August 8, 2010
“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” The author of Hebrews describes the chronology of our ancestors’ faith in God and God’s steadfast response to us. The Book of Wisdom also tells us about the story of our forebears’ faith. In Luke, Jesus outlines how we are to live by our faith – that is, by being obedient to the will of God, but first we have to figure out the ways that our fears and attachments ensnare us, be courageous in letting go of them, and then in becoming vigilantly attentive to our personal God. It is in focusing our attention upon this God with whom we are in a steadfast relationship that we can follow the right path as the vigilant servant. We will naturally act justly because God calls the best out of us.
I watched a 2004 Swedish movie this week called “As it is in heaven” that illustrates this teaching perfectly. An ill symphony conductor retires to his boyhood home where he agrees to be the cantor for the local Lutheran church. He brings this dead town back to life by helping people find their natural, dignified voice with such raw beauty and lets the best emerge out of each person. In contrast, the pastor and one particular parishioner cannot move. They are held back by fear, their attachments to church teaching and ideals, and their inability to accept the life-giving example of others who are becoming happy because their true selves are breaking the boundaries that have long kept them silent. This happy group is attentive to every movement of the cantor who only does the right and the good for each of them. The pastor’s wife has a moment in which she recognizes that her husband is inextricably bound by his role and that he cannot see the God who is in the midst of the simple townspeople. He can’t see God undeniably pulling their beauty forth. She makes a choice: she wants to feel as if she is alive and she alters some very fundamental aspects of her life. She realizes she is finally and irretrievably happy to the core. In fact, each character in due time chooses his or her own happiness and lives according to the will of God for each one of them.
This is the message of Jesus to us through these passages. We have to notice our insecurities, fears and attachments and we have to let Jesus free us from these conditions. It may proceed on a slow pace at first, but when we see it happening we choose to go along with this grace. We also notice they ways that others are bound and we do not give up on them, but our first obligation is to come to know the God who wants our happiness. Each day we have to choose to be happy. Each and every day. When we obey this simple choice, all of our struggles are put into proper perspective. We become models for others because happiness is both contagious and attractive, and we like to be attractive people. Each day when we wake up, we have to put on our face – and when we obey God’s designs for us, it is really a beautiful face. It may get us into trouble with those who do not like to see us happy, but we have no real choice. We act in faith and trust that God is working some miracles in our lives and we know deep down in our consciences that we are alive through the power of God. And we sing and use our voices, and we dance and let our bodies glide with grace, and our lives are filled with gratitude to the One whose power calls our true selves to emerge with such beauty. We become alive with God’s life – life that cannot be contained.
Quote for the Week
Mother Mary MacKillop, religious, who worked in Australia and New Zealand to assist the poor, needy, and new immigrants to the country, will be canonized on October 17th. August 8th is chosen as the day in which she will be memorialized on the Roman calendar. In honor of that day, I offer the following prayer:
Bountiful and loving God,
You have filled the heart of Mary MacKillop
with compassionate love for those
who are in need at the margins of our society.
Deepen that love within us
that we may embrace the mystery of the Cross
which leads us through death to life.
We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus
who having broken the bonds of death
leads us to everlasting life. Amen.
Themes for this Week’s Masses
First Reading: Ezekiel is called to be a prophet in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile and he sees a mighty vision from heaven in which the righteous are marked to be passed-over from the destruction that comes from the hand of God. After the wicked are slain, the glory of the Lord will shine in the temple. The son of man is to leave Jerusalem as if going into exile so the rebellious houses of Israel may see this as a sign of their waywardness. The Lord retells the story of how he fashioned the people Israel as his own and gave them such care that they reached perfection, but the people saw their beauty and turned themselves into harlots. They have turned away from the covenant and now live in their shame. The Lord will judge each in the house of Israel according to his ways.
Gospel: Jesus declares that he is to be handed over and raised up by his enemies; he skillfully answers a question about his allegiance to secular authorities and his religious believes when asked whether he is to pay the temple tax. He then teaches about the necessity of forgiveness because what we bind or loosen on earth will be bound or loosened in heaven as well. The discussion of forgiveness goes even deeper when Jesus gives examples of how we have been forgiven. He illustrates this in the parable of the debtor who exacts punishment on a debtor after the king has forgiven his debt to him. Jesus is then questioned about the resurrection and divorce; he explains the humans made laws that were necessary because of the hardness of their hearts. At that time, children are brought to him and he receives them joyfully.
Saints of the Week
Monday: Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), martyr, converted from Judaism after reading Teresa of Avila’s autobiography. She earned a doctorate in philosophy in Germany and taught at a Dominica high school for girls before joining the Carmelites in 1933. Because of her Jewish roots, she moved to Holland to escape interrogations and persecution, but in 1942 she was caught up in a renewed persecution of Jewish-Christians where she and her sister were murdered in a gas chamber in Auschwitz.
Tuesday: Lawrence, deacon martyr, was a companion to Pope Sixtus II during the Valerian persecution. He was burned alive at the stake because he taunted his persecutors by bringing the poor to the authorities when they asked him to turn over the church’s treasures to them.
Wednesday: Clare, religious, heard Francis of Assisi preach and adopted her lifestyle to be one of gospel poverty. She became a Franciscan on Palm Sunday in 1212 when Francis received her into the community and found a place for her to live in a nearby Benedictine convent. She was made Abbess of the Poor Clares of the community at San Damiano near Assisi.
Thursday: Jane Frances de Chantal, religious, founded the Congregation of the Visitation for women in 1601 after serious spiritual reflection after the death of her husband. Francis de Sales was her spiritual advisor. Her congregation was designed for women who wanted life in a religious community but without such austerity of existing monasteries.
Friday: Pontian, pope and martyr and Hippolytus, priest and martyr, were persecuted under the persecution of Maximinus in 235. Pontian served as pope for five peaceful years, but Hippolytus was a rival to him until he later sought reconciliation. He rejoined the mainline church and suffered martyrdom in 236.
Saturday: Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr, was a Franciscan priest of Russian Poland and was ordained in 1918. He spread the devotion to Mary to Poland and Japan. When he returned to Poland in 1936, he helped many refugees including Polish Jews during the Nazi occupation. After a prisoner escaped, ten men were randomly chosen to die and Kolbe offered to be sacrificed instead of a young father with small children.
This Week in Jesuit History
· Aug 8, 1604. St Peter Claver takes his first vows at Tarracona.
· Aug 9, 1762. The moving of the English College from St Omers to Liege.
· Aug 10, 1622. Blessed Augustine Ota, a Japanese brother, was beheaded for the faith. He had been baptized by Blessed Camillus Costanzi on the eve of the latter's martyrdom.
· Aug 11, 1846. The death of Benedict Joseph Fenwick. He was the second bishop of Boston, twice the president of Georgetown, and the founder of the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
· Aug 12, 1877. The death of Fr. Maurice Gailland. He was an expert in languages and spent many years at St Mary's Mission in Kansas. He wrote a 450 page dictionary and grammar of the Potawatomi language.
· Aug 13, 1621. The death in Rome of St John Berchmans. He died while still in studies, preparing for a public disputation.
· Aug 14, 1812. Napoleon I and his army arrived at Polosk, in White Russia. They plunder the property of the Society and violate the tombs of the Generals.
Vows of Jesuit Novices
August 15th is the date that Ignatius and his first companions pronounced First Vows at Montmartre outside of Paris following their academic studies. The first companions were laymen except for Peter Faber, whose memorial we celebrated on August 2nd, who was ordained a priest prior to the vow ceremony.
In remembrance of those vows, Jesuit novices in the United States (vovendi – those who are approved for vows) profess their first vows near the Feast of the Assumption, just like our founders. Please pray for the vovendi as they ready themselves to be received as Jesuit scholastics and brothers.
Prayer for the Dominican Order
August 8th is the date on the Roman calendar (August 5th in New Zealand and Australia) that honors Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order. As this date falls on a Sunday, the Lord’s day takes precedence. In honor of our Dominican friends, I offer this prayer called “O Spes Miram” to Dominic, which is part of Matins on his feast day.
"O wonderful hope which you gave to those who wept for you at the hour of your death, promising after your departure to be helpful to your brethren. Fulfil, father, what you have said and help us by your prayers. You who shone by so many miracles worked on the bodies of the sick, bring us the help of Christ to heal our sick souls. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit."
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