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April 30, 2009
Fourth Sunday of Easter - [May 3, 2009]
I have always had a secret respect for the members of those religious groups, Mormons, Seven Day Adventists and others that have the courage and the patience to go door to door and invite the householder to accept a piece of literature or sit and listen to a description of their religious beliefs. Actually, I have never allowed them beyond my doorstep even in winter’s chill. For sure at this point in my Catholic life I’m not thinking about changing sides, no matter how attractive that religion may sound.
Father Andrew Greeley, writer and sociologist, once said that it is rare that Catholics will give up their faith and practice. They simply love their church and its unique sacramental “system”, that is, the signs and symbols that speak of the sacred: Bread, wine, oil, salt, palms, ashes, foot washing, anointing at baptism laying on of hands at confirmation and priesthood and all the rest. These natural signs are literally ground into our very Catholic being from the moment of our baptism. We love natural things, he says, and we will refuse to do without them.
I have often thought about how I would feel if I were to switch religions. I’m sure I would never be comfortable with that. There would be something missing that has kept me happy all of my 84 years.
Now, this is not to say that other Christian religions are second rate to our Catholic faith. I’m sure such folks are truly dedicated people. It’s just that I could never abandon something so precious that was handed on to me by my parents and ancestors going back more years than I can count. No one is going to take that away from me. Without it, life would have no meaning.
Think about all that for a moment as you read Peter’s words in this Sunday’s first reading. Here he is, Peter, a faithful Jew his entire life, even after he met Jesus. He is giving a homily and telling a gathering of Jews Greeks and others: “There is no salvation in anyone else nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” I wonder how all that came down for those folks.
What seems obvious is that Peter is saying: “Folks, we can all be a blended family, Jesus Christ has made us one.”
Interestingly, of course, that is precisely what happened: It was t this moment in history that at least some Jews and many non-Jews began to follow the disciples of Jesus, began to build the church upon the Corner Stone we name the Christ.
It is interesting to note the body of the faithful that gathers in Catholic churches each Lord’s Day and see a cross section of humanity, people of all cultures. Could it be true that Jesus’ wish that there be one flock and one shepherd was finally coming to be?
A Catholic theologian recently commented on the “one flock, one shepherd” phrase by saying: “Christ laid down his life for all God’s sheep and every member of the human community without regard for their ethnicity, age, gender or worthiness. Jesus envisioned a blended family for which he gave his life as one flock and one shepherd.”
True enough, not all folks on the face of the earth are Catholic today, but they are all believers nonetheless, each in their own way, all under the “safety net “of Christ whether they know it to be true or not.
Speaking for myself only, I have always felt safe in Christ’s church, the faith my ancestors passed on to me. And, by the way, I promise to be nice to all those good Mormons or Seven Day Adventists when they come to my door. Christ is their shepherd too. I truly hope they know that.
The scriptures: Acts 4: 8-12; 1 John 3: 1-2; John 10: 11-18
Posted by Cindy Lentine at 09:25 AM.
April 20, 2009
Third Sunday of Easter - [April 29, 2009]
A few days ago I was sitting in our library here at the house paging through a history of the opening of the “ West.” The text, along with old black and white photographs described the tough and gritty lives of the settlers: Folks standing outside their sod houses in their “Sunday best,” people at country fairs, people having frontier fun, farmers turning over the sod.
One chapter, however, graphically describes the common method of capital punishment in those times, death by hanging. Some of the victims were obviously “gun-slingers” stagecoach robbers, outlaws of various sorts.
Several other photos, however, showed the hanging of several Negro runaway slaves. Obviously, this punishment was common practice in post-Civil War days in order to defer others from doing the same.
But get this: What astonished me was the crowd of people witnessing the “event.” This could have been a Sunday afternoon outing. Some, (including many children) sat on the grass having their picnic lunches, eagerly waiting the final moment of the drop. The people did not seem disturbed or embarrassed to be watching someone’s death up close. They were not holding their hands over the eyes of their children. They were simply sitting around, waiting to see how a human being died, an act gross beyond belief.
Who were these people? They were ordinary folks who just had come to witness (remember that word); witness an “ordinary action.” It was probably not even considered a violent act, just Sunday afternoon entertainment in an age when true entertainment was hard to come by.
So, who were they? They were witnesses, on-lookers. Mind you, however, these people did not witness to, stand against, the indescribable violence; they did not rise up to object to it. No, rather I should imagine that they stood in agreement with it. So, my point is that these photos showed people who came to watch (witness) but they made no effort to “witness” against the death of a human person or even against the grossness of the entire event.
So, my point is that we, ordinary human beings, can either stand around and look at (witness) something without demonstrating any emotions, or, on the other hand, we can stand and witness our feelings about some particular act that we find unjust. The more honorable of the two, of course, is to witness our concern, our standing against an issue.
I am saying all this because the word witness threads its way through many of the scriptures during the Fifty Days of Easter.
