TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY YEAR 'A'

Peter, Francis, Jesus and Us                                 

Sunday, Aug. 27, is the 21st  Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A). Mass Readings: Isaiah 22:19-23; Psalm 138:1-3, 6, 8; Romans 11:33-36; Matthew 16:13-20

What must the other apostles have thought when they heard what Jesus said in today’s Gospel: “I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

They must have known about Isaiah 22, our first reading, which Jesus is citing: “I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut; when he shuts, no one shall open.”

He is clearly conferring a high degree of authority on the fisherman. Says the Catechism, Peter’s “power to ‘bind and loose’ connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church” (553).

But “[t]he homilist must show that [Scripture’s] language is meant to apply also to us,” says the Vatican’s Homiletic Directory. 

This is one reading the Church has very directly applied to us.

“[R]eligious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra,” says Vatican II’s dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium (25).

The apostles didn’t have anything near that clarity in today’s Gospel. But they did face with Peter the challenge we face with Pope Francis: following a human leader of a supernatural Church.

Consider the parallels: Pope Francis is “obsessed with the devil,” complained CNN. But it was Peter who said, “Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Francis was criticized for comparing human behavior to animal behavior — dogs’ “coprophilia” and “coprophagia.” Peter also compared sin to how “[t]he dog returns to its own vomit,” and “A bathed sow returns to wallowing in the mire” (1 Peter 2:22).

Crowds loved Peter. In Acts 5:15, they line the streets “so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any of them.” They do the same today.

Francis wants to “accompany” sinners with love — and Peter said, “Love covers up a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

But Francis is harsh when it comes to economic sins. He said “the proud, rich and powerful will end up … plunging into the eternal abyss of solitude, which is hell.” Peter was similarly harsh. Of Simon the Magician, he said: “May your money perish with you” (Acts 8:20), and he condemned Ananias and Sapphira to death for economic sins (Acts 5:1-11).

St. Paul said he “opposed [Peter] to his face.” Today, cardinals have sought corrections, too.

Why did Jesus build the Church on Peter — and Francis? “How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” says our second reading.

Indeed! But that’s what he did. Our job is to trust. And follow.

QUEENSHIP OF BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

QUEENSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Friends, today we celebrate the Queenship of Mary. Mary, Queen Mary, was the definitive bearer of the divine presence, the Ark of the Covenant par excellence. When she visited her cousin Elizabeth, the infant John the Baptist leapt in his mother's womb, doing his own version of David's dance before the Ark. The Queen Mother—like all of the monarchs of Israel—is a fighter. Israel frequently brought the Ark into battle with them. Most famously, the priests parade around the city of Jericho bearing the Ark, just before the walls came tumbling down. The Queenship of Mary is not a sentimental feast. Whenever biblical people spoke of kings or queens, they were speaking of warriors. The question for us is, which side are we on? Those trained in the Jesuit spiritual tradition know of the "two standards" meditation, which compels us to make the simple choice: in which army do you serve? We fight, of course, not with the puny weapons of the world, but with the weapons of the Spirit, by God we fight. So don't just honor and acknowledge the Queenship of Mary; get in her army.

LECTORS AT MASS

LECTORS AT MASS
Public reading is not public speaking, and lectoring requires nothing less, not more, of the lector.

Done well, reading scripture publicly is more than just a Bible reading. It is the lector’s job to read a passage into life so we may hear God’s story for us, first hand, for ourselves.

So here’s the first thing. Public reading is not public speaking. That runs the other way, too: Public speaking is not public reading. Too many times the one is mistaken for the other. Nearly every lector’s manual I’ve read emphasizes eye-contact with worshipers, even to the point of providing scripted clues for when to leave the text and look up at people.

I could not disagree more. So let me say it again: public reading is not public speaking. Here’s why:

In public speaking, the speaker must visibly connect with the audience to establish rapport and create an authentic relationship. Public speaking require sustained eye-contact, and gesture, and an engaged and energetic body language with facial emphasis; all of that. The speaker puts these together with the words to draw the listener’s attention to himself, to gain an audience for what he says. It is the speaker’s presence in the moment that conveys as much of the speech to the hearer as the words themselves. We see the speaker and thereby learn something about his or her character, all to the point so we gain a better appreciation of his remarks.

But a lector reading in public should be invisible, hidden within the text being read. A public reading of scripture in worship is an appointment with a text from scripture, and often a text that is not unfamiliar to the listeners. It is the text―familiar though it may be―that must capture our attention, not the lector. Looking up from the text to catch somebody’s eye is a distraction from the text. The lector must stand aside, so to speak, from him or herself. Thus, the lector’s job is to speak the text in such a way that the text itself, and not the lector, may to speak to us.

Some of the usual rules for public speaking of course apply to lectors: Careful attention to enunciation, pronunciation, vocal quality, microphone use, word pacing (not too fast, not too slow). Nonetheless, the very features that in fact go into public speaking detract from a public reading. Reading scripture in worship is to bring our attention to the text, not to the lector. Public reading, I will say it again, is not public speaking.

There are only two occasions that actually require a lector to look at anybody the congregation, and neither happens during the reading itself. The first is the introductory proclamation line, “A reading from …”  Look those people straight in the eye when you do it, so they’ll know you’re up to something serious. Pause after saying the introduction and mentally count to three before launching into the text.

The last occasion is the concluding proclamation, “The Word of the Lord.” After the reading, pause again, same count to three, and then say the conclusion. Punctuated silence is the best attention-getter available. Use it well.

Otherwise, your eyes should be on the text you are proclaiming. Your attention to the text will draw our attention to what is being read.

Preparation? Practice aloud; reading the text 10 times is not too many. Out loud. That is after you have read the text silently to yourself perhaps an equal number of times. You must become familiar with the words, their flow, and learn where a pause or vocal emphasis will aid clarity.

Word emphasis? Explore the different ways the text might be illuminated by the tone of your voice. There is irony in scripture, humor, playfulness, somber warnings, heart-rending lament, conversational exchanges, snarky jokes (“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”), narration, and more. I cannot think of any verbal characterization that is not in scripture. Let the weight of the words indicate mood and tone and delivery for the reading.

Microphone? Do not depend on the microphone to project your voice. Find the right distance you need from it so your voice is neither lost nor overwhelming. And listen for your p’s and t’s; they sometimes explode out of a sound system like cap pistols. Move slightly back from the microphone if you hear the pops as you practice.

There you go. That’s some of the technical stuff.

Non-technical: Say a prayer, one of gratitude for the service you have been selected to perform. In fact, start there first, and then tackle the technique.

CHILDLIKENESS

19TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR I

MATTHEW 19:13-15

Friends, in our Gospel for today, Jesus proposes that the Kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are like children. Why? For starters, children don't know how to dissemble, how to be one way and act another. They are what they are; they act in accordance with their deepest nature. "Kids say the darndest things," because they don't know how to hide the truth of their reactions.   In this, they are like stars or flowers or animals, things that are what they are, unambiguously, uncomplicatedly. They are in accord with God's deepest intentions for them.   To say it another way, they haven't yet learned how to look at themselves. Why can a child immerse himself so eagerly and thoroughly in what he is doing? Why can he find joy in the simplest thing, like pushing a train around a track or watching a video over and over, or kicking a ball around? Because he can lose himself; because he is not looking at himself, not conscious of other people's reactions, expectations, and approval.   Mind you, this childlikeness has nothing to do with being unsophisticated, unaccomplished, or childish. Thomas Aquinas was one of the most accomplished men to ever live, the greatest intellectual in the history of the Church, one of the subtlest minds in the history of the West. Yet the terms that were used over and over to describe him were "childlike" and "innocent."   Childlikeness has to do with that rootedness in what God wants us to be. Thomas was born to be a theologian and a writer, and nothing would get him off of that beam: neither the critiques of his enemies, nor the blandishments of his religious superiors, nor the temptations to become a bishop. He was and remained who God wanted him to be and thus he was like a great mountain or a flower or, indeed, a child

ENDURING LIKE JESUS

ENDURING LIKE JESUS

For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2b-3)

Everybody who has chosen to endure suffering has a strategy, otherwise the grief and pain becomes overwhelming. Jesus had a strategy. He chose to go to the cross because of the end result – the joy of seeing millions of people saved for eternity, reconciled with God, which is His long-term plan. The pain was agonising and the shame was dreadful as He bore the curse of sin for the world (Galatians 3:13). Even God the Father could no longer look upon God the Son. He was utterly forsaken. And yet Jesus chose to endure it all. The end-result was a glorious resurrection, and the means by which God could bring many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus Himself has been given the Name above all names, the supreme rulership of time and eternity (Philippians 2:9). He sits enthroned in heaven and He is now also the High Priest for all who repent of their sins and acknowledge Him as Lord of all (Hebrews 8:1). Through His shed blood, sinners can become saints, and heaven is populated with children of God (John 1:12). God's heart is full of joy, and even the angels rejoice to see what Christ has done (Luke 15:7-10). Jesus knew exactly what was involved, but He did not flinch from His task. He said "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." (Luke 9:22). He saw beyond the grief to the joy of fulfilling the divine plan. Our strategy must be the same as Christ's. Not that we can in any way atone for the sins of others: but we are Christ's ambassadors – showing His saving power in our lives, explaining the gospel and urging people to be reconciled to God through Him (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). If we are called to endure for His sake, others will be convicted of their need for salvation. Christ despised the shame, so must we. He looked forward to the joy of completing His mission, so should we. Soldiers know that they must look forward to what lies beyond the conflict. Even though they may die, they are committed to the goal of the operation through which many others will live (1 John 4:9). Paul felt deeply about the salvation-need for his own people, and was willing to endure anything so that they might hear and respond to the gospel (2 Timothy 2:10). Is that our concern too? Or are we so deeply entrenched in the processes which make our lives enjoyable, that we forget the reason why God placed us on this earth? When the problems come, let us consider what Jesus went through, and why. Then, as His ambassadors, let us do whatever is necessary so that those we live and work among may understand the gospel and call out for salvation.

Saving Lord. Thank You for the example of Jesus who endured pain and shame so that I might know Your love and be welcomed as Your child for all eternity. Forgive me when I have been careless, not at all troubled by the eternal destiny of my friends and colleagues who do not know Jesus. Please help me to accept the privilege of being Christ's ambassador where I live and work, so that I will endure hardship for the sake of the gospel. In Jesus' Name. Amen

ALONE TO PRAY

“And Jesus went off to be alone to pray”

He went off to be alone to pray. Alone? How can he be alone? He has assumed all humanity to himself by his Incarnation so that wherever he goes he takes us along. He went into solitude, yes, but not alone.  He went away “to pray.”  “to pray”. What a small, inadequate word to express a mighty mystery!

The divine Son of God is eternally turned toward the Father, and the Father toward the Son, in an enduring act of perfect complementarity, which we popularly call the Holy Spirit. And now that God as incarnate has assumed all humanity and material creation as his added nature, we can rightly conclude that all men and women, together with the whole of material creation are swept up into the Son’s eternal orientation to the Father. No one is left out, unless he chooses to be. Rational beings as we are, we ought not to shy away from the grasp and embrace of Jesus; we should not resist being included in the movement of the Son to the Father, so that, like him, we can be turned towards the Father and say with him “Abba Father.”

In today’s Gospel we observe that the leper did not resist the action of Christ. He rather welcomed it, and surrendered himself to the prayer of Jesus. He was connected and was healed and made whole, restored to complete personhood, whereas as a leper he was a non-person. Now he could say about himself “I am”, whereas earlier he was not. Remember the man born blind. After his cure he told the Pharisees, “I don’t know what you are talking about. All I know is that whereas I was blind, now I see.” The leper formerly could not stand together with the other people and say, “We are”. Now he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the others to say proudly, “We are.”  “I am” and “We are” are perfectly complementary.

Our charitable projects are not just giving, but ensuring that giver and receiver are engaged in a common human partnership of mutual dignity, part of a continuing process of creation, a striving towards “completeness”, which brings the individual from nothingness by way of the “I” to the “We”, in a truly flourishing community, within the Kingdom of God.

That, my dear friends, is what I think to be the prayer of Jesus. How I wish I knew more about it.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we know that you love us and that you want to teach us to pray. May we, in our prayer, always include all those who are suffering, the children sold into slavery, the women who are denied their human rights, the victims of the economy of greed and financial deceit, the villagers without water, and the ill who cannot afford medical treatment. So may our prayer be integral and centred on you. Amen.

FAITH JUSTICE CHARITY

Faith  Justice  Charity

What is Faith?  Faith is, first of all, God’s action on us. God gives himself to you. He has faith in you since he created you with great hopes for your future. As Jesus says, “You did not choose me, I chose you. I chose you because I believe in you, that you will go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” One day, two thousand years ago, God chose a maiden of marriageable age and addressed her as “Hail, favoured one. I have chosen you because I see a great future, a great future that will arise from you womb, and radiate to the whole world, and bring the whole world back to me, the source of all good.”  You remember how Jesus once said: “When I am lifted up I shall draw all men and women to myself.”  When the faith of God entered into Mary, that very faith empowered her to answer her great “Yes” with a complete hope for the future. She would be faithful, strong and reliable. The first among the disciples, she is the one whose discipleship never fails. She is the woman who does not deny, does not betray nor leave her child and run away.

Faith flows into Charity. “Faith without charity bears no fruit.” Faith and Charity each require the other. Through faith we can recognise the face of the Risen Lord in those who ask for our charity. “As you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” We cannot see God, so we love our neighbour. God has created all human beings, created them with equal humanity. We are linked to one another by the common bond of creation. No one can claim that he or she is more human than the other. However, some people behave inhumanly; they need conversion. Many of us have tarnished our humanity by the misuse of our faculties. That is known as sin. Poverty, suffering, bereavement can affect our humanity, but not make us less human. There is also the very pain of being human. This is due to our limitation of which we are acutely aware. This produces fear, the fear of diminishment or extinction. The only way to overcome this fear is to enter into dialogue and cooperation with fellow human beings. But first we must recognise our common dependency on God: that is faith. That’s the faith-link that must not be broken. Secondly, we must recognise our dependency on fellow human beings. That is also faith. We need to work together under God to build a healthy, happy and developing humanity. Working under God – for “unless the Lord build the city, they labour in vain who build it.” And we shall discover Jesus Christ in our midst: we shall discover him feeding the multitude, reaching out to those ignored and shunned, healing the sick and forgiving sins. Our dear God also wants a healthy, happy and developing humanity. 

 Jesus Christ and Self-Sacrificing Love

            In the midst of human life God reaches out to us in the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus God gives himself fully and man gives himself to God fully. This is the supreme (albeit very general) norm of the moral life. Jesus’ person, words and actions are our guide. He is the standard by which our intents are judged. By recalling his words, parables, life and death, we are conformed to do what we discern about Jesus’ own attitudes and bearing towards others, and his intentions which were shaped by his trust in God. His heart was set on his Father and his Kingdom. We must keep in mind that Jesus is one of us, knowing our pains and joys and also revealing our deepest possibilities. Jesus Christ fulfils what we recognise within us as true human personhood. How does he do it?

            Jesus Christ did not exhaust the several potentialities of human nature, taken discretely. This would have been impossible in one historical lifetime. For instance, he was not a great painter or a philosopher or a statesman or a great husband, though we must admit that he was a teacher par excellence, combining in that activity a great amount of true art and poetry. The point we want to make is that Jesus concentrated in himself all the power and energy that human nature is capable of for activating any of the avocations that a man may choose, and he concentrated it to a degree that no man could muster, a degree so high as to make it fit to be used by God for something very great – the salvation of the world! This power was the power of his self-giving love at the service of the Word. Thus, in preference to all other possibilities, Jesus chose the essential and most distinctively human potentiality of all, the one that has the most radical claim on all men: self-surrendering love.

            Jesus was a man who tested life and was tested by it in turn, searching out life’s meaning by listening carefully to what makes life really valuable; and he lived and died trusting that life and death are not bad jokes. So also our discipleship is not without moral problems. Since we are wounded by sin, our capacity for commitment is limited. Yet the value of discipleship is that it inspires a vision that provides a context for moral analysis and choice. Imitating Christ is not a piece of mimicry, but a challenge to live out our human adventure as authentically as he did.

We go from situation to situation in our Christian life. The virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity link the situations in the unity of the Christian spirit. Thus we say of a person that he does everything and deals with everybody with love and faith. If our Christian spirit must be genuine and realistic it must assume a particular form and expression. This form will be determined by the need of the actual situation. The more virtuously this situation is met the more fully we experience the Christian spirit. As an example, we do not only feed and clothe neglected children, we also educate them, and not only educate them but also evangelise them. And blessed are you who work hand and hand with him, translating your faith into good works. Blessed are you for you are marked out for Paradise the doors of which are opening for you and all those you had helped in ever so small a way the smallest child of God.