2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16
Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29
Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22
Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24 or Luke 2:41-51
The first understanding that most people have about today’s Gospel is that Joseph thought he had been betrayed by Mary and so decided to divorce her. The list of reasons why this is nonsense is very long, but we can consider the major points today.
When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, did she tell him about the angel Gabriel? Yes, without a doubt she did. Did he think she was lying? No. The Scripture says that “she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.” Her pregnancy and the manner of conception were both revealed to Joseph at the same time.
Indeed, long-standing tradition tells us that Joseph was a widower who was marrying Mary in order to take care of her as she devoted her life to God. What is without doubt from Mary’s own words in Luke is that her marriage was always intended to be unconsummated. Joseph was not a hot-tempered youth who felt betrayed. The intention of this marriage was always that Joseph would be caring for Mary without being intimate with her.
Now we should be able to see what really happened. Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant through the Holy Spirit with a child who would be called the Son of the Most High God. His response was like Peter’s years later, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Joseph was afraid. He had taken on the great responsibility of caring for this perfect girl, but he had not realized that he would also have to care for God’s own Son. This was too much. Joseph was a righteous man; the fear of God was in him. Joseph is humble: he knows that he is neither capable nor worthy of being the stepfather of Jesus.
His dream now takes on a new meaning. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home, for it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” The angel does not disagree that Joseph is unworthy or that he is unable, by himself, to care for Jesus. The angel reminds him that this is a work of the Holy Spirit. There is no reason to be afraid. God will provide. No work is too much, even for us sinful people, if God is accomplishing the work through us. We never need to be afraid of what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives.
Daily Homilies
Showing posts with label Mary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mary. Show all posts
January 26, 2013 - Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5
Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8, 10
Mark 3:20-21
We are told that “When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.’” The original words in Greek here can mean relatives, but it literally means “his own”. Jesus’ own people, his mother and brothers.
Now we know that Jesus did not have any brothers, strictly speaking. The word brothers refers either to his step-brothers from a previous marriage of Joseph or to his cousins who were sometimes called brothers in that culture. We also know that Mary, Jesus’ mother, did not really think that he was out of his mind. She knows that he is God. While she did not understand everything that he did, she did trust him completely. I think that when Jesus’ brothers decided to go, she simply went along because she would never turn down an opportunity to see Jesus.
But what about these brothers? Anyone with a sibling who causes trouble can understand their minds. They are concerned for Jesus, that he will hurt himself or get himself killed. They are also concerned for the family’s reputation. They are going to go find him and “seize him” as the Gospel says, take hold of him, get him under control.
When they arrive they find something very different than what they were evidently expecting. They do not find crowds of people laughing at Jesus. They do not find a small contingent of equally crazy people following him around. They find crowds of sane people listening. They hear his teaching: rather than the crazed rambling they expected. It is beautiful to listen to. They find that one of their brothers, James, has become an apostle of Jesus.
When we look at the world around us, we too might be convinced that God is crazy. There is too much violence and too much suffering. The wicked go unpunished. We might have a temptation to go to God and take hold of him and tell him how he ought to be running the universe. Then we look around and see the whole world, a delicate balance of physical laws and living creatures and free people and realize that we must trust God, simply. We can have faith in him; we do not need to be afraid.
Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8, 10
Mark 3:20-21
We are told that “When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.’” The original words in Greek here can mean relatives, but it literally means “his own”. Jesus’ own people, his mother and brothers.
Now we know that Jesus did not have any brothers, strictly speaking. The word brothers refers either to his step-brothers from a previous marriage of Joseph or to his cousins who were sometimes called brothers in that culture. We also know that Mary, Jesus’ mother, did not really think that he was out of his mind. She knows that he is God. While she did not understand everything that he did, she did trust him completely. I think that when Jesus’ brothers decided to go, she simply went along because she would never turn down an opportunity to see Jesus.
But what about these brothers? Anyone with a sibling who causes trouble can understand their minds. They are concerned for Jesus, that he will hurt himself or get himself killed. They are also concerned for the family’s reputation. They are going to go find him and “seize him” as the Gospel says, take hold of him, get him under control.
When they arrive they find something very different than what they were evidently expecting. They do not find crowds of people laughing at Jesus. They do not find a small contingent of equally crazy people following him around. They find crowds of sane people listening. They hear his teaching: rather than the crazed rambling they expected. It is beautiful to listen to. They find that one of their brothers, James, has become an apostle of Jesus.
When we look at the world around us, we too might be convinced that God is crazy. There is too much violence and too much suffering. The wicked go unpunished. We might have a temptation to go to God and take hold of him and tell him how he ought to be running the universe. Then we look around and see the whole world, a delicate balance of physical laws and living creatures and free people and realize that we must trust God, simply. We can have faith in him; we do not need to be afraid.
December 12, 2012 - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Zechariah 2:14-17 or Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10
Judith 13:18-19
Luke 1:26-38 or 1:39-47
Juan Diego had twice climbed the hill of Tepeyac and twice been told by the Blessed Virgin Mary to go to the bishop and ask that a church be built on that spot and had twice gone to the bishop and been twice put off. This time, as he walked near the hill, he would not climb it, for his uncle was sick and he was hurrying to get a priest, and he had no time now for visions. So he walked around the hill, but Mary appeared anyway at the bottom of the hill, for she is not restricted like some pagan gods were. She spoke tenderly to Juan Diego and told him, “There is nothing to frighten or distress you. Am I not your mother?” She spoke like a mother to her child and promised that his uncle was fine now. So, at her command, he climbed the hill and found there, in the dead of winter, roses of many different colors. He picked them and held them in his tilma and carried them to the bishop. Here was the sign that the bishop needed to believe: roses in winter. But when he went to the bishop and let go and the roses spilled on the ground, they went unnoticed because of the change that had occurred. On the tilma there was now an image of the woman who had appeared to him. There was a woman, with the moon under her feet, clothed with the sun, wearing the traditional sash that marked a pregnant woman in the native Mexican culture.
What thousands of missionaries would be unable to accomplish in a lifetime was done by Mary in a year. Millions of people suddenly knew for certain that this Jesus whom the Spaniards spoke of was not a Spaniard. His mother had appeared right there in their land, to one of their people, speaking their language, looking like one of them. She was not on the side of the conquerors. She was, as she always has been, on the side of the poor, because she too was poor, though now a queen. She was, in her humility, able to speak to humble people. Ever since the visitation, where she carried the body of Christ to Elizabeth and John, she has been bringing Christ to people throughout the world: in Mexico, in Lourdes, in Fatima, in Wisconsin, and many other places.
Judith 13:18-19
Luke 1:26-38 or 1:39-47
Juan Diego had twice climbed the hill of Tepeyac and twice been told by the Blessed Virgin Mary to go to the bishop and ask that a church be built on that spot and had twice gone to the bishop and been twice put off. This time, as he walked near the hill, he would not climb it, for his uncle was sick and he was hurrying to get a priest, and he had no time now for visions. So he walked around the hill, but Mary appeared anyway at the bottom of the hill, for she is not restricted like some pagan gods were. She spoke tenderly to Juan Diego and told him, “There is nothing to frighten or distress you. Am I not your mother?” She spoke like a mother to her child and promised that his uncle was fine now. So, at her command, he climbed the hill and found there, in the dead of winter, roses of many different colors. He picked them and held them in his tilma and carried them to the bishop. Here was the sign that the bishop needed to believe: roses in winter. But when he went to the bishop and let go and the roses spilled on the ground, they went unnoticed because of the change that had occurred. On the tilma there was now an image of the woman who had appeared to him. There was a woman, with the moon under her feet, clothed with the sun, wearing the traditional sash that marked a pregnant woman in the native Mexican culture.
What thousands of missionaries would be unable to accomplish in a lifetime was done by Mary in a year. Millions of people suddenly knew for certain that this Jesus whom the Spaniards spoke of was not a Spaniard. His mother had appeared right there in their land, to one of their people, speaking their language, looking like one of them. She was not on the side of the conquerors. She was, as she always has been, on the side of the poor, because she too was poor, though now a queen. She was, in her humility, able to speak to humble people. Ever since the visitation, where she carried the body of Christ to Elizabeth and John, she has been bringing Christ to people throughout the world: in Mexico, in Lourdes, in Fatima, in Wisconsin, and many other places.
December 8, 2012 - Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Psalm 98:1-4
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Luke 1:26-38
How beautiful is the Gospel today! From this one reading we learn so much about our Mother. First we learn that she is greater than the angels. To whom else did an angel, a messenger of God, come and say "Hail, full of grace"? With these words Gabriel acknowledges that he is speaking to someone greater than himself. We also learn by those words that she is free from all sin, for what is sin but a denial of grace and how could someone who ever denied grace be full of grace. Sin is an emptiness, but Mary was full.
From this Gospel we also learn that Mary is betrothed to Joseph, but also vowed to a lifelong virginity. How else could she say "I have no relations with man" and not "I have not had relations with a man"? What woman, even though a virgin, would be unable to figure out the meaning of the angel's words? No woman before was promised a child without expecting to conceive that child in the normal way. Mary is betrothed to Joseph. Without a prior commitment to virginity, any reasonable girl would expect to conceive the child during her imminent marriage.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is the Mother of God. Gabriel calls her child the Son of God. The son of a dog is a dog. The son of a human is a human. The Son of God is God. If he were not, the title would be contradictory. We can be adopted sons and daughters of God, but the Son of God, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, can only be God, and the Mother of the Son of God must be therefore the Mother of God.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is courageous. St. Joseph was terrified at the prospect of having a role in raising the Son of God, so much so that he was going to divorce Mary quietly. Mary, however, asks only for the practical details before submitting to the will of God.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is humble. She, though courageous, is afraid. What frightens her who was not afraid either of the judgement of others or the terrible responsibility of being the Mother of God? She is frightened by a greeting. She is frightened to see an archangel bow before her. We sinners would rejoice to see an angel bow to serve us, and it would be Satan dressed as an angel of light to inflate our pride. Mary, who is destined to be Queen of Heaven, is too humble to understand the greeting.
From this Gospel we ought to learn to love Mary with a tiny portion of the great love by which God preserved her free from all sin from the moment of her creation. From this Gospel we ought to learn to love God with a tiny portion of the fearless, God-fearing love by which Mary said "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."
Psalm 98:1-4
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Luke 1:26-38
How beautiful is the Gospel today! From this one reading we learn so much about our Mother. First we learn that she is greater than the angels. To whom else did an angel, a messenger of God, come and say "Hail, full of grace"? With these words Gabriel acknowledges that he is speaking to someone greater than himself. We also learn by those words that she is free from all sin, for what is sin but a denial of grace and how could someone who ever denied grace be full of grace. Sin is an emptiness, but Mary was full.
From this Gospel we also learn that Mary is betrothed to Joseph, but also vowed to a lifelong virginity. How else could she say "I have no relations with man" and not "I have not had relations with a man"? What woman, even though a virgin, would be unable to figure out the meaning of the angel's words? No woman before was promised a child without expecting to conceive that child in the normal way. Mary is betrothed to Joseph. Without a prior commitment to virginity, any reasonable girl would expect to conceive the child during her imminent marriage.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is the Mother of God. Gabriel calls her child the Son of God. The son of a dog is a dog. The son of a human is a human. The Son of God is God. If he were not, the title would be contradictory. We can be adopted sons and daughters of God, but the Son of God, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, can only be God, and the Mother of the Son of God must be therefore the Mother of God.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is courageous. St. Joseph was terrified at the prospect of having a role in raising the Son of God, so much so that he was going to divorce Mary quietly. Mary, however, asks only for the practical details before submitting to the will of God.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is humble. She, though courageous, is afraid. What frightens her who was not afraid either of the judgement of others or the terrible responsibility of being the Mother of God? She is frightened by a greeting. She is frightened to see an archangel bow before her. We sinners would rejoice to see an angel bow to serve us, and it would be Satan dressed as an angel of light to inflate our pride. Mary, who is destined to be Queen of Heaven, is too humble to understand the greeting.
From this Gospel we ought to learn to love Mary with a tiny portion of the great love by which God preserved her free from all sin from the moment of her creation. From this Gospel we ought to learn to love God with a tiny portion of the fearless, God-fearing love by which Mary said "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."
September 15, 2012 - Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Hebrews 5:7-9
Psalm 31:2-6, 15-16, 20
John 19:25-27 or Luke 2:33-35
Today we remember the sorrows of our Blessed Mother, Mary, above all the sorrow of seeing her son die on the Cross. Perhaps you are wondering, “Didn’t she always know that he was going to die?” Without a doubt she did. “And didn’t she hope that he would rise?” She held to this hope with great fidelity. “And still she mourned the crucifixion?” She mourned more profoundly than we have ever mourned. Who is more compassionate than Mary, except her own son?
The sorrow of Mary was a deep sorrow. Mary was a perfect human person because she never sinned, but this does not mean that we should imagine her as an unfeeling person, occupying ethereal realms. Because of her perfection, she loved more deeply than we can. Because of this love, she felt the pain of loss more acutely than we do.
The sorrow of Mary, unlike our own, was pure. Our own sorrows are always mixed up with selfishness. Either we do not feel what we should because we have trouble seeing beyond ourselves, or we feel bad because of what we have lost. Mary did not mourn because her son would not be around to support her. She mourned because she saw the suffering of the one she loved, and she felt his pain and sorrow as acutely as he felt it himself.
The sorrow of Mary was not a useless sorrow. We can only imagine how Jesus felt seeing his mother in sorrow. Surely it caused him some pain, but it also was a great support. The rest of the world might be cruel and selfish, but the face of his mother was the one place he could rest his eyes, seeing in her the image and likeness that he had put in us when he created us.
The sorrow of Mary was not a sorrow without hope. She knew with certain hope that Jesus would rise from the dead. Her hope did not keep her from feeling keen pain, nor did the pain keep her from expecting his Resurrection.
Mary is our mother. Like every good mother, she teaches us; she is an example for us in how to live. When we see her mourning, we ought to be admire such perfect emotions. We should spend time with her at the foot of the Cross, begging her to teach us to have sorrow like her sorrow.
Psalm 31:2-6, 15-16, 20
John 19:25-27 or Luke 2:33-35
Today we remember the sorrows of our Blessed Mother, Mary, above all the sorrow of seeing her son die on the Cross. Perhaps you are wondering, “Didn’t she always know that he was going to die?” Without a doubt she did. “And didn’t she hope that he would rise?” She held to this hope with great fidelity. “And still she mourned the crucifixion?” She mourned more profoundly than we have ever mourned. Who is more compassionate than Mary, except her own son?
The sorrow of Mary was a deep sorrow. Mary was a perfect human person because she never sinned, but this does not mean that we should imagine her as an unfeeling person, occupying ethereal realms. Because of her perfection, she loved more deeply than we can. Because of this love, she felt the pain of loss more acutely than we do.
The sorrow of Mary, unlike our own, was pure. Our own sorrows are always mixed up with selfishness. Either we do not feel what we should because we have trouble seeing beyond ourselves, or we feel bad because of what we have lost. Mary did not mourn because her son would not be around to support her. She mourned because she saw the suffering of the one she loved, and she felt his pain and sorrow as acutely as he felt it himself.
The sorrow of Mary was not a useless sorrow. We can only imagine how Jesus felt seeing his mother in sorrow. Surely it caused him some pain, but it also was a great support. The rest of the world might be cruel and selfish, but the face of his mother was the one place he could rest his eyes, seeing in her the image and likeness that he had put in us when he created us.
The sorrow of Mary was not a sorrow without hope. She knew with certain hope that Jesus would rise from the dead. Her hope did not keep her from feeling keen pain, nor did the pain keep her from expecting his Resurrection.
Mary is our mother. Like every good mother, she teaches us; she is an example for us in how to live. When we see her mourning, we ought to be admire such perfect emotions. We should spend time with her at the foot of the Cross, begging her to teach us to have sorrow like her sorrow.
August 15, 2012 - Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Mass During the Day
Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10
Psalm 45:10-12, 16
1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Luke 1:39-56
For now, there is only one human person who has experienced the Resurrection and is with the Lord, body and soul. Who is it? Is it Alexander the Great who conquered the largest empire in the history of the world? No? Is it Julius Caesar, the conquering general who refounded Rome as an empire? No? Perhaps it is Plato or Aristotle or Plotinus or some other great philosopher? No? Is it George Washington or Thomas Jefferson? No? Perhaps it is someone very wealthy, like John D. Rockefeller or Andrew Carnegie? No? Is it some movie star, like Elvis maybe? None of these? Is it a poor Jewish woman from Nazareth, the wife of a carpenter, who, but for one fact, would be completely forgotten by history books? Yes. Her.
“He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.” Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption, that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. He has lifted up the lowly. Who is lowlier than the Virgin Mother of God, except her son Jesus Christ? He has lifted up the lowly. Today there are monuments to this woman, basilicas and cathedrals, universities and hospitals, all this dedicated to this woman. There are cities named after her, and she is the patroness of countless countries in the world.
“From this day all generations will call me blessed”, she said, and we do call her blessed. She is blessed among women as the mother of Jesus Christ. She is blessed among all people as the first disciple of Jesus Christ, the first to be obedient to the Gospel, which was preached to her by St. Gabriel. She is blessed in the Gospel today by her cousin Elizabeth who, by the prophecy of her unborn son, recognized the mother of her Savior.
She is represented in Revelation as a woman, clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, crowned with 12 stars. Who else could this woman be, the mother of a male child destined to rule all nations? Satan wants to destroy her child, but he is not allowed to. Nor is he allowed to hurt the woman herself. We are told that there is a place prepared for her by God. In this place she awaits the fullness of time when the world will end and all other people will rise in the body as she already has.
Our second reading, from 1 Corinthians, we are promised that “just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life.” We see the fulfillment of that promise in Mary. Jesus rose from the dead, and that is why we can rise from the dead, but people wonder whether perhaps things are different for Jesus than for us; he is God after all. In the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we see the first example of a human person participating in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We receive a further benefit from the Assumption, beyond this example which ought to confirm our hope: now we have a mother in heaven. Jesus gave his mother to us to be our mother, the mother of all people. The other saints in heaven are waiting to rise in their bodies, so they are, for now, pure souls, but Mary is more like us, as we are now, as we will be after the Resurrection of the body. With such a sympathetic figure drawing us in, what will prevent us from reaching heaven? We have in Jesus a Savior who is the way to heaven, the only mediator between God and man, and we have in Mary a mother to help us approach Jesus.
Psalm 45:10-12, 16
1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Luke 1:39-56
For now, there is only one human person who has experienced the Resurrection and is with the Lord, body and soul. Who is it? Is it Alexander the Great who conquered the largest empire in the history of the world? No? Is it Julius Caesar, the conquering general who refounded Rome as an empire? No? Perhaps it is Plato or Aristotle or Plotinus or some other great philosopher? No? Is it George Washington or Thomas Jefferson? No? Perhaps it is someone very wealthy, like John D. Rockefeller or Andrew Carnegie? No? Is it some movie star, like Elvis maybe? None of these? Is it a poor Jewish woman from Nazareth, the wife of a carpenter, who, but for one fact, would be completely forgotten by history books? Yes. Her.
“He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.” Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption, that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. He has lifted up the lowly. Who is lowlier than the Virgin Mother of God, except her son Jesus Christ? He has lifted up the lowly. Today there are monuments to this woman, basilicas and cathedrals, universities and hospitals, all this dedicated to this woman. There are cities named after her, and she is the patroness of countless countries in the world.
“From this day all generations will call me blessed”, she said, and we do call her blessed. She is blessed among women as the mother of Jesus Christ. She is blessed among all people as the first disciple of Jesus Christ, the first to be obedient to the Gospel, which was preached to her by St. Gabriel. She is blessed in the Gospel today by her cousin Elizabeth who, by the prophecy of her unborn son, recognized the mother of her Savior.
She is represented in Revelation as a woman, clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, crowned with 12 stars. Who else could this woman be, the mother of a male child destined to rule all nations? Satan wants to destroy her child, but he is not allowed to. Nor is he allowed to hurt the woman herself. We are told that there is a place prepared for her by God. In this place she awaits the fullness of time when the world will end and all other people will rise in the body as she already has.
Our second reading, from 1 Corinthians, we are promised that “just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life.” We see the fulfillment of that promise in Mary. Jesus rose from the dead, and that is why we can rise from the dead, but people wonder whether perhaps things are different for Jesus than for us; he is God after all. In the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we see the first example of a human person participating in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We receive a further benefit from the Assumption, beyond this example which ought to confirm our hope: now we have a mother in heaven. Jesus gave his mother to us to be our mother, the mother of all people. The other saints in heaven are waiting to rise in their bodies, so they are, for now, pure souls, but Mary is more like us, as we are now, as we will be after the Resurrection of the body. With such a sympathetic figure drawing us in, what will prevent us from reaching heaven? We have in Jesus a Savior who is the way to heaven, the only mediator between God and man, and we have in Mary a mother to help us approach Jesus.
August 15, 2012 - Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Vigil Mass
1 Chronicles 15.3-4, 15-16; 16.1-2
Psalm 132.6-7, 9-10, 13-14 Resp. 8
1 Corinthians 15.54b-57
Luke 11.27-28
The Ark of the Covenant was the central symbol of the Jewish religion, not because of what it was, but because of what it contained. Within the Ark of the Covenant were the tablets of the Law and a jar of manna and the staff of Aaron the priest. None of these items were actually God, but they represented the relationship between God and Israel. Over the centuries, the contents of the Ark were lost, but the Ark itself was still revered because of what it had once held.
The Ark of the New Covenant is Mary, the Mother of God. As the Jews revered the Ark of the Covenant without ever confusing the Ark with God himself, so we Christians revere Mary without ever confusing her with God. Within her body was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus took his human nature, his DNA, his cells, from Mary. She nourished him for 9 months as a mother nourishes her unborn child. Even after she had given birth, she could rightly be revered for what her body once held.
But that would be the wrong reason to honor Mary! At least, that is what Jesus tells us. If we honored Mary merely because she carried Jesus in her womb, we would be missing more than half the point. The Ark of the Covenant was made of wood. What did the trees do to deserve being made into the Ark? Nothing; they are trees. No one asked their permission, they merely looked all over for the very best wood. Similarly, Mary was chosen because she was the very best human being, but Mary is a human being, so God would not have used her without her permission.
This is why, when a woman shouts out today from the crowd, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed”, Jesus corrects her: “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” He is saying that Mary is blessed to be the Mother of God, but not merely because part of her body became the body of God, nor even because of the intimate relationship between Jesus and Mary, who fed him at her breast. Mary is blessed because she heard the word of God, through the angel Gabriel: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God; behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus”, and she responded, ““Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Who, more than Mary, heard the word of God and did it? No one. She is the Mother of Jesus, but she is also his first disciple.
How fitting it is then that, as the first disciple of Jesus Christ, she was the first human person to experience the Resurrection in her own body. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption, that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Mary was raised before us as a symbol of the whole Church. Jesus, by rising from the dead, destroyed the power of death, so that we too can rise in our earthly bodies, and Mary is the first fruits of that Resurrection. Where she has gone before us, we hope to follow.
Mary found the way to heaven, and it began with obedience. If we are hoping to follow her, we must begin in the same way. However, it will be easier for us because we have an advantage that she lacked: we have a mother in heaven whose only desire is to lead us to her first-born son: Jesus Christ, who is the only way to the Father.
Psalm 132.6-7, 9-10, 13-14 Resp. 8
1 Corinthians 15.54b-57
Luke 11.27-28
The Ark of the Covenant was the central symbol of the Jewish religion, not because of what it was, but because of what it contained. Within the Ark of the Covenant were the tablets of the Law and a jar of manna and the staff of Aaron the priest. None of these items were actually God, but they represented the relationship between God and Israel. Over the centuries, the contents of the Ark were lost, but the Ark itself was still revered because of what it had once held.
The Ark of the New Covenant is Mary, the Mother of God. As the Jews revered the Ark of the Covenant without ever confusing the Ark with God himself, so we Christians revere Mary without ever confusing her with God. Within her body was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus took his human nature, his DNA, his cells, from Mary. She nourished him for 9 months as a mother nourishes her unborn child. Even after she had given birth, she could rightly be revered for what her body once held.
But that would be the wrong reason to honor Mary! At least, that is what Jesus tells us. If we honored Mary merely because she carried Jesus in her womb, we would be missing more than half the point. The Ark of the Covenant was made of wood. What did the trees do to deserve being made into the Ark? Nothing; they are trees. No one asked their permission, they merely looked all over for the very best wood. Similarly, Mary was chosen because she was the very best human being, but Mary is a human being, so God would not have used her without her permission.
This is why, when a woman shouts out today from the crowd, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed”, Jesus corrects her: “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” He is saying that Mary is blessed to be the Mother of God, but not merely because part of her body became the body of God, nor even because of the intimate relationship between Jesus and Mary, who fed him at her breast. Mary is blessed because she heard the word of God, through the angel Gabriel: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God; behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus”, and she responded, ““Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Who, more than Mary, heard the word of God and did it? No one. She is the Mother of Jesus, but she is also his first disciple.
How fitting it is then that, as the first disciple of Jesus Christ, she was the first human person to experience the Resurrection in her own body. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption, that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Mary was raised before us as a symbol of the whole Church. Jesus, by rising from the dead, destroyed the power of death, so that we too can rise in our earthly bodies, and Mary is the first fruits of that Resurrection. Where she has gone before us, we hope to follow.
Mary found the way to heaven, and it began with obedience. If we are hoping to follow her, we must begin in the same way. However, it will be easier for us because we have an advantage that she lacked: we have a mother in heaven whose only desire is to lead us to her first-born son: Jesus Christ, who is the only way to the Father.
June 16, 2012 - Memorial of The Immaculate Heart of The Blessed Virgin Mary
1 Kings 19:19-21
Psalm 16:1-2+5, 7-8, 9-10
Luke 2.41-51
I think the three days should be considered like this: the first day was looking for Jesus in the caravan, the second day was going back to Jerusalem, and on the third day they arrived in Jerusalem. If this is the case, they probably headed right for the temple once the city gates opened on the third day. This seems like a very reasonable search. I see no reason for anyone to question the searching process of Mary and Joseph, and, if we look carefully, we see that Jesus does not question the process. He does not ask, “Why did you not look in the temple right away?” He asks, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” He is not correcting his parent’s methods but their attitude.
What their attitude was we can easily imagine. Jesus at 12 is an adult in his culture. In some ways it would be more like losing track of your 18 year old. When Jesus did not show up for lunch, Mary probably thought he was just with some friends. When he did not show up for bed that night, she probably spent the night lying awake, worrying more with each passing hour. The next morning was a frenzied trip back to Jerusalem. The next night was spent outside the city gates, waiting for them to open at sunrise. Then her relief and confusion, “Son why have you done this to us?”, reveal the stress she was under.
Not that Mary did anything wrong in all this. Worrying is part of being a parent. But what Jesus points out is also true, there was no objective reason to worry. It is not as if God might be getting into trouble, nor is it possible that anyone could have harmed him. Nevertheless, this was surely neither the first nor the last time that Mary worried about Jesus. Being a parent is hard, and being God’s parent does not make it easier.
We usually consider Mary as our Mother or as the perfect example of the Christian life or as the Mother of God in a theological sense, but, as yesterday we considered the humanity of Jesus in his Sacred Heart, today we consider the humanity of Mary in her Immaculate Heart. Just imagine all the worrying and hoping and suffering and love that her heart went through. Do not be afraid to turn to her; she knows what you are going through right now.
Psalm 16:1-2+5, 7-8, 9-10
Luke 2.41-51
I think the three days should be considered like this: the first day was looking for Jesus in the caravan, the second day was going back to Jerusalem, and on the third day they arrived in Jerusalem. If this is the case, they probably headed right for the temple once the city gates opened on the third day. This seems like a very reasonable search. I see no reason for anyone to question the searching process of Mary and Joseph, and, if we look carefully, we see that Jesus does not question the process. He does not ask, “Why did you not look in the temple right away?” He asks, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” He is not correcting his parent’s methods but their attitude.
What their attitude was we can easily imagine. Jesus at 12 is an adult in his culture. In some ways it would be more like losing track of your 18 year old. When Jesus did not show up for lunch, Mary probably thought he was just with some friends. When he did not show up for bed that night, she probably spent the night lying awake, worrying more with each passing hour. The next morning was a frenzied trip back to Jerusalem. The next night was spent outside the city gates, waiting for them to open at sunrise. Then her relief and confusion, “Son why have you done this to us?”, reveal the stress she was under.
Not that Mary did anything wrong in all this. Worrying is part of being a parent. But what Jesus points out is also true, there was no objective reason to worry. It is not as if God might be getting into trouble, nor is it possible that anyone could have harmed him. Nevertheless, this was surely neither the first nor the last time that Mary worried about Jesus. Being a parent is hard, and being God’s parent does not make it easier.
We usually consider Mary as our Mother or as the perfect example of the Christian life or as the Mother of God in a theological sense, but, as yesterday we considered the humanity of Jesus in his Sacred Heart, today we consider the humanity of Mary in her Immaculate Heart. Just imagine all the worrying and hoping and suffering and love that her heart went through. Do not be afraid to turn to her; she knows what you are going through right now.
March 26, 2012 - Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Today's Readings
We could not have been saved by an alien. If God has simply created Jesus the way that he created Adam, then Jesus would have been an alien. Even if he looked like us and talked like us and seemed like us in every way, he would not have been human, he would be human 2.0. This is why Eve could not be made out of dirt like Adam, but had to be made out of Adam’s body. So she could be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Some people imagine that Jesus was placed inside of Mary, but this is incorrect. Jesus took his humanity from Mary, he was conceived in her, his DNA was her DNA, his body was made out of her body. Thus Jesus could save us, because his death and resurrection would only save us if a human, one of us, died and rose.
But God would not simply use a person. He respects the dignity of the nature he created. Though he created us and everything we have is his, he will not take our human nature without permission. In that moment, after Gabriel had asked, before Mary had answered, the whole world stopped, held its breath, and waited anxiously. What would she say? Everything depended on this moment. We are under the heavy burden of sin, and nothing can save us now except God, but God will not act without the permission of a girl. The salvation of the world depended in that moment on the generosity of one person. Anyone else would have said “no” or at least, “let me think about it for awhile” but Mary did not. She was courageous. She was generous. She said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”
Mary is the mother of Jesus, and therefore the mother of God. As the mother of our Savior, she would deserve our deepest respect. She is also the mother of the Church, since Jesus, from the Cross, gave her to his beloved disciple. As our mother, she deserves our devoted love. She is the first and best disciple, the prototype of the whole Church. Our relationship with Mary should be one of respect, devotion, admiration, emulation, veneration. Jesus is our Savior, and he is Mary’s Savior too, all because she said yes.
We could not have been saved by an alien. If God has simply created Jesus the way that he created Adam, then Jesus would have been an alien. Even if he looked like us and talked like us and seemed like us in every way, he would not have been human, he would be human 2.0. This is why Eve could not be made out of dirt like Adam, but had to be made out of Adam’s body. So she could be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Some people imagine that Jesus was placed inside of Mary, but this is incorrect. Jesus took his humanity from Mary, he was conceived in her, his DNA was her DNA, his body was made out of her body. Thus Jesus could save us, because his death and resurrection would only save us if a human, one of us, died and rose.
But God would not simply use a person. He respects the dignity of the nature he created. Though he created us and everything we have is his, he will not take our human nature without permission. In that moment, after Gabriel had asked, before Mary had answered, the whole world stopped, held its breath, and waited anxiously. What would she say? Everything depended on this moment. We are under the heavy burden of sin, and nothing can save us now except God, but God will not act without the permission of a girl. The salvation of the world depended in that moment on the generosity of one person. Anyone else would have said “no” or at least, “let me think about it for awhile” but Mary did not. She was courageous. She was generous. She said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”
Mary is the mother of Jesus, and therefore the mother of God. As the mother of our Savior, she would deserve our deepest respect. She is also the mother of the Church, since Jesus, from the Cross, gave her to his beloved disciple. As our mother, she deserves our devoted love. She is the first and best disciple, the prototype of the whole Church. Our relationship with Mary should be one of respect, devotion, admiration, emulation, veneration. Jesus is our Savior, and he is Mary’s Savior too, all because she said yes.
March 19, 2012 - Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today's Readings
The first understanding that most people have about today’s Gospel is that Joseph thought he had been betrayed by Mary and so decided to divorce her. The list of reasons why this is nonsense is very long, but we can consider the major points today.
When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, did she tell him about the angel Gabriel? Yes, without a doubt she did. Did he think she was lying? No. The Scripture says that “she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.” Her pregnancy and the manner of conception were both revealed to Joseph at the same time.
Indeed, long-standing tradition tells us that Joseph was a widower who was marrying Mary in order to take care of her as she devoted her life to God. What is without doubt from Mary’s own words in Luke is that her marriage was always intended to be unconsummated. Joseph was not a hot-tempered youth who felt betrayed. The intention of this marriage was always that Joseph would be caring for Mary without being intimate with her.
Now we should be able to see what really happened. Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant through the Holy Spirit with a child who would be called the Son of the Most High God. His response was like Peter’s years later, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Joseph was afraid. He had taken on the great responsibility of caring for this perfect girl, but he had not realized that he would also have to care for God’s own Son. This was too much. Joseph was a righteous man; the fear of God was in him. Joseph is humble: he knows that he is neither capable nor worthy of being the stepfather of Jesus.
His dream now takes on a new meaning. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home, for it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” The angel does not disagree that Joseph is unworthy or that he is unable, by himself, to care for Jesus. The angel reminds him that this is a work of the Holy Spirit. There is no reason to be afraid. God will provide. No work is too much, even for us sinful people, if God is accomplishing the work through us. We never need to be afraid of what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives.
The first understanding that most people have about today’s Gospel is that Joseph thought he had been betrayed by Mary and so decided to divorce her. The list of reasons why this is nonsense is very long, but we can consider the major points today.
When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, did she tell him about the angel Gabriel? Yes, without a doubt she did. Did he think she was lying? No. The Scripture says that “she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.” Her pregnancy and the manner of conception were both revealed to Joseph at the same time.
Indeed, long-standing tradition tells us that Joseph was a widower who was marrying Mary in order to take care of her as she devoted her life to God. What is without doubt from Mary’s own words in Luke is that her marriage was always intended to be unconsummated. Joseph was not a hot-tempered youth who felt betrayed. The intention of this marriage was always that Joseph would be caring for Mary without being intimate with her.
Now we should be able to see what really happened. Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant through the Holy Spirit with a child who would be called the Son of the Most High God. His response was like Peter’s years later, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Joseph was afraid. He had taken on the great responsibility of caring for this perfect girl, but he had not realized that he would also have to care for God’s own Son. This was too much. Joseph was a righteous man; the fear of God was in him. Joseph is humble: he knows that he is neither capable nor worthy of being the stepfather of Jesus.
His dream now takes on a new meaning. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home, for it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” The angel does not disagree that Joseph is unworthy or that he is unable, by himself, to care for Jesus. The angel reminds him that this is a work of the Holy Spirit. There is no reason to be afraid. God will provide. No work is too much, even for us sinful people, if God is accomplishing the work through us. We never need to be afraid of what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives.
January 1st, 2010 - Mary, Mother of God
Today's Readings
Happy New Year today! At the beginning of the New Year, during the first reading, we read the blessing of the Lord for Israel. Through Jesus Christ, this blessing is now the blessing for every nation, including our nation. So , may the Lord bless all of you this year. May the Lord keep you all safe this year. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you. May the Lord be generous to you. May the Lord be kind and merciful. May the Lord give you peace.
This blessing is not simply well-wishing. The Lord says that the point of the blessing is so that his name will be invoke over the people. Aaron and his descendants gave this blessing by using the name of the Lord. Following long-standing tradition, we do not pronounce that name, that mysterious name, at Mass. Anyway, we do not know how exactly to pronounce it.
But we do pronounce the name of the Lord: Jesus. This was the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. This was the name given by the human parents of Jesus at his circumcision. This is the only name that has been given to humans so that we might be saved.
How sad it is that some people only call upon the name of Jesus in blasphemy and cursing, when they are angry or surprised. We have been given the name of God, and the power to call on God by that name. Never misuse that power by saying the name “Jesus” without meaning it.
But do not be afraid to call on the name of Jesus at all times. The world makes fun of us for praying to Jesus. If a football player prays before a game, they fun of him for the idea that Jesus cares about a football game. They are right that he does not care about the game, but he does care about every single person involved.
Whatever we do, every single moment of our life, should have the name of Jesus invoked upon it. If you cannot say, “In the name of Jesus I pray that I may do this well” then you should not do it. We cannot ask Jesus to help us sin, but otherwise we should ask him for grace to do whatever it is that we are going to do each day.
Happy Mother’s Day today! Hallmark might insist that Mothers’ Day is in May, but the Church celebrates maternity today, on the first day of the year. Today the Church celebrates the maternity of Mary, Mother of God.
The title of Mother of God is truly the primary title of Mary. By calling her the Mother of God, we first of all declare that Jesus, her son, is God. Thus Mary is called the Mother of God not by analogy or simply as a phrase to honor her but because she truly is the mother of a person who is God.
Mary is the Mother of God because Jesus took his human nature from her. In modern scientific language we would say that his DNA was constructed from her genetic material. God did not simply put a baby inside of Mary. When the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, a baby was conceived in her womb. The exact medical way this happened is not revealed to us and does not need to be, but it is important that we understand that Jesus is truly the son of Mary.
Mary is the Mother of God because of the nine months during which her womb contained what the universe could not contain. Mary's unimaginable relationship with God is emphasized by this time. Mary could feel God growing within her. Mary felt God kick as his legs and arms grew. Mary protected and nourished God with her own body because God chose to be weak, as weak as a fetus.
Mary is the Mother of God because, without loss of her virginity, she gave birth to God. Whether this birth happened in the way that we normally see or if it was free of the pains that usually accompany childbirth, we do not know. We know only that she gave birth to her son, Jesus, who is God, and then wrapped him in swaddling clothes and held him and nursed him and changed his diapers. In all the ways that a mother cares for a little baby, Mary cared for Jesus.
Mary was the Mother of God when she saw Jesus suffer and die. She experienced all the pain a mother could know to see her beloved child suffer. She was present for the first step and the first word and the first miracle. She was present throughout his whole life here on earth. She participated in that life according to her proper role. She stood at the foot of the Cross, giving no thought to the suffering she experienced, she was there to give whatever little comfort was in her power by suffering with him.
When Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to many, but it is not recorded that he appeared to his mother. This may be because the intimate meeting is not in Scripture, or it could be that Mary was glad to receive every blessing, and was the blessed one who did not see and yet believed.
Jesus cared for his mother. On the cross he made certain that she would be cared for for the rest of her life on earth. At the end of her earthly life, God brought her into heaven, body and soul, where she is with her son for all eternity, forever worshipping the Most Blessed Trinity. There she was crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. There she prays for us, her adopted children.
Mary is the Mother of God, and she is also our mother, given to us by Jesus. In heaven our loves will all flow through God, so we will love most dearly the one whom God loves most dearly: his mother. The stronger our relationship with God, the more we will love Mary. Anyone who says that they love God but not his mother, is seriously mistaken. There can never be a question of jealousy on God's part when we honor Mary. She will always say, as she said at Cana, "Do whatever he tells you."
Happy New Year today! At the beginning of the New Year, during the first reading, we read the blessing of the Lord for Israel. Through Jesus Christ, this blessing is now the blessing for every nation, including our nation. So , may the Lord bless all of you this year. May the Lord keep you all safe this year. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you. May the Lord be generous to you. May the Lord be kind and merciful. May the Lord give you peace.
This blessing is not simply well-wishing. The Lord says that the point of the blessing is so that his name will be invoke over the people. Aaron and his descendants gave this blessing by using the name of the Lord. Following long-standing tradition, we do not pronounce that name, that mysterious name, at Mass. Anyway, we do not know how exactly to pronounce it.
But we do pronounce the name of the Lord: Jesus. This was the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. This was the name given by the human parents of Jesus at his circumcision. This is the only name that has been given to humans so that we might be saved.
How sad it is that some people only call upon the name of Jesus in blasphemy and cursing, when they are angry or surprised. We have been given the name of God, and the power to call on God by that name. Never misuse that power by saying the name “Jesus” without meaning it.
But do not be afraid to call on the name of Jesus at all times. The world makes fun of us for praying to Jesus. If a football player prays before a game, they fun of him for the idea that Jesus cares about a football game. They are right that he does not care about the game, but he does care about every single person involved.
Whatever we do, every single moment of our life, should have the name of Jesus invoked upon it. If you cannot say, “In the name of Jesus I pray that I may do this well” then you should not do it. We cannot ask Jesus to help us sin, but otherwise we should ask him for grace to do whatever it is that we are going to do each day.
Happy Mother’s Day today! Hallmark might insist that Mothers’ Day is in May, but the Church celebrates maternity today, on the first day of the year. Today the Church celebrates the maternity of Mary, Mother of God.
The title of Mother of God is truly the primary title of Mary. By calling her the Mother of God, we first of all declare that Jesus, her son, is God. Thus Mary is called the Mother of God not by analogy or simply as a phrase to honor her but because she truly is the mother of a person who is God.
Mary is the Mother of God because Jesus took his human nature from her. In modern scientific language we would say that his DNA was constructed from her genetic material. God did not simply put a baby inside of Mary. When the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, a baby was conceived in her womb. The exact medical way this happened is not revealed to us and does not need to be, but it is important that we understand that Jesus is truly the son of Mary.
Mary is the Mother of God because of the nine months during which her womb contained what the universe could not contain. Mary's unimaginable relationship with God is emphasized by this time. Mary could feel God growing within her. Mary felt God kick as his legs and arms grew. Mary protected and nourished God with her own body because God chose to be weak, as weak as a fetus.
Mary is the Mother of God because, without loss of her virginity, she gave birth to God. Whether this birth happened in the way that we normally see or if it was free of the pains that usually accompany childbirth, we do not know. We know only that she gave birth to her son, Jesus, who is God, and then wrapped him in swaddling clothes and held him and nursed him and changed his diapers. In all the ways that a mother cares for a little baby, Mary cared for Jesus.
Mary was the Mother of God when she saw Jesus suffer and die. She experienced all the pain a mother could know to see her beloved child suffer. She was present for the first step and the first word and the first miracle. She was present throughout his whole life here on earth. She participated in that life according to her proper role. She stood at the foot of the Cross, giving no thought to the suffering she experienced, she was there to give whatever little comfort was in her power by suffering with him.
When Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to many, but it is not recorded that he appeared to his mother. This may be because the intimate meeting is not in Scripture, or it could be that Mary was glad to receive every blessing, and was the blessed one who did not see and yet believed.
Jesus cared for his mother. On the cross he made certain that she would be cared for for the rest of her life on earth. At the end of her earthly life, God brought her into heaven, body and soul, where she is with her son for all eternity, forever worshipping the Most Blessed Trinity. There she was crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. There she prays for us, her adopted children.
Mary is the Mother of God, and she is also our mother, given to us by Jesus. In heaven our loves will all flow through God, so we will love most dearly the one whom God loves most dearly: his mother. The stronger our relationship with God, the more we will love Mary. Anyone who says that they love God but not his mother, is seriously mistaken. There can never be a question of jealousy on God's part when we honor Mary. She will always say, as she said at Cana, "Do whatever he tells you."
December 29, 2011 - 5th Day of Christmas
Today's Readings
St. John gives us a simple way of determing whether we know God: Do I follow his commandments? The logical correlation to this of course is that no one who knows God would not follow his commandments. Our sins, our failings, our disobedience stem from a fundamental ignorance. We might know the command, but if we do not know the one commanding we do not know why we should obey.
Why should we obey God? First, he is intelligent, perfectly intelligent. It is not possible for him to be wrong. He is omniscient, which means that he knows everything. Second, he is omnipresent. This means that he is aware and can act in every situation at every moment at the same time. We would say that we could never have forseen a particular situation when we gave an order, but God is simultaneously giving the order and present at every situation to which the order applies. God does understand exactly what you are going through. Third, God is all-loving. He is love. He does not give commands because he wants to be in charge or he likes bothering people.
Every command of God is intended for our benefit; it is given to us out of love, as a parent commands their child to do what is good. "Don't burn your finger", is not the command of a tyrant. "Don't commit adultery", is purely good advice. If we knew the power and love of God we would realize that every command is for our good, not in a "for your own good" kind of way, but really the very thing we would do if we knew better.
Simeon was told that he would see the Messiah before he died. Some people in that situation would be afraid of death. When they saw the baby Jesus and knew he was the Messiah they would scream and cry. Simeon does not. Simeon trusts God and God's plan. He celebrates the coming of the Savior of Israel and of the whole world. He believes in God's plan, so when he sees Jesus he holds the baby and says, "Lord, now you can let your servant go in peace." Simeon knew God, and surely he knows him today in a more perfect way.
Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her heart. This is not a physical sword, but the sword of sorrow that she experienced at the foot of the Cross, more painful than any metallic sword. She did not scream or cry to hear this. She was ready for the will of God. She wanted whatever God had planned for her. Mary knew God, and now she knows him better than anyone.
St. John gives us a simple way of determing whether we know God: Do I follow his commandments? The logical correlation to this of course is that no one who knows God would not follow his commandments. Our sins, our failings, our disobedience stem from a fundamental ignorance. We might know the command, but if we do not know the one commanding we do not know why we should obey.
Why should we obey God? First, he is intelligent, perfectly intelligent. It is not possible for him to be wrong. He is omniscient, which means that he knows everything. Second, he is omnipresent. This means that he is aware and can act in every situation at every moment at the same time. We would say that we could never have forseen a particular situation when we gave an order, but God is simultaneously giving the order and present at every situation to which the order applies. God does understand exactly what you are going through. Third, God is all-loving. He is love. He does not give commands because he wants to be in charge or he likes bothering people.
Every command of God is intended for our benefit; it is given to us out of love, as a parent commands their child to do what is good. "Don't burn your finger", is not the command of a tyrant. "Don't commit adultery", is purely good advice. If we knew the power and love of God we would realize that every command is for our good, not in a "for your own good" kind of way, but really the very thing we would do if we knew better.
Simeon was told that he would see the Messiah before he died. Some people in that situation would be afraid of death. When they saw the baby Jesus and knew he was the Messiah they would scream and cry. Simeon does not. Simeon trusts God and God's plan. He celebrates the coming of the Savior of Israel and of the whole world. He believes in God's plan, so when he sees Jesus he holds the baby and says, "Lord, now you can let your servant go in peace." Simeon knew God, and surely he knows him today in a more perfect way.
Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her heart. This is not a physical sword, but the sword of sorrow that she experienced at the foot of the Cross, more painful than any metallic sword. She did not scream or cry to hear this. She was ready for the will of God. She wanted whatever God had planned for her. Mary knew God, and now she knows him better than anyone.
December 24, 2011 - Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Mass at Midnight
Today's Readings
Today we celebrate the birth of Savior, Jesus Christ, who was born in a stable and laid in a manger. I think that most people today, since we do not get to see mangers very often, think that a manger is a place where the baby Jesus was laid. A manger is a feeding trough. A place that cows and sheep eat hay out of. It was the best that Mary and Joseph had, so it was what they used. I saw that manger once, myself. It is in Rome, in the Basilica of Mary Major, just a few logs really. You can see it too, if you go to Rome.
Consider the imagery of Jesus, the bread of life, born in the town of Bethlehem, which means house of bread, and laid in a feeding trough, a place for food. This baby, Jesus, is the bread that we eat at Mass, which is not bread. Although it looks like bread, it is Jesus.
Consider the poverty that Jesus was born into. A woman gave birth in a stable. That woman is the Queen of Heaven and Earth. The child she gave birth to was laid on the cleanest hay Joseph could find, which probably was not all that clean. That child is the King of All Creation. God could have provided the best bed in the world and the most luxurious room, but Jesus did not descend from heaven to earth to spend time with the rich and powerful. He was always poor.
Consider how Jesus had begun 9 months earlier as a little zygote. He grew up into an embryo, then a fetus, then a baby, then a child, then a teenager, and then a man. If there were no other reason for honoring human life at every stage, then we would have this: our God was embryo, our God was a fetus. We say that a person is a person no matter how small, but even if someone doubted whether a child just formed in its mother’s womb is a human being, they can be certain that God once looked just like that.
Consider the shepherds, humble men who did not expect to see a king that night. When God chose people to witness his birth and to announce the message to the whole world, he sent his angels to shepherds: dirty, uneducated, poor shepherds.
Consider the angels. Since God created them, they had been waiting to announce this message. What a source of happiness it was to them to be chosen for that choir which sang for a few shepherds and sheep. We can hear in their message their pleading with the world to comprehend what a great honor has been bestowed on us. The angel spoke to those shepherds 2000 years ago, but the message was for everyone, “good news of great joy that will be for all people”, including you and I who hear the message proclaimed on the other side of the earth all these years later.
Consider Mary, watching over the child. First she holds him; then she lays him in a manger. This child, whom she has known for 9 months, whom she has felt for 9 months, she can now see with her eyes. He is now shared with a cruel world. What thoughts went through the mind of the Mother of God seeing her baby boy, we would not understand if we knew them. We can only imagine the love of the sinless mother seeing the child who she worships and adores.
Consider Joseph, standing a little apart, standing guard, keeping watch. He is not able to join the intimacy of mother and child, but he does see, and he knows that this child will take away his sins and the sins of all the world. When the shepherds arrived, a crowd of rough men, I wonder what thoughts went through his mind, whether he was getting ready to fight them off when he found out that they had come to worship the child and honor the mother.
Consider the animals in the stable. Here was their creator, and here was the new Adam and the new Eve. Not since the days of the first man and woman had they been what they ought to be. Humans were given authority over all the animals, and since humans fell the animals had never quite been right. But these oxen and donkeys were ennobled by the presence of the King and Queen who could rightfully take on that authority once again.
Consider the people who were asleep in beds that night. Kings and queens and farmers and workmen: the whole world: people in China and people in England and people in South Africa and people in America and even people right there in Bethlehem. They went to bed that night with no idea of what was going to happen. They woke up the next morning and did not know, but the whole world was different.
Consider the love of God for the world. He so loved the world that he sent his only Son as our Savior. All we have to do is love him in return. He does not force us to love him by being strong, but by being weak. The weakness of God: the weakness in the manger and the weakness on the cross. The weakness of God is stronger than the strength of humans. How can we help but love a little baby? How can we help but love a man who suffered and died for us? How could our hearts be so hardened?
How are we going to respond then? We know that Jesus is forgiving. We know that Jesus only wants us to be saved. We know that even some of those who helped kill Jesus are now with him forever in heaven. We do not have to be afraid of God striking us with lightning if we make a mistake. The time has passed when God was revealing his holiness to the world in that way. Now God is revealing to us his love. Will we take advantage of his forbearance and offend him freely? No. We will look at that child, the newborn child (not even like the one we see in manger scenes who is more like a tiny adult) but a newborn child, so fragile and weak, and we will love him and we will know without the least doubt that he loves us.
Today we celebrate the birth of Savior, Jesus Christ, who was born in a stable and laid in a manger. I think that most people today, since we do not get to see mangers very often, think that a manger is a place where the baby Jesus was laid. A manger is a feeding trough. A place that cows and sheep eat hay out of. It was the best that Mary and Joseph had, so it was what they used. I saw that manger once, myself. It is in Rome, in the Basilica of Mary Major, just a few logs really. You can see it too, if you go to Rome.
Consider the imagery of Jesus, the bread of life, born in the town of Bethlehem, which means house of bread, and laid in a feeding trough, a place for food. This baby, Jesus, is the bread that we eat at Mass, which is not bread. Although it looks like bread, it is Jesus.
Consider the poverty that Jesus was born into. A woman gave birth in a stable. That woman is the Queen of Heaven and Earth. The child she gave birth to was laid on the cleanest hay Joseph could find, which probably was not all that clean. That child is the King of All Creation. God could have provided the best bed in the world and the most luxurious room, but Jesus did not descend from heaven to earth to spend time with the rich and powerful. He was always poor.
Consider how Jesus had begun 9 months earlier as a little zygote. He grew up into an embryo, then a fetus, then a baby, then a child, then a teenager, and then a man. If there were no other reason for honoring human life at every stage, then we would have this: our God was embryo, our God was a fetus. We say that a person is a person no matter how small, but even if someone doubted whether a child just formed in its mother’s womb is a human being, they can be certain that God once looked just like that.
Consider the shepherds, humble men who did not expect to see a king that night. When God chose people to witness his birth and to announce the message to the whole world, he sent his angels to shepherds: dirty, uneducated, poor shepherds.
Consider the angels. Since God created them, they had been waiting to announce this message. What a source of happiness it was to them to be chosen for that choir which sang for a few shepherds and sheep. We can hear in their message their pleading with the world to comprehend what a great honor has been bestowed on us. The angel spoke to those shepherds 2000 years ago, but the message was for everyone, “good news of great joy that will be for all people”, including you and I who hear the message proclaimed on the other side of the earth all these years later.
Consider Mary, watching over the child. First she holds him; then she lays him in a manger. This child, whom she has known for 9 months, whom she has felt for 9 months, she can now see with her eyes. He is now shared with a cruel world. What thoughts went through the mind of the Mother of God seeing her baby boy, we would not understand if we knew them. We can only imagine the love of the sinless mother seeing the child who she worships and adores.
Consider Joseph, standing a little apart, standing guard, keeping watch. He is not able to join the intimacy of mother and child, but he does see, and he knows that this child will take away his sins and the sins of all the world. When the shepherds arrived, a crowd of rough men, I wonder what thoughts went through his mind, whether he was getting ready to fight them off when he found out that they had come to worship the child and honor the mother.
Consider the animals in the stable. Here was their creator, and here was the new Adam and the new Eve. Not since the days of the first man and woman had they been what they ought to be. Humans were given authority over all the animals, and since humans fell the animals had never quite been right. But these oxen and donkeys were ennobled by the presence of the King and Queen who could rightfully take on that authority once again.
Consider the people who were asleep in beds that night. Kings and queens and farmers and workmen: the whole world: people in China and people in England and people in South Africa and people in America and even people right there in Bethlehem. They went to bed that night with no idea of what was going to happen. They woke up the next morning and did not know, but the whole world was different.
Consider the love of God for the world. He so loved the world that he sent his only Son as our Savior. All we have to do is love him in return. He does not force us to love him by being strong, but by being weak. The weakness of God: the weakness in the manger and the weakness on the cross. The weakness of God is stronger than the strength of humans. How can we help but love a little baby? How can we help but love a man who suffered and died for us? How could our hearts be so hardened?
How are we going to respond then? We know that Jesus is forgiving. We know that Jesus only wants us to be saved. We know that even some of those who helped kill Jesus are now with him forever in heaven. We do not have to be afraid of God striking us with lightning if we make a mistake. The time has passed when God was revealing his holiness to the world in that way. Now God is revealing to us his love. Will we take advantage of his forbearance and offend him freely? No. We will look at that child, the newborn child (not even like the one we see in manger scenes who is more like a tiny adult) but a newborn child, so fragile and weak, and we will love him and we will know without the least doubt that he loves us.
December 22, 2011 - Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today's Readings
If you look around the world, if you watch the news, you might be worried about where the world is headed. It all seems to be going to Hell in a handbasket or maybe a racecar. We humans ruin this world and everything good in it with our selfishness and greed. Some people are looking for a politician who can save us, but we already have a Savior. Jesus came and saved us, and he is coming back. In the meantime, he would do more if we would only let him.
Mary said that all generations would call her blessed, and so we have. For the past 2000 years she has continuously been referred to as the Blessed Virgin Mary. She did not say that all generations would call her blessed because she did great things. She said that all generations would call her blessed because the Almighty has done great things for her.
There is a temptation to think of a great person as someone who has done great things. Mary turns that idea on its head. Indeed, the great thing that Mary did was allow God to do his great things. Her heroic feat was allowing God to work. In the Blessed Virgin Mary, from her Immaculate Conception to being crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth, God accomplished marvelous things. Of course, the greatest of these was the Incarnation, in which God himself took flesh, took DNA, from the body of the Blessed Virgin and formed a body for himself.
Just imagine the great things God would accomplish if we would let him! We do not let God work because we are too conventional: the world watches TV so we watch TV, the world buys and buys and buys stuff, so we go shopping. To be a saint it is necessary to be unconventional, unusual, to be weird. Not every strange person is a saint, but no saint was ever normal. The one way that is definitely the wrong way is the well-worn path that the whole world is going down.
Once we have decided to not be like everyone else, we have to decide who we are going to be like. For that, we cannot choose a better example than Mary. Mary, who never prevented God from working in her life, who was devoted to Jesus from the Incarnation to the Cross, who always believed in the Resurrection, is the most unusual human person in the history of the world. We should be weird, like Mary.
If you look around the world, if you watch the news, you might be worried about where the world is headed. It all seems to be going to Hell in a handbasket or maybe a racecar. We humans ruin this world and everything good in it with our selfishness and greed. Some people are looking for a politician who can save us, but we already have a Savior. Jesus came and saved us, and he is coming back. In the meantime, he would do more if we would only let him.
Mary said that all generations would call her blessed, and so we have. For the past 2000 years she has continuously been referred to as the Blessed Virgin Mary. She did not say that all generations would call her blessed because she did great things. She said that all generations would call her blessed because the Almighty has done great things for her.
There is a temptation to think of a great person as someone who has done great things. Mary turns that idea on its head. Indeed, the great thing that Mary did was allow God to do his great things. Her heroic feat was allowing God to work. In the Blessed Virgin Mary, from her Immaculate Conception to being crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth, God accomplished marvelous things. Of course, the greatest of these was the Incarnation, in which God himself took flesh, took DNA, from the body of the Blessed Virgin and formed a body for himself.
Just imagine the great things God would accomplish if we would let him! We do not let God work because we are too conventional: the world watches TV so we watch TV, the world buys and buys and buys stuff, so we go shopping. To be a saint it is necessary to be unconventional, unusual, to be weird. Not every strange person is a saint, but no saint was ever normal. The one way that is definitely the wrong way is the well-worn path that the whole world is going down.
Once we have decided to not be like everyone else, we have to decide who we are going to be like. For that, we cannot choose a better example than Mary. Mary, who never prevented God from working in her life, who was devoted to Jesus from the Incarnation to the Cross, who always believed in the Resurrection, is the most unusual human person in the history of the world. We should be weird, like Mary.
December 21, 2011 - Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today's Readings
Our first reading today, from the Song of Songs, is part of a love song. Throughout history, some people have complained that this love song should not be in the Bible. It never even mentions God. These people have such little imagination. The story of salvation is a love story. In this song sung between the lover and the beloved in alternating verses, we have a true image of our relationship with God. He is the lover, and we are the beloved. He tells us to “Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come.” He repeats this invitation over and over. God is always saying to you: “Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come.” It is not flattery. He loves you, whether anyone else does or not. He sees you as beautiful, whether the world says you are or not. He is calling you. How can you resist?
Our Gospel today shows us what the beloved of God should be like. Mary was in a hurry. She went into the hill country with haste. Was she running away? No. She was in a hurry because there were things to be done. She goes to her cousin Elizabeth, to help her during her pregnancy. How unselfish this girl is! She does not think of her own needs; she thinks about what would help someone else.
When she received God’s gift to the world in her own womb, she did not withdraw into hiding; she went out into the world. She went forth as the Christ-bearer. She wanted to give what she had received. She does not greedily hold on to the gift given to her by God; she immediately, and with haste, gives it to the world, beginning with Elizabeth.
No gift from God is as great as the gift of his Son to the world. In Jesus Christ, God gave himself to the world, but this gift of love was not given to everyone at once. This gift was entrusted to one person – Mary, the Mother of God. God relied on Mary. He trusted Mary. So it was that the whole world received God’s gift through Mary. No one has received Jesus Christ except through his Mother. Though Peter and Paul preached Jesus to the ends of the earth, Jesus entered this world in one particular place, and that place is the womb of the Blessed Virgin. All generations will call her blessed.
Our first reading today, from the Song of Songs, is part of a love song. Throughout history, some people have complained that this love song should not be in the Bible. It never even mentions God. These people have such little imagination. The story of salvation is a love story. In this song sung between the lover and the beloved in alternating verses, we have a true image of our relationship with God. He is the lover, and we are the beloved. He tells us to “Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come.” He repeats this invitation over and over. God is always saying to you: “Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come.” It is not flattery. He loves you, whether anyone else does or not. He sees you as beautiful, whether the world says you are or not. He is calling you. How can you resist?
Our Gospel today shows us what the beloved of God should be like. Mary was in a hurry. She went into the hill country with haste. Was she running away? No. She was in a hurry because there were things to be done. She goes to her cousin Elizabeth, to help her during her pregnancy. How unselfish this girl is! She does not think of her own needs; she thinks about what would help someone else.
When she received God’s gift to the world in her own womb, she did not withdraw into hiding; she went out into the world. She went forth as the Christ-bearer. She wanted to give what she had received. She does not greedily hold on to the gift given to her by God; she immediately, and with haste, gives it to the world, beginning with Elizabeth.
No gift from God is as great as the gift of his Son to the world. In Jesus Christ, God gave himself to the world, but this gift of love was not given to everyone at once. This gift was entrusted to one person – Mary, the Mother of God. God relied on Mary. He trusted Mary. So it was that the whole world received God’s gift through Mary. No one has received Jesus Christ except through his Mother. Though Peter and Paul preached Jesus to the ends of the earth, Jesus entered this world in one particular place, and that place is the womb of the Blessed Virgin. All generations will call her blessed.
December 19, 2011 - Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today's Readings
Zechariah is really severely punished. He just asked one question: “How am I to know this?” Where did he get this question? He got it from Abraham. It is the exact question that Abraham asked when God told him that he and Sarah would have a son even though they were very old. So when Zechariah is told the same thing, he follows the example of Abraham, but instead of being given a sign like Abraham received, he is given a different sort of sign: he is punished by having his ability to speak removed.
So what is the problem? The problem is that in 2000 years, there should have been some spiritual progress. What was good enough for Abraham who was the first to believe was not good enough a hundred generations later. Just as we ought to be more spiritually mature than the early Christians after 2000 years of Christianity, so Zechariah ought to be more spiritually mature than Abraham.
This is not to say that Zechariah is better than Abraham, or that we are better than the early Christians. Who is the greater artists, Da Vinci or the first caveman to paint an animal on the wall? Who is the greater scientist, Einstein or the first person to map the stars? The point is that Zechariah had the benefit of Abraham’s experience, so he should not have asked Abraham’s question.
Contrast this conversation with another conversation that Gabriel had. Mary asked a question too, but her question shows a wisdom and spiritual maturity that the old priest lacked. She simply asks, “How can this be?” She does not doubt. She simply wants to know how she is going to become pregnant and yet remain a virgin her whole life. She does not ask for proof, just a little clarification.
Of course it is not fair to compare Zechariah to Mary, the Immaculate Conception, the sinless girl who would never sin. None of us is going to look very good in comparison with Mary, but that is just the point: Mary is exactly what we ought to be; her “let it be” is exactly what we ought to say. Mary is the perfect disciple. Zechariah erred by looking back to Abraham as his example, but we will never go wrong if our example is Mary.
Zechariah is really severely punished. He just asked one question: “How am I to know this?” Where did he get this question? He got it from Abraham. It is the exact question that Abraham asked when God told him that he and Sarah would have a son even though they were very old. So when Zechariah is told the same thing, he follows the example of Abraham, but instead of being given a sign like Abraham received, he is given a different sort of sign: he is punished by having his ability to speak removed.
So what is the problem? The problem is that in 2000 years, there should have been some spiritual progress. What was good enough for Abraham who was the first to believe was not good enough a hundred generations later. Just as we ought to be more spiritually mature than the early Christians after 2000 years of Christianity, so Zechariah ought to be more spiritually mature than Abraham.
This is not to say that Zechariah is better than Abraham, or that we are better than the early Christians. Who is the greater artists, Da Vinci or the first caveman to paint an animal on the wall? Who is the greater scientist, Einstein or the first person to map the stars? The point is that Zechariah had the benefit of Abraham’s experience, so he should not have asked Abraham’s question.
Contrast this conversation with another conversation that Gabriel had. Mary asked a question too, but her question shows a wisdom and spiritual maturity that the old priest lacked. She simply asks, “How can this be?” She does not doubt. She simply wants to know how she is going to become pregnant and yet remain a virgin her whole life. She does not ask for proof, just a little clarification.
Of course it is not fair to compare Zechariah to Mary, the Immaculate Conception, the sinless girl who would never sin. None of us is going to look very good in comparison with Mary, but that is just the point: Mary is exactly what we ought to be; her “let it be” is exactly what we ought to say. Mary is the perfect disciple. Zechariah erred by looking back to Abraham as his example, but we will never go wrong if our example is Mary.
December 8th, 2010 - The Immaculate Conception of Mary, Mother of God
How beautiful is the Gospel today! From this one reading we learn so much about our Mother. First we learn that she is greater than the angels. To whom else did an angel, a messenger of God, come and say "Hail, full of grace"? With these words Gabriel acknowledges that he is speaking to someone greater than himself. We also learn by those words that she is free from all sin, for what is sin but a denial of grace and how could someone who ever denied grace be full of grace. Sin is an emptiness, but Mary was full.
From this Gospel we also learn that Mary is betrothed to Joseph, but also vowed to a lifelong virginity. How else could she say "I have no relations with man" and not "I have not had relations with a man"? What woman, even though a virgin, would be unable to figure out the meaning of the angel's words? No woman before was promised a child without expecting to conceive that child in the normal way. Mary is betrothed to Joseph. Without a prior commitment to virginity, any reasonable girl would expect to conceive the child during her imminent marriage.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is the Mother of God. Gabriel calls her child the Son of God. The son of a dog is a dog. The son of a human is a human. The Son of God is God. If he were not, the title would be contradictory. We can be adopted sons and daughters of God, but the Son of God, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, can only be God, and the Mother of the Son of God must be therefore the Mother of God.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is courageous. St. Joseph was terrified at the prospect of having a role in raising the Son of God, so much so that he was going to divorce Mary quietly. Mary, however, asks only for the practical details before submitting to the will of God.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is humble. She, though courageous, is afraid. What frightens her who was not afraid either of the judgement of others or the terrible responsibility of being the Mother of God? She is frightened by a greeting. She is frightened to see an archangel bow before her. We sinners would rejoice to see an angel bow to serve us, and it would be Satan dressed as an angel of light to inflate our pride. Mary, who is destined to be Queen of Heaven, is too humble to understand the greeting.
From this Gospel we ought to learn to love Mary with a tiny portion of the great love by which God preserved her free from all sin from the moment of her creation. From this Gospel we ought to learn to love God with a tiny portion of the fearless, God-fearing love by which Mary said "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."
From this Gospel we also learn that Mary is betrothed to Joseph, but also vowed to a lifelong virginity. How else could she say "I have no relations with man" and not "I have not had relations with a man"? What woman, even though a virgin, would be unable to figure out the meaning of the angel's words? No woman before was promised a child without expecting to conceive that child in the normal way. Mary is betrothed to Joseph. Without a prior commitment to virginity, any reasonable girl would expect to conceive the child during her imminent marriage.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is the Mother of God. Gabriel calls her child the Son of God. The son of a dog is a dog. The son of a human is a human. The Son of God is God. If he were not, the title would be contradictory. We can be adopted sons and daughters of God, but the Son of God, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, can only be God, and the Mother of the Son of God must be therefore the Mother of God.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is courageous. St. Joseph was terrified at the prospect of having a role in raising the Son of God, so much so that he was going to divorce Mary quietly. Mary, however, asks only for the practical details before submitting to the will of God.
From this Gospel we learn that Mary is humble. She, though courageous, is afraid. What frightens her who was not afraid either of the judgement of others or the terrible responsibility of being the Mother of God? She is frightened by a greeting. She is frightened to see an archangel bow before her. We sinners would rejoice to see an angel bow to serve us, and it would be Satan dressed as an angel of light to inflate our pride. Mary, who is destined to be Queen of Heaven, is too humble to understand the greeting.
From this Gospel we ought to learn to love Mary with a tiny portion of the great love by which God preserved her free from all sin from the moment of her creation. From this Gospel we ought to learn to love God with a tiny portion of the fearless, God-fearing love by which Mary said "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."
September 20, 2011 - Memorial of Saint Andrew Kim Taegõn, priest and martyr and Saint Paul Chõng Hasang, martyr and their companions, martyrs
Today's Readings
“I rejoiced when I heard them say, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” This psalm is one of the ascension psalms which were sung by pilgrims as they walked across Israel to Jerusalem to visit the temple for one of the feasts. The Jews would only have been able to come to the temple a few times each year, so it was a very important occasion. Throughout this psalm we hear the joy of returning to the temple after months away.
In the first reading, we learn about how the temple was rebuilt. There was resistance from all sides, but eventually the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem after living in exile were able to rebuild the temple and offer sacrifice once again. This after not a few months but seventy years. Imagine the rejoicing in Jerusalem on that day!
In the Gospel we have the same theme. Mary is coming to visit her son Jesus. I wonder how long it had been since she had seen him. Long enough for someone to announce that she was there. I am sure that she, like any good mother, would have waited patiently until Jesus was done working. Just to see him again and hear his teaching must have caused her to rejoice, just to be near him, she who had double reason for joy since he is both her son and her God.
Did you rejoice when you walked in here today? I know that it has not been a few months since you came to church. Most of you were here yesterday. This is our difficulty: familiarity. We do not have to wait months between visiting the house of God like the ancient Jews. We do not have to wait 70 years like those returning from exile. We are able to spend time with God daily.
We should be careful that this familiarity with God does not lead us to dismiss him, to talk in church while waiting for Mass to begin, to read the bulletin or balance a checkbook. It is not easy, but we ought to experience the joy and wonder of being in God’s presence each day as if it were our first time. As the old saying tells us familiarity can breed contempt, but it can also foster love. If we use the gifts of silence and genuflecting and prayer whenever we enter the church, we can make a habit of wonder and awe in his presence.
“I rejoiced when I heard them say, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” This psalm is one of the ascension psalms which were sung by pilgrims as they walked across Israel to Jerusalem to visit the temple for one of the feasts. The Jews would only have been able to come to the temple a few times each year, so it was a very important occasion. Throughout this psalm we hear the joy of returning to the temple after months away.
In the first reading, we learn about how the temple was rebuilt. There was resistance from all sides, but eventually the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem after living in exile were able to rebuild the temple and offer sacrifice once again. This after not a few months but seventy years. Imagine the rejoicing in Jerusalem on that day!
In the Gospel we have the same theme. Mary is coming to visit her son Jesus. I wonder how long it had been since she had seen him. Long enough for someone to announce that she was there. I am sure that she, like any good mother, would have waited patiently until Jesus was done working. Just to see him again and hear his teaching must have caused her to rejoice, just to be near him, she who had double reason for joy since he is both her son and her God.
Did you rejoice when you walked in here today? I know that it has not been a few months since you came to church. Most of you were here yesterday. This is our difficulty: familiarity. We do not have to wait months between visiting the house of God like the ancient Jews. We do not have to wait 70 years like those returning from exile. We are able to spend time with God daily.
We should be careful that this familiarity with God does not lead us to dismiss him, to talk in church while waiting for Mass to begin, to read the bulletin or balance a checkbook. It is not easy, but we ought to experience the joy and wonder of being in God’s presence each day as if it were our first time. As the old saying tells us familiarity can breed contempt, but it can also foster love. If we use the gifts of silence and genuflecting and prayer whenever we enter the church, we can make a habit of wonder and awe in his presence.
July 26, 2011 - Memorial of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today's Readings
Today we remember the grandparents of Jesus, Joachim and Anne. It was in their home that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her to be the mother of God. They are an image for us of all those Jewish patriarchs who raised up families in the centuries before Jesus came. All those people who, as Sirach says, “were men of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten.” All those people who, as Jesus told his disciples, “Longed to see what you see and did not see it.”
Joachim and Anne are to be praised in the first place because it was they who passed on the faith and the law to Mary which they had received from their parents. It is so important that children are taught the faith, not as a mere intellectual idea but in practice. Those parents who say that they will let their children decide about religion when they are grown are making a grave mistake. A child raised by wolves is unable to enter human society when they are grown. A child raised without religion will always be lacking a basic human characteristic. Childhood is the time when our minds are formed, and a mind formed without piety is a defective mind. Joachim and Anne instilled in Mary a faith that was able to easily accept the word of an Angel.
Joachim and Anne are also to be praised because they supported Mary in her unusual vocation. When Mary decided to dedicate her life to virginity, they found for her Joseph, a righteous man, to be her husband and protector. When Mary became pregnant before she was married, they trusted what she told them about the angel. As Mary went to fulfill her calling, first to Bethlehem, then Egypt, they watched and prayed for her, knowing that they had taught her all they could about God and doing what is right.
We remember Joachim and Anne today because they were good parents. They never worked a miracle, so far as we know, at least not the kind that amazes crowds. They never preached the Gospel like Peter and Paul. They were good parents, and that is enough to be a saint.
Today we remember the grandparents of Jesus, Joachim and Anne. It was in their home that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her to be the mother of God. They are an image for us of all those Jewish patriarchs who raised up families in the centuries before Jesus came. All those people who, as Sirach says, “were men of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten.” All those people who, as Jesus told his disciples, “Longed to see what you see and did not see it.”
Joachim and Anne are to be praised in the first place because it was they who passed on the faith and the law to Mary which they had received from their parents. It is so important that children are taught the faith, not as a mere intellectual idea but in practice. Those parents who say that they will let their children decide about religion when they are grown are making a grave mistake. A child raised by wolves is unable to enter human society when they are grown. A child raised without religion will always be lacking a basic human characteristic. Childhood is the time when our minds are formed, and a mind formed without piety is a defective mind. Joachim and Anne instilled in Mary a faith that was able to easily accept the word of an Angel.
Joachim and Anne are also to be praised because they supported Mary in her unusual vocation. When Mary decided to dedicate her life to virginity, they found for her Joseph, a righteous man, to be her husband and protector. When Mary became pregnant before she was married, they trusted what she told them about the angel. As Mary went to fulfill her calling, first to Bethlehem, then Egypt, they watched and prayed for her, knowing that they had taught her all they could about God and doing what is right.
We remember Joachim and Anne today because they were good parents. They never worked a miracle, so far as we know, at least not the kind that amazes crowds. They never preached the Gospel like Peter and Paul. They were good parents, and that is enough to be a saint.
January 22, 2011 - Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
We are told that “When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.’” The original words in Greek here can mean relatives, but it literally means “his own”. Jesus’ own people, his mother and brothers.
Now we know that Jesus did not have any brothers, strictly speaking. The word brothers refers either to his step-brothers from a previous marriage of Joseph or to his cousins who were sometimes called brothers in that culture. We also know that Mary, Jesus’ mother, did not really think that he was out of his mind. She knows that he is God. While she did not understand everything that he did, she did trust him completely. I think that when Jesus’ brothers decided to go, she simply went along because she would never turn down an opportunity to see Jesus.
But what about these brothers? Anyone with a sibling who causes trouble can understand their minds. They are concerned for Jesus, that he will hurt himself or get himself killed. They are also concerned for the family’s reputation. They are going to go find him and “seize him” as the Gospel says, take hold of him, get him under control.
When they arrive they find something very different than what they were evidently expecting. They do not find crowds of people laughing at Jesus. They do not find a small contingent of equally crazy people following him around. They find crowds of sane people listening. They hear his teaching: rather than the crazed rambling they expected. It is beautiful to listen to. They find that one of their brothers, James, has become an apostle of Jesus.
When we look at the world around us, we too might be convinced that God is crazy. There is too much violence and too much suffering. The wicked go unpunished. We might have a temptation to go to God and take hold of him and tell him how he ought to be running the universe. Then we look around and see the whole world, a delicate balance of physical laws and living creatures and free people and realize that we must trust God, simply. We can have faith in him; we do not need to be afraid.
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