11th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2013

11^th. Sunday, Year C

(2 Samuel 12: 7-10, 13; Galatians 2: 16, 19-21; Luke 7: 36-50.)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have a very difficult passage from St. Paul in our second reading today:

We know that a person is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ; through the Law I died to the Law that I might live for God.

What does Paul mean when he says, through the Law I died to the Law?  How did he, through the Law die to the Law?

Much has been written over many years by scholars of varying persuasions and abilities, and so I cannot pretend to offer a solution to the many difficulties they find in those words; but for all that, I will offer a suggestion that is both relative to the passage and, I trust, helpful for our understanding and appreciation of our Gospel today.

St. Paul was a great lover and proponent of the Law as understood by the Pharisees before he encountered the Risen Lord Jesus in a vision on his way to Damascus to persecute the Church of God out of zeal for the traditions of his ancestors in Judaism (cf. Galatians 1: 13s.).  He never lost his love for the Law, but after that encounter with the risen Lord Jesus he came to understand it much better as God’s instrument for the preparation of His People for the salvation He was offering them in and through the Lord Jesus, the long promised and ardently expected Messiah

.

If it had not been for the Law, I would not have known sin. We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh ... I do the very thing I hate. ... I delight in the Law of God in my inmost self, with my mind I am a slave to the Law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?   Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  (Romans 7: 7, 14- 15, 22, 24-25)

All, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written, there is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.   (Romans 3: 9-12, 23.)

We asked how did Paul through the Law die to the Law?  It is clear now that Paul’s knowledge of the Law taught him what was required of him as a convinced Israelite and subject of the Law, while Paul’s deep self-awareness and great insight into our human condition also made it most abundantly clear to him that none did, and none could, keep the Law in all its fullness and integrity. 

All who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the Law.’ (Galatians 3:10)

Why then the Law?  It was added because of transgressions, until the Offspring would come to whom the promise had been made. The Law was our disciplinarian until Christ came so that we might be justified by faith.  (Gal. 3:19, 24)

As we now look into the Gospel reading we will see that Simon, the Pharisee, had little of Paul’s self-knowledge or commitment to the Law: the proprieties expected when receiving guests were either ignored in Jesus’ case or else had been forgotten by, or were, perhaps, even unknown to, Simon; and how easily his solicitude for the reputation of his house caused him to start criticising, in his heart, the young Rabbi whom he had admiringly and respectfully invited to share his table:

If this man were a prophet, He would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching Him!  

Of course it was extremely embarrassing for Simon reclining at table with Jesus, as indeed it must have been for the others sharing hospitality, when a woman, publicly known for her sins, entered his house – not only uninvited but  also most certainly unwelcome – and, standing behind Jesus weeping profusely, began to:

Bathe His feet with her tears, wipe them with her hair, kiss them, and anoint them with ointment.

Nevertheless, how quickly his professed reverence for one he called ‘Teacher’ evaporated in the face of this threat to his own self-esteem and presumed public standing:  If this man were a prophet ... !!    Jesus, however, loved Simon and came to his help for, before Simon could actually say anything at all:

            Jesus said to him IN REPLY, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you ....’

Simon, as we have said, had little in common with Paul, but the sinful woman – as regards her response to Jesus – resembled Paul very much in his profound appreciation of, and total self-abandonment to, Jesus.

Paul gave himself to Jesus -- in response to a personal vision and ‘mystical’ encounter with the Risen Lord -- most humbly, lovingly, and unreservedly, on the basis of his profound understanding and appreciation of God’s revelation in the Scriptures entrusted to Israel’s custody for fulfilment: how penetratingly he recognized his need of the redeeming grace of Jesus, his Lord and Saviour!  The woman, most certainly had encountered and heard Jesus previously, perhaps only once, possibly a few times, because she came to Him as one loathing herself for love of His Goodness.

Paul learned his self-distrust from the Scriptures and from his vision of the Risen Lord; the woman embraced her self-loathing, it would seem, simply from encountering and learning from the man, Jesus of Nazareth, as He walked and talked in the course of His public ministry.  In her respect we can fruitfully recall some teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas who used to say that a unlettered peasant could know God better than he himself, intuitively, that is, by the heart; because knowledge of God does not end in, is not fulfilled in, concepts but reality.  A theologian weighed down with concepts, though they be correct, can remain cut off from the Reality, while an ‘ignorant’ person can reach that Reality better, thanks to the transparency of more elementary concepts.   

