Third Sunday of Lent (Year C) 2013

 3^rd. Sunday of Lent, (C)

(Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9)

Our Lord’s words today are difficult to understand:

Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way that they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?  By no means!  But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!  Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them, do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?  By no means!  But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.

The attitude of Jesus’ contemporaries to the tragic deaths of those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with that of the sacrifices they were offering or of those by chance killed by the collapse of Siloam tower was symptomatic of the Jewish people’s understanding of their calling as People of God.  They had come to regard themselves as specially loved and chosen by God for their own material advantage and spiritual precedence over all Gentiles and pagans: if they kept God’s law literally, as closely and exactly as possible, they thought they could expect Him to benefit them – especially in their relations with surrounding nations – in all the circumstances of their normal lives.  They even came to the think that they could, if necessary, remind God of His duty, or even, through radicals such as the Siccarii, seek to force His hand, to come to their aid against their enemies and glorify His Name before them.  They had begun first of all to forget, then they went on to overlook, before ultimately denying, the fact that they were specially chosen by God expressly to serve as His instrument for the spiritual conversion of the Gentiles, who might thus become one with Israel in the universal, and ultimately eternal, family of God’s adopted children.

We learn how very serious this was in Jesus’ eyes by the fact that He doubled on their original tragedy and emphasised His own words -- which were in no way pleasant hearing for His audience -- by repeating them exactly:

I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did. 

As we know, there was no repentance by the Jewish body as a whole and they did perish at the hands of the Romans; their joy and crown -- Jerusalem the golden -- was raised to the ground from which they were banned and, as a people, they were scattered far and wide, at the best tolerated not welcomed wherever they went.

However, those words of Jesus are of perennial significance, no longer for the political situation of the Jewish nation, but for the spiritual awareness of the corporate body of Christians and the individual souls of all believers. 

Do you think because these Galileans who suffered in this way, or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them,  were greater sinners than all other Galileans, than everyone else who lived (at that time) in Jerusalem?   

By no means I tell you, (and) if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.

Therefore, those who perished were not greater sinners before the world.  For Jesus is not simply saying that they were not shown to be greater sinners by their unfortunate end, He is saying quite categorically and authoritatively that they were by no means greater sinners than all around.  Now that is of the utmost importance for modern attitudes among Catholics and Christians even today, because many, so very easily and quickly spring to the defense of their own flagging, failing, and lapsing Christian witness or Catholic observance by words such as, ‘I live as good a life as other people’, ‘I am certainly no worse than many others and better than a lot of them’.

After Jesus’ words today, that is no justification, defense, or excuse whatsoever! 

‘There would be no Catholics left if my failings are considered so bad’.   Perhaps, that might be in some measure true ... but precisely, the Jewish audience Jesus was addressing with the words:

if you do not repent, you will all perish 

did largely perish!   Jerusalem was flattened, millions died in the Jewish war with Rome, and the nation was scattered far and wide among the Gentiles and pagans.  That is one understanding of the word ‘perish’ ... there is also a spiritual meaning and application for it, perish before God.

And that other word ‘repent’ ... what does that really mean in this context?

As I said at the beginning, Our Lord’s words today are difficult to understand!

‘Repent’ means ‘change your mind, your attitude, turn from your evil ways back to looking for, serving, answering to, God above all’; it can be regarded as a condensation of those other (again very difficult to modern ears) words of Jesus:

Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.  Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for My sake will find it.  

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. (Matthew 10:33, 37-39)

‘Repent’ can be accurately understood as the effort a disciple needs to make in order to understand, appreciate, and appropriately adopt into his own style of life, those and other like words of Jesus, where He demands first place and supreme love for God, and for Himself as Son sent by the Father, where He calls for love of neighbour and death to selfishness.

In the first ‘tragedy’ of the Galileans whose blood was mingled with that of their sacrifices we can see that even at worship, even at our Sunday Mass, impenitence is not excluded.  We are all called to Our Lord, to Holy Mass each Sunday as was Moses called in the first reading, Moses! Moses!  Note how Moses answered, Here I am Lord as he walked towards the burning bush:

God said, ‘Come no nearer!  Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’

Moses had been drawing close to God from curiosity:

I must go over to look at this remarkable sight and see why the bush is not burned.

