Faith

Chucking it all away for Christ – Thursday 31st Week in ordinary time – Philippians 3:3-8a

To get to the heart of our text we need to place it in context. It seems like the letter to the Philippians is winding down and Paul is done and dusted with his message. Why else would he say in 3:1 “FINALLY, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not irksome to me, and is safe for you.” One can see now an extraordinary break in the letter to the Philippians and this is where the text becomes problematic.

Paul who is winding down his letters suddenly takes off and pens some very strong words. “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evil-workers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.” (3:2) It seems that as Paul was ending his letter, news came in from Philippi. The false teachers who had followed Paul in his ministry everywhere, sowing descension and doubt, had reached Philippi. They were luring the Philippians away from the true faith. There were the Judaizers, who favoured a strict understanding of Jewish Christianity who had begun poisoning the minds of the Philippians. Paul lashes out at them and says look out for the dogs!

For a Jew a dog was everything that was shamelessly unclean. It was by this name that the Jews called the Gentiles. It was the Jews who said the nations of the world are like dogs. So, this is Paul’s answer to the Jewish teachers. He says as it were to them, in your proud righteousness you call others dogs but in reality, it is you who are dogs, because you shamelessly pervert the gospel of Jesus. Instead of propagating the word of God, these self-styled teachers were propagating their own evil ideas.

Paul deprives these perverters of the Gospel the privilege of even using the term circumcision and rather says they mutilate the flesh. Peritemnein means to circumcise but Paul puns on the word and says katatemnein, which translates as castration and was forbidden in the Old Testament.

The text of today begins with verse 3 in which Paul explains himself. Circumcision which was a sign of their special relationship with God. Due to the false teaching, this sign of circumcision had become only a sign in the flesh. But if a person is to share a special relationship with God, something far more is needed than a mark in his body. Circumcision has no meaning in itself. It was the circumcision of the heart that God longed for. Christian worship is not a thing of ritual only but of the heart. While the Jew placed his confidence in the physical sign of circumcision, The Christian places his confidence in Christ alone.

Paul has just attacked the Jewish teachers and insisted that it is the Christian, not the Jew, who are the covenant people. His opponents might be tempted to say that Paul does not know what it means to be a Jew. So, he sets out to present his credentials. Paul had been circumcised on the eighth day. He was of the race of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin. Paul then goes on to give his achievements in the Jewish faith. He was a Hebrew born of Hebrew parents and was trained as a Pharisee. He was a persecutor: this is Paul’s ultimate credential and as far as righteousness which the law could produce, he was blameless

Now in verse 7 he uses the language of book keeping; of loss and gain. All these things Paul might have claimed to set down on the credit side of the balance; but when he met Christ, he wrote them off as nothing more than bad debts. “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ” (3:8)

But he goes one step ahead and says that he now counts all this as “rubbish” (verse 8). The Greek translation of the word rubbish reads as skybala; which means either rubbish or excrement. In either case something that is disposed off, irrevocably.

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Commemoration of the faithful departed – Not just some grave side activity

For most Catholics, this day is sadly reduced to ‘an activity’ at the grave side of a loved one without a deeper understanding of it. Graves are ornately decorated and candles lit as the family members stand in prayer. But all soul’s day is more than some grave side activity. I hope through this article to enlighten you on several fronts as to why this day (not a day of obligation and yet) is one of the most important days of our catholic faith.

Following the feast of All Saints, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Souls on November 2. Briefly and coming to the point this celebration remembers all the souls who have died and have not yet attained Heaven, who are still atoning for the sins in their lives.

As early as the second century, Christians commemorated the anniversary of the dead, especially of the martyrs. By the sixth century Benedictine monasteries held commemoration ceremonies for their deceased members. Our current observance of a single day for the dead dates to the seventh century and it is known that St. Isadore of Seville encouraged it. Sometime in the 10th century, the Catholic priest St. Odilo of Cluny instituted All Souls’ Day as November 2nd the day following the feast of All Saints. In his decree, he said that Masses should be offered for the dead, and alms given to the poor. This custom spread to other monasteries and eventually by the fourteenth century Rome extended that practice to the universal Church. The annual celebration became the final and third day of Allhallowtide—right after All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Day. It is not only Christians who remember those who have gone before us. The muslims have Shab-e-Barat, the Hindus during Pithru Paksha, and the Buddhists and Parsis also observe it.

According to Catholic belief, the soul of a person who dies goes to one of three places. It could go to Heaven; heaven is a state where a person who dies in perfect grace and communion with God goes. Then there is Hell, where those who die in a state of mortal sin are naturally condemned by their own choice. Finally, there is Purgatory. The Church recognises that few people achieve perfection in this life (after all, we are human!), and therefore, go to the grave with remaining traces of sinfulness; a period of purification is necessary to prepare the soul to join God. Purgatory is where souls are cleansed and perfected before they enter heaven.

Granted that Purgatory is not a popular idea these days. For some, Purgatory can be a frightening and even confusing thought. Why doesn’t God, in His infinite mercy, simply take all our loved ones who followed Him straight to Heaven? The answer is simple. He does! And the path for them to Heaven is this incredible mercy of their final purification.

Here is why I want to ask you to erase everything you know ‘popularly about purgatory’. Think now of Purgatory as a gift, as a grace, as God’s mercy. It comes from the same root as the word for “purgation,” and in this case is a kind of ridding ourselves of our sinfulness.

This purification is necessary because God, in His love, does not want any soul to live eternally with even a minor attachment to sin. God wants us all free. The truth is that every sin on our soul, even the smallest one, is reason enough for us to be excluded from Heaven.

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Is my Nana a saint ? Solemnity of All Saints

All Saints Day is known by two other names; All Hallows’ Day and Hallowmas. Interestingly, this day is celebrated by Catholics on the 1st of November as a Solemnity but it is also celebrated by other Christians Churches after Pentecost.

When most people think of a saint, they think of a statue high up on a pedestal; one that has a feast day and one that the Church has declared to be a saint. Yet in our lifetime we have encountered ‘saintly people’ who have trusted in Christ alone for his or her salvation and has been an ardent disciple of Christ. (see Acts 9:13, Acts 26:10, Romans 8:27, 1 Corinthians 1:2). I am sure you are thinking of your mother or grandfather or neighbour or religious priest or nun who fits the match. Are they saints you wonder? The short answer is yes, if they have met the prescriptions of holiness, they are!

Confused? Let’s look at the word saint or let us understand who is a ‘holy person.’ From a biblical perspective, something is holy when it is set apart for God and God’s purposes. So, an animal to be sacrificed to the Lord is holy because it is designated for this special function. In Exodus 19, God set apart the Israelites as his own “treasured possession” (19:5). They would be a “holy nation” (19:6) through which God would make himself known to the world. In the New Testament, believers in Jesus Christ are referred to as “saints” or “holy people” because they have inherited Israel’s divinely conferred status as people set apart by God for him and for his saving purposes.

The Church defines a saint as “ a person or persons in heaven (officially canonized or not), who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their life for others, or were martyred for the faith, and who are worthy of imitation.” Your mother may have lived this life but was never officially canonized by the Church as a saint; believe it or not, she could just be one.

Incidentally, the Church or the Pope does not ‘make’ saints but simply declare what was already in the heart of God by their prudent investigations. The designation of sainthood only recognizes what God has already done. It is interesting to note that in the early Church a saint was declared so by popular acclaim. This was the only criterion; a life lived for Christ acclaimed by all. It was only in 933 AD that the first papal canonization occurred. Today’s feast honours the obscure as well as the famous, the saints each of us have known.

So why was the 1st of November set apart for this solemnity?

In May 607/609, Emperor Phocas presented the beautiful Roman Pantheon temple to Pope Boniface IV who first dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He then removed the statues of Jupiter and the pagan gods and consecrated the Pantheon to “all saints” who had died from Roman persecution in the first three hundred years after Christ. Many bones were brought from other graves and placed in the rededicated Pantheon church. Since there were too many martyrs for each to be given a day, they were lumped together into one day.

In the 8th century Pope Gregory III (731-741) dedicated a chapel at the Vatican in honour of all the saints. He changed the date to the first of November. Pope Gregory IV (827-844) later extended this celebration of all saints to the whole Western Church. This led to the commemoration of the evening before as All Hallows Eve, and it led to the following day, November 2 to be celebrated as All Souls Day, when we pray for all the souls who are still being purified on their way to heaven.

Also, since there are only 365 days in the year, not every person in heaven can have his own liturgical commemoration. Thus All Saints Day was created to commemorate every last individual in heaven, even those who salvation is known to God alone. So if your departed grandmother is in heaven, even though she’s never been officially canonized, on All Saints Day the Catholic Church commemorates her and the work God did in her life. She, too, has a place in the liturgical calendar, alongside the more famous saints.

The Gospel for the Solemnity of All Saints is taken from the Sermon on the Mount; specifically, the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are the “Basic Attitudes of Christ”! This passage is quite fitting for All Saints because all the saints experienced joy in the midst of sorrow or suffering. Jesus says in the Beatitudes that those who are poor, in mourning, or who are persecuted are blessed.

Finally, there are no solo saints, we celebrate the ‘communion of saints.’ A saint is joined to a family of all saints including those who live around the world and those who have gone to be with the Lord. Therefore, on All Saints Day is a perfect time to remember that God has made you special for him and his purposes, and that he has joined you into the eternal, worldwide fellowship of all his saints. Moreover, it’s a good day to take seriously the fact that God wants to make himself known in this world through you as a member of the family of all saints.

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Humility creates unity – Monday, 31st Week in ordinary time – Philippians 2:1-4

Our text of today forms part of a larger text spanning Philippians 2:1-11. The passage speaks of the humility of Christ. The letter to the Philippians covers several messages; one of them was the humility of Christ that we are called to imitate.

Paul begins chapter 2 with the word IF. Paul is not expressing a doubt when he begins 2:1 with the word IF. On the contrary, it is a manner of speaking; a manner that takes the rhetorical statement to be not only a matter of fact but a matter that would receive a resounding approval from all. Paul is not saying that “if you have any encouragement in Christ” and I’m not sure that you do….” Rather, he is certain that they do. The “if” is simply a rhetorical way of forcefully saying “since you have encouragement in Christ, since you have comfort provided by love, since you have fellowship with the Spirit, and since you have affection and mercy, then complete my joy. It is a matter of certainly, tried and tested, that Christ encourages us, love that consoles us and the Spirit that shows us sympathy and consolation. This is not up for discussion or debate. Now if that be so, if the Philippian Christians have received the things he mentions, then they have a responsibility to do what he is about to describe.

That demand of Paul may be summed up in one word; unity. The Christian is called to be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Paul is not talking about uniformity–uniformity comes from uniform, or what you look like on the outside. No, unity comes from character, from internals, from the Word and the Spirit.

All was certainly not well in Philippi. There were tensions in the Church in Philippi. But the Gospels are strewn with tense relationships. There were moments of tension that took place with Jesus’ disciples (see Mark 9:33-34; Luke 9:46; 22:24) or for that matter, Paul and Peter had a disagreement about the law (see Galatians 2:11-14).

The disunity in the Church of Philippi stemmed from the fact that there was an enthusiasm to spread the gospel. This sounds strange but is often the truth; even a good cause or a godly cause can become the source of disunity if we forget the reason for the cause. Even though the Philippians were earnest in their beliefs they got so carried away that at times they began to clash with each other.

Paul gives us the antidote to disunity. He tells us that division begins in the heart. It starts with little things and in little ways. The first step to unity is to renounce any self-ambition. Much of what we do is not done out of love for others, but out of our own desire for “advancement” or “promotion.” The second step to unity is to deal with conceit. Conceit is thinking too highly of one’s self, of having an excessive self-interest and self-preoccupation. It could be more literally translated “empty glory.” The third step to the kind of unity described in Philippians 2:2 is completely contradictory to the attitude of the world, because it calls us to be lowly of mind. Striving to regard others as better than yourself is about the least attractive thing to the thinking of this world. Yet there is truth in this. For, If I consider you above me and you consider me above you, then a marvelous thing happens: we have a community where everyone is looked up to and no one is looked down on.

Finally the fourth step to unity is that we look not for our own interest but that of others. Paul doesn’t tell us that it is wrong to look out for our own interests, but that we should not only look out for our own interests. Nothing is more diametrically opposed to unity and being one in spirit and purpose than selfishness and seeking one’s own interests. The two attitudes—unity and selfishness—cannot coexist. One has to give way to the other.

The quickest road to joy is humility; the quickest road to unhappiness is pride

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An introduction to St Paul’s letter to the Philippians; the Epistle of Joy – Saturday, 30th week in ordinary time – Philippians 1:18b-26

The city of Philippi had been founded by Philip, the Father of Alexander the great. A range of hills divides Europe from Asia; at Philippi the range of hills dips into a pass. Philippi was a Roman colony and one that had great military significance. One of the greatest battles of history, between Mark Antony and Brutus and Cassius took place here.

It was on his Second missionary journey in about the year ACE 52 that Paul came to Philippi. Paul had sailed from Alexandrian Troas in Asia Minor (Turkey) and had landed in Neapolis in Europe and then he made his way to Philippi.The story of Paul’s stay in Philippi is told in Acts 16. Paul had to leave Philippi after a storm of persecution and an illegal imprisonment had beleaguered him. That persecution was inherited by the church in Philippi. So, Paul will tell the Philippians that they have shared in his bonds and in his defense of the Gospel (1:7). What he has gone through, they too are going to go through and so he asks them not to be afraid. (1:28-30)

There had been a growing friendship between Paul and the Church of Philippi, closer than any other Church. It was his proud boast that he had taken nothing from any Church (that he had earned his keep) but from the Church in Philippi he accepted a gift.

Why is Paul writing this letter? When Paul wrote this letter he was in prison in Rome and he wrote it with a purpose. It is a letter of thanks. It is ACE 63 or 64 and once again the Philippians have sent him a gift 4:10-11. It also has to do with Epaphroditus. It seems that the Philippians had sent him not only as the bearer of the gift but that he might stay as a personal servant of Paul. But Epaphroditus had fallen ill and was homesick. Paul was concerned that the Philippians might think of Epaphroditus as a quitter, so he goes out of his way to give him a testimonial (2:29-30). It is a letter of encouragement to the Philippians in the trials that they are going through (1:28-30). Finally, It is an appeal for unity. It is from this that rises the great passage that speaks of the selfless humility of Jesus Christ 2:1-11. In the Church at Philippians there were two women who quareled and were endangering the peace(4:2) and there were false teachers who were seeking to lure the Philippians from the true path (3:2). The letter is an appeal to maintain unity.

Philippians is in fact the loveliest letter ever written. It has been called by two titles the Epistle of Excellent things and the Epistle of joy. Again and again, Paul uses the word rejoice; even in prison he directs the hearts of his listeners to rejoice.

The letter of St Paul to the Philippians is written from prison; such letters are also referred to as the captivity epistles. Since Paul was in prison awaiting trial he had to face the fact that it was quite uncertain whether he would live or die and to him it made no difference. Ironically, it is easier to ‘die for the Lord’ than to live for him. For Paul, Christ was the reason why he lived. There was never a moment when Paul did not experience Christ in his life. Christ was the beginning of life on the road to Damascus.

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