Prayers
this week: O look at me and be
merciful, for I am wretched and alone. See my hardship and my poverty,
and pardon all my sins.
(Psalm 24:16.18)
Father, you love never fails. Hear our call. Keep us from danger and
provide for all our needs. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
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Scripture:
Deut 11:18, 26-28, 32;
Psalm 31:2-4, 17, 25; Rom 3:21-25, 28;
Matthew 7:21-27
Jesus
said to his disciples: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell
them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Therefore
everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a
wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it
had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and
does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on
sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against
that house, and it fell with a great crash.(Matthew 7:21-27)
The
Kingdom
It is intriguing that in one respect we do not ordinarily express the goal of
human life in the terms in which our Lord commonly expressed it. To what am I
referring? I am referring to the phrase our Lord commonly used for the
goal of life and God’s plan, the Kingdom of heaven, the Kingdom of God.
This hallowed term, “Kingdom” of God and of heaven, has passed out of our
ordinary religious usage even though it recurs time and again in our Lord’s
preaching and instructions in the Gospels. Repent, our Lord said at the
beginning of his public ministry, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. The
beatitudes speak of the Kingdom of heaven and of how man can enter it. In our
Gospel today our Lord tells his disciples that “Not everyone who says to me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of
my Father who is in heaven.” Entry into the kingdom of heaven is the goal of
life, and it does not simply mean heaven. By his death and resurrection our
Lord established the kingdom of heaven here on earth. What is “the kingdom of
heaven” referred to by our Lord in our Gospel today? The kingdom of heaven, the
kingdom of God, is nothing other than the presence and lordship of God. God was
present in all his ruling lordship in the person of Jesus. In Christ was
present the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and he himself always did what
pleased the Father. How do we enter the kingdom of heaven, then? We enter the
kingdom of God by entering into union with Jesus, and union with him is made
accessible to all through his Church. “You are Peter,” he said to Simon, “and
on this rock I will build my Church. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven.” In Christ is found the fullness of the kingdom of heaven, and Christ
is found in his Church. The kingdom of heaven which Christ established here on
earth subsists, then, in the Church he founded, and that Church subsists in the
Catholic Church of which the Successor of Peter is the visible foundation.
This is why it is not hard to understand what it is that constitutes the
fullness of the religion revealed by God. The most educated can grasp it, and
the least educated can grasp it too, and even a child can grasp it. For this
reason certain children have been held up by the Church as models for their
sanctity. The essence and the fullness of religion consists in an intimate
union with the person of Christ. It is as simple and as difficult as that. It
is difficult because, as our Lord says in today’s Gospel
(Matthew 7:21‑27), it means imitating him in
his obedience to the Father and in all things doing the Father’s will. But this
is not just a private and individual matter, which of course it is as well. It
is also the key for the life of the world and of the entire universe. The key
to all of created reality is to be found in the person of Jesus Christ. It is
through him that all things came to be, and it is in him that all life finds its
source. He came that we may have life in abundance. So there is a linchpin to
everything created, a Reality which holds all things together and in which the
life and health of the world is to be found. The heart of the world, we might
say, is the living person of Jesus. So it is that the multiplicity that marks
all of reality has a source of unity. That source of unity is the living person
of Jesus. The mission of the Church and of all her members is to propose to all
men that they look to Jesus as the life of the world. The task of life is to
enter into union with Jesus and to grow in this union, and Jesus is found in his
body the Church, whose mission is to bring him to the world. In him man lives
in union with the most holy Trinity, one God in three persons. We live in
Christ and grow in holiness by following in his footsteps as he carries the
cross to Calvary. It means doing the will of God in the midst of whatever
suffering our God‑given duties entail, and all of this in union with Jesus. It
will come to its fulfilment in the final resurrection of the just, when God will
be all in all.
The kingdom of heaven as preached by our Lord is the goal of life and of the
world. May God’s kingdom come, and it will come when his will is done on earth
as it is done in heaven. That is to say, the kingdom of God and of heaven is
the presence and the lordship of God here on earth and in the hearts of men. It
is God’s rule, his reign. This is present in its fullness in the person of
Jesus, and we ourselves enter the kingdom of heaven, which is to say the
lordship of God, by entering into union with Jesus. Holiness consists in union
with Jesus, and that holiness derived from union with Jesus reaches its
fulfilment in heaven.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.
2012-2016
Let your heart overflow in effusions of Love and gratitude as you
consider how God's grace each day saves you from the snares that the enemy has
set in your path.
(The Way,
no.434)
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Scripture today:
2 Peter 1:2-7; Psalm
91:1-2, 14-16; Mark 12:1-12
Jesus
began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. A
man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and
built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on
a journey. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them
some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him
away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on
the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they
killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. He had
one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They
will respect my son.' But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir.
Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they took him and
killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the
vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to
others. Haven't you read this scripture: 'The stone the builders rejected has
become the keystone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes'?
Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the
parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and
went away.
(Mark 12:1-12)
The vine There
have been various great teachers in the history of mankind and they have
employed different methods of imparting their teaching. Among outstanding
philosophers there can be very different ways of instruction. Compare the
methods of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
There are great differences between them. Our Lord’s principal method of
instruction seems to have been the story, the parable. He uses other methods,
such as maxims, direct precept and exhortation and so forth, but the short story
seems to have been his special means. Our Gospel parable today
(Mark 12:1‑12) is an example. We note that
this particular parable is directed to the hearing of “the chief priests, the
scribes, and the elders.” It speaks of God planting his vineyard and entrusting
it to tenants to look after it and to collect the fruit of the vineyard. The
prophet Isaiah had spoken of God planting his vineyard and tending it, and then
asking how was it that the vineyard produced sour and bitter grapes. In our
Lord’s parable the problem is the tenants. Having been entrusted with the
vineyard — which is clearly the people of God — they are sent servants of the
owner to collect from them the produce. The servants are clearly the prophets
who are raised up by God at various points in the history of his chosen people
to call for the fruits of holiness expected by Him. But they are rejected by
the tenants. Finally he sent his beloved Son. We observe the uniqueness that
our Lord was claiming in the history of God’s revelation. The prophets were
God’s servants, he was his beloved Son. Yet he, too, was rejected and put to
death. The whole parable speaks of the drama of God’s love for his chosen
people, his choice of them and the rejection of him by (very many of) those whom
God had appointed to be shepherds. It tells of the consequences of this
pattern, that what they had been given would be taken away.
Our Lord is taking an image employed by the Scriptures to speak of God’s
relationship with his people. The image is that of the vine and in using it,
our Lord speaks of himself as God’s beloved son. But elsewhere our Lord uses
the image in another way. At the Last Supper he speaks again of the vineyard,
or more specifically of the vine. This time he is not just the Son who comes to
the shepherds of God’s people (the tenants) to ask for the fruits. This time he
himself is the vine, and the Father is the vinedresser. The Father is tending
the vine himself, and that vine is his beloved Son. The branches of the vine
are the members of God’s people, engrafted into him by faith and baptism. That
is to say, the vine is the Church of which Christ is the head and we are the
members. We live by his life, and we do so by the power of the Holy Spirit. “I
am the vine,” our Lord tells his disciples during the Last Supper (Gospel of St
John), and “you are the branches.” The one who remains in our Lord will bear
much fruit, fruit that will last. If we do not remain in him then we will
wither, and nothing will come of us. So this image, employed by our Lord in
different ways, illustrates different aspects of the mystery of Christ and of
our relationship with him. We who are members of the Church are not simply
followers and subjects of Christ who is the Son of God, but rather we have been
placed by the grace of God in an ineffable personal relationship with him. Just
as he is in the Father and the Father is in him, so, our Lord tells us, we are
in him and he is in us (John 14,15‑21). This unique bond with Jesus by grace is
distinguished by a personal love for him, and that love is shown by obedience to
his commands. “The one who receives my commandments and keeps them will be the
one who loves me.”
