Fr Peter’s newsletter notes - June 2005
Posted on June 1st 2005 in Weekly messages
Tenth Sunday of the Year - Sunday 5 June 2005
There must be many Catholics throughout Europe quietly relieved that the proposed European Constitution has been torpedoed twice by a no vote in France and in Holland. Their reasons are probably not shared by many of the no-party but, as a Catholic, I cannot help feeling this is divine justice for purposefully excluding any reference to Europe's Christian heritage in the preamble to the Constitution. The European secular elite, brought up on the certainties of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, has suddenly found that it has a heavy price to pay for insulated and tax-free lifestyle. They are now out of touch with a people who are beginning to rediscover the richness and diversity of European culture. The ideas of imposing a constitution on such a divergent group always had an air of megalomania, especially as the one bond that served to unite, i.e. their Christian heritage, was crudely rejected.
The concept of Christendom allowed for both a spiritual unity as well as a diversity of cultures. Today after fifty years of immigration from non-Christian cultures, the focus of unity would have to be placed God as Creator, His Law and Providence. This would allow recognition of Europe's Judaic-Christian heritage without necessarily alienating those of other faiths.
This desire for well-meaning megalomania is not restricted to the creation of a European super-state, but also includes the current project to 'make poverty history'. No one should doubt that the existence of widespread poverty represents a challenge to all people of faith and none. Everyone will be judged by their charitable acts. It is the proposed solutions by the now fashionable 'make poverty history' proponents that need questioning. Does the relief of inter-governmental debt really address the issue? Will it not encourage another generation of despotic and corrupt administrations to borrow fresh money for equally redundant or violent ends? The answer is certainly not to promote a new era of colonialism, but rather of letting the people of the under-developed regions, such as Africa, generate change themselves. The alternative idea, promoted by the Americans, of rewarding countries edging towards a true participatory democracy should be commended. The rule of law and the existence of stable political structures aid the natural human capacity for invention and the creation of wealth. The impression given by the 'aid-industry', with their ever increasing demand for resources, is of an unholy alliance of unreconstructed socialists who worship state intervention and command economies.
This is why the current method to 'make poverty history' detracts from our personal responsibility to help alleviate poverty. A few pop-stars making simplistic comments about the evils of poverty, shareholders, capitalism and the USA do not impress anyone of the slightest intelligence. More importantly, the project also demeans the recipient who, as an acting moral person, should share in his or her future. The continuing flourishing of the Church's missions and aid-projects in Africa is that the Church recognises the individual who has the right to shape their future. All long term aid must be a participation in a commonly determined human future that involves both the donor, who acts of out of faith, and the recipient, who is seeking the dignity proper to human life. The Catholic Church remains the biggest single provider of health care and schooling in the world, not out of a sense of megalomania but out of Christian service to the world. The Catholic Church recognises the image of Christ in every person, and will be carrying out this divine mandate long after the 'Make poverty history' campaign becomes a footnote in history.
Twelfth Sunday of the Year - Sunday 19 June 2005
Last week, as the final part of the anniversary pilgrimage of the St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club, the group spent a few days at Palazzola a retreat house outside Rome in the Alban Hills. This used to be for the exclusive use of seminarians at the English College, in the days when they did not return home during the summer, but for the last twenty years it has functioned as a retreat house for English speaking pilgrims. It was good to go back, and much to my delight little had really changed. There were the obvious health and safety additions with bright red fire extinguishers along the corridor and luminous green signs helpfully pointing to the door, but the food and wine were as good as ever. The view from the terrace had changed little, the view across the lake to Castel Gandolfo, the Papal summer residence remains unspoilt, and the wooded hillsides of the lakeside are still remarkably free from illegal building developments. The danger of returning to a place of happy memories is to focus on all that has changed rather than to delight that the something is still preserved, and to hope that the place has a future. Though there have been many developments of executive homes and compounds in the Alban Hills, the hill top towns still retain their old world charm, and exhibit all the great qualities of an older Italy.
I had been fearful that what seemed so perfect a paradise would somehow have been irrevocably spoilt. It made me realise, sitting on the terrace, that through God's providence this little corner had been preserved. The scars of modern human greed had been kept at bay while those of an earlier age, such as those from Roman times, are ruined and the baroque silhouette now looks like a natural extension of the landscape. It made me think that we worry too much about the future and what that will bring, and about what could have been different in the past. Too much worry makes one miss the joys of the present moment. It was an attitude that Jesus warned the disciples against. They were not to worry despite the obvious animosity that would greet their mission. God the Father had their true interests at heart. Indeed he had counted every hair on their heads. I think they were meant to 'enjoy' their mission of preaching and not simply focus on the suffering.
The sending of the Son into the world is rightly seen as the only true means of liberation from the confines of sin, but the coming of Jesus is also a liberation from anxiety, fear, and the dead weight of fate. This is not to deny the existence of evil, or to the anxiety generated by others' evil actions. However, belief in God reveals that these are not the last words about our relationship with God. Many people do suffer the appalling consequences of man-made evil actions, and why God permits such events will forever remain a mystery. God does not cause evil actions as such. All morally evil actions have a human source alone, and these can cause great anxiety, as the consequences of war show all too clearly. These experiences, though, are not the handiwork of a capricious god, and so cannot be described as fate. This way of thinking demythologises the world, and makes the believer recognise that the source of evil lies in the created order, and man in particular, and that the place of true comfort lies in God the Creator and Redeemer alone.
Thirteenth Sunday of the Year - Sunday 26 June 2005
Last week when I was finishing my preparation for a talk to a Parish on Gaudium et Spes, I realised that my 'academic' year was ending the way it had begun. This time though the talk was to cover the whole document and not just the first few sections in preparation for 'Book at Breakfast'. Once again it became apparent that the interpretation of this document is key to an authentic interpretation of the Second Vatican Council. The 'dialogue' approach adopted by the Council fathers was something new in comparison to previous Church statements. This worried some during the Council, but it is a method that has proved the test of time, and later became the 'template' for Pope John-Paul's own Encyclicals.
The document begins with a meditation on the current condition of the world, both in its positive and negative aspects. The aspirations and precious gifts of humanity, especially conscience and freedom, find their fullest meaning in Jesus Christ. This method allows the Church to stand alongside humanity, whether believer or not, and points the way to human fulfilment. It gives a solid spiritual foundation for the Church's mission to the world. The Church also keeps alive the question of God, and the meaning of human life, in the face of all reductive accounts of humanity. This method of alignment between Church and the world is not restricted to the positive but also includes the baleful effects of sin.
The liberal interpretation of this document relies on the selective exclusion of those passages that mention sin. Gaudium et Spes does not simply focus on the positive aspects of the human condition and so it does not make a direct connection between the advancement of the kingdom of man and the coming of the Kingdom of God. The relationship is more subtle as those who do search for the kingdom of God should be involved with the bettering of the human society.
The second half of Gaudium et Spes identifies five areas which desperately need Christian witness. These five areas are marriage and the family; the nurturing of culture; social and economic life; the life of the political community, and fostering peace in the international community. The Christian, by giving witness through his or her actions, reveals the connection between freedom, the ability to fulfil one's vocation, and the teaching of the Church, as well as the connection between the search for the kingdom of God and the establishment of the kingdom of man. The Catholic faith is then seen to be the animating principle behind the pursuit of the fulfilled life, rather than a force of oppression and ignorance.
The identification of these five areas as the places for witness are not separate from each other. They are all linked to the one end, the coming of the kingdom of God, and to one Saviour Jesus Christ. The grace of Christ has both and individual and communal dimension. It cleanses and brings back together what was fractured at the fall. The second section of Gaudium et Spes begins with a reflection on the family. The qualities needed to foster family life, the ability to minister to each other as husband and wife, and to become father and mother, require a 'constancy of love, a largeness of mind and spirit of sacrifice'. These qualities, learnt at home, are those required in all other fields of human activity. The lesson here is that everyone, by virtue of being brought up in a family, has the right and the ability to involve themselves in these other four fields of human activity. These areas should not be restricted to the 'experts' nor to the 'professional politicians' who can so often place their own advantage before the common good. The Council encourages every Catholic to take their rightful place in the fostering of a truly human society.
The Sermon on the Mount (Part 1)
The weekday Lectionary moves to St. Matthew's Gospel beginning with the Sermon on the Mount, the opening block of teaching that Jesus addresses both to His disciples and the crowds. Up till then He has simply proclaimed an impending liberation from sin, and the coming of the kingdom in His person, a gracious work of God that to be accepted by those who recognise their need for spiritual and physical healing. This mission will not be done alone, and already Jesus has collected a group of disciples including Peter, James and John. They will form the nucleus of both his co-workers and the community gathered around the Master.
The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes, a list of qualities that will mark out the follower of Jesus. The second to eighth of the Beatitudes express particular facets - righteousness, purity of heart, humility and mercy - of the first Beatitude, 'Blessed are the Poor in Spirit'. This first Beatitude is the key description of Jesus Christ who, out of love for humanity, assumed our condition and, as St Paul describes, 'taking the form of a slave'. The other Beatitudes have a rich history in the Old Testament and they crystallise many of the themes used by the prophets to express the proper response of the chosen people to God.
The Beatitudes define the status of the believe and, both singularly and collectively, should become the 'window through which the divine light enters the world'. The Beatitudes are both a challenge, even up to death, to the believer and also a commission for engagement with the world. The visibility requires is not an end in itself, but the way in which the Father's mercy may be known.
There is no contradiction between the Law and the Beatitudes. Jesus explicitly says that the Beatitudes are the fulfilment of the Law, as they build on the obedience to the commandments. The quest for perfection lies beyond the commandments and is a necessary journey for every Christian who wishes to become truly Christ like.
The conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7:1-29
The final sections of the Sermon on the Mount do not have the readily understandable structure of the earlier parts. This section has the feel of the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament where groups of sayings are brought together either through subject or catchword to form longer passages. This penultimate section consists of a number of sayings about judgement, fraternal correction, persistence in prayer and concluding with the 'Golden Rule'. They remind us that Jesus was fully immersed in the culture of His time, and using the traditional teaching methods at hand. His choice of aphorisms gives them lasting value, but through His use develops their meaning. The measure now for the Golden Rule, 'Do to no-one what you would not have done to you' is not fallen man but Jesus Christ, God made man. His mission of compassion raises the Golden Rule above the self-serving interests of a sinful humanity and becomes the key to the Law and Prophets.
The conclusion to the Sermon distinguished between those who follow the teachings of Jesus, and those who through self-delusion fail to grasp its true meaning. Both groups will be judged at the end of time. The ones who entered through the narrow gate, and walked the hard road will enter into eternal life. Despite temptation they have not listened to the false prophets, and have identified their fruit as rotten. The faith of such disciples is not attention seeking, nor does it involve the imprudent use of the Lord's name. There is a plain solidity to their dwellings built on rock. The sharp distinction made by Jesus between those who will enter everlasting life and those who are on the road to perdition should be of absolute importance to the believer and his or her daily decision to follow Christ. The accessible nature of the wisdom tradition with its examples from life should emphasis that it is through such decisions that the believer models or not his own self-portrait on Jesus Christ, and thus returns the believer to the beginning of the Sermon and the Beatitudes, the definitive portrait of Jesus Christ.
The missionary activity of Jesus: Matthew c.8-9
The Sermon on the Mount is followed by a description of Jesus' missionary journeys amongst the towns and villages of Galilee. The conclusion of this preaching mission will be a long discourse about the disciples' own missionary activities. (c.10). The response of both the crowds and the religious authorities to Jesus would have resonated with the Christian community for whom St. Matthew wrote. They were in the same situation of hostility and persecution. Thus the emphasis here is on the nature of true discipleship, both then and now.
The true disciple is the one who follows Jesus in His way and in His time rather than his own. The harsh words of Jesus are there to remind the first community and ourselves that, in the face of the difficulties of discipleship, only the total commitment of faith will suffice. (Monday). Even those who follow have a weak faith and, at the first sign of danger, are overcome with fear. Jesus, secure in His relation to the Father, remains unconcerned. However, out of consideration for His chosen followers he does rebuke the wind and sea, but leaves the question, 'how much do we really trust in God?' (Tuesday).
The healing of the demoniac reveals further facets of Jesus and the nature of discipleship. Jesus is the more powerful even when confronted with multiple demons. The use of divine power does not preclude the liberty enjoyed by the townspeople to either accept or reject the Gospel. The message is too precious to be forced on the unwilling. (Wednesday).
Jesus, in healing the paralytic, knowingly connects infirmity with the reality of sin. Both are an expression of evil and Jesus, being the more powerful, both heals and forgives. The crowd's reaction points to the future mission of the Church to baptise and to forgive sins. (Thursday).
The first disciples, such as Matthew, are being gathered by Jesus. They willingly respond. The community that Jesus seeks are those who simultaneously seek Him. They understand the need for God's mercy. (Friday).