Sunday July 11, 2010AD
If Anyone Knows, It’s Jesus!!
Today, St Paul gives us the verses of a hymn that was sung to Jesus c. 65AD. The opening verses of the hymn proclaim, “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation”. (pace Dan Brown, (author of The DaVinci Code who stated back in 2004 that Christ’s divinity was not declared until 325 AD), Dan, please take note!)
The hymn rejoices in the unity of Creator and creation in Christ Jesus. The Creator comes so close that God assumes a created human nature in Christ Jesus. However, the hymn further indicates that Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation”, so to speak, the archetype of creation. Just as humanity is the pinnacle of creation, Jesus Christ is the archetype, the blueprint, the pinnacle of humanity. In, with and “through Him, all things were created.”
It stands to reason that Christ Jesus is the One to Whom we must listen most carefully. He asks us to view reality with Jesus’ lenses, with His Worldview, with His Consciousness. (How this usually does not agree with the System, conventional wisdom, the American Dream, call the trance whatever You want.)
One thing that His great Apostle, St Paul, stresses is the solidarity between Christ Jesus (the Head of the Body of Christ) and the parts thereof. Christ Jesus becomes for us the archetype, the paradigm and the exemplar of what it means to be both truly divine and truly human. Christ Jesus rubs off on us through the Jesus Movement, through our gathering in His Name (He is present when two or three gather together in His Name), the Word of God, the Sacraments, particularly Baptism and the Eucharist, and in myriad other ways known only to Him, as He meets us daily in the events of our lives. As several theologians have put it, “God comes to us disguised as our lives!”
Christ Jesus is the archetype of creation (St Paul’s very word!!). We can say that Christ Jesus is out deepest DNA and our deepest DNA is in Christ Jesus. (As modern physics tells us, the Whole is greater than the sum of all the parts, still each part (cell) contains the Whole within it.)
As we know, St Paul says in several places that we are the Body of Christ. Is it not to say that each of us is a part, a cell, a member, in the Body of Christ?
Among other means, Jesus told great stories, known as parables, short, pithy concrete stories that people could imagine and picture mentally which had a trick ending to teach people a new view of reality. Just as the Storyteller is incarnate, so also are His stories, how strange!)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus demonstrates how God views the true nature of religion. A religious scholar tried to test Him and posed a question to test Jesus. (Jesus, however, betrays Irish ancestry of some sort on Mary’s part by answering one question with another.)
The riposte leads into the Parable of the Good Samaritan (To Jewish minds, then, the term was an contradiction.) In the radical answer (Based on the Latin word “radix” , (not a dirty word, despite the inflection and spleen with which some talk show hosts use it,) the word means “basis”, viz., what is at the heart of all things) Jesus indicates the priest and Levite fulfilled a ritual law by avoiding contact with what appeared to be a dead man. However, the man was not dead. Ritual scrupulosity would have resulted in the death of the mugging victim. One not bound by religious ritual, viz., the rejected “Samaritan was moved with compassion.”
Commentators have listed 7 distinct actions that the Samaritan performed as an expression of his compassion. To the Semitic mind, the number, 7, is the number for divinity. In essence, what Jesus says is that those who were scrupulous for rituals failed to respond to the man in need. The Samaritan, who did not observe the Law of Moses, fulfilled the call “to love one’s neighbor as oneself.” God worked through someone outside the Law. Those who were expected to observe the Law of compassion neglected to do so for fear of ritual contamination. Basically, Jesus re-phrases the question. Your neighbor is anyone who needs you when that person is in trouble. One’s neighbor is open-ended!!
Jesus told several different types of parables. Today’s example would probably fall under the “role reversal” category, where what one normally would expect is turned “inside out”. The religious figures, the priest and the Levite, passed the man who was mugged. The religious outsider fulfilled God’s demand in giving help to the one who needed his help.
In a culture that frequently brags about its foundations on Judaeo-Christian principles, it is important to remember that we always need to pray for justice, fairness, solidarity, compassion and civility in planning for our future. We need also to recall in a Judaeo-Christian context, as well, the Judaeo-Christian triad of who are the most vulnerable in our society, viz., the widows, the orphans and the aliens.
St Augustine remarked 1500 years ago that sometimes, the holiest people are outside the church while sometimes, the least holy are within the church. It is only God Who knows what is in our hearts.
The Image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, challenges the “holy” scholar (and “us”) to go and do likewise and treat others with mercy. With His Help, will we do so? 071110AD jfq
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Weekly Reflection 070410AD
Sunday, July 4, 2010AD
Fourteenth Sunday in Greentime
Two by Two to Name Reality
Today, St Luke presents us with a story that tells us a great deal about both the beginnings of the Jesus Movement as well as implications for 21st century Catholicism as well. He presents an interesting scenario.
In addition to the Twelve, Jesus sent out a further 72 to proclaim that God has something new and important to share with whoever will listen. Jesus saw the task as so urgent that He stressed the necessity of traveling light and making the rounds to as many households as possible.
The message is serious in its implications. “The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.” In modern parlance, Jesus might have put it this way, “Snap out of the trance that your System has hypnotized you to accept. Reality, as it exists, is not what God Has in mind for the world. Listen to Jesus Who proclaims that in Him, God’s System is active in the world. It is up to you. Snap out of your trance and smell God’s coffee!!”
However, some have wondered that if Jesus’ mission were so urgent, then why did He not send out these missionaries on their own? Why did He opt for 36 teams of two, not 72 individuals?
Several solutions have been offered. First, since the message about the Kingdom of God needed verification, the Semitic mindset was that the testimony had to be given by at least two witnesses. Second, the teams of two suggested that the missionaries on such an all-important and stressful assignment needed the companionship of one another to de-compress from the pressures of the mission effort. Third, probably, the most salient solution might be that the Kingdom of God is not about a solitary relationship between an individual and God. Rather, the proclamation of the Kingdom involves a radical change in one’s relationships with God and with other people. Gospel living is about God and others, not just God and self. (Someone calculated that over 2/3 of what Jesus said, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount in St Matthew’s Gospel, which we just concluded in the daily lectio continua had to do with getting along with other people along the patterns of behavior demanded by Jesus. A better relationship with God is bound to affect our dealings with other people.)
The format that Jesus used showed that, even in His public life, word was starting to spread to others through the witness of teams of two. Most people back then tended to live very localized lives. Most never traveled very far from the place where they were born and they lived in very circumscribed environs in very structured relationships with very few people. Into this nexus of relationships, itinerant teams of two entered and brought news about the radical new order of things that can be affected by people snapping out of myopia to a new vision of reality.
Testifying to the Proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth, these teams of two would back up the power of their testimony by healing infirmities of those who were ill. These healings were not meant to be showstoppers, but rather, audio-visual indications of the veracity of the witnesses’ testimony.
Still, there is the fact that each person is a psychosomatic unity, with a mind-body connection within us, operating for better or for worse of the person. If we took the reality of God’s new plan for us seriously, then, we would, in a sense, be different people. Our worldview would change.
There are many responses to all aspects of the proclamation of the approach of the Kingdom of God (aka Christ Consciousess, viz., if we saw life differently, as Christ sees it, our universe would be alternated. Pope John Paul in his Catechism taught us that we know speak of 4 types of sins. 1) Mortal sin definitively, by our choice, separates us from God; 2) Structural sin, in which people are dehumanized by institutions in which we participate; 3) Serious sin, which is a major failure by which we separate ourselves from God; 4) venial sin, by which , in seemingly mundane things, we weaken our relationship with God and with one another. Fr Karl Rahner listed, as examples of venial sins, the following: impatience, coarseness, uncleanliness, cheap literature, talkativeness, laughing at the faults of others, petty egotism in everyday life, petty enmities, oversensitivity, wasting time, cowardice, a lack of respect for other people, disrespectful talk about men and women, harmful spike portraying itself as a clever joke, stubbornness and obstinacy, moodiness that other people have to put up with, disorder in work, postponement of the unpleasant, gossip, self-praise, unjust preference for certain people that we find pleasant, hastiness in judging, false self-satisfaction, laziness, the tendency to give up learning although still making believe you know it all, the tendency to refuse to listen to others.
Obviously, not serious, but still venial sin makes life unpleasant for others and upset God’s Plan. A science news item last week said that people who tried not to nurse grudges or resentments tended to have a longer life span than those who let anger and hostility smolder in their minds and hearts. Jesus has been telling us for 2000 years that attempts at anger management (with God’s Help) are a grace and a good thing.
