Holy Family, 2008
Today's feast offers much-needed support to marriage and the family, Even its title, at first hearing, seems less than helpful. A "holy" family can sound like an unreal family, a family that travels through life trouble-free. One which consists of the Son of God and two great saints hardly seems to be the kind we could hope to identify with, let alone imitate. Mary and Joseph probably didn’t have baby sitters while they went out shopping or played bingo, or child care workers when the neighbors complain that their child seemed different.
Today we hear that Jesus lived in a family with trouble and real fears. We have all sorts of understanding when we use or hear the word family. Those are those whose understanding is limited to what has been called the traditional family. The traditional family is becoming less and less traditional. Single-parent families, foster families, and blended families make up a large percentage of the families in today’s society and in the Catholic Church.
Of course Jesus, Mary and Joseph are a unique family. Nonetheless, as today's gospel makes clear, they are a real family, as real as any family in the church today; they lived real lives, just like the people around them. They were Jews, humbly following the normal Jewish religious customs. So they complied with the ancient Jewish law. The law said that every first-born baby son should be presented in the temple as a thanksgiving for the wonderful gift of new life and then "bought back" from the Lord on payment of a few shekels. If you were poor an offering of a couple of birds was made. The offering of the poor was all that Mary and Joseph could afford.
A difficult with many families is a fast paced life that is with you almost 24 hours a day. Students from Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburgh, Maryland recently were asked to do a study of what a fast paced life does on spirituality and on a person in general. Seminary students were walking to give a presentation on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Half of the students were told they were running late and must hurry. All the students, whether "late" or not. met someone who was clearly in need of medical help. (In fact, these had been placed there for the sake of the research.) With nobody nearby, what will the seminary students do? Remember they were going to give a talk on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Most of those who thought they were on time stopped to help. But an alarming 90% of the seminarians who thought they were running late failed to stop!
Time pressure was the only difference. Researchers have since found that people who live in families with the fastest pace of life are also the least helpful. They are less likely to help a blind person cross the street.
Most young families live a fast paced life. Technology has only made our time more stressful. Cell phones, Blackberries, computers, and unread emails clamor for our attention. We eat more fast food and spend more hours in traffic than previous generations. Heart disease, stroke, and stress-related illnesses abound. Chronic stress reduces our overall health and sense of wellness, makes us susceptible to disease, increases the likelihood of substance abuse, increases risk of heart attack, and creates a host of other bad effects, both psychological and physical.
We think multi-tasking might be the answer, so we try squeezing our calls in while stuck in traffic. Worse, we may be tempted to cut out the spiritual life or charitable works in favor of our personal to-do list.
The Holy Family, has much to teach us about fast paced lives. Their life was equally busy. They may have not had to worry about the pager going off at the wrong time, but they did have to make and do everything by hand. Grain was bought and had to be ground into flour. Flour had to be made into bread. each day. Water for cooking and drinking had to be drawn from the river or lake. Forget the microwave. The Holy Family had to cook every meal over an open fire, what we call a barbecue. We can be over-romanticizing when we picture Joseph teaching Jesus how to be a carpenter, or Mary teaching Jesus how to pray. Certainly, there was love, loyalty, and respect in the Holy Family at Nazareth, but it was a real family,
What made this family holy? We cannot give Jesus all the credit for this. The holiness of this family came from dad and mom’s response to God. Joseph and Mary made their faith, their religion, and their religious practices their highest priority. Luke points out today no less than five times that Joseph and Mary did everything as required by the law of Moses. Luke takes great pain to point out that Jesus came from a family that valued its faith, and thus by imp[implication, it valued itself and its relationship with God.
Jesus was not just a product of nature. His parents create a spiritual environment for him in their home. Must there not have been times when they watched him and wondered? It was only their strong faith that enabled them to hold on to the incredible truth that Jesus was not simply another boy from Nazareth, but the unique, long-awaited Messiah. As we look at our children, we might ask what kind of environment are we giving them. Children do learn what they live. Jesus did, so do ours. Jesus was fully human. He had to learn how to crawl, to walk and to talk. He had to learn who God was and how to pray. He had to learn the Bible and learn to love.
Jesus promised to be where two or three are gathered in his name. We learn the meaning of faith through the meaning of faithfulness we experience in family. We all learn the meaning of forgiveness from our experience of being forgiven with the family. We all learning the meaning of Thank You when we hear others say Thank You within the family. These are done in the ordinary moments of daily family life: at mealtimes, workdays, vacations, expressions of love and intimacy, household chores, caring for a sick child or elderly parent, or the death of a child. and even at times of conflicts over things like how to celebrate holidays, discipline children or spend money.
This does not mean, however, that family life is always easy. It takes courage for one parent raising the children--to create a home, to care for children, to hold down a job, to undertake church and community responsibilities. Or for moms and dads who cannot find work. And those who try to blend two sets of children into one family face special challenges. Families arising from an inter religious marriage give witness to God's love which overcomes all division.
As we reflect upon families today I suggest that you gather your family together for a special time of prayer for the family. There was an old saying that the family who prays together stays together. During this holiday season, pray for a family member who needs your forgiveness and ask Jesus what you might do to bring about reconciliation. Then do it. And if you are not in the habit of praying together, then maybe today is the time to start.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Homily for the Week of December 21, 2008
Fourth Sunday of Advent 2008
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 (11B)
Romans 16: 25-27
Luke 1:26-38
The CBS 60 Minutes weekly TV program had an interesting report several weeks ago about the growing size of houses in affluent neighborhoods in our country. What was considered large even 10 years ago is no longer adequate.
The program describes homes in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Residents with perfectly fine homes are disturbed at the new practice of buying homes, tearing them down and building outlandish mansions just to keep up with the even wealthier neighbors.
Those slaves of fashion and too much money might change their minds if they were to listen to this weekend’s first reading. In it God scolds David for trying to build God a house of gold, when for years. God says he is perfectly satisfied to live in a tent.
Through Nathan God tells the king that some few thousand years later, he’ll set His own son on the throne of David. God is evidently uncomfortable with too much luxury in the here and now. If God is uncomfortable, how much more should we be.
Luke’s gospel for today unfolds the mystery of Advent. God has decided to seek a dwelling in a a maidens womb, be born in a stable, die on a cross, and only then find His permanent throne in that heaven from where He came. God is not ashamed of poverty. In fact, he prefers it.
He is never more delighted than to dwell in human hearts that return great love for them. Love is God’s luxury palace. Love is the message which Mary gave to the angel when she was invited to be the mother of Jesus.
Spiritually, Advent has been all about waiting for the birth of a child in Bethlehem by the name of Jesus. And hopefully we know now what the waiting was all about. But there is more to the waiting. It was so that we could live our lives in happiness and hope even when we have a world at war, and because of it, many families this Christmas will not have their l loving sons or daughters at home around the table or the Christmas tree.
Our faith convinces us that God is always with us. He helps to make sense of our suffering and miseries and death of loved ones. He helps us to believe that we are part of a much larger Advent when love will be born for the last time. Each of us can say an unqualified Yes to God and to our life, much as Mary did, or we can decide to spent our time in stress and hopleslessness.
In those days, an unmarried girl in similar circumstances could be stoned to death. Yet Mary, who has made every decision in her life based on what God would do, once again decides to place her trust in God and do things His way. But then what else should we expect, she has placed her life in His hands every moment of her life.
Mary is a remarkable example for us of someone who involves God in all that they do. Do we even bother to involve Him in the big decisions of the day -- or even the small decisions?
At school we are faced with many decisions, some involve pressure that is being put on us by our classmates. It seems easier to neglect God and do what our classmates want us to do, since we have to deal with them every day. We sometimes forget that we have to deal with God every day as well.
At work many of our decisions affect others. Do we always consider the effect that our decisions are going to have on others? Do we ever ask God what we should do?
Do our decisions at home with our family always involve thinking of all of them first and ourselves last? Like Mary, we should involve God in all of our decisions. Let us use Mary's situation in today's gospel as an example. What if those who find themselves facing an unexpected and unwanted pregnancy would think to involve God in their decision of what they should do about it.
In all of our decisions, like Mary, let us also try to say to God: Let it be done to me as you would like.
Let me illustrate: There is a story that Death was walking around the village one morning and a man asked: What are you going to do? Death replied, I’m going to take 100 people. The man expressed his horror but Death said: That’s the way it is. That what I do.
The man hurried ahead to warn everyone he could about Death’s plan, and as evening came, the man met Death again. The man said, You lied. 1000 people died, but told me you were going to take 100. Why did 1000 die? Death responded. I didn’t lie to you. I only took 100 people. Worry took the others. Why do we often worry and Mary did not worry? She had every reason to worry.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Homily for the Week of December 14, 2008
Third Sunday of Advent, 2008
Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11
Responsorial Psalm: Luke 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
In 1835, an Italian psychiatrist had a new patient who was suffering from chronic anxiety and depression. The patient had thought of suicide and was coming to a doctor as a last hope of recovering from his depression. An examination showed that the patient was in excellent physical condition. The doctor decided that what he needed was to learn to laugh again. Performing in the village that evening was a circus clown named Grimaldi. He was known for his ability to make people laugh. The doctor told him to go see Grimaldi. He will surely make you laugh again, the doctor said. The depressed patient replied: No, he cannot cure me. You see, I am Grimaldi. Grimaldi had to pretend he was happy as part of his work. We know that real joy is more than just an external sign.
Music is involved in the Christmas season like no other season. There is hardly a Christian household that does not have several Christmas music albums. Among the very top non-religious seasonal songs is ''Silver Bells,'' It was written by Ray Evans for the 1951 Bob Hope black-and-white movie, The Lemon Drop Kid. It Was recorded by Bing Crosby. The song had sold over 500 million copies.
Today was known in former times as Caudate Sunday as a sign of rejoicing that the Lord would soon be here. If you listened carefully on the words of Isaiah, especially you who are mothers and fathers, might have been able to translate his words into yours as you expected your first child.
In just ten days we we will sing out: JOY TO THE WORLD and will greet each other with a Merry Christmas. Christmas day will have come and gone. If a stranger or one who is not of our religious tradition were to meet us after Mass and ask us about Christmas, what would we answer? Would that person see excitement over a long awaited child, or just the anxiety of last minute shopping, of Christmas cards, and tiredness? How do we tell others of the joy we receive from Christ?
Why do you think that God wanted the baby to born in a stable? Because all the motels were filled up that night. God wanted his Son to be born as an outcast or an outlaw in order to show once and for all that with God there are no outcasts and outlaws. There are sinners, but all sinners can become saints; there may be bad people but they can become good. That is why Christmas is a time of joy.
Spiritual joy is not so much a feeling as a conviction. Happiness is a state of spiritual health. We tend to think that if we feel happy, we are happy. And if we don’t feel happy, we think we are not happy. Just as we may be healthy and feel unhealthy, so also we can feel unhappy and really be happy. Happiness is not the same as pleasure. Pleasure comes and goes. Happiness lasts. In fact, very often happy people have very little pleasure in their life.
Isaiah tells his people that some day they will rejoice. Paul tells us that it is God’s will that we rejoice always. We are told by John the Baptist that we are to Make straight the way of the Lord. John had very little of anything. But he was happy because he knew that the Savior was near.
John the Baptist preached within an equally unjust society in which the rate of taxation was close to 90 percent, the poor were mistreated, widows and orphans had to fend for themselves, and the sick were exiled because sickness or being handicapped was a sign of sinfulness. What John had to announce was not the arrival of Santa. What John announced was that God was coming to speak to this broken world, to heal, to bring justice, and to institute a new kind of Kingdom. Once again we can only imagine the anticipation of the poor who had so little hope and the anxiety of those who had too much to lose if this really were to happen.
But there are no short cuts to happiness. Advent teaches us the importance of waiting and watching. Not simply passing time until something happens, but using time spiritually to prepare ourselves for the Lord who is with us, yet who is to come. And lest we imagine it is all hard work and sacrifice, we are reminded it is about happiness too.
God gives us happiness as a free gift, especially to share it with others. Doing what God want us to do can make us happy. It can also increase our happiness. And one of the sure ways of bringing joy and happiness to our lives is doing something for others. That is why those preparing for confirmation are invited to give of their time and talents in serving others. While this is a requirement for confirmation, it really is seen as a way to begin giving back to others what has been received.
In the Plattsburgh Press Republican there was a photo of two high school students from a local high school who were fixing old bikes so that they might be given to the needy. The bikes were donated to them by the police and others. Others students gave money so that parts could be bought. The students bargained with the parts stores on prices. What these teenage students did went way beyond the bikes that they gave away.
Today's Mass joyfully invites us to open our eyes to recognize a remarkable "secret," the presence of Jesus--but not simply a Jesus who came long ago or who is coming again. Rather, we are invited to look deep into the ordinary lives we live and to the ordinary people with whom we live, there to recognize the "secret," extraordinary presence of the One we call Jesus and Lord.
Today’s message is one of joy. During this week take some time to think of what gives you joy. It might be watching your children or grandchildren. It might be nature or sports or woodworking or needlework. Maybe it is music or art. Perhaps it is just being able to see or to hear.
Whatever it is that gives you joy, stop and think about it. Appreciate it. Than think of the ever faithful God is behind that joy you experience. Be joyful and thank God.
Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11
Responsorial Psalm: Luke 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
In 1835, an Italian psychiatrist had a new patient who was suffering from chronic anxiety and depression. The patient had thought of suicide and was coming to a doctor as a last hope of recovering from his depression. An examination showed that the patient was in excellent physical condition. The doctor decided that what he needed was to learn to laugh again. Performing in the village that evening was a circus clown named Grimaldi. He was known for his ability to make people laugh. The doctor told him to go see Grimaldi. He will surely make you laugh again, the doctor said. The depressed patient replied: No, he cannot cure me. You see, I am Grimaldi. Grimaldi had to pretend he was happy as part of his work. We know that real joy is more than just an external sign.
Music is involved in the Christmas season like no other season. There is hardly a Christian household that does not have several Christmas music albums. Among the very top non-religious seasonal songs is ''Silver Bells,'' It was written by Ray Evans for the 1951 Bob Hope black-and-white movie, The Lemon Drop Kid. It Was recorded by Bing Crosby. The song had sold over 500 million copies.
Today was known in former times as Caudate Sunday as a sign of rejoicing that the Lord would soon be here. If you listened carefully on the words of Isaiah, especially you who are mothers and fathers, might have been able to translate his words into yours as you expected your first child.
In just ten days we we will sing out: JOY TO THE WORLD and will greet each other with a Merry Christmas. Christmas day will have come and gone. If a stranger or one who is not of our religious tradition were to meet us after Mass and ask us about Christmas, what would we answer? Would that person see excitement over a long awaited child, or just the anxiety of last minute shopping, of Christmas cards, and tiredness? How do we tell others of the joy we receive from Christ?
Why do you think that God wanted the baby to born in a stable? Because all the motels were filled up that night. God wanted his Son to be born as an outcast or an outlaw in order to show once and for all that with God there are no outcasts and outlaws. There are sinners, but all sinners can become saints; there may be bad people but they can become good. That is why Christmas is a time of joy.
Spiritual joy is not so much a feeling as a conviction. Happiness is a state of spiritual health. We tend to think that if we feel happy, we are happy. And if we don’t feel happy, we think we are not happy. Just as we may be healthy and feel unhealthy, so also we can feel unhappy and really be happy. Happiness is not the same as pleasure. Pleasure comes and goes. Happiness lasts. In fact, very often happy people have very little pleasure in their life.
Isaiah tells his people that some day they will rejoice. Paul tells us that it is God’s will that we rejoice always. We are told by John the Baptist that we are to Make straight the way of the Lord. John had very little of anything. But he was happy because he knew that the Savior was near.
John the Baptist preached within an equally unjust society in which the rate of taxation was close to 90 percent, the poor were mistreated, widows and orphans had to fend for themselves, and the sick were exiled because sickness or being handicapped was a sign of sinfulness. What John had to announce was not the arrival of Santa. What John announced was that God was coming to speak to this broken world, to heal, to bring justice, and to institute a new kind of Kingdom. Once again we can only imagine the anticipation of the poor who had so little hope and the anxiety of those who had too much to lose if this really were to happen.
But there are no short cuts to happiness. Advent teaches us the importance of waiting and watching. Not simply passing time until something happens, but using time spiritually to prepare ourselves for the Lord who is with us, yet who is to come. And lest we imagine it is all hard work and sacrifice, we are reminded it is about happiness too.
God gives us happiness as a free gift, especially to share it with others. Doing what God want us to do can make us happy. It can also increase our happiness. And one of the sure ways of bringing joy and happiness to our lives is doing something for others. That is why those preparing for confirmation are invited to give of their time and talents in serving others. While this is a requirement for confirmation, it really is seen as a way to begin giving back to others what has been received.
In the Plattsburgh Press Republican there was a photo of two high school students from a local high school who were fixing old bikes so that they might be given to the needy. The bikes were donated to them by the police and others. Others students gave money so that parts could be bought. The students bargained with the parts stores on prices. What these teenage students did went way beyond the bikes that they gave away.
Today's Mass joyfully invites us to open our eyes to recognize a remarkable "secret," the presence of Jesus--but not simply a Jesus who came long ago or who is coming again. Rather, we are invited to look deep into the ordinary lives we live and to the ordinary people with whom we live, there to recognize the "secret," extraordinary presence of the One we call Jesus and Lord.
Today’s message is one of joy. During this week take some time to think of what gives you joy. It might be watching your children or grandchildren. It might be nature or sports or woodworking or needlework. Maybe it is music or art. Perhaps it is just being able to see or to hear.
Whatever it is that gives you joy, stop and think about it. Appreciate it. Than think of the ever faithful God is behind that joy you experience. Be joyful and thank God.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Homily for the Week of December 7, 2008
Second Sunday of Advent, 2008
Is. 40:1–5, 9–11; 2 Pt 3:8–14; Mk 1:1–8
While this weekend is the 2nd week of Advent, we also remember a person who is associated with Christmas. Today is the feast of St. Nicholas. Most Americans know that somehow our Christmas figure Santa Claus is based on ''Good St. Nick.'' The name ''Santa Claus'' is an anglicized version of the Dutch name for St. Nicholas, ''Sinterklaas.'' In the early fourth century, St. Nicholas was the bishop of Myra, a town, now in ruins, in Turkey. He began his life and time as bishop under the persecution of Roman emperors. Many legends grew up around him, all based on his practice of charity and care for the poor.
One legend is of a poor man with three daughters who he could not marry off because he was too poor to provide a dowry. In secret St. Nicholas saw that the father received three bags of gold so that he could provide a dowry for each of his daughters. This in a way began our tradition of giving gifts at Christmas. This weekend we also remember the tragic event of Pearl Harbor, a moment fading from our collective memory, but a moment that is remembered as a turning point in U.S. and world history.
Our Bible reading for today, however is not about St. Nicholas or Pearl Harbor but about John the Baptist and the Jewish world at his time. Judea was an occupied land, and the Romans were ruthless rulers. Many of the Jews that had come to power were seen as slaves of Rome, sinful and corrupt. Into this environment John brought a word of hope. He announced that God was coming. He prepared a road for Jesus. Many of you are familiar with road construction.
The first job in building a new highway is to clear the right of way. There may be trees to cut down and stumps to pull up. Sometimes buildings must be torn down or moved. The right of way then is ready for rough grading. At this stage, earth movers, which can dig up a roomful of dirt in one scoop, are used. They cut into the hills, carry the earth along, and drop it into the valleys to make a road with gentle grades.
Our first reading today gives us a hint of road construction about 4000 years ago. There were no earth movers or Bull dozers, but somehow the valleys were filled in and the mountains were cut down so that "the crooked ways might be made straight and a road for the lord." be built. It seems that John the Baptist is the construction foreman. Who was this John the Baptist?
John the Baptist was the son of Zachary and his wife Elizabeth, a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Jesus was his cousin. He was probably born southwest of Jerusalem after the Angel Gabriel had told Zachary that his wife would bear a child even though she was an old woman. John left the village and went to the desert of Judea to live as a hermit. Many like him did this to escape what they considered was the sinfulness they saw in their country. When he was thirty he began to preach on the banks of the Jordan River and invited people to be baptized. He attracted large crowds.
John baptized his cousin Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River. Jesus left to preach in Galilee. John continued preaching in the Jordan valley. John attracted large crowds. The political authorities were suspicious of John. John got into serious trouble, however, when he criticized Herod for an adulterous relationship with Herodias, the wife of Philip his half brother. Salome, daughter of Herodias, danced at a birthday party for Herod. He was so pleased that he offered to grant Salome any wish. She requested the head of John the Baptist. Herod carried out her wish.
John inspired many of his followers to follow Jesus. Among these were Andrew and his brother John. He became convinced that his cousin Jesus was really the Savior and Son of God, and wanted everyone to prepare the way for Jesus.
John the Baptist was Jesus’ messenger. John was announcing a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to prepare for Jesus’ coming. John had a unique and much needed message for the people of his time and for us today.
Some people went to John because they were spiritually bankrupt. They were empty, and they hoped that John could fill the empty place.
Some people went to John because they had it all, but it wasn't enough. They had money and homes, but they wanted more. But then, when they got more, their hunger continued unabated. Nothing made them happy. They went to John hoping that he could pull together the broken pieces of their lives, and make them whole.
These reasons for coming to John sound like some of the reasons that people turn to Jesus today. Each of us or various reasons feel within us a need for change or conversion.
All of us have experienced someone telling us how to change our lives. This call to change our lives may be the only one that some of us have ever heard. John’s announces, discusses, and invites people to think about a new way of life. And that way of life was prepared for us by Jesus.
As Christians, we have the role of preparing the way of the Lord, not only for ourselves but for others. Before we help prepare others, we must acknowledge our own sins and seek forgiveness We must examine our inner sins. Advent is a time for this preparation and for our renewal. John the Baptist came to straighten out the road for Jesus, to prepare his way. We too may need to get the road of our lives straightened and the interstate highways of our hearts ready so that we take the right road or be able to get out of the ruts of our life.
I want to finish these thoughts by a story that my uncle told me years ago. He was a soldier in the First World War. He mentioned that it was Christmas eve in the occupied Netherlands. The military commander of the town lifted the curfew to allow persons to go to Midnight Mass. Just before Mass a group of German soldiers marched into the church to go to Mass with the Americans. No Dutch or Americans would ever associate with the German soldiers, let alone eat with them. Even when these soldiers gave candy to children they would spit in their face. But at this Christmas eve, American, Dutch and German soldiers came to kneel at the communion rail, and no one objected. For a brief moment all was well; enemies talked.
This Advent let us welcome back into our lives someone whom we have not related with for a long time; and on the other hand, let us also welcome into our lives someone who comes to us to renew a relationship. And finally, each one of us in this church today knows of a Catholic who is right now inactive. In kindness reach out to that person, inviting that person to return. If you and I do not prepare the way for the Lord, who will?
Is. 40:1–5, 9–11; 2 Pt 3:8–14; Mk 1:1–8
While this weekend is the 2nd week of Advent, we also remember a person who is associated with Christmas. Today is the feast of St. Nicholas. Most Americans know that somehow our Christmas figure Santa Claus is based on ''Good St. Nick.'' The name ''Santa Claus'' is an anglicized version of the Dutch name for St. Nicholas, ''Sinterklaas.'' In the early fourth century, St. Nicholas was the bishop of Myra, a town, now in ruins, in Turkey. He began his life and time as bishop under the persecution of Roman emperors. Many legends grew up around him, all based on his practice of charity and care for the poor.
One legend is of a poor man with three daughters who he could not marry off because he was too poor to provide a dowry. In secret St. Nicholas saw that the father received three bags of gold so that he could provide a dowry for each of his daughters. This in a way began our tradition of giving gifts at Christmas. This weekend we also remember the tragic event of Pearl Harbor, a moment fading from our collective memory, but a moment that is remembered as a turning point in U.S. and world history.
Our Bible reading for today, however is not about St. Nicholas or Pearl Harbor but about John the Baptist and the Jewish world at his time. Judea was an occupied land, and the Romans were ruthless rulers. Many of the Jews that had come to power were seen as slaves of Rome, sinful and corrupt. Into this environment John brought a word of hope. He announced that God was coming. He prepared a road for Jesus. Many of you are familiar with road construction.
The first job in building a new highway is to clear the right of way. There may be trees to cut down and stumps to pull up. Sometimes buildings must be torn down or moved. The right of way then is ready for rough grading. At this stage, earth movers, which can dig up a roomful of dirt in one scoop, are used. They cut into the hills, carry the earth along, and drop it into the valleys to make a road with gentle grades.
Our first reading today gives us a hint of road construction about 4000 years ago. There were no earth movers or Bull dozers, but somehow the valleys were filled in and the mountains were cut down so that "the crooked ways might be made straight and a road for the lord." be built. It seems that John the Baptist is the construction foreman. Who was this John the Baptist?
John the Baptist was the son of Zachary and his wife Elizabeth, a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Jesus was his cousin. He was probably born southwest of Jerusalem after the Angel Gabriel had told Zachary that his wife would bear a child even though she was an old woman. John left the village and went to the desert of Judea to live as a hermit. Many like him did this to escape what they considered was the sinfulness they saw in their country. When he was thirty he began to preach on the banks of the Jordan River and invited people to be baptized. He attracted large crowds.
John baptized his cousin Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River. Jesus left to preach in Galilee. John continued preaching in the Jordan valley. John attracted large crowds. The political authorities were suspicious of John. John got into serious trouble, however, when he criticized Herod for an adulterous relationship with Herodias, the wife of Philip his half brother. Salome, daughter of Herodias, danced at a birthday party for Herod. He was so pleased that he offered to grant Salome any wish. She requested the head of John the Baptist. Herod carried out her wish.
John inspired many of his followers to follow Jesus. Among these were Andrew and his brother John. He became convinced that his cousin Jesus was really the Savior and Son of God, and wanted everyone to prepare the way for Jesus.
John the Baptist was Jesus’ messenger. John was announcing a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to prepare for Jesus’ coming. John had a unique and much needed message for the people of his time and for us today.
Some people went to John because they were spiritually bankrupt. They were empty, and they hoped that John could fill the empty place.
Some people went to John because they had it all, but it wasn't enough. They had money and homes, but they wanted more. But then, when they got more, their hunger continued unabated. Nothing made them happy. They went to John hoping that he could pull together the broken pieces of their lives, and make them whole.
These reasons for coming to John sound like some of the reasons that people turn to Jesus today. Each of us or various reasons feel within us a need for change or conversion.
All of us have experienced someone telling us how to change our lives. This call to change our lives may be the only one that some of us have ever heard. John’s announces, discusses, and invites people to think about a new way of life. And that way of life was prepared for us by Jesus.
As Christians, we have the role of preparing the way of the Lord, not only for ourselves but for others. Before we help prepare others, we must acknowledge our own sins and seek forgiveness We must examine our inner sins. Advent is a time for this preparation and for our renewal. John the Baptist came to straighten out the road for Jesus, to prepare his way. We too may need to get the road of our lives straightened and the interstate highways of our hearts ready so that we take the right road or be able to get out of the ruts of our life.
I want to finish these thoughts by a story that my uncle told me years ago. He was a soldier in the First World War. He mentioned that it was Christmas eve in the occupied Netherlands. The military commander of the town lifted the curfew to allow persons to go to Midnight Mass. Just before Mass a group of German soldiers marched into the church to go to Mass with the Americans. No Dutch or Americans would ever associate with the German soldiers, let alone eat with them. Even when these soldiers gave candy to children they would spit in their face. But at this Christmas eve, American, Dutch and German soldiers came to kneel at the communion rail, and no one objected. For a brief moment all was well; enemies talked.
This Advent let us welcome back into our lives someone whom we have not related with for a long time; and on the other hand, let us also welcome into our lives someone who comes to us to renew a relationship. And finally, each one of us in this church today knows of a Catholic who is right now inactive. In kindness reach out to that person, inviting that person to return. If you and I do not prepare the way for the Lord, who will?
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Homily for the Week of November 30, 2008
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, 2008
We begin today the first week of Advent. For the Church it is the beginning of a new year. We have changed the color of the clothes I wear; you have noticed that we changed the Mass and song books in front of you; Diane of Country Expressions stopped by this morning to arrange the Advent wreath. But as with everything else, we can easily let these weeks of Advent pass us by and not affect us spiritually. It is so easy for us to follow the crowds and tend to make Christmas a materialistic day rather than a spiritual day. Yet, Advent every year means hope in the future coming of a loving God to us. This Advent brings us to the 2008th anniversary of the birth of Jesus. But Advent is also a time of waiting.
All waiting is about anticipating something. At sports arenas, people wait with anticipation and excitement for games to begin. Some wait in their seats, slowly growing bored. Others, however, have tailgate parties and wait with others in very festive style. For some of these, the waiting/tailgating is more fun than the game.
Children wait for Santa. Many of you have waited for a child to be born. Waiting for a baby not only changes an expectant couple, everyone who has contact with an expecting couple is changed. There will be new life, and all concerned want that life to be welcomed into the best possible world.
Waiting is most likely not your favorite activity. As children we could hardly wait for birthdays, free days and holidays. But as we got older we wanted things to happen more quickly. At times we wait for something to happen, and at other times we wait for something not to happen. Each year the Catholic Church gives us 4 weeks of Advent as a time of waiting and pausing. But waiting must be connected with preparation. Advent is 4 weeks of the spiritual preparation time for Jesus to be known in our life, in our family, in our parish, in any place where we might be.
Two thousand years ago a woman without a husband in her 8th month of pregnancy was waiting for the birth of her first child. It would soon become known that this child was the Savior promised by Isaiah who would save us from our sins. He would be given the name Jesus.
The Bible readings today give us a sense that we are getting ready for something. Isaiah asks God to return. He uses the example of clay, the same type of clay which many of you may mold when you make ceramics. He speaks of himself as clay in the hands of a potter. God is the potter, creating us in his image and likeness, but helping us not to go astray or to break the mold.
In Psalm 80 we are told that all will be all right as long as we prepare ourselves. When, however, we come to the section from Mark's Gospel, the emphasis shifts slightly. There's no more asking God to do all the work and take all the responsibility for our readiness. Mark tells us to stay awake. The master of the house may come unexpectedly. Seldom did persons at the time of Jesus travel by night, so the warning is presumably against daytime negligence rather than an order not to fall asleep at the wheel.
Advent is a time of waiting for the birth of one who was promised centuries ago to bring good news to the poor, and deliverance from those in prison. It is a time of 24 days during which we are invited to renew our desire to STAY AWAKE; to WATCH so that we might be ready for the coming of Jesus. Advent means more than getting out the Christmas crib or the Christmas tree with its decorations or the poinsettias or the Christmas candy or the Christmas cards.
Advent is a time for us to prepare ourselves religiously for the coming of the Lord Jesus who wishes to be born anew in our lives. Advent is a time of proclaiming death to the deeds of our life that prevent us from giving birth. Because death is so difficult and so much to be avoided, then Advent in a spiritual sense, is a time of suffering and self-denial. That is why we have purple--a color associated in the church with suffering and waiting. Advent comes at the shortest days of the year, the darkest days almost as a reminder that we must take an honest look at how our lives can easily be filled with darkness.
Advent is also a time when we are encouraged to see the good in others. It is so easy for us to focus, to complain about the bad things that others do. Jesus came to be the light of the world. We will soon light one candle of this Advent wreath to remind us that we too must see the light and goodness in others.
Try to make this Advent a time of joy and celebration in much the same way that you would do if you were expecting a child. Advent can also be a time for us to start again on doing the good things we have been putting off.
Let’s spend Advent attending. Attend to the personal needs we have long neglected: the need for excitement, the need for rest, the need for attention. Attend to the needs of others: the need for understanding and caring. The spirit of Christmas is the birth of Jesus. Make room in your heart and life for Jesus and God.
We begin today the first week of Advent. For the Church it is the beginning of a new year. We have changed the color of the clothes I wear; you have noticed that we changed the Mass and song books in front of you; Diane of Country Expressions stopped by this morning to arrange the Advent wreath. But as with everything else, we can easily let these weeks of Advent pass us by and not affect us spiritually. It is so easy for us to follow the crowds and tend to make Christmas a materialistic day rather than a spiritual day. Yet, Advent every year means hope in the future coming of a loving God to us. This Advent brings us to the 2008th anniversary of the birth of Jesus. But Advent is also a time of waiting.
All waiting is about anticipating something. At sports arenas, people wait with anticipation and excitement for games to begin. Some wait in their seats, slowly growing bored. Others, however, have tailgate parties and wait with others in very festive style. For some of these, the waiting/tailgating is more fun than the game.
Children wait for Santa. Many of you have waited for a child to be born. Waiting for a baby not only changes an expectant couple, everyone who has contact with an expecting couple is changed. There will be new life, and all concerned want that life to be welcomed into the best possible world.
Waiting is most likely not your favorite activity. As children we could hardly wait for birthdays, free days and holidays. But as we got older we wanted things to happen more quickly. At times we wait for something to happen, and at other times we wait for something not to happen. Each year the Catholic Church gives us 4 weeks of Advent as a time of waiting and pausing. But waiting must be connected with preparation. Advent is 4 weeks of the spiritual preparation time for Jesus to be known in our life, in our family, in our parish, in any place where we might be.
Two thousand years ago a woman without a husband in her 8th month of pregnancy was waiting for the birth of her first child. It would soon become known that this child was the Savior promised by Isaiah who would save us from our sins. He would be given the name Jesus.
The Bible readings today give us a sense that we are getting ready for something. Isaiah asks God to return. He uses the example of clay, the same type of clay which many of you may mold when you make ceramics. He speaks of himself as clay in the hands of a potter. God is the potter, creating us in his image and likeness, but helping us not to go astray or to break the mold.
In Psalm 80 we are told that all will be all right as long as we prepare ourselves. When, however, we come to the section from Mark's Gospel, the emphasis shifts slightly. There's no more asking God to do all the work and take all the responsibility for our readiness. Mark tells us to stay awake. The master of the house may come unexpectedly. Seldom did persons at the time of Jesus travel by night, so the warning is presumably against daytime negligence rather than an order not to fall asleep at the wheel.
Advent is a time of waiting for the birth of one who was promised centuries ago to bring good news to the poor, and deliverance from those in prison. It is a time of 24 days during which we are invited to renew our desire to STAY AWAKE; to WATCH so that we might be ready for the coming of Jesus. Advent means more than getting out the Christmas crib or the Christmas tree with its decorations or the poinsettias or the Christmas candy or the Christmas cards.