Let us allow our Lord’s parable to sink into our mind, imagination and heart as
we ponder on its implications. Let us receive him as good tenants, recognizing
him as the beloved Son. Let us also understand that, from a different
perspective, he is actually the vine and we the branches. Let us then resolve
to live in him by grace and love, while showing our love by our obedience to his
will. In this way we will produce the fruit that the Father desires.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Timor Domini sanctus. The fear of God is holy.' Fear which is the veneration of
a son for his Father; never a servile fear, for your Father-God is not a tyrant.
(The Way,
no.435)
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Scripture today:
2 Peter 3:12-15a, 17-18;
Psalm 90:2-4, 10, 14 and 16; Mark 12:13-17
Later
they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his
words. They came to him and said, Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity.
You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you
teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to
Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we? But Jesus knew their hypocrisy.
Why are you trying to trap me? he asked. Bring me a denarius and let me look at
it. They brought the coin, and he asked them, Whose portrait is this? And whose
inscription? Caesar's, they replied. Then Jesus said to them, Give to Caesar
what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. And they were amazed at him.
(Mark 12:13-17)
Caesar One
of the intellectual breakthroughs in the understanding of divine revelation has
been the concept of development. By this I am primarily referring to the point
that the Church’s understanding of divine revelation develops and this is
reflected in the development of Christian doctrine.
A great step was taken in the appreciation and acceptance of this when John
Henry Newman published his book in 1845 entitled The Development of Christian
Doctrine. The Church’s formal doctrine is different from what it was in the
Church’s infancy. Has this been a deformation, or on the contrary has it been
an expected and entirely faithful development? Newman showed it has been a
development and that development is a characteristic of Christian doctrine. One
of the things that helped Newman gradually see this was not only the historical
fact that Christian doctrine has changed — which is to say, developed — but that
revelation itself developed. By that I mean that the revelation that God gave
of himself and his plan for man developed over the centuries. It increased,
with the revelation of one point leading to the revelation of another. The
final revelation of God has come in his Son Jesus Christ. All that God has
revealed and intends to reveal is contained in Jesus his Son. All that now
remains is for the Church and her members to understand this revelation in
Christ more and more fully — and this is where doctrine develops. But all that
is a further matter. What I would like to notice here is that what our Lord
states in his reply to his scheming questioners implies a development of an
aspect of God’s revelation. The emissaries of the Herodians and Pharisees asked
our Lord if it was in accord with the law of God that taxes be paid to Caesar.
Behind the question (apart from the hypocrisy) was an appeal to the ancient
intent of God that his people be ruled by himself or his own appointed king.
Was it then lawful to collaborate by the payment of taxes with one whose
kingship over God’s people had nothing to do with the true God and his
appointments?
Following the departure from Egypt, the children of Israel were ruled and guided
by divine appointees, beginning with Moses himself and followed by Joshua. Then
there followed the judges, all raised up by God. God was ruling his people
through his designated rulers. Samuel, the last of the judges, was pressed by
the people to appoint a king. It amounted to a dissatisfaction, so we read,
with an unseen God being their king. They wanted a ruler they could see and
hear. So God allowed for a king to be anointed, but still it was to be his
appointee and so the kingship began which in God’s plan would bring forth the
King of kings who would reign forever. We could say that God’s revelation (not
his unchanging plan, though) was developing. The Herodians and Pharisees in
their question were harking back to the notion that God alone and his appointees
are to be his people’s king. There is much that could be said about this, but
it would not be to my purpose here. The point here is that our Lord’s response
throws new light — we might say a new development of revelation — on the people
of God in the world. God’s people are not to shun Caesar. Caesar’s de facto
rule is embraced by the plan of God. They find themselves subject to his rule,
so this brings certain duties. There were precedents to this, of course. We
read of Jeremiah instructing the people in captivity to live as good citizens in
their foreign land and to prosper in that setting. But here our Lord tells his
interlocutors that inasmuch as Caesar rules over them, this fact of life brings
certain duties which they must respect. Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God (Mark 12:13‑17).
He says no more than that basic principle except for the matter of taxes. It is
legitimate for Caesar to tax and it is proper that they respect this right. Our
Lord is showing that whatever might have been God’s plan for his people in the
past, his chosen people are now to take their place in the world and be good
citizens in their political and social setting. This is a lesson St Paul
insisted on in his letters to the churches.
Our Lord’s teaching in our Gospel today provides the foundation of a vigorous
spirituality for the Christian in the world. The lay Christian is to bring
Christ to his everyday secular setting by his professional service to all those
who have a right to it. This includes the due respect for civil authority and
its laws for society. It does not, of course, mean that all civil authority is
right — on the contrary, the Christian ought strive for the constant improvement
of civil authority and its laws. Indeed, precisely because of what is due to
God, those laws may be rejected. A great model for us all is St Thomas More,
Lord Chancellor of England who went to his death rendering to Henry what was due
to Henry, but to God what was due to God.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love and sorrow. Because he is good. Because he is your friend, who gave his
life for you. Because every good thing you have is his. Because you have
offended him so much... Because he has forgiven you... He!... you!
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Scripture today: 2 Tm 1:1-3, 6-12;
Psalm 123:1b-2; Mark 12:18-27
Then
the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.
Teacher, they said, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a
wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his
brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without
leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died,
leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven
left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose
wife will she be, since the seven were married to her? Jesus replied, Are you
not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When
the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be
like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising— have you not read in the
book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead,
but of the living. You are badly mistaken!(Mark 12:18-27)
Afterlife
For as long as I can remember, nature programs on television have had a wide
viewing. Programs that investigate the habits and life patterns of birds,
insects, animals large and small, the struggle for survival, the vast kingdom of
marine life — all this evokes unending interest. For
one whose starting point is the fact of God, nature thus portrayed is a
wonderful manifestation of his perfections. I was once surprised to see Sir
David Attenborough (the wild‑life film producer) saying in an interview that his
studies of nature led him to doubt the reality of God. I think he was taken by
the cruelty he saw in the animal kingdom. Nature also fascinates with the
numerous differences it suggests between the animal and the human being, and I
do not wish here to discuss those differences. But there is one difference that
may serve as an introduction to our reflection on the Gospel of today. That
difference is the capacity of the human being to take account of the future and
to plan accordingly. The animal acts on instinct and seeks what it now needs,
while the human being freely sets his future goals and selects what he judges to
be the best means to attain them. But having stated this, what must also be
said is that man often makes poor use of this capacity. A person can see that
if he does not pass his exams in a year’s time it will alter the course of his
life. Despite foreseeing this, he does not bother to make success in his exams
his goal, and so takes no real steps to attain it but contents himself instead
with short‑term satisfactions. His life is profoundly affected as a result, and
for the worse. Or again, a person may be very good at selecting future goals
and the means to attain them, but he makes terrible mistakes as to those future
goals. That is to say, he selects goals that are not truly in his interest.
For instance, he aims to make a lot of money and cares little about his family
life. He gains the money but loses what will give him a much greater happiness,
a good family life. Man must select the right goals as well as the means to
gain them.
Well now, our Lord in our Gospel today (Mark 12:18‑27)
tells us of the greatest goal of all which many seem not to bother to make their
own. It is the goal of eternal life in heaven. The Sadducees came to our Lord
with their question which they thought would prove that there is no resurrection
— a belief many still have. Let us contemplate the content of our Lord’s
response. “Jesus replied, Are you not in error because you do not know the
Scriptures or the power of God?” Heaven is not just a higher form of this
earthly life in which, for instance, people marry and are given in marriage.
