12 September – Day of Recollection
Abbey of the Hills, Marvin, SD
10:00 AM Welcome and Introduction
10:15 AM First Talk –
Today, Mary’s Name Day, I plan to
offer you two meditations (or one reflection in two parts) on Chapter 11of the
Gospel of St. Matthew. My reason for picking Matthew 11 for our day of
reflection today was inspired by the words of this Gospel itself which in terms
of what has gone just before in Matthew seems to indicate a slight shifting of
gears as we can clearly note in verse 1 of chapter 11: Now when Jesus had
finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and
proclaim his message in their cities. At this point in the Gospel in
Chapter 11, Jesus goes beyond His specialized instruction for His chosen Apostles
to a more general message addressed to all who were following Him and to the
cities from whence they came. Matthew’s Chapter 11 is directed toward all of
us, regardless of our state in life.
In this first talk, I want to discuss
what Jesus has to say about St. John the Baptist and what
the Precursor can teach us about our vocation as regular disciples, as lay
faithful within the Church. So here from the Gospel of St. Matthew is the
first half of that chapter 11:2-14:
2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by
his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to
wait for another?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and
see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to
them. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” 7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did
you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What
then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear
soft robes are in royal palaces. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is
written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your
way before you.’ 11 Truly I tell you, among those
born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in
the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the
Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent
take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John
came; 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
…
Let me begin my reflection by
focusing a bit on verse 11!
11 Truly I tell you, among those born
of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
The other day, I listened to a
recording from Butler’s Lives of the Saints of the life of St. Lawrence Giustiniani,
the very first patriarch of Venice, Italy (1381 – 1456). He came from one of
the premier families of Venice, but from the age of 19 until his death at age 74,
he sought only to serve. He renounced pride and strove always and everywhere to
do penance. Both men, Lawrence and John the Baptist, by their self-denial and
rigorous penance sought to identify with Jesus in His suffering and death upon
the Cross. Even though being called the Precursor of Christ, the one who went
before the Messiah to announce His coming and prepare His way, John the cousin
of Jesus and from his mother’s womb just a few months older than the Savior, the
Baptist witnessed to the truth which is Christ. Both men, St. Lawrence and St.
John, were truly exceptional and neither in their own day, nor now in ours, do
we find people generally in the Church eager, let alone clamoring, to take the
place of either man, not of St. Lawrence and certainly not of the Baptist. It
is rarely that we encounter people so eager as were these two great men to
embrace all the hardship involved in taking up Christ’s Cross and following Him
all the way to Calvary.
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of
women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Could we say that striving for fame,
fortune and success is not Christ’s way? That would be my point. Here in the
Gospel the Lord Jesus offers us a definition of greatness which is not of this
world. Look at who Jesus is calling the greatest man born of woman! Earlier in
the Gospel we have a description of St. John to be found in Matthew 3:1-6:
In those days John the Baptist
appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the
prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the
wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” 4 Now John
wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his
food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea
were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were
baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. [Harper Bibles. NRSV, Catholic
Edition Bible: Holy Bible (p. 2663). Catholic Bible Press. Kindle Edition.]
That is John: a personality I suppose
but a personality to be distinguished from others in his abject poverty. And
the point I would make is that although the Baptist is something special, he
marks a pattern for how it is that we follow Christ or point Him out to others.
Every true renewal within the Church over its 2000 year history is marked by John’s
kind of austerity, by the Baptist’s kind of self-renunciation. My message for you
is that this has marked the great saints of every age in the Church. Moreover,
this kind of self-denial is not just for prophets and other such personalities
in the Church. The Church in its prayer, in its communal recitation of the
Psalms, in the Divine Office notes in particular and in a constant way that this
struggle against evil and in union with the Lord Jesus is the common struggle in
the lives of those who would faithfully follow our Crucified Lord. There may be
a gap between us and John the Baptist, but John is in a terrifying way inviting
us to overcome that distance, to come over to his side, and ultimately see God,
by denying ourselves for Christ’s sake. Blessed are the pure in spirit for
they shall see God!
Quite some years ago I was home on
vacation and happened to be standing outside the sacristy of the Cathedral in
Sioux Falls after Mass greeting people when a smiling young boy (maybe eight
years old) waved at me and shouted out at the top of his lungs, “I am going to be
pope some day!” His parents grinned sort of nervously, and everyone else went
on about their business. Nobody seemed to take the boy seriously. That is not
surprising, because we know instinctively that people and especially children
shouldn’t be striving for high office or positions of preference and prestige in
the Church. You can say, I am going to be president someday, but you cannot declare
that you aim to become pope someday. Why? Well, we know that is not how you
follow Christ. This is not Jesus’ invitation to come and follow me. Correct me,
but I think that the only human being the Lord is on record as calling great is
John the Baptist, desert, locusts and wild honey, camel hair, and all.
The odd thing is that although we see
worldly ambition when applied to office in the Church as a misunderstanding,
and as inappropriate even in a small child, we do not find equally silly the
ambitions of some grown people in the Church who demand to have a share in the exercise
of authority, to have their part in decision making (whatever that is) in the
Church. What is even sadder for me is that people who would insist that it is
their right to exercise office and have their say in the Church can even gain a
sympathetic ear in some corners. This is one of the oddball things about the so-called
Synod on synodality scheduled to open in Rome at the end of September. The
organizers keep insisting that the point is that everyone will have their say
and that we will somehow be better off for having hashed everything out, no
holds barred with everything up for grabs. How does that square with the
Baptist’s cry, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”?
Elsewhere, this time in John’s Gospel
3:28-30 we hear the Baptist proclaiming:
“You yourselves are my witnesses that
I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ He who has
the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears
him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has
been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
[Harper Bibles.
NRSV, Catholic Edition Bible: Holy Bible (p. 2890). Catholic Bible Press.
Kindle Edition.]
I had a nuncio as my boss early on in
my diplomatic service, who chose those words as his episcopal motto: OPORTET ILLUM CRESCERE. He must increase, but I must
decrease. These words represent both a powerful personal expression of
humility and confidence in the power of Christ to save, to win the victory. How
many of us would be content, perhaps even overjoyed to be known as the friend
of the bridegroom? And yet, that fundamental lesson in discipleship is not so
easily learned or comprehended. What can the Precursor teach us about our
vocation as regular disciples, as lay faithful within the Church? Very simply,
let us say, that we can be content to stand aside and greatly rejoice in hearing
the bridegroom’s (Christ’s) voice. OPORTET ILLUM CRESCERE. He must increase,
but I must decrease.
When I was a child, I think many more
Catholics understood it as their proper role within the Church to practice
their faith indeed by being simply friends of the bridegroom. I am not going to
say that their practice of the faith was a more contemplative or mystical one
than ours today, but that maybe they could better understand and identify with
the old farmer, who when asked by St. John Vianney, the Cure’ of Ars, what he
did during those quiet visits in church to the Blessed Sacrament, he said very
simply, “Father, I look at Him and He looks at me.”
Let’s go back to Matthew 11:7-10!
Jesus began to speak to the crowds
about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken
by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes?
Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9 What then did you go
out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the
one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who
will prepare your way before you.’
What was the message of John the
Baptist? To know that, let us continue quoting the passage about locusts and
wild honey, and learn about John’s austerity! Matthew 3:7-12:
But when he saw many Pharisees and
Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned
you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9 Do not
presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell
you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now
the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 “I baptize you with
water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I
am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing
floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn
with unquenchable fire.” Harper Bibles. NRSV, Catholic Edition Bible: Holy Bible (pp. 2663-2664).
Catholic Bible Press. Kindle Edition.
This is Jon, the Precursor, boldly
and unambiguously announcing the Christ, Who was to come after him. John is as
sober as they come and invites those who would repent to bear the fruit which
identifies them as true followers of Christ. In a sense as a follower of Jesus
Christ, I don’t have anything to say about myself, but rather like John I need
to point to Christ. Think for a moment about what was the testimony of the
Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well to her fellow townspeople, when she invited
them to come out and see Jesus! See John 4:28-30!
Then the woman left her water jar and
went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told
me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30 They left
the city and were on their way to him. Harper Bibles. NRSV, Catholic Edition Bible: Holy Bible (p.
2892). Catholic Bible Press. Kindle Edition.
John the Baptist, the greatest man
ever born, out in the desert, barely clothed in camel’s
hair, eating bugs, and shouting “you brood of vipers, …repent! Who told you to
flee from the wrath that is to come?” And yet the Church in our time seems
bent on humoring selfish and self-centered people into believing that something
might be gained from letting them have their say and giving them a prominent
place in church, instead of calling them to silent attention before the
incarnate Word of God!
Let’s go back to our Scripture quote
from chapter 11 of Matthew!
2 When John heard in prison what the
Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you
the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 4 Jesus answered them,
“Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the
poor have good news brought to them. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no
offense at me.”
It is Jesus Who is speaking and acting.
The greatest man born of woman, John the Baptist, is heeding Christ’s word,
pointing to Him. OPORTET ILLUM CRESCERE!
Let me be clear! It is not as if, Jesus
in shifting His form of address from the chosen Twelve to a more general
audience was offering a watered down version of His message to the crowd and by
implication to all of us. It is not that Jesus was declaring the crowd second
class and deemed worthy only to listen and obey. No, Jesus was calling all,
every one of His listeners, to understand and strive for that greatness which
comes through self-denial. The Lord wanted all who heard Him to be attentive to
that greatness which belonged to St. John the Baptist, out in the desert,
barely clothed in camel’s hair, eating bugs, and shouting “you brood of vipers,
…repent! Who told you to flee from the wrath that is to come?”
No doubt our day will fly by too fast
for most of us, but it would be good if you could reflect some on the question of
where is my/our place in the Church? Can I embrace and rejoice in my littleness
before Christ? How do I go about leaving the first place in all that I do to
the Bridegroom? How can I convince myself to be truly joyful in not having the
bride, but in being the best man or best woman at the great wedding feast of
heaven which gets rolling already here on this earth within Christ’s Church?
The time is getting away from us and
so we’re going to take a break now and gently move toward our celebration of
the Memorial Feast of the Name of Mary at Mass in the Abbey Church. Mary’s
greatness far surpasses that of John the Baptist, and her MAGNIFICAT, my soul
proclaims the greatness of the Lord, speaks as eloquently as John’s “He must
increase” to who is great in God’s eyes, in the eyes of Christ.
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