Homily for the Week of March 30, 2014

Fourth Sunday of Lent / Laetare Sunday 2014


1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Psalm 23: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:1-41 or 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38



Isaiah Austin, a college basketball player, came to the realization as a teenager that he'd never again see out of his right eye because of a detached retina. He wanted to play basketball but was losing sight. His mother told him that he could make it his excuse, or could make it his story. She said: "You can touch lives or you can be a quitter." He never told the college coach or his teammates that he had a prosthetic eye for two years. He has been an outstanding college athlete and may be a NBA prospect.

It is difficult if not impossible for us who are gifted with sight to imagine what it must be like to be blind from birth. The person in today's gospel had never seen blue skies, white snow, green grass, a red rose, or a yellow dandelion. He had never seen a human being, a cat or a dog, a horse or a cow. He had been born blind without an inkling what seeing is all about.

But as we carefully consider this blind man's original condition we are able to recognize a similar situation in the world and in ourselves. The man born blind who had come into the world of total darkness may be considered a symbol of the original worldly and human condition. We are told in Genesis that in the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth, the earth was formless and darkness covered it. It was only when God said Let there be light, that the wasteland began to be filled.



God's light meant sight. Now there developed all the wonders of creation: sky, water, vegetation, birds, all kinds of animals, and finally male and female humans created in the image and likeness of God.



We too are born blind in a sense. We enter the world at birth with our eyes shut. Even though we soon open our eyes for a quick squint, we prefer to keep our eyes shut for long periods of infant sleep. And then finally we take a longer look at the strange shapes we see around us and notice Mama and Daddy.



This same passage from blindness to sight, from darkness into light is one of the themes of our spiritual life. Jesus who gave sight to the man born blind does the same to each of us. Yet it can happen that we still refuse to see. Tunnel vision can be a serious problem in our daily lives. Although we are not blind, we can act as if we were. Without realizing it, we are claiming our view is right because it is our view rather than choosing it because it is right.



We would never blame handicapped people for their handicaps, but the people of Jesus’ time did. We don’t blame the handicapped for their plight. The pharisees assumed that physical or mental disability was the result of a sin committed by the person or by the family. Jesus points out that there is no connection between sickness and disabilities, and sin. Not only does Jesus heal the man born blind, he does so on the Sabbath. Yet that did not change them, since they had already made up their mind that they would condemn Jesus.

Like the woman at the well we read of last weekend, the blind man did not know who Jesus was. He did not come to a quick understanding of who Jesus was. But he tried to explain Jesus to others. And through this he began to realize who Jesus was. We, also, can be the same. He become more faithful when we try to explain our faith to others.

Our Lenten prayer, penance and charity are meant to make us aware that we were once in darkness but now we are light in the Lord. Lent is our call and our challenge to live as children of the light. Lent is a time for us to be aware of the blind spots in our daily lives. We can easily condition ourselves to see what we want to see or to see what we think we see. Now is the time to take a fresh look at the people we live with, work with, pray with, and play with. This is the time to see things in others we have never seen before, to discover and uncover a hidden beauty, a buried talent t, a disguised characteristic.

Lent is also a time to take a good look at ourselves, to see ourselves as others see us, to see ourselves as God sees us. This may often mean seeing the good in ourselves which may be asleep in our hearts but ready now to be called forth into the light. It may also seeing anew our bad habits, carelessness, selfishness and stubbornness, a complaining spirit, a reluctance to be thankful for what others do for us. Lent is a time for us to see with 20/20 spiritual vision. Lent must be a time for us let Jesus take away our blindness.

Homily for the Week of March 23, 2014

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT, 2014

Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42 or 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

         The meeting of Jesus and the woman at Jacob’s well is one  of the more frequently related events in the life of Jesus. Jesus and his disciples lived in Galilee. When they went to Jerusalem they had to go through Samaria where the Samaritans lived. The Samaritans and the other Jewish people did  not get along. .The trip by donkey from Galilee to Judea took about three days.  Samaria would be about the size of Clinton and Essex Counties combined.

         It was about noon and probably getting warm.  Homes did not have running water. Once or twice a day, usually women, would come to draw water from a local well. The Gospel opens with a tired and thirsty Jesus asking a woman of Samaria for a drink of water at Jacob's well. This surprised the woman for several reasons. In the first place, it was unlikely that a man would ask a woman for anything and even more unbelievable that Jesus, a Jew, would ask something of a Samaritan, an enemy of the Jewish people.

         The Samaritan woman came to the well, perhaps for a second time that day, to draw water. Most women would come to the well early in the morning, not at the hottest part of the day. The timing of her visit is a clear sign that she is an outcast within the Samaritan community because of her “many husbands." Jesus could have easily slipped away when she came. The woman herself alludes to this fact: “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”  But Jesus did not walk away. Rather he asked for a drink.

         She and Jesus got into a conversation. This conversation between Jesus and  the Samaritan woman is among the most lengthy and most theological found in all the Bible. The most startling aspect of the conversation is that it happens at all. Jesus, an observant Jew of that time, was expected to avoid conversation with women in public.  Rabbis did not even talk to their own wives in public, 

         Water is a major theme of their conversation. Jesus asked her for a drink and then offered her living  water. Jesus also asks to share her drinking vessel, an action that makes him unclean according to Jewish law.  Jesus explained to her that her thirst would return if she drank water from the well; but if she drank the living water Jesus offered her, she would never thirst again. At first she longed for the convenience of not having to draw water from the well every day. After Jesus told her many things about herself, she came to believe that he was the Son of God and called others to him.

         Step by step Jesus and the woman reveal themselves more deeply to each other. At first she calls him “sir,” then she thinks of him as a spiritual teacher, and then she believes he is Jesus. They speak of some of their deepest thirsts: for worship, salvation and the search for truth. They listen intently and allow their perceptions of the other to shift. The focus of the dialogue is not on her marital history. Jesus does not tell her to go and sin no more.  She finally arrives at the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah, which she shares with her townspeople in question form, so that they too can enter into the process of discovery that will culminate in faith.

         This encounter illustrates a process by which two persons who are very different can be transformed into friendship. They had to let go of their ingrained stereotypes of the other, and they had to stop avoiding each other. They had to be willing to stay in the conversation for a good deal of time and not give up when they stumbled over their differences. They had to be willing to take time with each other.

          After the conversation, the Samaritan woman becomes a disciple. Even though she is an outcast and not a Jew, she returns to her town to lead others to Jesus and to wonder whether she has found the Messiah. The Samaritan townspeople return with her to meet Jesus for themselves, and many are said to come to believe in him.

         The significance of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman has many levels. The first is personal: The woman is herself converted to believe and accept Jesus as Messiah because he speaks with her even though he knows her to be a sinner. The second is social: Having come to know Jesus as the Messiah, the Samaritan woman becomes his teacher to her own people.

         Everything in todays Gospel story started with a conversation between Jesus and the woman. And this is the point that must impress the most. We’ll never get to know Jess if we don’t take time to talk with him. He does not show up in radiant light or thunder and lightning. He comes in ordinary ways, in the guise of a friend or even in a person we may not care for, in the words of a book, especially the book we call the Bible. He shows up in a gathering of believers and in such simple things as water and wine. The important thing is to take the time to listen, to re respond, to  have a conversation. It is important to do more than just tell Jesus what we want him to do for us. We never get to know anyone in our life without spending time with that person. If Jesus is important to us, we need to set time aside to spend with him also. The living water of the Spirit's truth will continually stretch us. The Gospel will never leave us comfortable, but it will always satisfy.

Homily for the Week of March 16, 2014

Second Sunday of Lent, 2014

Genesis 12:1-4a;  Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10 ; Matthew 17:1-9

         Growing up Catholic, I thought the only people actually called by God were priests and nuns. They alone received some special, heavenly invitation to carry on Jesus' work. Though I also heard that married and single people were called to their particular way of life, What it practically boiled down to was that if you aren't called to be a priest or nun, you could assume you were probably being called to be married. But if you weren't married, then God must have designated you to be single.

         I discovered years later that such a reason has nothing to do with the Bible. On reading and studying the Bible I learned that priests in the Bible weren't called; they were born. Only those men belonging to a specific Jewish tribe, clan and family could be priests. No one went into a seminary and studied to be one. But all of this changed with Jesus. Most of you have heard the word priesthood at Mass and at Baptism or other Catholic events. Priesthood means all of the followers of Jesus, not just a few men who were born to be priests.

