SUNDAY 29 MARCH 2023: PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION AND HOLY WEEK.

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Mosaic of the Races, Charioteer Marcianus in his quadriga (four-horse chariot), holding the victor’s palm branch, 4th Century CE, National Museum of Roman Art, Merida, Spain.

The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. Crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.”     Matthew 21:9.

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First, a small note.  Only the gospel of John mentions “palms”. Today’s passage from Matthew simply says branches from the trees. But it would make sense to believe that these were palm leaves, otherwise movement would be, shall we say, challenging for the lowly ass on which Jesus was sitting (and compare that to the four stallions in the picture above).

So it is very possible that this symbol of victory and triumph was being thrown before the Lord in what could be truly labelled his victorious entry into the holy city of Jerusalem. Laurel leaves and palms, for some ancient reason, where regarded as symbolic of total victory. But, when one thinks about it, palms are extremely hardy, standing up even to hurricanes!  So they are strong, robust and fully able to carry the honorific of victory. And one is tempted to say that it was because of the raising of Lazarus from the dead just days before, is the reason for such a reception for Jesus. Anyone who could conquer death could conquer anything – or anyone. Such as the pagan, unclean, occupying Romans… 

At that time, the almost universal Jewish image of the Messiah – the Anointed One –  the Mashiach – was indeed rooted in Divine Scripture but there is always seems to be an element of violence or conquest. Take a look at this list of Scriptural passages said to foretell the Jewish Messiah. He was to re-establish the Kingdom of David, and that could hardly happen peacefully, especially with the Roman Empire at its height! Despite all that, the first Holy Week began with just about everyone waiting for Jesus to make the call to arms! Which did not come. As day followed peaceful day, the high hopes of that first Palm Sunday crowd began to be slowly  eliminated, so that by the time of Passover came around, the perfect date for rebirth of David’s Kingdom, no hope was left. No call to arms. (Take a look at this conjectural meeting of Jesus and Barabbas in the Temple at that time). The result was that the people felt they had been fooled! High hope turned into grim revenge and the ecstatic cries of “Hosanna to the Son of David” had turned into “Crucify him!” And all this was foreseen by Jesus, despite his followers’ rejection of such a prediction. And when it happened almost all of them vanished. From his cross Jesus presumably saw nothing but catastrophic failure and utter abandonment. Yet he still trusted in God….

So this week begins the foundational story of our faith. It begins with complete faith in the Lord at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, then the utter rejection of him by just about everyone, then the worst possible, agonizing, debasing and humiliating public death accompanied by scorn and laughter, and, finally, burial in a stranger’s tomb. And peace. But it also saw the Last Supper, the promise of the Lord to be always with us (“Do this in memory of me”), and the example for us all of humility and service recalled in the Maundy Thursday washing of the feet. And then the final empty, hollow peace, represented by the open and deserted tabernacle on the altar, for Catholics a chilling and forceful picture of a world without the Lord. But God had not given up on us all even though we deserved (deserve?) it. It reminds me of a moment when, in the Jesuit seminary where I was a novice in 1974, one day during the 30-day retreat (that all Jesuit novices must experience in order to take vows), I had a chilling, memorable, inexplicable moment. All of a sudden, I knew there was no God! There was a chilling feeling of absence, aloneness. My immediate thought was “What on earth am I doing here?” For someone who suddenly found that there was no God – god – I had no business being where I was. In the Jesuit 30-day retreat, you maintain silence, with the exception of talking to your director who guides you through the experience. Of course I told him about it, and he calmed me down, told me to wait and see… And God’s presence returned. But I have never forgotten that coldness and absence. I wonder if the Lord endured a moment like that on the cross. Heaven knows he had every reason to think so, having obeyed God his Father through everything only to be led to such agony and humiliation. But he maintained his belief, even in the agonizing cry of “My God why have you abandoned me?”  He died and was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb of a sympathetic stranger and laid to rest.

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, Pietro Lorenzetti c.1320, Lower Church of St. Francis, Assisi, Italy.                                 

There is almost unanimous scholarly opinion that Jesus deliberately followed the prophecy of Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey’ (Zechariah 9:9). Probably many in the crowd would know that prophecy: it would signify the arrival of the Messiah, when all things would change. Except they didn’t…. Except they did….

The Crucifixion, iStock

And the final reflection about this week of weeks. The Last Supper was conducted by Jesus in the full knowledge of what was to happen. He knew that his followers would be horrified at all that. He knew they would think his whole ministry was a disaster, to be forgotten as soon as possible, and their memory of him to be eliminated. So they gathered for that last meal, when he did something they never forgot, despite every reason to. He took a common piece of bread – unleavened, as per the instructions governing the Passover festival – and said “Take, eat, this is my body”. That is a command, a mandate from the Lord, giving this day its “Maundy” title. Then at the end of the meal, he took what was almost certainly a poor grade of wine, and told them to “Drink – this is my blood”. It was a direct consequence of the ceremony on Mount Sinai when the 12 tribes stood around a stone altar, and pledged to follow God foever, and symbolized that by the blood of sacrified animals sprinkled over the altar, symbolizing God, and also over all of them – united to the life of God! But with us Christians, we take God literally into ourselves at Communion!

There’s the huge difference!

 

The Last Supper, Duccio c.1311, Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana del Duomo, Siena, Italy.

 

The Crucifixion, Tintoretto 1565, Sala dell’albergo, Scuola di San Rocco, Venice, Italy.

 

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SUNDAY 22 MARCH 2026: THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT.

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The Raising of Lazarus, Unknown Artist 6th Century AD, Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuova, Ravenna, Italy.

And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And when he had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”     John 11:41-44.

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And so we come to Jesus’ greatest miracle, the one which probably assured his condemnation and destruction. The Prince of Life in clearly demonstrating his control over life and death, assured his own death. It was the step too far for the powers in control, and shortly afterwards he was crucified:

They rise and needs will have my dear Lord made away
A murderer they save; the Prince of Life they slay
Yet cheerful He to suffering goes
That He His foes from thence might free.

Love Unknown, Samuel Crossman 1664, John Ireland 1918.

The time was near Passover, and Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. His friends Martha and Mary had sent word that his friend Lazarus was sick unto death, and would he come to help them? Jesus did, but inexplicably waited a few days before going to Bethany where the three friends lived. It was therefore not too surprising that Lazarus had died several days before, and had already been laid in a tomb. Jesus ordered the stone entrance to the tomb be moved away, opening it up, no doubt, to the horrified reaction of the rapidly assembling crowd. First, Jesus prayed, raising his eyes and saying, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And the miracle happened. He commanded: “Lazarus, come forth!” and the dead man, now walking, emerged. He was bound in burial cloths, and clearly unable to move freely. Jesus ordered the burial wrappings be removed, and so Lazarus was fully restored to life. (The other two times when Jesus demonstrated this divine power, the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain were, in comparison. very quiet, almost private events). Now Bethany (modern-day-El Aizariya – “of Lazarus”) was and is very close to Jerusalem, perhaps two miles. It was unthinkable that such an event – unheard of in all history – could be kept quiet. Word must have spread like wildfire. The event, showing he had power over death itself, unquestionably revealed him to be the long awaited Messiah. (It accounts for the rapturous greeting he received entering Jerusalem shortly after). Yes, the crowds certainly acknowledged him as the Messiah, the Son of David, spreading palm branches before him, an ancient symbol of victory and conquest. It certainly seemed like the moment of triumph in his call from God. But one thing troubled me. This was clearly the event which triggered the passion and death of the Lord, yet this miracle is mentioned only in the gospel of John (the last to be written, long after the other three). There is no mention of this event in the other three gospels. Scholars have several possible explanations, but the one which made most sense to me was this. The other three gospels were written much closer to the time of Jesus and already there was trouble between the followers of the Lord, claiming he was the Messiah, and the Jewish authorities who denied it. As this final miracle was the most spectacular and well known, the person of Lazarus might well have been in danger of persecution by the Pharisees as the cause of the trouble. Some  scholars suggest that because of this, the other three authors of the gospels refrained from even mentioning it to protect Lazarus. By the time John wrote his gospel, perhaps 70 or more years after the Ascension of the Lord, Lazarus had died a natural death and was no longer in need of protection. Certainly the proximity of this miracle and the triumphant entry into Jerusalem (next Sunday’s gospel) and its tragic consequences meant that Lazarus had to have been very famous (or infamous in the eyes of the authorities) in that locality and needed to live quietly, out of the spotlight. However, the incredible had happened, witnessed by many people. The power that Jesus had was, literally, Godlike. There was no way, after that, that this man could be anyone other than the Messiah. Hence the overwhelming greeting he received on entering Jerusalem, next week’s gospel. Meanwhile, consider this passage which examines this gospel completely, revealing all the implications and Scriptural references involved.

The Raising of Lazarus, Sebastiano del Piombo c.1519, The National Gallery, London UK.

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SUNDAY 15 MARCH 2026: THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – LAETARE SUNDAY.

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The Light of the World, William Holman Hunt c.1856, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK.

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[Jesus said,] “We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”       John 9:4-5.

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The picture above is quite famous, representing Jesus literally as the light of the world (though there are three versions: this one in Manchester, and two others, one in Keble College, Oxford, and the third in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London). Jesus is knocking on a  (our?) door hoping for admission. But look at the condition of the door itself; overgrown with weeds, and  presumably difficult to open. In addition, there is no clear handle. We have a problem. We have to decide whether to open it – from the other side – and it will take quite an effort to achieve! Hence a perfect Lenten situation. And believe it – Jesus will knock! It might be that, on the inside of that door, could be our perfect life, wrapped comfortably up in ourselves, not open to the world, but warm and cozy inside. Who would want to open it at that ungodly hour? And will Jesus knock twice? And louder? But more important, will we hear it and respond? And taking the cue from the first reading, which says, “not as we see does God see, because humanity sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart” (adapting the language a little), so perhaps that door is the door to our heart. And perhaps today, in Lent, that might well be the state that our heart is in; not perhaps bad, but maybe closed to the world. And the second reading today states boldly that “you (which is to say all of us) are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth”. But a closed door with no window in it cannot even light up the pathway, let alone the neighborhood or the world…

Jesus performed a miracle in this gospel, empowering a man born blind to see for the first time. Remember that being the Son of God, Jesus possessed omnipotence, all power, which he never – ever – used for himself but only for others. Remember the insults he endured on the cross? “If you’re the Son of God, come down from that cross!” (Matthew 27:40, Mark 15:29-32, and Luke 23:35-39). Could he? Yes. Did he? No. His supreme power was for the exclusive benefit of others, never himself. And in today’s gospel he cured a blind man. It was surely the clearest sign that the Messiah had arrived – who could cure a man born blind?  Yet the powers- that-be did NOT want to know about it. As the gospel says today, “for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue” – shunned in other words. One wonders what it would have taken to convince the Jewish leaders; but I suspect what they really wanted was a military conquering warrior who would expel the Romans and re-establish the kingdom of David. And today’s first reading is none other than the revealing of King David to the prophet Samuel. The scene is a little, forgive me, comical. Jesse, to whom the prophet Samuel was sent by God, had seven sons. Six were each presented to the prophet, with God whispering “no” to Samuel as each appeared. Then Samual’s question, “do you have any more?”  Er, yes, and David was brought in, the One, the youngest, out in the field tending the sheep… (from which Jesus possibly received the image of the Good Shepherd, so strong in Christian scripture and even adopted by Jesus himself, John 10-18). “Yes” said God to Samuel “this is the one.” And the House of David was, as it were, born that moment. That is exactly what the Pharisees should have said that day about Jesus – He is the One! That would been in direct contrast to today’s gospel event. Instead of the instant recognition of the Messiah being present, responsible for an event unknown in history (sight restored to one born blind) there was instead hostility to Jesus in their midst. Instead there was a huge effort to disown his miraculous cure as it took place on the Sabbath... Hence he, Jesus, must be a sinner as no “work” might take place on that day; “we know that this man is a sinner” as they said. The “work” in this case was clearly rather strange, with Jesus making a sort of paste from earth and his spittle, and placing it on the man’s sightless eyes. But this was “work” in the opinion of the powers-that-be. And it was that attitude which was to lead him to the cross. So the contrast was between the unwavering belief shown by Samuel following God’s wishes by choosing David (which could have seen Samuel arguing with God as David was the youngest, the least experienced and fit more to be a shepherd than a king!) and the Pharisees who saw nothing in Jesus’ miraculous event unparalleled in history, and, instead, accusing the Lord of being a  sinner! As Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains”. They see, but did not believe or accept the evidence of their own eyes. They denied it, so their sin remained. Had they simply accepted the evidence of  the miracle, there would have been joy rather than denial, glorying God rather than condemning the Prince of Peace.

