Weekly Reflection 102906AD

Sunday, October 29, 2006AD

30th Sunday in Greentime

20th Sunday after Pentecost

I Want to See…

Again and/or Above

We conclude this morning the portion of St Mark’s Gospel known as Mark’s Manual for Men (and Women). The culture in which “Mark the Stark” first appeared was clearly a male-dominated one. (Some say, despite the advances of women today, our culture is still male-dominated.)

Our culture tends to face problems as fix-able, understandable, and/or controllable. That is, of course, what we should do. However, we need to be reminded that the Paschal Mystery of “surrender, let go and trust the Holy Mystery” is at the very heart of all creation.

This section of St Mark’s Mighty Message began in the curious scene where Jesus had to heal the blind man in two stages. First, the man saw something, but people looked like walking trees. Then, after a second try, then, the man is healed. Not for nothing, the next scene is St Peter’s profession of faith in which St Peter identifies Jesus as the Messiah, but then, misses the boat when Jesus speaks of the necessity of the Paschal Mystery, viz., death and Resurrection. Then, Jesus called St Peter, “Get behind me, Satan. Your way of thinking is the (fallen) human way, not the Way of God.” Jesus begins serious teaching not only with St Peter, but with the 12 and with all of us today as well.

Recall some of the strange things that Jesus says that do not click with the mores of Western Civilization. Recall Jesus’ saying, “What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of one’s soul in the process? Whoever would find his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel will find it.”

Recall, for example, His words last weekend, that leaders of the Gentiles lord it over their followers…The greatest among us must serve and not be served. Figures in church and state need to factor that into their styles.

Finally, today, St Mark brackets his Mighty Message with the healing of Bartimaeus. This time, the process of healing takes only one step.

When Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted, the blind man said, “Anablepso”. The one word response can mean, “I want to see or I want to see again or I want to see the things above,” viz., reality as it is.

Bartimaeus’ request is granted. St Mark tells us that he followed Jesus up the road to Jerusalem (as His disciple). Can we say the same about ourselves? Are we following Jesus on our way to Jerusalem in our experience of the Paschal Mystery of death and transformation in Christ?

One of the conclusions that we can gather from Mark the Stark’s Mighty(and Scary) Message is that somehow, Western civilization has tempered the implications of the message so much that most people assume that whatever Jesus is talking about doesn’t apply in my situation. It was St Peter’s mistake, as well as the 12’s, as well as James and John’s mistake last Sunday, that precipitated Marks’s Manual when the 12 got the Messiahship of Jesus correctly, but they misunderstood what following Jesus on the road to Jerusalem (the place of destiny) meant for all. Sadly, do many of us, for one reason or another, fail to grasp the implications of the Gospel as well? Jesus is my Lord and Savior. So, now what? The Way does get bumpy at times, but let us try to follow the Master. Trust Jesus on this one! It’s the biggie!! 102906AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 102206AD

Sunday, October 22, 2006AD

29^th Sunday in Greentime

19^th Sunday after Pentecost

It’s Different, Isn’t it?

Jesus has a different view of reality, which He tries to share with His disciples, then and now. Then and now, in so many ways His disciples have bought into the System in such a way that any thinking contrary to conventional wisdom frequently is characterized as “subversive wisdom”.

The givens of Western civilization on both sides of the Atlantic still are male-dominated. We still are caught up in the materialism that has been described by some as the worship of the demigod Mammon (the god of stuff). One theologian said a few years ago that the new cathedrals that are being constructed are shopping malls. Think about it! We still subscribe to military quickfixes to solve long festering problems. In our efforts to reach a quick fix, we only exercabate problems for our children and their children. Listen to the news this evening.

Jesus offers an alternative consciousness, a new worldview, a new universe. He calls it the Kingdom of God. In modern parlance, we can call it God’s (New) World Order.

For the past several weeks, our Sunday Gospels have been called Mark’s Manual for Men (and Women). Western civilization tends to face problems and then, try to fix, to explain, to understand and to control them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the methodology. We try to solve problems as much as we can. However, we find in the process of human living that, sooner or later, we find ourselves in uncontrollable situations. We all reach a point in our lives when we have to make “leaps of faith”, to bear pain, to surrender, let go and trust the Holy Mystery (viz., God) at work in the universe, in my life.

We hear the final part of St Mark’s Catechism today. Jesus addresses James and John, and then, finally the others as well who are indignant at James and John for asking for power before the others did so. Jesus talks about how the Gentiles’ leaders lord it over their subjects and make their greatness felt. Jesus says that true power lies in becoming the servant of others, not their bosses!

