Sunday October 18th. to Saturday October 24th.
Sunday October 18th. to Saturday October 24th. Reflections on the Daily Readings at Mass.
Sunday October 18th. Twenty Ninth Sunday in Year One.
Readings
Isaiah 45/1, 4-6 :
First Letter to the Thessalonians 1/1-5 :
Matthew 22/15-21
In today’s Gospel reading the Pharisees plot to
trap Jesus in what he is saying which seems to be a trick that they have
learned from him. When he asked them about John the Baptist they were unable to
answer him without getting themselves into difficulties. Now they pose a
question which they think will place Jesus in similar difficulties. They begin
by sending their disciples to Jesus who flatter him at first and then pop the
question ‘Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ If Jesus answers
that it is permitted he will incur the anger of the more radical Jews who want
to refuse to pay taxes to the Roman oppressor. If he answers ‘No’ then he will
incur the wrath of the Roman authorities.
Jesus recognises this to be a trick question
and so he gives no answer. He asks for a
coin, a denarius with which the taxes are paid. Holding up the coin Jesus asks
his interlocutors whose image it is on the coin and whose name. His opponents
have to answer that the image is that of the Emperor Tiberias. In this way
Jesus’ questioners find themselves trapped and he is able to say to them that
if the coin has the Emperor’s image on it then it must belong to him and they
should give to him what belongs to him but they must give to God what belongs
to God.
There are two ways of understanding what Jesus
says. The first is that, however much the Pharisees oppose the Roman rule, the
coins are Caesar’s business and he can lay claim to them. The verb that Matthew
uses might suggest that Jesus’ words mean ‘Give back to Caesar what you got
from Caesar’. But it is quite possible that Jesus’ words are meant to leave his
hearers and us pondering what exactly he does mean. What really does belong to God
and what belongs to Caesar? It is clear that if the coin belongs to Caesar because
it bears Caesar’s image, so we are made
in the image and likeness of God, we bear God’s image and so we belong to God
entirely and without reserve. This might be something that we could reflect on.
The reading from the prophet Isaiah seems at
first to be about something quite different. In it we read of the astonishing
message that Cyrus, the pagan king of Persia, who has overthrown Babylon and
taken over its empire is, in fact ‘the Lord’s anointed’. God has taken Cyrus by
his right hand, the prophet says, and called him by his name, even though he
does not know God. It is Cyrus who is to be instrumental in bringing the exiles
back to their own land so that Jerusalem may be restored and the great Temple
rebuilt. In all this Isaiah is able to see the hand of God and he sees Cyrus as
God’s specially chosen instrument, even though he is a pagan. For Isaiah there
is no clear distinction between what we would call the secular and what we
would see as religious. God is
intimately involved in absolutely everything and is able to use the most
unlikely people to bring about his purposes.
We may find it difficult to see things as
Isaiah saw them but we have to develop our way of looking at things so that we
may see the Spirit of God at work in everyone and in everything. It is this way
of looking at things that makes it possible for us to recognise where the
Kingdom or Reign of God is being established by those of every faith and those
of none.
If we now return to the Gospel reading we see
that it is a false dichotomy to separate what belongs to Caesar from what
belongs to God because God is in everything through the power of the Spirit at
work in everyone. We cannot really separate the sacred from the secular.
Everything either contributes to the building up of God’s Reign or militates
against it.
What does this mean for us in our daily life?
It means that we cannot put God in a box labelled religion which means going to
Mass, saying our prayers, avoiding sin and so on. God is present in every
moment of our lives and in every aspect of them. Everything belongs to God and
so we serve and honour God in everything we do if we do it in honesty and
integrity and in love.
For the next few weeks we shall be reading from
the first letter of Paul to the church in Thessalonica.
This letter is the oldest preserved Christian
document and so it is of enormous importance and significance. It is believed
that this letter was written in either 51 or 52 C.E. during Paul’s second
missionary journey after the meeting in Jerusalem. Some scholars however would
even put the date of this letter earlier, sometime between 41 and 43 C.E.
before the Jerusalem meeting. It would
seem that this letter was written from Corinth within a few months of Paul’s
preaching in Thessalonika and it is addressed to Christians in that city who
were probably of mixed Jewish and non-Jewish origin. No serious doubts have
been cast on the authenticity of this letter and it would seem to have been
certainly written by Paul himself. Some scholars have suggested that this
letter is made up of two separate letters but its unity is overwhelmingly
obvious.
Paul with Silas and Timothy had crossed over
from the Province of Asia (Asia Minor or present day Turkey) to Macedonia
(present day northern Greece) about the year 50 C.E. Within a relatively short
time Paul passed through Macedonia to
Achaia in southern Greece stopping at Philippi, Thessalonika, Beroea, Athens
and Corinth. It is quite possible that missions from Jerusalem had brought the
Christian message to Europe earlier but
this journey of Paul’s was a major step in his proclaiming the Gospel and in later
years his concerns would often be directed
towards the churches founded during his evangelisation of Greece.
