32nd Sunday B
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, T.V. Broadcast & Livestreamed
November 10th, 2024
A Word of Thanks
After a month in Rome where I took part in the Synod of Bishops (also paying a visit to Ukraine) – I am happy to be home, home in Baltimore, and home in the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. During my absence, the cathedral lighting project was completed and this is my first opportunity to see the final product for myself. I came this morning to say thank you! Thank you to the generous donors who made this possible. Thank you, Fr. Bianco, for your leadership as Rector! And thanks to all of you who engineered and completed this project. Truly, the new lighting has transformed the appearance of this cathedral. At last we are able once again to see its beauty: its ceiling, its architectural details, and genius of its design. What a difference the new lighting has made!
Jesus’ Gaze
And if that is true of the lighting engineered by human artistry, it is even truer of Jesus who is “the light of the world” (John 8:12), the true light who enlightens everyone (cf. John 1:9). It is in the light of Christ that we see clearly the beauty of creation, the dignity of the human person, the meaning of our existence, the path we are to follow in life. As we pray in Psalm 36: “In you is the fountain of life, and in your light, we see light.”
But the light of Christ is not a mere poetic image. It is something we can experience in our heart of hearts. If we allow him to do so, Jesus will gaze into our hearts, and his light will flood our “interior cathedral”, our “interior castle”, our inner room. If in the grace of the Holy Spirit, we trust the Lord enough to welcome his presence deep within us, the Lord will reveal us to ourselves. He will bring to light the gifts, blessings, graces, we have received, but he will also bring to light what needs to be healed in us, and what the true intentions of our hearts are. What we hide from ourselves in darkness, the Lord Jesus brings to light, not to shame us or to make us feel bad but to renew, repair, and rebuild us, so that the glory shining on his face might shine from deep within us.
The Scribes and the Widow
Isn’t that what’s going on in today’s Gospel? Jesus saw through the scribes who gave the appearance of virtue and holiness, and gladly accepted marks of respect in public – seats of honor in synagogues and banquets, greetings in the marketplace. Jesus could see that they were anything but virtuous and holy, and that they accepted marks of respect they did not deserve. He could see that they were preoccupied with themselves and not with the things of God . . . and that’s not all! In their spiritual worldliness, the scribes devoured the savings of widows while reciting lengthy prayers in a display of fake religiosity.
I cannot read this passage without examining my own conscience. Although the scribes were not clerics, what Jesus saw in their hearts is an accurate description of clericalism: a desire for deference based on position and supposed moral superiority. As Christ gazes into my soul and the soul of those who exercise leadership, he exposes not only overt clericalism but hidden clericalism, secret desires to be thought well of or to enhance one’s reputation . . . instead of a singlehearted focus on bearing witness to Christ, proclaiming the Gospel, and leading many to friendship with him in the Church. And in the same way, Christ gazes into each of our hearts exposing our sins and sinful attitudes, our wounds, our true feelings. He shines his light into our deep recesses (to repeat), not to shame us but to heal us, nor to ridicule us, but to bless us, not because he distains us but because he loves us – for ‘the truth will set us free’ (cf. John 8:32). He wants nothing more for us than to share in the glory that was his from before the foundation of the world.
Similarly, as Christ sat opposite the temple treasury, he gazed into the heart of the poor widow who contributed two small coins – two coins were all she had, her whole livelihood. When Jesus gazed into her heart, what did he see? He saw someone who loved God and trusted in him, someone who relied on the Lord’s providential love – (like the widow of Zarephath we met in the first reading). He saw in this poor widow a poverty like his own – for he the Lord of lords had no where to lay his head.
The Sanctuary Not Made by Human Hands
Today, in the letter to the Hebrews, we read that Christ did not enter an earthly sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the heavenly sanctuary. Rather, having died once for all to save us from our sins, he entered into the heavenly sanctuary where he now intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father.
Our beautifully lighted cathedral lifts our minds and hearts to that heavenly sanctuary where Christ our High Priest pleads for us. Mary Our Queen, enthroned in heaven, prays for us too, seeking only that we would be flooded with the light and love of her Son, seeking only that we, her children, would carry the light of Christ from this Cathedral into the world where we live and work, there to create a world more fit for the Kingdom of God.
Mary Our Queen, pray for us!