Homily for the Week of December 25, 2011

Christmas, 2011
Is 9:1-6 - Ps 96: 1-2,2-3,11-12,13 - Titus 2: 11-14 -Luke 2:1-14

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight. These lyrics from the Christmas hymn, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” capture well the paradox of our times. Technological advances in the fields of medicine and communication open up whole areas of hope-filled possibilities. Yet, for many persons the fears about what tomorrow holds are real and unnerving. The economic distress that our families continue to endure, the unending violence suffered by the innocent, and the moral decline unravelling the very fabric of our families are sobering realities that make it difficult to be hopeful about what tomorrow may bring.

In the midst of our fragile human condition, God became flesh in the person of Jesus of Bethlehem. God gave Jesus to us as a human person like us and telling us through Jesus: I love you. God has come and illuminated the cruel night of our fears with the light of His undying love.

So, light the candles! They have more right to be here than darkness. Christ brought us someone who was not of this world, yet a who is capable of changing this world, for Jesus has the power to change our hearts, to enlighten our minds and to strengthen our wills. By taking on our flesh, with all its weaknesses, and transfiguring it by the power of His Spirit, Christian hope is not a mere pipe dream, but a Promise enfleshed in the Child lying in a manger.

In the Bible passage which I just finished reading we heard a story about an unusual birth. Mary, who is about to have a baby, and her husband Joseph had travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem by donkey, a distance of about 90 miles. As they arrive in Bethlehem they could not find a room for the night. This is not only because the rooms were filled but because they had no money. The only place they could find is a stable with a few shepherds who had brought in their sheep for the night.

Many of your homes may have a Christmas manger and nativity scene -- maybe not as big as this one, but one that represents what we just heard of the birth of Jesus. When we stand or sit in front of the manger scene we get our first clue to the Christmas mystery.

Each of the figures in the manger scene are there for a purpose. We can easily do without one of the sheep, and we may not be upset if one of the shepherds feel asleep. But certainly we could not imagine a Christmas nativity scene without the centrepiece, the birthday boy himself: the Baby Jesus in the manger.

But how sad it is if we add Jesus to the Nativity scene in our homes or even here in church and then do not place him in the centre of our lives today and all year long. We who place Jesus in his crib at Christmas must place him at the centre of our lives every day. If we don't, we fail to honor Jesus who lives in and through you and me and all persons. Wouldn't be sad if Jesus found no place in our lives day by day.

To place Jesus at the centre of our lives is to repeat the song of the angels: GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, PEACE ON EARTH TO THOSE ON WHOM GOD'S FAVOR RESTS.

To place Jesus at the centre of our lives is for us to live as he would want us to live. We must be eager to do what is right and true and good just as Jesus did. It is also important for us to help others to know him and to come to him whenever they have a need of any kind.

To place Jesus at the centre of our lives is to hear, really hear God speaking to us in the beloved son, offering hope to everyone.

To place Jesus at the centre of our lives means that we try our best to live as children of God.

To place Jesus at the centre of our lives is to find ourselves at the centre of God's love, at Christmas and forever.

Our job in this Christmas celebration is to find how we fit into the manger scene with the shepherds, and with Joseph, Mary and Jesus. If God is not part of our lives, we are homeless. If God is not part of our lives we are nobodies.

At Christmas we celebrate the fact that Jesus came among us at a particular moment in history and continues to come to us today. Because of this we have reason for hope. We have a future. Jesus is
Emmanuel, God-with-us, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the new-born who fulfils our deepest yearnings for peace and happiness.

May you enjoy a most blessed and merry Christmas, and know throughout the Christmas season the love of God present in your lives, and that Jesus came to love us without conditions. It is my prayer for you that God will give you this peace and joy, now and throughout the coming year.

May the Christ Child come to you and your loved ones this Christmas with the Gift of Love, the Blessing of Hope, and the Promise of Peace. A blessed Christmas to all of you!

Homily for the Week of December 18, 2011

Fourth Sunday of Advent 2011
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 (11B)
Romans 16: 25-27
Luke 1:26-38

So very frequently the stories or the information that are described to us in our Bible readings each weekend may seem to many of you far from the real world of our daily lives. But at times it can be easy for us to make the jump of two or three thousand years when we apply the events of the Bible to our lives. Such is the story of the angel Gabriel who came to a young teen age girl of the village of Nazareth named Mary and said Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you. She became afraid. To help her with her anxiety Gabriel, Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor from God.

