2nd Sunday of Lent

Gn 12:1-4a

Ps 33

2 Tm 1:8b-10

Mt 17:1-9

Every year during lent the Gospel on the first Sunday recalls Jesus' temptations in the desert.  And every year the second Sunday is reserved for the narrative of the Transfiguration which appears in all three synoptic Gospels.  There are some minor differences across the three evangelists' accounts, but the main actors and the content are identical.  The narrative of the Transfiguration is difficult to comprehend because it pulls us outside of normal daily life.  It pulls us out of reality.  It also pushes us away from what we know and can understand.  Today's Gospel forces us to confront an event that cannot be explained or revealed any further.  Jesus’ transfiguration simultaneously points us towards a mystery and draws us into a mystery.  It is disorienting.  The Transfiguration is a mystery beyond historical reconstruction, scientific explanation or geographic specificity. The narrative of Jesus' Transfiguration, like many of the mysteries of our faith, offends the sensibilities of many "modern" people because it appears irrational, impossible, and supernatural, and well, like the healing miracles, the irrational, inexplicable, the miraculous, are not acceptable to many.

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 to Jesus' Transfiguration.  Observe along with the apostles how Jesus is speaking with Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets. Where are you standing?  What do you see?  What do you hear?  What do you feel? 

Turn your attention to Peter.  Peter began to speak without thinking what he was saying. Why? Was it fear, anxiety, awe, excitement, all of the above, or none of the above? For any of us to claim that we would have responded differently, that we would never have behaved in the manner of Peter, would be absurd, dishonest, and breathtakingly arrogant.  Despite the popular sport of apostle-bashing, a sport that is enthusiastically played in some academic theological circles, none of us would have responded any better.  Most likely, we would have acted worse. Perhaps we would have pulled out the Ancient Near East equivalent of a cell phone and snapped pictures to tweet to the rest of the apostles down at the bottom of the mountain.  Maybe even a selfie with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.  (Yo'.  Elijah.  Squinch in a tad.  C'mon, smiiiiiiile.)

As the tension increased the voice of God the Father confirmed Jesus' identity: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."   This statement is significant.  Six days earlier as detailed in the previous chapter of Matthew (Mt 16:13-ff) Jesus asked, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter got it right but then also got everything very wrong in the same conversation prompting Jesus to respond "Get behind me satan . . . . "  But now, Peter and the other apostle's have the Father's confirmation that Jesus is who they understand him to be.  

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 about 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 listening and living in accordance with His teaching? Both?  Neither?  Today the command as we hear it 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 parables and way of approaching people can never be separated to create our own version of who and what we want Jesus to be.  Any quote, theology, unquote that understands Jesus as a sort of nice guy and itinerant wisdom teacher who said some radical things but discounts or denies the miracles that make some moderns very uncomfortable, gives us an inauthentic two-dimensional Jesus who is not worth paying attention to.  And a theology that focuses only on the miracles and the supernatural does the same thing. Fully Divine, fully human, and like us in all things but sin is the only way to understand Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary, incarnate by the Holy Spirit, consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit. 

As we listen to Jesus, as we take His teaching to heart and allow it to transform us through his triple presence in this assembly of people, in prayer and reflection on scripture and, most critically and palpably, in the reception of the Eucharist, we move that much closer to sharing in the glory manifest in the Transfigured Jesus.

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It was a good retreat.  The Franciscan community was very hospitable and accommodating.  Nice room and good weather (the Franciscans had nothing to do with the weather) and good food.  I chose not to maintain strict silence at meals as I wanted to get to know at least some of the men.  But except for breakfast and dinner at noon, I was invisible and silent.  I'd refused the superior's offer of the wi-fi code as internet silence was key and probably these days more important than verbal silence.  

I did not make any major discernments, though that was a hope, but at least the questions to be discerned have clarified themselves.  I had a private chapel for Mass but concelebrated on Sunday at the international Mass.  The retreat ended on Thursday evening.  That wasn't the plan but I've learned that the body, heart, and mind suddenly give out a message "retreat is over!"  And so it was.  Except for Monday (lousy weather) I had gone out every day with the camera.  One day I passed a restaurant that served caipirinhas, the national drink of Brazil (at least unofficially).  I lived in Brazil for a year 49 years ago and was of legal age.  While I don't get many caipirinhas, the first sip is enough to cause an out of the body experience.  Suddenly I'm 18, in Brazil with my friends (one of whom recently contacted me), loving the samba beat of life in Brazil in those days.  A caipirinha (large and expertly made) was perhaps the perfect way to end the retreat.  After one (two would have had me dancing samba on the bar and three would have made me sing as well) I walked back with a new perspective on what may have been the single most influential experience of my life that explains how I got to where I am now.  

One of the intentional photographic forays was to the Orthodox Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius at the edge of Tivoli Park (next week).  It is not large but magnificent.  Fortunately I had the right lenses and the light was cooperative.  No need to describe each of the photos except for perhaps the area where the votive candles are lit.  Very different from what most Roman Catholics are used to.  

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

1st Sunday of Lent

Am posting this early as I will leave for retreat in about three hours.  Will have no internet access.  Will be back in eight days in time for the second 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.”  

Every morning during Lent the breviary begins with these word.  Temptation and suffering.  Two words that define what it means to be human.  Two words that characterize the human condition.  The two words that tell us how Jesus was like us and also unlike us. 

Though the word temptation generally suggests something negative, its Latin, Hebrew, and Greek  roots are neutral and suggest “trying” “testing,” or “proving.”   That is what satan did with Jesus in today’s Gospel, he tested his fidelity, he tested his resolve, and thus proved his fidelity to the Father.  That is what temptation does to us.  It tests our fidelity to God.

The first reading, one of the most familiar of all stories in the Old Testament, recounts the fall. Adam and Eve were put to the test.  Did they trust God or did they not?     The apple is a good metaphor for sin and for the ease with which we sin.  Most sins are acts we perform impulsively, casually, and quickly.  Unlike an orange, a banana, a mango or most other fruits that one might find in a garden, an apple is quick, easy and convenient.  No need to peel, cut, or anything else.  No one just bites into a pineapple or a melon. But simply grab an apple and feast.  When done toss the core into a bush.  The tragedy in the story of Adam and Eve is that they weren’t even hungry.  Their sin was so banal as to make it laughable.   Most of our sins are committed under equally banal circumstances.   But they are not a laughing matter.

Some sins require exquisite planning.  Adultery demands complicated logistics and perhaps a second secret cell phone.  Robbing a bank should never be done on impulse.  Selling heroin or crack requires building a clientele, negotiating with suppliers and avoiding police. These sins are in their own category of intention.  Our day-to-day challenge isn't to avoid these intentionally planned sins.  Our challenge is avoiding the sins that require no planning, the kind of sins that result from unthinking responses to the challenges of daily life.

How often do we sin simply because the opportunity is there?  How often do we sin because we want it?  How often is sin driven by the unfortunate 1960’s motto "If it feels good do it."?  It wasn’t an apple that did mankind in.  It was human freedom, it was free will,  and Adam and Eve's inability to control it.  It is our story.

"Then the eyes of both of them were opened,

and they realized that they were naked;

so they sewed fig leaves together

and made loincloths for themselves."

The last verses tell us of the personal cost of sin: shame and embarrassment.  Shame and embarrassment are particularly acute if we’re caught in the sin.  Being caught in sin is never pleasant. The shame tells us what it means to be a responsible adult.  The embarrassment hammers home the realization that we are sinners.   We are sinners because we are free.  We are free to choose and  to follow through on that choice.   Adam and Eve were free.  Among all living creatures only humans are free.  Only humans were given insight and the ability to plan far into the future. Only humans can use the knowledge of potential outcomes of a chosen act which is a significant dimension of true freedom.  We are free rather prisoners of the instincts that drive all lower animals.  How we manage that freedom is tested on a daily basis.

Human freedom is generally misunderstood.  It is not a freedom from.  Human freedom is not freedom from restrictions, rules, and responsibility.  Human freedom is freedom for. It is the freedom of choice, even if we choose wrongly.  Freedom is not the opportunity to choose anything whatsoever.  Dogs and monkeys do that.  Freedom is not the ability to adopt an individual idiosyncratic attitude towards this or that.  Human freedom is the freedom of self-understanding.  Human freedom is the possibility of saying yes or no to oneself.  Human freedom is the ability to decide for or against oneself. 

