Zechariah chapter 8; Nehemiah chs. 2, 8; Baruch chs. 1, 4; Luke, chs. 9-10.
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Two images give a key to the readings. 1. A large ship under way has such forward inertia that, even after the rudder is swung over, it takes miles for the ship to actually move in the new direction. 2. Stampeding cattle are deaf and blind to everything but their panic. Cowboys can only stop their headlong rush by racing their horses to the front and gradually turning the leaders to the side until they begin to “mill” in a circle. Both images tell us something about leadership in the Church.
First, big changes take time, both in society and in the Church. Even when authorities call for an alteration in course, as the bishops did at Vatican II, and “swing the rudder” by new legislation, the Church as a whole takes a long time to get on the new course. An example of this is the Mass: in spite of the “new liturgy,” the centuries of practices that excluded the laity from “full, active, conscious participation” still keep people from seeing the Mass as a “communal prayer” — or even understanding what that means. So people still participate as isolated individuals, sitting apart from others or in back, not singing, making the responses without personal investment in what they are saying, and frequently not even paying close enough attention to the words the presider is speaking during the Eucharistic Prayer to pray them with him. No wonder some want to return to the Latin: even in English they don’t really listen to the words. And if they are not united with others in communal prayer, the individualism of the old “quiet” Mass that left all alone with their devotions seems better to them. Mindsets take time to change.
Cultural conformism is like a stampede. People are rushing blindly in whatever direction the “herd” has taken. This is true even in the Church, in both clergy and laity who don’t “go aside” as disciples to listen personally to the voice of Christ. When those in front have closed their eyes to where they are going and to what is going on around them, and their ears to what the Spirit is saying, the “blind are leading the blind” — in a stampede to destruction.
The answer is for those who see what is happening to “ride for the lead.” To gradually replace the leadership of those who are not leaders. To make tiny but consistent changes in their own way of participating at Mass; of participating in the guidance of their parish and diocese by communicating with those “in charge”; in their way of speaking and acting at home, at school, at work; in the kind of conversations they initiate (for example, on the “forbidden topic” of religion); in the news they keep up with (for example, news of the Church on the internet); in the approach they take to politics: to the fundamental philosophies and motivations of the people and causes they oppose or support (bearing in mind the lies both parties tell about each other and the “spin” in any reporting).
The key to everything is an activated and activating awareness of responsibility for establishing the “reign of God” wherever we are and however we can. Where there is a will, there is a Way — who is also the Truth and the Life.
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
To Make the Kingdom Come: 25th Week of the Liturgical Year, September 18-24, 2011
Ezra chapters 1-9; Haggai chs. 1-2; Zechariah ch. 2; Luke, chs. 8-9.
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I am on the island of Guam, where I was invited to give the keynote at the Archdiocesan Catechetical and Liturgical Conference, and then spend a week speaking of Immersed in Christ in the schools. I am looking out from the hotel’s sixteenth floor at a beach where, for all I know, Americans and Japanese died in the recapture of Guam in World War II. Now, I am told, the Japanese make up ninety percent of the tourism Guam lives on. And I ask, as I look at the dozen high-rise hotels in sight of mine, what does Jesus want us to think of all this?
From the readings this week, I think he wants us to be conscious that he is going to come again to gather together everything I see — and don’t see — under his headship, making all of redeemed humanity one in the peace and love of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb.” Whatever I see from my balcony; whatever I don’t see but can guess at; whatever went on here during the horrors of war; whatever is yet to come — he has already brought it to fulfillment in the time-frame of God. And, in the words of Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
The readings encourage us to make it so.
But he wants us to make it so by being now what we are trying to bring about: a community united in love, working together as one body now “under his headship,” a Church filled with love, joy and peace, radiating the “fruit of the Spirit.” We must dedicate ourselves to being now what we will be when we actually see realized “the blessed hope and manifestation of the great glory of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Yes, inescapably this requires us to live out and experience all five mysteries of Baptism — the new identity we have “in Christ”; the divine enlightenment offered us as disciples; the empowerment to bear witness as prophets by lifestyles that cannot be explained without the “gift of the Spirit”; the repeated surrender to Christ living and wanting to express himself in us and through us in ministry to all we encounter; and the total abandonment of ourselves in persevering, inexplicable hope to the work of transforming Church and world as stewards of his kingship. Yes, all of these. But this week the focus is on the last: exercising leadership in union with authorities in the Church.
All of us are called to be leaders. Leadership is not the same as authority. Only a few people are invested with authority. We follow them out of commitment. Leaders are people we follow freely, because we believe they are pointing us in the right direction.
The job of authorities is to hold the Church together. The task of leaders is to move it forward. These are two different functions. Both are essential. Each depends on the other.
The Church is not a “democracy.” But when we say that, we have to ask, “What, then, is it?” It is not a monarchy; not a dictatorship. What, precisely, is our form of government in the Church?
The Church is a community meant to be guided by communal discussion, prayer and discernment. There is no model for this kind of government in civil society. In important matters, by the time an authority makes a decision, everybody should have had a hand in it. In this way, all are called to exercise leadership. For this, leadership and authority must work together.
God’s ways are not our ways, but as stewards of his kingship we are committed to trying to adapt human life to his ways. The Church is being renewed, and we are called to renew it. And through the Church the world will be renewed
To believe this is to work for it. To work for it is to take initiatives. To take initiatives is to be a leader, a steward of the kingship of Christ. This is our baptismal commitment.
I think Jesus is saying this to all of us as we look out from all of our windows.
Click here to subscribe to Daily Readings from the New American Bible delivered by email.
---------------------------
I am on the island of Guam, where I was invited to give the keynote at the Archdiocesan Catechetical and Liturgical Conference, and then spend a week speaking of Immersed in Christ in the schools. I am looking out from the hotel’s sixteenth floor at a beach where, for all I know, Americans and Japanese died in the recapture of Guam in World War II. Now, I am told, the Japanese make up ninety percent of the tourism Guam lives on. And I ask, as I look at the dozen high-rise hotels in sight of mine, what does Jesus want us to think of all this?
From the readings this week, I think he wants us to be conscious that he is going to come again to gather together everything I see — and don’t see — under his headship, making all of redeemed humanity one in the peace and love of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb.” Whatever I see from my balcony; whatever I don’t see but can guess at; whatever went on here during the horrors of war; whatever is yet to come — he has already brought it to fulfillment in the time-frame of God. And, in the words of Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
The readings encourage us to make it so.
But he wants us to make it so by being now what we are trying to bring about: a community united in love, working together as one body now “under his headship,” a Church filled with love, joy and peace, radiating the “fruit of the Spirit.” We must dedicate ourselves to being now what we will be when we actually see realized “the blessed hope and manifestation of the great glory of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Yes, inescapably this requires us to live out and experience all five mysteries of Baptism — the new identity we have “in Christ”; the divine enlightenment offered us as disciples; the empowerment to bear witness as prophets by lifestyles that cannot be explained without the “gift of the Spirit”; the repeated surrender to Christ living and wanting to express himself in us and through us in ministry to all we encounter; and the total abandonment of ourselves in persevering, inexplicable hope to the work of transforming Church and world as stewards of his kingship. Yes, all of these. But this week the focus is on the last: exercising leadership in union with authorities in the Church.
All of us are called to be leaders. Leadership is not the same as authority. Only a few people are invested with authority. We follow them out of commitment. Leaders are people we follow freely, because we believe they are pointing us in the right direction.
The job of authorities is to hold the Church together. The task of leaders is to move it forward. These are two different functions. Both are essential. Each depends on the other.
The Church is not a “democracy.” But when we say that, we have to ask, “What, then, is it?” It is not a monarchy; not a dictatorship. What, precisely, is our form of government in the Church?
The Church is a community meant to be guided by communal discussion, prayer and discernment. There is no model for this kind of government in civil society. In important matters, by the time an authority makes a decision, everybody should have had a hand in it. In this way, all are called to exercise leadership. For this, leadership and authority must work together.
God’s ways are not our ways, but as stewards of his kingship we are committed to trying to adapt human life to his ways. The Church is being renewed, and we are called to renew it. And through the Church the world will be renewed
To believe this is to work for it. To work for it is to take initiatives. To take initiatives is to be a leader, a steward of the kingship of Christ. This is our baptismal commitment.
I think Jesus is saying this to all of us as we look out from all of our windows.
Click here to subscribe to Daily Readings from the New American Bible delivered by email.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Peace I Give You: 24th Week of the Liturgical Year, September 11-17, 2011
1Timothy chapters 2-6; Luke, chapters 7-8
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The Rite of Communion can be summed up in one word: “Peace.”
This may not be what we are most conscious of. We may think of Communion as a time of intimate personal (and private) union with Jesus in our hearts. And except for the word “private,” it is that. The truth is—shocking to our generation—there is no “private” union with God or with Jesus. Christian union with God is only “in Christ”—that is, in the shared union we have with others as members of his body. Without union with others, we have no graced union with Jesus, the Father or the Spirit.
Communion expresses this. There is no such thing as “private Communion” in the Church. Even Communion to the sick is brought by a minister coming from the Mass to bring the communal celebration to one unable to be present. And Mass is never a private devotion. Priests are forbidden by Canon Law to celebrate Mass completely alone except under exceptional circumstances. Communion is a time for us to be intensely aware of one another.
“Peace” is the most frequently-used word in the Rite of Communion (seven times) because Communion is meant as a preview of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb,” Christ’s description of heaven. Those who do not share the Bread of Life together in the “peace and unity” of total mutual forgiveness and love simply do not share it. The same is true on earth. When Paul says (1Corinthians 11:29), “For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves,” he is talking about recognizing each other as the body of Christ.
This week’s readings show that those who most disturb the peace and unity of the community are those who judge others as not being in “good standing” because of their perceived non-observance of rules. They do not “discern” the faith and love that makes people Christ’s body, but see only the externals of words and “works” whose significance in another’s life they presume to interpret. In making this judgment they “eat and drink judgment against themselves.”
It is natural for us to make these human judgments. That is why the readings stress that the “peace and unity” of God’s kingdom is a mystery. The “blessed hope” we are awaiting is the “manifestation (epiphania) of the glory” of the Lord Jesus Christ, when in all the redeemed we will see Christ himself brought to “full stature.” This is divine hope, not human optimism. It depends on the vision we have of each other by the divine gift of faith. And the love we have for each others is divine love, based on seeing each other as we are as sharers in the life of God and as we will be when that life is brought to fullness in us all. Those who quibble and criticize are seeing with human eyes, shutting themselves off from mystery and shutting themselves out of “full, conscious, active participation” in the Eucharist. Peace is the sign of the Spirit in our hearts.
Click here to subscribe to Daily Readings from the New American Bible delivered by email.
---------------------------------------
The Rite of Communion can be summed up in one word: “Peace.”
This may not be what we are most conscious of. We may think of Communion as a time of intimate personal (and private) union with Jesus in our hearts. And except for the word “private,” it is that. The truth is—shocking to our generation—there is no “private” union with God or with Jesus. Christian union with God is only “in Christ”—that is, in the shared union we have with others as members of his body. Without union with others, we have no graced union with Jesus, the Father or the Spirit.
Communion expresses this. There is no such thing as “private Communion” in the Church. Even Communion to the sick is brought by a minister coming from the Mass to bring the communal celebration to one unable to be present. And Mass is never a private devotion. Priests are forbidden by Canon Law to celebrate Mass completely alone except under exceptional circumstances. Communion is a time for us to be intensely aware of one another.
“Peace” is the most frequently-used word in the Rite of Communion (seven times) because Communion is meant as a preview of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb,” Christ’s description of heaven. Those who do not share the Bread of Life together in the “peace and unity” of total mutual forgiveness and love simply do not share it. The same is true on earth. When Paul says (1Corinthians 11:29), “For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves,” he is talking about recognizing each other as the body of Christ.
This week’s readings show that those who most disturb the peace and unity of the community are those who judge others as not being in “good standing” because of their perceived non-observance of rules. They do not “discern” the faith and love that makes people Christ’s body, but see only the externals of words and “works” whose significance in another’s life they presume to interpret. In making this judgment they “eat and drink judgment against themselves.”
It is natural for us to make these human judgments. That is why the readings stress that the “peace and unity” of God’s kingdom is a mystery. The “blessed hope” we are awaiting is the “manifestation (epiphania) of the glory” of the Lord Jesus Christ, when in all the redeemed we will see Christ himself brought to “full stature.” This is divine hope, not human optimism. It depends on the vision we have of each other by the divine gift of faith. And the love we have for each others is divine love, based on seeing each other as we are as sharers in the life of God and as we will be when that life is brought to fullness in us all. Those who quibble and criticize are seeing with human eyes, shutting themselves off from mystery and shutting themselves out of “full, conscious, active participation” in the Eucharist. Peace is the sign of the Spirit in our hearts.
Click here to subscribe to Daily Readings from the New American Bible delivered by email.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
A Preview of Heaven: 23rd Week of the Liturgical Year, September 4-10, 2011
Colossians chapters; 1-3; begin 1Timothy; Luke, chapter 6
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How many Catholics experience Sunday Mass as a “preview of heaven”? Would it make you feel sad, threatened or hopeful to hear that this is what it should be for you?
“Sad” would suggest you’ve given up. “Threatened” that you hear you aren’t measuring up. “Hopeful” that you are open to the good news that there is more in the Mass than you dream of.
And there is. If you don’t experience the Mass as a preview of heaven, it means that either 1. you don’t understand it; or 2. you don’t pay attention to it; or 3. you are not really participating “fully, actively and consciously.” That is, that you are not celebrating. Chances are, it is all of the above.
That is what this year’s Reflections should remedy. If you read the 87-page theme booklet that accompanied them (Experiencing the Mass) and have kept yourself focused through the Reflection booklets, you should be having a much different experience of Mass—if, of course, you are applying at Mass what you read.
Now we are beginning the last Reflection booklet for this year, and it’s focus is on the last part of the Mass: the Rite of Communion. This part of the Mass is most explicitly a “preview of heaven.”
It is designed to be a preview of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb.” The communal enjoyment of Jesus as “Bread of Life,” Bread of the heavenly banquet. This Bread is only served in a communal meal: no private room service, no take-outs. By nature it is Bread that Jesus “takers, blesses, breaks and gives to his disciples to distribute.” (Although portions can be taken to the sick). And to receive it we must gather with the community in total mutual forgiveness, reconciliation and love. In the “peace and unity of the kingdom” that characterizes this communal sharing and union with Jesus Christ we experience a preview of heaven.
That is not as far-fetched as it sounds. During the Rite of Communion all conflicts are set aside. We have all given the Sign of Peace to each other. Jesus has come to each and to all. If we pause in silence for a moment as the liturgy directs us to do, we can simply be aware of that peace and unity as foreshadowing the gathering of the whole human race together “in Christ” at the end of the world. All will be well. “There will be no harm or ruin on all his holy mountain.” All will be love; all will be peace. And Jesus will be “all in all.” We will all be one, rejoicing in God, rejoicing in one another, sharing the life of Father, Son and Spirit. That is heaven.
To experience a tiny taste of this in the Rite of Communion is to experience a taste of heaven. It should motivate us to go out and invite everyone to the wedding feast. Motivate us to transform social structures and renew cultures to “make straight the way of the Lord” for all to receive him. Motivate us to embrace each other in our sinfulness now as we will embrace each other in our perfection when Christ has “grown to full stature” in us all and there will be “but one Christ, loving himself” (St. Augustine). We in him, he in us, as he is in the Father and the Father in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
We just have to make ourselves aware of what we understand, of what is happening, of what it foreshadows, and let Mass be for us the “source and summit” of all we live and long for.
Click here to subscribe to Daily Readings from the New American Bible delivered by email.
-------------------------------------------
How many Catholics experience Sunday Mass as a “preview of heaven”? Would it make you feel sad, threatened or hopeful to hear that this is what it should be for you?
“Sad” would suggest you’ve given up. “Threatened” that you hear you aren’t measuring up. “Hopeful” that you are open to the good news that there is more in the Mass than you dream of.
And there is. If you don’t experience the Mass as a preview of heaven, it means that either 1. you don’t understand it; or 2. you don’t pay attention to it; or 3. you are not really participating “fully, actively and consciously.” That is, that you are not celebrating. Chances are, it is all of the above.
That is what this year’s Reflections should remedy. If you read the 87-page theme booklet that accompanied them (Experiencing the Mass) and have kept yourself focused through the Reflection booklets, you should be having a much different experience of Mass—if, of course, you are applying at Mass what you read.
Now we are beginning the last Reflection booklet for this year, and it’s focus is on the last part of the Mass: the Rite of Communion. This part of the Mass is most explicitly a “preview of heaven.”
It is designed to be a preview of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb.” The communal enjoyment of Jesus as “Bread of Life,” Bread of the heavenly banquet. This Bread is only served in a communal meal: no private room service, no take-outs. By nature it is Bread that Jesus “takers, blesses, breaks and gives to his disciples to distribute.” (Although portions can be taken to the sick). And to receive it we must gather with the community in total mutual forgiveness, reconciliation and love. In the “peace and unity of the kingdom” that characterizes this communal sharing and union with Jesus Christ we experience a preview of heaven.
That is not as far-fetched as it sounds. During the Rite of Communion all conflicts are set aside. We have all given the Sign of Peace to each other. Jesus has come to each and to all. If we pause in silence for a moment as the liturgy directs us to do, we can simply be aware of that peace and unity as foreshadowing the gathering of the whole human race together “in Christ” at the end of the world. All will be well. “There will be no harm or ruin on all his holy mountain.” All will be love; all will be peace. And Jesus will be “all in all.” We will all be one, rejoicing in God, rejoicing in one another, sharing the life of Father, Son and Spirit. That is heaven.
To experience a tiny taste of this in the Rite of Communion is to experience a taste of heaven. It should motivate us to go out and invite everyone to the wedding feast. Motivate us to transform social structures and renew cultures to “make straight the way of the Lord” for all to receive him. Motivate us to embrace each other in our sinfulness now as we will embrace each other in our perfection when Christ has “grown to full stature” in us all and there will be “but one Christ, loving himself” (St. Augustine). We in him, he in us, as he is in the Father and the Father in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
We just have to make ourselves aware of what we understand, of what is happening, of what it foreshadows, and let Mass be for us the “source and summit” of all we live and long for.
Click here to subscribe to Daily Readings from the New American Bible delivered by email.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Communion—More Than We Thought!: 22nd Week of the Liturgical Year, August 28-September 3, 2011
1Thessalonians chapters 4-5; begin Colossians; begin Luke with chapter 4
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What is different—in fact, unique—about the Immersed in Christ daily reflections, is that they are designed to give formation. They are not a series of stand-alone thoughts that give you an unconnected insight or boost each day. For roughly ten weeks at a time they keep developing one theme (five per year), using the readings from Mass to explain the same thing from different angles, urging for seventy-plus days in a row various ways to live out just one of the five mysteries of Baptism. Instead of random thoughts, they give formation— defined as “reiterated instruction with insistent intentionality”—or “Say it till it sinks in; urge doing till it takes root.” This week we are changing themes.
Since we began Ordinary Time after Pentecost (June 13), we have been showing how we both learn and live out our baptismal consecration as Priest during the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass. (This year we are showing how all five mysteries of Baptism are celebrated successively during Mass). From now until Advent we will focus on the Rite of Communion and on what it says about our baptismal consecration and commitment as stewards of the kingship of Christ. This involves the mystery of the “end time.”
Communion looks like a bunch of individuals going up to get a sandwich out of a vending machine! That is not the image the Church desires, but so far we have not been able to give Communion the appearance of a family meal that the instructions call for. We don’t touch that this week, but we do point out five things Communion is that we may not have noticed.
1. A pledge: when we receive the chalice, we “drink to the Covenant.” Eating the sacrificed Victim says that we accept and make our own all that has been expressed in the Mass.
2. A shout of defiance: The words, “This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world... Blessed are those who are called to the wedding banquet of the Lamb” really say, “Blessed are those who are going to die!” We fear nothing. Who kills us just gets us into the party.
3. An anticipation of Christ’s triumphal return, We put ourselves into the “end time,” waiting in “joyful hope.”
4. A foretaste of the “peace and unity of the Kingdom.” We take a moment after Communion to just “feel” in silence how it will be when Christ in every person is making all humanity one as we are at this moment.
5. A sacrament; that is, a human, physical experience of interaction with God. We make physical contact with Jesus Christ.
All this motivates us to go out and ready the world to receive the reign of God. This is our work as stewards.
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To order your own Daily Reflections for the Immersed in Christ program, click here to visit http://www.immersedinchrist.com/.
---------------------------------------------------------
What is different—in fact, unique—about the Immersed in Christ daily reflections, is that they are designed to give formation. They are not a series of stand-alone thoughts that give you an unconnected insight or boost each day. For roughly ten weeks at a time they keep developing one theme (five per year), using the readings from Mass to explain the same thing from different angles, urging for seventy-plus days in a row various ways to live out just one of the five mysteries of Baptism. Instead of random thoughts, they give formation— defined as “reiterated instruction with insistent intentionality”—or “Say it till it sinks in; urge doing till it takes root.” This week we are changing themes.
Since we began Ordinary Time after Pentecost (June 13), we have been showing how we both learn and live out our baptismal consecration as Priest during the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass. (This year we are showing how all five mysteries of Baptism are celebrated successively during Mass). From now until Advent we will focus on the Rite of Communion and on what it says about our baptismal consecration and commitment as stewards of the kingship of Christ. This involves the mystery of the “end time.”
Communion looks like a bunch of individuals going up to get a sandwich out of a vending machine! That is not the image the Church desires, but so far we have not been able to give Communion the appearance of a family meal that the instructions call for. We don’t touch that this week, but we do point out five things Communion is that we may not have noticed.
1. A pledge: when we receive the chalice, we “drink to the Covenant.” Eating the sacrificed Victim says that we accept and make our own all that has been expressed in the Mass.
2. A shout of defiance: The words, “This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world... Blessed are those who are called to the wedding banquet of the Lamb” really say, “Blessed are those who are going to die!” We fear nothing. Who kills us just gets us into the party.
3. An anticipation of Christ’s triumphal return, We put ourselves into the “end time,” waiting in “joyful hope.”
4. A foretaste of the “peace and unity of the Kingdom.” We take a moment after Communion to just “feel” in silence how it will be when Christ in every person is making all humanity one as we are at this moment.
5. A sacrament; that is, a human, physical experience of interaction with God. We make physical contact with Jesus Christ.
All this motivates us to go out and ready the world to receive the reign of God. This is our work as stewards.
-----------------------------------------------------
To order your own Daily Reflections for the Immersed in Christ program, click here to visit http://www.immersedinchrist.com/.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Surprise! Surprise!: 21st Week of the Liturgical Year, August 21-27, 2011
1Thessalonians chapters 1-4; Matthew, chapters 23-25.
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I like this Sunday’s readings because they give a chance to clarify a few things that might be sapping our joy without our even noticing what is wrong.
The first is the feelings we bring to Church. They are just as important as the feelings we bring to a wedding (joy) or to a funeral (sympathy). We need to think about what will get us “in the mood.” Have we ever been taught that as an obligation?
Then there is the meaning of “mercy”—that is has to be based on a recognition of relationship. That invites us to look at what God’s goodness toward us is based on, and what attitude our help to others needs to come out of to be truly Christian.
Monday we begin 1Thessalonians. Take this week to read it all. It makes us appreciate the Intercessions during the Eucharistic Prayer. (What intercessions?” Pay attention!) And a great principle: “What we do not praise we will not appreciate.” Men: if you do not understand that, ask your wife.
Tuesday – Wednesday paint a beautiful picture of the unity we should experience at Mass and show us how to get into it. Not by laws (not mentioned once in the Eucharistic Prayer) but through steady, selfless service and attentive awareness that what we celebrate is what we are, and what we celebrate consciously is what we become. By praying for each other in the Eucharistic Prayer Intercessions (found them yet?) we give support and draw support.
And how about the two lists of saints in Eucharistic Prayer I? Had you ever noticed how inclusive they are by categories and gender? How many of the names can you identify after twenty to fifty years of hearing them?
Thursday takes us into the mystery of past, present and future made present in the Mass.
Friday reminds us “It is God’s will you grow in holiness.” And explains the stages we grow through. Guess how many?
Saturday explains the “three elevations” during the Mass, the three “great deeds” of Jesus they express, and the three anointings that consecrate us to continue them in our lives. Omne trinum perfectum (Google it).
-----------------------------------------------------------
I like this Sunday’s readings because they give a chance to clarify a few things that might be sapping our joy without our even noticing what is wrong.
The first is the feelings we bring to Church. They are just as important as the feelings we bring to a wedding (joy) or to a funeral (sympathy). We need to think about what will get us “in the mood.” Have we ever been taught that as an obligation?
Then there is the meaning of “mercy”—that is has to be based on a recognition of relationship. That invites us to look at what God’s goodness toward us is based on, and what attitude our help to others needs to come out of to be truly Christian.
Monday we begin 1Thessalonians. Take this week to read it all. It makes us appreciate the Intercessions during the Eucharistic Prayer. (What intercessions?” Pay attention!) And a great principle: “What we do not praise we will not appreciate.” Men: if you do not understand that, ask your wife.
Tuesday – Wednesday paint a beautiful picture of the unity we should experience at Mass and show us how to get into it. Not by laws (not mentioned once in the Eucharistic Prayer) but through steady, selfless service and attentive awareness that what we celebrate is what we are, and what we celebrate consciously is what we become. By praying for each other in the Eucharistic Prayer Intercessions (found them yet?) we give support and draw support.
And how about the two lists of saints in Eucharistic Prayer I? Had you ever noticed how inclusive they are by categories and gender? How many of the names can you identify after twenty to fifty years of hearing them?
Thursday takes us into the mystery of past, present and future made present in the Mass.
Friday reminds us “It is God’s will you grow in holiness.” And explains the stages we grow through. Guess how many?
Saturday explains the “three elevations” during the Mass, the three “great deeds” of Jesus they express, and the three anointings that consecrate us to continue them in our lives. Omne trinum perfectum (Google it).
Monday, August 15, 2011
E pluribus unum: 20th Week of the Liturgical Year, August 14-20, 2011
Judges chs. 6,11; Ruth chs. 1,2,4; Matthew, chs.20-23.
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Everyone knows the Latin words on our coins mean “Out of many one.” But how many think about this fundamental principle of our country every time they spend a dime? It may be the same at Mass.
