21st. Sunday of Year (B)
(Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18;
Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69)
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Our Gospel passage today, People of God, refers to the Eucharist, and Jesus is there addressing certain Jews who, quite understandably found the thought of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus as repulsive and unacceptable. Jesus said to them:
In today’s Mass, however, the Gospel has been joined with a
passage from St. Paul who has become a
“bête noir” for
modern feminists who regard his teaching as being degrading for women. But then, those feminists themselves, what
sort of women are they, women who aspire to confrontationally show themselves as
equal to men in everything: be it dutiful -- as members of special forces
trained to be expert killers, or “laddering-it-up” alongside a fellow fireman
to a high blazing building with burning beams and collapsing walls, and
depending on their partner’s sheer strength perhaps at times, or as pugilists tough as nails and
expert at hurting and even harming, or maybe, and to prove their absolute
equality, be it criminal, such as gang activities or filthy language?
Christian, Catholic, women, on the other hand are members of a
Church and aspire to a society where men and women are always regarded as equal
in personal dignity and most social activities, but also as complementary to
men in others aspects of their lives, and social aspirations?
In that respect the words of St. Paul we will study today can be
introduced by those words of Our Blessed Lord already mentioned in another
context:
It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words My chosen Apostle Paul speaks to you in
My name are spirit, and they are life.
Dear People of God, the devil’s sin is pride, and the easiest way
for him to lead human beings astray is to give them a shot or two of pride in
the arm so to speak ... the families’ honour ... giving as good as you get ...
etc.; and consequently, we Catholics need to beware of those who strive to make
themselves prominent, and be careful whom we choose to support or follow.
Let us, therefore, consider today’s reading from St. Paul, who, as
St. Luke tells us about the Apostles in general:
Never
stopped (both) teaching and proclaiming the Messiah, Jesus.
(Acts 5:42);
And notice first of all that there, in today’s reading from St.
Paul we have his proclamation of Christian life in Christ, by one
who could say of himself as the one sent by the risen Christ to proclaim His
truth:
We have the
mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
We have here Paul’s advice not a direct command received as such from, and handed down in the
name of, Jesus:
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord: as the church
is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands. (Ephesians 5:22, 24)
Today’s feminists say, of course: what woman could accept that? Are we therefore to assume that they also
think it degrading for Mother Church to be subject to Christ?
Paul had never been put off, dismayed, or disheartened by the
pride of pagans disputing with him or setting themselves up against him:
I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a
constraint on you; I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my opinion
as one who by God’s mercy is trustworthy. (1 Corinthians 7:35, 25).
Other passages in his letters show that Paul knew precisely what
he was teaching:
To me, the very least of all the holy ones, this grace was given,
to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ, and to bring to
light (for all) what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past in God
who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made
known through the Church.
Pray for me, that speech may be given me to open my mouth, to make
known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel.
(Ephesians 3:8–11, 6:19)
Paul was, therefore, most deliberate when he made this his proclamation
of Christ, the Messiah, and went on to say:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church
and gave Himself for her, nourish and cherish (them), just as the Lord does the
Church.
This time, it is the lads around us -- the boys -- who respond
immediately with: what man would want that? The feminists hate what they see as
the humiliation of woman in Christian marriage, while the boys hate the bondage
and responsibility that Christian family life would thrust upon them.
Yet, before we go on to look more deeply into this situation, we
should remember that marriage is optional, in the sense that anyone is free
choose to live by preference a celibate life which is, indeed, recommended in
the Scriptures; moreover, in marriage itself the choice of partner is also
preferential, indeed, totally free. But, whatever choice is made, it must be lived
as a Christian option for us who will to love and serve Our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ.
Now, in all this where does Our Lady stand?
Feminists -- as a whole -- pay her little attention, they
certainly have little admiration for her lowliness:
My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, Who looks on the lowliness
of His handmaid.
As for the boys … few of them would be ashamed to say they admire,
perhaps even love the Virgin Mary, above all as Mother of Jesus, Mother of the
Church (if they are still ‘practicing’), and as their Mother … but, they might add with genuine humility, that
she is too good for them, somewhat in the style of St. John of the Cross who,
as a little boy, dirtied by playing outside and, if I remember correctly,
struggling in some water, did not want that lovely lady (Mary) who appeared to
him, to grasp hold of his dirty hand.
Mary has always been seen in the Church as a litmus test for
adventitious doctrines as they relate to the Person of Jesus and His teaching. Now, the modern ‘boys’ have no doctrines,
whereas the feminists do most certainly have doctrinal intentions, contesting
and ‘doctoring’ certain passages in the Scriptures, and life-changing attitudes
very closely aligned with those of abortionists. As a result, whereas ‘the boys’ are known as
poor Catholics, our modern feminists – on the whole – can be hardly recognizable
as Christians or Catholic at all.
If those views – of the feminists and the ‘boys’ -- were the only
possible interpretations of St. Paul’s teaching it would be very difficult
indeed to understand how it has come about that Christianity has raised the
status and dignity of women immeasurably more than any other religious
faith. How could a religion preaching
the so-called humiliation of woman in marriage ever have lifted up the status
and confirmed the dignity of women, as has the Catholic Church in the love,
‘worship’, and honour she willingly and gratefully gives to the Virgin Mary as mother
of her Lord and Saviour? On the other
hand, if the bondage of responsibilities and chastity were so objectionable and
unsatisfying for men -- as the boys say -- how could it be that the Christian
family life has for many centuries shown itself to be the bed-rock of Western, indeed
world-wide, democratic society?
As you can see, so much depends on how you look at things. That is why we heard in the first reading
that Joshua, the leader of the Israelites after Moses, said to the assembled
people, “Make up your minds”:
Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth,
and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river
and in Egypt. And if it seems evil to
you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river,
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my
house, we will serve the LORD." So,
the people answered and said: "Far be it from us that we should forsake
the LORD to serve other gods.
Our troubles today are largely the result of people who publicly say
they don’t want to forsake the Lord, but who, in their hearts, neither hold Him
in fear, nor are they willing to discipline themselves so as to serve Him obediently
in sincerity and truth.
Jesus, in the Gospel reading, knew some such people who found His
teaching hard because they were unwilling to commit themselves entirely to Him:
When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about
this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man
ascend where He was before? It is the
Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you
are spirit, and they are life.
What if you see the Son of Man ascending to heaven? Can’t you understand where I am leading
you? You will see Me ascend as your
leader to the place where I am to prepare a place for all who will follow
me. I am not preparing My disciples for
a mere seventy or eighty years of life in this sinful set-up we call our world;
I have been sent to help you become children of God, able to live for ever in
an eternal home prepared for you in My Father’s Kingdom! But for that, you have to be willing to
trust Me.
Just as there are many rooms in the Father’s Kingdom where Jesus
is preparing to receive His faithful disciples, so too, here on earth, there
are many ways of learning discipleship and some, indeed, are better than
others, as both Mary and Martha learnt; but all acceptable ways necessarily involve
loving God and one’s neighbour, serving and following Jesus by obeying His
Spirit in the Church.
Whatever way we choose, the whole of our life as Christians is a
time of preparation for our heavenly home, a preparation whereby we are
gradually purged and cleansed of our sins and formed in the likeness of Jesus
by His Holy Spirit. It is not a time for
the pre-eminent pursuit of worldly pride or pleasure, nor is it a process we
can -- at any time -- monitor and appraise for our own satisfaction. The progress of life on earth for a disciple
of Jesus is a spiritual work, a work carried out by the Holy Spirit; and it is
a faith work, a work that can only be done for those who live by faith in Jesus
Christ and in that way open themselves up to His Holy Spirit thus allowing Him
to prepare them as children of God destined for heaven.
And so, marriage -- the Christian life-sharing and potentially
child-bearing relationship between man and woman -- is a most important
relationship for the training of God’s heavenly children. It is not, and cannot be, a relationship
which is private to the two concerned, for that would be a mere a free-love association. Christian
marriage is the union of man and woman offered to Jesus, to be lived in
accordance with His teaching and guidance as handed down to us by His Apostles and
Mother Church: it is a human relationship offered to God for His glory, for Him
to guide so that it serves the salvation of the spouses, helping form them for
His heavenly family. Every blessing comes
to us through the Cross; consequently, in all Christian living, including
marriage, there is experience of the Cross of Jesus; but as we see in Jesus,
the Cross is ultimately something which a Catholic disciple can learn to
embrace with his Lord for love of the Father, and thus it becomes something that
can lift us up from this earth to heaven.
Just to put it briefly in answer to the feminists and to the lads:
Christian marriage is meant to help a Christian man and woman grow in humility
on the one hand, and in true love on the other hand, both of which demand total,
responsible, self-commitment and willing self-sacrifice. To enable them both to achieve this, the
Christian bond of marriage bestows a share in divine love, and a gift of grace
which gives those who want to receive it strength to live in a way which is
more than human; and that is precisely why the feminists and the lads cannot
understand Catholic marriage and Christian love, because it is for those
destined for heaven, not for those satisfied, or seeking to be satisfied, with
whatever renown, success, satisfaction, pleasure or prestige, they can win or grab
for themselves in this largely pagan world.
In all this, however, argument is of limited value, for as Jesus
said:
Therefore, I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it
has been granted to him by My Father.
That does not mean that the Father denies anyone the opportunity
or the ability to come to Jesus, but simply that He will not force it upon
anyone; while those who do come to discipleship, must realize that it is a gift
of God, not their own work.
In His days in Palestine, Jesus’ message displeased many:
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him
no more.
Contrary to the impression given in these our times by some of His
disciples both high and low, Jesus does not
depend on human backing, He does not
find it necessary to count “bums on seats” -- as the saying goes -- before He
can trust His Father. For, just as of
old:
He said to
the Twelve, "Do you also want to go away?",
even so today, He looks and listens for those true disciples who
can wholeheartedly repeat and confirm those words of Peter:
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.
