Monsignor Owen F. Campion

  • Heirs of Christ

    22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
    Lk 14:1, 7-14
    The first reading for this weekend’s liturgy is from the Book of Sirach. This book is from that class of biblical writings called the Wisdom Literature, in general, a class of writings representing an effort to combine traditional Jewish belief with the highest of human wisdom.

    The purpose is not to blend these two elements together so that neither has integrity and identity of its own. It is not to equate one with the other, but instead to see great value in human wisdom, but more to the point, that sound human logic has no quarrel for divine Revelation.

    This reading is a statement addressed to a male child (or grandson). Imagining the origins suggested by this style of writing in itself reveals how the Wisdom Literature developed in many cases. Primarily, these books were formed outside the Holy Land. Immigrants from the Holy Land to distant, foreign and pagan places wrote many of these books.

    These authors wished to convince their own children of the worth of the ancient Hebrew religion, so that the religion would survive into the future through the lives of the young.

    In this weekend’s reading, the author of the book, Ben Sira, or son of Sira, tells his son to live his life with humility. Be humble in dealing with others. Humility, not aggressiveness, wins friends and true supporters.

    For the second reading, the Church gives us a section of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Heavy with the richest imagery of the Old Testament, Hebrews both sublimely describes Jesus as the Lamb of God and as the Messiah long promised by God, but it calls Christians to realize their unity with Christ in their faith.

    Through and with Jesus, true disciples go forward through their own life experiences to meet God on the holy mountain, Zion.

    St. Luke’s Gospel is the source of the last reading. It is a parable. Etiquette at the time of Jesus was very important and exacting. Nothing was greater than to be invited to join another in a meal, unless it was to invite another to a meal.

    As to conversation in these social settings, bold assertiveness, and certainly criticism of the host, absolutely were out of place.

    An atmosphere of unspoken deceit surrounds this meal. The Pharisees at the dinner watch Jesus intently, not to learn but to discredit the Lord. They are too smug to learn. Self-centered, they vie for places of honor.

    Jesus spoke frankly and very bluntly. He rebuked the ambitious Pharisees. It needed to be said.

    Reward belongs to God. He gives it to those deserving of it, not in human eyes, but in God’s eyes. We cannot grasp a place at God’s banquet table. Humble in our sinfulness and in our humanity, we must await God’s invitation.

    Reflection
    Humility usually is misunderstood, and in any event it is not cherished in this culture. For decades now, people have been urged to act on impulse and speak their mind, regardless of the effect upon others. “Honesty” has become almost the supreme virtue.

    Deceit is hardly a better way. It is not better to be silent in the face of wrong, or to surrender self to the control of others than to trick anyone. This parable teaches that humans are limited. They are limited in their abilities to perceive accurately, and to act appropriately.

    For this reason, God’s Revelation, made perfect in Christ, is the greatest of gifts. Focusing upon Jesus, humans have before them the best and surest of guides.

    To see the Lord, and then to follow the Lord, humans must humbly admit who and what they are. They are limited, but as Hebrews powerfully assures, they are redeemed, heirs with Christ of the heavenly kingdom.  

    Posted on August 24, 2010, to:

  • Eternal life awaits those who love the Lord

    Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
    Lk 1:39-56
    The Book of Revelation is the source of the first reading on this feast of the Assumption of Mary.
    Catholics remember Revelation by its more historic name, at least in Catholic biblical translations, of Apocalypse. Protestant editions long ago began to entitle this book Revelation, and this name has become more popular. Now it even appears in Catholic translations of the Scriptures.

    However, Apocalypse is a better term, in that it describes the style of literature. It indeed is Apocalypse, a highly symbolic, poetic way of writing.

    Unfortunately, the magnificence, and hopefulness, of the Book of Revelation too often is obscured by an uninformed, and often outlandish, misreading of this book as if it were all about doom and gloom.

    In any case, this book looks to the present, but with a strong glance to the future. It speaks of the battles between good and evil, between God and the forces of sin. It speaks in the sense that the Redeemer has come, but redemption is still being achieved. It speaks with an awareness of the ultimate triumph of good over evil, life over death, and God over sin and despair. Good always prevails.

    In this reading the “woman clothed with the sun” is actually the Church, the virgin bride of Christ. The very light of God envelops the Church. Twelve stars, perhaps representing the holy Apostles, surround her head. Nature, represented by the moon, is at her feet.

    Christians over the years also have seen Mary, the mother of Jesus, in this description. Ever virtuous and faithful, assumed into heaven, brilliant in her holiness, Mary stands before us as a “woman clothed with the sun,” living in the very heavens themselves.

    St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians is the source of the second reading. It recalls that Christ has been raised from the dead. But, Christians loyal to Christ also will be raised from everlasting death. Actually, when the material world will cease, the eternal world of God will endure. There the faithful Christians will live, with Christ, forever.

    For its last reading on this feast, the Church presents the Gospel of Luke, and this Gospel’s magnificent recollection of the prayer spoken by Mary herself as she arrived at the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah. It is the “Magnificat.”

    This passage reveals much about Mary. First, it shows her as the human mother of the Son of God. Second, it reveals her holiness. Mary knew her calling. She knew the divine identity of her unborn child. She prays.

    Mary is part of God’s historic unfolding of salvation, first offered long ago through Abraham, Moses and the prophets. She is the final, and most important, solely human instrument in the fulfillment of Redemption.
     
    Reflection
    This weekend, the Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven.

    Pope Pius XII infallibly declared this belief to be an essential part of Catholic theology in 1954. However, the origins of this doctrine go to the earliest days of Christianity.

    The assumption ultimately illustrates Mary’s uniquely privileged position in the unfolding of salvation. From her, the Redeemer acquired human nature, and only from her. Thus, she was indispensable to the Incarnation, a miracle essential to redemption itself.

    Furthermore, she was the holiest and most perfect of humans, “full of grace,” to quote Luke’s Gospel. She literally was the first Christian, both in chronology and in the perfection of her virtue.
    Fittingly, she received the reward of spiritual and bodily resurrection.

    These readings remind us all that eternal life, and indeed resurrection of the body and soul, await those who truly love the Lord. One day, if we follow Christ, we too will be assumed into heaven.

    Posted on August 11, 2010, to:

  • We are in the hands of God

    18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
    Lk 12:13-21
    The first reading this weekend is from the Book of Ecclesiastes. The first verse states that the book is the work of Qoheleth, a son of King David, although no proper name is used. The book’s origins, despite this tradition, are puzzling.

    The name of this book comes from the Greek, and then the Latin. Furthermore, this book seems to show a Greek influence, and Greek culture did not influence the Jews until centuries after Solomon. However, its Hebrew is of a style used long after Solomon’s time.

    Many scholars today believe Ecclesiastes dates from only two or three centuries before Christ.

    A virtual trademark of this book is its condemnation of human vanity. This scorn of vanity is in this weekend’s reading.

    Vanity of course affronts God, the almighty and the perfect. It also displays the ignorance and illogic of humans, who see in human thought the greatest wisdom. This tendency leads them to regard material wealth as such a value. It also causes them to spurn, or to discount, God.

    For its second reading, the Church presents a passage from the Epistle to the Colossians. Continuing the general message of the first reading, this selection from Colossians calls upon Christians to focus on the things that truly matter, namely the things of God, counseling believers to rise upon temptations of this world, and it sees sin as in essence idolatry. 

    St. Luke’s Gospel furnishes the last reading. Jesus appears in this reading as a mediator, asked by “someone in the crowd” to resolve a dispute about inheritance. Readers of the Gospel are accustomed to such questions being put to the Lord. Did this person in the crowd, unnamed and unidentified in the Gospel, intend to trick Jesus? To put Jesus in an awkward position? To put Jesus in the middle of an argument?

    Of course, it is possible that the questioner’s intentions were not pure. However, to invite anyone to mediate a dispute was a compliment. Such questioning presupposed that the person being questioned, in fact, possessed knowledge. Furthermore, it presupposed that all sides would respect the integrity and wisdom of the mediator. Not surprisingly, outright strangers, whose credentials were unknown, were never invited to mediate between arguing parties. So, Jesus was in the midst of persons familiar with him, as a person and as a teacher.

    As would have been the etiquette of the time, Jesus hesitates before proceeding.

    Under Jewish custom, surviving children did not have to seek a clear division of a deceased parent’s belongings. So there must have been a problem. Rather than plunging into the argument, the Lord’s advised avoiding greed, insisting that material wealth has no true worth.

    The Lord then tells the parable, or story, of the landowner who had great good fortune. His harvest was great. He plans to store the harvest so as to provide for his easy living in years to come. Such reasoning is foolhardy, Jesus says. No human can truly control his or her future. It would be better to distribute the abundance among the needy.

    Reflection
    From the earliest times in the history of Revelation, the holy have dealt with the human tendency to measure all things, even life itself, in material terms. It was a tendency that with which the author of Ecclesiastes dealt. The Lord Jesus dealt with it.
    These readings do not call us to reckless waste and abandonment of good sense and responsibility. Rather, they remind us that we are in the hands of God. We ultimately control nothing about our future, save by our voluntary decision to be one with God in Christ. In this decision, we assure ourselves a place at heaven’s eternal banquet.

    This lesson is that we should put first things first.       

    Posted on July 27, 2010, to:

  • Nothing is impossible for God 

    16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
    Lk 10:38-42
    The Book of Genesis, unfortunately, bears the burden of being remembered, and usually discussed, only in terms of its Creation Narratives. While the creation of all things and beings in existence by Almighty God is a major revelation, Genesis has much more to say than just about how long it took God to create, from nothingness, the world.

    This weekend’s first reading is an example of the power of Genesis in its revelation of a circumstance far removed from the story of creation.

    It is in the telling the story of Abraham. For the ancient Hebrews, Abraham, who actually lived according to scholars, and who was no mythical or imaginary figure, was the great model of faith. He is no less worthy as a model for Christians.

    In this weekend’s reading, God comes into the presence of Abraham. Three men stand before Abraham, and Abraham receives them hospitably. Abraham offers them drink and food as well as shelter from the hot sun. He tells Sarah, his wife, to prepare the best of foods.

    Then, one of the men tells Abraham that within the year Sarah will give birth to a child. In the ancient Hebrew culture, nothing was more important that the arrival of new life. A child continued the life of its parents. 

    For its second reading, the Church gives us a passage from the Epistle to the Colossians. This epistle was written when Paul was facing one of the hardships he often endured in the process of being an Apostle and of preaching the Gospel. Paul is imprisoned. Yet, he still called the Christians of Colossae to fidelity.

    He still was functioning as an apostle and as a believer, insisting that he was “commissioned” by God to preach the Gospel. Paul himself exemplified faith as much as he wrote about it.

    St. Luke’s Gospel furnishes the last reading. It is a very familiar story. Jesus is in the home of Mary and Martha. He is their guest. Mary wants only to listen to Jesus. Martha is concerned about the details of being the Lord’s hostess.

    Jesus counsels Martha not to worry about these details, but instead to listen — with Mary — to the words of salvation.

    Reflection
    Often Martha is seen either as too preoccupied with herself, forgetting the important things, opposite Mary, a true disciple. Actually Martha was of great faith. In another reading, she rushed to Jesus after the death of Lazarus to express her faith in the Lord as the source of life. This weekend’s story simply shows that Martha was human, confined by human concerns and limitations.

    These three readings altogether teach us that humans have problems, maybe legitimate problems. Sarah was unable to conceive when sterility, especially for a woman of her time, was a great source of scorn and of the personal sense of failure.

    Paul was held in captivity by, at best, ignorant authorities, at worst, the enemies of God and true justice. Martha just was caught up in normal everyday demands of life.

    Yet, despite all these problems, none of these figures lost faith. God entered their lives. Nothing is impossible for God. He is supreme over the constraints of nature and the power of the proud Roman Empire.

    Son of God, Jesus ignored human conventions if salvation was at stake. He went to Martha and Mary, to voice the Good News, when the hard and fast rule was that no single man should never enter the home of a woman or women, and absolutely never take a meal with a woman.

    These readings tell us about our need for God, and on the other hand about God’s power to satisfy us despite our needs. We simply must welcome him, as did Abraham, Martha and Mary.   
     

    Posted on July 13, 2010, to:

  • We find God in Jesus 

    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
    Lk 10:1-2, 17-20
    This Sunday, July 4, 1776, is the greatest of American holidays, recalling the day in Philadelphia when the founders declared the independence from Britain of what was to be the United States of America. It is more than a memorial about the structure of government. It celebrates personal freedom, and beyond, that human dignity.
    As was the case with Father’s Day, the Liturgy of the Word was prepared for the Universal Church, although few parishes this weekend will ignore Independence Day.
    Nevertheless, in the liturgy, the first reading is from the third section of Isaiah. The three sections of this book, so favored over the years by pious Jews as well as devout Christians, saw a great sweep of Hebrew history, from before the Babylonian conquest, through the exile of many Jews to Babylon, the imperial capital, and finally to the Jews’ return to their ancestral home.

    The return was bittersweet. Poverty and despair stalked the land. Cynicism, at best, must have been everywhere. Where was God in all this? The prophet majestically reassured the people that if they are faithful, God will sustain them. 

    The Epistle to the Galatians provides the next reading. In it proclaims Jesus to be the Lord and the Christ. (Christ is not a name but a title. It means the select of God, chosen to be the Redeemer.)

    Also, the epistle makes the strong point that God’s love is for all.

    St. Luke’s Gospel supplies the last reading. Already Jesus is making plans to announce the Good News far and wide. The crucifixion and Resurrection have not yet occurred, but the Lord even now is arranging for all people to be reconciled with God and to find God’s peace and life. Jesus sends 72 disciples, in pairs, to distant places. All is in God’s plan. All are in God’s love.

    Jesus instructs the disciples to carry no provisions. God will provide for them. They must focus their intentions upon their holy mission of representing Jesus, not upon their earthly needs.

    The Lord also warns that many will not accept these delegates from God. Those who rebuke God cannot be coerced to do otherwise. This is their freedom, but also their ignorance. Nevertheless, those who turn away from God and spurn God’s redemption bring doom upon themselves, not as divine revenge, but as simple consequence.

    Reflection
    Signing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, has come to represent the great statement in this society that human freedom is essential for, and integral to, every person. However, human freedom does not mean license. Indeed, our system, evolved from the events of July 4, 1776, cherish laws to protect rights as well as liberties.

    Putting all this in balance means respect one for another. It also assumes that each person has reason and potentially strength.

    This is fully within the historic Catholic concept of human nature and of the identity of each person. No world tradition eclipses the Catholic respect for the individual person. No theology the Catholic belief in the worth, and potential, of each person.

    Respecting another, and realizing personal potential, in the moral sense, is the chore. Original sin has made us all nearsighted and insecure. We are limited, nearsighted and afraid, in spiritual matters as well as other considerations.

    As a spiritual consideration, God has not abandoned us to our plight. He enters our lives and our world. How? He gave us Jesus, so wonderfully extolled by Paul.
    In a word, we need God. We find God in Jesus. If we set our sights on God, as persons or as a nation, we will overcome our nearsightedness and fear and truly reach our potential, of building a society worthy of humans, and of finding eternal life ourselves. 

    Posted on June 29, 2010, to: