What She Has Done Will Be Told in Remembrance of Her

On this Tuesday of Holy Week, I've reflecting on how in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, the passion narrative begins with the reading of the account of a woman anointing the Lord's head or feet.  The anointing, with costly perfumed oil, scandalizes the onlookers (including the apostles), because of the expense of the oil and the uninvited intrusion of the woman into the gathering.

I think too of how on the other end of the narrative, other women go to the tomb with perfumed oil to anoint the body of Jesus in the tomb (and these 'myrrhbearing women' discover that Jesus has risen and the tomb is empty.)

Jesus, in Matthew's gospel responds to the angry criticism by saying, "Why do you trouble the woman?  She has done me a good service for me. ...By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial."

But then he goes on to tell them: "Truly I tell, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her."  Which leaves me pondering this: perhaps the woman who anoints Jesus' head with oil is proclaiming in an unmistakable way that he is truly the Messiah, the Christos, the Anointed One of God.

Those whose responsibility it would have been to have proclaimed Jesus the Messiah, that is to say, the religious authorities, not only fail to make such a proclamation, but in all of the passion narratives, condemn him as a false Messiah.  By way of contrast, this anonymous woman, not from a position of knowledge or authority, perceives Jesus rightly and like the prophet Samuel, sees beyond appearances and anoints the Son of David with the oil of gladness.

During this week Christians remember how this Messiah would die a shameful and wretched death at the hands of the Romans (which would have confirmed for allies and opponents alike that he was definitely not the Anointed.   One of God!) Yet even in this, her anointing of him in anticipation of his death and burial, is itself a paradoxical proclamation that he is the Messiah who will suffer and empty himself completely out of love.

Perhaps, it is that this woman, because her love for him, was able to see clearly the One who is Love Incarnate and boldly act to anoint him in this way.  I wonder too, if we are only able to recognize the Anointed One who is present among us in so many distressing disguises, when we are able to see them with the eyes of love?

Will the ways in which we anoint Christ in need and in distress with the extravagant and costly oil of compassion, mercy and kindness, be told in remembrance of us, "wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world"?

May it be so.

Grant Lord, Your Protection to All Who Suffer Persecution

 Almighty ever-living God, who as an example of humility for the human race to follow caused our Savior to take flesh and submit to the Cross, graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering  and so merit a share in his Resurrection.                  Collect for Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion 

Serving yesterday at the Palm Sunday liturgies in my parish, I had the opportunity to listen to this prayer and meditate on it, in light of the bomb attacks on two Coptic Orthodox churches in Egypt where worshippers were celebrating, as we were, the liturgy of Palm Sunday.  Amid the carnage and destruction of yet another hateful attack by ISIS against them,  it seems astonishing that the survivors are truly heeding the Lord's "lesson of patient suffering".  But they continue to do so, refusing to retaliate, but submitting to the Cross and choosing "to bear all things" in Christ.

The persecution of the Christian minority in Egypt, (who number approximately 8 million souls and make up about 10% of  Egypt's population of 83 million) is nothing new.  In the summer of 2013, mobs angered by the removal from office of President Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, burned many Coptic Orthodox churches throughout the country.  In December ISIS bombed the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo.  In the northern Sinai, at least 40 Copts have been murdered in 2017 alone and hundreds of Christians have been forced to abandon their homes and flee to Cairo for safety.

And in 2015 twenty Coptic migrant workers (and a non-Christian Chadian man who chose to die with them) were beheaded by ISIS on a beach in Libya.  They were quickly glorified as martyrs by the Coptic Orthodox Church.

As Holy Week begins, I am remembering in meditation and prayer the persecuted, martyr church of Egypt.  May the example of their steadfast and patient witness to our loving and merciful Savior, who "accepted unjust condemnation to save the guilty" (Preface for Palm Sunday) strengthen our resolve to reject hatred and violence and change the hearts of their persecutors.      

Nothing Is Impossible for God

The Nativity of Christ by Duccio (detai

Christ is Born! Glorify Him! 
For a number of years in the late 1970's I visited a young man named Chol Soo Lee* who was on Death Row at San Quentin penitentiary in California.  Because he was a condemned prisoner, he wasn't allowed to have physical contact with anyone. Instead, in handcuffs and chains,he was brought,into a cell with a thick glass window, where we talked over the phone for an hour (the limit of the visit.)  

One visit was particularly memorable, when I went to see him on Christmas.  After telling me he was glad that I had come to visit him, he told me that Christmas was a sad day, even for the prisoners who had visitors, because it was a reminder of their separation from their families.  But it was saddest for the prisoners whose families were unable to visit them.  

And then he said that even those prisoners who, due to circumstances were alone on Christmas, were fortunate compared to the inmates who were such bad men, who had committed such heinous crimes, that no-one could possibly care about them, love them and want to visit them.    

I've thought about what he said often over the past forty years, and I think that the birth of Jesus is both the sign and the promise that God's love encompasses every person, even those who are humanly impossible to love, people that no-one would ever want to love, like those inmates Chol Soo told me about.

But isn't that, at the deepest level, the reason we celebrate Christmas?  That in the person of Jesus, the Word of God, which is mercy, was born to be with and love and save every man and woman, even, (or perhaps especially) the most hateful, unloveable, and lost among us.  

For nothing is impossible for God. 

*Chol Soo Lee was granted a retrial and acquitted in 1982.  http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Chol-Soo-Lee-famed-for-murder-conviction-and-5963898.php

With Longing for the Coming of God's Kingdom

I'm continuing to make progress on this little Advent Jesse Tree, which (hopefully) I'll be able to complete on Saturday in time for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.  It has been a fruitful exercise to meditate on the four scenes from the Old Testament in each corner of the image and the center image of the Mother of God and Jesus from the New Testament.

I pray best, I've learned over the years, with a brush or a pencil in hand, and this Advent is no exception.  The selection of these four scenes from the Old Testament are quite traditional and were understood, in the medieval approach to the exegesis of scripture, to be types or pre-figurements of the mystery of the Incarnation.

Which all might seem so far removed from the desperate plight of so many brothers and sisters in our world during these days of Advent. But each of these scenes are of deliverance and salvation: Daniel, in the perilous darkness of the lion's den.  The three holy youths cast into the fiery furnace.  The Lord telling Moses that God has heard the cries of the Hebrews in bondage in Egypt; and the promise of the Lord to Gideon to break the yoke of Midian, who for seven years plundered and ravaged the Israelites after they entered the Promised Land.

It is in that context, of our need for deliverance and our longing for coming of God's kingdom of justice, mercy, righteousness and peace, that we turn our eyes in expectation and hope to the holy Mother of God, Mary and her son, Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

With longing for the coming of God's kingdom, may we continue to persevere in interceding in every way for all those crying out in need during these days: for the people of Aleppo, Syria and Iraq; for persecuted Christians and all those who reviled and hated for who they are, what they look like or who they worship; for refugees and migrants in their distress and great need, and for our threatened environment and all of creatures, so wonderously made by the Creator, who inhabit it.

And Now the Hard Part Begins

The Execution of Marshall Ney by Jean-Leon Gerome (1868)

Pondering the election Tuesday of Donald Trump and the defeat of Hillary Clinton and her progressive coalition, seems to me like another chapter (a dark and dangerous one, to be sure) in the contest for ascendancy between those who support self-described progressive spiritual, social, political and cultural revolution that began in the 1960's (or 1860 or 1789 or even 1517, depending on how far back you want to go) and those who oppose the overthrow and destruction of a spiritual, social, political and culture order they cherish and believe in.

In another bitterly divided society, following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo , the exiled Bourbon monarch Louis XXVIII and his supporters took power and proceeded (not suprisingly) to exact revenge on those who had supported the French revolution and then the self-styled 'Emperor' Napoleon.  Marshall Michel Ney, who had rallied to Napoleon when he briefly seized power in 1815, was convicted of treason on December 6th, 1815 and executed by firing squad near the Luxembourg Gardens the next day.  He was the most prominent of those who were executed or forced into exile after the Bourbon restoration.

Talleyrand, commenting on the restoration of the Bourbons famously said: "They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing."  Our new President is not Louis XXVIII and our outgoing President is not Napoleon, but for the side which is ascendant comes the temptation to remember every insult, every slight and every injury and punish those believed to be responsible.  The temptation for the side which is now subordinate is stop listening and refuse to face up to the weaknesses and failings that led to their defeat.

This may be the way of the world, but is not the way of the Gospel. As Christians we must work together for justice.   Of course we must be adamant in our unconditional repudiation of racism and of hatred of immigrants and Muslims, our unflagging defense of the creation and our solidarity with those who are impoverished, vulnerable and on the margins.  

But Gospel teaches us that only the love of Christ, made incarnate in this fallen world by our admittedly imperfect magnanimity, forebearance, forgiveness, humility and mercy, has the power to truly transform our lives and this world, whether we find ourselves as his disciples (temporarily) in power or out of power, politically, socially or culturally.  

It is easy comfort to recognize and denounce the blindness, failings and offenses of  our neighbors.  It is much more difficult and humbling to try to see one's own blindness, failings and offenses against our neighbors and repent of them.  

That's the hard part.

There Are No Violent Solutions

Wood engraving by Ade Bethune

The fragile cease-fire collapsed last week in Syria and so the war continues to go on without letup. The beautiful city of Aleppo (and so many other towns and villages like it) has been bombed and shelled into rubble.  Innocent civilians, especially children, who have been unable to flee the fighting are being killed every day as all of the sides in the civil war compete to see who can be the most heartless.  And because there is no political will to end the violence the war is now in its sixth year.  

There are no violent solutions to this conflict.

Friends, let us continue to hold close to our hearts the suffering people of Syria, those inside that unfortunate country and the millions who have fled as refugees, seeking safety and shelter in the neighboring countries, in Europe and in our own nation.  Let us continue to pray for peace in Syria, that through the intercession of Mary, Queen of Peace, the fighting might  finally end.

Prayer for Peace in Syria

Almighty eternal God, source of all compassion,
the promise of your mercy and saving help fills our hearts with hope.
Hear the cries of the people of Syria;
bring healing to those suffering from the violence,
and comfort to those mourning the dead.
Empower and encourage Syria’s neighbors
in their care and welcome for refugees.
Convert the hearts of those who have taken up arms,
and strengthen the resolve of those committed to peace.

O God of hope and Father of mercy,
your Holy Spirit inspires us to look beyond ourselves and our own needs.
Inspire leaders to choose peace over violence
and to seek reconciliation with enemies.
Inspire the Church around the world with compassion for the people of Syria,
and fill us with hope for a future of peace built on justice for all.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace and Light of the World,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.

For more information about the Syrian civil war, the refugee crisis and the efforts to assist refugees, go to CRS.org Syrian Refugee Crisis. 

Mater Misericordia

 This mother is a refugee from Syria, just one of the 65.3 million people around the world that the United Nations estimates have been forced from their homes as of 2015. There are so many mothers like her who are burdened by grief, anxiety and fear for their children and who wonder what kind of future they will have.

For Roman Catholics, today is the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.  Like tens of millions of others, Mary was forced to flee with her little family and seek refuge in a foreign land.  In this vale of tears, we call her, Mater Misericordia, Mother of Mercy for her heart, pierced by suffering and grief, is a heart of compassion, love and mercy.  

Through the intercession of Our Lady of Sorrows, may we imitate the Mother of Mercy and open our hearts, our churches and our nation to all those crying out for refuge, shelter and safety.

Let Us With Confidence Come Before the Throne of Grace

 

Its been fifteen years this Sunday since the terrible events of September 11th, 2001.  The anniversary falls on a Sunday this year, which means that for us as Christians we will be gathered at the altar on that heart-breaking anniversary.  Yet the altar is such an appropriate place to gather, a place where God, who loves us with such infinite compassion and mercy, wants us to confidently lay down our deepest fears and hopes, joys and sorrows before the throne of grace. 

We gather to celebrate the Eucharist, which is the sign and the reality of the measure of God’s love for us, revealed in Jesus who offered himself completely and without holding back for our sake.  Having lived a life for others, his body was broken for us and his and his lifeblood was poured out to break down once and for all the walls of hatred and malice that separate us from God and from each other.    

Remembering this anniversary, it is impossible to ignore the human family’s alienation from God: the fire and smoke only made visible the anger and hatred burning in the hearts of those who would do such a thing to their brothers and sisters.    

Yet in those same places and on that same day, we saw too the creative power of love.  For me,  the image of those doomed firefighters dragging their hoses up the steps of the World Trade Tower as they passed those fleeing the building,  is such a profound image of the Eucharist.  Do this, in memory of me, meant then and continues to mean for us, to be men and women for others, to live lives poured out in loving service without counting the cost. 

Jesus, in the simple acts of eating and drinking revealed God’s power to heal us.  In Jesus, at the Eucharist, enemies become friends, injuries are forgiven and peace is possible.  The Eucharist reveals to us our power in Christ to cast out hatred, to forgive and be forgiven, and to love even our enemies.  The sacrificial love of Jesus, which appears to be weakness itself, is always more powerful than hatred and killing, of violence and revenge.  

May we open our hearts to the mystery of the mercy of God revealed to us in the One who forgave his executioners from the Cross, confident that each day that we will be transformed more and more profoundly into the image and the pattern of Jesus.    

Getting in Touch with My Inner Salieri

A friend and student of mine, who is herself a cloistered Carmelite sister kindly shared with me some of her thoughts on St. Therese (and the rough sketch of a pattern for her icon.)  I based the pattern I drew on her own completed icon of St.Therese, which she has graciously given me permission to shamelessly copy.  Besides saying that the drawing bore a passible resemblence to the actual Carmelite habit, and the gentle but firm suggestion that I lose the flowers in the background, she also shared some great insights into Therese herself.  

She sharted that she thinks the key ot understanding St. Therese is that she is the Mozart of the spiritual life - simple, direct, profound, but in the end, elusive.  And she noted that while Therese has grown on her, that as the oldest in her family, she found Therese, who was the youngest in the Martin family, less than sympathetic.  But she also wrote that as she has matured in the spiritual life, St.Therese has directed her to what is most essential, which is to rely, unreservedly, on the love and mercy of God.  

So thanks, Sister, for opening the door of my heart (if only just a bit more) to this elusive genius of the spiritual life.