A Thought for Living

544 Pages·2008·1.17 MB·English

A THOUGHT FOR LIVING COLUMN

BY FATHER PAUL KEENAN

Credited with Righteousness
June 6, 2008
The second reading for the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time is from the Letter of Paul to
the Romans. It speaks about the faith of Abraham. There were many reasons why
Abraham might have doubted God’s promise. Abraham and Sarah were old, well past the
age of leading a people and of having children. Yet Abraham kept faith. As Paul says,
“He did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief; rather, he was strengthened by faith and
gave glory to God and was fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to
do.”
But Paul has a surprise for us. He notes that Abraham’s faith was “credited to him as
righteousness,” but he does not leave it there. We, too, he says, are credited with
righteousness. The words written about Abraham are not just for him, they are for us as
well who, as St. Paul says, will believe in Jesus Christ.
This means that because of our faith in Christ, we receive a wonderful gift. Like
Abraham, there are times when we see the reasons for doubting what God has promised
us. His promises may seem too good to be true. We may feel at times that he has let us
down. But if, like Abraham, we hold firm in our faith, we are credited with righteousness.
We bask in the grace of God.
Solid Ground
May 30, 2008
The readings for the Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time speak of the importance of taking
the Word of God to heart. In the First Reading, Moses tells the people to take the words
he has received from the Lord and take them so to heart that they might be like a sign or,
as we would say today, a logo, that they would wear as though it were an article of
clothing.
In the Gospel, Jesus says that his Word is like the solid foundation of a house. Building
our lives on his Word is like building a house on a solid foundation. Building our lives on
anything else is like building a house upon sand.
In a conversation this week about a certain aspect of Church teaching someone (in a very
respectful way) asked me whether a lot of the matter of these teachings was not just a
little too abstract for people to understand and so as to have any real meaning. My
response was that, yes, a lot of Church teaching is abstract, but that it is important for us
to try to show how those abstractions have real meaning in our everyday lives. And they
do. For example, what seems to be an abstract philosophical discussion of how the human
soul gets to experience eternal life when it is created in time by God at the moment of
conception, ends up being a wonderful statement of appreciation for the marvelous gift of
getting to have a supernatural knowledge of God and intimate relationship with him.
Ideas have consequences and what often appear to be academic and relatively
unimportant concepts really make a tremendous difference in the way we are called to
live our lives.
The point of this week's readings is that the Word of God is bedrock. With it as our
foundation, we have the right anchoring we need to guide our lives in the right way.
Corpus Christi
May 23, 2008
On the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, often referred to as Corpus Christi,
the readings remind us of the spiritual nourishment that can be found in Christ alone. In
the Gospel, he describes himself as the Bread of Life, and when we receive him – Body
and Blood, Soul and Divinity – in the Eucharist, we receive spiritual nourishment of the
highest order. We are taking Christ Himself into our souls.
In the First Reading, Moses recalls the goodness of God to his people during their time in
the desert. We remember how, in the desert, the people grumbled because they did not
have any food. God sent them manna to nourish and comfort them. Instead of being
grateful, they grumbled and complained about the quality of the food.
We can often be like those people in the desert. We pray, asking help from God for the
difficulties in which we find ourselves. God sends us help, but it comes in a form we do
not like or do not recognize as help. We grumble and complain.
At the heart of our celebration of the presence of God in our midst, especially in the
Eucharist, is the importance of gratitude. When Jesus goes to multiply the loaves and the
fishes to feed the multitudes, he first gives thanks for them. Others have been
complaining that they don’t have enough money for feed the crowds. Still others have
scoffed at the paltriness of the loaves and the fishes – how can these feed so many?
Instead, Jesus gives thanks and the rest is history.
Trinity Sunday
May 16, 2008
At first glance, the peruser of the readings for Trinity Sunday might wonder whether
there has been some mistake. Only one of the readings, the Second Reading from St.
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, even mentions the trinity, and that in the form of a
traditional blessing. The First Reading is a dialogue between God and Moses in which
Moses and God on Mount Sinai, in which God pronounces his name, “Lord” and Moses
invites him to accompany the people.
It is when we look at the Gospel, however, that we see the profound meaning of the
Trinity. In Gospel times, of course, there was no formal understanding of the Trinity, but
looking back, we see that the seeds of the triune God are there. In this passage, John does
not portray Jesus as speaking of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit per se. But a
close look at the passage reveals the work of the Trinity nonetheless. God (the Father)
sent his Son into the world. There is a third part to this formulation, and that is that the
reason God sent his Son into the world was not to condemn the world but to save it.
Therein lies the work of the Holy Spirit – completing the work of the Father and the Son
by saving the world, not condemning it. Theologians have told us that the Holy Spirit is
the bond of love between the Father and the Son, and here St. John is telling us that this
love is extended into the world to which the Son was sent, specifically so that we who
believe might not perish but might have eternal life. The Father loved the world. He sent
his Son into that world. The Holy Spirit – the love with which the Father loved the Son
and the world – is that love made present to us so that we might share it as well.
The magnificent message here is that God loved us and continues to love us through the
Holy Spirit. As John says elsewhere, it is not that we loved God first, but that he loved us
first. The result of that love is that we might not perish but might have eternal life. The
story of the Trinity in other words, is a magnificent story of love, a story too big for us to
comprehend but not to big for us to experience.
And on Trinity Sunday, we recall that marvelous blessing, we thank God for it, and we
renew our experience of being loved so wonderfully by God.
Pentecost
May 8, 2008
Today is Pentecost Sunday, a feast which is also known as The Birthday of the Church.
This is because on that day, the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles in the form of a
huge gust of wind and tongues of fire and emboldened them to proclaim the message of
Jesus Christ to the entire world. Or, as John expresses it in today's Gospel, Jesus came to
them and breathed the Holy Spirit upon them. Prior to this experience, the disciples were
locked in a room, afraid to come out, uncertain as to what to do next. They had been
thrilled and relieved to have Jesus return to them after his death and resurrection. Now he
had ascended back to heaven and was gone from their sight. They were confused and
afraid and they knew that there were those who would attempt to harm them or even take
their lives because they had followed Jesus.
Once they receive the Holy Spirit, the apostles are completely different people, or at least
they seem so. Whereas before they often misunderstood the message of Jesus or had
misgivings about it, now they understand in and proclaim it confidently. Whereas before
they were afraid, now they stand up to those would defeat them. When we read of the
apostles in the gospels and when we read of them again in the Acts of the Apostles, it is
as though we were reading about entirely different people. The Holy Spirit has
transformed them.
Pentecost is also a Jewish feast, occurring fifty days after the celebration of the Passover.
and was a feast of the harvest. Moses commanded his people, “Thou shalt number unto
thee seven weeks from that day, wherein thou didst put the sickle to the corn. 10 And
thou shalt celebrate the festival of weeks to the Lord thy God, a voluntary oblation of thy
hand, which thou shalt offer according to the blessing of the Lord thy God.”
(Deuteronomy 16:10.) It is also referred to in Christian circles as “Whitsunday,” a
reference to the white vestments worn by the priest on that day. The term “Whitsunday”
is sometimes thought to be derived from the fact that the Holy Spirit brought “whit
(intelligence) and wisdom” to the apostles on that day.
Pentecost is a day for celebrating the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the
Church. We note and honor his guidance in our lives and in the life of the Church,
bringing us the courage and the dedication to fulfill the apostolic command to “put on the
mind of Christ.”
The Priestly Prayer
May 2, 2008
The Gospel for the Seventh Sunday of Easter is from the section of the Gospel of John
that takes us back to the Last Supper. In that section, beginning with Chapter 13, we see
Jesus giving the disciples their last instructions. He washes their feet, giving them a
lesson in servant leadership. He tells them not to be afraid and encourages them to trust in
God. He gives them the example of the vine and the branches, and urges them to have the
unity with him that the branches have with the vine. He promises them the Spirit of
Truth, the Holy Spirit, whom he calls The Advocate – the one who will speak for us
when people disparage us for following Christ.
In today’s Gospel, before going to the Passion, Jesus prays for them, and at the same time
he prays for all of us. His prayer is called “The Priestly Prayer,” for it is the prayer of the
priests on behalf of and in the presence of those who will be his priests, his apostles. He
prays that the Father will keep them safe, and he prays that they may be one, just as he
and the Father are one. And he prays that they may give glory to the Father.
There is a magnificent unity to the chapters in this section of John’s Gospel. In the first
four chapters, Jesus teaches the disciples. In this chapter he prays that they may
personally experience what he has taught them. This reminds us that the Word of God is
a living thing, not just something printed in a book but a living thing, something to be
experienced in our own lives. Being a disciple means being one who listens, actively
looks for the appearances of Christ in daily life. We are meant not only to learn the
essentials of our Faith, we are meant to experience their impact on our daily lives.
In these pages of the Gospel of John, Jesus is not a static figure – he is dynamic, on the
move. And his next move is to his Passion.
The Advocate
April 24, 2008
The Gospel for the Sixth Sunday of Easter is taken from the fourteenth chapter of the
Gospel of John. The setting is the Last Supper and Jesus is giving his disciples words of
consolation. In preparation for our celebration of Pentecost in two weeks, the reading is
about the Holy Spirit. Here, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as “the Advocate.”
Let’s think about the meaning of the word “advocate.” An advocate is one who is on your
side, one who speaks up for you in times of trouble. When you do not know the words to
say, the Advocate speaks up on your behalf.
The most common way in which we think about an advocate today is in terms of an
attorney. If we are brought into court, we hire an attorney to represent us. The attorney
knows the law and knows his way around the court system in ways that you, as a client,
likely do not. Sometimes people choose to represent themselves in court, but in most
cases they hire an advocate to speak for them. The attorney speaks not only in court, but
outside of the court as well. Should reporters come to you demanding a statement with
reference to the court case, you would refer them to your attorney. He is the one who
knows what to say and what not to say.
At the Last Supper, the disciples are afraid and they need someone to help them. Jesus
promises them that, after he had gone, he would send them the Holy Spirit to be their
Advocate. Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus tells them that, being disciples, they will be
hauled into court to testify about their activities. He tells them not to be afraid, that the
Holy Spirit will teach them what to say.
That promise is not just for the disciples two thousand years ago. It is for us as well. The
Holy Spirit is our Advocate. When others confront us because we stand up for what is
right, we do not need to be afraid of not knowing what to say. The Holy Spirit will give
us the information and the courage that we need to withstand any opposition.
Our opposition may not be from adversaries, however, It may come from life events and
situations that frustrate us, puzzle us and put our backs against the wall. Here, too, the
Holy Spirit is our Advocate, giving us the guidance and the wisdom we need to prevail
over the circumstances we are facing.
“Come, Holy Spirit.” That traditional prayer of the Church can be our link to the Holy
Spirit, the Advocate who is always there for us.
The Good Shepherd
April 11, 2008
The Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Easter is a follow-up to the conflict between Jesus
and the Pharisees in the story of the Man Born Blind in Chapter 9 of John’s Gospel.
Toward the end of that story, Jesus berates the Pharisees for not having the spiritual
vision they claim to have, since they do not recognize who he is.
In this Sunday’s reading, Jesus uses a number of pastoral analogies to continue his
assertion that the Pharisees are not living up to their responsibilities as spiritual leaders.
First, he speaks of the sheepgate through which the shepherd goes to the sheep. A
sheepfold is a low wall made of stone and open to the sky. Jesus notes that a shepherd of
the sheep approaches his sheep directly instead of breaking and entering to get to them.
The idea is that He is the true shepherd while the Pharisees are not. The sheep know the
shepherd’s voice and they follow him. Jesus is saying here that the people know and
recognize him and follow him and ignore the Pharisees, who are false teachers. Again,
Jesus describes himself as the gate for the sheep, meaning that if people want salvation
they should come through him and not through the false guides, the Pharisees.
The intriguing thing about all of this is that the Pharisees think that Jesus is talking about
sheep and shepherds and apparently have no idea that he is talking about them. John
points this out to show how spiritually blind they are.
The moral of the story for us is that salvation comes through Jesus, who really cares
about us, calls to us and enables us to recognize his voice. We are to discern between his
voice and those of false teachers.
Emmaus and the Mass
April 4, 2008
The Gospel for the Third Sunday of Easter, the story of Jesus speaking with two disciples
who were on the road to Emmaus, has the same components as our liturgical prayer in the
Mass.
The story begins with the equivalent of the Penitential Rite. The two disciples leave
Jerusalem and journey to Emmaus because they are sad and discouraged by the
crucifixion of Jesus and the rumors of his resurrection. As they are discussing their
heartache and confusion, they meet a stranger on the road who asks them what they are
conversing about. When they tell him, he exclaims how slow they are to understand the
scriptures and what has happened to Jesus.
Next begins the equivalent of the Liturgy of the Word. The stranger goes through the
entire Scripture showing the disciples how the things recorded there speak directly to the
things that happened to Jesus. It is a kind of Bible reading and homily all in one.
The disciples reach their town and head for home. The stranger begins to go his own way
but the disciples invite him to their home. Here begins the equivalent of the Liturgy of the
Eucharist. At the meal, the stranger takes bread, blesses it and offers it to the disciples. At
that moment, they recognize him. They have been speaking with Jesus all along.
Finally, there is the equivalent of the dismissal at Mass. The disciples leave home, return
to Jerusalem and inform the other disciples as to what they have seen and heard.
We come to Mass bearing all the joys and sorrows of our lives. We bring our hearts to
Jesus for forgiveness and refreshment. We hear the Word of God in the readings and in
the homily. We receive the Bread of Life in the Eucharist. And we leave rejoicing in
God’s presence in our lives as we prepare to share it with those we meet. The story of the
disciples on the road to Emmaus gives us not only a wonderful story in itself. It also helps
us to reflect on the structure of the Mass.
Doubting Thomas
March 27, 2008
The Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter is the familiar story of doubting Thomas.
Thomas did not believe the other disciples when they told him that Jesus had appeared to
them. He refused to believe unless he could place his hands into the wounds of Jesus.
The interesting part of this story is that Jesus allowed Thomas to do just that. In other
words, he took Thomas just as he was, doubts and all. We sometimes wonder whether it
is alright to doubt. Jesus’ attitude toward Thomas shows us that doubt can be an
important stage of believing.
When is doubt alright and when is it not? When we questions the truth of something, all
the while being open to the possibility of discovering the truth, doubt can be a legitimate
aid to faith. When we absolutely refuse to be open, and instead proceed with an
unshakable self-assurance in our own rightness, absolutely denying the very possibility
that, for example, the Church may be right about a teaching we are having difficulty with,
then doubt leads to hardness of mind and heart. In that case, it is an obstacle to our
discovering the truth.
When we wrestle with, say, a teaching of the Church, all the while maintaining a desire to
understand what the Church is teaching, then doubt can help our faith. When we
adamantly deny the teaching, thereby diminishing our faith in the Church as our teacher,
then our doubt takes us in the wrong direction.
When we allow doubt to help our belief, we permit ourselves to get past the notion that
we absolutely must understand everything. When doubt serves faith, there is an act of
intellectual humility, an acknowledgment that we may, after all, not have all of the
answers. Doubt serving faith is an act of humility.
And it’s true – we can’t understand everything in life. As we get older and wiser, that
becomes clearer and clearer to us. Recognizing that enables faith to morph into truest. We
trust the God who is Truth to guide us to approach the truth. That is what Thomas did.
That is why Jesus loved him so.