The Letter of James

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James,_the_Just1

We’re reading at Mass for the next few days from the Letter of James. Modern commentators aren’t sure who greets his hearers as “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion.” He doesn’t seem to be James, the brother of John. Possibly he is a relative of Jesus and leader of the Jewish-Christians in Jerusalem as some say.

James was stoned to death in the mid 60s as the Jewish establishment turned against the followers of Jesus and forced many of them to flee. Jerusalem itself fell in 70 AD when Roman armies destroyed the city and crushed the Jewish revolt. Jewish-Christian exiles were exiled from their beloved city and would never return. Some commentators believe this letter contains an original letter of James sent to support the exiles and other material was later added to it.

The letter opens with words of support. It’s tough to be thrown into exile, but tough times test your faith, so be brave, your faith will become stronger. God will give you the wisdom to know what to do; keep asking for it. But be “doers of the word,” the author of the letter says. Be practically concerned for others.

What does it mean to be practically concerned? The letter couldn’t be clearer about it:

“If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them,’Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?

Though the letter speaks of “a brother or a sister” as the one in need, it isn’t just a family member or a friend you’re called to care for. Concern doesn’t end with your own; it’s impartial and extends to all in need, even our enemies.

The letter surely isn’t directed only to concern by individuals either. Don’t countries and communities have to look out for the needy? “Don’t worry, work hard, aim high and good luck.” Is that any answer to the poor among us?

The Letter of James says it isn’t.

Some consoling words are given to the exiles, but not many.  The letter is challenging;  no relaxing of standards, no permission for self-pity. Keep your standards high, the letter insists and as the old song says: “When you’re down and out, lift up your head and shout: There’s gonna be a great day.”

Feasts for Tired Believers

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Central Italy, 1800s

The Passionists celebrate two feasts immediately before Ash Wednesday. The Solemn Commemoration of the Passion of Jesus Christ on the Friday before Ash Wednesday. The Prayer of Jesus in the Garden on Tuesday before that day.

Both feasts are inspired by our missionary founder, St. Paul of the Cross, (1694-1775). He spent many years announcing the graces of lent in the villages and towns of the Tuscan Maremma in Italy..

It was a challenging task. The Tuscan Maremma was then a place where graces seemed gone. It was the poorest, most troubled part of Italy in Paul’s day, an area in Central Italy facing the Mediterranean Sea, almost 2,000 square miles– roughly the size of Long Island and New York City together. Only gradually, towards the end of the 1700s, after his death, did it begin inching towards recovery.

St.PaulCross.017

Now Tuscanny is a popular tourist destination. Then it was an unhealthily mix of hills and swamplands. Malaria was widespread, roads often impassible, dangerous because of bandits. Farmlands were abandoned; beggars everywhere. The people in isolated villages and hill towns suspected outsiders.

Paul and his companions preached there for many years. Every year it was the same; it never seemed to change. You need other eyes and another kind of heart to work in a world like that and not get tired.

And so as they packed their bags for their lenten journey into the Tuscan Maremma they had to remind themselves what was there before them: the mystery of the Passion of Christ. They needed to pray so they wouldn’t forget. That’s what Jesus did before the mystery of his Passion.

It’s still so today, isn’t it? These two feasts are for all kinds of tired believers, who face the world where things don’t seem to change. We need another way of seeing things and another kind of heart to journey on..

If you want to pray these feasts with the Passionists, go here.

Welcome to Lent

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6th Sunday a: Sermons from the Mount

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For this week’s homily please watch the video below.

Saints Cyril and Methodius: February 14

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“Saints Cyril and Methodius holding the Cyrillic alphabet,” a mural by Bulgarian iconographer Z. Zograf,

Cyril and Methodius, the saints in our calendar today,  are called  “Apostles to the Slavic Peoples,” because they played a pivotal role in introducing  Christianity to Eastern Europe in the 9th century.

They were brothers, born and educated in Greece, who embraced monastic life.  Renowned linguists, masters of the Slavonic language from a young age,  they were enlisted by the Emperor Michael III, who received a request from  Prince Radisalay of Moravia for teachers to explain Christianity to his people in their native language. 

As they began their work, Cyril and Methodius became convinced the Slavic people would best comprehend the scriptures and the liturgy in their own language and written in their own alphabet. Their translations resonated deeply with the people and were immensely popular.

The two brothers faced opposition,  however,  from Frankish missionaries from the west who, concerned with expanding  their own political influence, vehemently opposed  the establishment of a native Slavic church. They alleged the  “trilingual heretical doctrine,” which asserted that only three languages—Hebrew, Greek, and Latin—were permissible for praising God. 

In 867, the two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, embarked on a journey to Rome seeking papal support for their missionary endeavors. Pope Adrian II, recognizing the significance of their work,  granted their request and approved the use of the Slavonic language in religious ceremonies. The Slavonic Books were placed on the altar of the Church of St. Mary Major, and the liturgy was conducted in the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul in Slavonic.

Tragically, Cyril fell ill and passed away on February 14, 869, in Rome, where he was laid to rest in the Church of San Clemente. The following year Methodius returned to Moravia and Pannonia (present-day Hungary) and faced renewed opposition from Frankish missionaries. Despite the challenges, he persevered in his work, translating the scriptures, developing the liturgy, and creating the Cyrillic alphabet, which remains widely used today.

In 1980, Pope John Paul II honored the contributions of Cyril and Methodius by naming them patrons of Europe.

In June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI reflecting on the legacy of Cyril and Methodius, called them exemplars of “inculturation.” He emphasized the importance of integrating religion  into a culture and expressing it in the local language, acknowledging the demanding nature of this process. The Pope underscored the need for “translation” to ensure the integrity and accuracy of conveying the profound message of the revealed word.

Cyril and Methodius’s story serves also as a reminder that politics can play a role in the inculturation process. In Mark’s Gospel, tomorrow, Jesus warns his disciples to be vigilant and cautious against the influence of the Pharisees and Herod. He advises them to be wary of the dangers that arise from religious and political ideologies.

We’re Not Statistics: Mark 7:31-37

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healing crowds

Rembrandt, 

Jesus’ initial ministry in Galilee, starting with his miracles in Capernaum, brought excited crowds to him looking for healing for themselves or those with them. Wherever he went, whether in Jewish or Gentile territory, crowds came to him.

In today’s gospel, the deaf man brought to him isn’t identified as either Jew or gentile. He’s just deaf and can’t speak. He has no name. What’s significant about this miracle is the way Jesus heals him. “He took him off by himself away from the crowd.” (Mark 7,33)

Jesus takes the man aside privately, he meets him personally, face to face– and is deeply touched– “groans”–at the deaf man’s plight. He touches the man, putting his finger in his ears and his spittle on his tongue. When the deaf man speaks, Jesus says to him and his friends not to tell anyone. One reason may be that Jesus doesn’t want to be typed simply as a healer. But they went and proclaimed it anyway.

Still, why did he take him off “by himself away from the crowd?” A reminder that God does not look on us as a crowd, but knows each of us? We’re not statistics, part of a list. God meets each of us face to face.

And that’s a reminder to treat others that way too. Each has a face of their own and a story that’s unique. That’s hard to do. It’s easier to deal with people as statistics, numbers, people next in line.

For Jesus people were not statistics, one of a crowd, next in line. That’s not God’s way.

Solemn Commemoration of the Passion of Jesus Christ

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Sign

The Passionists celebrate the Solemn Commemoration of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Friday before Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. If you want to pray this feast with the Passionist, see here. It’s the feast that describes who the Passionist are.

Here’s St Cyril of Jerusalem on this mystery:

“The Catholic Church glories in every deed of Christ. Her supreme glory, however, is the cross. Well aware of this, Paul says: God forbid that I glory in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!

“At Siloam, there was a sense of wonder, and rightly so: a man born blind recovered his sight. Yet still, how many blind people are left in the world! Lazarus rose from the dead, but even this affected only Lazarus: what of the countless numbers who die because of their sins? Those miraculous loaves fed five thousand people; yet this is a small number compared to all those now still starving in ignorance.

“For us all, however, the cross is the crown of victory. Indeed, it has redeemed the whole of humanity!” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem)

“A book of life, it teaches the way to life and communicates life,” the Passionist bishop Vincent Strambi writes. “The one who reads this book day and night is blessed.”

“The Passion of Jesus is a “sea of suffering” but also a “sea of love,” St. Paul of the Cross writes, regretting that so many do not know the depths of this mystery.  “Like people living in a swamp,” he says,  an image probably taken from the swamp lands of the Tuscan Maremma in Italy where Paul ministered  much of his life.

“We must awaken them from their sad state. We must send them quickly zealous workers, truly poor in spirit and detached from every creature, that by the trumpet of God’s word they might, through the holy Passion of Christ, awaken those who ‘sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

Almighty God,

awaken within us a spirit of prayer.

Give us devotion to the Passion of your Son

and the grace of fostering it in others

by our preaching and example,

and we ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Pope Leo: Catechesis 5

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The Sacred Scripture, entrusted to the Church and preserved and explained by her, performs an active role: indeed, with its efficacy and power it sustains and invigorates the Christian community. All the faithful are called to drink from this wellspring, first and foremost in the celebration of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments. Love for the Sacred Scriptures and familiarity with them must guide those who carry out the ministry of the Word: bishops, priests, deacons, catechists. The work of exegetes and those who practise biblical sciences is invaluable, and Scriptures have a central place in theology, which finds its foundation and soul in the Word of God.

The Church ardently desires that the Word of God may reach every one of her members and nurture their journey of faith. But the Word of God also propels the Church beyond herself; it opens her continually to the mission towards everyone. Indeed, we live surrounded by so many words, but how many of these are empty! At times we even listen to wise words, which do not however affect our ultimate destiny. On the contrary, the Word of God responds to our thirst for meaning, for the truth about our life. It is the only Word that is always new: revealing the mystery of God to us, it is inexhaustible, it never ceases to offer its riches.

Dear friends, living in the Church one learns that the Sacred Scripture is totally relative to Jesus Christ, and one experiences that this is the deep reason for its value and its power. Christ is the living Word of the Father, the Word of God made man. All the Scriptures proclaim his Person and his saving presence, for each one of us and for all humanity. Let us therefore open our hearts and minds in order to receive this gift, following the example of Mary, Mother of the Church.

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[1] S. Girolamo,  Comm. in Is., Prol.:  PL 24, 17 B.

Solomon Yesterday, Solomon Today

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Some see a waning interest in the scriptures in our church in the United States. That’s regrettable, because we need their wisdom more than ever. Lent, which begins next week, may be a good time to try listening to God’s word.

Our lectionary, with extensive readings from the New Testament and the Jewish scriptures, was created after the Second Vatican Council to bring the treasures of the scriptures to the people of God. Have they found that treasure? Have the scriptures become our daily school? Has biblical prayer become our prayer? 

I don’t think so.

When we do look at the lectionary, II think most settle on the gospel reading and the words and actions of Jesus. At times, even the gospels can be hard to grasp, for sure, and the Old Testament readings can be even harder. Our lectionary readings these days from the Old Testament are about the rise and fall of Salomon . Today, the Queen of Sheba praised Solomon as the wisest man in the world. (1 Kings 10, 1-10)  Tomorrow God condemns him for letting his wives set up places of worship competing with the God of Israel. (1 Kings 11, 4-13) 

Now, the Jewish scriptures were not only a prayerbook for Jesus; they pointed to his life and mission. “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. “(Luke 24,27) The crowds acclaimed him: “ Never has anyone spoken like this man.” Jesus spoke to them from the scriptures, and he promises to speak to us from them too. .

Pope Leo’s recent catechesis on the privileged place of Holy Scripture in the church is a good reminder. If we search enough we can find wisdom in the scriptures. The Jewish scriptures and the Christian scriptures belong together. In both God promises life.

Scraps from the Table: Mark 7:24-30

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syro-phonecian woman

We’re reading at Mass today the story of the Syrophoenician woman who asks Jesus to cure her daughter. Mark 7, 24-30

My mother (God rest her) used to sneak food under the table regularly to her beloved cocker spaniel, Buffy. Once when I visited home after becoming a priest I said–in a losing attempt to keep Buffy’s weight down– “Mom, you shouldn’t feed that dog scraps from the table.”

She replied, “You don’t live her. He does. Besides, I’m not feeding him scraps from the table. He’s eating the same food we eat.”

I could never understand all the logic of her answer, but I gave us trying to stop her. I remember her every time this gospel is read. She put me in my place.

Maybe that’s what the Syrophoenician woman did to Jesus when she met him on his excursion north into gentile territory near Tyre.

Father John Donohue, SJ, offers an intriguing commentary on Jesus and this woman in Mark’s gospel. (The Gospel of Mark, John Donohue, SJ and Daniel Harrington, SJ (Sacra Pagina), Collegeville, Minnesota 2002. ) Their meeting takes place  following the feeding of the 5,000 in Jewish territory (Mark 6, 30-44) and Jesus’ announcement to the Pharisees and the scribes from Jerusalem that “all food is clean.” As a sign that the gentiles too would receive the Bread of Life from his hands, Jesus journeys into gentile territory to feed another 4,000. (Mark 8,1-10)

Now, you would expect him to welcome any gentile he met near Tyre, but the woman who meets Jesus alone in a house is harshly rejected when she asks him to heal her daughter. “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

The woman doesn’t take no for an answer. “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps, Lord.”

Matthew’s gospel, written after Mark, says the woman’s daughter was healed because of her faith. Not so, Father Donohue says. According to Mark, it was because she got the best of her argument with Jesus, the only one who does that in the gospels. “It’s not right to ignore us,” the woman says to him. Jesus heard the truth from her and accepted it.