Passion

His state was divine,

yet Christ Jesus did not cling

to his equality with God

but emptied himself

to assume the condition of a slave,

and became as men are,

and being as all men are,

he was humbler yet,

even to accepting death,

death on a cross.

Philippians 2:6 - 8

It is such an overused word, so overused that its meaning has been devalued to ‘really like’ or 'it's my thing'. It’s such a pity, for once it meant ‘strong and barely controllable emotion…’ Passion takes its roots from the Greek, pascho, to suffer. In the Latin translation of the scriptures (the Vulgate) the word passio specifically referred to Jesus’ suffering, his agony in the garden, his trial, his being stripped of his clothes and whipped, his humiliating crowning with thorns, the bearing of his cross, his crucifixion.

Passion came to mean something for which we would suffer for or endure, for to follow our passion would be a most difficult task. A young singer desperate to sing for Opera Australia might plot and plan to achieve that goal, will endure poverty, disappointment and lowly roles in order that their passion may be satisfied. What is your real passion? What would you endure for your passion?

Like you, I suspect, my passion is my family. This passion is born from a deep desire to envelop, nourish and protect – even though they are independent adults! This passion is life-giving and life-affirming, for it requires the total gift of myself for those whom I love and in return - I am loved.

At the centre of our faith is the proclamation of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus (the kerygma) and it is through Jesus’ Passion and Death that we are overwhelmed by his utter self-giving, he choses this pain as a life-offering for those whom he loves. That is, us.

The journey into Jerusalem on a donkey is the beginning of Jesus’ journey to the hill of Calvary. This story is retold on the Sunday we call Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. On this day the entire Passion narrative is read – each aspect of his pain and suffering is recounted, each a further token of his love, each a further step towards the cross.

It is from these darkest moments, and indeed the darkest moment of all, that God’s greatest plan is revealed: Jesus must die if he is to rise from the dead. The pivotal act of his death sets in motion a new era in humanity’s story of salvation. Jesus’ Passion is what makes it possible for us to hope and dream, to anticipate eternal life. His blood, his life, is poured out for many (Matthew 26:28) for you and me so that we may live life, live it to the full.

Allow yourself the opportunity to remember this passion story this Sunday: reflect, pray, worship. Remember how much you are loved.

Peter Douglas

Find Mass this week online at:

St Mary’s Cathedral: 10.30am Sundays:

 https://youtu.be/sQ0NWbB8mcI

           

St. Therese’s Moonah:                        

https://www.facebook.com/sttherese.oflisieux.75/videos/292734098360967/

           

Sandy Bay/Taroona Parish: 6pm Saturdays:

https://www.facebook.com/SandyBayTaroonaParish/videos/626364491545352/?rf=189891144365752

Bellerive/Lindisfarne Parish: 9am Sundays: 

https://www.facebook.com/belleriveparish/videos/206909217301725/

           Kingston-Channel Parish - 10am Sundays:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWsCT3P6Cwt5YV4jio3VBgQ

Mersey-Leven Catholic Parish - 9.00am Sundays

For livestream https://zoom.us then click join a meeting and when it asks for Webinar ID type in 970 306 715 and click enter. You will be asked to load zoom meeting then enter an email address and you are in!

Faith in Isolation

https://www.faithinisolation.com/

This is a project of Peter's House. As we journey towards Easter this year, this season of Lent now clearly coincides with circumstances never experienced by this generation. The world is gripped with fear and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. While governments, institutions, and organisations react to this unprecedented and seemingly uncontrollable crisis, our populations are being forced into isolation, separated from friends and family.

As Catholics, our experience of isolation extends even deeper; into our faith life. In line with governmental precautions, many people are unable to attend Holy Mass and some areas of the world are unable to have any public Masses. This is not the first time the Catholic community has been unable to attend Mass and, whilst this is a deeply saddening situation, the Catholic Church has given us tools of prayer for us to continue to walk with Christ in our isolation. 

Faith in Isolation is a platform which aims to bring unite us together through the creation of content from not only our team, but other incredible organisations too.

The Lent in Isolation Video Series aims to deliver spiritual nourishment to all of those in isolation at this time. Starting on Thursday, 19th March, you will be able to access recordings of the daily readings, Gospel reflections from our priests, and be led prayerfully through an act of Spiritual Communion. 

We are relational beings, made for community. Our hope for this initiative is that despite physical distancing from each other, we may continue to share in the beautiful, intricate and powerful tradition of the Church together, in a unique way.  

Do you believe this?

‘I am the resurrection and the life.

If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,

and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this?’

John 11:25 - 26

Since the advent of national health, antibiotics, hip and knee replacements and many other extraordinary developments in medicine and health care, the expectation is that we would see out our biblical three score and ten (translated in 2019 to 80.4 years for males and 84.6 for females, compared to 47.2 and 50.8 years, respectively, in 1881–1890). Many of our parents and grandparents came from large families, due in measure because disease and misadventure deprived so many families of their children. In my father's case he was one of eleven. Two of his elder brothers were killed in action barely having reached their twenties. Another elder brother drowned as a young child. A sister died of pneumonia aged 16, and another of pneumonia aged 34.

This was not untypical. The promise of eternal life was not a panacea for grief, but for many it put a context to lives cut short. God knew us before we were born (Jeremiah 1:5) and our names are inscribed on the palm of his hand' (Isaiah 49:16). One only need to watch the videos of the intensive care units in Lombardy to see the devastating effect of the COVAD-19 virus. Bodies are cremated without mourners, families locked down in their homes. We must remain confident, that even in the midst of this tragedy, God knows my name.

There are challenges as time moves on. As if poking their fingers at the virus, bathers on the beaches of Sydney last weekend totally disregarded social distancing warnings. Then at odds with this were those who assailed our supermarkets, placing their hope in full cupboards. Is this about control or loss of control over our own lives?

In the end, it is not about who's in control nor about the length of our lives, but how full we live our lives. At the centre of our relationship with Jesus is faith - and hand in hand with that faith walks hope and love. Our forebears knew they had to live life fully, for at any time they could lose a loved one to (what today may be considered) the most innocuous of illnesses. Their faith carried them forward, their neighbours gave them support.

If love for others, hope in eternal life and faith in Christ were manifest in our lives, might not our response to the virus be very different? Jesus (Matthew 6:19 - 21) advises:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also

We need to be prepared for an uncertain future, but preparation based on strong foundations. The long view and the short view is that God loves us and offers each and every one us the opportunity of eternal life with him. Do you believe this? If so, let us act accordingly.

Peter Douglas

Moses and the virus

21 March 2020

by Gerald McDermott

My friend Pesach Wolicki is an Orthodox rabbi in Israel.  This week he published an article in the Jerusalem Post that addresses the question many  Jews and Christians are asking, Is God trying to tell us something through this pandemic?  I find his answer to be compelling.

It has to do with repentance and humility, two things that Christians are admonished to search in Lent.  Perhaps Rabbi Wolicki’s reflection will help us Christians ponder the irony that this crisis has arisen in our Lenten season.

“We live in uncertain times. The coronavirus pandemic is spreading rapidly. At great cost to their economies, governments are enacting state of emergency measures to bring the contagion under control. The numbers of sick and dying are rising sharply daily.

“When the world experiences unprecedented crises, people seek answers. For people of faith, this search for answers often expresses itself in attempts to determine the reasons that God is doing what He is doing. And herein lies a grave danger.

“Over the past few weeks, I have seen articles in Jewish and Christian mass media that have made a wide range of claims about coronavirus. One writer quoted a rabbi stating that coronavirus is God’s way of punishing the evil Chinese, as well as the Iranians. A video being circulated quotes rabbinic leaders saying, without equivocation, that no God-fearing, Torah observant Jews would be infected. Yet another published “news” item claimed that since “corona” means “crown”, the pandemic is a clear sign of the imminent arrival of the Messiah.

“For people of biblical faith, the restoration of Israel after two millennia of exile is a clear sign that God is still faithful to His promises. We are living in times that were yearned for by Jews before us for nearly 2,000 years. But this perspective must not mutate into conjecture about what God will do next or what the reasons are for the spread of a deadly disease.

“’So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.’” – Exodus 33:22-23

“This verse does not mean, merely, that God knows things that He has not told us yet. This verse tells us to be humble. To be very careful before declaring that we have God all figured out. One of the fundamental stances of faith is humble submission to the fact that we do not know what God is doing until the dust settles.

“After the sin of the Golden Calf (Ex. 33), Moses asked of God, “Show me Your Glory.” In other words, Moses asked to understand how God is known in the world. God responded that humans are incapable of seeing God, of understanding Him, as living beings. God went on to offer Moses a glimpse of Him.

“While God is acting, while He is passing by, our eyes are covered. We are blind. It is only after events have occurred, after God’s next move in history is completed, that we have any vision at all. We only see God’s back. The Hebrew word for back, AHOR, is not the Hebrew word for the physical part of the body called the back, GAV. Rather, AHOR connotes what is behind; what has happened in the past.

“The message is powerful. While events are taking place in our world, we are blind. We have no way of knowing what God is doing and why He is doing it. Our understanding of God begins after the event has passed. We see only God’s back.

“To claim knowledge of what exactly God is doing is arrogance, not faith. I should note that in none of the articles or videos that I have seen that claim to know divine reasons for coronavirus did I see the words, “perhaps” or “maybe”. This unqualified certainty about God is nothing short of heresy. Faith does not demand, or even encourage, trying to figure God out. To declare that we know God’s thoughts is not faith. It’s blasphemy.

“Jewish tradition teaches us that when tragedies befall the community, we are required to look into ourselves and seek ways to improve our behavior. Uncertain times call for humility and introspection. The assumption is that we do not know why tragedies happen and therefore must use unsettling circumstances as an impetus towards greater piety. Declarations that tragedies befalling the community are the result of someone else’s sins, that we the faithful are doing just fine, represent the polar opposite of this sentiment. Faith-based eschatological conspiracy theories are expressions of arrogance, not faith.

“This same arrogance had led to many in the Torah observant community to be lax in carrying out the directives of the Health Ministry and the prime minister. Confident that God will protect them, they continue, as of this writing, to gather in larger than legal numbers and instruct their schools to continue operation. Jewish tradition teaches that, “We do not rely on miracles”. Yet, these reckless spokesmen for God do not care.

“Rather than setting the highest example of the concern for human life and society, irresponsible religious leaders are confidently declaring that God will protect us. Where is the humility?

“As people of faith, our primary concern at this time should be for the victims of the virus, and for the safety of everyone in society. Arrogant public statements about which enemies God is punishing and how wonderful and protected we are because we know what God is thinking, reveal the unfortunate dark side of faith.

“It’s time for all who have faith in God to show compassion and humility rather than blasphemous arrogance.”

Rabbi Pesach Wolicki is a writer, speaker, and consultant in the field of Jewish-Christian relations. He lives in Bet Shemesh.

Water of life

 

‘Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again;

but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give

will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give

will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.’

John 4:14

Our planet cannot survive without water. All living creatures need water to live. Water is one of keys to life in our universe, albeit, a major key. The enormous pain that we as a country have experienced over the past few years or more of drought has to be balanced by the joy, and then the fear, of the extensive flooding across Queensland, northern New South Wales, Victoria and even here in Tasmania.

While water is both a recreational activity and a place of work, many lives are lost at sea, in rivers and lakes. In the new age of climate change, whole government agencies have been established to reduce the damage done by our output of carbon into the atmosphere. The debate continues over the location of desalination plants. Water is high in the political, economic, social and environment agenda.

In our Christian experience water is a symbol for life itself. The Jews of Jesus’ time already possessed a deep and rich understanding of the meaning of water – it signified divine vitality, revelation and wisdom. In John’s Gospel (4:1-42) the author contrasts the water of Judaism (which cleans, satisfies thirst and promotes life) with the life-giving water of Christ. The Samaritan women to whom Jesus offers this water becomes confused, perhaps thinking that Jesus is offering her running water, rather than water from the well. But no, the water Jesus is offering will quench one’s thirst forever. The links to our baptismal waters are evident.

The ambivalence between water’s life-giving qualities and its death-bringing aspects provides us with a dilemma. In baptism we are reborn and made anew in Christ, and our sinful past is washed away, we are new creations. When whole townships are washed away, the locals often use similar baptismal language, for they rebuild and start anew.

For us there is only one baptism. How, then, do we continue to seek that living water once we have been baptised? And for that we return to the divine vitality, revelation and wisdom which water symbolised to the Jews. And these may be found by enriching our spiritual lives through prayerful reading of the scriptures, through participation in the living Christian community of worship and through a life of good works and giving alms. The image of living water would then make true sense. As Sunday’s antiphon invites us: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

                                                                                                                     

Peter Douglas

Use the force

There are 10 countries in which the Catholic Church has no child protection policies whatsoever. That was the startling statistic that emerged last week as the Vatican marked the first anniversary of its historic summit aimed at fighting the scourge of abuse around the world.

In 2011, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) asked all bishops’ conferences to draw up policies for handling abuse allegations. These texts did not need to be as detailed as, say, the child protection policies of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In fact, they could consist of little more than a preamble and a few quotations from The Code of Canon Law.

Nevertheless, nine years on there are 10 jurisdictions that have produced no written policy at all. This is a pity, but there may be good reasons why they have failed to do so. As officials explained to reporters in Rome last Friday, the 10 countries (which they declined to name) suffer from war and extreme poverty. In such conditions even something as vital as child protection norms comes second to the sheer struggle for survival.

On the first anniversary of the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, the Vatican was understandably keen to put a positive spin on its efforts to halt abuse. Perhaps it is indeed an achievement for the Church to have guidelines on combating abuse in all but 10 nations worldwide. But it seems that in many cases the policies are rudimentary and urgently in need of updating.

In its quest for good publicity, the

Vatican also announced an eye-catching new initiative last week: a “task force” to help bishops’ conferences to either develop or update procedures for handling abuse cases. This body will consist of canon lawyers and other experts, and will be led by the Maltese professor Andrew Azzopardi, a protégé of Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who has done more to fight abuse than almost any other figure in the Church. The new group has a dedicated email address, taskforce@org.va, where bishops and religious superiors will be able to seek answers to their child protection questions. We applaud the Vatican for taking this step. Many bishops’ conferences

The abuse ‘task force’ can only respond to requests and has no power to compel desperately need help in the battle against abuse. Azzopardi’s team should be of some assistance to them. It is good news as well that the CDF is preparing to release a handbook helping bishops and heads of religious orders to understand how they are supposed to handle abuse allegations. We also note the other major steps that the Vatican has taken since the child protection summit in February 2019. Last May, Pope Francis issued Vos estis, which seeks to ensure that Church leaders are held accountable for their handling of abuse cases. In December, the Pope lifted the pontifical secrecy rule in abuse cases. These are all excellent measures.

But, as always, there are some caveats. First, the new task force can only respond to requests for assistance. In other words, even though the body is under the protection of Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the number three official in the Vatican Secretariat of State, it has no power to compel laggardly bishops’ conferences to produce adequate guidelines.

Second, the task force is being funded by donors to a dedicated fund rather than by the Vatican itself. The Holy See may be experiencing financial difficulties, but surely it should be prioritising child protection. The Church is, after all, unable to proclaim the Gospel effectively if it is seen to be indifferent to the welfare of its most vulnerable members.

Third, the task force will only have a two-year term. Given the slow progress so far, it’s unlikely that all the world’s bishops’ conferences will have effective, up-to-date guidelines by 2022.

Fourth, as the Vatican observer John Allen has pointed out, the idea of assisting bishops’ conferences with their guidelines is not new. Indeed, that was supposed to be one of the tasks of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, founded by Pope Francis in 2014. Over the past six years, the Pontifical Commission has been scandalously underfunded and marginalised. So, as Allen noted, it is unclear whether the new task force is “a response to a genuine lacuna in the system, or … just bureaucratic duplication that may not actually add value”.

In two years’ time we will know which of these descriptions is most apt. For now, we should welcome the new task force and pray for its success.

CATHOLIC HERALD, MARCH 6 2020 3

The greatest story

Lord, let your mercy be on us

as we place our trust in you

Ps 32:22

We are part of an extraordinary story that reaches back into pre-history. At various moments in this story, events occurred that were so significant, that they were passed on, in very fine detail, to generation after generation by word of mouth. As writing developed, these stories were drawn into the written record. The reverence given these words set them aside as venerable and honourable. In time they entered the sacred canon of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The message that was imprinted on the Hebrew mind and consciousness was that God had an abiding interest in – and concern for – humanity. Their experience told them that God loved them and wanted them to be in close relationship with him. The story they recorded related humanity’s somewhat sorry attempts to maintain that relationship. But it also reminded them that whenever humanity fell short, God provided even more generously – sending the Patriarchs, kings and prophets. Then, in his own time, he sent Jesus. In Jesus, the message affirmed God’s love and the call to return to God, the call to a change of heart.

The church itself has not always done so well, and it too has had to listen and re-listen to the stories and message of its forebears. New prophets, new patriarchs and saints were sent to challenge the wayward and call it them to fidelity.

There is a point, somewhere in the future, at which we Christians anticipate that our relationship with God will be set right once and for all, where the full meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection will make sense and accomplish all that was promised.

We are privileged to be the spiritual descendants of Abraham, to be sharers in God's grace, 'already been granted to us, in Christ Jesus, before the beginning of time' (2 Timothy 1:9). It is our story too. And we too are called to account for ourselves before the Lord, for our own brokenness, for our own shortcomings, for our lack or loss of commitment, for forgetfulness, for jealousy and impatience, for our desire for more of everything, for our offhanded slights of others.

Knowing the sacred stories of our faith is to be able to step into the panorama where God walks with his creatures and where we may even come to know - with the help of the Spirit - the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:11). Read the scriptures and the call to metanoia will be overwhelming.

Our Lenten readings this week retell the call of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-4), the saving power of Jesus (Timothy 1:8-10) and the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9). Psalm 32 is a most fitting response and whose beautiful and powerful antiphon, Lord let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you is our prayer and our plea this day. Our God is calling us home.

Peter Douglas

TOO MUCH EXCESS!

by Kevin Bates SM

Comedian and sometime quirky social commentator H G Nelson had as one of his mantras: “When too much fun is never enough”. In his own way he was taking the mickey out of a restless culture that is never satisfied with what it has. The longing for what is around the next corner shapes so much of our society and we all run the risk of taking it as a given.

The boot’s been on the other foot these past months as this restless culture has been subjected to the restlessness of nature with its own version of excess

Huge bushfires, some lasting for 174 and 204 days among many others, gave us a fearsome taste of nature’s own excess. There were lives lost, properties destroyed, communities decimated and wildlife destroyed by the unimaginable power of the raging fires.

Smoke covered Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and parts in-between, causing health concerns and making life very uncomfortable even for people not involved directly in battling the fires. Nature’s excess made us all shrink in size!

Then came the longed-for rain, not in gentle showers but in the form of “catastrophic” wind and storms. It filled up our dams, flooded our neighbourhoods and disrupted our power supplies. Once again nature’s excessive force had its way with us.

While grateful for the rain, we didn’t enjoy the excessive power of nature much which rendered us powerless and out of control. Nature’s expressions of excess didn’t sit well with us. We didn’t own or control them and we were not comfortable.

In times more normal for us, we are in the driver’s seat and we are the ones who develop our own culture of excess. We think of this as good and satisfactory and sometimes with little thought for the consequences.

One woman writer whose name escapes me, recently noted that if everyone lived at the standard that she was enjoying, we would need four and a half earths.

Just as we felt overwhelmed by the fire, smoke and storms, we can well imagine how most people in the world feel when they look at our wealth and our “lifestyle” as we like to call it. Our excessive wealth creates confusion, fear, envy and a feeling of powerlessness from which there seems no escape.

Before we bash ourselves up too much about this, we can note that the world has probably always been pretty much this way.

Here are a couple of great saints from the early Church to bring our reflection to a close and to give us food for thought:

"The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry man, the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the man who has no shoes, the money which you put in the bank belongs to the poor. You do wrong to everyone you could help but fail to help. St. Basil, 330-379

"Do you wish to honour the body of Christ? Do not despise him when he is naked. Do not honour him here in the church building with silks, only to neglect him outside, when he is suffering from cold and from nakedness. For he who said, 'This is my Body' is the same who said 'you saw me, a hungry man, and you did not give me to eat'. Of what use is it to load the table of Christ? Feed the hungry and then come and decorate the table. You are making a golden chalice and you do not give a cup of cold water? The Temple of your afflicted brother's body is more precious than this temple. (The church building). The Body of Christ becomes for you an altar. It is more holy than the altar of stone on which you celebrate the holy sacrifice. You are able to contemplate this altar everywhere, in the markets and in the open squares." St. John Chrysostom, 349-407

May our excess be one of love, justice and abundant grace.

Father Kevin SM

Kevin is parish priest at Holy Name of Mary Parish in Hunters Hill, NSW. He is a very well known composer, singer, retreat master and theologian.

Of ascesis and penance

Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry, and the tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves.' But he replied, 'Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'

Matthew 4:ff

The beginning of Lent will probably be met with utter indifference by many today. Yet this season in the church’s life is deeply rich in history, tradition and meaning. It is a most beautiful and moving opportunity to walk with one another as we share part of the mystery of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem.

The 4th Precept of the Church advises (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2043: "You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church") ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.

Now that’s the teaching and it translates into something like this:

Ash Wednesday, 26 February and Good Friday, 10 April 2020, are days of fasting and abstinence. Fridays of Lent are also days of abstinence.

Fasting is to be observed by all 18 years of age and older, who have not yet celebrated their 59th birthday. On a fast day one full meal is allowed. Two other meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to each one’s needs, but together they should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids, including milk and juices, are allowed.

Abstinence is observed by all 14 years of age and older. On days of abstinence, no meat is allowed. Note that when health or ability to work would be seriously affected, Church law does not oblige. When in doubt concerning fast and abstinence, the Parish Priest should be consulted.

Fasting, almsgiving, and prayer are the three traditional disciplines of Lent. The faithful and Catechumens should undertake these practices seriously in a spirit of penance and of preparation for Initiation into the Church or the renewal of Baptism Promises at Easter.

But let’s be aware of the invitational nature of this teaching. We are called into relationship with God, and while we know and can acknowledge all that God offers us, in this season, we are called to give in return – of ourselves, of who we are, of what we possess, of what we desire. And unlike the rich man in the Temple we are bidden to do all this in quiet, unknown to others except to God.

Matthew (4:1 – 11) tells us the story of Jesus’ 40 days and nights of fasting in the wilderness and the temptations put before him – food, divine and earthly power. The temptations were aimed at his perceived weaknesses, but it is the very fact that Jesus has fasted and prayed that gives him the strength to reject the power of evil. Our own society, cities and towns provide temptations too many to count – all aimed at our perceived and known weaknesses. The great stories of the Church remind us that prayer and fasting will energise us and guide us away from those forces that would sorely test us.

Enter these coming weeks to learn, to grow and to strip away the unnecessary from your life, and walk humbly with your God.

Peter Douglas

AT CROSS PURPOSES

by Jon M Sweeney

Lent begins next week with a Gospel reading that is often misunderstood by Christians. A leading Catholic writer, who is married to a rabbi, considers how we might faithfully observe Ash Wednesday without scapegoating the Jewish people

“REPENT and believe in the Gospel,” the priest says as he uses his thumb to daub a cross of ashes on our foreheads. More than any other day of the year, on Ash Wednesday we focus our minds on repentance for what is past and begin again to try to live the Gospel. What might that look like?

At Mass we hear a familiar passage from the Gospel of Matthew. “Jesus said to his disciples,” it begins. Then: “Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in Heaven. Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others.”

So, whatever living the Gospel might mean, it is something very different from what all those hypocrites in the synagogues are doing, right? How many of us leave church, a dusting of ash still on our foreheads, feeling a little smug, proud not to be like those hypocrites in the synagogues?

I’m a Catholic; my wife, Michal Woll, grew up a Reform Jew in Chicago’s suburbs and is now a rabbi in the progressive Reconstructionist tradition. I worry about those who leave church on Ash Wednesday, and go back to work, or do the shopping, misunderstanding the meaning of Jesus’ words, imagining that as long as they are not like those hypocritical people – perhaps the ones “in the synagogues” – they will be favoured by God.

THEY MIGHT EVEN pass by a synagogue as they walk home from church. One year, when my wife and I were living in Brooklyn, I remember passing three synagogues on my walk back to our apartment after attending Mass on Ash Wednesday. I wondered, as I walked, how many Christians might be thinking to themselves, as they passed one of those synagogues, “Those Jews, they are so unlike Jesus, and so different from how Jesus asked me to be.”

Jesus was a Jew. Jesus was a rabbi. In fact, Jesus still is a Jew. And when he said those words that we read in Matthew 6 he was, of course, talking to his fellow Jews. To get the real flavour of his repeated admonishment, “as the hypocrites do in the synagogues”, you need to translate it, “as the hypocrites do in the churches”. If we want to imagine ourselves, today, standing in front of Jesus, as he looks us in the eye and speaks directly to us, then the “hypocrites” he speaks of … could be us. We often read and hear nowadays about the Jewishness of Jesus. A wealth of new information and resources is changing how Christians and Jews relate to each other, and how Christians understand the origins of their faith. To follow Jesus more closely during Lent, think of him as teaching us to be good twenty-first-century Christians rather than bad first-century Jews. The author of Matthew was Jewish, and he was arguing with other Jewish understandings of Jesus. To understand the jarring phrase “in the synagogues” we have to grasp the infighting between different Jewish groups that was going on when Matthew’s Gospel was written. And we should try to read Scripture as it applies to our own life, not the lives of others. This is fundamental to reading the Gospel correctly – on Ash Wednesday, and every other day. Scripture should never be read as a way of condemning someone else.

The bishops of England and Wales have dedicated 2020 as a year of focus on the Bible and “The God Who Speaks”, and there is a range of events, activities and resources we can participate in this Lent. Some priests and biblical scholars and writers are helping us apply the meaning of the Ash Wednesday readings to our lives through interpretation and discussion and homilies. I know some parishes in the United States where the priest has quietly substituted the word “churches” for “synagogues” in the reading for the day to avoid misunderstandings. What should we do about the ashes on our foreheads when we leave church? “I proudly wear them to the office,” one friend tells me. “To wipe them off would be like denying Christ,” says another. We might have heard the priest saying as he applied the ashes: “Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.” That’s the point – we are being reminded, tangibly as well as intellectually – of this truth. So parading proudly down the high street, or up and down the office, with ashes on our foreheads, to the bafflement of shoppers and colleagues, might seem a good and necessary thing. I understand the feeling. I used to feel that way too. But then I changed my mind.

WHAT DID JESUS say about the hypocrites? “Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in Heaven.” A cross daubed on our forehead should not be seen as a sort of military medal. Look at me, a bold warrior of righteousness in a fallen world. Prayer and holiness are not achievements that earn Scout badges.

And since I married into a Jewish family, I have become keenly aware of how the symbol of the cross – which has such memories and resonances for me and for my Christian family and friends – has different memories and resonances for my Jewish family and friends. It is a symbol that has been tragically and wickedly misused, and that symbolises the centuries-long persecution of Jewish people that culminated in the horror of the Holocaust. For me, at least, wearing a cross on my forehead on the streets or in the office on this, or any other, day, just feels wrong.

The fervency of my prayer on Ash Wednesday is not dampened for a moment by not wearing a badge of piety: “Father, our source of life, you know our weakness. May we reach out with joy to grasp your hand and to walk more readily in your ways. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Jon M. Sweeney is the co-author, with Michal Woll, of Mixed-Up Love: Relationships, Family, and Religious Identity in the 21st Century, and the editor of Jesus Wasn’t Killed By the Jews: Reflections for Christians in Lent (Orbis, £14.50; Tablet price, £13.05). For more details about The God Who Speaks, go to www.cbcew.org.uk/home/events/the-godwho-speaks/

The Tablet, 22 February 2020, pp 12 - 13.