Over the years I have often heard the same story from those preparing for a Catholic wedding. One of their greatest fears is being good parents and knowing what to do as parents with their first child. This is especially a concern when one of the couple is from a small family. But when the child is born their fear gives way to love. They quickly realize that the newly born baby they hold in their arms is the closest is a gift from God. Their child is a living example of God’s love for them and God’s presence in their lives. Love becomes their teacher.

In a similar way Mary at first was troubled. Gabriel does not give her details. In fact he told her very little, except that nothing is impossible when God is part of the picture. He only tells her that God has chosen her, and because of that God would protect her. She consented to God’s offer. Through her God gave us the gift of Jesus.

Luke’s gospel for today unfolds the mystery of Advent. God has decided to send someone like us to free us from sin and to show us how we can love others as ourselves. 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, the last three weeks of Advent have 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 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.

At the time today’s Gospel story was written, 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. 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?

Like with Mary God also calls us day by day. He may not send and angel Gabriel to us, but instead he talks to us when we are alone and talk to ourselves out loud or in silence. God talks to us through the miracles and blessings that fill our daily lives. They are much like the blessings he gave to so many who came to him: to those who were anxious, to those who had smothered their life through bad things; to those who needed comfort after the sickness or death of a loved one. But sometimes God’s invitation to us is so muffled that we cannot hear it. Or we may be afraid that we are not worthy of God, or ashamed of ourselves. But we must trust that God is always part of the package. God always talks to us in love.

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.

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? As we await the joyful birth of our Lord Jesus next weekend let us pray for perseverance: for the grace to be faithful in good times and in bad, in season and out of season. Like Mary, let us involve God in all of our decisions. And 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.

Homily for the Week of December 11, 2011

December 11, 2011, Third Sunday of Advent
Mass readings: Is 61:1-2a, 10-11/ 1 Thes 5:16-24 / Jn 1:6-8, 19-28


As you prepare for Christmas many of you may have either heard or even sung the traditional Christmas carol “Little Drummer Boy.” While it was first sung by Bing Crosby over 50 years ago it is a simple song which consists of no less than 21 pa rum pum pum pums. The song became the basis for several shows and plays and a children’s book. The simple song is the story of a little boy who wanted to give baby Jesus a special gift. He was a poor boy and so had no gift to bring Jesus. So he goes to the stable and he offered the baby Jesus all that he had to give — his music --the pa rum pum pum pum on his drum. Jesus’ mother nodded, the ox and lamb kept time. It was a humble gift that came from the heart.

On this weekend we again have the story of John the Baptist who, like the little drummer boy came to prepare a way for Jesus and bring joy to the world. John the Baptist set out to change the world. He came to bring us a message of hope. Because of John many were brought to their faith. During this Advent season you and I have also been encouraged to witness our faith, especially when we witness to the connection of Christmas to Christ.

Our Gospel today is written by St. John. St. John never calls John “the Baptist.” The people kept asking John: Who are you? All John offered was who he was not: “I am not the Messiah, not Elijah, and not the prophet.” When pressed, John still did not say who he was; he only offered his role: “I am the one crying out in the wilderness.”

John the Baptist does tell us that he is not Jesus but he is a witness to Jesus. The word witness comes from the Greek word for martyr. We use martyr to mean someone who has died for their faith. In a real sense, John has given up his life in this passage. Although he has not been killed, by offering no clue to his personal identity John makes clear that his sole focus and purpose is to make an announcement: “One is coming after me.” John also urges us to be prepared.

Like with John the Baptist we are often asked: Who are you? This is a question each of us must answer. It can be an uncomfortable question. It is a question asked of us individually. It is a question rightfully asked by anyone who would come and be with us. It requires a personal answer. But when asked, “Who are you?” the usual response is to give our name and maybe a little bit about ourselves. Most of us do not spend much time giving ourselves an answer to who we are. And when we do we often tell ourselves what others say about us rather than what we truthfully know ourselves to be. We usually use the labels that first pop into our mind such as our job, our relationships, our hobbies. And very often they shape our personality, and the way that we feel and the way that others feel about us. But today’s question is asking more. It asks for the essence of who we are. It asks us to reveal the foundation of our identity. One of which ought to be joy or happiness.


On this third weekend of Advent we Catholics are invited to have joy - to rejoice. 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.

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. It is a way to give back to others what has been given us.

Happiness also does not mean that we impose our views on others, but it means to serve those around us with love. We are not called by Jesus to make revolutionary changes, but to be messengers of God. The voice of God and the voice of love must be our voice. Whatever plans we have and whatever we do must testify to the light which is Jesus.

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.

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. Then think of the ever faithful God who provided you with that joy or experience. Be joyful and thank God. Let us have the courage to do what the Little Drummer Boy and John the Baptist did in the name of Jesus.

Homily for the Week of December 4, 2011

Second Sunday of Advent, 2011

Is. 40:1–5, 9–11; 2 Pt 3:8–14; Mk 1:1–8

A man used to go down to the river every day to put in a fishing line, but at the end of the line was not a fishing hook but a straight pin. Many who saw him at the river were puzzled. They would ask him what kind of fish does you think you will catch with this straight pin? The man turned around and said: I thought I might catch you.

Our Gospel reading for today is about a man whom many Jewish persons thought had lost his fishing hook. He is John the Baptism. John the Baptist lived in the wilderness and he, too, wanted to catch people. John left the village and went to the desert of Judea to live as a hermit. John was dressed in loud clothes, and ate strange food, John the Baptist was the son of Zachary and his wife Elizabeth, a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus which made Jesus his cousin. When John was thirty he began to preach on the banks of the Jordan River and invited people to be baptized. He attracted large crowds. In fact many thought that John the Baptist was Jesus.

John baptized his cousin Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River. John attracted large crowds. The political authorities were suspicious of John. John got into serious trouble, however, when he criticized King Herod of adultery. Herod was annoyed and had John the Baptist killed.

But many, including Jesus, came to talk with John the Baptist and get some help from him. John lived a time when the Jewish people were slaves of the corrupt Roman rulers. Into this environment John brought a word of hope. He announced that God was coming. He said we must prepare a road for God who is coming in a person named Jesus.

The first job in building a new road 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. 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.

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.

Some people went to John because they were spiritually bankrupt. They were empty, and they hoped that John could fill the empty place. Others 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, they still felt that they did not have enough. 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 for 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. Like with John the Baptist we may have been invited to think about a new way of life, or to return to a time in our life when we were happier. I recently read an interesting fact that the today the largest number of American Christians are those who no longer practice their Catholic religion. Like the people talked about in our first reading, these persons are in exile. In a sense they have left home and are wandering.

But Advent is a time for each of us to experience our restlessness and emptiness. 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 be conscious as to how we experience our exile, our own sins and seek forgiveness. Bad habits can make us a person we do not want to be, or they can make us blind to ourselves and to others. Advent is a time 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.

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?

Homily for the Week of November 27, 2011

HOMILY: FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, 2011 Year B

Mk 13: 33-37

We begin today the first week of Advent. Advent means new beginning. For the Church Advent is the beginning of a new year. For the first time in 45 years we are celebrating Mass using the new translation of the Roman Missal. We have changed the color of the clothes an altar cloths to Roman purple. 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 2011th anniversary of the birth of Jesus. Advent is a time of hope, 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. Children as well as adults wait to open gifts.

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. This year it is a time of 29 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 when it is so easy for us 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.

As today’s Gospel tells us, we’ll never know when the time will come for us to be judged. So whatever we are doing, we ought to be doing it to become the person God means for us to be.

Homily for the Week of November 20, 2011

THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING, 2011 Ezekiel: 34: 11-7; Ps 23: 1-6; 1 Cor 15:20-28; Mt 25: 31-46

You may wonder how relevant is this feast of Christ the King to Americans. We in the United States have never been much for kings. Our nation began with a nasty war to free us from a king. Today most Americans find monarchies are curious and quaint. All this combines to make us all but shrug at the notion of celebrating today’s special Mass in honor of Christ the King. Yet, so very, very often our prayers use the image of king and kingdom. In the OUR FATHER we prayer your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. At funerals we pray that the person will enter the kingdom of God.

