Discipline and denial

Ascetics, mystics and dualism are strong descriptions of people and ideas inspired by the texts today, the feast of StJohn of the Cross, from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. The Book of Sirach, which Friar Jude Winkler comments is a defense of Hebrew wisdom in the face of Greek influences and heroes, describes the ascetic mystical person of Elijah and the powers he was able to invoke from God to battle the enemies of Israel. The return of Elijah, who Friar Jude notes never died in the Biblical account, is understood by Jewish believers to be an essential sign of the time of the Messiah. The call of Elijah to the Hebrew people to choose between God and baal (I Kings 18:21) and the call of the ascetic mystic John the Baptist to repent and turn toward God are signs which Tami Whitney of Creighton University suggests we continue fail to see. Don Schwager hears a call in the Gospel from Matthew today to turn away from sin and from everything that would keep us from following His will. Ascetics like John of the Cross respond to a call to self-denial, mortification, purification, asceticism and discipline. We tend to see Elijah, John the Baptist and John of the Cross as “out there” with extreme practices.  Thomas Merton is quoted to have said of John of the Cross: "Just as we can never separate asceticism from mysticism, so in St. John of the Cross we find darkness and light, suffering and joy, sacrifice and love united together so closely that they seem at times to be identical”. Our mission may not be to struggle with rejection and persecution because of our ascetic actions. The disciple is called to look to Jesus. The Light and Love in that vision is interrupted when we turn toward our passions and priorities. Self denial and discipline are training to hold fast in our mission. 

Intimate vindication

The author of Deutero Isaiah, according to the comments of Friar Jude Winkler, speaks of God in the first person, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go”. (Isaiah 48:17). This text from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today draws us to meditate on our experience of intimacy with God and others. We are inclined to like to teach others for their own good. Perhaps we give others seasonal lessons in how to act in queues or how to drive on busy streets or how to behave at Christmas time. In Chapter 11 of Matthew’s Gospel, from which the passage today is taken, Jesus tries to express the relationship between Himself and John. The disciples of John seek this understanding and they are instructed by observing the action of Jesus. Some of the people in the cities Jesus visits, where He brings healing and forgiveness reject Him. The Scribes and the Pharisees according to Don Schwager are blinded by jealousy from experiencing Jesus.  Who are the people, in Jesus generation and ours, who respond with joy to the message of the Gospel?  The psalmist today suggests there are two ways. Those who meditate on their relationship with God and allow the intended intimacy of that communion to delight mystify and awaken us to our humble and needy position in life follow one path. Those who scorn and scoff indifferently follow another. This intimacy will strip us of the lust for power, position and privilege and we will learn the truth expressed by Matthew as “Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds” (Matthew 11:19)

See the Ark

“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple”( Revelation 11.19) Friar Jude Winkler commenting on the texts in the Roman Catholic Lectionary for today which is theFeast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in North America, describes the return of the Ark of the Covenant as the time of the Day of the Lord in Jewish tradition. The triumph of the Anointed One over the forces of evil in the Book of Revelation is the consequence of the Church giving birth to the Word. Friar Jude positions this triumph in the place of Jesus on the cross and places the suffering of the faithful, especially the martyrs, as participation in this victory. The promise in the Book of the Prophet Zachariah today that God will call all peoples to the New Jerusalem is underlined by Friar Jude to reassert that salvation is for all, Gentile and Jew. The Gospel from Luke takes us away from the “Yes” of Mary who gives birth to the Anointed One to the encounter between Jesus in her womb and the unborn child John the Baptist growing through the miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth. The Canticle of Mary, the Magnificat, which begins at the close of the text today, is associated with the Anawim of Yahweh, who are the poor who are close to God and with whom God shows the victory over pride, power and privilege which is so dramatically portrayed in Revelation. Benedict XVI gave ageneral audience (Feb 16 2006), which he dedicated to comment on the Magnificat. He quotes St Ambrose who preaches that according to faith all souls engender Christ. Or we all, like Mary, give birth to the Word in the world to combat evil. The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe reinforces the role of Mary as Mother and Model of the Church who makes God present so we can see the Ark of the Covenant.

Lighten the Burden for All

The author of Second Isaiah offers praise to the God of Creation who the people of Israel, who find themselves in exile in Babylon, may, as Friar Jude Winkler notes, have become concerned that they are forgotten in their plight. The texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today speak to the truth that we are not alone. The task which the exiles in Babylon prayed they would undertake involved return to Jerusalem and restoration of their life in harmony with the Covenant with God. The ‘second Exodus’ became reality and the strength which lifted them on eagle’s wings and gave them the vitality and perseverance of young men became their experience. The apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, “The Joy of the Gospel”, sets out the dream from Jesus prayer to the Father that they all be one (John 17:21). The Gospel passage today from Matthew resonates with people who face and are living with challenge. Canadian Sculptor, Timothy Schmalz, inspired by Matthew 11:29-30 has created a piece “TakeUp My Yoke” which depicts the circumstance of experiencing Jesus pulling together with us. Maureen McCann Waldron of Creighton University identifies the stress and burden of the To Do list which too often blocks our time to meditate on God, Creator, and Transcendent and our personal experience of having the yoke pulled more by our intimate companion, Jesus, than by our own feeble efforts. Sculptor Schmalz and Friar Jude express our experience of the many faces of which are Christ to us in the world. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit acting through and in those yoked with Jesus that the dreams of Papa Francesco and many people for the shalom of Isaiah extending to all will be our experience.

Looking to the Shepherd

The shepherd is the image that comes to mind when we reflect today on the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. The position, in Jesus society, of the shepherd brings contradictory evidence, not surprisingly, for us to weigh as we sort out the implications of shepherds in the Bible. The great tension is between the tasks given the shepherd to live rough among the animals in poverty on the lower end of the social scale where it was difficult to be ritually clean and the image of the Divine gathering people like sheep. The shepherds who will witness the Incarnation would not be welcome in the Temple in Jerusalem. On the other hand, the image of restoration of the exiles in Babylon to communion with God in Jerusalem from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah today is made most reassuring by the description of God like a Shepherd gathering the lambs to Himself. Friar Jude Winkler notes that Psalm 23, which describes the Lord as my Shepherd, comes from this time in salvation history. Edward Morse of Creighton University understands that the restoration of the exiles was a community struggle. The flock needed to work together. Don Schwager identifies the desperation of the lost sheep, a social being like humans, who becomes distressed and neurotic in separation from the flock. Papa Francesco, in word and deed is exhorting believers to a renewed assessment of the role of the Church to be Shepherd to the lost and desperate. This action will require us to set aside the niceties of social position and comfort in the flock and live the experience of those outside and rejected who search the lost and gather them to communion with the Incarnate who showed Himself to lowliest, living rough in the hills around Bethlehem. The experience of living the Word and depending on Providence is a proclamation of the Glory of God which is centred with the lost sheep and their experience. This vision of the New Jerusalem in the eyes of lost sheep is direction for the Church.

Mary voices our Yes

The Roman Catholic Lectionary for today is chosen to celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. In the passage from the Book of Genesis, we hear God calling out to Adam who is attempting to hide as he came to realize that he has experienced knowledge of the choice to turn away from God. The serpent acting through the woman, who subsequently is named Eve, has succeeded in making the choice to act against God a part of human reality. The letter of Paul to the Ephesians praises the plan of God to call us to adoption as his children before the foundation of the world. This proclamation is in harmony with ideas of predestination in the writing of Paul.  Theologians think deeply and critically about apparent conflict between predestination and free will. It is the gift of the insight of the faithful rather than the scholarship of the theologians given through the Holy Spirit that declares the state of Mary the Mother of God to be without sin from conception. There is difficult tension between, Sola scriptura, Scripture alone is authoritative for the faith and practice of the Christian, and the many practices, in both Catholic and Protestant churches, that are the result of traditions and not the explicit teaching of Scripture. The Gospel from Luke today is the Yes of Mary; Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38) The model of Mary who chooses to be the servant of the Lord is the reversal of the choice in Genesis. This is our daily choice. We are to bring Jesus into the world daily. The Church recognizes that it was Marian before it was Petrine (or Pauline). The experience of the free gift of grace acting through the Holy Spirit to bring faith to the believer to accept the will of God is catholic or universal.  The Roman Catholic Celebration of the Marion feast today is drawn from a catholic faith experience.

Gifted to Act

The Gospel from Matthew in the texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today presents prophesy of John the Baptist concerning Jesus who will soon supersede the baptism of repentance offered by John. “He will baptize you with^* the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3.11). Friar Jude Winkler comments on the attributes which the Prophet Isaiah associates with the king to arise from the stump of Jesse to restore the people to a relationship with God characterized by shalom. These are known by Christians, through the Latin translation, as the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Danger is, as John the Baptist warns the Scribes and Pharisees, associated with the affiliation with God. Carol Zuegner of Creighton University notes that “we have to act; we have to ‘produce good fruit as evidence of our repentance.’” Paul addresses the Romans and us with the assurance that the promises made to the Jews for the coming of the Anointed One or Messiah were also extended to the Gentiles. The fruit of this gift of intimacy with God through Jesus is life in harmony with one another. Pope Francis restates the vision of Isaiah and Paul and the challenge we face to produce fruit today in his ApostolicExhortation, Evangelii Gaudium - "The Joy of the Gospel". The widows and orphans which Friar Jude identifies as the name of Isaiah for those who are unprotected, exploited and do not share in the wealth of society are with us today. The fire of the Holy Spirit does not permit us to forget them and remain in communion with God. The gifts of the Spirit are the necessary tools to work as Paul exhorts with steadfastness and encouragement to bring the harmony which results from justice for all through giving of ourselves to others as affiliation with Jesus in Baptism mandates.