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Daily Scripture

+ 5th Week in Ordinary Time

It still has meaning.

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13 Psalm 132:6-7, 8-10 Mark 6:53-56

The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the holy of holies of the temple. There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel. [1 Kings 8:6, 8]
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In recent years there has been much discussion in liturgical circles about the proper location of the tabernacle in the worship space. The directives implementing the Constitution on the Liturgy by the Second Vatican Council prescribed that the tabernacle be located in prominent location in the church or chapel, preferably in a chapel dedicated to the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament and appropriate for veneration. In any case, it was not to be located on the altar table used for the celebration of the Eucharist. As a result in many churches renovations, the tabernacle was moved to the ‘side altar’ previously used for the veneration of the Blessed Virgin or St. Joseph and in some churches, it was placed on the old altar previously used for Mass. In situations the old altar was replaced with a permanent pedestal on which the tabernacle was placed.

In liturgical matters, nothing is simple. Those of a more conservative disposition insisted that the location of the Tabernacle on the side altar reduced the status of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist thereby diminishing its meaning in the devotional life of the faithful. Others of a more liberal persuasion opined that in fact, the location in a separate chapel within the church assigned to the sacrament greater prominence thereby increasing the devotional aspect. Moreover, in as much as an emphasis of the ‘action’ of the Mass as the repetition of the “Lord’s Supper” was promoted by the Council, it seemed to liturgists that the location of the tabernacle in the main sanctuary behind the free standing Eucharist table would compete with the ‘action’ of the Mass as a sacred meal.

The most recent prescriptions in the United States provide that the tabernacle be located in the main sanctuary on suitably ornate pedestal. It is ironic that in the major basilicas including the basilica of St. Peter in Rome, the tabernacle is located on a side altar that is not very prominent.

Whatever the location, it should not be a bone of contention worthy of a liturgical battle. The public and private devotion to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is rooted in the long tradition of the Church and should not be disparaged. In the same way in which the tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments was symbolic of God’s presence in the temple, so too, the reservation of the Eucharist Bread has been one of the longest-standing practices of the devotional life of Catholics. It is intended to extend the meaning and the effects of the Eucharistic celebration into the life of the faithful who continue to spend time in prayerful meditation on the mysteries of the life of Jesus not the least of which is his faithfulness unto death on the cross for the salvation of the world. The two aspects of Eucharist need not be in competition. The ‘Mass’ continues to be considered a “sacrificial” meal. But we need to be clear that its connection with the passion and death of Christ even as the lamb of God is not to suggest that his death was mandated to satisfy and angry God. That in my opinion is not an appropriate application of Old Testament sacrifices. No, Jesus sacrificial death was the completion of his entire sacrificial life of unqualified and indiscriminate love in the same way as the sacrificial love of partners in marriage offer their sacrificial love to one another or in the manner that Mother Teresa offered her live in sacrificial service to victims of poverty in the streets of Calctta. It is in this sense that devotion to the Eucharist in the tabernacle takes its extended meaning.

During the celebration of the Eucharist, we become what we eat. Through our devotion to the Eucharist reserved in the tabernacle, we are reminded that the Eucharistic presence in our mind, heart and soul extends into all the good works of our lives with the hope that we too will always think and act with the same sacrificial love as did Jesus in his earthly life.

Easter Sunday 2010

Sunday April 4, 2010

The story didn’t end there

Churchgoers are gathering today in Christian assemblies all over the world and even in forbidden lands, silent ‘allelluias’ are sounding if only ‘in pectore’ because whatever one’s theology or ideology, the news cannot be kept under wraps.

However, the strains of alleluias—silent or sung—combined with the sweet fragrance of lilies and spring bouquets dissipate all too quickly and give way to the surreal reality of life in a world preoccupied with economic woes consumed by political wars and religious turmoil.

Nevertheless, through ancient rituals, the Easter feast can occasion an opportunity to go back to the beginning so that we might go forward with greater confidence and a bit of insight as to what is real and what is surreal, what is authentic religion and what is a religious charade.

The Scriptures provide a lens through which we might discern more clearly the reality that took place long before the four evangelists wrote their narratives when the women first told Peter and the others about the empty tomb, a biblical metaphor for sure to announce that the one called the Christ was alive.

It may be helpful to recall that ‘evangelical secretaries’ did not take notes as the events described in the gospels unfolded. The gospels were written years later with a great deal of adaptation to the circumstances in which the authors found themselves.

It was Paul who provided the earliest written ‘witness’ as it were of the life and practice of the first believers. He was an adaptive problem-solving pastor attempting to deal with the issues of his day in the light of his faith and the still evolving teachings and expectations of the early Christian assemblies.

In his excellent commentary on the resurrection, Scripture scholar and pastor, Roger Karban put it this way:

“Our evangelists didn’t write to convince their readers that Jesus had risen from the dead. They presumed that they already believed in Jesus’ death and resurrection. They wrote to provide their communities not with history but with the implications of these two events.”

The earliest believers were not witnesses to resuscitation but to resurrection. They are not the same.

None of the biblical writers with the possible but remote exception of John ever come into physical contact with the historical Jesus, this itinerant preacher who challenged the high and the low with a message that eventually led him to the cross but whose life changed the course of human history forever. Some got it right but some over time have committed horrible crimes in the name of Christianity. We’re here this morning not to reinvent Christianity but to clear away the trappings and to get the message right.

In these days of skepticism, I think we are dealing not so much with the denial of the resurrection as about the denial of what preceded it. Discussion about an empty tomb is diversionary to the truth of Jesus’ life and message as a Jewish Palestinian reformer who challenged the religious leaders to live what they preached without all the legalisms and religious trappings that Judaism had accumulated over time.

And over the centuries, the Church has taken on the trappings of an absolute monarchy with an accent on control and a defensive response to its need to be accountable. In the words of Emanuel Kant, “Our age is, in especial degree, the age of criticism, and to criticism everything must submit. Religion through its sanctity, and law-giving through its majesty may seek to exempt themselves from it. But they then awaken just suspicion, and cannont claim the sincere respect that reason accords only to that which has been able to sustain the test of free and open examination.” [Critique of Pure Reason]

And so today we gather not to ‘freeze frame’ the past but to weave our individual and communal stories into the Jesus story before his death and resurrection so that we can celebrate the feast with integrity.

We are here to connect with three realities—the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We are here to celebrate our participation in all three in our own lives individually and collectively by our active engagement with the world through works of justice, love and peace and I might add, accountability!

The major disconnect that afflicts our Church today is the denial of the living presence of the servant Christ among us and our fear of taking the message of Christ to heart at our family table, in our neighborhood, in our work place and at the highest levels of church polity.

Until we confront the hungers of the world, the horrors of war, the neglect of the poor, and our religious defensiveness, we deny the reality of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

It’s time for principle to replace improvisation, for resolve to replace expediency, and for integrity to replace prevarication.

The crucifixion is the greatest demonstration of human and divine accountability for truth ever witnessed by authentic believers.

And as long as we are ready to walk to Calvary with Jesus, all will know that the story didn’t end there.