Entry into the City, Swanson 2012, Swanson Studio.

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The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The 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 21:8-9.

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Those words above are so familiar, said at every Mass as the main part of the celebration begins with the “Holy, Holy…” Today’s preliminary gospel states that these words were being shouted out by an ecstatic crowd welcoming Jesus as the Messiah into the city of Jerusalem. His reputation had preceded him, especially with the supreme miracle recorded in last week’s gospel, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Clearly there was no doubt that, at last, the Messiah, promised of the ages, had come. And here he was, entering the holy city. Alleluia, alleluia! So now, in the minds all those those greeting him, it was simply a matter of time – hours – before he summoned them all to arms to conquer the Roman army, cast out the unclean pagans and, at long last, reestablish the kingdom of David.

Except, of course, he didn’t.

Jesus was much more the Suffering Servant of the prophet Isaiah than the all-conquering descendant of King David. He knew, of course, that the overwhelming idea of the time was that the Messiah would be the one to fight the enemy Roman occupiers, defeat them and rule as king, as David had hundreds of years earlier. As those critical hours became days, the overwhelming optimism of the crowds metastasized into impatience, anger, fury and ultimately into murderous hatred. So bitter was the disappointment in this man that within a week this acclaimed Son of David was the accursed father of lies. In their eyes he had deceived them ; his ministry of healing, forgiveness and peace was utterly forgotten as it clashed with their vision of military conquest, victory and glory. Jesus had tried time and again to prepare his true followers for this moment, but they were silent now, overwhelmed by the hatred that consumed all those around them and perhaps themselves torn between Jesus’ message and their own longing for the all-conquering messiah. He stood alone as the wave of loathing swept upon him. His punishment for that was equally overwhelming. This man suffered catastrophic pain and ignominy. No-one stood up for him. As Isaiah said, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed” (53:5). This was the man by whose loving hand we are promised eternal happiness. He suffered all this willingly, even forgiving not only those who had done that to him, but also the thief alongside whom he was crucified. He carried not a trace of bitterness or revenge. He accepted everything that was thrown at him rather than recant a single word of his teaching.  In that way he fulfilled his mission, his vocation, to show us that no matter what comes our way, he is there beside us, holding us up, caring for us: his suffering and passion showed us that he meant every word of his teaching. He suffered all that for us, that we might believe. What more proof could anyone ask of this man? It was for each and every single one of us that he was prepared to suffer this way. What more proof would anyone need? And how are we to thank him for it this Passiontide? What can we do to demonstrate our thanks and gratitude? How can we become true companions with such a person as this, our Savior?

Ecce Homo (“Behold the Man”), Castrillo 2020, Castrillo Original Works.

Now, I have a Lenten exercise where I am asking you to participate. I have received very few reactions to this webpage over the last few years, so I am in the dark as to how it is received. Please let me know what you appreciate about this webpage and what annoys you about it. Are there any recommendations you could make? Please send your responses (and I DO ask you to respond) to:

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Many thanks.

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The Raising of Lazarus, Catacomb of Via Latina AD 350-400, Rome, Italy.

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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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Jesus’ greatest miracle was clearly his own resurrection, the conquest of the ultimate enemy, death itself. But today’s gospel recounts the greatest miracle during his ministry on earth, coming very close to his own passion and death, namely raising his friend Lazarus from death. The very early fresco above, found in a Roman catacomb, shows that moment of anticipation with everyone no doubt wondering what would happen. And Lazarus did indeed emerge, restored to life. Note that Jesus is depicted as a young Roman man, beardless and wearing a toga, as by that time Christians did not know how a Jewish man 300-400 years earlier would have looked. (Perhaps we can thank the Shroud of Turin for the eventual change to something more authentic, as a bearded Jesus would soon emerge to become the standard portrayal of the Lord once the Shroud seemingly appeared in Constantinople around that time). But clearly this miracle, the culmination of his ministry, was not well received by the authorities who would have noted this unparalleled event. Rather than taking this as a clear, obvious, glaring sign of the arrival of the Messiah in their midst, instead they plotted his downfall and destruction. Sometimes, it seems, the presence of pure goodness inspires an equal and opposite evil; the ultimate battle between good and evil  was about to begin. Jesus himself had predicted this several times to his devoted but clueless followers. On the other hand, had Jesus advocated taking up the sword against the pagan Roman forces occupying the Holy Land, ah, that would have been received very differently…

The first reading today shows the prophet Ezekiel declaring to the Hebrews in exile in Babylon who had given up hope, that all would be renewed. They would be allowed to return to their homeland guided by the Spirit of God within them to a new life. Jesus today indicated a new life awaiting us all, but not in this life, but the one to follow, supported by the unparalleled miracle of Lazarus which strengthened his authority to make such a promise. If he could raise people from the dead, can’t we trust him when he says we can enjoy everlasting life and happiness once we have cleared this vale of tears? This is underlined by the second reading today; that very same Spirit which raised Jesus from the clutches of death is promised for each of us. In that way, only much more profoundly, we too will be called from death by the Lord and welcomed back to life but not into this world with all its problems and challenges, but to a world of eternal peace and happiness, to heaven itself.

The Resurrection of Lazarus, di Paulo 1426, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and marks the beginning of Holy Week, commemorating the final days of the Savior physically on earth with us. It is no coincidence that the miracle of Lazarus in John’s gospel (which, by the way, John always called “signs” rather than miracles) came as the last and ultimate “sign” in his gospel. It is the greatest example of the exercise of his divine power as God’s Son, and should have been taken as the clearest proof of the presence of the Messiah as sent by God to this earth. But this was a peaceful Messiah, not a rabble-rousing military maniac for whom, unhappily, that whole society awaited. Jesus was the exact opposite, something which would bring disaster upon him. So raising someone from death to life, though impressive, was not what that society was aching for. The triumphant entry into the nearby city of Jerusalem, next Sunday’s opening gospel, clearly indicated that. The bitter and profound disappointment on discovering Jesus was just about the exact opposite of what they were expecting, sealed his fate. They were expecting slaughter, death to the Romans and restoration of the kingdom of David. What they got was a life-giving, peace-loving, God-fearing angelic messenger of loving forgiveness and acceptance. That remains the model of the perfect Christian from that day to this.

The Resurrection of Lazarus, Garcia Vega 2013.

Now, I have a Lenten exercise where I am asking you to participate. I have received very few reactions to this webpage over the last few years, so I am in the dark as to how it is received. Please let me know what you appreciate about this webpage and what annoys you about it. Are there any recommendations you could make? Please send your responses (and I DO ask you to respond) to:

RogerJohn@aol.com

Many thanks.

Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

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Christ Healing the Blind, El Greco c.1570, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA.

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“Laetare, Jerusalem: et conventum facite, omnes qui diligitis eam…”  “Rejoice Jerusalem: gather together all you that love her…”     Entrance antiphon for today’s Mass.

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Read today’s gospel and see if you agree with me that the strangest thing to this whole miracle is: [Jesus said], “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on [the blind man’s] eyes…” Jesus did something similar to this two other times (Mark 7:31-35 and 8:22-26), and from what I have read it is somewhat of a mystery why. Theories range from a repetition of God creating Adam from the dust of the earth to the supposed therapeutic properties of saliva. The experts wander through the social reactions to spitting, which range from almost horror to acceptance. In other words, there is little consensus as to what Jesus meant by doing this. So I imagine it is up to each one of us to reach our own opinion of this strange act of the Lord. One thing is certain though, and that is the immense reaction to this miracle (explaining the length of today’s gospel), and the authorities who had a hugely negative response to it. For one thing, it seems Jesus did this on the Sabbath, when physical work was forbidden. Consequently the verdict was, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” That recalls Jesus’ famous remark, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Perhaps that is what is at the heart of this miracle, Jesus loudly demonstrating what our priorities should be, to love and help each other above all else. And tie that to the nature of this miracle – light entering a dark world, a man blind from birth could now see for the first time! Isn’t that what life should be all about? Isn’t that what education is all about, spreading light amid ignorence? Isn’t that what responsible parenting is all about? Isn’t that the heart of the story of Helen Keller? And Jesus uses whatever is at hand to accomplish this, sabbath or no sabbath. He was doing the right thing.

Something similar can be applied to our first reading, God calling David from the field tending sheep to be king of the Hebrews. Note God’s instruction to the prophet Samuel, “There—anoint him, for this is the one!” from which every Christian coronation through the centuries has the anointing of the new monarch as the supreme moment of the service (not the crowning!). We will see that on May 6th when King Charles III is anointed and crowned in Westminster Abbey, the last kingdom to celebrate this ancient ceremony. And note God’s instruction to the prophet – it is not good looks or appearance which are important, for “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” It is just a happy coincidence that David is also pleasing to the eye (and consequently became a favorite subject for artists down through the centuries). But for God the light in the heart is more important than the reflected light that we all see. And the metaphor carries over to our second reading today, where St. Paul says to the new Christians in Ephesus, “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.” 

Library of Celsus in the Remains of the City of Ephesus, now in Turkey.

And even the Mass becomes a little lighter today should the priest respond to the permission to wear rose vestments at Mass. Laetare, Rejoice, Sunday is a little break in the penitential atmosphere of this holy season, a modest breather in the reflective mood. Easter is closer! It is up to each of us to look within and clear out all that obstructs the light of God from entering our soul; selfishness, self-righteousness, self importance, me before you, any and all of that will cut down God’s sacred light from entering our hearts. And only each one of us can do anything about that.

 

Samuel Anoints David, Dura Europos Synagogue c.3rd Century, Dura Europos, Syria.

 

Now, I have a Lenten exercise where I am asking you to participate. I get very few reactions to this webpage over the last few years, so I am in the dark as to how it is received. It would be a great help to get answers to these questions:

1. What do you appreciate about this webpage?
2. What annoys about this webpage?
3. What would you like to see on this webpage that is lacking?
4. Any overall recommendations you have for this webpage?
5. How did you find out about this webpage?
6. What should be done to make this webpage more popular?

In other words, I am asking for a thoughtful critique of this webpage.

Please send your responses (and I DO ask you to respond) to:

RogerJohn@aol.com

Many thanks.

 

Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

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Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, Veronese c.1585, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.

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[Jesus said], “…whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”    John 4:14.

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Apart from a controversial astronomical theory, the universal consensus is that life cannot exist without water. It is an absolute requirement. Whether we take it in through regular H₂O or through some other liquid form, soup, alcohol, soy milk, whatever, it is essential to survival for all life forms. Hence it is an interesting metaphor, wonderfully demonstrated by Jesus in today’s gospel, and eagerly accepted by the lady he met, at noon, alone, in Samaria, filling her bucket for the day’s needs. In so doing, he was trampling on several taboo traditions, making this event quite memorable. Certainly, his companions, when they returned from their shopping expedition into town, were “amazed that he was talking to a woman”. And that’s just the first reaction. She had already been astonished at Jesus’ perceptions, insight and very exciting proclamation about water.

The first reading is another famous, or infamous, event during the Hebrews’ 40-year exile in the desert. They were complaining about the lack of – water, and what is God up to allowing this? Is God with us? Wouldn’t have we been better off staying in Egypt as slaves? Naturally God was not pleased with this lack of confidence demonstrated by the Chosen People. And then there is the second reading, sent to the Christians in Rome. They experienced the love of God “poured into their hearts”, another liquid metaphor strongly suggesting that we cannot live without that supreme gift – certainly not for eternity! So today we have the basic reality, water, without which there is no life at all, and the water “welling up to eternal life” which is even more essential, necessary for life eternal. So water, real, virtual and spiritual is all around us.

Now, some other thoughts. In hot lands, such as the Holy Land in the summer, you do not go out in the middle of the day to collect your daily supply of water: you get it during the cooler hours of the early morning. That’s when everyone does it. Not this woman, she was there, alone, at noon. Jesus noted that aberration.  She noted that he was clearly Jewish, not Samaritan (possibly because of his accent, or clothing), and yet he talked to her, also noted, as it collided with tradition. And as you probably know from the numbers of times Jews and Samaritans collide in the gospels, there was no love lost between them, though both had Jewish, Hebrew, roots. It was probably like the bad old days of Catholics meeting Protestants, more liable to fight each other than have a civilized conversation (think Northern Ireland). So it would seem this woman had been ostracized from her community, and Jesus knew that immediately: five husbands and at present another man living with her! Her feisty acceptance of his knowledge did not intimidate her at all; indeed she was highly impressed with his insight. This woman was quite something! And then they have a bit of a theological clash. She was proud of Jacob “who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself” as she said. Then Jesus contrasts the water from Jacob’s well with the water that he can give, water to eternal life! Then she reminds him of the Samaritan history, “our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem”, picking a particularly sensitive difference between the two communities. Well, Jesus launched forth into a theological treatise at that point, pointing out that “salvation is from the Jews” rather than her people. Utterly unmoved, she now spoke about the Messiah, as both Samaritans and Jews were waiting for him. And then the clincher: “I am he, the one speaking with you”. She is the first person to hear that! So a woman, an outcast among her own people, a Samaritan, hence a sort of heretic, was the first person to hear that the Messiah was in their midst. Also note that Jesus did not say that she should keep that revelation to herself, quite unlike last week’s transfiguration moment when he insisted that his three closest disciples keep the event to themselves until much later. The Samaritan woman, on the other hand, at that moment could not contain her excitement and rushed off to the village, Sychar, today thought to be Askar, to tell everyone she had found the Messiah!

