Fasting, almsgiving and prayer are all staples of the Christian disciple’s life. They are praiseworthy things, to be sure. But Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel reading that they are not things to be done for praise. No one should even know that we have done these things, because in receiving praise for them, we have received our only reward. Far better to make fasting, almsgiving and prayer so much part of our lives that no one even notices. Except, of course our Father who is hidden. And our Father, who sees what is hidden, will repay us.
Blog
-
Monday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time
My grandmother on my dad’s side was a holy woman and loved to read the Scriptures. Except for the Old Testament. She used to say that the Old Testament was bloody and murderous and not very edifying. It’s easy to understand what she meant when you read the readings we’ve had in the first reading for the last week or so. The readings tell about some pretty evil things going on. When you’re done with the reading, you almost feel like you need a shower.
But these readings are here for a purpose, and the Church wants us to read them for a reason. The story we have been getting is one of salvation rejected by the ones who need to be saved. We have to back up just a little bit. The whole deliverance from slavery in Egypt, which we read about in Lent, symbolized the deliverance from the power of sin. Wandering through the desert for forty years symbolized the purification that we go through on the way to salvation. Crossing the River Jordan symbolizes baptism, which wipes away our sins, and entering into the Promised Land symbolizes the salvation from sin, which we all seek.
But this is where it all goes wrong. When the chosen people crossed into the Promised Land, they were instructed to wipe out all the people who inhabited the land – and not just the people, but the livestock and the cities and everything in them. They were supposed to do that because God knew that if they lived among these people, the chosen people would be tempted to follow false gods and to turn away from him and do every kind of evil. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened: they did not wipe out the people; instead they lived among them. And they turned away from God and followed the false gods of the people of the land and they did every kind of evil.
Those tempting people are represented in today’s first reading by Jezebel. Even her name has become a symbol of all that is wrong with humanity. Literature often calls evil women “Jezebels” because of her. Naboth the Jezreelite was a just man; he earnestly sought the one true God and honored the covenant. He was not interested in giving up his vineyard, his ancestral heritage which had been given to him and his family by the one true God. Giving that up to Ahab would have meant doing exactly what God did not want the people to do: turn away from him toward every kind of evil.
Unfortunately, Naboth’s vindication does not come in this life; he loses his life to the evil Jezebel and her scheming. His own fellow citizens conspire with her and are complicit in her sin – they had turned away from God and would do it again in a heartbeat. But Ahab and Jezebel’s sin is not rewarded either; we’ll hear about that tomorrow in the first reading.
The question for us today is this: what is the Jezebel in our lives? What tempts us to give up the salvation of our heritage and turn away from our God? Whatever it is, we absolutely must put it to death – wipe it out – so that we can live in the promised land of our salvation.
-
The Immaculate Heart of Mary
My mother has a lot of stories about me when I was growing up, as you might well guess. Some of them are nice, some of them embarrassing, and since she’s here a lot, none of you are allowed to ask her about them! I am guessing that even the nice stories about me pale in comparison to the things that Mary kept in her Immaculate Heart about her son, the Son of God.
In the story we have in today’s Gospel, Mary’s heart is filled with wonder. There are a few stories in the Gospels that end with that line: “and his mother kept all these things in her heart.” I think the moms here can understand the sentiment of these lines. I think any mother is amazed at the things their children learn to do, but Mary’s wonderment goes beyond it all: she is amazed at the coming of age of Jesus Christ the Son of God. She knew her child would be special, and when you read these stories you can just imagine how astounded she is at times. Her heart was filled with wonder.
At other places in the Gospel, I imagine her heart is filled with fear. She began to see, I am sure, that the wonderful things her son was doing were not universally appreciated. She must have known that the authorities were displeased and were plotting against him. She probably worried that he would be in danger, which of course he was. Her heart was filled with fear.
Toward the end of the Gospel, her heart is certainly filled with sorrow. As she stood at the foot of the cross, her son, the love of her life, is put to death. The Stabat Mater hymn calls that well to mind: “At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful mother weeping, close to Jesus at the last.” The prophet Simeon had foretold her sorrow when she and Joseph presented Jesus in the temple. Her heart was filled with sorrow.
