Fr. JC Maximilian

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[Clipart is from Celebrations Publications, for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, January 31, 2010]

Murphy’s son Seamus was outside shooting some hoops when one of his contact lenses popped out. Seamus spent nearly a half hour looking for his missing lens with no luck. He went into the house and told his father that he had lost one of his contact lenses, and he could not find it. Murphy went outside, and in about 30 seconds he came back into the house and gave his son his missing contact lens. Seamus said, “Dad, how did you find it so fast? I was on my hands and knees for about a half hour and I could not find it.” Murphy answered, “Son, you were looking for a piece of plastic. I was looking for $150.”

Having the right sense of values is so very important in life. If our sense of values is messed up, we are likely going to fail to recognize the truly important realities of life. Like Seamus, Murphy’s son, the people of Nazareth did not recognize the real value of what they had standing in front of them. They saw Jesus as that little boy that grew up in their midst, whose mother and father, and extended relatives were still living among them. In remembering the little boy, they were keeping Jesus small, not recognizing the true value of the person standing in front of them. That is why they rejected Him. They were fine — proud in fact — of His growing celebrity status, but they could not see who He really was. They could not accept that He was the long awaited Messiah. Their messed up sense of values caused them to fail to see God, standing in their midst.

Something similar was happening in Corinth, prompting St. Paul to write his first letter to the small community of believers there. Corinth was a major trading city. It had people from all over the Roman Empire living there, so there were temples to just about every pagan god there was. There was also a lot of vices there. It was kind of the Las Vegas of the Empire: you know, what happened in Corinth was suppose to stay in Corinth. St. Paul had spent a short period of time there, establishing a small Christian community, before continuing his missionary work. Five years had passed, and the community in Corinth had written to him about some problems they were having. Among other things, one of the problems, one of the wrong values, they were struggling with was jealousy. Many had become enamored by the more charismatic gifts that others had been blessed with: the gift of tongues, the gift of healing, the gift of prophesy. The community started to think that those who had these charismatic gifts were better than those who did not.

We still have this problem today. About 10 years ago I was at Franciscan University in Steubenville, and during an energetic prayer and praise session, one of the speakers basically said that if you were not praying in tongues, which he saw as the least of the gifts, then you really were not filled with the Holy Spirit. This is WRONG! This is what the Corinthians were doing. Like St. Paul, I tried to explain to the speaker that while speaking in tongues, and all the other charismatic gifts, are good in themselves, they are not sufficient if you fail to value the greatest gift of all — LOVE.

This is why St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “I shall show you a still more excellent way.” That more excellent way is the way of love. For St. Paul, love was not merely a sentimental emotion, nor was it abstract or theoretical. For him, love was a down to earth, practical way of dealing with people, day-in and day-out.

“Love is kind.” What could be more simpler? Yet it seems as if we are living in a time when it is more and more common for us to forget to say “please” and “thank you” and “excuse me.” “Love is patient.” Wow! It seems that most of us pray that we had more patience with the people we live and work with. “It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, ….” Every item in St. Paul’s list is very practical. His list also makes an excellent examination of conscience to see how well we are doing as we follow the Way. Lest the Corinthians — and we — become discouraged, St. Paul ends with the assurance that “Love never fails.”

The reason that St. Paul’s “more excellent way” is so practical is because his way is a person — namely Jesus Christ. Instead of making the foundation for his sense of values what he or others could and could not do, St. Paul knew that the foundation for his sense of value had to be his relationship with Jesus. Jesus had to be the most important value in his life. Jesus is kind. Jesus is patient. Jesus is not jealous. Jesus is not rude. Jesus never fails.

In interviewing the young men and women who are getting ready for Confirmation, many focused much of what they said on the service projects that they have been doing. Works of service and charity are important, but they are worth nothing if they are not rooted in our relationship with Jesus. We must first recognize, truly experience the love of Christ Jesus in our lives, and then we love Him with all our mind, all our strength, all our will. Only when we are in a truly loving relationship with Jesus, will we bear the good fruit, the real acts of charity that He calls us to do. When we receive the Eucharist today, pray to receive the totality of God’s love, and to love Him with the totality of our being. Then we will grow in Christ-like love. That is the most excellent way.

