The Bishop As Teacher

A few weeks ago we had a pleasant surprise.  I knew about it in advance but only a handful of our people knew.  The “secrecy” was at the request of the Bishop.  He was our surprise visitor and he did not want to be a distraction from the normal Sunday routine.  It was Divine Mercy Sunday and that commanded our attention.  It is, however, impossible to look the other way when the Bishop comes to visit.

So, what is it about, this “apostolic man” that commands so much attention?  Some would claim that it is an ordinary charism, a sort of administrative excellence that has called him to a position of higher authority.  But it has to be more than that.  Charisms are not ordinary.  By nature they are among the spiritual gifts and unusual. 

While the Bishop is called to a life of administering the temporal affairs of a diocese there are spiritual duties that benefit the whole Church.  First, the Bishop is a teacher.  We might imagine that this involves a chalk board and a lecture hall.  In fact it is not merely the employment of modern teaching tools that makes a Bishop a teacher (even though the Bishop has an excellent blog.)  The goal includes more than this.  It is also directed at protecting the faith.  He is to guard the purity of Catholic doctrine.  Since every Bishop has this task it is the voice of the Holy Father, the Pope that keeps the common voice clear.  As well, the Bishop has the awesome task of teaching this faith to every member of the Diocese.  Obviously, this is something that is delegated, but not completely.

In exercising their duty of teaching-which is conspicuous among the principal duties of bishops-they should announce the Gospel of Christ to men, calling them to a faith in the power of the Spirit or confirming them in a living faith. They should expound the whole mystery of Christ to them, namely, those truths the ignorance of which is ignorance of Christ. At the same time they should point out the divinely revealed way to give glory to God and thereby to attain to eternal happiness. (Christus Dominus, Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops, 2,12)

The Bishop is to guard the morals of those placed in his charge.  This means that he is to see that the people live a disciplined, orderly life and that they celebrate the sacraments properly.  We look to the Bishop, his cathedral church, to see how we are to live.  As well, the Bishop is to live in his diocese and to visit the parishes regularly.

The peace of the Diocese is greatly dependent on the teaching skill of the Bishop.  How wonderful it is to see the fruit of his work.

"Wheresoever, the bishop appears, there let the people be, even as wheresoever Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."  Ignatius of Antioch, From the Letter to the Church at Smyrna.

Money and the Passion

It would not be an accurate assessment of the role of money to deem it simply evil.  The proper ownership of property is something attested to by Scripture.  There are times when this is dramatic and emotional.  Once, Jesus instructed Peter to catch a fish and take from its mouth two coins.  With this, Peter would be able to pay the temple tax, something that every male in Judea was responsible to do:

As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were overwhelmed with grief. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes,” he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?” When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.” (Mat 17:22-27)

This may seem like merely an odd story, but look at it from a different vantage point.  Peter had, according to his own admission, given up all that he had.  His little fishing business was a respectable enterprise and one that proved the joyful struggle of his ownership of a small business.  To take away from this was not a relief.  He has provided for his family, though there is little said in the New Testament concerning this.

The little passage above reminds us that the honorable payment of a debt was something of concern to Peter. The fact that Jesus pays the debt through this miraculous event should be seen as containing the affection of Jesus for Peter.  Some have seen this as exempting some from the obligation of work, but that is something of a stretch.  Jesus could have easily said that work is a necessary evil, but even that makes little sense.  The fact that Jesus’ contemporaries knew him as a carpenter’s son gave a higher honor to work.

There is, of course, a problem.  Stretching back to the origin in the Garden of Eden, man has struggled with the sin of avarice -- the greed that springs from an extremely disordered desire for money.  We can easily see Adam’s sin as being a desire for power over his circumstances.  And then, in another Garden, we see another contest for the heart of Man.  As Jesus prayed, his disciples slept, not knowing that while they took their ease, a battle raged for the soul of Judas.
Thirty pieces of silver was all it took to send the innocent Savior to the gallows.  Was it worth thirty coins -- about four months of a skilled laborers’ wages?  My father used to tell me that the worse thing about money is that it burns a hole in your pocket and then it’s gone, with nothing to show for ever having had it.

Of course there is a sadness about Judas.  The story in the Bible presents him rather matter-of-factly.  He returns the money that he has already lost, before he brings it back.  For in the perpetual darkness of his soul, these coins found a familiar home.  No matter how we try to follow the twists and turns of a sin-sick soul, we end up in the same evil place.

So is everything lost?  Of course not!  The choices are so numerous that we cannot count them.  It is like wading across a swift river.  If you know the familiar placement of the rocks, you can accomplish getting to the other side.  Among everything that can be done to bring a sinner home, the most important is “right desire.”  It is the wanting to.  Remember the prodigal son?  It was at the point of remembering home that he turned around and began the slow and gradual ascent to the Father who awaited him with open arms.

We stand on the edge of the scene watching the son.  He stops from time to time and squints his eyes to see if he can see the Father.  He sits seemingly exhausted, and then he stands up, looks in our direction and hears the urging to return home to the Father’s house: “Throw the coins away.  Give them to the poor, and follow … me.”

Almsgiving

One of the three pillars of Lent is giving alms. This along with prayer and fasting constitutes the summary of our activity during this season. Of course, there are other things that constitute our focus. Confessing our sins, for example is premiere. Reaching out to those who long for our company, and many other such activities are all certainly part of the activity of the season. The giving of alms is highly praised in both the Old and the New Testament.

If one of your kindred is in need in any community in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand against your kin who is in need. Instead, you shall freely open your hand and generously lend what suffices to meet that need.  (Deuteronomy 15:7-8 NAB)

Here we can see one example of an ageless principal to be found everywhere in the Bible. The Israelites were to care for those who were poor. It was only fair that they would do so, since God was merciful to them. We should consider this carefully since it is a principal of justice and fairness. God will make firm what is just. We can see this in the word, “eleemosynary”. Its origin is in the description of a king, or some powerful person, who bends down to help someone in need. God has done this for us and we should follow his example to do the same. Jesus makes it a law, a rather dramatic law concerning the powerful helping the less than powerful:

Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you…”  (Matthew 5:41-44 NAB)

The account of the rich young man is quite to the point:

Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.  (Matthew 19:16-22 NAB)

I will pass on a little story that parallels this scene in Matthew’s Gospel. I am completely unsure of the truthfulness of this story and I probably should not pass it on, but I will … with the idea that someone may recognize it and prove it true … or false. We all know of the scene at the crucifixion of the rich young man who went away sad because his riches blinded him to the truth. Well as the story goes, the rich young man suffered a turn of fate in which he lost everything, including his wife and his family. The same thing happened to Job, who lost everything.

This got worse for the rich young man who turned to crime to survive. Once, there was an altercation in a bar that he frequented. There was a flash of steel and soon a capital offense could be added to his list of woes. As he lay in his jail cell awaiting execution for his crimes, he began to reminisce about the sad progression of events. Jesus had given him the promise of eternal life; all he needed to do was to follow Jesus. What greatness he could have enjoyed. The outcome of a person’s life cannot be predicted, save that to follow Jesus is in every way the satisfaction of the goal of our life.

Since every Christian story has a good ending this should as well. As the rich young man was motionless on his cross he heard a familiar voice. The mellow reassuring voice of Jesus could be made out amidst the taunts of the crowd and the moan of the two criminals. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus never forgets us or abandons us. “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Lent / Pope Benedict Resigns

Lent

The season of Lent has a past full of twists and turns.  Even in our time Lent is growing and changing.  This is partly because of the focus on those preparing for Baptism.  The Church has selected for them a noble manner for the process of conversion and of preparing for their Baptism, a preparation that occurs over many weeks.

Equally, there is a dramatic focus on our own continuing conversion.  Since Vatican II there has been a concern for the stability of the Church.  Some point to a deep need incumbent on the whole church to find our way back to the arms of the Church.  This expresses itself in a vision of the soul journeying to God.  The Prodigal Son is, of course, the perfect symbol of this movement during the season of Lent.  It is truly a season of the grace of conversion.  It might be helpful to look at this “moment of grace” again.  There is an incredible occurrence associated directly to the meaning of Lent: reconciliation.  The various names of the sacrament help us to see the richness of this celebration.  It is called “penance” to remind us that change is part of the response we have.  It is the human condition to need this change, to grow to improve.  Usually we are assigned a penance that includes saying a particular prayer.  It reminds us that God is the source of the healing that we seek in this sacrament. It is called “confession” because this is our part in the celebration of the sacrament.  However, even this is a good that we must attribute to God.  We should be cautious about this, cautious enough to know that all good has its origin in God.  Our proper response is to praise him and to thank him for rescuing us from our sins.

Pope Benedict Resigns

The news is full of the Catholic Church today.  Pope Benedict has announced that he will resign at the end of February.  We should rightly be sad that his ministry will conclude this way, with a broken and tired Bishop.  On the other hand, no matter what the news has to say, we have a secret joy that the Bishop has known suffering and been called to spend the last days in a different way.  Perhaps we will all be surprised to what God may be calling Benedict and the whole Catholic Church.  Even in the midst of the life of a tired Pope we can all applaud his whole life’s work.  What a magnificent writer, shepherd, Father.

It is true that a Pope belongs to the whole world, so the whole world has a right to make a comment on his resignation.  Some of those who wrongly imagine that they have something to say should at least be a little hesitant.  If the house was on fire and my father pulled me from the flames, who would not,say that my father was very brave?

Holy Father, Your Excellency, so many times you have pulled me from the fire, given me a new understanding and made me proud to be a Catholic.  Thank you.  My offer still stands.  I would love to teach you how to fly fish.

Who is in the Manger?

When I was a child I was one of the “actors” in the Christmas  pageant.  I was one of the three kings.  Now I am older and the hymn that goes along with the kings has always had a special meaning.  The verses of the hymn explain the three gifts the kings bring.  The fourth verse was mine: “Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom; sorrowing, sighing, Bleeding, dying, Sealed in a stone-cold tomb.”  I am reminded every year of how contradictory are the details of the scene.  Contained here are great acts of faith, ready for our reflection.  The model for these “acts” is the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Our expectation whenever she is introduced at Christmas time is that the appropriate focal point is the manger scene.  Whatever else we may see, the Virgin Mother with child is the most recognizable.  Perhaps the scene has lost some of its depth by becoming too familiar. 

One of the iconic places in the city of Rome is a very old church.  It is called “Our Lady of the Snow” because of a miraculous snowfall that prompted the faithful to build this church as a response.  In the crypt beneath the altar is a shrine that honors both the Blessed Mother and Pope John XXIII.  The statue of Pope John is depicted staring intently at a few pieces of a manger, the crib in which Jesus was placed at his birth.  We are tempted to forget the meaning of some these details.  Here, in only a few words one detail is restored to its proper place as the description of much more than a Christmas Card. 

“ And she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  (Luke 2:7 NAB)

And we busy ourselves by filling in the gaps.  The “cold winter’s night” comes from a buried detail in the Book of Wisdom:

“For when peaceful stillness encompassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent,  Your all-powerful word from heaven's royal throne leapt into the doomed land.” (Wisdom 18:14-15 NAB)

This is the sweetness of the season and it is easily embraced as the focus of our reflection.  But the manger is also a sign of the rejection of mankind.

It was not too long ago that the Incarnation of the Son of God was reflected on in the Mass, at the end of the Mass in what was called the “last Gospel”.  The priest and the altar servers would stop in the middle of the procession out of the Church.  They would face the altar and begin the reading of the prologue of the Gospel of John: 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.   He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2 NAB)

Then the manger would, so to speak, come into view: 

“He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.” (John 1:11 NAB)

The solemn reminder of the cross is uncovered.  The babe in the manger is the Lord who will give himself for the redemption of humanity.  His will be the sacrifice of a great king.  From manger to cross the child will be made ready for this destiny.  Perhaps we will be exonerated for turning away from that looming shadow.  We cannot help it even though the reminder of our sins should be enough to overcome the blindness of the reality we have constructed. 

End of the Year / New Year Giving

It is possible that you might have an opportunity to make a gift to the parish before the New Year arrives.  This would be very helpful, especially in light of the information below.  There are tax advantages in making a year-end gift.  Even more importantly we can gain a blessing from God on our efforts this year to make a difference in our world.  Please know that because of your support of the parish we have been able to make a significant impact on our community and our church.  Here are some financial highlights from 2012:

KITCHEN

We continue to work on plans for the expansion of the Kitchen.  This is not a small effort in any sense.  It involves removing all that separates the old business office from the current kitchen: the installation of a hood (a very expensive piece) and all new commercial “type” equipment.  The kitchen is a focal point of the facility simply because so many events are supported by the all-too-small kitchen.   The current cost estimate is $180,000.

MISCELLANEOUS

We provided assistance to Santa Clara Catholic School ($10,000.)  This school serves very poor children in south Dallas.  The assistance provided scholarship aid to one classroom for the year.
We assisted two “Title One” schools in Allen.  These schools depend on contributions to supplement their less than adequate budgets.  We have focused our attention on children who cannot afford to participate in field trips.  Many of these families are also clients of the Allen Food Pantry. 
We continue to organize in preparation for building a parochial school in Honduras.  More on that by the end of February. 

OTHER CONTINUING EFFORTS INCLUDE

Gospel of Life, Samaritan Inn, Allen Ministerial Alliance Senior Luncheon, St. Brigid’s Needle Arts Ministry, Eucharistic Ministry to the Sick, Addiction Ministries, CSI, Food Pantry, American Heritage Girls, Venture Crew, Boy Scouts Troop 131, Cub Scouts, ESL, Collin County Juvenile Detention Center, Alzheimer’s Support Group, and Grief Support.

The list above is gleaned from the parish newcomer’s guide and includes only those efforts that we would classify as “outreach.”  There are dozens of additional fellowships, education and service organizations that would spill over on this page.  It has been an expressed goal that we increase the activity of the parish to fill the available space.  And, we encourage you to find a niche so that we are truly living the Gospel.

PLEDGE CARDS

Included with this report of giving (“Good Steward”) is a 2013 pledge card.  If you will be giving the same amount for this coming year as you did in 2012, simply fill out a new pledge card and note that you want to stay at the amount pledged in 2012.  We do, however, want to encourage your “growth in giving.”  Working toward the tithe (10% of gross) is one of the most satisfying challenges we can undertake.  The increased strength of the parish to accomplish the goals that are provided by your giving is very important indeed.  From the brief description of some of our endeavors you can see that we are working to responsibly use your contributions to the parish.

Joseph

For good reason, Mary takes center stage in many of the accounts of Jesus infancy.  She is the one who gives her flesh to Jesus that he may be properly understood as “savior” of mankind.  We strain in a few places to understand exactly Joseph’s role.  One of the characteristics of the Gospel account is that it is the account of Jesus and only in a lesser sense a chronicle of the life of other “characters.”  While the position of Joseph in the account is obviously surrounded by tenderness and affection, it is nonetheless not about him.  It is about Jesus, the answer to the question that is put to the disciples: “Who do men say that I am.”

The caution that is associated with this understanding of Joseph is not subtle. 
In the stories about great men of ancient times there is a dramatic need to discover the influence that shaped their lives.  Military leaders, philosophers and others accounted for their lives with complex stories of their birth and of their childhood.  There are stories in the so called apocryphal New Testament which include the origin of his good character.  They are stories of later centuries that attempt to fill in the blanks that are so widespread in the New Testament when it comes to understanding what Jesus is like.  This is the motivation for these stories: to substitute imagination for more sketchy truths.

In those secular stories from ancient times you would expect to find certain stories of a required type.  What was his father like, his mother?  Did he follow in the family business?  Did he have a hobby?  He must have liked fishing and thus all the stories about fishing that fill the Gospels. 

Here are some considerations of St. Joseph:

• He was the husband of Mary who is the Mother of God.
• Jewish custom required marriage between 13 – 19 years old.
• Joseph was betrothed to Mary when she was found to be pregnant; Joseph was ready to set aside the marriage contract to protect Mary from shame.  He must have loved Mary very much to risk being considered disobedient to the laws of marriage.  Indeed, out of this obedience grew a renewed sense of discipline to the Father’s plan.
• Joseph was brave.  He made a long journey to Egypt and back to Nazareth in order to protect Mary and the child Jesus from the evil King Herod.
• Joseph received from angels information about each step in his participation in the plan.
• Jesus is of the lineage of King David through the patrimony of Joseph.
• He probably died before Jesus began his public ministry, or at about fifty.
• He was a carpenter.  He was probably moderately successful since he would have been required to return to Bethlehem from Nazareth to pay tax on his second property.  Even with this success Mary and Joseph practiced a voluntary poverty, associating themselves with the poor.

There is, of course, the very dramatically important role as father.  We usually remember this as a homiletic note on his feast day, March 25th.  It also has an importance in preparation for celebrating the Incarnation.  It might seem silly that the author of our salvation would live happily in a family amid those who have need of his instruction.  Remember that Jesus submits to the authority of his earthly parents so that he can be an example to us.  In this relationship between father and son, heaven touches the lowliness of human life and elevates it to its proper place.  It is our pitiable flesh, our simple, weak manhood that He assumes.