The gospel highlights the paradox of the Christian life. The reading gives us an image of a large crowd of people who gather in front of Jesus whom they call King. The scene is one of judgement where the blessed enter the kingdom prepared for them, and the accursed enter punishment prepared for them. Those of you who read and pray the Bible often will recognize that today’s passage is just like the Sermon on the Mountain where Jesus gives us the Beatitudes.

Perhaps it is difficult to reconcile the story of the Last Judgement with the mercy and love of God. The feast of Christ the King celebrates God's love and justice. In the first reading, God is presented as a shepherd who cares for each of his sheep. The shepherd seeks each out, knows each by name, strengthens, heals and bandages the wounded. Christ the Good Shepherd deepens this understanding in the story of the shepherd who seeks out the one lost sheep out of a hundred sheep in the pasture. He carries the sheep home on his shoulders.

I am sure that if any of you are spiritually honest with yourself you will notice that as you grew up and went from one age to another you found a different emphasis in your faith and religion. There may have been times when religion met very little to you, or you just did not care, or you did everything because someone else wanted you to do it.

And then there were times when you again renewed your faith, because you could find nothing to replace it, and it became YOURfaith. Don’t worry if there are times like this. The story of the lives of the saints are filled with such events. For example, Teresa of Avila, known as one of the great spiritual leaders of all times. had been a nun for 20 years when she experienced a true conversion to Jesus. After this she spent her life helping others as Jesus tells us, and bringing changes in the church of her day. It was then that one day she read the Bible passage of today and then wrote: Jesus has no body on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes by which he is to look out. Yours are the feet by which he is going about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless each day.

God shows tremendous concern for the sheep that have wandered away from the flock. They are in danger from predators. God proclaims that He will rescue them. We have seen God come as promised in the person of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. The most beloved of the psalms, Psalm 23, speaks of life at the coming of the Saviour. We shall not want for anything. Like sheep like a rich pasture with moist grass, we shall have our fill. Not only will our physical needs be answered, our soul will be refreshed. The ancients saw the soul as the force that animates the body, meaning that our entire being will be refreshed when our Shepherd comes for us.

It seems clear that if the needy, the poor, those who feel unloved, are to be taken care of as Jesus would have done, you and I must do it. Then it must be my eyes and your eyes that will see their needs, that will recognize Jesus in them, and help them with love and compassion.

In a sense Jesus is like a financial advisor to whom you go at the end of the year to get help with your taxes. But the audit in this case is the condition of my spiritual life at the end of my life. But is it not surprising that Jesus says nothing here of whether or not I have kept the commandments, gone to Church, received the sacraments, or prayed everyday. None of these are not mentioned, because they are presumed as the basis for being a good person. Without these religious acts it is impossible for us to do what Jesus asks of us today.

At the end of life we will not be judged on how many diplomas we have received or how we have ranked on the athletic teams or how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by: I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I had no clothes and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in. Very often it is easier for us to satisfy these physical needs than the deeper human needs like: Hungry, not only for bread, but hungry for love; naked, not only for clothing, but naked for human dignity and respect; homeless, not only for want of a room of wood or brick, but homeless because of rejection.

At the end of the Church's year and as we prepare for Advent, we are invited to take a look at our lives. Can I see the times of darkness or the times when God has healed me? Are their times when God's love, through love of those around me, rescued me from darkness and despair? Do I thank God for this love? Have we seen Jesus in others and in ourselves? Yes, I’ve see you many times, you can all say. And then Jesus will reply: Come with me to the place I have prepared for you from the beginning of the world. What a reunion that will be!

Homily for the Week of November 13, 2011

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), 2011

Readings: Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; Ps 128:1-5; 1 Thes 5:1-6; Mt 25:14-30

Our Gospel story today speaks of sums of money that would never be actually paid to servants. Given the way a story works, and to emphasize a point, Jesus exaggerated. Using today’s federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour as a base, five talents would be worth about two million dollars. Two talents would be worth about $696,000, and one talent about $348,000.

Our Gospel today is from a section of Matthew Gospel that deals with our death and what happens after our death. It has been chosen to prepare us for next Sunday’s celebration of the Feast of Christ the King. Jesus tells today’s story to help us understand the ground rules for judgement when he returns.

Today Jesus tells us a story about a wealthy man who went away on a journey. He entrusted large portions of his money to three of his servants. The servants were entrusted with money beyond their wildest imagination. He did so without any instruction, giving the servants the freedom to use their own discretion and initiative with how to handle their responsibility for the money. He gave different amounts of money to each of the 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. 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.

This story is not about the stock market. It is about God. It is about what we do with our gifts, financial or otherwise. It is about the end times, the end of the world, the end of our lives. Whatever is given to us—money, talent, opportunity is for the glory of God and a help to getting us to heaven when we die. As the story makes clear, the entire judgement of each individual is based upon our service to the least of our brothers and sisters.

God has entrusted us with generous gifts that are no less valuable than that which the rich man entrusted to his servants, and like the rich man, what God expects is not an ordinary return. We have been given a gift called faith, and faith must be invested. Like the rich man, God expects us to make what is entrusted to us increase. If our faith is to become anything more than it is now, we must risk our gift. Too often, though, we either squander our gift of faith outright or we so rarely use it that, like a fine musical instrument not played often enough, it rots away and loses its tone and beauty.

In its most fundamental sense, the image of the talent represents the bounty of life itself, as well as the preeminent gift of faith. If we are among those fortunate enough to reach the maturity required for personal responsibility and to have the opportunity to use the talents of life and faith, it is incumbent upon us to invest our gifts, not hide them out of fear or laziness.

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.

The goods of the world and the wealth derived from our labor must be used for God's glory and human assistance. What is more it wealth is most effective in the service of God and ministry to the poor, homeless, and hungry.

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.

On most college applications there is a section in which you are asked to describe your hobbies and talents -- those things that you are good at but that aren’t part of your regular school courses. This is a place where you tell what clubs and sports you belong to, what instruments you play, or what volunteer and service organization you work with. Colleges are looking for students who are talented and unique. The good news is that your abilities and talents are always good enough for God. God gave us our unique abilities in order to serve others. He made us everything we are and everything we are not. God doesn’t care if you stand out and win first place. To God the thing that matters is that you use your talents in service of others. We are all made differently so we all need each other. Today we are invited to use our God-given gifts. If we don’t we will lose them.

Homily for the Week of November 6, 2011

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

Wisdom 6:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13

Different people have very different attitudes toward time. At one extreme are those who are early for every occasion and filled with panic at the thought of being late or in some way unprepared. At the other extreme are those who will be late for their own funerals. And somewhere in the middle are the economically efficient group who pride themselves on arriving just on the dot so that not a minute of life is wasted by waiting around. Close relationships between people of different types can create a lot of tension. It is a part of life in which each group finds it very difficult to understand the other's point of view.

The story that I just read of the sensible and foolish bridesmaids can sound very puzzling to us. For one thing, we do not usually have young women accompanying the bridegroom at weddings. In fact our custom is to keep the genders apart, with the groom assisted by the best man and the bride by the bridesmaids. But Jesus is not trying t give us advice about weddings.

Jesus is giving us a more urgent message. Jesus is talking about death. Jesus tells this story toward the end of his public life. He will soon be facing His death on the cross. Jesus the bridegroom will be taken from his disciples,. They will not be prepared. Not only do the sensible bridesmaids refuse to share their supplies with the foolish; the bridegroom, when he comes, refuses to recognize the latecomers. And it could be argued that it is only because of his delay that the foolish ones have found themselves in their predicament!

Many people blame God in a similar fashion when things go wrong in their lives. Surely God could have had the foresight to arrange things differently. But God has the more urgent concern of getting us to understand the principles of wisdom, the first of which is the need to be awake, to be alive to what is happening around us. We are constantly being challenged to be aware of what is going on around us and to make sure our resources are capable of dealing with what life throws at us.

Sometimes we sleep our way through life. It can feel more comfortable to avoid struggling with things we feel we can do little about anyway. We get fixed into our patterns of behavior which may, for example, include always being early or late. We excuse our lifestyle by pointing out that in a hundred years no one will remember our little actions. But what happens when we are really challenged or in pain? Then we need more substantial answers. If we are caught napping in our relationship with God, we may find ourselves feeling uncomfortably far from help.

