Carry the gospel with you
Gospel reading of the day:
Luke 16:9-15
Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true 
wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him. And he said to them, “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.”
Reflection on the gospel reading: Jesus again talks about the relationship of wealth to the deepest meaning of our lives. Jesus in this passage makes the point that we are to use our wealth to accomplish the greatest good possible and that we should maintain a fundamental mistrust of the way that material things influence us. Since we cannot serve two masters, the gospel counsels us to serve the Master whose presence survives this world.
Saint of the day: John Duns Scotus, the son of a wealthy farmer, was born in 1266 at Duns, Scotland. He became a member of the Franciscans at Dumfries where his uncle Elias Duns was 
superior. He studied at Oxford and Paris and was ordained in March 1291 at Saint Andrew’s Church, Northampton at age 25. Duns Scotus lectured at Oxford and Cambridge from 1297 to 1301 when he returned to Paris to teach and complete his doctorate.
John pointed out the richness of the Augustinian-Franciscan tradition, appreciated the wisdom of Aquinas, Aristotle and the Muslim philosophers, and still managed to be an independent thinker. His ideas led to the founding of a school of Scholastic thought called Scotism. In 1303 when King Philip the Fair tried to enlist the University of Paris on his side in a dispute with the bishop of Rome over the taxation of Church property, but John dissented and was given three days to leave France.
He returned to Paris in 1305, and received his doctorate. He then taught there, and in 1307 so ably defended the Immaculate Conception of Mary that the university officially adopted his position. The Franciscan minister general assigned John to the Franciscan school in Cologne; he died there the next year on November 8, 1308 of natural causes at Cologne, Germany. He is buried in a Franciscan church near the Cologne cathedral.
Spiritual reading: Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt. (Paul Tillich)
Carry the gospel with you
Gospel reading of the day:
Luke 16:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.”
Reflection on the gospel reading: This gospel passage is not clear on its face. Clearly, Jesus is not advising us to be dishonest. Instead, he points out that the worldly deal shrewdly with their predicaments and make plans to secure the future. Jesus in Matthew 10:16 tells us that he sends us out as sheep among wolves and counsels us to be a wily as serpents even as we maintain the innocence of doves. Jesus in Luke 16:1-8 invites the children of light to be pragmatic in how they advance the kingdom. Our reading today, therefore, invites us to engage in a certain holy calculation to advance the agenda of the kingdom.
Saint of the day: Nicholas Tavelic and his three companions are among the 158 Franciscans who have been martyred in the Holy Land since the friars became custodians of the shrines in 1335.
Nicholas was born in 1340 to a wealthy and noble family in Croatia. He joined the Franciscans and was sent with Deodat of Rodez to preach in Bosnia. In 1384 they volunteered for the Holy Land missions and were sent there. They looked after the holy places, cared for the Christian pilgrims and studied Arabic.
In 1391 Nicholas, Deodat, Peter of Narbonne and Stephen of Cuneo decided to take a direct approach to converting the Muslims. On November 11, 1391, they went to the huge Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem and asked to see the Qadi (Muslim official). Reading from a prepared statement, they said that all people must accept the gospel of Jesus. When they were ordered to retract their statement, they refused. After beatings and imprisonment, they were beheaded before a large crowd.
Spiritual reading: Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both sides of death always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness of divine condescension, shall go hence the first, our love may continue in the presence of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and sisters not cease in the presence of the Father’s mercy. (St. Cyprian of Carthage)
Carry the gospel with you
Gospel reading of the day:
Luke 15:1-10
The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus addressed this parable to them. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he 
sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Reflection on the gospel reading: In today’s gospel, the Pharisees and scribes accuse Jesus of not just keeping company with sinners but also eating with them. Ritual purity demanded that religious people avoid the company of sinners in order that they might maintain their ritually pure. Jesus, however, responds to this criticism with two parables that share a common theme. In one parable, a shepherd goes out to look for a lost sheep and in the second parable, a woman searches for a lost coin. In both cases, the shepherd and the woman rejoice to find what was lost and rejoice at success of their missions. Jesus in the passage is saying he has nothing to apologize for; and in truth, while the Pharisees and scribes were motivated by self-interest for their personal ritual purity, Jesus was motivated by the needs of other men and women.
