This is My Beloved Son: Homily for the 2nd Sunday Lent Gn 12:1-4a

  

Gn 12:1-4a

Ps 33

2 Tm 1:8b-10

Mt 17:1-9

 

The Lord said to Abram: "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you."

 

The opening verse of the first reading draws us into the beginning of God's covenant with Abram whose name God later changed to Abraham which means The Father of Many Nations. It is a foundational statement for the Jewish people. Thus, it is a foundational statement for us.  It is a vocational mandate to Abram who was told "Go forth and I will show you." It is a vocational mandate for us when Jesus said: "Follow me."  And just as Abram chose to go as the Lord directed him, we are faced with choosing whether or not to heed Jesus’ mandate.

 

The commentary on this passage in the Jewish Study Bible is fascinating. It tells us the Lord singled out "one Mesopotamian who was in no way distinguished from his peers. So it is for those called to follow Christ. 

 

Consider Mary and Joseph.  Neither was distinguishable from any other Ancient Near Easterner of the time. Neither was distinguished by birth or any other rank. It would be reasonable to call them peasants.  And yet, they were chosen by God to go into unknown realms in obedience to His will, just as Abram did many generations earlier.

 

The narrative of Jesus' Transfiguration is proclaimed twice a year: August 6 on the Feast of the Transfiguration, and on the second Sunday of Lent.  The Transfiguration appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke with relatively little difference among the three accounts.  Despite this commonality it remains within the realm of mystery. The Transfiguration can never be less than a mystery of faith. It is difficult to comprehend, at least in part,  because it pulls us outside of normal daily life.  It pulls us away from what we know and can understand. Today's Gospel forces us to confront an event that cannot be explained beyond the words luminous mystery. Jesus’ transfiguration simultaneously points us towards a mystery and draws us into a different mystery. It is disorienting.  The Transfiguration is beyond historical reconstruction, scientific explanation, or even geographic specificity. Like many of the mysteries of our faith, the Transfiguration, offends the sensibilities of many "modern" people because it appears irrational, impossible, and supernatural. It is all of the above. It must be.

 

Create the scene in your mind. Enter into the action as if you were stepping into a movie. Join the three apostles as a fourth witness.  Observe how Jesus is speaking with Moses and Elijah. Where are you standing?  What do you see?  What do you hear?  What do you feel?  Do you collapse with the apostles when you hear God’s voice saying, "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to him."

 

Stay in the scene and turn your attention to Peter. Peter began to speak without thinking what he was saying. Was it fear, anxiety, awe, excitement, all, some, or none of the above? For any of us to claim that we would have responded differently, that we never would have behaved like Peter, would be absurd, dishonest, and breathtakingly arrogant.  Despite the popular sport of apostle bashing, a sport that is enthusiastically played in academic theological circles, none of us would have responded differently than the babbling Peter.  Most likely, we would have acted worse. Perhaps by pulling out a cell phone equivalent and tweeting selfies to the guys down the mountain.  (Yo', Elijah,  squinch in a tad.  Lighten up guys.  C'mon, smile.)

 

As the tension increased the voice of  God the Father confirmed Jesus' identity: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."  After confirming Jesus' identity God the Father gave the apostles, and by extension each of us, a mission: "Listen to Him." 

 

Interpreters do not agree on the meaning of God’s command to listen to His beloved Son. Does it refer to the earlier prediction of His passion and death? Does it refer to living in accordance with His teaching?  Does it refer to something else?  Today the command is unmistakably clear.  We know that Jesus suffered and died. That historical reality removes ambiguity and uncertainty.  We are to listen to His teaching. We are to listen to the teaching that was given to us through His words and actions.

 

Jesus' words and actions, His teachings and miracles, and His mode of life can never be separated to create our own version of who Jesus was and is.  Any, “theology,” that understands Jesus as a sort of nice guy and itinerant wisdom teacher who said some radical things but discounts or denies the miracle narratives gives us an inauthentic two-dimensional Jesus who is not worth paying attention to.  A theology that focuses only on the miracles and the supernatural does the same thing. Both are equally useless.

