From Wednesday of the First week of Lent to Thursday of the Third week of Lent A-1
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| Liturgical Season | Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| First Week of Lent A-1 | 16 |
17 Saint Patrick |
18 |
19 Solemnity of St. Joseph |
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| Second Week of Lent A-1 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
25 The Annunciation of the Lord |
26 |
| Third Week of Lent A-1 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Morning Offering:
O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the
prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions
of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I
offer them especially for the Holy
Father's intentions:
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Wednesday of the first week in Lent A-1
(March 16) St. Clement Mary Hofbauer (1751-1820)
Clement might be called the second
founder of the Redemptorists, as it was he who carried the congregation of St.
Alphonsus Liguori to the people north of the Alps. John, the name given him at
Baptism, was born in Moravia into a poor family, the ninth of 12 children.
Although he longed to be a priest there was no money for studies, and he was
apprenticed to a baker. But God guided the
young
man's fortunes. He found work in the bakery of a monastery where he was allowed
to attend classes in its Latin school. After the abbot there died, John tried
the life of a hermit but when Emperor Joseph II abolished hermitages, John again
returned to Vienna and to baking. One day after serving Mass at the cathedral of
St. Stephen, he called a carriage for two ladies waiting there in the rain. In
their conversation they learned that he could not pursue his priestly studies
because of a lack of funds. They generously offered to support both him and his
friend, Thaddeus, in their seminary studies. The two went to Rome, where they
were drawn to St. Alphonsus' vision of religious life and to the Redemptorists.
The two young men were ordained together in 1785. Newly professed at age 34,
Clement Mary, as he was now called, and Thaddeus were sent back to Vienna. But
the religious difficulties there caused them to leave and continue north to
Warsaw, Poland. There they encountered numerous German-speaking Catholics who
had been left priestless by the suppression of the Jesuits. At first they had to
live in great poverty and preached outdoor sermons. They were given the church
of St. Benno, and for the next nine years they preached five sermons a day, two
in German and three in Polish, converting many to the faith. They were active in
social work among the poor, founding an orphanage and then a school for boys.
Drawing candidates to the congregation, they were able to send missionaries to
Poland, Germany and Switzerland. All of these foundations had eventually to be
abandoned because of the political and religious tensions of the times. After 20
years of difficult work Clement himself was imprisoned and expelled from the
country. Only after another arrest was he able to reach Vienna, where he was to
live and work the final 12 years of his life. He quickly became "the apostle of
Vienna," hearing the confessions of the rich and poor, visiting the sick, acting
as a counsellor to the powerful, sharing his holiness with all in the city. His
crowning work was the establishment of a Catholic college in his beloved city.
Persecution followed him, and there were those in authority who were able for a
while to stop him from preaching. An attempt was made at the highest levels to
have him banished. But his holiness and fame protected him and the growth of the
Redemptorists. Due to his efforts, the congregation, upon his death in 1820, was
firmly established north of the Alps. He was canonized in 1909.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Jonah 3:1-10; Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19; Luke 11:29-32
As the
crowds increased, Jesus said, This is a wicked generation. It asks for a
miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as
Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this
generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of
this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to
listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. The men of
Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for
they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.
(Luke 11:29-32)
They sought signs
It is manifest that
while Moses worked many miracles (such as the infliction of punishments on
Pharaoh and on Egypt, and the parting of the Red Sea) Christ far surpassed him
in them. Christ effortlessly expelled demons, healed the lepers, the blind, the
lame, the paralysed. He raised the dead, walked on the Sea of Tiberius and
calmed storms on the same great Lake. He himself rose from the dead — to speak
nothing of the institution of the Church. Other prophets worked some miracles.
We think of the
miracles of Elijah and Elisha. But, truth to tell, miracles were
not a notable feature of the generality of prophets, even major prophets such as
Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezechiel. They had no place at all in the life and ministry
of the greatest of them, John the Baptist — of whom our Lord said that no
greater had been born of woman. This alone indicates that in God’s plan,
miracles were not, nor were they meant to be, the principal instrument of the
prophetic ministry in the history of God’s chosen people. It was the holiness
and the fidelity of the prophet that told more than anything. What I think is a
paradigmatic example of this in the life and ministry of our Lord himself is the
coming to faith of our Lord’s first disciples. It is recorded for us in the
Gospel of St John. We see there, in the first chapter of this Gospel, that the
first disciples and principal Apostles did not believe in Jesus Christ because
of his miracles. Rather, relying on the testimony of another who was truly
trustworthy, they then met and were convinced by the person and teaching of
Jesus Christ himself. We read that John the Baptist, looking on Jesus “coming
towards him,” said (to his own disciples, obviously) that “There is the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:30). The next day, in the presence
of his disciples, he repeated the declaration (1: 36). Having heard this
testimony from so trustworthy a master, the two left him to follow Jesus. They
stayed with him “that day” (1:39). From that meeting and the knowledge of Jesus
gained from it, they never looked back in faith.
The next day Andrew bore witness to Simon and brought him
to Jesus. Simon never looked back.
Faith came from being told about Jesus, coming to him, meeting him and getting to know him. Faith was born of an encounter with Jesus Christ — but it presumed that the one who met him was properly disposed in mind and heart. Faith was born of a meeting with Jesus Christ with a properly disposed heart. By contrast, it was precisely an adverse state of mind and heart which easily prevented the beginnings and growth of faith in Christ, despite one’s having an extensive familiarity with his person. Christ lived for thirty years in Nazareth. He was known very well. But when he returned to Nazareth in the midst of his public ministry in Galilee, he did not find faith there — in fact, only opposition. We read that he could not work many miracles there, because there was so little faith. The state of their hearts prevented the growth of faith. Most notorious of all, one of the very Twelve lost faith in Jesus. Judas must have begun with a species of faith, and one that was very promising because our Lord himself called him to the Apostleship from among his many disciples. But slowly Judas turned away from our Lord, and our Lord was entirely aware that this was happening. Judas was very familiar with the person of Jesus Christ. He had begun well — presumably he too had begun by being told by someone trustworthy about the prophet of Nazareth, and had come to see and hear him. He saw, he heard, he was won, and he followed as a disciple. Then the day came, and from among his disciples our Lord chose Twelve — and Judas was among them. He thereafter lived in our Lord’s company and experienced his personal friendship, and the inestimable privilege of living day by day in the company of God the Son. Further, he saw countless miracles. He even worked them in the name of his Master when he was sent out ahead of him to prepare the way. But he fell away and ended his short life so badly as a traitor. Miracles alone did not bring about faith, let alone the faith that endures. Nor did merely meeting, seeing and hearing Jesus Christ. In our Gospel today (Luke 11:29-32) our Lord accuses his hearers of being “wicked” because they demanded miraculous signs. Their hearts were not right. If they had been, miracles would have been both effective and forthcoming.
The great point for each of us in today’s Gospel is surely that, having received the testimony of the Church our mother, and standing firmly on it, we ought ever remain in Christ’s company, contemplating him long and lovingly. We ought live with him and in him, asking his grace to help us to believe in him the more, to love him the more, and to serve him the more, and never to fall away from him. It is the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ which secures and nourishes our faith, just as our faith, conversely, is the foundation of our knowledge and love of him. Let us, then, let go of all that might hold us back, and then, as he would say, come, follow him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: (Luke 11:29-32)
The spirit
of repentance
In our Gospel passage today our Lord makes it clear that those who
were asking for signs and wonders
from him were “wicked”
— they were “a wicked
generation.” They would not repent. What the Ninevites saw and heard, led them
to repent — and this was because they were disposed to repent. The “generation”
that faced our Lord and heard his words did not have this disposition. Our Lord
was requiring repentance, and our Lord holds up before them the example of the
pagan Ninevites. As we think of these words of our Lord we are reminded that our
spiritual progress depends on our readiness to repent. Sin is the obstacle in
our way. We must renounce our sins and our attachment to them — especially our
venial sins, and of anything that habitually leads to venial sin.
Let us aim at repentance during this Lent. Let us make it a special feature of this holy season, so that we acquire the spirit of repentance as a gift of grace. Everything depends on it, and on our cooperation with it.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Don’t
place obstacles in grace’s way. You need to be convinced that in order to be
leaven you must become a saint, and must struggle to identify yourself with him.
(The Forge, no.397)
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Feast St Patrick (Solemnity in Australia)
(Thursday of the first week in Lent A-1 2011)
(March 17) St. Patrick (415?-493?)
Legends about Patrick abound; but truth is best served
by our seeing two solid qualities in him: He was humble and he was courageous.
The determination to accept suffering and success with equal indifference guided
the life of God’s instrument for winning most of Ireland for Christ. Details of
his life are uncertain. Current research places his dates of birth and death a
little later than earlier
accounts. Patrick may have been born in Dunbarton,
Scotland, Cumberland, England, or in northern Wales. He called himself both a
Roman and a Briton. At 16, he and a large number of his father’s slaves and
vassals were captured by Irish raiders and sold as slaves in Ireland. Forced to
work as a shepherd, he suffered greatly from hunger and cold. After six years,
Patrick escaped, probably to France, and later returned to Britain at the age of
22. His captivity had meant spiritual conversion. He may have studied at Lerins,
off the French coast; he spent years at Auxerre, France, and was consecrated
bishop at the age of 43. His great desire was to proclaim the Good News to the
Irish. In a dream vision it seemed “all the children of Ireland from their
mothers’ wombs were stretching out their hands” to him. He understood the vision
to be a call to do mission work in pagan Ireland. Despite opposition from those
who felt his education had been defective, he was sent to carry out the task. He
went to the west and north, where the faith had never been preached, obtained
the protection of local kings and made numerous converts. Because of the
island’s pagan background, Patrick was emphatic in encouraging widows to remain
chaste and young women to consecrate their virginity to Christ. He ordained many
priests, divided the country into dioceses, held Church councils, founded
several monasteries and continually urged his people to greater holiness in
Christ. He suffered much opposition from pagan druids, and was criticized in
both England and Ireland for the way he conducted his mission. In a relatively
short time the island had experienced deeply the Christian spirit, and was
prepared to send out missionaries whose efforts were greatly responsible for
Christianizing Europe. Patrick was a man of action, with little inclination
toward learning. He had a rocklike belief in his vocation, in the cause he had
espoused. One of the few certainly authentic writings is his Confessio, above
all an act of homage to God for having called Patrick, unworthy sinner, to the
apostolate. There is hope rather than irony in the fact that his burial place is
said to be in strife-torn Ulster, in County Down.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Jeremiah 1: 4-9; Acts 13:46-49; Luke 10:1-12
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and
sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was
about to
go. He told them, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the
Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go!
I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or
sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. When you enter a house, first say,
'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him;
if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever
they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house
to house. When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.
Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' But
when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even
the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be
sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' I tell you, it will be more bearable
on that day for Sodom than for that town.
(Luke 10:1-12)
The Christian vocation
We read in the Acts of the Apostles that following
the stoning of Stephen a great persecution broke out against the Church of
Jerusalem. The faithful were “all scattered abroad throughout the regions of
Judaea and Samaria, except the Apostles” (8:1). 
Saul was prominent in this
search and destroy mission, and attempted to put an end to the Church. But the
result of this was the spread of the Church. We read that “Therefore, those who
were scattered went everywhere preaching the word” (8:4). We read of Philip who
preached with success to the Samaritans. So the persecution resulted in the
spread of the Church to Samaria. We then read of Philip’s encounter with the
Ethiopian official who was reading the prophet Isaiah. Their meeting resulted in
the Ethiopian’s baptism. While Saul was pursuing the disciples, the Church was
spreading correspondingly. But then Saul himself was converted. My point here is
that difficulty, persecution and reversals are a rich environment for the
flourishing of the Church’s work in bringing Christ to the world. We read in the
Gospels that Christ warned his disciples of difficulties and persecutions — but,
he said, this will be a special opportunity to bear witness to him (Luke 21:
13). Let our minds pass over the centuries to what was perhaps the greatest
reversal in the history of the Church. I refer to the Protestant Reformation of
the sixteenth century during which whole countries passed out of their long
allegiance to the Catholic Church. In turn, these departures led to further
subdivisions of Christian faithful. But notice this. At the very time of the
Reformation there was a great burst of missionary outreach. For instance,
following its earlier discovery, the South American continent was evangelized
and became Catholic. Mysteriously, times of suffering and persecution can be
times of very great fruit. Let our minds go back to the fifth century, a time of
great Christian dissension in the East, and of barbarian invasions in the West.
This was the time of St Patrick’s conquest of Ireland. In a far-flung corner of
the known world, Patrick was adding to the Church a great tree of new and
promising life.
These thoughts ought lead us to a renewed appreciation of the essentially missionary character of our Christian vocation. The persecution of the Church at Jerusalem led to the expansion of the Church beyond the Jewish people to the pagan world, and ultimately to Rome itself. The persecution of the Church resulted in its ultimate conquest of Rome. The reversals of the sixteenth century led to the expansion of the Church into an entirely new continent. It was as if the Church’s missionary character, when blocked from one direction, was irrepressible. Indeed, it is irrepressible, for the Holy Spirit is continually moving the sons and daughters of the Church to go out into the byways and invite all to the wedding. It happened in the fifth century with St Patrick and his evangelization of Ireland. We too, individually, are called to be apostolic, and by our daily life to be part of the missionary endeavour of the Church’s children. Consider the life to which our Lord introduced his disciples. The prophet Isaiah refers to his disciples (Isaiah 8: 16). We are not told that they entered into his own mission in bringing the word of the Lord to the people. They simply learnt that word from him, and strove to understand it under his instruction. But Christ selected the Twelve, and thereupon put them out on mission, to prepare the way before him. “... the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:1-12). They were to go to “every place” where he himself was to visit, and they were to pray to the Lord of the harvest for more workers. Each member of the Church must hear Christ’s call to go! When Ignatius of Loyola was studying at the University of Paris he was coached by Francis Xavier. He repeated to Xavier the words of the Gospel (Mark 8: 36): What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his life? Those words converted Xavier, who became one of the greatest missionaries of all time.
In The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola we are asked to put to ourselves the following questions: What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What shall I do for him? Just before Christ ascended into heaven he gave his disciples an astonishing charge. They were to go to the whole world and make disciples of all the nations, teaching all that he had commanded. Our lives are to find their place in this commission. We have a powerful example in St Patrick, a man who had such a signal impact on early Ireland, and through it during the following centuries on so much of the Church.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: (Matthew 7:7-12)
Ask and it will be given
to you
“Ask and it will be given to you.... Your heavenly Father will give good things
to those who ask him.” The greatest gift we can ask for is the gift of personal
holiness,
together with the gifts that enable us to seek holiness prudently and
correctly. The fact is, of course, that it is one thing to aspire to personal
holiness, and it is another thing to take the necessary means to attain it. One
can be mistaken as to the means, and quite possibly when one looks back over the
years, all one can see are failures and mistakes which bring embarrassment. What
is one to do in the face of this personal experience of failure in attaining the
most important goal of life? To begin with, one should acknowledge one’s
failures and incapacity before God, and the necessity of his grace. However, the
thought of past and present failure ought not be allowed to discourage. Rather
it should lead to a renewal of the desire for this goal of holiness, while being
more totally dependent on the power and guidance of God.
It is he and he alone who can bring this great work to its fruition. “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7-12). So, now I begin! I ask for holiness and the grace to take the means to attain it.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Say
slowly and in great earnestness — Now I begin! Don’t get discouraged if,
unfortunately, you don’t see any great change in yourself brought about by the
Lord’s right hand. From your lowliness you can cry out: Help me, my Jesus,
because I want to fulfil your Will — your most loveable Will.
(The Forge, no.398)
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Friday of the first week of Lent A-1
(March 18) St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315?-386)
The crises that the Church
faces today may seem minor when compared with the threat posed by the Arian
heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ and almost overcame Christianity in
the fourth century. Cyril was to be caught up in the controversy, accused
(later) of Arianism by St. Jerome, and ultimately vindicated both by the men of
his own time and by being declared a Doctor of the Church
in
1822. Raised in Jerusalem, well-educated, especially in the Scriptures, he was
ordained a priest by the bishop of Jerusalem and given the task of catechizing
during Lent those preparing for Baptism and during the Easter season the newly
baptized. His Catecheses remain valuable as examples of the ritual and theology
of the Church in the mid-fourth century. There are
conflicting reports about the circumstances of his becoming bishop of Jerusalem.
It is certain that he was validly consecrated by bishops of the province. Since
one of them was an Arian, Acacius, it may have been expected that his
“cooperation” would follow. Conflict soon rose between Cyril and Acacius, bishop
of the rival nearby see of Caesarea. Cyril was summoned to a council, accused of
insubordination and of selling Church property to relieve the poor. Probably,
however, a theological difference was also involved. He was condemned, driven
from Jerusalem, and later vindicated, not without some association and help of
Semi-Arians. Half his episcopate was spent in exile (his first experience was
repeated twice). He finally returned to find Jerusalem torn with heresy, schism
and strife, and wracked with crime. Even St. Gregory of Nyssa, sent to help,
left in despair. They both went to the (second ecumenical) Council of
Constantinople, where the amended form of the Nicene Creed was promulgated.
Cyril accepted the word consubstantial (that is, of Christ and the Father). Some
said it was an act of repentance, but the bishops of the Council praised him as
a champion of orthodoxy against the Arians. Though not friendly with the
greatest defender of orthodoxy against the Arians, Cyril may be counted among
those whom Athanasius called “brothers, who mean what we mean, and differ only
about the word [consubstantial].”
“It is not only among us, who are marked with the name of Christ, that the dignity of faith is great; all the business of the world, even of those outside the Church, is accomplished by faith. By faith, marriage laws join in union persons who were strangers to one another. By faith, agriculture is sustained; for a man does not endure the toil involved unless he believes he will reap a harvest. By faith, seafaring men, entrusting themselves to a tiny wooden craft, exchange the solid element of the land for the unstable motion of the waves. Not only among us does this hold true but also, as I have said, among those outside the fold. For though they do not accept the Scriptures but advance certain doctrines of their own, yet even these they receive on faith”
(Catechesis V). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Ezechiel 18:21-28; Psalm 130:1-8; Matthew 5:20-26
Jesus said, I tell you that unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly
not
enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to the people
long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to
judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the
Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of
hell. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember
that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of
the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your
gift. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do
it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the
judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown
into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the
last penny. (Matthew
5:20-26)
Our brother
Our Gospel passage today comes early in the Sermon on the
Mount, which is, we might say, a compilation of our Lord’s teaching given early
in his public ministry. The Sermon on the Mount begins with the wonderful
Beatitudes (5:1-12), continues then with the exhortation to be salt and light
(5:13-16), and commands fidelity to the law and the prophets which he, Christ,
has come to fulfil (5:17-19). To this point (5: 1-19), Christ’s teaching in the
Sermon is both introductory and summary. It provides a broad
overview and
instructs in the spirit of Christ’s law. Now, though, our Lord gets down to the
detail, and the first thing we notice is our Lord’s introductory warning against
regarding “the justice of the scribes and Pharisees” as the standard to be
emulated. Their righteousness is not sufficient, in itself, to enter the kingdom
of heaven. It would appear that our Lord has in mind their neglect of a religion
of the heart. They fulfilled external observances — those commands and
prescriptions which could be seen by men — but their hearts were far from what
God required. They did not fulfil the spirit of the divine commands. And so our
Lord introduces his first directive, and he begins it by referring to one of the
Ten Commandments — that against murder. “You have heard that it was said to the
men of old, You shall not murder.” But, our Lord continues, merely to do this is
not sufficient. Any man “who says to his brother, You Fool! must answer for it
in hell fire.” Just as you must not strike unjustly against the life of another,
so you must not strike at him unjustly with words that wound him. As we all
know, in a civilized society governed by law, verbal injury can in large measure
be beyond the reach of the rule of law. But while our Lord warns us against
inflicting unjust injury by our very words, his teaching also reminds us of the
habit of courtesy. I have known those who have done great good for others, but
their work has been marred by their lack of courtesy. How great is the good that
can be done by mere courtesy! Courtesy towards others is a most worthy goal to
seek, and if attained, will be the cause of so much good.
But then there is the terrible matter of unresolved grudges, resentments, and general alienation of heart from our neighbour. We see enduring and intractable examples of this in families. Spouses cannot reconcile and when one looks at it carefully, the concrete issues causing the alienation are at times, even often, not major. So they part. Brothers and sisters separate and are scarcely on speaking terms. In-laws at times cannot bear one another, the daughter-in-law constantly aggrieved at the attitude of her husband’s mother. Usually there is both justice and fault on both sides, and if it all continues in the same direction, there will never be a meeting of minds and hearts. What alternative is there other than what Jesus Christ directs? They must take the step and be reconciled. The human race is marked by a great trail of fire and smoke — it is the fire of conflict, tribe against tribe, society against society, country against country. How could this possibly be in mankind’s best interest? Its only result is tears and rubble, the loss of life and property, and hearts consumed permanently with hatred and resentment. The only wholesome step to take is that of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is interesting to notice the growing body of research being done on the beneficial effects on health of forgiveness. It is being found scientifically that people are healthier in mind and body if they are able to forgive and be reconciled. Archbishop Fulton Sheen used to say that scientific surveys give us decimal points. That is to say, the researchers tell us what we know, but they can put a mathematical or statistical figure to it. It is obvious that we are far better off in mind and body if we can be reconciled with our brother and, as they say, “let bygones be bygones.” This, though, is not just a matter of good policy which ordinary human reflection and reason can understand. It is a matter of obeying the divine will. Christ has made it absolutely clear that he requires of us that if we wish to worship God, we must first endeavour to be reconciled with our brother.
Let us make a big thing of this in our life. The danger is that we can go right through life never being reconciled with those who have something against us, or with those against whom we ourselves have something. We can fail to forgive. In fact, it can be regarded as one of the biggest spiritual challenges of life, and it may take the whole of life to do it. So we must begin now, knowing that the only day we are sure of is the present day. So then, now I begin! Let us resolve now to speak with courtesy to others, and to live in reconciliation with them.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: (Ezechiel 18:21-28; Matthew 5:20-26)
Holiness at any cost
“If your virtue goes no deeper than that of
the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven”
(Matthew 5:20). For so many of us, the standard of virtue we settle for is
little more than average. We are content not to be worse than those around us,
the Christians we see or rub shoulders with, or the good friends we have. But
our Lord has made it clear that each of us should aim high. “Be holy, as I am
holy”, we read God telling us already in the Old Testament. If holiness is ever
to become our ambition we must cultivate a profound sense of personal
responsibility
(Ezechiel 18:21-28). We have but
one life and then we face eternity. No-one else will be held accountable for how
we use the time we have been given. Our eternity will be determined by the
degree of our love — our love for God himself, and in God, our love for our
neighbour. It will depend on me, for the grace of God on which everything really
depends will not be lacking.
Let us take up the daily challenge: holiness at all costs. So then, now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
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(The Forge,
no.399) ---------------Back
to index for this period---------------------------Back to
index to Liturgical Days--------- Solemnity of St Joseph, the
husband of Mary (March 19) Father, you entrusted our Saviour to the care of St. Joseph. By
the help of his prayers may your Church continue to serve its Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin
Mary (March 19) The Bible pays Joseph the highest compliment:
he was a “just” man. The quality meant a lot more than faithfulness in paying
debts. When the Bible speaks of God “justifying” someone, it means that God, the
all-holy or “righteous” One, so transforms a person that
“He was chosen by the eternal Father as
the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his
divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife. He carried out this vocation with complete
fidelity until at last God called him, saying: ‘Good and faithful servant, enter
into the joy of your Lord’” (St. Bernardine of Siena).
Agreed:
your concern ought be for them. But your first concern must be yourself, your
own interior life. Otherwise, you will not be able to serve them.
(Saturday of
the first week of Lent A-1 2011)
Prayers
today: The Lord has put his faithful servant in charge of his household.
(Lk 12:42)
the individual shares
somehow in God’s own holiness, and hence it is really “right” for God to love
him or her. In other words, God is not playing games, acting as if we were
lovable when we are not. By saying Joseph was “just,” the Bible means that he
was one who was completely open to all that God wanted to do for him. He became
holy by opening himself totally to God. The rest we can easily surmise. Think of
the kind of love with which he wooed and won Mary, and the depth of the love
they shared during their marriage. It is no contradiction of Joseph’s manly
holiness that he decided to divorce Mary when she was found to be with child.
The important words of the Bible are that he planned to do this “quietly”
because he was “a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame” (Matthew
1:19). The just man was simply, joyfully, wholeheartedly obedient to God—in
marrying
Mary, in naming Jesus, in shepherding the precious pair to Egypt, in
bringing them to Nazareth, in the undetermined number of years of quiet faith
and courage. The Bible tells us nothing of Joseph in the years after the return
to Nazareth except the incident of finding Jesus in the Temple (see Luke
2:41–51). Perhaps this can be taken to mean that God wants us to realize that
the holiest family was like every other family, that the circumstances of life
for the holiest family were like those of every family, so that when Jesus’
mysterious nature began to appear, people couldn’t believe that he came from
such humble beginnings: “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named
Mary...?” (Matthew 13:55a). It was almost as indignant as “Can anything good
come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46b).
St Joseph is considered the second greatest saint, next to the Blessed Virgin Mary, because of his humility and closeness to Jesus as the foster father of our Lord. Scripture tells us that Joseph was just, pure, gentle, prudent, and unfailingly obedient to the divine will. He died in the presence of Jesus and Mary. We wish to imitate him by renewing our desire to be faithful. We know that the only meaning of our life is to be faithful to the Lord till the last day as Joseph was. Blessed Pius IX named him Patron of the Universal Church and Blessed John XXIII included his name in the Roman Canon.
Scripture today: 2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Psalm 89:2-5, 27 and 29; Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22; Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Luke 2:41-51a
Jacob was the father
of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was
betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child
through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet
unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his
intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and
said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your
home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in
her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his
people from their sins." When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had
commanded him and took his wife into his home.
(Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a)
St Joseph
Today we think of a beautiful saint, Joseph the
foster-father of our Lord, Joseph the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus and
our mother. Some saints and have left many volumes of writings and letters which
tell us about their activities and their inner life. Blessed John Henry Newman,
one of the greatest writers of English prose, and one of the greatest religious
minds of his century, left over forty volumes of books and over thirty volumes
of his correspondence. A great deal, then, is known about him. St Joseph left us
nothing in writing of course, and we are told very little about him in the
Gospels. Were it not for Matthew and Luke including a very important infancy
component into their Gospels, and having Joseph feature in it, St Joseph would
have been at most a mere name. St Joseph led a very ordinary life. He did not
stand out in any unusual way. He was not, say, a synagogue president nor some
sort of town or village leader. He did nothing that brought him to the attention
of a wider part of Galilee. When our Lord began his public ministry, his fame
spread far and wide in Galilee and in Judea and even beyond. This was not so
with St Joseph. He was a humble carpenter who had the care of a wife and
foster-child. Joseph lived an ordinary life like that of the rest of his unknown
townsmen and countless others in every time and place. But in the sight of God
that ordinary life which Joseph lived was full of grandeur. We know this firstly
from traces given to us in the Gospels, but especially from the understanding
possessed by the Church. The Church’s insight into what is revealed is not
restricted to the barest statement of a few Scripture texts. Under the guiding
impulse of the Spirit of God, the Church progressively sees more and more of
what must have been the case, granted what God has revealed. The Church’s mind
on the person of St Joseph is manifest in her liturgy, in the writings of the
saints and theologians especially (but not only) of the last thousand years, and
notably in papal teaching of the past two centuries. Her mind is that Joseph,
the foster-father of our Lord, was a person of immense holiness, and after Mary
his wife, he is of all the saints the closest to our Lord.
Many theological reasons can be offered to explain this conviction of the Church. God confers grace proportioned to the office for which that person is selected — as was the case with our Lady herself. Further, to the degree that something approaches its source, so it receives the effects of that source. Now, with the exception of our Lady, no one approached Christ the source of grace more closely than did St Joseph. Joseph’s intimacy with Jesus, apart from our Lady’s own intimacy with him, was never equalled, and never will be. Imagine the intimacy between Jesus and Joseph, for Joseph was his foster-father and daily associate! Imagine the intimacy with our Lady that Joseph had, for he was her husband. These are the simple facts. But is there a further key to understanding Joseph’s sanctity and how he reached it? There was nothing very unusual about his life as it appeared on the public scene, nor about the life of Mary either. During all those years in Nazareth, there is no record in the Gospels of the people there having any inkling that the three holiest people of all time, holier than the angels and saints, dwelt humbly and quietly among them. They had not the slightest notion that Jesus was God himself. What distinguished Joseph was not, as I have said, notable and exceptional deeds done for God. There are many saints who have done extraordinary things. Consider the work of Thomas Aquinas, brilliant, extensive, altogether ground-breaking in both philosophy and theology. I mentioned Cardinal Newman earlier — he made exceptional breakthroughs in, for instance, faith and reason. They stood out not only for their holiness, but for their extraordinary intellectual achievements. We could recall extraordinary missionaries, extraordinary mystics and other agents of change. There were founders of great institutes and movements for holiness and apostolate. Their achievements were out of the ordinary. But St Joseph’s life was not like that. His deeds did not stand out beyond the ordinary. His life was made up of ordinary activities, as was the life of Mary his wife, the mother of Jesus. So what was the secret of St Joseph’s holiness?
It must have been the degree of loving union with Jesus with which he did everything. His love for Jesus and Mary was directed purely to God and his glory. He did his ordinary duties with an extraordinary love for God our Father, for Jesus and for Mary. Inasmuch as he was preparing and protecting our Lord for the mission of saving mankind from sin (for the angel had told him that Jesus would save his people from their sins), he fulfilled his duties out of a great love for mankind too. He was led by the Holy Spirit to fulfil all his responsibilities towards Jesus and Mary with an extraordinary love and devotion. This is a powerful lesson for all other disciples and lovers of Jesus who are called to live very ordinary lives. It means that every life can be a life full of hidden and humble grandeur. No matter what be our calling, we can aspire to be very pleasing to God. Go to Joseph, then! Let him be our model!
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: St Joseph
Our Protector
Just as St Joseph was the guardian and protector of
Jesus and Mary, so the Church has declared St Joseph to be the guardian and
protector of the Church and of all the Church’s members. St Teresa of Avila
called him her father and lord, and St Josemaria Escriva in like manner called
him this too. He is our protector, above all by his intercession: St Joseph,
pray for us! Saint Mary MacKillop used to say, Go to Joseph! He intercedes for
us as our heavenly protector, the guardian of the universal Church. While we are
Mary’s children, he is her husband. How our Lord must look to Joseph still, as
he must to Mary his mother as well, for he surely continues to be the perfect
son he was. As Mary’s prayers to her Son on our behalf are irresistible, so
would be the prayers of Joseph. He is our intercessor and heavenly protector.
Let us go to Joseph.
Mary and Joseph were the first Christians, and they are the greatest Christians. Let us strive to be like them.
(E.J.Tyler)
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How
difficult you find that mortification suggested to you by the Holy Spirit! Look
at a Crucifix, steadily — and you will come to love that expiation.
(The Forge no.400)
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Prayers today: My heart has prompted me to seek your face; I seek it, Lord; do not hide from me. (Psalm 26: 8-9)
God our Father, help us to hear your Son. Enlighten us with your word, that we may find the way to your glory. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(March 20) St. Salvator of Horta (1520-1567)
A reputation for holiness does have some drawbacks. Public recognition can be a nuisance at times — as the confreres of Salvator found out. Salvator was born during Spain’s Golden Age. Art, politics and wealth were flourishing. So was religion. Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus in 1540. Salvator’s parents were poor. At the age of 21 he entered the Franciscans as a brother and was soon known for his asceticism, humility and simplicity. As cook, porter and later the official beggar for the friars in Tortosa, he became well known for his charity. He healed the sick with the Sign of the Cross. When crowds of sick people began coming to the friary to see Salvator, the friars transferred him to Horta. Again the sick flocked to ask his intercession; one person estimated that two thousand people a week came to see Salvator. He told them to examine their consciences, to go to confession and to receive Holy Communion worthily. He refused to pray for those who would not receive those sacraments. The public attention given to Salvator was relentless. The crowds would sometimes tear off pieces of his habit as relics. Two years before his death, Salvator was moved again, this time to Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. He died at Cagliari saying, "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." He was canonized in 1938.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20, 22; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9
Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and James, and
John his brother, and led them up a high mountain alone where he was
transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became
white as snow. Behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, let us
make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elias. As he was
still speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice spoke from
the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to
him.” The disciples hearing this, fell on their faces and were very much afraid.
Jesus came and touched them and said to them, “Arise, and do not fear.” Lifting
their eyes they saw no one but only Jesus. As they came down from the mountain
Jesus charged them saying, “Tell the vision to no one till the Son of man has
risen from the dead.”
(Matthew 17:1-9)
Future glory
In a famous passage of his
Apologia pro Vita Sua
(1864) Cardinal Newman wrote that “Starting then with the
being of a God .... I look out of myself into the world of men, and there I see
a sight which fills me with unspeakable distress. The world seems simply to give
the lie to that great truth, of which my being is so full; and the effect upon
me is, in consequence, as a matter of necessity, as confusing as if it denied
that I am in existence myself... The sight of the world is nothing less than the
prophet’s scroll,
full of ‘lamentation, and mourning, and woe.’.... all this ...
inflicts upon the mind the sense of a profound mystery, which is absolutely
beyond human solution.” (Chapter V, p.250-251, World’s Classics). Newman was
giving voice to the problem of evil, a problem beyond a natural solution,
according to his testimony, the testimony of a saint and intellectual genius. In
the life of every person, including that of Newman himself, there was, is, and
will be suffering. Every parent ought remember this as they think of their
children: suffering awaits each of them. Indeed, immense suffering could await
one or other of them, suffering far greater than anything the parents have
themselves had to bear. Are they, the parents, preparing their children for this
suffering? It cannot be avoided — it will assuredly come because we, all of us,
are children of our first parents who fell so sadly from grace. That grace is
restored by Baptism, but the natural condition of the world and all of us in it
remain in a state of profound setback as a result of that original Fall. How are
they, how are we, to prepare them for life’s suffering? Years ago a famous
psychiatrist attempted to plumb the secret of those who in the worst of
conditions maintained personal equilibrium and even a level of joy. The
conditions were those of the concentration camp in the Second World War. His
answer was, to be possessed of a sense of life’s meaning. Well then, do we know
the meaning of suffering in life?
In our Gospel passage today (Matthew 7:1-9) we are presented with the Transfiguration of our Lord. Our Lord’s face and clothes dazzled with light, and Moses and Elijah appeared speaking of his departure which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. That departure, reminiscent of the departure of the chosen people of God from their slavery in Egypt, would be accomplished through another Red Sea, the Sea of Suffering and blood. A cloud covers Jesus, and a voice from heaven says: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.” Let us look on the Transfiguration of Christ as a pointer to the glory of heaven. Our Lord shows his divine glory for a moment, a glory in which we hope to share. He will have to go to this glory by way of the cross, and this is the path willed by the Father. The Law, represented by Moses, the prophets represented by Elijah, and the Psalms incorporating them both, had announced the sufferings of the Messiah. Now these two figures of the past appear in glory to speak of those sufferings with him. The Transfiguration speaks to us of the pattern of suffering leading to glory, and it is presented to us in the presence of the most holy Trinity. The Father is manifested in the Voice, the Son is the Man Jesus, and according to St Thomas Aquinas, the Holy Spirit is manifested in the bright Cloud. It is all the Glory, and the Glory is attained through the suffering. At our Lord’s baptism there had been a similar theophany. The Father uttered his word revealing his beloved Son. The Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, and with that our Lord’s path to glory and that of his brothers was inaugurated. This baptism launched him on his journey to the second baptism, that of his Passion and Death. It reminds us of the presence of the Holy Trinity in our own baptism, immersing us in Christ and setting us on the road he followed, that of obedient suffering and to glory. If we contemplate the Transfiguration, recalling with it the Baptism, we have therein the key to the mystery of life’s sufferings. Suffering is the grand occasion of union with Jesus Christ, and it takes us with him to glory.
During Lent we ought often think of heaven. The way to heaven is through union with Jesus, and Jesus our Lord asks us to take up our cross every day and follow in his footsteps. During Lent we try in a special way to follow in the footsteps of Jesus as he prepares for his Passion and Death. We shall follow him in our celebration of his Passion, but all the while being reminded by the Transfiguration of the heavenly glory that awaits him. That same glory awaits us too. It will be glory for ever and for ever in heaven, with Jesus and all those who are friends of Jesus.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church no.554-556 (A foretaste of the Kingdom: the Transfiguration).
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“To
be nailed to the Cross!” This aspiration kept coming again and again, as a new
light, to the mind and heart of a certain soul. “To be nailed to the Cross?”,
he asked himself. “How hard it is!” And yet he knew full well the way he had to
go, against himself, the way of self-denial. This is why he earnestly implored,
“Help me, Lord!”
(The Forge, no.401)
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Monday of the second week of Lent A-1
Prayers today: Redeem me, Lord, and have mercy on me; my foot is set on the right path, I worship you in the great assembly. (Ps 25:11-12)
God our Father, teach us to find new life through penance. Keep us from sin, and help us live by your commandment of love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, . .
(March 21) Blessed John of Parma (1209-1289)
The seventh general minister of the Franciscan Order, John was known for his attempts to bring back the earlier spirit of the Order after the death of St. Francis of Assisi. He was born in Parma, Italy, in 1209. It was when he was a young philosophy professor known for his piety and learning that God called him to bid good-bye to the world he was used to and enter the new world of the Franciscan Order. After his profession John was sent to Paris to complete his theological studies. Ordained to the priesthood, he was appointed to teach theology at Bologna, then Naples and finally Rome. In 1245, Pope Innocent IV called a general council in the city of Lyons, France. Crescentius, the Franciscan minister general at the time, was ailing and unable to attend. In his place he sent Father John, who made a deep impression on the Church leaders gathered there. Two years later, when the same pope presided at the election of a minister general of the Franciscans, he remembered Father John well and held him up as the man best qualified for the office. And so, in 1247, John of Parma was elected to be minister general. The surviving disciples of St. Francis rejoiced in his election, expecting a return to the spirit of poverty and humility of the early days of the Order. And they were not disappointed. As general of the Order John travelled on foot, accompanied by one or two companions, to practically all of the Franciscan convents in existence. Sometimes he would arrive and not be recognized, remaining there for a number of days to test the true spirit of the brothers. The pope called on John to serve as legate to Constantinople, where he was most successful in winning back the schismatic Greeks. Upon his return he asked that someone else take his place to govern the Order. St. Bonaventure, at John's urging, was chosen to succeed him. John took up a life of prayer in the hermitage at Greccio. Many years later, John learned that the Greeks, who had been reconciled with the Church for a time, had relapsed into schism. Though 80 years old by then, John received permission from Pope Nicholas IV to return to the East in an effort to restore unity once again. On his way, John fell sick and died. He was beatified in 1781. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Daniel 9:4-10; Psalm 78; Luke 6:36-38
Jesus said to his disciples, Be merciful, just as your
Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn,
and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it
will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running
over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be
measured to you. (Luke
6:36-38)
Sense of God
One of the notable features of
Western thought during the last couple of centuries has been the rise of what
may be called the principle of private judgment, as against that of external
authority. We now make up our own minds on things. In countless ways, this has
been a great gain and has led to remarkable advances in scientific research, a
new vigour in philosophical speculation and in other disciplines. It has been an
important factor in the resistance against various types of monopoly in
government. That
having
been said, the average person does not simply rely on his own private judgment.
If he is to get on with life, he has to rely on the judgment of others too — indeed, in most things he must rely on authorities other than his own judgment.
He relies on his bus to get to work, or his train, or on the competence of his
mechanic to make sure his car is in order. He relies on his employer and he
relies on the law of the land to live out his life in some sort of security.
Consider the religion that people profess. Commonly it is not one that they
themselves have worked out as being objectively right. Usually it is the
religion into which they have been born. Unless there is something about that
religion which actively prompts them to reconsider it, generally they will live
out their lives in that religion — unless they abandon religion altogether. This
is the natural tendency and it is a matter, not of repudiating the principle of
authority, but of allowing it to find its proper and legitimate place in our
life. There is a proper place for accepting certain authorities, just as there
is a proper place for accepting things on the basis of one’s own private
judgment — and it is a matter of finding the right balance such that we do
attain the objective truth, and live by it. But there is a deeper way in which
we depend on “authority.” I refer to the authority of our fundamental
assumptions. In the last analysis, man — at least religious man — begins, and
must begin, with some foundation which he takes as given, and on which he builds
his life. The foundation is his notion of who God is and what he is like. This
starting point of his life may be out of his own sight, an unspoken, unrealized
assumption. Alternatively, it may be deliberately chosen and cultivated.
There are fundamental assumptions, first principles we might say, basic starting points, that serve as the “authority” (broadly speaking) on which we base our actions. It is because we accept them that, to a significant degree, we act in the way we do, and think as we do. Stand back and observe a Muslim society or group, and compare it with a Christian or Jewish group. Are there differences? Of course there are — but I am not merely thinking of the specific differences that stem from particular religious precepts proper to each religion. I am thinking of the ethos or spirit of each. It is different and it results in ways of thinking and acting arising from differences in fundamental starting points. Basically, I suggest, there is a difference in the image or notion of God, allowing, of course, for much in common. It is the difference in the notion of the Absolute, however conceived, which will shape the direction of life both of individuals and societies. In this sense there is a powerful and deeper “authority” in people’s lives — the authority of their basic, given perceptions of God or his perceived equivalent. This brings us to our Gospel today, in which our Lord tells us that we must be merciful, just as our heavenly Father is merciful. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you” (Luke 6: 36-38). God has revealed himself, especially and definitively in Jesus Christ, to be a God of mercy and compassion. Is this understanding of God lying at the root of our minds and hearts, so as to constitute truly the wellspring of our actions, the “authority” under which, and because of which we act and think as we do? We apprehend the true character of God from his revelation. We must make sure that our fundamental perceptions of God are shaped by the authority of this objective revelation. This we must appropriate to the depths of our minds and hearts, such that it becomes the authority guiding our life and inspiring our every day. The all-merciful God, precisely as objectively revealed, must be the “authority” guiding our lives.
Let us have ever before us the God who has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ. He is a God of compassion, all merciful. He requires of us his children that we be persons of compassion and mercy. Indeed, our judgment will in large measure depend on how truly we have been like Jesus Christ in his compassion, and God our Father in his mercy. As our Lord says, “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6: 36-38). At the Last Judgment, we will hear the words, “whatever you did to the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me” (Matthew 25). Let us then resolve to be like God our Father every day of our lives, filling up our days with works of mercy and compassion.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: (Daniel 9:4-10)
The sense of sin
We have in our first reading a great prayer from the Old
Testament book of Daniel. It has much to offer modern man, for it expresses a
profound sense of sin — the very thing modern man tends to lack. The prayer of
this passage is permeated with this sense precisely because behind it there lies
a profound sense of God and our indebtedness to him. God, the prophet Daniel
prays, is great and to be feared. He is faithful and kind. For our part, we have
sinned and disobeyed God’s representatives. Yet God is a God of mercy and
pardon. How common it is to lack a living and lively sense of God — and this
right to the end of one’s days. Lacking this, one will lack a sense of sin.
Without the sense of sin we shall not be able to pray as Daniel prayed, seeking
God’s pardon and mercy.
Let us try to make up for this by praying during Lent for the grace of a deep sense of sin and a profound desire for the pardon of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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When
we look upon Calvary, where Jesus died, the realisation of our own sins should
move us to be sorry, to make a deeper and more mature decision not to offend him
again.
(The Forge, no.402)
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Tuesday of the second week of Lent A-1
Prayers today: Give light to my eyes, Lord, lest I sleep in death, and my enemy say: I have overcome him. (Ps 12:4-5)
Lord, watch over your Church, and guide it with your unfailing love. Protect us from what could harm us and lead us to what will save us. Help us always, for without you we are bound to fail. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,...
(March 22) St. Nicholas Owen (d. 1606)
Nicholas, familiarly known as "Little John," was small in stature but big in the esteem of his fellow Jesuits. Born at Oxford, this humble artisan saved the lives of many priests and laypersons in England during the penal times (1559-1829), when a series of statutes punished Catholics for the practice of their faith. Over a period of about 20 years he used his skills to build secret hiding places for priests throughout the country. His work, which he did completely by himself as both architect and builder, was so good that time and time again priests in hiding were undetected by raiding parties. He was a genius at finding, and creating, places of safety: subterranean passages, small spaces between walls, impenetrable recesses. At one point he was even able to mastermind the escape of two Jesuits from the Tower of London. Whenever Nicholas set out to design such hiding places, he began by receiving the Holy Eucharist, and he would turn to God in prayer throughout the long, dangerous construction process. After many years at his unusual task, he entered the Society of Jesus and served as a lay brother, although—for very good reasons—his connection with the Jesuits was kept secret. After a number of narrow escapes, he himself was finally caught in 1594. Despite protracted torture, he refused to disclose the names of other Catholics. After being released following the payment of a ransom, "Little John" went back to his work. He was arrested again in 1606. This time he was subjected to horrible tortures, suffering an agonizing death. The jailers tried suggesting that he had confessed and committed suicide, but his heroism and sufferings soon were widely known. He was canonized in 1970 as one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 1:10.16-20; Psalm 49; Matthew 23:1-12
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: The teachers
of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do
everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practise
what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but
they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they
do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on
their garments long; they love the place of honour at banquets and the most
important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the market-places
and to have men call them 'Rabbi'. But you are not to be called 'Rabbi', for you
have only one teacher and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth
your 'father', for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be
called 'master', for you have one Master, the Christ. The greatest among you
will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever
humbles himself will be exalted.
(Matthew 23: 1-12)
Christian humility
One
of the intriguing things in world history is the emergence of the West as the
dominant cultural force across the globe. Classical Rome dominated the civilized
world for centuries, but by the fifth and sixth centuries (AD) it was in
tatters, a smoking ruin due to pummelling by the barbarian hordes. Its demise
heralded the Dark Ages which involved centuries of struggle amid all kinds of
setbacks. Europe at this time — the late Dark Ages — could not rival the culture
and power of, say, the Islamic world. For
instance, it was from Islamic culture
that the West began to recover the writings of Aristotle. Gradually, with
Charlemagne and the early Middle Ages, Christian Europe emerged. This is not the
place to trace in detail the gradual rise of the West following the first
millennium. But the question may be asked, what were the factors which led the
West to become so dominant? Many observers are of the opinion that the West is
now on the brink of a gradual decline because of its cultural exhaustion and
moral confusion. It lacks confidence in its religious roots and its
philosophical heritage. It does not believe it is legitimate to stand for
anything definite if this involves a negative judgment on the perspectives of
others. That is to say, philosophical relativism holds the field, and the way
seems wide open for fundamentally different visions of reality to gain the
victory. For instance, at this point Islam seems to be a serious challenge
facing secular France. If the West does not recover the sources of its strength,
it may be on the brink of a significant decay. So, what was the reason for the
superiority of the West? Now, in anything like this, it is always instructive to
hear what outside observers have to say, especially if those observers represent
a future challenge. I remember a priest who taught Modern History saying in the
late 1950s that China would be the coming dominant power. Many think that the
growing power of China — gradual, fitful, yet perhaps unstoppable — may be
equipping it to take the lead in the century to come. Well, there are some in
China who have things to say about the rise of the West.
A former editor of the Sunday Telegraph, Dominic Lawson, in a review in the Sunday Times of Niall Ferguson’s new book, Civilisation: The West and the Rest, quotes from a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who tries to account for the success of the West, to date. He said: “One of the things we were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact, the pre-eminence of the West all over the world. We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural perspective. In the past twenty years, we have realised that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West is so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.” Now, I am not in any way suggesting that this sums up the whole matter, but Lawson did well in quoting it in his review of Ferguson. It does illustrate the fact that Christianity has been an absolutely essential element in the formation of the soul of Europe, and therefore of the West. Why am I making this general point? I wish to highlight the distinctiveness of the Christian picture of the good man. The Christian idea of what is good, preferable, and in the long run most valuable, has shaped the intellect and the soul of the West and contributed to its flourishing. This brings us to our Gospel passage today (Matthew 23: 1-12), in which Christ speaks of a virtue which will scarcely be found in literature outside Divine Revelation, and in particular outside the person and teaching of Jesus Christ. I refer to Christ’s exaltation of the virtue of humility. This is not just any kind of “humility” — it is the humility of Christ, a virtue that is fundamental among those virtues that make up the revealed picture of Christian goodness. I am certainly not saying that the West is notable in its living of this Christian virtue — far from it. However, it has been part of the idea of the good and holy man which Western culture at its best — not at its materialistic and secular worst — has brought to the world.
This, though, is not a matter of mere academic reflection. The Christian is called to be the light of the world, and the salt of the earth. This he will be to the extent that he lives as Christ lived by the aid of his grace. The greatest thing we can do for our world, for our culture, for our society, and for all men, is to follow Jesus Christ in our everyday life. He is the good and holy Man — and as he said to one enquirer, no-one is good but God alone. He, of course, is God. Christ is the answer to the world’s need, and in our Gospel he stresses the path to an authentic flourishing: humility after the manner of Christ. If the West and the rest of the world is truly to flourish, let it take the path of Christ, and this will also mean following him in his humility.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: (Matthew 23:1-12)
\Choosing humility
One
of the many fascinating things to notice in the animal kingdom is how many
animals try to dominate one
another and to have precedence. Have you ever
noticed how a dog will, if he can, try to be the “top dog”? I remember watching
a documentary film on monkeys and apes, and the same thing was obvious among
them. Seeing this reminds us that having the desire to be first and to exalt
oneself over others — a pattern that so marks the history of mankind — is hardly
distinctively human. Dominating others cannot be said to make a man greater as a
man. All too often it is the opposite — it often makes a man more like an
animal.
Our Lord described himself as meek and humble of heart. St Paul tells us that Christ emptied himself and became as men are, and humbler yet even to the point of death. God, then, is profoundly humble, and chooses to humble himself. For this reason our Lord says in our Gospel passage today (Matthew 23:1-12) that the one who humbles himself will be exalted. He is the one who is like God. Let us this Lent pray for the grace to seek to be humble after the manner of Christ.
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We
need to smooth off the rough edges a little more each day — just as if we were
working in stone or wood — and get rid of the defects in our own lives with a
spirit of penance. And with small mortifications, which are of two types:
active mortifications — the ones we ourselves look for, like little flowers we
gather up during the course of the day — and passive mortifications, which come
from without and we find difficult to accept. Jesus Christ will later make up
for whatever is still lacking. What a wonderful figure of the crucified Christ
you will become if you give your all, generously and cheerfully.
(The Forge, no.403)
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Wednesday of the second week of Lent A-1
Prayers today: Do not abandon me, Lord. My God, do not go away from me! Hurry to help me, Lord, my Saviour. (Ps 37: 22-23)
Father, teach us to live good lives, encourage us with your support, and bring us to eternal life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,...
(March 23) St. Turibius of Mogrovejo (1538-1606)
Together with Rose of Lima, Turibius is the first known saint of the New World, serving the Lord in Peru, South America, for 26 years. Born in Spain and educated for the law, he became so brilliant a scholar that he was made professor of law at the University of Salamanca and eventually became chief judge of the Inquisition at Granada. He succeeded too well. But he was not sharp enough a lawyer to prevent a surprising sequence of events. When the archdiocese of Lima in Peru required a new leader, Turibius was chosen to fill the post: He was the one person with the strength of character and holiness of spirit to heal the scandals that had infected that area. He cited all the canons that forbade giving laymen ecclesiastical dignities, but he was overruled. He was ordained priest and bishop and sent to Peru, where he found colonialism at its worst. The Spanish conquerors were guilty of every sort of oppression of the native population. Abuses among the clergy were flagrant, and he devoted his energies (and suffering) to this area first. He began the long and arduous visitation of an immense archdiocese, studying the language, staying two or three days in each place, often with neither bed nor food. He confessed every morning to his chaplain, and celebrated Mass with intense fervour. Among those to whom he gave the Sacrament of Confirmation was St. Rose of Lima, and possibly St. Martin de Porres. After 1590 he had the help of another great missionary, St. Francis Solanus. His people, though very poor, were sensitive, dreading to accept public charity from others. Turibius solved the problem by helping them anonymously.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Jeremiah 18:18-20; Psalm 30; Matthew 20:17-28
Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the
twelve disciples aside and said to them, We are going up to Jerusalem, and the
Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.
They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be
mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!
Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling
down, asked a favour of him. What is it you want? he asked. She said, Grant that
one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left
in your kingdom. You don't know what you are asking, Jesus said to them. Can you
drink the cup I am going to drink? We can, they answered. Jesus said to them,
You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me
to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my
Father. When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two
brothers. Jesus called them together and said, You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over
them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be
your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many. (Matthew
20:17-28)
Discipleship
In
the time of our Lord, there were those who positively rejected him. This very
real element, by no means insignificant or in the background, St John refers to
directly in the Prologue of his Gospel. “He came unto his own,” John writes,
“and his own did not receive him.” In the second volume of his trilogy on Jesus
of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI rejects the notion that the Jewish people as such
orchestrated the death of Jesus Christ. Rather, it was the Temple aristocracy
and those associated with them.
There were others who rejected our Lord
— such
as many of his own disciples who walked out of his company when he announced the
doctrine of the Eucharist (John 6:66). One of the very Twelve took the step of
betraying him. Apart from these, there were very many who in one sense or
another followed him — the gospels speak of large crowds in tow, and of our Lord
being virtually submerged in work with these crowds. He and the Twelve often had
no time to eat, and we see him contriving to get them apart for spells of rest
where he could instruct them more deeply. He even took the step of leaving
Galilee and Judea for the regions of Tyre and the Decapolis to have time away
from it all. So lots of people were following him — but scarcely as disciples.
They were out to get relief from their sufferings, and to hear his word which
impressed them so powerfully. Serious discipleship was a further matter, and our
Lord’s parables show that he was fully alive to the limits beyond which his
hearers would not go. In fact, we are told that one reason why he taught so
constantly in parables was not merely for pedagogical effect, but precisely
because so many of his hearers did not have the moral dispositions necessary to
see and accept the true drift of his teaching. His explanations were given later
to those who were more truly his disciples. So it is that our Lord on various
occasions made it clear in what true discipleship consisted. What our Lord was
looking for went far beyond what an eminent philosopher of the times might
expect of his devotees, or a prophet (such as Isaiah or John the Baptist) might
expect of his disciples. Our Lord expected total devotion, and nothing less.
To begin with, his closest friends and disciples had to get used to the idea that he was not going to be a roaring success, in the popular sense of the word. He would not carry all before him in the way a signal champion or ruler might. He claimed to be the promised, anointed King, the Messiah — the thought of which riveted the chosen people of God. But he would be a disappointment, in a worldly sense. We have it on record in the gospels that our Lord repeatedly told the Twelve — and to their complete perplexity — that his days were numbered. He was, Luke takes pains to show in the very structure of his gospel, purposely heading towards Jerusalem, all the while making clear to his disciples that there in the City it would be all over for him. This is what he was choosing, precisely because it was the divine plan. The divine plan was that his Anointed, the long-awaited Messiah, would be entirely cast aside. But then — and it seems to have been completely missed by his confused disciples — he would rise again. Then would come the glory and the kingdom. So this was the kind of Messiah they were following, and they had to understand it as clearly as possible. Our Lord wanted disciples of a crucified Christ, crucified and risen. But that was not the end of it. Our Lord wanted disciples who would be wholehearted in their following of him right through what he would go through. He would pass through the fire, and he wanted disciples who would pass through the fire with him. He would drink the cup, and he wanted disciples who would drink the cup with him — all because of their love for him and their conviction that the Father had indeed sent him. So it is that we read that James and John — who would be two of the “pillars” of the early Church — came to him with their mother to ask of him that, in his kingdom, they be at his right and left (Matthew 20:17-28). They were made of sterling stuff, but they did not understand what they were asking. “You don't know what you are asking, Jesus said to them. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” They assured Jesus that they could, and Jesus confirmed it — perhaps giving them there and then a special grace to do so.