There are numerous occasions, for instance, when the disciples of Jesus witnessed his suffering and death, but also occasions after the resurrection when they speak of seeing him, eating and drinking with him, hearing him refer to the Jewish scriptures as predicting his future apostolate.
So important were these events in Jesus’ life that, for the early Church, it would be unthinkable not to say what they had witnessed. This was too important to be left behind without notice.
Think then what Christian life would be like today if those early Christians, apostles, disciples and just ordinary folks had decided that those events were just not important enough to be witnessed, remembered and passed on. What would our faith look like if that had been the case? It is a rhetorical question, of course, because we know that these Christians did, indeed, pass on the stories of Jesus that form our faith today.
Of course, that leaves us with the most important question? If we claim to be Catholic, where is the witness to that? How do we stand after having witnessed the stories of Jesus’ life in the gospels?
Does any other person, Christian or non-Christian, have any sense that we have “been there,” that we are a witness to Christ?
On the quality of Christian witness, Thomas Merton, the Cistercian monk, once said that a saint preaches sermons by the way he/she walks and the way he/she stands…the way he/she picks up things and holds them in his hands.
Well, that sounds pretty easy, but, truly, our body posture tells others a lot about ourselves. How do we stand, where do we stand, that’s the question? Witnessing and standing-for are practically the same thing, right?
The scriptures: Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19; 1 John 2: 1-5; Lk 24:35-48
Posted by Cindy Lentine at 04:04 PM.
April 15, 2009
Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy [April 19, 2009]
I have long had the notion that youngsters have a certain intuition about things in this life that those of us who are older need to learn from books or other ready resources. If, for instance, you were to ask them to describe their notion of Christmas, they would immediately tell you about gift giving, or about a Child who is a gift to us all. Of course, they might also tell you “what they got” (gifts) but my hunch is that the gifts might turn out to be less important than the meaning of the event itself.
My point is that there is something down deep some mystery deep in human life that just comes naturally or that is co-natural with human life itself.
Or again, take the feast of Easter: If you were to approach kids and ask them about it, what they might tell you is that it “happens” in spring, or that we use symbols that talk about “newness,” freshness.
You may wish to tell me that those kids are smart beyond their age-level. Yes, it may well be true; perhaps they have had a theologian for their teacher in grade school.
But my point is that there is something natural, something intuitive about various experiences in human life. You don’t have to learn them; they come naturally, by nature.
Speaking for instance of the Feast of Easter, the Lord’s Resurrection, you might wish to ask an adult Christian, educated in the faith, for his theological sense of the feast. I’m sure most of us would immediately try to remember what we were taught in our theology classes about the resurrection, the power of the Father to raise His Son Jesus from the dead. Or the person may respond with a theological explanation of redemption, Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. Others might want to speak of victory, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Others may wish to speak of the sacred rites and how they relate to nature: What was dead has now come back to life as the buds on trees come to life each spring.
All these would be perfectly correct, of course. But most Christians usually do not ask for a theological explanation of the mystery of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. They would rather tell you what it means to them, how it feels, what symbols best represent the meaning of the feast.
They might wish to speak of their own rising to life from a close to-death-experience. They might choose to describe how life appears to them in the spring of year, what it feels like to be rid of winter and look forward to the life which the sun brings forth.
In short, some might say in answer to the question of resurrection: “Hey, just look around: Everything in this world goes through the death and rising experience. It’s just that Jesus offers us his own experience of rising from death to life. We, in turn, look for similar instances in life that will give us reason to get up each morning and begin again, despite the ‘deaths’ we passed through yesterday and the day before that.”
I think my sense is that the theological support for the feasts of Christ are always necessary. But when we are asked about their meaning in our life, we will always return to personal experiences that we know best.
The advantage of this sort of answer is that it is something that can give us life, something that will give us hope for life on another day. In short, if Christ is risen so can we rise, not just once but tomorrow and every day of our life. That is what resurrection means to me. I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to share that with any young Christian who asks, “hey what is resurrection all about?”
The scriptures: Acts 4:32-35; 1 Jn 5:1-6; Jn 20:19-31
Posted by Cindy Lentine at 12:55 PM.
April 06, 2009
Easter [April 12, 2009]
I have long had the notion that youngsters have a certain intuition about things in this life that those of us who are older need to learn from books or other ready resources. If, for instance, you were to ask them to describe their notion of Christmas, they would immediately tell you about gift giving, or about a Child who is a gift to us all. Of course, they might also tell you “what they got” (gifts) but my hunch is that the gifts might turn out to be less important than the meaning of the event itself.
My point is that there is something down deep some mystery deep in human life that just comes naturally or that is co-natural with human life itself.
Or again, take the feast of Easter: If you were to approach kids and ask them about it, what they might tell you is that it “happens” in spring, or that we use symbols that talk about “newness,” freshness.
You may wish to tell me that those kids are smart beyond their age-level. Yes, it may well be true; perhaps they have had a theologian for their teacher in grade school.
But my point is that there is something natural, something intuitive about various experiences in human life. You don’t have to learn them; they come naturally, by nature.
Speaking for instance of the Feast of Easter, the Lord’s Resurrection, you might wish to ask an adult Christian, educated in the faith, for his theological sense of the feast. I’m sure most of us would immediately try to remember what we were taught in our theology classes about the resurrection, the power of the Father to raise His Son Jesus from the dead. Or the person may respond with a theological explanation of redemption, Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. Others might want to speak of victory, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Others may wish to speak of the sacred rites and how they relate to nature: What was dead has now come back to life as the buds on trees come to life each spring.
All these would be perfectly correct, of course. But most Christians usually do not ask for a theological explanation of the mystery of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. They would rather tell you what it means to them, how it feels, what symbols best represent the meaning of the feast.
They might wish to speak of their own rising to life from a close to-death-experience. They might choose to describe how life appears to them in the spring of year, what it feels like to be rid of winter and look forward to the life which the sun brings forth.
In short, some might say in answer to the question of resurrection: “Hey, just look around: Everything in this world goes through the death and rising experience. It’s just that Jesus offers us his own experience of rising from death to life. We, in turn, look for similar instances in life that will give us reason to get up each morning and begin again, despite the ‘deaths’ we passed through yesterday and the day before that.”
I think my sense is that the theological support for the feasts of Christ are always necessary. But when we are asked about their meaning in our life, we will always return to personal experiences that we know best.
The advantage of this sort of answer is that it is something that can give us life, something that will give us hope for life on another day. In short, if Christ is risen so can we rise, not just once but tomorrow and every day of our life. That is what resurrection means to me. I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to share that with any young Christian who asks, “hey what is resurrection all about?”
The scriptures: Acts 10: 34, 37-43; 1 Corintians 5: 6-8; Mark 16: 1-7
Posted by Cindy Lentine at 09:30 AM.
April 02, 2009
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion [April 5, 2009]
There is a long running joke among Catholics that they always show up in greater numbers on Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday because, for a change they get something back for their money! Well, to be truthful, ashes don’t cost much and neither do palms.
Nonetheless, it is true that Catholic folks do pack their churches on those two days along with Easter Sunday, of course. So, why is this?
Well, a long time ago, Father Andrew Greeley, parish priest in Chicago, said that Catholics may have disagreements with their Church but when push comes to shove they will never leave it because in their heart of hearts they love symbols and sacraments. It’s this that keeps their faith alive for another day.”
Incidentally, we do have before us this Sunday one of those occasions when Catholics do get something back but it is not simply a few branches of palm.
Let me explain: The rites and ceremonies that we will celebrate, beginning with the Palm Sunday of the Lord Passion, Thursday of the Lord’s Supper, Friday of the Lord’s Passion, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday…all these are rich in ritual and gesture, word and song. This week is so filled with rite that it is almost difficult to keep up with it all. (Pity the song leaders!)
It is called the great Triduum, the three great days of the Lord’s Pasch, his passing over from death to life and we with him in liturgy, in rite and ritual.
There is one thing, however, that Catholics at worship need to be cautious of: All these rites are not simply play acting, not trying to imitate The Passion of the Christ, the film we saw a few years ago.
What we need to remember is that Jesus did, indeed, go through humiliation, suffering, pain and human agony like none other. (Remember the whipping scenes in The Passion of the Christ.)
The question arises therefore: What does all that pain and suffering mean to us? It happened over two thousand years ago and now it’s over. Well, the answer to that is that Jesus entered into that suffering and death for our sake. The consequence is that if Christ’s suffering is to have any benefit for us, we have too must participate in that suffering somehow. Obviously, we cannot do that again historically with Jesus. History moves on.
But there is a way to participate in Jesus’ Pasch, his passing over and that is by way of entering into it by way of the liturgy, doing again, vicariously, what Jesus did once before in history.
Here is the way Patricia Sanchez a theological scholar puts it: “Because Jesus’ immersion in the human experience, believers may no longer regard salvation as a spiritual experience only, or as a relief that will come when death frees us from this world. Salvation is and must be a here and now experience of the mercies of God.” That’s really powerful.
It must also be said that Christ continues to go through his passion, and death each time the human community enters into death-dealing events: Wars, violence, substance abuse, disrespect for the opinions of others, et cetera. It is for these that Jesus also died.
It seems only logical then that the human race, particularly the followers of Jesus should join in this effort to reduce the power of evil in our time and make repentance for our participation in the world’s fallenness.
The end of all this, of course, is Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection. As Paul says: “If we die with Him (Christ) we shall also live with him”
Given all that, therefore, it will be worth our while to pass with Christ from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. The rewards will be greater than a few palms that, often enough, are left to dry somewhere and forgotten.
But aren’t those ceremonies so long? Yes, indeed, they are long, but on Easter Sunday we will be able to say to ourselves: “I was there with Christ in his suffering; now I rise with Him in glory.”
The scriptures: Mark 11: 1-10; Isaiah 50: 4-7; Philippians. 2: 6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47
Posted by Cindy Lentine at 09:43 AM.