Jacob’s Well, Greek Orthodox Church of Jacob’s Well, Nablus, Palestinian Authority.

So this Lenten Sunday’s readings hold a wealth of experience, knowledge, humanity and history to keep just about everybody happy. The first reading is notorious in Jewish history because of the evidence of the people’s lack of confidence in God and even the apparent desire to drop everything and return to Egypt. Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us of Jesus’ total confidence in God, dying for us, the “ungodly”, with complete trust in God’s providence. Then Jesus’ revelation to a woman, who was an outcast, that he was The One sent by God, is, I believe, today’s message. No-one – no-one – is beyond God’s love and trust. The wandering Jews did, eventually, enter their Promised Land; the Christians in Rome survived as the seed of the Church; and the Samaritan woman stands for all of us, and I invite each one of us to identify in one way or another with her qualities, failures, sassyness even. She seems to be the universal human, and it was to her that Jesus revealed himself as the savior of humanity. And so it is with each one of us. And so do we, like her, do what she did as our Lenten exercise?

The Water of Life, 19th Century copy taken from apse of the Church of San Clemente, Rome, Italy.

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God Shows Abram the Stars, von Carolsfeld c.1860, Bibel in Bildern (Bible in Pictures).

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The LORD said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.     Genesis 12:1.

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Last week I mentioned the wisdom enclosed in the pious myth of the Garden of Eden and all that followed, stating clearly that myth does not imply falsehood in any way but rather wisdom expressed in such a way as to make its profundity understandable. I contend that all that followed the expulsion from Eden in Genesis, which is to say the Flood, the Tower of Babel, the great ages of the ancestors of Abram (which was his name before God changed it to Abraham) and so on, is also profound pious myth designed to help us understand profound truth. Only in the 12th chapter of Genesis, today’s first reading, does God enter actual human history with God talking to a very old man, who though childless, was told he would have descendants as many as the stars in the sky (Abram was 75 years old we are told in verse 4). It was on one day out of the blue Abram heard this voice telling him uproot everything and move to a land that “I will show you” as God said. I do wonder if God had asked others to do that same thing only to be rejected, perhaps with profanity and ridicule. But Abram was a man who listened and almost certainly debated within himself if this voice was to be believed and obeyed or not. Abram decided the still, small voice was, indeed, the real thing, the voice of God, and obeyed.

Then we have today’s gospel where God (the Father) revealed that Jesus was truly the Son of God for the benefit of Jesus’ three main disciples, witnesses to the scene. Hence, after that, Jesus too was credible and to be obeyed. The second reading, Paul’s second letter to Timothy, assumes that he and his followers have also accepted Jesus as the real thing, and must now live up to his standards, “calling us to a holy life” away from the sins and treachery of a life without God. All three readings, then, reveal to us in one way or another a call to a life with God. Not easy: Abram had to move to a new land and people at age 75; it was not without fear as Peter James and John shivered in their shoes on witnessing an unbelievable scene; and not without a conviction to do what God wants us to do, as Paul reminded Timothy. And all this as we get deeper into the holy season of Lent…

