Ecce lígnum Crúcis

 

Christ’s Hour

Passiontide this year for me has focused in a particular way on Jesus’ embrace of His suffering and death upon the Cross. We learn that Jesus had to “fight” for His Cross so to speak, by withdrawing from certain situations of confrontation. Jesus even hid Himself from the crowds, thus choosing to exclude the possibility of His death by stoning. Just days prior to Palm Sunday, in the Temple on two occasions reported in the Gospel of St. John Jesus withdrew from almost certain death at the hands of the crowd. Our Lord did indeed choose the Cross as the instrument to complete the work of our Redemption.

In the 1962 Missal the passage from John 8:48-59 is put forward as the Gospel for the 1st Sunday of the Passion.

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. [Harper Bibles. NRSV, Catholic Edition Bible: Holy Bible (pp. 2907-2908). Catholic Bible Press. Kindle Edition.]

The Gospel for Friday of the 1st Week of the Passion in the Novus Ordo from John 10:31-41 reports the Jews with stones in hand and Jesus once again avoiding arrest.

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. [Harper Bibles. NRSV, Catholic Edition Bible: Holy Bible (pp. 2912-2913). Catholic Bible Press. Kindle Edition.]

Talk of Jesus avoiding death by stoning can readily be seen in the light of His obedience of the Father’s will in all things and moreover His destiny to suffer death by crucifixion and not some other way of His own choosing. See John 12:27-33:

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say — ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. [Harper Bibles. NRSV, Catholic Edition Bible: Holy Bible (p. 2918). Catholic Bible Press. Kindle Edition.]

For the first time really in my life, I have come to see the connection between the veiling of crucifixes in particular, starting from the 1st Sunday of the Passion and the clear significance of the unveiling during the Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday, with this act taking place as the priest ascends the steps of the altar intoning three times the words “Behold the wood of the Cross on which hung the Savior of the world!” Ecce lígnum Crúcis, in quo sálus múndi pepéndit. In Christ’s death upon the tree of the Cross the debt of the sin of Adam is remitted, and the way no long barred to the tree of Life.

In the Mass during Passiontide the Preface of the Holy Cross serves to further focus this reflection. It is truly meet and just, right and profitable for us, at all times, and in all places, to give thanks to Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God: Who didst establish the salvation of mankind in the wood of the cross, that from whence death came into the world, thence a new life might spring, and that he who by a tree overcame, by a tree might be overthrown…

I always liked the Passiontide veils, but this year they make more sense. The thought of Christ withdrawing Himself from the gaze of those who would have stoned Him in order to make His date with the Cross on Good Friday makes it all just that much more profound.

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

By Penance to God in Light

 

4^th Sunday of Lent

9-10 March 2024 – St. Lambert Parish

2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23

Eph 2:4-10

Jn 3:14-21

Laetare! Today is Laetare Sunday. Laetare is a Latin word which means rejoice! Rejoice why? Among other things because we are over half, nearly 2/3 of the way through our Lenten Penance. This Sunday’s message would be, that if these first weeks of Lent have gotten away from you, don’t give in to discouragement. Just jump right in today with the traditional Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is not too late to make a good Lent. By way of a reminder, this would be the time for you to prepare yourself and to make a good confession now before Easter.

Doing penance, the whole prayer, fasting, and almsgiving business is very Catholic. Why do penance, why take on a special Lenten discipline you may ask? Well, it certainly has something to do with the Church’s teaching on Purgatory and unloading the burden of temporal punishment we have incurred because of our sins. The Lord wants us perfect in love, not only no sin on our souls but none of the residue left behind by what we have done wrong or have failed to do. God wants us, His Church wants us squeaky clean, if you will. The Church teaches that there are two types of punishment due to sin: eternal and temporal. Eternal punishment, the consequence of grave or mortal sin which has not been forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance, is what breaks off our communion with God, leading to the incapacity to enjoy heaven and hence for seeing God. Not seeing God in the world to come and for all eternity is hell; that is eternal damnation.

