Prayers this week:
To you, my God, I
lift my soul, I trust in you; let me never come to shame. Do not let my
enemies laugh at me. No one who waits for you is ever put to shame.
(Psalm 24:1-3) All-powerful
God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find
an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom
of heaven where he lives and reigns. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God.
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Jesus
said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also
be when the Son of man comes. In the days before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, right up till the
day Noah entered the ark. They did not know till the flood came and
took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of man be. Then
two shall be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left. Two
women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one left.
Watch therefore because you do not know not at what hour your Lord will
come. But know this that if the master of the house knew at what hour
the thief would come, he would certainly watch and would not allow his
house to be broken open. So you also be ready, because you do not know
at what hour the Son of man will come.”(Matthew 24:37-44)
The
Judgment
It is very striking the number of times in the Gospels that our Lord either
directly or indirectly refers to his coming to judge mankind. He stresses time
and again that each person must prepare himself for this judgment. As he says
at the end of our Gospel passage today, “you also must be prepared, for at an
hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” He refers to the days of
Noah, saying that in like manner will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
“In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be
also at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew
24:37‑44) Our Lord, in drawing on Old Testament temporal events to
illustrate what will happen in the fullness of time, intimates also that we can
draw on events in life to help us realize what is certainly to come. An
earthquake suddenly convulses whole towns or even a great city and all is in
ruins. It could be a massive cyclone, or a great fire, or a sudden epidemic.
For the individual it could be a sudden heart attack, or a robbery. Sudden
catastrophes for which people are unprepared are a reminder of the “coming of
the Son of Man” which may happen “at an hour you do not expect.” So too the
numerous situations in life when a person is called to account are a reminder of
the great reckoning that faces every person who has lived or will live. A
student knows he will face exams at the end of his semester or year and yet
becomes distracted and lethargic. The exams come upon him and he is caught
unprepared. So, our Lord says, “Stay awake!” That Christ will come to judge the
living and the dead is absolutely certain. What is entirely uncertain are the
time and the circumstances of his coming either to the individual or to the
human race.
Warnings such as these prompt us to remember and meditate on Christian and
Catholic teaching on the judgment of God. At death each person is judged by
Christ who is appointed by the Father to be the judge of the living and the
dead. There are two points here to be pondered. Firstly, each individual will
be judged after he dies on all that he did during life. One’s own
responsibility for being the person one is, and one’s own responsibility for all
that one chose to do or not to do, will not be able to be evaded. Nothing will
be passed over, and the sentence will come. The person will then enter into the
happiness of heaven immediately or after an appropriate purification in
Purgatory, or alternatively will enter into the eternal damnation of hell.
Ultimately what faces every single person who has enjoyed the gift of life is
either heaven or hell. There will be no alternative to this. There will be no
escape into the oblivion of nothingness or an eternal sleep. It will be either
unending happiness or unending misery and either way it will be the retribution
for the way one has chosen to live. Secondly, it is Jesus Christ who will judge
all. So Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, those who have never heard of
Christ or who have scarcely given him a thought, will be judged by him. All
will appear before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. Mahomet has come before
him, as has Buddha, Confucius, the Caesars, the popes and kings of history and
all the great and unknown people who have come and gone. Jesus Christ is the
judge of the living and the dead. This is Christian dogma. Moreover, this
individual judgment by God on each person’s freely chosen thoughts, words and
deeds will be confirmed eventually by a second general judgment on the whole
human race when Christ comes again. So Christ will come as judge at the death
of each person, and he will come again at the end of time to judge all the
living and the dead, confirming the judgment already made on each. The point of
our Gospel passage today is that we must live in such a way as to be always
ready for these coming events.
The
most important event in the future is the divine judgment on each person at his
death and on the whole human race at the end of time. The Judge will be none
other than Jesus Christ. What we must do then is to live as his friends,
showing our love for him by keeping his commandments. This is the key to life.
When he will come, we do not know. So let us then never be caught unprepared.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1020-1022
That is a painful wound. But it is well on its way to being healed.
Stick to your resolutions. And the pain will soon turn into Joyful
peace.
(The Way, no.256)
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Why pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?
The will of the Father is that “all men be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). For
this Jesus came: to perfectly fulfill the saving will of his Father. We
pray God our Father to unite our will to that of his Son after the
example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints. We ask that this
loving plan be fully realized on earth as it is already in heaven. It
is through prayer that we can discern “what is the will of God” (Romans
12:2) and have the “steadfastness to do it” (Hebrews 10:36). (CCC
2822-2827, 2860)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.591)
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Scripture today: Isaiah
4:2-6; Psalm 122:1-9; Matthew 8:5-11
When
Jesus entered Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion asking, “Lord,
my servant lies at home sick of the palsy and is grievously tormented.”
And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion
answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof, but
only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man
subject to authority having under me soldiers; and I say to this, Go,
and he goes, and to another, Come, and he comes, and to my servant, Do
this, and he does it.” Jesus hearing this, marvelled. He said to those
who followed him, “Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith
in Israel. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west
and will sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven.”(Matthew 8:5-11)
Prayer of faith Our Lord
at times holds up for emulation by his disciples various figures he comes across
in his ministry. We remember how he was seated in the Temple and he saw a poor
unnoticed widow approach the treasury and place in two small coins, whereas the
well‑off people put in a great deal. Our
Lord called his disciples to him and pointed to her saying that she had put in
more than all the others because she had put in all she had to live on whereas
they had put in what they did not need anyway. On another occasion he was in
the home of Martha and Mary and Martha was distracted and anxious about the
serving. She came to our Lord to complain about her sister who was spending all
her time simply listening to him and not helping at all. Our Lord gently
corrected Martha and held up before her the example of her sister Mary who in
that particular point of time was doing the one thing necessary, which was to
give her whole attention to the word of Christ. On another occasion he was
dining in the house of a Pharisee and a woman who had a bad reputation came in
and washed his feet with her repentant tears. Our Lord held her up before the
Pharisee as an example of love and repentance. The Pharisee compared poorly
with her. In his stories our Lord at times held up surprising persons for
imitation. There is the story of the Good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite
failed badly in charity while the Samaritan, a foreigner and a heretic, was
admirable. Our Lord’s questioner (he had posed a question to our Lord to test
him) was told to go and do the same himself. In our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 8:5‑11) our Lord holds up a pagan as
an example of faith. There is no suggestion in the text that the Roman
centurion adhered to the Jewish religion, even though his very approach to our
Lord indicates his sympathy with it. But more than anything, what is admirable
is the quality of his prayer. It is distinguished by its faith and its
humility. He certainly believed that our Lord could do what he was asking of
him and he regarded himself humbly. He considered himself unworthy of having
Christ grace the door of his house.
So excellent
was the prayer of the centurion that our Lord, the Son of God made man and the
Saviour of the world, was amazed. He turned and declared that he had not found
faith like this in all Israel — presumably, that is, among the many crowds who
had followed him during his ministry to that point. Of course our Lord was
expressing his admiration in these terms so as to praise the centurion’s faith
and to point to him as an example to the crowd that was following him. It
scarcely needs to be said that the faith of the centurion could not compare
with, say, the faith of Christ’s own mother of whom Elizabeth had declared that
she was blessed for having believed what was told her by the Lord. Other
examples of magnificent faith could be given, such as Joseph the foster‑father
of Christ, Simeon and Anna, St John the Baptist and our Lord’s own first
disciples. But the centurion showed a striking faith nevertheless, and that it
was so we know on the word of Christ. So just as we learn from the example of
the widow in the Temple, so too we can learn much from this centurion. Indeed,
the Church has taken his prayer and uses it every time Mass is celebrated. Just
before the Body and Blood of Christ is given to the congregation at Mass the
priest holds up the Eucharistic Jesus and together with the entire congregation
repeats the prayer of our centurion. “Lord, I am not worthy that you should
come under my roof. Say but the word and my soul will be healed.” Let us
resolve really to mean this when we say it in union with the priest at Mass.
Let it become a frequent prayer in our life. We ought often be asking Christ to
come and make us what we should be, healing us of our spiritual infirmities and
our sinful condition. Let us often make what we might call spiritual
communions, uniting ourselves with the risen and living Jesus, especially the
Eucharistic Jesus who resides constantly in the Tabernacles of the Catholic
Church. We should invite Christ into our hearts and a good prayer to do so
would be the prayer of the centurion, but prayed with real faith and humility.
Our Lord tells us elsewhere in the Gospel that we ought pray always and never
lose heart. He has given us the Lord’s Prayer as the model and summary of our
prayer, and in today’s Gospel we learn from him that faith and humility ought
distinguish our entire approach to him. Let us strive to be like the centurion
in all our requests of Christ. The prayer of the centurion serves as a model
for our prayers of petition to Christ our Lord.
You drag along like a dead-weight, as if you had no part to play. No
wonder you are beginning to feel the symptoms of lukewarmness. Wake up!
(The Way, no.257)
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What is the sense of the petition “Give us this day our daily bread”?
Asking God with the filial trust of children for the daily nourishment
which is necessary for us all we recognize how good God is, beyond all
goodness. We ask also for the grace to know how to act so that justice
and solidarity may allow the abundance of some to remedy the needs of
others. (CCC 2828-2834, 2861)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.592)
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In that same
hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said: “I praise you, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and
have revealed them to little ones. Yes Father, for so it has seemed
good in your sight. All things have been entrusted to me by my Father;
and no one knows who the Son is but the Father; and who the Father is
but the Son, and those to whom the Son will reveal him.” Turning to his
disciples he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I
say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things
that you see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you
hear, and have not heard them.”(Luke
10:21-24)
The One
and the Only
The Dalai Lama once said something to the effect that Christ was an instance in
history of the Buddha, or an incarnation of him. The gist of his observation
was that Christ was one case among many in history of all that the Buddha was
and represented. Presumably his idea was that the spirit of the Buddha pervades
and is manifested in the great religious founders of history. One of the Roman
Emperors had statues of
various religious figures including Moses and Christ. They were all deities, as
far as he was concerned. When our Lord asked his disciples who people were
saying the Son of Man is, he received various answers. Some, his disciples
reported, said that he was Elijah, others that he was John the Baptist come back
again, others that he was one of the prophets of old. Our Lord knew what people
were saying of him but he really wanted from his disciples a profession of who
he truly was. Simon Peter spoke up. “You are the Christ,” he said, “the Son of
the living God.” Our Lord immediately declared Simon to be blessed and to have
been greatly favoured. Simon’s awareness that Jesus was the Messiah and, more
than this, that he was the very Son of God was a grace given to him from above.
Christ was no ordinary prophet, nor was he simply the greatest of them. He was
the long promised Messiah, the one whom God would give to the world to establish
his Kingdom. There is no one greater in God’s sight than this Messiah. He is
the King of kings who brings the blessings of heaven to the earth. Jesus is
indeed the Messiah, but more still, he is God the Son. In our Gospel passage
today, our Lord exults that the Father has revealed this to the humble ones, and
praises his heavenly Father for revealing the Son to them. “No one knows who
the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to
whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” (Luke 10:21‑24)
The constant tendency will be to regard Christ as simply one among
many, and his doctrine as simply one among many, carrying little more value than
the many others that are on offer in human history. Our passage today is one
among several in which our Lord speaks of his uniqueness. He is supremely the
Lord and King and no one else shares with him his supreme status. God has
handed to him the lordship over everything. “All things have been handed over
to me by my Father.” In the intimacy of his circle of disciples, our Lord calmly
claimed this universal lordship over all. Then, when he had risen from the
dead, he stated explicitly again that all authority in heaven and on earth had
been given to him. They, his disciples, were to go to the whole world, then,
and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and teaching them to
observe all he had commanded. The whole world is called by God to accept Jesus
as the Lord and King. It is an extraordinary and wonderful thing that the world
has a Lord and King, but this fact has to be heard, learnt and accepted. He is
the world’s Saviour and the source of its renewal and its hope. I remember
watching a television debate many years ago between a Jewish Rabbi and a
Protestant theologian. The Rabbi (understandably) attacked her over the
Christian teaching that Christ is the only way to God. Sadly, the theologian
retreated from the Christian claim, and yet that is exactly what our Lord
claims. No one can come to the Father except through me, he told his disciples
at the Last Supper. He is the only name by which men can be saved, Peter told
the Sanhedrin in the Acts of the Apostles. Just how this is to be understood is
a further matter and it certainly does not mean that only Christians can be
saved, but it does mean that whoever is saved is saved only through Christ, and
Christ is present and active through the Church which he founded on Peter and
the Apostles. Our Gospel today speaks of the one Lordship of Christ, and of how
it is the Father who reveals this to the men and women of each generation.