Does not the Psalmist express himself in very similar words?

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.  Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Psalm 51:5-6)

The woman loved the Lord and suffered deeply from the open scorn and contempt she received when she tried to draw near to Him; and Paul’s very vocation as a Christian was to suffer – more than any other apostle – for his love of the Lord:

The Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring My name before Gentiles and kings and before the People of Israel; I Myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name.  (Acts 9: 15s.)

For both of them, however, faith was the crown of their relationship with, and consummated their love for, Jesus:

Insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who has loved me and given Himself up for me.

Jesus turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love; the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.  He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you, go in peace.’

There are religious groups today, however, who gain followers or recruit supporters by offering them someone, something, to hate and/or violently oppose; offering the exaltation and satisfaction of humanly disordered emotions as the fulfilment of a pseudo-religious involvement and the earthly foretaste of a promised and equally pseudo heavenly reward.  The world around us also proclaims earthly emotional experience and satisfaction – never openly hateful, indeed, but not without deep-rooted intolerance -- as the only worthwhile and publicly acceptable ideal and reward ... love is all!!   Love, that is, which is to be felt and enjoyed, not to be evaluated and most certainly not to be constrained, by any other considerations other than the human, earthly satisfaction it affords the individuals concerned and the approval it gains them from others.  Catholicism, on the other hand, offers -- supremely and solely -- the Truth of Jesus which evokes a response of unique Love that can only be truly expressed through and fulfilled in Faith.

Jesus once used most solemn words that bring out in total clarity the deepest and most extensive problem and need in the Church today: lack of Faith in the face of the emotional attractions of religious extremism and self-approval and self-satisfaction of comfortable worldly conformity:

            When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?

Dear Brothers and Sisters, we should treasure and try to develop our personal Faith in Jesus and commitment to His Church with heartfelt gratitude and serious endeavour, and pray devoutly for the growth of Faith in Mother Church and for God’s special blessing on all called to proclaim and propagate that Faith throughout the world.  Towards that end let us cast a final glance at King David in our first reading today, for he can make clear to us another most beautiful characteristic of faith.

Nathan said to David: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Why have you spurned the Lord and done evil in His sight?  ... Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised Me and taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.”’  Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’

There we can see the beauty of faith in David.  He had an ‘intuitive’ relationship with God like that of the sinful woman with regard to Jesus in our Gospel reading; he was weak at times indeed, but he did not seek to justify his behaviour before God’s judgement:  I have sinned against the Lord!  The extremists of today would say to any such words of judgement against them or their actions, ‘We were forced to, we had no choice but to, behave, respond, as we did’; whilst the world of human righteousness and political conformity would most probably not be able to understand any such words against their works or policies: ‘This world’s love guided us in all that we did or sought to do.’  Before God and the truth, David was totally simple, with no complications of pride, no refuge in self-justification.  His example is most worthy of our admiration and imitation. 

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2013

10^th. Sunday (C)

(1 Kings 17:17-24; Galatians 1:11-19; Luke 7:11-17)

We have in today’s Gospel reading a very significant miracle performed by Jesus when He raised a young man from the dead.  What most impresses us today, perhaps, is not so much the objective fact of the miracle itself ... for we believe Jesus to have been – even here on earth -- the Son of God made man, One very capable of performing such an outstanding miracle ... but the human sympathy of Jesus which led Him to spontaneously involve Himself and perform so striking a miracle with such personal and tender compassion.   There are deep and most powerful human emotions involved here which secretly stir-up and evoke our own like involvement even today, for here was a woman of ancient times whose only son had just died, and who was, moreover, already a widow.  

Jesus was deeply affected by the personal situation of this distraught woman appearing before Him: a widow, her only son now also dead, walking alone though followed by a crowd of sympathizers; walking upright in body, though her head is bowed and her heart overwhelmed with grief, as tears blind her eyes.  She is getting on in years and, most probably, has little or no idea of her future livelihood and security, let alone any hope of love and companionship.  At the best, the crowd of sympathizers would suggest that she may find herself with some happy memories of friends and family; but will that enable her to face up to an empty and threatening future?

Was Jesus at that moment foreseeing and fore-suffering His own mother’s grief and loneliness on Calvary?  Possibly.

In the course of His public ministry Jesus was frequently compared, even mixed-up, with Elijah:

Jesus went on with His disciples to Caesarea Philippi.  And on the way He asked His disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’  And they told Him, ‘John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.’ 

Now it happened that He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him.  And He asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’  And they answered, ‘John the Baptist.  But others say, Elijah ... Then He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’  Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ of God.’   (Mark 8:27)  (Luke 9:18-20)

Elijah was not only one of the prophets Jesus had heard of, but one whom He knew well – as would be shown at His Transfiguration when Elijah appeared with Moses speaking with Jesus – one who came readily to His mind at times: 

Jesus began to speak to the crowds: Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if your are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. (Matthew 11:7, 11-14)

Jesus would have been well aware of what we have just heard concerning Elijah’s miracle for the widow of Zarephath:

Elijah said to her, ‘Give me your son.’  Taking him from her lap, he carried the son to the upper room where he was staying and put him on his bed ... Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times, and called out to the Lord: ‘O Lord, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child.’ 

Had Elijah stretched himself out upon the child not only three times, but also in the form of a cross: with the prophet’s outstretch arms and full length body covering those of the child so that the warmth of life might be transferred from the prophet to the child by God’s goodness and mercy?

Elijah then took the living child and, we are told, gave him to his mother.  Is that why we hear that Jesus gave to his mother the young man -- an adult – though apparently still on the bier being held by its bearers?

After Elijah restored the living child to his mother:

The woman replied to Elijah, ‘Now indeed I know that you are a man of God.  The word of the Lord comes truly from your mouth. 

The word of the Lord spoken by Elijah was a prophetic word.  Jesus’ words were salvific words, words bringing salvation for mankind; and such words, Jesus knew, could only come from His Cross-transfigured heart and soul, body and being, words of life from the One Who would conquer death. 

Was Jesus at that moment foreseeing and fore-suffering His own mother’s grief and loneliness on Calvary?  Quite possibly. 

Saint Paul wanted to make most clear to the Galatians this aspect of the Gospel message in our second reading when he declared that:

The Gospel preached by me is not of human origin.  For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

And, of course, the Jesus He referred to is the Crucified and Risen Lord, for as he himself says in his second letter to the Corinthians:

The love of Christ controls us, and He died for all, that all those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him Who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. (5:14-17)

This meeting with the widow of Nain, this raising of her son from his coffin, bier, of death, was, moreover, most intimate.  Immediately before and, in St. Luke’s narrative, straight after, this incident at Nain,  Jesus restored to health the servant of a Roman Centurion and also:

                       

Healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind He bestowed sight. (Luke 7:27

On both these occasions He spoke directly to the attendant crowds.  But not here at Nain.

When the Lord saw her He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’

Words of most sincere sympathy, surely to be heard by her alone who so needed them.  Again, on approaching the dead man’s bier He simply touched the bier to stop the bearers and then addressed the young man himself saying:

            Young man, I say to you, ‘arise.’

And then, ‘Jesus gave him to his mother.’   All so tender and essentially intimate.

Was Jesus foreseeing His own mother and fore-suffering with her?  Quite probably.

Of course, the accompanying crowd could not fail to see and enthuse over what had happened, and they whole-heartedly cried out:

            A great prophet has arisen in our midst!

As did the widow of Zarephath when she said:

You are a man of God, the word of God comes truly from your mouth.

Here at Nain,  however, revelation is proceeding and there is something more; not that the people proclaiming realized just what they were saying, but was the Father perhaps once again witnessing to His Son, for: 

            All glorified God exclaiming, GOD has visited His people?

God indeed, God-made-man, was visiting His People in Jesus our Saviour Who would be stretched out on the Cross of Calvary for love of men, and Whose death and Resurrection would give life to all those touched by the words of His Gospel; because, although :

Preached by (Paul), (that Gospel) is not of human origin, but came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

That revelatory report of Jesus -- the crucified and risen Lord -- has spread throughout the intervening ages indeed, and has reached us once more this day to refresh, inspire, and comfort us with the truth it brings and the beauty it contains for us.  Truth because it is a revelation of the Risen Lord Who was crucified for us; truth because Jesus is ever the Way, the Truth, and the Life.   And Beauty, because:

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in  the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord ... I believe I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!  (Psalm 27: 4, 13) 

Truth guides and sustains, beauty inspires and comforts; so let us ever seek to embrace God’s Truth in all its Beauty as we hear and strive to understand, embrace and put into practice, the authentic Gospel proclaimed to us in Mother Church, the Immaculate Spouse of her Risen Lord and Suffering Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Corpus Christi Year C 2013

 Corpus Christi (C)

(Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26; Luke 9:11-17)

In our first reading from the book of Genesis we heard of Melchizedek, the mysterious priest-king of Jerusalem, whom the Psalmist (Ps. 110) would later refer to as a priest-for-ever of God Most High.  This great figure, Melchizedek – whose name means King of righteousness – came to meet Abraham and his men as they were returning victorious from battle with Chedolaomar, the former overlord of the land.  Abraham and his 300 strong force of warriors were exhausted after the battle, and Melchizedek arrived with bread and wine to refresh them.

Let us just stop here for a moment and wonder at the wisdom of our God!  Our psalm reading today -- based on ancient traditions going back perhaps a thousand and more years before it was composed some 400 years before Jesus – puts Melchizedek before us as a King of Righteousness, a Priest of God Most High, bringing bread and wine to meet the battle weary Abraham and his exhausted men.  Since Abraham is our father in faith, as St. Paul tells us and as we say in the canon of the Mass, who cannot recognize that here Melchizedek foreshadows Jesus?  For Jesus comes to meet us, children of Abraham, wearied and wounded in our battle not merely with flesh and blood but, much more importantly, with Satan’s baleful power over the world and our very selves.

Jesus once took upon Himself our load of sin and death and, by rising from the dead, destroyed Satan’s dominion and power over us, before ascending to heaven in His own now glorious Body of flesh and blood and thereby opening up heavens portals to human kind once more.   Now, Jesus comes to us offering a share in His victory and in His triumph through our faithful partaking of His bread and wine become the sacrament of His own most precious Body and Blood, the only food fit for the spiritual refreshment and eternal nourishment of all, who, like Abraham our father in faith, are answering God's call to journey towards a newly-promised and heavenly homeland.

People of God, my brothers and sisters in Christ, there we can catch a glimpse of  God’s all-embracing wisdom and wondrous beauty; enough surely to encourage us to lovingly trust His great goodness and gratefully praise His most holy Name.

Next we are told that:

Melchizedek blessed Abram, with these words: "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.  And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand".

With such words we have some indication of the nature and purpose of our Eucharist; and we are helped in such an appreciation by taking note of the difference between Jesus’ fulfilment and that which Melchizedek had originally  foreshadowed.  Melchizedek was, we are told, a priest of God most High; a very mysterious figure indeed, but one who could not fail to do what all priests of ancient times were appointed and expected to do: bring God’s blessing down upon mankind in need.  Such priests were also channels for ascending gifts of praise and sacrifice for God from men … but those gifts being offered up were not always expressions of pure praise and heart-felt thanksgiving, many being ultimately made simply to facilitate the bestowal of further targeted blessings from God.  

When the time of fulfilment came, none could have imagined that the ultimate Priest of God most High would be His very own Son, made man; whereas Melchizedek had been a merely functional link between God and man, Jesus, on the other hand, is an infinitely Personal link uniting God and man in His very Self; and the reciprocal love between Jesus and His Father would always, and in everything, be the originating source, definitive model, and eternal fulfilment of every blessing received and expressed by men:

            Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to people of good will. 

Such is the Christian fulfilment of the original prophetic words of Melchizedek: 

 

Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the Creator of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High Who delivered your foes into your hand. 

            Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to people of good will.

Such is Jesus' purpose present in Holy Communion: to give glory to His Father by bestowing blessing and -- through His Spirit -- salvation upon His disciples.

Therefore, as disciples of Jesus, it is our first duty on receiving Communion to join wholeheartedly with Jesus in giving praise and glory to God the Father Who, through the death and resurrection of His beloved and only-begotten Son, has saved us from death’s thraldom, and wills to protect and preserve us from the ever-recurring insidious power and poisonous presence of sin by His Eucharistic Gift of the Holy Spirit:

If, by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For you have received the Spirit of adoption through Whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”   The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him.  (Romans 8:13-17)

In our response to Jesus' second purpose for our reception of Holy Communion, ‘peace to people of good will’, we must bear in mind the teaching of St. Paul who tells us: 

Those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith;

(God) redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (Galatians 3: 9, 14)

Notice that teaching of St. Paul, People of God: reception of the Eucharist only bears fruit on the basis of our faith; Jesus' purpose can only come to its fulfilment through our co-operating faith.  

Jesus still provides food for His People through the unfailing faith of His immaculate Spouse, our Mother Church; but His demand for our personal and individual contribution still remains too, and the contribution each of us has to bring to the Eucharistic Table is our own faith in Jesus; a faith not simply to be presumed in adults but repeatedly, actively, renewed and deepened, if the food He gives us is to be absorbed and become spiritually fruitful in our lives.

God has redeemed us through Christ Jesus; from Whom, by faith and the Eucharist, we receive His promise of the Spirit Who will guide Mother Church into all truth, and form all of us, her children, into an abiding and ever-closer oneness with, and ever-surer likeness to, Jesus our Lord and Saviour, for the glory of the Father. 

However, we too often think of ‘being one with Jesus’ in an exclusive sense: extending our individual commitment to Him in all situations; intensifying our personal aspirations towards, and deepening our personal love for, Him at all times.   But there is more than that required, because Jesus prayed repeatedly and most explicitly that we should all enter into a true oneness-of-disciples, into the Church His Body, the fullness and crowning glory of which He Himself is, as its Head.   Only as living members in and of that oneness, in that whole which is His Body because He is its Head, can we become, individually and personally, one with, like ‘unto’, Jesus.

I do not ask for these only but for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.  The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are One, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.  (John:17:20-23)

Our awareness of belonging to, and being in, the Church one with our brothers and sisters all over the world, should occupy a most serious part and be given most serious expression in our catholic living, as many people from very different backgrounds can show us.  How often do you hear of those who have received blessings of all sorts committing themselves to great personal efforts to show their gratitude for what they have received?  Why should terrorists, fanatics and radicals, be the only ones to claim bonds with brethren suffering the world over? Have not we Catholics and Christians thousands, indeed millions of co-members of the Body of Christ suffering deprivation and want, trials and persecutions, because of their – and our – faith?

On receiving Holy Communion, therefore, first of all be most eager and ready to give sincere thanks, glory, praise and honour, to our heavenly Father.  Then, renewing your faith in Jesus’ presence and the Father’s goodness, welcome the Spirit whom Jesus bestows; for though Jesus' own Eucharistic Presence in us passes quickly, He comes, however, to bestow the abiding Spirit to remain with us in all the circumstances of our subsequent life.  Welcome, therefore, open your heart to, both Jesus and His Gift; and pray that the Spirit may abide in you and rule in your life so that you may be radically re-formed in the likeness of Jesus for the glory of the Father in heaven.

Finally, never forget Mother Church.    As we heard in the Gospel reading:

(Jesus) gave (what He had blessed) to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied.

It is still the same today: we are satisfied with heavenly food from the table prepared by Mother Church.  The food is, indeed, from Jesus, but It is given and presented to us, as Jesus willed and established, through the priests of His Church.  Jesus has promised that He will never forget His Church; and so, although children here on earth do easily and all too frequently forget to give thanks to and for those nearest and dearest to them, we who, as children of Mother Church, are disciples of Jesus aspiring to become true children of the heavenly Father, must never fail to thank God for Mother Church, and to ask His continued blessing on her, and on her world-wide family, whenever we receive God’s food from her table at the Eucharist sacrifice.