Faith and Refining

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While the nation celebrates Groundhog Day, we as a church celebrate the Feast of the Presentation as recounted in today’s gospel. St. Luke’s narration is of the Presentation in the Temple. The presentation that was required 40 days after Jesus’ nativity to complete Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn son, in obedience to the Torah (cf. Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12–15). It is then and there that the Holy Family encountered Simeon who had waited a lifetime. Then suddenly Jesus was there. Simeon possessed a patience and faith most of us do not possess. Continue reading →

Catch and Response

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Yesterday, in our review of the gospel for the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Simon and his companions caught more fish than seemed possible. Nets were ripping, boats were tipping and they had to call to their friends to assist in pulling in the catch – all at the word of the carpenter’s son giving commands to this crew of experienced fishermen. Carpenter or no – the result is a phenomenal catch of fish. Many scholars give lots of attention to the parallels with John 21:4-8 and, while interesting, is distracting. The Johannine setting is after Jesus’ Resurrection and points to the mission of the Church. This Lucan scene is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and points to the initial reception of those who would be disciples. Continue reading →

The Long Play

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The gospel for today comes from Mark 5:21-443 which includes account of the raising of Jairus’ daughter from death (Mk 5:21-24, 35-43), and falling between the segments, the account of Jesus healing of woman who was “afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.” It is an unusual structure to be sure, but I think there is a point in the way Mark has told the story: (a) it happened that way, and (b) the internal symmetry of the two accounts: the healing of a woman who has lived with the impingement of death anticipates the healing of a girl who has actually experienced death.

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The art of fishing

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Yesterday we took a moment to look at the arc of Luke’s narrative, his craft in writing, and all the leads up to this gospel that serves as the Lukan recounting of the calling of the first apostles. Continuing our look into the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we begin:

1 While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

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Created in the image of God

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At the end of Chapter 4 of Mark, the disciples had run into trouble on the Sea of Galilee: “A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.” (Mark 4:37). This is another exhibit of the divine powers of Jesus that are in addition to the miracles cures and the casting out of demons. They have heard him preach about conversion and the kingdom of God – and yet still ask, “Who then is this?” (v.41).

In today’s gospel, Chapter 5 marks a change of location as Jesus moves into the Gentile territory east of the Jordan River. If the disciples are still asking themselves about the identity of Jesus, then this move will likely raise questions about the mission. If they are able to answer their own question and see Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, will they be able to grasp that his mission is to Israel and more? Will the disciples connect the cure of the demon-crazed man in the territory of the Gerasenes, Gentile territory with Jesus’ long-term mission, which includes their participation and will move beyond the borders of Israel to the ends of the earth? Continue reading →

Handing it on

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This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Lectionary Year C. Let’s begin with some context to help us locate this gospel narrative in the larger setting of Luke’s gospel.

For the two previous weeks in the lectionary cycle, Jesus has been in Nazareth engaging the citizens of his own hometown (4:14-30). As Jesus indicated, no prophet is accepted in his own native place (v.24). Leaving Nazareth, Jesus moved on to Capernaum. Again he amazed people while teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. While present, there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon (v.33). Jesus casts the demon from the man, again amazing the people: For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”(v.36) Also while in Capernaum, Jesus cured Simon’s mother-in-law (vv.38-39) and all manner of people sick with various diseases (v.40) and case out other demons (v.41). Continue reading →

The lap of fools

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Our gospel today is the second half of the account of Jesus in his hometown. Last Sunday Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah promising there would come an anointed one filled with the Spirit who would heal, restore, set free, and declare a year acceptable to the Lord. Jesus proclaimed the Word and then simply told everyone. “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Talk about your “drop the mic” moment. Continue reading →

The Western Schism

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In the previous posts we had raised the investiture controversy, one sign of the interplay of civil and ecclesial authority, power, and mission. Even with the investiture controversy “on the back burner” for the moment, the siren’s call of power and influence revealed its presence. By the start of the 14th century, the papacy was firmly ensconced in the mix of European politics. Pope Boniface VIII famously claimed all spiritual and temporal power, i.e., all kings ruled at the good pleasure and grace of the pope. It was an age of expanding national powers and the decline of the Holy Roman Empire. Pope Urban locked horns with Phillip IV of France. Phillip was a major proponent of separation of church and state, immediately taking the initiative to remove all priests from civil positions and to tax them as citizens of the realm.

Boniface excommunicated Phillip who responded by decreeing laws prohibiting the export of gold, silver, precious stones, or food from France to the Papal States. These measures had the effect of blocking a main source of papal revenue. Philip also banished from France the papal agents who were raising funds for a new crusade in the Middle East.

Money ever an ingredient in the stew pot of civil and ecclesial life; ever incendiary at their intersection. Continue reading →

The Pursuit of Wisdom

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Today is the memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, and medieval scholastic philosopher and theologian. His best-known works are the Disputed Questions on Truth, the Summa contra Gentiles, and the unfinished but influential Summa Theologiae. The first reading for the memorial is from the Book of Wisdom. There are commentaries a plenty on the whole of the book and I would not attempt such a effort, but I would note that, (a) besides being a great source of a reading to honor St. Thomas, (b) it has importance for our times.

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