thursday, June 8, 2023

 Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time 

(Tobit 6:10-11.7:1bcde.9-17.8:4-9ª); Mark 12:28-34)

In case anyone is wondering Tobias does survive his wedding night with Sarah.  Presumably they enjoyed a long, happy marriage.  Although the Book of Tobit cannot stand up in importance to Genesis or the prophet Isaiah, it does confirm significant truths.

First, the story of Tobias and Sarah underscores the goodness of sexual love in the context of marriage.  Where spouses have a permanent, exclusive commitment to one another, their physical union brings them spiritually closer.  If a child results, she or he is more likely to be raised in a supportive environment.  Second, the story also demonstrates the capacity of prayer to secure divine support.  God knows human needs without the person praying telling Him.  Nevertheless, prayer opens the human soul to discern God’s loving action.

Many marriages nowadays are almost as frightening as the one between Tobias and Sarah. There is less social support to assure stability.  Yet marriage is still invaluable for both the couple and society.  The couple makes a commitment that will help each mature.  Society is strengthened as the couple set down roots that bring about growth in number and virtue.

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

 Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

 (Tobit 3:1-11a.16-17a; Mark 12:18-27)

Today’s first reading gives glimpses of two people who feel despised.  The pious, old Tobit has insulted his wife who turns around and calls him a fraud.  The young beauty Sarah senses that people ridicule her because multiple husbands have dropped dead on their marriage bed.  Both petition God to let them die.

Many today contemplate suicide out of similar feelings of depression.  Those who feel ashamed about their sexual inclinations often fall into this category.  They need to be assured that they are good and loved. 

In the Scripture story God responds to both petitioners’ pleas -- not with an angel of death but one of life.  He sends Rafael to match Tobit’s son Tobias with Sarah and, then, to guard their marriage bed.  In the process Rafael will find a solution to Tobit’s problem.  We should try to act in such helpful ways when we meet people in need.  Kind words will lift their hearts.  A touch on the hand or arm may reassure their self-worth.  We can see ourselves also as God’s agents assisting in His response to the distressed.

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

(Tobit 2:9-14; Mark 12:13-17)

Today’s gospel demonstrates Jesus’ astuteness and, more importantly, his wisdom.  He sees through his opponents’ pretenses to their desire to trap him.  They ask whether a Jew should pay the Roman tax.  If Jesus says, “Pay the tax,” he would lose the people’s favor.  If he says, “Don’t pay it,” he may have soldiers tracking him down.  Of course, his solution avoids both unfavorable consequences.

Jesus also tells his adversaries to give God His due.  This debt cannot be paid in a lump sum but requires due attention every day.  Humans are to praise and thank God for His blessings.  They are also to appeal to Him for their needs.  in short, they are to develop a close relationship with the Lord.

Often we worry when we should trust.  We should see every challenge that we face as an opportunity to seek God’s favor.  Expressing our dependency, we draw closer to God, who is hopefully our destiny as well as our Creator.

Monday, June 5, 2023

 Memorial of Saint Boniface, bishop and martyr

(Tobit 1:3.2.1a-8; Mark 12:1-12)

Tobit, like St. Joseph, obeys the law, come what may.  In today’s reading he not only buries the dead, but also waits for the holy day to end before doing it.  In doing so, he defies orders of temporal rulers and inhibitions of kinsmen.  Jews as well as Christians see such actions as meritorious.  Today’s patron, St. Boniface, provides another example of such righteousness.

Boniface, English by birth, zealously preached the gospel among German pagans.  Once he defied pagan sensibility by cutting down an oak tree thought to be divine.  The act led to a mass conversion.  Named archbishop, Boniface established multiple monasteries and dioceses.  He was eventually martyred.  He is recognized as the patron saint of Germany.

We live in a time of social upheaval.  Sexual activity outside of marriage is not considered wrong; it is even expected.  We need people to defy the new social convention.  Parents and teachers ought to tell of the beauty of intimate relations when reserved for marriage.

Sunday, June 4, 2023

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

(Exodus 34:4-6.8-9; II Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18)

Most preachers dread the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. They don't know how to explain a mystery so profound that many say it doesn't make sense. However, the doctrine of the Trinity is the basis of the Christian faith. Somehow we have to say something that makes reasonable our belief that God is both one and three. In the process we hope that the explanation increases our faith.

Let's start with the second reading. Perhaps this passage was chosen for today's mass because it refers to the Trinity. As the conclusion of his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul blesses his readers in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But another part of the passage is also striking.

Paul says, "Greet one another with a holy kiss." “Kiss” here is a sign of peace between people, but it is even more an expression of love. For this reason people missed this symbolic act during the Covid restrictions. In fact, in many places today people still do not share this gesture of fraternity before Communion continues to be missed. As distance learning is not a substitute for the classroom, and as video calls are not a substitute for the presence of loved ones at Christmas, you cannot equate the waving of a hand with a chaste kiss.

The kiss indicates a relationship of friendship between people. We don't kiss foreigners but dear acquaintances. It also expresses both the joy of seeing the other and the willingness to forgive any offense that has been committed. We remember how the father kissed his son profusely when the prodigal returned home. With a kiss, one breathes over the other, indicating the desire to share one’s life with him or her. Of course, the kiss at mass can be abused or misunderstood. However, since the first centuries of Christianity, it has been used to express love and unity.

“God is love” – says the First Letter of John. It could not be love if God were alone. True love always has an object other than the self. Self-love is really a parody because it divides the person in two. It is really solo pride or, better, selfishness. When Jesus instructs us to love others as ourselves, he only means to attend to the needs of others as we attend to our own.

God's love has existed for all eternity. God the Father and God the Son have always loved one another with the Holy Spirit serving as a type of kiss between them. Because of the enormity of this love, it was desired that it be shared with others. Thus God created the universe to be recipients of his love. He reserved his highest affection for human beings, whom he created in his image. They, that is we, not only receive his love but also must imitate it.

The gospel tells us the extent of God's love for us. He says that it is so much that he gave his only Son so that we might share in his divine life. God gets nothing for himself in his enormous display of love. But like any Father, he wants all his children to share what he has. If we want to please him, let us do the same. That is, let us love not only our family and friends, but everyone.

There is a Hebrew word for the love of God that all Bible students learn. It appears in the list of adjectives presented in the first reading. Hesed is faithful, generous, and undeserved love. On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity we can say that the Father is hesed, that the Son is hesed, and that the Holy Spirit is also hesed.

Monday, December 14, 2020

 Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

(Numbers 24:2-7.15-17a; Matthew 21:23-27)

Religious persecution sometimes proceeds not from tyrants or atheists but from co-religionists.  John the Cross suffered greatly at the hands of Carmelite brethren.  When he began his reform movement, called the “Discalced Carmelites,” the regular Carmelites harassed him.  When his reform proved not radical enough, his discalced brothers had him silenced.  Probably neither group recognized John’s genius much less his holiness.  We see something similar at play in today’s gospel.

Jesus has drawn much attention since coming to Jerusalem.  The chief priests and elders take notice.  They come to question his authority.  Jesus, however, outwits them by his question regarding John the Baptist.  They will not forget their comeuppance.  Indeed, they will see that he is crucified out of spite.

At different points in history social integration seemed to require all members of a community to confess the same faith.  In contemporary times the Church has wisely taken another tact.  Vatican II made the just claim that a person’s conscience must be respected.  Our worship of Jesus as Prince of Peace compels us to appreciate other faith traditions.  We should proclaim Christ as understood in our tradition.  We should also endeavor to understand why others believe as they do.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Memorial of Saint Ignatius Loyola, priest (Jeremiah 14:22-27; Matthew 13:36-43) The Catholic Church in the sixteenth century may be compared to Jerusalem as Jeremiah sees it in the first reading today. The revolts by Luther in Germany, Calvin and Zwingli in Switzerland, and Henry VIII in England left the Church reeling. Ecclesiastical structures were abolished in places with Church possessions confiscated. Religious monasteries, convents and other institutions were devastated. The system may have completely broken down without the emergence of the Society of Jesus under the wise leadership of St. Ignatius Loyola whom the Church celebrates today. Ignatius formed a body of men to respond to the challenges of the times. Their minds were acutely formed to meet Protestant intellectual critiques. Their wills were also fortified to suffer deprivation if necessary for the sake of the Church. Certainly the Jesuits more than any other religious congregation are responsible for the Church’s renewal and indeed prominence in the last five hundred years. We recognize a Jesuit by the initials “S.J.” which stand for the “Society of Jesus.” But Jesuits themselves often refer to their fraternity as the “Company of Jesus.” This name rings of the military discipline with which St. Ignatius instilled them. But it more poignantly connotes the intimacy that each member feels with the Lord Jesus who, like many of them, gave up the glory of heaven to raise humanity from sin and death.