2009 - Feast of the Epiphany to 6th Sunday of Easter
Sunday, 4 January 2009
The Epiphany
Christians of the great Orthodox tradition prefer this feast as the appropriate celebration of Christ's infancy. Theirs is an 'otherworldly' liturgy that doesn't even blink at the exotic details of today's main reading.Our first reading (Isaiah 60:1-6) is from the last chapters of Isaiah where the prophet pulls out all stops to paint a glorious picture of a fully restored Jerusalem.
Note that there is the inevitable hint of 'centralism', a dominant theme of Jewish theology in this text. All roads will lead to the earthly Jerusalem. Certainly, all races and cultures would eventually be included, but they will be second-class comparisons of the first, called chosen people of God.
This was a natural interpretation, one that would be shared by early Christians, themselves Jewish born and bred. For example, the early Christian leadership intended to stay in Jerusalem. To support that, Paul took up a collection around church communities far from Jerusalem.
We can't expect Isaiah to have foreseen the next great and unexpected divine steps towards universalism. It would entail a new Jerusalem fashioned from 'living stones', true believers rising up, unlimited by time or space, the spiritual centre of reborn humanity.
Teilhard de Chardin put it this way: 'Raise your head, 0 Jerusalem. Contemplate the great multitude who are building and seeking. In laboratories and through studies, in deserts and factories, in the enormous social melting pot.'
Secular society needs the Church to continually call it to more than it could ever imagine, for the good of humanity and the glory of God.
Our gospel passage (Matthew 2:1-12) is as full as the first reading of mind-expanding details. To understand it better we have to keep in mind that it belongs to a kind of literature very much in fashion among Jews of the time, when history and fiction were intertwined so as to teach in an interesting figurative way.
The three visitors to Bethlehem were not kings but magi or astrologers from Persia. They were disciples of Zoroaster, a spiritual teacher from as long ago as Abraham, 2000 BC. They read as widely as possible, including the Jewish scriptures. But, the main source of their spirituality was nature, especially the stars.
While the Jewish priests, chiefs of the People of God, didn't receive notice of Christ's birth, God communicated the news to some of His friends in the pagan world! This lesson is good for all times: Jesus is saviour for all people, not only for those safely ensconced in the Church!
The star reminds us that God calls individuals and communities (even national churches) according to their own needs and abilities.
Jesus called fishermen of Galilee after a spectacular haul of fish. They went from the known to the unknown. Similarly, pagans who looked to the stars were called by means of a star.
God calls us all by means of events and through our own ordeals, all of which guide us as 'stars'. We Catholics need to value and appreciate the spiritual insights developed by many people, 'not of this fold'. Not that we love the Church less but the Spirit more.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Baptism of the Lord - You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation
The Jews, exiled in Babylon, and enlightened by the teachings of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, knew they were special, called by God, the ones to reform their homeland Israel. But, how could that be? They were, after all, prisoners of war in faraway Babylon.Nevertheless, these best and brightest descendants of Abraham, Moses and David, even in exile, never lost trust in their God. They believed, passionately, that He would provide a way for them to return home to Palestine. Not only that, they would then see to it that religious, social and political reforms were put in place.
As promised, God did his bit by endorsing the life and work of a non-Jew, King Cyrus of Persia. This leader began the takeover of the Middle East in about 549BC. He had to conquer Babylon first. God also raised up a special prophet (since we don't have his name, we call him Isaiah 2), to interpret for the detainees just how important their role was.
So, today's first reading (Isaiah 55:1-11) gives us an insight into the style adopted by this Isaiah 2.
To his fellow prisoners, the prophet proclaimed a preview of the Gospel, which would be heard much later. He called them to faith. God hadn't been put out of business when they had been imprisoned. God was still in charge! Isaiah 2 called them to prepare to remake Jerusalem the place where all humankind could meet God on earth. He never tired of showing them the Lord's love.
Responsorial Psalm (Isaiah 12) says it all: You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation
Our Gospel (Matthew 2:1-12) flows easily from the prophecy of Isaiah 2.
The divine promise to raise up a witness for all nationalities ('the nations'), and a guide for every generation was realized on the banks of the Jordan. Mark's special task as an evangelist was to present Jesus as Son of God. This is emphasized in the first line of this version of the Gospel. The Roman official, so impressed with the way Jesus presented himself at the end, repeated Mark's core message in the last page of Mark's Gospel.
Mark, who was with Peter and Paul in Rome, put together his version from previous accounts, adding many details probably gleaned from Peter himself. Above all else, Mark presented Jesus as a man of action. He doesn't tell us about Jesus' birth or life in Nazareth, neither does he record Jesus' long speeches. He does give us much evidence about Jesus, true man and true God. So, in today's few verses, Mark presents Jesus as shepherd of the people of God, leading them in a new but Spiritual exodus.
In the space of twelve verses of Marks' first chapter, the stage for Jesus ministry is set.
Mark created the sense of God's breaking into the world.
As soon as Jesus was immersed, the heavens were torn apart. God broke into human affairs and confirmed for us the title Mark had given Jesus.
Sunday 18 January 2009
2nd Sunday of Ordinary time -Here I am Lord, I come to do your will
Samuel is a very important Old Testament figure. What follows may help to show why.
The Israelites had begun settling down in Palestine. The nomadic phase, the 'desert' experience, was over. (Our present Gaza crisis started here!). Since the death of Joshua, hero of the Hebrew invasion of Canaan, there was a period of chaos, followed by the inspired appearance of divinely selected individuals known as Judges.
Samuel was the last. His task was to negotiate between God and the Israelites in the vexed question of what form of governance suited both parties.
As far as God was concerned, He alone was King. Each Judge believed that, as did key priests like Eli in today's reading (Samuel 3: 3-10,19). Nevertheless, there was a popular demand for a visible ruler, just like all other 'settled' peoples had.
Samuel was in the hot seat. He was only a boy when called, ever so privately, by the God of Abraham, Moses and the preceding Judges. He had no vision or dream as others had. He was such a highly spiritually developed person, that he was convinced that God had spoken to him in his heart, his conscience. So he chose another spiritual and conscientious person, David, after a previous disastrous selection of Saul, as first King of the Jews.
God's word comes to us not only in words, but also, in events, even in nature.
So again, we are reminded to be grateful to Vatican 2, for inspiring us modern Catholics, to read 'the signs of the times' for traces of God's contemporary words.
Psalm 39 links our two main readings, 'Here I am Lord, I come to do your will'.
In today's gospel according to John (l: 35-42), we have the story of the selection of Jesus' first disciples. With John's writings, nothing is as simple as it looks. Details always hint at something deeper - the mystery of God's dealings with humanity.
By referring to the week or so it took to select the first few disciples, maybe John was comparing this process with the Genesis week of creation. For John, God was at work through Jesus, creating a new and spiritual creation, the Kingdom. The disciples would be the living foundation stones of this Kingdom. They would recognise Jesus as God's special agent. He in return, would recognise them as already spirituality alert and moved by God, Jesus' Father.
Readiness to submit to God's call, just as in Samuel's case (and David's too), would be a perquisite for genuine discipleship.
John the Baptist had already answered God's call, and showed self-sacrifice in sending some of his own disciples to sit at Jesus' feet. Seeking, finding and dwelling (following) is a theme running through this gospel passage. It will always be thus for anyone striving to hear and answer God's call.
Training and commissioning Church officials will only be successful, when genuine discipleship already exists. Anyone accepting 'the call' must be ready to carry a Cross. It will become easier and lighter when carried in company with others of like-minded persuasion.
Local churches are meant to be companies of spiritual associates, even brothers and sisters, all celebrating the final episode in God's wonderful story of salvation, but right here, right now.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Teach Me Your Ways O Lord
There are only four chapters in the prophetic book called after the main character, Jonah.Experts differ on the exact date of writing was it 6th or 5th century BC? No matter.
Jonah is presented not as an heroic figure but as a caricature of a prophet (Jonah 3:1-5,10). He was an Orthodox Jew, full of nationalism, and was stunned to be sent by God to convert Nineveh, capital of Assyria, capital of the 'evil empire' of unbelievers.
This is not history, mind you. This is a parable or story with a divine message.
Jonah presumed that, as a Jew (therefore one of God's own chosen people), he knew all about God and His ways. He also believed the Ninevites were part of 'the others' and therefore, incapable of knowing God and His ways.
These godless people had, somehow, conquered the Jewish Northern Kingdom, known as Israel, in the 700's BC. Worse, they had taken back to Nineveh the best and brightest Israelites.
So, the Jonah story lived dangerously by putting God's prophet together with God's enemy, Nineveh.
You know the rest. The whole of Nineveh repented. Jonah was miffed. His spiritual values were offended. His world was turned inside out. His reluctant message to us - repentance is available to all and God's mercy is boundless.
Thanks to Jonah we have a very early insight into the mind of God. The Australia Day week should have a message of reconciliation for all. Australians may, in this matter be the world's last, best hope, a vocation reluctantly accepted, just like Jonah!
Our responsorial psalm 24 links our two main readings, 'Teach me your ways 0 Lord'.
In our gospel according to Mark (Mark 1: 1-20), we go way beyond Jonah's preaching to the Ninevites. Jonah's job was easy in comparison with Jesus' mission to His Jewish contemporaries.
The Ninevites took God's invitation to repent as a gracious gift conveyed by Jonah. Just so, ordinary Jews accepted Jesus' gospel willingly enough, until misled by their leaders who had quickly identified Jesus as a threat to their position and power.
From among these rank and file compatriots, Jesus first chose disciples who knew each other, were relatives, in fact, who shared the same trade - professional fishing. He didn't hang out a sign: 'Jesus of Nazareth, Rabbi, now open for business!'
He was, rather, an itinerant teacher. His disciples would be invited to follow Him into all kinds of real life situations. There they would learn how He dealt with ordinary people baffling ordinary doubts and difficulties. These were all practical working and family people.
He would, first, ask each of them to state their intentions (which were still uncertain after the descent of the Spirit). They had to indicate some level of self-knowledge before He would admit them to closer companionship.
This is Jonah's gospel all over again. Here are people opening up to a divine challenge to find genuine religion wherever barriers are broken down between genders, classes and ethnic groups.
Sunday, 1 February 2009
4th Sunday of Ordinary Time - If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts
I'm writing these words in the middle of the January heat wave, so please forgive me if they are a little limp.Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt in about I 250BC. Deuteronomy was written in the 7th Century BC. It was lost, then found again in about 622BC
At that time, both key and powerful institutions of Judaism, Kingship and Priesthood were in deep trouble. Reforms were needed. King Josiah tackled them. He used the newly discovered sacred text of Deuteronomy, with its emphasis on Moses as prophet, as a cleric's call to reform God's own people (Deuteronomy 18: 15-20). The Kings of the Jews were in charge of politics. The priest took care of temple worship.
Prophets were not bound by the agenda of either institution. God seems to have sent a prophet, on and oft, to one or other institution to demand reform. Thus the Prophet had distinct superiority over King and Priest, which was why he was never welcome! Priest and King were concerned with upholding a code of laws already determined.
The prophet was open to new demands, unforeseen situations. His God was a God of change and novelty. He was much more immersed in the secular, whereas the Priest was always involved in ritual. Just as Moses had liberated the Hebrews to become God's own in the Sinai desert, so later prophets were called to liberate God so to speak, from bad Kings and Priests.
God needed to be able to move freely among His people, unhindered by bad politics and bad religion. Modern prophetic persons need to be cherished within our Church, unpopular as they may well be.
Responsorial Psalm 94 links our two main readings: 'If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts'.
Today's Gospel (Mark 1: 21-28) is set in Galilee. The exact location is one of the synagogues in Capernaum, a city on the northern shore of Lake Galilee. Capernaum was Jesus' headquarters. Also, Peter lived there. It was the Sabbath (Saturday). The locals had assembled, as usual, for prayer and instruction. The presiding Rabbi had read the scriptures and taught. He invited other men to comment.
Jesus accepted the invitation. He preached with freshness and conviction that the listeners were much impressed. Jesus didn't just give a commentary on the scriptures (safe enough at any time in any place). He, the living Word of God, shared himself with them. This wasn't the style of the Rabbis.
Again, let's recall it was Mark's main task to present Our Lord as the all-powerful special agent (the Christ of God).
Mark often described miracles as Jesus' way of countering the undue influence previously exercised by demons. Mark tells us that on this occasion the locals became very enthusiastic. But why? Were they excited about the refreshingly personal style of preaching or about his exercise of power over demons? Mark will eventually caution us against reliance on words of power.
Jesus, eventually, condemned the search for proof of His authority in signs and wonders. He was recognised as God's Son finally, in weakness.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Praise the Lord who heals the broken hearted
The Book of Job is part of, what is called by scripture scholars, 'wisdom literature'.This kind of writing probes the mind of God, using whatever theological insights were available at the time.
The best educated guess about its date of origin is the 7 century BC.
Job is depicted as a rich nomad who happened to be a 'good bloke' from southern Palestine. He wasn't Jewish, so he didn't have access to a Rabbi or sacred scriptures for spiritual direction. He was however, according to the Book of Job, very successful in family life and business.
Alas, overnight he lost the lot. Naturally, this sudden and total loss weighed heavily on him.
Today's text ((Job 7: 1-4,6-7) puts into beautiful, if sad, words of Job's insight into the universal human condition. His are words of confusion and grief.
They can be imagined on the lips of many a citizen experiencing the news of the premature death of a family member, friend or colleague.
These same words fit the public reaction to news of yet another young life suddenly ended by yet another tragic road smash.
Even Jesus of Nazareth felt confusion and grief as he hung on his Cross: 'My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me?'
Job is the example of an ordinary wise and good person sorely tried by ordeal.
Psalm 146: Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.
Mark's first chapter gives us an important insight into the spiritual and missionary development of Jesus during the first weeks of His ministry.
First, He went down south to the Judean desert to become a disciple of the Baptist.
It seems likely that He spent sometime in the Baptist's group, quitting it only after John's arrest.
At that stage, He made a tactical decision. He decided not to be, like His mentor John Baptist, a rabbi to who disciples came, but an itinerate rabbi.
He would go out to meet people wherever they gathered, especially the most alienated Galileans (Mark 1-29-39).
I like to think that the Galilee experience, far away from religious HQ (even though spies where often sent from there to reports unfavourably) formed Our Lord into the special kind of spiritual leader he eventually became.
The Galileans were multicultural, toughened by successive military invasions, unsophisticated to the extent that their accent gave them away?
Yet Jesus performed His first miracles in Galilee at, for Him, a special town, Capernaum. Then, again, He changed tactics, because miracles didn't get to the heart of Galilee's spiritual sickness.
He left town and tackled the surrounding villages to get even closer to people - right where they were most at home.
Just so, local churches are well placed to be 'Jesus' at neighbourhood level.
Sunday 15 February 2009
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Jesus would give outcasts preferential treatment
'Leviticus' is a work of many hands engaged in the centuries before Christ, in adapting the laws, rituals and feasts to the needs of successive generations.It's the work of priests conscious of the needs to bind the Jewish people into a unique, god-fearing nation after the return of prisoners of war in the 5th Century BC. In Israel, as in all primitive societies, religion was the close ally of social order and culture (thus, priests were authorised to diagnose leprosy). Israel was a conservative society. People thought God had fixed the prevailing social order, always to be kept in place, forever the same.
Priests and prophets, at their best were well aware that history does not stand still. These men, at their best, looked for a future resolution of current problems. Whatever their shortcomings, Israel's civil and religious laws were more 'civilised' than any other society of that time.
Nevertheless, in cases such as leprosy (a word to cover all kinds of infectious skin disorders), the sick person was required to live apart from the community. They were considered 'unclean', meaning they couldn't participate in social or religious life (Leviticus 13: 1-2, 44-46). Unfortunately, they were also considered cursed by God!
The confusion about physical and spiritual disease was what Jesus tackled at a later date. Even His disciples believed leprosy and other disorders to be the result of sin. They had gradually to learn from Our Lord that humanity was not enslaved by God, our loving Father.
Laws to protect healthy people should not deteriorate into bad religious rules and regulations.
In today's gospel (Mark l: 40-45) we find Jesus in His preferred environment, announcing the Good News to the most isolated and ignored families in rural areas. There He would perform a miracle much more difficult than lowering the fever afflicting Peter's mother-in-law.
He achieved something that was far more important Lepers and other outcasts would be no longer marginalised. From then on, Jesus would give outcasts preferential treatment and they would flock to be with Him. He achieved this breakthrough by simply touching the leper. His love caused Him to break the most elementary social ban. His freedom of spirit would empower Him to break the most serious religious taboos.
Thanks to Mark, we know that, to Jesus, emotion and compassion were important. It was through these human sentiments that Jesus channelled the powerful healing love of God. Humanly speaking, Jesus wanted to cure sick people he met. But He knew their deeper needs might not be healed by physical miracles.
He was just at the stage of discovering the divine power within Him, looking for the best circumstances in which to exercise it. He didn't, with this leper, ask for a confession of faith. He regularly would later.
More than the miracle, His preaching would address the greatest sickness of all - sin.
Catholics should encourage priests to preach this healing gospel. Lay Catholics preach it by living faithfully.
Sunday 22 February 2009
7th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Lord heal my soul, for I have sinned against you
To make sure he had no threat to his empire from the Jewish kingdom that bordered unfriendly Egypt, the king of Babylon used ethnic cleansing in two deportations, 597 and 587 BC.The deportees of the year 597 belonged, for the most part, to the wealthier classes and they were allowed to take along some of their possessions.
The exiles of 587 arrived in Babylon with practically nothing but through thrift and intensive cultivation of their plot of land, and later in business, they were able to become financially independent.
Within a few years after their arrival many were already in a position to send money to Jerusalem. Later they gave considerable means to those who were returning to Jerusalem to aid in the restoration of places and processes of worship. Some of them even owned slaves.
Around 550BC, Cyrus of Persia defeated the Babylonians and told the deported Jews to go home.
Today's few verses (Isaiah 43: 18-19, 21-22, 2-25) from an unknown prophetic preacher known by scripture scholars as Isaiah (the second), reminded the Jews that the good and bad fortune experienced by them was no accident.
The prophet taught them that God saw the big picture. God was behind their deportation and their liberation. This unknown prophet's words reveal someone thoughtful, earnest and optimistic.
So sturdy was his faith in the God of history that he saw every event in Jewish history contributing to the ultimate redemption of God's chosen people.
Responsorial Psalm 40 links our two main readings: 'Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you'.
Father Pat Flanagan, a mate of mine, has written an excellent book The Gospel of Mark Made Easy published by the Paulist Press.
The Gospel of Mark has always puzzled careful readers. It seems to focus on keeping Jesus' works and miracles secret, on Jesus' failure to convince His opponents (as in today's gospel reading), and on the weakness of His disciples.
Pat Flanagan provides a fresh and easy way to finally make sense of this important gospel for the
ordinary person. I recommend the book. Pat presents the gospel as it was meant to be heard by its original audience, the early church in Rome. Since those early Christians felt that they had failed and were confused about Christ's importance, Mark told them the story of Jesus as a messiah who had seemingly failed but in reality had succeeded by fulfilling God's plan of salvation.
As we know, Jesus was caught up in miracle working from the first days of His public ministry. That was natural. So many people with so many problems. To be sick or maimed from birth or accident, in those days, was to be a serious liability to family and friends.
Today's gospel (Mark 2:1-12) shows Jesus asserting His real mission. He came to cure humanity's deepest sickness, self-centeredness, or sinfulness.
People were not ready for this deepest healing, at least the spiritual leadership were not. However, He had made His point and the struggle with 'unforgiveness' was well and truly on.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
1st Sunday of Lent - Your ways, Oh Lord, are love and truth to those who keep Your covenant
We interrupt the ordinary course of readings and preaching to make room for an intense period of reconversion, known as Lent.Our first reading today (Genesis 9:8-15) is from an Old Testament book, Genesis, which deals with the origins of the human family. Ancient myths abounded around 2OOO BC, concerning the creation of the natural world, including humanity.
A few Christian fundamentalists are forever searching for Noah's ark in Turkey. They think it's essential to prove the historical existence of Noah and his giant container ship! Most of us, however, need no such scientific evidence. We can live with Old Testament and stories just as we value Jesus' parables.
Today's excerpt from Genesis teaches humanity's stewardship of creation as God's own revelations. The covenant between God and humanity and His interest in everything that people develop - culture, technology and legitimate ambitions of all sorts - this is the important spiritual lesson of our Genesis episode.
Catholics need to be at the 'cutting edge' of all modern discussion about genetics and politics of the natural environment.
Now, as at the time when God issued His warning, environmentalists point to the global imperative that human beings alter their behaviour to avoid natural disasters like bushfires.
Responsorial Psalm 24 links the two main readings.
Marks version of the Gospel gives very little detail about the 'desert experience'. We know that it spanned 40 days and was similar to the intense temptation or test of the same length of time endured centuries before by Moses.
A second exodus or deliverance had been foretold by Isaiah. We also know that Jesus was sometimes described as the second and greater 'Moses'.
His baptism by John in the Jordan River had immersed Him in the human, vulnerable condition, including death. By that means, Jesus was officially initiated into the mysterious role of Messiah. The desert test would reassure Him about His fitness for such a daunting task.
Satan, the accuser, would criticise to Jesus' face every salient gesture of God's plan of salvation.
Mark's version (Mark 1:12-15) briefly, but sternly, states that Our Lord was at home in the desert, a friend of desert animals, comforted by spiritual powers.
After this episode involving Satan, demons would appear frequently as the story developed, yet they would not appear to be Jesus' greatest adversaries. That role would be filled by fellow countrymen, an experience for Jesus that can only be named His passion or ordeal.
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Second Sunday of Lent - I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living
Today's first reading (Genesis 22: 1-2, 9-13,15-18) is from Genesis, a book that provides Jews, Muslims and Christians with some of the earliest insights of their 'common dreaming'. At the beginning of this 'dreaming', (sacred history), which would change the world, there's the story about a family of believers, Abraham and his descendants. They were nomads (people who didn't own land). They lived in tents and were forever on the move. Accompanied by sheep, goats and donkeys, these wanderers were always on the lookout for wells and pastures for their flocks Yet, it was to these nomads, despised by the city and rural people alike, that the mysterious desert God promised a homeland which was to be a blessing for the whole world.Today's Genesis reading confronts us with a problem. How could this future proceed if Abraham sacrificed Isaac, his son and heir? This is a shock to us but Abraham, like his Canaanite neighbours respected the primitive religious practice of sacrificing the first-born son! In fact, it was Abraham who 'died', not Isaac. He 'died to self' when he upgraded his relationship with God and earned the title, for all time, of 'father of the faith'.
The Jews learned from this sacred encounter never to attribute child sacrifice to God's will whatever other local tribes practiced.
God would face the same ordeal on Calvary where it would become clear that He wanted a spiritual sacrifice of self and that alone.
Lent is the time to sacrifice self-indulgence in time, money and especially relationships.
Psalm 115 connects our two main readings 'I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living',
Today's gospel (Mark 9: 2-10) gives us Mark's version of what Christians know as the Transfiguration and is meant to emphasise an essential aspect of Our Lord's identity - He's one of our own. They were hoping for an interventionist saviour, a military leader, just like David was a thousand years before.
It was Mark's task to recall how Jesus needed to reveal the truth about himself to the core group or the apostles, Peter, James and John.
The Jewish 'dreaming' contained many mentions of shining clouds and voices from above, especially in the case of Moses
On this dramatic occasion, the Transfiguration, two venerable 'saints' from Jewish history, Moses and Elijah, mysteriously appeared to endorse Jesus in His divinely appointed role.
Elijah had suffered much for doing God's prophetic work. There was, however, according to Mark, a greater prophet than Elijah present on that mountain. And Jesus the suffering servant of God would lead people out of a much greater slavery than had the champion Moses.
Jesus needed to reassure His special friends that everything was going to work out despite suffering and death.
Peter wanted to 'stay up there' where all was OK. But not so fast. Salvation can be achieved only 'down here' where ordinary people live and die. That's where Christians need to be.
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Third Sunday of Lent - Lord, You have the words of everlasting life
Last week we learned from Abraham He lived in the 1700’s BC. Today we have Moses for our instructor. He lived in the 1200’s BC. He received the Commandments from God on Mount Sinai, in the Arabian Desert.
These were edited by religious leaders of the Jews in the 700’s and 500’s BC. (Jesus would edit them again for the sake of His own contemporaries and for all posterity.)
The Sinai covenant was sealed at a time when the Middle East was swamped with ‘gods’. There was a god to suit all eventualities, as the descendants of Moses would discover among the Canaanites who occupied Palestine, which the twelve tribes had infiltrated, then conquered. The Jewish immigrants struggled to be faithful to the One and Only God, but many were lured into accepting the local gods.
We should be forever grateful to the Jewish people for guarding this revealed truth of One God. This God wanted an intimate relationship with humanity and intended his own people, the Jews, to announce this Good News to humanity. To lovingly respond to this Good News required faithful people to change their selfish behaviour to a morally higher form of conduct (Exodus 20: 1-17).
So, worship of the One and Only God had consequences. These days there is a modern move to insist on ethical behaviour from public servants in the face of social chaos engineered by persons in high places.
Today’s responsorial Psalm 18 links our two main readings: 'Lord, You have the words of everlasting life'.
Jesus is God’s last and defining Word. When we hear Jesus, we see and hear the One and Only God. This is the culmination of all sacred history, 200 years of it, preceding Our Lord. He is the final solution to the eternal puzzle – how are God and humanity to live intimately together?
According to John, Jesus had not yet begun His public preaching (other gospel writers put today’s gospel incident later in Jesus ‘ministry’). He went to the temple (John 2: 13-15), the heart of the Jewish religion. But, the temple had become the place where corruption and lust for power had taken hold.
In the temple, ordinary people had to make use of the priests’ services to offer their sacrifices to God. The priests’ authority and power were derived from the temple. (In our own day we would call this practice of exclusion ‘clericalism’.) The priests abused their position by appropriating to themselves the offerings and gifts brought for sacrifice and other rituals. Besides this, they also received the taxes imposed on sellers of sacrificial birds and animals and on money changers.
Jesus felt compelled to contest this unfair trading contaminating priests, sacrifice and the temple itself.
It was God’s decision that Jesus alone should be priest, temple and sacrifice. The temple priests never forgave Jesus’ ‘blasphemy’. They would sacrifice this upstart priest and destroy His temple or so they thought.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Fourth Sunday of Lent - Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget You
The two Books of Chronicles, (meaning ‘leftovers’ in Greek) read like history, but in fact, add little to what we know of Jewish history from the Book of Kings and the Books of Joshua and Samuel.
It seems that the writer, in about 400BC, was a cantor (lead singer) in the
There also seems to have been a reform underway of
What a deep mystery this must have been for the Jews! The ‘insiders’ would be saved by an ‘outsider’, Cyrus, not Jewish at all! He became known in Jewish tradition as the very modern model of a chosen servant of God and His ways.
It is safe for us Christians to think of Cyrus as a Christ-like figure. Our old Testament author wants us to take good notice of the end of David’s dynasty by recording the unbelievable destruction of the
Worship, so this lesson goes, has to be about God and not about a famous building and its officials (2 Chronicles 36: 14-16, 19-23)!
Our Responsorial Psalm 136 reinforces, as will our gospel, the central position of God in genuine worship and faith-driven moral behaviour: ‘Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget You’.
John records, and interprets for us, Jesus meeting with the Pharisee Nicodemus (John 3: 14-21).
Jesus revealed what was hidden from the eyes of the religious teachers, like Nicodemus and his colleagues – the presence of the Son of God as the final and divine solution for the human family.
Thanks to John, we now know by faith, that Jesus is God’s own last Work. Indeed, John alone calls Jesus, the Word of God.
Nicodemus, a religious expert, presumed that he would be involved in a religious discussion with a fellow religious expert. Just that! Instead, Jesus invited him to journey to the centre of himself where Nicodemus would find the truth about his place in God’s plan.
During Lent, many, many people will imitate Nicodemus as they participate in the process of discernment of the Spirit known as ‘adult initiation into the Church’. They will be invited weekly to search themselves, to make the journey to the centre of themselves. Finally, they will be invited to a sacramental encounter with the Risen Lord at Easter.
It’s the happy duty of local churches, whenever someone else presents for initiation, to show the way that leads from mere good feelings, or even, religiously, to trace faith in the Lord’s saving work and presence.
That entails a commitment not only to doctrine but, also, to practice gospel values and behaviour.
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Fifth Sunday of Lent – Create a clean heart in me, O God
The covenant (is 'relationship ' a better word?) forged between God and Moses, in the Arabian desert, around 1500 BC, would have sufficed to establish and maintain the chosen people, if only they had remained true to it. But, they were continually in a state of infidelity to the covenant.
The remedy for this malady lay not just in a renewal of covenant, as tried many times by Joshua, Samuel, Hezekiah and Josiah. Nor was it a matter of making another covenant just like the first, since the original had regularly proven inadequate.
Moreover, no laws, human intuition or any process of education can bring God’s grace to everyone and preserve them in faith, collectively.
Only personal acceptance of God’s Truth makes one a ‘true believer’.
The genuine people of God cannot be confused with any other people or human community: only those born again will become part of God’s people.
Thanks to Jeremiah’s richest prophecy (Jeremiah 31:31-34) modern Catholics now know for sure that God needs no intermediary or written law.
We and He have a heart to heart relationship. Jeremiah unveiled this beacon of hope during Jerusalem’s darkest moment of history.
God would give an even greater proof of His love when, much later, outside Jerusalem, His own son would sacrifice himself out of love.
Our responsorial psalm 50 links Jeremiah and our gospel: ‘Create a clean heart in me, O God’.
John mentions Greeks in today’s first verse (John 12: 20-33). These were Greek-speaking non-Jews. They would have been intellectual converts to Judaism. They were not bound to follow Jewish practices. There was even a special area reserved for them in the Temple.
According to John, the arrival of these foreigners to consult with Jesus, rekindled their messianic desire to be a friend to all men, women and children – even their crucified saviour!
It was these attitudes that would bring Him to the place of public execution.
Thanks to John, we have a vivid picture of Jesus, clear of mind, strong of will, even though he could discern fatal opposition growing to him and his ways.
The other gospel writers describe Jesus as overcome with sadness. Not so John! For John, Our Lord had every confidence in His Father’s plan of salvation. According to John, a reassuring voice came from nowhere as a guarantee that God was with Him while all others retreated.
At this stage of Lent, as we approach the Holy Week of Our Year of Grace, we should be ready to take sides against evil and for the Gospel.
Local churches, as well as individuals, could well renew the intention at Easter to be inclusive just like the prevailing national secular tendency to indulge in a culture of 'we are one, we are many '.
Our state and federal leaders have set the pace for all of us by their heroic statements of apology and pledges of reconciliation.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Passion (Palm) Sunday – My God, My God, why have You abandoned me?
After the successful reigns of David and Solomon, there was almost constant chaos in Jewish Palestine right up to Jesus’ time.
Special agents of God, we call prophets, strode onto the religio-political stage to point the Jews in the right direction set by God much earlier.
Today’s first reading (Isaiah 50: 4-7) begins a week of intense conversion, for the entire international church and for each local faith community, and is from one of the most quoted prophets Isaiah the second. He writes of a character who becomes known among Christians as the suffering servant.
The description fits the prophet Jeremiah who went through hell on earth at the hands of his compatriots. He had advised them not to resist a foreign invader! It was God’s own message. He was messenger. He was tortured, excommunicated and finally dealt with by a death squad following him to Egypt.
The description in today’s text also fits the minority of Jews loyal to God’s covenant in the midst of official and popular rejection of the religion of Abraham, Moses and the prophets. Some of this minority was in Babylon, in captivity, others suffered equally in Jerusalem.
So the suffering servant should be identified, as an individual, like Jeremiah, or a group like that rejected minority loyal to God’s way.
Jesus, of course, would follow Jeremiah’s example and pay for it. His disciples, the minority in Israel, would follow suit. That leads us to decide whether to take up the challenge of the suffering servant.
Today’s responsorial Psalm 21 is probably the most apt of the year ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’
Our Gospel is from Mark (Mark 15: 1-39), considerably shorter than the other versions.
One salient feature of Mark’s version of the Passion events is his emphasis on Jesus’ isolation. Having already lost popular support, the ordeal triggers desertion by His own disciples and relatives. Whenever Matthew speaks of Jesus being ‘with His own’, we can be sure Mark won’t use that phrase. Those who should have watched with him at Gethsemane fell asleep instead. At His arrest, the disciples ran away, and, to make the flight more pathetic, Mark takes special interest in the young disciple who fled ‘naked’. Jesus’ isolation is evident throughout His trial before parliament (Sanhedrin).
Then when false witnesses are produced against Him, and when Peter makes his denials, there is only one witness to testify twice (this detail is peculiar to Mark) in His favour as required by law – the rooster! Jesus isolation is absolute.
Even His own Father will seem to abandon Him. And His disciples will remain ‘at a distance’.
The other special feature of Jesus’ ordeal, according to Mark, is Jesus’ silence in the face of disgraceful conduct by the Jewish leadership and His own disciples.
The silent isolation emphasises Mark’s point of vindicating Jesus’ messianic duty.
The darkness is dispelled when an outsider, the Roman duty officer, calls Jesus 'Son of God’.
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Easter Sunday – This is the Day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad
Primitive Christian belief in the Resurrection of Jesus was coloured by Jewish ideas about the resurrection of the flesh and the restoration of the people in time for the last judgement.
The prophet Hosiah had already preached the resurrection of all the dead members of God’s chosen race. Jewish tradition had developed the idea that it could take three days for all those people to take possession of Jerusalem.
So, it was normal for St Luke to use this 'resurrection vocabulary' telling the story of the conversion of non-Jewish Cornelius and his household (Acts 10: 34; 37-43). Indeed, Luke intended clearly to teach that the resurrection of Jesus on the third day was the beginning of the resurrection of all the dead throughout time.
According to these beliefs, the great resurrection is initiated by that of the Lord, and the restoration of the 'true believers' began with the installation of Christ as judge of the living and the dead.
The conversion of non-Jewish Cornelius, as a direst result of the continuing mission of the Risen Lord, was a shock to many early Jewish converts to Christianity. It broke the chains that tied the early church to Jerusalem and Jewish conservatism. Cornelius’ conversion pointed the way to universalism which had died at the hands of Jewish conservatives.
Responsorial psalm 117 links our two main readings: 'This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad'.
Today’s Gospel according to John (John 20: 1-9) is dominated by the 'empty tomb'. Every detail is meant to emphasise that something completely outside human experience is staring us in the face.
We are enticed by John to 'feel' the emptiness wrapping around us. Peter, chief apostle, fallen short so often of Jesus’ challenge to exercise leadership, had to endure the purifying emptiness of the tomb.
That experience would be both shocking and healing.
John, younger and more intuitive, quickly concluded that Jesus’ body had been taken by others. He had risen, or better, had been raised by the power of God upon whom he relied utterly for vindication of his life’s mission.
So, the empty tomb reflects the disciples’ faithful deliberation about what happened to Jesus’ body.
For it seems that the early disciples were convinced of Jesus’ Resurrection, not by the tomb, but by the appearances. Their belief made sense of the empty tomb.
Easter is a unique time or parishes to share that sense of the empty tomb. Whenever a parish enters into dialogue with its secular neighbourhood, emptiness stares it in the face.
It is as if God is dead out there.
Maybe it is up to us to roll back the stone so the world, so loved by God, can itself rise from the dead.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Second Sunday of Easter - Arise you Catholics from your slumber. Christ is, indeed, risen
It's always a thrill to hear about the stunning proofs, among the Jerusalem converts to the Gospel, of the presence and activity of the Spirit of the Risen Jesus. It's also a bit of a shock because most of us have never experienced such powerful evidence of God's presence.Such evidence is given in today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (a history of the early Church).
It seems to be a rather 'idealised picture showing clearly the essential and indispensable features of any local church: union of hearts, missionary witness, welcome, healing of those in misery'. (Glenstal missal)
We should note here that the earliest Christians hoped to stay Jewish in culture but Christian in spirituality. They continued to frequent the temple precincts after the death and resurrection of Our Lord. They felt at home there.
Their community became even influential in Jerusalem society. They would have continued that way had not the Jewish authorities begun to persecute them with the same vigour used on Jesus himself. Peter and John had already been arrested once for appealing in public for Israel's conversion. They were ordered to desist from such rabble-rousing.
Today's Reading (Acts 4: 32-35) is a timely summary, between arrests, of just how powerful was the influence of the Risen Lord on disciples under great pressure. Easter is an annual reminder that all local churches, worth their salt, must look to the Jerusalem community as the benchmark for faithfulness.
Responsorial Psalm 117 links our two main Readings: 'Give thanks to the Lord for His is good - His love is everlasting'.
Today's gospel (John 20: 19-31) is about Jesus and the failed disciples. 'Easter proclaims and celebrates, not so much what God did for Jesus, but what God had done, and continues to do so, for His followers.' (Francis J Moloney, Eureka St. 1992)
The disciples experienced a kind of death - failure! The amazing thing is that God didn't fail the disciples.
Let's not forget that we are attributing to those disciples, in hindsight, a failure to understand.
In fact, they had performed well enough for Jesus to continue to be their 'rabbi' for three whole years. He, certainly, rebuked them often, sometimes gently, and sometimes angrily for being so slow to learn because other peoples' salvation was at stake. The field was 'white' with need for harvesting. That's why Jesus urged the disciples to learn quickly to give the gospel, not only individually, but collectively as Church. Thomas was one such slow learner. He was also passionate. He was good for the early church.
Today's gospel records, forever, his victory over doubt. He had been primed, for three years, for this moment of truth. What else could be exclaimed but, 'My Lord and My God'.
Parishes, deaneries, dioceses have their highs and lows in living out gospel witness and mission. This gospel challenges us to shake off our doubts. We know who we are.
We have the capabilities, all around Australia, to bring relief to many people, in material and spiritual poverty, brought about by hopelessness.
Arise you Catholics from your slumber. Christ is, indeed, risen!
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Third Sunday of Easter - Lord, let your face shine on us
Today's first reading (Acts 3: 13-15,17-19) gives us a fine example of the Apostles' public statements about Jesus, His life, death and Resurrection.These discourses, (Acts records six to Jewish people and two to non-Jewish audiences) were one of the main tasks undertaken by the Apostles.
That the Apostles were fearless in public and at tribunals is proof positive of the presence in each of them and within the group assembled of the Spirit of Pentecost. Each of the eight speeches is similarly structured: first, a resume of the public ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, then a description of the circumstances of His death.
At that dangerous point, Peter placed responsibility on the inheritances of Jerusalem, then finished up by proclaiming the Resurrection.
In today's reading, Peter referred his audience, most of them brought up on the scriptures, to those passages that prophesied clearly, the destruction of the Holy One of God the Suffering Servant, God's Christ.
Peter wanted Jesus, the Christ (anointed or appointed) to be rehabilitated in the minds and hearts of those who should have known better. They had the venerable example of Moses to alert them. Even he had been rejected by their ancestors but promoted by God as a response to their obstinacy. So, protested Peter, had Jesus been rejected by His contemporaries but promoted by God to bring a glorious conclusion the divine plan of salvation. It is this mystery, which is celebrated by Christians, now as well as then, at the unique sacrificial meal - Eucharist.
Today's responsorial Psalm 4 links the two main readings: 'Lord Let Your Face Shine on Us'.
Today, in our gospel (John 2:1-5), Luke emphasises that Jesus is not just spiritually alive but physically also. Our Lord invited the disciples to touch Him. He ate some food in front of their very eyes. Luke puts forth as many proofs as he can to convince readers that Jesus had truly risen from the dead.
And, Jesus Himself patiently reminded them of the many times He had taught them earlier, by quoting Moses, the psalms and the prophets, that the Christ had to suffer on the way to victory.
Since the Jews had been taught for centuries that death of individuals, and even the disintegration of the Jewish nation, was the result of sin, the Jews needed to understand that Christ's death had lifted that perceived curse.
These days, when death is looked upon as a biological process, without accompanying moral cause, we need to develop a spirituality of acceptance and celebration of death as a Passover. If death, in modern secular society is the most unacceptable thing imaginable, and if, nevertheless, Jesus accepted it, and if the Father accepted this humiliation for His Son, sin and death cease to be an insoluble enigma.
Furthermore, we can accept sin and death only if we accept ourselves and the human condition. It all demands a mature relationship with God.
Christ Risen holds out hope, not only to individuals but also, also to whole societies and cultures where the philosophy of unrelieved death may have taken control.
'Dying He destroyed our death.'
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Fourth Sunday of Easter - The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone
The Jewish religious authorities were given not much peace after Jesus execution. They thought they had saved the nation! Indeed, they had struck the shepherd but the sheep seemed to have scattered temporarily. Now there were many shepherds and the sheep were regrouping.
Two of these new shepherds, Peter and John, had confronted the people of Jerusalem with their collective crime - accessories in Jesus execution. Arrested for insurrection, these two leading disciples turned their attention to the guilty leadership itself.
These two apostles, like Jesus, were not only innocent of crime; they had done a good deed by curing a cripple.
The priests were affronted. By what authority had the apostles performed this extraordinary cure? They weren't accredited by the Temple authorities! 'So what?' asked the apostles. They claimed authority from God Himself through Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 4:8-12). When they claimed the name of Jesus to be all powerful, let's be clear that the 'name' of Jesus meant to Jews the influence exerted by a person's spirituality.
Our churches invoke Jesus' name regularly. But, are our churches spirituality enlivened, immersed in the spirit of His gospel? Or are we just very good at the frequent use of the name -Jesus?
If I had hair it would stand on end whenever I caught a televangelist telling an audience that all you need to do to be saved is to invoke the name of Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Dangerously, that is the source of eccentric Christian individualism and the graveyard of the Church as a collective.
Responsorial Psalm 117 links our two main readings: The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.
Thank God for John's version of the Gospel. Only there do we find such insights into the mind of God and Jesus.
The Bible foretold a day would come when God would come to gather together the dispersed sheep, His people, to live in their very own spiritual land.
We know Jesus was the promised shepherd come to accomplish what had been announced - but, not in the popularly expected way. The Jews thought, wrongly, that the promised shepherd would restore material prosperity. That is why they hailed Jesus momentarily as a special descendant of David, King of their Golden Age. They had never felt so proud, so nationalistic, as during David's reign.
They really expected to be given by the whole world 'most favoured nation' treatment when God installed an all-powerful Shepherd/King, the Messiah. Alas for them, Jesus insisted that His followers would not be nationalists.
He would select from among the Jews, those few who would put all their trust in Him and His new order -the Gospel (John 10:11-18). He would select lots of sheep from other nations, other sheepfolds, to join the few Jews who trusted Him and His way.
This is the privilege of the Church throughout history, not to have land boundaries or cultural divisions, but to move freely throughout history, not to be confined to any one nationality or era or civilisation.
Universalism is the divine seal of approval on the true sheepfold gathered around the Good Shepherd.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Fifth Sunday of Easter – I will Praise You, Lord, in the assembly of Your people
As far as Paul was concerned, his close encounter, on the road to Damascus with the Risen Christ (Acts 9: 26-31), was as intimate and definitive as the original apostles had experienced. Yet, he had a hard time convincing the Jerusalem church, led by James and John, that he was able to be trusted despite his previous vocation as exterminator of Christians.
Until Paul’s appearance on the scene, the Church, led by and made up of Jewish Christians, had not gone beyond the Jewish people. Paul was himself, a Jew but had been educated outside the Jewish environment. He enjoyed Greek culture as much as Jewish. Because of that, and his own exceptional personality, he became apostle to the Greeks and other foreigners.
For three years after conversion, Paul had lived (and preached?) in the Arabian region of Nabatea, which ran south through Transjordan to Sinai, centred on Petra. He was already going his own way. But, he didn’t separate from the Church, as today’s first reading proves. Rather, he went to meet the apostles, especially Peter, at Jerusalem. Still he preserved his independence as he awaited the prompting of the Spirit.
Barnabas was the ‘broker’ of an agreement between the Jerusalem church and Paul. Thank God! Otherwise there would have been no Catholic Church as we have inherited.
Modern local churches need to be on the alert to recognise and welcome people, like Paul, who can inculturate the Church and Gospel in unsympathetic environments.
Responsorial Psalm 21 links today’s two main readings: 'I will praise You Lord, in the Assembly of your people'.
Today’s gospel passage (John 15: 1-8) comes from part of Jesus’ intimate speech at the Last Supper.
Those who had been close to Jesus for several months would soon need to discover another, equally intimate way of living with the risen and present, even though invisible, Lord Jesus. He had already disclosed to them the closeness of the relationship between himself and the Father.
That kind of unique relationship would be offered to anyone willing to keep the 'new commandment' - 'Love one another as I have loved you.
So, we know for sure that such a relationship, such spirituality, has to be productive. It has to produce results to be authentic.
Jesus, ever the best of teachers, used an image well known to his friends – the grapevine. All Jews saw the vine as a symbol of their nation, under God. Planted from select stock, cared for by the Lord, it should have produced results of justice and peace for all, not only Jews, but all God’s children.
The health of the vine can’t be measured by just how big it is. It can only be judged by the excellence of the grapes, the results. Too often the divinely planted vine, diseased by absorbed national infidelity, produced sour grapes.
Just so, modern secular societies judge Christians by the social results we produce, especially in the area of justice and peace.
Secular society mightn’t like, always, the Church at work, it does, however, at its most honest, welcome social criticism from Christian citizens.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Sixth Sunday of Easter – The Lord has revealed to the nations His saving power
We haven’t many more chances of hearing proclaimed the Acts of those Apostles because, this year, those readings are confined to the Easter season. So, let’s make the most of this exciting and inspiring book, popularly attributed to Saint Luke.
Today’s passage (Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48) highlights an extremely important fresh intervention of the Holy Spirit. Because of it, the early church would break out of the Jewish world and the gospel would reach other cultural groups.
So, to our story – Cornelius was a naturally good man, a foreigner (not a Jew), who was inclined to believe in the one God in whom the Jews put their trust. We don’t know who was inclined to believe in the one God in whom the Jews put their trust. We don’t know if Peter would normally have hesitated to baptise a non-Jew such as Cornelius.
Be that as it may, his hand was forced by a strong intervention of the Spirit, and someone of a race, other than Jewish, was baptised! Universalism was up and running.
In many places today our Church runs the danger of being confined to a closed social group. Fortunately for our Australian Church, many different ethnic groups have immigrated. I was in a parish last week with members from fifty different nationalities!
Local churches must sacrifice prejudices to welcome these beautiful people to the Australian Catholic scene. It will be even harder to find a willing and humble form of outreach to old and new Australians with no Catholic background at all.
You could say that this large group of people, like Cornelius all over again, challenges us to identify their natural goodness. We could join them in so many ways in their concern for a better world. That would persuade them to join us in Word and Sacrament.
The Responsorial Psalm links our two main Readings: 'The Lord has revealed to the nations His saving power'.
Again, we turn to John for help in discovering the Risen Christ. He takes us back to the Last Supper. Jesus, according to John, made a long and deeply moving speech.
Today’s excerpt (John 15: 1-8) is about the permanent union between the disciples and Jesus and the means of preserving and developing that relationship. For the purpose of our discussion, let’s translate the word religion as relationship. In this sense of the word, Our Lord can be seen to be the founder of new religion, which is all about a unique relationship between God and humanity.
However, in the sense that the Old Testament itself describes, over and over again, God’s loving advances to specially chosen individuals and to Israel as a people, Jesus’ style of religion isn’t new. Sadly, since love had gone out of the affair between God and Israel (no fault of God’s!) and because ritual and regulation had usurped God’s central position, then Jesus was a new beginning, a new testament.
A dominant, spiritual feature of this loving relationship was, and is, self-sacrifice. A Christian who is obliged to become totally dependant on the Lord and His way by interiorising Jesus’ attitudes. We call this process our spiritual life. That’s what 'Keeping my commandments' means.
Local churches (parishes) and spiritual movements are called by God to ensure that ritual observance and law and order are subservient to the highest spirituality of sacrificial love.
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Ascension Sunday –God mounts His throne to shouts of joy
Two New Testament Books are attributed, popularly, to St. Luke. Bibl
