The letter to the Hebrews today reaches back to a person first mentioned in the book of Genesis to describe the eternal high-priesthood of Jesus, in which we all participate by virtue of our baptism. What makes it even more interesting is that the letter does not trace it to Aaron, the traditional beginning of priesthood in the old testament but to Melchizedek, King of Salem. And this connection becomes so central in our faith that it becomes part of the Roman Canon (eucharistic prayer I). Is it simply the reference to bread and wine or is there something more here.
In his name are found three key words:mlk,zdh, and shlm. Sorry the lack of vowels, welcome to Hebrew.
mlk- king
Zdh-often translated as righteousness, it is linked the the requirement of charity on the part of every practicing Jew.
Slm- according to jewish commentary, a reference to Jerusalem, we most often link it also to the word shlm which is translated as peace, but the word contains much more. It is a state of health, or wholeness, when all is as God intends.
According to the Jewish tradition, the bread and wine he offers, are signs of friendship and hospitality, again for the Christian they will come to be much more.
Quite a few years back, I remember bumper stickers that said, "If you want peace, work for justice", a call to action in the world.
Perhaps we are reminded that there needs to be a preceding step, the one in which we critique, not the world outside but, the world inside, and ask ourselves to we posses a spirit of true righteousness, in the fullest sense of the world.
Mechizedek literally "Righteousness is my king."-- the model not just for the ministerial priesthood, but the baptismal priesthood of all the faithful. May we live constantly a righteousness, peace, and charity that are rooted in the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
St. Anthony the Great
As we honor the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the US, the church's calendar today marks a saint whose example could be of particular importance to us in the 21st century, the Egyptian saint Anthony.
Anthony is often called the father of monasticism. The translation into Latin of his biography written by Athanasius and its rapid popularity became the basis for the growth of the monastic life in the west. Long before St. Francis, Anthony heard the words of the gospel "Go and sell all that you have..." and followed them in a most literal way. After the dead of his parents, he sold all that he had, entrusted the care of his sisters to a group of virgins, and began to live the simplest possible life. He became the model for what is known as the anchorite, the person who withdraws from the world to seek religious perfection, withdrawing into the desert.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am about as connected as anyone can be(iPhone, iPad, etc.) and I believe we make a hugh mistake when we try and paint the Internet or technology as evil or blame the technology for societies ills. They are merely tools for us to use, for good or bad.
St. Anthony reminds us that we do need to create deserts, quiet spaces in our life, when we shut off the constant flow of data,and listen to the quiet voice of God. Silence. Meditation. Contemplation.
Do you have a prayer space in your life? Can you shut off you phone,tv and other devices for even 10 minutes of absolute silence and withdraw from the world to spend some quality time with God?
Today as we remember Dr. King, we look at our world and see we are still far from his dream. The paradox of the gospel;however, is that in order to get there we need to stop working, and listen to the source of all true peace.
Anthony is often called the father of monasticism. The translation into Latin of his biography written by Athanasius and its rapid popularity became the basis for the growth of the monastic life in the west. Long before St. Francis, Anthony heard the words of the gospel "Go and sell all that you have..." and followed them in a most literal way. After the dead of his parents, he sold all that he had, entrusted the care of his sisters to a group of virgins, and began to live the simplest possible life. He became the model for what is known as the anchorite, the person who withdraws from the world to seek religious perfection, withdrawing into the desert.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am about as connected as anyone can be(iPhone, iPad, etc.) and I believe we make a hugh mistake when we try and paint the Internet or technology as evil or blame the technology for societies ills. They are merely tools for us to use, for good or bad.
St. Anthony reminds us that we do need to create deserts, quiet spaces in our life, when we shut off the constant flow of data,and listen to the quiet voice of God. Silence. Meditation. Contemplation.
Do you have a prayer space in your life? Can you shut off you phone,tv and other devices for even 10 minutes of absolute silence and withdraw from the world to spend some quality time with God?
Today as we remember Dr. King, we look at our world and see we are still far from his dream. The paradox of the gospel;however, is that in order to get there we need to stop working, and listen to the source of all true peace.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Good Guilt
In my formative years, the 60s and 70s, there was great deal of complaining against religion for making people feel guilty. It was as if we wanted to create a guilt-free world where people could feel good about themselves regardless of how they behave.
In today's first reading we hear:
The word of God is living and effective,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
penetrating even between soul and spirit,
joints and marrow,
and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
No creature is concealed from him,
but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him
to whom we must render an account.
If that reading just made you a little uncomfortable, that's not a bad thing. It's proof not only that you are human but you are a healthy human.
Catholic theology speaks of natural law written in the hearts of every person. God also gave us a conscience and feelings like guilt, remorse and shame to help us monitor and correct our behavior.
When we try and train people to ignore these feeling we should not be surprised that we need to add words like sexting to the English language or we hear of kids killing each other for a pair of tennis shoes.
Inability to conform to social norms, lack of remorse, rationalizing when we hurt others, and promiscuity are now recognized for what they are, signs of an antisocial personality disorder.
The good news is that just as God has given us feelings like guilt and remorse he has also given us a healthy way to be rid of them. We do wrong; we feel guilt. We confess and our feeling of peace is restored.
Perhaps rather than telling someone not to feel guilty, perhaps we would be better to teach our young people how to acknowledge the feelings of guilt, acknowledge sin, and then trust in the forgiveness of God.
Time to revisit the sacrament of reconciliation.
In today's first reading we hear:
The word of God is living and effective,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
penetrating even between soul and spirit,
joints and marrow,
and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
No creature is concealed from him,
but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him
to whom we must render an account.
If that reading just made you a little uncomfortable, that's not a bad thing. It's proof not only that you are human but you are a healthy human.
Catholic theology speaks of natural law written in the hearts of every person. God also gave us a conscience and feelings like guilt, remorse and shame to help us monitor and correct our behavior.
When we try and train people to ignore these feeling we should not be surprised that we need to add words like sexting to the English language or we hear of kids killing each other for a pair of tennis shoes.
Inability to conform to social norms, lack of remorse, rationalizing when we hurt others, and promiscuity are now recognized for what they are, signs of an antisocial personality disorder.
The good news is that just as God has given us feelings like guilt and remorse he has also given us a healthy way to be rid of them. We do wrong; we feel guilt. We confess and our feeling of peace is restored.
Perhaps rather than telling someone not to feel guilty, perhaps we would be better to teach our young people how to acknowledge the feelings of guilt, acknowledge sin, and then trust in the forgiveness of God.
Time to revisit the sacrament of reconciliation.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Do we truly believe in intercession?
Growing up in a largely non-Catholic world, the Christianity I was raised in was a very individual faith, rooted in accepting "Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior." Ideas like parents professing faith on behalf of their children at baptism made no sense.
In today's gospel see just what is possible because of the unlimited power of God's grace and the unity of the human family. The person in question is a paralytic. There is no evidence of his faith or even what communication skills he had. There those who will try and say he would have asked his friends to take him, or something like that, but that's not what the gospel says. What the gospel says is that
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
It is the faith of the friends that saves the paralytic.
From parents presenting children for baptism, to masses offered for the dead, our faith has throughout its history celebrated to real power of intercessory prayer.
We tend to limit our intercessions to an unemployed relative or a sick friend, or go for the truly abstract like world peace. When we heard the news yesterday of the collapse of the government in Lebanon, how many of us thought to pray for the members of Hezbollah who caused the collapse.
Why not?
If we truly believe in the power of prayer, why do not on a daily basis pray for those most capable of causing disorder, pain, suffering. Why do we wait until after the violence and pray for the victims? Let us be truly proactive. Let us pray for those who are contemplating violence.
Let our pray reflect that we really do believe with God all things are possible.
In today's gospel see just what is possible because of the unlimited power of God's grace and the unity of the human family. The person in question is a paralytic. There is no evidence of his faith or even what communication skills he had. There those who will try and say he would have asked his friends to take him, or something like that, but that's not what the gospel says. What the gospel says is that
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
It is the faith of the friends that saves the paralytic.
From parents presenting children for baptism, to masses offered for the dead, our faith has throughout its history celebrated to real power of intercessory prayer.
We tend to limit our intercessions to an unemployed relative or a sick friend, or go for the truly abstract like world peace. When we heard the news yesterday of the collapse of the government in Lebanon, how many of us thought to pray for the members of Hezbollah who caused the collapse.
Why not?
If we truly believe in the power of prayer, why do not on a daily basis pray for those most capable of causing disorder, pain, suffering. Why do we wait until after the violence and pray for the victims? Let us be truly proactive. Let us pray for those who are contemplating violence.
Let our pray reflect that we really do believe with God all things are possible.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
True Freedom
One of the most important concepts to us culturally here in America is freedom. The problem is how we define it. Many would define it as the ability to do whatever I want.
The first reading today reminds us "that through death he(Jesus) might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life."
True freedom from the Christian perspective is something more than other people letting me do what I want, but a freedom that is rooted at the core of our being. Freedom from those fears that lead us to do things we know are wrong, the fears that reach their pentacle in fear of death.
The Letter to the Hebrews understands that some of our worst choices have been and are those choices that we make in moments of fear. When we are afraid we can tend to push our Christianity to the back of our mind, and react from our most primitive instincts.
Today we are reminded that by his death Christ has freed us. Let us not give into our fears and make ourselves slaves again.
The first reading today reminds us "that through death he(Jesus) might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life."
True freedom from the Christian perspective is something more than other people letting me do what I want, but a freedom that is rooted at the core of our being. Freedom from those fears that lead us to do things we know are wrong, the fears that reach their pentacle in fear of death.
The Letter to the Hebrews understands that some of our worst choices have been and are those choices that we make in moments of fear. When we are afraid we can tend to push our Christianity to the back of our mind, and react from our most primitive instincts.
Today we are reminded that by his death Christ has freed us. Let us not give into our fears and make ourselves slaves again.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A single point of origin
The first readings for weekday masses of ordinary time are arranged in what is called "lectio continuo"(continuous reading); that is to say, we read our way through various books of the bible. These first weeks ordinary time this year we are reading the Letter to the Hebrews. It is worth noting that it is not called the Letter of Paul to the Hebrews.
Today we are reminded of the foundational truth in our understanding of how the world is constructed. "He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin."
It seems that we must constantly struggle against the centrifugal forces in ourselves and our world that seek to fracture that original unity.
It is a truth that we know in our inmost being but still find hard to keep in the forefront of our minds in our daily decision-making.
Tragedies like Tucson help for a while, but it is only by deliberate choice that we turn a moment of unity into a lifestyle.
Monday, January 10, 2011
A proper response
Today we begin Ordinary Time still dealing with extraordinary events. Who among us is not still trying to make sense of the events of the weekend?
It is truly providential that the gospel for today is Mark's recounting of the beginning of Jesus's preaching. Mark links the preaching of Jesus to the arrest of John, "After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God."
We can forget the familial relationship of Jesus and John. We can forget how frightening it would have been for the entire family to have a loved one arrested in that world. We need to remember these things to understand the extraordinary response of Jesus.
He did not come out preaching hell-fire and brimstone. The arrest of John meant for Jesus it was time to proclaim the Good News, it was a time of fulfillment. He called for two things: metanoia and pistis.
While metamorphosis is the physically changing of a being, metanoia is a changing of the mind, a change of heart. Jesus would call for people to reexamine their most fundamental beliefs.
The second response Jesus calls for "pistis" is usually translated as faith. The word comes from the root verb to persuade, to be persuaded, to trust. It reflects a personal relationship with the speaker, a willingness to trust what Jesus is saying even when it doesn't fit with the listeners preconceived notions.
We see how Jesus responded to the arrest of John, perhaps he shows us how we should respond.
It is truly providential that the gospel for today is Mark's recounting of the beginning of Jesus's preaching. Mark links the preaching of Jesus to the arrest of John, "After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God."
We can forget the familial relationship of Jesus and John. We can forget how frightening it would have been for the entire family to have a loved one arrested in that world. We need to remember these things to understand the extraordinary response of Jesus.
He did not come out preaching hell-fire and brimstone. The arrest of John meant for Jesus it was time to proclaim the Good News, it was a time of fulfillment. He called for two things: metanoia and pistis.
While metamorphosis is the physically changing of a being, metanoia is a changing of the mind, a change of heart. Jesus would call for people to reexamine their most fundamental beliefs.
The second response Jesus calls for "pistis" is usually translated as faith. The word comes from the root verb to persuade, to be persuaded, to trust. It reflects a personal relationship with the speaker, a willingness to trust what Jesus is saying even when it doesn't fit with the listeners preconceived notions.
We see how Jesus responded to the arrest of John, perhaps he shows us how we should respond.
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