"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you"

The Annunciation by Michelangelo Caravaggio, 1608

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

 Lk 1:28

“Conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit,

and born of the Virgin Mary”

Creed at Mass

December 18, 2011, 4^th Sunday of Advent

II Samuel 7:1-5   Romans 16:25-27   Luke 1:26-38

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Glory to you, Lord.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth, with a message for a girl promised in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. The girl’s name was Mary. The angel approached her and said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled by the angel’s, message, and she wondered what his words meant. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David His father, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end!”

 But Mary said to the angel, “I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?”The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the Child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. Furthermore, six months ago your Aunt Elizabeth (called `the barren one’) became pregnant in her old age. For nothing is impossible with God.” Mary answered, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” And then the angel disappeared.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
----------------

Introduction

The season to light candles

Today December 18, 2011, is the fourth and last Sunday of Advent. Today, the Christian community lights the fourth candle on the Advent wreath.  Wednesday December 21 is the first day of Hanukkah, when the Jewish community lights the first of the eight candles of the menorah candelabra. Then Thursday December 22 will be the first day of winter. The Old Farmers' Almanac shows the period between December 17 and 25 as the darkest of the year. Those days have fifteen long hours of darkness and only nine short hours of light. No wonder this is the season to light candles

Late Advent’s specialty: telling stories

The second part of Advent (called Late Advent or the Novena of Christmas) began yesterday, December 17. The scripture readings for Late Advent specialize in what Christmas does best: they tell stories. They tell the story of the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she would conceive of the Holy Spirit. (Lk 1:26-38) They tell the story of Mary hurrying over hill country to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who needs help in her pregnancy. (Lk 1:39-45) They tell the story of Mary and Joseph not finding any room in an inn, and their seeking refuge in a stable where Mary gives birth to Jesus. (Lk 2:1-7) They tell the story of an angel announcing tidings of great joy to shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, and their finding an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. (Lk 2:8-20) 

`Virginal conception’ doesn’t fly well

At Mass on this fourth and last Sunday of Advent (Cycle B), Dec. 18, 2011, we tell the story of the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary her virginal conception of Jesus. The angel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon her, and the power of the Most High will overshadow her, and the child born of her will be called the Son of God. (Lk 1:35) Then at Mass on Dec. 24 (the Vigil of Christmas), we tell the story of an angel announcing Mary’s pregnancy to Joseph, and that takes him totally by surprise. (M 1:18-20)

The story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus doesn’t fly well in our culture, where breasts are bared and bursting, and where torsos are twisting and turning, on TV all day long. Such a culture dismisses the virginal conception of Jesus as not very serious, or as quite incomprehensible, or even as offensive to human nature.

That being so, how in the world can we tell our young ones (without tongue-in-cheek) the Christmas story of Mary virginally conceiving Jesus? How is it possible to tell them the story in such a way as not to sound incomprehensible or offensive? Not only that, but also and especially, how is it possible to tell the story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus to this generation (and also to ourselves) in such a way as to suffuse it with religious meaning? That’s a task that is long overdue. 

A positive statement about Jesus

As Catholics for centuries recited the Creed at Mass, which proclaims that Jesus was “conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary,” down deep in their heart of hearts, they always felt that that was a kind of negative statement about sex. It is not, and it cannot be, a negative statement about sex. It does not say, and it cannot say, that when the Son of God came into the world, it was below His dignity to be conceived in the very same way that all other babies are conceived. That would be an affront to every mother and father who bring a child into the world! Sex is not dirty! When He comes into the world Jesus doesn’t need to be protected from being `naturally conceived’. The story of the virginal conception of Jesus is not a negative statement about sex. Rather it is a positive statement about Jesus; the story wants to say that Jesus is much more than the gift of Joseph and Mary to us. He is, especially and above all, the gift of the heavenly Father to us.

A positive statement about woman

The story of the virginal conception is also a positive statement about woman. When the Novena of Christmas began yesterday December 17, the gospel opened with that long male-ridden genealogy from Matthew:

This is the family record of Jesus Chr4ist who was a descendent of David, who was a descendant of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.  And Judah begot Perez and Zerah.

The genealogy then continues through an endless  litany of 42 generations of men begetting sons! (It’s so endless and boring that the celebrant at Mass is permitted to cut it short.)Who in the world ever heard of `men begetting babies!’ That male-ridden genealogy finally comes to a screeching halt with these words:

And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and it was of her [not of Joseph] that Jesus who is called the Christ was born. (Mt 1:1-16)

 With one powerful stroke the story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus puts an ax to the quiet lie that lines up only men behind the great moments of history. Behind an event which divides time into B.C. and A.D., there stands no man at all--only a woman. Upon the most momentous page of history a woman (and not a man) puts her signature. That’s not a feminist statement; it’s a Christmas statement.

A positive statement about man

The story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is also a positive statement about Joseph; he steps aside and resigns his sexual prowess. He does so in order to let the message shine through that Jesus is not just his gift to us; He is above all the gift of the Father in heaven. Stepping aside is a big order for men who do not resign power and position easily, and who like to be on center-stage. Mary, not Joseph is center-staged in the Christmas drama. At the end of the day, men’s yen for center stage is the real but unspoken reason why women never get ordained in the Catholic Church (except by an act of disobedience). Joseph is a model for a male-ridden society and Church.

Conclusion

Born of the virgin Mary

We can defend with all our might the story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus, as a miracle, but if we haven’t also discovered its religious meaning, we haven’t defended much at all. At the end of the day, the story says that Jesus is more than Joseph and Mary’s gift to us; He is especially and above all the heavenly Father’s gift. The story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus also puts an end to all male-ridden genealogies, and calls attention to women’s place in human history. Finally, the story paints Joseph as an exceptional man, doing what men don’t like to do – stepping aside and giving up center stage. When we have found the positive meaning of the story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus, it will no longer be incomprehensible or offensive, but will, in fact, be full of light, as we recite in the creed “Conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.”

The Rose Color Candle Burns Brightly for Those Who Weep

The Rose Color Candle Burns Brightly for Those Who Weep

Dec. 11, 2011 3rd Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 61: 1-2, 10-11       I Thessalonians 5:16-24    John 1:6-8,19-23 

Rejoice always

Brothers and sisters: Rejoice always. Pray at all times. Be thankful in all circumstances . This is what God wants of you, in your life in Christ Jesus. Do not  restrain the Holy Spirit; do not despise inspired messages. Put all things to the test: keep what is good, and avoid evil of every kind.

May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way, and keep your whole being (spirit, soul, and body) free from  all fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you will do it, because He is faithful

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Glory to you, Lord.

A man named John was sent from God. He came to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.  And this is the testimony of John. When the Jewish authorities from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to  ask John whether he claimed to be the Messiah, he denied it flatly. “I am not the Christ,” he  said.“Well, then,  who are you,” they asked. “Are you Elijah?” “No,”  he  replied. “Are you the Prophet?” “No.” “Then who are you? Tell us, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?" John answered: "I am the voice of one  in the desert, shouting as Isaiah prophesied, `Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
----------------

Introduction

Gaudete Sunday

Today, Sunday December 11, is the 3^rd  Sunday of Advent and is called Gaudete Sunday, because the opening words of the old Latin Mass for this Sunday was ”Gaudete!” “Rejoice!” Then this coming Friday, December 17, Late Advent or the Novena of Christmas begins. Before we know it, it’ll be Christmas Day.

3^rd Sunday of Advent – the note of joy

The readings at Mass on the 3^rd  Sunday of Advent  in all three liturgical cycles of A, B and C  strike the note of joy. In last year’s cycle A, the prophet Isaiah promises that, “The desert will rejoice and flowers will bloom in the wastelands.” (Is 35:1) In next year’s cycle C, the prophet Zephaniah exhorts the people to, "Rejoice, exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!”(Zeph. 3:14)  In this year’s cycle B,  St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians in the second reading to, “Rejoice always. Pray at all times. Be thankful in all circumstances.” (I Thess 5:16-18)

The opening verse (called the Introit) of the old Latin Mass for the 3^rd  Sunday of Advent was Paul’s command to the Philippians: “Gaudete in Domino semper! Iterum dico gaudete! Dominus enim prope est! “Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say rejoice! For the Lord is near.” (Phil. 4:4-5) Because of that opening verse,  the 3^rd Sunday of Advent was  called Gaudete Sunday. And, the  3^rd candle on the Advent wreathe was rose color (instead of penitential purple), because rose is the color of joy.

In the old  days, however, when Advent was heavily penitential like Lent, we were rejoicing on the 3^rd Sunday of Advent not so much because “the Lord was near,” but because Christmas Eve had finally arrived. The penance of Advent was finally over, and we  at last were enjoying the glories and goodies of the Christmas season. 

A command to rejoice?

Gaudete is the command form of the Latin verb to rejoice. The 3^rd Sunday of Advent, with its rose color candle burning brightly commands us to rejoice. What in the world does a command to rejoice  mean? When things are going along really well, no one needs to be commanded to rejoice; that comes automatically and easily.

On the other hand, when things are going along really badly, how in the world can one be commanded to rejoice? How can one be commanded to rejoice when he has just received a very chilling verdict of cancer from his doctor? How can my dear friend Mary be commanded to rejoice, when she has just lost her very beloved partner Bill of 55 years? How can one be commanded to  rejoice, when he has just made a terribly irretrievable mistake  or has just been  plunged into deep grief by some senseless tragedy? How can one  be commanded to rejoice at this Christmas  season, when he is one of the 8.6 percent unemployed? Yes even this: how can one be commanded to rejoice, when he has had to put down his beloved dog – that creature which showed an unconditional love --  of which very few humans are capable.

Rejoice! - a command to the unfortunate

Strange to say, the Gaudete command (the rejoice command) of the 3^rd Sunday of Advent is addressed precisely to those for whom things are going very poorly. It’s not addressed to those who are blessed with good luck, good health, faithful friends, and sufficient means for comfortable living. Such fortunate people need no command to rejoice. It’s the unfortunate who need the Gaudete command. It was  to refugees crammed into a slum district of Jerusalem that the prophet Zephaniah gave the command to,

Sing and shout for joy, people of Israel!

Rejoice with all your heart, Jerusalem!
(Zeph 3:14)

Similarly, it was Paul sitting in prison and bound with chains, who commanded the Philippians to ”Rejoice in the Lord always.” (Phil 4:4)  Paul was especially commanding himself to rejoice. Considering his prison situation, that command, indeed was a mystical utterance.

Fr. Delp’s mystical experience on Gaudete Sunday

Fr. Alfred Delp S. J., also sitting in prison and bound in chains (and eventually executed by Hitler on February 2, 1945),  was also in a mystical experience when wrote in his prison diary for Gaudete Sunday, 1944:

Is it possible to rejoice in a prison cell (a space of three paces in each direction)? Is it possible to rejoice when your hands are fettered, and your heart is overwhelmed with longings, and your head is filled with problems and worries? Yes, happiness can happen even under these circumstances. I tell you every now and then my heart can scarcely contain the delirious joy that's in it. Suddenly, not knowing why, my spirits soar and there is no doubt in my mind that all the promises hold good. But not always. Sometimes it is due to a wonderful premonition of wonderful things to come. (Prison Meditations )

Conclusion

Rose color candle burning brightly for them

Christmas is sometimes characterized as “ the happiest time of the year.” We should sensitize ourselves, however, to the fact that for many it is the saddest time of the year. The Gaudete command and the rose color candle burning brightly on the 3^rd  Sunday of Advent is not primarily for those who are in a great celebratory mood and are riding high. They need no command to rejoice. The rose color candle does not burn  primarily for them.

For those who have received a chilling report from their doctor, or who have lost a beloved and lifelong partner, or who have had to put down man’s best friend, or who have no paycheck to buy the simple joys of Christmas –for them this is the saddest time of the year. And, strange to say, the Gaudete command of this 3^rd Sunday of Advent  is first and foremost  for them. And the rose color candle of the Advent wreath is burning brightly for them.

$70 Sneakers - Gift of Old St. Nick

$70 Sneakers - Gift of Old St. Nick

December 4, 2011, 2^nd Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9     II Peter 3:8-14     Mark 1:1-8

First reading from Isaiah - a straight path for the Lord

“Comfort my people,” says our God. “Comfort them! Encourage the people of Jerusalem. Tell them they have suffered long enough and their sins are now forgiven.  I have punished them in full for all their sins.”

A voice cries out, “Prepare in the wilderness a straight path for the Lord to travel on! Clear the way in the desert for Him! Fill in every valley and level off every mountain. Turn the hills into a flat plain, and make the rough roads smooth. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind will see it. The Lord himself has promised this.”

Jerusalem, go up on a high mountain and proclaim the good news! Call out with a loud voice, Zion; announce the good news! Speak out and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah that their God is coming!

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Glory to you, Lord.

John - a voice crying in the desert

Here begins the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet:

Behold, I am going to send my messenger ahead of you to prepare the  way for you. He will be a voice crying in the desert, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make a straight path for him to travel on.[1]”

So John appeared in the desert, baptizing people and preaching his message. “Turn away from your sins and be baptized,[2]” he told the people, “and God will forgive your sins.” Everybody from the region of Judea and the city of Jerusalem went out to hear John. They confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River.

John wore clothes made of camel's hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist; he ate locusts and wild honey. He announced to the people, “After me comes One who is mightier than I. I am not good enough even to bend down and untie his sandals. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
----------------

Introduction

St. Nicholas & Pearl Harbor

This Tuesday December 6 is the feast of jolly old St. Nicholas. The story of Santa Claus begins with him. There are so many legends and caricatures of St. Nicholas that it’s hard to believe he was a real person born in AD 270 in the southern coast of Turkey. His parents were wealthy and devout Christians. Obeying the Lord’s injunction to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor" (Mt. 19:21), Nicholas used his inheritance to help the needy and sick. He was made Bishop of Myra, Turkey, while still a young man, and attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. He died on December 6, AD 343 in Myra. A story is told of a poor man with three daughters who had no dowries, and so weren’t marriageable. The legend goes that the needed money mysteriously appeared in their home. Good old St. Nick had stuffed the money into the daughters’ stockings hanging before the fire to dry. That led to the custom of children hanging stockings in front of the fireplace for good old St. Nicholas to fill.

Then on the day after St. Nicholas, December 7, we commemorate Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii, in 1941. The next day after the attack, December 8, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt  in an address to Joint Session of Congress at 12:30.p.m. declared war on Japan. In the very first line of his speech the President spoke those few famous words by which he characterized the horrific attack: “a date which will live in infamy.”

The Advent figure par excellence

John the Baptist is the Advent figure par excellence. He’s always featured in the gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Advent, whether the liturgical cycle is A, B, or C. John is an eccentric figure with his camel shirt and his diet of locusts and honey. Yet people come from near and far to hear him preach, even though he sugar-coats nothing as he preaches repentance. He’s direct and blunt, as when, for example, he tells Herod outright: “It isn’t right for you to marry your brother’s wife!” (Mk 6: 18) That ultimately cost the Baptist his head. (Mk 6:21-29) It’s no surprise then that the Baptist is never featured on Christmas cards. Picture him on the front of a card, clothed with a camel shirt and eating locusts and honey, and then imagine the message inside reading, “Repent, you brood of vipers! Merry Christmas!”

Good imagery

In the first reading from Isaiah a voice cries out, “Prepare the way of the Lord. Fill in the valleys and level off the mountains.” That’s good imagery; it suggests the preparation made for a visit from royalty in the ancient world. In the days leading up to the official visit from the Pharaoh of Egypt, teams of workers were sent out to get the roads in shape. They straightened out sharp curves and leveled off hills. They filled in potholes and cleared away litter, so that the litter carrying the Pharaoh might move on with dispatch.

When the Council of Nicea was held in 360 A.D. near what today is Istanbul, Turkey, bishops from Ireland attended. It took them almost a year to get there, because they had to do it on foot. What’s more, there were no bulldozers to level off the mountains and fill in the valleys. Once the bishops got to Nicea, they stayed for eight or nine months, conversing with other bishops and theologians from across the continent. We who have trains and planes, and perfectly paved super-highways, can appreciate the imagery.

Hastening the day of His coming

On December 17, the Novena of Christmas begins with the first of the great O Antiphons recited at Vespers. The antiphon for the 19^th exclaims, “O Sprout from the stump of Jesse, stop your delaying and come!” All the O Antiphons are filled with Advent impatience, but this one is steeped in it. It seems to cry out, “O Sprout from the stump of Jesse, for God’s sake hasten the day of your coming! What in the world is keeping you?”

A rabbi, haunted by indelible and personal thoughts (and perhaps experiences as well) of the Holocaust, tells us what, indeed, is keeping the Messiah. He writes,

If more people in the world were filled with love, compassion and tolerance, we would hasten the day of the Messiah’s coming. I often kid my synagogue that I visualize the Messiah about to be sent down to the world by G-d, but looking at all the violence, hatred, inhumanity, especially in the name of religion, the Messiah beseeches G-d to delay sending Him down to earth! We either hasten the day of His coming, or we delay it.

A remarkable story

Every year at Christmas, we never tire of telling Charles Dickens’ masterpiece - A Christmas Carol. For weeks now in the Houston, TX, area, a Walt Disney version of A Christmas Carol has been featured on TV a couple times a week. It’s a social commentary about how a nation feels and speaks about its less fortunate people and its Tiny Tims. Every year at Christmas, I never tire of telling a story which like A Christmas Carol is also a masterpiece. It’s a remarkable story about a young man who, despite his very young age and pressure from peers,” leveled off the mountains, filled in the valleys, and hastened the day of the Lord.” That story, too, in its own way is a social commentary.

It happened 27 years ago this coming Tuesday, December 6, 1984 - feast of jolly old St. Nicholas, - famous for his gift-giving. The temperature that day was only l0 degrees above zero in Milwaukee. It was 3:30 in the afternoon. The bus (filled with high school kids) was going west on Wisconsin Ave. It stopped to pick up a woman who was tattered and torn. What’s more, she was pregnant and had no shoes on her feet! Mind you, it was only 10 degrees above zero, and the pregnant woman was barefoot! Some of the kids were laughing at her, while others were simply at a loss about how to respond to such a strange and unexpected situation.

One lad, who was only 14 years old (that age when kids supposedly have no brains in their heads and are utterly selfish), intuitively knew how to respond. When the bus arrived at 124^th and Bluemound Road and the lad was about to get off, a most remarkable and indeed courageous thing happened: the lad’s feet were bare (except for his stockings), and he had his brand new sneakers in his hands, and he approached the barefoot woman, and in front of all his peers (some of whom were snickering) the kid said, “Here, M’am, you need them more than I do!” Then he stepped off into the icy cold winter with only stockings on his feet!

One man writes,

I know the parents of that barefoot boy. He was a student at Marquette High School, and his dad was (is) a hotshot trial lawyer at Q&B. I called him up after reading the story in the newspaper. When I found out it was truly his kid, I told the dad that if his son ever ran for office of any kind, I’d vote for him. I also heard that his mother was really ticked off when he showed up shoeless. The sneakers had been a big purchase of about $70, and the kid had pestered his parents to buy them. The mother’s immediate reaction was anger when he came home shoeless. But her anger didn’t last long; it soon melted, and both his mom and dad were so proud of him they nearly burst. What a story! Great stuff!

 Great stories live on and on

In early December, TV and newspapers are always looking for a really good Christmas story to relieve the bad news of the fast-departing old year—bad news like the Penn. State sex scandal, the persistent 9 percent unemployment plaguing the nation, Democrats and Republicans doing the work of their party instead of the people who put them in office, Black Friday turning red as some Christmas shoppers are bloodied by others rushing to get their hands on a good bargain.

In December of 1984, the Milwaukee Journal was looking for a really good Christmas story to relieve all the bad news of the fast-departing old year. The Journal happily found the story it was looking for, in the barefoot boy who gave away his brand new sneakers to a pregnant and barefooted  woman on the feast of jolly old St. Nick,. The Journal splashed its prized  story, even with a picture of the lad himself, all over its front page for Saturday, December 8. Then the following morning, Sunday, December 9, the story went forth by UPI to the entire nation. Even President Reagan read it and sent the boy a letter of thanks. Then on the 8^th anniversary of the story, the Milwaukee Journal in its Sunday edition of December 20, 1992, called attention to the fact the story had been included in a recently published book entitled Courageous Kids.    

That  kid had filled in the valleys, leveled off the mountains, and revealed the glory of the Lord. All mankind saw the glory of the Lord revealed in this remarkable story as it was told in the Milwaukee Journal, the UPI and  Courageous Kids. And we continue to see the glory of the Lord revealed in it every time we tell the story at this time of  ”the rolling year.” Great stories never die but live on and on. Great stories possess an internal power which compels us to tell them and retell them.

Conclusion

A practitioner of innocence

The name of the courageous kid in this remarkable story is Frank, and his patron saint is the remarkable St. Francis of Assisi. Someone has said of the saint: “He was not a preacher of truth but a practitioner of innocence.” He chatted with the birds of the air. He calmed down the ferocious wolf of Gubbio who was terrifying the local folk. He bent down and kissed lepers, and he did many other `flaky’ things.

The barefoot boy from Milwaukee, like his patron saint, was also a “practitioner of innocence.” He resisted his peers and the prevailing culture which urged him to put away his `flaky’ nonsense, and keep his expensive $70 sneakers snugly tied to his feet, for the long icy path of life that lay before him. If he had kept his sneakers snugly tied to his feet, we would never have heard about Frank; he would have slipped away into anonymity, as did all the other kids on the bus that day. What’s more, if he had kept his sneakers snugly tied to his feet, we would not have a good Christmas story to lighten up the gloom of the fast-departing year of 2011.

---

[1]  Isaiah 40:3

[2] John’s baptism symbolized a desire to be forgiven and be brought back into fellowship with God. .Jesus' baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire brings that about.

The Spirit is a Groovin' for a Vatican III

The Spirit is a Groovin’ for a Vatican III

October 9, 2011, 28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 
   Isaiah 25:6-8   Philippians 4:12-14   Mathew 22:1-10  

First reading: a banquet for all the nations

Here on Mount Zion the Lord Almighty will prepare a banquet for all the nations of the world—a banquet of the richest food and the finest wine. Here He will suddenly remove the cloud of sorrow that has been hanging over all the nations. The sovereign Lord will destroy death forever! He will wipe away the tears from everyone’s eyes and take away the disgrace his people have suffered throughout the world. The Lord Himself has spoken.

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Glory to you, Lord.

A wedding banquet for a son

Jesus again used parables when speaking to the people. The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they did not want to come. Then he sent other servants to tell the invited guests, “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready. So come to the banquet.”  Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of the servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants,”The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the streets and invite to the banquet whomever you find.” The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the wedding banquet was filled with people.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction

The year is rolling on

The last leaves of brown are tumbling down. There’s crispness in the air. The football season has finally arrived to distract us from the sad state of the economy, and to make life worthwhile living again. The stores are already bedecked with the Halloween motif. Even the Christmas season is already popping up on store-shelves. The new year of 2011 has indeed grown old.

The Banquet-theme

The banquet-theme abounds in Sacred Scripture which was written by and for hungry people. When Jesus notices how guests were looking for the best places at a wedding banquet, He tells a parable about the advantage of purposely looking for the lowest place at table, “For whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk 14:7-11) Jesus tells another parable about a loving father who holds a banquet for a prodigal son returning home after a wild fling in a foreign land. (Lk 15: 11-32) When the wine runs out at a wedding banquet in Cana of Galilee, Jesus works a miracle to change tasteless water into the nectar of human celebration. (Jn 2:1-12) The wedding-banquet-theme is painted on the very last pages of the New Testament: an angel says to John, “Write this: Happy are those who have been invited to the wedding banquet of the Lamb.” (Rev. 19: 9)

The invitees’ fault

For Catholics Sunday Mass is the weekly invitation to the wedding banquet of the Lamb. Though all are invited to come weekly, some do not come. Like the invitees in today’s gospel, they’re too busy to come: one has to look over a field he’s just bought, another has to try out five pairs of newly purchased oxen, and a third has just gotten married and can’t come. (Lk 14:15-24) Some of the busyness of life is indeed inevitable. Some of it, however, is of our own choosing.
 
Some don’t come to the Sunday banquet because they’re too stuffed to come. Gorging themselves at the cultural trough, they simply have no yen for Isaiah’s “banquet of the richest food and the finest wine.” The Sunday banquet has to compete with the cultural trough, and that’s a very big job. Either too busy to come or too stuffed to come - in both cases it’s the invitee’s fault, if the banquet fails.

The banquet’s fault

Sometimes, however, it’s the fault of the banquet itself. That's the case when the menu offered is a platter full of out-of-touch reality, pious platitudes, or just pure boredom. Karl Jung, the father of modern psychology, powerfully describes how the day of his very first Holy Communion (which was supposed to be the Banquet of Banquets) had miserably failed him. That day, which he waited for with great expectation, was utterly boring and disappointing.

I waited for the day with eager anticipation, and it finally dawned. There behind the altar stood my father in his familiar robes. He read prayers from the liturgy. On the white cloth covering the altar lay large trays filled with small pieces of bread which came from the local baker whose goods were nothing to brag about. I watched my father eat a piece of the bread and then sip the wine which came from the local tavern. Then he passed the cup to one of the old men.  All were stiff, solemn, and it seemed to me, uninterested. I looked on in suspense, but could not see nor guess whether anything unusual was going on inside the old men. I saw no sadness and no joy. Then came my turn to eat the bread which tasted flat and to sip the wine which tasted sour. After the final prayer the people went out, neither depressed nor illumined with joy, but with faces that said, "Well,  that's that." (Memories, Dreams, Reflections)

Gradually it dawned on Jung that nothing had happened on that very long-anticipated day. It had, in fact, utterly bored him: “Well, that’s that.” When the service was over, he with the majority of the congregation peeled out of the church, happy to get back into the real world. The banquet of his very first Holy Communion had failed him so miserably that it turned out to be the day of his very last Communion; Jung never took Communion again!

Vatican II -- 49 years ago this coming Tuesday

Pope John XXIII was elected in November of 1958, and in January of 1959 he announced his decision to summon the Church to an Ecumenical Council. It took three years to prepare for it. Then on October 11^th 1962 (49 years ago this coming Tuesday) Vatican II opened. Pope John, like the king in the parable, said to the Church, “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready. So come to the banquet.” (Mt. 22:4) 2860 bishops came flocking into Rome and Vatican City from the four corners of the earth to celebrate the bittersweet banquet of Vatican II.

 On the evening of the Council’s opening day, October 11, good Pope John appeared at the window of the papal apartment, in response to the chanting and singing coming from a sea of a half million people assembled in St. Peter’s Square below. The Pope addressed the sea of humanity, saying, “Dear children, I hear your voices.” After expressing in the simplest language his hopes for the Council, he pointed upward towards the moon which was glowing brightly in that late summer night. The moon, he said, was looking down on them, and was watching that great spectacle taking place. Then John added, “Though my voice is a solitary one, it echoes the voice of the whole world, for here the whole world tonight is gathered and represented.” Then he told the throng in the square below, “Now go back home and give your children a kiss, and tell them it’s from Pope John.”

Ecclesia semper reformanda

When the Church was in dire need of reform in the 16th century, it summoned the Council of Trent which lasted for 18 years (1545-1563).


When the Church was again in need of reform in the 20th centuries, Pope John XXIII summoned the Second Vatican Council which lasted for 3 years (1962-1965). Now less than a half-a-century (49 years) after Vatican II, the Church is again in need of reform. That shouldn’t surprise us. The battle cry of the Reformation was “Ecclesia semper reformanda” -- “The Church is always in need of reform.”

In a long letter to Pope Benedict Jesuit Fr. Henri Boulad[1] makes the point that the Church, reformed a little less than a half-a-century ago by Vatican II, is again in need of reform. Boulad writes:

"Religious practice is in constant decline. The churches of Europe and Canada[2] are frequented only by an increasing number of aging people who will soon be gone. Soon there will be nothing left to do but close those churches or transform them into museums, mosques, club houses or municipal libraries - something that’s already under way."

Boulad blames the empty churches partly on the menu offered; it’s simply old hat and very tasteless. He tells Benedict:

"In the matter of morality and ethics, the injunctions of the Magisterium, repeated ad nauseam on marriage, contraception, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, clerical celibacy, divorce and remarriage, etc. touch nobody and only engender weariness and indifference. All these moral and pastoral problems deserve more than preemptory declarations. They deserve an approach that is pastoral, sociological, psychological and humane."

Conclusion

“Dear children, I hear your voices.”

Towards the end of his long letter to Benedict, Boulad suggests the convocation of a general `synod.’ (He doesn’t like the word `council.’) The synod would, in fact, be a `Vatican III.’ It would last for three years, and would courageously listen to the voices of God’s People expressing their needs and hopes for the 21^st century. The synod would then culminate in a  general assembly. Fifty years after Vatican II, Fr. Boulad believes that the semper reformanda Church is again in need of being reformed. For him the Spirit in God’s People is “a groovin’ for a Vatican III.” And Boulad hopes and prays for the day when the Benedict will come to the window of the papal apartment and say to God’s People, ”Dear children, I have heard your voices. Come to the banquet of Vatican III.”

---

[1] Fr. Henri Boulad, an Egyptian Jesuit, is superior of the Jesuits in Alexandria, regional superior of all the Jesuits in Egypt, professor of theology in Cairo, director of Caritas-Egypt, and vice-president of Caritas Internationalis for the Middle East and North Africa.

[2] Boulad rightfully does not say that US churches are empty. They aren’t empty!