In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ would ask his heavenly Father to spare him having to drink this cup, but it was his Father’s will that he do so — and this he did fully and willingly. The greatest grace we could possibly ask for and obtain is that of being willing to drink of this same cup in union with the Master. It is not just a matter of keeping company with Jesus Christ — although this is an essential beginning and component. It is also a matter of going on with him to Calvary. If anyone wishes to be his disciple, our Lord says elsewhere, he must take up his cross daily and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Let us pray for the grace to do this, then!
(E.J.Tyler)
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Our
Lord, with his arms outstretched, is continually begging for your love.
(The Forge, no.404)
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Thursday of the second week in Lent A-1
Prayers today: Test me, O God, and know my thoughts; see whether I step in the wrong path, and guide me along the everlasting way. (Ps 138: 23-24)
God of love, bring us back to you. Send your Spirit to make us strong in faith and active in good works. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,...
(March 24) St. Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)
Going to
confession one day was the turning point of Catherine’s life. When Catherine was
born, many Italian nobles were supporting
Renaissance artists and writers. The
needs of the poor and the sick were often overshadowed by a hunger for luxury
and self-indulgence. Catherine’s parents were members of the nobility in Genoa.
At 13 she attempted to become a nun but failed because of her age. At 16 she
married Julian, a nobleman who turned out to be selfish and unfaithful. For a
while she tried to numb her disappointment by a life of selfish pleasure. One
day in confession she had a new sense of her own sins and how much God loved
her. She reformed her life and gave good example to Julian, who soon turned from
his self-centered life of distraction. Julian’s spending, however, had ruined
them financially. He and Catherine decided to live in the Pammatone, a large
hospital in Genoa, and to dedicate themselves to works of charity there. After
Julian’s death in 1497, Catherine took over management of the hospital. She
wrote about purgatory which, she said, begins on earth for souls open to God.
Life with God in heaven is a continuation and perfection of the life with God
begun on earth. Exhausted by her life of self-sacrifice, she died September 15,
1510, and was canonized in 1737. Shortly before Catherine’s death she told her
goddaughter: "Tomasina! Jesus in your heart! Eternity in your mind! The will of
God in all your actions! But above all, love, God’s love, entire love!" (Marion
A. Habig, The Franciscan Book of Saints, p. 212).
Scripture today: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; Luke 16: 19-31
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple
and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar
named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich
man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time
came when the
beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died
and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham
far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have
pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my
tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember
that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad
things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this,
between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go
from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' He
answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have
five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place
of torment.' Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen
to them.' 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to
them, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the
Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'
(Luke 16:19-31)
The poor
There are two things about religion that are fairly well known. The first
is that the gods, especially the high gods, of most religions are somewhat
unconcerned for the world after their work of creation is done. They often then
recede from the scene and leave the field to their underlings among the deities.
Consider, say, the populous gods and goddesses of the religion of ancient Greece
and Rome. Their attention was primarily directed to their own interests,
competing with one another, easily irritated, and
coming to the assistance of
man when man satisfied all the ceremonies and forced his attention on them.
Notably, they were not driven by the desire to make this world a better place,
and the sufferings and evils of this world left them largely untouched. The poor
meant little to them. In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove was
the king of the gods, and the god of sky and thunder. The equivalent of Zeus in
the Greek pantheon, he was the support of the state, not of the poor and the
oppressed. In his large book, The Classical World
(Penguin, 2006), Robin Lane Fox writes that for Roman nobles “their religious
rites honoured and appeased the gods so as to maintain the all-important ‘peace
of the gods’ and avert their anger... It kept Rome and the Romans safe.” Again,
“the main aim of religious cult was to aid worldly success, not to save citizens
from sin” (p.298). I do not think that, outside of revealed Judaeo-Christian
religion, religion has been much of a force for concern for the downtrodden, the
despised and the forgotten. While the properly developed conscience might have
dictated justice and concern for those in need, religion as such did not greatly
support such dictates. One could be “religious” and still somewhat unconcerned
for the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed. That said, there is a second
thing about religion that is well known. It is that the Judaeo-Christian
revelation is contrary to all this. From the highest point of religion, it is
commanded that the least fortunate be attended to and served. A religion that
knowingly accepts a disregard for the poor and suffering is discounted and
declared to be reprehensible.
There are very many things that are distinctive of the teaching of Jesus Christ. His revelation did not supplant divine revelation before him, but fulfilled it. For instance, God’s judgment on sin is a constant theme in the Old Testament, but in Jesus Christ it reaches new proportions. There is the clear doctrine of an eternal Hell (and this is seen in our parable today) and not only of an individual judgment, but of a General Judgment at the end of time. Again, throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh God requires of his people that they care for the downtrodden and those deprived of what they need. But in the teaching of Jesus Christ this commandment becomes altogether more extensive. In a major presentation of his doctrine of the final judgment, our Lord makes the eternal prospects of each person dependent on how he served those in need. Further, he himself identifies with those in need. “I was hungry and you gave me food” (Matthew 25). The Old Testament commanded that each person love his neighbour. But who was the “neighbour”? On one occasion a man of the Law asked our Lord this very question, and our Lord went on to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan. That Good Samaritan was a true neighbour to the one who had fallen among the robbers. So, revealed religion commands love for anyone who is in need. In our Gospel today (Luke 16:19-31), our Lord tells his famous parable about the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus. The rich man did not impose hardships on Lazarus. The sin that damned him was his deliberate neglect of the poor at his very gate. What happened to the rich man that he so constantly neglected the poor? We are not told, but neglect him he did. Day after day he put the poor man out of his conscience and hardened his heart against his plight. It is so easy to do just this — to keep putting off our assistance to our needy neighbour. There is always an excuse, always a reason for hanging on to much, much more than we really need, and play the harp, as it were, while Rome burns. But life is short and eternity is long. Thinking of what Christ requires in this parable, what shall we wish we had done, when the last moments of life arrive?
It is a strange thing that the more we have, the less we tend to give. We can, without realizing it, be profoundly attached to material possessions. We can be blind to the needs of others, and somewhat like the priest and the Levite who passed by on the other side when they saw the man lying on the side of the road half-dead. We can be a little like the rich man in our Lord’s parable today. Let us pray for the grace to be detached from our worldly possessions, and freed by the power of this grace to give and to serve our brothers and sisters in need. Christ gives us a tremendous incentive to do this. He has told us that whatever we do to the least, he will count as having been done to him — and he will reward us accordingly. Let us do this, then!
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: (Jeremiah 17:5-10)
So let us put our minds and hearts to the task each day. We
must put our trust in the Lord, with him for our hope, as the prophet Jeremiah
says (17:5-8). With the Lord as our constant stay, we will bear fruit — fruit
that comes from the Lord.
(E.J.Tyler) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(The Forge,
no.405)
---------------Back
to index for this period---------------------------Back to
index to Liturgical Days--------- The heart of man
“I, the Lord, search the heart ...
to give each man what his conduct and his actions deserve”
(Jeremiah 17:10). There will be no avoiding the judgment
of God on the ultimate roots of our conduct, which is to say the state of our
heart. We will be judged on the degree of true love that possesses our heart,
our love for God and our love for others in God. On this we are ourselves unable
to judge, nor can anyone else, but only God. So we must work on this all our
lives, never knowing how much time we have to achieve the task. We were made to
know, love and serve God, and our judgment will be on the extent to which this
purpose has been achieved.
Draw
close to Jesus who has died for you; draw close to that Cross, outlined against
the sky on the summit of Golgotha. But draw close sincerely and with interior
recollection, which is the sign of Christian maturity. That way the divine and
human events of the Passion will sink deep into your soul.
Prayers today: As Christ came into the world, he said: Behold! I have come to do your will, O God. (Heb l0:5, 7)
God our Father, your Word became man and was born of the Virgin Mary. May we become more like Jesus Christ, whom we acknowledge as our redeemer, God and man. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,...
or
Almighty Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have revealed the beauty of your power by exalting the lowly virgin of Nazareth and making her the mother of our Saviour. May the prayers of this woman bring Jesus to the waiting world and fill the void of incompletion with the presence of her child, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
(March 25) The Annunciation of the Lord
The feast of the Annunciation goes back to the
fourth or fifth century. Its central focus is the Incarnation: God has become
one of us.
From
all eternity God had decided that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity
should become human. Now, as Luke 1:26-38 tells us, the decision is being
realized. The God-Man embraces all humanity, indeed all creation, to bring it to
God in one great act of love. Because human beings have rejected God, Jesus will
accept a life of suffering and an agonizing death: “No one has greater love than
this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Mary has an
important role to play in God’s plan. From all eternity God destined her to be
the mother of Jesus and closely related to him in the creation and redemption of
the world. We could say that God’s decrees of creation and redemption are joined
in the decree of Incarnation. Because Mary is God’s instrument in the
Incarnation, she has a role to play with Jesus in creation and redemption. It is
a God-given role. It is God’s grace from beginning to end. Mary becomes the
eminent figure she is only by God’s grace. She is the empty space where God
could act. Everything she is she owes to the Trinity. She is the virgin-mother
who fulfils Isaiah 7:14 in a way that Isaiah could not have imagined. She is
united with her son in carrying out the will of God (Psalm 40:8-9; Hebrews
10:7-9; Luke 1:38). Together with Jesus, the privileged and graced Mary is the
link between heaven and earth. She is the human being who best, after Jesus,
exemplifies the possibilities of human existence. She received into her
lowliness the infinite love of God. She shows how an ordinary human being can
reflect God in the ordinary circumstances of life. She exemplifies what the
Church and every member of the Church is meant to become. She is the ultimate
product of the creative and redemptive power of God. She manifests what the
Incarnation is meant to accomplish for all of us.
Scripture today: Isaiah 7:10-14. 8:10; Psalm 39; Hebrews 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to
Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the
house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said,
Hail, you who are full of grace! The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled
at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel
said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be
with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He
will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will
give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of
Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end. How will this be, Mary asked the
angel, since I am a virgin? The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be
born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to
have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth
month. For nothing is impossible with God. I am the Lord's servant, Mary
answered. May it be to me as you have said. Then the angel left her.
(Luke 1:26-38)
The
Annunciation
It is intriguing that the Angel’s greeting to Mary is an
unusual one. It is well known that a normal Hebrew method of greeting and even
of farewell was to wish a person “peace.” For instance, when our Lord appeared
to his disciples after rising from the dead, he began by saying, “Peace be with
you” (John 20:19-23). Then he showed them his hands and his side. With that, he
repeated the greeting: “Peace be with you.” However, we notice that there was
one occasion when our Lord used the same
expression as did the Angel when
greeting Mary. It was when, in the Gospel of St Matthew, our Lord met the women
as they were hurrying from the tomb to tell the disciples that he had risen. He
said to them, Hail! — (Chairete — Rejoice!). There was every reason to, for he
had risen from the dead, his messianic work now completed. The Angel greets Mary
in the same fashion: Hail! (Chaire — Rejoice!). It is agreed that Mary was
steeped in the prophets, and the most obvious allusion that this word conjures
up in the mind is the exhortation of the prophet Zephaniah to the daughter of
Zion: “Rejoice, O daughter of Zion!” (Zeph 3: 14). The prophet was addressing
Jerusalem, and Mary is the daughter of Zion par excellence. The prophet assures
Jerusalem that “The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst,” and that is
just what the Angel assures Mary — that the Lord is with her. The prophet
directs Zion not to fear: Fear not, O Zion. The Angel tells Mary not to fear.
The prophet tells Jerusalem that the Lord is in her midst as a mighty saviour.
The Angel tells Mary that she is to call the child’s name Jesus, which of course
means God saves. As a matter of fact, this very word is used again by another
prophet and in a particularly messianic fashion. The prophet Zechariah promises
the “daughter Zion” (Jerusalem) that their king is coming to them. They are to
rejoice: “Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion... See your king shall come to you,
a true saviour, meek and riding on an ass...” (Zechariah 9: 9). St John sees
Christ’s entry into Jerusalem as fulfilling this prophecy: he is the saviour who
comes to Jerusalem riding on an ass (John 12: 12-16). The point, though, is that
the greeting used by the Angel to Mary evoked thoughts of God coming to save,
with a messianic connotation.
The acknowledgment by the Angel that the Lord was with her not only was praise for her immersion in God. It also alluded to a coming mission. “Rejoice!” he said to her, “The Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:26-38) We read in the Book of Judges that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon with the very words used by the Angel when addressing Mary: “The Lord is with you, O champion!” Gideon is then entrusted with the mission of saving Israel from the power of Midian — and he has the strength of the Lord to enable him. “I shall be with you,” the Lord assures him (Judges 6: 11-16). These opening words of the Angel to Mary are no mere conventional greeting. They introduce a momentous message. Nor is the title accorded her by the Angel simply a reference to her personal holiness, though it is certainly that as well. The context is messianic. She is the favoured one — a phrase that points to the Source of this favour. This “favour” not only refers to her fulness of grace, but her messianic motherhood, which in fact will be a divine motherhood. The Lord is with her to assure her of the accomplishment of the divine plan, just as the Lord had been with Gideon to assure him of the fulfilment of his mission. She who is so highly favoured — and I am not aware of any other figure in all of the Scriptures addressed by a heavenly messenger in this way — is now enlightened as to her mission. Zephaniah had announced to the Daughter of Zion that “the King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst” — and some understand “midst” to be literally “womb.” Mary, so highly favoured, will receive in her womb the Saviour. The Angel’s message then makes it entirely clear that Mary is to be mother of the Messiah, uniquely the Son of the Most High, great before God, possessing the throne of David and ruling over Jacob’s house forever. All of this is to happen in a divinely-structured way, and the Messiah will be son of God in a unique sense, for it will be the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus will the holy child be the Son of God. There is nothing like it in all the Scriptures, and it stands out as a most singular work of God. The bell now tolls, and the countdown of salvation has formally begun.
Let us contemplate the Archangel as he stands deferentially before the humble maid. He is overflowing with admiration for her. There she stands before him, she who is about to become the mother of his Lord and God. She is to be the Queen-mother, all-powerful in her intercession, just as she is unsurpassed in the divine favour which has been bestowed on her. It is a favour which is about to begin a new stage. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death!
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------
Second reflection (Luke
1:26-38)
The gift of the
Holy Spirit
All recognise that John Paul II was a great
Christian and a great Pope, raised to the honours of the altar soon after his
death. During this second week of Eastertide let us ask ourselves what was the
source of his ardent Christian life? Was it simply his many natural qualities
and gifts, or was it something above and beyond this that led him to love God so
much and to serve the Church and the world for God’s sake? The source of his
Christian and spiritual life was, of course, the action of the Holy Spirit who
had come to him at his baptism, at his confirmation, and at his ordination as
priest and bishop. The Christian life is the fruit of the activity of the Holy
Spirit within us, provided we give to Him our full cooperation. The Scripture
readings of today's feast refer to the coming and action of the Holy Spirit in
the life of Mary our Mother, and indirectly in the life of the Church and in us.
Let each of us resolve to live to
the full our life in Christ, begun at our baptism. This we can do if we work at
it wholeheartedly, because each of us have received the gift of the Holy Spirit,
Christ’s gift to the Church’s members. We also have the aid of the Virgin Mary
our Mother, filled as she is with the action of the Holy Spirit. Let us then
live for God, and bring God to others.
(E.J.Tyler)
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We
should accept mortification with those same sentiments that Jesus Christ had in
his Holy Passion.
(The Forge, no.406)
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Saturday of the second week in Lent A-1
Prayers today: The Lord is loving and merciful, to anger slow, and full of love; the Lord is kind to all, and compassionate to all his creatures. (Ps 144:8-9)
God our Father, by your gifts to us on earth we already share in your life. In all we do, guide us to the light of your kingdom. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
(March 26) Blessed Didacus of Cadiz (d. 1801)
Born in Cadiz,
Spain, and christened Joseph Francis, the youth spent much of his free time
around the Capuchin friars and their church.
But his desire to enter the Franciscan Order was delayed because
of the
difficulty he had with his studies. Finally he was admitted to the novitiate of
the Capuchins in Seville as Brother Didacus. He later was ordained a priest and
sent out to preach. His gift of preaching was soon evident. He journeyed
tirelessly through the territory of Andalusia of Spain, speaking in small towns
and crowded cities. His words were able to touch the minds and hearts of young
and old, rich and poor, students and professors. His work in the confessional
completed the conversions his words began. This unlearned man was called "the
apostle of the Holy Trinity" because of his devotion to the Trinity and the ease
with which he preached about this sublime mystery. One day a child gave away his
secret, crying out: "Mother, mother, see the dove resting on the shoulder of
Father Didacus! I could preach like that too if a dove told me all that I should
say." Didacus was that close to God, spending nights in prayer and preparing for
his sermons by severe penances. His reply to those who criticized him: "My sins
and the sins of the people compel me to do it. Those who have been charged with
the conversions of sinners must remember that the Lord has imposed on them the
sins of all their clients." It is said that sometimes when he preached on the
love of God he would be elevated above the pulpit. Crowds in village and town
squares were entranced by his words and would attempt to tear off pieces of his
habit as he passed by. He died in 1801 at age 58, a holy and revered man. He was
beatified in 1894. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Micah 7:14-15.18-20; Psalm 102; Luke 15:1-3.11-32
Now the
tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear him. But the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law murmured, This man welcomes sinners, and
eats with them. Then Jesus told them this parable: There was a man who had two
sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the
estate.' So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the
younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there
squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent
everything, there was a
severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and
hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to
feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were
eating, but no-one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, 'How
many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to
death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have
sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your
son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with
compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am
no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants,
'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and
sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and
celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is
found.' So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field.
When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the
servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied,
'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and
sound.' The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went
out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years
I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me
even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of
yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the
fattened calf for him!' 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and
everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this
brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'
(Luke 15:1-3.11-32)
God’s love
If one is to make any observation about the history of
religion, or the content of the religions of man, one must fall back on general
impressions. It would be impossible to do the research necessary to document the
matter exhaustively. That said, my own impression is that, outside the
Judeo-Christian revelation and those religions influenced by it (such as Islam),
the gods of the religions were not concerned about sin as such. The heavens or
the underworld are peopled by deities of various descriptions and
rank, and they
live their own lives while possessing certain powers over the course of the
world. They are supplicated and appeased by religious rites, and so their
protection is obtained. But their interest, in the main, is not directed to sin
and its removal. They do not want to be irritated, but it is not objective
immorality which irritates them as such. Indeed, many of the gods are caught up
in sinful activities themselves. Accordingly, salvation from sin was not
generally the purpose of religion — although doubtless there were some
exceptions to this. Now, there were numerous things that stood out about the
religion of the Hebrews. One was its insistence on one God — perhaps beginning
with the insistence on the worship of but one God, and then insisting on the
existence of but one God as an essential corollary. Secondly, this one and only
God was holy. He had no sin, and refused to allow sin to be committed. If it
was, he would punish the sinner. Sin was not just anything which irritated his
preferences, rather it was that which was objectively bad. It was wrong to
steal, to dishonour one’s parents, to commit adultery, to murder, to bear false
witness against another, or to covet another’s wife or goods. These things were
wrong in themselves and were therefore not to be done — and if they were done,
there would be a rupture in the relationship with God. God was holy, and
commanded holiness in his people. So the idea of sin, punishment for sin, and
alienation from God as a result of sin, were key ideas in the revealed religion
of Israel. The problem obviously was, what was to happen with the sinner, for
all, it seemed, were sinners. As a matter of fact, the whole story of Israel, as
documented in its inspired writings, was a chronicle of inveterate sin.
This is why there was a further fundamental idea in the religion of Israel — but it did not have a great deal of clarity. The God of the Hebrews was intent on doing away with sin — which is to say, on cleansing his people from their sins and making them acceptable to him. Moreover, this was part of the blessing to be brought to the nations. Salvation from sin was yet another novelty brought to the world of religions by the Hebrew Revelation. The Promise was there, but not in clear outline. How it was to be done was yet to be revealed. Various prophets had announced it, but its outlines were somewhat vague. Even though much of the ritual was ordered towards the taking away of various sins, this was not a root and branch answer to the problem. As an aside, I would see in this fact a reason for the lack of a strong redemptive motif in Islam — for Mahomet drew much from the Jewish faith, and Islam lacks the Fall and an answer to the Fall. But Jesus Christ came to take away the sin of the world, and he did so by his Death and Resurrection. This is the fulfilment of the Old Testament revelation about sin. Together with other teachings about God that are unique to the revelation of Jesus Christ, this salvation from sin is a signal novelty in the history of religion. But more than this, it is out of love for sinful man that God sent his only-begotten Son to take away sin. God, it has been revealed, for all his hatred for sin and his refusal to brook it, loves with undying love the sinner. He is prepared to do anything for sinners — and he sent the eternal Jewel of his divine life to die that we sinners might live forever. This Good News of the love of God for sinful man is not absent from the Old Testament, but it did receive a stunning fulfilment in the New. In this further sense, God has spoken definitively and finally in his Son Jesus Christ. God, the all-holy God, the God who hates sin and who commands us to be holy, loves us with a boundless love — us, who are sinners in his sight. This is the context of our Gospel today (Luke 15:1-3.11-32), when our Lord explains to his critics why he is associating with the publicans and sinners. He is the revelation of a God who is a loving Father. His parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable of the father who is so prodigal with his love.
It is imperative that we immerse ourselves in two great facts: firstly that God, the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, loves us with an infinitely tender love. Secondly, that we are sinners in his sight. We must, we absolutely must learn the facts of our situation. We are sinners by birth and by personal decision. We have no right to the love of God, but we have it. The one thing that God asks of us is that we recognize his love and that we set about the business of renouncing sin and sinning no more. Let us make this a fundamental programme of daily life, and especially of Lent.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Second reflection: (Luke 15:1-3.11-32)
Our idea of God
It scarcely needs to be said that a person’s
religion will depend on his idea of God. Our Gospel passage (Luke 15:1-3.11-32)
conveys an image of God, and it comes from the mouth of Our Lord. It is the
story of the Prodigal Son. Our Lord told it because the scribes and Pharisees
were complaining that he was welcoming sinners and dining with them. It is the
story of how the amazingly kind father welcomed his sinful son warmly back into
his love. The story, then, is an explanation of our Lord himself and his love
for sinners. Ultimately of course, inasmuch as he is the revelation of the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the story is about our heavenly Father.
Let us fill our hearts with the right impression of God, God who hates sin, but who is full of love and compassion for the sinner who wishes to turn back to him. God lovingly invites us to repent.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Mortification
is a necessary premise for every kind of apostolate, and for bringing each
apostolate to perfection.
(The Forge, no.407)
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Prayers this week: My eyes are ever fixed on the Lord, for he releases my feet from the snare. O look at me and be merciful, for I am wretched and alone. (Psalm 24: 15-16)
Father, you have taught us to overcome our sins by prayer, fasting and works of mercy. When we are discouraged by our weakness, give us confidence in your love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(March 27) Blessed Francis Faà di Bruno (1825-1888)
Francis, the last of 12 children, was born in
northern Italy into an aristocratic family. He lived at a particularly turbulent
time in
history,
when anti-Catholic and anti-papal sentiments were especially strong. After being
trained as a military officer, Francis was spotted by King Victor Emmanuel II,
who was impressed with the young man's character and learning. Invited by the
king to tutor his two young sons, Francis agreed and prepared himself with
additional studies. But with the role of the Church in education being a
sticking point for many, the king was forced to withdraw his offer to the openly
Catholic Francis and, instead, find a tutor more suitable to the secular state.
Francis soon left army life behind and pursued doctoral studies in Paris in
mathematics and astronomy; he also showed a special interest in religion and
asceticism. Despite his commitment to the scholarly life, Francis put much of
his energy into charitable activities. He founded the Society of St. Zita for
maids and domestic servants, later expanding it to include unmarried mothers,
among others. He helped establish hostels for the elderly and poor. He even
oversaw the construction of a church in Turin that was dedicated to the memory
of Italian soldiers who had lost their lives in the struggle over the
unification of Italy. Wishing to broaden and deepen his commitment to the poor,
Francis, then well into adulthood, studied for the priesthood. But first he had
to obtain the support of Pope Pius IX to counteract the opposition to his own
archbishop's difficulty with late vocations. Francis was ordained at the age of
51. As a priest, he continued his good works, sharing his inheritance as well as
his energy. He established yet another hostel, this time for prostitutes. He
died in Turin on March 27, 1888, and was beatified 100 years later.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the
plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A
woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His
disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” —For Jews use
nothing in common with Samaritans.— Jesus answered and said to her, “If
you
knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,‘ you would have
asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you
get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this
cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus
answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall
give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman
said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to
keep coming here to draw water. “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors
worshipped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in
Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you
will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people
worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because
salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true
worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father
seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must
worship in Spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is
coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” Many of the
Samaritans of that town began to believe in him. When the Samaritans came to
him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more
began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no
longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we
know that this is truly the saviour of the world.” (John
4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42)
The living water
One of the famous events of the first half of the
nineteenth century in England was the sudden rise of the Oxford Movement. It was
a movement within the Anglican Church, coming out of Oriel College at Oxford, to
develop a Catholic and patristic spirit within the Anglican Church. In the
event, some passed over to the Roman Catholic Church, others continued to work
within the Anglican Church for an increase in its Catholic ethos, and some even
fell away from an adherence to Christian doctrine. Decades later
one
Anglican clergyman (Thomas Mozley) who had had some involvement in this Movement
wrote a two-volume work entitled
Reminiscences of Oriel College and the Oxford Movement.
At the end of his second volume he discusses various doctrines held by Catholic
and Protestant writers. What struck me about that discussion was his
uncertainty, and it contrasted with the certainty that is a characteristic of
the gift of faith, when properly functioning. In our Gospel today, our Lord
promises the gift of “living water,...a spring inside ... welling up to eternal
life” (John 4: 5-42). This “living water,” this “spring inside,” is the Holy
Spirit and his grace, poured into our hearts at our Baptism, given to us in a
new and fuller way at our Confirmation, and nourished regularly in the other
Sacraments, especially the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is the source of
divine life now and forever. The first result of our having received this
heavenly gift is faith. We believe, and we have believed without too much
difficulty for years — perhaps as long as we remember. This faith is a gift that
comes from God the Holy Spirit, who is within us. It is by means of this gift of
faith that we find ourselves lovingly inclined to believe in God and in all he
has said and revealed to us, and all that the Church formally proposes for our
belief on Christ’s behalf. By this gift of faith we are enabled to commit
ourselves to God who has spoken in his word, and we show this commitment by our
obedient acceptance of all he has revealed. The Scriptures tell us that the
righteous person will live by faith. This life of faith, lived according to
Christ’s teaching as it comes to us from the mouth of the Church, is made
possible by the gift of God’s grace.
This gift of faith that we have received, and which abides within our souls, will remain there provided we do not neglect it, for it is the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells within. We must, then, avoid the occasions of sins against faith. Such an occasion would be to read out of mere curiosity or mental lethargy novels and other literature that call into question dogmas of our faith. If we do this knowingly, we are placing ourselves in an occasion dangerous to faith. That itself is sinful. It is an offence against God and against our own salvation which God so mightily wills and which has cost him so much. If we deliberately doubt, let alone begin to abandon, the dogmas of our faith and the teachings of the Church, then we sin seriously in a fundamental matter of religion. It is divine faith, and not mere reason, that will get us to heaven and take us to holiness — provided we guard it as God’s precious gift. But further, we must also actively put our faith to work. Faith apart from works — works inspired and required by faith — is, as St James writes in his inspired Letter, dead. It is of little use contenting ourselves that we accept what our Lord revealed and what the Church teaches, while doing nothing about it. There is little living faith in a person who continues to sin seriously, and without repentance. It is like the bandit who often calls upon the Virgin for protection while going about his highway robberies. Our Lady told the servants at Cana, Do whatever he tells you. The gift of faith is so very precious. If adhered to, it takes a person beyond the avoidance of sin to holiness. It is the foundation of obedience, and with it other gifts are granted to us at our Baptism. We receive therein the gifts of hope and love, which take the fervent believer on his road to sanctity provided they are nourished. They make up the components of the “living water” within, the “spring inside” him, leading to holiness and eternal life. But there is more. This gift of faith, enabling the believer to accept the full revelation that has come from God, also prompts us to bear witness to it. For this purpose, the Holy Spirit comes to us again at our Confirmation with further gifts that give power to faith.
