Mc 7,1-8.14-15.21-23

 

TWENTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)

 https://justmehomely.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/twenty-second-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b/

TWENTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)

Deut 4:1-2,6-8; Jas 1:17-18,21-22,27; Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

William Barclay, the famous Scottish Protestant theologian, tells the story about an old Jewish rabbi who was in a Roman prison. He was on a minimal ration of food and water. It was just enough for him to survive.

As time passed, the rabbi grew weaker and weaker. Finally, it became necessary to call a doctor. The old man’s problem was diagnosed as dehydration. The doctor’s report confused prison officials. They could not understand how the rabbi could be dehydrated. Although his daily ration of drinking water was minimal but it was adequate for him.

The guard was told to watch the old man closely to see what he was doing with his water. It was then that they mystery was solved. The guards discovered that the rabbi was using almost all his water to perform religious ritual washings before he prayed and before he ate. As a result, he had little water left to drink.

This story helps us to understand today’s gospel. It helps us to understand also why the Jewish leaders are surprised when they see Jesus’ disciples eat without performing the ritual of washing which they are accustomed to do before eating their meal. And so the Lord takes their criticism to point out what is essential and this essential is the heart of morality. The heart of morality is no other than the heart of a person.

But before anything else, Jesus does not exempt His disciples from fulfilling the Law of Moses. He even told His disciples that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Mt 5:17). When Jews talk about ‘the Law,’ they mean two things: the written law and the oral law. The written law, the more important one, is set down in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) and sometimes called the Law of Moses. For a long time, the Jews were content with this written law and they applied this into their live as they saw as important.

But the scribes saw this written law as too vague to understand and should be put in details and so this gave rise to the second set of laws, the oral laws or oral traditions. One of them is ritual cleansing before eating and before praying. The reason behind these oral traditions was good, in order to make religion permeate every action of the day. But slowly this oral law began to degenerate into an activity of performing external rituals. You please God if you’re the law but you commit sin if you do not observe.

The pious practices per se, were not bad. What Christ opposed was the attitude of Pharisees that such formal and merely external actions constituted a person’s religiosity. It is worse when these were done for display or to show to the people how pious they were. In other words the real intent of the law has been lost for the sake of merely keeping the ritual. Jesus challenges them that it is not the ritual purification of hands, cups, kettles, etc., although this is important also for sanitary purposes, a person is guaranteed an interior purification. Rather, it is not through this ritual that makes this person clean or unclean. But rather, what I had said awhile ago that the heart of morality is no other than the heart of a person. That is why Jesus says to the Pharisees by quoting Isaiah’s prophecy: “These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines mere human precepts,” (vv. 6-7).

It is not through this ritual of washing hands before eating and praying that makes a person clean or unclean. Eating with hands that have not been washed cannot make a person unclean. What makes the person unclean comes from within the people, from their hearts. And from their hearts come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly, (vv. 21-23). Maybe the question that we should ask ourselves is this: “Ano ba ‘yang sinasabi o ginagawa mo nagmula ba ‘yan sa iyong puso o sa iyong nguso?”

Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD, in his homily, also asked: “De lata ba ang puso mo? (Do you have a canned heart?). A canned heart is a closed heart where no one goes in and no love goes out.  It doesn’t get heart. It is a well-preserved heart with lots of preservatives! Inside a canned heart, there are no disturbances, no crises, no life and no love. How do you know if you have a canned heart? You shut out God from your heart. You hold back your heart-your love from others. You are filled with hatred, guilt, hurts, pride and other filth. What you need is a can opener – abre lata – to open your heart. God is the abre lata of all hearts. Allow Him to open your heart.

How does this apply to us? This gospel reading says to us that we must not identify our religion or being religious with just performing external acts like: going to church on Sundays and attend Mass, saying prayers, reading the Bible or giving to charity because these do not guarantee us holiness. What is the most important is the love in our hearts that motivates us to what do what we do. We go to Mass and we pray to God because we love Him so much. We give charity to those in need because we love them. If our hearts is filled with bitterness and pride, then all these external acts won’t make us holy before God and enter His Kingdom.

At the end allow me to tell this anecdote in order for us to reflect more. There were two monks who were of the monastery on an errand. On their way back, they saw a beautiful woman by the riverbank. She asked if they could help her cross the river so her clothes would not get wet. The first monk vehemently refused. He said that he had a vow of chastity and had not touched a woman. The second monk told her to get on his back and without saying anything carried her across the river.

The two return to the monastery in silence. But after sometime, the second monk was summoned by the abbot and asked to explain the ‘indecent’ incident. The monk replied that he indeed carried the sexy woman on his back and then forgot all about it.

The abbot there then understood that the first monk who has not forgotten and even reported the incident to him was the one who has a problem of chastity. Sinungaling ang kanyang puso. Salawahan ang kanyang puso.

Today’s Readings: Cycle B

Lord to whom we will go you have words of eternal life

 

TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B) Jos 24:1-2, 15-17, 18; Eph 5:21-32; John 6:60-69

 https://justmehomely.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/twenty-first-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b/

TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)

Jos 24:1-2, 15-17, 18; Eph 5:21-32; John 6:60-69

The story is told of an Indian Christian evangelist who was distributing the Gospels to passengers in a train speeding through Central India. One man in anger took the copy, tore it into small pieces and threw them out the open window.

