Gospel Reflection 20071125
Humility is the foundation of prayer because it reminds you that you don't even know what to pray for.
Humility is a very positive and constructive way of thinking and acting because it's a reminder that you need the help of others to become more like Jesus. You go to God with your needs, after all, and not to ask God to give you what you already have. You ask God for forgiveness by humbliing yourself and by realizing that you need help to get back on the right track when you've sinned. Being humble you actually improve yourself.
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Show in our Daily Lives that Jesus Christ is Indeed our King
November 25, 2007
Feast of Christ the King
Lk 23:35-43
The rulers sneered at Jesus and said,
"He saved others, let him save himself
if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God."
Even the soldiers jeered at him.
As they approached to offer him wine they called out,
"If you are King of the Jews, save yourself."
Above him there was an inscription that read,
"This is the King of the Jews."
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying,
"Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us."
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply,
"Have you no fear of God,
for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal."
Then he said,
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
He replied to him,
"Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise."
A boy was not doing too well in the public school. So his parents got him into a Christian school to see if he would improve. Immediately the boy stopped watching TV and playing computer games and spent all his time in studies. At the end of the year he was the best student in class. His baffled parents asked him what happened. “The first day I went to school,” he explained, “and saw that man hanging up on the cross, I knew you couldn’t fool around here and get away with it.”
The sight of the crucified Christ might have spurred our young man to success, but the crucifixion, humanly speaking, depicts failure. It signals a brutal and disappointing end to the life and work of Jesus. When Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) his God did not take him down from the cross. When he cried, “Eli, Eli,” and the bystanders waited to see if Elijah was coming to save him, nothing happened. One of the thieves crucified with him even challenged him, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”(Luke 23:39) and he was still hanging there. By every observable, measurable, human standard, the crucifixion was a disappointing end for Jesus whom we acclaim today to be our King.
But Jesus has said that his kingdom is not of this world. By this he means to say not simply that his kingdom is not localized in this world but that the ways and standards of his kingdom are not the ways and standards of the world around us. One of the first people to appreciate this mystery is the repentant thief on the cross about whom we read in today’s gospel. Choking with the pains of crucifixion and imminent death, he turns and says to Jesus, his fellow convict hanging on the next cross, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Unlike the other convict who asks to be delivered from the cross, this holy criminal knows that success in God’s kingdom is measured by a different set of standards. He knows that to get into the kingdom of Christ one has to be saved on the cross, not from the cross.
How often we, followers of the Crucified, make the mistake of the unrepentant thief, of seeking to vindicate ourselves by a show of power, wealth or connection!
A certain knight dragged himself back to the king’s court after a narrow escape from a wearisome campaign. The king ran out to meet him. “What is wrong, Sir Erasmus?” asked the king. “My Lord, the king,” answered the knight, “I have been out fighting your enemies to death.” “Which enemies?” asked the king. “Your enemies on the western border,” replied the knight. “But,” countered the king, “I have no enemies on the western border.” “Well,” replied the disillusioned knight, “now you do.” In his zeal for the king, the knight has been going about sowing seeds of enmity and discord in the kingdom whose peace and harmony he was supposed to safeguard.
Aren’t we often, like this knight, so different from our King? As soldiers of Christ when shall we learn to fight with the same weapons used by our Master? What weapons did Jesus use to wage the spiritual war of the kingdom of God? He used the weapons of Truth and Love. The truth of the word of God is a sharp sword against all the forces of the enemies of the kingdom. Salome, the mother of James and John wanted to add her financial power to propagate Jesus’ teaching. Jesus turned it down. The people wanted to make Jesus king, and so to prop up the power of his words with the power of royalty. Jesus ran away. The sword of the word of God, wielded with love and meekness as Jesus did is all that we need to spread the kingdom of Christ on earth.
As we celebrate the kingship of Christ today, Jesus invites us as he did 2000 years ago: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). Today is the day to ask ourselves how far we have responded, as individuals and as a community, to this invitation to cultivate the mind of Christ in our dealing with one another, especially in our dealings with those we perceive to be different from us. This is the way to show in our daily lives that Jesus Christ in indeed our king: by cultivating and living out in our lives the gentle and humble mind of Christ.
