Monthly Archives: January 2023

The Torah and the Sermon on the Mount

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Dear Folks,

Our Gospel today is the Beatitudes, the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. This opens Jesus’ public teaching in the Gospel of Matthew and sets the stage for what follows.

To appreciate how the Sermon on the Mount is presented in Matthew, we need to talk about the Torah, which is the term the Israelites use for the first five books of the Bible. The word is usually translated “law”, but a rabbi told me that didn’t convey the meaning well. He said, “Sin is missing the target, and Torah means hitting the target. However, when you go through the Bible and see references to “statutes”, “ordinances” or “decrees” they are talking about the Torah. Psalm 1 and Psalm 119 are both hymns in honor of the Torah and say that it is the way to true blessedness. The Torah was the foundation of the nation of Israel and their relationship with God. Being in right relationship with God came

from doing the works of the law of Moses, the Torah. To this day, Jewish people revere the Torah and treat Torah scrolls with great reverence. They are kept in a cabinet called an “ark” (think ark of the covenant, not Noah’s ark), and taken out and carried in procession when read in prayer services.

Exodus 20 is a classic presentation of the giving of a new Torah. Moses goes up a mountain to receive it from God. It begins with the 10 Commandments (the pocket-sized version) and then expands on them. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus goes up the

mountain. He starts with the Beatitudes, the pocket-sized version, and then expands on them.

We, of course, would not call the Sermon on the Mount the new Torah. We would say that Jesus himself is the new Torah. Pope Benedict makes this point in his “Jesus of Nazareth”

book when referring to another mountaintop experience where Jesus in transfigured, and the Father speaks from a cloud and says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him (Matthew 17:5).” St. Paul will argue extensively, especially in Romans and Galatians, that for Christians, being in right relationship with God is no longer works of the law of Moses, but about faithfulness to Jesus.

From now until Lent, we will take our Sunday Gospel readings from the Sermon on the Mount. I would challenge everyone to read Psalm 1, and then read Matthew chapters 5-7, and maybe even spend some time wrestling with them. As we go through the Gospel of Matthew this year, it would be useful to look for echoes from this sermon in Jesus’ teaching throughout the Gospel. I suggest that if people reflect on it from time to time, they could

find deeper insights on different parts of their Christian journey. A key concept to keep in mind is that this is not just a list of rules, of things to do and things not to do but a vision of total transformation, changing us to the core. The process is not done until we are fully perfected at the end of our journey (Mat 5:48).

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Word of God

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Dear Folks,

“I will make you fishers of men.”‘

This Sunday is dedicated as “Sunday of the Word of God.” Of course, we know that the first meaning of “Word of God” is Jesus Himself (John 1:1 and following), but we have long had the tradition of calling the Bible the Word of God and holding it in high reverence. God inspires many things, but nothing else is inspired on the level of Sacred Scripture. It is not just the power of the authoritative teaching, but we believe that Jesus is present to us in a special way when we read the Scriptures with an open heart. They are, of course, most powerful in the liturgy, especially the Eucharistic liturgy.

One of my goals in life is getting Catholics to know the Bible better. I’ve heard many Catholics tell me that the Church never encouraged them to read the Bible. I’ve worked very hard to make sure a lot of Catholics will not be able to say that anymore. Of course, it isn’t just reading, but getting to know, to go from being foreign tourists in the Bible to being at home in the Bible.

Good Catholic Bibles always have footnotes and cross references to give us some background on the language and the culture, and to see how everything is woven together.

For beginners, I do not recommend starting at the beginning and reading straight through without help. Some intrepid souls may do that, but most drop out. There are wonderful resources out there, including Ascension Press and the Augustine Institute. If you have access to Formed.org there are loads of good things there. If you don’t have immediate access to resources, I urge you not to wait. If you start reading through the Gospels a bit every day that will be a great beginning. You don’t have to do much, but every day, every day, every day. I challenge you if you do that, it will change the way you think. An alternative would be to read the Mass Readings every day. The three-year Sunday cycle and the two-year weekday cycle in the Roman lectionary will give you a very large amount of Scripture. A few minutes a day can make a huge difference over time, and you might just find you are hungering for more. We can never get enough in this life.

After eight years in the seminary and thirty-five years of priesthood, I find that the more I learn about the Scriptures, the more wonderful I see they are, and the more I want to explore further. The various books have a wonderful diversity, but they all fit together in one big story of salvation. We also learn that the Scriptures and the liturgy are interwoven: the Bible is very liturgical, and the liturgy is very Biblical. Knowing the Catholic faith is not just getting various tidbits of doctrine and morality but seeing how it all fits together in one big story of salvation, the story of God seeking to gather us to Himself and how this makes sense out of our lives. This will all help us to know Jesus better and share Jesus better. It is something everyone can do.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

The Bride, the Lamb, and the Baptist

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Dear Folks,

As we get back to ordinary time, we journey with Jesus and His followers in the Gospels. In our Gospel today, we see John the Baptist introducing Jesus with, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).” He explains that he knew this by the power of the Holy Spirit. We remember this is the second time John the Baptist recognized Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit (See Luke 1:39-45). We are so used to calling Jesus the Lamb of God we can forget how strange it would sound at the time. He is, of course referring to the Passover Lamb, and the Gospel of John will develop the theme of Jesus and Passover quite extensively.

In the Gospel of John, the Baptists job is to introduce Jesus, and he will use two images: the Passover Lamb and the Bridegroom (see John 3:22-30). These two images are brought together at the end of the Book of Revelation with the wedding of the Bride (the Church) and the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9; 21:9-21, note especially “Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb [Rev. 19:9]”).

John the Baptist will refer to himself as the “friend of the bridegroom” or the best man (John 3:29). If you read Brant Pitre’s book “Jesus the Bridegroom” he will explain that the role of friend of the bridegroom was critical in Jewish culture, and he brings the bride to the groom. He says that rabbinic literature will say God was playing the role of friend of the bridegroom when He brought Eve to Adam (Genesis 1:22). As we keep reading the Gospel of John we see that the next day the Baptist repeats the message to two of his disciples, including Andrew, and they start following Jesus (In bringing those who would be Church to the Lamb, John is acting as friend of the Bridegroom).

During Mass, the priest holds up the Blessed Sacrament and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God. Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.” Bringing together John 1:29 and Revelation 19:9, this spans the work of Jesus from beginning to end and our journey with Jesus from beginning to end; the whole of the great mystery of salvation, the great mystery of life is before us. If we take this seriously, it should make us tremble a bit. We respond, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the world and my soul shall be healed.” This precious phrase comes from Matthew chapter 8, right after the Sermon on the Mount (which began, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [Mat. 5:3]”). Matthew 8 begins with two healings.

First, there is a leper, who was the poorest of the poor. He could offer Jesus nothing; he was totally dependent on Jesus’ mercy. The second, by contrast was a centurion asking for healing for his servant. He was, in material terms, probably the wealthiest and most powerful person ever to set foot in the little town of Capernaum, and he had been very generous to the people there (See Luke 7:4-5). If anyone could have expected to approach Jesus with a sense of entitlement, it was him. However, he makes this profoundly humble statement, “I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof (Mat 8:8; Luke 7:6-7).” He was materially wealthy, but he was poor in spirit, as we are called to be. We remember when people approached Jesus with a sense of entitlement, it does not end well (see Luke 4:14-30).”

We are called to remember, as we receive the most awesome gift of the Eucharist, that we so very much do not deserve this wonderful gift but we trust in His great mercy. This helps put us in the right disposition. In 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 St. Paul says some fierce things about those who receive Holy Communion without the proper disposition. Let us never forget what all this is about.

The Lord is calling us. How do we respond?

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Seekers of the Light, Sharers of the Light

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Dear Folks,

We celebrate Epiphany, which celebrates the light of the Gospel coming to the outside world. We remember that the story of Jesus is not just for us, but to be shared with all nations.

One of the big and most essential tasks of our generation is shifting many Catholics’ paradigm from Catholics as customers for spiritual services, to Catholics as coworkers in mission, ambassadors of the Gospel. Catholics have long not seen themselves as missionaries, nor have we been taught how to share the faith. Even in the seminary they never taught us to share the faith with those who don’t already believe. Of course, we can’t all be as talented as Fulton Sheen, and the challenge can be intimidating, but there are simple ways for us to start.

To share the faith, it is important to be seekers of God’s goodness, beauty, and truth.

The US Catholic Bishops did a document called, “Go Make Disciples” which suggested three basic tasks:

1. Grow in enthusiasm for the faith ourselves until it spills out of us (Continue to evangelize ourselves).

2. Invite everyone everywhere to share the fullness of the Catholic faith (Evangelize people: invite those outside the faith to come inside; invite those on the margins to come deeper; invite those in deep to come even deeper)

3. Transform society according to Gospel values (Evangelize society).

We can start by planting very small seeds. Some very simple things we can do to help draw people to the faith:

1. Learn something new about the faith and share it with someone

2. Tell someone something good about your faith community

3. Introduce yourself to someone you don’t know at church

4. Create a holy moment (an action that shows the love of God)

We, of course, can grow with learning and practice, and set things up for the next generation to go farther than we can. The more we learn about the goodness, beauty, and truth of the faith the more we have to share. We also remember that sharing is a separate skill that must be developed. We can all start where we are at. I would suggest that it would be good to consider how we might answer some key questions:

1. Why are you glad to have Jesus in your life?

2. Why is it a good thing to be a practicing Catholic Christian?

3. How does my life show that I believe in Jesus?

There is a lot of concern for the future of the Catholic Church, and for the future of our parishes. There is a lot of talk about what the Pope should do, what the bishop should do and so on. That energy could be better spent sharing the faith. The more people who are intentional about being ambassadors of the Gospel, the greater the hopes for the future.

The first step is always to fall more deeply in love with Jesus.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim