Husbands and Wives

                   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 little 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.

 

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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?)

Wisdom

                       20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                      B cycle

 

       

Wisdom is not intelligence, or book learning. We all know that sometimes the smartest people are not necessarily wise. Indeed, people with no learning at all can often be very wise. Wisdom is the virtue that helps us distinguish right from wrong in any endeavor. It will also help us in making the most important decisions in our lives. You might also say that wisdom is the ability to make a decision.

 

In making decisions it is usually good to turn to others for advice. Wisdom often means looking outside of ourselves for guidance. Today we regularly turn to doctors, lawyers, and financial advisors for advice in matters of their expertise. It would be foolish to ignore their advice or suggestions.

 

In today’s first reading we hear that Wisdom’s banquet is available to all. To eat at that banquet means that we will be filled with understanding, the opposite of foolishness. 

 

Forsake foolishness that you may live;

Advance in the way of understanding.

 

In today’s gospel we continue the famous discourse on the Bread of Life from the sixth book of John's gospel. In today’s passage the words of Jesus were regarded as foolish by many of his hearers. Jesus had said,

 

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.

 

Today many still find these words hard to believe. Nevertheless, at the Last Supper Jesus said a prayer, broke the bread, and offered it and the wine to his disciples and told them that the bread and wine were his body and blood. He also washed their feet as a sign that they must dedicate themselves to serving one another. Finally, he told them to “do this in remembrance of Me.”

 

For almost two thousand years Christians have recognized the living bread, the body and blood of Jesus, in the Holy Eucharist that we celebrate at Mass. It is the central element in our faith. Even unbelievers realize it.  When they attack and persecute the Church, they inevitably attack the Mass and try to desecrate the Host. 

 

So, are we foolish to attend Mass every Sunday? Are there better things to do with the one hour it takes? Each of us will have to answer these questions in our own way. Would it be wiser to sleep in? Would it be wiser to read the Sunday comics? Would it be wiser to search the web headlines for the latest scandals and revelations of the rich and famous? Would it really be wise to add another hour of video gaming to our daily game routine?

 

Many of us have important things to do on Sunday? Family commitments make it necessary to attend to many duties that cannot be accomplished during our busy week. But everyone will admit that much of our day is involved in things that can only be called foolish. Are the innumerable texts we send and receive every day so important? Will they bring lasting happiness?

 

In every avenue of life, whether politics, business, sports or education, we all recognize that it is important to set priorities and do what is necessary to achieve our goals. 

 

In today’s second reading from the letter to the Ephesians St. Paul expressed what could be called the wisdom of the ages.

 

Watch carefully how you live,

Not as foolish persons but as wise,

Making the most of the opportunity,

Because the days are evil.

 

While ago I read that in a nearby town about 100 revelers were taken seriously ill after taking drugs spiked with some chemical. Fortunately,  none died but statistics tell us that drug overdose has become one of the leading causes of death in our very prosperous country.

 

We have so much to be thankful for in this country but that should not lead us to act foolishly and waste our time and effort on foolish things. In the Bible wisdom is represented not as an old man but as a  young woman full of life whose banquet is available to all. We just have to come to the table and eat.

 

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Reading 1.  Proverbs 9: 1-6

Reading II. Ephesians 5: 15-20

Gospel. John 6: 51-58 (my flesh is true food).

Feast of the Assumption of Mary

                         

                                

Crowning of Mary
Assumption Church
Fairfield CT*

Feast of the Assumption--August 15

In 1950 when the world was still recovering from the ravages of the Second World War, Pope Pius XII promulgated the doctrine of 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.

Of course, Catholics have always loved images of Mary. In the first reading from the Mass of the Assumption, 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 tthe gospel of the day we have St. Luke's 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't 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...

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

The beautiful prayer of Mary which 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?

###

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

Reading 2: 1 Corinthians 15: 20-27

Gospel: Luke 1:39-56 (Visitation)

* Photographic images of the stained glass windows in Our Lady of the Assumption church in Fairfield, CT are by Melissa DeStefano.

The Bread of Life continued...

              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, 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.”

 

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Reading 1.  1 Kings 19: 4-8

Reading II. Ephesians 4: 30-5:2

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

Bread of Life

                   18^h Sunday in Ordinary Time

                  B cycle

 

      

Today’s gospel reading contains a statement of Jesus that has been difficult  to understand from His time to ours.

 

I am the bread of life;

Whoever comes to me will never hunger,

And who ever believes in me will never thirst.

 

As usual, today’s gospel passage is introduced by our first reading taken from the Old Testament. It is the famous story from the book of Exodus of the manna or food that fell from the skies to feed the hungry Israelites during their sojourn in the desert after their escape from Egypt. The Israelites had lost their faith in the Lord. The passage says that they grumbled and complained about their lack of food, and wished that they were back living in slavery in Egypt where at least their bellies were full. But the Lord fed them anyway, perhaps because at least one man, Moses, believed.

 

It seems to be he same way in today’s gospel passage from John. After Jesus had fed a hungry crowd with a few loaves and fishes, the crowd followed him across the Sea of Galilee to the city of Capernaum. Even though the crowd had been fed, it is clear that they found it hard to believe. Otherwise, why would they have asked him for a sign. 

 

What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?

 

The miraculous increase of the loaves and fishes was not enough and they reminded Him that their ancestors had eaten the manna in the desert. He then tells them that there is a bread from Heaven that gives life to the world. They implore him to give them that bread and then he utters the famous words. 

 

I am the bread of life;

Whoever comes to me will never hunger,

And who ever believes in me will never thirst.

 

 

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 reformers, later called Protestants, 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, today, 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.

 

In today’s world it is just as hard to believe as ever.

 

However, what does it mean to believe? How do we know we believe? Over and over, Jesus told us that belief is not what we think or say, but belief is shown in what we do. St. Paul was one of those early Christians, and he knew that Christian belief is shown in what we are and in what we do. In today’s reading he told the Ephesians to “put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth. 

 

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 to their loved ones or to their neighbor, they knew that they must seek forgiveness and repair the damage.  

 

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Reading 1.  Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15

Reading II. Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24

Gospel. John 6: 24-35 (the bread of life)