Pope Francis as The Good Shepherd!

 

And with that image let us remember that this Sunday’s old traditional name was – and is – Laetare Sunday, the name of which is taken from the entrance antiphon for today’s Mass: “Laetare, Jerusalem: et conventum facite, omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum laetitia…” or, in English, “Be glad, Jerusalem: gather together all you that love her: rejoice and be glad…” (and I copied that from my Roman Missal for the 4th Sunday of Lent, which I bought in 1962, just as everything changed…). We are now in the middle of the Lenten season, and the church allows a little celebration as such, hence the more joyful rose vestments the priest is permitted to wear today: Gaudete cum laetitia!

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SUNDAY 8 MARCH 2026: THE THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT.

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The Samaritan Woman, St. Paul’s Icons.

The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.”       John 4:25-26.

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Today’s gospel occurs fairly closely to the beginning of John’s gospel. and for some reason Jesus reveals his identity to (a) a woman, (b) a Samaritan, whom Jews looked down on as, basically, heretics, and (c) a social inferior. She was the first one to be told he was the Messiah, so this is a significant event on many levels. One might well wonder what was happening on that day. We are told it was “about noon”, which is to say it was approaching the hottest time of the day. Water is heavy, yet this woman was there to haul the water up, on her own, and carry it back to her village and her home. Strange. Anyone else would have done that first thing in the morning when it was cooler, to begin the day. So perhaps she had been ostracized for some reason. She was also someone who could hold her own, even to a male, and Jewish, stranger, so clearly she could take care of herself. Jesus, of course, noted all that and yet continued to converse with her (which, socially speaking, was a no-no on several levels for a Jewish man). I can’t help thinking that he really liked this woman who thought for herself, acted as she felt was right and was generally, well, not submitting to the usual role as a woman back then. So attractive was she that over the years, especially in the Orthodox world, she was given a name, Photini (“enlightened one”), became a follower of Jesus, converted her five sisters and two sons (!) as well as many others, and preached in Carthage and Rome before being martyred under the Emperor Nero, none of which is written down anywhere. So there! But one thing is fairly certain; Jesus and she met at Jacob’s Well, which still exists today:

Jacob’s Well, Greek Orthodox Church, Balata, Palestinian Authority.

She was also not shaken by Jesus knowing that she had had five husbands, and the man she was currently living with was not one of them! Now note – Jesus continued to talk with her and did not walk away disgusted. And she was not put off in the least by all this, simply stating that “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet”, and then embarking on a defense of the Samaritan tradition, noting that the Samaritans believed the Temple was on Mount Gerizim, not in Jerusalem at all! Jesus then stated his version of the truth, so they were, in effect, having a theological argument about fundamental truths! It was at that point that he revealed his identity to her, the first person in the Christian Scripture to hear it. She left him then, and rushed into the village to call everyone out to meet the Messiah. She was, in effect, now a missionary for the Lord… It was at that moment also that his disciples returned from the village having bought some provisions, to be astounded at the sight they beheld, several taboos being violated in one go! And not only that: the woman returned with many people from the village who also then become convinced that Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah. She was an evangelist! In fact, she is an excellent example of what the Lord also expects of us! Do we talk of knowing the Lord, the one who can guide us day by day (remembering St. Richard once again), the one who can guide us in every decision we make? That well may be the message we can take from today’s gospel. The opposite can be seen in today’s first reading. The people wandering in the desert under Moses expressed lack of faith in the Lord, complaining about their lot and doubting if they would ever get out of their mess. God heard them, that’s for sure, but was not pleased with their lack of faith. Massah and Meribah were forever linked to wavering faith and God’s resulting anger. It is something we can avoid, no matter the circumstances we may be in. Our faith must be rock solid amid the most challenging circumstances; after all, what else is there to hang on to if all else seems to be collapsing around us? Our Samaritan woman, who seems to have little going for her, given that she was being shunned by her neighbors, yet was still open to to the Good News from the lips of the Savior. We don’t know, but the local tradition says she reformed, and became a follower of the Lord. So there is always hope, and there will always be that. And in addition, just like the woman, we should never be afraid of questioning God, being sure of our faith which should always be able to stand up to scrutiny. God is always there beside us, always open to question and ready to reply – in God’s own way! Hence we should always be aware on many levels for the divine reply. It will be there – somewhere!

The Servant’s Chronicles’s Post

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SUNDAY 1 MARCH 2026: THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT.

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The Transfiguration, Leandro Miguel Velasco 2007, Incarnation Dome of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC, USA.

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And (Jesus) was transfigured before [Peter, James and John]; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.      Matthew 17:2-3.

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At the end of this remarkable event, Jesus told Peter, James and John, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead” (verse 9). They could not comprehend neither the event, nor the words “Son of Man has been raised from the dead” but it is clear they remembered everything, written down years later. It seems to parallel Jesus’ baptism, the first revelation of the Blessed Trinity, but with two divine presences this time, God the Father and God the Son (both identified by what the Voice said) rather than three. The Holy Spirit might have been present in the dazzling light though… The disciples saw two towering figures from the Hebrew Scriptures appearing with Jesus. Moses, he who had actually encountered God, both in the burning bush episode and when he received the Tablets of the Law, the 10 Commandments, from God on Mount Sinai (and note that he holds the two Tablets of the Law in the picture above, the first three commands with reference to God, and the remaining seven to us, the children of God). And Elijah, who had also experienced God’s presence on Mount Horeb (some say it is another name for Mount Sinai) and, most famously, was taken into heaven in his chariot of fire!

Elijah Taken Up in a Chariot of Fire, Giuseppe Angeli c.1740, Samuel H. Kress Collection, The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA.

But almost universally the scholars say the two figures with Jesus embody the Law of God and the Prophets of God. It also displays the continuity of the Law and the Prophets leading inexorably to the Messiah standing between them. The man kneeling and watching Elijah ascend to heaven is his disciple and successor, Elisha.

Today’s first reading goes back even further than Elijah and Moses, back to Abram (even before God renamed him Abraham). This was back to the original promise, to make Abram’s successors into a “great nation”. And remember there are three Abrahamic peoples: the Jewish people, the Muslims and us Christians. It might even seem to suggest that God looks on us three almost as “a great nation” and that all others will find blessing in us all… In which case we should all try to outdo ourselves in putting God’s law, love of God, neighbor and self, into fullest action! How about that for a Lenten thought!

But we Christians are called back to our own mission in life by today’s second reading. Here we are reminded of the “grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”. And we are part and parcel of that “light through the gospel”. It has to be through each one of us that Jesus is clearly seen, in our words and actions. And so we end up in Lent once more. This is the ultimate time of the year when we examine our own lives, actions, words. Do we try and make everything we do and say a reflection of the Lord living in us? Not that we should be sanctimonious, because that smacks of being “holier than thou” which is NOT the idea! Just simple generosity on every true level is what we are called to. And once more, we are not alone in this. If we allow it, the Lord’s strength is within us to help and guide us. We just have to ask and apply….

The Transfiguration, Lattanzia Gambara c.1570, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Parma, Italy.

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Today, 1st March, is St. David of Wales’ feast day, my patron and confirmation saint. I was born in Newport in Wales and although brought up in London, have always considered myself Welsh. David was a tough leader, nicknamed WaterMan as he forbade beer in his monasteries… He was one of only two UK patron saints who actually lived there (Patrick 0f Ireland was the other – possibly Welsh himself; George of England and Andrew of Scotland never set foot in old Britannia). 

St. David pray for us!

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SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2026: THE FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT.

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The Baptism of  Christ, Andrea del Verrocchio & Leonardo da Vinci c.1475, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

“At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry.”        Matthew 4:1-2.

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Sometimes the root meaning of words are guides to their true meaning. Lent, unhappily, is not one. The German for Lent, for example, is  fastenzeit, meaning the time of fasting, clearly more applicable to the season! The German for spring is lenz… from which we get the old English word Lent, meaning the time of year, spring (in the northern hemisphere). Other languages tend to reflect the 40 days of Lent in one way or another. As the Latin for 40 is quadragesima, perhaps one can appreciate the way our English-speaking forefathers named the season! It reflects the time Jesus spent in the desert immediately following the double revelation to him at his baptism: that he was the Son of God and the long-awaited Messiah, a word meaning Anointed. As Son of God he had divine power; and he had a mission: to fulfill all the revelations in Scripture (the Old Testament) concerning the Messiah. That would overwhelm anyone! Jesus needed time and distance to come to some understanding of what it all meant. 40 days in the wilderness provided both.

So the idea is that we all symbolically follow the Lord into the wilderness also. Why? Because we too are called to be Christ, the Anointed One, to the world (our vocation) and we all became children of God (our identity), both of these at our baptism. And this is the season to see if we are fulfilling both of these in our lives, our Christian vocation in whatever field our God-given gifts lead us, and acting appropriately as a child of God with others (and ourselves) throughout our lives.

Our first reading today is particularly famous, the first temptation in the Garden of Eden. Satan was playing on the human weakness of wanting more. Adam and Eve had everything they needed: each other, food in abundance, no need to work, and, most importantly, freedom. They had been given one prohibition, not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then the temptation: Eat that fruit and you too will be a god! You will decide what is right and what is wrong, and no-one else; you will have all power to do whatever you will. All power to you…. And so it was done. And the immediate result was the opposite – shame, embarrassment, alienation of self as they were ashamed to be naked. Instead of the promised freedom, they became imprisoned by their own bodies! Note also that when God confronted Adam with this breaking of the law, Adam blamed Eve – two further alienations, one from God (as he hid from God) and one from each other. Further condemnation followed: pain in childbirth, working hard to make a living (alienation of man and nature), and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It was pride which brought Satan/Lucifer down (Isaiah 14:12-15); it was pride which destroyed the peace and plenty of Eden. Now take that thought to today’s gospel of Jesus in the wilderness and apply it to his actions there…..

So it might be an idea for each of us to consider if there are seeds of pride in us, quietly eating away at the roots of our way to heaven/Eden. No-one is immune. If it can bring down the principal angel in heaven, then we are sitting ducks! It must have been a real challenge for Jesus to deal with the devil and his temptations in the desert offering everything on a platter, if only he would bow down…..

The Temptation of Christ, Duccio c.1311, The Frick Collection, New York City, New York, USA.

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SUNDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2026: THE SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

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Let Go and Let God, Daily Homily Reflections,  Jacob Steinhardt, c.1952.

Jesus said, “… go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”    Matthew 5:24.

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The gospel today is taken from the Sermon on the Mount, which began last Sunday. Several weighty topics are covered here, including the meaning of the Jacob Steinhardt woodcut above. Jesus’ words are spoken so easily: ….go first and be reconciled with your brother.  The reality of putting that demand into practice is most definitely not. But it sets the correct priority. It usually means having to eat some crow, and I don’t know anyone who wants to do that! It might well be a fact that in any dispute, the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle, but even that means that fault may well be on both sides. And then there is the necessity of one person in the dispute having to try and set the situation right, even if they believe they are in the right. Something festering is most unlikely to dwindle away to nothing. Someone in the dispute has to make the first move. Clearly in today’s gospel, Jesus is teaching each one of us to make the first move! He gives no indication of who is at fault in the dispute, only teaching the necessity of putting it to right one way or another. And in the wider view, taking all of today’s gospel into account, Jesus says flatly that the law is clear, and is to be obeyed: “….whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven”. And then there are the examples of Jesus’ hyperbole: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna”. Yes, there is sense in that statement, but the intent is to make sure that the hearer understands that a remedy is essential – you have to do something about a dispute to end it satisfactorily. But at the root of all this is the necessity of having a law at all. Law if the foundation of all societies. It gives a picture of what society states is necessary behavior from members of that society. In Legally Blonde, for example, certain stereotypes prevalent in the USA legal system (and no doubt in many others too) are challenged and defeated rather splendidly, showing that inherent intelligence is clearly more important than judgments based on appearance or sex. Furthermore, it varies depending on whichever society has formulated its law. For example, there are laws in communist China which require behavior which, in USA society for example, would never be considered illegal – free speech is one example. What one is free to say or criticize the government in New York may well have you incarcerated in Hong Kong! But on another level entirely there is Divine Law, given by God. And today’s gospel addresses that dimension.

Moses’ Descent from Mount Sinai, Rosselli 1482, Sistine Chapel. Vatican City State. 

Now in this dimension there is no police force, there are no lockups where we might consider our fate, no threat of punishment (except that which we  bring on  ourselves). There is also no ignorance. We all know, taking one example from this law, that we must honor our parents. For some that might be an enormous and unacceptable demand, but for most of us it is not. Also, stealing another’s property is illegal in just about all the laws of every society in every age! In ancient Greece there was a wide variety of what was deemed acceptable and unacceptable behavior. However, each society had a legal system, which is my point. It became a necessary construct very early on when humanity began to gather together in any organized way. And so it was that the Hebrews accepted the Law of God (eventually), brought down to them by Moses, who had received it from God on Mount Sinai. (And, on another plane, the magazine Elle is referred to as “the bible” in Legally Blonde…). And given all that, it is not at all surprising that Jesus said, in today’s gospel, Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Once all things had taken place, he summed everything up in the single command to love God, neighbor and self. And it is by that law we are all asked to take to heart, absorb and live day by day by day, as they sing in Godspell. Those words, by the way, were written by St. Richard of Chichester in England many years ago. Take a look.

St. Richard of Chichester, Anastpaul, Breathing Catholic.

 

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the great season of Lent, the time when we all prepare for the commemoration of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. It is the special time of introspection, when we address our identity as children of God. What exactly does that mean for each one of us? Have we taken on that great identity with power and strength, or unwillingly and without conviction? It is the season to address such foundational questions and what we should do as a result. Let us ask God to guide us through those 40 days in the wilderness, and help us emerge as stronger children of God.

What does Lent want from us? National Catholic Reporter, March 2025.

 

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SUNDAY 8TH FEBRUARY 2026: THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

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“If that salt has lost its flavor, it ain’t got much in its favor….” Godspell “(Movie 1973), Schwartz & Gordon.

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Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?”   Matthew 5:13.

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I remember seeing “Godspell” for the first time more years ago than I care to recall. I remember being overwhelmed at the Last Supper scene and the overall joy of the musical (even it it does not really picture Jesus’ resurrection). The gospel of Matthew was its primary inspiration, and today’s gospel passage reminded me of the line quoted above. And the simple truth that it carried, and its clarion call: “You are the salt of the earth…”  Yes – we are! And then I started to brood on the significance of salt. It is true that salt is detrimental to agriculture. We may be the salt of the earth, but earth itself might well say “no thanks”! However, without it, our own bodies begin to suffer. Salt is essential to all animal life, in moderation of course. Recall the famous “Salt March” initiated by Mahatma Gandhi as part of his non-violent campaign for Indian independence from Britain. Rather than agitating for political rights, which was somewhat esoteric, campaigning for the right to make such a basic substance appealed to everyone, as salt-making was then a government monopoly. And then there are many beautiful salt towns in Austria which made their fortune being located near salt deposits, and the resulting salt mines. And (finally) never forget the success of salted codfish, a very successful industry in Norway (where cod is plentiful) and other parts of maritime Europe with its extensive trade with Catholic Europe over the centuries. Fish on Friday, a dish which is very quick to deteriorate, was a weekly demand, springing from a prohibition on meat by the church even into my own memory (and still a rule in Lent). Salt preserved fish even after a long journey to the dinner table. I believe the church would prefer a year-long return to such a tradition…  So Jesus, as ever, knew what he was doing by picking such an important element of life. If we are the salt of the earth, then we are required by God to become essential to the life around us. That would be in the sense of presenting as excellent an example of living as the Lord would have us live, setting a superb example, and being as reliable and generous as much as we can. In other words, being entirely and happily Christian! The rest of today’s gospel offers similar examples on how to be totally Christian.

Today’s second reading, once more taken from Paul’s first letter to the Christians in the port city of Corinth, suggests a good way to achieve this. He says it should not be done by being clever or superior but by being strong in Spirit and power; in other words, once more, by being truly Christian! That means we allow God to shine through us rather than us promoting ourselves. And how do we do that? Take a look at today’s first reading. It’s all there: “Share your bread with the hungry; shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked”, and so on and on. We have heard this a million times, but each time we hear it, we should look to our own lives once more to see if we are still being true to ourselves and to God. I know I am prone to slipping from that generous height into what I want for me to the exclusion of all others. Yes we must take proper care of ourselves, but we should always be aware of the less fortunate and act accordingly as best we can. In that way we are, truly, the salt of the earth.

St. Kinga’s Chapel, Wieliczka Salt Mine, Wieliczka, Poland.

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SUNDAY 1ST FEBRUARY: THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

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The Sermon on the Mount, Rosselli c.1482, Sistine Chapel. Vatican City State.

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When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying……   Matthew 5:1-2.

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Thus begins Jesus’ central, most important teaching in Matthew, known as the Sermon on the Mount. It incorporates his central message, with all its demands and challenges. The traditional name for this central teaching is “The Beatitudes”, namely the actions and thoughts that would make us worthy in the eyes of God. “Do this”, Jesus seems to say,“and heaven is yours”. Beatitudes is an interesting word. First, “blessed” is the translation from the original Greek word μακάριος,  makarios. (Remember that all our Christian scriptures are translations from Greek originals). So for most English speakers today, “blessed” means, basically, very holy: the Blessed Mother, the Blessed Sacrament, and so on. But if we dig a little deeper into the original word μακάριος, we find more layers of meaning which perhaps elude us in the Latin and English translations. The root of the Greek word “μάκαρ” or makar, is poetic. It can mean, for example, divinely bestowed happiness, coming from the gods themselves. One is deeply happy when that has happened. When Our Lady, in her great hymn of praise called the Magnificat, says: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed…” there is no self-glorification there (though I have heard something along those lines in the past), but rather a statement of pure happiness in the Lord! Following the Lord has been, she seems to say, the happiest, best thing that has ever happened to her! So Jesus must be saying in this central message that if you follow this teaching, the Beatitudes, the most profound contentment, satisfaction and happiness will come upon you, even when things seem to be at their worst. And the only way of proving that is to put them all into practice! So it would be quite acceptable for today’s reading to say, for example, “Happy are they who mourn…” which upturns all we might expect from such a sad, painful situation. But there it is, loud and clear from the lips of the Lord! But remember the second half: “for they will be comforted”. He might well be saying that the beloved and departed one might well now enjoy life eternal with the All-Happy, All-Blessed and All-Good Lord of all, and we should stress that among those of us who remain, to bring at least a little comfort into a grim situation. 

If anything, the readings today strongly advocate humility at the very deepest level. Look at Paul’s words to the Christians in Corinth: “Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God…. ‘ Can you even imagine a politician saying anything like that today? It would mean instant political death! Yet there it is, Paul talking to the new Christians in the rough port city of Corinth. Who would want to be called not wise, not noble, but foolish, weak, lowly, despised, counting for nothing? It is simply incredible, but there it all is in today’s second reading! We must assume that Paul does not intend to insult every new Christian in Corinth, but must mean something much deeper, very positive. It might mean, for example, that there is hope for us all! Even if each of us, reluctantly and regrettably agrees to such a description, Paul is saying in that case we are not far from God! Compared to the Lord, for example, who are we to even imagine we can stand next to him as worthy of praise? But… but.. this is the man who died that we might live! His supreme example of utter humility is the touchstone of all Christian life and love. We, like the Lord, are here for each other.

So our lives must be an example of how we serve others. If we ask the Lord how much does he love us, the answer is the cross – that’s how much he loved us! And some might add that such represents the deepest level of foolishness and stupidity imaginable. But not when it is done for others. When we live, it is for the Lord we live; when we suffer it is for the Lord we suffer, when we die it is for the Lord we die. All must be focussed on the Lord, and all the beatitudes state that. The focus is very clear; in every moment of life, good bad and indifferent, it should all be done for the Lord. If we can live up to that standard, then we live for the Lord and we will not be betrayed. After all, we each have a guardian angel…..

 

My Guardian Dear, Turning to Our Guardian Angels in Times of Need October 2024, Catholic Women in Business.

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