After preaching at Philippi where Paul says he
‘suffered and was painfully treated’(1 Thessalonians 2/2) Paul took the great
Roman road, the Via Egnatia, across northern Greece, travelling for some one
hundred miles until he and his companions came to Thessalonika. There he
proclaimed the Gospel and stayed, though we cannot know for how long.
Thessalonika was a city with a Jewish community
but it was also marked by many different religions, reflecting its cosmopolitan
character with places of worship for the Roman deities, the Emperor himself and
a host of Oriental gods. Paul’s Letter implies that the converts he made were
mostly non-Jews who had ‘broken with false gods’ and who were largely of the
working class. Paul also speaks of the ‘great opposition’ at Thessalonika which
might explain his hasty departure with Silas and the need to write this Letter
after he had been left only a short time.
It is not unlikely that the opposition hat Paul
had encountered from both Jews and non-Jews went on after his departure and
affected his converts who were unsettled by hardships. Paul compares these
hardships with those suffered by the church in Judea.
In today’s extract from the Letter, Paul greets
the Thessalonian Christians and commends them for their ‘faith in action’, how
they have’ worked for love’ and how they have ‘persevered through hope’
Here are signs that ought to be characteristic
of any Christian community but we have to ask ourselves if that is true of our
community. Paul addresses the Thessalonian Christians fourteen times in the
course of this Letter as his ‘brothers’ (and ‘sisters’) which shows how fond he
had become of them. They were special for him. He remembers how they received
the Gospel message with enthusiasm and how, having broken with false religions,
they welcomed the Good News. Since we only read extracts you might like to read
the Letter from end to end. It is.
not just as mere words but ‘as power and as the
Holy Spirit and as utter conviction’.
As we continue to read from this Letter over
the next few Sundays we shall get some sense of Paul’s real concern for those
he had brought into the Faith and his love for them.
As we noted already, we only read extracts so
you might like to read the whole Letter to savour it more fully. It is quite
short.
Reflecting on the young church in Thessalonika
and today’s Gospel reading we are encouraged to think of our own faith and how
and if it affects every aspect of our daily life. Do I put things into
compartments and keep my faith in a separate place so that it doesn’t affect the whole of my
life Those first Christians gave up everything to follow Christ and it changed
their whole way of life in the pagan world in which they lived. How important
is following Jesus for me and how much do I let it touch every part of my daily
life?
Monday October 19th.Week 29 Year
Two. Memory Paul of the Cross. North American Martyrs.
Readings
Letter to the Ephesians 2/1-10 :
Luke 12/13-21
We continue to read the Letter to the Ephesians
which we began last week and in the passage appointed for today the writer explains
how God’s plan shows the richness of his mercy. It is God’s mercy which makes
saints of sinners, the spiritually dead spiritually alive, saved by faith which
is God’s free gift. God has loved us so much, the writer says, that he has done
all this for us. We have died and been raised up with Christ. All of this is
‘grace’ God’s free gift to us and not something which we, by ourselves, could
achieve. We are ‘God’s work of art’ the writer says, we are ‘to live the good
life as from the beginning he has meant us to live it’. This is God’s purpose,
to bring us, through Jesus, to fullness of life, to full humanity. We are to be
a demonstration of God’s love to the world. That is what the Church is meant to
be, what we are meant to be! How far short we fall from this ideal but it is,
nevertheless, the ideal towards which we must aim. It is our calling, our
vocation to be this sort of community and to do all that we can, as Jesus’
followers, to build up our community to be a place and a group of people where
this is true. Of course, this is something we cannot do by ourselves but with
the help of God’s Spirit, if we allow ourselves to be open to that Spirit, then
God can do this in us and through us. We must have faith so that this can be
achieved in us, trusting in the Lord who has called us. That must involve our
praying together and allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit as we try to
discern what is God’s purpose for us. Our parish communities ought to be those
who are gathered together by the Spirit and who seek to discern together where
the Spirit is leading us rather than just accepting orders from on high and
doing as we are told. Can we do anything to bring this closer?
In the Gospel reading Jesus is still on his way
to Jerusalem and the crowds are pressing around him Last Saturday we heard
Jesus speaking to his disciples but now, today, someone interrupts the
proceedings to ask him to get involved in a family inheritance dispute. The
questioner shows that he has not been listening to what Jesus has been saying
and he has not realised that in Jesus there is something much more than a
lawyer. So far Jesus has told his followers that they must not be afraid when
life is threatened, now he reminds them that they ought not to be afraid of the
loss of possessions. The story that Jesus tells is about what happens when our
possessions become an obsession. It is out of fear that the acquisitive
instinct becomes monstrous. Life seems so frail and insecure that many
possessions seem necessary to make it stable and secure, though, in fact,
possessions are even more frail than life itself. Fear can only be got rid of
when we realise that life itself is a gift from God as are all our possessions.
Then we become free to share our possessions generously. It is this that makes
us rich in the sight of God.
The Gospel challenges us to ask ourselves how
much we are possessed by our possessions? How much do I really need and how
much could I easily dispense with? This, of course, applies equally to our
communities as well. How ready am I to share with, not only those who I know
and love, those who are part of my community but with anyone who comes my way
and who is in need?
These are questions we have to ask ourselves
constantly and in our communities we ought to be discussing together how much
we truly need and how much we could share with others more needy than
ourselves.
Memory of Paul of the Cross, founder of the
Passionists. (1694-1775)
Paul Francis Danei was born in 1694 near Genoa
in Italy, the eldest son of an impoverished business man of a noble background.
He was brought up in a Christian home and, although the opportunity arose, he
refused an advantageous marriage and a rich inheritance. After a year’s trial as a volunteer in the
Venetian army fighting the Turks when he was twenty, Paul spent several years
in retirement and prayer. After a religious experience he decided to found a
new religious congregation for men. With his younger brother John who became
his lifelong companion and helper and a few other companions, after being
ordained priest in Rome, in 1727, the Congregation of the Cross and Passion was
set up at Monte Argentaro.
The purpose of this new religious family was to
live the austerity of the monastic life with intense devotion to our Lord’s
Passion which they would share with others by mission work in the parishes.
Their work with the sick and the dying and bringing back those who had fallen
away from their faith became well known and they were soon in demand in many
parts of Italy. The regime of the
brothers was so strict that many who joined them did not persevere but the work
continued and by 1747 three more houses had been founded and Papal approval had
been granted with the proviso that some of their more austere practices be
mitigated.
Paul was an extremely effective preacher and he
had the gift of touching people’s hearts so that the missions he gave bore
great fruit. From an early age Paul had
been interested in the reconciliation of the English reformed church with Rome
and, though his desire to come to this country was never realised, Dominic
Barberi, one of his disciples, would come to England in the nineteenth century
and it was he who reconciled Saint John
Henry Newman to the Roman church.
Towards the end of his life Paul founded a
Congregation of Sisters in 1771 who would lead an enclosed life and support the
work of the men of the Congregation by their prayers.
Paul died in 1775 at the age of eighty, his
younger brother John having died earlier in 1765.
We pray for the Congregation of the Passion and
their Sisters who support them. We pray too for that which was so close to
Paul’s heart, the reconciliation of the English reformed Church with the Church
of Rome.
There are proper readings for Paul though
almost certainly those of the day will be used. Those for Paul are :
First Letter to the Corinthians 1/18-25
in which the writer speaks of the wisdom of God
as opposed to the foolishness of the world and how he preaches only the
crucified Christ. This was, of course, the message of Paul of the Cross and his
companions. The Cross is the very sign of God’s wisdom wince it is the final
proof of God’s love for us.
Matthew 16/24-27
in which Jesus tells his disciples that they
must ‘take up their cross if they would be his followers. This was the way of
Paul of the Cross, taking up the Cross of loving service of others and
preaching to them the love of God as revealed in the Cross of Christ and his
death.
Memory of the Martyrs of North America.
We also remember today the martyrs of North
America. When the French settled around the Great Lakes in the region of the
St.Lawrence River, they took the best hunting grounds from the indigenous
peoples who were already living there.
It was into this difficult situation that Jesuit missionaries arrived to
preach the Gospel to these native peoples.
These men worked for some years with the Huron
people and had begun to have some success in bringing them to the Christian
faith but because of their friendship with them they earned the hatred of the
Huron’s enemies, the Iriquois. Over a period of eight years several of them were
killed, the first being Rene Goupil who, like most of the martyrs, was tortured
before he died. Isaac Jogues, a priest, was the next to be killed with a lay
missionary Jean Lalande. Gabriel Lalement and Jean de Brebeuf who had worked
there for twenty four years and had composed a catechism and a dictionary of
the Huron language were the next to be executed , only four or five weeks after
Lalement’s arrival. Antoine Daniel went out to meet the Iriquois alone when they
were attacked and was also killed. Charles Garnier was shot down when his
settlement was raided and finally, Noel
Chabanel was killed by a Huron Christian, angry at the changes that the
Europeans had brought.
These men were the first to give their lives
for Christ in the North American continent and are greatly honoured in both
Canada and the United States. They died over a period of eight years ending in
1649.
We pray for the churches of North America and
especially those of the United States at this time and we remember the native
peoples there who were so wrongfully mistreated by Europeans. We pray for
reconciliation and peace.
There are special readings for the North
American Martyrs though, almost certainly, those of
the day will be used. Those for the Martyrs are
:
Second Letter to the Corinthians 4/7-15
where the writer speaks of the sufferings that
Jesus’ followers may have to undergo but, although we are weak like earthenware
jars, Christ makes us strong as he made the martyrs strong to be ready to
suffer for his sake. If we are called to share in the sufferings and death of
Christ, we also share in his resurrection and all is for the glory of God.
Matthew 28/16-20
in which the risen Jesus gives the command to
his disciples to go out make disciples of all nations. This what the Jesuit
missionaries set out to do among the native peoples of North America, conscious
that the Lord was as good as his promise and was truly with them always.
Tuesday October 20th. Tuesday in
Week Twenty Nine in Year Two.
Readings
Letter to the Ephesians 2/12-22 :
Luke 12/35-38
In the passage which we read from the Letter to
the Ephesians today the writer describes in a lyrical fashion how God has
reached out to non-Jews so that those who were ‘far off’ have been brought
near. The dividing wall of hostility has
been broken down so that the community of Israel and the non-Jews are now one.
In his own person Jesus has destroyed that hostility which had kept them apart.
In the one man Jesus they have become one by his death on the Cross and after
his resurrection he has returned to bring peace to all. They are now one body,
one in Christ. They are fellow citizens in the Household of God built on the
foundations of the Apostles and the prophets with Christ as the corner stone.
This is an exalted vision of what the Church is
meant to be, reconciling and gathering together those of different races and
cultures and making us all one. Of course, in all of this we must never forget
that the Church is not the end but the sign of that end which is the coming
Reign of God. We are called to be the sacrament of that Kingdom. How much is
that true of our communities, of my community? What can we do to make it more
of a reality?
Of course these words are also a reminder of
our oneness with our Jewish sisters and brothers. We have such a long and
shameful history of anti-Semitism and this is something which is still rife in
our world today, not least with all those extreme right-wing ideologies who
would, once again, make the Jews responsible for all the ills of the world and
plotting to overtake the whole world order. We must do all we can to dispel
such wicked deceptions and to build up friendships with our Jewish sisters and
brothers. Can I do something here?
In the Gospel reading Jesus continues to teach
his disciples and, therefore, us. He is talking about being prepared so that
they and we may be able to welcome him and greet him when he comes to us. We
must be like servants waiting to greet their master on his return from the
wedding feast. The wedding feast is of course, the wedding of our humanity with
God in Jesus himself. Jesus comes to us constantly in each and every one whom
we meet day by day but so often we fail to realise this. Of course we cannot
recognise Jesus in all these people but what is required of us is that we be
prepared to greet and deal with everyone as we would with the Lord himself. We
must try day by day to develop an attitude of welcome and openness, a
non-judgemental attitude which puts the other person at their ease and makes
them feel that we are genuinely interested in them. How wonderful it is when we
come across someone who is able to give us the impression that we are the only
person in the world and we have their full and deepest attention! This, of
course, also means trying to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes and,
instead of allowing the garrulous neighbour to irritate us trying to understand
why they talk so much and what makes them as they are and so on. This is the
work of a lifetime but we owe it to the Lord since he dwells in each and every
one of them.
More than that, of course, Jesus says that the
astonishing thing is that it is he who will eventually serve and wait upon us,
reminding us that in taking our human nature God put on the likeness of a
slave. This may be an allusion to our final reward but it is also true that
when we go out towards someone in friendship and openness, it is often they who
we find serving us and who prove to be a blessing for us.
Wednesday October 21st. Wednesday in Week twenty Nine in Year Two.
Readings
Letter to the Ephesians 3/2-12 :
Luke 12/39-48
In today’s reading from the Letter to the
Ephesians the writer explains how Paul came to know the mystery of Christ, not
by any human communication but by a direct revelation from God. He explains how
this mystery was unknown to previous generations and has only now been revealed
through the Spirit to ‘the holy ‘Apostles and prophets’. That mystery is that
both Jews and non-Jews now share ‘the same inheritance’, that they are ‘parts
of the same body’ and that the promise of the Gospel has been made to both equally.
It is by a gift of grace that Paul has been made a servant of that Gospel. The
writer goes on to say how Paul considers himself to be ‘least of all the
saints’ and yet he has been appointed by God to reveal to the non-Jews the
‘infinite treasure of Christ’. This mystery has been kept hidden through
countless ages so that it might be revealed only through the Church. Though not
in such a dramatic way, we, like Paul, have been chosen to be the Church and to
be the means by which the mystery of the Gospel is to be revealed and that is
an awesome responsibility. We are called to reveal to the world the plan of God
from all ages that it is through Christ that all things are to be gathered
together into a unity of love and peace. This is what our communities are all
about and this is our responsibility. How much do our communities do this? We
must be the instruments of bringing people together, not of setting ourselves
apart as God’s precious little enclave. Again, it is with those of good will of
every faith and none that we must do this. As Jesus says so often, ‘The Kingdom
of God is close’, ‘is among you’ and we must help to make that a reality with
all who will work with us or we with them. ‘Whoever is not against you is for
you’ Jesus says.
In today’s Gospel extract, after speaking to
his disciples about the fear and anxiety that they might experience in the
passage which we did not read (Luke 12/22-34) he now speaks of what they should
fear, namely the judgement of God that will be brought about at the coming of
the Son of Man. This coming will be sudden and unexpected ‘like a thief in the
night’ and the theme of ‘coming’ runs through the whole passage. What Jesus is
teaching his hearers and us is that to be a follower of his is to be someone
who is expectant of a final coming or a final End. Though the time is unknown,
the coming is certain, Jesus says, so that the attitude of watchfulness is
required of the Christian.
Peter’s question to Jesus gives Luke the chance
to say once again that the role of the Twelve is to be like that of a household
manager who directed the work of the
other slaves and saw that they did what they were supposed to do while still
caring for them and their welfare. The steward or Household manager was
answerable to the Master but also to the other slaves. So too the Twelve and
all those whom the Church calls into ministry are answerable to both God and to
those whom they are called to serve.
This ought to be worked out by the simple means called for by the Second
Vatican Council of Diocesan and Parish Councils where those in ministry must
give an account of themselves and work with the people to proclaim the Gospel.
Though Jesus speaks of this final coming at a
time when we do not expect it, the best way to be prepared is to recognise that
he comes to us all the time and we must be ready to welcome him in every
different situation.
Thursday October 22nd. Thursday in Week twenty
Nine Year Two. Memory of John Paul IInd.
Readings
Letter to the Ephesians 3/14-21 :
Luke 12/49-53
In today’s passage from the Letter to the
Ephesians the writer explodes into a great surge of praise for the God whom he
worships on his knees, the God who is Father of everyone and everything. He
prays that those to whom his letter is addressed will come to grasp the mystery
which he is expounding, the mystery that is the love of God that has been made
visible in Christ.
He prays that they will be strengthened so that
the Christ may dwell in their hearts and they may be ‘planted in love and built
on love’.
The writer who writes in Paul’s name or
possibly Paul himself is almost overwhelmed by the immensity of what he is
saying and he tells those to whom he is writing that they will come to know
more and more the greatness of God’s love so that, eventually, they will be
filled ‘with the utter fullness of God’.
He ends with a great cry of praise for the God
‘who can do more than we can ask or imagine’. ‘Glory to him’, he proclaims ‘now
and always in the Church and in Christ Jesus’. The Church and Christ are
one. This group of ordinary individuals,
just like us today, is destined to become totally caught up in the God who is
love, totally transformed into Christ whose presence we are called to be in the
world.
This is a wonderful piece of writing and
deserves to be read over and over again prayerfully. It is what God is doing in
the Christ and in us, the Church. This God is the Father of all and he destines
us in the Church to be the sign and the sacrament of his love in the world.
This takes our breath away when we let it sink in and realise what the writer
is actually saying.
In the Gospel reading today we have to remember
that Jesus has been exhorting his disciples and us to have courage in the face
of trials and he has warned against the dangers of avarice and greed in the
face of fear. Now today he speaks of judgement.
Although the sayings about ‘fire’ are obscure
we may relate them to what we have just read in the Letter to the Ephesians.
That great outburst of praise for what God is doing in Christ might well be
linked to Jesus’ saying about the ‘fire’ he comes to bring. That fire already
blazes in his heart, the fire of love which impels him to move forward towards
his death rather than deny his message of universal love. That is the fire, the
fire of the Spirit, which will enflame his first disciples and Apostles to go
out and to proclaim his message, the Good News, to all. But that fire can only
be poured out once he has completed his journey to Jerusalem where he will
suffer, die and rise again. Then his Spirit will be poured out upon all
humankind and most especially on the community of his followers and believers,
the Church.
Having said that, however, Jesus warns his
followers that the Spirit he will send will also cause division. This is not
because the Spirit is a spirit of division but because of the way in which
people will respond to the Spirit. The peace which Jesus gives is not the sort
of peace by which domestic tranquillity may remain undisturbed. Jesus is here
fulfilling the prophecy that Simeon uttered at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel.
The outpouring of the Spirit will divide households and peoples. Some will be
open to receive the Spirit and to live lives that are full of love but others
will resist the Spirit and be at enmity with those who have accepted it.
For us we must accept that embracing the Spirit
may mean separating ourselves from those who are closest to us. The test is
whether we can do this in love and continue to love those who oppose us and the
Spirit. Of course, we can also be mistaken and so we must look constantly at
our own motives to make sure that it is the Spirit who drives us and not our
own whims and fantasies. To do that we need the help of others, those who make
up our church community.
That is why it is so important for us to enable
the Spirit to form us into communities where we can share our thoughts, our fears,
our anxieties and test them out against one another. Jesus has assured us that
where two or three are gathered in his name he would always be with them. In
our small gatherings we can discuss prayerfully
where the Spirit seems to be leading us and how we must respond. How can we
build up these small groups in our community?
Memory of John Paul IInd. bishop of Rome
(1920-2005)
Karol Wojtila was born in 1920 in Wadowice in
Poland. With his family he fled to the East but returned to live under Soviet
rule and became a factory worker continuing his studies secretly. After the
death of his father he decided to seek ordination and was ordained priest in
1946 after which he spent two years studying in Rome where his doctoral thesis
was on John of the Cross. He then returned to parish ministry in Poland though
he was soon made a professor at the prestigious Jagellonian University and had
great influence among students. In 1958 he was made an auxiliary bishop of
Kracow and Archbishop of Kracow in 1963. In 1967 he was made a Cardinal and
after the death of Pope Paul VIth. and the thirty three days papacy of Pope
John Paul Ist. he was elected Pope in 1978.
John Paul was the first non-Italian pope for
455 years and his time in the Papacy was the third longest in history.
From the beginning he made it his aim to bring
about greater understanding between nations and during the time of his papacy
he journeyed more than the journeys of all other popes put together! He was
opposed to all political oppression but he was also highly critical of the
materialism of the West. He made approaches to both Muslims and Jews which
opened the way for future popes.
John Paul was fiercely committed to Polish
nationalism and identified himself with the ‘Solidarity’ movement and may well
have had a part in the final downfall of the Soviet Union.
He was enthusiastic about the enhancement of
human dignity and opposed to all forms of violence.
But his attitudes towards both personal and
sexual morality put him out of favour with many Catholics and it was known that
he had had a powerful hand in the persuasion of Pope Paul VIth. to write the
encyclical letter ‘Humanae vitae’ which
forbade all forms of ‘artificial contraception’. His autocratic style and the
stifling centrality that he achieved in the Church were further marks of his
papacy.
Although he became increasingly disabled by
sickness towards the end of his life he refused to step down and died, finally
on April 2nd. 2005.
In many ways John Paul is too fresh in our
memories to say very much about him. He was certainly an extraordinary man by
any standards but his effect on the Roman Catholic Church, though sometimes
good was certainly sometimes extremely bad. In many ways he was responsible for
putting the brakes on the natural implementation of much of what the Second
Vatican Council had taught and allowed it to be re-interpreted in a
conservative way.
Because of John Paul’s personality which made
him a ‘star’ all his words and actions were hailed with great acclaim and not
with the critical approach which they deserved.
John Paul’s canonisation was carried out with
great haste and seemed to come from the hysterical outburst at his death of
‘Santo subito’, ‘Declare him a saint now’. Canonisation is
meant to present to the church those who can be
an inspiration to us and whose example we may follow in our daily lives. This
is scarcely the case with John Paul and, instead of being a model he is in
danger of becoming an idol.
His canonisation with Pope John XXIIIrd. would
seem to be a reminder of how Popes can differ and how dangerous it is to set
them up as idols. John XXIIIrd. is a much more inspiring and a much more
rounded human being in many ways.
We ought to pray today for John Paul’s successor
Francis that he be the leader and example that our church needs at this time
and may be able to undo some of the more extreme developments in our church
that took place under John Paul.
There are special readings for John Paul though
probably those of the day will be used. Those for John Paul are the following:
Isaiah 52/7-10
which speaks of the message reaching the ends
of the earth which may be an allusion to John Paul’s obsessive travelling far
and wide but ought to remind us that the Gospel is not spread by celebrities
touring the world but by the life and example of the local Christian
communities.
John 21/15-17
in which Peter is given the chance to re-affirm
his love for the Lord after his threefold denial and after which affirmation
Jesus commits to him the care of the flock. John Paul took this very literally
but, unfortunately expressed that care more as a dictatorial patriarch than as
a loving father.
Friday October 23rd. Friday in Week
twenty Nine in Year Two. Memory of John
of Capistrano.
Readings
Letter to the Ephesians 4/1-5 :
Luke 12/54-50
At the beginning of the Letter to the Ephesians
the writer said that from the foundation of the world God had chosen those to
whom he was writing to be ‘holy and without blemish’ before God (Ephesians 1/4). Today he explains what is required to live a
life worthy of such a high calling. He tells those to whom he addressing his
letter that they must ‘bear with each other charitably’ and do all that they
can ‘to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds them together’.
He goes on to remind them of what it is that makes them one. ‘There is one
body, one Spirit … one hope, … one Lord, one faith, one Baptism and one God who
is Father of all, over all, through all and within all’.
This is the programme for any Christian
community. It tells us how we must live and in this way others will see something
special in and among us and ask what it is that makes us as we are. ‘See how
these Christians love one another’ was said of these early Christian
communities. Why is this not true of us now? Those early Christians were
ordinary people like us and yet they lived in this special way. What can we do
to make our communities more like this? Obviously, a community who lives in
this way must be smaller so that people really do know one another and so our
larger communities must be broken down into smaller groups and that
is where we must start or perhaps we have
already started?
