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.  

The Great Divorce - 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Great Divorce - 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time  

"What God has joined together, no human being must separate."

When a man and a woman come together to marry and have children, it is an earthly reflection and image of the life of God -the community of persons in the Trinity.  Married life is also an expression of God's relationship with all of humankind.  In the creation story, God reveals his communitarian life only when he creates man:  "Let us make man in our image."

It is in this context that we must understand Jesus' teaching on divorce and why he places such an emphasis on not breaking the marriage bond.  We can only show our love for God by loving other people.  When we fail to do so, we fail to be that reflection and image of God's own life.  

Jesus gives us the key to remaining in loving relationship through the example of a child.  Children are open and receptive.  They have a desire to be loved and thus a desire to love in return.  If we always retain this openness and receptivity, if we keep alive the desire to be loved and to love in return, then we have - for us and for others - the reign of God.

Scripture, Tradition, and the Response of Faith

Scripture, Tradition, and the Response of Faith

Prayer

Lord God, in the new covenant you shed light on the miracles you worked in ancient times:  the Red Sea is the symbol of our baptism, and the nation you freed from slavery is a sign of your Christian people.  May every nation share the faith and privilege of Israel and come to new birth in the Holy Spirit.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Scripture in its original language of Hebrew.

Scripture Texts:

Exodus 3: 1-15

Luke 1: 45

Romans 16: 26

1 Timothy 2: 3-4

1 Cor. 10: 11

Hebrews 1: 1-2

Hebrews 11: 1

I.                   The Revelation of God

a.       Divine Revelation is an order of knowledge through which God has revealed and given Himself to us by making known the mystery, the plan of His good pleasure, formed from all eternity in Christ on behalf of everyone (CCC #50)

                                                              i.      God’s gradual self-communication prepared humanity by stages to accept the supernatural self-revelation that culminated in the person of Jesus Christ (CCC #53)

                                                            ii.      God has fully revealed His plan by sending us His beloved son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and His Spirit (CCC #53)

                                                          iii.      God’s revelation enables us to respond to Him, and to know and love Him far beyond our native capacity (CCC #52)

b.      Revelation in the Old Testament shows us the beautiful way through which God reveals Himself

                                                              i.      God’s revelation began with creation and the manifestation of Himself to Adam and Eve (CCC #54)

                                                            ii.      God spoke to our first parents, inviting them to intimate communication with Him and clothed them with grace and justice (CCC #54)

                                                          iii.      The eventual fall of Adam and Eve did not thwart God’s revelation.  After the fall, God lifted them up with the hope of salvation and promised redemption (CCC #55)

                                                          iv.      The covenant with Noah after the flood exemplified the divine economy towards people separated in their own lands, with their own languages and families (CCC #56)

1.      Covenant is a solemn promise or ritualized agreement between two persons.

2.      Economy is the theological term used to refer to God’s activity in the world (Greek origin of word – household)

                                                            v.      In order to gather the scattered human race, God called Abram and chose him to be the father of faith.  Those descended from Abraham would be stewards of the promise made to the patriarchs, the people chosen to prepare for that day when God should gather all His children into the unity of the Church (CCC #59)

                                                          vi.      God continued to form Israel as His people, freed them from the slavery in Egypt and established the covenant with them on Mount Sinai (CCC #62)

                                                        vii.      Through the prophets God prepared the people to accept the salvation intended for all humanity (CCC #64)

c.       Revelation in the New Testament – The New Covenant

                                                              i.      In Jesus Christ, God has fully revealed Himself.  Because the Christian economy is the new and definitive covenant, it will never pass away nor will anything be added before the glorious manifestation of Jesus Christ at the end of time (CCC #66)

                                                            ii.      Christ commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel as the source of all saving truth and all moral discipline (CCC #75)

II.                The threefold dimension of revelation – the deposit of faith

a.       The Holy Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, contain God’s Word and, because they are inspired, truly are His word (CCC #135).

                                                              i.      God is the author of sacred Scripture because He inspired its human authors, acting in them and by means of them, and thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error His saving truth (CCC #136)

                                                            ii.      The Catholic Church accepts and honors as inspired the 46 canonical books of the Old Testament and the 27 canonical books of the New Testament (CCC #138)

                                                          iii.      “The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God’s plan and his revelation.  The Old Testament prepares for the new and the New Testament fulfills the Old; the two shed light on each other; and both are the true Word of God” (CCC #140).

                                                          iv.      Some denominations do not accept all 73 of these books as inspired.  Compare the books in a King James Bible with the books in the New American Bible:  39 books in Old Testament Protestant Bibles (the Hebrew Canon); 46 in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican Bibles (Septuagint or Greek Canon).  Additional 7 books called “deuterocanonical” and they are Sirach, Wisdom, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Tobit, and Judith.  These books were included in the Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures (250 B.C.), but excluded from the Hebrew Canon.

                                                            v.      The Church has always honored the sacred Scriptures and is nourished by them, as she as the very Body of the Lord.  Both nourish and govern the whole Christian life (CCC #141).

b.      Tradition is the living communication of the Word brought about by the Holy Spirit.

                                                              i.      Through Tradition, the Church in her teaching, life, and worship perpetuates and communicates to every generation all that she is and all that she believes (CCC #78).

                                                            ii.      Tradition is a life force and draws from almost 4,000 years of faith experience.

                                                          iii.      In Catholicism, Tradition and sacred Scripture are bound closely together and communicate with each other.  Both flow out of the same source, come together in a way to form a single reality, and tend toward the same goal (CCC #80)

c.       Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church expressed by the Pope and the bishops who are in union with him.

                                                              i.      The Church’s magisterium is entrusted with the task of authentically interpreting God’s word, whether written or handed down orally.  This teaching office exercises authority in the name of Jesus Christ to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the bishop of Rome (CCC #85).

                                                            ii.      The Church’s magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas.

1.      Dogmas are truths contained in Divine Revelation that oblige the Catholic people to an irrevocable commitment of faith (CCC #88).  Belief in these truths is a requirement of our faith and God’s help and grace is necessary for us to believe.

2.      Doctrine is a generic term for a teaching of the Church regarding faith and morals (CCC #135)

                                                          iii.      Within the whole revelation of the Christian mystery there is a “hierarchy of truths” in the Catholic teaching (CCC #90).  The Paschal Mystery and the revelation of God in Jesus are the central core of Church doctrine.  All Church teachings are to be embraced because they are interdependent.  However, certain truths are more intimately related to the centrality of Christ and His revelation of God’s fullness.

III.             The Church as servant of revelation

a.       Sacred Tradition, sacred Scripture, and the Church’s magisterium are so interconnected that none can stand without the others.  Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they are sources of truth (CCC #95).

b.      So that the full, living Gospel should always be preserved in the Church, the apostles left the bishops as their successors, giving them their own teaching authority (CCC #77).

c.       All the faithful fully initiated into the Church have received the Holy Spirit, who instructs them and guides them into all truth.  They share in the understanding and handing on of revealed truth (CCC #91).

                                                              i.      “Throughout the ages, there have been so called ‘private revelations’, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church.  They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith.  It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history” (CCC #67).

                                                            ii.      ‘Private’ or personal revelation cannot contradict Christ’s revelation in the teachings of the Church.

Focus Questions:

·                     How does God reveal Himself to you?

·                     Which aspect of the deposit of faith (Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium) do you feel is least appreciated?  Why is it important to have all three?

·                     What has the Bible meant in your life up until now?

·                     How well do I know the Scriptures?  Have I made reading the Bible an important part of my daily life?

·                     Has the Church taught things that I find hard to accept?  What can I do to reach a better understanding of those teachings?

Resources:

·                     Catechism of the Catholic Church #50-141

·                     Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum)

·                     The Catholic Way:  Faith for Living Today, Bishop Donald Wuerl, ch. 5-8, p. 17-33.

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The Response of Faith

I.                   The nature of faith

a.       Faith is the assent given in trust and obedience to truth.

                                                              i.      By faith, humans submit themselves completely and give their assent of intellect and will to God who reveals Himself (CCC #143).

1.      Faith is first a personal commitment to God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit (CCC #150)

2.      Faith is secondly a free assent, a saying ‘yes’ to the whole truth that God has revealed (CCC #150)

3.      Faith is a relationship – a loving yes to God who has first loved us.  Faith is our response to God’s love.

                                                            ii.      The obedience of faith (obedience meaning ‘to listen to’) is a free submission to God’s spoken Word simply because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is truth itself (CCC #144).

b.      Faith is an act of the intellect.

                                                              i.      Even though faith is possible only by grace it is an authentically human act.  To trust in God and to believe the truths He has revealed does not contradict either human dignity or reason (CCC #154).

                                                            ii.      We believe because of the authority of God, who reveals and who can neither deceive nor be deceived.  Therefore faith is certain.  As Cardinal Newman stated, “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt” (CCC #157).

1.      It is the nature of faith that, while it is firm because it comes from God’s grace, it also contains an element of darkness and/or doubt.

2.      Faith is either growing or declining.  It is our responsibility to cooperate with God in the growth of faith.

                                                          iii.      “Faith seeks understanding (St. Anselm).  The grace of faith opens the eyes of your hearts to a lively understanding of the content of revelation (CCC #158).  Faith is our response to God’s revelation.

II.                The mystery of faith

a.       Faith is a gift of God.

                                                              i.      Faith is a gift from God, a supernatural virtue infused by Him.  Faith exists with the help of grace (CCC #153).  Grace is God’s presence in our lives.

                                                            ii.      Faith is God’s entire free gift.  Faith must grow and be nurtured.  We can lost this priceless gift through carelessness or sin.

1.      Faith is under assault from without:  sexual permissiveness in our society, secularism, violence in the world and in the media, etc.

2.      Faith is under assault from within ourselves.  We will struggle with doubt and temptations until we see God face to face.

b.      Faith is a loving relationship with God.

                                                              i.      Faith is belief in God’s love.

