The Unprofitable Servant: He Is Out Of His Mind

Saturday, January 26, 2013

He Is Out Of His Mind

I confess to doing a double-take when I heard today's Gospel. Normally, I do not read the Gospel from my Magnificat while the priest proclaims it from the pulpit, but given the priest and my level of surprise, I found myself quickly thumbing through my little missal just to make sure no liberties were being taken. None were. This really was the Gospel from Mark (3:21)

I thought of Bernadette, smearing her face with the dirt from the grotto in Lourdes and eating the plants as she was directed by the Blessed Virgin Mary and being lead home by her distressed mother, mortified by her daughter's actions and the mockery of the crowd. I thought of Joan of Arc, doing as the voice of God directed, despite much derision from the learned and unlearned alike. I thought of Magdalene of Nagasaki, turning herself into to civil authorities, knowing it meant a certain and torturous death.

The priest, in his homily, gave the examples of Gandhi urging his countrymen not to fight back as the imperialists mercilessly beat them, and of the young man in Tienanmen Square who stood up the Communist tanks with nothing more than his will and resolve not to submit to evil. Then he reminded us of Christ, going to His bloody and barbarous death to redeem a lot of ungrateful and unbelieving sinners.

Was He out of His mind? Are we?

By the world's measure, yes, but it is a good thing in the sight of God.

No one ever changed the world by doing what the world expected. The most profound and long-lasting impact has always come from the unexpected. A maiden visited by an angel and asked to bear the Messiah. A King born in a stable. The Son of God nailed to a cross. A poor uneducated peasant girl privileged to view with her own eyes the Holy Mother of God. A teenage girl leading men in battle. A young woman of only 24 sacrificing her life for love of Him Who died for her and for us. A man about to go to His death healing the ear of a servant of one of His executioners.

Christ told His apostles in the upper room that He gave them His peace, not as the world gives but as only He can, and He advised them not to let their hearts be troubled or to be afraid.

I have seen recently where some bloggers have used Luke's Gospel (22:35-38) to justify arming themselves. There are many interpretations of Christ's admonition to His disciples to buy a sword. Immediately before this, He asks them if they lacked anything when He sent them out into the world in pairs to preach but forbade them from taking anything with them. Their answer was no, they lacked nothing. My own interpretation is that He is reminding them here that He has never let them down and always kept His word. But knowing that they are going to be tested in a way unlike any trial they've experienced to date, He is telling them He understands if they give in to weakness at this time and rely on worldly means of reassurance, given what is about to transpire. Does He not rebuke Peter for cutting off the servant's ear?

Was Our Lord out of His mind? Maybe to the world, but certainly not to anyone who takes His words and His teachings to heart.

While doing a Google search of Luke's Holy Thursday Gospel, I came across the following excerpt from a Christmas play written by St. Therese for her Carmelite community in 1894.

Have you forgotten, Jesus, O Beauty supreme, that the sinner

must at last be punished? I will chastise the crime in judgment;

I want to exterminate all the ungrateful. My sword is ready!

Jesus, sweet victim! My sword is ready!! I am set to avenge

you!!!

And the baby Jesus replies:

O beautiful angel! Put down your sword.

It is not for you to judge the nature that I raise up and that I

wish to redeem.

The one who will judge the world is myself, the one named

Jesus!

The life-giving dew of my Blood will purify all my chosen ones.

Don’t you know that faithful souls always give me consolation

in the face of the blasphemies of the unfaithful by a simple look

of love?

4 comments:

MannyJanuary 26, 2013 at 11:31 PM
Isn't it amazing how no matter how often we read the Gospels and listen to them at mass, there is always something that you do a double take and say how come I didn't see that before? I just did a double take too when I looked it up. Good homily, especially yours Joyce.
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TLWJanuary 27, 2013 at 7:23 AM
Thanks Manny. Interesting how different versions of the Bible interpret that last line. In the Douay-Rheims version, it is "He has gone mad". Means the same thing I guess.
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Terry NelsonJanuary 27, 2013 at 11:31 AM
Angela of Foligno loved that passage - he is out of his mind.
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Comments which reflect true Christian charity are always welcome. Comments which attack the Pope, the Church, priests or other bloggers will go in the dustbin, especially if they are anonymous. Thank you and God Bless you!

Mary, Queen of Peace

Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of Virgins, Mother of Mercy, hope and comfort of dejected and desolate souls, through that sword of sorrow which pierced thy tender heart whilst thine only Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord, suffered death and ignominy on the cross; through that filial tenderness and pure love He had for thee, grieving in thy grief, whilst from His cross He recommended thee to the care and protection of His beloved disciple, St. John, take pity, I beseech thee, on my poverty and necessities; have compassion on my anxieties and cares; assist and comfort me in all my infirmities and miseries, of every kind whatsoever. Thou art the Mother of Mercies, the sweet comforter and only refuge of the needy and the orphan, of the desolate and afflicted. Cast, therefore, an eye of pity on a miserable, forlorn child of Eve, and hear my prayer; for since, in just punishment of my sins, I find myself encompassed by a multitude of evils, and oppressed with much anguish of spirit, wither can I fly for more secure shelter, O amiable Mother of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, than under the wings of thy maternal protection? Attend, therefore, I beseech thee, with an ear of pity and compassion, to my humble and earnest request. I ask it, through the bowels of mercy of thy dear Son; Through that love and condescension wherewith He embraced our nature, when, in compliance with the divine Will, thou gavest thy consent, and whom, after the expiration of nine months thou didst bring forth from the chaste enclosure of thy womb, to visit the world, and bless it with His presence. I ask it, through that anguish of mind wherewith thy beloved Son, our dear Saviour, was overwhelmed on the Mount of Olives, when He besought His eternal Father to remove from Him, if possible, the bitter chalice of His future passion. I ask it, through the threefold repetition of His prayers in the garden, whence afterwards, with dolorous steps and mournful tears, thou didst accompany Him to the doleful theatre of His death and sufferings. I ask it, through the welts and bruises of His virginal flesh, occasioned by the cords and whips wherewith He was bound and scourged, when stripped of His seamless garment, for which His executioners afterwards cast lots. I ask it, through the scoffs and ignominies by which He was insulted; the false accusations and unjust sentence by which He was condemned to death, and which He bore with heavenly patience. I ask it, through His bitter tears and bloody sweat; His silence and resignation; His sadness and grief of heart. I ask it, through the blood which trickled from His royal and Sacred Head, when struck with the sceptre of a reed and pierced with His crown of thorns. I ask it, through the excruciating torments He suffered, when His hands and feet were fastened with gross nails to the tree of the cross. I ask it, through His vehement thirst, and bitter potion of vinegar and gall. I ask it, through His dereliction on the cross when He exclaimed, "My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" I ask it, through His mercy extended to the good thief, and through His recommending His precious soul and spirit into the hands of His eternal Father before He expired, saying, "It is consummated." I ask it, through the blood mixed with water, which issued from His Sacred Side when pierced with a lance, and whence a flood of grace and mercy has flowed to us. I ask it, through His immaculate life, bitter passion and ignominious death on the cross, at which nature itself was thrown into convulsions, by the bursting of rocks, rending of the veil of the Temple, the earthquake, and the darkness of the sun and moon. I ask it, through His descent into hell, where He confronted the Saints of the old law with His presence, and led the captivity captive. I ask it, through His glorious victory over death, when He arose again to life on the third day, and through the joy which His appearance for forty days after gave thee, His blessed Mother, His Apostles, and the rest of His Disciples; when in thine and their presence He miraculously ascended into heaven. I ask it, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, infused into the hearts of His Disciples, when He descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues, and by which they were inspired with zeal in the conversion of the world, when they went to preach the gospel. I ask it, through the awful appearance of thy Son, at the last dreadful day, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world, by fire. I ask it, through the compassion He bore thee in His life, and the unspeakable joy thou didst feel at thine assumption into heaven, where thou art eternally absorbed in the sweet contemplation of His divine perfections. O glorious and ever blessed Virgin! comfort the heart of thy supplicant, by obtaining for me, (Mention your prayer intention here...) And as I am persuaded my Divine Saviour doth honour thee as His beloved Mother, to whom He refuses nothing, because thou asketh nothing contrary to His honour, so let me speedily experience the efficacy of thy powerful intercession, according to the tenderness of thy maternal affection, and His filial loving heart, who mercifully granteth the requests and complieth with the desires of those that love and fear Him. Wherefore, O most blessed Virgin, beside the object of my present petition, and whatever else I may stand in need of, obtain for me also of thy dear Son, our Lord and our God, a lively faith, firm hope, perfect charity, true contrition of heart, unfeigned tears of compunction, sincere confession, condign satisfaction, abstinence from sin, love of God and my neighbour, contempt of the world, patience to suffer affronts and ignominies, nay, even, if necessary, an opprobrious death itself, for love of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Obtain likewise for me, O sacred Mother of God, perseverance in good works, performance of good resolutions, mortification of self-will, a pious conversation through life, and, at my last moments, strong and sincere repentance, accompanied by such a lively and attentive presence of mind, as may enable me to receive the last Sacrament of the Church worthily, and die in thy friendship and favour. Lastly, obtain through thy Son, I beseech thee, for the souls of my parents, brethren, relatives and benefactors, both living and dead, life everlasting, from the only Giver of every good and perfect gift, the Lord God Almighty, to Whom be all power now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of St. Bonaventure

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee.
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God;
may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.

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God Bless You!

The Unprofitable Servant