Wednesday in the 31st Week of Ordinary Time, November 6, 2024

Luke 14, 25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

In today’s Gospel Reading, we find a common situation in the life of our Lord: “Great crowds were traveling with Jesus.”  They were following him physically.  But he wants them to know that appearing with him is not the same as believing in him, and it does not suffice for salvation.  They must believe and persevere in their belief.

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”  The Greek word translated as “hating” can certainly mean “to hate” and “to detest”.  It can also mean “to value one thing less than another”.  We should understand this verse in this last way.  The one who would follow Christ must prefer him to his father, mother, and even to his own life.  In practical terms, we put service to the Lord above anything our parents, family, friends, or bosses want us to do.  We do not compromise if someone wants us to lie or to cheat, or to join them in some immoral activity.  This service may require sacrifices such as a young man or young woman leaving home to enter religious life over the objections of their parents.

“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”  “To carry one’s cross” meant to go to die an infamous death.  Properly, this means that the one who would follow the Lord Jesus must practice the Faith no matter what it might cost, and to regard death for Christ as a great gift.  This also extends to accepting whatever hardships we must endure for the sake of the Lord.  Examples of this include ridicule for performing some volunteer work or attending Mass despite physical pain.  It even includes offering up some ordinary suffering for someone else’s benefit, such as their conversion.  In these ways we share in the Lord’s own sufferings.

“Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?”  The Lord is speaking here of the perseverance in faith necessary for salvation.  We should consider that since we are weak human beings we need to pray every day for the grace to hold fast to the Lord Jesus.  We are like people walking between two mountains on a rope bridge.  We have taut ropes at our sides to guide us to guide us, but we must take great care in our crossing and to continue on rather than to give up and perhaps try to go back, or even, as 

fear builds within us, to allow ourselves to fall of of it.  “In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”  That is, to hand over our will to the Lord — to conform our will to his.

The Lord Jesus tells us what it will take for us to follow him as his disciples.  He wants each of us to give our whole selves to him so that he is indeed our Lord.  As St. Paul says: “I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3, 8).

 Tuesday in the 31st Week of Ordinary Time, November 5, 2024

Philippians 2, 5-11

Brothers and sisters: Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and, found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

St. Paul wrote his Letter to the Philippians towards the end of his first captivity in Rome in the year 64.  During this time he was placed under house arrest by the Roman authorities and was able to receive visitors and exchange letters.  Paul saw his trial in Rome as an opportunity to preach the Gospel to the pagan Romans.  At the same time, he was prepared to die for Christ.  Eventually he was released and he resumed his missionary work elsewhere.  His letter bursts with his energy and commitment to Jesus.  It rings with incredible joy that he is undergoing this for his sake, reminding us of Matthew 5, 12: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

In his Letter he appeals to the Christian’s in the Asia Minor city of Philippi to conform themselves more and more to Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became man for our sake: “who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.”  That is, the Son, equal to the Father in power and majesty, willed to become incarnate.  In obedience to the will of the Father, he does so through his own willing it, and to suffer and die for us.  “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness.”  While remaining divine, he took on a human nature.  He does not come down to us in a way to frighten us but in a way to draw us to love him, as a tiny infant.  “Found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”  We see the most holy Son of God humbly taking on our flesh and submitting himself to our condition so that he could suffer hunger, thirst, and exhaustion —and that he could suffer death.  His humility knew no bounds; his obedience to the Father was absolute.  He even deigned to die the death of a slave on a cross, showing that there is nothing that he would not do out of his love for us and to save us.

“Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.”  We recall how the Angel Gabriel announced the name of the Son of God to her: “You shall call his name Jesus” (Luke 1, 31).  This name, meaning “God saves”, was given him by the Father through Joseph and Mary.  It is a glorious name because it reminds us that it is God himself who saves us so that we are truly saved, and not saved for just a time or under certain conditions.  The Father is said to have “exalted” his Son because of his obedience.  He did this through making his holy name known and loved throughout the whole world.  “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  It is long established custom that when we hear or speak the name of Jesus that we bow our heads.  Those in heaven honor him for having brought them there at such great cost.  We on earth honor him because he has brought light to our darkness and given us a path by which we can also make our pilgrimage to heaven.  Those “under the earth” are the souls in purgatory who honor him in their intense longing to look upon his face and to enjoy his embrace.  The tongues of all the blessed fall in worship before the Father, thanking him with all our hearts that his Son is our Lord.

Let us pray to God, on this Election Day, for the peace of our nation.

 Monday in the 31st Week of Ordinary Time, November 4, 2024

Luke 14, 12-14

On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

“On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.”  St. Luke is careful to note for us that the Lord Jesus ate with the Pharisee and his friends on a Sabbath.  This tells us that we should not picture him at a big feast with roasted calf and other foods that would take a lot of work.  According to the Law, food had to be saved up for the Sabbath.  It could not be purchased or prepared that day.  The Pharisee might have been able to offer salted fish along with bread and some vegetables, but little more than that.  We might ask why Jesus would eat with a Pharisee, a member of a sect which opposed him.  He does it to show that he would eat with anyone who asked him, even a Pharisee.  And not all Pharisees despised him.  Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea believed in him.

“When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors.”  The Lord is instructing this particular Pharisee, but also anyone of means.  “In case they may invite you back and you have repayment.”  The Lord addresses the purpose of holding a lunch or a dinner: it is to provide nourishment for others.  However, he says, we ought not to provide this for those who can provide for themselves: “Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.”  These are the destitute who are unable to earn a living and depend entirely on the charity of others for food and shelter.  Besides suffering from poverty, these also suffer from humiliation and intense loneliness.  Bringing them together would offer them consolation and ease their burden.  “Blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.”  No merit accrues to a person who helps those who do not need it, but it does accrue to those who assist those who are in great need.  “For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”  That is, the just man who feeds the hungry and clothes the naked will rise with the righteous when the Lord comes again and take his place with them at the Lord’s right hand.  He will rejoice in the eternal reward the Lord gives him but shall be astounded by how the little he did on earth could bring him such a return.  But as it is written in Proverbs 19, 17: “He who has mercy on the poor, lends to the Lord, and he will repay him.”

Does the Lord Jesus absolutely forbid our having family and friends over for dinner?  No, but he does emphasize the necessity of taking care of those who cannot care for themselves.  The Lord teaches us that we have a responsibility to do so.  We can provide help through donations to the church poor box or to Catholic organizations that provide goods and services to the poor and suffering.  We should consider this a priority over the feeding of friends and relatives, which we can then do.

Every act we perform ought to conform to the will of God.  We belong to him, for he has created us, and when we sold ourselves into the slavery of sin, he purchased us: “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers . . . with the Precious Blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1, 18-19).

The 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 3, 2024

Hebrews 7, 23–28

Brothers and sisters: The levitical priests were many because they were prevented by death from remaining in office, but Jesus, because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away. Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them. It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself. For the Law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests, but the word of the oath, which was taken after the Law, appoints a Son, who has been made perfect forever.

The Letter to the Hebrews ranks among the best written works of the New Testament in terms of its organization and the quality of its Greek, the language in which it was written.  It was written to Jews or to Jewish Christians at a time when the worship in the Temple in Jerusalem was still carried out, so before 70 A.D.  The Letter comes in the form of a short treatise on the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, showing that it far surpasses the priesthood of Aaron.  This had great significance for the Jewish Christians who still worshipped in the Temple even while celebrating the Mass secretly in their houses.  The old priesthood was a sign of the new, for “it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away” (Hebrews 10, 4).  The Sacrifice made by Jesus Christ of himself on the Cross alone forgives sins: “We are sanctified by the sacrificial offering of the Body of Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 10, 10).  

“He lives forever to make intercession for them.”  That is, for all of us.  This verse is illustrated for us in Revelation 5, 6: “And I saw: and behold in the midst of the throne [of God the Father] and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as it were slain.”  (The “living creatures” and the “elders” signify the Church in heaven.)  The Son stands before his Father as one who has been slain and is risen.  The Father looks upon his Son and his wounds with great love and bestows mercy on those for whom his Son pleads.  This intercession is not occasional but continual and will not cease until the last of the saints has arrived in the heavenly halls.

The Lord Jesus, our High Priest, is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens.”  It is not a priest laden down with his own sins who intercedes for us but one who is utterly without sin.  

“He did that once for all when he offered himself.”  That is, our High Priest offered sacrifice for the sins of the people when he offered himself to the Father on the Cross.  Because his Sacrifice has infinite merit, he only needs to do this once.  He freely willed his Death for our sins: He “bore our sins in his Body upon the tree: that we, being dead in sin, should be justified” (1 Peter 1, 24).  He did this out of obedience to the Father and his passionate love for us.