 

As we listen to Jesus and take His teaching to heart we allow it to transform us through His triple presence: in the assembly of people, in the proclamation of scripture and, most critically and palpably, in the reception of the True Body and Blood of Our Lord.   As we allow that transformation we move that much closer to sharing in the glory manifest in the radiantly transfigured Jesus, with whom the Father is well-pleased.

 

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Fresh out the camera photos.  Taken at St. Joseph Trappist Abbey in Spencer, MA.  I visit there monthly.  Today was glorious.  Was scheduled for last weekend but the weather was iffy.  Turns out it was good decision to cancel.  The road were fine until making the turn to the Abbey at 8:30.  The word needed work.  It would have been a real challenge last week.   

 

A small stone structure.  No idea what it is for.  Is empty but photogenic. 

One of the many fields.   The sun is behind that tree trunk.  Otherwise it would have been blindingly bright. 

Looking out from near the infirmary

A very small medallion embedded in stained glass.  Looks much larger in this shot than it actually is. 

The room I use as my office.  The sun was intense such that mid-afternoon the temp was intolerable and I had to open one of the windows.

The view from that office. 

 

 Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

Come Let Us Worship the Lord: Homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent

  

Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7

Ps 51:3-4,5-6,12-13,17

Rom 5:12-19

Mt 4:1-11

 

“Come let us worship the Lord who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.”  

 

The Divine Office begins with this antiphon every morning during Lent.  Temptation and suffering characterize the human condition, and help define what it means to be human.  The antiphon also reminds us how Jesus was like us and how we are unlike Him.

 

The word temptation has generally negative associations for many English speakers who wrongly tend to equate temptation with sin.  However, the Latin, Hebrew, and Greek  roots of the word are neutral, and include trying, proving, or testing.  That is the sense of temptation as used in today’s Gospel.  Satan tested Jesus' fidelity to the Father.  Temptation tests our fidelity to God and His law.

The familiar first reading recounts the fall.  Adam and Eve were put to a test.  Did they trust God or did they not?  Were they willing to obey or were they not?  That they ate of the tree in the garden illustrates how we sin: easily impulsively, casually, and quickly,  oftentimes at the slightest provocation.  Note, an apple is not mentioned in the narrative but it is a good metaphor for the sin of Adam and Eve. It is a good metaphor for our tendency to sin.  Think about it.  

 

An apple as an image, has multiple advantages over other fruits such as an orange, a banana, or a mango. An apple is quick, easy, and convenient. No need to peel.  Small enough to hold, large enough to share.  No need to cut or peel, just bite down and enjoy.  No one just grabs a pineapple and bites into it.  Some sins, particularly those that the Church considers mortal, require planning and a lot of work.  Committing adultery requires deviousness and time.  Robbing a Bank of America branch requires risk.  Performing a late-term abortion requires considerable training.  Selling fentanyl on a street corner requires finding buyers in addition to the seller being morally depraved.

 

How often do we sin simply because the opportunity is there,  because we want something,  because, as the unfortunate 60’s motto proclaimed “If it feels good do it.”  It wasn’t an apple that did us in.  It was human freedom. Adam and Eve couldn't handle it any better than we do today.

 

The last verses of the narrative tell us of the shame and embarrassment that are the personal cost to the sinner, especially when caught in that sin.  Augustine described that kind of guilt in his Confessions.   We are sinners because we are free to choose and free to act on that choice.  Dealing with the consequences is a second layer.

 

Adam and Eve were given free will, a gift that is exclusive to human beings.  Only humans have insight into the meaning of their decisions. Only humans possess the ability to plan into the future. The awareness of potential outcomes and the ability to weigh multiple choices are gifts limited to humans.  They are part of human freedom.  How we manage that freedom is tested daily.

