Lamp for a Dark Place

The sky over the boardwalk at Spring Lake sometimes gets swept with colors before nightfall, but soon the only light will come  from a lamp that shines through the night.

Here’s a reading from Augustine,  a beautiful commentary on the lamp burning in the dark, till the great Sun shines again. It’s a prophetic light, he says, lit till the time when “lamps will no longer be needed. When that day is at hand, the prophet will not be read to us, the book of the Apostle will not be opened, we shall not require the testimony of John, we shall have no need of the Gospel itself. Therefore all Scriptures will be taken away from us, those Scriptures which in the night of this world burned like lamps so that we might not remain in darkness.”

Life’s darkness is temporary; we are meant for the light.

“I implore you to love with me and, by believing, to run with me; let us long for our heavenly country, let us sigh for our heavenly home, let us truly feel that here we are strangers. What shall we then see? Let the gospel tell us: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. You will come to the fountain, with whose dew you have already been sprinkled.

Instead of the ray of light which was sent through slanting and winding ways into the heart of your darkness, you will see the light itself in all its purity and brightness. It is to see and experience this light that you are now being cleansed. Dearly beloved, John himself says, we are the sons of God, and it has not yet been disclosed what we shall be; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

I feel that your spirits are being raised up with mine to the heavens above; but the body which is corruptible weighs down the soul, and this earthly tent burdens the thoughtful mind. I am about to lay aside this book, and you are soon going away, each to his own business. It has been good for us to share the common light, good to have enjoyed ourselves, good to have been glad together. When we part from one another, let us not depart from him.”

Seeds on Tough Ground

We read the scriptures in our daily lectionary bit by bit. For example, today’s readings at Mass are:

Ex 16:1-5, 9-15
Mt 13:1-9

Over the year we read a lot of the scriptures this way, but it seems to me that we can miss what they’re saying if we don’t see the picture overall. In other words, the big picture behind our readings helps us to read them bit by bit, and modern scripture studies are helping us do that.

For instance, in the next few days we’re going to be reading in our lectionary a series of parables from the 13th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, beginning today with the parable of the Sower. Can the gospel as a whole help us understand what we’re reading ?

Way back in the 5th chapter of Matthew, Jesus called his disciples up a mountain and promised them a blessed life by living the beatitudes. Sublime teaching. We like it. He performed great miracles as a sign of his authority.  In chapter 10 he sends disciples out to proclaim his life-giving message.  “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

Don’t go to tough places, pagan territory, the Samaritan towns, Jesus tells them.  Just go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

They did and found them the toughest of all; they met stiff opposition in Galilee, more than they possibly expected.  Jesus himself faced opposition there too, but Matthew’s gospel, written around 90 AD (possibly in Galilee or nearby) is describing a situation that has worsened considerably.

After Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, the Pharisees moved into Galilee in force and sought to rebuild Judaism. They saw the followers of Jesus of Nazareth as their strongest opponents. Matthew’s gospel reflects the increasing Jewish resistance to Christians in his day.

Why doesn’t our world believe in Jesus of Nazareth, they said? And we do too.  Is the kingdom of heaven really at hand? What’s happening? Jesus’ followers then must have asked questions like that, as their position deteriorated.

“A sower went out to sow. some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.”

Finally, after all that, we hear some seed fell on good ground.

The parable describes one of the mysteries of the Kingdom: it’s not always welcomed.

Is that a hard lesson for us to recognize today? It sure is.We’re in the same boat as those who heard this parable originally. I think that helps us to hear it and understand.

Mission: Tuesday Evening–Mary, the Mother of Jesus

Does the Catholic Church make too much of Mary?

We call her the Mother of God and sing her praises in litanies filled with titles like “Cause of our Joy,” “Seat of Wisdom,” “Virgin Undefiled,” “Mother of Divine Grace.” Prayers proclaim that “she is our life, our sweetness and our hope.” “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you… Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

There are reasons for honoring her. She helps us to see Jesus.

She was immaculately conceived when her life began, and she was assumed bodily into heaven when her earthly life ended, the Church believes.

Gifts come to her through the merits of her Son, because she plays an important role in the world’s salvation. She cooperated with him in his mission. She helps us know Jesus and the power of his resurrection. “Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.”

Some, however, say the scriptures don’t support these claims for Mary. Let’s see what we can learn from them.

A Disciple of Jesus

Like Peter and the other disciples, Mary was an important witness to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. She had unique memories of him. “She kept all these things in her heart and pondered over them,” St. Luke says, and her memories found a place in the gospels.
Where would the story of his birth come from, unless from her? She stood by the cross of her Son on Calvary, according to St. John gospel. Wouldn’t she offer her memories about that crucial event too?

Yet, Mary’s contribution differs from that of the other disciples, like Peter.  She witnessed Jesus birth and early life, when he was subject to her and Joseph at Nazareth. But, interestingly enough– as the scriptures indicate– when Jesus begins his public ministry and calls disciples, when he begins to preach and to heal in Capernaum and in other towns of Galilee, Mary has hardly any part of it.

Yes, she’s present at Cana in Galilee at the marriage feast when he changed water into wine, according to John’s gospel.  She visits him at Capernaum briefly according to the gospels. For the most part, however, she seems to remain in Nazareth where, where according to the scriptures, Jesus is rejected when he visits his hometown.

It seems, then, that Mary is present only occasionally during Jesus’ public ministry.  Then, she had to hear what he said and did from others. Only when he goes to Jerusalem for the last time, does she accompany him.  Then, according to John’s Passion narrative, she stood by his cross and watched him die.

Two periods of Jesus’ life she witnesses directly: Jesus’ birth and early life at Nazareth, and his death on the cross. Both belong to his hidden life when his power is mostly concealed.
Made flesh, the Word of God becomes part of ordinary humanity, and he “humbles himself, taking the form of a slave,” St. Paul says. In his early life, he was like any other child and would be unnoticed.  At his death, he could be mistaken for any criminal condemned to a cross.

Mary looks at the mysteries of her Son as a woman of prayer, a believer, and helps us understand what the one we see in faith, who is so often hidden.

She becomes a companion in prayer. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” In these words we welcome her; we share in her grace and her wisdom.

This is especially true when we pray the rosary with her.

“To recite the rosary is nothing else than to contemplate the face of Christ with Mary.”
In his letter “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” (October 16, 2002) Pope John Paul II recommended this way of praying which has nourished Catholics for centuries as a “school of Mary.” The pope suggested other mysteries be added to those already used by Catholics, Mysteries of Light, which include mysteries of Jesus’ public life from his baptism to his passion.

The pope saw the rosary as a way to center on the life of Jesus Christ. Through it, “may be imitate what it contains and obtain what it promises.”

The rosary is a good way to meditate on the scriptures. We will pray it this evening as a scriptural prayer.

Follow up: For a biography of Mary and further information, see http://www.cptryon.org/compassion/mary/index.html