“For the Law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests, but the word of the oath, which was taken after the Law, appoints a Son, who has been made perfect forever.”  The Law of the old Covenant decreed that those who served in the old priesthood be taken from the descendants of Aaron.  This gives way to the new Priesthood inaugurated by God when he appointed his Son as Priest: “The Lord has sworn [an oath], and he will not repent: You are a Priest for ever.” (Psalm 110, 4).

We rejoice in the salvation won for us by our Savior and give him heartfelt thanks.  He has entirely given himself over for us.  Let us give ourselves entirely to him and his holy will for us, whatever that may be.

 The Solemnity of All Souls, Saturday, November 2, 2024

Luke 7, 11–17

Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people.” This report about him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.

The Lectionary provides several options for the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass.  I have chosen this one.

The custom of offering Masses for all the souls in purgatory existed through the early Christian world.  In the 900’s, the monastery at Cluny in France began to offer this Mass on the day after All Saints Day, and this influenced other Catholic regions to do the same.  The Church teaches that the souls of those whose love of God was not yet made perfect at the time of their deaths enter a place of purification where it will be.  This place — purgatory — has often been depicted in art as fiery.  The flames in such depictions signify the perfecting and cleansing necessary for the soul to be capable of looking upon God.  People on earth can assist these souls through having Masses offered for them, through prayers, and through good works offered for this purpose.  Likewise, the souls in purgatory are able to assist us as well through their prayers.

“As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out.”  Since the Jews buried their dead before the sunset of the day they died, the man’s death had occurred only hours before.  His body was wrapped in linen cloths and carried on a bier.  It would have been taken out to the town cemetery for burial.  A large crowd accompanied the sad procession.  The death of the young man devastated his mother.  First of all, he was her child, and her only child.  Second, since she was a widow, she had depended on him for support.  Very likely she would be reduced to begging for a living.  We can see in this scene our own grief at losing our loved ones.  

“When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her.”  The Son of God was so moved with pity at our miserable state that he came down from heaven to save us.  He shows how his heart breaks for us through his feelings for this widow.  “Do not weep.”  With these words the Lord announces that he will help her son.  We note that she did not ask him for help.  If the Lord raises her son without her asking, how much more we can be sure that he will deliver our loved ones from purgatory when we ask!

“He stepped forward and touched the coffin.”  The Greek word should be translated as “bier” rather than “coffin” since the Jews at that time did not use coffins.  Here we have Life touching death and overcoming it easily.  Those carrying the bier stop because the Lord does the unthinkable in touching it, thereby incurring ritual impurity.  Their shock signifies the shock of death at its defeat: “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15, 54).  This victory is fully realized when the souls in purgatory are fully cleansed and rise into heaven.

“Young man, I tell you, arise!”  The irresistible command of the Lord compels even the dead to live again.  The souls will hear these words  directed to them at the moment their purification is complete.  “The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”  As they enter heaven and behold the face of Jesus, the souls burst forth into praise and thanksgiving.

“Fear seized them all, and they glorified God.”  We marvel at the destiny prepared by Almighty God for the just: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,  neither has it entered into the heart of man what things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2, 9).

We pray for the dead every day, but especially this day, and so assist them.  May their prayers also assist us as we live out our days.

 The Solemnity of All Saints, Friday, November 1, 2024

Revelation 7, 2; 4; 9–14

I, John, saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the children if Israel.  After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”  All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed: “Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”  Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” 

Beginning in the 300’s, Christians began to celebrate feasts dedicated to all the saints who perished in the Roman persecutions.  By the mid-700’s, in England, a feast for the saints, martyrs and non-martyrs, was celebrated on November 1.  The feast was officially placed on the Church calendar by Pope Gregory IV (d. 844).

The Second Reading for today’s solemnity is taken from The Book of Revelation (also known as The Apocalypse).  This book, according to the Venerable Bede (d. 735) consists of seven visions which tell the history of the Church from the time of the Apostles until the Lord Jesus comes again at the end of the world.  In the Reading we are given part of the second vision.  In it are found revelations to comfort those suffering persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ.  This particular revelation is of the Church of the saved: those still on earth and those victorious in heaven.  During the course of world history the saints suffer from many deprivations and attacks, and also from the forces of nature such as plagues, storms, and famine.  These are “marked” with the Sign of the Cross and as such their faith will be strengthened and guarded against any danger.  These saints are given the number “one hundred and forty-four thousand”, which ought to be understood as intended and not as an actual number.  That is, this number signifies the true number of the saints on earth.  They belong to the Church of God (“Israel”) spread over the earth (the “twelve tribes”).  