2000 years after the setting of this Gospel, while times and venues change, people remain the same. The message of the Kingdom brought to us by Catholic faith can continue to work miracles to convince us “The Kingdom is at hand for you.” You might even see it in better health checkups. Trust Jesus. 070410AD jfq
Fourteenth Sunday in Greentime
Two by Two to Name Reality
Today, St Luke presents us with a story that tells us a great deal about both the beginnings of the Jesus Movement as well as implications for 21st century Catholicism as well. He presents an interesting scenario.
In addition to the Twelve, Jesus sent out a further 72 to proclaim that God has something new and important to share with whoever will listen. Jesus saw the task as so urgent that He stressed the necessity of traveling light and making the rounds to as many households as possible.
The message is serious in its implications. “The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.” In modern parlance, Jesus might have put it this way, “Snap out of the trance that your System has hypnotized you to accept. Reality, as it exists, is not what God Has in mind for the world. Listen to Jesus Who proclaims that in Him, God’s System is active in the world. It is up to you. Snap out of your trance and smell God’s coffee!!”
However, some have wondered that if Jesus’ mission were so urgent, then why did He not send out these missionaries on their own? Why did He opt for 36 teams of two, not 72 individuals?
Several solutions have been offered. First, since the message about the Kingdom of God needed verification, the Semitic mindset was that the testimony had to be given by at least two witnesses. Second, the teams of two suggested that the missionaries on such an all-important and stressful assignment needed the companionship of one another to de-compress from the pressures of the mission effort. Third, probably, the most salient solution might be that the Kingdom of God is not about a solitary relationship between an individual and God. Rather, the proclamation of the Kingdom involves a radical change in one’s relationships with God and with other people. Gospel living is about God and others, not just God and self. (Someone calculated that over 2/3 of what Jesus said, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount in St Matthew’s Gospel, which we just concluded in the daily lectio continua had to do with getting along with other people along the patterns of behavior demanded by Jesus. A better relationship with God is bound to affect our dealings with other people.)
The format that Jesus used showed that, even in His public life, word was starting to spread to others through the witness of teams of two. Most people back then tended to live very localized lives. Most never traveled very far from the place where they were born and they lived in very circumscribed environs in very structured relationships with very few people. Into this nexus of relationships, itinerant teams of two entered and brought news about the radical new order of things that can be affected by people snapping out of myopia to a new vision of reality.
Testifying to the Proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth, these teams of two would back up the power of their testimony by healing infirmities of those who were ill. These healings were not meant to be showstoppers, but rather, audio-visual indications of the veracity of the witnesses’ testimony.
Still, there is the fact that each person is a psychosomatic unity, with a mind-body connection within us, operating for better or for worse of the person. If we took the reality of God’s new plan for us seriously, then, we would, in a sense, be different people. Our worldview would change.
There are many responses to all aspects of the proclamation of the approach of the Kingdom of God (aka Christ Consciousess, viz., if we saw life differently, as Christ sees it, our universe would be alternated. Pope John Paul in his Catechism taught us that we know speak of 4 types of sins. 1) Mortal sin definitively, by our choice, separates us from God; 2) Structural sin, in which people are dehumanized by institutions in which we participate; 3) Serious sin, which is a major failure by which we separate ourselves from God; 4) venial sin, by which , in seemingly mundane things, we weaken our relationship with God and with one another. Fr Karl Rahner listed, as examples of venial sins, the following: impatience, coarseness, uncleanliness, cheap literature, talkativeness, laughing at the faults of others, petty egotism in everyday life, petty enmities, oversensitivity, wasting time, cowardice, a lack of respect for other people, disrespectful talk about men and women, harmful spike portraying itself as a clever joke, stubbornness and obstinacy, moodiness that other people have to put up with, disorder in work, postponement of the unpleasant, gossip, self-praise, unjust preference for certain people that we find pleasant, hastiness in judging, false self-satisfaction, laziness, the tendency to give up learning although still making believe you know it all, the tendency to refuse to listen to others.
Obviously, not serious, but still venial sin makes life unpleasant for others and upset God’s Plan. A science news item last week said that people who tried not to nurse grudges or resentments tended to have a longer life span than those who let anger and hostility smolder in their minds and hearts. Jesus has been telling us for 2000 years that attempts at anger management (with God’s Help) are a grace and a good thing.
2000 years after the setting of this Gospel, while times and venues change, people remain the same. The message of the Kingdom brought to us by Catholic faith can continue to work miracles to convince us “The Kingdom is at hand for you.” You might even see it in better health checkups. Trust Jesus. 070410AD jfq
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