Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary ●
Friday
of the sixth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today: James 2:14-24, 26; Psalm 112:1-6; Mark 8:34–9:1
Then he
called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: If anyone
would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his life?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his life? If anyone is ashamed
of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of
Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the
holy angels. And he said to them, I tell you the truth, some who are
standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God
come with power.(Mark 8:34–9:1)
The
Cross
There have been many great leaders in the world who continue to fascinate and
astonish students of history. Their power to inspire and to lead, their power
to offer hope, their capacity to organize, all this and more drew after them
great numbers of persons seeking something much better. We
think of great military commanders such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,
Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte. We think of great rulers, we even think of
revolutionaries who inspired many others to follow them and turn the tide of a
country and of history. At the end of his life on the island of St Helena,
Napoleon reflected on the enduring influence of one great leader, Jesus Christ.
He, a deist till then, saw that generation after generation Christ outshines all
others in that he continues to gain the hearts of countless persons. They live
for him, they love him, they serve him and they strive to do all this more and
more generously and perfectly. The saints give their entire lives to the person
of Jesus, and the message that the Church sends abroad in her numerous
canonizations of saints is that sanctity is for all. All are called to love
Jesus Christ as totally as possible. But now, let us ask, what is the condition
of following and loving Christ? Our Lord in our Gospel today tells us that
condition. Jesus “called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it”
(Mark 8:34–9:1). The Christian must do what
Christ did, he must accept the cross. More than this, he must actually “take
up” that cross knowing that it is the distinctive way of following in the
footsteps of Jesus. Suffering was the chosen and redeeming path of Christ, and
the Christian’s path is to suffer in union with him. This might seem a little
mad, but that is what Christ has revealed. Suffering is the path to life and to
glory.
A couple generously resolves to have a large family. This brings problems and
difficulties of finance together with stress in coping with the varied
developments of this or that child in the family. They suffer in union with
Jesus, knowing on the word of Jesus that their “cross” which they have taken up
in imitation of him will bear fruit and in its own way will lead to the
resurrection. A person falls victim to nervous disorders or physical
incapacity. Such is what Providence has permitted for him. He “takes up” that
“cross” and actively accepts it from God knowing that by doing so in union with
Jesus his life will mysteriously bear much fruit and will not only benefit
himself spiritually but will benefit so many others. He has before him the
example of the Master who took up his cross and suffered for the salvation of
the world. In his nervous or physical suffering he is following in the
footsteps of the Master. Again, a person has an increasing feeling as the years
go on that his ambitions to do this or that will come to nothing. The
circumstances never seem right, his own abilities are not up to it, and nothing
ever seems to go as well as is needed. He accepts the cross and makes it the
means of an even greater union with the risen, unseen Jesus. Yet another gives
unambiguous witness to his Christian faith in a hostile work environment and
suffers profoundly as a result of the opprobrium that gradually comes upon him.
A Christian in an Islamic country is suddenly confronted by a hate‑filled
extremist who demands at the point of a gun that he convert to Islam. He
refuses and is shot to death or is left incapacitated for the rest of his life.
The cross of each person differs from that of the next, but whatever is the
cross, if it is a real cross it will be very burdensome. It will be precisely
that which the person does not want to have. It will seem to him to be heavier
than that which some or many others have to bear. By keeping his gaze on Christ
he is able to accept it with love, love for God and for Christ, and so his life
despite his disappointments gains a powerful meaning and evident joy.
Let us pray for the grace truly to advance in the Christian way and in union
with Jesus by accepting totally his doctrine on the Cross. In our Gospel
passage today, Jesus calls both his disciples and the crowd to him to tell them
all that the only way to follow him is by being prepared to accept and even
embrace the cross. This doctrine turns the problem of evil on its head and
makes evil and suffering the door to glory and life. Let us pray that the mind
of Christ will be given to us so as to be able to pass through that door, the
door of the Cross.
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Scripture today:
James 3:1-10; Psalm 12:2-5, 7-8; Mark 9:2-13
After six
days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high
mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before
them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the
world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and
Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is
good for us to be here. Let us put up three tents — one for you, one
for Moses and one for Elijah. (He did not know what to say, they were
so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice
came from the cloud: This is my beloved Son. Listen to him! Suddenly,
when they looked round, they no longer saw anyone with them except
Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders
not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen
from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what
rising from the dead meant. And they asked him, Why do the teachers of
the law say that Elijah must come first? Jesus replied, To be sure,
Elijah will come first, and restore all things. Why then is it written
that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you,
Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just
as it is written about him.(Mark 9:2-13)
The
Cross
There have been many great leaders in the world who continue to fascinate and
astonish students of history. Their power to inspire and to lead, their power
to offer hope, their capacity to organize, all this and more drew after them
great numbers of persons seeking something much better. We think of great
military commanders such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan,
Napoleon Bonaparte. We think of great rulers, we even think of revolutionaries
who inspired many others to follow them and turn the tide of a country and of
history. At
the end of his life on the island of St Helena, Napoleon reflected on the
enduring influence of one great leader, Jesus Christ. He, a deist till then,
saw that generation after generation Christ outshines all others in that he
continues to gain the hearts of countless persons. They live for him, they love
him, they serve him and they strive to do all this more and more generously and
perfectly. The saints give their entire lives to the person of Jesus, and the
message that the Church sends abroad in her numerous canonizations of saints is
that sanctity is for all. All are called to love Jesus Christ as totally as
possible. But now, let us ask, what is the condition of following and loving
Christ? Our Lord in our Gospel today tells us that condition. Jesus “called the
crowd to him along with his disciples and said: If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to
save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the
sake of the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34–9:1).
The Christian must do what Christ did, he must accept the cross. More than
this, he must actually “take up” that cross knowing that it is the distinctive
way of following in the footsteps of Jesus. Suffering was the chosen and
redeeming path of Christ, and the Christian’s path is to suffer in union with
him. This might seem a little mad, but that is what Christ has revealed.
Suffering is the path to life and to glory.
A couple generously resolves to have a large family. This brings problems and
difficulties of finance together with stress in coping with the varied
developments of this or that child in the family. They suffer in union with
Jesus, knowing on the word of Jesus that their “cross” which they have taken up
in imitation of him will bear fruit and in its own way will lead to the
resurrection. A person falls victim to nervous disorders or physical
incapacity. Such is what Providence has permitted for him. He “takes up” that
“cross” and actively accepts it from God knowing that by doing so in union with
Jesus his life will mysteriously bear much fruit and will not only benefit
himself spiritually but will benefit so many others. He has before him the
example of the Master who took up his cross and suffered for the salvation of
the world. In his nervous or physical suffering he is following in the
footsteps of the Master. Again, a person has an increasing feeling as the years
go on that his ambitions to do this or that will come to nothing. The
circumstances never seem right, his own abilities are not up to it, and nothing
ever seems to go as well as is needed. He accepts the cross and makes it the
means of an even greater union with the risen, unseen Jesus. Yet another gives
unambiguous witness to his Christian faith in a hostile work environment and
suffers profoundly as a result of the opprobrium that gradually comes upon him.
A Christian in an Islamic country is suddenly confronted by a hate‑filled
extremist who demands at the point of a gun that he convert to Islam. He
refuses and is shot to death or is left incapacitated for the rest of his life.
The cross of each person differs from that of the next, but whatever is the
cross, if it is a real cross it will be very burdensome. It will be precisely
that which the person does not want to have. It will seem to him to be heavier
than that which some or many others have to bear. By keeping his gaze on Christ
he is able to accept it with love, love for God and for Christ, and so his life
despite his disappointments gains a powerful meaning and evident joy.
Let us pray for the grace truly to advance in the Christian way and in union
with Jesus by accepting totally his doctrine on the Cross. In our Gospel
passage today, Jesus calls both his disciples and the crowd to him to tell them
all that the only way to follow him is by being prepared to accept and even
embrace the cross. This doctrine turns the problem of evil on its head and
makes evil and suffering the door to glory and life. Let us pray that the mind
of Christ will be given to us so as to be able to pass through that door, the
door of the Cross.
Prayers today: Lord, your mercy
is my hope, my heart rejoices in your saving power. I will sing to the Lord, for
his goodness to me. (Psalm 12: 6)
Father, keep before us the wisdom and
love you have revealed in your Son. Help us to be like him in word and deed, for
he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever.
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You have heard that it was said, 'Eye
for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If
someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if
someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who
asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You
have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I
tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may
be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the
good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who
love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not
even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
(Matthew 5: 38-48)
Human
dignity
In 2009 there appeared in the journal Bioethics an article by Alasdair
Cochrane of the London School of Economics and Political Science, entitled
“Undignified bioethics.” It was an attack on the concept of human dignity as a
foundation for bioethics. I remember years ago when pursuing philosophy in an
Australian university, the examiner of one paper I submitted wrote that he could
not understand the notion of human dignity. As
a result, he rejected my point. There have been spirited debates in recent
decades on the nature of human dignity and on its place in moral theory, but
whatever be the philosophical debates, the fact of human dignity is a matter of
common sense. Every human being possesses an inherent dignity as a result of
which he has rights. There is an old saying that 40,000 Frenchmen can’t be
wrong — meaning that the voice of mankind carries with it its own authority.
Civil law and ordinary human relations are based, or ought be based, on the
recognition of the dignity of each person, as is the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights of the United Nations. The idea of human dignity — easily
apprehended even if difficult to fully articulate — is the foundation of a
civilized society. It drives the true development of a civilization. Its loss
signals a coming barbarism, and for this reason Nazism was barbaric. It might
even be argued that it was this notion, deriving from the Catholic religion and
the best of classical thought, that fuelled the rise of European civilization.
Its springs were a classical understanding of man and the doctrine of God’s
love. Man has an objective value in himself, and that this must be respected is
a natural law, even if its detailed implications require time to see. The
Church has always insisted that the Gospel of Jesus Christ defends the
inalienable dignity and rights of man. It scarcely needs to be said that our
Lord’s words in today’s Gospel powerfully support the dignity of each person —
even of one’s very enemies. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise
on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”
(Matthew 5: 38-48).
This love for the other — even for one’s enemies — to which our Lord refers,
powerfully respects the dignity of each human being in all kinds of ways, of
which only a sample could be given here. If we respect the whole person of the
other — not only his body but his soul — we are not likely carelessly to lead
him into sin. A true respect for human dignity will result in taking care of
our own physical health and that of others, while avoiding the cult of the body
and every kind of excess. It will lead to the avoidance of the abuse of drugs,
of food, of alcohol, tobacco and medicine. It will be manifest to all who have
a sense of the dignity of man, that the violence we read of, such as kidnapping
and hostage taking, terrorism, torture, violence and such like, all attack the
dignity of man. A special sign of a heightened sense of the dignity of man is
shown when a society protects the weak and defenceless. The weakest, of course,
are the unborn and the most sick and elderly. Paradoxically, the modern world
allows the most serious attacks on the weakest — on the unborn and, in certain
legislation, on the sick and dying. The Alan Guttmacher Institute estimates
that approximately 42 million abortions are performed every year, which is more
than twice the population of Australia. It is a massive attack on the dignity
of millions of human beings at their most vulnerable stage. Imagine the shock
and outcry if a similar carnage were reported on whales, elephants or certain
other species of animals in the wild. What is needed is a recovery of respect
for the dignity of each human person. We must think again of what each human
person is, and the best start to this is for each person to think of what he
himself is. He is a living, spiritual, immortal Self, able to determine and
build up his destiny. No animal can do that. The animal must act according to
its instinct and is driven by it. It is not an independent Self — and is
certainly not spiritual — but rather is the product of forces which drive it.
The human being is the source of initiative and choice, and is the object of
love. Others love him and recognize his rights, and most of all he is loved by
God. The crowning indication of the dignity of each human being is that God the
Son became man to die for each and every human being, and in this way to make of
him a child of God and an heir to the homeland of heaven. Man has great
dignity.
Man’s destiny will depend on the degree to which he respects his own dignity and
that of others. His special dignity is to be a child of God, and he has the
vocation to live accordingly. If he neglects this supreme facet of his dignity,
he is in danger of being lost forever. If he fails to respect the dignity and
rights of others, he is in danger of a similar fate. Our Lord said that at the
Final Judgment he will say that whatever is done to the least he takes as having
been done to him. So every person has a high dignity in the sight of God. Let
us respect that dignity, then!
