Weekly Reflection 122505AD

December 25, 2005AD

The Birth of the Messiah

Why Do We Celebrate?

The Jesus Movement gathers this weekend, as we have gathered for 1800 years, to celebrate today the Birth of the Messiah. God became human when the Second Person of the Trinity took flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary. What is that all about?

Father Karl Rahner wrote, in the mid-twentieth century, that each person needed to realize that the Holy Mystery of God is the answer to the human question of everybody. We discover who we truly are, when we realize God’s place as our Origin, our Sustainer and our final Goal. Everybody is oriented to Transcendence, to Mystery, to the Absolute. Everybody is created with a certain freedom, not an absolute freedom, but a freedom relativized by the freedom of everybody else. Everybody is, however, contingent. All that we are and have is a gift and/or the result of a gift to us, which none of us has a right to demand. Christ Jesus tells us that this is the human situation and that with His Help, we walk with and in and through Him each day.

Jesus teaches that everybody is a “work in progress”, a “text in travail”, a “mass of contradictions”. God is not finished refining us until we breathe our last breath in this life.

Into our human situation, compulsed and enmeshed in addictions that are too big for us to handle on our own, God has sent His Son to straighten out the chaos. We see in the life and death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ God’s plan for all creation fulfilled for all of us. Christ Jesus is the Archetype, the Paradigm the Exemplar of what every human person is called to be. Through our association with Him in the Church, the Christ Quantum becomes a reality for all of us and, through us, for everyone with whom we have dealings.

First and foremost, Christ Jesus was born into the world to teach us to participate in the Paschal Mystery with and through Him. Death and resurrection is the reality of the universe, dictated by a God Who loves us. Through His death and Resurrection, Jesus teaches us not to fear but to live reality in a transformed way. We learn with and through Him to “surrender, let go and trust” the Divine Mystery at work in your life this very moment. We learn “to bear the pain” that is part and parcel of every human life at one time or another. We learn that, in the end, “less is better” because “more clutters” our orientation to Transcendence, to Mystery, to the Absolute.

Christ Jesus teaches us to learn from Him as we live our lives. He teaches and imparts humility to those who care for it. Humility is the ability to remember ultimately that we are dust and, until dust, we shall return. He teaches and imparts obedience. Obedience is when we respond to the call of the Transcendent built into us whether we know it or not. Christ Jesus teaches and imparts the ability to pour ourselves out for others as He did. First and foremost, this means our families and our friends, but, in the long run, all men and women are family.

Mohandas Gandhi taught that the world that we envision at its best should be should be replicated in the way we live our lives each day. We should be, first, the type of person that all should be. Then, the paradox of Jesus’ words take on a deeper meaning. Yes, we realize that the Kingdom will not come in all its fullness in our lifetime and so we pray, “Thy Kingdom come”. However, we will understand that, yes, the Kingdom of God is already in our midst.

How much God loved us when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us! God gave the greatest gift of all to you and to me. No wonder Catholics celebrate! Let’s have a party! Merry Christmas. 122505AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 121805AD

Sunday, December 18, 2005AD

4^th Sunday of Advent

With God’s Help, She’s the First One

On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we salute Joseph and Mary. (Last year, St Joseph got special kudos; this year, we tip our hats to the Mother of Jesus.)

We hear the story of the Annunciation today. Vatican II said that the two principal titles attributed to Mary are accented in this Gospel, viz., Mary, the Mother of God, and Mary, the first disciple of Jesus to hear God’s Word, keep it in her heart.

Mary’s response to the mandate of the Archangel Gabriel indicates her (God-given) act of faith in which she consents to the call to discipleship and to give birth to the Son of God Most High. Mary surrendered, let go and trusted that God’s Word to her would be fulfilled with her words, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your Word.”

In different times and settings, God calls each of us to the same challenges. God’s Grace (the Holy Spirit) prompts us to agree to be servants of the Lord in our lives, different than Mary, and yet, similar.

We live today in a world dominated by the media (which dumbs down and hypes up news for us) on the evening news, if we even bother to watch. We live in a world that has bought into the middle-class, materialistic mirage that just so long as I have what I want and need, then, my life is fulfilled. We live in a world in which we assumed that military and violent solutions to real problems are a natural resource for people, just so long as one throws in the Name of Jesus every once in a while.

In the twentieth century, Mohandas Gandhi saw Jesus as an avatar of the Infinite and caught what Jesus spoke about in the Sermon on the Mount. However, he never was baptized because he felt that Christians did not take discipleship seriously enough, in large numbers, to warrant Gandhi’s baptism into Jesus Christ. He said that we should become, with God’s Help, the type of person that we want to see as our world population. He said that, if the whole world lived by an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, eventually, the world would be populated by blind people who could not eat corn on the cob. He said that the only religion that does not get the non-violent implications of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Christianity itself. Gandhi did not mince words.

In the 21st century, with God’s Help, we can challenge Gandhi’s accusation by following the example of Mary of Nazareth. God had a plan for her that was creative, life-enhancing, expansive, and abundant. With God’s Grace, Mary said yes to the plan. God has a plan for each of us, as well, that is creative, life- enhancing, expansive and abundant. God gives each of us the Grace to agree to God’s Intention for us. So, Vatican II said, we become disciples of the Lord. We become mothers of God, whenever we bring God to situations where God needs to be brought. What do we say to Gabriel? What do we say to Gandhi? What do we say to God? 121805AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 121105AD

Sunday, December 11. 2005AD

Third Sunday of Advent

Rejoice? Yes, Rejoice!!!!!

We celebrate this weekend Gaudete, viz., “Rejoice” Sunday. Our Scriptures this weekend are among the most upbeat in our three year cycle of Sunday readings. The great festival of Christmas and Epiphany, the Birth and Manifestation of the Messiah, is not far ahead. However, rather than just a birthday celebration, the gift of faith teaches us that Jesus is still coming to be, even now, but not yet!!

In this weekend’s first reading, we hear the words of Isaiah 61, which, St Luke tells us, was the Scripture that Jesus read on his inaugural appearance in Nazareth. Jesus said, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” St Luke reminds us that Jesus sent His Spirit as the fulfillment of His promise to remain with us.

This is important for us to call to mind today because of the reading that Jesus did that day in Nazareth. At the conclusion of our first reading today, we read, “As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, so will the Lord God (of Life) make justice and peace spring up before all the nations.”

We enter next week what, we hope, will not be a cold and snowy winter. It is important to remember that, in the meantime, the process which will burst forth in spring and summer is already underway in the earth. It doesn’t look that way, though.

The Spirit-filled Jesus assures His hearers, then and now, and yet to come, that the God of Life will triumph in the end. Life is stronger than death. Light is stronger than darkness.

How we need Jesus Christ’s reassurance now, more than ever. As some make preparations for war, we need encouraging words from Him.

Years ago, the euphemism, “collateral damage” became a new way of saying “civilian casualties.” (It became such a well-known term that it even became the title for a hit movie, starring a California politician, with lots of violence a few years later.)

Now, we hear of “pre-emptive strikes”, which Augustine and Aquinas might label as “a war of offense (aka first strike)”. In 1950, popes started to warn of “just means” with the use of ABC (atomic, biological and chemical) weapons as a reason to question the morality of war, according to the just war theory.

Our Catholic religion teaches that the God of Life will triumph. The gift of faith of Christ urges us to hope that, though some may delay God’s Plan now, God’s Will will be done.

Many are saying that the Third Millennium began on September 11, 2001. At the end what so many would describe as a “down year” in 2005, God is clever to offer us words that teach us to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the Will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test all; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.” 121105 AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 120405AD

Sunday, Dec 4, 2005AD -- 2^nd Sunday of Advent

Time Won’t Stand Still

One of the earliest Greek philosophers, Heraclitus, stated, “Panta rei”, “Everything changes”. He saw the reality of impermanence in creation. In fact, he made the statement, “No person could stand in the same river twice”. Each of us is evolving into the person that God wants us to be; the water constantly moves on to the sea.

Yet, from the Second Letter of St Peter, we hear “With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day…But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.” Therefore, as Catholics should know that everything is changing and that things are not always as they seem, Jesus expects His disciples to behave accordingly.

The Creator has built into creation the process of life, death and resurrection. Human living is a serious process and sadly, we tend to get into lockstep with conventional wisdom and, we become numb and non-stop and not integrated in our lives as we move hither and yon at an ever more rapid pace. (A big question these days is “What do I have to do next?”) Sadly, this Advent seems to be no exception.

Both St John the Baptist and St Peter warn us that we lose sight of what is really important. Just as Greek philosophers reasoned 2500 years ago, we are not here forever. We come and we go and that is the universal process. The Baptist’s message on the banks the Jordan was full of provisos. If you snap out of it and see reality as God sees it, if you march to a different drummer, if you try to live the alternate worldview that God offers, then things change. God might give you another chance. But, no guarantees from the Baptist.

However, St Peter’s view is modified by the Christ Quantum. The three provisos remain the same. However, the promise of salvation that Jesus is guaranteed. The future is in process, and One Certainty is that a loving and life-giving God is hurtling us into that Future. The irony is, sometimes, things do not seem to be any different than before; yet, at other times, things change radically, coming like a thief in the night.

Sadly, we all get caught up in the madness associated with this time of year. We buy into the compulsion of the time brainwashed and programmed by the media that the newer is always the better. A psychologist wondered if the frenzy of Black Friday ’05 (and now Cyber Monday) with its resultant stampedes and might, subconsciously, augment the value of the coveted new gift because not only did one have it first, the buyer stampeded to get it.

We experience the two hands of God in our lives. The right hand gives us all the blessings, to which many feel a sense of entitlement. The left hand of God gives a share in the painful mysteries of life as well. Still, both are a part of Life, the greatest Good.

Heraclitus and John the Baptist and Peter all remind us that God is moving us through Life. We are so busy that we have no time to blink an eye. Isn’t it sad? 120405AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 112705AD

November 27, 2005AD – First Sunday of Advent

It’s Always Advent

The world was so taken with the trauma of the death of the hurricanes and earthquakes experienced this year.

There is a sad contrast in our own nation. We are becoming jaded to the frequency and the regularity of the deaths of American service people in Iraq and the lack of the presence of government officials at funerals, busy about other things. Even more startling and shocking is the rush to put a Michael Jackson-like story on page one at any time when the people of our nation should be taken with more substantial and formative issues.

We spoke together during the summer of what has been called the “N-syndrome”, viz., that characterize contemporary American society. It has been said that our culture has been non-stop, moving at 101 mph. (So many of us are always on the go that we literally and figuratively run out of gas.) It has been said that our culture has become numb. We are moving so fast that we get numb to the real problems and situations confronting people around us and in the world. It has been said that our culture has become narcissistic, that we are so self-occupied that we cannot be bothered with large problems around us. All of this tends to make us nervous and/or neurotic. Living in such a reality takes its toll upon the individual and the family and the society in general. All three realities are intrinsically related. Sooner or later, a problem in one area will cause problems in related areas.

We begin the season of Advent this weekend. Yes, Jesus came in history 2000 years ago. However, whenever we listen to His Gospel and try, with His Help, to live and to implement His Gospel in our lives, our family’s life, our community life, our world’s life, Jesus comes again to us. May He come into our lives again and again. It should always be Advent.

20^th French theologian, Simone Weil, said that her favorite line in the Bible was “We wait in joyful hope.” We can always prepare the Way for the Lord when we leave space for Him in our lives. Sadly, the time of preparing the way of the Lord becomes another example of the N-syndrome, characterized by non-stop, numbing preparations by which we find ourselves trapped. To prepare the Way for the Lord demands of us silence, solitude and space, most of which in all three areas are at a premium especially during the pre-Christmas rush (aka Advent.)

