On November 24 Catholics celebrate the feast of Saint Andrew Dung– Lac and 117 other Vietnamese martyrs killed in the 18th century in a cruel persecution of Christians. Their martyrdom caused many non-Christians in their native land to inquire what made them so brave to endure such suffering and death. “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity,” the early Christian writer Tertullian said.
Since their time, many others in Vietnam have bravely given witness to their faith in wars and long years of persecution. Christianity is now strongly rooted in that part of the world.
The joy of the martyr has always puzzled those who do not share their faith. How can someone be joyful in the midst of great torture and pain. Here’s a letter of Saint Paul Le-Bao-Tinh, one of the Vietnamese martyrs:
“I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join with me in his praises. The prison here is a true image of everlasting hell: to cruel tortures of every kind – shackles, iron chains, manacles – are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. But the God who once freed the three children from the fiery furnace is with me always; he has delivered me from these tribulations and made them sweet, for his mercy is for ever. In the midst of torments, that usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone – Christ is with me. I am not alone–Christ is with me.”
“Christ is with me. I am not alone–Christ is with me.” That’s the faith that enables Christians to enter the mystery of the passion of Jesus and know the joy of his resurrection. It’s a faith that explains the strength of the Church in Vietnam.
St. Clement of Rome is honored in an ancient church near the Colosseum that bears his name. It was probably built over his home. A wonderful place to visit when in Rome.
Clement is an important leader of the Roman church evolving after the death of the apostles in the 2nd century. He experienced a changing church, from apostles like Peter and Paul to charismatic preachers like Apollos to bishops. It was not an easy change for the various Christian communities.
As a leader of the Roman church, Clement appealed to the Corinthians in an important letter written around the year 95. Do what Jesus told his followers to do, he wrote, follow him as one flock follows its shepherd. Walk together. The church at Corinth was having troubles with its leadership.
Taking the Roman legions and the human body as examples, Clement urges the Corinthians to become one in Jesus Christ:
“Think of the soldiers who serve under our generals, and with what order, obedience, and submissiveness they perform the things which are commanded them. Not all are prefects, nor commanders of a thousand, nor of a hundred, nor of fifty, nor the like, but each one in his own rank performs the things commanded by the king and the generals. The great cannot subsist without the small, nor the small without the great. There is a kind of mixture in all things, and thence arises mutual advantage.
“Let us take our body for an example. The head is nothing without the feet, and the feet are nothing without the head. The very smallest members of our body are necessary and useful to the whole body. All work harmoniously together and they are under one common rule for the preservation of the whole body.
“In Christ Jesus let our whole body be preserved intact. Let every one of us be subject to his neighbor, according to the special gift bestowed upon him.
“Let the strong not despise the weak, and let the weak show respect to the strong. Let the rich provide for the wants of the poor; and let the poor bless God, who has given them what they need. Let the wise display their wisdom, not by mere words, but through good deeds. Let the humble not bear testimony to themselves, but leave witness to be borne to them by others. Let those who are pure in the flesh not grow proud of it and boast, knowing another has bestowed the gift of continence on them.
“Let us consider, then, brothers and sisters, of what matter we were made. Let us consider how we came into this world, as it were out of a grave, and from utter darkness: who and what manner of beings we were. God who made us and fashioned us, having prepared bountiful gifts for us before we were born, introduced us into this world.
“Since we receive all these things from God, we ought for everything to give God thanks; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Evidently, the problem of church leadership Clement addressed was not limited to Corinth. His letter was read in a number of other Christian communities at the time. The transition from apostles to bishops was not an easy one; the Roman church faced it as well.
Historians like Eamon Duffy see the Roman church originating in the large, thriving Jewish community in Rome that was concentrated in Trastevere and spread out to found numerous synagogues in the city– some of which evolved into early Christian house churches. Peter and Paul, who came to the city and were put to death there in the Neronian persecution ( 62-63 AD), were acknowledged and celebrated by these house churches as their leaders in faith.
“The Roman synagogues,” Duffy writes, “unlike their counterparts in Antioch, had no central organization. Each one conducted its own worship, appointed its own leaders and cared for its own members. The same way, the ordering of the early Christian community in Rome seems to have reflected the organization of the synagogues which had originally sheltered it, and to have consisted of a constellation of independent churches, meeting in the houses of the wealthy members of the community. Each of these house churches had its own leaders, the elders or ‘presbyters’. They were mostly made up of immigrants, with a high proportion of slaves or freedman among them–the name of Pope Eleutherius means ‘freedman’.”(Saints and Sinners. A History of the Popes. Eamon Duffy, Yale University Press, 1997 p 6)
Rome was slow to recognize a chief bishop, Duffy and other historians claim. Clement was later recognized in the list of popes, but more likely he was spokesman for the Roman house churches, representing an eminent church whose leaders were apostles, Peter and Paul. He was designated to write to the Corinthians urging them to unity under their bishop.
Pope Francis wrote a letter encouraging historians to tell the story of the church in the context of its time and place. The story of the papacy needs to be told that way. The papacy as we know it emerged slowly. San Clemente and Saints John and Paul nearby are two Roman house churches from the early Christian period. Visit them if you’re in Rome. They have stories to tell.
The Presentation of Mary in the Temple, November 21, is an ecumenical feast originatingin Jerusalem in the 6th century. A new church, honoring Mary, was built for pilgrimsby the Emperor Justinian near the ruins of the Jewish temple. Tradition said Mary was born nearby. Other early traditions place her birthplace inNazareth or the neighboring city of Sepphoris.
Artists like Giotto supported the Jerusalem tradition by their popular portrayals of Mary introduced into the temple by Ann and Joachim, her mother and father. (above)
Luke’s gospel may support the Jerusalem tradition by noting that Mary’scousin Elizabeth was married to Zechariah, a temple priest. Luke also says Mary and Joseph were familiar visitors to the temple. Forty days after the birth of Jesus , they went there “when the days were completed for their purification,” (Luke 2,22) Theybrought Jesus to the temple as a child to celebrate the feasts. For Jesus the temple is“my Father’s house.”There is no direct scriptural support that says Mary was born and raised in Jerusalem, however.
This feast celebrates Mary’s gift for “listening to the word of God and keeping it.” (Luke 11:28) For Mary the temple was always a place of God’s presence. In the temple she learned to see that God was everywhere, in Nazareth, Bethlehem, even on Calvary.(cf. John 4, 22-26) “You are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you,” St. Paul reminds the Corinthians. (1 Corinthians 3, 16)
St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists, was greatly devoted to this feast because he began his 40 day retreat to discern God’s will on this day. He experienced God’s call to found a community during those holy days. Afterwards, he dedicated the first retreat of his congregation on Monte Argentario to the Presentation of Mary and returned there year after year to renew the grace he received then. St. Vincent Strambi, his biographer, writes:
“Whenever possible, Paul kept the feast in the Retreat of the Presentation. How often, even when old and crippled, he would set out from the Retreat of St.Angelo, traveling over impassible roads in the harsh days of November, to Monte Argentario, where he would celebrate the feast with great recollection. It would be difficult to describe the days he spent there. His heart seemed to melt like wax in a fire because of his love for the Mother of God and his gratitude towards her.As the feast drew near he was so full of joy that the air around Monte Argentario seemed to breathe a sweetness similar to what the prophet Joel describes: “On that day, the mountains will drop down sweetness and the hills flow with milk.” On the day of the feast, he seems totally penetrated with tender devotion.Even on his deathbed, he recalled, “The day of the Presentation was always a holy and solemn day for me.”
Please pray for the Passionists, the community he founded that, like Mary, the Mother of God, we may hear God’s word and kept it.
Today many young people are not baptizing their children or offering them much religious formation. “Let them decide for themselves.” Introduce your children to your religious tradition from their earliest years, this feast says. Get them familiar with their church. That’s what the parents of Mary did. They prepared her for the coming of the Angel and the presence of her Son.
“Where is the temple where you learn to hear God’s word?’ we have to ask ourselves.
As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. The first thing he does as he arrives at the city, Luke’s Gospel today says. Looking over our world today, we weep too.
Luke’s Gospel begins today with these words “While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately.” (Luke 19:11)
His journey to Jerusalem, nearly complete, Jesus tells a parable to those who thought the Kingdom of God was to appear immediately when he reached the city. It’s a parable about a nobleman who went off to a distant country to obtain a kingdom and then return.
The nobleman, of course, is Jesus himself who speaks of his own resurrection “to a distant country”. His followers will remain with gold coins in their hands and the command to “trade till I come.”
It seems strange that the servant Jesus so strongly condemns is the one who seems so cautious. “ Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief.” But this servant is afraid of the time he’s living in and does nothing.
In Luke’s time, this servant was like those whom Paul warns in his Letter to the Thessalonians. Disappointed because they see Jesus’ promises unfulfilled, they do nothing. Or like the disciples on the way to Emmaus, shocked by a crucified Lord and his death, they head to hide in the safety of their own homes.
In our time, who might this servant be? We are living in a world where promises, human and divine, seem unfulfilled. Shall be do nothing? What’s the gold coin in our hand?
On November 18th, we honor the great apostles, Peter and Paul, remembering the dedication of the two ancient churches built over their graves. Peter is honored in the Vatican Basilica of St. Peter; Paul is honored in the Basilica of St. Paul, outside the Aurelian Walls along the Via Ostiense. The two apostles are founders and teachers of the Roman church.
Constantine built churches over the apostles’ graves in the middle of the 4th century. Besides honoring the apostles Peter and Paul, the churches were part of a wider plan of prayer, instruction and pilgrimage still seen in the Holy Year pilgrimages to Rome today. An early example of evangelization and catechesis.
From earliest times pilgrims followed a path from one church to the other, visiting a number of other Christian shrines – St. Agnes and St. Lawrence, for example–on their way. A later pilgrim map based on that ancient pilgrimage journey offers an example.
Pilgrim Map, 17th century, Wikipedia Commons
Peter was crucified on the Vatican Hill in 64 near the obelisk not far from the circus of the emperors Caligula and Nero and was butried nearby. Constantine erected a basilica over his burial site in 326, while Sylvester was pope. Later in 1626 the present basilica replaced Constantine’s church. It’s in the process of reconstruction in the illustration above. Recent excavations have confirmed Peter’s burial place under the papal altar of this church.
Paul, tradition says, was beheaded on the Ostian Way, outside the ancient city walls, in 67. Constantine built a shrine church over the gave in 325; it was enlarged by Theodosius I in386. The church was rebuilt after a fire in 1823, according to its original measurements. The apostle’s grave lies before the main altar of the church.
Defend your Church, O Lord, by the protection of the holy Apostles, that, as she received from them. the beginnings of her knowledge of things divine, so through them she may receive, even to the end of the world, an increase in heavenly grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. (Collect for the feast)
This week’s Mass readings from the 1st Book of Maccabees tell the story of the re-dedication of the temple of Jerusalem three years after its profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes. About the year 167 BC, Jews under Judas Maccabeus took up the weapons of their time, re-conquered Jerusalem and restored the temple, the heart of their religion.
The first reading on Friday describes the rededication of the temple to its former glory. The Jews continue to celebrate it in the feast of Hannukah. (1 Maccabees 4,36-61}
The New Testament writers, certainly aware of this historic event, recall Jesus cleansing the temple.(Friday’s gospel) Entering Jerusalem after his journey from Galilee, “ Jesus went into the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, ‘It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.’” Then, “every day he was teaching in the temple area” until he was arrested and put to death. (Luke 19,45-48)
Cleansing the temple was a symbolic act. By it, Jesus signified he is the presence of God, the Word made flesh, the new temple of God.
Luke says Jesus taught in the temple “every day.” Even from his early days he taught in the temple, Luke writes. As our eternal high priest, he teaches us every day and brings us every day to his Father and our Father.
Jesus is the indestructible temple, the indestructible Presence of God among us. Witnesses at his trial before he died were half right when they said he spoke of destroying the temple. He was speaking of the temple of his own body. Death seemed to destroy him, but he was raised up bodily on the third day.We share in this mystery as “members of his body.”
Still, as sacramental people we need places like temples and churches to come together, to pray and to meet God who “dwells among us.” We need churches and holy places and instinctively revolt seeing them go, or not frequented.
Old stories, like the story of the Maccabees, carry lessons and raise questions. The Maccabees took the military option to restore and pursue the Kingdom. What are our military options today when we have atomic weapons, drones, cryptoweaponry at our disposal? New laws? Persuasion?
November 17th, is the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. At 14 she married Louis, ruler of Thuringia, and lived happily with him for 8 years until he died in 1227. Then, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, she made the resources of her kingdom serve the poor, especially after floods, famine and plague struck that land in 1226.
Her spiritual director, Conrad of Marbugh, wrote this masterful little biography of her after she died:
“She was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castles should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious’ possessions and rich clothes for the sake of the poor.
Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, Elizabeth went to visit the sick. She personally cared for those who were particularly repulsive; to some she gave food, to others clothing; some she carried on her own shoulders, and performed many other kindly services. Her husband, of happy memory, gladly approved of these charitable works. Finally, when her husband died, she sought the highest perfection; filled with tears, she implored me to let her beg for alms from door to door.
On Good Friday of that year, when the altars had been stripped, she laid her hands on the altar in a chapel in her own town, where she had established the Friars Minor, and before witnesses she voluntarily renounced all worldly display and everything that our Saviour in the gospel advises us to abandon. Even then she saw that she could still be distracted by the cares and worldly glory which had surrounded her while her husband was alive.
Against my will she followed me to Marburg. Here in the town she built a hospice where she gathered together the weak and the feeble. There she attended the most wretched and contemptible at her own table.
Apart from those active good works, I declare before God that I have seldom seen a more contemplative woman. When she was coming from private prayer, some religious men and women often saw her face shining marvellously and light coming from her eyes like the rays of the sun.
Before her death I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.”
Elizabeth was a woman of status and privilege. She had celebrity status, but that did not cause her to live in a bubble of luxury. Influenced by the Franciscan movement she reached out to those who had nothing; she used her wealth, power and influence to serve the poor. For that reason people of her day esteemed her.
She’s an example today for people in power, politicians, those who control the media, “influencers”. She had an eye for the poor. We need powerful people today to keep the poor in mind.
Successful people these days believe how you begin the day is important. Some get up early and make a little time for themselves; some read before they get to work; some jot down what needs to be done in the day ahead; some practice “mindfulness.” Little mention of praying.
Shouldn’t prayer be on that list too? I’m not sure what “mindfulness”is. It seems to mean getting your thoughts together, breathing in and breathing out, gathering strength and attention for the day. Reaching into yourself.
Instead of reaching into yourself, prayer reaches out to God, who is much stronger than we are and stands ready to help.
Our own spiritual tradition says that daily prayer is important and points to the beginning of the day and the end of the day, morning and evening. as the best times to approach God in prayer. The Liturgy of the Hours, the church’s official prayer, says those hours are the principal hours for praying.
Jesus prayed in the morning and evening, the scriptures say. He prayed at other times too, but in the morning and evening he prayed the prayers his people prayed, the psalms. He knew them by heart and prayed them each day.
We prayed those same prayers this morning in our chapel and we’ll pray them this evening at vespers, evening prayer. Before I lifted a finger this morning, I heard these words as I entered my day:
“He has strengthened the bars of your gates,
He has blessed the children within you.
He established peace on your borders,
He feeds you with the finest wheat.” ( Psalm 147, Friday Morning IV )
And this evening as the night comes, the symbol of sleep and death:
“The eyes of all creatures look to you
and you give them their food in due time.
You open wide your hand,
grant the desires of all who live.” (Psalm 145, Friday Evening IV)
God’s hand is opened wide to receive us and to give.
I wish more were aware of the treasure we have in our morning and evening prayers–the Liturgy of the Hours. The Second Vatican Council wanted the prayer of the church to be extended to all its people but its efforts only got so far, I’m afraid. Still more to go.
The Victor's Place 