Sometimes it is easy to wonder - when we hear that God has called us to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ - whether it could possibly mean me, and you, in particular!
The first reading today from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans talks about “foreknowing” and “predestining;” “justifying” and “glorifying.” It sounds like there are going to “just a few” who actually “make it” through to glorification and eternal life with God.
In fact, in the Gospel passage, someone asks Jesus, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
Jesus’ immediate response is not to give a number, but to tell how anyone can be saved: by entering through the narrow gate. He is referring here literally to the various sized city gates of Jerusalem. Some were very small - people had a hard time crawling through them with any amount of paraphernalia, let alone their camels and their pack-animals. But Jesus insists - in his analogy - that very wide gates can attract all kinds of people - some of which can be truly unqualified, by their own life-decisions against God and his ways, from entering the Kingdom; so the way of the narrow gate is the way to go: a way that means sacrifice, vigilance, love of neighbor over love of self, and the carrying of a cross of some sort!
The way of the narrow gate is not an easy way, by any means, that is why God gave any who want to use it, also the gift of the Holy Spirit to help them, to strengthen them - to pray for them to God in groanings that only each of them can understand.
And so, who has God called to glory? EVERYONE!
Who is going to make it to glory? Not those who pray loudly for Jesus to take them to glory but have no deeds to show for it! Not just those who paled around with Jesus, but did not live like he taught; but rather, those who cooperate with the grace of God - those who work for it - those who choose the more difficult path!
May we imitate Jesus’ all the way - into eternity!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Homily for Tuesday October 30, 2007
Today we have two beautiful readings in our Mass.
The first reading from St. Paul to the Romans reminds us that not only human beings, but all of creation - everything that we can see and hear in the whole universe - has been affected by Original Sin - and has lost its full integrity. The sin of humans spills over into God’s green earth - and beyond. We are more and more aware of that in our own day - with increasing consciousness of how easy it is to destroy what balance there is set in place by God. Thankfully, we are also taking some responsibility now to turn around such behaviors by action in the personal and political arenas.
But, nature, and we, our selves, will never be completely restored - until that Day when Christ our Life appears - and the full effects of his Death and Resurrection can be applied and a marvelous wholeness can be restored - and things will become even better than they were at the beginning with Adam and Eve (because we will be all and all in Christ Jesus - and nothing could be more spectacular than that! O happy fault! O necessary sin of Adam - which wrought for us so great a redeemer!)
The source of this knowledge, the assurance of hope lies, then, in Jesus, and in his Church. The promise of a redeemer was situated in the hope given by God the Father - the Creator - immediately after the first sin. He never left his human creatures without hope. Now we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ!
And where do we wait: in the arms and branches; the bosom of the Catholic Church! There is room for all the “birds of the sky” in its branches!
The joyful anticipation of Christ’s coming, and the relieving of our corporate groaning for the fullness of redemption should be ideas that permeate our entire lives - like yeast that permeates and leavens dough.
If we live with such a forward-looking perspective, then each day will be new and exciting, and filled with work to be done on our part - to put into practice what we believe and hope for by loving works of charity - in imitation of God who has so loved us FIRST. We will help ourselves, our neighbors and the whole created world get that much closer to fullness of redemption!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
The first reading from St. Paul to the Romans reminds us that not only human beings, but all of creation - everything that we can see and hear in the whole universe - has been affected by Original Sin - and has lost its full integrity. The sin of humans spills over into God’s green earth - and beyond. We are more and more aware of that in our own day - with increasing consciousness of how easy it is to destroy what balance there is set in place by God. Thankfully, we are also taking some responsibility now to turn around such behaviors by action in the personal and political arenas.
But, nature, and we, our selves, will never be completely restored - until that Day when Christ our Life appears - and the full effects of his Death and Resurrection can be applied and a marvelous wholeness can be restored - and things will become even better than they were at the beginning with Adam and Eve (because we will be all and all in Christ Jesus - and nothing could be more spectacular than that! O happy fault! O necessary sin of Adam - which wrought for us so great a redeemer!)
The source of this knowledge, the assurance of hope lies, then, in Jesus, and in his Church. The promise of a redeemer was situated in the hope given by God the Father - the Creator - immediately after the first sin. He never left his human creatures without hope. Now we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ!
And where do we wait: in the arms and branches; the bosom of the Catholic Church! There is room for all the “birds of the sky” in its branches!
The joyful anticipation of Christ’s coming, and the relieving of our corporate groaning for the fullness of redemption should be ideas that permeate our entire lives - like yeast that permeates and leavens dough.
If we live with such a forward-looking perspective, then each day will be new and exciting, and filled with work to be done on our part - to put into practice what we believe and hope for by loving works of charity - in imitation of God who has so loved us FIRST. We will help ourselves, our neighbors and the whole created world get that much closer to fullness of redemption!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Homily for Monday October 29, 2007
We must be careful in reading the scripture passages today - both of them.
The first reading should not encourage us to drive a wedge between the body and the spirit in ourselves as human beings. The second reading should not give us license to do inappropriate work on the Lord’s Day!
There was a tendency in the time of St. Paul, after the events of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and the sending of the Spirit - to overemphasize the spirit in human beings, to the detriment of regard for the body. This is part of “Pauline Theology.” It is rightly based. Paul argues that if the Holy Spirit of God has truly come to us in Baptism - for the forgiveness of our sins - he also comes to make us adopted children of God allowing us to call God: Abba - Father! This status is far superior to the instinctual, animalistic tendencies of the body which need to be governed by an external law so that we are not destroyed by the body’s inappropriate appetites and irrational attempts to satisfy them. But Paul seems to lose sight of the fact that there needs to be a balance between regard for the spirit and the body.
It is Pope John Paul the Great, in his Theology of the Body, who proposes this balance. His argument emphasizes the redemption of the body, as well as the redemption of the spiritual part of man. By the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, it is now possible for the body and its lower governing instincts to be transformed and realigned closer to their original state at the time of Creation; and for the spirit to find a helper in the body, by which it gains access to becoming a helping vehicle in the loving service of other people!
And so - while St. Paul emphasizes strictly the spiritual over the material; Pope John Paul emphasizes a more realistic combination of both the spiritual and material aspects of the one human being! Both can help and aid each other in living out the Gospel mandate of Jesus: to love as he loves; to help free people from their distresses, as he would; to bring comfort and healing wherever we can, as he did! Jesus tells us that, while observing Sunday is an important thing, we can do spiritually good work on any day of the week!
Our God is the God of salvation!
The first reading should not encourage us to drive a wedge between the body and the spirit in ourselves as human beings. The second reading should not give us license to do inappropriate work on the Lord’s Day!
There was a tendency in the time of St. Paul, after the events of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, and the sending of the Spirit - to overemphasize the spirit in human beings, to the detriment of regard for the body. This is part of “Pauline Theology.” It is rightly based. Paul argues that if the Holy Spirit of God has truly come to us in Baptism - for the forgiveness of our sins - he also comes to make us adopted children of God allowing us to call God: Abba - Father! This status is far superior to the instinctual, animalistic tendencies of the body which need to be governed by an external law so that we are not destroyed by the body’s inappropriate appetites and irrational attempts to satisfy them. But Paul seems to lose sight of the fact that there needs to be a balance between regard for the spirit and the body.
It is Pope John Paul the Great, in his Theology of the Body, who proposes this balance. His argument emphasizes the redemption of the body, as well as the redemption of the spiritual part of man. By the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, it is now possible for the body and its lower governing instincts to be transformed and realigned closer to their original state at the time of Creation; and for the spirit to find a helper in the body, by which it gains access to becoming a helping vehicle in the loving service of other people!
And so - while St. Paul emphasizes strictly the spiritual over the material; Pope John Paul emphasizes a more realistic combination of both the spiritual and material aspects of the one human being! Both can help and aid each other in living out the Gospel mandate of Jesus: to love as he loves; to help free people from their distresses, as he would; to bring comfort and healing wherever we can, as he did! Jesus tells us that, while observing Sunday is an important thing, we can do spiritually good work on any day of the week!
Our God is the God of salvation!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Homily for 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus tells a parable about those who are convinced of their own righteousness - and it is about a Pharisee and a tax collector. I would like, first, to tell a story about two pieces of rock! Then later we can come back to the Pharisee and the tax collector.
Pumice is a pretty, porous rock, whose main purpose after it is spewed forth from an explosive volcanic eruption is to be beautiful, and potentially useful in a variety of ways as an abrasive. It is useful for scrubbing, cleaning and making life easier around the house. It comes in various colors - such as white, cream, grey, brown and black. It has a shiny, glassy appearance in its natural state - and if it could think, it would, most likely, think itself quite a handsome specimen.
Coal is another kind of rock. It is a fossil-fuel and is readily combustible. In harder forms it can withstand elevated temperatures and pressure. It is the largest single provider of electricity in the world, but also the largest producer of carbon monoxide emissions which contribute to global warming.
In our gospel passage today, I should think that the “puffed-up, pretty-in- white-character” might be the Pharisee of Jesus’ parable. The Pharisee thinks that he is the epitome of religious rightness and that the problem with most people is that they are not more like him! He is very helpful – in his own abrasive way - with telling other people how to take care of themselves and their houses and their lives - but he does not lift a finger to help them or to scrub out the scum inside of his own life. Jesus, in another place, calls Pharisees “whitened sepulchers” - all glassy and shiny on the outside, but full of “dead men’s bones” on the inside. This Pharisee’s temple visit today was totally meaningless and even sacrilegious.
The tax collector resembles the other rock, the piece of coal! Though there was some deviousness about what he did for a living - working for the Roman occupation government - while not emitting carbon monoxide into the air - he still was emitting a sharp, acrid odor of dishonesty, fraud and self-aggrandizement! Tax collectors were hated by the Jews - especially the ones who were traitors - those who were Jews themselves, who made profit from gouging and making life miserable for their own people!
