LOVE IS A PERSON

November 3rd, 2019: 4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. 1 Cor. 12:31-13:13

AIM:  To present Jesus as the personification of God=s unconditional love for us, who appeals to us for a response.

 

Only one American President has been inaugurated four times: Franklin Roosevelt. Each time he took the oath of office on a family Bible opened to the passage we heard in our second reading: Paul=s great description of love. Franklin Roosevelt was not a particularly religious person. Yet Paul=s words clearly made a deep impression on him. It is worth taking time to reflect on them today.

What is love anyway? To that question there are many answers. The shortest answer, and the best, is this. Love is a person. His name is Jesus Christ. If we want to know what love means, therefore, we must look at Jesus Christ. He tells us love=s meaning in the most persuasive language of all: the language of his own example. 

How does any of us learn how to love? By being loved. The first people to love us were probably our parents. A film on natural childbirth which I saw years ago illustrated this beautifully. It showed a newborn baby being placed for the first time in the arms of the mother. AO, you beautiful baby,@ the mother cries spontaneously. AI love you already!@

Where does a mother get the ability to welcome with such joy and tenderness the infant who has caused her months of inconvenience and perhaps hours of pain?  She gets it, ultimately, from her mother. Where did she get it? Where does this whole cycle of love start? It starts with the One who is love. Love is a person. His name is Jesus Christ. 

Probably most of us would say that we are loving people. Are we, really?  Aren=t there a lot of other things we=re equally good at, or better? What about hating, envying, tearing people down by repeating gossip about them, and trying to build ourselves up by grabbing the spotlight? Most of us are probably pretty good too about getting what we want, reaching for things that give us thrills and satisfaction. None of that has anything to do with love.

True love is a person. His name is Jesus Christ. Paul=s words in our second reading are not merely the description of a virtue. They are the portrait of a person B the person who is love. His name is Jesus Christ. If you doubt that, I suggest you read Paul=s words, substituting the name of Jesus wherever Paul writes Alove.@

It would go like this:

             AJesus is patient, Jesus is kind. He is not jealous, he is not pompous, he is not inflated, he is not rude, he does not seek his own interests, he is not quick-tempered, he does not brood over injury. Jesus does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Jesus never fails.@

It fits, doesn=t it? Would the name of any of us fit as well? Hardly. For each of us there are limits to our ability to bear all things, believe all things. And there are certainly limits to our ability to hope and to endure. Though we may be patient at times, often we are not. Most of us have had problems with jealousy.There may have been times when we were pompous and inflated, when we=ve been rude, sought our own interests, been quick-tempered, and brooded over injuries, real or imagined. And as for rejoicing over wrongdoing, which of us at some time has not taken pleasure in repeating gossip about someone else=s bad conduct? 

The bottom line is this: our resemblance to Jesus Christ B to the One who is love B is remote at best. If we are at all like Jesus Christ, if we have any ability to love, it is a gift, not something we have obtained by our own efforts. The love we received first from our parents and others, and which we pass on to others in our turn, is merely the overflow of the love that God has poured into our hearts through his Son Jesus, who sends us his Holy Spirit. Paul tells us this too when he writes in his letter to the Romans: AGod has flooded our inmost heart through the Holy Spirit he has given us@ (Rom. 5:5). 

How does Christ love us? Is it a matter of warm feelings in the heart? Is it conceivable that Jesus had loving feelings about the people who crucified him?  Read again Paul=s description of love in our second reading. You will find nothing there about feelings. It is all about an attitude, and the deeds which that attitude inspires. This is how Paul describes Christ=s attitude and deeds in the passage from Romans just quoted. AFor at the very time when we were still powerless, then Christ died for the wicked. Even for a just man one of us would hardly die, though perhaps for a good man one might actually brave death; but Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, and that is God=s own proof of his love towards us@ (Rom. 5:6-8).

The mother says to her newborn baby: AO, you beautiful baby. I love you already!@ Jesus Christ, who died for us, says: AThere is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends@ (John 15:13).

Love is a person, a person who has laid down his life for us. His name is Jesus Christ. He doesn=t love some ideal version of us: the people we ought to be, the people we=d like to be, whom we hope one day to become. No. Jesus Christ loves us right now: with all our loose ends, all our brokenness, all our weakness, all our sin, all our failure to love as he loves. That is the gospel. That is the good news.

