A year ago the tertians in the Australian program were just beginning the long retreat at Sevenhill. Echoes of that time have occupied much of my meditation over the past few days. The thousands of photographs help recall memories that would be otherwise difficult to summon.
The move was arduous. Thus, no entries for four weeks. Sam and I had a terrific drive to Boston with an overnight at the parish in Plymouth. A few hours after Fr. Marrow's funeral on Tuesday my cell phone rang. The moving van was in Boston and would arrive at 9 AM the next day to drop off. This represented an arrival four to six days in advance of what had been planned. It turned out to be a major blessing as the weather on Wednesday was good. The weather on the days when the van should have arrived ranged from awful to hideous. Unpacking is coming along well but it is taking time. With some luck and effort I should have most of the stuff, except for the forty cartons of books, unpacked and put away in a week. As my office over in the big house shapes up some of what is sitting in boxes in my room will move across the driveway. A significant portion of the books will wind up there as well.
The learning curve as minister is going to be steep. I've met over 100 new people. Keeping the names straight will be a major challenge.
It is good being back in New England. The contrast between driving to the Natick Mall along two-lane country roads for two-thirds of the ten-mile trip and dealing with the traffic of Northern Virginia is enormous. Boston's traffic can be dreadful on the interstates. But I can generally avoid traveling them in the course of daily life. Somehow the Beltway is an inescapable part of D.C. life.
After the homily for tomorrow's community Mass at 6:30 AM (after moving the clock ahead one hour) follow some photos.
3rd Sunday of Lent
11 March 2012
Ex 20:1-17
Ps 19
I Cor 1:22-25
Jn 2:13-25
The readings for today’s Mass present a groaning board of possibilities. They are so rich that each could serve as the text for a long homily. The readings from Exodus and the Gospel complement each other while Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians augments both. Words that come to mind, in no particular order include zeal, relativism, accommodation, and risk. These words compel us to consider our vocation as Jesuits. Indeed, they compel all Christians, vowed and not, to consider their call to evangelization.
The God of Exodus is not a God of relativism, or accommodation or negotiation. The Ten Commandments are short and to the point. They prohibit adultery, killing, and stealing. They demand love for God and one’s neighbor. Thus, thou shalt not kill does not exclude abortion because it is QUOTE delivery of women’s health care UNQUOTE. “Honor your father and your mother that you may have long life in the land” does not permit having a physician put mom or dad to death because their lives have no "meaning" or the inheritance is running out. While the prohibition against adultery should be self-evident it doesn't take very long wading in the moral swamp known as the newspaper to get an idea that it is an oft-ignored prohibition. Paul was quite perceptive when he wrote, “The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
The second chapter of John ‘s Gospel consists of 25 verses and one massive shift in scene and tone. In the space between the end of verse 12 and the beginning of today's reading with verse 13, the reader is transported from the wedding at Cana to the Temple at Jerusalem, from miracle to sign, while being forced to confront his or her notions of who Jesus is and, perhaps with greater difficulty, how Jesus is. For those for whom zeal for God’s house is relative, tepid or depends on current social fads, it is an uncomfortable confrontation.
The Jesus of the gospels is not a Jesus of relativism, a Jesus of accommodation or a Jesus of negotiation. The Jesus of the gospels is the Jesus who challenged political authorities and social mores, both conservative and liberal. The Jesus of the gospels called a spade a spade. The Jesus of the gospels did not cave into secularist society. The Jesus of the gospels did not tolerate desecration of His Father’s house. We would do very well to remember that.
Whenever I have to prepare a homily on John’s Gospel I read it, pray with it write down thoughts and reflections. And then, after a suitable period to allow for fermentation, reach for the late Father Stanley Marrow’s commentary: The Gospel of John: A Reading. Stanley never disappoints. He writes about today’s gospel as follows:
“One incidental and puzzling aspect of the narrative is how generation after generation can read or hear the account itself and yet persist in clinging to their cherished image of Jesus. . . an image of Jesus so “gentle and mild” as to be incapable of “overthrowing anything, not even the reader’s smugness. . . . The Jesus in the pages of this or any other gospel is not exactly a standard-bearer for bleeding hearts. . . .the aim is not to provide us with the biography of an inspiring hero, proportioned to the size of our ambitions, conformed to our ideals, and meeting our currently prevailing notions of what constitutes greatness.”
Without zeal for God’s house, without zeal for preaching His word, the Church cannot exist. Without zeal Jesuits have no relevance, except in the humorous definition that describes Jesuits as “the largest men’s religious order in the Catholic Church that tends to found universities with excellent basketball teams.”
The Society of Jesus did not become the Society of Jesus through a lack of zeal or fervor. Tepidity is not a word that comes to mind, or should come to mind, when one thinks of the Long Black Line. Ignatius. Xavier. Mateo Ricci. Miguel Pro. These men understood zeal for God’s house. And they lived that zeal. Ignatius, Xavier and Ricci died natural deaths after years of hard work. Pro died a martyr’s death in front of a firing squad with the words, “viva Cristo Rey” on his lips. These brothers of ours, brothers in Christ and in the Society, did not meet with the kind of approval that comes from politically correct opinions that would be met with approval at a cocktail party on Beacon Hill. They did not keep their preaching at room temperature. It was not easy for Ignatius and his sons. It was not easy for Jesus.
As we contemplate these readings today may we say with the psalmist:
“The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the Lord is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart,
the command of the lord is clear,
enlightening the eye."
The Lord does, indeed, have the words to everlasting life.
________________________________________
Given that it is one year since we began the long retreat it seemed appropriate to include photos from both long retreats. The first set are from the surroundings at St. Alphonsus Retreat House on Eastern Point, Gloucester, MA. We made our novice retreat there in January and February 1998. The photos were taken in November 2011. The second set are from Sevenhill Retreat House, Sevenhill, South Australia in March 2012.
Retreat House bells from the parking lot at Eastern Point.
Discarded slate at Eastern Point
The Atlantic from "the rocks" at Eastern Point
A pool on the rocks at Eastern Point
The path from the retreat house to the rocks at Eastern Point
Sign at the entrance to Sevenhill Winery
Fellow tertians John The and Vincent Pham during the tour before the day before we began the retreat
Sampling grapes during the winery tour.
The house in which John The, Simon Wong and I stayed during the long retreat. We each spent vast amounts of time on the covered porch, each staking out his own favorite territory. This was mine.
The Sevenhill Winery tasting room.
The Yellow Rose of Sevenhill
Moonrise as the sun set in the west at Sevenhill.
Time to spring the clocks ahead and then hit the rack.
+Fr. Jack SJ, MD
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