Shame on you!

I love memes. Funny memes. So when the latest barrage of Joe Biden memes came out I was all in. But then came last Sunday. My wife and I both overslept, and so we missed the mass we like to go to. The alternatives were to wait and go in the evening, or go to a different parish. Although we like the masses as our usual parish, I hate going to mass at dinner time. It means that dinner will be late and rushed, and the whole day feels off because we haven't gone to mass yet. So we decided to go to mass at a different parish in the area where we had never gone to Sunday mass before, to the 12:30 mass.

The priest was one I really like, who usually gives good homilies that explain the readings. That Sunday was no exception. The Gospel reading was about the woman caught in adultery. He focused on the difference between shame and guilt. The Pharisees were not interested in the woman. To them she was someone to put to shame, in order to be used against Jesus. But Jesus wasn't interested in their political games, he was interested in the woman herself. He wanted to take away her guilt and bring her back into a right relationship with God.

It made me think about my memes, and specifically the ones about Joe Biden. What was my motivation? Did I want to shame him for touching women inappropriately, or was my object to effect change to bring him into a right relationship with God and with women? Would I rather see him damned or forgiven? And regardless of my motives, were my actions consistent with that, or was I a hypocrite?

I'm still processing this. On the one hand, I have no way to even contact Joe Biden, so nothing I do or say is going to affect him. On the other hand, I should at least pray for him, and I will. On the one hand, people should expose bad behavior, because there is no other way to address it. On the other hand, do we expose the bad behavior to bring the person and others into a realization that they should behave better, or do we do it to destroy them? On the one hand, he is a public figure and political speech has always used humor to bring across a point. On the other hand should things be that way?

What do you think?

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Resurrection in the Old Testament

Jesus (and St. Paul) both speak of the Jews' belief in the Resurrection of the body, but when was that revealed to the Jews? I read an article which claimed that the Resurrection was a relatively "new" concept at the time of Jesus, probably "stolen" from the Babylonians during the captivity. Does the Bible have any references to resurrection from before the captivity?

I though I'd take a look at the Old Testament. Armed with nothing but a search engine and a love of Scripture I found the following:

Of course the most obvious example in 2 Maccabees 7 [emphasis mine]:

The Martyrdom of Seven Brothers

It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh. One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, “What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers.”

The king fell into a rage, and gave orders that pans and caldrons be heated. These were heated immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on. When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying,  “The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song which bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, ‘And he will have compassion on his servants.’”

After the first brother had died in this way, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, “Will you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?”  He replied in the language of his fathers, and said to them, “No.” Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done.  And when he was at his last breath, he said, “You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws.”

After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, and said nobly, “I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again.” As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man’s spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. And when he was near death, he said, “One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!”

Next they brought forward the fifth and maltreated him. But he looked at the king, and said, “Because you have authority among men, mortal though you are, you do what you please. But do not think that God has forsaken our people.  Keep on, and see how his mighty power will torture you and your descendants!”

After him they brought forward the sixth. And when he was about to die, he said, “Do not deceive yourself in vain. For we are suffering these things on our own account, because of our sins against our own God. Therefore astounding things have happened.  But do not think that you will go unpunished for having tried to fight against God!”

The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Though she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she fired her woman’s reasoning with a man’s courage, and said to them, “I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.”

More on the Moses reference highlighted above as we go backwards in time.

There's the story of Elijah, who was assumed bodily into heaven (2 Kings 2:11-12), but that doesn't quite count as a resurrection. There is also the story of Elisha's bones bringing a man back to life (2 Kings 13:20-21) but although the man is raised from the dead it is an "exceptional" case, not indicative that all will be resurrected. But several of the prophets speak of the resurrection.

Daniel 12:2

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

and Daniel 12:13

But you, go your way, and rest; you shall rise for your reward at the end of the days.”

Isaiah 26:19 announces of the resurrection of the Jews:

Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise.
    O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a radiant dew,
    and the earth will give birth to those long dead.

Hosea 6:1-2 speaks of resurrection as well.

Come, let us return to the Lord;
    for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
    he has struck down, and he will bind us up. 
After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.

The Psalms deal with at least implied resurrection, such as Psalm 16:9-10:

Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
    my body also dwells secure. 
For thou dost not give me up to Sheol,
    or let thy godly one see the Pit.

That's a little obscure to me, as it's not clear if it means David (the author) will not die, or will die but be resurrected. However, St. Peter (to whom Jesus explained all of Scripture) clearly saw it as referring to the Resurrection and says so at Pentecost in Acts 2:25-32:

For David says concerning him,

‘I saw the Lord always before me,
    for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
    moreover my flesh will live in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
    or let your Holy One experience corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
    you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,

‘He was not abandoned to Hades,
    nor did his flesh experience corruption.’

This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

So I have to agree on that one.  This one is much clearer - in 1 Samuel 2:6 Hannah prays:

The Lord kills and brings to life;
    he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

Job clearly believes that at least he can be resurrected:

O that you would hide me in Sheol,
    that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
    that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! 
If mortals die, will they live again?
    All the days of my service I would wait
    until my release should come.

Then there is Jonah. Yes, good old Jonah. I remember that story from my childhood, but as far as I knew, and as all the kids' stories (like VeggieTales) Jonah just spent 3 days living in the belly of the whale. Sure, when Jesus says (Matthew 16:1-4)

And the Pharisees and Sad′ducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them,  “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather; for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

He was referring to His death and Resurrection, but Jonah was just a symbol of that, right? I mean three days in the tomb was like Jonah spending three days in the belly of the whale? Well kids, the actual story is darker. Jonah was dead, and was resurrected. (Jonah 1:17-2:9):

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,

“I called to the Lord, out of my distress,
    and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
    and thou didst hear my voice.

For thou didst cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood was round about me;
all thy waves and thy billows
    passed over me. 

Then I said, ‘I am cast out
    from thy presence;
how shall I again look
    upon thy holy temple?’ 

The waters closed in over me,
    the deep was round about me;
weeds were wrapped about my head 

    at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
    whose bars closed upon me for ever;yet thou didst bring up my life from the Pit,
    O Lord my God. 

When my soul fainted within me,
    I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to thee,
    into thy holy temple. 

Those who pay regard to vain idols
    forsake their true loyalty. 

But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to thee;
what I have vowed I will pay.
    Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”

The Maccabees passage at the beginning references Moses. The reference is to Deuteronomy 32:36, which says:

Indeed the Lord will vindicate his people,
    have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone,
    neither bond nor free remaining.

Not a very obvious reference to resurrection, but it gets better. If we continue another few verses we see that God is referring to resurrection (Deuteronomy 32:39):

See now that I, even I, am he;
    there is no god besides me.
I kill and I make alive;
    I wound and I heal;
    and no one can deliver from my hand.

And finally, there is Abraham, all the way back in Genesis 22:9-10:

When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

"But Mike," you say, "that doesn't say anything about resurrection." I know, but remember Abraham had been promised descendants through Isaac explicitly. So if Isaac is to die, the only way he could expect God to fulfill God's covenant would be through the resurrection of Isaac. It may not seem obvious to you, but it was to the author of Hebrews (Hebrews 11:17-19):

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

When I started this  post I really only knew about two references to resurrection in the Old Testament. It took me quite a while, but I was surprised (and pleased) to find as many as I did (eleven). Do you ever wonder about things in the Bible? It may be time to dust off the old search engine and go digging.

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Do you love your enemies?

There is an Irish "blessing" that goes like this:

May those who love us love us.
And those that don't love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we'll know them by their limping.

A lot of times our prayers are like that. People hurt us, or hurt others, and we either pray for the victims, or we pray for justice, that the perpetrators get their comeuppance. Now, there is not necessarily anything wrong with praying for justice - many of the Psalms are like that. From Psalm 109:

May his days be few;
    may another seize his goods!
May his children be fatherless,
    and his wife a widow! 
May his children wander about and beg;
    may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit! 
May the creditor seize all that he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil! 
Let there be none to extend kindness to him,
    nor any to pity his fatherless children! 
May his posterity be cut off;
    may his name be blotted out in the second generation! 
May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
    and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out! 
Let them be before the Lord continually;
    and may his memory be cut off from the earth! 
For he did not remember to show kindness,
    but pursued the poor and needy
    and the brokenhearted to their death. 
He loved to curse; let curses come on him!
    He did not like blessing; may it be far from him!

We are hurt - we are outraged. We want justice without mercy.

But God has a better way. Jesus said, in Luke 6:27-36:

“But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away your cloak do not withhold your coat as well. Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.

 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

In this year of mercy I've been cognizant of our duty to extend mercy to those who wrong us. I've read (by solid Catholic catechists) that we have to forgive everyone (since we are commanded to), and also that we don't have to forgive the unrepentant (since God does not). Who is right? We pray every day (you do pray this every day, don't you?) in the Our Father "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." So, do we want God to forgive us when we are unrepentant, or perhaps not as repentant as we should be?

There is a principle in computer science called the robustness principle (aka Postel's law) that goes like this "be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others." It is a good principle to use in life. Be conservative in treating others - be as harmless as possible. On the other hand, be willing to accept poor treatment, and forgive.

Note - I'm not saying that those who break the law should not be tried and punished, nor am I saying that we should ignore evil or be doormats for anyone who would abuse us. On the contrary, we should always protect ourselves and others, and part of that is, as a society we should enforce laws. I'm talking about our inward attitude or forgiveness, not some "get out of jail free" card - truly loving those who have done evil.

An easy principle to state, but a hard one to implement. Consider the recent shootings in Dallas. As someone who is not directly involved you may think it relatively easy to forgive Micah Johnson, and whoever else was possibly involved. Yet, do you truly wish to bless him? Do you pray that he is burning (justly) in hell, or that he turned to Jesus as he saw that explosive coming at him, and is now awaiting entry into heaven? Not that easy to bless those who curse you is it?

But let's make it personal. Consider the person who belittled you on Facebook, and made you feel horrible. The person who cut you off in traffic, who took away your job, who betrayed you. Will you pray that they repent? Will you pray that God makes them become nice people? Or will you truly pray that they be blessed, even as they curse you. Will you pray that good things come to them and that they receive a reward in heaven? Would you volunteer to do their time in purgatory? Because if you wouldn't you might be doing your own time in purgatory because of them.

Is it just that they go unpunished, and maybe even rewarded, for having done evil? No, but we should trust God to balance mercy and justice. This is a very hard concept, and one I will continue to meditate on in this year of mercy.

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Foxes

I was reflecting on today's readings. Today's Gospel reading, in particular is from Luke 13:31-55:

Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said,
“Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.”
He replied, “Go and tell that fox,
‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow,
and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.
Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day,
for it is impossible that a prophet should die
outside of Jerusalem.’

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how many times I yearned to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
but you were unwilling!
Behold, your house will be abandoned.
But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say,
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

I find Jesus' choice of animals interesting. Usually you hear about sheep and wolves, but no less at odds are foxes and hens. There is a saying, "the fox is guarding the hen house" referring to someone in power abusing and exploiting it to the detriment of those they are supposedly protecting. I don't know if the origins of the phrase go back to this passage or not, but the analogy is sound.

And so it was with Herod. Herod was an Edomite, which meant that although he practiced Jewish customs he was not considered a Jew by the Judeans. So, like the fox, he was an outsider who didn't belong in his position, but had been placed over the Jews by their Roman oppressors. And just as the fox has no love of the hens (other than as dinner), so Herod had his own interests, contrary to the Jews he governed. Just as a fox will destroy the hen house and attack the hens, so Herod had gone against the people of Jerusalem.

I also like the way the liturgy refers to this passage. We do not start the Eucharistic prayers (where we see Jesus as truly present) until we say "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." How cool is that?

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Truly the Prophet

How many of you sat through a homily today about sharing? C'mon, raise you hands. I can't understand why some people consider the "miracle" of the loaves and fishes to be about sharing. As I understand it, those folks claimed that the miracle that Jesus performed was to get everyone to share the food that they had brought with them. There are some problems with this.

First off, Jesus sets up the whole shebang by having the Apostles verify that there is no way the people can be fed. If the people had brought food with them, why then would they have to spend 200 days' wags to feed them? In fact, if they had brought food with them, all they had to do was sit and eat it; Jesus and the Apostles need do nothing. End of story. Nothing to see here, go home people.

But perhaps only a few people brought food, but they brought it in great quantities, and they needed Jesus to say a blessing in order to make them share it. Huh? Are we to expect that this was some sermon that Jesus uttered that made food vendors give away their stock? Where is the sermon? It is not mentioned here. We don't here "Jesus spoke the word and their hearts were opened." Instead we here "Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them."

Well, perhaps that's figurative speech? Sorry, but that doesn't work either. We are told "When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, 'This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.'" Are we to expect that the people wanted to make Jesus king, and called him Prophet, Messiah, because he convinced some food vendors to give away their wares?

And so my questions to the "sharing" theorists are these. Do you think Jesus God or a liar? Because He claimed to be God, so if He isn't, He's a liar. And if He is God, and God created the entire universe from nothing, why is it so hard to believe that He could make some bread and fish, that you have to invent ridiculous stories that don't fit the account in order to try to explain it away?

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Jenny has

Jenny has two women whom she was taught to call "mommy", although only one really is.

Jenny has a father in Boston who has laughing blue eyes and a beard. She will never know this, however because he will always be just "donor" to her. She imagines he was a spy captured by enemy soldiers and that's why he never comes to see her. In fact, he makes people happy playing beautiful music on the piano. Jenny will never take piano lessons because nobody knows how much she would love it if she had the opportunity.

Jenny has a Father in heaven who loves her, and she loved Him too until she was taught that He didn't exist and that people who believed in Him were ignorant and hateful. Jenny's mother teaches her that in reality things are what you believe them to be and if you want happiness you have to envision it and the universe will send it to you. Any sadness Jenny has is her own fault because she's not trying hard enough.

Jenny has a family history of colon cancer on her father's side, and since she doesn't know to get screening for it, it will probably kill her if she lives long enough.

Jenny's father has an aunt who could teach Jenny how to make pierogi and dance a polka, and how to speak Polish, and tell her about her grandfather, who was descended from a duke. Jenny will never meet her.

Jenny has a grandmother who lives in a nursing home. She wishes she had someone to visit her or a reminder that someone loved her. Jenny loves to draw and makes dozens and dozens of pictures of flowers that her "mommies" put on the fridge until they finally have to throw some out.

Jenny has an "uncle" who likes to borrow her mother's clothes, and who teaches her what a male body is like. Her "mommies" want her to be free to explore sexuality. Jenny uses this to her advantage and becomes a very popular fifth grader.

Jenny has a baby who loves her, whom she will never know. She's not sure whose it is, but since she is 13 and it might be her gym teacher's he takes her secretly to get an abortion.

Jenny has a savior who died for her, whom she will never know. He sheds a tear for her as the nail pierces the flesh of His left hand.

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Hate Speech

We got a rare (for my parish) "moralizing" homily this week, about the atheist billboard in northern NJ calling Christmas a myth. Although the billboard encourages celebrating "reason", the atheists who put it up are ignoring reason. Christ's existence is a historical fact, documented by historians of the time, such as Josephus. Unless the atheists want to believe that Jesus came down to Earth as an adult, by supernatural means (and I don't think they do), then he had to have been born. So I fail to see the "reason" in this call to deny Christ's birth.

If we are free to ignore historians and believe what we want, as the atheists are advocating, why not deny the holocaust? Oh but wait - that would be hate speech. I wonder what will happen when they deny that Mohammed was born?

Then again, perhaps we are getting close to just that sort of historical relativism, when 2/3 of Canadians believe that religion is a force for evil (granted they were Canadians who had come to see Christopher Hitchens).

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He doesn't like it...

...when you make Him look foolish. From Yahoo! news:

MONROE, Ohio – A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said...

The lightning strike set the statue ablaze around 11:15 p.m., Monroe police dispatchers said.
The sculpture, 62 feet tall and 40 feet wide at the base, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way his arms were raised, as though reaching out to catch a football. It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remained early Tuesday.

 I jest of course, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

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