Advent is a time for us to prepare ourselves religiously for the coming of the Lord Jesus who wishes to be born anew in our lives. Advent is a time of proclaiming death to the deeds of our life that prevent us from giving birth. Because death is so difficult and so much to be avoided, then Advent in a spiritual sense, is a time of suffering and self-denial. That is why we have purple--a color associated in the church with suffering and waiting. Advent comes at the shortest days of the year, the darkest days almost as a reminder that we must take an honest look at how our lives can easily be filled with darkness.
Advent is also a time when we are encouraged to see the good in others. It is so easy for us to focus, to complain about the bad things that others do. Jesus came to be the light of the world. We will soon light one candle of this Advent wreath to remind us that we too must see the light and goodness in others.
Try to make this Advent a time of joy and celebration in much the same way that you would do if you were expecting a child. Advent can also be a time for us to start again on doing the good things we have been putting off.
Let’s spend Advent attending. Attend to the personal needs we have long neglected: the need for excitement, the need for rest, the need for attention. Attend to the needs of others: the need for understanding and caring. The spirit of Christmas is the birth of Jesus. Make room in your heart and life for Jesus and God.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Homily for the Week of November 16, 2008
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), Nov. 13, 2008
Readings: Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; Ps 128:1-5; 1 Thes 5:1-6; Mt 25:14-30
One is amazed by the results of an Internet search for the phrase use it or lose it. The listing is over half a million references. A good portion of this listing deals with issues like free speech, brain function, memory, sports, and muscle tone, to name but a few.
If a person you had met socially, but really did not know very well, came to you and insisted that you keep $10,000 for him or her until the person returned from a year’s trip around the world, what would you do with the money?
If you accepted the money there are a variety of choices. You could go to a bank and put the money in a savings account; you could lock it up in a safety deposit box or hide it somewhere in the house, or carry it in your wallet or purse, or dig a hole and bury it. Whatever you did with the money would most likely be based on your opinion of the person who put you in charge of the money, as well as the person’s intentions.
If you judged the person to be generous, you might choose a more risky type of investment; but if you thought the person was harsh and demanding you would place it where you would not lose it.
Today Jesus tells us a similar story. A man went away on a journey. He must have been very wealthy because he entrusted large portions of his money to three of his servants. The first two servants invested the money during the master's absence and it yielded great returns. The third servant, however, was fearful of investing. In either case, the servant buried the money he was given and returned the full amount to the master when he came home. The master was pleased with the investments of the first two servants, but was very upset with the third one. It is very clear that the one with the single talent was nor punished fo receiving less than the other two; rather he was punished because he buried what he had received from the master and didn’t put it to good use. To those who have much, much more will be given. To those who have little, even that little will be taken away.
The Master in this story is God. What is our image of God. Is God a demanding boss who threatens us into doing everything because we are afraid of him; or is he a kind boss who shares his wealth with those who believe, and praises them for taking a risk.
This story is less about money than about what happens at the end of our life. It is about gifts and giving gifts. Whatever is given to us by God -- whether it is money, or special abilities, or opportunities, are given, not to grow stale but to be increased. And the way that we are to be judged on that increase is not on how much we have kept for ourselves, or how important it might make us, but how much we have given away -- how well have we served one another. And serving is defined as how well we have helped those among us that have the least: the least money, the least natural abilities, the least opportunities, and least faith.
Notice that in this Bible story, it is the owner’s work that the servants are to do, his money that he hands over to them; and it is obvious that he expects them to do something with those funds.
God has given each one of us talents. Sometimes out of laziness or lack of ambition, or sometimes because we are afraid of failure or ridicule, we do not share our talents. The gospel today challenges us to take a risk and invest our gifts for the greater good of God's people. We do this ourselves as adults, but we must also try to help our children recognize their talents and use them in a productive way.
Just as we must expect much of ourselves, we must also expect much of others. Teachers and loving parents know this so very well. Teachers and parents who expect much from their children will receive much. Coaches who expect the best from each player, and players who expect the best from themselves will have a winning season. Our demands on others must be for their good, however, and not simply to highlight their failures or weaknesses.
What do we expect of ourselves, and what do we expect of those with whom we associate? At one time when a person said: I AM A CATHOLIC, everyone expected some special type of behavior from that person. Christianity has become a victim of its own success. In becoming part of the MAINSTREAM it has lost some of its power to rouse us to action.
It has been said that a person who wants to do something will find a way; a person who doesn’t will find an excuse. That seems to be the evident in the third servant as he gives out his excuses. Jesus tells us that there is no excuse for us if we take for granted the gifts of life and religion which we have been given. Our Catholic faith is a treasure, but it is not meant to be buried and guarded. Knowing the worth of what we have is a first step. We must then invest this treasure in such a way as to bring us dividends. Do we live our religion in such a way that others might want to join us?
Fear was the problem of the bad servant. Being afraid is so very often our spiritual problem also, and it is the reason why we selfishly cling to our God given time, our abilities and our treasure. We are afraid that when we invest these gifts in the service of God and each other we will soon be bankrupt. We are afraid to trust Jesus who continually challenges us to generosity. That generosity might be in seen by love, by patience, by joy, by concern for those who are made fun of.
So that is why we must be here today, that is why we must say some prayers every day, that is why we must try to be good when it is so easy to do something we know is wrong. God is not a demanding master. God plants in each of us seeds of holiness in our hearts and helps us to grow to maturity.
What is the result of all of this? It is personal peace and freedom from anxiety and pain each day, and then a place with God at the end of our life. And more importantly, we will have that feeling of happiness each day because in our own way we fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, comforted the sick, and visited those in prison.
Today we are invited to use our God-given gifts. If we don’t we will lose them.
Readings: Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; Ps 128:1-5; 1 Thes 5:1-6; Mt 25:14-30
One is amazed by the results of an Internet search for the phrase use it or lose it. The listing is over half a million references. A good portion of this listing deals with issues like free speech, brain function, memory, sports, and muscle tone, to name but a few.
If a person you had met socially, but really did not know very well, came to you and insisted that you keep $10,000 for him or her until the person returned from a year’s trip around the world, what would you do with the money?
If you accepted the money there are a variety of choices. You could go to a bank and put the money in a savings account; you could lock it up in a safety deposit box or hide it somewhere in the house, or carry it in your wallet or purse, or dig a hole and bury it. Whatever you did with the money would most likely be based on your opinion of the person who put you in charge of the money, as well as the person’s intentions.
If you judged the person to be generous, you might choose a more risky type of investment; but if you thought the person was harsh and demanding you would place it where you would not lose it.
Today Jesus tells us a similar story. A man went away on a journey. He must have been very wealthy because he entrusted large portions of his money to three of his servants. The first two servants invested the money during the master's absence and it yielded great returns. The third servant, however, was fearful of investing. In either case, the servant buried the money he was given and returned the full amount to the master when he came home. The master was pleased with the investments of the first two servants, but was very upset with the third one. It is very clear that the one with the single talent was nor punished fo receiving less than the other two; rather he was punished because he buried what he had received from the master and didn’t put it to good use. To those who have much, much more will be given. To those who have little, even that little will be taken away.
The Master in this story is God. What is our image of God. Is God a demanding boss who threatens us into doing everything because we are afraid of him; or is he a kind boss who shares his wealth with those who believe, and praises them for taking a risk.
This story is less about money than about what happens at the end of our life. It is about gifts and giving gifts. Whatever is given to us by God -- whether it is money, or special abilities, or opportunities, are given, not to grow stale but to be increased. And the way that we are to be judged on that increase is not on how much we have kept for ourselves, or how important it might make us, but how much we have given away -- how well have we served one another. And serving is defined as how well we have helped those among us that have the least: the least money, the least natural abilities, the least opportunities, and least faith.
Notice that in this Bible story, it is the owner’s work that the servants are to do, his money that he hands over to them; and it is obvious that he expects them to do something with those funds.
God has given each one of us talents. Sometimes out of laziness or lack of ambition, or sometimes because we are afraid of failure or ridicule, we do not share our talents. The gospel today challenges us to take a risk and invest our gifts for the greater good of God's people. We do this ourselves as adults, but we must also try to help our children recognize their talents and use them in a productive way.
Just as we must expect much of ourselves, we must also expect much of others. Teachers and loving parents know this so very well. Teachers and parents who expect much from their children will receive much. Coaches who expect the best from each player, and players who expect the best from themselves will have a winning season. Our demands on others must be for their good, however, and not simply to highlight their failures or weaknesses.
What do we expect of ourselves, and what do we expect of those with whom we associate? At one time when a person said: I AM A CATHOLIC, everyone expected some special type of behavior from that person. Christianity has become a victim of its own success. In becoming part of the MAINSTREAM it has lost some of its power to rouse us to action.
It has been said that a person who wants to do something will find a way; a person who doesn’t will find an excuse. That seems to be the evident in the third servant as he gives out his excuses. Jesus tells us that there is no excuse for us if we take for granted the gifts of life and religion which we have been given. Our Catholic faith is a treasure, but it is not meant to be buried and guarded. Knowing the worth of what we have is a first step. We must then invest this treasure in such a way as to bring us dividends. Do we live our religion in such a way that others might want to join us?
Fear was the problem of the bad servant. Being afraid is so very often our spiritual problem also, and it is the reason why we selfishly cling to our God given time, our abilities and our treasure. We are afraid that when we invest these gifts in the service of God and each other we will soon be bankrupt. We are afraid to trust Jesus who continually challenges us to generosity. That generosity might be in seen by love, by patience, by joy, by concern for those who are made fun of.
So that is why we must be here today, that is why we must say some prayers every day, that is why we must try to be good when it is so easy to do something we know is wrong. God is not a demanding master. God plants in each of us seeds of holiness in our hearts and helps us to grow to maturity.
What is the result of all of this? It is personal peace and freedom from anxiety and pain each day, and then a place with God at the end of our life. And more importantly, we will have that feeling of happiness each day because in our own way we fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, comforted the sick, and visited those in prison.
Today we are invited to use our God-given gifts. If we don’t we will lose them.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Homily for the Week of November 2, 2008
ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS DAY, 2008
Jn 3:1-3 · Mt 5:1-12a
About every 7 years we have two major Catholic celebrations coming on a weekend such as this weekend. They are All Saints Day and All Souls Day. These feast, coming as they do in late autumn, give us an opportunity to ponder and appreciate the God who saves every leaf that falls and in a short time will know every snowflake that falls. We reflect on the God who assures us that we are never dead, even though winter is on its way and we all shall die. Today’s Church service reminds us that just as the farmer prepares for winter, just as the apples are picked from the trees, and just as the football season comes to an end, we, too, are being gathered as the harvest of heaven.
This weekend we honor all the saints, both those with an ST in front of their name, as well as all who have entered heaven after their death. In a sense theses are our heroes, the ones whose life we remember and whom we often places pictures of them in various places of our home or life. And then we pray for all of our relatives and friends who have died. This year 7 of them had their funeral Mass right here in St. James Church. I have mentioned their names in our bulletin.
Both All Saints Day and All Souls Day invite us to think about our own lives while we are here on earth and what where we will go after we die. For some of us us that day may not be that far off; for most of you that day may be years and years from now. Although a daily reading of the local newspaper alerts us to the fact that many people die young, especially as the result of auto accidents or sometimes a serious sickness.
A fundamental belief of the Catholic faith is life after death. We pray in the Apostles Creed: I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. On the cross, Jesus promised the Good Thief that he would be in Paradise before the end of the day. St. Francis welcomed death as Sister Death because she would welcome him into life everlasting.
We also believe that those who have died are still in union with us. Again, in our creeds we speak of the communion of saints. St. Dominic said to his brothers as he was dying: Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life. St. Therese of Lisieux said: I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth.
Throughout the year we celebrate the feast days of various well-known saints. but today we celebrate the thousands of men, woman and children who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. These are our ancestors, our relatives and friends who shared life here on earth with us and can now pray for us and for our eternal salvation. They are also an inspiration to us for as they lived the faith faithfully to the end, so can we with the help of their prayers and the grace of God.
In our Catholic faith life after death means either heaven, purgatory or hell. What will heaven be like? Most of us, young and old, have our answers. An eight-year-old boy answers that in heaven he can play with his toys all day, his parents won't limit his time on the computer, and his dog, that had recently died, would be there. A six-year-old girl said that she will get to play with her guardian angel, and her guardian will teach her how to fly. A 72-year-old widow said she looked forward to heaven in order to see her husband again. A 43-year-old man said he would finally get all of his questions answered.
All of us tend to project into heaven those things that we believe will make us happy. Heaven is supposed to be a happy place. Some do answer that they look forward to meeting God, but then they too quickly paint a picture of heaven in terms of what we know now, in terms of the people we love and the things we enjoy doing.
Some of us will answer the question by stating what we hope heaven will not be or who we hope will not be there. In anger, some will say that they pray such and such a particular person will not be in heaven. Heaven will not be what we imagine. It will be what God has made it to be.
The Bible does not give us much description of heaven other thn it is a place of everlasting peace and joy. It is a place where all persons are focused on God. It is an answer placed in each of us that there must be something after we die. For Catholics, Jesus is our hope. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we can find an explanation. If Jesus died but lives forever, than we too who remain close to Jesus will share his life, death and resurrection.
Think of a moment when you were with a group of good friends and you had just done something really great and exciting . Everyone is content and joyful and excited. That experience is a little bit like what heaven will be like, except in heaven it won’t be just a moment . It will last forever.
Even though we generally refer to heaven as being up and hell as being down, they are not physical places as we experince time and space. Thus we can only describe them through examples. For instance, when speaking of heaven , Jesus used the example of mansion or big house. The book of Revelation talks of heaven where there will be no tears nor death, there will be no pain.
The second reading from 1 John tells us of a great privilege: ''We may be called children of God.'' For the Mediterranean Middle Eastern person, this was the best thing that could happen to a person, to be the family member of a family that had great honor. A person's family, for better or worse, gave a person his or her identity. There was no such concept of ''self-identity.'' For the widow and orphan, the leper and cripple, and others such as these, they either had no family or had been put out of their family. For a lesser family or the family of the person, there was no possibility for upward mobility.
John tells us that these outcasts are now part of a new family. They are part of the family of God. They have moved from the streets to the throne room of God! This is the right of children. Further, children are allowed an inheritance. Even more, children of a king would become great rulers or people of influence in their own right.
The struggle to be a saint is not really a struggle of becoming a perfect person. It is the struggle of becoming a person who loves God beyond all other things. It is the struggle of letting God make heaven instead of us inventing heaven. It is the struggle of trusting God and letting Him give us more than we can imagine. Accepting heaven as it is, rather than what we want it to be, is a sign of trust.
Once a father and mother have given life to a new human being, they choose a name for their new born child. For centuries, people have given their child a saint’s name in hope that their child will grow up like its namesake. To have a heavenly godmother or godfather is to be part of the tradition of the Catholic Church. These saints’ names begin with Adrian, Agnes and Albert and conclude with Zachary and Zoe. Many of these names are Bible names such as Aaron, Abel, Abigail and end with Zacchaeus, Zebedee and Zechariah. For those of you who do not have a patron saint whose name you have, it is never too late to choose one. She or he could be a popular saint like St. Therese of Lisieux or Franz Jagerstatter, the Austrian conscientious objector who chose death rather then to serve in Hitler's army during World War II. Our patron saint could also be deceased parent, brother or sister, relative, friend, parishioner, teacher, classmate, co-worker who loved, inspired and helped us by his or her example and who is certain to be among that great number of those whom we call All saints.
Jn 3:1-3 · Mt 5:1-12a
About every 7 years we have two major Catholic celebrations coming on a weekend such as this weekend. They are All Saints Day and All Souls Day. These feast, coming as they do in late autumn, give us an opportunity to ponder and appreciate the God who saves every leaf that falls and in a short time will know every snowflake that falls. We reflect on the God who assures us that we are never dead, even though winter is on its way and we all shall die. Today’s Church service reminds us that just as the farmer prepares for winter, just as the apples are picked from the trees, and just as the football season comes to an end, we, too, are being gathered as the harvest of heaven.
This weekend we honor all the saints, both those with an ST in front of their name, as well as all who have entered heaven after their death. In a sense theses are our heroes, the ones whose life we remember and whom we often places pictures of them in various places of our home or life. And then we pray for all of our relatives and friends who have died. This year 7 of them had their funeral Mass right here in St. James Church. I have mentioned their names in our bulletin.
Both All Saints Day and All Souls Day invite us to think about our own lives while we are here on earth and what where we will go after we die. For some of us us that day may not be that far off; for most of you that day may be years and years from now. Although a daily reading of the local newspaper alerts us to the fact that many people die young, especially as the result of auto accidents or sometimes a serious sickness.
A fundamental belief of the Catholic faith is life after death. We pray in the Apostles Creed: I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. On the cross, Jesus promised the Good Thief that he would be in Paradise before the end of the day. St. Francis welcomed death as Sister Death because she would welcome him into life everlasting.
We also believe that those who have died are still in union with us. Again, in our creeds we speak of the communion of saints. St. Dominic said to his brothers as he was dying: Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life. St. Therese of Lisieux said: I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth.
Throughout the year we celebrate the feast days of various well-known saints. but today we celebrate the thousands of men, woman and children who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. These are our ancestors, our relatives and friends who shared life here on earth with us and can now pray for us and for our eternal salvation. They are also an inspiration to us for as they lived the faith faithfully to the end, so can we with the help of their prayers and the grace of God.
In our Catholic faith life after death means either heaven, purgatory or hell. What will heaven be like? Most of us, young and old, have our answers. An eight-year-old boy answers that in heaven he can play with his toys all day, his parents won't limit his time on the computer, and his dog, that had recently died, would be there. A six-year-old girl said that she will get to play with her guardian angel, and her guardian will teach her how to fly. A 72-year-old widow said she looked forward to heaven in order to see her husband again. A 43-year-old man said he would finally get all of his questions answered.
All of us tend to project into heaven those things that we believe will make us happy. Heaven is supposed to be a happy place. Some do answer that they look forward to meeting God, but then they too quickly paint a picture of heaven in terms of what we know now, in terms of the people we love and the things we enjoy doing.
Some of us will answer the question by stating what we hope heaven will not be or who we hope will not be there. In anger, some will say that they pray such and such a particular person will not be in heaven. Heaven will not be what we imagine. It will be what God has made it to be.
The Bible does not give us much description of heaven other thn it is a place of everlasting peace and joy. It is a place where all persons are focused on God. It is an answer placed in each of us that there must be something after we die. For Catholics, Jesus is our hope. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we can find an explanation. If Jesus died but lives forever, than we too who remain close to Jesus will share his life, death and resurrection.
Think of a moment when you were with a group of good friends and you had just done something really great and exciting . Everyone is content and joyful and excited. That experience is a little bit like what heaven will be like, except in heaven it won’t be just a moment . It will last forever.
Even though we generally refer to heaven as being up and hell as being down, they are not physical places as we experince time and space. Thus we can only describe them through examples. For instance, when speaking of heaven , Jesus used the example of mansion or big house. The book of Revelation talks of heaven where there will be no tears nor death, there will be no pain.
The second reading from 1 John tells us of a great privilege: ''We may be called children of God.'' For the Mediterranean Middle Eastern person, this was the best thing that could happen to a person, to be the family member of a family that had great honor. A person's family, for better or worse, gave a person his or her identity. There was no such concept of ''self-identity.'' For the widow and orphan, the leper and cripple, and others such as these, they either had no family or had been put out of their family. For a lesser family or the family of the person, there was no possibility for upward mobility.
John tells us that these outcasts are now part of a new family. They are part of the family of God. They have moved from the streets to the throne room of God! This is the right of children. Further, children are allowed an inheritance. Even more, children of a king would become great rulers or people of influence in their own right.
The struggle to be a saint is not really a struggle of becoming a perfect person. It is the struggle of becoming a person who loves God beyond all other things. It is the struggle of letting God make heaven instead of us inventing heaven. It is the struggle of trusting God and letting Him give us more than we can imagine. Accepting heaven as it is, rather than what we want it to be, is a sign of trust.
Once a father and mother have given life to a new human being, they choose a name for their new born child. For centuries, people have given their child a saint’s name in hope that their child will grow up like its namesake. To have a heavenly godmother or godfather is to be part of the tradition of the Catholic Church. These saints’ names begin with Adrian, Agnes and Albert and conclude with Zachary and Zoe. Many of these names are Bible names such as Aaron, Abel, Abigail and end with Zacchaeus, Zebedee and Zechariah. For those of you who do not have a patron saint whose name you have, it is never too late to choose one. She or he could be a popular saint like St. Therese of Lisieux or Franz Jagerstatter, the Austrian conscientious objector who chose death rather then to serve in Hitler's army during World War II. Our patron saint could also be deceased parent, brother or sister, relative, friend, parishioner, teacher, classmate, co-worker who loved, inspired and helped us by his or her example and who is certain to be among that great number of those whom we call All saints.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Homily for the Week of October 26, 2008
Homily 30th Sunday A 2008
Exodus 22: 20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thes 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40
Every week someone stops to see me to inquire about a relative who might buried in our cemetery. While our church is over 150 years old the first burial in the cemetery was about 15 years later. There are many people who enjoy tracing their family genealogy. Everyone wants to know where their family came from. What is almost always the case is that our families originated in a foreign land. The true ''Native Americans'' are the exception. What is sad is that most people now are so far from their immigrant roots that they either do not know or have forgotten what drove their ancestors to come to the United States. What is equally sad is that very often the children and grandchildren of immigrants often admire politicians who promise the most rigid and harsh laws towards immigrants dwelling in our country today.
In New York harbor stands the Statue of Liberty with the words of Emma Lazarus: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Send these, the homeless, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" For the first time in history, oppressed and persecuted people everywhere had hope — hope that if they were able to escape the tyranny under which they suffered. America was a beacon of liberty which shone through the darkness of oppression, persecution, and tyranny. Millions, like the Irish who built this parish, knew that there was a nation to which they could flee.
Currently, there are issues related to illegal immigration that must be resolved, but too many discussions dehumanize the ''illegals.'' In order to deal with the issues, we try hard to forget we are talking about people. It is no secret that some undocumented people sneak into the United States for criminal purposes, but the majority sneak into the United States seeking something better. Many sneak into the United States for the same reasons our own ancestors came: for a better life or to flee tyranny.
By the time of Jesus, the Jewish Law included 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions (do Not), and 268 prescriptions (do) So it would have been appropriate for a lawyer to ask Jesus which one of these 613 laws is the most important. And that is what the Pharisee did. But the Pharisee was not really interested in knowing which was the most important law, but he wanted to trick Jesus. According to the Jewish religion all laws were equally important because they believed that all laws were from God; therefore, all were important. To pick one law over another was not to be done. If it was done, it would surely have resulted in a huge controversy that would have made of fool of Jesus.
Jesus could have answered the question by giving a long discussion of Jewish laws, But Jesus did not answer that question directly. Instead he quotes the Jewish book of Deuteronomy: You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Jesus went on to add another law which was written in the Jewish book of Leviticus: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. By saying that commandment is like the first, Jesus links the love of God and the love of neighbor. They are different aspects of the same reality and can never be separated. They form what is known as the Golden Rule: Love God as you love your neighbor, and love yourself as you love your neighbor.
The Book of Exodus expresses in detail what some of those hateful things might be and what it means to show love in action. Not mistreating widows and orphans. One must not oppress or grind down the poor in any way, but treat them as we would to be treated. The Law seeks to provide justice for the least within society, as described in the phrase ''widows and orphans.'' This was a male society. Women and children gained their status from their fathers, husbands or husband's families. Women and children without such an attachment became beggars. They were defenseless. How we treat such persons can reveal a lot about our character and our spiritual life. We must never take advantage of them or of anyone.
People were to be helped through lending money, not exploited. Making money off a borrower was a sin called ''usury.'' Lending was seen as helping a person as God would help them. For instance a person who lends money must be fair, and not take advantage of the misfortunes of the poor or of those in need of the money at this time.
God's law was compassionate, and it demanded that the defenseless be cared for. Much of Jesus' life was spent reaching out to those whom society had forgotten. He sought out the ''widows and orphans'' in order to restore them to the Kingdom of God. The society had forgotten them, but God hadn't.
Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, reminds them that the Gospel that spoke the loudest was not spoken, but lived. The loudest message of the Gospel was the example Paul gave. He credits the Thessalonians' success in gaining converts to their own example.
Our whole religion now can be seen in the relationship of loving God and loving our neighbor. Everything we do and say should be somehow connected with this.
As we conduct our political debates, as we decide how to deal with the undocumented, as we look to the reality of the poor, we are reminded today of the context we must use for all of our discussions: the context of Love.
Exodus 22: 20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thes 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40
Every week someone stops to see me to inquire about a relative who might buried in our cemetery. While our church is over 150 years old the first burial in the cemetery was about 15 years later. There are many people who enjoy tracing their family genealogy. Everyone wants to know where their family came from. What is almost always the case is that our families originated in a foreign land. The true ''Native Americans'' are the exception. What is sad is that most people now are so far from their immigrant roots that they either do not know or have forgotten what drove their ancestors to come to the United States. What is equally sad is that very often the children and grandchildren of immigrants often admire politicians who promise the most rigid and harsh laws towards immigrants dwelling in our country today.
In New York harbor stands the Statue of Liberty with the words of Emma Lazarus: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Send these, the homeless, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" For the first time in history, oppressed and persecuted people everywhere had hope — hope that if they were able to escape the tyranny under which they suffered. America was a beacon of liberty which shone through the darkness of oppression, persecution, and tyranny. Millions, like the Irish who built this parish, knew that there was a nation to which they could flee.
Currently, there are issues related to illegal immigration that must be resolved, but too many discussions dehumanize the ''illegals.'' In order to deal with the issues, we try hard to forget we are talking about people. It is no secret that some undocumented people sneak into the United States for criminal purposes, but the majority sneak into the United States seeking something better. Many sneak into the United States for the same reasons our own ancestors came: for a better life or to flee tyranny.
By the time of Jesus, the Jewish Law included 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions (do Not), and 268 prescriptions (do) So it would have been appropriate for a lawyer to ask Jesus which one of these 613 laws is the most important. And that is what the Pharisee did. But the Pharisee was not really interested in knowing which was the most important law, but he wanted to trick Jesus. According to the Jewish religion all laws were equally important because they believed that all laws were from God; therefore, all were important. To pick one law over another was not to be done. If it was done, it would surely have resulted in a huge controversy that would have made of fool of Jesus.
Jesus could have answered the question by giving a long discussion of Jewish laws, But Jesus did not answer that question directly. Instead he quotes the Jewish book of Deuteronomy: You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Jesus went on to add another law which was written in the Jewish book of Leviticus: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. By saying that commandment is like the first, Jesus links the love of God and the love of neighbor. They are different aspects of the same reality and can never be separated. They form what is known as the Golden Rule: Love God as you love your neighbor, and love yourself as you love your neighbor.
The Book of Exodus expresses in detail what some of those hateful things might be and what it means to show love in action. Not mistreating widows and orphans. One must not oppress or grind down the poor in any way, but treat them as we would to be treated. The Law seeks to provide justice for the least within society, as described in the phrase ''widows and orphans.'' This was a male society. Women and children gained their status from their fathers, husbands or husband's families. Women and children without such an attachment became beggars. They were defenseless. How we treat such persons can reveal a lot about our character and our spiritual life. We must never take advantage of them or of anyone.
People were to be helped through lending money, not exploited. Making money off a borrower was a sin called ''usury.'' Lending was seen as helping a person as God would help them. For instance a person who lends money must be fair, and not take advantage of the misfortunes of the poor or of those in need of the money at this time.
God's law was compassionate, and it demanded that the defenseless be cared for. Much of Jesus' life was spent reaching out to those whom society had forgotten. He sought out the ''widows and orphans'' in order to restore them to the Kingdom of God. The society had forgotten them, but God hadn't.
Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, reminds them that the Gospel that spoke the loudest was not spoken, but lived. The loudest message of the Gospel was the example Paul gave. He credits the Thessalonians' success in gaining converts to their own example.
Our whole religion now can be seen in the relationship of loving God and loving our neighbor. Everything we do and say should be somehow connected with this.
As we conduct our political debates, as we decide how to deal with the undocumented, as we look to the reality of the poor, we are reminded today of the context we must use for all of our discussions: the context of Love.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Homily for the Week of October 18, 2008
HOMILY: Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2008
World Mission Sunday
Isaiah 45: 4-6; Psalm 19; 1 Thessalonians 1-5; Matthew 22: 15-21
As you may know there are many publishers which provide Sunday bulletins for parishioners. After reviewing many of these 8 years ago I decided on the one we have primarily because of the excellent spiritual reflections on the front of the bulletin and then the Dear Padre section on the back. Those of you who have brought home one of our bulletins every weekend for the last 8 years, and kept the Dear Padre section have on hand an encyclopaedia of basic information on our Catholic faith in all of its dimensions. This week Rose asks the Padre about why must each nationality has its own Mass. On any given weekend, on both the East and West Coasts of the United States, Mass is celebrated in more than 65 languages. What is the significance of this fact?
On the one hand it clearly reminds us how universal is the Catholic Church and how far and wide it extends, literally to the ends of the earth. St. Ignatius of Antioch whose feast we celebrated on Friday, was the first to call us Catholics in the year 85 A.D. He did not call us Roman Catholic because the center of the church was not in Rome.
It also illustrates how diverse is the service required by the Church in our country – outreach to a diverse group of people who speak many languages. We might be surprised how many foreign-born priests offer such service to the Church here at home. They are both immigrants and, at the same time, missionaries to us, in much the same way that Italian, French,Irish and Spanish missionaries from Europe served our country just over a century ago.
Much of California's history began in the 1700’s when Father Junipero Serra started the Spanish Missions. The chain of 21 missions along 650 miles of California's Royal Highway from San Diego to Sonoma represent the first arrival of Catholic missionaries to California. They were priests of the Society of Jesus and Francsicans. Every one of the California missions tell a story about the history of California. We are all familiar with their names such as Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Jose, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz. They were all named in memory of a Catholic saint or of Jesus or the angels.
Missionary priests also settled along the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and the French, Irish and Italians in the Eastern States.
We would not have a church here in Cadyville if 160 years ago, Father James Rooney, a priest of the Oblates of Mary of Ireland, had not decided to be the priest for the Irish immigrants who came here to raise their families. Once a month or once every other month he would come from Plattsburgh and stay in the home of some family. He would have Mass, baptise the new born children, anoint those who were very sick, and then witness the marriage of young couples, and with their moms and dads, teach parents and their children about the Catholic faith and prepare them for First Communion.
Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, commented on the diverse makeup of our Church when he visited with us in April of this year. He found here a young and vibrant Church; the influx of immigrants has certainly contributed to that fact. Our Holy Father also noted that many of the vocations to the priesthood here came from first and second generation immigrant families. Such were Fathers Francis and Clarence Devan and Father Ed Delaney who brought up on farms on the Hardscrabble Road and became priests in this Diocese. That was 56 years ago. No one from St. James Parish have decided to become priests since then. I am sure many young men have been invited by God, but none have answered.
Till 100 years ago this year the United States was dependent on the Catholic parishes of Europe for their priests and nuns, and for much of the costs associated with the running of a parish. This year we celebrate 100 years of being “mission independent” as a national church – no longer dependent on the sacrifices of the Catholics of Europe through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith – and as we gather at the altar to celebrate World Mission Sunday, our thoughts, prayers and offerings are directed to one place – the altar. At the Table of the Lord, intimately in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, we renew our commitment to our vocation to be missionaries. This vocation, which each of us received at Baptism, is to, in the words of today’s Psalm, “Tell the Lord’s glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
From the original Pentecost event when the first Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, were sent to carry this “Good News” to the four corners of the world, until today, that same mandate of Jesus is as active and operative as ever. Go and make disciples of all nations,” St. Matthew tells us in his Gospel. “Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. Our Lord gave this, His “Great Commission,” to the His first Apostles; it is now our task.
World Mission Sunday unites us in this work of continuing the Church’s missionary outreach – unites us in the continuing Pentecost. At every altar of the world, the language spoken on World Mission Sunday, as it is at every Mass, is the same. It is the language of love as taught to us by Christ Himself. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is the way, the truth and the life. We are all missionaries to show others the way, the truth and the life. In most places we will be the only Bible than anyone will ever read.
World Mission Sunday
Isaiah 45: 4-6; Psalm 19; 1 Thessalonians 1-5; Matthew 22: 15-21
As you may know there are many publishers which provide Sunday bulletins for parishioners. After reviewing many of these 8 years ago I decided on the one we have primarily because of the excellent spiritual reflections on the front of the bulletin and then the Dear Padre section on the back. Those of you who have brought home one of our bulletins every weekend for the last 8 years, and kept the Dear Padre section have on hand an encyclopaedia of basic information on our Catholic faith in all of its dimensions. This week Rose asks the Padre about why must each nationality has its own Mass. On any given weekend, on both the East and West Coasts of the United States, Mass is celebrated in more than 65 languages. What is the significance of this fact?
On the one hand it clearly reminds us how universal is the Catholic Church and how far and wide it extends, literally to the ends of the earth. St. Ignatius of Antioch whose feast we celebrated on Friday, was the first to call us Catholics in the year 85 A.D. He did not call us Roman Catholic because the center of the church was not in Rome.
It also illustrates how diverse is the service required by the Church in our country – outreach to a diverse group of people who speak many languages. We might be surprised how many foreign-born priests offer such service to the Church here at home. They are both immigrants and, at the same time, missionaries to us, in much the same way that Italian, French,Irish and Spanish missionaries from Europe served our country just over a century ago.
Much of California's history began in the 1700’s when Father Junipero Serra started the Spanish Missions. The chain of 21 missions along 650 miles of California's Royal Highway from San Diego to Sonoma represent the first arrival of Catholic missionaries to California. They were priests of the Society of Jesus and Francsicans. Every one of the California missions tell a story about the history of California. We are all familiar with their names such as Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Jose, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz. They were all named in memory of a Catholic saint or of Jesus or the angels.
Missionary priests also settled along the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and the French, Irish and Italians in the Eastern States.
We would not have a church here in Cadyville if 160 years ago, Father James Rooney, a priest of the Oblates of Mary of Ireland, had not decided to be the priest for the Irish immigrants who came here to raise their families. Once a month or once every other month he would come from Plattsburgh and stay in the home of some family. He would have Mass, baptise the new born children, anoint those who were very sick, and then witness the marriage of young couples, and with their moms and dads, teach parents and their children about the Catholic faith and prepare them for First Communion.
Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, commented on the diverse makeup of our Church when he visited with us in April of this year. He found here a young and vibrant Church; the influx of immigrants has certainly contributed to that fact. Our Holy Father also noted that many of the vocations to the priesthood here came from first and second generation immigrant families. Such were Fathers Francis and Clarence Devan and Father Ed Delaney who brought up on farms on the Hardscrabble Road and became priests in this Diocese. That was 56 years ago. No one from St. James Parish have decided to become priests since then. I am sure many young men have been invited by God, but none have answered.
Till 100 years ago this year the United States was dependent on the Catholic parishes of Europe for their priests and nuns, and for much of the costs associated with the running of a parish. This year we celebrate 100 years of being “mission independent” as a national church – no longer dependent on the sacrifices of the Catholics of Europe through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith – and as we gather at the altar to celebrate World Mission Sunday, our thoughts, prayers and offerings are directed to one place – the altar. At the Table of the Lord, intimately in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, we renew our commitment to our vocation to be missionaries. This vocation, which each of us received at Baptism, is to, in the words of today’s Psalm, “Tell the Lord’s glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
From the original Pentecost event when the first Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, were sent to carry this “Good News” to the four corners of the world, until today, that same mandate of Jesus is as active and operative as ever. Go and make disciples of all nations,” St. Matthew tells us in his Gospel. “Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. Our Lord gave this, His “Great Commission,” to the His first Apostles; it is now our task.
World Mission Sunday unites us in this work of continuing the Church’s missionary outreach – unites us in the continuing Pentecost. At every altar of the world, the language spoken on World Mission Sunday, as it is at every Mass, is the same. It is the language of love as taught to us by Christ Himself. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is the way, the truth and the life. We are all missionaries to show others the way, the truth and the life. In most places we will be the only Bible than anyone will ever read.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Homily for the Week of October 12, 2008
HOMILY: Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2008
Isaiah 25: 6-10; Psalm 23; Philippians : 12-14; Matthew 22: 1-14
At one time, and maybe even today, when invited to a celebration like a wedding fashion conscious people ask one another: What will I wear? What is the appropriate dress for this party. While there may be no dress code for going to a wedding, or to a high school football game, or to shopping at Walmarts, or to a funeral, or a hunting camp. showing up with blue jeans and a baseball cap at a White House wedding might get the Secret Service’s attention. I received an invitation today to a dinner for the 50th anniversary of Catholic Charities in Plattsburgh with the note saying that dress was semiformal. What does semiformal mean for a Catholic priest? In reality must persons have a sense of what is in or what is out at such occasions. Those who make and sell clothes more or less tell us what to wear.
Our Gospel for today is about a wedding, a wedding invitation and the appropriate dress for this wedding. In honor of his son’s marriage, the king throws a big party and sends invitations to many to come to the wedding. The invited guests refuse to come. We do not know why. Like most weddings we have a lot of guests who can’t make it. The kings problem began when the first list of those invited refused. Then the king gets angry, and send out his army to destroy them. But note also that the king does this only AFTER the invitation is refused. He then sends other invitations to both good or bad. The kind wants people at his son’s wedding. These persons come. But there is a man who was not dressed properly and he was thrown out of the banquet hall. Our initial judgement of the king’s action might be that he was too concerned with clothes.
Like all stories which we Jesus told, this story of the wedding is not really about clothes or the invitation list, but mostly about us. It is about you and me. It is about our goodness. Wearing the clothes of goodness consist in the quality of life and the conduct of the person. The clothes of goodness reveal the authentic character of the person. Wearing the clothes of goodness is the fundamental requirement of a Catholic life. It is really the story of how a person will get to heaven, or how the human race can get to heaven.
Whether we know it or not, we all live with the hope of immortality. We do hope to live for ever with the Lord. How do we attain this immortality? How do we respond to God's invitation to us? Do we just let it happen?
We may have a hard time understanding the power of the wedding banquet image for the people of the time of Jesus, because we so often have so much. All of us may have eaten in a restaurant that features an ALL YOU CAN EAT buffet. But imagine a time and place where only the very, very rich, the kings, did not have to worry about their children going to bed hungry.
In the land of Jesus, as in California and the Southwest, rain greens the hills with grass during fall and winter months but sun and heat slowly scorch them over the course of spring and summer. It is at this time when the land where Jesus lived started getting green. We just prayed Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd psalm in which we picture God as a good shepherd who finds green pastures and running water for the sheep and the cook who prepares a great meal in the sight of his enemies. God is the won who prepares a meal at which all of us are invited to eat.
Isaiah's vision of God's kingdom is of abundance, joy and peace, all the gift of the Lord. He describes the reign of God using familiar, tangible images, and we can easily grasp what Isaiah describes. It is an immortality that immediately appeals. But Isaiah does not simply describe: he teaches. On the day when we attain the kingdom, we will recognize the Lord's goodness and truly rejoice because it is God who saved us.
St. Paul takes a similar approach. He prays that God will supply our needs completely. Paul’s prayer is in response to the generosity of those who supplied all his needs. According to Paul all of us are invited to share in the banquet.
Many think that the story that Jesus gives us in the gospel is about his own life. Jesus did not know how to tell us what it would be like when we died and went to God. So he invites the people of his time to a meal. He invites all kinds of people: tax collectors, Pharisees, those with physical handicaps, the poor, the rich. The first time he invited them, they all came, but when the rich realized that they would have to sit with the poor, and when the Pharisees saw that they were expected to eat at the same table as sinners, they did not come again. They all made excuses so that they would not have to be with those they considered as undesirable.
As we notice from the uninvited guest, God wants all of us to come to the feast. God offers us forgiveness, reconciliation and healing, and rejoices when we accept these gifts. Rejoice with me, the good shepherd says. I have found the sheep that was lost. Rejoice with me, the father says, I have found my son who was lost.
All these voices are the voices of God. God’s joy is to be shared by all. God’s joy is the joy of the angels and saints; it is the joy of all who belong to the reign of God. God rejoices, not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end; and not because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising God’s goodness, not because our countries financial condition is under control. NO. God rejoices because one who was lost has been found.
Most of us are not use to rejoicing in things that are small, hidden and scarcely noticed by those around us. We are generally ready to receive bad news, to read about wars, violence and crime, and to witness conflict and confusion. Many of us are so use to living with sadness that we have lost the eyes to see the joy, and the ears to hear the gladness that belongs to God. These can be found in the hidden corners of the world.
One hidden act of repentance, one little gesture of selfless love, one moment of true forgiveness is all that is needed for God to welcome a returning son or daughter and to fill the heavens with sounds of divine joy. If that is God’s way, then we are challenged to let go of all the voices of doom and gloom that drag us into disbelief and allow the small joys to reveal the truth about the world win which we live.
Do we really love others as Jesus taught us? Or do we just say that we love others? If we love, then we must forgive. Forgiveness is a measure of our love for neighbor as well as for ourselves. How do we love ourselves? One of the ways we can test our love of self is how well we take care of ourselves physically and spiritually. Do we find time each day to be with others whom we love, or even to be alone to relax and to rest? These are the clothes of goodness-- love of God, love of others and love of self. Are we wearing these clothes? Are we dressed properly for the heavenly banquet of everlasting life with God? Which group of people have not been invited to our table? Putting on Jesus is risky. It means laying ourselves open to being made new and changed.
Isaiah 25: 6-10; Psalm 23; Philippians : 12-14; Matthew 22: 1-14
At one time, and maybe even today, when invited to a celebration like a wedding fashion conscious people ask one another: What will I wear? What is the appropriate dress for this party. While there may be no dress code for going to a wedding, or to a high school football game, or to shopping at Walmarts, or to a funeral, or a hunting camp. showing up with blue jeans and a baseball cap at a White House wedding might get the Secret Service’s attention. I received an invitation today to a dinner for the 50th anniversary of Catholic Charities in Plattsburgh with the note saying that dress was semiformal. What does semiformal mean for a Catholic priest? In reality must persons have a sense of what is in or what is out at such occasions. Those who make and sell clothes more or less tell us what to wear.
Our Gospel for today is about a wedding, a wedding invitation and the appropriate dress for this wedding. In honor of his son’s marriage, the king throws a big party and sends invitations to many to come to the wedding. The invited guests refuse to come. We do not know why. Like most weddings we have a lot of guests who can’t make it. The kings problem began when the first list of those invited refused. Then the king gets angry, and send out his army to destroy them. But note also that the king does this only AFTER the invitation is refused. He then sends other invitations to both good or bad. The kind wants people at his son’s wedding. These persons come. But there is a man who was not dressed properly and he was thrown out of the banquet hall. Our initial judgement of the king’s action might be that he was too concerned with clothes.
Like all stories which we Jesus told, this story of the wedding is not really about clothes or the invitation list, but mostly about us. It is about you and me. It is about our goodness. Wearing the clothes of goodness consist in the quality of life and the conduct of the person. The clothes of goodness reveal the authentic character of the person. Wearing the clothes of goodness is the fundamental requirement of a Catholic life. It is really the story of how a person will get to heaven, or how the human race can get to heaven.
Whether we know it or not, we all live with the hope of immortality. We do hope to live for ever with the Lord. How do we attain this immortality? How do we respond to God's invitation to us? Do we just let it happen?
We may have a hard time understanding the power of the wedding banquet image for the people of the time of Jesus, because we so often have so much. All of us may have eaten in a restaurant that features an ALL YOU CAN EAT buffet. But imagine a time and place where only the very, very rich, the kings, did not have to worry about their children going to bed hungry.
In the land of Jesus, as in California and the Southwest, rain greens the hills with grass during fall and winter months but sun and heat slowly scorch them over the course of spring and summer. It is at this time when the land where Jesus lived started getting green. We just prayed Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd psalm in which we picture God as a good shepherd who finds green pastures and running water for the sheep and the cook who prepares a great meal in the sight of his enemies. God is the won who prepares a meal at which all of us are invited to eat.
Isaiah's vision of God's kingdom is of abundance, joy and peace, all the gift of the Lord. He describes the reign of God using familiar, tangible images, and we can easily grasp what Isaiah describes. It is an immortality that immediately appeals. But Isaiah does not simply describe: he teaches. On the day when we attain the kingdom, we will recognize the Lord's goodness and truly rejoice because it is God who saved us.
St. Paul takes a similar approach. He prays that God will supply our needs completely. Paul’s prayer is in response to the generosity of those who supplied all his needs. According to Paul all of us are invited to share in the banquet.
Many think that the story that Jesus gives us in the gospel is about his own life. Jesus did not know how to tell us what it would be like when we died and went to God. So he invites the people of his time to a meal. He invites all kinds of people: tax collectors, Pharisees, those with physical handicaps, the poor, the rich. The first time he invited them, they all came, but when the rich realized that they would have to sit with the poor, and when the Pharisees saw that they were expected to eat at the same table as sinners, they did not come again. They all made excuses so that they would not have to be with those they considered as undesirable.
As we notice from the uninvited guest, God wants all of us to come to the feast. God offers us forgiveness, reconciliation and healing, and rejoices when we accept these gifts. Rejoice with me, the good shepherd says. I have found the sheep that was lost. Rejoice with me, the father says, I have found my son who was lost.
All these voices are the voices of God. God’s joy is to be shared by all. God’s joy is the joy of the angels and saints; it is the joy of all who belong to the reign of God. God rejoices, not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end; and not because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising God’s goodness, not because our countries financial condition is under control. NO. God rejoices because one who was lost has been found.
Most of us are not use to rejoicing in things that are small, hidden and scarcely noticed by those around us. We are generally ready to receive bad news, to read about wars, violence and crime, and to witness conflict and confusion. Many of us are so use to living with sadness that we have lost the eyes to see the joy, and the ears to hear the gladness that belongs to God. These can be found in the hidden corners of the world.
One hidden act of repentance, one little gesture of selfless love, one moment of true forgiveness is all that is needed for God to welcome a returning son or daughter and to fill the heavens with sounds of divine joy. If that is God’s way, then we are challenged to let go of all the voices of doom and gloom that drag us into disbelief and allow the small joys to reveal the truth about the world win which we live.
Do we really love others as Jesus taught us? Or do we just say that we love others? If we love, then we must forgive. Forgiveness is a measure of our love for neighbor as well as for ourselves. How do we love ourselves? One of the ways we can test our love of self is how well we take care of ourselves physically and spiritually. Do we find time each day to be with others whom we love, or even to be alone to relax and to rest? These are the clothes of goodness-- love of God, love of others and love of self. Are we wearing these clothes? Are we dressed properly for the heavenly banquet of everlasting life with God? Which group of people have not been invited to our table? Putting on Jesus is risky. It means laying ourselves open to being made new and changed.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Homily for the Week of October 5, 2008
HOMILY: RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY, 2008
Is 5:1-7/ Phil 4:6-9/ Mt 21:33-43
Jesus had a way of getting peoples attention at once. He spoke about things in which people were vitally interested. Today he would probably talk about the this country's discussions about the war in Iraq; he would talk about unemployment and taxes and the increase of violence in all parts of our society. He would undoubtedly talk about the men and women who want to get elected on November 4th. He would talk about the billionaire abortion industry in our country. He would talk about the ageing mother whose children have forgotten her; the prisoner awaiting death for his crimes and the single mother abandoned by the father of her child. He would talk about the littlest, the weakest and the most vulnerable among us. All of these and all of us are part of his vineyard.
Sometimes our country seems like a vineyard which has gone to seed. Where once fertile hillsides and rich vines grew, we find nothing but wild grapes. Our country was founded on the belief that God had
granted every American an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet the easy accessibility of abortion on demand, our lack of concern for the elderly and those most vulnerable, the billion dollar pornographic industry, seem to be signs of a nation gone astray. Such was the condition of Jerusalem in the time of the prophet Isaiah, when God asks them what he has done to deserve this sad state of affairs. He threatens to let the thorns and the briars take over
this wild vineyard, where he looks for justice and sees only bloodshed.
Today’s Gospel completes the analogy. Jesus tells the story of the landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. Of course, the tenants neglect the vineyard, but worse, when the landlord sends his servants and then his son to inspect the vineyard, the tenants kill his emissaries. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes? Jesus asks his disciples. It does not take a Bible scholar to figure out that they will be punished for their mismanagement of the talents which God has given them.
This is the reason why there is an urgency to the pro-life movement today. For there are doctors who have been given the gift of compassion and healing who have used their talents to abort babies, o to euthanize the elderly or those on life support. There are counsellors who have been given the compassion to help those in distress, who urge people to choose to abort their child. There are parents to whom God has given the power to create life with him, who advise their pregnant daughter to get an abortion. There are caregivers for the elderly who refuse to respect their human dignity, and there are men and women in all sectors of society who refuse to use their talents for the promotion of the dignity of life.
In his letter to the Philippians today, Saint Paul gives us good counsel on how to promote the Gospel of Life. He advises that whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. May we commit ourselves to the protection of all human life from conception to natural death that this nation may, once again, be a land known for its honor and its love of the truth, guided by the God in whom we trust.
In our country 22% of all pregnancies end in abortion. Since 1973 45 million babies have been aborted. While we must continue to center our respect for life on the life of the unborn child, we must also care for all of life. That means supporting and responding to the basic human needs of nutrition, health, housing and education. It can also mean caring for the life and defending an innocent person under attack. I am convinced that our first moral need is to cultivate a conviction that we must face all the major threats to life, not only one or two.
If we are to make life a choice, then we must be critical of the culture of death all around us, a culture which which is overwhelmingly in favor of putting persons to death because of certain crimes, and which is moving towards physician assisted suicide. We may all have different view and feelings about these three major issues of life, but I am concerned that we come to realize that respect for life will cost us something. To move beyond solutions to problems by taking life will require a more personal care for life -- at its beginning and its end.
The abortion debate has been framed as a private choice. So is assisted suicide. Assisted suicide, for instance, has changed the doctor-patient relationship. Medical care now involves the possibility of medically assisted killing. Yet in a civilized society the law exists to protect life. When it also begins to make legal the taking of life, then we can ask what lies ahead for our lives in such a society. We can begin to ask how do we relate to one another humanly and spiritually, especially towards those that have the least power to defend themselves; the very young and the very sick.
We must continue to witness by deed to linking caring for life and defending life. We have usually done well in caring for life as is evident by the many works of charity done by Catholics. I commend those who have supported single mothers, those who work in health care facilities and programs that care for the dying and give them hope in the face of a long, painful dying process, those who volunteer in soup kitchens, those who bring food for our Food Shelf. But as people of faith, regardless of the circumstances, we must see death as a friend, not an enemy; and the experience of death is going from one life to another life.
The human wonder of life for each of us is that life is gift flowing from the very being of God and entrusted to each of us. It is easy for us in the rush of daily life or in its problems to lose the sense of wonder that comes with every gift given to us. It is even easier at the level of a consumer society to count some lives as less valuable than others, especially when caring for them costs-- financially, emotionally, time, effort.
The truth is, however, that each life is of infinite value. Protecting and promoting life, caring for it and defending it, has no simple or easy solutions. It is only in the good news of love preached by Jesus that we can find the vision and strength needed to promote and nurture the great gift of life God shares with us. The parable told by Jesus today is a teaching about the providence of God. Looking more closely at the parable of the vineyard, we see that the landowner has a purpose for the land, and having put everything in place for the desired result, he entrusts the project to others, giving them an interest in its success. But the tenants snub the attempts of the landowner to reclaim the project. They even go so far as to murder the landowner's own son. Even then, the landowner is not controlling but seeking to influence by good will, persuasion, enticement. When this fails, he intervenes decisively, handing over the vineyard to other, more amenable tenants.
Jesus' parable explains how God acts providently in our world -- entrusting, patiently attempting to persuade, decisively intervening, and re-entrusting. The parable suggests that the solution to any Christian dilemma is already present in the problem, but the solution has either been disregarded or overlooked.