In his encounter with Dimas (the rebuking criminal), Jesus fulfils in a very beautiful, personal way, the meaning of his entire life: to save a person, any person, all persons from sin through his Cross and Resurrection. Jesus cannot save us if we will not accept our sin –all of our sin- and show that acceptance by confessing it. For if we are sinless, we do not need to be saved. He is King of the redeemed, not of those who state that they stand in little or no need of redemption. In a world, in a country, in a soul which denies the presence of sin or justifies it in the name of tolerance or free choice or lifestyle, Christ cannot be King. The truth is that the certainty of death already tells us that we are indeed in sin. If we deny our sin, death will not be a doorway to the resurrection unto life, but unto the permanent condition of a living death, damnation or hell.
In its essentials, the story of Dimas is the story of every soul. We all live with the crimes of our sins and deserve death; we all live in suffering, but no more so than Jesus who comes to our side to suffer with us and for us so that our sins might be taken away. He asks us only to be open to His friendship, to recognize and confess our sins, to profess his sinlessness, to witness the immensity of his tenderness and compassion and to die in the sure promise that he will remember us when we stand naked at the threshold of paradise.
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St. James of the Marche
(1394-1476)
Meet one of the fathers of the modern pawnshop!
James was born in the Marche of Ancona, in central Italy along the Adriatic Sea. After earning doctorates in canon and civil law at the University of Perugia, he joined the Friars Minor and began a very austere life. He fasted nine months of the year; he slept three hours a night. St. Bernardine of Siena told him to moderate his penances.
James studied theology with St. John of Capistrano. Ordained in 1420, James began a preaching career that took him all over Italy and through 13 Central and Eastern European countries. This extremely popular preacher converted many people (250,000 at one estimate) and helped spread devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. His sermons prompted numerous Catholics to reform their lives and many men joined the Franciscans under his influence.
With John of Capistrano, Albert of Sarteano and Bernardine of Siena, James is considered one of the "four pillars" of the Observant movement among the Franciscans. These friars became known especially for their preaching.
To combat extremely high interest rates, James established montes pietatis (literally, mountains of charity) — nonprofit credit organizations that lent money at very low rates on pawned objects.
Not everyone was happy with the work James did. Twice assassins lost their nerve when they came face to face with him. James was canonized in 1726.
Comment:
James wanted the word of God to take root in the hearts of his listeners. His preaching was directed to preparing the soil, so to speak, by removing any rocks and softening up lives hardened by sin. God's intention is that his word take root in our lives, but for that we need both prayerful preachers and cooperative listeners.
Quote:
"Beloved and most holy word of God! You enlighten the hearts of the faithful, you satisfy the hungry, console the afflicted; you make the souls of all productive of good and cause all virtues to blossom; you snatch souls from the devil's jaw; you make the wretched holy, and men of earth citizens of heaven" (Sermon of St. James).
Gospel Reflection 20071118
Whatever your gifts, there are ways that you can use them to make a difference in the world.
Whatever your gifts—leadership skills, compassion, organization, writing, research—you can contribute them to an organization or project. You may become a "front person" for issues that mean a lot to you. You may write articles and letters that will change people's hearts. Not only will getting involved help you to protect creation, but you will also learn more about yourself and the talents you have.
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Treat All People With Respect and Dignity Because God in Them Deserves It
November 18, 2007
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel
Lk 21:5-19
While some people were speaking about
how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings,
Jesus said, "All that you see here--
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."
Then they asked him,
"Teacher, when will this happen?
And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"
He answered,
"See that you not be deceived,
for many will come in my name, saying,
'I am he,’ and 'The time has come.’
Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,
but it will not immediately be the end."
Then he said to them,
"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place;
and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.
"Before all this happens, however,
they will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives."
In the end, everything has a purpose. Sometimes we don’t see it, but might still sense it deep down. Most things achieve their purpose because they are programmed to do so. The only creatures in this world who have a say in the purpose for which they were made are human beings. We can change the direction of our lives because we alone have free choice. And while God’s purpose for us is ultimately total bliss, we are free to thwart that purpose. We can even change the meaning of bliss; we can call God’s idea of good, bad and God’s idea of wrong, right. In the end, of course, truth will out and we will reap what we have sown to our own glory or our own confusion.
It is only at the end of a story that we can fully understand its entire meaning. But the end of any real-life story is not a foregone conclusion. How the players interact with each other and the decisions they take gradually shape that conclusion. This was true of the story of Jesus. Had He made a different choice, for example, in Gethsemane; had the Jews believed in Him, His story would have ended differently. For Jesus, the conclusion was what it was because He did not live His life concerned about Himself, but out of unwavering obedience to the eternal Father. Had that obedience concluded in acceptance by the Jews, so Jesus would have accepted them; but because it concluded in murderous rejection, Jesus equally accepted that. Jesus persevered in utter fidelity to the Father, irrespective of the outcome. The center of His life, His thoughts, His mind, His Heart, indeed of His whole being, was the Father. Hear what He says: “the Father and I are one”, “my food is to do the will of my Father”, “Father, not my will, but thine be done.” Jesus lived from His totally open relationship to the Father. That was the meaning of His life and of His death, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus teaches us that just as He lived and died in that way for the Father, so we should live and die for Him. Those who were with Him on that occasion were curious about the destruction of the Temple, when it would happen and what would be the sign that it would happen. But Jesus drew their attention away from their sensationalist questioning. He acknowledged that indeed there would be some cosmic signs, not so much before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, as before the end of the world. But the core of His response is not about “signs out there” or spectacular and unexpected phenomena. He tells them that the outcome of their lives and of the history of the world depends on their relationship to Himself. What can this mean?
Notice that Jesus uses the phrase “in my name” three times: “many will come in my name”; “they will have you led before kings and governors in my name”, “you will be hated by all because of my name.” “My name” simply means “me”; the name identifies the person. It is as if He is saying: “don’t be so concerned about wars or cataclysms, earthquakes and famines; rather be primarily concerned about your relationship to me.” For it is our relationship to Him which gives meaning and purpose to our existence as individuals and as a race. And just as obedience to the Father brought Jesus rejection by the sin present in all, so our genuine obedience to Jesus will bring us all, sooner or later, some form of persecution from “kings and governors”, let us say “political authorities”, or from “brothers, relatives and friends”, let us say “family and community.” Here the words of Jesus about His coming to cause division come true. A deep, personal commitment to Christ must take pride of place in the heart and life of a Christian. It must take precedence over everyone and everything else and, for that very reason, it can, and probably will, bring us much grief. For, of themselves, human beings and human institutions do not like to be given second place. It’s almost as if they would have us consider Jesus an outsider and say: “it’s okay to associate with Him from time to time (e.g. Sunday), but whenever we don’t like what He asks or demands, then you have to close ranks with the club of humanity.”
At the same time, Jesus makes it clear, however, that He is powerfully present to anyone who perseveres in fidelity to Him, to His way of feeling, perceiving, thinking, evaluating and acting. Do not fear, He says, those who can kill only the body and after that can do no more. Fear Him, rather, who, after the death of the body, can cast both body and soul into hell. Jesus thus asks of us fearless witness to Himself. Persecution, He says, will be your opportunity to give testimony to my name, that is to His person and to all He stands for. Lest we feel that this is too much for us, He adds: “do not prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” If the Christian lives for Christ, then Christ Himself will be able to use the Christian to communicate the power and strength of the Gospel to those who would persecute him. Jesus does not ask us to be heroes and then abandon us to the lions: He makes us heroic in Himself, He gives us the fortitude and the wisdom to be as He would be in the presence of our foes.
Who are our foes and what is our persecution? The traditional answers to this question still hold true today, at least in some parts of the world. The foes can be totalitarian regimes or hostile wings of other religions; the persecutions can be torture and martyrdom or the limiting of rights and freedoms. But there are other foes and other persecutions closer to home which demand of us to give testimony to Christ. There are those who reject the words and symbols of the Christian faith, the teachings of the Church about human life and moral integrity; there are those who limit the freedom of the Church in the name of a secular understanding of freedom; there are those who besmirch and distort the life and history of the Church to weaken the faith and discourage the hearts of believers. There are those who adhere to a modern idolatry which simply treats the Gospel with indifferent disdain. Tragically, many of these foes and many of their persecuting tactics are not all to be found outside the Church, but often inside Her. Some of those entrusted with the task of teaching, for example, replace the Gospel with their own opinions which are born more from an ideology than from the Gospel. When people start reinventing the mission and the teaching of the Church to serve mere human ideals, Christ is again being rejected and His name and mystery are being manipulated to suit a cause without any eternal purpose.
