June 13, 2007 Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua,

  2007년 6월 13일 파도바의 성 안토니오 사제 학자 기념일

 

제1독서 코린토 2서 3,4-11

형제 여러분, 4 우리는 그리스도를 통하여 하느님께 이러한 확신을 가지고 있습니다. 5 그렇다고 우리가 무슨 자격이 있어서 스스로 무엇인가 해냈다고 여긴다는 말은 아닙니다. 우리의 자격은 하느님에게서 옵니다. 6 하느님께서 우리에게 새 계약의 일꾼이 되는 자격을 주셨습니다. 이 계약은 문자가 아니라 성령으로 된 것입니다. 문자는 사람을 죽이고 성령은 사람을 살립니다.
7 돌에 문자로 새겨 넣은 죽음의 직분도 영광스럽게 이루어졌습니다. 그래서 곧 사라질 것이기는 하였지만 모세의 얼굴에 나타난 영광 때문에, 이스라엘 자손들이 그의 얼굴을 쳐다볼 수 없었습니다. 8 그렇다면 성령의 직분은 얼마나 더 영광스럽겠습니까?
9 단죄로 이끄는 직분에도 영광이 있었다면, 의로움으로 이끄는 직분은 더욱더 영광이 넘칠 것입니다. 10 사실 이 경우, 영광으로 빛나던 것이 더 뛰어난 영광 때문에 빛을 잃게 되었습니다. 11 곧 사라질 것도 영광스러웠다면 길이 남을 것은 더욱더 영광스러울 것입니다.

복음 마태오 5,17-19

그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
17 “내가 율법이나 예언서들을 폐지하러 온 줄로 생각하지 마라. 폐지하러 온 것이 아니라 오히려 완성하러 왔다.
18 내가 진실로 너희에게 말한다. 하늘과 땅이 없어지기 전에는, 모든 것이 이루어질 때까지 율법에서 한 자 한 획도 없어지지 않을 것이다.
19 그러므로 이 계명들 가운데에서 가장 작은 것 하나라도 어기고 또 사람들을 그렇게 가르치는 자는 하늘 나라에서 가장 작은 자라고 불릴 것이다. 그러나 스스로 지키고 또 그렇게 가르치는 이는 하늘 나라에서 큰사람이라고 불릴 것이다.” 

 

 

 

 June 13, 2007

 Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the Church

  

 Reading 1
2 Cor 3:4-11

Brothers and sisters:
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit
for anything as coming from us;
rather, our qualification comes from God,
who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant,
not of letter but of spirit;
for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, was so glorious
that the children of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses
because of its glory that was going to fade,
how much more will the ministry of the Spirit be glorious?
For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious,
the ministry of righteousness will abound much more in glory.
Indeed, what was endowed with glory
has come to have no glory in this respect
because of the glory that surpasses it.
For if what was going to fade was glorious,
how much more will what endures be glorious.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 99:5, 6, 7, 8, 9

R. (see 9c) Holy is the Lord our God.
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his footstool;
holy is he!
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
and Samuel, among those who called upon his name;
they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
From the pillar of cloud he spoke to them;
they heard his decrees and the law he gave them.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
O LORD, our God, you answered them;
a forgiving God you were to them,

though requiting their misdeeds.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for holy is the LORD, our God.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.

Gospel
Mt 5:17-19

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

 

 

 Commentary

 

 The Corinthian church was founded in the ministry of the Spirit and a law of life that reveals the glory of God, stronger than even Moses' face when it showed forth God's glory to the people after seeing God face to face on the mountain. Did the Corinthians show forth that glory of God and let it come shining through them? Do we? How?
Jesus teaches the law and the fullness of the law-the law suffused with the Spirit of life, of truth and justice for all. Will we be remembered as those who broke significant commands, even small ones, or will we be remembered as those who kept the law, mindful of Jesus' new command: "Love one another as I have loved you" which cannot be practiced without fulfilling the older law first?

 

 

 Today is special for me for two reasons. one of these is from my childhood, the other from my adult life.

I will start with a side note. Today is the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, patron saint of lost things. I can remember the many times I called on Saint Anthony for his assistance in locating things I had misplaced before my mother noticed. I also recall with gratitude the number of times he came through. Although my faith has changed, there still are moments of desperation when I will intercede for help with finding my wallet or keys.

Today is also the eve of my wedding anniversary. Our relationship like my faith has gone through many changes over the years, but when I think of my wife and our time together I smile. Today’s first reading has a similar tone with the Spirit bringing life. Like Paul I work very hard, but much of it is driven by what is written on the heart. The joy in getting up every morning grows out of living out our mission. The transforming nature of a loving relationship is remarkable. I see my two college-age boys. Both are in healthy relationships. I remember being that age and experiencing the butterflies in my stomach and the feeling of an internal glow that a relationship brings. My anniversary and the associated thoughts bring back the glow (although not the butterflies). At the same time I feel sorry for my wife. In some ways she was the old covenant for my boys. Now it is time for them to emotionally move on; she is no longer the woman in their lives. I would not call her the ministry of death, but I do think “Indeed, what was endowed with glory has come to have no glory in this respect because of the glory that surpasses it.” may describe the situation. She remains the source of this glory to me (probably to my mother’s consternation). I have had the same kinds of moments on my faith journey, filled with the joy of the Spirit. There is the stress of separating from the past but there is also a burning joy in moving on along the path I am called. These encounters of glory (whether with my wife or with the Spirit) are not predictable, although I admit I wish my moments of consolation in my faith journey were as regular as these moments in my marriage.

The second reading introduces the reality check. It stresses the importance of correctly identifying these moments of consolation showing me the ways that I am lead and the ways I am leading.

My prayer today is first for my wife on our anniversary. I also pray in gratitude for the moments of glory which I have experienced. Finally I ask the grace in identifying what the Lord has written on my heart.

 

 by
Michael Cherney
Physics Department

 

 

 "He who does the commandments and teaches them shall be called great”

Why do people tend to view the “law of God” negatively rather than positively? Jesus’ attitude towards the law of God can be summed up in the great prayer of Psalm 119: “Oh, how I love your law!  It is my meditation all the day.” For the people of Israel the “law” could refer to the ten commandments or to the five Books of Moses, called the Pentateuch, which explain the commandments and ordinances of God for his people. The “law” also referred to the whole teaching or way of life which God gave to his people. The Jews in Jesus’ time also used it as a description of the oral or scribal law. Needless to say, the scribes added many more things to the law than God intended. That is why Jesus often condemned the scribal law. It placed burdens on people which God had not intended. Jesus, however, made it very clear that the essence of God’s law?his commandments and way of life, must be fulfilled. The law of God is truth and when we live according to that truth it produces the fruits of righteousness, holiness, peace, and joy.

Jesus taught reverence for God’s law?reverence for God himself, for the Lord’s Day, reverence or respect for parents, respect for life, for property, for another person’s good name, respect for oneself and for one’s neighbor lest wrong or hurtful desires master us. Reverence and respect for God’s commandments teach us the way of love?love of God and love of neighbor. What is impossible to men is possible to God and those who have faith in God. God gives us the grace to love as he loves, to forgive as he forgives, to think as he thinks, and to act as he acts. The Lord loves righteousness and hates wickedness. As his followers we must love his commandments and hate every form of sin. Do you love the commands of the Lord?

“Lord Jesus, grant this day, to direct and sanctify, to rule and govern our hearts and bodies, so that all our thoughts, words and deeds may be according to your Father’s law and thus may we be saved and protected through your mighty help.”

Psalm 16:1-2,4-5,8,11

1 Preserve me, O God, for in thee I take refuge.
2 I say to the LORD, "Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee."
4 Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their libations of blood I will not pour out  or take their names upon my lips.
5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot.
8 I keep the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
11 Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fulness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.

 

 

 Why does the great champion of love appear here to be championing law?  one scholar thinks that Jesus was once a legalist, and later had a conversion.  There must be other explanations.  If you fight the law you have to be a legalist; in fact, that’s a sure road to becoming a legalist.  You become what you fight, just as you become what you eat.  It absorbs all your time and energy.  If you think you hate it, look again: you are in love with it.  Jesus was not in love with the law, he was in love with people; and in practice he paid little heed to the details of the law.  His struggle was not with the law, but with the way in which the scribes and Pharisees applied it. 

Law is law and can never become something that it is not.  It is not spirit, it is not love, it is not life, it is just law.  Leave it there on the page, don’t fight with it.  He did not come to apply the law, but to fulfil it.  When is a law fulfilled?  Not when it is being observed in the minutest detail, as a legalist would think.  The scribes and Pharisees adhered to the letter of the Law, yet Jesus accused them of “setting aside the commands of God and clinging to human traditions” (Mark 7:8).  A law is being fulfilled when the purpose for which it was made is being fulfilled.  Its purpose is to defend our freedom.  But it cannot give us freedom.  It can guide us to the water, but it cannot make us drink; much less can it supply the water.  Legalism is when the law tries to be spirit.  If the Law could have given the Spirit, there would have been no need for Word to become flesh. 

 

 

 FUTURE SHOCK

'Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets.' Matthew 5:17

In our lifetime, we have seen more change than in the previous several centuries combined. We get the idea everything is changing. We even think God's revelation is changing and morality is now relative. But Jesus said: 'Of this much I assure you: until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter of the law, not the smallest part of a letter, shall be done away with until it all comes true' (Mt 5:18). God's word will stand unchanged.

Jesus promised: 'The heavens and the earth will pass away, but My words will not pass' (Lk 21:33). The psalmist stated: 'Permanence is Your word's chief trait; each of Your just ordinances is everlasting' (Ps 119:160). Because God does not change, His word does not change. The Lord said: 'Surely I, the Lord, do not change, nor do you cease to be sons of Jacob' (Mal 3:6).

