Tuesday in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, May 30, 2023

Mark 10, 28-31

Peter began to say to Jesus, ‘“We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

The present Gospel Reading follows yesterday’s Reading as part of the same episode.  The Lord Jesus has just told a man who has come up to him in earnest in order to ask him what he must do to be saved.  The Lord tells him to sell the property to which he is much devoted because it is a hindrance to his salvation and then to come and follow him.  So many recognize that the Lord alone is their salvation but when he gives them clear direction in answer to their prayers they bridle and refuse to go forward.  They want salvation, but they cannot or will not stop wanting something else more.  In this case it is covetousness, but for others it is fornication, worldly ambition, and pride.  We cling to these as though they were our very flesh and cannot imagine life without them.

The previous Gospel Reading ended with the Lord pronouncing, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”  That is, we make it hard for ourselves to enter the Kingdom of God through our attachments.  The Lord particularly cites the rich, since the man who came to him had many possessions.  Peter, hearing this, is alarmed.  In understanding his alarm it pays us to keep in mind that at this point Peter and his fellow Apostles believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah who would restore the kingdom of Israel.  He has been taught from his youth by the Pharisees that that was the Messiah’s mission.  He was to be a latter-day Joshua, overrunning the strongholds of the Romans.  Thus, Peter and the others had their eyes on great prizes for following Jesus that they would receive when he was victorious.  These would be worth giving up the comparatively little that they had to begin with.  These words of Jesus then strike Peter as telling him and the others that no such rewards would be given them: those who are rich will not have a part in the new Israel.  We can hear the dismay and perhaps a touch of anger in Peter’s outburst: “We have given up everything and followed you.”  It is as though he feels he is being played for a sucker.

The Lord probably did not reply immediately.  Given Peter’s feelings, we should think that the Lord gave him a few moments so that he could hear his reply.  “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age.”  The Lord assures his Apostles that they will indeed receive an abundant reward, and he does so in concrete terms they can understand.  No one wants to work long hours for many years for some vague or abstract reward.  Then the Lord adds, “With persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”  He does not hide how much they will have to endure for their reward, and also promises them eternal life for this, a prize far greater than any number of “houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands”.  In this way the Lord contrasts the response of the rich man with their own.  Of course the path to life requires sacrifice.  It does not fall into the lap as the rich man thought it should.  Neither should the Apostles think that, but recognize, accept, and resolve to endure persecution first so that they might truly enjoy the fruits of their labors later.

 Monday in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, May 29, 2023

Mark 10, 17-27

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement, his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”

Previous to the new Missal in 1970, the period or season following Pentecost was known as “Time after Pentecost”, and so there was “the Third Monday after Pentecost”, and the like.  This very distinct time was separate from the weeks between Epiphany and Lent, which was called the “Time after Epiphany”, and then the weeks immediately preceding Lent as “Septuagesima”, “Sextuagesima” — seventy and sixty days before Easter, respectively, a period now called “Ordinary Time”, just as also the Time after Pentecost has been reduced to Ordinary Time.  This term lacks precision and also takes away from the meanings of these two separate seasons, the Time after Epiphany and the Time after Pentecost.  The term “ordinary” simple refers to ordinal numbers, the way these weeks are counted.  It is a very generic term.  The Time after Pentecost, however, tells us that this is the time of grace, of spreading the Gospel to the whole world as Christ has commanded us.  This season leads us to that of Advent, the season immediately preceding the Solemnity of Christmas in which we celebrate the historical fact of the Birth of the Son of God, and look forward to his second coming, when he will judge us for how we have spread his Gospel.

“As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, etc.”  The Lord and his Apostles had equipped themselves with supplies for their next missionary trip.  These would have included water, bread, and probably some dried fish.  The Lord May or may not have announced to the Apostles where they were going — as we know from our own lives, Jesus does not usually disclose his plans for us ahead of time.  They were departing from Capharnaum.  As they set out, a man came running up to them before they got very far.  His running provokes questions, for if he were a citizen of the town, he could have talked to Jesus at any time he resided there.  Also, his running suggests that his question was an urgent one.  He needed an answer now.  He could not wait until the Lord returned and only the Lord could answer it.  He fell to his knees before the Lord, which was the posture of a slave before his master, and asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He asks a very necessary question.  He also addresses Jesus in a way that must have raised eyebrows.  Even the Lord asks him what he means.  The man calls Jesus “good teacher”.  He does not call him “righteous teacher” or simply “teacher”.  The Greek word is agathos, which means “intrinsically good”, as when the Lord says, “Every good tree brings forth good fruit” (Matthew 7, 17).  This is very different from, say, “righteous”.  The Lord points this out to the man: “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”  The Lord is inviting the man to make a true profession of faith.  The fact that the man does not do this may indicate that his exclamation was an impulsive one, or simply that the man lacked the courage or the faith to make this kind of confession.  Based on how he acts later on, we might think it to be the second case.

“You know the commandments.”  The Lord then enumerates some of the Jewish Law for him.  He does this to tease him, to get him to reveal what he really wants to ask.  “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”  He has been an observant Jew and yet he feels in his heart that it is not enough.  God himself has revealed this to him.  Now God will tell him what more he must do, what he calls him to do to find eternal life and not merely to obtain the promises of Moses.  “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  The “one thing” he was lacking was to follow Jesus, and in order to do that he must irrevocably leave all his belongings behind.  The Apostles had done this.  But because of the man’s severe attachment to his things, the Lord commands him to sell them.  In that way, nothing holds him back.  All he will have is Jesus.  “At that statement, his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”  He could not imagine a life without his things.  This man signifies people who commit some malicious act against another person and are willing to apologize later and even to sit through meetings with counselors or physicians to exhibit a willingness to change, but who do not make up for what they did or seriously make an effort to change their behavior.  It is so part of who they understand themselves to be that the idea of actually reforming makes no sense.  It is as though a pig were being told to become a human, as far as they are concerned.

“Jesus, looking at him, loved him.”  All the love the Lord Jesus poured out for him made no difference to him.  His heart had no room for his love and so could not return it.  His heart had room only for his things.

 The Solemnity of Pentecost, Sunday, May 28, 2020

The following passage from the Book of Revelation helps us to understand what this feast means to us believers: “After these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that they should not blow upon the earth nor upon the sea nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying: Hurt not the earth nor the sea nor the trees, till we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of them that were signed. An hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel” (Revelation 7, 1-4).

The “four angels” restraining the four winds is the grace of God which prevents us from being overwhelmed by natural and supernatural forces.  The “seal” is the indelible character which each believer receives upon Baptism, and which is strengthened through Confirmation, and is altered with Holy Orders.  The tribes “of the children of Israel” signifies the Church, spread throughout the world.  The number “one hundred and forty-four thousand” means everyone who has true faith in the Lord Jesus.  Thus, we see that through sin, the natural world is subject to disorders which result in famine, earthquakes, fires, disease, terrible storms, and other afflictions, including death.  Likewise, through sin, the original harmony between humans breaks down and so we have quarrels, assaults, riots, and wars.  Similarly, through sin, our fallen human nature is prone to further sin, denial of God, delusions, and the attacks of the devil and his angels.  God is not under any obligation to protect us from the consequences of our actions, and yet he does protect those who give themselves to him as his subjects and who promise to carry out his commandments.  These receive Baptism, and are “signed” in such a way that they are re-created in the Sacrament, making them significantly distinct from all others.  Baptism and the graces that follow from it help protect a person from the consequences of sin, the worst of which is death.  While this seal does not remove the baptized person from this world so that he does not suffer the effects of sin, he is able to overcome them in faith, to see meaning in them, to accept them as the crosses which we must carry after the Lord Jesus, and, in the end, to triumph over death in the Resurrection.  All this is given to the believer who gives himself to God.  It comes to him through the power of the Holy Spirit, whose descent of the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary we celebrate today.

 Saturday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 27, 2023

John 21, 20-25

Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.” So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die. But Jesus had not told him that he would not die, just “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours?”  It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.

“Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper.”  From ancient times the Church has understood this disciple as John, the son of Zebedee and the brother of James.  This John is mentioned by name in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and is included by the Lord Jesus in a privileged subgroup of the Apostles which consisted of him, his brother James, and Peter.  Jesus took these apart to witness some of his most astounding miracles, such as the raising of the daughter of Jairus from the dead and the Transfiguration.  Jesus also takes them with him apart from the others when he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Mark tells us that Jesus had a nickname for James and John, calling them “the sons of thunder”.  And yet, in the Gospel of John, his never never arises, and the only time we are advised of his existence at all comes when, after the Resurrection, “the sons of Zebedee” go fishing with Peter and four other Apostles.  The Gospel according to John has been held since the days of the early Church to have been written by this John, the Apostle.  We might ask why John does not mention his own name in the Gospel.  But Luke, the author of a Gospel and a fellow missionary with St. Paul, never mentions himself by name even when he is part of the story.  When he writes of actions in which he takes part, he simply writes “we” did this.  He minimizes his part to the point of anonymity.  However, Theophilus, whom Luke addresses as the recipient of the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, knows who he is and so does not need Luke to point himself out by name.  And Luke, who is writing about the Apostles, does not make the story about him.  John seems to act in the same way.  The people for whom he was writing his Gospel originally knew very well who he was, and John is so unwilling to move the spotlight off Jesus that he mentions himself only as a witness to the truth about the Lord’s life and identity.  Because he wants his readers to know that Jesus could be touched, heard, and seen, he allows himself, without using his name, to tell that he had touched, heard, and seen him.  And this is what the true disciple does: “He must increase and I must decrease” (John 3, 30).  The disciple lets Jesus so shine forth from his words and actions that he himself disappears into him and the Lord alone is visible.  This is a work of grace.

“Lord, what about him?” John must have written his Gospel before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.  We might say that he wrote it after the martyrdom of the first bishop of Jerusalem, James the son of Alphaeus in 62 A.D. because the conversation John records between Jesus and Peter seems to deal with the question of whether the end of the world will come before the death of the last Apostle.  James the son of Alphaeus and John would have been the last Apostles left in Jerusalem and perhaps in both Judea and Galilee.  The other Apostles had already been martyred (Peter and Paul died in Rome around the time James died in .Jerusalem) or gone far abroad so that of the Twelve, only John was left.  John answered their question with the words of Jesus: “What if I want him to remain until I come?”  That is, the Lord does not say that the world would end before the last Apostle died, but neither did he say that it would: “You follow me.”  The disciple of the Lord should be aware that the world will end and he should prepare for it, but not be obsessed by the fact.  He should concentrate on following the Lord and doing his will on each day of life the Lord gives him.

“It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.”  It was fashionable for nineteenth and twentieth century scholars to sniff at these words and declare that they prove John the Apostle did not write the Gospel because of the “we know” and “his testimony”.  These same scholars allege that the Gospels, as we now have them, are the result of intensive editorial work by communities of believers in the generation or two after the Apostles.  Yet, it does not seem to them that an editor could have added this to the Gospel John had written.  In fact, the person to whom John dictated his Gospel could have added these words.  This seems likely since the Gospels, once they were written, were quickly copied and recopied.  If this gloss had appeared only in a later copy, it would not have been found in earlier ones.  But the earliest copies we have contain it.  And the stamp of the Holy See affirms that these words are divinely inspired and canonical just as are all the other words in the Gospel.

“There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”  This is a most marvelous way to end this Gospel and the collection of the four Gospels.  It opens up for us the broad horizon of the life of the Lord and his tireless campaign to bring eternal life to the people of this world.  When we read the Gospels, not only should we pay attention to all that they tell us of the Lord, but all that, out of necessity, they do not tell us: the story of how Mary Magdalene’s seven demons were cast out, and what the Lord said and did in Chorazin and Bethany, for instance.  So many powerful words, so many astounding works.  Of all that the Gospels could tell us, we have only that which is strictly necessary for us.  All else that we would like to know, we must wait for until it is revealed to us on the last day.

 Friday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 29, 2020

John 21, 15-19

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

The traditional understanding of these verses is that Jesus is giving Peter the chance to make right his denial of him on the night of his arrest.  I think that the Lord is testing him, too, and preparing him for the trials to come, since after the third time Peter tells the Lord he loves him, Jesus speaks of Peter’s own martyrdom in the future.  We find it irritating to be asked the same question over and over, especially when the answer seems clear to us.  Here, additionally, the Lord pricks the raw wound of Peter’s guilt in a most trying way.  Peter is well-aware that the Lord knows of his denials: “And the Lord turning looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, as he had said: Before the cock crows, you shall deny three times” (Luke 22, 61).  Peter quails from the pricking, but he does not run away, as he did when he saw the Lord looking at him after the denials.  He is shaken, but he does not fall apart.  We see the hurt that Peter experiences here when we read that “Peter was distressed.”  The Greek here is much stronger: elupeíthei, which means “to be in great pain”, “to grieve”, or “to mourn”.  It is related to a word used in the Septuagint to describe the pains of childbirth (cf. Genesis 3, 16).  Peter was not feeling mere sadness; his heart was breaking.  It is as though what he has dreaded has come true, that his Lord no longer loves him.  The Greek verb here is in the imperfect tense, indicating that he “began to grieve”, or that “Peter was grieving”.  The imperfect is used to a show that an action was commencing or that it was continued for some time, as opposed to one that began and then was completed: “John was going to the store”, as opposed to “John went to the store”.

