Homily for the Week of March 17, 2013

HOMILY: 5th Sunday of Lent, Year C 2013 Isaiah 43: 16-21; Phil 3:8-14; John 8:1-11 Jesus has told us many times: Judge not and you shall not be judged. Yet it is part of human nature to point out the faults and sins of other people, as if we did not have enough of them ourselves. Most people do no want to be caught red handed in a sinful act. That is why robbers and those who set out to kill others or commit other crimes like child abuse will camouflage themselves so that they will not be caught. These persons try to avoid the spotlight. The Gospel story that I just read is about judging and forgiveness. The Pharisees and scribes were groups of people who were attracted to Jesus, but in a negative way. They bring to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. It is a court scene and Jesus, not the woman, is on trial. Whichever say that Jesus judges Jesus will be condemned. Jesus’ opponents are not interested in the circumstances that led to the woman’s actions—and one must wonder how her partner escaped judgement when both were caught in the act! The whole case is most likely set up by those who wanted to condemn Jesus. We are told that Jesus wrote something. Much ink has been spilled by commentators who speculate on what Jesus wrote. Much has been made of this, and many have speculated about what Jesus wrote. The real probability is that Jesus wrote nothing. It was not what He wrote that silenced the crowd, it was how He did it. It is thought, and it is still observable in Middle Eastern men today, that the common gesture made when annoyed by other people was to squat on the ground and doodle in the dirt with a finger or a stick. In the Old Testament God wrote the 10 commandments on a tablet, and then gave them to Moses. In today’s Gospel it is Jesus’ action of writing with his finger, replicating God’s action in the giving of the 10 Commandments, that helps us understand that Jesus’ interpretation of the law is in line with God’s intent. The law was never intended as an instrument of condemnation but was to guide believers in a godly way of life. Jesus came to save us, not judge, not condemn. Jesus certainly could have judged and condemned, and one day Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats, but not yet. We must take our cue from Jesus. The Christian's role is not to judge anyone. We cannot possibly know another person's heart. We do not know who the woman was or how she happened to be caught in the very act of adultery. We also know that there was a double standard at the time of Jesus. Men could not be accused of adultery. It is clear that the man was not brought out to be stoned! The worst part of this scene is not the sin of the woman. The worst part is the sin of the crowd. The crowd had no concern for the woman. She was simply a pawn to be used to catch Jesus in a mistake that would discredit Him. Unlike us, Jesus does know human hearts, and Jesus knew that the crowd was guilty of the greater sin. Jesus held nothing against the woman. He did not excuse her behavior, but he did not hold it against her either. He gave her a chance to start over again and return to what she should be doing as a Jewish woman. He gave her a future. The challenge of the Gospel is not whether we can see ourselves as the woman who is caught in adultery, but see ourselves as the man who is caught up in forgiveness. We come to church to be formed in Jesus’ mercy so that we don’t judge others as sinners. The gospel is a reminder that we must be careful about labeling people or deciding how they stand before God. Wrong and bad actions must be condemned, but people are complex. The Christian is called to remember repentance and conversion are possible through God's grace. All too often we find it too good to be true that it is God who loved us first. We find it hard to believe that we don’t have to earn God’s love. Can we forgive as quickly as Jesus forgives? Can we forgive and leave it? Lent is a time for us to be reconciled with God. As Catholics who go to Church we have the opportunity at the beginning of each Mass to let Jesus forgive us. We can also talk about our faults to another in the sacrament of confession. We ask God to forgive us for the hurts we have caused. It is nice to know that he gives us a chance to start over again and again and again. Likewise, just as Jesus forgives and accepts, let us try in our daily lives to forgive and to accept those who annoy us. About every 7 years the feast of St. Patrick falls on a weekend. Patrick was born in England and named Maewyn. When he was 16, Irish raiders kidnapped him. They sailed back to Ireland, where Patrick became the slave and worked as a shepherd. After six years, he crept aboard a ship bound for Britain. For the next 20 years, Patrick studied in France and England and became a priest at the age 43 at which time he was called “Patricius,” which means “father of the citizens.” He decided to go back to Ireland where he was known for his miracles which showed people the power of the Christian God. Patrick ordained priests and built monasteries in Ireland. By the time he died at age 72 he had showed the Irish how to find Christ in one another. A famous legend about St. Patrick says he explained the Holy Trinity to the people by using a shamrock, the three-leafed plant. Today it is the Irish national emblem. Like Jesus, Patrick refused to judge others.

Homily for the Week of March 10, 2013

Fourth Sunday of Lent (C), March 10, 2013 Jos 5-9a,10-12, Psalm 34, 2 Cor 5:17-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Today Jesus tells us a story about forgiveness. Forgiveness is not the rule of our culture. So many times we seek revenge or to punish, and at times we may want to get even or to inflict more pain than was delivered. Such is the culture of lawsuits. But today Jesus tells us a famous story of the Prodigal Son. The story has a very different approach than that of getting even. It is the approach to sin and hurts by showing love and forgiveness. In the story of the Prodigal Son, the father is an example of forgiveness. But it is not only the forgiving father with which we identify but it is the Prodigal Son. Jesus makes the second son a mirror in which He wants us to see ourselves. Jesus wants us to recognize how our anger and resentments keep us out of the Father’s house. Most of us have probably met what we judge to be a prodigal son or prodigal daughter. One often hears of bitter disputes among brothers and sisters when it comes time to divide up the inheritance left by their parents. In the Bible story a father has two sons. The father was probably quite wealthy because he owned a lot of land and had cattle. The man wore expensive clothes. At the time of Jesus these were always signs of wealth. Wealth was usually based on how must land or property you owned. The younger son asks his father to give him his share of the land before the father is even dead! He wants to leave home and go off to live on his own. So the father decides to give both sons their share. The older son stays home and works the farm. When the father hands over his considerable wealth to his sons, one would think they would be happy. But both end up miserable. The younger one squanders everything, while the older one hoards it all, not spending even a little bit to entertain his friends. Both complain about what they have not been given. The younger son, after using up all he had inherited, lowers his sights and would be satisfied with the slop fed to the pigs. ” The older son complains bitterly to his father: “You never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.” This accusation is puzzling, given that the son already has been given everything the father has. It is equally surprising that the father, instead of angrily dismissing his son’s baseless accusations, responds with a renewed invitation to joy and a reminder: “Everything I have is yours”—already! But something has died in both sons. Their greed and jealousy have blinded them to the overflowing abundance that is theirs. After being away for a while, the younger son hits rock bottom. He believes he no longer deserves to be called son. He acknowledges the wrong he has done his father and the whole community. What has brought him back to his senses? It is his belief that his father is a loving father. It is the father’s unfailing love. For a long time his father has been looking for him. When he does see him off in the distance he flings open his arms, hugs him and forgives him. This action gives this young son love and joy and gratitude. He now feels certain that he is forgiven freely and totally. He did not earn and it can not be taken away. The infinite mercy of God, the Father of saint and sinner, is brought out very clearly in the story of the younger son. Even though he abandoned his father, the father did not abandon him. The father's mercy was big enough and generous enough to forgive and forget. His love for his son was strong enough to smother any feelings of personal resentment. His son's return blotted out all his past faults and failures. It was surely an occasion for general rejoicing. For the vast majority of us our message of consolation and hope is in the first part of today's parable. All of us have, many a time, been prodigal, ungrateful, selfish sons and daughters of our loving Father. But he is still a Father of infinite love, of boundless mercy. He is not only waiting for us to return, like the human father in the story. He is continually sending out messengers to recall us and to help us on the return journey. Like the younger son in the story we may have abused our freedom and broken his laws. We may now feel torn and tattered but, our loving, merciful Father is waiting for us with open arms to welcome us back the moment we come to ourselves and decide to return. Until we have drawn our last breath on earth, the mercy of God and his pardon, are there for our asking. This is really what forgiveness is all about. When we forgive someone we are not saying that the a particular thing did not happen or did not matter. If it did not happen or did not matter we do not need forgiveness. When we forgive we actually take upon ourselves and our shoulders what we are forgiving: it could be money, reputation, insult, or anything and anyone who needs to be forgiven. For instance Pope John Paul II visited face to face in jail the man who tried to kill him and forgave him. Jesus did the very same thing when he willing died on the cross so that all of us who wanted forgiveness would be forgiven by him. Forgiveness is an act of love. It is a choice to go beyond the hurt and not allow it to dominate the relationship or determine the future. It is an act of courage and hope for the future. To reach the moment of such a choice may be a lengthy process and may need many years During this 4th week of Lent talk with God about what is dead in you that longs to come to life again. Ask Christ to help you let go of any resentment toward others with whom you share this inheritance. Have you ever forgiven someone who really hurt you? How did it feel to be acting so much like God? Consider the older brother. Have you ever felt that someone else in your family or among your friends "has it better" or easier than you do? Pray to God our Father to help not to compare ourselves to others. According to Jesus, God looks for us after we have done wrong because we need to be found. God seeks us out even when we do not know that we are lost. God goes out looking for us always,and when he finds us he is happy. God gets more excited over one lost person who is found than over one who has never been lost. God doesn’t care why we come back, just that we come back. The best way that Catholics can enjoy this tremendous mercy is by making a good and honest confession.

Homily for the Week of March 3, 2013

3rd week of Lent, C 2013 Exodus 3:1-8, Psalm 103,1 Corinthians 10-6, Luke 13: 1-9 We just respond to the Psalm prayer today with the expression: The Lord is kind and merciful. That spiritual focus shows up also in the short story about a fig tree which did not produce any fruit for 3 years. Because of that the owner wants to cut it down, but the owner decided to keep it for another year, and then he said it was OK to cut it down if did not produce any figs. For many of us when something tragic happens to us we are tempted to look at our lives to see if we have done anything wrong. If only I had not been speeding, the accident would not have happened and my daughter would not have lost her leg. And then we may blame God for punishing us for our recklessness. Instead our response to such a statement should be NO. NO, that is not how God does things. God is not narcisstic blaming us for what we might have done wrong. Accidents happen for a variety of reasons. However, God did not create up just to take up space in this world. He wants us to trust him, love him and to do good for others. We may not have the answer as to the WHY of suffering or sickness, but we can be sure that it is not punishment from God. In other words, suffering is not a sign of God's judgment any more than prosperity is evidence of God's approval. More importantly, we are to take no comfort from the sufferings of others, regardless of their religions, lifestyles or behavior. Instead of delighting in the so called punishment of others, Jesus challenges us to examine our own lives, and to realize that we will all be judged on how our life has affected others. When we mess up we many times may know the reason. In some cases they were not freely made. But these situations are not God’s way of shaking a finger at us and saying that we are a naughty person. For whatever reason, all too often we think of God as a get even God when things go wrong in our lives. We can so easily slip into thinking: I am being punished for being a bad person. I hope that our bible readings today will help to take away this type of thinking. The Lord is kind and merciful. God does not go around randomly punishing us when we do something wrong. Our first reading is about the Jewish people who had been wandering for years. They had been driven out of their homes not knowing when they would ever return. They found themselves as slaves in Egypt under the Pharaoh who used them for his own purposes. Moses is out in the Egyptian desert taking care of his father-in-law’s cattle when he notices a burning bush which keeps on burning without being consumed. He goes closer to find out what it might be. And then he hears a voice call out telling him to come no closer and asks him to remove his sandals. The voice identifies itself as the God of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will lead you to a land flowing with milk and honey, the voice said. He was told to bring this good news to his family, But Moses wanted proof for those he was going to talk to that what he saw and heard was real. If I ask What is his name? what will I tell them? And God replied: I AM WHO AM. Tell them that I AM SENT ME TO YOU. The bush was for Moses a sign of God’s presence. The story of the useless fig tree has a lesson for all time and for all of us. God's mercy is infinite but our earthly life, during which he can obtain that mercy, is very finite. God's mercy can forgive sins no matter how bad they might be, but it cannot forgive even less serious sins unless the sinner is sorry and asks for forgiveness. Christ, our true mediator with God, is continually interceding for us, but unless we do our part by repenting and changing our behavior, his intercession will be of no avail to us. God wants each of us to be saved, but we must want salvation as much as God wants it for us. Think on this story of the fruitless fig tree today. If your conscience tells you that it applies to you, think also that Christ is interceding for you. He has obtained for you a moratorium, a period in which you can prove yourself fruitful. Use that gift of God with gratitude and you shall obtain the result that God wants, and that in all good sense, you should want as well. Throughout each day God places burning bushes in our life. But do we see them as signs of God’s desire to enter our own lives? Do we hear God speaking to us in these burning bushes? Do we call out in prayer to God, or just ignore the burning bushes until some other time when we feel more like getting to it. Maybe we are afraid to ask God the question: WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? During this third week of Lent let us remind ourselves of our need to grow in holiness and in goodness. Let each of us this third week of Lent daily try to see some thing spiritual within the ordinary activities of each day, God, the Master Gardener, is always, always giving us more time. Surprisingly, it is often our faults and sins that can lead us closer to God and the need for Jesus.