November 2014

A good deal of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels is about the kingdom of heaven – the great promise of a future in which the Father draws all creation into harmony. The images that Jesus uses to describe this kingdom draw on familiar, domestic life: the woman who loses a coin; the seed that grows to a great tree; the family and friends gathered to celebrate a marriage. To be people of the kingdom, Jesus’ parable suggests, is to be a people aware that we carry great gifts that belong not to us, but to our Lord. It is the constant concern for what is put into our hands that is so vividly set before us in the image of the “perfect wife” in the first reading. The woman’s hard work in the ordinary fabric of daily living, far from being “just” domestic, or “mere housework,” is recognized as the virtue that it is: a kind of practical wisdom that enables life to flourish, and generous charity to find a place in our homes. It is ordinary doing of love and faithfulness.

Today we are all being called to a new kind of mission – a fresh witness to the world about the love of God in Jesus, and the joy that life in His Spirit brings. I will pray, instead, for God to raise up others to great tasks. Those prayers are important; but today’s readings remind us that, first and foremost, it is in the daily routines of life that the power of the kingdom can find a home in our world. Next time we are cleaning, picking up the phone to a colleague or friend, cooking for our children, or waiting for a bus, let’s call to mind our great vocation to serve God’s kingdom in ordinary things. In such small steps, the world will be consecrated more and more to Christ.

Jesus seems to have been very fond of weddings. He worked His first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana and He enjoyed referring to weddings and wedding banquets as symbols of heaven. This Gospel, like many parables, is complex in its meaning. As we approach the end of this Church year, which will conclude in two weeks, the liturgy favors the interpretation that the Gospel is about the end of the world when Christ will come again in glory. That day no one knows. Every wise generation of Christians, from those to whom St. Paul wrote in Thessalonica, to the present has waited for Jesus’ return with patience.

St. John had a vision of great wedding supper in heaven. An angel said to him, “Write this down: Happy are those who have been invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” Waiting patiently for that supper is very wise. And we are called to be wise, to wait in patience for the coming of the Lord. The end of the world seems far off. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. If He does not come sooner, the Lord will come in the moment of our death. It is a moment which actually we should look forward to in joyful hope. We naturally fear death and cling to life. And yet we must heed the point of the Gospel: be alert, wide awake, and ready to meet the Lord whenever He comes.

Holy Communion is a preparation for death. A Catholic who is about to die is entitled to, and directed to receive, communion as “viaticum,” the food for the journey from this life to the next. Even when we receive communion at Mass we should be mindful of death, but always with faith in our resurrection from the dead. Standing to receive communion is a sign of that faith. The moral is “Keep your eyes open, for you know not the day or the hour.”

Children call their male parent “father” even though Jesus said, “Do not call anyone on earth father.” Instructors in school accept the title “teacher” even though Jesus said, “Avoid being called teachers.” And yet, through these rather strong imperatives, Jesus did want to teach us an important lesson. He wanted to instruct us that we may give to no one the place in our lives which belongs to God.

We are all children of our parents. Some of us have been blessed in the parents we have, and quite honestly some have not. Ultimately, however, we must look to heaven to find the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and who has become our Father too. We cannot allow anyone to take God’s place in our lives. We all have teachers from the moment we were born, during all our years in school, when we got a job, and really throughout our entire lives.

God, speaking through the voice of Malachi His prophet in the first reading of this Sunday, proclaims, “A great King am I.” Can any person of faith deny that? And yet God demands an answer to His question: “Do you accept that you must not put anyone in My place as Your sovereign Lord?”

Our circumstances are not very much different from those of the people to whom Malachi preached his message. They had returned from exile in Babylon only to find their homeland populated by a people who did not share their religion or their values. The situation was a challenge to the faith of both the priests and the people. That is why Malachi preached to them with such great urgency.

And this why the Gospel of this Sunday has great meaning for us. We live in a country which is motivated primarily by individualism, materialism, and consumerism, not by the values of religion. Most people may say that they believe in God but the temptation in our country is to live as if God didn’t exist. That temptation is real for us. And yet the Church should be and is our heaven, our spiritual home here on earth. Here we pay heed to Jesus, our teacher, as we listen to His words proclaimed in Sacred Scripture. We follow His teaching by praying to God as “our Father,” not only in the Lord’s Prayer but throughout the Mass. Here too we should find people with whom we share the same values in life, people who support us in our faith and people whom we are willing to help in their time of need. The Jews returned to a land which seemed foreign to them. We should never feel our of place in a Catholic church. We should find in each other dedicated people who want to live according to the values which Jesus, the Son of God, has given us.