June 2008
Pope Benedict's general
prayer intention for June 2008 is: "That all Christians may
cultivate a deep and personal friendship with Christ, in order to be
able to communicate the strength of His love to every person they meet".
June 2008
Pope Benedict's general
prayer intention for June 2008 is: "That all Christians may
cultivate a deep and personal friendship with Christ, in order to be
able to communicate the strength of His love to every person they meet".
His
mission intention for June 2008 is: "That the
International Eucharistic Congress of Quebec in Canada may lead to an
ever greater understanding that the Eucharist is the heart of the
Church and the source of evangelisation".
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Ninth Sunday in
Ordinary Time A
Prayers
this week:
O look at me and be
merciful, for I am wretched and alone. See my hardship and my poverty,
and pardon all my sins.
(Psalm 24:16.18)
Father, you love never fails. Hear our call. Keep us from danger and
provide for all our needs. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(June 1) St. Justin (d. 165)
Justin never ended his quest for
religious truth even when he converted to Christianity after years of
studying various pagan philosophies. As a young man, he was principally
attracted to the school of Plato. However, he found that the Christian
religion answered the great questions about life and existence better
than the philosophers. Upon his conversion he continued to wear the
philosopher's mantle, and became the first Christian philosopher. He
combined the Christian religion with the best elements in Greek
philosophy. In his view, philosophy was a pedagogue of Christ, an
educator that was to lead one to Christ. Justin is known as an
apologist, one who defends in writing the Christian religion against
the attacks and misunderstandings of the pagans. Two of his so-called
apologies have come down to us; they are addressed to the Roman emperor
and to the Senate. For his staunch adherence to the Christian religion,
Justin was beheaded in Rome in 165.
As patron of philosophers, Justin
may inspire us to use our natural powers (especially our power to know
and understand) in the service of Christ and to build up the Christian
life within us. Since we are prone to error, especially in reference to
the deep questions concerning life and existence, we should also be
willing to correct and check our natural thinking in light of religious
truth. Thus we will be able to say with the learned saints of the
Church: I believe in order to understand, and I understand in order to
believe. "Philosophy is the knowledge of that which exists, and a clear
understanding of the truth; and happiness is the reward of such
knowledge and understanding" (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho,
3). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture:
Deut 11:18, 26-28, 32; Psalm 31:2-4, 17, 25; Rom 3:21-25, 28; Matthew
7:21-27
Jesus
said to his disciples: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we
not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and
perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew
you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Therefore everyone who hears these
words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built
his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the
winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it
had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of
mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who
built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the
winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
(Matthew 7:21-27)
I have always
regarded it as intriguing that in one particular respect we do not
ordinarily express the goal of human life in the terms in which our
Lord commonly expressed it. To what am I referring? I am speaking of
our Lord’s common use of the expression, the Kingdom of heaven, the
Kingdom of God. This hallowed term “Kingdom” of God and of heaven has
passed out of our ordinary religious use even though it recurs time and
again in our Lord’s preaching and instructions in the Gospels. Repent,
our Lord said at 
the
beginning of his public ministry, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
The beatitudes speak of the Kingdom of heaven and of how man can enter
it. In our Gospel today our Lord tells his disciples that “Not everyone
who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Entry into
the kingdom of heaven is the goal of life, and it does not simply mean
heaven. By his death and resurrection our Lord established the kingdom
of heaven here on earth. What is the kingdom of heaven referred to by
our Lord in our Gospel today? The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God
is nothing other than the presence and lordship of God. God was present
in all his ruling lordship in the person of Jesus. In Christ was
present the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and he himself always did
what pleased the Father. How do we enter the kingdom of heaven, then?
We enter the kingdom of God by entering into union with Jesus, and
through his Church union with him is made accessible to all. “You are
Peter,” he said to Simon, “and on this rock I will build my Church. I
will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” The kingdom of
heaven which Christ established here on earth subsists in the Church he
founded, and that Church subsists in the Catholic Church of which the
Successor of Peter is the visible foundation. In Christ is found the
fullness of the kingdom of heaven, and Christ is found in his Church.
This is why it is
not hard to understand what it is that constitutes the fullness of the
religion revealed by God. The most educated can grasp it, and the least
educated can grasp it too, and even a child can grasp it. For this
reason certain children have been held up by the Church as models for
their sanctity. The essence and the fullness of religion consists in an
intimate union with the person of Christ. It is as simple and as
difficult as that. It is difficult because as our Lord says in today’s
Gospel
(Matthew 7:21-27) it means
imitating him in his obedience to the Father and in all things doing
the Father’s will. But this is not just a private and individual
matter, which of course it is as well. It is also the key for the life
of the world and of the entire universe. The key to all of created
reality is to be found in the person of Jesus Christ. It is through him
that all things came to be, and it is in him that all life finds its
source. He came that we may have life in abundance. So there is a
linchpin to everything created, a Reality which holds all things
together and in which the life and health of the world is to be found.
The heart of the world is the living person of Jesus. So it is that the
multiplicity that marks all of reality as we experience it has a source
of unity. That source of unity is the living person of Jesus. The
mission of the Church and of all her members is to propose to all men
that it look to Jesus as the life of the world. The task of life is to
enter into union with Jesus and to grow in this union, and Jesus is
found in his body the Church, whose mission is to bring him to the
world. In him man lives in union with the most holy Trinity, one God in
three persons. We live in Christ and grow in holiness by following in
his footsteps as he carries the cross to Calvary. It means doing the
will of God in the midst of whatever suffering our God-given duties
entail and all of this in union with Jesus. It will come to its
fulfilment in the final resurrection of the just when God will be all
in all.
The kingdom of
heaven as preached by our Lord is the goal of life and of the world.
May God’s kingdom come, and it will come when his will is done on earth
as it is done in heaven. That is to say, the kingdom of God and of
heaven is the presence and the lordship of God here on earth and in the
hearts of men. It is God’s rule, his reign. This is present in its
fullness in the person of Jesus, and we ourselves enter the kingdom of
heaven, which is to say the lordship of God, by entering into union
with Jesus. Holiness consists in union with Jesus, and that holiness
derived from union with Jesus reaches its fulfilment in heaven.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no. 2012-2016
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Let
your heart overflow in effusions of Love and gratitude as you consider
how God's grace each day saves you from the snares that the enemy has
set in your path.
(The Way, no.434)
Click here for spiritual reading (some classic spiritual authors)
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Saint Polycarp (69-155), Bishop and martyr
Letter to the Philippians, SC 10, p.215-217
"If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you"
Let us never relax our grasp on the Hope and Pledge of our
righteousness; I mean Jesus Christ... Let us imitate that patient
endurance of His; and if we do have to suffer for His Name's sake, why
then, let us give glory to Him. For that is the example He set us in
His own person, and in which we have learnt to put our faith.
I appeal now to everyone of you to hear and obey the call of holiness,
and to exercise the same perfect fortitude that you have seen with your
own eyes in the blessed Ignatius, and Rufus, and Zosimus; and not in
them alone, but in a number of your own townsmen as well - to say
nothing of Paul himself and the other Apostles. Be very sure that the
course of these men was not run in vain, but faithfully and honorably;
and that they have now reached a well-earned place at the side of the
Lord whose pains they shared. Their hearts were not set on «this world
of ours» (2Tim 4,10), but on Him who died for our sakes and was raised
up again for us by God...
May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus' Christ, and the eternal High
Priest Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God, help you to grow in faith
and truth, in unfailing gentleness and the avoidance of all anger, in
patience and forbearance, and in calmness and purity. To you, and to
ourselves as well, and to all those under heaven who shall one day come
to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Father who raised Him
from the dead, may He grant part and portion among His saints. Pray for
all God's people. Pray too for our sovereign lords, and for all
governors and rulers; for any who ill-use you or dislike you; and for
the enemies of the Cross. Thus the fruits of your faith will be plain
for all to see, and you will be perfected in Him.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
To consult The Catechism of the Catholic Church (with search engine) click here
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Monday of
the ninth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 2) Sts.
Marcellinus and Peter (d. 304)
Marcellinus and Peter were prominent enough in
the memory of Church to be included among the saints of the Roman
Canon. Mention of their names is optional in our present Eucharistic
Prayer I. Marcellinus was a priest and Peter was an exorcist, that is,
someone authorized by the Church to deal with cases of demonic
possession. They were beheaded during the persecution of Diocletian.
Pope Damasus wrote an epitaph apparently based on the report of their
executioner, and Constantine erected a basilica over the crypt in which
they were buried in Rome. Numerous legends sprang from an early account
of their death.
Why are these men included in our Eucharistic
prayer, and given their own feast day, in spite of the fact that almost
nothing is known about them? Probably because the Church respects its
collective memory. They once sent an impulse of encouragement through
the whole Church. They made the ultimate step of faith. "The Church has
always believed that the apostles, and Christ's martyrs who had given
the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their
blood, are quite closely joined with us in Christ" (Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, 50).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 2 Peter 1:2-7; Psalm 91:1-2, 14-16; Mark 12:1-12
Jesus
began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in
parables. A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit
for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard
to some farmers and went away on a journey. At harvest time he sent a
servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the
vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head
and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they
killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they
killed. He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last
of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But the tenants said to one
another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance
will be ours.' So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of
the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come
and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven't you
read this scripture: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the
keystone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes'?
Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had
spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so
they left him and went away. (Mark
12:1-12)
There have been
various great teachers in the history of mankind and they have employed
different way of imparting their teaching. Even among, say, a
particular group of philosophers there can be very different ways of
instruction. Compare the methods of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
There are great differences between them. Our Lord’s
principal method of
instruction seems to have been the story, the parable. He uses other
methods, such as maxims, direct precept and exhortation and so forth,
but the short story seems to have been his special means. Our Gospel
parable today
(Mark 12:1-12) is an example of
this. Let us note that this particular parable is directed to the
hearing of “the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders”. It speaks
of God planting his vineyard and entrusting it to tenants to look after
it and to collect the fruit of the vineyard. The prophet Isaiah had
spoken of God planting his vineyard and tending it, and then asking how
was it that the vineyard produced sour and bitter grapes. In our Lord’s
parable the problem is the tenants. Having been entrusted with the
vineyard - which is clearly the people of God - they are sent servants
of the owner to collect from them the produce. The servants are clearly
the prophets who are raised up by God at various points in the history
of his chosen people to call for the fruits of holiness expected by
Him. But they are rejected by the tenants. Finally he sent his beloved
son. Let us note the uniqueness that our Lord was claiming to have in
the history of God’s revelation. The prophets were God’s servants, he
was his beloved son. Yet he too was rejected and put to death. The
whole parable speaks of the drama of God’s love for his chosen people,
his choice of them and the rejection of him by (very many of) those
whom God had appointed to be shepherds. It tells of the consequences of
this pattern. What they had been given would be taken away.
Our Lord is taking
an image - a parable, we might say - employed by the Scriptures to
speak of God’s relationship with his people. The image is that of the
vine and our Lord in using it speaks of himself as God’s beloved son.
But elsewhere our Lord uses the image in another way. At the Last
Supper he speaks again of the vineyard, or more specifically of the
vine. This time he is not just the Son who comes to the shepherds of
God’s people (the tenants) to ask for the fruits. This time he himself
is the vine, and the Father is the vinedresser. The Father is tending
the vine himself, and that vine is his beloved Son. The branches of the
vine are the members of God’s people, engrafted into him by faith and
baptism. That is to say, the vine is the Church of which Christ is the
head and we are the members. We live by his life, and we do so by the
power of the Holy Spirit. “I am the vine,” our Lord tells his disciples
during the Last Supper (Gospel of St John), and “you are the branches.”
The one who remains in our Lord will bear much fruit, fruit that will
last. If we do not remain in him then we will wither, and nothing will
come of us. So this image, employed by our Lord in different ways,
illustrates different aspects of the mystery of Christ and of our
relationship with him. We who are members of the Church are not simply
followers and subjects of Christ who is the Son of God, but rather we
have been placed by the grace of God in an ineffable personal
relationship with him. Just as he is in the Father and the Father is in
him, so, our Lord tells us, we are in him and he is in us (John
14,15-21). This unique bond with Jesus by grace is distinguished by a
personal love for him, and that love is shown by obedience to his
commands. “The one who receives my commandments and keeps them will be
the one who loves me.”
Let us allow our
Lord’s parable to sink into our mind, imagination and heart as we
ponder on its implications. Let us receive him as good tenants,
recognizing him as the beloved Son. Let us also understand that, from a
different perspective, he is actually the vine and we the branches. Let
us then resolve to live in him by grace and love, while showing our
love by our obedience to his will. In this way we will produce the
fruit that the Father desires.
(E.J.Tyler)
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'Timor
Domini sanctus. The fear of God is holy.' Fear which is the veneration
of a son for his Father; never a servile fear, for your Father-God is
not a tyrant.
(The Way, no.435)
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Saint Hilary (c.315-367), Bishop of Poitiers,
Doctor of the Church The Trinity 2,31-35
"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be
with you always"
«God is spirit,» the Lord said to the Samaritan woman...; since God is
invisible, incomprehensible and infinite, it is neither on a mountain
nor in any temple that God is to be worshipped (Jn 4,21-24). «God is
spirit,» and spirit cannot be circumscribed or contained. He is
everywhere by force of his own nature nor is he lacking from any
particular place; everywhere himself, he overflows in all things. Hence
we must worship in the Holy Spirit the God who is spirit...
The apostle Paul spoke no differently when he wrote: «The Lord is
spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,» (2Cor
4,17)... So let those who deny the Spirit refrain from their disputes.
The Holy Spirit is one, poured out everywhere, illuminating patriarchs,
prophets and the whole chorus of those who played a part in setting
down the Law. He inspired John the Baptist from his mother's womb and,
finally, he was poured out upon the apostles and all those who believe
so that they might know the truth conferred on them by grace.
What is the working of the Spirit in us? Hear the words of the Lord
himself: «I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now...
It is better for you that I go. For if I go, I will send an Advocate to
you... the Spirit of Truth who will guide you to all truth,» (cf. Jn
16, 7-13)... Both the will of the giver and the nature and function of
the one he gives are revealed to us in these words. For our weakness
does not allow us to know either the Father or the Son; the mystery of
God's incarnation is hard to understand. The gift of the Holy Spirit,
who becomes our friend by his intercession, gives us light...
But this special gift, which is found in Christ, is held out in its
fullness to us all. It lacks nothing but is given to each inasmuch as
he wishes to receive it. This Holy Spirit abides with us until the
consummation of the ages. He is our consolation as we wait, the measure
of good things in the hope that is to come, the light of our minds, the
splendour of our souls.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Tuesday
in the ninth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 3) Saint
Charles Lwanga and his companions (d. 1886)
One of 22 Ugandan martyrs, Charles Lwanga is the patron of youth and
Catholic action in most of tropical Africa. He protected his fellow
pages (aged 13 to 30) from the homosexual demands of the Bagandan
ruler, Mwanga, and encouraged and instructed them in the Catholic faith
during their imprisonment for refusing the ruler’s demands. For his own
unwillingness to submit to the immoral acts and his efforts to
safeguard the faith of his friends, Charles was burned to death at
Namugongo on June 3, 1886, by Mwanga’s order. Charles first learned of
Christ’s teachings from two retainers in the court of Chief
Mawulugungu. While a catechumen, he entered the royal household as
assistant to Joseph Mukaso, head of the court pages. On the night of
Mukaso’s martyrdom for encouraging the African youths to resist Mwanga,
Charles requested and received Baptism. Imprisoned with his friends,
Charles’s courage and belief in God inspired them to remain chaste and
faithful. When Pope Paul VI canonized these 22 martyrs on October 18,
1964, he referred to the Anglican pages martyred for the same reason.
Like Charles Lwanga, we are all teachers and witnesses to Christian
living by the examples of our own lives. We are all called upon to
spread the word of God, whether by word or deed. By remaining
courageous and unshakable in our faith during times of great moral and
physical temptation, we live as Christ lived. On his African tour in
1969, Pope Paul VI told 22 young Ugandan converts that "being a
Christian is a fine thing but not always an easy one."
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today:
2 Peter 3:12-15a, 17-18; Psalm 90:2-4, 10, 14 and 16; Mark 12:13-17
Later
they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in
his words. They came to him and said, Teacher, we know you are a man of
integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to
who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the
truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or
shouldn't we? But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. Why are you trying to
trap me? he asked. Bring me a denarius and let me look at it. They
brought the coin, and he asked them, Whose portrait is this? And whose
inscription? Caesar's, they replied. Then Jesus said to them, Give to
Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. And they were amazed
at him.
(Mark 12:13-17)
One of the
intellectual breakthroughs in the understanding of divine revelation
has been the concept of development. By this I am primarily referring
to the point that the Church’s understanding of divine revelation
develops and this is reflected in the development of Christian
doctrine. A great step was taken in the
appreciation and acceptance of this when John Henry Newman published
his book in 1845 entitled The Development of Christian Doctrine.
The Church’s formal doctrine is different from what it was in the
Church’s infancy. Has this been a deformation, or on the contrary has
it been an expected and entirely faithful development? Newman showed it
has been a development and that development is a characteristic of
Christian doctrine. One of the things that helped Newman gradually see
this was not only the historical fact that Christian doctrine has
changed - which is to say, developed - but that revelation itself
developed. By that I mean that the revelation that God gave of himself
and his plan for man developed over the centuries. It increased, with
the revelation of one point leading to the revelation of another. The
final revelation of God has come in his Son Jesus Christ. All that God
has revealed and intends to reveal is contained in Jesus his Son. All
that now remains is for the Church and her members to understand this
revelation in Christ more and more fully - and this is where doctrine
develops. But all that is a further matter. What I would like to notice
here is that what our Lord states in his reply to his scheming
questioners implies a development of an aspect of God’s revelation. The
emissaries of the Herodians and Pharisees asked our Lord if it was in
accord with the law of God that taxes be paid to Caesar? Behind the
question (apart from the hypocrisy) was an appeal to the ancient intent
of God that his people be ruled by himself or his own appointed king.
Was it then lawful to collaborate by the payment of taxes with one
whose kingship over God’s people had nothing to do with the true God
and his appointments?
Following the
departure from Egypt, the children of Israel were ruled and guided by
divine appointees, beginning with Moses himself and followed by Joshua.
Then there followed the judges, all raised up by God. God was ruling
his people through his designated rulers. Samuel, the last of the
judges, was pressed by the people to appoint a king. It amounted to a
dissatisfaction, so we read, with an unseen God being their king. They
wanted a ruler they could see and hear. So God allowed for a king to be
anointed, but still it was to be his appointee and so the kingship
began which in God’s plan would bring forth the King of kings who would
reign forever. We could say that God’s revelation (not his unchanging
plan, though) was developing. The Herodians and Pharisees in their
question were harking back to the notion that God alone and his
appointees are to be his people’s king. There is much I could say about
this, but it would not be to my purpose here. The point here is that
our Lord’s response throws new light - we might say a new development
of revelation - on the people of God in the world. God’s people are not
to shun Caesar. Caesar’s de facto rule is embraced by the plan of God.
They find themselves subject to his rule, so this brings certain
duties. There were precedents to this, of course. We read of Jeremiah
instructing the people in captivity to live as good citizens in their
foreign land and to prosper in that setting. But here our Lord tells
his interlocutors that inasmuch as Caesar rules over them this fact of
life brings certain duties which they must respect. Render to Caesar
what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God (Mark 12:13-17). He says no more than
that basic principle except for the matter of taxes. It is legitimate
for Caesar to tax and it is proper that they respect this right. Our
Lord is showing that whatever might have been God’s plan for his people
in the past, his chosen people are now to take their place in the world
and be good citizens in their political and social setting. This is a
lesson St Paul insisted on in his letters to the churches.
Our Lord’s teaching
in our Gospel today provides the foundation of a vigorous spirituality
for the Christian in the world. The lay Christian is to bring Christ to
his everyday secular setting by his professional service to all those
who have a right to it. This includes the due respect for civil
authority and its laws for society. It does not, of course, mean that
all civil authority is right - on the contrary, the Christian ought
strive for the constant improvement of civil authority and its laws.
Indeed, precisely because of what is due to God those laws may be
rejected. A great model for us all is St Thomas More, Lord Chancellor
of England who went to his death rendering to Henry what was due to
Henry, but to God what was due to God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Love and sorrow. Because he is good. Because he is your friend, who
gave his life for you. Because every good thing you have is his.
Because you have offended him so much... Because he has forgiven you...
He!... you!
Weep, my son, with Love-sorrow.
(The Way, no.436)
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Saint Antony of Padua (c.1195-1231),
Franciscan, Doctor of the Church
Sermons "The Spirit of truth... will testify to me"
The Holy Spirit is a «stream of fire» (Dn 7,10), a divine fire. As fire
acts on iron so does this divine fire act on hearts that are soiled,
cold and hard. When it comes into contact with this fire, the soul
gradually loses its blackness, coldness, hardness. It is transformed
entirely into the likeness of the fire with which it is enflamed.
Since, if the Spirit is given to a man, if he is inspired by it, then
it is so that he might be transformed into its likeness so far as
possible. Beneath the action of this divine fire a man is purified,
warmed and melted. He attains the love of God, as the apostle Paul
says: «The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit that has been given to us,» (Rom 5,5).
(The Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Wednesday
of the ninth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 4) Blessed
John XXIII (1881-1963)
Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope
John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. Indeed, one
writer has noted that his “ordinariness” seems one of his 
most remarkable qualities. The firstborn son of a farming
family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo
Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. In
Bergamo’s diocesan seminary, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order.
After his ordination in 1904, Angelo returned to Rome for canon law
studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history
teacher in the seminary and as publisher of the diocesan paper. His
service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I
gave him a firsthand knowledge of war. In 1921 he was made national
director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith; he found time
to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City. In 1925 he
became a papal diplomat, serving first in Bulgaria, then in Turkey and
finally in France (1944-53). During World War II, he became well
acquainted with Orthodox Church leaders and with the help of Germany’s
ambassador to Turkey, Archbishop Roncalli helped save an estimated
24,000 Jewish people. Named a cardinal and appointed patriarch of
Venice in 1953, he was finally a residential bishop. A month short of
entering his 78th year, he was elected pope, taking the name John, his
father’s name and the two patrons of Rome’s cathedral, St. John
Lateran. He took his work very seriously but not himself. His wit soon
became proverbial and he began meeting with political and religious
leaders from around the world. In 1962 he was deeply involved in
efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis. His most famous
encyclicals were Mother and Teacher (1961) and Peace on Earth (1963).
Pope John XXIII enlarged the membership in the College of Cardinals and
made it more international. At his address at the opening of the Second
Vatican Council, he criticized the “prophets of doom” who “in these
modern times see nothing but prevarication and ruin.” Pope John XXIII
set a tone for the Council when he said, “The Church has always
opposed... errors. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to
make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.” On his
deathbed he said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we
have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I
have…were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions, and
know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to
seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.” Pope John Paul II
beatified him on September 3, 2000, and assigned as his feast day
October 11, the day that Vatican II’s first session opened.
Throughout his life, Angelo Roncalli cooperated with God’s grace,
believing that the job at hand was worthy of his best efforts. His
sense of God’s providence made him the ideal person to promote a new
dialogue with Protestant and Orthodox Christians, as well as with Jews
and Muslims. In the sometimes noisy crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica, many
people become silent on seeing the simple tomb of Pope John XXIII,
grateful for the gift of his life and holiness. After the
beatification, his tomb was moved into the basilica itself. In 1903,
young Angelo wrote in his spiritual journal: “From the saints I must
take the substance, not the accidents of their virtues. I am not St.
Aloysius, nor must I seek holiness in his particular way, but according
to the requirements of my own nature, my own character and the
different conditions of my life. I must not be the dry, bloodless
reproduction of a model, however perfect. God desires us to follow the
examples of the saints by absorbing the vital sap of their virtues and
turning it into our own life-blood, adapting it to our own individual
capacities and particular circumstances. If St. Aloysius had been as I
am, he would have become holy in a different way” (Journal of a
Soul).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 2 Tm 1:1-3, 6-12;
Psalm 123:1b-2; Mark 12:18-27
Then the
Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a
question. Teacher, they said, Moses wrote for us that if a man's
brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the
widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers.
The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second
one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the
same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last
of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be,
since the seven were married to her? Jesus replied, Are you not in
error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When
the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they
will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising— have you
not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said
to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly
mistaken! (Mark 12:18-27)
For as long as I
can remember, nature programs on television have had a wide viewing.
Programs that investigate the habits and life patterns of birds,
insects, animals large and small, the struggle for survival, the vast
kingdom of sea life - all this evokes unending interest. For one whose
starting point is the fact of
God, nature thus
portrayed is a wonderful manifestation of his perfections. I was once
surprised to see Sir David Attenborough (the wild-life film producer)
saying in an interview that his studies of nature led him to doubt the
reality of God. I think he was taken by the cruelty he saw in the
animal kingdom. Nature also fascinates with the numerous differences it
suggests between the animal and the human being, and I do not wish here
to discuss those differences. But there is one difference that may
serve as an introduction to our reflection on the Gospel of today. That
difference is the capacity of the human being to take account of the
future and to plan accordingly. The animal acts on instinct and seeks
what it now needs, while the human being freely sets his future goals
and selects what he judges to be the best means to attain them. But
having stated this, what must also be said is that man often makes poor
use of this capacity. A person can see that if he does not pass his
exams in a year’s time it will alter the course of his life. Despite
foreseeing this, he does not bother to make success in his exams his
goal, and so takes no real steps to attain it but contents himself
instead with short-term satisfactions. His life is profoundly affected
as a result, and for the worse. Or again, a person may be very good at
selecting future goals and the means to attain them, but he makes
terrible mistakes as to those future goals. That is to say, he selects
goals that are not truly in his interest. For instance, he aims to make
a lot of money and cares little about his family life. He gains the
money but loses what will give him a much greater happiness, a good
family life. Man must select the right goals as well as the means to
gain them.
Well now, our Lord
in our Gospel today
(Mark 12:18-27) tells us of the
greatest goal of all which many seem not to bother to make their own.
