Law and Life

Welcoming the stranger and respecting the law

09/27/2020

We now turn our attention to the fourth topic to consider as conscientious Catholics before voting this November, namely, immigration and welcoming the stranger. We have already touched upon several sensitive subjects the last three weekends, such as abortion, racism and marriage and LGBTQ persons. But in some ways, immigration is a little more personal for me, since I am an immigrant from India and I have had to navigate the whole legal process of entering the country. One of the toughest questions I was asked at the immigration exam was whether I would take up arms to defend this country from foreign invasion. Suddenly, the thought flashed through my mind of the U.S. and India going to war, and possibly shooting a soldier from India. I hesitated for a moment, but don’t worry, I answered correctly that I would defend this nation. Now, I pray every day that the U.S. and India never go to war!

Being an Indian immigrant makes me acutely aware of the importance of both sides of this difficult debate: welcoming the stranger and respect for the rule of law. On the one hand, welcoming the stranger has long been a distinguished part of our national history. Indeed, most of us were immigrants or children of immigrants, especially here at Immaculate Conception Church. We are happy someone welcomed us when we were the strangers. But on the other hand, we Americans have a great respect for the rule of law, which maintains our equality as citizens because we are all treated the same before the law. The law not only asserts we are “created equal” but ensures we stay that way. One blessing that brings so many immigrants to this country is precisely the rule of law, which is egregiously abused or entirely absent in their home countries.

The U.S. bishops equally emphasize both “welcoming the stranger” and “respecting the rule of law.” In their document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” they wrote: “The Gospel mandate to ‘welcome the stranger,’ requires Catholics to care for and stand with newcomers, authorized and unauthorized, including unaccompanied immigrant children, refugees and asylum-seekers, those unnecessarily detained, and victims of human trafficking” (no. 81). That comprehensive description covers virtually everyone who steps foot on our shores, or even on our riverbanks. We warmly welcome all the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” because we were once huddling too.

The bishops also insist on comprehensive immigration reform, that is, new laws. Why? People respect the rule of law when those laws are good. But if the laws themselves are broken and ineffective, it is hard (and at times unreasonable) to respect them. An unjust law is no law at all. Thus, the bishops continued in the same paragraph: “Comprehensive reform is urgently necessary to fix a broken immigration system and should include a broad and fair legalization program with a path to citizenship; a work program with worker protections and just wages; family reunification policies; access to legal protections; which include due process procedures; refuge for those fleeing persecution and violence; and policies to address the root causes of migration.” In other words, Congress has the unenviable but urgent task to make the laws of our land conform to the lives of desperate immigrants. When they succeed in their task, it becomes easier to both respect the rule of law and welcome the stranger at the door.

It is imperative to remember that laws can and do change. Human laws are not divine laws. The Constitution was written on paper, the Commandments were chiseled in stone. If you want to read a brief history of the evolution of immigration laws – which have changed dramatically over 250 years – I highly recommend John F. Kennedy’s book “A Nation of Immigrants.” Kennedy himself was a great grandson of immigrants fleeing the devastating potato famine in Ireland (like many initial IC parishioners). He embodied what immigrants and their descendants could achieve in the US if given the chance. Kennedy insisted immigration laws should be fair and flexible, and then concluded: “With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience.” That is exactly what the Catholic bishops ask, too.

Another insight into the relationship between law and life was made by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, our former bishop in Arkansas. He once commented with a smile: “John, there are laws and then there are laws.” He did not elaborate but I took him to mean that sometimes we select which laws to obey and which ones to skirt. I hate to admit this in public but I usually drive on the interstate 5 to 7 miles per hour above the speed limit. I’m sure no one else does that. But one law I cannot tolerate people breaking is the rule that the left lane is for passing only.

I remember once when someone was cruising slowly in the left lane with a long line of cars behind them. I became so angry, that I passed the person in the right lane, got in front of them, and slowed down to 50 miles per hour forcing them move over to the right hand lane. I casually violate the “speeding law” but I cannot stand anyone breaking the “left lane law.” Be careful of a “hidden hypocrisy” when we complain about the violation of immigration laws while we blithely break other laws. If we fix our broken immigration laws, we won’t have to pick which ones to obey. The whole controversy about immigration is at root a concern about making just laws.

In 2015 Pope Francis visited the United States and spoke before a joint session of Congress. Behind the pope sat two prominent Catholic politicians: Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner. During his speech, the Holy Father pointed to the full-faced figure of Moses, the ancient law-giver in the Old Testament, and observed: “Moses provides us with a good synthesis of your work (meaning the work of Congress): you are asked to protect, by means of the law, the image and likeness fashioned by God on every human life.” Notice how the Holy Father tied together the two terms “law” and “life.” The law exists to safeguard life. The pope was prodding Congress to pass legislation – including new immigration laws – that would inspire more Americans to both “welcome the stranger” and “respect the rule of law.”

If you watched that speech you noticed how visibly moved John Boehner was. At one point he wiped his eyes and nose with his handkerchief. Clearly the pope's words touched his heart. In fact, it made such a deep impression on him that the next day Boehner announced his resignation as Speaker and from the House of Representatives. The pope did not tell Boehner to resign. But he awakened his conscience so Boehner could make that decision. That is how these homilies work. They are not intended to tell you how to vote, but to awaken your conscience so you can make a better decision.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Surprised by Suffering

Embracing our crosses and following Christ

09/26/2020

Luke 9:43B-45 While they were all amazed at his every deed, Jesus said to his disciples, “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Suffering always surprises us, even us Christians who know we need to carry our cross. The scriptures remind us repeatedly to “pick up your cross and follow me, if you would my disciple be.” But in more practical terms, many people’s personal motto is: “maximize pleasure and minimize pain.” I’ll never forget how forcefully this hit home for me as a seminarian many years ago. I was about 22 years old and having a really hard time in the seminary.

I was plagued by doubts about my vocation. I decided to visit with Msgr. Hebert, my spiritual director at the time, and what he said was so simple and yet so shocking. He said, “John, this is your cross, learn to carry it.” I couldn’t believe it, and yet it was so obvious. I knew Christians had to carry their cross, but I somehow believed that was for others, not for me. Msgr. Hebert gently corrected me that all Christians carry crosses, even the one named John Antony.

Gospel passages like the one from this morning in Luke 9:43-45 make me feel a little better about my incomprehension because I am in good company, namely, the company of the apostles. We read: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men’.” And how did they react to that shocking news of Jesus impending suffering and death, and soon their own? Luke explains: “But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it.”

Maybe the main reason they were following Jesus as Messiah was they felt he was the One who would “maximize their pleasures and minimize their pains.” That was the common conception of the Christ in those days. Could that be the reason we are following Jesus, too? If that is our motivation, that Jesus will maximize pleasure and minimize pain, then no wonder the lesson to carry our cross comes across to us so shockingly.

Two scripture passages provide a little perspective for carrying our Christian crosses. Romans 6:23 says: “The wages of sin is death.” That passage is referring to Gen. 2:17, where God warned Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed his command not to eat of the tree of knowledge, they would die. But because they did eat of the forbidden fruit, and committed the original sin, death entered human history. By the way, what is “suffering” but “death in installments”? Every suffering is a “little death.” So that is the first reason death and suffering surprises us, even though it shouldn’t. Death is a consequence of sin; originally Adam’s sin, and more lately our own.

The second passage is Heb. 2:14-15, which is a little more complex quotation. We read: “Through death, Jesus destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life.” In other words, the devil does have the power to hurt us physically, and even kill us. We see a dramatic example of this in the life of Job in the Old Testament. It was the devil who inflicted his injuries.

And what is the devil’s nuclear weapon against us? It is suffering and death, which in turn cause us to become his slaves so that we can avoid the suffering he causes. But Jesus shows us how to be free of his tyranny by the maxim: “take up your cross and follow me, if you would my disciple be.” That is, when we embrace suffering we take the devil’s nuclear warhead out of his hands and blow it up in his face. When we are willing to embrace suffering – our cross – we are no longer slaves to Satan or to sin.

Folks, think about all your aches and pains, all your ailments and problems. All the adolescent anxieties, all the family feuds, all the senior senilities, and so forth. Are you hoping Jesus will just help you “maximize your pleasures and minimize your pains” and relieve you of all those crosses? Well, let me share a little advice I learned back in the seminary from a wise priest: "This is your cross, learn to carry it." But more than that, you will take the devil’s greatest weapon – suffering and death – out of his hands and defeat him with it. Then, as it says in Rom. 8:21, you too will enjoy “the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Blended Brothers

Understanding how the family of Jesus becomes our family

09/23/2020

Luke 8:19-21 The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

                Some people think that “blended families” are a modern and recent phenomenon, but they are in fact quite ancient. The name is what is new. I would suggest to you that Jesus himself hailed from a blended family. But first, what is a blended family? That is where parents who have children from a previous marriage marry each other and form a new family. The most famous blended family is probably the “Brady Bunch.”

Do you remember their theme song? Here’s the story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls, all of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls. It’s the story of a man named Brady, who was busy was three boys of his own. They were four men, living all together, but they were all alone.” And you know the rest of the story. The rest of the story, which made the sit-com both endearing and enduring, was the sibling rivalry, the jealousy, and one very saintly housekeeper named “Alice.” In other words, it is not easy to unite a blended family but in the end it can become something very beautiful.

All four gospels refer to the “brothers of Jesus,” and Matthew 13:55 adds that Jesus had “sisters.” Today’s gospel from Luke 8 reads: “The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to see him but were unable to join him because of the crowd.” Now, the reason we Catholic Christians do not accept the simple face-value meaning of “brothers of Jesus” as being other children of Mary and Joseph is to protect Mary’s perpetual virginity. From the early centuries of the Church, Christians have held firmly that Mary had no other children besides Jesus. Interestingly, the great Protestant reformers, Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Wesley professed faith in Mary’s perpetual virginity, too.

Let me briefly outline three theories suggested by early Church Fathers about how Jesus came from a blended family like the Brady Bunch. St. Epiphanius argued that St. Joseph had been previously married, and brought the so-called “brothers of Jesus” into his second marriage with Mary. In that scenario, these men would be “half-brothers,” although not really by blood, because Jesus is not the “Son of Joseph,” but rather the Son of God. St. Jerome, who translated the bible into Latin from Greek and Hebrew in the early 5th century, believed that Mary had a sister named Mary – who names two daughters both “Mary”?? – and she was the wife of Clopas. The so-called “brothers of Jesus” in this scenario would be Jesus’ cousins.

A third explanation was proposed by Hegesippus, in which Clopas was St. Joseph’s brother, and therefore the “brothers of Jesus” would, in this telling, have been Jesus’ “cousins” but again not technically “cousins” by blood because Jesus was not really the “Son of Joseph.” Did you follow all that? My underlying point is twofold: (1) Mary was a perpetual virgin and had no other children besides our Lord, and (2) the Church has held this belief from the beginning, even though we have different explanations to demonstrate its plausibility.

Folks, there is one important practical point for us in this explanation of Jesus’ blended family in Nazareth. We, too, are called and incorporated into Jesus’ divine Family of the Holy Trinity by virtue of our baptism. By baptism we are “adopted” into the Family of God and therefore, we, too, become the “brothers and sisters of Jesus,” like it says in the gospels. But the blended family in this case is not that of Mary and Joseph, but the blended Family of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words, our baptism makes Jesus “a brother from another mother,” as we say these days. Our Mother is the Church, who gives birth to us by “water and the Holy Spirit.” Jesus has a lot of “brothers and sisters.”

You might want to go back and watch some reruns of the Brady Bunch. Why? It is not just the story of a lovely lady and a man named Brady. It also gives us a clue into the story of Jesus’ blended family of Nazareth. And ultimately, it helps us grasp the story of our life in heaven with the Blended Family of the Holy Trinity.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

I Must Decrease

Putting attention on others and Jesus

09/22/2020

Matthew 9:9-13 As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

There is a noticeable tendency among the spiritually mature to speak less about themselves and more about others, and especially about God. When they do speak about themselves, it is typically in unflattering terms by pointing out their own faults and failures. They are reluctant to use the pronoun “I” unless it is to share what they have done poorly.

Many years ago in another parish we were interviewing for the job of development director. The various candidates submitted cover letters with their resumes. Obviously, in a cover letter you have to “sell yourself,” but this particular person used the pronoun “I” 16 times. I didn’t pay much attention to that until one of the people on the interview committee pointed out how self-centered that sounded. We did not offer him the job mainly because of how he came across in the cover letter. The spiritually mature tend not to “sell themselves,” they are “selling Jesus” in the sense that they want people to fall in love with the Lord.

Today is the feast of St. Matthew, one of the twelve apostles, and it is easy to spot this spiritual tendency of humility in him. The gospel story is Matthew telling the episode of his own call to follow Christ. Notice the lack of the first person singular pronoun “I.” We read: “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the custom’s post.” The apostle could have written: “One day Jesus passed by while I was sitting at my custom’s post.” But he demurred.

What’s even more compelling is that none of the four gospels identifies the author. Even though modern bibles place the title “Matthew,” “Mark,” “Luke” and “John” at the beginning of each gospel, not one of the early manuscripts records such a title. The Greek title “Kata Matthaion” (According to Matthew) is a later addition. In other words, it is based purely on Church tradition that we have any clue who wrote which gospel. Why? That is how much they wanted their own personalities to fade into the background and have Jesus’ personality shine in the foreground. As St. John the Baptist said in John 3:30: “He must increase and I must decrease.” Just like someone pointed out to me how much the pronoun “I” can be overused and indicate pride, so the canonical gospels like Matthew insist on how much the pronoun “I” should be underused and thereby indicate humility.

My friends, the practical lesson for us today is to pay more attention to how we talk, especially about ourselves. The place where pronouns become very pronounced is in marriage counseling, especially when the couple is experiencing problems, and the words “I” and “You” become charged with emotions. Usually each person uses the first person singular like that man in his cover letter applying for development director. They acknowledge, and at times exaggerate, all the things they have done right, all the sacrifices they themselves have made, and all the injuries and injustices they themselves have suffered. On the contrary, the other spouse is the wrong-doer. In other words, “I” am innocent and “you” are guilty. And then they turn to me and say in effect: And now Fr. John, we want you to pronounce judgement: convict the guilty and acquit the innocent.”

How different is the attitude of the apostles like Matthew in the canonical gospels. When they bother to talk about themselves, which is rarely to never, they only point out their own deficiencies and difficulties. And I am convinced that would be the most productive place to start all marriage counseling: to use the pronoun “I” sparingly, and when you do, use it only to share your own struggles and selfishness. Maybe the golden rule of marriage counseling should be the words of St. John the Baptist: “I must decrease, and he must increase.” That is, I must try to see Jesus in my spouse. That would the sign of someone who is spiritually mature.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Remarkable Relics

Venerating religious and regular relics

09/14/2020

John 3:13-17 Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Catholics are routinely criticized for our veneration of relics and religious objects, like rosaries, statues, and medals. Just look around at our beautiful church filled with items that catch the eyes, and you can see why we might be susceptible to such reproaches. Naysayers say Catholics not only admire these material things, we adore them, investing them with value they do not naturally possess as just wood or purely plaster or plastic. My answer to such anti-Catholic complaints is to point out we do exactly the same thing in many other areas of life, for example, in sports.

Last year, on July 17, 2019, Mark McGwire’s bat, used during his famous 1998 season to reach a record 70 homeruns, was auctioned off for $26,896. Paying that much money for a 34 inch, 32 oz. long piece of wood made from an Ash tree seems like admiration reaching the heights of adoration. But we know Cardinal fans do not worship their players no matter how much they might admire them. Notice, however, that what made McGwire’s bat so special, indeed, worth nearly $27,000, was that he touched it and used it to achieve an amazing feat: a new homerun record. And that is the basis of Catholic veneration – not worship, mind you – of relics: someone we admire (one of the saints) touched a material item and God’s grace made their whole life an amazing feat of holiness.

September 14 we venerate one of the most remarkable relics of all: the Cross of Christ. The cross, you might say, is the piece of wood that Jesus used to hit the spiritual homerun of our salvation. That’s why we venerate the true cross, because Jesus touched it, and for Catholics, that’s not worth $27,000; it is priceless. The history of this veneration stretches all the way back to the early centuries of Christianity. In 326 St. Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where she discovered the true Cross and had the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built on the site.