Put simply, the Gospel today asks of us to prefer absolutely no love to the love of Christ, and to love absolutely everyone else for that love’s sake. This condition is possible; indeed, it is necessary if we are to achieve the purpose of our existence. Let us beg for it with humble and contrite hearts and live it with that perseverance which will secure our lives.
Josh is the resident humanist in the neighborhood. He does not go to church anymore. He goes about telling his friends that since God lives in everyone’s soul, it is not necessary for anyone to go to church to find God. His Pastor learns of this and decides to pay Josh a visit. The Pastor shows up in Josh’s house one cold winter evening and finds Josh warning himself by the fireside. Josh invites the Pastor to join him at the fireside, which he does. The Pastor does not talk about church attendance, although Josh suspects that is why he came. They talk about the weather. Meanwhile, the Pastor uses the fire-tongs to remove a burning piece of wood from the fire and places it all by itself beside the fireplace. Both men watch as the flames flicker and go out and in a short time white ash covers the once blazing piece of wood. Josh gets the message. He turns to the Pastor and says, “I will be in church next Sunday.” Like that piece of wood we need fellowship with our brothers and sisters in the faith in order to maintain the fire of our own faith. We need the Church.
Josh is an example of people who go to one extreme. There are people also who go the other extreme, people who see the presence of God only in churches and church services. We read about people like that in today’s gospel. We are not told exactly who they but some of them were probably disciples of Jesus. They were fascinated with the splendor of the Jerusalem Temple built by Herod the Great in over 46 years and lavishly adorned with gold and silver offerings of the people. For these people the Temple is God’s dwelling place on earth and the adornment of the Temple means that the people’s faith in God is strong. Can you imagine the shock on their faces when Jesus tells them that this Temple standing in all its glory and majesty is destined to be utterly destroyed leaving not one stone upon another? As a prophetic statement the destruction of the Temple was accomplished in AD 70 by the Roman army under the command of Titus.
Jesus’ saying on the Temple is significant not only for the people of his time but for Christians of all times. We must remember that the people of Jerusalem who were building up and decorating the House of God were the same people who were at the same time planning to destroy the son of God. If they saw God in the adornments of stone and gold, why couldn’t they recognize Him in flesh and blood? When a temple becomes so superimposing that people are no longer able to see God except in it, the time for its destruction has come. How does one explain the fact that the flourishing of Christendom in the Middle Ages was associating with a culture in which human life and human rights were cheap? Think of the religious wars, the torturing and killing of freethinkers, the burning of suspected witches and the inhuman traffic in slaves. Could it be that the more people exalted the temple as the house of God the less they esteemed the human person made in the image of God?
And yet, that should not be the case. Our faith demands that we recognize the presence of God in the human person as well as in the temple. St Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are as sacred as the temple; that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?” (1Cor 3:16). “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?” 1Cor 6:19). The Christian who, like the disciples in today’s gospel, sees God in the grandeur of the temple but not in other people is only telling half of the story. The Christian who, like Josh in our story, sees God in the human person but not in the temple also tells only half of the story. Today’s gospel, therefore, challenges us to endeavor to see and serve God both in the temple when we gather for worship and in one another after the worship. Remember, we treat the other person with respect and dignity not because they deserve it by their own conduct but because God in them deserves it. This way, our lives both in church and out of church, become one continuous act of service to the same God who dwells in the human soul as well as in the temple.
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St. Elizabeth of Hungary
(1207-1231)
In her short life Elizabeth manifested such great love for the poor and suffering that she has become the patroness of Catholic charities and of the Secular Franciscan Order. The daughter of the King of Hungary, Elizabeth chose a life of penance and asceticism when a life of leisure and luxury could easily have been hers. This choice endeared her in the hearts of the common people throughout Europe.
At the age of 14 Elizabeth was married to Louis of Thuringia (a German principality), whom she deeply loved; she bore three children. Under the spiritual direction of a Franciscan friar, she led a life of prayer, sacrifice and service to the poor and sick. Seeking to become one with the poor, she wore simple clothing. Daily she would take bread to hundreds of the poorest in the land, who came to her gate.
After six years of marriage, her husband died in the Crusades, and she was grief-stricken. Her husband's family looked upon her as squandering the royal purse, and mistreated her, finally throwing her out of the palace. The return of her husband's allies from the Crusades resulted in her being reinstated, since her son was legal heir to the throne.
In 1228 Elizabeth joined the Secular Franciscan Order, spending the remaining few years of her life caring for the poor in a hospital which she founded in honor of St. Francis. Elizabeth's health declined, and she died before her 24th birthday in 1231. Her great popularity resulted in her canonization four years later.
Comment:
Elizabeth understood well the lesson Jesus taught when he washed his disciples' feet at the Last Supper: The Christian must be one who serves the humblest needs of others, even if one serves from an exalted position. Of royal blood, Elizabeth could have lorded it over her subjects. Yet she served them with such a loving heart that her brief life won for her a special place in the hearts of many. Elizabeth is also an example to us in her following the guidance of a spiritual director. Growth in the spiritual life is a difficult process. We can play games very easily if we don't have someone to challenge us or to share experiences so as to help us avoid pitfalls.
Quote:
"Today, there is an inescapable duty to make ourselves the neighbor of every individual, without exception, and to take positive steps to help a neighbor whom we encounter, whether that neighbor be an elderly person, abandoned by everyone, a foreign worker who suffers the injustice of being despised, a refugee, an illegitimate child wrongly suffering for a sin of which the child is innocent, or a starving human being who awakens our conscience by calling to mind the words of Christ: 'As long as you did it for one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it for me' (Matthew 25:40)" (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 27, Austin Flannery translation).
Gospel Reflection 20071111
You don't need to be ordained to bring Christ to people.
When lay people are properly trained in their career or special field and in the Word of God, then we can bring our faith values into the difficult decisions we must make in our lives, including decisions within our workplace.
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The Resurrection: The Most Effective Means to Escape the Stranglehold of Materialism
November 11, 2007
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel
Lk 20:27-38
Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,
came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying,
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers;
the first married a woman but died childless.
Then the second and the third married her,
and likewise all the seven died childless.
Finally the woman also died.
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?
For all seven had been married to her."
Jesus said to them,
"The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called out 'Lord, '
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive."
Many people today think that being a modern Christian includes jettisoning the belief in spiritual beings. But what people like this do not realize is that this is not a modern thing at all. Even at the time of Jesus there were people who did not believe in spirits, in angels and in the resurrection of the dead. These people who subscribed to a certain religious and political ideology were known as the Sadducees. In today’s gospel, some Sadducees came to Jesus and wanted to prove to him how absurd it is for any reasonable person to believe in the resurrection. They came up with the story of seven brothers who were all in turn married to the same woman and asked Jesus, “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her” (Luke 20:33). Jesus replied that it was impossible to understand the life of the resurrection in terms of the standards of the present life since in the life to come there would be no need for anyone to marry, to start with.
Notice that the problem of the Sadducees has to do with how things are in the resurrection life whereas Jesus’ response has to do with the why of the resurrection. There is a resurrection because God is God of the living. God has created us for life and not for ultimate extinction. God does not blow us into life like bubbles, here today, gone tomorrow. No, God gifts us with life even after this earthly existence is over.
If there is one belief that the men and women of our world need today it is the belief in the resurrection. Why? Because it is the effective antidote to the infectious disease of materialism. The story is told of an American tourist who paid the 19th century Polish rabbi Hofetz Chaim a visit. Astonished to see that the rabbi’s home was only a simple room filled with books, a table and a bench, the tourist asked, “Rabbi, where is your furniture?” “Where is yours?” replied the rabbi. “Mine?” asked the puzzled tourist. “But I’m only a visitor here. I’m only passing through.” “So am I,” said Hofetz Chaim.
Let us thank God today for revealing to us the mystery of the resurrection. Let us reaffirm our belief in the life of the world to come, since this is the most effective means to escape the stranglehold of materialism in our lives here on earth. Do we understand exactly how it will be in the life of the resurrection. Certainly, not. For we are talking about “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
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St. Gertrude
(1256?-1302)
Gertrude, a Benedictine nun in Helfta (Saxony), was one of the great mystics of the 13th century. Together with her friend and teacher St. Mechtild, she practiced a spirituality called "nuptial mysticism," that is, she came to see herself as the bride of Christ. Her spiritual life was a deep personal union with Jesus and his Sacred Heart, leading her into the very life of the Trinity.
But this was no individualistic piety. Gertrude lived the rhythm of the liturgy, where she found Christ. In the liturgy and Scripture, she found the themes and images to enrich and express her piety. There was no clash between her personal prayer life and the liturgy.
Comment:
Gertrude's life is another reminder that the heart of the Christian life is prayer: private and liturgical, ordinary or mystical, always personal.
Quote:
"Lord, you have granted me your secret friendship by opening the sacred ark of your divinity, your deified heart, to me in so many ways as to be the source of all my happiness; sometimes imparting it freely, sometimes as a special mark of our mutual friendship. You have so often melted my soul with your loving caresses that, if I did not know the abyss of your overflowing condescensions, I should be amazed were I told that even your Blessed Mother had been chosen to receive such extraordinary marks of tenderness and affection" (Adapted from The Life and Revelations of Saint Gertrude).
Gospel Reflection 20071104
There can be no relationship without communication, which is always a two- way street: talking and listening.
Communication is the basis for friendship with other people and with God. In relating to God, most of us are used to doing all the talking. Without ever saying so, we act as if God's only role is to be quiet and to listen. That is, of course, an important part of what prayer is all about. But it's not the whole picture. God also has something to say to us which we can't hear until we get quiet and listen.
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Spread the Gospel to ALL People
November 4, 2007
Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 19: 1-10
At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house."
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
"He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over."
And Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost."
Boris Becker was the world’s number one tennis star. At the height of his tennis career, he had won Wimbledon twice, once as the youngest player. He was rich and could afford all the material comfort and luxury he wanted. Yet he was an unhappy man. In spite of all his achievements, his life was so empty and meaningless that he contemplated suicide. “I had no inner peace,” he said. Becker is not alone in this feeling of emptiness. Many successful people who have ignored the inner life have felt that way. According to J. Oswald Sanders in his book Facing Loneliness, “The millionaire is usually a lonely man and the comedian is often more unhappy than his audience.” Jack Higgens, author of such successful novels as The Eagle Has Landed, was asked what he would like to have known as a boy. His answer: “That when you get to the top, there’s nothing there.”
Who else would have known this than Zacchaeus in today’s gospel? As the chief tax collector of the city of Jericho, Zacchaeus would have been stinking rich by those days’ standards. The chief tax collector was not a worker on a fixed salary, he was the sole proprietor of a business enterprise. The Roman administration would levy a city the amount of money they expected the city to contribute in a year. The chief tax collector would pay that amount to the Roman authorities and then have the sole right and freedom to impose and collect taxes from the inhabitants of the city. He himself determined how much each person would pay. He would employ the actual tax collection agents to go round and take the taxes. Whatever money they collected over and above the lump sum he paid to the Roman administrator was his profit. Though the chief tax collector made a lot of money, he was hated in the city, not only because he overtaxed the people, but also because he was helping the pagan Romans to exploit his own people. He was regarded as a public sinner, as a traitor and as someone unclean before God. You can see that, although he was financially well to do, the chief tax collector lived a life of loneliness, alienated from his own people and alienated from God.
Zacchaeus was fascinated with Jesus, this poor Galilean who enjoyed the goodwill and the loyalty of the people. What was his secret? Zacchaeus would love to find out. But how could a wealthy man of his stature be seen in the crowd with the same people he has milked year after year to amass his wealth. He thought of a way to see Jesus without anybody seeing him. He would climb a tree and hide himself up there. This was something below him to do, for tree climbing was something for only boys and slaves. Someone in the crowd must have spotted him first. Can you imagine the shame and embarrassment he must have felt to be spotted up on that tree? The people must have jeered at him. But the jeering stopped as Jesus looked at Zacchaeus up there on the tree and spoke: “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). He hurried down the tree with a big smile on his face and the crowd made way for him as we went to hug Jesus and lead the way to his house.
