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Commentary on Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3,5-6; Matthew 2:1-12

Today we celebrate the second of four great manifestations of God in our midst.  The word epiphany comes from Greek and it means a ‘showing’ or ‘manifestation’.  We call today’s feast the Epiphany of the Lord, but the term could equally well be applied to the other three.

The first of these four manifestations we already celebrated on December 25, when God revealed himself to us, manifested in the form of a helpless, newborn infant.  He is presented as born homeless and in poverty and surrounded by the poor and outcasts (represented by the shepherds).  This manifestation fits in very well with the theme of Luke’s Gospel, and it is he who tells the story of Jesus’ birth.

In today’s feast, we see the same recently born baby in similar circumstances, but the material and social surroundings are hardly touched on. The emphasis here, as we shall see, is different. Here are strangers, foreigners, total outsiders coming to give royal homage to this tiny child. This will be the theme of Matthew’s Gospel:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…
(Matt 28:19)

The third manifestation we will celebrate next Sunday, and it closes the Christmas celebration of the Incarnation. Jesus, now an adult of 30 years or so, is seen standing in a river together with a multitude of penitents.  He is solemnly endorsed by the voice of God as the Son of God:

You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.
(Mark 1:11)

This event is recorded by all the evangelists.

The fourth manifestation is found only in John’s Gospel.  It is not part of the Christmas liturgy, but we read it on the Second Sunday during the liturgical Year C, immediately after the Christmas season.  This revelation occurs during a wedding banquet (symbolising the Kingdom of love, justice and peace which is to be established through Jesus).  Water (symbolising the Old Covenant) is changed into new wine (symbolising the New Covenant to be signed and sealed on the cross of Calvary).  Mary (representing the Church, God’s people) is seen as the intermediary through whose request this is brought about.  It is the first of seven ‘signs’ by which Jesus reveals his true identity in John’s Gospel.

Story or history?
Coming back to today’s feast, we may ask is the story of the ‘wise men’ a factual report or is it just that—a story?  Primarily, it is a story.  A report is concerned with hard facts—the temperature dropped to 10 degrees last night or there were 10 mm of rain yesterday.  But a story, especially a biblical story, is concerned much more with meaning.  In reading any Scripture story, including Gospel stories, we should not be asking, “Did it really happen like that?”  Instead, we should be asking, “What does it mean?  What is it saying to us?”  The truth of the story is in its meaning and not in the related facts.

Epiphany
Certainly in this story the facts are extremely vague and not at all sufficient for a news report.  The standard questions a reporter is expected to be able to answer are: Who? What? Why? When? Where? How?  In this story it is difficult to give satisfactory answers to these questions.

Although Jesus is still an infant and still in Bethlehem, we do not know how long after his birth this incident is supposed to have taken place.  We are not told because it does not matter. It is not relevant to the meaning of the story (also, compared to Mark, Matthew tends to be notoriously short on details).

Magi
Who were these ‘wise men’ and where did they come from?  In the Greek text they are called magoi, which is usually rendered in English as “Magi”.  Magi were a group or caste of scholars who were associated with the interpretation of dreams, Zoroastrianism, astrology and magic (hence the name ‘Magi’). In later Christian tradition they were called kings (“We three kings of Orient are…”) under the influence of Psalm 72:10 (“May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!”), Isaiah 49:7 (“Kings shall see and stand up; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves…”) and Isaiah 60:10 (“…their kings shall minister to you…”).

We are not told what their names were or how many of them there were.  Tradition settled on three individuals, presumably because there were three kinds of gifts.  And they were also given names—Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior.  Caspar was represented as black, and thus Magi were understood to represent the whole non-Jewish, gentile world which came to Christ.

We are told, too, that they came “from the east”.  This could be Persia, Eastern Syria or Arabia—or indeed any distant place.  The Asian theologian, Fr Aloysius Pieris, points out the significance for Asians—that it was wise men from the East, and not the local wise men, who recognised the light that led to Jesus.

A star in the east
There is talk of following a star.  Was there indeed at this time a comet or supernova or some significant conjunction of planets which would be particularly meaningful to these men?  As well, how does one follow a star—have you ever tried?  How do you know when a star is “over the place” you are looking for?  You could travel several hundred miles and the star would still be ‘over’ you.  Probably, we are wasting our time looking for some significant stellar happening.  The star is rather to be seen as a symbol—a light representing Jesus as the Light of the whole world.

There really is not much to be gained in trying to pinpoint facts here.  We are dealing instead with meaning, and the meaning is very clear from the general context of Matthew’s Gospel.  God, in the person of Jesus, is reaching out to the whole world.  More than that, the religious leaders of his own people—the chief priests and experts in the Scriptures, although clearly aware of where the Messiah would be born, made no effort whatever to investigate.  Yet Bethlehem was ‘just down the road’, so to speak, from Jerusalem.

King Herod, an ambitious and ruthless man (and that is a fact of history), was prepared to travel there, but only to wipe out even the remotest threat to his own position. These pagan foreigners, on the other hand, went to great lengths to find the “king of the Jews” and “pay him homage”.

As part of that homage they offered their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  The gifts seem inspired by a passage from Isaiah quoted in today’s First Reading:

They shall bring gold and frankincense
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

In later tradition, the gold came to symbolise the kingship of Christ, the incense his divine nature, and the myrrh his redemptive suffering and death.  They also came to signify virtue, prayer and suffering.

No outsiders
All in all, today’s feast is telling us that for God there are no foreigners, no outsiders.  From his point of view, all are equally his beloved children.  We all, whatever external physical or cultural differences there may be between us, belong to one single family which has one Father, ‘our’ Father.  It means that every one of us is a brother and sister to everyone else.  There is no room for discrimination of any kind based on nationality, race, religion, class or occupation.  There cannot be a single exception to this position.

The facts of today’s story may be vague, but the message is loud and clear.  We thank God today that there are no ‘Chosen People’, whether they be Jews or Christians (or even Catholics).  Let us try to understand more deeply God’s closeness to us, which is also a reason for us to be close to each other.  There are no outsiders.  All are called—be it the Mother of Jesus, the rich and the poor, the privileged and the lonely, the healthy and the sick, the saints and the sinners.

Yet, we can become outsiders.  We do that every time we make someone else an outsider, whether we do that individually, as a family, a community, or an ethnic grouping.  To make even a single other person an outsider, that is, to deny them the love and respect which belongs equally to all, is to make an outsider of oneself.  It is to join the ranks of the Pharisees, the chief priests and every other practitioner of bigotry.

Where are the stars?
Finally, we might ask ourselves, Where are the stars in my life?  The wise men saw the star and followed it.  The people in Jerusalem did not.  How, and to what, is God calling me at this time?  Where does he want me to find him, to serve and follow him?  Some have their priorities already fixed, and so have stopped or have never even started to look for the real priorities—the God-sent stars in their lives.  That is like first making a right turn at a crossroads, and then wondering where you should be going.  Saint Ignatius Loyola, in his Spiritual Exercises, speaks of people who get married first and then ask, “What does God want me to do?”

This very day, let us stop in our tracks.  Obviously, at this stage there are many things which, for better or worse, we cannot change; some decisions, right or wrong, which cannot now be undone.  But it is not too late to look for our star and begin following it from where we are now.

The wise men did not know where the star would lead them.  They just followed it until it brought them to Bethlehem—and to Jesus.  They never, I am sure, regretted their decision. If we can only have the courage and the trust to follow their example, I doubt if we will have regrets either. If we have not already done so, today is the day to make that start.

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Saints Basil and Gregory were actually life-long friends, first as university students in Athens and later as monks.  They were both important teachers of the Eastern Church, and both came from Cappadocia in what is now Central Turkey, and hence are known as ‘Theologians of the Cappadocian School’.

Basil was born in 330 AD into a family which would later produce a number of canonised saints.  Following his studies, he became a monk and a hermit before he was consecrated Bishop of Caesarea (Kayseri today) in his native Cappadocia.  He was not only a theologian, but a very pastoral bishop and deeply concerned with the plight of the poor.  He produced a monastic rule, known as the ‘Basilian Rule’, which is still followed everywhere by monks and nuns of the Eastern Church.  He died in 379 at the relatively early age of 49.

Gregory was born in the town of Nazianzus, also in Cappadocia and also about 330 AD.  He was the son of a bishop and, like Basil, joined the monastic life.  He was ordained a priest relatively late in life.  He was first made bishop of an out of the way town called Sasima, but later was asked to go to Constantinople to restore harmony to the community there following the divisions of the Arian heresy.  In this, he was very successful.  In later life, Gregory retired to the (for him) more congenial life of study and prayer in a rural setting and subsequently died in 389 AD.

Both Basil and Gregory were deeply involved in dealing with the Arian heresy, named after Arius, a monk from Alexandria in northern Egypt, who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ.  It was Basil’s teaching in particular which influenced the Council of Constantinople (381 AD) in revising the Nicaean Creed of 325 AD into the form we now use on Sundays and feasts.

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Commentary on Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18

The magnificent passage read today is from the opening of John’s Gospel. There is no mention of Bethlehem, of Mary, of shepherds, or the stable and the manger, so why do we read this Gospel for Christmas Day?

The Bethlehem story was told during last night’s Midnight Mass (or during the evening mass at some parishes). But today we are, as it were, going behind the scenes, and looking at the deeper meaning of that story. After all, who is that little baby, so small, so helpless? And why do we make such a fuss about his birth?

He is the Word of God. From the beginning, he was with God and was God. Think of those extraordinary words as you gaze at the stable or the crib.

Through the Word, God expresses his very self, just as in an analogous way we reveal ourselves through the way we speak and what we say (and sometimes we reveal just as much by what we do not say!). But God’s Word does not just communicate; God’s Word is active—it is a verb rather than a noun. It makes; it produces; it creates.

Again, in an analogous way we can speak of the ‘word’ of Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; the ‘word’ of Shakespeare in Hamlet, Othello, or King Lear; or the ‘word’ of Beethoven in the Fifth Symphony—all these do far more than express ideas; they have a powerful impact in changing us. So through this Word, “all things came into being”. To this Word, we and our whole world owe our very existence.

Light in darkness
At this time our city and homes are filled with light, guiding us through the dark valleys of our lives. It is no coincidence that Christmas is celebrated in the depth of winter, just after the winter solstice, as we look forward in hope to the longer days of light and the new life ready to burst forth. Jesus will say later that he is “the Light of the world”. Today’s Gospel says:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

It is in this hope that we long to see the darkness of our world put to flight. Alas:

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.

But nevertheless:

…the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

It does not say the Word became a human being, but “flesh” (Greek, sarx). In John’s language, “flesh” refers to all that is weak and sinful in our human nature.

The Word came and was fully inserted into that world. ‘World’ has two meanings in John’s writings. It means, first of all, the world in general, our planet and all that is in it. But it also refers to that part of our human world which is caught up in all that is evil, negative, degrading and dehumanising. The Word entered both of these worlds. He did not live on the fringe, but in the very centre of human activity. This caused difficulties for some religious people who found it disturbing that Jesus mixed with sinners and (even worse) ate with them. All this is being said in the Bethlehem story, but in more concrete, image-filled language.

In touch with God
As the letter to the Hebrews (Second Reading) tells us today, God in the past spoke to us through many prophets and other spokespersons. But now, because the Son is the Word of God:

…he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things…

This Son:

…is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…

In seeing all that Jesus says and does, we are being put in touch with the very nature of God. The baby Jesus was born in utter simplicity, without many of the conveniences of life that we would take for granted and regard as essential, away from home, rejected by every place of shelter in the town, and visited by ‘shepherds’ who were the despised outcasts of their day. A good exercise would be to think of the birth of Jesus in a corresponding situation in our city today.

It is important to be aware that this scene is not just for pious contemplation—it contains a message. God has become a human person like us—he has come to live and work among us. He has entered our world to bless it and to liberate all those enslaved by oppression, by hunger and homelessness; people enslaved by addictive habits and substances; and those enslaved by fear, anger, resentment, hatred and loneliness. Let us pray that we may approach this Child to be liberated from our particular enslavement, because we are all slaves to something!

But more than that, as brothers and sister of Jesus, we are called to work together with him, to help others break the chains of their enslavements, so that, in the words of Isaiah today:

…all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

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Commentary on 1 John 4:7-16; Matthew 23:8-12

The Gospel reading from chapter 23 of Matthew is a denunciation of the mentality of many of the Scribes and Pharisees. On the one hand they were very legalistic in their interpretation of the Law of Moses and at the same time tended to put themselves on a pedestal, seeing themselves as superior to ‘ordinary’ people.

In today’s passage, Jesus speaks of their demands to be given honorific titles and to have people bowing and scraping to their superior virtue. He tells his followers that they are not to adopt such titles. They were not to be called ‘rabbi’ because they had only one ‘Rabbi’, God, and they were all brothers to each other. They were to address no one among them as ‘father’ because they had only one Father and that was God. And they were not to be called ‘master’ because they had only one Master and that was the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus their Master and Lord. Unfortunately, in the history of the Church many civic titles were accumulated and we still have them with us, although with less insistence than before.

Augustine was one of the greatest minds in the history of the Christian Church. He was a bishop, and so could have demanded the same kind of honours which the Pharisees (both Jewish and Christian) expected. But he was not like that at all. In spite of his great intellect and theological acumen, and his position as leader of his diocese, he lived a simple life with his clergy and showed a deep concern for the poor.

The motivation for all this is contained in the First Reading from the First Letter of John. This is one of the most striking passages in the whole of the Scriptures. It is about the centrality of love in our relationship with God and with the people all around us. But it is a special kind of love. The Greek word that the Letter uses is agape. Agape-love is an outreaching concern for the other which is totally unconditional. It is given irrespective of how it is received—or rejected.

In today’s short passage a form of the word agape occurs no less than 15 times. It is the love which God has for his creation and for each and every one of us. It is the love which Jesus, the Son of God, showed and which reached its climax on the Cross. It is the love by which followers of Jesus will be recognised.

This love is not just something which God does. God is this love. It is his very nature. He cannot not love. For us to be like him is to be people of this love:

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)

And this love is all we need. The Letter today says:

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

Augustine, who was a very passionate person both before and after his conversion, wrote commentaries on this Letter. One of his most striking phrases is: Ama, et fact quod vis, meaning, “Love, and do whatever you like.” In other words, provided an act or a word is an expression of agape-love, it cannot be bad because where there is agape-love, God is there. It makes life very simple—and very challenging.

He left behind many memorable sayings. Here are two From his Confessions which are among the best known:

Late have I loved Thee, O Lord; and behold,
Thou wast within and I without, and there I sought Thee.
Thou wast with me when I was not with Thee.
Thou didst call, and cry, and burst my deafness.
Thou didst gleam, and glow, and dispel my blindness.
Thou didst touch me, and I burned for Thy peace.

And:

Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee. Lord, teach me to know and understand which of these should be first, to call on Thee, or to praise Thee; and likewise to know Thee, or to call upon Thee.

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Commentary on 2 Timothy 2:22-26; John 17:20-26

The Gospel reading is part of Jesus’ prayer for unity among his followers.  It comes from his long discourse during the Last Supper as given to us in John’s Gospel.  In this particular part of the prayer, he is praying not for those disciples who are with him at the supper, but “on behalf of those who believe in me through their word”.

Jesus prays that:

…that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

For this is the way that people will come to recognise the true identity of Jesus.  To be a follower of Jesus is not simply to believe in him and lead a good life.  It is not to see the Church as some kind of organisation outside of me, but to which I go to get the ‘graces’ I need to be a good person, to keep the commandments, and as a place where I can carry out my ‘religious obligations’ and in the end ‘save my soul’.

This prayer for unity among the followers of Christ reflects the life work of Irenaeus.  He spent his life dealing with false interpretations of the Christian messages, whether it was the Montanists, or the Gnostics or others.  All these movements tended to bring great divisions and were a cause of confusion among many Christians.

To be a follower of Jesus is essentially to be a follower with and through others. The Christian life is essentially communal. And Jesus is saying here that the most potent witness of who he is we can give is that we who claim to follow him do so as part of a fellowship.  It is said that in the early Church there was a saying: “See those Christians, how they love one another!”  That was one of the most striking characteristics to the pagan eye, namely, that people who came from different ethnic and social backgrounds could live together in such harmony.  This was something strange to societies which strongly and defensively identified with their own group.

In the First Reading from the Second Letter to Timothy, Paul instructs Timothy on how to deal with situations where there are disputes between Church members. He tells Timothy:

Shun youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace…Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

In a quarrel, each side is trying to prove itself right and the other side wrong.  What is needed is mutual listening and dialogue so that there is a common effort to find the truth.

…the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness.

That is good advice for all of us.

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Aloysius Gonzaga, who came from one of Italy’s most famous families, was born in the castle of Castiglione delle Stiviere, between Brescia and Mantua in northern Italy on 9 March, 1568. He was the eldest son of Ferdinando Gonzaga (1544-1586), Marquis of Castiglione, and Marta de Santena, daughter of a baron of the Piedmontese Della Rovere family. His father wanted him to be a soldier as the family was constantly involved in local conflicts. His military training started at an early age, but he also received an education in languages and other subjects.

At the age of eight, he was placed in the court of Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici in Florence, where he remained for two years before going on to Mantua. While there he developed a kidney disease which was to trouble him for the rest of his life. During his sickness, not unlike St Ignatius Loyola, he spent time reading lives of saints and praying. He is said to have taken a private vow of chastity at the age of 9. In November 1579, he was sent with his brother to the Duke of Mantua where Aloysius was shocked by the violent and frivolous lifestyle he found there.

In 1580, he returned to Castiglione where Cardinal (later St) Charles Borromeo discovered that Aloysius, already 12 years old, had not yet received his first Holy Communion and gave it to him on 22 July, 1580. After reading about Jesuit missionaries in India, Aloysius had a desire to be a missionary himself and began giving religious knowledge classes to young boys in Castiglione. He also used to visit some religious communities in the Duchy of Montferrat where his family spent their winters, and to live a more ascetic lifestyle.

In 1581, the family was called to Spain to serve in the court of Empress Mary of Austria. Aloysius and his brother Ridolfo became pages for the Infante Don Diego, Prince of Asturias.

It was while there that he made the resolution of becoming a Jesuit, though he had first thought of joining the Capuchins. His mother agreed to this, but his father was vehemently opposed.

The family returned to Italy in 1584. His family was still strongly against his joining the Jesuits and, when they realised he was set on the priesthood, tried to persuade him to become a diocesan priest where there would be the likelihood that he could obtain a prestigious bishopric worthy of his rank. If he became a Jesuit, such a future would be ruled out. But Aloysius stood firm. Finally, he was allowed to renounce his heritage in favour of his brother on 2 November, 1585. This required the approval of the emperor, as Castiglione was a fief of the empire.

He went to Rome and, because of his noble birth, first had an audience with Pope Sixtus V. On 25 November, 1585, he was accepted into the Jesuit Roman novitiate by the superior general, Claudius Acquaviva. He was asked to temper his ascetical ways as it upset his relationship with his fellow novices. His health problems continued. In addition to the kidney disease, he also suffered from a skin disease, chronic headaches and insomnia.

On 25 November, 1587, he made his first vows as a Jesuit and, after receiving minor orders, began his theological studies. In 1590, he had a vision in which the Archangel Gabriel told him he had less than a year to live.

In 1591, during his fourth and final year of theology a famine and plague broke out in Italy. The Jesuits opened a hospital for the victims and Aloysius volunteered to work there. In order to protect him, he was only allowed to work in a ward where there were no plague victims. However, a man in his ward was infected and on 3 March, 1591, Aloysius showed the first symptoms of the plague. It seemed certain that he would die very soon and he was given the Sacrament of the Sick. However, though he recovered, he was in poorer health.

During this time, he often spoke with his confessor, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. After another vision, he told Bellarmine he would die on the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi. On that day (21 June), he seemed well in the morning, but insisted he would die before the end of the day. Cardinal Bellarmine gave him the last sacraments and recited the prayers for the dying. Aloysius died just before midnight on 21 June, 1591. He was 23 years of age.

Aloysius was buried in the Church of the Annunciation in Rome. Just before his death his name was changed to Robert, in memory of his confessor. Later, his remains were moved to the Sant’ Ignazio church in Rome, where they now rest in an urn of lapis lazuli in the Lancelotti Chapel. His head was later brought to the basilica bearing his name in Castiglione delle Stiviere.

He was beatified only 14 years after his death by Pope Paul V on 19 October, 1605. On 31 December, 1726, he was canonised together with a Jesuit novice, Stanislaus Kostka, by Pope Benedict XIII. This same pope declared Aloysius patron of young people in 1729.

In 1926, he was named Patron of Christian youth by Pope Pius XI. He has also been considered a patron of plague victims and, in time, this was extended to victims of HIV/AIDS.

In many pictures he is shown as a young man wearing a black cassock and white surplice, or as a page. He holds a lily, indicating his chastity, a cross, indicating his piety and self-sacrifice, a skull, referring to his early death, and a rosary, because of his devotion to the Virgin Mary.

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Commentaries on the Readings:Ezekiel 17:22-24, 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, Mark 4:26-34 Read Readings: Ezekiel 17:22-24, 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, Mark 4:26-34 »

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Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; Matthew 5:13-19

The Gospel reading comes from the Sermon on the Mount, and immediately follows the Eight Beatitudes, which can be said to be a portrait of Jesus and also of every Christian modelled on him. What today’s passage reminds us that it is not enough, as a follower of Christ, just to be a good person—to be, as people say, “in the state of grace” so that we can “go to heaven”. Much more is asked of a follower of Jesus. We are not only to model ourselves on him, but to invite others to do the same.

To be a Christian is to be a missionary. It is not just to ‘convert’ people in the sense of ‘making them Catholics’. It is to spread throughout the world the vision of life which Jesus had as God in the flesh, with the hope that more and more people will live their lives in this way. Jesus uses lovely images to say this. He calls on us to be the “salt of the earth”. As Jesus says:

…but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

We are to be the light of the world and a light that can be seen. A light covered up makes no sense. We are to be like a city built on a hill; it cannot hide. And yet how often does it happen that we discover with someone we have known for a long time, perhaps even a next door neighbour that they are Christians? How many people know that I am one? And how do I make myself visible?

The second part of the Gospel is on the observance of the Jewish Law, the Law of Moses. One must remember that this is from Matthew’s Gospel, which is written by a Jew (or Jews) for Jewish Christians, and Matthew is very anxious to assure his fellow-Jews that Jesus’ coming does not mean the abolition of the Law of Moses, but rather its fulfilment. So Jesus here assures his fellow-Jews that not a jot of the old Law will disappear till the end of time. And that:

…but whoever does them [i.e. keeps the commandments] and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

However, in the section of Matthew’s Gospel (which is not part of today’s reading), Jesus makes it very clear that a literal observance of the Law is not, in fact, sufficient. And so he gives six examples from the Mosaic code whose full observance must go far beyond the letter of the Law. So, one must not just refrain from killing, but from doing any harm whatever to a brother and sister. In other words, the teaching of Jesus does not nullify the Mosaic Law, but goes far beyond it. This could be said to be the extension the Ten Commandments to their Christian counterpart—the Beatitudes.

Justin, too, was deeply concerned that the original teaching of Jesus be taught and defended against all forms of distortion, while at the same time recognising that this teaching can be developed and deepened.

The First Reading, taken from the beginning of the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, highlights the paradox between the truth of Jesus’ message of Truth and Love, and the violently negative reactions it aroused. As Paul says very strikingly:

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

It confounds the wisdom of the world:

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?…For Jews ask for signs and Greeks desire wisdom…

In the Gospel accounts, we find the Jews many times asking Jesus for signs to verify the claims he was making and the teaching he was giving. The Greeks loved to philosophise in their efforts to find the truth:

…but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

This was the wisdom that Justin constantly taught in his debates with those who would deny the truth of the gospel, or present distorted interpretations of it. It is a wisdom that the world still finds difficulty in accepting, but there many who do. Am I one of them?

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Commentaries on Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40, Romans 8:14-17, Matthew 28:16-20 Read The Most Holy Trinity (Year B) »

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Our Lady of the Way (Madonna della Strada) is a feast celebrated by the Society of Jesus in its communities, schools and parishes.

The first Jesuit church in Rome was called Madonna della Strada. When Ignatius and his companions came to Rome in 1537-38, they celebrated Mass in this church, heard confessions, preached, and taught catechism to children. Witnessing the good accomplished, the pastor of the church entered the Jesuits and asked the pope to place the church under the Society’s care in 1542.

It was before the image of Our Lady in this church that many early Jesuits pronounced their vows and prayed before departing for foreign lands. When the original church was replaced by the Church of the Gesù (Chiesa del Gesù), the image of Our Lady was placed in a special chapel. This title of Our Lady echoes the perduring Ignatian motif of the pilgrim and of the Society as a “pathway to God” (see Exposcit Debitum 1550, Formula of the Institute), as well as the words of Jesus, who called himself:

…the Way, the Truth, and the Life… (John 14:6)