Sunday August 9th. to Saturday August 15th.
Sunday August 9th. to Saturday August 15th. Reflections on the Readings at Daily Mass
Sunday August 9th. Nineteenth Sunday in Year One.
Readings
First Book of Kings 19/9, 11-13 :
Paul’s Letter to the Romans 9/1-5
: Matthew 14/22-33
After the ‘day of Parables’ which we followed
in the Gospel readings over three Sundays there occurs in Matthew’s Gospel the
rejection of Jesus by the people of his hometown (Matthew 13/53-58) and then an
interlude in the story to relate the death of John the Baptist (Matthew
14/1-12) and the parallel story of Jesus feeding the five thousand which we
read last Sunday (Matthew 14/13-21)
Now, in today’s Gospel reading we find
Matthew’s account of Jesus walking on the waters. Although Matthew follows, to
a large extent, the account we find of this event in Mark’s Gospel (Mark
6/45-52) he also portrays the disciples as coming to recognise from this event
that Jesus is the Son of God. Matthew has also inserted the passage about Peter
walking on the waters.
As in the case of Jesus stilling the waves
(Matthew 8/23-27) there is a rich Biblical background to the story of Jesus
walking on the waters. In both situations Jesus is portrayed as doing what God
does. In the psalms, especially, there are many instances of God stilling the
waters as in Psalm 107/23-32. There are also instances of God walking on the
waters as in the book Job (Job 9/8) and there are many instances in the account
of the Exodus from Egypt where God walks on the waters. Again Jesus does what God does and walks on
the waters so that this whole episode contains an implicit claim about the
divinity of Jesus.
Matthew’s particular contribution to this
episode is the insertion of the story of Peter also walking on the waves. Again
this has a rich Biblical background with respect to someone in danger of
drowning and God coming to their rescue. In Psalm 62, the writer speaks of such
an experience (Ps.62/1-2, 15). It is worth noting too that the Israelites were
not a seafaring people and, generally, had a great fear of the sea which was,
for them, the very image of death. The fact that Jesus again does what God does
and stretches out his hand to save Peter (Psalm 144/7) adds force to the main thrust of the story as
Matthew tells it, which is to confirm Jesus’ divinity.
In this whole story it is difficult to draw the
line between symbolism and history and so we must accept it as it stands and
take from it what Matthew is teaching us.
The heart of the story is Jesus showing himself
to be divine and speaking as God speaks of himself when he says ‘It is I’ which
would be better translated as ‘I am he’.
Peter, as representative of the Twelve tries to
share in Jesus’ power and, so long as his faith remains strong, is able to do
so but when the ‘littleness’ of his faith shows through, he needs to be rescued
by Jesus. Throughout the second half of Matthew’s Gospel we will see Peter
emerging as the spokesman for the Twelve and the representative of both their
strengths and
their weaknesses. The disciples too emerge in a
more positive light during the second half of
Matthew’s Gospel, though they are far from being
perfect and, like Peter, they have ‘little’ faith. But in spite of their
weaknesses, they come gradually, to understand who Jesus really is.
For us, this episode in Matthew’s Gospel is a
consolation as we recognise the ‘littleness’ of our
Faith, but the manifestation of Jesus and his
power to save those in distress gives us
cause for courage even though we know how poor our faith is.
The reading from the First Book of Kings is a
reminder to us that the sheer might and power of the natural world are brought
about by God but they do not necessarily reveal him. Jesus revealed himself to
the Twelve in his concern for Peter that he should not drown rather than in a
further display of power over the storm, (though the wind does drop!) In the
same way, God reveals himself to Elijah not in the great manifestations of the power
of nature but in the gentle breeze or, as other translations have it, ‘in the
sound of sheer silence’ which is far more powerful. Perhaps, over these last
months we have been able to appreciate the power of silence with few cars on
the road and no aeroplanes in the sky above?
This might be an invitation for us to seek God
in silence. If we can still our minds for a few moments and be silent we can be
sure we are in the presence of God. As the psalmist says ‘Be still and know
that I am God’. In our busy world this way of prayer can be very helpful to us.
We don’t need to do anything or to find words as Saint Paul said recently ‘the
Spirit speaks for us’. Just to be there, silent and still is our best way of
worship and we need do no more. No need for words. Our being there is worship
in itself as we sink into the presence of God. If you have not tried to pray in
this way, do try it. Nothing will happen but you will find peace in the
stillness and no need for anything more.
The reading from Paul’s Letter to the
Christians of Rome is the beginning of a section devoted to a vital question
for Jesus’ first followers. If God had a plan from the beginning that led up to
Christ, how was it that the Israelites who had received the Law and the
Prophets now rejected the Christ?
Paul seeks to answer that question but in doing
so he speaks in astonishing tones. He had been proclaiming the Gospel to
non-Jews for so many years and yet here he declares that he would be willing to
be cut off from Christ and damned for the sake of his Jewish kinsmen and women,
his own flesh and blood as he says. This is an extraordinary piece of writing
and Paul declares the depths of his sorrow and mental anguish as he sees his
fellow Jews unable to accept the One whom he believes to be both Lord and
Saviour.
