Category Archives: mercy

Thoughts on the Sunday Readings: Transfiguration and the Cross (Second Sunday of Lent – B)

01 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by in Christ, cross, mercy, Transfiguration

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A priest of our diocese tells the story that one day he and some friends were out driving and they were coming upon Smyrna, TN.  As they approached the city they started arguing about its correct pronunciation – was it “Smyr-na” or “Smeer-na”?  It was close to midday so they decided to ask someone when they stopped for lunch.  They came to a fast food restaurant and once inside the group went to a lady who was standing nearby.  The priest said, “Ma’am, could you please help me and my friends with a debate that we are having?  Could you, slowly and distinctly, tell us the name of the place in which we are?”  The lady gave them a quizzical look and slowly said, “Bur … ger … King.”

transfiguration_of_jesus_christIt is good to know where we are – both geographically and, for our purposes this Sunday, in the life of faith and discipleship.  Today, as we continue our journey toward Jerusalem with the Lord we are at the mount of Transfiguration but it is worthwhile to note both that this mountain points toward Golgotha – the mountain of the cross and sacrifice of the Son – and why it points that direction.

There is a beauty to sacrifice.  Cinema, in its best moments, is aware of this.  Think of those moments in movies that wrench our guts when the hero or heroine sacrifices (the soldier lets go of the rope and plummets to his death so that others in the troop might make it, Obi-Wan Kenobi lets Darth Vader strike him down, the priest in “The Mission” walks directly into a hail of gunfire while carrying the monstrance).  But the beauty of sacrifice is not limited to “big” moments.  Sacrifice can be seen in the parent who works two or three jobs in order to provide for his or her children, it can be found in the life of the teacher whose great work or opus is not a world-renowned symphony but generations of students whose lives are transformed by the love of learning.  There is a beauty in sacrifice.

Before the sacrifice of the cross to which we are journeying with our Lord is the moment of Transfiguration.  Before the sacrifice of the cross, all other sacrifices pale in comparison.  The sacrifice of the cross is infinite.  God dies that we might have life.  We killed God.  Do we recognize the scope of this?  Sometimes the true depth (and beauty) of sacrifice can only be recognized in contrast to what might have been.

Romano Guardini’s book, The Lord, is a powerful exploration of the fullness of the Christian mystery.  One thing that Guardini explores in his book is the great “What if?”  What if Jesus had not been crucified?  We assume that the crucifixion was just the way it had to happen, the way salvation was to be won.  Not necessarily so, asserts Guardini.  Within the Book of the prophet Isaiah running alongside the prophecies of the suffering servant, Guardini points out, are the visions of God’s mountain where peace is established, people forget the ways of war and right relationship is restored.  God is revealed in the midst of his people.  A choice is brought to us.  Christ, the humble God-man, stands before every part of society, yet each one denounces him and each one turns away.  The religious leaders call him a blasphemer, the government/military leaders mock him and wash their hands of him, the very people who welcomed him into Jerusalem waving palm branches later denounce him in favor of a criminal, even his disciples run away.  What if we had not turned away?  What if we had not denounced?  Yet we did.  Christ must go the way of the cross.

crucifix icon6Do we recognize the depth of the sacrifice?  Before the horror of the cross we have the moment of Transfiguration.  What might have been?  There is a spiritual that is usually sung during Holy Week but it is appropriate for all of Lent, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?  Sometimes it causes me to tremble … tremble … tremble … Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”  The depth of the sacrifice of Christ…

Going back to the story shared earlier, it is good to know where we are in the spiritual life, in our journey toward Jerusalem.  This Sunday, in the beauty and awe of the Transfiguration … of who Christ is and of what might have been … we recognize the depth and love of the sacrifice of the cross.

God came to us.  We turned away.  Christ must go the way of the cross.

Another spiritual, “What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse, for my soul, for my soul…”

The Feast of All Souls: the Word of God, Faith and Mercy.

02 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in faith, Feast of All Souls, mercy, Word of God

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You know, as a priest, you see many things and sometimes you see things that do not necessarily go as planned.  A number of years ago I was in a cemetery for a graveside service on a bright sunny day.  A woman had died and her children and friends had gathered for the funeral.  I concluded the Church’s prayers at the graveside and stepped to the side.  The funeral director then stepped in front of the people to share a few words.  A service that this particular funeral home provided for a fee was to release a flock of doves.  The doves were trained to circle around in the air.  As the birds did this the director would offer a few words about how the doves represented the already departed members of the deceased’s family.  The director would then release a single dove – representing the recently deceased.  This bird was trained to join the flock and then all the birds would fly off (back to the funeral home).  Well, the flock was released and was circling in the air and the director said his few words.  Then the director released the one dove.  That bird flew up, saw the flock and bee-lined it in the opposite direction!  And behind me I heard someone say, “Well, she never really cared much for her family!” 
On this Feast of All Souls I do not have a flock of birds nor do I have any other gimmicks.  What the Church simply has at the moment of death, loss and suffering is the Word of God, our faith and our belief in the mercy of God.  
It has been noted that one of the primary works of the Holy Spirit is to continually remind us of what God has done through Jesus Christ, to continually lead us back to Scripture and learn anew and with new depth of understanding what God has done.  In moments of pain and loss we can forget.  In these moments God remembers for us and God invites us into this sacred remembering!  “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them … Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love …” (Wis 3:1,9)  “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our heart through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Rom 5:5)  Hope springs from this remembering.  We remember not what we have done but what God has done and continues to do for us!  Jesus said, “And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.”(Jn 6:38) 
It is a good and beautiful thing to pray for the departed.  Our prayers assist our loved ones and they quicken our own hearts!  Hope as gift of the Holy Spirit does not come through some magic formula or esoteric demands but rather through daily and often ordinary choices.  When we pray we are making a choice for hope.  When we pray for our dearly departed we remind ourselves of the greater reality that life is not ended but changed at the moment of death!  Death is not the final word. When we were lost in sin and death and could no longer remember, God remembered for us and sent his Son, who died that we might have life and that we might not be forgotten and lost through death.  
It is a holy thing to pray for the departed. 
I believe that one of the most beautiful things the Church does is the Rite of Christian Burial.  It is simple, honest, straight-forward and beautiful.  It does not need gimmicks.  Throughout the Rite we find the proclamation of faith and the proclamation of God’s mercy.  Sometimes the wisdom of the Church is displayed in what she does not say and this is evidenced in the funeral rite.  Throughout all the prayers and rituals of the rite we proclaim our hope in the resurrection and we commend the dearly departed to the mercy of God and we go no further.  God alone sees into the human heart.  God alone makes the final judgment.  We, on our part, commend to God’s mercy. 
It is a beautiful and holy and hope-filled thing to pray for our dearly departed.   

The Gifts of Advent

15 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in Advent, humility, mercy, trust

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Caravaggio – The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist

It is easy to rush through Advent.  With department store Christmas decorations appearing earlier and earlier each year it is quite easy to jump straight into Christmas mode after the Thanksgiving Day meal it seems.  Why a time of waiting and anticipation?  What is that all about?  After all the big day is Christmas with its exchanging of gifts and (at least for the religiously minded) the beautiful liturgies and reflection on the birth of Christ.  Who needs Advent?

Well, we do and Advent has its own gifts to share if we just take the time to appreciate and receive them.  I can think of three gifts that Advent has to give (similar in number to the gifts of the Magi) and they are gifts brought to us by the key figures of the nativity story – St. Mary, St. John the Baptist and St. Joseph.  
In the first chapter of Luke’s gospel we are told that the angel Gabriel was sent to Mary.  
…he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one!  The Lord is with you.”  But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.  The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call him Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you: therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.  And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.  For nothing will be impossible with God.”  Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  Then the angel departed from her.  
Much has been written of Mary’s “yes” to the angel and to God’s will for her.  Saints have reflected upon how all heaven and creation waited in hushed silence for Mary’s response.  Mary certainly knew the hopes and dreams of her people.  She certainly knew and trusted how God acted throughout the history of Israel. That God could and would act in such a way would not necessarily be a surprise to her but where it would end and the sacrifice it would entail, Mary certainly had no way of knowing and the angel did not share much information in that regard.  Mary did not know that her “yes” that day would lead to her standing at the foot of the cross – the epicenter of God and humanity’s sacrifice for death and sin.  Mary did not know how it would all play out or even what it all meant but she said “yes”.  
Mary brings us the gift of trust and she demonstrates to us that this gift is born out of a sure knowledge and belief of faith and how God has acted throughout history.   In opposition to the primacy of fate lauded in the pagan world; Mary reveals providence.  God is at work and continues to be at work in history and in our lives.  The gift of Mary’s trust also reveals that God wants nothing but what is best for us.  The God of Israel is a loving God and all things in God’s plan lead to fullness of life.  Mary brings us the gift of trust. 
Luke portrays John the Baptist as a relative of Mary and Jesus’.  During the Sundays and weekdays of Advent we read the gospel accounts of John’s ministry.  The gospels tell us that people from all over Judea and Jerusalem were coming to hear John preach and be baptized in his baptism of repentance.  This popularity and esteem of the people is even confirmed by the Pharisees and Sadducees coming out to receive baptism, not because of true conversion but because it looked good before the people.  John sees through this and denounces it.  Not much escaped John the Baptist.  It is in this context of expectation that Luke writes,
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  
The power of the multitude is a great power.  This is lesson 101 in the handbook of politicians, demagogues and tyrants throughout history.  John knew the expectation of the people.  He knew, probably more than any other person, how they were yearning for change.  Probably, he alone at that time in Israel could have tapped into that power.  He could have claimed it for his own and therefore claimed massive power but he did not.  To the crowd and to their desire to proclaim him “messiah,” John simply and humbly said, “I am not he.”  John had the authenticity to know who he was and who he was not.  John the Baptist brings us the gift of humility.  
It is a gift sorely needed in our world today.  The message of our world today, in so many words, is, “Build yourself up.  Claim all that you can.  Focus on yourself, forget everyone else.”  Our world exalts and glamorizes overweening pride.  John, just as much today as in the story of the gospel, stands in contradistinction to this message.  His poverty, simplicity of life, and reliance on the word of God gave birth to a humility and authenticity of personhood that the world cannot give.  In Advent, John the Baptist brings us the gift of humility.  
We have no direct words of St. Joseph.  He is the silent saint but he speaks through his actions.  Matthew, in the first chapter of his gospel, shares this about Joseph, 
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.  When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.  But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit…”
Notice that even before the first angelic visitation in a dream (there were to be a total of four) Joseph had already decided that he would not expose Mary to public shame and would dismiss her quietly.  This decision on Joseph’s part should not be passed over carelessly.  It reflects his character.  According to the laws and customs of the time, Joseph had every right to have Mary stoned and killed.  Joseph could have acted out of vengeance and hurt pride but he chose not to.  Joseph, at that moment, held the life of Mary and the incarnate Word in her womb in his hands.  Just as Mary’s “yes” allowed the incarnation, Joseph’s “no” to violence and vengeance and “yes” to mercy allowed the incarnation to continue.  Joseph brings us the gift of mercy. 
Matthew writes that Joseph was a righteous man.  Our Lord throughout his ministry and proclamation of the Kingdom of God will again and again proclaim that righteousness is not based on blind observance of the law but on mercy and love.  It was simple human mercy and care that allowed the incarnation to continue.  St. Joseph’s proclamation to us is the gift of mercy.  
The three gifts of Advent: trust, humility and mercy.  As Christians, we receive these gifts by living them out in our lives and extending them to one another.  
Ss. Mary, John the Baptist and Joseph please pray for us.       

The "New Space" of Easter: Second Sunday of Easter (C)

06 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by in encounter, mercy, newness of life, risen Lord

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“Doubting Thomas” by Carl Heinrich Bloch

Easter creates a new space and a new moment of encounter.  No longer are we left abandoned (orphans) in the losses and sorrow of life.  The Lord is risen!  God abandons no one and neither is God resigned to accept death and lose as the final answer.  The risen Lord comes to his friends hiding behind the locked doors of fear, resignation and sorrow.  The risen Lord shows them his wounds and by so doing heals their wounds and gives a peace that the world cannot give.  It is only though the resurrection that the very wounds and losses of life become places of encounter rather than abandonment.  This is the new space and the new moment of encounter created by Easter.  We can now meet God in our wounds because God has become wounded and even accepted death for our sake.  And God has overcome death!  “Peace be with you,” says the risen Lord to his disciples in today’s gospel (Jn. 20:19-31).  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Thomas, we are told, was not there at that first encounter with the risen Lord.  Thomas would not believe.  “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”  Thomas was not a bad man nor was he a mediocre disciple.  Thomas was honest.  He was hurting.  His love for Christ and his hope in Christ had been crushed by the sheer violence and weight of the cross and the tomb.  He was resigned to the belief that death and violence were, in fact, the final answer in this world.  Thomas had loved the Lord yet now, seemingly, that love was lost.  Thomas was left wounded – his heart hurting and hardening.

How often we are like Thomas.  We are not bad people nor are we necessarily mediocre disciples yet the wounds of life occur and resignation sets in.  We sincerely proclaim ourselves Christian yet we hold on to that, “Unless I see…” of a hurting and hardening heart.  We seek to be good people, we strive to do right by others, we do honestly love and care yet wounds come and in differing ways we begin to lock ourselves behind closed doors and we begin to accept the resignation of our world.  We might proclaim Christ yet we find it easy to live as if Easter never occurred.

Today, on this Divine Mercy Sunday, the Gospel proclaims to us that God does not abandon!  Death, violence and resignation are not the final answer!  New life is possible!  Live in the joy and truth of Easter and shake off the false logic of our world!  The mercy received through Easter is not a mercy meant to kept locked away indoors.  Divine Mercy is a mercy meant to transform the world, beginning with us.  We begin to be transformed when we begin to not be resigned.

Our Lord says to Thomas, “Peace be with you … Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving but believe.”  

“…do not be unbelieving but believe.”

Thomas responds, “My Lord and my God!”              

"Be Merciful" – Fifth Sunday of Lent (C)

16 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in mercy, poor, woman caught in adultery

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Woman Caught in Adultery by John Martin Borg

“…be merciful, the souls of the faithful need your mercy.”  These are the words given by newly elected Pope Francis to a group of confessors at St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome the day after he was elected Bishop of Rome.

These words, I believe, catch the heart of our Lord in today’s gospel passage regarding the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11).  We often refer to this passage as “the woman caught in adultery” but it could just as easily be titled, “woman being played by the powers-that-be”.  The scribes and the Pharisees have no regard for this woman nor are they really concerned about the integrity of the Law at this point.  The scribes and the Pharisees rush to Jesus full of energy and accusation with this woman in tow in order to catch our Lord in a trap.  The woman is powerless and she is being played by the powers-that-be.  This is often the situation of the poor in our world.  The poor know this game well.

So does our Lord.  Our Lord refuses the energy and the accusation of the narrative of the scribes and the Pharisees and he re-directs it in an almost aikido-like fashion.  Our Lord bends down and he writes on the ground with his finger.  He lets the energy and accusation of the mob pass over him.  Once the energy and accusation of the crowd is spent and has no effect, our Lord responds with a new and surprising energy.  It is an energy rooted in God himself.  It is the energy of mercy.

Once again, our Lord is giving us an instruction in mercy.  In last Sunday’s gospel (Lk. 15:1-3,11-32) our Lord answers the accusation of the scribes and Pharisees not by pointing to his own righteousness but by pointing to the mercy of the Father.  This Sunday, our Lord answers the accusation of the powers-that-be by speaking truth and sharing mercy.  Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.  None of us are without sin.  Christ alone is without sin but instead of accusation he offers mercy.

In this Sunday’s first reading (Isaiah 43:16-21) we are told that our Lord opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters.  In and through the gospel, Jesus overcomes the strength of accusation and abuse of power that can often inflame and harden the human heart and he opens a new way – the way of mercy and reconciliation!  Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!  Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.  

On Tuesday, newly-elected Pope Francis will be installed as Bishop of Rome and successor to St. Peter.  Much is being made of his humility and simplicity.  Pope Francis knows the lesson of mercy because he is a friend of the poor.  When we become friends with the poor we learn their story and we learn the lessons that only they can teach.  Christ is with the poor in a unique way.  Friendship with the poor is friendship with Christ.  There is no true new evangelization without friendship with the poor.

In a special way this Sunday we pray for newly-elected Pope Francis, may he in his unique role as successor to St. Peter, help all the Church learn the lessons of mercy and walk together in the ever-newness of the Gospel!     

Temptation and Sin: First Sunday of Lent (C)

16 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in children of God, forgiveness, love of God, mercy, sin, temptation

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Temptation of Christ by Eric Armusik

In the Gospel story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness (Lk. 4:1-13) we are given a dramatic portrayal of the movement of temptation in life and also the corrosiveness of sin. 

Luke writes that it was only after Jesus had fasted for forty days and he was in a weakened state that the devil came to tempt him.  This is worthy of note.  Temptation insinuates itself into the folds of our weaknesses and our fragility and it is from there that it seeks to carry out its destructive work.  Do we carry fears within us?  Then grasp for power at all costs!  Are we insecure in our understanding of self?  Then run after the approval of others!  Do we covet?  Then deny the dignity and rights of the other person!  Do we envy?  Then put down the other person!  Do we doubt?  Then shut out the love of God and other persons!

All temptations insinuate themselves into the folds of our weaknesses and frailties.  Part of the spiritual journey is coming to recognize and accept this.  A very holy and honest priest once told me that at one point in his faith journey he came to the realization that he was capable of about every sinful act imaginable.  The truth is, we all are.  We mark ourselves with ashes at the beginning of Lent for a number of reasons – one of these being the recognition and acceptance of our own weakness.  Holiness is not achieved by denying or masking weakness.  Authentic holiness comes about only through accepted weakness being transformed by God’s grace. 

In my own spiritual journey as well as in my experience as a confessor I have come to the awareness that one of the most corrosive effects of sin in our lives is that sin plants a kernel of doubt in our thoughts that can easily and quickly fester into a debilitating and ever-present accusation.  The accusation comes in a variety of voices: “Who do you think you are?”, “If people only knew the real you.”, “How can you believe that you are worth love?”, “Do you think God loves you or even cares?”  Throughout the temptation scene in today’s gospel the devil continually tries to plant this kernel of accusation in the thought of our Lord.  If you are the Son of God…  Yet, Christ does not sin, he does not turn away from the Father and therefore the devil is unable to plant this kernel of doubt and despair.  Christ triumphs over the devil in the desert not by his own strength and self-sufficiency but rather by clinging in obedience to the will and love of the Father and by calling to mind the Word of God and being strengthened by that Word.

The answer to both the insinuation of temptation as well as the corrosiveness of sin is in essence the same – to trust and truly hold to the reality that we are sons and daughters of God and that God is nothing other than love.  God does not disdain us in our weakness.  The truth is that his love and grace are all the more present.  The Christian sense of being perfect is not that we have it all together but rather that we are being perfected in and through our cooperation with God’s love and mercy.  In the face of the accusation of sin we remember that we are indeed loved by God and if we cannot remember then God will remember for us.  I have seen this first-hand as a confessor.  This is one of deep truths of the sacrament of reconciliation.  When we have forgotten who we are through sin, God (in his mercy) remembers for us.  God, in his forgiveness, calls forth the truth that we are his sons and daughters. 

We all know how temptation insinuates itself into our weaknesses and we know how sin accuses us.  This Lent and Easter may we hopefully come to know in a deeper way how God’s love and the truth of our being his sons and daughters sets us free.                 

"Put out into the deep water": Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

09 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in call, forgiveness, life, mercy

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How and where do I find life?  How do I live the life I have been given?  These are perennial questions and for our purpose here at this university Newman Center these are the questions that many in our community are being called to take up and begin to wrestle with, perhaps for the first time.  The questions can be summarized in our Lord’s invitation to Simon Peter, “Put out into deep water…”

This invitation and the questions are daunting and even frightening.  There are many voices in our world that continually encourage us to stay on the shore, to ignore the invitation to set out into the deep water.  This encouragement comes in a variety of forms: to live a distracted existence focused solely on self and ones own entertainment, to not question too deeply or to only question in an approved manner, to silence ones conscience and only live within the bubble of ones own ego.  These voices call to us continually – subtle and not so subtle.  They have a surface appeal but in the end they are deadening.

Our Lord invites Simon Peter (and us) to “put out into the deep water” exactly because he knows the depth of being that resides within every man and woman.  Christ will not let us sell ourselves short in contrast to the voices that encourage us to stay on the shore.  Our Lord knows that deep calls upon deep and that an isolated, self-absorbed existence is an impoverished existence.

Yet, not only does our Lord invite, he also empowers and this is the good news proclaimed for us today.  In today’s gospel (Lk. 5:1-11) we find the means given by which we might set out into the deep. 

The first is that we are never alone.  We are not orphans left to our own devices in a senseless world.  There is a creator, there is a purpose for creation and there is a purpose for each of our lives.  Not only this but God walks with us.  That day, Jesus came to the Lake of Gennesaret – to where Peter, James and John were – and when he instructs them to “put out into the deep water” he is in the boat with them.  God never abandons us.  As we put out into the deep of our lives we must continually trust that God is with us. 

This leads us to the second means given us by God.  The Lord’s instruction to Peter to put out into the deep comes after the Lord’s proclamation and teaching to the crowds from the boat. This is not incidental.  We have been given the gospels and all the scripture as a means by which to live our lives and to set out into the deep waters and navigate these waters.  We must develop the discipline of turning again and again to God’s word, especially the gospels, in order to truly live the life we each have been given.

The final means given us by God in this gospel passage is mercy and forgiveness.  Peter’s immediate reaction upon the great catch of fish demonstrates our common human condition, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”  We all know our weaknesses, we all know our sins and our failings but that does not mean we have to remain in them and we do not have to let them dictate who we can ultimately become.  It is worthy to note that Christ does not depart.  He remains and in his love and mercy patiently given he offers Peter a different vision for his life, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”  Do not deny the forgiveness and mercy of God. 

When Simon Peter and the others answered and obeyed the Lord’s invitation and instruction they made a great haul of fish.  Here, I will not go down the road of the gospel of success and its error of material blessings for a life of faith.  Rather, I interpret the great haul of fish as a life well lived which is abundant in joy, relationships, integrity and love.

“Put out into the deep water” instructs our Lord.  Develop the means given and know a life well lived.    

    

         

The Wedding Banquet and Les Miserables

19 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by in face of God, Kingdom of God, love, mercy, wedding banquet

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Jean Valjean and the Bishop (scene from Les Miserables)

There is a scene found in the beginning of the story Les Miserables (currently playing at theaters as an award-winning movie) that is quite striking.  Jean Valjean has been freed from his twenty year imprisonment for stealing a loaf of bread yet he is still ostracized by society due to the identification papers he must carry on himself.  The papers testify that he is a former convict and therefore no one wants anything to do with him.  Embittered by this, not able to find work and left starving, Jean Valjean finds himself taken in one night by a Catholic bishop.  He is given a warm meal and a place to sleep.  Yet, in the middle of the night in an act of desperation and anger, Jean Valjean makes off with the bishop’s silverware.  He is caught by the local authorities and brought back, yet the bishop (at this point) does a truly remarkable thing.  Knowing full well what Jean Valjean has done, the bishop tells the officers that he freely gave him the silverware and he even tops this by giving him his last two candlesticks.  Jean Valjean is freed and by this act of charity is given a new life. 

In light of this Sunday’s gospel (Jn. 2:1-11) I would say that this bishop through his action of forgiveness and mercy not only gave Jean Valjean a new life but invited him into the wedding banquet.

The turning of water into wine is the first miracle of Jesus’ public ministry.  As Christians we rightly see this miracle and the context in which it occurs (the wedding banquet) as a foreshadowing of the coming Kingdom of God which Christ comes to inaugurate.  The wedding banquet is a celebration of great joy and union.  The Kingdom of God is the fulfillment of all humanity’s hope and yearning where heaven and earth are once more united.  At the wedding banquet water is turned into wine; in the Kingdom of God the daily and mundane is transformed into moments of rich encounter with the divine. 

The wedding banquet and its miracle is rich in typology and in symbols for Christians yet I would like to continue to hold this miracle story in dialogue with the action of the bishop from Victor Hugo’s book in order to bring out another dimension found within the gospel story.  As Christians, not only are we to rejoice in the banquet ourselves we are also meant to invite others within.  In truth, we cannot fully celebrate the banquet ourselves unless we see to the needs of others; unless we also invite others within through acts of mercy and love. 

Mary, as always, is the model in this for us.  Mary is a woman fully immersed in the culture of her time and she knows the importance of the wedding banquet.  She is concerned for the good of this young couple and she knows how poorly it might reflect on them if the wine runs out.  Possibly they were from poorer families who could not afford a lavish celebration.  It is Mary’s awareness of the need of this young couple and her concern for them that leads her to her son just as it is the bishop’s awareness of Jean Valjean’s need that leads him to mercy.  Confident in the mercy and love of her son, Mary does not even question or argue after making her request known rather she turns to the servers and simply says, Do whatever he tells you. 

The logic of the banquet (which is the logic of the Kingdom of God) is that mercy and love must be extended.  It is not enough to celebrate the banquet for ourselves; in fact that is a truly impoverished celebration.  To truly celebrate the banquet we must be willing to let go of ourselves – our needs and wants – and we must be willing to extend love and mercy to one another – to family, to friends and to strangers.  It is that simple.  This is the logic of the banquet and it is the logic of the Kingdom of God which overcomes all the false philosophies and sad divisions of our world.  As Christians, we are called to live the logic of the wedding banquet. 

At the end of the story when Jean Valjean is being led to eternal rest – a true father who gave of his life for his adopted daughter Cossette – he shares this wisdom, “To love another person is to see the very face of God.” 

To live a life in the logic of the banquet – helping to extend God’s love and mercy to all people – is to know God and to share already in joy of his Kingdom.