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Second Sunday of Ordinary Time A
Prayers this week: May all the
earth give you worship and praise, and break into song to your name, O God, Most
High. (Psalm 65:4)
Father of heaven and earth, hear our prayers and show us the way to peace in the
world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(January 16) St. Berard and Companions (d. 1220)
Preaching the gospel is often dangerous work. Leaving one’s homeland and
adjusting to new cultures, governments and languages is difficult enough; but
martyrdom sometimes caps all the other sacrifices. In 1219 with the blessing of
St. Francis, Berard left Italy with Peter, Adjute, Accurs, Odo and Vitalis to
preach in Morocco. En route in Spain Vitalis became sick and commanded the other
friars to continue their mission without him. They tried preaching in Seville,
then in Muslim hands, but made no converts. They went on to Morocco where they
preached in the marketplace. The friars were immediately apprehended and ordered
to leave the country; they refused. When they began preaching again, an
exasperated sultan ordered them executed. After enduring severe beatings and
declining various bribes to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ, the friars
were beheaded by the sultan himself on January 16, 1220. These were the first
Franciscan martyrs. When Francis heard of their deaths, he exclaimed, "Now I can
truly say that I have five Friars Minor!" Their relics were brought to Portugal
where they prompted a young Augustinian canon to join the Franciscans and set
off for Morocco the next year. That young man was Anthony of Padua. These five
martyrs were canonized in 1481.
Before St. Francis, the Rules of religious orders made no mention of preaching to the Muslims. In the Rule of 1223, Francis wrote: "Those brothers who, by divine inspiration, desire to go among the Saracens and other nonbelievers should ask permission from their ministers provincial. But the ministers should not grant permission except to those whom they consider fit to be sent" (Chapter 12). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6;
Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3;
John 1:29-34
The next day John saw Jesus coming to
him and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold the One who takes away the sin
of the world. This is he of whom I said, ‘After me there comes a man who is
preferred before me because he was before me.’ I did not know him, but it is in
order that he may be manifest in Israel that I have come baptizing with water.”
John gave his testimony, saying: “I saw the Spirit coming down as a dove from
heaven and he remained upon him. And I did not know him. But he who sent me to
baptize with water said to me: ‘The one upon whom you will see the Spirit
descending and remaining, he is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I
have seen and have given testimony that this is the Son of God.”
(John 1:29-34)
Sin and Sanctity
There have been many
utopian proposals for improving the world and ridding it of its various evils — evils such as poverty, ignorance and illiteracy. There has been the dream of
putting an end to all tyranny and political oppression, of ridding the world of
wars, of ethnic strife and bloodshed, and establishing peace on earth.
There has
been the hope of eliminating disease and ill health. Especially important, there
is often the cry to rid society of crime, and to impose law and order. Time and
again political parties, presidents and prime ministers are swept to power with
the promise of a radical doing-away of rampant wrongdoing. But while there is a
ready recognition of the critical importance of ethical living, and of the
elimination of crime, there is one great evil that we never see discussed in the
public domain. Nor is it publicly recognised even as an objective evil as is,
say, crime and unethical behaviour. Indeed, many would be embarrassed by a
public discussion of it, yet directly or indirectly it is at the root of almost
every other evil from which man suffers. I refer to sin. By “sin” I do not
simply mean various forms of wrongdoing — which by and large are offences
against society or one’s neighbour whom, of course, we can see. Of course, “sin”
is at the heart of “wrongdoing” but it cannot be reduced to mere “wrongdoing.”
Sin is an offence not merely against society, but against God, whom we cannot
see. We think of the sicknesses, diseases and natural disasters of the world. Do
we think of the sin of the world? Do, say, governments? Is it generally
recognized? It is not. I have seen Satan depicted as a mere imp, a figure of
myth, and private sin as, well, unimportant. One of the things we must try to
regain is a proper sense of sin and of its objective evil — which involves, of
course, a recovery of a sense of God and a public recognition of him. Sin is the
worst thing in the world, being the rebellion of man against his Maker, a
disobedience that is secret, private, and yet often involving very public acts.
There cannot be anything more catastrophic in the long term than deliberately to
rebel against God, no matter how minor the disobedience may be, in thought, word
or deed.
It is to God that we owe everything. On God do we depend completely. Yet the entire human race has been afflicted by, and caught up in, a rebellion against him — secret or overt as the case may be. We are all born into it. The first human pair rebelled against God and the result was horrendous. This has reached and will reach all of their descendants. With their original sin, the human condition became one of separation from God and of profound moral dislocation. It is this broken and wounded condition, the result of the original sin of our first parents, that is handed on to all of us. We are all born under the power of sin and with a constant proneness to personal sin. Yet it is commonly not recognized as man’s primary affliction. As St Paul writes, with sin death entered the world and death has spread to the whole human race. If anything ought be our prayer, it is that God enlighten man and society of the objective fact and evil of sin, and pour out his grace enabling man to renounce and overcome it. If anything has to be taken away from the world, it is sin. The question is, how can this be done? Let us imagine mankind recognizing the fact of sin, of man’s proneness to it, and of its character as the fundamental source of evil in the world. The question that would cry out for an answer is, how could it possibly be taken away? Who or what could provide the answer? Just as, apart from revelation, the origin of sin is a mystery, so would be its solution. Our Gospel today (John 1:29-34) tells us the solution to the world’s sin. It is told us in the words of St John the Baptist: Jesus, the Lamb of God, is he who takes away the sin of the world. God the Son became man to take away the sin of the world. Only he could do this — is it remotely conceivable that any mere human being, or any numbers of human beings, could do it? What could a mere man, some great religious leader, for instance, do to remedy the world’s separation from God? The very thought is impossible. God alone could do it, and it was God’s plan that he do it by sending his divine Son to suffer, die and rise again. In this way he atoned for the sin of the world and won for man the gift of the Holy Spirit.
But there is more. Where sin abounded, grace abounds even more. Christ, by his
redemptive work, has won for us the grace to be saints. St Paul in the second
reading of today (1 Corinthians 1:1-3) greets those called to take their place
among all the saints. If we take the means that the Church provides for us from
what Christ entrusted to her, we can attain personal holiness and be transformed
into the likeness of Christ. Where sin abounded, grace abounds the more. Let us
look on Christ the Lamb of God and our Redeemer, resolving to follow wherever he
goes. Let us renounce sin day by day and lovingly do the will of God in union
with Christ, into whose image the Holy Spirit is moulding us. Let us make that
our life’s ambition, the ambition of each day.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church
No.386-389 (Where Sin Abounded, Grace Abounded All
The More)
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What a beautiful prayer for you to say frequently, that one of our good friend
praying for a priest whom hatred for religion imprisoned: “My God, comfort him,
since it is for you he suffers persecution. How many there are who suffer
because they serve you!” What a source of joy the Communion of Saints is.
(The Forge, no.258)
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Monday of the second week in Ordinary Time A-1
(January
17) St. Anthony of Egypt (251-356)
The
life of Anthony will remind many people of St. Francis of Assisi. At 20, Anthony
was so moved by the Gospel message, "Go, sell what you have, and give to [the]
poor" (Mark 10:21b), that he actually did just that with his large inheritance.
He is different from Francis in that most of Anthony’s life was spent in
solitude. He saw the world completely covered with snares, and gave the Church
and the world the witness of solitary asceticism, great personal mortification
and prayer. But no saint is antisocial, and Anthony drew many people to himself
for spiritual healing and guidance. At 54, he responded to many requests and
founded a sort of monastery of scattered cells. Again like Francis, he had great
fear of "stately buildings and well-laden tables." At 60, he hoped to be a
martyr in the renewed Roman persecution of 311, fearlessly exposing himself to
danger while giving moral and material support to those in prison. At 88, he was
fighting the Arian heresy, that massive trauma from which it took the Church
centuries to recover. "The mule kicking over the altar" denied the divinity of
Christ. Anthony died in solitude at 105.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Hebrews 5: 1-10; Psalm 109;
Mark 2:18-22
The
disciples of both John and the Pharisees used to fast. People came to Jesus and
said to him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast; but your
disciples do not?” Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast as long as
the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they
cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast. No man sews a piece of raw cloth on to an old garment.
Otherwise the new piece pulls away from the old and a greater rent is made. And
no man puts new wine into old skins. If he does the wine bursts the skins and
the wine is spilt and the skins lost. New wine must be put into new skins.”
(Mark 2:18-22)
Bridegroom
The Old Testament has, in its accounts of the creation, a striking beginning.
When we think of the various accounts of the origins prevalent among the
peoples, the opening sentence is equally striking: “In the beginning, God
created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and darkness covered
the abyss..”
God
then sets about creating the world, which is cast in the framework of a working
week. At the end of this working week God rests — thus the believer has a divine
model in all his life’s work and in his observance of the Sabbath. The last day
of the week’s work is its climax. God makes the living things of the earth, and
then, after they have been created, he makes man. But what is notable in the
account is that man is created not as just one among the living things, for he
is made in the divine image. Now what is also to be noticed here is the sense in
which this is so. In the first instance, man is made in the image of God in that
he is given dominion over the world and all other living things. He is to
multiply and exercise dominion over the earth. In that, he will be like God. He
is to be subject to God, as we read in the next chapter, and all things are to
be subject to him. But now, there is a second aspect to his likeness to God.
“God created man in his image ... male and female he created them.”
Man has a spousal vocation, and in this he is like his Maker. There is, then, a
hint that the Creator is somehow spousal. I cannot but wonder whether this also
served to remind the reader of a particular theme in the prophets, that God is a
“Bridegroom.”
While the book of
Genesis contains traditions that developed during the monarchy and other
material that may well be earlier, most scholars believe its final shape and
message come from the Exilic and Persian periods, which is to say, during the
6th and 5th centuries BC. Now, the minor prophet Hosea, for instance, exercised
his ministry in the 8th century BC — probably before the final compilation of
Genesis — and a principal image of God in his prophecies is of a Husband to his
people. Israel, God says, “shall call me ‘My husband,’ ... I will espouse you to
me forever ... in love and in mercy” (2: 18-22). Many other examples could be
given that in revealed religion God is viewed as a Bridegroom.
Any devout Jew raised on the prophets would have been aware of this aspect of God’s revelation of himself. He is like a Husband, a Spouse, a Bridegroom in his love and fidelity to his people. Moreover, he was due to come. The Day of his coming was a defining thought in the culture of Israel, and it would be inextricably linked with the coming and work of the Messiah. Surprisingly, we read in the Gospel of St John that John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the “bridegroom”: “You yourself are witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah’... It is the groom who has the bride..” (John 4: 28-29). John is referring to Jesus who is now attracting more followers than he. “He must increase, while I must decrease” (4: 30). Our Gospel passage today (Mark 2:18-22) is from a very different Gospel — that of St Mark, one of the Synoptics. In it, people come to Jesus and observe the difference between his disciples and those of the Pharisees and the Baptist in respect to fasting. In his reply, our Lord’s portrays himself as the Bridegroom. “Can the wedding guests fast as long as the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” The image has its roots deep in Sacred Scripture, and, I believe, was a factor in the Genesis depiction of the creation of man. It recurs often in the prophets. It is mentioned by John the Baptist, is applied to the Messiah, and is appropriated by our Lord himself. He is Bridegroom to his people. It is taken up by St Paul who describes marriage as a sacrament of Christ and his Church. He describes the relationship between husband and wife in the same terms: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5: 25-27). It is used by the author of the Book of Revelation: “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (19:9). Let us as Christians cherish this remarkable image of the Bridegroom which God has used of himself, and which Christ has made his own.
Spousal love is the noblest thing in creation. It is the inspiration for songs, poems, drama, literature of all kinds, painting and music. It is God’s greatest work of nature — but it is so because it closely reflects his divine nature. He is one God in three Persons united ineffably in infinite love. God made man to reflect this, and — wonder of wonders! — God has entered the world to establish a spousal relationship with man. Christ is the Bridegroom, and we are called to enter into an everlasting relationship of love with him by grace. Let this be our business, then!
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection:
(Hebrews 5:1-10)
Priest and Victim
The Letter to the Hebrews, and our passage today in particular, speaks of
Christ’s priesthood. The Letter points out that while the priest in the line of
Aaron offered up sacrifices for sin, Christ as High Priest offered up his very
self. He was not only the priest but the victim —
offered
not for his own sin as the traditional priest had to, but for the sins of
mankind. As the traditional victim was slaughtered as a sacrifice, so too Christ
underwent suffering and death as the one sacrifice. This was the character of
the priesthood of Christ, that both priest and victim were identical. Now every
baptised member of Christ’s faithful has been given a share in the priesthood of
Christ, the way it is exercised varying according to vocation. But all are
called to unite with Christ as priest, offering Christ himself to the Father for
the sins and needs of mankind. Moreover, all are called not only to unite with
Christ as offerer, but with Christ precisely as victim. That is to say our whole
being and life is to be an offering. Our sufferings and our work, all that we
are called to do by way of duty, all this is intended by the Father to be caught
up in union with the offering that Christ made of himself as victim. Thus is our
life meant to be a sacrifice of tremendous value because united with the
sacrifice of Christ the victim.
We are called to be
priests with Christ the Offerer, and victims with Christ the Victim. This will
give our ordinary lives an extraordinary value and meaning, with all its little
ordinary duties.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The measures taken
by some governments to ensure that the faith in their countries dies out reminds
me of the seals set upon the tomb of Jesus by the Sanhedrin. He was not subject
to anybody or anything, and despite those seals he rose again.
(The Forge, no.259)
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Tuesday of the second week in
Ordinary Time A-1
(January 18) St. Charles of Sezze (1613-1670)
Charles thought that God was calling him to be a missionary in India, but he
never got there. God had something better for this 17th-century successor to
Brother Juniper. Born in Sezze, southeast of Rome, Charles was inspired by the
lives of Salvator Horta and Paschal Baylon to become a Franciscan; he did that
in 1635. Charles tells us in his autobiography, "Our Lord put in my heart a
determination to become a lay brother with a great desire to be poor and to beg
alms for his love." Charles served as cook, porter, sacristan, gardener and
beggar at various friaries in Italy. In some ways, he was "an accident waiting
to happen." He once started a huge fire in the kitchen when the oil in which he
was frying onions burst into flames. One story shows how thoroughly Charles
adopted the spirit of St. Francis. The superior ordered Charles — then porter —
to give food only to travelling friars who came to the door. Charles obeyed this
direction; simultaneously the alms to the friars decreased. Charles convinced
the superior the two facts were related. When the friars resumed giving goods to
all who asked at the door, alms to the friars increased also. At the direction
of his confessor Charles wrote his autobiography, The Grandeurs of the
Mercies of God. He also wrote several other spiritual books. He made
good use of his various spiritual directors throughout the years; they helped
him discern which of Charles’ ideas or ambitions were from God. Charles himself
was sought out for spiritual advice. The dying Pope Clement IX called Charles to
his bedside for a blessing. Charles had a firm sense of God’s providence. Father
Severino Gori has said, "By word and example he recalled in all the need of
pursuing only that which is eternal" (Leonard Perotti, St. Charles of Sezze: An
Autobiography, page 215). He died at San Francesco a Ripa in Rome and was buried
there. Pope John XXIII canonized him in 1959.
Father Gori says that the autobiography of Charles "stands as a very strong refutation of the opinion, quite common among religious people, that saints are born saints, that they are privileged right from their first appearance on this earth. This is not so. Saints become saints in the usual way, due to the generous fidelity of their correspondence to divine grace. They had to fight just as we do, and more so, against their passions, the world and the devil" (St. Charles of Sezze: An Autobiography, page viii). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Hebrews 6: 10-20;
Psalm 100; Mark 2:23-28
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the
cornfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some ears of
corn. The Pharisees said to him, Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on
the Sabbath? He answered, Have you never read what David did when he and his
companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he
entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for
priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions. Then he said to them,
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord
even of the Sabbath. (Mark 2:23-28)
The Sabbath
There
were many things which made the religion of the Hebrews stand out among the
religions of the ancient world. Most notably was its monotheism. There are some
scholars who say that in its origins it did not deny the existence of other
gods, but absolutely insisted on the worship of Yahweh God alone.
There were to
be no other gods in the life and worship of the children of Israel. These
scholars assert that the formal denial of the very existence of other gods came
in time. I suppose we could allow for this by saying that the “gods” of other
peoples were in any case no equivalent of Yahweh. They were imagined (by their
devotees among the surrounding peoples, and by Israel as well) as limited
spirits of the unseen world, “deities” that in no way approximated to the
ineffable “I AM” of the chosen people of Israel. These various spirits were
thought as having different roles in the governance of the world. In the
pantheon of gods in Greece and Rome there were high gods and lesser deities, but
no high god was envisaged in the way Yahweh was by the Hebrews. Even if, for all
we know, the strict monotheism of Israel underwent something of an historical
development, it stood out in classical times. Another virtually unique feature
was the weekly Sabbath. As is natural with any living religion, feasts and
religious celebrations abounded in the ancient world, including in Israel’s near neighbour, Egypt. But of course there was no Sabbath in Egypt, whereas in the
religion of Israel the weekly Sabbath had very great importance. The weekly
Sabbath was an essential element in divine Revelation. It was the third of the
Ten Commandments, one of the three that set forth Israel’s duties to God. There
were to be no other gods before Yahweh; his name was to be hallowed; and the
weekly Sabbath was to be kept holy. The Sabbath was a linchpin of Revealed
Religion, and the prophets inveighed on its behalf, insisting that it always be
observed in proper fashion. However, as with much that God revealed, it prompted
various interpretations — including those of the Pharisees.
In our Gospel today (Mark 2:23-28) the Pharisees observe the disciples of our Lord picking ears of corn and eating them on the Sabbath. At this they pounced, and demanded of our Lord an explanation. “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” Clearly, the Pharisees (to whom credit has to be given for greatly strengthening the post-Exilic observance of the Sabbath) placed any picking of corn in the category of work-a-day harvesting of corn. Plucking corn was therefore to be regarded always as being servile work. This interpretation was an extreme in rigidity, and its imposition on society fed the Pharisaical instinct for religious power and position. Our Lord, in response, denied that what his disciples had done was unlawful on the Sabbath, and proceeded to show from Scripture that a proper understanding of God’s Law served man’s best interests. Our Lord, though, did not dream of lessening the place of the Sabbath. It was to be the Lord’s Day in the week. The work of the week by which man sustained his life and exercised his dominion over creation, was to be interrupted so as to give God his Day. We may also say that this passage of the Gospel in which Christ rejects the interpretation of the Sabbath insisted on by the Pharisees, signals the different Christian understanding of the Sabbath rest. Christ gave to his Church a guiding principle: the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. More importantly still, in this pivotal observance of Revealed Religion which is the Sabbath, Jesus Christ is Lord. The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. By saying he is “Lord” even of the Sabbath, we may take it that our Lord is alluding not only to his being the master Interpreter of its observance — which was the issue in our Gospel today — but that he is even its very Object. As Yahweh was Lord of the Sabbath, so is Jesus Christ. Him we follow, and Him we worship — on the Sabbath. No prophet had ever claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath, but here in the midst of controversy with the religious leaders, Jesus Christ calmly makes that his claim.
The danger of our day, a day of secularism and of the absence of God, is not of an excessive observance of the Sabbath after the manner of the Pharisees. The danger is of forgetting it in part, or even altogether. The great majority of those who say they are Christians do not observe the Sabbath at all. It is observed for them by there being a weekly holiday from work, although this is disappearing too. So very many do not make the day holy, let alone by a religious celebration in church on Sunday. If we wish to follow Jesus Christ, we must take the observance of the Sabbath seriously, as he, Jesus Christ, would want us to. Let the Catholic never miss his Sunday Mass, and let him every Sunday strive to make Jesus who is his Lord, the Lord of the Sabbath.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection:
(Hebrews 6:10-20)
Persevering to the end St
Josemaria Escriva writes in
The Forge that when it comes to
seeking sanctity, it is easy to begin. The difficult and essential thing is to
persevere, and to persevere to the end. Our passage from the Letter to the
Hebrews today makes this very point: “Our one desire is that every one of you
should go on showing the same earnestness to the end, to the perfect fulfilment
of our hopes, never growing careless.” Perseverance to the end means persevering
effort and work. It is possible more or less to retain goals in life, but
without putting in much effort. The Letter to the Hebrews asks for earnestness,
earnestness to the end — in other words real effort to the last. Our Lord says
elsewhere in the Gospel that we are to love God with our whole mind, heart and
strength. This means earnestness. It means too, as our passage states, “never
growing careless”, but trying to fulfil our smallest duties really well, as well
as possible so as to make them a worthy offering to God.
Let us take each day at a time as it comes, beginning again each day. Now I
begin! It means constantly repenting, turning away in genuine fashion from
deliberate venial sin and fighting venial sin daily. Every day we are to
persevere with earnestness to the end — to the end of that day, — trying to do
as well as possible whatever work the will of God asks of us, no matter how
small.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The solution is to love. St John the Apostle wrote some words
which really move me. I like to translate them as follows, almost word for word
— the fearful man doesn’t know how to love. You, therefore, who do love and know
how to show it, you mustn’t be afraid of anything. So, on you go!
(The Forge, no.260)
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Wednesday of the second week in
Ordinary Time A-1
(January 19) St. Fabian (c. 250)
Fabian was a Roman layman who came into the city from his farm one day as clergy
and people were preparing to elect a new pope. Eusebius, a Church historian,
says a dove flew in and settled on the head of Fabian. This sign united the
votes of clergy and laity and he was chosen unanimously. He led the Church for
14 years and died a martyr’s death during the persecution of Decius in 250 AD.
St. Cyprian wrote to his successor that Fabian was an “incomparable” man whose
glory in death matched the holiness and purity of his life. In the catacombs of
St. Callistus, the stone that covered Fabian’s grave may still be seen, broken
into four pieces, bearing the Greek words, “Fabian, bishop, martyr.”
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Hebrews 7:
1-3.15-17; Psalm 109; Mark 3:1-6
Another time Jesus went into the
synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Some of them were looking
for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would
heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, Stand
up in front of everyone. Then Jesus asked them, Which is lawful on the Sabbath:
to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they remained silent. He
looked round at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts,
said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was
completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the
Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (Mark 3: 1-6)
Secret refusal
I have always found it intriguing that many who have subsequently received the
highest honours of the Church for their heroic integrity and union with God
were, in their lifetime, opposed and regarded not just as wrong-headed, but as
less than good. In fact, it is a not uncommon pattern in history that those
who
were canonized as saints were vilified in life by those who knew them. That is
not to say, of course, that all those who are vilified are good people. Some are
vilified for good reason — precisely because they are evil. But there are others
who are good and who are vilified. As a matter of fact, Christ warned his
disciples that they must expect to receive the vilification and suspicion that
he had received. As they did to the Master, so will they do to the disciple, and
this brings us to the mystery of Christ’s reception among his own. He, the Word
made flesh, came unto his own, and his own did not receive him — but to those
who did receive him he gave power to become children of God. In our Gospel today
we have an instance of the hostility to Christ which possessed many of the
religious leaders. In reading the account, the Christian keeps ever in mind who
Jesus Christ really was. He was God the Son made man. Not the slightest trace of
sin could ever so much as touch him. He was absolutely holy, and was himself the
source of holiness. His human nature was absolutely perfect in its moral
character. The thought of this, even during Christ’s hidden years at Nazareth,
is enthralling. There was a Man in that obscure village of Nazareth, humbly and
quietly working at his trade, growing up in the circle of his home, who was the
all-holy God. We may presume that he was recognized in the town as a very good
man, but this did not stop his townspeople from attempting to kill him when he
returned to them after having begun his public ministry. Once our Lord “showed
his colours,” which is to say his true identity and mission, they turned him
out. He was a sign of contradiction, and the same pattern manifested itself in
his public ministry. So too in our Gospel today.
There is something awesome, terrible, striking about our scene today. The all-holy Son of God, become a man like us in all things but sin, was in the Synagogue teaching. The Pharisees were there, but towards this wholly admirable Person they were hostile. They were filled with suspicion. Now, what was at the root of their suspicion? Was it a pure zeal for their religion? We gain a clue from John’s account of the Passion. When the leaders brought Jesus before Pilate, we are told that Pilate knew it was from jealousy that they had delivered him up. Jesus himself had done nothing wrong. The source of the Pharisees’ desire to accuse Jesus was their jealousy. They could not bear his manifest spiritual authority, an authority recognized by the people, an authority Jesus himself exercised calmly, sovereignly and constantly. In the previous passages of the Gospel, they accuse our Lord of allowing his disciples to break the Sabbath rest by their picking ears of corn. The Sabbath was pressed hard by the Pharisaical class, and, we may say, policed by them. But it served to bolster their sense of position and authority — and Jesus was continually ignoring their excesses and their strictures. He was allowing a much freer practice of the Sabbath rest, including himself healing on the Sabbath. So there they were in the Synagogue, intent on observing if he would violate the Sabbath yet again. They knew that the man with the withered hand was also in the Synagogue during our Lord’s speaking. They knew Christ’s compassion. Knowing their man, they expected him to do something for this poor unfortunate, and this would be their chance to accuse him. St Mark makes the point that this was precisely their motivation. It is a picture of sin in opposition to God. Even our Lord himself for all his divine power, seems unable to overcome their sinful stubbornness. “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they remained silent. He looked round at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, Stretch out your hand” (Mark 3: 1-6).
It would be a good thing for us to take for granted that there are lurking deep
within our hearts elements of this same opposition to Christ and his holy will.
In our desire for holiness of life, let us assume that there are some aspects of
God’s will that we are secretly refusing. Well, let us at least aspire to desire
those aspects of holiness that we do not as yet want. If we are stubbornly
holding on to this or that sin, be it some failure to forgive, some attachment
to this world’s goods, some area of self-indulgence, or some other way we are
refusing to give Christ what he is asking for, let us start by genuinely
desiring to want to give these things up. Let us ask for the grace to desire to
accept Christ fully, and having been granted the desire, then to be truly
faithful to it.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: (Mark
3:1-6)
The anger of God
Our Lord is grieved to find his critics so obstinate in their opposition to him.
“Then, grieved to find them so obstinate, he looked angrily round at them, and
said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out
and his hand was
better.” In various parts of the Old Testament there are vivid descriptions of
the anger and the wrath of God. In his anger God rained down fire and brimstone
on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The prophets spoke of the anger of God and
the punishment he would bring on his people for their infidelity. Indeed, the
Old Testament is commonly referred to as the book describing the anger of God,
while the New Testament is said to reveal his love. This is a muddle-headed
simplification of course, but at least it recognises the reality of the anger of
God. Our passage today in Mark speaks of Christ’s anger at sin — and our Lord
said, he who sees me sees the Father.
Let us avoid the anger of God by resolving to grow in a spirit of repentance
every day. We must be prepared to recognise our sins and to repent of them. In
the Scriptures, this repentant attitude is shown to bring down the mercy and
compassion of God. Whereas, stubbornness in sin brings down, sooner or later,
the judgment of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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God is with you. The Blessed Trinity dwells in your soul in grace. That is why,
in spite of your wretchedness, you can and should keep up a continuous
conversation with the Lord.
(The Forge, no.261)
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Thursday of the second week in Ordinary Time A-1
(January 20) St. Sebastian (257?-288?)
Nothing is historically certain about St. Sebastian except that he was a Roman
martyr, was venerated in Milan even in the time of St. Ambrose and was buried on
the Appian Way, probably near the present Basilica of St. Sebastian. Devotion to
him spread rapidly, and he is mentioned in several martyrologies as early as a.d.
350. The legend of St. Sebastian is important in art, and there is a vast
iconography. Scholars now agree that a pious fable has Sebastian entering the
Roman army because only there could he assist the martyrs without arousing
suspicion. Finally he was found out, brought before Emperor Diocletian and
delivered to Mauritanian archers to be shot to death. His body was pierced with
arrows, and he was left for dead. But he was found still alive by those who came
to bury him. He recovered, but refused to flee. One day he took up a position
near where the emperor was to pass. He accosted the emperor, denouncing him for
his cruelty to Christians. This time the sentence of death was carried out.
Sebastian was beaten to death with clubs. HE was buried on the Appian Way, close
to the catacombs that bear his name. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Hebrews 7:
1-3.15-17; Psalm 109; Mark 3:7-12
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the
lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard all he was doing,
many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across
the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. Because of the crowd he told his disciples
to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. For he
had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, You
are the Son of God. But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.
(Mark 3: 7-12)
The person of Jesus
I have never heard or read of any report or record of any kind in the history of
the world which describes evil spirits doing what they did in our Gospel passage
today. We read that “whenever the evil spirits saw Jesus, they fell down before
him and cried out, You are the Son of God.”
There is nothing remotely like this
anywhere in the Old Testament. Nothing like this happened with Abraham or any of
the Patriarchs, nothing like it happened with Moses. Perhaps the nearest thing
in the life of Moses was when Pharaoh’s wise men and sorcerers, by their magic
arts, threw down their staffs which were changed into serpents. They did this in
response to the same thing that Aaron had done with his staff, as God had
directed Moses. Then “Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs” (Exodus 7: 8-13).
But all this is as nothing compared with the open acknowledgement of Jesus
Christ by the demonic world. In fact, there are few references to the demons in
the Old Testament. They can be counted on one’s hand. But in the Gospels a whole
demonic world is present on the scene of Christ’s labours, and it is they who
helplessly give utterance to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. They are portrayed
as compelled to bow before him because of the matchless spiritual majesty they
see in him, and from that prostration they shout out his grandeur. But Christ
commands them to be silent. Our Lord had to contend with the confused and very
material expectations of the people. So many longed for the Messiah — but it was
for a political, economic and temporal Messiah that they longed. If the demons
were allowed an audience for their shouts, the cry would have been taken up and
our Lord’s mission would have been endangered. There were before our Lord people
from all parts: “Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and
around Tyre and Sidon.” What would have happened if they took back with them the
words about Christ coming from the throats of the devils? A political movement
may have swept the region. On one occasion, after our Lord had fed the multitude
with a handful of food (John 6: 15), the cry went up that he was to be their
king. Our Lord escaped to the hills.
Our Lord was driven by an all-consuming love for God’s chosen people. He was the one for whom God had been preparing his people for centuries, the Blessing for the nations which the children of Israel were to offer the world. His mission was to the beloved people of God, the people of God’s own choice, the House of Israel. He wished to draw them to him. As he said near the moment of his Passion while gazing on Jerusalem, how he wished to gather them as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. This he was doing in our Gospel passage today (Mark 3: 7-12). They were coming to him in large numbers and from everywhere, and he wished them to come. At his command was all that their hearts could desire. The ever-present danger was that they would get what they wanted from him, and then stay with him or depart from him according as their immediate material needs were satisfied. They wanted health — and this was a good and legitimate aspiration. They wanted freedom from the evil spirits — and this was a better aspiration still. They wanted the light to live well and happily — and this was even better. Many simply wanted to be with him. But our Lord had come to give them the greatest relief of all, relief from sin. It was this which mankind most needed, and it was the root of the evils that infested and spoilt the world. Jesus of Nazareth had come to take away the sin of the world, and to empower man to live in imitation of him. This is the will of God, St Paul would write, your sanctification. Christ had come to change their hearts of stone and to give them hearts of flesh — which is to say, a heart throbbing with the divine life that filled his own sacred heart. This was a magnificent prospect, but the danger was that few would be interested. Very many were seeking from him things which he could certainly give, but which were of minor importance when compared with the blessings he had come to give, blessings that were eternal. He had come to make them holy. For this, our Lord had to lead them on but gradually, and his immediate success was limited.
Let us stand among the crowd in our Gospel today, gazing on the One speaking to
us. Let us contemplate him. How wonderful it would be to be his friend! How
wonderful it would be to share his life and his mission! How enviable the
position of his chosen disciples. That is what I shall aspire to — a share in
his personal friendship. Ah! By my baptism I do now share in his life and in his
mission, and above all, he counts me as his friend. I do not call you servants
any more, he said. I call you friends, and I commission you to go out and bear
fruit that will last. Let us resolve to deepen our friendship with Jesus Christ,
and to make it the meaning of our life.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection:
(Hebrews 7:25-8:6)
The power of Jesus to save
The inspired author of
Hebrews (7:25) tells us something that offers immense hope: “The power of Jesus
to save is utterly certain, since he is living for ever to intercede for all who
come to God through him.” Whatever be our sins and whatever be the faults that
hold us back from full union with God,
Jesus can save us from it all. This is
the will of God, St Paul tells us elsewhere, your sanctification. The power of
Jesus to save is utterly certain. It is said that the sister of St Thomas
Aquinas once asked her illustrious brother what one needs to do to become a
saint. He said: “Want it!” That is to say, we must have a great and persevering
desire for sanctity, a desire that includes taking the means required. Jesus can
endow us with this holy desire by his gift of the Holy Spirit and the grace that
accompanies this Gift. However, he treats us for what we are, human beings with
personal freedom. We are not robots. While our sanctification is the work of God
and his grace, nevertheless we must cooperate freely and perseveringly, and in
this way merit the reward of union with God.
The key to this persevering cooperation with the work of Christ in our life is
always to be beginning again: Now I begin! Let us take each day at a time, ever
starting afresh with repentance and reliance on the power of Christ. The power
of Jesus to save is utterly certain. This fact must be our constant hope, and it
must be the message of hope we bring to others.
(E.J.Tyler)
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You should pray at all times
— always. You should feel the need to go to God
after every success and after every failure in your interior life.
(The Forge, no.262)
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Friday of the second week in
Ordinary Time A-1
(January 21)
St. Agnes (d. 258?)
Almost nothing is known of this saint except that she was
very young—12 or 13—when she was martyred in the last half of the third century.
Various modes of death have been suggested—beheading, burning, strangling.
Legend has it she was a beautiful girl whom many young men wanted to marry.
Among those she refused, one reported her to the authorities for being a
Christian. She was arrested and confined to a house of prostitution. The legend
continues that a man who looked upon her lustfully lost his sight and had it
restored by her prayer. She was condemned, executed and buried near Rome in a
catacomb that eventually was named after her. The daughter of Constantine built
a basilica in her honour. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Hebrews 8: 6-13;
Psalm 84;
Mark 3:13-19
Jesus went up
on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He
appointed twelve— designating them apostles— that they might be with him and
that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.
These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James
son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which
means Sons of Thunder); Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son
of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
(Mark 3: 13-19)
The Church At the beginning of his
Apologia pro Vita Sua, Blessed John Henry Newman recalls
some of the authors who were especially influential in his life following his
teenage conversion. One of those authors was Joseph Milner (1744–1797), an
English Protestant Evangelical writer. Milner was born at Leeds and educated at
Leeds Grammar School and Cambridge.
After taking his degree he went on to become
headmaster of Hull Grammar School. He became a strong supporter of the
Evangelical movement of the period (led by Wesley and Whitefield), and greatly
contributed to its success in Hull. As well as being headmaster, he had charge
of North Ferriby parish, about nine miles from Hull. Remarkably, as well as all
this he published essays, sermons and books — the best known of his books being
his History of the Church of Christ (London, 1794–1809), completing three
volumes before his death. Two more were added by his brother, Isaac Milner
(1750–1820), dean of Carlisle, who re-edited the whole work in 1810. It was this
History which inspired in the teenage Newman a love
for the early Church — and this in turn found its ultimate fulfilment in what
Milner would have profoundly disapproved of, Newman’s conversion to the Catholic
Church nearly thirty years later. It is ironic that Newman’s later conversion to
the Catholic Church pivoted around the question of what the Church that Christ
founded is. Milner’s idea of the Church was the characteristic Evangelical one:
the Church consists simply of those who are by conviction and by goodness of
life united with Jesus Christ. In another of his books, his
Gibbon’s Account of
Christianity and Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1781), Joseph
Milner defines the Church “in its Scriptural sense” as consisting “of those, and
only those, who are spiritually united to Jesus Christ as their Prophet, Priest,
and King, or to say all in a word, their Saviour, and through him to God the
Father by an everlasting Covenant” (p.164). It does not consist in any national
or congregational body as such — and of course it certainly does not, for
Milner, consist in the Church of Rome. His was a classic Protestant notion.
Newman went on to attain an outstanding knowledge of the early Church, and came to exactly the opposite view from that of Milner. The study of the early history of the Church, according to Newman, teaches one that the early Church was the Catholic Church. Moreover, the Church does not consist simply of those who love Jesus Christ and are obedient to him. It is an identifiable and visible body with a definite structure, with a formal leadership which is the direct successor of the leadership which Jesus Christ himself instituted. At the heart of the Church which Christ founded is the Apostolic succession, which is to say the succession from the Apostles of the grace and mission which Christ imparted to them. It is this which we see in its first stages in our Gospel today. Indeed, it is one of the many things which mark Jesus Christ out from all the prophets who preceded him. There is no prophet in the entire Old Testament right up to and including John the Baptist who so actively sought disciples as did Jesus Christ, and who took the step of selecting twelve of them in the way he did. There were, we read, certain ones he wanted and whom he called, and from among these he selected twelve. Apart from the clear choice of the Twelve, the statement may mean that our Lord called a number to be disciples in a special sense, and from these he chose the Twelve. We read elsewhere that our Lord sent out seventy-two of his disciples in pairs to go ahead of him announcing the Kingdom. St Paul tells us that 500 of the disciples were present at one appearance of the risen Jesus, so there were many disciples, some of whom were actively associated with his mission while many others were not. Our Lord had special friends who were not actively involved in his mission — such as Martha, Mary and Lazarus. In any case, from them he chose twelve — the Twelve — and these would be the foundation of his Church, with Simon the visible Rock of the whole structure. The point is that there is a firm and clear Catholic teaching on Christ’s intention for his Church. It is that the Church is a visible structure, founded on the Twelve. Christ abides in this divinely-instituted body. This Church, which is Christ’s Catholic Church, has the mission to bring Christ to men.
In the Gospels Christ describes
himself as the bridegroom, and St Paul explains that Christ is the bridegroom of
the Church. For all the faults, sins and limitations of its members, the Church
has Christ as its divine Head, and the Spirit of God for its animating principle
— its soul, we might say. For this reason the Church is not a merely human body,
but has a magnificent divine element, which is the Holy Trinity dwelling within
it as in his Temple. Let us love the Church then, and do all we can to be worthy
members of her, so that the glory of Christ might shine the more before the
world.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection:
(Heb 8:6-13; Mark
3:13-19)
Christ the mediator of the new covenant
Our passage from the Letter to the
Hebrews today (Heb 8:6-13) reminds us of the grandeur of the relationship that
God has now established between himself and us. It is a new covenant of a far
higher order than its predecessor, and Jesus our Lord is its mediator, just as
Moses was the mediator of its predecessor. The Old Covenant, as the inspired
Scriptures make plain, repeatedly failed. The people abandoned it time and
again. So God resolved — and had planned from all eternity — to transform his
people from within so that his law and the desire to keep it would be implanted
in their hearts. God promised to sanctify his people from within the core of
their being — and Jesus is the mediator of this sanctifying action.
This work of our
Lord continues on in history in and through his Church which he established on
the foundation of his Apostles. He appointed Twelve to be his companions and to
share in his work of sanctification, of establishing the Kingdom of God within
the hearts of men (Mark 3:13-19). It is to this work that we ought dedicate
ourselves as part of the Church of the Apostles, and each day we ought strive
with apostolic zeal to bring this Kingdom to others.
(E.J.Tyler)
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May your
prayer always be a real and sincere act of adoration of God.
(The Forge, no.263)
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Saturday of the second week
in Ordinary Time A-1
(January 22)
St. Vincent (d. 304)
(Window
to right: The Passion of St Vincent)
When Jesus deliberately began his “journey” to death, Luke
says that he “set his face” to go to Jerusalem. It is this quality of rocklike
courage
that distinguishes the martyrs. Most of what we know about this saint comes from
the poet Prudentius. His Acts have been rather freely coloured by the imagination
of their compiler. But St. Augustine, in one of his sermons on St. Vincent,
speaks of having the Acts of his martyrdom before him. We are at least sure of
his name, his being a deacon, the place of his death and burial. According to
the story we have (and as with some of the other early martyrs the unusual
devotion he inspired must have had a basis in a very heroic life), Vincent was
ordained deacon by his friend St. Valerius of Zaragossa in Spain. The Roman
emperors had published their edicts against the clergy in 303, and the following
year against the laity. Vincent and his bishop were imprisoned in Valencia.
Hunger and torture failed to break them. Like the youths in the fiery furnace
(Book of Daniel, chapter three), they seemed to thrive on suffering. Valerius
was sent into exile, and Dacian, the Roman governor, now turned the full force
of his fury on Vincent. Tortures that sound like those of World War II were
tried. But their main effect was the progressive disintegration of Dacian
himself. He had the torturers beaten because they failed. Finally he suggested a
compromise: Would Vincent at least give up the sacred books to be burned
according to the emperor’s edict? He would not. Torture on the gridiron
continued, the prisoner remaining courageous, the torturer losing control of
himself. Vincent was thrown into a filthy prison cell — and converted the jailer. Dacian wept with rage, but strangely enough, ordered the prisoner to be given
some rest. Friends among the faithful came to visit him, but he was to have no
earthly rest. When they finally settled him on a comfortable bed, he went to his
eternal rest.
“Wherever it was that Christians were put to death, their executions did not bear the semblance of a triumph. Exteriorly they did not differ in the least from the executions of common criminals. But the moral grandeur of a martyr is essentially the same, whether he preserved his constancy in the arena before thousands of raving spectators or whether he perfected his martyrdom forsaken by all upon a pitiless flayer’s field” (The Roman Catacombs, Hertling-Kirschbaum). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Hebrews 9: 2-3.11-14;
Psalm 46;
Mark 3:20-21
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so
that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about
this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, He is out of his mind.
(Mark 3: 20-21)
Christ’s
work
Shakespeare is a dramatist of genius, and together with his power to create
drama, he is an eminent poet. As far as I am aware, we have no testimony from
him as to what such good literary work cost him. There are great novelists in
the English language. Both in his own lifetime and since,
John Henry Newman was
acknowledged as one of the greatest prose writers in the English language,
though his prose is expressed in genre mainly outside poetry, drama and novels
(though he did write some poetry and two novels). But he always said that
writing was for him a very great labour. It reminds us that for anything really
good, intense work is usually required. We have to really work at what we are
doing, if what we are doing is to be good. It is also the case that intense work
for something truly worthwhile — in other words, good work — is man’s happiness.
It makes him happy, and his good work brings happiness to others. As well as
this, good work done for love of God is sanctifying both of the worker and of
the ones for whom the work is done. But there is no avoiding the fact that good
work is hard work, and there is no easy way to good work. The greatest works
require the greatest of labours, and usually a truly successful work bringing
great good to others has cost a great deal. It may even have cost the very life
of the one who has brought it about, together with the lives of many of his
collaborators. Now, if there is one impression we gain from the work that our
Lord did during his public ministry, it is that it was intense. It was an
explosion of work, from the moment it began. Our Lord did not gradually move
into his prophetic activity — it began with a great shot, as it were, once his
identity had been declared by John the Baptist, and once he himself had been
baptized in the Jordan and received the Spirit descending on him like a dove. He
was driven into the wilderness to confront Satan, and as soon as John was
arrested, his own ministry began in earnest. He was on an unprecedented
campaign, recruiting and forming Apostles and raising his army of disciples. He
was bringing in a Kingdom which would be established by his death.
I am sure there was nothing like Christ’s incessant and powerful activity in that entire part of the world. We read that people came to him from Galilee, Judea, Idumea, the Decapolis, Syria — in other words, from the entire region on that part of the world’s map. We read of scribes and Pharisees coming from Jerusalem to observe him. We read that Herod was hearing reports of him, and I would be surprised if Pilate had not heard reports of it too. During the trial of Jesus, Pilate received a message from his wife urging him to dismiss the case and not to lay a finger on that just man — she had had a terrible dream about it. Her dream could have been prompted, in part, from what she had heard of Christ’s activity prior to that point. Vast crowds followed our Lord, doubtlessly for a variety of reasons, but it indicates the intensity of our Lord’s apostolic service. We read in St John’s Gospel that when our Lord was passing through Samaria, he rested at the Well of Sychar, while the disciples went in to buy food. Presumably our Lord was utterly exhausted, far more than they. On another occasion they were together out on the Sea of Tiberius, and a severe storm suddenly arose, one that threatened their very lives. But amid all the turbulence, he was asleep in the heaving boat. His exhaustion must have been great, indicating a tremendous intensity of apostolic work. In the midst of all this work, he would spend at times the whole night in prayer to his heavenly Father. This is the context of our Gospel passage today (Mark 3: 20-21). The scene follows St Mark’s presentation of our Lord’s call of many disciples and of his choice of the Twelve to share his company and his mission. At this, “Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, He is out of his mind.” It may be that our Lord’s wider family circle thought that he was absolutely “over the top,” as we might say colloquially — in the degree to which he was spending himself for all and sundry. All felt they could press themselves upon him, and he was doing nothing to discourage it.
All of this was the manifestation of
the love of Jesus Christ for each and every person. His food was to do the will
of his heavenly Father, which was to save all of mankind. It was an undertaking
without parallel in its scale in all human history. The point, though, is that
Jesus Christ is prepared to do anything for each and all of us, that we might be
redeemed and sanctified. Christ loved me, St Paul wrote, and gave himself up for
me. Each of us can say that. The degree to which our Lord spent himself in his
public ministry, continues in his efforts for each one of us. Let us then love
Jesus Christ, placing ourselves in his hands, and joining him in his mission.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second
reflection: (Mark 3:20-21)
Our work
Our brief Gospel passage for today
(Mark 3:
20-21) gives us a
picture of our Lord at work. Our Lord and his disciples were at such a pitch
that they could not even have a meal.
So consumed was he with his mission that
his relatives were convinced that he was out of his mind. Every minute of our
Lord’s life was given over to the doing of his Father’s will. One of the most
crucial things in any person’s life is the attitude he has to his work. So many
people regard their work as a necessary evil that they have to do and get
through, but it is hardly a positive thing for them. But in fact, each of us is
called to work with love at what we have been given to do each day. Our proper
work is a calling, whatever it might be. As Cardinal Newman wrote at the end of
one of his books, life is short, eternity long. We must fill up our life with
good works, working in loving Christlike service of others in union with God.
Whatever be our circumstances and our calling, all of us can do that. St
Bernadette Soubiroux at the beginning of her last illness said, this is my last
job. She was implying that she intended to make a good job of it, a good and
beautiful work of her suffering.
Let us sanctify our work, sanctifying ourselves and others
by means of it. Let us fill up our lives with good work done in union with
Christ. Let’s make the work of each day a good and beautiful thing in the sight
of God who has given it to us to do.
(E.J.Tyler)
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When the
Lord brought you into the Church he put an indelible mark upon your soul through
Baptism: you are a son of God. Don’t forget it.
(The Forge, no.264)
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Third Sunday of Ordinary Time A
Prayers today: Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Truth and beauty surround him, he lives in holiness and glory. (Psalm 95: 1.6)
All-powerful and ever-living God,
direct your love that is within us, that our efforts in the name of your Son may
bring mankind unity and peace. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(January 23)
Blessed Mother Marianne
Cope (1838-1918)
Though leprosy scared off most people in 19th-century Hawaii, that disease
sparked great generosity in the woman who came to be known as Mother Marianne of
Molokai. Her courage helped tremendously
to improve the lives of its victims in
Hawaii, a territory annexed to the United States during her lifetime (1898).
Mother Marianne’s generosity and courage were celebrated at her May 14, 2005,
beatification in Rome. She was a woman who spoke "the language of truth and
love" to the world, said Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the
Congregation for Saints’ Causes. Cardinal Martins, who presided at the
beatification Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, called her life "a wonderful work of
divine grace." Speaking of her special love for persons suffering from leprosy,
he said, "She saw in them the suffering face of Jesus. Like the Good Samaritan,
she became their mother." On January 23, 1838, a daughter was born to Peter and
Barbara Cope of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany. The girl was named after her mother.
Two years later the Cope family immigrated to the United States and settled in
Utica, New York. Young Barbara worked in a factory until August 1862, when she
went to the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York.
After profession in November of the next year, she began teaching at Assumption
parish school. Marianne held the post of superior in several places and was
twice the novice mistress of her congregation. A natural leader, three different
times she was superior of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse, where she learned
much that would be useful during her years in Hawaii. Elected provincial in
1877, Mother Marianne was unanimously re-elected in 1881. Two years later the
Hawaiian government was searching for someone to run the Kakaako Receiving
Station for people suspected of having leprosy. More than 50 religious
communities in the United States and Canada were asked. When the request was put
to the Syracuse sisters, 35 of them volunteered immediately. On October 22,
1883, Mother Marianne and six other sisters left for Hawaii where they took
charge of the Kakaako Receiving Station outside Honolulu; on the island of Maui
they also opened a hospital and a school for girls. In 1888, Mother Marianne and
two sisters went to Molokai to open a home for "unprotected women and girls"
there. The Hawaiian government was quite hesitant to send women for this
difficult assignment; they need not have worried about Mother Marianne! On
Molokai she took charge of the home that Blessed Damien DeVeuster (d. 1889) had
established for men and boys. Mother Marianne changed life on Molokai by
introducing cleanliness, pride and fun to the colony. Bright scarves and pretty
dresses for the women were part of her approach. Awarded the Royal Order of
Kapiolani by the Hawaiian government and celebrated in a poem by Robert Louis
Stevenson, Mother Marianne continued her work faithfully. Her sisters have
attracted vocations among the Hawaiian people and still work on Molokai. Mother
Marianne died on August 9, 1918.
Soon after Mother Marianne died, Mrs. John F. Bowler wrote
in the Honolulu Advertiser, "Seldom has the opportunity come to a woman to
devote every hour of 30 years to the mothering of people isolated by law from
the rest of the world. She risked her own life in all that time, faced
everything with unflinching courage and smiled sweetly through it all."
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Isaiah 8:23-9:3; Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14; 1
Corinthians 1:10-13, 17; Matthew 4:12-23
When Jesus had
heard that John was arrested, he retired into Galilee. Leaving the town of
Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capharnaum on the sea coast, in the borders of
Zabulon and Nephthalim. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, “Land of
Zabulon and land of Nephthalim, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of
the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness has seen great light, and to those
who dwelt in the shadow of death light has dawned.” From that point Jesus began
to preach and to say, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As Jesus
walked by the sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and
Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). He
said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately
leaving their nets they followed him. Going on from there he saw two other
brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a boat with Zebedee
their father mending their nets. He called them, and they immediately left their
nets and father and followed him. Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their
synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He healed all manner of
sickness and every infirmity among the people.
(Matthew 4:12-23)
Belief in the one God
Each
Sunday at Mass we recite the Creed after hearing the word of God in the
Scriptures and the homily. The Creed proclaims the fact of God. The Nicene Creed
begins with the words, that we “believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker
of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.” The alternative Creed,
more often used in private prayer such as at the beginning of the Rosary, begins
in similar fashion. “I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and
earth.” Both
Creeds
state that everything that exists (excluding evil, of course, which is the
odious lack of something that categorically should exist) comes from and is
sustained by the one God. There is one Being on whom everything depends — everything, down to the smallest existing element in all that there is, be it
seen or unseen. All things come from him, and therefore all things have on them
his imprint. There is then this most positive feature of creation, that
everything can and should lead us to him. Let us often think of the implications
of there being one God. All the other dogmas included in the Creed — our Lord
Jesus Christ and what he did for us, the person and divinity of the Holy Spirit,
the one holy Catholic Apostolic Church — all of these we believe on the word of
the one God who has revealed them. A profound sense of the sovereign reality
that is God ought give us a firm belief in all that is contained in his
revelation. His word is most sure because he is God, the Creator of all. So too,
the Ten Commandments all have him as their source and their authority. The first
is the foundation of the rest, that we are to recognise him as the one and only
God, and not have other “gods” in his place. The second is that his name is
always to be hallowed, and never treated commonly, nor debased or profaned. The
third is that his Day each week is always to be kept holy. The other seven
commandments set forth his will on our relations with our fellow-man. The entire
Creed and the Ten Commandments are inextricably linked with the first and
fundamental revealed truth that there is only one God, Creator of all. He is not
just any “god,” but the one and only true God, the One who revealed himself to
Abraham and Moses, and fully and finally in our Lord Jesus Christ.
In
sum, everything, all our beliefs and our entire conduct, everything we
see in us and around us that has any positive being, all has as its source the
one God and Father of all. This first truth, this first article of the Creed and
the first of the Commandments, is the foundation of all. He it is who revealed
himself in the Old Testament, and then definitively in the New with the coming
and the work of Jesus Christ. Christ revealed himself to be the divine Son of
this one God, who is his own Father. Jesus Christ, equally with his divine
Father, is the one and only God. He also revealed there to be in God a third
divine Person, the Spirit of the Father and the Son. Together with the Father
and the Son, the divine Spirit is to be worshipped and glorified. The one only
God is three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Christ has also revealed the
divine plan to establish the Kingdom of God in the hearts of all. God has done
this and continues to do it in the Person of Jesus his Son, such that whenever
any one is united to his Son, the Kingdom of God is established within him, and
he is established in it. This Kingdom is present in its fulness in Jesus Christ,
and one enters the Kingdom by uniting oneself with him. Our Lord said the
Kingdom of God is within you — and this occurs when a person is united with
Jesus. In our Gospel today (Matthew 4:12-23) we read how our Lord began his
preaching with the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at
hand.” In knowing and loving Jesus, we know and love the one only God, for he
said that he who sees me, sees the Father. He is the way, the only way to the
Father. No-one comes to the Father but through me, he said. But there is more.
We come to know the revelation and teaching of Jesus his Son through the
ministry of the Church, the Catholic Church which he founded, and of which he is
the living head. The Church is his body. So if we wish to know, love and serve
God as we are called to do, loving God with our whole mind, heart and strength,
loving him in everything because everything depends simply on him, then all this
is done through union with Christ. By divine intention, union with Christ is
made possible through the life and ministry of the Church.
Everything stems from the fundamental reality of
the one and only God, the Creator of all. Let us repeat constantly through life,
I believe in the one God, Father of heaven and earth. This is the foundation.
Let us ask God to establish his kingdom in our hearts through his Son Jesus
Christ, and the ministry of his Catholic Church, of which we are blest to be
members by our baptism. Let us never allow the slightest doubt about all that he
has revealed to take root in our hearts. Let us live out that Revelation,
knowing it will bring us to heaven to be with the one God forever.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading:
The Catechism of the
Catholic Church no.200-227 (I Believe
in God The Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth). .
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Give thanks
often to Jesus, for through him, with him and in him you are able to call
yourself a son of God.
(The
Forge, no.265)
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Monday of the third week in Ordinary Time A-1
(January 24) St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Francis was destined by his father to be a lawyer so that
the young man could eventually take his elder’s place as a senator from the
province of Savoy in France. For this reason Francis was sent to Padua to study
law. After receiving his doctorate, he returned home and, in due time, told his
parents he wished to enter the priesthood. His father strongly opposed Francis
in this, and only after much patient persuasiveness on the part of the gentle
Francis did his father finally consent. Francis was ordained and elected provost
of the Diocese of Geneva, then a centre for the Calvinists. Francis set out to
convert them, especially in the district of Chablais. By preaching and
distributing the little pamphlets he wrote to explain true Catholic doctrine, he
had remarkable success. At 35 he became bishop of Geneva. While administering
his diocese he
continued to preach, hear confessions and catechize the children.
His gentle character was a great asset in winning souls. He practised his own
axiom, “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than a barrelful of vinegar.”
Besides his two well-known books, the Introduction to the Devout Life and A
Treatise on the Love of God, he wrote many pamphlets and carried on a vast
correspondence. For his writings, he has been named patron of the Catholic
Press. His writings, filled with his characteristic gentle spirit, are addressed
to lay people. He wants to make them understand that they too are called to be
saints. As he wrote in The Introduction to the Devout Life: “It is an error, or
rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible with the life of a soldier, a
tradesman, a prince, or a married woman.... It has happened that many have lost
perfection in the desert who had preserved it in the world.” In spite of his
busy and comparatively short life, he had time to collaborate with another
saint, Jane Frances de Chantal (August 12), in the work of establishing the
Sisters of the Visitation. These women were to practice the virtues exemplified
in Mary’s visit to Elizabeth: humility, piety and mutual charity. They at first
engaged to a limited degree in works of mercy for the poor and the sick. Today,
while some communities conduct schools, others live a strictly contemplative
life.
Francis de Sales tells us: “The person who possesses Christian meekness
is affectionate and tender towards everyone: he is disposed to forgive and
excuse the frailties of others; the goodness of his heart appears in a sweet
affability that influences his words and actions, presents every object to his
view in the most charitable and pleasing light.”
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Hebrews 9:15, 24-28;
Psalm 98:1-6;
Mark 3:22-30
The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He has
Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils he casts out devils.” When he had called
them together he said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a
kingdom be divided against itself that kingdom cannot stand. If a house be
divided against itself that house cannot stand either. If Satan rises up against
himself he is divided and cannot stand. He is coming to an end. No man can enter
into the house of a strong man and rob him of his goods unless he first bind the
strong man. Then he will plunder his house. Amen I say to you that all sins will
be forgiven men, and their blasphemies. But the one who blasphemes against the
Holy Spirit will never receive forgiveness but will be guilty of an everlasting
sin.” He taught this because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
(Mark
3:22-30)
Holy Spirit
There has always been some
debate as to what that sin or blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which “will
never receive forgiveness” refers to. It is a sin in which, in some sense, one
must knowingly reject forgiveness — and in the context of today’s event, it is
connected with an accusation that our Lord,
whose life is the Holy Spirit, is in
league with Beelzebub, and indeed, that he “has Beelzebub.” Let us, though, set
aside that discussion for it would mean canvassing many views, and focus,
rather, on the profound love and veneration for the Person of the Holy Spirit
which it suggests. There are numerous instances given in the Gospels of our
Lord’s consuming love for his heavenly Father. St Luke tells us that the boy
Jesus, when finally found in the Temple by his distressed parents after their
heart-wrenching search of three days, said to them, “Did you not know I must be
about my Father’s business (or in my Father’s House)?” There was our Lord’s
dramatic act of driving out the sellers and the money changers in the Temple — “Get all this out of here!” he demanded, “and stop turning my Father’s House
into a house of merchandise” (John 2: 16). “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth,” he once prayed, “for hiding these things from the learned and the
clever, and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it
pleased you to do.” He was continually referring to God as his Father in a way
that appeared unique. God, he said, was “my Father” in a way that others could
not say. That is to say, he was referring to God as his own natural Father, his
Father by nature. God was his Father not merely in the way the nation could
speak of God as Father to Israel, Father by adoption as his own chosen people — the “son” he had called out of Egypt. So unique was this relationship that some
of the crowd at one point plainly asked our Lord, where is this “Father” of
yours? (John 8: 19). St John makes it clear that the leaders knew exactly what
our Lord was saying: he was saying that God was his Father in a sense that made
him equal to God. Indeed, our Lord identified himself with Yahweh God: I AM, and
for this they immediately took up stones to pound him to death (John 8: 58-59).
God the Father filled the life of Jesus Christ his divine Son.
But we can forget the tremendous place of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus Christ, and our Gospel text today serves to remind us of it. The Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal in every way to the Father, though not being what he is, the Origin. Just as the Son is equal to the Father, so the Spirit is equal to the Father and to the Son, because like each of them, he too is the one and only God. The Father is the Origin, the Son is his Only-Begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from them both as their life and love. There is but one God and each of the three Persons is that one God. But it is possible for us to slip into a view of the Holy Spirit which — unconsciously — takes him to be a kind of divine force. While the Father and the Son are depicted with a face, the Holy Spirit has no clear face to us, and is rarely depicted in art with a face — although sometimes in art he has been. He is depicted as he appeared in the Scriptures: as a dove, or as a tongue of fire, or perhaps as a powerful light, or the finger of God. The result is that we can forget that he is just as much a Person as the other two, a Person distinct from the Person of the Father and the Son. How loveable he must be! How loveable indeed. He is the love of God, and how hidden, how modest, how much behind the scenes, and yet how intense his work to see the Son glorified! On one occasion our Lord invited all to come to him and to learn from him, for he is meek and humble in heart. Now, the Holy Spirit is the very life of Jesus Christ, and so the Holy Spirit is meek and humble — and does not his very obscurity, his hiddenness, his lack of a face as it were, bespeak this fact? He is content to be out of sight in order that the Father and the Son from whom he proceeds might be glorified the more — and we are speaking of a divine Person! Together with the Father and the Son he is to be worshipped and glorified. In our Gospel today (Mark 3:22-30) our Lord speaks of the divine Spirit — and consider the love and veneration with which our Lord refers to him. You may blaspheme me, he says, and be forgiven. But be careful! Do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit! Ah! The adorable, lovely, loveable, sublime, most holy Spirit! Do not blaspheme Him! Not Him, never Him! If you do, you will not be forgiven! Let us imagine our Lord’s voice quivering with love and veneration as he spoke of the Holy Spirit.
It is plain, and needs scarcely to be
said, that our Lord was profoundly devoted to the Holy Spirit. He repeatedly
referred to him in the Gospels, especially during the Last Supper discourses in
the Gospel of St John. Let us love the Holy Spirit, then, and never neglect him.
As St Paul directs, let us not make the Holy Spirit sad by our sins. He is our
Counsellor, our Friend, our Guide, our Teacher. He it is who can make a saint of
us, and only he. Let us pray to him daily for the gift of holiness during life,
and for a holy death at the end, when we go to the House of our Father.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection:
(Hebrews
9:15.24-28)
Sin
The worst and most intractable problem of life
and the
universe is the presence of sin. Sin is what strikes at the root of our being,
because at the deepest level of our being we are called to union with God. This
is our calling and our happiness, and yet all men are under the power of an
opposite tendency that is handed on unfailingly to all. It is the tendency to
disobey and reject God. How could sin be ever taken away if this is the state of
affairs? How could man ever be freed from its grip? Jesus Christ made his
appearance among us — as our passage today from Hebrews says — “to do away with
sin by sacrificing himself.” He offered himself in death, and the purpose of it
was “to cancel the sins,” to take away the sin of the world. Between that
sacrifice he made then and when he comes again, his work of taking away sin is
applied to each person who comes to him and unites himself in faith to him.
The great danger is that we will have little sense of the reality and importance of sin. If this is the case — and it is characteristic of modern western man — then Christ and his work will appear superfluous. It is only if one genuinely desires redemption from sin and sanctification that Christ’s blessings will be embraced in faith. A sense of sin is at the heart of the Christian life. It is a basic.
Let us pray for this sense of sin in
ourselves and in others.
(E.J.Tyler)
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If we feel
we are beloved sons of our Heavenly Father, as indeed we are, how can we fail to
be happy all the time? Think about it.
(The Forge, no.266)
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Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle
(January 25)
(Tuesday of the third week in Ordinary Time A-1-
2011)
(January 25)
The Conversion of St. Paul
Paul’s entire life can be explained in terms of one
experience—his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. In an instant, he saw
that all the zeal of his dynamic personality was being wasted, like the strength
of a boxer swinging wildly. Perhaps he had never seen
Jesus,
who was only a few years older. But he had acquired a zealot’s hatred of all
Jesus stood for, as he began to harass the Church: “...entering house after
house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment”
(Acts 8:3b). Now he himself was “entered,” possessed, all his energy harnessed
to one goal—being a slave of Christ in the ministry of reconciliation, an
instrument to help others experience the one Saviour. One sentence determined
his theology: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5b). Jesus was
mysteriously identified with people—the loving group of people Saul had been
running down like criminals. Jesus, he saw, was the mysterious fulfillment of
all he had been blindly pursuing. From then on, his only work was to “present
everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labour and struggle, in accord with the
exercise of his power working within me” (Colossians 1:28b-29). “For our gospel
did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and
[with] much conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5a). Paul’s life became a tireless
proclaiming and living out of the message of the cross: Christians die
baptismally to sin and are buried with Christ; they are dead to all that is
sinful and unredeemed in the world. They are made into a new creation, already
sharing Christ’s victory and someday to rise from the dead like him. Through
this risen Christ the Father pours out the Spirit on them, making them
completely new. So Paul’s great message to the world was: You are saved entirely
by God, not by anything you can do. Saving faith is the gift of total, free,
personal and loving commitment to Christ, a commitment that then bears fruit in
more “works” than the Law could ever contemplate.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22;
Psalm 117:1bc, 2, R. (Mark 16:15);
Mark 16:15-18
Jesus said to them, Go into all the world and preach the
good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but
whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those
who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new
tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly
poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick
people, and they will get well.
(Mark 16:15-18)
Paul the
missionary
There are certain persons who have an axe to grind against the efforts of
the Church of our day to engage with the modern world. They see profoundly
ambiguous tendencies of a liberal nature in the decrees of the Second Vatican
Council. Some such persons claim that John Henry
Newman (beatified by Pope
Benedict in September 2010) was, in his Catholic period, the epitome of a
beguiling and subtle liberalism in religion that made of him a father of the
Church’s modern liberalism. The claim is ridiculous, but there is no doubt that
Newman projected a very different image after his conversion to the Catholic
faith than he had before it. I give this example of Newman as an introduction to
another instance of great change: that of St Paul. Compare the image of Saul of
Tarsus prior to his conversion on the way to Damascus, as portrayed in the Acts
of the Apostles and in certain passages of his own letters, with his image after
it. So striking was this difference that it has entered into common language as
synonymous with dramatic change. We refer to a “Damascus event” or a “Damascus
change” as meaning a remarkable change of course in life, or a remarkable change
in mind-set and attitude. It is, of course, one of the most famous conversions
of all time. There is the conversion of Buddha to his way of enlightenment, the
conversion of Mahomet following on his sense of having received a divine
revelation, and there are others. That of St Paul is among them in terms of
significance for the history of the world. There are some historians of early
Christianity who have even gone to the strange excess of thinking that it was
really Paul who founded what became Christianity. He it was, they opine, whose
radical re-thinking of the Christian movement became the foundation of the
Christianity that we know today. Jesus of Nazareth but started the “movement.”
It was Paul who made of it the religion that it now is. That is a fantasy, but
it bears witness to the power of his conversion and the immense change it
wrought in him. Of course, this was due to the grace of Christ.
The change which was involved in this singular conversion was many-faceted, and at its heart was Paul’s alteration from being one who hated Jesus Christ as an enemy of the true religion to one who ardently loved him as the fulfillment of the true religion. Christ was discovered to be the fulness of God’s revelation, the image of the unseen God, and the One to whom the Scriptures bore witness. That much is plain. What enabled Paul to respond to the grace so dramatically given to him was that he had been a man of conscience. He had been striving to do what, according to his mistaken lights, he thought was the divine will. He had conscientiously believed that Christ was a usurper in religion, and that those following him were dangerous dupes who were undermining the religion revealed to their forefathers. It had to be rooted out tooth and nail. But once the divine will was revealed to him, with the aid of Christ’s grace he changed accordingly. However, intimately associated with this key element in the conversion of Paul that was the Person of Jesus, was another great change. Paul became the iconic Christian missionary. His life became that of one on mission. We might describe the life of Saul of Tarsus prior to his conversion as being an intense effort to preserve the revealed religion of the children of Israel. It was a conserving endeavour, especially in face of threats. He hammered ruthlessly those who were spreading the new way. But once he became enamoured of Jesus Christ, the thrust of his life took a radically different direction. As Christ said of Saul in a vision to Ananias, “he is a chosen vessel for me to bring my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel — and I will show him many things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16). Christ made of him an essentially missionary person. This, we might say, is especially the lesson of today’s feast, the Conversion of St Paul the Apostle. Christ wishes his disciples to be his missionaries. This was a most notable difference between Judaism and Christianity when the new religion appeared. The disciple of Christ is called by him to be a missionary of his name, assisting in making disciples of all the nations.
It is the formal teaching of the Second Vatican Council
that all the baptized are called by God to strive for personal holiness which
consists in union with Jesus Christ. It also teaches that, precisely because of
this union with Jesus Christ, begun at Baptism and nourished by the other
Sacraments and by personal endeavour, each disciple of Christ is called to a
share in his mission. At his conversion, St Paul discovered Jesus Christ and his
heart was won for him. Subsequently receiving the gift of the Spirit by the
ministry of the Church, he gave his life to the propagation of the name of
Jesus. He is a sign for all of us. Let us carry the banner in similar manner,
each according to his circumstances and vocation, bearing witness to Jesus
Christ in the world of our daily life.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------
Second reflection:
Now I begin!
The conversion of St Paul was one of the very great events of history. It was a
turnabout in the mind and heart of a person that had enormous results on the
life of that person and on the course of history. But what was its cause?
Overwhelmingly, the cause of it was the power and the action of God. God brought
it about by his grace, aided by Paul’s characteristic prior sincerity.
Now this has a lesson for us. To begin with, it shows us that it is of immense importance that we ourselves convert. Conversion must be part of our life, and our conversion has to be sincere. But if it is to be productive of true fruit (as was St Paul’s conversion), it has to be the work of grace. So we ought pray for that grace, the grace of a change of heart. But the conversion of the life of the ordinary person is typically hidden, and very importantly, it is meant to be frequent, even daily. It is this daily conversion which we ought aspire to as a tremendous grace productive of marvellous fruit.
Let us begin again, ever beginning again. Let us aim every
day to recognize our sins and repent of them, starting again and again to do the
will of God in the ordinary duties of each day.
(E.J.Tyler)
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As he was
giving out Holy Communion that priest felt like shouting out: this is Happiness
I am giving you!
(The Forge, no.267)
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Australia Day (January 26)
(Wednesday of the third week in Ordinary Time A-1 2011)
(January 26) On Australia Day the
citizens come together as a nation to celebrate the nation, its culture
and
its history. It is the day to reflect on what has been achieved and the
blessings that are the source of gratitude and national pride. It is the day for
all to re-commit themselves to making Australia an even better place for the
future. Australia Day, 26 January, is the anniversary of the arrival of the
First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain, and the raising of the Union
Jack at Sydney Cove by its commander Captain Arthur Phillip, in 1788. Though 26
January marks this specific event, Australia Day celebrations reflect
contemporary Australia: its diverse society and landscape, its remarkable
achievements and its future. It is an opportunity to reflect on the nation's
history, and to consider how Australia can be made a better place in future.
Scripture today:
Isaiah 32: 15-18; 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11 or Romans
12: 9-13; Matthew 5: 1-12
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up
on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach
them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the
meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they
will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are
those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say
all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great
is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who
were before you. (Matthew 5: 1-12)
The
Fatherland
Some
have said that the Ten Commandments are a revealed teasing-out of the precepts
of the natural law. That is to say, they are a divine confirmation, and a making
specific, of what man’s own reason, when functioning as it should, will tell him
he should do.
That he should worship the one true God, that he ought respect his
holy name, hallow his festivals, and respect his neighbour in the ways set forth
in the Ten Commandments, all stand to reason. We could discuss this proposition
— for myself, I do not think that the Ten Commandments can be reduced to the
natural law, even though they include it and sanction it. But they surpass it
too, in various respects. Consider one of the Ten: the Fourth, in which we
are commanded to honour our father and mother. How much society depends on the
observance of this moral requirement, and yet how frequently it is neglected and
positively violated! Of course, it is subject to the First Commandment, which
commands us to acknowledge and obey God above all. We have something of an
instance of this priority in the life of our Lord when, as a youth, he stayed
behind in Jerusalem even though it caused distress to his mother and
foster-father. “Did you not know I must be about my Father’s affairs?” he said
to them. But then he returned to Nazareth with them and was subject to their
authority. During his public ministry Christ condemned the religious leaders
for, in effect, nullifying the honour and care to be rendered to parents by
their rule of Corban. According to the Gospel account, a son could say to his
parents: “What you would have gained from me is Corban — that is, given to God.”
In this way his duty to honour and care for his father or mother was set aside.
The Fourth Commandment, requiring that man honour his father and his mother, is
a fundamental law of nature on which so much peace and happiness depends. It is
a law of nature that God has raised to the rank of a revealed law: He himself
has specifically commanded it to be observed. But now, the Church has long
taught that this commandment applies beyond the context of family life, because
there are various ways in which we are parented. The Church herself is our
mother, and gives us the gift of supernatural life by her ministry and
Sacraments. She nurtures this life. The Fourth Commandment therefore includes
our love for the Church. We should obey her in matters religious and spiritual,
and honour and support her, for she is our mother in the Lord.
There is a further application of this very important precept of revealed and natural law, and that is in reference to our own society and nation. With good reason our own nation is called the fatherland, or the motherland. From it we receive our culture, our education, and all that which normally we love. Unless our fatherland unjustly turns against us and persecutes us for our exercise of legitimate rights such as our freedom to worship, we will naturally love our fatherland. Usually despite the persecution, we will still love our fatherland as such, and distinguish it from the particular government commanding its resources. Just as the divine command to honour our parents applies to our attitude to the Church, so too it applies to our attitude to our country. God wants us to honour, love and respect our country, our fatherland, and this is to be translated into a respect for and promotion of its just laws. If it institutes laws that violate the primary Commandment, which is that the Lord alone is God and that his will must always be obeyed, then those laws cannot be obeyed. A civil law that sanctions — or even, as in China at this point in history, routinely requires — abortion, cannot be allowed and must be appropriately resisted. This brings us to the next point, that love for one’s country impels the Christian to bear witness to Jesus Christ and his will for man. In the first half of the sixteenth century King Henry VIII of England, by royal decrees and the subservience of parliament, took England out of the Church, the nation’s spiritual mother. He declared himself to be in the Pope’s place — the Church’s visible head. Laws were enacted enforcing this. It meant that many, protesting their love for the sovereign and for their country, were set on a course in which the higher law of God was obeyed. St Thomas More went to the scaffold declaring himself to be the King’s good servant, but God’s first. His life was a shining example of the observance of the fourth commandment. Thomas More honoured his own parents; he honoured and obeyed the Church in her proper sphere; he honoured and obeyed his sovereign and country; but in everything and above all he obeyed God. For this reason, his love for and service to his country was magnificent.
Today we celebrate our national day.
It is a day when we think of our motherland. Honour her, the law of God
stipulates, for she has parented you in so many ways. Do all you can to support
her and to obey her in her just and proper sphere. Above all and in everything,
obey God and bring to your country the greatest of all God’s blessings, the
knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. He is the Redeemer of man, our Saviour and
our God. The more your country honours, loves and serves God, and in particular
God in the person of Jesus Christ, the richer and fuller will be her life. Let
us pray for our country and do all we can to make her pleasing in the sight of
God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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A second
reflection:
On religion
With the exception of modern western culture and the cultures it has
influenced, one of the most obvious features of human history is the prominence
of religion. Man is properly defined as a rational animal, but in view of his
history many have preferred to define him as a religious animal. Man has striven
to attain involvement with the unseen world, to gain acceptance by it, and to be
saved from evil by it, and this quest has pervaded his cultures. The Letter to
the Hebrews speaks of the effectiveness of the religion of the Old Testament
which, inasmuch as it came from God, must be counted as superior to all the
religions that have arisen from man’s own quest for the Unseen. The Letter tells
us that “All the priests stand at their duties every day, offering over and over
again the same sacrifices that are quite incapable of taking sins away”
(Hebrews
10:11). If this is the case for the Hebrew religion, how much more is it so for
the rest of the religions of man, worthy as they may be. But the case is utterly
different for the religion of Jesus Christ, according to the same Letter. For
“Jesus, on the other hand, has offered one single sacrifice for sins, and then
taken his place for ever, at the right hand of God, where he is now waiting
until his enemies are made into a footstool for him.” Why is this? Because, the
inspired Letter tells us, “By virtue of that one single offering he has achieved
the eternal perfection of all whom he is sanctifying.”
(Heb:10:13)
The great British
anthropologist, Evans-Pritchard, once wrote that a religion can be understood
and assessed from the perspective of its way of dealing with evil. Now, the
greatest evil for man is sin. The answer to sin that has come from Heaven is
Christ, and the religion that Christ revealed.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Build up a
gigantic faith in the Holy Eucharist. Be filled with wonder before this
ineffable reality. We have God with us; we can receive him every day and, if we
want to , we can speak intimately with him, just as we talk with a friend, as we
talk with a brother, as we talk with a father, as we talk with Love itself.
(The Forge, no.268)
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Thursday of the third week in Ordinary
Time A-1
(January 27) St. Angela Merici (1470?-1540)
Angela has the double distinction of founding the first
teaching congregation of women in the Church and what is now called a “secular
institute” of religious women. As a young woman she became a member of the Third
Order of St. Francis (now known as
the Secular Franciscan Order), and lived a
life of great austerity, wishing, like St. Francis, to own nothing, not even a
bed. Early in life she was appalled at the ignorance among poorer children,
whose parents could not or would not teach them the elements of religion.
Angela’s charming manner and good looks complemented her natural qualities of
leadership. Others joined her in giving regular instruction to the little girls
of their neighbourhood. She was invited to live with a family in Brescia (where,
she had been told in a vision, she would one day found a religious community).
Her work continued and became well known. She became the center of a group of
people with similar ideals. She eagerly took the opportunity for a trip to the
Holy Land. When they had gotten as far as Crete, she was struck with blindness.
Her friends wanted to return home, but she insisted on going through with the
pilgrimage, and visited the sacred shrines with as much devotion and enthusiasm
as if she had her sight. On the way back, while praying before a crucifix, her
sight was restored at the same place where it had been lost. At 57, she
organized a group of 12 girls to help her in catechetical work. Four years later
the group had increased to 28. She formed them into the Company of St. Ursula
(patroness of medieval universities and venerated as a leader of women) for the
purpose of re-Christianizing family life through solid Christian education of
future wives and mothers. The members continued to live at home, had no special
habit and took no formal vows, though the early Rule prescribed the practice of
virginity, poverty and obedience. The idea of a teaching congregation of women
was new and took time to develop. The community thus existed as a “secular
institute” until some years after Angela’s death.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Hebrews 10: 19-25; Psalm 23; Mark 4:21-25
Jesus said to
them, Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you
put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and
whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has
ears to hear, let him hear. Consider carefully what you hear, he continued. With
the measure you use, it will be measured to you— and even more. Whoever has will
be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
(Mark 4: 21-25)
The Lamp
Our
Gospel passage today follows on our Lord’s parable of the sower sowing seed in
the ground. The seed that falls on the good soil bears fruit — thirty fold,
sixty fold, a hundred fold. This harvest is holiness in one’s own life, and
holiness in the lives of others.
It includes the harvest of souls, won by a
constant apostolate. So it is that today our Lord uses the parable of the “lamp”
being placed “on its stand.” The Gospel is at various times referred to as the
“light” of Christ. We remember the primordial setting before the creation of the
heavens and the earth, as narrated in the Book of Genesis. On the one hand there
is God, there is his hovering spirit or breath, and his word. On the other hand,
“The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the abyss” — the abyss
was imagined by the inspired compiler as one of darkness and disorder. His
description reflected the helplessness of man where there is no light. The first
thing God does is to create light: “darkness covered the abyss, and the spirit
(or breath) of God hovered over the waters. Then God said, Let there be light.”
That light dispelled the darkness of the abyss that obtained prior to creation.
It depicts the radical act that is creation. At one point there is no world, at
the next point there is the world, and this by God’s act. At one point there is
darkness, at the next point there is light, and this by God’s act. St John
begins his Gospel with statements which parallel and develop with a new
revelation the statements that begin the Book of Genesis. In his Prologue, he
stresses the light that dispels the darkness. “In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. In him was life, and the life
was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
overcome it.” John the Baptist came to bear witness to the Light who is the
Light of every one coming in to the world. Thereafter, in his Gospel, John often
depicts Christ as the Light of the world.
In our Gospel today, our Lord uses the parable of a lamp. A lamp is brought in to be held aloft in the house for all to see — it is not hidden under the furniture. This is because what would otherwise be hidden must be able to be seen. “Jesus said to them, Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.” We may presume that in a general sense our Lord is referring to the Gospel. It is meant for the world, and those who have been blessed with hearing it have the responsibility to bring it before others. It will light up all that is otherwise in the darkness, and without it all will indeed be in the dark. It is said that the Christian religion is the most populous in the world, present, of course, in numerous forms and creeds. The greatest of them is the Catholic religion. But now, great in depth and number of adherents as the Catholic religion may be, how many are living it genuinely, and how many are endeavouring to bear witness to it? Very many do not. However, there is an ironic contrast in this respect. Fifty years ago the number of Catholics who attended Sunday Mass was much higher than it now is, but then a notable feature of Catholic life was that the propagation of the faith was left by the laity to the religious professionals — the priests and religious. The Second Vatican Council endeavoured to rectify this aberration by insisting that all members of the Church are called to holiness of life and to a share in Christ’s mission. The situation now is that a lower number of Catholics attend Sunday Mass, but a higher proportion of practising lay Catholics participate actively in the Church’s mission. Many think that, despite all the difficulties of the second half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first, the Church is poised for a springtime of holiness and mission. Lay Catholics are spearheading various areas of witness to Jesus, and seminaries are beginning to burgeon. The call to bear witness to Jesus as the Light of the world is catching fire in the hearts of very many. A tremendous amount still needs to be done, but there are impressive signs of life.
Whatever
the case may be as to the
present facts, our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel are clear. “If anyone has ears
to hear, let him hear. Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With
the measure you use, it will be measured to you— and even more. Whoever has will
be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him”
(Mark 4: 21-25). Those of us who
are blessed with the knowledge of Jesus Christ have a great responsibility to
bring him to others. If we do this, more will be given to us. If we refuse, what
we have we may lose. Let us take up the challenge, then, of loving and serving
Christ, and bringing him to the world.
(E.J.Tyler)
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How
beautiful our vocation is — to be sons of God! It brings joy and peace on earth
which the world cannot give.
(The Forge, no.269)
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Friday of
the third week of Ordinary Time A-1
(January 28)
St Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor (1225-1274)
By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas
is the pre-eminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine
revelation. He is
one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honoured with
the
titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor. At five he was given to the
Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would
choose that way of life and eventually became abbot. In 1239 he was sent to
Naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to
Aristotle’s philosophy. By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and
joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order, Thomas was
captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year. Once free, he went to
Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with Albert the Great.
He held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV,
directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo, combatted adversaries of the
mendicants, as well as the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about
Aristotelianism. His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his
writings. The unity, harmony and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and
natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect Thomas, as a
man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed truth. But he was broad
enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural order as coming from God the
Creator, and to see reason as a divine gift to be highly cherished. The
Summa Theologiae, his last and, unfortunately, uncompleted
work, deals with the whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after
celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he
replied, “I cannot go on.... All that I have written seems to me like so much
straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died
March 7, 1274.
“Hence we must say that for the knowledge of any truth whatsoever man needs divine help, that the intellect may be moved by God to its act. But he does not need a new light added to his natural light, in order to know the truth in all things, but only in some that surpasses his natural knowledge” (Summa Theologiae, I-II, 109, 1). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Hebrews 10:
32-39; Psalm 36;
Mark 4:26-34
Jesus said: “The
Kingdom of God is like a man who cast seed on the ground. Night and day as he
sleeps and rises the seed begins to grow, how he does not know. Of itself the
earth brings forth its crop, first the blade, then the ear, afterwards the full
corn in the ear. When the produce is ready he immediately applies the sickle
because the harvest has arrived.” He said: “To what shall we liken the kingdom
of God? Or to what parable shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard
seed which when it is sown in the earth is smaller than all the seeds in the
ground. When it is sown, it grows and becomes greater than all other shrubs and
puts out great branches, such that the birds of the are able to dwell in its
shadow.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them according as they
were able to hear. He only spoke in parables to them, but privately to his
disciples he explained everything.
(Mark 4:26-34)
The Kingdom
When the Hebrew thought of
kingdoms, his heart dwelt lovingly and longingly on the kingdom of his
forefather David. Though not Judaism’s first king (which was Saul), David
established the kingdom and of all the kings of the chosen people he was the
greatest. He had received the prophecy that was thenceforth handed on, that his
throne would in some sense be eternal. The prophecy developed as the generations
passed and it became clear that a great Messiah was to come who would establish
God’s Kingdom and be its King. He, the Messiah, would be the fulfilment of the
prophecies. In Jesus of Nazareth this King had now come, and our Lord in his
preaching and teaching repeatedly explained and described this Kingdom. We have
a portion of his teaching on the Kingdom in our Gospel passage today. Firstly,
the Kingdom would grow and grow of its own power. “The Kingdom of God is like a
man who cast seed on the ground. Night and day as he sleeps and rises the seed
begins to grow, how he does not know. Of itself the earth brings forth its crop,
first the blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear. When the
produce is ready he immediately applies the sickle because the harvest has
arrived.” The source of this growth that our Lord is describing here is grace,
given to the Church through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Church is the
bearer and the great beneficiary of grace which is the life and friendship of
God. This grace surges through the Church’s veins, is active in her preaching
and teaching, is conveyed in her Sacraments, and is bestowed on her children
enabling them to live in the friendship of God. It is the hidden power of God at
work in the life of the Church. It accounts for her growth throughout history
amid the waves of difficulty that afflict her. Cardinal Newman considered the
first three centuries of the Church’s history and her triumph over the Roman
Empire to be the paradigm of this growth. The life and power of God are shown in
the Church’s silent but victorious growth amid the tremendous and sustained
persecutions of those centuries.
While other kingdoms rise and fall, this divine kingdom on earth will not. The kingdom and civilization of Egypt grew and lasted for very many centuries, and more spectacularly still so did that of Rome. But they fell. Such has been the pattern of the kingdoms of this world all along. But our Lord assures us that God’s kingdom which he, Jesus, established and of which he is the King will not be like that. It will inexorably grow and will embrace the peoples. It will far outclass all other kingdoms. “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or to what parable shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed which when it is sown in the earth is smaller than all the seeds in the ground. When it is sown, it grows and becomes greater than all other shrubs and puts out great branches, such that the birds of the are able to dwell in its shadow” (Mark 4:26-34). As he stood before Pontius Pilate on trial for presuming to be a king, he told Pilate that he was a King, yes, but that his Kingdom was not of this world. It was in the world, but not of it. Were it of this world he, its King, would be using the weapons of the world and with those weapons his forces would be liberating him from captivity. But no. His kingdom was of a different order. It was the Kingdom of truth, for he had been born into this world to bear witness to the truth, and those who were of the truth listen to his voice. So at its heart our Gospel passage today is speaking of our Lord himself as the King, and those who gather with and in him are members of his Kingdom. He himself is the great treasure of God’s Kingdom, and it is in him that God’s Kingdom is found and accessed. St Paul writes in one of his Letters that this is the mystery now revealed — or, we could say, the Kingdom now revealed — Christ in you, your hope of glory. Christ’s reign will grow and grow and it will be eternal. The birds of the air will find their shelter in him. By our baptism and membership in the Church we live in him and thus does the Kingdom of God grow.
The Kingdom of God is to be found in the Church Christ
founded because Christ is to be found in his body the Church. Christ is the
treasure and fullness of God’s Kingdom and that treasure is to be found in his
Church. Let us take our stand with Jesus, knowing that in him, as St Paul
writes, is to be found the fullness of the godhead bodily. In him there is every
heavenly blessing. He is our living Lord, joy for all ages.
(E.J.Tyler)
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A second Reflection
(Hebrews 10:32-39)
The value
of Suffering
Our passage today from the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that
sufferings will come to the one who has embraced the light of Christ. But it is
one thing for sufferings to come. It is a further thing to have the endurance
that is necessary to do God’s will in the midst of that suffering, and thus to
gain what he has promised. “You will need endurance to do God’s will and gain
what he has promised.” (Hebrews 10:32-39). It is, then, critical that we acquire
this endurance. For this to happen we must look at the sufferings that spring
from believing in Christ and doing God’s will with the eyes of faith. The same
passage says that “the righteous man will live by faith.” This means viewing the
sufferings that arise from doing God’s will as the bearer of divine blessings.
This is proven for us by the sufferings of Christ. The greatest of blessings
flowed to us from his passion and death. As a result, the suffering of the one
who lives in Christ is now laden with fruitfulness. If we are to endure in doing
God’s will, we must learn to look on everything, including suffering, with the
eyes of faith — seeing it as Christ saw it and as he taught it.
If we live by
faith in this way, God’s presence and his Kingdom that is within us, will grow
like the seed that “is sprouting and growing, how he does not know” (Mark
4:26-28). Our sanctification and transformation in Christ will be going on. Let
us then resolve in union with Christ to accept and even embrace (as he did) the
suffering that is involved in doing God’s will.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Lord, grant
me the love with which you want me to love you.
(The Forge, no.270)
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Saturday of the third week of Ordinary Time A-1
(January 29) Servant of God
Brother Juniper (d. 1258)
"Would to God, my brothers, I had a whole forest of such
Junipers," said Francis of this holy friar. We don’t know much about Juniper
before he joined the friars in 1210. Francis sent him to establish "places" for
the friars in Gualdo Tadino and Viterbo. When St. Clare was dying, Juniper
consoled her. He was devoted to the passion of Jesus and was known for his
simplicity. Several stories about Juniper in the Little Flowers of St. Francis
illustrate his exasperating generosity. Once Juniper was taking care of a sick
man who had a craving to eat pig’s feet. This helpful friar went to a nearby
field, captured a pig and cut off one foot, and then served this meal to the
sick man. The owner of the pig was furious and immediately went to Juniper’s
superior. When Juniper saw his mistake, he apologized profusely. He also ended
up talking this angry man into donating the rest of the pig to the friars!
Another time Juniper had been commanded to quit giving part of his clothing to
the half-naked people he met on the road. Desiring to obey his superior, Juniper
once told a man in need that he couldn’t give the man his tunic, but he wouldn’t
prevent the man from taking it either. In time, the friars learned not to leave
anything lying around, for Juniper would probably give it away. He died in 1258
and is buried at Ara Coeli Church in Rome.
It is said that St.
Francis once described the perfect friar by citing "the patience of Brother
Juniper, who attained the state of perfect patience because he kept the truth of
his low estate constantly in mind, whose supreme desire was to follow Christ on
the way of the cross" (Mirror of Perfection, #85).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Hebrews 11:
1-2.8-9; Psalm Luke 1: 69-75;
Mark 4:35-41
That day when
evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, Let us go over to the other side.
Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.
There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves
broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern,
sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, Teacher, don't
you care if we drown? He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet!
Be still! Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his
disciples, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were
terrified and asked each other, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey
him! (Mark 4: 35-41)
Lord of
the world
There is a scholarly position which maintains that
the ancient kingdom of Israel, dating, say, from Solomon, was something of a
maritime power. Indeed, during the pre-monarchical period, there is evidence
that the tribe of Dan was a maritime force.
It is stated in Judges 5:17 “Gilead,
beyond the Jordan rests; why does Dan remain in ships?” Interestingly, Egyptian
and Greek sources record that one of the tribes of the Sea Peoples, a
sea-raiding people in the eastern Mediterranean at that time, were called the
“Danauna” or the “Danaans.” I Kings 9:26-27 records that King Solomon built a
fleet at “Ezion-geber” on “the Red Sea in the land of Edom.” II Chronicles
20:36-37 record that Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah “built ships to go to
Tarshish — the fleet was built at Ezion-geber”, where Solomon had kept his
fleet. The project was scuttled — the ships were wrecked and unable to go. The
point I am making is that there is evidence from the Scriptures that there was a
long tradition of the Hebrews being at home with the sea. I say this in
opposition to another view which depicts the Hebrew as profoundly fearful of the
sea, and as shrinking from contact with it. Moving closer to the setting of our
Gospel for today, the Sea of Galilee (also called the Lake of Tiberius) must
have, like the rest of the Galilean topography, shaped the culture and
sensibilities of the surrounding population. There is on display in the region a
restored fishing boat discovered deep in the mud of the Lake, a boat large and
impressive, conjuring up the thriving activity associated with the deep and
extensive waters. One may presume that the people of Galilee loved their inland
Sea, just as they loved the hills and plains of the region. Doubtlessly there
were tragedies and drownings, but for generations beyond memory it resourced a
thriving fishing industry and presumably recreational excursions. Among our
Lord’s Twelve there were highly experienced fishermen who knew their Sea
thoroughly. In our Gospel today we read that “when evening came, Jesus said to
his disciples, Let us go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd behind, they
took him along, just as he was, in the boat.”
Let us note that it was “evening” when Jesus and his disciples entered the boat and set out across the Sea. It suggests that the disciples knew their Sea well, and had no apprehensions about travelling across it in the dark — although there may have been the light of a full moon to guide them. Further, it must have seemed that all was perfectly well for a long pull across the Lake at night — and our Lord himself quickly fell asleep, exhausted as he was with his unremitting apostolic labour. There they were, quietly pulling across the water, rising and falling slightly with the ebb and flow of the swell. Christ was sound asleep in the stern, his head on a cushion. All was calm, peaceful, with a low murmur of conversation, all anxious to ensure a rest for their beloved and revered Master. Suddenly the environment began to change. A wind unaccountably arose, the waves increased in strength, the boat rocked and heaved the more, and the fishermen — undoubtedly used to changes in the Lake, braced themselves for action. But within a short time, let us imagine say, fifteen or twenty minutes, the situation was far, far more serious. In fact, it had become the like of which they had perhaps rarely seen or been caught up in. The Sea was now in a tremendous turmoil, the wind was roaring and the waves pounding. The boat was awash, and these experienced fishermen were now filled with the utmost alarm. The situation was out of control and absolutely beyond their own excellent capacity. They were facing death at sea, a total loss of ship and life, with their Master going down with everything. But he, to their astonishment, slept on in seemingly profound oblivion of the situation around him. In his sleep he showed not the slightest concern. We read that the disciples vigorously woke him and expostulated in their desperation. The rest is described by Mark — which is to say, by Peter, whose recollections probably constitute this Gospel — and the disciples gaze on as Christ, like the Creator himself at the beginning of Genesis, utters his word. He “rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet! Be still! Then the wind died down and it was completely calm” (Mark 4: 35-41).
Christ spoke to the raging
elements, and instantly there was calm. It was an act of the Creator, God become
man. Christ showed he was Lord of heaven and of earth, the One in whom we can
completely trust. He asks of us faith in him. “He said to his disciples, Why are
you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each
other, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Let us take our stand
with him, knowing that, whatever be the storms that arise in our life as we make
our way across the sea of life to our homeland, if Christ is with us, all will
be well. Let us never be separated from him, then!
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second
reflection: (Hebrews 11:1-2.8-19)
Living and dying by faith
Today’s passage from Hebrews
(11:1-2.8-19) tells us that it is by means of faith that we become convinced “of
the existence of
the realities that at present remain unseen.” Our Lord risen
from the dead said to Thomas: “You believe because you have seen. Blessed are
those who have not seen and yet believe.” I know a leading Australian
philosopher who has written that philosophical reasoning alone will not bring
certainty about God and the things of God that are unseen. The Letter to the
Hebrews tells us that faith will bring this certainty. This is of vital
importance all through life, but especially at the moment of death. The whole of
life is building up for the moment of death. We must live well in order to die
well, and a good and holy death will be life’s greatest achievement. Now what a
difference there is between the man who has no faith in what God has revealed of
the unseen, or who has lost the faith he once had, and the man who approaches
the great moment of death full of faith! There is a certainty, a joy, a
confidence in him, a trust in God’s mercy that the other needs but utterly
lacks. It is then that it becomes obvious that man was made to believe. Man was
created to have faith.
Let us resolve to hold fast to our faith — to believe in what God has revealed — daily. We must never allow the slightest doubt to take root in our hearts. It is our faith that takes us to heaven.
(E.J.Tyler)
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To remove
the dark shadow of pessimism which hung over you that morning, you again
appealed to your Angel as you do every day — but this time you were more
thorough. You said a few nice words to him and you asked him to teach you to
love Jesus at least, at least as much as he loves Him. And with that your
recovered your calm.
(The Forge, no.271)
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Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Prayers this week: Save us, Lord our God, and gather us together from the nations, that we may proclaim your holy name and glory in your praise. (Ps 105.47)
Lord our God, help us to love
you with all our hearts and to love all men as you love them. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God
for ever and ever.
