The Cross Alone Gives Meaning In This Life (Exaltation of the Holy Cross - Cycle C)

This year, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross falls on a Sunday, the 24th in ordinary time. The feast supplants the regular Sunday readings and prayers, which very rarely happens. The change underscores just how deeply the Church honors the Holy Cross.

As we look at the feast, we see that the assigned Gospel Reading contains perhaps the single most famous passage from the Bible in American culture - John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." The passage is often quoted especially by fundamentalist and evangelical Christians and is a favorite verse to hold up on signs at sporting events. How does the Catholic Church interpret this passage?

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Photo Credit: Wayside cross in Baroña, Galicia, Spain, from Wikimedia Commons.

Why Did Jesus Speak of Hate? (23rd Sunday - Cycle C)

The message of the Gospel passage for this Sunday might seem shocking at first sight. What could Jesus possibly mean by this statement: "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Matthew 14:26)? Doesn't Jesus want us to love our families? Doesn't he want us to have a healthy sense of self-love? How should we interpret his words?

To understand his words in this passage, we need to bear in mind two important aspects of the society in which Jesus proclaimed the Gospel. Ancient Israelite culture relied greatly, as do many cultures today, on the use of hyperbole, which entails deliberate and often excessive exaggeration in order to drive a point home. The manner in which Jesus spoke very much reflected the conventions of his culture.

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Photo Credit: Conversion of St. Paul by Michaelangelo from Wikimedia Commons.

What Is Humility? (22nd Sunday - Cycle C)

Both the First Reading and the Gospel Reading for this Sunday teach about humility. The Greek philosopher Aristotle and later St. Thomas Aquinas, who drew upon his work, both saw virtues as the golden mean between two extremes. Humility can be seen as a virtue between the two extremes of self-absorption and self-hatred.

On the one hand, an exaggerated ego is clearly a vice. In this state, we make ourselves the center of the universe and consider our own wants and desires the most important thing in the world. Being egocentric is deadly for us because it closes us off from God's love and destroys our relationships with others in our lives.

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Photo Credit: Foot washing - Chapel of the Holy Sacrament - Basílica of Aparecida - Aparecida 2014 Wikimedia Commons.

Two Traps to Avoid (21st Sunday - Cycle C)

The Gospel reading for this Sunday warns against presumption. It is not enough to just claim to be Christian. It is not enough merely to say the words. Being a follower of Christ entails action, the reorienting of our entire lives, with Christ as our center.

There are at least two major ways that presumption can manifest itself. One is complacency. We begin with true dedication and enthusiasm. We follow Christ with a sense of excitement. But the danger is that, like the seed planted in shallow ground, we start to lose focus. We might still think that we are on the straight and narrow and are truly following Christ. But in reality, the word Christian no longer truly describes us. We might still be going through some motions, but when we are complacent, Christ is no longer central in our lives.

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Photo Credit: Храм Христа Спасителя, Cathedral of Christ the King from Wikimedia Commons.

Does Jesus Want Division? (20th Sunday - Cycle C)

Years ago, I heard a Jesuit mention in his homily that when he visited the headquarters of the Society of Jesus in Rome, he saw a life-size statue of Jesus with the Sacred Heart in an alcove. Under the statue was inscribed a verse from the Gospel Reading for this Sunday: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!" (Luke 12:49) The priest said that he didn't know if it was an oversight or someone's idea of a bad joke, but right next to the alcove, someone had placed a fire extinguisher.

The priest went on to say that the unfortunate juxtaposition was a good illustration of what we tend to do with the Gospel. We have the powerful message of Christ, which is meant to fundamentally transform all of society, reshaping human life entirely. But we tend to domesticate the Gospel message, robbing it of its power, making sure that the message does not disturb our comfort too much. But the Gospel message is meant to upend everything in our lives, to transform our perspective on everything and reorder all of our interactions in life. The Gospel of Christ is not to be a simple veneer on an otherwise earthly life, but a force that transforms us from within.

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Photo Credit: Altar of the church of Libyan Martyrs in Minya from Wikimedia Commons.

The One Thing We Have to Do in Life (19th Sunday - Cycle C)

The Old Testament period was a time of preparation for the coming of Christ. The Catholic Church has always interpreted the text of the Old Testament as pointing toward Christ. The events of the Old Testament foreshadow various events from the New Testament and prefigure the teachings revealed by Christ.

The First Reading for this Sunday, taken from the Book of Wisdom, reflects on the Passover, through which the Israelites were freed from Egypt, where they had been slaves for generations. The night of the Passover, the Angel of Death flew over the land of Egypt and struck down the firstborn male in every household. The Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb and smear its blood on their doorframes, which was a signal for the angel to pass over the household and not to strike down the firstborn male. When Pharaoh saw the devastation in his domain, he decided to let the Israelites go. The captives fled, but Pharaoh decided to pursue them after all. With God's grace, Moses was able to open up the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to walk dry-shod to the other side, but then the waters closed again when Pharaoh's army continued the pursuit, destroying them completely.

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What We Can Take With Us (18th Sunday - Cycle C)

In my office I display an assortment of snow globes from various parts of the world and there is a story behind the collection. In college, I became the godparent for a classmate who joined the Catholic Church. Later, she became a family friend. When she traveled, she would send us postcards. When I traveled to new locations, I would get her a snow globe in turn. But four years ago, she died as a result of an unsuccessful heart surgery. In her will, she left me the snow globes, so now the gifts I had found during my travels are back in my possession.

Nor is this the only time that things I had given to others came back to me because of their passing. Gifts for my Dad, Mom, and my Aunt Gizi (a holy water bottle from Lourdes, a decorative Virgin Mary plate from Medjugorje, and an icon of a Hungarian saint) had all come back to me after their deaths. All of these objects remind me of the stark reality highlighted by the title of an American play - You Can't Take It With You.

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