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Daily Scripture

+ 7th Week of Easter

Much ado about nothing or, is there something to it?

Readings: Acts 19:1-8 Psalm 68:2-7 John 16:29-33

Paul traveled through the interior of the country and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered him, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” [Acts 19:1-3]

Depending on one’s sacramental theology and pastoral practice, this text has been variously interpreted. For example, those who work with the RCIA (catecheumenate) hold that the sacrament of Confirmation should be administered with Baptism as it was in the early Church. It is one of the sacraments of initiation—Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. The Eastern Rite of the Roman Catholic Church has retained the tradition of administering all three at Baptism. Yes, the infant receives a small piece of the Eucharist bread. And so in the Eastern Rite, there is no formal celebration of First Holy Communion at the age of reason or Confirmation by the bishop at whatever age the local diocese has determined the age of maturity appropriate for Confirmation. All three sacraments are administered shortly after birth.

Others feel that the celebration of First Communion and Confirmation at a later age ensures the participation of youngsters in parish religious education programs – at least until Confirmation. In this case, many Catholics view Confirmation as the completion of or graduation from religious studies.

In recent years I have become convinced that the RCIA folks and the Eastern Rite Catholics have it right. All three sacraments of initiation should be administered together. First Holy Communion and Confirmation have become more social than spiritual. I do not mean to suggest that there is no connection or that there should be no celebration after sacramental ceremonies but for many, the accent is on the wrong syllable.

The path from Baptism to Christian maturity is life-long and the benchmarks for progress are not easily measured by grouping children by age or grade level for a period of preparation that is largely academic.

This is not to suggest that religious education is optional. Faith development is unique to each person within the context first of family and then of parish. Religious education / formation is intended to provide insight into faith development at an age-appropriate level.

Catholicism has become ‘child-centered’ the result of which, we have an adult population whose religious and spiritual development stopped at Confirmation.

The celebration of Eucharist is the primary setting for faith formation. Religious education is a necessary component but detached from Eucharist, it remain just another subject to master.

Of course this all assumes that the parish celebration of the Eucharist is truly inclusive and meaningful rather than just an empty ritual. The parish at worship should be a rendition of a community of faith that strives to live its faith ‘in the town square’ as I mentioned in Sunday’s homily.

Notwithstanding my commitment to religious dialogue, I do believe that effective dialogue is based on the assumption that although both parties are knowledgeable about the topic. Though they may have different perspectives, they are not based on ignorance of the subject.

Second Sunday in Lent 'C'

Saturday February 27, 2010

It was a transforming experience.

It was during a trip to Colorado many years ago on a clear quiet evening that I walked up to a high point outside of Aspen to look at the stars. It was unbelievable. I had never seen as many stars in my life. It wasn’t that there were more stars over Colorado than over New Jersey; it was just that I could see them more clearly above the smog and atmospheric grit that hovers the earth at lesser heights. It was a mesmerizing experience. Although I didn’t climb the mountain to pray, the experience led me to prayer — not recited prayers, but prayer without words — contemplation — the opening of the soul to the mystery of God. It was awesome. I felt very small before the façade of the universe, yet I was keenly aware of God’s presence. In fact, I think I saw God’s face in the heavens. I felt empowered to respond to the wonder of God, yet I was still in touch with my own humanity and mortality. I remained for quite a while to “listen to the silence” of God’s ‘voice’ on the mountaintop, as it were. My life looked so different from the mountaintop. It was a transforming experience, the memory of which has never left me and continues to sustain me when I have been tempted to lose hope or heart. When I can’t junket out to Colorado, I walk up to Fort Nonsense the highest point between Morristown and the Orange Mountains.

Mountain top experiences sometimes happen on mountains but not always. In fact a mountain is more often the metaphor for a spiritually transforming experience that enables us to see “our reality” more clearly and empowers us not just to talk the talk but walk the walk of life with greater commitment, integrity, and enthusiasm. The Bible refers to these experiences as visions or dreams. The theological term for such is “Theophany” or the manifestation of God, a window to the soul. There are many descriptions of such visions and dreams in both the Old and New Testaments. As with Peter, James and John, the temptation to “freeze frame” is strong, but we must come down and move on.

The Book of Genesis captures the oral tradition passed down about Abraham‘s call. It was believed to have been a personal encounter with God that inspired him to move on to a new land with in the conviction that God would be faithful to him and his descendents. It is interesting that Abraham is revered as “Father in faith” to Jews, Moslems and Christians — we are all part of his posterity, in some sense the covenant made with Abraham by God symbolized through an ancient ritual sacrifice of the animals has never been revoked even though we find its fulfillment in the covenant made with us in Christ.

In fact the description of the Transfiguration of Jesus in Luke’s gospel is the perfect sequel to Abraham’s vision. Luke intends this as a turning point in Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem and Calvary. As he was transfigured on the mountain, Moses and Elijah joined him. It was the belief of many Jews that Moses and Elijah would return at the end time. Luke interprets this story of Jesus’ transfiguration as an affirmation of his call as Messiah — the seal of a new covenant. He is the new Moses and the fulfillment of all the ancient prophecies. His faithfulness to the covenant initiated with Abraham took him on a journey that would lead to another mountaintop called Calvary — not that God demanded Jesus’ death but rather his faithfulness to divine love. He was the epitome of divine love in human form. That kind of faithfulness and love is costly. It can and often does lead to death. But Paul assures us in his letter to the Philippians that the covenant does not end in death but to ultimate glory. “Our citizenship is in heaven and is from there that we expect the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform us.”

Marty Luther King had a mountaintop experience that empowered him to journey to a place he had never been and ultimately to his death. His faithfulness to that journey changed the course of black history in this country.

I have a dream that one day our Church will be community in which there will be no divisions or exclusions—women and men equal at the table; young and old of whatever gender and orientation. All will be welcomed. Our God can make it happen but not without our consent and involvement.

I have a dream that one day our country will come together in a common cause and purpose for the common good of every man and woman in a true spirit of solidarity, a time in which the honest sharing of differences will open us up to a new truth and blend into solutions that work for everyone.

Lent can be a mountaintop experience for the disciple of Christ. It’s a time not of testing but an opportunity to accept the challenge of contemplating the mystery of life in a new way. It’s a new opportunity to catch the rhythm of God through our daily prayer in whatever form it takes. It is yet another opportunity to encounter Jesus in our own personal passage [Passover] through the Red Sea [baptism] through the desert [the dryness of life] alert to God’s presence in both the pain and the consolations that accompany the daily embrace of life [“Lord, it is good for us to be here!”] So let us break bread together and sip some wine that one day we may come to the glory that was promised to Abraham, Moses, and all the prophets, fulfilled in Jesus, and given to us as disciples.

Lent can make a difference. In essence, it can be a transforming experience that will enable us to discover a new truth that we are all children of God as well as people of the earth. The road to a new Jerusalem will inevitably take us to Calvary and make many demands that we die to self but Calvary is not the end of the story.