Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 7, 2011
1 Kings 19:9-13; Psalm 85; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33

          The story of Jesus walking on water in the fury of a storm is a favorite of many. It is a call for greater trust and we easily find ourselves like Peter who impetuously answers the call to walk towards Jesus, but then gets sidetracked by the swirling storm and the deep sea. We lose our focus on the one who can calm us. If you are a high sensate like me, one who is notices the tiny, sensory, environmental details, keeping focus on Jesus is difficult. We are the ones who pay attention to the many distracting voices while searching for the one who can ultimately guide us to the right place.
          Having recently completed directing the 30-day Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, I recognize how difficult it is to earn trust even for those steeped in religious life. Some find it difficult to trust Jesus because of their images of Jesus Christ. If he is only a transcendent God-man, it is not easy to relate to him because he is always in control and is always God. If he is fully human, we can find a brother who endured the same difficulties we face. It is much easier to develop a friendship with one who is like us than one who is an altogether different being. The power balance can be too great to overcome.

          The disciples saw Jesus as merely a man. They prayed with him, learned from him, ate with him, and had leisure time with him. Because he was so like them, they were fearful when they encountered him in supernatural situations. It bent their minds so much to cause them to wonder about the source of his power. His humanity made him credible, and his humanity pointed to the power of God as the source of his words and works. Even when we have known before birth, we may find it difficult to talk with and place greater trust in him.
          Many factors prevent us from trusting him: our undeveloped catechesis, the strength of our will (because we have learned to do things to our satisfaction on our own), memories, disordered attachments and lack of awareness and freedom. We increase our trust in him when we get to know him more familiarly. I find it helpful to ask myself the same question at different points of the day. As I review my morning or afternoon, I ask, "Where were you, O Christ, in this past segment of my day?" Then I let him answer. I'm often pleasantly surprised at some insignificant event that becomes meaningful. I find Christ in the details of my unconsciousness that shape the way I respond to my environment for the rest of the day.

          I have come to relish the quiet moments of the day even if I can only snatch five minutes. Because of this, the reading from 1 Kings 19 has been meaningful to me. In the passage, Elijah is in a cave on Mount Horeb where he expects the meet God who can be found in storms, but he does not find him in the thunderous fury or the brilliant lightning. He finds him in the stillness that follows the whispering wind. When our storms settle down, we are able to hear the voice of Christ more clearly - in a way we can trust. Christ does not make himself known with clanging symbols, but with a still small voice that resonates in our hearts.
          It is right for us to pay greater attention to the stillness of our hearts. When the storms of our lives have passed over, we will certainly hear the comforting voice of Christ to take away our fear. As we become familiar with him, the volume of his voice can rise above the whipping winds and turbulent gales. With perseverance, his voice can be the only sound we hear despite the clamor that rages beyond us.

Themes for this Week’s Masses
First Reading: In Exodus, the frail and elderly Moses asks the people to remember the kindness of the Lord and to follow the commandments given to the people in loving protection. At 120 years of age, Moses says he cannot cross the Jordan to enter and occupy it; the Lord and Joshua will cross into it, but he will remain behind. The Lord promised to be with Joshua who ordered the priests to carry the ark of the covenant with them into the Jordan and to halt in the middle. The water stopped flowing and all Israel crossed over safely on dry land. Joshua gathered the twelve tribes at Shechem and spoke of behalf of the Lord recalling the Lord's favor to them throughout history beginning with Abraham. All this is the Lord's doing and not the achievement of the people or its leaders. In Joshua's speech, the people answered that they will serve the Lord and the Lord alone through him. Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and then set up a large stone in the sanctuary of the Lord as a witness to the covenant.

Gospel: Following the Transfiguration, Jesus predicts his Passion. Temple tax collectors try to trick Jesus about his attitude toward paying the taxes and Jesus cleverly respects both religious and civic observances. Young children are brought to Jesus and his disciples swish them away, but he beckons them to come to him and enjoy the blessings of playing lightly in his company. Jesus then reminds the people that their lives are to be like a grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies as it awaits its rebirth in fullness. Jesus then tells a parable of the necessity of constant forgiveness, but Pharisees immediately launch a debate about the conditions for divorce. Jesus tells them that divorce was introduced because of human attitudes; it is not how God intends for us to deal with our most intimate friends. Children are once again brought to Jesus where he blesses them and bestows the goodness of the kingdom of heaven upon them.
Saints of the Week

Monday: Dominic, priest (1170-1221), was a Spaniard who was sent to southern France to counter the heretical teachings of the Albigensians, who held that the material world was evil and only religious asceticism could combat those forces. Dominic begged and preached in an austere fashion and set the foundations for the new Order of Preachers for both men and women.
Tuesday: Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), martyr (1891-1942), became a Catholic convert from Judaism after reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila. He earned a doctorate in philosophy, but was unemployable because she was a woman. She taught at a high school for eight years before entering the Carmelites in 1933 where she made final vows in 1938. She moved to Holland to escape persecution by the Nazis, but was arrested when the bishops spoke out against the persecution of the Jews.

Wednesday: Lawrence, deacon and martyr (d. 258) was martyred four days after Pope Sixtus II and six other deacons during the Valerian persecution. A beautiful story is told about Lawrence's words. When asked to surrender the church's treasure, Lawrence gathered the poor and presented them to the civil authorities. For this affront, he was martyred. He is the patron of Rome.
Thursday: Clare, founder (1193-1253), was inspired by Francis of Assist so much that she fled her home for his community to receive the Franciscan habit on Passion Sunday 1212. She lived in a nearby Benedictine convent until she was made superior of a new community in San Damiano. She practiced radical poverty by wearing no shoes, sleeping on the ground, and giving up meat.

Friday: Jane Frances de Chantal, religious (1572-1641), founded the Congregation of the Visitation with her spiritual advisor, Francis de Sales. This congregation was for women who wanted to live in religious life, but without the austerity of the other orders. Jane was married to a Baron with whom she had six children and she sought religious answers to her suffering. Her order established eighty-five convents dedicated to serving the poor before she died.
Saturday: Pontian, pope and martyr and Hippolytus, priest and martyr (d.236). Pontian's papacy was interrupted by a persecution when the Roman Emperor Maximinus arrested him and his rival, Hippolytus, and banished them to Sardinia. Pontian resigned so another pope could succeed him. Hippolytus, who formed a schismatic group and claimed to be the real pope, reconciled with the church before he and Pontian were martyred.

This Week in Jesuit History

·         Aug 7, 1814. The universal restoration of the Society of Jesus.
·         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.

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