Keynotes for August 2007

August 5, 2007
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ecclestiastes1:2;2:21-23
Colossians3:1-5,9-11
Luke12:13-21

How can we be "rich in what matters to God"? What sort of treasures must we store up? Today we are advised by St. Paul to put to death the earthly parts of ourselves, ie. certain vices including "greed that is idolatry." Jesus likewise warns us to "Take care to guard against all greed." Ecclestiastes would have us recognize that the amassing of properties is a vanity of vanities. "For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?" All three readings are full of negative caveats; but what about the flip side? Which, exactly, are the intentions and actions that we must positively exercise in order to draw closer to our Lord, and hold Him to ourselves? There is a popular little prayer in circulation these days that seems to have the answer. It goes like this:

Help me to remember
what is really important:
that I am your child
You are my father
You love me for who I am
and how I live, not for what I
look like or what I own.

A God who would have us possess Himself must surely be put off by our preference for earthly possessions. What else could He have meant when He told Moses "Thou shalt not have strange gods before me." The quintessential bond for human beings is the I-thou relationship between each of us as individuals and our Maker, our greatest lover. Its that simple. When we consistently treat Him as our Father we accumulate a wealth that surpasses all the world's rewards.

This is the idea that Paul would have the Colossians absorb. He wants it to sink in that at their baptisms they surrendered to a total takover by Christ. Old selves were sloughed off and new, shining selves emerged. That is why it was so incongruous and repulsive for them to continue in immorality, impurity, passion and evil desire. They had to come to understand that their present lives, "hidden with Christ in God," reveal who they really are and how they really must live. By cultivating a prayer life of daily intimacy with the One who loves them the most, they will eventually get used to the tender feeling of the Father's embrace, and come to realize how disasterous to this bond are their practices of lying to one another. Sooner or later, Paul hopes, each one's personal faith will overcome the gravitational pull of the world's pleasures, profits and possessions.

The rich fool in Jesus' parable is apparently much concerned about what he looks like and what he owns. Larger warehouses stored with all his needs for eating and drinking, for resting and avoiding toil, these, he thinks, will assure him of a long and prosperous life. These are the securities that will make him the envy of his fellow man. Jesus deliberately presents this self deceiver in caricature so as to provoke us, his listeners, to the question: If our material goods do not matter with God, then what does? A man in the crowd implores Jesus to order his brother to share their inheritance. The misperception of who Jesus is and why he is there prompts him to fire back the objection: "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbiter?" That says, if life is all about wordly possessions and the contests to acquire them, then what do they need Jesus for? The parable of the rich fool is supposed to help us understand that life is a treasury of shared experiences, a storing up of precious moments that involve our dear Lord, a series of intimacies and bondings that guide us to live according to His will and to become the persons He wants us to be.

If man's occupation is nothing but sorrow and grief,--which is the viewpoint of Qoheleth--then all of us are like Sisyphus, the legendary king of Corinth, who was eternally condemned to roll the rock up the hill only to have it roll back down so he could start over. What cruel god would create mankind solely for such purposes? Ah, but from the teachings of Jesus and Paul we learn that man's frustration does not originate in God's creative design. It grows out of man's own narrow, gloomy outlook. Property and possessions may afford their assurances, but ultimately they cannot tell us who we really are, for how we are to live is still hidden in Christ. And it will never be revealed by greed or lies or drudgery, but only by faith, because it will have been forged by a mind-set fixed in faith.

August 12, 2007
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom18:6-9
Hebrews11:1-2,8-19
Luke12:32-48

By 1776 our founding fathers had envisioned an exciting opportunity on the North American continent, and they were preparing for a struggle to seize it. Declaring independence from a foreign government meant proclaiming to the whole world their unreserved trust in Almighty God. Their immortal words are seared in our souls. . . with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and
our sacred honor.

The fifty-six signers of the Declaration were men of means and substance whose passion for freedom surpassed their need for comfort and security. They put it all on the line, and many of them lost family members, their homes, and even their own lives in the ensuing Revolutionary War. But for their new homeland here on earth, it was worth the sacrifice. Moreover, it is quite possible that their craving for home rule was also driven by a vision of the unseen homeland that awaits us all in the life hereafter. This would have put them in a class with the wandering Isrealites, who were goaded on by the conviction of an even more glorious homeland awaiting them. The writer to the Hebrews in his letter introduces their story with the declaration that

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for
and evidence of things not seen.

Things not seen yet hoped for were the pieces of evidence that boosted the faith of Abraham and his tribes to ever more daunting achievements. That faith prompted them to set out for the land of their inheritance, to dwell in tents in a foreign country, not knowing where they were going. That faith inspired Abraham to obey God's command to beget a son, despite his seniority well beyond the normal years of fatherhood and his wife's lifelong sterility. Later on that same faith--now an obsession with the duty to sacrifice-- pushed him to the brink of slaughtering his same beloved son. Only through these painful ordeals did he discover still other "things unseen," namely that the one "as good as dead [would produce] descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky." From all these experiences Abraham and his tribes became aware that their very lives on earth were an exile, that the better homeland they were seeking had to be a heavenly one. Their consolidated faith kept mounting up, generation after generation, against the trials that beleaguered them. Centuries later the faith of our founding fathers followed the same paths and displayed the same character. Their actions make us wonder, under what test situations today will OUR faith begin to measure up?

From the Book of Wisdom the Israelites held the assurance that
The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers,
that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they
put their faith, they might have courage.

What made Passover sacred to the itinerant Jewish tribes was both God's presignal and the marvelous rescue which he subsequently afforded them. What made sovereignty sacred to the American revolutionaries was the inalienable right of every human to govern himself, which God had somehow both signaled to them through the Enlightenment philosophy of their era and then vindicated for them with their victories in battle. Both groups held fast to their dream of a beloved patria. Both were zealous for the unseen homeland that only God could deliver.

Here in our homeland today, as we wallow in a lavished prosperity, can we still sustain the vision of our Father's dwelling place as the ultimate reward for our struggles? Jesus' parables in this Sunday's gospel give two warnings: one, that the master returning home expects to find vigilant servants, and two, that the household must be secured against the break-ins of thieves. And we, like Peter, are quick to ask, "Lord, is this parable meant for us, or for everyone?" We, too, prefer the comfort of knowing where we stand with our Lord. But instead of giving us a direct answer, Jesus responds with the illustration of the abusive and wasteful servant who is severely punished for taking advantage of his master's delay. For this, the servant was condemned "to a place with the unfaithful." Quite obviously we are being told that we must decide what our heritage from our Father is worth to us, and what we will do to guard it, defend it, and struggle to keep it safe, even while we know so little of what our Father actually has in store for us.The servants in charge who were well versed in their master's will took matters into their own hands at their own peril. Jesus is emphatic about this at the bottom line:

Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

Such a statement puts the question squarely before us: Does our faith in the unseen homeland, mine and yours, compel us to place everything on the line: our lives, our fortunes, even our sacred honor?

August 15, 2007
The Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Revelation11:19a,12:1-6a,10ab
1Corinthians15:20-27
Luke1:39-56

Attendant to the mystery of Mary's assumption into heaven is a rather unusual prayer from the Byzantine Liturgy. It reads:

In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition
you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were
joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God,
and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.
(Catechism, 966.)

The readings of today's Mass tell of the contest in heaven between good and evil for a controlling reign over the earth, and the contest on earth between life and death for an existence compatible with heaven. Mary's role in the salvation of mankind was to link the two contests. Her being taken body and soul into heaven was no mere honorary accolade, but rather a critical function of salvation history, no less fitting and necessary than her immaculate conception or the virgin birth.

The vision from Revelation says, basically, that good will win control of the earth because it rules unchallenged in heaven. In the fantasy/vision the dragon menaces the woman in labor and threatens to devour the child that she is about to deliver. But God snatches the child from the jaws of the evil one and lifts it to his throne, while the woman retreats unmolested to the desert to pray. Her role as handmaid to accomplish the Incarnation of the child "destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod" was indispensable to the Lord's reign on earth so that good could conquer evil. Pauls's letter to the Corinthians likewise presumes the need for a mother for Jesus, for just as Christ was brought to life through her, "So too in Christ shall all be brought to life." Without Mary's maternity, ie. her giving natural life "to the source of Life" there would have been no permanent elimination of death. It is because of her cooperation that Paul can say, "The last enemy to be destroyed is death." The byzantine liturgy suggests that Mary entered into a "dormition" or sleep, ie. a quasi- death by which she was transported body and soul intact into God's eternal presence. Thus after her Son, "the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep," she entered into her resurrection, one for which there was no cause for postponement, for she had been conceived immaculate and had preserved herself from sin throughout her earthly life. It was appropriate that she who was instrumental in heaven's eternal victory over the "last enemy," should herself not be subject to that last enemy in the same way as are all the other children of Eve.

Mary is the best exemplification of her own song about God deposing the mighty from their thrones and raising the lowly to high places, a song about faith's triumph over things beyond our thoughts and imagination, a song about the marvels of God's ways, for "with God all things are possible." Today we have much food for reflection as we re-recite her litany: Mother of our Creator. . . Virgin most powerful. . . Cause of our joy. . .Ark of the covenant. . . Gate of heaven. . . Queen assumed into heaven. . . pray for us.

August 19, 2007
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jeremiah38:4-6,8-10
Hebrews12:1-4
Luke12:49-53

Our baptisms were not simple little rituals of having water poured on our heads so that we could be admitted to God's life of grace. No, every person's baptism is his/her intrinsic involvement in the wholesale overhaul of humanity designed and brought to fruition by Christ Jesus, a lifelong transformation for each person from a sin ridden wastrel to one perfected in holiness. This is the involvement Jesus speaks of when he declares

I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished.

His death and resurrection were an immersion into the human species that would reshape the human race. Jesus did not need baptism for any correction or improvement of himself. His was an emptying of himself so that we might be gradually filled with divine life so as to become reconstituted for an otherwise unattainable Life. This is the baptism into which he will continue to plunge himself until the end of time, and by which he will kindle humanity's ardor for its Creator.
This is the baptism in which each of us must constantly engage: religiously, politically and even socially, as today's readings teach us.

Social engagement means relating, primarily to our relatives. Yes, friends, neighbors, co-workers, colleagues all count, but it is with mother and father, brothers and sisters, our children that we seek the best of relationships. And it is precisely here that Jesus' message comes with the warning that his baptism can cause rifts within households.We see it time and time again. Pressures are brought to bear, favoritism is resented, arguments cause wounds, first from overheated zeal, and then from the separation-unto-greater-unity that Jesus' baptism promises. One of life's hardest lessons to accept is that the love we want to give and receive from parents and siblings must take second place to the love Jesus demands from us.

Political engagement means negotiating; it thrives on all the bargains, trade-offs, swaps, exchanges, tit-for-tats that we use to gain advantage, get ahead, promote our interests, climb to positions of power, wealth and fame. Prophets are stumbling blocks to political engagement. They repudiate its uses for mutual reinforcement. By their eschewal of negotiations, prophets stifle politics. For which reasons, they are stuffed into mud holes, like Jeremiah, or hung out to "twist slowly in the wind." Today, as in the past, our prophets are villified with trumped up charges, such as, they demoralize the soldiers, or they sabatoge the interests of the people. Anyone with a strong character, a keen sense of morality and an outspoken conscience who ventures into the political area is destined to undergo the baptism Jesus was talking about. He or she may not convert any personalities or reconstitute any convictions among others, but is he/she is bound with dreaded certainty to have his/her own threatened.

Religious engagement means bonding, (religare = restrain, tie back; derived?from obligare = constrain). Once Jesus grounded himself in the human condition, there was no turning back. To paraphrase Hebrews, he fixed his eyes upon that cross so that he might accomplish the subsequent joy and glory of a humanity redeemed. And he expects no less commitment from ourselves. His was a burning fever to see us lifted in all purity out of the refiner's fire. And the only way we can suffer through and endure such a reformation is to bond with him. The shedding of blood is an option offered to some; the struggle against sin is his imperative for all.

Jesus descended into his grave so that he could raise us, like Lazarus, out of ours. As his death completed his baptism INTO the world, so our deaths complete our baptisms OUT of the world. For ours is a continuous baptism into his supernatural life that occurs throughout our natural lives. It transpires through all the relating, negotiating and bonding that we engage in. Like a beam of light in a closet, Paul's words to the Romans cut through the darkness to reveal the meaning of Jesus. Baptism:

Do you not know that all we who have been baptized
into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?
For we were buried with him by means of Baptism into
death, in order that, just as Christ has arisen from the dead
through the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in the
newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the
likeness of his death, we shall be so in the likeness of his
resurrection also. Romans6:3-5.

Isaiah66:18-21
Hebrews12:5-7,11-13
Luke13:22-30

God in all His glory is totally sufficient unto Himself; for His glorification He does not need us. Yet there is a situation in which we humans, by doing the jobs to which we are assigned, can make God even more glorified. So as to extend a venue for this "extra" glorification, God reaches out throught the prophet Isaiah to the inhabitants of far off countries, that He might alert his chosen people about those

that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory;
and they [too] shall proclaim my glory among the nations.

Why does the Lord picture these foreigners streaming to Jerusalem from distant coastlands, as from the four corners of the earth? Why does Jesus in today's gospel caution his listeners

. . . . some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last. (??)

Because the Lord would have disciples made of ALL nations, because he wants all those willing to enter by the narrow gate to acquire the strength to do so, because he wants no one to take his call for granted, because he wants you and me to submit to his discipline. The letter to the Hebrews takes us to the core of the issue.

My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord
or lose heart when reproved by him;
for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;
he scourges every son he acknowledges.

We glorify our Lord when we acknowledge equality among men while bearing in mind that Jesus said "many are called but few are chosen."(Matt20:16) We must do our jobs in a spirit of humility. It is only when we submit to his discipline that we can perform our jobs in ways that fully satisfy His glory.

Think about it. The soldier's job is to subdue the enemy and emerge from the fight unharmed. What arduous drill and practice, what honing of skills, what mastery of a thousand combat techniques, for situations in the line of fire and outside of it, have to go into the soldier's performance. An undisciplined soldier is a casualty waiting to happen, both for himself and for his comrades. A physician's practice requires identification and diagnosis of ills, the alleviation of disability and pain, the restoration of the patient to normal activity and function. His objective is, in one word, health. How can he succeed except through intense studies of anatomy, physiology, etc. How can he succeed as a physician other than by an exacting practice? An athlete's role is to win games with superior performances. He has to learn how to execute perfect motions with lightning speed. We gasp at where they set the bar in readiness for the competition; we shrink from their long hours of drills and rehearsals. If the performers of these jobs push their minds and bodies to such peaks of execution and endurance for temporal/earthly conquests, then to what degrees should you and I be pressing our spiritual actions for the sake of an eternal life with the loving Father who gave us our existence?

A son comes to know and love his father by submitting to his discipline. Will a father continue to accept his son--even recognize him-- if the son fails to live his life by the regimens he has been taught? Just a few weeks ago Jesus invited us to "knock and it shall be opened to you." Today he depicts himself as the master who refuses to unlock the door for those "who stand outside knocking and saying, 'Lord, open the door for us.'" Has Jesus reversed himself? No, his words of reply are "I do not know where you are from." Those seeking admittance approach him like some good-time-Charlies or Johnny-come-latelys who want to crash the party but are disdainful of admission standards. They say, "We ate and drank in your company," but all his teaching about the high demands of his companionship went right by them. Where were they when he cured the lame and the blind? Did they support him in his struggle with the crowds and the demons? Did they try to understand the meanings of his parables? From his dying on the cross did they catch even a hint that his cause was the healing of humanity? Where were they? It never occurred to them that he was inviting them to roles of discipleship, to the job of evangelization. They never gave one iota of thought as to how they might dedicate and devote themselves, let alone what it might cost them.They said, "you taught us in our streets," but did they listen or take to heart a word he said? Yes, those who have made no attempt to prepare themselves for the Kingdom will have to ask themselves, "Do I myself even know where am I from?"

If you and I present ourselves like untrained soldiers, negligent doctors or athletes on steriods, can we lay claim to any performance of our jobs? And how will the Lord be glorified in that? When Jesus warns it will take considerable strength to enter the narrow gate, we had better listen. The letter to Hebrews concludes:

So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.
Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.

If we have conformed to who we are supposed to be, and have performed the functions of our assignments to the best of our abilities, then He shall say to us, "I do know where you are from." And our chastened souls shall enhance His glory.