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