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July 28, 2007

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time - God Time

I don't know whether it is my imagination or my age, but I have a sense that the world is moving faster than my mind can cope. Perhaps it is the pace of modern technology that is doing it. There are so many new modes of communication being discovered and manufactured every day that I can hardly keep up, much less know how to use them. It's frustrating because I don't want to seem ignorant in the eyes of others and yet I often have little use for I Pods, Pod Casts, Web Logs and such things. Of course, I don't use my old IBM Selectric typewriter any more either. So, that tells you something.

Something else that often concerns me is that I don't seem to have the patience to deal with life's interferences as I used to: I fume under my breath when someone in the checkout line takes an extra minute or two to write a check instead of using a credit card. I get impatient if I miss the green light while driving. I hate being put on hold when calling a local business. Actually and realistically I do not lose very much time in any of these circumstances; it's just the annoyance of having to wait. Of course, I also find myself wasting time watching television when I could be doing something more constructive.

All these examples have something to do with time, whatever time could mean. Philosophers say that it is nothing more than an artificial construction we use to set activities apart, one from the other, or to keep our lives straight.

In a sense, however, time itself is a rather limited way of dealing with our world. Perhaps that is the reason we are so often impatient: We know that we have only so much time for anything, including our preparation for death.

That bring up an interesting question regarding our human way of perceiving human time and "God-time," how we perceive the world human world and the Divine world, the world of God I have a sense that we humans often assume that the way we understand or perceive our world is also the way God perceives it, that our perception of time must be the way God perceives time.

Take the activity we call prayer, for instance: Most folks who pray assume that God must be on their side that God listens and that God must respond right now without delay because that is what most human beings assume in their daily activity. Time is precious.

Or, once again, folks who pray for something usually assume that God must be as interested in this plea as they are. So, people pray as though God were concerned about their lives. In the last analysis, it's really an act of faith we make when we pray.

The point in all this is to say that we humans, we earthly creatures, always deal with God from our perspective, our human point of view: We speak human words, we talk about the situations in our lives that are important to us as though God were equally concerned. It is ultimately the only option we have.

So, we have some examples of all that philosophical rambling in our scriptures for this Seventeenth Sunday in the Church year. The first comes from the Book of Genesis and the intimate conversation Abraham had with God regarding the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, two of the most morally corrupt cities of the Middle East. Abraham is given to understand that God intends to wipe out both communities for their wickedness. So then, begins the long dialogue between Abraham and God about whether it is just to do such a thing even though some of the folks in those towns may well have been morally upright. In the end Abraham convinces God that even if only ten just persons were found there, God should relent and forget about the destruction. From the human point of view, that seemed to be the only just thing for God to do.

The point of the conversation is not who won or lost, but rather that Abraham can assume that God must "have a heart" and that like any human person, God would not simply be crass enough to wipe out two entire towns because there were a few "bad apples" living there. In other words, Abraham uses his sense of human ethics, not "divine ethics" to win his argument.

The gospel has a similar example of an intimate God-man conversation, Jesus and the Father. Actually, there are many instances in the gospels where Jesus talks directly to God, the last being his plea asking whether God had abandoned him on the cross.

In this particular gospel, however, one of Jesus' friends asks him to teach them how to pray. I have no idea whether Jesus had any memorized prayers ready at hand, but he came up with one very intimate and personal conversational-type prayer we know as the Lord's Prayer. We never think of it much, but Jesus seems to assume that his words are the very words God will want to hear and God will listen. It's just another example of the way we humans pray: We simply use the only method and words we have and assume that God must be on the same page with us.

Is God, indeed, on the same page with us? Who knows? It's all a great act of faith. It is simply another example of how we use the only human means we have at hand and our faith convinces us that God would not simply disregard our human condition.

I suppose I've been doing this all my life when I pray on the assumption that God and I have this personal relationship. Sometimes it seems to have worked, at other times I may have been using the wrong language. Of course, that won't stop me from trying again. God's sense of time is probably different than mine.

The scriptures: Genesis 18: 20-32, Colossians 2: 12-14, Luke 11: 1-13

Posted by Julie Galligan at 01:10 PM.

July 21, 2007

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - "Into Great Silence"

There is a marvelous film by a young director in Germany that appeared in this country back in April. I suggest that every Catholic should see it. It is now on DVD, which means you can turn your living room in to an art theater.

The title of the documentary is "Into Great Silence". It is an intimate look within the walls of one of the oldest monasteries in the world, tucked in the shadows of the Dauphine Alps of France. This is the venerable Grande Chartreuse, a monastic house of the Carthusian order, one of the strictest in Christendom and founded by Saint Bruno in 1084.

What is so remarkable about this film is that it is the first time in the monastic history of the Carthusian order that anyone has been allowed within the walls to film their lives.

In the deepest sense this film is an austere, silent meditation on the monastic life in its most original form: No music except the Gregorian Chant of the monks themselves, no commentaries, no interviews, just the pure silent daily lives of these men dedicated to contemplation.

Anyone seeking to learn something spectacular about monastic life in this documentary will be sorely disappointed. It is a very ordinary film in terms of the way these men live: Each day, each week, each year repeats itself in a sort of predictable rhythm determined by the hours of morning and evening, light and darkness, sung prayer, liturgy, study, reading, contemplation, work, meals, silence, sleep. As one reviewer described it: This is monastic life in its purest form.

So, why would anyone, any Catholic, want to view this film that is so different from the way ordinary people live? Why are so many who are not religiously inclined flocking to see it?

My sense is that there is something about the monastic life that appeals to the deepest instincts of people, religious or not. If one were to ask a citizen on the street what he or she desires most in life, they might tell you that they would prefer to simplify their lives. They would be happier, they would say if there were more predictability, less distraction, less stress, less noise.

Alas, it is not possible for most folks: There is a living to be made. Besides, monastic life demands a unique and radical call, a full dedication to the task of silence. This would drive most folks crazy, of course.

Nonetheless, whether or not one chooses this way of life, there is still a certain attractiveness about it that one can adapt, even emulate in one's life. These daily habits: Prayer, contemplation, work, silence, are the fundamental elements at the base of all human life, however they are adapted.

I have another reason, however, for recommending this film and it has to do with the theme of the scriptures for this Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: It's all about hospitality.

Although this is the first time in their history that the monks of the Grand Chartreuse have opened their doors to the outside world, historically speaking the monasteries have always welcomed strangers and visitors. In Medieval times in Europe, for instance, monasteries were always places of refuge, centers of learning and piety.

Interestingly, they are once again becoming centers of hospitality for those who come seeking time for prayer, direction and contemplation. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, made his monastery in Kentucky famous as a place for people to come, pray and be quiet. The point is that monastic life by its very nature is a hospitable way of life.

We have two citations regarding hospitality in our scriptures for this Sunday: The first concerns an event in the life of Abraham, father of the Israelite nation. Two complete strangers come by his tent in the desert in the heat of the day. Middle Eastern custom will not allow a desert traveler to pass by without being given water and food. Who knows where the next campground will be? So, Abraham considers it a gesture of kindness to himself if these strangers will accept his hospitality.

Jesus also comes in from the desert sands and heat one day to the home of his friends Martha and Mary. They consider his presence in their home a gift to themselves and, in turn, provide him with the simplest nourishment, food, water and conversation.

Reflecting on these two events, it occurs to me to say that hospitality is truly a very simple thing: You share what you have and people will be more than grateful to receive it. Guests in your home, for instance, are a living grace, a unique gift to be appreciated.

Back to the Carthusian monks at the Grande Chartreuse: Think about all the people in the world whose lives will somehow be affected, even changed, because they happened to pick up that DVD, brought it home and learned something about a way of life completely different from their own. And all this as a gift from some men behind their monastery walls in France who had nothing more offer than silence.

The scriptures: Genesis 18:1-10, Colossians 1:24-28, Luke 10:38-42

Posted by Julie Galligan at 01:05 PM.

July 14, 2007

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Stranded

As some of you may already know, part of my work during an ordinary week is to staff an office here in the Archdiocesan pastoral center. There are times when I am the only priest on duty, besides the Archbishop, and he is often busy or out of town. Therefore, the gracious secretaries at the switchboard down stairs often forward to me questions they have from callers that they are not able to answer. The questions are sometimes profound such as the request for a priest to administer the Sacrament of the Sick to someone who is dying. At other times a person may want to know if Catholics still have to make their "Easter Duty." I often long for the day when someone will call in with a serious theological or moral dilemma that I could really dig my teeth into or look up in a theological reference book. But, alas, it does not happen often.

One question no one has ever asked me is the one that a scribe, a student of the Torah, asked Jesus one day and that is recalled for us in the gospel for this Fifteenth Sunday in the Church calendar. "Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" As I say, no one has ever asked me that question, but I suppose I might come up with the standard answer I was taught in grade school and from my mother. "Don't commit any mortal sins", or "Be a nice boy," or "Keep the commandments." And, like the response of the Jewish scribe, I would probably say, "Hey, I'm already doing all that. Is that all there is to it?"

If, indeed, keeping the commandments were the only requirement to "inherit eternal salvation" life would be rather simple.

I must say at this point that this is a rather important question in the minds of most Catholics, indeed, many Christians and others as well. What is in store for us after death? Will I "go to heaven?" I believe many people are concerned with eternal life, even though they many never ask the question publicly.

The simplest answer for most people is always the legal one: "Keep the commandments." Whether we do, indeed, keep the commandments is another issue, but we know from study of scripture that this is at least the basic requirement. But I also believe that most of us realize intuitively that there must be something more to life and the afterlife than simply "keeping our nose clean." Would that it were so simple.

When one reads the response of Jesus to the scribe, we get the sense that keeping the Law, that is, loving God and neighbor, was the expected basic requirement to realize eternal life. But, like any serious person, the scribe knew intuitively that there must be more and that it had to something to do with love of neighbor. I have a hunch that the scribe probably thought that if he was keeping the basic sense of the law, he loved his neighbor. But when he naively asked Jesus who his neighbor was, it was at that point that he got a different sort of an answer than he was looking for, the famous story of the man who was left for dead on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.

What must have made Jesus' story all the more difficult for the scribe to hear was the fact that two of the individuals traveling along the road were "religious types:" Priests offered sacrifice in the temple. Levites were lower-level administrative functionaries. But they were both religious individuals you could expect, knowing the Law, would have been only too happy to carry it out in practice. Alas, such was not the case.

This is one of those beautiful stories of Jesus that contains an immense irony, the irony being that "religious types" who know the law by heart are often the ones who are the last to keep it in practice. In other words, knowing the law by heart does not mean that one is thereby "keeping it."

I do not mean to say that this story is limited to "religious types." Indeed, many of us, religious or otherwise, have a tendency to avoid the "messy" implications of "loving one's neighbor."

I will readily admit that on several occasions I have personally seen street people outside our pastoral center, lying in a corner of the building out of the wind to stay warm. And in each case I took the easy route and simply called the Neighborhood Watch authorities that circle the area in their van to pick up people who may be inebriated.

Looking back on those incidents, I was probably thinking: "Well, I don't know the guy." Or, "What can I do anyway? The Neighborhood watch people have all the proper facilities to care for the homeless." A simple answer to a complicated situation, but at any rate, it took me, a "religious type" off the hook. In the last analysis, I probably didn't want to "get involved." In that case I would have had to do something. It would interrupt my day.

I always find it interesting that when there is an accident on the highway, people are more than happy to stop and see if there is something they can do to help, but when it happens that an inebriated street person is lying on the sidewalk unable to move, we will often look the other way and walk right on by. The assumption always seems to be that someone else is better qualified to help in such a serious situation.

The fact is, of course, that "my neighbor" may not be the inebriated person on the sidewalk but simply someone asking for a handout for a meal. And yet, we (I) don't want to get involved. I've got too much to do at the moment.

Back to the Good Samaritan story: The most intriguing part of the story is the ending. Jesus makes it all the more embarrassing to listen to it because he wants to make sure that the scribe knows that it was an "ordinary" lay person who probably did not know much about the Law, but ultimately had more compassion on the injured man than both "religious types." That must have been tough to swallow.

So, is this simply a story wherein Jesus takes a few "cracks" at "ecclesiastics", "religious types?" No, rather I would think that it is a story meant for all so-called religious people who feel that they are already fulfilling their duty to God by keeping the law. Alas, sometimes keeping the Law can get a bit messy, but that shouldn't excuse us. The word neighbor is never to be considered a mere abstraction inscribed on stone or printed in a catechism. In the end, the lesson in the story is that there is only one law, the law of human nature, the neighbor, especially the suffering neighbor. From that neighbor we simply cannot turn a blind eye.

The scriptures: Deuteronomy 30: 10-14, Colossians 1:15-20, Luke 10:25-37

Posted by Julie Galligan at 12:56 PM.

July 07, 2007

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Life As Travel

It has often occurred to me that so much of what we take for granted throughout our life has to do with two things: Travel and communication. It might be said that all of us, whether we have adequate transportation or not, we have a longing to travel, even if it is merely from our home to the local park or even the grocery store. Often we feel that a typical day has not been very productive unless we have "gone" somewhere and done something. Perhaps this longing has been built into our deepest soul over the millennia: We are never quite satisfied with the place or situation where we are. Our intelligence, our longing for the yet unfulfilled, the unimagined always seems to carry us further and further out there somewhere. Perhaps when we arrive there, we will find our cherished goal fulfilled. We are seekers by nature and the point is that we cannot always find what we are searching for in the place or situation where we presently are. Therefore, we have the need to travel.

The discoveries in science, for instance, the longing for education, for exploration over the centuries, all have had to do in some way with travel, the travel of the mind, indeed, the travel of the heart.

In that regard, our longing for heaven, or, if you will, our longing for eternal life, in whatever way we understand that, has something to do with travel. We travel from this world to the eternal kingdom. I think we have the feeling that we were not meant to live here as dwellers on this earth forever but rather that there is an eternal home for us where we will finally be happy, fulfilled, at home. St. Augustine made that point once in a sermon: "Our hearts were meant for thee, 0 God, and restless will they be until they rest in thee." I think that means that everything we long for during our life somehow has a spiritual dimension, even it is something like searching for a new job or a change in scenery, a vacation, a search for a mate in life. All of these have something to do with ultimate reality, although we may interpret "ultimate" in different ways.

The second element in our human nature that seems to be so prominent is our need to communicate. We go somewhere in order to be in touch with someone or many.

We have something to share, something that is important to us and we want someone to hear it. Perhaps we also want to hear the response of this other person in order to validate our hunch about something in life. Dialogue is very important to us. We build up our sense of life in this world by communicating with someone or with many.

I think this must also have been important to Jesus because, as we find in the gospel for this 14th Sunday in the Church calendar, he was constantly on the road during his adult life preaching what he called the Kingdom of God or Heaven's Reign. I think we could even say that this was the very core of Jesus' life, his desire to travel far and wide to spread the word about this Kingdom in which he believed so earnestly. You will notice, of course, that he felt the need to travel in order to do this. He felt that as many people as possible in his small world needed to hear about this. St. Paul too was another missionary who felt the same way about spreading the news of Heaven's Reign, although he covered many more miles in doing it than Jesus did.

It is interesting to think of Jesus as the first great communicator. (It was not Ronald Regan!) You will notice in today's Gospel that he felt he could not handle the task alone. Therefore he hires on 72 people without pay, lay people, lay couples and sends them out two-by-two to do exactly what he was doing, two things: travel and communication

There is one thing I find interesting in the story about sending people out to preach. First, they had no training or experience, which did not seem to bother Jesus. Perhaps he felt it would be a fairly simple matter. No need for theology! Just talk to others about God as you personally know God.

Secondly, Jesus insisted that these couples should not be encumbered by distractions, worldly or otherwise. "Just go as you are. Forget about a change of clothing or money to buy things. If you have a message and people feel it is a good and beneficial message, they will take care of you. Most important of all, just wish them Shalom."

That must seem like a rather simplistic way to preach something as important as the Kingdom of God, but it seemed to work because the couples came back with, some interesting stories about the success of their travels

When one compares this simple missionary journey style preaching with the way it is done today, one begins to wonder whether we are actually doing any better at it even with all the modes of travel and sources of technology we have available to us: Here we are, preaching from the pulpit to five hundred or a thousand people at one time, using the Internet, radio, television, et cetera. Is all that more effective than the personal message we may have to share with someone?

In this regard, I often think about the Mormon missionaries in their black suits and badges walking around the local neighborhood, talking to anyone who will listen. Although I am no great admirer of their theology, their efforts seem sincere.

So, what should all this mean to us, as we gather here on a typical Sunday, listening to another message about God's Kingdom? We are hearing it from a preacher, obviously, a priest, deacon or lay minister, one person communicating with, say, a hundred people in the assembly. If, however, the message about the Kingdom goes no further than the minds of the gathered assembly, I wonder if it has been very effective? Remember, Jesus "sent them out two-by-two." (Husband and wife?)

It would seem to me that if the message is worth hearing, it is worth being spread, two-by-two or any other way available. If, by our baptism, we think of ourselves as followers of Jesus then perhaps we ought to also think of ourselves as those who are responsible to make sure that his message about the Kingdom gets spread far and wide. How else will it happen unless we do it?

So, here we are back to travel and communication, places to go and things to say. Isn't it interesting to notice that Jesus seemed to depend on lay folks like you to get the word out? Given all that, perhaps I should take a vacation. I think you could handle it.

The scriptures: Isaiah 66: 10-14, Galatians 6: 14-18, Luke 10: 1-12, 17-20

Posted by Julie Galligan at 12:48 PM.