13 February 2022
Jer 17:5-8
Ps 1
1 Cor 15:12, 16-20
Lk 6:17, 20-26
"Happy is the man
who has not followed the counsel of the wicked,
or taken the path of sinners,
but for whom the teaching of the Lord is his delight . . .
Not so the wicked;
they are like chaff that wind blows away.
The wicked will not survive judgment
in the assembly of the righteous."
Thus begins the psalter; the Church's ancient prayer book of 150 hymns, that comprise most of the Liturgy of the Hours. The importance of the psalter for the Church's liturgy cannot be overemphasized. There is no time of the day that it is not being recited or chanted, be it in hurried fashion by a busy religious holding a breviary with multi-colored ribbon markers, the monk or nun using with neumes of ancient chants in choir, or, in a new development of today, from the backlit screen of an iPad or iPhone.
The introduction of the responsorial psalm into the Mass was a positive development that allows greater familiarity with these hymns. While the importance of the psalms cannot be overemphasized, it is similarly difficult to overemphasize the importance of this first psalm to the rest of the psalter.
In one of his homilies on this psalm St. Basil the Great indicated that the foundations and structures around things and upon which things are constructed, must be proportionate to their purpose and size. Thus, the foundation of a tall building must be sunk deep into the earth if it is to support the structure's height and mass; the keel of a large merchant ship must be sufficiently large and deep to keep it steady, even in rough seas.
Thus, the psalms that are so important to the spiritual life of the Church and the individual, must have a firm and deeply anchored starting point. Sometimes called Beatus Vir, Psalm 1 has been set to music by many composers including Mozart in his exquisite Solemn Vespers of the Confessor. Beatus vir is that starting point, foundation, and steadying keel of which Basil speaks. Both the first reading and the gospel appear to rely on it.
The dating of the psalms is uncertain. Current opinion is that many of the first 50 or so psalms were pre-exilic, coming into use before the 59 year exile from Jerusalem that began in 587 BC and ended in 538. It seems reasonable to assume that Jeremiah ben Hilkiah, a prophet who was active from 626 BC until the captivity of Jerusalem in 587 would have been familiar with this psalm. As in the psalm, Jeremiah warns of the woes that will befall the one whose heart turns away from the Lord,--the one who begins to believe his or her PR--and likens him or her to a barren bush in a salt wasteland. He then praises the one who trusts in the Lord, the one who will remain fruitful even during times of drought because of his or her nearness of the source of nourishment: God's law.
Unlike Matthew's eight beatitudes all of which follow the same pattern of consolation: "Blessed are they who . . . . for they will be . . ." Luke enumerates the woes that will befall those who fail to trust in the Lord. Thus, while the first four statements in what is known as The Sermon on the Plain begins with the personal "Blessed are you . . . ." the tone changes in the final four statements that begin with, "But woe to you who . . . "
These woes are addressed to those who are rich and satiated, who laugh and are well-thought of. The woes don't necessarily condemn those who are materially wealthy, happy, have enough to eat, and are renown and respected. Rather, they stand as a warning to the comfortable of the world whose prosperity and notoriety has turned them away from God and the demands of His covenant. Those whose love of power, or narcissistic enchantment with their own abilities, drives them to flaunt God's law.
Subtly underlying the woes is the reminder that worldly comfort can change over night. The stock market crash of 1929 set off a ten-year long economic depression from which many never recovered. In our day the 'covid crash' has had similarly catastrophic effects on the lives and well-being of many, particularly those who are, or were not, materially comfortable to begin with. But there is an even more malignant side to this covid crash. That is in the treatment of others.
Were this gospel to continue further, though still be within the Sermon on the Plain, we would hear Jesus' teaching on love for one's enemies, for the other, for the one whom we interpret as a threat or danger. Alas, U.S. society has taken a tack of persecuting those who do not toe the party line.
I am still at a loss to explain the column that appeared in late October on Medscape, a physician's website. Written by bioethicist Arthur Caplan of NYU the attention-grabbing title was: "It's OK for Docs to Refuse to Treat Unvaccinated Patients." Fortunately, Caplan is a PhD and not a physician entrusted with the care of patients. While I cannot share my initial response to the column in sacred space without risking a lightening strike, the fallout was swift and sure with over 700 comments on a website in which 100 comments is an enormous response. The majority ranged between negative and condemnatory, including one contributor who declared he was discontinuing his subscription.
Not only is not OK to refuse to treat non-vaccinated patients it is immoral to refuse treatment on that basis, not unlike those passers-by who ignored a brutalized man until a Samaritan happened upon the scene.
Back in the early-80s when AIDS was still a mysterious illness the hue and cry was loud against physicians who refused to treat AIDS patients or those whose lifestyles put them at risk. Apparently things have changed. Of course the usual suspects in Hollywood have emerged from the woodwork to pontificate with suggestions that it is OK to punch the unvaccinated in the face. These are the ways of the wicked to which the psalmist refers.
We are living through very dark ethical and moral times. Happy the one who follows not the counsels of the wicked, but rather the way of the Lord . . . . .even when that way is difficult and perhaps dangerous.
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Didn't post for the past few weeks as on one Sunday I was celebrating in Portuguese but not preaching, there was a blizzard on another and I did not even attempt to get to Framingham, something I knew would happen very early in the blizzard. Things are a bit more under control.
Am in the process of moving all of my photos, over 100,000, from three or four USB drives to a high capacity solid state drive. As a result I am revisiting places I've been and thoroughly enjoying the process. Below are some shots from Slovenia, a period of time that represents some of my best experiences in the Society.
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| Taken on one of the most perfect evenings in April that one can imagine. |
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| Lake Bled, the most popular tourist draw in Slovenia. Only got there once and, alas, it was cloudy until the last hour before we left. I was with a group for whom I'd celebrated Mass and thus had no control over the schedule. |
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| One of the first shots I took in the country. The yellow church at the end is the Cathedral. I spent ten months trying to recreate that shot but . . . . |
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| The church at Preddvor in the mountains. |
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| One of the outdoor cafes. I lived close to the center of the old city and thus made many many trips in the evening and after dark to shoot. |
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| Monastery cloister in NE Slovenia |
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