We are all addicted, entrapped, enmeshed and compulsed during the frenetic weeks ahead. Try to make a little way for the Lord in the month ahead by doing something counter-cultural. Ask God in the silence for the gift of fidelity, expectation, patience and longing. Our God is the God of Surprises. One of the great surprises is that what we anticipate is already here! Advent is a great opportunity to tune out the cacophony and bedlam. Remember Jesus is the Reason for the Season, not the economy, nor status anxiety, no matter what they tell us. 112705 AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 112005AD

November 20, 2005AD – Christ the King

Whatsoever You Do…

Catholics got on the bandwagon late in the nineteenth century when Pope Leo XIII published Rerum Novarum, about the effects of the Industrial Age in Europe and North America. Since then, Catholic social and economic teaching continues to unfold. More than one non-Catholic has commented on how they wished that their religious communities were as clarion as the modern Roman Catholic Church.

This weekend, as we conclude the Church Year of Grace, 2005AD, it is appropriate that we hear the last of Jesus’ parables in Mtt 25.31-46, spoken just before His Death and Resurrection.

The parable of the sheep and the goats sums up much of what Jesus has been teaching in recent weeks. We recall that God’s priorities come before Caesar’s. We recall the reality of ethical monotheism and the global ethic (viz., at least, all could agree to the Golden Rule.). We recall the use of our talents (not for self-improvement, but for the quality of life of others less fortunate.) We recall the truth that we know not the day nor the hour.

In our own nation, Catholics celebrate the following seven core values: 1) the sacredness of all human life, from womb to tomb, from Park Row to Skid Row to Death Row; 2) the primacy of the family as the basis of society; 3) the need for solidarity with all the people of the world, viz., a global ethic, based on the Golden Rule as a starting point; 4)the need for subsidarity, solutions to problems to start at local level and work their way up if greater help is needed ; 5) concern for the ecosystem; 6) preferential option for the poor; 7) the just relationships among labor, management and government.

Blessed John XXIII, Bishop of Rome, from 1958-1963, was challenged by a prominent American Catholic pundit when, in 1961, he published one of his two great social encyclicals, Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher) . The pundit wrote a major article entitled Mater, Si, Magistra,No!

He, along with others, challenged the movement triggered by the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Pope Leo XIII that Blessed John was continuing. When Blessed John was asked why the church was moving into new questions that the Church had not confronted before, Blessed John’s response was, “Catholics know more now!”

Many non-Catholics comment on the vitality of American Catholic social teaching and they say that it is the envy of their own religious communities. Sadly, many Catholics do not know or want to know this developing trend in Catholic social and economic teaching, possibly because of the challenging moral questions that it poses. In this last parable of the Church year, Jesus draws a picture of final judgment. It is incumbent upon American Catholics (because of our numbers and our place in the world) to acquaint ourselves and to celebrate what Jesus tells us is the criterion of judgment for us and for all. God’s gifts make demands. Tell the children. 112005AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 111305AD

November 13, 2005AD – 33^rd Sunday, Greentime

Give God the Glory

During these waning days of our church year as we observe the month of November (Remember for Catholics), our Sunday readings focus increasingly on the end of time for me As we heard, we “know not the day nor the hour, so be prepared.”

In our Gospel today, we hear the parable of the talents, in which Jesus reminds us that evaluation is part of the process and that how we use our gifts is part of God’s evaluation. What might this mean?

Catholics realize that Catholic living is more than devotion to God. Jesus fused together for us the two great commandments. (In Western civilization as well, from the beginning of Greek thought, people were known as social, political beings who thrive in healthy relationship with one another.)

Therefore, when Jesus talks about using our talents, He must mean more than indulging status anxiety by getting into a good college or getting a great job or living in a posh house. St Irenaeus said, 1800 years ago, “God’s greatest glory is a human person fully alive.” In other words, use one’s gifts.

However, it has been the Latin American theologians who saw a deeper spin in St Irenaeus’. They stress, about what Jesus said about the fusion of the great commandment, then we are to use our gifts and talents so that others are fully alive. (In the process, we get life too!!)

Pope John Paul II spoke on innumerable occasions to young people about “opening their minds and hearts to Christ Jesus.” Then, he stressed the need for young people to use their talents and gifts for the betterment of the lives of the less fortunate than we. God gives you quality of life; use the gift to bring quality of life to those less fortunate. God gives you intelligence; use the gift to bring quality of life to those less fortunate. God gives you affluence; use the gift to bring quality of life to those less fortunate. The list is endless.

Hopefully, Catholics, old and young, should realize that 1) life will get tough; 2) we are not the center of the universe; 3) we are part of a God-ordained cosmic process called Life that is bigger than we are.

Today, Jesus reminds us that we are not here forever and that human living is serious social business. He reminds us by joining in logical succession that the Great Commandment comes into play evaluating the meaningfulness of life. In our Gospel next Sunday, God’s judgment is based on our response to the least of the sisters and brothers.

Citing St Irenaeus, Pope John Paul and the Latin American theologians (and maybe, Aristotle as well), God’s greatest glory is the human person fully alive. We are all called to be givers, and not only takers. God’s gifts bring demands. How will we (particularly the young) use our gifts and talents to bring quality of life to those less fortunate? Jesus says that is what real living is all about!! What do you think? 111305AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 110605AD

November 6, 2005AD --32^nd Sunday, Greentime

Angels or Chicken Soup?

The great 20^th century German Jesuit theologian, Karl Rahner, wrote that each Catholic of the 21^st century had to take quite seriously the reality that each person has transcendence hardwired into his or her humanity. Each person is a question that only Transcendence can ultimately answer.

