24th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Christ Before Everything

Caesarea Philippi is located in the Golan Heights, which is the northeastern part of the modern state of Israel. Today, the area is a beautiful park, visited by many nature lovers. Within the park stands a group of ancient Roman ruins, the remnants of temples dedicated to various gods revered in Greco-Roman culture. Among these temples was one honoring the Emperor Augustus, who had founded the Roman Empire and was worshipped as divine.

At the time of Christ, the Jewish people, like many other nations, lived under Roman occupation. Throughout the New Testament, we see a contrast between the reign of Christ and Roman imperial power. The Gospel of Mark starts with the words "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Mark 1:1). At first sight, we might gloss over this sentence as just a chapter heading. But, as we shall see, each word is full of deep meaning. The use of the word "beginning" invokes the first words of Genesis, "In the beginning" (Genesis 1:1), the words that introduce the account of creation. Mark is subtly implying that what we are about to read, the coming of Christ among us, is as important as God's act of creation. In the New Testament, the life-giving order created by Christ is set in contrast with the oppressive order brought about by the Roman Empire.

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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Finding the Creator Through Creation

In understanding the role of the physical world in human life, we have seen two extremes in human history. One perspective is materialistic hedonism, which sees the overindulgent enjoyment of the physical as the goal of life, with no reference to a higher cause or state of being. On the other extreme, we see schools of thought like Gnosticism, which view the material world as inherently evil and consider the goal of life to be the escape from the physical toward the spiritual. Catholicism rejects both of these perspectives.

The Church teaches that the material world was created inherently good. The physical world has been marred by the consequence of sin, but the physical is not evil. We are allowed to enjoy the goodness of the physical world, as long as we have the right perspective. We must always remember that the material world is God’s creation. The physical is never an end in and of itself, but something that speaks of the glory of God, the creator of the universe. Thus, if we approach the world correctly, our engagement with the physical will always lift our soul to God. In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, we see the curing of a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment. As soon as he is cured, he can hear the words of Jesus. He is also able to speak of Jesus to others. His situation is an image of how the physical can lift us up to the spiritual.

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Twisters Is a Cute and Uplifting Movie

I never thought I'd use the adjectives cute and sweet to refer to a movie about tornados, but both those words are apt to describe Twisters. Nor would I have had any interest in a Hollywood storm disaster flick, but the positive word of mouth from people whose opinion on movies I generally trust drew me in, and I am so glad I gave Twisters a chance, for several reasons.

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22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Why We Must Flee From Even Small Sins

The ancient Israelites lived according to the Torah, also known as the Mosaic Law, the law that they received from God through Moses during their long journey in the desert. The Mosaic Law encompassed every aspect of life, from fundamentals to dietary codes and smaller matters too. For the ancient Israelites, there was no distinction between a secular and a religious sphere. Everything was viewed through the lens of their faith. Thus, the Mosaic Law governed not only one's individual relationship with God but the whole organization of society.

By observing the Mosaic Law, the Israelites truly lived as God's own chosen people. But they were chosen not for their own glory but to be a light to the other nations. A major part of their calling was to show to the rest of the world how to live in right relationship with God. The observance of the Mosaic Law deliberately set them apart from other cultures, so that they would not blend in with the surrounding tribes but would be the shining light that would call them to repentance.

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21th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Is the Pauline Image of the Ideal Husband?

In this week's reflection, we will consider three topics from the Sunday readings. The first topic is taken from the second reading, the question of subordination. The long form of the reading says: "Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything" (Ephesians 5:22-24). Needless to say, this passage has been controversial in the last few decades. Many would rather avoid discussing it, as if it were not even in the Bible. In fact, once I heard a priest say in his homily that the Apostle Paul did not write this passage, but that it was added later to reflect Roman social customs. On the flip side, some will interpret this passage as a sort of caveman caricature, giving license to men to be domineering tyrants over their wives.

What is often overlooked in the discussion is the context of the lines quoted. Right before the passage in question, we read: "Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21). Right after speaking about wives being subordinate, the Apostle Paul then continues: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Let us ponder for a moment what this statement means. How did Christ love the Church? He did so to the point of allowing himself to be crucified for her. In the Pauline vision, the central image of the ideal husband is that of Christ submitting even to crucifixion. So if we are going to talk about a wife being subordinate to her husband, we should also discuss the husband loving his wife even to the point of being willing to be crucified for her. That would give us a more complete picture.

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20th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Literal Meaning of the Words of Jesus

Every three years, over the course of four weeks, the Church focuses on Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, with readings covering the passage called the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6:22-71). The words of Jesus in this passage are at the heart of Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the teaching that through the words of Consecration spoken by the priest at Mass, the bread and wine become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Risen Christ. In the passage, Jesus also emphasizes the necessity of our eating and drinking his Body and Blood in order to have spiritual life.

However, Christian fundamentalist, who claim to read the Bible completely literally, assert that the words of Jesus in this passage are to be taken figuratively. After all, they say, Jesus uses various metaphors in the Gospels. For example, he calls himself a vine, a gate, and a shepherd. But he is not literally any of those. So, the fundamentalist argument goes, when Jesus says "my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink" (John 6:55), he is speaking metaphorically.

However, even a cursory examination of the Bread of Life Discourse would show the opposite.

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19th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What is Eternal Life?

As we consider the question of eternal life, let us begin with two works of fiction. In the British classic Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the main character visits various strange lands. Among these is the country of Luggnagg, where live the Struldbruggs, a group of people who are immortal. Though Struldbruggs do not die, they still experience aging and disease, which makes their condition well-nigh unbearable after some time. They have the gift of immortality without the gift of eternal youth.

In another fictional universe, the vampire novels of Anne Rice, we see a different kind of immortality. Here the vampires can live indefinitely in our world, unless they are killed by sunlight or fire. They do not age, nor are they subject to illness. However, these vampires are atheists and have no belief in anything greater than themselves. In time, an existential boredom sets in, which causes a deep, restless angst. In one of the books, The Vampire Lestat, one vampire in fact commits suicide by jumping into fire because he cannot endure endless days without meaning. The message, whether intentional or not, is clear. Endless life without meaning is not a gift but a burden.

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