U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Shows Pope Francis the Golden Rule mosaic at the UN on September 25, 2015 (UN Photo) (more about this image)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the 2^nd Reading
23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Romans 13:8–10
September 6, 2020

For the past few weeks, we have seen Paul as a poet and preacher. He has urged us to “offer our very bodies to God” (Rom. 12 1) and exclaimed “the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God” (Rom. 11:33). These are beautiful and profound statements, but we must remember that they are at the service of Paul’s main intent. He is showing the Roman Church how to live together and how to live in general. As we have seen the Church in Rome was mixed with some born Jews and others born gentiles. They all accepted the Lordship of Jesus but differed on what this meant. Paul has spoken eloquently to them about the meaning of Baptism and Life in the Spirit. This is the basis of harmony; a life well lived together. Yet what about the daily tasks of life? How does one live?

Paul grasped in his very being that accepting the new life Jesus offered was a new way of being human. His expression however has sometimes been, to be kind, imprecise and culturally tone-deaf. He told the Corinthians, a very mixed congregation, that “All things are lawful for me” (1 Cor. 6:12) Those born Jews understood this to mean that they were freed from dietary laws and could eat pork. Some gentile Christians, not understanding the Jewish background, thought they could marry near relations (1 Cor. 5:1-7) Paul needed to clarify this and spent a good deal of time doing this.

Conversion of St. Augustine, Fra Angelico, c. 1395-1455, Musée Thomas-Henry

Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 12:1-2
August 30, 2020

Today’s reading is personally significant for me. It was read at my Ordination Mass and it will be read at my funeral. In my mid-twenties, it awoke a sense that the Sacrifice of the Mass was intimately connected with daily life and that my ministry should be judged by how well I joined the two. The pandemic has made these concerns more pressing and the need to have a truly sacrificial life more necessary. The message here is so profound that I will bring in a guest speaker to help me.

Last week’s reading ended with a resounding call to “Give God Glory.” How is this done? What is necessary for Christian worship? Paul will answer not only as a Jew but as a prophet. The great prophets of Israel recognized that the LORD could be neither bribed nor fooled. Performing rituals exactly or offering flocks of animals in sacrifice are worse than useless if our hearts are not contrite and humbled.

Jesus Giving Peter the Keys

Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 11:33-36
August 23, 2020

Several weeks ago when we looked at the ending of Romans 8 we saw that Paul can write individual passages that are so beautiful that we can forget that they are not meant to stand alone but to bring a section of the letter to a conclusion. We see the same today. This week’s passage is also meant to do double duty: conclude Paul’s teaching on the relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians, Rom 9-11, but also the entire letter that went before. Paul as an artist was up to the task.

The Assumption of the Virgin, Titian, 1516–18, Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 11:13–15, 29–32
August 16, 2020

Last week, we began to examine St Paul’s teaching about the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. We saw that for Paul the major issue was the faithfulness of God. He promised the Jews that he would never abandon them, and they would always remain chosen. Yet with the death and resurrection of Jesus, it seems that he has raised up a new people and displaced the Jews. For Paul this would make God a liar and is thus inconceivable.

As we saw Paul reminded the people, Jew and Greek, that God could transform them as a community just as he transformed him as an individual Jew. Although, certainly for us and most likely for his original audience this was a difficult concept, Paul found it important enough to review it and indeed expand on it. Our reading today reflects this, and I would like to remind you that not only does it contain some difficult concepts the passage skips around Romans 11. We will need to fill in a lot of material.

Christ Walks on Water, Eero Järnefelt, 1891, Pori Art Museum (Wikipedia)

Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 9:1-5
August 9, 2020

Last week we concluded our reading of Romans 8 with its ecstatic hymn to the power of God’s love to reach us: “(nothing) will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord .” (Rom. 8:39b). Paul had already assured us that by our Baptisms we were chosen by God. (Rom 8:29-30) and so the Romans, and we ourselves, should ask “What about the Jews?” Were they not chosen? Have they been abandoned by God?

This would have been particularly important to Paul’s original audience, the church at Rome. As we have seen repeatedly throughout this letter, that through their commercial interests many members of this community were closely connected to Jerusalem. Their Christianity would also have had a distinct Jewish flavor. Not all however had these same ties and some were not born Jews. Although all professed belief in Jesus there would have been tensions. These tensions were so great that the emperor Claudius around 45 AD expelled the Jews who followed “Chrestos” from the city of Rome. By the time Paul is writing to the Romans, “gentile Christians” were moving to Rome. Paul would need to explain himself and he did not have the best reputation on this issue. Continue reading “19th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Accepting the Need to Be Transformed” →

Milagro de los panes y los peces, Juan de Espinal, c. 1750, Despacho del Alcalde de la Casa consistorial de Sevilla (Wikipedia)

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Rom. 8:35, 37-39
August 2, 2020

Today’s reading is one of the most beautiful standalone passages in St. Paul. Whenever possible, I use it for funerals because it expresses the bedrock of Christian hope. Yet having examined the rest of Romans, we can see why it is such a fitting conclusion to it. It is also a pertinent exhortation to us at St. Charles.

The selection that will be used at Mass needs to be read with the passage immediately before it. Together, they form a powerful and haunting victory hymn: Continue reading “18th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Living in the Spirit, Sharing in His Victory” →

Photo by Cassiano Psomas on Unsplash

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 8:28–30
July 26, 2020

Our readings from Romans for the last two weeks emphasized “groaning”. All of Creation, the Christian, and indeed the Holy Spirit, experienced frustration. In Paul’s terms, human beings lived “in the flesh;” our activities directed to “saving” ourselves. This is impossible and so we were never fulfilled. Jesus offers us the opportunity to “live in the Spirit,” living so that all our actions flow from our relationship with Him.

Thus Paul can say in today’s reading:

We know that all things work for good
for those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose
(Rom. 8:28)

Paul assures us that we were not created for frustration but fulfillment. Yet he goes further and shows us what that fulfillment is. Before looking at this, let us remember two things we mentioned at the very beginning of our study of Romans. Continue reading “17th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Living in the Glory of God” →