"Hanukking" Christmas

The first candle of Advent

`Hanukking’ Christmas'

(Rededicating Christmas)

November 27, 2011, 1^st Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 64:1-4, 8   1 Corinthians 1:3-9   Mark 13: 33-37

First reading from Isaiah

Oh, that you LORD would tear open the heavens and come down!  The mountains would see you and shake with fear. They would tremble like water boiling over a hot fire. Come and reveal your power to your enemies, and make the nations tremble at your presence! There was a time when you came and did terrifying things that we did not expect; the mountains saw you and shook with fear. No one has ever seen or heard of a God like you, who does such deeds for those who put their hope in him. You LORD are our father. We are like clay, and you are like the potter.

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Glory to you, Lord.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction

New Year’s Day in the Church

Today we liturgically exit Ordinary Time and enter into the Extraordinary Time of Advent in preparation for Christmas 2011. Today is New Year’s Day in the Church. Today we go from liturgical cycle A to cycle B which takes the gospel readings from Evangelist Mark. Today we also change the color of the liturgical vestments from the green of Ordinary Time to purple – the liturgical color for penance.

Skipping the penitential aspect of Advent

Before Vatican II, Advent like Lent was strictly a penitential season which frowned upon all partying, gift-giving and decorating before December 24. After Vatican II, Pope Paul VI in 1969 approved a revised Roman liturgical calendar which characterized Advent as a “season of joyful expectation,” though not denying its penitential dimension. The revised Roman calendar seemed, however, to give us permission to skip the penitential aspect of Advent, and go straightaway to the joy and fun of Christmas. Accordingly, on the Friday after Thanksgiving (November 25  this year), the nation always kicks off the Christmas season with a vengeance: shopping malls are jammed with people in “joyful expectation” of a good bargain, and retailers on “Black Friday” are in “joyful expectation” of a good profit and of being well into “the black." This year some retails, eager to be the first to draw customers on Black Friday, opened their stores on Thanksgiving Day itself!

Hanukkah derailed

Today November 27 we light the first candle of Advent. This year on December 21 the Jewish community will light the first candle on their menorahs (an eight-branch candelabra) to begin the celebration of the feast of Hanukkah. Hanukkah (which means `dedication’) lasts for eight days, and it commemorates the eight-day purification and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, after the Greek tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated it in 161 B.C. The prophet Daniel calls the desecration “the Awful Horror.” (Dan 9:27)  Mark also refers to it. (Mk 13:14) During Hanukkah Jewish households commemorate the eight-day rededication by lighting one candle on the menorah each day for eight days. That gives Hanukkah its other name: “The Feast of Lights.”

The ancient Jewish scholar Johannes Buxtorf II (1599-1664) scolds the Jewish community for having derailed Hanukkah from its original story and inspiration. He berates his fellow-Jews for being mired down in superstition and petty minutiae in their observance of The Feast of Lights. In Synagoga Judaica, chapter 23, Buxtorf writes,

They celebrate Hanukkah today more by eating, drinking and having fun than by giving thanks to God for their victory over the enemy. They prepare a seven branch candlestick and then light one light each day until the eighth night. The candles are not allowed to burn all night long. While they are burning no one is allowed to do any work in the house.  The menorah itself must stand on the right side of the door, not less than ten paces from the ground, and not higher than twenty. And they often hold subtle and futile discussions about how long the lights should burn, who should light them, whether or not it is permitted to light one light with the other, and similar things. In their observance of their Feast of Lights they are so fussy about the outer light, but they are not concerned about the great darkness which abides in their hearts!

Christmas derailed

Like Hanukkah, Christmas too has been derailed from its original story and inspiration, and Buxtorf would also scold Christians as he scolded his Jewish brethren:

They turn the season into an orgy of busyness. They are busy decorating everything with a million lights for their Feast of Lights. They are busy with parties they have to host or attend, with Christmas cards they have to write or answer, and with shopping sprees for gifts they very much want to give themselves, or feel they have to give others. They are busy with trips they want to make, and with visitors to whom they have to show hospitality. They are busy hurrying and scurrying here and there and everywhere, except to the stable where they would find “the reason for the season.” And at the end of the day, they’re glad when their busy Christmas season is over, and they can get back to `normal,’ and breathe a breath of relief.

Christmas derailed at Walmart & Target

On one “Black Friday” Christmas was, indeed, derailed at a Walmart Store. On November 21, 2005, a crowd of 300 shoppers outside a Walmart Supercenter in Ekton, Md., was waiting in “joyful expectation” of getting their hands on a new video Game-player which retailed at “only” 399 dollars. Some had kept a long vigil of 12 hours outside the Supercenter. When a night manager improvised rules and said the Game-player would be sold on a first-come, first-served basis (instead of using a number-system agreed on by the public) all hell broke loose, and a stampede ensued. It took more than 10 policemen to restore order. Later a store official was happy to announce that “No one had been crushed to death.” Someone epitomized the whole scene as “Black Friday and Oink, Oink, Oink!”

On another Black Friday 2008 Christmas was again derailed at a Walmart Store, and someone had, indeed, “been crushed to death!” A frenzied mob of shoppers broke down the doors of a Walmart on Long Island, knocking several employees to the ground, and sending others running for their lives to avoid the horde. When the madness ended, a temporary employee (34-year-old Jdimytai Damour) was dead and four shoppers, including a woman eight-months-pregnant, were injured.

In 2004 Christmas was derailed at Target Stores, when the chain announced its intention to ban the Salvation Army’s kettles and bell-ringing at its stores. A spokeswoman for Target notified the Army of its decision, saying, “We have decided to adopt this policy in order to ensure a distraction-free shopping environment at Christmas.”

What mumbo-jumbo! By “a distraction-free shopping environment at Christmas” did she mean an environment that wouldn’t distract us and our kids from the hot pursuit of ourselves and our self-centered wants? Did she mean an environment that wouldn’t distract us with uncomfortable reminders of other people who (through no fault of their own) are much less fortunate than ourselves?

Dickens’s Christmas Carol – a social commentary

Target’s “distraction-free shopping environment at Christmas” calls to mind Charles Dickens’s Christmas Carol, which is a social commentary about how a nation feels and speaks about its less fortunate people and its Tiny Tims. One day two solicitors come into old Scrooge’s office trying to distract him from his savage self-containment and capitalistic spirit. One of them addressed Scrooge:

At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and the destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundred of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.

When Scrooge cynically asks “Are there no prisons or workhouses to take care of such people?” the gentleman answers,

Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude, a few of us are endeavoring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time because it is a time of all other times when Want is keenly felt and Abundance rejoices.  What shall I put you down for?

When Scrooge replies “Nothing!” and the gentleman asks whether by `nothing’ he means he “wishes to be anonymous,” Scrooge replies: ”I wish to be left alone!”  Scrooge wishes to be left alone like those Target patrons who wanted to be left alone – “free of any distraction,” as they go in hot pursuit of themselves.

Thanksgiving & Christmas right on track

A long email received a few days ago reads:

Late last night, I received a frantic call from my elderly mother whose furnace wouldn't turn on. It was in the lower 30's here in Milwaukee. When I offered to pick her up and have her sleep over at my house until the furnace could be fixed, she declined the offer. She said she had plenty of blankets and that she'd be alright. I immediately contacted a friend who works for a heating business. He said he didn't want her to spend the right without heat. So I picked him up with his tools at his house.

At my mom's place it took him two hours to fix her furnace. (A bee’s nest was not allowing the furnace to start.) He also fixed her fireplace. So she can now use that also to help heat her home. She has a fancy thermostat which a Philadelphia lawyer would have had trouble figuring out. So he also patiently walked her through. My mother asked, “How much do I owe you?” and he quickly replied,”Don't worry about it.” (On the side I had told him that I would take care of the bill.) My mom then gave him a turkey for Thanksgiving. When we got into my car, I asked, “How much do I owe you?”  He said, “Your mom just gave me a Turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, and then he added, “How about 2 gallons of cider?” 2 measly gallons of cider and nothing more for such a greatly appreciated deed!

After I dropped him off at his home I thought about when I was a boy and my mom would call the doctor to come to our house when I was sick. I remember one time my mom (without any cash at the time) asked the doctor to bill her (his fee was $2.00 or $3.00 for a house-visit), and she promised to pay him on payday. And I remember also our family doctor once telling my mom, “Why don't you just make me lunch and we will call it even?” The kindness which my friend, the repairman, showed my mom last night reminded me of times long gone by. After school today, I will get him his cider. It was nice having someone do something so nice for my mom. After last night, I feel there’s still hope for mankind. Steve

That email nostalgically speaks to us of times long gone by, when Thanksgiving and Christmas were right on track.

A season of both penance and joy

Is Advent a season of penance or of joyful expectation? It can be, and should be, a season of both. Liturgical language after Vatican II speaks of `Early Advent’ (the beginning of Advent to Dec. 17) and `Late Advent,’ also called `the Novena of Christmas,’ (Dec. 17 to Dec. 24). Let `Early Advent’ be the penitential part of Advent. Let it be more prayerful, and  do nice things for others -- like fixing an elderly woman’s furnace and charging nothing more than 2 measly gallons of cider. Then let `Late Advent’ be the joyful part of Advent. Being prayerful and doing something nice for one in need will add a very special dimension to your Christmas shopping, partying and gifting. It will add a dimension of joy which won’t leave you when the curtain comes down on the Christmas season, and your video game-player has been broken.

Conclusion

`Hanukking’ Christmas

This isn’t a crusade against the busyness of the Christmas: the hurrying and scurrying, the buying and selling, the giving and receiving of gifts. Some of us have outgrown that crusade of our younger days. We’ve come to realize that many people make a good substantial part of their income at this festive time of the rolling year. Nor is this a crusade against the merriment of the season. Let the bells of Christmas ring. Let the carols of Christmas sing that this is the “happiest time of the year.” Rather this is a crusade for `hanukking’ Christmas -- for rededicating Christmas, and bringing it back to its original inspiration:  an Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

The Title John XXIII Liked Best of All

 “He will sit upon His glorious throne.”

(Mt. 25: 31)

The Title John XXIII Liked Best of All

November 20, 2011, Feast of Christ the King

Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17   I Corinthians 15:20-26, 28    Matthew 25:31-46

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Glory to you, Lord.

The final judgment

Jesus said to his disciples: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit upon His glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before Him. And He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food,  was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you  welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”

Then the righteous will answer Him and say, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You ill or in prison, and visit You?” And the King will say to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for Me.” Then He will say to those on his left, “Depart from Me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, a stranger and you gave Me no welcome, naked and you gave Me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for Me.” Then they will answer and say, “Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to Your needs?” He will answer them, “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for Me.” And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction

A busy November calendar

The November calendar is busy. This Sunday November 20 is the 34^th and last Sunday of Ordinary Time. With this Sunday we arrive at the end of the Church’s liturgical year. After celebrating all the feasts of Our Lord and His saints through 52 weeks, the Church today crowns her fast-departing old year with a feast in honor of Christ the King.

Then this Thursday November 24 we celebrate Thanksgiving – the nation’s favorite feast. It is also our purest feast. Unlike Christmas and Easter which have gone astray, Thanksgiving has remained faithful to an original inspiration: giving thanks for an abundant harvest, and for family. Thanksgiving still sends us hastening “Over the river and through the woods to Grandfather's house we go.” At Thanksgiving sons and daughters, brothers and sisters (scattered all over the country) crowd the airways, the byways and highways, as they hurry home (from which they at one time couldn’t break loose fast enough). They hurry home, bringing no other gift than themselves.

An image that “can easily get in the way”

The feast of Christ the King was instituted as recently as 1925 by Pope Pius XI.[1] He was battling with various kings. He was fighting anticlericalism in Mexico, and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. In his own backyard, he was quarreling with the Italian State which had wrested Italy back from the popes. The newly instituted feast seemed to say: “We have a King who is greater than all your kings. He is Jesus of Nazareth -- the ‘King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.’” (Rev 19: 26)

But that great bishop of Saginaw, MI, Kenneth Untener (1937-2004) wondered whether the institution of the feast of Christ the King was perhaps a mistake.”Pope Pius surely meant well,” Untener said, “but the image of `king’ can easily get in the way.”

An endless list of despotic kings

He’s right. History is cluttered with kings who “get in the way.” When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, there was King Herod. He was worried that the new-born King of the Jews would be a threat to his throne, so he slew all baby boys two years and younger. (Mt 2:2-16) Then fast forwarding to the first half of the twentieth century, there was `führer Hitler,’ king of the Master Race. Out of some insane hatred he gassed or starved to death six million Jews in the concentration camps of Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald. On April 29 1945, as the Soviets were closing in on his Berlin bunker where he was hiding, he married Eva Braun, and the very next day, April 30, both committed suicide.

In the second half of the twentieth century, there was king Saddam Hussein of Iraq who lived in eight palaces! He filled the city dumps with the remains of people who didn’t want him as king. After American soldiers found him also hiding -- in a hole near a farmhouse, he was brought to justice, found guilty of killing 48 Iraqi Shiites, and was hanged on 30 December 2006.

Then in these last days there was king Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, who always bedecked himself with robes befitting a king. But behind a showy facade there lurked a brutal cynic who ruthlessly ruled Libya for 42 years. Libyans finally rose up against this tyrant. On 20 October 2011 they found him also hiding - inside a concrete drain pipe, and they killed him.

And now there is king Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who is presently being confronted by his people who do not want him as their king any longer. Al-Assad blames the uprising on “foreign intervention,” and he threatens “an earthquake that would burn the whole region,” if his subjects don’t behave. Finally there is king Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who threatens to wipe Israel off the map. History records an endless list of despotic kings.

A superfluous feast?

It seems this late November feast of Christ the King is superfluous. Already in early spring, there is a feast honoring Christ as King. On Palm Sunday the Church cries out, "Hosanna to the Son of David!  O King of Israel, hosanna in the highest!" Holy Week seems to be a better context for the kingship of Christ. It sets Jesus upon an ass and not upon a throne. It places a palm branch in his hand and not a scepter. It plants a wreath of thorns upon his head and not a crown. And the Passion read on Palm Sunday sets the records straight for anyone who wants to build an earthly kingdom for Jesus. "My kingdom,” He says, “is not of this world." (Jn 18:36)

Scripture is clear.

But however we might feel about kings, Scripture is clear: Jesus is a king. He is a king as He comes into the world and as He leaves it. At His conception the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that the Lord God would give to the Son born of her the throne of David, His father, and His kingdom would have no end. (Lk 1:33)  At His trial Pontius Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you a king?” He answers, “Yes, for this I was born, and for this I came into the world.” (Jn 18:37)  Accordingly, a gang of Roman soldiers concocted a crown of thorns and pressed it down on His head. (Mt 27:29)  Then they nailed Him to a cross, and overhead hung an inscription written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

Who serves is king

But He who told Pontius Pilate that He was indeed a king (Mt. 27: 11) also told His disciples that He was a brand new kind of king – one who came not to be served (as kings are served) but to serve.”(Mt 20:28)  Jesus does the unthinkable: He weds kingship with selfless service: the one who serves is, indeed, is a king. 

Fr. Damien de Veuster (1840 – l889),[2] a Belgium priest, served the spiritual needs of lepers on the island of Molokai in the Hawaiian chain, and he himself contracted leprosy and died. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India (1910-1997)[3] served the spiritual and physical needs of the `untouchables’ dying in the streets of Calcutta. Teams of medical personnel served the needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina,  bringing their equipment and expertise to set up hospitals and emergency facilities. Doctors Without Borders serve the needs of the Doctors Without Bordepoor and ill of foreign countries, asking nothing for their life-saving services. Bill Gates of Microsoft, the world's richest man, by donating $10,000,000,000 serves the needs of people suffering from AIDS and other diseases, especially in Africa.

All of them are kings, for whoever serves is a king.

A pope who served

This coming Thursday, November 25, is the birthday of Good Pope John XXIII. He was born poor like Jesus in 1881 in a little Italian village called Bergamo Sotto il Monte (Bergamo at the Foot of the Mountain). Though born at the foot of the hill, he made it to the top. On October 28, 1958, upon the death of Pope Pius XII on  October 9, 1958, at Castel Gandolfo, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli was elected pope and took the name of John XXIII.

On November 4, the day of his coronation, a three-tiered crown was placed upon his head. In his homily that day the new pope said that he had in mind for his pontificate the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served as kings are served but to serve. (Mt 20:28) The next day after his coronation, John launched off his pontificate, which he promised would be one of service. In a papal auto he sped off through elaborate Vatican gates to visit aging brother priests in nursing homes, and yes, inmates in the nearby Regina Coeli Prison along the Tiber. He told them: “I come to you, because you couldn’t come to me.”

At the end of the day, it was really Good Pope John who put an end to the crowning of popes. It is true that after John died, Pope Paul VI was, indeed, crowned, but after the powerful example of John, Paul’s coronation fell quite flat. He sold his crown (the gift of the people of Florence) and gave the money to the poor. That was the end of the crowning of popes: John Paul I and II and Benedict XVI were not `crowned;’ they were `inaugurated.’

Conclusion

The title John XXIII liked best of all

The pope has a whole slew of official and impressive titles: He is Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, (and last but not least) Servant of the Servants of God.

As Good Pope John lay dying on June 3, 1963, it is no exaggeration to say that whole world was kneeling at his bedside. (Some of us senior        citizens vividly remember that day.) The world was at his beside because it remembered how John, Bishop of Rome, visited inmates in a prison and elderly brother priests in a nursing home the very next day after his coronation. The world was at his bedside because it remembered how John, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, during his first Holy Thursday Liturgy as pope in 1959, stunned the universal Church as he girded himself with a towel and bent down to wash the feet of 13 young priests. That foot-washing rite called the `Mandatum’ had fallen into disuse for centuries, and that disuse itself was symptomatic. By reviving the ancient rite of foot-washing Good Pope John wanted to tell us that his future pontificate would serve the People of God, and that of his many papal titles the one he liked best of all was: Servant of the Servants of God.

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[1] In his encyclical Quas Primas (December 11, 1925) Pope Pius XI promulgated the Feast of Christ the King.

[2] Pope Benedict XVI  canonized Fr. Damien  on Sunday October 11, 2009.

[3] Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa on Sunday October 19, 2003.

"A Great Cloud of Witnesses"

  

 “Out of fear I went out and hid your gold in the ground.”

(Mt. 25:25)

“A Great Cloud of Witnesses”

(Heb 12:1)

November 13, 2011, 33^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31    Thess. 5:1-6    Matthew 25:14-30

First reading from Proverbs

A good wife is hard to find, and she’s worth more than a whole string of pearls. Her husband puts his confidence in her, and knows he’ll never be poor. She does him only good and never any harm.  She buys wool and flax and works with loving hands. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle. She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy. Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Reward her labors, and may her works praise her at the city gates.

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Glory to you, Lord.

The Parable of the Bags of Gold

Again the kingdom of Heaven can be likened to a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.  To one he gave five bags of gold[1], to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.  The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more.  So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I’ve gained five more.” His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” The man with two bags of gold also came. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with two bags of gold. See, I’ve gained two more.” His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

Then the man who had received one bag[2] of gold came.”‘Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So out of fear I went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?  Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.  So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For the man who uses well what he is given shall be given more, and he shall have abundance. But from the man who is unfaithful even the little that he has shall be taken from him.  And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

A momentary lull

Here we are in the middle of November. It's a momentaryt lull before a very busy calendar: Thanksgiving on the 24th, the feast of Blessed Pope John XXIII on the 25th, and the beginning of Advent on the 27th in preparation for Christmas 2011. It's that time of "the rolling years."

A mutilated 1^st reading

In the first reading from Proverbs 31 a man has made `a great catch’ in the wife he married.  She’s worth more to him than a whole string of pearls. She brings him only good and no evil.  She obtains wool and flax and makes cloth with skillful hands. She plies her fingers at the spindle and reaches out her hands to the poor and needy. What a lucky man he is to have married such a veritable domestic diva!

The first reading from Proverbs, however, sells the good woman quite short. That reading has been mutilated by an editor who has chosen (purposely?) some verses and left out others. Behold how mutilated the first reading is: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31).  Hmmm! We wonder about the editor’s motives as he picked some verses and omitted others. Did some fear, at least subliminal, guide his picking and choosing? Here are the verses he left out:

Vs 14: “ Like merchant ships, the wife secures her provisions from afar.” Vs. 15: “She gets up while it is still dark, giving her household their food, giving orders to her serving girls.” Vs. 16: ”She picks out a field to purchase; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.” Vs. 18: ”She knows the value of everything she makes and works late into the night.” Vs. 22:  “She makes her own bedspreads and wears clothes of fine purple linen.” Vs. 24: “She makes garments and sells them, and stocks the merchants with belts.” Vs. 25:  “She is strong and respected, and she can laugh at the days to come.” And vs. 26: “She opens her mouth wisely, and on her tongue is kindly instruction.” 

The passage, when not mutilated, tells why this wife is, indeed, such `a great catch.’ She is not only a domestic diva but also a wonderful enterprising spirit with great managerial skills. That full thought fits well with the Parable of the Bags of Gold: the master was pleased with the enterprising spirit of the two servants who invested his gold and doubled it for him, but he was displeased with the fearful servant who played it safe and buried his master’s gold.

A parable about fear

The focus of the parable about the bags of gold is not on the two servants who invested their master’s gold, but on the one who out of fear did not invest it, but went instead and buried it in the ground. The key to the parable is “out of fear.” “Out of fear I went out and hid your gold in the ground.” It is a parable about always playing it safe and never taking a reasonable risk. It’s a parable about fear, and what happens when we let it take over.

Fear has many faces. Out of fear of the Jewish aauthorities the early disciples were gathered together behind locked doors. (JN 20:19) Out of an irrational fear of Jews, the Nazis went rampaging throughout all of Germany on November 9, 1938 (73 years ago last Wednesday), and in one night destroyed 7000 Jewish businesses, and burned down 191 synagogues. In today's parable, out of fear a servant has buried his master's money instead of investing it. And in today's first reading a male editor of Proverbs, out of some fear (it would be interesting to name it) has chosen to pick and choose, and paint a picture of a 'domestic diva,' instead of a woman with a great enterprising spirit and managerial skills - a woman whom you could easily imagine as being ordained a priest and leading a congregation of the faithful.

An invitation to the Church to not fear and play it safe

The parable invites us as individuals to not play it safe and bury our bag of gold, but to be adventurous, take reasonable risks and invest it. But to what does the parable invite us as Church? Matthew, after all, wasn’t speaking to a group of individuals at a workshop on personal growth; he was addressing a young Church. He was inviting a young Church to put away its fear and not play it safe. If she plays it safe, she will not only not double her Lord’s gift but will also lose it. Matthew was inviting the Church of every age to not fear and play it safe.

Men of the Church who did not fear and play it safe

And there have always been men of the Church who did not fear and play it safe. Former Archbishop of Seattle, Raymond Hunthausen (b.1921) was a great advocate for the poor and the marginalized. He spoke out courageously about controversial issues in the Church, like artificial contraception and homosexuality. He permitted a homosexual group called Dignity to hold its own Mass in his cathedral. “They're Catholics too,” he explained. "They need a place to pray.” Hunthausen obviously chose not to fear and play it safe; some parishioners in Seattle managed to have Rome strip him of some of his episcopal authority, “because his lack of clarity about certain issues has confused the faithful.”

The year 1993 was the twenty-fifth anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical letter Humanae vitae (1968) reaffirming the Church's stand against artificial birth control. Bishop Kenneth Untener of Saginaw, Michigan (1937- 2004) courageously took the occasion to invite the Church to a new and open discussion on birth control. Untener obviously chose not to fear and play it safe; his `audacious’ invitation to reopen the issue of birth control was soundly rejected by the Vatican, and Untener died a simple Bishop and not an Archbishop or a Cardinal of the Church.

Bishop Thomas John Gumbleton (b. 1930) of the Archdiocese of Detroit openly claimed that many bishops don’t believe that every contraceptive act is intrinsically evil, but they aren’t willing to say it publicly.[3] And though Pope John Paul II took a definitive stand against the ordination of women, Gumbleton predicted that “Priestesses will inevitably come.” He pointed out that “Already, female parochial administrators are proving their competency and laying the groundwork for the ordination of women,” Gumbleton obviously chose not to fear and play it safe; when he petitioned Rome for permission to stay on as bishop beyond his 75^th year, (the canonical age for retirement) though still in good health, his petition was refused with e-mail speed!

A Pope who chose not to fear and play it safe

Out of fear of the Protestant Revolution of the 16^th century, the Church summoned the Council of Trent (1545-1563). Out of fear, Trent put the teachings of faith safely into deep freeze and locked them all up in prisons of certainty. (That’s not so much a criticism as it is a simple statement of the `Law of Action and Reaction.’) The fear-founded certainty of Trent lasted for four hundred years, and many of us were raised on it. But fear, four hundred years old, was bound to lose its edge and die of old age.

Much of fear’s edge had already been lost by the time the Patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected pope in 1958, following the death of Pope Pius XII. Roncalli’s election to the papacy surprised the man himself, for he had arrived in the Vatican for the papal election with a return train ticket to Venice! The new pope was 77 years old when elected, and it was widely assumed that he would play it safe - that he would be an interim caretaker pope who would maintain the status quo, listen to the advisers around him, and not rock the Boat of Peter. It was assumed that the old man would not disturb the `peace’ of the Church (which was not really the `kiss of peace’). The old man surprised everyone when he chose not to fear and play it safe, but chose instead to courageously summon  his Church to the Second Vatican Council.

Conclusion

A great cloud of witnesses

Out of some subliminal fear the pick-and-choosing editor of the first reading from Proverb chose to hide the enterprising spirit and great managerial skills of that `good wife’ and `great catch.’ Out of a fear of his hard master (who harvests where he has not sown and gathers where he has not scattered seed) the servant chose to hide his one bag of gold. On the other hand, great church men like Hunthausen, Untener, Gumbleton and Good Pope John chose not to fear and play it safe. What Australian writer Morris West (1916-1999)[4] wrote of Good Pope John in A View from the Ridge he would have written of all these great church men who chose not to fear and play it safe.

I believe I can say with certainty that I remained in communion with the Church even when the Church itself excluded me[5], and I remain there still, principally because of the presence of John XXIII, the Good Pastor, whom I never met, though I did meet his predecessor and his successor. Goodness went out from this man to me. I acknowledged it then. I acknowledge it again.

Many feel the same as Morris West did. Many joyfully and hopefully remain in the Church because of a great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1) who did not fear and play it safe – witnesses like Hunthausen, Untener, Gumbleton and Good Pope John.

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[1] The New English Bible translation speaks of “bags of gold” in the place of “talents” used by  many other translations.

[2] In today’s computation the 5 bags of gold would be 6.8 million dollars. The 2 bags of gold would be 2.7 million dollars. And the 1 bag of gold would be 1.35 million dollars, and that too is by no means a small amount. 

[3] America magazine (Nov. 20, 1963)

[4] West is best known for  his books The Devil’s Advocate and The Shoes of the Fisherman

[5] Though West was and always remained a Catholic, his various writings contain a good deal of criticism about the church, and the church was not always pleased with him.