Sunday, April 16, 2006
Of Things Italian: Off to Italy for Two Weeks!
Well, I am off to Italy for two weeks with Debra Pieri and Renee Albonetti, friends from church. (Renee’s mother drives me home after 6:15 a.m. Mass every morning.) It is Debra and Renee’s first trip to the land of their grandparents. We will do a grand tour by car with me driving, spending two days with relatives and friends we are yet to meet in Lucca. (Most of the Italians At Holy Rosary trace their families back to Lucca, the mother city of opera. The rest seem to come from Ancona.) We will spend the last five days in Rome on foot. Keep us in your prayers, and you can be assured of our prayers every day at Mass. Below is our sketchy itinerary. Although we have planned on seeing many things and visiting many shrines our itinerary is flexible and allows for other adventures.
April 18 Depart Memphis
April 19 Arrive in Rome at 8:45 a.m.
Visit Shrine of St. Maria Goretti in Nettuno, where her body is incorrupt more
than 100 years after she was killed trying to preserve her virginity at the
age of 12
Visit Montecassino Abbey founded by St. Benedict, the first monastery in western
Christianty
Visit Basilica of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Pompeii
April 20 Visit the ruins of Pompeii
Visit Shrine of St. Philomena in Avellino
Travel to San Giovanni Rotondo
April 21 Visit Shrine of St. Padre Pio
Visit Eucharistic Miracle at Lanciano, a Host that turned to human flesh and
blood and has been preserved since the 8th century
Visit Holy House in Loreto, the home of Mary in Nazareth transported by angels
to Italy to save it from the Saracens
Visit incorruptible body of St. Joseph Cupertino (he levitated when he celebrated
Mass!) in Ossimo
Arrive in Assisi
April 22 See the sites of Assisi
Basilica of San Francesco
Basilica of St. Chiara
San Damiano
St. Mary of the Angels
St. Francis’ Birthplace
Duomo, where St. Francis and St. Clare were baptized
The town of Assisi
April 23 Sunday Mass in Assisi
Visit incorruptible body of St. Rita in Cascia; she was blessed with the stigmata
The streets of Assisi
April 24 Visit La Vergna where St. Francis of Assisi received the stigmata
Arrive in Florence
April 25 Visit the sites of Florence
Duomo
Galleria dell’Accademia (Michelangelo’s “David”)
Uffizi Galleries
Capelle Medici
Basilica di San Lorenzo
Museo di San Marco
Santa Croce
April 26 Travel to Venice
Vist Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua
April 27 See Sites of Venice
San Marco Square
Duomo (Cathedral of St. Mark)
Baptistry
Palazzo Duomo
Bridge of Tears
Gondola Ride
Travel to Lucca
April 28 Leaning Tower of Pisa and other sites of Pisa
Visit Baldi Family in Valvottavo
April 29 Travel to Rome
Visit San Gimiagno, a walled and towered city where the film Brother Sun, Sister
Moon was filmed
Visit Siena, the home of St. Catherine of Siena
April 30 Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s
Tour St. Peter’s
Urbi et orbi, St. Peter’s Square, 12 noon
Vatican Museum
Sistine Chapel
Spanish Steps
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Icon
May 1 St. Mary Major
St. John Lateran
St. Paul Outside the Walls
Santa Croce in Gerusalem
Holy Steps
Piazza Navona
May 2 Ancient Rome
St. Peter in Chains (Michelangelo’s “Moses”)
Church of the Gesu
Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Visit Cardinal Stafford
May 3 Papal Audience, 10:30 a.m.
Catacombs
Church of the Three Fountains
May 4 Depart Rome.
Arrive Memphis
April 18 Depart Memphis
April 19 Arrive in Rome at 8:45 a.m.
