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THE GREAT MOTHER OF GOD

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The image “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/The_Madonna_in_Sorrow.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

The Madonna in Sorrow, by Sassoferrato, 17th century

The LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron and his sons, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you: The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”                  NUMBERS 6

Solemnity of Mary – Mother of God

Citations of
Num 6,22-27:            www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9bcawkf.htm
Gal 4,4-7:                www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9aggmzd.htm
Lc 2,16-21:                 www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9ayxwpb.htm
www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9a422ub.htm
www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9baokzb.htm

The connection between the Lord’s birth and Mary’s Divine maternity is clearly expressed in one of St Cyril of Alexandria’s (†444) twelve anathemas, which was accepted by the Council of Ephesus (431) and defined the dogma of the faith that Mary of Nazareth is the Mother of God: ‘If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God in truth, and therefore that the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God, for she bore in a fleshly way the Word of God made flesh, let him be anathema’. (Denz-Schonm, 252 – www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/dfi.htm#cg ) Only a few days ago we adored the presence of the Word Incarnate in the humble manager at Bethlehem.   Now, the Church invites us to turn our gaze towards that other magnificent figure in the crib, the Mother of God, God made flesh.

In recent times the devotion to the Mother of God has weakened in some sectors of the Church.  There were concerns, by some, that honouring Mary too much may turn our attention from the adoration of Christ.  It was therefore deemed appropriate the radicalise the Christo centricity, highlighting only the uniqueness of Christ’s salvific mediation to the detriment of the participative mediation of the angels, saints and the Mother of God.  In doing so they have forgotten the ancient adage:  ad Jesum per Mariam – ‘to Jesus through Mary’.  The Mother always leads us towards her Son, and never further away from Him.  The II Vatican Council expressed this teaching through the following words:  :  ‘For all the salvific influence of the Blessed Virgin on men originates, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on His mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. In no way does it impede, but rather does it foster the immediate union of the faithful with Christ.’ (Lumen Gentium, n.60 www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/8cjb1.htm ).

In reality we must recognise that Mary’s role does not constitute an obstacle, but rather is an efficacious aid the admission of faith in Christ.  The Mother of God, with her virginal purity also represents and defends the purity of Christian doctrine.  The following beautiful Marian antiphon is found in the breviary: ‘Gaude, Maria Virgo, cunctas haereses tu sola interemisti in universo mundo – Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, thou only hast killed all heresies in the universal world’.  The renowned biblical scholar, Ignatius de la Potterie, commented on this antiphon as follows: ‘It is not that Mary had done something in her life against heresies, but the recognition of Mary in the Marian dogmas, that is a sign and bulwark of the steadfastness of the faith’.

Cardinal Ratzinger, in his book-interview with Vittorio Messori, (Report on the faith) highlighted that ‘Mary triumphed over every heresy’.  If we grant Mary the place that is suggested in Tradition and dogma, we find her already truly central to the Christology of the Church.  The first dogmas, regarding her perpetual virginity and divine maternity, and also the ultimate dogmas (the Immaculate Conception and her bodily Assumption into heavenly glory), are the secure basis for the Christian faith in the incarnation of the Son of God. The Marian Dogmas implicitly confess both faith in the living God, who can intervene in the material world, and also, the faith regarding the ultimate realities (resurrection of the flesh and therefore the transfiguration of the same material world).  Also, one hopes for the realisation of the project to re-introduce, preferably on the feast of Mary’s bodily Assumption to heaven on the 15th August, the beautiful antiphon put aside for the liturgical reform.’  (in 30 Giorni, 12 [October 1995], p.71).

It isn’t possible to be Christocentric if we are not solidly Marian.  In these days the Church prays in a particular way for peace.  It is appropriate that the faithful turn to the ever Virgin Mother of God, to obtain from the Lord, through her intersession, the gift of peace for every one of us, for the Church, and the world.

 

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THE ROSE THAT BARE JESU

 

The most popular Christmas card, among people who are in any way religious, must surely be the Mother and Child, Mary with Jesus. Today is the culmination of the Octave of Christmas, the eight day celebration of the feast that started on Christmas Eve. We keep this Octave Day as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. In other words, we don’t let Christmas end without looking explicitly at the role of Mary, the indispensable part she played in the Incarnation and thus in our whole religion.

Would it be true, then, to say that today we turn away from Jesus to his Mother? Not at all, because if we look at the great artistic images of the Madonna and Child we find that the Mother points us back to her Son. Mary is contemplating Jesus, perhaps, or indicating him with her hand – as in the kind of Greek icon which is called hodegitria: literally ‘pointing the way’. In St John’s Gospel, our Lord calls himself ‘The Way’, so there is an interesting ambiguity here. Mary points the way by pointing to the way that is Jesus himself, who is our way to the Father and also our way of life. And even when Mary is not gazing directly at Jesus or pointing to him, images of the Mother and Child still show their unity which artists can underline in subtle ways, by the arrangements of limbs or clothing, in line and colour.

The natural bonding which holds together a mother and her baby gives an obvious basis to this unity of Mary and Jesus. But here the unity is more profound. Here the Child is also Mary’s Creator and her Saviour. His humanity has been assumed from the first moment of its conception by God the Word who is himself the self-expression of the Father, the Source of all. So he is his Mother’s Creator. And it is by his gracious anticipation of his own redeeming work as man that Mary, at his birth as before it, is full of grace. So he is her Saviour too.

She has been prepared for this role since the beginning of God’s involvement in the history of the human race. She represents what is best in the Jewish people, just as the Jewish people represented what was best in the religious experience of mankind. The affinity between this Mother and her Child – Emmanuel, God with us – will be, therefore, as deep as it is close, and it will lead to an extraordinary commerce between them. Between Mary and Jesus an exchange is taking place so deep that its significance is endless.

From one point of view, Christian spirituality consists in being taken up into that interchange, that relationship. We look with Mary at Jesus and with Jesus at Mary, so as to understand the union of God with humanity and, by grace, to begin to share in what it means, to begin to become saints.

This is the real meaning of the Western Church’s most widespread Marian devotion, the Rosary. In the Rosary, we look with Mary as the events of the life of her Son: events joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious. We salute her, but we place our greetings, our Hail Marys, between two other prayers. Before the Hail Marys comes the only prayer Jesus gave his disciples, the Our Father, and after the Hail Marys comes the doxology or ‘Glory be’ which is the Church’s outburst of praise of the divine Trinity. In the interrelations of the Mother and the Child, the Trinity reveal themselves as the true God: the Father sending her the Son and enabling her to conceive in every sense of that word by the Holy Spirit.

That is why, as the anonymous mediæval poet has it, ‘There is no rose of such virtue/ As the rose that bare Jesu./ For in that rose contained was/ Heaven and earth in little space’. It’s all found in an image which is not just for Christmas but should be permanently in our homes and work-places: Mary, Mother of God, with Jesus her Child.

Aidan Nichols O.P.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Kazanskaya3.jpg

Icon painted after the fall of the Soviet Union in the pre-Petrine style

 

John tells us ‘your job is to change you and in this way your world will be changed’.

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http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Bartolome-Esteban-Murillo/Infant-Christ-Offering-A-Drink-Of-Water-To-St-John-1675-80.html

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682)

Infant Jesus and John the Baptist, Museo del Prado

 

2nd Sunday of Advent

MARK’S GOSPEL:

According to Irenaeus, Papias of Hierapolis, writing in the early 2nd century, reported that this gospel was by John Mark,[9] the companion of Saint Peter in Rome, who “had one purpose only – to leave out nothing that he had heard, and to make no misstatement about it.”

The narrative can be divided into three sections: the Galilean ministry, including the surrounding regions of Phoenicia, Decapolis, and Cæsarea Philippi (1-9); the Journey to Jerusalem (10); and the Events in Jerusalem (11-16).

The Gospel of Mark differs from the other gospels in language, detail and content. Its theology is unique. The gospel’s vocabulary embraces 1330 distinct words, of which 60 are proper names. Eighty words, (exclusive of proper names), are not found elsewhere in the New Testament. About one-fourth of these are non-classical. In addition Mark makes use of the “historic present” as well as the “Messianic secret” to make known his Gospel message.[40]

Christians consider the Gospel of Mark to be divinely inspired and will see the gospel’s theology as consistent with that of the rest of the Bible. Each sees Mark as contributing a valuable voice to a wider Christian theology, though Christians sometimes disagree about the nature of this theology. However, Mark’s contribution to a New Testament theology can be identified as unique in and of itself.

SON OF MAN is the major title used of Jesus in Mark (Mark 2:10, 2:28; 8:31; 9:9, 9:12, 9:31; 10:33, 10:45; 14:21, 14:41). Many people[have seen that this title is a very important one within Mark’s Gospel, and it has important implications for Mark’s Christology. Jesus raises a question that demonstrates the association in Mark between “Son of Man” (cf. Dan 7:13–14) and the suffering servant in Isaiah 52:13-53:12—”How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt?” (9:12b NRSV). Yet this comparison is not explicit; Mark’s Gospel creates this link between Daniel and Isaiah, and applies it to Christ. It is postulated that this is because of the persecution of Christians; thus, Mark’s Gospel encourages believers to stand firm (Mark 13:13) in the face of troubles.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.     ISAIAH 40

 

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight–” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”     MARK 1:1-8

 

Many today could sure use hearing the words God speaks to the prophet Isaiah: Be comforted, be comforted my people!

Though most of us are not experiencing the tribulations ancient Israel had to live through, there is plenty enough distress in human lives these days. Plenty enough reason for us to need to be comforted. Economic systems teeter on the brink of collapse. Political systems (or, at least, the politicians in charge of them) no longer seem adequate to the task. The old are not sure of their pensions. The young cannot find jobs. People are at risk of losing their homes.

We do not have to look only to God’s prophets to hear apocalyptic warnings in our day. We have been exiled from our usual ‘comfort zone’, exiled from the familiar comforts of a taken-for-granted prosperity. Old certainties have given way to new anxieties. It would be easy to respond with a false optimism, the kind that agitates protests but changes nothing. Everything’s going to turn out fine: when we turn out one government for another or when the politicians put another jumble of laws on the books or when the heads of nations cook up yet another half-baked debt deal.

None of these schemes seems likely to solve our problems. The stock market—that modern barometer of the world’s expectations—oscillates wildly between hope and despair, as one quick-fix solution after another fleetingly evaporates. In spite of the hardship that people are now facing, there is cause for hope. When the status quo becomes intolerable, people look for change. People demand change.

We Christians should give support to the yearnings of a broken world looking for a chance to start afresh, the chance for a new advent.

Yearning such as these must have been why so many people went out to hear the message of John the Baptist. They went into the place of ‘beginnings’ which is what the desert represented. It was there that the people of God were found by him and from there that they were led by him.

There are many these days who promise that a new world is coming. If we profess hope and believe in the possibility of change, they urge, then we can build a new world. The truth is that we cannot build it. We must allow God to build it with us and in us. We are to become the living stones of God’s new creation. As we know, John the Baptist did not flinch from denouncing injustices and demanding righteousness from those who claimed to be leaders of the people. Neither John nor the mightier one coming after him was especially interested in reforming structures or changing systems. They challenged people to change their lives.

This new world, this new kingdom begins not with a change of regime but with a change of heart—that is, with conversion. John tells us ‘your job is to change you and in this way your world will be changed’. Be comforted, be comforted my people! You can begin again; but begin with you

Mark Edney O.P

THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE LORD

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Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I gird you, though you do not know me, that men may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.

ISAIAH 45

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The Cyrus cylinder, a contemporary cuneiform script proclaiming Cyrus as legitimate king of Babylon.

In scope and extent his achievements ranked far above that of the Macedonian king,
Alexander who was to demolish the empire in the 320s but fail to provide
any stable alternative.

—Charles Freeman in ‘The Greek Achievement”

The achievements of Cyrus the Great throughout antiquity is well reflected in the way he is remembered today. His own nation, the Iranians, have regarded him as “The Father”, the very title that had been used during the time of Cyrus himself, by the many nations that he conquered, as according to Xenophon:[75]

“ “And those who were subject to him, he treated with esteem and regard, as if they were his own children, while his subjects themselves respected Cyrus as their ‘Father’ … What other man but ‘Cyrus’, after having overturned an empire, ever died with the title of ‘The Father’ from the people whom he had brought under his power? For it is plain fact that this is a name for one that bestows, rather than for one that takes away!” 

Xenophon

 ”

The Babylonians regarded him as “The Liberator”.[76] After his conquest of Babylon, followed Cyrus’s help for the return of Jews; for this, Cyrus is addressed in the Jewish Tanakh as the “Lord’s Messiah”. Glorified by Ezra, and by Isaiah, Cyrus is the one to whom “Yahweh, the God of heaven” has given “all the Kingdoms of the earth”.[20]

Paul, Silva’nus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalo’nians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you; for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

1 THESSALONIANS 1

 

29TH SUNDAY 2011

RENDER TO GOD

Assyria and Babylon, the two monsters of Israel’s nightmares; the two-headed beast of their defeat and failure; the end of God’s promise that the line of David would last forever: Assyria and Babylon have fallen. The Persian king, Cyrus the Great, has conquered. The entire Middle East is under the sway of this man.

Before Xerxes approaches Sparta, before Alexander the Great rides to the Black Sea, the world is that of Cyrus. Even God calls him his ‘anointed’, his Messiah. For this is the word by the God’s prophet, Isaiah: ‘he has taken by his right hand to subdue nations before him and strip the loins of kings, to force gateways before him and their gates be closed no more’ (Isaiah 45.1). And the gates are not closed. They can be run through.

So, the history of the Middle East, as indeed with every human civilisation, is that of conquest: from Assyria and Babylon to Persia, Macedonia, Rome, Byzantium to the dar al Islam and the Turkey of today. Empires that rise and fall, empower and subdue… and tax. The empire in charge of Jerusalem and the Jews of the first century, Rome, levied a tax that went overseas. The conquerors get paid for their oppression. In a nation that has lost its land, this is the last insult, but in Roman Palestine they must reckon with the Jewish religion. The battle against Roman oppression is ideological.

Regardless of the complicit paying of tax, in the Jewish religious sphere of the law of tradition that governs life, there is no demand to be met. It is simply another part of the injustice the Jews suffer as long as they are without their land, and so, impermissible. In this encounter, against Jesus are not just the Pharisees who present the ideological objection, which, as we know is a volatile foundation for opposition. But also against him in this trap are the Herodians, who support the Romans and so receive riches, power and favours. Any answer Jesus gives will be dangerous: supporter of fundamentalists or betrayer of the Jewish law? It’s a question of genius and the Pharisees know it. The triumph is already palpable. Their repetition of Jesus’s ‘honesty’ is like Mark Anthony’s eulogy of Caesar in Shakespeare’s play. ‘Their speech is softer than butter… their tongue a naked sword’ (Psalm 55.22).

But this is the real question that is thrown back. What belongs to Caesar? What belonged to Cyrus 500 years ago that was then Alexander’s, then Caesar’s? What does Cyrus ‘the anointed’ have now? Nothing belongs to Caesar… anymore than anything belongs to those who barter with the very coins under dispute. This encounter is another example of how the point of God’s revelation and love has been missed by us, the people he has chosen. To be God’s people, to become a child of God is to be called towards the promised land of sharing God’s life, not struggles of territory and taxes. ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth’ (John 4.21, 24).

Because everything belongs to God. Which leaves us with a greater problem than that posed by the Pharisees. ‘Who knows the mind of the Lord? Whoever gave him anything that he had to pay it back?’ (Rom. 11.34-35). Giving what is God’s back to God…? That can only be our entire self, to be remade and reformed to be perfect in the love of our Father. Can we give ourselves, all that is ours without holding back anything? No, not without the love of God, but then, we could never do anything without him, could we? For, even Cyrus the Great needed God. ‘Though you do not know me, I arm you that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that, apart from me, all is nothing. I am the Lord, and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45.5b-7).

Bruno Clifton O.P

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Cyrus the Great liberated the Hebrew exiles to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

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And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, `Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.’ But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, `The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, `Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, `Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

 

 

A FEAST OF RECONCILIATION
Allan White O.P.
Twenty-Eighth Sunday of the Year
9th October 2011

fr Allan White discusses the terms on which we participate in the
Eucharistic banquet.

Jesus was not averse to parties. His opponents criticised him as a ‘good time guy’, a glutton and a wine drinker. They did not like the company he dined in: sinners and outcasts. He did not always wait to be invited either. He asked himself to the house of Zacchaeus, the chief tax-collector in Jericho. The presence of Jesus at one of these dinners was a reconciling presence. Jesus said ‘salvation has come to this house’ when he went in to dine with the sinner Zacchaeus. It is no surprise then that some of the stories Jesus tells should be about eating, drinking, celebrating and banquets.

Today’s story is not just about a wedding banquet but about a royal wedding banquet. At the recent marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the newspapers were desperate to discover the invitation list. Clearly they were highly-prized and to receive one was a mark of distinction. The same does not appear to be true of this wedding. Those invited would not come even when told the menu. The guests did not make polite excuses they went out of their way to show that they had more important things to do. They insulted the king and his family and went further by killing his messengers, abusing the law of hospitality themselves. Not surprisingly the king was a little upset at this. But why?

Royal marriages often sealed political and diplomatic alliances. They were instruments of foreign policy helping to bring peace and reconciliation between those who had been enemies before. This marriage should be seen in the same way. It is given by the king for his son. The son is not otherwise important. The king seems to have issued the invitation three times. He has invited the guests, sent his servants to tell them all is prepared and then sent them out again with a list of the delicacies they will enjoy. The king has been patient and gracious. He invites his guests to share in this process of peace and reconciliation. They refuse. They do no wish to share in it and therefore oppose it.

The king then sent out more messengers and invited all of those who were willing to come. The messengers do not mention the menu again so maybe those accepted who were sensible of the honour of being invited. They also seem to have understood the purpose of the feast. They all put on their wedding garment; all except one man. Immediately on entering the banquet king’s eye fell upon him. Calling him ‘friend’ he asked him why he was there. It is the same question Jesus asks Judas when they come to arrest him on the night of the agony: ‘Friend, why are you here?’ Two banquets are brought together, the banquet of the Last Supper, the passover of the Lord which brings reconciliation between humanity and God, and the banquet of the king who was also offering a banquet to promote peace and reconciliation.

Many interpretations of this parable can be offered. Some see it as a proclamation that the Gentiles will be included in the new covenant of reconciliation. Others see this story as a warning to the Church and those who think that they are numbered amongst the elect whilst failing to change their lives from the root outwards.

The marriage supper of the Lamb is a feast of reconciliation; those who share in it must also share in that project of peace and reconciliation. The silent guest, the one who has not bothered to change, the one who is concentrating on receiving, has forgotten that this feast is not just about eating or benefiting from hospitality. Sharing in this banquet is about becoming part of the grand work of reconciliation that the heavenly bridegroom inaugurates on the cross and which will be consummated in the heavenly banquet of which our Eucharist is a sign and anticipation.

Allan White O.P