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.

Homily for the Week of October 16, 2011

29th week in Ordinary Time, 2011

Is 45:1,4-6 • 1 Thes 1:1-5b • Mt 22:15-21

Years ago, as Director of Catholic Education I visited a lot of Catholic school classrooms. In many rooms teachers had pictures of the two Johns: John F. Kennedy and Pope John XXIII. After Kennedy’s tragic assasination, the US Mint made 50 cent coins named the Kennedy half dollar on which was Kennedy famous face. John F.Kennedy had become our national hero much like Tiberius Ceasar which Jesus mentions in our Gospel for today. The Roman Empire would design coins and money with the image of their leaders. We Americans still do this today. The one dollar has an image of Washington, the two dollar the picture of Jefferson, the five dollar the picture of Lincoln, the fifty dollar the picture of Grant, and the hundred dollar the picture of Franklin.

Jesus today talks about loyalty: loyalty to God and to our country. The Jewish law forbade the manufacture of images of God, the use of images of God, and the worship of any other god except the one God. The coin which was used by the Jewish people had the image of Caesar printed on it. Caesar was a pagan ruler.

Jesus' enemies want to trap him. They start the conversation by saying nice things. They ask him in a trick question. May a Jewish-Christian use a pagan coin that has the image of Caesar. Loyalty to the Governor was indicated by paying taxes, and if the tax was to be paid it could only be paid by pagan coins. So Jesus asks for a coin. A Pharisee who was opposed to the paying of the tax gives Jesus a coin. He is one of the persons who was opposed to using the coin who takes one out of his pocket and gives it to Jesus.

Jesus is in a catch 22 situation. If he refuses the coin, he will be in trouble with the Roman authorities. If he says it is OK to use such a coin, he will be in trouble with most of his followers. Jesus then traps them in their argument. Jesus tells them: Give to the government what belongs to the government, but give to God what belongs to God. The pharisees were concerned about obeying the letter of the law and did not care about the spirit of the law.

How does this Gospel story affect us today? The context of the question is both political and religious. The tax in question was an annual tax on harvests and personal property. It was used to support the occupation of Jerusalem by the Roman army. Given the area’s poverty, the tax was a burden and resentment ran high.

The First Commandment is clear: we are to have no gods before our God, that is, no god should be ranked above our God. The problem with the coin was the image that accompanied this inscription: “Tiberius Caesar, august and divine son of Augustus, high priest.” The coin was offensive to the Jews, yet it was the coin they had to use to pay the tax. Because of the claim of divinity, many Jews considered even possessing one of these coins to be an act of sacrilege. Jesus did not possess the coin but, ironically, those who were trying to trap Him did.

The word “render” means to give what is due by obligation. Another sense is to repay or pay back. Jesus did not dispute the obligation to pay the tax. What He did was to ask what we are obliged to render unto God. He changed the question from being political to being religious. What should we render to God?

God-and-Caesar conflicts are as present today as they were at the time of Jesus. Today we call it “protecting the separation of Church and State. But at times in our country, this separation has been based on anti-Caholic bigotry. Well meaning persons have often shown their disapproval of government decisions by withholding taxes, by opposition to government sponsored positions on right to life, nuclear war, concern for the poor, and spending for wars. It does not matter whether the government is a democracy or a dictatorship. Yet in many areas the values of Jesus can be those of governments.

Patriotism is a virtue. A good Christian should be a good American, a good citizen. A good Christian should be willing to stand up for and even fight for the values that make America great: freedom, liberty, the rights of people, particularly the most needy of our society, the poor, infirm, disadvantaged. Ameicans must feel a deep and personal responsibility for the actions of their elected leaders whether local or national. As patriotic Americans, we need to participate in the affairs of our government responsibly and intelligently so that our public policies may reflect the wisdom and justice of God. When government seeks to provide for the life of all its citizens from conception to natural death, it is doing the work of God. Jesus’ response tells us that one’s citizenship does not have to be at odds with one’s faith.

Patriotism as a virtue means keeping the proper order of Christian priorities. The old expression “My country right or wrong but my country,” is not right for the Catholic when that means participating in immoral acts. For example, the Catholic would be wrong to support and fight for abortion simply because abortion is a law of our country.

In the scene with the Pharisees, we see that Jesus is involved in the realities of the political and religious situation of his nation and his people. He is not intimidated by power. He calls his adversaries hypocrites to their face even though he knows the result will ultimately be his arrest and execution. We have the right and the responsibility to apply a moral litmus test to the dictates of our nation. The people of Germany did not do this in their own country during the last century and closed an eye to Nazi anti-Semitism.

The Pharisees had it all wrong. There is no contradiction between the choice of Caesar or God. At least, there is no contradiction when we are determined to instill, foster and support morality in the actions of our government. My “God bless America.” and may we mean what we sing and ask God to direct our nation.

Homily for the Week of October 9, 2011

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

Isaiah 25: 6-10; Psalm 23; Philippians : 12-14; Matthew 22: 1-14

In seven weeks from this weekend Catholics in the United States will begin to use a revised translation of the Mass prayers and responses. This change may be a challenge because we are used to do what we used to do. Some of the new phrases may seem awkward at first, but for most the more familiar responses of the Mass will come automatically. The change is an opportunity for you and your family to grow in faith and deepen your understanding and participation in the Mass. As you reflect upon the Mass and what you are saying, you will find that certain prayers which you used to say almost automatically will take on new meaning. It may take a while to get used to the new wording, but it’s still the same Mass. We will be using the same Mass words as people all over the world.