Jesus
is the Messiah, the Son of God, the one and only Saviour of the world, the only
way to the Father. All things have been entrusted to him by the Father. In his
hands has been placed all authority in heaven and on earth. As our Lord says in
today’s Gospel, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you,
many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to
hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” Let us accept Christ as our all.
Get rid of those scruples that deprive you of peace. — What takes away
your peace of soul cannot come from God.
When God comes to you, you will feel the truth of those greetings: My
peace I give to you..., peace I leave you..., peace be with you..., and
you will feel it even in the midst of troubles.
(The Way, no.258)
What is the specifically Christian sense of this petition?
Since “man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4), this petition equally applies to
hunger for the Word of God and for the Body of Christ received in the
Eucharist as well as hunger for the Holy Spirit. We ask this with
complete confidence for this day – God’s “today” – and this is given to
us above all in the Eucharist which anticipates the banquet of the
Kingdom to come. (CCC 2835-2837, 2861)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.593)
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When Jesus had
passed on from there, he came near the sea of Galilee. And going up
into a mountain, he sat there. And there
came to him great multitudes, having with them the dumb, the blind, the
lame, the maimed, and many others. They placed them at his feet and he
healed them. The multitudes marvelled seeing the dumb speak, the lame
walk, and the blind see, and they glorified the God of Israel. And
Jesus called together his disciples, and said "I have compassion on the
multitudes, because they have continued with me now three days, and
have nothing to eat. I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint
on the way." And the disciples said to him, "How could we have enough
loaves in the desert to feed so great a multitude?" And Jesus said to
them, "How many loaves have you?" But they said, "Seven, and a few
fish." And he directed the multitude to sit on the ground. And taking
the seven loaves and the fish, and giving thanks, he broke, and gave to
his disciples, and the disciples to the people. They ate and had their
fill, and they took up seven baskets full of what remained of the
fragments.(Matthew 15:29-37)
God of
compassion
Our Gospel scene presents us with a picture of Christ amid a very suffering
world. “At that time: Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the
mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the
lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others.” Christ walks by the
Sea of Galilee and goes up on the mountain, as if at a spot near to God. There
he sits down as if making himself accessible to the world coming to him from
below and as if about to dispense divine blessings to those who choose to
approach him.
The crowds brought those who were afflicted and they placed them at his feet
“and he cured them.” Perhaps in them we remember Moses going up the mountain to
meet Yahweh God. On that occasion Moses and the people encountered One of great
majesty and awe, full of power and One who, while rich in compassion and mercy
for his chosen people, nevertheless is threatening to the sinner. What was the
image of Yahweh in the minds of those “great crowds” who followed our Lord up
the mountain, bearing with them their sick and afflicted? We do not know but
here in our Gospel scene today they encountered God on the mountain, a God of
power while overflowing with compassion. There was no doubt in their minds that
God was at work in the words and actions of Jesus. There was nothing he could
not do for them and he was taking very many of them out of a condition of
physical and emotional slavery into a new state of light and hope. Just as
Moses led his people out of oppression by the power of God, so Jesus by the
power of God — which is to say, by his own power — was leading those who came to
him out of the oppression of their fallen condition. The distinctive
manifestation of this almighty power he was exercising was that of kindliness
and compassion. Christ’s heart was overflowing with kindness and concern for
the afflicted. Indeed and in fact, he was the Yahweh God who had appeared to
Moses at the Burning Bush to tell him his name and to tell him that he felt
sorry for his people and was about to lead them out of their oppression.
Now incarnate in Jesus, Yahweh’s love was being fully revealed.
Having cured “the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others,”
Christ still felt compassion for the people. “Jesus summoned his disciples and
said, ‘My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now
for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry,
for fear they may collapse on the way.’” He proceeded forthwith to feed them
with virtually nothing, and abundantly. The disciples said to him, “Where could
we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” Jesus
said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few
fish.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven
loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the
disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were
satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full
(Matthew 15:29‑37). The wonderful thing is
that all this was a foretaste of much greater things to come. Jesus was born
into this world to free the world from the profound calamity which had no
natural means of cure. The world had suffered a radical fall out of which it
could not be taken by any natural means. The world, and man in particular, was
doomed if left to itself. How terrible that man should have placed himself in
this impossible predicament! But here was the Saviour among fallen and pitiful
men, curing them of their afflictions and in so doing, showing that he had the
power and the compassion to break the power of the root cause, which is their
sin. He was pointing to a far greater work which he was soon to do and at
unimaginable cost to himself. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world by bearing all of those sins on his own shoulders unto death. He
expiated for the sin of the world and led mankind out of the slavery of sin to
the true promised land of heaven.
Let us like the
crowds go up to him where he is found. He is found most especially and in all
his fullness in the Church he founded on the Apostles, with Peter at their
head. He is the Head and Bridegroom of the Church and by means of his body the
Church he draws into his own divine life all those who come to him to be with
him. Let us then come to him and accept his offer of friendship and divine
life. It is through him and only through him that this divine life will be
ours.
Those scruples still! Speak simply and clearly to your Director.
Obey... and don't underestimate the most loving Heart of our Lord.
(The Way, no.259)
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Why say “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us”?
By asking God the Father to pardon us, we acknowledge before him that
we are sinners. At the same time we proclaim his mercy because in his
Son and through the sacraments “we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins” (Colossians 1:14). Still our petition will be answered only if we
for our part have forgiven first. (2838-2839, 2862)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.594)
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Scripture today: Isaiah 26:1-6; Psalm
118:1 and 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a; Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Jesus
said to his disciples, “Not every one who says to me, Lord! Lord! will
enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he who does the will of my
heavenly Father, he it is who will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many
will say to me on that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in your
name, and cast out devils in your name, and worked many miracles in
your name? And then I will say to them, I do not know you. Depart from
me, you wicked people. Every one therefore who hears these words of
mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
When the rain fell and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on
that house it did not fall for it was founded on rock. And every one
who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice will
be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and
it fell, and great was the fall thereof.(Matthew
7:21, 24-27)
Religion
and life
When we consider the religious life of much of human history we can see a
pattern. Man is religious, so much so that there are scholars who, while
allowing that man is a rational animal, prefer to describe and even define him
primarily as a religious animal. That is to say, they regard his distinguishing
feature as lying in religion. They observe how — with the exception of the
modern anomaly of Western secular culture and those cultures influenced by
Western
secularism — in society after society and culture after culture, religion is the
all‑pervading fabric. Religious sacrifices and ritual and religious myth
(“myth” used in the sense of story) seem to be present wherever there is man and
society. But while there is this general pattern that man and society is marked
by religion, I would also observe that there is an associated pattern. That
associated pattern is that religion tends to be separated from daily morality.
By that I mean that the gods are placated or appealed to with sacrifices and
ritual but religion has tended to be that alone. I remember attending an
informal lecture at the University of Sydney given by a scholar of
Zoroastrianism. He defined religion as being a technology, a way of gaining
various benefits and blessings from the powers above. This is done by ritual.
Even though anthropologists point out that in most cultures religion pervades
life, my impression is that this does not issue in a notably good and moral
daily life. Religion in traditional societies is the general context of life
rather than an all-pervading and personal commitment. That is personal
conjecture and one that is meant merely to illustrate my main point. My real
point derives from what our Lord tells us in today’s Gospel. Jesus said to his
disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of
heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” It is not
enough often to pray, indeed to pray a lot — even though prayer is absolutely
essential to religion and for any true relationship with God. It is not enough
to offer sacrifices and engage in ritual. What God wants of us also is that we
be good. Be holy, we read in the Old Testament, for I am holy.
The revealed religion of the Old and New Testaments is distinguished precisely
by this, that the worship and love of God must include a very moral life. God’s
commandments for everyday life must be observed if God is to be well pleased,
and whenever this is not the case God is displeased with the sacrifices and
observances of religion. Time and again the prophets inveigh against the people
for their sacrifices because they oppress and disregard the poor, they are
immoral in their everyday lives, and in general they do not observe the
commandments of God that relate to one’s neighbour. So called “religion” is
separated from personal and social morality. Of the Ten Commandments the last
seven relate to right dealings with one’s neighbour. They require that we be
good and moral in relation to others. Our Lord said to his disciples that if
they love him they will keep his commandments, and his commandment is clear from
his description of the Last and General Judgment (Matthew 25). In that
description the Saviour makes it clear that a great deal will hinge on having
lived a good and moral life: which is to say, being just and charitable and
helping those in need. All this is to say that religion means doing the will of
God, not only when fulfilling one’s “religious duties” at prayer or worship, but
constantly in everyday life. The man of religion is such in his work office, at
his work bench, in his profession or trade, among his friends and acquaintances,
wherever he happens to be each day of his life. We are called to worship God
day by day and indeed moment by moment precisely by endeavouring to do his will,
which is the God‑given duty before us. Yes, God is the one and only God whom we
are called to worship and love and pray to ceaselessly with all our hearts, but
he is also the God of our moral obligations. The God of religion is the God of
morality and of the right conscience. God is the God of one’s duties of state.
God is the God of one’s daily work in life. He is to be wholeheartedly served
there too. He awaits us in the moral obligations of life. Indeed, as the
Church teaches, it is his voice that can be heard in the fundamental dictate of
conscience. For this reason our Lord tells us that those who will enter the
Kingdom of heaven are not those who merely say to him, Lord, Lord, but those who
do the will of his heavenly Father.
The famous programme of St Benedict for the Christian life was work and prayer,
prayer and work. We must pray if we are ever to grow in the love of God. It is
the fundamental condition of holiness. But this prayer must pervade our work so
that in all we do, in all our work in life, we are striving to do the will of
God. Our religion must not be separated from morality, but must be manifested
in and nourished by a truly good life lived in accord with the will of God our
heavenly Father. Christ came to transform our hearts, and to give us the grace
to do this.
Gloominess, depression. I am not surprised: it is the cloud of dust
raised by your fall. But... that's enough! Can't you see that the cloud
has been borne far away by the breath of grace?
Moreover, your gloominess, if you don't fight it, could very well be
the cloak of your pride. — Did you really think yourself perfect and
incapable of sinning?
(The Way, no.260)
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How is forgiveness possible?
Mercy can penetrate our hearts only if we ourselves learn how to
forgive – even our enemies. Now even if it seems impossible for us to
satisfy this requirement, the heart that offers itself to the Holy
Spirit can, like Christ, love even to love’s extreme; it can turn
injury into compassion and transform hurt into intercession.
Forgiveness participates in the divine mercy and is a high-point of
Christian prayer. (CCC 2840-2845, 2862)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.595)
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Scripture today: Isaiah 29:17-24; Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14; Matthew
9:27-31
As Jesus
passed from there, there followed him two blind men crying out, “Have
mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had arrived at the house the blind
men came to him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe, that I can do
this for you?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their
eyes saying, “According to your faith, be it done to you.” Their eyes
were opened and Jesus strictly charged them, saying, “See that no one
learns of this.” But going out they spread his fame throughout that
country.
(Matthew 9:27-31)
Man’s
basic need
One of the signs of a great photographer is his ability to capture in a
photographic shot something with a meaning far larger than the mere subject of
his photo. A great and famous photo was that of a Vietnamese child running from
a scene of fire and mayhem during the Vietnamese war, with terror and tears
etched on her face. In the eyes of the world somehow the photo sums up the
tragedy of war, setting aside any discussion of blame.
Similarly, an artist may paint a picture that captures the spirit of an era or
the legend of a person, such as a famous painting of a woman leading a mob
action during the French Revolution, or a romantic painting of Napoleon on
horseback, rearing in action. I would suggest that similarly the opening scene
of our Gospel passage today carries a resonance far beyond the mere scene. We
read that “As Jesus passed from there, two blind men followed him crying out,
“Have mercy on us, Son of David!” Two blind men following along in their
hopeless darkness, perhaps helping one another, perhaps depending on this or
that person who was willing to guide them — what a picture this is of much of
human life in all its struggle! Consider what might have been their history.
Perhaps they lost their sight, perhaps they never had it. Perhaps they had been
friends over a long time, perhaps over a short time. Perhaps they lacked family
or friends to help them and in any case here they clearly needed one another.
Mankind is fallen as a result of the rebellion of our first parents against God
and the story of so much of human history is one of difficulty, struggle and
misery while containing so many achievements nevertheless. Much blindness and
darkness hangs over the story of man and he cries out for pity and mercy. It is
this need which fuels so much of religion and which all too often, sadly, is not
dispelled by religion. We might think of the religion of the Aztecs or the
Incas and some of the appalling ceremonies which it entailed. It represented a
cry for help amid the profound and sin‑sodden darkness of their benighted
religion.
Yes, the cry for mercy and pity — “have mercy on us!” — is the cry that rises
continually and inexorably from the heart of mankind. It leads man to look
heavenwards and beyond the clouds. He searches the heavens, as it were, trying
to see or hear an answer and, depending on his era or locality, he thinks he
hears this or that voice or sees this or that figure. All too often much of
what he hears is basically a projection of his yearnings and his experience of
man and life. But an answer has indeed come from the heavens and it is a
magnificently clear and definite answer, one that has come from the very
highest, from the Lord God himself. God has visited his people, and through his
chosen people he has visited mankind and has chosen to dwell with man. God so
loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, not to condemn the world for
its wilful and sad blindness and sins, but to save all who otherwise would be
lost. Jesus is God’s answer to the prayer of man for pity and mercy. Thus it
is to Jesus that the two blind men cry out for mercy. He is the object of their
petition. There is now a great light shining in the darkness of the world and
that light is Christ. He is the light of the world, and to the extent that he
is absent from the life of an individual or a people, to that extent does
darkness prevail there. The greatest darkness is that which derives from sin.
Now, modern man all too often lacks even the sense of sin. His cry for pity and
mercy does not touch the root of his blindness, which is his inherited and
chosen sinfulness. Furthermore, modern man must learn where the remedy is
found. It is found in the person of Jesus. It is to Jesus, the Son of David,
that the blind men directed their heartfelt appeal. So must we, and we ought do
it every day of our lives. Our fundamental call is to holiness of life and the
overcoming of sin. Apart from Christ this is impossible. He alone takes away
the sin of the world. With him the darkness of sin is dispelled and the way to
holiness in him is laid open. Let us place ourselves in the company of the
blind men and appeal to Christ.
Christ can be found. He can be pointed to and approached. He lives now and is
very accessible. Where is he? He is to be found above all in his Church, the
Church he founded on the Apostles with Peter at their head. He dwells in his
body the Church, and through the word and sacraments of the Church he ministers
to us who so greatly need him, just as he ministered to the two blind men. Let
us resolve to live in him, for if we live in him we shall rise and reign with
him.
I forbid you to think any more about it. — Instead, bless God, who has
given back life to your soul.
(The Way, no.261)
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What does “Lead us not into temptation” mean?
We ask God our Father not to leave us alone and in the power of
temptation. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us know how to discern, on
the one hand, between a trial that makes us grow in goodness and a
temptation that leads to sin and death and, on the other hand, between
being tempted and consenting to temptation. This petition unites us to
Jesus who overcame temptation by his prayer. It requests the grace of
vigilance and of final perseverance. (CCC 2846-2849, 2863)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.596)
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Scripture today: Isaiah 30:19-21.23-26; Psalm
147:1-6; Matthew 9:35-10:1.6-8
Jesus went through all the towns and
villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom
and healing every disease and sickness. When he 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 twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 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
9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8)
The
divine compassion
I know one British university professor of studies in religion who insists with
considerable erudition that Buddhism does not allow for a loving creator. He
himself is a convert to Catholicism from Buddhism. Buddhism, of course, is a
response to the problem of evil and suffering. That is not to say that what we
might call the very agnosticism of Buddhism is founded on the problem of evil
and suffering, but Buddhism certainly reminds us of that problem. Buddhism
constitutes a flight away from a bad world that is the source of evil and
suffering for man.
This flight is not a path towards a positive union with God but a path towards a
state of detachment, or indifference to the things of this life. The Christian
system does not allow that detachment in itself is the purpose of life. Of
itself this will not bring the happiness for which the heart of man yearns.
Rather, detachment is a step towards attachment — attachment to God and his holy
will. That having been said, Buddhism reminds us of a few great facts — and one
is that the evil and suffering experienced by man has ever been a problem for
positive theism. There is so much evil and suffering. If there is a God, where
is he and what is he about? Many religious people become irritated with God’s
apparent inactivity. Some persons come to think he is just a pie in the sky, a
phantom. Some just cease thinking about him and deal with life on their own.
Many give up on him. Some become militantly opposed to him in an aggressive
atheism. The prime minister of Australia (Kevin Rudd) was once asked why he
believed in God, and he replied that it was the design that he saw everywhere
that convinced him. Many, though, reply that the world is in fact poorly
designed and not worthy of an infinitely powerful and intelligent Creator. What
is to be thought of a design that includes earthquakes, tsunamis, vast bush
fires, floods, disease, war and general mayhem? Not very far from all these
attitudes is the intractable problem of evil. If only man could be happy, but
he is not — so it is stated. Despite the British professor, it will be said
that there cannot be a loving Creator, if by this we mean One who is
all-powerful and utterly holy.
This is not the moment to deal with a philosophical problem that has exercised
the minds of countless thoughtful persons though the ages. One thing we can say
is that the most religious and intelligent of men, while profoundly in communion
with God, at the same time have no doubt about the scale of evil in the world.
The problem of evil does not in the slightest way cause in them doubts as to the
existence of God, even though they are unable to comprehend it. The one figure
in history who is a beacon of light before the problem of evil in the world is
Jesus Christ. God was his “Father.” Let the atheistic and agnostic observer of
an evil world look on Jesus Christ — which brings us to our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6‑8). What has God
done in the face of evil? He has sent his dearly beloved Son, his only-begotten,
to become one of us and to face the tide of evil himself. He has also revealed
that the evil in the world is at root our responsibility. Man sinned, and so
serious was this that it set all of life askew and in rebellion. Suffering
descended upon man and his sin continued unabated. In our Gospel passage it is
this suffering and human disorder that our Lord perceives in the sweep of his
sovereign glance. “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in
their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every
disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them,
because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” God was
not absent from human suffering. Long before, he spoke to Moses in the Burning
Bush. I have seen the suffering of my people, he told Moses, and I know well
what they are suffering. I have come down to rescue them. If that was said to
Moses, now we see God in action in veritable earnest. He has come to save his
people from their sins, and this time he will take these sins on himself and, by
himself undergoing unimaginable suffering, will expiate for them. He will then
send out his disciples to bring the benefit of this redemption to all the
nations, and here in our Gospel today we have the beginnings of this.
“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.” It was a harbinger of what was to come. Our Lord
has shown that, because of the use man has made of his own free will, there is
no easy answer to the problem of evil. But we do know this — the ultimate way
out is through union in love with Jesus Christ. He has shown that if we suffer
with him we shall reign with him.
Prayers this week:
People of Zion, the
Lord will come to save all nations, and your hearts will exult to hear
his majestic voice.(Isaiah 30:19.30) God
of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that
hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, so that we may share his
wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
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In those days
John the Baptist came preaching in the desert of Judea, saying: Do
penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this was he who was
spoken of by Isaiah the prophet,
saying: A voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare the way of the
Lord, make straight his paths. And the same John wore a garment of
camels' hair and a leathern girdle about his loins. His food was
locusts and wild honey. Then there went out to him Jerusalem and all
Judea, and all the country about Jordan. They were baptized by him in
the Jordan, confessing their sins. And seeing many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: brood of vipers, who
has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore
fruit worthy of penance. And think not within yourselves, We have
Abraham for our father. For I tell you that God is able of these stones
to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of
the trees. Every tree therefore that does not yield good fruit, shall
be cut down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in the water
for penance, but he that shall come after me is mightier than I, whose
shoes I am not worthy to bear. He will baptize you in the Holy Ghost
and fire. His fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his
floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn
with unquenchable fire.(Matthew 3:1-12)
Personal
freedom
It has always been intriguing to me to follow the vagaries of philosophical
thought as it has unfolded during the course of history. The history of
philosophy provides plenty of material for the study of how far from common
sense the thinking of some talented thinkers can stray. Descartes attempted to
prove by demonstration that he existed and had recourse to the mere fact that he
thought. This, he decided, proved that he existed: I think, therefore I am.
Apart from the questionable philosophical step of beginning not with external
reality (as does, say, Aquinas) but with internal impressions, it ignores the
common sense intuition of one’s own existence being involved with the existence
of other things.
One has an immediate and certain perception of external reality and of oneself
as involved with this reality. That is a matter of common sense, a perception
shared commonly among all. Of course we all admit that this or that person can
be deluded in his perception of reality, but an exception does not make a rule.
Another philosophical area of doubt for some relates to the matter of personal
conscience. I have, some have claimed, a perfect right to follow my
conscience. But one does not. One has a limited right to this, but it must be
balanced by other rights and duties. Common sense restricts this right in all
sorts of ways. It does not allow the terrorist conscientiously to threaten
others. So too, a considerable current of thought in the past focussed on the
question of freedom. Some philosophers denied that man is free. But this too
flies in the face of common sense and what society assumes. There used to be a
saying that 40,000 Frenchmen can’t be wrong. Cardinal Newman, for instance,
stood firmly for the authority of the voice of mankind. The institutions and
laws of society presume that man is free and responsible for his actions —
though all allow that circumstances can mitigate his responsibility.
Let this last observation introduce a little reflection on freedom, for it
relates to our Gospel today. Morality and religion depend on our being free.
That we are free is evident, even though the extent to which we are free at any
one point of time may not be at all evident. But we are free and we can become
more free. Freedom hinges on our choice of the good. Our choice of what is
good is the test of our freedom and it is the means to increase our freedom.
The less we chose the good and the more often we choose what is bad, the less we
shall be free. The more we shall be enslaved to the bad. These are facts of
human experience and they are also part of divine revelation. God calls us to
make choices, and the choice we must make is to love him by keeping his
commandments. What is also revealed is that we are born into a fallen condition
profoundly influenced by what the Church calls original sin, and this sinful
fallen condition seriously limits our freedom to choose the good. We are
instinctively swayed in the direction of sin and self rather than in the
direction of truth and the good and God. To overcome this we need the grace of
God. We are, nevertheless free — free to fight against this sinful and selfish
tendency that we find ourselves with, provided we receive the grace of God.
With the aid of God’s grace, we are free to seek the holiness that is life in
Christ and friendship with him. It means, in the first instance, that we are
free to turn away from sin and accept the Good News of Christ. Aided by the
grace of God we are free to seek conversion, and this is very much what our
Gospel today (Matthew 3:1‑12) reminds us
of. John the Baptist’s message was, Repent! Make this choice! Turn from your
sins! Many came to him acknowledging their sins, with the exception of the
Pharisees and the Sadducees. We, too, are called to repent not just once but
regularly and even daily all through life. One of the most fundamental ways in
which true freedom is exercised is in repentance from sin. We are all found to
be enmeshed in sinful tendencies as an inherited condition, and this condition
has to be renounced, resisted and replaced by love — love for God in the first
instance, and love for one’s neighbour secondly. It will depend on repentance,
and this repentance involves the exercise and growth of freedom, a freedom led
and sustained by the grace of God.
Let us
hear the words and preaching of John the Baptist as directed to ourselves. Our
Lord would take up his baton after he was arrested and continue to preach
repentance. It is the sign of a truly free person that he is able by grace to
accept that he is a sinner and then to renounce those sinful ways. The grace of
God is available to the disciple of Christ through baptism and the Sacraments.
With this grace the repentant person can become a saint, and personal sanctity
is the crown and best fruit of freedom.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1739-1742 (Human freedom in salvation)
Don't lose heart. I have seen you struggle: to-day's defeat is training
for the final victory.
(The Way, no.263)
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What is the meaning of the final Amen?
“At the end of the prayer, you say ‘Amen’ and thus you ratify by this
word that means ‘so be it’ all that is contained in this prayer that
God has taught us.” (Saint Cyril of Jerusalem) (CCC 2855-2856,
2865)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.598)
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Scripture today: Isaiah
35:1-10; Psalm 85:9ab and 10-14; Luke 5:17-26
It came to pass on
a certain day, as he sat teaching, that there were also Pharisees and
doctors of the law sitting by, who had come from every town of Galilee,
and Judea and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal.
And behold, certain persons brought on a bed a man who had the palsy:
and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And
when they could not find a way to bring him in because of the
multitude, they went up on the roof, and let him down through the tiles
with his bed into the middle in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith
he said: Man, your sins are forgiven. And the scribes and Pharisees
began to think, saying: Who is this who utters blasphemies? Who can
forgive sins but God alone? Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them
in answer: what is it you are thinking in your hearts? Which is easier
to say, Your sins are forgiven you; or to say, Arise and walk? But that
you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins,
(he said to the one with the palsy,) I say to you, Arise, take up your
bed, and go to your house. And immediately rising up before them, he
took up the bed on which he lay; and he went away to his own house,
glorifying God. And all were astonished; and they glorified God. They
were filled with fear, saying: We have seen wonderful things today. (Luke 5:17-26)
Forgiveness of sin
One of the distinctive features of the religion of the Old Testament is the
concern for sin that pervades its pages. God is a God hostile to sin and
immorality — immorality is not just wrong but it is sinful. That is to say, it
is offensive to the holiness of God. The chosen people were gradually educated
by God as to sin and their own sinfulness, and various rites and measures were
in place and practised to obtain the forgiveness of sins. While there were
indeed sin offerings and heartfelt prayers for the forgiveness of sins, no
prophet or religious figure in the Old Testament presumed to forgive the sins of
another, nor presumed to do so with effortless readiness. John the Baptist’s
baptism for
repentance
was clearly a rite he instituted to express repentance and to appeal to God for
his pardon. He did not presume to forgive the sins of others — indeed, he
pointed to our Lord as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the
world. Where is there any parallel in the Old Testament to what we read in our
Gospel passage today? Our Lord was suddenly presented with a man paralysed on a
stretcher, lowered from the roof by his companions. Then, without being
requested to do so, and without concern for the surprise and hostility his
initiative would arouse in the hearts of the scribes and the Pharisees who were
present and observing, Our Lord proceeded immediately to forgive the sick man’s
sins. There was no hesitation, no bother with what his audience might think, no
steps to prepare the minds of people with some explanation other than the fact
of his manifest authority as it was being revealed in his works and words and
person. Our Lord obviously saw in the heart of the paralysed man acknowledgment
of his sins and an attitude of repentance. Perhaps his physical condition had
prompted these more spiritual dispositions. In any case, our Lord who, (as we
read in the Gospel of St John) could read the hearts of men, forthwith forgave
him his sins and thus revealed a new aspect of his spiritual authority, setting
him beyond the prophets of old.
This was not the only occasion on which our Lord did this. He forgave the sins
of the woman with a bad reputation — once again in the presence of the Pharisees
— because “she loved much.” Now, just as our Lord unambiguously forgave the sins
of others during his public ministry, so he passed on this power to certain
others. As we read in the Gospel of St John, on the day he rose from the dead
he appeared in the room before his fearful disciples, showing them that he had
indeed physically risen. Then he breathed on them the gift of the Holy Spirit,
commissioning them to go out, just as the Father had sent him. The task he
immediately gave them? It was to forgive sins. He had suffered, died and risen
from the dead as the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, and now he
was sending out his Apostles with the gift of the Holy Spirit empowering them to
forgive sins. Whoever’s sins you forgive they are forgiven them, he told them.
Whoever’s sins you retain, they are retained. From the beginning, by virtue of
the Sacrament of Holy Orders transmitted from bishop to bishop and from bishop
to priest, that power and authority to forgive sins has been exercised by the
ordained pastors of the Church which Christ founded on Peter and the Apostles.
Every truly ordained priest has this spiritual charism of being an instrument of
the living Jesus whereby through him Christ forgives the sins of others. That
is to say, just as in our Gospel passage today Christ forgave the sins of the
sick man in full view of the scribes, the Pharisees and the people, so too he
continues to forgive sins through his ordained priest. On the very day of his
resurrection Christ passed on this ministry that he himself had exercised. It
was one of his very first and therefore one of his most important acts as risen
from the dead. It means that one of the most fundamental and important
ministries of the Church which Christ founded and sustains is the forgiveness of
sin. It is one of the greatest gifts that the Church offers and brings to the
world, and a principal reason for membership in the Church.
Let us think prayerfully of Christ’s action in today’s Gospel. It shows his
consciousness of being divine and the immense importance of the forgiveness of
sins. It was the first thing Christ chose to do for the paralysed man. It is
the first thing we ought seek from Christ with a spirit of true repentance, and
this we do both by our personal prayer for forgiveness and by our seeking it in
the Sacrament of Penance in the ministry of the Church.
You've done well..., even though you have fallen so low.
You have done well, because you humbled yourself, because you put
things right, because you filled yourself with hope, and that hope
brought you back again to his Love. Don't look so amazed: you have done
well! You rose up from the ground: 'Surge — arise,' the mighty voice
cried anew, 'et ambula! — and walk!' Now — to work!
(The Way, no.264)
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Scripture today: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm
96:1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13; Matthew 18:12-14
What do you think?
If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: does he
not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek the one that
has strayed? And if he finds it, amen I say to you, he rejoices more
for that one than for the ninety-nine that did not stray at all. So too
it is not the will of your heavenly Father that any one of these little
ones should perish.(Matthew 18:12-14)
That
stray is me
There is an aspect of our Lord’s parable of today that can be misinterpreted.
Our Lord is explaining the all‑holy God’s attitude to sinners and he does so by
drawing on an example from everyday life. The
one who has a flock of sheep goes after the sheep that has strayed and when he
finds it he returns rejoicing far more than for the sheep that did not stray at
all. God is like that person in his concern for the straying sheep. But we can
slip into thinking that it is only the exception that strays. That is to say
that, just as in the parable it was one in the hundred that strayed, so too in
ordinary life it is — so to say — one in a hundred that strays from God. So we
can think. But no. Our Lord was not meaning to give an idea of the number who
strayed from the love for and obedience to God. He was speaking of God and of
the love that God has for the one who strays. In fact, we might say, to a
greater or lesser extent it is only one in a hundred that does not stray at
all. Without the grace of the Holy Spirit, man strays from God and this was the
very reason why the Son of God became man, because mankind was constantly and
inexorably straying from God. Christ died in order to bring together all the
scattered children of God, as St John remarks at one point in his Gospel. All
had gone astray because of sin and the wages of sin are death. So whenever any
of us reads this Gospel reading of today in which our Lord speaks of his
searching out the one sheep that has strayed, and of how he returns rejoicing
because he has found it, we ought say to ourselves that the straying sheep is I
— I myself am the straying sheep. This parable is directed to me. God loves me
and has delivered himself up for me. With St Paul every single person ought
understand that Christ loves him and wishes to bring him back to his friendship,
in which is found eternal life. As our Lord said at the Last Supper, eternal
life is this, to know you Father and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Not only does the parable indicate to me my own situation as a straying sinner,
but it indicates to me what God is like. Yes, he is the mighty Creator and Lord
of all things visible and invisible. But what is especially distinctive about
the God of revelation is that he seeks out the straying one and when he has
reclaimed that one to his friendship he is full of joy. God yearns for the
friendship of each and every sinner. The all‑holy One does not turn away from
the one who offends him but wants there to be a reconciliation. How unlike our
fallen world this is! When one person commits an offence against another, the
offended person expects (understandably) that the one offending will take the
initiative to make up in some concrete way. With God, if we offend him by sin,
then he himself at great personal cost takes the initiative to draw us back into
his friendship. If we stray deliberately or semi‑deliberately, God seeks us out
and finds us, inviting us back into his friendship. He loves us so much that he
cannot rest, as it were, till we have returned his love. And this is the story
of our lives. Our life consists in God’s search for us sinners who have
strayed. It may take the best part of a lifetime, but the search for the stray
goes on regardless and it may yield its fruitful result only at the last days of
life. A husband abuses his wife with sharp and inconsiderate language, neglects
his responsibilities as a father, time and again absents himself from home, and
fails to practise his Faith. He has strayed badly from the love and service of
God. The long‑suffering wife is patient and loyal. God is working through her
and pursuing the stray. Finally, during the last year of the husband’s hapless
life, he returns to the Sacraments and to the family. He dies practising the
Christian faith once again. God has found his stray and returns rejoicing. The
wife has been his principal instrument and the whole of their marriage is to be
understood in terms of our parable in the Gospel of today.
Moment by moment and day by day we are in the unseen hand of the living Almighty
God. We are not just floating embers that eventually pass out. We each of us
is immortal, and we are that by the ongoing creative and sustaining action of
God. But God does more that this for us. He actively seeks us out if we are
straying, and even if we do not appear to be straying, he is still seeking us
out, calling us to holiness of life. Let us place ourselves in his gentle
keeping.
Children... How they seek to behave worthily in the presence of their
parents.
And the children of kings, in the presence of their father the king,
how they seek to uphold the royal dignity!
And you? — Don't you realize that you are always in the presence of the
great King, God, your Father?
(The Way, no.265)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glory be to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning
is now, and ever shall be
world without end. Amen.
Glória Patri
et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
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Scripture today:
Isaiah 25:6-10; Psalm 32;
Matthew 15:29-37
When Jesus
left there he came to the Sea of Galilee. Going up a mountain he sat
there and there came to him great multitudes, having with them the
dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others. They placed them at his
feet and he healed them. They marvelled at seeing the dumb speak, the
lame walk, and the blind see, and they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus called together his disciples and said: “I have compassion on the
multitudes because they have been with me now for three days and do not
have anything to eat. I will not send them away hungry lest they
collapse on the way.” The disciples said to him, “Where can we find
enough loaves in the desert as to fill so great a multitude?” Jesus
said to them, “How many loaves have you?” They said: “Seven, and a few
small fish.” He commanded the multitude to sit down upon the ground,
and taking the seven loaves and the fish and giving thanks, broke, and
gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the people. They all ate
and had their fill. They took up seven baskets full of what remained of
the fragments.(Matthew 15:29-37)
The King
The foremost religious thinker of nineteenth century England was John Henry
Newman, and especially was he the foremost champion of revealed dogmatic
religion. By
that I mean that with his great mind and powerful writing he stood
uncompromisingly for the non‑negotiability of Christian dogmas as the basis of
true Christianity. His story has been of interest to many both during his life
and since his death, and one reason for this has been the drama of his change of
religion from the Anglican Communion to the Catholic Church. One interesting
detail of his last couple of years as an Anglican (1843‑1845) was his use of the
Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola. The Spiritual Exercises
of St Ignatius is a manual to assist a person in making a spiritual retreat and
in seeking to know the will of God. It sets forth points and schema for various
meditations, as well as points of advice and other prayers. As a manual it has
received the highest sanction by the Catholic Church, and it highlights certain
key features or aspects of the person of Christ and what it means to follow him
with the utmost generosity. Especially important in these Exercises is
the Meditation on the Kingdom. As far as I am aware, Newman does not indicate
in his Letters and Diaries just what aspects or meditations of the
Spiritual Exercises moved him the most during these last days as an
Anglican. But I mention all this in order to introduce one feature of Christ
which Ignatius of Loyola especially highlights. It is that of Christ as King.
Christ is the greatest and most inspiring of kings and he calls each to follow
and serve him with the utmost loyalty and dedication, and with a readiness to
follow the path of suffering and humiliation that he trod. Undoubtedly this
image of the King resonated with Ignatius because of his great military loyalty
prior to his conversion, but it is also profoundly biblical.
