Sunday, November 1, 2015AD

All Saints (of New York and Beyond)

Last evening, October 31^st (aka Halloween) begins our Catholic month of Remember. From now on, (particularly today and tomorrow) until Advent  we recall the dead in Christ Jesus  as well as God’s blessings to us here and now, as well as our anticipation, even now, but not yet, of God’s final victory over what oppresses us.

          Today’s festival of All Saints Day originally began as a Christian adaptation of an old Celtic festival on November 1, known as Samhain (pronounced Sow-in, go figure!!) Traditional European folk religion believed that the gates of heaven were only opened once a year, viz., on Samhain, the onset of winter in Celtic lands.  On this Celtic New Year’s Eve, all those who had died the preceding year entered in heaven on this one festival when the gates of heaven were opened annually.

          In the eighth century, the traditional Celtic festival was Christianized as an opportunity to commemorate all those who had died in Christ, putting up the good fight. It is a splendid time to call to mind all those whom we have known and loved and whom we commend to YHWH today and always.

          Once again, we hear the Beatitudes as our Gospel reading. It is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Mtt 5-7). It has been said that the first Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit because the Kingdom of heaven is theirs”, is the key to the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are the key to the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is the key to the Gospel of St Matthew.

          However, the word “poor” is a turnoff in colloquial English. Who would want to be poor under any circumstances? What “poor in spirit” means really complicate the matter.

          The words that Jesus might have used when He spoke of the poor were varied. One word, anav, means “material poverty”. A second word that Jesus might have used was dal, which means “bent over or stooped” (with the burden of poverty). Either word would not have been very attractive things to which a blessing was attached. However, Jesus wants us to consider Himself as the Guarantor of the promise.

St Matthew adds “in spirit” to denote that it was not just material poverty, but a poverty open to all. All of us, remember, no matter what, are ultimately recipients of God’s gifts.

          Jesus’ insight is simply that ultimately when one honestly considers one’s life, everything in life is a gift to us or predicated on a gift to us. When, when one gets very serious about one’s existence, each and every moment of our life is a gift to us. Nobody consulted us on our desire to come into this world. Nobody should decide when we leave this world. Not only are the moments of birth and death sacred moments in which God’s Presence can be felt.  So also when one reflects on the incomprehensible, indefinable, ineffable dimensions of human life, each and every second of our life, we become cognizant of the Divine Immanence (Presence) and Transcendence of our lives.

          Everything that happens between conception and death is a gift when one reflects on it. One’s response can only be cosmic awe, humility and honest realization that, indeed, all is gift and/or based on a gift. We are, indeed, all poor when we realize that everything is a gift. Whether affluent or not, (in the material sense), in God’s purview, God’s daughters and sons are all poor.  All we have to work with are God’s gifts.

          In addition, just as we all stand before God with empty hands, we frequently take God’s gifts as for granted or as entitlements. Before long, we abuse the gifts, we abuse the gifts frequently and find ourselves not only with empty and dirty hands.

          Today, we salute all those who tried, with God’s Help, to do the best they could in every Now moment. While Pope Francis saluted two New York Catholics in his recent speech to Congress, viz., Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, there were and are many in New York and beyond who tried to respond to the first Beatitude. All of us have known heroic men and women who, without naming the reality, tried to live what St Therese called the Little Way.   They tried to go about each day doing what God required of them with God’s Help in Christ Jesus. 

          What Jesus means in the first Beatitude is that, with God’s Help, when we all have a healthy self-assessment, then we have accepted the gift of poverty in spirit. We truly know our human condition and our participation in God’s universe. God energizes us to live in the new (alternate) consciousness that Jesus calls the Kingdom (commonwealth, better???) of God, even now, but not yet. 110115AD jfq

Sunday,, November 8, 205AD

A Half Penny (or Two Lepta) for Your Thoughts!!!!     

We learned when we were in high school that atoms, indeed, could be smashed. The “un-cutable” could be cut into perhaps, at least 100 subatomic particles. Such subatomic particles include quarks and leptons. Lepton is a Greek word. It is also the origin of the Greek word today in our Gospel, viz., lepta,  about a half penny, the amount of money the widow put in the temple treasury.

One of the most famous vignettes in Jesus’ life is our Gospel this weekend as we hear the story of the Widow’s Mite. The familiarity of the story belies its controversial interpretations even after twenty centuries.

          St Mark juxtaposed two incidents today when the evangelist speaks of the widow’s offering in close proximity to another, the carrying on of religious officials. Jesus berates those who thrive on the offerings and then, Jesus salutes the widow’s act of faith. Jesus’ negative assessment of religious functionaries is a challenge to all religious leaders, then and now, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish, Islamic, et al.

          The actions that Jesus highlighted were their parading around in long robes, their king the best seats at functions and then, their devouring the houses of widows, Jesus has taken off His gloves on this one. As an outsider, He challenges the religious institution on its own turf, viz., the Temple.

          First of all, there is a debate over whether the story of the widow’s mite was an actual event in the last week of Jesus’ life or a parable that Jesus told during Holy Week. If it were, indeed, an actual event, Jesus is making an observation that is quite obvious.  The worshippers at the Temple, indeed, contributed to its upkeep by their donations. However, Jesus’ insight challenges much, then as well as now, of conventional religious wisdom. As a matter of fact, the generosity of the affluent comes from their resource. On the other hand the widow’s two lepta, amounting to a half cent is literally a “drop in the bucket.”

          However, there are those who see the story of the widow’s mite as a parable Jesus told in the Temple. (Even in both non-Jewish and Jewish folklore, there were stories of a similar drift. The almsgiving of the poor are more value, qualitatively, than the almsgiving of the affluent.)

          Whether the vignette describes an actual incident or a parable that Jesus told, the stress in the story is the same. In a radical way, the widow’s action three characteristics of disciples. First, she had received the gift of poverty of spirit. She, indeed, knew that ultimately everything is based on God’s Presence as the center of our lives, whether we believe it or not. (How about us?) One may not see it as such, but the lady is saying that God is the bottom line and center of her life. Recall the theme of the first Beatitude last weekend on All Saints Day. Blessed are those who try to acknowledge, with God’s Help, God as the center of their lives. They are moving in the right direction.

Second, she viewed her life as a totality, under God’s Sovereign Sway (How about us?)

Third, her offering was an act of faith that even she had nothing, she believed that God would take care of her. (How about us?)

          750 years ago, St Thomas Aquinas spoke of the principle of Causality. God, ultimately, is the First Cause of all things. God is the Reason why all exist. However, God, the First Cause works frequently (if not usually) through secondary causes. Our culture does not see God’s Hand at work in the vicissitudes of life; still, it is God’s Presence both in and beyond us at work. Somehow, the widow intuited this with the gift of poverty in spirit. Using the biblical notion, the widow would be an example of the Anavim YHWH (the poor ones of God); she felt that God would ride for her.

