Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

The Baptist

June 24 is the feast of the birth of John the Baptist. He is one of only three people in the church calendar whose birthday is a major feast (Jesus and Mary are the other two), and he appears in every gospel, as if the story of Jesus would be incomplete if he were not part of it. He was, according to Jesus, a “voice crying in the wilderness,” preparing the way for Jesus and pointing him out when he appeared.

John told people that they needed to get ready for the coming of the Messiah by giving up their normal way of doing things (especially their faults and sins) because, when the Kingdom of God came, things would be different. John’s baptism was the sign they were ready to change.

John also said that he himself didn’t know who the Messiah was until the Holy Spirit revealed it at Jesus’ baptism. But once he knew Jesus was the One, he immediately told his disciples to seek out Jesus and follow him, not John. John was the “best man,” but Jesus was the bridegroom.

We make so many efforts to put ourselves in the spotlight, tout our talents, and try to let people how important we are. John’s whole life, on the contrary, was pointed away from himself and, instead, directed towards Jesus’ coming and message.

We can take inspiration from John’s example and try to make sure that, especially by the way we live and treat others, we are pointing to Christ and his Kingdom.

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The Music Shop

The Kingdom Is Like . . .

When you see that phrase in the gospels, you know that you’ll soon be hearing a parable or being presented with an image. It was Jesus’ favorite way of teaching, and it often left his hearers free to explore and expand what they’d heard from him.

The parable of the mustard seed is a classic. Jesus says that a mustard seed may start out small, but it grows into a great shrub where countless birds can find shelter. But there is something else in the parable, namely, the fact that the seed changes as it grows. It doesn’t grow into a giant version of itself (a “big seed”) but a bush capable of providing a home for countless birds.

I find help in this for dealing with changes in the church. For, though I’m generally not all that fond of changes, when it comes to living things, like people, families, institutions and even churches, growth seems to demand change.

And when change in the church gives people a more welcoming place to live, rest and be secure, then, even though it may take time to adapt to, the kingdom of God is growing.

Sacred Moments

Like many Catholics of my generation, I learned that the highpoint of the Mass was the consecration of the bread and wine when the priest says, “This is my body” over the bread and “This is my blood” over the wine. That was the “sacred moment.”

But there’s another sacred moment that “completes” the consecration, namely, communion. The words of consecration say that the Body and Blood of the Lord are being “given for you” — a gift. And a gift becomes a gift when it’s received and accepted with gratitude. Communion is that time.

And the gift is meant to change us, not just as individuals but as a whole community, a whole church. St. Augustine wrote that, unlike regular food, which becomes our flesh and blood when we eat it, the Eucharist makes us part of the risen Christ’s very life in a way that is mysterious but real. That, too, is sacred.

Finally, Christ said he had come to serve by giving his life for others. If we have taken Christ’s Body and Blood into us and let him change us, then as individuals and as a community we should love and serve others, too. The times we do this are also sacred moments.

Thus, the sacred moments of the Eucharist reach out into the world and the Gift keeps on giving.

Something New at the Bridge

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Pentecost Speaking and Hearing

When the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles at Pentecost, they began to preach the gospel in different languages, and people from many different places heard, understood and were converted.

We can learn two things from this: first, the message of the gospel can be expressed in a multitude of words and languages, not just one; second, when people hear the gospel in their words and languages, they listen and respond. One might say that people have a right to hear the gospel in a way that they understand.

That’s why the Christian church has tried, with more success at some times than at others, to be sensitive not to just the message, but also to the audience hearing it. That’s also why it faced special challenges when the cultural language shifted in dramatic ways, as when Europe went from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age, for instance.

The same thing is true in our day. When our culture and language are Science-conditioned, Post-Modern, human-rights-focused and cyber-driven, the church can’t simply repeat the same words that worked in a different age. Such words just won’t be effective.

Our challenge is to speak, with the Spirit’s help, to the people of today in their language. Otherwise the gospel we proclaim is likely to be puzzling at best or, at the worst, incomprehensible.