homilies

on the liturgy of the Sundays and feasts

by matthew v. reilly

Of one heart
and mind

2nd Sunday of Easter-April 6

"B" Readings: Acts 4:32-35 1 John 5:1-6 John 20:19-31

Title: Living Our Lives in the Church Community

Purpose: to describe (1) the ideal parish and Church
(2) that we are trying to reach.

n The day before I began thinking about this homily there appeared two pictures on the front page of the New York Post. One was of Cardinal O'Connor, speaking out against the horror of an almost born baby being aborted. Beside the Cardinal was a picture of Governor Pataki of New York. He was urging that the anti-abortion attitude be eliminated at the Republican presidential convention. Those side by side pictures illustrated the division among Christians and contradicted what is said in the first reading today: "The community of believers were of one heart and mind."

Unfortunately that community did not remain of one heart and mind. Thus you have St. Paul saying in his first letter to the Corinthians: "I appeal to you brethren by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment . . . . What I mean is that each one of you says, 'I belong to Paul', or 'I belong to Apollos,' or 'I belong to Cephas,' or 'I belong to Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" I think Paul would speak so to our present-day dissenters from the teaching of the mystical body of Christ. They divide Christ.

I have an image of Fr. Charles Curran on the steps of Catholic University. His hand is raised in the victory salute. This was rebellion against the central authority of the Catholic Church. Years later he was declared to not be a Catholic teacher. He and his organized followers, critics of Humanae Vitae, meanwhile did terrible damage to the teaching of God's Church. They began with the denial that artificial birth-control was seriously sinful. Then, after the fashion of Martin Luther, they denied many other teachings of the Church. Unfortunately there had been no quick correction of error. When Cardinal O'Boyle of Washington, D.C. corrected the erring priests of his diocese there was a sad silence in the Church in the United States. The Cardinal was not supported.

The ideal Church would have supported the Cardinal and before him the Pope. The ideal Church of course is the one established by Jesus Christ. It is an hierarchical Church. In the gospel today Jesus says: "As the Father sent me I send you." Jesus was crucified because he said he was the Son of God sent by the Father to teach us the way to salvation. Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth and the life." He is the way. There is no other. He spoke with authority and not as the Pharisees, be they of the first or the twentieth century.

Jesus gave that authority to the apostles. In fact he said to his apostles: "He who hears you hears me. He who despises you despises me." Pope Pius XII said those words should be applied to the ordinary magisterium of the Church. If you deny the authority of Pius XII, you deny the authority of Peter to whom Jesus said: "Thou art Peter [the Rock in Greek], and upon this rock I shall build my Church." If you don't accept Peter and his successor, you build on the shifting sands of theological opinion, and your spiritual edifice is due for a great fall. I recall a young priest who said mockingly: "Roma locuta est. Causa finita est." ("Rome has spoken. The case is concluded.") He is now a married man, no longer an active priest. The ideal parish would, I think, be an image of the ideal Church, the one established by Jesus.

When he appeared to his apostles after his Resurrection, Jesus said again and again: "Peace be with you." St. Augustine said: "Peace is the tranquillity of order." If one is to have peace in a parish there must be order, and the pastor determines how things are to be ordered. This does not deny input from the laity, but surely the pastor should have the final word. He is the shepherd, not one of the sheep. If he is out of order then recourse should be had to the bishop, a successor of those to whom the Lord said: "All authority is given to me in heaven and earth. Going therefore teach ye all nations."

I recall a theology class shortly before ordination. There was in my class a brilliant student, learned in the sciences, learned in philosophy, learned in theology. He and our professor began to discuss the force of arguments in theology. My classmate had great regard for reason in theology, but he had to agree the most potent argument in theology is not from reason but from authority. That is because our religion is a revelation from Jesus. Thus our Church is not a debating society, in which, as Fr. Greeley claims, we are seeking consensus. We have the truth. It comes to us from Christ's Church, guided by the Holy Spirit.

After Vatican II there was placed great emphasis on conscience. Certainly conscience is important and we must follow our conscience in moral matters. Conscience is the judgment of reason on a moral act. However that conscience has to be formed according to the teaching of Christ and his Church. It is not an autonomous judge as to what is right and wrong. During the awful delay in the judgment of the Church on artificial birth-control people began to follow their conscience, as they would say, though Pope Paul VI had said they were not to do this. They were to await the decision of the Church in the matter. Finally Humanae Vitae appeared and it repeated the age old teaching, traceable back to Lactantius and the early Church, that birth-control was and is seriously sinful.

We have to bow our heads and accept what Christ's Church teaches. In the gospel today we are told of Jesus: "Then he breathed on them and said: 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men's sins they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound they are held bound.'" After confession the priest may say: "Go in peace." Confession and the acceptance of Church teaching is the way to peace. This is the Peace Christ offered the apostles and us when he said: "Peace be with you."

Suggested readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2032-2040.

Living by the book

3rd Sunday of Easter-April 13

"B" Readings: Acts 3:13-15. 17-19 1 John 2:1-5 Luke 24:35-48

Title: The Bible in Our Lives

Purpose: (1) to show the meaning of Biblical inspiration; (2) the importance of the inspired Bible in Church and at home; and (3) the teaching Church as the interpreter of Sacred Scripture.

Before studying for the priesthood I made a long voyage from San Francisco to Espiritu Sancto in the South Pacific, during World War II. There were two other Naval officers with me. One day they began to describe their sexual exploits in San Francisco. One said to me: "What about you, Reilly?" I said: "That's against my religion." Two years later I passed one of those officers on Eniwetok. He shouted from the passing jeep: "Are you still living by the book?" As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#108) says, "The Christian faith is not a religion of the book. Christianity is the religion of the Word of God, not a written and mute word, but incarnate and living. If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, open our minds to understand the Scriptures."

That is what Jesus himself did on the road to Emmaus. The gospel today tells us the two disciples he met on the road to Emmaus recounted what had happened. They were walking along discussing the horrible happening, the crucifixion of Jesus. He came alongside them and somehow their eyes were held so that they did not recognize him. He asked them what was the sad matter of their discussion. They told him that Jesus whom they had thought to be the Messiah had been crucified. How did Jesus respond? He said: "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that Christ suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Later, when Jesus appears again to those Emmaus disciples, the apostles are with them. He repeats what he said earlier: "Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and psalms had to be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to the understanding of Scriptures. Those things written were written by humans, but they were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Providence of God extends to the smallest details and so he could and did control men so that, though acting freely, they did what he wanted, they wrote what he intended, nothing more nothing less. He was the principal Author of the Scriptures and so they deserve respect, far greater than that given to purely human writings. I suspect that what has kept Protestant churches in existence, despite their errors and neglect of the Sacraments, is their devotion to the book. Christianity is not the religion of the book, but of the Word, the Creator. It is not the religion of the book, but the book is terribly important. The Church venerates the Scriptures as she venerates the Body of Christ. In Christ we have a human and a divine nature. In the Scriptures we have the divine word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, but produced by human authors, whom God used according to their varied natures and experiences.

God respected their individuality. They spoke our language, so to speak, even as Jesus, the Son of man, spoke words we could understand. I recall taking a course in modern literature when I was in college. Some of the poetry was terribly obscure. I remember that one night the professor went about the class, asking us what we thought the author was saying. When I finally found out what the author might be saying I thought: "If that's all it says it's hardly worth the bother." Holy Scripture isn't like that. It is Our Father in heaven talking to his children.

We speak to him when we pray. We listen to him when we read the divine oracles. His Son is his Spokesman. He speaks not only by words but by actions. Think of Jesus saying to the crucifying mob: "You have me. Let these others go." He is offering himself as the divine Scapegoat, taking our sins upon himself, placing himself between his apostles and harm, and saying to all of us: "God loves you." St. Jerome says: "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ." If you don't know Christ you don't know God. If you don't know Christ you don't know our kindly Father in heaven, nor the consoling Holy Spirit Jesus has sent us. We of this era look at many things. Look at the literature God has given you. Read the Bible.

The Bible is important for our Christian lives at home and in church. However, unfortunately, there have been some Catholic biblicists who have done damage to the faith in our time. I took a course from one professor at the Catholic University some years ago. He was denying articles of the faith in his explanations of St. Mark's gospel. He was a philologist rather than a Catholic biblical scholar. He was not a good theologian. Hence he didn't recognize errors when his scriptural interpretations led him into error.

There are two basic principles one must follow in interpreting Sacred Scripture. One involves determining by human sciences what the sacred writer said according to the culture of his time. The second and this is really more important: "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by Whom it was written"(CCC, #111). To determine that you have to consult the tradition of the Church in its understanding of God's revelation to us.

Jesus said: "And I will pray the Father and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you" (John 14:16). Our scriptural professor from Catholic U. explained the Scriptures as though there had been no Church, no scholars, no Fathers and Doctors of the Church and no guiding Holy Spirit. He was, sadly, a little like Martin Luther, saying: "Sola Scriptura." Only Scripture will I accept, and that according to my interpretation, without any reference to what the Church has taught and teaches.

As I prepared this homily I looked up relevant topics in the new Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is a marvelous book, an excellent companion to the Bible. Get it. Read it along with the Bible and you will become a well-instructed Catholic. Jesus said to his apostles: "You are the light of the world." I don't think he at all meant that to be restricted to the apostles. The Christophers say: "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." There is much darkness in the world these days. Each Catholic needs to have a reason for the faith that is in him, so that he too may give light in the darkness.

Suggested readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 104, 105, 111, 141, 304, 688, 2653, 2654. "The New Catechism and Scripture" by Fr. Thomas McGovern, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, May 1996, pp. 8-16.

Come follow me

4th Sunday of Easter-April 20

"B" Readings: Acts 4:8-12 1 John 3:1-2 John 10:11-18

Title: Religious Vocations for the Church of the Future

Purpose: (1) to explain what a religious vocation is; and (2) to encourage a positive answer to a religious vocation.

Some relatives of Jesus thought he was out of his mind. They heard him say such things as "The Father loves me for this that I lay down my life to take it up again." When I was planning to go to the Dominican novitiate I met a friend on lunch hour in Wall St. He didn't greet me. He said: "What happened to you?" If I had told him that I was planning to return to the Navy to float around the world for twenty years, and then retire on a pension, he would have thought that very reasonable. Now, however, he might think I was out of my mind. I was thinking of "laying down my life to take it up again."

That is what the religious does. He lays down his life, his secular life, to follow a more realistic life. He has heard the promises of Jesus and he believes him. He looks at what this life may offer, the pretty and good girl, the nice car, perhaps a successful career. Then he thinks of what St. Augustine said, after tasting the enticements of this world: "Our hearts are made for Thee and they cannot rest until they rest in Thee, O Lord."

He enters a novitiate and realizes: "As the stag thirsts for the fountain of waters, so my soul thirsts for Thee, O Lord." He is now pursuing union with the Lord, not just at the end of life, but in his daily life. He is following a realistic way through life that will infallibly lead him to what St. Paul tried to describe when he said: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what things God has prepared for those who love Him."

Jesus was very practical and so is his Church. Thus the religious takes vows that will facilitate his close following of Jesus. Jesus was poor. Jesus was chaste. Jesus was completely obedient to the will of his Father. "He was obedient unto death, even unto the death of the cross." The religious takes the vows that consecrate him in a special way to Christ and Christ's purposes. He takes vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and agrees to follow the rules of his order or congregation.

I recall that in World War II we who were in the service had regard for defense workers. However, we knew they were not committed as we were to the war effort. We could not question an order even though it might mean our death. We could not quit after eight hours. We could not switch to another job. We were sacrificed to the war effort. A religious is like that, a living sacrifice to Christ's effort to save us all. Jesus goes before us, carrying a cross and we try to follow, as St. Matthew did with alacrity when Jesus said to him: "Come follow me."

When Jesus called Peter and Andrew "immediately leaving their nets, they followed him." St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this, says: "Such obedience as this does Christ require of us, that we delay not even for a moment." Many do delay. I was twenty-seven before I went to the Dominican novitiate, and I went with considerable reluctance. Five of my twelve classmates in the Order were ex-servicemen from World War II. We were late vocations. Today there are numerous late vocations. I concelebrated recently with two curates in a parish. One had been a lawyer before studying for the priesthood. One had been married for many years. On the death of his wife he studied for the priesthood. Apparently there are many these days who have said like St. Augustine: "Not yet Lord."

In the gospel of St. Luke we see the insistence of Jesus that one called to follow him as priest or religious, answer that call. Jesus says to one: "Follow me." The man replies: "Let me go to bury my father first." Jesus responds: "Let the dead bury their dead." Jesus speaks of spiritually dead people who will bury the corpse. He says to the man: "Your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God." Jesus speaks with seeming harshness to make the man and us realize how urgent is the need for those who are called to come and spread the good news of the kingdom of God.

In the gospel another man says: "I will follow you sir, but first let me go and say goodbye to my people at home." Jesus foresees what will happen if he confers with his kinsfolk on the matter. They might be people like my friend who said: "What happened to you?" So it is that Jesus says to the man: "No man putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:61). In view of the shortage of aspirants to the priesthood and religious life nowadays how urgently Jesus must be calling some people.

When the angel Gabriel appeared he offered Mary her vocation. "Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you," he said to her. Mary is fearful because of the words spoken to her, or perhaps because of the aspect of the angel. The angel consoles her. "Fear not Mary," he says to her, "for you have found grace with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High." Mary, aware of her vow of virginity, says: "How can this be since I do not know man?" The angel answers her: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; and therefore the Holy to be born shall be called the Son of God."

Those who feel they may be called to the special service of God as priest or religious ought to pray to Mary that they may have courage like hers. She said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word." She accepted God's will in her vocation even though she knew that vocation would involve suffering. She knew the Scriptures and knew the Messiah would be the suffering servant of Yahweh. As his mother she would suffer with him. Jesus would later say: "He who saves his life will lose it. He who loses his life will save it." Mary gave up her life and now reigns as Queen of Angels and Saints. Jesus rewards marvelously those who answer his call, "Come follow me."

Suggested Readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 931-932. St. Thomas, Summa Theol. II-II, 189, 10.

Hero worship

5th Sunday of Easter-April 27

"B" Readings: Acts 9:26-31 1 John 3:18-24 John 15:1-8

Title: Living in Christ

Purpose: To show the importance of (1) imitating Jesus Christ and

(2) living in Christ.

There is imitation in teenagers nowadays. My nephew a few years ago at the beach was wearing very worn sneakers. I offered him a slightly used pair. He didn't wear them. I finally asked him why that was so. He said: "They're not the right color." Another item for imitation is the baseball cap. Maybe the manufacturers should put front and rear on them. The young consumers don't seem to understand the purpose of the peak. I see young boys in Jersey City imitating the hook shots of the older boys, who imitate the pros.

A long time classic for religious people is called The Imitation of Christ, who should be the hero for each of us. St. Theresa of Lisieux read it devotedly. The imitation of Christ is the way to sanctity. St. Ignatius Loyola clearly realized that. Acting in imitation of Jesus, he would, at night, literally carry a cross through the corridors of a Dominican monastery in the early days of his conversion from the vanity of this world. He also devised a way of meditating that gave him a clear perception of the One he followed.

There has been a great to do about Hillary Clinton and her conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi. If it were just an imaginative exercise to clarify their views, and make application to her own life, there doesn't seem to be any harm in that. We are told that she refused to enter into a conversation with Jesus Christ out of respect for him. I'm sure St. Ignatius in prayer often conversed with Our Lord. Also St. Ignatius would use his imagination to better understand a gospel scene and thus better appreciate and love the One he followed so ardently.

If St. Ignatius were meditating on the crucifixion of Jesus, for example, he might imagine himself as on the hill of Calvary, asking a follower of Jesus: "Why are they crucifying him? What has he done?" The follower: "Done, why he has made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak. He has cleansed lepers. Amazingly he has even raised the dead." "If he has done all these good and wonderful things, then why are they crucifying him?" the questioner might ask. "That is because he claimed he is the Messiah, the Son of God." "Oh that's blasphemy," the questioner might say. "The truth is not blasphemy," the Christian might retort. "Not only has he worked miracles, many of them listed by the Jewish prophets. He has also fulfilled other prophecies. One has to do with his birth: 'Thou Bethlehem Ephrata art a little one among the nations of Judah, but out of thee will come the prophet who shall rule Israel.' Jesus was born in Bethlehem. As he dies here on the cross, he fulfills other prophecies. He hangs here and fulfills the psalm verse: 'They pierced my hands and my feet. They made numb all my bones.' As he dies the soldiers gamble for his clothing and they unwittingly fulfill the prophecy in the psalms: 'They divided my garments among them and over my clothing they cast lots.' As he dies he is mocked; 'Vah, he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the Son of God let him help him now.' These are paraphrases of the mockery the Jewish writings predict for the Messiah."

"If all this is true," the questioner might say, "why then does he not come down from the cross?" "I don't completely understand that myself," the disciple might say, but I do know that when Peter said Jesus should not suffer, Jesus said to him: 'Get thee behind me, Satan, for you savor not the things of God.' It would seem Jesus wants to suffer to save us. Yet his human nature shrinks from the suffering and so he has said: 'My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me, but nevertheless not my will but thy will be done.' Jesus died out of obedience to the will of his Father." So might Ignatius imagine that crucifixion scene and realize again the necessity of obedience in himself and his company in imitation of Jesus.

Jesus accepting crucifixion taught not only obedience but love. He had said: "Greater love than this no man has that a man lay down his life for his friends." He demonstrated his love for us by doing precisely that. In the second reading today St. John says: "Whoever keeps his commandments remains in God and God in him." We keep his commandments because we love him, and that love is a unitive force, joining us to him and him to us.

In the gospel today Jesus says: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who lives in me and I in him will produce abundantly, for apart from me you can do nothing." He wants to be united with each of us, so that, through his loving Presence in us we shall produce abundantly. Barnabas, in the first reading, tells briefly of the miraculous conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul is surrounded by light. He is knocked to the ground as he is on his way to persecute Christians. A voice says: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Saul says: "Who art thou, Lord?" The voice replies: "I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting." Saul, who became Paul, might have said: "I am not persecuting you, but your followers." Had he said that, Jesus might have replied: "What you do to one of these, the least of my brethren, you do unto me." Again you have the idea of the union of Jesus with his followers. We are all members of his Mystical Body, united by the Love of his Holy Spirit who is given to us.

Jesus, appearing to St. Catherine of Siena, said to her: "I am who am. Thou art she who is not." He was emphasizing her creatureliness and his omnipotence. Another day Blessed Raymond, her biographer, tells us that, as he looked at Catherine, he realized he was looking at Christ. Catherine could say what St. Paul said, "I live, now not I but Christ lives in me." That should be the purpose of each of us, as we try to imitate our Hero, Christ.

Suggested readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 787-795. St. Thomas, Summa Theol. III, 48, 2.