2020 Lenten Meditations, Our Little Roses, Honduras, Central America.

You might have wondered why God intervened at all, having looked at the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Things seemed to have settled down, God promised no more killer floods of the size that almost wiped out all of humanity, people were living longer, and so on. Well, it was not so rosy, and there was a situation which, I think, drove God to intervene in human history, and it was happening in a pagan land then called Canaan, now Israel, to which God led Abram. And it was in Canaan that the socially acceptable custom of child sacrifice was practiced. And what is more, there was a reasonable and logical rationale behind it all, clearly accepted by the people and ruling élite of Canaan. That was, simply put, that if you wanted something from the gods, they used the only model they had of obtaining what they wanted – they had to buy it! If it was an enormously important request, such as security from invasion, or earthquakes or plague, then the cost would be high. You cannot throw bank notes at the sky or behave in purely human terms; no: it had to be something else entirely. Hence sacrificing your child fitted the bill. Logical, extreme and nothing more expensive could be imagined. I think it was this abomination which moved God to intervene. And note, it was not to destroy these people, it was to introduce in their midst a new people who would succeed without practicing such a brutal remedy for extreme need. Hence the Hebrews showed child sacrifice for what it was, barbaric and inhuman. But even among the Hebrews it was a challenge. The Bible has several references to Jewish leaders being tempted to try child sacrifice as an answer to their problems. This also explains why Abraham did not protest God’s demand that he sacrifice his only son Isaac to him to prove his loyalty; it was what was done then. God stopping him at the last moment was the way God demonstrated that this terrible, illogical, evil act was never – ever – to be practiced again. 

So each reading today has motives: God wanting a new, pure people to show the Canaanites a better life, to set a godly example of human living and how it can succeed; 2nd Timothy talks of how we should behave, following the model of Jesus, with the destruction of death and the promise of immortal life as the goals; and the gospel proving Jesus was what he was, God’s Son, loved and supported by his Father and the prophets and to be trusted completely. All of which gives us plenty of Lenten thought and encouragement. And finally, perhaps it would be a challenge if each of us were to look inside our own lives and see if there is something there which is so unacceptable to God that would drive God to search for a means which would challenge us to reform and become what God wants each of us to be. That would be the Lenten challenge!

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

 

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Temptation, Rudall30, iStock/Getty Images.

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[Jesus said] “Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”    Matthew 4:10.

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Temptation dominates today’s readings, appropriately at the beginning of Lent and with the first temptation, that apple! Now note there is no mention of an apple in Genesis, just “fruit”, but the poor apple, one of which a day should keep the doctor away, has to bear this unfortunate image of the Fall from Grace. The whole Garden of Eden story is a foundational passage for everyone I think. It’s where everything collapsed, and sin, evil, degradation, corruption, all the bad things, suddenly entered human life, beginning with that supreme temptation, uttered by the serpent, “you will be like God” (Genesis 3:4). And look at the consequences, clearly demonstrated in Genesis:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.  (Genesis 3:7).

The story is simple, the implications profound. These two people are now alienated from their own bodies, ashamed of God’s magnificent creation! Take that dislike of self to its ultimate extreme, and you have suicide, the actual self-destruction of God’s greatest creation. Each of the events in the Garden after the Fall are alienations. They hid from God – meaning alienation from God, which can lead ultimately to despair, the absence of all hope. Adam blames Eve for his action – giving us alienation from our neighbor, which can ultimately lead to hatred of neighbor, and even murder. Eve blames the snake for her act of disobedience, and thereby alienates us from nature, something which has strongly emerged now with our destructive abuse and disregard of the natural world. The Garden of Eden is our foundational myth of profound wisdom, explaining all the evil in the world. And note that myth does not mean untruth but rather represents a search for ultimate truth in a way that we are able to understand and accept. Genesis gives us a grounding of why things are as they are in our world, the beautiful as well as the ugly. And this we see clearly in today’s gospel.

The Temptations of Christ, 12th Century Mosaic, St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice, Italy.

One should be impressed by the overweening pride of the Devil, prepared to try and corrupt the Son of God! But remember that Jesus was fully human as well, hence open to everything the evil one could throw at him – and he did. Considering the first temptation, anyone who has spent a few days in France in, say, an airbnb, will know the delight of rushing out first thing in the morning to the local bakery down the road and buying a baguette, that quintessential thin loaf of bread fresh out of the oven. Pure heaven, and fully deserves its recognition by UNESCO onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It has to have been the first temptation, Jesus hungry after 40 days and nights fasting in the desert…  The Devil was suggesting that to the Lord in return for a simple demonstration of Jesus’ divine power, and turn stones into that wondrous food. No. Jesus refused. He said that life is more than a loaf of bread, and, though this is not mentioned in the gospel, Jesus refused to use any of his power to reward himself. Ever. God’s love and protection are more important than selfishness, even in a situation like that. As Jesus said elsewhere, he had been sent to serve others, never himself. True life comes from the presence of God, grace, and we should truly live by that. The devil failed in the first temptation. Then the scene changed to the high point of the temple in Jerusalem. “Throw yourself down if you truly believe in God, for God will save you”. Jesus knew he was God’s Son; he had discovered that at his baptism even hours before. The temptation would be to think “I’ll show you” and jump. So sinful pride would be wrapped up in self-justification, hardly a heavenly reaction. No, Jesus refused to do that, which would have been a blatant example of distrust in God, and hence putting God to the test, expressly forbidden in Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:16-25). And then the predictable most extreme test. The devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth, and said he would give them all over to Jesus if he would but bow before him, Satan, the source of all evil: “It’s all yours” he says, “‘all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence’ if you just acknowledge my power and position…”  Now how many of us would refuse that? I think of those who are guilty of selfish ambitions in the parliaments of the world to get to the top of the tree and wield power; or those who would break the law and steal wealth which is not theirs to take. The number of Hollywood films based on this third temptation must be in the hundreds if not thousands. The mind boggles.

