Jesus, Peter & Paul, Benedict , Gandhi — and Me???
Most Wednesdays of the year, Pope Benedict meets with pilgrims to Roma for a general audience. (Our parish visited Pope Benedict on Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009AD.) In his remarks in English, on January 7, 2009AD, prior to our visit, the Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict, said, paraphrasing St Paul’s letter to the Romans, “Paul exhorts us to offer our own bodies – meaning our entire selves -- as a spiritual worship: not in the abstract, but in our concrete daily life. (NB He’s talking about YOU and your own life!!) At the same time, this true (on-going) worship does not come about merely through human effort, Rather, through baptism, we have become “one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3.28) , Who took upon Himself our human nature and has thus assumed us into Himself.” Take some time out and think about that!!!
Pope Benedict’s citation of St Paul brings a segue with today’s Gospel of the response of the first 4 disciples to Jesus’ message to snap out of the miasmic system, smell God’s coffee and live Jesus’ worldview. Whatever happened with the call of the first disciples, viz., Peter and Andrew and James and John, the sons of Zebedee, they made bold moves by becoming disciples or followers of Jesus.
1)In their literal following of Jesus, they left behind two important boundary markers. They left strong parental and tribal ties and changed their venue as Jesus moved around proclaiming His Gospel. (Recall that at this early point in the Gospel, Jesus heals St Peter’s mother in law and at a later point, St Peter’s wife traveled with her husband at least 25 years after Jesus’ death and Resurrection. Ergo, Mrs Peter’s life changed too!)
2) Recall that these 4 were among the “middle class” such as it were in first century Galilee because they were not part of the 95% of the population who were tenant farmers. These four were tradesmen as fishermen. (They paid taxes.) As a result, their economic status radically changed by abandoning their nets and following Jesus.
3) Remember as well that the 4 were not perfect in any way. St Peter, for example, would later deny Jesus three times. The brothers, Peter and Andrew resented James and John’s power grab later on in Mark’s Gospel.
In response to what St Paul said, many years later, the 4 in the Gospel today offered their human efforts in, with and through Christ Jesus as their spiritual worship to God. The radical response of the 4 disciples obviously is meant to be archetypal for all of us. St Mark is hoping that all of us, with God’s Help, would do the same by our following Jesus every moment of our lives, every moment, not just Sunday for 45-50 minutes.
“The call or vocation archetype” of the first 4 impacts people in a variety of ways. Once Christianity became legalized in the fourth century, a committed Christianity became, for many, a cultural or conventional or a beige Christianity. Many, if not most, came to see Christian or Catholic as an identity badge, rather than a way of life. One area theologian said that in our own middle class world, church participation has become like country club participation. For many, now, we belong to a club, we pay our dues, we go when it fits our schedule, our children learn what club children learn (tennis, swimming or first Penance and Communion), we eat in the dining room (Sunday Mass) occasionally in a while and we join another club if we don’t like the chef, viz., the pastor.
In the twentieth century, one who saw the uniqueness of the Gospel of Christ Jesus was Mohandas Gandhi, whose assassination we commemorate this week. He really believed in the teachings of Jesus but he was never baptized because he felt that it was unwise to join a religion to which most adherents pay lip service, rather than commitment. It is always an eye opener to read some of his one-liners about those who claim to be Christians. 1) “If Christians really believed the Gospel of Jesus, they would walk around on their knees.” 2) “If Christians really wanted to be Kingdom-people, they should become the change that they would like to see the world to be.” 3) “What a great God Christians claim to worship, viz., a God who would become bread to feed God’s own people.” 4) “The first principle of non-violent action is the way of non-cooperation with everything that humiliates people.” 5) “If we are to reach real peace in this world, and if we are to wage war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.” 6)” Cooperation, not competition, is the law of the human species ultimately.” 7) “If the world continues to practice an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth mentality, eventually the world would be inhabited by blind people unable to eat corn on the cob!”