Saint of the day: Born December 3, 1875 at Ohlau, Germany, Bernhard Lichtenberg was a priest in the diocese of Berlin, 
Germany. He served in the Berlin Cathedral, and was well known in civic circles. An out-spoken critic of the Nazis and their anti-Semitism, Father Berhard organized protests outside the concentration camps, led public prayers for the Jews after the terrors of Krystallnacht, and filed formal complaints against the racist policies of the party. For these works he was imprisoned for two years. Upon his release he immediately resumed his ministry, both pastoral and social. He was arrested again, sentenced to the Dachau concentration camp, but was martyred on November 5, 1943 in a cattle car at Hof, Germany while en route to the Dachau concentration camp.
Spiritual reading: Violence as a way of achieving justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. (Martin Luther King)
Carry the gospel with you
Gospel reading of the day:
Luke 14:25-33
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
Reflection on the gospel reading: The gospel passage we read today is not a literal call for us to hate our families or despise our lives; it is a way of speaking that calls us to so radically prefer Jesus and discipleship that we put Jesus and our call to follow him before our families and even our lives. There is nothing in our lives, not even our families, that ought to come between us and our commitment to see, love, and follow the Lord more nearly each and every day.
Saint of the day: Charles Borromeo was born on October 2, 1538 at Aron, Italy into a wealthy, noble family. He was 
the nephew of the bishop of Rome. A civil and canon lawyer at age 21, a cardinal at 22, and an archbishop of Milan at 24. He suffered a speech impediment. He spent his life and fortune in the service of the people of his diocese. H directed and fervently enforced the decrees of the Council of Trent, and fought tirelessly for peace in the wake of the storm caused by Martin Luther. He founded schools for the poor, seminaries for clerics, hospitals for the sick, and conducted synods. He instituted children’s Sunday school. He was a teacher, confessor, and parish priest to Saint Aloysius Gonzaga and did great public and private penance. He worked among the sick and dying during the plague. He died November 3, 1584 of natural causes.
Spiritual reading: If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor. (Charles Borromeo)
Fr. Ron’s Homily for the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B
We have talked before about how hospitality was one of the primary virtues of the early Jewish people. We have seen in past homilies how the sin of Sodom was one of inhospitality to guests and how serious the Jewish God seemed to take it – for he destroyed a whole city because of it. Hospitality is in Greek called xenia and its translation means – loving strangers. You and I can interpret and translate this expression – loving strangers – directly into one of our Lord’s two commandments: “Love your neighbor as yourself. Now the people of Sodom disrespected and broke God’s law of hospitality and God punished Sodom with destruction because of it. Today we see the other side of the coin.
In our first Reading today we have an example of Hospitality that is hard for us to imagine. The prophet Elijah, in his travels, comes upon a poor widow. The tradition of hospitality would warrant that the woman would treat him respectfully and help him as much as he could. Remember they had no Motel 8’s or Comfort Inn’s back there when they traveled. Without help along the way, the travelloer would never make it. The prophet Elijah was thirsty from being on the road. so he asks a widow for some water. Water was a difficult commodity in the Middle East then as well. They relied on wells to get their water, and it was precious. This was a time of famine in the woman’s land, and water must have been scarce. But the woman graciously left to get some water. Then Elijah called her back and said he was hungry too.
The woman was honest with Elijah – what else could she be? She explained that they were very poor. She was just about to go and use the last of her flour and oil to make what would be to us a small pancake, and that would be the end of her food. Having nothing else, she and her child would die. How unfeeling then, it must have seemed, for this stranger to say: “Well, make me a small piece anyway and if there is any left, you can have it.” Even with the laws of hospitality being so strong and necessary, a modern woman I’m sure would not have said something very polite. But then Elijah tells the woman that if she does this, her flour and oil will not run out. God will keep it filled until the famine is over. Again, a modern woman might react: “Yeah, right!” But true to her tradition of hospitality, she trusts Elijah, and even if what he says is untrue, she goes and fixes him something to eat.
What kind of a woman would take care of this stranger over feeding her own child? It has to be a woman who loves her neighbor as her herself. It is a woman who trusts that God will somehow provide. It is a woman not directed by fear. And, of course, she is rewarded for her trouble and the jars do not run out till after the first rain.
I think that fear stops many of us today from being hospitable. In a culture where there are people who lock their doors even when they take out their garbage, and a culture where we think everyone is after something, we cannot be hospitable. We teach our children out of fear not to talk to strangers, and we avoid situations where we might be of help because we fear others’ motives. That’s the way it is today and what a shame! We have come a long way from the hospitality of this poor woman with Elijah. A Church Father, the Blessed Bede commented in the 7th century that “God cannot be loved apart from our neighbor, nor our neighbor apart from God.” Truly this woman must have loved God, then.
This first reading has an interesting relationship with the Gospel today as well. In Mark’s usual manner of sandwiching things throughout his Gospel we have two stories here, seemingly unrelated. But of course, they are!
As we have been doing a somewhat sequential reading of Mark’s Gospel, we need to know that at this point Jesus is in Jerusalem and is teaching at the Temple. His greatest opponents during the time he has been healing and teaching have been the scribes. So we need to know a little about who the scribes were. In Hebrew society the scribes were considered to be the most outstanding and respected of Jews. Whatever they said was taken with utmost respect and authority. They made their living by being religious lawyers, and had seats reserved for them in the synagogues right next to the biblical scrolls, one of the highest places of honor.
But Jesus has been observing them, and his words to his listeners was “Beware of the scribes.” Now Jesus had just praised a scribe, so he was not issuing a warning about staying away from scribes, but he was making a comment on the behavior of the scribes, and telling his listeners not to behave themselves like the scribes. And what is the behavior that Jesus is referring to? Jesus is quite clear about what he rejects: they dress in a way that shows their status so that people will treat them differently. They set places for themselves to show off who they are, insisting at being seated at places of honor – which is not bad in itself – except that Jesus felt they were wallowing in being treated like royalty. Respect for them was not something earned, but expected because of what they were, not who they were.
But this is not the worst of what they do. Jesus says they “devour the houses of widows”. Since Jesus makes a big deal about this we need to look at a little background about what was going on. Scribes, like CACINA priests, didn’t get paid for their teaching. Unlike my fellow CACINA clergy who have day jobs to pay the bills, the scribes depended on generous donations for their living. And so they stressed that to give a donation to a scribe was a wonderful pious act that would give great reward to to the giver. If you remember, widows were in a very precarious situation at that time anyway. Since women had no rights and everything depended on the husband, when the husband died, the widow was often left with nothing. And if she was left with something, she had to get other men to deal with it since she was a woman and couldn’t. Some theologians feel that Jesus is then referring to the scribes, the lawyers who would deal with the estates of the widows and basically fleece them of their inheritance. But it could also refer to taking advantage of their hospitality much in the same way that I feel that many televangelists fleece unknowing people for money. ‘God will so reward you if you send me this money! And the more you send me, the more God will listen to you and answer your prayers!’
Then Mark ties this together with Jesus who has seen a widow who surreptitiously placed her last coins into the treasury. He has been watching rich people make a great show of their giving, but Jesus comments that this widow is so generous that she gives all she has. The widow’s coins are the two smallest coins that were available, probably comparable to a widow today giving her last two pennies. And why two pennies? Shouldn’t she have kept one for herself? But no, she gives everything she has. So while everyone is watching the rich people drop their money noisily into the metal containers, Jesus has been watching the lowly widow.
Jesus calls his disciples to himself. In the Gospel of Mark, this always tells us that something important is going to be said. “This poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury…. She from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” And this ties us in with the widow in the first reading today. Both widows have given, mindless of themselves and their needs, and in so doing have shown their great love for God, their great trust in God. And they did it expecting no rewards.
Do we have the kind of trust in God that would allow us to move outside our fears, outside our comfort zone and really help someone else? This, I believe, is what Jesus is inviting us to do today. Everyone has something to contribute to God and to society. Because we are not as blessed as some are with great intelligence, great riches, great talents, we tend to sit back today and let those people run things. We can take great lessons from the hospitality of the two widows, who in doing what they could do, who in trusting God to the fullest, find great praise in God’s eyes. Last week Bishop Jim spoke about doing small things for people, going out of one’s way to do some little thing for someone every day. Here is another example of how we can be hospitable and not let fear ground us and stop us from doing good. Take a few risks with other people. See God in them. Trust in God. He knows the large picture and He will not let us down.
And this is the Good News we have given to us this week!
Carry the gospel with you
Gospel reading of the day:
Luke 14:15-24
One of those at table with Jesus said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’ The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’ The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”
Reflection on the gospel reading: Jesus tells a parable about a man who throws a dinner party only to have the invited guests refuse his hospitality. The man then goes out and invites others to the meal and says that none of those who had received the original invitation will enjoy his hospitality. At the start of the gospel passage we hear that blessed are the ones who will dine in the Kingdom of God. Within the context of the parable, Jesus certainly is talking about the refusal of the Chosen People to follow him and the early church’s subsequent embrace of the Gentiles. But just as many of the Jews in Jesus’ day did not accept the Lord’s invitation, we too can fail to accept it. Jesus certainly has called each of us to dine with him, but we should not assume our place at the table is guaranteed.
Saint of the day: Martin de Porres was born at Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father was a Spanish gentleman and his 
mother a freed-woman of African descent from Panama. At fifteen, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary at Lima and spent his whole life there-as a barber, farm laborer, almoner, and infirmarian among other things.
Martin had a great desire to go off to some foreign mission and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts, such as, aerial flights and bilocation.
St. Martin’s love was all-embracing, shown equally to humans and to animals, including vermin, and he maintained a cat and dog hospital at his sister’s house. He also possessed spiritual wisdom, demonstrated in his solving his sister’s marriage problems, raising a dowry for his niece inside of three day’s time, and resolving theological problems for the learned of his Order and for bishops. A close friend of St. Rose of Lima, Martin died on November 3, 1639.
Spiritual reading: Compassion my dear brother is preferable to cleanliness. Reflect that with a little soap I can easily clean my bed covers but even with a torrent of tears I would never wash from my soul the stain that my harshness toward the unfortunate would create. (Martin de Porres)
Carry the gospel with you
Gospel reading of the day:
John 6:37-40
Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
Reflection on the gospel reading: The scripture passage we read today speaks to God’s strong desire for us. God reaches out to all people, regardless of whether or not they have heard the name of Jesus. This speaking to people that God does is the communication of God’s Word in every human heart. God’s love is far broader and more mysterious than our ability to understand it. This is the mystery of All Souls Day, the action of God in every human heart to work out the entirety of God’s immense and multifaceted design for salvation on earth.
Saint of the day: November 2 commemorates the faithful departed, asking God for mercy on the people who have gone before us. The custom of setting apart a special day for intercession 
for certain of the faithful departed is old. But the celebration of general intercession on November 2 was first established by St. Odilo of Cluny (d. 1048) at his monastery of Cluny in 998. From Cluny, the custom spread to the other houses of the Cluniac order, which became the largest and most extensive network of monasteries in Europe. The celebration was soon adopted in several dioceses in France and spread throughout the Western Church. It was accepted in Rome only in the fourteenth century. While November 2 remained the liturgical celebration, in time the entire month of November became associated in the Western Catholic tradition with prayer for the departed; lists of names of those to be remembered being placed in the proximity of the altar on which the sacrifice of the mass is offered.
Spiritual reading: One of the first things Christ says in the Gospel is this: “Happy the simple-hearted!” Yes, happy those 
who head towards simplicity, simplicity of heart and simplicity of life. A simple heart attempts to live in the present moment, to welcome each day as God’s today . . . . Simplifying our life enables us to share with the least fortunate, in order to alleviate suffering where there is disease, poverty, famine . . . . Where can we find the simplicity indispensable for living out the Gospel? Some words of Christ enlighten us. One day he said to his disciples, “Let the little children come to me; the realities of God are for those who are like them.” And so we would like to say to God: “God, you love us: turn us into people who are humble; give us great simplicity in our prayer, in human relationships, in welcoming others.” (Brother Roger of Taizé)
The Decalogue of Pope St. John XXIII on How to Live the Be-Attitudes
Our attitudes about life and how we relate to God and one another can be transforming if we allow Christ to be in our lives. One of my favorite saints is John XXIII a great exemplar of the “Be attitudes.”
There were ten commandments he developed for himself that reflect the “Be Attitudes” we might want to emulate in our lives. John knew too that making a radical change in our lives was not something that could be done in one fell swoop. Like quitting smoking or alcohol, it is best done one day, one action at a time. He suggested these:
1) Only for today, I will seek to live the livelong day positively without wishing to solve the problems of my life all at once.
2) Only for today, I will take the greatest care of my appearance: I will dress modestly; I will not raise my voice; I will be courteous in my behavior; I will not criticize anyone; I will not claim to improve or to discipline anyone except myself.
3) Only for today, I will be happy in the certainty that I was created to be happy, not only in the other world but also in this one.
4) Only for today, I will adapt to circumstances, without requiring all circumstances to be adapted to my own wishes.
5) Only for today, I will devote 10 minutes of my time to some good reading, remembering that just as food is necessary to the life of the body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul.
6) Only for today, I will do one good deed and not tell anyone about it.
7) Only for today, I will do at least one thing I do not like doing; and if my feelings are hurt, I will make sure that no one notices.
8.) Only for today, I will make a plan for myself: I may not follow it to the letter, but I will make it. And I will be on guard against two evils: hastiness and indecision.
9) Only for today, I will firmly believe, despite appearances, that the good Providence of God cares for me as no one else who exists in this world
10) Only for today, I will have no fears. In particular, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe in goodness. Indeed, for 12 hours, I can certainly do what might cause me consternation were I to believe I had to do it all my life.
These reflected his depth, his simplicity, and his humility. Perhaps we can choose these to begin in our lives today?
A Reflection for All Souls’ Day, November 2, 2009
Readings: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 5:1-12a
I work in a place where just about every day, someone dies. Oh, there may be times when 3 or 4 days go by, and no one dies. Then (as one of our nurses might put it), the bus rolls up and everyone gets on it. People often ask me how my colleagues and I can work in what they say must be a “depressing” environment. I always begin my explanation by quoting mother Teresa, who was once asked, “How can you keep doing this day after day? I wouldn’t do what you do for a million dollars.” She replied, “Neither would I.”
Personally, I think a better answer is one given by Renée, one of our Charge Nurses. She said, “Of course, we’re sad for the families who have lost a loved one—and we’re often sad for ourselves, because we’ve had to say good bye to someone we’ve known and cared for. But we can go home at the end of the day and say to ourselves, ‘I was able to help another person at a difficult time. And that’s a good thing.’ ”
I mention this at the outset because I want to build on it. As Christians, even though we are saddened by the death of our loved ones, we do not despair. In our second reading, St. Paul tells us to be “quite certain. . .about those who have died.” And “not to grieve about them, like other people who have no hope.” So let’s begin by letting God be God, and not worry about entrusting our loved ones to his unutterable mercy and care. I mean, we either believe Jesus when he tells us in John’s Gospel that “It is not the will of my father that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (Jn. 6:39)—or we don’t. I believe it, and I hope you do too.
But I’d like to spend just a few minutes reflecting on the implications for us here and now presented to us by our faith in what one of my bishops terms “larger life”—understanding that eternal life begins for us at our baptism.
The great Orthodox Christian Bishop and theologian Anthony Bloom has written, “The injunction ‘be mindful of death’ is not a call to live with a sense of terror in the constant awareness that death is to overtake us and that we are to perish utterly with all that we have stood for. It means rather: ‘Be aware of the fact that what you are saying now, doing now, hearing, enduring or receiving now may be the last event or experience of your present life.’ In which case it must be a crowning, not a defeat; a summit, not a trough. If only we realized whenever confronted with a person that this might be the last moment either of his life or ours, we would be much more intense, more much attentive to the words we speak and the things we do.”
I am 62 years old. It’s not uncommon to read of a person my age who suddenly and without warning slumps over and dies. So these words of Metropolitan Anthony resonate more clearly to me now than they would have 30 years ago. And though I don’t necessarily obsess about the idea, yet I find myself asking more than once each day, “If this were it, if this were my last moment on earth, would I want to be doing what I’m doing right now?” Metropolitan Anthony goes on to point out that the most important thing and/or person in our lives is that person or thing or project in front of us right now. Some of you may have heard of or read the book Be Here Now by Ram Dass. I’ve often used that small sentence as way of preparing myself spiritually to talk with a patient, family member or colleague. Could that help you, would it help you to focus on your child, your spouse, your friend who has asked for your attention?
In our first reading, the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for everything. I want to suggest that each moment is the right moment to do the right thing with whatever life is giving us at that moment. So often, we’re so preoccupied about what’s in the future or troubled about what has been in the past that we miss the blessings of the present. And when we mourn the passing of a loved one, we may often say or think to ourselves, I woulda’, I coulda’ or I shoulda’ done this or that—or maybe I just should have paid more attention.
We know that we cannot repeat the past, we know that we cannot pay back anyone for what he or she or they have done for us. But we can resolve to learn from them, to take from them the gifts our loved ones have given us and pass them on to others. And when we do that, when we show kindness in a moment in which we would rather not, when we turn to someone who has angered us, returning love and reconciliation in the face of anger or rejection, when we keep our heart open in the face of difficulty because that’s what Mom or Dad or Uncle Jed or Father So-and-So did for us, we keep their memory and their influence alive and immortal in the world, just as they are alive and immortal to God. As Mother Teresa has said, we cannot do great things, but we can do small things with great love. And in doing so, we honor the memory of all those people we recall during this month of reflection on our familial and spiritual ancestors.
I want to close by sharing a passage from a book entitled We Belong to the Land by Archbishop Elias Chacour, who is the spiritual leader of the Melkite Catholic community in Galilee, in the Holy Land. Reflecting on the Beatitudes that we heard in our Gospel reading, he writes, “Knowing Aramaic, the language of Jesus, has greatly enriched my understanding of Jesus’ teachings. Because the Bible as we know it is a translation of a translation, we sometimes get a wrong impression. For example, we are accustomed to hearing the Beatitudes expressed passively:
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.’
‘Blessed’ is the translation of the word markarioi, used in the Greek New Testament. However, when I look further back to Jesus’ Aramaic, I find that the original word was ashray, from the verb yashar. Ashray does not have this passive quality to it at all. Instead, it means ‘to set yourself on the right way for the right goal; to turn around, to repent; to become straight or righteous. . .When I understand Jesus’ words in the Aramaic, I translate like this:
Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for you shall be satisfied.
Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God.
To me this reflects Jesus’ words and teachings much more accurately. I can hear him saying, ‘Get your hands dirty to build a human society for human beings; otherwise, others will torture and murder the poor, the voiceless, and the powerless.’ Christianity is not passive but active, energetic, alive, going beyond despair.”
–And because we do not despair, because we have the confidence that, as we pray in our Eucharistic Preface for funerals, “Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended; and when the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting place in the heavens,” because we believe that with all of our hearts, we have the courage to live deeply the eternal life that is ours today and will be ours forever. Jesus said to his disciples—and he says to us this evening—“Get up, go ahead, do something, move.” Amen.
Fr. Larry Hansen
Cana House
Portland, Oregon
Carry the gospel with you
Gospel reading of the day:
Matthew 5:1-12a
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
Reflection on the gospel reading: We celebrate today the Solemnity of All the Saints. The gospel we read today is Matthew’s account of the Beatitudes. It describes a variety dispositions and characteristics that constitute the nature of people who gives themselves to Jesus’ way of life.
The gospel reading has certain characteristics that connect Jesus to Moses. Like Moses, Jesus leaves the people to go up to a mountain, and then he starts to teach them. Moses gave his people 10 Commandments from God, but Jesus gives the Beatitudes. Certainly, Moses’s commandments still have force in our lives, but in some ways, what Moses asked of us through the commandments is pretty easy: in many cases, all we have to do is not do this thing or that thing. What we hear in the gospel today is about forming attitudes toward life that represent a fundamental break with the way that we usually think, feel, and act in the world.
We are blessed when we are poor in spirit; that is, God blesses us both in when we are materially poor and when we are broken internally. We are blessed when we mourn; God blesses us both because we have hearts open to being broken, and we are blessed because we live in communities where there are people to console us when we ache. We are blessed when we are gentle; God blesses us when we consistently act courteously and with kindness. We are blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness; God blesses us when we have hearts that fiercely committed to justice. We are blessed when we are the merciful; God blesses us when we show mercy to others. We are blessed when we are pure of heart; God blesses us when we desire God and God alone. We are blessed when we are peacemakers; God blesses us when we smooth divisions and promote harmony both among people and between people and nature. We are blessed when we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness; that is, when we stand up fearlessly to evil, God blesses us. We are blessed when we are insulted and persecuted because we follow Jesus; it is in our witness to Jesus that we testify to the truth we have found.
So these are the things that Jesus calls us to: poverty, vulnerability, gentleness, justice, mercy, dedication, harmony, conviction, and witness. These are the qualities of Jesus’ followers, and they constitute the characteristics of the women and men whom we celebrate as saints.
Spiritual reading: The saints are sinners who keep on trying. (Robert Louis Stevenson)
