Homily: The Queenship of Mary - August 22

Readings: Is 9:1-6; • Ps 112 • Lk 1:26-38

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Today’s feast, this Memorial of the Queenship of Mary, is really fairly recent…at least in terms of the long life of the Church. It was established by Pope Pius XII back in August of 1954, and coincidentally my folks happened to be in Rome that very day.

I was just a lad of 10, but I remember how excited my mom was when she told me all about it after they returned home. She also said they should have taken me on their trip, and apologized for leaving me and my brother behind. Uh-huh, right, Mom.

But in truth they parked us with relatives, and I won the lottery because I got to stay with Uncle Billy and Aunt Lilly, two former Vaudeville entertainers. Billy played the piano and Lilly sang, and they were just about the coolest people I’d ever known. But I digress…

Mom also gave me a miraculous medal blessed by Pope Pius that day, a medal I still wear. And the readings the Church gives us today are the perfect readings for Mary, the Galilean teenaged girl who would become the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven and Earth.

We get a first taste in the reading from Isaiah, when he reveals that God will “make glorious…Galilee of the nations.”  Really? Who would ever think of backward, rural Galilee in those terms? Nobody but a God who loves to surprise us by turning the less than ordinary to the extraordinary, the spectacular. And what exactly will happen?

“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Yes, this messianic prophecy gives the Jews of Isaiah’s day a first taste of the Savior who will set them free…set them free not from the slavery of Egyptians, or Assyrians, or Babylonians, or Persians, or Greeks, or Romans… No, this Savior will free them and all of humanity from the slavery of sin. He will open the very gates of heaven for us all.

But how does will this happen? How does the Savor come to us? Once again, God turns what the world sees as the ordinary into the extraordinary, and Luke tells us the story.

It’s the story of a young woman named Mary, a virgin in Nazareth, a small town in Galilee. And on this remarkable day she is visited by one of God’s mighty messengers, the Archangel Gabriel. Gabriel doesn’t waste words and he delivers his message to Mary.

Fear not…God is with you…has filled you with His grace…and you will bear a Son named Jesus, the Son of the Most High, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

When young Mary hears this, she responds, more than a bit perplexed: “I’m a virgin. How can I bear a child?” A reasonable question, don’t you think? But Gabriel has an answer:

”The Holy Spirit will come upon you…and the child will be holy, the Son of God.”

And with that, this “handmade of the Lord”, this servant, says “let it be done” and in an instant she becomes the Mother of God.

It only took the Church about 400 years to confirm this. Back in the year 431, at the Council of Ephesus, the Church gave Mary the title “Theotokos” – the God Bearer, the Mother of God. Of course, the faithful had long believed and expressed this, but it still had to be affirmed at Ephesus since the Arians were going around at the time saying stupid things.

And then, just a mere 15 centuries later, in 1954, Pope Pius XII, speaking for the Church declared that Mary, the Mother of God, also deserved the title of Queen. This, too, was nothing new, and most often, on these occasions, the Church simply expresses what the Church already knows, what its people have long believed. After all, they’d been singing Marian hymns for ages, indeed since the Middle Ages…”Hail Holy Queen” and praying the fifth decade of the Glorius Mysteries.

Pope Pius actually gave three reasons:

1.    Mary’s close association with Jesus’ redemptive work;

2.    Her preeminent perfection of holiness;

3.    Her intercessory power on our behalf.

Good theological reasons with which all of us would agree. But for me, and for so many others, she’s simply the only Queen we’ve ever known.

And, believe me, she’s no “sit on the throne” and just look important kind of Queen. No, indeed, she loves to get right into the midst of the lives of her subjects, doing whatever is needed to help them out. For her, interceding is a full-time job.

And as I’m sure her Son will verify, she’s pulled me out of a lot of very difficult situations. And all I had to do was ask. Now that’s a Queen!

Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, Mother of God…Pray for us. Intercede for us.

The Popes of My Life and Benedict XVI

Our current pope, Pope Francis, has been a remarkable witness to the love, forgiveness and mercy of God. He has taught us to embrace the sinner, to welcome the outcast, to love the unloved, to forgive the unforgiven. He has taught us to look deeply into our own hearts instead of trying to judge the hearts of others. He has taught us to laugh at ourselves and to share the joys and sorrows of those God places in our lives. He has taught us to be Christians by being Christ-like. 

Pope Francis was preceded by a series of remarkable men.
When I consider those who have been pope during my lifetime, I realize how God has showered his blessings on today's world.

By the time I was born in 1944, Eugenio Pacelli had already been Pope Pius XII for over five years. During the chaotic years of World War II, he not only saved the lives of thousands of Jews and others who were on the Nazis' death lists, but also managed to steer the Barque of Peter through some of history's most turbulent waters. But then, years after the war, he became the target of a constant stream of vilification from a parade of fools whose hatred for both pope and Church led them to lie blatantly about Pius' efforts to save the lives of European Jews from Hitler's Nazis and Mussolini's Fascists. Fortunately, the Church listened only to the Spirit and has consistently preached the truth about this great pope.

In 1958 the saintly Pius XII was succeeded by Angelo Roncalli, Pope Saint John XXIII. Although his reign was brief, less than five years, he gave us the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the Church's first truly pastoral council. Now, after five decades of study and implementation, the Church has come to understand, accept, and reap the benefits of the comprehensive teachings of the Council Fathers.

After Pope Saint John's death in the midst of the Council, he was succeeded by Giovanni Montini, Pope Paul VI. Like so many of his predecessors, Paul VI was subjected to attacks from both outside and inside the Church. His external attackers were the usual suspects, but he suffered much from the public criticism of his brother bishops and priests. This criticism reached a crescendo with the 1968 appearance of his prophetic encyclical, Humanae Vitae. 48 years after its publication it has become apparent that Blessed Pope Paul was not only remarkably prescient but also possessed a keen understanding of the modern world, its strengths and weaknesses.

With the death of Blessed Pope Paul VI in 1978, the Holy Spirit elevated Albino Luciani to the Chair of Peter. With his election the "Smiling Pope" took the unique double name, Pope John Paul I. Sadly this first John Paul would serve for only 33 days before suffering a fatal heart attack. Although the last in a long string of Italian popes, John Paul would bequeath his name to his great Polish successor. And it would be a well-traveled name recognized throughout the world.

Karol Wojtyla, a man who had experienced totalitarian oppression first hand and personally battled with the two enslaving ideologies of the last century, was elected pope in 1978 and would serve God's people tirelessly for almost three decades as Pope John Paul II. He has been called John Paul the Great for good reason. He carried the Church into the world, literally into every corner of the world, preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ and sharing God's love with the millions he encountered. Devoted to Mary, humanity's Blessed Mother, he credited her with saving him from the assassin's bullet as he greeted pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. As he traveled the world, visiting well over 100 countries, he stressed the "universal call to holiness" building bridges across the world's religions.

With the death of John Paul in 2005, the Church turned to the man who had served the future saint for a quarter-century as his close confidant, lead theologian, and protector of Christian doctrine. Joseph Ratzinger, a humble, soft-spoken German theologian, who had hoped to spend his remaining years in study and writing, was instead elected to the Chair of Peter and chose the name of the patron saint of Europe, Benedict. As pope, Benedict XVI did what he did best: he taught. His catechesis and his writings addressed a wide range of theological themes, including "Friendship with Jesus Christ", something he believed essential to overcoming the great errors and temptations of our time. He also strongly condemned what he called the "dictatorship of relativism" which he believed was the great challenge facing the Church and the world today. Of course, Benedict shocked the Church and the world when, due to the infirmity that comes with old age, he resigned from the papacy in 2013.

Cardinal Ratzinger and I Meet in Rome

Pope Benedict XVI is the only pope I have met personally, although at the time of our meeting he was still Cardinal Ratzinger. I suppose this brief meeting in the year 2000 has placed the man a step above the others, in my mind at least. For that reason I tend to pay a bit more attention to news stories about him. One of these stories (see the below video) relates to a Master's Degree program focused on the theology of the pope emeritus. Offered in Rome by the
Augustinian Patristic Institute it drew 90 students for its first offering. How wonderful that the life work of this wonderful theologian will be studied by so many. If only I were 20 years younger and lived in Rome.

Homily: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

Readings: Is 5:1-7; Ps 80; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21: 33-43

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About 30 years ago, after the United States Navy once again transferred me from one coast to the other, Diane and I bought a home in a quiet neighborhood of a then-rural suburb of San Diego. It was the perfect home for our growing family, and beyond the back fence we were blessed with nothing but empty hills. Among its selling points were several mature navel orange trees. It also offered a small corral in the event one wished to own a horse. Why anyone would want to do such a thing has always escaped me.

Anyway, on the fence that circled the corral grew a grapevine. Now this vine intrigued me because it actually had a few bunches of grapes hanging from it. As I examined it on that first day I heard the voice of my neighbor who was peering over the fence.

“Don’t bother,” he said. “Grape vines demand too much attention, lots of pruning and care. And those grapes aren’t very good anyway. But your orange trees are healthy. Just make sure you water them.”

As it turned out, these few words from my nosy neighbor formed the foundation of my future agricultural efforts. Afterwards I often looked at that vine, but since I didn’t prune or water it, or really do anything for it, it produced little, just a few sour grapes. But its mere presence sometimes got me thinking about what Scripture had to say about vines.

Indeed, today we heard a lot of words about vines and vineyards, about good grapes and bad, and about violence and responsibility and love. It all began with the words of our psalm in which we see how God’s chosen ones had long seen themselves as a cherished vine planted by God:

“A vine from Egypt you transplanted; you drove away the nations and planted it” [Ps 80:9].

Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed - Is 5:6

Then in our 1st reading, as Isaiah begins his prophetic ministry, he speaks poetically to God’s People. We heard an inspired Isaiah agreeing with the psalmist, telling the people they are the vine in God’s vineyard, a vineyard he nurtured with care. But Isaiah’s poem is wrapped in a warning because the people had rejected God’s loving care for them. They were unjust and lawless, and so Isaiah prophesies the destruction of the vineyard. Israel will be no more; its people sent into exile.

If only they had been more attentive to God’s will for them…

If only they had been just…

Yes, if only…they would then have been fruitful.

As St. Paul instructed the people of Philippi in our 2nd reading: “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious… think about these things” [Phil 4:8].

This, friends, is how we are called to live. Not as the Israelites did. Not in fear and anxiety. Not in violence and hatred. Not in anger and revenge. Such things should have no place in our hearts. And once we allow God to prune us, once we allow Him to remove those unproductive branches, then, as Paul reminds us, “…the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” [Phil 4:7].

And then, in our Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus takes Isaiah’s image of the vineyard and vine, and applies it to the chief priests and those who exercise their authority over the people.

In His parable, Jesus describes a vineyard owner whose servants are sent in advance to remind the tenants of all they owe the owner. But the servants are beaten and killed. And believe me; those listening to Jesus knew what He was saying, for that’s exactly what happened to the prophets.

Jesus goes on to predict His own death; for in their willfulness, their lust for power, the tenants commit the horrendous act of killing the owner’s son. Our Lord then asks His audience of chief priests and elders, “What will the owner do to those tenants…?” [Mt 21:40] Prophetically they reply that the owner will punish them and bring in new tenants to replace those motivated by violence and greed. And with that, Jesus turns their own words, their own prophecy, against them: “…the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit” [Mt 21:43].

And so, it’s through the sacrifice of the Son that the Father makes a relationship with new tenants. He does so by establishing a New Covenant. The Father, you see, doesn’t give up on the vineyard into which he had invested so much. No, the vineyard will endure, but it will be tended by others, tended by a Church that will appreciate all that the Father has done for His people.

Incidentally, I've actually heard Christians use this parable as justification for condemning the Jews. Such thinking goes against all that the Church teaches. As Pope Benedict told a delegation of Jews, the Catholic Church is “called to respect the Covenant established by God with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. She also places herself… in the eternal Covenant of the Almighty, who does not repent of his plan and respects the children of the Promise, children of the Covenant, as her beloved brothers in the faith.” In the words of Pope Pius XII, “To be anti-Semitic is to be anti-Christian.”

The kingdom of God will be given to a people that will produce its fruit - Mt 21:43

This parable, then, isn’t a story about winning or losing. To think so is to misunderstand it. No, it’s about how we must tend the vineyard God has given us. For as the vineyard’s new tenants, we are called to care for it as we wait for the harvest. Unlike me, who did nothing to tend my California grapevine, we are called to be waterers and weeders, pruners and feeders.

Interestingly, brothers and sisters, when we tend the vine and make it fruitful, we do the same to ourselves. You see, my neighbor’s words about my unproductive backyard vine brought to mind the words Jesus spoke to the apostles the night before He died. Remember those words?

“I am the vine, you are the branches” [Jn 15:5].

Well, looking at that backyard grapevine of mine, one thing was obvious. The vine wasn’t at all like one of my orange trees with its trunk and the branches growing from it. No, as I looked at the grapevine I could see that the branches and the vine were one. Indeed, the branches are the vine! You can’t separate them.

Just consider what this means. Through the Incarnation, Jesus became more than just one of us. He became us! That’s right He became you and He became me! This is how He can say so emphatically: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” [Mt 25:40].

Just think of that! You and I and Jesus are one. And so to exclude another from your life is to exclude Jesus. To exclude another, to exclude Jesus, is to exclude yourself.

The good news? Jesus works right alongside us as we labor in the Father’s vineyard to usher in the Kingdom. Yes, in doing the work of the Father, Jesus does all the heavy lifting. We need only do as He asks.

And, brothers and sisters, the Kingdom bears fruit because the Church – and that’s you and I – is called to be merciful and just, as the Father is merciful and just. The Kingdom bears fruit because, as Jesus promised us, “I am with you always until the end of the age” [Mt 28:20]

And that day is still to come.

A Christmas List of Books I Haven't Read

Recommending books for others to read can sometimes be a bit problematic. For example, some years ago I posted a list of books for summer reading and received a rather hostile email from someone who began by complaining about the "conservatism" of several of the authors on my list. Then he got to the real point of his email. "How come," he asked, "you listed books only by Catholic authors?" Well, Duh! -- Let's see...I'm a permanent deacon in the Roman Catholic Church, this blog tends to address subjects of interest to Catholics, and that particular list was aimed at Catholic readers who wanted to deepen their theological knowledge. (Actually, one of the authors on the list was David Bentley Hart, an Eastern Orthodox theologian from the University of Virginia. Another author on that list, Robert Alter, is a Jew who published a translation and commentary of The Five Books of Moses.) A few weeks later I received another complaint from a reader who purchased one of the recommended books, but didn't particularly like it. I think he expected me to reimburse him. I answered neither of these emails.

I mention this so you know I won't pay any attention to complaints about the following selection of books.  The titles I have listed below are simply books that have piqued my interest recently. Although I have yet to read any of them, I hope to do so once time and budget permit. Some books are included because I have read others by the same authors and enjoyed them. Some were added simply because their subject matter interests me. In a few instances I have read reviews written by people I trust. And some are "classics" that I have meant to read for years but just never seemed to have the time. In a sense, then, these are all second-hand recommendations, so I suggest you Google the titles and check out a few online reviews before buying. In any event, I seek neither praise nor blame. Save either for the authors.

Here's my list:

Imagination in Place, by Wendell Berry; Counterpoint Press, 2010. Berry, American poet and essayist, social critic and farmer, is a true man of letters. He is the kind of writer who can change minds through the eloquence and passion of his writing. He is a man with whom I occasionally disagree, but always with great difficulty. I look forward to reading this latest collection of essays in which he examines those writers who have helped form his own thought.

Jacques Barzun: Portrait of a Mind, by Michael Murray; Frederick C. Beil, 2011.  Jacques Barzun is now 105 years old and still writing. And so I suspect this will not be the last biography of the man. Who knows how long he will be with us? Born in France, Barzun came to the United States as a youth and embraced his new country. A prolific writer on a wide variety of subjects, he taught at Columbia for almost 50 years and then began a second career as an editor at Scribner's. I have read only a few of his books -- From Dawn to Decadence (2001); God's Country and Mine (1954); and The House of Intellect (1978) -- and enjoyed them all. I look forward to learning more about the life of this remarkable man.

Firmly I Believe and Truly: The Spiritual Tradition of Catholic England, by John Saward, John Morrill and Michael Tomko; Oxford University Press, 2011. This anthology of writings spans 500 years of England's post-Reformation history from a Catholic perspective. The selections, put together and introduced by a team of scholars, include writings of historical, theological and literary value. As someone who has long been interested in the lives and struggles of English Catholics during this period, I intend to read this book soon...as soon I can afford the rather hefty price tag.

The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers; Continuum, 2005 (first published in 1941). This book is one of those classics that has sat unread on my bookshelf for a few decades. (My copy is an older, now out of print, paperback edition published by Harper Collins in 1987.) I've enjoyed reading Sayers ever since I was introduced to her when I was in high school and assigned to read her series of plays on the life of Jesus, The Man Born to be King (1941). After that I turned to her mystery writings, particularly her Lord Peter Wimsey Stories, which I continue to reread on occasion. But Sayers was more than a playwright and mystery writer. She was also a poet, a respected translator of Dante, a noted essayist, a cultural critic, and a Christian apologist. I intend to pull this book of the shelf this week and finally read it.

The Order of Things, by James V. Schall, S. J.; Ignatius Press, 2007. Once you read one book by Father Schall, you want to read everything he has written. This book happens to be one of his I apparently missed. I intend to order it this week, envelop it in colorful Christmas wrapping paper, and discreetly place it under the tree -- thus ensuring that I receive at least one wanted gift this year. Father Schall, a Professor of Government at Georgetown University, is a must-read author for anyone struggling to understand the ongoing intellectual and spiritual conflicts in the city of man and the city of God. I can hardly wait to open my present. If you feel inspired to read more of his work, try the following: Another Sort of Learning (1988); On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs (2001); and The Life of the Mind (2006).

The Peasant of the Garonne, by Jacques Maritain; Holt Rinehart Winston (1968). A friend gave me this book a few years ago, but I've never found the time to read it. Written by the great Catholic theologian and philosopher at the age of 85, it created quite a furor when it was published. In it Maritain attacked the modernism of the "new theology," claiming its evolution posed a real threat to the Church's spirituality and its core doctrinal beliefs. He apparently pulls no punches as he takes on those who would bow down to the modern world and its ephemeral fads and trends. In my younger days I made my way slowly through a number of Maritain's philosophical works, so perhaps it's time I read this book, which promises to be a bit more accessible to my aging mind.

The Myth of Hitler's Pope, by Rabbi David C. Dalin; Regnery, 2005. This book, which has the subtitle, How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis, provides a well needed defense of Pope Pius XII who has been viciously and dishonestly attacked by the enemies of traditional religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular. This well-documented book, written by a Jewish rabbi with a Ph.D. from Brandeis University, goes a long way to correct the disinformation surrounding Pope Pius XII and the spiritual battle he fought against the Nazis before and during World War II. It, too, was a gift, given to me by a Jewish friend earlier this year. I intend to read it during the Christmas season.

I think that's enough reading for this Christmas. While most of the authors on my list are Catholics, I've also included a Baptist (Berry), a Jew (Dalin), an Anglican (Sayers), and a maybe-believer (Barzun). That should appease those enamored of diversity.

God's peace.,..

Defending Pope Pius XII

I keep getting comments from those who have no other agenda but to condemn the only wartime leader who worked tirelessly to save Jews from the Nazis, Pope Pius XII. And I'm getting a bit weary of having to defend this holy man from these phony charges. And so, I have decided to let others do so for me.

One of the more surprising defenders is Gary Krupp, a New York Jew who founded the Pave the Way Foundation with the goal of "removing obstacles between the religions" of the world. He is truly a remarkable man. Krupp grew up hating Pope Pius XII and then decided to investigate on his own to see exactly what this pope did or didn't do during the war.

Here's a link to a brief article about his defense of Pope Pius: Long Beach Man Creates Stir Defending Pope Pius.

And if you have the time, here's a link to an EWTN interview of Gary Krupp that I hope will change some minds: EWTN Interview. You have to listen to this.

If you want access to the many, many Vatican documents, click here: Pius XII Documents.

Krupp has other information on the subject available via his "Pave the Way" website -- scroll down and you'll encounter the links.

Pope Pius XII: Hitler's Nemesis

The revisionist "historians" who seem so intent on defaming Pope Pius XII by falsely misrepresenting his role during World War II have in recent years been rebutted by some very reliable sources. One of the more interesting new books on the subject, written by Dan Kurtzman, is A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII.

(The photo below shows Pope Pius XII greeting the people of Rome during World War II.)


The book breaks new ground by bringing to light the hatred Hitler held for Pope Pius, whom he called a "Jew lover", and describing in detail the plot Hitler formed to occupy the Vatican, kill all the members of the curia, and take the pope prisoner. It's a fascinating read and presents a balanced picture of Pope Pius, his courage, and the difficulties he faced surrounded as he was by a ruthless enemy. I highly recommend it.

It you'd like to read a review of the book, click here: The Plot to Kidnap Pope Pius XII.

Another book on the same subject, written by Rabbi David G. Dalin, is The Myth of Hitler's Pope, and  chronicles how Pope Pius XII rescued Jews from the Nazis.

Two more books, written by historian Sister Margherita Marchione, PhD., provide irrefutable evidence of the extreme measures Pope Pius XII took in defiance of the Nazis to aid the Jews of Europe. Here are links to these books on Amazon:

Pope Pius XII: Architect for Peace

and

Did Pope Pius XII Help the Jews?

Finally, there is the wonderful book written by Eugenio Zolli, the Chief Rabbi of Rome during the wartime years. His book, Before the Dawn, describes his journey to Christianity and his conversion to Catholicism after World War II. Becoming a Catholic, Zolli, whose given first name was "Israel", took the Christian name of Eugenio to honor Pope Pius XII (Eugenio was the Pope's baptismal name) for all he did to save Jews during WWII. One could hardly find a better witness than Rome's wartime Chief Rabbi.


And for those of you who'd rather watch the movie than read the book, Ignatius Press offers an excellent DVD called, A Hand of Peace, detailing Pope Pius XII and his response to the Holocaust.

I think it's time we Catholics come to the support of this courageous and holy man who is being unjustly and viciously attacked by so many. But we can't do this unless we know the facts.