Temporal punishment, on the other hand, is the consequence of every sin, even venial sins, and that must be purified from our souls, scrubbed away either during our lifetime here on earth or after our death in Purgatory. The Sacrament of Penance remits the eternal punishment due to sin but may not always remit all temporal punishment, as God requires satisfaction for sins. Temporal punishment serves as a means of healing and conversion for sinners, challenging them to undertake a journey of profound conversion towards the fullness of life and love with God. Prayer, good works, indulgences, and the sufferings of purgatory are ways to remit the temporal punishment, to clean up the stains or scars which remain despite reconciliation or forgiveness. God's mercy aids the sinner in this process, using traditional forms of penance or self-renunciation to facilitate the sinner's conversion and healing. The goal is complete purification through our growth in fervent charity. Our Lenten penance helps achieve that, helps stir up love within our hearts, love for God and love for our neighbor.

I think the key concept to understanding penance is that of satisfaction. We can understand satisfaction as a sort of payback. Even humanly speaking, we can understand satisfaction which completes or perfects our sentiments and words of sorrow expressed for having offended someone we love. We see it at work already in our OT reading for today from the Book of 2^nd Chronicles explaining why the Babylonian Captivity came about. At the hands of the Chaldeans, the enemies of God’s People, came all the death and destruction back then in Jerusalem. After killing and plundering, destroying the temple and the city, they carried off the remaining people into the Babylonian Captivity. God let them return home only after the Holy Land had rested long enough to recover the sabbaths lost to the people’s wickedness. God claimed back the 70 years of sabbath rest owed by His People to Him. Before their punishment the Chosen People had gone about their own affairs and as a result of their many offences against God, in justice, they had to pay for this: “But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the Lord against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy.”

Today’s Gospel tells the same story, but without using the imagery of a reckoning. St. John’s Gospel notes God’s love for the world and the people’s condemnation for preferring the darkness to the light Who is Christ. This is God’s judgement on the world, on that people who rejected their Redeemer and chose darkness over light. In the Book of Chronicles the princes of Judah, the priests and people are condemned for infidelity, for practicing the abominations of the nations and polluting the Lord’s temple. When Cyrus of the Persians sent the people back to Jerusalem, he sent them back to rebuild the Lord’s temple destroyed by the Chaldeans. God decreed through Cyrus that it was time to reestablish proper worship of the one true God.

It is never too late to take up the mantle of Lenten penance. We are called to do so in a truly Catholic sense as we heard on Ash Wednesday: Rend your hearts and not your garments! We do our fasting; we perform acts of charity not for the world to see but hidden such that the God Who is hidden and sees in secret will see and reward our penance.

St. Paul writes to the Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.”

Dating from the year 600, St. John Climacus, writing in a book entitled The Ladder of Divine Ascent, describes for his monk brethren the discipline and attitude needed to climb from the darkness of this world into God’s light. Already at rung 5 of that ladder we get a frightening description of a monastic prison, where monks remain filled with remorse for their shortcomings and failings. It all seems very foreign to us, but perhaps so only because we are not conscious enough of the greatness, of the heights of our baptismal calling, and of how determined Satan is to knock us off of that ladder which leads to heaven.

Laetare, rejoice! God would have us climb up to Him. Take up the challenge and seek the light Who is Christ! Now is the hour, now is the time, now is the day of salvation!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Preparing My Easter Confession, Being Drawn to Christ

 

Saturday, 2 March, St. Rose of Lima in Garretson

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

Ex 20:1-17

1 Cor 1:22-25

Jn 2:13-25

 

Praised be Jesus Christ!

       How’s your Lent going? Here we are at the 3^rd Sunday already! From the Book of Exodus we are called to be mindful of the 10 Commandments. That is about as good a plan for Lent as one could think of: to see how you measure up to the big ten. And so the 1^st Reading for today can form a lesson to carry us through another week of our Lenten retreat. Both in the passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians which makes up our 2^nd Reading, and in the account from John’s Gospel of Jesus cleansing the Temple by chasing out the buyers and sellers with a whip of cords we have a ponderous reflection on the person of Jesus Christ: but we proclaim Christ crucified… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God… Zeal for your house will consume me… and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

       Lent should probably divide the spirits. It should push us personally to take a stance, both morally in terms of living out the 10 Commandments and in having us witness in all we say and do to Jesus for Who He truly is as in faith we profess Him: but we proclaim Christ crucified… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God… Zeal for your house will consume me… and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

       It is certainly true that the Lord Jesus embodies a rule for life. He is the teacher like no other, but His very way of being among us makes Christ so much more than a lawgiver. In the Lord we encounter in a real person the power of God and the wisdom of God… which is to say that we come face to face with the living God. Like the Apostles, facing Jesus should disarm us as surely as it did them.

       Just how much are we; how much are you and I truly believers? Has our Lent given space to Christ in us? The verse from the responsorial [Lord, you have the words of everlasting life] hearkens back to the standoff in John’s Gospel over the Bread of Life discourse. There Jesus tells His listeners, I am the Bread of Life come down from heaven. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have life in Me. A goodly part of the crowd walks away as they find His claims to be altogether too much. Jesus challenges His disciples, are you going to leave me too? They respond, “Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of everlasting life”.

        It is sort of funny/sad how embarrassed or ashamed we can be about the Lord Jesus Christ when we encounter Him at full stature, as He truly is. Should it be any wonder that people walk away from the Church, walk away from Jesus and His message? I don’t mean to walk away out of indifference or disgust at the weakness of faith, the laxity or hypocrisy of people who claim to be pillars of the Church. Sadly enough, we see that kind of walking away all too often, especially among our young people, who have never been challenged by the faith of their parents, which is not really faith at all, but rather social conformity out of indifference.

       No, people should leave the Church for a much better reason. They should pull out their hair and run the other way because they are encountering the Lord Who has come into His Temple to sweep clean the threshing floor of chaff, so to speak. We don’t want Catholics to be frightful nags, but rather people who stand in awe of Christ among us. Our encounter, our witness should be to the Good Shepherd Who lays down His life for the flock… but we proclaim Christ crucified… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God… Zeal for your house will consume me… and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

       How is your Lent going? Is it opening you up in awe to Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Has it made you more eager to get down on your knees before Him? Are you in the habit of making a good confession for Easter? Maybe with the 10 Commandments in the docket this would be the week to do that examination of conscience and prepare yourself for that Lenten/Easter confession.

       Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God… His zeal should be the one not to drive me away but to draw me toward Him, to consume me with love for Him.

       Praised be Jesus Christ!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Confirmed in Christ

 

Mass of Confirmation

4 February 2024 - St. Joseph Cathedral

Readings from the FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Jb 7:1-4, 6-7

1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23

Mk 1:29-39

Praised be Jesus Christ!

       Some weeks back I asked Father Morgan which readings they take for the Confirmation Mass here at the Cathedral and he said that Bishop DeGrood takes the Sunday readings, as for the people who are there on Sunday afternoon, this is their Sunday Mass. I mention that to you to explain my puzzlement over the First Reading from the Book of Job. Confirmation should be a dynamic thing about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, about going out on mission, really about conquering the whole world for Christ and His Gospel. The confirming Bishop should give you a kind of pep talk at Confirmation. But then from Job we read: “Job spoke, saying: ‘Is not man’s life on earth drudgery? ... He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages… Remember that my life is like wind. I shall not see happiness again.”

       Even our Gospel passage from St. Mark has Jesus retreating, moving on from that town after performing miracles of healing and casting out demons, in a sense I guess, to avoid the praise and popularity of those who witnessed them. He told His disciples they needed to move on to preach elsewhere.

       Your Confirmation today completes your Christian initiation begun at Baptism, already strengthened and nourished as you are by the Holy Eucharist, healed and forgiven your sins through the Sacrament of Penance. Now the Holy Spirit comes upon you in Confirmation to strengthen you in grace, to aid you in bringing Christ to our world. Confirmation is a soldier’s sacrament. It is a special grace for athletes. Heroism best describes this Sacrament. Is it even appropriate to talk about drudgery like Job does?

       I pose the question because I think yes, maybe not right now in your life for you young people, but maybe for your parents, for your aunts and uncles, for your grandparents who are here today. Maybe they need a good word. Truth to be told, being a Catholic Christian is not meant to be a joy ride. Confirmation strengthens you to stand alongside Christ in His temptation and His fast, along the path that leads to the Cross. We should not be looking for perks in this life, but rather the Lord is enough for me.

       There is a podcast of Butler’s Lives of the Saints which I really like, and the other day it was the life and martyrdom of St. Ignatius of Antioch. Already an older man, the saintly bishop was condemned to death in the arena in Rome, and drug in chains by 11 ornery soldiers all the way around the Mediterranean by ship from Syria to Italy. Continually abused by these soldiers, he had the opportunity despite his chains, in every port where they stopped and through a number of letters he wrote, to encourage fellow Christians and beg them to pray for strength for him that he might meet his end in Rome and be torn to pieces and devoured by the wild beasts in the arena. Kind of like Jesus preaching in the Gospel, Ignatius encouraged people all along the way and by their prayers and by God’s grace not only did he die well, but he left a lasting memory for Christians everywhere, a true witness to Christ, which confirmed them in the faith.