At the end of the Gospel, her heart must have been filled with joy. Jesus’ death was not the end of the story. Not only did his life not end at the grave, now the power of the grave is smashed to oblivion by the power of the resurrection. In those first hours after his resurrection, she shared the joy of the other women and the disciples. Her heart was filled with joy.
And as the community went forward in the book of Acts to preach the Good News and to make the Gospel known to every corner of the world, Mary’s heart was filled with love. That love that she had for her son, that love that she received from God, she now shared as the first of the disciples. Her place in the community was an honored one, but one that she took up with great passion. Her heart was filled with love.
For us, perhaps, the best news is that, through it all, her heart was always filled with faith. That faith allowed her to respond to God’s call through the angel Gabriel with fiat: “let it be done to me according to your word.” Because of Mary’s faith, the unfolding of God’s plan for the salvation of every person came to fruition. We are here to some extent because of her faith, that faith that allowed her to experience the wonder, sustained her through fear and sorrow, and brought life to the joy and love she experienced. She kept all these things in her heart, that heart that was always filled with faith.
-
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
I remember when I was growing up, often visiting my dear grandmother. She and I were best friends in so many ways. I remember when we visited that she had a beautiful framed picture in the living room, given a spot of honor where everyone could see it, and that picture was of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Whenever I think of the Sacred Heart, I remember grandma, whose name was Margaret Mary, named after the saint who promoted veneration of the Sacred Heart in the first place.
And so, today we celebrate, with incredible gratitude, the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Through his most Sacred Heart, the love of God is made manifest among us. This love is a pervasive love that burns in our hearts and changes our lives and leads us back to the God who made us for himself. This love is irresistible if we give ourselves over to it. It is a love that pursues us and a love that can go far beyond whatever distance we have fallen from grace. It is a love that, as Ezekiel tells us in the first reading, takes us out of the foreign land of our sinfulness and restores us to the promised land of grace, and, as St. Paul tells us in the second reading, is poured into our hearts from the heart of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The love of God pours forth from the heart of Christ just as the water and blood poured forth from his side as he hung dead on the cross. Death could not stop the outpouring of grace that he came to bring.
Today’s Gospel reading gives us a beautiful picture of God’s love for us. This love seeks out the errant sinner. The question Jesus asks is a trick question, because not many shepherds would leave ninety-nine sheep behind to seek one out for fear that he’d lose the other ninety-nine too. But Jesus is the good shepherd, the one who seeks the wandering ones out and dances with joy when they are found.
Today’s feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus finds us wholly consumed by grace. We have been loved into existence by our God who made us like himself. We have been loved into grace by Jesus who gave his life rather than live without us. And we are being loved into heaven as we give ourselves over to the work of the Holy Spirit who is that love between the Father and the Son. God is love and today we experience how powerful that love can be if we give ourselves over to it.
-
Wednesday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time
Giving the right example is incredibly important for the disciple. We don’t want to lead anyone astray either through carelessness or through bad intent. That’s why Elijah decided to have it out with the prophets of Baal once and for all. He proved conclusively – through the power of God – that there is no god but our God. And woe to those prophets of Baal who were later put to death for their actions. In the same way, Jesus laments those who lead his little ones astray. Today we examine all of our actions and purify our example that God alone may be glorified.
-
Monday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time
Sometimes God’s blessings can be challenging. For example, we might not think that those who are meek and those who mourn are blessed. And we certainly wouldn’t celebrate the blessings of those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, would we? It’s even more challenging when we remember that the word “blessed” in Scripture could also be translated as “happy.” Would we think of those people as happy? Probably not, but God does.
Elijah the Tishbite knew this blessing of God too. The prophet’s job is always a demanding one. It’s one of great blessing, because the prophet is called by God and formed from his mother’s womb. But it’s also a great challenge: people don’t usually want to hear what a prophet says – after all, if they were open to the message, a prophet probably wouldn’t be necessary – and quite often the prophets were chased out of town, beaten, and even murdered. Elijah’s job was going to be challenging, but it would also be blessed: God provided for his needs at Wadi Cherith and at the end of his life, whisked him off to heaven in a chariot of fire.
So it’s important for us to remember, I think, that while God never promises to make our lives free and easy, he does promise to bless us. He will bless us with whatever gifts we need to do the work he has called us to do, the work for which he formed us in our mother’s womb. The happiness of the blessing might not come in this life, but we who do God’s will can look forward to our reward, which Jesus promises will be great, in heaven.
-
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
During World War II, the officers of the Third Reich’s secret service forcefully recruited many 12- and 13-year-old boys into the Junior Gestapo. The harshly treated boys were given only inhumane jobs that they were to perform without rest or complaint.
After the war ended, most had lost contact with their families and wandered aimlessly, without food or shelter. As part of an aid program to rebuild postwar Germany, many of these youths were housed in tent cities. There, doctors and nurses worked with them in an attempt to restore their physical, mental and emotional health.
Many of the boys would awaken several times during the night screaming in terror. But one doctor had an idea for handling their fears. After serving the boys a hearty meal, he’d tuck them into bed with a piece of bread in their hands that they were told to save until morning. The boys began to sleep soundly after that because, after so many years of hunger and uncertainty as to their next meal, they finally had the assurance of food for the next day.
On the last day of my dad’s life a little over three years ago, I gave him Holy Communion for what would be the last time. He was able to pray with us, and was so grateful to receive the Sacrament of Jesus’ own body and blood. We call that last Communion Viaticum which, in Latin, means “bread for the journey.” Like the former Junior Gestapo boys who slept soundly because they knew they had food for the next day, my dad was able to rest in Christ knowing that he would be able to eat at the heavenly banquet table.
On this feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we are called to take comfort in the many ways God feeds us. We know that when we pray “give us this day our daily bread,” we will receive all that we need and more, because our God loves us and cares for us. But to really trust in God’s care can sometimes be a bit of a scary moment.
It was certainly scary for the disciples, who asked Jesus to “dismiss the crowds” so that they could go into the surrounding cities and get something to eat. They were afraid for the crowds because they had come to the desert, where there was nothing to eat or drink. They were afraid for the crowds because it would soon be dark and then it would be dangerous to travel into the surrounding cities to find refuge and sustenance. And, if they were to really admit it, they were afraid of the crowds, because all they had to offer them were five loaves of bread and two fish – hardly a meal for the Twelve, let alone five thousand.
But Jesus isn’t having any of that. Fear is no match for God’s mercy and care and providence, so instead of dismissing the crowds, he tells the disciples to gather the people in groups of about fifty. Then he takes the disciples’ meager offering, with every intent of supplying whatever it lacked. He blesses their offerings, transforming them from an impoverished snack to a rich, nourishing meal. He breaks the bread, enabling all those present to partake of it, and finally he gives that meal to the crowd, filling their hungering bodies and souls with all that they need and then some. Caught in a deserted place with darkness encroaching and practically nothing to offer in the way of food, Jesus overcomes every obstacle and feeds the crowd with abundance. It’s no wonder they followed him to this out of the way place.
The disciples had to be amazed at this turn of events, and perhaps it was an occasion for them of coming to know Jesus and his ministry in a deeper way. They were fed not just physically by this meal, but they were fed in faith as well. In this miraculous meal, they came to know that their Jesus could be depended on to keep them from danger and to transform the bleakest of moments into the most joyous of all festivals. But even as their faith moved to a deeper level, the challenge of that faith was cranked up a notch as well. “You give them something to eat,” Jesus said to them. Having been fed physically and spiritually by their Master, they were now charged with feeding others in the very same way.
Christ has come to supply every need. In Jesus, nothing is lacking and no one suffers want. All the Lord asks of the five thousand is what he also asks of us each Sunday: to gather as a sacred assembly, to unite in offering worship with Jesus who is our High Priest, to receive Holy Communion, and to go forth to share the remaining abundance of our feast with others who have yet to be fed. After the crowd had eaten the meal, that was the time for them to go out into the surrounding villages and farms – not to find something to eat, but to share with everyone they met the abundance that they had been given. So it is for us. After we are fed in the Eucharist, we must then necessarily go forth in peace to love and serve the Lord by sharing our own abundance with every person we meet.
You might do that by participating in a small faith community or a bible study, sharing the Scriptures and our own living faith with your brothers and sisters. Maybe you would do that by becoming an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, and dedicating yourselves to the ministry of distributing the precious gift of the Lord’s own Body and Blood each Sunday, or even volunteering to bring Holy Communion to the sick and homebound. But you could also do that by volunteering bringing food to the Glen Ellyn Food Pantry, or by volunteering to package meals at Feed My Starving Children. Sharing our abundance of spiritual blessing doesn’t have to be very elaborate. You might just bring a meal to a friend going through a hard time or visit a neighbor who is a shut-in. Jesus is the font of every blessing, and it is up to us to share that blessing with everyone in every way we can. We too must hear and answer those challenging words of Jesus: “You give them something to eat.”
What we celebrate today is that our God is dependable and that we can rely on him for our needs. Just as he was dependable to feed the vast crowd in that horrible, out-of the-way place, so he too can reach out to us, no matter where we are on the journey, and feed us beyond our wildest imaginings. Just as the Junior Gestapo boys were able to rest easy as they clutched that bread for the next day, so we too can rest easy, depending on our God to give us all that we need to meet the challenges of tomorrow and beyond. The challenge to give others something to eat need not be frightening because we know that the source of the food is not our own limited offerings, but the great abundance of God himself. We need not fear any kind of hunger – our own or that of others – because it’s ultimately not about us or what we can offer, but what God can do in and through us.
In our Eucharist today, the quiet time after Communion is our time to gather up the wicker baskets of our abundance, to reflect on what God has given us and done for us and done with us. We who receive the great meal of his own Body and Blood must be resolved to give from those wicker baskets in our day-to-day life, feeding all those people God has given us in our lives. We do all this in remembrance of Christ, proclaiming the death of the Lord until he comes again.
May the Body and Blood of Christ bring us all to everlasting life.
-
Friday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time
I love the Scriptures. They speak to us of the very essence of God. The Scriptures aren’t words dictated by God, but rather, the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of the Scriptures with the truth that comes from God himself. All Scripture, as Saint Paul reminds us today, is “useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
What is wonderful about the Scriptures is that, even though they were written over many centuries, they all resonate in harmony with each other. Even the New Testament does not clash with the Old Testament. In many ways, the Church Fathers have taught us that the Old Testament is the precursor to the Gospel, the prophecy and history that prefaces the coming of Christ. All of the Scriptures were always part of God’s plan for us, and they are the textbook for living the Christian life.
Over the years, Catholics have been accused of being unfamiliar with the Scriptures, which was true in the past. But that has changed recently, and many Catholics have become friends of Scripture, and have studied and prayed with these words as was their intent. I had a seminary professor who used to tell us to be sure that we let the Scriptures wash over our lives each and every day, even reading just a few verses before bed if we hadn’t had time to read them all day long.
So today we are grateful to God for the revelation he has given us in holy Scripture. May we all immerse ourselves in them, constantly striving to come closer to God through the study of his word.
-
St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs
One of 22 Ugandan martyrs, Charles Lwanga is the patron of youth and Catholic action in most of tropical Africa. He and his companions were pages in the court of Mwanga, the Bagandan ruler. He protected his fellow pages, aged 13 to 30, from the immoral demands of 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 Mwanga’s demands and his efforts to safeguard the faith of his friends, Charles was burned to death on June 3, 1886, by Mwanga’s order. Charles knew well Saint Paul’s instruction to Timothy in today’s first reading: “If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him.” Even though St. Charles and his friends died for their faith, as did St. Paul, they received the unfading glory of the martyrs in the kingdom of God.
How are we called upon to stand up for others and protect each other from the immoral onslaughts of our own time and place? Witnessing to what is right and good is often inconvenient, and for those like St. Charles, sometimes dangerous. But that is what disciples do. That is our ministry, the work to which we have all been called.
-
Wednesday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time
Jesus clarifies for us that God is a God not of the dead, but of the living. God is all about life. He gives us the great gift of life on this earth, and we must zealously defend and respect life. He gives us the hope of life eternal in the kingdom, and we must zealously pursue it. The project of our lives here on earth is to get to eternal life in heaven, and we have to focus on getting there. Because that is what our God – the God of the living – wants for us.
You must be logged in to post a comment.