• Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18. The Lord hears the cry of the oppressed. It pierces the clouds and does not rest till it reaches its goal.
• 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18. I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. I look for Christ’s appearance with eager longing. The Lord will rescue me and bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.
• Luke 18:9-14. The parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. Despite good behavior, the proud person is not justified; the humble person returns home justified.

Thoughts for Your Consideration: By John Gonzalez

This week’s lectionary readings remind us not to be complacent. The Gospel sets the tone for this message with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee praises his righteousness very publicly to God and all. His behavior seems to merit some good recognition but in this parable Jesus is emphasizing a preference for the humility of the sinner to the self- righteousness of the Pharisee. The tax collector recognizes his failings and in humility he looks towards God for forgiveness and mercy. The tax collector is willing to change. He recognizes his failings and he humbly requests God’s grace to be good in all sincerity. But the Pharisee has defined for himself what it means to be good and not surprisingly he meets his own requirements. A good person fasts twice a week and pays tithes. With this self defined criteria for being good the Pharisee then goes on to use that criteria to separate himself from all humanity “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity.” What a solitary declaration. The Pharisee is complacent within his own social construct of what it means to be good. Jesus tells us that this righteous complacency will not do.

In the second reading Paul is towards the end of his life and he is recounting his current situation to Timothy. But while he may have “finished the race” he does not stop running. In the passages that we skip over Paul requests that Timothy go get Mark and join him as soon as possible to “help me in the ministry.” In the verses immediately preceding this passage he warns Timothy that complacency is endangering the Gospel mission:

Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient… For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.

The first reading comes to us from the great Jewish philosopher Sirach. Here we have in scripture one of the finest formulations of the Catholic social principle “The Preferential Option for the Poor.” Sirach defines God as justice; “who knows no favorites, though not unduly partial toward the weak.” God sets the example of not being complacent toward those who suffer social injustice. He hears the “cry of the oppressed” and the marginalized widows and orphans. Curiously verse 15 is omitted in the Lectionary which reads; “Do not the tears that stream down her cheek cry out against him that causes them to fall.” This is a powerful statement. God hears the oppressed but in hearing them He recognizes the unjust person that caused those tears to fall.

Sirach tells us that social injustice will not go unanswered. God will respond. St. Paul, Timothy, Mark and Luke serve the Gospel by addressing the liberating word of God and they will not stop least complacency sets in. Jesus warns us all that we must guard against any attitude of righteousness and complacency especially when it causes us to despise other people. The Gospel parable is very specific in reminding us that the priority of our actions are not found in rituals or self imposed practices but in the desire to humbly change and grow into the one human family where we all can identify with the social responsibility we owe one another.

It is only human for us to waver and at times to seek a complacent social lifestyle. There have been many times when I have found myself craving a lifestyle that offers stability, security and relative convenience. I have desired this especially in these uncertain times. But unfortunately we as Christians are not called to this. Our mission is to continue promoting the Gospel message and to build the community of God’s love throughout the whole world. This great mission comes with great challenges as St. Paul the Apostle was discovering but even then he does not allow complacency to overtake him as he prepares the mission’s continuance even after he is gone.  While we must be patient with this endeavor and we will need to pause and periodically take our breath we cannot delude ourselves into becoming socially complacent in any way. We must always challenge ourselves to see the responsibility we own one another. We must never find ourselves despising others or judging an entire group we feel does not meet our own criteria for being good. For as Jesus says to rich young man, “there is only One who is good” (Mt. 19: 17). Let us strive this week to humble ourselves to the One who is good and to serve our true Lord by serving ALL of God’s people but especially those who are oppressed and marginalized since God is asking us to address those concerns now, without delay.

1. Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29.  A humble person finds favor with God and will be endowed with wisdom and the love of loyal friends.
2. Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24. You have drawn near the heavenly Jerusalem, to the assembly of the firstborn, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.
3. Luke 14:1, 7-14. By means of a parable about seats of honor at a banquet Jesus shows that those who exalt themselves shall be humbled and those who humble themselves shall be exalted.

Thoughts for your Consideration: By Fr. Phil Paxton, CP

In today’s Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus observes people choosing where they would sit at a banquet, and uses the opportunity to teach them about humility: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” I believe that if we looked at our own lives, we could testify to the truth of Jesus’ statement from our own experience.

