Week 33, Sunday. Words of THE WORD

ANTIPHON

“The Lord said: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. You will call upon me, and I will answer you, and I will lead back your captives from every place.” (Jeremiah 29:11,12,14)

COLLECT

Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God,
the constant gladness of being devoted to You,
for it is full and lasting happiness
to serve with constancy
the Author of all that is good.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

You are my inheritance, O Lord! (Psalm 16:1).

SCRIPTURE EXCERPT (click for all readings)

“Brothers and sisters:
Every priest stands daily at his ministry,
offering frequently those same sacrifices
that can never take away sins.
But this one offered one sacrifice for sins,
and took his seat forever at the right hand of God;
now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.
For by one offering (προσφορᾷ, prosphora)
he has made perfect (τετελείωκεν, teteleioken) forever those who are being consecrated (ἁγιαζομένους, hagiazomenous).
Where there is forgiveness (ἄφεσις, aphesis) of these,
there is no longer offering for sin.
(Hebrews 10:11-14, 18).”

REFLECTION

In the current cycle of Scripture for Sunday Mass, today concludes the sequential proclamation from the Letter to the Hebrews. Fittingly, this Sunday’s Sacred Text focuses on Jesus’ sacrificial work that has profound implications for us in terms of our relationship with His Father.

προσφορά (prosphora) is the Greek word typically translated into English as “sacrifice” or “oblation.” Lost somewhere in the contemporary usage of “sacrifice” is Antiquity’s and the Letter to the Hebrews’ clear insistence that the act of sacrifice is voluntary by nature and definition. No outside force, coercion, law or custom shadows the act of sacrifice. ‘That which is given’ in sacrifice is done so freely and unconditionally. As a noun, προσφορά (prosphora) is rooted in the Greek verb προσφέρω (prosphero) which, in the literal sense, is translated into English as “to carry to,” “to lead to” or “to present to.” Within the Letter to the Hebrews this underscores a vital aspect of Jesus’ freely offered sacrifice of Himself. He intends His sacrifice to carry, to lead – ultimately to present all people to His Father. Why? His sacrifice perfects.

The logical question that surfaces here is ‘what does it mean to be perfect?’ The question certainly rose in Jesus’ Public Ministry within the context of His solemn teaching on Kingdom living in the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew) and the “Sermon on the Plain” (Luke). Left to ourselves, we ‘invent’ all sorts of meanings and images to describe ‘perfection.’ Some of the Fathers of the Church, Saint Gregory of Nyssa to name one, even wrote a work On Christian Perfection. The key here (as it always is in terms of Christian living) is to grasp the biblical meaning of perfection and more precisely a Gospel meaning of perfection. Fundamentally, perfection has little to do with accomplishing goals I set for myself. How often do any of us think, ‘well – if I can stop doing x,y and/or z, I’ll have it made, I will be perfect.’ Most of us dare not voice that thought as friends and confidants would correct us instantly. While there may be a good or many goods that come with attaining or accomplishing good goals that I set, the difficulty is the fact that “I” (along with “me” and “myself”) am the one who set the goal or goals. Perfection, as a biblical work, is a condition that Jesus’ sacrifice has effected for each and for all.

In pre-Christian Antiquity, the Greeks recognized that τελειόω (teleioo) involved a certain wholeness or completeness. For the reason, the verb was often used in the passive voice indicating that someone or something else was instrumental ‘in bringing one to a state of wholeness or completeness.’ Minimally, one could not ‘accomplish’ perfection on one’s own. Yet in terms of Jesus and especially how this is expressed in the Letter to the Hebrews, this ‘perfecting’ has a very specific orientation that is expressed in terms of relational living. The perfection that is the fruit of Jesus’ one-and-for-all-atoning-sacrifice enables “those who are being consecrated” to “stand before and with the Father.” The act of Christian perfection is a work done by Jesus whereby He carries and presents us to His Father that we may stand before and with the Father.’

It seems so passive; almost as if the believer does nothing and Jesus does ‘all the work.’ Yes in the sense of no, no in the sense of yes. There can be no standing before and with God the Father without the one-and-for-all-atoning-sacrifice-freely-given by Jesus. It is impossible. And (not but, not yet) this work of Jesus requires each believer to seek forgiveness of sins. Like perfection, forgiveness has all sorts of meanings in popular usage. Typically, the Greek noun ἄφεσις (aphesis) is translated into English by the word forgiveness. ἄφεσις (aphesis) is part of a family of Greek words, particularly verbs that convey a sense of moving, sending, letting go and releasing. “To forgive” expresses clearly that one has been unable to move, one has been stuck, one’s life has not grown. In this light, ἄφεσις is an intervention from without or an intervention by another whereby power is brought to a given reality that cuts the restraints that, up to the particular moment, have made any movement impossible. While it is crucial ‘to get’ that ἄφεσις involves another from the outside (in this case, the necessary work of Jesus), the believer must permit the release to occur and to avoid anyone or anything that will restrain or halt movement that is ultimately directed towards union with God our Father.

As many will observe a day of Thanksgiving this Thursday, Jesus and what He has done for us must consciously be on the list of persons for whom we are thankful. Whether one marks this Thursday as a particular day to give thanks, each time Jesus summons us to His Table, He does so to provide us with an opportunity to give thanks, the literal sense of the word Eucharist. There is no better way to demonstrate our gratitude than to seek His life in such a way that He may present each and all of us to His Father.

Week 30, Sunday. Words of THE WORD.

ANTIPHON (click for full Psalm)

“Let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice; constantly seek His face." (Psalm 105:3-4)

COLLECT

Almighty ever-living God,
increase our faith, hope and charity,
and make us love what you command,
so that we may merit what you promise.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. (Psalm 126:3).

SCRIPTURE EXCERPT (click for all readings)

“Brothers and sisters:
Every high priest is taken from among men
and made their representative before God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring,
for he himself is beset by weakness
and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself
as well as for the people.
No one takes this honor upon himself
but only when called by God,
just as Aaron was.
In the same way,
it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest,
but rather the one who said to him:
You are my son:
this day I have begotten you;
just as he says in another place:
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
(Letter to the Hebrews 4:14-16)

REFLECTION

As the sequential proclamation from the Letter to the Hebrews continues this Sunday, the Sacred Text places before us once again the Person Jesus, the Eternal High Priest Who lives forever to make intercession for us. Timely as it is, this Proclamation comes only a few days after the publication of the Synod on The New Evangelization’s Message to the People of God. Article 3 of that document, “The personal encounter with Jesus Christ in the Church,” is worth pondering in the light of Hebrews.

“Before saying anything about the forms that this new evangelization must assume, we feel the need to tell you with profound conviction that the faith determines everything in the relationship that we build with the person of Jesus who takes the initiative to encounter us. The work of the new evangelization consists in presenting once more the beauty and perennial newness of the encounter with Christ to the often distracted and confused heart and mind of the men and women of our time, above all to ourselves. We invite you all to contemplate the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter the mystery of his existence given for us on the cross, reconfirmed in his resurrection from the dead as the Father’s gift and imparted to us through the Spirit. In the person of Jesus, the mystery of God the Father’s love for the entire human family is revealed. He did not want us to remain in a false autonomy. Rather he reconciled us to himself in a renewed pact of love.

The Church is the space offered by Christ in history where we can encounter him, because he entrusted to her his Word, the Baptism that makes us God’s children, his Body and his Blood, the grace of forgiveness of sins above all in the sacrament of Reconciliation, the experience of communion that reflects the very mystery of the Holy Trinity, the strength of the Spirit that generates charity towards all.

We must form welcoming communities in which all outcasts find a home, concrete experiences of communion which attract the disenchanted glance of contemporary humanity with the ardent force of love – “See how they love one another!” (Tertullian, Apology, 39, 7). The beauty of faith must particularly shine in the actions of the sacred Liturgy, above all in the Sunday Eucharist. It is precisely in liturgical celebrations that the Church reveals herself as God’s work and renders the meaning of the Gospel visible in word and gesture.

It is up to us today to render experiences of the Church concretely accessible, to multiply the wells where thirsting men and women are invited to encounter Jesus, to offer oases in the deserts of life. Christian communities and, in them, every disciple of the Lord are responsible for this: an irreplaceable testimony has been entrusted to each one, so that the Gospel can enter the lives of all. This requires of us holiness of life.”

This “holiness of life,” – the summons and imperative of Baptism-Confirmation-Holy Eucharist – is made possible through the mediation of Jesus’ Priesthood. Pope Leo the Great, writing in the fifth century put it this way:

“Our origin, corrupted right after its start, needed to be reborn with new beginnings. A victim had to be offered for reconciliation, a victim that was at one and the same time both related to our race and foreign to our defilement. In this way alone could the plan of God — wherein it pleased him that the sin of the world should be wiped away through the birth and passion of Jesus Christ — in this way alone could the plan of God be of any avail for the times of every generation. Nor would the mysteries — as they pass through various developments in time — disturb us. Instead, they would reassure us, since the faith by which we live would not have differed at any stage.

Let them stop complaining, those who speak up against the divine arrangements with a disloyal murmuring and object to the lateness of our Lord’s nativity — as if that which was done in the last age of the world was not applied to previous eras as well. For the incarnation of the Word accomplished by being about to take place the very same thing that it did by having taken place — as the mystery of human salvation never ceased to be active in any earlier age. What the apostles preached, the prophets had also announced. Nor was it too late in being fulfilled, since it has always been believed. But the wisdom and “kindness of God” — by this delay in his salvific work — has made us better disposed to accept his calling. That way, what had been foretold through so many ages by numerous signs, numerous words and numerous mysteries would not be open to doubt in these days of the gospel. That way, the birth of the Savior — which was to exceed all wonders and the whole measure of human intelligence — would engender in us a faith all the more steadfast, the more often and the earlier it had been proclaimed beforehand.

No, indeed, it is not that God has just recently come up with a plan for attending to human affairs, nor that it has taken him this long to show compassion. Rather, he laid down from the very “foundation of the world” one and the same “cause of salvation” for all. For the grace of God — by which the entire assembly of saints has always been justified — was not initiated at the time when Christ was born, but augmented. This “mystery of great compassion,” with which the whole world has now been filled, was so powerful even in its prefiguration that those who believed it when promised attained to it no less than those who received it when actually given (Sermon 23).

Week 29, Friday. Evangelizing Thought of the Day

Just released - (Friday, 26 October), "Synod: Message to the People of God." In terms of the Year of Faith and the New Evangelization, this is an important document as we now await the Holy Father's post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation. http://www.news.va/en/news/synod-message-to-the-people-of-god

COLLECT

Almighty ever-living God,
grant that we may always conform our will to yours
and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Week 29, Monday. Memorial Blessed Pope John Paul II

Throughout this “Year of Faith,” Pope Benedict has called the universal Church to once again ponder and live the primacy of the encounter with the Person, Jesus the Christ. Throughout the pre-Synodal documents, the Lineamenta and the Instrumentum Laboris, we have been reminded of the privileged encounter with Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist and a robust life of prayer; all of which intends, once again, to re-capture as a Grace of God the Father the joy, beauty and ardor of being a disciple of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

In the Church’s Prayer known as the Liturgy of the Hours, we have begun to listen to the words of Saint Augustine in the Office of Readings as he penned a “Letter to Proba” in the year 412 (also known as Letter 130). This letter amounts to a short ‘school of prayer’ and his guidance as a Father of the Church can certainly form us in the ways of prayer whose object is always responding to the invitation to commune with God our Father, Jesus His Son and Holy Spirit. The full translation of the Letter can be found here. It is worth a ‘slow and pondering’ read and multiple re-reads throughout this week - AND - perhaps beyond!

COLLECT

O God, who are rich in mercy and
who willed that the Blessed John Paul II
should preside as Pope over your universal Church,
grant, we pray,
that instructed by his teaching,
we may open our hearts to the
saving grace of Christ,
the sole Redeemer of mankind.
Who lives and reigns.

Week 29, Sunday. Year of Faith - Words of THE WORD

ANTIPHON (click for full Psalm)

“To You I call; for You will surely heed me, O God; turn Your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of Your eye; in the shadow of Your wings protect me." (Psalm 17:6, 8)

COLLECT

Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. (Psalm 33:22).

SCRIPTURE EXCERPT (click for all readings)

“Therefore, since we have (Ἔχοντες, Echontes)
a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast (κρατῶμεν, kratomen)
to our confession (ὁμολογίας, homologias).
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly
been tested in every way, yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”
(Letter to the Hebrews 4:14-16.

REFLECTION

Today is World Mission Sunday and this is observed throughout the Church universal. Coming as it does only days after the opening of the “Year of Faith” and the “Synod on The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith,” World Mission Sunday recalls specifically Jesus’ command: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).” Both the Synod and the “Year of Faith” have shed bright light on Jesus’ missionary mandate and brought into clear focus broad as well as specific dimensions of the Church’s missionary life that must be engaged in both the evangelizing of the World and the re-evangelizing of those who have been catechized in the Faith, but have drifted away from the encounter with the Person, Jesus.

How timely as the Letter to the Hebrews expresses concerns (some might say alarm) for those who have drifted away from the assembly and encourages them to return. Why? It is all about grasping the uniqueness of Who Jesus is as “the Great High Priest.” As the proclamation from Hebrews begins this Sunday, this is the joy, confidence and hope of the inspired authored: “we have (Ἔχοντες, Echontes) a great high priest.” The Greek verb ἔχω (echo) is appropriately translated “to have.” But a quick check of any Greek lexicon reveals that this verb has many, many shades of meaning. Many of those meanings historically developed as earlier languages, particularly Hebrew and other Semitic languages, did not have the verb “to have.” While there were certainly ways of describing possession without the verb “to have,” as this verb came into later languages of antiquity a distinction was made between the verb’s application to an object and the verb’s application to some aspect of human living. Bauer notes in his Lexicon that when referencing human life, ἔχω means “to stand in a close relationship to someone.” This is the grounding of the author’s confidence. Not an ideology. Not a listing of do’s and don’ts. Not a listing of teachings or principles. Simply, a Person – a unique Person Who is God-in-the-flesh.

Because of Who this Person is, Hebrews is clear about ‘holding fast’ to “our confession.” The translation, “let us hold fast,” is an apt rendering of κρατέω (kratwo) into English, yet antiquity and the context suggest examining the meaning of κρατέω further. While some uses of κρατέω suggest a violent grasping or seizing, others suggest “to use one’s hands to establish a close contact.” Once again, in a human context the image is more of relationship, connection, and encounter. This helps us to view “our confession (κρατῶμεν, kratomen)” not as heartless data stored somewhere in our psyche but rather an act of allegiance wherein each person commits the totality of herself or himself to another – in this case, the Person, Jesus.

For readers of this blog, much of today’s study of the Original Sacred Text echoes what has been seen in print (both the Lineamenta and the Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod on The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith) and what has been heard consistently from Pope Benedict and some bishop-participants at the Synod. They have echoed the words of Blessed John Paul II penned in an Apostolic Exhortation at the conclusion of another Synod called by his predecessor. “The primary and essential object of catechesis is, to use an expression dear to St. Paul and also to contemporary theology, “the mystery of Christ.” Catechizing is in a way to lead a person to study this mystery in all its dimensions: “to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery... comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth ...know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge ... (and be filled) with all the fullness of God.” It is therefore to reveal in the Person of Christ the whole of God’s eternal design reaching fulfillment in that Person. It is to seek to understand the meaning of Christ’s actions and words and of the signs worked by Him, for they simultaneously hide and reveal His mystery. Accordingly, the definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch but in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ: only He can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity (Catechesi Tradendae, 5. 16 October 1979).” So important is this insight that it was repeated years later in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “At the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from the Father. . .who suffered and died for us and who now, after rising, is living with us forever.” To catechize is “to reveal in the Person of Christ the whole of God’s eternal design reaching fulfilment in that Person. It is to seek to understand the meaning of Christ’s actions and words and of the signs worked by him.” Catechesis aims at putting “people . . . in communion . . . with Jesus Christ: only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity (paragraph 426).”

Such is the missionary work we must all engage by virtue of our baptismal incorporation into Jesus Christ. Appropriately, the entire Church gives thanks for the many women and men both of previous generations as well as those who are heroically responding to the Lord’s call and work as missionaries in lands far removed from home and family. Also important this day is to know that while I as an individual may not be a Consecrated missionary in distant land, I am nonetheless impelled to reveal and never conceal the authentic face of Jesus Christ. Seize, therefore, opportunities in this “Year of Faith” to ‘continue being formed in the Faith, to speak always the Truth and to never be deficient in religious, moral or social living (Gaudium et Spes, 20).’

Week 28, Sunday. Year of Faith. Words of THE WORD.

ANTIPHON (click for full Psalm)

“If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with You is found forgiveness, O God of Israel." (Psalm 130:3-4)

COLLECT

May your grace, O Lord, we pray,
at all times go before us and
follow after and make us
always determined to carry out good works.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!. (Psalm 90:14).

SCRIPTURE EXCERPT (click for all readings)

“Brothers and sisters:
Indeed the word of God is living (Ζῶν)
and effective (ἐνεργὴς),
sharper than any two-edged sword,
penetrating (διϊκνούμενος) even between
soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
No creature is concealed from him,
but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes
of him to whom we must render an account.”
(Letter to the Hebrews 4:12-13.

REFLECTION

As the beginning of the Year of Faith is noted this Sunday in many dioceses, s short and most appropriate passage from Letter to the Hebrews draws our attention to “the word of God.” Quickly, we hear that this “word” is “living (Ζῶν) and effective (ἐνεργὴς).” ζάω (zao) is the verb in the New Testament that often describes the unique life embodied in the Person Jesus. ζάω is distinguished from the Greek noun βίος (bios), also translated “life,” but life more on the level of natural metabolic processes such as circulation, respiration, digestion, etc. A number of scholars note that the New Testament usage and significance of ζάω as embodied in a person marks a noticeable difference between the two Testaments, with the Johannine usage not only echoing this meaning but sounding clearly, Jesus is ζάω.

Hebrews notes that this ζάω is ἐνεργής (energes), translated here as effective. The Greek word ἐνεργής is actually a compound of ἐν (en) meaning “in” (in the sense of localized presence) and ἔργον (ergon) meaning “work.” While wordy and somewhat awkward in English, ἐνεργής denotes a reality about ζάω that it is ‘a living that is a work (or act of labor) effected (being done) in the here-and-now.’ This underscores the dynamic quality of God’s word: it is impossible NOT to be impacted by the word of God. This is graphic imagery provided by διϊκνέομαι (diikneomai), “to penetrate” or “to pierce through.” Like ἐνεργής, διϊκνέομαι is a compound of two Greek words and when curiosity moved me to check some entries in a very old Lexicon, there are some references in Greek antiquity that viewed διϊκνέομαι as “cutting through that which is superfluous to arrive definitely at reality.” Yet another mouthful of words to describe 1 ancient word but the precision and image it offers in terms of Christian living is ‘priceless!’ For there is nothing more superfluous in life than sin itself and uncovering the reality of sin is at times as difficult as excising cancer from one’s body. We tend to hide from sin’s reality (certainly there is an echo of Genesis 3 in today’s proclamation), rationalize its appropriateness and go one with living life; at least we attempt to do such until we encounter a Person, the Person Jesus Who is ζάω and Whose very life is the embodiment of love and life.

