The 11th and 12th chapters of Matthew’s gospel which we’re reading this 15th week of the year describe a growing opposition to Jesus after he begins his ministry in Galilee. It’s a dark section of the gospel.
The Pharisees now take “counsel against him to put him to death” and begin to oppose him. (Matthew 12.14) They’re not satisfied with his teachings and his miracles and demand a sign. They’re joined by the Herodians, agents of Herod Antipas, ruler in Galilee. The political establishment joins the opposition.
Jesus is also opposed by “this generation” of Israelites, the towns “where most of his mighty deeds had been done,” Corazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum. (Matthew 11,16-19) The towns that first welcomed him enthusiastically now dismiss him.
Finally, another group, who may surprise us, appear to oppose him – his family from Nazareth. (Matthew 12,47-50) All together, this opposition must have affected Jesus, as he faced the fickleness of humanity and even those closest to him.
But it also must have affected his disciples as well, who joined him expecting to see God’s kingdom come. I think they’re among those whom Jesus prays for in the gospel read today and tomorrow:
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
His first disciples were not wise or learned, they were more like children excited by what they saw Jesus do and say. They were struck by the miracles he worked and the wisdom he taught in parables. Yet, they would have been affected by the growing rejection to him.
Are we like them in a time like ours, when he in the church he founded meets so much rejection? The Lord prays for us too, little children not wise or clever.
You would expect a great theologian like St. Bonaventure (July 15) to tell you to hit the books if you would want to go to God. After all, his treatise we read on his feast is called “The Journey of the Mind to God.”
Instead he directs us to Christ and the Cross as our way to God.
” If you ask how such things can occur, seek the answer in God’s grace, not in doctrine; in the longing of the will, not in the understanding; in the sighs of prayer, not in research; seek the bridegroom not the teacher; God and not man; darkness not daylight; and look not to the light but rather to the raging fire that carries the soul to God with intense fervour and glowing love.”
A shelf of scripture commentaries and theology books wont bring us wisdom of themselves, St. Bonaventure says in his Breviloquium, otherwise only scholars would enter the kingdom of heaven. That’s not to say study isn’t important and scholars and scientists are not necessary. Bonaventure was a great theologian, but he knew we must be humble before God and the divine plan that’s beyond our grasp.
“The stream of holy Scripture flows not from human research but from revelation by God. It springs from the Father of lights, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth takes its name. From him, through his Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit flows into us; and through the Holy Spirit, giving, at will, different gifts to different people, comes the gift of faith, and through faith Jesus Christ has his dwelling in our hearts. This is the knowledge of Jesus Christ which is the ultimate basis of the solidity and wisdom of the whole of holy Scripture…
If we are to follow the direct path of Scripture and come straight to the final destination, then right from the beginning – when simple faith starts to draw us towards the light of the Father – our hearts should kneel down and ask the Father to give us, through his Son and the Holy Spirit, true knowledge of Jesus and of his love. Once we know him and love him like this, we shall be made firm in faith and deeply rooted in love, and we can know the breadth, length, depth and height of holy Scripture.”
Sometime ago I stumbled on a map of New York rivers and lakes. Rivers and lakes were the roads and highways used by the native peoples and early settlers centuries ago. Even today, the New York Thruway follows the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers from New York City to Buffalo.
Just north of Albany near the town of Fonda are the ruins of the17th century Mohawk village of Caughnawaga, excavated in the 1950s by a Franciscan priest, Thomas Grassmann. In the excavated village are traces of 12 long houses surrounded by a fortified stockade which was built in 1666 after a French army from Quebec destroyed an earlier Mohawk village at Osserneron (today, Auriesville) a few miles south.
Model of Longhouses, Fonda
The French army was punishing the Mohawks for their part in the Iroquois-Huron wars, when they plundered and destroyed villages along the St. Lawrence River belonging to the Hurons and Algonquins, Indian allies of the French. The Mohawks, members of the Iroquois confederation, wanted to gain control of the fur trade from their northern neighbors.
In destroying Ossernenon, the French army was also probably avenging the deaths of Fr. Isaac Jogues, SJ, and Rene Goupil and Gabriel Lalande, three French missionaries killed in that village some years before: honored today by the Church as martyrs.
In the war against their neighbors to the north, the Mohawks took women and children captive. At the time, native tribes replenished their own numbers–diminished by wars or disease– by kidnapping members from other tribes. One of the Christian Algonquin women captured in an earlier raid married a Mohawk brave from Ossernenon and they had a daughter, Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680), whom the Catholic Church honors as a saint.
An epidemic of smallpox ravaged Ossernenon when Kateri was four years old, killing many children and adults. The young girl almost died of the disease that left her disfigured. Her early Jesuit biographer says, “ She almost lost her eyesight, and her eyes hurt so much from this illness that she covered herself with a blanket when out in strong light.” (The Life of the Good Catherine Tekakwitha, Claude Chauchetiere, SJ , 1695)
Both parents died when Kateri was a little girl and she was taken in by relatives in the new Mohawk village of Caughnawaga (Fonda), where she lived most of her life. Her mother was a devout Christian and must have told her about Christianity, but Kateri’s new family and tribe strongly opposed the religion.
The French military, as one condition for not returning to the Mohawk villages, demanded that Jesuit missionaries be allowed to visit them and minister to captive Christians or others interested in their faith. Jesuit missionaries visited Caughnawaga for three days in 1667 and received hospitality in the long house where Kateri lived with her uncle, a Mohawk leader opposed to Christians.
According to witnesses, Kateri was a normal Indian girl and young woman. “She brought wood and tended the fire when her aunt ordered her, and got water when those in the long house needed it. When she had nothing to do she amused herself making small jewels and dressing as other girls of her age. She placed shell bead necklaces around her neck, shell bead bracelets on her arms, rings on her fingers and ornaments in her ears.” (The Life of the Good Catherine Tekakwitha, Claude Chauchetiere, SJ , 1695)
Though sickly, she was not lazy or proud. She never talked about others. Timid, she avoided dances and games. She didn’t like seeing captives harmed or people tortured, witnesses said.
In the spring of 1675 Jesuit Father Jacques de Lamberville visited Caughnawaga . Kateri was alone in her long house because a foot injury prevented her from working in the fields and the priest entered her lodge. She spoke to him of her desire to receive baptism and on Easter, 1676, the young Indian girl was baptized and took the name Kateri, after St. Catherine of Siena, the mystic and a favorite patron of Christian Indian women. She was 20 years old.
Her uncle and relatives in the long house opposed her conversion to Christianity and pressured her to marry and follow their ways, though against her beliefs. The early Jesuits considered it a miracle for a Christian to resist family and tribal pressure such as Kateri experienced in Caughnawaga. Yet, her early biographer says “She practiced her faith without losing her original fervor and her extraordinary virtue was seen by all. The Christians saw her obeying their rules exactly, going to prayers every day in the morning and evening and Mass on Sunday. At the same time she avoided the dreams feasts and the dances,” practices endangering her belief. (The Life of the Good Catherine Tekakwitha, Claude Chauchetiere, SJ , 1695)
Father de Lamberville finally recommended that Kateri escape to the newly-established Indian Christian village in Kahnawake near Montreal, where she could live her faith more easily. In 1676, aided by other Christian Indians, she made the dangerous journey northward. There she lived a fervent life of prayer and faith; she died and was buried on April 17th, 1680.
Early Painting of Kateri, Fonda
She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012, Her feast day is July 14.
We take up the Book of Exodus in our lectionary this week, following the Book of Genesis. The mystery of the Exodus is central to Judaism and Christianity.
Until the 17th century, the common opinion was that the five books of the Pentateuch–Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy– were written by Moses to tell the story of Israel from its origins at the creation of the world till the entrance to the promised land of Canaan. Since then, scholars say that many hands created the Pentateuch– the Torah.
Rather than figuring out what hands they are, it might be better to keep the big picture before us. God creates the heavens and the earth (Genesis), he creates human beings, male and female. Then God says to Adam and Eve, “Increase and multiply and fill the earth.” “Let there be more of you, and take possession of the land I’ve created for you.”
Human beings, we know, resist God’s plan through sin, and so after Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the flood and the destruction of tower of Babel, God turns to Abraham and Sarah, a landless, childless couple, and God renews the promise made first to Adam and Eve–many children and a land of their own. Through them, God will bless all the peoples of the earth and the earth itself.
Land and children. A fruitful land, a multitude of children. Those promises seem to elude Abraham and our ancestors as they go from place to place. When Jacob arrives in Egypt, the promises seem to come true. Egypt is an ideal land for children to flourish; Jacob’s descendants increase, they settle on good land and become a powerful, divisive group in Egyptian society.
But this isn’t the place, the Book of Exodus says, and so God commands Moses to lead them out through the desert. At Sinai God promises to be their God; they’ll have a law to guide them, bread to nourish them. It’s not an easy journey and they’re not an easy people, but God guides them on their way.
Scholars today say Moses didn’t write the books of the Pentateuch as we have them.. The final compilation of earlier sources was made after the Jews lost their homeland and were driven into exile in Bablyon in the seventh century BC. The compilers wanted the exiles to know their history. They’re children of Abraham. The God of their ancestors was their God. There’s a law to guide them, bread to nourish them, a desert to go through. But, they will reach a fruitful land and have a multitude of children, eventually.
The commentary from the New American Bible claims the editor made a substantial change to the ancient narrative to emphasize that last point:
“The last chapter of the ancient narrative—Israel dwelling securely in its land—no longer held true. The story had to be reinterpreted, and the Priestly editor is often credited with doing so. A preface (Genesis 1) was added, emphasizing God’s intent that human beings continue in existence through their progeny and possess their own land. Good news, surely, to a devastated people wondering whether they would survive and repossess their ancestral land.
The ending of the old story was changed to depict Israel at the threshold of the promised land (the plains of Moab) rather than in it. Henceforth, Israel would be a people oriented toward the land rather than possessing it.
The revised ending could not be more suitable for Jews and Christians alike. Both peoples can imagine themselves on the threshold of the promised land, listening to the word of God in order to be able to enter it in the future. For Christians particularly, the Pentateuch portrays the pilgrim people waiting for the full realization of the kingdom of God.”
Thoughts to hold onto in a changing world and a changing church?
From Monday of the 15 week of the year to Wednesday of the 19th week of the year we read from the Book of Exodus to the Book of Deuteronomy. Besides offering a description of the history of Israel from the time of its departure from Egypt to the frontier of the Promised Land, the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy offer a biography of Moses, who dominates the events they describe.
The Book of Exodus begins with his birth, the Book of Deuteronomy ends with his death. He is a leader, lawgiver, intercessor and prophet for his people.
In the gospels Jesus calls upon Moses as a witness to his life and ministry. Like him, Jesus takes on the plight of his people. He leads them to deliverance, he teaches them a way of life, he endures their murmuring and complaints, he feeds them bread in the wilderness, he pleads for their life and asks for death in their place.
As Moses brought life-giving water to his people, Jesus entered the Jordan to make it life-giving. Moses put up a brazen serpent to win pardon, Jesus became a saving sign nailed to a cross.
As he began his journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus ascended a mountain where he was transfigured. Moses appeared with Elijah as witnesses to his mission as God’s Son.
We usually put aside one day in the year to remember a saint. For 4 weeks this year we remember Moses, a friend of God and witness to Jesus Christ.
St. Benedict, brother of St. Scolastica, was born into a wealthy family in Nursia, Italy, in 480. He went to Rome to be educated at a time when invading barbarian tribes were creating panic in the city. Leaving Rome he withdrew to the village of Enfide in search of another way of learning,
About the year 500, Benedict went to the remote area of Subiaco, south of Rome, where he came under the influence of a monk named Romanus. Benedict became a monk himself and spent the next three years in a cave, living a life of prayer and solitude.
Others wished to join him and by 525 Benedict had established a number of monastic communities. In 529, Benedict, along with some followers went to Monte Cassino about 80 miles south of Rome and founded the great monastery that became a center of western monasticism.
A wise spiritual leader and worker of miracles, Benedict is considered a key figure in the rise of European civilization because of his rule and the monastic foundations he inspired. As “schools of the Lord’s service,” his monastic communities became centers of learning and spirituality throughout Europe, and later in the Americas.
Pope Gregory the Great (540-612), in the turbulent years of the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire, recognized the monastic ideal himself and saw monasticism as a way to spread the gospel and influence society. He saw Benedict as a new evangelist and monastic settlements new bridgeheads for evangelizing the world. In our own time Pope Paul VI named Benedict the patron of Europe.
Benedict died at Monte Cassino March 21, 547.
“Whatever work you begin to do, ask God in earnest prayer to make it perfect…We are going to establish a school for the Lord’s service. Nothing harsh or burdensome will enter there, we hope… as we go forward in faith our hearts will expand, and we will run in the way of God’s commands with unspeakable joy.” (Rule of St. Benedict)
Monasticism, solitary or in community, is still a powerful force in the church. It began in Egypt and Syria among Christians discontented with a society that rejected their values. It continued through the centuries in various forms. We should study it today for the possibilities it offers for communities for today.
Our lectionary honors saints like Anthony of Egypt, Basil the Great, Martin of Tours, Boniface and Bernard who were engaged in the monastic life through the centuries. As we celebrate their feasts through the year they not only impart lessons from the past but also prospects for the church now.
Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
A writer in the NYT wrote a column awhile ago describing her efforts towards daily mindfulness. She ends the day asking if she said the right thing or did anything to advance her life; how did she manage this situation, how could she have done it better? It’s not an examination of conscience she engages in but a search for a more successful self. It’s all up to you.
Jesus describes life so differently in today’s gospel. You’re like sheep sent out among wolves, he says, and you’re not safe even in your own home. You’re ok, though. You’re not on a journey alone. “ Don’t worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
How different that is from trying to do it all yourself.
That’s not telling us to forget what we say or do or think. We shouldn’t live unexamined lives. Mindfulness is all right, as far as it goes. We’re also told to be as shrewd as serpents and as simple as doves. Yet, at the same time we’re sheep among wolves, we’re branches on the vine. We’re promised a wisdom and a voice stronger than our own.
We don’t have to do it all by ourselves. At the end of the day we’re not alone.
We are reading stories of Jacob, his wives and his sons these days. I notices some call it the story of our ancestors, instead of patriarchs, to give it a wider net of actors.
They/ve inherited God’s promise to Abraham, and they continue his search for a land of their own. It seems a never-ending search. God occasionally appears on the way affirming them, but there’s famine to contend with, as we see in the illustration above, and human weakness is always part of their story.
But God will get them through. They are examples of faith and trust in God as they face an unknown future. Faith and trust kept them going;; faith and trust keeps all humanity going. Faith and trust keeps the Church going as she makes her pilgrim way.
We can learn from our ancestors, the men and their wives, their children, their friends, their servants and their enemies. They’re far from perfect. They live in a world of cruel wars and famine, stubborn enemies, political instability and unpredictable events. There are family fights, jealous brothers and sisters and sneaky deals at every step.
We can learn important human as well as spiritual lessons from them. For example, Joseph’s brothers entered Egypt at a time of widespread famine. “In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.” (Genesis 41,57)
Egypt wisely opened its food supply to eveybody. Was it just kindness, or was it good politics too? I remember reading that the Byzantine Empire fell so quickly to the armies of Mohammed because the Byzantines neglected to care for the Bedouin tribes at their borders and along their trade routes.
In a time of climate change with shortages of food inevitable, we have to be generous to one another. Ancient Egypt knew that if you take care of others in bad times you take care of yourself. We’re all bound together, whether we know it or not.
The early Christian writer Marcion wanted to do away with the Old Testament because it wasn’t spiritual enough. But there’s reality in these stories. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” He was made flesh and dwelt among sinful humanity. He didn’t come to save the saved.
Knowing our ancestors and their times helps us to know ourselves and our times. In them we see the hand of God at work.
Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the Twelve Apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.
In Matthew’s gospel read today, Jesus calls twelve disciples– also called twelve apostles– because he has compassion for the crowds. They are like sheep without a shepherd, a field waiting for the harvest. His disciples will extend Jesus’ ministry of teaching and healing revealed in previous sections of the gospel.
Matthew’s gospel consistently notes Jesus’ compassion for the crowds. As they flock to the mountain from everywhere, where they have been scattered and abandoned, Jesus teaches them. Matthew follows the Sermon on the Mount with ten stories of healing that Jesus performs as he descends from the mountain. They also reveal his compassion for them.
As he calls twelve to follow him, teaching and healing, does he not also call them to be compassionate as he was?
We should not limit the call of Jesus to teach and to heal to the twelve named in our gospel today. The twelve represent the twelve tribes of Israel who are called as a holy people to follow God as his covenanted people. In the call of the twelve disciples we hear our own call.
Some like Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, will have positions of leadership among his followers, but all his disciples have gifts from teaching and healing.
What are the gifts we have? Another question. Have we compassion for the world we live in?
The Victor's Place 