So often Christians have forgotten these words
of Paul and have seen Judaism as done with altogether and replaced by
Christianity. It was this sort of attitude that gave rise and still does give
rise to so much anti-Semitism and, indeed, persecution and which led up to the
Shoah, the Holocaust.
The Second Vatican Council firmly rejected all
that false teaching and re-affirmed that ‘There is first that people to whom
the Covenant and promises were made and from whom Christ was born in the flesh,
a people in virtue of their election, beloved
for the sake of their ancestors, for God never regrets his gift or his
call’ (‘Lumen gentium’- the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church para. 15) and
again ‘the Apostle Paul maintains that the Jews remain very dear to God for the
sake of the Patriarchs, since God does not take back the gifts he has bestowed
or the choice he made. Together with the Prophets and that same Apostle, the
Church awaits the day, known to God alone, when all peoples will call on God
and with one voice …. serve him “shoulder to shoulder”’ (‘Nostra aetate’ – the
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian religions para. 4).
This is a day then to reflect on our understanding of the Jewish people and our
relationship with them to say nothing of our own Jewish heritage which we so
frequently forget.
As Jesus reminds us of the ‘littleness ‘ of our
faith we can remember and give thanks for the amazing faith with which so many thousands of Jewish men,
women and even children faced the gas chambers. Remember too the famous
response of the Jewish Rabbi who when asked where was God at the time of the
Holocaust replied ‘He was in the gas chambers with us’.
So we give thanks for the faith and
faithfulness of so many Jewish people throughout the ages and through so many
persecutions and pogroms so often inflicted upon them by those who called
themselves followers of Jesus, the Jew! We must ask forgiveness and resolve to
do all that we can to heal the wounds of the past and to draw closer to those
who are our elder brothers and sisters in faith.
Monday August 10th. Feast of
Laurence of Rome, Deacon and Martyr (+258)
We know little about Laurence except that he
was one of the Deacons of the Roman Church and closely associated with Sixtus
IInd., the bishop of Rome who was martyred a few days before him in the
persecution of the Emperor Valerian. Laurence was renowned for his love and
care of the poor which would have been one of his duties as a Deacon.
All the other stories about him are legend
although there may be elements of the truth in them. The story of his being
roasted to death on a gridiron has come down to us through the many
representations of him holding his instrument of torture. One detail of this
story may tell us something about Laurence’s character since he is reputed to
have said to his torturers ‘Turn me over, this side is done’. Maybe he did have
a wry sense of humour which is something we all need and which the Church
itself needs, the ability to laugh at ourselves. Another legend about Laurence
is that, when he was asked by those arresting him to bring out the treasures of
the Church that they might be confiscated, he brought out all the poor and the
needy and said that these were the greatest treasures of the Christian
community.
It is interesting that Laurence achieved such
fame throughout the Western Church and even now has a feast day. This reminds
us of the original importance of the office of Deacon. For many centuries in
the Western Church becoming a Deacon has been seen as merely the last step
before becoming a priest. In the early Church, however, the Deacon was someone
of great importance, the Bishop’s right hand man and the one who had the
stewardship of the Church’s material possessions and the care of the poor and
the needy.
At the second Vatican Council the Bishops
decided to restore the Diaconate within the Western Church and to make the role
of the Deacon a much more important one, also allowing married men to be made
Deacons. This decision of the Council seems to have taken a wrong direction,
largely due perhaps, to the insistence of the Roman authorities that only
celibate men might be ordained priests.
This has led, in many cases to married men being ordained Deacons as a
substitute for priests, since their marriage would not allow them to be made
priests.
It is sad that in all this the true nature of
the Diaconate seems to have been forgotten. Their true role is one inherited
from the Acts of the Apostles where the Seven were chosen to free up the Twelve.
Their task was, above all, to care for the needy of the community. There is no
evidence that the Seven were perpetuated in the early Church but the
institution of Deacons seems to have originated very early since there is
mention of them in the New Testament, both men and women! It would seem more
appropriate then that the restoration of the Diaconate should concentrate more
on the caring aspect of each Christian community.
There are many people in our communities who
would qualify for this Order because they are doing caring work in the
community and outside of it. This is not to clericalise this sort of ministry
but to emphasise its importance in the life of the Christian community. The
other role of the Deacon has always been to proclaim the Gospel and to minister
the Chalice and this serves as a reminder that the Gospel must be proclaimed
first and foremost to the poor and that it is the common Cup that makes us one.
Readings
Paul’s second Letter to the Corinthians
9/6-10 : John 12/24-26
The reading of the extract from Paul’s Letter
to the Corinthians emphasises the role of the Deacon who cares for the poor and
the needy of the community. The writer also reminds us of Laurence’s legendary
sense of humour since ‘God loves a cheerful giver’ he says. This ought to
characterise our giving to those who are less fortunate than we are. We must
give cheerfully, even when it hurts because it is to the Lord that we are
giving.
The Gospel reading reminds us of Laurence’s
death and that we too are called to die if we are to rise to new life. We do
this every day when we put others before ourselves and love and care for them.
This love and care yields a rich harvest, often unseen by us. It seems unlikely
that we will be called to follow Laurence
by laying down our life for Christ but the daily giving of ourselves to
others makes us ready for that should it ever come to us. Laurence had given
himself freely in the service of others and so was ready to give himself
completely when the moment came.
