Sunday 8 January 2006
Feast of the Epiphany
Christians of the great Orthodox tradition prefer this feast as the appropriate celebration of Christ's infancy. Theirs is an 'otherworldly' liturgy that doesn't even blink at the exotic details of today's main readings.Our first reading (Isaiah 60:14) is from the last chapters of Isaiah where the prophet pulls out all stops to paint a glorious picture of a fully restored Jerusalem. Note that there is the inevitable hint of centralism, a dominant theme of Jewish theology in this text. All roads will lead to the earthly Jerusalem. Certainly, all races and cultures would eventually be included, but they will be second-class comparisons of the first, called chosen people of God. This was a natural interpretation, one that would be shared by early Christians, themselves Jewish born and bred. For example, the early Christian leadership intended to stay in Jerusalem. To support that, Paul took up a collection around church communities far from Jerusalem.
We can't expect Isaiah to have foreseen the new great and unexpected divine step towards universalism. It would entail a new Jerusalem fashioned from 'living stones', true believers, rising up unlimited by time or space, the spiritual centre of reborn humanity. Teilhard de Chardin put it this way: 'Raise your head, 0, Jerusalem. Contemplate the great multitude who are building and seeking. In laboratories and through studies, in deserts and in factories, in the enormous social melting pot.' Secular society needs the Church to continually call it to more than it could ever imagine, for the good of humanity and the glory of God.
Our gospel passage (Matthew 2:1-12) is as full as the first reading of mind-expanding details. To understand it better we have to keep in mind that it belongs to a kind of literature very much in fashion among Jews of the time, when history and fiction were intertwined so as to teach in an arresting figurative way.
The three visitors to Bethlehem were not kings but magi or astrologers from Persia. They were disciples of Zoroaster, a spiritual teacher from as long ago as Abraham, 2OO0 BC. They read as widely as possible, including the Jewish scriptures. But the main source of their spirituality was nature, especially the stars. While the Jewish priests, chiefs of the people of God, didn't receive notice of Christ's birth, God communicated the news to some of his friends in the pagan world!
This lesson is good for all times: Jesus is saviour for all people, not only for those safely ensconced in the Church!
The star reminds us that God calls individuals and communities (even national churches) according to their own needs and abilities. Jesus called fishermen of Galilee after a spectacular haul of fish. They went from the known to the unknown. Similarly, pagans who looked to the stars were called by the means of a star. God calls us all by means of events and through our own ideals, all of which guide us as 'stars'. We Catholics need to value and appreciate the spiritual insights developed by many people, 'not of this fold'. Not that we love the Church less but the spirit more!
Sunday 15 January 2006
2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Here I am Lord. I come to do your will
Samuel is a very important Old Testament figure. What follows may help to show why. The Israelites had begun settling down in Palestine. The nomadic phase, the 'desert' experience, was over. Since the death of Joshua, hero of the Hebrew invasion of Canaan, there was a period of chaos followed by the inspired appearance of divinely selected individuals known as Judges. Samuel was the last. His task was to negotiate between God and the Israelites in the vexed question of what form of governance suited both parties. So far as God was concerned, He alone was King. Each Judge believed that as did key priests, like Eli in today's reading (Samuel 3:3-10, 9). Nevertheless, there was a popular demand for a visible ruler, just like all other 'settled' peoples had.Samuel was in the hot seat. He was only a boy when called, ever so quietly, by the God of Abraham, Moses and the preceding Judges. He had no vision or dream as others had. He was such a highly spiritually developed person that he was convinced God had spoken to him in his heart, his conscience. So he chose another spiritual and conscientious person, David, after a previous disastrous selection of Saul, as first King of the Jews. God's word comes to us not only in words but, also, in events, even in nature.
So, again we are reminded to be grateful to Vatican 2 for inspiring us modern Catholics to read the 'signs of the times' for traces of God's contemporary words.
Psalm 39 links our two main readings: 'Here I am Lord. I come to do your will'
In today's gospel (John 1:35-42), according to John, we have the story of the selection of Jesus' first disciples. With John's writings, nothing is as simple as it looks. Details always hint at something deeper the mystery of God's dealings with humanity. By referring to the week or so it took to select the first few disciples, maybe John was comparing this process with the Genesis week of creation? For John, God was at work, through Jesus, creating a new and spiritual creation, the Kingdom. The disciples would be the living foundation stones. They would recognise Jesus as God's special agent. He in return, would recognise them as already spiritually alert and moved by God, Jesus' Father. John showed readiness to submit to God's call and self-sacrifice in sending some of his own disciples to sit at Jesus' feet. Seeking, finding and dwelling (following) is a theme running through this gospel passage. It will always be thus for anyone striving to hear and answer God's call.
Training and commissioning Church officials will be successful only when genuine discipleship already exits. Anyone accepting 'the call' must be ready to carry a cross. It will become easier and lighter when carried in company with others of like persuasion. Local churches are meant to be companies of spiritual associates, even brothers and sisters, all celebrating the final episode in God's wonderful story of salvation.
Sunday 22 January 2006
3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Teach Me Your Ways Oh Lord
There are only four chapters in the prophetic book called after the main character, Jonah. Experts differ on the exact date of writing was it 6th or 5th Century BC? No matter. Jonah is presented not as an heroic figure but as a caricature of a prophet. He, as an orthodox Jew, full of nationalism, was stunned to be sent by God to convert Nineveh (Jonah 3: 1-5.10), capital of Assyria, capital of the 'civil empire' of unbelievers. This is not history, mind you. This is a parable or a story with a divine message. Jonah presumed that, as a Jew (therefore one of God's own chosen people) he knew all about God and his ways. He also believed the Ninevites were part of 'the others' and therefore, incapable of knowing God and His ways. These godless people had, somehow, conquered the Jewish Northern Kingdom, known as Israel, in the 700's BC. Worse, they had taken back to Nineveh the best and brightest Israelites. So, the Jonah story lived dangerously by putting God's prophet together with God's enemy, Nineveh. You know the rest. The whole of Nineveh repented. Jonah was miffed. His spiritual values were offended. His world was turned inside out. His reluctant message to us: repentance is available to all and God's mercy is boundless. Thanks to Jonah we have a very early insight into the mind of God.This Australia Day week should have a message of reconciliation for all. Australians may, in this matter, be the world's last, best hope.
Our responsorial psalm 24 links our two main readings. Teach Me Your Ways Oh Lord.
In our Gospel, according to Mark (Mark 1: 14-20), we go way beyond Jonah's preaching to the Ninevites. Jonah's job was easy in comparison with Jesus' mission to his Jewish contemporaries. The Ninevites took God's invitation to repent as a gracious gift conveyed by Jonah. Just so, ordinary Jews accepted Jesus' Gospel willingly enough, until misled by their leaders who had quickly identified Jesus as a threat to their position and power. From among these rank and file compatriots, Jesus first chose disciples who knew each other, were relatives in fact, who shared the same trade in professional fishing. He did not hang out a sign: 'Jesus of Nazareth, Rabbi, now open for business!' He was, rather, an itinerant teacher. His disciples would be invited to follow him onto all kinds of real life situations. There they would learn how he dealt with ordinary people battling ordinary doubts and difficulties. These were all practical working and family people. He would, first, ask each of them to state their intentions (which were still uncertain until after the descent of the Spirit). They had to indicate some level of self-knowledge before he would admit them to closer companionship. This is Jonah's Gospel all over again. Here are people opening up to a divine challenge to find genuine religion wherever barriers are broken down between genders, classes and ethnic groups.
Sunday 27 January 2006
4th Sunday of Ordinary Time - If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts
Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt in about 1250 BC. Deuteronomy was written in the 7th Century BC. It was lost, and then found again in about 622. At that time, both key and powerful institutions of Judaism, kingship and priesthood, were in deep trouble. Reforms were needed. King Josiah tackled them. He used the newly discovered sacred text of Deuteronomy, with its emphasis on Moses as prophet (Deuteronomy 18: 15-20) as a cleric's call to reform God's own people. The Kings of the Jews were in charge of politics. The priests took charge of temple worship. Prophets were not bound by the agenda of either institution. God seems to have sent a prophet, on and off, to one or other institution to demand reform. Thus the prophet had distinct superiority over king and priest which was why he was never welcome! Priest and king were concerned with upholding a code of laws already determined.The prophet was open to new demands, unforeseen situations. His God was a God of change and novelty. He was much more immersed in the secular, whereas the priest was always involved in ritual. Just as Moses had liberated the Hebrews to become God's own in the Sinai desert, so later prophets were called to liberate God, so to speak, from bad kings and priests. God needed to be able to move freely among His people unhindered by bad politics and bad religion. Modern prophetic persons need to be cherished within our Church, unpopular as they may be.
Responsorial Psalm 94 links our two main readings: 'If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts'. Today's Gospel (Mark 1: 21-28) is set in Galilee. The exact location is one of the synagogues in Capernaum, a city on the northern shore of Lake Galilee. Capernaum was Jesus' headquarters. Also, Peter lived there. It was the Sabbath (Saturday). The locals had assembled, as usual, for prayer and instruction. The presiding Rabbi had read the Scriptures and taught. He invited other men to comment. Jesus accepted the invitation. He preached with such freshness and conviction that the listeners were much impressed. Jesus did not just give a commentary on the Scriptures (safe enough at any time in any place). He, the living Word of God, shared himself with them. This was not the style of the rabbis.
Again, let us recall, it was Mark's main task to present Our Lord as the all-powerful special agent (the Christ of God). Mark often described miracles as Jesus' way of countering the undue influence previously exercised by demons. Mark tells us that, on this occasion, the locals became very enthusiastic. But why? Were they excited about his refreshingly personal style of preaching or about his exercise of power over demons? Mark will eventually caution against reliance on works of power. Jesus eventually condemned the search for proof of his authority in signs and wonders. He was recognized as God's son, finally, in weakness.
Sunday 5 February 2006
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted
The book of Job is part of, what is called by Scripture scholars, wisdom literature. This kind of writing probes the mind of God using whatever theological insight was available at the time. The best educated guess about its date of origin is the 7th Century BC.Job is depicted as a rich nomad who happened to be a 'good bloke' from southern Palestine. He wasn't Jewish, so he didn't have access to any sacred Scriptures or rabbi for spiritual direction. He was, however, according to the book of Job, very successful in family life and business. Alas overnight he lost the lot. Naturally, this sudden and total loss weighed heavily on him. Today's text (Job 7:1-4, 6-7) puts into beautiful if sad words Job's insight into the universal human condition. His are words of confusion and grief.
They can be imagined on the lips of many a citizen experiencing the news of the premature death of a family member, friend or colleague. These same words fit the public reaction to news of yet another young life suddenly ended by yet another tragic road smash or shark attack.
Even Jesus of Nazareth felt confusion and grief as he hung on his cross: 'My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me?
Psalm 146 'Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted'. Mark's first chapter (Mark 1:29-39) gives us an important insight into the spiritual and missionary development of Jesus during the first weeks of his ministry. First, he went down south to the Judean desert to become a disciple of the Baptist. It seems likely that he spent some time in the Baptist's group, quitting it only after John's arrest. At that stage, he made a tactical decision. He decided not to be, like his mentor John Baptist, a rabbi to whom disciples came, but an itinerant rabbi. He would go to meet people wherever they gathered, especially the most alienated Galileans.
I like to think that the Galilee experience, far away from religious HQ (even though spies were often sent from there to report unfavourably) formed Our Lord into the special kind of spiritual leader he eventually became. The Galileans were multicultural, toughened by successive military invasions, unsophisticated to the extent that their accent gave them away! Yet Jesus performed his first miracles in Galilee at, for him, a special town, Capernaum. Then, again, he changed tactics, because miracles didn't get to the heart of Galilee's spiritual sickness. He left town and tackled the surrounding villages to get even closer to people, right where they were most at home.
Just so, local churches are well placed to be 'Jesus' at neighbourhood level.
Sunday 12 February 2006
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Jesus would give outcasts preferential treatment
Leviticus is the work of many hands engaged in the centuries before Christ, in adapting the laws, rituals and feasts to the needs of successive generations (Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46). It is the work of priests conscious of the need to bind the Jewish people into a unique, god-fearing nation, after the return of prisoners of war in the 5th Century BC. In Israel, as in all primitive societies, religion was the close ally of the social order and culture (thus, priests were authorised to diagnose leprosy). Israel was a conservative society. People thought God had fixed the prevailing social order, always to be kept as it was.Priests and prophets, at their best, were well aware that history does not stand still. These men, at their best, looked for a future resolution of current problems. Whatever their shortcomings, Israel's civil and religious laws were more civilized than in any other society of that time. Nevertheless, in cases such as leprosy (a word used to cover all kinds of infectious skin disorders) the sick person was required to live apart from the community. He was considered unclean, meaning that he couldn't participate in social or religious life. Unfortunately, he was also considered cursed by God! This confusion about physical and spiritual disease was what Jesus tackled at a later date. In today's Gospel (Mark 1:40-45), we find Jesus in his preferred environment, announcing the Good News to the most isolated and ignored families in rural areas. There, he would perform a miracle much more difficult than lowering the fever afflicting Peter's mother in law. He achieved something, which was far more important: lepers and other outcasts would be no longer marginalized. From then on, Jesus would give outcasts preferential treatment and they would flock to be with him. He achieved this breakthrough by simply touching the leper: his love caused him to break the most serious religious taboos. Thanks to Mark we know that, to Jesus, 'emotion' and 'compassion' were important. It was through these human sentiments that Jesus channelled the powerful healing of love of god. Humanly speaking, Jesus wanted to cure the sick people he met. But, he knew their deeper needs might not be healed by physical miracles. He was just at the stage of discovering the divine power within him, looking for the best circumstances in which to exercise it. He didn't with this leper, ask for a confession of faith. He regularly would later. More than the miracle, his preaching would address the greatest sickness of all sin. Catholics should encourage priests to preach this healing Gospel. Lay Catholics 'preach' by living faithfully.
Sunday 19 February 2006
7th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you
To make sure that he had no threat to his empire from the Jewish kingdom bordering unfriendly Egypt, the king of Babylon used 'ethnic cleansing' in two deportations, 597 and 587BC. The departures of the year 597 belonged for the most part to the wealthier classes and they were allowed take along some of their possessions. The exiles of 587 arrived in Babylon with practically nothing, but through thrift and intensive cultivation of their plot of land and later in business they were able to become financially independent. In about 550BC, Cyrus of Persia defeated the Babylonians and told the deported Jews to go home.Today's few verses (Isaiah 43: 18-19, 21-22, 24-25) from an unknown prophetic preacher known by scripture scholars as Isaiah (the second), reminded the Jews that the good and bad fortune experience by them was no accident. God said the prophet saw the 'big picture'. God was behind their deportation and their liberation. This unknown prophet's words reveal someone thoughtful, earnest and optimistic. So sturdy was his faith in the God of history that he saw every event in Jewish history contributing to the ultimate redemption of God's chosen people.
Responsorial Psalm 40 links our two main readings: 'Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you'.