No, it is utterly beyond those ambitions and necessities. It is happiness
beyond compare and all this by the power of God. St Paul writes that eye has
not seen nor ear heard what God has in store for those who love him. Moreover,
there will be no end to it — it will be eternal. Pope Benedict XVI makes the
point in his Encyclical on Christian Hope that the notion of eternity will not
be very attractive to modern man if he looks on heaven as merely an extension of
this life. This notion was obviously present in the minds of the Herodians for
them to have put their question. Who would want to live forever if our life
were to continue unendingly as it is now? Rather, heaven is our being plunged
into the infinite love of the Lord God whose Being is without limit in its
richness. It will be an inexpressible present that never fades, and all of
those in heaven will be together in this ineffable joy. We shall see God as he
is, face to face, and we shall be together, angels and saints all. Numerous
persons work for years and years looking forward to their retirement which they
often imagine to be years of peace and happiness. Let us hope it will be this
for them. But there is not the slightest doubt that the one judged worthy of a
place in heaven will indeed have attained a place of peace and rest, one that is
scarcely imaginable. How sad a misuse of our capacity to select goals and the
means to attain them if we neglect this all‑important goal. How great a
catastrophe if heaven is lost, and that forever!
Let us
take stock of where we are heading. Life is short and it passes very quickly.
Childhood goes, as does youth. Adulthood arrives and it speeds along. Middle
age appears, passes and old age arrives. Alternatively, life is cut off when
least expected. Death comes inevitably and with it comes the judgment of God.
Then there are only two alternatives. It will be either heaven or hell. Let us
make heaven our goal, and select the means to attain it. Christ is the Way, the
Truth and the Life. Let us take our place with him and follow in his footsteps,
for with him we shall arrive at our goal.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If a man had died to save me from death!... God died, And I remain indifferent.
(The Way,
no.437)
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Scripture today:2 Timothy 2:8-15;
Psalm 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14; Mark
12:28-34
One
of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had
given them a good answer, he asked him, Of all the commandments, which is the
most important? The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: 'Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment
greater than these. Well said, teacher, the man replied. You are right in saying
that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your
neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from
the kingdom of God. And from then on no-one dared ask him any more questions.(Mark 12:28-34)
God in
our work
It has at times been observed that the most important task facing every man and
woman is that of learning how to live. One can easily go through life never
learning this. Learning how to live entails learning to have a proper
relationship with the God who has given us life. So learning how to live means
learning to put God at the centre of life.
The fact is that one can easily live as if God is peripheral, which is to say as
if there are many gods. A great number of people live this way. By that I mean
that many different things can be taken as the ultimate object of one’s hopes
and efforts — such as success in one’s chosen career, a happy marriage, the
advancement of one’s children, and many other worthy goals besides, but without
any reference to God. For instance, one often hears the expression that “sport
is that man’s religion,” and it means that sport is what that person is living
for. It is a kind of lesser god in his life and other things must give way to
sport. In a secular culture in which this world occupies the centre stage, the
polytheism of so many cultures in the history of man has been replaced by a
secular polytheism, but a polytheism nevertheless. The first of the Ten
Commandments is just as relevant to our age as it is to any age of the past. It
lays it down that there is one God only and that no other god is to be allowed
to take his place. In our Gospel passage today (Mark
12:28‑34), our Lord is asked which is the most important of all the
commandments, and let us remember that there were a lot of commandments in the
Old Testament. Our Lord’s reply was immediate and clear. The first is that
there is one God only, and he is the Lord. He and he only is to be loved as
God. No other is to take his place. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one,
and one only.” In his famous Spiritual Exercises, St Ignatius Loyola lays
it down as a foundation that we must strive to be, in the last analysis,
indifferent to all things other than God himself. He and he alone is to be the
Lord of our lives. Learning to live means having the Lord as one’s only God.
There is an immediate implication of this practical monotheism. It is that in
all our daily work we ought strive to be loving God with all our heart. It is a
very good thing to be busy. I remember hearing one very prominent talk‑back
personality saying on radio that man was born to work and that man finds his
greatest satisfaction in a life of work. This is true. A man who does not
truly work, and who is always looking for ways of avoiding work, has not yet
learned to live. The whole of visible creation is active and, in its own way,
can be said by analogy to be at work. The activity of inanimate creation, the
activity of vegetative, insect and animal life all reflect in its way the
working activity of man — all things are, we might say, “at work”. This in turn
reflects the nature and life of God himself who, our Lord tells us in the Gospel
of St John, is at work. My father works, our Lord says in reply to his critics,
and therefore I also work. So learning to live and being religious, as we
should be, includes living a life of work. But a danger can be that we fail to
love and serve God in our work. As already said, we can be working for other
“gods”, other interests, other factors in life. We can be working for ourselves
and not for God. Our Lord tells us that the first commandment of the Law lays
it down not only that there is one God only, but that we are to love God with
all our heart, mind and strength. This, then, is what ought distinguish our
work. We ought throughout our life be at work, be it for our family, our
children, our work clients of each day, but the true object of our love and
service in all of this work should be the one God. He is the one we ought be
loving in our service of others. We love and serve our family, our children,
our clients in our daily workplace but we do this in God. The task of each day
is not just to work, but to work for and in union with God, and to do so with as
much love as possible. That is to say, we must strive to sanctify our daily
work by doing it with as much love for God as we can. In this way our work will
sanctify us and it will sanctify our neighbour.
Let us take to heart our Lord’s teaching today that there is but one God and not
many. We are to love Him with all our heart, mind and strength, and our
neighbour as our self. God and only he is to be the object of our life. Let us
not allow many gods in our life. And in all our daily work and activities let
us serve with all our hearts this one only God who is the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit. This sanctification of our daily work will take us to heaven.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Crazy! Yes, I saw you in the bishop's chapel — alone, so you thought — as you
left a kiss on each newly-consecrated chalice and paten: so that he might find
them there, when he came for the first time to those Eucharistic vessels.
(The
Way, no.438)
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While
Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, How is it that the teachers
of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, speaking by
the Holy Spirit, declared: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until
I put your enemies under your feet.' David himself calls him 'Lord'. How then
can he be his son? The large crowd listened to him with delight.(Mark 12:35-37)
The
Scriptures
One of the many things we notice about Jesus Christ as portrayed in the Gospels
is his love of, his reverence for, and his use of what the Christian calls the
Old Testament. For the Christian, the New Testament — consisting of the
Gospels, the Acts, the Letters and the Book of Revelation — constitute the high
point of the inspired Scriptures because they bring forward the figure and the
teaching of Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God. The four Gospels are the most
important part of the New Testament precisely because the person of Jesus is
portrayed with the greatest clarity and he is the object of the Christian
religion. He is the one whom the Christian loves, serves and follows in life,
and the Gospels provide him (and the entire Church) with the means of
contemplating his very person and growing in love for and obedience to him. But
there is the danger for the Christian of neglecting the Old Testament because of
the wealth and importance of the New. This would constitute an impoverishment
and the neglect of an inspired resource that nourishes our appreciation of the
Christ of the Scriptures. Let us remember this, that we see Christ time and
again referring to the Scriptures and making use of them to teach, to combat
error coming from his enemies the scribes and Pharisees, to confirm in their
faith his own disciples, to illustrate his own mission, and even to confound
Satan (as we see in his dialogue with the Devil following his Baptism).
Following his rising from the dead, he walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus giving
two of his disciples a lengthy lesson in the meaning of the Scriptures. The
inspired Scriptures used and loved by our Lord and the infant Church was none
other than the Old Testament, used by our Lord in the Hebrew, and by the infant
Church in both the Hebrew and the Septuagint Greek. This thought ought inspire
us to love and use it assiduously too. It is inspired by God just as is the New
Testament, and so should be used with great reverence.
Our Gospel passage today (Mark 12:35‑37)
gives us an instance of our Lord making use of the Old Testament, which in the
Gospels he refers to at times as the Scriptures and at times as the Law and the
Prophets. Today he makes reference to one of the Psalms. He asks the people
what David meant when “speaking by the Holy Spirit” he declared ‘The Lord said
to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet’.” Our
Lord here refers to David as being inspired by the Holy Spirit when he wrote
this. He is confirming the divine inspiration of the Scriptures — in this case
of the Psalms — and he is also indirectly confirming the personhood of the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not just a force or divine action. He is a divine
Person who inspired the author to write. Here he intimates that the inspired
Psalm suggests the divinity of the future Messiah, David’s human descendant.
“David himself calls him ‘Lord’. How then can he be his son?” Our Lord is
showing how the Old Testament points to him and how his own teaching about
himself and his mission is the light that makes plain its true meaning. When we
think of the Old Testament, we must remember that it is a large corpus of
writings of a great variety of genres. The entire collection is inspired by
God. Now, what is its meaning? It has one divine author who worked through
numerous human writers, but what is the divine author endeavouring to teach? The
Church has a clear answer to this question, and her answer comes from her
founder. The Old Testament directly and indirectly, explicitly and implicitly,
remotely and at times proximately, dimly and at times clearly, taught about the
Messiah to come and the divine work he would do. It was the blessing to come
not only for the chosen people, but for all mankind. That blessing was the
person of Jesus. Christ is the meaning of the Old Testament, and our Gospel
today is an example of our Lord’s teaching on this.
Every Sunday at Mass, the first reading of the Liturgy of the Word is usually
drawn from the Old Testament. It is always followed by another selection from
the Old Testament, a psalm. Both are meant to point to and illustrate the
Gospel passage for that day, and the Church selects the Old Testament reading
precisely in view of the content of the Gospel passage. Let that prompt us to
read the Old Testament regularly. Why not consider reading part of a chapter a
day, but doing so with the figure of Christ constantly before you, for he is the
meaning of the entire Scriptures.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Don't forget that Sorrow is the touchstone of Love.
(The Way,
no.439)
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As
he taught, Jesus said, Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk
around in flowing robes and be greeted in the market-places, and have the most
important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets. They
devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be
punished most severely. Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings
were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.
Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two
very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples
to him, Jesus said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the
treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of
her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on.(Mark 12:38-44)
Everyman It is
well understood that one of the features of the modern mind is its proneness to
thinking that there is little meaning in life. Many things have led to this,
most of all the gradual loss of a firm conviction of the fact of a loving God
and a particular providence.
We see it expressed in various modern philosophers such as Nietzsche and
Sartre. However, it can take less serious forms in the minds even of those who
are firmly religious. For instance, a person who, in his own estimation, never
achieves very much may feel that his own life has had little value. A person
who does not have many friends, a person who has little impact in his work, a
person who remains relatively unknown, can easily be troubled by a sense of
meaninglessness even though his religious faith will be a fundamental support
and stay. One can easily slip into thinking that life will be meaningful in
proportion to one’s prominence and dominance over other persons and events. I
remember watching two dogs. Every time the second dog did anything that put the
first dog into a second position, it would be attacked by that first dog. That
is to say, the first dog who did the attacking wanted always to be the top dog.
One can easily think — without caring to admit it — that life will have meaning
only if one is in some sense “the top dog,” which is to say if one has won the
admiration of the many. But of course, even were one to try, one may never be
“the top dog.” Alternatively, one may be “the top dog” and yet for the worst
reasons both in the sight of God and in the sight of others. One’s lot in life
may be to live simply as the relatively unknown and modest Everyman.
Nevertheless it is a very legitimate question to ask how the life of the unknown
Everyman can attain great meaning and value, because that is what by nature he,
Everyman, aspires to. Well, let us turn to our Gospel passage today and observe
what our Lord says of a certain set of persons who strove to stand out beyond
the common man, and then compare what he says of one who was unknown and deemed
to be insignificant.
Our Lord is in the Temple and he warns his hearers against the example of a
well‑known set of persons who wished to be above the common man. They were not
to be imitated. “Jesus said, Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like
to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the market‑places, and have
the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at
banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such
men will be punished most severely.” So the seeking and attainment of prominence
and dominance will not make life truly meaningful and of value. In fact it
could corrupt and take away life’s true meaning. Then our Lord held up the
example of one who, he said, was in fact doing and achieving more than all those
who were esteemed by others. It was a poor widow. Let us imagine the whole
event. “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and
watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich
people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small
copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him,
Jesus said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury
than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her
poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on”
(Mark 12:38‑44). What this means is that the ordinary and hidden
life, the life that is the necessary lot of countless persons, the life that
offers little chance of being “the top dog,” is peculiarly open to very great
meaningfulness. The poor widow gave more to God than all the others because she
gave to God all she had. That is all that the humble Everyman needs to do. He
simply needs to give all his love and energies to God and his will in his
everyday life and work, whatever it be and however hidden it seems. We are
speaking here of the ordinary life and its possible grandeur. Small can be
beautiful, as E. F. Schumacher said of economics. The same applies to the
ordinary life.
Let every ordinary person living what may appear to be a very ordinary life and
having what may seem to be very little significance, keep before him the example
of the poor and insignificant widow. She did more than all the others in terms
of her contribution to the Temple Treasury. How so? She gave to God everything
she had, while the others did not. The key to making life (including the
ordinary life), meaningful is to serve God with all one’s heart, whatever be the
circumstances the providence of God places us in.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you have finished your work, do your brother's, helping him, for
Christ's sake, so tactfully and so naturally that no one — not even he — will
realise that you are doing more than what in justice you ought.
This, indeed, is virtue befitting a son of God!
(The
Way, no.440)
Prayers this week: The
Lord is my light and my salvation. Who shall frighten me? The Lord is the
defender of my life. Who shall make me tremble?
(Psalm 26:1-2) God of wisdom
and love, source of all good, send your Spirit to teach us your truth and guide
our actions in your way of peace. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
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As
Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax
collector's booth. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and
sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this,
they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and
'sinners'? On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor,
but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'
For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.(Matthew 9:9-13)
Rich in
mercy
One of the very excellent developments in recent Christian thinking is the
realization of the centrality of the mercy of God. Of course, any true
development is merely a development of our realization of something which all
along is present explicitly or implicitly in Scripture and the Church’s life and
tradition. It is a development of our understanding of what has been revealed.
Pope John Paul II’s second Encyclical early in his long pontificate was
precisely on the mercy of God, and it is an outstanding Encyclical. It shows
that God’s boundless mercy is at the core of historical revelation. We could
say that the most obvious characteristic of the divine that man thinks of and
that affects and interests him is power. When we think of God we think of
divine power, and man learns from historical revelation that God is not only
powerful, but all‑powerful. He can do anything. He is almighty. The question
is, how is this power shown? Man’s experience of power is not very
encouraging. If he has power himself he tends to abuse it and the power of
others over him all too often he finds to be harsh and despotic. Man tends to
fear power. But God has revealed himself to be altogether different. St Thomas
Aquinas writes that God’s almighty power is revealed in his mercy. God shows
himself in his deeds to be amazingly kind and merciful in the face of needy man
and at enormous cost to himself. All through history man and society has
appealed to the heavenly powers for aid. It drives and sustains his religions.
The good news is that the only true heavenly Power is one, and this one all‑holy
and all‑powerful God is rich in mercy. The most singular proof of this is his
response to man’s greatest need which is redemption from sin. Man sinned and
this destroyed all his prospects, bringing punishment and death. God’s response
was one of mercy, coming to sinful man as the Lamb of God in order to take away
the sin of the world by bearing it on his own shoulders and making up for it all
by his own Passion and Death. The power of God is revealed as not to be feared
but to be loved and trusted.
All this is shown in our Gospel passage today (Matthew
9:9‑13). Our Lord is criticized for placing himself in the company
of sinners. This is thought to be incompatible with the all‑holy God’s distance
from sin. Jesus answers that those who understand God in this way have not
understood his revelation. Go and learn the meaning of what the Scriptures say,
he says, that “I want mercy, not sacrifice.” That is to say, God is a God rich
in mercy. Accordingly, he continues, I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners. In fact, all are sinners and all have fallen away from the friendship
of God. God, in the person of Jesus, has come to call all sinners back to him.
