A Time before Division

We can become so accustomed to our current situation that we can forget that it was not always thus, nor is it what should be. John's Gospel tells us that at the center of Jesus's prayer before his crucifixion was he petition that the Church would continue to be one. The fracture that we see today into an almost countless array of "denominations" and even some who claim to be "non-denominational" is not what Jesus intended.

The saints we remember today Basil and Gregory take us back to a time when we were actually "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic." The Cappadocian Fathers as they are collectively known: Basil of Caesarea, his younger brother Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nanzianzus (Bishop of Constantinople), remind us of the years when Christian Theology grew from a mere off-shoot of Judaism into the Christianity that would spread around the world.

The Trinity, the Creed, monastic life, and so much more was shaped by these men from the area of modern day Turkey where St. Paul carried out much of his missionary activity.  These three could take on the intellectuals of their time and argue the truth of the Christian Faith.

They also remind us that for us to properly understand our faith, it is not enough of us to simply read the Bible. We need also to read the writings of the Fathers of the Church, so that we might understand, and properly interpret what we read. We must ask not only what does the Bible say (chapter and verse) but how did the early Christians understand it. What did those closest to the writers believe it meant.Otherwise, we run the risk of finding in the Bible only what we want it to say, and not what it says that challenges our way of thinking.

As we start this new year, as we remember Sts. Basil and Gregory, let us pray that in this Year of Mercy, the Church will move closer to the unity that Christ intended and that each of us will commit ourselves to a deeper understanding of our faith.

49th World Day of Peace

Today we not only celebrate the Octave of Christmas, and Mary the Mother of God, but today is also the 49th World Day of Peace. Pope Francis proclaimed the theme as "overcome indifference and win peace."

The first part is hard for us to hear but true. One of the great myths that is constantly proclaimed his how much money we give other countries. About 1% of the US Budget is non-military/economic aid. But it is not all about money.

Indifference is a lack of concern.  Justin Bieber or any Karidasian gets more news coverage than the suffering of people on the entire continent of Africa.  And as for the Middle East, except for the concern over who might attack us, what do we really care?  How much do we really care about the number of Muslims killed by ISIS?

These are harsh question, but on this first day of the New Year the Holy Father challenges each of us to look into our hearts focused specifically on that particular sin of omission called indifference. How much does my genuine concern extend beyond myself, my friends, my city, my country?

There was an old bumper sticker "If you want peace, work for justice." Today we have to one step further back, "If you want peace, overcome indifference"

a matter of principle

Today the Church celebrates probably the most renounced martyr in the English speaking world. Thomas Becket who on this day in 1170 was murdered at Cantebury. Many books and movies recount the events leading up to his murder, but little attention is paid to his beginnings.

We Catholics can forget that seminaries as we know them arose out of the reforms of the Council of Trent in the 16th century. Until that time education leading to ordination was varied and would have often resembled apprenticeship.

Thomas's father was a propertied man who fell on hard times and so Thomas ended up a clerk. It was from the position of clerk in the household of the Archbishop of Cantebury that he rose to position of Archbishop himself. What makes Thomas a great model is that while many rise from obscurity to power by doing whatever it takes to ingratiate themselves with the powerful, Thomas never abandoned his principles. And ultimately, those principles costed him his life.

Today we hear many an intransigent voice claiming that they are holding to their principles. One question: are they the principles of the gospel? Let us never forget that Thomas Becket died not defending his own principles. Thomas Becket died defending the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If I call myself Christian, then the principles I call mine, should in reality not be something of my creation, desire or volition, but should be those principles handed down generation after generation by the Church, received from her founder whose incarnation we celebrate in this Chirstmas Season.

Innocence and Innocents

In the second chapter of St. Matthew's gospel we hear how

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.

Today we commemorate those children whom we believe are part of the company of saints in heaven.
Were they baptized with water? No.
Are they considered Christians. Yes.
Not only are they considered Christians but martyrs.
Doesn't a person have to choose to be a martyr, you may ask.
Here is where some of my protestant brothers and sisters confuse me. On the one hand they will claim that "sola gratis" grace alone saves one without works. On the other hand they will argue that infants should not be baptized because the person must profess Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.  Which is it? For us it is God's grace and as the Catechism says, "The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism."( CCC 1250) The infant can do absolutely nothing and yet God's grace can work in them.

Here we must also make sure we do not confuse the stain of original sin and personal sin.  Before the age of reason (presumably 7 years old) we consider a person to be an infant, incapable of personal sin and in particular moral sin. Do they have the  "inclination towards evil and death" which we call original sin? Yes. And even in toddlers we see this tendency toward selfishness, but it is not that personal sin, by which we separate ourselves from God.

In that sense all children from the moment they are conceived until they reach the use of reason are considered innocents.  And should they die even without baptism, we trust that through God's grace and mercy they will be received into the company of the saints.  One need only look at our funeral rites to see our theology.

At the funeral of an unbaptized child the priest says:
All things are of your making, all creation awaits they day of salvation. We now must entrust the soul of this child  to the abundant mercy of God that our beloved child may find a home in his kingdom. 

Notice that we call him or her "our child." The child belongs only to the parents but to the Church.

Today is not only the day we remember the Holy Innocents from two millennia ago, but today we remember all the families who mourn. We pause and remember all of the innocents who have died in this year through abortion, miscarriage, or the myriad other ways that parents suffer the loss of a child.  As painful as that lose is, we live in the hope that we will one day be reunited with each and every one of  these holy innocents in the company of the saints, in the fulness of the Kingdom of God.

Returning to our roots

Sadly, if you google protomartyr you get a punk band and not the saint we celebrate today, was is in fact the Protomartyr of Christianity, the first after Jesus to give his life in witness to his faith, St. Stephen.

The Christmas Season this year runs from December 25-January 10. But the first few days the Church turns our attention away from the frivolous to the seriousness that marked early Christian life. Dec 26- St. Stephen, 27-St. John, 28-Holy Innocents, 29-Thomas Becket.

Reading the story of St. Stephen one is also struck by how the conflicts of the early church continue to this very day.  St. Stephen was one of the original deacons, a ministry established because of ethnic tensions in the church, the Greek Jews vs. the Hebrew Jews. Remember all the early Christians were Jews.

The Hebrews saw themselves as the originals. The Greeks, while just as much jews, were perceived as come-heres, new arrivals, not really members of the community.  The Greeks believed that they were not being treated fairly and so deacons were chosen from the Greek part of the community to make sure that their widows and orphans were being equally cared for.

Two thousand years later all over the US we are watching this same ethnic tension tear at the very fabric of our parishes. As the Hispanic populations grows, and the founding ethnic groups of various parishes shrink, we are watching the Hebrew vs Greek battle be played out in American churches, as English vs Spanish. Human nature has changed little over 2000 years. You will hear people in both groups try to dress it up but it is nothing more that a struggle for power, a sign of the stain of original sin that remains.

The first martyr was Greek-speaking Jew, not a Hebrew like the Apostles, and the Church went on to become Greek, witness the language of the New Testament. Greek then gave way to Latin in the west, and the cultural center of the Church shifted to Rome. Change is part of the life of the church. 

The question for us is how we chose to respond to these shifts.  As I look at our current conflict I cannot but remember the words of Abraham Lincoln "We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

The better angel of our nature is the Holy Spirit of God that is the same in each of us.  As we remember the first great Greek Jewish Christian, the protomartyr of our faith. Let us focus not on those things that divide us but on the Gospel for which he died. 

Love of God

We all know the two great commandments: love God and love your neighbor. But how do we actually love God? What does God want from us? 

Almost one year ago I was blessed to be at the hospital when a dear friend of mine gave birth to her first child.  For all of the foster children who came through our home that I have changed and fed, rocked and cared for, nothing could compare with the moment I first laid eyes on that little girl, the tiny face and hands, the rest swaddled tightly in a blanket. All of us standing around her were simultaneously filled with awe and in love. 

God could have come into the world in any form he chose. After all, God is GOD. He could have simply appeared as a full grown adult. Much theology as been written on the incarnation and why God became man. But for me there is something very simple in God's choice. In choosing to come into the world as a baby, God showed us the relationship he wants with us. Not one of fear, respect, or admiration like we might have had for our favorite school teacher, but love.  

Perhaps this Christmas season is a time for each of us to stop and reflect on the nature of our relationship with God. What do we feel about God? We know that God loves us. How do we love him in return?

Indestructable

There is actually a mass for December 24th in the morning.  Few people attend it but is it the last mass of the Advent Season.  The gospel is predictably the Canticle of Zachariah, the father of John, the precursor to Jesus.  The second reading is less predictable, at least for most of us. It is taken from 2 Samuel chapter 7.

The storm has calmed around David and his kingdom is finally at peace. It is then decided that God needs a proper dwelling place.  It God who then intervenes and sends a prophesy that he will be the builder of a house, a house for/of David.  David is told that

Your house and your Kingdom shall endure forever before me;your throne shall stand firm forever.

For us Christians this house is the Church, not the building, but the mystical body of Christ. It is our firm faith  that the Church is the fulfillment of this promise made so long ago to David. It is house not build by human hands.

If we look close we see a characteristic that we don't often think about, indestructibility.  God promises that this house shall endure forever, and God's promises are true.  Do we truly believe that the house in indestructible?  Do we trust that promise.  At 20 years of age I embraced the Catholic faith because I came to believe.  Jesus established his house, him Kingdom from the house of David and it will have no end. Even if the people inside the house are determined to tear it apart, to tear it down.  It cannot be done.

In just a few hours Christians around the world will begin to gather to celebrate their vigils of the Incarnation, the Birth of God as man. The cornerstone of the indestructible house.

What role will we play in the year to come? Will we each be good stewards who work to not only maintain but to build up the house? Or will we be saboteurs tearing down our own house from the inside?  It happens.

On this last day of Advent, it is time for us to take one more look around the inside of the house that is our heart, time for one last cleaning, so that it will be a presentable house into which we can bring, the newborn King.