We Christians have an optimism about life that is rooted in genuine hope. We believe that all will be well, not because it seems to be well, or because we need to believe it will be well, but because we know and trust the God that will make it well. In adversity, in temptation, in illness, and even in death, we know that the cornerstone of renewal and life is before us in the presence of Jesus Christ, the most dramatic and visible manifestation of the providence of God.
Parents: show examples of life to your children: wedding album, videos, describe the wedding day, so children will know of the beginnings of love that brought them to life. Show them their baby pictures, tell them about their first walk, their first words, their hugs and kisses. Their first days of school.
Life, what a beautiful choice. Hope and Trust in it.
Is 5:1-7/ Phil 4:6-9/ Mt 21:33-43
Jesus had a way of getting peoples attention at once. He spoke about things in which people were vitally interested. Today he would probably talk about the this country's discussions about the war in Iraq; he would talk about unemployment and taxes and the increase of violence in all parts of our society. He would undoubtedly talk about the men and women who want to get elected on November 4th. He would talk about the billionaire abortion industry in our country. He would talk about the ageing mother whose children have forgotten her; the prisoner awaiting death for his crimes and the single mother abandoned by the father of her child. He would talk about the littlest, the weakest and the most vulnerable among us. All of these and all of us are part of his vineyard.
Sometimes our country seems like a vineyard which has gone to seed. Where once fertile hillsides and rich vines grew, we find nothing but wild grapes. Our country was founded on the belief that God had
granted every American an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet the easy accessibility of abortion on demand, our lack of concern for the elderly and those most vulnerable, the billion dollar pornographic industry, seem to be signs of a nation gone astray. Such was the condition of Jerusalem in the time of the prophet Isaiah, when God asks them what he has done to deserve this sad state of affairs. He threatens to let the thorns and the briars take over
this wild vineyard, where he looks for justice and sees only bloodshed.
Today’s Gospel completes the analogy. Jesus tells the story of the landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. Of course, the tenants neglect the vineyard, but worse, when the landlord sends his servants and then his son to inspect the vineyard, the tenants kill his emissaries. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes? Jesus asks his disciples. It does not take a Bible scholar to figure out that they will be punished for their mismanagement of the talents which God has given them.
This is the reason why there is an urgency to the pro-life movement today. For there are doctors who have been given the gift of compassion and healing who have used their talents to abort babies, o to euthanize the elderly or those on life support. There are counsellors who have been given the compassion to help those in distress, who urge people to choose to abort their child. There are parents to whom God has given the power to create life with him, who advise their pregnant daughter to get an abortion. There are caregivers for the elderly who refuse to respect their human dignity, and there are men and women in all sectors of society who refuse to use their talents for the promotion of the dignity of life.
In his letter to the Philippians today, Saint Paul gives us good counsel on how to promote the Gospel of Life. He advises that whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. May we commit ourselves to the protection of all human life from conception to natural death that this nation may, once again, be a land known for its honor and its love of the truth, guided by the God in whom we trust.
In our country 22% of all pregnancies end in abortion. Since 1973 45 million babies have been aborted. While we must continue to center our respect for life on the life of the unborn child, we must also care for all of life. That means supporting and responding to the basic human needs of nutrition, health, housing and education. It can also mean caring for the life and defending an innocent person under attack. I am convinced that our first moral need is to cultivate a conviction that we must face all the major threats to life, not only one or two.
If we are to make life a choice, then we must be critical of the culture of death all around us, a culture which which is overwhelmingly in favor of putting persons to death because of certain crimes, and which is moving towards physician assisted suicide. We may all have different view and feelings about these three major issues of life, but I am concerned that we come to realize that respect for life will cost us something. To move beyond solutions to problems by taking life will require a more personal care for life -- at its beginning and its end.
The abortion debate has been framed as a private choice. So is assisted suicide. Assisted suicide, for instance, has changed the doctor-patient relationship. Medical care now involves the possibility of medically assisted killing. Yet in a civilized society the law exists to protect life. When it also begins to make legal the taking of life, then we can ask what lies ahead for our lives in such a society. We can begin to ask how do we relate to one another humanly and spiritually, especially towards those that have the least power to defend themselves; the very young and the very sick.
We must continue to witness by deed to linking caring for life and defending life. We have usually done well in caring for life as is evident by the many works of charity done by Catholics. I commend those who have supported single mothers, those who work in health care facilities and programs that care for the dying and give them hope in the face of a long, painful dying process, those who volunteer in soup kitchens, those who bring food for our Food Shelf. But as people of faith, regardless of the circumstances, we must see death as a friend, not an enemy; and the experience of death is going from one life to another life.
The human wonder of life for each of us is that life is gift flowing from the very being of God and entrusted to each of us. It is easy for us in the rush of daily life or in its problems to lose the sense of wonder that comes with every gift given to us. It is even easier at the level of a consumer society to count some lives as less valuable than others, especially when caring for them costs-- financially, emotionally, time, effort.
The truth is, however, that each life is of infinite value. Protecting and promoting life, caring for it and defending it, has no simple or easy solutions. It is only in the good news of love preached by Jesus that we can find the vision and strength needed to promote and nurture the great gift of life God shares with us. The parable told by Jesus today is a teaching about the providence of God. Looking more closely at the parable of the vineyard, we see that the landowner has a purpose for the land, and having put everything in place for the desired result, he entrusts the project to others, giving them an interest in its success. But the tenants snub the attempts of the landowner to reclaim the project. They even go so far as to murder the landowner's own son. Even then, the landowner is not controlling but seeking to influence by good will, persuasion, enticement. When this fails, he intervenes decisively, handing over the vineyard to other, more amenable tenants.
Jesus' parable explains how God acts providently in our world -- entrusting, patiently attempting to persuade, decisively intervening, and re-entrusting. The parable suggests that the solution to any Christian dilemma is already present in the problem, but the solution has either been disregarded or overlooked.
We Christians have an optimism about life that is rooted in genuine hope. We believe that all will be well, not because it seems to be well, or because we need to believe it will be well, but because we know and trust the God that will make it well. In adversity, in temptation, in illness, and even in death, we know that the cornerstone of renewal and life is before us in the presence of Jesus Christ, the most dramatic and visible manifestation of the providence of God.
Parents: show examples of life to your children: wedding album, videos, describe the wedding day, so children will know of the beginnings of love that brought them to life. Show them their baby pictures, tell them about their first walk, their first words, their hugs and kisses. Their first days of school.
Life, what a beautiful choice. Hope and Trust in it.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Homily for the Week of September 21, 2008
HOMILY: Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A, 2008
Ez 18:25-28; Phil 2:1-11; Mt 21: 28-32
Most of you are familiar with the concept of U-Turn. We make U-Turns, either with our cars and trucks, or in our life when we decide that we are going in the wrong direction, turn completely around, and head back in the same direction from which we came. Let's look at the U-Turns in our Bible readings for today. In our first reading Ezekiel speaks of God's justice in dealing with the people who make a U-turn in their spiritual lives. The Lord says that if people who do what is good and right make a U-turn and begin to do what is bad and sinful, they shall suffer eternal death. but if those who live lives of sin and wickedness, make a U-Turn from their bad life, they shall live.
In a similar fashion, Jesus challenges the chief priests and elders of the temple with a story about a father who asks his sons to work in the vineyard. One says no, changes his mind, and then goes to work in the vineyard. The other says yes, but does not go. Each of them made a U-turn. When Jesus asks them: Which of the two did his fathers will? the answer was obvious -- the one who originally said no. Each of the persons in Jesus story made a U-turn in their life. The chief priest first adopted God's law, and then turned around; those who were sinners changed their way of life. For this reason Jesus promised that the sinners would enter heaven before the religious leaders would be admitted.
But we understand a little better when we hear the words of Saint Paul: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Jesus who was the son of God did not use that relationship to impress or control others. He died as a criminal because he knew that he had to do what God wanted him to do.
Do we come to Mass on weekends because we have to? Or do we come because we want to be part of that great prayer of the Church, where we are gathered up into Christ's own offering to his Father? Do we love our enemies providing they are hundreds of miles away. Do we decide to get rid of our bad habits and addictions only when the doctor tells us that they will kill us? Do we feel guilty or ashamed of what we are doing only when someone happens to see us? Many of us may say Yes to these questions.
In the Lord's prayer, we say Your will be done. How often we repeat these words, but how hard it is to accept what happens today in our own lives! The measure of the way we keep our promises to God is mirrored in the way we keep our promises to others. If we give our word and we must keep it, then we are walking in the truth. The more our faithfulness mirrors God's own, the more we are able to share God's great love with the world.
One of the difficult aspects of religion is that it very often talks about the mysteries in our life. In so doing religion often uses objects and symbols to describe these mysteries. When you leave this church today until you return next week none of you will see a pulpit, an altar, church pews and kneelers, colored glass windows, the clothes I am wearing, the bread for communion. But these are all symbols that tell us something of our Catholic religion.
How many of you are aware that the ''Golden Arches'' of McDonald's and the logo for Coke are more recognized throughout the world than the Cross? Yet, as I said last week I always impressed whenever I see a young person have a cross on a neck chain, and they wear it so it can be seen. One day in talking to a person who does tattoos, he mentioned that to his surprise, one of the most requested tattoos was that of some form of the cross.
Many persons will leave more per week as a tip for a meal than they will give each week to their church or to charity.
Last year an Insurance Company conducted a survey that found that 45 percent of married Americans listed their car as more important to them than their children. We must see the world with different eyes -- with eyes that love God. And how the eyes of God are with us every minute of every day. Ezekiel talks about this.
Ezekiel wrote at a time when the people found that God's system of reward and punishment seemed unfair. They observed that God seems to punish the righteous and reward the wicked. In the words of Ezekiel, God asks, ''Are my ways that are unfair, or is it really your ways that are unfair?'' Ezekiel presents two individuals. He presents first a person who has been good through most of his life, but who at the end turns away from God's virtues. The second person has lived a wicked life but at the end turns toward God.
According to our scorecard of justice, the almost-all-good person will go to heaven and the almost-all-bad person will not. Ezekiel tells us no, that, regardless of how much good he has done, the person who turned away from God will not be saved, while the person who, after a lifetime of evil, turned to God will be saved.
Ezekiel says to us that God neither judges us by our past or by our future. God judges us by our present. Where are we right now? What is the life we will present to God at the moment we meet Him?
This reality will lead Jesus to say that we know not the day nor the hour, so be like bridesmaids waiting for the groom. Jesus will also ask what the master will do when he unexpectedly returns and finds some servants doing their job and some not.
In Our Psalm verses today are a prayer that we will come to a better understanding of God: 'Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths. If God looks to the current situation of our heart, what will He see? Will he find that we have been consciously waiting and attentive to our love?
All of us must be heading in the direction of everlasting life, hopefully all together in heaven. If we desire to get there, we may need to look at the areas of our lives where we need to make U-turns.
Do I need to make a U-turn in our prayer life?
Do I need to make a U-turn in our charitable giving?
Do I need to make a U-turn in our fantasies and pleasures, some of which may have become addictive?
Do I need to make a U-turn in the ways in which we deal with others: in how we respect and support one another or in the examples that we give to children?
Do I need to make a U-turn to pick up my clothes, do the dishes and make my bed?
Do I need to make a U-turn to give an honest compliment to someone who is not expecting it?
We must ask ourselves: What U-turns must I make this week?
As we look at our life, no matter our age, we may detect that it has a lot of zigzags. It is normal for us to be either happy or unhappy about the spiritual quality of our life so far. An example of living as God wants is the life of St. Therese of Lisieux. When she was just six years old she had learned to love God and made God part of her life. When she became a teenager she mentions that she had tried to act as if God was watching her, not in fear of punishment, but because she loved God. And before she died at the age of 24 she mentioned that the only thing she wanted was to love God.
On the other hand we have the example of St. Augustine. He is the picture of the wandering person. He knew that God loved him, but for many years he got involved in self centered love of himself rather than complete love of God. But, finally, with the help of Monica, his mother he made the U-Turn to God.
We are given the freedom to make U-turns in our lives. In that freedom we can turn away from any sinful patterns we have developed and move toward God or we can turn away from God. We may have said no to God in the past, but we can turn our lives around and say yes to God now. Very often we need a spiritual doctor to help us make that turn. Most do not like to go to doctors, whether they are medical doctors or spiritual doctors. Deciding it is time to get spiritual help may be the most important U-turn that we can make.
Ez 18:25-28; Phil 2:1-11; Mt 21: 28-32
Most of you are familiar with the concept of U-Turn. We make U-Turns, either with our cars and trucks, or in our life when we decide that we are going in the wrong direction, turn completely around, and head back in the same direction from which we came. Let's look at the U-Turns in our Bible readings for today. In our first reading Ezekiel speaks of God's justice in dealing with the people who make a U-turn in their spiritual lives. The Lord says that if people who do what is good and right make a U-turn and begin to do what is bad and sinful, they shall suffer eternal death. but if those who live lives of sin and wickedness, make a U-Turn from their bad life, they shall live.
In a similar fashion, Jesus challenges the chief priests and elders of the temple with a story about a father who asks his sons to work in the vineyard. One says no, changes his mind, and then goes to work in the vineyard. The other says yes, but does not go. Each of them made a U-turn. When Jesus asks them: Which of the two did his fathers will? the answer was obvious -- the one who originally said no. Each of the persons in Jesus story made a U-turn in their life. The chief priest first adopted God's law, and then turned around; those who were sinners changed their way of life. For this reason Jesus promised that the sinners would enter heaven before the religious leaders would be admitted.
But we understand a little better when we hear the words of Saint Paul: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Jesus who was the son of God did not use that relationship to impress or control others. He died as a criminal because he knew that he had to do what God wanted him to do.
Do we come to Mass on weekends because we have to? Or do we come because we want to be part of that great prayer of the Church, where we are gathered up into Christ's own offering to his Father? Do we love our enemies providing they are hundreds of miles away. Do we decide to get rid of our bad habits and addictions only when the doctor tells us that they will kill us? Do we feel guilty or ashamed of what we are doing only when someone happens to see us? Many of us may say Yes to these questions.
In the Lord's prayer, we say Your will be done. How often we repeat these words, but how hard it is to accept what happens today in our own lives! The measure of the way we keep our promises to God is mirrored in the way we keep our promises to others. If we give our word and we must keep it, then we are walking in the truth. The more our faithfulness mirrors God's own, the more we are able to share God's great love with the world.
One of the difficult aspects of religion is that it very often talks about the mysteries in our life. In so doing religion often uses objects and symbols to describe these mysteries. When you leave this church today until you return next week none of you will see a pulpit, an altar, church pews and kneelers, colored glass windows, the clothes I am wearing, the bread for communion. But these are all symbols that tell us something of our Catholic religion.
How many of you are aware that the ''Golden Arches'' of McDonald's and the logo for Coke are more recognized throughout the world than the Cross? Yet, as I said last week I always impressed whenever I see a young person have a cross on a neck chain, and they wear it so it can be seen. One day in talking to a person who does tattoos, he mentioned that to his surprise, one of the most requested tattoos was that of some form of the cross.
Many persons will leave more per week as a tip for a meal than they will give each week to their church or to charity.
Last year an Insurance Company conducted a survey that found that 45 percent of married Americans listed their car as more important to them than their children. We must see the world with different eyes -- with eyes that love God. And how the eyes of God are with us every minute of every day. Ezekiel talks about this.
Ezekiel wrote at a time when the people found that God's system of reward and punishment seemed unfair. They observed that God seems to punish the righteous and reward the wicked. In the words of Ezekiel, God asks, ''Are my ways that are unfair, or is it really your ways that are unfair?'' Ezekiel presents two individuals. He presents first a person who has been good through most of his life, but who at the end turns away from God's virtues. The second person has lived a wicked life but at the end turns toward God.
According to our scorecard of justice, the almost-all-good person will go to heaven and the almost-all-bad person will not. Ezekiel tells us no, that, regardless of how much good he has done, the person who turned away from God will not be saved, while the person who, after a lifetime of evil, turned to God will be saved.
Ezekiel says to us that God neither judges us by our past or by our future. God judges us by our present. Where are we right now? What is the life we will present to God at the moment we meet Him?
This reality will lead Jesus to say that we know not the day nor the hour, so be like bridesmaids waiting for the groom. Jesus will also ask what the master will do when he unexpectedly returns and finds some servants doing their job and some not.
In Our Psalm verses today are a prayer that we will come to a better understanding of God: 'Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths. If God looks to the current situation of our heart, what will He see? Will he find that we have been consciously waiting and attentive to our love?
All of us must be heading in the direction of everlasting life, hopefully all together in heaven. If we desire to get there, we may need to look at the areas of our lives where we need to make U-turns.
Do I need to make a U-turn in our prayer life?
Do I need to make a U-turn in our charitable giving?
Do I need to make a U-turn in our fantasies and pleasures, some of which may have become addictive?
Do I need to make a U-turn in the ways in which we deal with others: in how we respect and support one another or in the examples that we give to children?
Do I need to make a U-turn to pick up my clothes, do the dishes and make my bed?
Do I need to make a U-turn to give an honest compliment to someone who is not expecting it?
We must ask ourselves: What U-turns must I make this week?
As we look at our life, no matter our age, we may detect that it has a lot of zigzags. It is normal for us to be either happy or unhappy about the spiritual quality of our life so far. An example of living as God wants is the life of St. Therese of Lisieux. When she was just six years old she had learned to love God and made God part of her life. When she became a teenager she mentions that she had tried to act as if God was watching her, not in fear of punishment, but because she loved God. And before she died at the age of 24 she mentioned that the only thing she wanted was to love God.
