O. T.  XXII (Dt 4:1-2, 6-8; Jas 1:17-18, 21-22, 27; Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)

For the Jews the holiest part of the Bible was the "Pentateuch" or the first five books, which they thought had been personally written by Moses, and which they reverently called the "Law." The Pentateuch contained Sacred Laws such as the "Ten Commandments" and customary laws to guide them in everyday life, such as laws regarding marriage and family, laws concerning inheritance, concerning crime and punishment, laws regarding diseases and rules of cleanliness. Pious Jews observed these laws with great sincerity and were even ready to sacrifice their lives when it came to breaking the laws.

There are a number of heroic examples in the Book of Maccabees. The story of seven brothers and their mother who refused to eat the forbidden food is very touching. Seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were compelled by the king Antiochus, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine's flesh. One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers." 

The king fell into a rage, and gave orders to cut out the tongue and cut off his hands and feet while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on. When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly.

After the first brother had died, they brought forward the second. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair. In the same way they tortured and martyred all the seven brothers. The mother saw her seven sons perish within a single day, yet, she bore it with good courage. She encouraged each of them, and died after her sons.

The story of persecution and defiance proved popular among Jewish communities, and the mother and her sons remained alive in Jewish memory.

The statement of Jesus in today's Gospel Passage has to be seen in this context. There were rigid rules for washing of hands. It was not in the interest of purity, but it was ceremonial cleanliness that was at stake. To fail to do this was in Jewish eyes to be unclean in the sight of God.  A Rabbi who once was imprisoned by the Romans, was given water to drink and he used the water for hand washing and in the end perished of thirst, because he was determined to observe the rules of cleanliness rather than satisfy his thirst.

The Scribes and Pharisees saw that the disciples of Jesus did not observe the tradition and the code of the oral law in regard to the washing of hands during meals. Jesus’ response was that he accused them of hypocrisy, by quoting the text from Isaiah. Legalism takes account of man’s outward actions; but it takes no account of his inward feelings. One may be meticulously serving God in outward things, and bluntly disobeying God in inward things. There is a story of a Mohammedan who was pursuing a man with upraised knife to murder him. Just then the call to prayer was heard. Immediately he stopped, spread out his prayer mat, said his prayers, and continued to pursue the enemy. Because it is prescribed that a devout Mohammedan must pray five times a day.

It is much easier to deal with outer, visible things than with the inner world of attitudes: with the heart. And so, like the Pharisees, we tend to evaluate ourselves and others in purely external ways: the number of prayers we recite, the amount of money we give, etc. There is nothing wrong with external things, but there is also an inner world that shapes and gives meaning to the external.

It is difficult to retain a clear vision of the Gospel: that “God is Spirit, and those who worship him should worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). We are forever in danger of stepping into the shoes of the Pharisees.

Religion is not about things, it is about us! It is about the kind of response we make to the world, to others, and to God. Today Jesus reminds us that there is no greater religious peril than that of identifying religion with outward observance. What matters in religion is to give one’s own heart to God. If the heart is not pure evil designs will emerge from it. Jesus gives a list of things as coming from the heart and making a man unclean. It is a summons to an honest self-examination of our own hearts.

 

We need to keep the spirit of the Church’s laws and practices. At least some of us add to or subtract, like the Pharisees,   from God’s laws given in the Bible and taught by the Church. Some of us pick and choose certain Commandments to follow, ignoring the others as we do food orderings in a cafeteria. For example, some actively do corporal and spiritual works of Charity, but avoid Sunday Mass. Acts of charity doesn’t allow us to replace Sunday Mass.  

St. James instructs us today to be attentive listeners to, and doers of, God’s word. We become more fully Jesus’ family members, only when we consistently “hear the word of God and do it” (Lk 8:21). When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion today, let us ask for the grace to become the doers of his word as Jesus was the doer of his Fathers’ will.

 

 

OT XXI [B]: Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b; Eph 5:21-32; Jn 6:60-69

Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. These are very uncomfortable phrases for us modern Catholics. But notice, Paul begins this section by telling: "Brothers and sisters, be subordinate to one another." He insists so strongly that the husband must love his wife as totally as Christ loves the Church.

God has established an order in the world. God chose the Jews to be first in the world and send his son to this world through them. When Jesus told the disciples to preach the gospel he told them: first go the lost sheep of Israel, then to gentiles. When God chose Abraham he told him, “in you all the nations of the world will be blessed.” Therefore, God is not rejecting anybody when he places someone in the first place. God always follows an order and in placing man the head of the family he was following an order. It could have been the other way about, but God chose that way. Paul or the Bible is not telling women are inferior to men, like what Islam teaches: Here are some of the teachings of Islam about women.

Woman is a property (for enjoyment like animals or farm).

A woman’s life is meant to please her husband (Ibn Majah 3:9:1853). A good wife should bring delight to her husband whenever he looks at her, and obey him whenever he commands her to do something.  

Women are deficient in intelligence and religion, should be submissive to men:

A woman has to please her husband to go to heaven:

Muhammad says to Women to Prostrate before their husbands.

Quran: Those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance – [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. (Q 4:34)

If you are flogging your wife as you do a slave then don’t do sex that day with her, said Muhammad:  (Sahih Bukhari 5204, Bk. 67, H. 138).  (what a concession to a wife).

Reasons a Muslim can hit/ beat his wife (Q.4:34).

 

1. Refusal for sex (Even when the wife’s one parent is dead and she wants to go attend the funeral rites, and at that time the husband asks her for sex, she should satisfy him first before she goes to pay tribute to her dead parent).

2. Not taking bath after sex.

3. Not to show herself beautiful to her husband (only to her husband and not to anyone else).

4. Not praying.

5. Going out without husband's permission. (He can refuse permission even to meet her aging parents.

6. Inviting others without husband’s permission. He can deny permission to invite children from her another marriage.

The husband has the discretion when and for what he can beat his wife. No one can question why a Muslim beat his wife.  (Abu Dawud 11:2142). And Tafsir of Al-Qatbari says to tie the wife down in her bed room and beat.

Muhammad married a child of six and encouraged his followers to marry young children.  

Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl “a divine blessing.  He married 10 year old girl when he was 35.

Marriage is legalizing woman’s private parts (allows man to marry a woman for three nights to have sex)

Women are stupid and lack reasoning and they need lot of forgiveness.

Majority of the dwellers of Hell are women.

Two women’s witness is equal to one man’s (Q.2:282).

Women have no right in deciding the sex positions.

A man can ask for divorce without reason but a woman is not allowed to ask for divorce:

Allah will turn singing girls into monkeys and pigs:

Killing women of immoral behavior.

‘Those of your women who commit illegal sexual intercourse, take the evidence of four witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them (i.e. women) to houses until death comes to them or Allah ordains for them some (other) way”. Quran 4:15  Sahih International

 Muhammad forbade women praying when menstruating. 

Angels curse the wives who refuse to have sex with their husbands:

“When a woman spends the night away from the bed of her husband, the angels curse her until morning”. (Sahih Muslim 1436a, Bk. 16, H. 140).

Woman who uses perfume is adulteress:

A woman is forbidden to cry on the death of husband:

Muhammad told to throw dust in the mouth of women who were crying on the death of their husbands in the war. (Sahih Muslim 935a, Bk. 11, H. 39).

 

A woman should not be alone with another man.  (Afghanistan the Taliban were flogging women who were unaccompanied by male guardians).

Women not fit for leadership positions:

“When the Prophet heard the news that the people of the Persia had made the daughter of Khosrau their Queen (ruler), he said, "Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler." (Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 88, Number 219).

A wife should not allow anyone in the house without husband’s permission:

The woman who arranges her marriage is adulteress:

Women may not pray in the Mosque but at home.

Women’s place is in the back of the Mosque (Sahih Muslim Vol.1, Bk. 4, No. 880-881).

Women are forbidden to have wigs, alter teeth, tattooing or remove facial hair. (Bukhari vol.6, Bk. 60, H. 408). (Video of Taliban cutting the hand of a girl for nail polishing)

If no prayer is done before sex Muhammad says, Jinn will have sex with wife.

But, the New Testament shows men and women are complementary to each other. It was an essential part of God's plan, from the very beginning, to create two genders in the human race, male and female.

The complementarity of these differences helps explain why men and women have always experienced such a mysterious attraction. Biologically, chemically, psychologically, emotionally, and even intellectually, men and women show general tendencies and characteristics that are different and that complement each other. This complimentarity is also a basic theological fact. God created us male and female because we are called to image his own divine nature here on earth. And the essence of the divine nature is self-forgetful, fruitful love - Trinitarian love.

 

Paul makes clear that marriage as designed by God is built on an ordered relationship between the spouses. This is what he means when he says so clearly that a husband is "the head of his wife" and that wives should be "subordinate to their husbands."

We tend to want to dismiss St Paul's affirmations as applicable to the culture of his day but not applicable to the culture of our day. But St Paul isn't merely stating a personal opinion or a cultural description.

He is putting forth a theological truth.  He is saying that one of the "great mysteries" of marriage, one of the reasons Jesus made it into a true sacrament, is that it is an image of the relationship between Jesus and the Church.

This helps us understand that the hierarchy of relationships in a marriage is not a political hierarchy. The husband is not meant to be the head of the wife in the sense that the wife is the husband's servant or slave - not at all. As St Ambrose put it, addressing Christian husbands:

"You are not her master, but her husband; she was not given to you to be your slave, but your wife.... Reciprocate her attentiveness to you and be grateful to her for her love" (quoted in John Paul II's Letter to Families, #25).

It is a distinction of function, not a hierarchy of nature.

By nature the husband and the wife are, in the first place, completely equal in dignity. Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve both shared the same dignity as human beings: both were created in the image and likeness of God. Both are equally necessary and dependent on each other. A husband cannot fulfill his calling as a husband without the commitment of his wife. A wife cannot fulfill her calling as a wife without the commitment of her husband.

The husband and wife together build the marriage and the family, just as the head and the heart together keep the body alive, growing, and healthy.

The heart is subordinate to the head in the sense that it would never be insubordinate (rebellious) towards the leadership of the head, just as the head would never neglect or abuse the heart. Thus, the Church has always understood this ordered relationship as a partnership of love and mutual self-giving.

Christ is the head of the Church and has given his life to her and for her; and the Church is the bride of Christ, totally consecrated to him and his Kingdom.

As we continue with this holy Mass, in which Jesus will renew his commitment to us, let's thank him for the beautiful gift he has given us by creating us man and woman, in his image and likeness, and let's ask his forgiveness for the times we haven't lived up to this noble calling, and let's renew our commitment to building Christ's Kingdom in the world, by striving, with the help of his grace, to live, support, and spread this "great mystery" of marriage, just as God designed it.

 

 

 

Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56).

 This year the feast of Assumption falls on a Sunday.  The origin of the Catholic belief in the Assumption of Mary goes back to many centuries. The Feast represents a Catholic Doctrine that was defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950. The proclamation of the Church states that, revealed by God, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into Heavenly glory. The tradition holds that Blessed Virgin Mary died in Jerusalem (or Ephesus?) and during the last moments of her earthly life all surviving Apostles were present there except St. Thomas, who was then preaching in India. He then was miraculously brought there, and he insisted on seeing the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But to everyone’s surprise, her tomb was found empty, excepting her clothes.

It makes sense that the woman who bore God in her womb should be borne by God into heaven, and not left in a grave to turn back into dust. While the bodies of the Apostles and martyrs could be preserved and venerated, whereas of the body of Mary, no relic should remain on earth. Mary’s assumption and glorification is simply the result of the singularly heroic and complete surrender to the Will of God.

 

In the Old Testament, the Queen of the Kingdom of Israel was always the Queen Mother. One of King Solomon's first acts when his father David gave him the throne was to raise his mother Bathsheba to his side, to be the royal Queen. There was a practical reason for this tradition: Old Testament Kings used to marry more than one wife, but he had only one Mother, so she became Queen. The same way Jesus raised his mother to heaven body and soul at the end of her life in honor of her heroic faith and co-operation to the will of God.

 

Mary’s Immaculate Conception was the beginning of her heroic life, and her assumption was the end. But the road in between was the way of the cross. At every step she said, “Yes” to God. She said “Yes” at the annunciation, submitting to God’s plans as the “handmaid of the Lord”, when in spite of the words of the angel, so many things about her future remained unclear. She said “Yes” again at Bethlehem, when Jesus was born in the midst of so much poverty. She said “Yes” when she was told to flee with the child to Egypt. She said “Yes” to God at Nazareth for thirty years, when she experienced many anxious moments. She said “Yes” to her loneliness when Jesus left her. She said “Yes” to God when she heard about the opposition that Jesus received from the Religious leaders. She said “Yes” to God when she stood at the foot of the cross. Her life was a perfect submission to the plan of God.

Learning from the angel that her cousin Elizabeth was about to give birth to a child, Mary set quickly to visit her. It was a long and dangerous journey for a girl of her age, yet she did not think of herself but of the need of her cousin. At Cana when she learned that they had no wine she brought it to the notice of her son. She was sensitive to the need of others. At the foot of the cross Jesus has entrusted her with the care of the whole humanity, and she accepted it.

In the words of Pope Francis: ‘On the cross, Christ led us to Mary!’ and ‘He brought us to her, because he did not want us to journey without a mother’ (Evangelii Gaudium 285-288).

Reflecting on that first miracle of Jesus at the Cana wedding feast, Pope Francis wrote, ‘She is the friend who is ever concerned that wine not be lacking in our lives. She is the woman whose heart was pierced by a sword and who understands all our pain. As mother of all, she is a sign of hope for peoples suffering the birth pangs of justice; she is the missionary who draws near to us and accompanies us through life, opening our hearts to faith by her maternal love. She constantly surrounds us with God’s love.’

As we celebrate this transition of Our Blessed Lady to be reunited with her divine son, we can be completely convinced of the role she plays as our heavenly mother. The role of Mary, heavenly mother of the whole human race, and mother of the Eternal King of the Universe, is surely not simply a title that signifies nothing more than a mental impression of Mary’s Assumption into the presence of God, but indicates so much more: it is as a sign of hope for us now in the 21st Century as it has been for two thousand years.

Just as God assumed Mary into heaven, body and soul, at the end of her earthly mission, so God will lift the whole Church into perfect communion with himself in heaven at the end of history. Mary's Assumption, then, is God's promise to us.  Every Christian who follows Mary's path of humility and fidelity to God's will can look forward to following her into the glories and joys of heaven.

 

Contemplating the Assumption of Mary into Heaven reminds us that suffering and trials are also gifts from God. It was not easy for Mary, but she made it. Mary’s Assumption reminds us of what awaits us if we accept suffering and trials with patience and faith, desiring to help Our Lord accomplish the work of redemption. Let’s pray today that Mary helps us make the journey to Heaven and one day shine there alongside her and her Son.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OT XIX [B] I Kgs 19:4-8, Eph 4:30–5:2, Jn 6:41-51

In today’s First Reading Elijah is dejected and ready to give up when it seems his mission has failed and his life is in danger. Forty days and nights before reaching Horeb Elijah had worked a great sign showing the Lord was God, had overthrown a veritable army of false prophets, and witnessed the end of a long, punitive drought that was imposed on the unfaithful Israelites. Despite this, his life was in danger, and it seemed the evil and infidelity in Israel was as strong and powerful as ever, spearheaded by queen Jezebel, who pledged to kill him after he’d humiliated her prophets and pagan religion. The Lord takes the initiative and encourages him, sending him food and drink, persisting when Elijah was not ready to get up and continue to Mount Horeb to consult the Lord.

That nourishment and encouragement sustained him for a long journey, just as Our Lord, through the Eucharist, nourishes us and encourages us in the journey of life.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord tells the incredulous crowd that the Father called and prepared them even before he was sent so that they would believe that he indeed is the Bread of Life.

It’s difficult for the crowds to understand this teaching: they know Jesus, where he is from, who his parents are, so it’s hard for them to believe he has come down from Heaven.

 

Jesus packs three momentous lessons into this discourse on the Eucharist in today's Gospel passage.

First, he points out the mystery of faith, that no one can believe in him "unless he is drawn by the Father."

If they open their hearts to the Father, the Father leads them to take the next step. They must believe in his Son, not just as a sure guide in their pilgrimage to eternal life, but as their nourishment to be able to undertake the journey. Faith in Christ is God's gift, no one can conjure it up on their own, in a chemistry lab.

When we look at the small white Host, no scientific test can prove that Jesus Christ is truly present there, body, blood, soul, and divinity. And yet, we know that he is; we have been given the gift of faith. This is why the priest says, after the consecration at each Mass: "Let us proclaim the mystery of faith."

Second, this faith in Christ leads to "eternal life."

Later in the Gospel, Jesus tells us that eternal life consists in knowing "the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom [God has] sent" (John 17:3). In Biblical language, "knowing" implies deep interpersonal intimacy, the kind of relationship we all yearn for.

Third, Jesus himself is the "bread" of this eternal life, its source and sustenance. Without bread, without food, physical life perishes. Without Jesus, without his "flesh for the life of the world" in the Eucharist, our life of intimate communion with God will perish. It's that simple - and it's that crucial. Eleven times in this discourse Jesus speaks of himself as the bread of life; he's really hoping that we'll get the message.  The gift of faith gives us access to eternal life, and the Eucharist makes that life grow within us

 

We accept and believe this on faith, but it is not a blind faith. God supports our faith in many ways. He knows that the culture of this fallen world is constantly trying to erode our faith. And so, in his wisdom and according to his providence, he sends us miracles, sometimes dramatic, to give our tired faith a turbo boost.

The history of the Church is full of Eucharistic miracles. Recorded miracles include hosts that survived fires, hosts that started to bleed during Mass, hosts that lost their appearance of bread and transformed into flesh... But some of the most remarkable signs God has given us regarding the Eucharist has to do with Holy Communion. Through the centuries, there have been many saints, both men and women, who have lived for entire periods of their lives just on the Eucharist. They took no food or drink, but only received Holy Communion every day.

Christ is the fullness of life and meaning that we all hunger for, and the Eucharist is Christ's real presence. This is what our faith teaches us.

Faith is connected to the Eucharist because it reveals Christ's presence to us, but it is also connected in another way. Physical food nourishes our bodies simply by the act of eating. Our digestive processes take over as soon as we swallow our food. We don't have to think about it; our attitude doesn't help or hinder it.

Not so with the spiritual food of the Eucharist. If we receive the Eucharist out of routine, in a distracted frame of mind, then we will not receive all the grace that God wants to give us.

But if, on the other hand, we receive the Eucharist with the right dispositions, God's grace will have more room to act, strengthening our souls and making our spirits grow.

As we pray before the tabernacle, for example, or as we come forward to receive Holy Communion, we should activate our faith, consciously stir it up. We should focus our attention as completely as possible on Jesus Christ, the living bread who has come down from heaven to be our spiritual food.

This week, let's take some time to reflect on the relevance of the Eucharist for our personal spiritual life and seek to know Christ and to share that personal knowledge of him who died to make himself present in the Eucharist, with others.