                                                            ii.      The two dimensions of the covenant with God are:

1.      God, as the initiator of the covenant, promises steadfast love and absolute fidelity.

2.      The human person responds to God through Jesus, all the time saying the ‘yes’ of faith through the life of the Church.

                                                          iii.      Believing is an ecclesial act as well as personal.  The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, hears, and nourishes our faith.  The Church is the mother of all believers.  As St. Cyprian said, “No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as mother” (CCC #180-181).

                                                          iv.      Faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation, since without faith it is impossible to please God (CCC #161).

1.      Every person who is ignorant of Christ in His Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it can be saved (CCC #1260).

2.      “It may be supposed that such persons would have desired baptism explicitly if that had known its necessity” (CCC #1260)

                                                            v.      Believing is a free and conscious human act, corresponding to the dignity of the human person.  No one can be forced to embrace the faith unwillingly (CCC #1260).

                                                          vi.      Faith enables us to enjoy on earth the very life of God.  It is in a sense “eternity already begun”.  Faith on earth leads to vision in the life to come.  Faith in this life is the beginning of vision in the next life.

Focus Questions:

·                     “Ten thousand difficulties doe not make one doubt.”  Have you experienced what John Newman describes as certain faith?  How do you deal with doubts?

·                     What can be done to keep faith active and growing?

·                     What images of faith are helpful to you?  Why?

Resources:

·                     Catechism of the Catholic Church, #26-184, 1260.

·                     Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum)

The Living Wage

 

 

The Living Wage                               

Does a fast food worker deserve $15 per hour?  The logic behind that question is the assignment of value to the work of a fast food worker:  the idea that a person making hamburgers and fries does not deserve a high wage because the act of making hamburgers and fries does not deserve such a value. 

If we apply that same logic to, say, dribbling a basketball, we ought to conclude that such an activity does not warrant a multi-million dollar contract, to say nothing of endorsement contracts for various products.  One could also argue that the cost of tickets to basketball games and the cost of concessions would certainly be lower if athletes received far less in compensation for activities whose sole value lay in entertainment.  At least the fast food worker produces food that people eat.

But all of this talk of the value of work and the misses the point.  In the two cases above salaries are determined by an arbitrary and subjective notion of the relative value of each profession.  In such a world we cannot ever arrive at what might be a fair wage because we are entirely in the realm of subjective feelings about each type of work.  The basketball player has no objective value to argue successfully that his work is of such a great value that it deserves millions of dollars per year in salary more than the person who makes fast food meals.  Dribbling a basketball is not intrinsically more valuable work than cooking food.

We must also recognize that increasing the minimum wage, while necessary, will not of itself lift those who depend upon it out of poverty.  In my life time the minimum wage has risen from $3.35 to its present value of $7.75.  With each increase in the minimum wage there is the hope and expectation that those on the bottom will be lifted out of poverty to a better life.  It has not happened, and in fact the wage gap and poverty rates have worsened.  But that is not the fault of the minimum wage.  In fact such inequities would be worse without a minimum wage, as history demonstrated to us in the days of the sweatshops.  The rate of pay for those at the top has far exceeded increases in the minimum wage, and these increases are the cause of what ails us at the bottom, for we have arbitrarily assigned greater value to the work of those at the top to the work of those at the bottom.

The only solution to the issue of wages is to assign value not to the work but rather to the person doing the work.  The fast food worker deserves a living wage.  The basketball player deserves a living wage.  The people performing the work are what is of value more than the work itself.  It is the intrinsic dignity and value of the human person that is at the heart of the Church’s teaching on a living wage.  The moment we begin to shift the conversation and the assignment of value from the work to the person we will begin to arrive at very different answers about wages.  And it is only then that we will arrive at just notions of a living wage for all.

All that was said above is summarized in the following two paragraphs from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

302. Remuneration is the most important means for achieving justice in work relationships.[659] The “just wage is the legitimate fruit of work”.[660]

They commit grave injustice who refuse to pay a just wage or who do not give it in due time and in proportion to the work done (cf. Lv 19:13; Dt 24:14-15; Jas 5:4). A salary is the instrument that permits the labourer to gain access to the goods of the earth. “Remuneration for labour is to be such that man may be furnished the means to cultivate worthily his own material, social, cultural, and spiritual life and that of his dependents, in view of the function and productiveness of each one, the conditions of the factory or workshop, and the common good”. The simple agreement between employee and employer with regard to the amount of pay to be received is not sufficient for the agreed-upon salary to qualify as a “just wage”, because a just wage “must not be below the level of subsistence” of the worker: natural justice precedes and is above the freedom of the contract.



303. The economic well-being of a country is not measured exclusively by the quantity of goods it produces but also by taking into account the manner in which they are produced and the level of equity in the distribution of income, which should allow everyone access to what is necessary for their personal development and perfection. An equitable distribution of income is to be sought on the basis of criteria not merely of commutative justice but also of social justice that is, considering, beyond the objective value of the work rendered, the human dignity of the subjects who perform it. Authentic economic well-being is pursued also by means of suitable social policies for the redistribution of income which, taking general conditions into account, look at merit as well as at the need of each citizen.