Antisemitism is an offence against God

30th Sunday of OT | Jer 31:7-9; Mk 10:46-52

This Sunday I was going to preach a more general message about how the blind Bartimaeus in today’s Gospel is a model for each of us, teaching us how to cry out to Jesus at the hour of our need. When I woke up and read the news Saturday morning, however, I became convinced that there is some more specific need for which we need to cry out to God today.

Like many of you, I was horrified to read the news this Saturday morning about the mass shooting that occured at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh. In this terrible act of anti-semitism, a gunman opened fire on a Jewish community gathered for prayer on the Shabbat, killing eleven people and wounding many others. As we condemn this evil action and offer our prayers and solidarity to the families affected and the larger Jewish community, we should recognize that this crime is part of an incredibly unsettling trend of increased anti-semitism in recent years. Recently, we have seen very public displays of anti-semitism, such as in Charlottesville last year. In Canada too anti-semitism has become more and more prevalent.  For example, according to the Toronto Police Service, the Jewish population is the most common group targeted by hate-crimes. This should deeply trouble us as Catholics. It is something to which we must respond.

In response, we need to clearly denounce anti-semitism for the evil that it is. Nostra Aetate, the document from the Second Vatican Council on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions, clearly denounced anti-semitism and called us as Catholics to speak out against it. As recent Popes, especially St. John Paul II, have noted, tragically Catholics in the past did not always do enough to combat anti-semitism and at times even fueled it. John Paul II, for example, recognized the actions and often inactions of Catholics that contributed to the Shoah (in his preface to, We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah, 1998). Although Nostra Aetate clearly condemned the ideas that Jews are collectively guilty for the death of Jesus, this idea was permitted to exist among Catholics for too long, allowing anti-semitism to fester among Christians. This way of thinking was often the root of Jewish persecution in the past (for more, see here). Especially because anti-semitism has in the past found a place among Catholics, in light of recent events, we must clearly denounce it as evil. Anti-semitism is, as John Paul II said, an “offense against God” (here).

Michelangelo [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In addition to condemning anti-semitism, we need to be aware that, because of God’s covenant with Israel, the Jewish people have a unique and special place in the heart and plans of God. God’s covenant with the Jewish people is still in effect and is in fact irrevocable. Nostra Aetate clearly teaches this. In the first reading from today (Jer 31:7-9), the prophet Jeremiah beautifully speaks about God’s covenant with Israel. Jeremiah lived at a time of great crisis for the people of Israel, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians in the year 587 BC. This event and the later crisis of the deportation provoked Jeremiah’s outpouring of grief and mourning. The message of Jeremiah, however, was also one of hope. In the passage we heard today, the prophet envisages a new action of God. Jeremiah was convinced that God would restore Israel to well being. As the prophet explains, on account of the covenant, the Jewish people are in a permanent and unique relationship with God who loves and cares for them.

Hearing this message of Jeremiah today compels us to stand in close solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters at a time when this evil has been committed against them. We pray especially for those who have died and for their families. We pray for our Jewish brothers and sisters, whether they be in Pittsburgh or closer to home, that the words of the prophet Jeremiah may be realized in in their midst. With Jeremiah we pray that they may experience the restoration of God the father, that he might bind the lame among them and console them.

Solving Money Troubles

28th Sunday OT, year B | Mark 10:17-27

We have all probably heard someone speak about their “money troubles”. This usually refers to the fact that they do not have enough money. In the story of the rich young man that we heard in the Gospel today, Jesus completely inverts our normal understanding of how money can cause trouble in our lives. Instead of too little wealth being an issue, Jesus teaches us that having too much money is the problem.

Jesus explains to his disciples that having too much wealth can be a barrier to entering the kingdom of heaven. “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle

than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God”. Jesus’ disciples were “exceedingly astonished” when they heard this teaching. Why? One possible reason is that they thought that having wealth was considered a sign that you have God’s favour. In other words, if you were rich, then you were already in the kingdom of heaven. This idea is conveyed in certain passages in the Old Testament (e.g. Job 1:1). Just like us, the disciples probably thought that not having wealth was the problem. Jesus, however, says that the opposite is true. Having wealth makes it difficult, maybe even impossible, to enter the kingdom of heaven. If we stop and think about it, we can come up with some reasons why this makes a lot of sense. First, when we have many things, then it is too easy to think that we don’t need God. Second, when we have wealth, we tend to want more of it. The pursuit of material possessions can easily make us lose sight of what is most important in life. Third, the more things that we have, the more strictly we will be judged. “To whom much is given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48). If God has blessed us with material wealth it is probably so that we can help others with it. While we may think that not having enough wealth is a problem, Jesus reminds us that the real problem is having too much.

James Tissot [No restrictions or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

If having too much wealth is a serious problem that can prevent us from entering the kingdom of heaven, is the solution to give it all away? In the Gospel, Jesus tells the rich young man to sell all that he has and give it to the poor. Are we required to take this admonition literally? For some Christians, the answer was yes. A famous example is St. Anthony. He lived around the year 300, and was born into a relatively wealthy family in Egypt. When he was 18, Anthony’s parents died. Soon afterwards, he happened to enter a Church while Jesus’ teaching that we heard in the Gospel today was being proclaimed. Anthony understood the invitation to “go, sell what you have and give it to the poor” to be literally addressed to him. Leaving the Church, he sold his wealth, gave it to the poor and went to live as a monk in the desert. For some, the way of dealing with the problem that wealth poses to entering the kingdom of heaven is to give it all away like St. Anthony. Most of us, however, are probably not called to make such a radical renunciation of material goods.

While we may not be able to give literally everything we have to the poor, in order to overcome the barrier that wealth creates to entering the kingdom, we are required to give to the poor. A major message of today’s Gospel is that following Jesus needs to come before the pursuit of wealth. We are called to put our material goods at the service of following Christ. Because Jesus calls us to give to the poor, Christians have always viewed almsgiving as a serious obligation and not just some optional spiritual practice. Consider, for example, these words from St. Basil the Great:

The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit.

Now, you may be wondering, if I need to give to the poor but cannot give everything, how much should I give? C. S. Lewis, the Christian scholar and author of the Narnia series gives a good answer:

I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.

The Gospel today invites us to rethink what we consider to be “money troubles”. Having too much rather than too little wealth is an obstacle to entering the kingdom of heaven. The way to overcome this problem is by giving to the poor. Although how much we give is between us and God, we can be sure that this is something we will have to account for in the end.

"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"

27th Sunday of OT, year B | Gen 2:18-24; Mark 10:2-12

Although I am not married, as a priest I have witnessed many weddings! Whenever I hear the couple vowing to love and honour each other for the rest of their lives, I am not only struck by their love for one another, but by their courage and trust in God. In that moment, they do not know what the future will hold: the joys, but also the great challenges. In spite of this, they promise to never give up on one another, irrespective of what will happen. This is an incredibly brave thing to do. In the readings today, we heard a strong message about the beautiful and radical nature of marriage.

The first reading from Genesis (Gen 2:18-24) spoke to us about the special relationship that exists between a man and a woman who are married. The story of the first man and woman, far from being some eye-witness account or instruction in history or geography, represents the inspired reflections of wise individuals who were raising fundamental questions and trying to answer them through the use of symbolic language. Where do we come from? What is the relationship that exists between God and humanity? What is the relationship that exists between man and woman? In presenting an answer to this last question, the story explains that woman was made from a rib taken from the side of the man. This tells us something about how the author of Genesis understood the relationship between men and women. Earlier in the story we saw that none of the animals in the garden were a suitable partner for the man. In saying that woman was formed from the side of man, the author is perhaps explaining that man and woman are meant to be “side by side” with one another. This denotes a closeness and equality. It also conveys the message that man and woman are incomplete without the other. Without woman, man is missing a part of himself, his rib. Likewise, without man, woman is missing a part of herself, the rest of the body that went with the rib. Only when man and woman are together are they complete. As Genesis explains, this unity between man and woman through which they complete one another occurs in a unique way in marriage.

Rogier van der Weyden [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In the Gospel (Mark 10:2-12), Jesus teaches us that the unity that exists between husband and wife is meant by God to be indissolvable, that is, to endure for the lifetime of the couple. At the start of the Gospel, the Pharisees question Jesus in order to draw him into a debate on a question that was hotly contested at that time. According to Deuteronomy 24:1-4, Moses permitted a man to write a note divorcing his wife because of “an indecency in her”. At Jesus’ time, religious authorities argued whether this “indecency”, and therefore the reason for which a man could divorce his wife, had to be something serious, or whether it could be a trivial matter. In his response, Jesus appeals to the text from Genesis that we heard in the first reading. He bases his argument on how God originally intended marriage to be. Moses’ instruction permitting divorce, Jesus explains, was a concession based on the inability of people to accept God’s design for marriage. According to Jesus, the unity between a husband and wife was intended by God to be permanent. As a result, anyone who divorces and marries another commits adultery.

We need to continue proclaiming Jesus’ teaching on marriage because it is a source of hope and life for us. Now, there are those who argue that Jesus’ teaching was conditioned by the time in which he lived. In our current context, they argue, we should understand his teaching differently. It is important to understand that Jesus’ teaching on marriage was as radical sounding when he first said it as it is today. This teaching was as difficult to proclaim then as it is now. When it comes to proclaiming Jesus’ teaching on marriage, we must, on the one hand, have a great sensitivity for those whose marriages have broken up. As Pope Francis has so beautifully said, the Church is a “field hospital”. We are to meet people where they are, accept them and care for them. We realize that there are cases, such as abuse, in which a separation may be the best way forward. We need to do all we can to ensure that those who are divorced and those who are divorced and remarried feel genuinely welcomed by the Church. We should seek to integrate them as much as possible into the life of the Church. On the other hand, this care for those whose marriages have broken up should be accompanied with the proclamation of Jesus’ message that God intends marriage to last for the life of the couple. God intends the best for us. Jesus wants people to know God’s plan for marriage because he wants people to have joy and the fullness of life. In marriage, God intends the couple to make a complete gift of themselves to each other. This gift is something permanent, not just for a time. All marriages encounter difficulties. By proclaiming that God intends marriages to be permanent, we can give hope to couples. Though there are difficulties, perseverance will be for their good since it is in accord with God’s plan. God’s plan for us is happiness. This can be a source of hope and support for the couple.

The readings in the Mass today encourage us to reflect on the gift of marriage. We give thanks today for those couples who, in their perseverance through the ups and downs of their marriage, give witness to the unity that God intends marriage to have. We recognize that the break up of a marriage is always a tragedy and we commit ourselves to caring for those who find themselves in a broken marriage. We pray for couples who are struggling in their marriage, that God may give them the strength to persevere. Finally, we pray for those couples who are preparing for marriage, that they may, with great courage and confidence in God’s assistance, promise to love and honour one another for as long as they live.