Mary Mary Mary

I first heard of Mary Magdalene about sixty years ago.

Maybe here at Mass, like today.

Or maybe reading Bible stories with Sister Mary Joseph in my first-grade class.

The main point I remember is that Mary Magdalene was a notorious sinner.

But she repented; she washed Jesus's feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

And Jesus forgave her sins and took her as a friend and close disciple.

I also learned that she was a loyal and brave disciple.

One of the very few to stand by him at the cross.

And, as we heard today, the first to see him after his resurrection.

First impressions stick.

And when I think of Mary Magdalene all those images still come to mind.

I only recently realized that I should adjust that image.

I wasn't paying attention in 1969 when things changed.

The Church officially dropped its emphasis on Mary Magdalene's ill-repute.

Certainly, like everyone else, she had been a sinner.

But she probably wasn't that notorious sinner.

That prostitute who repented at Jesus' feet.

There had been some confusion due to the many Mary's in the Gospels.

There's Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary the wife of Clopas.

The Gospels also speak of a Mary who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus.

Early scholars believed that she was in fact the same person as Mary Magdalene.

They saw clues that this Mary was also the unnamed sinner who anointed Jesus' feet.

But other scholars disagreed and believed these were three different women.

The Eastern Church followed the three-different-women conclusion.

And the Western Church followed the all-the-same-Mary conclusion.

For fourteen hundred years.

But then in 1969, the Church revised the Mass for Mary Magdalene's feast.

It dropped the Mass's references to Martha's sister Mary.

And noted that she should be commemorated along with Martha on a different day.

It also dropped the references to the notorious sinner who anointed Jesus's feet.

And noted that Mary Magdalene had formerly been mistakenly identified with her.

No doubt, some scholars still favor the all-the-same-Mary analysis.

But for now, that's not the official Church position.

So who cares? Do their exact identities really matter?

Probably not.

We like to get all the facts straight and understand as much of the background as we can.

But not all details are critical to the lessons of the Gospel.

Those same lessons remain, whether demonstrated by one holy woman or three.

But the shifted position does give us an interesting example of Scriptural analysis.

It might encourage us to our own deeper reading and contemplation and analysis.

It's a reminder that we always have more to learn and further to grow.

That there's room in the Church for questions, differences and debate.

And for change—at least on non-dogmatic issues.

It shows that when the Church thinks it's made a mistake, it admits it and corrects it.

There's a lesson we can draw from the Church's position on Mary Magdalene.
Let's be always open to recognizing, admitting and correcting our mistakes.

Feast of Mary Magdalene
Tuesday, 16th Week of  Ordinary Time

Jn 20:1-2,11-18         Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Hybrids

How can we judge the good guys from the bad guys?

How do we tell the weeds from the wheat?

It's abundantly clear to all of us that we have evil in the world.

This very day, hundreds of people are being killed by war and terrorism.

In Gaza and Israel, the Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, and all the other hot spots.

Innocent people, like the passengers on that Malaysian airliner.

There's deep-seated evil behind all that.

This very day, thousands more are being killed by hunger and crime and neglect.

There's deep-seated evil behind that too.

And there's plenty more evil causing pain and suffering.

From greed and envy and all the vices.

What can we do to rid the world of that evil?

It's not just floating out there in the ether.

(Although there is plenty of evil in the ether—in cyberspace.)

The evil has more concrete roots.

It's rooted in individuals—the individual weeds.

But Jesus tells us in his parable to let those weeds grow.

Live with them, work with them, be patient.

God will ultimately deal with the weeds.

But we're sure we know who the weeds are.

Why shouldn't we rip them up, or chop them down, or spray them with poison?

Because we don't know enough about each particular weed.

None started out as a weed, and none has to end up as a weed.

These weeds can change; be genetically modified.

What looks like a weed today could be wheat tomorrow.

Our imperfect judgment would surely,

Destroy some weeds that were destined to be bountiful producers.

And drive away some who would have otherwise been drawn to transformation.

We see examples in our own lives.

We see famous examples throughout history.

Look at St Paul.

The early Christians knew he was a weed.

He was persecuting them, leading them off to execution.

But then, on the road to Damascus he was transformed.

He delivered a most bountiful hundred-fold-increase crop of wheat.

Not only can weeds change, but at least as far as we can see, none of the plants are pure.

They're all hybrids.

Each individual plant has some mixture of weed and wheat.

We don't have to look too far, or too deeply, to see that we ourselves are hybrids.

I see some of my old friends out there in the ether—on Facebook.

I know they're not weeds.

But I see some pretty weedy behavior.

From the things they post, it would seem that:
Some endorse or champion the death penalty;

Some even endorse torture for the vilest criminals—an eye for an eye;

Some begrudge a hungry child a free meal;

Or oppose giving safe haven, or hope, or opportunity to a struggling alien;

Many are quick to label and quick to judge and condemn.

That doesn't make them pure weeds.

But, just like me, they're not pure wheat either.

We're all works in progress.

Hopefully we're still growing, and still taking in life-giving nourishment.

So that in the end we'll be sufficiently transformed.

So, for now, what can we do to rid the world of evil.

We can speak out against evil acts.

We can do our best to defend ourselves and others from evil acts.

We can remember to hate the sin but love the sinner.

We can work to rid ourselves of the evil within us.

We can help spread the Good News.

Fulfill our role in helping the Kingdom of Heaven continue its growth.

Growth from mustard seed to the largest of plants.

From pinch of yeast to full batch of dough.

When we see weedy behavior in another,

We can help guide that individual to transforming nourishment.

That's our job as disciples.

To guide, to draw-in, to inform, to show the way.

By our word and example and actions.

The actual transformation is up to God and each individual.

As we know, and as we're reminded in today's passage from Romans,

Only God knows what is in the heart.

Only God has the wisdom and knowledge and authority to make the final judgment.

And that's Good News for us hybrids.

That's where we can place our trust and our hope.

In our God.

Who was so encouragingly described in our Psalm and our passage from Wisdom.

Our God who is all just and all merciful.

Our God who is good and forgiving.

Our God who judges with leniency and clemency.

Our God who judges infinitely better than we ever could.

16th Sunday of  Ordinary Time

Mt 13:24-43          Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Woe to You [Washington]

St Bonventure was a humble, Italian Franciscan back in the 13^th Century.

He became the head of the Franciscans,

A cardinal,

A Doctor of the Church.

A saint.

There’s a university in New York that bears his name.

This morning, on his feast day, we might like to focus on his life.

Especially if our choice is to think about him

Or about that Gospel passage we just heard.

But how can we ignore that Gospel?

Jesus is pretty harsh with the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum.

They failed to repent – despite all he’d given them, despite his many miracles.

Talk about preaching fire and brimstone –

There it is.

God himself destroyed the city of Sodom with fire and brimstone.

And Jesus says Judgment Day will go better for the people of Sodom

Than for the people of these three cities.

If Gospel means “Good News”, where is it today?

Maybe this is good news for the people of Sodom.

They hear that they’re not going to suffer the absolute

worst punishment possible.

That will be reserved for someone else.

I guess they might call that good news.

Things could be worse.

When the Good News is upbeat and joyous we're quick to recognize

That Jesus’ words in the Gospels are not directed to only

The people present at that time and place.

His words are directed to all of us.

And to each of us.

So, we have to recognize that today too.

But why does he talk to us like this?

Why does he reproach us?

We weren’t there in the crowds at Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum

When Jesus worked his miracles.

But he’s shown us just as much or more.

We know of the Resurrection.

We know that his word has spread throughout the world

And is still spreading after 2000 years.

Sometimes we need a bit of jolt to get us moving forward.

It’s too easy to become complacent.

Too easy to presume that we’re among the chosen people

And that we’re doing just fine.

That we don’t need to do any more than what we’ve been doing.

Jesus’ reproach is a reminder that he has given us much.

And from those who have been given much

Much is expected.

Addressing us as whole-city groups reminds us that

We each share in the responsibility to advance our community.

Our nation, our world.

I don’t think St Bonaventure would mind.

In fact, I think he would be quite pleased.

If today we turn our attention away from him 

And toward Jesus’ message.

Tuesday, 15th Week of  Ordinary Time

Mt 11:20-24          Read this Scripture @usccb.org

We Already Know the Answer

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages.

Teaching, healing and spreading the Good News.

Then he said to his disciples,

The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;so ask the master of the harvestto send out laborers for his harvest.

He’s telling them to pray to God to send out more laborers.

How does that jive with his instructions when they once asked him to teach them to pray?

Then he said, Don’t babble on; God already knows what you need.

And he taught them the Our Father.

God does indeed already know what we need.

So why ask him?

Well, for one thing, putting our request into words helps us.

When we work at forming the request we better understand our need.

And talking to God about it helps us to put it in perspective.

Ideally, through our continued prayer and request and reflection and listening,

We rise to the level of spirit that Jesus taught us in the Our Father.

A level where we can conform our request to God’s will and honestly say – Thy will be done.

Surely, Jesus’ faithful disciples listened to him.

And when he told them to ask God to send out laborers, surely they did just that.

They probably prayed that very day.

They probably prayed extra hard—please God, send out laborers.

And God answered their prayer.

He already knew what was needed.

But their praying helped prepare them for the answer they got.

Helped them to conform themselves to His will.

We all know that we still need more laborers today.

So, we still need to pray that God will send out more people to carry the Good News to the world.

Of course, God already knows that we still need more laborers.

And he will answer our prayer.

But our praying will help us hear His answer.

Help us conform to His will.

And act on His answer.

Actually, we already know His answer.

But our prayer can help us listen more, and understand more, and conform more.

It’s the same answer he gave those faithful disciples 2000 years ago.

The faithful disciples prayed for God to send out more laborers.

And He did.

He sent them.

Tuesday, 14th Week of  Ordinary Time

Mt 9:32-38          Read this Scripture @usccb.org