Take any scene of the Gospels, any scene in our Lord’s public ministry, and
place yourself in that scene and observe what kind of a king Jesus is. He is
the Messiah‑King, and what power and compassion he displays! At the height of
his public ministry the miracles he was working were truly spectacular. If we
take any other kingly figure, let us say Alexander the Great and consider the
power he exercised, what a difference there is! Alexander spread bloodshed and
mayhem everywhere he went, and massacres flowed right and left. He was
invincible in his military prowess but it all depended on the sword. Without
his armour and weapons and troops, where would Alexander or his father Philip
have got? Then look at what happened: at an early age he fell sick and died.
The Old Testament describes him as proud, which indeed he certainly was. Now,
consider Jesus Christ, and especially as presented in our Gospel passage today.
He came announcing a Kingdom, the Kingdom of God as being very near. He was in
the process of establishing and launching it. But consider his power. We read
that “There came to him great multitudes, having with them the dumb, the blind,
the lame, the maimed, and many others, and they placed them at his feet, and he
healed them. The multitudes marvelled seeing the dumb speak, the lame walk, and
the blind see: and they glorified the God of Israel”
(Matthew 15:29‑37). Could Alexander, Julius Caesar, or any of the
great and powerful ones who imposed their dominance by force of arms and crimes
against humanity do anything of what Christ could do? The thought is laughable.
Christ proved he had divine power and no other person in all of history could do
what he did so effortlessly. He was truly invincible but in a different sense
because as he said to Pontius Pilate, his kingdom was not of this world. Above
all it involved the rule of God over the human heart. Our Lord proceeded in our
passage today to feed great crowds with a few loaves and fish. This he did,
barely uttering a word.
Let us place ourselves in the presence of Jesus in our Gospel scene today and
ask him to admit us into his company. In fact he invites us into his company
every day of our lives. If we are baptized, we are in him. The Church is his
company and he is the Church’s head. He is the King of kings and the Lord of
lords, and he is the greatest treasure of man. In him there is every heavenly
blessing and he is worthy of all our love and loyalty. Let us live for him and
let us be totally loyal to him whatever this may bring, for he is our God and
our Redeemer.
Never make a decision without stopping to consider the matter in the
presence of God.
(The Way, no.266)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hail Mary
Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
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Scripture today: Isaiah 41:13-20; Psalm 145:1 and 9-13ab; Matthew 11:11-15
Jesus
said to the crowds, “Amen I say to you, among those born of women there
has never been one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist
till now the kingdom of heaven undergoes violence, and the violent bear
it away. For all the prophets and the law prophesied till John. If you
will accept it, he is Elias that is to come. He that has ears to hear,
let him hear.”(Matthew 11:11-15)
Holy
violence
One of the fascinating things in life is to observe what people enthuse over.
Some people live for sport. Some absolutely love horse racing. A whole nation
can hold its breath for days and weeks as its team approaches the World Final.
Another person can love cooking. Not only is it fascinating to see the things
people give themselves over to, but it is also fascinating to see how one person
loves what another person hates or has no interest in.
Now, whatever about this unsurprising fact there is one great Object which God
means us all to be interested in with all our heart and soul. It is he himself
and his plan for us. God sent his Son to establish his Kingdom and this Kingdom
is meant for all. It is nothing other than the lordship — the dominion — of God
over the heart of every man and woman. This lordship, this Kingdom, has a very
definite contour and character. It has its structure and its life. It has its
regime and its officers. It is a Kingdom and not just a vague state of
existence or relationship. It is this which Christ came among men to announce
and establish, and it was the greatest Event of all time. But what did he
encounter? St John tells us that he came unto his own and his own did not
receive him. He met with the variety of attitudes that I referred to earlier
that we see everywhere in all sorts of contexts. Some were interested, and some
were not. Some were mildly interested, others greatly. Yet it was the One
great Thing which had long been predicted and prepared for. The prophets had
pointed to it and to the Messiah who would inaugurate it. Something of this is
referred to by our Lord in our Gospel passage today. “Amen, I say to you, among
those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the
least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the
Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are
taking it by force.” God is asking of every man and woman a total commitment to
his Kingdom because it is the greatest thing of all.
The “violent are taking it by force.” Whoever has ears ought to hear this. Yes,
in every family, in every community, indeed everywhere and in all contexts we
see men and women pursuing their various callings and interests. But within
this very diversity there should be one underlying common love and goal. It is
God and his Kingdom, the Kingdom announced and established by Christ. This
Kingdom is, as I said earlier, God’s lordship as embodied and found in Christ.
That is to say, we are all called to serve and love God in Christ with all our
heart precisely in the diversity of our various works and interests. The one
thing that ought link all men and women is their being in Christ. Christ is the
light and the life of every man and woman, and being in him by faith and baptism
is the foundation and life of the Church. “The violent are taking it by force”,
our Lord tells us. This means that those who give their heart and soul to the
work of living for and in the Kingdom — in and for God in union with Christ,
that is to say — will bring off a great victory. The victory is the victory of
holiness. It means that in all the interests and works that make up our daily
life, we must be endeavouring to love and serve God. It means sanctifying our
daily life. It means sanctifying our daily work and making it something holy
and worthy to be offered to God each day. If we sanctify our daily work, doing
it with as pure a love for God as we can and doing it as well as we can
constantly, that work we do will sanctify us and others as well. We shall be
advancing in the Kingdom through the violence we are doing to our self‑love and
self‑indulgence. It is a holy violence that we are engaged in, a violence that
will give us the victory. This is the true jihad, the true struggle in
the way of God. The Kingdom, the lordship of God over our own hearts and the
hearts of the world around us, requires that we give ourselves fully to the
task. Christ wants warriors in everyday life, warriors of the spirit, hidden
warriors, warriors that take him for their model and who are prepared to follow
him to the cross.
What this means in practice is the giving of ourselves totally to the doing of
God’s will in daily life. Such people as these are the violent whom our Lord
says are taking the Kingdom of heaven by force. This is the Christian jihad,
the jihad of being nailed to the cross of obedience to the will of God.
Let us then take our stand with Christ and fight with him with his weapons, the
weapons of humility and meekness, the weapons of the beatitudes, the weapon of
the Cross, the weapon of death to self. Therein lies the victory, and gaining
that victory means entering the Glory.
We've got to be convinced that God is always near us. We live as though
he were far away, in the heavens high above, and we forget that he is
also continually by our side.
He is there like a loving Father. He loves each one of us
more than all the mothers in the world can love their children —
helping us, inspiring us, blessing... and forgiving.
How often we have misbehaved and then cleared the frowns from our
parents' brows, telling them: I won't do it any more! — That same day,
perhaps, we fall again... — And our father, with feigned harshness in
his voice and serious face, reprimands us, while in his heart he is
moved, realizing our weakness and thinking: poor child, how hard he
tries to behave well!
We've got to be filled, to be imbued with the idea that our Father, and
very much our Father, is God who is both near us and in heaven.
(The Way, no.267)
Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
to whom God’s love commits me here,
ever this day be at my side,
to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.
Angele Dei (Latin)
Ángele Dei,
qui custos es mei,
me, tibi commíssum pietáte supérna,
illúmina, custódi,
rege et gubérna.
Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
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Scripture today: Isaiah 48:17-19; Psalm 1:1-4 and 6; Matthew 11:16-19
But to
what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the
market place calling to their companions and saying: we have piped to
you, and you have not danced: we have lamented, and you have not
mourned. For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they said “He
has a devil.” The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they said:
“Behold a man that is a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of
publicans and sinners.” And wisdom is justified by her children.(Matthew 11:16-19)
God is
patient
A constant prompt for religion in the heart of man and in society is the need
and the cry for salvation. It could be salvation from hunger or any one of a
number of threats man faces in a threatening world. He appeals to the powers
above for salvation. The Christian appeal is the one that God himself has
educated man to make.
That appeal is for salvation primarily from sin. Not only is sin totally
disastrous for man in a way that any other threat is not, but sin is especially
offensive to God. God has revealed — and man intimates as much — that if man
wants to be saved and to be regarded well by the One on whom he totally depends,
then he must take action against his own sinfulness. But effective action
against sin is impossible for him because — of himself — he is simply under its
power. He needs the saving action of God. He needs divine grace and that grace
has been won for us and bestowed on us by the Son of God made man, Jesus
Christ. So it is that the Christian religion involves not only man’s appeal for
salvation but God’s initiative in both educating man as to what true salvation
is, and responding to this appeal with a superabundant life, a share in the
divine life itself. But there is one feature of this that ought to be
remembered. All this involved a history. God entered history and over a long
period of time did his work for us and our salvation. Our salvation entailed a
salvation history starting remotely in the past, taking definite shape and with
more decisive divine interventions leading to the greatest step imaginable: the
incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Christ our Redeemer. Now, there
has been a notable characteristic of this history of salvation. It has been
divine patience, and this divine patience has been inventive. God has not given
up on his people despite their inveterate sinning. He has been patient, trying
one thing after another, like the potter ever starting again when the work
fails.
Something of this is referred to by our Lord in our Gospel passage today. He
refers on the one hand to his own “generation”, and on the other hand to the
“wisdom” of God in its saving action. “To what shall I compare this generation?
It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played
the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not
mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is
possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said,
‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But wisdom is vindicated by her works” (Matthew
11:16‑19). God tries one thing, and he tries another. He sends the
prophets, and John in particular, but that does not gain the response he is
seeking. He sends his own Son with a very different manner and method, but that
likewise gains little response. We are reminded of the cry in the book of
Isaiah the prophet, “What more could I have done for you that I have not done?”
God has tried everything, and our Lord himself in his public ministry tries
everything, as it were, but to little avail. However, there is hope in his
words in our passage today: Wisdom is vindicated in her “children”, in her
offspring, in her issue. God will most certainly succeed in his saving work.
The preaching, the cross and resurrection together with the establishment of his
Church on earth will most certainly gain the victory. And so our Lord’s lament
and hope passes on to the Church and the Church’s children. The Church,
generation after generation, continues to send out to the world her ministry and
her missionaries despite generation after generation of seemingly dim
prospects. The world always wants something different and is never satisfied by
the Church, nor indeed by Christ himself. But Christian optimism never flags,
just as a holy optimism never flagged in the heart of Christ himself.
The wisdom of God is justified by its works. The fruits of God’s work and of
his patience and unwearied inventiveness, will be justified in the event.
Salvation has come through the death and resurrection of Christ and is manifest
in the abundance of saints in the history of the Church. It will attain its
full flowering in the age to come. All this will be, despite the response of so
many. Let us then pray for the grace to respond to the smallest invitations God
extends to us, and let us bring this same grace to our fellow men, immersed in
the chores of everyday life.
Get used to lifting your heart to God, in acts of thanksgiving, many
times a day. Because he gives you this and that. Because you have been
despised. Because you haven't what you need or because you have.
Because he made his Mother so beautiful, his Mother who is also your
Mother. Because he created the sun and the moon and this animal and
that plant. Because he made that man eloquent and you he left
tongue-tied...
`
Thank him for everything, because everything is good.
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Scripture today: Sirach
48:1-4, 9-11; Psalm 80:2ac and 3b, 15-16, 18-19; Matthew 17:9a, 10-13
And as
they came down from the mountain, his disciples asked Jesus, Why then
do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? In answer he said to
them: Elijah indeed shall come, and restore all things. But I say to
you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have
did to him as they wished. So also the Son of man shall suffer from
them. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them of John
the Baptist.(Matthew 17:9a, 10-13)
Christ
and the Church
Let us consider a detail in our Gospel passage which reports the conversation
between our Lord and his disciples as they were coming down from the mountain.