Sadly, but realistically, we realize that we live in a world that “eases God out” (EGO) and trivializes the Transcendent Impulse built into our humanity. The Episcopalian lawyer, Stephen Carter, who teaches at Yale, wrote a classic book many years ago, The Culture of Disbelief, which was recognized as a classic by many.

Both Karl Rahner and Stephen Carter would catch our responsorial psalm today, Psalm 63, “My soul is thirsting for You, O Lord my God.” reflecting a perennial human yearning, viz., the yearning for transcendence. St Paul wrote that our bodies groan for fulfillment. St Augustine wrote, “You created our hearts, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” St Thomas Aquinas spoke of the call to Mystery, to see Life as Something bigger than we are, but of Which we are all a part. Fr Karl Rahner described this yearning for transcendence in each person, Which is God’s Call to us by the term “transcendent, supernatural existential” as constituent of every human life. French Jesuit, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, wrote of the X-factor in all people, the call to union with the Creator and creation.

Canadian theologian, Eckhardt Tolle, recently published a book, The New Earth, (New York: Dutton, 2005AD) in which he stresses the need for all of us to realize that God is within each and everyone of us and that each and everyone of us is within God. He writes that our egoic self (in which we tend to focus on self-image based on past experiences, particularly hurts, and future anticipations, particularly anxieties,) as something which blocks out our realization that God is in us now and that we are in God now. Catholics would recognize what he means by our traditional doctrine of the Divine Indwelling or that each of us is a temple of the Holy Spirit (Remember that one??)

He describes the core of the Ego (individual and collective) as well as the various roles in which we indulge our Ego (how we would like to come across and how we feel we would like to come across). He describes how we can break free from the pain-bodies that constitute so much ego identity. In indulging our Ego, we Ease God Out (EGO)

We need to live maturely with childhood needs that we all carry throughout life (security, esteem and control). Sadly, not every individual, family and/or group always find that maturity. Tolle’s point is that God keeps us secure, loves us absolutely and is in control of our destinies. What need have we for more? Yet, infantile impulses still direct many individuals, families and groups. Tolle’s book can help mollify these drives. God thirsts for us and our souls are thirsting for the Lord. His book tells us why.

Tolle’s book is not perfect. He claims not to belong to any particular religious tradition, although he is so Catholic in his thought that it is hard not to see. In addition, his namesake, Meister Eckhardt, a German Dominican, in the thirteenth century taught a similar idea. (Who would name a child “Eckhardt”?)

Don’t buy angel books or chicken soup books. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Tolle’s book, or his earlier work, The Power of Now. 110605AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 103005AD

Sunday, October 30, 2005AD – 31^st Sunday, Greentime

Are You Talkin’ to Me?

We know from the Gospels that Jesus and some of the religious authorities of His time locked horns on several occasions. As we reach Jerusalem with Jesus and the 12 in Matthew’s Gospel, we recall the expulsion of the money changers from the temple which occurred shortly after that Palm Sunday procession into the city. Recall that, during this event, Jesus was proclaimed as “David’s Son” and “Hosannas” were proclaimed to celebrate His arrival into the Holy City. The gospels which we have been hearing for the past several Sundays involved a challenge to what Jesus was doing from various segments of the religious elite.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus goes to work on the scribes and Pharisees, who tried to interpret the Law of Moses for the people in an overly-scrupulously effort (from their own viewpoint) to guarantee the stability of the Jewish religion. (It is important to know that whatever Jesus said in the confrontation reported in today’s Gospel was past down through several generations before the Author of the First Gospel composed Mtt 23, whence our Gospel today arises.) During that time, in 70 AD, the Roman armies had destroyed the city of Jerusalem, including the Jerusalem Temple. As a result, after the cataclysm of 70 AD, there were only two viable alternatives for Jews in a “temple-less” setting. 1) The Judaism of the scribes and Pharisees had now morphed into rabbinical Judaism. 2) The Jewish Messiah People (aka Christians) who followed Jesus of Nazareth were still a force within Judaism. (In addition, this group now had affiliations with Gentiles who were, in other parts of the world, accepting Jesus as Lord.

There was an obvious clash between these two remaining Jewish groups after 70 AD. The scribes and Pharisees did all in the power to purify and strengthen Judaism in the post-70 AD days. Since so many Gentiles had now become affiliated with Christianity and since Christians were taking Jesus’ Gospel of non-violence seriously, relations were strained between rabbinical Judaism and Christianity. This strain is reflected in today’s Gospel.

It is important for us to remember the perennial nature of Jesus’ denunciations of those who use religion in any way for self-aggrandizement. For the Jewish authorities then, the important thing was to maintain at all costs the Jewish traditions. In the contemporary world, all “religious” people are under a caution from this Gospel today. Whenever the religion becomes an idol in itself, Jesus’ denunciations start to kick in again. To paraphrase Jesus in another place, “Religion exists for the human person; the human person does not exist for religion.” In these traumatic days, it is important for all, (practicing Catholics, included) to heed Jesus warnings to the religionists of His time. Look at it either way. We are either sinful converts or converted sinners. All of us!! 103005 AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 102305AD

Sunday October 23, 2005AD – 30^th Sunday, Greentime

A Thought to Take to Heart

We hear Jesus’ response to the question of the Great Commandment. Jesus gives a unique spin in His response, when He plugs into a tenet of what should be a “global ethic”. It is wise to listen to Jesus and hear Him again, maybe, for the first time. Jesus combines 2 of the best known Hebrew scriptures. He quotes the Shema Y’israel” where the faithful Jew acknowledges that God is God alone Who demands a total response for all.

Reflecting more and more on Jesus’ Gospel, we learn that He teaches us that God is in us now and we are in God now. We call this the Divine Indwelling. How much our fast paced culture moves at a non-stop, noisy and numbing pace that we tend not even to have the time to reflect that every moment of life is a religious moment because God is always in us and we are always in God. There is Transcendence, Infinity and Mystery in human existence. As one theologian said, “The human person is a question that only the Mystery of God can answer adequately.”