And our own experience tells us that it is God who does the exalting, and it is God who does the humbling. Sometimes we try to be in charge of the process. There are times when we may calculate that if we humble ourselves we will be exalted. But if we try to do that, we are still trying to exalt ourselves. Sometimes there are others who want to do the humbling, but that is usually done out of malice or envy, and it does not work, either.

What can help us come to an attitude of true humility? Turning to Jesus. Jesus says to the host who invited Him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” If we were to consider these words in terms of the heavenly banquet, or in the context of the Mass, could we not see that Jesus practices what He preaches? Has not Jesus invited us, even when we have been poor, or crippled by anxiety or fear, or made lame by grief and sorrow, or even blinded by resentment or selfishness? Has not Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, without any expectation, or even possibility, of repayment? Does not Jesus constantly call us, even when we are in sin, to Himself?

When we reflect on how Jesus humbled Himself out of love for us, our only response can be humility. There can be no pretending to be better than or more important than someone else. We are all in need of God’s grace and love in Jesus Christ! As we are humble before the love of God, so are we to be humble with each other. An attitude of humility doesn’t allow for prejudice or discrimination. No person or group of persons can set themselves up as being superior or more deserving of life’s benefits than others. We cannot withhold opportunities from others based simply on the fact that they are different from us!

What if we were to take Jesus’ statement to His host into all aspects of our life, not just as individuals, but as a society? What if “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” were invited to the table where decisions were made? I remember seeing a special on LBJ’s “Great Society” programs of the late sixties. One intriguing aspect of the War on Poverty was the principle of “maximum possible participation of the poor.” Even when we are committed to working for social justice, we can be patronizing if we do not listen to the people for whom we’re trying to advocate. Being humble often leads us into different ways of doing things and relating to others!    I have found that humility is one of the best antidotes to prejudice. If I am humble enough to recognize that I can learn from those who are different, whatever might have been the basis for my prejudice falls away.

May God continue to bless us all, and may we be humble before Him.

• Sirach 24: 1-4, 8-12. Wisdom proclaims her life with God before the creation of the world. Afterwards she wandered the world restlessly until she fixed her abode at the Jerusalem temple.
• Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18. Before creation God predestined us in Christ as the object of his love and as his very own adopted children Paul prays that we can be enlightened in the great hope to which God has called us.
• John 1:1-18. In the beginning before creation the Word was with God and the Word was God. This Word came to dwell in our midst and offered us a share in his fullness.

Thoughts for your consideration: by John Gonzalez

This week’s readings we celebrate the mystery of Christ as the “Logos” or as John put it in his Gospel, “The Word.”  Last week we reflected on Jesus as the child of Mary and Joseph and his role within the dynamics of the Holy Family. This week we contemplate Christ as “The Word” that became flesh and the “Logos” that is the second member of the Holy Trinity. Within these reading the contemplative philosopher among us will be drawn to the words of Sirach who himself was a famous Jewish Philosopher in the second century BC. Sirach, who like Socrates was drawn to wisdom, comprehends the vast mystery that is the Divine Wisdom.

The first man never finished comprehending wisdom, nor will the last succeed in fathoming her. For deeper than the sea are her thoughts; her counsels, than the great abyss.

In reflecting over these readings we are forced to consider the concept of predestination. Paul’s letters to the Ephesians talk to us about how we have already been “destined” by the Will of God to be His adopted children. Sirach and John reinforce this notion by remind us that the “Logos,” The Wisdom of God, has been active at the foundation of the world in carrying out God’s destined plan for creation. And yet, in Jesus’ public ministry, we hear Jesus inviting us all to share in God’s perfection. Throughout the Gospel, in the Beatitudes, in the Last Judgment reading of Matthew, in the Good Samaritan parable in Luke, in the exhortations made by Paul, James and Peter in their respective epistles, time and time again we are freely invited to partake in the Kingdom of God by living a life of charity and social justice. This is the theological tension that our faith has wrestled with regarding “Predestined Grace” and “Free Will,” the same tension that brought about the great split between the Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations. How should we understand our motivation and incentive towards an expression of Love through acts of charity and social justice if our salvation is indeed predestined?

This past week I had the pleasure of speaking to a neighbor who is also an architect and who in the last few years designed architectural plans for his new house. It surprised me to learn that as he began the construction of his new house unforeseen conditions popped up everywhere forcing him to redesign his plan again and again. Ultimately his goal was accomplished and a new house was built for his family but the final plan had evolved greatly from his initial design. As he was telling me his I thought of the passage in Jeremiah where God instruct Jeremiah to visit a potter’s house. As the potter shaped his clay Jeremiah witnessed the potter reshaping it because the original design did not come out as plan. God reminded Jeremiah that as the Potter did to this clay so too can God act with regards to His own creation.

The wisdom of God is beyond human comprehension. God’s wisdom has us destined towards a perfect social union. Yet this union is based on our ability to freely develop this union. God’s revelation, and more specifically the revealed example of Jesus Christ, offers us the plan for constructing this union which of course God designed and which he may have to redesign based on the unforeseen conditions of our own free actions. Actions of charity and social justice are not methods for us to achieve our own salvation but rather they are the expressions of God’s ultimate social plan (the Kingdom of God) which we are invited to live out. The Biblical passages mentioned in the second paragraph remind us what actions are expected from this union. We may not be able to fully comprehend the final plan, but fortunately for us God supplements our ability to reason with the revelation of “The Word” that became flesh and whose “life was the light of the human race.”

• Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14. Obedience and honor are due to one’s parents, patient consideration especially in their old age when their mind fails.
• Colossians 3:12-21. We are to clothe ourselves with patience, humility, kindness and especially forgiveness within our families.
• Luke 2:41-52. When the boy Jesus was found by Mary and Joseph in the temple, he relpied that he had to be in his Father’s house.

Thoughts for your consideration: by John Gonzalez

The lectionary reflections that are provided by our Passionist office of justice, peace and integrity of creation typically are based on our spirituality of social justice. For that reason many of these spiritual reflections are offered through the lens of our social concerns. With the readings for this weekend however it is appropriate to narrow the focus of our reflection to the family vs. the social unit. This weekend which immediately follows the solemnity of Christmas, our liturgy celebrates the feast of the Holy Family. The readings offer us instructions of essential virtues that are socially relevant but which are an important observance within the family dynamic. Two virtues that stand out in both Sirach and Colossians are patience and forgiveness. This week’s Gospel offer us an interesting demonstration of Patience that Jesus had to have with his own parents. This episode concludes with Jesus applying these virtues and experiencing their formative impact on himself in return.

“He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them… And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”  

Our Church teaches us that the family unit has a prominent place within our community. Our family is considered the “First Church” for many of us since the initial development of our faith usually begins at home through the actions and instructions that are provided by our parents. Our family becomes the incubator from which we initially develop our sense of being. Our spiritual, personal and moral development has its origins within the interactions of our immediate and extended family. Catholic teaching tells us that the family is “the primary living cell of society.” Even in the realm of justice and peace the Church teaches us that the family experience becomes the source of our initial understanding of these social concepts:    

Indeed, in a healthy family life we experience some of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or old age, mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them. For this reason, the family is the first and indispensable teacher of peace.  – Pope Benedict XVI, The Human Family, A Community of Peace, #3

If we strive wholeheartedly towards the “bond of perfection” then our social attitudes must find their immediate application within the family. And yet this can be a very difficult challenge for many of us. Many times our parents, spouses or community members get the brunt of our own stress and frustration because we are closest to them. We are comfortable in their presence and so we sometimes lash out and make greater demands on them than we would with clients, customers or friends. Ironically we sometimes seem to exhibit less patience and forgiveness with them than with others. But the beauty of the family interaction is that this is the unit where we develop ourselves with the greatest sense of integrity, reflecting who we really are. With customers and clients we create an image of professionalism. Even in religious communities we may offer pastoral services but we still maintain a distant professionalism. This is not so with families. Our families know us more intimately so there are no professional airs to keep us distant. For this reason the call to patience and forgiveness within the family becomes a real challenge to truly engage in the acts of Christian humility and to refine our ability to develop authentic patience and forgiveness.

Peace and justice exist when we work with the human community to serve the common good that benefits us all. To do this we must have the patience to honor the experience and comprehend the needs we each have. We must also be able to forgive our brothers and sisters when we each fall into natural patterns of self interest and control. Of course in theory and in the realm of the head we may be able to express these social virtues. I have often said that I love and enjoy the theories of human dignity and rights while I find humanity itself quite frustrating and draining. Authentic peace and justice challenges people like me to move away from the head and to actualize in the heart the ability to be patient and forgiving with people so that together the common good can be truly served. If I cannot be patient and forgiving with my own family member what hope can I have in developing this authentic virtue with others? As our families continue to gather and celebrate let us be mindful of the call to imitate the Holy Family and to develop the virtues of patience and forgiveness with those closest to us.