Homilies

Homily for the Week of January 8, 2012

2012-01-08T20:23:00.000-05:00

The Epiphany of the Lord, 2012
First Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
Second Reading: Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12

Think of the time that you might have been in an open field or on a hill and watched the stars in the dark sky above you. Perhaps you saw a shooting star or tried to follow a satellite or an air plane. There is something mysterious about watching stars. They seem so far away and we feel so small and insignificant. God’s creation is mysterious, amazing. As we watch those stars, it even becomes easier to imagine the Magi fixed on following that star to Bethlehem so long ago. If we stop to think about it, today’s feast of Epiphany is both mystery and revelation.

Our first reading from Isaiah is a good preparation. He is excited as he urges Jerusalem to rise up in splendor, to see the glory of the Lord shining on the people. When we hear about gold and incense we immediately think of those Magi and the gifts they brought Jesus. It sounds like a grand celebration. But if we stoop to think about it, was it all that grand when they came? Wasn’t it hidden, perhaps dangerous? We know that Herod’s intentions were not good. He wanted no rival to his power, and the Magi, warned in a dream, went home by another way.

St. Paul, in our second reading tries to explain. Paul tells us that you and I have inherited a tremendous treasure. We have all won the lottery. We are all partners with God and Jesus. Maybe we were not expecting this. Paul could just as easily have told us that God loves us immensely and left us with some warm feelings. Paul’s words are strong. And they are even difficult at times. Put simply, all people, every last one of us, share in the same inheritance, we are members of the same body, and share in the same promise in Jesus. God has been made known to all of us through Jesus; Christians, Jew, Muslim, Mormon. God does love us all.

The real message of Epiphany is about a gift: about the gift of God to each of us through the baby Jesus. On Epiphany we are invited to recall our image of God.

Sometimes we read the newspaper, listen to the news on the radio, watch current events on television and we wonder where is God in this world of ours. In the long daily litany of pain, sorrow, suffering, dishonesty, death, greed…where is God? Where is God among leaders of nations that are at war with each other? Where is God in the earthquakes, the hurricanes, the mud slides? Where is God in poverty? Where is God in a hurting relationship or marriage? And I could go on and on.

But God is there because we have Epiphany. Epiphany means to reveal, to show, or to make known. The enduring insight from the earliest days of Israel to our own modern Christianity is that God is not remote from us; God is actively involved…God cares…God is concerned. So where’s God? God is present in the epiphanies of our life each day.

But with this love there are also expectations. We need to be strong daughters and sons of God, loving sisters and brothers of Jesus. Today we are those Magi when we are persons of good will and want to know Jesus. But we might ask: where will we find Jesus now that today, Epiphany, Jesus will leave Bethlehem and the stable and the sheep and shepherds. We will find Jesus in those sitting beside us, we will find him in those with whom we share our home and our table, in those who are hungry and come to take some of the food you give each month in the St. James Food Shelf, we will find him in the sick and homebound and nursing homes, we will find him in the unhappy in our families, in those living next door, in our classrooms, and perhaps we will find him even in our mirror if we have the courage to look.

We find God in the sacrament of everyday life. We encounter God in trials, sufferings, joys, triumphs, hopes, fears, defeats and successes that come to us each day.

The epiphanies of life are not just about us. God is present in the way we serve our neighbor. God is forever the beggar outside our gate, the victim left on the side of the road and the voice of those who have no one to plead for their needs. We are not just called to be sensitive to God’s presence within our own lives but we are also called to extend God’s presence through our care for others. Each of us is called to be a living epiphany and a sacrament of God’s love to the world around us.

God is with us. Sometimes all we have to do is take the time to open our eyes and see…open our ears and hear…open our hearts and feel the presence. May we all see and hear and feel the epiphanies of God in our lives this day and in each day to come. We need to stretch ourselves, to leave our comfort zone and realize life isn’t all about me. Life is about us, about our shared inheritance, our membership in the same body and the same promise in Jesus. God has been manifested to all. We need to open our hearts and our eyes.

Homily for the Week of January 1, 2012

2012-01-01T13:48:00.000-05:00

Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, New Year’s Day 2012
Nm 6:22-27 · Gal 4:4-7 · Lk 2:16-21

The Bible readings given to us for this day in honor of Mary the Mother of Jesus and New Year’s Day are relatively brief. The first text, from the Book of Numbers, is a blessing of God's people which seems appropriate for the first day of a new year. The gospel, from Luke, tells of the shepherds spreading the message of the news of the Lord's birth and contains that beautiful verse, "And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." The middle text, from Galatians, includes a verse so appropriate for this time of the year and the day's feast, "When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law." Also, 45 years ago when our country was at war in Viet Nam Pope Paul VI asked that New Year’s Day be designated as the World Day of Prayer for Peace.

Today is also 7 days after the birth of Jesus. According to Jewish law parents had to bring their child to the synagogue 7 days after birth in order to give the child a name. This is the day when the baby Jesus was officially given his name Jesus by his mother and father. The angel had already told Mary that his name would be Jesus. Jesus is his name in English. In Hebrew his name would have been Joshua which means one who saves. Over the centuries God had promised us a saviour who would save us from the original sins of Adam and Eve. Jesus, the saviour, finally was born.

Giving a name to a child is the most considerate gift that parents give their newborn child. While we might be identified with a nickname, it is very rare that a person will change the name given to them by their parents at birth and at Baptism. Our name sets us apart from everyone else. It identifies us. We respond to it. We spell and write it thousand of times during our lifetime. One way by which we hurt persons is to disrespect them by using their name sarcastically. In some way a person’s name reveals that person’s true identity.

The name Jesus or Jesus Christ is often used in everything from idle conversation, to bumper stickers and jewelry, to enforcing false teachings, to justifying wars and political agendas. Like the name God it is often used as a profanity or in as a curse. The name Joshua however, has remained pure and holy. While it is rarely used, it is used only by those who would praise the name of Jesus and His teachings. Likewise we too should use the name of Jesus for only spiritual matters and sincere prayer.

Every teacher supervising a playground knows that calling out a child’s name is an effective way of getting attention or correcting a problem. People can be hurt if we forget their names. Forgetting a person’s name can be received as a sign that the person doesn’t matter. Catholics have the custom of bowing whenever the name of Jesus is spoken.

Our first reading today is from the Book of Numbers in which we are given a blessing that relates to a name. In the blessing we are told to put the name of God on what we own. This is much like writing our name on items in order to identify them as being our possessions. This is exactly what God is saying, that we are His. We are not possessions in the sense of things; we have been made members of God’s family. It is in this sense that God’s name is put on us.

As Jesus started to grow up we can imagine Him blessing his mother many times. We can also imagine Mary blessing Jesus many times. As our first reading stated: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.

Mary would be the first to remind us that is only through her son Jesus that we can enter heaven after we die. As a Jewish woman Mary also had great trust and faith in God the Father. And God is our father, because Jesus is our brother, because Mary said yes to being his mother -- and is also our mother as well. God cared enough to send his very best in Jesus. But God needed a human mother to cooperate in this plan of salvation. But we must see Mary as a real human being who was frightened when the angel told her she could be the Mother of Jesus, who was upset when she lost Jesus among the people who had come to the temple, and who cried when her beloved son was nailed to a cross like a common criminal.

On this New Year's Day, we are given an opportunity to begin this new year by asking the questions and seeking our answers. Human beings, like all living creatures, learn through imitation. It is no surprise, then, that as we seek to grow spiritually and be a better person, we look to others: parents, godparents, sponsors, and others who, by example, show us how to follow Jesus. The church gives us role models, the saints, who have faithfully followed Jesus by living lives of holiness. Among all of the Church’s saints, the greatest example is Mary.

New Year's is also a time of making ''New Year's Resolutions.'' A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. So many times we keep our resolutions only as long as it takes the time to say them. Or we make a list of them, but forget where we put the list. We may make too many of them. I invite each of you to make just two spiritual resolution: each day of this new year spend at least 5 minutes in prayer, and always use the name of God or Jesus with respect. And may your new year be a happy one.

Homily for the Week of December 25, 2011

2011-12-25T19:19:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homily for the Week of December 18, 2011

2011-12-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

Luke’s gospel for today unfolds the mystery of Advent. God has decided to send someone like us to free us from sin and to show us how we can love others as ourselves. He is never more delighted than to dwell in human hearts that return great love for them. Love is God’s luxury palace. Love is the message which Mary gave to the angel when she was invited to be the mother of Jesus.

Spiritually, the last three weeks of Advent have been all about waiting for the birth of a child in Bethlehem by the name of Jesus. And hopefully we know now what the waiting was all about. But there is more to the waiting. It was so that we could live our lives in happiness and hope even when we have a world at war, and because of it, many families this Christmas will not have their loving sons or daughters at home around the table or the Christmas tree.

Our faith convinces us that God is always with us. He helps to make sense of our suffering and miseries and death of loved ones. He helps us to believe that we are part of a much larger Advent when love will be born for the last time. Each of us can say an unqualified Yes to God and to our life, much as Mary did, or we can decide to spent our time in stress and hopleslessness.

At the time today’s Gospel story was written, an unmarried girl in similar circumstances could be stoned to death. Yet Mary, who has made every decision in her life based on what God would do, once again decides to place her trust in God and do things His way. Mary is a remarkable example for us of someone who involves God in all that they do. Do we even bother to involve Him in the big decisions of the day -- or even the small decisions?

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

At school we are faced with many decisions, some involve pressure that is being put on us by our classmates. It seems easier to neglect God and do what our classmates want us to do, since we have to deal with them every day.

At work many of our decisions affect others. Do we always consider the effect that our decisions are going to have on others? Do we ever ask God what we should do?

Do our decisions at home with our family always involve thinking of all of them first and ourselves last? As we await the joyful birth of our Lord Jesus next weekend let us pray for perseverance: for the grace to be faithful in good times and in bad, in season and out of season. Like Mary, let us involve God in all of our decisions. And in all of our decisions, like Mary, let us also try to say to God: Let it be done to me as you would like.

Homily for the Week of December 11, 2011

2011-12-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

On this third weekend of Advent we Catholics are invited to have joy - to rejoice. Spiritual joy is not so much a feeling as a conviction. Happiness is a state of spiritual health. We tend to think that if we feel happy, we are happy. And if we don’t feel happy, we think we are not happy. Just as we may be healthy and feel unhealthy, so also we can feel unhappy and really be happy. Happiness is not the same as pleasure. Pleasure comes and goes. Happiness lasts. In fact, very often happy people have very little pleasure in their life.

But there are no short cuts to happiness. Advent teaches us the importance of waiting and watching. Not simply passing time until something happens, but using time spiritually to prepare ourselves for the Lord who is with us, yet who is to come. And lest we imagine it is all hard work and sacrifice, we are reminded it is about happiness too.

God gives us happiness as a free gift, especially to share it with others. Doing what God want us to do can make us happy. It can also increase our happiness. And one of the sure ways of bringing joy and happiness to our lives is doing something for others. That is why those preparing for confirmation are invited to give of their time and talents in serving others. It is a way to give back to others what has been given us.

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

Today's Mass joyfully invites us to open our eyes to recognize a remarkable "secret," the presence of Jesus--but not simply a Jesus who came long ago or who is coming again. Rather, we are invited to look deep into the ordinary lives we live and to the ordinary people with whom we live, there to recognize the "secret," extraordinary presence of the One we call Jesus.

During this week take some time to think of what gives you joy. It might be watching your children or grandchildren. It might be nature or sports or woodworking or needlework. Maybe it is music or art. Perhaps it is just being able to see or to hear. Whatever it is that gives you joy, stop and think about it. Appreciate it. Then think of the ever faithful God who provided you with that joy or experience. Be joyful and thank God. Let us have the courage to do what the Little Drummer Boy and John the Baptist did in the name of Jesus.

Homily for the Week of December 4, 2011

2011-12-04T14:01:00.001-05:00

Second Sunday of Advent, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

The first job in building a new road is to clear the right of way. There may be trees to cut down and stumps to pull up. Sometimes buildings must be torn down or moved. The right of way then is ready for rough grading. Our first reading today gives us a hint of road construction about 4000 years ago. There were no earth movers or Bull dozers, but somehow the valleys were filled in and the mountains were cut down so that the crooked ways might be made straight and a road for the lord be built.

John inspired many of his followers to follow Jesus. Among these were Andrew and his brother John. He became convinced that his cousin Jesus was really the Savior and Son of God, and wanted everyone to prepare the way for Jesus.

Some people went to John because they were spiritually bankrupt. They were empty, and they hoped that John could fill the empty place. Others went to John because they had it all, but it wasn't enough. They had money and homes, but they wanted more. But then, when they got more, they still felt that they did not have enough. Nothing made them happy. They went to John hoping that he could pull together the broken pieces of their lives, and make them whole.

These reasons for coming to John sound like some of the reasons that people turn to Jesus today. Each of us for various reasons feel within us a need for change or conversion.

All of us have experienced someone telling us how to change our lives. This call to change our lives may be the only one that some of us have ever heard. Like with John the Baptist we may have been invited to think about a new way of life, or to return to a time in our life when we were happier. I recently read an interesting fact that the today the largest number of American Christians are those who no longer practice their Catholic religion. Like the people talked about in our first reading, these persons are in exile. In a sense they have left home and are wandering.

But Advent is a time for each of us to experience our restlessness and emptiness. As Christians, we have the role of preparing the way of the Lord, not only for ourselves but for others. Before we help prepare others, we must be conscious as to how we experience our exile, our own sins and seek forgiveness. Bad habits can make us a person we do not want to be, or they can make us blind to ourselves and to others. Advent is a time for our renewal. John the Baptist came to straighten out the road for Jesus, to prepare his way. We too may need to get the road of our lives straightened and the interstate highways of our hearts ready so that we take the right road or be able to get out of the ruts of our life.

This Advent let us welcome back into our lives someone whom we have not related with for a long time; and on the other hand, let us also welcome into our lives someone who comes to us to renew a relationship. And finally, each one of us in this church today knows of a Catholic who is right now inactive. In kindness reach out to that person, inviting that person to return. If you and I do not prepare the way for the Lord, who will?

Homily for the Week of November 27, 2011

2011-11-27T08:36:00.001-05:00

HOMILY: FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, 2011 Year B

Mk 13: 33-37

We begin today the first week of Advent. Advent means new beginning. For the Church Advent is the beginning of a new year. For the first time in 45 years we are celebrating Mass using the new translation of the Roman Missal. We have changed the color of the clothes an altar cloths to Roman purple. Diane of Country Expressions stopped by this morning to arrange the Advent wreath. But as with everything else, we can easily let these weeks of Advent pass us by and not affect us spiritually. It is so easy for us to follow the crowds and tend to make Christmas a materialistic day rather than a spiritual day. Yet, Advent every year means hope in the future coming of a loving God to us. This Advent brings us to the 2011th anniversary of the birth of Jesus. Advent is a time of hope, but Advent is also a time of waiting.

All waiting is about anticipating something. At sports arenas, people wait with anticipation and excitement for games to begin. Children as well as adults wait to open gifts.

Waiting is most likely not your favorite activity. As children we could hardly wait for birthdays, free days and holidays. But as we got older we wanted things to happen more quickly. At times we wait for something to happen, and at other times we wait for something not to happen. Each year the Catholic Church gives us 4 weeks of Advent as a time of waiting and pausing. But waiting must be connected with preparation. Advent is 4 weeks of the spiritual preparation time for Jesus to be known in our life, in our family, in our parish, in any place where we might be.

Two thousand years ago a woman without a husband in her 8th month of pregnancy was waiting for the birth of her first child. It would soon become known that this child was the Savior promised by Isaiah who would save us from our sins. He would be given the name Jesus.

The Bible readings today give us a sense that we are getting ready for something. Isaiah asks God to return. He uses the example of clay, the same type of clay which many of you may mold when you make ceramics. He speaks of himself as clay in the hands of a potter. God is the potter, creating us in his image and likeness, but helping us not to go astray or to break the mold.

In Psalm 80 we are told that all will be all right as long as we prepare ourselves. When, however, we come to the section from Mark's Gospel, the emphasis shifts slightly. There's no more asking God to do all the work and take all the responsibility for our readiness. Mark tells us to stay awake. The master of the house may come unexpectedly. Seldom did persons at the time of Jesus travel by night, so the warning is presumably against daytime negligence rather than an order not to fall asleep at the wheel.

Advent is a time of waiting for the birth of one who was promised centuries ago to bring good news to the poor, and deliverance from those in prison. This year it is a time of 29 days during which we are invited to renew our desire to STAY AWAKE; to WATCH so that we might be ready for the coming of Jesus. Advent means more than getting out the Christmas crib or the Christmas tree with its decorations or the poinsettias or the Christmas candy or the Christmas cards.

Advent is a time for us to prepare ourselves religiously for the coming of the Lord Jesus who wishes to be born anew in our lives. Advent is a time of proclaiming death to the deeds of our life that prevent us from giving birth. Because death is so difficult and so much to be avoided, then Advent in a spiritual sense, is a time of suffering and self-denial. That is why we have purple--a color associated in the church with suffering and waiting. Advent comes at the shortest days of the year, the darkest days almost as a reminder that we must take an honest look at how our lives can easily be filled with darkness.

Advent is also a time when we are encouraged to see the good in others when it is so easy for us to complain about the bad things that others do. Jesus came to be the light of the world. We will soon light one candle of this Advent wreath to remind us that we too must see the light and goodness in others.

Try to make this Advent a time of joy and celebration in much the same way that you would do if you were expecting a child. Advent can also be a time for us to start again on doing the good things we have been putting off.

Let’s spend Advent attending. Attend to the personal needs we have long neglected: the need for excitement, the need for rest, the need for attention. Attend to the needs of others: the need for understanding and caring. The spirit of Christmas is the birth of Jesus. Make room in your heart and life for Jesus and God.

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

Homily for the Week of November 20, 2011

2011-11-20T17:12:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homily for the Week of November 13, 2011

2011-11-13T16:43:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

Today Jesus tells us a story about a wealthy man who went away on a journey. He entrusted large portions of his money to three of his servants. The servants were entrusted with money beyond their wildest imagination. He did so without any instruction, giving the servants the freedom to use their own discretion and initiative with how to handle their responsibility for the money. He gave different amounts of money to each of the servants. The first two servants invested the money during the master's absence and it yielded great returns. The third servant, however, was fearful of investing. The servant buried the money he was given and returned the full amount to the master when he came home. The master was pleased with the investments of the first two servants, but was very upset with the third one. It is very clear that the one with the single talent was nor punished fo receiving less than the other two; rather he was punished because he buried what he had received from the master and didn’t put it to good use. To those who have much, much more will be given. To those who have little, even that little will be taken away.

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

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

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

This story is less about money than about what happens at the end of our life. It is about gifts and giving gifts. Whatever is given to us by God -- whether it is money, or special abilities, or opportunities, are given, not to grow stale but to be increased. And the way that we are to be judged on that increase is not on how much we have kept for ourselves, or how important it might make us, but how much we have given away -- how well have we served one another. And serving is defined as how well we have helped those among us that have the least: the least money, the least natural abilities, the least opportunities, and least faith.

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

Notice that in this Bible story, it is the owner’s work that the servants are to do, his money that he hands over to them; and it is obvious that he expects them to do something with those funds.

God has given each one of us talents. Sometimes out of laziness or lack of ambition, or sometimes because we are afraid of failure or ridicule, we do not share our talents. The gospel today challenges us to take a risk and invest our gifts for the greater good of God's people. We do this ourselves as adults, but we must also try to help our children recognize their talents and use them in a productive way.

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

Homily for the Week of November 6, 2011

2011-11-06T16:42:00.000-05:00

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homily for the Week of October 30, 2011

2011-10-30T16:44:00.000-04:00

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homily for the Week of October 23, 2011

2011-10-23T16:44:00.000-04:00

Homily 30th Sunday A 2011

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

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

By the time of Jesus, the Jewish Law included 613 actions that we should do or should not do. So it would have been appropriate for a lawyer to ask Jesus which one of these 613 laws is the most important. And that is what the Pharisee did. But the Pharisee was not really interested in knowing which was the most important law, but he wanted to trick Jesus. According to the Jewish religion all laws were equally important because they believed that all laws were from God; therefore, all were important. To pick one law over another was not to be done.

Jesus could have answered the question by giving a long discussion of Jewish laws, But Jesus did not answer that question directly. Instead Jesus goes to the Jewish Bible which all Jews would have known very well. He quotes the Jewish book of Deuteronomy: You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Jesus went on to add another law which was written in the Jewish book of Leviticus: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. Jesus links the love of God and the love of neighbor. They are different aspects of the same reality and can never be separated. They form what is known as the Golden Rule: Do to others what you want them to do to you.

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

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

God's law was compassionate, and it demanded that the defenseless be cared for. Much of Jesus' life was spent reaching out to those whom society had forgotten. He sought out the ''widows and orphans'' in order to show them that God did love them.

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

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

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

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

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

Homily for the Week of October 16, 2011

2011-10-16T16:45:00.000-04:00

29th week in Ordinary Time, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homily for the Week of October 9, 2011

2011-10-09T16:45:00.000-04:00

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homily for the Week of October 2, 2011

2011-10-02T16:46:00.000-04:00

RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY, 2011

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

Jesus had a way of getting peoples attention. He spoke about things in which people were vitally interested. Today it is about a vineyard that was no longer producing. This weekend known as Pro-Life weekend throughout the United States, we remind ourselves of the dignity of all life. If Jesus were living in our country today he would probably talk about the wars in parts of our world; he would talk about unemployment and taxes and the increase of violence in all parts of our society. He would talk about the billionaire abortion industry. He would talk about the ageing mother whose children have forgotten her; about the single mother abandoned by the father of their child. He would talk about the littlest, the weakest and the most vulnerable among us. All of these and all of us are part of his vineyard.

Sometimes our country seems like a vineyard which has gone to seed. It is much like the Roman Empire 2000 years ago when Jesus lived, and Herod had all the new born babies killed thinking that the baby of Mary and Joseph might be one of them. Our country was founded on the belief that God has granted every American an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet the availability of abortion on demand, our lack of concern for the elderly and those most vulnerable, the billion dollar pornographic industry, seem to be signs of a nation gone astray. Such was the condition of Jerusalem in the time of the prophet Isaiah, when God asks them what he has done to deserve this sad state of affairs. He threatens to let the thorns and the briars take over this wild vineyard.

In today's Gospel Jesus tells the story of the landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. Of course, the tenants neglect the vineyard, but worse, when the landlord sends his son to inspect the vineyard, the tenants kill him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes? Jesus asks his disciples. It does not take a Bible scholar to figure out that they will be punished for their mismanagement of the vineyard.

In his letter to the Philippians today, Saint Paul gives us good counsel on how to promote the Gospel of Life. He advises thatwhatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

More and more protection of life issues have been advertised as a private choice. A choice that has no connection with what is right. Some of our most challenging moral decisions come at the beginning of life, or in the final months and even hours of life. Advances in medical science have made it possible to extend life, even those with incurable illnesses. How we deal with persons in the beginning of life or in the last stages of life, says a great deal about the kind of society we live in and the kind of persons we are. In a civilized society the law exists to protect life. When it also begins to make legal the taking of life, then we can ask what lies ahead for our lives in such a society. We can begin to ask how do we relate to one another humanly and spiritually, especially towards those that have the least power to defend themselves; the very young and the very sick.

We must continue to witness by deed to linking caring for life and defending life. We have usually done well in caring for life as is evident by the many works of charity done by Catholics. I commend those who have supported single mothers, those who work in health care facilities and programs that care for the dying and give them hope in the face of a long, painful dying process, those who volunteer in soup kitchens, those who bring food for our Food Shelf. But as people of faith, regardless of the circumstances, we must see death as a friend, not an enemy; and the experience of death is going from one life to another life.

The truth is, that each life is of infinite value. Protecting and promoting life, caring for it and defending it, has no simple or easy solutions. The story told by Jesus today is a teaching about the providence of God. The landowner has a purpose for the land, and having put everything in place for the desired result, he entrusts the project to others, giving them an interest in its success. But the tenants snub the attempts of the landowner to reclaim the project. They even go so far as to murder the landowner's own son. Even then, the landowner is not controlling but seeking to influence by good will, persuasion, enticement. When this fails, he intervenes decisively, handing over the vineyard to other tenants.

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

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

Homily for the Week of September 25, 2011

2011-09-25T16:48:00.000-04:00

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A, 2011

Ez 18:25-28; Phil 2:1-11; Mt 21: 28-32

The word attitude usually refers to our view of the world. No two of us have exactly the same attitude. This is best illustrated by an old story once told about an ancient Persian Religion teacher and his son, who were walking along a country road behind their donkey who was constantly nibbling on grass. A man, seeing the teacher and his son perspiring profusely remarked: Look how foolish they are, walking instead of riding.

Hearing the remark, the teacher and his son climbed on the donkey and rode to the next village. There they heard an old man exclaim: They ought to be ashamed making that poor donkey carry two riders. Then the teacher got off the donkey and walked beside while his son rode the donkey to the next village.

Then the teacher heard the comment: Poor old man. That boy should be ashamed, making his poor old dad walk. Then the Teacher got on the donkey while his son got off and walked.

Finally another villager made this observation: Look at that old man riding while his son has to walk. How cruel!

The attitude of the villagers discloses how they view the world of the old men, the young boy, and donkeys, but also it teaches us that the old man really had no opinion of his own concerning this situation. He merely reacted repeatedly to the comments of those around him.

In our Gospel Jesus makes the comparison with the behavior of the spiritual leaders of his time, and those who saw themselves as good. They could say to Jesus "Yes, Lord," but they had no need to change their way of life. It was really the so-called bad people, the tax collectors and the impure women, who truly heard the words of Jesus and acted upon them.

There is something in all three of today's readings that speaks to us of promises kept, of walking in truth, of recognizing our dependence upon God and of not merely giving lip-service to God, of not thinking that just because we keep to the rules we are safe. All three readings give us information about standards. What standards do we live by?

You probably can point to few people who seem to promote one set of standards, while they live by another. You might also be able to point to a few people who come off lacking standards that they actually live by. For example, you might have one friend who claims to believe in chastity which in church but doesn't follow through on his belief in his life, and another friend who dresses provocatively and claims not to believe in God's teachings on chastity but does remain chaste in practice .

Some of us may see the same dynamics happening in some areas of our own life. Sometimes we might promote our Catholic faith even though we know we are struggling to live up to it. Other times, we might be living according to our Catholic faith but not want to admit it to others. Whenever we proclaim our Christian values, we run the risk of looking hypocritical by falling short of them. But when we don't express our values to others, we may lose an opportunity to teach others about our faith. Some days we might be more like the son in the Gospel who said to his Dad I will not, but afterward changed his mind and went. Other days we might be like the son who said to his dad I will, but did not go.

Do we love our enemies providing they are hundreds of miles away. Do we decide to get rid of our bad habits and addictions only when the doctor tells us that they will kill us? Do we feel guilty or ashamed of what we are doing only when someone happens to see us? Many of us may say Yes to these questions.

In the Lord's Prayer, we say "Your will be done." How often we repeat these words, but how hard it is to accept what happens today in our own lives! The measure of the way we keep our promises to God is mirrored in the way we keep them to others. If we try not to make unremarkable promises but know that if we give our word then we must keep it, then we are walking in the truth. The more our faithfulness mirrors God's own, the more we are able to share God's great love with the world.

When do you find it difficult to keep your promise? In prayer, invite Christ to listen to your difficulty and to give you the gift of understanding your difficulty.

No matter how close we are to God, we all have need of repentance, how might God be calling you to repent? What new level of faithfulness might God be inviting you to?

Homily for the Week of September 18, 2011

2011-09-18T07:23:00.003-04:00

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

Isaiah 55: 6-9

Psalm 145

Philippians 1:20-24

Matthew 10:1-16

A wonderful Internet story tells of a woman who celebrated her 100th birthday. Her three sons wished to make the occasion special and the gifts extravagant. The first son bought his mother a 15-bedroom mansion. The second son gave his mother a Rolls Royce limousine complete with a fully compensated chauffeur. The third son wanted to present his mother with something very different. Knowing that his mother was very religious, he bought her a special parrot. The highly expensive parrot had been trained by a monk over a period of 15 years to recite the entire Bible. Anyone could name a chapter and verse and the parrot would respond with the correct quotation.

The mother sent thank-you notes to each of her sons for their gifts, but she wrote something a little more special for her third son. She wrote that she was grateful for the mansion given to her by her first son, but that she only really lived in one room. She was also grateful for the Rolls Royce and the chauffeur, but at her age she rarely went anywhere. Continuing her note to her third son she said, “You always know how to give the most practical and useful kind of gifts. That was the most delicious chicken I’ve ever eaten!”

Jesus tells a story that was common for first-century Palestinian employers, like the man in today’s story, to go to the marketplace to hire workers. It was where jobseekers always gathered. Nevertheless, the employer in Jesus’ story breaks the mold in a few key ways. On the same day he repeatedly visits the marketplace to hire workers, instead of just once. He goes there at 6 a.m., 9 a.m., 12 noon, 3 p.m., and again at 5 p.m. The workers all agreed on their pay for the day. When he paid the workers at the end of the day, those who worked the longest expected more pay. But the man said, “I paid you what we agreed. If I want to be generous, I can.”

Of all the stories of Jesus, today’s is the most unusual and the most uncomfortable. From our human point of view, there appears to be an injustice in paying workers who had worked only one hour the same amount as workers who had worked an entire day. From a certain point of view, especially in Jesus’ day, it was unjust to compensate workers differently. In our country the law demands equal pay for equal work. If all the workers in the story received the same amount, those who worked only one hour were paid a vastly higher hourly wage than those who had worked all day.

The pay for the first workers is an example of retributive justice, meaning that a person is paid according to the work done. Since the first workers had done more work than the late arrivals, by their reckoning they had a right to expect more pay. God’s justice, however, is very different. It works in an entirely different way, a way that makes us uncomfortable.

According to our sense of retributive justice, we believe not only that pay should be equal to the work performed, but that in our judicial system punishment should be equal to the crime. For us, “retributive” does not mean that the punishment should fit the crime. What we think of is “retribution,” punishment that carries a sense of revenge. We not only want to “get even,” we also want something more: we want revenge. With this attitude, unfortunately, it becomes almost impossible to grasp the meaning of God’s love.

We are concerned with our rights far more than with our generosity. We are concerned far more with our rights than with our opportunities to serve. We prefer punishment to rehabilitation. We are happier with having a criminal be severely punished rather than with doing something to help prevent that criminal from offending again. We prefer not speaking to a person again rather than attempting reconciliation. We prefer movies where the star forgets the law and gets his or her own revenge.

The man hanging on the cross next to Jesus was a real criminal. By his own admission, the criminal deserved his fate. He had lived his life in such a way that even he recognized that being put to death was just. With his recognition of Jesus as Lord at the last minute, his reward in heaven became the same as the greatest saint that ever lived. Are we prepared to experience this in heaven? Are we prepared to see our worst enemy standing next to us before the throne of God when we have tried hard for a longer time to live good lives?

If an lawyer or any of us reads the fine print in the hiring of the various workers in today’s Bible story, we will find that the first-hired and longest-laboring workers agreed to work for the usual daily wage. Yet, rather than accepting what was agreed upon, they expected more.

What does it mean to be fair? God is much more fair to us than we can imagine. In family life, there are times when children may think parents are unfair. Parents have many hard decisions to make, and children learn when they are included as much as possible in the

decision making.

God is not like human beings who persist in holding a grudge against those who wrong them. Rather, God always remains near to those who call upon him. What God offers each and every one of us is glory in His Kingdom. Will this be enough for us? Will we be satisfied? Is the usual daily wage acceptable to us? God is generous in all things, even in offering forgiveness. Will this bother us, or do we take comfort knowing God’s generosity and mercy? Jesus said “The last shall

be first.” We are all workers, working our way into heaven at the end of our life.

Homily for the Week of September 11, 2011

2011-09-11T08:59:00.001-04:00

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 9/11/11

Ecclesiasticus 27,30 - 28,7

Psalm 102,1-2.3-4.9-10.11-12

Romans 14,7-9

Matthew 18,21-35

Patriot Day is observed every September 11 to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the United States. The date falls on a Sunday in 2011, and this year’s observance commemorating the 10th anniversary of the attacks will be a cause of much reflection and remembrance.

Today’s Bible readings offer an uncomfortable, but clear challenge to us on this anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks: the challenge of forgiveness.

The first reading from the Book of Sirach reminds us to release or turn over to the Lord our anger and desire for vengeance, for it is God’s role, not ours, to punish those who have done evil. We are not to be vengeful; we are to forgive. “The vengeful will suffer the Lord’sˆvengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail,” Sirach writes. But as for us, we must forgive: “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.”

It is important to remember, however, that forgiving another does not mean absolving them of responsibility. To forgive another is to confirm that they have done wrong and are in need of forgiveness. Mercy does not cancel out justice or the need for conversion, but it does open up a path of charity that encourages and promotes conversion and justice. For the Catholic in the world, we live in mercy and we long for justice, but we entrust final justice always to God. As long as we believe in the power and mercy of God, we always hope for this.

Note that the reason given for why we should forgive, is that none of us are free of sin and guilt. We are all sinners, we have all done wrong. Yet, God forgives us, and so we must forgive others. God treats us with forgiveness, love and compassion, and we must do the same. As we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Again in the Gospel, the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, we hear the story of the master forgives the servant of his debt. The message is that God forgives us not because we deserve it, but because God is merciful. Yet, when that servant does not extend the same forgiveness to others, he gets himself into trouble, for he has not acted toward others the way the master acted toward him. We are called to forgive those who sin against us. Peter’s asks Jesus, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answers, “Not seven times but seventy-seven times” .

We have probably heard this instruction many times and we can sometimes take it for granted. It may be easy to apply to everyday situations: I will forgive you for leaving your dishes in the sink, being late to pick me up, forgetting my birthday, etc. But in fact, these everyday situations are ultimately about developing an attitude of forgiveness that can define our lives. Without that kind of attitude, what will we do about the really difficult situations in life:

…the spouse who cheats;

…how about the priest who abuses a child;

…the murderer on death row;

…the terrorists who plotted and carried out the attacks on September 11, 2001?

Our inclination may be simply to say that some things are too terrible to forgive. Certainly, it is only human that we must often go through a period of anger, bitterness, and mourning.

But there is great wisdom in Jesus’ words about forgiveness. Our human experience tells us that when we hold on to anger and hatred, it eats away at us. It can begin to change us and make us into persons we never wanted to be. In some ways, forgiveness frees the one who forgives from carrying that burden. We can let it go and entrust the other to God who is better able to deal with them.

Jesus is not urging us simply to be passive in the face of evil. We must still work to protect the innocent and to hold those who perpetrate crimes against humanity accountable. Forgiveness requires that we address the situation in a positive and loving way, instead of with fear and hatred.

This may be a hard message to hear, but Jesus’ words today are challenging us in a big way. When something that is dearest to us has been attacked, how will we respond? The Gospel challenges us to consider what a Christian response might be. Our response will have long-lasting implications on us as persons and as a society.

Remember, forgiveness does not mean doing nothing. We can pray, teach, engage in dialogue, and urge our leaders to work together for peace and to eliminate injustice. Our first responsibility on this anniversary is to pray for those who died in the 9/11 attacks. We must continue to pray for every family that lost loved ones. We must pray for every member of the military who has died in the war on terror and for their families as well.

Our second responsibility is to welcome the irony that the Bible readings given to us on 9/11 are about forgiveness. Given this contrast, we might be reminded that to live by our principles is our first and best weapon against evil.

Homily for the Week of September 4, 2011

2011-09-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 2011

Ezekiel 33,7-9

Psalm 94,1-2.6-7.8-9

Romans 13,8-10

Matthew 18,15-20

Each year we Americans celebrate Labor Day as a national holiday to honor American workers. As we approach Labor Day this year, over nine percent of Americans are looking for work and cannot find it. Other workers fear they could lose their jobs. Many families have lost their homes, and others owe more on their homes than they are worth. Hunger and homelessness are a part of life for too many children. This year, it is less a time for celebration and more a time for reflection on hardships experienced by workers and their families. For Catholics, it is also an opportunity to recall the teaching of the Church on the dignity of work and the rights of workers.

A look back in American history gives us a picture of our country about 150 years ago when workers were treated poorly, wages were kept low, most workers lived in poverty, children were forced into labor Government laws either forbade or interfered with the efforts of laborers to improve their lives. In Chicago a peaceful rally was being held to support striking workers. Police officers and strikers were killed. The organizers of the rally were arrested. After an unjust trial 4 of them were considered guilty and died by hanging. Later all 4 of these men were found to be innocent.

A few years later a conflict developed between the railroad labor unions and the Pullman railroad car company at Pullman, Ill. It grew into a nation-wide conflict between the railroad labor union and the railroads. The railroad union had been fighting to create an eight-hour workday. As a result President Cleveland signed a law making Labor Day a national holiday.

Today, few of us are aware of the injustices and the blood spilled to gain the rights that workers now enjoy in the United States. Unions fought for the good of workers. In our political atmosphere today we have a hard time remembering where we have come from in terms of labor justice. Tomorrow, Labor Day, take a moment to remember that Labor Day was created to help us remember the cost of justice for workers.

In our first reading today Ezekiel was told by the Lord that he was to be a watchman for the house of Israel. He was to be a voice for God to keep people faithful, and to be a voice for justice, something that became lacking as people of wealth and power fell away from God.

In the Gospel St. Matthew records Jesus’ telling His disciples that they are their brothers’ keepers with a responsibility to point out the faults of others. The “fault” to be corrected was not connecting our faith with how we treat others. Like Ezekiel, the disciples are to call believers to faithfulness, but they were not to be righteous judges. Jesus put this task in the context of Christian love. We are not to be hardhearted as we pray in the Psalm response today. We are called to be a loving and joyful people who sincerely want to share what we have been given. We work with and within the community of faith. In the community, which means wherever two or three are gathered, we must remember that we speak because of Christ’s love.

Being afraid, however, makes us want to run the other way, How often have we not gotten involved because we were afraid of anger or rejection, fear of being hurt again. Those are all reasonable fears, but they account for only one side of the reality, because hidden in the heart of even the most hardened sinner -- right next to all the meanness -- is an untapped reservoir of goodness. That goodness can be drawn forth and made to grow. But first, that goodness has to be seen, and named and hoped in.

As teachers and coaches know, to fail to see the good in another, and not to tell the person of that goodness, means we fail to expect the good from another. When we do this we ultimately condemn that person to death. But to see and name the goodness of another, and to hope in that goodness, is to support one another and give the gift of life. There is not one of us who does not appreciate honest praise for the good that we have done. We all like to be appreciated.

Note that Jesus does not tell us to ignore the enemy. Rather Jesus ask us to love the enemy. But it is not the kind of love that allows others to remain just the way they are. Rather it is a love that is strong enough to help people to grow, to change for the better, and even to get them to seek forgiveness from God.

But what if we do all of this, and yet nothing seems to change between the two of you. Jesus tells us that then we are to pray for the person. Jesus says: IF TWO OF YOU AGREE ON EARTH ABOUT ANYTHING FOR WHICH YOU ARE TO PRAY, IT SHALL BE GRANTED TO THEM.

Why is prayer the best remedy after you have exhausted all human remedies? Because Jesus adds his own powerful prayers to ours. When we pray Jesus is in our midst. There is never any more powerful prayer than when we gather around His altar as we are doing today.

Homily for the Week of August 28, 2011

2011-08-28T11:03:00.000-04:00

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time August 28, 2011

Jeremiah 20,7-9

Psalm 62,2.3-4.5-6.8-9

Romans 12,1-2

Matthew 16,21-27

Flags have had an important part in the history of our Country. In the early days of country a popular flag was known as the Gadsden flag. It is a historical American flag with in yellow depicting a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike. Positioned below the snake is the legend "DON'T TREAD ON ME." The flag was designed by and is named after American general and statesman Christopher Gadsden. It was the first flag ever carried into battle by the Marine Corps during the American Revolution.

This flag is the message common by many people today: “Don’t tread on me.” We don’t want to hear about responsibility, accountability and discipline. At least we do not want to hear those words spoken about us. Every bad thing is someone else’s fault, and it is always up to someone else to fix our problems. We want our government to cut spending as long as cutbacks don’t affect me and my family.

But St. Paul tells us today, “Do not conform yourselves to this age.” Unfortunately too many of us do, and the Gospel then becomes an obstacle to our happiness rather than the path to happiness. In the Gospel from which I just read Peter had genuine concern for Jesus. He surely did not want his Teacher to die. Peter’s concern was understandable and reasonable.

But Jesus condemns Peter. He tries to explain to Peter that what is required for being a follower of Jesus may not seem reasonable and it may go against our common sense. When Jesus said to Peter, “You are an obstacle to me,” the word for obstacle is the same word as the word “scandal.”

Scandal means that we cause someone else to do something wrong just by others seeing what we are doing. Amazingly, we do not have to do something wrong to create a scandal. Doing nothing or taking the easy way is scandalous too. Things we do, say or wear can be scandalous. Scandal can also be something that we do not to that we should be doing. Scandal is especially wrong when when it is done by those who are supposed to teach and lead others. But as you may know, that is not always easy.

Our first reading today is a section from Jeremiah. It is one of the most moving passages of the Old Testament. But as any biblical text it must be placed in its context to be understood. The passage quoted expresses in vivid detail how difficult it can be to follow God. God had ask Jeremiah to be one of his representatives; that is, a person chosen to speak for God. Jeremiah feels that God "duped" him. Jeremiah does speak for God, but when he does, he gets insulted.Everyone laughs at me, he says. But inspite of that, Jeremiah still keeps on living as God wants him because it becomes like fire burning in my heart.

Isn't this a powerful description of how we suffer when we obey our conscience. Our conscience is the voice of God within each of us who keeps telling us: you are being good or you are being bad. No matter what we try to do to deny or stifle that voice, it is always there. Jeremiah in our first reading would have loved an easier time being a representative of God. Jeremiah, however, loved God, and he could not escape the duty that comes with loving God. It is tough being Jeremiah and doing the hard things, but if more of us did, imagine how much better the world could be.

The readings of today's Mass all give the same message. They tell us that our blessings in life may also involve crosses. But our life must not be a cross for others. That would be an example of scandal. We may decide for whatever reason to go against God. If and when we do the price we pay is not being true to our deepest self. God and Jesus are to be trusted absolutely. God will stand at our side. In worshipping God we should be ever mindful of these basic truths and offer ourselves to God in trust.

Today’s gospel challenges us to say no to the very attractive but one-sided gospel of instant glory, a sugar-coated gospel that offers the false promise of no crosses. Often we followers of Jesus may think: “Only believe and it will all go well with you.” It didn’t all go well for Jesus; he still had to endure the cross. It didn’t all go well with Mary; a sword of sorrow still pierced her soul. It didn’t all go well with the countless men and women saints who have gone before us.

Each day we are tempted to abandon God and do things that our consciences says we should not do. It is so easy for us to pick and chose parts of the bible or our Catholic faith, and accept those parts and practices that make our religion painless. It is so easy to yield to peer pressure, which is one of the most powerful social forces in the world. It is so easy to stifle the voice of our conscience when we see other people apparently stifling theirs. But that is not what today's readings urge us to do. For Jeremiah, for Paul, and for Matthew, God calls us to a difficult vocation. Unless we constantly remind ourselves of this we will fail to be the kind of disciples that Christ expects us to be.

If we pick up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus, our cross can also become a blessing and a stepping stone to greater things.

Homily for the Week of August 21, 2011

2011-08-21T11:05:00.000-04:00

TWENTIETH-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A 2011

Readings: Isaiah 22:19-23;

Romans 11:33-36;

Matthew 16: 13-20

A new school year will soon be here. We all have our own memories of school and of classroom participation. One of the memories might be tests that are planned and announced by the teacher and some pop tests that are unannounced. At the time of Jesus there were no schools or teachers or classrooms like those with which we are familiar. But Jesus very often called himself teacher, and many times his friends called him The Teacher. In the Bible reading for today we listen to Jesus giving his closest friends a pop quiz. It was a basic question:Who do people say I am?

This happened when Jesus and his disciples were in the region of Caesarea Philippi, a pagan area about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. They were likely standing at the base of Mount Hermon, in front of the well known cliff filled with niches holding statues of pagan gods at the top of which was a statue in honor of Julius Caesar. It is here that He asked his close friends who others thought he was. He got a variety of answers. This was an indication that he was not well known -- perhaps much like the answers he would get from persons today.

Then Jesus turns the question around and makes it more personal. He asked his friends who they taught he was. There was a long silence. Then there were a lot of wrong answers. But then Peter answers correctly: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus then tells Peter that he gave the right answer. He then appoints him as the first leader of the church, or was later known as the First Pope. Since Peter there have been 264 Popes.

That passage has been the subject of much controversy over the past 2000 year history of the Catholic church. That the Pope is the head of the Church is a belief that has not been accepted by other Christian churches. And even on our part, we may not fully understand the implications of who the Pope is. Some think he is sinless. Others give him supernatural power, others believe he cannot make a mistake; others think of him as a man who has too much authority, and some could care less about the Pope.

We are told today in our Gospel that Peter was chosen by Jesus to be the leader of the church. Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom and also tremendous responsibility: WHATEVER YOU BIND UPON EARTH SHALL BE BOUND IN HEAVEN, AND WHATEVER YOU LOOSE UPON EARTH SHALL BE LOOSED IN HEAVEN. That same authority was given to all Popes. And from the time of Peter to Pope Benedict XVI the church has been lead by human beings.

Some of our popes have been great men; not only in piety, but also in vision, but others have been, humanly speaking, almost lacking in any qualifications to lead and strengthen the Church. There have been times of goodness in the church due to them and there have been times of terrible damage. But through all of it the Church has escaped from the jaws of death, which leads us to believe that the church must be divinely guided, or else, like many corporations or associations, it would have folded up over the past 2000 years.

Why has the plan of Jesus worked? The reason is that Jesus is still with the church, especially in the person of the Pope, no matter who he might be. Peter and the others popes are not the successors of Jesus but really his representatives, those who stand in his place. He has authority only in the name of another person -- the person to whom authority really belongs. And so the authority of the Pope is really the authority of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the real rock of the Church. He is the firm foundation. Jesus continues to lead and strengthen the church through the Pope, his vicar on earth.

Peter was chosen head of the Church, not because he had taken courses in leadership and administration, but because he had faith. He was the only one who could answer 100% correctly the question WHO IS JESUS--You are the son of the living God.

Authority is not given to a person to do with as they please. All authority is accountable to God. It must be exercised with God will, and out of human limitations. The best way to use authority is like a servant. Jesus was telling us that all persons who have any authority, whether moms and dads, or teachers, or Presidents or Vice Presidents or whomever are bound to suffer also are called to serve others, not to be served.

Jesus lived on earth only 33 years. He arranged that his teachings and his mercy would be known through human beings like Peter or Benedict XVI. In the Old Testament God always chose human beings to bring his good news and his message to others. Jesus chose 12 apostles as his leaders. But all of us are called in our own way to bring faith and morality to others. Each of us our Christ bearers. Each of us must answer for ourselves: Who do you say that Jesus is?

Homily for the Week of August 14, 2011

2011-08-14T11:06:00.000-04:00

TWENTIETH SUNDAY 2011

Is 56:1,6-7; Rom. 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt 15:21-28

Can you picture Jesus as a member of the Cadyville or Saranac Fire Departments carrying around his beeper? That is exactly what Jesus did. Like fire fighters, He was often interrupted by those who would call on him for help. And it so happens that today it is a non-Jewish woman, a foreigner, who sets off his beeper. She pleads with Jesus to heal her daughter. Never before has Jesus ignored someone who pleaded with him for compassion. But today Jesus turns His back on her. He seems rude to her. She was not a Jew. His close friends try to discourage him from answering the rescue call. They all seemed to know her: she's noisy. She's bothersome and a distraction. And she is not one of them, She is not even a follower of Jesus. Forget her, and let's move on, they tell Jesus.

Jesus’ treatment of this woman grabs our attention because Jesus’ response to her seems so out of character. At first Jesus is quite disturbed with her. Jesus sounds harsh by saying it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs. The woman was a foreigner, and according to Jewish teachings, was not entitled to God’s blessing. Not only was she a foreigner, but as a women she was expected to be reserved in public. Jesus did not answer her. Jesus was reflecting the disagreement among the Jews at that time.

If the woman had been seeking healing for herself, she might have given up. But she insists that her 911 call is not for herself but for her sick daughter. The woman can't tell Jesus much about her daughters medical condition but the mother knows the daughter is hurting. She forces Jesus to see her, not as an enemy but as one of his own with whom she shares a common desire for the well being of children.

Then Jesus listens to her. She says to Jesus: PLEASE,LORD, FOR EVEN THE DOGS EAT THE SCRAPES THAT FALL FROM THE TABLE. OF THEIR MASTERS. And Jesus answers her: O WOMAN, GREAT IS YOUR FAITH. LET IT BE DONE TO YOU AS YOU WISH. By these words this woman showed she believed, and that her faith did not depend on where she lived or her ancestors or even her religion. All people belong to God, she believed. This simple woman convinces Jesus to cure her child.

This woman lived centuries ago. But we do have today in our Catholic church and in our country people who exclude others. We often can be rude to some persons. Each of us at times have judged others, often using opposites such as: good/bad; rich/poor; young/old; married/not married; Catholic/Protestant; thin/fat; war/peace; tall/short; black/white; hot/cold; up/down; wide/narrow; yes/no.

In one way or other each of us here today have also made decisions as who is in or who is out within our friends, and sometimes, even in our families or classmates. More personally each of us has our own boundaries and we have constructed our own walls between us and those we include or those we exclude.

This causes separation in our church and among our community. The good news of our Bible readings today is that God has created all of us equal, and he has given each of us the same heavenly destiny. God has eliminated all divisions. Because all people belong to God.

We are thankful for the persistence of the Canaanite woman because when Jesus responded to her 911 call, he put in our front yard a flag with all the colors of the human spectrum. Catholic is spelled with a small “c” as well as a large one

Today's gospel poses some questions for us. Are our priorities the right ones? Do we restrict our love, our time, our compassion to those whom we like or who are like us? Are we striving to be like God, who shows mercy to people of all races and all backgrounds? Does our charity merely begin at home, and does it also end there?

Another set of questions is equally important: Are we ready to change our priorities to help those who need us? Are we willing to give time and energy to those in particular need, or do we ignore their need because we feel we are already "doing our bit," or because we are afraid of departing from the safety of what we call normal?

These are not easy questions -- even Jesus hesitated before responding to the Canaanite woman who begged him for help. Let this us today pray for the wisdom to know how best to support women and children. Let us pray that we will speak the truth even when insulted r ignored. Let us pray that all our actions will be made out of love from which no one is excluded.

Homily for the Week of August 7, 2011

2011-08-07T11:07:00.000-04:00

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a · Rom 9:1-5 · Mt 14:22-23

A good number of us here today know how to swim. Most of us have probably paddled a canoe or rowed a boat. Very likely a lot of us have been water skiing. Not as many have sailed the seas on board a yacht or a cruise ship. Some of us have tried snorkelling and deep sea diving. How many of you have ever tried walking on water? The closest 21st century answer to this question was when a bride told me that she felt like walking on water as she was feeling love, fear and faith as she walked down the aisle on her wedding day.

Water is meant for drinking, washing, cooking, fishing, swimming, diving, skiing and sailing. Water quenches our thirst, sustains life. As Catholics we had water poured over our foreheads at Baptism. But water can also destroy life in equal and frightening measure as in hurricanes and tsunamis. The Sea of Galilee in our last reading was really a small lake. But it was violent. No one could predict the violent storms that broke out unexpectedly. Fishermen were so afraid of the sea that they saw it as the home of violent gods. Our three readings today cause us to ask the question: in whom do we place our loyalty: in God or in ourselves?

In our first reading today we find that Elijah was miserable. He felt himself to be a failure and he wanted to die. But he was ordered to eat, and to journey to Horeb, the Mountain of God. There he was told to stand on the mountain, where the Lord was to pass by. But instead he experiences a great wind; then there was an earthquake and thunder, and then a fire. God was not in them. Instead, God was in the sound of a gentle breeze. God was in a whisper, God was in the sound of silence.

In the Gospel today we find the disciples in the evening in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Because of the topography of the land there, huge windstorms can develop without warning. For the apostles, water still represented a place where demons and evil gods lived. To be caught after nightfall in a boat in a windstorm would have been frightening. They surely thought they might die that very night. It is over these waters that Jesus walks,

Not so for the disciples, who were rowing right into what would turn out to be big wind storm which overturned their small fishing boat. But Jesus came to them, and called out to them; and Peter on impulse walked towards him across the waves. Was he testing Christ or himself? His courage failed in the wind's strength, and in fear he began to sink, and cried out for help. Jesus put out his hand at once, and held him. Then came the silence as the wind dropped, and in the calm the disciples recognized him as Jesus. And it is over these waters, by the power of Jesus, that Peter himself could walk if only for a moment. The boat was a safe haven once Jesus entered it.

Perhaps this gives us a clue as to how God speaks to us, not in a storm or strong wind, but in the sound of silence. God's voice speaks to us in the ordinary events of our lives. Today our need for constant communication can fill our life that we don't have time for silence. We are bored with silence. We need to whip out our cellphones and check our voice mail, text someone or talk. Today’s readings invite us to choose to enter into spaces of silence.

Religiously, spiritually, for most Catholics there has been for centuries a struggle between faith and doubt. That was Peter's problem in reaching out to Jesus by trying to walk on water. Peter began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus. As long as he focused on Jesus, he walked on water. The moment he lost his focus and saw the storm, he began to sink.

That is also our story. Most of us have faith, but we often lose our focus. We see the storms and the wind around us. The wind in our life can be most anything that prevents us from being real. It could be pain: the pain of loneliness, insecurity, envy, not enough money or job. It is easy to over come this pain with homemade remedies or addictions which make matters worse. Just as we go to dentists and doctors to get rid of our pains and to be healed, we Catholics must turn to our faith in Jesus to heal our deepest personal wounds. Daily, however, we need to put into practice the faith that we express here today. The Bible and our Catholic Church tell us that God is with us even in these difficult moments. Like Peter It would be so easy to believe if we could only get rid of the wind.

Our faith does not take away suffering, but it provides us with remedies. If you keep your focus on Jesus and not on your surrounding storms you too can walk on water. There is no struggle God cannot calm. We must find time in each day to be silent with him--a short prayer in the morning, or just the words "thank you" when we remember his goodness--then his voice will be in that stillness and his hand will hold us. We need to appreciate the sound of silence.

Homily for the Week of July 31, 2011

2011-07-31T11:08:00.000-04:00

18TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, YEAR A 2011

Isaiah 55:1-3

Romans 8:35, 37-39

Matthew 14:13-21

This week Catholic News Service had a news article about a champion middle distance runner by the name of Lopez Lomong. Lopez is one of the lost boys of the Darfur region of Sudan who arrived in Syracuse in 2001 He was adopted by Barb and Bob Roger of Tully near Syracuse. Lopez was one of Sudan's lost boys driven from their villages during their country's civil war. When Lopez was 6 years old he was abducted by the army. He escaped through a hole in the camp wall and fled to Kenya where he was arrested and placed in a refugee camp run by Catholic missionaries. When he was 16 years old he and about 3,800 other lost boys were resettled in the United States through Catholic Charities. Lopez went to Tully High School where he helped to lead the cross country and track teams to sectional and state titles. A few years ago he won the national 3000 meter title. Lopez says he is considered one of the lucky children as thousands of boys from Sudan drowned, were eaten by wild animals or were shot by military forces. He says: “I realize that nothing in this world is free except God.”

Like Lopez Isaiah in our first reading today tells us that what God has to offer is free. There is no cost -- not even a hidden cost. We can't pay anything for what God has to offer us even if we want to pay. Forgiveness is free. God’s love is free. What God has to offer is beyond our imagining. What God has to offer is satisfying. Despite the graciousness of God we let things get between us and Him. Perhaps we should begin to see the extraordinary within the ordinary and see that even though we keep sinning, God keeps on forgiving. This is extraordinary.

We live in a society that sometimes chooses material things over human beings. Some children have so many toys or clothes or options that they get confused and hyper trying to make choices. We often think that a car, a cell phone, a computer, a good salary, of being a top student or athlete will make us totally happy. But we soon find out that happiness comes from none of these.

We are told today by Isaiah that God has already given us everything to make us happy. God says: ALL YOU WHO ARE THIRSTY COME TO THE WATER. YOU WHO HAVE NO MONEY, COME WITHOUT PAYING AND WITHOUT COST. WHY SPEND YOUR MONEY FOR WHAT IS NOT BREAD; YOUR WAGES FOR WHAT FAILS TO SATISFY?

The experience of hunger, poverty, sickness and death can make it seem as if God has forgotten us. But in all of these God continues to love and protect.

Right now God gives us everything we need for happiness. Why don't we know it and feel it? Because we are looking off in the distance rather than within ourselves in our heart and spirit. Happiness does not come in going on a shopping spree or drinking spree, but in taking a new look at what we already have -- even if it might be hunger, sickness, loneliness, misunderstandings, anxiety. Religion or faith does not take away our problems; but a strong faith shows us a new way to see things, not a new way to obtain things.

In our Gospel selection for today Jesus gives us an example of this. Jesus teaches us what real happiness is, and how it brings us true love. Jesus meets a large crowd, hungry, sick. His heart goes out to them with pity. His friends suggested that he send the hungry crowds away so that they could buy some food. They wondered why he bothered with them. Assuring His disciples that there was no need to send the people away, Jesus told them to ''give them some food yourselves.'' Needless to say, they were astonished. They had very little for just themselves. Jesus took their food, ''and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.''

This feeding takes place in our life every day if we only believed it did. If he did it for the crowds of 2000 years ago why wouldn't he do it for us today? God wants happiness for us just as he did for those of the Gospel story. This happiness and generosity comes about with the help of caring persons, like Barb and Bob Roger of Tully, who are willing to be like Christ.

We need someone who will be able to bring the bread of Eucharist to persons to help them to be bread for everyone. We need committed lay persons, committed families. But we also need young men and woman who will make it their lifetime commitment to be available to serve the needs of both the bread givers and the Eucharistic bread receivers. That is why that today some men and women still offer their lives to serve others as missionaries.

We cannot miss the allusion to the Eucharist. Jesus gave to the disciples, and the disciples gave to others. Those others gave to still others. And today we still receive and give. It should be noted that ''they all ate and were satisfied.'' What God has to give is always satisfying. Not only is it satisfying, God is so generous that there is always more than is necessary. What God gives us is complete, there is nothing lacking. And there is still more. Our Lord stays with us always in this blessed Sacrament, remaining with us not for just an hour, not for just a day, not for just a year, but always!

Homily for the Week of July 24, 2011

2011-07-24T11:09:00.000-04:00

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

President William McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution that annexed Hawaii on July 7, 1898, making it the Territory of Hawaii, a possession of the United States.

In 1993, with the support of Senators Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Congress passed a joint resolution, called the “Apology Resolution,” that was signed by President Bill Clinton on Nov. 23, 1993. The resolution apologized “to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on Jan. 17, 1893...and the deprivation of the rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination.”

The driving force behind the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands was monetary. Hawaii had massive sugar and fruit plantations that were owned by only five corporations. The plantations had been begun largely by missionaries who went to Hawaii in the mid-1800s to convert native Hawaiians to Christianity. Many of the missionary families became very wealthy.

Bishop Desmond Tutu was interviewed in the 1980s, the time of apartheid in South Africa. Responding to a question he said, “When the white people arrived, we had the land and they had the Bible. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ When we opened our eyes, they had the land and we had the Bible. And we got the better end of the deal.”

For the past two weeks and, finally, today we have been reading from the 13th chapter of Matthew, often called “The Day of Parables.” Jesus used these parables to teach about the kingdom of Heaven. On one level Matthew had to answer the early Christians’ questions concerning the Church and the Kingdom. If Jesus really was the Son of God, why were not all people turning to Christ? Answer: “The Sower and the Seed.” Why had not more people chosen to follow Christ? Why did some believers either become traitors or become a scandal for the rest of the community? Why cannot the community kick out someone who seems to be a problem? Answer: The parable of the “Wheat and the Weeds.”

There were many problems in the early Church to make members wonder whether pursuing the Kingdom was worth it. Today’s first two parables give us our answer. Pursing the Kingdom is worthy of great sacrifice.

The difference in the first two parables — the buried treasure in the field and the pearl of great price — is interesting. In the first parable, an individual going about his work finds a great treasure while digging. Finding the treasure was entirely accidental. Though accidental, once the workman realized what he had found, he sacrificed everything to possess it. The parable is not at all concerned about the legal issues involved. (What the workman did was probably legal.) What the parable wants us to see is the great sacrifice that was made to possess the treasure.

In the second parable, the merchant’s finding the beautiful pearl was not an accident. Pearls were the most highly regarded things of beauty, even more than gemstones. The merchant traveled the world seeking the most beautiful pearl ever, and he succeeded. Like the workman in the first parable, the merchant sacrificed everything he had to possess the pearl. The pearl would not put a roof over the man’s head or food on his table, but the sacrifice of everything for an object of great beauty was worth it.

It is easy to understand that Jesus is leading us to see that pursuing the Kingdom of Heaven is worth every sacrifice. Nothing should deter us. Are we pursuing Heaven, or are we pursuing something else?

What we pursue makes us who we are. What we pursue will either make us or destroy us. The pursuit of land and its wealth in Hawaii eventually led to the overthrowing of a long-existing kingdom in Hawaii. President Grover Cleveland, who preceded President McKinley, saw the injustice and tried to restore the deposed Hawaiian queen to her throne, but those pursing land and money won the day.

The dynamics in South Africa were not much different. Missionaries seeking to convert the native population discovered diamonds and other wealth. Corporations moved in, and apartheid was the result.

What do we pursue? Will it result in treasure or a pearl, or will our pursuit leave victims in its wake?

Homily for the Week of July 17, 2011

2011-07-17T11:16:00.000-04:00

HOMILY: Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19

Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16

Romans 8:26-27

Matthew 13:24-43 or 13:24-30

For the second weekend in a row we hear is Jesus telling stories involving farming and baking. He uses what are called parables. Parables are stories that help us to understand our religion. Parables are short stories about good and bad, about how we are to change our life. There about 40 of these parables in the Bible. Most of these stories, like the one that I just read, are based on farming. But as we listen to these stories, try to imagine that at the time of Jesus there was an in-group and an out-group. With these stories Jesus is trying to tell us that there is only one group: the group that believes in God and is trying to do what God wants them to do. God doesn't simply strike down all bad guys with a powerful hand.

What do you do when you find weeds sprouting in your garden or flowers? Do you pull them out or let them grow? How did they get there? So, why not get rid of the weeds? That is probably what most farmers and gardeners would do. But Jesus says: Let them grow together. God is the one who will make the necessary separation at the harvest time. Can't we see ourselves in that story. How often have you said to yourself: It is not what I want to do that I do, but it is what I do not want to do that I do? How can it be that when I want to be good I get tempted to do something bad. But there is also another problem. How often have we labelled some people as wheat and others as weeds in our life? The truth is that each of us are both.

Could it be that at times we do not know which are the weeds and which is the wheat in our life? Certainly there are times when we do know the difference. But it is so easy to give in to a temptation.

In the story about the mustard seed we realize that great things can come from the smallest. Jesus makes a comparison between the size of the seed and the plant that can grow to be 10 feet tall. This is how God works in our life. At first we may not notice God. We become impatient. But if we keep on praying, God will come into our life. He will change it. He will bring us happiness, because it is only our faith in God and Jesus that can bring us true happiness. Jesus is telling us that we cannot judge the value of someone simply from what we see; their greatness is in who they are. We are all mustard seeds waiting to grow.

How often do you read some serious articles on your faith or spirituality? A person would never get through school without reading, thinking about what they read and talking about it with friends or writing about it on tests. I am sure that a person who wants to be a qualified technician of any kind needs to be updated as technology changes. So too it should be with our faith and religion. We can not expect to grow spiritually by just standing still. It is then that the weeds will smother us.

Before we seek to purge others from our lives, we should look inward and find where good and bad are living besides each other inside us. In our families, in our churches and even in our politics, we experience the desire to purge, to judge, to cast out. We must resist. We cannot tolerate blatant evil when we do see it. The problem, however, is that not all evil — and not all good — is completely clear to us. We must be thankful that God is the final judge. The good and the bad must stay alongside each other--just like the wheat and the weeds. One must tolerate the other, but the activity of the Spirit will encourage a good and fruitful harvest in the end.

Jesus is also telling us today that even in the beautiful side of life, where we are in harmony with God, there is always the possibility of evil-- like fraud, blowing away a good name, oppression of the poor by a greedy government and many others weeds that somehow get in with the wheat.

Furthermore, evil cannot be eliminated by destroying everything that appears evil. Rather, we have to work through a life that is not perfect, knowing that the evil that lurks in the weeds is a constant reminder of our fallen condition and that only Jesus can guide us to be on the right road.

All of these stories point us to our need to prepare ourselves every day to meet God as our judge when we die. Yes, the future begins today; the heaven to which we hope to go some day begins today. Jesus, through these short stories, is trying to teach us that heaven must truly begin here in this life; here on earth. Jesus is also teaching us of God's forgiveness. He is telling us not to be less merciful and patient than God as we notice family members, friends, strangers and Catholics who don't always practice what they preach. Most of us can spot a hypocrite when we see one --unless it is our self. How many of us have wondered why God couldn't have created everyone to be as wise and generous and perfect as we are? Wouldn't that be splendid?

Just as trees or any plant grows gradually day to day without noise and even notice, so too do these Bible stories about how goodness and spirituality grows in us. It is not the size that is important but the desire to change. But these stories also teach us that God's church has plenty of room for everyone. Jesus has opened his father's house to everyone including the indifferent and the imperfect. So the next time that we ask God to condemn someone who has done something bad, let us remember our own weedy moments and be thankful that God is always ready to forgive us.

Homily for the Week of July 10, 2011

2011-07-10T11:11:00.000-04:00

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

The Merriam–Webster Dictionary defines parable as “a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle.” This is how the majority of us read the parables of Jesus: short stories with a spiritual point.

The Gospel writers would not have defined a parable this way. Today and for the next two Sundays we will read the entirety of Chapter Thirteen of Matthew. Some give this chapter the heading, “The Day of Parables,” for there are several parables in it, and all are about the Kingdom of Heaven.

The literary form of parable in the Semitic world of Jesus has the sense of meaning a riddle. The word parable, as used in Matthew, is from Greek. On the one hand it means acomparison but in the form of a juxtaposition. The dictionary defines juxtaposition as “the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side.” The purpose is not so much for comparing how two things are similar; the purpose is to explore a contrast between the things placed side by side. Both the word “juxtaposition” and the word “joust” are derived from the Latin, meaning “close.”

Why this discussion on the meaning of parable? Jesus “spoke to them at length in parables.” For us to appreciate the depth of today’s parable and the ones to follow on the next two Sundays, we must know what Jesus was doing. Parables do not contain knowledge or a moral as we understand a moral tale today. A parable is intended to make the hearer look at something from a radically different point of view.

Matthew very carefully chose the placement in his Gospel of this parable and the ones to follow. He had to strengthen faith. Matthew was a Jewish Christian writing for Jewish Christians. A stumbling block for believers was the reality that not everyone was taking the teachings of Jesus to heart. Why weren’t other Jews embracing the Messiah? Worse, why were many of those who initially accepted Jesus as the Messiah quickly dropping their faith?

This had become a problem in Matthew’s community, and it remains one in ours. Matthew presents this parable completely within the context of a single community: Jewish Christians. We should do the same. We should keep it completely within a single community whether all of Christianity, just Catholicism, or even our own parish.

In the case of Catholics or even in the case of a single parish, many come to Church and yet do not believe. Although they are often present, why do they not believe in the Real Presence? If we have come to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and our Redeemer, why are so many lax in their faith? Why do so many make coming to the Eucharist such a low priority? Why do so many, who once were “on fire” with their faith, disappear? The problem Matthew faced is a problem still.

Today’s parable is usually called “The Parable of the Sower.” In reality, it is “The Parable of the Seed.” The method of planting in Jesus’ area was to sow the seed then plow it under. In the parable, contrary to expectations, the sower sows the seed and leaves. The seed grows without any further intervention; therefore, the focus is the seed. The seed is not so much “The Word,” it is the Word of the Kingdom. The parables that follow over the next two weeks will draw out what the Kingdom of God is like.

Also contrary to expectations is the actual yield of the seed. Unlike today’s scientific farming, harvest yields in Jesus’ day and area were rather low. A seven-fold harvest would have been considered a good year. A ten-fold harvest would have been true abundance. A thirty-fold harvest would have been a miracle; it would feed a village for a year. A hundred-fold harvest would allow the farmer to retire and buy homes for his relatives and friends!

Today’s parable is told in the context of rejection of the Word of God and the Kingdom. It is a parable that gives hope and motivation for the faithful to stay faithful.

The seed that lands on the good soil will produce so abundantly that it will, in turn, cause people to take a second look at God’s Word. To allow this to happen, we have to grow in faith. We have to produce.

Homily for the week of June 12, 2011

2011-06-12T08:01:00.000-04:00

Pentecost Sunday 2011

Acts 2:1-11

Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34

1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

John 20:19-23

Most of us think the ability to read a map is important. In fact, 70% of us think it is a necessary skill. What we think is important, and what we learn are two different things. In a survey from a few years ago, it was discovered that one out of seven young adults could not find the United States on a world map. One out of four could not locate the Pacific Ocean. One out of five could not name even one country in Europe. Today is Pentecost. the birthday of the Catholic Church. We are commissioned to carry the teachings and life of Jesus to all the world. Pentecost is the day on which the Holy Spirit was sent by God to guide us to do good and to avoid evil. The Holy Spirit becomes the energizing presence as the church moves outward to the ends of the earth, breaking through geographical and ethnic boundaries.

On the first Pentecost Jews from all over were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast. On that Sunday, ten days after our Lord's Ascension, the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary were gathered in the Upper Room. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind or hurricane, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared on each of their heads something that looked like flames. They later realized that this flame was really the Holy Spirit. Some churches invite being to wear something red when they come to church on Pentecost. That is why I have a red vestment today.

Our first reading also tells us that those in this room were confused because they also heard and understood many who came from throughout the known world who were speaking in their own language. There were at least 15 different languages being spoken.

This special day of Pentecost is also very often referred to as the Birthday of the Catholic Church. It was on this day that the Holy Spirit gave the followers of Jesus the courage to tell others about Jesus, and to invite them to be Baptized. We are told that about 3000 were baptized on this first Pentecost. They then confirmed their faith in Jesus.

As we hear the word of God, we might be tempted to reflect that our community does not exhibit the remarkable gifts of the Spirit described in Acts. But we are unique and the Spirit comes to each of us in different ways. We may have already felt the breath of God; it's just that we don't always call it a "Pentecost" experience. We don't see the tongues of fire, or even feel the mighty wind. But as we know, some things cannot be fully captured by words.

It is this unseen breath of God that keeps our community of faith together and alive; the same Spirit whom we worship as the love between the Father and the Son.

Like the 3000 who were baptized, we too have been called into the community of faith by our Baptism, and then later on we made a choice to live the life of Jesus by our Confirmation. Through these two powerful sacraments we, like the early community, are anointed and chosen.

No matter what our gift or quality it is always an expression of God working through you. Your gift of cooking, speaking, farming, learning, athletics, of teaching, parenting, gardening, of being a lector at Mass, is a way of doing God's work for the good of all. Whatever work you do, no matter what your job brings down to earth the spirit and breath of God. They are for the good of all, so really all that we have been given is to be used for the good of all.

Sometimes parents will advise their children that they have a family name to live up to. We as baptized and confirmed Catholics also have a name to live up to. And that name is that we are followers of Jesus.

We live up to that name when we offer self giving love to others. Most of you have given this self giving love of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the very ordinary things of your life such as:

When you wake up in the middle of the night to change your baby's diaper.

When you take some time to help a co-worker to get a better grasp of his or her responsibilities.

When you check on a neighbor who has been having a difficult time.

When you spend time helping your child with homework after a long day.

When you volunteer to do or to give of your time or abilities to someone who is in need.

It is not always easy to tell when the voice prompting us is the voice of the Holy Spirit or when it is the voice of selfishness. Often selfishness can have a power that might be likened to the wind, but has a different effect than the Holy Spirit. The best way to figure out if the Holy Spirit is prompting the action is to ask yourself if it is likely to lead to greater joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and most especially, love. In the last reading today Jesus summed it all up by saying: Peace be with you.

Homily for the week of May 29, 2011

2011-05-29T00:01:00.000-04:00

The Sixth Sunday in Easter, 2011

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17

Psalm 66:

1 Peter 3:15-18

John 14:15-21

One of the consequences of the terrible tornados that have devastated many of our mid west communities and cities this past week is the number of children who will be orphans because of the death of their parents. They will join the millions of orphans world-wide who have lost parents because of deaths due to natural disasters, violence or disease.

Frequently we read throughout the Bible reminders to take care of orphans. This is the example which Jesus uses today in the passage which I just read which is known as Jesus’ good-bye to his close friends. Today Jesus tells us that he will not leave them or us orphans. Infant mortality was exceedingly high in the time of Jesus, with 60 percent of children dying by age 16. Most startling is that most children, perhaps more than 70 percent, would have lost one or both parents before they reached 13 year of age.

Jesus often used orphans as a symbol for the weakest and most vulnerable in society. Orphans had no protections either in law or in society. If an orphan was lucky, relatives would take the child into their own homes but only as a slave. In the Roman world, it was not uncommon for orphans to be left in the desert to die simply because the family could not afford to care for them.

When Jesus announced to His friends at a supper with them that he was going to leave them, they felt very much alone. Try to imagine someone whom you deeply cared about, and had dedicated your life to being with. And this person leaves you, not because of disagreements but because this person had done all that he was born to do.

Jesus told them he would soon die, but he went beyond His announcement of death. Jesus made a promise. I will be with you always, and he meant it. Now, they all believed that he would die. But then he says he will be with them always. What did he mean? They had never known anyone who had died who would still be with them.

The disciples did not understand what Jesus said until 50 days later on the feast of Pentecost. On that day the followers of Jesus would no longer be orphans, they would no longer be alone because the Holy Spirit would be with them.

We Catholics rarely talked about or refer to the Holy Spirit, or what was at one time called the Holy Ghost. Yet it is very much part of our spiritual life. Whenever we make the sign of the cross, we make it in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In the ritual of Baptism there are several mentions of the person’s being baptized with “water and the Holy Spirit”. We have one sacrament called Confirmation which is when a person is confirmed in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is also with us right now. The Holy Spirit is like our own consciousness. And the Holy Spirit can be another for holiness. At times we think of holy people as strange who do not live the ordinary life of the rest of us. Holiness is what the Holy Spirit produces in each of us if we allow God to be part of our life.

All the actions that we are encouraged to do as Catholics such as reading the Bible, going to church, receiving the sacraments, prayers and our personal devotions are all geared to making the Holy Spirit stronger and more alive in us. Any time we do a good deed, whatever it might be, we do it because of the small voice inside of us that tells us it is OK and it is good to do this. That voice is the Holy Spirit speaking to us.

The Holy Spirit will not leave us orphans. The “Spirit” is promised so that all who believe will know who they are, because Christ is in them and that is the blessing of Baptism. All good things around us and within us come from heaven above. Sad are those who do not know and accept their truth and spend their lives in the darkness of desperate searching. The “Spirit” is sent to remain with us so that we might do the same and remain In Christ and remain ourselves gratefully.

Jesus' promise that He will not leave us orphans is also a sign that we are loved by God. It is a love that defies full understanding. And our response to Jesus is that we will try to obey what he has asked us to do because we also love him. Obedience is faithfulness. Jesus' statement, ''If you love me, you will keep my commandments,'' is not a command. Jesus is saying that He will recognize those who have responded to His love by their obedience.

Just as Jesus will always be with us regardless of what we do, he also wants us to love and be a caring spirit to all both friend and stranger. If until now the Holy Spirit hasn’t had much meaning in your life, begin today to realize that everything good and caring that you do. every act of love for others, is the result of this Holy Spirit. If you let the Spirit of God lead you, you no longer be an orphan but will be a child of God.

Homily for the week of May 22, 2011

2011-05-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

The Fifth Sunday in Easter, 2011

Acts 6:1-7

Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19

1 Peter 2:4-9

John 14:1-12

With the exception of Native Americans all of us are descendants of ancestors born in a foreign country. Most of you know that St. James Church began over 150 years ago and was built by Irish immigrants who came to Cadyville to avoid starvation. In Ireland, in the 1800s, many husbands and fathers decided that to help their families they had to travel to America to find work. The wife and children would often stay in Ireland. Often before leaving Ireland the family held a wake, the type of party that is held the night before a funeral, to say goodbye to someone they believed they might never see again. When in the United States these husbands and fathers got a job. They live on cheap boarding houses, spent very little money and each month would sent some money back to their wife and family in Ireland. While here they also took advantage of our schools to earn a trade or get a degree.

And finally, after saving enough money the wife and children would come. I remember a man telling me the story of his great grandfather who did this. He had saved enough money to buy a home. When his wife arrived at the new home with running water, gas lights a bathroom and inside heating, which they did not have in Ireland, he asked his wife: Isn't this worth the wait? His wife replied: You were worth the wait.

Like this Irish man Jesus is about to leave his close friends. Leaving those we know and love makes us lonely or even hopeless. And it is especially difficult if we do not know when we will see them again, or ever see them. Thomas, one of those friends of Jesus, wants to go with Jesus, but he does not know the way. Jesus did not leave a road map. He does not know the way. Jesus has been preparing the disciples for His departure. Jesus has been packing for quite a while, but his close friends never seemed to notice it. What would they do once Jesus is gone?

Our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles is the story of the early church struggling to survive. Jesus did not leave any instructions what to do when he was gone other than to pray and and join together at Mass to hear his message and receive communion.

One of their more serious problems was language. Some of the Christians were Catholics who spoke Greek and new Catholics who spoke Hebrew. What language should they us at prayer and at Mass? Jesus left no plan. It was up to the 11 apostles to develop a plan and to form a church. They decided to use Greek.

Another problem was the division of labor. The Apostles were being asked to preach and lead the prayers. They were also asked to take care of widows and orphans. Whether they wanted it or not, they became administrators and Pastors. They had to count and distribute the money, take care of the church buildings and property. As with any family there were occasional disagreements. It appears that the Greek Jews who were needy were not getting as much spiritual attention as the Hebrew Jews. There was inequality of distribution.

Each of the Apostles was a Bishop. They had no helpers. They said: IT IS NOT RIGHT THAT WE SHOULD NEGLECT THE WORD OF GOD TO SERVE AT TABLE. So they selected seven men of good standing from the group among whom were Stephen, Philip and Nicholas. Their ministry will be to continue to do the “deeds” of Jesus, the “works” which are the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. They prayed over them and ordained them deacons. That was the beginning of the Permanent Diaconate in the Catholic Church. These men were asked to help parishioners who were in need, and to assist the Bishop at Mass by reading from the Bible and preaching.

During the first 200 years of the Catholic church there were no persons known as priests, yet there were men who did what I as a priest do today. There were only Bishops and Deacons. Priests came later in order to take over some of the duties of the Bishop. That is why that to this very day a priest is assigned by the Bishop to represent him in the parishes of the Diocese.

You and I would have never been here today, or been baptized or made our First Communion, or be a spiritual person unless someone had taught us. For most of us that teaching began with our parents. They served us. Later we may have had Catholic school teachers or religious education teachers to help our parents with our religious education. In the Catholic Church these are called ministries. The motivation for any form of ministry is a desire to serve others base on the teachings of Jesus that we are called to serve, not to be served. This gift we all receive at Baptism. At our Baptism we promised that we would help one another to come to Jesus. Each one of us does this when we offer support to others by our daily works and acts of kindness and encouragement, by our generous giving of our time, of our talents and of our finances. Jesus said today: I am the way, the truth and the life. Each of you are the way, the truth and the life when you help others come to Jesus.

Homily for the week of May 15, 2011

2011-05-15T14:16:00.000-04:00

The Fourth Sunday in Easter, 2011

Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Psalm 23: 13a, 3b4, 5, 6 1 Peter 2:20b-25 John 10:1-10

Some years ago there was a television quiz show called “Let’s Make a Deal,” in which contestants were given an opportunity to exchange a small prize for a chance at a grand prize. Suspense built as they were asked to choose: door number one, door number two or door number three. Two doors concealed “zonk,” or gag prizes. Behind the third door was something very desirable, like a trip, a car or large amounts of cash. Every once in a while someone would get lucky and choose correctly.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of himself as the door that leads to the most desirable of gifts. Unlike the quiz show designers, who for their own gain might deliberately try to confuse the location of the grand prize, Jesus shows himself openly to be the gateway and declares his desire for all to choose this door.

At the beginning of today’s Gospel selection, Jesus speaks about himself as the shepherd of the sheep who enters the sheepfold properly, through the gate. He contrasts himself to the thief or the robber who scrambles into the sheepfold some other way and who will have no success in getting the sheep to follow him out. He is a stranger, and the sheep will run away from him; they do not recognize his voice. Jesus elaborates further the image of himself as the Good Shepherd. But he also calls himself the gate for the sheep.

The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is one that is used frequently, especially when associated with funerals. But most likely the only shepherd that any of you have seen are persons dressed up as shepherds in Christmas plays. One of the oldest paintings of Jesus represents Jesus as carrying an injured, straying sheep gently on his shoulders back to the sheepfold. This is an image of Jesus which has always appealed to Christians. There is something innocent about a sheep, and at the same time a lot of foolishness! But with Christ as our shepherd and the "good shepherd" who is sincerely interested in the true welfare of each of us we have reason to rejoice.

Shepherds carried two items with them. One of these was a rod and the other a staff. The Good Shepherd Psalm which we just prayed refers to the staff of the shepherd. The rod was usually quite long and had a hook at one end so that the shepherd could pull the sheep pack into the flock. The staff usually hung from the shepherds belt. It was a short wooden club with a lump of wood at the end. The shepherd used this to defend himself and the sheep against thieves. At times the shepherd might have the help of a sheep dog, but that was not very common when Jesus was living.

Most towns and villages in Palestine had a common place where shepherds would bring their sheep for the night. This was call the sheepfold. These were open air enclosures walled in by stones on top of which was a barrier of briars or thorn bushes. The gate was small. Only one sheep could go though the gate at a time. Once the flock was inside there was no heavy door or gate. A paid gate keeper or shepherds would take turns at night so that no one would come to steal the sheep, or no animals would come to kill the sheep. They would stand at the gate, or at times even lie down across the opening.

An important aspect of this image is that the gate swings in two directions. Not only do Jesus’ followers come into the sheepfold through him, but they are also led out by him. All who are led in by him find in the embrace of the believing community a place of rest, a space where wounds can be healed and where all can be nourished by the word and at the table. But whoever enters is also led out to find a place to do good deeds. Jesus is the gate that opens in and out.

Later in the Gospel, the image of the open gate takes another form. Unlike the sheep who always have a shepherd, if we leave the gate without Jesus we risk being hurt by those who try to enter another way.

There are many among us today who foolishly think they need no shepherd. They think they know all the facts of life. They are in total ignorance of the most basic fact of all- what is our purpose in life? They try to ease their consciences by immersing themselves deeper and deeper in the affairs and the passing pleasures of this temporary life.

Following in the footprints of Jesus is not always hard. At times following Him is very easy, especially when all is going well. When things do turn difficult, perhaps we really should learn to pray to the Good Shepherd. He will carry us if necessary.

If Jesus were here today in 2011, he would not use the image of the shepherd and the sheep. What image would Jesus use today to illustrate his love and caring? Might he speak of a mother and father, of a teacher, a fireman or rescue squad volunteer, a nurse or doctor, a young person helping out at home, or with the shut ins? Last week Bishop LaValley was here to bring the Sacrament of Confirmation to 23 of our young persons. To prepare themselves for Confirmation each of them did at least 25 hours of helping others. In one way or another they wrote about their experience saying that they never really knew that helping someone could give gifts in return. Through this experience they felt better about themselves and formed a closer relationship with God. Fortunately, we have many today who are willing to do so. In fact all of us, at one time or another have responsibility for others.

Homily for the week of May 8, 2011

2011-05-08T14:16:00.000-04:00

The Third Sunday in Easter, 2011

Acts 2:14, 22-33

Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

1 Peter 1:17-21

Luke 24:13-35

When the history of the 20th century is written it will mention the marvellous discoveries in medicine, in technology and communications, and in space exploration. It will mention the progress in eliminating or reducing illiteracy, poverty and discrimination, It will also mention wars such as the First and Second World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam Wars. It will mention the brutal repression and killing of thousands by strong willed dictators in the Sudan and in China. And the legalized killing of the unborn in this country.

I mention this today because of our Bible readings. After the death of Jesus the followers of Jesus became refugees in their country. At times they were not accepted by their own families. Yes, Jesus had died that they might be saved, but it seemed that it would have been a lot better if he had stayed alive. After, Jesus was not admired by most of his neighbors, and if you decided to follow Jesus, you too would be despised by most persons.

This week's gospel is the story of two downhearted, discouraged followers of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. A mysterious stranger joins them. They begin a conversation with a man they took to be a complete stranger. They could not hide the fact they were downcast, and they were quick to explain to the stranger the reason for their gloom. Jesus, in whom they believed, had been crucified they said, but we had hoped, they said, that he was the one to redeem Israel. They felt that the death of Jesus had left them high and dry -- stranded, confused, and at a loss.After listening carefully to their story, the stranger tells them that they are slow to "believe all that the prophets have announced." He then explains the Bible to them.

The two men are delighted with the stranger's teaching. But they do not realize that the stranger is Jesus until he takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them. At Mass I as a priest will do this very same thing today right in front of you. At Mass we too meet Jesus along the road of our lives, and Jesus gives himself to us through these very actions.

Soon after this meeting of Jesus on the road to Emmaus the followers of Jesus did the same as we are doing here. Our Gospel reading gives a description of the early practice of the Catholic Mass and what we do at every Mass. There was the reading of Bible and the teachings of Jesus followed by discussion and interpretation. After that, everyone would go to the table for the blessing and “the breaking of bread,” a common reference to the Eucharist. In these very ordinary rituals, Christ was made visible, and His real presence was noted.

Have you ever wondered would you recognize Jesus if he came among us today? Remember we have no photos of Jesus and all of the art work which shows Jesus one way or another is based on the imagination of the artist. But Jesus is present among every day in the people we meet, when we gather to pray, and at Mass in the Eucharist. For example, on this Mother’s Day we at St. James honor 6 young boys and girls who for the first time will receive Holy Communion, and 23 teenagers who will confirm their Catholic faith in the Sacrament of Confirmation with Bishop LaValley.

Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we also come to know Jesus in the uninvited stranger, in the refugee from war torn countries, in the little baby who was born with severe disabilities; in the 96 year old women who lives alone. But most importantly, we come to know Jesus more intimately in our hearts. Coming to know Jesus in the depths of our hearts takes time. Time to let go, settle down. Time to listen to that familiar voice that speaks to us in silence.

On this second Sunday in May we also honor mothers. In the United States this custom is relatively a recent development, only in existence since 1908. The tradition of honoring mothers, however, is a revival of a practice that dates back to the Early Christians who celebrated a festival in honor of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ. They adorned the churches with flowers, jewels, rich metals, and expensive gifts.

For most of us it is our Mother who introduced us to Jesus when we were a young child. When we gather as a family to share a meal together on this Mother’s Day perhaps we should also find the time to pray together in gratitude for the gift of life and love. It is also a time when we can listen to one another. Our own stories may not sound very different from the two discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaus: we too may be disappointed; we too may have a past that makes little sense to us. But we are invited to tell our stories and to listen to one another.

Regardless of the roads we travel or the places they take us, we will meet Jesus along the way. He comes to us in different ways and we may not always be able to recognize him. He may come as a stranger on the road, or a newcomer to our road or school or work. He may come as an act of love from someone we know. We may see him in a time of great anxiety, or he may simply be there smiling to us through the face of a crocus or dandelion or flower, or in the the sound of a song or the glow of a sunset. Or in the Holy Communion which will be offered to us today. May we be ever watchful for his presence. In fact, He is among us here and now.

Homily for the week of May 1, 2011

2011-05-01T11:32:00.000-04:00

Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy: 2011

Acts 2:42-47 · 1 Pt 1:3-9 · Jn 20:19-31

Every year on the Second Sunday of Easter we hear the story of Jesus appearing to the apostles "on that first day of the week" and breathing the Holy Spirit. In doing this Jesus gave the permission to priests to forgive all sins by way of Confession for those who ask. Jesus also showed them that, although he had died on Good Friday, he was now alive.

An ancient way of determining when a person had died was to hold a mirror under the person’s nostrils to detect any trace of moist air indicating that there was still some breath of life. Before modern methods of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a person who had stopped breathing was simply allowed to slip away. In today’s Gospel, the risen Jesus breathes new life into the believing community. He removes from them the fear that choked them their leader had died on a cross.

The frightened disciples are gathered behind locked doors. In the aftermath of Jesus’ execution, their fear is understandable—will they be next ones to die?

The first reading for today is from the Acts of the Apostles. It gives us a snap shot of the early Catholic Church. There were no church buildings or churches as we know them today. Catholics would meet to pray with all the Jews in the Temple area, but after they would gather in each other's home for Mass. Soon after Jesus died St. Paul gave instructions as how we are to offer Mass. In the year 150 St. Justin described in detail the Mass as we have it now. During most of the Mass the priest and people would stand and then sit while there were readings from the Bible. After some reflection on what Jesus expected of his followers, they would participate in the ''breaking of bread,'' and received Holy Communion. One of the problems which they had was how to get forgiven or healed from any sins they might have committed.

The First Letter of Peter, part of which we read today. answers that question and tells us about God's mercy. Catholics have a long history of minding other people's business when that business involves showing mercy. Jesus made it very clear that our faith and religion must be translated into good works. Our Faith without good works is dead. The Catholic Church separates our actions of mercy into corporal and spiritual works of mercy. There are 7 corporal works of mercy among which are: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, bury the dead, and 7 spiritual works of mercy. Without knowing each of you have brought mercy to others when you support our Food Shelf or food pantries, helped with Habitat for Humanity, send or message or phone call to a sick person. You practice spiritual works of mercy whenever you participate at Mass, offer words of encouragement, let go of grudges.

Peter reminds us that mercy is the virtue that gives hope. God had mercy on us. God's mercy was made real and present in Jesus Christ. With the death and resurrection of Jesus, hope once again was born into the world.

We are celebrating these Easter weeks the rising of Jesus and the rising of the apostles to the mission of Jesus. Divine Mercy is not what we get when we go to court with lawyers and judges. Pope John Paul II gave us an example of Divine Mercy and forgiveness when he went to the prison and forgave the man who wanted to shoot him to death. This he did because he too as a human being had very often asked the Lord of Mercy for forgiveness.

Many persons have lost the sense of forgiveness because they have loss the sense of sin. And because of this we have loss the joy of justice and compassion. If we believe that everything we do is OK, then we do not need forgiveness, and we never receive mercy.

This mercy of the Lord is available to everyone of us when we ask forgiveness through the sacrament of Confession. Many persons have lost the sense of forgiveness because they have loss the sense of sin. If we believe that everything we do is OK, then we do not need forgiveness. Very often this all starts with how we have formed our conscience as young persons. Our conscience is an inside voice that tells us that this is good or this is bad; we should do this or avoid that. It requires us to be honest with ourselves before God. The best guide for us to know good from bad is the ten commandments.

You and I have not witnessed Jesus in the flesh in the upper room, but we do experience him in the Eucharist. To that experience of the Jesus we say with Thomas MY LORD AND MY GOD. We are invited not to put our finger and hand into his wounds, but to take Jesus into our very hearts. Then we can profess our faith in him more powerfully and announce the Good News of his resurrection to the world. And we also be known for our gift of mercy.

Homily for the week of April 24, 2011

2011-04-24T11:32:00.000-04:00

Easter Vigil and Sunday 2011

Acts 10:34a, 37-43

Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8

Lk 24: 13-35

Destructive earthquakes have been part of our world in the past year. As the people of Japan, New Zealand and Haiti slowly rebuild their lives after suffering the devastating effects of earthquakes, most of you may have missed the mention of an earthquake in the Bible reading I just finished. St. Matthew says And behold, there was a great earthquake. The early morning daybreak is shattered with “a great earthquake” echoing the description of the aftermath of the death of Jesus. Just after Jesus utters his final words and breathes his last, Matthew says, The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many .

While the earthquakes of our day cause massive loss of life by entombing people in the rubble of collapsed buildings, the earthquakes in the Gospel have the opposite effect: they split open tombs and raise to new life those held in the grip of death. They signal tectonic shifts made possible for humankind through God’s action in Christ.

Foremost is the shift away from paralyzing fear to an empowering joy. The angel’s first words to the women are, “Do not be afraid!” . The centurion and those keeping watch over the crucified Jesus were terrified at the earthquake and what took place after his death, as were the guards at the tomb, who “were shaken with fear” so that they “became like dead men.”

Not so Jesus’ disciples. The angel directs them away from seeking Jesus the crucified so that they can experience him as risen. God’s messenger invites them to come and see the place where he lay but then directs them to go out quickly. They are not to stay in the place of death. They are not to build a monument to the martyr Jesus and glorify his death but rather to announce and live the new life that bursts forth from the empty grave.

The words DO NOT BE AFRAID are the same words that an angel told Joseph some 33 years before when Joseph was also confused when he found out his wife Mary was pregnant and wondered as to who might be the father.

Before His death Jesus did not lay out a clear path for our future or the future of the Catholic Church. The women did not know how the story of Easter was going to turn out as we do some 2011 years later. But the words DO NOT BE AFRAID gave them hope and comfort. The words inspired them to remain faithful to their faith and hopes about Jesus. It also encouraged them to move ahead with their own lives and to help spread the good news about Jesus. They told the male disciples to go to Galilee.

Harboring some fear, they follow the angel’s instructions and let joy overtake them. Then Jesus himself appears to them and reiterates his oft-repeated invitation to his disciples to let go the death-grip of fear. They can move from fear to joy, when they come to know that Jesus never abandons his earthquaked people and that he is able to transform even the most brutal effects of violence. It is not only in this one definitive act of raising the crucified Christ that God’s life-giving power is exercised, but in every act of forgiveness and in every move toward reconciliation enacted by Jesus’ disciples.

Easter is not only about what happened to Jesus but, to a great degree, it is about what happens to us as we live lives that are transformed by his rising. St. Paul speaks about Christians being so united with Christ that when he dies, we die with him. And when he is raised, so we too. We not only await final transformation but, every time we stand with the crucified peoples of our day, as did Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the Risen One is alive in us as we break the hold of death-dealing powers even now.

On this Easter day Jesus offers us the same message of hope and comfort. He says to us DO NOT BE AFRAID. The problems in our personal lives, our church, our country and our world will not be solved overnight and disappear. Because of them, we, like the women at the tomb may well remain confused and discouraged. But the promise of Easter is that in the end life triumphs over death, good conquers evil, and hope overcomes despair. The message of the Risen Jesus this Easter, as on the first Easter, is one of hope and comfort. As the risen Jesus said to the women on their way to the tomb, so he says to us: DO NOT BE AFRAID. Let us rejoice as once again we say and sing alleluia after 40 days of silence.