          However, the picture had changed by the time that St Mark wrote his Gospel, around the year 70AD. The Temple that the widow was supporting had recently been destroyed by the marauding Roman army. In effect, St Mark knew that Jesus might have intuited. The Temple was not going to last. A few days later that week, on Good Friday, St Mark tells us that the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  God was always with God’s people, including the widow. (The others who contributed to the temple, for whatever reason, were included as well; the poor widow took that seriously.) (How about us?)

If, indeed, this is an actual event in the last week of Jesus’ life, we can see why this was another reason why religious institutions knew that Jesus had to go.  However, the fact that the story has been preserved means that God, indeed, vindicated the widow and all who acknowledge God, with God’s Help, as the center of their lives. She and they are moving in their right direction. They share God’s gift of “poverty in spirit”.  Are we included in their ranks?  110815AD jfq 

Sunday, November 15, 2015AD

Did Jesus  Really Say That?

       Catholic biblical theologians have been writing about the “Jesus of History” with gusto and perspicacity for several years. John Meier has already published 4 volumes so far of A Marginal Jew, a search for the bruta facta of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

One of the determining criteria used by Meier, a Notre Dame theologian, is used by biblical theologians as well, is known as the “criterion of embarrassment”, viz., deeds and/or sayings of Jesus that would not have been made up later because such deeds and/or sayings were embarrassing to Christians celebrating His death and Resurrection.

A prime example of this appears at the conclusion of our Gospel today. But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, not the Son, but only the Father.” No New Testament author and/or community which have added such a statement in which the Lord professed not to know something about, in the emerging Jesus tradition. Yet, today, He speaks of that day unaware of when it will happen.

The time in which Jesus lived and died and rose was turbulent. Later, in that same first century, the time in which our Evangelist, St Mark, wrote his Gospel was even more a turbulent time.  The Jews revolted against Roman oppression in the early 60’s of the first century. Word was out that a huge invading army was on its way or had arrived outside the walls of Jerusalem. Next, the Jesus Movement had already undergone a savage persecution in Roma after the great fire in Roma, in July, 64AD. In addition, three pivotal leaders of the Jesus Movement had met their death in Christ in the 60’s, viz., Peter and Paul in Roma, James, Jesus’ relative of Jesus, who was the head of the Jerusalem Jesus Movement and the author of the mighty letter (we heard as our second reading in September of this years.) Also in one year, Roma had seen three emperors, Nero, Otho and Galba.

With all that had befallen them, the Jesus Movement had to ask, “How much longer can this all continue. Is there any end in sight?” Many think that St Mark penned his inspired words to strengthen his communities in strife. Recall how we heard on several past Sundays the “Doctrine of the Cross revealed Jesus tells His followers, then and now, that no one said that the Jesus Movement and the faith in Christ Jesus that inspires it would be easy. The Cross confronts every human person in some shape or form at some time or another. (Eastern religions call it “dukkha”!) There are no exceptions. Christian know it as the universal Paschal Mystery of death and Resurrection.   The difference is that followers of Jesus are aware of God’s Presence within this mystery of death and Resurrection.

Still, there is the possibility of transformation. As St Paul asserts so strongly in Romans 8, passim, written about 57AD, to folks on whom the roof was going to collapse 7 years later in the persecution after Nero’s fire. “ I consider the sufferings of the present moments nothing compared to the glory to be revealed in us…We know that all things work for good for those who love God…For I am convinced that neither death nor life…nor any other  creature will be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

How humbling and consoling it is for us today as we realize that we don’t have all the answers. On All Saints’ Day we heard “what is yet to be has not yet to come to light.” (Sometimes, the arrogant don’t even know how to formulate the questions. Sooner or later, they’ll figure it out!) In the ancient days, the Israelites thought that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was literally the center of the universe. Later, others came to think that the earth was the center of the universe. Still, later, others came to think that the sun is the center of the universe. Now we realize that our solar system is merely a small part of a vaster cosmos that is still in the process of cosmogenesis. (Some still say that we still need to realize that we or our culture or even the National Rifle Association are the centers of the universe.)  Rather, the Creating, Redeeming and Vivifying God revealed in Christ Jesus is the driving force or Center of the Universe. St Bonaventure said 700 years ago that we learn the truth from creation, our knowledge of Christ Jesus and our contemplation in silence!)

Many years ago, German Jesuit theologian, Karl Rahner, probably the greatest Catholic theologian of the twentieth century, asked the question, “What would happen to the human race if the word “GOD’ were eliminated from human language? (In many ways, atheism has tried to do this with its debunking of theism, the human ways in which we try to describe the ineffable, incomprehensible, indefinable Holy Mystery.)

Rahner’s conclusion was that, eventually, humans would have to come up with a new word to describe what we mean by “God”. In the late 1960’s, a movement had arisen called the “God is Dead Movement” In response, another book appeared “God Is Not Quite Dead Yet.” The book said that the drive to transcendence built into human consciousness, oriented to an insatiable thirst for both knowledge and love is something that cannot be denied for long by everyone.  Rahner called it “the existential drive to transcendence”. Traditionally, this is the Christian idea of Actual Grace, available to all.  You cannot deny its reality for long.  Nature will not be ignored.

Even though Jesus admitted that He did not know the day nor the hour (would He have been human like we are if He did?), He teaches all of the Jesus Movement then and now to hang on tight and always trust God. Jesus did. With His Help, we can do so as well.    111515AD jfq

Sunday, November 22, 2015AD

Christ the Archetype, Paradigm, Exemplar, Template

          Humans live in three domes of reality. The first dome of reality is “My World”. We try to answer the question, “Who am I?” We focus on “my story.” a legitimate effort to live one’s life as we search for significance of our lives.  However, our personal viewpoint is exactly that, your viewpoint.  Buddhists have a term “Annatta”, the beguiling mind, viz., just because you see some things a certain way, that doesn’t mean that it is way that others see it. More importantly, how God see it?  In adults, this roughly corresponds to the first half of life. How am I going to take the world by storm? Try it and see. However, don’t forget the words of Pope John Paul II, “There are no moral freezones!” The temptation here becomes egoism, viz., I am the center of the universe (and there is something wrong with you when you don’t realize it!

          The second dome of reality is “Our World”. We focus on “our story “We try to answer the question, Who are we?”  We try to find our place in the world through group identities and loyalties that expand our self-identification. Our identity markers become our ethnicity, our religion, our group identities, our nationality. Once more, there is nothing wrong with such efforts so long as we follow God’s rules.  Again Pope John Paul’s caveat kicks in. “There are no moral freezones”. The temptation here becomes cultural narcissism. “We’re number one!  We are the center of the universe and there is something wrong with you if 1) you don’t think that we are or 2) you think that you are.

          Most people, however, move back and forth between these two domes. Many don’t realize there is a third dome, the big picture.

          The third dome of reality is the “Universe”, God’s world, Reality or the Big Story.  Now the question becomes “What is the planetary and cosmic reality of which I and we are parts? We try to find our place in the universe through our recognition of and immersion in a process that is always operative, both in the universe and in your and our place in the life of the universe.

          The Jesus Movement looks to our Mentor to help us answer these questions through His everyday life, his death and Resurrection. 1) First He still teaches us that life is relational.  Nothing exists as a monad. The notion of rugged individualism is a corruption of the Enlightenment, viz., I can take of myself.    From the time of Jesus, His Movement has spoken of a relational. God is a relationship of Father, Son and Spirit. If God is relational, it stands to reason that creation must be relational as well.

          2) He still teaches us that life (and death) are learning processes in which we come to see our place in the universe.  The learning will never end.  God is mystery, infinitely knowable and unknowable at the same time. Isn’t your life within the universe, even within your everyday existence, on ongoing learning process? God is a Mystery, so are you!

          3) God has engaged the paradox of ascent, descent and transformation as a universal process.  All things are called to life, they grow, change, decline and experience transformation. Scientifically, the process is named “the conservation of energy, viz., nothing is lost in the universe. God is still creating the universe and still creating you as part of the universe.  The Jesus Movement calls this the paschal Mystery. Jesus lived and died and experienced the transformation of Resurrection. In the first century, our Christians forebears sang “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the pattern of creation, the firstborn of the dead.

4) Creation is driven by a trajectory that leads to new possibilities. Creation acts that there is a blueprint or template that leads somewhere.

Believing Christian scientists (not just evangelical ones either) are saying that much of the Gospel resonates with scientific principles just being named.

That is why that the Jesus Movement reminds ourselves if the Divine Reality, the Big Picture, the Great I AM, “in which we live and move and have our being.”

          As the first followers of Jesus sang and accepted, “Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior”, we celebrate our faith in that primitive creed as we humbly realize that the first and second domes of our viewpoints or spirituality are not absolute, but rather relativized by the third dome of God’s Story.  God’s view of reality must be differently than yours or ours.  Who is on the money?    112215AD  jfq

Sunday, November 29, 2015AD

What Would Dorothy Do?

In 1991, Pope John Paul issued Centissimos Annos, an encyclical on the changing world on the one hundredth anniversary (1891) of Pope Leo XIII’s critique of industrialization in Europe and North America, the encyclical, Rerum Novarum. Pope John Paul’s encyclical in 1991 targeted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Europe.  In 1991, one western leader spoke of a new world order, but had no clue that might not really be the case after September 11, 2001.

The Polish Pope made a significant comment to capitalist nations when he said that capitalism had no right to crow over what had happened with the fall of communism. He said that both communism and capitalism looked at workers as monads, to be used by either system for profit and economic enrichment for the few.

Pope John Paul's words take on a haunting meaning to this weekend after Black Friday. Think of the warning about monads when you watch the (apparently, not so massive as in the past) stampedes at stores on Thursday night and/or Friday morning. When you think of it, consumers are pawns in a system that controls them. Worse, think of the workers (often monadic, with no unionization and no benefits) having to work on Thursday night and Friday morning. (How unfair!!).

During the season of Advent, we Catholics are reminded of the paradox of the Gospel, viz., both Emmanuel (God is with us) and Maranatha (Come, Lord Jesus). The Lord Jesus is in our hearts and midst (He says so!) and yet, we anticipate His coming to us in even deeper ways now and in the future.

That is, of course, if you are not shopping ‘til you're dropping. With a straight face, fair and balanced bloviators speak of the War on Christmas. Perhaps, it would be more correct to speak of the War on Advent. We are supposed to be entering a time of watchful waiting so the Lord comes to us more fully at Christmas and always. Now, the holydays are Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

Recently, there were segments on television about angry consumers who didn't like some Christmas setup. In some places, Santa was bye-bye. Another winter scene was in place.  One irate woman in the area complained about how they were waging war on Christmas. In her expression of resentment and outrage, she didn't seem to have heard some of Jesus' teachings about anger and revenge in the Sermon on the Mount.

Someone suggested that once a week during the next four weeks, just come into church and sit down and slow down and shut down. The Hindu practice of Darshan involved just sitting in a holy place and you look at the Lord and let the Lord look at you. No words, necessary! Be in the church and you gaze on the Lord and let the Lord gaze at you in silence and solitude. No talk necessary, but if you want, use words! Be counter cultural.

Try to get to Penance before Christmas as another way to heed St John the Baptist's call to prepare the Way of the Lord. Many Catholics use the season of Advent as an opportunity for Christmas confession. Be an apostolic disciple and try to encourage a relative or friend to join you.  This weekend, we begin the Year of Mercy. Word travels among the laity about which confessors to approach and which to avoid. Pope Francis says that this is an acceptable way of celebrating the sacrament.

Today we observe the thirty-fifth anniversary of the death of Dorothy Day here in NYC.  Pope Francis, during his visit to us in September cited the great New Yorker, Dorothy Day in his address to Congress. Today we observe the thirty-fifth anniversary of the death of Dorothy Day here in NYC. One can be sure that whatever was usually on Dorothy's agenda for TXG night or Black Friday morning, it did not involve stampeding in shopping malls.

Pope John Paul was certainly on target with his comment on people as ciphers in both communist and capitalist systems. Think about his words in the next four weeks. Think also of the words of St John the Baptist. “Prepare the way of the Lord.” We cannot do that so well, when we are tearing into shopping malls.

Jesus is always knocking at the door of your heart. What would Dorothy do? Would she tell him to come back in the New Year because she was going shopping? Will you open the door for Him or go out shopping? 112915AD jfq

October 4, 2015AD

We Know Even More Now!!!!!  

          New York is still in a euphoric state after Pope Francis’ visit to us last weekend. Though the weather has changed and the senselessness of another mass shooting in Oregon has sickened us, people are still sharing their weekend experiences involving Pope Francis either in person or on television. There still is a buzz in the air. Since his election as Bishop of Rome (the title he prefers), the church and the world see a shift in personality and style.

Fifty years ago, St John XXIII made a famous statement when challenged on the connection between Catholicism and a changing world. He said, “We know more now!”

Indeed, a major article published since then, traced the evolution of two teachings in Catholic morality.  The teachings involved slavery and religious freedom. First, Christendom had basically never challenged seriously the institution of human slavery, seen as a given. Although St Paul said, “In Christ, there is no slave or free…all are one in Christ Jesus,” back then, very few thought about a world without slavery.  It has always been this way, so God must allow it. Some quotes St Paul, “Slaves, obey your masters!” It was the combination of the French Revolution and the Quaker response to human trafficking in England to a more authentic read of the Scriptures that people saw, as a group, the systemic sin of slavery.  The Broadway show, Amazing Grace, shows the conversion of John Newton who composed the famous hymn after his conversion as a slave trader.  In the minds and hearts and consciences of Christian people, they knew more then. Now for Christians slavery is a non-negotiable.