That seemed to be the end of the matter but actually it was only the beginning… for a man who was walking along the railroad track that day. He saw this little piece of paper. Picked it up and in his own language, HE saw written on it the words: “Bread of eternal life.”

He did not know what that meant, so he asked around among his friends. One told him: “That comes out of a Christian book.” You must not read it or you will be defiled.”

He bought a New Testament and someone showed him the passage with Jesus’ words: “I am the bread of life.”That started it! He studied the Gospels and light flooded into his heart. Later he became a preacher of the Gospel. And so it was that a little piece of paper, through the power of the Spirit, became the bread of life in this man’s life.

You see, how powerful the word of God is, even written in a piece of torn paper; it changed a person into a follower of the Lord Jesus.

Words are the easiest and most common form of communication. Great preachers have inspired saints. Great words when written, last and can be read and reread. Words are wonderful things that please the ear and the mind. More important, good and kind words, when spoken at the right time, can heal a wounded heart.

As somebody had said that, words are also the first and easiest means of communication with God. Children and many grown-ups find words indispensable for prayer. Such words well prayed are a means of sanctification. When holy men and women prayed and wrote down their words of prayer they helped to make others holy.

But words can also be very destructive. It can destroy a character or reputation, can harm the peace of a family, can stir up all kinds of violent emotions – anger, passion, greed, and lust and can wound more than a physical blow. Words can hurt too. Psychologists tell us that the way we speak about an infant affects the child negatively or positively. Laughing at a baby may create an emotional scar and may result later in neuroses.

A vast number of words are poured out every minute. Most of these are destructive and harmful. Let us not add to this stream. Let our words help and not hurt.

Just like the gospel of today, the response of St. Peter to the question of Jesus is a very good response in the sense that, like a sword, it penetrates into the deepest of our hearts. St. Peter answered: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,” (v.68).

Of course, the ‘word’ St. Peter had spoken is the Word of God in the Bible that instructs us on what to do in order to attain eternal life. This Word of God is sweet and life giving. We cannot receive the Holy Mass without the priest but we can read the Bible in the privacy of our rooms or anywhere else.

A story of a former Presbyterian pastor and later became a Catholic said that he was surprised to find out, when he began to know the Catholic faith, that Catholics actually respect the Bible so much as the Word of God. They draw their basic beliefs, including beliefs about Tradition and the Church’s Magisterium from the Bible.

But as somebody had said that it is ironic that while informed Catholics are ready to point out that the Bible is “our book,” the “book of the Church” relatively few Catholics read and study the Bible regularly. Relatively few know what “our book” teaches as well as many other Christians do. Hence, the challenge to Catholics today in this area is two-fold. First, we must know the Word of God, so that we will “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you account for the hope that is in you…with gentleness and reverence,” (1Peter 3:15). Second, Catholics must live the word of God by putting it into practice. Our salvation depends on being “doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving (ourselves),” (Jas 1:22). These two challenges, of course, are related because we cannot live God’s word unless we understand it and know what it really means.

Even the Vatican II Council of the Church invites us to put the Word of God into practice in our daily lives. That is why it is not surprising then that one of the four primary documents of Vatican II that we called constitutions is the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. The Latin title is simply Dei Verbum or The Word of God.

Through this word of God, we can have a personal relationship with God and fellowship with Him. We can come to know God’s existence with ease, with certitude and with no trace of error. In God’s word, we find truth, freedom and life.

I am hoping that each one of us later will say: “I am a good Catholic, not only because I am a daily communicant but also because I am a daily reader of the Word of God that gives life.” So how important is God’s Word in your life?

Lord, who will we go to?

 

MASS IN THE CHAPEL OF THE DOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE - HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/cotidie/2020/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20200508_lavicinanza-lostile-didio.html

 MASS IN THE CHAPEL OF THE DOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE - HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

"His consolation is close, true and opens the doors of hope"

Friday, 8 May 2020 

Introduction

Today is the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day. Let us pray for those people who work in these meritorious institutions. May the Lord bless their work that does so much good.

Homily 

This conversation between Jesus and the disciples again takes place at the table, during Supper (see Jn 14:1-6). Jesus is sad, and all His followers are sad: Jesus said that He would be betrayed by one of them (see Jn 13:21) and they all perceive that something bad would happen. Jesus begins to console them, because one of the tasks, the jobs of the Lord is to console. The Lord consoles His disciples and here we see Jesus's way of consoling. We have many ways of consoling, from the most authentic, from the closest, to the most formal, such as telegrams of condolences: Profoundly saddened by… That does not console anyone, it is false, the consolation of formality. But how does the Lord console? It is important to know this, because when we go through sad moments in our life, we too learn to perceive what is the true consolation of the Lord.

And in this Gospel passage we see that the Lord always consoles with His closeness, through truth and hope. They are the three paths of the consolation of the Lord.