It is the goal of eternal life in heaven. The Sadducees came to our
Lord with their question which they thought would prove that there is
no resurrection - a belief many still have. Let us contemplate the
content of our Lord’s response. “Jesus replied, Are you not in error
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” Heaven is
not just a higher form of this earthly life in which, for instance,
people marry and are given in marriage. No, it is utterly beyond those
necessities. It is happiness beyond compare and all this by the power
of God. St Paul writes that eye has not seen nor ear heard what God has
in store for those who love him. Moreover, there will be no end to
this. It will be eternal. Pope Benedict XVI makes the point in his
Encyclical on Christian Hope that the notion of eternity may not be
very attractive to modern man if he looks on heaven as merely an
extension of this life. This notion was obviously present in the minds
of the Herodians for them to have put the question to our Lord that
they did. Who would want to live forever if our life were to continue
unendingly as it is now? No, heaven is our being plunged into the
infinite love of the Lord God whose Being is without limit in its
richness. It will be an inexpressible present that never fades, and all
of those in heaven will be together in this ineffable joy. We shall see
God as he is, face to face, and we shall be together, angels and saints
all. Numerous persons work for years and years looking forward to their
retirement which they often imagine to be years of peace and happiness.
Let us hope it will be this for them. But there is not the slightest
doubt that the one judged worthy of a place in heaven will indeed have
attained a place of peace and rest, one that scarcely imaginable. How
sad a misuse of our capacity to select goals and the means to attain
them if we neglect this all-important goal. How great a catastrophe if
heaven is lost, and that forever.
Let us take stock
of where we are heading. Life is short and it passes very quickly.
Childhood goes, as does youth. Adulthood arrives and it speeds along.
Middle age appears and passes and old age arrives. Alternatively, life
is cut off when least expected. But then inevitably comes death and
God’s judgment. Then there are only two alternatives. It will be either
heaven or hell. Let us make heaven our goal, and select the means to
attain it. Now, Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Let us take
our place with him and follow in his footsteps. With him we shall
arrive.
(E.J.Tyler)
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If a man had died to save me from death!... God died, And I remain
indifferent.
(The Way, no.437)
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Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith
Stein] (1891-1942), Carmelite, martyr, co-patron of Europe
(From a
Pentecost Novena, 1937)
"It is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will
not come to you"
Who are you, sweet light, that fills me
And illumines the darkness of my heart?...
Are you the master who builds the eternal, cathedral,
Which towers from the earth through the heavens?
Animated by you, the pillars are raised high
And stand immovably firm (Rev 3,12).
Marked with the eternal name of God,
They stretch up to the light,
Bearing the dome
That crowns the holy cathedral,
Your work that encircles the world:
Holy Spirit – God's moulding hand!...
Are you the sweet song of love
And of holy awe
That eternally resounds around the triune throne,
That weds in itself the clear chimes of each and every being?
The harmony
That joins together the members to the Head,
In which each one
Finds the mysterious meaning of being blessed
And joyously surges forth,
Freely dissolved in your surging:
Holy Spirit – eternal jubilation!
(The Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Thursday
of the ninth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 5) St
Boniface, bishop and martyr (672?-754)
Boniface,
known as the apostle of the Germans, was an English Benedictine monk
who gave up being elected abbot to devote his life to the conversion of
the Germanic tribes. Two characteristics stand out: his Christian
orthodoxy and his fidelity to the pope of Rome. How absolutely
necessary this orthodoxy and fidelity were is borne out by the
conditions he found on his first missionary journey in 719 at the
request of Pope Gregory II. Paganism was a way of life. What
Christianity he did find had either lapsed into paganism or was mixed
with error. The clergy were mainly responsible for these latter
conditions since they were in many instances uneducated, lax and
questionably obedient to their bishops. In particular instances their
very ordination was questionable. These are the conditions that
Boniface was to report in 722 on his first return visit to Rome. The
Holy Father instructed him to reform the German Church. The pope sent
letters of recommendation to religious and civil leaders. Boniface
later admitted that his work would have been unsuccessful, from a human
viewpoint, without a letter of safe-conduct from Charles Martel, the
powerful Frankish ruler, grandfather of Charlemagne. Boniface was
finally made a regional bishop and authorized to organize the whole
German Church. He was eminently successful. In the Frankish kingdom, he
met great problems because of lay interference in bishops’ elections,
the worldliness of the clergy and lack of papal control.
During a final mission to the Frisians, he and 53 companions were
massacred while he was preparing converts for Confirmation. In order to
restore the Germanic Church to its fidelity to Rome and to convert the
pagans, he had been guided by two principles. The first was to restore
the obedience of the clergy to their bishops in union with the pope of
Rome. The second was the establishment of many houses of prayer which
took the form of Benedictine monasteries. A great number of Anglo-Saxon
monks and nuns followed him to the continent. He introduced Benedictine
nuns to the active apostolate of education.
Boniface bears
out the Christian rule: To follow Christ is to follow the way of the
cross. For Boniface, it was not only physical suffering or death, but
the painful, thankless, bewildering task of Church reform. Missionary
glory is often thought of in terms of bringing new persons to Christ.
It seems—but is not—less glorious to heal the household of the
faith.
(AmericanCatholic.og)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Psalm 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14;
Mark 12:28-34
One of
the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that
Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, Of all the
commandments, which is the most important? The most important one,
answered Jesus, is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is
one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this:
'Love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than
these. Well said, teacher, the man replied. You are right in saying
that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all
your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and
to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt
offerings and sacrifices. When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely,
he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And from then
on no-one dared ask him any more questions.
(Mark 12:28-34)
It has at times
been observed that the most important task facing every man and woman
is the that of learning how to live. One can easily go through life
never leaning this. But learning how to live entails learning to have a
proper relationship with the God who has given us life. So learning how
to live means learning to put God at the centre of
life. The
fact is that one can easily live as if God is peripheral, which is to
say as if there are many gods. I suspect that a great number of people
live this way. By that I mean that many different things can be taken
as the ultimate object of one’s hopes and efforts, such as success in
one’s chosen career, a happy marriage, the advancement of one’s
children, and many other worthy goals besides, but without any
reference to God. For instance, one often hears the expression that
“sport is that man’s religion”, and it means that sport is what that
person is living for. It is a kind of lesser god in his life and other
things must give way to sport. In a secular culture in which this world
occupies the centre stage, the polytheism of so many cultures in the
history of man has been replaced by a secular polytheism, but a
polytheism nevertheless. The first of the Ten Commandments is just as
relevant to our age as it is to any age of the past. It lays it down
that there is one God only and that no other god is to be allowed to
take his place. In our Gospel passage today
(Mark 12:28-34) our Lord is asked which is the most
important of all the commandments, and let us remember that there were
a lot of commandments indeed in the Old Testament. Our Lord’s reply was
immediate and clear. The first is that there is one God only, and he is
the Lord. He and he only is to be loved as God. No other is to take his
place. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one, and one only.” St
Ignatius Loyola in his famous Spiritual Exercises lays
it down as a foundation that we must strive to be, in the last
analysis, indifferent to all other things other than God himself. He
and he alone is to be the Lord of our lives. Learning to live means
having the Lord as one’s only God.
There is an
immediate implication of this practical monotheism. It is that in all
our daily work we ought strive to be loving God with all our heart. It
is a very good thing to be busy. I remember hearing one very prominent
talk-back personality saying on radio that man was born to work and
that he finds his greatest satisfaction in a life of work. This is true
and a man who does not truly work and who is always looking for ways of
avoiding work has not yet learned to live. The whole of visible
creation is active and, in its own way, can be said by analogy to be at
work. The activity of inanimate creation, the activity of vegetative,
insect and animal life all reflect in its way the working activity of
man - all things are, we might say, “at work”. This in turn reflects
the nature and life of God himself who, our Lord tells us in the Gospel
of St John, is at work. My father works, our Lord says in reply to his
critics, and therefore I also work. So learning to live and being
religious as we should be, includes living a life of work. But a danger
can be that we fail to love and serve God in our work. As already said,
we can be working for other “gods”, other interests, other factors in
life. We can be working for ourselves and not for God. Our Lord tells
us that the first commandment of the Law lays it down not only that
there is one God only, but that we are to love God with all our heart,
mind and strength. This, then, is what ought distinguish our work. We
ought throughout our life be at work, be it for our family, our
children, our work clients of each day, but the true object of our love
and service in all of this work should be the one God. He is the one we
ought be loving in our service of others. We love and serve our family,
our children, our clients in our daily workplace but we do this in God.
The task of each day is not just to work, but to work for and in union
with God, and to do so with as much love as possible. That is to say,
we must strive to sanctify our daily work by doing it with as much love
for God as we can. In this way our work will sanctify us and it will
sanctify our neighbour.
Let us take to heart our
Lord’s teaching today that there is but one God and not many. We are to
love Him with all our heart, mind and strength, and our neighbour as
our self. God and only he is to be the object of our life. Let us not
allow many gods in our life. And in all our daily work and activities
let us be serve with all our hearts this one only God who is the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This sanctification of our daily
work will take us to heaven.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Crazy! Yes, I saw you in the bishop's chapel — alone, so you thought —
as you left a kiss on each newly-consecrated chalice and paten: so that
he might find them there, when he came for the first time to those
Eucharistic vessels.
(The Way, no.438)
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Silouan (1866-1938), Orthodox
monk
Spiritual writings
"When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth"
If you want to pray in your heart and are not able, be content to pray
with your lips and keep your mind attentive to what you are saying.
Little by little the Lord will also give you the grace of interior
prayer and then you will know how to pray without distractions. Don't
try to bring about prayer of the heart by using techniques; you would
risk harming your heart and, in the end, you would only be praying with
the lips. Acknowledge the rule of the spiritual life: God grants his
gifts to those who are humble and without guile. Be obedient; don't
overdo things, whether in food, speech, or whatever you undertake. Then
the Lord himself will give you the grace of interior prayer...
Spiritual silence is born of the desire to fulfil Christ's command:
«Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul... with
all your strength,» (Mk 12,30). It is a silence brought about by the
search for the living God in anyone who wants to be free from this
world's temptations so that they can find our Lord in fullness of love
and live in his presence in pure prayer. Lord, how could I not seek
you? You have revealed yourself to my soul in such an amazing way! You
have made it a prisoner of your love and it cannot forget you. Indeed,
the soul recognises its Lord all at once in the Holy Spirit; who can
describe this joy, this consolation? The Holy Spirit acts within the
whole man, mind, soul and body; even so is God acknowledged, on earth
as in heaven. In his infinite goodness the Lord has granted this grace
to me –sinner that I am – so that men might know him and turn back to
him.
(The Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Friday of
the ninth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 6) St.
Norbert (1080?-1134)
Friends sometimes jokingly mangle the name of the Premonstratensians
into “Monstrous Pretensions,” just as the Franciscan O.F.M. is said to
mean “Out For Money.” The name actually derives from Premontre, the
region of France where Norbert established this Order in the 12th
century. Recalling the nickname, Norbert’s founding of the Order was in
truth a monstrous task: combatting rampant heresies (particularly
regarding the Blessed Sacrament), revitalizing many of the faithful who
had grown indifferent and dissolute, plus effecting peace and
reconciliation among enemies. Norbert entertained no pretensions about
his own ability to accomplish this multiple task. Even with the aid of
a goodly number of men who joined his Order, he realized that nothing
could be effectively done without God’s power. Finding this help
especially in devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, he and his Norbertines
praised God for success in converting heretics, reconciling numerous
enemies and rebuilding faith in indifferent believers. Reluctantly,
Norbert became archbishop of Magdeburg in central Germany, a territory
half pagan and half Christian. In this position he zealously and
courageously continued his work for the Church until his death on June
6, 1134.
A different world cannot be built
by indifferent people. The same is true in regard to the Church. Sad to
say, the so-called updating of the Church has not engendered the
different Church which was so devoutly and hopefully envisioned by
Vatican Council II. A principal reason for this failure was—and is—the
indifference of vast numbers of nominal faithful, their indifference to
ecclesiastical authority and essential doctrines of the faith.
Unswerving loyalty to the Church and fervent devotion to the Eucharist,
as practised by Norbert, will continue immeasurably towards maintaining
the people of God in accord with the heart of Christ. On the occasion
of his ordination to the priesthood, Norbert said, "O Priest! You are
not yourself because you are God. You are not of yourself because you
are the servant and minister of Christ. You are not your own because
you are the spouse of the Church. You are not yourself because you are
the mediator between God and man. You are not from yourself because you
are nothing. What then are you? Nothing and everything. O Priest! Take
care lest what was said to Christ on the cross be said to you: 'He
saved others, himself he cannot save!'"
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
2 Timothy 3:10-17; Psalm 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168; Mark
12:35-37
While
Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, How is it that the
teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? David
himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: 'The Lord said to my
Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.'
David himself calls him 'Lord'. How then can he be his son? The large
crowd listened to him with delight.
(Mark 12:35-37)
One of the many
things we notice about Jesus Christ as portrayed in the Gospels is his
love of, his reverence for, and his use of what the Christian calls the
Old Testament. For the Christian, the New Testament consisting of the
Gospels, the Acts, the Letters and the Book of Revelation constitute
the high point of the inspired Scriptures because
they bring forward the
figure and the teaching of Jesus the Messiah and Son of God. The four
Gospels are the most important part of the New Testament precisely
because the person of Jesus is portrayed with the greatest clarity and
he is the object of the Christian religion. He is the one whom the
Christian loves, serves and follows in life, and the Gospels provide
him (and the entire Church) with the means of contemplating his very
person and growing in love for and obedience to him. But there is the
danger for the Christian of neglecting the Old Testament because of the
wealth and importance of the New. This would constitute an
impoverishment and the neglect of an inspired resource that nourishes
our appreciation of the Christ of the Scriptures. Let us remember this,
that we see Christ time and again referring to the Scriptures and
making use of them to teach, to combat error coming from his enemies
the scribes and Pharisees, to confirm in their faith his own disciples,
to illustrate his own mission, and even to confound Satan (as we see in
his dialogue with the Devil following his Baptism). Following his
rising from the dead he walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus giving two of
his disciples a lengthy lesson in the meaning of the Scriptures. Now,
the inspired Scriptures used and loved by our Lord and the infant
Church was none other than the Old Testament, used by our Lord in the
Hebrew, and by the infant Church in both the Hebrew and the Septuagint
Greek. This thought ought inspire us to love and use it assiduously
too. It is inspired by God just as is the New Testament, and so should
be used with great reverence.
Our Gospel passage
today (Mark 12:35-37) gives us an
instance of our Lord making use of the Old Testament, which in the
Gospels he refers to at times as the Scriptures and at times as the Law
and the Prophets. Today he makes reference to one of the Psalms. He
asks the people what David meant when “speaking by the Holy Spirit” he
declared 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put
your enemies under your feet'.” Our Lord here teaches that David was
inspired by the Holy Spirit when he wrote this. He is confirming the
divine inspiration of the Scriptures - in this case of the Psalms - and
he is indirectly confirming also to the personhood of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not just a force or divine action. He is a divine
Person who inspired the author to write. Here he intimates that the
inspired Psalm suggests the divinity of the future Messiah, David’s
human descendent. “David himself calls him 'Lord'. How then can he be
his son?” Our Lord is showing how the Old Testament points to him and
how his own teaching about himself and his mission is the light that
makes plain its true meaning. When we think of the Old Testament we
must remember that it is a large corpus of writings of a great variety
of genres. The entire collection is inspired by God. Now, what is its
meaning? It has one divine author who worked through numerous human
writers, but what is the divine author endeavouring to teach? The
Church has a clear answer to this question, and her answer comes from
her founder. The Old Testament directly and indirectly, explicitly and
implicitly, remotely and proximately, dimly and at times clearly,
taught about the Messiah to come and the divine work he would do. It
was the blessing to come not only for the chosen people, but for all
mankind. That blessing was the person of Jesus. Christ is the meaning
of the Old Testament, and our Gospel today is an example of our Lord’s
teaching on this.
Every Sunday at
Mass the first reading of the Liturgy of the Word is usually drawn from
the Old Testament. It is always followed by another selection from the
Old Testament, a Psalm. Both are meant to point to and illustrate the
Gospel passage for that day, and the Church selects the Old Testament
reading precisely in view of the content of the Gospel passage. Let
that prompt us to read the Old Testament regularly. Why not consider
reading part of a chapter a day, but doing so with the figure of Christ
constantly before you, for he is the meaning of the entire Scriptures.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Don't forget that Sorrow is the touchstone of Love.
(The Way, no.439)
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Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890),
priest, founder of a religious community, theologian
Lectures on Justification, no.9,9
Our life "now hidden with Christ in God,» (Col 3,3)
Christ, who promised to make all his disciples one in God with Him, who
promised that we should be in God and God in us, has made us so,—has in
some mysterious way accomplished for us this great work, this
stupendous privilege. It would seem, moreover, as I have said, that He
has done so by ascending to the Father; that His ascent bodily is His
descent spiritually; that His taking our nature up to God, is the
descent of God into us; that He has truly, though in an unknown sense,
taken us to God, or brought down God to us, according as we view it.
Thus, when St. Paul says that we may suppose him to intimate that our
principle of existence is no longer a mortal, earthly principle, such
as Adam's after his fall, but that we are baptized and hidden anew in
God's glory, in that Shekinah of light and purity which we lost when
Adam fell,—that we are new-created, transformed, spiritualized,
glorified in the Divine Nature,—that through the participation of
Christ, we receive, as through a channel, the true Presence of God
within and without us, imbuing us with sanctity and immortality.
This, I repeat, is our justification, our ascent through Christ to God,
or God's descent through Christ to us; we may call it either of the
two... we are in Him, He in us; Christ being «the One Mediator,» (1Tm
2,5) «the way, the truth, and the life,» (Jn 14,6) joining earth with
heaven. And this is our true Righteousness... not only forgiveness or
favor as an act of the Divine Mind, not only sanctification within,
-... it is the indwelling of our glorified Lord. This is the one great
gift of God.
(The Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Saturday of the
ninth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 7) Servant
of God Joseph Perez (1890-1928)
"The blood of martyrs is the seed of the
Church," said Tertullian in the third century. Joseph Perez carried on
that tradition. Joseph was born in Coroneo, Mexico, and joined the
Franciscans when he was 17. Because of Mexico’s civil unrest at that
time (the forces of Pancho Villa had crossed into New Mexico on a raid
the previous year), he was forced to take his philosophy and theology
studies in California. After ordination at Mission Santa Barbara, he
returned to Mexico and served at Jerecuaro from 1922 on. The
persecution under the presidency of Plutarco Calles (1924-28) forced
Joseph to wear various disguises as he travelled around to visit the
Catholics. In 1927 Church property was nationalized, Catholic schools
were closed, and foreign priests and nuns were deported. One day Joseph
and several others were captured while returning from a secretly held
Mass. Father Perez was stabbed to death by soldiers a few miles from
Celaya on June 2, 1928. When Joseph’s body was later brought in
procession to Salvatierra, it was buried there amid cries of "Viva,
Cristo Rey!" (Long live Christ the King!). The Catholic Church in
Mexico today is much freer than it was in the 1920’s. Catholicism is
very much alive in Mexico today, nurtured in part by martyrs like
Father Perez.
Father Joseph’s memorial card includes
these words: "May almighty God grant that our prayer, which is
supported by the bloody sacrifice of this martyr, may graciously appear
in his sight and bring salvation to us and redemption to our country"
(Marion A. Habig, O.F.M., The Franciscan Book of Saints,
p. 412). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 2 Timothy 4:1-8; Psalm 71:8-9, 14-17, 22; Mark
12:38-44
As he
taught, Jesus said, Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to
walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the market-places, and
have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of
honour at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make
lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely. Jesus sat
down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the
crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people
threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small
copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples
to him, Jesus said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more
into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their
wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to
live on. (Mark 12:38-44)
It is well
understood that one of the features of the modern mind is its proneness
to thinking that there is little meaning in life. Many things have led
to this, most of all the gradual loss of a firm conviction of the fact
of a loving God and a particular providence. We see it expressed in
various modern philosophers such as Nietzsche and Sartre. However,
it can take less serious forms in the minds even of those who are
firmly religious. For instance, a person who, in his own estimation,
never achieves very much may feel that life has had little meaning. A
person who does not have many friends, a person who has little impact
in his work, a person who remains relatively unknown, can easily be
troubled by a sense of meaninglessness even though his religious faith
will be a fundamental support and stay. One can easily slip into
thinking that life will be meaningful in proportion to one’s prominence
and dominance over other persons and events. I remember watching two
dogs. Every time one of the dogs did anything that put the other into a
second position, it would be attacked by that other dog. That is to
say, the dog who did the attacking wanted always to be the top dog. One
can easily think - without daring to admit it - that life will have
meaning only if one is in some sense the top dog, which is to say if
one has won the admiration of the many. But of course, even were one to
try, one may never be the top dog. Alternatively, one may be the top
dog and yet for the worst reasons both in the sight of God and in the
sight of others. One’s lot in life may be to live simply as the
relatively unknown and modest Everyman. Nevertheless it is a very
legitimate question to ask how the life even of the unknown Everyman
can attain great meaning and value, because that is what by nature he
aspires to. Well now, let us turn to our Gospel passage today and
observe what our Lord says of a certain set of persons who strove to
stand out beyond the common man, and then compare what he says of one
who was unknown and deemed to be insignificant.
Our Lord is in the
Temple and he warns his hearers against the example of a well-known set
of persons who strove to stand out beyond and above the common man.
They were not to be imitated. “Jesus said, Watch out for the teachers
of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in
the market-places, and have the most important seats in the synagogues
and the places of honour at banquets. They devour widows' houses and
for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most
severely.” So the seeking and attainment of prominence and dominance
will not make life truly meaningful and of value. In fact it could
corrupt and take away life’s true meaning. Then our Lord held up the
example of one who, he said, was in fact doing and achieving more than
all those who were esteemed by others. It was a poor widow. Let us
listen to the whole event. “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the
offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the
temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor
widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a
fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, I tell
you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all
the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her
poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:38-44) What this means is that
the ordinary and hidden life, the life that is the necessary lot of
countless persons, the life that offers little chance of being the top
dog, is peculiarly open to very great meaningfulness. The poor widow
gave more to God than all the others because she gave all to God all
she had. That is all that the humble Everyman needs to do. He simply
needs to give all his love and energies to God and his will in his
everyday life and work, whatever it be and however hidden it seems. We
are speaking here of the ordinary life and its possible grandeur. Small
can be beautiful, as E.F. Schumacher said of economics. The same
applies to the ordinary life.
Let every ordinary
person living what may appear to be a very ordinary life having what
may seem to be very little significance keep before him the example of
the poor and insignificant widow. She did more than all the others in
terms of her contribution to the Temple Treasury. How so? She gave to
God everything she had, while the others did not. The key to making
life, including the ordinary life, meaningful is to serve God with all
one’s heart, whatever be the circumstances the providence of God places
us in.
(E.J.Tyler)
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When you have finished your work, do your brother's, helping him, for
Christ's sake, so tactfully and so naturally that no one — not even he
— will realise that you are doing more than what in justice you ought.
This, indeed, is virtue befitting a son of God!
(The Way, no.440)
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Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo
(North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermons on Saint John's Gospel, no.101
"No one will take your joy away from you"
These words of our Saviour: «I will see you again and your heart will
rejoice, and this joy no one can take away» should not be applied to
the time after his resurrection when he showed himself in the flesh to
his disciples and told them to touch him, but to that other time about
which he had already said: «If anyone loves me, my Father will love him
and I will manifest myself to him,» (Jn 14,21). This manifestation is
not for this life but for that of the world to come; it is not for a
moment but will never end. «Eternal life is this: that they should know
you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent,» (Jn 17,3). The
apostle Paul said of this seeing and knowledge: «Now we see in a mirror
darkly, but then, face to face. Now I know in part but then I shall
know even as I am known» (1Cor 13,12).
At the present time the Church gives birth to the fruit of its labour
in desire, but then she will bring it to birth in vision; now she gives
birth in pain, but then in joy; now in supplication, but then in
praise. It is a fruit that will have no end for only the infinite can
satisfy us. That is what caused Philip to say: «Lord, show us the
Father and we shall be satisfied,» (Jn 14,8).
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Tenth Sunday in
Ordinary Time A
Prayers
this week: The Lord is my light and
my salvation. Who shall frighten me? The Lord is the defender of my
life. Who shall make me tremble?
(Psalm 26:1-2)
God of wisdom and love, source of all good, send your Spirit to teach
us your truth and guide our actions in your way of peace. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(June 8) St.
William of York (d. 1154)
A disputed election as archbishop of York and a mysterious death. Those
are the headlines from the tragic life of today's saint. Born into a
powerful family in 12th-century England, William seemed destined for
great things. His uncle was next in line for the English throne—though
a nasty dynastic struggle complicated things. William himself faced an
internal Church feud. Despite these roadblocks, he was nominated as
archbishop of York in 1140. Local clergymen were less enthusiastic,
however, and the archbishop of Canterbury refused to consecrate
William. Three years later a neighbouring bishop performed the
consecration, but it lacked the approval of Pope Innocent II, whose
successors likewise withheld approval. William was deposed and a new
election was ordered. It was not until 1154—14 years after he was first
nominated—that William became archbishop of York. When he entered the
city that spring after years of exile, he received an enthusiastic
welcome. Within two months he was dead, probably from poisoning. His
administrative assistant was a suspect, though no formal ruling was
ever made. Despite all that happened to him, William did not show
resentment toward his opponents. Following his death, many miracles
were attributed to him. He was canonized 73 years later. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Hosea 6:3-6; Psalm Ps 50:1, 8, 12-15; Romans
4:18-25; Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus
went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax
collector's booth. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and
followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many
tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.
When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your
teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'? On hearing this, Jesus
said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and
learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not
come to call the righteous, but sinners.
(Matthew 9:9-13)
One of the very
excellent developments in recent Christian thinking is the realization
of the centrality of the mercy of God. Of course, any true development
is merely a development of our realization of something which all along
is present explicitly or implicitly in Scripture and the Church’s life
and tradition. It is a development of our
understanding of what
has been revealed. Pope John Paul II’s second Encyclical early in his
long pontificate was precisely on the mercy of God, and it is an
outstanding Encyclical. It shows that God’s boundless mercy is at the
core of historical revelation. I suppose we could say that the most
obvious characteristic of the divine that man thinks of and that
affects and interests him is power. When we think of God we think of
power, and man learns from historical revelation that God is not only
powerful, but all-powerful. He can do anything. He is almighty. The
question is, how is this power shown? Man’s experience of power is not
very encouraging. If he has power himself he tends to abuse it and the
power of others over him all too often he finds to be harsh and
despotic. Man tends to fear power. But God has revealed himself to be
altogether different. St Thomas Aquinas writes that God’s almighty
power is revealed in his mercy. God shows himself in his deeds to be
amazingly kind and merciful in the face of needy man and at enormous
cost to himself. All through history man and society has appealed to
the heavenly powers for aid. It drives and sustains his religions. The
good news is that the only true heavenly power is one, and this one
all-holy and all-powerful God is rich in mercy. The most singular proof
of this is his response to man’s greatest need which is redemption from
sin. Man sinned and this destroyed all his prospects bringing
punishment and death. God’s response was one of mercy, coming to sinful
man as the Lamb of God in order to take away the sin of the world by
bearing it on his own shoulders and making up for it all by his own
Passion and Death. The power of God is revealed as not to be feared but
to be loved and trusted.
All this is shown
in our Gospel passage today (Matthew 9:9-13).
Our Lord is criticized for placing himself in the company of sinners.
This is incompatible with the all-holy God’s distance from sin. He
answers that those who understand God in this way have not understood
his revelation. Go and learn the meaning of what the Scriptures say, he
says, that “I want mercy, not sacrifice.” That is to say, God is a God
rich in mercy. Accordingly, he continues, I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners. In fact, all are sinners and all have fallen
away from the friendship of God. God in the person of Jesus has come to
call all sinners back to him. But there is one proviso. For them to
respond his call, they must recognize their sinfulness and repent. Our
Lord as the Good Shepherd predicted by the Old Testament yearns to find
and bring back the lost sheep, but he will not allow that they fail to
recognize their sin, nor that they choose to remain in their sin. Our
Lord, as even the devils cry out, is the Holy One of God and he
requires that the sinner come back to him in repentance and henceforth
seek holiness. Nor do I condemn you, he says to the sinful woman, but
then he adds, go and do not sin any more. Fundamental to our Lord’s
ministry of mercy to sinners is his call to repentance. His most
serious charge against the scribes and the Pharisees was that they
refused to repent. If a person refuses to recognize his sins and repent
of them then Christ’s work of mercy is absolutely impeded. As St Paul
affirms, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (Rom 5:20)
But to do its work grace must uncover sin so as to convert our hearts
and bestow on us the gift of holiness. As St John writes in his first
Letter, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will
forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We ought
pray for the gift of being able to see our sins with conviction, and
the grace to repent of them with trust in the mercy of God. This is
what Matthew had done, it is what the tax collectors and sinners dining
with our Lord were on the way to doing, and it is what the Pharisees
refused to do.
Thinking of our
Lord calling Matthew to follow him, thinking of our Lord dining with
the tax collectors and sinners, and thinking of the refusal of the
Pharisees to accept our Lord’s ministry of mercy, let us ask our Lord
for a profound appreciation of the fact that God is rich in mercy. At
the same time, God who is rich in mercy is the Holy One, and he
requires of us that we recognize our sins and repent of them. Let is
ask repeatedly for the grace to do this and to express our repentance
regularly in the Sacrament of Penance and in frequent acts of personal
contrition.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1846-1848
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You are hurt by your neighbour's lack of charity towards you. Think how
God must be hurt by your lack of charity — of Love — towards him!
(The Way, no.441)
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Saint Leo the Great (? –– c.461), Pope and
Doctor of the Church
1st sermon for the Nativity of the Lord
Son of David, Lord of lords
A virgin is chosen from the royal
house of David to bear within her a holy child, a son who is both
divine and human... The Word, God's Utterance, who is God himself, the
Son of God who, «in the beginning was with God... through whom all
things came to be and without whom nothing came to be» (cf. Jn 1,1-3),
became man that he might deliver all men from everlasting death. He
humbled himself to assuming the lowliness of our condition yet without
diminishment to his majesty. Remaining what he was and assuming what he
was not, he united the true nature of a servant to the nature according
to which he is equal to the Father. He bound these two natures together
so tightly that his glory was unable to destroy the lower nature nor
his union with the latter to debase the higher.
What properly belongs to each of these natures remains in its integrity
and is bound together in a single person: humility is embraced by
majesty, weakness by strength, mortality by eternity. To repay the debt
of our condition, the nature that is beyond suffering is united to a
nature capable of suffering; true God and true man come together in the
unity of the one Lord Jesus. And so, as our healing requires, the one
and «only mediator between God and the human race» (1Tm 2,5) could die
as a result of human action and rise through the action of God...
Such, my well-beloved, is the birth proper to Christ, «the power of God
and the wisdom of God» (1Cor 1,24). Through it he became one thing with
our humanity while maintaining the pre-eminence due to his divinity. If
he had not been true God, he would not have brought us the remedy. If
he had not been true man, he would not have given us an example.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Tuesday
of the tenth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 10) Blessed
Joachima (1783-1854)
Born into
an aristocratic family in Barcelona, Spain, Joachima was 12 when she
expressed a desire to become a Carmelite nun. But her life took an
altogether different turn at 16 with her marriage to a young lawyer,
Theodore de Mas. Both deeply devout, they became secular Franciscans.
During their 17 years of married life they raised eight children. The
normalcy of their family life was interrupted when Napoleon invaded
Spain. Joachima had to flee with the children; Theodore, remaining
behind, died. Though Joachima re-experienced a desire to enter a
religious community, she attended to her duties as a mother. At the
same time, the young widow led a life of austerity and chose to wear
the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis as her ordinary dress. She
spent much time in prayer and visiting the sick. Four years later, with
some of her children now married and younger ones under their care,
Joachima confessed her desire to a priest to join a religious order.
With his encouragement she established the Carmelite Sisters of
Charity. In the midst of the fratricidal wars occurring at the time,
Joachima was briefly imprisoned and, later, exiled to France for
several years. Sickness ultimately compelled her to resign as superior
of her order. Over the next four years she slowly succumbed to
paralysis, which caused her to die by inches. At her death in 1854 at
the age of 71, Joachima was known and admired for her high degree of
prayer, deep trust in God and selfless charity.
Joachima understands loss. She lost the home where
her children grew up, her husband and, finally, her health. As the
power to move and care for her own needs slowly ebbed away, this woman
who had all her life cared for others became wholly dependent; she
required help with life’s simplest tasks. When our own lives go
spinning out of control, when illness and bereavement and financial
hardship strike, all we can do is cling to the belief that sustained
Joachima: God watches over us always. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 1 Kings 17:7-16;
Psalm 4:2-5, 7b-8; Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus
said to his disciples: You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt
loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer
good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are
the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do
people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its
stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way,
let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and
praise your Father in heaven.
(Matthew 5:13-16)
It is normal for
philosophers and religious founders to gather disciples. Socrates had
his followers, Plato had his students, of which one was Aristotle who
in turn had his. From them schools of thought develop, and from their
writings and literary remains their influence continues and grows. So
too Buddha, Zoroaster and others had their
disciples and so their
religions grew. Well now, let us consider Christ’s attitude to his
disciples and his conception of their place in the world. The world is
dependent on them, he taught, because the world depends on him. It is
not that the world will be merely enriched somewhat by the presence of
his disciples - properly formed by his thought - in the midst of the
world. The world actually depends on them. Let us look at what he says
of this in today’s Gospel passage. He tells his disciples that they are
the salt of the earth. Salt seasons food and so his disciples make the
world acceptable and a delight to God’s taste. On the day of his
baptism the voice of the Father came from the heavens saying that Jesus
is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased. Christ’s disciples then,
sharing in the life of Jesus, will also be pleasing to the heavenly
Father. But here in our passage today our Lord tells them that they
will make the earth pleasing in God’s sight. In our Lord’s day salt
also preserved food from corruption. They as salt of the earth will
preserve it from corruption because they make Christ the Saviour
present. Again, Christ is the light of the world as he told his
disciples in the Gospel of St John. The one who follows him walks in
the light. Our Lord tells his disciples in our passage today from St
Matthew
(Matthew 5:13-16) that they
themselves, being his disciples, are the light of the world. They bring
his light to mankind and shine before all giving testimony to the
Father. Without their light the world would remain in the darkness. All
this is to say that the world’s relationship with him who is the one
and only Saviour is dependent on the presence and the work of his
disciples. Every disciple of Christ sustains the world by making Christ
present in its midst.
This is the case no
matter how insignificant from the world’s point of view one who lives
in Jesus may seem. The average Christian is what we may call a little
person. That is to say, he is ordinary in the course he pursues and in
the talents he possesses. He does not stand out in any particular way.
His course is very much like that of Mary and Joseph all those years at
Nazareth prior to our Lord’s public ministry - and it is very much like
the course our Lord himself followed during those very years. The holy
family at Nazareth was not an out-of-the-ordinary family except in its
hidden holiness. In respect to its holy life it was indeed without
compare, but in all other respects it was an ordinary family living an
ordinary life. So too the average disciple of Christ follows an
ordinary course. And yet to him our Lord says that he is the salt of
the earth and the light of the world. The world depends on the ordinary
Christian for his life lived out in union with Christ. How tragic not
only for the Christian but for the world if the Christian fails in his
following of Christ and becomes mediocre or falls away. Our Lord tells
his disciples that if they lose their quality of saltiness - which is
to say their union with him and their faith in his word - then of what
use are they to anyone? “If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be
made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be
thrown out and trampled by men.” That, then, is the danger for Christ’s
disciple. He must take steps to remain in Christ by daily prayer, by
spiritual reading of his word and of whatever assists him to receive
his word, by deepening his union with Christ in the Sacraments, and by
union with the Church his body. Living a life of true discipleship is
not just a personal matter. It has implications for the world around.
The world depends on Christian discipleship, for as our Lord says to
his disciples, you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
The world depends
on Christ because he and he alone is the Saviour of the world. He is
present in the world in his body the Church, which is none other than
the entire body of Christ’s Faithful. It is they who, in union with the
successors of the Apostles and with the successor of St Peter, make
Christ present in the world by their life in him. They are the salt and
the light of the world. What a tragedy if their saltiness is lost and
their light fades through their failing to be Christ’s disciples. Let
Christ be our true life for he has come that we all may have life in
abundance.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Don't make negative criticism: if you can't praise, say nothing.
(The Way, no.443)
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Silouan (1866-1938), Orthodox monk
Spiritual writings
"I have told you this so that you might have peace in me"
Isn't it the Lord himself who has said: «The kingdom of God is among
you» (Lk 17,21)? Eternal life begins even now... Oh my brothers, I beg
you to put it to the test! If someone should offend you, detract you,
take away what belongs to you, even if he should be a persecutor of
Holy Church, pray to God and say: «Lord, we are all your creatures.
Have pity on your servants and draw their hearts to repentance.» Then
you will feel grace in your soul. It is true that, to begin with, you
have to force yourself to love your enemies. But when the Lord sees
your good will he will help you in it all and experience itself will
show you the way. On the other hand, those who plan evil against their
enemies cannot have love and, therefore, cannot know God.
Never be aggressive with your brother; never judge him; overcome in
gentleness and love. Pride and harshness take peace away. So love him
who does not love you and pray for him. In this way your peace will be
undisturbed.
(The Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Wednesday
of the tenth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 11) Saint
Barnabas
Barnabas, a Jew
of Cyprus, comes as close as anyone outside the Twelve to being a
full-fledged apostle. He was closely associated with St. Paul (he
introduced Paul to Peter and the other apostles) and served as a kind
of mediator between the former persecutor and the still suspicious
Jewish Christians. When a Christian community developed at Antioch,
Barnabas was sent as the official representative of the Church of
Jerusalem to incorporate them into the fold. He and Paul instructed in
Antioch for a year, after which they took relief contributions to
Jerusalem. Later, Paul and Barnabas, now clearly seen as charismatic
leaders, were sent by Antioch officials to preach to the Gentiles.
Enormous success crowned their efforts. After a miracle at Lystra, the
people wanted to offer sacrifice to them as gods—Barnabas being Zeus,
and Paul, Hermes—but the two said, “We are of the same nature as you,
human beings. We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from
these idols to the living God” (see Acts 14:8-18). But all was not
peaceful. They were expelled from one town, they had to go to Jerusalem
to clear up the ever-recurring controversy about circumcision and even
the best of friends can have differences. When Paul wanted to revisit
the places they had evangelized, Barnabas wanted to take along John
Mark, his cousin, author of the Gospel, but Paul insisted that, since
Mark had deserted them once, he was not fit to take along now. The
disagreement that followed was so sharp that Barnabas and Paul
separated, Barnabas taking Mark to Cyprus, Paul taking Silas to Syria.
Later, they were reconciled—Paul, Barnabas and Mark. When Paul stood up
to Peter for not eating with Gentiles for fear of his Jewish friends,
we learn that “even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy” (see
Galatians 2:1-13).
Barnabas is spoken of
simply as one who dedicated his life to the Lord. He was a man "filled
with the Holy Spirit and faith. Thereby large numbers were added to the
Lord." Even when he and Paul were expelled from Antioch in Pisidia,
they were "filled with joy and the Holy Spirit." (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Acts 11:21b-26;
12:1-3; Psalm 98:1-6; Matthew 5:17-19
Jesus
said to his disciples: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law
or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I
tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest
letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from
the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the
least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be
called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and
teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.(Matthew 5:17-19)
As St Paul writes
in one of his Letters, “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ
Jesus.” In another Letter he writes, “Be imitators of me, as I am of
Christ.” Christ is the one we should be studying and coming to know.
Knowing him we ought be endeavouring to imitate him above all in his
mind and heart. “Come to me all you who labour and are
overburdened,” he says in one of the Gospels, “and I will give you
rest. Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.” So Christ
expects his disciples to come to him and learn from him. All through
our lives we ought be contemplating the person of Jesus and making him
our model. By the power of God’s grace and our effort to be like him,
our hearts and minds will be transformed into the likeness of Jesus.
Well now, let us consider our Gospel passage today especially for what
it reveals about Jesus. He says to his disciples, “Do not think that I
have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to
abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and
earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a
pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is
accomplished.”
(Matthew 5:17-19) These words tell
us of our Lord’s profound love and veneration for the Law and the
Prophets. Throughout his public ministry he was constantly referring to
the teaching of the Scriptures - which is to say, the Law, the
Prophets, the Psalms and the other inspired Writings. When challenged
by his enemies for not adhering to the practices of their fathers, he
quoted Scripture (and the dictates of common sense) to recall them to
the true meaning of the Scriptures. He repeatedly drew forth new
meanings from the Scriptures to prove his points. On one occasion when
presented with a puzzle designed to show that the dead do not rise
again, our Lord quoted the words of Yahweh God to Moses, “I am the God
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” This proves that the dead rise again, our
Lord said, because God is the God of the living, and so Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob were and are alive.
Let us even go back
before our Lord’s public ministry, to those many years growing up in
the hidden setting of his holy family and the community of Nazareth.
But even before this, we see in the Angel’s salutation to the virgin
Mary and his description of the Messiah who was to be her son, that
Mary herself was steeped in the Scriptures. The Angel was able to
presume her knowledge of the Scriptures. Then especially in her prayer
of praise (the Magnificat) to the Lord after being greeted with such
honour by her kinswoman Elizabeth, that Mary’s heart was filled with
the story of God’s relationship with his chosen people. Mary was
steeped in the Law and especially the Prophets. Undoubtedly Joseph her
husband was too. As Jesus was growing up, this love and veneration for
the Law and the Prophets would have profoundly pervaded their humble
home. We read that during his public ministry he revisited Nazareth his
own town, and entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day “as he usually
did.” That remark shows that during those years at Nazareth the holy
family would go to the synagogue on each Sabbath and listen to the
Scriptures, to the Law and the Prophets and to the commentaries on
them. That our Lord even as a child had a absolutely extraordinary
understanding of the Scriptures is shown during the event of his being
lost during their visit to Jerusalem for the Feast. He was found in the
Temple discussing matters with the doctors of the Law, asking questions
and giving answers. St Luke remarked that the doctors were amazed at
the intelligence he displayed. It would have been shown in his
knowledge of the meaning of the Scriptures. During these years we can
only imagine the conversations that must have gone on within the holy
family, and the hidden insights into the Scriptures shared among them.
Then when suddenly he appeared publicly before Israel, what was evident
was his unparalleled and manifestly authoritative mastery and
interpretation of the Scriptures. He spoke with authority, and not like
the scribes. Christ loved the Scriptures.
Christ loved the
Scriptures and is himself is their fulfilment. He deeply venerated
them. They required a holy life according to the law of Moses and the
Prophets. Christ is the light that interprets their meaning and they
point to him as the one to come and as their fulfilment. Christ is our
all and therefore the New Testament and especially the Gospels is the
soul of the Scriptures, but let us imitate Christ in his love for the
Old Testament, for Law and the Prophets.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Never
speak badly of your brother, not even when you have plenty of reasons.
Go first to the Tabernacle, and then go to the priest your father, and
tell him also what is worrying you.
And no one else.
(The Way, no.444)
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Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.208), Bishop,
theologian and martyr
Against the Heresies, IV,14 (SC 100, p.537 rev.)
"So that he may give eternal life to all you gave him"
In the beginning it was not because he had need of man that God
fashioned Adam but so as to have someone on whom to set his blessings.
For, not only before Adam but even before creation, the Word glorified
the Father while dwelling in him and was glorified by the Father as he
himself said: «Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you
before the world began.» Further, it wasn't because he needed our help
that he told us to follow him but to win salvation for us. Because
following the Savior is to share in salvation just as following the
light is to have a share in the light.
When people stand in the light, it is not they who illumine the light
and cause it to shine but who are illumined and made to shine by it.
Far from contributing anything at all to it, they benefit from the
light and are lit up by it. This is how it is in serving God: our
service contributes nothing to God for God has no need of man's
service; but to those who serve and follow him God gives life,
incorruptibility and eternal glory...
If God requests man's service it is so that he who is good and merciful
might grant his blessings to those who persevere in his service. For,
if God has no need of anything, yet man has need of communion with God.
The glory of man is to persevere in the service of God. That is why our
Saviour said to his disciples: «It was not you who chose me but I who
chose you» (Jn 15,16). Thus he showed that it was not they who
glorified him by following him but that, since they had followed the
Son of God, they were glorified by him. «Father, I wish that where I am
they also may be with me, that they may see my glory» (Jn 17,24).
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Thursday
of the tenth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 12) Blessed
Jolenta (Yolanda) of Poland (d. 1298)
Jolenta was the daughter of Bela IV, King of
Hungary. Her sister, St. Kunigunde, was married to the Duke of Poland.
Jolenta was sent to Poland where her sister was to supervise her
education. Eventually married to Boleslaus, the Duke of Greater Poland,
Jolenta was able to use her material means to assist the poor, the
sick, widows and orphans. Her husband joined her in building hospitals,
convents and churches so that he was surnamed "the Pious." Upon the
death of her husband and the marriage of two of her daughters, Jolenta
and her third daughter entered the convent of the Poor Clares. War
forced Jolenta to move to another convent where, despite her
reluctance, she was made abbess. So well did she serve her Franciscan
sisters by word and example that her fame and good works continued to
spread beyond the walls of the cloister. Her favourite devotion was the
Passion of Christ. Indeed, Jesus appeared to her, telling her of her
coming death. Many miracles, down to our own day, are said to have
occurred at her grave.
Jolenta’s story begins like a fairy tale. But fairy tales
seldom include the death of the prince and never end with the princess
living out her days in a convent. Nonetheless, Jolenta’s story has a
happy ending. Her life of charity toward the poor and devotion to her
Franciscan sisters indeed brought her to a “happily ever after.” Our
lives may be short on fairy-tale elements, but our generosity and our
willingness to serve well the people we live with lead us toward an
ending happier than we can imagine. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on
centre arrow
Scripture today: 1 Kings 18:41-46;
Psalm 65:10-13; Matthew 5:20-26
Jesus
said to his disciples: I tell you that unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will
certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was
said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders
will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry
with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to
his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who
says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if
you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your
brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of
the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and
offer your gift. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is
taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or
he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to
the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth,
you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
(Matthew 5:20-26)
I suppose we could
say that in the study of primal religions the two sources of most
fruitful study are myths and rituals. One of the features of ritual in
primal societies is the importance of performing the rituals correctly.
While the religion of those societies pervades the culture,
nevertheless it is deemed to be very important that ritual be
conducted according to a
long and firm custom. The higher powers are understood to have
stipulated how the ritual is to be performed and so a careful external
observance is important if they are to be placated and kept “on side”,
as we might say. At least that is one factor. There is a tendency for
man’s practice of religion to be primarily a matter of external
observance, and even simply a matter of external ritual. We see this
pattern in Greek and Roman religion and the religions of very many
societies since. Considering this phenomenon positively, the fact that
this emphasis has been so widespread and enduring shows its objective
importance. It is a pointer to the due place it was given in revealed
religion as we see in, say, the book of Leviticus and sections of the
book of Exodus. External religious observance has great importance in
genuine religion and in revealed religion, as does carefully stipulated
ritual practice. But the danger is that, granted the fallen condition
of the heart of man, this external observance will be regarded as the
essence of religion and that the very observance of externals will be
performed for irreligious motives. It seems to have been the ingrained
flaw in the religion of very many of the scribes and Pharisees. The
external practices of religion are meant to support, express and guard
the internal religion of man’s mind and heart. Man’s internal religion
needs the external observance just as the external observance needs the
internal religion of the heart to inform and guard it. The great
problem facing man in his religion is how to maintain a religious heart
and not just an external practice.
It is precisely
this which our Lord addresses in our Gospel passage today. His
disciples had to understand that “unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly
not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Then he lays down his directions.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not
murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell
you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to
judgment.” The commandment of God stipulated that one must not unjustly
take away another’s life. But our Lord goes further. He says with
manifest authority, that “I tell you” that being unjustly angry will
bring God’s judgment. That is to say, to desire that unjust harm be
done to another is to violate the commandment. Our Lord is insisting on
a religion not merely of external observance but of the heart. We are
to resist anything in our hearts that is in any way like murder. Our
Lord not only speaks of thoughts, but also of words. “Again, anyone who
says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone
who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
(Matthew 5:20-26) Or again, it is not enough to observe
religious rituals faithfully while maintaining our conflict with our
brother. “Therefore,” our Lord says, “if you are offering your gift at
the altar and there remember that your brother has something against
you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be
reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” So true
religion is a matter not only of external observance and deeds, but
also of thoughts and words. God sees all. He sees not only what others
can see but sees our secret thoughts and the words that only one other
may hear. His will reaches every aspect of our free choice. Everything
we freely choose to think, say or do is subject to the will of God and
to his scrutiny. God wants us to love him with all our mind, heart,
soul and strength.
Let every baptized
Christian remember that by baptism he has become a temple of God. The
Father, Son and Holy Spirit abide within. The Trinity dwells within the
soul of the baptized person who is in the state of grace. God is ever
so near, and he is continually watching. He asks that we serve him and
live in him in every aspect of our life and being. Our religion is
above all to be a religion of the heart, expressing itself in thought,
word and deed. It is then that everything external to our practice of
religion will be pleasing to God. Let us then give our all to him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Gossip is a disease that infects and poisons the apostolate. It goes
against charity, means a waste of energy, takes away peace and destroys
one's union with God.
(The Way, no.445)
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Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo
(North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermons on St John's Gospel, no.107
"I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely"
When he had said to his Father: «And now I will no longer be in the
world...; I am coming to you» (Jn 17,11), our Lord recommended to his
Father those who were about to be deprived of his physical presence:
«Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given to me.» As
man, Jesus prays to God for the disciples he has received from God. But
note what follows: «So that they may be one just as we are.» He does
not say: That they may be one with us, or: So that they and we together
may be one thing just as we are one, but he says: «That they may be one
just as we are.» That they may be one in their nature just as we are
one in ours. The truth is that these words imply that Jesus spoke as
having the same divine nature as his Father, as he says elsewhere: «The
Father and I are one,» (Jn 10,30). According to his human nature he had
said: «My Father is greater than I, « (Jn 14,28), but since God and man
form one and the same person in him, we understand that he is man
because he prays and understand him to be God because he is one thing
with the one to whom he prays...
«But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may
share my joy completely.» As yet he has not left the world; he is still
there; but since he is shortly going to leave it, he is no longer in
it, so to speak. But what is that joy with which he wants his disciples
to be filled? This he has already explained a little before, when he
said: «That they may be one as we are.» Concerning this joy, which
belongs to him and which he has given to them, he foretells to them the
perfect fulfilment and that is why he speaks about it «in the world».
This joy is the peace and happiness of the world to come and, to gain
it, we must live in the present world with self-restraint, justice and
devotion.
(The Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Friday of the tenth week
in Ordinary Time II
(June 13) Saint
Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the Church (1195-1231)
The gospel call to leave everything and follow
Christ was the rule of Anthony’s life. Over and over again God called
him to something new in his plan. Every time Anthony responded with
renewed zeal and self-sacrificing to serve his Lord Jesus more
completely. His journey as the servant of God began as a very young man
when he decided to join the Augustinians, giving up a future of wealth
and power to be a servant of God. Later, when the bodies of the first
Franciscan martyrs went through the Portuguese city where he was
stationed, he was again filled with an intense longing to be one of
those closest to Jesus himself: those who die for the Good News. So
Anthony entered the Franciscan Order and set out to preach to the
Moors. But an illness prevented him from achieving that goal. He went
to Italy and was stationed in a small hermitage where he spent most of
his time praying, reading the Scriptures and doing menial tasks. The
call of God came again at an ordination where no one was prepared to
speak. The humble and obedient Anthony hesitantly accepted the task.
The years of searching for Jesus in prayer, of reading sacred Scripture
and of serving him in poverty, chastity and obedience had prepared
Anthony to allow the Spirit to use his talents. Anthony’s sermon was
astounding to those who expected an unprepared speech and knew not the
Spirit’s power to give people words. Recognized as a great man of
prayer and a great Scripture and theology scholar, Anthony became the
first friar to teach theology to the other friars. Soon he was called
from that post to preach to the heretics, to use his profound knowledge
of Scripture and theology to convert and reassure those who had been
misled.
Anthony should be the patron of those who find their
lives completely uprooted and set in a new and unexpected direction.
Like all saints, he is a perfect example of turning one's life
completely over to Christ. God did with Anthony as God pleased—and what
God pleased was a life of spiritual power and brilliance that still
attracts admiration today. He whom popular devotion has nominated as
finder of lost objects found himself by losing himself totally to the
providence of God. In his Sermons, Anthony says: "The saints are like
the stars. In his providence Christ conceals them in a hidden place
that they may not shine before others when they might wish to do so.
Yet they are always ready to exchange the quiet of contemplation for
the works of mercy as soon as they perceive in their heart the
invitation of Christ." (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-16;
Psalm 27:7-9abc, 13-14; Matthew 5:27-32
Jesus
said to his disciples: You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit
adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully
has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye
causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you
to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown
into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and
throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than
for your whole body to go into hell. It has been said, 'Anyone who
divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell
you that anyone who divorces his wife, unless the marriage is unlawful,
causes her to commit adultery, and anyone who marries the divorced
woman commits adultery. (Matthew
5:27-32)
It does not take
much reflection to realize that the whole of society depends on the
institution of marriage. Whatever be the society it is profoundly
shaped by the way it institutionalizes marriage. If a society allows
bigamy or easy divorce, then the society will be affected accordingly.
So important is marriage for a society that almost
universally,
be it in developed or indigenous cultures, marriage is surrounded by
serious custom and law and protected by associated sanctions. It is,
then, a matter of high importance just how marriage is understood, and
it is very possible for the foundations of a society to be gradually
undermined if dubious conceptions of marriage gain ground.
Alternatively, a society will be strengthened if noble and worthy
notions of marriage take root and are reflected in a society’s laws and
institutions. Has there ever been a higher or more noble conception of
marriage than that which the Christian religion - as formulated in the
teaching of the Catholic Church - has insisted on? That is to say, the
greatest teacher of marriage has been Jesus Christ who re-emphasised
and renewed the divine revelation about marriage. Indeed, he took it to
further heights. In our Gospel today our Lord refers to the commandment
of God that man not commit adultery. This is not merely one of the Ten
Commandments of God, but is also a clear command of the natural law
inscribed in the mind and heart of man. Of course, the history of
humanity shows that if there has ever been a divine and natural law
flouted it has been this, so much so that our Lord told his opponents
on one occasion that Moses allowed divorce precisely because the
original plan of God was inveterately ignored and refused. It was a
strategy to contain by civil legislation the hard-heartedness of the
people. It did not supersede God’s law against divorce as shown by our
Lord to be in the very first pages of the Bible.
Our Lord takes his
hearers into a deeper understanding of this divine teaching on
marriage. Adultery does not just mean being faithful to one’s wife. It
means being faithful to one wife. As our Lord pointed out to the
Samaritan woman, she had had five husbands and the husband she was now
with was not her husband at all. That is to say, marriage is
indissoluble - it cannot be dissolved unless the marriage was unlawful
in the first place. The attempt to dissolve a valid marriage and
legalize divorce so as to legitimize remarriage is against the law of
God. “It has been said,” our Lord states, that “ 'Anyone who divorces
his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that
anyone who divorces his wife, unless the marriage is unlawful, causes
her to commit adultery, and anyone who marries the divorced woman
commits adultery.” (Matthew 5:27-32).
That is not to say that a civil divorce may not be in order as a means
of resolving various difficulties, but a civil divorce does not and
cannot dissolve the marriage if the marriage was lawful in the sight of
God in the first place. The words of Christ uphold the unity and
indissolubility of marriage and point the way not only to a married
life lived in accordance with God’s will, but to a society built on
sound and firm foundations. But Christ goes further than merely
correcting certain notions of divorce. One can commit adultery in the
heart. “You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But
I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you
to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.” God requires fidelity in
marriage and absolute chastity outside of marriage even in one’s mind
and heart. Not only must one guard one’s actions but one must strictly
guard one’s heart. How tragic it is, then, that the freedom allowed in
Western societies becomes a license to tempt and undermine chastity
both in and outside marriage. When the sanctity of marriage and
chastity outside marriage is undermined, society begins to crumble.
Chastity outside
marriage and chaste fidelity within marriage are fundamental to the
life of man. They are an absolute requirement by God and the deliberate
and knowing violation of chastity even in one’s heart is a serious sin.
Christ calls it adultery in the heart and it is so serious that unless
it is repented of it leads to damnation. It is better, he says, to lose
your eye if it leads you to sin, than to be thrown into hell with both
eyes. Let us understand that virtue is not just something that others
see. Rather it is something that God sees right to the depths of our
heart.
(E.J.Tyler)
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If you are so weak, is it surprising that others too have their
weaknesses?
(The Way, no.446)
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Saint Peter Damian (1007-1072), hermit, then a
Bishop, Doctor of the Church
Opuscule 11 «Dominus vobiscum», 6 (Migne 1992, p.22 rev.)
"May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you"
Holy Church, although diverse in multiplicity of persons, is brought
into unity by the fire of the Holy Spirit. If, from the physical point
of view, she seems to be divided among several families, yet the
mystery of her profound unity loses nothing of its integrity: «because
the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit that has been given to us,» (Rom 5,5). There is no question that
this Spirit is both one and many at the same time: one at the core of
its majesty; many in the gifts and charisms granted to the Holy Church
filled by his presence. And it is this same Spirit that enables the
Church to be at one and the same time single in its universal extent
yet wholly present in each of its members...
So if those who believe in Christ are one, no matter where any
particular one of them happens physically to be, the whole body of the
Church is there through the sacramental mystery. And everything
suitable to the whole body seems suitable to each one of its members...
Hence it is that, when several of the faithful are together, they can
say: «Incline your ear, O Lord; answer me, for I am afflicted and poor.
Keep my life, for I am devoted to you» (Ps 86[85],1-2). And when we are
alone, we can still sing: «Let us all sing joyfully to God our
strength; acclaim the God of Jacob» (Ps 81[80],2). It is not misplaced
for us all to say together: «I will bless the Lord at all times; his
praise shall be ever in my mouth» (Ps 34[33]2) nor, when I find myself
alone, to proclaim: «Glorify the Lord with me, let us together extol
his name» (v.4) and many other, similar expressions. Solitude prevents
nobody from speaking in the plural while the mass of the faithful can
just as well express themselves in the singular. The Holy Spirit's
power, which dwells in each of the faithful and encircles them all,
means that in the latter case there is a peopled solitude and in the
former a great many who form but one.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Saturday
of the tenth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 14) St.
Albert Chmielowski (1845-1916)
Born in
Igolomia near Kraków as the eldest of four children in a wealthy
family, he was christened Adam. During the 1864 revolt against Czar
Alexander III, Adam’s wounds forced the amputation of his left leg. His
great talent for painting led to studies in Warsaw, Munich and Paris.
Adam returned to Kraków and became a Secular Franciscan. In 1888 he
took the name Albert when he founded the Brothers of the Third Order of
Saint Francis, Servants to the Poor. They worked primarily with the
homeless, depending completely on alms while serving the needy,
regardless of age, religion or politics. A community of Albertine
sisters was established later. Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1983
and canonized him six years later.
Reflecting on his own priestly
vocation, Pope John Paul II wrote in 1996 that Brother Albert had
played a role in its formation "because I found in him a real spiritual
support and example in leaving behind the world of art, literature and
the theatre, and in making the radical choice of a vocation to the
priesthood" (Gift and Mystery: On the Fiftieth Anniversay of My
Priestly Ordination, p. 33). As a young priest, Karol Wojtyla
repaid his debt of gratitude by writing The Brother of Our God,
a play about Brother Albert’s life. The first reading at the
canonization included Isaiah 58:6 (“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let
the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”). The pope referred to
this passage and said: “This is the theology of messianic liberation,
which contains what we are accustomed to calling today the ‘option for
the poor’.... In this tireless, heroic service on behalf of the
marginalized and the poor, he [Albert] ultimately found his path. He
found Christ. He took upon himself Christ’s yoke and burden; he did not
become merely ‘one of those who give alms,’ but became the brother to
those he served....” (L'Osservatore Romano 1989, Vol. 49,
No. 9). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 1 Kings 19:19-21;
Psalm 16:1b-2a and 5, 7-10; Matthew 5:33-37
Jesus
said to his disciples: Again, you have heard that it was said to the
people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have
made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by
heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his
footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And
do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or
black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'; anything
beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matthew
5:33-37)
It is a very good
thing that in modern democracies it is usual that lying and falsehoods
on the part of public officials is not tolerated by the public. If an
elected representative or a member of an elected government is found to
have lied or perpetrated an untruth, very often he will be forced to
resign. It is one sign that speaking and acting truthfully
is perceived to be a
natural law, independently of any civil law. It is binding on man and
all understand this to be so. There is the further intriguing question
of why it binds - which is to say, why man is subject to what he and
all perceive to be of moral obligation. The philosophical question of
what are the foundations of moral obligation is not our subject here,
but I notice the matter only to introduce what our Lord speaks of in
today’s Gospel. Our Lord refers to the practice of testifying by oath
to one’s resolve to do something, or guaranteeing by oath to the truth
of something. The oath brings God into the situation as a witness,
asserting that one is stating something as true with God also
guaranteeing the truth of the statement. The oath in this sense has a
long history and is routinely used in courts of law even though the
practice in that setting does not even assume the existence of God. It
is a heritage of society that imposes sanctions on an untruth when
supported by an oath. So our Lord gives his divine response to this way
of guaranteeing the truth of something. He says, be truthful always and
do not support it by calling on God or anything else as a witness. Do
not swear at all, he says. “I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by
heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his
footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And
do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or
black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'; anything
beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matthew
5:33-37)
This is to say that
the one who walks in the footsteps of Christ speaks and acts as if
Christ is continually present and is the unseen witness of all he does.
He speaks and acts so as to be always pleasing to God. The presence of
God is a fundamental fact in his life and he lives in the light of this
fact. Thus he never lies and perpetrates no falsehood - this is how the
one who has the mind of Christ lives. So we need to cultivate in life
an abiding sense of the presence of God, and for the baptized Christian
this is a constant source of consolation. By his baptism he is placed
in God and in Christ because at his baptism the Holy Spirit comes and
makes of him God’s adopted child. His heart and his soul become a
temple of the living God in which, so long as he is in the state of
grace, the Holy Trinity abide. And so it is that God is intimately
present to him not only because he is a creature of God constantly
sustained by his act of creation. God is intimately present on a far
richer basis than even this. God is in him by the power of the Holy
Spirit just as the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. As
our Lord says in the Gospel of St John, “If anyone loves me he will
keep my word and my Father will love him and we shall come to him and
make our home with him.” God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit dwell within the soul of the baptized person in the state of
grace, because the baptized person is, as St Paul says, in Jesus. For
all these reasons we live constantly in the presence of God and our
daily task ought be to realize this and live accordingly. Living
according to this will mean, among other things, being distinguished in
all our words and deeds by a manifest truthfulness. The unseen Lord
whom we love and who died for us walks ever by our side and he is all
holy. Sin profoundly displeases him and so we strive to avoid all that
is wrong and sinful. For this reason, over and above the natural law,
the Christian must strive always to be truthful in every way.
Let us resolve to
be truthful in everything, and truthful in a Christlike way. Our motive
for doing so is not just in order to maintain personal integrity and to
respect the rights of others. Our motive is above all to please God our
creator and redeemer who sees all and who loves us beyond all our
imagining. He is always present. So let us live in such a way that at
our judgment he will say as he said of Jesus his only begotten Son,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
(E.J.Tyler)
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After seeing how many people waste their lives, their whole lives
(tongues wagging, wagging, wagging, and all the inevitable
consequences), silence seems preferable to me, and more necessary than
ever.
And I well understand, Lord, why we have to give an account of all our
idle words.
(The Way, no.447)
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Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo
(North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Guelferbytanus Sermon 16,1; PLS 2,579
"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."
The Lord appeared once again to his disciples after his resurrection,
and questioning Peter, who from fear had thrice denied him, extracted
from him a threefold declaration of love. Christ had been raised to
life in the flesh and Peter to life in the spirit; for when Christ died
as a result of the torments he endured, Peter was also dead as a result
of denying his master. Christ the Lord was raised from the dead; Christ
the Lord raised up Peter through Peter's love for him. And having
obtained from him the assurance of that love, he entrusted his sheep to
Peter's care.
We may wonder what advantage there could be for Christ in Peter's love
for him. If Christ loves you, you profit, not Christ; and if you love
him, again the advantage is yours, not his. But wishing to show us how
we should demonstrate our love for him, Christ the Lord made it plain
that it is by our concern for his sheep.
«Simon, son of John, Do you love me?» he asked. «I do love you.» «Then
feed my sheep.» Once, twice, and a third time the same dialogue was
repeated. To the Lord's one and only question, Peter had no other
answer than «I do love you.» And each time the Lord gave Peter the same
command: «Feed my sheep.» Let us love one another then, and by so doing
we shall be loving Christ.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Eleventh Sunday
of Ordinary Time A
Prayers
this week:
Lord, hear my voice
when I call to you. You are my help; do not cast me off, do not desert
me, my Saviour God.
(Psalm 26:7.9)
Almighty God, our hope and our strength, without you we falter. Help us
to follow Christ and to live according to your will. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(June 15) Servant
of God Orlando Catanii
An unexpected
encounter with St. Francis of Assisi in 1213 was to forever change—and
enrich—the life of Count Orlando of Chiusi. On the day a festival was
being organized for a huge throng, St. Francis, already well known for
his sanctity, delivered a dramatic address on the dangers of worldly
pleasures. One of the guests, Orlando (also known as Roland) was so
taken by Francis' words that he sought out the saint for advice on how
best to lead a life pleasing to God. A short time later, Francis
visited Count Orlando in his own palace, located at the foot of Mount
La Verna. Francis spoke again of the dangers of a life of wealth and
comfort. The words prompted Orlando to rearrange his life entirely
according to the principles outlined by Francis. Furthermore, he
resolved to share his wealth by placing at Francis' disposal all of
Mount La Verna, which belonged to Orlando. Francis, who found the
mountain's wooded recesses and many caves and ravines especially
suitable for quiet prayer, gratefully accepted the offer. Orlando
immediately had a convent as well as a church built there; later, many
chapels were added. In 1224, two years before the death of Francis,
Mount La Verna was the location where Francis received the holy wounds
of Christ. In return for his generous gift, Orlando desired only to be
received into the Third Order and to have St. Francis as his spiritual
director. Under Francis' guidance, Orlando completely detached himself
from worldly goods. He zealously performed acts of charity as a
Christian nobleman. After his happy death Orlando was laid to rest in
the convent church on Mount La Verna.
Even Francis, Lady Poverty’s
favourite knight, needed a suitable place to pray. Captivated by
Francis’ preaching, Orlando restructured his life. One of the
possessions he parted with was Mt. La Verna, which he offered to the
Little Poor Man. There Francis found the solitude he sought. In one
mountainside cave, he was branded with Christ’s own wounds. We may not
be as wealthy as Orlando, but we have enough to spare. Only God can
know who in Lady Poverty’s realm will be nurtured in sanctity because
we imitate Orlando in generosity. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: Exodus 19:2-6a; Psalm
Ps 100:1-3, 5; Romans 5:6-11; Matthew 9:36-10:8
When
Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were
harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to
his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask
the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his
harvest field. He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them
authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and
sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who
is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his
brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax
collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and
Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the
following instructions: Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town
of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go,
preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick,
raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.
Freely you have received, freely give.
(Matthew 9:36-10:8)
In the scene of our
Gospel passage today we have prefigured some tremendous realities of
the future. In gazing on the crowds, Christ the Good Shepherd faces the
needs of mankind. The crowds, we may say, stand for the world of the
ages. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they
were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd.” Many people when facing “the crowds”, which is to
say mankind in its difficulty and suffering, feel little of the
compassion of Christ. But Christ is filled with compassion. Moreover,
while the crowd before Jesus was harassed with the burden of illnesses
and disease, our Lord saw beyond that to their deeper harassment by
sin. He had come to bring the true liberation from the fundamental flaw
that age upon age wreaks its incalculable effect on the happiness of
man. He had come to take away the sin of the world and to reunite
mankind to God. So on the one hand we have Christ and the crowds, which
is to say Christ and the world. On the other hand, we also have that
other essential element in the mission of Christ, the Twelve and all
those who with the Twelve would share in Christ’s mission. We read that
he called his twelve disciples to him and gave them a share in his
authority. We are told in another Gospel that he deliberately gave them
the name of Apostles. Christ appointed the Twelve Apostles, and the
Gospels give us their names. They were the foundation and the beginning
of the Church’s ministerial priesthood. On the evening of the very day
of his rising from the dead Christ would consecrate his Apostles in the
Holy Spirit, and with that an immediate share in his unique priesthood.
Receive the Holy Spirit, he said. In our passage today our Lord says to
them, Go. Go to the lost sheep of Israel. On rising from the dead he
said to them, as the Father has sent me, so am I sending you. In our
Gospel today
(Matthew 9:36-10:8) he sends them out to drive out the evil
spirits and to deliver from sicknesses. On Easter Sunday he gives them
the Holy Spirit to take away sins. Whose sins you forgive, they are
forgiven them.
That is to say,
Christ’s designation of the Twelve in our passage today prefigures his
establishment of the ministerial priesthood. He instituted it in his
gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit quickly developed it in
the way intended by Christ from the beginning. Christ, as the Letter to
the Hebrews makes clear is mankind’s one and only High Priest. He
exercised his high priesthood on the Cross at Calvary offering himself
as the victim for all mankind, making up for the sin of the world. That
one sacrifice saved the world. His high priesthood continues at the
right hand of his heavenly Father always interceding for us, and in
this way his one sacrifice continues in its redeeming effect for all of
us. But now, the wonderful thing is that this same high priesthood is
made present constantly in the Church. Christ the one High Priest of
mankind is present in his Church exercising his priesthood. He does it
in two essentially distinct ways, namely in and through the life and
work of the lay faithful, and in and through the ordained ministerial
priesthood. It was the ministerial priesthood that was conferred on the
Twelve on the evening of the day of Christ’s resurrection and at the
further gift to them of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. At Pentecost too
with the gift of the Spirit to the entire infant Church there was
conferred on all a common priesthood. The entire Church became a
kingdom of priests, to use St Peter’s expression. The Twelve were made
ministerial priests of Jesus Christ, with the fullest share in the
ministerial priesthood intended by God for his Church. They were the
Church’s first bishops with the power to hand on this priesthood to
others. And this they did, consecrating others to be what we now call
bishops, and others again to be what we now call ordained priests, with
their lesser share in the ministerial priesthood. In all of this it is
the one priesthood of Christ which is made present in the ministerial
priesthood of bishops and priests. In this sense, as St Thomas Aquinas
writes, only Christ is the true priest, the others being his ministers.
By their special consecration and gift of the Spirit they are empowered
to act as priests in his name. Christ the High Priest is in them as the
Church’s head, and they in him.
The ordained
Catholic priest bears within him the person of Christ who acts in him
as High Priest. This occurs most especially in his celebration of the
Holy Eucharist, in his forgiveness of sins in the sacrament of Penance,
in his anointing of the sick bringing to them the strengthening of
Christ, in his preaching of the word of God, and indeed in his whole
life. He must therefore himself avoid sin, live in the grace of God and
strive for holiness of life. He is a priest and makes present the one
priesthood of mankind’s only High Priest. His is a tremendous calling.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1554-1571
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It's easier said than done. With that cutting, hatchet-like tongue,
have you ever tried, even by chance, to do 'well' what, according to
your 'considered' opinion, others do less well?
(The Way, no.448)
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Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Carmelite,
Doctor of the Church
Way of Perfection, 17
"Lord, what about him?" ... "What concern is it of yours? You follow
me."
God doesn't lead all by one path, and perhaps the one who thinks she is
walking along a very lowly path is in fact higher in the eyes of the
Lord. So, not because all in this house practice prayer must all be
contemplatives; that's impossible. And it would be very distressing for
the one who isn't a contemplative if she didn't understand this truth...
I spent fourteen years never being able to practice meditation without
reading. There will be many persons of this sort, and others who will
be unable to meditate even with the reading but able only to pray
vocally, and in this vocal prayer they will spend most of their time...
There are a number of other persons of this kind. If humility is
present, I don't believe they will be any the worse off in the end but
will be very much the equals of those who receive many delights; and in
a way they will be more secure, for we do not know if the delights are
from God or from the devil...
Those who do not receive these delights walk with humility, suspecting
that this lack is their own fault, always concerned about making
progress. They don't see anyone shed a tear without thinking that if
they themselves don't shed any they are very far behind in the service
of God. And perhaps they are much more advanced, for tears, even though
they be good, are not all perfect. In humility, mortification,
detachment, and the other virtues there is always greater security.
There is nothing to fear; don't be afraid that you will fail to reach
the perfection of those who are very contemplative.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Monday in
the eleventh week of Ordinary Time II
(June 16) St.
John Francis Regis (1597-1640)
Born into a family of some wealth,
John Francis was so impressed by his Jesuit educators that he himself
wished to enter the Society of Jesus. He did so at age 18. Despite his
rigorous academic schedule he spent many hours in chapel, often to the
dismay of fellow seminarians who were concerned about his health.
Following his ordination to the priesthood, he undertook missionary
work in various French towns. While the formal sermons of the day
tended toward the poetic, his discourses were plain. But they revealed
the fervour within him and attracted people of all classes. Father
Regis especially made himself available to the poor. Many mornings were
spent in the confessional or at the altar celebrating Mass; afternoons
were reserved for visits to prisons and hospitals. The Bishop of
Viviers, observing the success of Father Regis in communicating with
people, sought to draw on his many gifts, especially needed during the
prolonged civil and religious strife then rampant throughout France.
With many prelates absent and priests negligent, the people had been
deprived of the sacraments for 20 years or more. Various forms of
Protestantism were thriving in some cases while a general indifference
toward religion was evident in other instances. For three years Father
Regis travelled throughout the diocese, conducting missions in advance
of a visit by the bishop. He succeeded in converting many people and in
bringing many others back to religious observances. Though Father Regis
longed to work as a missionary among the North American Indians in
Canada, he was to live out his days working for the Lord in the wildest
and most desolate part of his native France. There he encountered
rigorous winters, snowdrifts and other deprivations. Meanwhile, he
continued preaching missions and earned a reputation as a saint. One
man, entering the town of Saint-Andé, came upon a large crowd in front
of a church and was told that people were waiting for "the saint" who
was coming to preach a mission. The last four years of his life were
spent preaching and in organizing social services, especially for
prisoners, the sick and the poor. In the autumn of 1640, Father Regis
sensed that his days were coming to a conclusion. He settled some of
his affairs and prepared for the end by continuing to do what he did so
well: speaking to the people about the God who loved them. On December
31, he spent most of the day with his eyes on the crucifix. That
evening, he died. His final words were: "Into thy hands I commend my
spirit." He was canonized in 1737.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 Kings 21:1-16;
Psalm 5:2-7; Matthew 5:38-42
Jesus
said to his disciples: You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye,
and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If
someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And
if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your
cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two
miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one
who wants to borrow from you.
(Matthew 5:38-42)
One of the
accusations that have been long levelled against religious people is
that their religion does not seem to make much difference to the course
of their everyday relationships with others. They are accused of going
to church on Sundays and then that very day of acting towards others in
ways that are reprehensible. It is a charge that
is all too often unfair
but often enough there is truth in it. But of course, it has been the
problem for mankind all along. Man tends to forget that religion ought
inform the whole of life. Revealed religion is characterized by a
strong insistence on the inseparable link between love of God and love
of man. Long ago the prophets inveighed against a religion of mere
ritual sacrifices that at the same time entirely neglected the poor and
the oppressed. The prophets said that God cared little for the blood of
animals while his children suffered at the hands of those who offered
the sacrifices. Far more has this been the case with many of the
religions of the world. It has often been pointed out that in
indigenous societies that have not yet been undermined by an invading
or colonial culture the religion pervades life. It is not sharply
separated from the observance of ritual. But even here, I wonder
whether it drives a notable concern for others in the society. Be all
this as it may, it is evident to all, even to those who do not profess
any religion at all, that the link between the love and worship of God
and concern for others is profound, and any practice of a religion in
which there is little of this is a mockery. But now, our Lord takes it
to new heights. The Mosaic legislation restricted spiralling revenge by
stipulating “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” and
forbidding anything beyond this. Our Lord tells his disciples that this
is not to be the rule of their life. Rather, “I tell you, Do not resist
an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him
the other also... Give to the one who asks of you.” (Matthew 5, 38-42). What does our Lord
mean by this?
To begin with, this
teaching of today’s Gospel comes from the great Sermon on the Mount,
which itself begins with the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes is best
interpreted as a window into the life and heart of Christ and ought be
understood in the light of his own practice. So too with the teaching
of today’s Gospel. What our Lord says here today we ought interpret in
the light of how he lived. “Come to me,” he says elsewhere, “and learn
of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for
your souls.” That is to say, we are to do what our Lord says here in
the way he did it. One’s life is not to be characterized by revenge.
Christ did not take revenge on others for wrongs they did to him - and
this cannot be said of certain other founders of religions. He had all
the power he needed and far more besides to defend himself from all
wrongs and to take revenge for what they did to him, but he did not use
it for that purpose. He could heal sicknesses, raise the dead, cast out
demons, calm the storms, and as we see in the incident in the garden of
Olives at the beginning of his Passion he could throw back enemies
while scarcely speaking, and all of this by a single word. He was, in
other words, all-powerful. But he never used his power to revenge
himself on others. We remember how when passing through Samaria on his
way to Jerusalem the Samaritans of a village would not receive him.
James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven to punish them.
Christ rebuked them and turned to take another way. On the cross with
his enemies reviling him as he suffered for the sins of mankind, he
prayed to his Father that they be forgiven for they knew not what they
were doing. So, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was not
Christ’s way and it is not to be the way of his followers. Rather, they
are to be Christ-like even towards enemies. Give to the one who asks
you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:38-42)
The words of our
Lord should be interpreted in the light of his own example and
practice. What he did and how he thought is the key to his own teaching
and we should apply that key as we read his words and ponder on how to
live them. For instance, Our Lord says “Do not resist and evil person,”
but of course he himself did resist evil persons but in his all-holy
way. We are to resist an evil person in the way Christ did and would.
Let us resolve to bring to our daily life and our relationships with
all others our personal love for Jesus and our desire to imitate him
always.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Call it by its name: grumbling, gossiping, back-biting, mischief
making, tale-bearing, scandal-mongering, intrigue..., slander...,
treachery?
Self-appointed critics sitting in judgment easily end up as 'gossiping
old maids'!
(The Way, no.449)
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Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI]
Vatican retreat 1983
"We hear them speaking in our own tongues of
the mighty acts of God" (Acts 2,11)
The day of Pentecost reveals to us the catholicity and universality of
the Church. The Holy Spirit makes his presence known by the gift of
tongues. Thus he renews, while reversing, the incident at Babel (Gen
11), that outward expression of the pride of those who want to be as
God is and who, by their own strength – that is to say, without God –
build a bridge to heaven, the tower of Babel. Such pride stirs up
divisions in the world and sets up walls of separation. Because of
pride, man acknowledges his own intelligence alone, his own will, his
own heart. As a result, he is no longer able either to understand the
speech of others nor hear the voice of God.
The Holy Spirit, divine love, both understands and effects an
understanding of other tongues. It creates unity in diversity. Thus,
the Church speaks all languages from its first inception. From the
start she is catholic and universal. The bridge between heaven and
earth truly exists: this bridge is the cross and our Lord's love has
created this bridge. The construction of this bridge exceeds
technology's capability: Babel's aim must and does fail. Only God's
incarnate love could answer to such an aim...
The Church is catholic from the first moment of her existence; she
embraces all tongues. The sign of tongues expresses a very important
aspect of an ecclesiology that is faithful to Scripture: the universal
Church precedes any particular church; unity comes before the different
parts. The universal Church does not consist in a secondary fusion of
local churches. It is a Church that is universal and catholic which
gives rise to particular churches and these latter can only remain
churches so long as they are in communion with catholicity. Moreover,
catholicity demands the multiplicity of languages, sharing in common,
and the bringing into harmony of humanity's riches in the love of the
Crucified.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Tuesday
of the eleventh week in Ordinary Time II
(June 17) St.
Joseph Cafasso (1811-1860)
Even as a young man, Joseph loved to attend Mass and was known for his
humility and fervour in prayer. After his ordination he was assigned to
a seminary in Turin. There he worked especially against the spirit of
Jansenism, an excessive preoccupation with sin and damnation. Joseph
used the works of St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus Liguori to
moderate the rigorism popular at the seminary. Joseph recommended
membership in the Secular Franciscan Order to priests. He urged
devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and encouraged daily Communion. In
addition to his teaching duties, Joseph was an excellent preacher,
confessor and retreat master. Noted for his work with condemned
prisoners, Joseph helped many of them die at peace with God. St. John
Bosco was one of Joseph’s pupils. Joseph urged John Bosco to establish
the Salesians to work with the youth of Turin. Joseph was canonized in
1947.
“O admirable heights and sublime lowliness! O sublime humility! O
humble sublimity! That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of
God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under
the little form of bread! Look, brothers, at the humility of God and
pour out your hearts before Him! Humble yourselves, as well, that you
may be exalted by Him. Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for
yourselves so that He Who gives Himself totally to you may receive you
totally” (Saint Francis, Letter to the Entire Order).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 1 Kings 21:17-29;
Psalm 51:3-6ab, 11 and 16; Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus
said to his disciples: You have heard that it was said, 'Love your
neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father
in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and
sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who
love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors
doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing
more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as
your heavenly Father is perfect.
(Matthew 5:43-48)
It is impossible to
avoid the issue of morality which is a fundamental dimension of every
human action. By a human action I do not simply mean an action that man
happens to perform (because many things he does he
does without personal intent) but any action of his that he truly
intends or deliberately allows. His “action” in this sense embraces
those thoughts, words and deeds that are the object of his intent.
Whatever he chooses to do he knows should be morally right. He must not
do what is wrong. This is a fundamental given which he knows to be the
case - which is to say that it is plainly evident to him. His
“conscience” (which is to say, his mind in its awareness of moral
obligation) tells him this. This is not the place for a discussion of
the foundations of moral obligation but we can ask a further question
as a lead-in to our Gospel passage today. What is it to be moral, and
what is it to do something that is moral? Many might quickly say that
it is to act according to right reason, and this is obviously correct
but as a bland statement it lends itself to a lot of ambiguity. A
person might think it is the most reasonable thing in the world to put
an end to the life of an unborn grossly retarded child. The concept of
right reason needs a lot of careful discussion. I think it is greatly
aided if the fact of God is admitted and the issue is then pursued in
the light of what is to be said of him. What does God himself do? Be
all this as it may in terms of philosophical discussion, let us notice
the terms of reference in the morality that our Lord sets forth for his
disciples. It has been told to you, he said, that you are to love your
neighbour (say, your clan, fellow citizen or countryman from whom you
receive benefits and protection) and to “hate” and take action against
him who threatens you with harm. This is to act reasonably, you have
been told. But our Lord takes his disciples higher and asks of them a
far nobler morality. We shall see it is a much more reasonable one if
we notice the new factor. What is it?
Our Lord tells us
to keep our eyes on, not what seems reasonable and beneficial to
ourselves, nor simply on what most others do, but on what God does.
What does God do? “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your
neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father
in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and
sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew
5:43-48) God as creator and sustainer acts as Father to the
wicked, causing the sun to rise on the evil and the rain to fall on
them too. Normally in the course of the world he does not hate and
attack the wicked. In philosophical thought it is often regarded as a
problem that, if there is a God, he seems to do good things for those
who are evil and allow them to prosper in their evildoing. There are
indeed problems for our minds in observing this fact, but our Lord
throws partial light on this by telling us that when this happens is
because God is a God of love. He does not hate his enemies - and those
who act immorally act not as God’s friends but as his enemies. He does
not hate them, rather he loves them and yearns for their entire
repentance from evil. They are bringing destruction on their own heads
by their evildoing. Let us leave to one side the plethora of issues
that this consideration raises and simply take to heart the point of
our Lord’s call to a much higher and nobler morality. He tells us that
such is the way God acts, and so - we might add - we have before us a
much grander criterion of what is reasonable. It is eminently
“reasonable” to act as “sons” of our “Father in heaven” by loving our
enemies and praying for those who persecute us. This, indeed, is
precisely the way our Lord acted and thought, and to see him is to see
the Father. Christ’s disciples are called to this higher morality.
Anything less is to act - to use our Lord’s words - as the pagans act.
Rather, we are to strive to do what God does.
Let us keep before
us our Lord’s clear and exalted directive. We are to strive to be
prefect as our heavenly Father is perfect. That is the term of
reference for our moral life and in all our relations with others. That
is what it means to act according to right reason for the follower of
Christ and it is the path for the full development of our humanity.
Christ is the way for man and in him is seen what it is to be truly
human. Morality reaches its summit in him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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What great offence is given to God, and what great injury done to many
souls — and what means of sanctification provided for others — by the
injustice of the 'just'!
(The Way, no.450)
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Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997),
Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of Charity
"They were seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him"
God is everywhere, in everything; without him we cannot exist. I've
never doubted his existence for one moment but I know there are some
who doubt. If you don't believe in God, at least you can help others
with deeds inspired by love, and the fruit of those works will be the
coming down of extra graces into your soul. Then you will begin to open
yourself out gradually and will long for the joy of loving God.
There are so many religions! Each one follows God in its own way. But I
follow the way of Christ: Jesus is my God, Jesus is my Spouse, Jesus is
my only Love, Jesus is my All for me in everything, Jesus is all for me.
This is why I'm never afraid. I do my work with Jesus; I do it for him,
offering it to him; so the results are his, not mine. If you need a
guide, you have only to turn your eyes to Jesus. You have to hand
yourself over to him and rely entirely on him. If you do that then
doubt vanishes away and assurance takes over. But Jesus said: «Unless
you turn and become like children, you cannot come to me» (cf Mt 18,3).
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Wednesday
of the eleventh week in Ordinary Time II
(June 18) Venerable
Matt Talbot (1856-1925)
Matt can be considered the patron of men and women struggling with
alcoholism. Matt was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the
docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years
of schooling, Matt obtained work as a messenger for some liquor
merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years—until he
was 30—Matt was an active alcoholic. One day he decided to take "the
pledge" for three months, make a general confession and begin to attend
daily Mass. There is evidence that Matt’s first seven years after
taking the pledge were especially difficult. Avoiding his former
drinking places was hard. He began to pray as intensely as he used to
drink. He also tried to pay back people from whom he had borrowed or
stolen money while he was drinking. Most of his life Matt worked as a
builder’s labourer. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a
life of strict penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt
spent hours every night avidly reading Scripture and the lives of the
saints. He prayed the rosary conscientiously. Though his job did not
make him rich, Matt contributed generously to the missions. After 1923
his health failed and Matt was forced to quit work. He died on his way
to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later Pope Paul VI gave him
the title venerable.
In looking at the life of Matt
Talbot, we may easily focus on the later years when he had stopped
drinking for some time and was leading a penitential life. Only
alcoholic men and women who have stopped drinking can fully appreciate
how difficult the earliest years of sobriety were for Matt. He had to
take one day at a time. So do the rest of us. On an otherwise blank
page in one of Matt’s books, the following is written: "God console
thee and make thee a saint. To arrive at the perfection of humility
four things are necessary: to despise the world, to despise no one, to
despise self, to despise being despised by others." (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 2 Kings 2:1, 6-14;
Psalm 31:20, 21, 24; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Jesus
said to his disciples: Be careful not to do your 'acts of
righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have
no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do
not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues
and on the streets, to be honoured by men. I tell you the truth, they
have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do
not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your
giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in
secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not be like the
hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the
street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have
received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room,
close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your
Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. When you
fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their
faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have
received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head
and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are
fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who
sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18)
One of the great
classics of Christian spirituality is the little manual entitled
Spiritual Exercises, written by St Ignatius of Loyola while still a
layman. It takes the one doing the spiritual exercises step-by-step
through a process leading to a genuine commitment to Christ and his
Church and to a generous participation in his apostolic mission. The
point I wish to refer
to, though, is the opening consideration of these spiritual exercises,
which St Ignatius refers to as the principle and foundation of the
whole. That foundation of love for and commitment to Christ is the
principle of detachment from creatures and total attachment to God in
all circumstances. We were made for this, to love and serve God above
all things, and whatever may come our way, that is the one thing I
intend to seek. All else I shall use or discard as it seems best for
the attainment of the one necessary thing. Well now, let us notice how
the saints of Christian history come from all walks of life and were to
be found in all kinds of circumstances. There is John Paul II
travelling the world with his great message of Christ and drawing
immense crowds to hear him. He was a great saint, and will probably be
canonized quickly. There is Fulton Sheen, dramatic and captivating
public speaker who held spellbound large television audiences as he
brought Christ to the masses. His cause for canonization has been
introduced. They loved Christ above all and used the acclaim and
attention that came their way for their great purpose at hand. At the
same time there is the saint of lowly and unknown circumstances such as
Therese of Lisieux who became known only because of her posthumously
published spiritual diary, or Matt Talbot the reformed alcoholic who
had only a handful at his funeral but who attained a wonderful love for
Christ. These and so many others besides loved Christ above all and
were detached from the good or bad things that came their way. They
lived in Christ whatever were the circumstances that providence placed
them in.
We may put this
point in another way. They did not do things in order to win the
admiration of men, but they did what they did for God alone. They
strove to purify their intention in life and make God and his will
their one object - which brings us to our Gospel today
(Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). Our Lord is
addressing his disciples and warning them against the example being
constantly given by the religious leaders of the day who lived their
religion with an eye to gaining the admiration of men. They performed
all the necessary things - prayer, fasting and self denial, and
almsgiving - but they did them for a radically corrupt reason. Their
purpose was to be seen by men and so to be admired for their religion.
Do not be like them, our Lord says. The danger was that seeing the
ostentation and the admiration that this evoked from so many, our
Lord’s own disciples could be led to do likewise. The following of
Christ could be corrupted by this terrible trap of living religiously
so as to be seen by men. Of course, the disciple of Christ will usually
be seen as being such. Our Lord on one occasion tells his disciples
that they are so to live that their good works will be seen by men and
as a result glory will be given to their Father in heaven. But the
whole point of following Christ is to give glory to God and not to win
that glory for oneself. What our Lord is warning against is in effect
the arrogation to oneself of the glory and the position of God. This is
a violation of the first commandment which warns against worshipping
gods other than the one and only Lord. And so our Lord says, when you
give alms, do so for God alone. When you fast, do so in the sight of
God alone. When you pray, likewise do so in God’s presence alone. Guard
your heart and the intent behind what you do. God will then reward you.
Understand that you will be tempted to want to be worshipped, as it
were, in place of God. To him alone be the glory and the truly
religious man makes this the object of all his actions be they prayer,
self-denial or works of mercy.
To God alone be the
glory and the challenge of the practice of religion is to aim at this.
The principle and foundation of all authentic religion and certainly of
the following of Christ is to love and serve God alone and to be
actively detached from all else. Basically it means acknowledging God
to be God and oneself to be nothing other than whatever he allows or
disposes. Let us aim at this by living in the presence of God and by
doing all things for him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Let us be slow to judge. — Each one sees things from his own point of
view, as his mind, with all its limitations, tells him, and through
eyes that are often dimmed and clouded by passion.
Moreover, as happens with those modernist painters, the outlook of
certain people is so unhealthily subjective that they dash off a few
random strokes and assure us that they represent our portrait, our
conduct.
Of what little worth are the judgments of men! Don't judge without
sifting your judgment in prayer.
(The Way, no.451)
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Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Jesuit
Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, II, 1 (trans.
Algar Thorold)
"Do you not yet understand or comprehend? "
Could we pierce the veil, and were we vigilant and attentive, God would
reveal himself continually to us and we should rejoice in his action in
everything that happens to us. At every occurrence we should say:
«Dominus est. It is the Lord!» (Jn 21,7) and in all circumstances we
should find a gift from God.
We should consider creatures as very feeble instruments in the hands of
an almighty worker, and we should recognize without difficulty that
nothing is lacking to us and that God's constant care leads him to give
us each instant what is suited to us. If we had faith, we should
welcome all creatures; we should, as it were, caress them and thank
them interiorly for contributing so favourably to our perfection when
applied by the hand of God. If we lived uninterruptedly by the life of
faith, we should be in continual contact with God; we should speak with
him face to face...
Faith is the interpreter of God; without the illumination which it
brings, nothing can be understood of the language in which creatures
speak to us. That language is a cypher in which nothing is apparent but
confusion; it is a thorn-bush from which no one could imagine God
speaking. But faith makes us see, as in the case Moses, the fire of
divine charity burning in the midst of the thorns; faith gives us the
key to the cypher and enables us to discover in that confusion the
marvels of heavenly wisdom. Faith gives a face as of heaven to the
whole earth, and by it our hearts are ravished and transported to
converse in heaven... Faith is the key of the treasury, the key of the
abyss of divine wisdom.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Thursday of the eleventh week in Ordinary Time II
(June 19) St.
Romuald (950?-1027)
After a wasted youth, Romuald saw his father kill a
relative in a duel over property. In horror he fled to a monastery near
Ravenna in Italy. After three years some of the monks found him to be
uncomfortably holy and eased him out. He spent the next 30 years going
about Italy, founding monasteries and hermitages. He longed to give his
life to Christ in martyrdom, and got the pope’s permission to preach
the gospel in Hungary. But he was struck with illness as soon as he
arrived, and the illness recurred as often as he tried to proceed.
During another period of his life, he suffered great spiritual dryness.
One day as he was praying Psalm 31 (“I will give you understanding and
I will instruct you”), he was given an extraordinary light and spirit
which never left him. At the next monastery where he stayed, he was
accused of a scandalous crime by a young nobleman he had rebuked for a
dissolute life. Amazingly, his fellow monks believed the accusation. He
was given a severe penance, forbidden to offer Mass and excommunicated,
an unjust sentence he endured in silence for six months. The most
famous of the monasteries he founded was that of the Camaldoli (Campus
Maldoli, name of the owner) in Tuscany. Here he founded the Order of
the Camaldolese Benedictines, uniting a monastic and hermit life. His
father later became a monk, wavered and was kept faithful by the
encouragement of his son.
Christ is a gentle leader, but he calls us to
total holiness. Now and then men and women are raised up to challenge
us by the absoluteness of their dedication, the vigor of their spirit,
the depth of their conversion. The fact that we cannot duplicate their
lives does not change the call to us to be totally open to God in our
own particular circumstances. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Sirach 48:1-14; Psalm
97:1-7; Matthew 6:7-15
Jesus
said to his disciples: When you pray, do not keep on babbling like
pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask
him. This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed
be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we
also forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.' For if you forgive men when they
sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you
do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
(Matthew 6:7-15)
I could imagine a
person thinking that were God himself to compose a prayer for us to
use, that prayer would be impressive indeed for its magnificence of
language and the range of its subject. But when we look at the prayers
that come from God and that seem to please God, what is notable about
them is their simplicity and even usually their
brevity. We remember
that dramatic occasion in the Old Testament when the prophet Elijah
confronted the four hundred prophets of Baal and challenged them to ask
of their god that he consume the sacrifice of the bull that had been
prepared for sacrifice in their midst. The prophets of Baal called on
their god for hour upon hour, cutting themselves and redoubling their
lengthy pleas. It was all to no avail. No answer came. They babbled on
and on. Then Elijah began, and with a simple, humble and confident
request to Yahweh God, the fire of God descended and consumed the
offering. The psalms are simple and direct. When we think of it, if a
person is not sure of the supernatural reality to which he is directing
his requests, the likelihood is that his requests will be lengthy and
complex. But our Lord says, do not pray like this. “When you pray, do
not keep on babbling on like pagans, for they think they will be heard
because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows
what you need before you ask him.” Effective prayer to the one Lord and
God of all assumes an acceptance of his revelation of himself. He is
our Father, and he knows all. We are entirely in his hands and he loves
us more than we can possibly imagine. So we need not be uncertain of
his attitude, of his power and of his intent. What is of far greater
importance is the attitude, the dispositions and the intent that we
ourselves bring to our prayers. So let us consider the prayer that our
Lord taught his disciples and what it expects of us.
To begin with, it
expects that we have a lively faith in God as our Father
(Matthew 6:7-15). God has revealed himself as our Father -
as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore as our Father for
we by our baptism live in Jesus. He is our Father, so we ought be full
of trust in him. But then the prayer of our Lord shows us that we,
alive to the fact that it is God whom we are addressing, should know
that the one thing necessary is that God be glorified here on earth
just as he is in heaven. This more than anything ought be the true
object of our prayers. If God is honoured and glorified firstly in my
own life, and then in the lives of others, then all will be well. And
so we pray in the Lord’s prayer that our heavenly Father’s name will be
honoured in our hearts, that his lordship over the hearts and lives of
all will come, that his will may be done here on earth - beginning with
my own life - just as it is done in heaven. The paramount need for the
world is that God, the one Father of all, be acknowledged as Lord and
that all of life be lived accordingly. It is the key to true human
prosperity and how great would the blessing to mankind be if this
obtained! It ought be the first and most constant petition of our
life-long prayer and it flows directly from the first commandment, that
the Lord be worshipped as God and that no other god be set in his
place. To God be the glory, then! With this, we pray for our own daily
needs: give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins just
as we forgive others. Preserve us from temptation and deliver us from
evil. That God be glorified, and that we be kept safe in him! But our
Lord adds what, in the mind of God, is a singularly important
disposition on our part. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive
those who trespass against us.” In the prayer thus given our Lord
stresses this special point that God’s forgiveness of us will depend on
our forgiveness of others. This is one of the most distinctive features
of the prayer of Christ.
Let us ask the Holy
Spirit that he help us to pray with the mind of Christ and according to
his teaching. Let us pray that God will reign in the hearts of men, and
let us resolve to open our hearts to his reign. His will be done, and
let us start with our own daily life. Forgive us our sins and keep us
from sin. Let us resolve to forgive all the offences others have
directed against us, be they justified or unjustified. Let us make sure
that by the time we die, there is absolutely no one whom we have not
forgiven utterly and from the depths of our hearts.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Force yourself, if necessary, always to forgive those who offend you,
from the very first moment. For the greatest injury or offence that you
can suffer from them is as nothing compared with what God has pardoned
you.
(The Way, no.452)
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Saint Lawrence Justiniani (1381-1455),
Canon regular, then Bishop of Venice
Sermon for the Feast of St Matthias
God chose the apostle Matthias
The apostle Paul writes: «O the depth of the riches and wisdom of God!
How inscrutable are his judgements and how unsearchable his ways!» (Rom
11,33)... And one of the psalms says: «In wisdom you have wrought them
all» (Ps. 104[103],24), that is to say, in your Word, your everlasting
utterance. Now, if it is in and through the Word that all things were
made (Jn 1,3), who could doubt that it is with wisdom and that he has
chosen his disciples perfectly and without partiality? «He chose us in
him,» the apostle Paul says, «before the foundation of the world» (Eph
1,4)...
Let us consider the choice of Matthias. The apostles had chosen Joseph
Barsabbas and Matthias...; then they had presented their choice before
him who judges the heart and who «knew the hearts of them all» so that
he might make known to them which of the two he himself had chosen. And
he had surely chosen Matthias for that honour even before the lot had
been cast, even before the foundation of the world...
«All that you ask for in prayer,» the Lord says, «believe that you will
receive it and it shall be yours» (Mk 11,24). Hence the custom of the
Church of praying together in common each time it thinks it must ask
something of the Lord. No other means has so great a hold over God's
will than prayer, provided it is offered with faith, serenity, humility
and perseverance. So drawing lots had no influence over the choice of
this glorious apostle since, as Scripture shows, the apostles began
with prayer. Rather, it was in response to their prayer that God
inspired them to draw lots for this election. On the other hand,
Matthias was not granted any lesser grace than Peter or the other
apostles although he was called last of all. He received the Spirit as
fully as the others and the same spiritual gifts as they did. When it
came to rest on him, the Holy Spirit filled him with charity; it
enabled him to speak in every tongue, to work miracles, convert
nations, preach Christ and win the victory of martyrdom.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Friday of
the eleventh week in Ordinary Time II
(June 20) St.
Paulinus of Nola (354?-431)
Anyone who is praised in the
letters of six or seven saints undoubtedly must be of extraordinary
character. Such a person was Paulinus of Nola, correspondent and friend
of Augustine, Jerome, Melania, Martin, Gregory and Ambrose. Born near
Bordeaux, he was the son of the Roman prefect of Gaul, who had
extensive property in both Gaul and Italy. Paulinus became a
distinguished lawyer, holding several public offices in the Empire.
With his Spanish wife, Therasia, he retired at an early age to a life
of cultured leisure. The two were baptized by the saintly bishop of
Bordeaux and moved to Therasia’s estate in Spain. After many childless
years, they had a son who died a week after birth. This occasioned
their beginning a life of great austerity and charity, giving away most
of their Spanish property. Possibly as a result of this great example,
Paulinus was rather unexpectedly ordained a priest at Christmas by the
bishop of Barcelona. He and his wife then moved to Nola, near Naples.
He had a great love for St. Felix of Nola, and spent much effort in
promoting devotion to this saint. Paulinus gave away most of his
remaining property (to the consternation of his relatives) and
continued his work for the poor. Supporting a host of debtors, tramps
and other needy people, he lived a monastic life in another part of his
home. By popular demand he was made bishop of Nola and guided that
diocese for 21 years. His last years were saddened by the invasion of
the Huns. Among his few writings is the earliest extant Christian
wedding song.
Many of us are tempted to "retire" early
in life, after an initial burst of energy. Devotion to Christ and his
work is waiting to be done all around us. Paulinus's life had scarcely
begun when he thought it was over, as he took his ease on that estate
in Spain. "Man proposes, but God disposes." (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18,
20; Psalm 132:11-14, 17-18; Matthew 6:19-23
Jesus
said to his disciples: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on
earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and
steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and
rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the
lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full
of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of
darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that
darkness! (Matthew 6:19-23)
It has often
occurred to me that in respect to the daily news on television and in
print, a considerable amount of time is spent on commercial and
economic news. For instance, a merger is announced between two banks
and it hits the front news and is then followed by extensive discussion
of what this will mean to shareholders and to the
country. Whole segments
of the daily news are as a matter of course dedicated to developments
in the commercial and economic life of the country and of the world.
All this stands to reason because of its material importance to so many
people. There is another aspect of this though, and that is that it
that it is an indicator of the priorities in a secular society. In the
eyes of very many the giants of society are the ones who have, through
their talent and industry, gained enormous wealth. The acquisition of
wealth is the foremost value for many people and, as they envisage it,
if wealth is acquired then life has been successful. Now, from a purely
natural point of view, this attitude automatically renders one’s
happiness very vulnerable. If one does not have wealth and one sets out
to attain it, then one must realize that a great number of variables
must come into place for such a goal to be realized. One’s health must
remain good, all kinds of beneficial coincidences have to occur, and
great mishaps must not take place. That is to say, one probably will
have to be in the right place at the right time, as it we might say.
Moreover, if in the event this kind of success comes it is not at all
certain that it will bring the satisfaction that is expected. It may
prove a great disappointment because of the loss of important things
that have been neglected in the process, such as certain personal
relationships. Material wealth in itself is radically ephemeral and if
one’s heart lies only there, then one’s happiness in life is made
profoundly vulnerable. As I said, anyone with a reasonably clear sight
can see all this from a purely natural point of view.
Our Lord addresses
this perennial problem for man, which is the acquisition of wealth. He
says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy,
and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew
6:19-23). Now, while our Lord says do not store up treasures
for yourselves on earth, he clearly means that we are not to store
these up with the aim of finding our happiness here on earth through
them. Our true happiness lies in God and in heaven where nothing can
threaten it. It is possible to envisage a person seeking to gain wealth
in order to use it for purposes that do indeed please God. So it is
that while we see certain great magnates storing up for themselves
treasures, we also see others acquiring their treasures in order to
benefit others. I can think of one very wealthy person in one country
who used his wealth to establish a fine Catholic university and town
surrounding it. He used his wealth to do a tremendously good work. Many
others of very moderate means give generously to the poor and we think
of the poor widow in the Gospel of whom our Lord said that with her two
small coins she gave to the Temple more than all the others because she
gave all she had to live on. There is nothing wrong with wealth in
itself, provided that it is used in a way that pleases God and so to
store up treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and
where thieves do not break in and steal. Thus it is that our Lord says
elsewhere in the Gospel that to the one who has more will be given him
and to the one who has not even what he has will be taken away. God
wants us to become rich, but rich in what will endure to eternity. If
our heart is set on purely material things, when they leave us - as
they must eventually - then the entire basis of our lives is taken
away. But if in the use of material things we are constantly serving
God and not ourselves, then our treasure is in heaven, and accordingly
there will our heart be.
