26 June 2023 - Monday of the 12th week in Ordinary Time - Matthew 7:1-5

      Don’t judge, lest you be judged, warns Jesus in today’s Gospel.  Jesus tells us that we often point out a small fault of our brother’s, while we ignore the large faults that we have. We in the United States fight for freedom in other countries and criticize other countries for what we see is a lack of freedom, but are we paying attention to the way that religious freedom is being eroded in our own country? We recognize  Religious Freedom Week in our Catholic faith here in United States from June 22 to June 29, an annual occurrence that highlights the importance of religious freedom in our faith and in our country. In recent years, we Catholics have been limited in the ways we have been able to express our faith, yet it seems like criticisms and attacks against the Catholic faith are allowed more and more.  

      On this day in 1988, Jesuit priest and Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar entered eternal life.  He had been named by Pope John II to be a Cardinal, but passed away prior to being elevated to that position.  Von Balthasar and his good friends Joseph Ratzinger and Henri de Lubac founded the influential theological journal Communio in 1972, reflecting the spirit of the Second Vatican Council in which all three of they were influential contributors.  During his lifetime, he authored 85 books and more than 500 articles and essays.  Ordained a priest with the Jesuits, he later left that order after he helped found the community of St John with his friend Adrienne von Speyr.  That group is a Catholic institute of consecrated lay people that works toward the sanctification of the world.  He then became incardinated as a Diocesan priest with the Diocese of Chur in Switzerland.  A major Catholic theologian in the 20th century, he never held an academic position.  In the homily at the funeral of von Balthasar, Pope Benedict XVI said that in his teachings and writings, von Balthasar “points the way to the sources of living waters.”  Along with his collaborator, Adrienne von Speyr, the Diocese of Chur has opened up their cause for canonization.