It is vital to make this connection from the Sacred Printed Text to the Person Jesus. Paragraph 108 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers a necessary insight for this Sunday’s Sacred Text: “Still, 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.” “…the word of God [that] is living (Ζῶν) and effective (ἐνεργὴς), sharper than any two-edged sword” is a Person and a Person Who sounds His very own Word that each of us may encounter Him and be blessed with the gift of a relationship with Him, a relationship that biblically is called Faith! We ought then, in light of Hebrews ask ourselves, how do I approach the word of God? Is the word of God merely pixels on a page or on a screen? Is the word of God simply one opinion among many that I may or may not consult prior to action? Or is listening to the word of God an encounter with a Person Who desires to know me and have me respond by daily conversion of heart, mind, body and strength?

Week 26, Sunday. Words of THE WORD.

ANTIPHON

“All that You have done to us, O Lord,
You have done with true judgement,
for we have sinned against You
and not obeyed Your commandments.
But give glory to Your Name and deal with us
according to the bounty of Your mercy.”

COLLECT

O God,
Who manifest Your almighty power
above all by pardoning and showing mercy,
bestow, we pray, Your grace abundantly upon us
and make those hastening to attain Your promises
heirs to the treasures of Heaven.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart. (Psalm 19:9).

SCRIPTURE EXCERPT (click for all readings)

At that time, John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ (ὅτι Χριστοῦ ἐστε, hoti Christou este),
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:38-48).’”

REFLECTION

Driving out demons, giving a cup of water to drink, not losing one’s reward, putting a milestone around someone’s neck not to mention cutting off a hand and foot while plucking out an eye: quite an array of actions all packed into a single proclamation. Not only is it difficult to discover a common thread among them all, many of the actions are rather gruesome, barbaric and hard to reconcile with a popular image of Jesus Who is often presented as being ‘a nice person.’ Recalling that we are listening to a section of the Marcan Gospel that many scholars view as core to the entire Gospel and having heard 2 distinct Passion ‘predictions’ over the past 2 weeks, it is safe to conclude that there is a vital point among apparent disparate actions that strikes to the core of the Gospel.

Initially, we are presented with actions involving service, particularly service that is done in Christ’s Name. These are actions that are impelled by deepening levels of unconditional love. The actions are not performed to ‘give back’ nor are they performed to get anything in return. Service in the Name of Jesus sees the need and acts practically without thinking to resolve that need. All of Jesus’ disciples are equipped not only to do this, but must do so. The fourth century saintly bishop of Nyssa, Gregory, put it this way in his Oration on Christian Perfection: “God never asks his servants to do what is impossible. The love and goodness of his Godhead is revealed as richly available. It is poured out like water upon all. God furnishes to each person according to his will the ability to do something good. None of those seeking to be saved will be lacking in this ability, given by the one who said: “whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.” Yet difficulty remains, though, what vital point do these actions of service have in common with the ghastly actions of hacking at limbs and gouging out eyes that follows?

The vital point? Simple. A Person, a Divine Person, the Person Jesus the Christ. He is the fulcrum point upon which the edifying and grotesque actions balance. Driving out demons, mighty deeds in His Name, doing because one belongs to Christ all flow from ‘belonging to Christ.’ The violent actions that leave us scratching our heads trying to make sense of their place in the Gospel are the heroic lengths one must employ to prevent ‘not belonging to Christ.’ Consider Jesus’ Words: “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ (ὅτι Χριστοῦ ἐστε, hoti Christou este), amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.” As far as this translation is concerned, the key is ‘belonging to Christ.’ ἐστε (este), translated here as belong is the Greek verb “to be, to exist.” Belong, while not an erroneous word to translate ἐστε, does seem a bit weak, especially how it is understood in contemporary culture. We as people belong to something or to some organization. To say that I or another belong to another person is somewhat awkward, even among married couples as I clearly learned a few days ago: “I am not hers!” my good friend protested until I asked, “Is she yours?” He suggested that the conversation was too deep to have over a beer, and the rib eye steaks were done. But the conversation was nonetheless revealing and it certainly had me thinking about this text. Do we really get what it means to belong to Christ? Belonging to Christ is not a decision that I make on my own and then sign-up. I do not ‘join’ Jesus the way I join a civic, fraternal or sororal organization. While I certainly contribute something to those organizations, I also intend to receive something in return – AND – when that organization is no longer useful, I decide to no longer belong.