On the other hand we have the example of St. Augustine. He is the picture of the wandering person. He knew that God loved him, but for many years he got involved in self centered love of himself rather than complete love of God. But, finally, with the help of Monica, his mother he made the U-Turn to God.
We are given the freedom to make U-turns in our lives. In that freedom we can turn away from any sinful patterns we have developed and move toward God or we can turn away from God. We may have said no to God in the past, but we can turn our lives around and say yes to God now. Very often we need a spiritual doctor to help us make that turn. Most do not like to go to doctors, whether they are medical doctors or spiritual doctors. Deciding it is time to get spiritual help may be the most important U-turn that we can make.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Homily for the Week of September 14, 2008
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 2008
Numbers 21:4b-9
Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17
I recently visited a home and noticed a beautiful crucifix by the front door. I remarked how beautiful it was to which I got the question: ''What crucifix?'' I then pointed to it by the front door. And I got the response: ''I guess I've walked past it for so many years that I don't even notice it anymore.'' Has the cross, the crucifix we see, been around so long that we have forgotten what it is about? Is it now just another pretty thing to hang on the wall, or a pretty thing on a necklace, or pretty dangling earrings?
You might wonder why we Catholics have a weekend during which we honor the cross which was a violent means of torture used by the Romans. The Romans inherited this "tool" of torture from the Persians. Crucifixion was such a humiliating and horrible form of death that Roman citizens could not be put to death on a cross. Crucifixion was reserved for slaves and those who had committed treason or brutal crimes. After being beaten and tortured, victims were stripped naked, their clothing given to the soldiers. We honor the cross because Jesus carried his cross and died on it.
One of the most recognized religious symbols is that of the cross or a crucifix. A crucifix is a cross on which is the body of Jesus. At the center of every Catholic church you will find a cross. If you looked at older churches from the an airplane you would see the form of a cross. The cross hangs round the necks of hundreds of thousands of people in our world, perhaps many of you. Many religious communities of woman and men use the cross as the mark to distinguish them as persons dedicated in poverty, chastity and obedience. Crosses are even worn by some who have no visible outward sign of being religious, nor even Christians.
The Cross -- because of what it represents is universal symbol of the Christian faith. It has inspired our devotions. We are recognized as Catholics when we make the Sign of the Cross. Members of other religions do not make the sign of the cross. We make the sign of the cross as begin Mass and we our blessed by the sign of the cross as we finish Mass. We begin our prayers with the sign of the cross to fix our minds and hearts on God. We end our prayers with the sign of the cross to keep us close to Jesus. We make the sign of the cross as we enter the church, we make it on our forehead, lips and heart at the reading of the Gospel. We pray the Stations (or Way) of the Cross. On Good Friday we have a special Veneration of the Cross by kissing the feet of the image of Our Savior crucified. Very often a crucifix is placed on the casket at the beginning of a funeral. Our Rosary has a crucifix. Crucifixes are placed in Catholic school classrooms, in Catholic centers. The cross or the crucifix is a constant reminder of what we believe.
Jesus once said: He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it.
Very often as a priest I have had persons come to me to talk about spiritual issues. Sometimes they have been away from the church or organized religions for many years. The practice of their religion met very little to them. I remember one man in his 60's who had been away from formal religion for years. He came to talk with me to find out how to get back to church after the death of his wife. As we talked he proudly opened his billfold On the inside he had tacked a small cross which had been given to him by his grandmother at the time of his first communion. Tears came into his eyes as he looked at it, saying: Jesus has always been with me.
After 2000 years the cross has lost none of its power to attract and to convert. And that is so because the cross is the best visual telling us HOW MUCH GOD LOVES US. A look at the cross does tell us much about suffering and pain, but also it shows us much more about love and freedom. It tells us much more about life than it does about death.
Unfortunately, it is possible for us to be so use to our symbols that we don't see them anymore. And even worse, how many of us have grown so use to hearing about the death of Jesus that it simply does not seem real to us, or we just don't take the time to pray about it.
This feast of the exaltation of the holy cross began nearly 1700 years ago in Rome. The emperor was Constantine. He was not a Christian. He had killed many Christians. He was fighting a war for Rome and he was losing. But then he had a vision of the Cross which appeared with the words: In this sign you shall conquer. He kept the cross in his memory, won the war and became a Christian. In so doing he also ended the persecution against the followers of Jesus.
This feast is celebrated always on September fourteenth. It is believed that St. Helen, the mother of Constantine while on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 326, found a piece of the “True Cross” on September fourteenth. The feast became important when it was believed that the “True Cross” was returned from Persia to Jerusalem in the seventh century after its having been stolen.
The cross, however, can be a contradiction. How could dying save people? Because of this, the cross did not immediately become a symbol for Christianity. The cross was an instrument of torture and death for slaves, traitors, and criminals. It was a humiliating death to hang naked for everyone to see. How could people wear such a symbol on a chain around their necks, or place it on the walls of their kitchens and living rooms?
But it became a symbol of love. We are told that Jesus was obedient unto death, death on a cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. So after a few centuries the cross became the symbol - not of death - but of love. By dying on the cross Jesus took away our sins, so that we would not have to die for them.
The good news of today's gospel is that God loves us, and God loves us right now. And that love is extended to us and shown by Christ through his cross. God had no way of showing us his love other than inviting his son to show that love by dying that we might live again after we have fallen. Our bible reading today tells us that Jesus came into the world, not to condemn us but that we might be saved through him.
Pray before the cross. Pray the stations of the cross. At Baptism a sign of the cross was placed on our foreheads. Our Parents and God parents were invited to do the same. Make sure that a crucifix is seen prominently throughout your home. Parents should point out to their children why you have these crucifixes. Let the image of the suffering Jesus heal you of pain of any kind: physical, emotional and spiritual. Let us chose the cross out of love for the one who died on it. It is our ladder, our bridge, our anchor and our badge of belonging to Jesus Christ. The cross "is not only the symbol of your life in God and your salvation, but also ... the silent witness of human suffering and the unique and priceless expression of all our hopes.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
Numbers 21:4b-9
Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17
I recently visited a home and noticed a beautiful crucifix by the front door. I remarked how beautiful it was to which I got the question: ''What crucifix?'' I then pointed to it by the front door. And I got the response: ''I guess I've walked past it for so many years that I don't even notice it anymore.'' Has the cross, the crucifix we see, been around so long that we have forgotten what it is about? Is it now just another pretty thing to hang on the wall, or a pretty thing on a necklace, or pretty dangling earrings?
You might wonder why we Catholics have a weekend during which we honor the cross which was a violent means of torture used by the Romans. The Romans inherited this "tool" of torture from the Persians. Crucifixion was such a humiliating and horrible form of death that Roman citizens could not be put to death on a cross. Crucifixion was reserved for slaves and those who had committed treason or brutal crimes. After being beaten and tortured, victims were stripped naked, their clothing given to the soldiers. We honor the cross because Jesus carried his cross and died on it.
One of the most recognized religious symbols is that of the cross or a crucifix. A crucifix is a cross on which is the body of Jesus. At the center of every Catholic church you will find a cross. If you looked at older churches from the an airplane you would see the form of a cross. The cross hangs round the necks of hundreds of thousands of people in our world, perhaps many of you. Many religious communities of woman and men use the cross as the mark to distinguish them as persons dedicated in poverty, chastity and obedience. Crosses are even worn by some who have no visible outward sign of being religious, nor even Christians.
The Cross -- because of what it represents is universal symbol of the Christian faith. It has inspired our devotions. We are recognized as Catholics when we make the Sign of the Cross. Members of other religions do not make the sign of the cross. We make the sign of the cross as begin Mass and we our blessed by the sign of the cross as we finish Mass. We begin our prayers with the sign of the cross to fix our minds and hearts on God. We end our prayers with the sign of the cross to keep us close to Jesus. We make the sign of the cross as we enter the church, we make it on our forehead, lips and heart at the reading of the Gospel. We pray the Stations (or Way) of the Cross. On Good Friday we have a special Veneration of the Cross by kissing the feet of the image of Our Savior crucified. Very often a crucifix is placed on the casket at the beginning of a funeral. Our Rosary has a crucifix. Crucifixes are placed in Catholic school classrooms, in Catholic centers. The cross or the crucifix is a constant reminder of what we believe.
Jesus once said: He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it.
Very often as a priest I have had persons come to me to talk about spiritual issues. Sometimes they have been away from the church or organized religions for many years. The practice of their religion met very little to them. I remember one man in his 60's who had been away from formal religion for years. He came to talk with me to find out how to get back to church after the death of his wife. As we talked he proudly opened his billfold On the inside he had tacked a small cross which had been given to him by his grandmother at the time of his first communion. Tears came into his eyes as he looked at it, saying: Jesus has always been with me.
After 2000 years the cross has lost none of its power to attract and to convert. And that is so because the cross is the best visual telling us HOW MUCH GOD LOVES US. A look at the cross does tell us much about suffering and pain, but also it shows us much more about love and freedom. It tells us much more about life than it does about death.
Unfortunately, it is possible for us to be so use to our symbols that we don't see them anymore. And even worse, how many of us have grown so use to hearing about the death of Jesus that it simply does not seem real to us, or we just don't take the time to pray about it.
This feast of the exaltation of the holy cross began nearly 1700 years ago in Rome. The emperor was Constantine. He was not a Christian. He had killed many Christians. He was fighting a war for Rome and he was losing. But then he had a vision of the Cross which appeared with the words: In this sign you shall conquer. He kept the cross in his memory, won the war and became a Christian. In so doing he also ended the persecution against the followers of Jesus.
This feast is celebrated always on September fourteenth. It is believed that St. Helen, the mother of Constantine while on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 326, found a piece of the “True Cross” on September fourteenth. The feast became important when it was believed that the “True Cross” was returned from Persia to Jerusalem in the seventh century after its having been stolen.
The cross, however, can be a contradiction. How could dying save people? Because of this, the cross did not immediately become a symbol for Christianity. The cross was an instrument of torture and death for slaves, traitors, and criminals. It was a humiliating death to hang naked for everyone to see. How could people wear such a symbol on a chain around their necks, or place it on the walls of their kitchens and living rooms?
But it became a symbol of love. We are told that Jesus was obedient unto death, death on a cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. So after a few centuries the cross became the symbol - not of death - but of love. By dying on the cross Jesus took away our sins, so that we would not have to die for them.
The good news of today's gospel is that God loves us, and God loves us right now. And that love is extended to us and shown by Christ through his cross. God had no way of showing us his love other than inviting his son to show that love by dying that we might live again after we have fallen. Our bible reading today tells us that Jesus came into the world, not to condemn us but that we might be saved through him.
Pray before the cross. Pray the stations of the cross. At Baptism a sign of the cross was placed on our foreheads. Our Parents and God parents were invited to do the same. Make sure that a crucifix is seen prominently throughout your home. Parents should point out to their children why you have these crucifixes. Let the image of the suffering Jesus heal you of pain of any kind: physical, emotional and spiritual. Let us chose the cross out of love for the one who died on it. It is our ladder, our bridge, our anchor and our badge of belonging to Jesus Christ. The cross "is not only the symbol of your life in God and your salvation, but also ... the silent witness of human suffering and the unique and priceless expression of all our hopes.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Homily for the Week of September 7, 2008
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time September 7, 2008
Ezekiel 33,7-9
Psalm 94,1-2.6-7.8-9
Romans 13,8-10
Matthew 18,15-20
Last week I was in Rouses Point and I passed by a church with a sign out front that said, “God promised Christians a safe landing, not smooth sailing”. That was a catchy reminder of just how challenging it can be to try to live the Christian life.
The Gospel makes it plain that Jesus called his disciples to love others unconditionally and, as we heard, so pointedly today, he certainly expects us to take the initiative in seeking reconciliation when love breaks down.
That’s such a tall order that we could easily be thinking that kind of teaching was fine for first century folks but this world of the twenty-first century is full of people who seem so unlovable that it can’t help but make you wonder. If Jesus walked the earth today, preaching love and reconciliation, would he draw the line when it came to terrorists who have no respect for others’ lives or rights; or doctors who make their living killing children; or corporate big shots whose greed bankrupts a business and destroys the savings of lots of investors; or predators who abuse and molest the young? Would Jesus make exceptions for those kinds of evil people?
After all, Jesus was well aware of the dark side of life when he walked the earth so long ago. Not much has changed in 2000 years. First century folks were not nearly as sophisticated as we are today in killing unborn children so they simply threw unwanted new-borns into the dump. Speaking of terror, let’s not forget that Jesus and his neighbors lived in an occupied country where captive subjects were policed by the Roman army. As to the abuse of the young, they were routinely exposed to the perversion and pornography that was even ritualized in the religions of the pagans. Jesus didn’t know about 401(k)’s, of course; but he was well-acquainted with slavery and the rule of sick emperors.
Yet, even as he lived in such a sick and unjust society, he still preached love and reconciliation. Could he have been out of touch with reality? But, we are gathered here today because we don’t believe that Jesus was out of touch with reality. No, we’re here today because we believe the Christian life of love and reconciliation is the true way to happiness, not only for the here and now but for ever. It’s interesting to note just how far Jesus would go for reconciliation. In today’s Gospel when Jesus tells us to make every effort to achieve reconciliation, He says if nothing works, then treat the other as you would a Gentile or a tax collector; but he himself wouldn’t stop even there. He invited both Gentiles and tax collectors to eat and talk with him and thereby changed their hearts. Our Gospel today was written by a tax collector, Matthew, who ended up giving his life for the sake of love and reconciliation.
Seven years ago this week we will remember the tragic events of September 11th brought home to many Americans the reality that serious harm had been done to innocent victims. For a variety of reasons our media and politicians have played back over and over again the scenes of these events. It comes at a time when the words under God is to be removed from our Pledge of Allegiance, and songs like God Bless America are removed from public programs, and athletes are not encouraged to pray before a game. But the rescue workers and construction workers at Ground Zero told a different story: they repeated over and over that the Spirit of God was with them, and they praised most of all the chaplains who were with them day after day: WHATEVER YOU NEEDED, WHENEVER YOU NEEDED THEM,THEY WERE THERE FOR US.
We’re also here because we know how often and how easily we don’t really live out what we say we believe. When love breaks down in even the most intimate of our relationships with others, with family and neighbors, co-workers and even fellow worshippers, we know we need God’s grace to give us the strength and courage to seek reconciliation and renew lost love. It’s here in this place that we are nourished by word and sacrament so we can go back out into our often sick and unjust society and try to renew it. That’s what Jesus asks of us. As Ezekiel reminds us, in our first reading, that ‘s not just a nice thing to do; it’s absolutely necessary for our own good. Speaking as God’s prophet, he utters some very sobering words. He says, “if you warn the wicked man, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself”.
The meditation on the front cover of our Bulletin today has an excellent reflection on how we can apply to ourselves and others the advice that Jesus gives us in the Gospel. How we can bring about love and forgiveness better by using I-statements rather than you-statements. Perhaps, as we approach the altar for our share of the Body and Blood of Jesus today, we could plead with God to fill our hearts with a thirst for peace because only a peaceful person will long to seek reconciliation with even the unlovable among us, no matter what the cost. Jesus, Matthew, and Paul all gave up their lives for that cause. Could we at least give up some of our comfort and security? There’s no doubt that Jesus wants us to do just that so, as the Psalmist says, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”.
Ezekiel 33,7-9
Psalm 94,1-2.6-7.8-9
Romans 13,8-10
Matthew 18,15-20
Last week I was in Rouses Point and I passed by a church with a sign out front that said, “God promised Christians a safe landing, not smooth sailing”. That was a catchy reminder of just how challenging it can be to try to live the Christian life.
The Gospel makes it plain that Jesus called his disciples to love others unconditionally and, as we heard, so pointedly today, he certainly expects us to take the initiative in seeking reconciliation when love breaks down.
That’s such a tall order that we could easily be thinking that kind of teaching was fine for first century folks but this world of the twenty-first century is full of people who seem so unlovable that it can’t help but make you wonder. If Jesus walked the earth today, preaching love and reconciliation, would he draw the line when it came to terrorists who have no respect for others’ lives or rights; or doctors who make their living killing children; or corporate big shots whose greed bankrupts a business and destroys the savings of lots of investors; or predators who abuse and molest the young? Would Jesus make exceptions for those kinds of evil people?
After all, Jesus was well aware of the dark side of life when he walked the earth so long ago. Not much has changed in 2000 years. First century folks were not nearly as sophisticated as we are today in killing unborn children so they simply threw unwanted new-borns into the dump. Speaking of terror, let’s not forget that Jesus and his neighbors lived in an occupied country where captive subjects were policed by the Roman army. As to the abuse of the young, they were routinely exposed to the perversion and pornography that was even ritualized in the religions of the pagans. Jesus didn’t know about 401(k)’s, of course; but he was well-acquainted with slavery and the rule of sick emperors.
Yet, even as he lived in such a sick and unjust society, he still preached love and reconciliation. Could he have been out of touch with reality? But, we are gathered here today because we don’t believe that Jesus was out of touch with reality. No, we’re here today because we believe the Christian life of love and reconciliation is the true way to happiness, not only for the here and now but for ever. It’s interesting to note just how far Jesus would go for reconciliation. In today’s Gospel when Jesus tells us to make every effort to achieve reconciliation, He says if nothing works, then treat the other as you would a Gentile or a tax collector; but he himself wouldn’t stop even there. He invited both Gentiles and tax collectors to eat and talk with him and thereby changed their hearts. Our Gospel today was written by a tax collector, Matthew, who ended up giving his life for the sake of love and reconciliation.
Seven years ago this week we will remember the tragic events of September 11th brought home to many Americans the reality that serious harm had been done to innocent victims. For a variety of reasons our media and politicians have played back over and over again the scenes of these events. It comes at a time when the words under God is to be removed from our Pledge of Allegiance, and songs like God Bless America are removed from public programs, and athletes are not encouraged to pray before a game. But the rescue workers and construction workers at Ground Zero told a different story: they repeated over and over that the Spirit of God was with them, and they praised most of all the chaplains who were with them day after day: WHATEVER YOU NEEDED, WHENEVER YOU NEEDED THEM,THEY WERE THERE FOR US.
We’re also here because we know how often and how easily we don’t really live out what we say we believe. When love breaks down in even the most intimate of our relationships with others, with family and neighbors, co-workers and even fellow worshippers, we know we need God’s grace to give us the strength and courage to seek reconciliation and renew lost love. It’s here in this place that we are nourished by word and sacrament so we can go back out into our often sick and unjust society and try to renew it. That’s what Jesus asks of us. As Ezekiel reminds us, in our first reading, that ‘s not just a nice thing to do; it’s absolutely necessary for our own good. Speaking as God’s prophet, he utters some very sobering words. He says, “if you warn the wicked man, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself”.
The meditation on the front cover of our Bulletin today has an excellent reflection on how we can apply to ourselves and others the advice that Jesus gives us in the Gospel. How we can bring about love and forgiveness better by using I-statements rather than you-statements. Perhaps, as we approach the altar for our share of the Body and Blood of Jesus today, we could plead with God to fill our hearts with a thirst for peace because only a peaceful person will long to seek reconciliation with even the unlovable among us, no matter what the cost. Jesus, Matthew, and Paul all gave up their lives for that cause. Could we at least give up some of our comfort and security? There’s no doubt that Jesus wants us to do just that so, as the Psalmist says, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Homily for the Week of August 31, 2008
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time August 28, 2008
Jeremiah 20,7-9
Psalm 62,2.3-4.5-6.8-9
Romans 12,1-2
Matthew 16,21-27
Football is one of the Fall sports that attract thousands of persons both on the high school and college level. Some years ago, Gene Stallings coached the University of Alabama to a 22 –game winning streak and number-two rating in college football, and then the Dallas Cowboys. But it was not this event—but another one—that had the greatest impact on his life. It was the birth of his son, Johnny.
When the doctor told Stallings and his wife that their son Johnny had Down’s syndrome and would probably not live beyond the age of four, Stallings fainted. Thirty years later Johnny still had Down’s syndrome and was still living. In his book Another Season he describes the impact Johnny has had on his life, Stallings said: “He’s special! All his love is unconditional. He doesn’t keep score. He’s totally unselfish.” On many occasions Stallings has said if he could reverse things and start over with a child who didn’t have Down’s syndrome, he and his wife would not do it. What Stalling thought would be an enormous cross in his life turned out to be an enormous blessing.
The readings of today's Mass all give the same message. They tell us that our blessings in life may also involve crosses. We may decide for whatever reason to go against God. If and when we do the price we pay is not being true to our deepest self. God and Jesus are to be trusted absolutely. God will stand at our side.
Our first reading is a section from Jeremiah. It is one of the most moving passages of the Old Testament. But as any biblical text it must be placed in its context to be understood. The passage quoted expresses in vivid detail how difficult it can be to follow God. God had ask Jeremiah to be one of his prophets; that is, a person chosen to speak for God. Jeremiah feels that God "duped" him. Jeremiah does speak for God, but when he does, he gets insulted. Everyone laughs at me, he says. But inspite of that, Jeremiah still keeps on living as God wants him because it becomes like fire burning in my heart. Isn't this a powerful description of how we suffer when we obey our conscience. Our conscience is the voice of God within each of us who keeps telling us: you are being good or you are being bad. No matter what we try to do to deny or stifle that voice, it is always there.
Jesus at one time used the example of a coin. On one side of the coin is the cross and on the other side is a crown. If we try to embrace one side, the glorious side, and reject the other, the suffering side, we falsify the gospel. The same Jesus who said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest,” also said, “If any of you want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Do we come to Jesus then to be freed from our burdens or do we come to Jesus to take on the cross? We come to Jesus to be freed from our meaningless and futile burdens and, in its place, take on the cross that leads to salvation and glory.
Today’s gospel challenges us to say no to the very attractive but one-sided gospel of instant glory, a sugar-coated gospel that offers the false promise of “all crown and no cross”. Often we followers of Jesus may think: “Only believe and it will all go well with you.” It didn’t all go well for Jesus; he still had to endure the cross. It didn’t all go well with Mary; a sword of sorrow still pierced her soul. It didn’t all go well with the countless men and women saints who have gone before us. Why then should it all go well with you and me? In the face of disappointment, bereavement, sickness and failure, our faith response should be, not to question “Why me?” but to recognize that these crosses and contradictions are the necessary condition for our future glory.
Each day we are tempted to abandon God and do things that our consciences says we should not do. It is so easy for us to pick and chose parts of the bible or our Catholic faith, and accept those parts and practices that make our religion painless. It is so easy to yield to peer pressure, which is one of the most powerful social forces in the world. It is so easy to stifle the voice of our conscience when we see other people apparently stifling theirs. But that is not what today's readings urge us to do. For Jeremiah, for Paul, and for Matthew, God calls us to a difficult vocation. Unless we constantly remind ourselves of this we will fail to be the kind of disciples that Christ expects us to be.
If we pick up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus, our cross can also become a blessing and a stepping stone to greater things.
Jeremiah 20,7-9
Psalm 62,2.3-4.5-6.8-9
Romans 12,1-2
Matthew 16,21-27
Football is one of the Fall sports that attract thousands of persons both on the high school and college level. Some years ago, Gene Stallings coached the University of Alabama to a 22 –game winning streak and number-two rating in college football, and then the Dallas Cowboys. But it was not this event—but another one—that had the greatest impact on his life. It was the birth of his son, Johnny.
When the doctor told Stallings and his wife that their son Johnny had Down’s syndrome and would probably not live beyond the age of four, Stallings fainted. Thirty years later Johnny still had Down’s syndrome and was still living. In his book Another Season he describes the impact Johnny has had on his life, Stallings said: “He’s special! All his love is unconditional. He doesn’t keep score. He’s totally unselfish.” On many occasions Stallings has said if he could reverse things and start over with a child who didn’t have Down’s syndrome, he and his wife would not do it. What Stalling thought would be an enormous cross in his life turned out to be an enormous blessing.
The readings of today's Mass all give the same message. They tell us that our blessings in life may also involve crosses. We may decide for whatever reason to go against God. If and when we do the price we pay is not being true to our deepest self. God and Jesus are to be trusted absolutely. God will stand at our side.
Our first reading is a section from Jeremiah. It is one of the most moving passages of the Old Testament. But as any biblical text it must be placed in its context to be understood. The passage quoted expresses in vivid detail how difficult it can be to follow God. God had ask Jeremiah to be one of his prophets; that is, a person chosen to speak for God. Jeremiah feels that God "duped" him. Jeremiah does speak for God, but when he does, he gets insulted. Everyone laughs at me, he says. But inspite of that, Jeremiah still keeps on living as God wants him because it becomes like fire burning in my heart. Isn't this a powerful description of how we suffer when we obey our conscience. Our conscience is the voice of God within each of us who keeps telling us: you are being good or you are being bad. No matter what we try to do to deny or stifle that voice, it is always there.
Jesus at one time used the example of a coin. On one side of the coin is the cross and on the other side is a crown. If we try to embrace one side, the glorious side, and reject the other, the suffering side, we falsify the gospel. The same Jesus who said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest,” also said, “If any of you want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Do we come to Jesus then to be freed from our burdens or do we come to Jesus to take on the cross? We come to Jesus to be freed from our meaningless and futile burdens and, in its place, take on the cross that leads to salvation and glory.
Today’s gospel challenges us to say no to the very attractive but one-sided gospel of instant glory, a sugar-coated gospel that offers the false promise of “all crown and no cross”. Often we followers of Jesus may think: “Only believe and it will all go well with you.” It didn’t all go well for Jesus; he still had to endure the cross. It didn’t all go well with Mary; a sword of sorrow still pierced her soul. It didn’t all go well with the countless men and women saints who have gone before us. Why then should it all go well with you and me? In the face of disappointment, bereavement, sickness and failure, our faith response should be, not to question “Why me?” but to recognize that these crosses and contradictions are the necessary condition for our future glory.
Each day we are tempted to abandon God and do things that our consciences says we should not do. It is so easy for us to pick and chose parts of the bible or our Catholic faith, and accept those parts and practices that make our religion painless. It is so easy to yield to peer pressure, which is one of the most powerful social forces in the world. It is so easy to stifle the voice of our conscience when we see other people apparently stifling theirs. But that is not what today's readings urge us to do. For Jeremiah, for Paul, and for Matthew, God calls us to a difficult vocation. Unless we constantly remind ourselves of this we will fail to be the kind of disciples that Christ expects us to be.
If we pick up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus, our cross can also become a blessing and a stepping stone to greater things.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Homily for the Week of August 24, 2008
TWENTIETH-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A 2008
Readings: Isaiah 22:19-23;
Romans 11:33-36;
Matthew 16: 13-20
In the past few days the news networks have been saturated with the guessing game as to whom will be selected to campaign for the Vice President of the United States. In the next few weeks, if we chose, we can view and listen to the speeches of those who believe they have the best qualifications and moral character to lead our country for the next 4 years. This will all be done in the most opulent exhibition that money can buy.
Fast forward to about the year 30 AD. Jesus and his disciples are in the region of Caesarea Philippi, a pagan area about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. They were likely standing at the base of Mount Hermon, in front of the well known cliff filled with niches holding statues of pagan gods at the top of which was a statue in honor of Julius Caesar. Jesus' campaign speech was very short. He asked his close friends who others thought he was. He got a variety of answers. This was an indication that he was not well known -- perhaps much like the answers he would get from persons today.
Then Jesus turns the question around. He asked his friends who they taught he was. There was silence. But then Peter answers: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus then speaks to Peter directly telling him that was the right answer. He then appoints him as the first leader of the church, or was later known as the First Pope.
That passage has been the subject of much controversy over the past 2000 year history of the Catholic church. That the Pope is the head of the Church is a belief that has not been accepted by other Christian churches. And even on our part, we may not fully understand the implications of who the Pope is. Some think he is sinless. Others give him supernatural power, others believe he cannot make a mistake; others think of him as a man who has too much authority, and some could care less about the Pope.
We are told today in our Gospel that Peter was chosen by Jesus to be the leader of the church. Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom and also tremendous responsibility: WHATEVER YOU BIND UPON EARTH SHALL BE BOUND IN HEAVEN, AND WHATEVER YOU LOOSE UPON EARTH SHALL BE LOOSED IN HEAVEN. That same authority was given to all Popes. And from the time of Peter to Pope Benedict XVI the church has been lead by human beings. Some of our popes have been great men; not only in piety, but also in vision, but others have been, humanly speaking, almost lacking in any qualifications to lead and strengthen the Church. There have been times of goodness in the church due to them and there have been times of terrible damage. But through all of it the Church has escaped from the jaws of death, which leads us to believe that the church must be divinely guided, or else, like many corporations or associations, it would have folded up over the past 2000 years.
Why has the plan of Jesus worked? The reason is that Jesus is still with the church, especially in the person of the Pope, no matter who he might be. Peter and the others popes are not the successors of Jesus but really his representatives, those who stand in his place. He has authority only in the name of another person -- the person to whom authority really belongs. And so the authority of the Pope is really the authority of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the real rock of the Church. He is the firm foundation. Jesus continues to lead and strengthen the church through the Pope, his vicar on earth.
Peter was chosen head of the Church, not because he had taken courses in leadership and administration, but because he had faith. He was the only one who could answer 100% correctly the question WHO IS JESUS--You are the son of the living God.
Authority is not given to a person to do with as they please. All authority is accountable to God. It must be exercised with God will, and out of human limitations. The best way to use authority is like a servant. Jesus was telling us that all persons who have any authority, whether moms and dads, or teachers, or Presidents or Vice Presidents or whomever are bound to suffer also are called to serve others, not to be served.
Many of you have heard the word INFALLIBILITY connected to the Pope. Infallibility does not mean that the Pope is sinless. It means that whenever the Pope gives us a truth regarding faith and morals -- what we are to believe and how we are to live -- he speaks as if Jesus were speaking to us. The Pope does this very, very rarely, and only after he has called together his advisors from throughout the world. The last time of infallibility was November 1st, 1950 when Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary as a teaching of the Catholic Church. Such infallibility lets us know what God wants us to believe and how to act with justice and love. This authority is a guide for our conscience but it is not a substitute for it.
Jesus lived on earth only 33 years. He arranged that his teachings and his mercy would be known through human beings like Peter or Benedict XVI. In the Old Testament God always chose human beings to bring his good news and his message to others. Jesus chose 12 apostles as his leaders. But all of us are called in our own way to bring faith and morality to others. Each of us our Christ bearers.
are to live out that calling in our ordinary lives. Then we live up to our names as followers of Jesus as we continue the building of the kingdom.
Readings: Isaiah 22:19-23;
Romans 11:33-36;
Matthew 16: 13-20
In the past few days the news networks have been saturated with the guessing game as to whom will be selected to campaign for the Vice President of the United States. In the next few weeks, if we chose, we can view and listen to the speeches of those who believe they have the best qualifications and moral character to lead our country for the next 4 years. This will all be done in the most opulent exhibition that money can buy.
Fast forward to about the year 30 AD. Jesus and his disciples are in the region of Caesarea Philippi, a pagan area about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. They were likely standing at the base of Mount Hermon, in front of the well known cliff filled with niches holding statues of pagan gods at the top of which was a statue in honor of Julius Caesar. Jesus' campaign speech was very short. He asked his close friends who others thought he was. He got a variety of answers. This was an indication that he was not well known -- perhaps much like the answers he would get from persons today.
Then Jesus turns the question around. He asked his friends who they taught he was. There was silence. But then Peter answers: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus then speaks to Peter directly telling him that was the right answer. He then appoints him as the first leader of the church, or was later known as the First Pope.
That passage has been the subject of much controversy over the past 2000 year history of the Catholic church. That the Pope is the head of the Church is a belief that has not been accepted by other Christian churches. And even on our part, we may not fully understand the implications of who the Pope is. Some think he is sinless. Others give him supernatural power, others believe he cannot make a mistake; others think of him as a man who has too much authority, and some could care less about the Pope.
We are told today in our Gospel that Peter was chosen by Jesus to be the leader of the church. Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom and also tremendous responsibility: WHATEVER YOU BIND UPON EARTH SHALL BE BOUND IN HEAVEN, AND WHATEVER YOU LOOSE UPON EARTH SHALL BE LOOSED IN HEAVEN. That same authority was given to all Popes. And from the time of Peter to Pope Benedict XVI the church has been lead by human beings. Some of our popes have been great men; not only in piety, but also in vision, but others have been, humanly speaking, almost lacking in any qualifications to lead and strengthen the Church. There have been times of goodness in the church due to them and there have been times of terrible damage. But through all of it the Church has escaped from the jaws of death, which leads us to believe that the church must be divinely guided, or else, like many corporations or associations, it would have folded up over the past 2000 years.
Why has the plan of Jesus worked? The reason is that Jesus is still with the church, especially in the person of the Pope, no matter who he might be. Peter and the others popes are not the successors of Jesus but really his representatives, those who stand in his place. He has authority only in the name of another person -- the person to whom authority really belongs. And so the authority of the Pope is really the authority of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the real rock of the Church. He is the firm foundation. Jesus continues to lead and strengthen the church through the Pope, his vicar on earth.
Peter was chosen head of the Church, not because he had taken courses in leadership and administration, but because he had faith. He was the only one who could answer 100% correctly the question WHO IS JESUS--You are the son of the living God.
Authority is not given to a person to do with as they please. All authority is accountable to God. It must be exercised with God will, and out of human limitations. The best way to use authority is like a servant. Jesus was telling us that all persons who have any authority, whether moms and dads, or teachers, or Presidents or Vice Presidents or whomever are bound to suffer also are called to serve others, not to be served.
Many of you have heard the word INFALLIBILITY connected to the Pope. Infallibility does not mean that the Pope is sinless. It means that whenever the Pope gives us a truth regarding faith and morals -- what we are to believe and how we are to live -- he speaks as if Jesus were speaking to us. The Pope does this very, very rarely, and only after he has called together his advisors from throughout the world. The last time of infallibility was November 1st, 1950 when Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary as a teaching of the Catholic Church. Such infallibility lets us know what God wants us to believe and how to act with justice and love. This authority is a guide for our conscience but it is not a substitute for it.
Jesus lived on earth only 33 years. He arranged that his teachings and his mercy would be known through human beings like Peter or Benedict XVI. In the Old Testament God always chose human beings to bring his good news and his message to others. Jesus chose 12 apostles as his leaders. But all of us are called in our own way to bring faith and morality to others. Each of us our Christ bearers.
are to live out that calling in our ordinary lives. Then we live up to our names as followers of Jesus as we continue the building of the kingdom.
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