         Those who wrote the books of the Bible knew nothing of a distinction between clergy and laity as we speak of it today. Biblical people are simply called to be disciples of God or Jesus. Specific tasks or ministries might eventually surface within those calls, but the call itself is always open-ended.

         Our second reading today reminds us of one of the most important aspects of such calls: There's no rhyme or reason for one person to be called and not another. We can't do anything to prepare ourselves for it, except to keep our ears open.

         You just heard that God saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus.

         Today's first reading contains the Bible first call. God calls Abram. He and his wife Sarai are the first humans to have God as their God. Their call will set the pattern for all other biblical calls. The Bible tells us that Abram was 75, an age when most people are looking at the last stage of their life, not starting a new one. But the call of Abram has important meaning and suggestions for us.

         The first element to note is God’s command: "Go!" God always demand we move. We're expected to leave the "place" -- either geographical or psychological -- where we're comfortable and go somewhere else. No one in the Bible is ever told, "Stay right where you are! Don't move a muscle!" God always expects us to change our position: either to alter our physical location or our frame of mind. Those who are called should always have their bags packed.

         Second, our relocation always includes some insecurity. In Abram's case, he and his wife are expected to "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house." We're expected to abandon what once provided us comfort and stability.

         What do we get in exchange? We're never quite certain.

         Abram and Sarai are to go to "a land that I will show you." Where that will geographically take them is never detailed in the actual call. Likewise, Jesus' disciples on the mountain are simply expected to "Follow him" to a unique destination in which humans will be more important to them than fish.

         Biblical callers can never be sued for breach of promise. The person called is never told the exact particulars of the call. Once they relinquish their security, they begin to experience a process of wonderment and discovery.

         Notice also that Abram is called to follow an actual person. Unless he first gives himself over to God, he'll never find out where God is leading him. Jesus expects the same of his followers.

         Anyone who has ever given themselves over to another person -- especially in marriage -- realizes that the discovery of where you're going is also a discovery of the person traveling with you.

         This happens in today's Gospel passage. Jesus' followers eventually discover qualities in him they never noticed during their first encounter on the Galilean seashore. He's the God among us for whom they and their fellow Jews have been longing.

         If we buy into the theology that only special people in the faith community receive calls, we'll have a hard time hearing God or the risen Jesus calling us.  All of us are called to participate in God's saving actions. But if we don't notice that we're even being called, God's salvation is going to take a longer time to be realized than God originally intended. The Transfiguration is a promise and a reassurance that, if we encounter Christ, we will receive all the strength we need for whatever He calls us to do.  We will go beyond our fears. We will experience joy.

Homily for the Week of March 9, 2014

First Sunday in Lent, 2014

Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7  Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17  Romans 5:12-19 or 5: 12, 17-19

 Matthew 4:1-11

         Today’s first reading tells us the story of creation of our first parents, their temptation and their making bad choices. This is not a documentary of what happened one or two million years ago. it is more like story that helps us to understand the problem of evil.  God created us to be happy.   This is indicated by the Garden of Eden.  This story of Adam and Eve tells us the beginning of evil which is when we give in to temptations. The story shows us that when we do this we bring suffering upon ourselves. But the good news is that Jesus can save us.    Given today's stories about Adam and Eve and Jesus and the Devil we might call this Temptation Sunday.  Most of you may not realize that each time we pray the Lord's Prayer, we say lead us not into temptation. We are asking God not to allow us to enter into any situations in which we might be tempted to do something wrong or sinful.

         God gave Adam and Eve everything necessary for happiness.  Life with God in the Garden of Eden was perfect.  God's only rule was simple: DO NOT EAT THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF LIFE NOR FROM THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.  But God gave Adam and Eve a choice, what we call free will. Adam and Eve chose to do what they wanted to do.  Sin is thinking we know better than God.  Temptations let us question whether we live according to God's way or our way.  

         God warned Adam and Eve that death would result if His request was disobeyed.  The devil tempted them and they disobeyed and death came.  When Adam and Eve sinned they no longer trusted God.  So they were expelled from the garden.  This was not just a punishment, but it was God telling them that he could no longer trust them to do what was right.

         Temptation is always a matter of thinking we can be happier without God’s direction or help. Temptations of any kind are invitations to do some things which are not good for us,  Our conscience tells us we should not do it.  But we give in because we expect to get some pleasure or reward as the result of giving in. Specifically, a temptation is a test to see if we will be loyal to God. Let us look at temptations in our own life.  Some of us may believe that certain things or actions will make us look better, sound better, be more popular. Most of us allow ourselves to be deceived constantly. After all, there would be no advertisements if advertisers did not think they could tempt us to change our mind. 

         Most of us aren't faced every day with temptations that lead us to commit mortal or deadly sins. We usually face smaller temptations. The worse deception of all is when we become convinced that some of our actions do not matter. What's a little white lie here or there?  What's an overly indulgent late night just once in a while? What's wrong with being selfish ever now and then? Who really cares if we are not too concerned about our health? Unfortunately, giving in to one temptation puts us on the wrong road. It is easier for us to give in again and again. The little white lie can lead to a bigger lie, and then an even bigger lie, all to cover up the first little lie.  We are decendants of Adam and Eve and so have a little of their genes.us chose human death so that he could be completely one with us.

         In today’s Gospel Jesus refuses to give in to temptation. It is contrasted with the first reading where Adam and Eve did give in. It tells us how Jesus was tempted by the devil while he was in the desert. St. Matthew shows us something of the inner structure of evil, of how it works in our desires for power and control, for comfort, for most anything that gives our egos a boost. Jesus had been in the desert with little food and water. This long fast and solitude do not protect Jesus from being tempted; they may even have left him more vulnerable. But his spiritual life gave him the strength, in the midst of upheaval and struggle, to remain true to himself, and God. The devil tempted Jesus in three areas of his life -- in fact, very much like us when we are tempted. We could call  them the three P’s of temptation: PLEASURE, POPULARITY, AND POWER.

         Jesus first temptation is Pleasure.  After fasting in the desert for 40 days, Jesus must have been desperately hungry.  The devil wants Jesus to command these stones to be turned into bread.  

         His second temptation is Popularity. Throw yourself down and the crowds will love you It is the temptation to take on impossible risks and challenges because we think we cannot ultimately fail and others will know us for what we did rather than why we did it.  

         His third temptation is a desire for Power  and control over others. The devil wants Jesus to worship him in exchange for unlimited power and control.  And believe it or not that is where the devil usually gets us.  We think we are in control and can control everything all by ourselves. We are convinced that everyone and everything is for our own selfish desires and needs. And when we are challenged by this we then start lying or blaming others.

         How  can we keep our desires for pleasure, popularity, and power in tune with Jesus?  By beginning today to make Lent a time of prayer and reflection. This Lent we must face our capacity for self-centeredness. We must face our selfish desire to make our own decisions about what is right and what is wrong. Lent is a time for us to do well what we must do. If you are married be the best husband or wife; if you are a mother or father, be the best mother or father; be the best son or daughter; be the best student, or the best in your work.  Our traditional practice of giving up something for Lent is an attempt to return to the basics, and to rid ourselves of some of the things that complicate our lives.  During Lent our spiritual challenge is to notice the booby traps which we stumble into.

Homily for the Week of March 2, 2014

Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2014

Is 49:14-15 • 1 Cor 4:1-5 • Mt 6:24-34

         Jesus tells us “Don’t worry about what you will eat and drink. Don’t worry about tomorrow. With bills to pay and work to be done, we might reply to Jesus: Somebody has to worry. But to clarify his advice Jesus points to the birds and the wild flowers. God provides for them.

         Today we are in the last weekend before Lent. After several weeks of challenges in our Gospel reading we hear Jesus give us a new word. Jesus reminds us that we should not worry. God will care for us, God who feeds the birds and the cloths the lilies will never forget us. So while we are trying to live out the challenges in our lives, we know that God will see to it that we have what we need. These are comforting words and advice from Jesus.

         The American Academy of Family Doctors say that about ⅔ of of office visits are prompted by  stress related symptoms. Some people have the type of personality that is always insecure. Everything seems threatening.  We call them worriers. They worry even if they don’t have anything to worry about. Jesus is not telling us to be irresponsible. We do  have to study to pass and exam. to improve.

        

         In today’s Gospel Jesus moved to the heart of the issue of worry. He preached at a time when almost none of the population had the luxury of thinking about the future. Jesus was well aware of the plight of ordinary people. For most, day-to-day survival was all-consuming. Given terrible poverty, people worried about how they would find enough food, how they would keep their children clothed, and how they would manage to stay in their homes. and how they might recover from just a common cold. They were also preyed on by corrupt Roman leaders who imposed all kinds of taxes on them from birth till death.

         These all-consuming worries took up time that should have been devoted to praise and thanksgiving. Putting God first had been replaced by worry. But Jesus tried to warn them that misplaced priorities lead to the worst of their worries. What we must find is the willingness and faith to trust God. We must put our faith in God first. For most people day-to-day survival was all-consuming

         Jesus tells his disciples not worry, whether about life, food or drink, the body or clothing; and he urges reliance on divine providence.

But How this instruction is heard and taken to heart depends on one’s financial position. To those who have all they need to eat, drink, wear and sustain their bodily health, Jesus gives a warning not to center their efforts on accumulating more. The Gospel advises those who have enough of life’s necessities not to give in to greedy desires.

         But what about those who are struggling just to survive, who truly worry about how they will feed their families? What good is it to voice assurances that God will provide?  Trust and God and don’t worry are not much consolation to starving persons. But the key can be found in the words of Jesus “Seek God first, and all these things will be given you besides.”

         When our focus is on how we and God are relating to one another, those of us who have or more life’s necessities are not concerned about getting more. Rather, we cooperate with God in providing for those in need. Those who are poor can let go of their worries about survival, and those better off can be released from anxiety that derives from enslavement to possessions. These are the kinds of worries that Jesus invites us to let go. It is good when we, who have enough, worry about others who are struggling.  Jesus does not say that we should be passive in the face of genuine need, simply tossing off a happy-go-lucky assurance that God will provide.

         The help God provides is like that of a mother who could never forget her infant, as Isaiah mentions in our first reading. Likewise, the Jesus speaks of God making motherly provision by feeding and clothing not only her human children but wild flowers and birds and grasses of the field. Since God is both fatherly provider, who sows and reaps, and motherly caregiver, who feeds and clothes, all that has come forth from God is tenderly cared for before their needs are even voiced. As children of the Creator, we too, must let go of worry and trust God who wills true happiness for all. At this Mass, and this week, talk to God about your worries. Listen carefully. What response do you hear God giving you?

         Pope Francis, in his talk, “The Joy of the Gospel,” echoes every sentiment we hear from Jesus today. As the Gospel teaches and as Pope Francis reminds us, we are called to create a different world order. We are called to value the things Jesus values, not what the world values. Trusting God’s desire to care for us does not prevent bad things from happening, but trust in God dispels worry. We cannot let worry co-opt our faith in God. The problem, however, is that in our secular society a very large number of people today have not faith in God or in organized religions.They believe that society must be free from religious influence, which can mean that God or Jesus do not exist. 

         Many of us will agree that worry usually leads to intense anxiety. The birds and bees and flowers are not human but they are models for us. If God takes care of them how much more will he take care of us if only we place our trust and faith in him. It is this faith in God’s care that can allow to live free of anxiety and worry. But we must believe that God’s love for us goes way beyond any of the expected or unexpected difficulties that life might throw at us. Isaiah, our first reading, tells us that a mother cannot forget her nursing child.  But God tells us that even if Mothers would forget their children God will never forget us. Jesus is not telling us that we should be indifferent towards the needs and concerns of our daily lives, but that we must place our trust in God above all things. 

         Take a dollar bill. Printed on the bill are the words, “In God We Trust.” Is it God we trust — or the bill itself? “Mammon” which Jeus uses today is far more than money though. Mammon is can be a master of our lives that takes away our energy, our love and our hope. Only God can give hope! In a sense God is the solution to all of our worries. We must trust in God.  We can start trusting God today and dealing with each problem one day at a time.