The Solemnity of All Saints, Tuesday, November 1, 2022

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.”

The Solemnity of All Saints has its origins in the first commemorations of the martyrs in the early years of the Church.  Originally, individual martyrs were honored at Mass, but during the ferocious persecutions mounted by such Roman Emperors as Decius and Diocletian large groups of Christian’s were martyred together, such as the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.  Since a commemoration of each could not be done, they were celebrated together in one feast.  Later in the fourth century we find mentions of local feasts to honor all the martyrs.  Gregory IV (827-844) extended to the whole Church the celebration of all the saints, including those not martyred, on November 1.

The First Reading for this solemnity, from the Book of Revelation, presents parts of a vision in heaven as seen by the Apostle John.  “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.”  Some commenters say that the “angel” who cried out this command was the Son of God, the Angel of good counsel (cf. Isaiah 9, 6).  He orders that the followers of God be protected from the evils that plague the world throughout history but especially at the end of the world.  The heavenly angels put “seals” on the foreheads of the faithful.  This would mark them as Christians as not as Jews for the Jews wore the shemah, the words of Deuteronomy 6, 4, their creed, on their foreheads.  The seal (or, better, “sign”) put on the foreheads of believers would be that of the Cross.  “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.”  John tells us that those who received the sign were Jews who had become Christians.  The number is not to be taken literally.  It signifies that all who were to receive the seal received it and that no one who was to receive it was left out.

“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.”. These are the Gentile Christians.  The white robe and palm branch identify them specifically as martyrs, but we know them also to indicate virgins and confessors as well.  The white robe signifies purity and virtue while the palm branch indicate their victory over their persecutors and the temptations of this world.  “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”  The saints rejoice in the salvation that God has awarded them, won for them by the Sacrifice of the Lamb for us.  They are forever free from pain and the assaults of the devil and bask in the torrential love of Almighty God.

“The angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God.”  The Church is signified in a number of images in the Book of Revelation.  We have seen the Jewish and Gentile Christians constituting the Church Militant on earth being received into heaven.  The four living creatures and the elders signify the Church Glorified, already in heaven.  “Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”  This is the hymn of the Church in heaven, ever rendering praise and thanksgiving to God.

“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.’ ”  The elder, a member of the Church Glorified, asks a question of John, who looks upon the great beauty of those robed in white, and he cannot answer.  John, still living and so a member of the Church Militant, is told that these are the ones lately admitted to the ranks of the saints in heaven.  John himself will join them in a few years.  These holy men, women, and children have “survived” the great distress (or “persecution”).  The word “survived” is an incorrect translation, though.  The Greek word simply means “came”: “they came from” or “they came out of” the great persecution.  The saints did not “survive” the persecution: they triumphed in it, dying for Christ and their souls rising to heaven.  We can understand this great persecution in two ways: as a particular persecution at the end of the world: “Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Matthew 24, 21-22).  Or, we can understand this persecution as one beginning with the death of St. Stephen and continuing to the present day, with various nations, social movements, and the world itself at war with the Church and her members.  Many will be killed giving witness to Christ, and many others will live out their lives on earth, persevering in the Faith despite the devil’s most vicious attempts to compel them to give up.

We pray to the saints of God that they will continually assist us with our prayers until we can join them in glory.

Monday in the 31st Week of Ordinary Time, October 31, 2022

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.”  It is not clear from the text in what city the action in today’s Gospel Reading took place.  The first verse of the reading is actually the first verse of the chapter.  The dinner has already taken an eventful turn, for a man with dropsy (edema) came to it and the Lord challenged the Pharisees st dinner with him whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath.  Presumably the afflicted man was a friend of the host and no one answered.  The Lord then healed him and sent him on his way.  The Lord also taught the host and the guests about seeking the lower seat rather than a higher one, a practical lesson as well as a spiritual one.  Now the Lord gets to the matter of the feast and the guests.

“When you hold a lunch or a dinner.”  The Greek words here mean a midday or mid afternoon meal, respectively.  “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.”  The Lord is speaking of a formal dinner or banquet here, with plentiful food and drink.  Invitations with an eye to social obligation would have been sent out beforehand.  That is, if the host invites his sister, her husband must come along too.  And if the host is an important figure in the town or synagogue, then figures of importance must also be invited.  They, in turn, would reciprocate later with dinners of their own.  The purpose of the dinner, apart from its occasion, involved maintaining social or civic relationships.  The Lord is set to overthrow this.

“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.”  The Lord is saying that the purpose of a dinner or any public or social action is service.  It is service to God and service to him through service to one’s fellow humans.  For the believer, all is service, even as every act the Lord performed came out of his service to his Father and to us.  It is performed gratuitously too, simply out of love for God and one’s brothers and sisters.  Thus, Jesus encourages the feeding of those incapable of reciprocating.  This is the love of Jesus Christ, which flows out to us without stint and without demand that it be returned.

“For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”  Imitating the love of Jesus, most perfectly shown to us through his Death on the Cross, will gain us heaven.  We might wonder how to acquire this love, which requires us to look at our actions as free service.  It is acquired first of all by prayer, and by spending time before the crucifix and the tabernacle.  We place ourselves at the Lord’s disposal there and he molds and shapes us through grace into living models of himself.  We also do this, at least at first, consciously, reminding ourselves of what we are doing and who we are doing it for.  In time, through practice, we will become accustomed to loving and serving in this way so that we can truly say, with our Lord, that our left hand does not know what our right hand is doing.

 The 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, October 30, 2022

Luke 19, 1–10

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

“Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.”  That is, he did not intend to make a stay at Jericho.  He did, however, intend to pass through the city rather than go around it.  Perhaps he meant by this to draw more of his disciples in that city to go with him to Jerusalem where they could witness his Sacrifice for them.  We also note in the phrasing of this sentence that the action that follows came outside Jericho, for St. Luke says Jesus came to it and intended to pass through it and not that he entered it and intended to pass through it.  

“Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was.”  The last part of this sentence might be better translated as “was desiring to understand who Jesus was.”  Since the main verb is in the imperfect tense, Zacchaeus had been desiring to know Jesus for some ongoing time.  Now he sees that he has his chance.  It is not enough for him to hear others talk about him.  He intends to know for himself who this is.  And he did not merely intend to “see” him but to find out who he was.  First, though, he must see him with his eyes.  “He could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.”  That is, he could not see or understand him because the crowd both blocked his sight and confused his attempts to understand with their own conflicting ideas.  He was “short in stature” in that he was physically small but also in his lack of knowledge of the Lord Jesus.  He could remedy both deficiencies, however.  “He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.”  The one who desires faith or to grow in faith lets nothing stop or hinder him.  The one who desires faith climbs a “sycamore tree” in that he mounts the heavens with earnest prayer.  Having opened his heart to Jesus in this way, he can receive the gift of faith.  The Lord dearly desires to give us faith and greater faith, but we must make ourselves able to receive his gifts.  “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”  The Lord informs Zacchaeus with joy that he has heard his prayer and he will now dwell in the house of his soul.  “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy.”  The soul, having received the gift of faith, embraces the Lord and will not let him go.

“He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”  The people who surround the one who has received faith become uncomfortable with the change in the person’s attitude and behavior.  He no longer shares in their low interests and activities.  They, sinners themselves, do not understand how he could forsake them for someone so different from them.  “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”  The one who has received faith knows that he must make up for the evil he has done in the past and is eager to do it for the sake of the Lord.  

“Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”  True repentance, penance, and the reception of faith in Jesus bring salvation.  They open a person to the graces God has stored up for him.  We are all lost through sin, but the Lord has come to save us.  He freely offers his salvation to us.  But we must make our own efforts to receive it.  We must make ourselves capable of receiving what he so wants us to have.

 Saturday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 29, 2022

Philippians 1, 18-26

Brothers and sisters: As long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Indeed I shall continue to rejoice, for I know that this will result in deliverance for me through your prayers and support from the Spirit of Jesus Christ. My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. And this I know with confidence, that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me when I come to you again.

St, Paul wrote this Letter to the Christians of the city of Philippi during his imprisonment in Rome, which dates it to the years 62-64.  He is less concerned with the progress of his case than with the spread of the Faith, and in this he exalts, for people are hearing of Jesus Christ through his trial than would have otherwise, and he is very hopeful for many to be converted.

“As long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”  In previous verses, Paul told the Philippians that “some out of contention preach Christ not sincerely: supposing that they raise affliction to my chains” (Philippians 1, 17) — his Jewish opponents “preach” Jesus publicly in a way that they think will make Paul look like a threat to the state — but Paul has sold out for Christ and so he considers that any mention of the Lord’s name may intrigue a listener to find out more.  As long as the name of Christ was made known to the Romans, the means did not matter.

“Indeed I shall continue to rejoice, for I know that this will result in deliverance for me through your prayers and support from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”  The Greek word translated here as “deliverance” can also mean “salvation”, and so Paul is saying either that this will result in his deliverance from prison or departure from this world.  Whether he lives or dies, Christ will be served through the true understanding of the Gospel that will result from his trial.  He credits this making known the Lord to the Gentile authorities in Rome to the prayers of the Philippians and the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.   Regarding the resolution of his case, Paul continues, “My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”  “In my body.”  That is, his life on earth, which is consecrated to Jesus Christ.  The true follower of the Lord Jesus need never fear being “put to shame” for his public conduct or speech because it is all for Jesus.  “Christ will be magnified”.  This brings to mind the Virgin Mary’s Magnificat, in which she says, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”  Indeed, the Virgin and St. Paul use the same verb.  The Virgin Mary and St. Paul “magnified” or “enlarged” the Lord by letting him use them as his instruments.  And he so filled them that others could see the love and power of God through them.  With the greatest saints, such as the Blessed Mother and St. Paul, their very presence exuded Almighty God so that the people around them could physically feel it.  Miracles performed by the saints also “magnify” God, and the good works and apt words of all the followers of God do so as well.  Even the death of the faithful Christian testifies to his or her faith and shows our hope in God’s salvation.

“For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”  This is the motto of the ardent Christian.  Our life, seen as service to the Lord, “magnifying” him while we disappear in the work for his sake — “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3, 30) — is a joyful one as we look forward to his eternal embrace.  Death merely brings about the end of our work here so that we may be with him forever.  As Paul says to the Philippians, “If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.”  They, very naturally, wish for his safety and his return to them, for they rightly venerate him as their father.  Paul assures them that he will be happy in death because he will be with the Lord in heaven, but would also be happy if he lives so that he can continue to be with them, in continued service to the Lord: “I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.”  Paul “longs” to depart this life and “be with Christ”.  The Greek word translated here as “long” means something stronger.  Two possible translations are “lust” or “to have an inordinate desire for”.  Paul wanted to be with Christ with all his heart.  He was consumed with this desire.  We can see how far this went with him simply by considering the sufferings he willingly endured so as to be worthy of Christ’s sweet company.  Even so, Paul is willing to remain below for the benefit of the Philippians, still young in their faith.  

“And this I know with confidence, that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me when I come to you again.”  Paul checks himself here, realizing that his joy at the thought of being with the Lord Jesus might make the Philippians sad that they were going to lose him.  Indeed, he was released after two years of imprisonment, probably because his Jewish accusers lost interest in his case, though the details are not known.

We see how attached Paul was to his spiritual children, whom God “begot” through him.  He himself understood this for he called the Thessalonians, “My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you” (1 Thessalonians 2, 19).  In heaven, he would be even more attached to them and eager to do good for them.  Let us avail ourselves of the love of the saints for us by praying often to them for what we need in order to lead holy lives.

 Friday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 28, 2022

The Feast of Saints Simon and Jude

Ephesians 2, 19-22

Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

While St. Paul was teaching the Christian converts of the great city of Ephesus about their now belonging to the Church although still living in the world, his words hold meaning for us as well.  The Church is not some club, association, community, or other social group in which people are joined together by common interest, but a living structure in union with the Son of God.

“You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God”.   Roman citizenship was much prized in the ancient world.  A person could have it through birth, through purchase, or through service.  Paul himself could boast of his citizenship, which allowed him to appeal his legal case to Caesar.  Citizenship conferred a number of privileges on the holder, making him very different before the law from non-citizens.  To be a fellow citizen "with the “holy ones” meant to have the same “access” to the Father as the holy prophets, apostles, and martyrs.

“Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord.”  Walafrid of Strabo comments in his Gloss: “There is no one so perfect that he is not able to grow”, meaning that our growth into the temple of God ought to be continuous.

“In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”  Paul seems to contrast this temple with the great temple to Artemis in the city's center.  Magnificent, rich, and renowned though it was, it remained a dead building. The Church, on the other hand, was constructed of living stones, the cornerstone of which was the Christ who had redeemed mankind and pleaded for it before the Father.  The very foundations consisted of the prophets and apostles, more solid and dependable than any cement or stone.  This reminds of the saying of Jesus that: “He who hears my words and does them is like a wise man who builds his house upon a rock” (Matthew 7, 24).  Nor is it an empty structure, with these foundations and walls, for God himself dwells in it.

Saint Simon, called either “the Canaanite” or “the Zealot” (depending on the translation).  Early Greek Fathers held that he was the bridegroom at the marriage at Cana, due to one of his surnamed.  Various early records conflict as to where he preached and how he died.  The Greeks say that he preached in the neighborhood of the Black Sea, and the Georgians maintain a tradition that he preached in one of their cities, that of Colchis.  

A rich and ancient tradition tells us that St. Jude preached to the Armenians and that he converted their king, leading to the conversion of the rest of the population.  Indeed, the country of Armenia was the first to become a Christian nation.  In the letter to Jewish Christians, written between the years 54-64, he calls himself the “brother of James”, who was still living at the time and was the bishop of the Christians in Jerusalem.  One tradition has it that he and St. Simon were beheaded together in Beirut.

 Thursday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 27, 2022

Ephesians 6, 10-20

Brothers and sisters: Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones and also for me, that speech may be given me to open my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, so that I may have the courage to speak as I must.

“Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power.”  Paul  exhorts the Ephesians to be steadfast in their faith and to engage in the work of prayer, by which the world will be converted, and to this end uses metaphors drawn from sports and the military to impress on them the earnestness with which they are to do this.

“Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil.”  Rabanus Maurus (d. 856)) comments, "Put ye on all the arms of God: as though to say, Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Savior is called Truth and Justice.  If the 'belt' here is truth, and the 'breastplate' justice, then there can be no doubt whatsoever that he himself is the 'belt' and the 'breastplate'. Thus, according to the Apostle, he himself will be the 'preparation of the Gospel of peace', the 'shield of faith', the 'helmet of salvation', and the 'sword of the Spirit', which is the Word of God, the living and effectual Word, more piercing than any two edged sword (cf. Hebrews 4, 12)."

“For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness.”  “Not with flesh and blood.”  Thomas adds, “Not principally”, for the wicked are but the tools of the evil spirits.  Our principal struggle is with the temptations to sin which they send against us. “But with the principalities, with the  powers”.  Thomas explains what Paul means by naming them in this way: “Inasmuch as some demons led others to rebel against God, they are called ‘principalities’. But inasmuch as they have the power to punish those who are subject to them, they are called “powers”.  Luke 22, 53: “This is your hour, and the power of darkness.”  Thomas then proceeds to ask a question about the fallen angels, “Since angels fell from all the angelic orders, why does the Apostle only mention two orders of demons?”  That is, since it would be expected that the angelic ranks would be preserved even among the fallen angels.    He answers that the names of these two ranks only can pertain to serving either God or the devil. The names of the other ranks, such the cherubim and seraphim, pertain to the service of God alone.  “And with the world rulers.”  Thomas emphasizes, “Of this world, not of creation.”  That is, of worldly things.  “Of this present darkness.”  Namely, of sins. 

“Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate.”  Jerome considers that the words “with your loins girded” means to live without a spouse and not to give in to lust.  This would be consistent with Paul’s counsel in 1 Corinthians 7, 10-14 for those who are not married to remain celibate.

“And your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace.” "And your feet shod". Rabanus compares this with the injunction, in Exodus 12, 11, in which the Hebrews are commanded to eat the paschal meal “with shoes on your feet”.  Paul is counseling the Ephesians to run, with an emphasis on haste, on "the Way" that is Christ (cf. John 14, 6), to spread his Gospel.

“In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the Evil One.”  “The flaming arrows”.  Not merely "arrows", but “flaming” arrows, denoting the devil's ferocity as well as the fearsomeness of his weapons.  “The Evil One” fights with great ferocity against the one who proclaims the Gospel of peace because it is the only way in which he can fight against God.  Thomas  remarks, “The devil fights against God in his members through snares and falsehoods.”  

“And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” “The helmet of salvation”.  The helmet, which protects the head, reminds us that Christ himself is our Head, for He is the Head of the Body, the Church, who is the Beginning, the First-born of the dead (cf. Colossians 1, 18).  Armed with this helmet, the Ephesians may march into battle and be victorious.  The helmet would also bear some sort of sign as to the king for whom one is fighting, and in the case of the Christian, this would be the Cross, the sign of our salvation.  “The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”  The Gloss identifies this “sword” with the Holy Scriptures.  It is said to be two-edged (cf. Hebrews 4, 12) because the Scriptures are divided into two Testaments, the Old Testament promising temporal things — a land flowing with milk and honey (cf. Exodus 13, 5) — and the New, eternal things.  A medieval commentary called the “Gloss” says that this sword is spoken of in Matthew 10, 34: “Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.”  The Holy Scriptures war against idolatry as well as atheism.  Paul uses this military language in order to emphasize that, as Christians, they were set at opposition to their society, to their previous way of life, and to the invisible forces to which they had formerly been allied.  Paul also shows that not only are they equipped for their own defense, but they are prepared “to go forth conquering, and to conquer” (Revelation 4, 3).  

“With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones.”  Only after this life will humans pray night and day in the Temple (Revelation 7, 15).  Paul is instructing the Ephesians to stop at each hour of the day to pray, or at each period of the day: morning, mid-day, and evening, for instance, and to do this every day.  “For all the holy ones”.  That is, for all those sanctified in the waters of baptism.

“And also for me, that speech may be given me to open my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel.”  Paul reminds the Ephesians that he and they are co-workers in bringing the message of salvation in the world. He makes it clear that their prayers are necessary for him to be given what he needs in order to proclaim the Gospel.  Again, he impresses on these new Christians their vital connection to him and to all Christians in the world.  At the same time, he does not command them to preach in Ephesus or in other places, as he did.  He sees this work as reserved for an apostle.

“For which I am an ambassador in chains, so that I may have the courage to speak as I must.”  Paul's preaching of the Gospel, even when he was in chains for it, must have seemed insane to observers, since he would be making the state's case against himself.  It would have seemed like a burglar bragging to all within hearing distance about his exploits.  But Paul knew that the Gospel was his reason for living: Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or death (Philippians 1, 21).

Paul is bold is proclaiming the truth because our Lord was bold.  In the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass, some people warn our Lord about King Herod.  Jesus has a message for Herod: “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.”  He is saying that it is he who decides when his work is finished, and no one else.  His observation about the prophets dying in Jerusalem tells us about the oral traditions for how the lives of the prophets ended.  He implies that there is a law or a necessity of some kind for their dying in that city, but it is not clear to us.  Perhaps at the ends of their lives God sent them there to prophesy to the people and call on them to repent, sparking their hostility which led to the deaths of the prophets.  The Lord Jesus seems to imply this when he cries out to the city, “You stone the prophets and stone those sent to you!”  As a result of this rejection of God’s mercy, Jesus says to the city, representing the Jews of the time, “Behold, your house will be abandoned.”  That is, the city will be laid waste and left desolate.

Let us imitate the Lord and his Apostles in living out the truth handed on to us so that we shall be found faithful at the end of our lives.

 Wednesday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 26, 2022

Ephesians 6, 1-9

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up with the training and instruction of the Lord.  Slaves, be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ, not only when being watched, as currying favor, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, willingly serving the Lord and not men, knowing that each will be requited from the Lord for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. Masters, act in the same way towards them, and stop bullying, knowing that both they and you have a Master in heaven and that with him there is no partiality.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”  “Obey your parents in the Lord.”  While it is clear to the understanding why Paul felt it necessary to teach the Ephesians about Christian marriage, one might wonder why he felt he needed to counsel their children to obey them.  The key to the answer to this question is in the phrase “in the Lord”.  Alcuin points out that "parents in the Lord" could mean either spiritual parents, as Paul declared himself to be, in 1 Corinthians 4, 15, as well as John the Apostle, in 1 John 5, 21, or simply Christian parents married “in the Lord”.  In both cases, obedience is raised from a matter of behavior and self-preservation to one of virtue: "for it is just".  The phrase "parents in the Lord" also reminds that the parent represents God and is sent by him to care for the child, and so obedience is owed the parent for the sake of the Lord.

“This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on earth.”  “A long life on earth.”  Alcuin says, “If, perhaps, this promise was made to the Jews to be understood in the physical sense, to us this is said in the spiritual sense: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Not this present earth, in which wicked men live, and in which there is wickedness in some parents, and in which all parents grow old, but that earth which the Lord promised to the meek and which the just inhabit, and the goods of which the Psalmist believed he saw when he said, I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 26, 13)” — that is, the world to come.  

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up with the training and instruction of the Lord.”  “And you, fathers, provoke not your children to anger: but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord.”  Paul tells the parents that just as their children have the responsibility of obeying them, so the parents have a responsibility to raise them “with the training and instruction of the Lord.”  This is not merely a natural task, then, but a holy one, which the Lord oversees.  It is also a warning to those who have spiritual charge, to give diligent care to those entrusted to them by God.

“Slaves, be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ.”  Some translations have “servants” for “slaves” but the Greek word Paul used was δοϋλοι (douloi), which means "male slaves", as distinct from freemen in the position of servants.  Paul identifies himself as a δοϋλος of Christ in Romans 1, 1, seeing himself in a position comparable to theirs.  “In the simplicity of your heart”.  Since his lord provides food and shelter for him, the slave can give undivided attention to his service. Paul employs the term δοϋλοι again in the following verse.

“Not only when being watched, as currying favor, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, willingly serving the Lord and not men.”  While a slave might put on a false face to please his master or act in an obsequious manner, Paul insists that the believing slave serve Christ in true sincerity.

“Knowing that each will be requited from the Lord for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”  Thus, the work of servant, slave, or, by extension, anyone compelled to labor, may be raised to the level of service to God when the intention is to please him.  In this, the worker imitates the Lord Jesus, who, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant . . . humbled himself, being made obedient unto death” (Philippians 2, 7-8).

“Masters, act in the same way towards them, and stop bullying, knowing that both they and you have a Master in heaven and that with him there is no partiality.”  That the Lord Jesus showed no favoritism was well-known and acknowledged even by the Pharisees and the Herodians: "Master, we know that you are a true speaker, and do not care  for any man; for you do not regard the person of men" (Mark 12, 14).

 Tuesday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 25, 2022

Ephesians 5, 21-33

Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church, he himself the savior of the Body. As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church, because we are members of his Body. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church. In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.

In these verses comprising the First Reading for today’s Mass, St. Paul describes the true meaning of marriage.  This was an important teaching for the Ephesian Christians who had inherited the pagan notions of marriage from their forefathers.  Baptized in Christ, they are prepared to see its spiritual reality.

“Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  Above, in 5, 1, Paul admonished the Ephesians to become “followers of God”.  To this end, he gave counsel regarding vices to be avoided, in 5, 3-4; and, in 5, 15-20, he gave counsel on what the one who follows God ought to do: walk wisely, render praise to God, give thanks for all blessings.  Now, he describes the Christian's relationships with his fellow man, beginning with this precept. This “be subordinate to one another” is the fundamental attitude of the Christian, imitating Christ, who emptied himself  and took the form of a servant (Philippians 2, 7), with himself declaring that he came to serve, not to be served (Matthew 20, 28).  In the verses which follow, Paul shows how this subjection is to be undertaken in the concrete circumstances of life.

“Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church, he himself the savior of the Body.”  “The husband is the head of his wife.” Alcuin explains this subjection, saying that the woman was formed from the man at the beginning of creation, and so came after him. St. Thomas, commenting on this verse, points out that while a lord uses his servants for his own good, the husband manages his wife and children for their common good.  Now, 5, 22 could also be translated, or read, as, “Let women be subject to their husbands as to their lord”, and on this, Thomas comments, “Not that [their husbands] truly are their lords, but as if they are.”  In the verses that follow, note how Paul delivers a counsel that seems to reinforce traditional ideas regarding authority that would be the basis for pagan society, only to pair it with one that balances relations between the two classes of people involved, with responsibilities on both sides.  His use of this approach is distinctive of his style.  We see him employ it in Romans 2, where he speaks of the wicked behavior of the pagans, but then speaks of the wicked behavior of the Jews.  Likewise, in the letter to Philemon, Paul first praises the recipient for his faith, and calls him his brother, but then refers to Philemon's escaped slave as his brother as well.

“As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.”  Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ: so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things.  That is, each wife should be subject to her one husband.  Elaborating on this, St. Jerome alludes to Matthew 6, 24: “No man can serve two masters . . . You cannot serve God and Mammon.”

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her.”  Ambrose comments, "Wives are commanded to be subject to and have reverence for their husbands, but husbands are taught so to love their wives that they lay down their lives for them, and to have zeal, caused by their love, for their condition and conduct, that they may be religious and holy."  The sense here is, Husbands, deliver yourselves up for the well-being and salvation of your wives, out of your love for them.

“For her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word.”

St. Thomas, commenting on how husbands are counseled to deliver themselves, quotes Galatians 2, 20, that Jesus “loved me and delivered himself up for me”, asks, “But why?”  He answers his own question, saying, “To sanctify her”, that is, the soul.  Sanctification “is the effect of the death of Christ, and the effect of sanctification [is] the cleansing of the soul from the stains of sin.”  Noting that this “cleansing” is baptism, he continues, “The end of this sanctification is the purity of the Church.”  Paul counsels the husband to love his wife as Christ loves the soul and the Church.

“That he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Alcuin comments that the glorified Christ presents the glorified Church to himself at the end of the world.  Here, Paul may have had in mind how, in Jewish weddings, the groom adorns himself and goes to the house of the bride's father, and then takes her, all adorned, to his house, where they will live together.  See Matthew 25, 31-46, as well as Revelation 21, 3.

“So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church.”  The husband is to show his love for his wife by nourishing and cherishing her, not only providing food and shelter for her, but giving her the experience of his love for her.  Christ nourishes the Church with the sacraments and his providential care, and cherishes her in the saints whom he raises up.

“Because we are members of his Body. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  If a man and woman become "one flesh" in marriage, how much more true is it that we become members of the Body of Christ through baptism.

“This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.”

“Mystery” is from the Greek μυστήριον (mysterion). This word is derived from μυςτές (mystes), meaning, "initiate".  The word μυστήριον means "a sacred secret revealed only to initiates of a cult", or simply, "a secret", or, “mystery”. Paul uses this word here to talk about the unity of the Church -- a unity which is both visible and invisible.

“In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.”  "Respect”, which is the foundation for love.  Paul thus teaches the new Christians how they belong to Christ -- an unheard of concept for them in their previous lives -- through the example of marriage. At the same time, Paul teaches them about Christian marriage through his description of how they belong to Christ, and so shows how it is of a higher order than pagan marriage.

 Monday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 24, 2022

Ephesians 4, 32–5, 8

Brothers and sisters: Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient. So do not be associated with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

“Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.”  Paul teaches that Christian behavior has its roots in Christ’s behavior: as Christ has shown kindness to us, so we must show it to one another for his sake.  This kindness then is not to be arbitrary or directed to some and not to others, or with any expectations of reciprocation.  It is wholly gratuitous and even undeserved, as was Christ’s merciful kindness to us in obtaining our redemption.

“Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.”   “A fragrant aroma”.  St. Thomas states that Paul is referring to Leviticus 3, 5: “And they shall burn [the offerings] upon the altar, for a holocaust . . . for an oblation of most sweet savor for the Lord.”  He points out that the “aroma” would not have been accepted on its own merits, but for what it signified, the odorous oblation of the Body of Christ, the Son of God.  Then, quoting the Song of Songs 1, 3: “Draw me after you: let us run in the odor of your sweetness”, he declares, “So we ought to sacrifice ourselves spiritually to God.”

Paul now begins to explain Christian morality as it affects human relationships.  First, he states the general principle of this morality: “Be imitators of God, as most beloved children.”  Without this principle, what follows would seem arbitrary, and would have no more foundation than the ethics or mores of the pagan population from whom their faith has set them apart.  “Imitators” of God, but as “beloved children”.  God is our most loving Father, and so all relationships which are shown to flow from him must be imbued with love and mutual respect, which is modeled for us by his only-begotten Son's Sacrifice for us.  Through Christ's example and grace, Christians live out a life of sacrifice for others, as shall be shown in what follows.

“Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.”  See the next paragraph for “immorality” and “impurity”.  The use of the gift of speech for obscenity, foolishness, and scurrility thwarts the purpose for which the gift was given in the first place, that of giving thanks to God for all his benefits.  The person who recognizes that he has been given gifts naturally wishes to respond in some way.  Without the gift of language, this would not be possible, and a grateful person would have no outlet for his gratitude.

“Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.” That Paul mentions these particular sins first, that is, sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness, indicates that he considered these chief among the faults of the Ephesians, at least in their previous lives.   He also warns the Romans and Corinthians against these in his letters to them. The Greek πορνεία (porneia) was used to denote prostitution (the word's root means “to sell”), as well as any kind of sexual promiscuity.  Paul also lists as sinful “uncleanness”, from the Greek άκαθαρσία (akatharsia).  He would have known that this word was used in the Greek Septuagint translation of Leviticus 12, 5 and 13, 11, and in other passages, to denote ritual impurity.   Perhaps modern day consumerism may be the equivalent to the covetousness of which Paul speaks to the Ephesians.

“Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.”  “Empty arguments.”  This may refer to attempts by the Jews to dissuade them of their faith (cf. Acts 19, 9).  Or, perhaps, this refers to the Gnostics, who appropriated the Gospel for their movement.  Paul calls those who strive to harm the faith of the Christians "the disobedient", and declares that “the wrath of God” will come upon them for this.  In pagan culture, angering the gods was believed to result in calamities such as earthquakes, famine and war.

“So do not be associated with them.”  Those who partake of their false goods will partake of their punishments.  Paul here particularly warns the Christians of the necessity of avoiding not only the immorality practiced by their pagan neighbors, but also of keeping clear of any activities which would involve the worship of their gods — which would be very difficult in their society.

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”  Paul's use here of “light and darkness” is reminiscent of Philippians 2, 15: “Among whom you shine as lamps in the world”, written earlier, and, of course, of the Lord's words in Matthew 5, 14: “You are the light of the world.”  John, in particular, was fascinated by this manner of speaking.  In John 12, 36, for example, he quotes the Lord: “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of the light”, while in the prologue in wrote for his Gospel, in John 1, 9, he identifies Jesus as “the true light that enlightens every man who comes into the world.”  While not a dominant theme in Paul's letters, his use of this imagery shows his knowledge of Christ's use of it.  St. Thomas soberly identifies the darkness as “ignorance and error”.

In today’s Gospel reading, Luke 13, 10-17, the Lord heals a woman who has been “bent over” for eighteen years, perhaps from osteoporosis.  The Lord cured her at a synagogue on the Sabbath, and the ruler of the synagogue — its owner, not a rabbi — upbraided her in very strong language, but simply telling her that she was in the wrong but attempting to humiliate her too.  The Lord let the man finish, and then delivered a solid rebuke to him: “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?”  Luke’s concluding words for this scene tell much about the effect of the Lord on people burdened and oppressed by the harsh, seemingly arbitrary rule of the Pharisees and the Jewish leadership of the time: “When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.”  The Lord raised the woman up so that she could see the sky again; he raised up her spirits by defending her; and he raised up the spirits of the people, acting as their champion.  May we act in such a way as to be raised up into heaven by him.

 The 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 23, 2022

Luke 18, 9–14

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the Temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

“Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.”  St. Luke rarely makes editorial comments in his Gospel, but he does so here.  The moral of the parable may have inclined him to make this statement, but the parable could have been said “to be about” the self-righteous than “to” them, but even if the Lord did not mean to indict the crowd of this sin, he does direct it to all of us lest we contract it, or if he have, that we repent of it.  Luke adds, “and despised everyone else”, for a self-righteous person bolsters his own sense of himself as righteous by considering the lack of virtue in others.  This amounts to a need, and so the self-righteous will even imagine imperfections in the people around them.  This seems to arise from a sense of inferiority mixed with pride.  Circumstances prevent a person from attaining the exterior greatness a person feels within and which others will admire, and out of wounded pride he compensates for this with a firm belief in an inner greatness.  This conviction comes out of an inherent but not necessarily vocalized belief in self as God.

“Two people went up to the Temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.”  The Lord describes a strange situation.  A tax collector would hardly be thought of as going to the Temple to pray.  This proud, ruthless, unprincipled character would not feel at home in a Temple.  The learned Pharisee, of course, would.  “The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself.”  That is, the Pharisee assumed a pose.  He “spoke” this prayer: until the Middle Ages, when the silence was necessary for prayer in crowded monasteries, praying was done aloud.  We can imagine this Pharisee, conscious of his presumed superiority over this tax collector, would have made this a loud prayer so that the tax collector (and others) could hear it.  But he is not praying; he is speaking to a human audience: first to himself and then to anyone within earshot.  “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.”  That is, he prays, “O Self, I am glad that I am not, etc.”  We see here the sort of judgment the Lord commands us not to do: assuming that this tax collector is greedy, his honest, and adulterous.  “I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.”  This amount of fasting is not found in the Law, and the tithing he mentions is required.  It is not a matter of piety.  The Pharisee does not make himself more righteous by the extra fasting nor by paying the tithe.  He shows himself to know little of what the Law does teach.  

“But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed.”  The tax collector imitates Moses in his seeing God in the vision of the burning bush: “Do not come near . . . for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3, 5).  He also imitates the Israelites in the wilderness when Moses went to the meeting tent to converse with God: “And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, every man at his tent door” (Exodus 33, 10).  Conversely, the Pharisee seems to have drawn quite near the Temple to perform his act.  The tax collector evidently has taken to heart the Prophet’s counsel: “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6, 8).  “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”  This brief prayer follows the Lord’s injunction as to how to pray.  It is short and right from the heart.  It is for no other ears than God’s.

“I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former.”  One man came to the Temple thinking himself righteous, and the other came as a sinner.  The first man left the Temple, feeling righteous, but his sin of pride continued to grow unhampered.  The second man left the Temple “justified”, that is, his life made right with God.  To look at the two men might not reveal much, but in the eyes of God, one man was now very different from what he had been.  “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  The one who exalts himself does so by his own efforts, and so will fall.  The one who is exalted, on the other hand, is exalted by God.  He has lowered himself in his own eyes and sees himself as he really is, by God’s grace, and so will not exalt himself.  God will lift  him up into heaven.

 Friday in the 29th Week of Ordinary Time, October 22, 2022

Luke 13, 1-9

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them— do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”  And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

This reading is interesting in part because of how it helps us to date the Gospel of which it forms a part.  The references to these historical events — the massacre by Pilate and the collapse of the tower of Siloam — are made in such a way that suggests Luke knew his readers were familiar with the details.  This is turn suggests that the Gospel was written not a long time afterwards, certainly before the Jewish Revolt in 67 A.D.  St. Luke’s quote of Jesus makes it sound like these two events occurred near the time in which he was speaking, though they cannot be dated with any certainty.

