Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 03-18-05, Optional, St. Cyril of Jerusalem

March 18, 2005
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Psalm: Friday 14

Reading I
Jer 20:10-13

I hear the whisperings of many:
"Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!"
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
"Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him."
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 18:2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7

R (see 7) In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.
R In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
R In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.

Gospel
Jn 10:31-42

The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?"
The Jews answered him,
"We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God."
Jesus answered them,
"Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, "You are gods"'?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God'?
If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.

He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,
"John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true."
And many there began to believe in him.

From: John 10:31-42

Jesus and the Father Are One (Continuation)

[31] The Jews took stones again to stone Him (Jesus). [32] Jesus
answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for
which of these do you stone Me?" [33] The Jews answered Him, "We stone
you for no good work but for blasphemy; because You, being a man, make
Yourself God." [34] Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your
law, `I said you are gods'? [35] If He called them gods to whom the
word of God came (and Scripture cannot be broken), [36] do you say of
Him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, `You are
blaspheming,' because I said, `I am the Son of God'? [37] If I am not
doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me; [38] but if I do
them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you
may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the
Father." [39] Again they tried to arrest Him, but He escaped from
their hands.

[40] He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John at
first baptized, and there He remained. [41] And many came to Him; and
they said, "John did no sign, but everything that John said about this
Man was true." [42] And many believed in Him there.

Commentary:

31-33. The Jews realize that Jesus is saying that He is God, but they
interpret His words as blasphemy. He was called a blasphemer when He
forgave the sins of the paralytic (Matthew 9:1-8), and He will also be
accused of blasphemy when He is condemned after solemnly confessing His
divinity before the Sanhedrin (Matthew 26:63-65). Our Lord, then, did
reveal that He was God; but His hearers rejected this revelation of the
mystery of the Incarnate God, refusing to examine the proof Jesus
offered them; consequently, they accuse Him, a man, of making Himself
God. Faith bases itself on reasonable evidence--miracles and
prophecies--for believing that Jesus is really man and really God, even
though our limited minds cannot work out how this can be so. Thus, our
Lord, in order to affirm His divinity once more, uses two arguments
which His adversaries cannot refute--the testimony of Sacred Scripture
(prophecies) and that of His own works (miracles).

34-36. On a number of occasions the Gospel has shown our Lord replying
to the Jews' objections. Here He patiently uses a form of argument
which they regards as decisive--the authority of Sacred Scripture. He
quotes Psalm 82 in which God upbraids certain judges for acting
unjustly despite His reminding them that "You are gods, sons of the
Most High, all of you" (Psalm 82:6). If this psalm calls the sons of
Israel gods and sons of God, with how much more reason should He be
called God who has been sanctified and sent by God? Christ's human
nature, on being assumed by the Word, is sanctified completely and
comes to the world to sanctify men. "The Fathers of the Church
constantly proclaim that what was not assumed by Christ was not
healed. Now Christ took a complete human nature just as it is found in
us poor unfortunates, but one that was without sin, for Christ said of
Himself that He was the one `whom the Father consecrated and sent into
the world'" (Vatican II, "Ad Gentes", 3).

By using Sacred Scripture (cf. Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; Luke 4:1, 17) Jesus
teaches us that Scripture comes from God. Therefore, the Church
believes and affirms that "those divinely revealed realities which are
contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to
writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Holy Mother Church,
relying on the belief of the Apostles, holds that the books of both the
Old and New Testament in their entirety, with all their parts, are
sacred and canonical because, having been written under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 20:31; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21;
3:15-16) they have God as their author and have been handed on as such
to the Church. [...] Therefore, since everything asserted by the
inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the
Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scriptures must be
acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that
truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our
salvation" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 11).

37-38. The works which our Lord is referring to are His miracles,
through which God's power is made manifest. Jesus presents His words
and His works as forming a unity, with the miracles confirming His
words and His words explaining the meaning of the miracles. Therefore,
when He asserts that He is the Son of God, this revelation is supported
by the credentials of the miracles He works: hence, if no one can deny
the fact of the miracles, it is only right for Him to accept the truth
of the words.

41-42. The opposition offered by some people (cf. John 10:20, 31, 39)
contrasts with the way other people accept Him and follow Him to where
He goes after this. St. John the Baptist's preparatory work is still
producing results: those who accepted the Baptist's message now look
for Christ and they believe when they see the truth of what the
Precursor said: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God (John 1:34).

Work done in the Lord's name is never useless: "Therefore, My beloved
brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1
Corinthians 15:58). Just as the Baptist's word and example had the
effect of helping many people later to believe in Jesus, the apostolic
example given by Christians will never be in vain, even though the
results may not come immediately. "To sow. The sower went out...
Scatter your seed, apostolic soul. The wind of grace will bear it away
if the furrow where it falls is not worthy.... Sow, and be certain
that the seed will take root and bear fruit" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 794).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

FEAST OF THE DAY

St. Cyril was born around the year 315 of Christian parents and
raised in the city of Jerusalem. As a young man, Cyril received an
excellent education, especially in religious matters. This religious
education helped Cyril discern his vocation to the priesthood, and
later served him well as a preacher and bishop. After his ordination
to the priesthood, Cyril first worked with catechumens preparing
them for entrance into the Church. While doing this work, he
published a book for use as a teaching aid.

After working for some time as a priest, Cyril was elected to serve as
bishop of Jerusalem. Soon after his consecration, he became
involved in a dispute with an Arian bishop. Over the course of this
bitter dispute, Cyril was exiled three times and continually faced
great amounts of work in trying to unify his diocese and in stamping
out heresy. Cyril was present at various councils throughout the
fourth century that tried to settle the strife caused by the Arians, and
always served as a major presence in them. After a life of continual
work for orthodoxy, Cyril died around the year 386.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

It is not only among us, who are marked with the name of Christ, that
the dignity of faith is great; all the business of the world, even of
those outside the Church, is accomplished by faith. By faith,
marriage laws join in union persons who were strangers to one
another. By faith, agriculture is sustained; for a man does not endure
the toil involved unless he believes he will reap a harvest. By faith,
seafaring men, entrusting themselves to a tiny wooden craft,
exchange the solid element of the land for the unstable motion of the
waves. Not only among us does this hold true but also, as I have
said, among those outside the fold. For though they do not accept
the Scriptures but advance certain doctrines of their own, yet even
these they receive on faith. -St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechesis V)

TODAY IN HISTORY

417 Pope St. Zosimus begins his reign
731 Pope St. Gregory III begins his reign

TODAY'S TIDBIT

The Arian heresy was one of the major hurdles faced within the early
Church. This heresy denied the divinity of Jesus saying that he was
only human, not both human and divine. Many of the early fathers of
the Church tailored arguments to address this issue and thereby
solidified beliefs about the Faith which have been passed down to
us.

INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray for peace.

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Father, through Cyril of Jerusalem you led your Church to a deeper understanding of the mysteries of salvation. Let his prayers help us to know your Son better and to have eternal life in all its fullness. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Activities:

Prayers:

March 18, 2005

Optional Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop, confessor and doctor

Old Calendar: St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, was banished from his see on three occasions. With St. Athanasius and others, he belongs to the great champions of faith in the fight against Arianism. Famous as a teacher and preacher, he has left a series of catechetical instructions that constitute a priceless heirloom from Christian antiquity. Of the twenty-four extant discourses, nineteen were directed to catechumens during Lent as a preparation for baptism, while five so-called mystagogical instructions were given during Easter time to make the mysteries of Christianity better known to those already baptized.

The Station, at Rome, is in the church of St. Stephen on Monte Celio. This church of the great proto-martyr was chosen as the place where the faithful were to assemble on the Friday of Passion week.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Cyril of Jerusalem was given to the study of the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and made such progress that he became an eminent champion of the orthodox faith. He embraced the monastic institute and bound himself to perpetual chastity and austerity of life. He was ordained priest by St. Maximus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and undertook the work of preaching to the faithful and instructing the catechumens, in which he won the praise of all. He was the author of those truly wonderful Catechetical Instructions, which embrace clearly and fully all the teaching of the Church, and contain an excellent defense of each of the dogmas of religion against the enemies of the faith. His treatment of these subjects is so distinct and clear that he refuted not only the heresies of his own time, but also, by a kind of foreknowledge, as it were, those which were to arise later. Thus he maintains the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the adorable sacrament of the Altar. On the death of Patriarch St. Maximus, the bishops of the province chose Cyril in his place.

As Bishop he endured, like blessed Athanasius, his contemporary, many wrongs and sufferings for the sake of the faith at the hands of the Arians. They could not bear his strenuous opposition to their heresy, and thus assailed him with calumnies, deposed him in a pseudo-council and drove him from his see. To escape their rage, he fled to Tarsus in Cilicia and, as long as Constantius lived, he bore the hardships of exile. On the death of Constantius and the accession of Julian the Apostate, Cyril was able to return to Jerusalem, where he set himself with burning zeal to deliver his flock from false doctrine and from sin. He was driven into exile a second time, under the Emperor Valens, but when peace was restored to the Church by Theodosius the Great, and the cruelty and insolence of the Arians were restrained, he was received with honor by the Emperor as a valiant soldier of Christ and restored to his see. With what earnestness and holiness he fulfilled the duties of his exalted office was proved by the flourishing state of the Church at Jerusalem, as described by St. Basil, who spent some time there on a pilgrimage to the holy places.

Tradition states that God rendered the holiness of this venerable Patriarch illustrious by signs from heaven, among which is numbered the apparition of a cross, brighter than the sun, which was seen at the beginning of his Patriarchate. Not only Cyril himself, but pagans and Christians alike were witnesses of this marvel, which Cyril, after having given thanks to God in church, announced by letter to Constantius. A thing no less wonderful came to pass when the Jews were commanded by the impious Emperor Julian to restore the Temple which had been destroyed by Titus. An earthquake arose and great balls of fire broke out of the earth and consumed the work, so that Julian and the Jews were struck with terror and gave up their plan. This had been clearly foretold by Cyril. A little while before his death, he was present at the Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, where the heresies of Macedonius and Arius were condemned. After his return to Jerusalem, he died a holy death at sixty-nine years of age in the thirty-fifth year of his bishopric. Pope Leo XIII ordered that his office and mass should be said throughout the Universal Church.

Things to Do:

Read part of St. Cyril's Catechetical Lectures On the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is very fitting meditation material for Lent.

Read Pope Pius XII's encyclical in praise of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Orientalis Ecclesiae.

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	Do You Hear Mainly What You Want to Hear?
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Friday, March 18, 2005

Jer 20:10-13 / Jn 10:31-42

For too many of us too often, conversation is a game, whose only goal is winning. It’s a deadly game, and both truth and love are its victims. How clearly we can see that in today’s gospel. Jesus wanted to give his listeners life, but all his listeners wanted was to win an argument. It was a short-sighted, fear-driven choice to be sure, and it left them empty handed in the end.

Jesus is making the same offer to us now. “Come with me,” he says, “and I’ll show you the way to a life that’s not only full and rich but everlasting as well. Just walk with me, listen to me, watch what I do, and then you do the same. It will take some close listening and some re-thinking of old habits, but I’ll help you,” says Jesus.

What a great offer Jesus is making to all of us: To be our mentors as we try to grow up and grow whole. But our selective listening, our hearing only what we want to hear or expect to hear, can frustrate even Jesus’ best efforts. If the re-thinking that we’re supposed to be doing in Lent is to have any value, our listening skills have to improve and our hearts have to become much more open, and much less fearful.

Trust the Lord and take the risk of listening to everything he has to tell you. After all, he knows it all. Wouldn’t you be foolish not to listen?

A Voice in the Desert

Friday March 18, 2005 Fifth Week of Lent

Reading (Jeremiah 20:10-13) Gospel (St. John 10:31-42)

We hear the statement at the end of the Gospel that many people began to believe in Him. The question has to do with what it is that they began to believe. Jesus made it very clear, and the Jewish people understood exactly what He said: He is God. Before Abraham was, I AM. That “I AM”, again, is Yahweh. They understood this perfectly well, and so they were going to stone Him.

Now the question is: who is Jesus? There are some who would like to try to water this down and suggest that Jesus was a prophet, He was a good man, He was a teacher. Well, we need to look at that. Jesus tells us that He is God. If He is a good man, a good man would not lie. If Jesus is not God, then He is a liar. And so we could not call him a good man if in fact He is lying to us about who He is. Now that would assume that He knew He was not God and that He just made this whole thing up. The other possibility is that He is insane. There are lots of insane people who think they are God. Or the other possibility is that He is Who He says He is. Those are the only three possibilities. He is either a liar, He is insane, or He is God.

If people began to believe in Him, it is ultimately to believe that He is indeed the Person that He says He is, that He is God, that He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of the living God. We cannot water it down simply to say that He is a good man or that He is a just man, because if that is all we are trying to do, we become a liar because a good and just man is not going to lie; and a good man and a just man is not going to be insane. So if Jesus is neither a liar nor insane, then we have to say that He is telling us the truth. He knows exactly Who He is, He is of sound mind, and He is speaking the truth. If that be the case, then He is God. And if we are going to believe in Him, then it is to believe in Him in His fullness, not to water it down in the least, but to accept the fullness of the truth. And the fullness of the truth is the very Person of Jesus Christ. So when He speaks the truth, He is simply speaking according to His nature. He cannot lie. God, Who is truth, cannot speak anything that is false.

So when Jesus spoke so that we would believe in Him, when He did the works of His Father so that we would believe in Him, when He is consecrated so that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him and now He is in us, and if He is in us and the Father is in Him, so too is the Father in us along with the Holy Spirit because they cannot be separated, again, we ask the question: who is He? If we want to believe that Jesus is in us, how is it possible unless He is God? We see the implications immediately then of any attempt to try to water things down, to rationalize this; it cannot work. We either have to be on one side of the fence or on the other. He is either God or He is not. If He is not, then there is absolutely no reason for anybody to put any faith in Him in any way, shape, or form, because if He is not God then He is either a liar or a lunatic. And if you are putting faith in someone who is a liar or a lunatic then you are responsible and you are at fault. But if He is God, then we have to do what He is telling us. If we are going to say, “I believe,” then the question is: why are we not living the fullness of what we profess to believe? Again, the implications come right back to us. We have to look at Him and ask the question that He asked the disciples: Who do people say that I am? And if we acknowledge the truth of Who He is – You are the Christ; You are the Son of the living God; You are the One Who is to come into this world; You are God; You are the Second Person of the Holy Trinity – then we need to change our lives. If we are going to sit back and say, “I believe He is God, BUT…” then we are in trouble because we condemn ourselves with our own words. We have acknowledged Him to be God, but we refuse to believe or to accept or to live the fullness of the truth. There are no but’s about it. If He is God, then live the faith. If He is not, then we should be a million miles away because if we are going to put faith in someone who is lying to us, or if we are going to put faith in someone who is insane, then we need to check our own sanity because it is pure foolishness on our part.

But if He is God, then serve Him as God. Do not try to walk both sides of the fence and do not try to water it down. Joshua, 3500 years ago, called the people to task and he said, Choose today whom you will serve – to serve the Lord, your God, or to serve the gods of the country into which you are crossing the Jordan to enter. You have to make a choice. As he said at that time, and each one of us needs to say, As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

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