According to tradition all three crosses of Calvary were recovered, Christ’s Cross, but also the crosses of the two thieves. In order to test which one belonged to Jesus, each cross was touched to a woman who was deathly ill. The Cross that caused the woman to recover completely was deemed to be the Savior’s. One third of the Cross was left in Jerusalem, one third deposited in Rome at the church called “Santa Croce” (Holy Cross), and one third taken to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). We Catholics venerate the Cross of Christ because our Lord touched it and performed the amazing feat of our salvation. Indeed, with the Cross, he ushered in “a new heavens and a new earth” as we read in Rev. 21:1.

My friends, take a minute today to notice all the little material things we daily invest with immense value and hold dear to our hearts, the little personal relics of our lives. We cherish our wedding rings, and if we lose them we lose sleep until we find them. We prominently place pictures of our grandparents and our grandbabies where everyone can see and admire them. We carry special notes and letter that special people have sent us over the years in wallets or purses, or even in safety deposit boxes. All this veneration of these material things – made merely of metal or plastic and paper – is very natural and normal for human beings. Why? They were touched by someone we admire and they used it to achieve an amazing feat, that is, to show us they love us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Why Women Weep

Appreciating the gift of tears and Mother Mary

09/16/2020

John 19:25-27 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Today I am going to talk about something that I have very little personal experience of, namely, why women weep. It’s not very smart for a man to wade too deeply into the ocean of a woman’s world, but I’ve never had much common sense with women, which is probably why I am a celibate priest. But I think there are two basic reasons why women weep: (1) a woman cries when she is extremely happy, and (2) a woman sheds tears when she is extremely sad. And on some really rare, but profoundly precious moments, she feels both happy and sad simultaneously and she weeps.

Last Saturday I celebrated a wedding of a beautiful couple at Immaculate Conception Church. After the ceremony, the bride told me: “You almost got me to cry during your homily.” I replied, “Well, if the bride doesn’t cry at her wedding, the wedding doesn’t count.” But she did shed a some tears during her vows, so it counted. And of course, women cry at funerals, and at times when they come to me for counseling. Now, women don’t like to cry because it messes up their make up. But I tell them I consider it a huge compliment when a women cries with me because it means she can feel vulnerable with me and she trusts me.

But do you know the real benefit of crying and releasing those emotions? It means you will live longer. If you look around in church on Sunday, which do you see more of: little old ladies or little old men? There are far more little old ladies. And that’s not just because the little old men are playing golf; those little old men are playing golf in heaven. That’s why the proper word is “widow” because the more common reality is women who have lost their husbands. The derivative word is “widower” because men who outlive their wives are rare and more exceptional.

Why do women live longer than men typically? When a woman weeps, she releases the tension between the body and the soul caused by life’s difficulties, and returns to equilibrium and inner harmony. You always feel better after a good cry. However, since men tend not to weep, that inner tension between the body and soul builds up until the body and soul get sick of each other and say good-bye. What is it called when the body and soul separate? That is called death. But since women weep, they keep the body and soul happier with each other and they stay together longer. What is it called when the body and soul stay together? That is called life. Why women weep has everything to do with life and death.

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows, and we contemplate why Mary might have wept. Mary is the perfect woman, even conceived without sin, so her weeping would teach us the most beneficial effect of shedding tears. There are two gospel options for today, and I had a really hard time deciding which one to use, it almost made me cry! But I didn’t cry, of course, because I am a stubborn man, who will die soon. I chose the John 19 reading because it suggests how Mary lived the rest of her life.

We read: “And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” The nameless disciple, as you know, is St. John the Evangelist, who wrote that gospel. Do you know how Mary died? Surprisingly, she did not die at all. Rather, at the end of her earthly life, she was assumed, body and soul, into heaven. Her body and soul always stayed in perfect harmony because Mary never committed any sins (thanks to God’s grace). But I also believe Mary enhanced that harmony by shedding many tears, from the time Jesus was born, till the day he died, and later for the Church he established. Maybe Mary sheds tears of joy in heaven as she watches over us today.

