To The Mountaintop - Feast of All Saints

To the Mountaintop - Feast of All Saints

"When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain....He began to teach them."

Ascending the mountain has always been a metaphor for the spiritual life and achieving holiness.  From a physical point of view, the mountain makes us closer to God, if we imagine heaven in a higher realm.  In addition, being on the mountain looking down below we achieve the vision of God and what that might mean for our lives and our world.  These spiritual images help us to continually move closer to God and to seek always to acquire God's vision of the world.

In the Old Testament God spoke to Moses on the mountain and gave him the ten commandments.  Upon another mountain God showed Moses the Promised Land, but then said Moses would not live to see it.  The ten commandments, important as they are, cannot lead us ultimately to the Promised Land.  More is required.  Jesus gives us what is necessary when he goes to the mountain to provide us the eight beatitudes.  These maxims are a challenge.  We are to be poor in spirit; meek; hunger and thirst for righteousness; merciful; clean of heart; peacemakers; and persecuted for righteousness.  These are what we find on the mountaintop.  These are the way to the Promised Land.

In the liturgies of Eastern Christianity, the beatitudes are recited every time the Eucharist is celebrated.  Imagine if that became part of our liturgical practice.  Imagine too if we actually appropriated these beatitudes in our own lives.  The beatitudes are what we discover on the mountaintop.  The beatitudes are God's vision for our world.  Practicing them brings us closer to God, and closer to the realization of the reign of God.  

Master, I Want to See

Master, I Want to See - 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way."

Throughout the Gospel of Mark the disciples have been in the dark about who Jesus is and where he is going.  They are following him because they are convinced he is the Messiah of God, but they're not sure what that means exactly.  Some think it is a political role and the crushing rule of the Roman Empire will be replaced by the restoration of ancient Israel.  Still others see a radical transformation of Judaism being realized in the ministry of Jesus.  But none of them saw Jesus as Messiah in terms of death and resurrection.

Before encountering the blind Bartimaeus Jesus had told his disciples three times that the Son of Man must suffer and die at the hands of the authorities, but on the third day he would rise.  Then we meet Bartimaeus, who begs Jesus for the gift of sight.  The disciples try to keep him away from Jesus, but Bartimaeus will not be dissuaded.  Jesus finally comes and grants him sight, and Bartimaeus followed Jesus on the way.  The way - where was Jesus going?  To Jerusalem.  To suffer, die, and then be raised.  Bartimaeus, like the rest of us, will see what Jesus as Messiah really means.

It is odd that Jesus asks Bartimaeus, "What do you want me to do for you?"  Isn't it obvious?  But the real thrust of the question is this:  do you really want to see the way?  Are you really sure you want what you are asking?  Because it involves a painful, difficult road.  It involves putting aside all your own ideas about the Messiah.  And ultimately it involves our own suffering and death to ourselves for the sake of others.  And yet we know this is the only way - the only way that leads to ultimate fulfillment, the only way to the reign of God. 

Servus Servorum Dei

Servus Servorum Dei - 29th Sunday In Ordinary Time

There are no fewer than thirty titles for the office of the Papacy, many of which are unknown to most people.  The more familiar titles are:  pope, bishop of Rome, Supreme Pontiff, and holy father.  In various ages of church history you will find that one or two titles come to dominate in a given period, often reflecting the political and historical realities of the age in an attempt to highlight the power and authority of the office of the Papacy against certain claims by others.

In our own times since the Second Vatican Council the popes have chosen to use two titles that express well the point of our Gospel reading today:  "the Servant of the Servants of God", and "Pontifex Maximus (Greatest Bridge Builder).  The latter title was borrowed from ancient Roman paganism; it was the title of the high priest in the temple of Jupiter and became a government office.  The title, however, conveys well the ministry of the pope, and by extension, the ministry of every baptized Christian:  we are called to build bridges between God and humans, and we are called to build bridges between and among people here on earth.

The former title - Servant of the Servants of God - is the only title of the pope directly coming from the Gospels themselves.  It comes from this Gospel text, and like the other title 'Pontifex Maximus' it reflects the vocation of every baptized Christian.  We are all called to serve and minister to one another, ignoring all hierarchies and human distinctions.  Every Christian is baptized as priest, prophet, and king.  We are all called to give our lives for one another in fulfillment of the command to "do this in memory of me."  And in being servants, rejecting all worldly power, we show forth the beauty of the Gospel, and make as a more concrete reality the reign of God.

How Hard It Is - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

"You are lacking in one thing.  Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

What do we make of these words of Jesus to the rich young man?  St. Francis of Assisi took them literally, selling all his possessions, even divesting of all his clothes in the public square in order to fulfill the words of Jesus.  Pope Francis continually calls us to be a church of the poor and for the poor, seeing in the words of Jesus the obligation to live simply and to care for those on the margins.

In ancient times wealth was considered a sign of God's blessing and favor.  The rich were so because God was rewarding them for a life of virtue and obedience to him.  Jesus, however, rejects that standard of determining God's favor.  He reminds us that throughout the Hebrew scriptures God favored the poor, the weak, and the outcast.  By the very fact that God chose an insignificant, powerless people to be His own represents this favor.  Jesus reminds us that God's standards are not those of the world, and that we are called to see as God sees, to act as God acts.

Wealth is a relative measure.  To a middle class American, the folks in Malibu are wealthy.  To the poor refugee from Haiti, the middle class American is wealthy.  But God's standards are objective and not relative.  We must live as if we were not rich, judge as God would judge, and love because we have first been loved by God - and in this way we come ever closer to the reign of God.