Jesus does not seem to respond to Peter’s grief.  He repeats his command, “Feed my sheep.”  In fact, this is exactly what Peter needs to hear.  Jesus treats him as a servant upon whom he can rely.  Jesus does not tell him to help the other shepherds, or to do some other kind of work, but tells him to feed them, to lead them to good pasture.  Jesus is saying, Nothing has changed between us.  You are still the rock upon whom I will build my Church.  But then he speaks to him of how he will die, that he will be taken unwillingly to a place where he will “stretch out” his hands, in his own crucifixion.  We might wonder at him being led “where you do not want to go.”  St. Paul talks gladly of laying down his life for the Lord: “For to me, to live is Christ: and to die is gain (cf. Philippians 1, 21).  An early tradition explains that Peter, condemned to crucifixion, did not feel worthy to die as his Lord had died, leading his executioners to crucify him upside down.  The words of Jesus, “Follow me” seem to call Peter to share in his Lord’s own Death.  Peter faces a choice here, just as he did three years before on the Sea of Galilee.  And he makes the same choice now as he did then.  And strengthened by the Holy Spirit, he will be able to carry out the promises he had made Jesus at the Last Supper: “I will lay down my life for you” (John 13, 37).

 Thursday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 25, 2020

John 17:20-26

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

The unity for which the Lord prayed on this occasion and for which he continues to pray even now before his Father in heaven, is not a physical one but one of grace.  As St. Paul famously explains, speaking of the human body, “And if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it: or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and members of it” (1 Corinthians 12, 27).  The human body itself is a figure for the reality of the Body of Christ.  

Another sign of this unity is Christian marriage, at the beginning of which the man and woman make vows to each other before God, and together to God, for their union to be exclusive, to be lifelong, and to be open to children.  In consequence of these vows, God joins the man and the woman together so that they cannot be separated.  As the Lord Jesus says, “They are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19, 6).  This unity lasts them the rest of their lives on earth.  No amount of secular intervention can alter this reality.  It is a gift from God, who does not take back his gifts.  

When God bestows unity upon us, we belong to him, as in baptism, or to another, as in marriage, without condition.  Because of this, the unity exists despite physical separation, sickness, old age, injury, confusion, or any other affliction to which we mortal humans are prone.  No matter what happens to us, God preserves the unity for us, for our good.  This allows us to live free from the fear of being rejected by the other.  It underlies the words of Jesus to the women at his Resurrection (Matthew 28, 10), and of the Angel to Mary at the Annunciation (Luke 1, 30): “Do not be afraid.”  

We pray with our Lord to the Father for this gift of unity, and for joy and harmony in it.

 Wednesday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 24, 2023

John 17, 11-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

The idea of separation and unity first came into the world by God’s calling the Hebrews to be his holy people in the days of the Exodus, giving them the Law and making with them a covenant which made them distinct from their neighbors and unified in their worship of and belonging to God.  This distinction was marked not only by their behavior but even physically, through circumcision of the males.  This unity and separation was foreshadowed by the creation of the man and woman as members of one another and the separate creation of the human race from that of the animals and plants.  It is also foreshadowed in the choice of God to save Noah and his family in the Ark while the wicked perished in the flood.

The unity among themselves and separation from all other peoples of the Jews itself signifies that of the Apostles, and then of the Holy Church.  The Lord Jesus prays for the Father to bestow and protect this unity: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one.”  To be one as the Divine Persons of the Trinity are one goes far beyond the unity that existed among the Jews: it is a binding on the level of existence that can be achieved solely through supernatural means.  There is also separation from all other peoples in that, “They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.”  This separation from the world is accomplished through the defection of those who at one time belonged to this unity and through the rejection of those who do not desire it: “the world hated them.”

This separation does not, at this time, mean removal from the world.  Just as the Israelites dwelt among the pagan nations of their day, so those who belong to each other in Christ dwell among the unbelievers in the world, not conquering them by force as the Israelites did to the Canaanites but with love so that they might come to know the very Source of love, Almighty God, and have a place in our unity: “As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.”

“And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”  The Greek word translated here as “consecrate” might be better translated as “sanctify”.  But since Jesus is God, it seems that he could not make himself more holy, more sanctified.  The Lord’s meaning is that he gives his holiness a new purpose, our holiness, our sanctification.  He has begun this work through his taking on our flesh, our human nature, and he will fully enact this work in us through his coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection, by which grace comes into the world, won for us by the sufferings of our Savior.