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

Saved

Most mornings, my friend Dave stops by his neighborhood McDonalds.

He joins some other retired friends for a cup of coffee and a little conversation.

Another fellow, Larry, often joined the group.

After being absent for a couple weeks, Larry stopped by their table one morning.

He said he’d been in the hospital.

And added, You won’t be seeing me much anymore, I’m going away soon.

Dave was pretty sure he meant he was dying.

But he asked anyway, Where you going Larry?

Larry said, I’m going to Hell.

He didn’t say it like he was trying to make some kind of a joke.

He said it like he meant it.

And he turned and left.

All that day, Dave was haunted by those words.

So that evening he called Larry.

He asked him if he was serious.

Larry said he was.

Dave told him how sad he felt to hear him say that.

And assured him that no one has to go to Hell.

Larry said that he really did.

He’d done some awful things in his life and it was too late to make up for them now.

He was resigned to his fate.

They talked for quite a while, and Dave finally convinced him that it wasn’t too late.

He told Larry that Jesus saved us all, and that he wants us to join him in Heaven.

And he led Larry in reciting the Sinner’s Prayer.

A prayer where you ask Jesus to forgive you and you promise to follow him in the future.

As it turned out, Larry’s future in this life was only a few more weeks.

But he spent them in reconciliation and thanksgiving and peace.

As you might have guessed from that unfamiliar Sinner’s Prayer,

Dave’s not a Catholic, he’s an Evangelical Christian.

And as he told me this story over breakfast one day, I had to think,

You’re a better disciple than I am.

Or at least a better evangelist.

In our Gospel today, Matthew tells of the terrifying storm at sea.

The disciples in the boat with Jesus were sure they were going to die.

In Mark's Gospel he tells us that other boats were with them too.

All were caught in the sudden storm, all were sure they were doomed.

And Jesus saved them all.

Some disciples were privileged enough to be in that same boat with Jesus.

And when he calmed the sea they were right there to see him do it.

They knew that it was Jesus who saved them.

Those in the other boats didn’t know precisely what had happened.

They knew they were being tossed about in a deadly storm.

And that it suddenly ended.

But they didn’t know how that came to pass.

All storms eventually come to an end.

Perhaps this ending was just unusually sudden.

Perhaps it was just a lull, and they would soon be tossed about again.

Maybe some were close enough that those on Jesus’ boat could shout to them.

And tell them that they were indeed now safe, and that it was Jesus who had saved them.

Maybe word passed from boat to boat.

But most likely, some didn’t get the word until they reached the very end of the voyage.

These different boats are not unlike the different groups among the People of God.

There’s a Vatican II document, Lumen Gentium, The Light of the World.

It describes the People of God and speaks of their salvation. (Ch II, 14-16)

It says that,

At all times and in every race

God welcomes all who fear Him and do what is right.

But He wants to bring men together as one people.

A people that acknowledges Him and serves Him.

All are called to be part of this unity – this People of God.

And all who strive to live a good life are part of it.

This doesn’t mean that all Churches are equal.

They’re not.

Catholics are fully incorporated into the People of God.

We’re the privileged disciples right there in the boat with Jesus.

Baptized Christians are described as closely linked.

Their boat is right beside his.

Others are described as related in various ways.

Jews still have their covenant with God.

Their boat is nearby.

Mohamedans adore the one true God, the God of Abraham.

Their boat is not far off.

More distant, but still within the voyager group are the boats of

Those who acknowledge the Creator,

Those who seek an unknown God in shadows and images,

And even those who have no explicit knowledge of God.

Lumen Gentium goes on to address the good news of salvation.

It says that salvation is available to everyone in any of those groups.

So long as they do strive to live a good life –

In accordance with their conscience and what has been revealed to them.

It also highlights that one most reassuring, most hope-building truth –

God wills that everyone be saved.

We all have some concerns or fears regarding salvation.

If not for ourselves, then for some family member or friend.

Or even for people we don’t personally know.

But so long as they’re onboard one of the boats, they’re not in the most grave danger.

Those in the gravest danger are those who have fallen overboard.

Those who aren’t striving to live a good life.

We want to help them, but we’re not always sure how to go about it.

We’re not sure we’re up to the task.

But, our privileged position in Jesus’ own boat

Gives us the solid base we need.

We can reach out and help them.

Maybe by just providing a good example for them.

Or by praying for them.

Or maybe by taking some more direct action.

Like Dave did for Larry.

It’s important that we do our part.

But it’s also important to remember –

Especially when we’re lacking the confidence to act –

That ultimately, it’s Jesus who saves us all.

Tuesday, 13th Week of  Ordinary Time

Mt 8:23-27          Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Great Expectations

What then will this child be?

Today we celebrate a rare type of Feast.

The Feast of the Nativity, the birth, of a saint.

We usually celebrate the day of a saint's entry into heaven—their death.

The only Nativities we celebrate are those of Jesus and Mary.

And this one other special saint, John the Baptist.

There are particularly wondrous circumstances surrounding John’s birth.

It's a time of new beginnings.

A time of Great Expecations.

And John's life measures up to those expectations.

Jesus himself would say, no man on earth was greater than John.

That question raised at John's birth is a good one to contemplate.

It’s a question we raise when each child is born.

It’s a question that was raised when each of us were born.

What then will this child be?

We may think that question’s already been answered

With regard to ourselves.

We’ve been around for quite some time.

We're pretty set in our ways.

But no matter how many decades we’ve logged.

We’re still God’s children.

We're still works in progress.

None of us here have yet finished our journey.

We can always find a few things to improve.

A few things to draw ourselves closer to God.

And we still have time.

We all have a constant opportunity to make a new beginning.

And today is a good time to ask ourselves,

About ourselves,

What then will this child be?

Nativity of John the Baptist

Lk 1:57-66          Read this Scripture @usccb.org

A Tale of Two Cities

This morning I’d like to talk a bit about history and geography and literature - A Tale of Two Cities—Corpus Christi and Sacramento. With names like those, you might think the U.S. was a very religious country indeed. But those names were given when the cities were part of Mexico, when the Spanish missionaries and explorers were “discovering" the West. All those great religious Spanish city names are now part of our secular culture and when we hear them we don’t often think of their roots—Corpus Christi, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica.

That doesn’t mean that we’ve fully forgotten those religious roots—it’s just to note that those names have taken on a new, more common and familiar usage. And unless the context clearly points us in some other direction, they merely raise in our minds the image of a place. This is equally true of other city names with meaningful secular roots, like Washington or Cincinnati. Once something becomes very familiar we don’t often think about it too deeply.

And, the Spanish and the West had no monopoly on religious names for U.S. places. Heading back east we have name like St. Paul, St. Louis, and Santa Monica’s Floridian son, St. Augustine, and even the state, Maryland.

Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi. And many people might assume that means they’re having a big parade in Texas – a special celebration of their city. Actually, the city got its name from this Feast. One day in the 1500’s a Spanish explorer sailed into a great bay off the coast of what we now call Texas. And, being one of those holy Spaniards, he was aware that it was the day of the Feast of Corpus Christi, and he named the bay after that Feast. A few hundred years later, another holy Spanish sailor was exploring the inland waterways of California. He came upon a new river, or one that was at least new to him, and, following precedent, he pulled out his liturgical calendar and noted that it was the Day of the Holy Sacrament, or as his Spanish calendar said, Sacramento. He named the river the Sacramento River (and that name stuck, even though another Spanish explorer had discovered it many years earlier and, evidently finding himself without a liturgical calendar, had named it simply the Jesu Maria.)

Eventually, a city sprang up by each of those waterways, and each of those two cities took the name of its nearby water. Actually, the Day of the Holy Sacrament and the Feast of Corpus Christi are the very same Feast. So, we have two major US cities named after this holy day.

Whatever they may be doing on the secular front in Corpus Christi and Sacramento today, we are having a special celebration here on Capitol Hill. We’re in the midst of it right now. It’s a celebration we have right here every week; actually every day, and actually more than once on most days. And today, along with all the Catholics at all the Masses around the world, we draw a special focus to this particular Feast as we observe it in our every-day but always-special celebration.

What is this Feast all about, what does the term Corpus Christi mean? We’ll, I’m old enough to remember the Latin Mass. We would kneel here, all along this bottom step where the communion rail used to be. The priest (and no one but the priest) would carry the ciborium and work his way along the inside of the rail placing a host on each outstretched tongue, with the alter boy poised each time to catch that host on the paten if there should be a fumble. And each time the priest presented the host he would say – “Corpus Christi”.

Of course, we do the same thing today. We just do it a little differently. The trappings of the sacrament can change so long as the essential elements remain intact. Now, we’ve abandoned the Communion rail, we can receive the host in our hand, and the priest (or other minister) speaks to us in English and he (or she) says “The Body of Christ.” So, at a simple level, and as all you Latin speakers already knew, “Corpus Christi” just means the “Body of Christ.” And what we’re celebrating today is that we have this special sacrament; the Holy Sacrament, as they might say along the Sacramento Valley.

Our readings today give us more background regarding this most holy sacrament. In our first reading, Moses tells the Jews that the reason God tested them in the desert for 40 years was to see if they would continue to follow Him and His commandments. He let them be afflicted with hunger, but then he gave them manna from heaven – food that was unknown to their fathers. And this was to show them that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. In our next reading, Paul tells the Corinthians, and us, that the bread and the wine are our participation in the body and blood of Christ.

