Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2013
Am 6:1a, 4-7 • 1 Tm 6:11-16 • Lk 16:19-31
One day the Pastor answered the phone. The caller asked: Is this the Pastor? Yes, it is. This is the Internal Revenue Service. We wonder if you can help us. I’ll try said the Pastor. Do you kow Harold Schwarz? I do. Is he a member of your parish? He is. Did he donate $10,000? He will.
A Lot of people say money is the root of all evil thinking that they are quoting the Bible. But what the Bible actually says is the love of money is the root of all evil. “Love of money” is placing possessions before everything else. This is the beginning evil in our own lives. We cannot improve as a person or as a person of faith if something is more important to us than God.
Our first reading is about the Amos. The prophet Amos was a wealthy man living in the southern kingdom of Judah. He looked at the northern Kingdom of Israel and did not like what he saw. He described a wealthy class who lived only for themselves. They were consumed with their own pursuits and didn’t notice that their own country had collapsed around them, the “collapse of Joseph.” Amos began his condemnation with the word “Woe,” the word used to begin funeral dirges. He was telling the north that they had made something else more important than God, and thus he was beginning their funeral hymn.
Jesus never condemned the wealthy for having wealth. He condemned them for letting their wealth make them forget about the God who had blessed them so generously -- like the farmer we heard about a few weeks ago. He had such a great harvest that he had to tear down his barns to build bigger ones and he gave no thought to life after death. Or Jesus condemned the wealthy for letting their wealth lead them away into dishonesty like the unjust steward we heard about last week. Or Jesus condemned the wealthy because they let their wealth turn them into selfish, self-centered persons like the rich man in today’s gospel.
Today’s s story would have been quite a shock for those who heard it. For in Jewish mentality, if a person was wealthy they were assumed to be good people whom God favored. If a person was poor or sick or infirm they were assumed to be sinners whom God was
punishing for something. But things didn’t workout that way for the rich man and Lazarus. Those who belong to God must love God and others. Love is the supreme law and love is not just a warm fuzzy feeling but it is a willingness to even make sacrifices for others.
What should the rich man have done? Jesus does not give us a specific answer. Perhaps he wants us to ask ourselves what we might have done if we were in his place. The rich man wants Lazarus to visit his brothers and warn them about how they should be living. Jesus says they already have some examples like Moses and the wise men and women of the Bible to guide them. If they don’t pay attention to the Bible they probably will not pay attention to someone who rises from the dead.
In Jesus’ day people did not know what was going on elsewhere in the world. With the Internet and the most up to date communication devices which we have today we know an instant that an earthquake or tsunami kills hundreds and thousands of people and leaves other thousand homeless. We know instantly when a gang of terrorists takes over a shopping mall as in Kenya or burn down Catholic churches and kill the people in the pews as is happens almost daily in the Moslem world. Knowing all this can give us guilty feelings, thinking we should help everyone -- which we can’t.
In a sense charity begins at home, but it should not stay there.Although personally we can’t help everyone, we can help some. If we all try to do what we can the world may be a better place.
That was probably the rich man undoing as we listened to the Gospel today. The rich man did not hurt Lazarus. He neither denied him the leftovers nor ordered him his property. And that is precisely the point of the story that Jesus tells us. The rich man did nothing wrong to Lazarus. He just did nothing at all good for Lazarus. Only in death when he is separated from Lazarus can the rich can the rich man finally see Lazarus, whom in life he failed to see when Lazarus was right before his eyes. His wealth had blinded him.
It has been said many times that the only things we can take with us at the time of our death are those things we have shared or
given away. The rich man loved his life of luxury and squeezed it tightly like the grapes of his fine wines. He adorned his fragile body with the best that his money could buy. He was unable to move out, extend his hands, because he was too tight. Tight, because he was bound up with things and himself and so what he got in the end was what he wanted, just himself.
As we place this story today within our own personal life, we might ask ourselves the specific question who is the Lazarus in my life. It certainly is a person right before my very eyes in whom I need to see and serve this week in whatever way I can.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Homily for the Week of September 22, 2013
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2013
Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13 or 16:10-13
If you listen or read the national news most every day you have heard the comment that the money the government spends is my money. In other words, we the taxpayers are the ones who provide the money that our elected government legislators authorize to spend through the decisions they make in the laws they pass. In a sense this is my money, your money provided whenever we pay our income tax or any other tax.
In a sense that is what the the rich man in today’s gospel wanted: he wanted his money back. The rich man is the employer. The stewart is the employee. A steward is another name for a person who is in charge of the money and property which belongs to someone else. Today a steward could be compared to a business manager or administrator or bookkeeper or banker. He is the one who sends out the invoices and collects the money. He is the one in charge.
In today's Gospel Jesus tells us a story about a steward who is in trouble. Someone accuses this steward of wasting the boss’ money. The rich man had heard that his employee was taking his money. So the stewart was worried that he might be fired. So while he is still employed he makes deals with those who owe the rich man various amounts of money. He changes their invoices. By cleverly reducing their debts, he increases his own chances that the debtors will be good to him when he is jobless. Whether the steward was stealing from the rich man or not stealing isn’t the main point. And whether the steward reducing the debt that various business people owed his master was honest or dishonest is not the point of this story told by Jesus. The main point is that the steward was clever in planning a secure future for himself. He was putting together his retirement plan with someone else’s money.
The story ends with an unusual twist. He looses his job because of this, but instead of the owner being angry at this steward, he congratulates him for being so clever. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.
That may puzzle you at first. Was Jesus endorsing the underhanded ways of keeping favor or gaining honor? Jesus was praising the steward's cleverness and industriousness. Before we write off the guy as a crook, we need to understand first century Jewish business practices. When we go to a bank to borrow money to buy a house or a car or pay for college the interest on the money we borrowed will probably double our debt. The payments we make include the amount we borrowed as well as the interest. That is how our capitalistic society works. But charging interest was forbidden by Jewish laws. However the boss or owner of the business could charge the interest up front. Those who were listening to Jesus knew what he was talking about. They had been cheated very often by wealthy owners of business. They knew that Jesus was trying to correct what was wrong. Jesus was not approving of cheating or stealing.
In fact, all of our readings today speak of how we are to use what God has given us. We hear the prophet Amos voicing the anger of God at those who get rich by making others poorer. That is not something that exists only in the pages of the Old Testament; it goes on in our world today. Every day TV news is saturated with reports of corporation and bank bosses that get exorbitant bonuses. It was also talked about by Jesus.
This story also applies to each of us. How? Each one of us are stewards of God's gifts to us. Stewardship implies care, proper usage, sharing them and always a reverence for the gifts as belonging to the “master" who is God. In a sense all we have is on loan to us by God. We are offered so many opportunities to act justly, love tenderly and do those things which are of virtue. Many of these are not earthshaking or spectacular. They will probably not be remembered by history, but God will remember these for eternity.
Jesus is urging us to use faithfully all that has been given to us, however small. We are to make the best of all our possessions and gifts of personality. If we begin by being dishonest in little things, we shall apply the same standards to big ones. Truth is not measured by the importance of what is being said. A lie is always a lie. Those who can be trusted in small things can also be trusted in great things.
Each day we make choices as to what is important. In choosing not to be possessed by what we have, we allow God to be present. What do we have? Each of us regardless of age have been given three things over which we are managers: TIME, TALENTS AND TREASURES. How do we use the time, the talents and the treasures which are on loan to us from God. When we die regardless of the age or circumstances, will we leave this world a better place? It is only by freely giving of our time, talents and treasure, without expecting repayment, that we can make a deposit in our heavenly bank.
750 years before Jesus, the Jewish people were very prosperous. Because of their prosperity they forgot about God. who had blessed them so richly. When they lost touch with God, this led to the moral decline of the nation and finally its collapse. Our life in this world is temporary. Eternity is forever. Even the youngest and the poorest among us have been entrusted by God with an abundance of possessions and gifts and personal qualities. The first of these is our life, our physical abilities, our intelligence and our religion. Jesus is telling us today to use the blessings God has given us to help to get closer to God and not let our possessions become a god in themselves.
Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13 or 16:10-13
If you listen or read the national news most every day you have heard the comment that the money the government spends is my money. In other words, we the taxpayers are the ones who provide the money that our elected government legislators authorize to spend through the decisions they make in the laws they pass. In a sense this is my money, your money provided whenever we pay our income tax or any other tax.
In a sense that is what the the rich man in today’s gospel wanted: he wanted his money back. The rich man is the employer. The stewart is the employee. A steward is another name for a person who is in charge of the money and property which belongs to someone else. Today a steward could be compared to a business manager or administrator or bookkeeper or banker. He is the one who sends out the invoices and collects the money. He is the one in charge.
In today's Gospel Jesus tells us a story about a steward who is in trouble. Someone accuses this steward of wasting the boss’ money. The rich man had heard that his employee was taking his money. So the stewart was worried that he might be fired. So while he is still employed he makes deals with those who owe the rich man various amounts of money. He changes their invoices. By cleverly reducing their debts, he increases his own chances that the debtors will be good to him when he is jobless. Whether the steward was stealing from the rich man or not stealing isn’t the main point. And whether the steward reducing the debt that various business people owed his master was honest or dishonest is not the point of this story told by Jesus. The main point is that the steward was clever in planning a secure future for himself. He was putting together his retirement plan with someone else’s money.
The story ends with an unusual twist. He looses his job because of this, but instead of the owner being angry at this steward, he congratulates him for being so clever. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.
That may puzzle you at first. Was Jesus endorsing the underhanded ways of keeping favor or gaining honor? Jesus was praising the steward's cleverness and industriousness. Before we write off the guy as a crook, we need to understand first century Jewish business practices. When we go to a bank to borrow money to buy a house or a car or pay for college the interest on the money we borrowed will probably double our debt. The payments we make include the amount we borrowed as well as the interest. That is how our capitalistic society works. But charging interest was forbidden by Jewish laws. However the boss or owner of the business could charge the interest up front. Those who were listening to Jesus knew what he was talking about. They had been cheated very often by wealthy owners of business. They knew that Jesus was trying to correct what was wrong. Jesus was not approving of cheating or stealing.
In fact, all of our readings today speak of how we are to use what God has given us. We hear the prophet Amos voicing the anger of God at those who get rich by making others poorer. That is not something that exists only in the pages of the Old Testament; it goes on in our world today. Every day TV news is saturated with reports of corporation and bank bosses that get exorbitant bonuses. It was also talked about by Jesus.
This story also applies to each of us. How? Each one of us are stewards of God's gifts to us. Stewardship implies care, proper usage, sharing them and always a reverence for the gifts as belonging to the “master" who is God. In a sense all we have is on loan to us by God. We are offered so many opportunities to act justly, love tenderly and do those things which are of virtue. Many of these are not earthshaking or spectacular. They will probably not be remembered by history, but God will remember these for eternity.
Jesus is urging us to use faithfully all that has been given to us, however small. We are to make the best of all our possessions and gifts of personality. If we begin by being dishonest in little things, we shall apply the same standards to big ones. Truth is not measured by the importance of what is being said. A lie is always a lie. Those who can be trusted in small things can also be trusted in great things.
Each day we make choices as to what is important. In choosing not to be possessed by what we have, we allow God to be present. What do we have? Each of us regardless of age have been given three things over which we are managers: TIME, TALENTS AND TREASURES. How do we use the time, the talents and the treasures which are on loan to us from God. When we die regardless of the age or circumstances, will we leave this world a better place? It is only by freely giving of our time, talents and treasure, without expecting repayment, that we can make a deposit in our heavenly bank.
750 years before Jesus, the Jewish people were very prosperous. Because of their prosperity they forgot about God. who had blessed them so richly. When they lost touch with God, this led to the moral decline of the nation and finally its collapse. Our life in this world is temporary. Eternity is forever. Even the youngest and the poorest among us have been entrusted by God with an abundance of possessions and gifts and personal qualities. The first of these is our life, our physical abilities, our intelligence and our religion. Jesus is telling us today to use the blessings God has given us to help to get closer to God and not let our possessions become a god in themselves.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Homily for the Week of September 15, 2013
HOMILY: Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2013
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32 or 15:1-10
When you’re lost, it’s good to be missed; it’s even better to be found. People are not inanimate objects like coins, things that can fall into corners, nor are they like sheep, animals with limited understanding of the repercussions of their wandering away. When people stray spiritually, they act with free will, although it can be restricted by previous experience or ignorance. Still, people walk away from God, generally because we are convinced we know better than God does what is best for us.. Each of us at one time or other have lost something that means a lot to us. The loss becomes an obsession. Everything else is put aside. Jesus today tells us the story of a lost sheep, some lost coins, and a lost teenage boy.
Jesus tells a story of two lost sons, the younger one, who has wandered far from home and “squandered his inheritance,” and the older one, who has stayed near his father on his estate. The youngest son winds up wasting his inheritance and living with pigs, eating the husks of pig food. At some point the wandering son realizes it is time to go home and beg for mercy from his father. He has not lost only his money; he has lost himself. The father spies him from a long way off, runs to his son, embraces him and kisses him.
But it was when the younger son recognized that he was lost, that he had made choices that reduced him to physical and spiritual poverty, that he could repent, ask for forgiveness and be found. It was only then that he could come home to be showered not with anger but with mercy.
The older son is another matter. He has remained near to his father, but it seems he is not close to him. He resents his younger brother coming home to a feast and he criticizes his father for throwing the feast. He is angry that forgiveness has been shown, and when his father comes to plead with him to celebrate, he spews out the grievances he has been nursing for many years: Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders he says to his father.
The older brother cannot celebrate his brother’s return because he has no joy in the father’s presence. Life with his father has been a burden, an unwelcome task, a plodding life in which he has struggled
not to “disobey your orders.” The older son is also lost. But can the older son see that he is lost? You can only be found when you know you are lost and it is time to come home.
Many times the story of the Prodigal son is associated with our need to be forgiven as in Confession. One of the most-often-asked questions about Catholicism concerns going to Confession. “Why,” many Catholics ask, “do I have to confess my sins to a priest? Can’t I just ask God for forgiveness?” Many Catholics get hung up in the same question and often use the question as an excuse for why they do not go to Sacrament.
The simple answer is that, yes, we can just ask God for forgiveness; however, the more correct answer is that “just” asking God for forgiveness is not enough. Today’s parable of the Prodigal Son gives ample evidence as to why Jesus offers the sacrament of Confession: sin involves not just God and me. Sin, by its very nature, hurts others as well. The question, then, is how do we gain the forgiveness of others? The young son had to admit he was lost and had done something wrong before he could decide to come back to his father.
What if Jesus gave us a ticket every time we did something wrong? I would hate to pay all those fines. Jesus is not interested in catching us doing something wrong but in saving us. St. Paul tells us today: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. When we receive the sacrament of Confession we are forgiven for what we did and also we are united with those whom we may have hurt, knowingly or unknowingly. This statement reflects upon the story of the Prodigal Son.
Sometimes we get lost because we wander off in the wrong direction. Sometimes we chose to get lost like in the young son. He could chose to run away or to stay home. He chose to leave to sow his wild oats. God is not going to find us if we do not want to be found. The Prodigal Son had to come to his senses and turn back to his father before he could discover his father’s love, and that his father was waiting for him all along.. It was in that dark moment that he realized he was still the son of a caring father. How can hitting bottom be the best thing that can happen to someone who is deeply into a sinful, destructive lifestyle? Does someone have to hit bottom to know where things are heading? “Hitting bottom” is often used in recovery groups to denote a point when someone realizes, “I can’t go on like this.” The teenager had reached this point. God always gives us the freedom to walk away from him, and it is in freedom that we must choose to return. Once we decide to do that God is waiting for us ready to forgive.
We might ask if that is the case why does God give us so much freedom? Would it be better if he controlled our every decision and action? We probably could never do anything wrong. If God forced us to love him that would be a contradiction. We would be like robots. We could never make the choice to love and to be good, or to hate and to be bad.
Many of us may fall into the category of the older son, but it does not matter where we are as long as we make it home, for either “you are here with me always; everything I have is yours” or “we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” Party at God’s house. Everyone’s invited.
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32 or 15:1-10
When you’re lost, it’s good to be missed; it’s even better to be found. People are not inanimate objects like coins, things that can fall into corners, nor are they like sheep, animals with limited understanding of the repercussions of their wandering away. When people stray spiritually, they act with free will, although it can be restricted by previous experience or ignorance. Still, people walk away from God, generally because we are convinced we know better than God does what is best for us.. Each of us at one time or other have lost something that means a lot to us. The loss becomes an obsession. Everything else is put aside. Jesus today tells us the story of a lost sheep, some lost coins, and a lost teenage boy.
Jesus tells a story of two lost sons, the younger one, who has wandered far from home and “squandered his inheritance,” and the older one, who has stayed near his father on his estate. The youngest son winds up wasting his inheritance and living with pigs, eating the husks of pig food. At some point the wandering son realizes it is time to go home and beg for mercy from his father. He has not lost only his money; he has lost himself. The father spies him from a long way off, runs to his son, embraces him and kisses him.
But it was when the younger son recognized that he was lost, that he had made choices that reduced him to physical and spiritual poverty, that he could repent, ask for forgiveness and be found. It was only then that he could come home to be showered not with anger but with mercy.
The older son is another matter. He has remained near to his father, but it seems he is not close to him. He resents his younger brother coming home to a feast and he criticizes his father for throwing the feast. He is angry that forgiveness has been shown, and when his father comes to plead with him to celebrate, he spews out the grievances he has been nursing for many years: Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders he says to his father.
The older brother cannot celebrate his brother’s return because he has no joy in the father’s presence. Life with his father has been a burden, an unwelcome task, a plodding life in which he has struggled
not to “disobey your orders.” The older son is also lost. But can the older son see that he is lost? You can only be found when you know you are lost and it is time to come home.
Many times the story of the Prodigal son is associated with our need to be forgiven as in Confession. One of the most-often-asked questions about Catholicism concerns going to Confession. “Why,” many Catholics ask, “do I have to confess my sins to a priest? Can’t I just ask God for forgiveness?” Many Catholics get hung up in the same question and often use the question as an excuse for why they do not go to Sacrament.
The simple answer is that, yes, we can just ask God for forgiveness; however, the more correct answer is that “just” asking God for forgiveness is not enough. Today’s parable of the Prodigal Son gives ample evidence as to why Jesus offers the sacrament of Confession: sin involves not just God and me. Sin, by its very nature, hurts others as well. The question, then, is how do we gain the forgiveness of others? The young son had to admit he was lost and had done something wrong before he could decide to come back to his father.
What if Jesus gave us a ticket every time we did something wrong? I would hate to pay all those fines. Jesus is not interested in catching us doing something wrong but in saving us. St. Paul tells us today: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. When we receive the sacrament of Confession we are forgiven for what we did and also we are united with those whom we may have hurt, knowingly or unknowingly. This statement reflects upon the story of the Prodigal Son.
Sometimes we get lost because we wander off in the wrong direction. Sometimes we chose to get lost like in the young son. He could chose to run away or to stay home. He chose to leave to sow his wild oats. God is not going to find us if we do not want to be found. The Prodigal Son had to come to his senses and turn back to his father before he could discover his father’s love, and that his father was waiting for him all along.. It was in that dark moment that he realized he was still the son of a caring father. How can hitting bottom be the best thing that can happen to someone who is deeply into a sinful, destructive lifestyle? Does someone have to hit bottom to know where things are heading? “Hitting bottom” is often used in recovery groups to denote a point when someone realizes, “I can’t go on like this.” The teenager had reached this point. God always gives us the freedom to walk away from him, and it is in freedom that we must choose to return. Once we decide to do that God is waiting for us ready to forgive.
We might ask if that is the case why does God give us so much freedom? Would it be better if he controlled our every decision and action? We probably could never do anything wrong. If God forced us to love him that would be a contradiction. We would be like robots. We could never make the choice to love and to be good, or to hate and to be bad.
Many of us may fall into the category of the older son, but it does not matter where we are as long as we make it home, for either “you are here with me always; everything I have is yours” or “we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” Party at God’s house. Everyone’s invited.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Homily for the Week of September 8, 2013
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2013
Wisdom 9:13-18b
Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33
In today’s Bible reading which I just completed Jesus makes three very demanding statements. He says that if we want to be his disciples we must “hate” our families, we must carry our cross, and we must give up all of our possessions. Statements like this can make us wonder if Jesus is trying to make us into disciples, or if he is just trying to drive us away. When we look at this passage in the context of all of his teachings we can come to the conclusion that being a true follower of Jesus is demanding. It calls for self-denial, sacrifice and some type of suffering. Given all of this it can be tempting at times to make choices and go with the crowd.
What does it mean to be a “disciple”? The word is used usually in being a follower of Jesus, but we can be a disciple or follower of anyone - a teacher, a coach, a friend, and so forth. An example close to us from history is honored this week in the Battle of Plattsburgh which took place on September 11th 1814, a Sunday, nearly 200 years ago. In that battle 5000 Yankees and Green Mountain Boys defeated 10,000 British in the Battle of Plattsburgh. In early morning of September 11th Young Commodore Thomas Macdonough knelt for a moment with his officers and then invited them for a few minutes of perfect quiet to offer a prayer to God. We might call these men disciples of Commodore Macdonough.
During the time of Jesus, there were many rabbis, or teachers, who had disciples. Those disciples were students who chose to learn from a particular teacher of the Law, receiving instruction that was embraced as their own rule of conduct. This obviously required commitment. But the disciples spoken of by Jesus involved an even greater commitment, for the simple reason that Jesus made far greater claims and promises than did other, ordinary rabbis.
Jesus advised his disciples that if they wanted a lasting relationship with him, there would be certain costs. Following him is not a matter of being infatuated. The saying about hating one’s own family members is jolting to our ears. Hate is a harsh word, and almost unbelievable as coming from the mouth of Jesus. How could any normal person choose to hate father and mother, wife and husband and children, brothers and sisters, and even one's own life? The word hate, however, is best translated as being detached or separated. In Jesus’
time, people did not think of themselves as individuals but derived their identity and their social standing from their family, clan, village and religious group. Families determined everything about you: your identity; your status in society, your religion; your economic status. To be cut off from your family was to become a nobody, a person without identity. It was very much like being dead.
The key components of being a disciple are found in today’s Gospel. If you and I want to be true disciples of Jesus and be dynamic Catholics we must first acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God; we must spend some time each day in prayer; we must find time each day to learn more about our Catholic faith; we share generously with others what we have, and we must not be afraid to talk about our Catholic faith to those who ask us. If we do this we then place following Jesus ahead of all earthly possessions, including relationships.
Many of the people following Jesus as he journeyed to Jerusalem were likely doing so out of curiosity or momentary impulse. The journey to Jerusalem was not a vacation or even an adventure, but a march to suffering and death. Everyone on the journey must take up and carry “his or her own cross” to enter into the eternal kingdom.
The example of St. Paul who wrote our second reading today in his letter to Philomen is instructive. As a young man Paul persecuted the followers of Jesus and even throw stones at some to kill them. But one day when he was about 23 he was on his way to Damascus, the capital of Syria which is much in the news today. He heard a voice inviting him to follow me. Paul got off his horse and then took the good news of Jesus to the edges of the known world, suffering immensely and finally being killed. Paul recognized that status and power come and go, but that in Jesus we will have everlasting life.
Today's message from Jesus is difficult. To truly love Jesus everything else in our life must take second place. We must transfer our loyalty from our blood family to the family of Jesus. But it is only through our love for our family that we can transfer that love for Jesus.
For most of us that transfer of love and loyalty has been gradual. Spiritually, it began the day we were brought to a Church by our parents to be Baptized. It continued as we received religious formation at home and prepared for First Communion and First Confession. As we got older we then became confirmed in our faith and its practice through the sacrament of Confirmation. Unfortunately, for many Confirmation seems
to be the end of the need for spiritual and religious practice. That should not be the end of our spiritual or religious growth.
In fact we do the most important things in our life by stages or by steps. We creep before we walk, we survive on liquids before we get solid food, we spend years in grade school before high school, the 10th or 15th year of marriage is different than the wedding day. The same can be said of the practice of our Catholic faith and spirituality.
Jesus never asked his followers to sign membership certificates or pledge cards. Rather, he warned them how tough it would be to be his dynamic follower. We come to Mass today seeking to grow in our relationship with Jesus. Putting him above everything in our lives is a growing process. We will succeed only if we depend on his guidance and his help. He does not want a half hearted commitment. May each of us personally respond today: HERE I AM LORD, I WANT TO FOLLOW YOU.
Wisdom 9:13-18b
Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33
In today’s Bible reading which I just completed Jesus makes three very demanding statements. He says that if we want to be his disciples we must “hate” our families, we must carry our cross, and we must give up all of our possessions. Statements like this can make us wonder if Jesus is trying to make us into disciples, or if he is just trying to drive us away. When we look at this passage in the context of all of his teachings we can come to the conclusion that being a true follower of Jesus is demanding. It calls for self-denial, sacrifice and some type of suffering. Given all of this it can be tempting at times to make choices and go with the crowd.
What does it mean to be a “disciple”? The word is used usually in being a follower of Jesus, but we can be a disciple or follower of anyone - a teacher, a coach, a friend, and so forth. An example close to us from history is honored this week in the Battle of Plattsburgh which took place on September 11th 1814, a Sunday, nearly 200 years ago. In that battle 5000 Yankees and Green Mountain Boys defeated 10,000 British in the Battle of Plattsburgh. In early morning of September 11th Young Commodore Thomas Macdonough knelt for a moment with his officers and then invited them for a few minutes of perfect quiet to offer a prayer to God. We might call these men disciples of Commodore Macdonough.
During the time of Jesus, there were many rabbis, or teachers, who had disciples. Those disciples were students who chose to learn from a particular teacher of the Law, receiving instruction that was embraced as their own rule of conduct. This obviously required commitment. But the disciples spoken of by Jesus involved an even greater commitment, for the simple reason that Jesus made far greater claims and promises than did other, ordinary rabbis.
Jesus advised his disciples that if they wanted a lasting relationship with him, there would be certain costs. Following him is not a matter of being infatuated. The saying about hating one’s own family members is jolting to our ears. Hate is a harsh word, and almost unbelievable as coming from the mouth of Jesus. How could any normal person choose to hate father and mother, wife and husband and children, brothers and sisters, and even one's own life? The word hate, however, is best translated as being detached or separated. In Jesus’
time, people did not think of themselves as individuals but derived their identity and their social standing from their family, clan, village and religious group. Families determined everything about you: your identity; your status in society, your religion; your economic status. To be cut off from your family was to become a nobody, a person without identity. It was very much like being dead.
The key components of being a disciple are found in today’s Gospel. If you and I want to be true disciples of Jesus and be dynamic Catholics we must first acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God; we must spend some time each day in prayer; we must find time each day to learn more about our Catholic faith; we share generously with others what we have, and we must not be afraid to talk about our Catholic faith to those who ask us. If we do this we then place following Jesus ahead of all earthly possessions, including relationships.
Many of the people following Jesus as he journeyed to Jerusalem were likely doing so out of curiosity or momentary impulse. The journey to Jerusalem was not a vacation or even an adventure, but a march to suffering and death. Everyone on the journey must take up and carry “his or her own cross” to enter into the eternal kingdom.
The example of St. Paul who wrote our second reading today in his letter to Philomen is instructive. As a young man Paul persecuted the followers of Jesus and even throw stones at some to kill them. But one day when he was about 23 he was on his way to Damascus, the capital of Syria which is much in the news today. He heard a voice inviting him to follow me. Paul got off his horse and then took the good news of Jesus to the edges of the known world, suffering immensely and finally being killed. Paul recognized that status and power come and go, but that in Jesus we will have everlasting life.
Today's message from Jesus is difficult. To truly love Jesus everything else in our life must take second place. We must transfer our loyalty from our blood family to the family of Jesus. But it is only through our love for our family that we can transfer that love for Jesus.
For most of us that transfer of love and loyalty has been gradual. Spiritually, it began the day we were brought to a Church by our parents to be Baptized. It continued as we received religious formation at home and prepared for First Communion and First Confession. As we got older we then became confirmed in our faith and its practice through the sacrament of Confirmation. Unfortunately, for many Confirmation seems
to be the end of the need for spiritual and religious practice. That should not be the end of our spiritual or religious growth.
In fact we do the most important things in our life by stages or by steps. We creep before we walk, we survive on liquids before we get solid food, we spend years in grade school before high school, the 10th or 15th year of marriage is different than the wedding day. The same can be said of the practice of our Catholic faith and spirituality.
Jesus never asked his followers to sign membership certificates or pledge cards. Rather, he warned them how tough it would be to be his dynamic follower. We come to Mass today seeking to grow in our relationship with Jesus. Putting him above everything in our lives is a growing process. We will succeed only if we depend on his guidance and his help. He does not want a half hearted commitment. May each of us personally respond today: HERE I AM LORD, I WANT TO FOLLOW YOU.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Homily for the Week of September 1, 2013
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2013
Si 3:17, 20, 28-29
Heb 12:18-19
Lk 14:7-14
This Labor Day weekend many of you will be sharing meals or barbecues or gatherings with your family and friends. In fact, many of you have used the summer evenings to do the same. Meals with others are important social events, but they can be very important spiritual events. For instance the gathering of family and friends after a funeral Mass and burial helps us to remember and share stories of our loved one for whom we have just prayed in Church. These events do not have a guest list. All are invited.
In the Gospel of Luke from which I just read he tells a lot of stories about Jesus eating at a lot of meals. There are more references to eating, banquets and reclining at tables in Luke than in the other Gospels. Being at table serves as the key locus for Jesus’ teaching and as a place for telling some stories. Jesus uses meal time as a principal site for fellowship and discourse. It was at a meal and sitting around a table where Jesus gave us our First Holy Communion known as Jesus’ last supper before he died on Good Friday. Fellowship at communal meals becomes the principal place for worship and that we seek to be at the heavenly banquet.
The scene which is described today is a typical Sabbath meal. Like many of our own Sunday dinners, it is an opportunity to invite family and friends to gather. People still gather after church to eat the main Sunday meal. While our family meals do not usually assigned persons to sit at a particular place, in many cases habit and tradition still has certain chairs for certain members of the family except for major receptions such as for weddings where you may find your name on a particular table. Most often table assignments are designed to make people comfortable and to encourage conversation.
But that was not the case with meals in the world of Jesus. Meals were surrounded and imbedded with many strict conventions. Many things were revealed by meals and the list of those invited. Normally you would invite only people of equal social rank to come to your home for a meal. How closely a person was seated near the host revealed how the host perceived you. Where people sat at a table were carefully figured out depending on a person’s age, public position, education, wealth and so forth. All of these conferred on a person the right to be seated in a prominent places. Even today we often do something similar especially at important meals. We will seat certain people at the ''head table'' or seat a person ''with the family.''
This ranking system at meals is important for us to know about because Jesus' observations in the Gospel passage today make sense only in this context. Jesus noticed that some people were finding for themselves the best places at the table. He tells them that is not a good idea. It is better to be honored by being invited to the best place rather than simply taking the best place. But more importantly Jesus also says that when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. At the time of Jesus such persons might have a handicapping condition. None of these would have been invited into homes to eat because the Pharisees believed a handicapping condition was evidence of a sinful life. These persons were not considered equal.
All of our readings today are about humility or being humble. This isn't something we like to hear about. How many of us can honestly call ourselves humble? We get the word Humility from the Latin word for ground. Most of you remember Pope John Paul II who died a few years ago. During his time as Pope he travelled throughout the world. Many times he would participate in youth gatherings as he did once in Toronto and in Detroit. At all of these events once he got off the Alitalia Airlines air plane he would kneel on the ground and kiss the ground. This was done as a sign to those he came to visit that he was their humble servant.
Humility, especially as mentioned in the Bible, is not false modesty. True humility is being able to accept our limits, to have a true sense of ourself, of what our place is in society. Being humble is not an excuse for refusing to do certain things because we're either too lazy, too self-centered, or too fearful to do things. Being humble does not mean putting yourself down, or deliberately thinking that you are the worst of all persons. Our Catholic religion says we are all made in God's image. And God does not make junk.
The opposite of humility is Pride. There is a saying that has been around for ages that says: Pride is the root of all evils. Pride so often destroys human relationships. Pride was considered the sin of the fallen angels, and the sin of Adam and Eve. Pride is placing ourselves before anyone else. The proud person knows it all. The proud person likes to tell every what to do. The proud person has the answer to every problem, but refuses to see another persons viewpoint. Pride prevents us from knowing or accepting the truth about ourselves. The proud person centers on what is there in this for me; the humble person centers on others. True humility allows us to take honors, to receive awards and trophies as outstanding athlete or student, to receive the Purple Hearts and Medals of Honor -- all of which are ways that God has allowed us to help someone else.
This is healthy pride where we are honest about the gifts God has given us such as good health, maybe a good mind and education.We recognize that these come from God. Unhealthy pride tries to convince us that we are much better in some ways than we really are. We are convinced that we do not need to give God much attention. This causes us to look down on others.
Likewise true humility is when we know ourselves and we honestly depend on God. False humility is like the people in today’s Bible reading. We are waiting for someone to tell us move up higher. Humility is the attitude we are to bring to the table of the Lord.
Si 3:17, 20, 28-29
Heb 12:18-19
Lk 14:7-14
This Labor Day weekend many of you will be sharing meals or barbecues or gatherings with your family and friends. In fact, many of you have used the summer evenings to do the same. Meals with others are important social events, but they can be very important spiritual events. For instance the gathering of family and friends after a funeral Mass and burial helps us to remember and share stories of our loved one for whom we have just prayed in Church. These events do not have a guest list. All are invited.
In the Gospel of Luke from which I just read he tells a lot of stories about Jesus eating at a lot of meals. There are more references to eating, banquets and reclining at tables in Luke than in the other Gospels. Being at table serves as the key locus for Jesus’ teaching and as a place for telling some stories. Jesus uses meal time as a principal site for fellowship and discourse. It was at a meal and sitting around a table where Jesus gave us our First Holy Communion known as Jesus’ last supper before he died on Good Friday. Fellowship at communal meals becomes the principal place for worship and that we seek to be at the heavenly banquet.
The scene which is described today is a typical Sabbath meal. Like many of our own Sunday dinners, it is an opportunity to invite family and friends to gather. People still gather after church to eat the main Sunday meal. While our family meals do not usually assigned persons to sit at a particular place, in many cases habit and tradition still has certain chairs for certain members of the family except for major receptions such as for weddings where you may find your name on a particular table. Most often table assignments are designed to make people comfortable and to encourage conversation.
But that was not the case with meals in the world of Jesus. Meals were surrounded and imbedded with many strict conventions. Many things were revealed by meals and the list of those invited. Normally you would invite only people of equal social rank to come to your home for a meal. How closely a person was seated near the host revealed how the host perceived you. Where people sat at a table were carefully figured out depending on a person’s age, public position, education, wealth and so forth. All of these conferred on a person the right to be seated in a prominent places. Even today we often do something similar especially at important meals. We will seat certain people at the ''head table'' or seat a person ''with the family.''
This ranking system at meals is important for us to know about because Jesus' observations in the Gospel passage today make sense only in this context. Jesus noticed that some people were finding for themselves the best places at the table. He tells them that is not a good idea. It is better to be honored by being invited to the best place rather than simply taking the best place. But more importantly Jesus also says that when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. At the time of Jesus such persons might have a handicapping condition. None of these would have been invited into homes to eat because the Pharisees believed a handicapping condition was evidence of a sinful life. These persons were not considered equal.
All of our readings today are about humility or being humble. This isn't something we like to hear about. How many of us can honestly call ourselves humble? We get the word Humility from the Latin word for ground. Most of you remember Pope John Paul II who died a few years ago. During his time as Pope he travelled throughout the world. Many times he would participate in youth gatherings as he did once in Toronto and in Detroit. At all of these events once he got off the Alitalia Airlines air plane he would kneel on the ground and kiss the ground. This was done as a sign to those he came to visit that he was their humble servant.
Humility, especially as mentioned in the Bible, is not false modesty. True humility is being able to accept our limits, to have a true sense of ourself, of what our place is in society. Being humble is not an excuse for refusing to do certain things because we're either too lazy, too self-centered, or too fearful to do things. Being humble does not mean putting yourself down, or deliberately thinking that you are the worst of all persons. Our Catholic religion says we are all made in God's image. And God does not make junk.
The opposite of humility is Pride. There is a saying that has been around for ages that says: Pride is the root of all evils. Pride so often destroys human relationships. Pride was considered the sin of the fallen angels, and the sin of Adam and Eve. Pride is placing ourselves before anyone else. The proud person knows it all. The proud person likes to tell every what to do. The proud person has the answer to every problem, but refuses to see another persons viewpoint. Pride prevents us from knowing or accepting the truth about ourselves. The proud person centers on what is there in this for me; the humble person centers on others. True humility allows us to take honors, to receive awards and trophies as outstanding athlete or student, to receive the Purple Hearts and Medals of Honor -- all of which are ways that God has allowed us to help someone else.
This is healthy pride where we are honest about the gifts God has given us such as good health, maybe a good mind and education.We recognize that these come from God. Unhealthy pride tries to convince us that we are much better in some ways than we really are. We are convinced that we do not need to give God much attention. This causes us to look down on others.
Likewise true humility is when we know ourselves and we honestly depend on God. False humility is like the people in today’s Bible reading. We are waiting for someone to tell us move up higher. Humility is the attitude we are to bring to the table of the Lord.
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