Sunday, August 14, 2011
Independence Day
Today is Independence Day in India, a land that is Mother to many
people, mentalities, religions and languages. Today the Roman
Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of our
Lady. Let us remember India. Let us delve into this great
mystery of a woman's assumption into Heaven.
HOMILY:
Most cultures, even today, are elusive with regard to women.
In Greek mythology, woman was 'Penia', or 'Want'. Man was
'Poros', or 'Fulness' and 'Wealth'. Plato and Aristotle never
included woman into their scheme of human society. Woman lacked
volition and intelligence. They were certainly not capable of
achieving any equilibrium and good.
Indian society has had some shining examples of women all through
its history right down to our present days. But in daily life
and in the average family, woman are kept as handmaids of their
husbands. The practice of 'Sati', illegal though it is, was
based on the idea that a woman formed part of her husband's self.
She had no right to exist apart from her husband. Why, the
number of female feticides performed even today in India is
shocking!
Even Hebrew society, though it had some very astounding women on
the national scene, never actually treated women with the respect
that is their due.
Today's readings speak of great signs and symbols that fill the
sky, our horizon. Signs and symbols are truths about an unseen
reality. Something is being thrown together before our eyes, but
unfortunately, because of our defective vision, we only see it
dimly and in part.
There are many things that strike me in these readings.
First and foremost is the fact that God works through woman for
the good of human kind and His universe. In God's eyes, woman is
no less a partner of His than man. Does this not really puncture
our male ego of its sense of greatness and importance?
A second fact is that woman is equally important to man in the
fulfilment of Creation, Redemption and Sanctification. All the
readings are about women and God's creative, redemptive and
salvific action through them.
A third fact is that woman is pregnant and labouring. She is
crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Even today, the vast
majority of them are pregnant and labouring, crying aloud in the
pangs and hope of human dignity.
A fourth fact is that although she is considered lowly in our
society, God exalts her. God does great and wondrous things
through woman.
A fifth fact is that in God's eyes, man and woman are not
competitors. In God's eyes, both Man and Woman are His partners.
Consequently, man and woman are also partners of each other. To
each a task. To each a fruit.
Perhaps, the greatest challenge of the Feast of the Assumption
is this: woman has her task and fruit to bear forth in human
society. She has her future that is as heavenly as that of every
man.
Do we Christians, at least, realize and foster the dignity of
woman as God is showing us through these great signs and symbols?
Shalom!
people, mentalities, religions and languages. Today the Roman
Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of our
Lady. Let us remember India. Let us delve into this great
mystery of a woman's assumption into Heaven.
HOMILY:
Most cultures, even today, are elusive with regard to women.
In Greek mythology, woman was 'Penia', or 'Want'. Man was
'Poros', or 'Fulness' and 'Wealth'. Plato and Aristotle never
included woman into their scheme of human society. Woman lacked
volition and intelligence. They were certainly not capable of
achieving any equilibrium and good.
Indian society has had some shining examples of women all through
its history right down to our present days. But in daily life
and in the average family, woman are kept as handmaids of their
husbands. The practice of 'Sati', illegal though it is, was
based on the idea that a woman formed part of her husband's self.
She had no right to exist apart from her husband. Why, the
number of female feticides performed even today in India is
shocking!
Even Hebrew society, though it had some very astounding women on
the national scene, never actually treated women with the respect
that is their due.
Today's readings speak of great signs and symbols that fill the
sky, our horizon. Signs and symbols are truths about an unseen
reality. Something is being thrown together before our eyes, but
unfortunately, because of our defective vision, we only see it
dimly and in part.
There are many things that strike me in these readings.
First and foremost is the fact that God works through woman for
the good of human kind and His universe. In God's eyes, woman is
no less a partner of His than man. Does this not really puncture
our male ego of its sense of greatness and importance?
A second fact is that woman is equally important to man in the
fulfilment of Creation, Redemption and Sanctification. All the
readings are about women and God's creative, redemptive and
salvific action through them.
A third fact is that woman is pregnant and labouring. She is
crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Even today, the vast
majority of them are pregnant and labouring, crying aloud in the
pangs and hope of human dignity.
A fourth fact is that although she is considered lowly in our
society, God exalts her. God does great and wondrous things
through woman.
A fifth fact is that in God's eyes, man and woman are not
competitors. In God's eyes, both Man and Woman are His partners.
Consequently, man and woman are also partners of each other. To
each a task. To each a fruit.
Perhaps, the greatest challenge of the Feast of the Assumption
is this: woman has her task and fruit to bear forth in human
society. She has her future that is as heavenly as that of every
man.
Do we Christians, at least, realize and foster the dignity of
woman as God is showing us through these great signs and symbols?
Shalom!
Prayers for Freedom
Prayers for Freedom
Gracious God, when the struggles of life hem me in on every side, open me to the freedom of your presence that can help me see beyond every restriction, every limit that binds me.
O God, give me the wisdom to see the subtle ways people can be enslaved and the courage to speak for those who have no voice. I ask this for the sake of your love.
Gracious One, may we honor the freedom you have given each of us, by refusing to judge those who are different from us. Gracious God, when the struggles of life hem me in on every side, open me to the freedom of your presence that can help me see beyond every restriction, every limit that binds me.
O God, give me the wisdom to see the subtle ways people can be enslaved and the courage to speak for those who have no voice. I ask this for the sake of your love.
O God, when we wake to yet another day of wonder and joy in the beauty of your creation, give us the heart to keep our needs simple, our desires soft, our wills pliable, so that we never participate in the exploitation of the earth, which is the work of your hands.
CELEBRATE WHAT?
On Independence Day we will be thinking about freedom, and I submit to you that Easter and Passover are like a spiritual Independence Day. What I'm getting at is that Easter provides all of us every Sunday (and every day, for that matter) with some basic freedoms that are very worth celebrating.
If you're not sure whether you have anything to celebrate this morning, let me offer four freedoms that come to my mind this morning:
I.Freedom from high pressure and hard-heartedness. The message of Easter is that the cross is empty. All of the burden that we put upon ourselves to succeed, to do right, to prove that we're better than others, or the constant drive to accumulate treasures rather than sharing with those less fortunate is completely unnecessary. What a relief that is from self-imposed demands! The wonderful good news is that God loves us and accepts us. Such generous, gracious, unconditional love frees us to live for others. Everything that there is to earn or win is ours as a gift from our Creator. It's yours for the asking and it's yours both to enjoy and also to give away.
II. Freedom from hatred and blame-fixing. We don't have to get involved in the way of the world where, all around us, we see and hear people scapegoating one another. The world seeks "an eye for an eye," retaliation and revenge. As Christians we are enabled to understand, to love and to forgive. We don't have to rail against terrorists, Arabs, welfare cheats, corporate extortionists, drug dealers or anybody else. The blood of Jesus, the true paschal lamb, is available for the doorpost of every person on this planet. Easter tells us that it is God who said these words, "Forgive them because they know not what they do." Easter frees us to read the headlines and run the courtrooms with the firmness and compassion of justice rather than blind vengeance.
III. Freedom from habits that consume us. I don't care whether your particular habit is smoking, pills, drinking, gossip, TV shows, or whatever it is that eats up your time, treasure and talent. I'm talking about those diversions that we employ to avoid facing reality. What Easter does is to tell us that reality is OK—that, as Jesus showed on the cross when he was offered drugged wine to ease the pain, we don't need any opiates. Easter offers no Utopia but it says that God goes with you into all the darkness and pain and that, with him, we are "more than conquerors."
IV. Freedom from the hell of separation. Not only all the personal hells of hate, high-pressure, hard-heartedness and habits that consume us find their antidote in Easter's good news—there is also the larger and eternal spectre of alienation and meaninglessness. The promise of the resurrection is empty if it is only the continuation of the same frustration and disappointment that we experience so often here on earth. Immortality without joy, satisfaction and purpose is simply eternal misery. Easter holds out to you the Vision of a new plane of existence in which we are constantly in the loving presence of God—no more loneliness, no more confusion. Is that not a prospect incredibly worthy of celebration?
So, ...let's bring to the altar and celebrate the freedoms that God has given us: freedom from high-pressure and hard-heartedness, hatred and blame-fixing, habits that consume us, and the hell of separation. These are some of the astoundingly freeing dimensions of the new Exodus I want you to know about, and this is why I am convinced that Easter makes all other declarations of independence, bill of rights, magna cartas simply pale by comparison.
Easter says you are free. Not born free—but purchased at a very great price, the suffering and death undertaken for you on the hard wood of the cross. The buyer is none other than God. Your loving creator has bought you back to be with Christ forever. It's a level of freedom with present and eternal dimensions. It's a message that is, literally, life-changing. That's what I intend to celebrate this morning. Will you join me at the banquet table?
If you're not sure whether you have anything to celebrate this morning, let me offer four freedoms that come to my mind this morning:
I.Freedom from high pressure and hard-heartedness. The message of Easter is that the cross is empty. All of the burden that we put upon ourselves to succeed, to do right, to prove that we're better than others, or the constant drive to accumulate treasures rather than sharing with those less fortunate is completely unnecessary. What a relief that is from self-imposed demands! The wonderful good news is that God loves us and accepts us. Such generous, gracious, unconditional love frees us to live for others. Everything that there is to earn or win is ours as a gift from our Creator. It's yours for the asking and it's yours both to enjoy and also to give away.
II. Freedom from hatred and blame-fixing. We don't have to get involved in the way of the world where, all around us, we see and hear people scapegoating one another. The world seeks "an eye for an eye," retaliation and revenge. As Christians we are enabled to understand, to love and to forgive. We don't have to rail against terrorists, Arabs, welfare cheats, corporate extortionists, drug dealers or anybody else. The blood of Jesus, the true paschal lamb, is available for the doorpost of every person on this planet. Easter tells us that it is God who said these words, "Forgive them because they know not what they do." Easter frees us to read the headlines and run the courtrooms with the firmness and compassion of justice rather than blind vengeance.
III. Freedom from habits that consume us. I don't care whether your particular habit is smoking, pills, drinking, gossip, TV shows, or whatever it is that eats up your time, treasure and talent. I'm talking about those diversions that we employ to avoid facing reality. What Easter does is to tell us that reality is OK—that, as Jesus showed on the cross when he was offered drugged wine to ease the pain, we don't need any opiates. Easter offers no Utopia but it says that God goes with you into all the darkness and pain and that, with him, we are "more than conquerors."
IV. Freedom from the hell of separation. Not only all the personal hells of hate, high-pressure, hard-heartedness and habits that consume us find their antidote in Easter's good news—there is also the larger and eternal spectre of alienation and meaninglessness. The promise of the resurrection is empty if it is only the continuation of the same frustration and disappointment that we experience so often here on earth. Immortality without joy, satisfaction and purpose is simply eternal misery. Easter holds out to you the Vision of a new plane of existence in which we are constantly in the loving presence of God—no more loneliness, no more confusion. Is that not a prospect incredibly worthy of celebration?
So, ...let's bring to the altar and celebrate the freedoms that God has given us: freedom from high-pressure and hard-heartedness, hatred and blame-fixing, habits that consume us, and the hell of separation. These are some of the astoundingly freeing dimensions of the new Exodus I want you to know about, and this is why I am convinced that Easter makes all other declarations of independence, bill of rights, magna cartas simply pale by comparison.
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