways in cosmic
forces, but a God to whom one could pray did not exist. Paul
illustrates the essential problem of the religion of that time quite
accurately when he contrasts life “according to Christ” with life under
the dominion of the “elemental spirits of the universe” (Col 2:8). In
this regard a text by Saint Gregory Nazianzen is enlightening. He says that at
the very moment when the Magi, guided by the star, adored Christ the new king,
astrology came to an end, because the stars were now moving in the orbit
determined by Christ (2). This scene, in fact,
overturns the world-view of that time, which in a different way has
become fashionable once again today. It is not the elemental spirits of
the universe, the laws of matter, which ultimately govern the world and
mankind, but a personal God governs the stars, that is, the universe;
it is not the laws of matter and of evolution that have the final say,
but reason, will, love—a Person. And if we know this Person and he
knows us, then truly the inexorable power of material elements no
longer has the last word; we are not slaves of the universe and of its
laws, we are free. In ancient times, honest enquiring minds were aware
of this. Heaven is not empty. Life is not a simple product of laws and
the randomness of matter, but within everything and at the same time
above everything, there is a personal will, there is a Spirit who in
Jesus has revealed himself as Love.(3)
(Continuing)
(January 26) Saints
Timothy and Titus, bishops Timothy
(d. 97?): What we know from the New Testament of Timothy’s
life makes it sound like that of a modern harried bishop. He had the
honour of being a fellow apostle with Paul, both sharing the privilege
of preaching the gospel and suffering for it. Timothy had a Greek
father and a Jewish mother named Eunice. Being the product of a “mixed”
marriage, he was considered illegitimate by the Jews. It was his
grandmother, Lois, who first became Christian. Timothy was a convert of
Paul around the year 47 and later joined him in his apostolic work. He
was with Paul at the founding of the Church in Corinth. During the 15
years he worked with Paul, he became one of his most faithful and
trusted friends. He was sent on difficult missions by Paul—often in the
face of great disturbance in local Churches which Paul had founded.
Timothy was with Paul in Rome during the latter’s house arrest. At some
period Timothy himself was in prison (Hebrews 13:23). Paul installed
him as his representative at the Church of Ephesus. Timothy was
comparatively young for the work he was doing. (“Let no one have
contempt for your youth,” Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:12a.) Several
references seem to indicate that he was timid. And one of Paul’s most
frequently quoted lines was addressed to him: “Stop drinking only
water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your
frequent illnesses” (1 Timothy 5:23). Titus (d. 94?): Titus has the
distinction of being a close friend and disciple of Paul as well as a
fellow missionary. He was Greek, apparently from Antioch. Even though
Titus was a Gentile, Paul would not let him be forced to undergo
circumcision at Jerusalem. Titus is seen as a peacemaker,
administrator, great friend. Paul’s second letter to Corinth affords an
insight into the depth of his friendship with Titus, and the great
fellowship they had in preaching the gospel: “When I went to Troas...I
had no relief in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus. So
I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.... For even when we came
into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every
way—external conflicts, internal fears. But God, who encourages the
downcast, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus...” (2 Corinthians
2:12a, 13; 7:5-6). When Paul was having trouble with the community at
Corinth, Titus was the bearer of Paul’s severe letter and was
successful in smoothing things out. Paul writes he was strengthened not
only by the arrival of Titus but also “by the encouragement with which
he was encouraged in regard to you, as he told us of your yearning,
your lament, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.... And his
heart goes out to you all the more, as he remembers the obedience of
all of you, when you received him with fear and trembling” (2
Corinthians 7:7a, 15). The Letter to Titus addresses him as the
administrator of the Christian community on the island of Crete,
charged with organizing it, correcting abuses and appointing
presbyter-bishops.
“But when the kindness and generous love of God our Saviour appeared,
not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his
mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the holy
Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our
saviour, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in
hope of eternal life. This saying is trustworthy” (Titus
3:4-8). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: 2
Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5; Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8a, 10; Mark 3:20-21
Jesus and
his disciples came to a house and the multitude again gathered together
such that they could not so much as catch a meal. When his relatives
heard of it they set out to restrain him for they were saying, “He is
out of his mind.”(Mark 3:20-21)
Every sentence of
the Gospels reveals something of the Son of God made man. St Jerome
once wrote that the one who is ignorant of the Scriptures is ignorant
of Christ - a statement which certainly sets forth the spiritual power
of the Scriptures, even though it must be remembered that an explicit
reading of the Scriptures is not the only way to gain a
knowledge of its content. Well then, let us consider our brief Gospel
of today, consisting of a mere two verses. Christ and his disciples
come to the house and are besieged with the requests and importunity of
the crowds. What led to this? It was not only our Lord’s evident power
to aid them in their needs, but also his readiness and desire to assist
them. His active love shone through in his deeds of mercy and it was
this love that attracted them. We remember how shortly after our Lord
called Levi (or Matthew) the tax collector to follow him, a banquet for
our Lord was held in the house of Matthew. We read that many sinners
and tax collectors were there too at the banquet. They were desirous of
being with Jesus. What attracted them to him? His holiness and his
love. He loved them and they felt it. In our Gospel passage today (Mark 3:20-21) the crowds were swarming
the house because they wanted to make contact with Jesus. They could
see that he loved them and was concerned for them, and that he could
help them. Their presence and their pressing on him from all sides drew
forth the response from our Lord of even more intense work and service
of them. There was no stop to the work, and we read that they did not
even have time to catch a bite to eat. We notice also the response of
our Lord’s own relatives. They heard of his immense work and they set
out to put a stop to it - perhaps they were concerned for his health.
He is out of his mind, they were saying. Perhaps too it indicates the
powerful impact our Lord was beginning to have because of his unceasing
work and that of his disciples.
There are other
indications in the Gospels of our Lord utterly spending himself for the
salvation of souls. We read how our Lord alighted the boat with his
disciples and embarked on the Sea of Galilee to cross to the other
side. A storm began and what a storm! So great was the turbulence that
the boat was in imminent danger of capsizing, and yet what of our Lord?
He was fast asleep! All others in the boat were terrified at what was
happening, and finally in desperation they awoke him with the question,
did he not care? But the point here is that despite this violent and
tumultuous situation, our Lord was sound asleep. He was tired out
beyond description. His all consuming work left him in a profound sleep
despite what was happening around him - and this was an outstanding man
in his physical prime, from a human point of view. It suggests to us
how intensely given over to his mission our Lord was. Or again, we read
in the Gospel of St John that once when passing through Samaria with
his disciples our Lord stopped at the well while his disciples went on
to buy something to eat. Why did he stay behind? He was profoundly
weary. It indicates the degree of intensity of his unceasing work. Yet,
weary as he was, he was ever on the look-out for opportunities to win
souls. As soon as the Samaritan woman came to draw water, he drew her
out and won her over, and that in turn led to the evangelization of
many Samaritans of that village. It all suggests that all that could
have been done was done by our Lord. Yet we read how our Lord would
rise early and go out into the hills to pray to his heavenly Father, at
times spending the whole night in prayer. Our Lord’s public life was a
life of prayer and work and of drawing his disciples into such a life
with him. They shared his friendship, they shared his life, they shared
his ministry and they shared in his prayer. There were no half-measures
with Christ, and he asked of his disciples that there be no
half-measures with them too.
Our Lord gave
everything during his public ministry, and finally he gave everything
in his passion and his death. In the Eucharist he gives everything in
giving us himself. St Paul writes that in Christ we receive every
heavenly blessing. He gives us his whole self in the Eucharist and he
invites us to give our whole selves to him. Let us learn from the total
dedication of Christ to be totally dedicated ourselves, dedicated in
love to him and in union with him to others.
(E.J.Tyler)
The power of your name, Lord! As a heading to my letter I
had written, as always, 'May Jesus watch over you.'
And he replies: 'The "May Jesus watch over you" of your letter has
already helped me out of more than one tight corner. May he also watch
over all of you.'
(The Way, no.312)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
The concept of faith-based hope in the New Testament and the early
Church (cont)
6. The sarcophagi of the early Christian era illustrate this concept
visually—in the context of death, in the face of which the question
concerning life's meaning becomes unavoidable. The figure of Christ is
interpreted on ancient sarcophagi principally by two images: the
philosopher and the shepherd. Philosophy at that time was not generally
seen as a difficult academic discipline, as it is today. Rather, the
philosopher was someone who knew how to teach the essential art: the
art of being authentically human—the art of living and dying. To be
sure, it had long since been realized that many of the people who went
around pretending to be philosophers, teachers of life, were just
charlatans who made money through their words, while having nothing to
say about real life. All the more, then, the true philosopher who
really did know how to point out the path of life was highly sought
after. Towards the end of the third century, on the sarcophagus of a
child in Rome, we find for the first time, in the context of the
resurrection of Lazarus, the figure of Christ as the true philosopher,
holding the Gospel in one hand and the philosopher's travelling staff
in the other. With his staff, he conquers death; the Gospel brings the
truth that itinerant philosophers had searched for in vain. In this
image, which then became a common feature of sarcophagus art for a long
time, we see clearly what both educated and simple people found in
Christ: he tells us who man truly is and what a man must do in order to
be truly human. He shows us the way, and this way is the truth. He
himself is both the way and the truth, and therefore he is also the
life which all of us are seeking. He also shows us the way beyond
death; only someone able to do this is a true teacher of life. The same
thing becomes visible in the image of the shepherd. As in the
representation of the philosopher, so too through the figure of the
shepherd the early Church could identify with existing models of Roman
art. There the shepherd was generally an expression of the dream of a
tranquil and simple life, for which the people, amid the confusion of
the big cities, felt a certain longing. Now the image was read as part
of a new scenario which gave it a deeper content: “The Lord is my
shepherd: I shall not want ... Even though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I fear no evil, because you are with me ...” (Ps
23 [22]:1, 4). The true shepherd is one who knows even the path that
passes through the valley of death; one who walks with me even on the
path of final solitude, where no one can accompany me, guiding me
through: he himself has walked this path, he has descended into the
kingdom of death, he has conquered death, and he has returned to
accompany us now and to give us the certainty that, together with him,
we can find a way through. The realization that there is One who even
in death accompanies me, and with his “rod and his staff comforts me”,
so that “I fear no evil” (cf. Ps 23 [22]:4)—this was the new “hope”
that arose over the life of believers.
