09.20.12~Catholic Matters for Sunday, September 23, 2012

SUNDAY READINGS - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time FIRST READING: Wisdom 2:12; 17-20. The ungodly said to themselves: "Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God's son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected." EXPLANATION: On the book of Wisdom, see the thirteenth Sunday of the year. Today's extract describes the "ungodly" as planning to torture some righteous, just man, because he has condemned their mode of living. These "ungodly," as appears from the context, were apostate Jews: there were many such in Egypt where the book of Wisdom was written, and they probably represented to the author the wicked in general. The "righteous," or just man as described here has much in common with the Suffering Servant of God---depicted by Isaiah, especially in the fourth Servant Song: 52:13---53:12. The "ungodly" are going to put him and God to the test. Will God fulfill his promise and stand by his Servant? He...righteous: The ungodly plan to capture the just man. inconvenient...actions: Their reasons are clear. The just man is an embarrassment to them, he condemns their evil deeds. sins...law: He reproaches them for their abandonment of the Law and therefore of God. sins...training: That is, their apostasy from the faith of their fathers. Let...happen: They have heard the just man claim that God is his protector; that he is God's son; that he is very dear to God. They want to put this to the test; will God save him from his adversaries when the climax comes? insult torture...he is: He has claimed to be meek and gentle; insults and tortures will test that meekness; will he bear these tortures and insults with patience and equanimity? condemn...death: It is God whom they are now putting to the test. Will God save his just one from their clutches? They have planned to put this righteous man to a cruel and shameful death---will God save him from it? Naturally, they could see no other alternative. APPLICATION: St. Augustine says: "corruptio optimi pessima"---the best when corrupted becomes the most corrupt. The Jews who abandoned the true God and his law became worse than the pagans who never knew God. They also became the most bitter opponents of the observant Jews. The same holds today: the Christian who abandons his faith, as a general rule becomes a bitter opponent of Christianity---the deserting soldier always condemns his army! When the book of Wisdom was written there were renegade Jews in Egypt, and elsewhere. They despised and hated the God-fearing Jews, because they reminded them of their own apostasy; they would do all in their power to humiliate and exterminate them. When they got one such Jew in their clutches they plotted to jeer at him and mock him saying: "he claimed to be a son of God, let us see if God will deliver him from (us) his adversaries." That this could have happened there can be no doubt, and it may be that it is of some such incident or incidents that the words of Wisdom are to be understood in their literal sense. The similarity of the ideas here expressed with the fourth Song of the Suffering Servant in second-Isaiah (52-53), which refers to Christ are so close that most of the Fathers of the Church saw in these words a typical prophecy giving the reasons for, and the fact of, the sufferings and death of Christ. He was the perfect Jew par excellence. He was an inconvenience and embarrassment to the Scribes and Pharisees and opposed their actions. He reproached them for sins against the law and against the true tradition (see Mk. 7: 1-23 and Gospel for 22nd Sunday). He claimed to be the Son of God: this was the principal charge made against him at his trial (Mk. 14: 61-64). "Let us condemn him to a shameful death," they say, "he will be protected" (by God). While he hung on the cross the passers-by and the chief priests and Scribes jeered him also: "he puts his trust in God," they said : "now let God rescue him if he wants him." For he did say: "I am the Son of God " (Mt. 27: 42-43). While some loyal Jews may have suffered injury and maybe death at the hands of Jewish apostates in Egypt, the words of the author of Wisdom were certainly fulfilled to the letter in Christ, the true Son of God, the perfect loyal Jew. The opposition of the Scribes and Pharisees which was manifest all through his public life and which culminated on Calvary arose from their jealous pride. In their proud estimation of themselves they alone were the true sons of Abraham. They heartily despised the tax-gatherers, the uneducated in the law and human traditions, and those guilty of human failings. All of these were sinners to be avoided at any cost. Christ who came to save sinners associated freely with these people, thus openly "opposing the Pharisees' action", hence their plotting and their final resolve to get rid of him. They thought they had succeeded on Good Friday but Easter Sunday proved how wrong they were. He was indeed the Son of God. Our Lord warned his disciples, and through them all of us, to beware of the leaven---the pride---of the Pharisees. Of all sins pride is the most injurious to the sinner and the most offensive to God. It was