Homily for the Week of September 26, 2010

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2010

Am 6:1a, 4-7 • 1 Tm 6:11-16 • Lk 16:19-31

Every football team in the NFL has at least one chaplain to whom the players and coaches can turn for religious guidance. Father James Baraniak has been chaplain of the Green Bay Packers for 11 years. One day he watched a coach work with one of the players. The player was truly one of the greats, but his productivity had been flat. He had set records for sacking the quarterback the prior two seasons, but now a rookie on the team had passed him. The chaplain’s ears perked up when the coach began talking about today’s Gospel story.

“You know what your problem is? You’re like that rich man in the Bible. You’ve earned all you wanted and now you just sit back, letting something else be more important to you than this team! Lazarus starved to death on the rich man’s doorstep because the man didn’t care. You don’t care, and you’re going to let your team-mates starve because you don’t care about what is important to the team. Just wait until the end. You will be cut from this team and then like Lazarus you’ll beg to be re-signed. Sorry, but you’re digging a ditch between you and success.”

This slant on this Bible story caught the chaplain’s attention. He realized that we pay a lot of attention to many things in today’s story. We pay attention to the rich man’s feast and Lazarus’s hunger. We see Abraham in heaven, and we see the rich man in hell. We see the rich man ignore Lazarus in this world then treat him like a servant in the next. The chaplain wondered, though, if we ever pay attention to the great chasm that is established “to prevent anyone from crossing”?

We like seeing the rich man in hell. We like thinking that anyone who is so terrible is in hell. Unfortunately, when Jesus told this story, He used the illustration of the rich man to represent most of us! Maybe we should start looking at that chasm.

One of the things we know about St. Paul is that he was an athlete. We do not know how good he was, but his continual reference to sports shows that he clearly loved them. In our reading today, Paul makes reference to sports today when he tells Timothy to “compete well for the faith.” We do not know if Paul is making reference to running or wrestling, but the image is one of a very hard-fought, exhausting, physically demanding and possibly injury-laden competition — like pro football!

Paul was in prison awaiting execution when he wrote to Timothy. We might see Paul’s two letters to Timothy as his last instruction. We might also see them as a wise old pastor at the end of his career passing on his wisdom to a young pastor, for that is what Timothy was. Paul wanted Timothy to compete well because the prize was eternal life, though Timothy was not competing for himself. Timothy was in the contest for his parishioners. He had to be better than the competition for the sake of his parishioners’ faith. He couldn’t afford to sit back and reap the benefits of Paul’s work. Timothy had to continually improve his own life — “pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness” — so that he would be an example worth following and lead the kind of life that made people listen.

Our passage today from First Timothy begins with verse 11, but the prior verse, verse 10, is good to note: “For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.”

Money is not evil; the love of money is. “Love of money” is placing possessions before everything else. This is a way of saying that anything we pursue more than God is the root of evil. This is the beginning evil in our own lives. We cannot improve as a person or as a person of faith if something is more important to us than God.

The prophet Amos was a wealthy man living in the southern kingdom of Judah. He looked at the northern Kingdom of Israel and did not like what he saw. He described a wealthy class who lived only for themselves. They were consumed with their own pursuits and didn’t notice that their own country had collapsed around them, the “collapse of Joseph.” Amos began his condemnation with the word “Woe,” the word used to begin funeral dirges. He was telling the north that they had made something else more important than God, and thus he was beginning their funeral hymn.

It has been said many times that the only things we can take with us at the time of our death are those things we have shared or given away. The rich man loved his life of luxury and squeezed it tightly like the grapes of his fine wines. He adorned his fragile body with the best that his money could buy. He was unable to move out, extend his hands, because he was too tight. Tight, because he was bound up with things and himself and so what he got in the end was what he wanted, just himself.

The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a story about anyone who has made anything in life more important than God. What is really awful is that Lazarus was a fellow Jew, and the rich man could not even help a brother! This lifestyle is the start of digging a chasm — one that will keep us from getting to God!

Homily for the week of September 19, 2010

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2010

Amos 8:4-7

Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8

1 Timothy 2:1-8

Luke 16:1-13 or 16:10-13

LOOK OUT FOR NUMBER ONE! That advise seems to be in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus. Yet if you followed well what I just read it seems that this is what Jesus is advising. It is a story about a steward. A steward is another name for a person who is in charge of the money and property which belongs to someone else. Today a steward could be compared to a business manager or administrator or bookkeeper or banker. He is the one who sends out the invoices and collects the money. He is the one in charge. In today's Gospel Jesus tells us a story about a steward who is in trouble. Someone accuses this steward of wasting the boss's money. The boss believes the story, so he fires the steward.

Naturally, the steward worries about how he is going to feed his family after he gets fired. So he comes up with a solution. While he is still employed he makes deals with those who owe the owner various amounts of money. He changes their invoices. By cleverly reducing their debts, he increases his own chances that the debtors will be good to him when he is jobless. The story ends with an unusual twist. He looses his job because of this, but instead of the owner being angry at this steward, he congratulates him for being so clever. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

That may puzzle you at first. Was Jesus endorsing the underhanded ways of keeping favor or gaining honor? Jesus was praising the steward's cleverness and industriousness. Before we write off the guy as a crook, we need to understand first century Jewish business practices. When we go to a bank to borrow money to buy a house or a car or pay for college the interest on the money we borrowed will probably double our debt. The payments we make include the amount we borrowed as well as the interest. That is how our capitalistic society works. But charging interest was forbidden by Jewish laws. However the boss or owner of the business could charge the interest up front. Those who were listening to Jesus knew what he was talking about. They had been cheated very often by wealthy owners of business. They knew that Jesus was trying to correct what was wrong. Jesus was not approving of cheating or stealing.

In fact, all of our readings today speak of how we are to use what God has given us. We hear the prophet Amos voicing the anger of God at those who get rich by making others poorer. That is not something that exists only in the pages of the Old Testament; it goes on in our world today. Every day TV news is saturated with reports of corporation and bank bosses that get exorbitant bonuses. It was also talked about by Jesus.

Each one of us are stewards of God's gifts to us. Stewardship implies care, proper usage, sharing them and always a reverence for the gifts as belonging to the “master" who is God. In a sense all we have is on loan to us by God. We are offered so many opportunities to act justly, love tenderly and do those things which are of virtue. Many of these are not earthshaking or spectacular. They will probably not be remembered by history, but God will remember these too for eternity.

Jesus is urging his disciples to use faithfully all that has been given to them, however small. We are to make the best of all our possessions and gifts of personality. If we begin by being dishonest in little things, we shall apply the same standards to big ones. Truth is not measured by the importance of what is being said. The quest for money can rule us even if we are not particularly rich.

Each day we make choices as to what is important. In choosing not to be possessed by what we have, we allow God to be present. What do we have? Each of us regardless of age have been given three things over which we are managers: TIME, TALENTS AND TREASURES. How do we use the time, the talents and the treasures which are on loan to us from God. When we die regardless of the age or circumstances, will we leave this world a better place? It is only by freely giving of our time, talents and treasure, without expecting repayment, that we can make a deposit in our heavenly bank.

How often, however, do we try to serve two masters. Serving two masters will divide and conquer the heart and soul. As “children of the light” we take the small steps of faith and justice and God gives the increase. Even the youngest and the poorest among us have been entrusted by God with an abundance of possessions and gifts and personal qualities. The first of these is our life, our physical abilities, our intelligence and our religion. Can we be trusted by God to act as good stewards, or do we waste what we have been given? Will we waste our money? Time? Health? Intelligence? Is our cleverness given to God’s service? How are we with the small stuff?

Homily for the week of September 12, 2010

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2010

Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14

Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Luke 15:1-32 or 15:1-10

Every newspaper has a lost and found column. Today's paper listed a black male dog found on the Chazy Lake Road, and 2 lost kittens, one only 3 months old. Each of us at one time or other have lost something that means a lot to us. The loss becomes an obsession. Everything else is put aside. Any many of us may have felt loss at one time or other. Jesus today tells us the story of a lost sheep, some lost coins, and a lost teenage boy.

A devastating kind of experience is the loss of a loved on. Today the TV news programs have been replaying the events of September 11, 2001 and the stories of the loss of loved ones killed in the violence of that day.

Yes, we can identify with these experiences, but can't we also realize that God and Jesus also have an obsessive longing for those who have left him, and then have returned? The first two stories are straightforward. Jesus has come to bring salvation to those who are lost, not because of anything bad they did, but just because they were lost. After all what wrong can coins do? What sins could a dumb sheep commit? And how could a dime be sorry that it rolled under the carpet, or what would a sorrowful sheep look like? Some people worry about the 99 left in the desert while the shepherd is off searching for the lost one. Jesus’ original audience would have known that a flock that size would have had more than one shepherd, and the 99 are not left untended. All are precious and are in the divine care. The coin and the sheep are not responsible for getting lost, nor is the that dog at Chazy Lake.

The longer story, commonly known as the story of the Prodigal Son, brings in another consideration. Yes, the young teenager was lost. But unlike the coins and the sheep, he could chose to run away or to stay home. He chose to leave to sow his wild oats. But there came that day when he realized that he had lost all he had including his dignity. It was in that dark moment that he realized he was still the son of a caring father. He then decides to take the long way home. What made the son hesitate to return? Was it shame, fear, hopelessness? How can hitting bottom be the best thing that can happen to someone who is deeply into a sinful, destructive lifestyle? Does someone have to hit bottom to know where things are heading? “Hitting bottom” is often used in recovery groups to denote a point when someone realizes, “I can’t go on like this.” The teenager had reached this point.

Pop singer Brittany Spears says she “hit rock bottom” after several years of addiction to drugs and gambling. She recovered and resumed her career through the support of many friends and thousands of fans. Few people are that lucky.

If these are such wonderful and human stories, and images with which we can identify, why is it that the Pharisees rejected Jesus? Closer to home, why is it that we refuse, or do not take seriously, the love God wants to give us? The answer to both questions may be the same: we refuse to see Jesus as the Prodigal Son. We want to be givers and saviors, rather than receivers in need of God's forgiveness. We would rather not think of ourselves as sinners dependent on God asking for forgiveness.

We must recognize that God lives within us. The the compassion of the father lives within us, too. When we recognize that God is indeed all around us, then even the simplest of experiences becomes an opportunity for joy. This week come home to your best self. Remember

that you are loved. Give and receive hope and compassion. Embrace each day and each other with gusto, and you will be embraced back.

Shepherd, woman and father are all equally good images for God, who expends great effort to procure the return of the lost and who hosts an exuberant celebration in their honor.

As Catholics it is in a church at a Mass that we come back. Because it is only here that we can seek forgiveness and share the same communion at the one table. We come here to be found. We come here to be filled with the love of Jesus. And we leave here, going forth to bring Jesus in all the places of our life and world.

Homily for the week of September 11, 2010

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2010

Amos 8:4-7

Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8

1 Timothy 2:1-8

Luke 16:1-13 or 16:10-13

LOOK OUT FOR NUMBER ONE! That advise seems to be in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus. Yet if you followed well what I just read it seems that this is what Jesus is advising. It is a story about a steward. A steward is another name for a person who is in charge of the money and property which belongs to someone else. Today a steward could be compared to a business manager or administrator or bookkeeper or banker. He is the one who sends out the invoices and collects the money. He is the one in charge. In today's Gospel Jesus tells us a story about a steward who is in trouble. Someone accuses this steward of wasting the boss's money. The boss believes the story, so he fires the steward.

Naturally, the steward worries about how he is going to feed his family after he gets fired. So he comes up with a solution. While he is still employed he makes deals with those who owe the owner various amounts of money. He changes their invoices. By cleverly reducing their debts, he increases his own chances that the debtors will be good to him when he is jobless. The story ends with an unusual twist. He looses his job because of this, but instead of the owner being angry at this steward, he congratulates him for being so clever. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

That may puzzle you at first. Was Jesus endorsing the underhanded ways of keeping favor or gaining honor? Jesus was praising the steward's cleverness and industriousness. Before we write off the guy as a crook, we need to understand first century Jewish business practices. When we go to a bank to borrow money to buy a house or a car or pay for college the interest on the money we borrowed will probably double our debt. The payments we make include the amount we borrowed as well as the interest. That is how our capitalistic society works. But charging interest was forbidden by Jewish laws. However the boss or owner of the business could charge the interest up front. Those who were listening to Jesus knew what he was talking about. They had been cheated very often by wealthy owners of business. They knew that Jesus was trying to correct what was wrong. Jesus was not approving of cheating or stealing.

In fact, all of our readings today speak of how we are to use what God has given us. We hear the prophet Amos voicing the anger of God at those who get rich by making others poorer. That is not something that exists only in the pages of the Old Testament; it goes on in our world today. Every day TV news is saturated with reports of corporation and bank bosses that get exorbitant bonuses. It was also talked about by Jesus.

Each one of us are stewards of God's gifts to us. Stewardship implies care, proper usage, sharing them and always a reverence for the gifts as belonging to the “master" who is God. In a sense all we have is on loan to us by God. We are offered so many opportunities to act justly, love tenderly and do those things which are of virtue. Many of these are not earthshaking or spectacular. They will probably not be remembered by history, but God will remember these too for eternity.

Jesus is urging his disciples to use faithfully all that has been given to them, however small. We are to make the best of all our possessions and gifts of personality. If we begin by being dishonest in little things, we shall apply the same standards to big ones. Truth is not measured by the importance of what is being said. The quest for money can rule us even if we are not particularly rich.

Each day we make choices as to what is important. In choosing not to be possessed by what we have, we allow God to be present. What do we have? Each of us regardless of age have been given three things over which we are managers: TIME, TALENTS AND TREASURES. How do we use the time, the talents and the treasures which are on loan to us from God. When we die regardless of the age or circumstances, will we leave this world a better place? It is only by freely giving of our time, talents and treasure, without expecting repayment, that we can make a deposit in our heavenly bank.

How often, however, do we try to serve two masters. Serving two masters will divide and conquer the heart and soul. As “children of the light” we take the small steps of faith and justice and God gives the increase. Even the youngest and the poorest among us have been entrusted by God with an abundance of possessions and gifts and personal qualities. The first of these is our life, our physical abilities, our intelligence and our religion. Can we be trusted by God to act as good stewards, or do we waste what we have been given? Will we waste our money? Time? Health? Intelligence? Is our cleverness given to God’s service? How are we with the small stuff?

Homily for the week of September 5, 2010

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time,2007

Wisdom 9:13-18b

Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17

Philemon 9-10, 12-17

Luke 14:25-33

Why do we do what we do? What or who guides our choices? Those were the questions that Jesus was trying to answer in the Gospel I just read. Large crowds who were healed and fed by Jesus were following him as he travelled. He talks to them in very sober terms about what they must do if they stay with him. He speaks about calculating the cost, He names two of the greatest stumbling blocks: attachment to family and to possessions. None of these in themselves is wrong, but these attachments could take priority, much as an addiction can gradually take over our life and our decisions.

Jesus advised his disciples that if they wanted a lasting relationship with him, there would be certain costs. Following him is not a matter of being infatuated. The saying about hating one’s own family members is jolting to our ears. Hate is a harsh word, and almost unbelievable as coming from the mouth of Jesus. How could any normal person choose to hate father and mother, wife and husband and children, brothers and sisters, and even one's own life? The word hate, however, is best translated as being detached or separated. In Jesus’ time, people did not think of themselves as individuals but derived their identity and their social standing from their family, clan, village and religious group. Families determined everything about you: your identity; your status in society, your religion; your economic status. To be cut off from your family was to become a nobody, a person without identity. It was very much like being dead.

Jesus' own family generally did not understand him. St. Mark tells us that When his family heard of this "they set out to take charge of him." Noticing what Jesus was saying and doing made them question whether or not he was crazy.

This Labor Day weekend many of you have or will be joined to your families. Families today are scattered. But with the help of cell phones and the internet sites like Face book we can get in contact almost instantly with members of our families wherever they may be in the world. But that was not so at the time of Jesus.

Jesus emphasizes for us that at times in our lives we must leave everything behind to follow a dream or a call. Many of you right here have done that when you decided to get married. This does not mean that we hate what we leave behind. I am sure that the thousands who left their homes along the East Coast in the last few days hated to leave behind all their possessions, their homes and even memories. But they did this for a higher call -- in order to save their lives. Many Americans in the past years have left behind loved ones and family to fight a war. In all of these situations we are willing to leave the present for an unknown future because we have faith in the cause for which we are leaving everything.

Today's message from Jesus is difficult. To truly love Jesus everything else in our life must take second place. We must transfer our loyalty from our blood family to the family of Jesus. But it is only through our love for our family that we can transfer that love for Jesus.

For most of us that transfer of love and loyalty has been gradual. Spiritually, it began the day we were brought to a Church by our parents to be Baptism. It continued as we received religious formation at home and prepared for First Communion and First Confession. As we got older we then became Confirmed in our faith and its practice through the sacrament of Confirmation. For many that relationship has continued when you got married.

Although we are urged to give up our possessions and to share our goods, we are not called to do this all at once. In fact we do most important things in our life by stages or by steps. We creep before we walk, we survive on liquids before we get solid food, we spend years in grade school before high school, your 10th or 15th year of marriage is different than your wedding day. The same can be said of the practice of our Catholic faith and spirituality.

Why do we do what we do? What or who guides our choices? What groups shape our thoughts and behaviors? Do family? Do friends? Do the possessions of others?

Jesus never asked his followers to sign membership certificates or pledge cards. Rather, he warned them how tough it would be to be his follower. He said that we are to look at the cost and see if we are really able to follow him. He does not want a half hearted commitment.

Let our response to him be: HERE I AM LORD.