22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time –Year B – (30th August, 2009)

22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time –Year B – (30th August, 2009)

(Deuteronomy 4.1-2,6-8: James 1.17-18,21-22, 27: Mark 7.1-8,14-15, 21-23)

Some years ago a woman went to a priest saying that she was suffering greatly because she had this terrible need to wash her hands many times each day. Especially before going to Mass she would wash her hands. Again, the same thing before and after communion she had tissues to wipe her hands and also at the end of Mass. She really was a slave to this practice and felt that if she didn’t do it God would punish her.

This poor woman reminds us a lot of today’s gospel. The Pharisees and some of the Scribes were caught up in the same kind of practice and accused the disciples of Jesus of not washing their hands before eating and of not sprinkling themselves with water on returning from the market place. According to the Pharisees and the Scribes these things belonged to the essence of religion. Jesus came to show us that they were not and to give us a true idea of who God really is and what kind of response he is asking of us.

The Pharisees paid more attention to the outside than the inside. For them the exterior was everything. Hence their concern about outer cleanness, and neglect of what was more important – inner cleanness or cleanness of heart.

Here we see what is perhaps the major difference about what true religion is according to them and the vision of religion that Jesus came to reveal to us. He was saying that all washings and purifications are useless unless they lead to an inner purification, a conversion of our hearts.

Once I met a man about halfway through Lent who said he went to daily Mass but had stopped going to Holy Communion. When I asked him why, he said it was because on the previous Ash Wednesday he had eaten meat and only came to realise it next day. This external regulation prevented him from receiving Communion. He considered a Church regulation as being more important than receiving the Eucharist. He cannot be blamed, as he believed it was a serious sin. This is precisely why Jesus came to teach us the true meaning of religion. Reading the 4 gospels continually informs us what Jesus is telling us about true religion.

The key issue in all of this is what is the correct Image of God. Our practices will reveal to us what kind of a God we really believe in. If we focus on the externals only we may just be paying lip service to God.

I knew a woman who says vocal prayers for over half an hour every day. Sometimes when it comes to going to bed because she has been very busy during the day she hasn’t had time to say her prayers, so she kneels down and even though falling asleep she struggles through her prayers as she feels God would be displeased if she didn’t say them, instead of just saying to God ‘I am exhausted, I offer you my tiredness and exhaustion. Good night’. For her religion is quite a burden which is not what true religion is meant to be. It should be a way of responding to our loving, compassionate Father who wishes to guide us through life without loading heavy and difficult burdens on us as the Pharisees did to the Jews.

We can understand then why so many sinners, prostitutes, public sinners flocked to Jesus to hear his liberating message. He told them clearly that what mattered before God were not all these external practices. Most were unnecessary and in fact, kept people away from God. The essential was to love God with all one’s heart and one’s neighbour as oneself. Anything not leading to these was not God’s way.

In many ways Jesus is reminding us that our religion has to be better than mere externals. It’s really about an inner conversion, calling us to a change of heart where necessary. It’s about deepening our personal relationship with Jesus, with God. This means placing our trust in him as completely as we can. This a great gift to ask God for.

For me the easier part of my religion is celebrating Mass and praying. Forgiving those who hurt me or living in community with people who have another way of seeing things which are equally valid is not always easy. All of you who are married know this. Life is not always easy and enjoyable.

Jesus’ message today is very simple and clear, though not always easy. Do our religious practices or lifestyle lead to a greater loving service of our families and neighbours? Do they lead to forgiving our enemies, help us to be non-judgmental etc? Do they, above all, help us to come to an ever deeper awareness that God is our loving Father and will give us all the gifts we need to make us happy, free and at peace. So for you and me here this morning where is Jesus speaking to us? Where are we unfree? What practices from childhood, family, Church still enslave us? What church traditions did we grow up with that do not give us peace, joy and help us to come to love God and our neighbours better?

True cleanliness consists in putting the Word of God into practice, a word of encouragement or a deed of love for others when it is possible even at the expense of one’s own comfort. Let us ask God’s help.

Jesus tells us that we should wash our hands of anything which prevents us from making the life of our neighbours easier or better especially the poor, the widows and orphans as St.James tells us in the second reading today.

“Lord Jesus, help us to let go of any external practices which do not lead to interior conversion and to a more loving service of You and of our neighbour. Amen”.

(Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA. 25^th August, 2009)

Odds and ends 8/09

Microsoft apologizes for changing race in photo


Aha! Caught cheating eh? These naughty MS guys changed the black face with a white face and now they get a red face. Something's hilariously wrong if one looks closely. Of course, they forgot to change the color of the hands. Then the head of the white guy seems unnaturally too big, his neck seems too short, and he appears to look at a different direction. The result is eggs on Microsoft faces. I mean, they got lots of money to hire and photograph new models, why bother to fake it? It would be easy quite enough to pose again for them, yes?

Jesus of Nazareth (2)

A recent question posed in Catholic Forums goes:

"...I, like many other Catholics, have had many questions about our faith of things we don't understand; for instance why was our Lord baptized when He was without sin?..."


Having just read the first chapter of Pope Benedict XVI's "Jesus of Nazareth", the opportune explanation presents itself (as excerpted)


/ "...Descending into the water, those baptized recognized their own sins and sought to free themselves from the weight of being oppressed by sin. What did Jesus do? Luke, who throughout his gospel pays particular attention to the prayer of Jesus, and constantly presents Him as the One who prays - in dialogue with the Father - tells us that Jesus was at prayer after being baptized. Because of the cross and resurrection it becomes clear to Christians what had occurred: Jesus took on his shoulders the weight of the sin of all humanity; he took it with him into the Jordan. From the beginning of his activity he takes the place of sinners. There begins the anticipation of the cross. He is, so to say, the true Jonah who said to the sailors: take me and throw me into the sea. (Jonah 1:12) The full meaning of the baptism of Jesus, his fulfillment of “all righteousness” (cf Matt 3:15) reviews itself only in the cross: the baptism is the acceptance of death for the sins of humanity, and the voice from heaven "This is my beloved Son” is the anticipated reference to the resurrection. Thus one understands the reason why in his own discourses Jesus uses the word baptism to refer to his own death. (Matt 10:38; Luke 12:50) [p 38]..." /

PART 1

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time –Year B – (23rd August, 2009)

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time –Year B – (23rd August, 2009)

(Joshua 24.1-2, 15-17, 18b; Ephesians 5.21-32: John 6.61-70)

A certain young man was in love with this girl. They had been together for a few years. One day the girl asked him ‘Are you going to marry me or not? He said that he wasn’t really sure, so he asked for more time.. She said that she would give him 6 more months to make up his mind and then to choose. Because of his own parents’ bad marriage and the number of their friends who were divorced he was afraid to risk. At the end of the 6 months the girl asked him what his choice was - to marry her or not. He said that he still wasn’t sure and needed more time. So she told him that their relationship was over, as she couldn’t wait any longer.

The young man wanted to be sure before making his choice. He wanted to keep his options open. He was afraid to risk all by choosing to marry the girl. What if the relationship didn’t work out? What if she or he became seriously ill? What if he lost his job etc.?

In the gospel today we have something similar – People are being asked to make a choice, as we are, to choose to follow Jesus or not. Will we choose to follow him for a while and see how things work out and if they don’t we can always opt out of our choice of him?

In last Sunday’s gospel Jesus had said ‘Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood you will not have life in you’. The response of many to that statement is the beginning of today’s gospel. They said ‘This is a hard saying, who can accept it’. They were trying to understand it in a rational, logical way. But really the only way we can accept that Jesus gives life in its fullest is through our faith, our belief that what he says is true. It is a hard saying because Jesus not only challenges our intellect but more so our way of life, behaviour, our attitudes etc.

Faith is critical. Faith is more than just having true doctrine. It is first of all a commitment to a close relationship with Jesus. It evaluates whether one’s belief are in conformity with the words and actions of Jesus, whether they are ‘spirit and life’. Do they empower us to face life calmly and courageously?

We know of course that the words ‘eat my flesh and drink my blood’ are not to be taken in their literal sense. It is Jesus’ dramatic way of asking us to accept him totally - his thoughts, attitudes, values, his life-view must become ours.

There’s very much a ‘take-it-or-leave- it’ approach in today’s gospel. There is no attempt at gentle persuasion. The people had seen or heard of him working miracles and giving other signs too. They had heard his preaching which was very powerful so much so that once the Jewish religious leader sent the temple guards to arrest him but they came back without him saying ‘no man speaks like this man speaks’. Even they recognized that Jesus’ words were special.

Neither does Jesus treat us like puppets on a string which have to do exactly as the puppet master decides. No, God in Jesus gives us a choice like the people in the first reading were given a choice by Joshua to choose for or against the Lord.

