Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Tassels. Tassels are ornaments used in decor and fashion. Tassels are ceremonial wear within military and religious circles the world over. Fraternal orders such as the Shriners, the Elks, and the Masons like them. Throughout the Arab world tassels are worn to ward off demons. It is the same among native Americans. Tassels are switched proudly from right to left sides of mortarboards at graduations.
Israelites wore tassels to signify their covenant with YHWH. Ripping tassels off a man’s tunic was an act of utter repudiation, as Saul did to Samuel. David cut tassels from the fringe of Saul’s royal garment as he slept, akin to smashing his crown. The High Priests displayed tassels as did the lowliest Israelite. As an observant Jew, Jesus of Nazareth wore them, too — both on his tunic and on his prayer shawl.
Mark tells us that the crowds seeking healing would grasp onto the tassels of Jesus. A woman with an issue of blood broke all cultural taboos to do this. Jesus warned religious leaders for enlarging and elaborating their tassels out of self-promotion. The purpose of tassels was to glorify the God of covenant promise and not acclaim and glorifying human beings.
Are we any better? I know of a bishop (not ours) who wears a bejeweled miter upon his head. It was so enormous all I could think of was an episode of I Love Lucy. In that ‘50s sitcom, Lucy hysterically tries to balance a gigantic garishly elaborate headdress – while navigating a winding stairway. One American prelete is known as Cardinal Doubtfire in Rome for his 35 foot long cardinal red silk train. Imagine Jesus, who cleared the Temple, entering upon that scene!
Pope Francis pulled no punches on such silliness, cautioning clerics and lay alike that God cares not for prerogatives, positions, rank, or titles. The Holy Father said that “once we strip ourselves of robes, positions, or titles we stand naked before God because ultimately this we are all destined to do”.
I owe my faith to my Scots-Irish immigrant grandmother who went to the seventh grade in Glasgow and did not have the opportunities to study theology as I have had. I am most fortunate and it has been pure grace. Like all grace it is undeserved, although sometimes I wish I had her simple faith.
From time to time we need to hear the wisdom that Joseph Cardinal Bernadine’s immigrant Italian mother gave her son upon his elevation as archbishop (and eventually cardinal) of Chicago, “Stand up straight and try not to look too pleased with yourself.”
-Timothy J. Cronin