1600 years ago, St Augustine of Hippo wrote, “Many who claim to be Christian might not know and live the Gospel; many who know and live the Gospel might not claim to be Christian!” Pope Benedict in his recent message asks us to follow the example and sage prayer of St Paul to offer our lives 24-7 in, with and through Christ Jesus. While they might not have been prime examples, Peter and Andrew and James and John, Paul and Gandhi were willing to try to do so. What is our response? 012212AD jfq
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Reflection, Sunday January 15, 2012AD
Honorary Andrew’s or Andrea’s
In Greek Christianity, they bestow the
title, “Protoclete” (The First-called”) upon St
Andrew, the brother of St Peter. In today’s
Gospel, Andrew is one of the two disciples of
John the Baptist who came to follow Jesus.
He tells his brother, Simon Peter, to come to
Jesus. We all know what happened after. Immediately,
Simon Peter takes precedence and
Andrew recedes into the background. Was St
Andrew jealous?
Probably not. St Andrew appears twice
more in the Fourth Gospel, at the multiplication
of the loaves and the fish and then, again,
just before, the death of Jesus, when a group
of Greek-speaking Jews came to St Andrew at
the Passover and told him that they would like
to see Jesus.
St Andrew’s “job description” seems to
be “to bring other people to Jesus and then,
step back and let Jesus take over.” Every
Catholic has the same job description, mandated
by Baptism and Confirmation.
In Baptism, we are commissioned as
disciples (students) of Jesus. But, in Confirmation,
we are commissioned as apostles
(emissaries of Jesus), sent to bring others to
Jesus and let Jesus take over.
Therefore, in a real way, all the confirmed
are honorary Andrew’s (or Andrea’s).
Whenever a Catholic baptism is celebrated,
the Church bestows a special blessing upon
the father of the neonate. “We bless the father
of this child. He and his wife will be
the first teachers of their child in the ways
of faith and hope. May they be the best of
teachers by what they say and do in Christ
our Lord.” Values are caught, not taught.
However, for example, one child told the
bishop a few years back “I am basically a good
kid. I go to church on Sunday unless I have
something important to do.” Whence that impression?
Values are caught, not taught.
In so many ways, all of us are called to
be “Andrew’s or Andrea’s” by Jesus. As Marshall
McLuhan, the Canadian sociologist of
mass communication, put it, “The medium is
the message.” We recall the familiar adage as
well, “Values are caught, not taught.” Kids
see what motivates us by what enthuses us.
Recall the familiar story told about the
statue of Jesus in France after the D-Day invasion,
in which the arms of the statue had
been blown off. The town decided to leave the
statue as it was and added a prayer of St
Teresa of Avila before the damaged statue that
St Andrew would have understood. St Teresa
wrote, “Christ has no hands, but yours; not
words, but yours, no feet, but yours, no
heart, but yours.”
Adapting St Teresa’s prayer, we remember
that we worship Christ Jesus with and in
our heads, with and in our hearts and with and
in our hands. We care about Jesus so much
that we really want to learn about Him as
parents and family members. We care about
Jesus so much that we really want to celebrate
that He lives in us and we live in Him
through prayer. We care so much about Jesus
that we want to serve Him in the way that
we treat Jesus’ brothers and sisters,less fortunate
than we and about whom Jesus wants us
to have a special concern.
In our parish community, we have
taken a special concern for sisters and brothers
less fortunate than we, whether they live
in poorer areas in New York or in countries
less fortunate than ours. (Even before the
earthquake in Haiti two years ago, St Patrick’s
Community was on board with heightened
consciousness and care for the poorest nation
in the Western Hemisphere. Today, we continue
to learn about sisters and brothers in
Swaziland, who have the lowest standard of
living in the entire world.) In our world today,
with 7 billion sisters and brothers in our human
family, we wonder why so many of us in
affluent nations worry about too much weight
and why so many of us worry about the hunger
that takes the lives of 25,000 people each
day! Faamilies should explore the problem together
and work out answers to solve such
problems. Why is the world as it is?
Not just parents and family members,
but all of us are called to bring people to Jesus.
