Below is a column  titled, “Of Pharisees, Pots, Bronze Kettles, Liturgical Rubrics, Cups, And Cats”.  The article is a gentle reminder that it  is important for those of us in the “business of religion” remain mindful of the great Commandment . In a world where our  religious philosophers, the current-day  scribes, seem intent on proving who is right, Rolheiser reminds us of what is right.

Several years ago, I was at church meeting where we were discussing liturgical rubrics. There was heated discussion over a number of issues: Should the congregation be standing or kneeling during the Eucharistic prayer? What is the most reverent way to receive communion? Should laypersons be allowed to cleanse the chalice and cups after communion?

At one point, a woman made a rather pious interjection, inviting us to ask ourselves: “What would Jesus do?”  The man chairing the meeting, already drained of patience by the disagreements in the room, responded in irritation: “Jesus has nothing to do with this! We’re talking about liturgical norms!” The words were barely out his mouth when, to his credit, he realized that somehow that didn’t sound right. We all realized it too, and have reminded this good man many times of his faux pas; but, in honesty, his remark voiced the feeling of 95% of the room.

Allow me a second story, to illustrate the same point: I am part of a theological faculty that is helping over one hundred young men prepare for ordination and is helping several hundred lay persons deepen their spiritual lives and prepare to serve in various forms of ministry. Who could ask for a higher task? But the sacredness of the task is not always front and center. A couple of years ago, we came to an Executive meeting and the two salient items on the agenda were “cups and cats”:  Our school, not with complete unanimity, was phasing out all disposable cups. As well, we were debating as to whether to open up our campus as a certain sanctuary for feral cats. As he introduced the agenda, our Dean of Theology asked the question: “How did we get to this? We’re a theological institute preparing people for ministry – and the big-ticket items on our agenda are “cups and cats”?

What these two stories have to teach us is that we struggle, still, with the same issues that beset the Scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ time. And I say this sympathetically.  We’re human and invariably we lose perspective, just as the Scribes and Pharisees did. Jesus regularly chided them for, as he put it, “abandoning the commandment of God and holding to human traditions” and consequently getting overly- focused on rituals to do with “the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles”. We generally stand under this same indictment. We too tend to lose the center for the periphery. 

What is the center? The great commandment of God, that Jesus chides the Scribes and Pharisees for losing sight of, is the invitation to love God above all else and to love your neighbor as yourself. That is the one, great, central law. But in order to live that out practically, we need many ancillary laws, about everything from liturgical rubrics to cups and cats. And these laws are good, providing that they never stand alone, autonomous, not bending to the one great commandment to love God and neighbor.

In both society and in our churches, we have made many laws: civil laws, criminal laws, church laws, canon laws, liturgical laws, and all kinds of laws and guidelines inside our families and within the venues where we work.  It is naïve to believe, idealistically, that we can live without laws. St. Augustine once proposed that we could live without laws: “Love and do as you wish!” But, love, as he defined it in this context, meant the highest level of altruistic love. In other words, if you are already a saint you don’t need laws. Sadly, our world, our churches, and we ourselves, don’t measure up to that criterion. We still need laws.

But our laws, all of them, and at every level, are not meant to stand alone, to have their own autonomy. They must bend towards and give acquiescence to a center, and that center is the one great law that relativizes all others: Love God above all else and love your neighbor as yourself.

There is a principle central in all moral theology that in part encapsulates this, the principle of Epikeia (from the Greek, epieikes, meaning reasonable). Laws are meant to be reasonable and are meant to be obeyed in a way that doesn’t violate rationality and common sense. Epikeia is what St. Paul had in mind when he taught that the letter of the law kills while the spirit of the law brings life. In essence, what Epikeia asks of us is that, as we apply a given law in any circumstance of our lives, we ask ourselves the question: “If the law-maker were here, given the intent of this law, what would he or she want me to do in this situation?” That would bend the law to its center, to its sacred intent, to its spirit, and ensure that all our disagreements about pots, bronze kettles, liturgical rubrics, cups, and cats would remain loyal to the question: “What would Jesus do?”

Please visit Fr. Rolheiser’s website at: www.ronrolheiser.com

This Sunday’s Readings

This weeks readings from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which uses the New American Bible.

Click here for THIS SUNDAY’S  readings

The Word on Fire

The Word On Fire – Fr. Robert Barron’s internet site offers many interesting insights into all things Catholic. Fr. Barron has a full library of homilies that he has prepared and we will be featuring a link here to his 15 minute reflections on this week’s readings.

This Sunday: “Karl Barth said, “The central claim of Christianity is that God has spoken.” The uniqueness of this claim has lead Christians to refer to God as a Trinity. The Trinity denotes God as speaker, the Word spoken (i.e. Christ) and the interpreter of the Word (i.e. Holy Spirit). It is always better to have the author interpret his word for you when reading his works. This is how the Church understands the Holy Spirit in helping her understand God’s Word. ….”

Click here to listen to Fr. Barron’s Homily for This Sunday

Fr. Greg Friedman

Sunday Soundbites is a weekly, 90-second radio homily based on the Sunday readings, written and read by Fr. Greg Friedman, O.F.M. Sunday Soundbites is also heard on Catholic radio stations around the country.

This Sunday: “We’re told that the great Saint Augustine was once walking along the seashore trying to figure out the mystery of the Trinity. He came upon a child filling a hole with bucket after bucket of water from the ocean. “You can’t empty the whole ocean into that hole,” the saint laughed. Looking at the learned Augustine the child replied, “And neither can you ever completely understand the mystery of the Trinity.” ….”

Click here to listen to This Sunday’s Soundbite.

The ChurchYear.Net site is a resource that provides short and highly readable information on the Church Liturgical Year.

Trinity Sunday commemorates and honors not an event, but a reality: the Holy Trinity. Trinity Sunday falls on the Sunday after Pentecost.

Click here to read more about Pentecost

 
Ignatius of Laodicea  (adapted by Philip Chircop)
Word art | Philip Chircop

Please visit Fr. Philips’s website A-Mused

This Sunday’s Readings

This weeks readings from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which uses the New American Bible.

Click here for THIS SUNDAY’S  readings

The Word on Fire

The Word On Fire – Fr. Robert Barron’s internet site offers many interesting insights into all things Catholic. Fr. Barron has a full library of homilies that he has prepared and we will be featuring a link here to his 15 minute reflections on this week’s readings.

This Sunday: “Pentecost celebrates the awakening of the Holy Spirit within the disciples thus forming the Church. As the Holy Spirit unites the Church closer and closer to Christ, it pushes the faithful into a realm beyond self-determination. The more you allow the Holy Spirit to work in you, you paradoxically become both smaller and greater. ….”

Click here to listen to Fr. Barron’s Homily for This Sunday

Fr. Greg Friedman

Sunday Soundbites is a weekly, 90-second radio homily based on the Sunday readings, written and read by Fr. Greg Friedman, O.F.M. Sunday Soundbites is also heard on Catholic radio stations around the country.

This Sunday: “Shortly after Easter one year, a woman in my parish who had been received into the Church at the Easter Vigil told me how welcomed she felt in the Catholic family. The sense of openness and tolerance she experienced was especially important to her. ….”

Click here to listen to This Sunday’s Soundbite.

The ChurchYear.Net site is a resource that provides short and highly readable information on the Church Liturgical Year.

Pentecost, also known as Whitsunday, celebrates the birthday of the Christian Church, when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles in the Acts of the Apostles. Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Easter, on Pentecost Sunday. Christian Pentecost differs from the Jewish celebration. In 2013, Pentecost falls on May 19th in the Catholic Calendar

Click here to read more about Pentecost

 “So what do we do now?”

This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord. This is a special weekend to preach on this topic here at St. Patrick’s because of our large stain glass window that depicts this event in living and vibrant colour.

One of the characters in the painting has always caught my attention. I sit right beside him each week and over these past nine years, I feel as if we have developed a special bond.

He is one of the nameless disciples in the bottom corner of the picture. He is experiencing firsthand the Ascension of our Lord.

As modern-day followers of the Christ we know the rest of the story. We understand that in only a few days’ time, these disciples will be visited by the one Christ called the Advocate. They will be filled with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

However, in the scene captured in this window, my friend in the corner does not know this. I imagine him looking over at the disciple closest to him and with arms open he simply asks, “So what do we do now?”

It is a good question. Let me offer two words that are critical to helping us find our answer to it: Courage and Trust.

St. Paul provides some advice about what we do now when he tells us “[to] hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy.”

What is that promise? Matthew’s gospel offers some insight.

After instructing us to go and make disciples of all the earth Jesus leaves us a promise. He tells us “that he is with us until the end of the age.”

So what do we do now? We start by believing that Christ is trustworthy and he is continually keeping his promise to be with us until the end of the age.

As Catholics we are truly blessed to know the ongoing presence of Jesus in our lives through the gift of the mass. Pope Paul VI said the mass is the most perfect prayer.

However, let’s be completely honest about it. For many of us, the mass is either something someone who has the power of the family keys drags us to each week, or it is a habit we developed over the years.

Bishop Fulton Sheen in a 30-minute homily I posted on my blog this week admits that many of the younger folks in his 1960’s congregation complain that they get nothing out of mass.

Bishop Sheen looks at them and us straight in the eye, and bluntly asserts that if we get nothing out of the mass; it is because we bring nothing to it.

So what do we do now? One thing may well be to spend some time studying, thinking and praying about the mass.

As Catholics we have this time where we come together, and if we have the courage to believe deeply we will know that it is in the mass that Jesus fulfills his promise to be with us until the end of the age.

Jesus clearly wanted us to gather as a community of believers. The mass begins by collecting us as a community. Our time together here this morning is not a time of private prayer. It is instead a gathering of his followers.

We share our story in the reading of the word and the singing of the psalms.

One of us does the best we can to relate this story to our lives today in a homily.

The homily, however, is NOT the mass. It is not the thing that makes this time together special. It can help add meaning, but if you are not getting anything out of mass, it is not the fault of the homilist.

These feelings of indifference or boredom during mass are more than likely the result of not understanding and then entering fully into the next part of the mass- the Consecration.

Think about what it is we say we believe as Catholics. The offerings are brought forward- bread and wine.

They are placed on the altar. Each of us is now invited to join in the fellowship of this table.

When the priest says the words, this is my body, this is my blood, we are invited to die with Christ in that moment.

On this altar each of us is called by Christ, who is with us until the end of the age, to put all of our fears, shame, guilt, prejudices and false images of who we are on the table and let them die with Christ.

This takes courage because believe it or not most of us like to cling to these false images of ourselves because they excuse us from having to change.

I am too: fill the blank; I could never: fill in the blank; I am not worthy.

Of course, we are not worthy. We will pray that fact right after the consecration. Lord I am not worthy …. but, only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

What do we do now? Accept the paradox that we are not worthy of this brother we call Christ, but he will always say the word if we trust enough to ask, and then we can be healed.

There is nothing you can ever do to be unworthy in Christ’s eyes. Come to the table and die with Christ, and you shall be healed.

We rise again after this death on the altar in our communion. Communion is not a private prayer. It is when we join with the others in our community and when we hear the words’ Body of Christ’, we say loudly, amen- yes we believe.

Now I know some of you like to leave us a bit early but our mass; our community celebration is not quite over after you receive communion.

If you study the mass, I can actually understand why you might want to leave after communion. Even those who stay faithfully, perhaps judging those who have already departed, may not fully understand that the second most important words of the mass are about to be proclaimed.

Go in Peace, Glorifying the Lord by your life.

In reality the mass can only be boring if we lack the courage to be transformed by leaving our fears, guilt and shame on the alter.  The impact of the mass can only be limited by our unwillingness to become the light of Christ in the world.

So what do we do now? We can prepare!

Next week is Pentecost. Jesus knows that what he is asking of us as his disciples is not easy.

We can pray to the Holy Spirit for the gift of wisdom so that we may learn how to bring our whole lives to the mass each week.

We can pray to the Holy Spirit for the gift of understanding so we can allow ourselves to be transformed by the experience of the mass.

And this week we can pray to the Holy Spirit for the gift of courage to truly go in peace glorifying the Lord by our lives.

The theme I am kicking around for this week’s homily on the Ascension of our Lord is: “So what do we do now?” Yesterday we looked at the Great Commission in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus tells us to stop worrying because he will be with us until the end of the age.

One of the ways he fulfills this promise is through the gift of the Eucharist which is at the core of the Catholic Mass.

Below is a 29-minute  homily (yes I said 29 minutes) from Bishop Fulton Sheen. I debated whether I should post it for several reasons. First, it is 29 minutes long so most folks won’t invest that kind of time. Second, it is a bit dated, and some of the references may seem out of place in 2013.

I decided to share it with you because Bishop Sheen has a powerful and descriptive view of what the Mass means. He challenges those of us that find the mass boring and irrelevant to ask ourselves what we bring to the mass.

I particularly like the story he tells right at the end of the homily. It is rooted in a different era. It is set in China at the time of the communist take over. This true story catches the essence of the importance of the mass and of communion which he argues has little to do with “bells and smells”. If you are in a hurry, then fast-forward to the 21-minute  mark of the video.

Bishop Sheen may be a voice from another time, but he does provide food for thought about the food Jesus left us for our journey.

The Great Commission Matthew 28 (16-20)

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

For Catholic’s the main way we know that Jesus is with us until the end of the age is through the celebration of the mass.

Here is a video with a number of powerful quotes about what the mass means to those who believe in it.

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