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Daily Scripture

+ 33rd Week in Ordinary Time

Keep hope alive!

Readings: Revelation 5:1-10 Psalm 149:1-6, 9 Luke 19:41-44

_As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “if this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.” [Luke 19:41]

In Christian liturgy and literature, he Church has often been referred to as “the new Jerusalem” and heaven as “the new and eternal Jerusalem.” I think it’s a good simile. If you have ever been to the old section of Jerusalem, you surely would have noted the appropriateness of this comparison. Ancient Jerusalem is still very much in evidence if not literally, surely in its ambiance. A walk from the site of the ancient praetorium to Calvary – now well within the city limits – will surely give you a sense of what it may have been like when Jesus made that last fateful journey.

Today Jerusalem is truly an international city and bears within its womb and walls, the extremes of every race and religion. Jews still narrate the story of the great exodus and Christians break the bread of Eucharist while Islamic temples broadcast their ancient chants from minarets that echo through the streets in the wee hours of the morning.

This is the city over which Jesus wept not because it did not make him king but because it did not recognize its day of visitation, that is to say, its moment of opportunity. In reading a passage such as this, we need to put away preconceived notions about our understanding of Jesus’ messianic role in the light of its Christological evolution in Christian teaching today. Jesus was not about establishing new religious structures but about announcing the universality of God’s love – for Jews and gentiles, male and female, of every race and nation.

Would it be accurate to state that Jesus is weeping not just over Jerusalem but over our war torn world? And yet one cannot fail to see signs of hope on the horizon. Bernard Lonergan, Carol Rahner and Carl Jung support this very Christian notion that it is in our moments of deepest despair that a new wisdom emerges leading to a common vision of a new world in which love and respect overcome evil and injustice. Is it possible that in the midst of the turmoil in which our world seems enmeshed people of good can bring that vision to reality not through confrontation but through collaboration?

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'C'

Saturday August 4, 2007

Life is not a business trip.

Although many of us were born long after the infamous financial crash of 1929, I recall many stories about what life was like during the great depression. I remember tales related by my parents and grandparents about how carrots and beets cost two cents a bunch. My huge distaste for carrots and beets moved me to ask: “Wow! If everything was that cheap, how much candy could you buy for only two cents?” Mom was quick with her retort, “When you are making little or nothing a week, two cents is a lot of money!” I also remember how she chuckled when I asked as we walked past the Morristown Trust Company on South Street: “Where do we keep all our money?” She quickly responded: “In the piggy bank in the upstairs closet!” But we got by on a modest budget and, to my childlike chagrin, we always seemed to have enough for a bit of meat, potatoes, carrots, beets, and spinach!

In a more serious vein, I also remember the stories about financial entrepreneurs jumping off rooftops when the bottom fell out of the stock market. Life had lost meaning for those whose lives had become nothing more than a business trip.

Despite periodic recessions, the likelihood of a similar depression has diminished thanks to the ingenuity of economists and politicians and of course, the caution of wise investors and the prudence of consumers. However, this ingenuity, caution, and prudence have also had a downside resulting in downsizing, outsourcing and a loss of many jobs. For others it has created an extraordinary windfall and not a few gold parachutes. On top of all this, the complexity of a global economy has exacerbated the division between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots.’ News commentator Lou Dobbs reminds us nightly of the shrinking middleclass. Unfortunately the diverse economic philosophies of political parties tends to produce an either /or mentality—one assigning blame to the other for impending financial doom. The issues are indeed complex: protectionism versus a world-wide open door market; debt repayment versus debt reduction; legitimate utilization of natural resources versus legitimate concern for global ecology; personal health care plans versus national health insurance and on and on it goes, all without a raise in taxes.

Everyone has an opinion — economists, politicians, social scientists, human rights activists, preachers and even philanthropists. No one has come up with answers that satisfy everyone and it would be fool-hearty for me to attempt to suggest solutions based on a simplistic or fundamentalist application of the biblical texts.

That having been stated, we can draw to some conclusions about how these texts might impact on the conscience of believers in the Judeo-Christian ethic.

I think we can find some common ground in the conviction shared by true believers and even atheists that we do not own the earth’s resources. Whatever our cosmology or genealogy, we do not have ultimate control over the world and although we enjoy a partnership with God in the exploration of the earth’s resources, we do not have the right to exploit them for our inordinate personal gain or selfish interests but must use them conscious of the needs of the poor.

Increasingly, all religious traditions are challenging us to be mindful that there is an ultimate destiny for humanity that flows from the natural order and the laws that govern the exploration, and management of nature and the universe. Yes, nature will not tolerate misue of its rich resources.

At a very practical level, religion in general and our Christian tradition in particular call us to be mindful that there are moral imperatives that guide our day to day decisions about the investment of our energy, time, and money. We may not isolate ourselves from the plight of the poor and disenfranchised no matter where they live. It is blasphemy to suggest that prosperity is a sign of God’s favor as if to suggest that poverty is the result of laziness or of the unwillingness to work.

Qoheleth, the teacher, who speaks to us in the Book of Ecclesiastes was obviously having a bad day but his point is well taken about how vaporous and empty is a life ruled by the pursuit of fame and fortune as if there is not a higher value in the pursuit of virtue and integrity.

Jesus words are perhaps the most poignant. “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Life is a not business trip. The quality of our character is determine more by what we give away than by what we possess. We are in trouble when winning at work means losing at life. I once heard a young father say that the most important time of the day is not when he arrives at work but when he arrives home to be with his family. It is at his family table that he is most conscious of his connection to all of humanity and he is gratitude for the gift of life.

The Scriptures challenge us to a transformation of the will and a shift of the center from self to others and William James wrote: “The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts life.”