Just as we know that Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming, we should know that our final day will also come. Jesus made three things clear: First, all things will come to an end. Second, we must prepare ourselves for this. Third, preparing ourselves for the end is not frightening, but rather a labor of joyful expectation. Putting off preparing for holiday celebrations is one thing. Jesus tells us today that we actually can also run out of time trying to make our lives acceptable to God: At one time in our lives each of us will knock on God's door. We do not want him to say to us: I do not know you.

We cannot — and should not — live as though death is right now, but we should live as if we know it is coming. Just as we know that Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming, we should know that our final day will also come.

What God asks us to do is prepare ourselves by increasing our ordinary awareness of what is happening in our lives. The Book of Wisdom says that if we are on the alert for Wisdom, we will quickly get rid of anxiety from our lives because of wisdom. The path to the truth may be a painful struggle, but it is the path to healing and wholeness. The pattern of Christ's life and his ongoing presence help us face up to what we might prefer to keep hidden or avoid.

If Jesus were present in person here today he would ask: Is there some part of your life you would prefer not to pay attention to?

Let us ask Jesus to make us wise so as to increase our understanding and acceptance of ourself. Remember a time in our life when we might have felt angry with God for our situation. Looking back on that time, do we see how we may have grown in wisdom or understanding as a result of our difficult time? Each day may be our last. The last things are the lasting things: this moment of gratitude, this one gift of another breath, this particular person before me, this chance to hope, this hour to believe. It is all now. Eternity is now. And God is with us. All that we need is to be alert.

Homily for the Week of October 30, 2011

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time 2011

Mal 1:14b-2:2b,8-10 • 1 Thes 2:7b-9,13 • Mt 23:1-12

We expects the persons we meet to be real and not phonies, and we expect the same of ourselves. These include members of our family, our work place, our school, our clubs. We expect the truth. Our whole legal system is based on trying to get facts that support the truth. For nearly a month the local newspaper provided us with hundreds of details as to why a particular person killed two well known local persons. We go to museums because we want to really see what happened years ago. I remember visiting the Baseball museum in Coopestown. I saw many persons do about everything but kneel down front of the bat which Babe Ruth's used to hit his 61st homer in 1927. We keep old pictures of our parents and grandparents, and even ourselves. I am always amused when I see in the newspaper the before and after pictures of those celebrating their 40th or 50th or 60th wedding anniversary.

We tend to disrespect the phoney, but so often we can be phoney, if not to others, at least to ourselves. A great danger for anyone in a position of authority is to lose touch with ordinary people. It's easy to become separated and distant from the concerns of the people under us, unaware, unappreciative of their needs, concerns, and worries. This can happen to me as a priest, to parents, to political leaders as well as students who have been placed in leadership positions because of their abilities. As Jesus once said it is easy for us to see the splinter in another person's eye but easy to miss the log in our own eye.

In the gospel reading for today, Jesus is attacking exactly that same sort of distance and lack of concern for the lot of the common person on the part of the religious and spiritual leaders of his time. He attacks them because they do not practice what they preach. By their great show of piety, they were capitalizing on religion, making themselves important in others' eyes, feeding not just their bodies but their egos in the process. But at the same time, they were laying down rules and regulations that ordinary people could not hope to keep. They were imposing impossible religious demands on people who then felt inferior, sinful, and laden with guilt. They had so separated themselves from people they were suppose to serve. They turned religion from being an expression of love between God and God's people into a burden of rules and laws that few could live up to.

Jesus also attacked their superiority, their seeking after titles, status, and recognition. Jesus warned them against putting themselves in God's place and setting themselves above the rest of humanity. Jesus offers us an alternative model for authority, one modelled on the true ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity ,

Equality means treating all with the same dignity and respect. It also means all have a say in the life of the community. All have a common responsibility to make sure that the community is being faithful to its ideals and its mission to spread the good news. Being authentic spiritually also means that we speak out when we believe that others are not being authentic.

Unity as brothers and sisters means that we cannot escape our responsibilities by retreating or not getting involved or feel responsible for the needs and concerns of our sisters and brothers. It means we can't pass the buck.

The key word used by Jesus to sum up all this is service. In the Gospel today Jesus tells us that The greatest among you must be your servant. At Baptism we received the call to Christian service. Some like priest, parents, teachers, civic and school leaders must also be a model of service. That service can be words of consolation, or of a listener when trust and hope are so distant. Only in serving can we find true freedom, true equality, and real sisterly and brotherly love and concern. Our greatness will be found in the quality of our service.

Think of all the groups you belong to: Church, work, school, athletics, clubs and activities, family. How are you a servant in each of these situations? In what ways do you sometimes demand that others serve you? What must we change so that we will give glory to God and not ourselves?

So it is with each of us. Today Jesus calls us to be ourselves. To realize that there are in fact many good things about each of us. These are there because we try to do our best. God is real and he deals with reality. God does not love the person you think you are, or the person you would like to be. God loves you just the way you are.

Just as no caterpillar ever became a butterfly without going through a cocoon, so none of us can do what Jesus did, except by accepting whom we are today. Praying, reading the Bible, and talking to someone we trust about spiritual things are ways of changing ourselves for tomorrow.

Homily for the Week of October 23, 2011

Homily 30th Sunday A 2011

Exodus 22: 20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thes 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40

We have a short Gospel today, but the ideas it contains are enormous. Numerous books and discussions have been written about each of its ideas: love for God and love for others. Our English language uses only the one word love for a variety of emotions, attitudes, expressions and activities. Very often we confuse love with liking or affection. Affection is mostly a feeling between two persons, but we can love most everyone if we put our mind to it. Liking or affection is primarily a feeling; love is primarily a decision and action.

By the time of Jesus, the Jewish Law included 613 actions that we should do or should not 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.

Jesus could have answered the question by giving a long discussion of Jewish laws, But Jesus did not answer that question directly. Instead Jesus goes to the Jewish Bible which all Jews would have known very well. 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'. 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: Do to others what you want them to do to you.

Our first reading today from the book of Exodus gives Jesus an example of love for widows and orphans. Widows and orphans were abused in Jewish society. A woman’s status and rights were initially based on her connection to her father. A father literally “gave” his daughter to her husband; her status and rights were then based on who her husband was. When she became a widow after the death of her husband, a woman’s status came from her attachment to a son, But if she had no children she had to beg. An orphan was a child who had no legal male guardian. Those children also had to beg for survival. Every right and all benefits were based on kinship. The laws from Exodus in today’s reading existed to protect the widow, the orphan.

The law also dictated that those suffering financial burdens were to be helped, To charge interest was a terrible sin. God is a God of compassion, and the Israelites were expected to live in His image. Compassion was a sign of the love for others.

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 show them that God did love them.

Our ability to feel compassion and to act on it is one of the criteria that God will use when we are judge at the time of our death. Those who take advantage of the vulnerable, or even those who might not do harm but do no good because they lack compassion, will endure the wrath of God! These are strong words of warning.

Today everyone is hungering for love, since we are born to love and to be loved. Love is an act of our will. We either decide to love or we decide not to love. It is not just a matte of feeling, or soap opera or movie kind of love, nor is it infatuation with a boyfriend or girlfriend or sexual attraction.

Mature love for God and for others has to be measured more by what we are giving than what we are getting. Warm feelings are nice, but they are not the criteria of love for God and for others. Loving God means obeying God and giving some time for prayer and also some time for worship as you are doing right now. Loving our neighbor means helping them in whatever way we can. That is why the Bible refers to love as a commandment, because we don’t always feel like praying or keeping the commandments. We don’t always feel like helping our neighbor.

Love is living the right way in relationship to God, to others and to ourselves. And that is where love gets difficult. A person who loves God as he or she loves others and self really has not need of any other commandment or laws. We practice that law of love of God by thanking God for what he has given

Today, on World Mission Sunday. As baptized Catholics, we have a responsibility to love those around us through our daily kindness, honesty and patience. We also have the crucial task of spreading the Good News of God’s mercy to people who urgently need His saving word. Like helping Sister Ella in Sri Lanka who takes care of 20 girls who were abandoned by their family and some by a tsunami.