Boys and girls, take two seconds today and ask yourself when was the last time you cried. Did you feel it was a bad thing to cry and try to stop yourself? Or, maybe you were trying to comfort someone else who was crying and you said: “It’s going to be okay, please don’t cry.” But I would suggest to you that tears are a good thing, both happy tears and sad tears. I always tell people in counseling: “It’s okay to cry,” and then the faucet turns on full blast! Remember why women weep: their tears heal the harmony between body and soul, and that’s why they live longer than men.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Wonder Women

Appreciating the role and dignity of women

09/18/2020

Luke 8:1-3 Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.

I would like to say a word about women today because the gospel of Luke ch. 8 takes a minute to mention women, too. Do you know where the word “woman” comes from? In the bible it says that after God had created Adam, he created Eve. When Adam beheld the beautiful Eve and he exclaimed: “Whoa, man!” But St. Luke and I are not the only ones who have stopped to wonder about women, so did St. John Paul II. On August 15, 1988, the feast of Mary’s Assumption into heaven, John Paul II wrote “Mulieris Dignitatem,” “The Role and Dignity of Women,” a kind of compendium of his whole theology of the body. If you are searching for a summary of the pope’s famous theology of the body, that encyclical is excellent. I love the pope’s phrase “feminine genius.”

Also, anyone who criticizes Catholics saying women should help run the Church – and thinks they aren’t already doing that – has not stepped inside the church offices lately. Fr. Daniel, Dc. Greg and I are way outnumbered by women, whose dedication, devotion and drive is nothing short of inspiring. If you stop by the church and note the gender of the employees, you, too, may exclaim: “Whoa, man!”

What does the gospel of Luke say today? In the beginning verses of chapter 8, St. Luke mentions three women. We read there: “Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Suzanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.” Let me say a word about each of these women. Pope St. Gregory I in 591 suggested that Jesus expelling seven demons out of Mary Magdalene symbolized freeing her from the seven deadly sins. Hence, she became a loyal disciple of Jesus, and all four gospels record her resolute devotion even to standing at the foot of the Cross, when the other followers had fled.

She is also the first to witness the Lord’s resurrected body and announce the Good News to the apostles. Thus she is given the singular title of “Apostle to the Apostles.” That’s why Pope Francis raised her feast day on July 22 from a mere memorial to a full feast day. We can all look at Mary Magdalene and say, “Whoa man!”

Less is known about the other two women, but not nothing. “Joanna” is a name that means “Yahweh has been gracious.” And indeed God had been gracious to her since Jesus had healed her of infirmities as Luke says. The fact that she was the wife of Chuza, who was King Herod’s steward, means she was likely wealthy and could provide for Jesus and his disciples from her resources. Joanna is also mentioned in Luke 24:10 as one of the women who took spices to Jesus’ tomb. She had the money to buy the spices.

Joanna makes me think of all the wonderful women in the I.C. Ladies Auxiliary, who bring priests dinner on Tuesday evenings every week. The Ladies Auxiliary is our own Door Dash, Grub Hug and Waitr! Did you know the Ladies Auxiliary also pays for most of the church’s supplies for celebrating the liturgies all year: the candles, the books, the hosts, the wine, and the vestments? Every time you walk into this beautiful church, know there are wonderful women who support it out of their resources, and you might want to exclaim, “Whoa, man!”

My friends, if we take two minutes to think about the people who have profoundly shaped our faith, women will be a big part of the picture. No offense to my dad, but it was always my mom who insisted we pray every evening before going to bed. Most often when a young couple from two different denominations marry each other, it’s often the religion of the woman that takes precedence and prevails. The man often converts to the faith of his wife. Women tend to understand intuitively their need for God faster than men do (who are too busy being independent), and therefore their faith-life is often far advanced.

I believe that’s because women get that what’s most important in life is relationships – which is why they love soap operas – and they are ready for the revelation that God is not some Solitary Loner, as the Old Testament insists (cf., Deut. 6:4-8). Rather, God is a Trinity of divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the New Testament unveils. That is the heart of the feminine genius because it penetrates the heart of God, the Holy Trinity. And that is the real reason why Adam, when he first beheld Eve, exclaimed: “Whoa, man!”

Praised be Jesus Christ!