They
had just seen Jesus in resplendent glory and had heard the voice of the Father
from the cloud pointing to him as his beloved Son, the one to whom they were to
listen. With him had appeared Moses and Elijah. The disciples asked our Lord
about Elijah, and in particular about the teaching of the scribes that Elijah
must come first (Matthew 17:9a, 10‑13). Our
Lord confirmed this teaching of the scribes, suggesting, incidentally, that the
scribes often interpreted the Scriptures well. We have other examples of
certain scribes interpreting the Scriptures correctly. At the arrival of the
Magi from the East, Herod asked where the Messiah was to be born. The scribes
told him that it was to be at Bethlehem. They had it right. On one occasion
during his public ministry a scribe praised our Lord for one of his answers,
saying that to love God with all one’s heart is worth more than all the
sacrifices. Our Lord praised him for his perception and said he was not far
from the Kingdom of God. That point aside, our Lord goes on, however, to point
out in this conversation during the descent from the mountain that the scribes
had not recognized Elijah when he in fact came. In fact they made him suffer,
just as the Son of Man would be made to suffer at their hands. The disciples
then understood that our Lord was speaking of John the Baptist. We are reminded
that the precious revelation contained in the Old Testament was bestowed by the
Holy Spirit, and the same Holy Spirit was the only source of its true
interpretation. That Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ and hence it is Christ
who unlocks the true meaning of the entire Scriptures. It did not occur to the
scribes that John the Baptist was the Elijah to come. Nor would it have
occurred to us had not it been reported in the Gospel that Christ taught this to
be the case. The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, teach us about
Christ. But as we see in the Gospels, we need Christ to understand the true
meaning of the Scriptures. He is our living Teacher.
The question is, where are Christ and his Spirit now? Christ and his Spirit
abide in the Church he founded on his Apostles with Peter as their visible
head. He is the head of the Church and is also her Bridegroom, and the Church
is his body and his spouse. He is inseparable from the Church and he acts and
teaches and ministers in and through the Church. The Scriptures are to be read
with the mind of Christ and with his teaching as their interpretative context.
Christ continues to teach the meaning of the Scriptures just as he did on this
occasion and just as he did on many other occasions reported in the Gospels.
Now — and this is important — he does so typically in and through the teaching
Church, which acts in his name. While there is a great deal in the Scriptures
on which the Church has not formally pronounced, even so one should read the
Scriptures within the great Tradition of the Church and as one sharing in her
mind. On several occasions over the centuries the Church has actually
pronounced on the meaning of certain Scriptural texts. This means that the
Church’s Tradition has included certain authoritative interpretations of
passages of the Scriptures. All this is to say that the Holy Scriptures are to
be read within the life and tradition of the Church, for it is within the Church
that Christ dwells. He is our Teacher and it is there that he dwells and is to
be found. Of course if one is not a member of the Church that Christ founded,
then one does not have the inestimable advantage of the Church’s guidance. One
must then embark on a great effort accompanied by assiduous prayer to be led to
the true meaning of the Scriptures. Hopefully it will lead, as it has in
numerous cases, to a discovery of the Church as the bearer and true interpreter
of the Scriptures. Where in God’s plan are the Scriptures to be found? The
Church is the mother of Christ’s faithful and she carries in her hand the Holy
Scriptures and helps her children know their true meaning. She is able to do
this because she has been endowed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift
which constantly aids her in her teaching and ministry. She hands the sacred
volume to her children and, in her preaching and word, guides them in its
understanding.
Our Gospel scene today allows us to listen to our Lord’s teaching on the meaning
of a particular prophecy of the Scriptures. Christ is our teacher, and he
abides in the Church of the Apostles. From within that Church he continues to
teach his faithful. Let us be nourished by the word and sacraments of the
Church as well as by the Holy Scriptures that we have received from her.
Don't be so blind or so thoughtless as not to enter inside
each Tabernacle when you glimpse the walls or spires of the houses of
God. He is waiting for you.
Don't be so blind or so thoughtless as not to invoke Mary Immaculate
with an ejaculation at least, whenever you pass near those places where
you know that Christ is offended.
(The Way, no.269)
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary.
V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray;
Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy grace into our hearts; that
we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, thy Son, was made known by the
message of an angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the
glory of his Resurrection. Through the same Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father...
(Compendium
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Appendix)
Prayers this week:
Rejoice in the Lord
always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near.(Isaiah 30:19.30) Lord
God, may we your people who look forward to the birthday of Christ
experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and
thanksgiving. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
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Scripture today: Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10; Psalm 146:6-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew
11:2-11
Now when John had
heard in prison the works of Christ he sent two of his disciples to ask
him, "Are you he who is to
come, or are we to look for another?" Jesus answered, "Go and relate to
John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have
the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who is not scandalized in
me." And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes
concerning John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? a reed
shaken with the wind? What did you go to see? A man clothed in soft
garments? Behold those who are clothed in soft garments are in the
houses of kings. But what went you out to see? a prophet? yes I tell
you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written:
Behold I send my angel before you, who shall prepare your way before
you. Amen I say to you, there has been born of woman a greater than
John the Baptist: yet he that is the least in the kingdom of heaven is
greater than he."(Matthew 11:2-11)
He came
to save
If one were to ask a Zoroastrian what was Zarathustra’s mission in life,
presumably the reply would be to teach the way of goodness and to enlighten men
as to the issues that are connected with this. He was a great teacher of
religion and his teaching gave rise to a religion. The prophets of the Old
Testament — and John the Baptist who features in the New — taught the word of
God and summoned the people to live accordingly.
The followers of Mahomet claim that Mahomet is a prophet in the line of the Old
Testament prophets (and Jesus) and is indeed the greatest of them — though, of
course, the Christian would not accept this. Let us then ask the question, what
was the mission of Jesus? He certainly was a Teacher, and indeed was the very
greatest of them because his word, being the word of him who is God, was the
word of God himself. But this was not the only mission of Jesus, and perhaps
not his most important mission. Cardinal Newman in his Anglican writings
maintained that a great deal of revealed moral teaching is accessible to the
natural conscience. So Christ’s teaching as to what the good and moral life
entails is not the only, nor the main mission that was entrusted to him. Christ
came to redeem us from sin and to reconcile us with God. He came to restore our
hopelessly broken relationship with God. He came to make us God’s friends, by
inviting us into his own friendship. This redemption from sin and entry into
the life of the holy God was Christ’s principal mission for mankind and it is
expressed well in the words uttered by John the Baptist about him before he
actually started his public work: There is the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. The Atonement was Christ’s greatest work, a work no one else
could possibly even begin to do. Zoroaster never claimed to take away the sins
of the world, nor did Buddha, nor did Mahomet. Indeed, Islam denies original
sin and the need man has for God to break the power of the sin that is in him.
Christ is the only Saviour from sin.
It is as the Saviour of the world from sin that Christ is to be regarded
as the Teacher of God’s infinite love and our model of holiness. By his death
and resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit he has made us partakers of the
divine nature. This sets Christ’s mission apart from that of other great
figures of history, such as St John the Baptist in our Gospel passage today. By
our baptism we are born again to a new life, and all of this by the work of
Jesus. It means that a most singular gift is given to the Christian. As our
Lord tells his audience in the Gospel of today, “among those born of women there
has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:2‑11).
Sanctity does not come simply by our own energetic and ongoing attempt to live
the Christian life worthily — even though this is essential. It comes from the
grace of Christ and our cooperation with that grace, and this sanctifying grace
was won for us by Christ on the cross. In Islam holiness is conceived as
depending on our own efforts more or less alone — except in that God sustains us
as he sustains all creatures. But the Christian knows that by his own
persevering and self‑denying efforts alone he will never attain the goodness and
holiness intended for him by God. Holiness is God’s gift and it is given in and
through the presence and action of grace. This sanctifying and transforming
grace was won for us by Christ and it is in order to make divine grace available
to man that Christ came to die for our sins. Christ spent close to three years
teaching the people and especially his own Apostles and disciples, but his
principal work happened over the last three days. It was to suffer and die on
the Cross for us and in rising from the dead to set in motion the conferral of
the Holy Spirit on us his brethren. Grace is the purpose of Christ’s coming,
and in that context he taught us to strive to be like him.
Let us
strive to be clear in our minds as to why the Son of God became man. All too
often the popular image of Christ is a gentle do‑gooder, half reality and half
myth. He is thought of as a great teacher of the good life (which of course he
was), but all too often the true point is missed. Christ is the one and only
Saviour of mankind from sin and the source of man’s holiness both now and
hereafter. He is the only way to the Father.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.456-460
As you make your way through the familiar streets of the city, have you
never had the joy of discovering... another Tabernacle?
(The Way, no.270)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Regina Caeli
Queen of heaven,
rejoice, alleluia!
for he whom you were worthy to bear, alleluia!
has risen as he said, alleluia!
Pray for us to God, alleluia!
Let us pray;
O God, who through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
did vouchsafe to give joy to the world; grant, we beseech you, that
through his Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joys of
everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
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Scripture: Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17a; Psalm 25:4-9; Matthew 21:23-27
Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests
and the elders of the people came to him. By what authority are you doing these
things? they asked. And who gave you this authority? Jesus replied, I will also
ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am
doing these things. John's baptism— where did it come from? Was it from heaven,
or from men? They discussed it among themselves and said, If we say, 'From
heaven', he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' But if we say, 'From
men'— we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet. So
they answered Jesus, We don't know. Then he said, Neither will I tell you by
what authority I am doing these things. (Matthew
21:23-27)
By what authority? One
of the intriguing things in a religion is the authority which, in the eyes of
adherents, is possessed by the founder of the religion or its prophets. Mahomet
is The Prophet in Islam. He is the Messenger of God. His is the
ultimate word for the Muslim, and all other prophets are subservient to him.
For vast numbers of Muslims this is an unshakeable conviction, not born of
careful comparison with the doctrines and lives of other prophets, but more of a
firm faith in the tradition of which they are part. Their tradition and the
book which their tradition bears along in its stream — the Koran — is,
for them, entirely trustworthy. How is this faith to be accounted for?
The
Muslim will answer that it is due to the fact that Islam and the Koran is
a divine revelation. The Christian who does not allow that Mahomet is a prophet
in the tradition of Abraham, Moses, the prophets of the Old Testament, and above
all Jesus Christ, may answer that it is due to the profoundly valid truths which
are present amid the errors — the greatest error of which is the denial by Islam
of the divinity and redemptive mission of Jesus Christ. Islam’s principal truth
is that there is one Supreme God, and that we must surrender to him in
obedience. As far as it goes, this is very true and Islam has insisted on this
with great power. The Christian may also allow, with certain of the Alexandrian
Fathers such as Clement and Origen, that God has always worked among those
outside the chosen people. Just as the visible creation contains a revelation
of God and is an echo of his voice, so pagan literature, philosophy and
mythology — if properly understood — has been in God’s plan a preparation for
the Gospel. Monotheism, in and of itself, is a very great truth. The
monotheist is in theory more ready for the reception of the Gospel than is the
polytheist. Of course, error and prejudice can profoundly cloud this readiness
for the Gospel. John Henry Newman, for instance, allowed that, despite their
multiple errors, pagan poets and sages were in some sense prophets. They were
led by God to certain aspects of the truth, and their perception of it
contributed to the religious truths possessed by their civilizations.
Thus it is that the founders and prophets of the various religions of man gained
religious authority. Zoroaster is the prophet of his religion and Buddha the
prophet of his. Joseph Smith, assassinated in 1844 at the age of 38 in Illinois
USA, is taken by the Mormons as the last prophet. His adherents have canonized
some of his revelations as inspired texts on par with the Bible. His legacy
includes several religious denominations, the largest of which, The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints, has millions of adherents. He has full
authority in the religion he inaugurated.
Now
there is no problem allowing that some truths were attained by such figures as
the case may be. The entire question is problematic, of course, because many in
this array, while claiming to occupy the supreme chair of truth, directly
contradict one another. Now, in our Gospel today the authority of Jesus Christ
is raised by our Lord’s enemies. “Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while
he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. By
what authority are you doing these things? they asked. And who gave you this
authority?” (Matthew 21:23‑27). The fact is
that our Lord was, by word and deed, claiming full authority to utter the word
of God. He was doing things which no other would dare to do. He forgave sins.
He placed his word far ahead of the word of the ancients: “You have heard that
it was said of old... But I say to you.” This is not the moment to demonstrate
the supreme authority of Jesus Christ, but it is the moment to be reminded of
it. Being reminded of it, it is also the moment to reject all relativism in
religion. The Christian knows that all authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to Christ. He, Christ, claimed this and demonstrated it, above all
by his rising — as he predicted — from the dead. Mahomet remains dead and
buried, as do Zoroaster and Buddha. Christ is the yardstick with which to
measure the truth possessed by any other teacher of religion, and he is the
yardstick that brings to light their errors also. But he is not just the
supreme prophet of mankind. He is the Lord of all lords, the King of all
kings. He is the very term and Object of religion, for he is God himself.
In
the scene of our Gospel today our Lord refused to answer the question of the
chief priests and the elders because they were manifestly adamant in their
refusal to accept his authority. Christ pointed to the witness about him of
John. But they refused to respond. It reminds us that the acceptance of
Christ’s authority as divine Teacher and Redeemer of the world depends on our
moral willingness to accept him. Let us resolve to bear witness to the truth of
Jesus to our world.
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Scripture today: Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13;
Ps 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-19 and 23; Matthew 21:28-32
What do you think? There was a man who
had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the
vineyard.' 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I
will, sir,' but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? The
first, they answered. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, the tax
collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For
John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe
him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw
this, you did not repent and believe him. (Matthew
21:28-32)
Repentance A wife
of a fine man and mother of several children is discovered to have
life-threatening cancer. It is cancer of the bowel and it has crept upon her
without a single obvious symptom. It never occurred to her or to anyone in the
family to take the recommended tests. The whole family is alarmed as they
prepare for the worst. She quickly deteriorates and the doctors take
extraordinary action. A campaign of prayer is mounted and — wonder! — the
surgeons arrest the condition and an improvement begins. The woman’s life is
saved and all rejoice. Another
is not so fortunate. A father of a family is suddenly discovered to have
advanced melanoma and nothing avails. The cancer goes to the brain and all is
lost. He dies leaving his beloved wife and children. However, there is this
about his tragic death, that he died in the Lord. Spiritually his death was a
triumph, for in his surrender he offered to God all that he had, his family, his
prospects, his own will and all his preferences. He accepted the divine will
and, with the last Sacraments, went out borne by the angels. In both cases the
darkness turned to light. But there is a deeper scenario and it is one that our
Lord openly refers to in today’s Gospel passage. There are, again, two parties
and both are in the darkness. In one case the darkness turns to light, and in
the other the darkness deepens and becomes inexorable. The two parties are, on
the one hand the sinners — the tax collectors and the prostitutes — and on the
other the chief priests and the elders who had come to challenge his authority.
Both were in, we might say, darkness. The tax collectors and the prostitutes
had their trail of sin and the hostile leaders had theirs too, though they
blindly thought their trail was one of righteousness. The difference between
the two groups was that the first, the tax collectors, repented, while the
second, the leaders — it seems — did not. The first were like the woman who
came through her cancer to health, or like the man who passed through death into
the arms of God. They went from darkness to light. The second group, the
leaders, remained in their darkness.
Our Lord’s words remind us of the tremendous hazard that is inherent in
deliberate sin. Sin is intrinsically evil. It involves the choice of what is
evil and as such is an offence against the all-holy God who sustains us in
existence and observes every aspect of our action even during our sinning.
Horrible the thought! But so it is. Now, there is this. Where is the guarantee
that we shall repent of our sins? We shall have stepped into the dark, with no
light in hand. At the moment of sinning — and it is deliberate if it has been
sin — how can we know that we shall repent? We have no intention of this in the
precise moment of our sinning. If we proudly refuse to forgive, where is the
guarantee that we shall repent of this? If we do not repent, God will continue
to be offended. If it is a serious offence, then our relationship with him will
have been cut asunder, laying us low in a spiritual death. Where is the
guarantee that we shall be raised up, for repentance is necessary? If our course
of sinning continues unabated, and if it takes the path of serious sin — such as
the rejection of Christ and his message — then there is the danger that we shall
die in our sins. All will be lost. The tax collectors and the prostitutes to
whom our Lord refers had sinned and sinned repeatedly, but they accepted the
grace of repentance and acted upon it. They passed from their darkness into the
light. The chief priests and elders to whom our Lord was speaking display no
intention of repenting. The more frequently Christ reduced them to silence, the
greater their stubborn hostility grew. They continued in their deliberate sin,
and their darkness deepened. Their spiritual descent is a lesson to us that the
one thing we must do in life is to repent, and to repent repeatedly. If we sin,
whether lightly or gravely, we must repent and without delay. Our Lord holds up
the recognized sinners of his day as an example of the repentance that must be
at the heart of fallen man’s life. He must repent and do so continually.
Repentance is the door to light.
In our Lord’s parable, “a man had two sons. He went to the first and said,
‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later
he changed his mind and went” (Matthew 21:28‑32).
He repented. Our Lord concludes his strictures on the leaders with these words,
“For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not
believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you
saw this, you did not repent and believe him.” The ultimate tragedy of
life is not so much that a man sins — which while being a tragedy is not the
ultimate tragedy. The ultimate tragedy occurs when he fails to repent. So
repent, then!
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Scripture today: Isaiah 45: 6-8.18.21-25; Psalm
85ab.10-14; Luke 7:18-23.
John’s disciples told him about all
these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the
one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” When the men came to
Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who
was to come, or should we expect someone else?’“ At that very time Jesus cured
many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who
were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what
you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have
leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is
preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of
me.” (Luke 7:18-23)
Dark
night
Luke presents us with a surprising twist in the events of our Lord’s public
ministry. Luke had already given the reader wonderful information about Jesus
Christ and John the Baptist in their infancies. They had been deeply
connected. They were relatives, and from their very conceptions their parents
had known the essence of their missions. In the visitation of Mary to her
kinswoman Elizabeth, Jesus and John though yet unborn had in a sense met, and as
a result John himself had been filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the
womb. Luke takes the reader to the inauguration of the public ministry of each,
and then there comes the meeting between Jesus and John at the river Jordan.
Taking
his part with sinners, though himself sinless, Jesus is baptized. His identity
is announced from heaven and the Holy Spirit comes upon him. He is the Messiah
and the beloved Son of the Father. Thus is his ministry as Messiah and Son
launched, to the joy of John. John’s work is now done. Now in prison, his
disciples report to him what Jesus is actually doing and it seems that it is not
what John had expected. It seems that John expected from the Messiah — perhaps
from a reading of certain passages from the Scriptures — a divine movement
involving drama, force and speed. The good would be vindicated, the evil
crushed. He would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He would purge
the floor and gather the wheat into the barn, while the chaff he would burn with
fire unquenchable (Luke 3: 16-17). But what was Jesus doing? It did not appear
to be any of this. John is not only puzzled, but profoundly concerned. It may
be that John was beginning to doubt the authenticity of his own inspiration. He
had announced to all that his principal mission was to prepare the way for the
Messiah, and he had been led, so he thought, to know who the Messiah was and to
point him out. Had he been mistaken, or worse — deluded? It may be that from
his prison cell, and with Satan very much at work, he was being tempted to think
that his life had been on a wrong course. A darkness was descending upon him
and the support of thinking that God had led him was starting to crumble from
beneath him.
We are
speculating here, but Luke tells us that upon hearing from his disciples what
Jesus was doing he sent two of them to ask plainly if he, Jesus, was the Messiah
after all. “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Our Lord’s reply in effect, perhaps, asked John to consider his ministry, as it
was unfolding, in the light of many other passages in the Scriptures. “Go back
and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the
lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the good news is preached to the poor.” In any case, the answer of Jesus to
John was, yes, I am indeed the one who was to come, and my works and my words
are showing this. I am bringing life, life in abundance. But the point we
could well take to heart in our passage today is that the life of faith is not
necessarily a life of light and full clarity. It is a life of trust in the word
of God and obedience to his will, but this may not mean that we shall understand
the path God is choosing for us. There are very many saints whose path has been
one of relative darkness. There is every reason to think that the mother of
Christ, so great a paragon of faith, was led along the path of darkness. Her
experience during the three days of our Lord’s disappearance at the age of
twelve may be said to have been iconic of her general experience, especially in
times of drama and crisis in our Lord’s life. “Child, why have you acted thus?”
At his mysterious reply, we read that she and Joseph “did not understand” what
he had said to them. Mary was filled with faith and grace, but not necessarily
with an understanding of all the ways of God. The case was the same at this
point with John the Baptist. It is the case often with those who are close to
God and obedient to his will. Their faith is tested by their lack of light, and
it grows accordingly. It is a cloud of unknowing, and in the midst of this
cloud God draws the faithful one close to him. We must not expect to
understand, but we must trust in Jesus and his word, wherever the direction our
following of him takes us.
It is said that for most of her life Teresa of Calcutta lived in a darkness of
faith. Yet her life of love for Jesus and the poor was magnificent. St Therese
of Lisieux lived in a darkness of faith. St John of the Cross speaks of what he
terms the “Dark Night” as the great purifying element in the life of faith,
through which the faithful one passes in his following of the Lord. Our Gospel
today gives us a glimpse of what may have been this dark night in the final days
of John. Christ’s words remind us that there will be much in life we may not
understand — to our unsettlement and sorrow — but “Blessed is the man who does
not fall away on account of me.” (Luke 7:18‑23)
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After John's messengers left, Jesus
began to speak to the crowd about John: What did you go out into the desert to
see? A reed swayed
by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man
dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in
luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell
you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: 'I will
send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' I tell
you, among those born of women there is no-one greater than John; yet the one
who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. (All the people, even the
tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged God's plan by
accepting baptism from John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected
God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptised by John.)
(Luke 7:
24-30)
The
Kingdom
While Greek culture in classical times was without peer, Roman law and
administration completely eclipsed its Greek counterpart. The Roman Empire
stood as a great political monolith for centuries and it was within this setting
that the Son of God became man and died to take away the sins of the world. A
central institution of the Roman world was its citizenship. The Roman citizen
had a prized possession: his formal citizenship, giving him numerous rights.
Some of these rights were the right to sue in the courts and the right to be
sued; the right to appear before a proper court and to defend oneself; the right
to appeal; the right not to be tortured; the right not to be crucified. While
Simon Peter was crucified, Paul was beheaded. At a critical point in his
missionary career when he was about to be scourged in order to force him to
reveal the reason for the opposition against him, Paul had recourse to his Roman
citizenship. I am a Roman, and I have not been condemned by proper trial, he
announced (Acts 22:25). The alarmed centurion warned his superior, who hastened
to the imprisoned Paul to verify this. He stated that he himself gained his
citizenship only at a great price — presumably it was a costly bribe. But I,
Paul replied, was born with citizenship. With that the officers retreated in
consternation, aware they had acted illegally in securing him. The point to be
noticed here is the superior status of the Roman citizen. It had nothing to do
with his own inner worth or personal qualities. It was purely and simply a
factor of his citizenry status. He was a citizen of the Empire by acquisition
or by birth. The all-holy and incomparable Jesus of Nazareth was not a Roman
citizen, and was not tried according to proper law and processes. He was simply
handed over to the will of the mob for crucifixion because Pilate feared reports
going to Rome. Moreover, he was crucified, which Paul would never have been.
Let this simple fact of Roman citizenship illustrate a comparison our Lord makes
in our Gospel today. It is the comparison between great personal worth and
being a citizen of God’s Kingdom.
In our scene today (Luke 7: 24‑30), John’s
disciples had come to Jesus on behalf of their holy master to ask if he indeed
was the Messiah. Christ gave them his answer and they left. Then our Lord
spoke of John. He was a true saint, our Lord said, a very great saint. “A
prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom
it is written: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way
before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women there is no‑one greater than
John.” Our Lord with his forceful images was emphasising the great personal
qualities of John the Baptist. But — and this is the important point of the
passage — there is a higher regime than that of which he was part. He was not a
citizen of the Kingdom. The Kingdom was near, and had arrived in him, Jesus.
John’s qualities were scarcely without peer, but he did not at that point have
the citizenship, because the citizenship had not yet been offered. The Kingdom
was very near, and in the event it was shown to be present in Jesus himself.
Jesus himself is the King, and those who are in union with him by faith and
baptism would have the citizenship. Such a one is greater than John the
Baptist: “ the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Our
Lord is not saying that such a one has greater sanctity or personal qualities,
but he is greater — just as, we might say, the Roman citizen was greater than
the one without the citizenship. In other words, our Lord is holding aloft the
precious status of the Kingdom. He is saying that nothing compares with being
in this Kingdom. It is the prize to be sought and it brings gifts and favours
beyond compare. All this is to say that while the religion revealed by God to
the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to Moses, David and the prophets right
up to John was wonderful, a great leap forward was made in the coming of Jesus
Christ. The Gospel, though an integral part of the progressive revelation of
God to that point, appeared with a grandeur and a height far above all that had
preceded it. No prophet or king or priest could compare with Jesus Christ, and
the one who is blessed by being in him has the blessing beyond all blessings.