Visit Shrine of St. Maria Goretti in Nettuno, where her body is incorrupt more
than 100 years after she was killed trying to preserve her virginity at the
age of 12
Visit Montecassino Abbey founded by St. Benedict, the first monastery in western
Christianty
Visit Basilica of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Pompeii
April 20 Visit the ruins of Pompeii
Visit Shrine of St. Philomena in Avellino
Travel to San Giovanni Rotondo
April 21 Visit Shrine of St. Padre Pio
Visit Eucharistic Miracle at Lanciano, a Host that turned to human flesh and
blood and has been preserved since the 8th century
Visit Holy House in Loreto, the home of Mary in Nazareth transported by angels
to Italy to save it from the Saracens
Visit incorruptible body of St. Joseph Cupertino (he levitated when he celebrated
Mass!) in Ossimo
Arrive in Assisi
April 22 See the sites of Assisi
Basilica of San Francesco
Basilica of St. Chiara
San Damiano
St. Mary of the Angels
St. Francis’ Birthplace
Duomo, where St. Francis and St. Clare were baptized
The town of Assisi
April 23 Sunday Mass in Assisi
Visit incorruptible body of St. Rita in Cascia; she was blessed with the stigmata
The streets of Assisi
April 24 Visit La Vergna where St. Francis of Assisi received the stigmata
Arrive in Florence
April 25 Visit the sites of Florence
Duomo
Galleria dell’Accademia (Michelangelo’s “David”)
Uffizi Galleries
Capelle Medici
Basilica di San Lorenzo
Museo di San Marco
Santa Croce
April 26 Travel to Venice
Vist Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua
April 27 See Sites of Venice
San Marco Square
Duomo (Cathedral of St. Mark)
Baptistry
Palazzo Duomo
Bridge of Tears
Gondola Ride
Travel to Lucca
April 28 Leaning Tower of Pisa and other sites of Pisa
Visit Baldi Family in Valvottavo
April 29 Travel to Rome
Visit San Gimiagno, a walled and towered city where the film Brother Sun, Sister
Moon was filmed
Visit Siena, the home of St. Catherine of Siena
April 30 Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s
Tour St. Peter’s
Urbi et orbi, St. Peter’s Square, 12 noon
Vatican Museum
Sistine Chapel
Spanish Steps
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Icon
May 1 St. Mary Major
St. John Lateran
St. Paul Outside the Walls
Santa Croce in Gerusalem
Holy Steps
Piazza Navona
May 2 Ancient Rome
St. Peter in Chains (Michelangelo’s “Moses”)
Church of the Gesu
Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Visit Cardinal Stafford
May 3 Papal Audience, 10:30 a.m.
Catacombs
Church of the Three Fountains
May 4 Depart Rome.
Arrive Memphis
Of Things Divine: Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!, Easter-B
Not many people are familiar with the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin. In the early part of the last century he was a very powerful man who had great influence. A Russian Communist leader, he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution 1917, was editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda (which, by the way means, truth), and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today.
There is a story told about a journey Mr. Bukharin took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism. Addressing the crowd, he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity hurling insult, argument, and proof against it.
An hour later he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium but then one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern standing near the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd first to the left then to the right. Finally he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: "CHRIST IS RISEN!" En masse the crowd arose as one man rising and the response came as if it was one voice crashing like the sound of thunder: "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
Last night something similar happened right here at Holy Rosary and at Catholic churches around the world. And in a few minutes another similar event will take place right in our midst. No one is going to malign Christianity. No one will preach atheism. Not here. Not on my watch. However, that’s not to say it’s not happening, and happening more often that we realize.
There are new voices that echo the “reasonable assault” and insults Mr. Bukharin hurled at Christianity. Some do it through art that blasphemes many tenets of our faith. Remember the incident a few years back of the portrait of the Virgin Mary that was smeared in cow dung? What about the many music videos our children watch, and I can think of those produced by one artist called Madonna that display Christian images in unflattering, immodest and even sexual ways?
There are with executive power who will kowtow to the threats of Islamic extremists and prohibit the creators of the South Park cartoon series (a vile work in and of itself) from portraying Mohammed but don’t think twice about allowing them to use a distorted image of Jesus and to denigrate Christianity and its believers on a regular basis.
The world’s best-selling novel of all time, The DaVinci Code, will make its theatrical debut next month, luring yet more disciples into accepting the myth it perpetuates that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene and that the Catholic Church has systematically concealed this “historical fact” that there are descendants of Jesus alive today for some 2,000 years.
The recently discussed “Gospel of Judas” turns the whole story of Jesus’ death and resurrection on its ear, depicting a conspiratorial relationship between Jesus and the hero Judas to the very end. It is a new way of thinking so many are rushing to concur with its “truth.” Unfortunately, the “Gospel of Judas” contains no real “good news,” something that is necessary to even be considered a “gospel.”
About ten days ago there was a report that Jesus never walked on water. That’s tight. He didn’t walk on water; he walked on ice. And there’s the study released in the last week claims that Jesus didn’t even die on the cross, but that his resurrection was a hoax perpetuated by the lies of his disciples. (I guess those that did the study never themselves read the Gospels where it is reported the Jews were making the exact same claim within hours of receiving the news that Jesus was raised from the dead and seen by his disciples and others.)