So where do you and I stand? We can as Christians choose to turn away from Jesus because we feel the demands are too much. Yet you and I are here today because we have chosen to be here. We have said ‘yes’ by our very actions that we believe that Jesus alone can give us eternal life beginning right now with its fulness to come after we die. But we must live out our lives daily and these must show that our Sunday worship must be backed up by our behaviour in daily life. As St. Francis noted, we should preach the gospel at all times, using words when necessary.

If you and I are honest, we can all say that at times when the demands of following Jesus were too much we have turned back but soon realised we were always loved and accepted and forgiven for whatever wrong we did and we started off again trying to be faithful. This may happen a number of times but if we turn back to God we are embraced as loved children of His.

In our world today there may be many reasons to turn away from Jesus, 1) a wrong understanding of the gospel message 2) negative witnessing by followers of Jesus, i.e.. scandalising behaviour from some Christians, be they priests or lay people 3) the powerful attractions of a seductive world, which are not compatible with the Christian vision etc.

Being a Christian today has different demands to being one 20 or 30 years ago. What is Jesus asking of me now? Where is he leading me? How am I responding? All of you are here this morning because you believe in Jesus despite the struggles we all have to follow him closely. Sometimes like Peter and the other apostles we may fail but God loves us totally and unconditionally. He will always forgive us if we turn back no matter how long we stayed away. He is a faithful God and he reminds us that the Eucharist, the sacraments and prayer as well as the good example of yourselves and others are always available to encourage and empower us.

“Lord Jesus, may we call often on your Holy Spirit to help us to be faithful to you always. Amen”.

(Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA. 18th August, 2009)

You can't win em all

[subtitle: David takes down Goliath]

The golfing world is all agog over Tiger Woods' shock loss at the P.G.A.

Yes indeed, Tiger Woods is human after all

CHASKA (AP) --­ The scene seemed surreal, mostly because somehow we never expected to see it. Tiger Woods had been so great for so long that the idea of anyone — much less the late-blooming son of South Korean vegetable farmers — coming from behind to beat him when it really mattered bordered on preposterous...
...
Woods, raised from birth to be the best player ever, led after all three rounds and was so good on Sundays at majors that this one seemed like little more than a victory lap. Yang, who took up golf at age 19 only after tearing up his leg while trying to become a bodybuilder, was in qualifying school last year and had never sniffed the lead before at a major championship.

But it was Yang who kept calm even though he could barely sleep the night before because he was so excited by it all.

[after the game, this is what Tiger has to say]

"I played well enough to win the championship," Woods told the media. "I did not putt well enough to win the championship today. I didn't get it done on the greens, and consequently, I didn't win the tournament."

[strange that Tiger has words only about himself, and nothing about the game of the guy that beat him on his own game. I guess it's ok, he is the best golfer in the world after all]

[now listen to this guy Y.E. Yang]

"I wasn't that nervous, honestly, because it's a game of golf," he said through an interpreter. "It's not like you're in an octagon where you're fighting against Tiger and he's going to bite you or swing at you with his 9-iron. The worst I could do was just lose to Tiger."

[and from another news feed here]

He took the lead for the first time all week by chipping in for eagle from about 20 yards short of the 14th green. And when it looked as though nerves were getting the best of him, on a three-putt bogey at the 17th, he delivered his two most important shots.

Yang still had enough strength left to hoist his golf bag over his head, and later the 44-pound Wanamaker Trophy. [what follows I think is his next two most important shots...] After a long and tearful embrace with his wife, Young Ju Park, he walked across a bridge saluting thousands of fans who couldn't believe what they saw.

[and all I can say is...awesome!]
/

Jesus of Nazareth (1)

Note: More than two years ago when this first book of Pope Benedict XVI in his papacy first became available in one of the Catholic bookstores I frequent, the price of the hardbound edition was around P2,500. Much as I wanted to get my hands on the book, the price was too stiff for me and I decided to wait for a cheaper edition. I was finally able to get a copy a couple of months ago at National bookstore - a bantam hardbound copy at P995. It was still pricey for me, but I decided to take it anyway. The typeface was a little too hard on my eyes, but my cheap reading glasses comes to the rescue.

The book contains 10 chapters, and to date I have only managed to read the foreword, but I guess the foreword by itself is well worth the price of the book. To a non-theologian layman like me, the foreword's essay on the historical-critical method - its importance as well as its limitations in addressing Christology - is thoroughly illuminating. Here are a few excerpts of that 14-page foreword. My emphases in bold, and my [comments bracketed in red].
/
...
The historical-critical method...is an indispensable tool, given the structure of the Christian faith...This method is a fundamental dimension of exegesis, but it does not exhaust the interpretative task for someone who sees the biblical writings as a single corpus of Holy Scripture inspired by God.
...
For someone who considers himself directly addressed by the Bible today [although many interpret it in their own way], the method's first limit is that by its very nature it has to leave the biblical word in the past [otherwise, it would be violating the method's discipline]. It is a historical method, and that means that it investigates the then current context of events in which the texts originated. It attempts to justify and to understand the past - as it was in itself - with the greatest possible precision, in order then to find out what the author could have said and intended to say in the context of the mentality and events of the time. [talk about exclusively literal interpretations]. To the extent that it remains true to itself, the historical method not only has to investigate the biblical word as a thing of the past, but also has to let it remain in the past. It can glimpse points of contact with the present and it can try to apply the biblical word to the present; the only thing it cannot do is make it something present today - that would be overstepping its bounds. Its very precision in interpreting the reality of the past is both its strength and its limit. [excellent]
...
At this point we get a glimmer, even on a historical level, of what inspiration means: The author does not speak as private, self-contained subject. He speaks in a living community, that is to say, in a living historical movement not created by him, nor even by the collective, but which is led forward by a greater power that is at work. [the Holy Spirit] There are four dimensions of the word that the old doctrine of the fourfold sense of Scripture [CCC 115] pinpointed with remarkable accuracy. The four senses of Scripture are not individual meanings arrayed side by side, but dimensions of the one word that reaches beyond the moment.
...
Unless there had been something extraordinary in what happened, unless the person and the words of Jesus radically surpassed the hopes and expectations of the time, there is no way to explain why he was crucified or why he made such an impact. [Non-believers, listen]. As early as twenty or so years after Jesus' death, the great Christ-hymn of the Letter to the Philippians (cf. Phil 2:6-11) offers us a fully developed Christology stating that Jesus was equal to God, but emptied himself, became man, and humbled himself to die on the Cross, and that to him now belongs the worship of all creation, the adoration that God, through the prophet Isaiah, said was due him alone (cf. Is 45:23).

Critical scholarship rightly asks the question: What happened during those twenty years after Jesus' Crucifixion? [may I add - would the believers sacrifice their very lives for a grand farce?] Where did this Christology come from? To say that it is the fruit of anonymous collective formulations, whose authorship we seek to discover, does not actually explain everything. How could these groups be so creative? [and very bold to the point of death]. How were they so persuasive and how did they manage to prevail? [those lowly fishermen?]. Isn't it more logical, even historically speaking, to assume that the greatness came at the beginning, and that the figure of Jesus really did explode all existing categories and could only be understood in the light of the mystery of God? [very, very good questions]. Admittedly, to believe that, as man, he truly was God, and he communicated his divinity veiled in parables, yet with increasing clarity, exceeds the scope of the historical method. Yet if instead we take this conviction of faith as our starting point for reading the texts with the help of historical methodology and its intrinsic openness to something greater, they are opened up and they reveal a way and a figure that are worthy of belief...

...
It goes without saying that this book is in no way an exercise of the magisterium [a remarkable disclaimer], but is solely an expression of my personal search "for the face of the Lord" (cf. Ps 27:8). Everyone is free then, to contradict me [anyone care to try?]. I would only ask my readers for that initial goodwill without which there can be no understanding...
...
/
And I ask the good Pope to write more books, and for the publisher to make them more affordable. The Pope hopes to write a Part 2, "to include the chapter on the infancy narratives, which I have postponed for now, because it struck me as the most urgent priority to present the figure and the message of Jesus in his public ministry...". I am in no hurry, since I still have to read and digest the 10 chapters of this first part - certainly with large doses of goodwill after reading that excellent foreword.

The Pope says: "I would only ask my readers for that initial goodwill without which there can be no understanding..."

Indeed, initial goodwill and subsequent openness can only be present to a true seeker of truth.

As the Psalmist so prays ---

"Come," says my heart, "seek God's face"; your face, LORD, do I seek! (Ps 27:8)

Puzzle Time (1)

HOW WILL YOU SURVIVE IN THIS SITUATION?




Think...


Think...


Think more...


Give up?...

Answer here.