« July 2006 | Main | September 2006 »

August 27, 2006

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time - Not to Choose is to Choose

For those of us who are senior citizens, it is no great surprise to us that young folks today (and even we ourselves) have countless more options in our lives than we did, say, even a quarter century ago. Of course, that can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how we deal with those choices.

Think, for instance, then, about some of the choices we have which were not available to us in our younger days. Communication for instance, where once we might have been limited to handwriting letters, today we have the options of the Internet, cell phones, text messaging, et cetera. If we once needed to travel some distance, we may have had the use of a sailing ship, the railroad or perhaps an undependable Model T Ford. Today we can choose air travel and be around the world in half a day. Job opportunities are endless; where we choose to live today (if we have the money) is our choice. Even our choice of a life partner has greater possibilities than it did in our grandparent's day. In short, what we decide to do with our life is our own choice. We are not limited by place, time or culture. Even our decision how we worship God is our own choice.

All of this tells us, therefore, that human choice can be a blessing but also a serious responsibility. Choosing one brand automobile over another may not be important, nor what sort of cell phone do we use. Those are somewhat superficial. But, on the other hand, how we make ethical and moral decisions, how our religious faith impacts our life and our relations to others, that is very important indeed.

So, what is choice anyway? It seems to me that choice truly defines who we are as human beings. It is a sign of our human nature. Other beings in this world do not seem to have the option that we do to make intelligent decisions, decisions that have been thought out before hand and are meant to be followed out with serious intent.

Hence, we human beings are often judged by our choices, wise or foolish. We are rewarded or punished by how we make our decisions. Lots of folks are in prison because of bad choices. It even occurs to me to say that all human foundations in this world, law, government, religion depend on the assumption that we can make good or bad choices and can be held responsible for them. If that is not the case, then the civilized world ends in chaos.

Of all the areas in our human life where choice becomes very important, religion or faith would seem to hold an important place. Granted, faith or religious life is not important to all people, but many at least believe in something which gives direction and meaning to their life. For that reason, then, most people have a sense of responsibility even a sense of guilt when they make poor choices.

It may seem odd to us, but the area of our life where we have the most freedom is in religion. For people of faith, God is not perceived as a dictator. We are free to do as we choose. That freedom is what gives our actions their meaning and significance. It's called conscience, one of our most precious gifts. How would any action of ours be judged good or bad if we did not have the right to choose?

Two of our scriptures for this Twenty First Sunday also provide us with some insights about choice. Joshua, who succeeded Moses as the leader of the Israelite pilgrims challenged his brothers and sisters to decide whom they would serve once they arrived in their promised land, the God who had rescued them from Egyptian slavery, the one who fed and watered them in the desert, or would it be the choice of one of the nature gods of the people whom they would meet on their desert journey? "As for myself," Joshua says, "I'm sticking with the God of our ancestors. I invite you to join me; it's your choice."

As we have been hearing in the gospel over the past several Sundays, Jesus is trying to explain to the curious crowds who he is and who he wants to be for them: He says: "I am the bread of life; I am bread from heaven. If you accept it, you will have life for ever." Obviously, this was too much for many of them and they decided to go their way. Then Jesus asks his special friends, the Twelve, how they feel. Will they, like the rest of the crowd, choose to go their way too? Peter (always the spokes person) blurts out: "Lord, we don't have any other choice; you have the words of eternal life; you are God's holy one.

I have often wondered: If that choice had not been made, would we all be here today thinking about all this? Would Christian history have taken a different direction if Peter and the rest had decided to go their separate ways? Perhaps we should all be happy that some people did follow Jesus. Here we stand in this church today, following in their footsteps.

Finally, I have always thought that it is a great privilege, not just to be Catholic and Christian, but to have the choice to remain so and to accept the challenges that goes with being Catholic. It seems to me that to call one's self Catholic automatically involves some hard work, heavy responsibility. Catholics, I think, are generally known as people who make hard choices, who live by the rules. That is something we should be proud of even though the rest of the world does not always follow us.

So, today we may be asked by Jesus in some mysterious way: "Do you want to go away too?" Our answer should be: "Lord, somewhere back in history you chose me to follow you. I'm happy to say today that I don't have any other option. Lead the way, I'm behind you!"

The scriptures: Joshua 21: 1-2a, 15-17, 18-19, 20-21, Ephesians 5: 25-32, John 6: 60-69

Posted by Julie Galligan at 10:46 AM.

August 20, 2006

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Food For the Whole Person

Anyone who is exposed even to a half hour of evening television will tell you that most of the advertising will be trying to convince you that there is something wrong with you, that you probably have some problem with your health and you had better get busy doing something about it. Ever notice the concern about obesity today and all the cures for it? Osteoporosis is another big physical problem. The state of your skin and skin care is another. Whatever physical problem you may have, some company already has a cure for it.

Even more interesting is a casual stroll through Barnes and Noble Book Store. Just browse through the section on cook books or diet fads for instance: Whole shelves of 'em. Most of them don't work, of course, but that doesn't keep people from buying the books.

Is psychological health your problem, there are books to cover that as well.

If you have spiritual problems, there is some guru, some expert to help you get through those as well.

In other words, experts of various sorts know that the human person is a very complicated being and there are innumerable things that can go wrong with you. Some, or many of these, are real but others are probably imaginary. Of course, real or imaginary, they sell products.

Of course, long before the current craze to heal all our various ills, there have been philosophers who have helped us understand ourselves and our place in the world. (Mental health, it's called) What does it mean to be a person living in this world at this time in history in community with so many other people with similar and different needs? That's, in part, what philosophers and theologians try to do; they try to help us understand the meaning of life, our human destiny, where we fit in this world. They ask what it means to be human in the fullest sense. It all boils down to the question of wisdom: How does one live wisely in the world? How does one fulfill one's deepest wishes, one's hearts desire?

So, there are several different parts of our human person that need care: The physical, the psychological, the social and the spiritual. In other words, we are a very complicated being with many needs. One begins to wonder if we are ever fully healthy in all these categories. So many things can go wrong with us.

The scriptures for this Twentieth Sunday of the year seem to have some answers to at least a few of these human problems, the question of full human health. What nourishes us totally?

The author of the Book of Proverbs uses an interesting literary device to help us understand the abstract notion of wisdom. Imagine wisdom, he says, as a person, a woman, who invites you to her house where she has prepared the best meat and wine, waitresses to serve at the banquet. Who's invited? Anyone who is simple, anyone

whose life is uncluttered by the concerns of the world, anyone who lacks understanding but is willing to listen, anyone willing to forsake foolishness. That's the banquet of wisdom. It's all free for those who need it.

So, what would that mean in modern terms? Where does one find wisdom today? Well, it will probably not be found at a banquet as the author of Proverbs suggests.

But there is wisdom to be found all over, just for the taking. First of all, wisdom is not just knowing a lot of "stuff." Wisdom has to do with deep thought, with asking hard questions, with the willingness to spend some time each day just thinking, being quiet, and reflecting on life's meaning. Wisdom also comes with reading, with listening to people who themselves have struggled to find it.

I think, for instance, of elderly folks, men and women of age, who have lived a lot of years and who have struggled to understand life in this world. They may have suffered a lot too they can tell you lots about life. That's wisdom.

Conversation and debate is another source of wisdom, being willing to listen to another side of an issue and learn from it. That's wisdom also.

I often think of Jesus as a wisdom teacher. People had a hard time understanding him because he reflected on life's meaning more deeply than most folks. In fact, some asked, "Where did he get all this wisdom? After all, we know where he came from. We know his family."

So, I think Jesus saw his role in life to help people understand themselves and their relation to God. He continually kept talking about God as our Father and about God's reign in our lives. For Jesus, that was human nourishment, spiritual nourishment too.

Then in today's gospel Jesus uses some metaphors or analogies to try and help people understand who he is and what he has come to do for people. He says, "I am like flesh and blood, the sources of life. That is what I want to be for you, human nourishment, nourishment that will last forever.

Then he uses another metaphor: He says, just like ordinary bread nourishes your body, so am I bread that nourishes you spiritually, bread that will last for ever.

I often like to think, then, that Jesus' desire was to cover all the human bases (as it were): To help us understand life (wisdom), to help us live together in peace, to help us understand that heaven is our spiritual home where we will live forever.

The nice thing about all this is that it is all free: No need to go to Barnes and Noble for books or to buy all the stuff the medical industry tries to sell us on television. Jesus offers it to anyone who seeks wisdom and who seeks God's kingdom.

"No point, therefore, going hungry," Jesus says. "Come to wisdom's table, you'll come away a healthier, holier person."

The scriptures: Proverbs 9: 1-6, Ephesians 5: 15-20, John 6: 51-58

Posted by Julie Galligan at 02:31 PM.

August 13, 2006

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Food For the Way

In my reading over the past several months I have noticed a number of events in the news that spoke to me about the human desire or our common need to travel toward some important goal or destination in life. Some of these we can easily identify, others are a mystery. Examples:

Most of us have read about the great dilemma on our southern borders, the desire of many of our neighbors in Mexico attempting to find ways to cross into Arizona or California to find work and security in the United States. This has caused immense problems for Congress attempting to find ways to accommodate immigrant people who seek a home in the United States and yet to bring some order and predictability to this great flood of travelers. On many occasions, of course, entire families find themselves lost in the middle of the Sonoran desert without food and water dying of thirst. Such a great tragedy.

On a more pleasant note also, I recently read a nice article in Commonweal Magazine entitled "On the Pilgrim Road: Hospitality on the `Camino." It described the work of a American volunteer couple who spent two weeks serving as wardens (caretakers) at the Refugio Gaucelmo, a hostel for pilgrims who are making their journey to the great religious shrine of Santiago de Compostela (the cathedral of St. James) in Spain. Like many travelers, the pilgrims have spent an entire day (some 25 miles) on foot and now they come to the refugio in the evening, hungry, thirsty, exhausted, bedraggled, searching for food, water and a comfortable bed before continuing their trek to Compostela the next morning. The "wardens" insisted that in their work (which was not always so pleasant), they learned much about peoples' basic need not simply to "last it out" until they arrived in Compostela, but rather to fulfill some deep and mysterious human desire which often they could not explain even to themselves.

Once again, like the immigrants we noted above, these pilgrims were willing to submit themselves to immense difficulties and hardships in order to realize their sacred goal, a fulfillment of their life's desire. In the case of the immigrants, their life's desire is to find a job and security for their families. For the pilgrims in Spain, their heart's desire is a spiritual matter, symbolized in the arrival, finally, at Santiago de Compostela In both instances, however, the fulfillment of the goal involved much suffering and sacrifice. They both needed bread and water for the journey.

This Nineteenth Sunday of the church year has two readings which match the events I just described: The first is a story of Elijah, a tough-talking prophet who took on the pagan priests of Queen Jezebel up in the Northern Kingdom. His tough-talk, however, got Elijah into trouble with Jezebel, so when we pick up the story Elijah is heading out of town hoping

to make his way to encounter God on the sacred mountain in his own country, Mount Sinai or Horeb, as some called it.

Elijah is in trouble, however: He's without food and water out in the Sinai desert sitting under a tree, still a long way from his destination. It is here that God's messenger (no name given) meets him and provides him with water and bread, enough to get him to his sacred destination.

The lesson: Every great journey in life, every search for what is sacred to us will involve some challenge, some suffering, some hunger and thirst. Indeed, as we know from personal experience, the journey we call life itself is a constant series of ups and down's, but ultimately we say, it's worth the effort.

The gospel for today also talks about "bread for the journey." People are complaining to Jesus because he boldly says he is "the bread come down from heaven." "What's this all about," they ask? We know his history, his family. He's just like one of us." So, Jesus was a great mystery to most of his neighbors.

Well, obviously, Jesus himself was not bread, as we know bread. He was a human person like all of us. So, he must be speaking in metaphors, in analogies. It would be like saying: "Whatever bread is, whatever bread means, that is what I am, that is what I want to be. Bread is basically nourishment, strength, health. That is what I want to be for you." That is what Jesus meant to say.

We have lots of examples in the gospels where Jesus fed people with bread and with fish; water too, we can assume. But when the meal was over, he would ask whether the folks understood what it all meant? Were they simply happy to get another meal and fill their stomachs, or did they understand that the food they had received was only a sign of something more that Jesus wanted to give...himself, life in all its fullness, eternal life? In other words, Jesus meant to say that bread is always more than what it seems to be.

That ultimately leaves us with the question: If we claim to be followers of Jesus, the Bread of Life, what is it that we hunger for in life? Bread and water, for sure. But are there other things in life that provide nourishment for us? Here are some I can think of: When we think about life seriously, we all hunger for wisdom, for knowledge, for understanding, but also for beauty, for loveliness, for the support of friends, for something good to read or listen to: poetry, music, drama, a good conversation, some humor. All of these nourish us in ways beyond what the body by itself craves.

I think Jesus had a clue to all this when he pointed out so well: "People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." I think that is so true: Everything in life comes from the mind of God, but the point is that all this "energy" needs to be shared by us.

So, that leaves us with the question: What nourishes you every day? What is "bread" for you? What gives life meaning for you? What is precious and lasting? Whatever it is, it is God's gift to you. It could be mine too....if you will share it with me for the long journey home.

The scriptures: 1 Kings 19: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, Ephesians 4: 30-5:2, John 6: 41-51

Posted by Julie Galligan at 02:24 PM.

August 05, 2006

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord - The Secret Of Our Self

If my own experience is of any value, I would need to say that I am a very private person; indeed, I think, deep down, we are all very private people. Only in rare instances do we reveal to others who we really are. Perhaps that means that we ourselves really don't know who we are, except in some superficial way. Our human spirit is always a great mystery that we choose not to share.

Perhaps that means that each of us keeps our identity personal and private. We may think that we know the secrets of others' lives, but there is still much that we do not know and don't deserve to know.

Despite all that, of course, there is a lot of what I would call "nosiness" in the secular world. Just consult People Magazine, for instance or those newspapers you find at the checkout counter at the market. The headlines are all about the most recent exploits of the stars, who's marrying, who's divorcing, who's having a child, et cetera. There seems to be a sort of human hunger to find out as much about others as possible. Not that it's all that important or significant, but it seems fascinating anyway.

Aside from the so-called "beautiful people", however we do not know much about our most intimate friends and relatives. Even husbands and wives, I should imagine, do not always share the most intimate elements of their personalities. There is something sacred about us that keeps us from simply divulging who we are down deep.

Speaking about who we are, I think it would be true to say that the person in history who has always commanded the most interest is Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus has always been a fascinating mystery to us. If that is true of the people of our day, it must surely have been true of Jesus own time as well. Jesus was, indeed, a mystery to people who knew him. Even his own mother and his family and relatives did not seem to know him. They knew his name, of course, and where he came from, but they could not understand why he was doing what he was doing: Preaching God's kingdom, doing marvelous signs, et cetera.

Actually, they thought him a bit "daft" and asked him to come home where he would be safe from violence.

You might imagine, of course, that the people who should have known Jesus best were his friends, The Twelve. And yet, even they did not have any deep understanding of him even though they traveled with him from day to day.

So, I imagine that they simply went along with Jesus from day to day; traveling the roads, imagining that they knew everything there was to know about him. That is, until the day he invited them to come up to the top of a high mountain (high places in scripture, of course, are always places of revelation). And here, the gospel text tells us that Jesus was transfigured before them. Scripture scholars do not know precisely what "transfigured" means, but they described it in terms of light.

Peter, amazed as he was over all this, decided that he saw something in Jesus that resembled the great leaders of Israelite history: Moses, the Lawgiver and Elijah the prophet. So, he suggests that three altars, or three tents should be erected there so the sacred experience would not be forgotten.

Now, we have no idea whether this ever happened because when the experience was over, Jesus simply said, "Friends, let's go back down, there's work to be done, but I'm asking you not to tell anyone about all this. Most people would not understand." So, that was it, they came back down, but by now they had a completely different understanding of Jesus than they had before.

That brings us to the question: How well do we know Jesus? Most of us might say, "Well, all I know is what I read in the gospels!" Fair enough. Our only source of knowledge about Jesus is his story in the gospels. We obviously have never had a "transfiguration experience" like Peter James and John and surely cannot expect it in our life time.

But there are also a lot of other human experiences in the gospel that describe Jesus' life, the kinds of human experiences most of us can identify with and learn from. The question is, what did Jesus stand for what were Jesus' strongest convictions? Here are some we could learn from: Jesus had a deep sense of compassion for people who were suffering; he had a deep sense of justice, equal treatment for all alike. Being human, Jesus even had a human leaning toward anger and frustration. But he also had a deep sense of people's problems, their sadnesses and sorrows. One line says: "He had compassion on the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd."

So, all that tells you something about Jesus even though we can probably assume that we will never be with him on a high mountain and see him transfigured.

The scriptures: Daniel 7: 9-10, 13-14, 2 Peter 1: 16-19,Mark 9: 2-10

Posted by Julie Galligan at 02:10 PM.