(January 30) St. Hyacintha
of Mariscotti (1585-1640)
Hyacintha accepted
God’s standards somewhat late in life. Born of a noble family near Viterbo, she
entered a local convent of sisters who followed the Third Order Rule. However,
she supplied herself with enough food, clothing and other goods to live a very
comfortable life amid these sisters pledged to mortification. A serious illness
required that Hyacintha’s confessor bring Holy Communion to her room.
Scandalized on seeing how soft a life she had provided for herself, the
confessor advised her to live more humbly. Hyacintha disposed of her fine
clothes and special foods. She eventually became very penitential in food and
clothing; she was ready to do the most humble work in the convent. She developed
a special devotion to the sufferings of Christ and by her penances became an
inspiration to the sisters in her convent. She was canonized in 1807.
How
differently might Hyacintha’s life have ended if her confessor had been afraid
to question her pursuit of a soft life! Or what if she had refused to accept any
challenge to her comfortable pattern of life? Francis of Assisi expected give
and take in fraternal correction among his followers. Humility is required both
of the one giving it and of the one receiving the correction; their roles could
easily be reversed in the future. Such correction is really an act of charity
and should be viewed that way by all concerned. Francis told his friars:
"Blessed is the servant who would accept correction, accusation, and blame from
another as patiently as he would from himself. Blessed is the servant who when
he is rebuked quietly agrees, respectfully submits, humbly admits his fault, and
willingly makes amends" (Admonition XXII).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Zephaniah 2:3;
3:12-13; Psalm 146:6-10;
1 Corinthians 1:26-31;
Matthew 5:1-12a
Seeing the multitudes, Jesus went up a
mountain, and when he had sat down his disciples came to him. Beginning to speak
he taught them, "Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Happy are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Happy are the
meek, for they shall possess the land. Happy are those who hunger and thirst
after justice, for they shall have their fill. Happy the merciful, for they
shall obtain mercy. Happy are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. Happy
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Happy are those
who suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy are you when they revile you and persecute you and speak all that is evil
against you untruly, for my sake. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very
great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you."
(Matthew 5:1-12a)
Happiness
The
1776 Declaration of the United States of America
proclaimed that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” So one
of the truths declared to be “self-evident” was that all men have the right to
pursue “Happiness.” This right comes from the “Creator.” Let us notice two
things about this Declaration. Firstly, the word “Happiness” is capitalized — man’s happiness is thus presented as sacred. But what is “Happiness”? It is just
as evident that men can have a mistaken notion of happiness, and with tragic
results. Many can think that “Happiness” will come from the greatest enjoyment
of this world’s goods. Various religious leaders have arisen in the course of
mankind’s history to correct this and other notions of happiness, but some of
them have not arrived at the truth of human happiness either. In fact, it is one
of the most elusive goals of all. If only the path to happiness were revealed to
us by the Creator — the Creator whom the Declaration of 1776 refers to. In fact,
God has revealed it, and has done so in Jesus Christ. But this leads to the
second thing to be noticed about the Declaration. The “Creator” is mentioned, as
are, in a preceding passage, “the Laws of Nature” and “Nature's God.” A later
passage refers to “the Supreme Judge.” But Jesus Christ is not mentioned. Many
of the leaders of the Congress of July 1776 were Deists, most notoriously the
principal architect of the Declaration, the famed Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson
accepted a deistic god and admired Jesus as a moral teacher, but rejected the
Trinity. The Christian Revelation is that God’s plan for man’s “Happiness” is
revealed principally in the person of Jesus Christ his Son. “Happiness” comes
from following Jesus Christ as man’s Redeemer and his God. It comes from union
with Jesus Christ by grace, in a life of love for God and neighbour, and
following in the footsteps of Christ. Our true “Happiness” consists in abiding
in Jesus Christ by grace and living according to his way. Christ is the
“Happiness” of man.
In today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:1-12a) our Lord spells out what this means. “Happiness” is not having material wealth, or prevailing over others, or many other things which man in the course of his history has presumed will bring him happiness. Rather, our Lord says, happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are the gentle. Happy are those who mourn. Happy are those who hunger and thirst for justice. Happy are the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted in the cause of right and because of their fidelity to Christ. All these desires and possessions of the heart, so different from those prized by ordinary Reason and the world, are what will bring true happiness. Indeed, these pointers to true happiness coming from our Lord actually present us with a picture of his mind and soul. If we want to know how to interpret them, we ought take each of these Beatitudes and think of Jesus as the one who embodies them. They reflect the mind of Christ, and St Paul says in one of his Letters, “let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Further, our Lord said that “he who sees me sees the Father,” so the Beatitudes reflect also the mind of the Father. The Father is poor in spirit; He is gentle and merciful. They also describe the Spirit of the Father and the Son. We are God’s children, and our happiness will come from being in union with him and in being like him. Now the danger for most of us is not in rejecting this outright and in seeking our happiness in a way that is simply contrary to what our Lord directs and describes. It is, rather, in not choosing to be wholehearted in our choice for him and for what he has revealed. We tend to seek our happiness in both God and the world, both in Christ and in what Christ says will not bring happiness. We tend not to be thoroughgoing in our choice for Christ, and in his way to happiness. We must resolve to seek our happiness in God alone — which will include, of course, enjoying the blessings that God has given us in this life, such as normal material security, normal health, friends, family, status and good reputation. But “Happiness” cannot be reduced to these temporal things, and at times it is present though they are taken away.
Above all, it will mean seeking God and his holy will beyond all of these things. It means putting God and his will before all other pleasures and sources of happiness. It means living according to the mind of Christ and being attached to that, rather than to the things of this world. We are called to use the things of this life in the way our Lord did and would. They must never be taken to be our “Happiness.” Christ is the “Happiness” of man. Let us resolve to put Christ first in our life and to seek first the kingdom of God, and all else will find its place.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading:
The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.1716-1728 (Our
call to happiness)
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Ask your
Mother Mary, ask Saint Joseph and your Guardian Angel to speak to the Lord and
tell him the things you can’t manage to put into words because you are so dull.
(The Forge, no.272)
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Monday of the fourth week in Ordinary Time A-1
(January 31)
St.
John Bosco (1815-1888)
John
Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a
preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in
surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin. He advocated
frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined
catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual
life
with one’s work, study and play. Encouraged during his youth to become a priest
so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841. His service to
young people started when he met a poor orphan and instructed him in preparation
for receiving Holy Communion. He then gathered young apprentices and taught them
catechism. After serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, John opened
the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful
patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys,
shoemaking and tailoring. By 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had
added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets.
His interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of
young apprentices and Catholic publishers. John’s preaching fame spread and by
1850 he had trained his own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young
priests. In 1854 he and his followers informally banded together under Francis
de Sales. With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded
the Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission
work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.
“Every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma
then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere. Every part of that education
has a connection with every other part. If it does not all combine to convey
some general view of life, it is not education at all” (G.K. Chesterton, The
Common Man). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Hebrews 11: 32-40; Psalm 30;
Mark 5:1-20
Jesus
and his disciples crossed the sea to the country of the Gerasenes. As he stepped
out of the boat, immediately there came to him from tombs a man with an unclean
spirit. He had been dwelling in the tombs and no one could now restrain him, not
even with chains. Having been often bound with fetters and chains he had burst
the chains and broken the fetters in pieces. No one could tame him. He was
always day and night among the tombs in the mountains crying and cutting himself
with stones. Seeing Jesus afar off he ran and reverenced him. Crying out with a
loud voice he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus the Son of the most high
God? I adjure you by God that you not torment me.” For he said to him, “Go out
of the man, you unclean spirit.” And he asked him, “What is your name?” He said
to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” He besought him repeatedly that he
would not drive him away out of the country. There was there near the mountain a
great herd of swine, feeding. The spirits besought him saying, “Send us into the
swine that we may enter them.” Jesus immediately gave them leave. The unclean
spirits going out entered the swine, and the two thousand or so herd with great
violence was swept headlong into the sea and there were drowned. Those who
looked after them fled and told everything in the city and in the fields. The
inhabitants went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus and saw
the one who had been possessed sitting, clothed, and mentally recovered, they
were afraid. Those who had witnessed everything recounted it to all, explaining
what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. At that, they began
asking him to leave their district. When he went into the boat, the one who had
been possessed began to implore Jesus that he might remain with him. But Jesus
would not permit it, and told him, “Go to your house and to your friends, and
tell them how great have been the things the Lord has done for you and his mercy
towards you.” He went his way and began to broadcast in the Decapolis the great
things Jesus had done for him. Everyone marvelled.
(Mark 5:1-20)
To each
his mission We read in Mark 10:46-52 that while Jesus passed through the streets of
Jericho a blind man called Bar-Timaeus cried out loudly to him, "Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on me!". This prayer moved the heart of Jesus, who stopped,
had him called over and healed him.
As the Gospel narrates, Bar-Timaeus, who had
now come into a world of physical light, "followed him on the way." It is clear
that he became a disciple of the Lord, and associated himself with him. Further,
we notice that “the way” Jesus was taking was the way to Jerusalem which he
enters amid acclaim, where he cleanses the Temple and teaches extensively in it,
and where he has his Last Supper and undergoes his Passion, Death and
Resurrection. We may presume that Bar-Timaeus was faithful to our Lord
throughout all of this, and may have been among the 500 who, according to St
Paul, witnessed the risen Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:6). We read that Mary
Magdalene was cured of being afflicted by seven demons. She became an ardent
disciple and associate of Jesus Christ, attending to the apostolic band, and
being one of the first to meet him on his rising from the dead. These persons
were privileged to have been touched by the saving power of Christ and were
received into his friendship and his very company. They accompanied him along
his way. Many others were formally invited by him to be part of his company. How
great a privilege! We read that a young man of great moral promise came to
Jesus, who looked on him with love, and invited him to leave all and follow him
(Mark 10: 17-27). This priceless invitation was turned down. But now, let us
turn to our Gospel today
(Mark 5:1-20),
in which our Lord arrives across the Lake into “the country of the Gerasenes” — a largely pagan territory. Presumably he has come for rest with his disciples
and to instruct them at greater leisure. Immediately a man, driven by the demons
that have him in their possession and acting as their mouthpiece, presents
himself. Through him they plead that they not be disturbed. But of course our
Lord drives them out. I do not wish here to reflect on the demons, but on the
man who was delivered of them. As against the ones mentioned above, let us
observe the mission given to him.
He was completely restored, mind, body, spirit, emotions, all. One could imagine a person being delivered of actual demon possession, but being left shattered by mental debilitation. In Blessed John Henry Newman’s novel, Callista, Juba is possessed by a demon — and it is clearly a punishment for his pride. The possession lasts, and while he is eventually delivered of it, it leaves him physically and mentally ruined. He is eventually restored by the intercession of Callista, and then he dies. In the case of our possessed man today, he is immediately restored in every sense. What is to be noticed is that he earnestly wishes to remain with Jesus and to follow him. He appears immediately as a good man. This itself may indicate that his own possession had not primarily been due to moral failure, for it may be that our Lord restored him to his original condition, including his original moral condition. In his case we are conjecturing, but in the Gospels demon-possession did not necessarily indicate moral failure because at least one of the cases of demon-possession which our Lord terminated was that of a boy (Matthew 17: 18). In any case, the man, now restored to his full capacity, immediately wishes to follow Jesus Christ. That is to say, he wished, like others across the Lake in Galilee and Judea, to follow him along the way. But — and this is the point I wish to highlight — Christ did not allow him. His insistent request was refused. Our Lord was firm — no, he could not come with him in the boat, he could not leave all behind, and follow him. As against the rich young man, that was not the path to perfection for him. That is not to say that he was not called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ — but he could not follow him physically along the way. He had a different calling, and Christ gave it to him. He was to stay among his pagan countrymen who had just asked our Lord to leave them, and tell all of the good things God had done for him. He was not aggrieved, but obeyed Jesus Christ. He accepted his proper calling and mission “and began to broadcast in the Decapolis the great things Jesus had done for him. Everyone marvelled” (Mark 5:1-20).
We have no idea of this man’s subsequent life. I like to think that he continued on in the mission given him by Christ, and, being told eventually of the Resurrection, the Ascension and Coming of the Spirit, became a Christian and member of the Church, dying eventually in the faith. That is pure speculation, and it may not have been so. But one thing is clear, that he must have pleased God for fulfilling the mission and accepting the direction given to him by his divine Son Jesus Christ. He did the will of God, and so our Lord would have counted him among his brethren (Mark 3: 31-35). Let us learn from our Gospel today to do the one thing necessary, which is to do what God wants of us, and to do it with faith and love.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second
reflection: (Hebrews 11:32-40)
Grace in human weakness
There is a remark in today’s passage from the Letter to the Hebrews which
ought give us pause. The inspired author is referring to the great men of faith
whose deeds are narrated in the Old Testament. It was their faith that enabled
them to do what they did.
The author says that “they were weak people who were
given strength to be brave” in all their difficulties. That is a key point in
the matter of holiness that ought give each of us a lot of hope. If we have any
sense of the reality of ourselves we will realise that we are weak. We are weak
in so many ways. And yet God calls us to be what those mentioned by the inspired
author were, namely “heroes of faith”. The Church teaches that we are called to
be saints, not workers of notable and famous deeds — though of course those who
are called to do such deeds are also called to be saints. No, the course of life
of most will normally be ordinary and relatively unnoticed. Our work in life
will usually be made up of countless little things that nobody will ever take
much notice of. It will seem as if we sink like a stone, when our time comes to
depart this life. Nevertheless this is the work which God in his providence sets
before us each day, a work made up of numerous daily duties. We are called to do
this ordinary work with as much love and excellence and obedience to God as is
possible for us. It will require that we be hidden, unnoticed “heroes of faith”.
But we are weak. The passage tells us that we will be given the “strength to be brave” — which is today, to live a holy life, a life of faith. Let us take all the means God gives us — prayer, sacraments, spiritual direction, and a habit of always starting again.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Fill
yourself with confidence. The Mother we have is the Mother of God, the Most
Blessed Virgin, the Queen of Heaven and Earth.
(The Forge, no.273)
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