Those are just some of the 21st century detractors of Christians and their faith that Christ is risen. It is unfortunate that so many have listened to them and have believed what they heard. We human beings are so fickle, changing as the wind blows, chasing the latest fashions and theories and believing every “revelation” or spirituality that media moguls decide to promote or hanging on to every word of the latest, hippest, most charismatic preacher regardless of the homiletic substance, or lack thereof. So many have believed in these false teachers, the fanciful myths and false religions that a poll printed in last Saturday’s Commercial-Appeal says that less than one-third of all Christians – less that one third! – believe in the resurrection of the body, one of the principle points of our faith and the cornerstone of our hope.
Yet, last night we will witnessed men and women, boys and girls come forward and testify to their belief that Christ is Risen (He is risen indeed!) just as the powers of the world would have them deny it. Some entered into the very death of Christ in the waters of Baptism and rose with him to new life. Others were confirmed in the faith they already profess as they entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. It happened here at Holy Rosary and around the world.
And, it is not only they that stood to profess their belief that Christ is risen (He is risen indeed!). We, too, in just a few moments will once again be called to testify to our faith that the grave could not contain Jesus but gave him up for the salvation of our souls and the forgiveness of our sins. In our profession of faith during the renewal of our Baptismal promises we once again proclaim our belief in the one event that truly defines who we are: disciples of the Lord Jesus filled with hope in the resurrection and a yearning for everlasting life.
Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) I am convinced. I am convinced because someone I trust told me the story of Jesus’ life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension. I am convinced because I was told that Jesus will return again in his glory and raise my body up from the dead. And I know their testimony to be true.
Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) I am convinced. I am convinced because the stories of the events we commemorate here tonight have stood the test of time. Lies and deception would have been abandoned long ago. Truth prevails because people are willing to die for something they believe in. People will not give up their lives to aid a deception, but they will change everything about themselves to conform to the truth they defend.
Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) I am convinced. I am convinced because I have experienced it in my own life. From the life-changing moments at various times in my life like First Communion, Confirmation, and Ordination, to an image from 26 years ago of an old beggar at the corner of State and Main Streets in Columbus, OH, who prayed for those that dropped a coin or two and blessed those who walked by with their hands in their pockets, to the crevices carved by their love of God into the faces of my grandparents, to my own battle with cancer, to this glorious day and the Easter enthusiasm of Christians everywhere which cries out to a world prone to skepticism, disbelief and ridicule:
CHRIST IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN INDEED!
There is a story told about a journey Mr. Bukharin took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism. Addressing the crowd, he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity hurling insult, argument, and proof against it.
An hour later he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium but then one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern standing near the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd first to the left then to the right. Finally he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: "CHRIST IS RISEN!" En masse the crowd arose as one man rising and the response came as if it was one voice crashing like the sound of thunder: "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
Last night something similar happened right here at Holy Rosary and at Catholic churches around the world. And in a few minutes another similar event will take place right in our midst. No one is going to malign Christianity. No one will preach atheism. Not here. Not on my watch. However, that’s not to say it’s not happening, and happening more often that we realize.
There are new voices that echo the “reasonable assault” and insults Mr. Bukharin hurled at Christianity. Some do it through art that blasphemes many tenets of our faith. Remember the incident a few years back of the portrait of the Virgin Mary that was smeared in cow dung? What about the many music videos our children watch, and I can think of those produced by one artist called Madonna that display Christian images in unflattering, immodest and even sexual ways?
There are with executive power who will kowtow to the threats of Islamic extremists and prohibit the creators of the South Park cartoon series (a vile work in and of itself) from portraying Mohammed but don’t think twice about allowing them to use a distorted image of Jesus and to denigrate Christianity and its believers on a regular basis.
The world’s best-selling novel of all time, The DaVinci Code, will make its theatrical debut next month, luring yet more disciples into accepting the myth it perpetuates that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene and that the Catholic Church has systematically concealed this “historical fact” that there are descendants of Jesus alive today for some 2,000 years.
The recently discussed “Gospel of Judas” turns the whole story of Jesus’ death and resurrection on its ear, depicting a conspiratorial relationship between Jesus and the hero Judas to the very end. It is a new way of thinking so many are rushing to concur with its “truth.” Unfortunately, the “Gospel of Judas” contains no real “good news,” something that is necessary to even be considered a “gospel.”