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.2284-2301 (Respect for personal dignity)
We
stand in God’s presence, we are in his Church, in his favour, in the way of his
grace, in the way to be pardoned; and this is our great comfort … We are not in
a desperate state, we are not cast out of our Father’s house; we have still
privileges, aids, powers, from Him; our persons are acceptable to Him.
JHN, from the sermon ‘Peace and Joy amid Chastisement’ (1836)
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Scripture today:
James 3:13-18; Psalm 19:8-10, 15; Mark 9:14-29
As Jesus
came down from the mountain with Peter, James, John and came to the
other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of
the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they
were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. What are you arguing
with them about? he asked. A man in the crowd answered, Teacher, I
brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of
speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams
at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your
disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not. O unbelieving
generation, Jesus replied, how long shall I stay with you? How long
shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me. So they brought him. When
the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion.
He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus
asked the boy's father, How long has he been like this? From childhood,
he answered. It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.
But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. 'If you can'?
said Jesus. Everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately
the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe; help my unbelief! When Jesus
saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit.
You deaf and mute spirit, he said, I command you, come out of him and
never enter him again. The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and
came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, He's
dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he
stood up. After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him
privately, Why couldn't we drive it out? He replied, This kind can come
out only by prayer.(Mark 9:14-29)
The
prayer of need
John Calvin laid it down in the first book of his Institutes (3.1.) that
“the human mind, even by natural instinct, possesses some sense of a deity,” and
that “God has given to all some apprehension of his existence”. For support, he
cites Cicero who writes in his well‑known book On the Nature of the Gods
that there is no nation so barbarous as not to be firmly persuaded of the being
of a God. Be
that as it may — and with the far greater knowledge we now have of the religions
of man, we can say that it is not quite as simple as that — a further question
is, what are the foundations or sources of the religious sense? What prompts man
to turn to the unseen powers above? Again, there is no simple answer, but one
source is clearly man’s experience of need, vulnerability and helplessness. He
is in such constant need of help — help that is beyond the reach of his own
capacity and the capacity of others around him. There are many things that bear
down on a person or a family or a community that no one seems able to do
anything about. What is to be done? The only thing, ultimately, that the
subject can do is turn to the unseen and ask for aid. That is surely one source
of religion in the life of man, but of course it is not the only source. In our
Gospel scene today we have an instance of helplessness so characteristic of
man’s situation. The man in the crowd was helpless before the affliction long
endured by his son. It had affected his son since his childhood. The
description given by the father would suggest something like epilepsy but it was
more than that because the demonic was involved too. “Teacher, I brought you my
son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it
seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his
teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but
they could not (Mark 9:14‑29). His sense of
need led the father of the boy to turn to Christ for aid. We too ought turn to
Christ for aid in all our needs.
What was our Lord’s response? He calmly asked the father about his son. He was
compassionate and, humanly speaking, wished to know the case in detail. But
then the father in desperation cried out, “But if you can do anything, take pity
on us and help us.” In part, it was an excellent prayer, and we have examples of
the prayer of need elsewhere in the Gospels. We remember how the group of
lepers called out to our Lord, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on us!” Our Lord
immediately told them to go to the priests and show themselves, and as they were
leaving they were cleansed of their leprosy. On another occasion the blind
beggar Bar Timaeus called repeatedly to our Lord that he have pity on him. Our
Lord summoned him and having asked him what he could do for him, there and then
restored his sight. The appeal to God in Christ for aid is something God wants
us to do continually. St Alphonsus in one of his books writes that the reason
why we do not receive a lot more from God is that we ask so little of him. The
reason why we ask so little of him is that we don’t really believe that asking
God for what we need will make much difference. We lack faith in the goodness
and power of God — and this may mean, in some cases, that we don’t really
believe in God. This very important point in all of the prayer that arises from
our human need is the very point that becomes the issue in our Gospel passage
today. The father of the boy appeals to our Lord saying, if you can do
anything, help us! Our Lord’s response was immediate: “‘If you can’? said
Jesus. Everything is possible for him who believes.” We must take that to heart
in all our prayer. If we recognize that we lack faith, then we ought pray for
it, and for this we have the excellent prayer of the father of the boy in our
Gospel passage. “I do believe; help my unbelief!” I suggest that every time we
pray for something we need we include in that very prayer of petition the
further petition for faith that is contained in these words of the father of the
boy. Let us ask God for what we need, and let us ask for the grace to believe
that he will answer our prayer in the way he knows best.
The best prayer of petition is the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer he taught his
disciples when they asked him to teach them how to pray. Go through it and
observe what our Lord says we ought be asking for. Another excellent prayer of
petition is the Hail Mary, addressed to Mary the mother of Christ asking her to
pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Let us go to Christ as did the
father of the boy and ask him for the help we need, asking him too for faith to
believe that he can indeed help us.
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Scripture today: James 4:1-10; Psalm 55:7-11a, 23; Mark 9:30-37
They left
that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to
know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to
them, The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.
They will kill him, and after three days he will rise. But they did not
understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. They came
to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, What were you
arguing about on the road? But they kept quiet because on the way they
had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the
Twelve and said, If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last,
and the servant of all. He took a little child and had him stand among
them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, Whoever welcomes one of
these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me
does not welcome me but the one who sent me.
(Mark 9:30-37)
A humble
God
It would be fair to say that one of the principal purposes of God in revealing
himself to Abraham, the patriarchs, Moses and the prophets prior to the coming
of Jesus Christ, was gradually to educate the people he had chosen in one great
fact. That fact was that there were not many gods but only one. When we think
of the religious scene of the ancient world, this doctrine is somewhat
astonishing. There
is a view that at one point in Egypt’s long history the Pharaoh of the time
enforced a kind of monotheism. But of course that monotheism was revolutionary,
crass, and in no way to be compared with the monotheism of the Hebrews.
Zoroastrianism had something approaching a monotheism, but the exalted status of
the evil principle in effect reduces the supremacy of its good deity. Be all
that as it may, there is no doubt that one of the absolutely distinctive
features of the revealed religion of the Hebrews was its strict insistence on
there being one only God. This one only God called Abraham and his descendants
to a special relationship with himself and to a unique mission, which would
bring a great blessing to the world. The one God revealed more and more of
himself, and not only were all the other gods — the gods of the peoples — shown
to be nothing to him, but as being nothing in themselves. There was no god but
the Lord God. Furthermore, Yahweh God gradually revealed himself to be without
limit in his power, majesty, holiness and being. He was the holiest in the
height to whom all praise was due, and in all his works he was most wonderful.
To him and to him alone was due all adoration, thanks and praise. To him alone
were all petitions to be addressed, and he alone was the one offended by sin and
wrongdoing. This came to be the revelation peculiar to the Hebrews. It was an
historical revelation rooted in objective facts and not myth, and their religion
was moulded and structured to exalt and praise this one God alone.
But now, something astonishing appeared and it was yet a further revelation by
the same one God. He, this one only God, this one divine and unlimited personal
Being, revealed himself to be not just one person but three. The one God
revealed himself to be in three distinct Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Who revealed this? It was Jesus of Nazareth who revealed this, and his
revelation was openly, visibly and audibly supported by the Father in both word
and deed. This is not the moment to go into this in any detail by referring to
Christ’s words and deeds that showed this, and by referring to the words of the
Father from heaven and his support of the Son in all his miracles. But let us
notice one surprising feature of God’s character and ways as revealed to us by
Jesus Christ. Exalted in the height and praised in the depth as he is, without
limit in all his excellence and perfections as he is, this one only God in three
persons is revealed as humble. He is at man’s service. He is lowly and places
himself last. To be like God our Father and to be like Christ his Son and to
live in the Holy Spirit means being the servant of all. It means choosing not
to be the first but to be the last. Let us listen to our Lord’s words in the
Gospel today: “They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them,
What were you arguing about on the road? But they kept quiet because on the way
they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the
Twelve and said, If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the
servant of all.” (Mark 9:30‑37) This solemn
directive as to the character of the true disciple of Christ expressed the
character of Christ himself. He came not to be served but to serve and to give
his life as a ransom for all. In this as in everything about him he was the
revelation of the Father. He who sees me sees the Father, he told his
disciples. So as the Son is, so is the Father.
It has often been pointed out that a religion is shaped by its image of God, or
its gods. In turn a society is shaped by its image of God because a society is
shaped by its religion or lack of religion. The Christian’s whole life is
shaped by the thought of Christ, the Christ who loved him and gave himself up
for him. That is what God is revealed to be like. He is the God who became man
and in his humanity laid down his life for sinful man. He who is the first of
all made himself the last of all and the servant of all. Historical revelation,
the revelation that began with Abraham and concluded with Jesus Christ who is
God in person, is a stupendous revelation and one full of surprises. The great
God is humble, loving and in constant service of us his fallen children. Let us
then cast ourselves entirely in his merciful keeping and never separate
ourselves from him, ever striving to be like him ourselves.
My
God, I love you, but... oh teach me to love!
(The Way, no.423)
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Scripture today:
James 4:13-17; Psalm 49:2-3, 6-11; Mark 9:38-40
John said to Jesus, Teacher, we saw a
man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not
one of us. Do not stop him, Jesus said. No-one who does a miracle in my name can
in the next moment speak ill of me, for whoever is not against us is for us.(Mark 9:38-40)
The lone
exorciser
One of the very sad things about the history of religion and of Christianity in
particular is that so much of it is characterized by strife and conflict. In
the New Testament itself we see evidence of divisions within the Christian
community and of the conflict involved in the upholding of the faith and
discipline of the Church. Perhaps the century most noted for early Church
divisions was the fourth with the rise of Arianism and its various branches.
Then at various points in the history of the Church more divisions arose and at
our stage of the Church’s long history there are tremendous number of Christian
bodies of various kinds. The greatest in size by far is the Catholic Church
whose chief pastor is the successor of St Peter. Fortunately, there is now a
stong movement towards recovering the Christian unity Christ prayed for at the
Last Supper. Father, he prayed, may they all be one as we are one. Well now,
let us consider our Gospel passage today, with our gaze above all on our Lord
himself. Mark, the author of the Gospel — and it is generally agreed that he is
reporting the preaching and recollections of Simon Peter — tells us that John
reported an occurrence to Jesus. By way of aside, let us remember that John,
the author of the fourth Gospel, is mentioned by St Paul as being one of the
three pillars of the infant Church together with Peter and James. He is one of
those three whom our Lord takes with him in special moments of his mission, such
as at raising of the little girl from the dead, the transfiguration, and the
agony in the garden. Elsewhere in the Gospels, he is portrayed as fiery in his
defence of the honour of the Master (as when hospitality was refused to him by a
village in Samaria). So Mark, relying on St Peter, tells us that John came to
Jesus to tell him that “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told
him to stop, because he was not one of us.” (Mark
9:38‑40) John may have been jealous for Jesus himself, or even a
little jealous for his own prerogatives as Jesus’ disciple.
Well now, what was our Lord’s response? His response was, that man is not doing
any harm by doing a miracle in my name. He is not acting against us by helping
someone in need — casting out a demon no less — and doing so in my name. By
doing this he is for us because my name will be exalted by his good
deed. Someone reading this may think that by this reply Christ is liberally
allowing anything to be said or done in his name. But let us pause and consider
a few aspects of the case. There is no mention that the person who is “not one
of us” — not in Christ’s band of disciples — is preaching a doctrine in conflict
with that preached by Christ. John does not come to Christ to tell him that the
person driving out demons in Christ’s name is also preaching that Jesus is not
the Messiah, and that his claims are false, or that the Twelve are in error
about their Master. I am sure it would have been a different matter were John
to have come to our Lord to tell him that this person was preaching that
Christ’s doctrine of the Eucharist, preached at Capernaum (John 6), could only
be a symbol and that what Christ preached cannot be taken as it stands. It
would have been different had John told our Lord that this person was preaching
that Christ is an imposter as the leaders were saying, and that his band of
disciples with Simon Peter at their head were to be resisted and rejected in
their teaching. All this is to say that the person casting out the demon was
not opposing the message of Christ and his disciples. All he was doing was a
work of mercy in Christ’s name, but not as one of the specially chosen band
around our Lord and which our Lord was sending out to preach and drive out
demons. So our Lord told John to let him be. “No‑one who does a miracle in my
name can in the next moment speak ill of me.” But it would be different when
actual heresies arose in the Church, and they began to appear very early. Their
prototypes in the Gospels were those who hostilely resisted and contradicted
Christ in his teaching about himself and his mission, or those disciples in the
Gospel of St John (ch.6) who left our Lord after hearing his doctrine of the
Eucharist. That indeed would be speaking ill of him for it would be denying the
saving and redeeming truth about him.