Sadly, so frequently, church and state have missed the point on that one. This Saturday, October 28, is the anniversary of the Edict of Milan, by the Emperor Constantine, in 313AD. The Edict legalized Christianity as a “licit religion” in Rome. On the one hand, the church came out of the catacombs and entered the basilicas. Some say that was good; others would disagree. Historians and theologians speak of the “Constantinian Compromise”, in which Christianity became the lapdog of the Empire and frequently failed to address legitimate Gospel needs, because good Catholics were always good Romans and good Romans were always good Catholics. However, what if the Gospel challenged something Rome was doing. What then?

There are some who feel that the “Constantinian Compromise” continues when questions involving the fifth commandment (Thou shalt not kill) and the seventh commandment (Thou shalt not steal) are not asked because of political inconvenience and embarrassment.

In God’s world order, leaders serve the needs of their subject and do not lord it over them. The question remains now more than ever. Is it God’s World Order or Constantine’s? Let all disciples of Jesus ask (and answer) the question. Teach the children!!!! 102206AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 101506AD

Sunday, October 15, 2006AD

28^th Sunday in Greentime

18^th Sunday after Pentecost

A Rich, Young Culture?

When Jesus told the rich young man that he had to sell all that he had to give to the poor, it took the young man’s breath away. Could Jesus literally be serious when He said this?

Catholics have puzzled over the meaning of Jesus’ words from the beginning. We know that not all of the earliest Christian communities felt the moral obligation of a literal interpretation of Jesus’ words.

However, there was the strong possibility that parts of the Primitive Christian Community in Jerusalem, the “anawim” (Poor Ones) did surrender their wealth for the good of the community. Luke tells us so in the Acts of the Apostles.

However, Luke tells us that other Christian churches did not follow this communal form of life. When hard times hit the Jerusalem community, other Christian communities in the Roman world were expected to help the “anawim” in Jerusalem.

While the rich young man obeyed the 10 commandments, he felt that this was not enough. Jesus apparently struck a chord with him when it came to his wealth.

For many, prosperity becomes an idol, a false god, offering security which only God can provide. More, God offers this security on God’s terms, not ours. Tangibles seem safer.

We claim on our currency, “In God we trust”. Yet, our culture has become (practically) atheistic. (The Transcendent cannot be acknowledged in government or public education.) How much does the Gospel of Jesus affect how our culture operates. Our culture has become individualistic. The Ego, for many, has become the center of the universe. “EGO” is curiously an acronym also for “easing God out.” Our culture has become consumerist. We often measure one’s worth by one’s goods, what one can have. Another’s dignity is debased often because, culturally, the other is not successful.

Could we imagine a rich, young culture personified in this rich young man? That culture might be “law-abiding and God-fearing”, but it might practically atheistic if God cannot even be mentioned in public quarters. Soon, when God is eclipsed, people get eclipsed. Watch out when the Transcendent goes into oblivion. That culture might also be ego-centric, making self-aggrandizement its reason to exist. That culture might also be consumeristic, measuring what is valuable by success, not by integrity.

Probably, Jesus does not expect all of us to surrender our wealth. However, He certainly expects us to place the Transcendent Mystery of God at the Center of our existence. If anything such as prosperity, popularity, power, prestige, pleasure, or even, petroleum occupies the center of our existence, Jesus strongly urges us to surrender it. Jesus warns us to beware of what we cannot not do or not have.

Jesus urges us to look at life from His perspective. He enables us to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Catholics make the “journey from me to us”, as we surrender, with God’s Help, whatever enslaves us. Teach the children!!! 101506AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 100806AD

Sunday, October 8, 2006AD

27^th Sunday in Greentime

17^th Sunday after Pentecost

Extraordinary Time --

This Year of the Lord

The Third Millennium is going quickly. We already find ourselves in the sixth (seventh?) year of the decade and we have gotten used to the idea of living in the 21^st century. We are certainly living in extraordinary times. For 2,000 years, we have been living in the New Testament!

Yearly, the Church makes a tremendous linguistic blunder by taking about the various “Sundays in Ordinary Time.” When we are not focusing attention on Advent-Christmas-Epiphany or Lent-Easter-Pentecost, it hardly makes the time ordinary. God is always with us.

What the liturgical calendar means is “time marked by ordinal numbers”. It was meant to help us correlate the readings & prayers for each Sunday’s liturgy when we are not focusing on specific aspects of the salvation which Jesus won for us. .

Seen this way, we should refer to the 27th Sunday in Extraordinary Time. Why not call the Sunday in a way which makes it more intelligible and the weekly Sunday celebration, an “ordinary event”? As Pope John Paul wrote “Every Sunday is Easter Sunday”, because every Sunday we celebrate the Easter victory of Jesus Christ.