About ten days ago there was a report that Jesus never walked on water. That’s tight. He didn’t walk on water; he walked on ice. And there’s the study released in the last week claims that Jesus didn’t even die on the cross, but that his resurrection was a hoax perpetuated by the lies of his disciples. (I guess those that did the study never themselves read the Gospels where it is reported the Jews were making the exact same claim within hours of receiving the news that Jesus was raised from the dead and seen by his disciples and others.)
Those are just some of the 21st century detractors of Christians and their faith that Christ is risen. It is unfortunate that so many have listened to them and have believed what they heard. We human beings are so fickle, changing as the wind blows, chasing the latest fashions and theories and believing every “revelation” or spirituality that media moguls decide to promote or hanging on to every word of the latest, hippest, most charismatic preacher regardless of the homiletic substance, or lack thereof. So many have believed in these false teachers, the fanciful myths and false religions that a poll printed in last Saturday’s Commercial-Appeal says that less than one-third of all Christians – less that one third! – believe in the resurrection of the body, one of the principle points of our faith and the cornerstone of our hope.
Yet, last night we will witnessed men and women, boys and girls come forward and testify to their belief that Christ is Risen (He is risen indeed!) just as the powers of the world would have them deny it. Some entered into the very death of Christ in the waters of Baptism and rose with him to new life. Others were confirmed in the faith they already profess as they entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. It happened here at Holy Rosary and around the world.
And, it is not only they that stood to profess their belief that Christ is risen (He is risen indeed!). We, too, in just a few moments will once again be called to testify to our faith that the grave could not contain Jesus but gave him up for the salvation of our souls and the forgiveness of our sins. In our profession of faith during the renewal of our Baptismal promises we once again proclaim our belief in the one event that truly defines who we are: disciples of the Lord Jesus filled with hope in the resurrection and a yearning for everlasting life.
Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) I am convinced. I am convinced because someone I trust told me the story of Jesus’ life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension. I am convinced because I was told that Jesus will return again in his glory and raise my body up from the dead. And I know their testimony to be true.
Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) I am convinced. I am convinced because the stories of the events we commemorate here tonight have stood the test of time. Lies and deception would have been abandoned long ago. Truth prevails because people are willing to die for something they believe in. People will not give up their lives to aid a deception, but they will change everything about themselves to conform to the truth they defend.
Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) I am convinced. I am convinced because I have experienced it in my own life. From the life-changing moments at various times in my life like First Communion, Confirmation, and Ordination, to an image from 26 years ago of an old beggar at the corner of State and Main Streets in Columbus, OH, who prayed for those that dropped a coin or two and blessed those who walked by with their hands in their pockets, to the crevices carved by their love of God into the faces of my grandparents, to my own battle with cancer, to this glorious day and the Easter enthusiasm of Christians everywhere which cries out to a world prone to skepticism, disbelief and ridicule:
CHRIST IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN INDEED!
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Of Things Divine: Choosing Between Shadows and the Sonshine, Lent 4-B
It’s a question I hear asked often, especially by the older generations like mine: What’s wrong with the world today? Nobody seems to have a definitive answer because the opinions are so varied. It’s a riddle that mankind has tried to answer for generation after generation. I’m certain that Plato posed the question in some philosophical way. The prophets railed against the problems of their generations. Jesus challenged his generation. The saints have stood in opposition to the evils of every generation from which they sprung.
In our time some will want to accuse the left of being too liberal while other accuse the right for being too conservation. Liberals are too soft of crime, some say. Others say that conservatives are hate-mongers. But it is not whether one is on the right or the left of an issue that really matters. What matters is that too many people have forgotten that in addition to there being two sides to an issue there is also a top and a bottom to an issue. There is also light and darkness.
Too often we forget to bring the Word of God to a debate over problems in society. We are far too sophisticated to turn to religion. But it is the Word of God that hasn’t changed … not one bit. The question for our society is not right or left, it is right or wrong. It is darkness or light. The Word of God still speaks of the difference between sin and righteousness, the difference between morality and corruption, the difference between truth and falsehood, the difference between good and evil, the difference between purity and putridity, the difference between nobility and deviltry, the difference between heaven and hell, between redemption and destruction, between God and Beelzebub, between day and night, between light and darkness.
The inescapable judgment of light confronts all of us. When light comes, it shows everything. You’ll notice that even when we are physically soiled or disheveled, we like to stick to the shadows as much as possible. Light can be powerful – as MLGW would gladly assure us – but it is also discriminating. Light is always a judge. What got by in the dark doesn’t get by in the light.
I am often bothered when I choose to eat in a restaurant that is so dimly lighted that I have to use the candle on the table to read the menu. What are they trying to hide? The presentation of the food? The quality of the meal? Insects that surf the walls? The kind of activity that might occur in the back rows of the second balcony of a movie theater?
When Jesus opened the eyes of the man born blind it was not just a show to vex the Pharisees. It was not a miracle that was only intended to increase membership in his body of disciples. When Jesus opened that man’s eyes the man no longer lived in darkness but in light. He was empowered to be discriminating … to see the Truth … and to walk in its ways.
This is what happens to every Christian when they begin to welcome the power of Christ into their lives. Things change. The way they live changes. It is called metanoia, or conversion. They become more discriminating. And, they are eager to talk about the reason for their change. For some it happens early in life, like for Maria Goretti, for example. For others it is much later in life. For our catechumens who go through their second scrutiny today, we hope and pray it is happening right now even as they prepare for baptism.
Things that we once found acceptable are no longer embraced because we walk in the light of Truth and holiness. Historically, things like cannibalism, slavery, apartheid have all fallen out of practice as the Light of the World shone on them and revealed the evils that were present in their practice. Those that cling to racism and prejudice continue to reject the light of Christ and remain blinded to the law that supersedes even the Ten Commandments: the Law of Love by which no one has the right to deny any person in the world, whether they be born or pre-born, the love and respect that is theirs as a creation of God. Christ, the light of which we sing at the great Easter Vigil, came to the outcasts, the despised, the downtrodden, and the unwanted people of the world.
Sometimes we say we have seen the light but continue to live in the darkness. Sometimes we live like we love the darkness!
Early on in my years as a priest some parents brought their daughter to me with the plea to “talk some sense into her” because she had become unruly, disobedient and very negative toward the Church. They said she “thought I was cool,” so they wanted me to work some kind of magic. I asked the 17-year-old young woman what she thought the problem was between her and her parents. After some coaxing she said, “They just don’t understand what in means to be a 17-year-old in 1985.” She added, “This is the time of my life when I am supposed to be having fun, and they just don’t get it, Father.” I listened as she outlined a variety of circumstances in which her parents “embarrassed” her and made her angry. When I asked is she ever thought about the possibility that maybe she had embarrassed her parents or hurt them she responded, ‘Well, Father, they should know better. I know some of the things I do are wrong but I have to life today or I will miss out on my opportunity. There’s plenty of time left to act like my parents!” Ah Ha! I paused for a moment and asked her, ‘So when you have a 17-year-old daughter you are going to let her do whatever she wants and not be worried that she is making wrong choices or that she might get hurt?” She didn’t say a word. She just dropped her eyes and looked at the floor. She knew she wanted to be in the light even though she was acting like she preferred the shadows of darkness.
Jesus said, “I came not to judge the world but to redeem the world.” But I another place He says: “For judgment I came into the world, and if I judge, my judgment is true.” Is that a contradiction? It sounds almost like a head-on collision. But there is no contradiction. The explanation is very simple. Christ is the light, a light no darkness can extinguish. He did not come to judge the world, but, in coming, he cannot help but judge the world, because He is light and light exposes what is hidden in the dark. And His light reveals the sins that the dark night hides so cleverly.
The light leaves no secrets. It exposes all deceptions, all sinful contradictions, all of the bitter meanness within us. The light is there and it always, somehow gets through. Hide in the darkness all you want to. Cling to your precious little darknesses! Hang on to them! But the penetrating judgment of the light of Christ will reach even you.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning said it so clearly: “Just when we are safest, there’s a sunset touch, a flower bell, someone’s death, and, lo, He stands before us, blocking our path so that we cannot go on until we have dealt with Him.”
My brothers and sisters, we are called to stand squarely in the light and be seen for who are rather than stay in the shadowy darkness in secret.
Some people love the darkness more than light.
I pray you are not among them.
In our time some will want to accuse the left of being too liberal while other accuse the right for being too conservation. Liberals are too soft of crime, some say. Others say that conservatives are hate-mongers. But it is not whether one is on the right or the left of an issue that really matters. What matters is that too many people have forgotten that in addition to there being two sides to an issue there is also a top and a bottom to an issue. There is also light and darkness.
Too often we forget to bring the Word of God to a debate over problems in society. We are far too sophisticated to turn to religion. But it is the Word of God that hasn’t changed … not one bit. The question for our society is not right or left, it is right or wrong. It is darkness or light. The Word of God still speaks of the difference between sin and righteousness, the difference between morality and corruption, the difference between truth and falsehood, the difference between good and evil, the difference between purity and putridity, the difference between nobility and deviltry, the difference between heaven and hell, between redemption and destruction, between God and Beelzebub, between day and night, between light and darkness.
The inescapable judgment of light confronts all of us. When light comes, it shows everything. You’ll notice that even when we are physically soiled or disheveled, we like to stick to the shadows as much as possible. Light can be powerful – as MLGW would gladly assure us – but it is also discriminating. Light is always a judge. What got by in the dark doesn’t get by in the light.
I am often bothered when I choose to eat in a restaurant that is so dimly lighted that I have to use the candle on the table to read the menu. What are they trying to hide? The presentation of the food? The quality of the meal? Insects that surf the walls? The kind of activity that might occur in the back rows of the second balcony of a movie theater?
When Jesus opened the eyes of the man born blind it was not just a show to vex the Pharisees. It was not a miracle that was only intended to increase membership in his body of disciples. When Jesus opened that man’s eyes the man no longer lived in darkness but in light. He was empowered to be discriminating … to see the Truth … and to walk in its ways.
This is what happens to every Christian when they begin to welcome the power of Christ into their lives. Things change. The way they live changes. It is called metanoia, or conversion. They become more discriminating. And, they are eager to talk about the reason for their change. For some it happens early in life, like for Maria Goretti, for example. For others it is much later in life. For our catechumens who go through their second scrutiny today, we hope and pray it is happening right now even as they prepare for baptism.
Things that we once found acceptable are no longer embraced because we walk in the light of Truth and holiness. Historically, things like cannibalism, slavery, apartheid have all fallen out of practice as the Light of the World shone on them and revealed the evils that were present in their practice. Those that cling to racism and prejudice continue to reject the light of Christ and remain blinded to the law that supersedes even the Ten Commandments: the Law of Love by which no one has the right to deny any person in the world, whether they be born or pre-born, the love and respect that is theirs as a creation of God. Christ, the light of which we sing at the great Easter Vigil, came to the outcasts, the despised, the downtrodden, and the unwanted people of the world.
Sometimes we say we have seen the light but continue to live in the darkness. Sometimes we live like we love the darkness!
Early on in my years as a priest some parents brought their daughter to me with the plea to “talk some sense into her” because she had become unruly, disobedient and very negative toward the Church. They said she “thought I was cool,” so they wanted me to work some kind of magic. I asked the 17-year-old young woman what she thought the problem was between her and her parents. After some coaxing she said, “They just don’t understand what in means to be a 17-year-old in 1985.” She added, “This is the time of my life when I am supposed to be having fun, and they just don’t get it, Father.” I listened as she outlined a variety of circumstances in which her parents “embarrassed” her and made her angry. When I asked is she ever thought about the possibility that maybe she had embarrassed her parents or hurt them she responded, ‘Well, Father, they should know better. I know some of the things I do are wrong but I have to life today or I will miss out on my opportunity. There’s plenty of time left to act like my parents!” Ah Ha! I paused for a moment and asked her, ‘So when you have a 17-year-old daughter you are going to let her do whatever she wants and not be worried that she is making wrong choices or that she might get hurt?” She didn’t say a word. She just dropped her eyes and looked at the floor. She knew she wanted to be in the light even though she was acting like she preferred the shadows of darkness.
Jesus said, “I came not to judge the world but to redeem the world.” But I another place He says: “For judgment I came into the world, and if I judge, my judgment is true.” Is that a contradiction? It sounds almost like a head-on collision. But there is no contradiction. The explanation is very simple. Christ is the light, a light no darkness can extinguish. He did not come to judge the world, but, in coming, he cannot help but judge the world, because He is light and light exposes what is hidden in the dark. And His light reveals the sins that the dark night hides so cleverly.
The light leaves no secrets. It exposes all deceptions, all sinful contradictions, all of the bitter meanness within us. The light is there and it always, somehow gets through. Hide in the darkness all you want to. Cling to your precious little darknesses! Hang on to them! But the penetrating judgment of the light of Christ will reach even you.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning said it so clearly: “Just when we are safest, there’s a sunset touch, a flower bell, someone’s death, and, lo, He stands before us, blocking our path so that we cannot go on until we have dealt with Him.”
My brothers and sisters, we are called to stand squarely in the light and be seen for who are rather than stay in the shadowy darkness in secret.
Some people love the darkness more than light.
I pray you are not among them.
Of Things Divine: Suffering Our Way to Obedience, Lent 5-B
There are three verses that are integral to understanding the lessons of this weekend’s liturgy.
I will place my law within them and write it on their hearts
Son though he was, he learned obedience through suffering
Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit
Too many people, even today, tend towards the belief that Jesus is like a bar of Ivory soap: 99.4% pure. That is, they believe that Jesus is more than 99% divine or God and less that 1% human. Listen to the songs heard at praise and worship services or on contemporary Christian CD’s like those in the W.O.W. series. The song “I Can only Imagine” (one of my favorites) comes immediately to my mind.
I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk by your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face is before me.
I can only imagine.
Surrounded by your glory,
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you, Jesus,
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah?
Will I be able to speak at all.
I can only imagine.
I can only imagine.
I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself standing In the Son.
I can only imagine
When all I do
is forever
Forever worship you.
I can only imagine.
I can only imagine.
It’s as if Jesus never really had to suffer because his humanity is either overpowered by his divinity or merely forgotten. This understanding of Jesus draws dangerously close to a heresy known as Docetism, which denies the humanity of Jesus and the need for God to even become man for the forgiveness of sins.
But, Jesus did become of us. God really did take on flesh and breathe air and feel pain. And, he had to learn something along the way. He had to learn obedience, and he had to learn it through his suffering. Before he became flesh, the Word of God certainly knew how to define obedience, but his experience in the flesh taught him what it meant to have the law of God written in his heart. There were temptations to be held at bay. There was conflict on the Mount of Olives before there was Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will
When God spoke through Jeremiah and said that he would place his law within them and write it upon their hearts, he was speaking of a stiff-necked people who had embraced his laws but they did as they pleased according to their rationalizations. They got disoriented and thought that obedience was following a litany of rules. They forgot that true obedience is nothing more than to desire the same things God desires, and that the cornerstone of such desire is love.
It takes suffering to understand that.
An old Yiddish folk story tells of a well-to-do gentleman of leisure much interested in the Hebrew Scriptures. He visited a wise rabbi to ask a question. He said: “I think I grasp the sense and meaning of these writings except for one thing. I cannot understand how we can be expected to give God thanks for our troubles.” The rabbi knew instantly that he could not explain this with mere words. He said to the gentleman: “If you want to understand this, you will have to visit Isaac the water-carrier.” The gentleman was mystified by this, but knowing the rabbi to be wise, crossed to a poor section of the settlement and came upon Isaac the water-carrier, an old man who had been engaged in mean, lowly, backbreaking labor for some fifty years.The gentleman explained the reason for his visit. Isaac paused from his labors. Finally, after several minutes of silence, looking baffled, he spoke: “I know that the rabbi is the wisest of men. But I cannot understand why he would send you to me with that question. I can’t answer it because I’ve had nothing but wonderful things happen to me. I thank God every morning and night for all his many blessings on me and my family.”That story contains a great truth. That old man, as hard as his life was, understood what so many of us do not: God is there in our suffering.
The most essential part of obedience is to take what comes our way and to find God’s blessing in that so that we are free to love God in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. I have learned this lesson well in these last two years. I could well have cried, “Why me?” but came to the understanding that the proper question was “Why not me?” If the real Jesus had to suffer and do it in submission to the Father’s will, could I not find God in my trials, discomforts and inconveniences?
Learning to find God where we are and in the circumstances we find ourselves is a blessing in itself. It frees us to enjoy the people that come in and out of our lives fro who they are and the blessings of God that they bring to us. This is dying to our “selves.” It is losing our life while finding real life.
We see the fruit of such dying to self all around us:
Children with parents who know how to nurture and rear them in the ways of love without intimidation or fear of authority;
Spouses who understand that their purpose is to complete the other member of a marriage and not compete with that member for affection and household chores;
Championships that are built on teammates who know that they are just single spokes in the same wheel.
The Three Musketeers had a slogan that echoed this very sense of dying to self-interest and living for the greater good: One for all and all for one. Of course, their “one” was the King of France. Our “one” is God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus foreshadowed his death with the words he speaks in today’s Gospel passage and the images of his obedient suffering readily come to mind when we hear him speak of dying. But we, too, are called to die if we are to have a lasting effect on the advancement of the world toward the kingdom of God. Only when we suffer through the process of turning our own wants and desires away from ourselves and to the glory of God will we see new life sprouting about us. Only when our wants and desires are the same as God’s can we truly say that God’s law is within us and written on our hearts. Only then can we be called obedient servants of God.
I will place my law within them and write it on their hearts
Son though he was, he learned obedience through suffering
Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit
Too many people, even today, tend towards the belief that Jesus is like a bar of Ivory soap: 99.4% pure. That is, they believe that Jesus is more than 99% divine or God and less that 1% human. Listen to the songs heard at praise and worship services or on contemporary Christian CD’s like those in the W.O.W. series. The song “I Can only Imagine” (one of my favorites) comes immediately to my mind.
I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk by your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face is before me.
I can only imagine.
Surrounded by your glory,
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you, Jesus,
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah?
Will I be able to speak at all.
I can only imagine.
I can only imagine.
I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself standing In the Son.
I can only imagine
When all I do
is forever
Forever worship you.
I can only imagine.
I can only imagine.
It’s as if Jesus never really had to suffer because his humanity is either overpowered by his divinity or merely forgotten. This understanding of Jesus draws dangerously close to a heresy known as Docetism, which denies the humanity of Jesus and the need for God to even become man for the forgiveness of sins.
But, Jesus did become of us. God really did take on flesh and breathe air and feel pain. And, he had to learn something along the way. He had to learn obedience, and he had to learn it through his suffering. Before he became flesh, the Word of God certainly knew how to define obedience, but his experience in the flesh taught him what it meant to have the law of God written in his heart. There were temptations to be held at bay. There was conflict on the Mount of Olives before there was Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will
When God spoke through Jeremiah and said that he would place his law within them and write it upon their hearts, he was speaking of a stiff-necked people who had embraced his laws but they did as they pleased according to their rationalizations. They got disoriented and thought that obedience was following a litany of rules. They forgot that true obedience is nothing more than to desire the same things God desires, and that the cornerstone of such desire is love.
It takes suffering to understand that.
An old Yiddish folk story tells of a well-to-do gentleman of leisure much interested in the Hebrew Scriptures. He visited a wise rabbi to ask a question. He said: “I think I grasp the sense and meaning of these writings except for one thing. I cannot understand how we can be expected to give God thanks for our troubles.” The rabbi knew instantly that he could not explain this with mere words. He said to the gentleman: “If you want to understand this, you will have to visit Isaac the water-carrier.” The gentleman was mystified by this, but knowing the rabbi to be wise, crossed to a poor section of the settlement and came upon Isaac the water-carrier, an old man who had been engaged in mean, lowly, backbreaking labor for some fifty years.The gentleman explained the reason for his visit. Isaac paused from his labors. Finally, after several minutes of silence, looking baffled, he spoke: “I know that the rabbi is the wisest of men. But I cannot understand why he would send you to me with that question. I can’t answer it because I’ve had nothing but wonderful things happen to me. I thank God every morning and night for all his many blessings on me and my family.”That story contains a great truth. That old man, as hard as his life was, understood what so many of us do not: God is there in our suffering.
The most essential part of obedience is to take what comes our way and to find God’s blessing in that so that we are free to love God in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. I have learned this lesson well in these last two years. I could well have cried, “Why me?” but came to the understanding that the proper question was “Why not me?” If the real Jesus had to suffer and do it in submission to the Father’s will, could I not find God in my trials, discomforts and inconveniences?
Learning to find God where we are and in the circumstances we find ourselves is a blessing in itself. It frees us to enjoy the people that come in and out of our lives fro who they are and the blessings of God that they bring to us. This is dying to our “selves.” It is losing our life while finding real life.
We see the fruit of such dying to self all around us:
Children with parents who know how to nurture and rear them in the ways of love without intimidation or fear of authority;
Spouses who understand that their purpose is to complete the other member of a marriage and not compete with that member for affection and household chores;
Championships that are built on teammates who know that they are just single spokes in the same wheel.
The Three Musketeers had a slogan that echoed this very sense of dying to self-interest and living for the greater good: One for all and all for one. Of course, their “one” was the King of France. Our “one” is God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus foreshadowed his death with the words he speaks in today’s Gospel passage and the images of his obedient suffering readily come to mind when we hear him speak of dying. But we, too, are called to die if we are to have a lasting effect on the advancement of the world toward the kingdom of God. Only when we suffer through the process of turning our own wants and desires away from ourselves and to the glory of God will we see new life sprouting about us. Only when our wants and desires are the same as God’s can we truly say that God’s law is within us and written on our hearts. Only then can we be called obedient servants of God.
