We Adore Thee O Christ and We Bless Thee: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent

 

Gen 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18

Rom 8:31b-34

Mk 9:2-10

 

We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee

Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

 

The first reading from Genesis described Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Unfortunately, the passage was edited and thus we hear a discontinuous reading. Thus the details of the journey to the place of sacrifice were omitted,  as was the image of Isaac carrying the wood for his sacrifice. We are left with two things: Abraham's obedience and the confirmation of God's promise that he would be the father of a great nation.

 

This is a rich narrative.  It should not be abbreviated. The parallels between Isaac carrying the wood on which he was to be sacrificed and Jesus carrying the wood on which He was crucified are obvious. If they are proclaimed in the first place. Isaac's confusion was mirrored by Jesus' confusion in Gethsemane. 

 

To those with a Freudian mindset or those hostile to faith, the narrative is disturbing.   God orders a man to sacrifice his only son.  The man prepares to carry out the sacrifice without question. 

 

Many people whine, whimper, and emote about this narrative along the lines of "I could never believe in a God who could be so cruel, sadistic, irrational, or . . . ."(fill in the blank with a favorite pejorative).  There is no sadism here. There is no cruelty in the narrative. There is only faith.

 

The Jewish Study Bible describes this as Abraham's greatest test, and as "A magnificent story, that is one of the gems of biblical narrative."  It also notes a translation problem. "There is no good English equivalent for the Hebrew 'hineni' that is translated as 'Here I am.'  Hineni indicates readiness, alertness, attentiveness, receptivity, and responsiveness to instructions."  It indicates unquestioning obedience to the will of God. 

 

In the reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans we heard that, God "did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all."  God asked Abraham to give him all, to give him everything, to give him his only son, to give him his future, and the existence of a people yet to come into existence. 

 

Once Abraham demonstrated his obedience God returned everything to him.  Because of Jesus' obedience everything was returned to us.

 

One of the first prayers a Jesuit novice learns is the Suscipe of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It begins,

 

"Take Lord, and receive,

all my liberty, my memory, my understanding,

my entire will,

all I have and call my own." 

 

Take all.  Not that which I am willing to give, not that which is left over, not that which is easy. Take all.  That is what Abraham was willing to give. That is what God the Father gave us.  All.

 

The narrative of Jesus' Transfiguration both points us towards and draws us into

a mystery that is beyond historical reconstruction, scientific explanation, or geographic specificity.  None of these factors matter.  When, how, and where are unnecessary distractions.  It is sufficient to know that Jesus was transfigured in front of three of the apostles. 

 

Imagine the scene. Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets standing with Jesus.  Place yourself in that scene.  Where are you standing?  What do you see?  What do you feel? What are you thinking?  How are you acting? The apostles were confused and frightened.  As he became more anxious Peter began to speak without thinking what he was saying.  Despite today's vogue for apostle bashing none of us would have acted any better.  Most likely, we would have acted worse and pulled out an Ancient Near East smart phone,

snapped pictures, texted them to the rest of the apostles, and tried to get a selfie with Moses.

 

As the tension increased the voice of God the Father declared, "This is my beloved Son."  This is the beloved Son who was like us in all things but sin. This is the beloved Son who took on the human condition to redeem us from our sins and save us from death. This is the beloved Son, God incarnate, who, like Isaac, carried the wood for the sacrifice on his own back.

 

This is the beloved son, who, like Abraham, acted in perfect obedience to the will of the Father.  Then, the apostles, and by extension, each one of us, received a mission from the Father: "Listen to him." 

 

Listen to his teaching, the teaching of His words and the teaching of His actions.  As we listen to Jesus words and imitate his actions, as we take His teaching to heart, and allow that teaching to transform us, we move that much closer to experiencing the glory of His Transfiguration in our own lives.

 

We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee

Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

 

_________________________________________________________

 

Almost fully recovered from the adventure with covid.  A bit of fatigue and a degree of cough which is baseline for me for other reasons.  Will give the homily at Mass tomorrow AM at 8. 

 

The photos are from the Church of St. Cyril and Methodius, the Serbian Orthodox Church in Ljuljana.  It was not large but absolutely exquisite.  

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

No Homily This Week

No homily this week. 

Halfway through giving a  homily on Ash Wednesday I became unable to finish it.  Was transported to hospital by ambulance with covid, pneumonia, and dehydration, all of sudden onset.  Because I am immunosuppressed things went fast and furious.  Spent three days in hospital and was then “discharged” to “home hospital” In which the hospital comes to me.  Nurses visit twice daily to administer the several IV medications, pass out the daily doses of oral medications, check the usual, and transmit the information back to hospital.  There is, in my case, a facetime-like meeting with the doc who examined me in the hospital with the option of a home visit by doc if needed (not in my case).  Medications that have to be infused are done so here using a portable infusion kit.  

 

Recovery is going well.  Tomorrow will probably mark discharge once the last of the IV treatments is done. 

 

It has been a little rocky but am planning to take some time before going back to full speed, which these days ain’t very speedy. 

 

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

Handel’s Messiah and Being Old: Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

 

Mal 3:1-4

Ps 24

Heb 2:14-18

Lk 2:22-40

 

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas, was the day on which the Church blessed the beeswax candles to be used in the coming year. I’m not certain there is a proper blessing for cans of liquid paraffin or propane cannisters. But, on the other hand, it is difficult to tell what can and should be blessed in the Church today.

 

Throughout the ages, the first reading, psalm, and gospel have been the inspiration for some of the most beautiful music imaginable.  Much of the first reading from Malachi is sung in part I of Handel’s Messiah including

 

“The Lord whom ye seek,”

“But who may abide,”

and the chorus, “And He shall purify.”

 

Psalm 24, today’s responsorial psalm appears in Part II of Messiah as the chorus: “Lift Up Your Heads O Ye Gates.”

 

And then there is the gospel.

 

With just a bit of effort at making a composition of place and applications of senses, the gospel for the Feast of the Presentation, is a snapshot of the life of the Holy Family that is relevant even today as a family brings a child into the church to be baptized. The parents are committing the child to a specific life and they are committing themselves to bring the child up in the faith.  Of course, either or both commitments can be rejected or broken once made but that rejection is a matter of free choice.

 

The gospel includes Luke’s exquisite Canticle of Simeon or the Nunc Dimittis the chant at the end of compline or night prayer, that serve as the Church’s lullaby. Simeon’s canticle has been set to music for centuries  in versions ranging from ancient Gregorian chant, to Gustav Holst, Taizé and contemporary Estonian Composer Arvo Pärt, a convert from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy.

 

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine,

secundum verbum tuum in pace:

 

"Lord, now you let your servant go in peace

Your word has been fulfilled . . . "

 

Each of the readings chosen for this Feast illuminates a dimension of it.

 

Malachi’s prophecy "And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek." was fulfilled in concrete fashion in today’s gospel.

 

In commenting  on the reading from Hebrews, the late Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner pointed out that (Jesus)  “came into the world the same way we did in order to come to terms  with the given facts of human existence,  . . . and to begin to die”

What Rahner calls the facts of human existence are not easy to accept.  We rage against the fact that we must become old, suffer, and die. And we rage, even more violently, against the fact that those whom we love must also die, some before they are old. Here we can turn to Mary. to whom Simeon foretold the pain to come with his cryptic words; “and you yourself, a sword will pierce.”

 

What did Mary feel when she heard these words?  Did she recall them as she stood at the foot of the cross? No other sword pierces as deeply as that going through the heart

of a parent who buries a child. The wound never heals. There is no such thing as the vaunted “Closure.”  The pain may ease with time but it never goes away.

 

Today’s gospel is the only time we hear the distinct voices of the elderly in the New Testament.  It is the only time we hear the voices of accrued wisdom, the voices of those who are old.  Though Simeon’s age is not specified, his prayer suggests that he was aware that death was near. Thus his gratitude that he saw and held the one who would bring salvation to all the world.  Anna was 84 years old. Note: she was 84 years old she was NOT 84 years young, as the popular insult routinely hurled at the elderly today would have it.

 

Nunc dimittis servum tuum . . .

 

Jesus was not recognized by the crowds milling about in the Temple. He was recognized by an old man and an old woman who had been awaiting the Lord.  He was recognized only by two old people who had prayed for His coming.

 

Simeon and Anna are examples to those of us who are old because, with the wisdom granted only to the elderly, they recognized Jesus, the Messiah, the promised one, and the source of our salvation in the infant brought into the Temple.  They alone were aware that in fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, the Lord whom they sought and prayed for had come into the temple. They alone recognized that the prophecy had been fulfilled in the infant cradled in his parents’ arms..

 

Lent begins on February 14, a mere twelve days from today. The Lenten readings and gospels will remind us that Jesus was like us in temptation, pain, suffering, and death.

We will be reminded that  he was like us in all things but sin.  And during Holy Week

we will commemorate his saving act.

 

But today, as we recall His presentation in the Temple, we celebrate and rejoice that Jesus is the light of the world, the light that will never die even after the universe itself

has been extinguished.

 

Nunc dimittis servum tuum

 

“Lord now you let your servant go in peace.”

 

___________________________________________________________

 

The Feast of the Presentation is my favorite feast of the Holy Family, a feast such as the Nativity of the Lord, The Baptism of the Lord, Jesus Lost in the Temple, and even the Wedding at Cana, in which we see a snapshot of the relationships and interactions among the Holy Family.  It is easy to be distracted by the big picture and thus miss those little vignettes of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph interacting as family.  

The photos are from an early morning walk in Old City Lyon, France in June 2014.

The perfect way to start of day in June.

Had it not been 7 AM the temptation would have been strong.

I very much like the flower painting. But a bit large for my carry-on

And all those years I didn't think knowing the difference among Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian wasn't important.  One of the court buildings

Had the fantasy of moving into the top floor of this building over looking the river.

Old City Lyon was a short walk.  Our community was about thirty yards to the right of the edge of this photo  The bridge was for pedestrians only which made it a great place to shoot.

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD