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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.

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 'C'

Sunday June 13, 2010

There is no sin that can overwhelm God’s mercy.

In order to get the gist of Nathan’s words to David, we need to read the entire story of David’s misdeed and subsequent cover-up in the Second Book of Samuel, chapters eleven and twelve. It’s a sordid tale of David’s lust after Bathsheba and his sinister conspiracy to do away with Uriah her faithful husband and heroic commander of David’s army.

The first reading hardly does justice to David’s sin and in effect almost sweeps his crime under the rug.

Nathan’s encounter with David was climaxed by a parable about a rich man and a poor man.

The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers. But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children. She was like a daughter to him. Now, the rich man received a visitor, but he took the poor man’s ewe lamb instead of his own and made a meal of it for his visitor.’”

David exclaimed to Nathan: “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this merits death! He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this and has had no pity.”

But Nathan said to David: “You are the man!” and continued with the harsh sentence of retribution. “You have done this deed in secret, but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down.”

The story continues this morning with David’s deep remorse and confession of guilt followed by Nathan’s absolution on behalf of God.

It’s a dramatic narrative of how even the greatest can succumb to the most heinous of sins. Those in the highest places are not exempt from the greatest falls. But Jesus was born in the line of David and it was Jesus’ willingness to dine and die with the greatest sinners that resulted in the justification and redemption of all from the least to the greatest.

It will be eight years next week since the bishops of the United States met in Dallas to hear the heartrending stories of a lifetime and more—the stories of young and old, victims of abuse by men and women of the cloth, victims whose only weakness was their innocence.

Equal to the sin was the spin of the cover-up of the guilty and the moral assassination of those who stood with victims against their perpetrators.

Now eight years later after the expenditure of over 1.5 billion dollars some in high places would convince us that David’s sin is past and that wrongs have been righted, the debt has been paid and there is no need for remorse. But last week our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, in his closing remarks in the ceremony concluding the year of the priests expressed a different point of view as he pleaded for forgiveness from victims of clergy abuse and the forgiveness of God.

What would it be like if our bishops and the Pope himself were to stand with David and the woman who washed Jesus feet as they speak to us in these or similar words:

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

“We stand naked before you and before the world. Never in our lifetime, have we been so conscious of what it must have been like to be crucified with Christ as one of the thieves. We are saddened that it has taken a crisis as grave as this to awaken us to the fact that, in the words of our young parishioners, ‘we have not been there for you!’ In the course of time, we have assumed the role of administrators and fiscal managers instead of shepherds. We are ashamed that we have listened to those who tried to exempt us of the responsibility to care for those who were so brutally exposed to wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

“We accept this crisis as an opportunity, indeed, as a most serious challenge to open the door of our hearts to you, especially to those who have been wounded by the sins of our brothers in ministry. Beyond this, we want to confess our negligence in turning a deaf ear to so many other areas of concern to you and promise that we will put aside our preoccupation with structures and institutions so that we may concentrate on the pure work of the gospel.”

“We are only too keenly aware that we are deeply moved by sincere people in the pew and those who are not in the pew because they feel excluded by canonical barriers that keep them from the Eucharist table: divorced Catholics unable to obtain a canonical annulment, priests whose vocation to marriage prohibits them from serving in any pastoral capacity in church ministry, gay people still attempting to find a place at the table. These are only a few of the categories for whom Church discipline has become an obstacle.”

“We know that it is only a first step in a series of overtures that must lead to concrete actions and activities that will assure you that we are sincere in our determination to lead as servants, not as masters.”

“Please accept our words as they are offered—with humble and contrite hearts.”

Catholics are among the most resilient of believers and when ‘David’ is remorseful and asks forgiveness, Catholics are quick to forgive. Jesus offered mercy to the repentant woman who washed his feet with her tears. What would it be like if next Holy Thursday, our Holy Father invited victims of abuse to gather in Rome for the washing of their feet by the Holy Father surrounded by his brother bishops from every corner of the globe.

But ritual is not enough. Concrete measures must be taken to assure the full measure of justice and the promise of integrity.

And when you think about it, is this not the standard to which each and everyone one in this assembly is bound—father, mother, sister and brother, priest, deacon, religious and parishioner.

Living the Christian life is not a spin of words but a sincere movement of the heart toward all that is noble and true and good. We have no greater model than Jesus and there is no sin that is greater than the mercy of God.