Jesus, who is love, is also the Good Physician. He wants to love us into wholeness. He wants to fill us so full with the healing power of his love that we will be changed. He wants us to be so full of his love that it will overflow onto others. 

How much does Jesus Christ love us? More than we can ever imagine. Yet he will never force himself B or his love B on any of us. He waits for us freely to accept him and his love into our lives. For some people, that sounds threatening. They are afraid to open the door to Jesus. Let me close with some words of our previous Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, which address this fear. He spoke them at the Mass beginning his ministry as bishop of Rome on April 24, 2005.

AIf we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ B and you will find true life.@

A FEAST WITH THREE NAMES

February 2nd, 2019: Luke 2:22-40.

AIM: To help the hearers better understand the meaning of this feast.

 

          Today’s feast has three names: the Purification of Mary, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, and Candlemas. To understand the first two we must start with Jewish law about childbirth in Jesus’ day. This said that following the birth of a boy the mother was excluded from public worship for seven days. She was considered ritually impure. On the eighth day the boy was circumcised. This provision of the law is still observed by Jews today. Thereafter the mother remained at home for a further thirty-three days for her blood to be purified. That is why the first title for today’s feast is the Purification of Mary.

If this seems strange to us in 21^st century America, it is not strange at all in other parts of the world. Even today Chinese mothers stay at home for a month after giving birth. In Jesus’ day the Jewish mother observed forty days of rest and seclusion giving birth, and then  presented a purification sacrifice: a lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or turtle dove for a sin offering. Poor mothers needed to offer only two turtle doves or two young pigeons. As we heard in the gospel, that is what Mary and Joseph offered. They were poor.

Since Mary enjoyed the unique privilege of being conceived without sin, she needed no purification. The child she bore would purify the world through his sacrificial death and resurrection. But as a devout Jew, Mary observed the law of her people nonetheless. Jewish law also said that a firstborn son belonged to the Lord. This was because, in the final plague inflicted by God on the Egyptians, he had killed all their firstborn children and animals. But he spared the firstborn among his own people, the Jews. Firstborn Jewish children belonged, therefore, to the Lord. The parents could “redeem” them (take them back) by paying five shekels to any Jewish priest they chose.

Instead of paying this redemption, Mary and Joseph take their infant son to the Jerusalem Temple, to present him to the Lord. This explains the second title for today’s feast: the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. From that day Jesus belonged completely to God. By age twelve he knew this. For when his parents found him in the Temple after a frantic three-day search, he asked them: “Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”        

When Mary and Joseph entered the Temple with their infant son, 40 days after his birth, they found that the Lord had two surprises for them. How often he surprises us. The first surprise was the appearance of the old man Simeon. He was “righteous and devout,” the gospel writer, Luke, tells us, “awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen “the Christ,” which means the Lord’s anointed servant, promised for so long by Israel’s prophets. When Simeon saw the child, he knew in his heart at that this was the one: the Lord’s anointed servant, the Messiah.

Taking the child in his arms, Simeon speaks the short hymn of praise to God that we heard in the gospel. It is called the Nunc dimittis, from its first two Latin words. From early times it has been chanted during the night prayer of the Church in both East and West. Praising God for fulfilling his promise, Simeon says he is now ready to go home to the Lord. The hymn also praises the child as Israel’s glory, and for the Gentiles a light – which helps explain why we bless candles on this feast and why it has a third name: Candlemas.

Simeon goes on to say that this child will be “a sign of contradiction.” Some will accept him, others will not. This contradiction continues today in those who regard the whole notion of God as a limitation of human freedom, and his law a fence to hem us in. In reality, God’s laws, first given to the leader of God’s people, Moses, in the Ten Commandments, are sign posts pointing the way to human happiness and flourishing.

Finally, Simeon warns Mary that the rejection of her Son by many will be a sword piercing her own heart. This prophecy would be fulfilled, according to the traditional dating, thirty-three years later on Calvary, where Mary stood beside her crucified Son, as he spoke his final words: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

The second surprise for Mary and Joseph is the appearance of the 84-year-old widow, Anna. Completely at home in the Temple, she has spent decades in fasting, adoration, and prayer – like contemplative nuns today. She now gives thanks for the child, Luke says, and speaks of him “to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Having fulfilled all the provisions of God’s law, Mary and Joseph return with their child to their home in Nazareth, where (Luke tells us) “the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” It was there, in hiddenness and silence, in faithfulness to daily work and prayer, that Jesus became the man who could say to rough workingmen, “Come, follow me,” and have them obey him on the spot; and to utter words that he is still saying to us today: “I have come that [you] might have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

[The homily draws upon the presentation by Pope Benedict XVI in Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives pp.80-88.]

"HE SPOKE ONLY IN PARABLES."

Homily for February 1^st, 2019: Mark 24: 26-34.

“Without parables [Jesus] did not speak to them,” Mark tells us. Why do you suppose Jesus chose parables as his favorite form of teaching? Well, who doesn’t like a good story? Stories have a universal appeal: to young children, but also to adults. But there is another reason why Jesus chose to teach through stories. Because stories are much easier to understand than abstract explanations. In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI writes: “Every teacher who wants to communicate new knowledge to his listeners naturally makes constant use of example or parable. ... By means of parable he brings something distant within their reach so that, using the parable as a bridge, they can arrive at what was previously unknown.”  

Moreover, stories have a way of grabbing not only our attention but our emotions. A good example is the story about King David’s adultery in the second book of Samuel. While his troops are in the field fighting for him, David is lounging around in his palace in Jerusalem. From the roof he sees a woman bathing. He sends for her and has relations with her. God sends the prophet Nathan to David to rebuke him. Nathan does so by telling the king a story about a rich man who is unwilling to sacrifice a lamb from his vast flocks to feed a visitor. Instead he steals a lamb from a poor man who is keeping the animal as a pet. In anger David cries out: “The man who has done this deserves death.” David is convicted out of his own mouth. “You are the man!” Nathan tells him. (2 Sam. 12:1-6)

Today’s gospel contains two parables. The first tells us that God’s kingdom is like seed that a farmer sows in the ground. It grows secretly. Most of God’s work is like that. So often we grow discouraged because our efforts to build and grow God’s kingdom seem to bear so little fruit – or none at all. Unknown to us, however, and unseen, God is powerfully at work. One day – if not in this world, then at least in the next – we shall witness the result of this secret growth: fruit as astonishing as the enormous bush that grows from the tiniest of seeds.

Teach us then, good Lord, to trust always in you: to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to look for any reward, but that of knowing that we do your will. All this we ask in the name of your dear Son, who died that we might live; and who now lives with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. 

    

 

"TO THE ONE WHO HAS MORE WILL BE GIVEN."

Homily for January 31^st, 2015: Mark 4:21-25.

          The short sayings which Mark gives us in today’s gospel immediately follow the parable of the sower and the seed, which we heard yesterday. Much of the seed the farmer in that story sows never comes to fruition. The parable describes the Church’s work in every generation. Despite the failure of so many of our efforts, some of the seed we sow falls on good ground, puts down roots, and produces not only an abundant harvest, but a super-abundant one. Jesus told the story as an antidote to discouragement.  

          In today’s brief reading Jesus continues to speak about the good news of the gospel. It is like light, he says, set on a stand at the entrance to a house for all who enter to see. Jesus is telling us that the light of God’s truth is given to us, like all God’s gifts, to be shared. If we don’t share the Lord’s gifts, we lose them. We can’t keep them unless we give them away.

          How do we share the light of God’s truth? We do so first of all and always by the way we live. St. Francis of Assisi used to say: “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary use words.” People must be able to see that we live by higher standards than those of the world around us, with its emphasis on getting rather than giving; and on repaying injuries according to the slogan, ‘Don’t get mad, get even!’

          Jesus’ final saying seems to terribly unfair: “To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Jesus is saying that if we truly walk by the light of God’s truth, sharing that light with others – at least by the way we live, when necessary and when possible with words as well – we shall receive more light. But if we keep the light of God’s truth for ourselves, we shall gradually lose that light until we find ourselves walking in darkness.

          Remembering how the Holy Spirit came to Jesus’ friends at the first Pentecost in the bright light of fiery flames, we pray in this Mass: “Lord, send us your Holy Spirit. Help us to be messengers of your Spirit’s light to others.”

 

SEEDS AND SOILS

Homily for January 30^th, 2019: Mark 4:1-20.

          Jesus’ favorite form of teaching was through stories. We call them parables. Most of them are so simple that they can be understood even by children; yet so profound that scholars are still writing books about them. The parable of the sower and his seed occurs in three of the four gospels. At the most basic level, the story is encouragement in the face of failure. It is Jesus’ answer to the rising tide of opposition which his teaching and ministry provoked. Most of the seed which the farmer sows is wasted. Despite this waste, the story promises a “hundredfold” harvest. A modern commentator writes: “A 20-to-1 ratio would have been considered an extraordinary harvest. Jesus’ strikingly large figures are intended to underscore the prodigious quality of God’s glorious kingdom still to come.”

          Today’s gospel reading gives the story another interpretation. By speaking about the different kinds of soil on which the farmer’s seed falls, Jesus directs our attention to our role in the harvest. It comes from God, yes. But it requires our cooperation.

          The different kinds of soil symbolize the many kinds of people who heard Jesus’ message: in his lifetime, and still today. “Those on the path are the ones who have heard,” Jesus says, “but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved.” There are people like that in every parish, the world over.  

So also for those on rocky ground. They receive Jesus’ words with joy. But they have no root, so in times of temptation, they fall away. The seed falling among thorns represent people unable to bring any fruit to fruition, because they are so busy with other things: anxiety, and the pursuit of the false gods of pleasure, possessions, power, and honor.  

The super-abundant harvest of which the story speaks comes only to those who internalize Jesus’ words, praying over them, and making them the foundation of their lives. In response, then, we pray: “Take hold of me, Lord. Help me to know that you are always with me; that I can find happiness only by fulfilling the purpose for which you fashioned me in my mother’s womb: to praise, serve, and glorify you here on earth; and so to be happy with you forever in heaven. Amen.”

"HERE ARE MY MOTHER AND BROTHERS."

Homily for January 29^th, 2019: Mark 3:31-35.

          “The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house,” we heard at the start of today’s gospel. His brothers? The Church has always believed and taught that Jesus had no siblings. His mother Mary had only one child; which is why she is called “ever virgin.” Why, some people ask? Others ask, what difference does it make? It makes all the difference. Here’s why.

          Having given herself completely to God, when she told the angel Gabriel, “I am the servant of the Lord – be it done to me as you say,” it was impossible that Mary could give herself completely to a human husband. That is why Mary is “ever virgin.” The Greek word used by Mark and translated “brothers” was used in biblical times to designate not only siblings, but other relatives as well.

          More significant are the words Jesus directs to those sitting with him in the house: “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Jesus widens his family circle to include all those who try to do his will – ourselves included.

          That too, friends, is part of the gospel. That is the good news.  

         

 

SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT

Homily for January 28^th, 2019: Mark 3:22-30.

          “Every sin will be forgiven mankind,” Jesus tells us in today’s gospel, “and all blasphemies men utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.” These words are difficult. We find them, in different versions, in all three of the so-called synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. From the beginning the words have caused heart-searching and anguish, especially for people inclined to scrupulosity. What can we say about them?

          Here is what the Catholic Catechism says: “There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and final loss.” [1864] Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit does not properly consist, then, in offending against the Holy Spirit in words; it consists rather in the refusal to accept the salvation which God offers to us through the Holy Spirit, working through the power of the Cross.

          Pope St. John Paul II explained it thus: “If Jesus says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven either in this life or in the next, it is because this ‘non-forgiveness’ is linked, as to its cause, to ‘non-repentance’, in other words to the radical refusal to be converted. . . Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then, is the sin committed by the person who claims to have a ‘right’ to persist in evil -- in any sin at all -- and who thus rejects redemption. One closes oneself up in sin, thus making impossible one's conversion, and consequently the remission of sins, which one considers not essential or not important for one's life. This is a state of spiritual ruin, because blasphemy against the Holy Spirit does not allow one to escape from one's self-imposed imprisonment and open oneself to the divine sources of the purification of consciences and of the remission of sins.” [Dominum et vivificantem, 46.]

          And Pope Francis says again and again: “God never grows tired of forgiving us. It is we who go tired of asking for forgiveness.” Committing the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit means, therefore, refusing to ask for forgiveness, and perseverance in such refusal until the end.