Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Readings from Friday of the 28th week of the year, cycle "A"

The opening prayer of today's Mass contains a curious expression: "Almighty ever-living God, who adorn the sacred body of your Church with the confessions of holy Martyrs..." Confessions. Not one confession, but confessions with an "s." Plural. What does that mean? that the Church is made more beautiful because the martyrs went to confession every month? No. It goes back to the original meaning of the word confession: an audible, public profession of what someone was thinking on the inside. That's what make someone a martyr. Even when threatened with torture or even death, the martyrs said aloud what they believed in their minds and hearts. They professed the Faith, making a noble confession. Sometimes the place where the martyr did this came to be called a "confession." More frequently, the place where the martyr was buried was called a "confession." If you have ever been to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, or seen pictures of the interior, you know that right in front of the altar there is a big hole in the floor, with staircases in it leading down to a lower level. And even further down, below that level, is the tomb of St. Peter. That big opening in the floor is called the "confessio." That's an architectural expression of what a martyr is. The martyr's witness, the martyr's courageous profession of faith, opens a hole that lets us see what someone really believes in their mind and heart.

What makes the martyrs stand out? Not the fact that they were Christians. There have been millions and millions of Christians; very few of them were martyrs. And they don't stand out because they believed the Creed. Millions of people recite the Creed out loud, every Sunday, all over the world. They are not all martyrs. What makes the martyrs stand out is that we know what they really believed. People say that they believe something. But when you tell them that they could avoid torture and death simply by denying what they say they believe, well, then you find out what they really believe. 
In the Gospel Jesus said, "There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness
will be heard in the light,
and what you have whispered behind closed doors
will be proclaimed on the housetops"
These words could be taken as frightening. We  Most of us have secrets that we would rather not be made known. On the other hand, the same words could be very comforting. If what we say in the darkness of the heart is "Lord, I do believe. I do believe that you are the only one who can help me and save me." If what we whisper behind the closed doors of the mind is, "I do believe. Help my unbelief. Teach me your paths," then, when the moment comes to give witness, those expressions of faith will be heard and proclaimed to the world!

Recently, amid all the events surrounding the Synod in Rome, we were treated to the unedifying spectacle of a Cardinal denying that he really said what he was reported to have said in an interview with a journalist. After he denied that he had said certain things, the journalist produced a recording of the Cardinal saying those very things. There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.

Those words can be frightening or comforting. It all depends on what goes on in the darkness of our hearts, and behind the closed doors of our minds.

The Finger of God Friday of the Twenty-Seventh Week of the Year, II

Readings


Jesus has been attracting a lot of attention, going around driving out demons. Now he seems to be saying that the same demons are going to come back and possess the poor people all over again. Only this time they're going to bring reinforcements, so things will be even worse. That can't be right.

Jesus is responding to the question of his opponents: by what authority? by what power do you drive out demons? His answer indicates that if an unclean spirit decided on its own to leave a possessed person, it would eventually come back to home base and set up shop all over again. But if someone stronger drives out the spirit, it won't come back.

When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him...

Jesus casts out demons "by the finger of God." What do we think of when we hear "the finger of God"? I think of the fresco by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. God is reaching out his finger toward the first man, who reaches out his finger toward God. They are mirror images of each other, to indicate that man is made in the image and likeness of God. God reaches out his finger, and the man made of clay becomes a living being.

Perhaps this is in the back of Paul's mind when he says "it is those who have faith who are children of Abraham." Just so, Christ said, "God can raise up children to Abraham  from these stones!" How could God make stones into children? The same way he made clay into a living man.

Today the Word of God suggests something about our quest for self-improvement. We are painfully aware of our demons, of our sins, bad habits, and evil inclinations. We can do our best to drive them out by action and effort, only to see them come roaring back, stronger than before. We try this and that and the other thing, and perhaps that will make us different, but it can never bring us to life.

Be Careful What You Sign

Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Readings

During night time road trips, I used to enjoy listening to Bruce Williams on talk radio. Bruce gave callers advice on investments, buying and selling real estates, building their careers, changing jobs, starting a business, travel, and a little bit of everything else. Once or twice a week someone would call who had gotten into a real jam. Someone had made a bad deal and wanted to get out of it. Someone was up to his eyeballs in debt and wanted to get out of it. Bruce would ask, "Did you sign anything?" The caller would say, "Yes, but blablablablablabla" and Bruce would ask "Did you sign anything? What did you sign? What did it say?" And the caller would say that he had signed something, but didn't read it first, or didn't notice that it said thus-and-so, or wasn't sure where the document was at the moment. Then Bruce would say, "You have fire in your fingertips! When you pick up a pen to sign something, you have power in your hand!"

Bruce was right, of course. Don;t sign up for something unless you read the fine print first. This is what Moses is telling the people in the First Reading.

Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statues, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. 

This is what we signed up for at Baptism, when we became members of God's holy people:

and you will be a people sacred to the LORD.

Sacred -- meaning cut off, set apart, not the same as other nations.

Jesus, the new Moses, has the same message: if you signed up to be children of your heavenly Father, and you act just like the tax collectors and  pagans, something is wrong. You're not keeping your part of the covenant.

Remember what you signed up for.

Thursday sfter Ash Wednesday

Readings

Moses gives the people two options: life or death. "Choose life," he says, "that you may live."
This is pretty black and white.
Then Jesus says, "choose the cross." The cross, which in his day had one meaning and one meaning only: death. Take up death each day.
Does Jesus contradict Moses?
Even when Moses said "choose life" he meant something more than everyday life. He was urging them to obey the commandments of God. But it's easy to observe that there are people who disregard and break the commandments of God -- maybe you know some of them -- and are still alive. Someone of them rather prosperous. Moses is not talking about mere biological life, but about the blessed life, long and happy, in the land God will give you.
Like Moses, Jesus is talking about life that is more than life. For the follower of Jesus, the word "life" has a new meaning: Jesus Christ. St. Paul saw this: "For me, life is Christ, and death is gain" (Phil 1:21). And St. John, too: "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4).
Our definition of what it means to live is different. If you want to know what it looks like to be alive, you must look on Christ. On Christ as He now is, risen in glory. The wounds we made are still there, but no longer painful. To know what it means to live, we look on Christ who has suffered, died, and risen. 
This suggests that the life of the disciple is not complete yet. There is more suffering to do, more dying, before the day of glory. Much more Lent fasting to do, before the Easter feast. 
Choose life, says Moses. And Jesus says the same. Choose to let the false self die. Let me show you who you really are. 

The Presentation of the Lord

Everybody hates meetings. In the world of business, where meetings are unavoidable, only 9 percent of managers say that something was accomplished in all ten of the last meetings they attended. Managers and executives say that 45 percent of the meetings they attend accomplish nothing. And those are the people who call the meetings. The legendary librarian of the American seminary in Rome used to say, “Meetings are where minutes are kept, and hours are wasted. By the way, the parish staff meeting is this Tuesday at 1 p.m.

If you hate meetings, you are in trouble today. Because today’s feast of the Presentation of the Lord originally had a different name: Hypapante, which is Greek for...”meeting.” We can see why. The infant Christ and His Mother meet Simeon and Anna in the Temple. And there is more. Simeon has been waiting all his life to meet the Messiah, the Christ of the Lord. He represents all the prophets and faithful people of the Old Testament who waited for the day when the Messiah would appear in the Temple. Now that he has met him, he can go in peace. The Old Testament has met the New Testament. Waiting meets reality. Expectation meets fulfillment.

Meeting the Messiah is the beginning and end of the Christian life. How many people have experienced a dramatic change of the their whole life because they met Christ! The most obvious example in the New Testament is Saul of Tarsus. He thought that Christians were the enemy of everything he believed. Then he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. It changed everything. Later, he was able to say, "for me, life is Christ, and death is gain." . . As he thought of death, he said, “we would rather go home, and be with the Lord.” Between the two meetings of baptism and death, if we are to remain good and faithful Christians, we have to meet the Lord again and again. In prayer, in His word, in the Mass, in all the sacraments, in the poor, the lonely, the imprisoned, the sick, and the sorrowful.

There are things that make it difficult to have a good meeting with the Lord. They are not so different from the reasons that many people hate meetings. According to one professional study, here are the most common problems with meetings:
1. People protecting turf
2. 1 or 2 people dominate
3. Defensiveness
4. Internal politics
5. People not prepared
(Top executives in America report that 48% of meetings don’t even start on time.)

These problems are not so different from the reasons we don't have good meetings with the Lord.
1. People protecting turf
In the Psalm of the Mass, we sang: Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may come in! This is not protecting turf, but opening doors. To meet Christ, we have to stop thinking of our lives as our own turf. We need to let Christ in. Pope Benedict put it this way: “If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? ...Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? . . . No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. ... Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide.... Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return.”

2. 1 or 2 people dominate
Simeon and Anna were very important people in the Temple. They had seniority. But they understood that the most important people who had ever entered the Temple were Jesus and Mary.

3. Defensiveness
The defensive person closes himself to the other person’s ideas or point of view. A two-way conversation is impossible. The defensive person can’t acknowledge mistakes, or take responsibility for them. It’s someone else’s problem. Finally, defensiveness prevents us from putting the other person’s needs above our own. In the Christian life, defensiveness takes the form of a denial of sin -- at least, the denial of my sins. Other people seem to have lots of them.
Pope Pius XII: "The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin.”

4. Internal politics
Christianity is not an individual proposition. Anyone who wants to belong to Christ has to understand that the whole body of Christ is included in the deal.
Last week, in a daily Mass homily, Pope Francis talked about this reality: "The Christian is not a baptized person who receives baptism and then goes on his way. The first fruit of baptism is to make you belong to the Church, the People of God. You cannot understand a Christian without the Church. This is why [Pope] Paul VI said that it is an absurd dichotomy to love Christ without the Church, to listen to Christ but not the Church.... It's not possible. ... We receive the Gospel message in the Church and we live out our holiness in the Church...”

5. People not prepared
The ultimate meeting with the Messiah happens when we die. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to show up to that meeting well-prepared? In the ancient litany of the saints, the Church teaches us to pray: "From a sudden and unforeseen death, deliver us, O Lord." Every time we say the Hail Mary, we ask the Mother of God to intercede for us "at the hour of our death." Catholics are encouraged to entrust themselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death (cf. CCC 1014).
We prepare for this final meeting every day. We prepare for it, not by the way we will die at some future time, but by the way we are living right now.

Today we bless candles. In the seventh century, St Sophronius spoke of these candles: “Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ.
The Mother of God, the most pure Virgin, carried the true light in her arms and brought him to those who lay in darkness. We too should carry a light for all to see and reflect the radiance of the true light as we hasten to meet him....
we join in procession with lighted candles to reveal the light that has shone upon us and the glory that is yet to come to us through him. So let us hasten all together to meet our God.