Successful and Unsuccessful Saints

In yesterday’s post I offered a summary of Bishop N.T. Wright’s talk to the Italian Catholic Bishops in which he stated that our understanding of the resurrection of Jesus is influenced today by the thinking of the Enlightenment, which placed God (if God exists) beyond our world. We are the lords of creation, according to that thinking. This life and all in it is in our hands to shape and control as we think best.

Yet, the Risen Christ is Lord of creation, still present in our world, fashioning it to become God’s new creation. He has not just come and now is gone, with us only at our death to take his own into heaven. Nor is he just lord of the perfect. Every knee bows before him.

I wonder if the thinking of the Enlightenment has also influenced our thinking about the saints. We like “successful saints” who seem to leave their mark in society by what they accomplish: building schools, hospitals, blazing new trails on the world scene. We like saints who do something big.

What about saints like Saint Gemma, Saint Pio–who seem to be sidelined most their lives without obvious human accomplishments­– aren’t they witnesses to the power of the Risen Christ to reach into humble life and be present there?

I heard recently that Saint Pio is probably the most popular saint in the church right now. Interesting. Books about St. Gemma are the most popular books we distribute at Passionist Press. Interesting.

Is holiness only for the perfect, the bright, the accomplished? Or does the Risen Christ reveal himself to the humble, sometimes giving them the treasures of his wounds? Maybe the voice of the faithful is telling us something.

The Approach of the Leper

These Sundays at Mass we’re looking at the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry vividly described in Mark’s gospel. Jesus came from the Jordan River where he was baptized with Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and his brother John, fishermen from Capernaum.

He was invited to stay in Peter’s house in that town, which today you can see if you’re fortunate to visit the Holy Land.  Archeologists have uncovered the town of Capernaum in recent years and you can see the remnants of its old houses made of black basalt, the foundations of the synagogue where Jesus prayed; and beyond the town are the low mountains where he taught. It’s a fascinating place.

Peter’s house was the center of his ministry there, it seems. Mark describes what happened after Jesus cured Peter’s mother in law: “When it was evening after sunset they brought to him all who were ill and possessed by demons, and he cured them. The whole town was gathered at the door.”

In recent times, Franciscan archeologists have identified Peter’s house among the closely packed houses of the town, and a shrine church is built over it now.

So many people crowded around that house that Jesus had to escape to the surrounding hills to pray. Afterwards he told his disciples that he had to visit other towns and places in Galilee.

Probably the leper approached him as he was going to one of those other towns. Our first reading from the Book of Leviticus gives a succinct account of how lepers were treated in those days. They were separated from family and hometowns and sent to live apart in abominable conditions. People were afraid to go near them.

Rembrandt has a wonderful sketch of the lepers approaching Jesus.(above) It looks like Peter, who is behind him, is hiding in back of the Lord afraid to catch anything from the poor creatures who approach begging for help and healing.

Are we too afraid of people like the lepers, people suffering so much, people suffering from unexplained suffering, that we think we’re going to be overwhelmed by their suffering? We hide from the sufferings of the world. “None of that near me,” we say. But Jesus leads us to the leper. Let’s see suffering with him.

The Resurrection Story

On Wednesday night of our mission at St.Charles Borromeo, in Port Charlotte, Florida, I preached on the Resurrection of Jesus. It’s a mystery that predicts our future.

Recent scriptural studies have made us aware that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were originally meant for particular churches and situations, and so when we read them it’s good to keep in mind the world and circumstances behind each one. Each gospel offers its own unique insight into mysteries of Jesus, and to gain that insight we have to resist our tendency to harmonize one gospel with  the others.

Luke’s account of the resurrection of Jesus centers around the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Like the other gospels, Luke begins with the women at the tomb that Easter morning, but the Risen Jesus does not stay at the tomb. The Lord engages the world at large and shares his risen life with his disciples and all creation.

In his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, Luke shows God’s plan of salvation being realized in the person and life of Jesus and then extended to all humanity in his church as its spreads from Jerusalem to Rome, which was then considered the center of the world.

He offers the journey of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus as a way to understand the church’s journey through time.  Just as he did with the two disciples, the Risen Lord walks with his church on its mission through the ages.

It’s not an easy journey. Like that of the two disciples, it’s not a triumphant march. It’s marked by disillusionment, by questions and gradual enlightenment, as their journey was. If the Risen Lord were not with them as they left Jerusalem at the end of the Passover feast, they would have ended up hopeless. The church would fall into hopelessness too, if he were not with her.

Like the two disciples we find the Risen Christ slowly in the scriptures and in the breaking of the bread. Like them, he makes our hearts burn within.

Luke’s resurrection account offers us a way to look at the church today. It’s a good corrective to a triumphalistic view that expects the church to be perfect. It isn’t. It’s also a good corrective to a perfectionistic view of ourselves.

Like the two disciples, we have our questions and suffer our disappointments, but the Risen Christ walks with us. He engages our questions and helps us to understand. He is present in the breaking of the bread, the Holy Eucharist. We don’t see him; he has vanished from our sight, but he is with us. We can rejoice in the Risen Lord with us and guiding us to his kingdom.

 

Let’s Look at the Saints

This morning, the last day of our mission here at St. Charles Borromeo, the school children were at the 8.30 Mass and participated beautifully in the liturgy. I spoke about St. Josephine Bakhita who was kidnapped and sold into slavery as a 7 year old girl in the Sudan, in Africa, around the year 1876.

She worked around the kitchen, cleaned the house and took care of the younger children of her African slave owners. Later, she was bought from them by a European family living in Africa then, and did the same things for them.

The family moved to Italy and brought Bakhita with them. One of her tasks was to take a younger child of the family to a Catholic school, where he became acquainted with the Daughters of Charity, the religious women who taught there.

When the family decided to return to Africa, Bakhita refused to go. The sisters and others made her aware that she didn’t belong to that family. She was a daughter of God who had rights of her own. In fact, Italian law forbade slavery.

Bakhita was freed and took the name Josephine. She was so impressed with the sisters that she joined their community.  She died in Italy in 1947 and was canonized a saint in 2000.

I told the children and others there at Mass that our church upholds human rights. We want all people to enjoy “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  Jesus came that people should be free.

Wonderful story to tell children. There should be no slaves in our world. Our church has been given a mission by Jesus: that all have rights to be free, to have a place to live, a family, food, medical care.

St. Josephine lived a holy life till she died. St. Josephine pray for us and help all those who are enslaved. Help us work for human rights.

Let’s Read the Bible

You wish Catholics were more familiar with the bible and read it. After all, the bible is the word of God and a way we know Jesus Christ. What bible should you read, anyway?

Go into a Barnes and Noble store or check out Amazon.com and you can easily get overwhelmed by the different bibles you find. Which one’s for you?

There are two modern translations of the bible we might single out as “Catholic bibles.”

 1. The New American Bible–Revised Edition (NABRE)

This bible appeared late in 2012. It is a revised edition of the New American Bible published in 1970 and translated from the original biblical languages. Used in Catholic pubic worship in the United States, this new edition offers excellent notes which make it particularly good for private study.

2. New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) 

The NJB is a 1985 revision of the older Jerusalem Bible (JB), translated from the original languages, but developed from a popular French translation done in Jerusalem, which is why it was called the Jerusalem Bible. It also offers good notes for private study.

Bibles in Print

The American Bible Society, which follows the bible scene closely, describes many bibles in use today on their website.They also have good background material for bible study.

Its website says the King James Version (KJV) of the bible is “still the most widely owned and used English translation in the USA.” However, it notes that “many of the best and most ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of Bible books have been discovered since 1850, and so the KJV could not make use of them.” The KJV version suffers because it has not been improved by these discoveries and other advances of recent biblical scholarship.

New translations like the New Internations Version (NIV) and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) have been done in recent years to make use of the ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, yet they follow in the King James tradition.

The New American Standard Bible (NASB), revised in 1995 offers a formal translation of the bible less dependent on the King James version.

Other modern translations like the Good News Translation (GNT) and the Contemporary English Version (CEV) are in a contemporary style using common language for readers not familiar with traditional bible and church words.

The USCCB has a list of bibles approved for use by Catholics.

In the mission last night, I preached a sermon THE BLIND MAN ON THE ROAD AND ZACHAEUS UP A TREE. You can find a summary on this blog January 30, 2012.

Following Jesus Christ

That’s the theme of our mission here at St. Charles Borromeo, Port Charlotte, this week. I said this morning at Mass we can know Jesus Christ better through the Scriptures and that the lectionary read at Mass is one of the ways to do it. The lectionary in our liturgy comes from the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s  which directed that the treasures of the bible be more available to people in our worship.

Now, over the year we read extensively from the bible, both from the Old and the New Testament.

The reading from the Book of Kings today is an example why we read from the Old Testament. Sometimes people wonder about the connection between the Old Testament and the New.

It’s the story of Solomon building his temple in Jerusalem. God who came to Moses on Mount Sinai, who led his people through the desert, would have a permanent place to dwell with his people, the king said.

Later, Jesus would pray and teach in the temple, rebuilt by Kind Herod, and he would claim he was the new temple and the new sacrifice to his Father. He is now God’s presence among us.

“You are the temples of God, “ Paul would write. God is present in us. We offer ourselves to God in sacrifice. We draw others within. Our temples are not to be solitary, they invite all.

I spoke this morning about the mystery of the human presence. The mystery of the cross is present in us and in others. Attention should be paid to it.

On the practical side, I recommend some aids to help pray and reflect with the lectionary. On the internet, the US Bishops’ site has the lectionary readings and some helpful commentaries.

The Passionists offer a homily on the lectionary readings each day. www.thepassionists.org

Some popular printed aids:

Give Us Today, a monthly missal from the Benedictines at Liturgical Press. It has the readings and many of the prayers of the Mass, feasts of the saints, and meditations and prayers.

The Magnificat, a popular missal with the same contents as the above.

Living in Christ, also the same contents as above

Tonight we have a service at 7 PM. Here’s a video summary:

He Takes Our Hand

If you’ve had the opportunity to visit the Holy Land, you probably visited Capernaum and saw the ruins of that small fishing village that was the base of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee.  Archeologists have uncovered it in recent years.  You can see the ancient black stones of the houses and the foundations of the synagogue where Jesus taught and prayed. It’s a fascinating place.

This was the place Jesus called home, after he came from the Jordan River where he was baptized with Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and his brother John.

Mark’s gospel today tells us how Jesus began his remarkable ministry in that place. After going to the synagogue, he entered Peter’s house. In recent times,  Franciscan archeologists have identified its location among the houses closely packed together. (See the picture above) Peter’s mother in law was in bed with a fever. Jesus “approached her, took her hand, and raised her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.”

This may seem to be a minor healing when you compare it to some of the miracles Jesus worked: the paralyzed man who would later be lowered through the roof of Peter’s house, the lepers, the blind, the deaf, the dead like Lazarus or the daughter of Jairus.

But maybe this healing tells us something important, namely, that God is concerned for our every need, however small it may seem when compared to others. Think of it: shortly before this, in the Jordan River, the heavens opened and God said of Jesus “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

Now here the Son of God comes to this small village, to this little house, and his first concern is to take this woman by the hand and raise her up. As he does on other occasions, he gives the woman the power to live and do again what she did before. “She waited on them.”

We may think that God as interested only in great things. Jesus, the image of God, shows us God is interested in the smallest things. The very hairs of our head are numbered. The smallest concerns that no one sees, but God.

After Peter’s mother in law is healed, others come from Capernaum and all over, crowding around the door. And Jesus meets them all.

We are beginning a mission at St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Port Charlotte, Florida, today. The same Lord of heaven and earth, the same Jesus, the Risen Christ who always walks with us is with us here.

Presentation in the Temple

I spoke this morning at our mission on the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord. It’s the last of the feasts of Christmas, even though most Christmas decorations have disappeared awhile ago.

The Feast is based mainly on Luke’s Infancy narrative which begins in the temple with the announcement to the priest Zacharias of the birth of John the Baptist and ends with the presentation of Jesus in the temple by Mary and Joseph. The two elderly Jews, Simeon and Anna represent the faithful generations that have been waiting for the Messiah.

Previously, Luke tells of the poor shepherds, the outcasts waiting in the dark, who are greeted by the angels. In Matthew, the gentiles are invited in the coming of the magi. Now the long wait of the Jewish people is rewarded as old Simeon takes the child in his arms and utters a prophecy that he will bring light to his people.

We bless candles today to symbolize our acceptance of the light of Christ.

God was present in the Temple of Jerusalem, the Jews believed. They prayed there and offered sacrifices to the Lord. Luke would have us see that God’s Son is one with his Father as he is presented in the temple. He becomes the new temple, God present in our midst in a unique way.  He is our new High Priest who unites us to the Father by the sacrifice of himself.

Jesus later claims that role as he teaches in the temple and prays there.

God is present to us in different ways. One window in Epiphany Cathedral pictures Abraham, whom God told to journey to a new land. God sent him on a journey to a new land and promised to be with him on that journey. God sends us too on our journey of life and is always present with us as we go, mysterious and uncertain as our journey may be. We are going somewhere beyond anything we see or hope for now.

Another window in the cathedral shows Moses holding the commandments as he comes down from Mount Sinai.  The Jews carried those tablets on the way to the promised land. God was present in his commandments as they made their way through the desert. God is present when we keep his commands. “If you love me, keep my commands.”

When David established his capitol in Jerusalem, he built a temple to hold the Ark of the Covenant. God would be present in this building, which Solomon, his son, made more magnificent. By the time of Jesus, the temple was made even greater by Herod the Great, a master builder and there Jesus often prayed and taught. God was present there.

There will  be holy places, like churches and shrines, where God is present. There will be holy signs, holy actions, like sacraments and sacramentals,  where God is present.

During this mission, I spoke about seeing God present to us as he was to Abraham. We are made in the image of God; let’s see him there in ourselves and others. God is present on our life’s journey. Let’s see him there.

God is present in sacraments and holy signs, in prayers and commandments. Let us find him there.

Catechisms Have Changed

Some of us may have learned our faith through the questions and answers of the Baltimore Catechism, but catechisms have changed in recent years. One big change is that they’re not just for children, they’re for adults too.

The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, published by the US Catholic Bishops in 2006, is an adaptation of The Catechism of the Catholic Church published in 1992 in Rome after the Second Vatican Council, as a response from the American bishops to Pope Paul VI’s call to the bishops of the world to adapt the universal catechism to the circumstances and culture of their own people.

The American catechism follows the arrangement of the Roman catechism and teaches about the Creed, the Sacraments, Moral Life and Prayer. One of its features is that it begins each lesson with a story of faith, a short biography of a Catholic, usually someone from the United States, who introduces us to the teaching that’s presented.

Many of the stories also help us appreciate how the Church in our country grew and the particular spirituality that’s been expressed here.

For example, St. Elizabeth Seton introduces us to its first question: our search for God. We search for God through creation, through human relationships and through the various circumstances of our lives.

Mother Seton found God in all those ways. As a young girl, neglected by her father and her stepmother after her mother’s death, she found God in the beauties of nature, in the fields around New Rochelle, NY, where she played as a child.

Then, she married a successful man, William Seton, and had children, a happy married life, lots of friends, and was active in her Episcopal church, Trinity Church, on Wall Street in New York City.

Her life changed when her husband’s business failed. His health also failed and Elizabeth took him to Italy to see if a better climate could revive him. When they arrived in Livorno, Italy, he died in her arms in a quarantine station at the seaport.

Some Italian friends took Elizabeth and her daughter into their home and there she began to think about becoming a Catholic. That step caused her to lose some old friends; as a widow with small children she faced hard times.

Resettling in Baltimore, then Emmitsburg, Maryland, she established a Catholic school and gathered other women to form a religious community. One of the great saints and founders of the American Church, her quest for God was lifelong and many sided. She is an example of how our search for God goes on through creation, through the people around us and in the circumstances we face going through life.

Mother Seton is a teacher of faith and played an important role in the history of the church in our country.  She reminds us how important women have been, especially religious women,  in building our American church. She also reminds us that we’re all called by God to teach others.