 

Human freedom is not freedom from restrictions, rules, and responsibility.  Human freedom is freedom for not freedom from.  Freedom is not the ability to adopt an individual or idiosyncratic attitude towards this or that.  It is the freedom of self-understanding.  It is the possibility of saying yes or no to oneself. Human freedom is the opportunity to reject sin or to choose it.  Human responsibility demands living with the results of that choice.  Adam and Eve chose, they chose wrongly, but they remained free.  We have the same freedom.  In his full humanity, Jesus had the same freedom. This is where he was both like us and unlike us.  He was like us in being tempted and tested. He was unlike us in not sinning, in not failing the test.

 

Each of the temptations Satan presented were tests of Jesus’ willingness to rely on God. 

 

We just heard, “He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry” Satan did not approach Jesus until He was vulnerable. Similarly, Satan dangles temptation in front of us when we are vulnerable,  be it through hunger, fatigue, disorientation, anger, sorrow . . . the list is long.

 

Satan tempted a hungry Jesus with bread.  “C’mon, take care of yourself.  You can be self-sufficient.  Just do it.”   The temptation to self sufficiency,  to taking care of number one, looms large in our lives.  

 

The second temptation was to put God to the test.  “Hey Jesus, it’s a quid pro quo.  You jump and the Father saves you as promised. If not, well you lose.”  God is not a puppet master who pulls our strings to make us dance. Nor is God a marionette whose strings we can control through prayer or an ultimatum. There is no quid pro quo with God.

 

Finally, Satan presented Jesus with the classical Faustian bargain.  “Sell your soul.  Look what I will get you.  Power.  Prestige.  Money.  Control.  You too can have the most toys when you die.” 

 

The responsorial, Psalm 51, was the great penitential psalm known as the Miserere.  Read it slowly at home.  Let the words sink in.  Allow it speak to you. 

 

"I acknowledge my offenses."

 

"A clean heart create for me O God."

 

"Give me back the joy of your salvation."

 

"O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise." 

 

And then recall the antiphon:

 

“Come let us worship the Lord who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.”   

 

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Have been spending some time trying (underline thrice) to organize photo files.  Doubt it will ever truly happen but I try.  Doing so, particularly when I hit a random file is a reminder of things, places, or times I would have forgotten.

 

Sunset over the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains from the motherhouse of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm.  I go back a long time with them.  Gave a retreat there a few years ago.

The morning sun hitting a window in Port Lincoln, Australia.  Was drawn by the shadow of the dress form. 

Early morning light at the Franciscan Church in Ljubljana.  I was concelebrating Mass that day and thus arrived early.  Had the camera in my brief case.  

Organist at the Friday night community Mass in St. Mary's Jesuit Residence Chapel here at BC.

Reflection of flowers planted in front of  St. Mary's Hall.  The glass is old and, depending on positioning gives wonderful distortions.  

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
   

I’m Gonna’ SUE: Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time Sir 15:15-20

  

Sir 15:15-20

Ps 119 1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34

1 Cor 2:6-10

Mt 5:17-37

Free will.  Choice.  Options.

Past.  Present.  Future.

Decision.  Action.  Result. 

Fear.  Love.  Consequences.       

 

These are some of the layers in today's readings that can be meditated upon without exhausting the possibilities.  And they can make us uncomfortable as we consider what they mean for us.

Choice is the great gift of human free will.  It is also its greatest challenge to being human.  The ability to choose among options, to understand the reasons for that choice, and how that choice will affect us in the future,  sets us apart from every lower animal.  Only humans have free will.  Only humans are free to make choices.  Only humans can take into account the past, present, and future when faced with a choice.  Lower animals function on instinct.  They are driven by a combination of instinct, memory traces of past experience, and immediate need.  But they can never know the long range effect of a choice.  

The human brain is much more powerful than that of any animal. Only humans can use memories and knowledge accrued in the past, to make decisions in the present, while having some idea of the future consequences of those decisions. Animals do not possess that ability.  They never will. 

We heard in Sirach "If you choose you can keep the commandments . . . "  That is a strong statement that places a burden on us.  "IF you choose

you can keep the commandments"  implies, 'if you choose you can violate the commandments.' Free will allows us to choose to sin.  It allows us to choose death. It allows us to choose evil.  Free will allows us to reject God.

"The eyes of God are on those who fear Him." 

Fear of God. Fear of the Lord.  In English the word 'fear' is a problem in this context.  It sets off an automatic train of thought that includes anxiety, terror, panic, punishment, pain, and physical sensations, such as rapid heart beat and sweaty palms.  But fear has other functions in our lives. 

Fear is a critical part of love.  Without fear there can be no love.  The meaning of fear in the context of love is different.  It is a reverential fear. It is a fear that moves a person to seek and follow God's will not to avoid punishment but because of love for Him.

How often has fear of hurting someone we loved kept us from sin?  How often have we chosen the good instead of evil, because we did not want to disappoint someone who loved us? Think parent,  spouse,  long time friend, or  mentor?  How often have we chosen not to sin because we feared violating another's trust or breaking someone's heart?   That is reverential fear. It is not fear because of punishment, hellfire and gnashing of teeth. It is fear of offending or hurting someone who loves us. It is fear of sinning against  the One who loves us.

Today's Gospel continues the Sermon on the Mount.  Unlike the comforting promises in the beatitudes we hear some hard truths.  The poor, those who mourn, the peacemakers, the meek, those who were declared blessed in the beatitudes, are now given instruction in what it means to follow Jesus.  

The blessed are reminded that even if poor or mourning they  have responsibilities.  Sin is not mitigated because of poverty. Sin is not excused

because one is powerless. Jesus is telling his hearers that there are no actions without consequences.  The only difference between the sins of the poor and oppressed compared to those of the wealthy and powerful is the matter of budget and status.

Nothing we do occurs in a vacuum.  Every action has an effect. Every time we choose for something we choose against other things.  Every time we choose a course of action we close other courses of action.

“Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.”

In the U.S. the law suit is as close to a weapon of mass destruction as any nuclear warhead.  The situation has reached a point of absurdity. Over 70% of medical malpractice lawsuits are dropped or dismissed without a hearing or settlement on the basis of being frivolous. “I’m gonna sue” could easily replace “In Pluribus Unum” on American currency. This begs the question of why calling one’s brother, or anyone else, a fool deserves the fires of Gehenna? Why is anger so strongly decried in this Gospel?

It is decried because just as it is easier to settle a case out of court than to go to trial, it is easier to stop anger when it is a thought than it is to interrupt a murderous impulse as one’s hands are around the other’s neck. It is easier not to commit adultery when not in a hotel room or a parked car with someone other than a spouse.  It is easier for an alcoholic not to drink when he or she does not enter a bar or hold a cold one on a hot day. 

Jesus is telling us to be alert to the first signs of temptation if we wish to avoid sin.  There IS a point of no return when we choose evil over good, when we choose death over life or when we choose to follow the Evil King rather than Jesus, the Good King 

The Psalms were written centuries before the beatitudes.  We just heard a beatitude from Psalm 119: "Blessed are they who observe the Lord's decrees, who seek him with all their heart."

Thus we pray with another verse of the same psalm: "Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart."

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Photos are from Lyon, France, a most beautiful place.  I prefer Lyon to Paris by miles.  The pics are from the Church of St. Georges which has an indult to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass exclusively.  It was a short distance   across a footbridge to the church.  I went there often in part because of my schedule. 

As a public service.  No meat on Ash Wednesday which is in three days or on Fridays during lent.   

 

Rose window at the back of the Cathedral.

One of the candle stands in the cathedral

Candles at St. Georges

Stained glass overlooking the altar at  St. Georges.

The crucifix overlooking the altar.  I have not seen so much yellow stained glass.  The light was very warm.  

Fr. Jack, SJ,MD

Salt of the Earth: Homily for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

  

Is 58:7-10

Ps 112:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

1 Cor 2:1-5

Mt 5:13-16

 

Something important is missing from the first reading.  That something is the first six verses of Isaiah chapter 58.  It is unfortunate because those verses put the reading into context and remind us that human nature and behavior have not improved over the millennia since Isaiah was written. The prophet denounced the people  in the missing verses not because they had adopted pagan customs, but because they enacted religious practices, such as fasting, prayer, and penance, insincerely without true conversion of heart. They were in fact hypocrites.

 

The Jewish Study Bible comments on the missing verses.  'The people observed rituals such as fasting not out of true devotion but for their own benefit.  People prayed for divine intervention in their quarrels against each other rather than praying for others.' 

 

Isaiah denounced the people because they fasted and did penances so as to manipulate God into giving them what they wanted.  Only after criticizing the people did Isaiah instruct them on proper action, We would do well to keep Isaiah’s admonitions in mind as we move into Lent.  The action is less important than what underlies it.

 

Fasting does not mean starving one's body.  That's dieting or anorexia.  True fasting means sharing what one has with others and thus having less for oneself.  Humility is not bragging about one's inadequacies. True humility means quietly doing what needs to be done without a public show of it.

 

"You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?"  Jesus' image of 'the salt of the earth' is part of common English usage. It is a compliment to the person described as such.  It means a good or worthy person, a person who places the needs of others first.  Describing someone as salt of the earth implies actions free of underhanded dealings or shady behaviors that mostly benefit oneself.

 

Salt is critical to human life. It preserves food, and adds exquisite flavor to it. Indeed, without salt some foods are inedible.  Unsalted pretzels are an abomination. Unsalted potato chips violate basic laws of the universe.  But add a few grains of salt and flavor explodes. 

 

Salt’s importance to the normal functioning of the human body can never be overestimated.

 

The second part of Jesus' saying about salt is not easy to understand. 

 

"If salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?"  How can salt lose its taste?  It can’t.  It doesn’t.  Thanks to my maternal grandmother I pondered that point until my mid-20s when I got the answer.

 

Grandma came to dinner every Sunday.  Almost every week she would announce, "They don't make salt as salty as they used to." That didn't make sense to my sixteen year-old mind, though I didn't know why.

 

Flash forward to my fifty year-old self helping my eighty-three year-old mom make dinner. "You didn't add enough salt to the mashed potatoes. .  And remember, they don't make it as salty as they used to." (OK, count to ten.  She is your mother).  By then I’d had thirty plus years of geriatric medical practice  behind me. Her complaint about lack of saltiness made sense, not because of the anonymous "they" or the Morton family had messed with salt.  She had changed.

 

Salt does not lose its flavor, unless it is cut with something or not enough is added in the first place.  But, aging changes our ability to perceive or taste saltiness. Salt is as salty as its always has been. However, with age, especially after seventy-five, the tongue is less able to detect and taste salt.  The same is true of our perception of sweet.  What seems to be salted just right to an 85 year-old may be experienced as a salt lick by a 30 year-old.  Just as salt cannot lose its flavor unless something is done to cut it putting a light under a basket, makes no sense.

 

In telling us, "your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father" Jesus reinforced Isaiah's instruction,

 

"If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday."

 

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world . . . whoever follows me will have the light of life." Our vocation is to have that light and reflect it to the world, not through what we say but through what we do and how we do it.  Jesus, light of the world, and true salt of the earth, guides, preserves, purifies and protects us, just as salt preserves food and protects it from contamination, just as light shows us the way. 

 

We cannot afford to lose our taste for the salt that is the Word of God or to allow it to diminish as we age.  Ultimately, we pray with St. Paul, 'that our faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.' 

 

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Took the photos less then three hours ago and downloaded them a bit more than an hour ago,  The snow began again last night and was still coming down this morning prompting me to cancel Mass in Framingham, some 17 miles to the west.  I was sorry to do it but the risk was more than I wanted to endure, particularly as I would have had to drive back.  The snow had seriously picked up at about the time I would have been returning.  

 

Couple walking toward the main entrance.  I played around a bit with the contrast etc to get this effect. 

Another brave soul.  It was about 28 degrees.  Had to take advantage of today as the temp is going to drop about 20 by tomorrow AM.  

Look out of the Jesuit residence.  I will be moving in there later in the summer.

The trees on Locust Lane.  I assume they are locust trees.  Never did anything in botany.  

A paiting in the fourth floor hallway.

 Fr. Jack, SJ, MD