But there is one proviso. For them to respond to his call, they must recognize
their sinfulness and repent. Our Lord, the Good Shepherd predicted by the
Scriptures, yearns to find and bring back the lost sheep. But he will not allow
that they refuse to recognize their sin, nor that they choose to remain in their
sin. Our Lord, as even the devils cry out, is the Holy One of God and he
requires that the sinner come back to him in repentance and henceforth seek
holiness. Nor do I condemn you, he says to the sinful woman, but then he adds,
go and do not sin any more. Fundamental to our Lord’s ministry of mercy to
sinners is his call to repentance. His most serious charge against the scribes
and the Pharisees was that they refused to repent. If a person refuses to
recognize his sins and repent of them, then Christ’s work of mercy is absolutely
impeded. St Paul affirms that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the
more” (Rom 5:20), but to do its work grace must uncover sin so as to convert
hearts and bestow the gift of holiness. As St John writes in his first Letter,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We ought pray for the gift of being able
to see our sins with conviction, and the grace to repent of them with trust in
the mercy of God. This is what Matthew had done, it is what the tax collectors
and sinners dining with our Lord were on the way to doing, and it is what the
Pharisees refused to do.
Thinking of our Lord calling Matthew to follow him, thinking of our Lord dining
with the tax collectors and sinners, and thinking of the refusal of the
Pharisees to accept our Lord’s ministry of mercy, let us ask our Lord for a
profound appreciation of the fact that God is rich in mercy. At the same time,
God who is rich in mercy is the Holy One, and he requires of us that we
recognize our sins and repent of them. Let us ask repeatedly for the grace to
do this and to express our repentance regularly in the Sacrament of Penance and
in frequent acts of personal contrition.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1846-1848 (Mercy and Sin)
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You are hurt by your neighbour's lack of charity towards you. Think how God must
be hurt by your lack of charity — of Love — towards him!
(The Way, no.441)
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Scripture today:
1 Kings 17:1-6;
Psalm 121:1bc-8; Matthew 5:1-12
Now
when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples
came to him, and he began to teach them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will
be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed
are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons
of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way
they persecuted the prophets who were before you.(Matthew 5:1-12)
Blessedness
Years ago I was in a high school teaching religion and a girl sitting not far in
front of me said that “life is a bitch.” Whatever her experience had been to
that point, she did not think there was much chance of life bringing her many
blessings. That, indeed, is the question: what will life bring? When a child is
born into the world, all are happy at the new life that has come and optimism is
normal. What will life bring for the child? Let us place ourselves in another
scene many years later.
We are on a windswept hill and we are entering the cemetery. A small gathering
of relatives and friends is walking in silence. The coffin is just ahead and
the body of that same child, now a man, is being carried to its grave. We think
of the years that have gone and of what life has brought to the one we have
known. Perhaps it has brought many material blessings, some wealth, good
health, a successful career and family life. Alternatively, we can think of
many tribulations that have characterised the life of the one before us. From a
material point of view life has not brought many blessings. And so the body is
lowered into the grave and all depart. That person’s life is gone and gradually
he is forgotten. What will life bring, and what has it brought? This question
raises the fundamental question of what are in fact the true blessings of life.
I remember years ago there was a prominent businessman in Australia. It was
estimated that he was the richest man in the country and everything he touched
seemed to turn to gold. Many would have thought that his life was very
blessed. But then he suddenly died at the early age of 52. That was the end of
it, and he was cremated. There was nothing left of him but a handful of ashes.
I knew another person, an ordinary lady who had had a difficult husband all
through life. She was always patient, always cheerful, and most importantly,
always religious. She died at the age of 83, having done wonderful good in her
family and having become a fine person herself.
Does blessedness consist in having many material things, in being rich? Does it
consist in being popular and admired? Does it consist in being comfortable and
at ease? All these things are blessings of a sort, but are there more important
blessings that dwarf in importance these things? Our Lord in our Gospel passage
today (Matthew 5:1‑12) speaks of those who
are blessed. The blessed one is the one who possesses the kingdom of heaven,
who is truly subject to the lordship of God. The blessed one is the one who is
comforted by God himself. The blessed one is he who is filled with
righteousness. The blessed one is the one who is merciful and to whom God shows
mercy, who is pure of heart and who therefore will see God, the one who spreads
peace. The blessed one is he who suffers for the cause of right for his reward
will be great. But the issue is, how is this to be done? What is the key to
gaining life’s real blessings as our Lord describes them? The key is to live in
union with Jesus. When our Lord sets forth before his disciples his description
of a truly blessed life, he is setting forth before them his own life. It is he
who is the embodiment of a truly blessed life. The most blessed life in all of
human history has been that of Jesus Christ. In him lies the deepest source of
human joy, happiness and peace, and this does not consist in what the world
values. It consists in friendship with Jesus and is attained by a daily
following of him, who, paradoxically, trod his way towards the cross and ended
it there. The blessed life is the life lived in union with Jesus. There is no
greater blessing than this. As we gaze on the newborn child and ask what will
life bring, the greatest blessing we could wish is that the child will come to
know, love and follow Jesus. On that wind‑swept hill with its lonely cemetery,
as we gaze on the coffin of the same person lowered into the grave, we remember
that the greatest blessing that life could have brought to him is the love and
following of Jesus.
Let us read and re‑read the Beatitudes of St Matthew’s Gospel, looking on them
as providing us with the description of the truly blessed life. The key to
their understanding is the person of Jesus. They describe the sacred heart of
Jesus, which is to say, to use St Paul’s expression, his “mind.” Let this mind
be in you that was in Christ Jesus, St Paul wrote. That is the blessing to be
sought. If we gain this, life has brought the greatest blessing of all.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never think badly of anyone, not even if the words or conduct of the person in
question give you good grounds for doing so.
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Scripture today: 1 Kings 17:7-16;
Psalm 4:2-5, 7b-8; Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus
said to his disciples: You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its
saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything,
except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A
city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under
a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your
good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.(Matthew 5:13-16)
Light
and salt
It is normal for philosophers and religious founders to gather disciples.
Socrates had his followers, Plato had his students, of which one was Aristotle
who in turn had his. From them schools of thought develop, and from their
writings and literary remains their influence continues and grows. So too
Buddha, Zoroaster and others had their disciples and so their religions grew.
Well now, let us consider Christ’s attitude to his disciples and his conception
of their place in the world.
The world is dependent on them, he taught, because the world depends on him. It
is not that the world will be merely enriched somewhat by the presence of his
disciples — properly formed by his thought — in the midst of the world. The
world actually depends on them. Consider what he says of this in today’s Gospel
passage. He tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth. Salt
seasons food and so his disciples make the world acceptable and a delight to
God’s taste. On the day of his baptism the voice of the Father came from the
heavens saying that Jesus is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased.
Christ’s disciples then, sharing in the life of Jesus, will also be pleasing to
the heavenly Father. Here in our passage today our Lord tells them that they
will make the earth pleasing in God’s sight. In our Lord’s day salt also
preserved food from corruption. They, as salt of the earth, will preserve it
from corruption because they make Christ the Saviour present. Again, Christ is
the light of the world as he told his disciples in the Gospel of St John. The
one who follows him walks in the light. Our Lord tells his disciples in our
passage today from St Matthew (Matthew 5:13‑16) that they themselves, being his
disciples, are the light of the world. They bring his light to mankind and they
shine before all, giving testimony to the Father. Without their light the world
would remain in darkness. All this is to say that the world’s relationship with
him who is the one and only Saviour is profoundly assisted by the presence and
the work of his disciples. Every disciple of Christ sustains the world by
making Christ present in its midst.