       Don’t get me wrong! I don’t wish any of you a martyr’s death, but I hope and pray that the grace of Confirmation will keep you from discouragement in life and enable you to pray with St. Ignatius of Antioch for the strength and courage to follow Christ beyond the Cross to Glory!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Turning to the Lord: From the Depths to the Heights

 

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

20 January 2024 – Harrisburg, St. JPII Parish

Jon 3:1-5, 10

1 Cor 7:29-31

Mk 1:14-20

Praised be Jesus Christ!

       The Scriptures for this 3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time all contribute to proclaiming the basic message of Jesus Christ as reported today in the Gospel of Mark. Responding to the Lord is what our lives as Catholics is all about. Jesus spoke then and continues to speak to us.

“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

       As I say, this message goes through all the readings for today. In the first reading, after the account of his attempted flight from God, the prophet Jonah surrenders to God’s will and fulfills his mission from God Almighty to preach to the wicked people of Nineveh, that they should repent from their sins, “Set out for the great city of Nineveh and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” Quite miraculously and against all odds, the people from greatest to least repented at the preaching of Jonah.

I think it is of primary importance to focus on the change of heart which Jonah’s preaching worked in those people, their turning to God for mercy. To know of their repentance and conversion is more important than it is to know the details of the bad deeds, sins, or failings of the Ninevites. We are meant first and foremost to see their turning generally from ignoring God, from their failure to be responsive to God and His Will, to turning to Him in weeping, sack cloth and ashes, turning to Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. When it comes to ignoring the Lord Who made and saved us, I cannot help but think that perhaps in our day and time our situation is worse than that of those people to whom Jonah was sent to preach.

       We see this repeated in the basic message delivered by today’s second reading. There St. Paul calls the Corinthians and us to radical conversion. “For the world in its present form is passing away.”

        Our world and our Church today has a desperate need for repentance, of turning from our own ways to seek the face of God and do His holy will. You’ll get people who are almost hysterical about our living in the end times, they are troubled and confused. Let us just say that maybe it would be better to see the horrible straits in which our world finds itself not knowing really how to respond. Thankfully, they are not few, the people seized by the urgency of turning their lives over to Christ. Jesus’ message seems to be coming through again in our time, changing hearts and lives. “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

       “Forty more days and Nineveh shall be destroyed.”  What is the great destruction looming on the horizon for us? What is it that must change in our lives if we are to be saved? “I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out.” Those are St. Paul’s words from almost two millennia ago. People will point to what they call Paul’s alarmism and try to discredit his message, using the argument that obviously the time hasn’t run out so maybe St. Paul was overstating the case. They, however, may just be ignoring the teaching from the Book of Jonah. Maybe they are discounting the possibility that Paul’s preaching saved the world back then, and that humanity has been saved from destruction by the preaching of the Church over the centuries and people’s repentance time and time again in various ages.

       Jonah seemed very much annoyed that God had spared the great city of Nineveh. In a sense, we are not that different as we may wish contrary to the will of God that our enemies would be destroyed, unmindful of what the Prophet Ezekiel (18:24) teaches. It is not God’s will that the sinner die, but rather that he repent and be saved. “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?”

       The question is how should we respond to the preaching of Christ as carried on in the Church. “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

       When Jonah made his attempt to escape by boat across the sea from God’s will for him, he went below deck curled up and went to sleep. He tried to crowd the Lord out of his life and thoughts by not watching and praying with the sailors and the rest of the passengers on that boat. What then is repentance if not our turning to God by embracing a life of prayer? Offering each day to Him when we awake, giving thanks for our food, and examining our conscience at the end of each day. We must cultivate a sense of the presence of God in our lives. We must rouse ourselves from sleep so to speak.

Recently, I was impressed by the witness of two people, one, a woman who was undergoing cancer treatment, who told how a Catholic lady friend came to visit each day of her treatment to pray the rosary with her. Her cancer is in remission. She attribute that as much to the Mother of God as to modern medicine. She will be received into the Catholic Church this Easter. The other is a former Anglican priest and bishop now a Catholic convert, who followed the advice of a Catholic priest friend, an exorcist, who told him that if he wanted to be freed of the torments of Satan, then he should pray the rosary. Is your life anchored in prayer or are you sleeping somewhere below deck attempting to flee from God’s love?