A person may be ordinary in talents, ordinary in circumstances, ordinary in
achievements, ordinary in every visible way. But if he is a member of Jesus
Christ, he has an inestimable pearl which gives to his life a value nothing else
can offer. In effect, our Lord is saying that he himself is the greatest thing
the world has ever seen or known. To come to know him, to love and serve him,
is to be a true and active citizen of the Kingdom of heaven. This citizenship
of God’s Kingdom is the prize beyond compare. Let us then make union with and
service of Jesus, the one necessary thing in life, never to be squandered.
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"You have sent to John and he has
testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that
you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for
a time to enjoy his light. "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For
the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing,
testifies that the Father has sent me. (John 5: 33-36)
Hard of
heart
For much of the modern period there has been a growing prejudice against the
possibility of miracles — meaning an intervention by the Creator that suspends
natural laws and brings about something that is beyond the powers of nature.
David Hume (1711-1776) discussed miracles in his famous Enquiry concerning
Human Understanding (Section 10), defining a miracle as “a transgression of
a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition
of some invisible agent.” Hume argues that inasmuch as causes cannot be
determined from effects, it is impossible to argue from the existence of the
world to the existence of God. Miracles, then, could be the only possible
support for theistic religions — but Hume argues that in fact miracles have
never happened anyway.
I mention Hume only to illustrate the modern secular prejudice against any
plausibility of miracles. Miracles are but events whose natural causes we are
not yet aware of, or they are the innocent fabrications by the superstitious.
The Gospels are full of such instances, and the resurrection of Christ is the
pre-eminent example of this. Now, in fact this agnostic assumption has in part
affected many religious scholars, and for quite some time it fuelled a
profoundly liberal approach to the interpretation of the Scriptures. In the
case of the theist, the supposition is that it is not in character for God to
act in ways above nature. Rather, God acts only in accord with the laws of
nature he himself has established. Where there is no belief in God anyway, of
course all possibility of miracles is out of the question. Where there is this
modern prejudice, an appeal to the miracles of Christ in Scripture falls on deaf
ears. In our Gospel today, our Lord was dealing with a firm prejudice against
his miracles, but not of the modern secular kind. His hearers witnessed his
miracles. They saw them. They were steeped in the Old Testament revelation.
Christ’s miracles ought to have convinced his enemies — many of the religious
leaders, no less — that he had come from God. But they did not. The prejudice
was unrelenting.
Our Lord appeals to the example and status of John. “John was a lamp that
burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.” John’s
holiness and prophetic status was accepted, and the leaders “chose” to “enjoy
his light” (John 5: 33‑36). Our Lord adds
that this was “for a time,” alluding to the hidden resistance to his message
too. But in any case, his prophetic mission was indisputable, and the leaders
did not dare to call it into question publicly for fear of the people. Now, our
Lord says here that he had a testimony far weightier than did John. His work
testified to him, and to the fact that the Father had sent him. Jesus Christ
completely outclassed John in terms of the authority with which he taught and
the miracles he did to support that authority. Many instances could be given of
this. In the presence of his enemies on one occasion, our Lord was presented
with a paralytic. He gazed at the man lying before him, and proceeded to
forgive his sins. No prophet or king or priest had ever presumed to do that,
and with good reason, for it was an act only God could do. But Jesus calmly and
without hesitation did it. Then, to prove that he had authority to do this, he
completely and at a word healed the man of his paralysis. The man got up and
walked outside carrying his mat. What could be said about this? How could its
implications be resisted? But resisted it was. The resistance and mounting
hostility of the scribes, the Pharisees and others of the leaders shows the
depth to which the human spirit can resist the manifest action of God before
them. Now, if that is so in reference to miracles, how much more would it be so
in reference to the presence and work of God in ordinary life — in what is not
miraculous. That is to say, we ought take our Lord’s words in our Gospel today,
in which he refers to the work he has been doing, as a warning to us lest our
hearts become hardened against grace and the light of conscience. The leaders
hardened against Jesus Christ, despite the manifestations of his divine
authority. Our hearts can harden against the grace of the Holy Spirit if we do
not take steps to live in Christ faithfully, and to repent promptly when we fail
to do so.
Let us guard against sin — all deliberate sin no matter how minor it may be.
Our ideal ought be to avoid any deliberate sin — of course all sin is deliberate
in the nature of the case. We must avoid sin, for sin offends God and hardens
our hearts against him. If we sin, the one thing that is absolutely imperative
is that we repent. We ought repent of the slightest deliberate sin. That must
be our ideal. The way to goodness and sanctity of life is very largely that of
ongoing, daily repentance from all sin.
The
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Dec.8)
(December 8) Feast
of the Immaculate Conception
A feast called the Conception of Mary arose in the Eastern Church in
the seventh century. It came to the West in the eighth century. In the
eleventh century it received its present name, the Immaculate
Conception. In the eighteenth century it became a feast of the
universal Church. In 1854 Pius IX gave the infallible statement: “The
most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a
singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the
merits of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the human race, was preserved
free from all stain of original sin.” It took a long time for this
doctrine to develop. While many Fathers and Doctors of the Church
considered Mary the greatest and holiest of the saints, they often had
difficulty in seeing Mary as sinless—either at her conception or
throughout her life. This is one of the Church teachings that arose
more from the piety of the faithful than from the insights of brilliant
theologians. Even such champions of Mary as Bernard and Thomas Aquinas
could not see theological justification for this teaching. Two
Franciscans, William of Ware and Blessed John Duns Scotus, helped
develop the theology. They point out that Mary’s Immaculate Conception
enhances Jesus’ redemptive work. Other members of the human race are
cleansed from original sin after birth. In Mary, Jesus’ work was so
powerful as to prevent original sin at the
outset.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
In the sixth month,
the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called
Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David; and the virgin's
name was Mary. The angel entered and said to her: "Hail, full of grace,
the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women." When she heard this
she was troubled at his words, and considered within herself what
manner of salutation this was. And the angel said to her: "Fear not,
Mary, for you have found grace with God. Behold you will conceive in
thy womb and will bring forth a son; and you will call his name Jesus.
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the most High; and the
Lord God will give to him the throne of David his father. He will reign
in the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end." Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I do not know
man?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you
and the power of the most High will overshadow you. And so the Holy One
who will be born of you will be called the Son of God. Behold your
cousin Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age and she who
has been called barren in now in her sixth month, because nothing is
impossible with God." Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be
it done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.(Luke 1:26-38)
Mary free of sin Most
religious people have heard of Lourdes in France to which every year vast
numbers make a pilgrimage. People go to visit the waters of Lourdes and many
scientifically verified cures have occurred there. It is the place where, in
1858, Mary the mother of Christ appeared on several occasions to the young
Bernadette Soubirous who, because of her very holy life subsequent to those
appearances, has since been canonized. At
one point during those appearances Bernadette asked the Lady who she was. The
Lady replied in the dialect of Bernadette, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
When questioned by the parish priest about the alleged Lady and who she was,
Bernadette gave that answer and the parish priest was amazed because he knew
Bernadette did not know of this title, nor what it meant. In fact, four years
before in 1854, Pope Pius IX after consulting widely among the bishops as to the
faith of the Church, had defined it to be a Christian dogma and an inseparable
part of Revelation that the Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved from original sin
at her conception. She was conceived free from our common sinful condition
which is the direct result of the original sin of our first parents. This meant
that her natural inclinations were not warring against her calling to obey God
totally. Love of self did not instinctively and with persistence supplant and
vitiate her mighty resolve to love God. Just as Adam and Eve came into this
world from the hand of God, oriented to him by nature and abundant grace, so too
did Mary. Adam and Eve fell through deliberate sin. Mary flowered in
prodigious grace through her faith and obedience. Never did she turn back in
any sense at all. The sanctuary of God which was her conscience was kept as
God’s dwelling place and a pure echo of his voice. God dwelt in her conscience
as the Lord and King thereof, and the upshot was that she was full of grace and
the Lord was constantly with her to the very end. She was born, lived and died
full of grace.
It is because the Church formally teaches it that we know what has been revealed
and what is truly and clearly taught in the Scriptures, and indeed which books
are inspired and so make up the Scriptures. So too we know for certain that the
virgin Mary was immaculately conceived because of the solemn word of the
Church. The Church is endowed with the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide her in
remembering all that Christ taught us and in coming to see with certainty the
implications of this teaching. It takes time for the full implications of
Revelation to be explicitly developed, just as it takes time for the human being
or indeed any living thing to be fully developed. Accordingly, prior to the
Church’s defining the matter, theologians had differed as to its certainty even
though it was widely accepted and celebrated. But then finally the Church
speaks and resolves the matter for those still uncertain. This the Church has
done in the case of certain great prerogatives of the Virgin Mary. By the
future merits of her divine Son and Saviour she was conceived free from original
sin, and indeed so holy did she become by the power of grace that the wages of
sin — i.e., the corruption of death — did not touch her. Pope Pius XII in 1950
defined it as a dogma of revelation that she was taken body and soul glorious
into heaven at the end of her mortal life (whether or not she actually died).
These extraordinary privileges of grace were bestowed on Mary because she was
the mother of the Son of God made man, the Redeemer of mankind and therefore her
Redeemer too. She was preserved free from original sin by the grace of Christ
her future son and Saviour. Furthermore, through the grace merited by his
sacrifice she was enabled to be faithful to God’s will in all its details during
her all holy life. With good reason the Angel in our Gospel scene (Luke
1:26‑38) addresses her as the one full of grace, and that the Lord was with
her. All of this we think of on the feast of her Immaculate Conception.
The wonderful thing is that Christ the Son of God has given his mother to be our
mother too. She is the mother of the Saviour! How he must love her! With pride
and love he would have introduced her to his growing band of disciples during
his public ministry. She became and is now and always will be the mother and
the model of the Church and all the Church’s faithful. Let us cultivate a true
devotion to holy Mary, the Mother of God and let us ask her to pray for us
sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Stop thinking of your fall. That thought, besides overwhelming and
crushing you under its weight, may easily be an occasion of further
temptations. Christ has forgiven you: forget the 'old self'.
(The Way, no.262)
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Why do we conclude by asking “But deliver us from evil”?
“Evil” indicates the person of Satan who opposes God and is “the
deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). Victory over the devil
has already been won by Christ. We pray, however, that the human family
be freed from Satan and his works. We also ask for the precious gift of
peace and the grace of perseverance as we wait for the coming of Christ
who will free us definitively from the Evil One. (CCC 2850-2854, 2864)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.597)
Jesus
said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also
be when the Son of man comes. In the days before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, right up till the
day Noah entered the ark. They did not know till the flood came and
took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of man be. Then
two shall be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left. Two
women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one left.
Watch therefore because you do not know not at what hour your Lord will
come. But know this that if the master of the house knew at what hour
the thief would come, he would certainly watch and would not allow his
house to be broken open. So you also be ready, because you do not know
at what hour the Son of man will come.”
(Matthew 24:37-44)
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be
also at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew
24:37‑44) Our Lord, in drawing on Old Testament temporal events to
illustrate what will happen in the fullness of time, intimates also that we can
draw on events in life to help us realize what is certainly to come. An
earthquake suddenly convulses whole towns or even a great city and all is in
ruins. It could be a massive cyclone, or a great fire, or a sudden epidemic.
For the individual it could be a sudden heart attack, or a robbery. Sudden
catastrophes for which people are unprepared are a reminder of the “coming of
the Son of Man” which may happen “at an hour you do not expect.” So too the
numerous situations in life when a person is called to account are a reminder of
the great reckoning that faces every person who has lived or will live. A
student knows he will face exams at the end of his semester or year and yet
becomes distracted and lethargic. The exams come upon him and he is caught
unprepared. So, our Lord says, “Stay awake!” That Christ will come to judge the
living and the dead is absolutely certain. What is entirely uncertain are the
time and the circumstances of his coming either to the individual or to the
human race. 
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