Sermon on the Mount, Vasiliy Myazin (1936-2008)

Happy Sunday! The liturgy today urges us to rejoice. “Blessed” and “Happy” repeatedly appear in today’s liturgy. We hear it in the psalm refrain, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit,” and again in the Beatitudes. As I pondered the reading, I wondered, Why are we to rejoice? Who are the blessed, and what makes them blessed? In the first reading, Zephaniah tells us that “those who seek the Lord are the blessed, those who are humble, shall take refuge in the Lord” (cf. Zeph. 2:3; 3:12-13). Psalm 146 describes the “who”: the oppressed, hungry, captives, blind, those bowed down. St. Paul goes on to add: the foolish of the world, the weak, lowly, despised, the nobodies in the world. He also tell us the “why”: because God chose them.

And then the Gospel gives us the full picture. It is clear from today’s reading that it is the dejected in the world that are to be blessed and happy. God indeed has a different logic than the world’s logic. I imagine that those listening to Jesus on the mount were flabbergasted and hanging on his every word, waiting for understanding. Then Jesus says, “Rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven”  (Matt. 5:12). That is, Rejoice, for God sees differently and has different standards than those of the world. Be glad, for your God has chosen you, has looked upon your sorrow, and will reward you with himself. Rejoice and be glad you who seek the Lord, because although you are poor, mourning, meek, hungry, persecuted, although you have nothing in this world, you actually have everything, for you have God.

Let rejoice and be glad in Him!

The Conversion of St. Paul, Caravaggio

Today we celebrate the Conversion of St. Paul, one of those larger-than-life figures in the Church, someone who seemed to have inexhaustible zeal for Christ. He always reminded me of one of those wind-up toys—put him down and zoom! off he goes to another land, another church, another mission. Without St. Paul, the Church wouldn’t be what it is today, and we wouldn’t have half of the New Testament scriptures!

Conversion—metanoia—is a profound thing, requiring a change of mind, a change of heart, a change of direction. It seems that each person’s conversion has a different nuance: one might need to move from sloth to zeal, another from bitterness to goodwill, someone else from ignorance to faith and knowledge of God. In St. Paul’s case, he possessed zeal from the start, but needed a new understanding of the truth, a correction of perspective. It’s as though God picked up the wind-up toy and turned it around 180 degrees, without interrupting the turn of the wheels. He knew the urgent need for conversion, and God commissioned him to turn the hearts of the Gentiles to Christ…in record time. Even today, we can hear him saying to the unconverted Gentile in each of us: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thes 4:3). Whatever our particular need for conversion might be, we know we have a powerhouse patron in the saint the Church honors today.

A new year, a new beginning… yes, we are casting off into the deep of Ordinary Time. But what is ordinary about it, really? The things of God are always extraordinary, always new, even as we discover him in the midst of our seemingly “ordinary” lives. We
may be just washing the dishes, feeding the dog…but doing these things with the awareness of Christ in our soul? Now that’s extraordinary! His presence transforms the “drab and dreary” into all things bright and cheery. Here Pope Benedict explains what it means to experience the beauty and fullness of a life with Christ:

[Jesus] lives now among the community of disciples that is the Church, and still today calls people to follow him. The call can come at any moment. Today too, Jesus continues to say, “Come, follow me” (Mk 10:21). Accepting his invitation means no longer choosing our own path. Following him means immersing our own will in the will of Jesus, truly giving him priority, giving him pride of place in every area of our lives: in the family, at work, in our personal interests, in ourselves. It means handing over our very lives to him, living in profound intimacy with him, entering through Him into communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit, and consequently with our brothers and sisters. This communion of life with Jesus is the privileged “setting” in which we can experience hope and in which life will be full and free.” (Pope Benedict XVI For the 50th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, April 21, 2013)

The de-decorating has commenced! After two weeks of joyful celebration, Christmastide ended yesterday with the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. Today we welcome with open arms Ordinary Time. The tree comes down, bows are unraveled, and wreaths go out onto the forest floor. We’re glad to be able to pack up boxes and store them for the year to come. We experienced an incomprehensibly jubilant mystery and we rejoiced full swing: candy, food, Christmas music, decorations, and prayers of gratitude. But like the Magi, we move forward.

It is precisely the depth of the mystery that calls us to move on into the ordinary. Why? Because now we get to live in the mystery, to live out the mystery that was revealed to us at Christmas. We now digest it; we grow up with Jesus, experience him and get to know him. The shepherds go back to their sheep, the Magi “return to their country by another route” (Mt 2:12), and Mary and Joseph continue their ordinary lives, now taking care of Jesus. We continue with them, but we are not the same, for Christ is born in us. We begin Ordinary Time eager to continue on with Jesus, hearing his words, witnessing and experiencing his saving work. This time is about following Jesus the Son of Mary, born of flesh in the very ordinary, so that we can meet Jesus Son of God in that very ordinary.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

January 4th, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton! A convert from Anglicanism, she was the first native-born American to be canonized a saint. It’s fitting that her feast falls so soon after the Solemnity of Mother Mary Of God, who led her to Jesus and the Epiphany. For it was on the feast of the Epiphany in 1805 that “a star of faith appeared to her.” Prior to this day she experienced many trials, as her family and close friends shunned her for her desire to become a Catholic. But she read a sermon by Louis Bourdaloue, S. J.: “O you who have lost the star of faith … [f]rom now on no hesitation, no weakness, no procrastination. Holy Church of God, teach, direct, call to Thyself thy child, docile and faithful forever more.” (From The Soul of Elizabeth Ann Seton, by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul).

These words were to her the manifestation of God. She made a resolution that day to join the Catholic Church officially, and since that day she served God in every way she could: raising her children as Catholics, establishing the Widows’ Society that provided aid for widows and their children, founding the first Catholic school system in the country, and finally founding the Sisters of Charity, who continued to serve the poor.

St. Elizabeth Ann, pray for us all that we too may see the manifestation of God and serve him with our whole being.

Madonna and Child, Sassoferrato (1609-1685)

A blessed New Year and Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God!  After too much fruitcake, chocolate and egg nog, it’s no wonder all you want to do is meditate on the baby Jesus–asleep in his mother’s lap!  What better place to be, after all?  Mary is the ultimate comfort: soft and supportive, warm with love, tenderness and mercy.  She is true rest for the soul, and has no greater joy than to provide a gentle place for her children to rest without a care in the world.  When we rest in the arms of Mary, there are no problems, no anxiety, no “to do” lists… only trust that our most caring mother will bring us into union with her son.  Mary, Mother of God, mother of all, keep us safe in your maternal embrace!

When you follow her, you will not go astray;
When you pray to her, you will not despair;
When you think of her, you will not err;
When she holds you up, you will not fail;
When she protects you, you will not fear;
When she leads you, you will not be fatigued;
When she favors you, you will arrive safely.”

St. Bernard