Weekly Reflection 042405AD

Fifth Sunday of Easter

The Medium is the Message

This Sunday, in Roma, Pope Benedict XVI will be installed as Bishop of Rome. After 26 years of the Petrine Ministry of Pope John Paul II, a new face on St Peter’s Balcony seems strange.

In the Installation Mass, this weekend, Pope Benedict and all of us will hear Jesus at the Last Supper speak to His own (then and now). Jesus makes two important, familiar remarks to the new Pope and all of us.

He tells His own, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Keep believing in God and keep believing in Me.” The caveat of Father Karl Rahner on the loss of orientation to transcendence in the Western mind seems to have reached the ears of Pope Benedict. From the day of his election, commentators said that St Benedict is the patron of Europe. A Eurocentric concern is that many are succumbing to the eclipse of God, about which Pope John Paul warned. Such an eclipse of the Transcendent brings about a practical atheism, even in the hearts of nominal believers. The name choice reflects heeding Fr Rahner’s warning.

Not only in Europe is such a reminder necessary, but wherever God is forgotten, watch social and economic realities deteriorate as the dignity of the human person is eclipsed as well.

Five items remain on the table, viz., 1) Islamic relations; 2) the fundamentalist ascendancy; 3) the moral problems stemming from globalization; 4) the diminishment of the value of the absolute value of human life, manifested in conflict resolution; 5) the critiques of feminists, oppressed people and environmentalists. The new Pope is clearly aware of these items.

By focusing on our faith in God revealed in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, Pope Benedict and all Catholics can also recover what was lost from the Spirit of Vatican II, forty years ago. May our Church continue to move forward biblically, christologically and liturgically. Next, Jesus reminds us of the adage of Marshall McLuhan, in 1967, “The medium is the message”. “Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.” We try with God’s Help to conform our lives as Catholics to the life pattern of Jesus Christ, “Who came that we might have life and have it fully.”

All of us, individually and communally, including Pope and People, experience together the Paschal Mystery of death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ in our lives. Through the Energy of the Holy Spirit, may the Christ quantum permeate the minds and hearts of all believers in Armonk, in Roma and in all the world.

Then, we fulfill our vocation as the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the ministers of inclusive election to all people. Catholics are chosen to let all the world know that everyone is chosen of God, that we all are oriented to Transcendence, whether we know it or not, every moment of our life. Together with Pope Benedict, may all of us move forward to what God has planned for us.

In his opening homily the day after his election, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of two contrasting feelings. 1) He spoke of his own inadequacy as the successor of St Peter. 2) He spoke of his gratitude to God that God does not abandon God’s flock. May Pope Benedict XVI heed the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” and “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.” Quoting St Gregory the Great, the new Pope prays that he will be truly be the “servus servorum Dei”, “servant of the servants of God.” Focusing on Jesus, may he serve us compassionately. 042405AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 041705AD

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Still the Good Shepherd!!

The Cardinals meet in Roma on Monday to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II, the Vicar of St Peter.Today, on Good Shepherd Sunday, it is fitting that Catholics pray that they make a good choice. In the Fourth Gospel, whence our Gospel today, the Evangelist says that the flock always remains Jesus’ flock. “I know My sheep and my sheep know Me” and “Feed my sheep”. Jesus remains always the Good Shepherd of the little flock.

Hopefully, the Cardinals will elect a new successor of St Peter this week. The world of St Peter was different than the world of the 21^st century. The new Vicar of St Peter’s task will still be to tend the little flock of the Good Shepherd in this new moment in human history.

The German Jesuit theologian, Fr Karl Rahner, (considered by many the greatest Catholic theologian of the 20^th century), wrote a landmark article in which he said that Catholicism will have serious problems in the future unless each and every Catholic realizes that all of us are human questions or enigmas that only the Transcendence of God revealed in Christ can answer.

Every moment of our existence is a religious moment because God wills and loves us into existence 60-60-24-7-365. God understands that we are all busy people and we cannot advert to the Divine Presence in our lives each moment. However, like everyone else, God likes to be recalled now and then. At the very least, we recall the Divine Presence five times a day. When we arise and we retire at night, we thank God the gift of the day that we are given. Nobody, young or old, has the right to a new day. Each day is a gift from God to each of us.

All of us around here have our three squares a day. Obesity, not starvation, is a problem in our midst. We should thank God for the gift of food, which some do not have in abundance at home or throughout the world. (It is a startling reality revealed during the Terri Schiavo crisis that 9000 people throughout the world died each day of malnutrition and dehydration throughout the world.)

Weekly, when we gather as a community on the Lord’s Day, we acknowledge the Divine Presence in our midst in a wider context that all can celebrate. We are social gatherers.

Remembering that humans are all oriented to Transcendence, perhaps the following items have to be on the “do-list” of the new Vicar of St Peter: 1) How will we get along with our Islamic brothers and sisters? 2) How will we adjust to the rise of (literal) fundamentalism (unforeseen by most) in the three major Western religions? 3) How will we address the question of economic fairness in the process of globalization? 4) How do we respond to the Gospel call to disarmament of the human heart (Read the Sermon on the Mount on that one!)? 5) How do we respond to the feminist critique, both inside and outside the Church?

The new Pope will have much to do as he tries, with God’s Help, to tend the little flock of the Good Shepherd. Let us pray that the Cardinals make a good choice who will always celebrate the Divine Presence in every human person as he seriously faces the agenda of the 21^st Century. 041705AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 041005AD

Third Sunday of Easter

Pope John Paul II

Many years ago, when Pope John Paul II had completed his initial seminary training, he experienced the ceremony of tonsure. (Think of the image of St Anthony and the circular shaved crown on his head.) In this ceremony, the seminarian’s hair was cut in 5 places in the form of a cross as he prayed a portion of Psalm 16, our responsorial psalm, today. The young seminarian said, “O Lord, my allotted portion and my cup, You it is Who holds fast my lot.”

Throughout the Scriptures, both Hebrew and Christian, God tells believers, “Do not be afraid”. Jesus’ Easter greetings were the same. In the Spirit of Jesus, Pope John Paul II frequently told us, “Do not be afraid.”

Throughout Easter, 2005AD, our second reading each Sunday is an excerpt from the first papal encyclical, the First Letter of St Peter. From its context, we can tell that the letter was encouraging a group of newly baptized Christians not to be afraid because of threats to their faith. We are unsure whether the letter originated in Rome or was sent to the Christians in Rome. However, the gist of the letter was that faith in Jesus is a gift that makes demands upon us. The demands are worth the gift, the first Pope tells us.

Pope John Paul II, the successor of St Peter, in the manner of his life (and death), told us the same thing. As he brought all our Catholic community into the Third Millennium, he taught us not to be afraid and to live as if we truly believed that the Lord was our allotted portion and our cup, Who held fast our lot.”

John Paul challenged us to face the future with an alternative worldview. His Gospel of Life is probably his magnum opus and although so many of his 14 encyclicals were so significant. In the Gospel of Life, he coined many terms that are now part of Catholic parlance. Borrowing terms from Chicago Cardinal Bernadine, (who acknowledged his dependence on Rev Martin Luther King), Pope John Paul linked all human life issues, especially abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty. He spoke of the eclipse of God related to the eclipse of the human person, and vice versa. He reminded us that we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers. He reminded us that every death is a death in the (human) family. He reminded us that there is a difference between what is legal and what is moral and that we should always be aware of that. He reminded us that just because we can do something that we do not have the moral license to do so.

He challenged both Marxists and capitalists never to treat the human person as a cipher or an economic cog. When the Soviet Empire collapsed in Eastern Europe, he warned the West not to crow over the demise of Marxism because capitalism had created structural sins for which it has not yet repented. He re-used a term coined by Pope Paul VI, structural sin, when institutions (political, social or economic) create structures that de-personalize the human dignity of people. Consequently, he challenged the implications of globalization in which the people of the less developed nations were becoming the pawns of the developed nations, that were, frequently, so they said, “God fearing nations” (Think of the G-7 nations that meet periodically.)

In all, when the Paschal Mystery of death and Resurrection ultimately confronted Pope John Paul II, he had lived a life that was imbued with the faith generated by the Lord, Who was his allotted portion and his cup. Thus, he taught us to live with faith and to spend our lives focused on the needs of others, rather than our own. Well done, good and faithful servant of the servants of God! 041005AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 040305AD

Second Sunday of Easter

Doubting Thomas

The patron saint of Missouri, the “Show Me State”, makes his annual appearance in our traditional Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter. Thomas represents those who demand empirical verification that belief in Jesus is legitimate. When Jesus meets his demand, Thomas’ response is “My Lord and my God.” (This is the highest title attributed to Jesus in the Gospels.)

Many think that the incident of Doubting (Skeptical) Thomas probably represented the last account in the original Gospel of John. (There are many indications that John 21, while divinely inspired, was added at a later time by a confederate of the author.)

If such is the case, Jesus’ words to Thomas at the conclusion of the Gospel today would have originally been the last words of the Risen One in the Fourth Gospel. What does Jesus say? “You believed, Thomas, because you have seen. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

Is Jesus talking about us? With the Help of the Holy Spirit, indeed, Jesus is talking about us. However, it is not that easy. In our lives, there is an assortment of experiences that challenge our faith in the God revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ. Catholics and all Christians should be very circumspect in talking about the depth of our faith. We all want to be strong believers. However, sometimes the vicissitudes of life can challenge an easy faith and make our “credo’s” a little shakier. We might be strong believers one day and, then, on difficult days, “Yo” or “Nes” believers on others. We pray for the Strength always to be firm in our faith in God. Even though we have not seen, may we always believe.”

Each Sunday, Catholics profess our faith routinely as a conclusion to our Liturgy of the Word. We rattle off very quickly (hopefully, not mindlessly) the 14 articles of Christian faith which, we believe, unite us with Christians of the last two millennia. Someone asked a noted theologian if it were time to change the Nicene Creed, which is, after all, over 1600 years old. The theologian said not to change the creed. It might be arrogant to assume that we know the true meaning of certain words. He asked, “What do you mean by “I”? by “believe”? by “God?” by “Father”? by “Almighty”? by “Creator of heaven and earth?” What makes modern people think that we could do the definitive naming Christian reality? The same theologian wrote in another place, “The first article of faith equals the last article of faith”. If we believe in God, the Father Almighty, then, the last article of faith, then, we believe in the Resurrection of the Body and life in the world to come. They are two ways of naming in faith the same reality of our belief in a God Who can give life in any situation, the God revealed by Jesus Christ.

Jesus met Thomas’ challenge; Thomas believed. With God’s Help, may we who have not seen always believe, on good days and bad, in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the hope that it proclaims. 040305AD jfq