You and I live in the Third Millennium of the New Testament. It is hardly “ordinary time”. Instead, it is “Extraordinary Time”. No time is ordinary because God is always with us,even as we wait for God to come

again & again.

In addition, every year is a “year of the Lord”. “A. D.” means “Anno Domini, viz. “in the Year of the Lord (Jesus) Why .not begin writing the letters”A. D.” after the year each time

that you write the date?

Hence, you constantly remind yourself (and others) that Jesus Christ is the center of History, as far as you are concerned. It is a silent and subtle form of evangelization. Not just the year 2000, rather, it is the “Year of the Lord (Jesus Christ), 2000.”

Just as every Sunday or week is extraordinary, even if ordinal, so

also, every year is a “Year of the Lord.”

A few times, we have spoken about the idea of “reflexive religion”.

While every moment is a religious

moment because God is always calling

us into existence with Life, Love & Light, we do not always have the time to be thinking about God.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to build in specific moments of “reflexive religion”. These are moments when not only is God dwelling in us, but we are dwelling in God. Examples of these moments, remember, include the following a quick morning prayer,

a quick evening prayer, grace before

meals (especially if you have children).

Another prime time for “reflexive religion” is our weekly gathering for the Sunday Eucharist . The parish is visibly united as a “family of families”.

We bolster one another’s faith and hope by our gathering as a church. To do so makes every Sunday “Extraordinary” & every year a “Year of the Lord”.

Our culture has lost a sense of the “eternal in the temporal”, the “infinite in the finite”, the “sacred in the secular, the “mystery in the history”. Our culture needs people like your family and you to remind us that it is necessary to refer to the eternal, the Infinite, the Sacred, the Mystery, the Transcendent in our lives. Restoring each Sunday in each year to a proper focus can do much to help re-interpret the rest of the week and year. Teach the children. 100806AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 100106AD

Sunday, October 1, 2006AD

26^th Sunday in Greentime

16^th Sunday after Pentecost

A Grand Tradition

Every three years, we hear from the Letter of James. It is the letter that Martin Luther frowned upon when he called it ‘the epistle of straw”. Many would disagree with Luther about this because James presents some insights on ethical monotheism, Christian style, that believers can grasp. (Ethical monotheism is the moral behavior prompted by belief in one God.)

He addresses distinctions between the rich and the poor. He addresses the injustices routinely perpetrated against the poor by the system. He addresses inadequate wages for back-breaking labor for tenant farmers, most people in the Holy Land then.

Since Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum , in 1891, Catholic socio-economic teachings have been called “one of the best-kept of our secrets.” Since then, the Vatican II, various Popes, conferences of bishops throughout the world have contributed to the development of Catholic Social Tradition.

Once, a monk named Dorotheos described what came to be known as the “Circle”. He imagined a circle where GOD is the focal point in the middle. We start off life on the circumference, the rim. Our job is to be drawn close to the Focal Point, God. However, the close we are drawn (by the Spirit) to the Focal Point, the closer we are drawn to others in the circle as well. In reverse, the closer we are drawn to others, the closer we are drawn to the Focal Point.

Karl Rahner said that the human person discovers his or her identity when one discovers God. And, we discover God when we discover our own identity. In addition, the law of ethical monotheism, Love one’s neighbor as oneself links up our neighbor as the one we discover as our sister or brother.

John Cardinal O’Connor spoke many times about the connection between social justice and true religion. “The Catholic Church cannot not be compassionate”. Jesus’ commitment as the Incarnate God commits His disciples to ethical monotheism.

In 1986, the American bishops published their great Economic Justice for All , a pastoral letter on the moral implications of any economic institution. In context of the sacredness of every human life, they wrote, “We believe the person is sacred – the clearest reflection of God among us. Human dignity comes from God, not from nationality, race, sex, economic status or any any human accomplishment. We judge any economic system by what it does for and to people and by how it permits all to participate in it. The economy should serve people, not the other way around! (EJFA, 1986AD)

They repeated their statement in their Salt and Light, published in 1998. They wrote, “The values of the Church’s social teaching must not be treated as tangential or optional. They must be a core part of teaching and formation (of all Catholics). Without our social teaching, schools, catechetical programs and adult formation programs (for all Catholics) would be an offering of incomplete presentation of our Catholic tradition. This would fall short of our mission and would be a serious loss for those in religious formation. (viz, all of us) They also wrote, “The Church’s social teaching is a rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of society. It offers moral principles and coherent values badly needed in our time. In this time of widespread violence and diminished respect for human life and dignity in our country and around the world, the Gospel of Life and the biblical call to justice need to be proclaimed and shared with new clarity, urgency and energy.”

James and our bishops are part of a grand tradition. As USA Catholics, let’s keep the tradition alive!! 100106AD jfq