God so urgently required ‘repentance’ that, as we are told:

            Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

We too should be present at Sunday Mass with a sincerely repentant attitude, wanting simply and solely to worship God: to learn of Him and the glory of His goodness, wisdom and beauty; to join in declaring (singing) His praises in the psalms and canticles; to seek His will, His way forward for us, as we hear the Scriptures read and the homily delivered; and, perhaps above all else, we should be most intent and committed in offering Jesus’ sacrifice with Jesus Himself through the ministry of the priest, most sincere and humble in joining our own sacrifice of self with that of Jesus to the Father, for the praise and glory of His most holy name.

Now it is eminently possible for some, even perhaps many, to leave Sunday Mass without really having participated in it at all, yet still regarding themselves as good as anyone, with no easy-to-see sins troubling their conscience: that is to be in a state calling forth those words of Jesus:

if you do not repent, you will all perish. 

Jesus does not demand perfection of us, He does, however, require humble aspiration and sincere endeavour to walk perseveringly in His footsteps. 

We know nothing explicit about those crushed by the collapsing tower of Siloam, but Saint Paul gave us advice adapted to our every-day living:

Do not desire evil things; do not grumble; and, whoever thinks he is standing secure, take care not to fall.  

Do you fear that all these dangers, all these warnings might make life burdensome and tiring for you?   Warnings are not against you, they are only to protect and help you, they are like the precious Blood of Jesus being poured out to:

            Cultivate and fertilize (our souls) that (they) may bear fruit for the future;

and the dangers only loom ahead because infinitely more wonderful blessings are already awaiting us in God’s great love and Providence:

I have come to rescue them and lead them into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Second Sunday of Lent 2013

Second  Sunday of Lent (C)

(Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:20–4:1; Luke 9:28-36)

Today’s Gospel is replete with teaching about Jesus.  Notice first of all that: 

While Jesus was praying, His face changed in appearance, and His clothing became dazzling white.  And behold, two men were conversing with Him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His exodus which He was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. 

The meaning is clear.  Moses the Lawgiver and Elijah the most charismatic figure among the OT prophets were speaking with Jesus about His imminent exodus, Passover, in Jerusalem; thereby telling us that the Law and the Prophets of Israel were indeed, at their deepest level and in accordance with the intention and purpose of their supreme Author, speaking of and preparing for Jesus.  We can  therefore, and indeed we always should, with humble confidence and deep gratitude, seek to learn from the foreshadowing of Jesus to be found in the writings of the Old Testament.

God spoke frequently to Moses from the cloud which accompanied Israel throughout her desert wanderings:

The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain … and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”  Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.  Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.  The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.  So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain.  And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.  (Exodus 24:12, 15-18)

In some such way Moses was taught by God throughout Israel’s journeying to the Promised Land.  Notice, however, that here in our Gospel reading, God the Father -- again speaking from the cloud -- told the disciples Peter, James and John:

            This is My chosen (beloved) Son.  Hear Him!

That would seem to imply that no longer would there be a voice speaking from the heavenly cloud to the new Israel, but that the words of Jesus Himself would be all that could be needed.  Indeed, the Father’s words would seem to proclaim Jesus as God, speaking for, on behalf of, and with the authority of, the Father Himself.

There is yet more, however.  Those final two words Hear Him contain and convey a command for all Christians, meaning ‘hear and obey’.  There, indeed, we have the first of all commandments for Christians, a command which Jesus Himself confirmed:

If you love Me, keep My commandments. (John 14:15)

However, those words of the Father convey much more than a mere commandment to hear and obey Jesus; there is also an invitation -- a most intimate invitation indeed -- to know Him in such a way as to love Him; love Him, that is, not simply according to our own measure but in obedience to, together with, and in imitation of, the Father Himself.  Although Jesus, for His own part, is most humble, being well-satisfied if we keep His commandments, which are, for Him, sufficient proof of our authentic love, in it’s initial stages at least; nevertheless, those words of the  Father, not only indicate the extent of His love for, and appreciation of, His Son -- ‘My beloved Son’ -- but also, surely, express His desire that those privileged to hear Him should also learn to love Him as the Father Himself loves Him.  Indeed, there is even an implication that the only true knowledge of Jesus is one which promotes such appreciation of Him, that calls for, sustains and nourishes, and ultimately demands supreme, all-consuming, love for Him:

            This is My chosen (beloved) Son. Hear Him! 

If we now turn our attention back to the first reading where:

Abram put his faith in the Lord, Who credited it to him as an act of righteousness;

that initial faith of childless Abram, soon to be named Abraham and destined to become the father of Isaac and Jacob needed, in the meantime, to be strengthened for his own imminent trials and also for those of all who would subsequently rejoice in his blessing:

The LORD said to Abram: ‘Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.   But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth.  You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age.’  (Genesis 15:13-15)

Therefore, as an unforgettable support for such enduring faith in Abram himself and subsequently in Israel, Abram was given – as you heard -- a mysterious vision with a sublime promise.   Abram himself had had some part to play in that vision, for he had brought the animals called for by the Lord, then prepared and arranged their corpses in accordance with his native Chaldean covenantal prescriptions; and had then stayed beside them to protect their integrity as sacrifices until such time as the Lord God Himself had appeared, under the same fiery symbol He would later use again in the incidents of the burning bush with Moses, the column of fire guiding Israel through the desert of Sinai, and ultimately the tongues of fire descending on the disciples of Jesus at Pentecost.  

When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those (sacrificial) pieces.

Such was the awesome background to the Lord’s words of covenantal sustenance for Abram’s faith: 

To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.

Abram -- subsequently named Abraham – lived St. Paul’s exhortation in our second reading to the utmost, stand(ing) firm in the Lord,  and thereby meriting the title of ‘our father in faith’.  Let us, therefore, keep our eyes firmly on him whose faith in God’s promise was so mysteriously confirmed by the Lord’s fiery self-manifestation -- as fire-pot for food and flaming torch for light -- passing between the orderly, sacrificial pieces of flesh set up by Abraham; for, would not Jesus Himself subsequently say to the Jews:

 imselfH

Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day; he saw it and was glad.  (John 8:56)

Let us keep our eyes even more firmly fixed on Mary, whose supreme faith in God’s promise was likewise tested and confirmed: initially by the awesome mystery of the Lord’s conception at the Incarnation, before being ultimately crowned when her heart was pierced by the sword as her dearest Son and sovereign Lord suffered His bloody Passion and Death on Calvary.

Blessed is she who believed that what the Lord had promised her would be fulfilled.

Yes we should closely observe and carefully imitate both Abraham and Mary, that  we ourselves may consider with delight and observe with love the supreme mystery of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection likewise given us here at Mass for our enduring confirmation and constant growth in the faith we have received from God the  Father.  He it was Who first drew us to Jesus, and today He renews His choice by calling us once more this Sunday to hear His Son speaking clearly and surely to us in and through His Church; and to learn, by the Spirit – the hidden and abiding treasure of our Communion at Mass -- to share yet more in the Father’s own love for His beloved Son, our self-sacrificing Lord and Saviour. 

People of God, there is no faith without promises, there is no faith without mystery; and our Christian faith, in its ultimate awareness of and response to the totality of human nature and experience, expresses divine goodness through unimaginable -- yet supremely desirable and fulfilling, -- promises together with unfathomable -- yet most satisfying and credible -- mysteries.   There, indeed, lies an inescapable tension, but it is one designed not for our destruction but for the ever-continuing and harmonious development of all our human capabilities given us in the ‘image and likeness of God’.

Promises and mystery are not to the liking of modern secular society where tangible, controllable, and immediately profitable activities and experiences are sought at every level.  All too often, for such people, as St. Paul said in the second reading and as our daily experience tends to confirm ever more emphatically:

Their God is their stomach, their glory is in their shame.  Their minds are occupied with earthly things, and their end is destruction.

For us, however:

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He will change our lowly body to conform with His glorified body.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firm in the Lord.    

         

First Sunday of Lent 2013

First Sunday of Lent (C)

(Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13)

Since the Lord Jesus came to lead us in the fight against sin and death, against the devil panoplied in power and pride, it was fitting that He be tempted for our sake and on our behalf.

Immediately before beginning His public ministry He was – for our sake -- tempted in the desert after John’s baptism and there His inviolable sinlessness as the incarnate Son of God was made manifest to His adversary.  In His Passion and Death on Calvary He would once again be tempted – this time on our behalf -- as the totally selfless Son of Man and Lamb of God; that, in His ultimate triumph over the devil and death, He might win for us grace to work with Him and by His Spirit, for our salvation and the glory of the Father Who originally created us and eternally loves us as His adopted children in Jesus, His most beloved Son.  

Now, if we look carefully at Our Blessed Lord’s temptations in the desert in today’s Gospel reading, we can recognize the broad outlines of temptation faced by humankind everywhere; for the devil tempts men, women, yes, and even children, first of all, through their earthly appetites, just as he did with Jesus when he said:

            If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.

They are very many who succumb to this first sort of temptation as they pander to their appetites for food, alcohol, sex, and pleasures and satisfactions of all sorts. Yet, there are many who will overcome, or at least resist for a time, this “common” sort of weakness, until the next big hurdle -- the temptations offered to personal pride by the indulgence of self-will and the exercise of power and authority -- bring them crashing to the ground:

The devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him: All this authority I will give You, and their glory, if You will worship before me.

Some few, however, might not readily succumb to even such temptations; and, being neither overwhelmed by sensual pleasures, nor proudly eager to exercise power or authority over others, they may not even strive to be seen as most talented, acknowledged as most capable, admired as most popular.

Nevertheless, because all human beings are, in one way or another, sinful, these remaining few will ultimately succumb to the last temptation experienced by Jesus in the desert:

(The devil) brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 

There we have the temptation most closely corresponding with the devil’s own character, the temptation to spiritual pride, that is, to self-proclaiming holiness.

And so we have these three: pleasure, in its myriad forms, including even idleness; and pride, both worldly and spiritual; these are the sins of humankind throughout the ages.

But what about those human weaknesses of despondency and fear which inhibit so many by persuading them to hide, or even shut themselves away, so that nothing can either be expected from them or asked of them?

In one sense this last failing is the worst of all; for, what can be done with one who refuses to move?  Someone going in the wrong direction can be redirected; anyone who is faltering on the way can be encouraged and strengthened; and those who are seeking -- but confess themselves to be puzzled and uncertain -- can be enlightened; but what can be done for someone who has no desire to be, or to do, anything other than to remain undisturbed, sit cosy, and hold tight? 

The sins of pleasure are a perverted acknowledgement of the divine truth that creation is truly beautiful and we are not self-sufficient; for, without repeated injections of contrived and distorted satisfactions of whatever sort, such sinners find themselves deeply unhappy and unfulfilled.  Likewise, the sins of pride are a testimony to our God-given human potential for advancement and improvement of all sorts: and indeed, at times, sinners of that sort show great human ingenuity and skill, expend enormous energy and make great endeavours, in order to satisfy that most foolish and insatiable of all passions: self-aggrandizement.   On the other hand, however, the despondency and fear which can paralyze a human being and prevent him or her doing anything with their life, bears no witness -- either negative or positive -- to our human dignity or our divine calling; indeed, it tends to rob us of our authentic human character, since it is of the essence of human kind that, being made in the image and likeness of God, they are destined for fulfilment and, indeed, called to seek and to find it eternally with Him.

And so, whilst the sins of pleasure staining our modern society are a clear sign that many are painfully aware of their own emptiness and need for fulfilment; and whilst the proud, likewise, give positive, albeit twisted and deeply vitiated, testimony to the calling and gifts with which mankind has been endowed; the inertia of the despondent and the fearful, on the other hand -- entertaining no hope for fulfilment and passively contenting themselves with the little they have – are witnesses to nothing other than the weak and the piteous state of our fallen nature.

Our readings today have shown us something of humanity’s sins and failings, and perhaps that has already helped to set us on the way to health by spurring us to hate our lustfulness and pride and to despise our despondency and fear.  Can they help us further in our needs?  Do they hold yet further guidance and grace for us?

Let us think back to our first reading and, learning from it, begin to appreciate and give expression to that most beautiful and praiseworthy virtue, gratitude, which springs up so naturally in the human heart, unless that heart has been rendered insensitive by the cares and concerns of deep-rooted selfishness.

Gratitude is a most beautiful virtue: its “innocence” gladdens both the recipient and the giver, for true gratitude is not, and cannot be, concocted; neither is it a virtue only for those who are specially talented, since it wells up freely and spontaneously from the depths of our common humanity.

The Lord brought us out of Egypt with strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders; and bringing us into this country, He gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.  Therefore I have now brought you the first-fruits of the land which you, Lord, have given me.

One of the easiest and surest ways to find joy in the Lord, then, is to be grateful for all the blessings of life, be they big or small.  Above all, try to offer your Mass, and your communion with Jesus at Mass, with gratitude to God in your heart.

Next, we can learn something from St. Paul’s teaching in the second reading, for so often people make relations with God difficult for themselves.  They imagine God is demanding this and that from them when really He is not demanding anything but simply seeking to lead them, gradually, further along the way from wherever they may presently find themselves, to the fullness of happiness and eternal life.  

Now, you in Church today have come here believing – mind and heart – in Jesus; and hopefully you have learned to appreciate and want to express gratitude for the salvation He opens up before you.  Learn then, from St. Paul, and undertake to confess with your mouth that gratitude you acknowledge as due from you: 

For, one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 

People of God, this is a teaching you can and should begin to put into action here at Mass!  Don’t just stand or sit with your mouth closed and your heart dull; if you do not confess God here you will never confess Him outside before others who do not believe.  If you put your heart into the Creed, the hymns, the responses at Mass, if you confess with your mouth in that way, you will show yourselves as worthy to be gradually led to speak up, when it is necessary so to do, before those who do not believe, or even mock.  Don’t imagine for yourself seemingly impossible acts of public witness being demanded of you on leaving Church this day; try to praise God wholeheartedly here and now, and He may gradually lead you -- if you are worthy -- to confess with your mouth before others when the Spirit wants such witness of you.  He will never demand what you cannot give: He will – if you are willing and worthy -- lead and encourage you first, and then, only ask you when you are able.  Indeed, you will probably not even be aware that you are being asked, it will seem so natural for you to respond to the Spirit’s call when you have become accustomed to confessing gratitude with your mouth here at Mass.

Finally, we should have boundless confidence in God.  St. Paul reminded us:

Scripture says, "No one who believes in Him will be put to shame."   

The Israelites, miserable and weak slaves though they were, were led out of Egypt, despite the power of Pharaoh’s army, because they trusted in the Lord who had spoken to Moses; they endured through the desert -- the waterless, stony, desert -- because they trusted in the Lord was speaking to them through Moses.  Moses was a man who, though born a Hebrew, had been brought up as an Egyptian.  The Lord had called and inspired him to lead Israel into freedom; and, because Moses had been sent by God and knew the Egyptians, under his leadership the Hebrew slaves learned confidence to trust their God and face up to the Egyptians.  

Now, surely we can trust Jesus!  He is, indeed, the Son of God and, since He is also most truly one of us, His Spirit knows how to guides us heavenwards along ways that -- in Him and with Him -- are no longer impossible for us.  That is why He is always wanting and seeking to lead us on and up to ever better, higher, and greater things; and that is also why the idleness that aspires only to sit cosy and hold tight is so unacceptable to Him.   For, despite all our fears, despite our natural weakness, God has made us for Himself and in Jesus He has overcome for us all the trials and temptations that can come our way.  Take confidence, therefore, and trust in the Lord and the Spirit He has bestowed on us: sing psalms and offer prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving in your life, and you will find them developing quickly into a joyful antiphon of witness and praise springing spontaneously to your lips as you find yourself being led along ways that delight and fulfil you beyond all your dreams.  Then you will indeed thank God for your Catholic Faith which has helped you to believe in Jesus, our Lord and Saviour; to trust in His Spirit, our Advocate and Comforter; and to look forward in hope to the vision and the presence of Him Who is our God and, indeed, our most loving Father.