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Daily Scripture

+ 20th Week in Ordinary Time

I’ll do it myself.

Readings: Ezekiel 34:1-11 Psalm 23:1-6 Matthew 20:1-16

Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: because my shepherds did not look after my sheep, but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep, I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep. I will save my sheep, that they may no longer be food for their mouths. [Ezekiel 34:10]

There is much talk about a vocation shortage—fewer young men entering the seminary and fewer still persevering to ordination. Not withstanding some notable exceptions this has resulted in the lowering of standards for ordination. Moreover, priests and candidates for the priesthood are being ‘imported’ from other countries whose needs are as urgent as ours.

The prevailing accent seems to be on the need to have a sufficient number of priests to ‘say Mass’ and provide for the sacramental needs of the faithful. But surely in the light of the Second Vatican Council, priests need to be more than presiders at Mass and providers of the sacraments, as important as are these roles.

The earliest experience of the Church can be instructive in this regard. The notion of presbyter provided the early church with presiders for worship and leaders for base communities. Celibacy was not an issue and there was no clerical caste. The gifts of the faithful were recognized in such a manner that men and women, married and single fulfilled the spiritual needs of the community including the sacramental needs.

Notwithstanding the inadequacy of the notion of shepherding people (sheeple?) the need remains for qualified men and women to minister to the needs of the community.

Ezekiel warned the priests and assured the people of Israel that God would find away to pasture his people.

Ezekiel’s words need to be taken to heart again and in fact we already see that God is indeed providing a way through the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men and women, married and single, who are tending to the needs of the faithful.

Fourth Sunday in Lent 'A'

Sunday March 2, 2008

Seeing is believing and believing is seeing.

Few of us have the ability to picture in words the actuality of what the naked eye can see. In fact, our eyes can and often do deceive us. We don’t always see or hear with complete objectivity. It has to do with perspective and our ability to appreciate the relationship of one object or subject to another. I’m sure there must be a scientific explanation beyond my trifocal lenses why at my age I can’t see the first and last step on a flight of stairs. The consequences can be disastrous!

Although artists and artisans are given the “license” to interpret reality or sculptor an edifce from a particular perspective, many of us view life with a linear bias or a peculiar mindset. We see only what we want to see. We are blind to those things that challenge our pre-conceived notions or frozen ideologies. “Don’t confuse me with the facts!”

In a privately published book by a friend entitled: “A Matter of Energy” I came upon this interesting observation relating to sight and insight: “In 1475 Pope Sixtus IV requested a German born astronomer by the name of Johann Muller to investigate the problems people were having with the calendar and the changing dates of Easter. He was the first to question the belief that planet Earth is the stationary center of the universe. Remember that, for many centuries, observations had to fit theory rather than theory fitting observations.” [A Matter of Energy, pp 11-12, Ken Gordon, 2007] Muller challenged this principle paving the way for the Copernican revolution.

Without belaboring the point and the ecclesiastical fiasco over Galileo’s explorations, suffice it to say that even today church officials are reluctant to see the world and its place in the universe as it is and strive ardently to conform science to dated religious presuppositions. In reality science and religion are not at odds but must be in dialogue about the evolving cosmology of the universe and it’s impact on our understanding of God, of God’s movement in the universe and of God’s movement in our individual and collective lives.

In what is commonly called the “Prologue” to his gospel, John the Evangelist, theologian and a mystic, introduced Jesus as the “Word” who was “with God from the beginning — the Word that was given for the ‘light’ of all humanity… a light that shines in darkness… a darkness that did not overcome it… He was the real light that gives light to everyone.”

John places the cure of the blind man after the Jewish festival of Booths or Tabernacles at the end of the harvest that commemorated the entrance of the Israelites into the Promised Land with singing and dancing. The observance of this feast was also an expression of hope for the coming of the Messiah at the end of the world. The priests would go to the healing pool of Siloam each day to draw a golden pitcher of water and recite their ritual of prayers.

The man was blind from birth. Jesus assured his disciples that his blindness was not the result of fault or failure on his part or on the part of his parents. John tells us his blindness would eventually give glory to God because he would gradually come to “see” Jesus and identify him as Messiah while the Pharisees would sink more deeply into their intransigent blindness. It was a lesson for Jesus’ disciples and it is a lesson for us. The blind man received his sight and recognized Jesus as Messiah. The disciples were confused and the Pharisees remained in darkness. It is truly an artist’s dramatization of Jesus’ whole life and mission.

We were washed in the waters of baptism and received the potential to walk in the light of faith. It is interesting that the sacrament of Baptism was given the name “illumination” or “enlightenment” by the early Church fathers and mothers. The newly baptized were called the “illluminati”.

As catechumens preparing for baptism and candidates preparing for entrance into full communion with the Church continue their journey of faith, all of us who claim discipleship with Jesus are challenged to become more and more ‘insightful’ about the implications of faith in our lives today. Blindness and bias can still limit our ability to see as Jesus sees. Moreover, as the parents of the blind man feared the loss of status in the synagogue and dodged the questions of the Pharisees, so we may be tempted to dodge the challenge of the gospel for fear of the loss of social status, political stature, economic gain, or even our status in the Church.

And what about our blindness toward such life issues beyond abortion such as torture and war. Children are the prime casualties of modern war, said Archbishop Desmond Tutu who observed that, “Some two million children have died in dozens of wars during the past decade. This is more than three times the number of battlefield deaths of American soldiers in all their wars since 1776.” Children continue to be the victims of poverty not only in war-torn nations but even within our own borders. There are many other issues blocked by our denial and/or our refusal to see the way things really are. Our children and grandchildren want and need direction and guidance and most of all, our example. We need to guide them in making conscientious judgments and responsible decisions. In a world in which materiality and money are the measure of success, it is easy to push our children into the life careers not of their own choosing or of God’s calling. We fear to act courageously in the face of a decreasing sense of integrity in business and the continuing sexual exploitation of women. Even within the Church there are those whose compromise with truth, trust and flawed moral judgment have resulted in untold damage not only to the young but to those who would speak for those unable to speak for themselves. Our silence can easily become complicity.

The challenge of Jesus to the Pharisees is also a challenge to our own blindness. As one commentator observed, “The primary sin of the Pharisees was idolatry. They presumed to know the mind, heart, and will of God better than God!

In truth, Jesus is the best interpreter of the mind and heart of God!

Saints become saints because they never cease to be challenged by the teaching of Jesus within the context of their experiences but they remain open to new horizons and challenges as we continue to evolve into the future.

I came upon another quote apropos of faith and insight in Barbara Fiand’s book entitled, ¬_Prayer and the Quest for Healing—Our Personal Transformation and Cosmic Responsibility, [Crossroad Book, , Croosroads Publishing Company, New York, 1999] in which she quotes Diarmuid O Marchu from his book Reclaiming Spirituality:

“Spirituality concerns an ancient and primal search for meaning that is as old as humanity itself and … belongs—as an inherent energy—to the evolutionary unfolding of creation itself… We are being carried along by a new search for meaning, which … is not drawing us away from the world but plunging us more profoundly into it, not alienating us from the divine but re-connecting us with the God who co-creates at the heart of creation … No one discipline, no matter how sanctioned by time, will enable us to comprehend this new upsurge; it requires a multi-disciplinary analysis … [for] we find ourselves drawn into considerations and engagements that push the horizons on understanding beyond every ‘here-and now’ reality.” [ Reclaiming Spirituality, Diarmuid O Marchu, vii, ix, 12, 13]

As children of the Light, we do not leave our intellect at the door of the church but bring our intellect to the light of faith that enables us to see and appreciate the God who continues to reveal him/herself in the wonder of the evolving universe.

And there is so much more to see and understand. For seeing is believing and believing is seeing.