Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 12-14-05, Mem., St. John of the Cross, priest & doctor

December 14, 2005
Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

Psalm: Wednesday 1

Reading I
Is 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25

I am the LORD, there is no other;
I form the light, and create the darkness,
I make well-being and create woe;
I, the LORD, do all these things.
Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above,
like gentle rain let the skies drop it down.
Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;
let justice also spring up!
I, the LORD, have created this.

For thus says the LORD,
The creator of the heavens,
who is God,
The designer and maker of the earth
who established it,
Not creating it to be a waste,
but designing it be lived in:
I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Who announced this from the beginning
and foretold it from of old?
Was it not I, the LORD,
besides whom there is no other God?
There is no just and saving God but me.

Turn to me and be safe,
all you ends of the earth,
for I am God; there is no other!
By myself I swear,
uttering my just decree
and my unalterable word:
To me every knee shall bend;
by me every tongue shall swear,
Saying, “Only in the LORD
are just deeds and power.
Before him in shame shall come
all who vent their anger against him.
In the LORD shall be the vindication and the glory
of all the descendants of Israel.”

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14

R. (Isaiah 45:8) Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD – for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior.

Gospel
Lk 7:18b-23

At that time,
John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask,
“Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
When the men came to the Lord, they said,
“John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask,
‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’”
At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits;
he also granted sight to many who were blind.
And Jesus said to them in reply,
“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

From: Isaiah 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25

Cyrus' Mission (Continuation)

[6c] I am the Lord, and there is no other. [7] I form light and create
darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the Lord, who do all these
things. [8] ”Shower, 0 heavens, from above, and let the skies rain
down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout
forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also; I the Lord
have created it.

The Lord Rules Over All (Continuation)

[18] For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who
formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it
a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other.

[21c] "Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I,
the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a
Savior there is none besides me.

[22] ”Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am
God, and there is no other.

[23] "By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in
righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.’

[24]”Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and
strength; to him shall come and be ashamed, all who were incensed
against him. [25] In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall
triumph and glory.”

Commentary:

45:6-7. When these verses were written they may have been designed to
counter dualism (very prevalent among the Persians and their
neighbors), which held that two counterposed principles existed--good
and evil; hence the emphasis on the fact that the Lord is the only
God, the creator of all things of light and of darkness. That would
explain why God is described as the maker of “weal” and “woe”, whereas
because God is infinite goodness he cannot properly be called the
author of evil. However, because Christian readers could find the
statement (in v. 2) disconcerting, exegetes have commented on it.
Origen, quite early on, gave this explanation: “Evil, in the absolute
sense of the word, was not created by God [...]. If we speak of evil
in a loose sense, meaning physical and natural evils, then we can say
that God created it in order to convert men by their suffering. What
is strange about this teaching? We refer to the punishments meted out
by parents and teachers, and even the prescriptions and operations
carried out by doctors and surgeons, as evils and sufferings, without
blaming or condemning them. And that is how we should read the verse:
'I form light and create darkness, I make weal and woe' (Is 45:7)”
("Contra Celsum", 6, 55-56). And St Gregory the Great comments:
“I make weal and woe: the peace of God is offered to us precisely in
the moment when created things, which are good in themselves, though
not always desired or sought with rectitude of heart, become the
source of suffering and disgrace. Our union with God is broken by sin;
it is fitting, therefore, that we return to him along the path of
suffering. When any created thing, which is good in itself, causes us
to suffer, it is an instrument for our conversion, so that we will return
humbly to the source of peace” ("Moralia In Job", 3, 9, 15).

45:8. The terms translated as “righteousness” and “salvation”
correspond to three Hebrew abstract nouns. The first and third
(“righteousness”) mean the same thing. The New Vulgate translates them
as “iustitia” and “salvatio”. But the Vulgate of St Jerome interpreted
the first two as adjectives--”righteous” and “saving”, reading them as
having more direct reference to the Messiah, the “Just (One)”, the
“Savior” and giving rise to a text that is used in the Advent liturgy:
“Rorate coeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum; aperiatur terra
et germinet Salvatorem, et iustitia oriantur simul” (“Let the clouds
rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior...“). A
sermon attributed to St Augustine sees these words as finding
fulfillment in the birth of Christ: “Today this prophecy is fulfilled:
'Shower, 0 heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down
righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth.'
The Creator became a creature, so that the one who was lost would be
found. This is what we read in the psalms: 'Before I was brought low,
I sinned. Man sinned and became a criminal; God was made man so that
the criminal could be set free. Man fell, but God descended [from
heaven]; man fell into misery, but God came down in his mercy; man
fell through his pride, God came with his grace” ("Sermones", 128).
And St Proclus of Constantinople, reading these words as a figure of the
virginal birth of Jesus, says: “The skies rain down righteousness: the
sin of Eve has been undone and destroyed by the purity of the Virgin
and by the One who was born of her, God and man. On this day, man is
set free from the prison of sin and the burden of darkness that
weighed him down is lifted from him” ("De Navitate Domini", 1).

45:14-25. Repeatedly the point is made that the Lord is the only God,
there is no other (cf. vv. 14-15, 18, 21, 22). Only God can save. And
so, all the nations are invited to acknowledge his sovereignty and
worship him on Zion (vv. 22-24). Although at the start of the passage
the language has resonances of war (implications of plunder and taking
strong men prisoner: vv. 14-17), this is only a graphic way of
speaking, In fact, the passage has to do with liberation from idolatry
and with allowing oneself be captivated by the truth of that God who
is hidden but who is the only God and true Savior

The words “Truly, though art a God who hidest thyself’ (v. 15) is a
prophetic reflection on the nature of God, a being who is unfathomable, a
mystery to the mind of man, who ordinarily acts through persons and
events in history, without letting himself be seen. This idea, which
has profound and universal philosophical and theological implications,
is very much in line with the historical circumstances--the election
of Cyrus as the person God uses to advance his plans. This whole
chapter is imbued with a universalist outlook, very different from the
attitudes of the people before.

The Fathers saw in Cyrus a figure of Christ. God acted in a hidden way
through Cyrus to bring about the the Godhead hidden in Jesus. The
Septuagint translates “Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself’ as
“Thou art God and we did not know it” which some Fathers read as a
reference to the divinity of Christ: “The Son of God has always been
present, though he hid who he was. When he was revealed in his
glory after the resurrection, the people confessed: 'You are God, and
we did not know it'. And when the one who is seen according to the Law
as a mere Angel and the captain of the Lord’s host is recognized
finally as the Son of God, the people give thanks, saying: 'You are
God, and we did not know it'. What is meant by this is that He is the
one who appeared to the patriarchs, the one who was made man and was
not recognized by men” (Ambrosiaster, "Ad Romanos", 2, 22).

Verse 23b is reminiscent of Philippians 2:10-11, which attributes to
Jesus Christ qualities that the Old Testament applied only to God.

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.

From: Luke 7:18b-23

The Mission of John the Baptist

[18b] The disciples of John (the Baptist) told him of all these things.
[19] And John, calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord,
saying, "Are You He who is to come, or shall we look for another?" [20] And
when the men had come to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to
You, saying, `Are You He who is to come, or shall we look for another?'"
[21] In that hour He cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits,
and on many that were blind He bestowed sight. [22] And He answered them,
"Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are
raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. [23] And blessed is he
who takes no offense at Me."

Commentary:

18-23. "It was not out of ignorance that John enquired about Christ's
coming in the flesh, for he had already clearly professed his belief,
saying, `I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of
God' (John 1:34). That is why he does not ask, `Are You He who has
come?' but rather, `Are You He who is to come?' thus asking about the
future, not about the past. Nor should we think that the Baptist did
not know about Christ's future passion, for it was John who said,
`Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world' (John
1:29), thus foretelling His future immolation, which other prophets had
already foretold, particularly Isaiah (chapter 53) [...]. It can also
be replied, with St. John Chrysostom, that John made this enquiry not
from doubt or ignorance, but because he wished his disciples to be
satisfied on this point by Christ. Therefore, Christ gave His reply to
instruct these disciples, by pointing to the evidence of His miracles
(verse 22)" (St. Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologiae", II-II, q. 2, a. 7
ad 2).

22. In His reply to these disciples of John the Baptist, Jesus points
to the miracles He has worked, which show that he has investigated the
Kingdom of God; He is, therefore, the promised Messiah. Along with
miracles, one of the signs of the coming of the Kingdom is the
preaching of salvation to the poor. On the meaning of "the poor", see
the notes on Matthew 5:3; Luke 6:20 and 6:24.

Following the Lord's example, the Church has always taken special care
of those in need. In our own time the Popes have stressed time and
again the duties of Christians in regard to poverty caused by man's
injustice to man: "Selfishness and domination are permanent temptations
for men. Likewise an ever finer discernment is needed, in order to
strike at the roots of newly arising situations of injustice and to
establish progressively a justice which will be less and less imperfect
[...]. The Church directs her attention to these new `poor'--the
handicapped, the maladjusted, the old, various groups on the fringe of
society--in order to recognize them, help them, defend their place and
dignity in a society hardened by competition and the attraction of
success" (Paul VI, "Octogesima Adveniens", 15).

23. These words refer to the same thing Simeon prophesied about when
he referred to Christ as a sign that is spoken against, a sign of
contradiction (cf. Luke 2:34). People who reject our Lord, who are
scandalized by Him, will not reach Heaven.

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Father, you endowed John of the Cross with a spirit of self-denial and a love of the cross. By following his example, may we come to the eternal vision of your glory. 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.

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December 14, 2005

Memorial of St. John of the Cross, priest and doctor

St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) was born and died in Spain. His parents were poor and could not give him training in any trade. Hence he became the servant of the sick in the hospital of Medina. In 1563 he offered himself as a lay brother to the Carmelite friars, who, however, perceiving his unusual talents, had him ordained a priest. When he was about to join the more severe Order of the Carthusians, the saintly Teresa persuaded him to remain and help her in the reform of the Carmelite Order. This reform of his order caused him such sufferings and brought him many trials. But his sufferings served only to detach him from creatures. He had a great devotion to Our Lord's Passion and voluntarily sought out humiliations. When Our Lord asked him what reward he would ask for his labors, John answered: "To suffer and to be despised for Thee." He died of a cruel disease, embracing the crucifix. Because of his profound treatises on mystical theology Pope Pius XI proclaimed him Doctor of the Church.

Jesse Tree ~ The Annunciation

St. John of the Cross

Juan de Yepes was the Castilian son of a poor silk weaver of Fontiberos, Toledo, Spain and was born in 1542. His father was of noble birth; he had married much beneath him, and for that offense had been entirely cut off by his family. He had taken to silk weaving as a means of livelihood, but had never been able to make much of it. Soon after the birth of Juan he died, worn out with the effort to keep his wife and three children. The family was left in direst poverty; the children grew up always underfed, so that to the end of his life Juan remained dwarfed in stature.

Unable to learn a trade, he became the servant of the poor in the hospital of Medina, while still pursuing his sacred studies. In 1563, being then twenty-one, he humbly offered himself as a lay-brother to the Carmelite friars, who, however, knowing his talents, had him ordained priest. He would now have exchanged to the severe Carthusian Order, had not St. Teresa of Avila, with the instinct of a saint, persuaded him to remain and help her in the reform of his own Order.

Thus he became the first prior of the Discalced (meaning "barefoot") Carmelites. His reform, though approved by the general, was rejected by the elder friars, who condemned the saint as a fugitive and apostate, and cast him into prison, whence he only escaped, after nine months' suffering, at the risk of his life. Twice again, before his death, he was shamefully persecuted by his brethren, and publicly disgraced. But his complete abandonment by creatures only deepened his interior peace and devout longing for heaven.

St. John was a great contemplative and spiritual writer. He was proclaimed Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI on August 24, 1926. He is the patron of contemplative life, mystical theology, mystics, and Spanish poets.

American Catholic’s Saint of the Day

December 14, 2005

St. John of the Cross

(1541-1591)

John is a saint because his life was a heroic effort to live up to his name: “of the Cross.” The folly of the cross came to full realization in time. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34b) is the story of John’s life. The Paschal Mystery—through death to life—strongly marks John as reformer, mystic-poet and theologian-priest.

Ordained a Carmelite priest at 25 (1567), John met Teresa of Jesus (Avila) and like her vowed himself to the primitive Rule of the Carmelites. As partner with Teresa and in his own right, John engaged in the work of reform, and came to experience the price of reform: increasing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He came to know the cross acutely—to experience the dying of Jesus—as he sat month after month in his dark, damp, narrow cell with only his God!

Yet, the paradox! In this dying of imprisonment John came to life, uttering poetry. In the darkness of the dungeon, John’s spirit came into the Light. There are many mystics, many poets; John is unique as mystic-poet, expressing in his prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical union with God in the Spiritual Canticle.

But as agony leads to ecstasy, so John had his Ascent to Mt. Carmel, as he named it in his prose masterpiece. As man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced in himself this purifying ascent; as spiritual director, he sensed it in others; as psychologist-theologian, he described and analyzed it in his prose writings. His prose works are outstanding in underscoring the cost of discipleship, the path of union with God: rigorous discipline, abandonment, purification. Uniquely and strongly John underlines the gospel paradox: The cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial to self to union with God. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. John is truly “of the Cross.” He died at 49—a life short, but full.

Comment:

John in his life and writings has a crucial word for us today. We tend to be rich, soft, comfortable. We shrink even from words like self-denial, mortification, purification, asceticism, discipline. We run from the cross. John’s message—like the gospel—is loud and clear: Don’t—if you really want to live!

Quote:

Thomas Merton said of John: "Just as we can never separate asceticism from mysticism, so in St. John of the Cross we find darkness and light, suffering and joy, sacrifice and love united together so closely that they seem at times to be identified."
In John's words:
"Never was fount so clear,
undimmed and bright;
From it alone, I know proceeds all light
although 'tis night."

A hymn based on the Psalmody and appropriate for the Gospel:

"Hail to the Lord's Anointed"
by James Montgomery, 1771-1854

1. Hail to the Lord's Anointed,
Great David's greater Son!
Hail, in the time appointed,
His reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression,
To set the captive free,
To take away transgression,
And rule in equity.

2. He comes with succor speedy
To those who suffer wrong;
To help the poor and needy
And bid the weak be strong;
To give them songs for sighing,
Their darkness turn to light,
Whose souls, condemned and dying,
Were precious in His sight.

3. He shall come down like showers
Upon the fruitful earth,
And joy and hope, like flowers,
Spring in His path to birth.
Before Him on the mountains
Shall peace, the herald, go
And righteousness, in fountains,
From hill to valley flow.

4. Arabia's desert ranger
To Him shall bow the knee,
The Ethiopian stranger
His glory come to see;
With offerings of devotion
Ships from the isles shall meet
To pour the wealth of ocean
In tribute at His feet.

5. Kings shall bow down before Him
And gold and incense bring;
All nations shall adore Him,
His praise all peoples sing;
To Him shall prayer unceasing
And daily vows ascend,
His kingdom still increasing,
A kingdom without end.

6. O'er every foe victorious,
He on His throne shall rest,
From age to age more glorious,
All blessing and all-blest.
The tide of time shall never
His covenant remove;
His name shall stand forever, --
That name to us is Love.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #59
Text: Ps. 72
Author: James Montgomery, 1821
Composer: Leonhart Schroeter, 1587
Tune: "Freut euch, ihr lieben"

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