We must also look back on those words which
define the Christian community, one Body, one Spirit, one Hope, one Lord, one Faith,
one Baptism, one God and Father of all, over all, through all and within all.
Beginning at the end these words makes us think again about God. Although we
call him Father, yet he is over all, through all and within all. That means
that our ideas of God as Father have to be expanded to embrace the idea that
God is in everything, in everyone, in every moment and in every place and that
demands our silence and our awe. What does our Baptism mean to us, just a
ceremony or the embracing of a new way of life? How do we understand the Spirit
at work among us? What is our hope, is it for the coming of the Kingdom and, if
so, what are we doing to bring that about? How much is Jesus the one Lord of my
life and how much do other things reign in my life and in the life of our
communities. What is this faith that we share? These are words that we need to
reflect upon together with our smaller groups.
We must also remember that Christians of other
churches say these words and mean them and so why are we divided? What can we
do to break down the barriers that divide us? Are the things that divide us
essential or are they part of the man-made accretions that have been attached
to the one Gospel of Christ?
The Gospel reading continues from what we read
yesterday. Jesus rebukes his hearers for their unwillingness or their inability
to interpret the signs of the times. They know, he says, how to interpret the
signs that tell what weather to expect but they refuse to see the signs that
tell them how things truly are. How true this is today when so many people
still refuse to take the signs of the times seriously or to do anything to stop
our world rushing towards its destruction. We ought to be in the forefront of
those who do recognise these signs and who listen to the prophets of our day
who warn us about the future of our planet.
The little story Jesus tells about the two
people who take their grievance to court is about the people to whom he is
speaking. They must decide for themselves what is right like the two on the way
to the judge who settle the matter before they get to court. It is urgent Jesus
says, there is no time for delay.
So there is no time for us to delay in reading
the signs of the times and acting upon what we see.
It was Pope John XXIIIrd. who first called us
to read the signs of the times and there are so many signs crying out for us to
read them and act upon them Pope Francis
seems to be saying very often, don’t wait to be told, decide for yourselves. We
ought to follow his lead and his encouragement.
Memory of John of Capistrano, Franciscan friar.
(1386-1456)
John was born in Capistrano in the Abruzzi and
he studied Law at Perugia. In 1412 he was appointed Governor of Perugia by King
Ladislaus of Naples and he married. Taken captive in the war with the Maletestas
and while a prisoner, John believed that he had experienced a vision of Saint
Francis and this fired him with a desire to become a Franciscan. On his release
from prison he obtained a dispensation from the impediment of being married and
in 1416 he joined the Franciscan Friars Minor
and was professed in 1417. He was made a priest in 1420 and after this
he immediately undertook a series of missions throughout Italy. In 1429 he was
accused by some friars of teaching heresy about the poverty of Christ but he
was acquitted. A split had occurred among the Friars and in 1430 John took part
in a General Chapter which re-united them. With Bernardine of Siena he set
about reforming the Order. In 1451 he was sent by the Pope to Austria to deal
with the Hussites, followers of John Huss (1369-1415), one of the early
reformers of the church in Bohemia. They had become a breakaway movement and
were sadly excommunicated eventually. John of Capistrano laboured all over Eastern
Europe until the capture of
Constantinople by the Turks in
1453. After appealing in vain to Germany
and to Austria, John went to Hungary in early 1456 when the Turks were
preparing to attack Belgrade. With the
help of others he was able to raise up an army which defeated the Turkish
troops on July 22nd. 1456.
John, however, died of the plague in the same
year on October 23rd. Surprisingly, in spite of his more
militaristic activities, John was canonised in 1724.
We remember the Franciscan Order with its
various branches. We pray too for greater understanding between Muslims and Christians and we ask forgiveness for our past
belligerent attitudes towards them which
is, in some part, the underlying reason for their great suspicion of the
Western world.
There are proper readings for Joh n though,
almost certainly, those of the day will be used. Those for John are :
First Letter to the Corinthians 5/14-20
which speaks of God’s work in us moulding us
into the likeness of Christ. It also speaks of reconciliation which was one of
John’s special gifts and how we are to be ambassadors of Christ.
Luke 9/57-62
which speaks of the call to follow Christ and
to leave all things for him. This certainly something which John did
wholeheartedly as he joined the followers of Francis.
Saturday October 24th. Saturday Week
twenty Nine Year Two. Memory of Anthony Mary Claret
Readings
Letter to the Ephesians 4/7-16 :
Luke 13/1-9
In the passage from the Letter to the Ephesians
today the writer points out how the ascended Christ pours out a diversity of
gifts to equip the Christian community so that it may be built up into the Body
of Christ, Apostles, prophets, teachers and pastors. Though these gifts may be
divisive if used wrongly, here they are seen as ‘helping the saints’, the title
by which the writer calls the Christian people because they have been made holy
by Christ and by his Spirit dwelling among them. These various gifts are to
help the community come to unity of faith and to the perfection which is the
‘fullness of Christ’, growing up into Christ who is the head of the Body. If
they live by the truth and in love they will grow in every way into Christ.
This vision of the Church which the writer here
proclaims is one where each member has a part to play and where, if each plays
their part, the whole Body of Christ will be built up in love and be ever more
fully his living presence in the world.
This is why it is so important in the Christian
community that it doesn’t allow itself to be ‘run’ by a few people who hang on
to their specific tasks. There is a place for everyone and a role for everyone
and it is up to us to make sure that every member of the community feels
wanted,
needed and valued for the particular place they
hold in the community. How can we make that more of a reality in our community?
We must allow and encourage people to use their gifts in the service of the
community whether it be welcoming and befriending people as they arrive in
church, visiting the sick and the elderly, helping with the finances and so on.
The list is endless but each can have their place and ministry.
In the Gospel reading Jesus is still on his way
to Jerusalem where he will die. His response to reports of deaths in the city
is given in a truly prophetic style. They are used as warnings for his
hearers. Those who died were not more
deserving of death than anyone else but, Jesus reminds his hearers, death is
never far away so that we must try to live in a state of readiness for it when it
comes. Jesus speaks then of the need for repentance, the daily turning away
from selfishness and sin and the daily embracing of the life of love and not
just the single moment of conversion.
Jesus then tells the story of the fig tree
which reminds his hearers and us that there is still time to repent even though
we have wasted the time that has already been given us. But we must not delay.
This message is not one of doom and gloom but a positive one. Each day offers
us the chance to repent once again and to turn our lives around. This is not so
that we may avoid Hell but in order that we may find life, that fullness of
life which Jesus promises us.
Let’s start again today then because there is no time like the present!
Memory of Anthony Mary Claret, bishop and
missionary (1807-1870).
Anthony was born in northern Spain in 1807 and
followed in his father’s trade as a weaver before deciding to train as a priest
and he was ordained at the age of 28. He
then went to Rome to join the Jesuits hoping to do missionary work overseas.
His health broke down and he had to return to Spain where, for some ten years,
he became an itinerant preacher in the parishes gathering around him a group of
young men who would become eventually a religious congregation under the title
of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Their purpose was to
preach the Gospel and in spirit and structure they closely resemble the
Jesuits.
Anthony’s reputation spread and soon after the
foundation of his religious Congregation he was appointed Archbishop of the
difficult diocese of Cuba. The diocese covered half the island of Cuba and
during the eight years that Anthony spent there he established new parishes,
started religious education and worked for the reform of the parish clergy of
the diocese. He also began a Credit Union to loan money to the poor and to this
day, because of the influence he had on the island, he is known as the
‘spiritual father of Cuba’.
Many of the problems in Cuba were the result of
racism and slavery and the Church itself had often failed to treat black people
as fully human beings. Anthony insisted on their rights and, especially,
insisted that interracial marriages were valid and legitimate.
Some of the wealthy farmers forced their
tenants to grow only one crop of sugar a year so that they had to buy all their
food and supplies from the rich and so became trapped in poverty.
Anthony believed and taught that the country
ought to be divided up into small family farms so that people might produce
their own food.
All these efforts made Anthony very unpopular
and during his time as bishop there were no
less than fifteen attempts on his life. In 1857
he resigned and returned to Spain devoting himself from then on to writing and
preaching. One feature of the work of Anthony’s new family, soon to be known as
the Claretians, was the printed word and Anthony himself published some two
hundred books and pamphlets. He was a man of wide interests and he established
schools of music and language, a science laboratory and a natural history
museum.
At the Revolution of 1868, already being
chaplain to the Queen, Isabella, Anthony went into exile with her and died at
the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide near Narbonne in 1870.
Anthony was canonised in 1950 and he is a very
good example of authentic missionary activity, not just converting people to
the Christian faith but bringing them to fullness and wholeness of human life.
Today we remember the people and government of
Cuba and the Church in that island. We pray too for the work of the Claretian
Congregation throughout the world.
Though the readings of the day will almost
certainly be used there are proper readings for Anthony Mary and they are :
Isaiah 52/7-10
which speaks of those who bring good news, who
are heralds of peace and who bring
happiness. This is exactly how Anthony saw his mission as a bishop in Cuba, not
just to make people more observant of the practice of their religion but to improve
their lives and help them towards full humanity. In Anthony and his companions
the Lord was truly ‘consoling his people’ and the Gospel, was proclaimed not so
much by words but by his concern and care for them all, especially the most
underprivileged.
Mark 1/14-20
in which we read of the call of the four
Apostles who from being fishers would become fishers of people. This was very
much how Anthony felt the Lord had called him, to fish for people, not just to
bring them into the Church but to bring them to fullness of life.
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