Last weekend I was in St. Louis, MO (actually Chesterfield) to baptize my new nephew, Séamus Mícheál (my sister and her husband are REALLY into their Irish heritage).  Now that I have gotten through the mail, email, and messages that accumulated, I was reading the bulletin from last weekend for St. Mary’s, the parish to which I am now assigned.  Each week, my pastor, Msgr. Ken Tuzenue, writes a “From the Pastor” column.  I thought that this weeks was very good, especially the clarification he makes regarding Cardinal Bernardin’s comments on the “seamless garment” consistent life ethic.  I am going to reprint Msgr. Ken’s words below:

This week will again mark the tragic anniversary of the Supreme Court decision permitting the evil of abortion.  Our parish, along with many others, will participate in the annual March for Life that will most likely again be unjustly overlooked by the media.  It is unfortunate that many, even within the Church, do not understand the evil of abortion, and how important is the summons of the Church for all members to promote a culture of life.  Last year, the Diocese of Metuchen sponsored a Critical Life Issues Conference, attended by members of our own Respect Life Committee.  Included in the materials of that day was a powerful document entitled, “The Seamless Garment Revealed, Important quotes from Cardinal Joseph Bernardin on Abortion and the Consistent Ethic of Life,” published by the Archdiocese of Chicago.  He are some excerpts from that document.  ”The Church’s teaching on life issues, and especially abortion, are often misunderstood, but are truly a message of love and concern that some from the same root as the Church’s teaching on other justice issues, such as poverty, oppression, racism and violence:  The dignity of the human person is foremost.  Every human being is precious, made in the image and likeness of God, and should be valued and protected.  Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s works deepened our understanding of how the life and justice issues are interrelated, while highlighting the truth that abortion and euthanasia take precedence over other justice issues including those at the forefront of our present-day culture.”  Then, quoting the Cardinal, himself:  ”Life before and after birth is like a seamless garment …If we become insensitive to the beginning of life and condone abortion or if we become careless about the end of life to justify euthanasia, we have no reason to believe that there will be much respect for life in between” (Pro-life Homily, 1976).  These next two quotes are crucial to the debate:  ”I know that some people on the left, if I may use that label, have used the consistent ethic to give the impression that the abortion issue is not all that important anymore, that you should be against abortion in a general way but that there are more important issues, so don’t hold anyone’s feet to the fire just on abortion.  That’s a misuse of the consistent ethic, and I deplore it” (NCR Media Interview, 1988).  And finally: “Not all values, however, are of equal weight.  Some are more fundamental than others.  On this Respect Life Sunday, I wish to emphasize that no earthly value is more fundamental than human life itself.  Human life is the condition for enjoying freedom and all other values.  Consequently, if one must choose between protecting or serving lesser human values that depend upon life for their existence and life itself, human life must take precedence. Today the recognition of human life as a fundamental value is threatened.  Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of elective abortion” (Respect Life Sunday statement, 1989).  Therefore, promote justice and peace.  Serve the poor.  Care for those in need.  Defend the innocent.  BUT, ABOVE ALL, END ABORTION!

Thank you Msgr, and Cardinal Bernardin (who is so often has his words misused) for your strong witness for life.

[“The Baptism of the Lord”, later date, by Domenico Ghirlandaio]

Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, and as I reflected on that during this past week a couple of questions came to mind. Christmas is the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and the readings for the Christmas season generally focus on Jesus’ childhood. In the days immediately before Christmas we heard the account of Gabriel announcing to Mary that God had chosen her to be the mother of His only-begotten Son. We heard about the birth of St. John the Baptist. Of course on Christmas we had the Gospel of the Nativity, and since then we have had the accounts of the Shepherds, the Magi, the presenting of Jesus at the Temple, and even the account of when He was about 12 years-old being left in the Temple. Now suddenly we have this Gospel account of Jesus, at about age 30, being baptized in the Jordan River. It is quite a leap in time, so why, when we have been focusing so much on the childhood of Jesus, are we suddenly given this account when Jesus is an adult? Actually, this is the easy question. We really do not know anything else about Jesus’ life as a child, teenager or young adult. As we come to the end of the Christmas season, the Church presents us this account of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