In closeness, never distant: I am here. These beautiful words: I am here. I am here, with you. And very often, in silence. But we know that He is there. He is always there. That closeness that is God's style, even in the Incarnation, making Himself close to us. The Lord consoles in closeness. And He does not use empty words; on the contrary, He prefers silence. The strength of closeness, in presence. He speaks little, but He is close.

A second path of Jesus's closeness, of Jesus's way of consoling, is the truth: Jesus is truthful. He does not say formal things that are lies: No, be calm, everything will pass, nothing will happen, it will pass, things come to an end… No. He tells the truth. He does not hide the truth. Because He Himself in this passage says, I am the truth (see Jn 14:6). And the truth is, I will go, that is, I will die (see vv. 2-3). We are faced with death. It is the truth. And He says it so simply and gently, without causing harm. But we are right before His death. He does not hide the truth.

And this is the third way. Jesus consoles with hope. Yes, this is a bad moment, but do not let your hearts be troubled. … Have faith also in me (v. 1). I will tell you something, Jesus says, in my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? (v. 2). He is the first to go and open the doors, the doors to that place, through which we will all pass, at least we hope. I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be (v. 3). The Lord returns every time that one of us is departing from this world. I will come, I will take you with me: hope. He will come and take us by the hand, and bring us with Him. He does not say, No, you will not suffer, it's nothing… No. He tells the truth: I am near you. This is the truth: it is a bad moment, of danger, of death. But do not let your heart be troubled, stay in that peace, that peace that is the basis of every consolation. Because I will come and I will take you by hand wher I will be.

It is not easy to allow ourselves to be comforted by the Lord. Very often, in bad moments, we get angry with the Lord and we do not allow Him to come to speak to us like this, with this tenderness, with this closeness, with this gentleness, with this truth and with this hope.

Let us ask the grace to learn to let ourselves be comforted by the Lord. The consolation of the Lord is true, it does not deceive. It is not anaesthesia, no. But He is close, He is true, and He opens the doors to hope.

Spiritual Communion

Those who cannot receive Communion can now make a spiritual communion:

My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if you were already there, and I unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You

SACRED SPACE AND CIVIL SPACE - BY GIANFRANCO RAVASI

 https://www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/cultura/2011/013q04a1.html

SACRED SPACE AND CIVIL SPACE - BY GIANFRANCO RAVASI 

 Open doors between the temple and the square 

We are publishing the text of the "lectio magistralis" that the cardinal president of the Pontifical Council for Culture holds on January 17 in Rome at the Faculty of Architecture of La Sapienza University. 

The world is like the eye: the sea is white, the earth is the iris, Jerusalem is the pupil and the image reflected in it is the temple". This ancient rabbinic aphorism clearly and symbolically illustrates the function in the temple according to an intuition that is primordial and universal. There are two ideas underlying the image. The first is that of the cosmic "center" that the sacred place must represent, a theme on which the great scholar of religions Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) has offered an extensive documentary dossier. The external horizon, with its fragmentation and tensions, converges and subsides in an area that for its purity must embody the meaning, the heart, the order of the whole being. In the temple, therefore, the multiplicity of reality is "concentrated" which finds peace and harmony in it: just think of the plan of certain radial cities connected to the ideal "sun" represented by the cathedral located in the central urban hinge (Milan, for example, "centered" on the Duomo is an evident example, as New York is the testimony of a different vision, more dispersed and Babelic). From the temple, then, a breath of life, of holiness, of illumination is "de-centered" which transfigures the everyday and the ordinary texture of space. And it is at this point that the second theme underlying the Jewish saying mentioned above enters the scene. The temple is the image that the pupil reflects and reveals. It is, therefore, a sign of light and beauty. In other words, we could say that sacred space is the epiphany of cosmic harmony and is theophany of divine splendor. In this sense, a sacred architecture that does not know how to speak correctly - indeed, "splendidly" - the language of light and is not the bearer of beauty and harmony automatically decays from its function, becomes "profane" and "profaned". It is from the intersection of the two elements, centrality and beauty, that what Le Corbusier dazzlingly defined "the unspeakable space" blossoms, the space that is authentically holy and spiritual, sacred and mystical. Of course, these two main axes carry with them many corollaries: let us think of the "deafness", the inhospitality, the dispersion, the opacity of so many churches raised without paying attention to the voice and silence, the liturgy and the assembly, the vision and to listening, to ineffability and communion. Churches in which one finds oneself lost as in a congress hall, distracted as in a sports hall, crushed as in a sferisterio, brutalized as in a pretentious and vulgar house. At this point we would like to propose a reflection of a more specific nature that has as its reference code those Biblical Sacred Scriptures which were undoubtedly "the great code" of Western artistic civilization itself. The importance that a "theology" of space has in them is indisputable, even if - as will be seen - it is inverted in a higher theology, that of time and history (the Incarnation summarizes these two dimensions in itself, putting them back in their hierarchy ). "The stones of Zion are dear to your servants" (Psalm 102, 15). This profession of love of the ancient psalmist could be the very motto of the Christian tradition which has always given an extraordinary importance to the sacred space, starting with the "stone" of the Holy Sepulcher, a sign of the resurrection of Christ, around which a of the emblematic temples of all Christianity. Among other things, it is curious that symbolically the three monotheistic religions are anchored in Jerusalem around three sacred stones, the Western Wall (popularly called "of the Wailing"), a sign of the Solomonic temple for the Jews, the rock of the ascension to heaven of Mohammed in the mosque of Omar for Islam and, in fact, the overturned stone of the Holy Sepulcher for Christianity. What is certain is that, without Christian spirituality and liturgy, the history of architecture would have been much more miserable: let's just think of the clarity of the early Christian basilicas, the refinement of the Byzantine ones, the monumentality of the Romanesque, the mysticism of the Gothic, the radiance of the Renaissance churches, the sumptuousness of the baroque ones, the harmony of the eighteenth-century sacred buildings, the neoclassicism of the nineteenth century, to reach the sober purity of some contemporary creations (an example for all: the fascinating church of the aforementioned Le Corbusier in Ronchamp). Therefore, in Christianity there is a constant celebration of space as a seat open to the divine, starting precisely from that supreme temple which is the cosmos. A great historian of theology Marie-Dominique Chenu (1895-1990), at the end of his life regretted having reserved too little space for both literary, figurative and architectural arts in his history of religious thought, because "they are not just illustrations. aesthetic but true theological subjects ". From the anonymity to which the great builders of cathedrals relegated themselves, it would be enough to bring out, by way of example, an architectural and artistic genius such as Abbot Sugero of Saint-Denis (13th century). Having said this, however, there is a very heavy component in the Christian conception which - as we said - shifts the theological center of gravity from space to time. And it is on this aspect that we would now like to focus our attention. In the last page of the New Testament, when John the Seer looks out over the plan of the new Jerusalem of perfection and fullness, he is faced with a data that is at first disconcerting: "I saw no temple in it because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are his temple "(Revelation 21, 22). There is no longer any need for spatial mediation between God and man; the encounter is now between people, divine life intersects with human life in a direct way. From this discovery we could go back through a sequence of equally unexpected scenes. Let's imagine running after this red thread by grabbing it at the opposite end. David decides to erect a temple in the newly formed capital, Jerusalem, so as to also have God as a citizen in his kingdom. But here is the surprising negative oracular response issued by the prophet Nathan: the king will not build any "house" for God but it will be the Lord who will give a "house" to David: "The Lord will make you great, because a house will make the Lord for you. "(ii Samuel, 7, 11). In Hebrew it plays on the ambivalence of the term bayit, "house" and "family". God, therefore, prefers the presence in a house-family to the sacred space of a house-temple, that is, in the history of a people, in the Davidic dynasty that will be colored with messianic tones. Of course, space is not desecrated. David's son Solomon will erect a temple that the Bible describes with admiring emphasis. Yet when he is pronouncing his prayer of consecration, he must necessarily ask himself this way: "But is it really true that God can dwell on earth? Behold the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!" (1 Book of Kings, 8, 27). The temple, then, is only the setting for a personal and vital encounter (it is not for nothing that the Bible speaks of the "tent of encounter") which sees God bending down "from the place of his dwelling, from the sky" of his transcendence towards the people who flock to the sanctuary of Zion with the reality of its suffering history of which the various dramas are listed. The prophets will reach the point of undermining the religious foundations of the temple and its worship if it is reduced to being only a magical-sacral space, dissociated from the life of the civic square, that is, from the ethical-existential commitment, and entrusted only to a presence purely and hypocritically ritual. Suffice it only, among the many prophetic passages of similar tenor, to read this paragraph of the prophet Amos (eighth century before the Christian era): "I hate, I reject your feasts and I do not like your meetings. Even if you offer me burnt offerings I I do not accept your gifts. I do not even look at the fat victims of pacification. Far from me the din of your songs, the sound of your harps I cannot bear it! Rather let law and justice flow like water like a perennial torrent! " (5, 21-24). But let's enter Christianity directly. Christ, like any good Jew, loves the Jerusalem temple. He does not hesitate to take up a whip and strike at the merchants who profane him with their businesses, he attends the liturgies during the various solemnities, as will his disciples who will even reserve their space in the area of ??the so-called "Portico di Solomon". Yet Christ himself, on that sunny afternoon at Jacob's well, in front of Mount Gerizim, the sacred place of the Samaritan community, is not afraid to say to the woman who is drawing water: "Believe me, woman, the time has come when neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father ... The time has come, and it is now, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father seeks such worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must adore him in spirit and in truth "(John 4, 21-24). There will be a further turning point that will establish the divine presence in the very "flesh" of humanity through the person of Christ, as the famous prologue of the Gospel of John declares: "The Word became flesh and placed his tent in the midst to us "(1, 14), with evident reference to the" tent "of the temple of Zion. Among other things, the Greek verb eskénosen, "pitched the tent" follows the radical s-k-n of the Hebrew word with which the divine "Presence" was defined in the temple of Zion, Shekinah. Jesus will be even more explicit: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up". And the evangelist John notes: "He spoke of the temple of his body" (2, 19-21). Paul will go further and, writing to the Christians of Corinth, he will affirm: "You do not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you ... So glorify God in your body!" (i, 6, 19-20). "A temple of living stones", therefore, as Saint Peter wrote, "used for the construction of a spiritual building" (i, 2, 5) a sanctuary not extrinsic, material and spatial, but existential, a temple in time. The architectural temple will therefore always be necessary, but it must have in itself a symbolic function: it will no longer be an intangible and magical sacral element, but only the necessary sign of a divine presence in the history and life of humanity. The temple, therefore, does not exclude or exorcise the square of civil life but it fecundates, transfigures, purifies existence, giving it a further and transcendent meaning. For this reason, once the fullness of the communion between divine and human is reached, the temple in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of hope, will dissolve and "God will be all in all" (1 Corinthians, 15, 28). We end our reflection with three testimonies. The first summarizes the degrees of the speech made so far. It is a medieval Kabbalistic Hebrew chant that recalls the various passages to find the place where God truly meets. Here is the refrain in Hebrew, an assonant refrain that is repeated with each verse: hu 'hammaqôm shel-maqôm / we'en hammaqôm meqomô. With a play on words and a dazzling intuition it is said: "He, God, is the Place of every place, / yet this Place does not take place". The second testimony is linked to the figure of St. Francis and is taken from chapter 37 of the Second Life of Thomas of Celano, a Franciscan from Abruzzo. A friar says to Francis: "We no longer have money for the poor". Francesco replies: "Undress the altar of the Virgin and sell its furnishings, if you cannot meet the needs of those in need otherwise". And immediately afterwards he adds: "Believe me, it will be more dear to the Virgin that the gospel of her Son is observed and one's altar naked, rather than seeing the altar adorned and despised by her Son in the son of man". Should we, therefore, only strip ourselves of the temple and its beauty? No, because Francis is convinced that God will offer us the temple again, with all the ornaments: "The Lord will send whoever can return to the Mother what he has given us on loan for the Church". The third and final consideration is offered to us by Orthodox spirituality. A well-known Russian secular theologian of the twentieth century who lived in Paris, Pavel Evdokimov, declared that between the square and the temple there must not be a barred door, but an open threshold through which the scrolls of incense, the songs, the prayers of the faithful and the flickering of the lamps is also reflected in the square where laughter and tears resound, and even the blasphemy and the cry of despair of the unhappy. In fact, the wind of the Spirit of God must run between the sacred hall and the square where human activity takes place. In this way we find the authentic and profound soul of the Incarnation which interweaves space and infinity, history and eternity, contingent and absolute. (© L'Osservatore Romano 17-18 January 2011)

Jerusalem During The Time of Jesus

Assumption of Mary

 

HOLY MASS ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY - HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI - 15 August 2012

https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20120815_assunzione.html

HOLY MASS ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

St Thomas of Villanova Parish, Castel Gandolfo

Wednesday, 15 August 2012 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On 1 November 1950, Venerable Pope Pius XII proclaimed as Dogma that the Virgin Mary “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”. This truth of faith was known by Tradition, was affirmed by the Fathers of the Church, and was a particularly important aspect in the veneration of the Mother of Christ. Precisely this devotional element, so to speak, was the driving force behind the formulation of this Dogma. The Dogma appears as an act of praise and exaltation of the Holy Virgin. It also emerges from the text of the Apostolic Constitution, where it affirms that the Dogma is proclaimed for “the honour of her Son... for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church”. What was already celebrated in the veneration and devotion of the People of God as the highest and most permanent glorification of Mary was thus expressed in the form of a dogmas; the act of the proclamation of the Assumption was presented almost as a liturgy of faith. And in the Gospel which we have just heard, Mary herself prophetically pronounces a few words that orientate us in this perspective. She says: “For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48). It is a prophecy for the whole history of the Church. These words of the Magnificat, recorded by St Luke, indicate that praising the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, intimately united to Christ her Son, regards the Church of all ages and of all places. The fact that the Evangelist noted these words presupposes that the glorification of Mary was already present in the time of St Luke and he considered it to be a duty and a commitment of the Christian community for all generations. Mary’s words tell us that it is a duty of the Church to remember the greatness of Our Lady for the faith. This Solemnity is an invitation to praise God, and to look upon the greatness of Our Lady, for we know who God is in the faces of those who belong to him.

But why is Mary glorified by her Assumption into Heaven? St Luke, as we have heard, sees the roots of the exaltation and praise of Mary in Elizabeth’s words: “Blessed is she who believed” (Lk 1:45). And the Magnificat, this canticle to God, alive and active in history is a hymn of faith and love, which springs from the heart of the Virgin.

She lived with exemplary fidelity and kept in the inmost depths of her heart the words of God to his people, the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, making them the content of her prayer: the Word of God in the Magnificat became the word of Mary, the lamp for her journey, thus preparing her to receive even in her womb the Word of God made flesh. Today’s Gospel passage recalls this presence of God in history and in the unfolding of events; in particular, there is a reference to the Second Book of Samuel Chapter Six (6:1-15), in which David moves the Holy Ark of the Covenant. The comparison is clear to the Evangelist: Mary expecting the birth of her Son Jesus is the Holy Ark that contains the presence of God, a presence that is a source of consolation, of total joy. John, in fact, leaps in Elizabeth’s womb, just as David danced before the Ark. Mary is the “visit” of God that creates joy. Zechariah, in his song of praise says explicitly: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people” (Lk 1:68). The house of Zechariah experienced the visit of God by the unexpected birth of John the Baptist, but above all by the presence of Mary, who bore within her womb the Son of God.

But now let us ask ourselves: how does the Assumption of Mary help our journey? The first answer is: in the Assumption we see that in God there is room for man, God himself is the house with many rooms of which Jesus speaks (cf. Jn 14:2); God is man’s home, in God there is God’s space. And Mary, by uniting herself, united to God, does not distance herself from us. She does not go to an unknown galaxy, but whoever approaches God comes closer, for God is close to us all; and Mary, united to God, shares in the presence of God, is so close to us, to each one of us.

There is a beautiful passage from St Gregory the Great on St Benedict that we can apply to Mary too. St Gregory the Great says that the heart of St Benedict expanded so much that all creation could enter it. This is even truer of Mary: Mary, totally united to God, has a heart so big that all creation can enter this heart, and the ex-votos in every part of the earth show it. Mary is close, she can hear us, she can help us, she is close to everyone of us. In God there is room for man and God is close, and Mary, united to God, is very close; she has a heart as great as the heart of God.

But there is also another aspect: in God not only is there room for man; in man there is room for God. This too we see in Mary, the Holy Ark who bears the presence of God. In us there is space for God and this presence of God in us, so important for bringing light to the world with all its sadness, with its problems. This presence is realized in the faith: in the faith we open the doors of our existence so that God may enter us, so that God can be the power that gives life and a path to our existence. In us there is room, let us open ourselves like Mary opened herself, saying: “Let your will be done, I am the servant of the Lord”. By opening ourselves to God, we lose nothing. On the contrary, our life becomes rich and great.

And so, faith and hope and love are combined. Today there is much discussion on a better world to be awaited: it would be our hope. If and when this better world comes, we do not know, I do not know. What is certain is that a world which distances itself from God does not become better but worse. Only God’s presence can guarantee a good world. Let us leave it at that.

One thing, one hope is certain: God expects us, waits for us, we do not go out into a void, we are expected. God is expecting us and on going to that other world we find the goodness of the Mother, we find our loved ones, we find eternal Love. God is waiting for us: this is our great joy and the great hope that is born from this Feast. Mary visits us, and she is the joy of our life and joy is hope.

What is there to say then? A great heart, the presence of God in the world, room for God within us and room for us in God, hope, being expected: this is the symphony of this Feast, the instruction that meditating on this Solemnity gives us. Mary is the dawn and the splendour of the Church triumphant; she is the consolation and the hope of people still on the journey, it says in today’s Preface.

Let us entrust ourselves to her Motherly intercession, that she may obtain that he strengthen our faith in eternal life; may she help us to live the best way the time that God has given us with hope. May it be a Christian hope, that is not only nostalgia for Heaven, but a living and active desire for God who is here in the world, a desire for God that makes us tireless pilgrims, nourishing in us the courage and the power of faith, which at the same time is the courage and the power of love. Amen.

 

Jesus bread of life

 

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)

 https://justmehomely.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/nineteenth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b/

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)

1Kings 19:4-8; Eph 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51

Once there was a stonecutter who was bored and unhappy with his job. One morning, as he was cutting stones, he saw the king pass by. He prayed to God: “Lord, please make me that king because I am tired of being a stone cutter. It seems good to be king.” The Lord made him a king instantly.

While he was a king he was walking along a road one day, he found the sun much too hot that he was perspiring heavily. He said to God: “It seems the sun is more powerful than the king. I would like to be the sun.” instantly, the Lord made him the sun.

As he was shining brightly one morning, he found that the clouds were blocking his sunshine, then he thought to himself: “It seems as though the clouds are better than the sun because they can obstruct my sunshine.” So he said: “I want to be the clouds.” He became the clouds. Later on, he became the rain that poured down on the earth causing a flood. He said: “I’m now very powerful.”

Then he noticed a big rock that blocked his flow. He said to himself: “It seems the stone is more powerful than I am. I want to be this stone.” Then he became the stone.

One morning, a stonecutter started to cut him to smaller pieces. He said: “it seems the stonecutter is more powerful than I am. I want to be stonecutter.” Then he instantly became what he originally was.

According to Bishop Villegas, in his homily that we are the people who love to complain. We are a people who love to murmur. The gospel starts by saying that as soon as the Lord said to the Jews: “ I am the Bread that came down from heaven,” the Jews murmured to one another. They started to say: “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’”

Another past time that we have as human beings is that we love to talk too much. As one Jesuit priest said to a group of religious sisters: “Sisters, we talk too much. We have to shut up so that God can talk to us sometimes, too!”

“This is theologically correct,” according to Fr. Galdon, SJ. How can God talk to us when we are never listening? Elijah discovered that God didn’t speak in the thunderstorm or in the earthquake or the noise of the mighty wind. God spoke in the gentle breeze. But how are we going to hear the gentle breeze of the Lord when the stereo is turned up to full volume or the television is blushing away or nobody stops talking long enough to listen to himself or to anyone else or to the Lord? How can we listen to the Lord if our cellular phone is still turn on while we are attending Masses?

As Fr. Galdon, SJ had said, which I would quote most of the times in this homily, that one of our most common human faults is gossip. A Sociology book had also said that the average individual speaks about 18,000 words a day – a lot more than that. A lot of those words are not really very important, as we all know, so it’s not surprising that we all fall into gossip at one time or another.

Gossip is careless talk against people and about people in their absence. Moral theologians define gossip as defamation. When we gossip, we destroy the good name of another person. We “defame” them. The theologians also distinguish two kinds of defamation. Detraction or slander is the unjust or unfair revelation of another person’s real but hidden or secret faults. If I tell to my friends about the past secrets of a friend of mine too, that’s slander. The other kind is calumny which is the untruthful imputing of some faults to another which he did not actually commit.

St. Thomas says: “It is a serious matter to gossip and take away the good name of another, because among our temporal possessions nothing is more precious than our good name. If we do not have a good name, we are prevented from doing many good things. Therefore, it said: take care of your good name, for this will be a more lasting possession than a thousand valuable and precious treasures. Therefore, detraction or gossip is grievously sinful.”

Psychologists and Social Scientists also say, according to Fr. Galdon, that there are four kinds of gossip. The first is Angry gossip. Suppressed anger is one of the most common causes of malicious gossip. People cannot admit to themselves that they are angry nor can they express their anger directly and still keep their dignity so they let their anger out in malicious gossip. To cure this is to discharge it in a harmless manner and get busy about something else.

The second biggest cause gossip is envy. When we have feelings of discontent and ill-will because of other people’s advantages or possessions, we are showing signs of envy.  Envious people often resort to Envious gossip with the clear intention of damaging the other person’s name or reputation..

Such envious people are not really happy. Their very act of gossiping only serves to increase their feelings of self-hatred. Actually, they want to be like them but they are not free.

The third is Entertaining or Amusing Gossip. Some people feel they have to gossip in order to be entertaining. They try to give impression that they have access to private information. They gossip only to be admired and according to experts, their gossip is really just a kind of compensation for low self-esteem.

The last one is Insecure Gossip that tries to impress us with its importance by approaching us with a juicy tidbit of gossip. Usually these people have few real friends. They regard all others as potential enemies. Gossips who act in this way are basically insecure. They have an obsession to be liked. This is the only way they have of feeling safe.

The point is that, murmuring, talking so much and gossip do not solve the situation. Let us stop doing all these and talk to God and in this sense we may be able to discover enlightenment and grace.

But what Jesus says that He is the living bread that came down from heaven and gives us eternal life is not a gossip but true. And then there are things we need to be concerned with just before we come to Communion. These are the elements of our proximate preparation. For example, concerning our clothing: Does our attire remind us that we are about to receive the King of kings and the Lord of lords? Or does it remind us of something else?

Concerning our thoughts: As we come down the aisle at Communion time, do we focus our thoughts on Jesus? or are we thinking about what we’re planning to do after Mass? Or are we focused on the people around us?

Concerning our actions: Do we approach the altar with hands folded? Do we make an act of reverence before we receive if we receive in the hand, do we make a fitting throne for the Lord and do we step to one side and consume the host reverently at the foot of the sanctuary?

Concerning our words: When the priest or extraordinary minister says, “The Body of Christ,” do we respond with a faith-filled and enthusiastic “Amen”?

Fruitful reception of the Holy Eucharist makes a big difference. According to Jesus, it not only gives us spiritual strength for this life, it also brings us one step closer to heaven. May all of us prepare properly and then receive fruitfully as often as possible.

Jesus icons

 

POPE FRANCIS - GENERAL AUDIENCE - 9.9.2020 - Catechesis “Healing the world”: 6. Love and the common good

 https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20200909_udienza-generale.html

POPE FRANCIS - GENERAL AUDIENCE - 9.9.2020 - Catechesis “Healing the world”: 6. Love and the common good

San Damaso courtyard

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning,

The crisis we are living due to the pandemic is affecting everyone; we will emerge from it for the better if we all seek the common good together; otherwise, we will emerge for the worse. Unfortunately, we see partisan interests emerging. For example, some would like to appropriate possible solutions for themselves, as in the case of vaccines, to then sell them to others. Some are taking advantage of the situation to instigate division: by seeking economic or political advantages, generating or exacerbating conflicts. Others are simply not concerned about the suffering of others; they pass by and go their own way (cf. Lk 10:30-32). They are the devotees of Pontius Pilate, washing their hands of the suffering of others.

The Christian response to the pandemic and to the consequent socio-economic crisis is based on love, above all, love of God who always precedes us (cf. 1 Jn 4:19). He loves us first. He always precedes us in love and in solutions. He loves us unconditionally and when we welcome this divine love, then we can respond similarly. I love not only those who love me — my family, my friends, my group — but also those who do not love me, I also love those who do not know me and I also love those who are strangers, and even those who make me suffer or whom I consider enemies (cf. Mt 5:44).

This is Christian wisdom, this is the attitude of Jesus. And the highest point of holiness, let’s put it that way, is to love one’s enemies, which is not easy. Certainly, to love everyone, including enemies, is difficult. I would say it is an art! But an art that can be learned and improved. True love that makes us fruitful and free is always expansive and inclusive. This love cares, heals and does good. Often, a caress does more good than many arguments, a caress of pardon instead of many arguments to defend oneself. It is inclusive love that heals.

So, love is not limited to the relationship between two or three people, or to friends or to family, it goes beyond. It comprises civil and political relationships (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], 1907-1912), including the relationship with nature (cf. Encyclical Laudato Si’ [LS], 231). Since we are social and political beings, one of the highest expressions of love is specifically social and political, which is decisive for human development and in order to face any type of crisis (ibid., 231).

We know that love makes families and friendships flourish; but it is good to remember that it also makes social, cultural, economic and political relationships flourish, allowing us to construct a “civilization of love”, as Saint Paul VI loved to say[1] and, in turn, Saint John Paul II. Without this inspiration the egotistical, indifferent, throw-away culture prevails — that is, to discard anyone I do not like, whom I cannot love or those who seem to me as not useful in society.

Today at the entrance, a couple said to me: “Pray for us because we have a disabled son” I asked: “How old is he?” — “He is pretty old” — “And what do you do?” — “We accompany him, we help him”. All of their lives as parents for that disabled son. This is love. And the enemies, the political adversaries, according to our opinion appear to be politically and socially disabled, but they seem to be that way. Only God knows whether they truly are or not. But we must love them, we must dialogue, we must build this civilization of love, this political and social civilization of the unity of all humanity. All of this is the opposite of war, division, envy, even wars in families: inclusive love is social, it is familial, it is political... love pervades everything!

The coronavirus is showing us that each person’s true good is a common good, not only individual, and, vice versa, the common good is a true good for the person. (cf. CCC, 1905-1906). If a person only seeks his or her own good, that person is selfish. Instead, a person is more of a person when his or her own good is open to everyone, when it is shared. Health, in addition to being an individual good, is also a public good. A healthy society is one that takes care of everyone’s health.

A virus that does not recognize barriers, borders, or cultural or political distinctions must be faced with a love without barriers, borders or distinctions. This love can generate social structures that encourage us to share rather than to compete, that allow us to include the most vulnerable and not to cast them aside, and that help us to express the best in our human nature and not the worst. True love does not know the throw-away culture, it does not know what it is. In fact, when we love and generate creativity, when we generate trust and solidarity, it is then that concrete initiatives for the common good emerge.[2]

And this is true at both the level of the smallest and largest communities, as well as at the international level. What is done in the family, what is done in the neighbourhood, what is done in the village, what is done in the large cities and internationally is the same; it is the same seed that grows and bears fruit. If you in your family, in your neighbourhood start out with envy, with fights, there will be “war” in the end. Instead, if you start out with love, sharing love, forgiveness, there will be love and forgiveness for everyone.

Conversely, if the solutions for the pandemic bear the imprint of egoism, whether it be by persons, businesses or nations, we may perhaps emerge from the coronavirus crisis, but certainly not from the human and social crisis that the virus has brought to light and exacerbated. Therefore, be careful not to build on sand (cf. Mt 7:21-27)! To build a healthy, inclusive, just and peaceful society we must do so on the rock of the common good.[3] The common good is a rock. And this is everyone’s task, not only that of a few specialists. Saint Thomas Aquinas used to say that the promotion of the common good is a duty of justice that falls on each citizen. Every citizen is responsible for the common good. And for Christians, it is also a mission. As Saint Ignatius of Loyola taught, to direct our daily efforts toward the common good is a way of receiving and spreading God’s glory.

Unfortunately, politics does not often have a good reputation, and we know why. This is not to say that all politicians are bad, no, I do not want to say this. I am only saying that unfortunately, politics does not often have a good reputation. But we should not resign ourselves to this negative vision, but instead react to it by showing in deeds that good politics is possible, indeed dutiful[4], one that puts the human person and the common good at the centre. If you read the history of humanity you will find many holy politicians who trod this path. It is possible insofar as every citizen, and especially those who assume social and political commitments and positions, root their action in ethical principles and nurture it with social and political love. Christians, in a particular way the lay faithful, are called to give a good example of this and can do so thanks to the virtue of charity, cultivating its intrinsic social dimension.

It is therefore time to improve our social love – I want to highlight this: our social love – with everyone’s contribution, starting from our littleness. The common good requires everyone’s participation. If everyone contributes his or her part, and if no one is left out, we can regenerate good relationships on the community, national and international level and even in harmony with the environment (cf. LS, 236). Thus, through our gestures, even the most humble ones, something of the image of God we bear within us will be made visible, because God is the Trinity, God is love. This is the most beautiful definition of God that is in the Bible. The Apostle John, who loved Jesus so much, gives it to us. With His help, we can heal the world working all together for the common good, not only for our own good but for the common good of all.

[1] Message for the 10th World Day of Peace, 1 January 1977: AAS 68 (1976), 709.

[2] Cf. Saint John Paul II, Encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis, 38.

[3] Ibid., 10.

[4] Cf. Message for World Day of Peace, 1 January 2019 (8 December 2018).