Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration

  

6 August 2026

Dn 7:9-10, 13-14

Ps 97:1-2, 5-6,99

2 Pt 1:16-19

Mt 17:1-9

 

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, draws us into a mystery that is well beyond our understanding or comprehension.  The Transfiguration represents the fulfillment of the prophecy we just heard in the reading from Deuteronomy that  also tried to describe something beyond the ability of words and images. "The Son of Man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.  His dominion is everlasting; his kingship shall not be destroyed."

 

"His dominion is everlasting; his kingship shall not be destroyed."

 

On this Feast we recall Jesus appearing in brilliant glory; speaking with Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets in front of three of His disciples.

 

Imagine the scene: Dazzling light.  Moses, Elijah, and Jesus conversing. What were they saying? How did their voices sound?  Place yourself with the apostles. Stand on the mountain with them.  The tension is increasing, it is almost unbearable.  And then you hear God's voice: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."  The Father confirms that Jesus is the Christ, the Beloved Son of God, the one whom Peter confessed him to be in the previous chapter of Mark's Gospel.

 

And then the Father gives you a mission: "Listen to him." 

 

Like the apostles, you are stunned into silence and overcome with awe.  Jesus--the Nazorean and teacher, Son of Mary and Wonder Worker, Jesus, the carpenter, healer, and prophet who was given no honor in his native place, was revealed in his Divinity. 

 

But, there is another transfiguration, there is another revelation, we must recall today. That event was also marked by blinding light, overshadowed by a cloud, and a deafening sound led to a stunned silence. 

 

On August 6 the Church recalls that Jesus was revealed in his Divinity on a mountain.  On August 6, 1945 the human race revealed its depravity at Hiroshima.  The world would never be the same.  Hiroshima captured in one event the sum total of human sin from the fall of Adam and Eve. 

 

The event of Hiroshima, and three days later, Nagasaki, condensed the cumulative horrors of all the wars of the past centuries, into a single and singular event.  This time God did not give mankind a mission from the cloud.  There was a terrible silence. There was a void. 

 

Or was there?

           

The voice of God was obscured by the explosion.  It was not silenced. 

 

Almost 2000 years since Jesus' incarnation, birth, passion, death, resurrection and ascension, and eighty-one years since Hiroshima, God's mandate to the apostles, and thus His mandate to us: “listen to him” is more compelling and urgent  than it was for the shaken apostles.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated man's capability for destruction on an unimaginable scale, a scale that is unique to our present time and technology.

 

"This is my Son; listen to him.”     

 

As we listen to Jesus, as we take his teaching to heart and allow that teaching to transform us, we move a bit closer to the eschatological glory of  the transfigured Jesus. At the same time we move that much farther from the apocalyptic destruction of the nuclear bomb, the human destruction of  past genocides in Armenia, Rwanda and Burundi, the unbearable memories of WWII and many others throughout the world up to and including Ukraine and the Middle East.

 

And, as we heed God's mandate to listen to his beloved Son, we begin to move further from the systematized attacks on morality and vulnerable human life being waged in the U.S. today, abortion, the planned killing of the elderly, and the castration of prepubertal children for the sake of a perverted agenda.

 

"The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory."

 

"The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth."

 

"This is my beloved Son,

listen to Him."

 

____________________________________________

I won't try to elaborate why the Feast of the Transfiguration is so deeply meaningful for me, even before I began working with the monks at the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration in Vermont. I'm not certain I can put the reasons into words anyway.

The photos are from the Charterhouse over the past years

 

 

 

A depiction of the Transfiguration on the staircase leading to the Church.  It is about five feet high and proportionately wide.  Note the quote at the bottom.  

The miracle of Transubstantiation

Taken from the choir stall to which I was assigned on my first visit ten years ago.  It never changed.  The books are in Latin, Gregorian Chant, and are huge.  

 

Have a Blessed Feast

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD 

 

Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola_2026

  

Feast of St. Ignatius

31 July 2026

 

AMDG.  Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, To the Greater Glory of God. These four words comprise the Jesuit motto.  We frequently use AMDG at the beginning or end of a letter.  My vow ring is engraved with it. 

 

Ignatius of Loyola was a complex man.  Born in 1491or 1492, his youth was spent learning to be a soldier and a member of the royal court.  He admits to being very vain regarding his appearance in his younger years, preferring the 16^th century equivalent of skinny jeans so as to look good. Though mostly uneducated, he could read and had very fine penmanship.  At twenty-two years of age the hot-headed Basque was injured while leading his overmatched men in the Battle of Pamplona.  It was one of the most blessed injuries in the history of war. 

 

While convalescing in the castle of Loyola he was gradually drawn to the desire to follow in the footsteps of Christ, he discerned a call to do great things for the Greater Glory of God.  It is a fascinating story. 

 

Because he had not had an adequate education he went back to the equivalent of junior high school in his twenties to learn the Latin and Greek he needed to go to University.

 

Ignatius was charismatic.  A group of men gathered around him at university to do the Spiritual Exercises that he composed while in Manresa following his conversion.  Some of these men, including Sts. Francis Xavier and Peter Faber, were among the original nine companions when the Society of Jesus was established in 1540. 

 

Two days ago we heard the well known Gospel narrative of Martha and Mary.  Mary at prayer as she sat at Jesus' feet, Martha grumbling and whining as she did the work of preparing the meal.  In St. Ignatius we see a combination of Mary's contemplation of Jesus' word and Martha's busy-ness in response to demands of work without the complaining. 

 

The totality of Ignatius’ presence to Jesus word was like Mary’s.  Like Martha he had many distractions. He wrote 7000 letters, was composing the Jesuit Constitutions, missioning men throughout the world, and answering hundreds of questions as the Society grew.  At times he had to put his foot down.  All novices read his famous letter on obedience, a 4000 word missive that he wrote to young Jesuits in Portugal who were in a rebellious mood. But it was the fruit of his prayer that influenced world history in ways that can never be overestimated. 

 

Despite the enormous demands of the rapidly growing Society, establishing schools, dealing with hostility from other orders and the occasional pope, missioning men throughout the world, and writing the constitutions for the Society, he was disposed to hear and contemplate the word of God in the midst of and despite many distractions,

 

His health was not good.  Yet, he continued to pray and work without grumbling, always to the Greater Glory of God. Ignatius died in 1556, age 65.  He had been named the first general of the Society in 1541 and was still holding that office at the time of his death.  Jesuits pray a number of prayers written by Holy Father Ignatius. One of these is the Prayer for Generosity that outlines how to live AMDG.

 

"O Lord, teach me to be generous

To serve you as you deserve

To give and not to count the cost

To fight and not to heed the wounds

To toil and not to seek for rest

To labor and not to ask for reward

Save that of knowing I do your holy will."

 

 __________________________________________

 

 

 

The injured Ignatius at Pamplona.  The French were so impressed with his tenacity that they helped transport him back to the castle of Loyola.

Parts of the castle and the dome of the basilica.  Took this because of the trees.  Ya' don't see these in Northern New England

Sometimes I get distracted by something small, like a flower. 

Statue of Ignatius situated way above the main altar.  Could only get this with a 150 mm lens and standing almost directly below it. 

The castle and the dome of the basilica.  Loyola was a photo bonanza both in the basilica as well as the landsccape.  

 Happy Feast!

 

 Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

 

Going to try this again

I don't know what the problem is with this web site The print doesn't show up normally. But am going to try yet again. This is the homily from this past Sunday. Will also give a shot at the photos. 

 

That was one serious find:  Homily for the 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12

Ps 119: 57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130

Rom 8:28-30

Mt 13:44-52

 

We make most daily decisions, without much effort: do I cross now or wait until that car passes?  Orange or apple juice?  Take a nap or exercise?  Other choices however, require discernment and thought.  We have all made life changing choices and will do so in the future.  Among the most important of those choices is the choice for or against Jesus.

 

The first reading and gospel both involve life-changing choices. 

 

God asked Solomon what he desired.  He was young, nothing more than a kid.  Despite that he did not ask for things most of us would want: a long healthy life, riches, or a great car.  Solomon asked for understanding,  he asked for the wisdom to discern between good and evil, and the ability to be a good leader.   His request pleased God.  It was granted.  We can only pray that our national leaders--BOTH parties--desire the same as opposed to the ugly and uncivil power struggles characterizing life in the U S of A.  Imagine legislatures praying for the wisdom to be good leaders rather than legalizing human sacrifice on the altar of abortion rights, the killing of the sick and elderly, rather than worshipping power, and encouraging the perverse and bizarre.

 

Every choice we make involves a cost.  Sometimes we anticipate that cost while other times it comes as a surprise.  When we make a particular choice other options  are closed off.   Sure we can change our minds about orange vs. apple  juice, or even have both, but the most important choices close off the other possibilities.  Choosing to marry a particular person closes off the choices among all others. Choosing to enter religious life closes off the option to marry and have a family,

 

The three short gospel parables are about choices. While they are related each has a unique message.  Unlike their usual response the apostles replied 'yes'

when Jesus asked if they understood. Repetition seems to have had an effect. 

They finally got it,  just as we get it and begin to understand what Jesus is telling us the more we listen to His word.

 

The first two parables bring to mind an event that blew the art world and the  Society of Jesus out of the water in 1990 when Dublin's Leeson Street Jesuit Community sent a painting that had been hanging in the dining room for sixty years to be cleaned.  It was thought to be a copy of a long-missing Carravagio painting called "The Taking of Christ." 

 

But one of the art restorers noticed something.  It WAS the missing painting worth tens of millions of pounds.  It was both the treasure discovered accidentally in a field and the pearl of great price noticed by an expert. 

 

What about buried treasures?

 

At the time the gospel was written invasions were a regular threat.  One way to keep a treasure safe was to bury it in a field.  Of course before selling the field it was important to remember that and where it was buried. Today we hear stories of very valuable objects found at flea markets, in attics, and at estate sales.

Indeed, Antiques Road Show is premised on this gospel passage.  

 

When the man realized what he had found buried he went away happy, chose to sell everything he had, and purchased the field so as obtain the treasure.  When we realize the value of the Kingdom of Heaven, when we truly understand and commit ourselves to following Jesus, we too can go off happy, knowing that we have found the most valuable of treasures.  

 

The man’s discovery in the field was an accident.   Not so for the merchant. He was an expert on a quest to find pearls. He found an exceptional one  and realized, on the basis of his expertise and knowledge, that this was the real thing.

He had found the pearl for which he was searching.   He too chose to act and commit to a course of action so as to obtain it.

 

The merchant’s excitement mirrors that of the one who discovers Christ later in life or the one who, having been baptized rediscovers what he or she had given up during that spiritual chaos known as young adulthood.  As a result he returns

to active participation in the sacraments.   Both of these figures made irrevocable choices.  Neither could have repurchased what he had sold. Neither could ever go back to the time before the decision.

 

The final parable is a bit different.  All of us can identify with fishing though few have experienced fishing with a drag net.   A drag net picks up everything: 

fish, plant life, and all kinds of inanimate objects.  After the net is hauled ashore

the fishermen go through the contents, keep the good fish, discard those that are not good, and dispose of the garbage. This parable recalls last week's gospel

about the weeds and the wheat. When the field was harvested the weeds were thrown into the fire and the wheat bundled into barns.

 

Politics, good, and evil, virtue and sin, have coexisted since the beginning of time. That will never change.  Our dilemma is whether or not we choose to trust

in the promises of Christ as described by Paul, “We know that by turning everything to their good God cooperates with all those who love him,

with all those that he has called . . .”  

 

Accepting or refusing God’s grace is our free choice.  We can never be forced

to accept or cooperate with that grace.  However, all the other important choices in our lives depend on that decision. 

 

___________________________________________________________

 

 

The photos are all from sv. Višarje, a three-country pilgrimage site in Italy just across the borders of both Austria and Slovenia.  Extremely beautiful place where I spent ten days doing some work with kids learning ENglish.  I was the only native speaker.  It was photo heaven.  

 

 

 

 

Prophesy, Preach, and Proclaim: Homily for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus sent His apostles on mission with power over unclean spirits and the mandate to ‘cure every disease and every illness.’ It is a powerful mandate that includes an important distinction. Giving the apostle the instruction to cure disease AND illness might strike some as redundant. However, the distinction is important to understanding the mission of the Church that heals illness but rarely cures disease. Disease and illness are not synonymous. Few physicians are able to cure disease. True, surgeons can remove a diseased organ and effect a cure. Internists are able to cure some diseases but more often we stabilize them. Think diabetes or high blood pressure. Psychiatrists? I’m still not sure after thirty five years. However, despite the limitations all have the mandate to heal illness. Disease is a biomedical affliction with identifiable pathological changes in an organ or organ system at some level. While a disease affects only the patient, illness is a sociocultural perspective that includes how the individual and others understand and experience certain disvalued and feared states caused by disease. Illness affects not only the individual but the family, the community, and at times all of society, in ever widening circles. The dichotomy is apparent in scripture when we consider leprosy. Leprosy as described in both Old and New Testaments never had anything to do with what is now known as Hansen’s disease. Leprosy was a catch-all term for visible scaly lesions including vitiligo, psoriasis, and blemishes. Jesus cured the disease of leprosy in those afflicted but more significantly He cured the illness and thus returned the sufferers to themselves and to society. There are many modern illustrations of the difference between disease and illness. AIDS as disease was first described in June 1981. By 1990 almost 101,000 Americans had died of the disease with 1/3 of those deaths reported in 1990. The toll of AIDS as illness, a toll exerted on family, friends, community, society, and the world of medicine, was, is, and will remain beyond accounting. Thanks to covid we had a refresher course on the difference between disease and illness. The disease, which affected only individuals, killed the elderly age 65 and above in disproportionate fashion. The illness was an even greater disaster. Many of those elderly, as well as patients hospitalized for other reasons were forced to suffer and die in anguished solitude. Many perceived abandonment by their families and friends who were prevented from visiting. And no, a computer is not a good substitute for someone dealing with cognitive impairment. They were bereft of the sacraments as well. The illnesses: loneliness, depression, anxiety, fear, and for many, cognitive decline came from a combination of government fiat, irrational fears of administrators, lack of compassion, and generalized stupidity on the part of too many who should have known better. The slogan, “Follow the science” was a dismissive cudgel used to beat others into submission regarding vaccination. Many lives were destroyed. As with AIDS the impact of the illnesses of covid can never be estimated, particularly when one factors in the disastrous impact of school closures. The disease has faded. The illness will echo for decades to come. How did the twelve apostles perceive Jesus’ mandate to cure disease and illness? How did they feel when it was given to them? How did they feel when the going got rough or when they realized the risks? Ideally they did not respond in the same way as a young physician who wrote an op-ed column in response to covid titled, “I Didn’t Sign Up For This,” an extended whine about having to work under the conditions and risks of covid. It might be best for this young doc to hang up the stethoscope now and seek a different line of work. Apparently he or she likes the title but not the obligations that come with it. Mandate derives from the Latin mandatum: manus (hand) and dare (to put) thus ‘to put into one’s hands.’ The foot washing of Holy Thursday is referred to as the mandatum, from Jesus’ words at the Last Supper “I have given you an example, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” The histories of AIDS and covid as diseases AND illnesses have a shameful element in common. That shame was, and is, the refusal of too many with training and ability to treat patients because of the diagnosis. The stories of refusing to allow patients with AIDS to even enter a medical office were many during the early years. During covid, Arthur Caplan, a so-called medical ethicist in New York published a column on Medscape titled, “It’s Okay for Docs to Refuse to Treat Unvaccinated Patients.” The good news is that Caplan is not physician. He cannot treat patients. The over 700 responses to his column from physicians were overwhelmingly negative, angry, or both. It is never OK to cherry pick who or what is treated based on diagnosis or social agenda. I suspect had Dr. Caplan written that it was OK to refuse puberty blockers for so-called transexual children he would have been fired right quick. It is not easy to treat disease. Sometimes the best we can do is keep it at bay for a little while. “A cure for cancer in our lifetime.”? Nothing more than a moronic bumper sticker reflecting no knowledge of the thousands if disease that fall under the umbrella term cancer. Treating the illnesses of modern times is even more difficult. That is a separate homily. We have all been given the same mandate as that given to the apostles. That is to treat illnesses and proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven through our words and the example of our lives. _____________________________________ Will try to post photos next week. This is truly a miserable web site.

New try

Am going to try to restart this blog as I cannot understand the procedures for some of the others.

NEW BLOG, NEW SITE

I moved the blog from this site to frjacksjmd.net. It will take some getting used to but this site has become undependable. Will continue to post regularly on the blog and on faceback.

This will be the last post on this blog. The site is functioning poorly, printing submissions in a bizarre font. Service has seriously deteriorated since I began it fifteen years ago while in Australia on tertianship. There are a lot of words I could use to describe what blogspot has become but I would have to go to confession. While I may or may not try to resume a different blog, I continue to publish homilies and photos on facebook (johsiberski). I do not tolerate computer driven frustrations well. So screw you google.

Solemnity of the Annunciation

25 March 2026 Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ, Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto “The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, And she conceived of the Holy Spirit” So begins the Angelus, a prayer consisting of four short verses, each verse followed by a Hail Mary. It is recited thrice daily, generally at 6 AM, noon, and 6 PM. It commemorates our Lord’s incarnation, recalls Mary’s fiat, and contributes to making the day holy. The Annunciation is a quiet solemnity. There was no visible sign: no star, no eclipse, and no earthquake. There was no voice from the heavens. Simply a quiet scene that took place in a small room in an obscure village in the Middle East. But, the Universe held its breath as it unfolded. An angel was carrying news to a young woman named Mary. How would she reply? Is this the time? Mary was startled when she heard the angel’s message. Nothing stirred outside that small room. The universe became silent when it heard the angel's greeting, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee." Clasping its hands over its heart, the world waited anxiously. St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote: “The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady. . . .The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. . . .” The woman appeared puzzled and concerned, as if she were asking herself what the angel’s greeting meant. The look on her face was changing. Wait . . . . and then: "Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum." "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, May it be done unto me according to your word." In a sigh of relief the universe changed. It would never be the same. A new calm descended. The prophecy would be fulfilled. Mary’s words penetrated the very substance of all that is. Those words would echo forever. The most perfect yes in history had just been enunciated. The universe and all within it rejoiced. The virgin had accepted her vocation to be the Theotokos, the God-bearer, in fulfillment of the prophecy to Ahaz. Like us, Mary was endowed with free will. She could have rejected the vocation the angel presented to her. On the surface it seems irreverent to suggest that Mary could have refused. Her decision, however, was not inevitable. It was not forced by God. She was chosen. But she was free to choose. Fiat mihi secundum tuum was her yes. In the third verse of the angelus we pray: Et Verbum caro factum est. Et habitavit in nobis “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Angels rejoiced. Heaven celebrated. Mary's life would change. Joseph would soon receive her into his house. They would soon make the arduous journey to Bethlehem where Jesus would be born of the House of David,once again in fulfillment of a prophecy. The annunciation almost always occurs during lent. During lent the Eastern Church chants a hymn to the Theotokos, Mary, the God-bearer, whose reply to the angel enabled the universe to rejoice. It includes the verse: "Receive, O earth, the glad tidings of great joy. Heavens, praise the glory of God. The Theotokos, the God-bearer, the living tabernacle of God shall not be touched by an unclean hand. The lips of believers shall sing to her ceaselessly with the voices of angels crying joyfully, Hail full of grace, The Lord is with Thee." Thus, we celebrate today.

Out of the Depths I Cry: Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent

  

Ez 37:12-14

Ps 130

Rom 8:8-11

Jn 11:1-45

 

These are extraordinary, almost overwhelming  readings that deserve prolonged meditation. 

                                  

Ezekiel begins with a promise:  “Thus says the Lord God . . .  I will open your graves and have you rise from them.”  The commentary on this passage in The Jewish Study Bible is succinct:  “Traditional Jewish exegetes find here the idea of the resurrection of the dead before the day of judgment, a fundamental belief of rabbinic Judaism ascribed to Moses.”   Obviously the resurrection of the body was not a new or exclusively Christian belief.  In fact belief in the resurrection of the dead separated the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  We will reiterate our belief in the resurrection of the dead shortly in the Creed and yet again as we renew our baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil. 

 

Paul comments on the cost of sin and announces good news: Although the body is dead because of sin, if Christ is in us the spirit is alive because of righteousness.  What more could we want? 

 

Psalm 130—De profundis—is one of the most beautiful and evocative of the 150 hymns in the entire psalter. 

 

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine:

Domine, exaudi vocem meam.

 

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord.  Lord, hear my voice.   

 

We call to the Lord out of the depths of sin. We call from the tombs in which we find ourselves again and again.  We call to the Lord who hears our plea; the Lord who forgives our sins. 

 

The readings and psalm prepare us to hear the cinematically detailed story of Lazarus. It is not only the story of Lazarus.  It is our story.  It is the revelation of being brought from death to life in Christ through the forgiveness of sins—until  the final resurrection of the dead. 

 

Jesus, fully human, weeps at Lazarus’ tomb.  Jesus, fully God commands Lazarus to come forth from that tomb.   Jesus, fully human, wept over Jerusalem as he weeps over us.  Jesus, fully God, called the son of the widow of Nain to rise from his stretcher and the daughter of the official to get up from her bed, just as he calls us to eternal life.  In his commentary on this Gospel Jesuit Fr. Stanley Marrow points out the fundamental difference between Lazarus and the others who were brought back to life only to have to die again later; and Jesus, who rises from the dead never to die again.  If one were forced to choose only two words to describe the difference they would be reanimation and resurrection. 

 

Lazarus, the widow’s son, and the young girl were reanimated for a period of time, only to die later; not unlike the modern analog of cardiac resuscitation or the miracles wrought daily in hospitals throughout the world.  They are temporary stays.   Only Jesus came back from the dead never to die again. 

 

If Lazarus is us so is Martha.  The same Martha who complained to Jesus about Mary now makes a profound act of faith,  “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”   And then  the climax of this narrative: “I am the resurrection and life; whoever believes in me will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” 

 

It is not that we will not die to this life.  Jesus is not promising that we won’t suffer. Our deaths may come quickly without time to prepare.  Our deaths may come at the end of a slow but easy passage from this life; a deep sigh at the end and nothing more.  Or we may die after a prolonged period of pain, suffering, and decay.  It is not ours to choose.  What Jesus is promising is that, in Stanley’s words, “the eternal life which we possess here and now cannot and will not be interrupted even by death.” 

 

We cry to the Lord out of the depths of our souls.  The Lord answers with kindness and plenteous redemption. 

 

What more could  we want? 

 

_____________________________________________

The photos are all black and white conversions from a ten-day visit to Vietnam after tertianship in Australia.  I can still see the provincial's face who, as we were discussing tertianship asked, "Do you want to stop in Hawaii on the way home?"  My reply?  "No.  I've never wanted to go to Hawaii.  Can I stop in Viet Nam.  It would take too long to explain why asking to go to Viet Nam was one of the best decisions I could have made.  

 

 

Fishermen killing time until high tide.   At low tide the sand extends for hundreds of yards and the boats are stuck.  

Vietnamese scholastics playing volleyball during recreation. 

 

A bike ride along the ocean.

This anonymous kid saw my camera and began hamming it up

 

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD 

 

Rejoice O Jerusalem: Homily for Laetare Sunday

  

1 Sm 16;1B, 6-7, 10-13A

Eph 5:8-14

Jn 9:1-41

 

"Laetare Jerusalem:

et conventum facite omnes

qui diligitis eam:

gaudete cum laetitia,

qui in tristitia fuistis . . ."

 

"Rejoice oh Jerusalem

and all who love her.

Be joyful, all who were in mourning . . ."

 

The name Laetare for the fourth Sunday of Lent derives from the first Latin word of the entrance antiphon, Laetare. Rejoice.  In one of the many essays he composed during 40 years teaching at Georgetown, the late Jesuit Father Jim Schall wrote: "Laetare Sunday is traditionally called a respite.  It makes us begin to feel the nearness of the Passion and the Resurrection, but with a reminder that even amid the Lenten fast and the coming remembrance of the Crucifixion,we are not to forget that Christianity is a religion of joy."  

 

Father continues, "Christianity is called the most worldly of the religions. . . . because it is a religion engaged with the world and in the world, but it is not of the world.  Christianity transcends the world, it goes beyond the world it goes beyond the universe. It will not cease when the world ends or when the universe involutes on itself."

 

We will be reminded on the Feast of the Annunciation in eleven days, that because of Mary’s fiat  “May it be done to me according your word,”  Christianity will continue beyond the end of the world just as those words will echo eternally beyond the end of the universe.

 

Schall then makes a further observation,

 

"Christianity is also the happiest religion since it knows this world is not all there is. There is something precious beyond the world.  The world is not a bad place. if we don't expect of the world more than it can give, or if we don't see the world for what it is not."

 

Paul’s instruction to the Ephesians is that they see the world for what it is and what it is not.  “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness, rather, expose them. . .   Live as children of the light, for light produces every kind of goodness, and righteousness, and truth. . . . “

 

The task of the Church is to expose the works of darkness: the works of darkness in the abortion clinic, the works of darkness in state legislatures that are passing bills to allow killing the sick elderly before their time, and the works of darkness, the pure evil, of those who encourage and assist in the psychological, surgical and hormonal abuse of confused children who lack independent decision-making capacity.

 

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”  Christ gives us the same light that he gave the man born blind,

 

Laetare Sunday reminds us that we are approaching the magnificent liturgies of the Sacred Triduum. The Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday begins with the blessing of the fire from which the paschal candle is lit.  As he incises the candle before lighting it, the priest says the words that explain our faith in one sentence:

 

"Christ yesterday and today

the beginning and the end.

Alpha and Omega;

all time belongs to him,

and all the ages;

to Him be glory and power,

through every age for ever."

 

Soon our mourning, will be replaced by dancing.  It will not be the short respite of Laetare Sunday but the unfettered joy of Easter, a joy we will carry forth despite the realities of life impinging on us. The darkness of death will be overwhelmed by the light of eternal life. 

 

Like the man born blind in today's Gospel, we will see with unclouded vision.  Unlike the man born blind, we will not be confused about who gave us our sight. 

 

"Laetare Jerusalem:

et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam:

gaudete cum laetitia . . . "

 

Rejoice Jerusalem  . . . . Rejoice.

 

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A Sunday I always look forward to for what it meant in childhood.  Not a major celebration thing but always looked forward to it.  

 

Photos are from St. Joseph Trappist Abbey, indeed I will be there this coming Saturday. 

 

Almost the entire church using a 7 mm lens. Because of the blue stained glass it is difficult to take and process a color photo of the church.  Black and white conversion works great.  The blue cast actually make adjusting the shadows much easier. 

Entrance to the monk's choir from the cloister.

The cavernous sacristy.  On Sunday there will be a large number of dusty rose vestments on the vesting table.  The vestments at Spencer are expensive (see Holy Rood Guild) but worth every penny and then some.  They will last forever.  And, as they have no images, focusing on excellent fabrics and beautiful trim, they never go out of style.  

 

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD 

 

Water, Water, Everywhere: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent

  

Ex 17:3-7

Ps 95:1-2,6-7,8-9

Rom 5:1-2, 5-8

Jn 4:5-42

 

The Gospel for this Third Sunday of Lent is long.  It is as detailed as a movie script  and is packed with possibilities for preaching.  Indeed, it would take very little effort to give a 45-minute homily on the gospel alone.  It is a daunting set of readings for the listener. 

 

The episode of the woman at the well is a response to the first reading in which, despite the gift of manna, quail, and their freedom, the Israelites complained, argued, bullied Moses, and demanded that God give them water. Moses asked God what to do.  In answer to his plea, God instructed him to strike the rock with the same staff he used to part the waters.  Moses did as told. Water flowed. 

 

The gospel continues the theme of water and thirst, Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water.  Given the social context of the Ancient Near East this was a radical act on Jesus' part.  Jews did not speak to Samaritans.  They certainly did not ask them for a favor.  A Jewish man speaking with a Samaritan woman was unthinkable.  The scene was set for a radical teaching.

 

In last week's gospel of the Transfiguration God revealed his Son's divinity to the apostles through a voice from a cloud. This week Jesus reveals his divinity to the Samaritan woman in his own words.  He reveals the gift, the giver, and conditions for receiving that gift, conditions that the Israelites failed to uphold. 

 

The two conditions for the Samaritan woman--and for us--to receive the gift of eternal life are:  First, to recognize our need for the gift and the one who brings it:  “If you knew the gift of God. . . .”  That need cannot be met by anyone or anything else. 

 

Asking for a gift is humbling. It is the humility underlying prayer, particularly the prayer of the Mass. When we ask for a gift we admit our need for it.  We admit our dependence on the gift and our dependence the One who can give it to us.  However, humble is a state that humans try to avoid at all costs.  

 

The second condition is to understand the true nature and value of the gift.  The Samaritan woman misunderstood that.  “Sir, give me this water, that I may not be thirsty, or have to keep coming here to draw water.”   She assumed that Jesus was offering her respite from her daily routine, that He would free her from life’s discomforts and banish all suffering.  

 

Like the woman at the well, we assume, if not demand, that in one way or another, Jesus' put an end to all our troubles or better yet, prevent them from happening.  We imagine further, that our problems  will be resolved to our satisfaction in the way we want and without pain, suffering, or any effort on our part.

 

But Jesus did not come into the world to take us out of it.  He did not come to spare us the pain of living on this earth,  or to free us from the limitations of being flesh and blood. 

 

He came to experience and endure those limitations with us, from the moment of his birth until his passion and death. He came to experience our pain, suffering, and limitations so as to give us the waters of eternal life. As stated so powerfully in the final verse of the first reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans, "But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."  That statement, in  itself, is another homily.

 

The  Liturgy of the Hours begins every day with Psalm 95, today's responsorial psalm.  Listen to the first verse again. "Come, let us sing to the Lord, and shout with joy to the God who made us, let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving, and sing joyful songs to the Lord."

 

That is the only way to respond to the gift and to the Giver. 

 

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For the moment winter seems to be coming to an end.  Am waiting for the "onion snow" which the Amish considered a sign that it was now safe to plant the onion sets.  According to mom the onion snow was  by very large snowflakes, the kind that make a sound when they hit the ground.  Am ready for it.  Still making up for some of the cancellations due to the snow.  

 

The photos are three from a file titled "Images of Aging"  

 

Retired Vietnamese Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres in My Tho, Vietnam.  Spent three days with them after tertianship.  The motherhouse is in the Meking Delta not far from one of the points at which many made escape attempts.  Wish I could have heard their stories. 

An elderly couple in the adoration chapel at the National Shrine of the Immaculate conception in D.C.  

Three generations in Taipei, Taiwan  not far from the Chiang-kai Shek performance center.  

 

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD