On the Clouds of Heaven

November 22, 2009

Solemnity of Jesus Christ, the King

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

As the visions during the night continued, I saw One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7:13-14

Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants (would) be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." John 18:36-37

Piety

We look at Jesus Christ as King. We have a feast day that calls him king. But it does not do justice to who Christ is in our lives. God’s plan of salvation puts all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ. Paul details his plan of salvation in Christ in the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians. We are chosen by God in Christ. We become his adopted sons through Jesus Christ. We have our freedom from the ravages of sin through Christ. God’s plan for us is in Christ. All will be brought together under Christ as head. The hopes of the human race were in Christ before he even came. Our salvation comes from our belief in Christ’s headship. Our piety expresses our worship of Christ as our King. Christ’s kingship is much more than a word. It expresses his claim on our hearts. Our piety is the expression of what we think of Christ and how important he is to us. Our piety expresses the love of our hearts for Christ. It is how we offer ourselves to God through Christ. Piety is how we make the least wish of Christ the purpose of our lives. It is the overflow on our behavior of a reverence for everything that belongs to Christ. His least will and desire becomes the law of our hearts. Christ is the “Word Made Flesh” of God’s love for us.

Study

Christ opens up our hearts. Piety is how we express in our lives Christ as “the end all and the be all” of our existence. Christ opens the heavens to us as the first born of all creation. He will bring us all together in his love for us and how our love for him reciprocates his love. We study what made Christ tick and how he discovered the will of his Father so that we can do likewise. We follow up on the lives of the saints who made Christ real in their time and age as a real person so that we might know how to do it in our time. We study the behavior of Christ so that we might be a better expression of Christ in our lives and so that his kingship over us might be real to those we love and live with. How we show people they are important to us flows out of how we show Christ he is important to us. His kingship over our hearts is expressed in how we treat each other. What we do for the least persons in our lives is how we treat Christ. What we do for the least people of our lives is how much we love Christ who identifies with the needy of our world.

Action

Action speaks louder than words. What I do for Christ each day is where and how piety becomes a ritual in my life. Before I get out of bed each morning I turn my life over to Christ. The right side of the bed is the side Christ is on. I get up to meet with him for a few minutes of prayer. I remind myself of the injunction to do whatever I do for Christ. No task is too little to do in his name. Everything I do not like doing is my share of his cross. How I offer up my life for the needy gives the Christ focus of the day. Christ is not just an anybody of my day. He always the person I am with. How we break down Christ’s disguise in each person we are with is by the invitation we give another to share a precious moment of the day. How we share makes prayer out of what we are doing. How we get beyond appearances to the reality of what love is in the moment we are living is by our prayer. How much of ourselves we put in the moment is the truth of how much Christ we live with and work for. Christ is the meaning of our lives when we are willing to be all of ourselves in his name. Thus Christ is king of our lives.

You Have Answered Well

November 14, 2009

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

So he called in all his Friends and said to them: "Sleep has departed from my eyes, for my heart is sinking with anxiety. I said to myself: 'Into what tribulation have I come, and in what floods of sorrow am I now! Yet I was kindly and beloved in my rule.' But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem, when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver that were in it, and for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed. 1 Maccabees 6:10-12

And they no longer dared to ask him anything. Luke 20:40

Piety

Father, open our ears so that we may hear the lessons you have for us this beautiful day. From these lessons, give us an open mind and an open heart to put ourselves in your presence, accept your mission and do your will. Amen.


Study

King Antiochus did not like having the tables of war turned on him. As long as he was winning his military campaigns against Egypt and sacking Jerusalem, he never expressed sorrow for his actions. In fact the Jewish Encyclopedia refers to him as “Antiochus the Wicked.” However, now he was on a losing streak. His armies were losing. His earthly power and influence were waning in the face of the strong defense that the Jews put up in Jerusalem.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees also did not like having their power in the temple challenged by this itinerant preacher from Nazareth. So they tried to trap Jesus with some tough questions. Now that Jesus has rid the temple of the money-changer and merchants, he can back down to the business of conversion and preaching there. Just as the Maccabees rose up to challenge King Antiochus, Jesus answered the temple challenge with a strong defense of the truth that it ended his “inquisition” by the temple authorities. “Teacher, you have answered well.”

Some of the people are beginning to realize through experience what Peter, John and James learned on the top of the mountain when the voice of God proclaimed, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him."

During the time they witnessed the Transfiguration, the disciples also heard Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah talking about his exodus and all that he would accomplish in Jerusalem. The human part of that accomplishment may be seen in his success at winning over some minds in the temple and his recognition that he is a authoritative teacher. However, these pale in comparison to what he will accomplish from the Passover Feast through Easter Sunday for the salvation of all.

Action

What is keeping you up at night or bothering your conscience? We have an answer to our anxiety. Seek forgiveness from the Lord through the sacrament of reconciliation.

Let Us Go Up to Purify the Sanctuary and Rededicate It

November 20, 2009

Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

“Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.” (1 Maccabees 4:36)

“Yours, O Lord, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory. For all in heaven and on earth is yours; yours, O Lord, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all.” (1 Chronicles 29:11)

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” (Luke 19:45-46)

Piety

Lord, I sometimes quake to think of You looking into my house. Help me to clear the temple of the things—impetuousness, insecurity, anger, and self-doubt—that create a distance between us. I humbly ask that You help me to make room within for a true place of prayer.

Study

Jesus Christ Superstar Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g77AcTbjFo

Whether you’re of an age that you can recite every single word of dialogue and song to Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) or just don’t get the obsession, I defy you not to get the shivers at 1:50 into the above link. It’s when Ted Neeley (Jesus), who’s plenty angry about what the moneychangers and others are doing in his temple, pauses from overturning tables to shout, “My temple should be a house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves. Get out!” (It’s right up there with the moment two years earlier in Billy Jack when Tom Laughlin calmly says a racist act makes him go berserk… and then does just that. But that’s a whole ’nother column.)

It can be a little disconcerting to think of Jesus being even righteously angry, not patient and kind and loving and turning the other cheek. Yet Luke tells us that he drove out the merchants and flat-out insulted them about what they were doing.

Imagine, then, God’s anger with the way we treat the temple He has given us. We overeat. We drink too much. We gossip. We fret. We fight. As humans, we embrace mentally, physically, or emotionally any number of the seven deadly sins each week. We desecrate the temple.

How then, to return ourselves to a state that is pleasing to God? Today’s first reading from Maccabees describes in great detail the way the brothers purified the sanctuary: with sacrifices and burnt offerings, with praise and prostration and music. They repaired the gates and celebrated the altar’s consecration for eight days. It was a joyful time. The temple was back in God’s desired state.

In the same way, God loves to see our temple in its desired state. When we resist temptation and use the gifts of intellect, strength, compassion, and love, it is a joyful time. We purify ourselves with His help in prayer and in service. We celebrate, as David did, the Lord’s “grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory.” And we don’t have to be in a cult classic or a YouTube video to do it. We just have to be ourselves… and trust God to help us turn out the thieves.

Action

Work on tidying up your temple with a priest, spiritual director, or a trusted friend.

He Saw the City and Wept

November 19, 2009

Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

But Mattathias answered in a loud voice: "Although all the Gentiles in the king's realm obey him, so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers and consents to the king's orders, yet I and my sons and my kinsmen will keep to the covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments. 1 Maccabees 19-21

As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." Luke 19:41-44

Piety

There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Study

In these waning days of the liturgical year, the examples we have considered from sacred scripture readings and the feasts and memorials of various saints have helped us focus with laser precision on people who are faithful to God’s commandments over any other influences – financial, political, military or commercial. St. Leo the Great, St. Martin of Tours, Mattathias, the seven brothers, Eleazar, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Mother Cabrini, and Jesus.

When Gospel of Luke is considered together with the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, we find that these books share many stories and sayings uttered by Jesus. However, Luke also stands out with much more unique content unique content not found in John or other well-known common sources. St. Luke is the only evangelist who tells the stories of the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan and the Corrupt Steward. Today’s story of Jesus weeping as he arrives in Jerusalem is another unique element told only by Luke. As the year wraps up, we also continue to consider some of the unique stories Luke offers which are not found in the other Gospels.

Today’s episode of Jesus weeping over the city when he arrives in Jerusalem is one such uniquely Luke story. This is not, however, Luke’s first reference to Jesus’ lamentation over Jerusalem. The first occurred in 13:33-35: Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.' "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! Behold, your house will be abandoned. (But) I tell you, you will not see me until (the time comes when) you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Luke (and our modern translator’s) use of the word visitation also is a stark reminder and contrast to Mary’s visitation to her sister Elizabeth. Although Jerusalem may not have recognized the time of its visitation, remember how his cousin John leapt (not wept) with joy in his mother’s women when in the presence of Mary and Jesus.

The sorrow for Jerusalem is a sorrow for the people who did not live out the kind of fidelity to the Lord among them that the heroes and heroines of the Hebrew Bible and saints did in their lives. As the notes in the New American Bible teach us, “By not accepting Jesus (the one who mediates peace), Jerusalem will not find peace but will become the victim of devastation.”

When Jesus does enter the city, Luke has him proceed directly to the temple where he cleanses the temple. Once the temple was claimed and cleansed for the Father, Jesus then offered his own body to the Father to save all those who had rejected him. As Jerusalem faces physical destruction, so, too does Jesus. He weeps not only for the city and his friends there. He also weeps because he knows what lies ahead in the short remaining hours of his life.

Such a downfall also was predicted at the outset of this book. We recall the foretelling of this lamentation when new parents filled with hope presented their young son to Simeon in the temple. Rather than seeing the hope in this child, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Luke 2:34-35

Thus, the rejection Jesus was destined to experience for his unrequited, unconditional love is part of the source of this latest lamentation…even though it is a rejection he expected from the outset of his ministry (“…no prophet is accepted in his own native place.”).

Yet, throughout the year, in the midst of this rejection by the rulers and the most powerful, the sick, the oppressed, the blind and the lepers turned repeatedly to Jesus and showed a faith that would save themselves. How different a fate they experienced because they could look upon the Lord and say, “Jesus, Son of God, have pity on me.”

Jesus wept one other time in the Gospel…not when he was scourged. Not when he wore the crown of thorns. Not when the nails were hammered into his hands. Not even when the sword was thrust in his side. Our other example of Jesus weeping was outside the tomb of Lazarus. Just as he saw his own destruction reflected back on him from Jerusalem, Lazarus also forced Jesus to confront his own humanity.

More often, Jesus was trying to stop the weeping such as when he raised the Roman official’s young daughter from the dead, (Mark 5/Luke 8) and then finally when he comforted Mary outside his own tomb. She approached the grave alone weeping. Jesus appeared to her and reminded her that the time for weeping was no more.

Action

Instead of rejection, the Lord longs for our praise and fidelity. As we are reminded in Psalm 50:14-15, “Offer praise as your sacrifice to God; fulfill your vows to the Most High. Then call on me in time of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall honor me.”

For what can you offer your praise to the Lord today? For what distress do you need to call upon his holy name for rescue?

To Everyone Who Has, More Will Be Given

November 18, 2009

Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

"I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed. Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man's beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law." 2 Maccabees 7:22-23

And to those standing by he said, 'Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.' But they said to him, 'Sir, he has ten gold coins.' 'I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Luke 19:24-26

Piety

From you let my vindication come; your eyes see what is right. You have tested my heart, searched it in the night. You have tried me by fire, but find no malice in me. My mouth has not transgressed as humans often do. As your lips have instructed me, I have kept the way of the law. My steps have kept to your paths; my feet have not faltered. I call upon you; answer me, O God. Turn your ear to me; hear my prayer. Show your wonderful love, you who deliver with your right arm those who seek refuge from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the violence of the wicked. (Psalm 17:2-9)

Study

As today’s Gospel lesson unfolds, we learn that Jesus is getting near to his final destination – Jerusalem. His followers are expecting the Kingdom of God to appear any moment now. So this story Jesus chooses to tell today to the expectant followers becomes all the more significant because it is the last lesson before arriving in Jerusalem where the events foretold by the prophets will play out.

Don’t be fooled by the symbolic topic of the story. At the gates to Jerusalem, Jesus did not turn into an investment banker overnight and abandon all the teachings we have had throughout this liturgical year. In fact, this Gospel parable is remarkable consistent with the Nazareth Manifesto which outlined the extent of Jesus’ mission at the outset of this book of the Gospel. In many ways, it is the fitting bookend to the Nazareth manifesto which will be fulfilled not in the hearing but lived out in the coming days.

Before we move forward and reflect on the true meaning of this story, let us recall the words Jesus spoke at the outset of his mission: He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:16-21

What is “acceptable to the Lord” in today’s story?

The successful servants are the ones who had knowledge of the master’s goals and set about to accomplish those with all the talents and skills which they possess. Those who did this were blessed with even more from the Lord. What is not acceptable is to ignore your talents and hide them away from helping to grow the Kingdom that God seeks to spread on earth. Those who prefer to remain selfish and not use their talents for the good of the community are punished by losing the little they have.

Jesus is not abandoning his aims to “bring glad tidings to the poor…to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” The use of the financial theme is purely symbolic in this parable, not literal. Don’t expect Luke to relay Jesus’ year end tax tips or whether the bull market has legs or whether it is time to put your gold coins into growth stocks.

In fact fidelity to the law (goals) that God has over the goals that the world or Citibank or Fidelity Investments propose is further emphasized in the Hebrew Bible story from 2 Maccabees about the mother and seven sons who refused to disobey God’s laws and follow the laws of the King. These brothers would not trade their own life for a bite of a Sausage Egg McMuffin.

In other words, the Psalmist proclaims the main theme for us today: My steps have been steadfast in your paths, my feet have not faltered. I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my word. The Lord is indeed demanding. However, he does not demand our obedience without the promise made in Nazareth as this mission unfolded.

Such true fidelity will be spelled out in the example made of Jesus as he arrives at his final destination – Jerusalem in the next few chapters in Luke’s Gospel. Therefore, this lesson in obedience is the final spoken lesson Jesus gives to his followers before the arrival in the Holy City and the events of the final Passover dinner begin to unfold in this chapter and the subsequent chapters that conclude Luke’s Good News. As the last lesson before arriving at his destination, Jesus will now show us in his last steps how his steps are steadfast in his Father’s way so that ours may be as well.

Action

What can we do to possibly be worthy of the sacrifice that will be offered for us? A new liturgical year will be upon us in less than ten days. How can we change the direction in which we look for happiness and fulfillment from being self-centered to being God-centered?

Maybe none of us will face torture like the seven brothers or like Jesus is about to in the next parts of Luke’s Gospel. However, maybe we can become advocates so no one else is tortured at the hands of any government – including our own.

Reflect the example of Sister Alice Zachmann, SSND, who received the Pax Christi Metro DC Peacemaker of the Year Award last weekend. As one of her friends has written, “Sr. Alice is a person who knows no limits and has been a tireless worker for human rights across the globe. She inspires and makes us believe that we all can make a difference.”

Sr. Alice first visited Guatemala in 1975. Moved by the beauty of the country, and by the suffering and repression of its impoverished people, she founded the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission (GHRC) in 1982. The GHRC brought public and Congressional attention to the human rights situation in Guatemala. Under her direction, the GHRC created the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition project (TASSC). TASSC was founded in 1998 by torture survivors on the principle the that torture is a crime against humanity and that survivors are the most effective voice in the campaign to end its practice. In 2002, TASSC International became an independent non-profit organization, the only organization founded by and for torture survivors. Alice has served as its office manager and outreach director since 2002. She will retire at the end of this year and return to spend time with her order and her family in Minnesota next summer.

Even though she spoke no Spanish in 1975, she committed all of the rest of her talents to this cause. As she retires after nearly 35 years working with the people of Guatemala and GHRC, she says that she still speaks no Spanish. Yet her work has echoed through the continent.

God, Keep My Head High

November 17, 2009

Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary

By Beth DeCristofaro

How many say of me, "God will not save that one." But you, LORD, are a shield around me; my glory, you keep my head high. (Psalm 3:3-4)

Jesus said to (Zacchaeus), “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:9-10)

Piety

Almighty God, by whose grace your servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble. In the name and for the sake of and through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

http://www.itmonline.org/bodytheology/stelizabeth.htm

Study

As a child, I was delighted to be able to claim two special ladies (because I couldn’t make up my mind which one to choose!) as patron saints: Elizabeth, cousin to Our Lady and St. Elizabeth of Hungary. I must admit that the delightful story of the young queen who gave away her own lovely gowns and her husband’s wealth was a fairy tale. I loved the story where Elizabeth, on her way to feed the poor carrying bread wrapped in her cloak, is confronted by her husband, King Louis. What you are doing, he demands. And when she opens her cloak to reveal the bread, roses spill to the ground. How perfectly delightful and inspiring a tale.

Reading her story later – some of which is no doubt embroidered by pious fans – her life is revealed as so much more complex and rich than my childish fancies. Although beautiful, beloved by her husband and very rich, Elizabeth sought to do God’s will above all. She was aware of the plight of the poor and struggled with the contrast between her life and the suffering of Jesus. Even her love for her husband and children was a source of temptation to her; she prayed for strength to love God more than her family. She spent all of her wealth founding hospitals, tending the sick or homeless and feeding the hungry yet was vilified by the society of the court. She died in voluntary poverty in a convent, passionately happy that God’s will moved in her; she felt and responded to God’s call in life and death. Many miracles have been ascribed to her and she is known as patron of nursing services, of those falsely accused, of bakers and others.

Today, I see those roses in her cloak as the image of what good works and doing God’s will – even in ordinary lives – mean to God and mean for the world. We, too, are filled with God’s roses when we work for God not for ourselves.

Action

We, Americans, are, in many respects, queens and kings of the entire world. Do we stay within the walls of our castles, safe, sound, warm, fed? Who do we see as poor - including those who are poor in spirit? Do we denigrate and ostracize those who look, smell, think, and believe differently from us? Does our charity extend to those who make wrong choices? Do we condemn or do we extend ourselves to the Zacchaeus’ around us?

Determined and Resolved

November 16, 2009

Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean; they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Terrible affliction was upon Israel. Maccabees 1:62-63

Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He replied, "Lord, please let me see." Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you." Luke 18:40-42

Piety

http://norprov.org/spirituality/ignatianprayer.htm

Praying the Jesuit Examination of Conscience

1. Thanksgiving: Lord, I realize that all, even myself, is a gift from you. Today, for what things am I most grateful?

2. Intention: Lord, open my eyes and ears to be more honest with myself. Today, what do I really want for myself?

3. Examination: Lord, show me what has been happening to me and in me this day. Today, in what ways have I experienced your love?

4. Contrition: Lord, I am still learning to grow in your love. Today, what choices have been inadequate responses to your love?

5. Hope: Lord, let me look with longing toward the future. Today, how will I let you lead me to a brighter tomorrow?

Adapted from Through All the Days of Life, a collection of prayers compiled by Fr. Nick Schiro, S.J.

Study

The scriptures today have special meaning for those who remember that this is the twentieth anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests at the University of Central America and a cook and her daughter in El Salvador. While half a world away, there was celebration in Germany with the fall of the Berlin wall just days earlier, El Salvador was bound up in a civil war where the death squads were killing civilians. Today, the Salvadoran government, U. S. Congress, and Jesuit institutions honor their memory. They, like the early Jews were determined and resolute to follow the precepts of the Lord.

Jesuit Fr. John Dear spent time in El Salvador and knew these “resolved and determined” priests. In his recent column for National Catholic Reporter, he recalled each one by name:

Segundo Montes. Head of the University of Central America sociology department, director of the new human rights institute, superior of the Jesuit community, Segundo worked every weekend with the poor in Quezaltepeque. He had a big red beard, and people called him “Zeus.” “I consider it a duty to work for human rights,” he once said. “It is the duty of every human being who has the sensibility and sensitivity to the suffering of people.”

Ignacio Martin Baro. Vice president of the University of Central America, social psychologist, expert in the field of public opinion in El Salvador, he worked every weekend in the poor parish of Jayaque

Juan Ramon Moreno. Assistant director of the pastoral institute at the University of Central America, secretary of the Jesuit province, teacher of novices, he founded a Jesuit newsletter and set up a state of the art library in the new Romero Center which the death squads completely destroyed after killing the Jesuits. “The vocation of the church and of the followers of Jesus,” he wrote “is to be the innermost recess of Christ’s compassion.”

Amando Lopez. Former head of the San Salvador seminary and of the Jesuit University in Managua, Nicaragua, he worked every weekend among the poor in Soyapango. I remember having lunch with him once and asking him about his friend, Jean Donovan, killed in 1980.

Joaquin Lopez y Lopez. The oldest, he had recently been diagnosed with cancer. One of the founders of the University of Central America, he also founded “Fe Y Alegria,” a network of 13 schools that served eight thousand impoverished Salvadoran children, as well as two clinics which served 50,000.

Elba and Celina Ramos. Elba was the cook of the Jesuit house of studies down the road. That night, she brought her 16 year old daughter Celina to the University of Central America thinking they would be safer there on campus during the rebel offensive. They had been sleeping in a parlor room next to the Jesuit house when the death squads stormed the community. A few weeks earlier, Celina told a classmate that she hated violence so much that she would never again even kill an insect.

Ignacio Ellacuria. The university president, a world renown theologian and philosopher, and well known public figure in El Salvador, he helped write Archbishop Romero’s pastoral letters, envisioned a new type of Jesuit university committed to social justice, and in 1985, held a nationally televised open forum at the university where he methodically outlined, exposed and denounced the right wing government and its death squads.

Action

The El Salvador martyrs are not alone. Numerous study resources about the execution-style murders are on the Creighton University web site. These include a homily offered on the murder victims by Rev. Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., who reflected: “We mourn not only for them, but for all the victims of this wasteful war that for more than 10 years has bled a tiny, tortured country. We mourn for the 70,000 people of El Salvador who have died in this war and the hundreds of thousands who have been displaced by the fighting. We remember the martyrs that preceded [these] victims, Rutillo Grande, a Jesuit assassinated in 1977, the same year that a right-wing paramilitary group ordered all Jesuits to leave the country or face a sentence of death. We remember Archbishop Oscar Romero, struck down by an assassin’s bullet in 1980 while celebrating Mass. We remember also the four American women missionaries who were kidnapped, assaulted and murdered by military forces in December of 1980.”

Lord, please help us to see the poverty and injustice around the world and around the corner. Help us to act to bring the comfort of Gospel love to those who are poor in spirit as well as poor in body.

“We are people of the Gospel, a gospel that proclaims the reign of God, and that calls us to try to transform this earth into as close a likeness of that reign as possible,” Fr. Ellacuria wrote.

Fr. John encourages us to take sides with the poor. Let us examine our own lives and seek what social sins we are turning a blind eye toward on this fateful day. Fr. John concludes his column with this call to action: “As we remember Ellacuria and the Jesuit martyrs, let’s pledge to carry on their work, follow their Gospel example, share their prophetic mission, and practice their fearless faith and bold hope. As we do, we too will be blessed.”

In a special address at Our Lady Queen of Peace Sunday night, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton told us that Elba Ramos left her husband at home that fateful night to safeguard their house. After he lost his wife and daughter, Senor Ramos planted a rose garden in the back yard where the murders took place.

Where can you plant roses to bring peace into the world?

Shine Brightly

November 15, 2009

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever. Daniel 12:3

Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated. Hebrews 10:11-14

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Mark 13:31-32

Piety

The Last Sundays before Advent remind us that we are not going to live forever. We are all going to die. Whether the end comes with a big Bang as we all are all made suddenly aware of our mortality or we have the privilege of preparing ourselves over a period of time remains to be seen. Whether it would be a privilege to live to the final consummation of the world remains to be seen. At the least we will all die when our allotted time is over. Meditation on our death bed can bring an honesty that we never had previously. When we see Christ coming in all his glory with the angels and the saints, we will be saddened by all the ways we held back in saying out “Yes” to Christ. It will be all too obvious what we should have done in our big decisions of life. We can now try to reach that honesty by pretending we are now on our death bed. Doing so offers the chance to be really honest with ourselves in taking stock of how we are facing life and where the room for real improvement lays. Our piety is the quality of the Christ life we live in the here and now and how alike to Christ we are.

Study

God has a destiny for each of us. How we conform to the plan of God is important to our happiness. How we put value on what we do and how we come to awareness of what needs to be changed in our life flows out of real self honesty. Piety challenges us to live our lives with the highest possible conformity to what Jesus would do if he had been us. The paradox of life is that baptism gives us God’s love for Christ. It gives us a new birth with the destiny of eternal life with God in Christ. Christ is the ticket to happiness. He will be coming for us. The best study in our lives is always going to be the study of ourselves in seeing how we conform to Christ’s way of doing things. Christ gives us his presence in our lives. His birth as the baby of Bethlehem changes everything. Our study of his presence in our lives is called the examen of the consciousness of Christ. How one we are with him comes from how we live our lives in his presence. Paul’s claim of “now I do not live, but Christ lives in me” is the result of dying to ourselves for the sake of rising with Christ. Our study tells us when we are off the beaten track of the saints who followed Christ closely. We study Christ and our saints to learn better how to be Christ for one another. Our hearts are forever urging us to be true to ourselves in Christ. There is no bypass of the Cross of Christ. We live and die with Christ as the ultimate meaning of our lives. Our study allows us to be conscious of what we can do for Christ. Our closeness to Christ will give us confidence when the Day of Judgment comes.

Action

When Christ arrives in all his glory there will be honesty in all of us that the world will respond to with pleasure in those who served Christ by what they did for the poor and the needy of their lives. Those who served the Cross of Christ by their redemptive suffering for others will have our admiration and find recompense and their fame in heaven because of their share of the redemptive suffering of Christ. The splinters of the cross of Christ that are ours will be our claim to fame in heaven. We will see our own lives in the light of Christ. How we will wish we made all our decisions in the light of the glory of Christ. What good we hesitated in doing will be our only regrets in heaven. Serving the cross of Christ will seem so obvious a thing to have done. Those who are free enough in their lives to anticipate the Final Judgment are to be envied. We can learn to distinguish where and when selfishness is driving us and we can find the motivation to be selfless in how we serve each other. All the actions of our lives that put others before ourselves will pay off in ways we could never have dreamt of because heaven will be so much more than our fondest dreams. We will live forever in the Christ of our hearts.