Black Friday – and increasingly Black Thanksgiving Evening – is an interesting phenomena. I have often wondered if it is an exercise in the notion that money can buy happiness. Before you opine that “of course money can’t buy you happiness” consider the moral compass of your expense report and this video from Michael Norton
You know many of us here at this morning Mass can answer the question: “Where were you when you heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot.” We are in the minority. Most folks here in the United States were not yet born on that fateful day 50 years ago. But we tell the stories of our young war hero president, of his family, of Camelot, and all that made up the Kennedy legend. And we tell the generations that follow.
Today we tell the story of the martyr St. Cecilia. We do not know much about here other than she lived in the 3rd century and died for the faith. We tell the generations that come after us what we know. We tell them she is the patron saint of musicians. Continue reading
Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
and the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch (Mal 3:19)
This is the kind of reading that brings back memories of growing up in the South. I would sneak off to summer tent revivals and listen to the pastors preach up a holy firestorm of hell and damnation. There was such passion, rhythm, and vitality – it almost as though they were the Sirens to my Ulysses. It was a preaching that left no doubt that the end was near, to get right with God, and to make amends. Continue reading
Time and The Divine Plan – A Theology of History. “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” The broad scope of the question in v.7 is significant, since a judgment of Jerusalem that wipes out the temple suggests a time of great catastrophe and a turning point in the nation’s history and identity. Such an event can only signal that God’s plan for the nation is underway. Though Luke’s form of this question is more focused on the temple than the questions in Matthew 24:3 and Mark 13:4, its implications clearly cover the same span. Continue reading
When and by what Sign? In v.7 an unnamed interlocutor(s) asked Jesus, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” Given the introduction in v.5 where the disciples are mentioned, one assumes the disciples are the audience. But one should note that nowhere else in Luke do the disciples call Jesus “teacher.” This is the eleventh time Jesus is so addressed and in none of the previous ten are the disciples the one addressing Jesus. Luke reserves the moniker “Teacher” for the Pharisees, lawyers, the crowd, the rich, Sadducees, and scribes. Given the larger context of Luke, it is more likely that while the disciples are present, Jesus is responding to those present in the Temple complex. Continue reading
The Temple in Jerusalem. The architectural entity known as the Jerusalem Temple was a complex institution. It played a central religious and cultic role in Israelite life, as well as functioning on a political level. It was a symbol of the national state of which Jerusalem was the capital during the pre-exilic period, then of the semiautonomous community of Judeans after the exile, and finally of the Jews who continued to live in Jerusalem and the surrounding territory, with sporadic periods of autonomy, in the centuries before its final destruction. Continue reading
Luke 21:5-19. 5 While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, he said, 6 “All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” 7 Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” 8 He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! 9 When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. 12 “Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. 13 It will lead to your giving testimony. 14 Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, 15 for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. 16 You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name, 18 but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. 19 By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
[The following is not part of the Sunday reading, but is often included when studies. If the above section describes the coming war and tribulation, the following text describes its destruction in 70 AD by the Roman armies]
20 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city escape from it, and let those in the countryside not enter the city, 22 for these days are the time of punishment when all the scriptures are fulfilled. 23 Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment upon this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Context. Jesus’ confrontation with the Jerusalem authorities in the Temple (which began in 19:47) now shifts to the future tense. The extended dialogue concerns the:
On November 8th the Church and the Franciscan world celebrates the feast of Blessed John Duns Scotus, a friar and medieval theologian/philosopher. Not a household name, Scotus is best known for his philosophical writings, but it is his theological perspective that has left the most impact. His theological writings on Mary form the basis for how we understand the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and his writings on the preeminence of Christ are the basis for the celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King.
But it is also his reflection on the primacy of Christ that led to his asking about the Incarnation, or more specifically, why did the Word of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, become flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory.” (John 1:1,14) Certainly those verses and others, e.g. Phil 2:5-7, clearly speak to Jesus taking on our humanity, becoming one with us. But it doesn’t necessarily answer why. Continue reading
Salvation Has Come: Questions on Resurrection (continued)
But along the way…. Jesus makes a statement that perhaps needs a second look:
“The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.”
Does this mean that Christians shouldn’t get married and have children? First of all, Jesus makes a contrast between “this age” and “that age”. He has made similar distinctions earlier:
Salvation Has Come: Questions on Resurrection (continued)
The Question. “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. 30 Then the second 31 and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.”
The Sadducees are attempting to destroy Jesus’ credibility by raising the question of who interprets Moses faithfully, as they seek to demonstrate the alleged unreasonableness of faith in the resurrection of the dead, which Jesus shares. The starting point of the question concerns levirate marriage. Continue reading
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