We pray today for the Church in the city of
Rome and for all Deacons and all who care for the poor and the needy both
within the Church and in the world around us.
Tuesday August 11th. Memory of Clare of Assisi, foundress of the
Poor Clares. (1193-1253
Clare, a member of the rich Offreduccio family,
was born in Assisi but attracted by the preaching of Francis, she escaped from
her family and was clothed by Francis as a Nun. She was formed in the religious
life by neighbouring Benedictine Convents. Francis then found a home for Clare
and her companions close to the church of San Damiano which he had
restored. Clare became the abbess of the
community in 1216. The little group followed an austere way of life depending
entirely on alms and having no possessions, not even owning the house in which
they lived. They sought to follow Francis’ teaching and to support him and his
companions by their prayer. Clare was never to leave the convent but she was
noted for her great joy in living and, like Francis, for her love of the
beauties of nature. In her later years she suffered much sickness but was
always devoted to her sisters and also to the people of Assisi.
The Order which became known as the Poor Clares
spread all over Europe and there were forty seven communities in Spain alone by
the end of the thirteenth century to say nothing of France, Bohemia and England
where four convents were founded in the late thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries.
Clare is often depicted with a Monstrance in
her hand, the large rather strange vessel in which the Eucharistic Bread may be
displayed for veneration. The reason for this is because of Clare’s devotion to
the people of Assisi. Not only did she and her sisters pray for their fellow
citizens but when the town was under threat of invasion by the armies of the
Emperor Frederick IInd., she is said to have held the pyx containing the Blessed
Sacrament at the window of the convent whereupon the armies fled.
Clare was also more recently named the patron
saint of Television though it is difficult to see a reason for this. One
explanation might be that the way Clare is depicted at the Convent window
holding the Monstrance may seem a little like a Television screen! Whatever the
case, it would be good to pray for all those who work in Television and to ask
ourselves, perhaps, whether we are too addicted to it?
We pray today for the Poor Clare communities
both within our own Church and in the Anglican Communion. We pray too for a
greater appreciation of the beauties of nature and a care for their
preservation together with less attachment to possessions and goods so that we
may enjoy something of Clare’s freedom.
Readings
Ezekiel 2/8-3/4 :
Matthew 18/1-5, 10, 12-14
We begin to read from the prophet Ezekiel today
though we would have read from him yesterday had it not been for the feast of
Saint Laurence.
Ezekiel lived at the beginning of the sixth
century before Christ in very turbulent times. The Kingdom of Judah was in the
last stages of being an independent state and when King Josiah came to rule in
628 B.C.E. the Assyrian Empire had also become weakened and its last ruler,
Ashurbanipal had died. Josiah began a reform of Israel’s religion but his
untimely death in 609 B.C.E. brought this to an end and his son, Jehoaiakim did
not continue with it. After a plot to gain independence from Babylon, the
Babylonian army sacked Jerusalem in 598 B.C.E. and exiled thousands of its
leading citizens. Meanwhile, Jehoiakim had died and the new King, Jehoiakin,
was taken off to Babylon with the other captives,while his uncle Zedekiah, was
installed as Regent by the Babylonian victors.
After some years of quiet, another revolt
against Babylon was planned and, as a result, the Babylonian armies laid siege
to all the major cities of Judah and destroyed them, ending with Jerusalem
itself.
Ezekiel’s ministry lasted from about 593 to 571
B.C.E., but mainly between 593 and 586 B.C.E. Ezekiel opposed the official line
of thinking and the attempts to overthrow Babylonian control. Instead he
concentrated his efforts on making Israel a community faithful in its religious
observance and obedient to God.
Ezekiel wrote as someone overawed with the
majesty and holiness of God. His own experience, shared by his fellow exiles,
had convinced him of the universality of God’s rule. So God must be worshipped
in Babylon just as in Palestine Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel stresses the responsibility
of the individual in the sight of God but he also had a firm belief in the
corporate nature of the religious community, as is shown by his careful
provision for the future well-being of the restored state.
There are no direct quotations from Ezekiel in
the writings of the New Testament but the combination of the priestly and
prophetic religion in the book paved the way for the later Judaism in which the
Gospel was planted.
It would be good to read the extract which we
would have read yesterday (Ezekiel 1/2-5, 24-28) had it not been for the feast
of Saint Laurence. In this extract we read of Ezekiel’s vision of God and he
uses typical Babylonian imagery to speak of the glory of God. The whole
experience makes Ezekiel fall to the ground in adoration. Various elements of
the vision have been taken up by Christian writers later so that the four
creatures have often been identified with the four Gospel writers and their
Gospels. The being that ‘looked like a man’ has been seen as the Son of Man,
Jesus.
However, what we might well take from this
reading is the wonder and glory of God, seen by Ezekiel in a time of exile and
desolation. Even though we may not see God in this way, the wonders of nature
and the generosity and goodness of people are always among us even in troubled
times like our own and these ought to make us fall down in adoration, like
Ezekiel. In our prayer let us find time for wonderment and awe at the many ways
in which God is revealed to us in our everyday lives.
