Righteous

One night, years ago, a singing duo named the Paramours gave a concert.

At the end, someone in the crowd shouted to them—

That was righteous, brothers!

That shouted praise caught the duo’s imagination.

They decided to adopt that term; to embrace it.

They decided to become—the Righteous Brothers.

Many of us were there, and remember their years at the top of the charts.

The rest of us have probably at least heard some of their biggest hits.

Like Unchained Melody and You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.

Their music was referred to as blue-eyed soul.

Music by white artists with an emotional, rhythm-and-blues style.

A style more often associated with black artists.

A style with black-gospel-music roots.

When we follow those roots to the Gospels themselves, to the Bible,

We again find that term, righteous.

In today’s reading, it’s applied to our patron, St. Joseph.

Joseph doesn’t get a lot of coverage in the Bible.

Certainly not as much as say, Peter ... Paul ... and Mary.

But among those four great saints,

Joseph is the one who’s introduced as being righteous.

He’s one of the few people in the whole Bible 
Who is declared to be righteous.

Although, when we look at the meaning of the word,

We see that Mary was even more righteous than Joseph.

And St Peter and St Paul eventually achieved righteousness too.

But we most often associate that word with Joseph.

The word righteous comes in and out of vogue as a popular slang term.

Along the lines of: cool, radical and awesome.

It’s used to mean something like: excellent or extraordinary.

That’s no doubt the meaning that the shouting concert-goer had in mind.

Some more formal meanings are:

In accord with moral or divine law.

Free from guilt or sin.

Morally right, upright, virtuous.

Holy, pure, right with God.

One longer definition is:

Extreme perfection bordering on divinity

That bestows moral authority upon the subject.

Those ideas of near perfection and bordering on divinity

Seem very apt in describing St Joseph.

He was near perfection and bordering on divinity in a number of ways.

Literally, figuratively, physically, spiritually and virtuously.

Joseph spoke to God in prayer.

He listened to God’s word in Scripture.

He listened for God’s word in daily life and prayer.

He developed a spiritual nearness to God—
And that’s a nearness to perfection.

Because God is perfection.

Joseph also reached a state of near-perfection in his own personal virtue.

The Gospel’s declaration that he was a righteous man testifies to that.

We see that he tried to act in accord with moral and divine law.

That he worked to be virtuous, upright, holy, and right with God.

That’s why God chose him for his extraordinary mission in life.

That’s why God sent Gabriel to call him to that mission.

That’s why Joseph was able to hear Gabriel

And recognize the dream as a true calling from God.

Then, by taking Mary into his home, he became the foster father of Jesus.

And at that point Joseph became quite literally and physically 
Near perfection.

Physically near Jesus, who is God, who is perfection.

And finally, Joseph entered into heaven,

Where he’ll be near perfection for eternity.

Spiritually near as well as physically near.

How did Joseph, that poor carpenter, achieve all this?

It was through preparation, commitment and, of course, the gift of grace.

We know from our own experience, 

We can’t approach perfection without effort.

It takes practice and preparation.

This Advent is a special time of preparation.

Our time to draw nearer to that perfection that is God.

To accentuate that divinity that already dwells within us.

Our time to commit to strengthening our virtue.

To build on those gifts of grace that are so generously given to us.

To renew our efforts at becoming more nearly-perfect people.

It’s a time to let righteousness capture our imagination.

A time to adopt and embrace it for ourselves.

To enter a cycle of righteousness.

As we draw closer to God we become more righteous.

And as we become more righteous we draw closer to God.

We’re all called to righteousness.

And it’s actually something within our reach.

It’s not absolute perfection, it’s near perfection.

And we can grow in righteousness the same way Joseph did.

Speaking to God in prayer.

Listening to God’s word in Scripture.

And listening for God’s word in our daily life—and in our nightly dreams.

4th Sunday of Advent

Mt 1:18-24   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Kings

Three thousand years ago, the Jews decided that they wanted a king.

They were impressed with their neighbors’ kings.

And they wanted Israel to have one too.

God was not pleased with their desire for a human king.

He was already their King, why should they want another one?

But he let them have one.

He led the prophet Samuel out on the search.

Samuel found Saul, and anointed him king.

A few decades later Saul had to be replaced, and Samuel anointed David.

God had been the perfect King.

But the Jews didn’t follow him perfectly.

Maybe it was just too hard for the average Jew on the street.

God’s Kingship had to seem quite indirect, impersonal and abstract.

Saul and David—and all their successors—were more concrete.

But they were far from perfect.

So, God sent Israel a perfect human king.

The Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One—Jesus.

Here was perfection, delivered in a concrete, in-the-flesh King.

The people could see him, hear him, and deal with him directly.

And follow his example.

But most didn’t acknowledge him as king.

On Good Friday, Pontius Pilate asked him if he was a king.

Jesus responded that his Kingdom is not of this world.

As he hung on the cross, the sign over his head said King of the Jews.

But that was just Pilate’s jab at King Herod and the Jewish leaders.

They had already rejected him.

Throughout history, there have been thousands of worldly kings.

As well as chancellors, premiers, presidents, and other-titled leaders.

Some have even claimed a touch of divinity.

Some have been bad, some have been good—even saintly.

But none has ever been perfect.

None, except Christ the King.

In him, God returned as our King.

Because Jesus is both God and man.

Fully God and fully man.

He’s no longer walking among us in-the-flesh.

But he left us his example.

And he left his Spirit within us.

And he’s called us to acknowledge him as King.

To give proper honor to God, through him.

And to follow his example in caring for his people.

At baptism we were anointed and told to

Live always like Christ who was anointed priest, prophet and king.

We’re told to take up that regal responsibility for our people.

And who are our people?

Our families, our friends, our neighbors, our fellow Americans,

Our fellow citizens of the world, our fellow children of God. 

Everyone.

We have greater responsibility to those closer to us.

But ultimately we have responsibility for everyone.

We’re to be the kings and queens looking out for their welfare.

Giving ourselves for our people, just as Jesus gave himself for his people.

So we have this feast to call attention to our King,

And to our call to imitate him.

The Church has always proclaimed Christ as King.

But this special feast is relatively new.

It was declared in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.

At a time when the world was becoming 

Increasingly secular and materialistic.

And Church freedom was threatened 

By secular and atheistic governments.

It’s a reminder that we’re all called to serve  

A higher—other worldly—authority.

Even more recently, in 1969, Pope Paul VI made some adjustments.

The formal name for this Feast of Christ the King was changed to,

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

He’s not just King of the Jews, or King of Christians.

He’s King of the universe.

The universe that—in his Divine nature as God the Son—

He himself created.

The date for celebrating the feast was also changed.

It was moved to this final Sunday of the liturgical year.

(Next Sunday we begin a new year with Advent.)

It was moved to stress the relationship between Jesus’ Kingship

And the final coming of his Kingdom at the end of time.

It was moved to this final Sunday because this year-end time

Is an excellent time to step back and review our year.

And to assess it in the context of how well we’ve done 

In following our King.

So let’s take advantage of these few remaining days, let’s ask ourselves:

How well am I honoring my God?

How well am I serving my people?

34th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Feast of Christ the King

Lk 23:35-43   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Election

It seems like everyone is tense and anxious about the election.

But by Tuesday night it should all be over.

Then, hopefully, we’ll be past the worst election campaign season

We’ll ever have to experience.

Tens of millions of us will then heave a sigh of relief.

Feeling that disaster has been averted.

But other tens of millions of us will feel that the disaster has struck.

They’ll remain anxious, and perhaps deeply bitter.

So, the next few years will be full of talk of impeachment, prosecutions,

Law suits, investigations, and stubborn opposition.

Exaggeration and outright lies will continue to work against Truth.

Rancorous division will continue to work against cooperation.

And against the common good.

Such is life in one of the greatest, wealthiest, most free, most blessed

Countries in the history of this world.

We’ll continue to have many good things, many causes for joy.

But this cloud of division will continue to darken our future.

By the standards of this world, 

Maybe just being under a cloud is not so bad.

We see so many other countries where things are far worse.

Where the divisions have already festered into oppression, poverty,

Misery, destruction, war and death.

Thank God we can look past all that to some ultimate Good News.

In the end, there’s a perfect world awaiting us.

After death, there’s resurrection to new life in that perfect world.

And we can hope to share in it.

Where did we get this idea that there’s life after death—

A perfect world after this one?

How can we know that?

Only through revelation from God.

Ultimately, we get the greatest detail and greatest assurance from Jesus.

But the Jews believed in resurrection long before Jesus came.

As we see in the Old Testament story of the mother and her seven sons. They accept torture and death, confident that they will be resurrected.

But not all Jews believed.

The Sadducees didn’t believe.

So they dispute it with their question about the widow

And her long procession of dying husbands.

But Jesus firmly states that there is indeed a resurrection.

And that knowledge of it extended back to at least 1400 BC with Moses.

Clearly, Catholics believe there is a resurrection.

It’s right there in our creed.

A fundamental tenet of our beliefs.

In our Nicene Creed we merely say we believe in

The resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

We get more specific in the Apostles’ Creed where we say

We believe in the resurrection of the body.

What will that after-life be like?

Jesus adds some detail in today’s Gospel.

He says that after the resurrection we’ll no longer marry.

He says we’ll be like angels.

Maybe that’s where some people get the idea that we’ll be angels.

But that’s not what he said.

He said we’ll be like angels—in that we’ll never die again.

Elsewhere, Jesus has revealed more.

Unlike angels, we’ll have bodies—glorified bodies, perfect bodies.

Bodies like the one he had after his resurrection.

A body that could eat and drink but didn’t need to.

A body that could appear and disappear, pass through walls and doors.

Move instantly from place to place.

Beam me up!

Jesus also told us there are many rooms in his Father’s house.

That he’s gone to prepare a place for us.

That we should store up treasures in Heaven.

And many other things that have shaped our vision of the next world.

---

If we’re going to obsess over an election.

Let it be not over Campaign 2016 and the election of our people to office.

Yes, getting good leaders in office is important—very important.

But there’s an even more important election.

God’s election of all our people to eternal life.

Where our people are: ourselves, our families, 

Our friends, our neighbors.

And also our enemies, and the whole world.

We do need to work to fix this world.

And if we work in truth, love of God and neighbor, and mercy—

We will help to fix it.

And by those same acts, we’ll also fulfill our service as God’s elect.

And, with His mercy, fix our place in the next world.

One way to stay focused on that next world is to step back from this one.

To frequently take time out and imagine what Heaven will be like.

Using the clues that we’ve been given.

We should make our images as magnificent as we can envision.

Throwing in everything we can think of to create total joy and happiness.

Meeting God, understanding everything, 

Reuniting with all our loved ones.

We should see Heaven as a real place.

A place we’d do everything we possibly can to reach.

Because it is a real place.

The details of our imaginings will prove to be inaccurate—but that’s fine.

Because no matter how grandly we’ve imagined, we’ll have understated.

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Lk 20:27-38   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

What Is Truth?

Be persistent

That’s one clear message of today’s Scripture readings.

Be persistent in action.

Including prayer.

Moses persisted, raising his hands in a prayerful gesture to God.

His arms grew tired, but he found a way to keep them raised.

Until the victory was won.

The widow persisted with the judge until she got what she wanted.

Jesus spells out his explanation of the story.

He’s instructing us to persistently pray to God.

To call out to Him day and night.

And in particular to pray for justice.

To pray for Truth.

You can’t have justice without truth.

Today’s second reading, that letter to Timothy,

Picks up the theme of persistence.

Persistence in spreading the word.

Convince, reprimand, encourage, teach.

An apt message for today—World Mission Sunday.

A day to renew our commitment to help spread the word of God.

To spread it throughout the whole world.

So that everyone can enjoy the fruits of Truth and Justice.

Jesus asked if, when he comes again, he’ll find faith on earth.

He will, if we do our part—if we act and persist.

Prayer is faith in action.

Evangelization is faith in action.

Promoting truth and justice is faith in action.

Truth is at the root of faith.

And at the root of all those actions.

Of course, the greatest truth is that ultimate truth of the Good News.

We have a God who loves us.

Loves us so much that he became one of us to redeem us.

So that we can have eternal life.

Truth is a basic necessity for us.

Something we humans instinctively seek.

How important is Truth?

Jesus said that he himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

And there are also many other lesser but still important truths.

Truths about the world around us.

Truths about actions and events and people.

Truth has always been obscured by lack of knowledge. 
As Pontius Pilate said to Jesus:  What is truth?

And truth has always been attacked by lies.
But today, truth seems to be under more persistent attack than ever.

Maybe because communication is so much easier.

Anyone can spread lies, worldwide, on the Internet and social media.

We’ve gone beyond the spin doctors,

Who twist the truth to cast facts in the best possible light.

We’re now flooded with completely false, unfounded, claims.

Fully intentional lies.

That don’t have even a twisted kernel of truth within them.

Any time our society has an important issue to address,

Intentional, absolute lies are spoken and published and spread.

And they obscure and interfere with the honest discussion of the issue.

They delay, or even prevent, our reaching a just decision.

They deepen the division between those holding opposing views.

And they deepen the bitterness of the group that loses on that issue.

Taking part in spreading those intentional lies is a truly evil act.

This year’s election highlights the depths to which some will stoop.
I'm not talking as much about the candidates themselves,
As their most outrageous supporters and attackers.

Their lies are not only immoral, but an all-out attack on democracy.

A successful democracy needs a well-informed electorate.

But citizens can’t be well-informed when they’re misled.

Or overwhelmed trying to weed out so many lies from the truths.

In the past, most people relied on trusted news sources.

We knew those sources were imperfect, we knew they had biases.

But they were bound by at least some ethics and rules.

Corporate reputations and individual careers were at stake.

It would take a lot of effort and a lot of risk to spread the big lie.

Now, the Internet and social media provide great ease and no controls.

And evil people take full advantage of that.

They go for high volume.

It’s like a mental denial-of-service attack.

Sometimes they don’t even bother to make their lies plausible.

A recent poll showed that for many 18-24-year-olds,

Facebook is their primary news source.

That’s about as unfiltered an environment as you can find.

Maybe I’m not giving people enough credit for weeding out patent lies.

But I’ve seen plenty of people, of all ages,

Reposting and spreading the most unbelievable lies.

Lies they could have debunked with just the slightest investigation.

So what are we to do?

How can we help bring truth and justice to our country?

And to the whole world?

Where is Superman when we need him?

He once led the fight for Truth, Justice and the American Way.

One thing we can do is be careful not to become part of the problem. 
Be careful about what we post and forward and endorse.

Also, there are some organizations known as fact checkers.

They might help.

Google just implemented a fact-check feature for items posted on its site.

But who will check the fact checkers?

Ultimately it comes down to each of us, individually.

We have to carefully exercise our discretion.

We have to recognize and acknowledge the indispensable value of truth.

And the destructiveness of lies.

And act accordingly, persist in seeking and promoting the truth.

If we persist individually, we can have great impact collectively.

With truth and justice as our guiding principles, 

We can change the world.

As Americans persisting in truth and justice,

We can build our country into a model world citizen 

That others might copy.

As Christians persisting in truth and justice,

We can build the moral authority that will lead others to listen to us.

During the next few weeks we’ll each have the opportunity to vote

In our country’s elections.

We’ll each have to rely on our own well-formed conscience.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops offers us some basic guidance.

You can find it at usccb.org.

Individual bishops will, like us, be making their own different decisions.

But their basic guidance is this:

We strongly urge all parishioners to register, to become informed on key issues, and to vote. The Church does not support or oppose any candidate, but seeks to focus attention on the moral and human dimensions of issues.

As we prepare to cast our important votes,

Let’s persist in our prayers.

And on this World Mission Sunday,

Let’s ask God to guide us and to give truth and justice—and mercy—

Not only to us, but to the whole world.

And let’s commit to be disciples who will persist in spreading those gifts.

29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Lk 18:1-8   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Builders

We all know we’re not perfect.

We all have interior problems.

Interior shortcomings and defects.

We all know we don’t fully measure up to what God wants us to be.

And we all know that it’s what inside that really counts.

So, how can we become clean inside?

How can we become righteous?

St Paul tells the Galatians—and us—that it’s not through the law.

That is, it’s not through obsession with every minor rule and ritual.

But only by faith working through love.

Paul was echoing  Jesus’ similar message to the Pharisees—and us.

Don’t focus on the external.

Don’t neglect the critically important while you obsess with the minutia.

And what’s critically important is:

Give alms and everything will be clean for you.

It's not the minutia of the law.

It's love of neighbor—and, through that, love of God.

Give alms—that’s the proof of caring, the proof of love.

Let’s give our precious dollars to those who need them.

But alms aren’t limited to just dollars or material goods.

Let’s give our precious time to those who need it.

Let’s give our precious talent to those who need it.

And let’s give respect always to everyone.

Let’s give mercy when it's needed.

Today, disrespect for each other—and for truth—is rampant.

Look at the state of our political discourse.

Look at the hate and lies people post in anti-social media.

Jesus came to reconcile us to one another and to the Father.

He said, Blessed are the peacemakers.

He said, Love one another as I have loved you.

He established the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

But he left it to us to continue building that kingdom.

We’re really needed out there.

Let’s be builders.

Tuesday, 28th Week of Ordinary Time

Lk 11:37-41   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Listen

Did you hear all that?

Our readings today were all about listening.

Listening and being changed and then acting.

Saul was an up-and-coming Pharisee.

Progressing beyond many of his contemporaries.

A zealot persecuting the Christians.

Until he heard that voice of God, calling him to change.

His message was delivered far more dramatically than most.

God spoke aloud, knocked him to the ground, and struck him blind.

And Paul listened, and turned 180 degrees.

He went into the desert for three more years of listening and instruction.

Our Psalm response repeatedly prayed that God would speak to us.

And that we would listen, hear and follow.

Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Mary sat beside the Lord at his feet, listening to him speak.

She was already listening.

She didn’t have to change in that regard.

She had already chosen the better part.

But Martha—she did need to hear Jesus’ direct call to change.

A call to recognize how important it is to make time to listen.

The saint we honor today, St Francis of Assisi, was also a good listener.

And faithful in changing and acting on what he heard.

As a wealthy young man, he enjoyed partying

And the finer material things of life.

But in his early twenties he was stricken with a fever.

And began to hear messages in his dreams.

Messages calling him to change, to follow Christ.

He followed that call to a spiritual life; a life of total poverty.

At different times he lived in seclusion and in community.

He labored along side the poor, he gave away all he owned.
And he begged.

He founded three religious orders.

He moved about, repairing and living in churches, or in caves or huts.

He traveled as a missionary.

He constantly listened for God’s guidance.

And did his best to follow wherever it led.

Adjusting his course whenever necessary to better serve God.

Each of us should step back every now and then and ask ourselves:

Am I really listening?

Is God calling me to change something, to take some action?

We may not physically hear and see Jesus like Mary and Martha did.

We probably don’t even want an encounter like Paul’s.

But surely we will have dreams or hear that inner voice like Francis did.

The messages will be there for us, if we listen carefully.

And as our Gospel acclamation affirmed today:

Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.

Tuesday, 27th Week of Ordinary Time

Lk 10:38-42   Read this Scripture @usccb.org