We reflected on the journeys of St. Paul from the Acts of the Apostles in the Easter season. Now we reflect on the journey of the saints.
Paul’s journeys, as Luke the author of Acts sees them, are a way the gospel reaches one city after another. They are also a way it reaches the many dimensions of our world. Through Paul, the women praying along the river in Thessaloniki receive God’s word. Prisoners in a jail in Philippi hear it. Philosophers in Athens hear it. Immigrants in the port city of Corinth hear it.
The saints we celebrate in our church calendar continue Paul’s journey. They reach out to the world like he did and bring the gospel to other parts of society. Justin Martyr (June 1) speaks to the philosophers of Rome, Charles Lwanga and his companions (June 3) the African continent, Boniface (June 5) to western Europe. Agnes, Lucy, Cecilia, Anastasia, early women martyrs, are the daughters of the women of Thessaloniki. The saints, old and new, in the calendar or not, continue the mission of Paul. Jesus Christ gave this mission to him. They call us to accompany them.
We celebrate the saints mostly on the dates of entrance into heaven, not in historical order, which may get in the way of historical perspective. But the saints, canonized or not, are the agents of the Holy Spirit. They move the world towards harvest time.
We share in their mission. A verse from the psalms keeps coming to me these days. “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.”
We are reading from chapter 12 in Mark’s Gospel this week. From Galilee where Jesus was welcomed by the people and where so much of his ministry and miracles occurred, Mark presents Jesus traveling to Jericho and then up to Jerusalem where he faces harsh questioning from the Jerusalem authorities. Eventually they put him to death; then he will rise. (Mk 11:1–16:8)
Our readings this week bring us to Jerusalem, where Mark sees Jesus as the “beloved Son” sent into the vineyard, whom they seize and kill and throw out of the vineyard. ( Mark 12:1-11) In Mark’s Gospel Jesus works only one miracle in Jerusalem, the cursing of the fig tree. (Mark 11: 12-14,20-21) So different from John’s Gospel where important miracles, like the raising of Lazarus and the cure of the man born blind, are signs that witness to Jesus.
Mark’s portrayal of Jesus shows us his humanity. He’s provoked by the hypocrisy of the scribes and their questions. He’s annoyed at their efforts to entrap him. “In human likeness” he will suffer and die.
Fra Angelico’s painting of Peter preaching and Mark sitting among his listeners taking notes comes from a long held belief that Mark’s Gospel was influenced by Peter. Mark’s mother lived in Jerusalem, so he must have been known the city well. It did not receive Jesus well.
Even disciples, like Peter, did not fully understand Jesus as he made his way into Jerusalem. One will betray him, Judas; one deny him. Peter; all eleven men will leave him. Yet, he will eat his Last Supper with them, and after this resurrection call them to Galilee where he will reveal himself to them, risen from the dead.
For this week’s homily please watch the video below.
Since it was the will of God’s only-begotten Son that men and women should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming human he might make us gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us for ever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.
O precious and wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.
It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfilment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation.
St. Thomas Aquinas
After the 11 AM Mass in our chapel on the Feast of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, we processed to our Mary Garden. It was not a long procession on this last day of May, only a short walk out the door into a garden bright with the growing things of spring.
In the Mary Garden Mary held out to us her Son, who made John the Baptist leap for joy in Elizabeth’s womb when she visited her. As we prayed the joyful mysteries of the Rosary, we asked for joy for the journey of faith we all take.
It’s interesting to note the journeys Mary takes in the joyful mysteries. From Nazareth in Galilee to the hill country in Judea where Elizabeth and Zachariah lived. From Nazareth to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. Likely, she and Joseph traveled with their newborn Child from Nazareth to present him in the temple in Jerusalem. Then, they traveled back to Jerusalem to find him in the temple while fearing him lost.
There’s a lot of travel time on the journey of faith. It’s a time of waiting before we arrive.
It may not be an easy time either. Mary’s journey to Egypt with the Child was certainly not easy, nor her journey with Jesus and his followers to Jerusalem where he was put to death and rose again.
Our procession was only a short walk, but it captures the journey we remember today when Mary, “in haste” set out for the hill country of Judea on her mission to an old couple who were also with child. May she help us make our journey of faith and rejoice in it.
Here’s Pope Francis on Jesus meeting Bartimaeus, the blind man:
” Jesus has just left Jericho. Even though he has only begun his most important journey, which will take him to Jerusalem, he still stops to respond to Bartimaeus’ cry. Jesus is moved by his request and becomes involved in his situation. He is not content to offer him alms, but rather wants to personally encounter him. He does not give him any instruction or response, but asks him: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk 10:51). It might seem a senseless question: what could a blind man wish for if not his sight? Yet, with this question made face to face, direct but respectful, Jesus shows that he wants to hear our needs. He wants to talk with each of us about our lives, our real situations, so that nothing is kept from him. After Bartimaeus’ healing, the Lord tells him: “Your faith has made you well” (v. 52). It is beautiful to see how Christ admires Bartimaeus’ faith, how he has confidence in him. He believes in us, more than we believe in ourselves.
There is an interesting detail. Jesus asks his disciples to go and call Bartimaeus. They address the blind man with two expressions, which only Jesus uses in the rest of the Gospel. First they say to him: “Take heart!”, which literally means “have faith, strong courage!”. Indeed, only an encounter with Jesus gives a person the strength to face the most difficult situations. The second expression is “Rise!”, as Jesus said to so many of the sick, whom he took by the hand and healed. His disciples do nothing other than repeat Jesus’ encouraging and liberating words, leading him directly to Jesus, without lecturing him. Jesus’ disciples are called to this, even today, especially today: to bring people into contact with the compassionate Mercy that saves. When humanity’s cry, like Bartimaeus’, becomes stronger still, there is no other response than to make Jesus’ words our own and, above all, imitate his heart. Moments of suffering and conflict are for God occasions of mercy. Today is a time of mercy!
There are, however, some temptations for those who follow Jesus. Today’s Gospel shows at least two of them. None of the disciples stopped, as Jesus did. They continued to walk, going on as if nothing were happening. If Bartimaeus was blind, they were deaf: his problem was not their problem. This can be a danger for us: in the face of constant problems, it is better to move on, instead of letting ourselves be bothered. In this way, just like the disciples, we are with Jesus but we do not think like him. We are in his group, but our hearts are not open. We lose wonder, gratitude and enthusiasm, and risk becoming habitually unmoved by grace. We are able to speak about him and work for him, but we live far from his heart, which is reaching out to those who are wounded. This is the temptation: a “spirituality of illusion”: we can walk through the deserts of humanity without seeing what is really there; instead, we see what we want to see. We are capable of developing views of the world, but we do not accept what the Lord places before our eyes. A faith that does not know how to root itself in the life of people remains arid and, rather than oases, creates other deserts.
There is a second temptation, that of falling into a “scheduled faith”. We are able to walk with the People of God, but we already have our schedule for the journey, where everything is listed: we know where to go and how long it will take; everyone must respect our rhythm and every problem is a bother. We run the risk of becoming the “many” of the Gospel who lose patience and rebuke Bartimaeus. Just a short time before, they scolded the children (cf. 10:13), and now the blind beggar: whoever bothers us or is not of our stature is excluded. Jesus, on the other hand, wants to include, above all those kept on the fringes who are crying out to him. They, like Bartimaeus, have faith, because awareness of the need for salvation is the best way of encountering Jesus.
In the end, Bartimaeus follows Jesus on his path (cf. v. 52). He did not only regain his sight, but he joined the community of those who walk with Jesus. Dear Synod Fathers, we have walked together. Thank you for the path we have shared with our eyes fixed on Jesus and our brothers and sisters, in the search for the paths which the Gospel indicates for our times so that we can proclaim the mystery of family love. Let us follow the path that the Lord desires. Let us ask him to turn to us with his healing and saving gaze, which knows how to radiate light, as it recalls the splendour which illuminates it. Never allowing ourselves to be tarnished by pessimism or sin, let us seek and look upon the glory of God, which shines forth in men and women who are fully alive. “
Homily for Synod of Bishops 2015
The First Letter of Peter, read this week, was written from Rome by Peter, the apostle, to Christians threatened by persecution, ancient tradition says. Some modern scholars question if Peter himself wrote the letter and suggest a later author wrote using his name. I mentioned when we read this letter to keep in mind the year 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Around the year 62 Peter and Paul were killed during the persecution of Nero.
You can hear in the readings early baptismal teaching which the author uses to remind his listeners who they are as God’s own children: they have an inheritance that will never be taken away from them.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,
kept in heaven for you
who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith,
to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.
In this you rejoice, although now for a little while
you may have to suffer through various trials,
so that the genuineness of your faith,
more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire,
may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:3-9}
When times are bad we need to remember the promises of God.
In chapters 10 and 11 of Mark’s gospel, Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem, a journey many do not understand and, like the rich young man, they decide not to join him. James and John also thought his journey would bring power and prestige, but it was not to be. We hear in these readings lessons for the Roman church of the 70s, but the lessons are also meant for us..
A feast of Mary occurs every month in the calendar. This month it’s the Visitation (May 31), placed in the calendar between the Feast of the Annunciation (March 15) and the Birth of John the Baptist (June 24) We’re reminded of Mary’s role as a bearer of good news to her older cousin Elizabeth, who will give birth to John. Mary always brings her Son to us too.
For this week’s homily please watch the video below.
The Victor's Place 