The extract from the prophet Ezekiel for today
follows on from the call addressed to him. Ezekiel has seen the glory of God,
‘This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord’ and he has
been overcome with awe, ‘When I saw it I fell on my face and I heard the voice
of someone speaking’ (Ezekiel 1/28). The Lord told him to stand up and ‘a
spirit entered into’ him and he was, as it were, in ecstasy. The Lord said to
him ‘I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels and you
shall say to them. Thus says the Lord God … they shall know that there has been
a prophet among them … do not be afraid of them and do not be afraid of their
words’. (Ezekiel 1/3-7).
Then follows what we read in today’s extract.
The prophet is addressed as ‘Son of Man’ to make it clear that he is to
transmit the Divine message and it is not his own. This term, ‘Son of Man’
appears in Ezekiel over ninety times!.
God then adds a symbolic action and commands
Ezekiel to eat whatever he gives him. This command seems to echo the words of
Isaiah (Isaiah 30/8-10). The written scroll was made of papyrus and not
parchment, which takes writing only on one side. The message was clear to
Ezekiel before he swallowed the scroll, that his task would be totally taken
with preaching warning and woe. He was to make the message completely his own
by filling his stomach with the message. Once accepted it became sweet in his
mouth, Jeremiah expresses a similar thought about the task given to him
(Jeremiah 15/16) and see also Psalm 119/103).
It is difficult to relate this vision to
ourselves but perhaps we may see in it that very often what God seems to be
asking of us appears painful and difficult, bitter as it were, but once we engage
in doing it, it becomes sweet and satisfying, however difficult.
In the Gospel reading which we did not read
yesterday (Matthew 17/22-27) Jesus again foretells his death and his
resurrection and the Gospel writer tells
us that the disciples were overcome by
‘a great sadness’, something which is unique to Matthew’s Gospel.
Then follows an incident which may seem very
puzzling but may well record a discussion that actually happened.The point of
the story for Matthew and the community for whom he was writing is really about
their continuing Jewish identity even though they were followers of Jesus. The
half shekel tax was for the upkeep of the Temple and Jesus’ response is an
affirmation of the divinity which Christian communities had begun to attribute to
him. Jesus finds a way out of the impasse by working a miracle for Simon Peter,
who, as always, was the spokesperson for the disciples. Jesus did not want to
scandalise the Jews by failing to support the Temple but since it was ‘his
Father’s house’ he had no obligation to do so! Matthew’s community of mostly
Jewish Christians would want to assert their Jewishness by paying the tax even
though they were Jesus’ followers. This episode allows Matthew and his
community to be both Jewish and Christian.
This episode is not easy to relate to ourselves
but it again reminds us of how our first Christian ancestors were all Jews. The
sadness of the disciples is, perhaps, a reminder of how the situation in our
world today, where Jesus suffers in so many ways and in so many of our sisters
and brothers ought to make us sad. But we have hope since he is risen and love
must triumph.
Chapter eighteen of Matthew’s Gospel gives us
the fourth major discourse in the Gospel (Matthew 18/1-35) and it breaks into
two parts. The first part is the passage
from the Gospel appointed for today and it deals with the ‘little ones’.
Although there may be some doubt about the unity of this section and the
material may have come from independent sources, it is still possible to read
it as a unified instruction on life within the community for whom Matthew was
writing. In the Gospel this discourse is addressed to Jesus’ disciples and in
it Jesus insists that humility is the only way to be greatest in the Kingdom or
Reign of God. Instead of merely telling this to his disciples Jesus uses the
example of a child that he calls to him as a model of humility. Then, in our
reading we jump to verse ten where Jesus warns against the abuse of these
little ones. It was a common belief at this time that guardian angels had
unlimited access to the Divine presence which made the ‘little ones’
particularly precious people and not to be despised. The strong statements of
verses 6 to 9 are omitted here, perhaps in order to emphasise Jesus’ teaching
about who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Unlike Mark and Luke, Matthew
places the parable of the lost sheep in this section and relates it to Jesus’ teaching
about children. Again, this would seem to suggest how Matthew sees the
Christian community where each is treasured and none is let go.
For us this Gospel reading has important
repercussions. How should the Christian community be? Do we value the ’little
ones’ as the most important? That doesn’t just mean the children. It means all
who the world sees as unimportant. Our church has become so hierarchical that
it is easy to think that the most important people are the Pope and the Bishops
but Jesus has made it clear that those in these positions are ‘ministers’ that
is ‘servants’ or even ‘slaves’ of the community and the Holy Spirit dwells
among the whole people and not just in a privileged few. Maybe it is time for
us to look again at our own Christian community and ask ourselves if we behave as
if we really believe what Jesus says and teaches.
We pray today that we may have childlike
simplicity and be able to see in those who, according to worldly standards, are
of little importance, those who ought to be for us of the greatest importance.
Wednesday August 12th.Wednesday week
19 year 2. Memory of Jeanne de Chantal. (1572- 1641)
Readings
Ezekiel 9/1-7, 10/18-22 :
Matthew 18/15-20
The reading from the prophet Ezekiel today
describes God’s judgement on the idolatrous people of Jerusalem. In the vision
the ‘man in white’ is dressed in the typical costume of the priests of the
Temple and together with the six destroyers makes up the number seven which is the symbolic number meaning
completion which indicates the this is the time of total destruction. The ‘glory of God’ indicates the Divine
presence of God in the Temple and the rising of the cherubs symbolises the
departure of God from the place where he had been worshipped. The scribe in
white is commanded by god to mark the forehead of all those who had not gone
along with the mass of the people in their idolatry. He is to mark each one
with the Hebrew letter Tau. From Ezekiel’s previous proclamation that the whole
city and people are to be destroyed, even those who do manage to flee (Ezekiel
7/16) who would be exiled,(Ezekiel 6/9)
we can imagine that the number who would not be slaughtered would be
very small. The destruction is savage as the six men ‘hack their way through
the city’ and the Temple is defiled by the presence of the corpses in it which
would render it unfit for divine worship.
We miss out the following verses and move on to
the moment in chapter 10 where the ‘glory of the Lord’ departs from the Temple
indicating God’s abandoning of the Temple itself to return to his chariot throne in the east.
This scene is similar to the glory of the Lord seen in the desert (Exodus
16/10, Numbers 10/34). Then follows the description of the cherubs which are
mythological creatures borrowed from Assyrian sources and part human part
animal. They were the attendants and guardians of the gods and so here of God
and representations of them had been set up in Solomon’s Temple. This whole
episode is a terrifying representation of the dreadful betrayal of the people
who had abandoned God for the false deities of the surrounding nations. Because
of this, God was abandoning them and they would be destroyed.
This reading does not seem very helpful for us
but it is a reminder of how the forsaking of what is good and true ends
inevitably in destruction not by some savage act of God but because humanity
can only survive when it lives by those values which are shared by every faith
and which are summed up in the simple commandment that we should love one
another. The worship of the false gods of power, possessions and so on leads
inevitably to destruction and the present world crisis is a powerful example of
this. We must begin to put people first and not wealth and power. It is to be
hoped that the present world crisis may give people and our leaders time to
reflect on our values and to make sure that we don’t return to things as they
were but make every effort to build a world of justice and of peace.
The Gospel reading gives us a very different
picture and tells the young Christian community for whom Matthew was writing
his Gospel how they are to conduct their affairs and solve their differences.
The text outlines a process to be used in bringing back into full communion
with the community one of their members who has sinned.
The verses about binding and loosing and the
two or three gathered together in Jesus’ name, whatever their origin and that
is not clear, provided a theological background for decision making in
Matthew’s community. God stands behind them and Jesus abides among the
community gathered in his name.
How very different our communities would be if
these verses were used as a basis for our decision making and our process of
reconciliation. It is all too easy to say that it was alright for those early
communities but it wouldn’t work now. We must ask ourselves ‘Why?’ If we truly
believe Jesus’ words that he would be with us when two or three gather together
in his name, then we ought to be able to make our decisions together rather
than always being dictated to by higher authorities. Pope Francis’ idea of
‘synodality’ is just this, that, after prayerful consideration and prayer we
ought to make our decisions together. At the present time most parish communities
have no proper consultation and discussion let alone the possibility of making
decisions together about what affects the community. It would seem urgent that
we take to heart Pope Francis’ words and insist on proper representation for
the people of the Church and proper decision making by the people rather than
by the priest. What steps can we take to make this a reality?
Memory of Jeanne Francoise de Chantal
(1572-1641)
Jeanne came from a rich family and married the
Baron de Chantal when she was twenty. They had seven children, three of whom
died in infancy. She was a good wife and mother but her husband died nine years
after they were married and she was left to bring up her children alone since
she had decided that she would not marry again in spite of being comparatively
young. When she was thirty two Jeanne met Francois de Sales (1567-1622) who
became her friend and spiritual advisor until his death. She benefited greatly
from his advice and support and, with his help, she founded a community of
religious sisters who were unable to live with the rigours of the monastic
life and who would work outside the
convent. This community she dedicated to the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin
Mary. Owing to the prejudices of the Roman authorities Jeanne’s community was
not allowed to work outside the convent and it became, like other communities
of religious women, enclosed but, in spite of that, the Congregation grew and by Jeanne’s death in 1641 there were over
eighty houses all over Europe This growth was due both to Jeanne’s dedication
and to the influence of Francois de Sales ,his teaching and writings on the
love of God and his insistence on living simply and humbly without extreme
austerity.
In 1619 Jeanne founded a house in Paris which
brought her into contact with Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) who became another
support and inspiration for her. Although when Jeanne became a religious, two
of her daughters were married, her son was only fifteen. He later married but
was killed in war in 1642. Further bereavements followed but during all that
time Jeanne remained dedicated to her
sisters and, in later years, she
visited all the houses of the Order. In
1628 there was a severe outbreak of the Plague and Jeanne devoted her convent
in
Annecy to those afflicted and even inspired the
local authorities to make adequate provision for the sick and the bereaved.
Jeanne de Chantal was all-rounder, wife,
mother, superior of her Order and friend to all. We pray today for the Order of
the Visitation throughout the world and its sisters and we remember wives and
mothers everywhere, especially those who have to bring up their children alone.
There are special readings for Jeanne Francoise
but almost certainly those of the day will be used. Those for Jeanne Francoise
are the following:-
Proverbs 31/10-15, 19-20, 30-31, Mark 3/31-35
The reading from the book of Proverbs extol the
virtues of a good wife and mother though it does rather reflect the idea that
‘a woman’s place is in the home’ which was not altogether how Francoise saw
things!