       The two great commandments are love of God and love of neighbor. Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is not a question of affection or sentiment. It is a matter of obedience to His commands, of sorrow and the resolve to make amends and change when we fail. Why do people hide below deck and refuse to seek to achieve a regular practice of the Sacrament of Penance in their hearts? We need to assume responsibility for all the ways we fail God and neighbor.

       “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

       Praised be Jesus Christ!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

"I am the Lord, there is no other"

 

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY

IN ORDINARY TIME

21-22 October – Holy Spirit Parish

Is 45:1, 4-6

1 Thes 1:1-5b

Mt 22:15-21

       Praised be Jesus Christ!

       “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, Cyrus… It is I who arm you, though you know me not, so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, there is no other.”

       Big Cyrus, the pagan conqueror, who lets Israel return to the Promised Land, without them lifting a finger, after 70 years in Babylonian captivity. The prophet Isaiah tells us that this was God’s doing. It is I who arm you, though you know me not, so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me. Cyrus was God’s chosen instrument to restore Israel to its home. Over the course of time it has never proved easy for people, even people of faith, to grasp that our God does indeed rule the universe and guide the course of history. Not an easy truth, but a truth just the same: God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ rules the universe. If we could always and everywhere profess that truth we would not live so anxiously, burdens would be easier to carry, and we just might live more consistently in hope.

       In the Gospel of Matthew today, the Pharisees would seem to give the impression that they are in charge of their people’s fate. “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”      Their “us-against-the-world” attitude, so to speak, is a good part of what got the Pharisees to hold to the letter of the law and simply insist on keeping the conquering Romans at arm’s length, as if it were unthinkable to grant the Romans a place in God’s plan for His people Israel, to recognize the oppressor’s place in determining the fate of the people not only for bad but also for good. When asked to declare Himself for one party or the other, to choose between the Romans and the observance of the Law, Jesus confounds the Pharisees in His response to their challenge by speaking to the reality of Israel’s situation of subjection to Rome. “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

       As evident or obvious as Jesus’ response was, it was for the Pharisees and is in similar situations in our world a case of thinking outside the box. Most people are immediate and political in their approach to life. In living just for the present moment not many people actually grapple with the big questions in life, at least not with those dealing with the power and presence of God in our world. Our attitude seems to be one more inspired by the workings of politics or of the debate platform, and hence motivated by the quest for short-term gains. In the light of this Sunday’s readings, I think we should rather focus on the role of divine providence in our lives, about God’s will being done in all things despite the impression we might have that He the Lord is seemingly absent from the bigger picture.

       I don’t think there is a day which goes by in a social setting when someone doesn’t complain to me about either people in civil government or in church government. They let their nerves get frayed over things beyond their control. This situation on the southern border or that comment by some politician has them all up in arms, filled with disgust, and really at their wit’s ends. Very few of them seem to take consolation from the suggestion that it might be better to spend much less time following the news.

       The phrase “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” is not calculating and does not represent a political stance, but it does speak to the reality of things. From little on, we are taught to pray for rain in due season and to pray for a bountiful harvest. It makes sense in that these are things beyond our control. The longer I live in this world of ours, the clearer it becomes to me that praying the Lord to grant wisdom and grace to our leaders is a no less worthwhile prayer intention. The more disinformation we encounter out there in the world the more sense it makes to beg the Lord to place His mighty Hand on all those who wield the scepter of power in our world.

       It is I who arm you, though you know me not, so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me.

       Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as the psalmist says. May those who love you prosper!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Wiping away every Tear and every Reproach

 

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

14-15 October 2023 – St. Lambert Parish

Is 25:6-10a

Phil 4:12-14, 19-20

Mt 22:1-14

Praised be Jesus Christ!

       On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast…

Who wouldn’t long for this great day on the Lord’s Mountain about which Isaiah prophesies?

The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth…

And yet from what we hear recounted in today’s Gospel and from the news accounts that come to our attention, not to mention sometimes our own sad experience with relatives and friends, it must be said that being a practicing Catholic is not generally a high priority. Being a good Catholic is not considered the be all and the end all of life in this world. Not a few people seem to run the other way or worse when the king invites them to his son’s wedding.