This is the case, no matter how insignificant from the world’s point of view one
who lives in Jesus may seem. The average Christian is what we may call a little
person. That is to say, he is ordinary in the course he pursues and in the
talents he possesses. He does not stand out in any particular way. His course
is very much like that of Mary and Joseph all those years at Nazareth prior to
our Lord’s public ministry — and it is very much like the course our Lord
himself followed during those very years. The holy family at Nazareth was not
an out‑of‑the‑ordinary family except in its hidden holiness. In respect to its
holy life it was indeed without compare, but in all other respects it was an
ordinary family living an ordinary life. So too the average disciple of Christ
follows an ordinary course. And yet to him our Lord says that he is the salt of
the earth and the light of the world. The world depends on the ordinary
Christian for his life lived out in union with Christ. How tragic, not only for
the Christian but for the world, if the Christian fails in his following of
Christ and becomes mediocre or falls away. Our Lord tells his disciples that if
they lose their quality of saltiness — which is to say their union with him and
their faith in his word — then of what use are they to anyone? “If the salt
loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for
anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” That, then, is the
danger for Christ’s disciple. He must take steps to remain in Christ by daily
prayer, by spiritual reading of his word and of whatever assists him to receive
his word, by deepening his union with Christ in the Sacraments, and by union
with the Church his body. Living a life of true discipleship is not just a
personal matter. It has implications for the world around him. The world
depends on Christian discipleship, for as our Lord says to his disciples, you
are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
The world depends on Christ because he and he alone is the Saviour of the
world. He is present in the world in his body the Church, which is none other
than the entire body of Christ’s Faithful. It is they who, in union with the
successors of the Apostles and with the successor of St Peter, make Christ
present in the world by their life in him. They are the salt and the light of
the world. What a tragedy if their saltiness is lost and their light fades
through their failing to be Christ’s disciples. Let Christ be our true life,
then, for he has come that we all may have life in abundance.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't make negative criticism: if you can't praise, say nothing.
(The Way,
no.443)
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Scripture today:
Acts 11:21b-26; 12:1-3;
Psalm 98:1-6; Matthew 5:17-19
Jesus
said to his disciples: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the
truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least
stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is
accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but
whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom
of heaven. (Matthew
5:17-19)
The
Scriptures
As St Paul writes in one of his Letters, “Let this mind be in you that was in
Christ Jesus.” In another Letter he writes, “Be imitators of me, as I am of
Christ.” Christ is the one we should be studying and coming to know.
Knowing him we ought be endeavouring to imitate him, above all in his mind and
heart. “Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened,” he says in one of
the Gospels, “and I will give you rest. Learn from me for I am meek and humble
of heart.” So Christ expects his disciples to come to him and learn from him.
All through our lives we ought be contemplating the person of Jesus and making
him our model. By the power of God’s grace and our effort to be like him, our
hearts and minds will be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Well now, let
us consider our Gospel passage today especially for what it reveals about
Jesus. He says to his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the
Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell
you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not
the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17‑19).
These words tell us of our Lord’s profound love and veneration for the Law and
the Prophets. Throughout his public ministry he was constantly referring to the
teaching of the Scriptures — which is to say, the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms
and the other inspired writings. When challenged by his enemies for not
adhering to the practices of their fathers, he quoted Scripture (and the
dictates of common sense) to recall them to the true meaning of the Scriptures.
He repeatedly drew forth new meanings from the Scriptures to prove his points.
On one occasion when presented with a puzzle designed to show that the dead do
not rise again, our Lord quoted the words of Yahweh God to Moses, “I am the God
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” This proves that the dead rise again, our Lord
said, because God is the God of the living, and so Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were
and are alive. There is, then, a resurrection.
Let us even go back before our Lord’s public ministry, to those many years
growing up in the hidden setting of his holy family and the community of
Nazareth. But even before this, we see in the Angel’s salutation to the virgin
Mary and his description of the Messiah who was to be her son, that Mary herself
was steeped in the Scriptures. The Angel was able to presume her knowledge of
the Scriptures. It was especially evident in her prayer of praise to the Lord
(the Magnificat) after being greeted with such honour by her kinswoman
Elizabeth, that Mary’s heart was filled with the story of God’s relationship
with his chosen people. Mary was immersed in the Law and especially the
Prophets. Undoubtedly Joseph her husband was too. As Jesus was growing up,
this love and veneration for the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms would have
profoundly pervaded their humble home. We read that during his public ministry
he revisited Nazareth his own town, and entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day
“as he usually did.” That remark shows that during those years at Nazareth the
holy family would go to the synagogue on each Sabbath and listen to the
Scriptures, to the Law and the Prophets and to the commentaries on them. That
our Lord even as a child had a absolutely extraordinary understanding of the
Scriptures is shown during the event of his being lost during their visit to
Jerusalem for the Feast. He was found in the Temple discussing matters with the
doctors of the Law, asking questions and giving answers. St Luke remarked that
the doctors were amazed at the intelligence he displayed. It would have been
shown in his knowledge of the meaning of the Scriptures. During these years we
can only imagine the conversations that must have gone on within the holy
family, and the hidden insights into the Scriptures shared among them. Then,
when suddenly he appeared publicly before Israel, what was evident was his
unparalleled and manifestly authoritative mastery and interpretation of the
Scriptures. He spoke with authority, and not like the scribes.
Christ loved the Scriptures and is himself their fulfilment. He deeply
venerated them. They required a holy life according to the law of Moses and the
Prophets. Christ is the light that interprets their meaning and they point to
him as the one to come and as their fulfilment. Christ is our all, and
therefore the New Testament, and especially the Gospels, is the soul of the
Scriptures. But let us imitate Christ also in his love for the Old Testament,
which is to say for the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Never speak badly of your brother, not even when you have plenty of
reasons. Go first to the Tabernacle, and then go to the priest your father, and
tell him also what is worrying you.
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Scripture today: 1 Kings 18:41-46;
Psalm 65:10-13; Matthew 5:20-26
Jesus
said to his disciples: I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the
kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do
not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you
that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again,
anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But
anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore,
if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother
has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go
and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Settle matters
quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are
still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge
may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you
the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.(Matthew 5:20-26)
Externals I
suppose we could say that in the study of primal religions the two sources of
most fruitful study are myths and rituals. One of the features of ritual in
primal societies is the importance of performing the rituals correctly. While
the religion of those societies pervades the culture, nevertheless it is deemed
to be very important that ritual be conducted according to a long and firm
custom.
The higher powers are understood to have stipulated how the ritual is to be
performed and so a careful external observance is important if they are to be
placated and kept “on side”, as we might say. At least that is one factor.
There is a tendency for man’s practice of religion to be primarily a matter of
external observance, and even simply a matter of external ritual. We see this
pattern in Greek and Roman religion and the religions of very many societies
since. Considering this phenomenon positively, the fact that this emphasis has
been so widespread and enduring shows the importance of external observance and
ritual. It is a pointer to the due place it was given in revealed religion as
we see in, say, the book of Leviticus and sections of the book of Exodus.
External religious observance has great importance in genuine religion and in
revealed religion, as does carefully stipulated ritual practice. But the danger
is that, granted the fallen condition of the heart of man, this external
observance will be regarded as the essence of religion and that the external
observances will be performed for irreligious motives. It seems to have been
the ingrained flaw in the religion of very many of the scribes and Pharisees.
The external practices of religion are meant to support, express and guard the
internal religion of man’s mind and heart. Man’s internal religion needs the
external observance just as the external observance needs the internal religion
of the heart to inform and guard it. The great problem facing man in his
religion is how to maintain a religious heart and not just an external practice.
It is precisely this which our Lord addresses in our Gospel passage today. His
disciples had to understand that “unless your righteousness surpasses that of
the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the
kingdom of heaven.” Then he lays down his directions. “You have heard that it
was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be
subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother
will be subject to judgment.” The commandment of God stipulated that one must
not unjustly take away another’s life. But our Lord goes further. He says with
manifest authority, that “I tell you” that being unjustly angry will bring God’s
judgment. That is to say, to desire that unjust harm be done to another is to
violate the commandment. Our Lord is insisting on a religion not merely of
external observance but of the heart. We are to resist anything in our hearts
that is in any way like murder. Our Lord not only speaks of thoughts, but also
of words. “Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the
Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of
hell” (Matthew 5:20‑26). Or again, it is
not enough to observe religious rituals faithfully while maintaining our
conflict with our brother. “Therefore,” our Lord says, “if you are offering
your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something
against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be
reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” So true religion is
a matter not only of external observance and deeds, but also of thoughts and
words. God sees all. He sees not only what others can see but sees our secret
thoughts and the words that only one other may hear. His will reaches every
aspect of our free choice. Everything we freely choose to think, say or do is
subject to the will of God and to his scrutiny. God wants us to love him with
all our mind, heart, soul and strength.
Let every baptized Christian remember that by baptism he has become a temple of
God. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit abide within. The Trinity dwells within
the soul of the baptized person who is in the state of grace. God is ever so
near, and he is continually watching. He asks that we serve him and live in him
in every aspect of our life and being. Our religion is above all to be a
religion of the heart, expressing itself in thought, word and deed. It is then
that everything external to our practice of religion will be pleasing to God.
Let us then give our all to him.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gossip is a disease that infects and poisons the apostolate. It goes against
charity, means a waste of energy, takes away peace and destroys one's union with
God.
(The Way, no.445)
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Jesus
said to his disciples: You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit
adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin,
gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your
body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand
causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose
one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. It has been
said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But
I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, unless the marriage is unlawful,
causes her to commit adultery, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits
adultery.
(Matthew 5:27-32)
Marriage
It does not take much reflection to realize that the whole of society depends on
the institution of marriage. Whatever be the society, it is profoundly shaped
by the way it institutionalizes marriage. If a society allows bigamy or easy
divorce, then the society will be affected accordingly. So important is
marriage for a society that almost universally, be it in developed or indigenous
cultures, marriage is surrounded by serious custom and law and protected by
associated sanctions.
It is, then, a matter of high importance just how marriage is understood, and it
is very possible for the foundations of a society to be gradually undermined if
dubious conceptions of marriage gain ground. Alternatively, a society will be
strengthened if noble and worthy notions of marriage take root and are reflected
in a society’s laws and institutions. Has there ever been a higher or more
noble conception of marriage than that which the Christian religion — as
formulated in the teaching of the Catholic Church — has insisted on? That is to
say, the greatest teacher of marriage has been Jesus Christ who re‑emphasised
and renewed the divine revelation about marriage. Indeed, he took it to further
heights. In our Gospel today our Lord refers to the commandment of God that man
not commit adultery. This is not merely one of the Ten Commandments of God, but
is also a clear command of the natural law inscribed in the mind and heart of
man. Of course, the history of humanity shows that if there has ever been a
divine and natural law flouted it has been this, so much so that our Lord told
his opponents on one occasion that Moses allowed divorce precisely because the
original plan of God was inveterately ignored and refused. It was a strategy to
contain, by legislation, the hard‑heartedness of the people. It did not
supersede God’s law against divorce as shown by our Lord to be in the very first
pages of the Bible.
Our Lord takes his hearers into a deeper understanding of this divine teaching
on marriage. Adultery does not just mean being faithful to one’s wife. It
means being faithful to one wife. As our Lord pointed out to the Samaritan
woman, she had had five husbands and the husband she was now with was not her
husband at all. That is to say, marriage is indissoluble — it cannot be
dissolved unless the marriage was unlawful in the first place. The attempt to
dissolve a valid marriage and legalize divorce so as to legitimize remarriage is
against the law of God. “It has been said,” our Lord states, that “ ‘Anyone who
divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that
anyone who divorces his wife, unless the marriage is unlawful, causes her to
commit adultery, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery”
(Matthew 5:27‑32). That is not to say that a
civil divorce may not be in order as a means of resolving various difficulties,
but a civil divorce does not and cannot dissolve the marriage if the marriage
was lawful in the sight of God in the first place. The words of Christ uphold
the unity and indissolubility of marriage and point the way not only to a
married life lived in accordance with God’s will, but to a society built on
sound and firm foundations. But Christ goes further than merely correcting
certain notions of divorce. One can commit adultery in the heart. “You have
heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who
looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his
heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.”
God requires fidelity in marriage and absolute chastity outside of marriage even
in one’s mind and heart. Not only must one guard one’s actions but one must
strictly guard one’s heart. How tragic it is, then, that the freedom allowed in
Western societies becomes a license to tempt and undermine chastity both in and
outside marriage. When the sanctity of marriage and chastity outside marriage
is undermined, society begins to crumble.
Chastity outside marriage and chaste fidelity within marriage are fundamental to
the life of man. They are an absolute requirement by God, and the deliberate
and knowing violation of chastity even in one’s heart is a serious sin. Christ
calls it adultery in the heart and it is so serious that unless it is repented
of it leads to damnation. It is better, he says, to lose your eye if it leads
you to sin, than to be thrown into hell with both eyes. Let us understand that
virtue is not just something that others see. Rather it is something that God
sees right to the depths of our heart
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are so weak, is it surprising that others too have their weaknesses?
(The Way, no.446)
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Scripture today: 1 Kings 19:19-21; Psalm
16:1b-2a and 5, 7-10; Matthew 5:33-37
Jesus
said to his disciples: Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long
ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But
I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by
the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the
Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair
white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'; anything
beyond this comes from the evil one.(Matthew 5:33-37)
Truthfulness
It is a very good thing that in modern democracies it is usual that lying and
falsehoods on the part of public officials are not tolerated by the public. If
an elected representative or a member of an elected government is found to have
lied or perpetrated an untruth, very often he will be forced to resign. It is
one sign that speaking and acting truthfully is perceived to be a precept of
natural law, independently of any statute of civil law. It is binding on man
and all understand this to be so.
There is the further intriguing question of why it binds — which is to say, why
man is subject to what he and all perceive to be of moral obligation. The
philosophical question of what the foundations of moral obligation are is not
our subject here, but I mention the matter only to introduce what our Lord
speaks of in today’s Gospel. Our Lord refers to the practice of testifying by
oath to one’s resolve to do something, or guaranteeing by oath to the truth of
something. The oath brings God into the situation as a witness, asserting that
one is stating something as true, with God also guaranteeing the truth of the
statement. The oath in this sense has a long history and is routinely used in
courts of law even though the practice in that setting does not even assume the
existence of God. It is a heritage of society that imposes sanctions on an
untruth when supported by an oath. So our Lord gives his divine response to
this way of guaranteeing the truth of something. He says, be truthful always
and do not support it by calling on God or anything else as a witness. Do not
swear at all, he says. “I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for
it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem,
for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you
cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and
your ‘No’, ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one
(Matthew 5:33‑37).
This is to say that the one who walks in the footsteps of Christ speaks and acts
as if Christ is continually present and is the unseen witness of all he does.
He speaks and acts so as to be always pleasing to God. The presence of God is a
fundamental fact in his life and he lives in the light of this fact. Thus he
never lies and perpetrates no falsehood — this is how the one who has the mind
of Christ lives. So we need to cultivate in life an abiding sense of the
presence of God, and for the baptized Christian this is a constant source of
consolation. By his baptism he is placed in God and in Christ because, at his
baptism, the Holy Spirit comes and makes of him God’s adopted child. His heart
and his soul become a temple of the living God in which, so long as he is in the
state of grace, the Holy Trinity abide. And so it is that God is intimately
present to him, not only because he is a creature of God constantly sustained by
his act of creation, but also by a marvellous and special Indwelling. By the
power of the Holy Spirit, the triune God abides within him just as the Father is
in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. As our Lord says in the Gospel of St John,
“If anyone loves me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we
shall come to him and make our home with him.” God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit dwell within the soul of the baptized person in the state of
grace, because the baptized person is, as St Paul says, in Jesus. For all these
reasons we live constantly in the presence of God and our daily task ought be to
realize this and live accordingly. Living according to this will mean, among
other things, being distinguished in all our words and deeds by a manifest
truthfulness. The unseen Lord whom we love and who died for us walks ever by
our side and he is all holy. Sin profoundly displeases him and so we strive to
avoid all that is wrong and sinful. For this reason, over and above the natural
law, the Christian must strive always to be truthful in every way.