Second, Christendom was not in the forefront of religious toleration when the subordination of the Church to the state occurred during the fourth century. If you were a good citizen, you were a good Christian. If you were a good Christian, you would be a good citizen. That was a foregone conclusion. Deal with it. Religious toleration was not a big item on the agenda of the Inquisitions and excommunications done in the name of the Gospel for centuries. Now, in the twentieth century, the idea of freedom of conscience was taken seriously by Vatican II.  We accept, as Catholics, freedom of conscience, even though church institutions didn’t always practice what it preached intramurally.

Recent biblical studies conclude that Jesus, indeed, taught the value of permanence and fidelity within marriage quite seriously.  However, what does that teaching mean today in a different cultural situation? Back then, a women’s identity in society was determined by the significant man in her life, viz., her father, her husband, her oldest son. That clarifies Jesus’ vision, in part, as the fidelity and permanence of marriage. However, what happens today?

The vision of Jesus remains, yet, what was it to mean in the everyday realities of people’s lives?  The earliest New Testament author, St Paul, accepted Jesus’ teaching, but even in the mid-fifties of the first century, in 1 Corinthians, St Paul upheld Jesus’ value, but knew there had to be exceptions.   We saw in the twentieth century a development of our understanding of Christian marriage. It was back in the late sixties, that we took more seriously the idea of psychological immaturity at the time of the marriage.  

          Each couple, on their wedding day, when they exchange their marriage vows are committing themselves totally to the Vision of Jesus on the permanence and fidelity of Christian marriage.   It is the vision they share with Christ Jesus.  They celebrate the value.

          However, things happen.  There are certainly addictions, infidelity and abuse, both physical and psychological that manifest after the exchange of marriage vows. What then?

Even St Thomas Aquinas talked about such cases in the thirteenth century.  He said while the values are to be maintained, but he taught that each and every relationship is unique. Indeed,   values are maintained, but can the value be maintained totally, depending on the existential realities of life today?  Aquinas was not the first to distinguish between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.    Why the Letter of the Law then and what is its Spirit now? Relying on what we know now, what is the spirit of Jesus’ value in the twenty-first century? 

          Recall the article on the evolution of Christian thought on critical values of human slavery and of religious freedom.  Pope Francis is encouraging us by word and example that “times, they are a changin’”.

The Pope encourages us to be better informed on such topics. A colleague of his, Walter Cardinal Kasper, wrote a book a few years ago, entitled Mercy (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 2014). Pope Francis is quoted, on the book jacket, saying how helpful the book has been to himself personally.  In one of the chapters, Cardinal Kasper writes of “Mercy in Canon Law”. Cardinal Kasper will be a player at the upcoming synod on the family in Rome.

We have documented development of Jesus’ teachings down through the centuries. We have a different vision of the inhumanity of human slavery, the inhumanity of religious intolerance. (Now, we see the environment as part of the Christian seamless garment, as well!) St John XXIII said, “We know more now”. Maybe, Pope Francis is hinting that we may know even more now.   

New York was a different place last weekend when Pope Francis was in our midst.  His “from the heart statements” on a variety of topics are Christian and human and honest, all together. Please God, that optimistic vision of mercy continue for years to come. After all, Pope Francis has compared the church as a “field hospital, which triages between chronic and minor injuries.” He refers to the sacraments as “Christ’s medicine for the unwell.” His banner statement remains foremost in the minds and hearts of many. When asked to identify himself, he said, “I am a sinner. Who am I to judge another?” 100415ADjfq

October 11, 2015AD

You Never Know. Maybe, He Prayed over It!!!!

In today's gospel, many people are quick to look down at the rich, young man. What a chance he had to follow Jesus, but he missed its opportunity.

In the world then, and maybe still today, the man had three things going for him. First, he was a male in a patriarchal culture, second, he was young, third, he was rich. How many would long to be in that triad today?

In addition, he was fulfilling the Ten Commandments. What more could he do? He was, indeed, practicing in good faith a business relationship with God, called mercantile spirituality.

When Jesus tells him what he needed to do, he was crestfallen and walked away sad. The problem, maybe, was not the wealth, but rather, his attitude toward it. He could not give it up. Certainly, he was practicing a mercantile spirituality. If I do this, then, God has to do that. Many of us still practice such a spirituality.

That Jesus did not mean this particular demand of all of his followers, viz., to surrender their wealth, is clearly seen in reading the Christian Bible. We are all called to live with poverty of spirit, (when, with God’s Help, we recognize that everything we have is a gift or something predicated on a gift from God. Even more, we all stand, therefore, before God with empty -- and soiled-- hands.) There comes a time in all of our lives when we confronted by this reality. No matter who you are or what you have, the essence of Catholic faith is to put all one’s trust in God and to rely on God as our only security and well-being.

Something was amiss with this rich young man and it was his addiction to his affluence. (Someone defined an addiction as something that one can't not do.) The man was addicted to his wealth. Again, that does problem make him a bad guy. Rather, he was an addicted guy. He apparently was suffering from a pathology for possessions.

Even more now, than then, followers of Jesus are tempted by a similar addiction, viz., affluenza, the temptation to believe that with resources, we can run our show. There are several symptoms of affluenza,

First, we get used to the secularism of the middle-class society of which we are a part. We live in a nation whose motto is “In God we trust”. But do we or our nation really trust in God? How easy it is for us to fall into line with conventional wisdom, (aka the system, the way it has always been.) Many are Deists, viz., yes, I believe in God, what else do you want to ask me?

Second, we get the flawed notion of individualism, every person for himself, looking out for número uno.  In the early 1980’s,, Christopher Lasch labelled the pathology as the culture of narcissism. Scientists tell us today what our Judaeo-Christian tradition has been telling. (Islamic folks are also of the same opinion.) Relationships have a life of their own and we are our brother's keeper! (Sorry, Cain!)

Third, we all get caught up at times in the consumer mentality frequently. As a follower of Jesus, we should measure others by who they are (our sisters and brothers) and not by what they have.

Fourth, there is so much going on around us in our hyperactive culture that we get numb to the problems of others and to our part in possibly of offering some help. (Remember down in the Bronx, POTS, viz., Part of the Solution, with the students getting hands on with the poor who lived quite near them?) That was an attempt to respond to symptomatic numbness.