In early Christianity, each Christian was
expected to bring in one other new member
with himself or herself as part of the on-going
process of evangelization. One Church historian
guessed that this is one of the reasons
why Christianity grew in such exponential
numbers despite intermittent persecutions.
People saw that followers of Jesus took their
faith seriously and, despite the costs involved,
they wanted to get on the bandwagon. St Andrew
would have understood. Bring people to
Jesus and step back and let Jesus take over.
It’s a tried and true method. Values are
caught, not taught, (especially religious
ones!!) 011512AD jfq
In Greek Christianity, they bestow the
title, “Protoclete” (The First-called”) upon St
Andrew, the brother of St Peter. In today’s
Gospel, Andrew is one of the two disciples of
John the Baptist who came to follow Jesus.
He tells his brother, Simon Peter, to come to
Jesus. We all know what happened after. Immediately,
Simon Peter takes precedence and
Andrew recedes into the background. Was St
Andrew jealous?
Probably not. St Andrew appears twice
more in the Fourth Gospel, at the multiplication
of the loaves and the fish and then, again,
just before, the death of Jesus, when a group
of Greek-speaking Jews came to St Andrew at
the Passover and told him that they would like
to see Jesus.
St Andrew’s “job description” seems to
be “to bring other people to Jesus and then,
step back and let Jesus take over.” Every
Catholic has the same job description, mandated
by Baptism and Confirmation.
In Baptism, we are commissioned as
disciples (students) of Jesus. But, in Confirmation,
we are commissioned as apostles
(emissaries of Jesus), sent to bring others to
Jesus and let Jesus take over.
Therefore, in a real way, all the confirmed
are honorary Andrew’s (or Andrea’s).
Whenever a Catholic baptism is celebrated,
the Church bestows a special blessing upon
the father of the neonate. “We bless the father
of this child. He and his wife will be
the first teachers of their child in the ways
of faith and hope. May they be the best of
teachers by what they say and do in Christ
our Lord.” Values are caught, not taught.
However, for example, one child told the
bishop a few years back “I am basically a good
kid. I go to church on Sunday unless I have
something important to do.” Whence that impression?
Values are caught, not taught.
In so many ways, all of us are called to
be “Andrew’s or Andrea’s” by Jesus. As Marshall
McLuhan, the Canadian sociologist of
mass communication, put it, “The medium is
the message.” We recall the familiar adage as
well, “Values are caught, not taught.” Kids
see what motivates us by what enthuses us.
Recall the familiar story told about the
statue of Jesus in France after the D-Day invasion,
in which the arms of the statue had
been blown off. The town decided to leave the
statue as it was and added a prayer of St
Teresa of Avila before the damaged statue that
St Andrew would have understood. St Teresa
wrote, “Christ has no hands, but yours; not
words, but yours, no feet, but yours, no
heart, but yours.”
Adapting St Teresa’s prayer, we remember
that we worship Christ Jesus with and in
our heads, with and in our hearts and with and
in our hands. We care about Jesus so much
that we really want to learn about Him as
parents and family members. We care about
Jesus so much that we really want to celebrate
that He lives in us and we live in Him
through prayer. We care so much about Jesus
that we want to serve Him in the way that
we treat Jesus’ brothers and sisters,less fortunate
than we and about whom Jesus wants us
to have a special concern.
In our parish community, we have
taken a special concern for sisters and brothers
less fortunate than we, whether they live
in poorer areas in New York or in countries
less fortunate than ours. (Even before the
earthquake in Haiti two years ago, St Patrick’s
Community was on board with heightened
consciousness and care for the poorest nation
in the Western Hemisphere. Today, we continue
to learn about sisters and brothers in
Swaziland, who have the lowest standard of
living in the entire world.) In our world today,
with 7 billion sisters and brothers in our human
family, we wonder why so many of us in
affluent nations worry about too much weight
and why so many of us worry about the hunger
that takes the lives of 25,000 people each
day! Faamilies should explore the problem together
and work out answers to solve such
problems. Why is the world as it is?
Not just parents and family members,
but all of us are called to bring people to Jesus.