The Lord uses these events, in which disaster befell people suddenly and through no fault of their own, to teach about sin and death.  For the Jews, deaths of this kind showed that these people had sinned.  For example, in 2 Maccabees we are told that when burying the dead from a recent battle in which they had been victorious, Judas and his men found “under the tunic of every one of the dead . . . sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. And it became clear to all that this was why these men had fallen.  So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous Judge, who reveals the things that are hidden” (2 Maccabees 12, 40-41).  When the Lord concludes by saying, “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did”, he means that the hidden sins of each person will act against them just as the pagan amulets acted against the Jewish soldiers wearing them.  This meant not only death, but shame.  This is a very useful teaching for us.  It helps us think about the very present danger of unrepented, unconfessed sin.  In modern terms, it is a time bomb that can go off at any time, for we do not know when we will be called to account by Almighty God, anymore than those killed in the battle, by Pilate, and by the fall of the tower did.

“There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none.”  This person would have planted the fig tree three to five years before and watched it grow and develop and mature, each year anticipating the time when it would produce fruit.  But when this tree had fully matured and was putting forth leaves, it was not producing fruit.  For three successive years after it should have been doing so, it was not.  One can understand the landowner’s frustration. Out of this feeling, he tells his gardener to cut it down.  He is sick of waiting for his own figs and he does not even tell him to plant a new fig tree somewhere else.  “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.”  The gardener’s answer is unexpected.  He has no stake in whether the tree gives fruit.  The landowner is not blaming him for the failure of the tree.  The gardener is speaking as though he is taking the side of the tree and that this is a personal matter for him.  He, in fact, intercedes for this tree that really can mean nothing to him.  In the parable, we are to imagine God the Father as the landowner, the Son as the gardener, and ourselves as the fig tree.  It flourishes, but it does not do the work for which it was created.  If we do not actively practice our faith and pray and work for the conversion of the world, we also will be “cut down”.  Now, at the time the Lord Jesus was speaking, he had spent nearly three years “looking for fruit” on the fig tree of Israel and was finding none, but he was interceding for it by promising to “cultivate” and “fertilize” it with his very Blood.  The persistent failure of the fig tree to produce fruit even after this is signified in the Lord’s failure to find fruit on a real life fig tree after he entered Jerusalem (cf. Matthew 21, 19).

Let us be careful to bear much fruit for Jesus, with the help of the grace he provides us, for the failure to do so is the equivalent, for us whom he has cultivated and fertilized with his Blood, of wearing a pagan amulet.

 Friday in the 29th Week of Ordinary Time, October 21, 2022

Luke 12, 54-59

Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain–and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot–and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”

“When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain.”  Israel’s rain came from the west, the Mediterranean Sea, while the wind from the south, coming from Arabia, was hot.  “You hypocrites!”  This is an example of why the underlying Greek word should be translated as “godless”, not as “hypocrite” in today’s sense: the same Greek was used in the Septuagint for “the godless”.  “Hypocrites” simply does not apply here.  The Lord is calling the people “godless” because they do not look for God’s will in their lives or his working in the world: “Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”  Specifically, the Lord is pointing to the fact that this is exactly the time for the Messiah to arrive.  It is the right number of generations since the creation of the first man, it is the correct age of the world, the sixth age.  The line of prophets had dried up and was no more, and John the Baptist had appeared to assure the people it was the time.  Besides this was the abundant proof offered by the Lord himself that he was the Messiah.  And yet the people had not repented and were living out their lives as though God lived aloof in his heaven instead of walking in their streets.  For every generation since his Ascension, including this one, we must interpret the “signs of the times” in what God wills for each of us personally, especially in terms of our vocations, and in what is meant for the world.  We can tell, for instance, that “the end is not yet” because not all of the signs the Lord has given us to look for have taken place, but we also know that we must be ready for his coming because they can happen at any moment.  Presently, with all that is going on in western culture and it’s denial of objective reality and its canonizing of the wicked and the demonizing of the good, as well as the tumult in Rome and with renegade bishops everywhere, we have good reason to place ourselves on high alert, but other signs remain to be shown. 

“Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?”  It is not clear whether this line should go with the above or with what follows.  It could go with either.  If we understand it as going with what follows, the Lord is advising his followers not to go to court with each other and dispute with one another publicly, to the scandal of believers and unbelievers alike.  This brings to mind St. Paul’s pleas: “Can it be that there is no man among you wise enough to decide between members of the brotherhood, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?  To have lawsuits at all with one another is defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong?” (1 Corinthians 6, 5-7).  The Lord says, “If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison.”  This is good, practical advice, adapted for the time, but it is also a warning to us not to become so engrossed with our possessions (or, the things we think of as our possessions), for in the end we will not have them anyway, and in the meantime they can distract us from becoming engrossed with God.  “I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”  And this is a warning about purgatory.  The whole of the Lord’s legal advice can be understood as about avoiding purgatory.  Our “opponent” can be understood as our conscience and the “magistrate” is our Judge, Jesus Christ.  The case to be set before him is the conduct of our lives.  The Lord advises us to settle with our conscience while “on the way” — while we still live — by examining it, repenting in sorrow, and doing penance.  The penance that we do not do here we must do in purgatory, which will be more demanding because of our obstinance or sloth on earth.  We will not leave purgatory until we have paid “the last penny”, meaning that we will eventually leave, unlike if we were condemned to hell, but that full satisfaction must first be made for the sins we committed on earth.