“After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.”  John now sees the saints in heaven.  Their glorious appearance indicates their holiness: “They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”  The white robes especially indicate the purity of their hearts.  The palms are ancient signs of victory: they have overcome the enticements of this world, the weaknesses of the flesh, and the temptations of the devil in order to conform themselves to Christ.  “They stood before the throne and before the Lamb.”  God the Father is seated upon the throne.  The Lamb is God the Son.  The Holy Spirit is also present before the throne, signified by seven lamps (Revelation 4, 5).  The saints behold the most wonderful sight of the very face of Love.  “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”  This is the song of the saints in heaven.

“All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God.”   the “elders” and “four living creatures” signify the Church in heaven.  Traditionally, the elders signify the Apostles and the four living creatures, the Evangelists.  They witnessed to the Lord Jesus and in heaven they take their place before the throne of the Father and the Lamb, surrounded by the throngs of the angels.  “They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God.”  Rapt in wonder before the awesome God, they respond with worship, pouring their love into the One whose love cascades into them.  “Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”  The words of the blessed can hardly convey their impression of God’s glory.  “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”  The time of “great distress” is this present life during which the believer suffers afflictions of all kinds and the grave temptations of the devil, who sees himself defeated in every saint who departs the world for heaven.  They wash the “robes” of their lives in the Blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus, who poured out his Blood for the forgiveness of sins.

We ought often to meditate on the glory of the saints in God’s Kingdom and to see what can be ours if we persevere in the Faith.

 Thursday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 31, 2024

Luke 13, 31-35

Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’   Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! Behold, your house will be abandoned. But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

“Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.”  These Pharisees present that they have information that Herod wanted to kill the Lord Jesus.  They come to him as though doing him a favor.  However, evidence makes it unlikely that they speak the truth. In Luke 23, 8 we read that Herod “was desirous for a long time of seeing him, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to see some sign wrought by him.”  It seems, then, that the Pharisees were merely trying to get him to leave their area.  Thus the darkness hates the light (cf. John 1, 5).  According to St. Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444), in the Lord’s response, “Go and tell that fox”, the fox” is the Pharisee who gave him the false warning.  In fact, the Greek word translated here as “that” actually means “this”.  “That” refers to someone over there; “this” refers to someone close at hand.  In addition, by calling the Pharisee a “fox” the Lord intimates that he knows very well that he is trying to trick him.  The Lord’s treatment of the Pharisee is like that of his treatment of the Nazarenes who tried to kill him: he did not speak to them but went his way.  

“Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.”  Here the Lord tell the Pharisees to give a message to their lying colleague, but the message is meant for them as well.  The Lord is telling them that he will continue to work where and when he wants until he “accomplishes his purpose”.  The Greek for this last phrase means “I am perfected” or “I am completed”.  That is, until the Sacrifice of his life on the Cross.

“I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.”  The Lord’s “way” is his journey towards his Passion, a journey that began at the moment of his Incarnation in the womb of the Blessed Virgin.  He makes it clear that he shall face the unjust hatred of the authorities suffered by the Old Testament Prophets, especially Jeremiah, and will die at Jerusalem.  We should note that the Lord refers to himself as a “prophet”.  The primary work of the old Prophets was to warn the people to repent from their sins or that they would be destroyed.  This was at the heart of the Lord’s preaching:  “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1, 15).

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the Prophets and stone those sent to you.”  This brings to mind the lament over Jerusalem of the Prophet Jeremiah: “Your ways and your doings have brought this upon you.  This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart. My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!” (Jeremiah 4, 18-19).  “How many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling!”  That is, how many times, as a hen gathers her chicks, he would have gathered — saved — his people from “foxes” like the lying Pharisee.  Yet the people were unwilling to reject their false gods and to adhere to the Law.  “Your house will be abandoned.”  They will be offered the way to eternal life but they will reject it and live without it.  Their house will be abandoned not because the Lord has left them, but because they will leave him.  “But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  St. Cyril teaches that this time will come at the end of the world, when the Son of God returns for judgment.  It cannot mean the time when Jesus enters Jerusalem the Sunday before he dies on the Cross because he is still in the world then and can be seen by anyone who looks.

The wicked attempt to scare away the faithful so that they may not give witness to Christ through the example of their lives.  They also seek to entice us with the distractions and pleasures of this passing world.  Let us hold fast to our mission of witnessing to Christ so that we will be among those who celebrate when he returns.