In our Gospel today from St. Matthew, we hear recounted the parable of the king eager to celebrate his son’s wedding feast with his subjects. When the invited guests refused to come and even mistreated or killed the king’s servants, the king had these ingrates and their cities destroyed. He then filled the banquet hall with all sorts of people whom he had virtually constrained to come in from the highways and byways. Refusing or declining the king’s invitation was not an option. The king and his officers would not take “no” for an answer. Even so, the man who presented himself at the feast without a proper wedding garment was punished, hogtied, and cast into the darkness outside. “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Just by way of an aside, if you are looking for a text from Scripture to explain to unbelieving friends why we baptize babies, this would be a good candidate.

“’Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.”

On the one hand, the parable describes the universal nature of the call to holiness. At the same time as the text highlights individual human freedom, the parable points to the sobering reality of people in this world who either turn their back on God in His Church, even lash out against him and his servants, or sort of participate half-heartedly or under some kind of mental reservation, like the man in the parable not dressing for the occasion of a wedding banquet. The simple truth is that if you would be part of the Lord’s great wedding feast spoken about by Christ in the Gospel, you must not only enter in, but also act and dress the part, that is, really enter in by renouncing sin and all that is contrary to God’s will. To find your place at the king’s big table you must break with Satan, with all his works, and with all his empty promises.

        The Gospel scene may strike us as a bit odd to the extent that we might find the king’s behavior unreasonable, his forcing someone to come to the party and then on top of it insisting that person dress up like a proper guest. “My king! Take me as I am! Like it or lump it!”

       For a lot of years that may have been my reaction to the reading of this parable. Why is the king so uppity? Why doesn’t he take the man as he is? Why the formality of dress? After all, it was not as if he was trying to get into this feast. In a sense, this wedding celebration was forced on him! You can imagine him saying, “There I was minding my own business and then all of a sudden they grabbed me literally and now here I am at the wedding of the king’s son!”

        In the old days and yet still the classic example of refusal of the king’s invitation was noted in Catholic parents who for whatever reason refused to pass on their Catholic faith to their children. It is the old story of people who don’t baptize their children as soon as possible in infancy, saying it would be better for them to choose Baptism on their own. That may be their claim based on some false notion of human freedom, but no! It’s wrong. The point is that we belong at the wedding feast the king prepares for his son. As there is no better alternative, whether by failing to baptize, or by not setting a good example, or by not properly instructing our children in the faith. If we do not heed the king’s call without hesitation, then we reject God and we harm those entrusted to our care. We could also mention the tragedy of those who though brought up Catholic themselves at some time in their lives walk away from the practice of the faith (and they seem to be many these days)!

       The real-life consequences of the faith are those described in today’s Gospel. They involve embracing wholeheartedly the call we have received from our parents, in and through the Church, to come and share in the king’s wedding feast. How could we deprive a child of the great gift of Baptism? It would be like depriving that child of life’s greatest good.

In our day especially, we can note all those who pretend to set their own terms for belonging to the Church. The parable’s example of the man showing up not properly dressed for the party best describes this group of people who claim to remain in the Church on their own terms. It is something which just cannot be, for that too would be a rejection of the king and his invitation. Here too punishment is due. Hogtie him and throw him outdoors into the dark! This snub of our duties as Catholics must have its consequences, this rejection of the king, whether overt and aggressive as it was done by the first group of invitees or somewhat cynical and passive as in the case of the man from the street still refusing to dress the part of an honored guest.

       The invitation to come to the feast cannot be anything other than a call to engagement with the king and ultimately a call to obedience to the king’s will. What do I care about the king’s son getting married? Why should I engage myself by going all the way and getting dressed up for the occasion? What ultimately is in it for me? Talk about the obligations of our Catholic life is an awkward sort of conversation involving lifelong faithfulness in marriage and demanding chastity according to our state in life, excluding all sexual activity outside of marriage. Even within marriage, the marital act itself must be open to the creation of new human life. Let’s try couching the thing in negative terms and saying that to reject the king’s invitation is to throw our lot in with the devil. By siding with God in His Church, we are committing ourselves to rejecting Satan and his lies.

       My suspicion is that you are eager to correspond to the wishes of the king and to join in his feast already now and for eternity. You want to live a good and holy life. Even so, we fail and need the sacrament of Penance as an aid on our path to holiness. We also have a burden to carry for others who fail in this regard. We must teach those in our care about the urgency of a prompt and wholehearted response to the invitation of the king. It can’t hurt to state it negatively both for them and for us. A little dread of being cast down from God’s Mountain into the depths of hell may be a great start on our path to the wedding feast, lest we end up in the darkness outside.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI