Monthly Archives: August 2009

Reflecting on Deuteronomy. 4:1-2,6-8, James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

How rich and beautiful all three of today’s Scripture readings are, and they match!  That’s pure coincidence, of course, since the New Testament letters are read consecutively―this summer’s seven weeks of Ephesians, followed now by four weeks of the letter of James, for example―and not selected to harmonize with the Gospel, as the Old Testament reading is chosen to do.

But this week, by a happy accident, even the second reading is filled with the themes of the Old Testament and Gospel readings–that we must not delude ourselves into thinking that we can follow the “law” and still ignore the neediest among us.  How timely that we read this during this summer of honest anxieties about health care reform.  What would Jesus do?  That’s not an easy question, and people of immense goodwill are trying to discern the best ways to repair the huge gaps  and to do justice in a system that needs a lot of help.

How timely that we read this during this summer of honest anxieties about health care reform.  What would Jesus do?  That’s not an easy question, and people of immense goodwill are trying to discern the best ways to repair the huge gaps and to do justice in a system that needs a lot of help.

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

What is your personal experience of health care?

Reflecting on John 6:60-69

The Gospels―especially John’s Gospel, which we are reading for the last time this week before we return to the Cycle B readings from Mark―will sometimes give us an intriguing, mysterious sentence or two, and then return to the narrative with no further comment.

The sentence that jumps out at me this week is John’s information that when Jesus told his disciples that he himself was the Bread of Life, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.

Huh.  They had just witnessed the multiplication of a few loaves and fish into an abundant meal that two hundred days’ wages wouldn’t have been enough to purchase.  They had left everything to follow him.  Some had been present at his first sign, when he changed the water into wine at the wedding at Cana.  But this was too much.  He had finally revealed himself as a delusional religious fanatic.  How could his flesh be food indeed, and his blood be drink indeed?  Best to leave now, before he starts trying to transform us too, by multiplying our own measly hearts into something larger and more nourishing, that the world might live.

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

Why do you think the theology of Real Presence is such a stumbling block for some?

Reflecting on Luke 1:39-56

Crypt of Dormition Abbey

Last Friday night our fabulous choir all joined forces to provide music for the vigil Mass of Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The American bishops have elected to release the obligation for this holy day if it falls either on a Saturday or a Monday.  Still, it’s good to take a moment to reflect on the concept of the “dormition”―the sleep of Mary.  The Church is purposely ambiguous about the details of Mary’s death.  Some traditions hold that she died and, like Jesus, was raised body and soul to heaven.  Other traditions believe that she was spared death and was raised to heaven.

The Gospel reading for August 15^th doesn’t address either position, because of course Scripture says nothing about the ancient belief of the faithful that Mary was assumed into heaven.  Instead, we walk with Mary from Nazareth to Ein Karem, in the Judean hill country, to visit her cousin Elizabeth.

What did she see on that dangerous road?  Did she see the executed Jews, whom the Romans crucified along well-traveled paths as reminders of the “pax Romana”?  Did she see widows and orphans crying for food, cast far away from the safety nets of husbands and fathers?  When she arrived and greeted her cousin, the unborn John sensed the presence of Jesus, the true Prince of Peace.  A lovely hymn about this moment says “There leaped a little child in the ancient womb.  And there leaped a little hope in every ancient tomb.”

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

What do you think the young girl Mary was thinking as she was walking to see her cousin?

Reflecting on Ephesians 4:30; 5:2

We had our class reunion last weekend.  St. Francis de Sales was a great high school in its day, and our once-a-decade reunions have all been wonderful experiences.

We were just crazy about each other

We had an extraordinary class.  Through some mixture of grace and good luck this group of highly disparate personalities found a home with each other.  Some were poor, none were rich, most were second-or-third-generation Italian or Irish, German or Polish, with a hint of the Hispanic community that would eventually become the heart of the school that remains there today.

But here’s the thing: we were just crazy about each other.  We knew each other.  We celebrated each other’s accomplishments.  Given the time and place, and the inevitable temptation of adolescents to form isolating cliques, we did a good job of breaking out of ourselves and watching out for each other.

We were, as Paul begs us today, kind to one another, compassionate,  forgiving one another as God has forgiven us in Christ.  That makes for some wonderful reunions.

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

What are the reunions or annual gatherings where you feel most or least comfortable?

Reflecting on John 6:24-35

Sometime in the 4thcentury, a Spanish nun named Egeria traveled to the Holy Land.  Her voluminous diary of what she saw there is now the most important guide in existence to the ways the ancient church celebrated the rites of Holy Week.

Mosaic found in Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish - Tabgha, Galilee, Israel

She visited a small church on the northwest side of the Lake Galilee, and there she saw a mosaic, carved by some ancient Christian, of the miracle of the loaves and fish―the story we are reflecting  on during this five-week Eucharistic retreat into John’s Gospel in the middle of Cycle B.

She must have wondered then, as all pilgrims still do, at the rich theology of the mosaic.  There lay the two fish, and the loaves nicely arranged in a basket.  But ah, there’s something odd.  Something not quite right.  Something rich and beautiful.

There are only four loaves in the basket.  But everybody knows the story says there were FIVE loaves! Could it be that those first-century Christians meant to omit that fifth loaf, so that all who saw the mosaic in years to come―millennia to come―would reflect that we, all of us, are the fifth loaf?  You and I, and all of us baptized into that Name, are the fifth loaf, blessed and broken, living in the world to comfort and heal, nourish and feed.  Can you hear the voices of our great ancestors in the faith, reminding us of this great mystery?

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

Have you ever felt unusually satisfied after a small meal with friends?