From the time of Jesus the Mass includes two parts: the words and prayers of Jesus at His Last Supper, and the readings from the Bible. As a Jew Jesus used very much the synagogue service that he was use to. But he added the Eucharist, the Holy Communion that you and I receive. For the first three hundred years of the Catholic church Catholics gathered in private homes. There were no churches because the Roman authorities had laws against Catholics. A bishop would come to the home where Catholics gathered. They would participate in Mass with him. Very often he would Baptize and marry. The language used was usually Hebrew or Greek.

When Constantine became Roman emperor he allowed Catholics to worship publicly, and so they started building churches. People became Catholics, and Bishops called men to become priests so as to help him. The Church then put together a book called a Mass book for prayers, music and Bible readings. Over a period of about 1200 years many additions were made. In the 1500’s the Council of Trent put together an official Mass book written in Latin and which would be used by all Catholics throughout the world. It was called the Roman Missal. The language was Latin. Only the priest and the altar server participated in the Mass. Most of the time you would kneel, say your Rosary or your own personal prayers. And once or twice a year you would be invited to come to the altar rail to receive communion.

In the 1960’s that this was changed. Like this afternoon, you and the priest participate in the prayers in English. You kneel, stand and sit at appropriate times. Two books are used: the one on the altar which has the Mass prayers and the one here in the pulpit which has the Bible readings.

In seven weeks we will be using the third edition of the Roman Missal. Not all of the words or phrases of the Mass prayers are changing. The order and structure of the Mass will not change at all, The Bible readings and parts of many of the prayers will remain the same. Most of the changes will affect what you hear than what you say. The revised translations are much closer to the Latin text than the ones we have been using. They show more clearly that the words we use for prayer have their roots in the Bible. As an example the priest’s greeting The Lord be with you will now be responded to by you as And with your Spirit which is an exact translation from the Latin Et cum Spiritu tuo.

Hearing the new translation will encourage us to realize that much of the Mass are words taken directly from the Bible. For example when I hold the chalice with wine and say the words of consecration, today I will say: IT WILL BE SHED FOR YOU AND FOR ALL. On November 27th I will says: IT WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY. What happened to ALL? These are the words that Jesus used at the Last Supper. Also, if you go back and read the Bible reading I just read you will notice that not everyone was invited to the wedding feast that Jesus talks about today. Jesus died for everyone. Jesus’ death was an act that offers forgiveness of sin to everyone — past, present, and future.

We learn that, although salvation is offered to everyone, not everyone accepts it. It is not that God has limited His offer of salvation, it is that some who have received the offer have rejected it. The problem Jesus pointed out was that those who had rejected the offer did not see themselves as having rejected it.

Many of us think of Mass as a private experience. But it's not! It's a communion – a coming together with others to become one in community by increasing our personal and communal union with Christ. We enter the church as individuals and leave as the Body of Christ on earth. Every part of Mass builds up to this communion, and the changes in the Mass help make this more real. We enter the church as sinners; sin – because it’s unloving – separates us from one another and from God. That is why, early in the Mass, at the invitation of the priest, we experience Jesus as we seek forgiveness in the Penance Rite. Rather than to be too concern about the changes, I invite you to use the next seven weeks to appreciate the Mass like you have never done before. Take home a booklet at the entrance to the church and read it as a family. Also take home a card that has all the changes. Keep these at home. I will have cards in the pews for November 26th.

Homily for the Week of October 2, 2011

RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY, 2011

Is 5:1-7/ Phil 4:6-9/ Mt 21:33-43

Jesus had a way of getting peoples attention. He spoke about things in which people were vitally interested. Today it is about a vineyard that was no longer producing. This weekend known as Pro-Life weekend throughout the United States, we remind ourselves of the dignity of all life. If Jesus were living in our country today he would probably talk about the wars in parts of our world; he would talk about unemployment and taxes and the increase of violence in all parts of our society. He would talk about the billionaire abortion industry. He would talk about the ageing mother whose children have forgotten her; about the single mother abandoned by the father of their 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. It is much like the Roman Empire 2000 years ago when Jesus lived, and Herod had all the new born babies killed thinking that the baby of Mary and Joseph might be one of them. Our country was founded on the belief that God has granted every American an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet the availability 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.

In today's Gospel 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 son to inspect the vineyard, the tenants kill him. 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 vineyard.

In his letter to the Philippians today, Saint Paul gives us good counsel on how to promote the Gospel of Life. He advises thatwhatever 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.

More and more protection of life issues have been advertised as a private choice. A choice that has no connection with what is right. Some of our most challenging moral decisions come at the beginning of life, or in the final months and even hours of life. Advances in medical science have made it possible to extend life, even those with incurable illnesses. How we deal with persons in the beginning of life or in the last stages of life, says a great deal about the kind of society we live in and the kind of persons we are. 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 truth is, that each life is of infinite value. Protecting and promoting life, caring for it and defending it, has no simple or easy solutions. The story told by Jesus today is a teaching about the providence of God. 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 tenants.

The story suggests that the solution to any Christian dilemma is already present in the problem, but the solution has either been disregarded or overlooked. As Catholics we must have hope about life.

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 there is a God that will make it well. In adversity, in temptation, in illness, and even in death, we know that the cornerstone of life is before us in the presence of Jesus Christ. We are taught by the words and life of Jesus that true concern for others leads us to sharing another person's pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.