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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.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'C'

Sunday August 8, 2010

God speaks to us through our ancestors.

Who among us does not possess an encyclopedia of family stories; stories that take us to another time and place; stories that make us laugh and stories that make us cry or bring a tear to our eye. Whatever the gathering, a wedding or wake, occasioned by a photo album or wall gallery; a super 8-millimeter film, video or DVD, the stories unfold. I like to call them grandma and grandpa stories because they take us farthest back into history. We may tell the same story with a different twist. The details are not as important as the message and its meaning. After we have listened for a while, someone may sit down at the piano or pick up a guitar and grove into an old tune that mirrors the event or the times in which the stories originated.

Sooner or later in their telling, we may be introduced to a family hero. Every family has at least one —mother or father, aunt or uncle, grandmother or grandfather—an ancestor who faced a particularly difficult challenge with exceptional strength, courage, and grace. Although they may not have been perfect, they are our heroes. After all, saints were not always saints! We need both the heroes and their stories because they empower us to greatness in difficult times.

Although written long after the great exodus, the Book of Wisdom is a kind of hero story about our ancestors who were delivered from Egypt. It’s about their faith and courage. It is interesting that the Greek word used for ‘faith’ is emunah that is related to the Hebrew word for ‘Amen’. It denotes conviction and courage and the hope that God would be faithful to them. Even more than this, it was the gut conviction that God was already fulfilling a promise about what would happen in the future. I suppose it’s something like smelling the sweet fragrance of a rose that has yet to blossom fully.

According to an ancient Jewish midrashic legend, when Moses raised his staff and extended his arms over the Sea of Reeds, the sea did not divide as described in the Book of Exodus or as portrayed in Cecil B de Mille production. It was not until the first man had jumped into the water that the promised miracle happened and the waves receded. Of course, this cannot be documented or proven (that’s what makes it a midrashic story) but it does make a case for that proactive faith to which every believer aspires. It is this quality of faith to which the author of the Book of Wisdom called his Jewish compatriots living in Alexandria during the first century before Christ. The Jews were heavily influenced by Hellenistic thinking, ready to abandon their tradition in favor of a philosophy more to their liking. Although faith is not irrational, it is not something that can be rationalized into. Faith is a gift.

The Letter to the Hebrews pursues this same notion of faith using the Greek word, ‘hypostosis’, defined as the absolute assurance that what God promises, God will fulfill. The author then goes on to extol the faith of Abraham who without a second thought and without knowing where he was going, left everything behind and followed the inspiration of God to venture out in search of a new land. By faith, although they were too old, he and Sarah received the power of procreation and were blessed with a family that blossomed in the great progeny of Israel—“as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.” They believed and they were justified before the Lord. And so to this day, we claim Abraham and Sarah as “our ancestral parents in the faith.”

Luke understood the exodus as a prefiguring of the Christian Passover with Jesus as the hero of the story. Jesus leads us daily through rough seas and provides a dry path on which we can travel safely. We need to live in the conviction that he was there and that he is here. We need the conviction of our ancestors—that kind of faith that keeps us alert and ready to recognize his coming into our lives, indeed, his presence here and now. With his grace to uphold us, there is nothing we cannot endure.

When we come into this assembly, we bring our encyclopedia of family stories, be they stories about grandma and grandpa or perhaps figures from our extended family—ball players like Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig; poets like Gerard Manley Hopkins and others who captured the mystery of life leaving us with anthologies that buoy up the human spirit so that we might be able to look beyond our noses to see reality through the lens of faith. Our heroes do not have to be saints. Isn’t it interesting how even after a rogue passes away, we find something nice to say about him at his funeral!

When we come into this assembly, we connect our family stories with the God story and with the Jesus stories or perhaps with Mary or one of the saints. This is called in our tradition, the “Communion of Saints”.

Every day is a challenge but every day is also a gift. Faith makes all the difference in the world. Even in the face of disappointment and even death itself, faith helps us not just to believe but also to know that failure is never final and death is not the end; that the regeneration of the spirit is endless and that life continues as we pass into the bosom of Abraham and into the heart of God.

Perhaps one day you and I may become someone’s hero!