Overlooking the Magnificence of Paris from the Towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral, 2002.

Jesus had had enough: “Get away from me Satan”. And so the seal is set on our annual Lenten season, where we are all invited to consider our own temptations and any sources of weakness or failure which separate us from the source of all happiness and peace. I grew up in an age of self-denial as a Lenten exercise. For me that meant no chocolate treats of any sort. Actually, I saved them all up for midday on Holy Saturday which would then result in a feeding frenzy and consequent unfortunate discomfort. Well self-denial is a very long tradition, and should be considered, though not quite in that way. But much better, in my opinion, is doing something extra to help those around us. What that would be is up to each of us, but I suspect it would be a little more challenging than simply giving something up. Perhaps the goal might be to know that the world will be a little better off by Easter Sunday because of our Lenten efforts than it would have been without them. And goodness knows there is a multitude of good works available to us these days. Look around and see where our help is most desperately needed: that is the Lenten exercise calling out to us.

Lenten Devotional Psalm 38, Bering Drive Church of Christ, Houston, Texas,

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The Holy Trinity, Cathedral of Our Lady, Chartres, France.

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[Jesus said], So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.   Matthew 5:48.

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In some ways today’s gospel touches the Christian heart like no other: Love Your Enemies. Jesus prayed for his enemies who had brutally nailed his body to a cross of wood. The ultimate forgiveness you might think. Now carry that over to 2023. Must Ukraine forgive Russia for invading it without any provocation at all, raping her daughters, and showering it with killer drones and missiles? I grew up in a London covered in bombed sites, witness to a battle of life and death; should England have forgiven Germany for invading Poland instead of declaring war on it? Questions such as these have tortured Christian scholars for centuries. What is the true Christian reaction to such utterly evil aggression? Well, don’t count on me to give a neat answer, because I cannot. The traditional answer is that self-defense is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord, and Christian nations have acted on that teaching for centuries. But Jesus did not choose that way out of his situation despite possessing the power of God Almighty. Indeed, the jeering crowd actually challenged him to do exactly that, but he did not. Neither should we, Jesus states clearly and unequivocally. No ifs, buts or maybes. Christian pacifists have done that down the centuries, and some Christian communities have accepted that teaching totally. The Society of Friends, the Quakers, believe that war and conflict are against God’s wishes and so they are dedicated to pacifism and non-violence; they go on to say that war always produces more problems than solutions, and they might be right. Certainly Jesus’ teaching would insist on trying every conceivable way of avoiding bloodshed, and the traditional way of reconciling this with pacifism is to let the other party strike the first blow. That was certainly the case with World War II, with Germany’s unprovoked invasion of Poland, and Japan’s unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, both done in full knowledge of the likely consequences. But then there is the example of India’s fight for independence from Britain. That was done through civil disobedience and non-violent resistance as modeled by Gandhi. And it worked! One wonders if that would ever have been successful against  brutal Nazi and communist fanatics.

Well considering what happened to the Lord, following his own teaching gave way to some terrible consequences for him. He followed his own teachings explicitly. He turned the other cheek to those who slapped him and tore his beard. He always responded positively to those who wanted to be cured or cleansed, and of course, he prayed for those who crucified him. Not for him “Do as I say, not as I do”. He did exactly what he taught. And I recall several films where the hero resists all provocations to lose his temper and hit back at his persecutors but I also remember the cheers when at last be gives way and slams into his enemies and wins, of course. But then there is this movie example of loving the enemy. But perhaps a really stunning example of loving one’s enemy in real life was the Amish reaction to the horrendous murdering of Amish schoolchildren in 2006; please read it and see if you can understand and agree with what those bereaved people did. So it can be done, but it does take a deep, deep trust in the Lord’s teaching and his promise to be with us always until the end of time (Matthew 28:20), no matter the situation. So ultimately it is up to each individual how s/he responds to certain situations. We know what is expected of us by God; we know that if we react the wrong way, we will plague ourselves with it afterwards knowing that we failed. And of course we know the right way, the one where we help our neighbor no matter the situation. God give us clarity and above all, strength, to deal with that challenge in the way we know God wants us to. Then we will have been true children of God. Here are some movie clips which are reflections on Our Lord’s challenging teaching today.

Forgiveness, Nelson Mandela, Dancing Gecko.

Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

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A Prayer for a Humble Fear of God, Mark Altrogge, Crosswalk.com.

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The eyes of God are on those who fear him…   Sirach 15:13.

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“The fear of the Lord”. “To put the fear of God” into someone; I have wondered for years what the “fear of the Lord” is all about, and today’s first reading from the Book of Sirach has it right there. What on earth does it mean? Almost all definitions of the word “fear” give us the usual understanding of it, to be scared or even terrified of someone or something because something bad might happen to us. Should we be terrified of God if we have done all in our power to be God’s faithful children? True, we can always do more if we really try, but with a reasonably clear conscience, do we still have to “fear the Lord”? There was, apparently, in Old English, a special word for a feeling of dread and reverence for the Lord, closely related to the other word for fear, but it merged into our modern understanding many years ago. So I started to think about any modern experience that might equate with this peculiar understanding of the word. There is a story about a meeting of two of the great women of our time, the actress Helen Mirren, and the late Queen Elizabeth. Mirren was highly praised for her Oscar-winning portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in the 2006 movie called The Queen. Well she revealed on an Oprah show that she was invited to take tea with the Queen, and she was “terrified”at the prospect. Now here’s a woman quite at home in front of hundreds of people on a daily basis scared to meet one special woman. So it was beyond stage fright I imagine. She had no reason to be scared of the Queen, a woman who devoted her whole life to the service and care of others through bad times and good; it is inconceivable that she was going to attack the actress if she disliked her depiction of her! But Dame Helen was terrified of meeting her. Is that a model for the “fear” we should feel before God? The Lord is immeasurably greater and grander than any human being, so perhaps, yes, we should fear him for the right reasons. Who are we, mere mortals, to stand before the Lord of All? But, I think, just like Queen Elizabeth had a sure way of putting those she met at ease, we believe in a God of Love who has no reason or motive to terrify us, but I think we have every reason to approach God with deepest respect, awe, even trembling and fear, for we approach the very source of all that is right and good, compared to whom we are all, shall we say, lacking…  Perhaps that is what Scripture is talking about with the word “fear”. 

And in case we might think that we are not doing too badly in our vocation as children of God in the model above, let’s look at today’s gospel, the shorter form. It talks about how we might reasonably hope for admission to eternal happiness with God. Well, the actions which endanger that are clear enough. Simply looking at another person with lust is a sin in the eyes of God. Unwarranted anger is an offense in the eyes of God. And, on the other hand, standing by the agreements and understandings we have made in good conscience with others must be upheld, our “yes” meaning yes and our “no” meaning no. Looking back a month or so, I challenge myself and you if we can absolutely state before God we have not broken any of those guidelines, and to make sure, look at the longer gospel…  If guilty, we have a real reason to approach the Lord in fear, but this time with different fear, the one known to us all. We all know what we are supposed to do in our behavior, our sense of worth, our identity as children of God, and so on. But do we act that way at all times and in all circumstances? Aye, there’s the rub.

Who Can Stand Before this Holy God? Craig Brian Lawson, Preaching Today.

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The Light of the World Banishes Fog, Nancy Kay Grace, 

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[Jesus said] “…your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”    Matthew 516.

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There is a very creepy character in Dickens’ David Copperfield called Uriah Heep. He was always quick to belittle himself in public and proclaim himself to be everyone’s humble servant, but at heart he was a self-seeking, self-serving, and self-aggrandizing hypocrite! The Lord’s instruction to us all today, quoted above, should be taken very carefully so as not to become a Uriah Heep redivivus. The key line is that our good deeds must glorify our Father in heaven – that is to say, not ourselves! We all like to receive compliments but many of us do not know how to respond appropriately and truthfully. The Lord gives us a little advice here though, instructing us to acknowledge that all our skill comes from God. Figuring out a way to do this well and without seeming to be a sort of pious Uriah Heep is a challenge. Our job on this earth is to be exactly the sort of Christian person God wants us to be. We are to go through life using the gifts our God has given to each of us, and sometimes the way we have used these gifts prompts a compliment or a thank you. Our challenge is to appreciate the compliment appropriately, but we know that ultimately it is God who should to be thanked. Saying that prompted a memory from years ago. I was shaking hands after celebrating a Mass. I grew up in the UK and have a London accent which my grand-niece once told me was “posh”. Well, a lady came up to me after Mass and said “Oh father, I love the way you speak; I could listen to you all day long”. Now I know that many Americans are partial to a British accent, why I don’t know, but there it is. So I responded, “Oh thank you so much. Did you like what I said?” Pause. Then “Oh father I don’t know what you said, but it sounded beautiful…” Well on that occasion even father was at a loss for words. Any suggestions? Sometimes the best response is simply a radiant smile and a profound “Thank you”. Seriously though, how do you steer a compliment you have received to the author of all good without seeming unctuous? Jesus’ instruction is crystal clear, but how do you do it in practice? 

I imagine that most, if not all of us shrink a little when praise is bestowed on us for something we have done which can be considered good in the eyes of the Lord. We have done it because we thought it was needed, would help someone, would witness to the presence of God and so on. In other words we have done what any good Christian is supposed to do. It is certainly nice to receive  a compliment, but we are all careful in such a situation knowing it is really God working through us; it isn’t us who should be praised, it is God. Somehow it would be good if we could divert that praise to the Lord, who deserves it and enabled us to do it, yet not put down the one praising us. They might end up feeling bad by thinking they had somehow messed up what they thought was a compliment. In fact, it could be a teachable moment if we had our wits about us. For example, I gave a sermon on the Hebrew idea of God’s Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. The words Spirit and Wisdom are both feminine in Hebrew, unlike in English and the Latin from which we get much of our church expression. I pointed out that Jesus, hearing “he” or “him” used in the synagogue for God’s Holy Spirit would be as astonished as much as we would be if we used what, in my opinion, should be, “she” and “her” when talking about the Holy Spirit. For example, Proverbs 9:1, “Wisdom has built her house She has set up her seven pillars…” Well after that sermon, one gentleman came up to me and announced that the sermon had changed his life and thanked me profusely! I simply responded with a florid “thank you”, but in retrospect I could have done much better. The teachable moment could have been: “Yes, thanks; isn’t it wonderful what we can still learn from Scripture, and that there must still be great treasures to unearth from it.” That might have sent him back to the good book to find out more. The trouble is, I have found out from my experience, the great responses come well after the actual moment, what I should have said but didn’t. How can we be prepared for an immediate decent response in any and every such situation? Perhaps by trying to be simply sensitive to potential compliments after some special situation where we may say something useful or interesting or both. The satisfaction should come from the knowledge that we at least tried to give a good Christian reflection in that situation that did not come out as churchy or saccharine, and certainly not be angry or upset that we did not get congratulated! The knowledge that we did our best should be sufficient; the Lord certainly knows that. And take heart from this:

You Are the Light of the World…

…which has the wonderful line “If that salt has lost its flavor, it ain’t got much in its favor” should not be taken literally. Salt can’t lose its flavor, just as we can’t lose our identity as a child of God. But it does mean that if we fail God in some way, we can always say sorry and know we are forgiven, that it will not happen again, and start over. But as good children of God, we should always and everywhere seek to give honor where honor is due, namely, to God. 

The Virgin of Humility, Fra Angelico c.1435, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.

I don’t often comment on the artwork on this webpage, but an exception is made here. Fran Angelico was one of the greatest artistic masters of the Middle Ages. He was a Dominican friar who lived in Tuscany in Italy. His work became very well known for its quality and its radiance. As a monk he was renowned for his humility and holiness. Indeed, the Angelic Brother was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982. His work, then, pointed not to him but to the eternal truth and beauty of God and the saints. Our Lady of Humility represents a summation of his genius, holiness and total dedication to the Lord.

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