The Gospel reading is about Jesus’ extension of
the idea of family to all those who seek to do the will of God and this would
have been something that Jeanne would have understood since her communities
were meant to be real families and she showed concern for everyone who came her
way.
Thursday August 13th. Thursday Week
Nineteen Year Two Memory of Pontian and
Hippolytus
Readings
Ezekiel 12/1-12 :
Matthew 18/21-19/1
The editors of the book of Ezekiel, following
on God’s total rejection of Jerusalem, have collected together a series of
oracles about the unreality of the people’s expectations. They cannot and will
not believe that Ezekiel’s dire predictions will come true.
In the extract today we see Ezekiel acting in
what seems a strange way. The actions of the prophets were often meant to bring
home to those who saw them some particular message from God. Ezekiel is told by God to behave like an
exile, like a refugee and to flee from the city. He is to pack his baggage by day so that
everyone can see what he is doing and then he is to leave by night through a
hole that he is to make in the city wall.
Ezekiel is to be a ‘symbol of the house of Israel’. The people believe
that things can go on as they are but Ezekiel is telling them that they too, with
their king, will be driven into exile like refugees and the prophecy is
directed particularly towards Zedekiah, their king.
The people’s unwillingness to believe the
prophecy reminds us of our own day when people are so unwilling to believe the
prophets of our time who foretell
disaster if we don’t take problems like climate change and world poverty seriously
and there are many other examples that we might think of. We pray today that
the people of our day will not be blind and deaf as were the Israelites of old
but rather listen to what the prophets are saying and act upon their advice.
This is true as much of the Church as of society and we must also pray that our
people and, above all, those who are called to serve and lead us will listen to prophets like Pope Francis as
he appeals for reform and change in our church.
We cannot forget as well all those who are driven
into exile in oyr own times, the millions of refugees all over Europe. We pray
that there will be many who will open their hearts to them and that, one day,
they may be able to return to their own countries. What more can we do to help?
In the Gospel reading Jesus continues his
instruction as to what sort of community his followers ought to be creating. We
see today we see how it is, once again, Peter who is the spokesman for the
Twelve. Peter wonders to what lengths
forgiveness must go and Jesus astonishes him with his reply. Not just seven
times but seventy times seven (some translations would say ‘seventy times
seven’ which is four hundred and ninety times!) he says. The point is that our
forgiveness should be like that of God. It must be without limits. The story
Jesus tells illustrates the point very well. The sum owed by the King’s servant
is deliberately exaggerated for effect, a huge amount of money which he could
never pay back, whereas the other servant owes only a paltry sum. The parable
speaks for itself, forgiveness must be central to the life of the Christian
community and it ends with the reminder that we shall be forgiven in the
measure that we forgive others.
Jesus’ last words ‘unless you forgive your
brother or sister from your heart’ need, perhaps, some thought. What is
forgiveness? Very often it seems that if we say we forgive that should be
enough. But Jesus says ‘from the heart’,
from the very depth of our being.
Sometimes we may not feel very forgiving os what can we do about
it? It is not so much how we feel that
matters but how we behave. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting what has
happened, the wrong done. Forgiveness means behaving as we would have done
before the offence was committed and not holding the offence against the other
person. In fact forgiveness means still loving the other persona and that is
not a question of feeling. It means that we still what is good for the other
person, we do not wish them ill.
There is nothing sadder than someone saying ‘I
could never forgive …’ That means that the offence is going to gnaw away at
them so that they can have no peace of mind and their whole life can be ruined
by this ongoing resentment.
Today we might remember all those who have
offended us and pray that we may be always able to forgive generously and
wholeheartedly and that we may have the
humility and courage to ask forgiveness of those whom we have offended.
Memory of Pontian and Hippolytus, martyrs
(+c.213)
Hippolytus was a priest of Rome and was,
probably, the most important writer in Italy of his times. It was not until
1551 that his works were re-discovered and more have come to light recently.
The most important of these is the ‘Apostolic Tradition’ which contains in it
the oldest version of a Eucharistic Prayer, which now forms the basis of our
second Eucharistic Prayer, the shortest one in the revised Roman Mass.
In fact, Hippolytus was opposed to the two
bishops of Rome, Zephyrinus (+217) and Callistus (+222) accusing them of
excessive leniency with sinners. Hippolytus broke away from Callistus and, it
would seem, set himself up as an alternative bishop of Rome. The succeeding
bishop of
Rome, Urban also died and Pontian was
elected in 230. Both Pontian and
Hippolytus were arrested in the persecution of Maximinus and sent to the mines
of Sardinia which was the equivalent of a death sentence. Both died in exile
about the year 213,Hippolytus having been reconciled with Pontian who resigned
from his position as bishop of Rome to allow his successor to follow him.
Benedict was not the first!
If we think the Church is in a mess now we can
take heart that it survived those troubled times and that these two men were
reconciled with each other reminding us as today’s Gospel reading points out
that the Church is a place of reconciliation and forgiveness.
There are special readings for Pontian and
Hippolytus but, almost certainly,. Those of the day will be used. Those for the
martyrs are the following :-
First letter of Peter 4/12-19 :
John 15/18-21
The extract from the Letter of Peter extols the
privilege of suffering for Christ ending with the words ‘those whom God allows
to suffer must trust themselves to the constancy of the Creator and go on doing
good’.
The Gospel reading is again Jesus telling his
disciples that they must not expect any other treatment than that which he
himself suffered and he reminds us that ‘the servant is not greater than their
master’ so that we must be ready to suffer for Christ, even if it be in the
little ways whish are part and parcel of our being his disciples.
Friday August 14th. Memory of Maximilian Maria Kolbe, martyr of
Auschwitz (1894-1941)
Maximilian was born near Lodz in Poland in
1894. His parents were devout and worked in a cottage weaving industry. They
became members of the Third Order of the Franciscans and in 1907 Maximilian
entered the junior Seminary in Lwow. He left there to join the Franciscans in
1910 at the age of sixteen. His parents then separated to join religious
Orders, though his father left to run a bookshop at Czestochowa, the Polish
national shrine of Our Lady. Subsequently he joined the Polish patriots to
fight the Russians who, at that time, controlled Poland. He was captured and
hanged as a traitor in 1914 at the age of 43. All of this illustrates the
intense religious and nationalistic atmosphere in which Maximilian was brought
up.
Maximilian was sent by the Franciscans to study
in Brome and he was ordained priest in 1919.He contracted Tuberculosis and
returned to Poland where he taught Church History in a seminary. After being ill again with Tuberculosis which
dogged him all his life, Maximilian founded a militant Sodality, dedicated to
Mary and started a magazine for Christian readers to help them defend their
faith. This work grew and Maximilian created a community at Niepokalanov near
Warsaw which combined prayer with cheerfulness and poverty and used modern
technology to produce daily and weekly Christian newspapers.
Sent to Japan, Maximilian founded a community
in Nagasaki but he was recalled to Niepokalanov and this community grew to
number 762 friars.! When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 Maximilian sent most of the community
home but, after a period of internment, he himself was released and his Friary
became an internment camp for 3,000 Poles and 1,500 Jews.
The printing presses continued to produce
newspapers of a patriotic independent line, critical of the Third Reich. As was
inevitable in May 1941 Maximilian was arrested. The arresting
officers were amazed at the frugal way in which
the friars lived! Maximilian and four others were taken to Auschwitz where they
suffered constant ill treatment and torture. In spite of this Maximilian was
still able to function as a priest, hearing confessions in unlikely places and
smuggling in bread and wine so that he might celebrate the Eucharist with other
prisoners.
Whenever one of the prisoners tried to escape,
a man from his hut would be selected to be starved to death. At the end of July
that year, following an escape, the men from Maximilian’s hut were paraded and
one man from each line selected. Included among them was Francis Gajowniczek.
When he cried out in despair Maximilian stepped forward and declared ‘I am a
Catholic priest. I am old and he has a wife and children’. His offer was
accepted and he went with the others to the death chamber. There he helped the
other prisoners to die with dignity by praying with them and reminding them of
Christ’s sufferings. After two weeks only four remained alive and only Maximilian was fully conscious. He
was given a lethal injection of Phenol and died on this day, aged only forty
seven.
Maximilian was beatified by Paul VIth. In 1971
and canonised by John Paul IInd in 1982 in the presence of the man whose life
he had saved.
Maximilian is a characteristic of Polish
Christianity. His energy, poverty and patriotism culminating in his death as a
martyr of charity, makes him an example of the unsung herois among the
detainees in Concentration camps and other prisons.
One aspect of Maximilian’s faith which was
typical of his time was a certain antipathy towards the Jewish people although,
by the end of his life, he seems to have been able to overcome it. This was
characteristic of Polish Catholicism and, indeed, of European Catholicism in
general. Fortunately, at the second Vatican Council the bishops rejected all
anti-Semitism and acknowledged our Jewish roots and the special place the Jews
have in salvation history.
We must pray today for all who are unjustly
imprisoned for their faith or their convictions, for an end to all anti-Semitism
and remember too all those who persecute the innocent. We remember too the
Church and the people of Poland and the many Polish people who now live among
us.
Readings
Ezekiel 16/1-15, 60, 63 :
Matthew 19/3-12
The reading from the prophet Ezekiel today is
particularly touching as it presents a compassionate and loving God. This is
the longest chapter in Ezekiel and involves two distinct but related oracles.
The first which we read today is about the adulterous wife. The subject is
Jerusalem and the antd the purpose of the oracle is to make known the city’s
guilt in rejecting obedience to Israel’s God and following other false gods.
Jerusalem’s past history of infidelity to God is told through a double
allegory. The first part describes how a foster parent saves and brings up an
orphan child (Ezekiel 16/3-7). Jerusalem was an important city of the
Canaanites which was spared by the conquering Israelites. Like an unwanted girl
baby it was exposed to
die but God had plans for it and preserved it
alive. Exposure of unwanted children was also frequently practised in the Near
East. God is presented as the one who cut the umbilical cord, washed the child
and cared for it, rubbed it with salt which was part of typical Palestinian
birth rituals even until recent times an clothed it. More than that, God saw
the child mature and grow into a Beautiful woman. This would seem to allude to
God’s care for Jerusalem during the early years of the Judges but then verses 8
to 14 describe the decision of the kind master to marry the girl. The text
continues like a love song. God is in love with this people. The imagery mixes the description of the
bridal clothing with the garments of a queen and the pledges of marriage with
the language of a covenant. The historical reference points are the choice of
the city by David for his capital (2 Samuel 5), its fame and splendour under
David and Solomon (2 Samuel 5-8, 1 Kings 3-11) and the special covenant made
with David’s dynasty by God (2 Samuel 7).
But this beautiful woman, this beloved people
goes after other lovers, Egypt, Assyria and Babylon. In spite of all this God
is faithful to the covenant he has made with his people and he will not abandon
them. This covenant shall last for ever.
This is a wonderfully beautiful passage and
what is said of God’s relationship with Jerusalem is true, of course, of God’s
relationship with each and every one. God is our lover. God is in love with
each of us and will never abandon us however grievous our failings, however
much we have gone after false gods that seduce us, wealth, prosperity, beauty,
fame and so many more. How amazing that is and how can we ever respond? And, of
course, god is in love with the whole of creation, ‘He saw that it was very
good’ (Genesis 1/31)
In our prayer today we can reflect on the
reality of Gods’ love for us. Jesus tells us that the only way in which we can
respond is to such love is to love one another, to love all those who come our
way and, indeed, to love the earth which is God’s gift to us.
The Gospel reading is also about love, the love
of a man and a woman. The Pharisees approach Jesus to ask him on what grounds a
man might divorce his wife but Jesus turns the question around. The Law
permitted a man to divorce his wife for the most trivial of reasons but Jesus
does not give an answer to the Pharisees’ question. Jesus talks about the ideal
of marriage which is that two people become one in love and he reproaches the
man who would divorce his wife. It is important to realise here that Jesus is
talking about the behaviour of the husband, not about some third party. The
only exception Jesus seems to make is when a wife has been unfaithful to her
husband but the text here is not clear.
The disciples reveal their own sexist attitudes
when they suggest that if that is how things are it might be best not to get
married at all. Jesus then takes this
opportunity to speak about celibacy and this may be very appropriate since the
discussion about the ordination of married men is always ongoing. Jesus makes
it very clear that celibacy may be embraced, but voluntarily ‘for the sake of
the Kingdom’ that is to say, in order to be free to work for the building up of
the reign of God in the world without the responsibilities of marriage and a
family The later discipline of the Western Church to impose celibacy on all
those whom it calls to be ordained priest would not seem to be in accord with
Jesus’ teaching. To make celibacy an obligation and not something chosen seems
to go directly against what Jesus is saying.
Today then we can remember the shortage of
priests and pray that our bishops will have the courage and wisdom to hear what
Jesus is saying and to act upon it and ordain married men to preside at the
Eucharist and to lead our communities.
Saturday August 15th. Saturday in Week Nineteen in Year two.
Readings
Ezekiel 18/1-10, 13, 30-32 :
Matthew 19/13-15
Today is, of course, the feast of the
assumption of the Mother of God but, as you will remember, our bishops decided
some years ago that should a major feast fall on a Saturday or Monday, it would
be kept on the Sunday next to it. So we shall be celebrating the Assumption
tomorrow.
Today Ezekiel speaks speaks powerfully about
personal responsibility. He begins by quoting a proverb that was current among
his contemporaries. He then outlines the characteristics of a just and good
life and those things which are wrong but, above all, he insists that we are
responsible for our own actions and we cannot blame others. This is something
that we ought to take to heart because we are all prone to excuse ourselves for
our behaviour on various, sometimes rather spurious, grounds. It is important
that we are honest with ourselves and do take responsibility for our own
actions.
However, when we are looking at others it is a
different story. So much of the bad behaviour of people can be attributed to
their poor upbringing and the conditions in which they were born and raised. We
ought always to keep in mind that ‘there but for the grace of God go I’. As
Jesus says elsewhere ‘Judge not and you shall not be judged’. However heinous a
crime we can never know what led up to it and what made the person the sort of
person they are. However badly people behave we must always take into account
that behaviour is learnt and the conditions in which some people are forced to
live would drive anyone to crime. This raises the whole problem of the
conditions in which many people have to live and the need for so much to be
done to raise their living conditions, to make sure that they have proper
education and so on. In other words it is impossible to teat crime and bad
behaviour in isolation and, of course, our prison system is in dire need of a
radical overhaul and the whole use of imprisonment is manifestly a failure.
Ultimately, of course, we have a choice but our freedom to make the right
choice can be severely impaired by all sorts of reasons and we ought always to
remember that when looking at the behaviour of others.
The Gospel reading reminds us that we must have
a child-like spirit. The disciples think that Jesus is too important to be
bothered by children since, in Jesus’ time children were of little account and
were always lumped together with women who counted for nothing! Jesus insists
that the children be allowed to come to him and he presents them as an example
of how his followers ought to be. To have a child-like spirit is not to be
childish but to be open and transparent as children are until we spoilt them!
We pray today for a child-like heart which will enable us to be our true selves
not having to pretend that we are anything else. It is that spirit which allows
us to be free and to live life to the full.
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