In early Christianity, each Christian was
expected to bring in one other new member
with himself or herself as part of the on-going
process of evangelization. One Church historian
guessed that this is one of the reasons
why Christianity grew in such exponential
numbers despite intermittent persecutions.
People saw that followers of Jesus took their
faith seriously and, despite the costs involved,
they wanted to get on the bandwagon. St Andrew
would have understood. Bring people to
Jesus and step back and let Jesus take over.
It’s a tried and true method. Values are
caught, not taught, (especially religious
ones!!) 011512AD jfq
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Reflection: January 8, 2012AD
Child(ren) of the Universe
The vivid, exotic imagery of the Epiphany Story continues to stir up questions in our imagination. How many visitors from the East were there? 3, 4, 5 or more? Whence did they come? Arabia, Babylon, Persia (aka today as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran (and maybe Afghanistan) )? Were they kings, wise men, astrologers or astronomers? Were their names Gaspar, Balthazar, Melchior? Was one of them Black, as has been indicated in church art for hundreds of year? What about the star? A true miracle, a supernova, Halley’s comet, a planetary configuration? What about the gifts? How did they know to bring gold, frankincense and myrrh? Did they plan their gift list? What did the gifts mean? What is all this saying to a Catholic in 2012AD? How is it all connected because everything is connected?
Now, as scientists continue to teach us, indeed, all reality is relational. Nothing can be understood in its entirety unless it is understood in its relationship to everything else in reality. We are learning that the conservation of energy (that nothing is lost in the universe, but becomes part of something else) is a universal principle. (Since the days of St Augustine, we called this process of ascent, descent and transformation the Paschal Mystery.) We learn that such a reality as quantum leaps happen, viz., when something totally new comes into being and yet, constituted by realities that already existed. We learn quantum mechanics the reality of the (w)holon, that reality is more than the sum of all its parts. We also learn that all the elements in the periodic chart higher than carbon are connected with the explosion of stars that have been occurring for eons. As many theologians now say, each of us and all of us (and our planetary home) are all made of stardust.
Scripture scholars have commented for years that the appearance of the star of Bethlehem in St Matthew’s story has a deep archetypal significance. With the birth of this Child, the very cosmos has been reconfigured. Reality will never be the same again now that the Creator’s Son has become united with the creation. As St Paul said in Col 1.15, quoting a hymn with which the Colossian Jesus Movement would have known, “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in Him, all things were created, in heaven and on earth ….all things were created through Him and for Him.” A new star would be a minimalistic way of expressing the change in the universe with the birth of this Child.
Tom Cahill, a New York Catholic historical writer, commented in the Mysteries of the Middle Ages, on the original purpose of the medieval university. The institution was established to give young students a wholistic, integrated world view. The medievals understood, generally, that since Truth was one, there should be no conflict in a liberal arts education. Cahill says that, sadly, the purpose of academia has changed, maybe not for the better. The purpose had been to teach a wholistic worldview, Cahill says; now, the purpose of academia has become, for many, job preparation. “This is progress?”, he asks.
As we salute our Magi ancestors, who worshipped the Christ Child, we should encourage our young people to learn more about the universality of the Gospel, of our role in God’s plan for a World Order, freer from hunger, violence, cruelty, injustice and inequality, of how our global home is shrinking due to technology and transportation improvements.
It is the Catholic (universal or wholistic) thing to do to have the openness to reality as God sees it. Yes, learn computers and technology. Learn the arts and sciences. However, learn Mandarin Chinese or Arabic because they are the languages of the future. (China and Islam are both here to stay.) In addition, all languages bring insights into cultures that share our global home with us. In addition, Catholic students should be open to courses that stress the Transcendental Centrality of human life, indeed, of all life. Catholic students should take serious courses in critical thinking, in which they learn to judge why the world is the way that it is, with a view to change things for the betterment of all. Finally, Catholic students should learn biblical insights that highlight now, more than ever, the meaning of the Magi’s worship of the Christ Child in today’s Gospel. Catholic biblical studies are now offered in tandem with sociology, economics and anthropology.
The Magi were known as “the Wise Men” traditionally. They followed the star that led to Christ Jesus. Wise men and women still follow the Star. Do we encourage our young people to do the same? As Pope Benedict reminded us on New Year’s Day, “It is their future, more than ours”. 010812ADjfq
The vivid, exotic imagery of the Epiphany Story continues to stir up questions in our imagination. How many visitors from the East were there? 3, 4, 5 or more? Whence did they come? Arabia, Babylon, Persia (aka today as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran (and maybe Afghanistan) )? Were they kings, wise men, astrologers or astronomers? Were their names Gaspar, Balthazar, Melchior? Was one of them Black, as has been indicated in church art for hundreds of year? What about the star? A true miracle, a supernova, Halley’s comet, a planetary configuration? What about the gifts? How did they know to bring gold, frankincense and myrrh? Did they plan their gift list? What did the gifts mean? What is all this saying to a Catholic in 2012AD? How is it all connected because everything is connected?
Now, as scientists continue to teach us, indeed, all reality is relational. Nothing can be understood in its entirety unless it is understood in its relationship to everything else in reality. We are learning that the conservation of energy (that nothing is lost in the universe, but becomes part of something else) is a universal principle. (Since the days of St Augustine, we called this process of ascent, descent and transformation the Paschal Mystery.) We learn that such a reality as quantum leaps happen, viz., when something totally new comes into being and yet, constituted by realities that already existed. We learn quantum mechanics the reality of the (w)holon, that reality is more than the sum of all its parts. We also learn that all the elements in the periodic chart higher than carbon are connected with the explosion of stars that have been occurring for eons. As many theologians now say, each of us and all of us (and our planetary home) are all made of stardust.
Scripture scholars have commented for years that the appearance of the star of Bethlehem in St Matthew’s story has a deep archetypal significance. With the birth of this Child, the very cosmos has been reconfigured. Reality will never be the same again now that the Creator’s Son has become united with the creation. As St Paul said in Col 1.15, quoting a hymn with which the Colossian Jesus Movement would have known, “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in Him, all things were created, in heaven and on earth ….all things were created through Him and for Him.” A new star would be a minimalistic way of expressing the change in the universe with the birth of this Child.
Tom Cahill, a New York Catholic historical writer, commented in the Mysteries of the Middle Ages, on the original purpose of the medieval university. The institution was established to give young students a wholistic, integrated world view. The medievals understood, generally, that since Truth was one, there should be no conflict in a liberal arts education. Cahill says that, sadly, the purpose of academia has changed, maybe not for the better. The purpose had been to teach a wholistic worldview, Cahill says; now, the purpose of academia has become, for many, job preparation. “This is progress?”, he asks.
As we salute our Magi ancestors, who worshipped the Christ Child, we should encourage our young people to learn more about the universality of the Gospel, of our role in God’s plan for a World Order, freer from hunger, violence, cruelty, injustice and inequality, of how our global home is shrinking due to technology and transportation improvements.
It is the Catholic (universal or wholistic) thing to do to have the openness to reality as God sees it. Yes, learn computers and technology. Learn the arts and sciences. However, learn Mandarin Chinese or Arabic because they are the languages of the future. (China and Islam are both here to stay.) In addition, all languages bring insights into cultures that share our global home with us. In addition, Catholic students should be open to courses that stress the Transcendental Centrality of human life, indeed, of all life. Catholic students should take serious courses in critical thinking, in which they learn to judge why the world is the way that it is, with a view to change things for the betterment of all. Finally, Catholic students should learn biblical insights that highlight now, more than ever, the meaning of the Magi’s worship of the Christ Child in today’s Gospel. Catholic biblical studies are now offered in tandem with sociology, economics and anthropology.
The Magi were known as “the Wise Men” traditionally. They followed the star that led to Christ Jesus. Wise men and women still follow the Star. Do we encourage our young people to do the same? As Pope Benedict reminded us on New Year’s Day, “It is their future, more than ours”. 010812ADjfq
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