A Christian monk named Dorotheos spoke of what has been called “Dorotheos’ circle”. The monk describes our lives as a circle in which God is the central, focal point. All of us begin our lives on the circumference of the circle. As we draw closer to the Divine Center, we draw closer to all the other spots of the circle as well. The reverse is also true. The closer we draw to the other spots of the circle, the closer we draw to the Divine Center.

Maybe, this is why Jesus fused the Shema Y’israel with the great commandment to “love one’s neighbor as oneself.” By loving our neighbor’s, we draw closer to God.

The three great religions of the West all contain a variation of what Catholics call the Golden Rule from the Sermon on the Mount in St Matthew’s Gospel. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. For this is the Law and the prophets.” (Mtt 7.12). In the Jewish Talmud, the pious Jew is told, “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.” Islamic teaching is similar, “Do unto all men as they should do unto you, and reject for others what you would reject for yourselves.” Similar versions of the Golden Rule appear in Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism and Taoism.

Even if all religions cannot agree on basic theologies, certainly they all agree on a basic “global ethic”. It seems clear that all want to be treated with basic humanity; therefore, it is incumbent upon all to treat others with basic humanity as well.

It will take nations and ethnic groups longer to arrive at this consensus, but please God, for the sake of the future of our human family, we have to try. One European theologian said that if, after their turbulent history, especially two debacles in the twentieth century, France and Germany can get along, then so can other traditional rivals.

Personally, each of us can commit each day to heed Jesus’ fusion of Love of God and Love of Neighbor. It is hope for the future. Try, with His Help, to live the Shema and the Global Ethic as the fusion or integration of our own lives. It makes sense to love the Creator by loving and treating creation as we would be treated. 102305AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 101605AD

Sunday, October 16, 2005AD -- 29^th Sunday, Green

To God What Belongs to God

It was risky business for Jesus to proclaim the Coming of the Kingdom of the God (the God of Life). Such talk raised the hackles of the ruling power of Rome. It ultimately brought Him to Good Friday (and Easter Sunday)!

For the Pharisees, (liberal) Jewish laymen to join forces with the Herodians (lackeys of Rome’s flunkey King Herod), Jesus must have upset many folks across the spectrum. What Jesus proclaimed in His famous teaching today is that what is Caesar’s is Caesar’s, but WHAT IS GOD’S IS GOD’S. By the juxtaposition of Caesar with God, God clearly is the One about Whom Jesus is concerned. God (the God of Life) Alone is Absolute. All else is relativized by the God of Life.

The implications of this confronted St Ambrose of Milan and St Augustine of Hippo back in the beginning of the fifth century. They tried to grapple with the question of the relationship between the demands of God and the demands of an officially Catholic Roman Empire (after 395 AD). What happens when the Catholic Empire makes demands that possibly conflict with the demands of the God of Life? How does one render to Caesar’s what is Caesar’s if it conflicts with rendering to God what is God’s?

The just war theory was used in 2002 AD by the Pope John Paul II in correspondence with government leaders on the Iraq question, took shape in response to the legitimate question raised then and now.

Sts Ambrose and Augustine taught that for a war to be just all the following conditions had to be met: 1) it must be a war of self-defense; 2) it must be a last resort; 3) it must be declared by a legitimate authority; 4) the good accomplished must exceed any harm done; 5) there must be a reasonable chance for victory; 6) just means must be used.

In 1950, Pope Pius XII spoke of the dangers of ABC (atomic, biological, chemical) Warfare In the modern era. In addition, Blessed Pope John XXIII wrote in Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) on Holy Thursday, 1963, “In this age of ours which prides itself on such much development, it is irrational to think that modern warfare is an apt means of settling dispute”. Pope Paul VI spoke his famous words at his United Nations speech in October, 1965, “No more war, war never again.” Pope John Paul II spoke often about war in the modern world. He said, “In the past it was possible to destroy your opponent’s town. Now, you can destroy your neighbor’s planet.”

In the past year, Catholics have commented on the startling relevance of Sunday readings to what was happening in the world and how to react. It continues today.

In 2005AD let us pause and re-evaluate our attitudes. What does it mean today to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and TO G0OD WHAT IS GOD’S? 101605AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 100905AD

Sun, Oct 9, 2005AD -- 28^th Sunday, Greentime

“In Christ Jesus” Means More Than We Know

“In Christ Jesus” is a term which St Paul uses over 150 times (twice this weekend) in his letters. What exactly does the term mean to St Paul and his adult audience who heard his letters proclaimed in house churches in the 1st century as well as here in Armonk in the 21^st century?

Humble folks realize that the more we know, the more we know that we don’t know. This is known as the medieval doctrine of ignorantia docta , viz., “learned ignorance”. (Oriental traditions call the concept “Beginner’s Wisdom”.) When someone tells you that he or she has cracked the language about the Infinite or our relationship with the Infinite, be careful! All language about the Mystery of God is ultimately inadequate. Humble folks know that liberating truth.

Quoting St Paul, Pope Benedict writes that Jesus is the Exemplar of Humanity, the Last Adam. As a result, the blueprint of Jesus exists in each person. Members of the Jesus Movement are called to lives of inclusive election, by which we proclaim the permeation of Creation by Christ Jesus to all whom we meet.

Maybe, this is what St Paul means so frequently when he tells his Jesus Movement communities that they exist in Christ Jesus. Maybe, this is what the Christian Church means when we use the triad expression, “Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ.”

In the week gone by, the Church saluted St Francis, who, in the opinion of many, caught the vibrational field of Christ Jesus and proclaimed it so authentically that even after 800 years, the man from Assisi’s prophetic attitude continues to evolve.

During the Middle Ages, apparently enough people joined the Third Order of St Francis, a lay community that lived in the world that evolving city-states had to take into account that large numbers of their citizenry were sharing an alternate worldview, the vision of the Kingdom of God, proclaimed by Jesus and updated by the Franciscan Movement.

In the 21^st century, each of us has all it takes (with God’s Help) to be Honorary Franciscans as well. Let us hope that most Catholics really do want to live peacefully and non-violently with one another, never returning injury for injury. Let us hope that most Catholics really want economic justice for one another and that we don’t blame the poor for being poor. Let us hope that most Catholics really want to live with all men and women as brothers and sisters, not as stratified societies based on status, class, wealth, race, or ethnicity. Finally, let us hope that most Catholics really want to do something about the fact that the ocean is slowly heating up around us and that more hurricanes and thinner ozone layers in the future might be caused by global warming.

Catholic ranks are already filled with men and women like this. We are all already “Honorary Franciscans”, Third Order Members even now.

St Francis caught the vibrational field in Christ Jesus through and with and in Whom we all live. We can catch Jesus’ vibes as well by paying attention more to the implications of the adult message that Jesus proclaims and the mediation of that message by people like St Paul and St Francis. As a simple sign of our intention, join those in our parish who pray the Prayer of St Francis at least 5x a day. Catch the Spirit! Feel the Vibes of Jesus! With God’s Help, go for the Big Picture! 100905AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 100205AD

Sunday, October 2, 2005AD -- 27^th Sunday, Greentime

Don’t Worry, Be Happy???

As St Paul speaks to the adult Christian community in Philippi, he could have used a song made popular a few years ago by Bobby McFaren, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. The song is still popular and still cheers us up. However, how many take its lyrics seriously? Also, does St Paul mean the same thing in his words to the Catholics of Philippi (and Armonk?)

St Paul understood that life in Christ is an ongoing project. In our early life, we get our “roots and wings” from our families and church and communities. In early adulthood, most of us “build our tower” and make our mark in life. In later adulthood, we must make “leaps of faith again and again” into the vicissitudes of life.

St Paul understood at all stages of life, Catholics need to hear the Gospel again and again. It is not that the Gospel changes; it is that we change as we journey through life. As Pope John Paul said, “We all need to hear the Gospel again – for the first time.”

The central mystery of the universe is the Paschal Mystery. Christ Jesus, the archetype of creation, experienced the Paschal Mystery, viz., death and Resurrection in Christ. Through Him, Catholics (and all others, although they probably don’t realize it) experience death and Resurrection again and again and again. All, especially Catholics, need to “leap in faith”, to “let go and let God”, to “bear the pains that are a part of every life” (even in the American Dream).

In the midst of life in Philippi and in Armonk, St Paul tells us, “Christ Jesus is near “. We recall Jesus’ own Words a few Sundays ago, when He says, “Wherever two or more gather in My Name, I am present with them.” Indeed, His nickname in St Matthew’s Gospel is “Emmanuel, God is with us”. Catholics believe that these words are true on good days as well as bad.

Curiously, we hear from Paul that two women were feuding in the Philippian Catholic community. He tells them to lighten up. We know that these folks also experienced alienation from outsiders as well as other turmoils in life. We can safely assume that they experienced disappointments, rejections, absurdities, fatal events in the life of family and friends, as well as the other turmoils of life. Sadly, we know from other Pauline letters that adult Catholics experienced in their relationships, at times, addictions, infidelity, and abuse. Yet, St Paul tells these folks in Christ to “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God…will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.

The fact is that these adult Philippian Catholics did not laugh St Paul out of town. They preserved this letter, as well as their Philippian Catholic Community, who still were around long after St Paul was martyred in Roma. These adult Catholics in Christ took Paul’s words seriously and with God’s Help, tried to live their everyday lives in the realization that in all things, “Christ Jesus is near” and that in Christ Jesus, they experienced the Paschal Mystery of death and Resurrection in Christ.

Both Jesus and St Paul saw the Gospel to be a Way of Life for grownups. Probably, as Philippian Christians rode their chariots home from the Eucharist each Saturday evening, they tried to explain Paul’s words to their children through their words and through their actions. In and with and through Christ, we have to do the same. 100205AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 092505AD

September 25, 2005 AD – 26^th Sunday, Greentime

Our Attitude in Christ Shapes Our Action in Christ

In the near future, we will be enhancing our physical plant with the re-paving of our walkways around the “domus ecclesiae”, “the home of the church” and with moving of Mary’s shrine to a more convenient venue, near our vestibule. The Church of St Patrick in Armonk is the community of persons baptized in Christ (the “Jesus Movement here in Armonk) (those appear on one of the postcards which are souvenirs of our parish.)

However, we realize that our parish campus, particularly our parish church, is only a secondary point of our life in Christ Jesus. The most significant place is our own homes, our domestic churches. Our parish church becomes a meeting place, a “church-ing” (as a verb) place for all your domestic churches, viz., your own homes, as we re-enforce one another as we gather each weekend.

Around the year 55AD, in the city of Philippi (in present day Macedonia), the Church of the Jesus Movement met on the Lord’s Day in their domus ecclesiae, probably the house of an affluent Christian. Today, St Paul quotes a hymn that apparently the Jesus Movement sang there to Christ Jesus, in which the career of Jesus was juxtaposed to the career of Adam and Eve, our first parents.

The point of the hymn (known as the Carmen Christi) is that Jesus lived a human life the way that the Creator wants all of us to live our own humanities in Christ Jesus. Recall that the temptation to which Adam and Eve succumbed was the temptation to “be like God”. They opted to disobey God through the subtle suspicious suggestion that maybe, one can go one’s own way and that we really do not need God. (One wag suggested that the god our first parents opted to follow was the god, EGO (an acronym for “Easing God Out”).

On the other hand, Jesus did not cling to His equality with God but took the form of a slave (with God as the Ultimate Master). He was like God (in the parlance of Adam & Eve’s temptation) but chose for our sake to live a life of humility and obedience to God’s Will for Him for us.

With God’s Help, two attitudes of Christ grow in us. First, we will become people of humility. (Humility is based on the same etymological root as humanity. The root word is humus, a Latin word for soil or earth.) Humility is a reminder that no matter what, we are dust and to dust we shall return. If this is not humbling and human, what else can be? However, the great proviso in all this is the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ that we share through our baptism into Christ.

The second attitude that will grow in us is obedience to God. (Obedience is based on the same etymological root as audial. The root word is audiere, Latin verb “to hear”.) Obedience is behavior in accordance to what we have heard. We hear the Gospel of Christ. With God’s Help, we try to behave so as we obey the Gospel.

It is difficult for us to be humble and obedient in a culture that claims to be God-centered and whose motto is “In God we trust”. When people refuse to live humbly and obediently on God’s terms, then sooner or later, greed and violence start to rear their heads in their midst.

The Church of Jesus Christ, the Jesus Movement in Armonk (as in Philippi, as in the rest of the world) has to choose 24-7-365 that we opt for Christ’s Way and not Adam and Eve’s in the lives we live daily. When we gather to celebrate weekly at our domus ecclesiae, our presence in Christ Jesus with one another ratifies the choice that hopefully all of us try to make with Christ’s Help daily. 092505AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 091805AD

September 18, 2005AD -- 25^th Sunday in Greentime

Three Citizenship Tips

St Paul wrote his beautiful Letter to the Philippians during an imprisonment for proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Roman world. He dared to use the “L- word” (“Lord”) for Jesus when he quoted a familiar hymn that was sung about Jesus, “Jesus is Lord”.

Most folks today would ask, “What was the problem?” It was that the Emperor (either Claudius or Nero) claimed that title, absolutely, for himself. In addition, Philippi has been compared to San Diego, California because of the number of veterans who retired there. St Paul was implicitly challenging imperial loyalty.

He reminds his hearers then and now (in Philippi and in Armonk) to “conduct ourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel.” In our dealings with one another, he urges us to live our faith that Jesus is Lord.

In the 1980’s, America’s Catholic bishops tried to share, not only with Catholics, but all who would listen their vision of how Christians might conduct ourselves in contemporary America. They published three pastoral letters to anyone who would read them. They issued a statement on racism, Brothers and Sisters to Me, in which they said that racism is a sin. (Has anyone ever confessed it?)

They published The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response. Here, three important words came into contemporary American Catholic argot. 1) We heard of the new moment in human history when, now since the mid-1960’s, we are capable of “humanicide”, capable of undoing in God’s Creation what the Creator has been doing. They urged us to a life-long graced-filled process of disarmament of the heart. Finally, they urged us to adopt a consistent life ethic, seeing every human life issue as a seamless garment.

Their “Big Mo” reached an apex in 1986 with their third pastoral letter, Economic Justice in Our Time.

They taught that every human institution (and they spoke specifically of the economy with this as a human institution) was to be judged as morally viable by how well it takes care of the poor and helpless in its midst. (Later Pope John Paul said that their were no moral free zones in corporate morality. To their extent that we have responsibility for the human institutions in our midst, we are under Gospel scrutiny for their response to the Silent Helpless in our midst.) The bishops also warned that by the mid-1980’s, that third worlds ghettos of underdevelopment were growing in the center of American cities.

In Philippians, he tells to the members of the Jesus Movement, “our true citizenship is in heaven.” In the interim, we are resident aliens (paroikoi is the etymological root of “parochial”) in the world. Since Christians, then and now, live, even now but not yet, as the Citizens of the Kingdom of God, our best methodology is to live our faith in Jesus the Lord by conducting ourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel. How do US Catholics do this today? 091805AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 091105AD

24^TH Sunday in Greentime

70 X 7 & Then Some…

The “Everyone” figure of St Peter appears on the scene again today. We ask how many times we must be willing to forgive one who sins against us. Seven times seem more than generous. Once again, Jesus teaches us (all capable of greatness or baseness) that it is something more than numbers to discuss.

Jesus does not want His disciples to be enablers by constantly overlooking injuries. We need to stand up for what is best both for the perpetrator as well as ourselves. That is why Jesus has just explained how we are to deal with deviant behavior in our community (both for the sake of the perpetrator as well as the community). However, the protocol that He gave us in last weekend’s Gospel is bracketed by 2 parables of God’s Forgiveness, viz., the Lost Sheep and today’s Gospel, the Unmerciful Servant.

This parable speaks of an Oriental relationship between the king (the patron) and the employee (the client). In traditional societies, patron-client is a powerful relationship. The employee could be compared to middle-management today, people who climbed the economic ladder, frequently in a survival of the fittest style of behavior. The implication is that neither servant was a “blushing rose” .The first employee owed what someone calculated was 100,000 days wages (the talents mentioned) to his patron. He did not have a chance ever to repay what he owed. However, something happened to the king. “His heart was moved with pity”, says Jesus. God touched the king’s heart and gave him a two fold grace (extraordinary gift), viz., 1) he had pity on the servant and 2) he cancelled the entire debt. In a sense, the king was living Jesus’ petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The first servant lucked out.

However, he did not extend the same mercy to a second servant, who owed him a mere fraction of what he himself owed. It was also calculated that the second debt was tantamount to 100 days wages. (Here, the first servant was the patron; the second servant was the client.)

The first servant should have rejoiced in the King’s grace-filled generosity by doing the same with the second servant. He suffered the consequences of the King’s wrath when the King discovered what happened. Now, the first servant was worse off than he had been before because he was imprisoned until he did the impossible.

Jesus’ moral is that God our heavenly Father might do the same to Peter (and Everyone) if we do not reciprocate God’s pardon of us with our pardon of others. This is serious business.

Some say that violence is the blind-spot of Christianity. Mohandas Gandhi said that the only ones who do not get it that Christianity is a non-violent religion are Christians themselves. WW2 hero, General Omar Bradley said that Christians have cracked the atom, but we have not cracked the Sermon on the Mount.

However, sadly, we might go one step further. Jesus teaches us that whoever nurses anger in his (or her) heart has broken the fifth commandment because grudges can lead to violence. In addition, almost directly in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, which is directly in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer is the petition that God forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us. If the “as” is understood numerically, many of us might be in big trouble. Frequently, grudges last for years. 091105AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 090405AD

SEPTEMBER 4, 2005 AD – 23^RD SUNDAY, GREENTIME

+Brother Roger Schutz

Just last month, two prominent Protestant ecumenical figures were in the news. The sad and scandalous thoughts of Rev Pat Robertson about what to do about the President of Venezuela sadly prompted the question, ”Whom would Jesus assassinate?” The other, lesser known figure was Brother Roger Schutz, a Swiss Protestant monk who established an ecumenical monastery at Taize, in eastern France in 1940 and which still thrives 65 years later. Brother Roger was stabbed to death by a mentally disturbed pilgrim. He was 90 years old.

Brother Roger’s ministry was to pray and work for peace in an ecumenical setting that began in 1940, just at the start of WW2. The monastery was tolerated by the Nazis until 1944 and it was re-established immediately after the war to bring French and German, Protestant and Catholic, lay and monastic, together to pray and act for peace.

The monastery grew in the past 65 years and it has become a spot of pilgrimage, particularly for young Europeans to whom the Taize monks have a special ministry. One problem that naturally grew out of this polyglot, ecumenical group was the question of how to pray in unison. The Taize monks developed a variety of chants and songs from various Christian traditions to find that the music itself, even in the form of a line or two that was rehearsed beforehand did much to generate a prayerful environment. Recall St Augustine’s words, “Those who sing pray twice.”

Brother Roger believed in the Presence of God in every person. “God is united with every human being without exception.” Whatever motivated the violence perpetrated by the 36 year old Romanian woman who stabbed him to death during an evening prayer service at Taize, that Divine Presence was in her as well. Brother Alois, the successor of Brother Roger, said at the funeral Mass offered by Walter Cardinal Kasper, who had been suggested as a possible Bishop of Rome in the April election, “God of goodness, we entrust to Your Forgiveness Luminita Solcan who, in an act of sickness, put an end to the life of Brother Roger. With Christ on the cross, we say, “Father, forgive her, she does not know what she did.”

How much does that prayer echo in our readings today! Ezekiel tells us that the call to reconciliation is part of a believer’s vocation. St Paul tells us that love of neighbor what God’s Law is. “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the Law.” Jesus tells us that “when two or three are gathered in Jesus’ Name (for the rehabilitation of a sinner), there am I in their midst.”

Pilgrims at Taize this weekend will probably have to reflect on these Scriptures as all of us. The motto at Taize is “Refusing to look back, and joyful with infinite gratitude, never fear to rise to meet the dawn, praising, blessing and singing, “Jesus is Lord.”

Learn more about Brother Roger and Taize on www.taize.fr/en.

090405AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 082805AD

August 28, 2005AD -- 22^nd Sunday, Greentime

The Three Greatest Things

Earlier this month, the Sunday NY Times published a book review on a new biography of St Augustine whose feast is celebrated today, August 28. The author, James O’Donnell, feels that, after 1500 years, Aurelius Augustinus was a figure who remains normative for much of Western culture.

His odyssey in his young days resembles the odyssey of many a person in our own time. He rejected institutional Catholicism in his early days, then dabbled in philosophy, astrology and what would have been considered then “new age” Manichaeism, which taught that good and evil were co-ordinate forces in tension with one another. Finally, through the prayers of his mother St Monica and the preaching of the most eminent churchman up until then, St Ambrose of Milan, he was baptized on Easter morning in 387AD.

According to O’Donnell, St Augustine saw himself as an “up and comer” not content with his backwater town in North Africa. He went from Carthage (the premier city in North Africa at the time) to Rome and then to Milan

(more prestigious than Rome back then).

After his conversion, St Augustine returned to North Africa, but he still wanted to be involved in the give and take of Catholic life. Because he was such a prolific writer and preacher, his thoughts are available but voluminous and heady.

The biographer of Augustine uses an interesting grammatical tool to convey a good idea. He refers to God as “god”. This is meant as any disrespect to God. He means that, just like all of us, St Augustine’s idea of God changed depending on the experiences of his life and depending where he was at that particular moment in his life.

One theologian of the twentieth century wrote of what he called the “Three Best Things”. The first Best Thing is the Transcendence, the Infinity, the Mystery of Reality (Which is described by the word “God” (with a capital “G”).

The next best thing is our thoughts and reflections on God. This we call theology or philosophy or religion. (It is in this regard that we speak of “god” because our perception of God is affected by what we have been taught and experienced and what is happening to us at a specific moment in our life.) If all is going well for us, it is easy to take our “god” for granted. Sometimes, we experience the shadows of life, viz,. the occasional futility, absurdity, or negative vicissitudes of life (sickness, accident, old age) then, our “god” is perceived differently. Isn’t this true for all of us?

The third best thing is living a life in which the only “important” things are sports, the weather, who’s who in People Magazine, the latest fashion, conventional wisdom. Sadly, most spend much of our lives focusing on the third best thing.

In our readings today, Jeremiah’s “god” is different than when things were going well for him. St Peter’s “god” is not he “God” that Jesus had just described. St Augustine’s “god” changed as his life experience changed. How does our own “god” change in our lives?

Fr Karl Rahner, SJ, wrote that our responsorial psalm today, Psalm 63, O God, You are my God whom I seek. For You my flesh pines, my soul thirsts, like the earth parched, lifeless and without water.” was one that describes the odyssey of St Augustine. Rahner’s thought was that this is a description of the odyssey of every person. If not now, some day, we will see it was our odyssey as well. 082805AD jfq