Fifth, we measure things so frequently pragmatically. What gets everything done efficiently and speedily is good. No matter that people might get hurt For example, mass layoffs are justified by people who have tremendous salaries. Even more, when they themselves are furloughed, the golden parachute is well laden.

Sixth, we tend to measure life by success. So frequently, at funerals, people salute the deceased with how much they helped the speaker to be successful.  Rarely do you hear a salutation on how much the deceased inspired faith and hope and compassion in Christian living!

The reference to the eye of the needle which puzzles and troubles so many, but scripture people say there is no proof that that was a small gate into Jerusalem. Granted it is an example of Near Eastern hyperbole. But apparently, what Jesus is saying is that the temptation to succumb to the world (aka the system) is too much for all of us. For us, salvation is impossible, viz., you can't save yourself. However, with God, all things are possible.

We assume that, for the rich young man, today was the end of the story. We will never know the outcome of the story. However, Jesus says all things are possible with God. Maybe the man prayed over what Jesus said. (Remember that the rich young man was on the level; he did approach Jesus that day). Maybe, he listened to Jesus again. One might wonder what the rich young man’s reaction would have been to the news of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We will never know, but we should not write him as a loser. God works in all our lives in ways that we don't know completely. Let us hope that maybe, the rich, young man got his act together and got what Jesus was saying! In addition, let all of us hear Jesus again as well. As Pope John Paul II, we are all called to hear the Gospel again, maybe for the first time! 101115AD jfq

October 25, 2015AD

The Eye Doctor Will Always See You!

The universe has been in process for 13.7 billion years. The planet earth apparently is 4 billion years old. We had recognizable human ancestors 200,000 years ago. In Christ Jesus, the Jesus Movement has been proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth for 2000 years, a mere drop in the bucket of time, when you consider the big picture. In the Holy Spirit, we believe that the Jesus movement is here to stay. Yet, our spin on Jesus continues to evolve more and more as we try to get to see Him and His message more clearly. The synod in Rome now is trying to unpackage more clearly what Jesus sees for His little flock today. What Jesus said 2000 years remains the same. However, the meaning of His words in an evolving world needs to be examined.

As mentioned before, the church has reinterpreted what Jesus meant on such pivotal human institutions, as violence, slavery and religious freedom. For example, one clear reinterpretation is the call of non- violence when Jesus said, "Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.” “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

This week, we commemorate the anniversary of the Edict of Milan by the Emperor Constantine on October 28, 312AD. Simply put, it meant “it’s OK to be a Christian now”. Don’t worry about the lions!” Ten years earlier, the Jesus Movement had been under its most severe persecution of all by the reforming Emperor Diocletian. Thousands of our Christian ancestors died rather than abandon faith in Christ Jesus. Then, it all changed, literally, overnight.

          (Earlier that year, Constantine had won a military battle over his main opponent at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, a footbridge still used today over the Tiber in Rome. According to the story, Constantine had seen a vision of a cross in the sky with the Greek letters Chi and Rho, viz., XP, the first two letters of the Greek word, Christos, Christ, Messiah or Anointed One. To this day, scholars wonder whether it was a real religious experience, or a made up story because Constantine had seen the advantages of a unified religion, even one that had survived decimating persecution.)

          However, during the same century, Christianity went from being a legal religion to the state religion. In 395AD, another edict said, “It was necessary to be a Christian or else. Jews and pagans, beware!”

          Some say it was the triumph of Christ over Caesar. Still, wait a minute! Did the Empire absorb the Church or did the Church absorb the Empire? At any rate, Constantine formed a template of church and state relations that persisted into the twentieth century. The poet Dante, a committed, practicing Catholic, wrote a thousand years later that the triumph of Christianity in the fourth century was also the beginning of the Church’s downfall! Were Jesus’ words on non-violence re-interpreted after 395AD? Many say that the Church developed a blind spot.

In the Gospel today, we hear the story of Bartimaeus, who tells Jesus that he wants to see. However, the Greek verb., ana-blepso that St Mark uses today can mean several things, all valid. I want to see, I want to see again, I want to see it as it is, viz., the Big Picture. (Recall last weekend when all the 12 didn’t see what Jesus was telling them about His way to Jerusalem.) Jesus grants his request and Bartimaeus jumps up and follow Jesus on the way (code language for St Mark, that Bartimaeus became a disciple following Jesus the uphill way into Jerusalem.)

We all want to see, we all want again to see clearly, we all want to see the reality as God sees it, viz., the big picture. As we said, Jesus did not want anyone living in misery, loss, rejection. How do we interpret His words in an evolving world? The bishops of the synod are now considering such questions on communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.  Were Jesus’ words on non-violence re-interpreted after 395AD? Many say that the Church developed a blind spot.

Pope Francis teaches us that the church is a field hospital, that does triage, not a hotel. St Ignatius of Antioch, in the second century, said “the Eucharist is the medicine of immortality.” How does God’s medicine help when the medical staff won’t give it to you? The evolving Presence of Christ Jesus continues to open our eyes as Jesus opened the eyes of Bartimaeus. We always need to have Jesus examine our eyes and adjust our vision in a new time, not only on violence, but also communion for divorced and remarried Catholics. This is a big point in the thought of the synod in a church that is only 2000 years old in a humanity of 200,000 years. May we all have Jesus adjust our vision, when necessary.  102515AD jfq

October 18, 2015AD

Who Do Those Two Think They Are?    

Sometimes, each of us misses the forest for the trees. Today, the ones who miss the point are those closest to Jesus, the 12. In each of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke, called such because they present a basic motif of Jesus’ adult life, death and resurrection,) Jesus tells His closest followers that He was on the way to Jerusalem where death and resurrection await Him. In each case, the 12 miss the point and ask questions of Jesus that show they have missed the point of what Jesus is all about. 

          Today, it is all of them who miss the point. For the third time, Jesus tells the 12 what is in store for Him upon His arrival in Jerusalem. Then, James and John look for seats on each side of King Jesus when He comes into His kingdom (commonwealth, better??) Even worse, the remaining 10 including Peter, Thomas, and Judas Iscariot, get angry with the sons of Zebedee because the 10 hadn’t thought of asking first!!!

          Jesus, as ever, offers an alternative vision of reality (here even now, but not yet!!). In His Commonwealth, it won’t be like the System, which we have been brainwashed into believing is the best possible world, where the great ones will hardly be the least of the sisters and brothers.  But, in Jesus’ Wisdom, rather “the greatest of all will be the least of all, the servant of all. The Son of Man (Aramaic, barnasha, means oneself and also, everybody, a generic term) has come to serve, not to be served”. 

