Homily for the Week of September 30, 2012

Twenty-sixth Sunday, B 2012 First Reading: Numbers 11:25–29 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8, 10, 12–13, 14 Second Reading: James 5:1–6 Gospel: Mark 9:38–43, 45, 47–48 A few years ago once a week in the Plattsburgh newspaper Rabbi Marc Gellman and Msgr. Tom Hartman write about a religious topic each from a Jewish and from a Catholic viewpoint. They take a look at how religious beliefs are the same and different from each other, issue by issue. They wrote stories for parents and for the classroom as a way of understanding the Bible better. Among their books is one by the title of DOES GOD HAVE A BIG TOE? Another little book is titled HOW DO YOU SPELL GOD? In the book they tell the story of a king who had a beautiful ring and three sons. Each of the sons wanted the ring. When the king died he left three rings one for each of his sons along with a letter telling them that one of the rings was real and two were fake. The way you will know who has the real ring, wrote the king, is that the son with the real ring will be kind and generous to all people. The story goes on and tells us that each of the sons spent the rest of his life being good to others to prove that he had the real ring. The truth of our religious how well we live as a follower of Jesus is not proven by yelling and screaming about our values but by LIVING them. That was not quite the case in the story with Moses and Joshua as told in our first reading today. Joshua was a tattling. He was talking about persons whom he thought were outsiders but acting as if they were God. Joshua was unwilling to share what he had been given by God. Moses tells him that he must not keep it to himself. And that God at times takes a person whom we do not like very much of to do good things. But each of us, if we would admit it, have favorites. Each day we usually meet persons whom we will accept and others whom we do not care much about. This unequal treatment of each other is known as prejudice. Prejudice springs from ignorance, insecurity, thoughtlessness, and sometimes jealousy. Prejudice begins when someone sees someone else as not one of us. The Bible's response to prejudice is very clear. Moses shows a generous attitude in the face of Joshua's complaints: Joshua's jealousy must not stand in the way of the Lord's work. The Lord gives his love and care to all persons regardless of their personal life story. Some of our second reading by St. James seems very James very harsh in his condemnation of the rich and powerful who take advantage of the poor and weak. He challenges the so called important persons who went out to plan the murder of Jesus. St. James points out that there is a difference between doing things out of charity and doing things out of justice. Charity is needed for justice, but they are not the same. For example what if we heard that a huge stone rolled down the mountain and landed in the middle of a narrow, curving roadway. A car crashed into the stone. Families living nearby rushed to rescue the injured passengers, brought them into their own homes and took care of them until they got medical attention. That's charity. Two weeks later, another car collides with the stone and the families take care of them also. That's charity. But after taking care of the medical needs of the persons the residents called the highway department to remove the stone. That is justice and not charity. If you looked carefully at the various examples listed in our second reading you can quickly see what happens when a society depends on the laws of justice to get things done rather than the gifts of charity and love to do them. In our life both justice and charity are needed, but they must not be confused. When John tries to stop a man casting out devils in Jesus' name because the man is not one of the disciples, Jesus corrects him. Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. The fact that the man is not among Jesus' followers is insufficient reason for him to be excluded from the ministry of Jesus. Prejudice has no place among those who say they believe in Jesus. The judgment of Jesus is not against those who differ or stand apart from the group but rather against those who tolerate sin. We could interpret the cutting off of the sinful hand in a literal way, although even the most literalist of Christians find a way of avoiding this drastic advice of Christ. We can instead see it as a comment on the Christian community, that what is sinful and what hinders spiritual growth must be removed. When we tolerate prejudice we agree with it and therefore are guilty of it. Rather than looking for security in groups, we can dare to reach out to others who do not belong and perhaps have nowhere to belong. We can see in the outsider the person to whom Christ would reach out. Those who do not actively oppose the gospel can be on the side of the gospel, even if they do not seem to belong to any Church or religious grouping. Neither Joshua nor the disciples of Jesus receive praise for this thinking. We, too, can expect to receive little reward for thinking and acting with charity. But Jesus does tell us that those who even give a drink of water to his friends will receive a reward. How do we give that drink of water? Maybe it could be by helping each other find God in our lives. At this time of the year we have beautiful colored oaks, maples, elms. Each of them give praise to God. Each of us can give praise to God if we invite God into our lives.

Homily for the Week of September 23, 2012

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, B 2012 First Reading: Wisdom 2:12, 17–20 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 54:3–4, 5, 6–8 Second Reading: James 3:16 — 4:3 Gospel: Mark 9:30–37 The first thing that strikes me about today’s Gospel is the contrast between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus was trying to prepare them for Good Friday, for dying by being nailed to a cross, but the disciples were preoccupied with which of them was the greatest. They just did not understand what Jesus was telling them. But they were also afraid to question him. Jesus had a lot of big egos in his group. With that attitude they wouldn’t be very good at attracting people to Jesus. It is easy to imagine that as Jesus was talking with them, there were a few children close by. They could very well have been some of the children of these men Jesus was talking with. Jesus motioned to one child to come to him. He put his arm around the child. And then says: WHOEVER RECEIVES ONE CHILD SUCH AS THIS IN MY NAME RECEIVES ME; AND WHOEVER RECEIVES ME, RECEIVES NOT ME BUT THE ONE WHO SENT ME. By doing this Jesus was showing the disciples what kind of attitude he expected of them. Jesus was not asking us to adopt the attitude that we are not worth anything or that we have no importance. Jesus shows himself to be an effective teacher. He uses a visual aide to get a message to his unbelieving friends. Only Jesus would have thought of this. The jealous disciples were nursing their broken egos. Instead of lecturing them about their silliness, he told them to make room in their lives for children. That short sermon of one sentence had more impact than any sermon he could have preached. Children have a way of putting life in perspective. Children teach us humility. Children are not impressed with college degrees or whether or not we finished high school as valedictorian, or how many touchdowns we made; they don't care about how many honors we got; they are not interested in the kind of car we drive, or where we live, or how much money we have in the bank, or even the size of our pay check. What children want to know is whether we are warm, and real and loving. Do we know how to smile with our eyes as well as our mouth? Can they believe in us? Can they depend on us? Will we accept them or reject them, help them or hurt them? A little boy is not concerned about what position his father holds where he works. What concerns him most is whether his father has time to play or to read a book. A little girl may be pleased that her mother is beautiful. But that does not matter unless her mother is also gentle, kind and patient. Of course children are very naive. They have a lot of learning and maturing to do. But often in some areas their feel for life is better than ours. As I mentioned, they are not impressed with our fame or our fortune. For them the key word is LOVE. When we welcome children into our lives they do teach us humility. Without knowing it, they teach us what really matters. Children have a long period of dependence on us. Someone must take care of them for years, or children will not survive. When we welcome children into our lives we are committing ourselves to a helping role. This requires us to forget ourselves and look for the needs of others. I wonder if the disciples of Jesus knew what he was talking about. The disciples wanted to start at the top. But Jesus reverses that order and starts at the bottom with a young child. In the time of Jesus a child was a nobody. Two thousand years ago in a very poor country like Palestine, a child could be more of a burden than a blessing, another mouth to feed when there was never enough food. The infant death rate sometimes reached 30% of live births, and 60% of children were dead by the age of 16. Child abuse was almost a religious ritual in the Old Testament. Abraham came within an inch of killing his beloved son Isaac thinking that God wanted him to do so. Jephthah (Judges 11:29-40) promised that he would sacrifice the first one who would come to meet him when he returned home after winning a battle. Sadly, that person was his young daughter who rushed to meet him, and he kept his promise. So with this history of child abuse ingrained in the Jewish culture it came as a shock that Jesus would place a child in their midst and tell them: WHOEVER RECEIVES A CHILD SUCH AS THIS IN MY NAME, RECEIVES ME. As I was preparing these reflections I was thinking of Jesus and what he has done for me and or all of you. His service to us begins first of all by creating us. He spent his public life doing good for all kinds of people. Because of this he encountered a lot of people who liked him, but also a lot of people who complained about him and rejected him. In fact this viewpoint hasn’t changed that much in the last 2000 years. Each one of you have been with persons who question why you still believe, or still practice your religion. They may often make fun or make undignified remarks about you because of your religious beliefs. Because so many who even mention they are Catholic know about as much about their religion as when they made their First Communion or maybe Confirmation. Their religion may be childish, and not child like. But the message of Jesus today is that we are all called to a higher life, and surprisingly, even those we complain about may be in that higher life. There is a story about a man who died and went to heaven. He was amazed when he got there to find people he never expected to find. He commented to God: I never expected to find some of these people here, and by the way why is everyone so quiet? God said: They did not expect to see you here. Most of us will probably be greatly surprised when we get to heaven and see who is there and who enjoys a higher position. We praise and thank God for all he has done for us. Let us pray that we might learn from his example of generous kindness and service to us.

Homily for the Week of September 16, 2012

24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, 2012 Year B Is 50: 5-9 Ps116: 19 James 2:14-18 Mark 8: 27-35 Most of us are curious to know a little more about those with whom we work, or in our classrooms, or live next door. Today there is an abundance of Internet sites known as social media through which persons can talk about themselves or others. Those who have cell phones or other technology can see these messages 24 hours a day if they wish. But an abundance of information does not necessarily mean that it can all be trusted, or that we should place our dignity or life on it. It may be unfortunate that we may have lost the joy of face to face conversation and relationships. In today’s Gospel Jesus is having a face to face conversation with Peter. Peter was concerned that Jesus was too harsh. He was turning people away. So he took Jesus aside and tried to persuade him to tone down his speeches a little. He then said to Peter: WHO DO PEOPLE SAY THAT I AM? WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? Peter says that Jesus is the long, hoped for savior of the world. But Jesus was not quite satisfied with that answer. Jesus says it is great to have faith, but that is not enough. Our faith must be put in action by good deeds or good works. St. James in today's second reading talks about this. He says WHAT GOOD IS IT IF SOMEONE SAYS HE HAS FAITH BUT DOES NOT HAVE WORKS? FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD, James tells us. Martin Luther years ago use to preach that it did not matter what you did. All God wanted of you was to have faith. We must live what we believe, we must make decisions on what we believe; our spiritual life must be lived as Jesus lived. Otherwise, faith that does not affect how we live and how we act is quickly lost, and it cannot save us. Just as with Peter, Jesus takes us aside as asks us: WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? When we go to those who are suffering and those who are searching, and we give them joy, it is then that we carry out the good works of faith that St. James talks about. Doing this is also contagious. We receive in return many times more than we have given. We know that people often imitate bad behavior. But we should also know that people also imitate good behavior. Our faith is built on the shoulders of others. Most likely these are our parents, our teachers, our close friends our spouse. Specifically, in the case of St. James Parish, these shoulders are the very poor, homeless Irish immigrants who were invited to come to Cadyville about 158 years ago. Their faith has provided for us a building to worship God; a place where we can come to pray, or to be married, or have a child baptized, or be forgiven, and at the end of life, a place to be buried. This building is the GOOD WORK spoken of my Jesus today. The face of our Catholic Church here in the North Country is made up of people of all walks of life. Each year at this time we begin what is known as the Bishop’s Fund to help support the many spiritual and religious good works for the Catholics of our North Country. Many of you have already received communication on the Bishop’s Fund. They tell about the Faces of Faith of persons in Northern New York. You received a smaller version of this composite photograph. In it there are about 500 faces of North Country persons of faith. Like with Jesus and St.Peter, these faces all tell the story of faith in times of need: Hope in times of despair. Like the parents whose child was diagnosed with a heart defect but came to know the support of their friends and neighbors through a grant from the Bishop’s Good Samaritan Fund; Perseverance when times are difficult. Like the folks who participate Family Guggenheim, working hard to strengthen their marriages and families; Education in order to serve. Like the Seminarians and Commissioned Lay Ministers who study our faith so that they may serve in parishes across the diocese; Building foundations for life. Like the children in Catholic Schools and Religious Formation who are learning Christian values and the importance of bringing their gifts to the service of others. For Catholics charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could be left to others, but it is a part of our identity as Catholics. It is a description of who we are. Charity along with prayer and fasting are not options. How would you or I answer the question of Jesus today: WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

Homily for the Week of September 9, 2012

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time B 2012 First Reading: Isaiah 35:4–7a Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:7, 8–9, 9–10 Second Reading: James 2:1–5 Gospel: Mark 7:31–37 Those of you that follow the gospel readings Sunday after Sunday, or those of you who spent some time each day in reading from the Bible realize that Jesus is at times long winded. For example, his Sermon on the Mountain covers three entire chapters in St. Matthew's Gospel, and his speech at the Last Supper covers four chapters. More often, however Jesus follows the traditional advice given to preachers, namely Be bold, be brief, be gone. Jesus frequently presents his point in a concise form using a story. There are times, like today, when Jesus cuts to the very meaning of the message that you can count the words on one hand. There are times when a situation is so critical and his reaction and response so urgent that he cannot waste a word. For instance at one time he heals a crippled person with four words: Your sins are forgiven. He heals a person who had leprosy with three words: Be made clean. He calls Levi, the tax collection with two words: Follow me. But Jesus wins the bonus for few words in today's Gospel when he heals the deaf man with a speech impediment, not with five words, not with four words, not with three or two words, but with just one single, emphatic and dramatic word ephphatha (ef-fa-tha). This word is from the ancient Aramaic language that Jesus and his friends spoke. It is translated into English by the two words: Be opened. Today's gospel tells us that no sooner had Jesus said this one word immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. What is our reaction to this story? Is this just another episode that happened almost 2000 years ago but has little or no meaning or impact upon us today? After all, hearing aids are available to improve the hearing of the deaf. There are speech therapists trained to deal with speech impediments. As a matter of fact, most of us do not have a hearing or speech problem. Or do we? How well do we listen? We hear that we should quit smoking, but we keep puffing, polluting the fresh air that we breathe. We hear that we should moderate our drinking, but we keep guzzling the booze that does nothing to nourish us and everything to hurt us and harm others. We ignore traffic laws, drive too fast, jabber on cell phones -- instead of giving full attention to the difficult duty of driving. How often do we allow our friends or class mates to pressure us into doing something we know is wrong? Are we listening? Do we listen when Jesus speaks to us? Do we turn a deaf ear to all the commercial and domestic noise that bombards us, and instead open the ear of the heart to the words of Jesus? Do we really pay attention to the message Jesus has prepared for us whenever we come to Mass and hear again his Good News? Do we take prime time to read a chapter of the Bible and ask ourselves, What do these words mean to me personally, and what am I doing about them? We may not have a legitimate speech impediment. But how well and how often do we speak up in the face of obvious injustice and discrimination? How long do we wait to report a serious unfair act or omission? Most of all, do we remember what St. Paul says about speaking? If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. Do we speak the language of love or the vocabulary of violence, arrogance, domination, superiority, or control? At every Catholic baptism much of what Jesus did to the deaf person is done to the child. At the baptism of an infant, a prayer is recited: The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and those who could not speak, speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father. While saying the prayer the priest touches the ear and the lips of the child. The invitation to us all is to be “open” to talking about and living our religious faith. How often do we thank God for our double gift of hearing and speaking? It is so easy for us to become deaf to these signs and words of Jesus and God. Most of us probably have fairly good hearing, but our ability to know what to listen for may not be very well developed. I would like to give you an example that illustrates what we just heard from the Bible. Some of you may have listened to the violin music of Joshua Bell, a 45 year old classical violinist. A few year ago the Washington Post newspaper wanted to conduct an experiment as to how people listen. Joshua Bell was dressed like a street musician. He was placed in one of the subway stations of Washington, DC with his expensive Stradivarius violin. He was videotaped on hidden camera. He started playing the same violin compositions which he had played the night before as solo violinist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. During 45 minutes 1,097 people passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him. I presumed that those who passed by had good hearing, but their ability to know what to listen for may not have been well developed -- at least not in the area of music. We who are blessed with hearing are sometimes not good listeners. This happens in families a lot. spouses with each other, children with parents and parents with children. This happens with God too.God hears but we don’t always hear him. That is why we need to keep reading the Bible over and over. That is why we need to take quiet time to pray, because there is so much noise around us. God usually speaks to us in a very quiet voice. In fact often speaks to us in thoughts rather than in words. Today Jesus continues to do all things well as he steps out of the page of the gospel and stands before each of us. He lovingly touches our ears and our mouth and says to us in his powerful word of healing: Ephphatha--that is, Be opened. We leave this Mass today with new ears open to hear the Good News of God's unconditional love. We leave this Mass today with a new tongue loosened to speak up and speak out the truth, the peace that are God's gift to us and to all.

Homily for Week of September 2, 2012

HOMILY: TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY, 2012 First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5 Second Reading: James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27 Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Many great things have been done in the name of religion, but also many bad things have also been done in the name of religion. All religions can be guilty of encouraging their followers of causing great harm to others. For example, over 1000 years ago the Catholic church organized Crusades to go to Palestine and get back that country that had become Muslim. Many were killed in the name of religion. In more recent times some Muslims organized under Al Quaeda or Hassbellah, or countries like Iran and Syria use air planes and bombs to attack the infidels living in places like the United States or Lebanon. All of these will quote the Koran as authority for their actions. The Gospel I just read finds Jesus having the same problem with a group of religious fanatics called Pharisees. The Pharisees were more concerned about what the laws were, rather than why the laws are followed. The Pharisees were actually good people and probably very holy. Getting everything just right was very important to them. But they were more concerned about the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. The Pharisees have been noticing that Jesus and his disciples do not keep the Jewish traditions. These “traditions” were not part of the Jewish law but were added practices. There were all kinds of traditions affecting every aspect of their lives. Many of them had to do with how and when to wash your hands and cups and saucers. These were purity laws that were to be used in the temple but the Pharisees had made them part of what they should do at home. The washing of hands was not done for hygienic purposes. They didn't even know about germs and bacteria. Washing the hands was a religious ritual meant to prepare the priest for offering sacrifice. Priests today wash their hands in a ritual way as part of the Preparation of the Gifts. The Pharisees insisted that this ritual be done in the homes as well as in the temple. Jesus was not doing away with the teachings of his Jewish religion. He was doing away with certain customs or rituals which had been started by certain persons in the name of religion. To understand Jesus better, imagine Jesus having very dirty hands from having been working in his garden. His disciples are seated at the side of the garden at a picnic table. They too have been helping Jesus pull weeds. They had also pulled and plucked their noon meal, peeled the onions, washed some beans and were enjoying themselves while listening to Jesus discussing thoughts with the scribes and Pharisees. Before eating Jesus most likely washed his hands because they were dirty, not as part of a Jewish ritual before eating. The pharisees made the rituals equal to the law. By so doing they were neglecting justice and charity. Following Jesus does not not mean acting religious, but rather it involves being like Jesus. All the religious behavior in the world cannot cover up a mean and unloving heart. I think we all know religious people who are really very nasty inside and we all know unreligious people who would give us the shirt off their back if we needed it. Which of these is truly religious? Jesus calls us to a happy medium where both our behavior and our heart are centered on him. We just heard in our first reading that Moses did not see the teachings he offered as merely rules to be obeyed. Fulfilling the law was not an act of obedience; it was an act of love. Moses gave the statutes and decrees in order to teach people how to respond to God in love. For Moses, fulfilling the law was a choice that comes from deep within; fulfilling the law was an expression of our inner desire to live with God. Using the law as a straightjacket to condemn others or reducing the law to mere external observance is not what Jesus asks of us. Jesus came to move our hearts to love. When we love, we go beyond the law and live in union with Jesus. Like him we live a life of service to God and others. Being truly religious means we serve others with a joyful heart. Jesus said that sinful attitudes and actions of people are not caused by things or events outside of us. Sinful attitudes and behaviors come from their hearts. We think of the heart as the symbol or seat of love and feelings. But not so in Jesus’ culture. The heart was seen as the seat of the will. It was in the heart that decisions were made. What Jesus is saying is that all evil is a personal choice. The choice to do these things comes from within us. As Americans, we have a love/hate relationship with law. We want the law to be enforced on others, but we want laxity for ourselves. If someone is speeding and cuts us off, we want to know where the police officer is who will ticket that person, but if we do the same thing we will offer a dozen excuses to the police officer so we don’t get a ticket. We also want the law to be specific, and at the same time we don't. We want a clear speed limit so we will know how fast we or others can go. Once the limit is posted, however, we then want to know how far over the limit we can go before we risk getting a ticket. We often do the very same thing with the moral law. We might condemn another while forgiving ourselves for doing nearly the same thing. There is a saying that goes: "If you can't take it, don't dish it out." Whatever you do to someone else, you should be willing to have it happen to you. Yet, if properly written and enforced, law is instructive, and not burdensome. The Law can gave us an identity, a sense of purpose, and a sense of meaning. It was clear that when we strayed from the Law we lose our sense of purpose and our identity. We have seen this happen in our economic crisis. As soon as financial institutions strayed from their rules, purpose and integrity, our economy tanked. Each of us must find our ways to respond more generously to our life situation. It could mean overcoming a selfish relationship; or work towards protecting the rights of all persons, especially laborers whom we honor this weekend; or being better prepared and having more enthusiasm for coming to church or for our religious faith. We are called today, not so much to know the laws, but to live our Catholic way of life, especially, as we have come here to Mass. Let this time in church today be a time of prayer, and a time to unite ourselves with God.