Weekly Reflection 013110AD

Sunday, January 31, 2010AD

Fourth Sunday in Green

Jeremiah, Jesus and Friends

This weekend, we hear the conclusion of Jesus’ opening address in the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth. Last weekend, He got off to a good start because He spoke of God’s compassion for all people. He did all right until He pushed the envelope by making the statement that God cared about everyone, even those whom the Nazareth folks had written off.

All of a sudden, the mood changed. The crowd turned on Jesus and planned to hurl Him off the cliff. God spared Him.

Several key themes make their appearance here. First, as we said last week, Catholics believe that God is always with us. Still, there are special times in which we become conscious of God’s Presence in our lives. St Luke stresses these moments through the words, today (semeron) and now (nuun). For example, Jesus said “Today, this Scripture reading is fulfilled in your hearing.” Do you believe Me or not?

St Luke describes Jesus as the consummate Jewish prophet-martyr. Jesus speaks, then and now, what God wants to be said. On Good Friday, it brought the prophet-martyr to the Cross. We hear a hint of what is to come today when Jesus’ townfolks try to hurl Him over the cliff. What Jesus said that turned the audience off was that the God of the Jews loved everyone desiring their salvation, even those outside Jewish parameters. Sometimes, prophets become martyrs when their audience don’t like what they hear.

Jeremiah survived his career, just barely, but not all others have been as lucky. Jeremiah challenged his audience 1) YHWH’s tender love is infinite; 2) YHWH expected to have that tender love reciprocated by right relationships; 3) YHWH would have to somehow practice tough love to straighten out the situation. 4) YHWH had a version of what the Catholic Catechism today calls “structural sin”, viz., the evil that human institution can perpetrate against innocent victims. Just as individuals bear “the law of built-in punishment” for their actions, a similar kind of “karma must govern institutions”. Therefore, Jeremiah made his famous statement, that people should not feel false confidence by saying “This is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord.” Behave as God wants you to behave. Not all his hearers agreed with him.

This weekend, we commemorate the 62^nd anniversary of the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi, who tried to bring non-violent change to India. So many of his one liners still speak poignantly 60 years later. 1) “As humans, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world -- that is the false myth of the atomic age – as in the ability to remake ourselves.” 2) Cooperation, not competition, is the law of the human species ultimately”. 3) “Be the change you want in the world.”

Please God, the line of prophetic figures might continue today when people like Jim Wallis come along. His new book, Rediscovering Values – on Wall Street, on Main Street and Your Street, ( NY: Howard Books, 2010) has something about prophecy about it. It might deserve a read. It is in the tradition of God’s Politics and The Great Awakening. The book contains many insights about a Judaeo-Christian response to the Great Recession which began in the Fall, 2008.

In a prophetic fashion, he stresses three moral lessons that men and women of good will from whatever religious background might observe. 1) Relationships matter (on a big and a small scale). Einstein’s theory is applicable universally. Nothing can be understood in its entirety unless it is understood in relationship to everything else. The notion of autonomy is a fallacy of Western intellectual hubris. 2) Social sins also matter. (Here Wallis speaks in the train of thought that began as early as Jeremiah, whence our first reading this weekend through to Popes John Paul and Benedict. 3) Our own immediate good is ultimately tied up with the common good.

He speaks of a “seventh generation mindset”, making decisions today with a view that they will effect our children seven generations hence. Our parish community has discussed this very concept on several occasions.

An interesting feature of the book is the use of sidebars which stress salient points in the text that deserve special emphasis. One may not agree with them all, but they are certainly conversation starters for with civil people. Several examples bring points home more easily. “The God of the Bible seems not to mind prosperity -- if it is shared.” (p. 82) “Ultimately, the common good is our own good, and the best thing for all of us is the right thing for the least of us.” (p. 94) “What is good for our neighbor is not just the right thing but is usually a good thing for us as well. (p. 131) “A calendar is a moral document.” (p.171)

Finally, he concludes with 20 moral exercises that individuals, families, groups, communities can reflect upon together in a clarification of values. For example, (# 16 Watch and Pray): Exercise the regular habit (and teach your children to do it too) of communicating with political representatives.

We conclude this month of new beginnings, as we reflect on prophets, then and now, Jeremiah, Gandhi, John Paul, Benedict, Jim Wallis, and Jesus Himself. Maybe, pick up a copy of Rediscovering Values as another way to make New Year’s resolutions. 013110AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 012410AD

Sunday, January 24, 2010AD

Third Sunday in Green

Now, Hear This, Theophilus

For most of this upcoming liturgical year on Sundays, we hear excerpts from the Third Gospel, attributed to St Luke. (During the 50 days of Easter, we hear excerpts as well from the Acts of the Apostles, composed as Volume 2 of a two work opus, known today as Luke-Acts. The 52 chapters of Luke-Acts sweep from the Annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah in Luke 1 to the arrival of the Good News, the Gospel, by St Paul in the Eternal City of Roma, at the ends of the earth. Acts 28. Much ground is covered by the brilliant, inspired trained, yet anonymous, Greek speaker, known to us as St Luke.

Both Volume One, viz., the Gospel of St Luke, as well as Volume Two, the Acts of the Apostles, were addressed to an individual known as Theophilus. Who was this individual? In all probability, he was a Greek speaking Gentile who attended Jewish synagogues, but did not become Jewish himself. (We know from a variety of sources that there were sizable numbers of Gentiles who did worship in the synagogue without becoming Jewish themselves. Jewish worshippers referred to their Gentile visitors weekly as the “God-fearers”. These were men and women attracted to Judaism’s coherent ethics and worldview in which the human person was created in the image and likeness of God. In addition, many of these God-fearers were scandalized by the potpourri of the various pagan religions of the time. These non Jews sensed something special about Judaism. However, they did not become Jews because of the obligation to observe so much of the Jewish rituals, such as circumcision and Kosher observance. They could (and did) worship from afar. Scripture scholars tell us that many of the first Gentile Christians came exactly from this group.

The consensus is that Theophilus was an affluent Greek speaker who was interested in becoming a member of the Jesus Movement (also known as ha Derek, the Way.) He might very well have been the patron who financed the two-fold literary efforts of St Luke. As a result, in accordance with literary custom, the author dedicated the opus to his literary patron.

There might have been several questions about the Jesus Movement that St Luke was trying to answer for the prospective new Christian. 1) Why did not more of Jesus’ Jewish kinsfolk not become Christian themselves? 2) How could the Jewish Messiah be the universal Savior of all the human family? 3) Why should anyone follow the Way of a crucified Roman criminal? Did that make followers of the Jesus Movement suspect as well? 4) What connection was there anymore between the Jewish Temple (destroyed by the time that the Gospel was written) and the Way of God, professed by the Jesus Movement in the house churches and Jewish synagogues around the Mediterrean?

5) What were the basic premises of the Jesus Movement that needed to be clarified for Theophilus and others like him?

However, there is a meditation that anybody, then or now, could make as a result of the name of the putative literary patron. The name Theophilus is a Greek derivative of two Greek words, 1) Theos – God; 2) philus – lover of. The name Theophilus means simply “one who loves God.”

Questions abound. Was this the literary patron’s actual name? Was it a new name that he assumed if and when he became a baptized member of the Jesus Movement, similar to a Confirmation name today?

Was it simply a nickname for any member of the Jesus Movement, then and now? Could it possibly be a nickname for everyone of us who claims to be a follower of the Way of Jesus Christ in the Jesus Movement?

If, indeed, it is a nickname for all of us, how does the inspired Gospel writer encourage us to show God our love (and commitment)? Is it simply to say, as many do, “I believe in God and in Jesus Christ”? As Pope Benedict wrote in Jesus of Nazareth a few years back, is it the same as saying more radically or basically, “I believe God and Jesus Christ.”

One of the most salient characteristics of the message that Luke is sending to Theophilus is the usage of the words “today” (semeron) and “now” (nuun). It is that Luke is telling Theophilus (then and now) that whenever we are challenged by God’s message in Jesus Christ, we face a moment of decision. We show our assent in faith through living the Way of the Jesus Movement. Some of the difficult adjustments that obviously Luke feels that Theophilus, then and now, have to accept include our realization that God is constantly part of our lives. Still, there are special times when we experience God’s Presence in a “Now” or a “Today” that is unique. This critical moment becomes a time of decision whether we believe God and Jesus Christ in the everyday realities of our lives. God is the Presence in which we live every “Now”. Special situations whenever bring the Divine Indwelling home to us in every “today” and every “now”. 012410AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 011710AD

Sunday, January 17, 2010AD

Second Sunday in Green

Coffee Brewing in the Attic

Several years ago, there were a variety of motion pictures about wedding preparations. Steve Martin and Diane Keaton played the parents of the bride in one release about twenty years ago. Bride’s fathers were told to buy (NOT RENT) the video and watch it and study it. They could save thousands.

One sad subtle point was that the actual wedding liturgy itself took about 30 seconds in the movie, featuring the de rigeux doddering, old “out of it” minister. Or was he a Catholic priest?

However, who or what was “out of it?” Sadly, it becomes apparent that many (although not all) couples usually do not have the time or energy to think about the significance of marriage in Christ Jesus. The unspoken drive is “Don’t talk to me about the rest of my married life; I am too busy planning for my wedding.”

The Gospel of the Wedding Feast of Cana comes up as part of a triad from the early days of Christianity. When our Christian ancestors spoke of the Epiphany of the Lord, they referred to three manifestations or appearances of the Lord Jesus: 1) the epiphany to the Visitors from our Gentile ancestors; 2) the baptism of Jesus by John; 3) the first of Jesus’ signs, the wedding feast of Cana.

The Lord Jesus manifests Himself to us in a variety of ways. (Some of them are known only to Him because we miss them.) Our relationship with Christ Jesus can take a variety of levels. 1) We can maintain an acquaintance with Him as we tip our hats to Him as we gather on the Lord’s Day. 2) We can maintain a familiarity with Him through a variety of built-in techniques into the course of each day. Than Christ Jesus for the gift of each new day. (It is only when you get older that you realize that each day is God’s “Present”. Say a prayer the first and last thing in each day; thank God for the gift of food at each meal. (Not everyone is so fortunate as we. Think of those in Haiti this morning after the earthquake.) Don’t forget attendance weekly at the Sunday Eucharist. Everyone finds out that no matter what they tell you, religion is not a luxury item. The “System” has a way to ease Transcendence, Infinity and the Presence of God in your daily life. Yet, the Lord Jesus is Present in every moment, or He is Present in no moments. The choice is yours.

Finally, and most important, in silence and solitude and in slowing down and in simplicity, we let God speaks in our minds and hearts in the intimacy of silent prayer. Do yourself the favor and find the time each day, no matter what.

This week, the world heard of the death of Miep Gees, whose family hid Ann Frank and her family in the Secret Annexe in their attic in WWII Amsterdam. It was this lady who saved the Diary of Anne Frank, one of the great works that emanated from WWII. She tended to be very humble and un-assuming about what her family had done for the group hidden for years in their attic. Her comment was simply, ‘This is what any person would have done.” Still, when one considers that her family’s hiding of the Jews in the attic was actually a life-threatening action for themselves. They were breaking the laws of the German occupation of Holland after 1940. They did God’s work as defenders of the Silent,Helpless (in their attic) at high personal risk.(No dumb chicken soup books there!)

The One Whose manifestation or epiphany that we celebrate today is the One Who teaches us that He came for personal and social transformation. (Get people to “snap out of it’ and “smell God’s coffee” in a critical mass and the culture will change.) Transform the culture and individuals will change. As Venerable Dorothy Day’s associate, Peter Maurin, said, “A Catholic’s job is to help create a society where it is easier for people to be good.”