In a world that's changing so traumatically, when 'future shock' is an understatement, it's lifesaving to know that 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever' (Heb 13:8). Alleluia!

Praise: Joe's teenagers often misplace their articles. Joe uses this opportunity to pray with them, asking St. Anthony's intercession to find the object within five minutes. It rarely takes that long.
Prayer: Father, heal me of 'future shock' and give me a clear mind and pure heart.
Promise: 'This great confidence in God is ours, through Christ.' 2 Cor 3:4

 

 

Anthony was born in Lisbon of wealthy parents; he was frail and sickly.  His baptismal name was Ferdinand; He took the name Anthony when he entered the Franciscans.  After trying to preach to the Muslims in Morocco, he became ill and had to return home.  The ship was blown off its course, and landed in Sicily.
The Chapter meeting of the Franciscans was nearby, so Anthony decided to attend.  St. Francis himself was there.  Anthony was assigned a lonely post where he spent much time in prayer.   By accident, one day he was called upon to preach.   Everyone was amazed at his oratory.   From then on, he was commissioned to preach and to teach theology.  
At Padua, crowds packed the Church to hear his sermons.   He was famous for reconciling enemies and for softening hearts of hardened sinners.  How he became the “patron of lost things” is unknown.  His life is much more profound than that patronal title.  He spent himself totally for Christ, and used every talent to the glory of God.  
The first sentence of the first reading is a lesson which takes a life-time to learn: We are nothing of ourselves; all that is worthwhile comes from God through no merit of ours, but solely from the love of God shown in the redemption of Jesus Christ.    There is a little “Pelagianism” in many of us: the attitude that we must merit God’s love.   Even when we rid ourselves of that attitude, we still think that somehow our confidence is in ourselves and our deeds.   But we can claim credit for nothing.   But it is a life-long process to attribute everything to God’s glory. 

Some Scripture scholars think that the Gospel according to Matthew is addressed to a community of Christian Jews who were a bit scandalized that the Church was becoming Gentile.   Perhaps they began to wonder about their glorious Jewish heritage.    If so, then the context of todays gospel from the Sermon on the Mount might be seen:   Don’t worry about losing your Jewish heritage or the Torah: Not one jot or tittle will be done away with until it reaches its fulfillment in Jesus.  (A “jot” or “yodh” is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet; a “tittle” is a little projection on a letter which distinguishes it from another letter.  For example, a dot distinguishes an “i” from an “l.”) The theology of the primitive Church grows: Little by little, Christians began to realize that the ultimate and eternal self-revelation of God was not the Torah, but was Jesus, the incarnate Word of God.  In the theology of John and of Paul, Jesus replaces the Torah.  
 

 

 ?I have not come to remove but to fulfill them?

Today, we listen to the Lord saying: ?Do not think that I have come to remove the Law and the Prophets (…) but to fulfill them? (Mt 5:17). In today's Gospel, Jesus teaches us that the Old Testament is part of the Divine Revelation: First, God made himself known to men through the prophets. The chosen People gathered on Saturdays in the synagogue to listen to God's Word. And just as a good Jew knew the Scriptures and put them into practice, we Christians should frequently meditate ?if at all possible, every day? upon the Scriptures.

In Jesus we have the plenitude of Revelation. He is the Verb, God's Word, that had become flesh, and dwelt among us (cf. Jn 1:14) to let us know He is God and how He loves us. God wants of man a response of love, expressed upon the fulfillment of his teachings: ?If you love me, keep my commandments? (Jn 14:15).

Of today's Gospel text we can find a good explanation in St. John's first letter: ?For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome? (1Jn 5:3). To keep God's commandments means that we truly love him through our deeds. Love is not only a feeling; love also wants deeds, deeds of love, to live the double precept of charity.

Jesus teaches us the malice of scandal: ?Whoever breaks the least important of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be the least in the kingdom of heaven? (Mt 5:19). Because ?as St. John says? ?the man who says, ‘I know him’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him? (1Jn 2,4).

At the same time, He shows us how important good examples may be: ?On the other hand, whoever obeys them and teaches others to do the same will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven? (Mt 5:19). Good examples are the first element of the Christian Apostolate.

 

 

 Jesus arises out of the fullness of the Jewish revelation.  My prayer is always in the backdrop of the Temple in Jerusalem, the burning bush and the solemn giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.  The psalms sing to me of Jesus the savior and the rock of salvation.  But it is the Holy Spirit who brings the fulfillment of all these signs of the things to come.  They have not passed away but are the traces of the new life that is fulfilled in Jesus and in the Holy Spirit.  My prayer must be based on the whole teaching of the Old and New Testaments that ushers me into the Kingdom.  Learning and teaching the fullness of Christ's teaching I am great in the Kingdom.  Jesus abolishes nothing, but fulfills all, changing the water into wine.  This is the hope that moves me to prayer.