We ought to consider rendering ἐστε as existing since it delivers a vastly different picture of the disciple’s relationship with Jesus. The disciple is essentially one “who exists because of Christ.” Who I am, what I do, etc… is all grounded in the reality that my existence as an individual and everyone else’s existence is because of Jesus Christ, period. That realization unleashes awe, reverence, treating the other as precious, treasuring life and creation since they exist because of Christ. Consciousness of this and the consequent actions springing from this develop, grow and mature over time. Adrienne von Speyr wrote in Mark: Meditations on the Gospel of Mark, “The question is: Are there degrees in this belonging to the Lord? I think we must answer in the affirmative. There is a lukewarm belonging: one knows in some fashion who the Lord is, one has views about him that do not contradict his teaching but that do not give rise to a full surrender to him. It is this surrender that is decisive in belonging to the Lord. A person can probably consider himself to belong completely to the Lord in every state, insofar as this state is chosen in a will to serve, in a striving to give over everything he has to the Lord—not just a glass of water, but his whole life. The Lord himself acknowledges that the disciples belong to him who were particularly called and who, at least at the moment when they came, did not yet know for what they were giving their lives. He reckons it as merit to those who likewise acknowledge him if they possess enough belief and insight to acknowledge that the disciples belong to him and, therefore, are not afraid to offer them something in his name. They try to do this, like the disciples, in the Lord’s name.”

It is precisely in this growing maturity of ‘existing because of Christ’ that one must adopt a ‘zero toleration policy’ of sin. While the intention of the Sacred Text is not a horrific, physical chopping of body parts, the Sacred Text is clear: there are times when each must employ downright heroic efforts to combat the ‘yes’ to sin that always weakens ‘existing because of Christ.’ Sin cannot be soft-pedaled. Sin cannot be described as a ‘necessary development task or issue.’ Sin cannot be rationalized. Sin must be acknowledged as the affirmation of self-existence, a solitary world of disconnected living in which relational living and love, built on the surrender of self to the Other and others, cannot exist let alone grow.

Thankfully, the words do not end here and in fact they cannot. As horrific as sin is to ‘existing because of Christ,’ sin does not have the final word. The final word belongs to “God the Father of Mercies” – God the Father Who we acknowledge as Almighty because of His limitless love in the forgiveness of our sins (today’s Collect). The only power sin has is the place and power each of us gives it in our lives. Breaking its power begins with a human expression of sorrow – not just a spiritual or mental act asking for forgiveness; not just a 'quickie prayer’ but a human expression – with our heart AND lips. The same Saint Gregory quoted above wrote to the flock of his day employing medical terminology as an analogy for Christian living. When it came to sin, he spoke clearly of the need to voice sorrow aloud to the priest or bishop because that was the way for sin to ‘get out’ just as the body vomits poison from the stomach (he also had some other graphic descriptions of the digestive system for expunging other sins from the body.) The point is that God our Father is waiting to forgive, desires to forgive and wants our word of sorrow – expressed humanly (soul AND body, heart AND lips) – so that the limitless mercy of His forgiveness can flood our lives (spiritually and bodily) and bring healing that each may live fully a life ‘existing because of Christ.’

“God the Fathers of mercies,

through the death and resurrection of His Son

has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the

Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins.

Through the ministry of the Church may

God give you pardon and peace.

And I absolve you from your sins in the

Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

I know the joy experienced when these words are prayed over me as a penitent by a priest or bishop. I know also the joy of praying these words over people in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When was the last time you ‘heard’ these freeing words? God the Father of Mercies is calling you and there is a priest who can’t wait to pray them aloud over you as well!