November 21, 2021
Christ the King – Abbot Daniel Maloney, OSB

About forty years ago, we had a rather unusual candidate here at Assumption Abbey.  His name was Roy Pledger.  Roy was from England (the United Kingdom).  He was about 50 years old and a convert to the Catholic faith.  Roy had been a steward on a cruise ship, among other things, and had traveled around the world.  He was greatly devoted to the British royalty, and he would instruct us in about the various titles of different members of the royal family.  He even got up at 2:00 am one morning to watch the wedding ceremony of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Princess Diana.  Due to problems with immigration officials, Roy could stay with us for only eight months, but he had taught us much about Queen Elizabeth and other members of the royal family.  Today we have the rather unusual feast of Christ the King.  This feast was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, who believed that the world was becoming more and more secular and forgetful of the role of Christ and of spiritual values in human society.  Our readings today remind us that Christ is not a king like human kings or queens, but he does have a spiritual realm.  Lastly, his kingdom has begun, but it will be fully accomplished only at the end of the world.

In today’s Gospel reading from the Gospel of John, Pontius Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus answers, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.  But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”  Jesus is saying that his kingdom is not like the political kingdoms in the world.  This was something that his closest disciples did not fully understand before his death and resurrection.  The disciples of Jesus believed that he was the expected Savior or Messiah, but they thought that he would lead them to military victory and to independence from the Roman Empire.  The mission of Jesus was quite different.  He came to save us from our sins and to enable us to live a holy life.

However, Jesus is indeed a king.  When Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not here,” Pilate, said to him, “Then you are a king?”  Jesus answered, “You say I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  Jesus is somewhat reluctant to state that he is a king, because people could easily misunderstand what he meant.   Jesus is king of a spiritual kingdom.  This kingdom will last forever, unlike worldly kingdoms.  We are subjects of Jesus, and we need to give allegiance to him, even though worldly kings and rulers may persecute us for this.  Our second reading today from the Book of Revelation says that Jesus “has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father.”  We are to obey Jesus, even when it is difficult to do so.  We have the help of divine grace to stay loyal to Christ in every situation.  There have been many martyrs over the centuries who refused to worship anyone other than Christ and who refused to deny Christ in any way.

While Christ is a king and has an eternal kingdom, we know that it has not yet been brought to completion.  Only at the end of the world will everyone on earth acknowledge Chris as the king of the universe.  Then the everlasting dominion that our first reading from the Book of Daniel speaks of will be a full reality.  Even though the Church and the Christian faith has spread to all parts of the world, there are many people who do not acknowledge Christ as their spiritual head.  Even many people who claim to be Christian do not always obey his commands.  We fall short ourselves in many ways.  Governments and political leaders are becoming more secular, as Pope Pius XI realized in 1925.  Sunday has become just another day for many people, including here in the United States.  However, at the end of world, the situation will be different.  All nations will be judged and will be forced to acknowledge Christ as King.  That is a day that we are to look forward to, for that will be a time when true peace and justice will be present.

In our Eucharist today, we once again proclaim Christ to be our king, and we acknowledge that we are members of his kingdom.  We pray that his kingdom will continue to spread, and that we will be faithful followers of his.  We pray that we will be welcomed into his heavenly kingdom when we pass from this world and that we will reign with him forever.
 

November 7, 2021
32^nd Sunday – Abbot Daniel Maloney, OSB

Father Albert Braun was an American Franciscan priest who was ordained in 1915.  He set a good example in different ways.  He first was assigned to serve on the Apache Reservation in New Mexico.  His parish covered 720 square miles, but he often traveled by horseback.  He lived a simple life and became familiar with Apache ways.  He identified with his people and helped build a new church.  He became a military chaplain win World War I and served in France.  He was wounded as he ministered to the wounded and dying, and he helped to carry men to safety.  He continued to be a chaplain at different times, and just before the United States was involved in World War II, he was assigned to a military unit on Corregidor, an island near Manila in the Philippines.  A Japanese army invaded the Philippines, and Fr. Al was again ministering to the wounded and the dying.  The American army surrendered, and Fr. Al was a prisoner of war for three years.  He and others had little food and suffered from various diseases.  Fr. Al often shared his food with others who were in need.  At the end of the war, Father Al and others were released from a prison camp in Japan, and he weighed only 80 pounds.  He returned to minister at the Apache Reservation and then in Phoenix, Arizona.  He served Mexican migrants in Phoenix, and was able to build a church for them.  He made many sacrifices to serve others and was generous in helping them.  Today’s liturgy tells us about two widows who were known for making sacrifices and for being generous.

Our first reading today from the First Book of Kings features the prophet Elijah, who lived in the 9^th century before Christ.  Elijah predicted a drought and then went into hiding.  He eventually ran short of food and water and went to the town of Zarephath in the territory of Sidon, a pagan area.  There he met a poor widow and asked her for a drink of water.  He also asked her to bring him a bit of bread.  She said that she had nothing baked and had only a handful of flour and a little oil in her jug.  She was intending to prepare something for herself and for her son.  She believed that after that she and her son would die.  Elijah encouraged her to proceed with her plan, but he asked her to make him a little cake.  He then promised her that her jar of flour would not go empty and the jug of oil would not run dry until the Lord would again send rain.  The widow did as Elijah had instructed her. And she and her son were able to eat for a whole year.  It is likely that the widow was pagan and not of the Jewish faith, yet she put her trust in Elijah and in the Lord, the God of Israel.  She was willing to make sacrifices in order to give food and water to Elijah.  Later on in the story, her son dies, Elijah prays for him, and the boy recovers.  The widow continued to put her trust in Elijah and in the God of Israel.  The Gospel reading today from the Gospel of Mark makes two references to widows.  Jesus and his disciples are in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus warns his disciples against the scribes, the experts in the Jewish law, as the scribes seek honor and devour the houses of widows.  The scribes would help widows write their wills, and they often profited by doing so.  Next, Jesus noticed people putting money into the treasury to support the Temple prayers and sacrifices.  Some people give large sums of money, but Jesus praises a poor widow who gives two small coins.  While the widow gave a small amount, it was all the money she had.  Widows at the time of Jesus often had no income and had to depend on gifts from other people.  The poor widow was making a large sacrifice in giving her two coins, all the money she had.  She put her trust in God that God would provide for her.

The two widows also display generosity, which is closely related to a spirit of sacrifice.  The poor widow at the time of Elijah was sharing all the food she had with Elijah.  Her generosity was repaid when Elijah, with the help of the Lord, the God of Israel, was able to supply food for her for a whole year.  The poor widow in the Temple at the time of Jesus was generous in giving all that she had.  She did not hold anything back.  There is a challenge for us today to be generous in our assistance of others.  Like the two widows, we have to trust in God, believing that God will reward for our charity towards others.  Our second reading today, from the Letter to the Hebrews, reminds us of Christ sacrificing himself for us to take away our sins.  We pray that Christ will give us the grace needed so that we can make sacrifices for the sake of others and be generous in responding to the needs of others.

In our Eucharist today, we once again give thanks for the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf by being willing to suffer and die on our behalf.  We also give thanks for the example shown us by the two widows mentioned in our Scripture readings today.  We pray that we also will be willing to make sacrifices for the good of others and that we can be generous in helping others.  May we follow the example of Jesus and the saints and be found worthy someday to be in God’s kingdom forever.

 

October 31, 2021
31^st Sunday – Abbot Daniel Maloney, OSB

Just before I was ordained, there was a practice known as junior clergy exams.  Priests who had been ordained for only a few years had to study some area of theology, and they would have to pass an oral exam on that area.  I went to graduate school right after my ordination in 1968, so I never had to take one of these exams.  Someone told me that in a junior clergy exam before I was ordained, a young priest was asked, “What is the most important virtue for a priest?”  He answered, “Charity!”  He was told that the correct answer was prudence.  It was presumed that he had charity, but prudence was essential to make good decisions.  I tend to believe that the answer of the young priest was correct, that is, charity is the most important virtue for a priest, even though prudence is important.  Today we hear about the two great commandments of the Jewish law, love of God and love of neighbor, which are part of the theological virtue of charity.  It is important that we practice love of God and love of neighbor.  It is also important to know what these two commandments involve.

The context for today’s Gospel reading from the Gospel of Mark is the time Jesus spent in Jerusalem during his public ministry just before his suffering and death.  A scribe, that is, a Jewish man who was an expert on the Jewish law, asked Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”  The Jewish scribes believed that there were 613 laws in the Old Testament.  Most of these, if not all, were contained in the first five book of the Old Testament.  These books were known as the Torah or the Law.  There was some debate among the scribes over what law or laws were the most important.  Jesus answers the question with two quotations from books of the Law.  Jesus says that the first commandment is, “Hear, O Israel!  The Lord our God is Lord alone!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”  This commandment is taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible.  Jesus continues by saying that the second commandment is, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus adds, “There is no other commandment greater than these.”  This second commandment is taken from the Book of Leviticus, the third book of the Bible.  While the scribes would probably agree that the love of God is the greatest commandment, they may have been surprised by Jesus adding love of neighbor as the second greatest commandment.  However, the Jewish scribe who had asked the question agreed with Jesus.  Jesus said that the scribe was “not far from the kingdom of God.”  Yet we may wonder what these commandments ask us to do today.

The first great commandment deals with loving God with our whole self.  For the Jewish people, there was a covenant agreement between the Lord, the God of Israel, and the Jewish people.  The Lord, the God of Israel, would give special protection to the Jewish people.  In turn, the Jewish people were to be faithful to the Lord, the God of Israel, especially by keeping the Ten Commandments and the other commandments given to them.  The first reading today from the Book of Deuteronomy stresses this.  Love of God should be our top priority.  We should use our time, our talent, and our treasures to strive for this in our daily life.  This involves worshipping the Lord, the God of Israel, and no other god.  The Jewish people were often tempted to worship pagan gods.  Some people today tend to engage in religious practices taken from non-Christian religions, such as Hinduism or Native American religion.

The second great commandment concerns love of neighbor.  Jesus expands the meaning of this, as we can notice in reflecting on the teaching given by him in the New Testament.  For one thing, our love of neighbor has to be universal, while the Jewish law applied mainly to other Jews.  Jesus teaches us that we have to love everyone, including strangers and even enemies.  In the Gospel of John at the Last Supper, Jesus tells us that we have to love one another as he has loved us.  We have to be willing to make sacrifices in our love for others.  Jesus laid down his life on our behalf, and we have to be willing to do the same.  This love of neighbor also includes forgiving those who have injured us, which is not easy to do.  I saw a story recently about a woman whose teenage daughter was killed in a car accident.  A drunk driver caused the accident, and he suffered only a minor penalty for what he had done.  This woman was unable to forgive him for some years, but at a religious retreat, the priest director told her she had to forgive this drunken driver.  She was a rather bitter person with no peace.  After she forgave him, she was able to get back to normal and experience spiritual joy and peace.

In our Eucharist today, we give thanks that Jesus came to instruct us about what commandments are truly important.  Jesus stresses that the two great commandments are to love God with our whole self and our neighbor as ourselves.  Jesus shows us in his actions how this is to be carried out, especially by being willing to suffer and die to bring about our salvation.  In the Eucharist, Jesus give us special grace so that we can carry out his commands and follow his example in our daily life.  Let us pray that Jesus will help us to love God and our neighbor so that one day we may enter his kingdom forever.
 

October 24, 2021
30^th Sunday – Abbot Daniel Maloney, OSB

Among our five senses, the sense of sight is a very important one.  We have had a problem with our lights in church recently, which presents a challenge for our liturgical functions.  It is even more difficult to function if we are blind.  Our liturgy today describes Jesus healing a blind man near Jericho.  The healing of the blind man is symbolic in that Jesus came to heal our spiritual sight so that we can know the right path to follow in life.  We can grow in faith and come to a deeper spiritual understanding.  We can also put our faith into action and follow Jesus in our journey through life.

The Gospel of Mark describes Jesus healing a blind man near Jericho.  Jesus is headed for Jerusalem, where he will undergo suffering and death, and Jericho is fairly close to Jerusalem.  The blind man, Bartimaeus, is an example of faith for us as Christians.  First of all, Bartimaeus is an example of someone who has faith in Jesus.  Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside begging.  When he hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”  Bartimaeus has faith in Jesus and recognizes that he is someone special by calling him “Son of David.”  Bartimaeus seems to believe that Jesus is the promised savior or messiah that the Jewish people were expecting.  In our first reading today, the prophet Jeremiah foretells that when the Lord restores his people, the blind and the lame will be their midst. When people told Bartimaeus to be silent, he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”  He maintained his faith when he met opposition.  Secondly, he also grew in faith.  When Jesus stopped and said, “Call him,” people told him to get up because Jesus was calling him.  Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.  Bartimaeus was probably leaving behind any money he had collected in order to have Jesus heal him.  Jesus asked him. “What do you want me to do for you?”  Bartimaeus answers, “Master, I want to see. “  Bartimaeus now shows a deeper faith in Jesus by calling him “Master.”  Jesus tells him. “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”  Bartimaeus was physically blind, but he had spiritual sight.  We have many people who have physical sight, but who lack spiritual sight.  To be spiritually blind can be worse in many ways that to be physically blind. 

The last sentence of today’s Gospel shows us a third way in which Bartimaeus becomes even stronger in his faith.  St. Mark tells us, “Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the road.”  Bartimaeus now becomes a disciple.  He puts his faith into action by being willing to follow Jesus into Jerusalem.  We know that when Jesus comes into Jerusalem, he will suffer and die.  Bartimaeus is willing to suffer and die with him, although we do not know if this actually happened.  The healing of the blind man tells us that we are called to be people of faith who are willing to leave everything behind and follow Jesus.  Our second reading today from the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that that Jesus is the great high priest who intercedes for us, the Son of God.  Jesus is the one who can save us, and he is the one who can give us the grace that is needed to follow him, despite all the difficulties involved.

In our Eucharist today, we once again give thanks that Jesus came to be our savior and that he was willing to suffer and die to bring about our salvation.  We give thanks that Jesus can heal us in various ways and can help us to grow in faith.  May the story of the healing of the blind man help us to gain spiritual sight and to put our faith in Jesus.  May we follow the example of the blind man by becoming a disciple of Jesus and following him in our journey through life.  May we someday be found worthy to be Jesus’ kingdom forever.