My Yoke is Easy

                       22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

                    

 

       

In today’s first reading Moses commands the people of Israel to observe the statutes and decrees of the Lord. He says,

 

Observe them carefully,

for thus will you give evidence 

of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, 

who will hear of all these statutes and say

‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’

 

We live in a world today where people do not like rules and regulations. In many cases this attitude springs from our love of liberty and self-determination. But it can also happen that rules and regulations become outmoded and fail to achieve their original purpose. A respect for custom and tradition can be a good thing but sometimes we can take it to extremes.

 

The Pharisees and scribes made up a small percentage of the Jewish population but Jesus singled them out for most of his criticism. Not only were they noted for their slavish devotion to all the precepts of the Law, but also they were quick to criticize those who did not measure up to their high standards. Time and time again Jesus rebukes them for laying heavy, even impossible burdens on people.

 

In today’s gospel the Pharisees had criticized the disciples of Jesus for not washing their hands before eating in that same way that parents today might criticize their own children. Now, there is nothing wrong with washing before meals. It is what Jesus called a human precept or tradition. It serves a very basic sanitary purpose but it is not a divine command.

 

Moreover, when the Pharisees measured themselves and others by their adherence to such rules and rituals, they ignored much more important things. Jesus called them hypocrites: they said one thing but did another. He quoted the prophet Isaiah:

 

This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines human precepts.

 

The Pharisees are still with us today. Indeed, we can say that we all have some Pharisee within us. Just the fact that it is so easy to judge other people is a sign. Jesus told us “to judge not, that you may not be judged,” but that does not stop us from judging. How often do we blame or criticize others when we don’t know the whole story or both sides of the issue?

 

We Catholics are especially prone to elevating human precepts and traditions into divine commandments. We tend to think that the prayers and rituals of our childhood are the only way to worship. It is hard for us to understand that as times change, even beautiful devotions can become obsolete. We rightfully fill our churches with beautiful paintings and statues but not only can they become outmoded but also our devotion to them can obscure their real purpose.

 

We can follow all the rules and regulations but what good does it do if from our hearts “come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, and folly?”

 

Jesus gave very few commands and said that his yoke was easy and his burden light. About worship, he offered thanks and gave us his flesh and blood on Calvary and in the Mass, which he told us to do in memory of Him. His simple commands were to love God, and one another: a love that meant serving one another.

 

In today’s second reading, the Apostle James, one of his closest followers, gave the definition of true religion.

 

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:

to care for orphans and widows in their affliction

and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

 

 

###

Reading 1.  Deuteronomy 4: 1-2, 6-8

Reading II. James 1: 17-18, 21b -22, 27

Gospel. Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (All these evils come from within)

To Whom Shall We Go?

                      21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

                      B cycle

 

       

In today’s first reading Joshua, the successor of Moses, presents the people of Israel with a choice. 

 

If it does not please you to serve the Lord,

Decide today whom you will serve,

The gods your fathers served beyond the River

Or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling.

 

Today, Joshua might have included the gods of the Americans that we are all being asked to serve. We may not think of them as gods in the traditional sense but we are being tempted every day to turn away from the Lord and our values in the service of things that are strange and alien. Just like the people in Joshua’s time, we have to make a very important choice. 

 

In today’s gospel reading Jesus also presents his followers with a choice. This year most of the gospel readings are from the Gospel of Mark. But since that gospel is so short, the Church supplements it with the long passage from the Gospel of John that is often called the “bread of life” discourse. It seems like all summer Jesus has been talking about the living bread that will give eternal life, and not just food for a day.

 

In last week’s gospel Jesus had said,

 

Amen, amen, I say to you,

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood

You do not have life within you….

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,

Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

 

These words, coming right before the start of today’s gospel passage, were the ones the disciples found so shocking. This was the saying they murmured about. They said, “this saying is hard, who can accept it?” The disciples have not been the only ones to find this saying hard to believe. Not only is it hard to believe that Jesus would give his body and blood for us on the Cross, but also it is hard to believe that right before his Passion, he would give us his body and blood in the Eucharist.

 

So today while so many people are coming to the Eucharist all over the world and sometimes even being persecuted for their belief, many are turning away because it is hard. Also, all that goes with it is hard to accept. 

 

One of the things that many find hard to accept is the passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians that we heard today about husbands and wives. How are we to understand this reading especially that controversial passage where St. Paul says, "Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord." 

 

We could say that Paul, like so many of his contemporaries, was a "sexist" who thought that women were second-class citizens. You could also say that since Paul never married, he knew nothing about the actual relationship of a man and a woman in marriage or the way they would arrange responsibility in a household even then.

 

However, you could also say that Paul was dealing in this section with a very practical problem that had arisen in the early Christian churches, especially among the Gentiles. It would appear that the new faith was especially attractive to women. Scholars tell us that in pagan families it was often the woman who first converted to Christianity, and then subsequently brought their husbands and families into the fold. This is not unusual even in our time.

 

However, there were cases where the husband would not convert, and women in this situation wondered what to do. Should they stay with their pagan husbands or should they leave? Paul always urges them to remain faithful to their marriage vows. He knew that there was no social safety net for these women outside of marriage but he also argued that they would be better able to bring their husbands and families to believe by remaining married.

 

Finally, I think you could say that St. Paul is preaching a revolutionary new doctrine here. Let's concentrate on his advice to the men. "Husbands, love your wives." It is hard for us to realize that in the ancient world, love of a husband for his wife was not the ideal. Our idea of a young couple falling in love and dedicating their whole lives to one another was an alien idea in the ancient world. At that time and for centuries after marriages were arranged between families. A young woman or girl might only meet her future husband, often an older man, for the first time at their engagement. A woman was little more than a childbearing machine. If she could not bear children, her husband was obligated to divorce her. As far as romantic feeling or sexual pleasure was concerned, a man usually found that outside of the bonds of matrimony.

 

Despite today's popular opinion, Christianity elevated the role of women not only in society but also in the eyes of her husband. St. Paul understood the teaching of Christ to mean that Christian men must give up their whole lives for their wives and families, a rare thing in any time. Today, one would have to be blind not to see that so many men have given up on even the thought of marriage and the self-sacrificing love it demands.

 

Despite our material wealth and possessions we all, young and old, male and female, will still have to face a choice similar to that faced by the Israelites in the desert at the time of Moses, or the disciples in the time of Jesus. Who or what will we serve? Who or what will we pledge our allegiance to? 

 

Joshua said, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” When many of the disciples left Jesus and turned their backs on the bread of life, He asked the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”

 

St. Peter’s response is a guide for all of us:

 

Master, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

 

### 

Reading 1.  Joshua 24: 1-2a, 15-17, 18b

Reading II. Ephesians 5: 21-32

Gospel. John 6: 60-69 (to whom shall we go?)

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

                                                                                               

                    

 

 

 

In 1950 when the world was still recovering from the ravages of the Second World War, Pope Pius XII promulgated the doctrine which we celebrate today, the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Now Catholics didn't start believing in the Assumption only in 1950. Think of how many churches were constructed before 1950 dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. Belief in Mary's Assumption can be found in the writings of the early Church Fathers and for centuries artists have delighted in rendering the scene of Mary being taken up into Heaven.

 

Catholics have always loved images of Mary. In today's first reading we have the famous image from the Book of Revelation of "the woman clothed with the sun" who was about to give birth to a son, "destined to rule all the nations." In today's gospel we have St. Luke's famous account of the Visitation. Almost immediately after the Annunciation Mary embarks on a journey to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who is herself expecting. Artists have loved to portray this tender scene of the meeting of the two women. The young Mary, barely pregnant, greets her elder cousin whose pregnancy is well advanced.

 

St. Luke is the only evangelist to describe this meeting but, of course, he wasn't present. How did he get his information? It's possible that he was merely relating an earlier oral tradition and giving us an account of what the early Church believed Mary would have said on this occasion. Perhaps he talked with the Blessed Mother herself after the death and resurrection of her Son. In that event, this passage would represent her profound recollection of the Visitation in the light of everything that came after.

 

Nevertheless, what image does St. Luke give us of Mary? We certainly can not take from his account that Mary was a bewildered, frightened teenager. The very name, Mary or Miriam, means "the exalted one." Scholars tell us that the expression "leaped for joy" is only used in the Bible when one is in the presence of the Almighty, such as the time King David danced in front of the Ark of the Covenant. Elizabeth's greeting,

 

       Blessed are you among women,

       and blessed is the fruit of your womb...

 

that we repeat every day in the "Hail Mary," proclaims that from Mary will come the Savior of the world.

 

The beautiful prayer of Mary that we call the Magnificat is a collection of verses from many sources in the Hebrew scriptures, especially the Psalms, those beautiful hymns of praise. We all know the beginning,

 

       My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

       my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

       for he has looked upon his lowly servant.

       From this day all generations will call me blessed:

 

This is the song of a great Queen who has accepted a great mission. 

 

In artistic renderings of the Immaculate Conception Mary is portrayed as the woman clothed with the Sun, with the Moon at her feet, and stars in her crown. Her dress is white but she is covered with a blue mantle. Ordinarily, she is pictured with a red dress covered with the blue mantle. Now "red" is the symbol of earth or humanity, but "blue" is the symbol of divinity. The artists follow the teaching of the Church. Mary is human but she has been cloaked with immortality. In the vigil Mass for today's feast, the words of St. Paul apply not only to Mary but to any who put on the mantle of her Son.

 

       When that which is mortal clothes itself with immortality,

       then the word that is written shall come about:

       'Death is swallowed up in victory.

       Where, O death, is your victory?

       Where, O death, is your sting?

I have never forgotten the scene in the “Great Divorce,” a little known book by C. S. Lewis, a great Christian apologist. The book has a Twilight Zone feel since the main character boards an ordinary bus one day but the next stop is Heaven. Once there, a guide takes him around and at one point they come upon a magnificent procession where the participants are praising an incredibly beautiful and majestic woman. The man asks the guide, “Is that her?” meaning Mary. The guide answers, “No, that’s Mary so and so, in life a London washerwoman.

In fact, I have met many women, and men also, who are like both the Marys. They have heard the message from God and responded as the first Mary. My own mother died when I was only 11 years old, but my grandmother and aunt quickly stepped into the breach to assist in the upbringing of two younger brothers and myself. Their souls also “magnified” the Lord. Today, I still see many others who echo the words of Mary. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.” 

 

###

*The image, from a stained glass window in Our Lady of the Assumption church in Fairfield, CT. represents the Crowning of Mary in Heaven. The church was dedicated in 1940. Click on image to enlarge.

Reading 1. Revelation 11: 19a; 12: 1-6a, 10ab

Reading II. 1 Corinthians 15: 20-27

Gospel. Luke 1: 39-56 (Visitation).

The Bread of Life

                      19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                      B cycle

 

       

The gospel readings for this year, the B cycle of readings, are usually taken from the Gospel of Mark. But here in the midst of summer we are presented on five successive Sundays with a series of readings from the famous sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. It is famous because of its exposition of the theme of the Eucharist as the bread of life, the bread that will never fail, and will give eternal life.

 

We recall that two weeks ago the sixth chapter of John began with the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes whereby Jesus fed a large crowd with only a few loaves of bread and a couple of small fish. Immediately after that Jesus calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee and after the Apostles expressed amazement, he told them that they did not understand the significance of the multiplication of the loaves.

 

Last week Jesus reminded the crowd that followed him not to look for signs or miracles but “to work for food that endures for eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.” 

 

Today’s readings take up the theme of the food from heaven that will give life. It is clear that the food given to the starving prophet Elijah in today’s first reading was not ordinary food. A hearth cake and a jug of water would not be sufficient to revive a dying man and enable him to embark on a journey of 40 days and nights.

 

Today we are in the midst of John’s great Eucharistic discourse and we hear the famous words of Jesus.

 

Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert but they died,

This is the bread that comes down from heaven

so that one may eat it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;

whoever eats this bread will live forever;

and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

 

It has always been difficult for people to accept these words. Even some of his disciples found it hard to accept and left Him. Down through the centuries it has also been hard to believe. Things came to a head five hundred years ago when some, although not all, Protestant reformers could not believe, despite the words of Jesus in scriptural passages like today’s, that the bread and wine offered in the Eucharistic sacrifice could actually become the body and blood of Jesus. The words of Jesus could not be taken literally. They were just symbolic.

 

Abuses in the customs and practices of the church at the time of the Reformation even led reformers to complain that the church had departed from the original practices and beliefs of the earliest Christians. Reformers argued that they were not leaving the church but restoring it to its original purity.

 

Nevertheless, in the past five hundred years, the more scholars have studied the early church, the more they have seen that from the beginning Christians took the words of Jesus in John’s gospel to mean what he said. Almost immediately after the Resurrection of Jesus they began to regularly share a Eucharistic meal together in the same way as He did at the Last Supper when He told them to “do this in remembrance of me.” The earliest Christians believed that Jesus was the bread of life, and that they ate this bread when they shared the Eucharistic meal.

 

However, what does it mean to believe? How do we know we believe? St. Paul was one of those early Christians. Christian belief is shown in action. 

 

All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling

must be removed from you, along with all malice,

and be kind to one another, compassionate,

forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

 

The early Christians understood that you could not say you loved someone if you treated them badly. If they did harm their loved ones or their neighbor, they knew that they must repair the damage.

 

During Roman times pagans came to see that Christians behaved differently than others. Often when plague or disease struck Roman cities, pagan priests and officials fled the cities for fear of contamination but Christians stayed behind to care for not only their co-believers but also for their pagan neighbors.

 

It is not hard to find this caring among believers all over the world today. Despite scorn, ridicule, and outright persecution, Christians continue to act on their beliefs. I recall one teacher at an inner-city Catholic school whose students were mostly non-Catholic, who said “we teach them not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic.”

 

### 

Reading 1.  1 Kings 19: 4-8

Reading II. Ephesians 4: 30-5:2

Gospel. John 6: 41-51 (the bread of life)