Homily for the week of April 17, 2011

2011-04-17T09:21:00.000-04:00

Palm Sunday 2011

Isaiah 50:4-7

Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24

Philippians 2:6-11

Matthew 14--27:66 or 27:11-54

Remembering is a word and thought that comes to us when we think about the life and death of a member of our family Today we remember another death. This person died violently, suddenly, but not senselessly. It is the death of Jesus Christ. To those who do not know or believe in Jesus, there is no respect since Jesus died as a criminal. But for believers, his death is at the heart of who we are as Catholics. He chose to die to make up for all of us. We just participated in a Bible reading of His last supper, his trial and then his death by crucifixion.

Each gospel reading in the past weekends heightens the dramatic tension of a story whose climax we have known since childhood. In most of these readings we had the feeling that sooner or later someone would plan to get rid of Jesus. The people he was talking to found no place in their heart for him. They throw stones at him. He escape by going across the Jordon river, the same place where he was Baptised as a young man. Jesus was accused of making himself greater than Abraham and the prophets. Indeed, he proclaimed himself to be God’s son.

Today and Good Friday are the only two times in the whole year when we participate in the bible readings. St. Matthew traces the way in which Christ fulfils the prophecies of the Old Testament. His gospel alone mentions Judas' death. Jesus' silence before Pilate and his burial in the tomb of the wealthy Joseph are fulfilment of words of Isaiah.

Pilate's question: WHAT IS TRUTH? reflects the distressing perplexity of a person who no longer knows who he is. Why did Pilate or Judas or some of the crowd behave the way they did? Why do we behave the way that we do? Basically, Pilate and his associates were afraid of Jesus. Fear can make us do a lot of things we should not do. Being afraid often controls our decisions. And fear can led to anger.

As we take a close look at today's Gospel we find that Every personality in it is influenced by fear in one form or another. Some fears are easily recognizable because they are the same ones that paralyze us at times.

Take a look at the characters.

Judas, fearing that he may be in the wrong ball game, betrays Christ only to experience a deep despair.

The disciples enjoy the final meal but are afraid of loss of status, and so begin jockeying for places at the front. Later, they have to face their fear of lasting commitment as they run away from suffering.

Pilate was afraid of losing power and prestige.

The established religious leaders were afraid of their positions being taken over by Jesus. this newcomer.

The crowds and the soldiers were afraid of going against public opinion. Many people were afraid of Jesus. They all tried to beat him into submission. They tried to destroy him so that their values and their way of life were no longer challenged.

As we go through Holy Week this year we need not fear because Jesus has taken away all fear for those who go to him. And if our faith in Jesus has not been strong enough for it to convince us of the love of Jesus, then Holy Week can also be a time for our own spiritual healing. Often we have sung a Catholic hymn BE NOT AFRAID. Be not afraid. I go before you always. Come follow me, and I will give you rest.

Palm branches are a reminder of Holy Week and the end of Lent. The palm branches that you will bring home with you serve as a symbol of life, hope and victory. This tradition goes back to the very early years of the Catholic Church. In the early afternoon Christians of Jerusalem would gather on the Mount of Olives for a rather lengthy reading of the Bible which lasted for hours!. As evening came they would process into Jerusalem carrying palm or olive branches. Christians began to believe that the blessed palm branches had great power. Like the crucifix that you display in your home, and ashes on Ash Wednesday, palm branches in your home says to visitors that you believe and you follow Jesus Christ.

Homily for the week of April 10, 2011

2011-04-10T09:02:00.001-04:00

The Fifth Sunday in Lent, 2011

Ezekiel 37:12-14

Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

Romans 8:8-11

John 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45

During the past two weeks we have been reflecting on the image of water, of blindness, of light and of darkness. Specifically, we have considered water as it is used in Baptism. In past weeks we heard of the conversion of the woman who came to get water from the well where Jesus was, and of the blind man for whom Jesus gave back his sight through clay and a little water. And today we heard of the return to life of Lazarus who was dead.

Whether you have been a Catholic for many years or you are a young person Resurrection is a word and belief loaded with lots of questions. In the next two weeks we will hear a lot about Resurrection. Easter is about the Resurrection of Jesus who had been nailed to a cross. Baptism is about the Resurrection. If Jesus had not risen from his death there would be no St. James Church, no Catholic Churches, in fact no Christian Churches and religions. That Jesus died but also rose from his death is the basis of our Catholic faith. Our three readings today in one way or other describe resurrection.

The Resurrection of Jesus teaches us that death is not the end of life. Rather, death is the doorway into a new and eternal life. The life that we now live is not all there is, as some people claim. The pains and troubles of this life can be endured because we believe that something better is to come. If we believe that Jesus was raised after his death, then that motivates us to also believe the other things Jesus taught us. Our Christian faith stands or falls with the truth that Jesus rose from his death. Otherwise, Jesus would be a failed religious leader. He would be purely human. But it is also most important for us to believe that the Risen body of Jesus at Easter is not a resuscitated corpse but a completely new way of living for him. In the very same way our entry into heaven when we die will also be a completely new way of living for us.

For thousands of years people have imagined what this life after death would be like. The Bible does not give us detailed descriptions about this life, but it has hundreds of references to it. Over the centuries there has been no lack of books written by those who have claimed to have been there and come back. But a study of the Bible which is God’s word will give us all we need.

But the belief in Resurrection did not begin with Jesus. In the life of Jewish persons before Jesus, Resurrection grew into a picture of a new life and hope while the Jewish people were living in exile. Ezekiel tells us the story of Dry Bones in a field bleached by the sun. It is a picture of utter hopelessness. In whatever direction the Jews walked, lifeless bones filled the valleys. The Jews in Babylon had been dead in their faith. When they had left God they had nothing to hold on to. But Ezekiel sees his people’s dry bones coming to life again with flesh restored upon them. They will now see God with new eyes. These dry bones came back to life after God breathed on them. The people that seemed to be dead will come to life again.

The Gospel gives us the story of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha who had died. We are told that Lazarus was bound from head to toe when he was taken out of the tomb. Jesus tells his sisters Martha and Mary: UNTIE HIM AND LET HIM GO. They untied Lazarus and he was given life again. What Jesus does for Lazarus, God will do for Jesus at Easter.

But the message of Jesus is not just for Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. It is also important for us. In the middle of the account, Jesus declares: I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. WHOEVER BELIEVES IN ME, EVEN IF HE DIES, WILL LIVE, AND EVERYONE WHO LIVES AND BELIEVES IN ME WILL NEVER DIE. Most of us may regard eternal life as something which begins only when we die. But for those who believe in Jesus eternal life has already begun. Who we are now is what we shall be forever. For us, as for Jesus, physical death is not a defeat. Rather, it is another step on our way to fulness in God.

Jesus spent quite a lot of time in Bethany with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. These were people who loved him. And people whom he loved. Undoubtedly, this helped Jesus to carry out the mission that God had given him. What is so striking about this miracle of raising Lazarus from death, is that it was right after this that the Sanhedrin made their decision to kill Jesus.

Getting life from the dry bones, and the restoring of life to Lazarus can in one sense be called conversion. For many conversion can mean changing from one religion to another. But in a more personal way it also means changing from one way of life to another.

Most persons who are honest with themselves will admit that at some time in their life they have gone through at least one conversion experience. They have finally gotten loose from the things that tied them up. They returned to God after being away from God and Jesus for years, or even for a short time. People who have gone through this experience mention that they often feel some inner sickness and even death in the process. They want more, and usually want to be closer to Jesus by practicing their religious faith again.

But all of us need conversion experiences in our life. That is one of the main purposes of Lent. We need to return to the Lord part of our faith that has become weak or taken for granted. These could be spiritual and personal inconsistencies between what we say we believe and how we act.

In a sense we are all visitors on this earth. We all need to have friends, people with whom we can be at home. Over the past weekends, and through our prayers, and the spiritual reading that has been available to you, we too have been invited to conversion. It is a time for our “sick souls” to be raised up. In sharing this Mass we are nourished for this conversion. And so again we gather to break and share Jesus, the Bread of Life. This week let each us appreciate our life. Let us give comfort to someone who is sick. And especially, let us help someone who may feel that they have lost their faith in God and in Jesus.

Homily for the week of April 3, 2011

2011-04-03T09:34:00.000-04:00

Third Sunday of Lent, March 27, 2011

It is said that the next major wars will be fought over water, not oil. There are growing concerns over the increasing demand for fresh, clean water as the supply is decreasing. Today’s challenges about ensuring access to safe water for every human being is one entry point to reflection on today’s Gospel can be compared to Jesus' invitation to all persons to thirst for living water that is eternally replenished. And Jesus describes himself as this living water.

Dying of thirst is a terrible thought. To die of thirst is excruciatingly painful. Just mere dehydration can cause horrible headaches, dizziness, delirium, and can lead to problems such as kidney stones and even kidney failure. God’s people certainly would have gotten into a panic, especially if livestock and people were dying. Today’s Gospel points out that other types of thirst can cause damage as well, most especially spiritual thirst.

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, a great 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. We learn in her conversation with Jesus that she is an outcast because of her “many husbands."

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. The woman herself alludes to this fact: “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”

Yet Jesus not only converses with the woman, he 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 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. She soon understood that Jesus was offering something to quell the thirst. 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. 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, nor is she said to be a sinner. Jesus does not tell her to go and sin no more.

The woman’s understanding of Jesus progresses from the simple observation that he is a Jew to pondering whether he is greater than Jacob. Finally, she 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.

The high point of the conversation is when Jesus reveals himself to her as the Messiah. 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.

Jesus offers us living water just as he did the woman at the well. It is the water of salvation so when we stumble, we know that Jesus refreshes us with forgiveness. This is helpful to remember on days when we are disappointed by our anger, impatience, and discouragement. Take this opportunity to reflect upon the importance of Baptism with your family. If you have photos or other mementos of your family's Baptisms, bring them out and take some time to recall the day of Baptism and its importance to you and your family. Jesus' meeting with the woman at the well is like Baptism. Jesus knows the woman's sin and forgives her. The woman comes to know Jesus as the Messiah. The woman invites others to meet Jesus. Pray a prayer of blessing for each member of the family that God will help each one live the promises of his or her Baptism.

Homily for the week of March 20, 2011

2011-03-20T15:29:00.001-04:00

Second Sunday of Lent, 2011

Genesis 12:1-4a

Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22

2 Timothy 1:8b-10

Matthew 17:1-9

The word obey from gives each one of us a set of experiences and emotions. To obey means to comply with the wishes, requests or commands of another person or law. To many it means to comply with the requests of others such as our father or mother or teacher. We have to behave in a special way. The word obey comes from the the word obedience which means to listen intently and understand. But obedience is much more than submitting to what another person wants us to do. It is an act of our will. We must want to do a certain thing or action. Being truly obedient is a wilful response. It is a response of love. No matter how young or old we are, most persons at one time or other are “hard of hearing. “ We refuse to hear, and are disobedient. But if we all decided not to obey we can imagine the confusion and destruction all around us.

Being a Catholic means that we have personally decided to obey Jesus Christ and his teachings. Our Catholic religion revolves around one event, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which is what Lent is all about. Everything we think and believe about God always has to be with this event in mind. Jesus was obedient to God’s will. During Lent we are called to observe Jesus’ act of obedience. He listened to the Father intently and did not merely submit to God’s will. He lovingly embraced it.

Our first reading today gives us a summary of the story of Abraham. It is a story of trust and obedience. Abraham listened to a God he did not know, and he listened so intently to this God that he heard, understood, trusted and obeyed.

Consider the depth of trust that was required of Abraham. Because Abram lived in a patriarchal society, he lived in the home of his father. No son ever left this home. Who you were, your whole sense of self, was rooted in this sense of ancestry and family. To leave would be social suicide or a suicide of personal identity. Further, people at the time believed that gods were attached to a specific land. If you left the land, your god did not follow. If you left your land, the land of your gods, you adopted the gods of the new land in which you chose to live. God, who was heretofore unknown, reached out to Abraham and asked him to leave the land of his ancestors and his gods. Abraham’s encounter with God had to have been powerful, for Abram did what everyone else thought to be unthinkable: he trusted and obeyed this strange God!

Even when we are young and able, few of us are willing to leave our family and friends to start over. 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. We know how frightening it is for older parents to leave their homes and friends to move to a strange city even when they are going to a city with their children who love them! What Abram did was simply too frightening, too risky.

At first glance our first reading from the book of Genesis seems to be all about Abram, but it is not. It actually reveals a lot about God. Unlike the gods of Abram’s youth who demanded “Obey or else!” our God’s request to trust and obey is a request made out of love. Our God seeks more than submission; He seeks loving obedience: Obey because we are loved. Obey because to do so is to return God’s love. We can also look at what God offered Abram in return. The greatest promise to Abram’s thinking was to have many descendants in order to continue his family, his tribe.

The Gospel passage that I just read is known as the Transfiguration story of Jesus. Transfiguration is a religious word that means a CHANGE IN APPEARANCE. On the mountain Jesus saw the cross on which he would be nailed, and he prayed that God would change his mind. But in the end he accepted the plan of God.

We catch a glimpse of the glory of Jesus. We see Jesus flanked by Moses and Elijah, famous persons that lived thousands of years before Jesus. We are called to listen to them intently and respond.

Each of us have transforming events in our lives. Some of these may bring darkness and anxiety into our lives. It may news of a severe illness, or the death of a loved one, or some personal or family crisis. It also could be an event like someone telling us they are sorry after years of denial, or someone returning to the practice of their Catholic faith after being away from the church for years. Each of us have such happenings. Sometimes our human plans, no matter how good or worthwhile we might think they are must step aside for God’s plans in our lives. We must obey Jesus when he invites us to climb the mountain with him. But we must stay on the mountain top forever. We must go into our world without fear sharing with others what our faith means to us.