And finally in John’s Gospel, Jesus, the fulfillment of the Old Testament, tells the Jews that he is the unknown food, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven ... Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life ... For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” Jesus was talking to a large crowd, many were already his followers and some had been disciples for a long time. But they were shocked by his words.

It was blasphemy; and maybe even a call to cannibalism — gruesome and sinful. Cannibalism is always shocking and notorious (though not necessarily depraved.) Remember the Argentine air crash a few decades ago when young athletes lost in the frozen Andes resorted to cannibalism? Remember the stories of the Donner Party, trapped in the frozen storms of the Sierra Nevadas over a century ago?—they had almost made it to Sacramento.

As shocking as those events were to our more modern world, Jesus’ words were even more shocking to his followers. It was too much for many of them to bear. Despite all the miracles they had seen or heard about, despite all his other brilliant teachings. This was more than they could accept. So, they left him. They didn’t have sufficient faith or trust to follow him, to be confident that he was not leading them astray. If this was a test, like the one with Moses in the desert, they failed.

But others had stronger faith in Jesus and they trusted him and continued to follow him. Of course, we know now that Jesus didn’t mean that they should literally devour his human body. Jesus had a much more palatable plan in mind for how we could eat his flesh and drink his blood. He would make it available in a most basic, familiar, pleasing and universal form—bread and wine.

At the last supper he took the bread and said “This is my body” and the wine and said “This is my blood”. He showed the apostles how it was that his body and blood could be available to them and consumed by them in a very proper and tasteful way. It was at this point that Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Now, I’d like to explain to you exactly how this works. How, while retaining the appearance and all the physical characteristics of bread and wine, the substance of those foods is changed into the body and blood of Christ. I really would like to. But unfortunately, I can’t explain it. It’s a mystery, and it’s one that has been debated through the centuries. Most Protestants reject the belief that this change in substance, this transubstantiation, really occurs. And unfortunately, many Catholics, if pressed, will say they have some doubts as well. But that’s how it is with mysteries, you can’t fully understand, or prove, or demonstrate their truth. Some can accept it on faith, others cannot.

It’s not hard to understand how some people would have difficulty believing that the bread and wine are changed in substance and that, though they still appear to be bread and wine, they become in true fact the body and blood of Christ. That’s a pretty bold belief. But the Catholic Church is clear in its teaching that the change in substance truly does occur.

Part of the proper disposition for receiving Communion, besides being in the state of grace, is believing in the true presence of Christ in the Sacrament – presence in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. We don’t have to understand it, but we do have to believe it. When the minister says “The Body of Christ”, we have to say “Amen”, meaning “so be it” or “I believe it.” How fully do we need to believe it? How strong does our faith have to be? None of us has perfect faith. We all have our times of doubt regarding one aspect or another of our faith. And the mystery of the Eucharist is surely one that can raise doubt.

The last thing I’d want to do is to discourage anyone from receiving Communion. But we really should think about, and appreciate, what we’re receiving. If we feel some question and some doubt, think about that, pray about that – that is talk to God about that. But in that questioning and praying, we need to be patient, we can’t be too hard on ourselves. We need to understand that we’ll never understand. We don’t want to put ourselves in the Catch-22 situation of thinking that we shouldn’t receive Communion because our faith is too weak, while what we need most is the grace of that Sacrament to increase our faith.

In just a few minutes, we’re going to start that part of the Mass called the Liturgy of the Eucharist. A few of our congregation will bring up a gift offering—bread and wine, “which earth has given and human hands have made,” part of our human participation in the great mystery we’re about to enter. I’ll mix a few drops of water, representing us, into the wine and ask God that we be able to share in the divinity of Christ as he humbled himself to share in our humanity. Father Charles will lead us in calling down the Holy Spirit on those gifts and changing their substance to the body and blood of Christ, and asking God to accept our offering. God, who is not bound by time, will then open up a window through time, and He’ll see us all present with each other and with Jesus at that point in eternity when he sacrifices himself to the Father for us. And we’ll all offer ourselves along with him as part of that sacrifice.

Most of us have done this a thousand times before. And maybe we’ve let it become a bit automatic, a bit reflexive, too common, too familiar; like hearing “Los Angeles” and having no thought of angels. Maybe we haven’t been participating at our peak. Today, on this Feast of the Holy Sacrament, Corpus Christi, let’s remember the awe of our first communion, let's be very deliberate, let's be fully appreciative of this greatest of gifts that God has given us.

Are you ready?

Let’s do it!

The Feast of Corpus Christi

Jn 6: 51-58          Read this Scripture @usccb.org