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June 28, 2008

Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul - A Leader for Everybody

People around the United States, whether Catholic or non-Catholic, are still talking about the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. There is no doubt that he instilled a sense of encouragement in the American Church. His homilies are still being analyzed by both secular and religious writers for deeper meaning. I imagine it could be said that when the leader of your Church comes to town you would be anxious to hear what he says.

Some news commentators predicted beforehand that he would be critical and harsh with us. As we watched and listened to him, however, we were relieved to note that the pope displayed a kindly and attentive manner among all his audiences. particularly when he visited the six men and women who had been sexually abused by priests. In short, Pope Benedict conducted himself as a true pastor, encouraging us and giving us direction. He left us heartened and hopeful. In short the Church in America got a shot in the arm from Pope Benedict XVI

At the same time, I wondered what people of other religions were thinking as they watched the “flair:” The pope dressed in his papal finery, bishops and cardinals surrounding him at every event. This display of religious ritual is something that people of other faiths seldom see or experience. Interestingly, however, there was hardly any negative reaction from any group. It tells me that people of all faiths or of no faith are interested in the expression of religious truth, even with all the externals that accompany it.

It seems to me that there is a deep sense of respect for a religious leader such as the pope, not only for his person, but also for his role as leader or pastor. No doubt, they are interested in what he says and how he expresses universal values, which affect Catholics and non-Catholics alike. It is interesting too that what the pope says seems to have a certain kind of religious power and fervor that all people appreciate

Perhaps it may seem to us that this sense of pastoral leadership is something pertaining to our own times. The scriptures for the Feast of Peter and Paul, however, give us a sense that such pastoral concern had its beginnings during the earliest days of the Church, even in the life and Peter and Paul. The lovely story of the man who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple in Jerusalem asking for a coin was rewarded with something immensely more important. Peter tells him: “I don’t have any silver or gold, but I’ll give you what I have: Get up and walk!” With out doubt, this was a pastoral sign, a miracle. But looking deeper, we notice that Peter also simply stopped and took notice. He could have walked on, but the plight of the man deeply moved Peter to compassion. The rest is history.

The interesting phrase is Peter’s admission that he had no money but that he would offer the man something more humanly beneficial: The ability to walk and, indeed, to dance.

All this reminds me that the joy that comes from being able to walk and dance could be interpreted as a divine gift, a sense of human wholeness or fullness. Again, Peter offered this as a pastoral gift and not simply as a “quick fix.”

We all know, of course, that Paul was a “driven” man: His pastoral sense drove him all around the Mediterranean basin visiting and instructing Jews, Romans and Greeks in cities, large and small. He cared little for his own comfort; he insisted that he was able to provide his own food and shelter. More importantly, however, it was his pastoral sense, his desire to make the Lord Jesus known far and wide, that kept him walking, often in tattered sandals.

So, what are we to make of this Feast of Peter and Paul? Simply this, the work of pastors has been the reason why our Church has continued to thrive for over 2000 years. True, people of other callings have also done great things: Theologians, medical experts, scientists, healthcare workers and others. Pastoring, however, is still the foundational work that makes Jesus known throughout history.

Let us say, therefore, that Pope Benedict stands in the line of hundreds of pastoral leaders throughout Church history, beginning with Peter and Paul and others who followed them. No doubt, in years to come, Catholics and people of other faiths as well, will feel confident, knowing that pastors such as Peter, Paul and Benedict will continue to lead them to Jesus.

The scriptures: Acts 12:1-11, 2 Tm 4:6-8, 17-18, Mt 16:13-19

Posted by Cindy Lentine at 09:05 AM.

June 21, 2008

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - No Human Losers

I have learned over the years how to be a discerning television viewer and radio listener. I mainly prefer National Radio and Public Television because both give me the opportunity to listen and view some up-to-the minute news and hear some sensible analysis. PBS also provides some of the finest American historical material I have ever watched: I have particularly enjoyed the works of Ken Burns, the film maker who has produced such classics as The Civil War, Jazz, Baseball and others. All of them are more than simple entertainment; they make us think, remember and ask where we were when these events happened. Frontline, by the way also has some good coverage of military and political issues.

On the other hand, Double Jeopardy and other programs of this genre have never held my attention. All of them seem to follow the same script: They are all about a few winners and lots of losers. Some are concerned mainly with winning thousands of dollars in a few tense moments. Others also are about groups or individuals who are in competition with one another. One by one, they are dismissed if they cannot follow clues. Ultimately only one remains, the rest go home weeping.

Television is a tough, competitive world. Only a few “lucky” individuals come out on top.

Actually American sports are also about winning and losing. We just came through the long weeks of March Madness, the University of Kansas being the winner. Lots of others went home disappointed for this year.

Now we look forward to the finals of the NBA championships and then, of course we will eagerly await the college and NFL football season once again. So it goes: At the time of the Super Bowl, some team will be the lucky winner and others will wait until next year.

All in all, of course, these competitions are about the winner as winner and not about the winner as a unique individual, a human being with feelings and emotions loves and hates personal successes and disappointments. He or she is mainly considered a sports person, a ball player who makes the team proud or leaves it disappointed. Who really knows what goes on in the mind of that individual out there on the field or how he or she feels about life when the crowd in the stands screams for a goal.

Sports are a huge attraction in the American mind. Millions of people pay big bucks to see their team win. (They hope!)

What one can often forget, however, is that these players are all unique individuals; they are not win-lose machines or individuals who can score points or prevent the opposing team from doing so.

I wanted to insist on all this because it is all part of the American psyche of winning and losing, nothing more.

On the other hand, when I read the gospel for this Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, I say to myself: “How differently Jesus thinks about life and about the ordinary people who inhabit this planet.” For Jesus, every individual is important and unique. Jesus considered all of us as part of God’s concern and interest, individuals of great value.

He makes some beautiful remarks in his conversation with the crowds about God’s love for all creation. But he also says: “Are not two sparrows sold for next to nothing? And yet not a single sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. But, as for you, every hair on your head has been numbered. So, do not be afraid of anything. You are worth more than an entire flock of sparrows.

What a beautiful compliment to our understanding of the value of the human person.

I think it may be true to say that we do not fully appreciate how truly precious we are. How often we need to be reminded that we, each individual of us is of great value in God’s mind.

So often we seem to think of ourselves or others as mere cogs in a wheel, skilled individuals who can score points and help a team win the National Championship.

Jesus perception of us, on the other hand, is this: “You are more important than all the world’s sparrows.”

All the while, of course, we fall into the trap of self-deprecation: “I’m not much good at anything. I’ve never been a success. Everyone else seems to do better than I...

That, however, is not the way Jesus perceives us. No matter which way our life has turned, success or winning is not everything. Rather what is of greater value is to say: “I am the most unique creature God has ever created? There has never been anyone quite like me in the entire world. Maybe, in the end, I am ok. At any rate, Jesus seems to think so.”

Sparrows, of course, are ok too, but nothing in comparison to this human person, living and breathing right now in God’s beautiful world.

The scriptures: Jeremiah 20: 10-13; Romans 5: 12-15;
Matthew 10: 26-33

Posted by Cindy Lentine at 08:54 AM.

June 14, 2008

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - Compassion

There is a popular television program that I watch occasionally titled, “Jobs Nobody Wants.” The program takes you, the viewer, into storm drains, inside huge industrial boilers where men are scraping soot off the walls; others will introduce you to the art of bee-keeping or zoo maintenance with all the hard work that goes into that. Cleaning horse barns is also a choice attraction for this program.

Anyway, the point of the program is to let you know that there are some people in the world who are willing to do “”lousy” jobs but love it.

There is another job or a career that not everyone wishes to do, but I would not call it “lousy.” It’s the vocation of nurses. We have all spent enough time in hospitals to know all the things that they do. Some of it is glamorous (ER, for instance) Other tasks, of course include emptying bedpans, bathing patients, doing long night shifts, et cetera.

But do you ever hear them crying over it? I never have, at least not in public. They make their rounds healing patients, doing all the “grunt” work that doctors studiously avoid. I often wonder how they can maintain such composure in difficult and trying circumstances, day after, night after long night.

It occurs to me that they must call up from their deepest sources a personal dedication and commitment. I don’t think the mere fact that they have a job would be sufficient to give them a true sense of full satisfaction.

Nursing might not be my first choice as a profession. Although I consider myself a compassionate person, the care of human bodies has never attracted me. I am not comfortable, for instance, with suffering. Nonetheless some souls do choose to do these things because they are intimately connected to the human journey of all mankind.

I have a sense too that Jesus might not have preferred a nursing career either, although he did seem sensitive to the physicals and mental tortures that ordinary people were exposed to in those times.

For instance, the gospel for this Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time shows him being compassionate with the crowds who have been following him around on his travels. “They were exhausted,” the text says “hungry for food, thirsty for water.” On the surface, one could imagine that Jesus would have been more concerned with folks who wished to debate with him over some scripture passage rather than being distracted by stragglers and others demanding food and water,

Not so, Jesus, however. There are numerous passages where we find Jesus setting aside the preaching role for a moment to attend to someone’s domestic needs. Think about the time he healed Peter’s mother-in-law, who immediately got up and fixed a meal for him and his disciples. Or think about the little teenage girl, the parent’s only daughter who had died suddenly. Jesus could not let this moment pass: He raised her back to life.

I realize that these examples lack something inasmuch as Jesus called up special powers of healing. But my point is that they showed clearly that Jesus had a sense of compassion, as we all do, in the face of suffering. He did something about it, given the power he had.

The conclusion I draw from all this is that most of us, like Jesus, are already involved in some chosen career other than the medical profession. But for some mysterious reason we can manage to call up our powers of healing when we come upon someone who is hurting. It may be something as simple as “I’m having a bad hair day.,” or something as serious as “My mother just passed away.” Obviously, we cannot do much about the hair or bring the mother back to life. But all of us have the power of compassion. We know how to say a kind word of understanding or just to stick around and not abandon the person on the spot. Just being present is a virtue even if we can do little to obviate the suffering. If nothing else, we can stop and take notice. My hunch is that Jesus did that a lot of times, even though he often was not able to change the circumstances of the problem. In other words, he did not simply go on with his chosen career of preaching.

Perhaps that may also be the case with us. We hear or see something that stops us in our tracks. At that point we can either go on with our career or we can stop and find out what’s wrong. It’s at that point where our vocation of human healing comes into play. Someone may be changed in the process. Miracle? Who knows? But does it make any difference?

The scriptures: Exodus 19: 2-6a; Romans 5: 6-11; Matthew 9: 36 - 10: 8

Posted by Cindy Lentine at 09:57 AM.

June 07, 2008

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - False Appearances

During most of the years I served as a priest in the Catholic Church of Anchorage, I lived in a pleasant part of the city’s west side called Spenard. It was actually the area where the city began. Photos of that time show it to be an “upscale” neighborhood with families out on the shores of Lake Spenard and Lake Hood on Sunday afternoons, kids having summer fun.

Over the years, however, Spenard fell on hard times: Housing gradually became rundown, seedy businesses of “personal pleasure” began to sprout up, some of which are still being shuttered periodically even today.

Many parts of Spenard, however, are very livable. Indeed, the apartment complex where employees of the Archdiocese lived was often considered the “Showplace of the West Side. We took pride in our surroundings.

Often in more recent times, as I would drive through the Spenard neighborhood, I would pass a rather fancy showroom for the Harley Davidson motorcycle business. The chrome cycles parked outside always shone brightly in the sun. So, I decided one day to stop by and have a close up look at those machines, something I had often been tempted to do even though I never had the thought of buying one. So, I walked into the parking lot and gingerly ran my fingers over the smooth shiny surface of those powerful machines...

After a few moments the manger (I think he might have been he manager judging from the cut of his Levis) came out and pleasantly asked: “You interested in a cycle, Father”? (I was wearing my Roman collar) I replied, “Well, no, not exactly. I’m barely able to drive a car safely around this city.” “Well, if you are ever interested, come on around, we have some beauties inside too.” So, with that, I returned to my car, finally having satisfied my burning interest in Harley Davidson cycles.

Several days later, however, one of my friends called and said: “Hey, I saw you the other day outside the Harley shop in Spenard, talking to the guy with the black leather jacket, the chains and all the rest. Those are pretty tough guys to be hanging around with, don’t you think?” I said, “Hey listen, he was really a nice guy. He even wanted to sell me a cycle. With the collar, I could probably have gotten a deal, don’t you think.”

It occurred to me later, however, that I probably did look a little odd in my collar talking to a guy dressed in a black leather jacket, carrying chains and all the rest. But I let it go and never gave it another thought until I read the gospel again for this Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time!

It obviously does not talk about motorcycles or motorcycle gangs but it does speak rather obviously about some folks who were considered “outlaws” by certain religious segments of Jewish society. These were the so-called tax collectors we are all familiar with, public servants. Like certain motor cycle gangs today, they were considered a bit out on the edge of polite society.

However, while I am on the subject of cyclists, I must say that most of these folks have always appeared to me as people of good will, a bit odd perhaps, but who of us is not considered odd for various reasons. Yes, I know that their annual “retreat” in Sturgis, South Dakota takes on some questionable characteristics. Nonetheless many of the “gangs” ride for good causes: Vietnam veteran’s interests, cancer or heart research, et cetera. So, you can’t paint them all with the same brush.

My point in all this is to say that people are sometimes misunderstood by appearances: Yes, they dress differently, these cyclists, wear clothes that may seem odd to us, sport dark glasses, chains and all the rest. But should that cloud their character as individual human beings?.

I have a sense that is what Jesus was trying to say to the Pharisees when he was accused of sitting at table with tax collectors, individuals employed in a socially questionable career.

Jesus’ chosen table manners tell me that he was able to pass over the common perception of these individuals. Sure, they sometimes did skim money off the top of peoples’ tax returns but does that qualify them for general public condemnation? At least one or two tax collectors mentioned in the gospels claimed that they gave back four-fold anything they skimmed.

The point in this story and the story of the Harley Davidson manager is that we often misperceive people by considering only their chosen way of life, their recreational choices, even their manner of dress. True their “careers” may not compare to the careers of bankers, realtors, clergymen and women, public officers, et cetera, but we all make life choices, do we not? If a choice of career does not harm the public good or give public scandal to sensible people, perhaps there should be little reason to criticize it. My hunch is that Jesus had a mind to bring these folks into His Father’s kingdom much as he appealed to those in other walks of life. At any rate, he made the pointed remark that he had come not to call the self-righteous but sinners. I’m sure the revenue collectors must have been delighted to know that finally someone of religious importance, indeed, a rabbi had concern about them.

Well, with all that, I am quite sure that the Hells Angels and other similar groups might feel honored to know they are called to God’s kingdom despite what the rest of us might think of them. In Jesus’ mind, it is not the appearances that count but what lies in the heart.

Despite all I have said, of course, I’m not going out any time soon to buy a leather jacket, a chain for my wallet, a pair of hard-nosed boots and a cycle. Nonetheless, I have hopes of meeting some of those guys in God’s heavenly kingdom someday. They were very cordial to me; not a word about the fingerprints I may have left on their beautiful riding machines.

The scriptures: Hosea 6: 3-6; Romans 4: 18-25; Matthew 9: 9-13

Posted by Cindy Lentine at 10:25 AM.