At the dinner Jesus did not preach to Zacchaeus that he must repent or go to hell. But his non-judgmental and unconditional acceptance of the sinful Zacchaeus spoke more eloquently to his heart than the best sermon ever could. Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord in full view of everybody, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much” (verse 8). By giving half of his wealth to the poor and using the other half to repay fourfold all those he had defrauded, Zacchaeus’ wealth would be all but gone. Who needs all that money when you have found a meaningful life?
There are many Zacchaeus-men and women hiding on the tree under which we pass everyday. Jesus challenges us to look up and invite them to a meal. We must take the first step to reach out to them because many of them have been so intimidated by religious enthusiasts that they have resigned themselves to their fate. When we invite them with unconditional and non-judgmental love to share a meal with us or have a drink with us, we might be surprised to see that we are spreading the Good News of God’s love in a way that touches their hearts more than any amount of preaching can do.
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St. Martin de Porres
(1579-1639)
"Father unknown" is the cold legal phrase sometimes used on baptismal records. "Half-breed" or "war souvenir" is the cruel name inflicted by those of "pure" blood. Like many others, Martin might have grown to be a bitter man, but he did not. It was said that even as a child he gave his heart and his goods to the poor and despised.
He was the illegitimate son of a freed woman of Panama, probably black but also possibly of Native American stock, and a Spanish grandee of Lima, Peru. He inherited the features and dark complexion of his mother. That irked his father, who finally acknowledged his son after eight years. After the birth of a sister, the father abandoned the family. Martin was reared in poverty, locked into a low level of Lima's society.
At 12 his mother apprenticed him to a barber-surgeon. He learned how to cut hair and also how to draw blood (a standard medical treatment then), care for wounds and prepare and administer medicines.
After a few years in this medical apostolate, Martin applied to the Dominicans to be a "lay helper," not feeling himself worthy to be a religious brother. After nine years, the example of his prayer and penance, charity and humility led the community to request him to make full religious profession. Many of his nights were spent in prayer and penitential practices; his days were filled with nursing the sick and caring for the poor. It was particularly impressive that he treated all people regardless of their color, race or status. He was instrumental in founding an orphanage, took care of slaves brought from Africa and managed the daily alms of the priory with practicality as well as generosity. He became the procurator for both priory and city, whether it was a matter of "blankets, shirts, candles, candy, miracles or prayers!" When his priory was in debt, he said, "I am only a poor mulatto. Sell me. I am the property of the order. Sell me."
Side by side with his daily work in the kitchen, laundry and infirmary, Martin's life reflected God's extraordinary gifts: ecstasies that lifted him into the air, light filling the room where he prayed, bilocation, miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures and a remarkable rapport with animals. His charity extended to beasts of the field and even to the vermin of the kitchen. He would excuse the raids of mice and rats on the grounds that they were underfed; he kept stray cats and dogs at his sister's house.
He became a formidable fundraiser, obtaining thousands of dollars for dowries for poor girls so that they could marry or enter a convent.
Many of his fellow religious took him as their spiritual director, but he continued to call himself a "poor slave." He was a good friend of another Dominican saint of Peru, Rose of Lima.
Comment:
Racism is a sin almost nobody confesses. Like pollution, it is a "sin of the world" that is everybody's responsibility but apparently nobody's fault. One could hardly imagine a more fitting patron of Christian forgiveness (on the part of those discriminated against) and Christian justice (on the part of reformed racists) than Martin de Porres.
Quote:
Pope John XXIII remarked at the canonization of Martin (May 6, 1962), "He excused the faults of others. He forgave the bitterest injuries, convinced that he deserved much severer punishments on account of his own sins. He tried with all his might to redeem the guilty; lovingly he comforted the sick; he provided food, clothing and medicine for the poor; he helped, as best he could, farm laborers and Negroes, as well as mulattoes, who were looked upon at that time as akin to slaves: thus he deserved to be called by the name the people gave him: 'Martin of Charity.'"