(Continuing)
Prayers
this week:
Sing a new song to the
Lord! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Truth and beauty surround him,
he lives in holiness and glory.(Psalm 95: 1.6) All-powerful
and ever-living God, direct your love that is within us, that our
efforts in the name of your Son may bring mankind unity and peace. We
ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(January 27) St.
Angela Merici (1470?-1540)
Angela has the double distinction of founding the first teaching
congregation of women in the Church and what is now called a “secular
institute” of religious women. As a young woman she became a member of
the Third Order of St. Francis (now known as the Secular Franciscan
Order), and lived a life of great austerity, wishing, like St. Francis,
to own nothing, not even a bed. Early in life she was appalled at the
ignorance among poorer children, whose parents could not or would not
teach them the elements of religion. Angela’s charming manner and good
looks complemented her natural qualities of leadership. Others joined
her in giving regular instruction to the little girls of their
neighbourhood. She was invited to live with a family in Brescia (where,
she had been told in a vision, she would one day found a religious
community). Her work continued and became well known. She became the
centre of a group of people with similar ideals. She eagerly took the
opportunity for a trip to the Holy Land. When they had gotten as far as
Crete, she was struck with blindness. Her friends wanted to return
home, but she insisted on going through with the pilgrimage, and
visited the sacred shrines with as much devotion and enthusiasm as if
she had her sight. On the way back, while praying before a crucifix,
her sight was restored at the same place where it had been lost. At 57,
she organized a group of 12 girls to help her in catechetical work.
Four years later the group had increased to 28. She formed them into
the Company of St. Ursula (patroness of medieval universities and
venerated as a leader of women) for the purpose of re-Christianizing
family life through solid Christian education of future wives and
mothers. The members continued to live at home, had no special habit
and took no formal vows, though the early Rule prescribed the practice
of virginity, poverty and obedience. The idea of a teaching
congregation of women was new and took time to develop. The community
thus existed as a “secular institute” until some years after Angela’s
death.
In a time when change is problematic to many, it may be helpful to
recall a statement this great leader made to her sisters: “If according
to times and needs you should be obliged to make fresh rules and change
certain things, do it with prudence and good advice.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
When Jesus had
heard that John was arrested, he retired into Galilee. Leaving the town
of Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capharnaum on the sea coast, in the
borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim.
Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, “Land of Zabulon and land of
Nephthalim, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the
Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness has seen great light, and to
those who dwelt in the shadow of death light has dawned.” From that
point Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand.” As Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee he saw two
brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a
net into the sea (for they were fishermen). He said to them, “Come
after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately leaving
their nets they followed him. Going on from there he saw two other
brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a boat with
Zebedee their father mending their nets. He called them, and they
immediately left their nets and father and followed him. Jesus went
about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel
of the kingdom. He healed all manner of sickness and every infirmity
among the people.
(Matthew 4:12-23)
The prelude of our
Lord’s activities in our Gospel passage today is the cutting short by
Herod of the public work of John the Baptist. He was a great prophet
and the people held him to be such. Our Lord told his disciples at a
later date that John was the Elijah whom the Scriptures predicted would
come again. We remember how Elijah appointed his successor who
received a double portion of his spirit, Elisha. Elisha went on to
preach the word of God and to work miracles (2 Kings 2). We see
something of this pattern of one prophet leading to the next in our
Lord taking over from John after John’s arrest. But great as John was,
now there appeared a Light beyond compare outclassing John in every
respect. Matthew already (in chapter 2:2) had stated that John was the
man Isaiah referred to when he prophesied a voice in the wilderness
calling all to prepare a way for the Lord. In our passage today (ch.4)
Matthew quotes Isaiah again in speaking of Jesus to whom John had borne
witness. Jesus is the great Light Isaiah had spoken of dispelling the
shadows of death. “The people who sat in darkness has seen great light,
and to those who dwelt in the shadow of death light has dawned.” That
light brought life where there had been death. A tree sapling deep in
the darkness of the valley reaches up to the light so as to live and
grow. So too Christ’s light gives life to those who come to him.
Matthew’s reference to Isaiah reminds us of the words of St John about
Christ in the prologue of his Gospel: “All that came to be had life in
him and that life was the light of men, a light that shines in the
dark, a light that darkness could not overcome.” (John 1:4-5). Christ
appeared among men as a great light, the greatest Light God had given
to his people, and he himself knew and stated that he was the greatest
light to come to man. He claimed to be the light of the world and that
the man who refuses to live by his light lives in the darkness and it
is a darkness leading to death. So our Gospel today make clear that two
great things come from Christ. Firstly, he is the light of men and that
light is present in his teaching. It continues to shine in the Church’s
teaching and preaching. He is, secondly, the life of men, and that
life, present in his miracles of healing, continues to vivify us in the
Church’s sacraments. By our union with Christ we possess his light and
his life dispelling darkness and death.
St Matthew tells us
that our Lord began his public ministry in a serious sense in Galilee
after the sudden demise of John at the hands of Herod. It signalled our
Lord’s specific mission which was to the lost sheep of the House of
Israel. But our passage today portrays our Lord actively seeking
disciples who would share in his mission. This does not seem to be
characteristic of the prophets before our Lord. They did not actively
seek disciples who would share in their mission and become a force in
their society and world in concert with them. But our Lord did. “He
said to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’
Immediately leaving their nets they followed him. Going on from there
he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his
brother, in a boat with Zebedee their father mending their nets. He
called them, and they immediately left their nets and father and
followed him.” (Matthew 4:12-23)
This in turn points to the future mission of Christ and his Church to
the world. Christ’s personal mission during his public ministry was to
Israel, the Israel of Galilee and Judea, allowing for brief excursions
beyond - such as to Samaria and the Decapolis. But this great Light
that had suddenly appeared was not to be a Light for the chosen people
alone. We remember how, in the book of Genesis, Abraham had been told
that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Christ
is that blessing, the great blessing for the children of Abraham in the
flesh and the great blessing to all of Abraham’s children in the faith.
Abraham, St Paul writes, is our father in the faith, and the faith
which is his legacy is our faith in the one God and in Jesus Christ his
divine Son. The blessing by which through him all the nations can be
blessed is Jesus Christ. We remember St Paul’s words that in Christ is
to be found every heavenly blessing, and this heavenly blessing which
is Christ is brought to the world through the Church, founded on the
Apostles whom our Lord is calling in our Gospel passage today. So then,
our Gospel passage today sets forth the person of Jesus and his Church.
The Church’s treasure is Jesus, and her mission is to bring Jesus the
Light to the world, and through this light which is Christ the world
may find life in his name.
The kingdom of God
which our Lord proclaimed as being near is nothing other than the
lordship of God over the hearts of men. This lordship is brought about
by means of union with Jesus and sharing in his life by the gift of the
Holy Spirit. Christ is the blessing of God to mankind, and membership
in his Church is the divinely intended path to gain access to this
all-important blessing. The Church and all her children have the
calling to bring Christ, the Church’s treasure, to all. It is in this
way that the Kingdom of God will come. Let us entrust ourselves
entirely to Jesus and take our stand among his disciples whom in
today’s Gospel he calls to share his mission.
(E.J.Tyler)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
The concept of faith-based hope in the New Testament and the early
Church (cont)
7. We must return once more to the New Testament. In the eleventh
chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews (v. 1) we find a kind of
definition of faith which closely links this virtue with hope. Ever
since the Reformation there has been a dispute among exegetes over the
central word of this phrase, but today a way towards a common
interpretation seems to be opening up once more. For the time being I
shall leave this central word untranslated. The sentence therefore
reads as follows: “Faith is the hypostasis of things hoped for; the
proof of things not seen”. For the Fathers and for the theologians of
the Middle Ages, it was clear that the Greek word hypostasis was to be
rendered in Latin with the term substantia. The Latin translation of
the text produced at the time of the early Church therefore reads: Est
autem fides sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non
apparentium—faith is the “substance” of things hoped for; the proof of
things not seen. Saint Thomas Aquinas, (4) using the terminology of the
philosophical tradition to which he belonged, explains it as follows:
faith is a habitus, that is, a stable disposition of the spirit,
through which eternal life takes root in us and reason is led to
consent to what it does not see. The concept of “substance” is
therefore modified in the sense that through faith, in a tentative way,
or as we might say “in embryo”—and thus according to the
“substance”—there are already present in us the things that are hoped
for: the whole, true life. And precisely because the thing itself is
already present, this presence of what is to come also creates
certainty: this “thing” which must come is not yet visible in the
external world (it does not “appear”), but because of the fact that, as
an initial and dynamic reality, we carry it within us, a certain
perception of it has even now come into existence. To Luther, who was
not particularly fond of the Letter to the Hebrews, the concept of
“substance”, in the context of his view of faith, meant nothing. For
this reason he understood the term hypostasis/substance not in the
objective sense (of a reality present within us), but in the subjective
sense, as an expression of an interior attitude, and so, naturally, he
also had to understand the term argumentum as a disposition of the
subject. In the twentieth century this interpretation became
prevalent—at least in Germany—in Catholic exegesis too, so that the
ecumenical translation into German of the New Testament, approved by
the Bishops, reads as follows: Glaube aber ist: Feststehen in dem, was
man erhofft, Überzeugtsein von dem, was man nicht sieht (faith is:
standing firm in what one hopes, being convinced of what one does not
see). This in itself is not incorrect, but it is not the meaning of the
text, because the Greek term used (elenchos) does not have the
subjective sense of “conviction” but the objective sense of “proof”.
Rightly, therefore, recent Protestant exegesis has arrived at a
different interpretation: “Yet there can be no question but that this
classical Protestant understanding is untenable.” (5) Faith is not
merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still
totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even now something
of the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes
for us a “proof” of the things that are still unseen. Faith draws the
future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a “not yet”.
The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is
touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill
over into those of the present and those of the present into those of
the future.
(Continuing)
(January 28) St
Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church (1225-1274)
By universal consent Thomas Aquinas is the
pre-eminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine
revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic
Church, honoured with the titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic
Doctor. At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte
Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would choose that way of life and
later become abbot. In 1239 he was sent to Naples to complete his
studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle’s
philosophy. By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and
joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order,
Thomas was captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year.
Once free, he went to Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his
studies with Albert the Great. He held two professorships at Paris,
lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools at
Rome and Viterbo, combated adversaries of the mendicants, as well as
the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about Aristotelianism.
His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his writings. The
unity, harmony and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and
natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect
Thomas, as a man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed
truth. But he was broad enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural
order as coming from God the Creator, and to see reason as a divine
gift to be highly cherished. The Summa Theologiae, his
last and, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals with the whole of
Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on
December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I
cannot go on.... All that I have written seems to me like so much straw
compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died
March 7, 1274.
We can look to Thomas Aquinas as a
towering example of Catholicism in the sense of broadness, universality
and inclusiveness. We should be determined anew to exercise the divine
gift of reason in us, our power to know, learn and understand. At the
same time we should thank God for the gift of his revelation,
especially in Jesus Christ. “Hence we must say that for the knowledge
of any truth whatsoever man needs divine help, that the intellect may
be moved by God to its act. But he does not need a new light added to
his natural light, in order to know the truth in all things, but only
in some that surpasses his natural knowledge” (Summa Theologiae,
I-II, 109, 1). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: 2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10;
Psalm 89:20, 21-22, 25-26; Mark 3:22-30
The
scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub, and
by the prince of devils he casts out devils.” When he had called them
together he said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If
a kingdom be divided against itself that kingdom cannot stand. If a
house be divided against itself that house cannot stand either. If
Satan rises up against himself he is divided and cannot stand. He is
coming to an end. No man can enter into the house of a strong man and
rob him of his goods unless he first bind the strong man. Then he will
plunder his house. Amen I say to you that all sins will be forgiven
men, and their blasphemies. But the one who blasphemes against the Holy
Spirit will never receive forgiveness but will guilty of an everlasting
sin.” He taught this because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
(Mark 3:22-30)
There are various
ways of approaching the reading and the study of history. One way is
through biography, which is to say through the study of individuals and
their impact on the course of events. Whether it be in relation to
politics, economics, religion, philosophy or ecclesiastical events,
such an approach would analyse the issues primarily
(though
not exclusively) through the prism of the individuals who were
involved. Taking history of the Church, for instance, this approach
would emphasise the study of individuals - say, the saints - and their
impact on the course of the Church’s history. An interesting corollary
is the study of those who consciously reject Christian dogma. Let us
take an example, say, the nineteenth century Anglican Oxford Movement,
at the forefront of which was John Henry Newman. Now, one of Newman’s
acquaintances was Blanco White, an ex-Catholic priest who had abandoned
Catholicism and who during his acquaintance with Newman gradually
abandoned his acceptance of the doctrines of the Incarnation and the
Trinity and died a Unitarian. He was sincere but spiritually blind. I
mention the case of Blanco White only in passing, for we cannot
possibly judge what was the state of his heart, nor can we of any
particular individual. My point though is that instances such as this
prompt us to think of the rejection of Christ and his claims, for our
Lord speaks with great solemnity of this in our Gospel passage today.
The setting is the response of the scribes to our Lord’s driving out of
the devils. The scribes accused him of being in league with Satan. He
was, they murmured, casting out demons with Satan’s power in order to
gain a spiritual ascendancy over God’s people, and all in Satan’s
interest. Though it was evident to all that Christ was being led by the
Spirit of God in the way the prophets had been before, and was driving
out Satan by the power of the Holy Spirit, they deliberately chose to
name the spirit leading him as being none other than Satan. Let us
consider Christ’s response to this sin against the light.
Our Lord summons
them together and begins by refuting the charge on grounds of mere
common sense. How could Satan be so inept in his strategy? Is he
directing one person - Jesus himself - to destroy various of his own
forces all the while expecting to gain the victory? If one kingdom
advances against another and as part of the strategy allows its
greatest officer turn on and attack its own troops with devastating
effect, will not that kingdom be thus weakened and fall? Their argument
is absurd. Incidentally, implied in this refutation by our Lord is the
indication that Satan is indeed intelligent and that he is organized in
his resources and in his methods. But of course he is no match for
Christ. But our Lord then goes on to deliver a terrifying warning to
those who deliberately resist the light. “Amen I say to you that all
sins will be forgiven men, and their blasphemies. But the one who
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never receive forgiveness but
will guilty of an everlasting sin.” He taught this because they said,
“He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:22-30)
The implication of our Lord’s words is that at least some of the
scribes were setting themselves so completely against the Holy Spirit
as to place themselves out of the reach of grace altogether. They were,
despite what was most clear to all including themselves, accusing
Christ of being inhabited by a demon. They were in effect in danger of
deliberately accusing the Holy Spirit of being bad, of being wicked.
Our Lord warns that such a person reviles and blasphemes the Holy
Spirit. More ominously, he says that a person who blasphemes the Spirit
of God is guilty of an eternal sin. Just as the conscience of man is
able wield its influence for good because man knows that his conscience
is good, so too if the Holy Spirit is to exercise his power and
influence a person must recognize that he, the Spirit of God, is
supremely good. He is the Spirit of Christ and of God. Deliberately to
call him wicked is to place oneself beyond his influence. It all
indicates the mystery of evil and of how the gift of free will can be
put to tragic and utter misuse, with eternal consequences.
Let us understand
that the worst thing that man can do is to commit sin. If we sin then
we must immediately repent. To repent requires the grace and help of
the Holy Spirit. Let us profoundly reverence the Holy Spirit. He is the
one who sanctifies us and in whom is our hope. Let us treasure the
light that he sends us and be faithful to it, understanding that if we
are faithful to the light we are given then more still will be given.
(E.J.Tyler)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
The concept of faith-based hope in the New Testament and the early
Church (cont)
8. This explanation is further strengthened and related to daily life
if we consider verse 34 of the tenth chapter of the Letter to the
Hebrews, which is linked by vocabulary and content to this definition
of hope-filled faith and prepares the way for it. Here the author
speaks to believers who have undergone the experience of persecution
and he says to them: “you had compassion on the prisoners, and you
joyfully accepted the plundering of your property (hyparchonton—Vg.
bonorum), since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession
(hyparxin—Vg. substantiam) and an abiding one.” Hyparchonta refers to
property, to what in earthly life constitutes the means of support,
indeed the basis, the “substance” for life, what we depend upon. This
“substance”, life's normal source of security, has been taken away from
Christians in the course of persecution. They have stood firm, though,
because they considered this material substance to be of little
account. They could abandon it because they had found a better “basis”
for their existence—a basis that abides, that no one can take away. We
must not overlook the link between these two types of “substance”,
between means of support or material basis and the word of faith as the
“basis”, the “substance” that endures. Faith gives life a new basis, a
new foundation on which we can stand, one which relativizes the
habitual foundation, the reliability of material income. A new freedom
is created with regard to this habitual foundation of life, which only
appears to be capable of providing support, although this is obviously
not to deny its normal meaning. This new freedom, the awareness of the
new “substance” which we have been given, is revealed not only in
martyrdom, in which people resist the overbearing power of ideology and
its political organs and, by their death, renew the world. Above all,
it is seen in the great acts of renunciation, from the monks of ancient
times to Saint Francis of Assisi and those of our contemporaries who
enter modern religious Institutes and movements and leave everything
for love of Christ, so as to bring to men and women the faith and love
of Christ, and to help those who are suffering in body and spirit. In
their case, the new “substance” has proved to be a genuine “substance”;
from the hope of these people who have been touched by Christ, hope has
arisen for others who were living in darkness and without hope. In
their case, it has been demonstrated that this new life truly possesses
and is “substance” that calls forth life for others. For us who
contemplate these figures, their way of acting and living is de facto a
“proof” that the things to come, the promise of Christ, are not only a
reality that we await, but a real presence: he is truly the
“philosopher” and the “shepherd” who shows us what life is and where it
is to be found.
(Continuing)
(January 29) Servant
of God Brother Juniper (d. 1258)(video reading)
"Would to God, my brothers, I had a whole forest of such Junipers,"
said Francis of this holy friar. We don’t know much about Juniper
before he joined the friars in 1210. Francis sent him to establish
"places" for the friars in Gualdo Tadino and Viterbo. When St. Clare
was dying, Juniper consoled her. He was devoted to the passion of Jesus
and was known for his simplicity. Several stories about Juniper in the
Little Flowers of St. Francis illustrate his exasperating generosity.
Once Juniper was taking care of a sick man who had a craving to eat
pig’s feet. This helpful friar went to a nearby field, captured a pig
and cut off one foot, and then served this meal to the sick man. The
owner of the pig was furious and immediately went to Juniper’s
superior. When Juniper saw his mistake, he apologized profusely. He
also ended up talking this angry man into donating the rest of the pig
to the friars! Another time Juniper had been commanded to quit giving
part of his clothing to the half-naked people he met on the road.
Desiring to obey his superior, Juniper once told a man in need that he
couldn’t give the man his tunic, but he wouldn’t prevent the man from
taking it either. In time, the friars learned not to leave anything
lying around, for Juniper would probably give it away. He died in 1258
and is buried at Ara Coeli Church in Rome.
It is said that St. Francis once described the perfect friar by citing
"the patience of Brother Juniper, who attained the state of perfect
patience because he kept the truth of his low estate constantly in
mind, whose supreme desire was to follow Christ on the way of the
cross" (Mirror of Perfection, #85). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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start video
(Note: in the video above, I mention Nicodemus. I meant to say Nathanael,
as in the text below)
Scripture today: 2 Samuel 6:12b-15, 17-19; Psalm 24:7-10; Mark
3:31-35
The
mother of Jesus and his brethren came. Standing outside they sent for
him. Many were sitting before him, and they told him, “Behold your
mother and your brethren outside are looking for you. Answering them he
said, “Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on those who
sat about him, he said “Behold my mother and my brethren. For whoever
does the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother.(Mark 3:31-35)
If one grants the
Christian claim and dogma that Jesus of Nazareth was God - the Son of
God made man - then it is surely a source of unending fascination to
think of him dwelling among men. Particularly wondrous is the
phenomenon of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity being a member
of a human family, with a true mother and a foster-father, living a
humble and ordinary life those years thirty years at Nazareth. The God
of might lived as a member of an obscure family in a backwater village
which was not looked on very highly by its neighbours. We know of this
meagre reputation Nazareth had from the response of Nathanael (in the
Gospel of St John) to Philip’s telling him about Jesus of Nazareth. The
point I wish to make, though, is that God took the Incarnation
seriously in that he became as all men are except for sin. He became a
member of a family, of a wider circle of relatives, a member of a clan.
That he was a good member truly immersed in his family relationships is
shown in our Gospel today when, as the text says, “His mother and
brothers came. Standing outside they sent for him. Many were sitting
before him, and they told him, ‘Behold your mother and your brethren
outside are looking for you’.” They were on easy and familiar terms
with him and despite his unique moral qualities and his growing
position in the life of the people they felt quite free to come and
summon him to their company. This detail says much for the reality and
the scale of the Incarnation. God became man in every sense except for
man’s condition of being sinful. It is a wholesome and instructive
thought to ponder on our Lord’s life during all those years at
Nazareth: thirty of his thirty three years. Just as family is
fundamental and central to the individual, to families themselves, and
to the life of the community, so too family must have been fundamental
to our Lord, humanly speaking.
But there was to be
a wider and far greater family of Jesus, and our Lord’s words in
today’s Gospel allude to it. We read that, ‘Answering them he said,
“Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on those who sat
about him, he said “Behold my mother and my brethren. For whoever does
the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother”.’ (Mark
3:31-35) Christ our Lord was establishing his new family and those who
sat before him as his disciples were on the way to being members of it.
Yahweh God had established his chosen people as his family. The
covenant he had with them was a family covenant. The prophets described
Yahweh as a Husband, the Husband of his people. His people was his
bride, his spouse. It has also been suggested by some scholars that the
word “Yahweh” not only means “I am”, but includes in this brief phrase
the promise to abide with his people: “I am (as the One always there
with you)”. It suggests the fidelity and presence of the Bridegroom.
Israel was his spouse. In other contexts Israel his people is regarded
as Yahweh’s son, his child. For example, he called Israel his “child”
out of Egypt. The point in all of this is that in the Old Testament God
regarded his chosen people as his family. But now with the coming of
Christ a new and far loftier family was being established and its
grandeur derived from the presence of Christ and the gift of the Holy
Spirit. The Church is God’s family and Christ is our brother. The
covenant whereby this new family comes into being is the new covenant
in the blood of Christ. Each member of the Church is a brother to
Christ through faith and baptism, and then a life of obedience to God.
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” The
exemplar for all the brothers and sisters of Christ is his own Mother
whose life was summed up in her words to the Angel, “Be it done unto me
according to your word.”
As we look out on
the world and the stars we cannot but be awestruck at what the Creator
must be like to hold all that we see in constant existence. He is the
God of heaven and earth, above us in a manner far beyond imagining. And
yet, he became man and as our brother lay down his life that we might
share in his life. Let us live every day in such a way that Jesus will
look on us and say to those around him, behold my brother, my sister,
for whoever does the will of God, he is my mother and my sister and my
brother.
(E.J.Tyler)
A missionary. — You dream of being a missionary. Another Francis
Xavier... And you long to conquer an empire for Christ. Japan, China,
India, Russia... the peoples of the North of Europe, or America, or
Africa, or Australia?
Stir up that fire in your heart, that hunger for souls. But don't
forget that you are more of a missionary 'obeying'. Geographically
distant from those apostolic fields, you work both 'here' and 'there':
don't you — like Xavier — feel your arm tired after administering
baptism to so many?
(The Way, no.315)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
The concept of faith-based hope in the New Testament and the early
Church (cont)
9. In order to understand more deeply this reflection on the two types
of substance—hypostasis and hyparchonta—and on the two approaches to
life expressed by these terms, we must continue with a brief
consideration of two words pertinent to the discussion which can be
found in the tenth chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews. I refer to the
words hypomone (10:36) and hypostole (10:39). Hypomone is normally
translated as “patience”—perseverance, constancy. Knowing how to wait,
while patiently enduring trials, is necessary for the believer to be
able to “receive what is promised” (10:36). In the religious context of
ancient Judaism, this word was used expressly for the expectation of
God which was characteristic of Israel, for their persevering
faithfulness to God on the basis of the certainty of the Covenant in a
world which contradicts God. Thus the word indicates a lived hope, a
life based on the certainty of hope. In the New Testament this
expectation of God, this standing with God, takes on a new
significance: in Christ, God has revealed himself. He has already
communicated to us the “substance” of things to come, and thus the
expectation of God acquires a new certainty.
It is the expectation of things to come from the perspective of a
present that is already given. It is a looking-forward in Christ's
presence, with Christ who is present, to the perfecting of his Body, to
his definitive coming. The word hypostole, on the other hand, means
shrinking back through lack of courage to speak openly and frankly a
truth that may be dangerous. Hiding through a spirit of fear leads to
“destruction” (Heb 10:39). “God did not give us a spirit of timidity
but a spirit of power and love and self-control”—that, by contrast, is
the beautiful way in which the Second Letter to Timothy (1:7) describes
the fundamental attitude of the Christian.
(Continuing)
(January 30) St.
Hyacintha of Mariscotti (1585-1640)(video reading)
Hyacintha accepted God’s standards somewhat late in life. Born of a
noble family near Viterbo, she entered a local convent of sisters who
followed the Third Order Rule. However, she supplied herself with
enough food, clothing and other goods to live a very comfortable life
amid these sisters pledged to mortification. A serious illness required
that Hyacintha’s confessor bring Holy Communion to her room.
Scandalized on seeing how soft a life she had provided for herself, the
confessor advised her to live more humbly. Hyacintha disposed of her
fine clothes and special foods. She eventually became very penitential
in food and clothing; she was ready to do the most humble work in the
convent. She developed a special devotion to the sufferings of Christ
and by her penances became an inspiration to the sisters in her
convent. She was canonized in 1807. How differently might Hyacintha’s
life have ended if her confessor had been afraid to question her
pursuit of a soft life! Or what if she had refused to accept any
challenge to her comfortable pattern of life? Francis of Assisi
expected give and take in fraternal correction among his followers.
Humility is required both of the one giving it and of the one receiving
the correction; their roles could easily be reversed in the future.
Such correction is really an act of charity and should be viewed that
way by all concerned. Francis told his friars: "Blessed is the servant
who would accept correction, accusation, and blame from another as
patiently as he would from himself. Blessed is the servant who when he
is rebuked quietly agrees, respectfully submits, humbly admits his
fault, and willingly makes amends" (Admonition XXII).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to
start video
Scripture today: 2 Samuel 7:4-17;
Psalm 89:4-5, 27-30; Mark 4:1-20
Jesus again began
to teach by the sea side, and a great multitude gathered before him so
he boarded a boat and sat there on the Lake. The whole concourse stood
on the land by the shore. He taught them many things in parables, and
said to them: “Listen. Behold, a sower went out to sow. While he sowed
some seed fell by the wayside and the birds of the air
came and ate it up. Others fell upon stony ground where it had little
soil and it shot up immediately because it had no depth of earth. When
the sun rose it was scorched and because it had no root it withered
away. Some fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and
it yielded no fruit. Some fell upon good ground and produced a crop
that grew, increased and gave its yield, one thirty, another sixty, and
another a hundred.” He then said, “He that has ears to hear, let him
hear.” When he was alone the twelve who were with him asked him about
the parable. He said to them, “To you it is given to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God. But to those outside all is explained in
parables in order that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing
they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be
converted and their sins forgiven them. He said to them, “Are you
ignorant of this parable? How shall you know the other parables? He
that sows, is the sower of the word. Those by the wayside are those
whom, upon hearing the word that was sown, Satan immediately approaches
and deprives of the word that was sown in their hearts. Similarly the
seed sown on stony ground are those who when they have heard the word,
immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root in them and last
only for a time. When tribulation and persecution arises on account of
the word they stumble. Others there are who are sown among thorns.
These are they who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the
deceitfulness of riches and the lusts after other things enter in and
choke the word, and it is made fruitless. The ones who are sown on good
soil are those who hear the word and receive it. They yield fruit, one
thirty, another sixty, and another a hundredfold.”(Mark 4:1-20)
What must have been
the thoughts filling the heart of our Lord as the crowds sought to be
with him? We are told of his immense compassion and of how power
continually went forth from him. But our Lord had no illusions about
the crowds as such. In our Gospel passage today we are told that the
numbers were so great and importunate that he chose
to move out from the shore and teach them from the water. He sat in the
boat and spoke from there, gazing on the people whom on another
occasion he said were like sheep without a shepherd. As he spoke his
eyes roved among the people, observing persons of all ages and various
walks of life. Our Lord did not look on people as simply members of a
crowd. He, we are told elsewhere in St John’s Gospel, knew their
hearts. So what do we find him speaking of? He is speaking of the
attitude of those who listen to his word. Very many do not listen with
the attitude that is necessary for what he is saying to have its
effect. He is trying to alert the crowd to the change of heart they
must undergo as they listen to him. He uses a parallel from their
everyday life drawn from their work in the fields. Some are hard of
heart and his word will not penetrate at all. They are like the seed
that falls on the path and the birds take it away. What our Lord is
saying to them gets nowhere at all. Others are like the seed that gets
a happy reception initially, but there is no depth to them. A little
difficulty and it is gone. Others are filled with other interests and
cares, such as their income, their possessions, their worries and
ambitions. With them what our Lord is speaking of in his discourses
doesn’t have a chance. It is choked out of life. But there are some
among the crowd who will do well with what our Lord is saying. They
will do well because they will truly receive the word into their hearts
and retain it, allowing it to germinate and bear fruit. They hang on to
what our Lord is telling them. They treasure it in their hearts and
because of their readiness, their appreciation, their inner freedom to
appropriate it, it flowers in the results God intends.
How sad that so
many do not receive the word of Christ with the promise that our Lord
is calling for in his parable! More seriously, we observe that our Lord
deliberately spoke to them only suggestively. He was not explicit in
his description of their dispositions. He told a story and let it stand
without its explanation, hoping that the crowd would ponder on it and
grasp its point. Why did he do this? He explained to his Apostles that
he did this because basically they were unwilling to accept the light.
“To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to
those outside all is explained in parables in order that seeing they
may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand,
lest at any time they should be converted and their sins forgiven
them.”
(Mark 4:1-20). They were blind to their own unwillingness,
and it was an unwillingness to convert from their sins and
hardheartedness and so have their sins forgiven them. In this way our
Lord reveals our basic problem, and the problem facing all those who
hear the proclamation of the Good News of Christ. That problem is the
condition of their own hearts, the readiness to turn away from sin and
believe what Christ has revealed. They are not ready because they do
not want it - all the while, perhaps, not realizing it. The sin that is
in their hearts is at times before them and at times somewhat hidden to
them, but it is due to their own fault. They are unwilling to recognize
and turn away from their sins and be converted. It is this attitude and
stance of the will which our Lord saw in the crowds who converged on
him and who pressed about him. As already mentioned, St John in his
Gospel tells us that our Lord could read the hearts of all, and here in
our Gospel passage today our Lord is speaking of the hearts of the
crowds before him. It was because of the condition of their hearts that
he spoke here to them in parables. We are all thus warned. It is so
very difficult to be alive to the starting points and assumptions that
pervade our hearts, let alone to set them right. We ought ask the Holy
Spirit to make us truly ready for the word of Christ.
Our vocation in
life is not merely to be very good people, which the natural conscience
presses upon every man and woman. No, we are called to the holiness
that Christ came to offer us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. But
we must on our part be the good soil of our Lord’s parable. This means
having the readiness to receive wholeheartedly the word and teaching of
Christ which generation after generation comes in and through the word
and teaching of the Church he founded on the Apostles with Peter at
their head. That readiness is a gift of the Holy Spirit - and for this
reason our Lord tells his Apostles in our Gospel passage that to them
it has been given. Let us pray to the Spirit of God asking that this
grace be given to us too - and then let us be faithful to it.
(E.J.Tyler)
You tell me, yes, that you want to. Very good: but do you want to as a
miser longs for gold, as a mother loves her child, as a worldling
craves for honours, or as a wretched sensualist seeks his pleasure ?
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
Eternal life – what is it?
10. We have spoken thus far of faith and hope in the New Testament and
in early Christianity; yet it has always been clear that we are
referring not only to the past: the entire reflection concerns living
and dying in general, and therefore it also concerns us here and now.
So now we must ask explicitly: is the Christian faith also for us today
a life-changing and life-sustaining hope?
Is it “performative” for us—is it a message which shapes our life in a
new way, or is it just “information” which, in the meantime, we have
set aside and which now seems to us to have been superseded by more
recent information? In the search for an answer, I would like to begin
with the classical form of the dialogue with which the rite of Baptism
expressed the reception of an infant into the community of believers
and the infant's rebirth in Christ. First of all the priest asked what
name the parents had chosen for the child, and then he continued with
the question: “What do you ask of the Church?” Answer: “Faith”. “And
what does faith give you?” “Eternal life”. According to this dialogue,
the parents were seeking access to the faith for their child, communion
with believers, because they saw in faith the key to “eternal life”.
Today as in the past, this is what being baptized, becoming Christians,
is all about: it is not just an act of socialization within the
community, not simply a welcome into the Church. The parents expect
more for the one to be baptized: they expect that faith, which includes
the corporeal nature of the Church and her sacraments, will give life
to their child—eternal life. Faith is the substance of hope. But then
the question arises: do we really want this—to live eternally? Perhaps
many people reject the faith today simply because they do not find the
prospect of eternal life attractive. What they desire is not eternal
life at all, but this present life, for which faith in eternal life
seems something of an impediment. To continue living for ever
—endlessly—appears more like a curse than a gift. Death, admittedly,
one would wish to postpone for as long as possible. But to live always,
without end—this, all things considered, can only be monotonous and
ultimately unbearable. This is precisely the point made, for example,
by Saint Ambrose, one of the Church Fathers, in the funeral discourse
for his deceased brother Satyrus: “Death was not part of nature; it
became part of nature. God did not decree death from the beginning; he
prescribed it as a remedy. Human life, because of sin ... began to
experience the burden of wretchedness in unremitting labour and
unbearable sorrow. There had to be a limit to its evils; death had to
restore what life had forfeited. Without the assistance of grace,
immortality is more of a burden than a blessing.”(6) A little earlier,
Ambrose had said: “Death is, then, no cause for mourning, for it is the
cause of mankind's salvation.”
(Continuing)
(January 31)
St. John Bosco (1815-1888)
John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools.
It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing
students in surroundings removed from the
likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the
sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical
training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life
with one’s work, study and play. Encouraged during his youth to become
a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841.
His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan and
instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then
gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism. After serving as
chaplain in a hospice for working girls, John opened the Oratory of St.
Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons
contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys,
shoemaking and tailoring. By 1856, the institution had grown to 150
boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and
catechetical pamphlets. His interest in vocational education and
publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic
publishers. John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his
own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young priests. In 1854
he and his followers informally banded together under Francis de Sales.
With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the
Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission
work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.
John Bosco educated the whole person—body and soul united. He believed
that Christ’s love and our faith in that love should pervade everything
we do—work, study, play. For John Bosco, being a Christian was a
full-time effort, not a once-a-week, Mass-on-Sunday experience. It is
searching and finding God and Jesus in everything we do, letting their
love lead us. Yet, John realized the importance of job-training and the
self-worth and pride that comes with talent and ability so he trained
his students in the trade crafts, too. “Every education teaches a
philosophy; if not by dogma then by suggestion, by implication, by
atmosphere. Every part of that education has a connection with every
other part. If it does not all combine to convey some general view of
life, it is not education at all” (G.K. Chesterton, The Common
Man).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today:
2 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29; Psalm
132:1-3, 5,
11-14; Mark 4:21-25
Jesus said to them,
“Does anyone put a candle under a bushel or under a bed? Does he not
put it on a candlestick? For there is nothing hidden which shall not be
made manifest, nor made secret which shall not be manifested. Those who
can hear, let him hear.” Jesus said to them, “Take heed what you hear.
In the measure you meet out, so shall it be measured to you again and
more besides. For to the one who has it shall be given. From the one
who has not, even what he has will be taken away from him.”(Mark 4:21-25)
Among the many
things I have not yet done is to count the number of times in the
Gospels in which Christ alludes either directly or indirectly to the
judgment of God on each person. But what is very clear is that there
are many such allusions. There used to be a glib generalization to the
effect that while the Old Testament stresses the wrath
and judgment of God, the New stresses his love. Now, while the great
doctrine of the New Testament is indeed that God is love, it is a great
error to think that the judgment of God on unrepentant
sinners is underplayed. Indeed, the divine judgment is emphasised far
more in the New Testament because far more is revealed of its eternal
consequences. My impression is that many Jews do not derive from their
reading of what Christians call the Old Testament a clear sense of the
awesome results of the judgment of God following death. The doctrine of
an eternity in either heaven or hell is not to them an indisputable
revelation of the Old Testament. The Sadducees did not believe in the
resurrection from the dead. I think one can say that generally Jewish
traditions do not accept an eternal hell following the divine judgment
on the one who dies in a state of unrepentant mortal sin. Punishment is
basically temporary. Whatever of this important difference of dogmatic
view, there is no question that Christ stressed the ominous nature of
God’s judgment on sin and also his judgment on the one who perseveres
in the good. He keeps it before his audience because of its importance
for each of us, and his words are unmistakable: “there is nothing
hidden which shall not be made manifest, nor made secret which shall
not be manifested. Those who can hear, let him hear.” He continues in
the same vein. “Take heed what you hear. In the measure you meet out,
so shall it be measured to you again and more besides. For to the one
who has it will be given. From the one who has not, even what he has
will be taken away from him.”(Mark 4:21-25)
Cardinal Newman,
who was perhaps the foremost religious mind of nineteenth century
Britain, spent a lot of time and thought endeavouring to make more
acceptable to the modern mind the doctrine of an eternal hell. But one
thing he did maintain was that the first principle of religion is the
thought of a judgement as it operates in the feeling of a conscience,
especially the guilty conscience. A person feels guilty at the thought
of the wrong he has done and the element within that feeling that will
turn him to religion is the thought that God will judge his deeds. It
adds to his fears and it makes the thought of God more vivid. God bears
down on him the more because of his perceived displeasure and threats.
If this doctrine is lost sight of then God may be lost sight of in the
midst of a trail of sins and neglect. Of course, Newman did not say
that the thought of the divine judgment is the beginning and the end of
religion, but he did say that in general it is the beginning of it.
Such a view could be debated - especially in the light of comparative
and indigenous religions - but at least it throws into full view the
importance of it and the reason why Christ revealed it and then
stressed it so very often. We must not lose sight of God’s judgment for
it is a holy and wholesome thought that can keep us from sin and from
religious neglect. In our gospel passage today our Lord tells us that
our deeds will merit their deserts, and that “to the one who has” the
more will be given. From the one who has not - that is, who lacks in
good deeds and merits - what he has will be taken from him. The saints
urged on all Christians that they keep before them the thought of the
last things. Those last things are death, the judgment of God that
follows on our death, and then either heaven or hell for ever. Those
judged worthy of a place in heaven will, of course, very likely need
further purification from sin in Purgatory prior to their definitive
admission to the presence of the all-holy God forever and ever.
Most persons who
can try to prepare for the future. The young student is continually
preparing for his future. The breadwinner is preparing for the future
of his family. One could claim that most of the work of any government
is to prepare for the country’s future. Our Lord has told us of our
future beyond the grave and how to prepare for it. He is our Way and
our Life. If we abide in him here in this life we shall abide with him
forever in heaven.
(E.J.Tyler)
What zeal people put
into their earthly affairs: dreaming of honours, striving for riches,
bent on sensuality. Men and women, rich and poor, old and middle— aged
and young and even children: all of them the same.
When you and I put the same zeal into the affairs of our souls, we will
have a living and operative faith: and there will be no obstacle that
we cannot overcome in our apostolic undertakings.
(The Way, no.317)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
Eternal life – what is it? (Cont)
11. Whatever precisely Saint Ambrose may have meant by these words, it
is true that to eliminate death or to postpone it more or less
indefinitely would place the earth and humanity in an impossible
situation, and even for the individual would bring no benefit.
Obviously there is a contradiction in our attitude, which points to an
inner contradiction in our very existence. On the one hand, we do not
want to die; above all, those who love us do not want us to die. Yet on
the other hand, neither do we want to continue living indefinitely, nor
was the earth created with that in view. So what do we really want? Our
paradoxical attitude gives rise to a deeper question: what in fact is
“life”? And what does “eternity” really mean? There are moments when it
suddenly seems clear to us: yes, this is what true “life” is—this is
what it should be like. Besides, what we call “life” in our everyday
language is not real “life” at all. Saint Augustine, in the extended
letter on prayer which he addressed to Proba, a wealthy Roman widow and
mother of three consuls, once wrote this: ultimately we want only one
thing—”the blessed life”, the life which is simply life, simply
“happiness”. In the final analysis, there is nothing else that we ask
for in prayer. Our journey has no other goal—it is about this alone.
But then Augustine also says: looking more closely, we have no idea
what we ultimately desire, what we would really like. We do not know
this reality at all; even in those moments when we think we can reach
out and touch it, it eludes us. “We do not know what we should pray for
as we ought,” he says, quoting Saint Paul (Rom 8:26). All we know is
that it is not this. Yet in not knowing, we know that this reality must
exist. “There is therefore in us a certain learned ignorance (docta
ignorantia), so to speak”, he writes. We do not know what we would
really like; we do not know this “true life”; and yet we know that
there must be something we do not know towards which we feel driven.
(Continuing)
(February 1)
St. Ansgar (801-865)
The “apostle of the north” (Scandinavia) had enough frustrations to
become a saint—and he did. He became a Benedictine at Corbie, France,
where he had been educated. Three years later, when the king of Denmark
became a convert, Ansgar went to that country for three years of
missionary work, without noticeable success. Sweden asked for Christian
missionaries, and he went there, suffering capture by pirates and other
hardships on the way. Less than two years later he was recalled, to
become abbot of New Corbie (Corvey) and bishop of Hamburg. The pope
made him legate for the Scandinavian missions. Funds for the northern
apostolate stopped with Emperor Louis’s death. After 13 years’ work in
Hamburg, Ansgar saw it burned to the ground by invading Northmen;
Sweden and Denmark returned to paganism. He directed new apostolic
activities in the North, travelling to Denmark and being instrumental
in the conversion of another king. By the strange device of casting
lots, the king of Sweden allowed the Christian missionaries to return.
Ansgar’s biographers remark that he was an extraordinary preacher, a
humble and ascetical priest. He was devoted to the poor and the sick,
imitating the Lord in washing their feet and waiting on them at table.
He died peacefully at Bremen, Germany, without achieving his wish to be
a martyr. Sweden became pagan again after his death, and remained so
until the coming of missionaries two centuries later.
History records what people do, rather than what they are. Yet the
courage and perseverance of men and women like Ansgar can only come
from a solid base of union with the original courageous and persevering
Missionary. Ansgar’s life is another reminder that God writes straight
with crooked lines. Christ takes care of the effects of the apostolate
in his own way; he is first concerned about the purity of the apostles
themselves.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 2
Samuel 1:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17; Psalm 51:3-7, 10-11; Mark 4:26-34 (click here for readings)
Jesus said: “The
Kingdom of God is like a man who cast seed on the ground. Night and day
as he sleeps and rises the seed begins to grow, how he does not know.
Of itself the earth brings forth its crop, first the blade, then the ear,
afterwards the full corn in the ear. When the produce is ready he
immediately applies the sickle because the harvest has arrived.” He
said: “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or to what parable
shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed which when it
is sown in the earth is smaller than all the seeds in the ground. When
it is sown, it grows and becomes greater than all other shrubs and puts
out great branches, such that the birds of the are able to dwell in its
shadow.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them according as
they were able to hear. He only spoke in parables to them, but
privately to his disciples he explained everything.(Mark 4:26-34)
When the Hebrew
thought of kingdoms, his heart dwelt lovingly and longingly on the
kingdom of his forefather David. Though not Judaism’s first king, David
established the kingdom and of all the kings of the chosen people he
was the greatest. He had received the prophecy that was thenceforth
handed on, that his throne would in
some sense be eternal. The prophecy developed as the generations passed
and it became clear that a great Messiah was to come who would
establish God’s Kingdom and be its King. He would be the fulfilment of
the prophecies. In Jesus of Nazareth this King had now come, and our
Lord in his preaching and teaching repeatedly explained and described
this Kingdom. We have a portion of his teaching on the Kingdom in our
Gospel passage today. Firstly, the Kingdom would grow and grow of its
own power. “The Kingdom of God is like a man who cast seed on the
ground. Night and day as he sleeps and rises the seed begins to grow,
how he does not know. Of itself the earth brings forth its crop, first
the blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear. When the
produce is ready he immediately applies the sickle because the harvest
has arrived.” The source of this growth that our Lord is describing
here is grace, given to the Church through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Church is the bearer and the great beneficiary of grace which is
the life and friendship of God. This grace surges through the Church’s
veins, is active in her preaching and teaching, is conveyed in her
Sacraments, and is bestowed on her children enabling them to live in
the friendship of God. It is the hidden power of God at work in the
life of the Church accounting for her growth throughout history amid
the waves of difficulty and persecution that afflict her. Cardinal
Newman considered the first three centuries of the Church’s history and
her triumph over the Roman Empire to be the paradigm of this growth.
The life and power of God are shown in her silent but sure development.
So while other
kingdoms rise and fall, this divine kingdom on earth will not. The
kingdom and civilization of Egypt grew and lasted for very many
centuries, and more spectacularly still so did that of Rome. But they
fell. Such has been the pattern of the kingdoms of this world all
along. But our Lord assures us that God’s kingdom which he, Jesus,
established and of which he is the King will not be like that. It will
inexorably grow and will embrace the peoples. It will far outclass all
other kingdoms. “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or to what
parable shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed which
when it is sown in the earth is smaller than all the seeds in the
ground. When it is sown, it grows and becomes greater than all other
shrubs and puts out great branches, such that the birds of the are able
to dwell in its shadow.” (Mark 4:26-34). As he stood before
Pontius Pilate on trial for presuming to be a king, he told Pilate that
he was a King, yes, but that his Kingdom was not of this world. It was
in the world, but not of it. Were it of this world he, its King, would
be using the weapons of the world and with those weapons his forces
would be liberating him from captivity. But no. His kingdom was of a
different order. It was the Kingdom of truth, for he had been born into
this world to bear witness to the truth, and those who were of the
truth listen to his voice. So at its heart our Gospel passage today is
speaking of our Lord himself as the King, and those who gather with and
in him are members of his Kingdom. He himself is the great treasure of
God’s Kingdom, and it is in him that God’s Kingdom is found and
accessed. St Paul writes in one of his Letters that this is the mystery
now revealed - or, we could say, the Kingdom now revealed - Christ in
you, your hope of glory. Christ’s reign will grow and grow and it will
be eternal. The birds of the air will find their shelter in him. By our
baptism and membership in the Church we live in him and thus does the
Kingdom of God grow.
The Kingdom of God
is to be found in the Church Christ founded because Christ is to be
found in his body the Church. Christ is the treasure and fullness of
God’s Kingdom and that treasure is to be found in his Church. Let us
take our stand with Jesus, knowing that in him, as St Paul writes, is
to be found the fullness of the godhead bodily. In him there is every
heavenly blessing. He is our living Lord, joy for all ages.
(E.J.Tyler)
To you, who like sports, the Apostle's argument should appeal: 'All the
runners at the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the
prize. You must run in the same way, meaning to win'.
(The Way, no.318)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07)
Eternal life – what is it? (Cont)
12. I think that in this very precise and permanently valid way,
Augustine is describing man's essential situation, the situation that
gives rise to all his contradictions and hopes. In some way we want
life itself, true life, untouched even by death; yet at the same time
we do not know the thing towards which we feel driven. We cannot stop
reaching out for it, and yet we know that all we can experience or
accomplish is not what we yearn for. This unknown “thing” is the true
“hope” which drives us, and at the same time the fact that it is
unknown is the cause of all forms of despair and also of all efforts,
whether positive or destructive, directed towards worldly authenticity
and human authenticity. The term “eternal life” is intended to give a
name to this known “unknown”. Inevitably it is an inadequate term that
creates confusion. “Eternal”, in fact, suggests to us the idea of
something interminable, and this frightens us; “life” makes us think of
the life that we know and love and do not want to lose, even though
very often it brings more toil than satisfaction, so that while on the
one hand we desire it, on the other hand we do not want it. To imagine
ourselves outside the temporality that imprisons us and in some way to
sense that eternity is not an unending succession of days in the
calendar, but something more like the supreme moment of satisfaction,
in which totality embraces us and we embrace totality—this we can only
attempt. It would be like plunging into the ocean of infinite love, a
moment in which time—the before and after—no longer exists. We can only
attempt to grasp the idea that such a moment is life in the full sense,
a plunging ever anew into the vastness of being, in which we are simply
overwhelmed with joy. This is how Jesus expresses it in Saint John's
Gospel: “I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one
will take your joy from you” (16:22). We must think along these lines
if we want to understand the object of Christian hope, to understand
what it is that our faith, our being with Christ, leads us to expect.
(Continuing)
Feast of the Presentation of the
Lord Saturday of the third week
in Ordinary Time II
Prayers
this week:
Sing a new song to the
Lord! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Truth and beauty surround him,
he lives in holiness and glory.(Psalm 95: 1.6) All-powerful
and ever-living God, direct your love that is within us, that our
efforts in the name of your Son may bring mankind unity and peace. We
ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(February 2, 2008) Presentation of the Lord
At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an
unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations
she describes is the Epiphany (January 6), the observance of Christ’s
birth, and the gala procession in honour of his Presentation in the
Temple 40 days later—February 15. (Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was
ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to
present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.”
Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or
death—excluded a person from Jewish worship.) This feast emphasizes
Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification.
The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and
sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth
on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after
Christmas. At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius
inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century
the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day
became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name:
Candlemas.
“Christ himself says, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And we are the
light, we ourselves, if we receive it from him.... But how do we
receive it, how do we make it shine? ...[T]he candle tells us: by
burning, and being consumed in the burning. A spark of fire, a ray of
love, an inevitable immolation are celebrated over that pure, straight
candle, as, pouring forth its gift of light, it exhausts itself in
silent sacrifice” (Paul VI). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: Malachi
3:1-4; Psalm 24:7-10; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40(click here for
readings)
In accordance with
the law of Moses, after the days of her purification were accomplished
they carried him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is
written in the law of the Lord, Every male opening the womb shall be called
holy to the Lord. They came also to offer a sacrifice, according as it
is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young
pigeons. Behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man
was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the
Holy Spirit was upon him. He had told by the Holy Spirit that he would
not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He was led by
the Spirit into the temple. When his parents brought in the child Jesus
to do for him according to the custom of the law, Simeon also took him
into his arms and blessed God, and said, Now you may dismiss your
servant in peace, O Lord, according to thy word, because my eyes have
seen your salvation which you have prepared for of all the peoples, a
light for the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of your people
Israel. His father and mother were wondering at those things which were
spoken concerning him. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his
mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the rising of
many in Israel, and for a sign which will be contradicted, and a sword
will pierce your own soul too that the thoughts of many hearts may be
revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of
Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser. She was far advanced in years, and had
lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. She had been a
widow till her eighty four years and never left the temple fasting and
praying day and night. Now she, at the same hour, came in and praised
the Lord and spoke of him to all who looked for the redemption of
Israel. And after they had performed all things according to the law of
the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their town of Nazareth. The
child grew, and became strong, full of wisdom. The grace of God was in
him.(Luke 2:22-40)
(On the Holy Family and Christian marriage:)Most people are
what many would call ordinary people and most families are ordinary
families. That is to say, they do not stand out and that is in no way a
point against them because very many who do stand out have been
despicable, although others have been admirable. Being notable does not
necessarily mean being good or true or beautiful. There was a famous
book written many years ago by E.F. Schumacher, called Small is
Beautiful. He was articulating a philosophy of work and
economic structures, but by implication his point applies to the small
and ordinary person. Indeed, he wrote that man is small and therefore
small is beautiful. Bigger does not necessarily mean better. The subtitle
of his famous book is, Economics as if People Mattered.
Every little person matters and, we could add, so does the ordinary
family with its round of simple duties, joys, sufferings, achievements
and failures. Life is ordinarily small and repetitive, and Schumacher’s
point is that smallness and seeming ordinariness can be something very
beautiful. It all depends on how an ordinary life is lived and how an
ordinary work is done. But now, has there ever been a shining example
of this immensely important point, a point so very important because in
the nature of the case it relates to so very many people? There is
indeed a superb instance in history of the small and the ordinary being
of incomparable beauty, one that provides fascination and inspiration
to those who contemplate it. It is the model for each of the ordinary
individuals and families who constitute the ever-renewing ocean of
humanity, which means all of us. Who am I speaking of? I am speaking of
an obscure family in an obscure backwater village on the periphery of
the Roman Empire. That family was very ordinary indeed in the sense
that in the eyes of its society it did not stand out at all. It did
what families and individuals beyond number did and do, and yet it was
good and beautiful and true beyond compare. In its case, small was
beautiful indeed, beautiful beyond imagining in the sight of God.
I am referring to
the holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In today’s Gospel for the
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Luke 2:22-40) we have before us the
Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. For some three decades this
family lived in obscurity. Mary toiled away at her homemaking chores
while Joseph and his foster-son Jesus worked at village carpentry and
building. It was small-time. Theirs was an ordinary life in a very
ordinary village, but what grandeur was theirs! Hidden in their home
life was a world of holiness and moral beauty no one could possibly
estimate. It was immersed in ordinariness. All three lived utterly in
God and all three lived with a love for one another that is
indescribable. Jesus their son was God, the God of holiness and love
who had become man. Holiness was not God’s gift to him. No, it was his
possession by nature. He was its very source inasmuch as his spirit was
the very Spirit of God. The divine Spirit of holiness proceeded from
both him and the Father. He was all-holy, and here he was living an
ordinary family life in a very ordinary village. Consider his mother.
His mother was endowed by God with a holiness that filled her and which
increased day by day. By God’s gift and by the merits of her Son’s
future sacrifice she was full of grace such that no sin ever touched
her. She received grace upon grace. Consider the love, then, between
Jesus and his mother. It was the purest imaginable. But then, consider
too the love between Joseph and his wife Mary, and that between Joseph
and his foster-son Jesus. It is surely the fondest thing of all to
imagine their life together, day after day, evening after evening,
doing their duties together, sharing their joys and their concerns,
conversing together day after day. Think of the holy death of Joseph,
with Jesus and Mary by his side as he breathed his last. Think of the
funeral procession with Joseph being taken out for burial, and Jesus
and Mary returning together to their home to take up life without their
beloved and holy household head. For thirty years this family and in
particular Jesus the Saviour of mankind lived an ordinary life, the
kind of life lived by the overwhelming percentage of the vast family of
mankind. It was not larger than life, as we might say. No, it was
small-time. It was an ordinary life. But it was beautiful with a beauty
beyond compare and that was because they loved God with their whole
heart and lived in perfect obedience to his will. That family is the
model for every family.
The holy family of
Nazareth is the most beautiful thing in human history and out of it
came the Redeemer and his redemption of the world. That holy family is
the paradigm showing the good that issues from a truly Christian
family. The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph should be the
constant inspiration of every family. They ought return again and again
in their hearts to this all-holy family for their spiritual nourishment
and their renewal as a married couple. As Saint Josemaria Escriva was
fond of pointing out, holiness involves beginning again and again in an
ongoing and persevering renewal. Led by the spouses, the Christian
family begins again and again in two senses. Firstly it renews its
inspiration again and again by gazing repeatedly on its grand model,
the Holy Family. It perseveringly contemplates the Holy Family all
through life, beginning during the months of preparation for marriage,
and continuing thereafter to the very end. It ought always begin there,
again and again. This contemplation is a prayerful gaze on Jesus, Mary
and Joseph, remembering their life at Nazareth and in their living
presence humbly and persistently asking their help in becoming more and
more like unto them. The great work of a Christian couple is to become
like the Holy Family in the midst of the ordinariness of everyday life.
But secondly and together with this ongoing contemplation, the
Christian couple returns again and again to the Holy Family by actually
sharing in its life by grace. The grace of the Holy Spirit filled the
Holy Family of Nazareth. In the Sacrament of Matrimony the spouses
share in this grace that filled the life of the Holy Family. By this
grace of the Sacrament they are empowered to grow in imitation of the
Holy Family. By the grace that comes to them in the Sacrament of
Matrimony the couple is able to put on the likeness of that which is
their model of family life. St Paul writes in one of his Letters, let
this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. The married couple is
called to put on the mind of the Holy Family, and for this life-long
undertaking they are not left in their own incapacity. They are not
left to their own resources. At the moment of their exchange of
marriage vows Christ comes to them in a new way by the power of the
Holy Spirit and endows them anew with the life of grace. This grace
constitutes their share in the life of the Holy Family. The task ahead
is to become like the Holy Family and to be filled with its life. In
this will lie their beauty.
There is an old
piece of advice for every couple. It is this. At the end of each day to
ask, what have I done today for my marriage? Then the next morning to
ask, what shall I do today for my marriage? Marriage is to be worked at
amid life’s humdrum. Most people, most families, live an ordinary life.
The Holy Family lived an ordinary life. In the midst of their
ordinariness the Holy Family lived a life of incalculable yet hidden
beauty. That beauty sprang from the life of grace. The calling of every
Christian couple is, however ordinary they may be, to become more and
more like the Holy Family, and more and more filled with the grace that
filled the life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph during those years at
Nazareth. May the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit abide constantly
with every married couple. With their intercession may Mary and Joseph
aid each Christian couple in the one thing necessary, which is to know
the will of God as it is taught by the Church our mother, and then to
put it daily into practice. In this way, as our Lord once said, they
will be brother and sister to Jesus our Lord both now in this life and
forever in the next. Heaven is our homeland, and the way to there is in
and through Jesus, together with Mary and Joseph, the Holy Family.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Recollection. Seek God within you and listen to him.
(The Way, no.319)
Serialization of the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVIOn
Christian Hope (30 Nov. ‘07) Is Christian hope individualistic?
13. In the course of their history, Christians have tried to express
this “knowing without knowing” by means of figures that can be
represented, and they have developed images of “Heaven” which remain
far removed from what, after all, can only be known negatively, via
unknowing. All these attempts at the representation of hope have given
to many people, down the centuries, the incentive to live by faith and
hence also to abandon their hyparchonta, the material substance for
their lives. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews, in the eleventh
chapter, outlined a kind of history of those who live in hope and of
their journeying, a history which stretches from the time of Abel into
the author's own day. This type of hope has been subjected to an
increasingly harsh critique in modern times: it is dismissed as pure
individualism, a way of abandoning the world to its misery and taking
refuge in a private form of eternal salvation. Henri de Lubac, in the
introduction to his seminal book
Catholicisme: Aspects sociaux du dogme, assembled some
characteristic articulations of this viewpoint, one of which is worth
quoting: “Should I have found joy? No ... only my joy, and that is
something wildly different ... The joy of Jesus can be personal. It can
belong to a single man and he is saved. He is at peace ... now and
always, but he is alone. The isolation of this joy does not trouble
him. On the contrary: he is the chosen one! In his blessedness he
passes through the battlefields with a rose in his hand.”
(Continuing tomorrow)
Pope Benedict
XVI's general prayer
intention
for January 2008 is: "That the Church may
strengthen her commitment to full visible unity in order to manifest in
an ever growing degree her nature as community of love, in which is
reflected the communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
which is preparing to
celebrate her Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, may
continue to be the sign and instrument of reconciliation and justice in
a continent which is still marked by war exploitation and and poverty."
Perhaps
because the United States got a later start in the history of the
world, it has relatively few canonized saints, but their number is
increasing. John Neumann was born in what is now the Czech Republic.
After studying in Prague, he came to New York at 25 and was ordained a
priest. He did missionary work in New York until he was 29, when he
joined the Redemptorists and became its first member to profess vows in
the United States. He continued missionary work in Maryland, Virginia
and Ohio, where he became popular with the Germans. At 41, as bishop of
Philadelphia, he organized the parochial school system into a diocesan
one, increasing the number of pupils almost twentyfold within a short
time. Gifted with outstanding organizing ability, he drew into the city
many teaching communities of sisters and the Christian Brothers. During
his brief assignment as vice provincial for the Redemptorists, he
placed them in the forefront of the parochial movement. Well-known for
his holiness and learning, spiritual writing and preaching, on October
13, 1963, he became the first American bishop to be beatified.
Canonized in 1977, he is buried in St. Peter the Apostle Church in
Philadelphia. Neumann took seriously our Lord’s words, “Go and teach
all nations.” From Christ he received his instructions and the power to
carry them out. For Christ does not give a mission without supplying
the means to accomplish it. The Father’s gift in Christ to John Neumann
was his exceptional organizing ability, which he used to spread the
Good News.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Molokai. Her
courage helped tremendously to improve the lives of its victims in
Hawaii, a territory annexed to the United States during her lifetime
(1898). Mother Marianne’s generosity and courage were celebrated at her
May 14, 2005, beatification in Rome. She was a woman who spoke “the
language of truth and love” to the world, said Cardinal Jose Saraiva
Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. Cardinal
Martins, who presided at the beatification Mass in St. Peter’s
Basilica, called her life “a wonderful work of divine grace.” Speaking
of her special love for persons suffering from leprosy, he said, “She
saw in them the suffering face of Jesus. Like the Good Samaritan, she
became their mother.” On January 23, 1838, a daughter was born to Peter
and Barbara Cope of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany. The girl was named after
her mother. Two years later the Cope family immigrated to the United
States and settled in Utica, New York. Young Barbara worked in a
factory until August 1862, when she went to the Sisters of the Third
Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York. After profession in
November of the next year, she began teaching at Assumption parish
school. Marianne held the post of superior in several places and was
twice the novice mistress of her congregation. A natural leader, three
different times she was superior of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse,
where she learned much that would be useful during her years in Hawaii.
Elected provincial in 1877, Mother Marianne was unanimously re-elected
in 1881. Two years later the Hawaiian government was searching for
someone to run the Kakaako Receiving Station for people suspected of
having leprosy. More than 50 religious communities in the United States
and Canada were asked. When the request was put to the Syracuse
sisters, 35 of them volunteered immediately. On October 22, 1883,
Mother Marianne and six other sisters left for Hawaii where they took
charge of the Kakaako Receiving Station outside Honolulu; on the island
of Maui they also opened a hospital and a school for girls. In 1888,
Mother Marianne and two sisters went to Molokai to open a home for
“unprotected women and girls” there. The Hawaiian government was quite
hesitant to send women for this difficult assignment; they need not
have worried about Mother Marianne! On Molokai she took charge of the
home that Blessed Damien DeVeuster (d. 1889) had established for men
and boys. Mother Marianne changed life on Molokai by introducing
cleanliness, pride and fun to the colony. Bright scarves and pretty
dresses for the women were part of her approach.
reason Francis was sent to Padua to study
law. After receiving his doctorate, he returned home and, in due time,
told his parents he wished to enter the priesthood. His father strongly
opposed Francis in this, and only after much patient persuasiveness on
the part of the gentle Francis did his father finally consent. Francis
was ordained and elected provost of the Diocese of Geneva, then a
centre for Calvinists. Francis set out to convert them, especially in
the district of Chablais. By preaching and distributing the little
pamphlets he wrote to explain true Catholic doctrine, he had remarkable
success. At 35 he became bishop of Geneva. While administering his
diocese he continued to preach, hear confessions and catechize the
children. His gentle character was a great asset in winning souls. He
practised his own axiom, “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than
a barrelful of vinegar.” Besides his two well-known books, the Introduction
to the Devout Life and A Treatise on the Love of God,
he wrote many pamphlets and carried on a vast correspondence. For his
writings, he has been named patron of the Catholic Press. His writings,
filled with his characteristic gentle spirit, are addressed to lay
people. He wants to make them understand that they too are called to be
saints. As he wrote in The Introduction to the Devout Life:
“It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible
with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married
woman.... It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert
who had preserved it in the world. ” In spite of his busy and
comparatively short life, he had time to collaborate with another
saint, Jane Frances de Chantal, in the work of establishing the Sisters
of the Visitation. These women were to practice the virtues exemplified
in Mary’s visit to Elizabeth: humility, piety and mutual charity. They
at first engaged to a limited degree in works of mercy for the poor and
the sick. Today, while some communities conduct schools, others live a
strictly contemplative life.
surroundings removed from the
likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the
sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical
training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life
with one’s work, study and play. Encouraged during his youth to become
a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841.
His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan and
instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then
gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism. After serving as
chaplain in a hospice for working girls, John opened the Oratory of St.
Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons
contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys,
shoemaking and tailoring. By 1856, the institution had grown to 150
boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and
catechetical pamphlets. His interest in vocational education and
publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic
publishers. John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his
own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young priests. In 1854
he and his followers informally banded together under Francis de Sales.
With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the
Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission
work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.