Human freedom, and only human freedom, is the opportunity to choose or to reject sin. Adam and Eve had that choice. They acted on that choice.  It was the wrong choice but they were, and remained, free.  We have the same freedom.  While fully God Jesus was also fully man and had the same freedom to choose.

Each of the temptations satan presented to Jesus were tests of his willingness to rely on God.  Each of the temptations tested Jesus’ obedience to his Father.  Unlike Adam who was disobedient to God’s command Jesus was obedient to his Father’s will; obedient even to accepting death on the cross. 

The temptations satan dangled in front of Jesus, who was hungry from fasting, who was tired from prayer, and who was disoriented from being in the desert, are the same ones that dance in front of our eyes when we are hungry, tired, and disoriented; when we are dissatisfied with the status quo.

In the first test satan tempts a hungry Jesus with bread.  “C’mon, take care of yourself.  You can be self-sufficient.  Just do it.” Its more than bread here.  The temptation to self-sufficiency, to taking care of number one, and number one only, looms large in our lives.  The second temptation is to put God to the test. “Hey Jesus, it’s a quid pro quo.  You jump and the Father saves you.  If not . . . too bad.”  God is not a divine marionetteer who pulls our strings to make us dance. Nor is God a marionette that we control.  “If that happens I will no longer believe in God.”  That is the type of thought process characteristic of a three year-old.  The third temptation is the classic Faustian bargain.  “Sell your soul.  Worship me and look at the power I will give you.”  Power.  Prestige.  Money.  Control. These idols have replaced God in too many lives.  With His replies to satan, all of which are direct quotes from the Book of Deuteronomy, Jesus chose to be faithful and obedient to God the Father.  And in so doing made it possible for us to imitate Him. 

The responsorial psalm is Psalm 51, the great penitential psalm known as the Miserere. It is recited every Friday morning in the breviary.  Read it at home.  It is short. Let the words sink in.  Let it speak to you. 

"I acknowledge my offense."

"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." 

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

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-18

Lent begins today with the ancient custom of the imposition of ashes. It is a time of fasting and abstinence, a time of alms giving, and a time of prayer.  Lent is, or should be, more than forty days of penance and self-chosen deprivation.  It is also be a time of transformation and consecration.

The first reading from Joel puts today into context.  He calls for a gathering and a fast in the setting of a liturgy.  Blow the trumpets.  Call an assembly.  Gather the people.  Everyone from the youngest to the oldest.  And so we gather as a congregation to listen to the word of God.  We gather to receive the ashes that both remind us that we will die and call us to undergo a conversion of heart so as to live more closely in accord the Gospel.  We gather to receive the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ  whose passion, death, and resurrection we will recall at the end of forty days.

Lent is not simply a season of give-ups: smoking, chocolate, desert, television, and so on.  It should be a time of take-ons: time to meditate on the Gospel, time for  spiritual reading, more time for prayer, or more frequent attendance at Mass.

It is a time to follow the advice of  St. Jane de Chantal, foundress of the Visitation Order: “We cannot always offer God great things but at each instant we can offer little things with great love.”  Offering little things with great love may be more difficult than giving up both chocolate and beer for the next forty days.

St. Clement, pope gave us a road map for Lent as found in the second reading in today's Office of Readings  “we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger.”   He reminds us, “Recall what the Lord Jesus said when he taught gentleness and patience.  Be merciful, so that you may have mercy shown to you.  Forgive, so that you may be forgiven.  As you treat others, so you will be treated . . .”  Lent is a time to challenge ourselves to be more fully what Jesus wants us to be.  Lent is a time to seek to be more fully what we want to be but may not know how to become.

There are two formulae for the imposition of ashes. The first is a reminder of the reality of all life: "Remember, thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return."

The second is advice for Lent and every day of the year: "Turn away from sin

and be faithful to the Gospels."

As we begin the holy season of Lent we are called to meditate on one and act according to the other.

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 49:14-15

Ps 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9

1 Cor 4:1-5

Mt 6:24-34

Today's Gospel raises the topic of free will and priorities. Our priorities determine the choices we make. They decide what we hold closest to our hearts.  Our priorities determine how we live and how we treat those with whom we live and work. 

A young father who plays golf sixteen hours every weekend and ignores his three children, can be accused of misplaced priorities.  A woman who complains she has no money but puts a ten-day cruise on her credit card, can be accused of misplaced priorities.  A university student who spends the weekend drinking rather than studying for the organic chemistry final, can be accused of misplaced priorities. We all need an occasional reality check  during which we ask ourselves,  “What ARE my priorities?”  Ideally we ask ourselves this question  before someone--a parent, a spouse, a teacher, or a friend--is screaming it at us.  

In the first reading Paul is expressing his indifference to the opinions others have of him and his work.  Their opinion is not going to force him to change his priorities to suit their needs.  They can't exert enough pressure to make his priorities fit with their ideology. He is confident in his role as a steward of God’s mysteries.  He knows he will be judged at the appointed time.  Paul was never one to confuse his priorities.  He knew them. He held them firmly.  He was unwilling to compromise in the face of criticism.  He did not waver at the threat of prison.  He was indifferent to all things except the saving act of Jesus on the cross.  That was his first priority. It determined all of Paul's other priorities.

There is nothing subtle about the gospel.  Some of the images are wonderfully poetic.  The comparison of Solomon’s clothing to that of a lily is particularly fine. These images make an important point that supports what Jesus is teaching.

“You cannot serve both God and mammon”—mammon written with a lower case m rather than upper case.  Mammon is a problematic word.  Mammon is not a personification of satan.  Mammon is not an independent small g 'god.'  The word mammon comes from the ancient Chaldean root meaning confidence or trust.  “What do you trust in?”  “Where do you place your confidence?”  It requires little linguistic manipulation to rephrase the questions as, “What are your priorities?” 

Love and hate represents another translation problem in this Gospel. As used here 'love' and 'hate' do not indicate the emotions with which we are familiar. They are used in the biblical sense, a use that means 'to choose' and 'not to choose,' or, 'to choose' and 'to reject.'  Here love and hate indicate the difference between what we pay attention to and what we ignore.   We can only give undivided attention to one master.  We cannot split our affection or devotion.  It is one or the other.  Once more we confront the question of priorities.

Jesus’ advice, “do not be anxious” about what you eat or what you wear is not only for the wealthy. The poor are as capable as the wealthy of misplacing their priorities, of being overly concerned with how they look, how they dress, and what they have or don’t have.  They are simply working within a smaller budget. 

Jesus is telling his listeners to adopt the Ignatian characteristic of indifference. 

St. Ignatius wrote the following about it: “Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things as far as we are allowed free choice . . . .we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life.  The same holds for all other things. . . ” 

Can we become indifferent to what we eat?  Can we maintain indifference toward  our bodies?  Can we be indifferent to the car we drive even when our neighbor has a brand new Mercedes? 

Shortly after entering the Society a Jesuit novice learns the Suscipe.  Ideally it is part of his daily prayer and gives shape to how he lives, works and spends his free time.

“Take Lord, and receive,

all my liberty, my memory,

my understanding, my entire will;

all I have and call my own.

You have given all to me, to You, Lord, I return it.

Everything is Yours, do with it what You will.

Give me only Your love and Your grace.

That is enough for me." 

The Suscipe brings us back to the psalm.

“Only in God is my soul at rest;


from him comes my salvation.


He only is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold;

I shall not be disturbed at all.  . .

Trust in him at all times, O my people!


Pour out your hearts before him."

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Today was the Carnival Parade in LJ.  It is going to take many hours to go through the 800 photos I took.  Many will be discarded of course but many others will get processed.  Others will be kept but not worked on just yet.  I was out for three hours on one of the most beautiful days we've had.  Friday was heavy rain that changed into snow.  When I woke this AM the sun was glorious.  Temp went to mid-40s F but with no wind and full sun it seemed warmer than that.  Town was packed for the parade.  The photos below are all of flowers.  

Slovenians love flowers.  There are multiple flower seller stalls in the outdoor market regularly.  Most of the are clustered around the cathedral.  I shot most of these looking straight down into the bundles. After what was a prolonged period of gray, rain, fog, and mist the color was most welcome.  

No need to describe.  Simply meant to be enjoyed. 

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD