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Commentary on Daniel 7:2-14

For our last two readings from Daniel we go to the second half of the book (chaps 7-12) which consists of four visions of Daniel expressed in what seems to us strange and obscure language. This is the apocalyptic style in which symbols and exotic images, used to describe apparently past events, are in fact conveying a prophetic message of hope to people living under oppression and persecution. It is a kind of code language only fully understood by the initiated.

We will be reading only one of these visions (from chap 7) followed tomorrow by an interpretation of its meaning. This first vision, known as the Vision of the Beasts, comes to Daniel as he lies in his bed. It is the first year of the reign of King Belshazzar.

The vision will correspond to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in which he saw a huge statue made of different metals. To the four succeeding world kingdoms, Babylonian, Median, Persian, and Greek, is opposed the Messianic Kingdom of the people of God. The four metals (the kingdoms) of the dream, shattered by the stone breaking off from the mountain are now represented by four beasts succeeded by (in the NRSVue translation) “a human being”, but more commonly translated as “a son of man”. The imagery of this chapter is used extensively in the Book of Revelation, where it is applied to the Roman empire, the persecutor of the early church.

As the vision opens, Daniel sees the four winds of heaven stirring up the “great sea”. This refers to the world of nations and peoples. In its original sense, the term ‘great sea’ was the primordial ocean beneath the earth, according to the cosmological structure of the world in ancient times. This sea was thought to contain various monsters, and in particular, mythological monsters symbolising the chaos which God had vanquished at the time of the Creation (see Genesis 1). But here Daniel speaks of a different kind of chaos, a spiritual and moral chaos, in the world.

Four great beasts now emerge from this sea, each one different from the other. Beasts are chosen because the insignia or symbols of many nations were represented by beasts or birds (think of the American eagle or the Russian bear).

The first beast is like a lion with eagle’s wings and, as the visionary watches, the wings are torn off and it stands up like a human and has a human heart. The winged lion represents the Babylonian empire, as this was a common motif in Babylonian art. The two wings plucked off represent Kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, who were both removed from their thrones (perhaps Babylon is also represented by the lions in the den with Daniel who are rendered impotent by God’s protection of his servant). One may ask if standing up and having a human heart (considered the seat of reason) reflect the two kings’ positive reactions to Daniel’s predictions, even though they did not favour them.

The second beast is like a bear, rising up on one side, with “three tusks [bones or ribs in other some translations] in its mouth among its teeth. A command is heard:

Arise, devour many bodies!

The second beast represents the Medes, who are seen by the author as the immediate successors to the Babylonians. The three tusks in its mouth symbolise its destructive nature. Hence the command to “devour many bodies”. The three tusks may also represent the three principal conquests of the Medes: over Lydia (546 BC), Babylon (539) and Egypt (525).

The third beast is:

…like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads, and dominion was given to it.

This is the Persian empire. The winged leopard represents the swiftness with which Cyrus establishes his kingdom. The four heads correspond to four Persian kings. The three kings who follow Cyrus are uncertain, since there were more than three Persian kings between Cyrus and the collapse of the empire. The fourth, however, seems to be Xerxes I (486-465 BC), the great campaigner against Greece (e.g. the famous battles of Thermopylae and Salamis). However, another interpretation sees in the four heads the four main divisions into which Alexander’s empire fell after his untimely death in 323 BC: Macedon and Greece (under Antipater and Cassander), Thrace and Asia Minor (under Lysimachus), Syria (under Seleucus I), Palestine and Egypt (under Ptolemy I).

The fourth beast, described as “terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong” is normally identified with the Greek kings, Philip of Macedon and his famous son, Alexander the Great, who conquered the whole of West Asia and even reached as far as India. This beast differs from the others in that it came from the west (Macedonia) rather than from the east (e.g. Babylonia, Persia). This beast has iron teeth, eats its victims, crushes them and tramples their remains. It differs from the other beasts in having 10 horns. The horns represent the kings of the Seleucid dynasty formed after Alexander’s death when his empire was divided among his top generals. This is the part which particularly concerns the author.

While the visionary looks at the horns, he sees another little horn sprouting from the others. Three other horns are “plucked up” to make way for it. This refers to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who caused so much suffering to the Jews and who came to power only after getting rid of several rivals to the throne. On this horn:

There were eyes like human eyes…and a mouth speaking arrogantly.

This refers to the blasphemous tongue of Antiochus.

The text now moves into poetic form as it describes a very different vision. As the visionary watches, thrones are set in place. These are for judges. According to ancient Jewish tradition (the Book of Enoch), the saints of God are privileged to sit in judgement at God’s side. Later, the promises of Jesus are even more explicit. In Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples:

…you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matt 19:28)

Then the “Ancient One took his throne”. This is a vision of the heavenly throne of God (the “Ancient One”), who sits in judgement over the nations. He has an appearance of pure whiteness, of absolute perfection:

…his clothing was white as snow
and the hair of his head like pure wool…

The throne itself is flames of fire with burning wheels. It recalls the divine chariot described in the first chapter of Ezekiel. A stream of fire pours out from his presence. Around the throne are innumerable courtiers (angels?):

A thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.

Then:

The court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.

These are the records of people’s actions, both good and bad. There are many references to these ‘books’ in both the Old and New Testaments. The idea is central to the hymn, Dies Irae, once used in Requiem Masses. One verse of this hymn reads:

Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.

This translates as:

The written book shall be brought forth,
in which all is contained,
from which the world will be judged.

As Daniel continues to watch:

…because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking…the beast was put to death and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.

As already mentioned, the “arrogant words” of the horn refer to the blasphemous arrogance of Antiochus. He is destroyed and his body committed to the flames. The other empires, however, are given a reprieve for an indeterminate period. They are no longer a threat to the faithful once God’s people cease to be subject to them.

Now comes the climax of the vision. As he gazes into the visions of the night, the visionary sees:

…one like a human being [son of man] coming with the clouds of heaven.

In contrast to the worldly kingdoms opposed to God, which appear as beasts, the glorified people of God that will form his kingdom on earth is represented in human form. Just as our Lord applied the figure of the stone hewn from the mountain to himself (see this past Tuesday’s reading), he also made the title, ‘Son of Man’ his most characteristic way of referring to himself, as the One in whom and through whom the salvation of God’s people would come to be realised.

As noted above, the more commonly used phrase, ‘Son of Man’, is translated in the NRSVue simply as “a human being”, but from the description, this human being is someone very special and points—in Daniel—to the expected Messiah, the King and Liberator of suffering Israel. And he will be enthroned as ruler over the whole earth (previously misruled by the four kingdoms mentioned), and his kingdom “shall never be destroyed”, whether on earth or in the life to come.

In Mark’s Gospel, during the trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus says to the high priest:

You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’ (Mark 14:62)

This is a clear reference to today’s passage.

The “human being” (son of man) is now led into the presence of the Most Ancient One. On him is conferred “dominion and glory and kingship” while all nations and peoples of every language serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.

This is clearly a reference to the Messiah-Christ, the Saviour King who will come in the person of Jesus. But Daniel is speaking in terms of hope; he does not yet know who the Messiah is going to be.

We know, but that is not enough. We need to come to know our Messiah personally and not just know ‘about’ him. We have to make him truly the King and Lord of our lives and follow him along the Way he has shown us.

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Commentary on Luke 21:20-28

Jesus continues his warnings of what is to come. It is a blending of what is going to happen to Jerusalem and of the end of all things. The images are mainly biblical and apocalyptic, taken from Old Testament prophecies and not to be seen as an accurate description of what is actually going to happen some 40 years later. The sign that the end was near would be Jerusalem’s being surrounded by armies accompanied by the “desolating sacrilege” (see Matt 24:15). Nevertheless, it is true that Jerusalem was encircled by the armies of Rome. The safest place to be was in the surrounding hills, not in the city, which was reduced to rubble.

Jesus is emphasising not so much the actual events, but rather their cause—the faithlessness and corruption of so many for which destruction was the inescapable outcome. So he calls them the “days of vengeance”, a time of punishment not indicating God’s revenge, but the natural result of evil and corruption, warnings of which the Scripture, especially the prophets, are full. See, for example, Isaiah 63:4; Jeremiah 5:29; Hosea 9:7; and especially, Daniel 9:26-27:

Desolations are decreed. He [King Antiochus] shall make a strong covenant with many [faithless Jews] for one week, and for half of the week [three and a half years] he shall make sacrifice and offering cease, and in their place shall be a desolating sacrilege until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.

The Temple was desecrated by Antiochus from 167 to 165 BC. The “desolating sacrilege” perhaps refers to an inscription placed on the portal of the Temple dedicating it to the Olympian Zeus. All of this, of course, was to be repeated. And in many ways, has been repeated again and again—recall, for example, the statue of a nude woman set up as a deity in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris during the French Revolution.

What follows from verse 23 is more relevant to the destruction of Jerusalem:

Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days!

It will be a time of great distress. Many will be cut down and others will be led away into captivity to pagan territories (the Romans liked to parade their prisoners in a victory march in Rome). The holy city itself, its Temple in ruins, will be trampled on by Gentiles—a fate it still experiences.

This will happen:

…until the times of the nations are fulfilled.

For, as Paul indicates in his letter to the Romans (11:25-29), it is the Gentiles who have taken the place of the Jews as the bearers of the Good News and the builders of the Kingdom. But Paul believed that the age of the Gentiles would only end with the return of Israel and the reconciliation of all in Christ Jesus as Lord. It is an indefinite period, and it is still in process. Our God is an all-inclusive God, and a patient God.

Finally, Jesus speaks of various cataclysmic and apocalyptic signs to signal the end of time. They are typical biblical phenomena and not meant to be taken as exact foretelling of events. They conclude with Daniel’s vision:

Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory.

It is not intended to fill people with fear and trembling, except perhaps those who have lived wicked lives.

But for the disciples, the loyal followers of Jesus, it is a time to:

…stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

As we saw in yesterday’s Gospel, sufferings and tribulations are part and parcel of living the Christian life to the full. Our message and our vision is a ‘sign of contradiction’, a beacon of light to many and to others a threat to be radically uprooted.

But for those who have tried to live by the vision and values of the Gospel, for those who have tried to seek and find Jesus in all the people and events of their lives, who have spent hours with him in intimate dialogue, it is the time of their final liberation, a time when there will be no more sorrows, no more tears, no more hardships, no more disappointments. Rather, they will be entering an unbroken time of love and intimacy, of freedom and peace, of joy and consolation. So, as we approach the end of another liturgical year, we do so on an upbeat note.

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Commentary on Daniel 6:12-28

We now find Daniel living under a third king, Darius. He is ‘Darius the Mede’, presented as the successor to Belshazzar, whom we saw murdered at the end of yesterday’s reading. He is actually unknown to history, nor is there any room for him between the last Chaldaean (Babylonian) king and Cyrus the Persian, who had already conquered the Medes before capturing Babylon. The character of this Darius has probably been modelled on that of the Persian King Darius the Great (522-486 BC), the second successor of Cyrus.

Again, Daniel is the central figure. He represents not a historical person, but the Jew who is absolutely loyal to his God and his faith under all circumstances. This serves as an uplifting message to the readers of the book now living under the harsh rule of Antiochus.

Daniel had risen to the very top of the kingdom’s hierarchy. He was the first among three “administrators” (or “presidents” in some translations) to whom over 120 princes or satraps—who ruled the kingdom—were responsible. He was so superior in every way to the other administrators and satraps that the king seriously thought of making him ruler of the whole kingdom. Not surprisingly, this occasioned jealousy among his fellow administrators and the satraps. They wanted to find some affair of state by which they could discredit Daniel, but they could find absolutely nothing with which to fault him.

They then realised that the only way to get him was to focus on Daniel’s Jewish faith, saying:

We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God. (Dan 6:4)

They went in a body to the king and, after the usual sycophantic expressions of flattery, asked him to issue an edict. The edict was to say:

…that whoever prays to any god or human, for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the den of lions.(Dan 6:7)

They then asked the king to sign the document at once so that it could not be changed and would come into effect immediately. The king, no doubt flattered by the language of the edict, signed it.

When Daniel heard about the edict, he retired to his house, where the windows of his upstairs room faced Jerusalem. Three times each day, according to his usual custom, he went down on his knees to pray and give praise to God. The custom of praying with the face towards Jerusalem seems to date at least from the Exile. Later, Christians had their churches facing east, towards the rising sun, a symbol for the Risen Jesus, while Muslims pray facing Mecca.

All of this is by way of introduction to today’s reading which picks up the story at this point.

The men who had got the king to sign the edict went to Daniel’s house and—probably as they expected—found Daniel praying to his God. They then went to the king and reminded him of the edict he had signed and the penalties for its non-observance. Replied the king:

The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.

The men then reported that they had found Daniel praying to his own God three times a day—a clear violation of the edict.

The king, who was clearly fond of Daniel and valued his services to the kingdom, was distressed at this information and wanted to do something to save Daniel. But the enemies of Daniel kept reminding the king that laws he passed could not be changed for anyone.

The king then reluctantly ordered that Daniel be thrown into the pit of lions. His parting words were:

May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!

The pit was then closed with a large stone and sealed with the king’s own signet ring and those of his nobles. Daniel’s fate, it seemed, was literally sealed. (Perhaps this is the origin of the term?)

The king, however, remained deeply disturbed at his decision. He spent the night in fasting and refused to receive any of his concubines. He spent a sleepless night worrying over Daniel and, at the first light of dawn, rushed to the pit. As he reached it he called out:

O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?

To his amazement, the king hears Daniel speak back to him from the pit:

O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.

The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be immediately released from the pit. He was unhurt because he had trusted in his God. The king then ordered that Daniel’s accusers be thrown into the pit together with their wives and children, in accordance with Persian custom.

We remember in Jesus’ parable about the unforgiving servant, where the king ordered a servant:

…to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions and payment to be made. (Matt 18:25)

Now, the new prisoners had hardly reached the floor of the pit when they were immediately devoured by the hungry lions.

The king then sent a proclamation not just to his own kingdom, but:

…to all peoples and nations of every language throughout the whole world…

The proclamation said:

May you have abundant prosperity! I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people shall tremble and fear before the God of Daniel…

In effect, he ordered a national conversion. The God of Daniel was to be reverenced and feared. It was an order in the form of a triumphal hymn about the God of Daniel:

For he is the living God,
enduring forever.
His kingdom shall never be destroyed,
and his dominion has no end.
He delivers and rescues;
he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth;
he has saved Daniel
from the power of the lions.

Once again, the story is to be read in the context of the Jews suffering under the persecution of the tyrant Antiochus. If God will deliver Daniel from those who hate his religion and from the ferocity of the lions, he will do the same for his faithful people now. God’s Kingdom will not be destroyed; God’s dominion is without end—unlike that of secular rulers.

As the story of Daniel clearly illustrates, God is a deliverer and a saviour for all those who put their trust in him. His Kingdom is one that will never end.

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John Berchmans was born in Diest, Flanders, in Belgium in 1599, the son of a shoemaker and the eldest of five children, three of whom entered religious life. He spent much of his time at home caring for his mother, who was in poor health. His family was very religious and he thought early in life of becoming a priest. He lived in the rectory of Notre Dame parish while he studied, but after three years his father told him he would have to leave school and learn a practical trade to supplement his family’s poverty.

The pastor of the Diest Béguinage offered to pay for Berchmans’ education in return for his service as a servant. In 1612 then, John made the same arrangement in Mechlin in the house of Canon Froymont. In 1615, the Jesuits opened a college at Malines (Mechlin) and John Berchmans was one of the first to enroll. He proved an energetic student and a leader among his peers. He decided to join them rather than become a diocesan priest. His father was disappointed because, as a diocesan priest, John could have supported his family, but not as a Jesuit. Nevertheless, he gave his son his blessing.

In 1616, John entered the Jesuit novitiate at Malines, after reading the life of Aloysius Gonzaga, and came under the influence of Fr Antoine Sucquet. A few months after entering the Jesuits, John’s mother died. His father gave up his shoemaking trade and entered the diocesan seminary. He was ordained a priest in April, 1618.

Meanwhile, the young Berchmans developed a strong and deep spirituality based on faithful observance of the rules of religious life. Apart from Aloysius Gonzaga, he was also inspired by the example of the English Jesuit martyrs (who had spent some of their exile in Flanders).

It was his down-to-earth appreciation for the ordinary things of life—a characteristic of the Flemish mystical tradition—which formed the basis of his spirituality. He had an approachable, kind and outgoing personality which made him attractive to all.

On 25 September, 1618, John made his first vows as a Jesuit and went to Antwerp to study philosophy—the next step in his formation. After only three weeks he was sent to Rome to continue his studies. This may indicate he was destined for higher studies in the future. Sadly, before he could return to Mechlin to say goodbye to his family, his father died suddenly.

John did very well in his studies and, at the end of his third year, was chosen to defend the whole philosophy course in a public disputation. Due to overwork in preparing for his final exams, his health was affected. He became gradually weaker as he prepared for the disputation on 8 July. When it was over, he was then called on to represent the Roman College at another disputation to be held in the following month of August at the Greek College. The two demanding events so close together were too much for his weakening condition.

On 7 August, he suffered an attack of dysentery, followed by a fever. Pale and weak, he was sent to the infirmary. He grew weaker day by day as his lungs became inflamed. When fellow Jesuit students came to his bedside, he spoke of Paradise as if he would soon be there.

The brother infirmarian suggested he should receive Communion the next day, even though it was not a Sunday (in those days, Communion was taken only once a week). The Jesuit community came in procession bringing Viaticum to their dying brother. He asked for his crucifix, rosary and the rule book he so closely followed. There was a steady stream of visitors, including the Superior General. He spent his final night in prayer and died on the morning of 13 August at just 22 years of age. It was said that numerous miracles were attributed to him even at the time of his funeral.

He was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1865 and canonised by Pope Leo XIII in 1888. His body lies in the church of St Ignatius in Rome, where Aloysius Gonzaga is also buried. John was beloved by all who knew him and is remembered today for his unfailing cheerfulness and his strong desire to do God’s will, even in the most ordinary of things.

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Commentary on Luke 21:12-19

Jesus continues his warnings, but now mainly to his own disciples. He foretells experiences and happenings which will be soon realised in the Acts of the Apostles, not to mention in the subsequent history of the Church through the centuries, including our own. Jesus speaks of abuse and persecution:

…they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons…

The term ‘hand over’ is a refrain occurring again and again in the New Testament. John the Baptist was handed over to Herod who put him in prison and then executed him. Jesus himself is handed over first to the leaders of his own people and then into the hands of the Romans who would execute him. And now Jesus tells his disciples that they, too, can expect to be handed over and to be dragged before civil and religious courts “because of my name”.

Many of the early Christians came into conflict with Jewish communities and were handed over to synagogues. Synagogues were not only prayer halls and places to learn the Scriptures, but also were used for civil administration and as places of confinement while awaiting trial.

The charges may be civil or criminal, but the real reason will be that the accused are followers of Christ. For example, countries that practice religious persecution always insist people are arrested (or worse) because of their violation of civil and criminal laws, and not because of their religious affiliation. As such, Christians become objects of fear and hatred, their ideas seen as threatening and even subversive.

But says Jesus, his followers are not themselves to fear or be anxious. When the time comes, they will know what to do and what to say. He will tell them what to say and how to answer.

This promise has been vindicated again and again across time. The really sad thing is that those betraying them to the authorities will often be members of their own household—”parents and siblings…relatives and friends”. Again, this prophecy sadly has been realised all too often.

Jesus continues:

You will be hated by all because of my name.

This is strange and, in a way, makes no sense. Jesus—who preached truth, love, freedom, peace, justice and non-violence—becomes, in his followers, the object of lies, hatred, imprisonment and torture, division, injustice and the most terrible violence.

But not a hair of your head will perish.

This is not a phrase to be taken literally, because many suffer terribly in their bodies, but there is an inner integrity and wholeness that nothing can destroy.

By your endurance you will gain your souls.

That is, by going through all that our enemies can throw at us, we come out at the end people who are whole and complete and who can lift our heads up high. There are many examples even in our own recent past: Bishop Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, St Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein (St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), to name a few. Their memories are treasured and become an inspiration to all of us.

Let us pray that we may have the courage to be true to our Christian values whatever the cost. Let us not be surprised that our faith and our religion can create such anger and such hostility.

At the same time, we reach out continually in truth and love to dissipate the unjustified fears that our beliefs can engender in others. We are a threat to false values, but we must try hard to help people see where real truth and goodness lie. And we do that by seeking for that in our own lives.

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Commentary on Daniel 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28

If yesterday’s reading was about ‘feet of clay’, today’s is about ‘the writing on the wall’. Our Bible is full of phrases that have passed into our daily language and are familiar even to those who have never opened the book.

The setting for today’s reading is a great banquet thrown by King Belshazzar for his nobles, a thousand of them altogether. In the Babylonian language the king’s name would be ‘Bel-shar-usur’, meaning ‘May-Bel-protect-the-king’. Although further on in the account he is called the son of Nebuchadnezzar, he is in fact known to be the son of Nabonidus, who gave him the title of king. ‘Son’ could mean ‘descendant’ or even ‘successor’. Actually, we know that several kings of Babylon intervened between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, but it was necessary for the author to put the two kings close together so as to make Daniel’s appearance plausible as being alive during both reigns.

In the presence of his guests the king began drinking his wine and there is a hint that he was drinking quite a lot, with the not uncommon outcome of making strange on-the-spot decisions. He suddenly gives the order for gold and silver vessels which had been looted by King Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem to be brought in so that his wives, his nobles and the women who sang for him could drink from them. Which they did. The orgy of revelry and blasphemy on such occasions is well documented by ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Xenophon.

As they drank from these sacred vessels, they were also singing the praises of their idols of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone. Using vessels consecrated to the worship of Yahweh for the adulation of ‘gods’ made of inanimate materials was, to any Jew, a horrific profanation.

It was not surprising, then, that all of a sudden, a hand was seen writing on one of the palace walls, clearly visible by the light of a nearby lamp. The king “was watching the hand as it wrote”; he could see the hand ‘clearly’ (remember that, in pre-electricity days, the banquet hall would be in relative darkness, especially the walls). The highly superstitious king was filled with fear and alarm. He became weak and began to tremble all over:

His limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.

He immediately promised huge rewards to any sage who could interpret what was going on. None of them could do so. The king became even paler. Then (though not part of our reading) the queen entered and told the king not to fear. There was a man who had been chief sage in the days of King Nebuchadnezzar, “your father”, who was an expert in the interpretation of dreams. Daniel is brought in to the king’s presence.

The king tells Daniel what he has heard about him, that he is one of the Judean exiles brought to Babylon by his “father” (Nebuchadnezzar) and that he is known for his “enlightenment, understanding, and excellent wisdom”. He hopes that Daniel will be able to do what all his other wise men cannot do—decipher the strange message written on the wall. In return, Daniel will be dressed in purple (the colour worn by the rich and powerful), have a gold chain put around his neck (probably the equivalent of an English knighthood) and be made one of the top three administrators of his kingdom.

In a great show of integrity and courage, Daniel spurns the offer of gifts and rewards, while assuring the king that he is able to interpret the strange message. He first tells the king that his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had abused his great power and, in his pride, was driven from his throne. Only in his misery did he acknowledge God as the true ruler of people everywhere (these statements too are not included in our reading).

Now, says Daniel, Belshazzar has learnt nothing and is walking the same path. He then goes on to make a scathing attack on Belshazzar and his behaviour. He has defied the Lord of heaven by taking the sacred vessels which were pillaged by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem and he, his nobles, his wives and his women entertainers have drunk their wine from them. In addition, he tells the king:

You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose power is your very breath and to whom belong all your ways, you have not honored.

In other words, the king has not honoured God, to whom he owes his very life and all his prosperity.

There are, then, three main accusations brought against Belshazzar: he sinned not through ignorance, but through disobedience and pride, because he should have learnt from the fate of his “father” who was deposed and exiled to live among farm animals (see Dan 5:20-21); he defied God by desecrating the sacred vessels; and he worshipped man-made idols instead of the God from whom all he has and is came.

And now, says Daniel:

So from [God’s] presence the hand was sent and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.

The meaning of the words, continues Daniel, is as follows:

MENE: God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;

TEKEL: you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting (in the light of God’s expectations);

PARSIN: your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

The three mysterious words may represent three Asian measures of weight or of coins—a mina, a shekel (60th part of a mina) and a half-mina (or paras). There is then a play on words which emerges in Daniel’s interpretation above.

Mene suggests the verb mana, “to measure”; tekel the verb shaqal, to “weigh out”; while parsin suggests both the verb paras, “to divide”, and the Persians (descendants of Persians in India are still known as Parsi).

The full meaning, however, of Daniel’s interpretation is not so clear to us. It could allude to the decreasing influence of the three successive empires—Babylonians, Medes and Persians. Or it may refer to the three kings, Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach and Belshazzar—or perhaps to Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and the kings of the ‘Medes and Persians’. Whichever reading is right, the outcome is the same—the ultimate and inevitable collapse of powerful dynasties and empires.

The epilogue to the story is not given in our reading, but the king, in spite of the denunciation he has heard from Daniel’s lips, keeps his promise and clothes Daniel in purple and gold and gives him the third place in his kingdom. And that very night, too, the king is murdered.

The message of the story is clearly directed against King Antiochus under whom the Jews were suffering and who had also desecrated and plundered their Temple. The author is saying that Antiochus’ fate will not be any different from that of Nebuchadnazzar or of Belshazzar.

And there lies a message of hope for every suffering people. No ruler, however powerful, can long maintain a regime that goes against the values of God. Nor can any one of us find true happiness in a lifestyle that violates the same values.

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Commentary on Luke 21:5-11

The Temple at Jerusalem in Jesus’ time was a magnificent building and one of the wonders of the world. As the Gospel tells us, it had been more than 40 years in the building and was not yet completed. People were commenting to Jesus on the beautiful decorations of jewels and votive offerings. His hearers must have been shocked, if not utterly sceptical, when Jesus told them that, in time, the building would be utterly destroyed with “not one stone…left upon another”. In our not too distant past, who would ever have dreamt that the New York City World Trade Center, that temple to capitalism, would be reduced to rubble in a just matter of minutes—and how much more the Temple of God?

They asked Jesus:

Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?

Jesus’ answer is directed more to the end of time than to the actual destruction of the Temple, which occurred about 40 years later in the year 70 AD. In fact, one event blends into the other. To many who were witnesses to its destruction, it must have seemed like the end of their world. What kind of life could they live without their Temple, without the dwelling place of their God? How could Yahweh allow such a thing to happen? It left a huge empty space in their lives which nothing else could fill.

Jesus’ warning is that his followers should not misread the signs or be too alarmed. It seems the early Christians were expecting Jesus to return for his Second Coming within their lifetime. This must have led to many false alarms—people claiming to be the returned Lord, or warning that the end of all things was close at hand. Even the destruction of the Temple (remember many of the Christians were converted Jews) must have looked like the beginning of the end. St Augustine had similar feelings as Rome, the heart of Christendom, fell in ruins to the ‘barbarians’ (the ancestors of many of us!). The end of Rome seemed to him like the end of the world.

Jesus tells his followers not to be too ready to believe what they hear people saying. Nor are they to be too alarmed when they hear of wars and social upheavals. There will be many natural disasters, widespread diseases and celestial phenomena. These do not necessarily spell the end. The message now being given is:

…the end will not follow immediately.

At every pivotal time in the history of our planet, there are people who claim to see the end in sight. The coming of the third millennium was no exception. So far they have all been wrong. The attitude of Christians is not to be one of fear and anxiety. It sees the new era as a time of challenge and opportunity, a time for new beginnings.

On a more personal and much more realistic level, we may be anxious about the signs of our own time of departure from this world. But again, it does not help to become fearful and anxious. Rather, we should work to live each day to the fullest and to make it productive for ourselves and others.

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Commentary on Daniel 2:31-45

Daniel, we saw in yesterday’s reading, had been blessed with a divine gift for interpreting dreams. King Nebuchadnezzar has had a series of dreams, but he cannot remember their contents and this greatly disturbed him. He calls in all his wise men and astrologers to interpret them. Naturally, without being told the contents, they cannot do so, although they apparently go into all kinds of rambling disquisitions to cover their ignorance. The king goes into a rage and wants them all executed. Daniel and his companions are also to be given the same fate.

Daniel then approaches the king’s chief executioner to ask the king to hold off the executions (in which he would also be involved) because he wants the opportunity to interpret the king’s dreams. He is then brought into the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, who asks if Daniel can interpret his dreams. The young man says that all the wise men and soothsayers in the kingdom did not know how to interpret the dreams, but:

…there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries…
(Dan 2:28)

He is the one who, through Daniel, will tell the king what is going to happen in the final days.

Daniel then begins his interpretation. He knows that the king is concerned about the future. It has been revealed to Daniel, not because he is wiser than anyone else, but so that the king can learn the meaning of his dream and to understand his innermost thoughts.

It is at this point that today’s reading begins, with a description of the contents of the dream and the meaning of its symbols. This, says Daniel, is what the king saw:

…a great statue. That statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its midsection and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron; its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

As the king watched in his dream, a stone broke away, untouched by any human hand. This stone struck the feet of iron and clay and shattered them. Then all the rest of the statue collapsed and broke into fine pieces:

…and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found.

On the other hand:

…the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Now, says Daniel, comes the interpretation of the dream.

First, about Nebuchadnezzar himself, God has given him sovereignty, power, strength and honour. Daniel pointedly notes that the source of the king’s power is God and not the divine nature which Nebuchadnezzar claims for himself. In addition, all human life and all other life have been entrusted to his rule. He is the head of gold in the dream.

After him will come another kingdom, of silver, which will not be as great as Nebuchadnezzar’s, followed by a third of bronze, which will rule the whole world.

Then there will be a fourth:

…strong as iron; just as iron crushes and smashes everything…

And, like iron, it will crush and break all earlier kingdoms.

The feet—part iron and part clay—represent a kingdom that will split in two, but will maintain some of the strength of iron: in other words, the kingdom will be partly hard and partly brittle. And just as the feet are a combination of earth and clay, so the two will be “mix[ed] with one another in marriage”. But they will not hold together, any more than iron and clay can.

Then it is that God will set up a kingdom never to be destroyed, a kingdom which will not pass into the hands of another race. On the contrary, it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and last forever. This is symbolised by the stone, untouched by human hand, which broke away and reduced all the metals to powder.

Daniel concludes:

The great God has informed the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain and its interpretation trustworthy.

For us, at this distance in time, the interpretation itself needs some further elucidation. The references are to actual historical dynasties which succeeded one another.

The gold head represents the Neo-Babylonian empire; the silver chest and arms, the Median empire; the bronze belly and thighs, the Persian empire; and the iron legs, the Greek empire established by Alexander the Great (about 330 BC).

The iron will be the strongest, the kingdom of Philip of Macedon and his famous son, Alexander (the Great), and will overcome all others. With his death, Alexander’s kingdom divides, but cannot reunite because the iron and clay of the feet will not blend. After Alexander’s death, his empire was divided among his generals. The two resulting kingdoms, which most affected the Jews, were the dynasty of the Ptolemies in Egypt, and that of the Seleucids in Syria, who tried in vain by war and through intermarriage (“mix with one another in marriage”) to restore the unity of Alexander’s empire.

The diminishing value of the metals from gold to silver to bronze to iron represents the decreasing power and grandeur of the rulers of the successive empires, from the absolute despotism of Nebuchadnezzar to the relatively democratic system of the Greeks. The metals also symbolise a growing degree of toughness and endurance, with each successive empire lasting longer than the preceding one.

Last of all comes the messianic kingdom. The stone hewn from the mountain is the messianic kingdom awaited by the Jews. This is an apocalyptic prediction, about which Daniel does not yet know the way in which it will be realised. He sees it still as something exclusively Jewish (“nor shall this kingdom be left to another people”).

But with the coming of Jesus, the form of the prediction becomes clear. He is the stone which breaks away from the mountain. He is the Messiah come to establish the everlasting Kingdom of God, very different from the preceding empires which have now all been reduced to dust and blown away like chaff. The empires of the earth collapse and give place to a new kingdom which, being founded by God, is everlasting—the Kingdom of God. Jesus will later refer to himself as the cornerstone:

…the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
it has become the cornerstone. (Acts 4:11)

The cornerstone formerly rejected as the foundation stone is a clear allusion to the stone which breaks away from the mountain and crushes him on whom it falls.

Our reading ends with Daniel’s interpretation, but we may as well add in the conclusion of this narrative. In spite of the disturbing nature of the interpretation as far as Nebuchadnezzar is concerned, he is deeply moved and uncharacteristically falls prostrate before Daniel as to a god. He acknowledges the greatness of Daniel’s God:

Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery! (Dan 2:47)

It will not be the last time the king acknowledges the God of Israel.

Daniel is then rewarded by being made governor of the whole province of Babylon and chief sage of the kingdom and given many gifts. However, Daniel entrusts the running of the province to his three companions while he remains in attendance on the king.

This vision and its interpretation, of course, is not just a historical narrative. It is a special message of hope for a people who are under the cruel persecution of the tyrannical King Antiochus, about whom we were reading last week in the books of the Maccabees.

And history confirms that no dynasty, no political power, lasts for ever. In the not too distant past, we have seen the collapse of powerful (and very anti-Christian) empires—German Nazism and Italian Fascism and Soviet Communism. The millions of peoples who suffered under these regimes must have felt at times very much like the Jews under Antiochus. Yet, all these regimes collapsed—and much more rapidly than most had hoped for or expected. History in the future will confirm the same about today’s regimes that now project evil.

For us Christians, our hope is not based on human power, but on God because God represents truth and justice and these must always prevail in the end. As Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar:

The dream is certain and its interpretation trustworthy.

Our lives are based not on any earthly regime, but on the rock that is our Christian faith. The Kingdom of God is the stone which grew into a great mountain, filling the whole world.

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Commentary on Wisdom 3:1-9; Matthew 10:17-22

The Gospel reading is from Matthew. It is from the teaching that Jesus gives to his disciples before sending them out on their mission to do the same work he was doing. The reading gives a description of the kind of reception that they can expect in their missionary work.

It is a description of the experiences that Christians were already undergoing in parts of the Church when this gospel was written. And, it is a description of persecution that has taken place right through the history of the Church down to our own days.

Jesus warns his disciples that they will be hauled before courts and flogged. They will be called before kings and governors. And it will be an opportunity to give witness to their faith and loyalty to Christ and his Gospel. They are not to worry about what they will say. The right words will come when they need them, and this promise has been fulfilled many times.

One of the saddest features of these persecutions is that it will divide families—brother will betray brother, parents their children and vice versa. In short, they will be hated by many, not because of their criminal or immoral behaviour, but simply because of their allegiance to Christ and his Way. But those who hold out to the end will win a life that will never end.

The 117 martyrs we remember today, not to mention a much larger number of which there is now no written record, all went through the experiences listed by Jesus. Today we honour their memory and see the fruits of their sacrifices in the vibrant Church in Vietnam today.

The First Reading is from the Book of Wisdom and speaks about the fate of the dead. It is a reading often used in Requiem Masses. It applies all the more to the martyrs we commemorate today:

For the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster
and their going from us to be their destruction,
but they are at peace.
For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.

Their sufferings were not final:

Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of himself…

And in their turn:

They will govern nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord will reign over them forever.

For those who have heard the call, whether they are Jews or ‘Greeks’ (i.e. Gentiles), Jesus Christ is clearly the power of God, the Word of God, the Wisdom of God:

For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. (1 Cor 1:25)

In the eyes of many, these martyrs’ life would be deemed a disaster. Yet their violent death is now a source of inspiration for Vietnamese Catholics today, who can still be harassed by an unbelieving government simply because of their faith.

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Christian missionaries first brought the Catholic faith to Vietnam during the 16th century. The first two apostolic vicariates were established in 1659.

The traditional Vietnamese religion is Buddhism, mixed with elements of Taoism, Confucianism and the cult of ancestors. When Christianity came with missionaries early in the 16th century, it was seen as a foreign element and during the following three centuries (1625-1886) became the object of persecution.

During the first 20 years of the 19th century, Christianity made steady progress, but this was dramatically interrupted by the persecutions under the Annamite emperors Minh-Mang (1820-40) and Tu Dúc (1847-83). From 1832, Minh-Mang banned all foreign missionaries and ordered Vietnamese Christians to renounce Christianity by trampling on a crucifix. Churches were to be destroyed and teaching Christianity forbidden. Many suffered death, and many others endured extreme hardship.

Altogether, during the first 200 years of Christianity in Vietnam, it is estimated that some 100,000 Christians were martyred, but there is little historical record of most of them. They came from the three Vietnamese kingdoms of Tonkin, Annam and Cochin China.

Imprisoned bishops, hardly 30 years old, were given a piece of bamboo as crozier and a paper mitre, while older priests were put on display in cages to be publicly mocked, although often with the opposite effect. Poor peasants were murdered for refusing to trample on a crucifix. Some of the tortures were barbaric, and the persecutions have been compared with those of ancient Rome.

Among the Vietnamese priests who suffered martyrdom was Andrew Dũng-Lạc, who was chosen to represent a first group of 117 who were martyred. His original name was Dũng An Tran. He was born about 1795 into a poor family in Bac-Ninh in north Vietnam. At the age of 12, the family was forced to move to Hanoi where his parents could find work. While there, Andrew met a Christian catechist who gave him food and shelter. He was also instructed in the Christian faith for three years before being baptised in Vinh-Tri and given the Christian name of Andrew.

After learning Chinese and Latin he became a catechist. He was then picked out to study theology and on 15 March, 1823 was ordained priest. As parish priest in Ke-Dâm he was an indefatigable preacher. He frequently fasted and lived a very simple life. His good example led many to become Christians.

In 1835, he was arrested and imprisoned under emperor Minh-Mang’s persecutions (this emperor has been called ‘Vietnam’s Nero’). However, Andrew was freed thanks to money given by members of his congregation. To avoid persecutions, he changed his name from Andrew Dũng to Andrew Lạc and moved to another prefecture. However, on 10 November, 1839, he was again arrested, this time with Peter Thi, another Vietnamese priest whom he was visiting to make his confession. Again, together with Peter Thi, he was liberated for a sum of money. But the period of freedom was brief. Once again, they were re-arrested and taken to Hanoi where they were subjected to dreadful tortures. On 21 December, 1839, they were beheaded. Andrew was beatified in the first group of Vietnamese martyrs on 27 May, 1900.

During this time, Christians were marked on their faces with the words ta dao (= false religion), husbands were separated from their wives, and children from their parents. Christian villages were destroyed and their possessions distributed.

Among the most significant of the martyrs was Théophane Venard of the Paris Mission. A schoolmaster’s son, he was born at Saint-Loup-sur-Thouet, Deux-Sèvres, in 1829. He joined the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris from the Poitiers diocese seminary and was ordained priest in 1852. In 1854, he was sent to Tonkin in a time of persecutions. Expelled from Nam-Dinh in 1856, he went to Hanoi, where renewed persecutions obliged him to hide in caves and small boats. Finally, he was arrested, placed in a bamboo cage, and ultimately in 1861, beheaded for the Christian faith. His letters and his example inspired the young Theresa of Lisieux to volunteer for the Carmelite convent at Hanoi. But because of her tuberculosis, she was not able to go. In 1865, Vénard’s decapitated body was brought back to his society’s church in Paris. With 19 other martyrs from this area, he was beatified in 1909.

In June 1862, a treaty between France and Annam guaranteed religious freedom. This marked the beginning of the end of the persecutions. The 117 martyrs were beatified in four groups, the first of them on 27 May, 1900 (Pope Leo XIII), the second (all Dominicans) on 20 May, 1906, a third group on 2 May, 1909 (both by Pope Pius X) and the last (including the two Spanish bishops) on 29 April, 1951 (Pope Pius XII). They were all canonised in Rome on 19 June, 1988 by Pope John Paul II.

Of the 117 martyrs celebrated today 96 were Vietnamese, and 21 foreign missionaries. Of the Vietnamese, 37 were priests and 59 lay people, among whom were catechists and members of third orders. One of them was a woman, a mother of six.

Of the missionaries, 11 were Spaniards—6 bishops and 5 priests, all Dominicans (OP), and 10 were French—2 bishops and 8 priests from the Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris (MEP, Paris Foreign Missions).

Of those who died, 76 were beheaded, 21 suffocated, 6 burnt alive, 5 mutilated and 9 died in prison as a result of torture. A detailed description of their sufferings is found in a moving letter written by seminarian Paul Le-Bao Tinh to the seminary of Ke Vinh in 1843:

I, Paul, chained for the name of Christ, wish to tell you the tribulations in which I am immersed every day, so that you, inflamed with love for God, may also lift up your praise to God, “for his mercy endures forever”. This prison is truly the image of the eternal Hell: to the cruelest tortures of all types, such as fetters, iron chains and bonds, are added hate, vindictiveness, calumny, indecent words, interrogations, bad acts, unjust oaths, curses and finally difficulties and sorrow. But God, who once freed the three boys from the path of the flames, is always with me and has freed me from these tribulations and converted them into sweetness, “for his mercy endures forever”. Assist me with your prayers so that I may struggle according to the law and indeed “fight the good fight” and that I may be worthy to fight until the end, finishing my course happily; if we do not see each other again in this life, in the future age, nonetheless, this will be our joy, when standing before the throne of the spotless Lamb, with one voice we sing his praises, exulting in the joy of eternal victory. Amen

On 24 November, 1960, Pope John XXIII established the Catholic hierarchy in Vietnam. There are about 5-7 million Catholics, about 6-7 percent of the population—all the fruits of martyrs’ blood.