We can understand the selection we heard from the Book of Ezekiel as our first reading when we know that. Without knowing that, we can only wonder why people cried, “The Lord's way is not fair!”
Jesus’ parable also pointed to the destiny of Jesus and Israel, namely Jesus’ rejection by leaders and the transfer of God’s kingdom to others. The parable is transparent: the hearts of the chief priests and the elders of the people were hardened; and the tax collectors and the prostitutes--scripture-labels for all who reject God’s life and seek to live strictly on their terms--were truly repentant.
During his visit to France, though, Pope Benedict encouraged the French President that more than that connotation exists, saying, “I am firmly convinced that a new reflection on the true meaning and importance of laïcité is now necessary." [One can detect the root for the word laity in the French word which we render as secularism.]“In fact, it is fundamental, on the one hand, to insist upon the distinction between the political realm and that of religion in order to preserve both the religious freedom of citizens and the responsibility of the state toward them,” the pope said during the encounter with Sarkozy and other officials of the French government.Mr. John L. Allen Jr., in his weekly online essay examined the implications of these remarks.
“On the other hand, [it is important] to become more aware of the irreplaceable role of religion for the formation of consciences and the contribution which it can bring to – among other things – the creation of a basic ethical consensus within society,” the pope said.
Jesus' image of light, the light of a lamp to illuminate the way we follow him, is personal. We are no less than light for one another and for our world. Our lives make Jesus visible or they don’t. Making Jesus visible does not always happen instantly, like turning on a switch. Often it’s gradual.
Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”/1/ To live in God’s image is to walk each moment with a sense of God as Giver and Patron of our lives.
We often risk reducing the Mystery to something we might understand--two lovers never completely understand each other; on some levels they remain mysteries to each other. When we imitate the disciples and ask Jesus what he means--before asking a commentary or a footnote in our bibles--when we ask Jesus what he means for us, we begin to learn and live the mystery of his risen life in us.The Korean Church is unique because it was founded entirely by lay people. This fledgling Church, so young and yet so strong in faith, withstood wave after wave of fierce persecution. Thus, in less than a century, it could boast of 10,000 martyrs. The death of these martyrs became the leaven of the Church and led to today’s splendid flowering of the Church in Korea. Even today their undying spirit sustains the Christians in the Church of silence in the north of this tragically divided land./3/They lived the meaning of the mystery as St. Paul proclaimed in our hearing again: Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one. How our bodies and our lives bear the heavenly image now, even slightly, is the most pressing and pregnant question we Catholics can ask. We are wise to ask Jesus to join his Spirit to ours as we ponder how we may live the Mystery more effectively.
a major academic conference in March 2009, organized by the Jesuit-run Gregorian University in Rome and the University of Notre Dame in the United States, and co-sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture. The title is "Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories," to be held at the Gregorian in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the Origin of Species.Learn who was responsible for this by reading Mr. Allen's online essay.
People immediately venerated that cross. An eyewitness of a Good Friday celebration in that basilica recalled its wood was taken out of its silver chest and placed on a table together with the inscription Pilate ordered placed above Jesus. Then “all the people pass by one by one, all bowing themselves, they touch the Cross and the title, first with their foreheads and then with their eyes; then they kiss the Cross and pass through.”/1/ We do that, too, so that we, “Do not forget!”
distracts us from God’s consolation. How are we to respond? St. Paul reminded the Corinthians that no simple solutions existed, which they preferred--as do many of us. No better treatment exists than Paul’s response to sexual relations./2/
Prophet Ezekiel was aware that God had given him the responsibility, the mission, to watch for the house of Israel. Ezekiel was responsible to announce to them what would deepen their love and quicken their response to the God of the covenant. If the prophet announced and warned and others paid no attention, God would call them to account. If the prophet shirked his responsibility, God would hold the prophet accountable for the people’s failing.If [a member of the community] sins against you, go and discuss the fault between the two of you. If [the person] listens to you, you have won over your brother [or sister].Jesus had earlier in his ministry said that reconciliation was a matter of the heart before it was bureaucratic.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother [or sister in faith] has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother [or sister in faith], and then come and offer your gift./1/The purpose of pointing out a fault was and is to lead people more deeply into the heart of Jesus and of his community of faith, the church. That includes the one who is doing the pointing! If entering more deeply into the heart of Jesus is not the result, then it is something other than Christian reconciliation.
Jesus embraced this teaching to and for the church with another: where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Together, his first and second teaching bookend his words about our mission of reconciliation. I call the first bookend the need for reconciliation; I call the second the fruit of reconciliation. The prophetic goal of both is to live more deeply in the heart of Jesus and as the heart of Jesus for the sake of our world. That is each Christian’s prophetic responsibility, one that is both crucial and a joy.Benedict XVI will encourage these signs of life, and not simply because France has a rich Catholic tradition.Read Mr. Allen's column and learn what "signs of life" Pope Benedict "will encourage" on his visit to France later this month.A revitalized French church could also be a key point of reference for Francophone
Catholicism around the world, especially in Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, is destined to be one of the Catholic powerhouses of the 21st century. By 2050, it will be the fifth largest Catholic country in the world, at 97 million Catholics, behind only Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States. Other sizeable French-speaking Catholic populations are found in Burundi, Madagascar, Haiti, Rwanda, Vietnam and Cameroon, in addition to Belgium to Quebec.
Vatican spokesperson Fr. Federico Lombardi was quick to say that while the L’Osservatore article was “interesting” and should be taken seriously, it does not create new church teaching.This is a good way to read many serious thoughts about many things.
A self-styled prophet/1/ gave a boost to Zedekiah by saying the exile would be over in two years. The words of the true prophet, Jeremiah, were not welcome because Jeremiah had announced before his words we just heard that things would get worse before they got better. Jeremiah once enjoyed his mission, but his mission and the exile caused him great pain:You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; The word of the LORD has brought me derision and reproach all the day.Nevertheless, Jeremiah kept faith, hard for us to do at times, too. Jeremiah kept faith in God’s ancient promise. In their exile, Jeremiah and faithful people with prophetic hearts kept alive and clung to God’s ancient promise:
...even while [my people] are in their enemies’ land, I will not reject or spurn them, lest, by wiping them out, I make void my covenant with them; for I, the Lord, am their God. I will remember them because of the covenant I made with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt under the very eyes of the Gentiles, that I, the LORD, might be their God.”/2/The bible tells the story of the regime of God’s covenant. It also recounts that Israel and Judah did not keep faith over the centuries with God’s covenant, which they had entered. When it suited them or when it seemed in their own interests or practical or politic they ignored the covenant, forsaking its regime, its pattern of God’s fidelity to them, for regimes of this leader or that way of living.
Yet, Peter was an ardent believer even before his faith was fully formed. Denial, renunciation and suffering formed the faith that he and the apostles handed on to us. The pattern of Jesus’ life, including both suffering and glory, is the regime we Catholics try to adopt as we serve, evangelize and worship with our lives.
Faith is no inanimate object, though, like peg, key, scissors, paper or rock. Jesus’ question to his disciples was not a quiz. Who do you say that I am? showed Jesus’ desire for his disciples in every age to know him more intimately: to know him for who Jesus is.
In his weekly column published online today Mr. John L. Allen Jr. considers:.For once in this volatile part of the world, religion does not appear to be a driving force in the conflict.Thanks to Mr. Allen people now know that both leaders have pointed to the same religious denomination of the parties involved. This post is worth reading.
Hence the obvious, if largely unasked, question: If religion isn't the problem, can it be part of the solution?
...Both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have placed a "preferential option" for the Orthodox at the heart of their ecumenical hopes, which means that the fate of the Orthodox inevitably affects the Catholic future.
The clash between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia is not akin to Russia's difficulties in Chechnya, or to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, or to tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, because the animosities in Ossetia do not break down along Christian/Muslim lines. ...In the Ossetian conflict, all parties are Orthodox Christians.
In fact, this is the first instance since World War II in which one majority Orthodox nation has gone to war against another. Both Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, have cited the Orthodox-on-Orthodox nature of the violence as especially tragic [emphasis added].
The work of translating afresh with the purposes of this latest instruction in mind began soon after. John L. Allen Jr. reported early in 2004 of progress, difficulties and criticisms of the enterprise.
minced no words in condemning what he termed the "brutal consumption of creation," and he called for an urgent renewal of the theology of creation.Mr. John L. Allen's summary of this encounter is, as usual, crisp and full of background.
This sketch of personal development--from a small circle of life to a wider one--helps us appreciate the development of God’s people. In its infancy it focused on God liberating it from slavery. The people were isolated in their formative, desert wanderings from Egypt to Canaan. They began to encounter other people with different beliefs and religious practice: in shorthand, others devoted themselves to many deities, but Israel was called to devote themselves to the One God alone. Antagonistic: not always faithful to the One God and viewing others with suspicion at best marked their more developed years and relations with others.
So astonishing was this to the Chosen People that we heard in the gospel the disciples of Jesus tried to dismiss a non-Jewish woman from Jesus and with her her plea for help and healing. Even Jesus seems to share his disciples’ instinct by his curious phrase, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” His human instinct gave way to God’s priority when Jesus saw only God’s healing power could satisfy her great faith.