This bearing witness to Christ that expresses our faith includes the readiness to follow the Lord along the way of the Cross amidst the hurts and persecutions, which the Church and her members never lack. As our Lord said, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” The “living water” our Lord referred to has been poured into our hearts. Let us live by that divine Spirit. We do so by living our faith daily, and bearing witness to it before others.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.1814-1816 (The Theological Virtues: Faith); 1262-1274 (Faith and the effects of Baptism)
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A
spirit of penance is to be found first of all in taking advantage of the many
little things — deeds, renunciations, sacrifices, services rendered and so on —
which we find daily along our way and we then convert into acts of love and
contrition, into mortifications. In this way we shall be able to gather a
bouquet at the end of each day — a fine display which we can offer to God.
(The Forge, no.408)
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Monday of the third week of Lent A-1
Prayers today: My soul is longing and pining for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. (Ps 83:3)
God of mercy, free your Church from sin and protect it from evil. Guide us, for we cannot be saved without you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,....
(March 28) St. Hesychius of Jerusalem (c. 450)
Not only is the name of today's saint a bit hard to pronounce and spell. It's also difficult to learn about such a modest and gentle man who lived in the fourth and fifth century and who is better known in the Russian Orthodox Church. The birth date of Hesychius (pronounced HESH-us) is unclear, but we know that he was a priest and monk who wrote a history of the Church, unfortunately lost. He also wrote about many of the burning issues of his day. These included the heresy of Nestorianism, which held that there were two separate persons in Jesus — one human, one divine — and the heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ. Some of his commentaries on the books of the Bible as well, along with meditations on the prophets and homilies on the Blessed Virgin Mary, still survive. It's believed Hesychius delivered Easter homilies in the basilica in Jerusalem thought to be the place of the crucifixion. His words on the Eucharist, written centuries ago, speak to us today: "Keep yourselves free from sin so that every day you may share in the mystic meal; by doing so our bodies become the body of Christ." Hesychius died around the year 450.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: 2 Kings 5: 1-15; Psalms 41/42; Luke 4: 24-30
Jesus
said, I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his home town. I assure
you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was
shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the
land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the
region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of
Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed — only Naaman the Syrian.
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up,
drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the
town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right
through the crowd and went on his way.
(Luke 4: 24-30)
Attachment to sin
There has been archaeological work done on the settlement of Nazareth as it was
in the general era of Jesus of Nazareth. The village had a history, together
with lapses in settlement, it seems. I am not aware of any reference to Nazareth
in ancient records or inscriptions outside of its connection with Christ. The
much discussed Nazareth Inscription was almost certainly occasioned by talk of
Christ’s resurrection. There is no doubt that Jesus of Nazareth gave the village
a renown that will last till the end
of
time. Christ was its greatest son, one who had no peer, and outside of him
Nazareth would have had no special significance. On being told by Philip that
the Messiah was in their midst, and that he was Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael
asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46). In the Gospel of St
Luke, our Lord returns to his home village after the commencement of his public
ministry — we are not told when this is, although Luke places it early. It is to
be noted that Mark speaks of a return of our Lord to Nazareth (ch. 6: 1-6), but
there is no mention of an expulsion and attempt on his life. So there may have
been more than one visit, and Luke’s account may combine at least two visits,
with the second one including all the drama. So then, Luke writes that Jesus
returned to Galilee after his baptism and temptations in the wilderness, and
began to preach in the synagogues. “Then he came back to Nazareth where he had
been brought up; and he went into the synagogue there, as his custom was, on the
Sabbath day.” The whole episode is given some sixteen verses by St Luke, and the
upshot of the visit (or visits) home was remarkable. I find it difficult to
imagine that there was any direct parallel in the village’s entire history. Our
Lord went into the synagogue where he had been going for some thirty years,
among clan members and fellow townsmen, and said his piece declaring that he was
the promised Messiah. He warned the congregation that the test ahead of them was
one of faith, and that they were unlikely to pass that test. The upshot was that
he would have been lynched were it not for his command of his own situation.
They rose up, angrily confronted him, and not content with throwing him out of
the synagogue they hustled him ahead of them to a local precipice. There they
would have killed him had they been able to. But he “passed through the midst of
them” and went on his way, making Capernaum his base thereafter.
I doubt that there had been a similar instance of this in the village’s history. It took the revelation of who Jesus really was to bring their true colours to light. It is an amazing incident, and it bore out the truth of Nathanael’s passing observation: “Can any good come from Nazareth?” However, much good did come from it, in the sense that it contained the holiest trio in all of human history: Jesus himself, and Mary his mother, and Joseph his foster-father. There is some evidence to think that among our Lord’s Apostles and disciples were some relatives. Some of these may have come from Nazareth. So, as with the scribes, the Pharisees and the leaders of the people, there would have been some at Nazareth who responded in faith. But this terrible reaction on the part of his own was yet another instance of what St John states in the Prologue of his Gospel, that the Word made flesh came unto his own and his own did not receive him. It is this which, more than anything else, reveals the evil and the power of sin. There are various ways of appreciating the evil of sin. We can think of its terrible effects on the moral constitution of man. Sin corrupts him and brings about a collapse of his moral life. We can think of its effects on the entire history of man. The Book of Genesis describes the entry of sin into the world at the beginning, and the rest of the Old Testament describes the story of sin and death flowing from it. We can think of its effects on man’s eternal lot: it results in damnation forever if it is serious unrepented sin. Or, most of all, we can contemplate the effect of man’s sin on Jesus Christ. He who was utterly sinless was made to suffer indescribably. Christ’s rejection by the people of Nazareth was one of several instances of this described in the Gospel. Its final sequel would be the Crucifixion. Christ stood there in the synagogue before his own townsmen revealing who he was and the good things he would do for them. He warned them of their pride. They must be on guard against the temptation not to believe. Two things stand out in our Gospel scene (Luke 4: 24-30): the love of Christ in revealing himself to them, and their great sin in rejecting this revelation and this love. Especially does our passage reveal to us what sin can lead to — and this sin lies within each of us.
Christ warned his townspeople against the sin of non-belief. Let us take heed of his warning, indeed, let us consider it a warning against all deliberate sin. Lent is the time of turning away from sin, whether mortal or venial. We must be on guard against any conscious attachment to sin. We may be attached to holding on to unnecessary wealth when in the face of the poverty of others. We may be attached to harbouring resentments and to the refusal to forgive. We may be attached to sloth. Whatever sins we are secretly holding on to must be renounced. Let us then take our stand with Jesus, and make him our great means of combating sin and living for God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection:
(Luke 4:24-30)
Taking the Faith for granted
Let us consider this event, involving our Lord’s own
townspeople. They had lived with him all those
years
as he had been growing up, together with Joseph and Mary his mother. At the very
least they were quite familiar with how excellent a person he was. This of
itself required no leap of faith — it was a fact before their eyes. There is a
danger that to a large extent in our religion we can simply go on what we see
and on what we are used to thinking, and being content with that. Our mind can
proceed day by day along certain familiar lines, without our faith being
exercised on the many greater realities of our Catholic Faith. We may not really
be exercising much faith in, for instance, the Eucharist whenever we enter the
church, nor, perhaps, in the divine character of the Sacraments, such as the
Sacrament of Penance. We may be making no real effort to recognise in faith what
they are, or rather, who they are. We may be living according to notions we are
familiar with, and not much by faith.
What we ought do is actively exercise our faith on the full range of the creed and what God has revealed, reading and meditating on this teaching, allowing it to form our inner being, and making acts of faith accordingly. Let us open our hearts and minds to the fulness of Christ’s teaching as it comes to us in the voice of the Church, which is the oracle of God. Hearing it, let us actively accept it as the revelation of God sent to guide us to holiness and to heaven.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The
best spirit of sacrifice is to persevere in the work you have begun, both when
you find it exciting and when it proves an uphill struggle.
(The Forge, no.409)
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Tuesday of the third week in Lent A-1
Prayers today: I call upon you, God, for you will answer me; bend your ear and hear my prayer. Guard me as the pupil of your eye; hide me in the shade of your wings. (Ps 16:6, 8)
Lord, you call us to your service and continue your saving work among us. May your love never abandon us. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, …
(March 29) Blessed Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885)
Born in Casoria (near Naples), Arcangelo Palmentieri was a cabinet-maker before entering the Friars Minor in 1832, taking the name Ludovico. After his ordination five years later, he taught chemistry, physics and mathematics to younger members of his province for several years. In 1847 he had a mystical experience which he later described as a cleansing. After that he dedicated his life to the poor and the infirm, establishing a dispensary for the poor, two schools for African children, an institute for the children of nobility, as well as an institution for orphans, the deaf and the speechless, and other institutes for the blind, elderly and for travellers. In addition to an infirmary for friars of his province, he began charitable institutes in Naples, Florence and Assisi. He once said, "Christ’s love has wounded my heart." This love prompted him to great acts of charity. To help continue these works of mercy, in 1859 he established the Gray Brothers, a religious community composed of men who formerly belonged to the Secular Franciscan Order. Three years later he founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth for the same purpose. Toward the beginning of his final, nine-year illness, Ludovico wrote a spiritual testament which described faith as "light in the darkness, help in sickness, blessing in tribulations, paradise in the crucifixion and life amid death." The local work for his beatification began within five months of Ludovico’s death. He was beatified in 1993.
(AmericanCatholic.org)Scripture today: Daniel 3: 25.34-43; Psalm 24; Matthew 18: 21-35
Then Peter
came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he
sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times,
but seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who
wanted to
settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man
who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to
pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he
had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be
patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's
master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go. But when that
servant went out, he found one of his fellow- servants who owed him a hundred
denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he
demanded. His fellow- servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with
me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the
man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw
what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master
everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked
servant,' he said, 'I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow- servant just as I had on you?' In
anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should
pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you
unless you forgive your brother from your heart.
(Matthew 18: 21-35)
Forgive!
Our Gospel today speaks of forgiveness. In popular
classical religion, while the gods have power they are not notably good. By
means of religion, man turns their power to his own benefit, but liberation from
sin scarcely came into it. If sin as such was to be taken away, it would have to
be taken away from the gods as well. In any case the gods did not especially
care for man — they had more important things to do among themselves. Plato and
Aristotle went a long way towards purifying the notion and image of the
gods,
but at the cost of a divine involvement with and concern for man. The net result
(as in, say, Aristotle’s Pure Act) of their speculations on the gods was an even
greater distance between the divine and the human. The sins of man, and
forgiveness for those sins, seems absent from the Pure Act of Aristotle,
principally because the Pure Act is above all this, and scarcely condescends to
think of man. Whether at the level of popular myth and cult, or at the level of
philosophy, for various reasons the classical pagan portrayal of the gods did
not notably include forgiveness. Further, there is a parallel to this in
Aristotle’s portrayal of the virtuous man. The virtuous man is high-minded and
magnanimous, and because he is such, he pardons. He is above all thoughts of
revenge — a little after the manner in which the divine is above being
preoccupied with the world. The magnanimous and virtuous man will be ready to
help others, but will not ask for help himself. In respect to forgiveness, he
will not bear grudges, but the reason for all this is his desire to preserve his
own (admirable) honour and virtue. It is a nobler thing to put aside thoughts
about what one is owed. It is a matter of personal honour, and, truth to tell,
the desire to be honoured by society. There is lacking in this a true, humble
and active engagement with the person being forgiven. Now, even though the
Christian can see the limitations in this ethical system, great credit is due to
the distance in moral understanding that was reached. There was the idea of a
morally admirable man, and much of Aristotle’s achievement was incorporated by
Aquinas. But of course it was much surpassed — as is to be expected — by divine
revelation, and in particular by the teaching of Jesus Christ. True forgiveness
was revealed by Christ to be a central virtue of the virtuous man.
In our Gospel parable today, forgiveness is shown as essential for virtue. The first thing which stands out in divine revelation when set against the religions of mankind, especially classical religion, is that God really does forgive sin. While in classical religion moral wrongdoing was not much of an offence against the gods for they lived in a completely other world, in divine revelation not only is it an offence against God — a “sin” — but God in his omnipotence can forgive all sins. Importantly, he is revealed as mightily disposed to do so if only man would be contrite. Our Lord repeatedly forgave sins and he gave this very power to his Apostles. As a matter of fact, the work of God the Son made man was to take away the sin of the world: to pardon, to forgive. This was the first commission he gave to the Apostles on rising from the dead — “whose sins you forgive they are forgiven them.” There is a further step in this new dispensation. Not only can and does Christ forgive sin, not only does he empower his Church to forgive sin, but he enables us to forgive others for their “sins” against us. Our Gospel today (Matthew 18: 21-35) shows that the thought of God’s forgiveness of us should help us to forgive others. In a separate parable, the Prodigal Son returned to his father and said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” He asked his father for sufficient forgiveness to be received back as a hired servant, but the father gave him his entire forgiveness. The picture of the virtuous man as embodied in the father of the Prodigal Son is vastly different from the picture of the virtuous man painted by the greatest Greek philosophers. He does not condescend to forgive merely because it is the virtuous thing to do. He does so in an abandon of humble love for his stricken son. He sweeps him up in his loving embrace, and showers him with the forgiveness he is seeking. In our Gospel parable today the evil man refuses to forgive, after the good king has forgiven all his debts. That king is a picture of the great God, the Lord of heaven and earth — Christ’s eternal Father. God willingly forgives us our debts if we cast ourselves on his mercy — but he expects that we shall try to be like him and forgive others. We are commanded to be true children of our heavenly Father.
It can be said that divine revelation brought to the world not only a new idea of God but a new idea of man, made in his image. Just as at the heart of the new idea of God was love and forgiveness, so too at the heart of the idea of man which heaven announced was a love which expresses itself in mercy and forgiveness. The good man is the man who forgives not seven times, but seventy-seven times. He must forgive always, and from the heart. Thus did the king forgive the servant who was impossibly indebted to him, and thus does God forgive us. We must we do the same for one another. Let us make this our ambition for love of Christ, to forgive without stint and to the end.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: (Matthew 18:21-35)
Forgiveness
One of the very toughest requirements of the
Christian life is that of forgiveness. The disciple of Christ must be
prepared
to forgive without limit. The question is, how can this be done? Firstly, it can
be done out of love for Christ, and because he wants it of us. That he wants it
is plain across the pages of the Gospel. It is the point of our passage today,
which is the parable of the unforgiving servant. It is specifically required in
the Lord’s Prayer. Our desire to please our Lord and do what he commands should
lead us to perseveringly forgive injuries. Secondly, we can be helped to forgive
if we maintain a lively sense of the scale of offence against God that our own
sins represent. And this is where modern man fails — he lacks a sense of sin.
Our Lord shows the importance of this in the parable we are considering here
(Matthew 18:21-35).
The servant who owes ten thousand talents to his forgiving master refuses to
forgive his fellow servant who owes him one hundred denarii. Our debt to God
because of our sins is unimaginably enormous, yet he readily forgives. We have
no sense of the enormity of our deliberate sins? Perhaps this is because we have
little sense of the goodness and holiness of God. This will help us forgive
those who trespass against us.
What a wonderful thing to go to God at the end of life having forgiven everyone their offences against us. We will succeed in doing this if we aim to do just this every single day — and the end of every day to forgive everyone.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Take
your plan of mortifications to your spiritual director, for him to monitor
them. But to monitor will not always mean to diminish. It can also mean
increasing them, if he thinks fit. Either way, accept his advice.
(The Forge, no.410)
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Wednesday of the third week in Lent A-1
Prayers today: Lord, direct my steps as you have promised, and let no evil hold me in its power. (Ps 118:133)
Lord, during this Lenten season nourish us with your word of life and make us one in love and prayer. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, …
(March 30) St. Peter Regalado (1390-1456)
Peter lived at a very busy time. The Great Western Schism (1378-1417) was settled at the Council of Constance (1414-1418). France and England were fighting the Hundred Years’ War, and in 1453 the Byzantine Empire was completely wiped out by the loss of Constantinople to the Turks. At Peter’s death the age of printing had just begun in Germany, and Columbus's arrival in the New World was less than 40 years away. Peter came from a wealthy and pious family in Valladolid, Spain. At the age of 13, he was allowed to enter the Conventual Franciscans. Shortly after his ordination, he was made superior of the friary in Aguilar. He became part of a group of friars who wanted to lead a life of greater poverty and penance. In 1442 he was appointed head of all the Spanish Franciscans in his reform group. Peter led the friars by his example. A special love of the poor and the sick characterized Peter. Miraculous stories are told about his charity to the poor. For example, the bread never seemed to run out as long as Peter had hungry people to feed. Throughout most of his life, Peter went hungry; he lived only on bread and water. Immediately after his death on March 31, 1456, his grave became a place of pilgrimage. Peter was canonized in 1746. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Deuteronomy 4: 5-9; Psalm 147; Matthew 5: 17-19
Do not think that I have come to abolish the
Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell
you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not
the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these
commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the
kingdom of heaven, but whoever puts into practice and teaches these commands
will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5: 17-19)
Christ and the Scriptures
Let us think of that forlorn Sunday morning, the
first day of the week following a most sombre Sabbath, when two men were walking
from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. They were joined by a stranger. We know
the sequel. The two explained to him that “Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty
in deed and word before God and the people” had been delivered up to death by
“the chief priests and our rulers,” who had him crucified. This was a great
prophet! It was a catastrophic
outcome, and the light had gone from their lives.
Now, what had led to this terrible event? Pilate, we are told, saw very clearly
that it was due to envy that Jesus had been handed over to him. But we know from
the pages of the Gospel that their accusation was that he was leading the people
astray. Time and again he rejected their interpretation of the Law and the
Prophets. They repeatedly attacked his flouting of what they required for the
observance of the Sabbath rest. He did and said things which went counter to the
inspired writings on God himself — he forgave sins, and he called God his own
Father. He was looming as the very centre of revealed religion, claiming supreme
authority in all that pertained to God. In a word, their charge — or pretext,
for it was inspired by an implacable envy — was that he did not respect the Law
and the Prophets. He was therefore a spurious prophet, with some saying he was
in league with the demons. In Deuteronomy 18: 20 we read that the false prophet
who presumes to speak in God’s name shall die. Now, to all of this — apart from
the witness of his own manifest holiness — our Lord replies in the words of
today’s Gospel, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the
truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least
stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is
accomplished” (Matthew 5: 17-19). Our Lord loved the Law and the Prophets — they
were the work of the Holy Spirit. As that walk to Emmaus continued, our Lord
would use the beloved Scriptures to illustrate the true path of the Messiah.
Our Lord’s love for and repeated use of the Scriptures ought inspire in us a love for the Holy Scriptures. Week after week at Nazareth during those years of his childhood, his youth and manhood, he went to the Sabbath to hear the reading of the Scriptures. Let us imagine him accompanying his mother and foster-father to the village Synagogue, listening to the readings and to the comment on them. Little did the people of the village know who they had in their midst! Then once his public ministry began, he in his turn Sabbath after Sabbath spoke in the Synagogues, reading the Scriptures and speaking on their meaning. We are referring here to his reading the Law and the Prophets, and commenting on their true meaning. Of this, of course, he was the Master without peer. Time and again his enemies fiercely pounded him with questions, attempting to trap him in what he was saying. Their questions ranged widely. Which among the vast number of commandments in the Scriptures is the greatest? He answered without hesitation, and won praise. How could there be a resurrection, if it meant that a woman could be married to as many as seven husbands in the life to come? It reached a point where, we are told, they asked him no more questions. He was unconquerable in the area of revealed religion. All that the Temple aristocracy and their associates could fall back on was secret scheming. Any confrontation with him in the presence of the people was hopeless. The point I am making here, though, is our Lord’s love for and absolute mastery of the inspired writings. Further, he situated his own mission within their tradition. There was no break from them, no replacement of them, no doing away with Moses and the Prophets. He was in their line, but he it was whose mission was to fulfill their promise. The mighty expectation which they had set in train under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was to be fulfilled in him. They, then, illustrate him. They light up his person and his mission — and we know this because our Lord himself used the Law and the Prophets to explain himself and his life, death and resurrection. In principle, they foretold it all.
Let us strive to know, love and to live by the Scriptures with the mind of Jesus Christ. St Paul writes, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Christ prayed and taught with the Scriptures in his hand. We have in our hands both the Old Testament which Christ himself used, and the New Testament which is his word. Let us love the word of God, looking on it as Søren Kierkegaard once wrote, as a letter to us from a dear friend. That Friend is God, Father, Son and Spirit. Christ fulfilled the Old Testament, and the inspired record of this fulfilment is the New. Let us never take the Scriptures for granted, nor allow them to remain long unopened.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection:
(Matthew 5:17-19)
Christ the perfect Man
Our Lord tells us that he has not come to abolish
the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. He is the fulfilment of all that
God has revealed for man. He is the perfect Man, the One in whom there is
nothing lacking in respect to whatever God wants of us. The good news is that
not only do we have this astounding model before us as a concrete historical
figure, but he has given us the wherewithal to become like him at the level of
our innermost being. Christ lives now, and we can be truly like him. The purpose
of life is to be thus transformed. It is through the power of Christ’s grace and
the Sacrament of Baptism that we become like Christ. The transformation has
begun, but much work lies ahead.
Let us take up the work of seeking perfection, seeking to be like the perfect Man. Now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
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We
can say with Saint Augustine that our evil passions tug at our garments,
dragging us down. At the same time we are aware of great, noble and pure
ambitions within our hearts, and know that a struggle is going on. If with the
grace of God, you make use of the ascetical means: if you seek to have the
presence of God, if you look for mortifications and — don’t be afraid — penance,
then you will make progress, you will find peace and victory will be yours.
(The Forge, no.411)
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Thursday of the third week of Lent A-1
Prayers today: I am the Saviour of all people, says the Lord. Whatever their troubles, I will answer their cry, and I will always be their Lord.
Father, help us to be ready to celebrate the great paschal mystery. Make our love grow each day as we approach the feast of our salvation. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, ...
(March 31) St. Stephen of Mar Saba (d. 794)
A "do not disturb" sign helped today's saint find holiness and peace. Stephen of Mar Saba was the nephew of St. John Damascene, who introduced the young boy to monastic life beginning at age 10. When he reached 24, Stephen served the community in a variety of ways, including guest master. After some time he asked permission to live a hermit's life. The answer from the abbot was yes and no: Stephen could follow his preferred lifestyle during the week, but on weekends he was to offer his skills as a counsellor. Stephen placed a note on the door of his cell: "Forgive me, Fathers, in the name of the Lord, but please do not disturb me except on Saturdays and Sundays." Despite his calling to prayer and quiet, Stephen displayed uncanny skills with people and was a valued spiritual guide. His biographer and disciple wrote about Stephen: "Whatever help, spiritual or material, he was asked to give, he gave. He received and honoured all with the same kindness. He possessed nothing and lacked nothing. In total poverty he possessed all things." Stephen died in 794.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Jeremiah 7: 23-28; Psalm 94; Luke 11: 14-23
Jesus was driving out a demon
that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the
crowd was amazed. But some of them said, By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he
is driving out demons. Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. Jesus
knew their thoughts and said to them: Any kingdom divided against itself will be
ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided
against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I
drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom
do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I
drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.
But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour
in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. He who is not with me is
against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.
(Luke 11: 14-23)
The great fight
I remember watching an interview on television with
a prominent historian of war. That was his speciality: the history of wars. The
interview in question followed the great attack by al-Qaeda terrorists on the
United States on September 11, 2001. They hijacked four passenger airliners and
crashed them into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and into a field near
Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 victims and the 19 hijackers died in the
attacks. I seem to recall that the historian set the attacks within
the
traditional Islamic method of war, which was raiding. He saw its roots in the
old Arabian tradition of caravan raiding. I only mention this as an instance of
a feature of the history of kingdoms and empires, which is war. When we think of
the rise and fall of the regimes of history, we necessarily think of wars.
Kingdoms war against kingdoms, and the victors prevail for a while till overcome
in war by another kingdom. There are numerous factors contributing to the
decline of kingdoms, and war is one of them. Now, the plan of God for the
redemption of mankind is also described by the inspired writers in terms of a
kingdom — a kingdom that will prevail over other kingdoms. It was promised to
King David that his dynasty would never end. It would be an eternal Kingdom,
which in the event proved to be a puzzle in view of the destruction and
subjection of the people of God to foreign domination. Nevertheless, the
conviction remained that Israel in some sense would prevail. A Messiah was
coming — and there was in the “air” of classical times talk of a great king
arising in the East. In the second book of Daniel, the prophet Daniel interprets
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the succeeding kingdoms, and that there will be a
fourth kingdom, strong as iron; it shall break in pieces and subdue all these
others, just as iron breaks in pieces and crushes everything else (2: 40). The
God of heaven “will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed ...rather, it
shall break in pieces all these kingdoms..” (2: 44). In a sense, then, the
history of wars among kingdoms is a prefiguring and reminder of the most
decisive war of all — that in which God’s kingdom will prevail forever.
The Gospels give us the inspired record of the arrival of this kingdom of God. It will most assuredly prevail. Upon its arrival, war is declared. The contest which it faces is against one particular kingdom, the kingdom of Satan. That Satan’s is a kingdom is implied by our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel (Luke 11: 14-23). He had just cast out a demon, and the people stood amazed, but some of them — drawn from the religious leadership — said that it was by being in league with Satan that he was able to exorcise. At this, our Lord pointed out that were this the case, it would be fatal for Satan. “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub.” It would be an absurd method of war for Satan to set his colleagues against one another, were Christ his colleague. His “kingdom” would be ruined. This leads us to think of the methods of war employed by Satan. Our Lord once described him as a liar and a murderer from the beginning (John 8: 44). There we have two of his methods, falsehood and violence unto death. He sought to kill Christ, and by Christ’s permission, succeeded. He leads people and kingdoms into untruth and self-destruction by seeking power, wealth and self-indulgence. It is clear that Satan and his kingdom is a most important element behind the rise and fall of the kingdoms of this world — and Satan claimed as much during his exercise of tempting Christ in the wilderness. All these kingdoms you see are mine and I give them to whomsoever I please, he boasted. But Christ the King of kings and Lord of lords has arrived, and his effortless expulsion of the demon in today’s Gospel is a harbinger of what is to come, and of the final scene. Christ and his kingdom is the fulfilment of Daniel and all the prophets, but what are his methods? Herein we have the surprise of the ages. The weapons of Christ are obedience unto death, self-abnegation, abandonment to the will of the Father. These are signally new weapons which the world would call weaknesses. But they are the power of God. It was by being crucified that Jesus Christ gained an eternal victory.
In our Gospel passage today our Lord makes it clear that he is the stronger man. He attacks and defeats the one in possession, and takes away all his spoils. The one who refuses to gather with him will be scattered. But let us take note of the weapons our King uses, and ask for the grace to make them our own — for they alone will bring the victory. Let us put on the mind of Jesus Christ who, being rich from all eternity, became poor so that we might be rich. He humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross, and God raised him on high. So our sword is the Cross of Christ — let us carry it then, and be willing to stand with Jesus at Calvary.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Second reflection: (Luke 11:14-23)
The mystery of evil
In our Gospel scene
(Luke 11:14-23)
today, the all-holy Christ was accused of casting out a demon through being in
league with the prince of demons. This was said of the sinless One, whose spirit
was the Holy Spirit, and whose goodness was manifest to all. “Can any of you
convict me of sin?” he once challenged his enemies. In such a slur as this, we
have an instance of the mystery of sin and of its grossness. Behind it was
hatred for Christ. How can a person coming from the creative hand of the
all-holy God choose to hate his Lord? And Jesus is this Lord. Let us be warned,
then, as we contemplate this evil reaction to Jesus by some in the crowd. The
heart of man can be profoundly perverted and infested by sin. In one of her
visions St Teresa of Avila was shown her place in hell — where, she was thereby
warned, it was not impossible that she could finally be.
Let us then take up the work of unmasking, fighting, and overcoming the sin that lies deep within our own fallen heart. We must renounce this sin, and Satan with it, fight against any attachments to sin, and gather with Jesus. If we do not, we shall be scattered.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Custody
of the heart. That priest used to pray: “Jesus, may my poor heart be an
enclosed garden; may my poor heart be a paradise wherein you dwell; may by
Guardian Angel watch over it with a sword of fire and use it to purify every
affection before it comes into me. Jesus, seal my poor heart with the divine
seal of your Cross.”
(The Forge, no.412)
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