Category: Reflection

In a poetry class in college, I studied a poem by the American poet, James Wright. It was entitled “Saint Judas”. The poet found that in reading the New Testament, the death of Judas Iscariot is mentioned in only two accounts, Matthew’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles (the Gospels of John, Luke, and Mark, while acknowledging his betrayal of Jesus, never mention his death). The manner of Judas’ death is different in the two accounts. In Matthew’s account, Judas dies by hanging himself. In Act, he falls upon the field, he has bought with the money, suffering disembowelment. In Wright’s poem, Judas, on his way to end his life, encounters hoodlums beating and robbing a man. Shaken by the sight the poem continues …

“Banished from heaven, I found this victim beaten,
Stripped, kneed, and left to cry. Dropping my rope
Aside, I ran, ignored the uniforms;
Then I remembered bread my flesh had eaten,
The kiss that ate my flesh. Flayed without hope,
I held the man for nothing in my arms.”

In this poem, the death of Jesus not only saved the world, but even saved the life and the soul of the one who betrayed him. Judas, no longer ruled and controlled by avarice, finds his life emulating that of the one he betrayed. He has become a man of compassion and love.

On this Easter Sunday, where do we find ourselves? Do we find ourselves with the brave women, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome going to the tomb of Jesus? Do we find ourselves in the person of Peter, crushed by his denial of Jesus? Do we find ourselves numbered with the apostles fearing for their lives cowering in the upper room? Or, do we find ourselves, as in this poem, with Judas Iscariot, who believes his sin has damned him for all time? It matters not with whom we find ourselves. The death, passion and resurrection of Jesus has brought salvation to humanity. All we need to do is believe and embrace Jesus, the One who is the way, the truth, and the life.

Here is the complete poem.

SAINT JUDAS
When I went out to kill myself, I caught
A pack of hoodlums beating up a man.
Running to spare his suffering,
I forgot My name, my number, how my day began,
How soldiers milled around the garden stone
And sang amusing songs; how all that day
Their javelins measured crowds; how I alone
Bargained the proper coins, and slipped away.

Banished from heaven, I found this victim beaten,
Stripped, kneed, and left to cry.
Dropping my rope
Aside, I ran, ignored the uniforms:
Then I remembered bread my flesh had eaten,
The kiss that ate my flesh.
Flayed without hope,
I held the man for nothing in my arms.

Wright, James. Collected Poems (Wesleyan Poetry Series) (p. 86). Wesleyan University Press. Kindle Edition.

Generally, we dream about living a life in which all that we want, wealth, security, and relationships come free without any obstacles and conflict, a life without sacrifice. While it may sound idyllic, it is a life of emptiness, devoid of any meaning and worth. I remember a Jack Nicholson movie, As Good As It Gets, in which Nicholson plays a man who is very successful, pretty much having everything he needs, but finds his life empty. The man suffers from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), has a general dislike for humanity in general (misanthropy) which causes him to behave in an intolerable manner toward others. The only one who tolerates his behavior is a waitress whom he comes to like very much. He wonders if his life is “as good as it gets,” and wanting to develop a relationship with the waitress finds that it comes at a cost. He must sacrifice the way he has lived in order to date her.

Jesus teaches us that to find true fulfillment in life, we must be willing to sacrifice ourselves. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” Jesus tells us that we cannot buy happiness and fulfillment. The world can only offer us an illusion of happiness and fulfillment, but like Nicholson’s character in the film, we will always wonder if this is “as good as it gets.” Prior to his arrest in the garden, Jesus teaches his disciples that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend. He then commands them, “Love one another as I have loved you.” So that his apostles and all humanity may find true happiness and fulfillment, Jesus then goes forth to sacrifice his life for us on the cross. Today, Jesus challenges us to “love one another as I have love you,” by sacrificing ourselves for others.

It has been so busy around the parish church sites that I have gotten a wee bit behind in posting some articles I have written for the parish bulletin. Here is one from a couple of weekends ago …

The human virtue of “honor” is one of our highest values. In our wedding vows, we hear the bride and the groom promise “I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.” The Boy Scout Oath and the Girl Scout Promise begin with the words, “On my honor.” The scripture readings for today can be summed up as to what it means “to honor”.

The Ten  Commandments  are about how we love and honor God and our neighbor. Jesus is irate about the dishonor the merchants heap upon the sacred space of the Temple. He overthrows their tables, scattering  their money and their commodities everywhere. The merchants had vandalized the sacred place of God (in Jewish theology, the Temple was the “footstool” of God) by turning the Temple into a place of human commerce.

The center of Jesus’ life is expressed in the Great Commandment of loving God and loving neighbor. For Jesus, it was not only important to love and honor the Temple, the physical building dwelling place of God,  but to love and honor the physical dwelling place of God in the human body. If we begin to see the human body as the Temple of God, as disciples of Jesus, how well do we love and honor this sacred dwelling place of God?

We are shocked when others vandalize and destroy our sacred worship spaces. Are we as equally outraged when people vandalize and destroy the Temple of God dwelling within our human body? We see the violence inflicted upon this Holy Temple by other humans every day. Human bodies riddled with bullets, spouses and children physically abused, young women and men sold in the sexual trade, babies aborted, children dying from the poisons in our air, water, and land, are daily reminders  how often humanity totally disregards the command of God to love and honor God’s Temple enfleshed in our humanity. How do we define the “merchants and moneychangers” of our society? Do we participate directly or indirectly in their commerce? How do we treat the Temple of God enfleshed within ourselves?

In the broadway musical, Fiddler on the Roof, there is a song in which Tevye asks his wife, Golde, “Do you love me?” Their marriage had been arranged by their parents, both of them not knowing the other until the day of their wedding. Golde, at first, dismisses his question as foolish. Tevye aske her again, “Do you love me?” She responds with statements like “I bore you 5 children. I’ve cooked for you. I’ve cleaned the house for you. I have raised 5 daughters with you. I have suffered and laughed with you for 25 years.”  After each of these answers Tevye persists asking her, “Do you love me?” Golde finally admits, “I guess I do love you.”

Let us ask the same question as Tevye, but instead pose the question to God. “Do you love me?” The readings for today give to us God’s answer. In Ephesians, St Paul writes, “God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ.” In the Gospel, Jesus tells Nicodemus, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Unlike Golde, who at first hedges in her admission of love for Tevye, God tells us straight out how much God loves us, so much so, that God sent Jesus, his only begotten Son, to bring us everlasting life.

There is a story about the Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross, who encountered Jesus in a vision. John asks Jesus, “How much do you love me?” Jesus replied, “This much,” then spread his arms and died. Were God to ask us in turn, “Do you love me?” how would we respond?

NOTE: The Church has written much about the Paschal Mystery of Jesus. Every time we are at Mass, we celebrate the Paschal Mystery. The Eucharistic Prayers prayed by the priest at Mass attests that it is not only Jesus who offers himself up to the Father as sacrifice, albeit a bloodless sacrifice at Mass, for the redemption of humanity. The Eucharistic Prayer also states that we, who are the gathered as the Body of Christ, also offer up our lives in sacrifice with Jesus to the Father for the sake of humanity. We who have been baptized are intimately joined to the Paschal Mystery of Jesus. Below is the article I wrote for the March edition of the Knights of Columbus See See.

We often hear the words “Paschal Mystery.” What do these words mean? They mean the passion, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Paschal Mystery does not only apply to Jesus. It applies to us as well. St. Paul tells us that when we were baptized, our lives were immersed into the Paschal Mystery of Jesus. Within the events of our lives, all of us will experience the suffering, the dying, and the rising of the Paschal Mystery not just once, but numerous times. The Paschal Mystery is present in the losses of our lives, e.g. injury and sickness, unemployment, divorce, the death of someone significant to name a few. The Paschal Mystery is also present in the joys of our lives, e.g. weddings, birth of children and grandchildren, and anniversaries.

The Paschal Mystery teaches us that the path to the resurrection is always through the cross. This flies in contradiction to the thought of many in our present age who want the resurrection without any crosses. It is the crosses in our lives that give meaning to the resurrection. It is the crosses in our lives that shape and mold us and teach us the difference between that which is essential to eternal life, and that which is not. However, we must not make the mistake to emphasize the cross and ignore the resurrection. As we pass through the “crosses” of our lives, we are to focus our gaze not on the crosses that we bear, but, rather, the resurrection that awaits us. This is the lesson of Holy Week. As Jesus entered into his passion and death, his eyes were focused always on the resurrection that was to come. As we continue our Lenten journey with its sacrifices, may our eyes always be focused on the promise of what is to come, namely, Easter.

So often, people base their impression or opinion of a person based on nothing more than first impressions. This is a false and inaccurate way of knowing a person. Were it based on first impression, my mother would never have married my father, the man she loved with all her heart for over 55 years. We quite often discover that situations often reveal the “true face” or nature of a person. The way a person responds to a situation reveals character and strengths we never assumed they possessed. Conversely, people we assign virtues of great character and strength, reveal that they possess neither when confronted with crisis situations.

In today’s Gospel, the true nature of Jesus is revealed to Peter, James and John on the mountain top. He, whom they assumed was an itinerant rabbi/ carpenter is revealed to be the Son of God. They are both startled and delighted. The revelation disappears as suddenly as it appeared, and Jesus, once more assumes the human form with which they are so familiar. He instructs them to say nothing about what they saw until he has risen from the dead. This last instruction ends up as perplexing for them as the vision they beheld.

We, who are baptized, have within us the divine nature of Jesus.  For some people, it may be quite evident to others. For others, it may have been suppressed so much so that it goes unnoticed by others. When we look into the mirror and gaze into our eyes, can we detect the divine nature that was imparted to us by God at our baptism? May this 2^nd Sunday of Lent remind us that God’s divine presence is, indeed, present within us just waiting to be revealed to the world around us. May our journey throughout Lent reveal, day by day, week by week, our true self to those we love and those we serve.

Over the many Seasons of Lent we have lived, what continues to be impressed upon us by the Church is the need to fast, the need to pray, and need to give alms. These “disciplines” are the key means in which we are able to enter into an even deeper relationship with the God who created us and loves us. Relationship is the key word here.

We live lives always in relationship with something. We have a relationship with the things we have or own, for example, cars, homes, cell phones, tablets, food, to name just a few. We have a relationship with the things that we do, work, sports, and other entertainments. The relationship we have with these things can dominate our lives. The 3 disciplines of Lent allow us to “refocus” the relationships that may overwhelm our lives.

Fasting from the relationships we may have with the things we own or the things we do, frees us to be more in relationship with God. Following the example of Jesus, prayer is a very intimate way in which we commune with God. While Mass is the ultimate prayer, let us pray daily. Prayer is not confined to the rote prayer we learned as kids. Among the myriad number of ways to pray are walking in nature, meditation, reading scripture, the rosary. We need to find the way we pray best, and then do it daily. Giving alms allows us to enter into a relationship with the presence of God in others. The means by which we give alms is as many as the ways to pray. We may give money to worthy causes. However, we may better give alms volunteering our time to help others. Visiting someone who is sick or homebound, volunteering in our child’s school, or at church, or in our community. Spending more quality time with our own children are all ways to “give alms”.

Lent is more than just giving up chocolate. Lent is about building a deeper relationship with God through the time honored disciplines of fasting, prayer, and alms giving.

In praying the Liturgy of the Hours on Ash Wednesday, specifically Morning Prayer, the prayer began with the hymn, “Creator of the Earth and Skies.” This is the text of the hymn:

“Creator of the earth and skies,
to whom the words of life belong,
Grant us your truth to make us wise;
Grant us our power to make us strong.

Like theirs of old, our life is death,
Our light is darkness,
till we see the eternal Word made flesh and breath,
The God who walked by Galilee.

We have not known thee:
to the skies our monuments of folly soar,
And all our self-wrought miseries
Have made us trust ourselves the more.

We have not loved thee:
far and wide the wreckage of our hatred spreads,
And evils wrought by human pride
Recoil on unrepentant heads.

For this, our foolish confidence,
Our pride of knowledge and our sin,
We come to you in penitence;
In us the work of grace begin.”

I have been reflecting on the text of this hymn since Ash Wednesday morning. How well it applies to much of what has happened in human history. How sadly it comments on the present state of our United States. In terms of present policies and presidential orders affecting immigration, taxation, foreign policy, healthcare, the attacks on the important safety nets for our elderly, our poor, the hungry of our nation, all of it is based on human folly and greed. From the White House, and the halls of Congress, from the State Houses and the corporate board rooms, from the mansions of the rich to the homes and hovels of the poor, from the naves of mighty cathedrals and TV evangelists to the store front churches, we all be need be dressed in sackcloth and ashes.

I received an education in how people like to group people into categories when, as a junior in high school, I moved back to Minnesota from Chicago. The high school that I chose was a microcosm of cliques, of those who were “in” and those who were “out”. Having been in the same school from kindergarten, students over time had been sentenced to social ghettos within the high school. There were the jocks/cheerleaders, the popular kids, the geeks, the street kids, the hippies, and so on. Being new to the school, I could not be assigned a specific student ghetto. As a result, I floated freely within the social ghettos of the high school and quickly learned the difference between a genuine welcome and a phony welcome. I chose the clique that welcomed me genuinely and in doing so met my future bride.

In the scripture readings today we experience the social ghettos of 1^st century Jewish society. There were those people who were the religiously righteous and those who were the ostracized. Jesus floated equally among the contrasting religious ghettos of his society. What the religious righteous of his time could not wrap their minds around was why Jesus didn’t spend more time with them, and why he spent more of his time associating with and ministering to the lepers, social and literal, of their society, namely, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, and all they considered “sinners.” As the Gospels illustrate, Jesus was very astute as to who welcomed him genuinely and those who did not.

In our relationship with other people we like to think in categories of “us” and “them.” What this Gospel demonstrates for us is that there are no “lepers” estranged from God. There is no “us” and “them” in God’s eyes. All humanity, regardless of race, culture, religion and nation, are children of the one, true God. The religious and social ghettos we construct in human society and within our own parish are in direct conflict with the Divine plan of God. This Gospel challenges all of us to reexamine the way we order our world.