Sunday: Unity is a unifying theme in the liturgy. We declare our communal identity in the Introductory Rites; “pledge allegiance” in the Gloria; become “one mind” in the Liturgy of the Word; present many hosts to be made “one bread, one body” at the Presentation of Gifts; and bask in the peace and unity of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb” in the Rite of Communion. But the core mystery of union is made present in the Eucharistic Prayer.
Monday: The recurring duo throughout history of Israel’s infidelity and God’s mercy are combined into the revelation of God as steadfast love. The main events through which his love saved us—Christ’s Passion, Resurrection and Ascension with its promise of Return— are made present as one in the Anamnesis: a “remembrance” that makes the past alive.
Tuesday: In the Anamnesis we “recall and encounter” the Lord “with us” now as offering himself on the cross, rising, seated at the right hand of the Father, and returning in glory. At Mass all these moments are one, and all are present to us.
Wednesday: Jesus died for us and accepts to rule over us because of the Covenant—which God established for our benefit, not his. The full meaning of anamnesis (and “Do this in remembrance of me”) is: 1. God makes a covenant; 2. he establishes a sign of it (the events of Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, made present in his Body and Blood on the altar); 3. the sign is offered to God in Eucharist so that God will “remember” and act once again according to the covenant. All is in a spirit of thanksgiving.
Thursday: Jesus “gave thanks” when he offered his Body and Blood, because his offering was not a “punishment” or a “payment” for our sins, one which God was bound in “justice” to exact, but a process—and the only possible process—by which sins could be truly “taken away.” He gave thanks that this process was the will of the Father in the shared love of Father, Son and Spirit. His Incarnation made it possible for him to incorporate us, with our sins, into his body on the cross so that we could be one with him and our sins could be “taken away” by our dying “in him.” We give thanks for this mystery.
Friday: Unity (in one shared divine life and “communion in the Holy Spirit”) is the essential characteristic of the Church; and the essential characteristic of unity is love. We show love when we minister to each other in word and action.
Saturday: To love is to give life; not only physically, but spiritually. When law replaces love it kills. Jesus condemns those who enforce laws heedless of the burden they are imposing. This is more likely when authorities “separate” themselves from others by accepting marks of prestige. In the “communion of the Holy Spirit” there is no “higher” or “lower,” but all are one in Christ.
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Everyone knows the Latin words on our coins mean “Out of many one.” But how many think about this fundamental principle of our country every time they spend a dime? It may be the same at Mass.
Sunday: Unity is a unifying theme in the liturgy. We declare our communal identity in the Introductory Rites; “pledge allegiance” in the Gloria; become “one mind” in the Liturgy of the Word; present many hosts to be made “one bread, one body” at the Presentation of Gifts; and bask in the peace and unity of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb” in the Rite of Communion. But the core mystery of union is made present in the Eucharistic Prayer.
Monday: The recurring duo throughout history of Israel’s infidelity and God’s mercy are combined into the revelation of God as steadfast love. The main events through which his love saved us—Christ’s Passion, Resurrection and Ascension with its promise of Return— are made present as one in the Anamnesis: a “remembrance” that makes the past alive.
Tuesday: In the Anamnesis we “recall and encounter” the Lord “with us” now as offering himself on the cross, rising, seated at the right hand of the Father, and returning in glory. At Mass all these moments are one, and all are present to us.
Wednesday: Jesus died for us and accepts to rule over us because of the Covenant—which God established for our benefit, not his. The full meaning of anamnesis (and “Do this in remembrance of me”) is: 1. God makes a covenant; 2. he establishes a sign of it (the events of Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, made present in his Body and Blood on the altar); 3. the sign is offered to God in Eucharist so that God will “remember” and act once again according to the covenant. All is in a spirit of thanksgiving.
Thursday: Jesus “gave thanks” when he offered his Body and Blood, because his offering was not a “punishment” or a “payment” for our sins, one which God was bound in “justice” to exact, but a process—and the only possible process—by which sins could be truly “taken away.” He gave thanks that this process was the will of the Father in the shared love of Father, Son and Spirit. His Incarnation made it possible for him to incorporate us, with our sins, into his body on the cross so that we could be one with him and our sins could be “taken away” by our dying “in him.” We give thanks for this mystery.
Friday: Unity (in one shared divine life and “communion in the Holy Spirit”) is the essential characteristic of the Church; and the essential characteristic of unity is love. We show love when we minister to each other in word and action.
Saturday: To love is to give life; not only physically, but spiritually. When law replaces love it kills. Jesus condemns those who enforce laws heedless of the burden they are imposing. This is more likely when authorities “separate” themselves from others by accepting marks of prestige. In the “communion of the Holy Spirit” there is no “higher” or “lower,” but all are one in Christ.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Wholly Holy: 19th Week of the Liturgical Year, August 7-13, 2011
Deuteronomy chs. 10, 31, 34; Joshua chs. 3, 24; Matthew, chs.17-19.
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We can all use the word “holy” correctly in a sentence. But what does it mean? Not in itself (various meanings), but to us? How much place does the sense of the “holy” have in my consciousness? How much difference might it make if it were more?
Sunday: The Eucharistic Prayer is prefaced by the acclamation, “Holy, holy, holy!” and celebrates how God’s holiness and ours is made visible 1. in an event (Calvary, made present in Eucharist); 2. in the union (“communion/fellowship in the Holy Spirit”) made possible by that event and realized during Mass; and 3. in the perfection of that union at the “wedding banquet of the Lamb” (experienced in preview in the Rite of Communion). Eucharist thus celebrates the “source and summit” of Christian life.
Monday: The opening words of the Eucharistic Prayer “Lord, Father, you are holy indeed,” give us reason to keep our Covenant with God who is to be loved with all our heart and soul because he is All. The All Holy, the “fountain of all holiness.”
Tuesday: When we “cross over” from the Liturgy of the Word to the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we are aware of crossing over from what could be (but isn’t) just a human prayer service into the mystery of the event, the sacrifice, that made us divine. At Baptism we “became Christ” by dying and rising in him. At Mass we offer ourselves with him and in him for the life of the world.
Wednesday: At the moment of the “Consecration” during the Eucharistic Prayer we are aware of the awesome holiness of the Church—all of us—whose united prayer God unfailingly answers by changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus.
Thursday: God uses visible signs—the Ark of the Covenant, Eucharist—so that “we may know” his holiness present among us.
Friday: We get to the heart of our religion when we remember we were saved by an event that was a personal act of love. And that Person was the All Holy God. To “celebrate” is to “single out for grateful remembrance.” That is Eucharist.
Saturday: To choose God we must choose him as All by surrendering all. We did this at Baptism by giving him our body. We died in him and rose to live ONLY as his risen body on earth. We offer ourselves again: through him, with him, in him, at every Mass.
Mass puts us in the presence of the Holy. If we really keep aware of this at Mass (body language, silence during the celebration, reverence of heart) it will help us keep a sense of holiness of God—in us and around us—all week. Especially if we remind ourselves.
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We can all use the word “holy” correctly in a sentence. But what does it mean? Not in itself (various meanings), but to us? How much place does the sense of the “holy” have in my consciousness? How much difference might it make if it were more?
Sunday: The Eucharistic Prayer is prefaced by the acclamation, “Holy, holy, holy!” and celebrates how God’s holiness and ours is made visible 1. in an event (Calvary, made present in Eucharist); 2. in the union (“communion/fellowship in the Holy Spirit”) made possible by that event and realized during Mass; and 3. in the perfection of that union at the “wedding banquet of the Lamb” (experienced in preview in the Rite of Communion). Eucharist thus celebrates the “source and summit” of Christian life.
Monday: The opening words of the Eucharistic Prayer “Lord, Father, you are holy indeed,” give us reason to keep our Covenant with God who is to be loved with all our heart and soul because he is All. The All Holy, the “fountain of all holiness.”
Tuesday: When we “cross over” from the Liturgy of the Word to the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we are aware of crossing over from what could be (but isn’t) just a human prayer service into the mystery of the event, the sacrifice, that made us divine. At Baptism we “became Christ” by dying and rising in him. At Mass we offer ourselves with him and in him for the life of the world.
Wednesday: At the moment of the “Consecration” during the Eucharistic Prayer we are aware of the awesome holiness of the Church—all of us—whose united prayer God unfailingly answers by changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus.
Thursday: God uses visible signs—the Ark of the Covenant, Eucharist—so that “we may know” his holiness present among us.
Friday: We get to the heart of our religion when we remember we were saved by an event that was a personal act of love. And that Person was the All Holy God. To “celebrate” is to “single out for grateful remembrance.” That is Eucharist.
Saturday: To choose God we must choose him as All by surrendering all. We did this at Baptism by giving him our body. We died in him and rose to live ONLY as his risen body on earth. We offer ourselves again: through him, with him, in him, at every Mass.
Mass puts us in the presence of the Holy. If we really keep aware of this at Mass (body language, silence during the celebration, reverence of heart) it will help us keep a sense of holiness of God—in us and around us—all week. Especially if we remind ourselves.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
The Best Thing in Life is Free: 18th Week of the Liturgical Year, July 31-August 6, 2011
The Best Thing in Life is Free
Eighteenth Week of the Liturgical Year, July 31-August 6, 2011
Numbers, chapters 11-20; Deuteronomy chapters 4-6; Matthew, ch. 14-17.
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This week invites us to probe our faith. What do we really believe will make us happy on earth? What do our choices say we believe it is?
Sunday: “Come to me... Why spend your money for what fails to satisfy?” Do we really believe that interaction with God can give us what we want here and now? And do we believe God will give us happiness free? A serious question.
Monday: We will be disappointed if we seek satisfaction through achievement in work; even in ministry. But disappointment and failure can lead us to deeper dependence on God. And through this to real joy.
Tuesday: Religion is most disappointing to legalists who find their satisfaction in the achievement of keeping all the rules. They have little vital, personal contact with God. And they blind others to it. Focusing on any achievement opens us to jealousy, which just turns desires into torture.
Wednesday: Serving God through ministry is not satisfying to those who think it is so hopeless—or think they are so inadequate—that they give up before they start. When we “think big” we should think of how big God is.
Thursday: Evcn the greatest ministers have faults. History shows it. And faulty people can be great ministers. If we trust in God instead of what we see in ourselves or others, we will discover this.
Friday: We sometimes get the most encouragement by looking backwards: remembering the “great deeds” of God. If we look back to the resurrection, we can learn to see the risen Jesus in ourselves and others right now. Seeing his life in us gives us the courage to “die” to everything else. If what we die to is ultimately worth nothing outside of God, do we get God “free” no matter what we sacrifice?
Saturday: The ministry of the Church will be unable to heal the world of violence and war until we accept completely Christ’s command of perfect love. Perfect love casts out fear, including the fear of losing whatever we fight to defend in war.
The Transfiguration gave Jesus and his disciple-witnesses a preview of the glory he and they would enter into. By looking backwards to it the disciples could keep their faith when they saw Jesus crushed in his Agony in the Garden. When our prayer is darkness and defeat, we need to look back and remember the moments on the mountain top.
Eighteenth Week of the Liturgical Year, July 31-August 6, 2011
Numbers, chapters 11-20; Deuteronomy chapters 4-6; Matthew, ch. 14-17.
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This week invites us to probe our faith. What do we really believe will make us happy on earth? What do our choices say we believe it is?
Sunday: “Come to me... Why spend your money for what fails to satisfy?” Do we really believe that interaction with God can give us what we want here and now? And do we believe God will give us happiness free? A serious question.
Monday: We will be disappointed if we seek satisfaction through achievement in work; even in ministry. But disappointment and failure can lead us to deeper dependence on God. And through this to real joy.
Tuesday: Religion is most disappointing to legalists who find their satisfaction in the achievement of keeping all the rules. They have little vital, personal contact with God. And they blind others to it. Focusing on any achievement opens us to jealousy, which just turns desires into torture.
Wednesday: Serving God through ministry is not satisfying to those who think it is so hopeless—or think they are so inadequate—that they give up before they start. When we “think big” we should think of how big God is.
Thursday: Evcn the greatest ministers have faults. History shows it. And faulty people can be great ministers. If we trust in God instead of what we see in ourselves or others, we will discover this.
Friday: We sometimes get the most encouragement by looking backwards: remembering the “great deeds” of God. If we look back to the resurrection, we can learn to see the risen Jesus in ourselves and others right now. Seeing his life in us gives us the courage to “die” to everything else. If what we die to is ultimately worth nothing outside of God, do we get God “free” no matter what we sacrifice?
Saturday: The ministry of the Church will be unable to heal the world of violence and war until we accept completely Christ’s command of perfect love. Perfect love casts out fear, including the fear of losing whatever we fight to defend in war.
The Transfiguration gave Jesus and his disciple-witnesses a preview of the glory he and they would enter into. By looking backwards to it the disciples could keep their faith when they saw Jesus crushed in his Agony in the Garden. When our prayer is darkness and defeat, we need to look back and remember the moments on the mountain top.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Ministry is Mystery Made Visible: 17th Week of the Liturgical Year, July 24-30, 2011
Ministry is Mystery Made Visible
Seventeenth Week of the Liturgical Year, July 24-30, 2011
Exodus, chapters 32-40; Leviticus chapters 23-25; Matthew, chapters 13-14.
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A key word in ministry, as in Christianity itself, is visibility. Jesus is the “Word made flesh.” The sacraments are visible signs. And ministry is surrender to letting Christ express himself in and through our physical, human actions. This is the mystery made visible in Christian ministry.
Sunday: Wisdom is “operative desire” for the Ultimate Good: union with God in heaven. Ministry, by working to “bring Christ to full stature” in everyone, makes this desire visible.
St. James: “The absence of the human is the revelation of the divine.” The renunciation of human desire for prestige and power makes visible divine desire for the true good wisdom perceives. In his Church, Jesus divorced position from prestige to make equality evident.
Monday: Our need for something visible to focus on in religion can lead to the idolatry of focusing on laws (Phariseeism), “sacred figures” (clericalism), or ecclesiastical splendor (triumphalism). Ministry makes God visible by letting God express himself in visible acts of love.
Tuesday: Ministers who judge others by their visible behavior are judged for making God’s judgment invisible. Because God is “steadfast love,” God’s “final judgment” about anyone awaits the person’s “final judgment” about God in the enlightened moment of death.
Wednesday: Our contemplation of God’s “steadfast love” leads to awareness, which, made visible in our bodies, makes God’s steadfast love visible to others. This is ministry.
Thursday: The ark of the Covenant, Eucharist, the Church, are visible signs of God’s “presence in the present.” They are all “eschatological” previews and promises of future fulfillment that is the focus of wisdom. So are the visible acts of ministry.
Friday: Liturgical celebration is a “symbol in action.” The human actions of liturgy make visible the divine action that was, is and will be. The essence of both liturgy and ministry is self-expression: God’s self-expression in ours. What we fail to make visible through expression, we fail to realize and remember. Our visible interactions with God make visible our relationship with God and remind us of it. Interactions with others that make visible our true relationship with them and with God are ministry.
Saturday: Praise is perception expressing itself. It is response to what is seen. To authentically praise God for the “wisdom of his laws,” we have to see God’s love made visible in them. When laws are interpreted with love and implemented with flexibility, we don’t perceive them as imposed. The law of Christ is love. The limitation of love is the deformation of law.
Immersed in Christ is a practical means to achieve the three goals of the United States Bishops’ letter, “Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us”:
1. Invite and Enable Ongoing Conversion to Jesus in Holiness of Life: through 1. awareness of our identity “in Christ” and 2. commitment to discipleship. (“Our Father, hallowed be thy Name!)
2. Promote and Support Active Membership in the Christian Community: through 3. dedication to mission (“Thy Kingdom come!”) and 4. surrender to ministry (“Thy will be done”).
3. Call and Prepare Adults to Act as Disciples in Mission to the World: by 5. abandoning ourselves, as stewards of the kingship of Christ, to the work of establishing the “unity and peace of his kingdom” throughout all of creation until he comes in victory (“Give us... and forgive us...”).
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