Month: August 2020

REFLECTION FOR THE 22^ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Readings for this Sunday: Jeremiah 20:7-9, Romans 12:1-2, and Matthew 16:21-27.

When we examine the readings for this Sunday, we are told, rather point blankly, that the life of a disciple of God is not an easy life.

I love that opening phrase from the reading from the prophet, Jeremiah.
“You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.” The prophet then goes on to say that his life has been miserable from the time God chose him as a prophet. I find it interesting that in Catholic liturgies, the concluding line from this chapter of Jeremiah is never used. Jeremiah writes:

“Cursed be the day^* on which I was born!  May the day my mother gave me birth never be blessed!  Cursed be the one who brought the news to my father, “A child, a son, has been born to you!” filling him with great joy. Let that man be like the cities which the LORD relentlessly overthrew; Let him hear war cries in the morning, battle alarms at noonday, because he did not kill me in the womb! Then my mother would have been my grave, her womb confining me forever. Why did I come forth from the womb, to see sorrow and pain, to end my days in shame? (Jeremiah 20:14-18, NAB)

I think we can safely say that Jeremiah was having a pretty bad day, the day he wrote this. However, for those of us who have served in the Church, we all, at one time or another, have shared similar sentiments with those expressed by Jeremiah. Moses called the people he led, “stiff-necked people.” I think we all, in private, have created even more colorful metaphors for some of those whom we have served.

The path of a disciple of God is not an easy one. Teresa of Avila, a doctor of theology and saint in the Roman Catholic Church, once stated, “God, you wonder why you have so few friends. Look at the way you treat the ones you have!”

So, why is it that a disciple of God often faces opposition from people? Even the finest of God’s disciples have not only been persecuted by non-believers, but have been persecuted from their own religious authorities. I think of the saints and mystics of the Catholic Church, Joan of Arc, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, to name a few. Of course, the greatest of them all is Jesus of Nazareth who was not only opposed and attacked openly by the religious authorities of his religion, but who actively participated in his execution. So why is it so difficult for a disciple of God?

Jesus expresses this explicitly in today’s Gospel, when Peter remonstrates with him, telling him NOT to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die. Jesus rebukes Peter saying, ““Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

A disciple of God lives a life that is in great contradiction and in direct opposition to the way that most humanity lives. Jesus speaks of this in the Gospels. He tells us that we must love as God loves, without any exception. We must love our enemies as we love ourselves. We must forgive our enemies as we forgive ourselves. We must place the common good of others before our own individual common good. A life of selfless love and service to others is bitterly opposed by a world consumed by self-indulgence and screwing over anyone who gets in the way of that self-indulgence. Humanity seeks to place itself over others and lord itself over others. The way of humanity is to engulf and devour (to share an image from Mel Brook’s movie, “Silent Movie”). The way of humanity is to divide, conquer, and enslave. We have seen this played out in the history of the United States since its inception, and has been glorified since the 1980’s. It is sickeningly on display for us everywhere today. The glorification of the self, the opulence of celebrity to the detriment of others is being broadcast in all media and social media and is justified by stating that this self-indulgent way of life is THE “American Dream.”

When disciples of God claim that this way of life is a false gospel, they will be persecuted not only by those who are non-believers, but by the authorities within their own religion. Jesus tells us in the Gospel today that this opposition from within and without religion is inevitable for the disciple of God.

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?”  (Matthew 16:24-26, NAB)

What is a disciple of God to do, faced with such a dismal  prediction? St Paul in his letter to the Romans tells us, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” Paul, who was no stranger to hardship, persecution, and well knew the dangers of discipleship, knew that in discerning and conforming ourselves to the will of God, everything in the end will be okay.

Paul consuls the Roman community:

“He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ [Jesus] who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: “For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.

“No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things,^* nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth,^* nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:32-39, NAB)

In his wonderful book, The Lord Is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-third Psalm, Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote these words about the psalm verse, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me (Psalm 23:4, NAB).  “God’s promise was that when we had to face the pain and unfairness of the world as we inevitably would, we would not have to face it alone, for He would be with us.”*

While we are not spared the harm and derision and danger that Jeremiah, St Paul, and Jesus experienced, as disciples of God, God does not abandon us but is right by our side as we walk through that valley of the shadow of death. We will have our crosses to carry. We will be persecuted and derided and, at times, suffer the same from those of our own religion. However, God will never abandon us but will remain faithful to us through it all. At the end of that path lies the entry way to the fullness of glory that God prepares for us.

*Kushner, Harold S.. The Lord Is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-third Psalm (pp. 102-103). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

I have been so busy composing music over the past 6 months I have neglected posting any reflections on the Sunday readings. I hope to rectify this beginning to day.

In the readings for this weekend, Isaiah 22:19-23, Matthew 16:13-20, and Romans 11:33-36, the subject of just and wise leadership comes in focus. In the Isaiah reading God is telling Shebna, master of the palace, that he will be deposed because of his corruption, and that Eliakim will be raised in his place. In Matthew’s Gospel, after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus tells Peter that he will be head of the Church. In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells the community how ludicrous it is for humanity to think that humanity, creatures of God, can in any way give counsel to God, who created them.

These readings about leadership are important during this time of such examples of failed leadership, not only politically but also religiously. By in large, our political and religious leadership are failing us. There was a time when the USCCB were a prophetic group of bishops. Their coverup and/or complicity in the criminal sexual abuse of vulnerable children and adults has completely robbed them of any teaching authority, especially in the areas of human sexuality, the majority of the faithful turning to other sources, equally poor in some cases, for counsel in the area of human sexuality.

Throughout the history of the Catholic Church, the trust and the power entrusted to Peter by Jesus, is not easily transferred from one pope to another. The popes have been a collection of very broken men, and in some cases, Julian II and the Borgia popes, very evil men.

What can be said about the American bishops can also be said about most religious leaders today. The leadership of the evangelical Churches easily turn their heads aside about the crimes being committed among their own leadership and the political leadership of our nation. The religious leadership of all the world religions are largely held suspect today, with many people abandoning the religious faith of their parents to seek elsewhere for spiritual life.

Then we get to the political leadership we have before us today. The trust in the leadership in our executive branch of our government, our judicial branch of government and in our legislative branch in our government has been eroded but the out and out lies told everyday by the president, by many of the senators, and many of our representatives. The Attorney General has attacked the truth in the judiciary. Seemingly, the only place we can put our trust in the Federal government these days are in our Federal judges.

Has it always been this way? Well, the answer is yes. The early Church is not without its faults. In Galatians, Paul accuses Peter of being a spineless, blithering idiot, and calls James the anti-Christ. The Council of Jerusalem was an attempt by the early Church leaders to piece together precariously a largely divided Church. It is obvious that the early Church was not quite the panacea we like to sentimentally think. It was as messy and broken as our current Church. The political leadership, though largely an empirical monarchy was as corrupt as many of the governments today.

So the question that faces us today is simply: “Who can we trust?”

This is why Paul’s words to the Roman community are so important for us today.

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given the Lord anything
that he may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:33-36)

Given the flawed state of religious and political leadership for the Roman community, Paul wisely counsels them to be careful as to whom they entrust authority. Places in society, power, and prestige are weak indicators of wisdom and leadership. These are merely the trappings of leadership but not true leadership. Whether one be a bishop, a priest, or some other cleric, or a president, senator, representative, or some other government position does not mean they are to be entrusted with power.

So, who can we trust? Paul says very simply, God. For from God and through God and for God are all things.

Jesus tells us in the Gospel that the actions and intent of people speak volumes about who they are. Those who are more about serving others as opposed to being self-serving are people to be trusted. Those who are willing to sacrifice themselves out of love for others, are to be trusted. Those who think about the common good of all people are to be trusted. And, of course, the criteria by which to evaluate people and issues given to us by Jesus (Matthew 25:31-46) is most important. Do they: 1) feed the hungry; 2) give drink to the thirsty; 3) welcome the stranger; 4) clothe the naked; 5) care for those who are sick; and, 6) visit the imprisoned? If their life reflect ministering to others in these six areas, then, they are to be trusted because they are ministering to people as Jesus ministered to people. In doing all these actions it is indicative that they are being counseled by God.

Had Dad lived to see this day, he would have been 105 years old. He was a man of great faith, a man of great compassion, and a man of great integrity. The values that guided his life and by which he lived were God, family, and honor. He is the least self-centered of men that I have ever known. During the Depression, his family like many families suffered greatly. My grandmother would walk down the hill at night (Midwesterners think “mountain”) to the town of Turtle Creek, PA to scrub the floors of the taverns in the town. As a kid, Dad would often make that same walk down at night to help her scrub those floors so that she could get home before 2 a.m. His compassion and concern for others was a hallmark of his entire life. Color of skin, religion, language, and social status meant nothing to Dad. He treated all with the same amount of respect and kindness regardless of whether a person was an executive of a company or a homeless man on the corner.

I have two very distinctive memories from my infancy. The first, was coming home from the hospital. My folks lived in an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago. I remember being passed around to our neighbors who lived in the apartment below us. When I was handed to Mr. Burress, who smelled of cigarettes and beer, I was most displeased and created quite a fuss.

The second memory was that of my Dad walking me at night. As we would pace through the apartment, Dad would hum the same little tune over and over, lulling me to sleep. That tune is something I have never forgot. This past June, I took the little tune that Dad hummed and created a song out of it. The first two measures is the little melody Dad would hum. I just expanded it into this song. The song is in the form of a “Galop”. The Galop was a forerunner of the modern day polka. Along with his famous waltzes, Johann Strauss Jr, “The Waltz King”, composed as many Galops.

In honor of my Dad, one whose “sandals I am not worthy to fasten”, I present this little tune as a birthday present.

I rarely dedicate a Psalm Offering (prayer song) to myself. In all of the 130 + piano songs I have composed, I have only dedicated one to myself, and that was back in 1975. I generally dedicate them in memory of someone I have loved and admired, or give them as gifts to those I love, have befriended and admire. However, this song, “The Celestial Fiddler” Psalm Offering 10 Opus 14, I dedicate to myself on the occasion of my 68th birthday.

When I was a wee lad, my Great Aunt Sarah, who was as Irish as Irish can be, told me stories about my Great Grandpap Marron, a noted Irish fiddler, who played many a dance. He was often accompanied by my Great Grandmother who played the tin whistle (also known as a penny whistle). My Great Aunt Sarah thought that the genes of her father was very much present in me. Little did I know at that time in my young life the role that music was going to play in my life, eventually becoming part of my life’s work. I never mastered the violin. When I was taking my instrumental technique classes learning to play a vast variety of brass, reed, string, and percussion instruments, I was told by Sister Katherine Kessler that I just didn’t have the wrists to play violin properly. It was a good thing I majored on piano and minored in voice. Alas, I would never be the fiddler my Great Grandfather was. However, I could compose an Irish air, and Irish jig, and an Irish reel.

So to honor my 68th birthday, I composed this song, “The Celestial Fiddler.” It is representative of an Irish music set, in which Traditional Irish Music Bands play a number of jigs and reels interlaced with one another in a long music set. The music is a combination of three songs: an air, a jig and a reel. All the while I was composing this, I had in the back of my mind one of my favorite poems from William Butler Yeats:

The Fiddler Of Dooney[1]

When I play on my fiddle in Dooney.
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Mocharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With “Here is the fiddler of Dooney!”
And dance like a wave of the sea.

William Butler Yeats

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[1] The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats, © 1983, 1989 by Anne Yeats. Macmillan Publishing Company, 866 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022.

I have begun composing a new Opus (collection of music) that I am entitling “Songs During the Time of a Pandemic.” This song is based on a poem/reflection I wrote as I saw footage of refrigerator trucks bringing many of the unnamed, unknown victims of this deadly virus to mass graves outside New York City. Here is the poem/reflection:

NEVER FORGOTTEN

The pandemic cuts a long swath
through the human population,
bodies gathered and scattered
through emergency rooms,
intensive care units, and
long lines of refrigerator trucks
patiently waiting its human cargo.
So many dead, many unknown,
seemingly forgotten by family and friends,
their funeral, the quiet ride
to a massive pauper’s grave.
Though forgotten by humanity,
not so by the One who loves
and named them at conception.

(c) 2020 by Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved.

This prayer song is in the musical form “Variations on a Theme”. The brief melody is played at the beginning, with resulting musical variations on that melody. In this prayer song, the original melody, in the key of D minor, is restated in a Baroque polyphonic variation, followed by a lilting dance, followed by jig, followed by a fugue, followed by a waltz, and then three more variations which get darker in sound before ending in the melody in the key of D major.

I chose Variations on a Theme to reflect all the different people who have been silenced by this plague. There is not one segment of our population that has not been touched by the horror of this virus. Wealth, status, culture, country of origin, age are no protection from this plague. It kills the rich as well as the poor. It kills the white population as readily as it kills those people of color. It kills the good and the bad. It kills the smart and the stupid alike. This virus is an equal opportunity killer of human life, and so, whether one’s origins are European, Black American, Latino, Asian, Native American, all cultures and all nationalities are infected.

While this all sounds grim and somber, and the music is primarily in a minor key area, the music is not depressing but alternates between light dance, agitation, sorrow, light heartedness, then progressively darker in tone before ultimately ending in hope.

Over the time of this pandemic, we have heard numerous accounts of a spouse or a son and daughter, peering through a window as a loved one dies from Covid-19. When this plague was raging in the Chicago area, my grand nephew, Steven, was being born in a Chicago hospital at the same time many people on other floors were dying from Covid-19. This juxtaposition of death and birth is being played out in hospitals all over our nation, and all over the world.

After some tinkering with the words, I wrote this observational poem Juxtaposition 1 and last week composed music expressing this juxtaposition of sorrow and joy. I decided to use the old Johann Sebastian Bach form of “Prelude and Fugue”. The Prelude in a minor key, at a slow tempo expressing the grief of people witnessing the death of a loved one. The Fugue in a major key expressing the joy and wonder of people looking upon their newborn infant.

Here is the poem.

JUXTAPOSITION 1

Faces stricken,
painted in grief,
peer through the glass barrier
into the room,
as ventilators are removed
from loved ones, and
last breaths are expelled.

Faces, wonderstruck,
painted with excitement,
peer through the window glass,
into the nursery
as newborn infants are
laid in bassinettes, and,
the first of many breaths begin.

(c) 2020 by Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved

Here is the music.

At approximately 2 a.m. on August 10th, 1997, with my Dad, my Mom, my brother, Bill, Ruthie, our daughters Meg, and Beth, and her good friend, Bob Conlin, my sister, Mary Ruth died from Chron’s disease. She had been battling Crohns long before it had a name. As an occupational therapist and having a brilliant mind, Mary knew more about her illness than her internist. Hours earlier, with only me keeping vigil by her side, Mary briefly came out of her coma and requested a sip of 7-Up and some ice chips. She looked at me and said, “You know this really sucks, don’t you?” I replied, “I do, Mary.” Affirmed, she slipped back into a coma she would not come out of again.

We stopped briefly at a Holiday Station in Burnsville on the way home did get some pop to drink the remaining 35 minutes to our house. I think Ruthie and I went to bed around 3:30 am, woke at 9 am and drove back up to Roseville. We stopped off at a Bridgeman’s to have something to eat and met Mom and Dad at the funeral home to make funeral arrangements for Mary. Funeral plans were made with the parish of St Rose of Lima in Roseville. On my birthday, August 12th, I led the vigil prayers at Mary’s wake, and composed the homily for her funeral Mass. On August 13th, we had Mary’s funeral. I assisted the pastor at Mass, preached at her funeral, and then did all the graveside prayers at the cemetery.

About 6 months later, my Mom told me about a very vivid dream she had about Mary. Mom described this dream as being very real. She said that she came to the door of a lovely house, knocked and a beautiful woman with long hair opened the door and invited her in. She was led to a room that had a two way mirror like window, like you might find in a police station. As she peered through the window, she saw my sister, Mary Ruth, on the floor playing with little children. All the ravages of Chrohn’s disease were gone, her face full and lovely, Mary’s body was no longer emaciated from the disease, but looked healthy and well. There was a bearded young man in the room with Mary who looked upon the scene with a gentle, pleasant smile. The beautiful woman led my mother to a waiting room where mom took a seat. The young bearded man led my sister into the waiting room, at which point my sister hugged my mother and said to her, “You no longer have to worry about me, Mom. I am very happy.” My sister kissed my mother on the cheek and left the room, with the young man. Mom said the beautiful woman led her to the door, and Mom left the house. At this point, Mom said to me, “I am so at peace knowing Mary is so very healthy. You know, I think that beautiful woman was the Blessed Mother, and the young bearded man was Jesus.” From that point onward, Mom no longer grieved my sister’s death, confident that the child she loved so much was so infinitely happy and at peace. My dad, who was so very close to my sister through all her health crises never had a similar experience, or, at least he never said anything about having one to me or my mom.

About 20 years later, I took sketches of a song I had dedicated to my sister, and formed them into this musical prayer for my sister, Mary. I have submitted this more than once. On this feast day marking her birth into heaven, I submit it again.