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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.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'C'

Saturday June 26, 2010

Hour of Decision

The Scriptures this weekend call us to a personal decision to ‘leave’ everything to follow Christ. However they also make the all-important link between Christian discipleship and love of neighbor. You can’t have one without the other.

When Elijah placed his cloak over Elisha as a sign of investiture and the designation of a successor, he expected a decision. Elisha’s willingness to accept the responsibility of being God’s prophet required a clean break with his past. This is illustrated by kissing his mother and father farewell. Then slaughtering his oxen, he threw a big party, left everything and followed Elijah as his servant. In essence he gave himself totally to God as a ‘son’ and servant of God’s word.

In his gospel narrative, Luke dramatizes the invitation of Jesus to his disciples to “leave everything” and follow him ‘to Jerusalem’ — unconditionally. Luke is exaggerating the mandate of Jesus to make the point that God’s dominion must enjoy a priority in the lives of his followers. In other words, don’t wait until you have fulfilled all your family obligations. Do it as you fulfill all your family obligations. They are part of your commitment to Christian discipleship.

Notice, too, that Jesus scolds his disciples for cursing the Samaritans. True disciples are not combative; they don’t throw stones at those who oppose them, and they don’t demonize them. This stuff is hard to take isn’t it?

Paul urges the Galatians to abandon worldly pursuits and take the road less traveled on which, ironically, they will find true freedom and inner peace. To live in the Spirit is to live in the freedom of the children of God. In the final analysis, there is no law higher than God’s law. You shall love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. Even church law does not take precedence over God’s law!

Discipleship is about surrender. In a real sense we do indeed need to burn our bridges behind us and move forward without excess baggage.

Protestant author of Habits of the Heart, Robert Bullah, insists that worship is not only about the praise of God and personal salvation but also about our connectedness to all of humanity. If we are to take the word of God seriously, then we must become “stewards” or servants of God’s Word. If we are to become stewards of the Word, then we must obey the commission issued at the conclusion of every celebration of the Eucharist, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord” and your neighbor.

The Mass is never ended. It is an invitation to go out and put into practice all that we have celebrated at these two tables—the table of God’s Word and the table of Eucharist. The call to discipleship is not a call to withdraw from the public square. This doesn’t mean we tell other people how to live or how to vote but it does mean we live our values “using words as necessary.”

We are living in times when confidence in church leadership and trust in government is at an all-time low. We need to retrieve our Catholic identity not by edict but by moving beyond private piety and triumphant medieval symbols of honor and status to the centrality of the living Word through the celebration of this Eucharist. It is at the core of who we are as the Body of Christ.

We need to become a Church without boundaries and without walls but we need to keep our tables connected, this table, your table and the table of humanity. We are bonded in Eucharist; we are bonded in Christ.

Our decision for Christ means reaching out to those who feel alienated from God and those who are estranged from the Church. As often as I have heard criticism of the Church in recent years—much of it valid—I have heard many more say they want to get back into the Church; not the Church that binds its members with rigid rules and regulations but into the Church that breaks open the bread of God’s word authentically and joyfully. A church that feeds its people with living food and frees its members—all of its members, women and men, to be all of what God has destined them to be.

Now more than ever the Church needs strong Christian women and men who know the tradition and who live it with integrity and moral rectitude; humble men and women who are not deterred by their own frailty and mortality; courageous women and men who will hold our leaders unabashedly accountable for their mission and ministry to the Church and to the world.

The language of the Mass—English, Latin, Greek or whatever—is not important as long as these ancient rites enable us to hear and understand the Word of God more clearly and give glory to God through faithful service to neighbor. It is true, we have lost a sense of appreciation for the ‘sacred’ but words about reverence for God and respect for the sacred are empty unless all of us including those in high places humbly acknowledge our frailty and mortality, submit humbly to our ‘higher’ power and acknowledge the power of the Spirit living within the assembly of the faithful.

In the words of the great Catherine of Siena, “If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire!”

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could… then took the other… I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” [Robert Frost]