Be Wise as Serpents and Innocent as Doves

Today's scripture reading is taken from Matthew 10:16-23. It's a sobering message about the persecution which Christians face throughout the ages (incidentally today's saint is Saint Kateri Tekakwitha who was persecuted by her own native Mohawk people in New York in the 17th century for being a Christian). Father Ian reminded me that I should not be surprised that persecution is real even in Canada today, and that the church does the best under persecution.

What jumps out at me in this passage is verse 21: "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death". This brings to mind what I saw and heard when I was visiting China a few years back - stories of lives lost during the Cultural Revolution. I saw trees where people were hung because their friends or even their own children reported them as counter-revolutionists. What a sad part of China's history!

This passage is also telling me that Jesus is sending me to a world hostile to the Christian message: "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." (verse 16). The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible did not have any commentary on this passage. Father Randy Sly gave this lovely homily four years ago and here are a few useful quotes:

• When we are sent into the world for the work of the gospel, two key virtues need to be developed - prudence and simplicity. Prudence is more than merely common sense; it is our inclination to make choices which contribute to the common good. It is called the "charioteer of the virtues" (CCC 1806) and is the guide of all the other virtues. Simplicity is the opposite of needless complexity; it is a life that is honest, straightforward, and uncomplicated. (CCC: Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts.)
• Serpent-like Prudence - As the natural enemy of man, serpents do a good job of avoiding contact... Prudent actions are used to avoid confrontation, giving the one with that virtue the opportunity to serve another day...The prudent person cultivates a lifestyle of careful action. As the Catechism states, Prudence is "right reason in action," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid. (CCC 1806)... This is a time when the Church needs prudent apologists. Those who are able to give a reason for the hope that lies within and cultivate right actions toward providing for the common good of all.
• Dove-like Simplicity - Simplicity - or innocence - as a virtue is easy to explain: "what you see is what you get." The word in the Greek [akeraios] here means to be "pure" or "unmixed." It is the same word [katharos] used in the Beatitudes when Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." ... People with the virtue of simplicity are clear and transparent, and their relationships are honest and solid. There is no secret agenda, no hidden intentions. The simple person is never two-faced; she is sincere and straight, with nothing to hide... When we live lives of simplicity, not only will we see God, as we read in the Beatitudes, but those around us will be able to see him as well.
• Prudence and simplicity are two virtues worth cultivating, especially in light of our call to the New Evangelization, where we go into the world to make disciples. In Pope Francis' first Encyclical, Lumen Fidei, we read, Faith is passed on, we might say, by contact, from one person to another, just as one candle is lighted from another. Christians, in their poverty, plant a seed so rich that it becomes a great tree, capable of filling the world with its fruit.These seeds are planted by those who are able to successfully navigate through the world of wolves by virtuous living and, in the love of Christ, clearly and simply deliver the message of light.

May Jesus help me develop these two virtues. Blessed Mary, pray for me!

Bethel - House of God, Gate of Heaven

I was one of those (Christians or non-Christians) who used to criticize the money wasted to build expensive church or religious buildings. I have even heard recently from a friend who linked the building of cathedrals to repressing the poor!

Father Ian in his homily today explained from the scripture passage on Genesis 28:10-22 that the Catholic church considers the church building not just a meeting place for believers, but truly the House of God, the Gate of Heaven. For when Jacob woke up from the dream when he met God he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (verses 16b-17). He built an altar and named the place Bethel (which in Hebrew means "House of El" or "House of God"). The significance of Jacob's dream was that God renewed His promise to him, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (verses 13b-15). There are four specific promises:
(1) Jacob (Israel) will inherit the land in that region (came true)
(2) His descendants will multiply to a great number (came true)
(3) All the families of the earth will be blessed through Jacob's offspring (Jesus!)
(4) Divine promise of His presence and protection (YES!)

At the Mass this morning, I was quite aware of Jesus' presence, His body, blood, soul and divinity. He was ever present - not only during Mass but always, dwelling in our midst within the tabernacle up by the altar.

When I googled "Why Catholics Should Build Beautiful Churches" a number of good articles came up (with a few quotes):
Patheos -  So a Catholic Church that is beautiful and built to last is a witness to the incarnation…We believe in the eternal truths that are so beautiful and true and everlasting that no one can ever destroy them…A beautiful, traditional Catholic Church protests against all of that vulgarity and low life with great dignity and power…a church is not just a meeting place. It is a house of prayer. It is a place that becomes hallowed with prayer. Therefore it must be a place that lifts the heart to prayer. The human heart is vulnerable to beauty. The beauty of worship and the beauty of a church building lifts even the hardest heart to prayer.
Adoremus - Rather than calling for the wholesale rejection of the past, Sacrosanctum Concilium calls for the careful preservation of the treasury of Church art and architecture.  It calls for “noble beauty rather than sumptuous display” (SC 124).  Thus the importance of true beauty — as distinct from frivolous ornament — is confirmed, and it is to this true beauty that priests and parishes alike are drawn.
Quora - There are many reasons on why Catholic and Orthodox traditions have a strong sense of imagery, but one of them I find particularly interesting: in medieval times, many people, commoner and noble alike, were illiterate. Therefore images of saints, the Madonna, the Stations of the Cross, all helped to promote a better understanding of the faith. So did architectural styles. Gothic architecture, for example, came about precisely because of that: verticality to point out God as the center of all things, the idea of the Assumption, and man’s size in the cosmos, and light as the Divine light breaking through the darkness of worldly matters.

We are no longer Strangers and Sojourners

Today's scripture reading is taken from Ephesian 2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

What jumped out at me was St. Paul's exhortation: "You are no longer strangers and sojourners". What? I had always been taught that this world was not my home. I was but a sojourner (or an alien) on my way to my real home which was heaven where Jesus promised to prepare a room in His mansion for me (John 14:2).  I even once spent a few days staying with a Christian Community called the Sojourners Community in Washington, DC to learn about living in a community dedicated to social justice. I had always found the idea compelling that this life on earth is not worth keeping comparing to the life to come. As the famous missionary martyr Jim Elliot famously said "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible didn't have anything on this verse. So I go back to read the entire chapter 2 of Ephesian to understand the context. St. Paul began by reminding us that we were once dead through trespasses and sins (verse 1). "But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (verses 4-7) This describes the reality both now and in the future. And the purpose of this earthly life is "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life." (verse 10). Starting in verse 11-12 is where the idea of strangers and sojourners (aliens in NRSVCE translation and foreigners in NIV translation) come in. St. Paul was speaking to Gentiles who were once not part of the Commonwealth of Israel, but now because of the Jesus, who "reconcile[d] both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it." (verse 16) and "through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. "(verse 18). That's when he said "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,  built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone." (verses 19-20)

So the idea that we are no longer strangers and aliens (Greek: xenos and paroikos) but are now citizens (Greek sympolitēs) is related to becoming God's one family uniting what used to be two distinct groups - Jews and Gentiles. Two really Catholic ideas have become more clear today from this passage:
(1) The Kingdom of God is here and now and will always include Jews who were the people God had chosen to bring about salvation to the whole world.
(2) The foundation of this Kingdom (and the Household of God) is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ himself as the cornerstone, which to me is the Catholic Church for the last two millennium!

Canada just celebrated 150 years 3 days ago. I became a citizen in 1981. I love this adopted country but I love my spiritual Kingdom even more!!