August 29, 2009. Homily, Tuesday, September 1, 2009.

1 September Lk 4:31-37

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a Town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon and he cried out in a loud voice, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, "What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out." And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region. The Gospel of the Lord. There were three parts to Israel. In the South, Judea with David's city Jerusalem. In the middle Samaria with Jericho. And in the North, Galilee. In the Genesis story God rested on the sabbath, but the sabbath was the day when Jesus really used to get busy. He was frequently accused of breaking the sabbath, and even when he was dead he descended on Holy Saturday into the underworld, the Apostles’ Creed says, and liberated all who had languished there since the time of Adam. I found a passage in St Ambrose (c. 333 – 397) that tries to make sense of all this sabbath activity. He wrote, “[Luke] describes the works of divine healing begun on the sabbath day, to show from the outset that the new creation began where the old creation ceased.” Ambrose also noted that Jesus healed a man (today’s reading) and a woman (tomorrow’s). Just as at the beginning God “created them male and female” (Genesis 1:27; 5:2), Jesus now heals both. “The Lord came to heal both sexes,” he wrote. Jesus spoke with authority, Luke says. ‘Authority’ is one of those words that can have opposite meanings, depending on their use. Speaking or acting ‘with authority’ can simply mean you have the official piece of paper, you are authorised by someone else. In the time of Jesus, rabbis were forever quoting other rabbis, or quoting texts. Yet the word ‘authority’ comes from the Latin ‘auctor’ (source), from which the word ‘author’ is also derived. People speaking with authority in this sense are speaking from themselves; they are the authors of what they are saying. Jesus “spoke with authority,” that is, he spoke from himself, from his Self. His words came from somewhere (they were not quotations). For that very reason they were able to go somewhere: they were able to cast out demons, freeing people from their torments. By acting as he did, Ambrose wrote, “Jesus showed us that the Son of God is not under the law but above the law.” It might have been better if he had said Jesus was one with the law, in the sense that he was one with the mind of the law-giver, God. In him the law was being fulfilled, not set aside (Mt 5:18). A law is not necessarily being fulfilled when it is interpreted into thousands of details; it is being fulfilled when its purpose is being realised. The law was being fulfilled in Jesus, despite his apparent breaches of it, in ways that it was never fulfilled in the Pharisees, despite their apparent devotion to it.

August 26, 2009. Homily, August 29, 2009 [The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist]

Mark 6:17-29

Herod was was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he like to listen to him. She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask of me whatever you wish, and I will grant it to you." He even swore many things to her, "I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom." She went out ands said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the Baptist." The girl hurried back to the king's presence and made her request, "I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When the disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

The Gospel of the Lord.

29 August [Beheading of John the Baptist] Mk 6:17-29

John was a child of the desert and of the wild open spaces. To imprison him in the dark dungeons of Machaerus must have been for him the last refinement of torture. But he was a man who preferred death to falsehood. Jesus, who was his cousin, said of him (equivalently) that he was the greatest man who ever lived. It was a sad irony that such a man should meet his death because of the whim of a drunken tyrant, Herod. “Power gradually extirpates from the mind every humane and gentle virtue,” wrote Edmund Burke. From the mind of the tyrant, yes, but not from the mind of the human race. Here are we today – thousands of years later and thousands of miles away – remembering the greatness of John the Baptist! John the Baptist was Herod’s bad conscience; that’s why he thought John had come back from the dead; bad conscience is always sending us ghosts from the past, incidents that refuse to die. Jesus and John were cousins, and there is a tradition that they looked alike. This would give fodder to Herod’s addled conscience. A bad conscience feeds on everything and grows worse. Herod was a weak man, but all the more cruel for that. Rather than face his own falsity he killed the man who pointed it out to him. Still, inside every bad conscience there is a scrap of good conscience: otherwise we wouldn't suffer from bad conscience. To know a bad conscience as bad is surely good. He died in exile from his kingdom, in the company of Herodias. They had ruined each other’s lives. No one knows if their bad consciences grew still worse, ruining each other to the very end; or if the hidden scraps of good conscience were able to reach the surface. Does anyone care? Yes, we all do, because we know about good and bad conscience ourselves, and their life-long drama. We will all be exiled from our kingdom sooner or later - our power over others, our power to make decisions, even our power over many aspects of our own lives - but the drama of conscience will not end; it will continue to our last breath.

Matthew 14:1-12.

Herod the Tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servant, "This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him."

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to to have her." Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him and went and told Jesus.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Ayn Rand: "The hatred of the good for being the good."

The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.

Herod's bloody deed has appalled people throughout the ages. It seems that a truly vile deed can turn the world upside down, such is its power of infection. Describing Herod's evening party, Peter Chrysologus (c. 280-450) wrote: "The house changed into an arena, the table changed to a stand at the amphitheatre, the birthday guests turned into spectators, the feast turned into an uproar, the wine into blood, the birthday into a funeral, sunrise into sunset, the banquet became a bloody murder, and the musical instruments began to play the tragedy of the ages."

Herodias was the grand-daughter of Herod the Great; her first husband Herod Philip was the son of Herod the Great and the uncle of Herodias. Herodias and Herod Philip had a daughter Salome and then divorced. While Herod Philip was still living, Herodias married his full brother Herod the Tetrarch. That was John the Baptist's complaint; it was not thatHerodias had again married an uncle; it was that Herodias had married the full brother of her ex-husband while her ex-husband was still living (like incest). To compound, the problem, Salome danced for her uncle[by her father]/grand-uncle[by her mother] and "delighted Herod so much". It was a scandalous bacchanal; Salome and Herodias knew it was scandalous and sought to stanch the criticism by cutting off the head of John the Baptist.

It is the hatred of the good for being the good: Herodias/Salome hatred of John the Baptist for John the Baptist being good.

August 24, 2009. Homily, August 25, 2009.

Matthew 23:23-26. Jesus said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithe of mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean." The Gospel of the Lord. hypocrite: [Webster] one who acts a false part or makes false pretensions. In the context of this Gospel, one whose outside appearance is at variance with his inner being. mint and dill and cummin are all spices. tithe the inconsequential while ignoring the consequential - judgment and mercy and fidelity. strain the gnat but swallow the camel. Matthew 23:23-26 25 August Mt 23:23-26

‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practised without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean. The following is from an anonymous 5th-century commentary on Scripture called An Incomplete Work on Matthew. “As long as a sepulchre is closed, it can have a beautiful outward appearance, but if it is opened, it looks horrifying. The case of hypocrites is similar; as long as they are not recognised for who they really are, they can be praiseworthy, but when they are found out, they appear disgusting. Tell me, hypocrite, if it is so good to be good, why do you not strive to be truly what you only appear to be? And if it is so bad to be evil, then why do you allow yourself to be in truth what you would never want to appear to be? What appears to be ugly is even uglier in reality, but what is beautiful in appearance is much more beautiful in reality. Therefore either be what you appear to be, or appear to be what you are.” It would but hard to match that for clarity and vigour. Under such an unblinking stare, all of us, I think, would have to lower our eyes. Does he leave us any wiggle room at all? I see a little bit at the end: “appear to be what you are.” If I know I'm a bit of a hypocrite and I say so openly, then I'm no longer a hypocrite! Easy! If I say the truth about myself, no matter how unedifying it is, then I'm standing in the truth; and the truth sets me free. Everything that I conceal in the heart grows, like plants in rich soil; but everything that is put out is dispersed in the wind. We are all tempted to hide the bad things about ourselves and advertise the good things. So the bad things grow, and the good things are dissipated. If we could do just the reverse: hide the good things – or at least don't go around advertising them; and tell all the bad things: ‘Hey, I'm a chancer, I tell lies to avoid trouble and embarrassment, and I'm lazy...’ we would have nothing to conceal from Anonymous, and we might even have the courage to look him in the eye – to see if he is hiding anything!

August 9, 2009. Homily, August 11, 2009.

Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14,

The Disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?" He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this receives me.

[But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe into the world because of 'offenses' for it must need be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh! Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed' rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.]

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. [For the Son of man is come to save that which is lost.] What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost."

The Gospel of the Lord.

It is interesting what is left out of the Gospel reading. The quotations are the Word of Jesus Christ and yet some of that Word is omitted:

"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this receives me.

[But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe into the world because of 'offenses' for it must need be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh! Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed' rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.]

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. [For the Son of man is come to save that which is lost.]

Pope John Paul II said, "There is no place in the clergy for one who has abused a child in his care." And yet the Bishops' Council meeting in Texas considered whether the words of John Paul II meant one strike and you are out, two strikes and you are out or three or more strikes and you are out.

I remember seeing Archbishop Dolan meeting some elderly nuns, and him opening his arms, this great bear of a man, and enfolding them in his embrace and his love. How much I loved him, and love him now thinking about it, for that demonstration, for that innocent public witness, of the love of the Church.

[David's great] Psalm 139 [on the everlasting presence and power of God].

in four parts: You [the Lord] know me (vv. 1-6), You are with me (vv. 7-12), You created me (vv. 13-18 [13, You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. {KJ 14, I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works}; my very self you knew; 15, my bones were not hidden from you. When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth. 16, Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped before one came to be.), You are with me (vv. 19-24).

August 4, 2009. Homily, August 8, 2009.

Matthew 17:14-20.

A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, "Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him." Jesus said in reply, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me." Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached him in private and said, "Why could we not drive it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." The Gospel of the Lord. Einstein: "Either nothing is a miracle or everything is." The Queen in Alice in Wonderland used to believe, she said, six impossible things before breakfast. With Lewis Carroll you can always expect sense behind the nonsense. What is impossible, and who says so? No boundaries of any kind are pushed out by people who are always declaring things impossible. Sir Thomas Brown, the 19th-century Manx poet and scholar, said, “I think there are not impossibilities enough in religion for an active faith.” You will see with Protestants. In general, they do not believe in the transubstantiation of the Eucharist, but they do profess that Jesus is God. If you can believe that Jesus is God, why is it so difficult to believe that the bread of the host and the wine in the chalice become the Body and Blood of Jesus? Similarly, Protestants do not believe in the Virgin Birth. But if you believe that Jesus is God, why is the Virgin birth the sticking point? Why quibble over the details? If you can believe the big picture, the details become easy. Rationalism is no friend of faith, it is one of its biggest enemies because it looks so…rational. If you meet a religious rationalist you see that everything is on narrowly limited terms, everything is clear, everything is man-made; there is no grace, no depth, no sense of wonder. For all its apparent rationality it is a kind of blind faith in a status quo. But when you meet a genuinely religious person there is always a sense of grace or effortlessness. Such a person is able to take life as it comes from the hand of God at each moment, without being consumed by suspicion or the will to control. You will never know what is possible while you sit there doing nothing but declaring impossible everything you haven’t seen before.