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homilies
on the liturgy of the Sundays and feasts
by peter t. maccarthy
Read the Bible
18th Sunday of the Year-August 4
"A" Readings: Isa. 55:1-3 Rom. 8:35. 37-39 Matt. 14:13-21
Title: Bible Reading at Home
Purpose: (1) to explain the imprimatur on a Bible and the available Catholic translations; (2) to encourage ownership of a personal Bible or New Testament; (3) to give guidance on Bible reading and study at home.
n Whether it be a matter of belief or disbelief in an age of constant change for novelty's sake, people need and want the security of faith based on a source-an authority, reliable and believable. Such an authority needs authenticity guaranteeing credibility (CCC 104). Its absence reduces the problem to confusion, contradiction and even despair. Believers want certainty. The Bible was given to us to be heard rather than read.
Heresies, confusion and errors have developed from the distortion of faulty meanings read into the Scriptures. The supreme authority of the Church, Peter and successors, has always been available for consultation regarding the truth (120). The development of printing made the Scriptures more easily available. The 16th century liberals and protesters exploited this and produced translations to suit their belief. As a result confusion like that of today arose so that the Church declared what was authentic and could be printed ("imprimatur": "may be printed") for the security of all believers in Divine Revelation.
The past has returned with the same suffering today for faithful Catholics as they wrestle with so many Bibles, talks and programs. Decisions should not be made until serious investigation has been made into reliable, balanced, sources. Slogans as sales pitches give clues to the quality of the merchandise, in this case the Holy Scriptures. True believers could always detect the difference between the true and the false.
The "crisis" of today's American Church is disconcerting to those who honestly seek the truth in/of the Scriptures, almost to the extent of jeopardizing the Holy Scriptures. The passion for "pro-choice" must not apply to the Bible. The Truth is one and not adjustable to the moods of the moment. A lesson from the parable of the Tares (weeds) suggests discernment in choosing the Bible translation faithful to the Seed sown by the Master. Reliability rather than suitability must be the deciding factors in choosing the Bible authenticated by the Church because the Church is the custodian of the truth and the reliability of Divine Revelation. Every Catholic family should be the home of the Bible as the source of Divine presence and inspiration (1656-58).
Choice of Bibles today must be discreet because so many versions are promoted for various reasons, such as: promotion of sales, popularity, "ecumenism" and ideological objectives. Two major considerations enter into the choice of authentic Bibles, viz. (1) word-for-word translations and (2) meaning-for-meaning translations. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) published as the Ignatius Bible is the English language version approved by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The New Jerusalem Bible (JB) focused on meaning makes it suitable for study because of its English, introductions, footnotes and cross references. The New English Bible is more suited to spoken language than written English. Some students prefer The New Catholic Study Bible, St. Jerome edition, because of its format and aids to study. Caution is more necessary because the Bible is an essential companion to the Catechism of the Catholic Church which quotes Scripture in most pages.
The Bible as the Word of God brings him into our homes, not merely as a guest but as an important member of the family. The Savior did not speak and act to fill a book but to fill his people with inspiration, insights, encouragement and consciousness of his presence at all times (2653). Those who feel lonely, estranged, ignored and unimportant can spend time with God attentive to what he tells us. Mysteries of joy, sorrow and glory are all there, especially in the psalms (141).
Years ago Catholics avoided the Bible as non-Catholic because they had heard it misquoted against the Church. This caused spiritual poverty and a fear of heresy. Now, the Liturgy offers us a sampling of Scriptural riches throughout a three-year program. Many parishes offer Bible studies teaching us how to "listen" to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here are riches that can never be lost even in death. Those who do not pray because they do not know what to talk about to God, will discover his interests including themselves (131). He is good company, sincere and trustworthy!
You don't have to go about quoting the Bible but you can discover the riches of God and his world where we hope to spend eternity. What a surprise and setback it would be for many to have to spend "time" in Purgatory learning how to get along with God and be happy!
Suggested Readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church: 101-108, 133-138, 134-141, 104-113, 119, 127, 131, 572, 1656-58.
The greatest wonder
19th Sunday of the Year-August 11
"A" Readings: 1 Kings 19:9. 11-13 Rom. 9:1-5 Matt. 14:22-23
Title: History of the Church (A)
Purpose: (1) to show our Catholic roots in the saints and popes of past centuries; (2) to show the Church as a sign of Christ's continuing presence.
Ask anyone about the Church and . . . expect an answer beginning with "it" . . . accepting this as proper. The truth is that the Church is not an "it"-a thing-but a Person, dynamic and divine: Jesus Christ. The Catechism of the Church calls her "the Body of Christ" (787) and "the Bride of Christ" (796, 808), the "Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Soul of the Mystical Body" (809). Thus the correct pronoun is "she, her" according to her Latin name "ecclesia." Only in this sense can we refer to her and appreciate her life history through two millennia . . . a long and fascinating story mysterious because divine.
Hindsight and insight suggest her creation eventually when the Lord dealt with the original sinners. The "enmity" between "Satan" and "the woman" has been evident in her history since the Redeemer expressly instituted her (759). Thereafter the Lord prepared his people for the Church (761) through the revelations of time and circumstances in a mosaic of events, persons, symbols and images (748-769) as a mystery both spiritual and visible (771-776) when the "People of God" became "the Body of Christ" brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (810), beginning at Pentecost (1076).
Jesus Christ, Messiah and Son of God, made (842) preparations for her initiation during his public life among the people of Israel, the first Catholics. These constitute the roots of the Church as witnesses who knew him, accepted and lived the Good News to the extent of the sacrifice of all they had (763-5), life, love and themselves as martyrs. The graphic history of the nascent Church of men and women, Jews and Gentiles was recorded in Luke's "Acts of the Apostles." The study of this book affords a rich realization of the original "Christians" or "Christ people," a name soon to become an insult and honor of eternal glory. This dual aspect of Christianity is a vital theme in the appreciation of the Church and the dynamics of her two thousand years of life in all ages and nations. Her archives contain volumes of writings about people, problems and events of importance and significance.
The paradox of insult and honor was predicted by Christ himself: "if they have persecuted me, they will persecute you" (Matt. 5:10-11). This apparent contradiction is the life-death theme of the Church and her history. Not to be overlooked is the fact that all human beings are both mortal and immortal (825-827). Christians have human and divine life as a result of their Baptism and participation in Christ, the Church. They are good and bad because of grace and sin. This duality is evident in the Church, even today, so that she is one or the other according to one's perspective. The Church is for sinners (Luke 5:32) not "the saved" already in glory.
We should not be sensational or shocked by evils in the Church. Christ stated that scandals were inevitable. The unchristian, secular, world revels at the evidence of sin in the Church even though they do not believe there is sin. They relish the evidence that "only Catholics sin" because deep inside they sense the divinity of the Church as Christ. Their antagonism constantly tries to disprove her divinity so that they can justify their own disbelief or position. Catholics are not required to "be saved" in order to join the Church. Rather they join the Church of Christ in order to be saved.
The Church contains more sanctity than corruption as is obvious in the calendar of the Saints, fellow-Catholics in heaven. We pray to them, "pray for us sinners." Worth nothing is the leadership of the Church as illustrated in the lives of the 263 men who have occupied the Chair of Peter. Some, like Peter, let Our Lord down, yet a great number have attained glory and sanctity.
There are more laity, priests and bishops than popes so that we can surmise that more of them that popes attain "glory hereafter." There is, even today, glaring evidence of the presence, power, influence and love of Christ vibrant in the Church (1380).
Church History teaches lessons, especially those of the Gospel in every generation. God never changes, he is eternal-beyond time and place-always present and active through his many paradoxes which are recorded in Scripture, the history of the Church, lives of Christians of the past and, surprisingly, even in our time and world. His advice to us regarding the history of the Church, past, present and future is: "Be not overcome by evil; overcome evil with good" (Rom. 12:21).
The Church is a matter of wonder: the greatest wonder in the world! Her very conception, design and foundation contradict human experience. The basic "materials" were perishable, even unreliable. Her Founder was a "loser" in the minds of his enemies. His chosen associates-Apostles-were not socially sophisticated. They were all executed as enemies of the State: foolish in the eyes of the world regarding them as dying for an "ideal," a preacher, a pauper, a pacifist in contradiction to what this world treasures.
He knew the world well, but he was not "of the world" yet in the world. Secular pride, conceit and perspective blinded worldlings to what the anawim, i.e., the simple, could detect. Paradox is, was the key to understanding and realizing the Creator's overture to vagrant, ego-centric men. He exposed secularism as the disease, diagnosed it for the afflicted, cured those who asked him, eventually proved its futility and failure through his victory "which overcomes the world; our Faith," thereby verifying his claim: "have confidence, I have overcome the world."
The Olympic contests to which St. Paul referred (1 Cor. 9:25) were trivial to those of subsequent Christian centuries of spiritual athletes regaled with the "imperishable" wreaths of eternal glory. The record of the Church exceeds the ability of the world to calculate it. What the Roman Conqueror declared "you have conquered, O Galilean" is still true.
Suggested Reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church: 839-848, 759-776.
Glorious forever
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary-August 15
Readings: Rev. 11:19, 12:1-6 1 Cor. 15:20-26 Luke 1:39-56
Title: The Assumption of Mary
Purpose: To picture our Lady as (1) the ideal Christian and (2) our intercessor in life at the hour of death.
In everything God expresses himself creatively and uniquely. This is obvious in the creation of Mary of Nazareth. Destined to be the Mother of the Savior, she was designed for a role which only the genius of God could devise. She was to be "The Woman"-Mother from the womb to the tomb, the one intimate witness of the messianic mission in this world. As a consecrated virgin dedicated to God alone, she provided hospitality for the arrival of the Son of God "begotten not made," yet "eternally begotten of the Father." "She conceived of the Holy Spirit" according to his word so that through her the Son "became Man."
Mary's assent to the will of God was to have eternal consequences both for her and the human race. She was the strong woman, faithful at the cost of herself for him. Her total dedication to him reveals her generosity and objectivity as "the servant of the Lord." Faith does not put limitations on God, his works, promises and wonders. One of his greatest mysteries is life, the very essence of a person. This Son made his own Mother (John 1:3), not merely as the vehicle of gestation but, Mother of himself as man and God, forever thereafter. She was/is not a goddess yet immortal like all human beings, a woman exalted above all forever as Queen and Mother of creation. Mary, once a mother like all mothers, is forever a mother, the Mother of God. Created sinless, immaculate by and for her Son, she did not have the obstacle to life, i.e.,-sin-like all descendants of Eve, but was always united, in union with God's will, never separated or alienated.
The basic fact beneath this Redemption was the restoration of the original relationship of man to God. Mary was the first to accept it at the expense of a life given and dedicated to him. If she lived with and for him she would "die" with and for him: "Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus his Mother" (John 19:25). Then and there he parted with his Mother and gave her to "mother" the nascent Church until her assumption into glory.
The Catechism states: "Mary is clearly the Mother of the members of Christ since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head. Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church" (963). Mary, free of sin, was always united with the will of God. Her union with her Son did not cease with his death and departure: she remained ever "the handmaid of the Lord." Having fulfilled her role as Mother of the infant Church she was assumed by her Son into Glory to which he had ascended. She was the first to have realized the truth of "the resurrection of the body and life everlasting." If he could restore life to Lazarus, might he not have prevented her death?
Her origin, sacrificial life and destiny must surely resemble the pattern of her Son's transitus in time and space. Her union and participation in his life would suggest freedom from death and decay, the threatened consequences of sin (Gen. 3:3). Most appropriate to her is the psalmist's lament: "For you will not leave my soul among the dead nor let your beloved know decay" (Ps. 15:10).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reflects the definition of the Assumption as an article of Faith: "The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son's Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of His Body" (974). "Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death."
Suggested Readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 963-966, 969, 974.
Teacher of nations
20th Sunday of the Year-August 18
"A" Readings: Isa. 56:1. 6-7 Rom. 11:13-15. 29-32 Matt. 15:21-28
Title: History of the Church (B)
Purpose: to explain some major heresies and problems faced by the Church (1) in the past; (2) as recurring in our times.
One encouraging aspect of the study of the Church is her origin, nature and governance. She will never die until the world does, when there are no souls needing salvation. Her Founder, Jesus Christ, as God guarantees his omnipotence and omniscience, through his promise to the pitiful original few, "Behold, I shall be with you until the end of the world." What else in this world is guaranteed? He as God is still in control while respecting men's free will, distortions and intentions: "God writes straight with crooked lines" says the Portuguese proverb. The will of God will always be eventually fulfilled regardless of human ambitions, goals, decisions, heresies and errors, because we pray with Christ "Thy Will be done."
Respect for our free will explains God's tolerance of error, sin and evil of every kind. He made us but does not mechanize us. His love conquers all. This makes sense of human history, be it individual, national or worldwide. The second millennium, so relevant to Pope John Paul II, suggests the need for all of us to gain an appreciation of the life and history of the "Bride of Christ," with her difficulties and glories. Now, in the spirit of our providential Pope, we ought to examine the Church's record-history-over the two millennia with the assurance of Christ's promises fulfilled. What encouragement, optimism, we can glean from a review of the life of Christ and the life of the Church! Her history makes Christ and his promises come alive, realistic, creditable and reassuring to us. The history of the Church is as fascinating as a novel but it is a real life story, not fiction. It reads better than a detective novel, especially when you know how the Mastermind operates. Reading it as one does secular history reveals, yet obscures, divine intervention. Here the paradox applies: the victory of Good over Evil. Included also is the constant of the interplay of divine and human portraying the Lordship of Christ and the effectiveness of his Grace through his "other Self"-Mystical Body-the Church.
The Lord Jesus lived in our world of good and bad. Choosing the real-true-good, he was a worldly loser. Why? because the Truth is inimical to the insufficiency of the world's viewpoint. The story of the survival of the Church reveals, indicates and proves this . . . for the reinforcement of our Faith through all generations.
The human and Divine struggle and conflict has been evident throughout the story of the Church. Selfishness, sin and error have always been evident in humans. Heresy is the obstinate adherence to one's own view of revelation rather than that of God's Church. Falsification of the teaching and the authority of Christ, the Church, has been the stratagem of Satan since the test of Christ in the desert. Satan must surely resent the contrast of the truth with its distortion, ego-centric and commodious.
It should not surprise us that heresies-errors and misrepresentations-arise in the life of the Church. Our Lord Jesus had them in his life with us; he is experienced and has cautioned us about them. His revelations, teachings and prophecies were falsified even in his presence among men. From the earliest times human nature and pride loved self and rejected reality-the truth-and still does so. Christ, the Truth, and focus of our relationship with reality-has been challenged, rejected, twisted by dissidents throughout the centuries. Study of them is a revelation and surprise at the self-centeredness of man, not to mention his pristine revolt. "I will not serve" (obey, agree) is to be detected in many of the religious positions and belief-systems of people calling themselves Christians. Actually they want Christ to agree with them, their perspectives, and life styles.
Denial of the truth as protected and proclaimed by the Church-his voice in time and place-"He that hears you, hears me" (Luke 10:16)-has been the game of dissidents-heretics-from the very beginning. The conflict between Christ and Satan, Truth and error, has been always present.
It should not surprise us that from the earliest times heresies, conflicts and denial of the revelation of Christ should arise. The absence of divine Faith led some to question the divinity of Christ from various aspects in a series of errors known as the Christological heresies: Arianism, Manichaeism, Docetism and so forth.
Later there arose the objection to the doctrine of Mary's divine Motherhood. Once settled, "novelists" found ways of being notorious like Pelagius about grace and so forth in petty errors spawned by pride.
Morality became an excuse for dissent by Martin Luther, then Henry VIII, in their passion for self at the expense of the Truth and will of God. They wanted God on their terms rather than his.
This pattern is obvious and prevalent today in the Western world with its rejection of morality as the law of God for human nature. Modernism-the combination of many heresies is the heresy of our age. Its technique is equivocation-play on words-applied to Holy Scripture and the teaching of Christ, the Church, with the idea of diluting the truth to suit everyone to the exclusion of the authority of the Church established by Christ. "He who hears you, hears me" and "He that will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican." Observe how close environmentalism is to pantheism.
The heresy we see in the Church today in our world is Liberalism or "make up your own mind" religion-telling God their version and demanding his endorsement. There are dissenters with the authority of the Church. They are either heretics or schismatics and apostates according to the position they take relative to the doctrines or traditions of the Church (CCC #2089) in liturgy or established beliefs (CCC #817). Such ruptures wound the unity of the Body of Christ. All these violate the First Commandment. THE question for all today is: who is correct? whom do we believe, God or the world, the worldly and New Age?
Despite the onslaught of error, heresy, the Church goes on serenely as did her Master who "Overcame the World." A Protestant author, Lord Macaulay in 1840, Scotland wrote: "There is not, and there never was, on this earth, a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church. The history of that Church joins together the two great ages of human civilization . . . . Nor do we see any sign which indicates that the term of her long dominion is approaching. She saw the commencement of all governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all." We have every reason to believe and "have confidence." "Christus vincit, Christus Regnat, Christus imperat."
Suggested Readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2464, 2089, 1903.
The Chair of Peter
21st Sunday of the Year-August 25
"A" Readings: Isa. 22:15. 19-23 Rom. 11:33-36 Matt. 16:13-20
Title: The Church and Peter
Purpose: (1) to explain the importance of Peter in the Gospels, and (2) to explain the continuation of the Petrine Office in the Bishop of Rome.
The Papacy has been the focus of interest to the world since its beginning. This interest appears as fascination: love and hate, curiosity or folly, enigma or mystique with "why?" as a common question. The answer is found in its uniqueness and mystery because of its origin. St. Paul reveals the enigma with his insight in 1 Cor. 1:28 when he wrote "God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something." This conflicts with the world's ideals.
Both Christ, the Founder of the Church, and his replacement, Peter, the Pope, came from modest and obscure backgrounds: Christ from Bethlehem, Peter from Bethsaida. They possessed none of the things that the world values. Power of the worldly nature was the boast of the Roman Governor. The participants in the Crucifixion taunted Jesus with the same temptation.
Simon Bar Jonah was one of the first to take up Jesus' invitation to give up his job as a fisherman and to devote his life to what was ahead of him. It was the beginning of a life of dedication to the Master. He had no idea where this decision would lead him. Surely distant pagan Rome would not have entered his mind. His dedication to the Master was tested one day in Caesarea Philippi A.D. 29 (Matt. 16:13-20) when Jesus asked the crucial question: "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" Under the inspiration of the Father, Simon chanced the answer and was correct. Christ's comment had to be a shock especially when Jesus named him "Rock"-Peter for the second time. Further, the Master revealed the Father as his and predicted that he would build his church on Peter as the rock, the permanent foundation in storms, floods and gales (Matt. 7:24-27). Peter's subsequent career and life were to prove him correct eventually. God had asked, spoken and guaranteed.
This was the birth-initiation-of the Petrine office or Papacy as it is called. Christ's successor and representative was selected by him in the presence of the other witnesses who could vouch for Peter's primacy after the Lord had returned to the Father. The Church was their responsibility because, as the Lord said: "Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world" (Matt. 20:28).
At Pentecost the Holy Spirit was revealed as the Spirit, or soul of the Church. From then on the Gospel spread to the people of Asia Minor with extraordinary success. Peter was regarded as the one in charge and was the person consulted about plans and problems, as the head. Even the extraordinary recruit, Saul of Tarsus, sought the endorsement of the "Chief." Despite so many cults the Church was strengthened by the grace promised by Christ. About the year 42, Simon Peter arrived in Rome after his miraculous deliverance from prison. The historical evidence of the early Church regards Peter as the source of strength, encouragement, reliability and solid faith and dedication. He spent 25 years in Rome in the capacity of Father (Papa). The moral impact of his leadership record, career, depth of insight, firsthand knowledge as a personal friend of the Messiah, was so obvious that it defies rejection. The Roman Emperor Nero entertained Romans by a persecution of Christians including the most outstanding, Peter and Paul, who were given due military execution in A.D. 67. Peter was crucified like his Model, and buried nearby on the Vatican hill. His burial place has been verified beneath the High Altar of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Christians of that era were conscious of the importance and significance of the Successor of the Lord and his designated, divinely appointed human replacement in the Chair of Peter. Note that "the Chair" signified the authority of a professor of the Faith with divine assistance for the security in Faith, the moral support and leadership of Peter throughout the ages until the end of the world. His influence is moral, spiritual-worldwide-not political-for the love of God and a world in need of conversion.
Pope John Paul II is the 263rd successor of Peter with the same authority and importance. Like or dislike it, he is the voice of Christ to the people of this age. The response of many peoples of the world to Pope John Paul II is surely a revelation of divine influence in the Church, despite the opposition of Modernists, heretics and schismatics in opposition to the Truths they reject. Without him the unity of the Church, the Way and the Truth and the guarantee of the real Messiah, Jesus Christ, would be nullified. The forces of opposition expose the reality as clearly as they did on Good Friday in Jerusalem. The continuation of the Petrine office in the Bishop of Rome has been verified by history. The survival of the Church of Christ and Peter is one of the wonders of the world. Non-Catholics testify to this: "There can be no doubt that the Roman Catholic Church of our day is the heir of unbroken descent of the Roman Catholic Church of the second century, and that it is justified in using the name 'Catholic' as well as the name 'Roman'" (Dr. Briggs, 'Protestant Episcopal').
When the Lord assured that the "gates of hell" will not prevail-succeed-against the Church, he assured the faithful of the security and certainty of their Faith in Christ, in the Church despite the heresies, moods, innovations and speculations of those who find him not progressive but boring. The anti-Roman attitude derives from sin, the lack of love and faith that separate. Jesus cannot be separated from his beloved humanity, his relatives and friends. We listen to the voice of Peter rather than to that of the world with its misguided aspirations. The authority of Peter is not the same as worldly power, but is a form of service and leadership. Christian obedience is close to the essence of Catholicism, because its source is the humility of the Son before the Father in the Holy Spirit. We must love and obey Christ in this Pope, not some other who might suit our expectations; after all, Christ said: "Have confidence, I have overcome the world."
Recommended reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 442, 640-42, 552-53, 765, 1446.