In the same passage
today our Lord says that “if the light within you is darkness, how
great is that darkness!”. Let us pray for the inner wisdom and inner
light to see how we should use all the things that come our way in
life. In a word, we must strive to be detached from them, using them,
be they good or bad, in order to grow in the love and grace of God and
thus to attain our heavenly homeland. There and only there is our true
happiness and security to be found.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Do you speak badly of others? Then you are losing the right spirit and,
if you do not learn to check your tongue, each word will take you one
step nearer the exit from that apostolic undertaking in which you work.
(The Way, no.453)
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Latin liturgy Passiontide Matins hymn:
"Pange, lingua, gloriosi"
"He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer "
Sing, my tongue, glad praises flowing,
sing the great, the glorious fray;
sing the Cross, that ensign glowing,
where the world's Redeemer lay;
immolation undergoing,
he achieved his triumph day.
God our Maker, deeply grieving
over our first father's plight,
when, forbidden fruit receiving,
he was stung with deadly bite,
chose this Tree, our grace retrieving,
setting all this ruin right.
Greet this plan of our salvation,
destined to outwit the foe -
Satan's skilful machination
higher art must overthrow;
hence the healing mediation
sprang from where he struck the blow.
Day so long prepared awaking,
fixed to save the world from doom,
World-Creator world remaking,
human nature must assume,
coming from on high and taking
human flesh in Mary's womb.
See our God, an Infant crying
in the stall where cattle eat;
see the Virgin Mother tying
swathing bands so firm and neat;
yet, in truth, it is our dying
she winds round his hands and feet.
Glory now from all creation
to the Blessed Trinity -
Father, Son, from every nation
praise unto infinity;
to the Spirit veneration,
equal in divinity.
Amen.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Saturday
of the eleventh week in Ordinary Time II
(June 21) Saint
Aloysius Gonzaga, religious (1568-1591)
The Lord can
make saints anywhere, even amid the brutality and license of
Renaissance life. Florence was the “mother of piety” for Aloysius
Gonzaga despite his exposure to a “society of fraud, dagger, poison and
lust.” As a son of a princely family, he grew up in royal courts and
army camps. His father wanted Aloysius to be a military hero. At age
seven he experienced a profound spiritual quickening. His prayers
included the Office of Mary, the psalms and other devotions. At age
nine he came from his hometown of Castiglione to Florence to be
educated; by age 11 he was teaching catechism to poor children, fasting
three days a week and practicing great austerities. When he was 13
years old he travelled with his parents and the Empress of Austria to
Spain and acted as a page in the court of Philip II. The more Aloysius
saw of court life, the more disillusioned he became, seeking relief in
learning about the lives of saints. A book about the experience of
Jesuit missionaries in India suggested to him the idea of entering the
Society of Jesus, and in Spain his decision became final. Now began a
four-year contest with his father. Eminent churchmen and laypeople were
pressed into service to persuade him to remain in his “normal”
vocation. Finally he prevailed, was allowed to renounce his right to
succession and was received into the Jesuit novitiate. Like other
seminarians, Aloysius was faced with a new kind of penance—that of
accepting different ideas about the exact nature of penance. He was
obliged to eat more, to take recreation with the other students. He was
forbidden to pray except at stated times. He spent four years in the
study of philosophy and had St. Robert Bellarmine as his spiritual
adviser. In 1591, a plague struck Rome. The Jesuits opened a hospital
of their own. The general himself and many other Jesuits rendered
personal service. Because he nursed patients, washing them and making
their beds, Aloysius caught the disease himself. A fever persisted
after his recovery and he was so weak he could scarcely rise from bed.
Yet, he maintained his great discipline of prayer, knowing that he
would die within the octave of Corpus Christi, three months later. He
was 23.
As a saint who fasted,
scourged himself, sought solitude and prayer and did not look on the
faces of women, Aloysius seems an unlikely patron of youth in a society
where asceticism is confined to training camps of football teams and
boxers, and sexual permissiveness has little left to permit. Can an
overweight and air-conditioned society deprive itself of anything? It
will when it discovers a reason, as Aloysius did. The motivation for
letting God purify us is the experience of God loving us, in prayer.
"When we stand praying, beloved brethren, we ought to be watchful and
earnest with our whole heart, intent on our prayers. Let all carnal and
worldly thoughts pass away, nor let the soul at that time think on
anything except the object of its prayer" (St. Cyprian, On the
Lord's Prayer, 31). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 2 Chronicles
24:17-25; Psalm 89:4-5, 29-34; Matthew 6:24-34
Jesus
said to his disciples: No-one can serve two masters. Either he will
hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Therefore I
tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or
about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than
food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of
the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do
you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do
not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his
splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the
grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the
fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do
not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or
'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and
your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:24-34)
One of the most
fascinating areas of study is the world of nature and in particular the
world of living sentient nature. Take the bees for instance, or the
ants. Notice how they are engaged in incessant activity building their
hives and nests, bringing in food and reproducing. It is a thriving
kingdom that bespeaks an Intelligence behind the drama
of natural instinct. But
now, what is the bee and the ant living for? It is living for its food
and shelter and continuation of its species. It looks no further than
the instinctive task it is about and certainly has not the slightest
impression of anything higher or greater than its unending round of
impulsive activity. But in all of its activity, the unseen hand of God
is sustaining it. When watching animals in their activity, I have often
thought how like animals we human beings so often are! We immerse
ourselves in our daily round and so very often all we think of is the
acquisition of material things, our food, our clothing, our shelter and
our money. All our anxieties, all our worries, are focussed there as if
therein are contained all that truly matters. Moreover we are anxious
and we worry as if all did depend on us. We fail to take into account
that the hand of God our Father is sustaining us and whatever we
achieve or gain really comes from him. Consider then our Lord’s words
in our Gospel passage today. He says, why are you worrying and anxious
like this? Why do you fret over your income and your food and your
clothing as if this is all that matters and as if these things depend
simply on you? Understand this, he says, that there are greater things
to be sought and in any case your heavenly Father will be looking after
you, just as he is now. Our Lord is speaking in the broadest terms and
in those broad and fundamental terms he wishes us to situate all our
legitimate anxieties. The supremely important thing in life is the
lordship and rule of God. In all that you work for seek that, and then
trust in the care of your Father in heaven.
Our Lord puts it
very starkly. Just as you cannot be the servant of two masters, so too
you cannot serve both God and Money. Let us put it this way, there are
two fundamental realities, God and the world. Money can be understood
as our share of the world. To what, then, are we dedicating our lives?
Is it to gaining a bigger and bigger share of the world, or is it to
gaining more and more of the friendship of God? Where our treasure is,
there will our heart be. What do we regard as life’s treasure? Our Lord
tells us that we cannot serve both and that we must make a choice and
then live it out. He is not saying that we must do without a certain
use and share of the world, for clearly since the world is our
temporary home, we must make use of it. But our intent must be to serve
God in the world and so to live in it that he and he only is its Lord.
We must so use the goods of this world that God’s rule is our foremost
value. If he is the Lord of our lives we will trust in his care while
we dedicate ourselves daily to the doing of his will. And so our Lord
tells us in today’s Gospel, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about
your life, what you will eat or drink; ... See how the lilies of the
field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even
Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. .... If
that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and
tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O
you of little faith?.... Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.”
(Matthew 6:24-34). A great
religious writer of the seventeenth century in England, William
Beveridge, wrote a book called Private Thoughts upon Religion and a
Christian Life. He has a long chapter on the love of money, and in it
he makes the point that the love for money grows insidiously. It is the
root of so many sins and it makes the love of God impossible. As our
Lord says, we cannot serve both God and Money.
What our Lord
directs us to do is liberating. There will be many anxious stages in
life as our material needs fail to be met and as real tragedies occur.
But we are in the hands of our heavenly Father who in ways we so often
do not see is constantly caring for us. God wants us to trust him. As
St Thomas More said on his way to the scaffold having refused to
acknowledge Henry VIII’s right to divorce and his right to be supreme
head of the Church, “though I lose my head, I’ll come to no harm.”
(E.J.Tyler)
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Don't judge without having heard both sides. Even people who think
themselves virtuous very easily forget this elementary rule of prudence.
(The Way, no.454)
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Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Carmelite, Doctor
of the Church
Poem: "En la cruz està la vida"
"Let him take up his cross, and follow me"
Through the Cross both happiness
and life are given,
for there is no other road
that leads to heaven.
On the Cross there hangs "the Lord
of heaven and earth" (Acts 17,24)
and amid the stress of war
peace comes to birth.
All the evils of our life
far off are driven;
and there is no other road
that leads to heaven.
A "precious palm-tree" (Sg 7,9) is the Cross,
so says the Bride,
which her Beloved One has scaled,
his arms stretched wide;
and its fruit a savour sweet
to God has given,
for there is no other road
that leads to heaven.
The Cross is "like an olive-tree,
fair" (Si 24,14) to the sight,
whereof the holy oil provides
healing and light.
Wherefore, my soul, embrace the Cross,
rejoice, be shriven,
for there is no other road
that leads to heaven.
'Tis a tree all wondrous green,
tree of desire (Sg 2,3);
in its shade the Bride sits down
with love afire,
rejoicing in her Lover dear,
the King of Heaven,
for there is no other road
that leads to heaven.
When a soul unto its God
submits indeed,
and from every worldly thing
is wholly freed,
to it as "Tree of Life" (Gn 2,9)
the Cross is given,
and a path delectable
that leads to heaven.
Since the Lord embraced the Cross
and for us died,
honour has surrounded it:
'tis glorified.
Life and happiness it brings
when we have striven:
'tis the surest road to take
that leads to heaven.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Twelfth Sunday
in Ordinary Time A
Prayers
this week:
God is the strength
of his people. In him, we his chosen live in safety. Save us, Lord, who
share in your life, and give us your blessing; be our shepherd forever.
(Psalm 27:8-9)
Father, guide and protector of your people, grant us an unfailing
respect for your name, and keep us always in your love. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
(June 22) St.
Thomas More (1478-1535)
His belief that no
lay ruler has jurisdiction over the Church of Christ cost Thomas More
his life. Beheaded on Tower Hill, London, July 6, 1535, he steadfastly
refused to approve Henry VIII’s divorce and remarriage and
establishment of the Church of England. Described as “a man for all
seasons,” More was a literary scholar, eminent lawyer, gentleman,
father of four children and chancellor of England. An intensely
spiritual man, he would not support the king’s divorce from Catherine
of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Nor would he acknowledge Henry
as supreme head of the Church in England, breaking with Rome and
denying the pope as head. More was committed to the Tower of London to
await trial for treason: not swearing to the Act of Succession and the
Oath of Supremacy. Upon conviction, More declared he had all the
councils of Christendom and not just the council of one realm to
support him in the decision of his conscience.
Four hundred years later, in 1935, Thomas More
was canonized a saint of God. Few saints are more relevant to the 20th
century. The supreme diplomat and counsellor, he did not compromise his
own moral values in order to please the king, knowing that true
allegiance to authority is not blind acceptance of everything that
authority wants. King Henry himself realized this and tried desperately
to win his chancellor to his side because he knew More was a man whose
approval counted, a man whose personal integrity no one questioned. But
when Thomas resigned as chancellor, unable to approve the two matters
that meant most to Henry, the king had to get rid of Thomas More. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Jeremiah 20:10-13; Psalm Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17,
33-35; Romans 5:12-15; Matthew 10:26-33
Jesus
said to the Twelve: Do not be afraid of any one. There is nothing
concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made
known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is
whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of
those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of
the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two
sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground
apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many
sparrows. Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge
him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I
will disown him before my Father in heaven.
(Matthew 10:26-33)
I have come across
people, indeed people quite well advanced in years, who have not
believed in an afterlife. I remember one gentleman who would have been
in his seventies who stated quite plainly that he thought that our lot
is just the same as that of any dog or cat - we just end with death and
our remains are buried, and that is all
there is to it. There
are all kinds of belief about what happens after death just as there
are all kinds of belief about Jesus Christ. Very many who have been
raised as Christians do not truly believe the teachings of Jesus Christ
but rather they entertain a variety of religious opinions mixed up with
elements of Christian dogma. I remember being part of a religious
discussion group of some five medical doctors. It was obvious that
while these medical men were, of course, educated in their own
discipline, they had a meagre understanding of the Christian faith
though they were Christians. I remember one of them saying that he did
not believe in the existence of hell and I suspect that quite a number
of Christians do not really believe this doctrine. But if one believes
in Jesus Christ as our God and Redeemer then one would and should
believe his teaching about the fact of hell. Indeed, it comes into our
Gospel passage today
(Matthew 10:26-33). Our Lord
is telling his disciples, indeed the Twelve who were the very
foundation stones of his Church, that they were not to fear men for at
most all they could do is put an end to this earthly life. Rather, our
Lord warned, “fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
If we compare the teaching of the Old Testament with that of the New,
and in particular with that of our Lord in the Gospels, it is clear
that from the lips of our Lord has come the clearest and most
unambiguous teaching about hell in all the Scriptures. Indeed, if one
considers all the sacred writings of all the religions I would be most
surprised if any religious founder gave anything like the clarity of
teaching about hell that Jesus Christ gave. We are indebted to our Lord
for our being warned of the catastrophic consequences of dying in the
state of unrepented mortal sin.
Well then, let us
take a few moments to consider our Lord’s words about hell in our
Gospel passage today, a passage that primarily tells us of the loving
care of God our Father. The one person we must fear offending in life
is God. He is our Father, but he has endowed us with the momentous gift
of freedom, and that gift can be used to disregard his solemn commands.
How terrible a thing it is to do this is shown by its consequences when
there has been no repentance. God can destroy both body and soul in
hell. Notice the word that is used. The word is destroy, destruction.
Hell is so terrible that, though it goes on forever, it entails a
destruction. It will mean an eternal dying as if dead, while not being
dead in the sense of being extinct. In ordinary language we have the
expression, a living death. There have been some who have written that
what allowed them to continue in their sins was their belief at the
time that their death would involve an extinction and so an absence of
retribution. But the destruction of both body and soul in hell will not
involve a mere extinction. It will be a living and eternal death. Our
Lord is plain in his revelation about this, and he advises us to fear
this divine retribution such that we do not expose ourselves to the
risk of it. We certainly risk it if we deliberately commit serious sin
because we cannot guarantee to ourselves the grace of God to repent of
it, nor can we guarantee to ourselves that we shall have sufficient
length of life to repent. A person can die at any moment. If a person
dies in the actual state of deliberate and unrepented mortal sin - and
we ourselves cannot know if any particular individual actually dies in
that state - then his eternal prospects are appalling. As St John
writes in his Letter, not every sin is mortal, but let us remember that
the likely road to mortal sin is venial sin, any sin, if we
deliberately persist in it. Deliberate sin enslaves, as our Lord says
in St John’s Gospel. Let us take to heart the word our Lord uses at the
end of our Gospel passage. He says of the one who disowns him that he
will disown that person before his heavenly Father. Let us not take the
risk of being disowned by Christ at the judgment seat of God.
So we should keep
alive in our hearts a lively and wholesome fear of the living death of
hell. The only door to hell is deliberate and unrepented mortal sin. It
is sin that is to be feared, for the grinning face of sin veils its
terrible evil. It is because of sin that God sent his only begotten Son
to suffer and die for each of us. Thus we have before us the boundless
love and mercy of God, revealed in his divine Son nailed to the Cross
for each of us. Let us cast ourselves into the care of God our Father
and resolve to love and obey him as his dear children, rejecting every
day the allure of sin and its great friend, Satan. A resounding yes to
God, and a resounding no to sin.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1033-1037
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Do you know what damage you may cause by throwing stones with your eyes
blindfold?
Neither do you know the harm you may cause — and at times it is very
great — by letting drop uncharitable remarks that to you seem trifling,
because your eyes are blinded by thoughtlessness or passion.
(The Way, no.455)
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Peter the Venerable (1092-1156), Abbot of
Cluny
Sermon 1 for the Transfiguration; PL 189, 959
"It is good that we are here"
«His face shone like the sun» (Mt 17,2)... Covered with the cloud of
the flesh, today the light that enlightens every man (Jn 1,9) has shone
forth. Today it gives glory to this same flesh, displaying its
glorification to the apostles so that the apostles might make it known
to the world. As for you, O blessed City, you will enjoy the
contemplation of this Sun forever when you «come down out of heaven,
prepared by God as a bride adorned for her husband» (Rev 21,2). Never
again will this Sun set upon you; forever remaining itself, it will
cause an eternal dawn to shine forth. Nevermore will this Sun be veiled
with clouds but, shining forever, will give you the joy of a light that
never sets. Never again will this Sun blind your eyes: it will give you
the strength to look upon it, enrapturing you with its divine glory...
«There shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain» (Rev 21,4)
able to darken the splendour God has given you, for, as was said to
John: «The old order has passed away.»
This is the Sun of which the prophet speaks: «No longer shall the sun
be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine upon you at
night. The Lord shall be your light forever» (Is 60,19). This is the
everlasting light that shines for you upon the face of the Lord. You
hear the Lord's voice, you behold his radiant face and you become as
the sun. For we recognise a person by his face and to recognise him is
the same as being illumined by him. Here below you believe in the
faith; there you will see. Here you grasp something with the mind;
there you yourself will be grasped. Here you see «as in a mirror»;
there you will see «face to face» (1Cor 13,12)... Then will be
accomplished the prophet's desire: «May he let his face shine upon us»
(Ps 67[66],2)... You will be glad without end in that light; you will
walk in that light without wearying. In that light you will see light
eternal.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Monday of the twelfth
week in Ordinary Time II
(June 23) St.
John Fisher (1469-1535)
John Fisher is usually associated with Erasmus, Thomas More and other
Renaissance humanists. His life, therefore, did not have the external
simplicity found in the lives of some saints. Rather, he was a man of
learning, associated with the intellectuals and political leaders of
his day. He was interested in the contemporary culture and eventually
became chancellor at Cambridge. He had been made a bishop at 35, and
one of his interests was raising the standard of preaching in England.
Fisher himself was an accomplished preacher and writer. His sermons on
the penitential psalms were reprinted seven times before his death.
With the coming of Lutheranism, he was drawn into controversy. His
eight books against heresy gave him a leading position among European
theologians. In 1521 he was asked to study the problem of Henry VIII’s
marriage. He incurred Henry’s anger by defending the validity of the
king’s marriage with Catherine and later by rejecting Henry’s claim to
be the supreme head of the Church of England. In an attempt to be rid
of him, Henry first had him accused of not reporting all the
“revelations” of the nun of Kent, Elizabeth Barton. John was summoned,
in feeble health, to take the oath to the new Act of Succession. He and
Thomas More refused because the Act presumed the legality of Henry’s
divorce and his claim to be head of the English Church. They were sent
to the Tower of London, where Fisher remained 14 months without trial.
They were finally sentenced to life imprisonment and loss of goods.
When the two were called to further interrogations, they remained
silent. Fisher was tricked, on the supposition he was speaking
privately as a priest, and declared again that the king was not supreme
head. The king, further angered that the pope had made John Fisher a
cardinal, had him brought to trial on the charge of high treason. He
was condemned and executed, his body left to lie all day on the
scaffold and his head hung on London Bridge. More was executed two
weeks later.
Today many questions are
raised about Christians' and priests' active involvement in social
issues. John Fisher remained faithful to his calling as a bishop. He
strongly upheld the teachings of the Church; the very cause of his
martyrdom was his loyalty to Rome. He was involved in the cultural
enrichment circles as well as in the political struggles of his time.
This involvement caused him to question the moral conduct of the
leadership of his country. "The Church has the right, indeed the duty,
to proclaim justice on the social, national and international level,
and to denounce instances of injustice, when the fundamental rights of
man and his very salvation demand it" (Justice in the World,
1971 Synod of Bishops). Erasmus said of John Fisher: "He is the one man
at this time who is incomparable for uprightness of life, for learning
and for greatness of soul."
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: 2 Kings 17:5-8,
13-15a, 18; Psalm 60:3-5, 12-13; Matthew 7:1-5
Jesus
said to his disciples: Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in
the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the
measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the
speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the
plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take
the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your
own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and
then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
(Matthew 7:1-5)
We are told in the
Gospels that the people hung on our Lord’s word whenever he spoke. The
Temple officers sent by the priests to arrest Jesus returned without
him saying that no one ever spoke as he spoke. What was there in our
Lord’s speaking that made him so incomparable? Well, merely to remember
the fact that it was God the Son
himself
who was speaking gives us enough reason. But I also think that there
are other indications in the Gospels of his engaging delivery. Take our
Gospel scene today in which he warns his disciples that they are not to
judge. By “judging” he means, obviously, the judgment that one who acts
as if he is a judge would make. A judge makes his judgment as to the
guilt of a wrongdoer and then sentences him. The essence of his act is
the judgment as to personal guilt. Christ warns that we are not to
presume to judge a person’s guilt before God, for to God belongs this
judgment. He is also surely warning against a proneness to be critical
of others. But then our Lord asks a rhetorical question. Why do you
point out what is a tiny speck in your brother’s eye, and fail to
notice the beam of wood in your own? I cannot help but think that this
remark would have evoked instant laughter in his audience, with our
Lord smiling as he uttered it. A whole beam of wood lodged in the very
eye of the critic of his brother’s eye! We ought take our cue from our
Lord’s turn of phrase and understand how prone we are to be blind to
our own much greater faults and limitations as we take great issue with
the faults of someone else. If we are prone to be critical of the
faults of others - and I am not speaking of one to whom God has given
the duty to observe and correct certain faults - then we are likely to
be prone to be blind to our own. We are likely to be failing to “first
take the plank out of” our “own eye” before we presume to do something
similar to others. We are fellow sinners with our faulty brother and in
all we do for him we must remember that.
However, as is
often the case in the Gospels, our Lord’s words of instruction at one
point are to be understood in the light of other instructions
elsewhere. For instance, our Lord at one point in the Gospels directs
his disciples to offer the wicked man no resistance. Yet he himself
resisted the buying and selling in the Temple. He physically resisted
it to the point of driving the buyers and sellers together with their
animals right out of the Temple. He sent them all helter-skelter right
out the doors. He resisted the Scribes and the Pharisees in debate and
time and again reduced them to silence. So the true meaning of our
Lord’s words must be pondered carefully in the light of other texts in
the Gospels and in the Scriptures generally, and in light of the
Church’s teaching. In our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 7:1-5) our Lord tells us
that we are not to judge, and if we do we shall be judged. We are not
to look on the faults of others as if we are free of fault ourselves,
but rather as persons who are profoundly conscious of personal guilt
and sinful limitations. But our Lord does say elsewhere in the Gospels
that we are to correct our brother and not leave evildoing unchecked.
He speaks of going again to our brother with another witness, and with
more still if no change is forthcoming. He even speaks of putting the
brother out of the community. These words too must be carefully weighed
in the light of the Church’s teaching, but the message is clear. While
we are not to judge uncharitably and as persons not subject to judgment
ourselves, nevertheless it is a great act of charity, indeed a duty
requiring persevering sensitivity and courage, to correct the faults of
others when those faults are clearly causing harm. The entire sweep of
the Scriptures and the constant practice of the Church show that sin
and harmful faults are not to be left unchecked. In this sense we are
our brother’s keeper, for if he is suffering in this form of spiritual
poverty, we have a duty to assist him even by our compassionate
correction.
Being Christ-like
in the world requires that we be growing in the mind of Christ, and
more and more being led by the Holy Spirit. Let us pray to the Holy
Spirit to help us in all our interaction with others. He will show us
that they and we are sinners all. We are all afflicted by the scourge
of sin. So let us not judge our brother as if we do not deserve
judgment ourselves. At the same time, we all need the compassionate and
charitable assistance of others to see our faults and to be able to
remove them. In this way the Holy Spirit works through us all to bring
us to a greater and greater likeness to Christ. Thus does the kingdom
of God in our midst extend.
(E.J.Tyler)
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To
criticize, to destroy, is not difficult; any unskilled labourer knows
how to drive his pick into the noble and finely-hewn stone of a
cathedral.
To construct: that is what requires the skill of a master.
(The Way, no.456)
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Saint Ephrem (c.306-373), Deacon in Syria,
Doctor of the Church
Hymn on the Trinity
«One only God, one only Lord, in the Trinity of their persons and unity
of their nature» (Preface)
Refrain: Blessed be He who sends you!
Take as your symbols, the sun for the Father,
light for the Son,
heat for the Holy Spirit.
Though he is only one in being
we see him in trinity.
Who, indeed, can grasp the inexplicable?
He who is unique is also multiple: one is formed of three
and three of one –
What great mystery! What manifest wonder!
The sun is distinct from its shining
even though joined to it;
its ray is also sun.
Yet no one speaks of two suns
even though, here below,
the ray is also sun.
No more do we say there would be two Gods.
Our Lord himself, is he not God?,
he, too, is raised above all creatures
Who can show how or where
the sun's ray and its heat are joined,
free as they are?
Neither separated nor confused,
united and yet distinct,
free but bound: O wonder!
Who, by studying them, can master them?
Yet do they not seem
so simple, so uncomplicated?...
Whereas the sun remains whole above,
its brilliance and heat are a clear symbol
for those of us below.
Indeed, its shining has come down to earth
and remains in our sight
as if covering our flesh.
When our eyes close like those of the dead
at the time of sleeping, it leaves them
who will later be awakened.
But how light penetrates the eye
no one knows.
Even so was it with Our Lord in the womb...
Even so our Saviour
put on a human body in all its weakness
that he might come to sanctify the world.
Yet, when the sun's ray returns to its source,
it has still not been separated
from the one who gave it birth.
It leaves its heat to those below
as Our Lord left the Holy Spirit
to the disciples.
Consider these images within the created world;
as to the Three, allow yourself no doubt
lest you be lost!
I have clarified for you what was obscure:
how the Three form but One,
Trinity composing one single essence!
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Birth of
Saint John the Baptist
Tuesday of the twelfth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 24) Birth
of Saint John the Baptist
Jesus
called John the greatest of all those who had preceded him: “I tell
you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John....” But
John would have agreed completely with what Jesus added: “[Y]et the
least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28). John spent
his time in the desert, an ascetic. He began to announce the coming of
the Kingdom, and to call everyone to a fundamental reformation of life.
His purpose was to prepare the way for Jesus. His Baptism, he said, was
for repentance. But One would come who would baptize with the Holy
Spirit and fire. John is not worthy even to carry his sandals. His
attitude toward Jesus was: “He must increase; I must decrease” (John
3:30). John was humbled to find among the crowd of sinners who came to
be baptized the one whom he already knew to be the Messiah. “I need to
be baptized by you” (Matthew 3:14b). But Jesus insisted, “Allow it now,
for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew
3:15b). Jesus, true and humble human as well as eternal God, was eager
to do what was required of any good Jew. John thus publicly entered the
community of those awaiting the Messiah. But making himself part of
that community, he made it truly messianic. The greatness of John, his
pivotal place in the history of salvation, is seen in the great
emphasis Luke gives to the announcement of his birth and the event
itself—both made prominently parallel to the same occurrences in the
life of Jesus. John attracted countless people (“all Judea”) to the
banks of the Jordan, and it occurred to some people that he might be
the Messiah. But he constantly deferred to Jesus, even to sending away
some of his followers to become the first disciples of Jesus. Perhaps
John’s idea of the coming of the Kingdom of God was not being perfectly
fulfilled in the public ministry of Jesus. For whatever reason, he sent
his disciples (when he was in prison) to ask Jesus if he was the
Messiah. Jesus’ answer showed that the Messiah was to be a figure like
that of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah. John himself would share in
the pattern of messianic suffering, losing his life to the revenge of
Herodias.
John challenges
us Christians to the fundamental attitude of Christianity—total
dependence on the Father, in Christ. Except for the Mother of God, no
one had a higher function in the unfolding of salvation. Yet the least
in the kingdom, Jesus said, is greater than he, for the pure gift that
the Father gives. The attractiveness as well as the austerity of John,
his fierce courage in denouncing evil—all stem from his fundamental and
total placing of his life within the will of God. "And this is not
something which was only true once, long ago in the past. It is always
true, because the repentance which he preached always remains the way
into the kingdom which he announced. He is not a figure that we can
forget now that Jesus, the true light, has appeared. John is always
relevant because he calls for a preparation which all men need to make.
Hence every year there are four weeks in the life of the Church in
which it listens to the voice of the Baptist. These are the weeks of
Advent" (A New Catechism).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-15; Acts 13:22-26; Luke 1:57-66, 80
When it
was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her
neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy,
and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the
child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but
his mother spoke up and said, No! He is to be called John. They said to
her, There is no-one among your relatives who has that name. Then they
made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the
child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he
wrote, His name is John. Immediately his mouth was opened and his
tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbours
were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea
people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this
wondered about it, asking, What then is this child going to be? For the
Lord's hand was with him. And the child grew and became strong in
spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.
(Luke 1:57-66, 80)
Our Gospel today
narrates the occasion of the birth of John the Baptist which brought
great joy to his parents. Having a son was the fulfilment of their
dreams, and for that they were profoundly grateful to God. The
circumstances of his conception and birth were full of portents for the
future, and Zechariah had been the recipient of them. He
had been favoured by a
visit from the Angel with a message from God about the child he and his
wife were soon to have. At the child’s birth, Zechariah gave to him the
name the Angel had indicated, and at this his power of speech returned.
It was joy upon joy, and “the child grew and became strong in spirit;
and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel” (Luke
1:57-66, 80). The Lord’s hand was with him. What can we say about this
series of events? It was nothing other than the work of God. God was
intervening in history and was preparing a great prophet who would
prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. Our Lord told his
disciples on one occasion (soon after his own Transfiguration) that
John the Baptist was the promised Elijah, and the Angel Gabriel had
told Zechariah that John would prepare for the Lord’s coming “in the
spirit and power of an Elijah.” Behind this drumbeat of divine power
was a great and consoling reality. It was the mercy of God, and it is
this that I suggest we think of as we think of the birthday of John the
Baptist. We read in our passage that at his birth, Elizabeth’s
“neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great
mercy, and they shared her joy.” It was perceived by them as an act of
divine mercy. Some nine months before the Angel had said to Zechariah
that God was answering his prayer. A son was to be born to him, one who
would bring “joy and gladness” to him, one who would be filled with the
Holy Spirit and who would prepare for the Lord a people fit for him.
That all this is
seen by Zechariah to be a divine mercy is shown in his prayer offered
when his speech was returned to him. The prayer of Zechariah comes
immediately after our passage today
(Luke 1:57-66, 80) and throws
light on its meaning. His child was now born and he knew that he would
be great in the sight of the Lord, for the Angel had told him so.
Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, now spoke in prophecy. The
birth of his great son was due to a visitation by the Lord, the God of
Israel. It would lead to “the redemption” of his people. This was the
“merciful design” God had long had, expressed by “an oath to our father
Abraham”. Such “was the merciful kindness of our God.” So the prophecy
of Zechariah, uttered by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reveals
that behind this birth was the good news that God is rich in mercy and
that he would save his people from their sins. The key to the event,
then, was the mercy of God, his active and effective compassion in
coming to the aid of his people in need. Our passage today ends with
the significant observation that indeed, the hand of the Lord was with
the boy as he grew. “What then is this child going to be?” they asked,
and Luke adds, “For the Lord's hand was with him.” The hand of the Lord
had been at work ever since the promise had been given to Abraham long
before that in him all the nations would be blessed. The patriarchs had
experienced the hand of the Lord, as had Moses and the prophets. Now
the hand of the Lord was at work in earnest as the countdown began. A
cluster of holy yet hidden persons was being raised up. There was Mary,
humble and obscure. She was the greatest of them all, full of grace.
There was her spouse, Joseph, the most just man. There were Elizabeth
and Zechariah. Out of the latter couple had come John. Soon there would
be the Messiah himself. The redemption of the world was at hand and it
was all due to the mercy of God. God is revealed as a God rich in mercy.
The hand of the
Lord was at work in the birth of John the Baptist and it was at work as
he grew and prepared for his mission of preparing the way of the Lord.
That same divine hand, full of mercy for each and all of his children,
is at work in our lives too. Let us entrust ourselves to the mercy of
God and like John follow the path of obedience to his will. Mercy is at
the heart of the universe and is its sustaining hand. Let us make God
and his mercy the foundation and guide of our life, and resolve to be
like him by showing mercy and compassion to others.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Who are you to pass judgment on the decision of a superior? Don't you
see that he is better fitted to judge than you? He has more experience;
he has more capable, impartial and trustworthy advisers; and, above
all, he has more grace, a special grace, the grace of state — God's
light and his powerful aid.
(The Way, no.457)
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Hermas
the Shepherd (2nd century)
"I do believe, help my unbelief!"
Cast off doubt from yourself and do not hesitate at all to ask God for
anything, or say in yourself, ««How can I ask anything from the Lord
and receive it, when I have sinned so much against him?»» Do not reason
thus, but turn to the Lord with your whole heart, and ask of him
undoubtingly, and you will come to know his great mercy, that he will
not desert you, but will fulfill the request of your soul. For God is
not like men, who hold grudges, but he is forgiving, and feels pity for
what he has made. So cleanse your heart of all the vanities of this
world, of evil and sin, and ask the Lord, and you will receive
everything... if you ask the Lord without doubting.
But if you doubt in your heart, you will receive none of your requests.
For those who doubt in their relation to God are the waverers and do
not get any of their requests at all... For any man who wavers, if he
does not repent, can be saved only with difficulty. So cleanse your
heart of wavering, and clothe yourself in faith, for it is strong, and
trust God, that you will receive all that you ask for, and if ever,
when you have asked the Lord for something, you are somewhat slow in
receiving it, do not doubt, because you did not receive your soul's
request quickly, for surely it is on account of some temptation or some
transgression of which you are unaware, that you are slow in getting
what you asked for. So do not stop making your soul's request... Beware
of such wavering, for it is wicked and foolish and uproots many from
the faith, even men who are very faithful and strong... Clothe yourself
in strong and powerful faith, for faith promises all things,
accomplishes all things, but doubt distrusts itself and fails in
everything it undertakes.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Wednesday
of the twelfth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 25) Blessed
Jutta of Thuringia (d. 1264?)
Today's patroness of
Prussia began her life amidst luxury and power but died the death of a
simple servant of the poor. In truth, virtue and piety were always of
prime importance to Jutta and her husband, both of noble rank. The two
were set to make a pilgrimage together to the holy places in Jerusalem,
but her husband died on the way. The newly widowed Jutta, after taking
care to provide for her children, resolved to live in a manner utterly
pleasing to God. She disposed of the costly clothes, jewels and
furniture befitting one of her rank, and became a Secular Franciscan,
taking on the simple garment of a religious. From that point her life
was utterly devoted to others: caring for the sick, particularly
lepers; tending to the poor, whom she visited in their hovels; helping
the crippled and blind with whom she shared her own home. Many of the
townspeople of Thuringia laughed at how the once-distinguished lady now
spent all her time. But Jutta saw the face of God in the poor and felt
honored to render whatever services she could. About the year 1260, not
long before her death, Jutta lived near the non-Christians in eastern
Germany. There she built a small hermitage and prayed unceasingly for
their conversion. She has been venerated for centuries as the special
patron of Prussia.
Jesus once
said that a camel can pass through a needle’s eye more easily than a
rich person can enter God’s realm. That’s pretty scary news for us. We
may not have great fortunes, but we who live in the West enjoy a share
of the world’s goods that people in the rest of the world cannot
imagine. Much to the amusement of her neighbors, Jutta disposed of her
wealth after her husband’s death and devoted her life to caring for
those who had no means. Should we follow her example, people will
probably laugh at us, too. But God will smile.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 2 Kings 22:8-13;
23:1-3; Psalm 119:33-37, 40; Matthew 7:15-20
(click here
for readings)
Jesus
said to his disciples: Watch out for false prophets. They come to you
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their
fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes,
or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a
bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad
tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit
is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will
recognise them. (Matthew 7:15-20)
When observed from
the outside, Christianity presents in some respects a sad spectacle. I
am referring to the manifest disunity of Christians. There are a few
great bodies of Christians, the greatest of which is
obviously
the Catholic Church, but nevertheless the non-Christian sees before him
almost countless numbers of Christian communions of various kinds and
beliefs. Of course, this is in no way specific to Christianity. Islam
has numerous distinct groupings and the Sunni and Shihite conflicts in
the Middle East are but one instance. Nevertheless, inasmuch as
Christianity brings to the world the person of Jesus Christ, the
presentation of Jesus Christ clearly suffers greatly by this Christian
disunity. At the Last Supper Christ prayed to the Father that all his
followers would be one. He asked for this “so that the world might
believe.” Elsewhere in the Gospels he referred to the divine plan of
one fold under one Shepherd. Now, what is it that has brought upon the
Church this tragic disunity? Obviously it has been due in large measure
to the rise of various voices calling the faithful to accept this or
that doctrine and to follow this or that practice that the Church in
one way or another condemns. The new voices believe that the
condemnation is erroneous and so the division deepens. We read in the
New Testament writings solemn warnings (for instance in the Letters of
St Paul and of St John) against the divisions arising from false
doctrine - meaning by wrong doctrine teachings that are contrary to
that of the apostolic witness. We see the same pattern and problem in
the rise of Gnosticism and again the great heresy of Arianism following
the Council of Nicaea in the early fourth century. Arius, a priest,
contradicted the doctrine that the man Jesus is divine. Despite its
condemnation in one form or another this heresy lasted for centuries.
There have been denials of numerous other doctrines over the centuries
and more often than not these denials are accompanied by appeals to
Scripture and by an upright character and evident sincerity in the ones
who are maintaining the denials. Whether the followers are many or few
the result is further division.
These are the
historical facts. Let us turn to our Lord’s words in the Gospel today (Matthew 7:15-20). He tells his
disciples to watch out for false prophets. They can be very convincing
- while in the sight of God they are wolves, in the sight of man they
can appear to be sheep. They can seem to be sheep of the flock of
Christ, members of the one true fold, followers of the Good Shepherd.
Their obvious sincerity, the appeal and persuasiveness of their
doctrine, the attractiveness of their manner, their unity one with the
other together with their talents, can all combine to make them appear
to be true prophets of God. So Christ says we must watch out, beware.
What further can we say of this? To begin with, this watching for error
however sincerely presented requires a profound concern for the truth
and in particular the truth revealed by Christ. There is a certain
mentality that puts a higher priority on things other than truth - and
without truly realizing that this has been done. For instance, a person
may, without realizing it and without saying as much, put a higher
priority on personal sincerity, or on the possession of an inner peace,
or on the experience of a certain kind of conversion, or on various
charismatic gifts, than on the possession of the objective truth
revealed by Jesus. He loves Christ’s truth, but his greater focus is on
other things. And so a religious person who is contented in his
religion may never genuinely set out to seek the full truth that Christ
has revealed. Or again, the one without any religion may simply have no
interest in the truth that has come from God, and so he takes no steps
whatever to attain revealed truth. Others may have a very liberal
attitude to contrary opinions in the sense of basically thinking that
both are right: what is “right” to one may not be “right” to another,
and that opposite opinions may be “right” depending on the preferences
of the one holding them. All these are manifestations of the lack of
concern for objective truth in religion, and in particular the truth
that has been revealed by Christ. Those who lack this concern are not
heeding the warning of Christ.
Christ is the source and
embodiment of objective religious truth. He is the one who has revealed
the truth from God and, of course, that truth cannot be present in its
opposites. It is right, and its opposite is wrong. The Catholic Church
teaches that Christ left on earth a living voice with the authority to
determine what is his teaching when there is presented to the faithful
various opposites. That authority is found within the Catholic Church,
and in particular in the successor of St Peter and the bishops acting
in union with him. Thinking of our Gospel today let us be profoundly
committed to the truth of Jesus, and resolved to live by it daily.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Those clashes with the world's selfishness will make you appreciate all
the more the fraternal charity of your brother-apostles.
(The Way, no.458)
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Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897),
Carmelite, Doctor of the Church (Prayers)
"If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and servant
of all"
Jesus...! How great is your humility, O divine King of Glory, in
submitting yourself to all your priests without distinguishing between
those who love you and those who, alas!, are lukewarm or cold in your
service. You come down from heaven at their call; they can make the
hour of the holy sacrifice earlier or later, but you are always ready.
O my Beloved, how meek and humble of heart (Mt 11,29) you seem to me
beneath the veil of the little, white host. You could not have humbled
yourself more to teach me humility; in the same way, in response to
your love, I want to desire that my sisters should always set me in the
lowest place and to be able to convince myself that this place is truly
mine...
I know, O my God, that you cast down the proud soul but give an
eternity of glory to those who humble themselves. I want, then, to set
myself in the lowest place, sharing your humiliation so as to «have an
inheritance with you» (Jn 13,8) in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Yet, Lord, you know my weakness. Each morning I take up my resolution
to practice humility and, by evening, I realise I have still committed
many failings of pride. Seeing this, I am tempted to discouragement.
However, as I well know, discouragement is also an act of pride! And
so, O my God, what I want to do is to base all my hope on you alone.
You can do all things, so be pleased to bring to birth in my soul the
virtue I am looking for. And to obtain this grace from your infinite
mercy, I will say repeatedly: «O Jesus, meek and humble of heart: make
my heart gentle and humble as yours!»
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Thursday
of the twelfth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 26) Blessed
Raymond Lull (1235-1315)
Raymond
worked all his life to promote the missions and died a missionary to North
Africa. Raymond was born at Palma on the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean
Sea. He earned a position in the king’s court there. One day a sermon inspired
him to dedicate his life to working for the conversion of the Muslims in North
Africa. He became a Secular Franciscan and founded a college where missionaries
could learn the Arabic they would need in the missions. Retiring to solitude, he
spent nine years as a hermit. During that time he wrote on all branches of
knowledge, a work which earned him the title "Enlightened Doctor." Raymond then
made many trips through Europe to interest popes, kings and princes in
establishing special colleges to prepare future missionaries. He achieved his
goal in 1311 when the Council of Vienne ordered the creation of chairs of
Hebrew, Arabic and Chaldean at the universities of Bologna, Oxford, Paris and
Salamanca. At the age of 79, Raymond went to North Africa in 1314 to be a
missionary himself. An angry crowd of Muslims stoned him in the city of Bougie.
Genoese merchants took him back to Mallorca where he died. Raymond was beatified
in 1514.
Raymond
worked most of his life to help spread the gospel. Indifference on the part of
some Christian leaders and opposition in North Africa did not turn him from his
goal. Three hundred years later Raymond’s work began to have an influence in the
Americas. When the Spanish began to spread the gospel in the New World, they set
up missionary colleges to aid the work. Blessed Junipero Serra belonged to such
a college. Thomas of Celano wrote of St. Francis: "In vain does the wicked man
persecute one striving after virtue, for the more he is buffeted, the more
strongly will he triumph. As someone says, indignity strengthens a generous
spirit" (I Celano, #11). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 2 Kings 24:8-17; Psalm 79:1b-5,
8, 9; Matthew 7:21-29
Jesus
said to his disciples: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell
them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Therefore
everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a
wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it
had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and
does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on
sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against
that house, and it fell with a great crash. When Jesus had finished saying these
things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had
authority, and not as their scribes. (Matthew
7:21-29)
The punchline of our Gospel passage
today comes at the end when it speaks of the impact of our Lord’s words on the
crowds to whom he was speaking. They were “amazed at his teaching, because he
taught
as
one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” The scribes analysed and
discussed the meaning of the Law and the Prophets, but as scholars. The
authority about which they spoke was the authority of the Scriptures and they
endeavoured to reveal its meaning. Our Lord in one of his debates with them told
them that they knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Jesus in his
teaching not only impressed all with his sovereign knowledge of the Scriptures
but with his evident personal authority in a far wider sense. What is the sense
of this “authority” that our Lord displayed? Consider his words at the beginning
of the passage. It is not enough for a person to say to him, “Lord, Lord” to
enter the Kingdom of heaven. It is to Jesus, then, that they will direct their
appeal in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. He will be the Judge and he will
grant admittance into the Kingdom of heaven only to those who have done the will
of his heavenly Father. Imagine the impact of these words on the crowds, and how
they must have wondered at the unique authority he was calmly assuming and
manifesting. Christ is presenting himself to the crowds as the supreme Judge on
the day of judgment. He will vindicate the will of his Father. He goes on, “Many
will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and
in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them
plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”
(Matthew 7:21-29). Only those he knows will be saved, and only
those who do the will of God will he acknowledge as knowing. The “authority” he
was displaying here was absolutely supreme and very personal.
Our Lord continues his point, speaking
of the power of his word. Christ does not say - as would have the scribes,
presumably - that the one who hears the word of God in the Scriptures and puts
them into practice is building his house on rock. He says that the one who hears
“these words of mine and puts them into practice is “like a wise man who built
his house on the rock.”Christ is speaking of his own word and he is making it
the word of God. He is speaking as if his own word is on a par with the
Scriptures and as if it is coming from the mouth of God himself. The crowds were
profoundly astonished, filled with amazement at such language. No prophet had
spoken like this, nor had John the Baptist. Christ was placing his own person at
the very forefront as the way to salvation. Salvation will come by hearing his
word, his own word, and then putting it into practice. His word was the word of
his heavenly Father, and if anyone were not to put his word into practice then
that person will hear the terrible rejection at the judgment, “ 'I never knew
you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”. And so our Lord puts it plainly to all:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is
like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams
rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall,
because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of
mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his
house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat
against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” The authority of the Torah,
the Law and the Prophets, was supreme in the religion of Israel, for it was the
word of the living God. Here they have a man before them, a great prophet who
was stating in effect that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given
to him. His word was salvation. Salvation was his gift, and he would give it to
those who heard his word and kept it.
Let us place ourselves in the presence
of the one who showed such supreme authority and power before all. It was plain
to all that our Lord was speaking as if he were above all, and as if he were the
supreme Judge and source of salvation. No one has made such claims, and his
claims were shown to be entirely credible by the holiness of his life, the
consistency of his teaching, the miraculous power he exercised, and by so many
other indications. Let us then place our faith in him, resolving to hear his
word and put it into practice. Therein lies our salvation.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Your
charity is ostentatious. From afar, you attract; you have light. From near by,
you repel; you lack warmth. What a pity!
(The Way, no.459)
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Pius XII, Pope from 1939 to 1958
Encyclical: Mystici Corporis Christi
"We tried to prevent him because he does not follow us."
Let us imitate the breadth of His love. For the Church, the Bride of Christ, is
one; and yet so vast is the love of the divine Spouse that it embraces in His
Bride the whole human race without exception. Our Savior shed His Blood
precisely in order that He might reconcile men to God through the Cross, and
might constrain them to unite in one body, however widely they may differ in
nationality and race. True love of the Church, therefore, requires not only that
we should be mutually solicitous one for another as members and sharing in their
suffering (1Cor 12,25-26) but likewise that we should recognize in other men,
although they are not yet joined to us in the body of the Church, our brothers
in Christ according to the flesh, called, together with us, to the same eternal
salvation.
It is true, unfortunately, especially today, that there are some who extol
enmity, hatred and spite as if they enhanced the dignity and the worth of man.
Let us, however, while we look with sorrow on the disastrous consequences of
this teaching, follow our peaceful King who taught us to love not only those who
are of a different nation or race (Lk 10,33f.) but even our enemies (Lk 6,27f.).
While Our heart overflows with the sweetness of the teaching of the Apostle of
the Gentiles, We extol with him the length, and the breadth, and the height, and
the depth of the charity of Christ (Eph 3,18), which neither diversity of race
or customs can diminish, nor trackless wastes of the ocean weaken, nor wars,
whether just or unjust, destroy.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Friday
of the twelfth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 27) St. Cyril
of Alexandria (376?-444)
Saints are not born with halos around their heads. Cyril, recognized as a great
teacher of the Church, began his career as archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt, with
impulsive, often violent, actions. He pillaged and closed the churches of the
Novatian heretics, participated in the deposing of St. John Chrysostom and
confiscated Jewish property, expelling the Jews from Alexandria in retaliation
for their attacks on Christians. Cyril’s importance for theology and Church
history lies in his championing the cause of orthodoxy against the heresy of
Nestorius.
The controversy centred around the two natures in Christ. Nestorius would not
agree to the title “God-bearer” for Mary. He preferred “Christ-bearer,” saying
there are two distinct persons in Christ (divine and human) joined only by a
moral union. He said Mary was not the mother of God but only of the man Christ,
whose humanity was only a temple of God. Nestorianism implied that the humanity
of Christ was a mere disguise. Presiding as the pope’s representative at the
Council of Ephesus (431), Cyril condemned Nestorianism and proclaimed Mary truly
the “God-bearer” (the mother of the one Person who is truly God and truly
human). In the confusion that followed, Cyril was deposed and imprisoned for
three months, after which he was welcomed back to Alexandria as a second
Athanasius (the champion against Arianism). Besides needing to soften some of
his opposition to those who had sided with Nestorius, Cyril had difficulties
with some of his own allies, who thought he had gone too far, sacrificing not
only language but orthodoxy. Until his death, his policy of moderation kept his
extreme partisans under control. On his deathbed, despite pressure, he refused
to condemn the teacher of Nestorius.
Lives of the saints are valuable not
only for the virtue they reveal but also for the less admirable qualities that
also appear. Holiness is a gift of God to us as human beings. Life is a process.
We respond to God's gift, but sometimes with a lot of zigzagging. If Cyril had
been more patient and diplomatic, the Nestorian Church might not have risen and
maintained power so long. But even saints must grow out of immaturity,
narrowness and selfishness. It is because they—and we—do grow, that we are truly
saints, persons who live the life of God. Cyril's theme: "Only if it is one and
the same Christ who is consubstantial with the Father and with men can he save
us, for the meeting ground between God and man is the flesh of Christ. Only if
this is God's own flesh can man come into contact with Christ's divinity through
his humanity. Because of our kinship with the Word made flesh we are sons of
God. The Eucharist consummates our kinship with the word, our communion with the
Father, our sharing in the divine nature—there is very real contact between our
body and that of the Word" (New Catholic Encyclopedia).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 2 Kings 25:1-12; Psalm 137:1-6;
Matthew 8:1-4
When
Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with
leprosy came and knelt before him and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can
make me clean. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing, he
said. Be clean! Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him,
See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer
the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.
(Matthew 8:1-4)
In our Gospel passage today our Lord has
come down from the mountain and large crowds are following him. Undoubtedly the
persons who make up these crowds are there for a variety of reasons. There must
have
been a lull in the whole proceeding when the man with leprosy came to our Lord.
The miracle must have been done for him in some privacy because our Lord then
told him not to tell anyone what he had done for him. Perhaps it occurred during
a brief period when our Lord was with his disciples and the crowds occupied with
some rest or refreshment. Whatever of that, let us place ourselves in the scene.
Imagine the desperation and despondency of the leper who saw no hope for himself
in his predicament other than what might come from his approach to Christ. So he
comes to him and actually kneels down before our Lord. He pleads with him to
“make me clean”, telling our Lord that he knows he is able to do it if he so
wills. He has no doubt about our Lord’s power, and he is appealing to his
kindness and consideration. Our Lord immediately, at a word and a touch of the
hand, heals him of his leprosy (Matthew 8:1-4).
Then, significantly, he then commands him not to “tell anyone”, but to go and
make the ritual offering to the priest as the Law required. In passing we may
note the respect our Lord displays for the Law of Moses. But let us consider
that first stipulation he gave to the former leper. He was not to tell anyone of
the blessing he had received. It looks as if our Lord did not want to be caught
up heavily in this ministry. If our Lord had healed this leper, why, we may ask,
did he not set about healing all the lepers - he could perhaps have done it at a
word (which undoubtedly he could have, had he so willed). Why did he allow the
suffering in the world to continue? Why does he still allow it? It is very
obvious from this brief Gospel scene alone, some might assert, that our Lord’s
mission on earth was not to take away all the sufferings of the world. Why so?
The short answer to this is that,
obviously, we do not know. But let us immediately add that our Lord’s mission
did indeed include taking away all the sufferings of the world, but not fully
just yet. In the immediate term, he did come to bring peace and joy - a share in
his peace and joy - to the world. He said on one occasion that people were to
come to him and learn from him and they would find rest and peace for their
souls. My peace, I leave to you, he said - not peace as the world offers it, but
my own peace. Furthermore he commanded his disciples to spend themselves in
serving the world’s suffering. But very importantly, his kingdom, established in
its beginning here, will reach its fullness hereafter and then indeed every tear
will be wiped away. So Christ did come to take away all the world’s sufferings
and to make all things new, but there is an appointed time for this to take
place in its fullness - and that appointed time is at the end. We do not know
why it had to be this way, but such was the plan of God. Even with our leper,
let us remember that our Lord did not liberate him from all suffering, only from
his leprosy. In respect to suffering our Lord’s miracle for the leper is a sign
of what will eventually come to all when God is all in all. But more
importantly, our Lord’s stipulation to the leper that he tell no one of his cure
shows that his mission was far deeper. He did not want his Messianic mission to
be misunderstood. While he did not come to take away all suffering in all
persons immediately, he certainly did come to break the power of sin
immediately. He came to break the stranglehold of sin on the life of the world.
As St Paul writes, by nature all are under the power of sin and sin is the root
cause of suffering and death. Mankind was separated from God by sin and this is
the fundamental problem of the universe. It is the cosmic issue and Christ came
to fix it at its root. He came to cure the fundamental wound that debilitates
the entire world. He would do it by obediently bearing its effects in his own
sinless person and thus expiate for it all.
The picture of the leper coming to our
Lord for the greatest favour of his life, as he saw it, is a picture also of
Christ as the answer to the world’s need. He has taken away the sin of the world
and what remains is for that work to be applied to every individual. It is
applied when a person is placed in him above all by baptism and then by a life
of union with him. Union with Jesus is life for the world now and in its
fullness hereafter when God’s plan will be fully achieved. Let us then accept
Christ into our life as the treasure of treasures, as the pearl of great price.
(E.J.Tyler)
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'Frater qui
adiuvatur a fratre quasi civitas firma. Brother helped by brother is a
fortress.'
Think for a moment and make up your mind to live the fraternal spirit that I
have always asked of you.
(The Way, no.460)
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Latin liturgy Hymn for Vespers of the Feast
"The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
Of the glorious body telling,
O my tongue, its mysteries sing,
and the blood, all price excelling,
which the world's eternal king,
in a noble womb once dwelling,
shed for this world's ransoming.
Given for us for us descending,
of a Virgin to proceed,
man with man in converse blending,
scattered he the gospel seed,
'till his sojourn drew to ending,
which he closed in wondrous deed.
At the last great supper lying,
circled by his brethren's band,
meekly with the law complying,
first, he finished its command.
Then, immortal food supplying,
gave himself with his own hand.
Word made flesh, by word he maketh
very bread his flesh to be man in wine Christ's blood partaketh,
and if senses fail to see,
faith alone the true heart waketh,
to behold the mystery.
Therefore we, before him bending,
this great sacrament revere;
types and shadows have their ending
for the newer rite is here;
faith, our outward sense befriending,
makes the inward vision clear.
Glory let us give, and blessing,
to the Father and the Son;
honour, might, and praise addressing,
while eternal ages run;
ever, too, his love confessing,
who from both, with both is one.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Saturday
of the twelfth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 28) Saint
Irenaeus, bishop and martyr (130?-220)
The Church is fortunate that Irenaeus was involved in many of its controversies
in the second century. He was a student, well trained, no doubt, with great
patience in investigating, tremendously protective of apostolic teaching, but
prompted more by a desire to win over his opponents than to prove them in error.
As bishop of Lyons he was especially concerned with the Gnostics, who took their
name from the Greek word for “knowledge.” Claiming access to secret knowledge
imparted by Jesus to only a few disciples, their teaching was attracting and
confusing many Christians. After thoroughly investigating the various Gnostic
sects and their “secret,” Irenaeus showed to what logical conclusions their
tenets led. These he contrasted with the teaching of the apostles and the text
of Holy Scripture, giving us, in five books, a system of theology of great
importance to subsequent times. Moreover, his work, widely used and translated
into Latin and Armenian, gradually ended the influence of the Gnostics. The
circumstances and details about his death, like those of his birth and early
life in Asia Minor, are not at all clear.
A deep and genuine
concern for other people will remind us that the discovery of truth is not to be
a victory for some and a defeat for others. Unless all can claim a share in that
victory, truth itself will continue to be rejected by the losers, because it
will be regarded as inseparable from the yoke of defeat. And so, confrontation,
controversy and the like might yield to a genuine united search for God's truth
and how it can best be served. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19;
Psalm 74:1b-7, 20-21; Matthew 8:5-17
When
Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. Lord, he
said, my servant lies at home paralysed and in terrible suffering. Jesus said to
him, I will go and heal him. The centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to
have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be
healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell
this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my
servant, 'Do this,' and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and
said to those following him, I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in
Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and
the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown
outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then Jesus said to the centurion, Go! It will be done just as you believed it
would. And his servant was healed at that very hour. When Jesus came into
Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He
touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on
him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and
he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfil
what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: He took up our infirmities and
carried our diseases. (Matthew 8:5-17)
One aspect of the Gospel accounts that
is not given much attention, I think, is our Lord’s encounters with those who
were not of the children of Israel. We remember his stating quite clearly to the
Canaanite
pagan
woman who persistently badgered him to heal her daughter that he was sent only
to the House of Israel. His apparent lack of response to her drew forth her act
of faith which was immediately rewarded by him with the cure she sought. We
remember our Lord’s meeting with Pontius Pilate. Presumably the language they
spoke was Greek, though it could have been Latin. Our Lord was courteous and
made some allowances for Pilate, saying that those who handed him over had the
greater guilt. Within a few minutes and having hardly defended himself he had
convinced Pilate of his innocence, but Pilate was weak in the face of threats
from the Jewish leaders. During his public ministry our Lord also made some
excursions into nearby pagan territory. Our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 8:5-17) narrates our Lord’s meeting
with a centurion. Perhaps the account is another version of the event described
elsewhere in which the centurion sent Jewish delegates to intercede for him. It
is not clear, but one certainly gets the impression that the centurion was not
of the Faith, even if he was partial to it. So then, the centurion comes to our
Lord to ask his help. Let us place ourselves in the scene, with the centurion
before our Lord and full of respect for the holy man who has so much power from
God. Let us gaze on our Lord and notice his response to the request on behalf of
his gravely ill servant. Immediately he offers to go and heal him. There is a
personal love and concern in his offer, for he can see the anguish of the
centurion together with his humility in coming before him. Our Lord would have
seen in the centurion a representative of the peoples he loved far beyond the
chosen people, a representative of all those who would turn to him as the answer
to their needs.
The response of the centurion was most
surprising to our Lord, humanly speaking. The centurion said to our Lord that he
did not deserve to have him in his home. “Just say the word, and my servant will
be healed.” Here was an officer of the armies of Rome, a centurion of the
occupation forces, saying to our Lord that he was simply unworthy to admit our
Lord to his own house. It bespeaks a deep humility, an awareness of his own sins
and limitations and a clear perception that in Jesus he beheld a very, very holy
personage. Moreover, this humility was accompanied by a simple and great faith
in our Lord’s power and goodness. Just say the word and what I have asked will
immediately be done. The words and attitude of the centurion, St Matthew writes,
astonished our Lord. In his human nature he was amazed and he said to those
following him that he had not seen anything like it in Israel. It was a manifest
praise for the centurion. He immediately saw in the centurion a portent of what
was to come in the future well beyond his own death and resurrection. Many from
the nations would come to him as had this centurion and placing their faith in
him would “take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the
kingdom of heaven.” They would find salvation through faith in him. Our Lord was
pointing to the fulfilment of the promise made long ago to Abraham that through
him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Jesus was that blessing, and
the centurion represented the nations of the future who would be members of his
body the Church. The Gospel scene reminds us of the mission each Christian has
in the world to be an instrument of Christ’s presence among men, enabling all
who do not as yet know Christ to find him and have faith in him and so be saved.
How are the peoples to come to know Christ? It is through the daily life in the
world of those who do know him and who do have faith in him. The call of all
mankind is to know and love Jesus and to find life in union with him. This will
happen through the witness of his disciples, the lay faithful whose vocation is
to live in and bear witness in the world.
The most beautiful service we can do to
anyone is to enable that person to meet Jesus, to get to know him, to learn to
appeal to him and above all humbly to have faith in him. The centurion of our
Gospel passage today shows what is possible in the hearts of those who have not
yet met Jesus. The prayer of the centurion was so good that it amazed our Lord,
and it is this very prayer that the priest prays at Mass just before giving Holy
Communion to those participating. It is a wonderful prayer and ought be used by
us frequently during life.
(E.J.Tyler)
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If I don't see you practise that fraternal spirit that I preach to you
constantly, I shall remind you of those affectionate words of Saint John: 'My
children, our love is not to be just words or mere talk, but something real and
active'.
(The Way, no.461)
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Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on the Church in the
modern world, «Gaudium et Spes», §§48
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself
over for her" (Eph 5,25)
A man and a woman, who by their compact of conjugal love "are no longer two, but
one flesh", render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate
union of their persons and of their actions. Through this union they experience
the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by
day. As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union and the good of the
children impose total fidelity on the spouses and argue for an unbreakable
oneness between them.
Christ the Lord abundantly blessed this many-faceted love, welling up as it does
from the fountain of divine love and structured as it is on the model of His
union with His Church (Eph 5,32). For as God of old made Himself present to His
people through a covenant of love and fidelity, so now the Savior of men and the
Spouse of the Church comes into the lives of married Christians through the
sacrament of matrimony. He abides with them thereafter so that just as He loved
the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf (Eph 5,25), the spouses may
love each other with perpetual fidelity through mutual self-bestowal.
Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed and
enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the saving activity of the Church, so
that this love may lead the spouses to God with powerful effect and may aid and
strengthen them in sublime office of being a father or a mother. For this reason
Christian spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and
receive a kind of consecration in the duties and dignity of their state. By
virtue of this sacrament, as spouses fulfil their conjugal and family
obligation, they are penetrated with the spirit of Christ, which suffuses their
whole lives with faith, hope and charity. Thus they increasingly advance the
perfection of their own personalities, as well as their mutual sanctification,
and hence contribute jointly to the glory of God.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Solemnity
of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
A
Prayers
this week:
All nations clap your hands.
Shout with a voice of joy to God.
(Psalm 46:2)
Father, you call your children to walk in the light of Christ. Free us from
darkness and keep us in radiance of your truth. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
(June 29) Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles Sts. Peter
and Paul (d. 64 & 67)
Peter: St. Mark ends the first half of his Gospel with a triumphant
climax. He has recorded doubt, misunderstanding and the opposition of
many to
Jesus. Now Peter makes his great confession of faith: "You are the Messiah"
(Mark 8:29b). It was one of the many glorious moments in Peter's life, beginning
with the day he was called from his nets along the Sea of Galilee to become a
fisher of men for Jesus. The New Testament clearly shows Peter as the leader of
the apostles, chosen by Jesus to have a special relationship with him. With
James and John he was privileged to witness the Transfiguration, the raising of
a dead child to life and the agony in Gethsemane. His mother-in-law was cured by
Jesus. He was sent with John to prepare for the last Passover before Jesus'
death. His name is first on every list of apostles. And to Peter only did Jesus
say, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and
upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the nether world shall
not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:17b-19). But the Gospels prove
their own veracity by the unflattering details they include about Peter. He
clearly had no public relations person. It is a great comfort for ordinary
mortals to know that Peter also has his human weakness, even in the presence of
Jesus. He generously gave up all things, yet he can ask in childish self-regard,
"What are we
going to get for all this?" (see Matthew 19:27). He receives the
full force of Christ's anger when he objects to the idea of a suffering Messiah:
"Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God
does, but as human beings do" (Matthew 16:23b). Peter is willing to accept
Jesus' doctrine of forgiveness, but suggests a limit of seven times. He walks on
the water in faith, but sinks in doubt. He refuses to let Jesus
wash his feet,
then wants his whole body cleansed. He swears at the Last Supper that he will
never deny Jesus, and then swears to a servant maid that he has never known the
man. He loyally resists the first attempt to arrest Jesus by cutting off Malchus's ear, but in the end he runs away with the others. In the depth of his
sorrow, Jesus looks on him and forgives him, and he goes out and sheds bitter
tears.
Paul: If Billy Graham suddenly began preaching
that the United States should adopt Marxism and not rely on the Constitution,
the angry reaction would help us understand Paul's life when he started
preaching that Christ alone can save us. He had been the most Pharisaic of
Pharisees, the most legalistic of Mosaic lawyers. Now he suddenly appears to
other Jews as a heretical welcomer of Gentiles, a traitor and apostate. Paul's
central conviction was simple and absolute: Only God can save humanity. No human
effort—even the most scrupulous observance of law—can create a human good which
we can bring to God as reparation for sin and payment for grace. To be saved
from itself, from sin, from the devil and from death, humanity must open itself
completely to the saving power of Jesus. Paul never lost his love for his Jewish
family, though he carried on a lifelong debate with them about the uselessness
of the Law without Christ. He reminded the Gentiles that they were grafted on
the parent stock of the Jews, who were still God's chosen people, the children
of the promise. In light of his preaching and teaching skills, Paul's name has
surfaced (among others) as a possible patron of the Internet.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Acts 12:1-11; Psalm 34:2-9; 2
Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19
(click here for
readings)
When
Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do
people say the Son of Man is? They replied, Some say John the Baptist; others
say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about
you? he asked. Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,
for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell
you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
(Matthew 16:13-19)
Our Gospel passage today has to be
regarded as one of the most pivotal passages in the Gospels. By the “signs” of
his miracles and by the authority of his preaching, our Lord, from the beginning
of his ministry, had been gradually revealing the divinity and messianic
character of his person. Christ pointed to himself and invited all to have
faith
in him. This faith would save them - that was the message of his preaching and
of his miracles. In response, he was relentlessly attacked by the scribes, the
Pharisees, the Sadducees and the leaders precisely over who he claimed to be. In
the Gospel of St John we read that the leaders wanted to kill him because, not
content with breaking the Sabbath, he spoke of God as his own Father, and so
made himself equal to God. The issue was himself and who he was and this was the
overriding factor in his passion and death. So in a certain sense, humanly
speaking much of the
success of our Lord’s life and mission hinged on the Twelve arriving at a firm
faith in who he really was, because mysteriously it was the divine plan that
salvation depended on faith in him. Just before he ascended into heaven, our
Lord commanded the disciples to go to the whole world and make disciples of all
the nations. Then he added, the one who believes will be saved. Faith in
Christ’s person and word and teaching is the divinely intended foundation. For
this reason our Gospel passage today is pivotal because in it we have our Lord
asking his disciples who they said he was. Simon Peter spoke on their behalf.
Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. It is the teaching of the
Gospels, of the New Testament and of the Christian religion, and our Lord tells
Simon that he had been taught this by the heavenly Father. This truth revealed
by Jesus and by the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit is the
foundation of the life of the Christian and of Christ’s Church. Jesus is the
Messiah, the Christ predicted by the Old Testament and presented by the New, and
he is above all the divine Son of the living God. It is to the proclamation of
this doctrine that the Church dedicates herself.
But there is a second fundamental truth
intimately connected with this which our Lord immediately proceeds to reveal. It
is the truth of Christ’s Church and of its constitution. Christ cannot be
separated from the Church he founded. It is not the plan of God that man have
faith in Jesus and yet reject or ignore his Church for the Church is his
creation and, indeed, as St Paul teaches, it is his body. On the way to Damascus
St Paul was converted by Christ who asked Paul, why he was persecuting him. In
persecuting his Church, Paul was persecuting him. It was a lesson Paul never
forgot, and in our Gospel passage today (Matthew
16:13-19) our Lord, having heard Simon’s profession of faith in his
person as messiah and divine Son, proceeded immediately to establish the visible
foundation of his Church. Simon, Christ tells him, is now to be Peter, the Rock
of his Church. On him would he build his Church. That Church, of course, would
have as its abiding inner Reality and purpose the person of Jesus himself. To
Simon he was giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and so to enter the
kingdom one must go to Simon and have the doors unlocked. Therefore in God’s
plan entrance to the kingdom comes by way of entry to his Church, and the keys
are held in the hands of the Church’s divinely-appointed Rock, who is Simon. On
Simon he conferred the power to bind and to loose, and whenever he did bind and
loose his
decision would be ratified in heaven. This fundamental role in the Church
continues, by divine appointment, to be exercised generation after generation by
Simon’s successors, the popes. The successor of Saint Peter in each age holds
the keys to the kingdom of heaven and according as he binds and frees so is his
decision ratified in heaven. What this really means is that Christ who is the
head and spouse of the Church is present and active in the ministry of Peter his
successors and the Twelve and their successors. Our Gospel passage today is
indeed pivotal because in it is revealed the doctrine of Christ and his Church.
In a certain sense it can be said that
Christianity is a matter between me and Jesus, and that it depends on my
personal faith in him. But in a very real sense this is mistaken if by this we
mean to exclude the indispensable role of the Church which Christ built on the
rock of Simon. The kingdom of heaven is none other than Jesus himself and I
enter his kingdom by entering into union with him. But for this to happen the
keys to this kingdom which is union with him must be used. The door must be
unlocked, and by Christ’s decision it is Simon who holds those keys. He unlocks
the door for me. On this feast of Saints Peter and Paul let us celebrate both
Christ and his body the Church, for in Christ and his Church do I find salvation and
sanctification.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.880-882, 936-937
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The power
of charity! — If you live that blessed fraternal spirit your mutual weakness
will also be a support to keep you upright in the fulfilment of duty: just as in
a house of cards, one card supports another.
(The Way, no.462)
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Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), Founder
of the Jesuits
Spiritual Exercises, 231,
233-234 Contemplation for achieving love:
First of all it is good to note that... love consists in a reciprocal
interchange, the lover handing over and sharing with the beloved his
possessions... and the other does the same.
Preamble. Asking for what I want. Here it will be to beg for a deep-felt
appreciation of all the blessings I have been given, that out of the fullness of
my gratitude I may become completely devoted to His Divine Majesty in effective
love.
First heading. Recall the good things I have had from creation: my
redemption, personal gifts. I will rouse myself to reckon how much our Lord God
has done for me, how much that is His own He has shared with me; I will further
consider the divine plan whereby this same Lord wants to give me all that it is
in His power to give. I then turn to myself and try to see what reason and
justice demand that I offer, nay, give, His Divine Majesty in return-all that
belongs to me, and with it all that I am in myself - in the spirit of one who
makes a present out of a great love: «Take, Lord, into Your possession, my
complete freedom of action, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all
that I have, all that I own: it is Your gift to me, I now return it to You. It
is all Yours, to be used simply as You wish. Give me Your Love and Your grace;
it is all I need.»
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Monday of the thirteenth week in Ordinary Time II
(June 30) First Martyrs of the Church of Rome (d. 68)
There were
Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the death of Jesus, though
they were not the converts of the “Apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 15:20). Paul
had not yet visited them at the time he wrote his great letter in AD 57-58.
There was a large Jewish population in Rome. Probably as a result of controversy
between Jews and Jewish Christians, the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from
Rome in 49-50 A.D. Suetonius the historian says that the expulsion was due to
disturbances in the city “caused by the certain Chrestus” [Christ]. Perhaps many
came back after Claudius’s death in 54 A.D. Paul’s letter was addressed to a
Church with members from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds. In July of 64 A.D.,
more than half of Rome was destroyed by fire. Rumor blamed the tragedy on Nero,
who wanted to enlarge his palace. He shifted the blame by accusing the
Christians. According to the historian Tacitus, a “great multitude” of
Christians was put to death because of their “hatred of the human race.” Peter
and Paul were probably among the victims. Threatened by an army revolt and
condemned to death by the senate, Nero committed suicide in 68 A.D. at the age
of 31.
Wherever the Good News of Jesus was
preached, it met the same opposition as Jesus did, and many of those who began
to follow him shared his suffering and death. But no human force could stop the
power of the Spirit unleashed upon the world. The blood of martyrs has always
been, and will always be, the seed of Christians. From Pope Clement I, successor
of St. Peter: “It was through envy and jealousy that the greatest and most
upright pillars of the Church were persecuted and struggled unto death.... First
of all, Peter, who because of unreasonable jealousy suffered not merely once or
twice but many times, and, having thus given his witness, went to the place of
glory that he deserved. It was through jealousy and conflict that Paul showed
the way to the prize for perseverance. He was put in chains seven times, sent
into exile, and stoned; a herald both in the east and the west, he achieved a
noble fame by his faith....” “Around these men with their holy lives there are
gathered a great throng of the elect, who, though victims of jealousy, gave us
the finest example of endurance in the midst of many indignities and tortures.
Through jealousy women were tormented, like Dirce or the daughters of Danaus,
suffering terrible and unholy acts of violence. But they courageously finished
the course of faith and despite their bodily weakness won a noble prize.”
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Amos 2:6-10, 13-16; Psalm
50:16bc-23; Matthew 8:18-22
(click here for
readings)
When
Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the
lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, Teacher, I will follow you
wherever you go. Jesus replied, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have
nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Another disciple said to
him, Lord, first let me go and bury my father. But Jesus told him, Follow me,
and let the dead bury their own dead. (Matthew
8:18-22)
In our Gospel scene today our Lord is
with the crowds and he gives orders to cross to the other side of the lake.
Interestingly, it is one of the scribes, a teacher of the law, who comes to him
and says - addressing him as Master, or Teacher - that “I will follow you
wherever you go.” As a passing observation, this detail given to us by Matthew
indicates
that it was by no means the case that all the scribes and Pharisees pursued
Jesus in order to eliminate him. There is this particular scribe, and we
remember how Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews used come to Jesus by
night to hear him and to ask questions. He said that “we” know - “we” know, and
not just “I” know - that you, Jesus, come from God because no one could perform
the works that you do unless God were with him. The implication is that some
others of the leaders thought this too. So our Lord attracted and convinced
persons from all classes of society, including from the class of those who were
most hostile to him and who eventually condemned him to death. Be that as it
may, our scribe today tells our Lord that he is ready to follow him wherever he
chose to go. Our Lord’s response seems to indicate that the scribe was not
understanding that this would cost. We remember how on another occasion a
wealthy young man, a man of excellent moral and religious background, came with
great eagerness to our Lord and asked what more he needed to do to gain eternal
life (Mark 10:17-27). So good a man was he that our Lord looked on him with love
and proceeded to tell him how he could be “perfect.” It was a risk our Lord was
taking, but out of love he took it. Go, he told the young man, sell what you
have and come, follow me. But the young man went away sad. He was not prepared
to make such a sacrifice. The following of Christ is what will lead to the
perfection of man, but it costs. It is an attainable ideal and Christ holds it
out to each of us, but it requires detachment from all else and making him the
supreme love of one’s life.
The scribe of our Gospel today
(Matthew 8:18-22)not only evokes from Christ
a reminder that the following of him involves a cost, a cost we must be prepared
to pay. It also reminds us that the person of Jesus is the object of man’s
deepest love and striving. Our Lord accepts the appropriateness of the scribe’s
ambition to follow him wherever he chooses to go. He does not call that into
question. He does not say, do not follow me as such - follow rather God and his
Law. He does not correct a kind of hero worship that inappropriately and
implicitly places him before God. No, Christ accepts the complete
appropriateness of a person leaving all to follow him wherever he might go.
Indeed, he requires that of any of his disciples. On another occasion our Lord
said that anyone who wishes to be his disciple must renounce himself and take up
his cross every day and follow in his footsteps. He even said, expressing it
graphically in terms of a metaphor, that a person must be prepared to hate his
father, mother and family, otherwise he is not worthy to be his disciple. All
this is to say that our Lord expected from his disciple the gift of his entire
love. No other prophet ever expected or required this. John the Baptist, the
greatest of the prophets, readily conceded his disciples to our Lord, saying
that he himself was no more than the friend of the bridegroom. Now that the
bridegroom had arrived, his own path was to recede. Christ who came to give his
life for all mankind, presents himself as the object of mankind’s love. This is
an absolutely preposterous position unless Christ is taken to be divine. The
discipleship Christ expects is that which is given to God. It is as simple as
that. So, there was a man who expected to be loved and followed as if he were
God. This same man laid down his life that all might live forever. Indeed, he
proved that he is divine. He is the Messiah, and while truly the son of man he
is first and foremost the Son of the living God. To such a person we all can
say, I will follow you wherever you go. But as he said to the scribe, we must
count the cost, and cost there will be.
Let us place ourselves in the presence
of Jesus as if we are that scribe of today’s Gospel. We stand in the presence of
the jewel of the human race, the incomparable Man of the ages who, while being
truly man is at the same time far more than man. He is also the living God. Let
us tell him in our hearts that we wish to follow him. Let us at the same time
ask him for the grace to forego whatever is shown to be an obstacle in our daily
following of him who is the Master.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Charity
does not consist so much in 'giving' as in 'understanding'. Therefore, seek an
excuse for your neighbour — there is always one be found, — if it is your duty
to judge.
(The Way, no.463)
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Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407), Bishop of Antioch
then of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church
(Homily on the man who owed ten thousand talents, 3; PG 51,21) "Then who can be saved?"
A rich man came to Christ and questioned him
about eternal life, but on learning the high cost of attaining perfection, he
went away in sorrow because of his great wealth. Then, when Christ said that it
was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a person of
wealth to enter the kingdom of heaven, Peter, although he had stripped himself
of everything and no longer owned even a fishing hook, since he had abandoned
his fishing tackle and his boat, went up to Christ and asked: «Who then can be
saved?»
Notice both the restraint of the disciple and his zeal. He did not say: «You are
commanding the impossible. This requirement is too difficult; this law is too
hard." Neither did he remain silent, but with the respect owed by a disciple to
his master he asked: «Who then can be saved?» Even before he was made a shepherd
he had the heart of a shepherd; even before he was entrusted with authority...
his concern was for the whole world. If Peter had been a wealthy man endowed
with great possessions, one might have said his concern was not for others but
for himself and his own interests when he asked this question. In fact, however,
his poverty clears him of any such suspicion, and proves that it was concern for
the salvation of others that made him reflect upon the way of salvation and
anxiously inquire about it, desiring to learn about it from the Master.
And so to encourage him Christ answered that what was impossible for human
nature was possible for God. He said: "Do not think you have been abandoned. In
a matter of such importance I myself will be your helper, and I will make what
is difficult simple and easy.»
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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