We reflect this weekend both on Swaziland, as our parish helps in mission efforts there, and Haiti, as our entire world helps in mission efforts. Christ Jesus is in each now; each now is in Christ Jesus. Catholic theologians say now that Christ Jesus is the glue, the Blueprint, the DNA of the entire universe. Whatever that exactly means, the human mind may not totally grasp. However, if we stick to Mother Earth, the “garden planet of the solar system”, if not the entire universe, Christ Jesus, the glue, the blueprint, the DNA of our world is present as the Forcefield, “in Which we live, and move and have our being “(pace, St Luke)

Make a New Year’s Resolution to think early and often in the day about the Christ Presence in your life each moment, whether you realize it or not. To the person of faith, Christ Jesus is in every scenario. Whether it was Amsterdam in 1943, Swaziland or Haiti in 2010AD, where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found. Bring that home and realize that the Spirit of Christ Jesus is present in all. The more we realize this, through God’s Grace, the more we say with the waiters in today’s Gospel. “(God) saves the best wine until now.” Enjoy the rest of the wedding!!!! 011710AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 011010AD

Sunday, January 10, 2009AD

Baptism of the Lord

Speaking of Baptism…..

That Jesus was baptized by John at the start of His public life is one of the indisputable facts of His Life. (Others include the cleansing of the temple, the many meals which He shared with a variety of folks, the multiplication of the loaves and fish, His exorcisms, most of His parables, His proclamation of the Kingdom of God, His arrest and execution and God’s followup.)

Why Jesus would submit to baptism by John which was a call to repentance has challenged biblical scholars and believers for a long time. His solidarity with the Chosen People called to repentance seems to have been His motivation. Folks back then (and still today) thought as a corporate group than as individuals

Still, this weekend when we recall Jesus’ baptism, we might think of our own baptismal promises, confirmed later on and renewed each year at Easter. We do so as we recall that we are all still God’s “works in progress”. We are individuals within a group.

The Community of the Beloved Disciple (those addressed in the 4^th Gospel as the three letters of John) was expected to believe in the one true God, the God of Life and the One Whom God sent, our Lord Jesus Christ. They were expected to love one another as Jesus loved them, selflessly and sacrificially.

As the 21^st century Community of the Beloved Disciple, we should ask for God’s Help in, at least trying to be people of tolerance with one another. We should ask for God’s Help in, at least trying to be people of patience with those who get on our nerves. We should ask for God’s Help trying to be sympathetic for others whose lives are less than human and to whom Jesus would ask that we never turn a deaf ear.

In addition, we should ask for God’s Help in at least trying to be forgiving of injuries (real or imagined) perpetrated against us. Many people prefer to stew over injuries and almost get a perverse sense of self-righteousness in the process. They are those who say that Americans have made an art form out of feeling sorry for ourselves; we revel in “pity parties”. (Jesus might suggest that we consider the fact that each of us needs to be forgiven as well for injuries that we have perpetrated against others ourselves. Think about it.)

In addition, we are called to love as the Son of God made man has loved us. Our Community of the Beloved Disciple is challenged to recall our belief that one who says that he or she loves God and hates his or her neighbor is a liar. Our Community is challenged to recall the following: 1) our God is the God of Life, the God Who is Love, and 2) persons who abide in love abide in God and God in them. Thank God, we are still “works in progress”. God is not finished with us yet.

Third, we are people who are called, with God’s Help, to try to surrender to the Mystery of the God with two hands. The one hand deals with us generously and lavishly; the other hand allows us to experience the dark side of life, the mystery of the Cross, the Paschal Mystery. Difficult moments might be the principal ways in which God draws us near.

In summary, Jesus asks us to live each “now” of our life with the constant realization of the “Galilee Principle” of the Divine Indwelling and the Deep Incarnation, viz., God lives in us and we live in God “now”. Jesus asks us to trust that all reality (that includes the lives of each of us) is cruciform, viz., all is constantly ascending, descending and being transformed). Jesus asks us to anticipate the Surprising Promise of God to be faithfully and lovingly with us and in us in ways that we cannot imagine (on days good and not so good).

All of this in one way or another entails our baptismal promises always. We ask Jesus for the strength to fulfill our baptismal promises (confirmed later on) to find a deeper humanity along the way. 011010AD jfq

Weekly Reflection 010310AD

Sunday, January 3, 2010AD

The Epiphany of the Lord

Sooner, rather than Later

Sadly, the Feast of the Epiphany has undergone a sad decline in many cultures in the recent past. True, in many places, January 6 remains a bigger day than December 25! However, in conventional wisdom, most American Catholics feel almost a letdown the day after December 25. Christmas has come and gone. Many Christmas lights went off right after Christmas, when they should be burning.

We continue to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas (until January 6) or the 40 days of Christmas (until February 2, the Presentation of the Lord in the temple). In many places, the manger remains up until Feb 2!!

The great theme of the Christmas Season is that the Jewish Messiah is the Universal Savior of all people. This wholistic view of Christ Jesus is manifest in three celebrations, in close proximity, viz., the Feast of Christ the King (of all, not some), the Epiphany (the Gentiles come to worship), the Presentation (where Jesus is proclaimed a revealing light to the Gentiles and the glory of His people, Israel.) God cares for all; Christ cares for all; in Christ Jesus, each of us should care for all as well. Teach the kids!

St Matthew tells us in the Gospel today that the Magi brought three gifts to the Christ Child. Since they are our Catholic ancestors, in imitation of them, each of us can bring 3 gifts as well to Christ Jesus, the Universal Savior.

25 years ago, the American bishops suggested that each Catholic give a good shot at three attitudinal changes that we can try to make in Christ Jesus. Make them as serious Catholic New Year’s Resolutions for your children.

1) Ask for the Help in realizing that we are living in a new moment in world history. Think about, among other priorities, the problems of energy conservation and global warming and their impact on your children.

2) Ask for the Help to be consistent in defending life wherever anybody, anything, any institution usurps God’s right to take away the gift that only God can live. As Cardinal O’Connor taught us, “Be pro-life on every issue!” Think of the logic. Think of its impact on your children’s world in the future.

3) Ask for the Help to practice disarmament in our hearts, in our words and in our actions. As EF Schuhmacher, the Catholic economist-theologian in England, said, “Whether the world acknowledges that Jesus is Lord, sooner or later the world would have to acknowledge that Jesus has the only viable plan to a peaceful world.” Rev Martin Luther King said famously, “The human race has to choose between non-violence and non-existence.” The non-violence of the Sermon on the Mount and the vision of God’s New World Order (aka the Kingdom of God) is the only way that our human family can survive. (Recall that Pope Benedict told us New Year’s Day in 2008AD, that “the individual family has an impact on the global family; the global family has an impact on the individual family.” Try it out on your children.

After the Christmas ’68, Apollo flight around the moon, astronaut, Mike Collins said, “I really believe that if the leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance, their outlook would be fundamentally changed. Think of how an Earth-view from 100,000 miles could be invaluable in getting people to work out joint solutions by causing them to realize that the planet we share unites us in a way far more basic and far more important than difference in skin, color, religion or economic systems. The earth appears fragile above all else.”

Humble people realize that while we can know more and more about things, we need to remember that there is more and more that we do not know. They try to remember and behave that all reality is relational. Somehow or another, everything exists relationally to everything else. We hope in Christ Jesus that our relationships with one another are life-giving and love-giving. The Creator’s job description is to give life and to bring unity to all that lives. That is the job description of the Creator’s children (that’s us!) as well. God’s Will (will) be done, whether we follow it or thwart it ourselves. That is one of the meanings of Jesus’ death and Resurrection. Blessed Julian of Norwich said that God allowed the worst thing in the world to happen (the death of Christ Jesus) so that the best thing in the world could happen (the Resurrection) and did so in the very same Event! Nothing is wasted by our Creative God of Life and Love.

There are three reactions to the appearance of the star of Bethlehem today and now. First, we can be like the folks in Jerusalem who knew the prophecy but did not follow the star. Second, we can be like King Herod who planned to extinguish the One Whose birth the star proclaimed. Third, we can be like the Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem and found the One God sent. Wise men (and women) still follow the star today.

Today’s Gospel is fraught with symbols that speak to us in many ways. One thing is clear. God’s plan is to create and to unify in Christ Jesus. We can help or hinder the process. We won’t stop it. Make three resolutions for the sake of your children. 010310AD jfq