Homily for the Week of July 27, 2014

18TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, YEAR A  2014

Isaiah 55:1-3     

Romans 8:35, 37-39   

Matthew 14:13-21

         During the World Youth gathering in Los Angeles in 1987 Tony Melendez played the guitar and same the song Never be the Same in the presence of Pope St. John Paul II. That event not have been extraordinary other than Tony Melendez was born without any arms. But he was also born with the gift for music, so he developed that gift in a unique way.  He plays the guitar with his feet. He started with a push-button organ and moved to the guitar and the harmonica. And he has shared his gift of music in concerts throughout the world. He continues to give his hope to all persons, especially those who have disabilities.

         Like Tony Melendez 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. 

         Our first reading today sounds as if we were invited to a summer picnic. 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.   The friends of Jesus did not  have very much going for them. Five loaves and a few fish is all they have to feed a crowd. They are hungry. 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. 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, Tony Melendez, who threw away his artificial arms at the age of 10 and took advantage of his feet and toes. .

         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. 

         Jesus gave to the disciples, and the disciples gave to others. And today we still receive and give. What God has to give is always satisfying. Not only is it satisfying, but is always free. God is so generous that there is always more than is necessary. And there is still more. We might have to sacrifice some current values and earthly things, but what God offers is well worth the price. God stays with us always remaining with us not for just an hour, not for just a day, not for just a year, but always!  But I leave you with a few questions:

What do you suppose the disciples did with the 12 baskets of left-overs?  What do you do with my left-overs?  

Homily for the Week of July 20, 2014

HOMILY: Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2014

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 Jesus telling stories involving farming. He uses what are called parables.  Parables are short stories about good and bad, about how we are to change our life. There are about 40 of these parables in the Bible.  Most of these stories, like the one that I just read, are based on farming.  Last Sunday we listened to the parable of the sower who the seed fall on all kinds of ground. This week’s parable deals with a resulting question: how are Christians to react to those who reject the Word God and the life of the Christian community? But Jesus is not trying to get you to farm or even to plant a garden. Jesus uses the stories to explain how we might be a better person or more spiritual.

         Most of his stories have a conflict between good and bad, between those that are in and those that are out. Fights between families were part of the world at the time of Jesus. And they are still part of our world. Revenge or getting even can often be part of our culture. But usually Jesus tries to convince us that there is really only one group that matters, and that is the group of people who believe in God and try to do what God wants them to do. Jesus also tells us that regardless of what group you belong to, God cares about you.  God does not have favorites.

         Lets look at the story I just read about weeds and wheat.  When you find weeds sprouting in your garden or flowers you usually try to do some weeding. That is probably what most farmers and gardeners would do. But Jesus says: Let the weeds and the wheat grow together. At harvest time God will make the necessary separation.

         Can you see yourself 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.  At times we also label some people as wheat and others as weeds.   We think of some persons we know as bad and others as good. 

         We often will not admit that both good and bad can live side by side in our families, in our churches, our schools, our workplace - everywhere. Because of this we find ourselves judging others.  But 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 and many weeds 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 that  none  of us perfect, 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, 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. 

     Jesus is present in everyone and everything. He does not distinguish between the bad and the good. God does not go around as some evangelists might say demanding a perfect society of the saved and driving out those who don't fit. Sinners are welcomed into the inner space of God's house. The walls of the church do not separate the saved from the damned. Like the arms of a loving mother Jesus  hugs and embraces all of us his children.  Jesus says that the wheat is strong enough to survive the weeds.

Homily for the Week of July 13, 2014

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time  A  2014

Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14;  Romans 8:18-23;  Matthew 13:1-23 or 13:1-9

         I used the long reading today because I think that the explanation of Jesus makes his message easier to understand. As we all know hearing someone is easy. Listening and understanding is much harder. Teachers who teach the same material to an entire classroom of students are continually amazed when the test is given at the range of what was heard and comprehended. Such are the mysteries our ability to communicate.

         Matthew wrote this Gospel for a community of Jewish Christians. As outsiders looked at this community with a thought of joining, Matthew had to deal with a very real problem. How was it that all the Jews were hearing the same message about Jesus but only some became followers of Jesus? Also, why did some in the community burn with a passion for Jesus only to be lost in a short while? These questions are still asked today. Why do some people who are baptized and raised as Catholic stay faithful and some do not?

         Today, Jesus our teacher, uses a story which was very common among his people. Today Jesus is the farmer or the gardener. He gives us one of his best known stories: the story of the sower.  As a good teacher he was illustrating his teaching through ordinary examples of work, weather, and nature. While he was talking mainly to fishermen, they could instantly recognized the scene of the story he was telling them: Imagine a farmer going out to sow, he started out by saying.

         At the time of Jesus, because of the condition of the soil in Israel it was difficult to get seeds to grow.  Often, farmers did not plow the land before seeding but just scattered the seeds everywhere. Some fell on the paths and some on the edges and some on the  soil where it should be falling  Many of the seeds were eaten up by the birds. But the limestone rock was right near the surface so there was hardly any topsoil.

         But Jesus is not telling us the story of the seed in order to have a greener America.  For Jesus as for Isaiah the seed refers to speaking, not planting.  It refers to the word of God given to us in the Bible. And so Jesus tells of all the possibilities of how the seed could fall, and grow or not grow. Jesus tells us he is willing to teach us,  but people will only learn from him if they make an effort -- and he is saddened by the fact that many do not. He quotes Isaiah: You will indeed hear, but not understand, and you shall indeed look, but never see.  For Jesus the seed is the word of God and the different kinds of ground on which the seed falls are the different kinds of listeners or Catholics who hear his word.

         The story of the sower and the seed directs us to consider the Word of God. God’s Word is sown everywhere. Some hear it. Some get it. Some act on it. Some may pay no attention at all to the Word of God, but God gives it anyway. God is a very generous God, something we often hear said but perhaps do not comprehend. Jesus is calling us to look like God and act like God. We would prefer, however, only to passively hear God’s word. We resist acting on it.

         This story was told and retold before it found its way into the Gospels. What lessons did the first Christians teach with it? Then and now the story teaches Jesus’ lesson about our mixed response to God’s Word, although for the early Christians it seems to have had an additional purpose. It is thought that this parable was used as an examination of conscience. It is perfect for such a use. How do we measure up? Are we someone who has heard the message but doesn’t care? Has our initial enthusiasm for our faith failed? Did some thorns in our lives drive us away? There are many people difficult to deal with even in a Christian community, are the weeds choking us? Perhaps we are at times the weeds ourselves, teaching our children and others that Church isn’t important.

         St. Paul acknowledges that acting on God’s Word can be difficult and, at first glance, be thought of as a burden. If we live the Catholic moral life, we are likely to be ridiculed. We do not suffer physical persecution, but we do suffer the slings and arrows of a culture that does not hold our values. Paul says to us that following God’s Word, while at times difficult, is worth it!

         Our call today is to examine our relationship to the Word and message of Jesus Christ. We’ve heard it; have we listened to it? Are we in the boat or outside of it looking in?

         We are all sowers of seed.  By our attitudes, our beliefs, our actions we sow seeds of encouragement, joy and reconciliation -- but some of the seeds we sow contribute to cycles of discouragement, anger, violence, abuse, enslavement and injustice.    Christ calls us to be sowers of his Word in every situation and relationship, especially when such “sowing” results yields a harvest that benefits others far more than benefits us.   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.  Jesus also gives us hope and encouragement to remain faithful to our religion regardless of the kind of ground m.

Homily for the Week of July 6, 2014

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: 2014

Readings: Zechariah 9:9-10; Romans 8:9,11-13, Matthew 11:25-30

         I think today we are given perhaps the most consoling words of Jesus: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Each one of us at one time or other are burdened or loaded down with anxiety, stress, hardships, nuisances, sickness. The burden Jesus speaks of was the burden that came as a consequence of trying to live up to what some of the rulers expected of you.

         Friday and this weekend, we here in the United States, are celebrating the shaking off of the burdens placed on us by England by declaring  our independence from the domination and control of the British. These burdens were the taxes, the laws, and the various means by which England kept the thirteen original colonies under control.  Leaders like George Washington encouraged a Revolution which he hoped would lead to independence.

         It is nearly 300 years ago that we gained our independence.  But as you read the short first reading today you may not have realized that it is the story of the Jewish people who had been living in slavery for 300 years after the Jewish people had lost their country. The Jews had once been a great nation. But they had been conquered by the Syrians and the Babylonians.  After 300 years King Cyrus of Persia conquered the Babylonians and went to Jerusalem,  At this time they named the country after Judah. They would come to be called “Jews.” God had promised that they would one day live in peace.

         Our Gospel reading for today comes from Matthew from which we get the the symbolism of yoke. Up to about 100 years ago the yoke was very common. It would join two animals together to combine strength and pull a plow or wagon. Now we have trucks and tractors which do that job. The word yoke also today has the meaning of slavery.

         At the time of Jesus the Jewish law was referred to as a yoke or as a burden. When Jesus says take my yoke and learn from me he was  making a comparison between his teaching and what the Jewish people were told by their teachers. They like to make the law a burden on the people, thinking that the greater the burden the greater is the love. Each week when the Jews went to the synagogues they heard about the law and how they should live it. Jesus wanted to lift the burden and make the law more acceptable.

         Jesus, of course did not want to abolish all the laws. Even the laws that Jesus talked about were burdens because every law can be a burden because they involve obligations and responsibilities, things we have to do and to obey.  But when we follow the laws of Jesus we begin to realize that they lead us to do good things and finally to get to heaven. Whenever we do not follow the laws Jesus can sin and because of sin can be controlled by it.

         Another thing about a yoke is that it joins two animals together. With a yoke one animal does not pull the wagon or the plow alone.  When Jesus tells us to come to him and place his yoke around you, Jesus is telling you that he too will carry any of your burdens or problems, He is telling us that we will not go through life alone. He will not leave us orphans.

         We all have our yokes and burdens. We all have days that we would just as soon forget. None of us is without stress or pain.  We all get weary at times because that is part of being human. Jesus does not say that he will remove the burden or the yoke. He just says that he can make it feel lighter and easier to bear.  For many Catholics the burden or the yoke that they feel they carry is the burden of practicing their Catholic faith. Our world and culture make it hard to be a loyal Catholic. Those who follow Christ rather than follow the crowd will suffer. Even many within our Church can make being faithful difficult, if not by their example, then by their criticism of teachings of the Church. 

         It was to people under these burdens that Jesus said his burden would be light. But these burdens would be light only if we were connected to him, if we are YOKED to him.  This does not mean that we are tied to him like two oxen are tied together by a yoke.  It means, however, Jesus will walk with us side by side, helping us as needed to carry our burdens and sharing our work and our problems. But only if we invite him to walk with us.  

         The truth is that we were yoked with Jesus at our Baptism.  But at Baptism we were also yoked to one another. That is why we so often start a bible reading with the words: Brothers and sisters.   Too often we may not notice this because so many of us may see religion and faith from a personal and individualistic point of view.  If we focus too much on 'ME AND JESUS we lose track of what happens when at Baptism we were truly YOKED to one another. And the food that keeps us strong in faith is the wonderful Holy Eucharist that we eat at the holy table of the Lord. When we are dismissed at the end of this Mass, we leave this church, not to be scattered without help, but to love and serve one another as does Jesus.