Let us resolve to be truthful in everything, and truthful in a Christlike way.
Our motive for doing so is not just in order to maintain personal integrity and
to respect the rights of others. Our motive is above all to please God our
Creator and Redeemer who sees all and who loves us beyond all our imagining. He
is always present. So let us live in such a way that at our judgment he will
say as he said of Jesus his only begotten Son, this is my beloved son in whom I
am well pleased.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After seeing how many people waste their lives, their whole lives
(tongues wagging, wagging, wagging, and all the inevitable consequences),
silence seems preferable to me, and more necessary than ever.
And I well understand, Lord, why we have to give an account of all our idle
words.
(The Way,
no.447)
Prayers this week:
Lord, hear my voice when I call to you. You
are my help; do not cast me off, do not desert me, my Saviour God.
(Psalm 26:7.9) Almighty God,
our hope and our strength, without you we falter. Help us to follow Christ and
to live according to your will. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
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When
Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and
helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, The
harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest,
therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. He called his twelve
disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal
every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first,
Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and
his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who
betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: Do
not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the
lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is
near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out
demons. Freely you have received, freely give.(Matthew 9:36-10:8)
The
ministerial priesthood
In the scene of our Gospel passage today there are prefigured some tremendous
realities of the future. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them,
because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” In
gazing on the crowds, Christ the Good Shepherd has in his mind’s eye the needs
of mankind. The crowds, let us say, stand for the world of the ages. Many
people when facing “the crowds”, which is to say mankind in its difficulty and
suffering, feel little of the compassion of Christ. But Christ is filled with
compassion. Moreover, while the crowd before Jesus was harassed with the burden
of illnesses and disease, our Lord saw beyond that to their deeper harassment by
sin. He had come to bring the true liberation from the fundamental flaw that
age upon age wreaks its incalculable effect on the happiness of man. He had
come to take away the sin of the world and to reunite mankind to God. So there
is Christ and the crowds, which is to say there is Christ and his mission to the
world. However, there is also that other essential element in the mission of
Christ, the Twelve and all those who with the Twelve would share in Christ’s
mission. We read that he called his twelve disciples to him and gave them a
share in his authority. We are told in another Gospel that he gave them the
name of “Apostles” (apostoloi), his envoys. He appointed the twelve
Apostles, and so important is it that the Gospels give us their very names.
They were the foundation and the beginning of the Church, and specifically of
the Church’s ministerial priesthood. On the evening of the very day of his
rising from the dead Christ would consecrate his Apostles in the Holy Spirit,
and with that he enabled them to share in a special sense in his high
priesthood. Receive the Holy Spirit, he said. In our passage today our Lord
says to them, Go! Go to the lost sheep of Israel. On rising from the dead he
said to them, as the Father has sent me, so am I sending you! In our Gospel
today (Matthew 9:36‑10:8) he sends them out to drive out the evil spirits and to
deliver from sicknesses. On Easter Sunday he gives them the Holy Spirit to take
away sins. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them.
Christ’s designation of the Twelve in our passage today prefigures his
establishment of the ministerial priesthood. He instituted it with his gift of
the Holy Spirit to his Apostles, and the Holy Spirit quickly developed it in the
way intended by Christ from the beginning. Christ, as the Letter to the Hebrews
makes clear, is mankind’s one and only High Priest. He exercised his high
priesthood on the Cross at Calvary, offering himself as the victim for all
mankind, making up for the sin of the world. That one sacrifice saved the
world. As High Priest, he continues at the right hand of his heavenly Father,
always interceding for us, and in this way his one sacrifice continues in its
redeeming effect for all of us. The wonderful thing is that this same high
priesthood is made present constantly in the Church. Christ the one High Priest
of mankind is present in his Church exercising his priesthood. He does this in
two essentially distinct ways, namely in and through the life and work of the
lay faithful, and in and through the ordained ministerial priesthood. The
ministerial priesthood — with, for instance, its power to forgive sins — was
conferred on the Twelve on the evening of the day of Christ’s resurrection and,
we may presume, at the further gift to them of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. At
Pentecost too, with the gift of the Spirit to the infant Church, there was
conferred on all the disciples a common priesthood. The entire Church became a
kingdom of priests, to use St Peter’s expression. The Twelve were made
ministerial priests of Jesus Christ, with the fullest share in the ministerial
priesthood intended by God for his Church. They were the Church’s first
“bishops,” to use a later term, with the power to hand on this priesthood to
others. And this they did, consecrating others to be what we now call bishops,
and others again to be what we now call ordained priests, with their lesser
share in the ministerial priesthood. The one priesthood of Christ is made
present in the ministerial priesthood of bishops and priests. It is in this
sense that St Thomas Aquinas writes that Christ is the only true priest, the
others being his ministers. By their special consecration and gift of the
Spirit, they are empowered to act as priests in his name. Christ the High
Priest is in them as the Church’s head, and they in him.
The ordained Catholic priest bears within him the person of Christ who acts in
him as High Priest. This occurs most especially in his celebration of the Holy
Eucharist; in his forgiveness of sins in the sacrament of Penance; in his
anointing of the sick bringing to them the strengthening of Christ; in his
preaching of the word of God, and indeed in his whole life. He himself must
therefore avoid sin, live in the grace of God and strive for holiness of life.
He is a priest and makes present the one priesthood of mankind’s only High
Priest. His is a tremendous calling, and it would be a ghastly thing if he,
united in his very being to Christ the Priest, were to live a life of deliberate
sin.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1554-1571 (Degrees of Orders in the church)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's easier said than done. With that cutting, hatchet-like tongue, have you
ever tried, even by chance, to do 'well' what, according to your 'considered'
opinion, others do less well?
(The Way, no.448)
Jesus
said to his disciples: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell
them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Therefore
everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a
wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it
had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and
does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on
sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against
that house, and it fell with a great crash.
(Matthew 7:21-27)
This hallowed term, “Kingdom” of God and of heaven, has passed out of our
ordinary religious usage even though it recurs time and again in our Lord’s
preaching and instructions in the Gospels. Repent, our Lord said at the
beginning of his public ministry, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. The
beatitudes speak of the Kingdom of heaven and of how man can enter it. In our
Gospel today our Lord tells his disciples that “Not everyone who says to me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of
my Father who is in heaven.” Entry into the kingdom of heaven is the goal of
life, and it does not simply mean heaven. By his death and resurrection our
Lord established the kingdom of heaven here on earth. What is “the kingdom of
heaven” referred to by our Lord in our Gospel today? The kingdom of heaven, the
kingdom of God, is nothing other than the presence and lordship of God. God was
present in all his ruling lordship in the person of Jesus. In Christ was
present the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and he himself always did what
pleased the Father. How do we enter the kingdom of heaven, then? We enter the
kingdom of God by entering into union with Jesus, and union with him is made
accessible to all through his Church. “You are Peter,” he said to Simon, “and
on this rock I will build my Church. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven.” In Christ is found the fullness of the kingdom of heaven, and Christ
is found in his Church. The kingdom of heaven which Christ established here on
earth subsists, then, in the Church he founded, and that Church subsists in the
Catholic Church of which the Successor of Peter is the visible foundation.
Let your heart overflow in effusions of Love and gratitude as you
consider how God's grace each day saves you from the snares that the enemy has
set in your path.