However, this leads us to the more challenging question – why does Jesus begin His public ministry with His baptism? Why did He even need to be baptized? It would be very natural to look at just what baptism is to answer this question. The principle effects of Baptism are the forgiveness of sin (both personal sin and Original sin), and a new birth in the Holy Spirit. This really does not seem to help us, because Jesus had no sin that needed to be forgiven, and He was already, eternally, one with the Holy Spirit and the Father. Baptism makes us the children of God, but Jesus was already the only-begotten Son of God. So why did Jesus allow Himself to be baptized?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that by His baptism, Jesus expresses His acceptance and inauguration of His mission as God’s Suffering Servant. In other words, Jesus’ baptism is His public acceptance of His mission to be our Savior and Redeemer. This might seem like an “ah duh” statement, but it is very important. Jesus saves us and redeems us not because He has to, rather it is a completely free choice that He made out of love for us. God is love, and love can only be given freely as a gift. Love can never be forced on another person. Through His baptism, as the public acceptance of His mission, Jesus shows us that God requires us to also make a free choice to accept His love; it will not be forced on us. Often times our modern society wants to paint religious faith as something that confines and limits our freedom. Nothing can be further from the truth. It is only in living in God’s love, following Him, that we experience real freedom. This freedom is lived in the relationship with God, and like any real, healthy, loving relationship it must be active. Since most of us were baptized as children, it is easy for us to have the mistaken belief that baptism is just something that is done to us, that we are passive, and then it is over. Baptism is active. God’s grace is so bountiful that we can never finish unfolding it in our lives. We need to live our baptism actively, each and every day, by always striving to recognize the presence of God in our lives; by striving to follow Him always.

Jesus’ baptism, however, expresses much more than just His acceptance of His mission; it also reveals the method, the way we must approach the Father. First we need to notice the setting. Jesus’ baptism is not a private affair. Today’s Gospel says that “after all the people had been baptized,” Jesus was baptized as well. Jesus is in the midst of sinners; He is in the midst of those for whom He came into the world. Recall the angel told Mary and Joseph to name Him Jesus because “He will save His people from their sins.” Jesus does not redeem us from a distance, rather He “desired to save us by going to the bottom of of this abyss himself so that every person, even those who have fallen so low that they can no longer perceive heaven, may find God’s hand to cling to and rise from the darkness to see once again the light for which he or she was made” (Pope Benedict XVI, L’Osservatore Romano, p. 3, September 24, 2008, N. 39). Jesus unites Himself with our lives so that through faith we can be united to His life.

As we get to know each other, one of the things that you will get to know about me is that I am a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation. Communion and Liberation is one of the many new ecclesial movements that have arisen in the Church in the past 50 years. The founder of Communion and Liberation, Msgr. Luigi Giussani, once made this wonderful statement which expresses this “method” or approach to the Father. He said, “existence expresses itself, as the ultimate ideal, in begging. The real protagonist of history is the
beggar: Christ who begs for man’s heart, and man’s heart that begs for Christ.”

Just think about that for a moment. Jesus begs for our heart. He desires our heart so much that He was willing to humble Himself so much to become one of us. To live in our midst. To suffer and die for us.

Are we willing to humble ourselves so much as to allow our hearts to beg for Christ?

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[“Adoration of the Magi” by Rembrandt]

My first Saturday near at St. Mary’s, I was invited to the monthly “Men’s Bagels and the Bible,” and at that gathering we watched a fascinating video, “The Star of Bethlehem.” Obviously, from the title, the focus of the documentary was exploring the Biblical and scientific evidence for the Star of Bethlehem. One section of the video, however, examined something very relevant for today’s celebration of the Epiphany: who were the three Wise Men?
        
Often the three Wise Men are described as astrologers from the East. This could seem to raise some problems from us, since throughout much of the Bible astrology is condemned. Astrology is a form of divination that believes that the movements of the planets, stars, sun and moon influence human affairs and determine the course of events. For the Jewish people, and for us Christians, this belief is an affront to God’s sovereignty. We know that God controls the destiny of all creation.
        
So why would St. Matthew, who wrote his Gospel mostly for Jewish Christians, include this account of astrology, which his audience would find offensive, being associated with Jesus’ birth? Mostly because St. Matthew did not see this as an incident of astrology. Even as the Bible, both Old Testament and New, condemns astrology, it also records many incidences in which the stars bear witness to the work of God. The celestial objects are signs of God’s greatness.
        
Besides, St. Matthew does not call the men from the East astrologers, but rather he calls them “Magi” which is better translated as wise and scholarly people. During the time of Jesus there were many schools of Magi in the Middle East, especially in Egypt and Babylon. Because many of these schools of magi did believe in astrology, many Jewish and early Christian writers condemned them, yet one Jewish philosopher who lived at the time of Jesus, named Philo, had high praise for one particular school of magi, located in the east, that is Babylon. Philo praised this school because instead of looking at the stars and planets as determining events, they investigated the works of nature for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the truth, and tried to introduce people to the “divine virtues.”
        
Some scholars of today have hypothesized that this eastern school of magi may have had Jewish roots. Several hundred years before Jesus, Israel was conquered by the Persians and many Jewish people were taken into exile to Babylon. From the Old Testament account of Daniel, we know that the Persian, and then Babylonian, kings took some Jewish young men into their service, training them in the sciences. In fact, Daniel is described as a magus, or wise man. While after about 70 years of exile, some of the Jewish people did return to Israel, it is likely that many others remained in Babylon. There is no record of Daniel leaving Babylon. It is possible that he, or other Jewish magi, did establish a school of magi, integrating the wisdom of the sciences with Divine Revelation. As such, they would have been awaiting the Messiah, and they would expect God to put a sign of His coming in the stars. The documentary, “The Star of Bethlehem,” does a very thorough job at looking what these signs likely were, so encourage you to look at the DVD.
        
Whether or not the three Wise Men were descendants of Daniel’s school of Jewish magi (if they even existed), does not change two things that we do know about these Wise Men; they were searchers and they were discoverers.
        
As searchers, the Wise Men were not content with the ordinary world. They knew that there was something more than just the natural world. They looked deeper than the ordinary routine of everyday life, and searched from something more. They recognized that their hearts were yearning for something more than anything in the natural world could ever satisfy. They were searching for God.
        
People today are still searching. Too often they are searching in all the wrong places, but they are searching. They seek answers to the mysteries of life. Modern science has made remarkable breakthroughs. It was just a little over 50 years ago that we discovered DNA, one of the great mysteries of life. Modern science is a good thing, yet we need to be careful to keep it in its place; we do not want it to become like astrology, where we think that it can provide all the answers for determining human destiny. God is still God, the creator of all. Science is but a tool, meant to help us discover more fully the glory of God.
        
Probably more importantly, the Wise Men were discoverers. Undoubtedly they experience much difficulties and challenges in their searching, but they continued searching. Their perseverance paid off, and they found the one they were looking for. They put aside their preconceptions of what they were looking for, and were open to finding Him who they sought no matter how He might look. And when they encountered the One for whom they searched, St. Matthew tells us that they were overjoyed. Many years later, the baby they discovered would speak about joy often; the joy of the shepherd finding his lost sheep, the joy of the woman finding her lost coin, and the rejoicing of the angels at the repentance of one sinner. The One they encountered promised Joy to those who follow Him unreservedly.
        
Our own searching is for the One whom the Wise Men found. He is still here, waiting for us to find Him, so that we too can enter into His joy. Like the Wise Men, the search may be long. We will likely experience setbacks and discouragements. Yet if we persevere, our searching will not be in vain. We will find God, because God wants us to find Him.