Father Pat Flanagan, a mate of mine, wrote an excellent book, The Gospel of Mark made easy published by the Paulist Press. Pat Flanagan provides a fresh and easy way to finally make sense of this important Gospel for the ordinary person. I recommend this book. He presents the Gospel as it was meant to be heard by its original audience, the early church in Rome. Since those early Christians felt that they had failed and were confused about Christ's importance. Mark told them the story of Jesus as a messiah who had seemingly failed but in reality, had succeeded by fulfilling God's plan of salvation.
As we know, Jesus was caught up in miracle working from the first days of his public ministry. It was natural. So many people with so many problems! To be sick or maimed from birth or accident, in those days, was to be a serious liability to family and friends. Today's Gospel (Mark 2: 1-12) shows Jesus asserting his real mission. He came to cure humanity's deepest sickness, ie, self-centredness or sinfulness. People weren't ready for this deepest healing at least the spiritual leadership wasn't. However, he had made his point and the struggle with 'unforgiveness' was well and truly on.
26 February 2006
8th Sunday of Ordinary Time - The Lord is kind and merciful
Hosea, a prophet of God was active in Israel during a period of great change, the 700' s BC. Jeroboam the second was the most successful ruler of the Northern Kingdom. He won back territories lost during previous administrations. He freed Israel from domination by neighbouring Aram. Extension of the nation' s borders was accompanied by renewed prosperity, even luxurious living. Business was in a most flourishing condition. As a result, the Israelites boasted of being first among the nationals of the world Israel on the move!But, at that very moment when the northern kingdom had reached her zenith of prosperity and power, when no disturbing cloud darkened her horizon, the prophet Hosea appeared and predicted immanent judgement. The Israelites had been fatally attracted by popular local religious practices. They had forgotten their origins and neglected the worship and morals enjoined on them by David and Solomon. Hosea (and another more fiery prophet, Amos) set about preaching repentance. In today' s first reading (Hosea 2: 16-17, 21-22), Hosea tells how God will make the first move to patch up the ' marriage'. He will enter upon a new phase of courtship. He will try to entice Israel away from her fatal attraction to local fertility cults and the like. Hosea gives us a strong, passionate picture of a jealous God in deep love with his flighty people. To appreciate what this earliest preserved written portrayal contributed to our Christian heritage, reflect on what we would know about Jesus if we had only the letter of Paul. We would have a magnificent theology of what God has done in Christ, but Jesus would be left almost without a face. Mark gets the honour of having painted that 'face' and made it part of the enduring Gospel. Indeed, Mark's hearers were probably converts to that Gospel, who had been sorely tried by persecution, many of them even failing the test of losing faith. They needed to hear today' s Gospel episode where Jesus defended his disciples against Jewish legal critics (Mark 2: 18-22).
Why should his disciples fast and abstain! They were attendants at a wedding. Jesus was the bridegroom. God Himself, in the Old Testament, had been described as Israel's spouse. Now, Jesus hints at His being in that same astoundingly close relationship. Mark was writing for later disciples who would indeed lament the palpable absence of the Lord, even to the extent of giving up on him. Jesus had begun to realize that the 'new wine' he brought could not be safely contained in old-fashioned attitudes and procedures. Mark' s community had to come to terms with that danger and so, too, our own modern local churches.
Sunday 5 Mrch 2006
1st Sunday of Lent - Our ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant We interrupt the ordinary course of readings and preaching to make room for an intense period of reconversion known as Lent. Our first reading today (Genesis 9:8-15) is from an Old Testament book, Genesis, which deals with the origins of the human family.Ancient myths abound around 2000BC concerning the creation of the natural world, including humanity. A few Christian fundamentalists are forever searching for Noah's ark in Turkey. They think it's essential to prove the historical existence of Noah and his giant container ship. Most of us, however, need no such scientific evidence. We can live with Old Testament stories just as we value Jesus' parables.
Today's excerpt from Genesis teaches humanity's stewardship of creation as God's own revelations. The covenant between God and humanity and His interest in everything that people develop culture, technology and legitimate ambitions of all sorts this is the important spiritual lesson of our Genesis episode.
Catholics need to be at the cutting edge' of all modern discussion about genetics and politics and the natural environment. Now, as at the time when God issued His warning, environmentalists point to the global imperative that human beings alter their behavior to avoid a natural disaster called global warming.
Responsorial Psalm 24 links the two main readings.
Mark's version of the Gospel gives very little detail about the 'desert experience'. We know that it spanned 40 days and was similar to the intense temptation or test of the same length of time endured centuries before by Moses. A second exodus or deliverance had been foretold by Isaiah. We also know that Jesus was sometimes described as the second and greater 'Moses'. His baptism by John in the Jordan River had immersed him in the human, vulnerable condition, including death. By that means, Jesus was officially initiated into the mysterious role of Messiah. The desert test would reassure him about his fitness for such a daunting task. It looks as though Benedict 16, during his term of office, will be challenging Catholics to keep spiritually fit by regular exercise of body and soul.
Satan, the accuser, would criticize to Jesus' face every salient gesture of God's plan of salvation. Mark's version briefly, but strongly, states that Our Lord was at home in the desert, a friend of desert animals, comforted by spiritual powers. After this episode involving Satan, demons would appear frequently as the story developed, yet they would not appear to be Jesus' greatest adversaries. That role would be filled by fellow countrymen, an experience for Jesus, which can only be named his passion or ordeal.
12 March 2006)
2nd Sunday of Lent - I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living
Today's first reading (Genesis 22: 1-2, 9-13, 15-18) is from Genesis, a book that provides Jews, Muslims and Christians with one of the earliest insights of their common dreaming. In the beginning of this 'dreaming' (shared history) which would change the world, there is the story about a family of believers, Abraham and his descendants. Abraham and his descendants were nomads - people who did not own land. They lived in tents and were forever on the move. Accompanied by sheep, goats and donkeys, these wanderers were always on the lookout for wells and pastures for their flocks. And it was to these nomads, despised by city and rural people alike, that the mysterious desert God promised a homeland and that they would be a blessing for the whole world.Today's Genesis reading confronts us with a problem. How could this scheme proceed, if Abraham sacrificed his son and heir, Isaac? This is a shock to us, but Abraham, like his Canaanite neighbors, respected the primitive religious practice of sacrificing the first born son. In fact, it was Abraham who 'died' to self when he upgraded his relationship with God and earned the title, for all time, of Father of the faith. The Jews learned from this sacred encounter never to claim child sacrifice, as God's will, whatever other local tribes practiced. God would face the same ordeal on Calvary where it would become clear that He wanted a spiritual sacrifice of self and that alone. Lent is the time to sacrifice self-indulgence in time, money and especially in relationships.
Psalm 115 connects our two main readings: 'I will walk in the presence of the lord in the land of the living'.
Today's Gospel (Mark 9: 2-10) gives us Mark's version of what Christians know as Transfiguration and is meant to emphasize an essential aspect of Our lord's identity he is one of our own! He was just so different from the kind of messiah expected by the Jews. They were hoping for an interventionist Saviour, a military, political leader just like David was a thousand years before. It was Mark's task to recall how Jesus needed to reveal the truth about himself to the core group of the apostles, Peter, James and John. The Jewish 'dreaming' contained many mentions of shining clouds and voices from above, especially in the case of Moses. On this dramatic occasion, the Transfiguration, two venerable 'saints' from Jewish history, Moses and Elijah, mysteriously appeared to secure Jesus in his divinely appointed role. Elijah had suffered much for doing God's prophetic work. There was, however according to Mark, a greater prophet that Elijah present on that mountain. And Jesus, the suffering servant of God, would lead people out of a much greater slavery (to self) than had the champion Moses. Jesus needed to reassure his special friends that everything was going to work out despite suffering and death. Peter wanted to stay up there where all was OK. But not so, because Salvation can be achieved only 'down here' where ordinary people live and die. That is where Christians need to be.
Read this Sunday's reflection or reflections from other Sundays by Father Maguire