          These days, Catholics, and, indeed, the entire world witnesses the fact that Pope Francis has heard and pondered today’s Gospel many times.  Obviously, Pope Francis is trying to spread the alternative (some call it subversive to the System) wisdom of Christ Jesus. If people took his alternative wisdom seriously, indeed, the System would have to be re-evaluated.  (Pontius Pilate was certainly savvy and on to this on Good Friday morning.) The sight of the Fiat in NYC and the lunch with the homeless in DC and the offhand jokes in Philly demonstrate that someone is getting the message and wants to share the Vision with us.

 Put “the Francis Spin” in context. Recall the embarrassment and scandal of the calling of the Crusades, the Inquisition and the Medieval Papacy and sadly, the more recent scandals, for which Francis apologized again at last Wednesday morning’s audience.

          Surprisingly, Cardinal Dolan cited extensively a quote by David Brooks in a recent NY Times article.  Brooks is non-Catholic, but he senses that something is afoot in the Papacy of Pope Francis. “Francis’ whole new approach is personal, intimate and situation-specific. If you are too rigorous and just apply rules, Francis argues, you are washing your hands of your responsibility as a person. But, if you are lax and just try to be kind to everybody, you are ignoring the truth of sin and need to correct it….Only by bring immersed in the specificity of that person and that mysterious soul, can you strike the right balance between rigor and compassion. Only by being intimate and loving can you match the authority that come from church tenets with the democratic wisdom that bubbles for each person and for individual common sense.”

          One keynote of his papacy, thusfar, has been characterized by Pope Francis’ realization that Jesus doesn’t want anyone to be miserable, lost, rejected.   During the week gone by, the Catholic Church saluted Pope St Calistus who died in the third century. Interestingly, elected (probably by clergy and laity of Roma) Bishop of Rome (the title that Pope Francis prefers!), St Calistus met opposition for his strong emphasis upon mercy. ( For example, in those days, the Sacrament of Penance was celebrated only once in a lifetime after the person had done serious penance. Thank God for the Irish monks, who saw Penance as an opportunity to guide the life of the penitent into a closer relationship with Christ Jesus. (Sacraments evolve!!!)  Bishop Calistus of Rome took a different view.  He stressed the mercy of God in welcoming back lapsi, former Catholics, who had collapsed to pressure from the System in days of persecution.   His opponents felt the opposite. The lapsi had their chance and they lost it when they collapsed under duress. Doesn’t such an attitude indicate a smugness and a sense of judgment on the part of the ones who heard “do not judge lest you be judged.  The measure you use will be used to measure you”?  Maybe St Calistus took Jesus’ words seriously. Maybe, Pope Francis does as well.

          Maybe, then, as well as now, those closest to Jesus miss the forest for the trees. For hundreds of years, maybe the institutional church did the same. Thank God, for the attitude adjustment offered by Pope Francis.  If he were in the crowd of the 12 that day, he wouldn’t be ones of the grumblers.  Through God’s Help,   may Jesus’ alternative wisdom catch on again on all levels of church, including our most intimate relationships.         101815AD jfq

July 5, 2015AD

What Do Prophets Do?

With so much of the English language, we throw terms back and forth at one another. We presume that everyone agrees on what the words mean! Clear examples are words like "nice", and " interesting". Each word means different things to different people. There are more serious words. The presumption is that everyone knows and agrees on what something means. Not so! One of the clearest examples is GOD. Meister Eckhardt said, 750  years ago, the word “GOD” is idolatrous because we think we know the meaning of the word and so, know who GOD is.!

In our readings this weekend, the word that is bantered about, but needs clarification is the word "prophet". The Hebrew word for prophet is Nabi. What the biblical term means probably are not what conventional wisdom and usage mean when we use the term. Today, in English, the word prophet has morphed to a synonym for a seer of the future, one who predicts what is yet to be. The Jesus Movement begs to differ!

The Hebrew concept of Nabi is based etymologically on the image of someone standing on a mountain and describing what he or she sees, viz., an overseer and overlooker. He is not looking at the same reality as people see it from ground level. However, the presumption is that the Nabi is speaking what YHWH sees when GOD, the Silent Witness, looks on a situation from a different vantage point. On the one hand, Ezekiel speaks today that the people will know that a Nabi has appeared among them. On the other hand, Jesus says that no Nabi is without honor except in his native place among his own people.

People are already describing Pope Francis as a “prophetic pope”. He names reality clearly from a different point of view. The Jesus Movement (at least, a sizable number thereof) believes it is the viewpoint of the Father of Christ Jesus.

His one liners have become classics in two years’ time. His statement when he became pope, Evangelii Gaudium, the Gospel of Joy, was used in some parishes as a real introduction into the mind and heart or our Argentine shepherd.

If there were no other encyclical that Pope Francis publishes, Laudato Si, will certainly be seen as a watershed statement about Catholics' responsibility for the moral question of the environment. Everyone should read the encyclical. It is 80 pages long, easy to understand and logical, no matter what TV spinmeisters say to play it down, even in a fair and balanced presentation.

The evolution of the socio-economic teaching of the Catholic Church began with Pope Leo XIII and his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, a statement about the abuses of the industrialization impetus in Europe and North America in the late nineteenth century. Rerum Novarum addresses in 14 pages the new situation in an industrialized system. He spoke of such things as the rights of labor to organize, the right to a decent wage, as well as the right of private property. Many reacted at the time with the question, "Why is the Pope speaking about things that are not his concern?" (Sound familiar?)

In the introduction to Laudato Si, Pope Francis mentions earlier, modern successors of St Peter, since the days of Pope Leo. Among those whom Pope Francis quotes on the transformation of the Catholic Church's socio-economic teaching, he mentions Pope John XXIII with his great letter after Cuban Missile Crisis, Pacem in Terris, Pope Paul VI with his great letter, Populorum Progressio,  Pope John Paul II with several quotes from encyclicals  such as Laborem Exercens (1981), Solicitudo Rei Socialis, (1989) and Centisimus Annus, his great encyclical in 1991 on the 100^th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope Benedict who proposed  in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est "eliminating the structural causes of the dysfunctions of the   economy and  reacting to models of growth which have proved incapable of ensuring respect for the environment. The book of nature is one and includes the environment, life, sexuality, the family, social relations and so forth. It follows that the deterioration of nature is closely connected to the culture which shapes human coexistence”.

Critics challenged Pope John XXIII ( remember the statement “Mater Si, Magistra No”, by a very prominent USA Catholic).They also challenged and accused Pope Paul, Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict of naïveté that made the Popes incapable of commenting on the state of the world. Note the arrogance.

It will be very interesting when Pope Francis visits us in September. His speeches at the Capitol to Congress (Will the lobbies and PAC’s be listening?) and at the United Nations, here in NYC, will certainly have some telling statement to make.

In short, the encyclical Laudato Si, at first read, calls for serious efforts to make the world equitable for all, economically fair to all, ethically sound for all, environmentally safe for all, and efficient for the good of all the sisters and brothers in God's family. Any takers?

The question is whether or not, Pope Francis is a prophet. Will the reaction be to that of Ezekiel, there is a prophet in their midst or the reaction that Jesus received, no prophet is without honor except in his native place and among his own people.

Please download or get a copy of the new papal encyclical. Read it. You'll get it. He is a brilliant writer. Think about encouraging your parishes and networks to organize discussion groups on all age levels to discuss a multigenerational, global issue. It is not enough to teach kids not to waste food. We all need a refresher on that one and many other basic realities that we tend to take for granted. 070515AD jfq

September 13, 2015AD

The Water, the Poor, the Plastic

Expect only Pope Francis to link up the realities of bottled water, the poor and the environmental pollution of plastics now and in the years ahead. In the encyclical, Laudato si, actually, Pope Francis continues to break down the dichotomy between Jesus’ gospel and the rest of human life.

Jesus wasn't crucified for telling everyone to be nice to each other and maybe, they might get to heaven. Jesus' campaign slogan is “the commonwealth (kingdom) of God is coming, and yet, paradoxically, the commonwealth (kingdom) is already among us. The paradox of Jesus’ statements continue to confuse many folks when He talks about an alternative view or interpretation of reality (as opposed to the System back then, the Roman Empire). The Commonwealth is yet to come, but it is already in your heart when you accept the alternative worldview, promoted by the Holy Spirit.

(Interestingly, many years ago, Jamaican singer, Bob Marley, sang a song about alternative visions of reality. He was singing of slaves in old British Empire. The idea that he expressed was basically, the moment you realize that the system is not what GOD intends is the beginning of your transformation as a human person.)

Everything is connected to everything else as scientists tell us today. Some East Asian religions speak of existence as “being with”. Africans have a term Ubuntu, which means, “I am because we are”. Catholic scientists and Catholic theologians speak of “inter-relatedness.”

That is what St James is alluding to in the excerpt from his encyclical that is our second reading today. Today's reading contains the famous quote, “what good is it to say, be warm and well fed if the person is cold and hungry. The point is what are we to do about the situation?

The crisis in Europe over the exile of folks from the Near East is a case in point. (Here, in this country, there is a parallel situation with exiles from Central America. Some want to build walls to keep them out!) Some European governments are trying to be humanitarian in the quota system of admitting exiles. Politicians and “fair and balanced talking heads on TV” might learn something from what some leaders are trying to do in Europe!

Since the publication of his encyclical on Pentecost Sunday, Pope Francis has even urged each European parish to adopt an exile family. Even the Vatican Palace is to be home to exile family. Imagine if American parishes were challenged to do the same with exiles here!

In the papal encyclical, he speaks of “Justice between the generations”. The question of potable water and the poor and plastic pollution concerns not only today's generation, but the generations to whom we pass on the inheritance passed on to us. (NY’s Iroquois Indian Confederacy maintained a practice in which any changes in lifestyle among them had to consider the implications of such a move on the seventh generation yet to come.    This apparently was their custom hundreds of years ago. Would we know where to begin such a thing ourselves?

Quoting Vatican II, the Pope writes, “Human ecology is inseparable from the notion of the common good, not the bottom line, a central and unifying principle of social ethics. The  sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment".

We need to realize that the nation state is a dinosaur, viz., too big to handle local problems and too small to handle global problems. Some people speak of "apocalypse soon". The Dalai Lama names the following threats: terrorism, nuclear weapons, unchecked and uncontrolled globalization, the air and water and environmental pollution.

Much of Western society is infected with the N-syndrome, viz., pathologies that begin with letter "n”. Some symptoms include a numbness to what is happening in other parts of the world. Another is noise, so many are threatened by quiet time. (Blaise Pascal said, “There would be peace in the world if people could sit still for thirty minutes each day. ) Another is the nonstop nature of life. (This challenges the Puritan adage, An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. The reverse might be true today!) Pope Francis calls it rapidication. Fifty years ago, Alvin Toffler called it Future Shock. (Toffler said that the rate of change was accelerating so quickly that eventually, people and institutions could implode because they couldn’t cope with rapidity of change!) Another is a nervousness about how fast time is going by. Finally, another is narcissism. (Remember looking out for número uno. Has it gone away?) As one local theologian put it, “the takers have to learn to become givers as well.”

In his encyclical, St James tells his readers that it is not enough to say stay warm and well fed. (Read it, by the way, because it will take you fifteen minutes and you will catch his drift quickly).  In his encyclical, Pope Francis says basically the same thing. The only difference is the stakes are higher in the twenty-first century than in the first century. We need some new, selfless ideas from floundering nation-states and from trans-national organizations.

When will we learn to apply the seventh generation process in our culture? One seriously wonders if the system ever gets the message.

Imagine a world in which students would study critically the connections between this generation and those yet to come. What changes in lifestyle would they advocate? As we await such a day, with GOD’s Help, let us behave as if the water, the poor and the plastic are inter-related. 21^st century scientists, the Iroquois Indians, Pope Francis and Jesus tell us that they are very connected, indeed.             091315AD jfq

September 6, 2015AD

Sit Wherever You Want!!

During this month, our second reading on Sunday will be excerpts from the Letter of St James.  As mentioned last week, this letter has come into the fore recently for many reasons.  Probably dated in the early 60’s AD, before the earliest Gospel (St Mark, c.70AD) was written, the inspired author gives us a picture of a Jewish-based Jesus Movement which probably considered itself a “Catholistic(?) synagogue”.

While the group was an early community gathering of the Jesus Movement, the group had lots of flaws about which the inspired author was concerned. Some still have relevance in the Jesus Movement today. The problem addressed in our reading this morning was favoritism in gatherings of the Jesus Movement synagogue.  Surprised we are to hear this at such an early date. Recall St Paul’s baptismal hymn, “in Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, slaves or free, male or female.  All are one in Christ Jesus.” How could a Christian group misread the obvious so soon?  (St Paul’s hymn is dated approximately 8-9 years earlier, in c. 55AD)  After all, Jesus fed everyone who gathered for his outdoor gatherings and did not discriminate between classes. (That was, indeed, one of the problems that people had with Jesus’ strategy.)  God cares about all God’s children.

Who are we, contemporary Christians, to look askance at our Christian ancestors? In many ways, people have said that we might do the same thing in many ways, some subtle, some, not so subtle. A commentator said that, up until recently, some Churches discriminated between various ethnic groups (it was what most groups desired at the time!) , but also between Black and White folks, so that slave and free (in St Paul’s baptismal hymn, no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male or female, could have been understood as Black and White. Some hint we still do discriminate through zipcodes.

St James stresses, “Show no partiality!” Yet, again and again, Christians have been challenged that that is exactly what we do in so many ways, many of which we do subconsciously. 

