10
T
he Valley Catholic
Spirituality
November 5, 2013
Fr. Brendan McGuire is pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in San Jose and a Vicar
General of the Diocese of San Jose. As Vicar General, he is responsible
for special projects such as the recently launched Saint Katharine Drexel
Initiative to revitalize Catholic Schools in the Diocese. Before being ordained
in 2000, Fr. Brendan was an executive in a technology company and still
loves to use technology such as Facebook, podcasts and YouTube to bring
people to a deeper relationship with Christ. Email him at [email protected].
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Glasses of Faith
Some of the most common questions that I am asked are: “Why does God allow evil to
persist in our world?; Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? In particular,
why does he allow innocent children and good people to suffer so badly?”
It is a really hard question to answer. If we had a really ironclad answer then our churches
would be full and apparently there would be very little evil in the world!
Jesus addresses this issue in the Gospel of November 17. This Gospel was written by Luke
and the temple had already been destroyed. It had taken many years to build the huge temple
and now the temple had been destroyed. The people that Luke wrote to had already seen
the destruction; they had already been persecuted; they were in the midst of suffering. This
passage speaks to them in the midst of their pain and suffering – in the midst of their rejection and persecution. What was Christ’s response? He asked them to choose and follow him.
That is my answer to people who ask about evil and suffering in the world. My answer
is to choose Christ and everything will be different. I cannot explain why God allows all of
the pain to happen to them. But when we choose Christ, everything changes. In one sense
it doesn’t change anything at all, and yet it changes everything. It is not always convincing
but to those that choose Christ for themselves, it makes sense.
For example, many of us are wearing glasses right now; when we put on those glasses,
does anything change out there? What changes is our ability to see. Truly nothing out
there changes. The trees do not suddenly become less blurry; but our ability to see the trees
changes. That is the difference.
When we put on those glasses, everything changes because now we see with clarity. The
glasses are the glasses of faith that we are called to put on to see Christ. We have to choose to
reach out and put on those glasses. Only then do we see life with clarity. It does not change
anything on one hand; but yet it changes everything on the other hand. We see as people of
faith and we see where God’s hand is in the midst of the pain, in the midst of the suffering,
in the midst of the disasters and calamities that happen in our world.
God is always present at all times. But like our regular glasses, our glasses of faith get
dirty and cruddy and we really don’t see as well anymore. We need to wash those glasses
regularly by coming to the table of the Lord every Sunday. We take them off, wash them
off, shine them up and put them on again. We have to put them on again deliberately to act
upon what we see. We choose Christ once again and follow him.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Living the Resurrection Today
If we want to eat an egg, first we must break the shell. If we want to eat a nut then
first we must break the shell. We cannot eat the egg or nut until we break through the
shell. This is a way to understand the resurrection. We must die first before we experience the resurrection.
The Sadducees, who question Jesus in the Gospel for November 10, did not believe in
the resurrection. They ask an insincere question about what happens in the resurrection
with a man with many wives, in an effort to publicly humiliate him.
As Christians, we believe the reality of the resurrection has multiple dimensions. The
first is the historical dimension in which it was an event that took place; Christ died on
the cross and rose from the dead. If you would, this is THE resurrection that leads to
all others.
Then there is a future dimension in which we all hope; we will die and we hope we
will rise from the dead to be with Christ forever in heaven. This is the way in which
the people of Jesus’ time understood it. Often people today limit their understanding
to it. It is that same understanding of n ot being able to get to the nut without breaking
the shell first.
Then there is the present-day dimension to the resurrection in which we experience
the resurrection here and now. That’s what Jesus is trying to point out in today’s Gospel:
our God is a God of the living and the dead. He is a God who cares for all people here
and now, a God of the present as well as the past and future.1
How do we experience the resurrection now? When we do things for others and not
for ourselves we become different people, we become Christians living the resurrection.
We die to one self and rise to a new self in Christ. We already do this in lots of ways.
For example when two people get married, they give up their former way of life as
single people in which they had the independence to make every decision for themselves
and could get their every need met for themselves, often in selfish ways. Then they take
on a new way of being as a married couple in which all decisions are made for the good
of the couple; they give over that independence so they can make a common decision.
There are many ways to live for others and married life is but one example. Many
parents give of themselves every day for their children; friends give of themselves for their
neighbors. We are called to live this resurrection now by choosing to live for others. We
must make a deliberate choice to follow Christ. We choose to make decisions to become
selfless for others. We are all called to make that deliberate choice to live the resurrection.
(Endnotes)
1
Adapted from Patricia Datchuck Sanchez, “Celebration: An Ecumenical Worship
Resource,” (Kansas City, Missouri: National Catholic Reporter Company, Inc., November 11,
2007).
Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of San Jose
would like to thank the following family
owned and operated funeral homes:
Pre-Plan.
And get back to what matters most.
Here to serve you. www.ccdsj.org
Gate of Heaven Cemetery
22555 Cristo Rey Drive
Los Altos, CA 94024
(650) 428-3730
www.valleycatholiconline.com
Calvary Cemetery
2650 Madden Avenue
San Jose, CA 95116
(408) 258-2940
St. John the Baptist Cemetery
651 Old Piedmont Road
Milpitas, CA 95035
(408) 258-2940
Alameda Family Funeral & Cremation
FD 1215 1 408-257-6262
Bay Area Mortuary
FD 1829 1 408-295-9800
Beddingfield Funeral Service
FD 1999 1 408-777-8100
Berge-Pappas-Smith Chapel of Angels
FD 668 1 510-656-1226
Chapel of Flowers
FD 189 1 408-294-9663
Cusimano Family Mortuary
FD 1041 1 650-968-4453
Lima & Campagna Sunnyvale Mortuary
FD 1961 1 408-736-1315
Lima Campagna Alameda Mission Chapel
FD 1949 1 408-288-9188
Martinez & Barba Funeral Services & Cremation
FD 1998 1 1-800-881-3851
Spangler Mortuary - Los Altos
FD 927 1 650-948-6619
Spangler Mortuary - Mountain View
FD 579 1 650-957-5546
Spangler Mortuary, Sunnyvale Chapel,
Wyant & Smith Crematory
FD 910 1 408-736-6294