JULY 13-14, 2019
5:00 PM (SAT), 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES
Ikkyu Sojun was a Zen Buddhist monk and poet from the Muromachi period of Japanese history. He was born at the end of the 14th century, and lived 87 years.
He was known to be a bit of an iconoclast – going outside of the boundaries of normal polite society – and was considered as a bit of an eccentric as well. He was also a bit of a troublemaker – drinking too much, living outside his temple, in a word: mischievous.
While he was made the dharma heir – that is the lawful successor – to his own master … within the Rinzai sect – to which he belonged – he is considered both a saint and a heretic.
He wrote his poetry in classical Chinese. One of which is:
Many paths lead fromToday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
The foot of the mountain,
But at the peak
We all gaze at the
Single bright moon.
St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians, speaks on the pre-eminence of Christ in four distinct points:
Christ is Savior,Christ is Creator,Christ is Head of the Church,Christ is the Beloved of the Father.In this particular section, St. Paul develops a very emphatic Christology – that is, a solid theological defense – against those who might consider Jesus to be merely “a way, a truth, and a life” as opposed to “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
In the Gospel, we hear the familiar story of the Good Samaritan. While the story is known to us, perhaps we may miss what goes before the parable – which is Jesus’s response to a challenge from a scholar of the law asking how to obtain eternal life.
Jesus answers the question with a question, and the man’s response is the prayer known to pious Jews as the Sh’ma Yisrael – from its first two words. In Hebrew, the prayer is:
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽדThat is,
Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad.
Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is One.This prayer is the centerpiece of Jewish morning and evening prayer. It’s twice-daily recitation is considered a mitzvah – a religious commandment. It’s meaning is simple – a profession of faith in the One God, and an acknowledgement of the Kingship of God.
The Old Testament reading from the end of Deuteronomy has Moses re-iterating the Law for the people of Israel. He points out that they have a choice to accept the Law and receive the blessings of God, or to reject it and recieve a curse.
In a short time, we will all make our own Profession of Faith – in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. We will profess our faith in One God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and our belief in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
Yet, this is not a question of rigidity on our own part, but rather our acceptance that God has revealed the Truth through His Son Jesus Christ and has established a Church through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Just before today’s reading from the Letter to the Colossians, St. Paul offers a prayer for spiritual intelligence, practical obedience, and moral excellence. We would do well to imitate his prayer and conform our minds, our wills, and our lives to Christ Jesus.
In regard to Ikkyu Sojun, there is indeed one mountain – one God. And for those who are called by God, in Christ through Holy Baptism, we each possess a unique vocation – an individual path of grace in our own daily ascent to God – as we work to grow in holiness and virtue.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray to not neglect our call. Let us pray that the graces we receive in this Eucharist today may unite us more closely with Christ and His Church, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, may we offer ourselves to God as an acceptable sacrifice.
