BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Successor of the Prince of the Apostles. Sovereign of the Vatican City State. Primate of Italy. Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province. Bishop of Rome. Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. Vicar of Jesus Christ. There can be no doubt as to who is being described by this impressive list of titles. The ambitions of James and John don’t even come close. Still, you’ve got to give them credit. Although by this point Jesus has already predicted his passion three times, the third coming immediately before today’s Gospel, James and John seem to be in a state of denial. All they can see is that Jesus is the Messiah, the real deal, destined for glory, and they want to be part of that, to be great by association. No time like the present, then, to jockey for position, to set themselves up to share the honors in a place of privilege. Jesus basically w

Fr. Charles Irvin Today’s readings present us with the question “Why is there suffering?” For those of us who believe there is a God, the question then becomes “Why does God permit suffering? Does God inflict suffering upon us, as some scripture passages suggest, or is suffering permitted by God due to the nature of the world He has created? Given the fact that I have only ten or fifteen minutes in which to address those questions, I will not even attempt to answer them here. Any answers I might give you in this short period of time would be simplistic at best, thus inviting simplistic responses, all of which would not be helpful us and would only expose us to ridicule from those who do not believe in God at all. I will therefore deal today with the question “How do we respond to the fact of suffering?” Do we respond passively and simply stoically accept suffering when it comes our way, or do we actively face it and even enter into it so as to come out on the other side as better

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) The answer is: A quiz show in which three well-read persons with excellent memories and reasonably good reflexes compete to win the most money. The correct question is: What is Jeopardy! ? Because they know and remember a lot of stuff, the contestants are considered really smart. They usually appear to be intelligent as well, which is not necessarily the same thing. They are clever. But, are they wise? They may well be, but this is not a requirement; in fact, since wisdom implies a capacity to ponder, it could even be a disadvantage, when rapid recall is of the essence. Which is better—to be well-read and clever (and maybe win lots of money), or to be wise? Today’s readings leave us in no doubt. Wisdom comes first; the rest may or may not follow. Where is wisdom to be found? Our spontaneous, common-sense response would be: “from experience, of cour

Fr. Charles Irvin Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30 We have all heard the phrase: “Money is the root of all evil.” But scripture never calls money inherently evil. In fact, wealth is often portrayed throughout God’s Word as a blessing from the Lord. Think of Abraham or Solomon or other biblical figures. Matthew was a rich man. So was Zacchaeus. In today’s gospel reading about the rich young man we find St. Mark reporting: Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, ‘You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ The bible reports several people whom Jesus especially loved. One was Lazarus, the man He raised from the dead. Jesus, the gospels tell us, loved him along with his sisters, Martha and Mary. St. John the Apostle was another Jesus especially loved. Several times he is referred to as “the one Jesus loved”, or the Beloved Disciple. And there was of course His own mothe

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) In the story of creation we are told several times that “God saw that it was good.” There was only one exception: “It is not good for the man to be alone.” The first reading, from Chapter 2 of Genesis, spells out in greater detail what was stated in Chapter 1: “Male and female he created them.” God’s plan is to make a “suitable partner” for the man. This expression is the latest in a long list of possible translations: “Help meet, a helper comparable to him, a helper who is just right for him, a helper suitable for him, a helper fit for him, a helpmate—his like, a helper as his counterpart.” A commentator named Kaiser paraphrases the verse as follows: “I will make (the woman) a power (or strength) corresponding to the man.” He justifies this because the word translated as “help” or “partner” is used most often in the Bible in speaking of God. In Psalm 33

Fr. Charles Irvin Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-12 Jewish sages wrote the Book of Genesis as a series of meditations on the origin of the universe and the genesis of humankind. A popular form of Jewish writing was employed setting forth very profound ideas in simple forms of storytelling. Everything happened, they told us, because a caring and loving Creator in the beginning willed it so. All that has happened comes from His personal love and inner drive to share Himself. All lovers know of that inner drive. God did not create anything by chance – everything is purpose made, especially man and woman who are created in God’s own image and likeness so that He can share Himself with them as He does with no other creatures. He breathed His life, Genesis tells us, only into man and woman, not into His other creatures. Note that the creation of man was prior to the creation of any other form of life. Into man God breathed His Spirit, His very life and love. Then God creat

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) In 2012, El Alto, the second-largest city in Bolivia, enacted a law specifically for indigenous people, to the effect that anyone caught stealing with have his hand cut off. This would be done under anesthetic and doctors will be paid to perform the surgery; but there will be no prison sentence for the criminal. Believe it or not, this law was approved by the city’s indigenous community. I have not been able to discover whether it has ever been enforced. Could this be what Jesus actually had in mind? Even the classic code of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth never imposed such an extreme punishment for theft. Jesus is not specific about what kinds of sins our hands or feet or eyes could lead us to commit. It doesn’t matter. All sin, and most especially one’s “besetting,” or dominant, sin is to be avoided, and any measures we take, however harsh, to a