OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

Lewis Carroll became the best-known user of the phrase, “Off with his head” when he included it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, (published 1865).  The Queen of Hearts shrieks the phrase several times in the story - in fact she doesn't say a great deal else: “The players all played at once without waiting for turns, quarreling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and shouting ‘Off with his head!’ or ‘Off with her head!’” 

John the Baptist knew what he was doing. As a prophet, John had to call out Herod’s wrongdoing and pronounce God’s judgment. Regardless of Herod’s “respect” for John, he chooses vanity and ego over righteousness and honor. John pays for Herod’s shortcomings with his head.

It seems, now a days, it’s easy to get in a furious passion with all the public and church scandals, to immediately jump to, “off with his head!”  While resignations and removal from office may be warranted, the Holy Spirit is calling us to look deeper.  Herodias’ daughter was a pawn in John’s beheading.  She didn't know what to ask for, she was being obedient to her mother who set her plot into motion.  Maybe before we ask for a head on a platter, we might need to step back check our emotions, as justice calls for a measured response.

The Thessalonian Christians are exhorted to do more than pray and be spiritually aware.  They must do something for the common good.  They need to be committed not only to their God but also to their craft.  The economy of their community demands that every member work.  If one member fails, then the entire project fails and it negatively impacts the community.  With the magnitude of the issues now we might ask, “What can I do?” Live in truth and love.

The Christian faith is filled with choices, some of which won’t make us the most popular, famous, or wealthy.  Jesus calls us to be selfless, merciful, just, and vulnerable, qualities often regarded as weak and pointless.  Their absence, however, results only in sadness and destruction.

There are those who think we’ve lost our minds when our business and personal practices put the needs of the common good before personal gain or convenience, even when we restrain our furious passion in our pursuit of the Truth all for the sake of justice.   Unlike Herod, we have to constantly recommit ourselves to BE selfless, merciful, just, and vulnerable.  To speak a fully informed truth, even if it may mean death in some way, but we know the cross is not the end.

MY MOTHER MARY

[1]If a small child hurts his finger, he runs to Mommy crying.  All Mommy has to do is to kiss the finger and it is well again.  Children know their mother loves them and has made a great many sacrifices for them.

In the same way we look on Mary as our heavenly mother.  Remember Jesus’ dying words from the cross, he said to Mary, “'Woman behold, your son’, and to John, ‘Behold your mother’” (Jn 19:26-27).  We have always regarded this exchange as Jesus giving us his mother, to be our mother.  She is the mother to whom we can tell every joy and every sorrow.

I took Monday off only to come in to work Tuesday to find the “Our Sunday Visitor” on my desk open to an article about the resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick amid a sexual abuse scandal.  It was as if a wound that was partially healed was being reopened.  Then this morning I hear on the news of the release of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury’s report and the wound was ripped wide open.  In the end these abuses are nothing short of selfishness gone really bad and an unwillingness to empty ourselves and take up our cross.

Mary’s greatness lies in the fact she was humble before and surrendered herself to God.  Her words to the angel, at the annunciation, are words for meditation, “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).  Because she surrendered herself to God, God filled her with his presence, just as God desires to fill us when we surrender ourselves.  Mary surrendering of herself did not mean a perpetual spiritual honeymoon, but a continual giving of herself to God as time went on.  Mary’s sinlessness, obedience and being ‘full of grace’ led naturally to her assumption, body and soul, into heaven.

There is, in all of us, the tendency or temptation to refuse to allow God to have control of our lives.  We are challenged to surrender our lives to God.  Sometimes we stand before God and hold out our hands, full of ourselves.  God can’t give himself to us like this, God can only give himself to us if our hands and our hearts are empty.  Our lives are meant to be given more and more to God.  To meet God in heaven we will have to first fully surrender ourselves to let God be God in our lives.  Surrender just as our brother Jesus surrendered himself totally.  He faced abandonment, ridicule, abuse and even death, death on a cross, for our sanctification, all to unite us to an all loving Father and heavenly mother.

One way to surrender ourselves and be filled with the presence of God, like Mary, is to pray the Rosary daily.  The Rosary is a great weapon to use against the temptations of this world.  It’s a prayer that brings us closer to and keeps us close to God.  When we pray the Rosary, we are not just saying prayers, we can tune in to God and our blessed Mother, allowing our minds to meditate on twenty great events in the life of Jesus. 

When we are in the pit of despair, depression, or desperation not knowing where to turn or how to pray, the Rosary is a beautiful way to keep us connected to our heavenly mother.  When we do so, we can exclaim with Mary her visitation sentiments:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

because he has looked upon his lowly servant.” (Lk 1:46-48)[2]

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[1] Scriptures: 1 Chronicles 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57; Luke 11:27-28

[2] Copyright © 2013. Fr. Tommy Lane

GIVE UP OR GET UP

The most interesting and comprehensive study of a Eucharistic miracle was conducted in 1996, it was a miracle that occurred in the parish of Saint Mary in Buenos Aires.  At Mass, during consecration, the bread began to bleed and upon further examination, this bleeding bread, was found to have become human tissue.  After several intense studies, it was found that the tissue was part of a heart, a muscle of the myocardium, the left ventricle, the muscle that gives life to the whole heart and body.

The tissue revealed further that it belonged to a person who had gone through intense pain, experiencing extended periods of time where the person could barely breathe, putting immense strain on the heart and had been stabbed in the left side.  What was most insane was that despite the fact this should have killed the person, the tissue showed signs of being ‘alive’.  As evidenced by intact white blood cells found in the tissue.  This showed the heart sample was pulsating otherwise the white blood cells would have disintegrated 15 minutes outside of a living body.  This was truly living bread. The Archbishop who commissioned the research, was none other than Pope Francis! (Diocese of Westminster)

Bread and water, is all that was given to Elijah, by the angel, for his 40 day and 40 night walk to God’s mountain, Horeb.  What is the significance of the number 40?  Well, 40 is often mentioned in Bible stories; Noah’s ark and the flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights; Moses lived 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert, 40 days on Mount Sinai;  Jesus went into the desert, after his baptism, for 40 days and 40 nights.

The number 40 symbolizes a period of testing, trial, or probation.[1]

There are times in our lives when we can arrive at the same place we find Elijah, in today’s scripture readings: drained, tired, overwhelmed, to the point of just giving up.  If you haven’t already felt the opposition, the challenge of community life, in time you will as a minister of the Church.  We also need to be mindful that, it’s not always the opposition of the community or the world, but an opposition within our own human nature.  We have our own internal battles, strife, and vices.  Maybe it’s a quick temper, fits of anger, holding a grudge or bitterness towards a person who has hurt or received a benefit or accolade we felt deservedly should be ours.  These interior battles can wear on us, sucking the very life from us, tempting us to reject the journey we are called to walk.  This is the point of choice, “Give up” or “Get up” and be nourished “else the journey will be too long for you!” (1 Kgs 19:5)

There’s an old African proverb that says, “If you want to go quickly, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.”

We all have a choice in responding to our 40 something.  Witnessing to the faith requires us to GET UP and continue along the long winding road we call life and ministry.  St. Paul encourages us to “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…” (Eph 5:1-2) What a marvelous call.  It can seem impossible, unless we accept and are nourished by this reviving meal, the Eucharist.

The Eucharist sets before us what we are called to BE (not what we do): a faithful and believing people, selfless servants, a people of hope, we are a resurrection people.  In sharing this Eucharist, we are transformed into ONE people to journey together as witnesses of a future hope.  The living bread we share sustains us on this earthly journey and the graces that flow from this precious Sacrament gives us: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.  Gifts that aid us to persevere in our faith that God will fulfill all our needs.

Today Jesus invites each of us to GET UP, take and eat of “the living bread that [comes] down from heaven” (Jn 6:51) to nourish us on our journey to eternal life.

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[1] Meaning of the number 40 bible study.org

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

“All you need is love, all you need is love,
all you need is love, love, love is all you need.”

All You Need Is Love was written in 1967, by John Lennon, especially for Our World, the world's first televised satellite link-up between 25 countries worldwide. Its message perfectly encapsulated the optimistic mood of the Summer of Love, with a simplicity perfectly judged for their global audience. Ringo Starr later reflected, “We were big enough to command an audience of that size, and it was for love. It was for love and bloody peace. It was a fabulous time. I even get excited now when I realize that's what it was for: peace and love, people putting flowers in guns.”[1]

What if, all we had available to us to learn about love was the radio? Consider this, about 1 in every 4 songs on the radio contain the word love. “Love is the Way,” but what way?  “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” I might not know the way but I keep falling in it.  “I Want to Know What Love Is,” and there is always the risk when “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places” and the list goes on and on!

Jeremiah’s oracles of restoration speak of the eternal love God has for his people. It is by divine initiative that the bond between God and people will be restored. As in Israel’s earliest days, the desert is the place from which the people emerge spiritually stronger. Now the remnant, a wiser and more faithful people, return to their ancestors’ land. It is through God that we are restored. God heals our wounds with his “age-old love.”

Jesus, in his witness of love, leads us to people we would not normally encounter in our own lives. He leads us to people like the Canaanite woman, women and men who need God’s compassion.

This requires us to trust God will provide for what we need. We have a profound example of what this means in the life of St. Dominic Guzman. Dominic left stability and security at the cathedral of Osma to found the Order of Preachers. In doing so, he looked to begin a new way of living and boldly proclaiming the word of God. This new way of life sent Dominican friars out into the world, away from their homeland, to bring the Good News to all people.

What do we need to learn about trusting God? Trusting enough to move beyond our comfort zone. All you need is love, a love selflessly and freely given. This Eucharistic celebration is the model of perfect love. It is a love given for all eternity and as we grow in our trust in this love we will be transformed and conformed to follow Jesus wherever he leads us.

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[1] The Beatle’s Bible.  “All You Need is Love” © 1967. https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/all-you-need-is-love/

STAY THE COURSE

I was talking to a young family who is going through a rough time. In part they are preparing to let go of their son, who will be joining the U.S. Navy next summer after his senior year. The young man’s parents are struggling to let their little boy go. The recruiter did his best to reassure the young man’s parents that their son would be safe aboard a ship that was out to sea and not on the front lines of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Yet the couple needed more reassurances that their little boy would be safe. They asked the recruiter what kind of training the ship drivers get. After all they seem to be running into each other quite often. 

Saint Alphonsus was known above all as a practical man, who dealt in the concrete rather than the abstract. His life is indeed a practical model for the everyday Christian who has difficulty recognizing the dignity of Christian life amid the swirl of problems, pain, misunderstanding and failure. Alphonsus is a saint because he was able to maintain an intimate sense of the presence of the suffering Christ through it all.

It isn’t easy being a parent, worrying not only about our own stuff and the welfare of our children, or a founder of a religious community, dealing with the quirks of adults and the surrounding community that may not understand the charisms, or a prophet of God. Jeremiah is lamenting in the first reading. He, who has witnessed the destruction of the temple and as he continues to look around sees so much death and poverty of the Nation of Israel. He pleads his case to God, do you loath your people? I have consumed your words and been faithful, and yet, everyone seems to be against me!

I believe when we find ourselves in a bad or hopeless situation, whether it’s a child moving out, we are deceived by friends, or our community disagrees with our moral code. We can tend to get lost in the misery, we start looking backward to reminisce of the good ole days and fret over the future. We question whether our faith is in vain or worth the struggle.

God’s response to Jeremiah, and us, is stay the course, “I will free you from the hand of the wicked and rescue you from the grasp of the violent.” (Jer 15:21) Sometimes we think of God’s mercy in the limited terms of forgiving our past sins and failures. Yet, God promises his mercy surrounds us always, to include in the future. Are we not invited to experience this mercy and grace each time we share “the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16)

Take, eat and drink, unite yourselves to the one who endured the cross for love of us. We are to become what we eat and drink, freed from past sins and strengthened to endure our daily & future crosses, to live in the assurance, God is always behind, before and beside us.