the first human sin and the source of all other sins. There is an inclination to pride in all men so we must be on our guard against it. If we try to remember always that everything we are, and everything we have is from God this would remove any cause for pride. If, furthermore, we remember that we are Christians, followers of the humble Christ, we can hardly be tempted, must less yield to the temptation, to be proud; for a proud Christian is a contradiction in terms. If we are Christians we cannot be proud, if we are proud we are no longer Christians. Let us ever strive to imitate, in our own way, him "whose state was divine, but who emptied himself of his divine glory to assume the condition of a slave . . . and, being as all men are, he was humbler yet even to accepting death, death on a cross" (Ph. 2: 6-8). He, Christ, is our leader and model, let us strive daily to follow him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECOND READING: James 3:16-4:3. Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity. And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members? You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. EXPLANATION: St. James, whose whole epistle is one of practical advice to his fellow-Jewish converts on how to live their newly-found Christian faith, has some eminently practical points in today's lesson for all Christians of all races and ages. Christianity is synonymous with unselfishness; we are not individuals in opposition to one another, we are members of the one body cooperating for the good of that body. Between such members there can be no jealousy, no hatred, no fighting, no coveting. Each member will live in peace, in sincerity, in justice, in truthfulness, in active helpfulness with all the other members. This is the rule of life for true Christians. jealousy...ambition: The basic violation of the Christian code is concentration on self to the exclusion of fellow-Christians and fellowman. The Christian who wants his fellowman to prosper will not be jealous if they should so prosper; but the Christian whose first thought is for himself and his own welfare is moved by unchristian selfish ambition which makes him forget, and eventually despise his neighbor. wisdom from above: Selfishness is worldly wisdom in its worst sense, but the wisdom from God---which we have in the Christian law---brings to the man who lives according to it: peace, security, gentleness, sincerity, mercy for all and kind deeds. those...peace: "Blessed are the peacemakers." Those who live according to the Christian code must be men of peace; peace is the fruit of their Christian unselfishness, and by their example and peace among men; and this Christian word they will spread this Christian peace is the nursery of all good works, of all righteousness. what...fightings: St. James pinpoints the cause of all wars and fightings whether they be family feuds, village quarrels, or global confrontations. It is the sinful cupidity, the covetousness on the part of an individual of something which another person has and which he lacks : "You desire and do not have, so you kill." you covet...war: If unchecked this sinful, selfish ambition will and does lead the individual or group to violations of "peace," to war and killing in order to fulfill the unlawful desires. wrongly...passions: They do not seek in vain the necessities of life---such a seeking would be just and fair---but the satisfaction of their "passion," of their covetousness by which they allow themselves to be driven. Their prayer, if it can be called prayer, is unheard by God because their requests are sinful, unjust (see Mt. 7: 7-11 on prayer). APPLICATION: The gospel of Christ is a gospel which preaches peace and harmony between man and God, and between man and man. Christ, the Son of God, who took our human nature made all men adopted sons of God. All men are therefore members of the same family---the family of God. Therefore, they should reverence and honor God their Father at all times and they should respect and love one another as brothers, which they are. Above all others, Christians should put this gospel truth into practice among themselves and then among all men. They know, from Christ's own lips, that love of God and love of neighbor are the two basic essential commands of Christianity. The man who keeps these two commandments keeps the "whole law and the prophets"---the whole of revealed religion. Had Christians done this down through the twenty centuries of Christianity what a different world ours would be today! The vast majority of the peoples of this earth would be Christians. It is a religion, in practice so divine, and yet so rationally human: God, loved and obeyed by a family united in love. This would have convinced all heathens and would have kept Christians closely united and made the rise of agnosticism and atheism impossible. However, there were lax, half-hearted and selfish Christians in the Church from the very beginning. They were there already in St. James' day which was less than a generation after the death and resurrection of Christ. Because of jealousy and selfish ambition, there existed disorder and every vile practice among those Christians to whom he was writing. The jealous and selfish ones resented others for having certain worldly goods or positions---goods or positions they lawfully gained. Why, say the jealous ones, should we not have these benefits? Let us take them; hence followed "wars and fightings" among fellow-Christians. What a scandal for their pagan neighbors and what a violation of the basic Christian law! Unfortunately, St. James' letter did not eradicate these human weaknesses from human nature. There have been and there will be jealous and selfish people and nations who envy the success of others and, as is often the case, successful but selfish people who do not want others to equal them. Our own century has witnessed two world wars on a scale never seen before, and for what reason? Was there a just side in these wars? History will have difficulty in finding it. It is not always the invader, or so-called aggressor, who starts the evil of war. Jealousies and selfish interests have aroused hatred and animosity for years before ever the first gun-fire is heard. Our world was never so divided and so lacking in true Christian brotherhood as it is today. Too many are lacking the necessities of life, while the well-to-do are smothering, in excesses and luxuries, their humanity and any brotherly love they have. The wealthy nations, jealous, ambitious and afraid of each other's ambitions, are squandering on war machines wealth that could save millions from starvation and slavery. Not only are professed atheists but ex-Christians also, forgetful that God is their Father and therefore they can no longer see all men as their brothers. This is a time when true Christians must try to make their voices heard above the din and noise of the warmongers, who will remain safely at home filling their coffers, when war comes to claim millions of innocent lives. We want peace not war; we want to live in charity and unity with all men, not in enmity and hatred. Let us begin at home, by our charity and brotherly love. Let us make our own neighborhood a haven of peace and happiness and let us pray God to fill the hearts of all men with the same Christian spirit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOSPEL: Mark 9:30-37. Jesus and his disciples passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise." But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him. And, they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?" But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve; and he said to them, "If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives, me, receives not me but him who sent me." EXPLANATION: In St. Mark's gospel for last Sunday, we read of the disciples' profession of faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah. Jesus then went on immediately to give them his first prophecy concerning his sufferings and death. Today's reading from St. Mark gives us Christ's second prediction of his passion, death and resurrection. Between the two predictions he had given Peter, James and John in the scene of the Transfiguration a glimpse of the glory that was to be his after the resurrection. The reason for this would appear to be to encourage the Apostles, through their leaders, to bear the "scandal" which his passion and death would be for them sometime in the near future. A third prediction of the passion is given by St. Mark in 10: 32-34. Although there could scarcely be any doubt in the minds of the Apostles as to what Jesus meant, yet we know that they did not grasp his meaning. His arrest and death on the cross came as a shattering blow to them. There were two reasons for this: firstly, their belief in a Messiah, glorious on this earth, who would subdue all enemies, and secondly, they thought Jesus would use the marvelous powers he had from God, proved by his miracles, to defend himself against all enemies. Furthermore, Mark's gospel written long after the passion and death of Christ gave an emphasis and a lucidity to Christ's prophecies which they had not for the Apostles at the time he uttered them. It was seen in its proper perspective as part of God's plan for us. went...mountain: Jesus and his disciples left the Mount of Transfiguration---Mount Thabor according to an ancient Christian tradition---and went through Galilee. he was...disciples: He did not want the usual crowds to know of his where-abouts, because he was trying to impress on his disciples that it was necessary that he should be put to death, but that he would rise again from the dead. not understand the saying: Because of the reasons mentioned above, their minds could not grasp the possibility of any enemy overcoming him. That this should be part of God's plan "for us men and for our salvation," they did not yet know. were...ask him: They were either ashamed to admit their slowness of intellect, or afraid that he should spell out in explicit detail a truth they had not the heart to hear. There have always been, and there always will be people who refuse to hear an unwelcome forecast. who was the greatest: This shows how worldly, how earthly-minded his disciples still were. They dismissed his disturbing prophecy very quickly, and became engaged in arguing which of themselves was the most important and who would hold the principal post in the earthly messianic kingdom which they still expected him to set up. Later---29th Sunday of the year---we shall hear of James and John asking for the chief positions in his kingdom. if anyone...first: Christ did not reprove them for their worldliness; he knew their hearts, but he told them his kingdom would be one of service. The higher one's position was in it the more would he have to be the servant of others. child...them: He made the child a symbol of his followers---they were as "little ones," as he said later in 9: 42. receives...my name: Whoever accepts his disciples and followers and listens to their message, will be accepting Christ himself---and not only Christ: but him who sent me: He would be accepting his Father who sent him on earth. Matthew, Luke and John express this saying more explicitly "anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me" (Mt. 10: 40 see Lk. 10: 16; Jn. 13: 20). APPLICATION: The Apostles were still very worldly-minded, they were full of the hope that Christ would establish an earthly messianic kingdom, that he would not only free their holy land from the hated pagan rulers but that he would set up a worldwide empire for the people of God. Many of the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament spoke of a worldwide kingdom; all nations would submit to the descendant of David; Jerusalem would be the magnet which would attract all peoples. The prophets, however, were speaking of the true messianic kingdom, the spiritual kingdom that Christ would establish. The Apostles were as yet unable to see the true meaning of these prophecies. They took them as referring to a worldly kingdom. They had come to believe that Christ was the promised Messiah, therefore he would overcome all enemies and all opposition and set up this kingdom. How, therefore, could his enemies overpower him much less put him to death before he had accomplished his task? Thus they refused to believe his prophecies concerning his coming tortures and death. Now, either in trying to understand what he had so plainly told them, or maybe in putting this disturbing thought far from their minds, they began disputing with one another as to which of them would have the highest post of honor in the earthly messianic kingdom which they had envisaged. How worldly but how human they were! We must not forget though, that they were not yet really Christians---they needed the death and resurrection of Christ to make them what they became---his true followers and loyal disciples. There was in the unformed Apostles a desire to turn Christ's kingdom into an earthly welfare state, rather than into a preparation for heaven? All Christians know that Christ suffered and died for their salvation, and that he asked his followers to take up their cross and follow him if they wished to be his disciples. The first generations of Christians fully understood this and faithfully followed him even to martyrdom. However, as time went on and opposition to the Christian faith disappeared, so too did the zeal and fervor of many Christians. For centuries we have had nominal Christians in Christ's Church: men and women who tried to make their paradise in this world, and forgot the everlasting heaven. Our own age has seen an unprecedented increase in this falling away of Christians. Leaving aside the parts of Europe which are professedly atheist---but where in spite of the leaders there are many sincere and devout Christians---the number of lapsed and nominal Christians in the other Western countries is frightening. These non-practicing Christians, unwilling to carry their crosses, have decided to make this earth their paradise. They want prosperity, comfort and happiness in this world. The vast majority of them, of course, refuse to look to the future; it could be an unpleasant thought, yet they must see that in every town and village there is a mortician, an undertaker who makes a good living disposing of human "remains." Die they must; "and what then?" should be a question which overshadows their lives. Many of these people who in practice have abandoned Christianity, try to salve their consciences by devoting any time they can spare to making this planet a better place in which to live. It is an excellent aim with a possibility of success---if the Fatherhood of God and the true brotherhood of man are upheld. But otherwise its a vain Utopia. If God, and Christ's teaching are left out of our reckoning, we shall ever have jealousies, enmities, hatred and wars. Christians have made war on Christians because neither side in the struggle was truly Christian. What chance then has the world when Christ and Christianity are banished from it? Today's thought for each one of us is this: Christ became man, suffered and died as man, for our sakes. By his resurrection he conquered death and opened heaven for us. Heaven is our true destiny. Loving God and our neighbor and carrying our cross is the only way to reach heaven. Forget this "heaven on earth" doctrine; it does not and never will exist! Accept Christ and you are accepting the Father who sent him. He in turn will accept you.-b386 Click to return to our Home page