The one casting out demons in Christ’s name was not preaching and promoting
error, but doing a good work in the name of Jesus and so introducing — in his
limited but well‑meant way — others to the knowledge and love of Christ. Let us
place ourselves in the company of our Lord with his chosen band of disciples.
Let us observe the magnanimity of Christ and how he stands above all pettiness.
Let us too be magnanimous with the spirit of Christ. But let not a scene such
as this be misinterpreted and taken as showing that Christ cared little for
truth and the denial of what he had come to reveal and to do
To punish
out of Love: this is the secret that raises to a supernatural plane the
punishment of those who deserve it.
For the love of God, who has been offended, let punishment serve as reparation.
For the love of our neighbour and for the sake of God, let it be imposed, never
as revenge, but as health-giving medicine.
(The Way, no.424)
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Scripture today: James 5:1-6; Psalm 49:14-20; Mark 9:41-50
Jesus
said to his disciples: I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water
in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. And
if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be
better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his
neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter
life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter
life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye
causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of
God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where 'their
worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.' Everyone will be salted with
fire. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty
again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.
(Mark 9:41-50)
Sin
One of the intriguing things about modern Western culture is that some extremely
important things are just not mentioned in public discourse. What things are
not mentioned? In this instance I am thinking of all reference to “sin.” The
media is full of mention of wrongdoing, immorality and unethical behaviour.
Consider
very many of the current affairs programs — let us say, the Four Corners ABC
program in Australia, and other similar in‑depth analyses of issues in civil and
social life. I have often noticed the high proportion of programs that deal
directly with matters of ethics. It could be corruption in the police force, it
could be fraud and embezzlement in the commercial world, it could be some
political illegality, all instances of wrongdoing. Generally such programs are
full of interest and excitement. Ethics and morality is news. But there is no
mention of “sin,” which is to say of wrongdoing considered as an offence against
God. Much of the reason for this is that God is deemed to be a private matter.
However this is not the only reason because even in a religious country such as
the United States where God is mentioned often and publicly, “sin” is not. Take
a candidate for the United States presidency at election time. He or she will
often refer to God and to his or her own personal faith — and Christian faith at
that — but what of any reference to “sin”? That is absent. In our modern
Western and largely secular culture — especially in, say, a country such as
Australia — “sin” is regarded as an especially private matter in that its
reality is deemed to be a matter of mere personal opinion. Of course it is true
that many “sins” have little or no civil bearing. But my point here is that
“sin” tends not to be regarded as an objective fact whereas wrongdoing and
immorality are. Be that as it may, and it is a subject that could be discussed
at length, let it serve as an introduction to what our Lord has to say. In our
Lord’s discourse, “sin” is a central fact and it is at the forefront of his
mission and his teaching. It was to take away the sin of the world that he came
among us.
Our Lord teaches us that if there is one thing we must do in life it is to avoid
sin. Consider his uncompromising words, for they are worth contemplating. “And
if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be
better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his
neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to
enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes
out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to
enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your
eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom
of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘their
worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched’”(Mark 9:41‑50). If we sin and do not repent
of our sin, God will judge and punish us accordingly. The wages of sin, St Paul
writes, are death. Death came into the world because one man sinned, St Paul
tells us, and death has spread through the whole human race as a result. Sin
has ruined the world, and God sent his Son to save the world from its sin. At
the end of life we pass to the judgment of God, and the question will then be
simple. Have we obeyed God, or have we refused to obey him? Have we been good
in the sight of God, or have we sinned and failed to repent of our sin? Sin,
then, is the great and terrible fact that will make all the difference to
eternity. On it hinges each person’s prospects of heaven or hell. It must,
then, be avoided and renounced and this is the point of our Lord’s dramatic and
harsh words about anything that leads us to sin. We are to cut it out of our
life. Sin is to be avoided and the occasions of sin — to the extent that is
possible — are to be avoided as well, and all of this for the love of God. So
then, the work of every day is simple but extremely demanding in its detail. We
are to love and obey God and avoid sin, be it in thought, word or deed.
Whatever be the reason why “sin” is absent from public conversation about the
great issues of life and the world, let not this fact implant in our minds the
assumption that “sin” is not a fact at all. It is the fundamental issue around
which hinges life’s success or failure. Sin is at the root of the world’s woes,
and it was to uproot sin that God became man. Let us then every day set out
with the grace of Christ to resist and defeat sin and to live for God and Christ
totally.
To know
that you love me so much, my God, and yet... I haven't lost my mind!
(The Way, no.425)
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Scripture today: James 5:9-12; Psalm 103:1-4,
8-9, 11-12; Mark 10:1-12
Jesus
then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan.
Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. Some
Pharisees came and tested him by asking, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his
wife? What did Moses command you? he replied. They said, Moses permitted a man
to write a certificate of divorce and send her away. It was because your hearts
were hard that Moses wrote you this law, Jesus replied. But at the beginning of
creation God 'made them male and female'. 'For this reason a man will leave his
father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.'
So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let
man not separate. When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus
about this. He answered, Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman
commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries
another man, she commits adultery.(Mark
10:1-12)
Christ
and the Scriptures
One of the saddest things in the phenomenon of Christianity is its range and
depth of division. Christianity is divided whereas in the plan of Christ it was
meant to be united. Christ intended one flock and one Shepherd, and now there
are many separated flocks.
The sources of this division are many but one obvious source is the way the
inspired Scriptures are viewed and then interpreted. All account the
Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be inspired by God. But what does
this mean, and above all, what is the principle of their interpretation? The
fact is that there are radically opposite principles of interpretation. John
Calvin in his Institutes absolutely rejects the authority of the Church
to rule on the interpretation of the Scriptures, and places his full emphasis on
“the secret testimony of the Spirit.” Calvin sees the Church as no more than a
human authority and its judgment as no more than man’s judgment. It is the
“inward testimony of the Spirit” that gives certainty as to the Scriptures (Institutes
I, 7.4). This is not the place to deal fully with this position, but let it
serve as a setting for our Gospel scene today. “Some Pharisees came and tested
Jesus by asking, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” The Pharisees
bring forward to our Lord their question about a point of personal and social
morality — about divorce, no less — and they in turn are asked by our Lord to
cite the command of Moses. Why did our Lord ask them what Moses had directed?
Presumably because the legislation of Moses was seen by all as supporting the
morality of divorce. Our Lord took up the question that was presented to him in
order to set forth the real meaning of the mosaic legislation. In this way he
led the leaders of the nation’s religious thought to the original plan of God
which had not been expressed in that legislation. That original plan was
expressed in the Scriptural account of the creation of man. The mosaic
legislation was a practical and civil strategy to manage the people’s hardness
of heart and inveterate refusal to live according to that original plan.
So then, our Lord lays down the true meaning of the Scriptures as to marriage
and divorce. It is contained in the words of the earliest pages of the Book of
Genesis, and Christ quotes the verses. At the beginning of creation, he says,
God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father
and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ They
are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not
separate. He tells the Pharisees that it is this text that reveals the law of
God, and that it is to be understood strictly. When a man leaves his father and
mother and marries, he and his spouse become one. Their union is God’s work.
He has joined them together and their union is not to be dissolved by man. This
teaching of Scripture, as ruled on by Christ, has immense implications for the
world because marriage is obviously at the foundation of the life and health of
mankind. It is also one of the obvious differences between the teaching of
Christ and that of very many other religions. We read that in the circle of his
disciples (that is, we might add, with his Church in embryo) Christ was
unambiguously clear on the matter. “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries
another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and
marries another man, she commits adultery.” (Mark
10:1‑12) Christ’s teaching on marriage was utterly different from and
contradicts that of, say, Mahomet. But the real point I am making here is that
Christ stands forth as the interpreter of the Sacred Scriptures. In those
points of fundamental importance which are uncertain and controverted, the
Scriptures are not authoritatively interpreted by each person’s private judgment
or sense of the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees question,
and Christ pronounces. There is an objective Oracle, and that Oracle is Christ.
This divine Oracle is present in his Church, the Church he founded. The Church
is not a mere human institution, consisting of nothing more than its human
members. It is the body of Christ and Christ is her head. When the Church
rules on what God has revealed, it is Christ present in the Church as her Head
who is thus determining, and he is doing so by the power of the Holy Spirit who
has been given to the Church as her Guide. Let us then live by the word of the
Scriptures, but read as members of the Church whose head is Christ and whose
Guide and Sanctifier is the Holy Spirit.
In Christ
we have every ideal: for he is King, he is Love, he is God.
(The Way, no.426)
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Scripture today: James 5:13-20; Psalm 141:1-3 and 8; Mark 10:13-16
People
were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the
disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said
to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth,
anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will
never enter it. And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on
them and blessed them.(Mark 10:13-16)
Jesus
and the child
Over the decades I have often heard variants of the expression, “the good old
days.” By that I mean that I have often heard sentiments that express a sadness
that things have deteriorated from how they used to be. Of course, there is
some truth in this. Society has become more secular in its culture, even if
there were plenty of individuals who were very secular in previous times.
Forms
of practical atheism and religious agnosticism seem to have spread to a greater
extent than used to be the case. And so we could go on. But there have been
many decided advances. I am convinced that education is of a much higher
quality than it used to be, and pedagogy in our schools is much better. Another
advance, I think, is the appreciation of the value and dignity of the child. Of
course, there are anomalies in this. Abortion is much more prevalent today than
it was, say fifty years ago. Nevertheless, for those children who do make it to
birth, in general their rights are now supported much more than previously. If
there is a case of child abuse the processes of the law swing into action in the
child’s defence. The child tends now not to be overlooked. The Christian ought
rejoice in this greater appreciation of the child and his needs and rights
because Christ mentions the child in our Gospel passage today. If Christ is God
the Son made man — which he is — and if he is the way and the truth and the life
for man — which he is — then what greater blessing could there be for a child
than to come into contact with the living Jesus? In our Gospel today we read
that people were bringing little children to Jesus to have them touch him.
Throughout the Gospels we read of people trying to touch Jesus, and even just to
touch the hem of his garments. They knew that if they did this they would be
healed of their infirmities. Contact with Jesus brought healing and life, and
he himself said that he had come to bring life in abundance. So the friends and
families of children brought them to him for them to touch him. From that
touch, they were confident there would come a blessing for their child.
What was our Lord’s response to the children being brought to him? He warmly
encouraged it, and was indignant with his disciples for making it difficult out
of a misplaced concern for his convenience (Mark
10:13‑16). Imagine the delighted smile that appeared on the face of
Christ as each child was presented to him. Imagine the love that emanated from
his eyes as he gazed on each child, perhaps looking not only into that child’s
heart but looking ahead to what life would bring for that child. A child can
turn out well, and a child can turn out badly. Consider our Lord’s own
disciples. Consider the Twelve. Each was once a child. John the beloved
disciple was once a child, as was Simon Peter and James. How well they turned
out! They became, as St Paul called them, the pillars of the early Church and
Simon himself the Church’s visible Rock. Judas was once a child too. He grew
up, was a youth, a young man and in his adulthood was called by Christ to be one
of the Twelve. But how badly he turned out! He was once a child. As Christ
gazed into the eyes of each child presented to him perhaps he thought of his own
childhood and of what life had brought for him. We read that he took the
children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. The prayer of
Christ is very powerful indeed and we must assume that Christ’s blessing was a
very great thing in the life of those children. As we think of this scene we
are reminded that the greatest thing we can do for a child is to bring that
child into personal contact with the living Jesus and his word. We read in St
Paul that in Christ is contained every heavenly blessing. Therefore it is so
important that the child be brought into contact and union with Christ. In our
Gospel scene the parents of those children did this. Let all parents do the
same. From the child’s earliest years, let parents bring their children to
Jesus. Jesus resides in his body the Church. He is encountered in his word as
read and proclaimed by the Church, and in the Sacraments. How tragic if a child
grows up and has little or no contact with the living Jesus.
Our Lord holds up to us all the dispositions of simple openness to him that we
could say is characteristic of the child. The readiness of the child for love
and for reality is easily translated into readiness for the Kingdom of God. The
Kingdom of God belongs to such as these, our Lord says. And what is the Kingdom
of God? The Kingdom of God in the first instance is Jesus himself. God’s
presence and lordship is found in him, and we become citizens of that kingdom by
entering into union with him. Let us then be like children brought to our Lord
for his blessing.
Lord:
may I have due measure in everything... except in Love.
(The Way, no.427)
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Prayers today: The Lord has been
my strength; he has led me into freedom. He saved me because he loved me.
(Psalm 17: 19-20)
Lord, guide the course of world events
and give your Church the joy and peace of serving you in freedom. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
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Jesus said to his disciples, No-one can
serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you
will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds
of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you
by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about
clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I
tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of
these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today
and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of
little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we
drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and
your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and
his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6: 24-34)
Providence
I suspect that most people come to think that the world functions ultimately
just by its own laws. They know that the various catastrophes which strike us
are due to the mix and interplay of laws unforeseen by us but which sweep us
aside as they occur. These we call bad luck or ill fortune, and the modern
person of normal education sees the answer to lie in a sophisticated mastery of
the laws that govern the world.
If there is a danger of tsunamis in one part of the globe, then we must
endeavour to understand the laws that govern them, and put in place a strategy
to know when they are coming so as to evade them. Or again, each person has a
definite personality, temperament and range of capacities — and so in large
measure, he might think, the course of his life is cast. Laws and patterns seem
to govern the world, even if we do not know vast portions of those patterns. It
all gets down, we might think, to how the world, and each of us in particular,
seem to be “wired,” as some might say. The wiring determines all. Now, what is
to be said of this understanding of things? There is much to be said for it.
One of the distinguishing gains of the great age of science is that the course
of the world was gradually discovered not to be the plaything of the gods. The
turbulent sea is not due to the irritation of the god Neptune. Its explanation
is to be sought in the laws of the sea and climate, and for the sake of shipping
and many other projects, man now knows he should strive to understand those
laws. There is the danger, though, of assuming that reality and its patterns
is ultimately to be reduced to what we can discover by observation. We can
assume that this world is all there is, or, granted that there is a God, that he
governs the world only by the patterns we observe or can discover. God governs
the world only in the sense that he sustains the laws that he has implanted in
the world and in each human being. There is a general, but no particular
providence. What might be thought of as necessity, blind fate and chance are
overcome by mastering natural laws.
While such a view has strength as far as it goes, it is profoundly incomplete.
In our Gospel today (Matthew 6: 24-34) our
Lord exhorts us to bear constantly in mind that our heavenly Father truly cares
for us. Despite the appearances, it is revealed to us that he does not govern
the world simply by general patterns and laws that take little or no account of
individuals. His providence is not merely general but particular to the
individual. “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store
away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they?” Just how the general is combined with the particular we are
not told. God created and sustains the world from nothing. He leads his
creatures towards their ultimate end. Consider this. St Paul tells us that we,
each of us, was chosen by God before the foundation of the world to be in
Christ, holy and full of love in his sight. I was chosen from all eternity.
But consider the incalculable number of ephemeral and contingent circumstances
that combined to my seeing the light of day. Had my parents not met in that
very unnecessary circumstance, I would never have existed. But what of all the
similarly chance circumstances that made up my entire ancestry? A moment’s
thought will show that in every sense of the word I need not have existed — but
I do, and that I do exist was intended by God from all eternity. His providence
has been very particular to me. That I exist, through all the chance happenings
that make up history, is a resounding proof of the infinite might of God’s
providence, both general and particular. God guides history towards the
fulfilment of his plan, despite the havoc caused by sin. We, sinful mankind,
caused the havoc. He has made us free, and his vast and mighty providence draws
good out of the evil that appears in his creation due to evil choice. His
greatest act of providence was the sending of his divine Son, who, from his
death — the greatest of moral evils — brought forth the greatest of goods, the
redemption and ultimate glorification of the world.
What Christ has revealed is that the final goal of human history is the
redemption, sanctification and glorification of man and his world. This is far
beyond the capacity of the world’s laws, even though the world’s laws have their
due place. It is the work of the overarching providence of God. We can play a
part towards this ultimate goal by, as our Lord says in today’s Gospel, seeking
“first his kingdom and his righteousness.” Our Lord saved the world by doing his
Father’s will. By living in union with him and by following his example of
doing the will of the Father, we contribute towards the fulfilment of God’s
redemptive plan.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.302-314 (God’s providence)
The
Catholic religion is reached, as we see, by inquirers from all points of the
compass, as if it mattered not where a man began [, as] that he had an eye and a
heart for the truth.
John Henry Newman, from An Essay in aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870)
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Scripture today:
1 Peter 1:3-9; Psalm 111:1-2, 5-6, 9 and 10c; Mark 10:17-27
As
Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.
Good teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call
me good? Jesus answered. No-one is good— except God alone. You know the
commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give
false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother.' Teacher, he
declared, all these I have kept since I was a boy. Jesus looked at him and loved
him. One thing you lack, he said. Go, sell everything you have and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. At this the
man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked
around and said to his disciples, How hard it is for the rich to enter the
kingdom of God! The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again,
Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
God. The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, Who then can
be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not
with God; all things are possible with God.
(Mark 10:17-27)
God and
morality
Many years ago I used to notice an aspect of the literature of the time that I
found to be revealing. When I was a boy I loved to read the Tarzan, Superman,
Batman and Phantom comics. Take any one of those characters. Each of them was
a fantasy, and each was highly moral. No immorality entered into their
activities in the stories, of which they were the main protagonists. But
equally, not one of them was religious. God
was altogether absent from the stories. Their morality was religiously
agnostic. Presumably this reflected the intent of their creators who, in their
turn, were children of their cultures. The characters of those stories were
secular. Morality was completely separated from religion. They were moral but
entirely disinterested in religion. Of course, moral characters in fiction need
not be like this as we see in the character, say, of Deerslayer/Pathfinder in
the novels of James Fernimore Cooper of the nineteenth century. But my point
here is to raise the issue of the relationship between morality and religion, of
being good and being religious. In our Gospel today (Mark
10:17‑27) a man came to our Lord to ask what he must do to gain
eternal life. So he was religious. He wanted to attain God and he saw in Jesus
his guide to God. Moreover, he was very moral. Our Lord told him that he must
keep God’s commandments. If he did that he would gain eternal life. The man
responded by saying that he had done this from his earliest years, and it was
evident that his moral life, his goodness, had had religion for its
inspiration. He had kept the commandments of God in order to please God. His
case reminds us that religion is a tremendous inspiration for morality. The
good life finds its incentive in God and religion. If we want to be good,
having a real relationship with God will inspire us to be so. In turn, if we
want to be religious we must strive to be good. Our man in the Gospel of today
reminds us of all this.
When the man gave his reply to our Lord, our Lord looked on him and loved him.
Man’s efforts to be good and to do God’s will draw down on him the special
affection of God. It perhaps reminds us of that occasion in the Gospel when our
Lord was preaching the word to a group of his disciples. Word came through the
crowd that his mother and his brethren wished to see him. His reply was, “Who
are my mother and my brothers? Anyone who does the will of my heavenly Father is
my brother and sister and mother.” In a special way Christ loved those who
strove to do God’s will. But there is more still. Having looked on this good
young man who had made it his business since his youth to be good, Christ
proceeded to invite him to something further. He invited him to take the path
of perfection and that path was the following of him. Goodness finds its
inspiration in God and religion, but the path to perfection lies in the
following of Jesus Christ. The converse of this is that the desire to be good
may be regarded as the foundation or the basic soil in which the seed of this
higher life is planted. If a person is striving to be good he is disposing
himself for the higher call from Christ. However, if the call comes, the person
may still refuse and this we see in the young man of our Gospel today. Christ
called him to perfection and it meant leaving all and following him. He went
away sad because he had many possessions to which he was attached. He was a
good man. He desired God and heaven. He had always been good and he was
certainly religious. Christ loved him and honoured him with a special call to
follow him. But he turned it down and with that he turned down the chance of
attaining perfection in goodness and holiness of life. It was a tremendous
tragedy for one with so much promise, but it shows that at any point a person
may use his freedom to falter in the upward path.
God and morality are profoundly connected. If we wish to be good, then we must
love and serve God. If we wish to love and serve God, God will expect us to
strive to be good. The secular outlook that divorces religion from morality and
regards morality as essential and religion as peripheral is profoundly flawed.
It will lead to the breakdown of morality. God is the life of man and Christ is
the way to God. Indeed, he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. So let us hear
his word, let us feel his love, and let us follow him. At the same time, if we
wish to love God, we must strive to be good.
Everything
that is done out of Love acquires greatness and beauty.
(The Way, no.429)
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Scripture today: 1 Peter 1:10-16; Psalm 98:1-4; Mark 10:28-31
Peter
said to Jesus, We have left everything to follow you! I tell you the truth,
Jesus replied, no-one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or
father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a
hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers,
children and fields— and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come,
eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.(Mark 10:28-31)
Follow
Jesus
I am not aware that the founders of the great religions of the world laid it
down as of the essence of their religion that they themselves be loved and
followed as the object of their religion. Mahomet is thought by the Muslim to
be Allah’s messenger and prophet — and that is how he is referred to, as the
Prophet. He is understood to point to Allah and to announce Allah’s messages
and revelations. The
Koran is not the book about Mahomet, but about Allah and his will for
mankind, as Mahomet thought of it. Even if Mahomet is taken by this or that
Muslim to be something more in his or her life than Allah’s messenger and
prophet, this is not as it is in the religion of Islam. Buddha, long before
Mahomet, founded what became a great faith and he bequeathed to countless
followers what he taught to be the way of enlightenment. Happiness would be
achieved in the attainment of Nirvana and in a detachment from all earthly
desires. Now, whatever be the practice of this or that Buddhist, Buddha did not
present himself as the object of his way. He is not the formal focus of the
Buddhist faith. Rather, he is the great paradigm and exemplar of all he taught
and it is in that sense that his disciples, past and present look to him.
Again, Zarathustra was a great teacher and the Zoroastrian religion has for its
focus not him but the ultimates he pointed to. The origins of Hinduism are lost
from our sight in history, but it too takes its innumerable devotees to the
numinous as it understands it to be — and not to any founder. Ah! But the case
is very different in the Christian religion. Jesus of Nazareth is the
undisputed founder of the great Christian religion and he is also its undisputed
focus. He is this not just by some curious accident of history, as if the
course of Christian thought just happened to evolve to this — and there have
been scholars who have even proposed this notion. But no, Christ is the object
of Christianity from the beginning and he is this by the formal intention of its
most holy founder.
It is this which stands forth in our Gospel passage today
(Mark 10:28‑31). The passage is from the
Gospel of St Mark, and scholars recognize that Mark’s Gospel is founded on the
preaching and recollections of Simon Peter, for Mark was his assistant. It may
be called the Gospel of the early Church of Rome of which Peter was the first
Bishop. In our passage today it is Peter who states the fact of their ardent
following of him and which drew from our Lord a most important answer. Peter
says to our Lord, we have left all to follow you. It shows the very personal
following that this has constituted. Peter does not simply say that he and they
have accepted our Lord’s teaching fully. No, he states that they have followed
him, and left all to do so. Of course an essential component of this has been
the full acceptance of his teaching. But they were still hearing and learning
it, and a great deal they did not comprehend still. Still, even if they had
grasped his teaching as yet only in part, they had left all in order to follow
him. On another occasion a rich young man came before our Lord and asked what
more he needed to do to gain eternal life. He was asking for teaching. He
wanted guidance and implied that he was ready to accept further teaching. But
what did our Lord do? He told him that if he wanted to be perfect, he should
sell all he had and give the money to the poor, and then come and follow him.
The personal following of Jesus would take him to perfection. In his reply to
Peter in our Gospel today our Lord speaks of the reward coming to those who
leave all in order to follow him. The reward is great beyond measure, but the
point we ought notice here is that our Lord places himself at the centre and
focus of the life of his disciple. All this is to say that the Christian
religion and the Church which brings it to mankind proclaims that Jesus Christ
is Lord. He is Lord, he is God and he is man’s Saviour. Life is to be found
not simply in following a teaching as if detached from Christ’s person. No, he,
Christ, is the Way and the Truth and the Life. The height of religion is the
love of Jesus.
Man was made to know, love and serve God here on earth and so to see and enjoy
him forever in heaven. God is the object of man’s life. What is to be said of
God is to be said of Jesus Christ. Christ said that if we love him we shall
keep his word, and if we do this, the Father will love us and both he, the
Father, and Jesus his Son will come and make their abode with us. Let us keep
our gaze on the person of Jesus and understand that life’s project is to love
him with all our heart and to live according to his word and teaching. If we do
this then life, abundant and eternal life, will be ours.
Jesus, may
I be last in everything... and first in Love.
(The Way, no.430)
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Scripture today: 1 Peter 1:18-25; Psalm
147:12-15, 19-20; Mark 10:32-45
The
disciples were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the
disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took
the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. We are going up
to Jerusalem, he said, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests
and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over
to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three
days later he will rise. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him.
Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. What do you want
me to do for you? he asked. They replied, Let one of us sit at your right and
the other at your left in your glory. You don't know what you are asking, Jesus
said. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am
baptised with? We can, they answered. Jesus said to them, You will drink the cup
I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, but to sit at my
right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they
have been prepared. When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with
James and John. Jesus called them together and said, You know that those who are
regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials
exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be
slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.(Mark
10:32-45)
Prayer
There are many things that surely occur to us as we consider the Gospel passage
of today. The scene is one of mounting drama and the disciples certainly felt
it. They were on their way to Jerusalem where our Lord’s implacable enemies
were concentrated. The hunt for him had been on and all knew it. He
had eluded them, they had repeatedly tried to arrest him and at times to stone
him. Our Lord was fully aware that they had decided that he had to be put to
death. And now, to the dismay of the disciples who so loved him and who wanted
to follow him, here he was leading the way back right into the arms of his
foes. Yes, he was “leading the way” ahead of them, heading directly for
Jerusalem. It says a fair bit for the disciples that they were following him
despite these circumstances, unshaken in their love and conviction that he was
the Messiah. Furthermore, we even see James and John coming forward to ask for
front places in his Kingdom! But now, let us look briefly at this request of
theirs and our Lord’s response to it. It was a very human request, even a
little amusing. The admirable feature of it was the conviction they had of our
Lord’s person and mission. He was the Messiah and his kingdom was God’s
Kingdom. They wanted to be with him. They loved him and they were generously
committed to share in his mission in his Kingdom. Of course, their attitudes
were as yet somewhat immature, but all the seeds were there for a grand and
heroic life of serving and loving Christ. Indeed, our Lord himself said so, as
we shall see. They asked for top places, places right at the side of Jesus in
his glory. It reflected their love for him and their determination to share in
his mission, and it reflected too the mixed and limited character of their
motivation. But look at the confident and daring way they introduced their
prayer to our Lord: “Lord, we want you to do whatever we ask.” Whatever we ask!
Consider also our Lord’s kindly and interested response. “What do you want me
to do for you?” What is suggested to us by this interchange?
Elsewhere our Lord told his disciples what whatever they asked for in prayer
they would receive. But here, having heard them our Lord told them that they
had no idea of what they were asking. “You do not know what you are asking” he
said (Mark 10:32‑45). Furthermore, their
request took no account of what might be the plan of God, for “to sit at my
right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom
they have been prepared.” Then he asked the question which was at the core of
the whole issue. The issue was being with him in his glory. That is the issue
of life, of course. Ignatius of Loyola in his association with Francis Xavier
in Paris (Xavier tutored Loyola at the University) kept quietly repeating, What
does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own soul? That
question converted Xavier. The one thing that matters in life is that at the
end we be found with Christ in his glory. That was the issue in the petition of
the two brothers who had come to our Lord — they wanted to be with Jesus in his
glory, and indeed they wanted to be ahead of all the others in glory too. But
the essential thing was being with Jesus in his glory. Our Lord replied that
they did not yet know what they were asking, and he himself had repeatedly told
them what was necessary. For himself, as he had time and again made clear, it
was necessary to suffer so as to enter his glory. He was at this very point
going to Jerusalem to suffer and to die and then to enter his glory. The
disciples must follow in his footsteps if they were to share in his glory. And
so he asks the brothers the pivotal question, “Can you drink the cup I drink or
be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?” They immediately answered, “We
can.” Undoubtedly they were genuine, and our Lord gave his most consoling
confirmation. They could and would drink his cup and share in his baptism. I
like to think that this was the actual answer our Lord gave to their prayer. In
response to their petition he gave them the wonderful grace of fidelity unto
death that would mark their outstanding lives as his disciples.
The prayer of the disciples and our Lord’s response is a lesson to us on
Christian prayer. We ought repeatedly ask our Lord that we be found worthy to
share in his glory in heaven. The degree of glory we leave to him. Having
asked for heaven, we ought ask that he give us the grace to be able to drink the
cup of whatever suffering is involved in the doing of the Father’s will as shown
in our daily duties and in God’s providence for us. The most important thing to
be prayed for is that we shall be faithful to God’s will every day until death.
Let us make that our daily prayer.
Jesus, may
I be last in everything... and first in Love.
(The Way, no.430)
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Scripture today:
1 Peter 2:2-5, 9-12; Psalm 100:2-5; Mark 10:46-52
As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving Jericho, a
blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside
begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me! Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but
he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus stopped and said,
Call him. So they called to the blind man, Take courage! Jesus is calling you.
Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. What do you
want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Master, I want to
see. Go, said Jesus, your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his
sight and followed Jesus along the road.(Mark 10:46-52)
Trust Our
Gospel passage today comes from the Gospel of St Mark. Of course, we ought read
any particular passage of the Gospels in light of passages from the other
Gospels. Indeed, we ought read any passage in the Bible in the light of the
rest of the Scriptures. With the fine advances in Scriptural exegesis there is
a tendency, I think, to read passages from a particular Gospel only in light of
the rest of that Gospel.
We tend to do this now because we have a deeper appreciation of the distinctive
character and purpose of each Gospel. But of course, all the Gospels and all of
the Scriptures have the Holy Spirit as their common Author. Hence we ought read
any passage of a Gospel not only in light of that particular Gospel but in light
of the other Gospels too. The same divine Author who speaks in one passage also
speaks in all other passages of the inspired Scriptures. Well then, let us
begin our brief consideration of today’s Gospel by thinking of our Lord’s words
at the Last Supper as given to us in the Gospel of St John. St John, writing
years after the event but with our Lord’s long instruction to his disciples
during those final hours before his Passion still lovingly in his mind, tells us
of the union between Christ and his disciples. Our Lord tells them that they
are to remain in him as branches of the vine. Remain in me, as I remain in you
(John 15). Long after, with our Lord now gone from visible sight, St John
reminds his readers of the intimate yet unseen presence of our Lord to all those
who are in him by baptism. The Christian religion has for its heart and soul
the relationship between Jesus and each member of his Church, and between Jesus
and the Church as a whole. He is in us and we are in him, just as he is in the
Father and the Father is in him — and all of this by the power of the Holy
Spirit. The Christian religion is not merely the acceptance of a teaching. At
its heart it is the total acceptance of a Person, and the total acceptance of
his teaching is an essential component of this. It is because we remain in the
living risen Jesus that we remain in his word and teaching.
That is to say, from generation to generation, from age to age, the living Jesus
calls on each of us his disciples and on all of us together who make up his
Church. He calls us, gazes on us, and invites us to follow him more and more
generously. The ongoing call and gaze of Christ defines and shapes the life of
the Christian. The Christian must come to experience that call and gaze of the
living Jesus, and our Gospel passage today is one which can help us do this.
Let us place ourselves in the Gospel scene, then. Christ was passing by
(Mark 10:46‑52). The blind man heard that it
was he. Conscious of his need, he called out to Jesus for pity, for mercy.
Nothing and no one would or could stop him. Christ stopped. He was told that
Christ was calling him — and the Church tells us all that Christ is calling each
of us and the whole world. The blind man came forward and Christ gazed on him,
asking how he could help him. Then came the word of Christ making him whole.
Christ called him, he gazed upon him and he saved him. And so Bar Timaeus
followed our Lord along the road. Whatever be the need we are suffering from,
Christ is nearby. He calls us to him and the Church is the messenger of that
call. Christ gazes on us, though we do not see him visibly. He asks us to
trust him and asks what we want of him. The first thing we ought ask for is
Christ himself, his grace and love. We ought ask also for our other needs, but
knowing that all will be well if we remain close to Jesus. How and when and in
what precise way he will answer our prayer, only he knows but answer it he will
if we continue to pray for it. Why would he answer the request of the blind
beggar, and refuse us if we continue to ask him? He may see that what we
are asking is not at all in our best interests, and so his answer may not be
what we wanted and expected, but it will be the true and best answer to our
prayer. The blind beggar became, we may presume, a disciple of Christ — for
Mark gives us his name and tells us that he followed our Lord along the road.
His need led him to call on our Lord. That call by Bartimaeus led to the gaze
of Christ. Christ’s gaze led to his salvation. Bar Timaeus, the blind beggar,
became Christ’s disciple and that was the greatest blessing of all.
Every day we ought place ourselves, with all our needs and with all the
blessings we have been granted, in the presence of the living unseen Jesus. Day
by day Christ calls us to come to him. He is constantly gazing on us. We live
in the presence of the one who is our brother and our God, our Saviour and our
Friend. He loves us more than do all others. He is the blessing beyond all
blessings and to possess him is to possess all. Let us never separate ourselves
from him.
Do not fear God's Justice. God's justice is no less admirable and no less
lovable than his mercy: both are proofs of his Love.
(The Way, no.431)
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Scripture today: Ecclesiasticus 44:
1.9-13; Psalm 149; Mark
11: 11-26
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the
temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went
out to Bethany with the Twelve. The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus
was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig-tree in leaf, he went to find out if it
had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was
not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, May no-one ever eat fruit
from you again. And his disciples heard him say it. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus
entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling
there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those
selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the
temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, Is it not written: 'My house will
be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of
robbers'. The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began
looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was
amazed at his teaching. When evening came, they went out of the city. In the
morning, as they went along, they saw the fig-tree withered from the roots.
Peter remembered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, look! The fig-tree you cursed has
withered! Have faith in God, Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if anyone
says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in
his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have
received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold
anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive
you your sins. (Mark 11: 11-26)
The
strong One
In the popular imagination, I suspect that the picture of Jesus of Nazareth is
of a kind and gentle miracle worker, a teacher of the moral life and a person
full of love for the downtrodden and the forgotten. He is a model human being
with the best guidance for living a good life. All this is true, but seriously
incomplete. To take the matter of Christ’s kindness, our Lord could be harsh
and he was feared (by the leaders). Contemplate our Gospel scene today.
Our Lord enters Jerusalem, being acclaimed as the Messiah King by the crowds
that accompanied him. He then goes into the Temple, gazing on the spectacle
before him. This was the House of his beloved Father, and what he saw was the
hubbub of talk, the sound of animals being led and sold, business, and the loud
clink of money being received and given. Perhaps appalled, he left Jerusalem
for the night, and the next day returned and took action. Single-handedly he
“began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the
tables of the money‑changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would
not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he
taught them, he said, Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of
prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers’.” It must have
been a stunning spectacle. His voice would have rung out, being heard all over
the Temple. Those who were buying and those who were selling were ordered to
leave. Tables went headlong, money rolled all over the floor, with their owners
chasing it and hastily departing with what they could gather up. Animals
bleating and bellowing were hurried along the Temple area and driven out into
the open, with their owners scampering after them. The voice of Jesus of
Nazareth, acting as prophet of God, was sharp and strong and all would have
heard it. The attention of all was riveted as the holy place was transformed.
No one carrying any merchandise was allowed to set foot through the Temple
courts. Finally the noise had gone and all was quiet, with Jesus standing there
as Master of his Father’s House. Then he took his place and summoned the people
to hear him.
It was yet another display of the strength and courage of Christ and of his
sense of supreme authority in all the things of God. He was not just a kind and
gentle inspirer of the good life. He was powerful in his resistance to sin and
nothing could stop him unless he permitted it. Jesus of Nazareth was very
strong in his love. His love was a powerful force that unhesitatingly assumed
authority in the things that pertained to his mission. The devils recognized
this and panicked at his approach. Word must have quickly travelled to the rest
of the Temple precincts and even beyond to parts of the City, that Jesus had
overturned the customary traffic and had imposed a different regime within the
Temple. It must have been a sensation among the ruling clique. Probably
nothing like this in living memory had happened in the new Temple built by
Herod, and it could just be that nothing quite like it had ever happened in the
history of worship in the City. We read in our Gospel passage today that “the
chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way
to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his
teaching” (Mark 11: 11-26). The chief
priests feared him, as did the teachers of the law, and their resolution
hardened. The only thing to be done was to put Jesus to death. As far as they
were concerned, power was passing out of their hands. They were losing their
hold because the authority of Jesus to teach seemed so absolute to the people.
During the Passion, Pilate himself could see that it was because of jealousy
that Jesus had been handed over. The point here, though, is that we observe our
Lord’s strength, his action against abuse and sin, and his sheer authority.
Jesus of Nazareth was not just a kindly miracle worker who offered guidance for
the good life. He was the Man of authority. All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me, he would tell his disciples on his rising from the
dead. They were to go to the whole world and make disciples of all the
nations. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings.
Long before, the king at the time complained about the prophet Amos. He was
always prophesying bad things about him. If we go through the Gospels we see
our Lord giving dire warnings of the judgment to come, and of the fire that will
never go out. In our Gospel passage today he condemns the fig tree to a
perpetual barrenness. Our Lord was blunt with sin and severe with those who
refused to come to him in a spirit of faith — such as the leaders. Let us not
take Christ for granted. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Let us so live as to be ready.
If
we refuse what has been actually given, we shall be sure to adopt what has not
been given. We shall set up calves at Dan and Bethel, if we give up the true
Temple and the Apostolic Ministry.
JHN, from the Lectures on the Doctrine of Justification (1838)
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Scripture today:
Ecclesiasticus 51: 17-27; Psalm 18;
Mark 11: 27-33
Jesus and his disciples arrived again in
Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the
teachers of the law and the elders came to him. By what authority are you doing
these things? they asked. And who gave you authority to do this? Jesus replied,
I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I
am doing these things. John's baptism— was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!
They discussed it among themselves and said, If we say, 'From heaven', he will
ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' But if we say, 'From men;' They feared
the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet. So they answered
Jesus, We don't know. Jesus said, Neither will I tell you by what authority I am
doing these things. (Mark 11: 27-33)
By what authority? Our
Gospel scene today, as Mark describes it, occurred the day after Jesus had
cleansed the Temple of the buying and selling that had gone on there. Two days
before our scene, he had entered Jerusalem to the acclaim of the people, gone to
the Temple, observed, and then left for Bethany.
The next day he came back and took the matter of the Temple into his own hands,
driving out all the buying and the selling and imposing a religious decorum and
atmosphere within the Temple precincts. Then he taught, left the City for the
night and now here he was, back in the Temple again, the day after the cleansing
sensation. All was now different. Quiet prevailed and there was Jesus,
“walking in the Temple.” For the moment the buying, selling and general business
had gone, and the authority which Christ wielded in the minds and hearts of the
people ensured that his will prevailed. He was untouchable because the people
held him to be a great prophet, and the leaders were helpless. All the leaders
could do was helplessly hatch their schemes, trying to catch Jesus out and
demanding from him an account of his authority. His authority was the issue.
There he stood in the Temple, there he walked, there he paused to pray, there he
quietly conversed. His disciples were around him and the people awaited his
teaching. He was in the House of his own Father who had sent him, his very own
Father whom he knew and loved so perfectly. He exuded spiritual authority of
the highest order, but the leaders were stubbornly refusing it. So there he
was, “walking in the Temple,” and “the chief priests, the teachers of the law
and the elders came to him. By what authority are you doing these things? they
asked. And who gave you authority to do this?” If he said that his authority
came from God, they would deny it as unproven. So our Lord answered their
question by posing one of his own: by what authority did John baptize? He was
pointing to a prophet they had known, a prophet who had borne witness to him.
But no, they would not answer — their hearts were hard and closed.
Our Gospel scene today sets before us the figure of Jesus Christ and his supreme
authority, an authority that can be freely accepted or freely denied. One way
or the other, there will be consequences. At the beginning of his public
ministry, Satan had offered him supreme authority over the kingdoms of the
world. With Satan, there is enough truth in his abyss of error to make his
temptations appear to have weight — not with Christ but with fallen man.
Perhaps he divined that Jesus was out to establish a world dominion. He offered
Jesus of Nazareth just this, but a dominion that included admiration for him —
indeed, worship of him! — and his cooperation. But no. Jesus had come to
establish the promised Kingdom of God. It would consist in union with him and
fellowship with all those who abide in him. At the end this Kingdom would be
handed back to the Father, and God would be all in all. At the centre of this
Kingdom is Jesus himself. In this Kingdom, his authority is supreme. When he
rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples, he told them that all
authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him, and that they were to
make disciples not just of the House of Israel, but of all the nations. In our
Gospel today (Mark 11: 27-33) the leaders
approach our Lord and, knowing that at this point they could do nothing to “put
him in his place” as we might say, demanded of him that he justify the authority
with which he was acting. The answer he gave on this occasion is included in
our Gospel passage. But let us, in our turn, consider the authority of Christ
over our lives. Where is he, and how does he exercise his authority? He abides
in his Church founded on the rock that is Peter, and he continues to teach all
his disciples from that Chair. The Church’s teaching carries with it the
authority of Jesus Christ. As he said to his disciples, he who hears you hears
me. Every day we ought be growing in our love for Jesus Christ and showing our
love by obedience to his word as it comes to us in the ministry and teaching of
the Church.
The Church holds the Scriptures in her hand and reads the inspired Book to her
faithful, instructing all in its true meaning. The unseen Teacher is Christ,
whose authority is supreme. He guides the Church in her understanding of his
divine revelation, and thus does Christian doctrine develop. It embraces the
spectrum of man’s life. In it all, though, it is Christ to whom we listen, and
it is him whom we obey. Let us carefully preserve in our hearts a vivid sense
of Christ’s authority, and never allow ourselves in effect to call it into
question, as did the leaders in our Gospel today.
Nothing short of suffering, except in rare
cases, makes us what we should be; gentle instead of harsh, meek instead of
violent, conceding instead of arrogant, lowly instead of proud, pure-hearted
instead of sensual.
Prayers
this week: Blessed be
God the Father and his only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit: for he
has shown that he loves us.
Father, you sent your Word to bring us truth and your Spirit to make us
holy. Through them we come to know the mystery of your life. Help us to
worship you, one God in three Persons, by proclaiming and living our
faith in you. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
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Scripture today:
Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9; Daniel 3:52-56; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John
3:16-18
For God
so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does
not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the
name of God's one and only Son. (John
3:16-18)
The
Trinity
When we think of the vast history of man and his numerous and varied religions,
it is an extraordinary thing that monotheism, the worship of one only God, is so
widespread in the modern world. Consider the polytheistic religions of
classical Greece and Rome, or the religions of the invading barbarians of the
Dark Ages, or the religions of indigenous peoples. They are but samples that
come immediately to mind.
Though there is a serious view that some instances of apparent polytheism (say,
African traditional religion and Indian Hinduism) are really forms of an obscure
monotheism, there is surely no doubt that polytheism, the worship of many gods,
has been more characteristic of the religions of man. For this widespread
monotheism we have to thank not a developing philosophical thought or a more
cultivated religious instinct among the peoples, but the influence of
Judaeo‑Christian revelation and doctrine. Judaism, and more especially
Christianity, have taught the world that there is only one God, the Creator, a
point made by Newman in his novel, Callista (p.18, Universe Book).
Coming with his own religious experience, Mahomet drew on this firm testimony
and made it his own — as he thought it to be. And so Islam has taught that
there is no god but God, with the proviso that this one God is the God whose
messenger is Mahomet. Of course, with that proviso and all that follows from
it, Islam marked itself off from Christianity and Judaism as a profoundly
distinct religion. Nevertheless, it too has contributed to the world‑wide
acceptance that there is one God only, and that all depends on him. But now,
among the many things that distinguish the Christian religion from all others is
the absolutely central doctrine that this one God is not one only person, as is
the position of both Judaism and Islam. Let it be remembered that the Old
Testament does not explicitly and positively teach that God is only one Person.
It teaches that there is only one God (who is a Person) and that this one living
God revealed himself to his chosen people and prepared them for the Messiah who
was to come. But a stupendous revelation awaited all. The Messiah revealed
himself as God’s only‑begotten divine Son. Then the Father and the Son together
sent the Spirit. God revealed himself to be one God in three divine Persons.
It is understood by all that the man Jesus Christ is the centre and object of
the Christian religion, because he is God. That historical man is divine. He
is God become man, and in his humanity he died for the world so that all mankind
might find life in him. Now, in respect to God we might say there are two
questions: what is God? and, who is God? If these two questions are taken as
being distinct and not merely synonymous, then the first is a question about
God’s nature and asks for what we might call a definition of him. The second
question, while interested in a definition, primarily asks that God be
identified as a person. So in answer to the question who is God, the
Christian states that God is Jesus, for he is the Son of God and equal to the
Father. This answer includes the proposition that God is the Father. Jesus
himself said that he who sees me sees the Father. He also said that no one
comes to the Father except through him. He also referred to the Father as “my
God and your God”, “my Father and your Father.” Who, then, is God? While God is
Jesus, the same one God is his Father. The one God is the Father and he is also
Jesus his Son, who is a distinct divine person from the Father, become man. But
there is more still to this great mystery. Having completed his redeeming work
on earth, Christ ascended to the right hand of his heavenly Father. Then both
the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, and this divine Spirit was revealed
as a Person, just as much a distinct divine Person as is the Father and the
Son. Who is the one God? The one God is Jesus. The one God is also the
Father. The one God is also the Holy Spirit. These three persons are distinct
as Persons, and each is fully the one only God. As our Gospel passage today
(John 3:16‑18) makes clear, it was the Father who sent the Son, and as is shown
in the New Testament and confirmed by the Church’s teaching, the Father and the
Son sent the Holy Spirit to vivify, sustain and sanctify the Church. The three
divine persons in the one God are all involved in our salvation. They revealed
themselves to us in order to save us.
The Father is the ultimate principle of the Godhead and from all eternity he
generates his only Son who is the divine Being that he himself is. The Son is
equal to the Father for he is God and, as the Son, he loves and honours the
Father as his Father. The Holy Spirit proceeds as a third and distinct divine
person from both Father and Son as their spirit and life. He unites the Father
and the Son in their embrace of love. He is the Lord God, as is the Father and
as is the Son, and is equally to be adored and glorified. The wondrous thing is
that by our baptism we have been placed in them, and they in us by the gift of a
share in their divine life. By our baptism they dwell within us to sanctify
us. Let us do all things in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading: The Catechism of
the Catholic Church, no.1077-1083 (Liturgy work of the Trinity)
(May 24)
Solemnity of Mary Help of Christians (Our Lady as National Patroness)
(May 24) Mary
Help of Christians Pope Pius VII, after he returned
to Rome in 1815 from several years of captivity imposed by the emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte, instituted this feast day in honor of the
assistance which the Blessed Virgin had accorded the Church. The
occasion of the Pope’s exile and captivity was the emperor’s resistance
to the authority of the Vicar of Christ, superior before God to his
own. A decree of the emperor in 1809 had ordered that the papal States
be joined to the French empire; violence followed in Rome, when the
French tricolor flag was set up and the papal arms broken. The Pope’s
very courageous bull of excommunication of the emperor was made public
in the following month. Then, one morning, a group of armed men entered
the Quirinal Palace by breaking down the doors with axes, and its
leader announced that the pope must either renounce his sovereignty
over Rome or be taken by the troop to a French General, who would
communicate to him his next destination. The sacrilegious seizure of
his person was executed, and he spent five years in exile in various
places, finally at Fontainebleau, France. After 1815 the clemency of
the great Pope towards the Emperor and his family is a matter of
history; the latter were afforded a secure refuge in Rome itself, when
Napoleon was exiled. And for the Emperor himself, relegated to the
island of Saint Helena, the Pope pleaded for clemency with the
Prince-Regent of England. When Napoleon died, it was with the
assistance of chaplains sent to him by Pius VII. Our Lady, Help of
Christians, was made better known by Saint John Bosco, who consecrated
his Order of Salesian priests to Her. And in Turin, beginning in 1865,
he began to raise in Her honor a vast and magnificent church. Without
ever having a penny in advance, always the needed sums of money arrived
in time. About three-fourths of the gifts offered were presented in
thanksgiving for favors obtained through Her intercession. An example
of her intercession is as follows: A certain Senator of the Kingdom of
Italy was ill; Don Bosco went to visit him and found him very
discouraged and speaking of his imminent death. “What would you do,”
said Don Bosco, “if Our Lady Auxiliatrix obtained your cure from God?”
“My cure! Well, I would give two thousand francs a month for Her
church, for six months.” “Be of good courage,” said the Saint on
rising; “I will see that prayers are said for you.” Three days later,
Baron Gotta, perfectly cured, went to Don Bosco to make his first
payment, giving more than he had promised; and he did not cease to
outdo himself in generosity.
(L’histoire ecclésiastique)
Jesus' mother and brothers came to see
him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told
him, Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you. He
replied, My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into
practice. (Luke 8: 19-21)
Mary our
help
Our Gospel passage mentions the mother of Jesus. During the last decades of
the twentieth century there were various action-packed movies portraying women
of force and violence. They were every bit the match of forceful and violent
men — I am thinking of women characters on the side of the law and fighting
against crime.
They were smart, athletic, superbly proficient in martial arts, gun-toting, and
generally victorious. All this seemed to manifest a model of womanhood that
included strength. There was also to be noticed a marked criticism of the
place of Mary in the Christian life, as being demeaning to womanhood — because,
it was thought, Mary was submissive, and therefore weak. In turn, this weak
and submissive persona of Mary in the Christian religion was considered to be
responsible for the weakness of women in society, and indeed, for their being
oppressed. Whatever we may say of that, it is clear from a careful look at
Gospel texts that Mary was not weak. Apart from the texts, there is this to be
considered. Mary was the true mother of Christ the son of God made man. While
Christ’s person was divine with its divine nature, he had also his
richly-endowed human nature. The natural gifts inherent in our human nature
include qualities of temperament. Christ had, therefore, a certain natural
temperament that was, at least in part, received from his mother. We speak of
a person being like his father in certain respects, and like his mother in
others. “He got his stubbornness from his mother,” we might say, and “his
cool-headedness from his father.” Just as Christ’s temperament was magnificent
in its strength before all difficulties, so his mother’s temperament would have
been magnificent — though not matching, of course, that of her son. You can
tell the tree from its fruit, our Lord once said (Matthew 12: 33), and our Lord
was the fruit of Mary’s womb. Therefore we may assume the magnificence of Mary,
magnificent in strength, magnificent in fidelity, magnificent in her fulfilment
of duty, magnificent in obscurity. She must have been a magnificent woman to
have borne so magnificent a Man, and part of her magnificence, suffused by the
Spirit, was strength in the face of adversity.
This consideration aside, let us look at the Gospel text. There is one passage
that gives us a glance at her inner soul. It is her extended praise of God for
all that he had done for his people and for her. Our Gospel passage today which
mentions the mother of Jesus awaiting Jesus outside is from St Luke, and it is
Luke who reports for us Mary’s praise of God following on the words of Elizabeth
to her. What does Mary praise in God? She praises his power and his mercy.
There is special praise for his defence of the weak against the oppressor. He
has shown the might of his arm and has deposed the mighty from their thrones.
He has defended the poor and sent the rich packing. He has defended and upheld
his chosen people Israel. Mary especially rejoices in God as the Strength and
Defender of the weak and defenceless. Mary rejoices in strength, a holy and
moral strength, and we may suppose that this reflected her own strength. In the
Temple with the infant Jesus in her arms, she was told by Simeon that she would
have a sword plunged into her soul. To be told this, and then to endure it,
required strength. It is this feature which Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion
of the Christ, captured well — especially at the time of his Passion. The
mother of Jesus was portrayed as a woman of superb strength as she followed her
son on the way to Calvary. Mary was discreet but very strong. In Christ she is
the help of man, and in particular the help of Christ’s disciples. So it is
that in times of great difficulty, the heavenly intercession of Mary has been
insistently sought. How could her prayers be refused by her Son? There
have been moments of great drama in the history of peoples when the intercession
of Mary as the help of Christians has been ardently sought. Perhaps the most
well-known of these is the great threat to Europe from Islamic forces in the
second half of the sixteenth century. The European nations would not unite, but
the Pope of the time — now a canonized saint — organised a coalition and began a
campaign of prayer to Mary the mother of God. The clash occurred at Lepanto
and the Islamic fleet was overwhelmed. It was the beginning of the turning of
the tide against Islam.
The great point is that Mary is the heavenly help of Christians. She is the
Queen-mother and as we read in the Gospel account of the wedding feast of Cana,
has the ear of her Son. All she did on that occasion was point to the need,
and though it seemed to involve a change of Christ’s plan (“my time has not yet
come”), a great miracle was quietly worked. Let us turn to Mary then, and ask
her intercession against all the enemies of our life in Christ. Holy Mary,
mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Prayers
this week: The Lord fed his people with the
finest wheat and honey; their hunger was satisfied.
(Psalm 80:17)
Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial of your
suffering and death. May our worship of this sacrament of your body and blood
help us to experience the salvation you won for us and the peace of the kingdom. 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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Jesus
said to the Jewish crowds: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If
anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which
I will give for the life of the world. Then the Jews began to argue sharply
among themselves, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them,
I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food
and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in
me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the
Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread
that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who
feeds on this bread will live for ever.(John
6:51-58)
The
Eucharist
If the average person thinks of the Catholic religion there will naturally come
to his mind certain distinctive religious beliefs and practices. Conversely, if
those beliefs and practices are mentioned, it is Catholicism which will come to
mind. It might be, say, papal authority. If
one thinks of Catholicism, many would think of the Pope, and conversely if one
thinks of the Pope, one thinks of Catholicism. There are other things that are
associated with the Catholic religion while not being exclusive to it. For
instance, many would think of the Catholic Church when they think of opposition
to abortion, even though this opposition is not exclusive to Catholic teaching
for it is founded on the natural law. Now, one religious doctrine which is
profoundly characteristic of the Catholic religion is the doctrine of the Holy
Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is at the very centre of Catholicism and of a
truly Catholic life. Catholicism would regard as unthinkable that it lack the
Holy Eucharist and it views the Eucharist as Christ’s greatest gift to his
Church. It sees as one of the tragedies of the Protestant Reformation that so
many lost the Eucharist in the process. I remember one very successful
ecumenical conference which brought together Catholic and Anglican clergy. The
Catholic bishop explained how in Catholic belief the Eucharist is the summit and
the source of the Christian life. The Anglican bishop in turn explained that,
as he saw it, in Anglicanism the word of God is at the summit. Some Anglicans
themselves may disagree with that bishop, but all would know that the Eucharist
is at the heart of the Catholic religion. There is no question about that. A
deeply Catholic person is rooted in the Eucharist. A principal reason for being
a Catholic is to possess and receive from the Church the ineffable gift of the
Holy Eucharist accompanied, of course, by the word of God as preached and taught
by the Church together with the other Sacraments.
What then is this treasure which the Church and every authentic Catholic knows
to be the greatest of God’s gifts? The Eucharist is none other than the
entire person of Jesus Christ himself, Christ in his whole humanity and in his
entire divinity. The Eucharist is the entire living person of the risen Jesus.
Just as Christ’s humanity veiled his divinity, so in the Holy Eucharist Christ’s
divinity and his humanity are veiled in the appearances of bread and wine. At
Mass the priest repeats the words which Jesus uttered at the Last Supper when he
changed the bread into his body and the wine into his blood, and by the power of
the Holy Spirit the effect of those words at Mass is the same as it was then.
In memory of Jesus the priest does what Jesus then did and it is Jesus in him
who is doing the work. The priest acts in the person of Jesus and Jesus acts in
him. It is no mere symbolic action. The reality of bread becomes the reality
of Christ’s body and the reality of the wine becomes the reality of Christ’s
blood. All that remains are the appearances that were there prior to this
change of substance. While it continues to look and feel and taste like bread
and wine, its reality is now utterly different. It is now simply and only
Christ himself, just as it was when Christ did this at the Last Supper. But
there is more to the Eucharist than the presence of Christ in his entire
reality. Christ also makes present his one and only sacrifice of himself at
Calvary. He is present precisely as sacrificed, in the same act of
self-offering for mankind made on the cross. This unique sacrifice was done
once and its effect was the redemption of mankind. This unique sacrifice is
made present at Mass but of course under different circumstances and
appearances. How so? We do not know. We cannot explain this divine action. It
is the mystery of our faith, but it means that we who are baptised are able to
truly unite ourselves to Christ in his sacrifice of himself to the Father on our
behalf. Or to put it better, it is Christ who unites us to himself and this
occurs most especially in Holy Communion.
There is nothing like it on earth. If only we could realize this! St Paul
writes that in Christ is present every heavenly blessing. The abiding
temptation, even of those who accept this unchanging doctrine of Scripture and
the Church, is to ignore or forget it somewhat because we do not see the
physical form of Christ in the Eucharist. We must learn to believe Christ’s
word precisely because it is his word. Our Gospel today
(John 6:51‑58) is one example of it and it is
constantly spelt out by the Church in her doctrine. As Christ is our life, so
the Eucharist is our life because the Eucharist is Christ among us in all his
human and divine reality. What a gift this is, so let us not pass it by!
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of
the Catholic Church, no.1383-1389
(The Eucharist as paschal meal)
If Love,
even human love, gives so much consolation here, what will Love not be in heaven
?
(The Way, no.428)
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Scripture: Deuteronomy
7:6-11; Psalm 103:1-4, 6-8, 10; 1 John 4:7-16; Matthew 11:25-30
At that
time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and
revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good
pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one
knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the
Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all
you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is
light.(Matthew 11:25-30)
Our
treasure
Once again as in so many passages of the Gospels, Christ shows his consciousness
of being the fullness of the Godhead, just as his heavenly Father is the
fullness of the Godhead. It is a stupendous mystery and it is accessible only
by faith in his person and word.
“All things have been committed” to him by his heavenly Father, he tells his
disciples in our passage from Matthew today. In the Gospel of St John (17: 10)
our Lord prays to his heavenly Father saying that “all I have is yours and all
you have is mine.” That is to say, there is a full sharing of everything between
the Father and the Son, meaning above all that the entire divine being that is
the Father is the same one divine being that is the Son. All that the Father is
and has, is to be found in the Son as well. In our Gospel today our Lord tells
his disciples that the Father has entrusted the world and all things to him, and
of course the purpose of this is that he, Christ, will make God reign in all.
The Kingdom of God is the lordship of God everywhere and in all hearts and this
is effected by bringing all into union with Jesus. It is as simple and as
difficult as that. Christ is at the heart of the universe and his mission is to
connect everything to himself. He is its entire linchpin and on him depends
everything. It is said that Einstein strove to find a mathematical and physical
formula that would express the heart and law of the universe. He failed. It
reminds me of one thing that John Henry Newman of nineteenth century England
wrote in his Philosophical Notebook. He was in the process of writing
his great book, the Grammar of Assent, and had begun to study the German
philosophers of the day. He gave them up saying that they appeared to attempt
to reduce reality and the universe to one principle. Such, he said, was
impossible. However, there is one great Reality which is indeed at the heart of
the universe and on which all of created reality depends, and Newman would be
the first to proclaim it. I am referring to Jesus.
At the Last Supper, again in the Gospel of St John, our Lord in his prayer to
his heavenly Father says that eternal life is this, to know you Father and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent. In our Gospel today it is clear that this coming to
know Jesus is God’s gift. “No‑one knows the Son except the Father, and no‑one
knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal
him.” The appreciation and understanding of the mystery of Jesus is not just the
result of natural wisdom and gifts. God reveals this to the well‑disposed and
to the humble who choose to come to Jesus. And so our Lord gives thanks and
praise to his heavenly Father for revealing these things to the lowly. “I
praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” our Lord says, “because you have
hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little
children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” It is a similar prayer
to that uttered by Mary in her Magnificat in the Gospel of St Luke when she was
greeted by Elizabeth. The Almighty looks on his lowly handmaid. He has exalted
the lowly and the hungry he has filled with good things, she proclaims. Now,
the greatest of “good things” is the knowledge of Christ, and to know Christ is
to know the Father too. Moreover, in coming to Jesus and in attaining the
knowledge of him, we are attaining that true peace of heart for which we were
created. Our Lord invites his disciples with these heart‑warming words: “Come
to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”
(Matthew 11:25‑30). Whatever be our
problems and difficulties, if we have Christ and if we choose to follow his way,
then our lives will be anchored in his peace.
Let us understand that in Christ is every heavenly blessing. The world and the
happiness of man depend on him. But to appreciate this we need to be
enlightened by the grace of God. So let us ask for the grace to perceive that
our true treasure lies in knowing Jesus, and appreciating this, let us come to
him knowing that peace and joy will be ours if he lives in us and we in him.
Consider
what is most beautiful and most noble on earth, what pleases the mind
and the other faculties, and what delights the flesh and the senses.
And the world, and the other worlds that shine in the night: the whole
universe. Well this, along with all the follies of the heart satisfied,
is worth nothing, is nothing and less than nothing compared... with
this God of mine! — of yours! Infinite treasure, pearl of great price,
humbled, become a slave, reduced to the form of a servant in the stable
where he chose to be born, in Joseph's workshop, in his passion and in
his ignominious death... and in the madness of Love which is the
blessed Eucharist.
(The Way, no.432)
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed
Virgin Mary
(May 31) The Visitation
This is a fairly late feast, going back only to the 13th or 14th century. It was
established widely throughout the Church to pray for unity. The present date of
celebration was set in 1969 in order to follow the Annunciation of the Lord
(March 25) and precede the Birthday of John the Baptist (June 24). Like most
feasts of Mary, it is closely connected with Jesus and his saving work. The more
visible actors in the visitation drama (see Luke 1:39-45) are Mary and
Elizabeth. However, Jesus and John the Baptist steal the scene in a hidden way.
Jesus makes John leap with joy—the joy of messianic salvation. Elizabeth, in
turn, is filled with the Holy Spirit and addresses words of praise to Mary—words
that echo down through the ages. It is helpful to recall that we do not have a
journalist’s account of this meeting. Rather, Luke, speaking for the Church,
gives a prayerful poet’s rendition of the scene. Elizabeth’s praise of Mary as
“the mother of my Lord” can be viewed as the earliest Church’s devotion to Mary.
As with all authentic devotion to Mary, Elizabeth’s (the Church’s) words first
praise God for what God has done to Mary. Only secondly does she praise Mary for
trusting God’s words. Then comes the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). Here Mary
herself (like the Church) traces all her greatness to God.
One of the invocations in Mary’s litany is “Ark of the Covenant.” Like the Ark
of the Covenant of old, Mary brings God’s presence into the lives of other
people. As David danced before the Ark, John the Baptist leaps for joy. As the
Ark helped to unite the 12 tribes of Israel by being placed in David’s capital,
so Mary has the power to unite all Christians in her Son. At times, devotion to
Mary may have occasioned some divisiveness, but we can hope that authentic
devotion will lead all to Christ and therefore to one another. As Pope John Paul
wrote, “Moved by
charity, therefore, Mary goes to the house of her kinswoman.... While every word
of Elizabeth’s is filled with meaning, her final words would seem to have a
fundamental importance: ‘And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what had been spoken to her from the Lord’ (Luke 1:45). These
words can be linked with the title ‘full of grace’ of the angel’s greeting. Both
of these texts reveal an essential Mariological content, namely the truth about
Mary, who has become really present in the mystery of Christ precisely because
she ‘has believed.’ The fullness of grace announced by the angel means the gift
of God himself. Mary’s faith, proclaimed by Elizabeth at the visitation,
indicates how the Virgin of Nazareth responded to this gift” (Pope John Paul II,
The Mother of the Redeemer, 12). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on
centre arrow
Scripture today:
Zep 3:14-18 or Rom 12:9-16; Psalm Isaiah 12:2-6; Luke 1:39-56
At
that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard
Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: Blessed are you among women, and
blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of
my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my
ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that
what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished! And Mary said: My soul
glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked
upon his lowly servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for
the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends
to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty
deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the
humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away
empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham
and his descendants for ever, even as he said to our fathers. Mary stayed with
Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.(Luke 1:39-56)
St Luke, who at the beginning of his Gospel informs us that he has carefully
gone over the “events that have taken place among us” (Luke 1:1-4), reports for
us both the salutation of Elizabeth and the lyrical response that came forth
from Mary. Elizabeth’s words of praise for Mary that she is blessed among women
and that her child is also blessed
undoubtedly reflect the praise for the mother of Christ and her child in the
infant Church. For very many centuries Elizabeth’s salutation has been part of
the highly sanctioned Hail Mary prayer. It connects Mary and her child and
extols both as being blessed. Mary’s response of praise and gratitude to God is
traditionally called the Magnificat from the first word of the Latin, Magnificat
anima mea dominum — my soul glorifies the Lord! As with much of his Infancy
narrative, Luke could only have gained his knowledge of this scene and of the
utterances he reports from the lips of Mary herself. Mary was his great
“eyewitness”, and one may surmise that this prayer was one she knew well. Who
knows! Perhaps it was a prayer she had already been forming in her young heart
and which suddenly came together under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit on
this occasion. Perhaps she continued to use it in her indescribably rich prayer
life thereafter. Be that as it may — and that is just speculation — it is a
profoundly rich prayer indeed, one which provides a window into the soul of the
mother of Christ and a window into the ways of God. For those who have not been
taught to love Mary just as Christ her Son himself loved her but who
nevertheless have a love for the Scriptures, a consideration of this prayer may
help them to come to know her. The salutation of Elizabeth is prayed regularly
in the Hail Mary prayer, and the Magnificat of Mary is prayed in the official
daily Prayer of the Church. So then, let us consider Mary’s words to God.
Mary’s heart is filled with praise and gratitude to God. Her spirit is filled
with joy in the Lord. Amid all her tribulations deriving from the tribulations
of her Son, Mary was, like her Son, profoundly joyful. My spirit rejoices in God
my saviour. She is his servant, and he, her Lord, her God and her Saviour, has
looked upon her who is lowly. She is lowly before God and she proclaims his
greatness. God is great! His works proclaim this fact both in her own life and
in the life of God’s people. He is the Mighty One, and holy is his name. He has
looked upon her and as a result all generations will call her blessed. And so it
has been. Mary is the blessed one, the blessed Virgin Mary who is full of grace.
The single greatest thing to be said of her is that in every possible respect
and without any qualification, the Lord is with her. All this is a mercy. In
this she is the embodiment of all that God has done for his chosen people, and
in her prayer Mary cannot help but review the merciful works of God for his
servant Israel. Just as Mary is the servant of the Lord, so too is Israel “his
servant.” But consider what God has done, she cries. “He has performed mighty
deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the
humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away
empty.” God is the strong one and he takes his stand by the humble and the weak
and those who fear him. Above and beyond all, God is a God rich in mercy. “He
has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his
descendants for ever.” By reading and meditating on the prayer of Mary we not
only come to know and love the mother of Jesus, but we come to know the essence
of the ways of God. The prayer of Mary provides us a key to God’s character as
revealed in the Scriptures. God is great, he is holy, and very especially he is
merciful.
The event of the visit of Mary to her kinswoman is meditated on whenever we pray
the second decade of the joyful mysteries of the Rosary. When praying the Hail
Mary during that decade, we repeat prayerfully the words of Elizabeth to Mary
who had just arrived. Let us treasure both the Hail Mary and the Rosary. Let us
also often pray with Mary her prayer as given in St Luke’s account. It is one of
the very greatest prayers of the Scriptures, expressing its very soul.
(E.J.Tyler)
Live by
Love and you'll conquer always — even when you are defeated — in the battles of
your interior struggle.
(The Way, no.433)
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Then he
called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: If anyone
would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his life?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his life? If anyone is ashamed
of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of
Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the
holy angels. And he said to them, I tell you the truth, some who are
standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God
come with power. (Mark 8:34–9:1)
We
think of great military commanders such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,
Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte. We think of great rulers, we even think of
revolutionaries who inspired many others to follow them and turn the tide of a
country and of history. At the end of his life on the island of St Helena,
Napoleon reflected on the enduring influence of one great leader, Jesus Christ.
He, a deist till then, saw that generation after generation Christ outshines all
others in that he continues to gain the hearts of countless persons. They live
for him, they love him, they serve him and they strive to do all this more and
more generously and perfectly. The saints give their entire lives to the person
of Jesus, and the message that the Church sends abroad in her numerous
canonizations of saints is that sanctity is for all. All are called to love
Jesus Christ as totally as possible. But now, let us ask, what is the condition
of following and loving Christ? Our Lord in our Gospel today tells us that
condition. Jesus “called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it”
(Mark 8:34–9:1). The Christian must do what
Christ did, he must accept the cross. More than this, he must actually “take
up” that cross knowing that it is the distinctive way of following in the
footsteps of Jesus. Suffering was the chosen and redeeming path of Christ, and
the Christian’s path is to suffer in union with him. This might seem a little
mad, but that is what Christ has revealed. Suffering is the path to life and to
glory.
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We
stand in God’s presence, we are in his Church, in his favour, in the way of his
grace, in the way to be pardoned; and this is our great comfort … We are not in
a desperate state, we are not cast out of our Father’s house; we have still
privileges, aids, powers, from Him; our persons are acceptable to Him.
The
Catholic religion is reached, as we see, by inquirers from all points of the
compass, as if it mattered not where a man began [, as] that he had an eye and a
heart for the truth.
Pope Pius VII, after he returned
to Rome in 1815 from several years of captivity imposed by the emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte, instituted this feast day in honor of the
assistance which the Blessed Virgin had accorded the Church. The
occasion of the Pope’s exile and captivity was the emperor’s resistance
to the authority of the Vicar of Christ, superior before God to his
own. A decree of the emperor in 1809 had ordered that the papal States
be joined to the French empire; violence followed in Rome, when the
French tricolor flag was set up and the papal arms broken. The Pope’s
very courageous bull of excommunication of the emperor was made public
in the following month. Then, one morning, a group of armed men entered
the Quirinal Palace by breaking down the doors with axes, and its
leader announced that the pope must either renounce his sovereignty
over Rome or be taken by the troop to a French General, who would
communicate to him his next destination. The sacrilegious seizure of
his person was executed, and he spent five years in exile in various
places, finally at Fontainebleau, France. After 1815 the clemency of
the great Pope towards the Emperor and his family is a matter of
history; the latter were afforded a secure refuge in Rome itself, when
Napoleon was exiled. And for the Emperor himself, relegated to the
island of Saint Helena, the Pope pleaded for clemency with the
Prince-Regent of England. When Napoleon died, it was with the
assistance of chaplains sent to him by Pius VII. Our Lady, Help of
Christians, was made better known by Saint John Bosco, who consecrated
his Order of Salesian priests to Her. And in Turin, beginning in 1865,
he began to raise in Her honor a vast and magnificent church. Without
ever having a penny in advance, always the needed sums of money arrived
in time. About three-fourths of the gifts offered were presented in
thanksgiving for favors obtained through Her intercession. An example
of her intercession is as follows: A certain Senator of the Kingdom of
Italy was ill; Don Bosco went to visit him and found him very
discouraged and speaking of his imminent death. “What would you do,”
said Don Bosco, “if Our Lady Auxiliatrix obtained your cure from God?”
“My cure! Well, I would give two thousand francs a month for Her
church, for six months.” “Be of good courage,” said the Saint on
rising; “I will see that prayers are said for you.” Three days later,
Baron Gotta, perfectly cured, went to Don Bosco to make his first
payment, giving more than he had promised; and he did not cease to
outdo himself in generosity.
(L’histoire ecclésiastique)