Our Temporary Home

The other day, Wednesday 13 May 2020, the non-biblical reading from the Office of readings in the Liturgy of the Hours was a section of a letter to Diognetus.  Liturgically, it was an optional memorial for Our Lady of Fatima, but I read from the Wednesday of the fifth week of Easter.

The letter includes:

Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs.  They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life.  Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men.  Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine.  With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in whether it is Greek or foreign.

And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives.  They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through... 

This little subsection reminded me of several things.  

Firstly, there is my Bishop, George Murry SJ, who is currently facing his third bout with Leukemia, and has written a regular column in the Diocesan newspaper with the heading On The Road to Jerusalem.  You understand, that we are on the road to the Heavenly Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

Secondly, I recalled the video below by Kerry Underwood entitled Temporary Home.

Windows in rooms we're passing through.
This is just a stop on the way to where we're going
I'm not afraid because I know
This is our temporary home.

My dad reminded me several times, maybe many times, that  "This too shall Pass."

The heavenly Jerusalem shall never pass away, but all the difficulties of this place will pass away.  

So, whether it is school shootings, World Wars, Race riots, or the Wuhan virus and the consequences of the governments response to it, THIS TOO SHALL PASS.

Because, this is our temporary home, not where we belong, windows in rooms we're passing through.  This is just a stop, on the way to where we're going......

Re-posting -- Easter : Eight Days a week

I posted this, originally in 2018, but I was reminded of it again this week, so I'm reposting it today.

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When I was young, the Beetles had a popular song entitled Eight Days a Week.  Here's a video of it.

It so happens that the Church celebrates Easter for Eight Days in a row, 8 days a week.  She calls it an Octave.  The Readings from Mass on Next Saturday,  7 April 2018 have a heading which reads:
Saturday in the Octave of Easter.
The Gospel readings for Mass during this week  are full of readings involving Easter Day.  

Monday:

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce the news to his disciples.

Tuesday:

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.  And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been.

Wednesday:

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.

Thursday

The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.

While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

Friday:

Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.  He revealed himself in this way.  Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples.

Friday's does not so much deal with Easter Day, but as another post resurrection appearance of Jesus.

Saturday:

When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.  She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.

Sunday:
(The eighth day of Easter)

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

8 Days a week, I love you.
8 Days a week are not enough to show I care.

Jesus cares for us so very much.  Peter tells us:
Cast all your cares on him, because he cares for you.

Our hearts are crushed

The Catholic Bishops of Ohio have written a letter:

suspending temporarily all publicly celebrated Masses/liturgies, at least through the celebrations of Holy Week and Easter.

They go on to write:

This decision is not taken lightly and, as your bishops, causes us great sadness. However, after consultation with the governor and health officials we are convinced that this is the most prudent and necessary action.

For me, someone who participates in the Sacred Liturgy almost every day, this is not just a sadness, it is heart breaking.  

Kathryn Lopez, at NRO wrote on about a similar decision on the ides of March:

I am certain that that’s one of the last things Cardinal Dolan wanted to have to do, keep people from Mass. It’s counter to the priestly heart. But he also has a responsibility to keep people safe, and cooperate with civic authorities (in ways not counter to conscience)

I do not bear the shepherd's yoke, or wield his crozier, and have no desire to do so.  But as the ancients have said:

We can not live without the eucharist.

It is nearly impossible to live without the eucharist.  It crushes the human heart to be cut off from the land of the living.

But it is important to remember that the eucharistic sacrifice continues in the daily offerings of priests and bishops throughout the world.

What is life? What is eternal life?  'To know the only true God, and him who He has sent, Jesus Christ.'

May this temporary suspension end quickly!

Reflection 12 Feb 2020 -- The Queen of Sheba

The Readings from Mass today include the visit by the Queen of Sheba to Solomon.  The section from 1 Kings begins:

The queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon’s fame, came to test him with subtle questions.

The reading then closes with the Queen saying to Solomon:

In his enduring love for Israel, the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and justice.”  Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones.  Never again did anyone bring such an abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

Jesus speaks about this visit in a different Gospel from the one we read today during Mass:

At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.

Yes, Jesus is 'something greater than Solomon.'  He is, as we recite every Sunday during the Creed:

God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.

When we have seen Him, we have seen the Father.

It is this Jesus who is speaking in todays Gospel reading:

He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding?  Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)  “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.  From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Let us listen to Jesus, then, and avoid those actions that defile us; keeping the Commandments, practicing virtue, saying only the good things men need to hear.

Reflection for Zacchaeus -- 3 Nov 2019

The first reading from Mass this morning was from the book of Wisdom:

But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance.

For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for you would not fashion what you hate.

How could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?

The Gospel reading from Mass this morning is the story of   Zacchaeus.  He was a chief tax collector in the city of Jericho.

Now Zacchaeus, like each and every one of us, was made by God, and He loathes nothing that He has made.  God does not loathe the sinner, but as St. Benedict reminds us:

God does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should repent and live.

This great sinner was called by Jesus who said to him:

"Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." 

And the Gospel closes today with Jesus saying:

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.

So, we who are sinners can know and understand that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, not to condemn them.  And by looking at a crucifix we can see the lengths He goes so that we might be with Him always.

Therefore, let us repent of the evil we have done, and enter through the narrow gate into the hand of God, where no torment can touch us.

Kathryn Lopez on archbishop Chaput

A few days ago Kathryn Lopez wrote an article praising Archbishop Charles Chaput, the archbishop of Philadelphia.  The occasion for this article was the 75th birthday of the archbishop and his submission of a letter of resignation as is customary now.

She writes:

Archbishop Chaput has been a good spiritual father to many people — maybe especially lay people trying to live Catholic lives in the world faithfully and even courageously. He’s a great gift, a man of humility and clarity and humor and courage.

I have read many articles, speeches, homilies, and books by the archbishop, and second her heartfelt thanks to him, and to God for this fine shepherd of the little flock of Christ.

You should read her article at National Review.

Strive To Enter Through The Narrow Gate

Today's readings from Mass include the Gospel from St Luke, where Jesus says:

Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. 

Who of us can enter on our own power?  Sin clings to us, like oil floating on water that we wade through.  We can not clean ourselves.  As the psalm says

Too heavy for us our offenses, but you Oh Lord wipe them away.

There was song popular in the 1960s entitled knocking on heaven's door.  Here's a recording of it by Bob Dylan:

But you can't get there under your own power.  We are completely dependant on the Mercy of God who is very generous.

It is the Power of Christ working in us through the ministry of the Church by which we are made whole and made holy, that we enter through the narrow gate.

As Lumen Gentium says, Christ, by His passion, death and resurrection has opened the gate of heaven.  He is himself the gate and the path that leads to the gate.

Let us strive to enter through the narrow gate, where we will be in the hand of God where no torment can touch us.