When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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When we think about Vietnam, it’s easy to associate it with the 20-year war fought between the North and South, which the United States was drawn into for 8 long years.
But the cross has long been part of Vietnam’s history. For centuries, Vietnamese Christians suffered under repressive regimes – from evil monarchs to Communism.
Today, for example, we celebrate the Feast of Saint Andrew Dung Lac and 116 of his companions who were martyred in the 19th century. Among them were bishops, priests, missionaries, a mother of six, even a nine-year-old child.
In all, it’s estimated up to 300,000 ordinary Vietnamese were put to death since the 17th century, refusing to renounce their faith in Christ.
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So, what might their example say to us today?
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Although Vietnam’s soil has been soaked by the blood of hundreds of thousands of martyrs, we only know the names of a few of them, like Andrew Dung Lac.
They remind us that the Saints who line the halls of heaven are often ordinary people like us, who might be quickly forgotten in the annals of history, but never in the mind of God.
As Jesus himself said, “You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.”
Secondly, sainthood is for any age. Records show that children as young as nine, perhaps even younger, have mustered up the courage to stand against their oppressors, clinging to their faith.
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Like the widow in today’s Gospel, people of all ages have given their whole livelihood to God, which begs the question: How do we witness to our faith? When do we find it hard to be Christian? Have we ever put our cross down?
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May the Vietnamese martyrs, known and unknown, pray for us.
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Image credits: (1) FreePik (2) Asian Catholic Initiative, Archdiocese of Chicago (3) Come Let’s Pray
The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.” Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.” Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.”
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Many of you know that the crucifix suspended above the tabernacle in this church was carved to scale; it’s the approximate height and weight of Christ nailed to his cross on Calvary.
While kneeling in the pews, you also see him at the same angle from which his mother Mary and the Apostle John gazed upon him. They beheld the humbled, exhausted, anguished body of our King.
The crucifixion of Jesus was so horrific that Christians did not depict it for another four centuries. In our time, however, crucifixes are so common that many have become desensitized to the nature of our Lord’s sacrifice.
If we removed Jesus from the cross and imagined a sweet, innocent puppy there, instead, we’d be horrified.
But this is no puppy; this is God in the flesh!
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In Luke’s account of the crucifixion, after Jesus was mocked, crowned with thorns, lashed thirty-nine times, spit upon, nearly beaten to death, and nailed to a cross, surrounded by people who hated him, the first words he spoke were words of forgiveness.
“Father, forgive them.”
Not just Judas. Not just Peter and the others who left him. But the soldiers, his executioners, the criminals dying on his right and his left, and us.
All of us.
In a sense, all of humanity was crucified on that gory, glorious day.
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Crucified next to Jesus were two criminals, who break out in an argument.
On Christ’s left is the unrepentant thief, who draws precious air into his lungs only to add to the mockery of Jesus. Without any bargaining power of his own, he demands that Christ serve him.
“Are you not the Christ?” he cries out. “Save yourself and us!” We might re-interpret his words to say, “Jesus, put a stop to this madness! Pull me out of this grave, which I myself have made!”
Flanked on the Lord’s right is another criminal. Only he is repentant. Tradition tells us his name was Dismas. He does not ask to be freed, only remembered. “Jesus,” he says, “remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
It seems the grim reality of death led Dismas to faith – the fruit of that faith being hope and repentance. “Remember me.”
The Lord answers Dismas’ prayer, assuring him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” And so Dismas becomes the first person in the Gospels to enter into heavenly glory, even before the Blessed Mother and the Apostle John, who stand and watch.
Often as we age, we become more like Dismas to the extent that our priorities are slowly distilled down to what truly matters. “Jesus, remember me.”
Yet, even from the cross, Jesus remains a divisive figure. One man accepts his King. The other mocks him.
This drama on Calvary begs the question: “When we suffer like these two thieves, are we drawn towards or awayfrom the Lord?”
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While this argument between the two thieves on Calvary unfolds, Jesus himself is riled with temptation, bringing his public ministry full circle.
Immediately after his baptism, the Spirit drove him into the desert, where he prayed and fasted for forty days and forty nights. At the end of that harrowing journey, he was tested by Satan three times.
Luke tells us that after Jesus successfully resisted the devil, “Satan departed until an opportune time.”
Now he has returned.
Here, at the end of Christ’s earthly life, Satan returns to test him in three different ways:
Through the Lord’s friends – even his Father – who seem to have abandoned him; through the soldiers who crowned him with thorns, mocking his divinity; and through the unrepentant thief who refused Christ’s mercy.
The power of evil may not be very creative, but it remains quite effective. Satan’s goal was to embarrass Jesus as he pined for air, to test his will, and to lure him off of the cross, making even the Lord wonder, “Was this all for nothing?”
We, too, face different temptations that keep coming back to us at the most opportune moments in life. Like Jesus, we either resist them and remain faithful, giving glory to our Father, or we yield in human weakness to the desires of our flesh.
As Saint Paul himself lamented, “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.”
Words which Dismas, the repentant thief, could’ve said himself. “I do what I hate.”
Words which, perhaps, we also say when tempted from time to time.
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In this Eucharist, may we pray for the grace to live ever more like Jesus, “who loved us and gave himself for us.”
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Image credits: (1) Christianity.com (2) National Catholic Register (3) Heartlight.org
While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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There’s an old Chinese proverb, “Not one family can put a sign outside of their home with the words, ‘No problems here.’” Every family – even the Holy Family – experiences tension.
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We see such tension unfolding in today’s Gospel while Jesus is found preaching inside someone’s home. Suddenly, Mary and a few other family members show up asking to speak with him.
They haven’t come to ask him if he’ll be home for dinner; they’ve come to silence him. Mark tells us, some of his family thought he was, “Out of his mind!”
They knew the Lord’s teachings were revolutionary, so they feared Jesus might disturb the civil and religious authorities. In their minds, silencing him would be an act of mercy, keeping him from throwing his life away.
Although his family cared for him, they didn’t always understand him.
The fact they are standing outside not only speaks to their physical separation, but also their distance from him in mind and heart.
If they are to become members of his divine family – the Church – then they must enter into the home, where they’ll be invited to, “hear the Word of God and observe it.”
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So, it is for us.
In baptism, each of us is welcomed into the “home” of the Church, where the Lord instructs us by his Word and Sacraments. Our mission is to remain inside this home, in good standing, in a state of grace.
What has been my experience of life in the Church? Do I feel at home? Welcome? Or “outside” for any reason?
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“Not one family can put a sign outside of their home with the words, ‘No problems here.’”
There is tension in every family – even in this divine family, the Church. But nothing should separate us from each other. As Saint Paul reminds us, “We are one body, the body of Christ on earth.”
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Image credits: (1) Ranch at Dove Tree (2) Third Church (3) InterChurch Holiness Convention