Indeed, in his historic “Sermon on the Mound” at Yankee Stadium in Oct, 1979, Pope John Paul said, “in our world today the rich represent countries (the First and Second Worlds then, now the Northern Hemisphere nations) and the poor represent the Third World (the underdeveloped nations throughout the world).”

(Interestingly, the American bishops wrote in 1986 that there was a third world developing in our midst in the inner cities of the USA.) God loves all, but God has a special concern for those less fortunate than others.  So should God’s daughters and sons! (These days, we call the traditional notion, the Preferential Option for the Poor. Some push it further into the superlative, the Preferential Option for the Poorest, because it makes it less of a slogan.)

           In the world-system in which we live in, frequently, some claim the poor have to blame themselves for the poverty of their lives.  Does blaming people for their own poverty obviate the need to help the poor in our midst? Does private philanthropy suffice to tend to systemic problems?  Does abandonment of the needy in our midst, for whatever reason, betray our heritage as a people? Jesus knows.

However, we heard last week in our reading from James, true religion is keeping oneself pure from the world (system, as it is) and to be mindful of widows and orphans.  (The traditional biblical triad of the poor was the widows, the orphans and the aliens (imagine that these days!!!!) Who are these people today?)  Recently, Cardinal Dolan said it was the Catholic thing “to love the un’s, viz., the unwanted, unborn, uneducated, unwell, unemployed, uninsured, undocumented and unwelcome.”

Recently, Pope Benedict (who resigned to pave the way for the election of Pope Francis) continued this line of thinking as he wrote in his third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, that we need to understand the connection between so many issues that confront us. Pope Benedict said that “rather than think of the human person as a monad, we should self-define as relational (with God, with one another, with our environment.  We are to be understood neither as the economic ones, nor the sociological ones, nor the psychological ones, nor the political ones. Rather, we should understand that we are relational ones.  All of us connected with everyone and everything else, including our environment.  This is the way we should face common problems.”  (Talk about Catholic quantum theology!!) Jesus has been proclaiming that in essence for 2000 years already.  However, as St John XXIII put it, “we know more now!”

In essence, the biblical prophets, including Jesus, answered Cain’s question with “Yes, we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers, whether we care to admit it or not.” James’ language emphasizes that autonomy is an illusion. We are all dependent upon God. Life is not about individualism, but solidarity, about the common good, not the bottom line.   Deal with it!         090912ADjfq

September 20, 2015AD

Jesus, James, the Mahatma and Francis

Many have said it before but, it was Mohandas Gandhi who said that the only religion that does not see that Christianity is a non-violent religion is Christianity itself. Gandhi and his method of non-violent resistance became one of the motivators of Dr. Martin Luther King. Gandhi was very drawn to Christ Jesus and, in particular, the Sermon on the Mount. Still, he never was baptized when he said that most Christians did not take our baptisms seriously. So, why should he?

St James, in his encyclical,  speaks in our second reading today about the loss of connection between the Message of Jesus and the patterns of everyday life for the Jesus Movement. What of the Message is lost “when there are jealousy and strife, there also are inconstancy and all kinds of vile behavior”.

Obviously, some of the Jewish-Christian synagogue of the Jesus Movement addressed by St James already missed the point. Their attitudes needed to be adjusted. Also, that the encyclical letter of St James has been included in the Christian Bible indicates that people listened to it.

On the one hand, 2000 years separate us from the physical Presence of Jesus in Palestine. On the other hand, when one considers the amount of years that our human ancestors have inhabited the earth, successfully, too, 2000 years are a drop in the bucket.

What happened? Many would say that the Emperor Constantine, in the fourth century, highjacked the non-violent Gospel of Jesus, as the Emperor began the process that made Christianity the state religion by 395AD. As more and more the Christian religion was tempered by its collusion with the Systemic view of reality, so much of Jesus's Words were explained away by "it was different back then. We are a Christian people. God is on own side!" Sound familiar?

California biblical theologian, Fr John McKenzie, famously wrote a half a century ago, "For the first four centuries, Christ was locked in mortal combat with Caesar. In the fourth century, Caesar won!"

Since the fourth century, Christianity has become the civil religion. If you were a good Roman, you were a good Christian. If you were a good Christian, you were a good Roman! It is not for nothing that terms like Christendom and caesaropapism were coined in that world.

However, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, we entered what honestly is called the “Post-Christian era”. Now you could be whatever you wanted, anything! Previously, people could not imagine terms like the SBNR (spiritual, but not religious), nor Nones, (no religion), or TMD ( Therapeutic Moralistic Deists, viz., there is a God or something who wants you to be happy and nice!)). We are on a different playing field now.

In this post Christian Era, the Jesus Movement has lost much more of our Oomph! Perhaps, Gandhi might have had it right when he said that Christians don't take the message seriously.

But was it our fault? The System from the beginning brainwashed good people into Pavlovian stances. (Someone commented that at the start of WWI, French mothers were sewing Miraculous Medals into their son's uniform, while German mothers were sewing crosses in their son's uniforms. Czar Nicholas II had the Patriarch of Moscow bless the Russian army after WWI began.)

The “right wing dominated media, part of the System” stresses tribalistic thought into the minds of good people. Recall expressions like the “Evil Axis and manifest destiny and Zion on the Hill and American exceptionalism” that we still hear as givens. Recall in 2003, when a majority of US Catholics polled said that they trusted Donald Rumfeld on Iraq that they trusted Pope John Paul II. To whom were they listening?

We live more than ever in a world of uncertainty, messiness, ambiguity.

Hopefully, as the Jesus Movement experiences a new Gestalt in the 21st century, the voice of people like the inspired St James, which we hear at the “weekly attitude adjustment hour”, that we call Mass, will clarify for us that whatever GOD intends for us, we are not living in it yet! Still, Jesus says the commonwealth of God is coming, and paradoxically, if you believe Jesus, it is already in our midst. We need more examples of people who take the Gospel of Jesus more seriously, even if they hold a minority viewpoint.  

Gandhi's remark about how so many Christians miss the point on so much of what the Gospel addresses is both stinging and poignant. How do we respond as followers of Christ Jesus in the twenty-first century?

Theologians make a distinction speak of conventional (nice) wisdom and alternative (challenging) wisdom that sometimes, we don't like to hear because we find it rocks my boat and challenges our givens.

Interestingly, this week, we welcome Pope Francis to our midst as he prepares to speak to the General Assembly of the UN on Friday. In such a clear way, Pope Francis represents what Jesus is talking about today, whoever wishes to rank first must remain the last one of all and the servant of all. He clearly has gotten other parts of the Gospel correctly. In so many ways in the week ahead, himself will try to get us back to basics. With so much racism, violence and greed just barely below the surface on the contemporary scene, it will be refreshing to hear the Gospel again, maybe for the first time. To whom do we pay attention? 092015AD jfq