How this all ties together, is this: when Jesus became present to the Pharisees and the tax collectors, there were two different responses to him. Most of the Pharisees did not like him - they felt threatened by him; most of the tax collectors liked him - because he did not judge them - he even ate with them! In time, the pressure and temperature of the climate of the Kingdom of God, announced and becoming a reality in Jesus himself - made most of the Pharisees feel like they were crumbling - like disintegrating pieces of pretty, pale pumice. But, the same pressure and temperature modification turned the coal, of at least this one the tax collector, into a diamond!
And so, we can see clearly that those who exalt themselves will be humbled - by the intensity and fire of God’s loving presence – especially that of the Holy Spirit; and those who humble themselves will be exalted: they will become as diamonds who sparkle and shine in the night of a depraved world, radiating the very Light of the Son of God, himself!
In our responsorial refrain today we sang: The Lord hears the cry of the poor. He does! He always does. He heard the cry of the repentant tax collector - who could not really even raise his eyes to God, and who beat his breast when he realized just who and what he was in relation to the great and powerful, but o so tender and loving God! He hears the cry of all of us, who try to see ourselves as we really are in his sight
It is not easy to stay the course, as St. Paul intimates in the second reading today. It is not always pleasant to look in the mirror and see ourselves as we really are. But if we do not also see ourselves as beloved children of God (as St. Paul definitely did do) - children for whom our Father would, and does do, whatever he can to help guide us home to him - to help us finish the race -then we are not seeing correctly! Every peek in the mirror ought to bring a smile to our face!
The ultimate goal of all of human life is to behold the graciousness of God for ever! If we can remember that, make that the reason for our hope, make it the motivation for all we do - then we will be like diamonds in the tiara of our Lord and Brother, our Savior and our Friend: JESUS CHRIST, when he assumes his role as King of heaven and earth at the end of time. Amen!
Pumice is a pretty, porous rock, whose main purpose after it is spewed forth from an explosive volcanic eruption is to be beautiful, and potentially useful in a variety of ways as an abrasive. It is useful for scrubbing, cleaning and making life easier around the house. It comes in various colors - such as white, cream, grey, brown and black. It has a shiny, glassy appearance in its natural state - and if it could think, it would, most likely, think itself quite a handsome specimen.
Coal is another kind of rock. It is a fossil-fuel and is readily combustible. In harder forms it can withstand elevated temperatures and pressure. It is the largest single provider of electricity in the world, but also the largest producer of carbon monoxide emissions which contribute to global warming.
In our gospel passage today, I should think that the “puffed-up, pretty-in- white-character” might be the Pharisee of Jesus’ parable. The Pharisee thinks that he is the epitome of religious rightness and that the problem with most people is that they are not more like him! He is very helpful – in his own abrasive way - with telling other people how to take care of themselves and their houses and their lives - but he does not lift a finger to help them or to scrub out the scum inside of his own life. Jesus, in another place, calls Pharisees “whitened sepulchers” - all glassy and shiny on the outside, but full of “dead men’s bones” on the inside. This Pharisee’s temple visit today was totally meaningless and even sacrilegious.
The tax collector resembles the other rock, the piece of coal! Though there was some deviousness about what he did for a living - working for the Roman occupation government - while not emitting carbon monoxide into the air - he still was emitting a sharp, acrid odor of dishonesty, fraud and self-aggrandizement! Tax collectors were hated by the Jews - especially the ones who were traitors - those who were Jews themselves, who made profit from gouging and making life miserable for their own people!
How this all ties together, is this: when Jesus became present to the Pharisees and the tax collectors, there were two different responses to him. Most of the Pharisees did not like him - they felt threatened by him; most of the tax collectors liked him - because he did not judge them - he even ate with them! In time, the pressure and temperature of the climate of the Kingdom of God, announced and becoming a reality in Jesus himself - made most of the Pharisees feel like they were crumbling - like disintegrating pieces of pretty, pale pumice. But, the same pressure and temperature modification turned the coal, of at least this one the tax collector, into a diamond!
And so, we can see clearly that those who exalt themselves will be humbled - by the intensity and fire of God’s loving presence – especially that of the Holy Spirit; and those who humble themselves will be exalted: they will become as diamonds who sparkle and shine in the night of a depraved world, radiating the very Light of the Son of God, himself!
In our responsorial refrain today we sang: The Lord hears the cry of the poor. He does! He always does. He heard the cry of the repentant tax collector - who could not really even raise his eyes to God, and who beat his breast when he realized just who and what he was in relation to the great and powerful, but o so tender and loving God! He hears the cry of all of us, who try to see ourselves as we really are in his sight
It is not easy to stay the course, as St. Paul intimates in the second reading today. It is not always pleasant to look in the mirror and see ourselves as we really are. But if we do not also see ourselves as beloved children of God (as St. Paul definitely did do) - children for whom our Father would, and does do, whatever he can to help guide us home to him - to help us finish the race -then we are not seeing correctly! Every peek in the mirror ought to bring a smile to our face!
The ultimate goal of all of human life is to behold the graciousness of God for ever! If we can remember that, make that the reason for our hope, make it the motivation for all we do - then we will be like diamonds in the tiara of our Lord and Brother, our Savior and our Friend: JESUS CHRIST, when he assumes his role as King of heaven and earth at the end of time. Amen!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Homily for Saturday October 27, 2007
Today’s gospel passage makes it clear that all of us need to repent of something! None of us is better than anyone else. And none is worse than anyone else at the core. We can make ourselves more pleasing in the sight of God by our good deeds, and we can make ourselves less pleasing by our misdeeds. But essentially, God looks at all of us as sinners, and weak, oftentimes misguided and difficult to communicate with children.
And he is right.
The message of the gospel passage is actually: God’s great MERCY! He does not delight in the death of the wicked, but takes great pleasure in his conversion that he may live. Having God look upon us ALL as sinners is then a good thing! a very good thing! For the blood of Christ then has merit for us! Our very sinfulness can be transformed into newness of life.
In the first reading today St. Paul tells the Romans not to glory and wallow in the sinfulness that can overwhelm us if we live according to the dictates and animal needs of the body; but rather to glory and celebrate life in the Holy Spirit which comes to us in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation - and is strengthened each and every time we celebrate and receive Eucharist.
The very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us! This means a radical newness of life is available even for our mortal bodies and souls here on earth; and fullness of life and love in eternity for ever.
Lord, we are the people who long to see you face!
Look upon us with mercy and forgive us our sins!
And he is right.
The message of the gospel passage is actually: God’s great MERCY! He does not delight in the death of the wicked, but takes great pleasure in his conversion that he may live. Having God look upon us ALL as sinners is then a good thing! a very good thing! For the blood of Christ then has merit for us! Our very sinfulness can be transformed into newness of life.
In the first reading today St. Paul tells the Romans not to glory and wallow in the sinfulness that can overwhelm us if we live according to the dictates and animal needs of the body; but rather to glory and celebrate life in the Holy Spirit which comes to us in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation - and is strengthened each and every time we celebrate and receive Eucharist.
The very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us! This means a radical newness of life is available even for our mortal bodies and souls here on earth; and fullness of life and love in eternity for ever.
Lord, we are the people who long to see you face!
Look upon us with mercy and forgive us our sins!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Homily for Friday October 26, 2007
These are wonderful readings today!
In the gospel passage Jesus tells not only the religious leaders of his day and ours, but all of us, to “read the signs of the times.” He says that if you know how to forecast the weather - and with The Weather Channel we have that down to a highly developed science - then why should it be any more difficult to forecast the things that have to do with your salvation, and the events that are going to happen on the Last Day - when the weather will be unlike that of any other day in history?
The reason is that one is on the level of nature, and the other is on the level of faith - the supernatural level. And many presuppose that anything on the supernatural level is suspect, optional and for eccentrics.
You hypocrites! Jesus calls any who are unwilling to read the signs of the times - you hypocrites!
One sign of the times - which has been so since the fall of mankind - is the off-centeredness of the human body and mind. The Evil one was given power to distort, and play a certain amount of havoc with our bodies and minds - all in an attempt to make us believe that God does not love us, that he will not take care of us, that he will not redeem us - that coming over to the side of Evil was the best option for us! But the higher part of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve - the supernatural part was given a promise of hope, a promise of a redeemer and thus given a weapon to deal with this Evil influence!
St. Paul tells the Romans that - even though Jesus had died to obtain salvation and the forgiveness of sin; even though the very real possibility of living more and more a transformed human life is at hand - he, himself, still had difficulty in getting his body to do what his spirit told it it should be doing!
This simply proves that the residue of Original Sin still survives - and will survive until the Last Day. But, especially in our own day there is an emphasis on the Redemption of the whole person: body, mind and spirit - which is brilliantly formulated and summarized in Pope John Paul the Great’s “Theology of the Body.” This theology is a complete approach to a study of God, ourselves and our relationship with him and with one another.
The entire body, John Paul tells us, is redeemed by Christ! meaning that we can ally the body, by means of the Spirit who also dwells deeply within us: the gift of the Father and Son after the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. This means inviting the Spirit to release his gifts more and more into our souls each day - so that we can consider ourselves not as miserable ones - but rather blessed ones - gifted ones - people who are meant to make a difference in the lives of other people - by loving them with God’s own love.
The more we do this - the more the power of the Evil one is reduced - until the Day when he is vanquished, defeated and destroyed for ever!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
In the gospel passage Jesus tells not only the religious leaders of his day and ours, but all of us, to “read the signs of the times.” He says that if you know how to forecast the weather - and with The Weather Channel we have that down to a highly developed science - then why should it be any more difficult to forecast the things that have to do with your salvation, and the events that are going to happen on the Last Day - when the weather will be unlike that of any other day in history?
The reason is that one is on the level of nature, and the other is on the level of faith - the supernatural level. And many presuppose that anything on the supernatural level is suspect, optional and for eccentrics.
You hypocrites! Jesus calls any who are unwilling to read the signs of the times - you hypocrites!
One sign of the times - which has been so since the fall of mankind - is the off-centeredness of the human body and mind. The Evil one was given power to distort, and play a certain amount of havoc with our bodies and minds - all in an attempt to make us believe that God does not love us, that he will not take care of us, that he will not redeem us - that coming over to the side of Evil was the best option for us! But the higher part of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve - the supernatural part was given a promise of hope, a promise of a redeemer and thus given a weapon to deal with this Evil influence!
St. Paul tells the Romans that - even though Jesus had died to obtain salvation and the forgiveness of sin; even though the very real possibility of living more and more a transformed human life is at hand - he, himself, still had difficulty in getting his body to do what his spirit told it it should be doing!
This simply proves that the residue of Original Sin still survives - and will survive until the Last Day. But, especially in our own day there is an emphasis on the Redemption of the whole person: body, mind and spirit - which is brilliantly formulated and summarized in Pope John Paul the Great’s “Theology of the Body.” This theology is a complete approach to a study of God, ourselves and our relationship with him and with one another.
The entire body, John Paul tells us, is redeemed by Christ! meaning that we can ally the body, by means of the Spirit who also dwells deeply within us: the gift of the Father and Son after the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. This means inviting the Spirit to release his gifts more and more into our souls each day - so that we can consider ourselves not as miserable ones - but rather blessed ones - gifted ones - people who are meant to make a difference in the lives of other people - by loving them with God’s own love.
The more we do this - the more the power of the Evil one is reduced - until the Day when he is vanquished, defeated and destroyed for ever!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Homily for Thursday October 25, 2007
What happens when one “considers all things rubbish, and thus gains Christ, being found in him” is eternal life! And there is nothing more precious, more desirable or more worthy of our whole attention than where we are going to spend eternity!
Peter, Paul, the rest of the Apostles and so many Fathers of the Church tell us over and over again to set our sights on heaven and to keep them there - our whole lives long and then everything else falls into place.
But this “falling into place” may not look like what we think it ought to look like. “Falling into place” means falling into God’s purpose, falling into God’s plan, falling into God’s execution of that plan. God is still very much in the business of bringing about our very salvation! There is nothing more important to him than our salvation. The salvation is from the ruinous and destructive power of the Evil one who is doing everything in his power to distract us, dissuade us, and convince us that there is an easier and softer way! But Jesus says NO! Take up your Cross! There is no easier softer way!
The radical nature of discipleship - which leads to Life - is required. If one really is radically oriented towards Jesus and his words and his way - then there will be opposition by any and all who are not blessed with the clarity of vision that this radical commitment allows. It happened to Jesus, it will happen to us! Family members, friends, co-workers may look very strangely at any who even bring up the topic of God in any way - and if we are not totally committed to Christ, then we might be dissuaded from holding fast to our convictions - and from speaking them out in spite of the opposition!
This is the fire that Jesus is speaking about in the gospel passage! both a fire that purifies and a fire that heals. His own Passion and Death is a fire that he had to endure, but it brought about great healing and reconciliation: and was the opportunity for the new fire of the Holy Spirit (which would come later) which helps, and guides and heals and makes the clarity possible! In the Holy Spirit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light, but they are not taken away!
St. Paul tells the Romans today that, now that they have been baptized, they (and we) are “slaves of God” as opposed to “slaves of sin.” But more than slaves of God, we are children of God. Real, true, children of God. He is our Father! Jesus is our Brother and we live in them. All of our thoughts, words and actions can really and truly reflect that connection and that indwelling - if we but “consider all things else as rubbish” (as St. Paul did), and let our days be filled with hope: hope in the Lord, hope in the possibility of a better world, hope in the reality of eternal happiness that awaits all who are faithful to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ!
Amen.
Peter, Paul, the rest of the Apostles and so many Fathers of the Church tell us over and over again to set our sights on heaven and to keep them there - our whole lives long and then everything else falls into place.
But this “falling into place” may not look like what we think it ought to look like. “Falling into place” means falling into God’s purpose, falling into God’s plan, falling into God’s execution of that plan. God is still very much in the business of bringing about our very salvation! There is nothing more important to him than our salvation. The salvation is from the ruinous and destructive power of the Evil one who is doing everything in his power to distract us, dissuade us, and convince us that there is an easier and softer way! But Jesus says NO! Take up your Cross! There is no easier softer way!
The radical nature of discipleship - which leads to Life - is required. If one really is radically oriented towards Jesus and his words and his way - then there will be opposition by any and all who are not blessed with the clarity of vision that this radical commitment allows. It happened to Jesus, it will happen to us! Family members, friends, co-workers may look very strangely at any who even bring up the topic of God in any way - and if we are not totally committed to Christ, then we might be dissuaded from holding fast to our convictions - and from speaking them out in spite of the opposition!
This is the fire that Jesus is speaking about in the gospel passage! both a fire that purifies and a fire that heals. His own Passion and Death is a fire that he had to endure, but it brought about great healing and reconciliation: and was the opportunity for the new fire of the Holy Spirit (which would come later) which helps, and guides and heals and makes the clarity possible! In the Holy Spirit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light, but they are not taken away!
St. Paul tells the Romans today that, now that they have been baptized, they (and we) are “slaves of God” as opposed to “slaves of sin.” But more than slaves of God, we are children of God. Real, true, children of God. He is our Father! Jesus is our Brother and we live in them. All of our thoughts, words and actions can really and truly reflect that connection and that indwelling - if we but “consider all things else as rubbish” (as St. Paul did), and let our days be filled with hope: hope in the Lord, hope in the possibility of a better world, hope in the reality of eternal happiness that awaits all who are faithful to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ!
Amen.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Homily for Wednesday October 24, 2007
Our readings today make it clear that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor God’s ways, ours! God can do and does do whatever he chooses to do!
Our saint for today, Anthony Mary Claret, (b. 1807, Salient, Spain) was denied entry into the Jesuit order because of “ill health.” But, God’s will was for him to later become not only a secular priest, but also Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, and then confessor to Queen Isabella of Spain. He was to be a participant in the First Vatican Council. He also was to found the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known as the Claretians. All of this is not bad for one deemed “too ill” by a prestigious religious community.
Anthony had the gift of prophecy and performed many miracles. He was opposed by the liberal forces of Spain and Cuba and endured many trials. He died in a Cistercian monastery in 1870.
In the gospel passage today, we see Jesus choosing whom he wishes for the work he has in mind - Simon and Andrew (who would become fishers of men) rather than just fishermen; James and John - also fishermen who would use their talents and their strengths to bring Gentile people to the Church of their future!
In the first reading today the Prophet Isaiah describes what a beautiful sight it is to watch an ambassador of God making his way through the countryside announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation: and saying: “Your God is King!”
A great many saints were handpicked by God to accomplish great things - in spite of, and in fact, because of their own personal weakness and sickness and inability to trust in themselves. He did this to ensure that the work done is not done by them, but by God, through them. This applies to all who work for God.
All of us who are baptized are chosen and assigned some task in bringing the Kingdom of God to fruition and completion. Our physical, mental and emotional “conditions” can only serve him, no matter what “condition” they might be in - if we give them completely to him - and believe that we are nothing, he is everything; we have nothing to give, he has everything to give through us; we are totally unworthy, but his grace makes us shine before men like the stars in the heavens.
Today let us surrender our wills, our hearts and our lives and follow Jesus - so that he may make of us what he wants - despite what anyone else might think of us - or judge us capable of!
Our saint for today, Anthony Mary Claret, (b. 1807, Salient, Spain) was denied entry into the Jesuit order because of “ill health.” But, God’s will was for him to later become not only a secular priest, but also Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, and then confessor to Queen Isabella of Spain. He was to be a participant in the First Vatican Council. He also was to found the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known as the Claretians. All of this is not bad for one deemed “too ill” by a prestigious religious community.
Anthony had the gift of prophecy and performed many miracles. He was opposed by the liberal forces of Spain and Cuba and endured many trials. He died in a Cistercian monastery in 1870.
In the gospel passage today, we see Jesus choosing whom he wishes for the work he has in mind - Simon and Andrew (who would become fishers of men) rather than just fishermen; James and John - also fishermen who would use their talents and their strengths to bring Gentile people to the Church of their future!
In the first reading today the Prophet Isaiah describes what a beautiful sight it is to watch an ambassador of God making his way through the countryside announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation: and saying: “Your God is King!”
A great many saints were handpicked by God to accomplish great things - in spite of, and in fact, because of their own personal weakness and sickness and inability to trust in themselves. He did this to ensure that the work done is not done by them, but by God, through them. This applies to all who work for God.
All of us who are baptized are chosen and assigned some task in bringing the Kingdom of God to fruition and completion. Our physical, mental and emotional “conditions” can only serve him, no matter what “condition” they might be in - if we give them completely to him - and believe that we are nothing, he is everything; we have nothing to give, he has everything to give through us; we are totally unworthy, but his grace makes us shine before men like the stars in the heavens.
Today let us surrender our wills, our hearts and our lives and follow Jesus - so that he may make of us what he wants - despite what anyone else might think of us - or judge us capable of!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Homily for Tuesday October 23, 2007
Today’s saint, St. John of Capistrano, was a faithful Franciscan friar of the fourteenth century in Italy! He studied for the priesthood under St. Bernardine of Siena! He spent his life after ordination preaching the gospel of Christ and defending the Church against heresy in Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Austria and Hungary. He died 1456.
In the first reading today we find a short summary of what motivated St. John of Capistrano: the idea and the reality that if we are in Christ, then we are truly a new creation; the old order has passed away! The order of sin and death is now defeated and destroyed. All is new in Christ. There is reconciliation available for everyone! And God has appointed ambassadors for himself to bring the ministry of reconciliation to the whole world. Such are men like Paul, all the apostles and their helpers throughout the ages - men like John of Capistrano; and men chosen by God even in our own day - the bishops and priests who are faithful to his teaching and the message of new life and reconciliation!
In the gospel passage, Jesus makes it clear that there is a radical quality about discipleship - about being both a minister of the Gospel, and a receiver of the Gospel message - “it’s all or nothing!” In order to gain the rewards of the death and resurrection of Christ, we have to make Jesus our number one priority - there is no other way! We have to follow him wherever he goes - do exactly what he tells us - and not look back at what we leave behind to follow him! For the newness of life that comes with such dedication and commitment far surpasses anything that we leave behind!
For those who follow Jesus, his Light illumines the way! He is the Light of the world! He is the only one who could be the dawn of a brand new day for the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve! What it will be like in the fullness of day, when all will be all in Christ and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, keeps us hoping, and praying and following Jesus’ every word and command, day by day, while we continue our pilgrimage to the Grand and Glorious Day - when there will be a beginning, but no end!
In the first reading today we find a short summary of what motivated St. John of Capistrano: the idea and the reality that if we are in Christ, then we are truly a new creation; the old order has passed away! The order of sin and death is now defeated and destroyed. All is new in Christ. There is reconciliation available for everyone! And God has appointed ambassadors for himself to bring the ministry of reconciliation to the whole world. Such are men like Paul, all the apostles and their helpers throughout the ages - men like John of Capistrano; and men chosen by God even in our own day - the bishops and priests who are faithful to his teaching and the message of new life and reconciliation!
In the gospel passage, Jesus makes it clear that there is a radical quality about discipleship - about being both a minister of the Gospel, and a receiver of the Gospel message - “it’s all or nothing!” In order to gain the rewards of the death and resurrection of Christ, we have to make Jesus our number one priority - there is no other way! We have to follow him wherever he goes - do exactly what he tells us - and not look back at what we leave behind to follow him! For the newness of life that comes with such dedication and commitment far surpasses anything that we leave behind!
For those who follow Jesus, his Light illumines the way! He is the Light of the world! He is the only one who could be the dawn of a brand new day for the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve! What it will be like in the fullness of day, when all will be all in Christ and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, keeps us hoping, and praying and following Jesus’ every word and command, day by day, while we continue our pilgrimage to the Grand and Glorious Day - when there will be a beginning, but no end!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Homily for Monday October 22, 2007
All of the money in the world cannot buy a ticket to heaven!
And any who spend their lives focused on the almighty dollar, the tantalizing portfolio, the Swiss bank account will not see God. If God is not our treasure in life, then he will not be our host in heaven! And this is a promise!
Jesus tells us in the gospel passage today that a very bad habit to get into in life is to be greedy! To grasp, to want, to paw, to seize, to take hold of! The very act of reaching and grabbing is a sure sign of the residue of Original Sin that still has a hold over human beings.
Everything, absolutely everything is a gift from God - we of ourselves have nothing at all - we are nothing at all; therefore, the only appropriate approach, stance and posture towards God and life is the have OPEN HANDS, open minds, open hearts to receive just and only what God knows we need and wants to give us! Jesus told us yesterday in the gospel passage to “pray always.” He meant with open hands and heart! Not with grasping, self-satisfying cupped hands and arms.
Abraham (in our first reading today) was the first to accept an incredibly valuable gift from God. God invited Abraham into a relationship of friendship, based on faith! Abraham humbly and obediently used the gift of God’s grace, God’s friendship and was empowered to do what God wanted him to do: and it was credited to him as righteousness - in other words, it counted towards making him pleasing in God’s sight and a candidate for a place in heaven for himself, his family and the whole human race, because God is faithful to his promises.
What we need to do today is to realize that we are poor in spirit, and that only by receiving God’s specially chosen gifts, will we be guaranteed a happy day today, and then the happiest day that will last forever, when the Last Day comes!
Thank you God, for gifting us (especially with your friendship), and for giving us the choice and the grace to be open enough to receive your gifts with open lives, and not grab for anything!
And any who spend their lives focused on the almighty dollar, the tantalizing portfolio, the Swiss bank account will not see God. If God is not our treasure in life, then he will not be our host in heaven! And this is a promise!
Jesus tells us in the gospel passage today that a very bad habit to get into in life is to be greedy! To grasp, to want, to paw, to seize, to take hold of! The very act of reaching and grabbing is a sure sign of the residue of Original Sin that still has a hold over human beings.
Everything, absolutely everything is a gift from God - we of ourselves have nothing at all - we are nothing at all; therefore, the only appropriate approach, stance and posture towards God and life is the have OPEN HANDS, open minds, open hearts to receive just and only what God knows we need and wants to give us! Jesus told us yesterday in the gospel passage to “pray always.” He meant with open hands and heart! Not with grasping, self-satisfying cupped hands and arms.
Abraham (in our first reading today) was the first to accept an incredibly valuable gift from God. God invited Abraham into a relationship of friendship, based on faith! Abraham humbly and obediently used the gift of God’s grace, God’s friendship and was empowered to do what God wanted him to do: and it was credited to him as righteousness - in other words, it counted towards making him pleasing in God’s sight and a candidate for a place in heaven for himself, his family and the whole human race, because God is faithful to his promises.
What we need to do today is to realize that we are poor in spirit, and that only by receiving God’s specially chosen gifts, will we be guaranteed a happy day today, and then the happiest day that will last forever, when the Last Day comes!
Thank you God, for gifting us (especially with your friendship), and for giving us the choice and the grace to be open enough to receive your gifts with open lives, and not grab for anything!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Homily for 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
What parent among us does not want the very best for their children? Children deserve the best of what we have to offer! Though often times, due to their particular age and stage of growth, they may not be able to fully understand what it is that we are giving them or withholding from them.
We, who are baptized, are God’s adopted children! But it is not just an ordinary adoption – it is adoption into the living reality of God – who is an eternal exchange of love between three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Living in God can only mean living in giving! Living in self-donation! It is a dynamic thing! It is an expansive thing! It is an other-oriented thing!
God is so eager to provide for all of our needs and to help us all he can to be the best possible people that we can become! The most loving! The most giving! The most other-oriented! He gives us many things in order to transform us into such a person – things which we both understand at times, and then again don’t understand fully at other times. It seems that sometimes he gives, and at other times he takes away! But one thing he wants us to know is that we can always turn to him, call on him, pray to him for help! And he will always hear us! And he will always answer us – but in the way that is best suited for us! Which may not always be the way we like it, or the way we think it ought to be - even though he is the Father and we the child!
In fact, Jesus is very insistent on the idea of prayer! He tells us to pray ALWAYS! St. Paul in his writings, tells us to PRAY UNCEASINGLY! and we have the colorful and clear imagery of the first reading, with Moses lifting up his hands in prayer – and in fact – having to be helped by Aaron and Hur to keep his arms raised up so that God’s power could be shown in the events of the day! This imagery of raised hands can represent both the necessity to pray always, even with the help of others – and also, the reference to the reason why all prayer is in fact answered at all – because of the raised arms of Jesus on the Cross. If Jesus did not raise his arms on the Cross when he was lifted up, then our prayer would be in vain!
At the end of the passage Jesus warns us not to use prayer for specious purposes. Real prayer is an expression of faith! Jesus is insistent on praying, but only if it is to awaken, improve or deepen our faith! He does not want to return to earth at his second coming and find most of the people praying: “Lord, Lord!” but not have any works of faith, works of charity to back it up!
In the second reading today St. Paul encourages Timothy to remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you have learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures.
Parents can take notice here that Paul is encouraging them to help their children any way they can - no matter what their age - to know Jesus: from stories about him in the Scriptures – and by teaching them to pray to him – to pray to him always – each and every day! Jesus is not just a character in a story - he is a real person who is still very much alive and wants to have a wonderful and deep relationship of friendship with each and every one of us! That relationship can begin with a simple prayer!
We are all children of God
and need to live this way,
and pray this way -
every day!
Amen!
We, who are baptized, are God’s adopted children! But it is not just an ordinary adoption – it is adoption into the living reality of God – who is an eternal exchange of love between three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Living in God can only mean living in giving! Living in self-donation! It is a dynamic thing! It is an expansive thing! It is an other-oriented thing!
God is so eager to provide for all of our needs and to help us all he can to be the best possible people that we can become! The most loving! The most giving! The most other-oriented! He gives us many things in order to transform us into such a person – things which we both understand at times, and then again don’t understand fully at other times. It seems that sometimes he gives, and at other times he takes away! But one thing he wants us to know is that we can always turn to him, call on him, pray to him for help! And he will always hear us! And he will always answer us – but in the way that is best suited for us! Which may not always be the way we like it, or the way we think it ought to be - even though he is the Father and we the child!
In fact, Jesus is very insistent on the idea of prayer! He tells us to pray ALWAYS! St. Paul in his writings, tells us to PRAY UNCEASINGLY! and we have the colorful and clear imagery of the first reading, with Moses lifting up his hands in prayer – and in fact – having to be helped by Aaron and Hur to keep his arms raised up so that God’s power could be shown in the events of the day! This imagery of raised hands can represent both the necessity to pray always, even with the help of others – and also, the reference to the reason why all prayer is in fact answered at all – because of the raised arms of Jesus on the Cross. If Jesus did not raise his arms on the Cross when he was lifted up, then our prayer would be in vain!
At the end of the passage Jesus warns us not to use prayer for specious purposes. Real prayer is an expression of faith! Jesus is insistent on praying, but only if it is to awaken, improve or deepen our faith! He does not want to return to earth at his second coming and find most of the people praying: “Lord, Lord!” but not have any works of faith, works of charity to back it up!
In the second reading today St. Paul encourages Timothy to remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you have learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures.
Parents can take notice here that Paul is encouraging them to help their children any way they can - no matter what their age - to know Jesus: from stories about him in the Scriptures – and by teaching them to pray to him – to pray to him always – each and every day! Jesus is not just a character in a story - he is a real person who is still very much alive and wants to have a wonderful and deep relationship of friendship with each and every one of us! That relationship can begin with a simple prayer!
We are all children of God
and need to live this way,
and pray this way -
every day!
Amen!
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Homily for Saturday October 20, 2007
The feast of St. Paul of the Cross today reminds us that the Cross of Christ is a sign of contradiction and it can only be understood by the spiritually mature, that is: the spiritually simple. Those with “worldly wisdom” - so to speak - cannot fathom the richness, the majesty, the power and the glory of the Cross of our Crucified Lord - or its practical value!
How can the all powerful Son of God - as he himself claimed to be - allow himself to die an ignominious death of Roman capital punishment? This question baffled the rich and the famous of Jesus day! The answer is: because it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that God loves his people to the enth degree! Jesus proclaimed that living is for giving! If he did not give his ALL, then his words and his life would have been meaningless. And so - truly being King of the Jews - he gave his all, his very all! He endured a most brutal Passion, experienced a most tortuous death - but then, three days later was rewarded with a newness of life that no one could possibly have imagined beforehand - a newness that he wants to share so much with all of us - all who are baptized into his death and resurrection. It was by way of the Cross that Resurrection occurred!
St. Paul of the Cross (of the 18th century) - our saint of the day - was thoroughly taken by devotion to the Passion of Christ: to examine and enter into Christ’s amazing act of love was a powerful thing for him! It moved him to works of charity for the poor and the sick. It moved him to become a priest. It moved him to found an order of priests who would preach the Passion of Christ and thus lead people more deeply into the reality of Christ - especially those who were fallen away from the Church.
They preached, as Paul preached to the Corinthians of our first reading today, that the message of the Cross is indeed powerful for those who are being saved - those who approach it with awe and with faith; but that it is foolishness for those who are perishing - those who refuse to cooperate with the grace of faith, and are intellectually blind to the reality of redemption.
Jesus tells us in the gospel passage that as he embraced his cross, so we must embrace ours. Those things that God and life send our way are tests of our faith. And the reason why they are so important is because they can communicate most directly and quickly to God the maturity of our life in him, our hope in him, our trust in him - and they thus determine the quantity and quality of his gifts given back to us. He wants us to be filled with his gifts - to overflowing - but he does not want to drown us in them all at once - so by means of demanding acts of faith, he distributes his graces slowly and gradually - until one day we shall be filled.
Therefore - denying our cross - is actually denying our own spiritual growth - and jeopardizing our rightful place in heaven! We really ought not to want to do that!
May we always hunger and thirst for righteousness - and be willing to experience what it takes for that hunger and thirst to be satisfied - especially when it means carrying our carefully weighted, lovingly dispatched Cross!
How can the all powerful Son of God - as he himself claimed to be - allow himself to die an ignominious death of Roman capital punishment? This question baffled the rich and the famous of Jesus day! The answer is: because it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that God loves his people to the enth degree! Jesus proclaimed that living is for giving! If he did not give his ALL, then his words and his life would have been meaningless. And so - truly being King of the Jews - he gave his all, his very all! He endured a most brutal Passion, experienced a most tortuous death - but then, three days later was rewarded with a newness of life that no one could possibly have imagined beforehand - a newness that he wants to share so much with all of us - all who are baptized into his death and resurrection. It was by way of the Cross that Resurrection occurred!
St. Paul of the Cross (of the 18th century) - our saint of the day - was thoroughly taken by devotion to the Passion of Christ: to examine and enter into Christ’s amazing act of love was a powerful thing for him! It moved him to works of charity for the poor and the sick. It moved him to become a priest. It moved him to found an order of priests who would preach the Passion of Christ and thus lead people more deeply into the reality of Christ - especially those who were fallen away from the Church.
They preached, as Paul preached to the Corinthians of our first reading today, that the message of the Cross is indeed powerful for those who are being saved - those who approach it with awe and with faith; but that it is foolishness for those who are perishing - those who refuse to cooperate with the grace of faith, and are intellectually blind to the reality of redemption.
Jesus tells us in the gospel passage that as he embraced his cross, so we must embrace ours. Those things that God and life send our way are tests of our faith. And the reason why they are so important is because they can communicate most directly and quickly to God the maturity of our life in him, our hope in him, our trust in him - and they thus determine the quantity and quality of his gifts given back to us. He wants us to be filled with his gifts - to overflowing - but he does not want to drown us in them all at once - so by means of demanding acts of faith, he distributes his graces slowly and gradually - until one day we shall be filled.
Therefore - denying our cross - is actually denying our own spiritual growth - and jeopardizing our rightful place in heaven! We really ought not to want to do that!
May we always hunger and thirst for righteousness - and be willing to experience what it takes for that hunger and thirst to be satisfied - especially when it means carrying our carefully weighted, lovingly dispatched Cross!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Homily for Friday October 19, 2007
Sometimes it is very difficult and dangerous to witness for Christ Jesus! The story of Father Isaac Jogues, S.J., Jean de Brebeuf, Rene Goupil and companions was a story filled with difficulty and danger. Being French Missionaries in the early 1600’s , these courageous men were caught in the middle of two warring Indian nations: the Huron and the Iroquois - in central New York State. They were in the process of attempting, as servants of Jesus, to bring supplies from Quebec to the residents of the Huron region - to aid them in their poverty, sickness and overall harsh conditions. It was on their return trip to Canada that they met a horrible death at the hands of the Iroquois tribe. The brutality was such that it cannot be spoken here.
The five became knows as the North American Martyrs - and there is an truly amazing shrine dedicated to them in Auriesville, New York (near New Amsterdam) - the sight of the martyrdom! It is a very moving and powerful experience to visit there. I had the opportunity to do so last summer!
What drew my attention and awakened my devotion was the centrality of the Cross of Christ in the outdoor and indoor displays! In fact, it was Rene Goupil making the sign of the cross on an Indian child’s forehead that may have triggered the massacre!
Our first reading today is about bearing in our bodies the dying of Jesus (on the Cross) so that we can also be raised up with Jesus. The details of how that happens can vary widely. This case, in New York State, is an extreme. But what got these noble Jesuits through was their focus on the Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
The gospel passage today reminds us that the Apostles and their successors and helpers have been sent into the world to announce the Good News of the arrival of a Beloved Friend and Redeemer! Reception of the message is not always pleasant! But the task nonetheless must be carried on - in season and out - in pleasant conditions and in difficult ones - and the Holy Spirit will always help those who are assigned the task to do so!
We honor those brave and courageous disciples of St. Ignatius who stayed the course in witnessing to the love of God for his people!
Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing!
The five became knows as the North American Martyrs - and there is an truly amazing shrine dedicated to them in Auriesville, New York (near New Amsterdam) - the sight of the martyrdom! It is a very moving and powerful experience to visit there. I had the opportunity to do so last summer!
What drew my attention and awakened my devotion was the centrality of the Cross of Christ in the outdoor and indoor displays! In fact, it was Rene Goupil making the sign of the cross on an Indian child’s forehead that may have triggered the massacre!
Our first reading today is about bearing in our bodies the dying of Jesus (on the Cross) so that we can also be raised up with Jesus. The details of how that happens can vary widely. This case, in New York State, is an extreme. But what got these noble Jesuits through was their focus on the Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
The gospel passage today reminds us that the Apostles and their successors and helpers have been sent into the world to announce the Good News of the arrival of a Beloved Friend and Redeemer! Reception of the message is not always pleasant! But the task nonetheless must be carried on - in season and out - in pleasant conditions and in difficult ones - and the Holy Spirit will always help those who are assigned the task to do so!
We honor those brave and courageous disciples of St. Ignatius who stayed the course in witnessing to the love of God for his people!
Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Homily for Thursday October 18, 2007
Our saint for today is another from Syria. Yesterday we celebrated the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch who was born in Syria. Today we celebrate another from Syria: St. Luke the Evangelist.
Luke is the author of the Third Gospel, as well as the Acts of the Apostles. Since he was considered to be a physician, he is the patron saint of physicians; because he is said to have painted an icon of the Blessed Mother (which hangs in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome) he is also the patron saint of artists.
Luke was a companion of St. Paul on his missionary journeys - this is evidenced from our first reading today: Paul says that several of his companions are no longer with him, and “Luke is the only one with me.”
The basic point of Luke’s New Testament writings is to underscore the love and compassion of Jesus and his concern for the poor. While Matthew was more didactic - and wrote as a teacher, Luke was more personal and wrote about matters of the heart - the heart of Christ! This is seen in some of the most moving and memorable parables in all of the gospels, such as the Prodigal Son, and the Rich Man and Lazarus. Women also figure more prominently in his Gospel than in any other, for example, Mary, the Mother of Jesus (the complete nativity account is only found in Luke), Elizabeth, the widow of Nain, the woman who was a sinner, Mary Magdalen and several other women of Jerusalem. He also places great emphasis on the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and of the individual Christian, and on the importance of prayer!
In the gospel passage today from Luke, Jesus sends out his disciples to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand! In other words: Jesus - is here, at their doors, in their villages! He told them that this would be dangerous work. They would be rejected and mistreated! And some of them even killed! St. Paul, and Luke himself, in the first reading, were experiencing these very things. But the reward for sticking to such important and vital work is worth the effort!
The presence of the promised Holy Spirit makes the work Jesus sends us to do, not only possible in spite of all obstacles, but also effective and so very powerful! It is the Apostle’s and disciple’s job to proclaim peace, to proclaim the Kingdom, to proclaim JESUS. How they are received illustrates the condition of fallen human nature! But, as Jesus stayed the course to the end, as Paul did the same, as Luke did the same - so we are called to proclaim peace, to proclaim the Kingdom, to proclaim Jesus and to stay the course until we reach the Kingdom and the place prepared for us in it!
Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Luke is the author of the Third Gospel, as well as the Acts of the Apostles. Since he was considered to be a physician, he is the patron saint of physicians; because he is said to have painted an icon of the Blessed Mother (which hangs in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome) he is also the patron saint of artists.
Luke was a companion of St. Paul on his missionary journeys - this is evidenced from our first reading today: Paul says that several of his companions are no longer with him, and “Luke is the only one with me.”
The basic point of Luke’s New Testament writings is to underscore the love and compassion of Jesus and his concern for the poor. While Matthew was more didactic - and wrote as a teacher, Luke was more personal and wrote about matters of the heart - the heart of Christ! This is seen in some of the most moving and memorable parables in all of the gospels, such as the Prodigal Son, and the Rich Man and Lazarus. Women also figure more prominently in his Gospel than in any other, for example, Mary, the Mother of Jesus (the complete nativity account is only found in Luke), Elizabeth, the widow of Nain, the woman who was a sinner, Mary Magdalen and several other women of Jerusalem. He also places great emphasis on the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and of the individual Christian, and on the importance of prayer!
In the gospel passage today from Luke, Jesus sends out his disciples to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand! In other words: Jesus - is here, at their doors, in their villages! He told them that this would be dangerous work. They would be rejected and mistreated! And some of them even killed! St. Paul, and Luke himself, in the first reading, were experiencing these very things. But the reward for sticking to such important and vital work is worth the effort!
The presence of the promised Holy Spirit makes the work Jesus sends us to do, not only possible in spite of all obstacles, but also effective and so very powerful! It is the Apostle’s and disciple’s job to proclaim peace, to proclaim the Kingdom, to proclaim JESUS. How they are received illustrates the condition of fallen human nature! But, as Jesus stayed the course to the end, as Paul did the same, as Luke did the same - so we are called to proclaim peace, to proclaim the Kingdom, to proclaim Jesus and to stay the course until we reach the Kingdom and the place prepared for us in it!
Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Homily for Wednesday October 17, 2007
Today we celebrate the feast of a great saint - St. Ignatius of Antioch. He was born in Syria shortly after the death of Christ, and thus grew up in the first months and years of Christianity. His major contribution to Church history was the letters he wrote to the various churches of the ancient Christian world. They now serve as major sources of information regarding the life, faith and structure of the early Church in Asia Minor and Rome. He was also the first writer to use the term “Catholic Church” as a collective designation for Christians, and among the first to attest to the idea of having one bishop governing a diocese.
He became Bishop of Antioch in 69 and was condemned to death during Trajan’s persecution of Christians. He was led to the lions in the coliseum and died almost instantly. His own desire was to become “the wheat of God to be grounded by the teeth of wild beasts to become pure bread.” He believed that his own discipleship was grounded in his imitation of the sufferings of Christ. For that reason he welcomed martyrdom.
Our first reading today reminds us all - as it reminded Ignatius - that our true and lasting citizenship is in heaven - that death is nothing to be feared - that the power of Christ to transform our lowly bodies is not only a reality, but is available to all of us because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
The gospel passage reflects Ignatius’ own identification with the wheat of God. In this case, “the grain of wheat must fall to the earth and die so that it can produce much fruit!” Ignatius fell to the earth in the coliseum so to become one of the stars in the heavens - a favored disciple of Christ who received the crown of martyrdom - and who can now intercede for us to stay the course and also receive the crown of life!
He became Bishop of Antioch in 69 and was condemned to death during Trajan’s persecution of Christians. He was led to the lions in the coliseum and died almost instantly. His own desire was to become “the wheat of God to be grounded by the teeth of wild beasts to become pure bread.” He believed that his own discipleship was grounded in his imitation of the sufferings of Christ. For that reason he welcomed martyrdom.
Our first reading today reminds us all - as it reminded Ignatius - that our true and lasting citizenship is in heaven - that death is nothing to be feared - that the power of Christ to transform our lowly bodies is not only a reality, but is available to all of us because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
The gospel passage reflects Ignatius’ own identification with the wheat of God. In this case, “the grain of wheat must fall to the earth and die so that it can produce much fruit!” Ignatius fell to the earth in the coliseum so to become one of the stars in the heavens - a favored disciple of Christ who received the crown of martyrdom - and who can now intercede for us to stay the course and also receive the crown of life!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Homily for Tuesday October 16, 2007
The message from our feast today - the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque - is that the heart of Jesus is the source of rest, comfort, healing, strength and hope!
Margaret Mary became a member of the Visitation Order in 17th century France and had a great devotion to both the Blessed Sacrament and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In a way she was a precursor to St. Faustina of our own day. Jesus appeared to her several times and indicated that she was his choice to be the one to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart - to tell everyone of the promise of safe passage to heaven for any who make nine First Friday Devotions (including attendance at Mass and Prayer to the Sacred Heart); to establish the Feast of the Sacred Heart; and how special graces would come to those who spend an hour with Jesus in front of the Blessed Sacrament - the Holy Hour.
Our first reading today tells us what is truly important in all of this: knowledge of the person of Christ who dwells in our hearts through faith! Without this knowledge all the devotion in the world is useless. With the knowledge we can comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the mysteries of God and the love of God which surpasses all knowledge - and we can thus be filled with the fullness of God.
In the gospel passage Jesus tells us that such knowledge is for the pure and simple of heart - those who are like children. Jesus says that he is in charge of who gets to know these things - and he is very clear in telling us that he will not allow access to the mysteries or to his Father to those who are self-sufficient, self-absorbed, self-centered - but only to those who, in his opinion, are dependent on God, concerned with reaching out to others, interested only in making others happy - in other words, those who are like children!
When we do go to the Lord with our labor and our burdens and we give them to him - in humility, with trust - then he immediately shares the load with us and the burden becomes easy and light. It is not removed - but it is made bearable - even in a joyful sort of way!
The Lord is truly our shepherd, as we sang in the responsorial refrain. Those who exist fully in his loving embrace want for nothing, nothing at all - for they have everything, everything they need for the day!
Margaret Mary became a member of the Visitation Order in 17th century France and had a great devotion to both the Blessed Sacrament and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In a way she was a precursor to St. Faustina of our own day. Jesus appeared to her several times and indicated that she was his choice to be the one to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart - to tell everyone of the promise of safe passage to heaven for any who make nine First Friday Devotions (including attendance at Mass and Prayer to the Sacred Heart); to establish the Feast of the Sacred Heart; and how special graces would come to those who spend an hour with Jesus in front of the Blessed Sacrament - the Holy Hour.
Our first reading today tells us what is truly important in all of this: knowledge of the person of Christ who dwells in our hearts through faith! Without this knowledge all the devotion in the world is useless. With the knowledge we can comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the mysteries of God and the love of God which surpasses all knowledge - and we can thus be filled with the fullness of God.
In the gospel passage Jesus tells us that such knowledge is for the pure and simple of heart - those who are like children. Jesus says that he is in charge of who gets to know these things - and he is very clear in telling us that he will not allow access to the mysteries or to his Father to those who are self-sufficient, self-absorbed, self-centered - but only to those who, in his opinion, are dependent on God, concerned with reaching out to others, interested only in making others happy - in other words, those who are like children!
When we do go to the Lord with our labor and our burdens and we give them to him - in humility, with trust - then he immediately shares the load with us and the burden becomes easy and light. It is not removed - but it is made bearable - even in a joyful sort of way!
The Lord is truly our shepherd, as we sang in the responsorial refrain. Those who exist fully in his loving embrace want for nothing, nothing at all - for they have everything, everything they need for the day!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Homily for Monday October 15, 2007
Today we celebrate the feast of one of the most intelligent and holy women of the Church: Teresa of Avila. She was born in 1515 - just after Christopher Columbus discovered America and the Protestant Revolution was getting underway. Early on she led a very high-spirited and even rambunctious life. When just a child she had her first heavenly vision - and she knew that she was destined for a more intense spiritual life, and life in the Church, than most others. But it took many years to tame this daughter of Spain. It was only after being sent to a Carmelite convent as a way to deal with her rowdiness that she became familiar with a way of life that she herself later would do much to help reform.
In her young adulthood she contracted malaria and suffered related illnesses and physical maladies for the rest of her life - this along with a spiritual transformation that paralleled the same time span of the physical suffering. After being deeply moved by meditating on the image of Jesus Crucified, Jesus took her on a spiritual journey through the purgative, illuminative and unitive ways where she reached the heights of sublime communion with God. She was a gifted writer and so was able to write it all down for others to follow on her own path! Later in life she founded her own order of Discalced Carmelites. She died in 1582 on the feast of St. Francis - and was canonized in 1622 along with Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier and Philip Neri. She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1970.
The first reading today perfectly described how God dealt with Teresa. She knew she was a part of all creation that was inwardly groaning for fulfillment in Christ - especially because of her weak physical condition. She knew that it was the Spirit that helps us in our weakness - and intercedes for us with God according to God’s will. In the gospel passage the image of the vine and the branches again perfectly describe the immense union that she felt with God - as the branches are grafted onto the vine. Her only desire in life was to remain firmly attached to that vine until the day when she would experience communion with God and the glory of God in the fullest extreme.
In these ways Teresa is an excellent model in holiness for all of us - especially those who seem to end up taking roundabout ways to get to the depths of spirituality and holiness. She is also an example of how fully embracing the obstacles that life sends our way can not only be productive - but essential and even virtuous. Jesus said over and over again that we MUST embrace our cross if we are to share in his resurrection. He was not kidding!
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
This day may we commit ourselves to studying the writings of people like St. Teresa and all of the Doctors and Fathers of the Church. We will meet God there. We will experience his life there! We will move further along the path of our own spiritual growth as we journey to the fullness of holiness and complete communion and life in God!
In her young adulthood she contracted malaria and suffered related illnesses and physical maladies for the rest of her life - this along with a spiritual transformation that paralleled the same time span of the physical suffering. After being deeply moved by meditating on the image of Jesus Crucified, Jesus took her on a spiritual journey through the purgative, illuminative and unitive ways where she reached the heights of sublime communion with God. She was a gifted writer and so was able to write it all down for others to follow on her own path! Later in life she founded her own order of Discalced Carmelites. She died in 1582 on the feast of St. Francis - and was canonized in 1622 along with Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier and Philip Neri. She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1970.
The first reading today perfectly described how God dealt with Teresa. She knew she was a part of all creation that was inwardly groaning for fulfillment in Christ - especially because of her weak physical condition. She knew that it was the Spirit that helps us in our weakness - and intercedes for us with God according to God’s will. In the gospel passage the image of the vine and the branches again perfectly describe the immense union that she felt with God - as the branches are grafted onto the vine. Her only desire in life was to remain firmly attached to that vine until the day when she would experience communion with God and the glory of God in the fullest extreme.
In these ways Teresa is an excellent model in holiness for all of us - especially those who seem to end up taking roundabout ways to get to the depths of spirituality and holiness. She is also an example of how fully embracing the obstacles that life sends our way can not only be productive - but essential and even virtuous. Jesus said over and over again that we MUST embrace our cross if we are to share in his resurrection. He was not kidding!
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
This day may we commit ourselves to studying the writings of people like St. Teresa and all of the Doctors and Fathers of the Church. We will meet God there. We will experience his life there! We will move further along the path of our own spiritual growth as we journey to the fullness of holiness and complete communion and life in God!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Homily for 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our readings today are about healing. They are about the conditions in our lives that need healing. They are about the real possibility of healing and the source from which that healing comes. And they are about the common sense response that should happen once the healing takes place.
In the first reading, Elisha, the man of God, told Naaman to go and plunge into the Jordan River seven times; and when he did, his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child: he was cleansed of his leprosy. Two of the above elements are found in this opening sentence. The first is “what needs healing” and the second, “it was in the doing”, in the going, in the plunging that he was cleansed. The leprosy that was healed can be thought of both as a physical condition of disintegrating flesh; but also it can be seen as a spiritual condition of decaying morals and values! To be really cleansed, both have to be healed – and both have to be consciously prayed for and requested.
Again, it was in the activity of the one who had the condition that the healing took place – at the instruction of the man (the person) of God.
In the gospel passage we have Jesus himself telling ten lepers to “go and show themselves to the priests.” It was in the activity of going as they were instructed, by not only a man of God, but in this case by God himself, in the person of Jesus, that they were cleansed of their leprosy! Here too, Jesus was hoping that it would be for them both and interior as well as an exterior healing! For that is why Jesus performed miracles – to change the hearts and spirits of men on the inside – as well as to restore the outside of the body!
Only ONE out of the ten realized that he was cured and had the common sense to return to Jesus and to THANK HIM! Jesus, not unkindly, asked where the other nine were. Maybe he even did this parenthetically – or mostly to himself: as in a sigh! Then he told this grateful man to go in peace because his faith had healed and saved him- both on the outside and on the inside. Perhaps this is the answer to Jesus’ hope about the inner change that can also be imaged by leprosy: maybe “the other nine” only had a physical healing – and not an inner conversion. That is why they were not yet ready to return directly to Jesus to thank him. Who knows? Maybe later on they did – in their own way – in their own time - after an inner, spiritual conversion!
In both cases – from the Old Testament and the New Testament – it is very important to understand the real source of the total healing that is always available to us. And that is: the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ! The Old Testament pointed to this supreme act of love and regeneration; the New Testament is witnessing it as it occurs (even now)! The power which raised Jesus from the dead, the power which St. Paul speaks about today in the second reading – is the power of reconciliation and healing for every thing and for every one! And so it is true that – by our baptism – if we have died with him we shall also live with him. If we have “conditions” and “illnesses” and “diseases” and “distresses” and “chaos” (and who doesn’t!) of any kind in our lives: the antidote is in the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus! Faith in the power of the Cross and Resurrection can do amazing things: it can entirely cleanse, and renew and heal us both inside and out!
Do you believe this? And are you ready and willing to do your part in cooperating with your own healing process? – asking God for help, listening to “men and women of God” – be they doctors, nurses, priests, religious, family members or co-workers who give you God-sent instructions on how to get well? Can any of us afford to be skeptical about our own personal physical and spiritual health?
We must remember that if we deny him (and his help) he will deny us!
But, if we are unfaithful, or discourteous or ungrateful, he will still remain faithful to us and to his promises for he cannot deny himself! He cannot go against the presence of his Son (in our souls), in whose image we are baptized – and who he sees every time he looks at us!
The last point for today is this: Naaman, in the first reading was a foreigner; and it was Samaritan lepers (foreigners) whom Jesus cured – which purposely and perfectly underscores the idea that reconciliation, restoration and healing derived from the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus are for all people everywhere.
The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power!
In the first reading, Elisha, the man of God, told Naaman to go and plunge into the Jordan River seven times; and when he did, his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child: he was cleansed of his leprosy. Two of the above elements are found in this opening sentence. The first is “what needs healing” and the second, “it was in the doing”, in the going, in the plunging that he was cleansed. The leprosy that was healed can be thought of both as a physical condition of disintegrating flesh; but also it can be seen as a spiritual condition of decaying morals and values! To be really cleansed, both have to be healed – and both have to be consciously prayed for and requested.
Again, it was in the activity of the one who had the condition that the healing took place – at the instruction of the man (the person) of God.
In the gospel passage we have Jesus himself telling ten lepers to “go and show themselves to the priests.” It was in the activity of going as they were instructed, by not only a man of God, but in this case by God himself, in the person of Jesus, that they were cleansed of their leprosy! Here too, Jesus was hoping that it would be for them both and interior as well as an exterior healing! For that is why Jesus performed miracles – to change the hearts and spirits of men on the inside – as well as to restore the outside of the body!
Only ONE out of the ten realized that he was cured and had the common sense to return to Jesus and to THANK HIM! Jesus, not unkindly, asked where the other nine were. Maybe he even did this parenthetically – or mostly to himself: as in a sigh! Then he told this grateful man to go in peace because his faith had healed and saved him- both on the outside and on the inside. Perhaps this is the answer to Jesus’ hope about the inner change that can also be imaged by leprosy: maybe “the other nine” only had a physical healing – and not an inner conversion. That is why they were not yet ready to return directly to Jesus to thank him. Who knows? Maybe later on they did – in their own way – in their own time - after an inner, spiritual conversion!
In both cases – from the Old Testament and the New Testament – it is very important to understand the real source of the total healing that is always available to us. And that is: the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ! The Old Testament pointed to this supreme act of love and regeneration; the New Testament is witnessing it as it occurs (even now)! The power which raised Jesus from the dead, the power which St. Paul speaks about today in the second reading – is the power of reconciliation and healing for every thing and for every one! And so it is true that – by our baptism – if we have died with him we shall also live with him. If we have “conditions” and “illnesses” and “diseases” and “distresses” and “chaos” (and who doesn’t!) of any kind in our lives: the antidote is in the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus! Faith in the power of the Cross and Resurrection can do amazing things: it can entirely cleanse, and renew and heal us both inside and out!
Do you believe this? And are you ready and willing to do your part in cooperating with your own healing process? – asking God for help, listening to “men and women of God” – be they doctors, nurses, priests, religious, family members or co-workers who give you God-sent instructions on how to get well? Can any of us afford to be skeptical about our own personal physical and spiritual health?
We must remember that if we deny him (and his help) he will deny us!
But, if we are unfaithful, or discourteous or ungrateful, he will still remain faithful to us and to his promises for he cannot deny himself! He cannot go against the presence of his Son (in our souls), in whose image we are baptized – and who he sees every time he looks at us!
The last point for today is this: Naaman, in the first reading was a foreigner; and it was Samaritan lepers (foreigners) whom Jesus cured – which purposely and perfectly underscores the idea that reconciliation, restoration and healing derived from the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus are for all people everywhere.
The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Homily for Saturday October 13, 2007
As we enter into the final months of the liturgical year our readings will turn more often to the “final day” and the “last things.” The obvious theme for this ending of the “ordinary” season of the year is: believe: that the judgment day is indeed coming! and that we shall all be held accountable for our deeds of loving - whether there were many or any in our lives, or whether they were few or non-existent.
The word of God speaks very loudly and clearly that doing what God bids is the only way to secure a place in eternity! God would have us love and serve the needs of one another! How do we know this - because his very Word - Jesus - became one of us human beings and spoke these things very clearly - not only by words but more importantly, by example! And all that Jesus really told us is that “the Father’s will is the most important thing there is.”
In the gospel passage today, Jesus says that he is blessed and holy - not because of the human source of his goodness and holiness - his mother, Mary - but rather because he does the will of his Father in heaven. Any who do his Father’s will - those who do wonderful, constructive, productive and positive things for others at the instruction and with the guiding help of the Father - will be exalted in heaven. They are the just ones!
And so we cry out today: Rejoice, in the Lord you just! Be glad in the Lord, and give thanks to his holy name - both now and for ever!
The word of God speaks very loudly and clearly that doing what God bids is the only way to secure a place in eternity! God would have us love and serve the needs of one another! How do we know this - because his very Word - Jesus - became one of us human beings and spoke these things very clearly - not only by words but more importantly, by example! And all that Jesus really told us is that “the Father’s will is the most important thing there is.”
In the gospel passage today, Jesus says that he is blessed and holy - not because of the human source of his goodness and holiness - his mother, Mary - but rather because he does the will of his Father in heaven. Any who do his Father’s will - those who do wonderful, constructive, productive and positive things for others at the instruction and with the guiding help of the Father - will be exalted in heaven. They are the just ones!
And so we cry out today: Rejoice, in the Lord you just! Be glad in the Lord, and give thanks to his holy name - both now and for ever!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Homily for Friday October 12, 2007
We come to our third and final prophet for this week in our first reading today: Joel. The Church, this week, is having us consider the “messages of God” from many different mouthpieces! Today God, through Joel, is rousing activity at the temple itself. He is telling the priests to get into their fasting attire (sackcloth) and to weep loudly! He tells them to proclaim a fast throughout the land because the day! the day of the Lord, is near! Blow the trumpet, sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming!
It will be a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and somberness spreading over the mountains and the people! It will be unlike any other day!
The responsorial refrain summarizes it for us: The Lord will judge the world with justice! We can add: just as he promised he would from time immemorial!
But the good news in all of this is that for us who are baptized into Christ Jesus - baptized into his life, death and resurrection - that day need not be so terrifying after all. For if we live with the Lord Jesus, if we allow him to live his life in us and through us on behalf of others and their well-being - if we believe that in fact the power of the Holy Spirit did raise him from the dead at the bidding of God the Father - then we shall have nothing to fear on that great and ominous day!
It was getting to be common knowledge, in the gospel passage today, that Jesus has a unique and extraordinary power over nature, over the physical world, over the spiritual world. He could cure disease. He could also drive out demons and evil spirits. To explain this unusual ability the people were saying that he must be in league with the devil himself - to which Jesus simply replied that it would be contradictory for an evil power to cast out an evil power! “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand!” And so, he tells the objectors that, however, if it truly by the finger of God that I drive out the demons (the finger of God being the Holy Spirit), then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
This argument no doubt convinced some, but not others.
Jesus warns, though, that even when, through prayer and fasting, unclean spirits are driven out - the place where they were driven from must be constantly guarded by prayer, and the many aids that would come later when the Church would exist! Constant prayer, and the use of the Sacraments, especially Eucharist and Penance are the ideal ways to keep our spiritual house not only clean, but filled with the Spirit of God - the Holy Spirit!
Today we pray that when the final day comes - whenever that might be - that the spiritual houses of our hearts will be brimming over with the joy, hope and peace that are part and parcel of the presence of the Holy Spirit deep within us - because we kept sweeping our houses our whole lives long!
It will be a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and somberness spreading over the mountains and the people! It will be unlike any other day!
The responsorial refrain summarizes it for us: The Lord will judge the world with justice! We can add: just as he promised he would from time immemorial!
But the good news in all of this is that for us who are baptized into Christ Jesus - baptized into his life, death and resurrection - that day need not be so terrifying after all. For if we live with the Lord Jesus, if we allow him to live his life in us and through us on behalf of others and their well-being - if we believe that in fact the power of the Holy Spirit did raise him from the dead at the bidding of God the Father - then we shall have nothing to fear on that great and ominous day!
It was getting to be common knowledge, in the gospel passage today, that Jesus has a unique and extraordinary power over nature, over the physical world, over the spiritual world. He could cure disease. He could also drive out demons and evil spirits. To explain this unusual ability the people were saying that he must be in league with the devil himself - to which Jesus simply replied that it would be contradictory for an evil power to cast out an evil power! “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand!” And so, he tells the objectors that, however, if it truly by the finger of God that I drive out the demons (the finger of God being the Holy Spirit), then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
This argument no doubt convinced some, but not others.
Jesus warns, though, that even when, through prayer and fasting, unclean spirits are driven out - the place where they were driven from must be constantly guarded by prayer, and the many aids that would come later when the Church would exist! Constant prayer, and the use of the Sacraments, especially Eucharist and Penance are the ideal ways to keep our spiritual house not only clean, but filled with the Spirit of God - the Holy Spirit!
Today we pray that when the final day comes - whenever that might be - that the spiritual houses of our hearts will be brimming over with the joy, hope and peace that are part and parcel of the presence of the Holy Spirit deep within us - because we kept sweeping our houses our whole lives long!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Homily for Thursday October 11, 2007
We switch now from the prophet Jonah, in our first reading at Mass, to the prophet Malachi. What is new in this account is that the wicked are not those who are necessarily outside and against the people of Israel, but all who do not fear God - those both inside and outside of the people of Israel.
What God is saying though the prophet is that any who fear me and turn to me for mercy will get compassion from me! Even the wicked are eligible for God’s graciousness. The just ones - the ones who serve God fearfully and faithfully can count on his blessings and mercy - but since God can do what he wants - fear of the Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom but also the key that unlocks God’s compassion, mercy and forgiveness.
But of course, the fear of the Lord, has to be genuine, and the turning towards him sincere, and the promise to live a changed life given.
The Lord promises in this reading that there will indeed come a day when the wicked-who-seem-to-prosper will get what is their due! There will be a day of fire that will destroy the root and the branch! And on that same day the sun of justice with is healing rays will rise on those who fear God’s name!
And so we have every reason to hope!
In the gospel passage Jesus gives us a very important tool to use in maintaining our sense of proportion, our sense of humility, our sense of fear of the Lord: when he gives us the true secret of the prayer of petition! Yes! You can go ahead and ask, seek, knock - it will be given to you! Every single time! But just as a father among us knows who not to give his son - which might hurt him in the short or long run - so too our heavenly Father knows exactly what to give us which will take care of all our needs: and that gift is the Holy Spirit! If we ask for the Holy Spirit in any and every petition then we can be sure that we will be heard, and our prayer will be responded to - in God’s way and God’s time!
There is always a catch, isn’t there?
God’s will cannot not be done! Once we get that idea firmly rooted in our souls - then we know how to use the gift of the Holy Spirit!
The Spirit can only teach us that which is God’s will! And we should not even want to know anything else.
Therefore to remain God-fearing, and candidates for the healing rays of the sun of justice - we need to pray first always: Come, Holy Spirit! Then we will know what else to pray…
What God is saying though the prophet is that any who fear me and turn to me for mercy will get compassion from me! Even the wicked are eligible for God’s graciousness. The just ones - the ones who serve God fearfully and faithfully can count on his blessings and mercy - but since God can do what he wants - fear of the Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom but also the key that unlocks God’s compassion, mercy and forgiveness.
But of course, the fear of the Lord, has to be genuine, and the turning towards him sincere, and the promise to live a changed life given.
The Lord promises in this reading that there will indeed come a day when the wicked-who-seem-to-prosper will get what is their due! There will be a day of fire that will destroy the root and the branch! And on that same day the sun of justice with is healing rays will rise on those who fear God’s name!
And so we have every reason to hope!
In the gospel passage Jesus gives us a very important tool to use in maintaining our sense of proportion, our sense of humility, our sense of fear of the Lord: when he gives us the true secret of the prayer of petition! Yes! You can go ahead and ask, seek, knock - it will be given to you! Every single time! But just as a father among us knows who not to give his son - which might hurt him in the short or long run - so too our heavenly Father knows exactly what to give us which will take care of all our needs: and that gift is the Holy Spirit! If we ask for the Holy Spirit in any and every petition then we can be sure that we will be heard, and our prayer will be responded to - in God’s way and God’s time!
There is always a catch, isn’t there?
God’s will cannot not be done! Once we get that idea firmly rooted in our souls - then we know how to use the gift of the Holy Spirit!
The Spirit can only teach us that which is God’s will! And we should not even want to know anything else.
Therefore to remain God-fearing, and candidates for the healing rays of the sun of justice - we need to pray first always: Come, Holy Spirit! Then we will know what else to pray…
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Homily for Wednesday October 10, 2007
The dramatic saga of Jonah and God continues in the first reading today. Jonah, apparently, is more of an ill-suited prophet than we suspected in yesterday’s reading. Not only is he a reluctant prophet, but he also seems to be a resentful prophet. When his prophesying is effective he becomes angry, very angry, angry enough to die, angry enough to ask God to take his life - he asks to die twice in this short reading.
Jonah is quite angry because God truly is a God of mercy and love as he deals with his creatures. Jonah on the other hand can only see things in terms of earthly, vindictive justice and retribution. Even when God shows a bit of extra special care for Jonah by providing a temporary respite and relief from the strong hot wind and scorching sun of the desert, Jonah is upset that it only lasted one day - and yet again, he is ready to die.
This calling on God to end his life is reminiscent of the plea of Elijah who thought himself a failure as a prophet! God did not answer his cry! Jonah makes the same plea, but it is rather because he is overwhelmingly successful as a prophet! What neither prophet fully understood is that it is God who is in charge of the justice - it is God who is in charge of the punishment, if there is to be any - it is God who arranges and executes the offer of conversion!
Any worthwhile prophet would rejoice in the mercy and graciousness of God - because who knows? one day - in fact, one day, very soon, he himself might be in need of such great mercy and graciousness that belies the system of values of this world!
In the gospel passage today, Jesus teaches the disciples, and all of us to pray: Father (which means: you are totally in charge, we are but children, and adopted children at that!), holy is your name (just saying this makes us holier than we were before we said it, because we exist in him who is holiness), your Kingdom come (a kingdom of truth, goodness, beauty, justice and love - that has a sense all its own, over and above what natural intelligence can deduce). Give us each day our daily bread (give us exactly what we need just for this day, materially, but more especially, spiritually - give us the Bread of Heaven to be our companion along the way home to you), forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone in debt to us (in your kind of mercy and graciousness - which is a totally free gift - forgive us, Father - but, fairly, only to the extent that we are willing to forgive others, all others), and do not subject us to the final test (there will be a Day of Reckoning - but for those who live their lives as closely as possible to the Father and the Son, this day will not be terrible - the test will be an easy one - and the fullness of life will begin at once!)
Our thoughts are not your thoughts and our ways are not your ways - thankfully, and mercifully loving God! On account of this we ask you not to take our lives away! but rather to increase the joy of our lives, according to your justice and your mercy and your love!
Jonah is quite angry because God truly is a God of mercy and love as he deals with his creatures. Jonah on the other hand can only see things in terms of earthly, vindictive justice and retribution. Even when God shows a bit of extra special care for Jonah by providing a temporary respite and relief from the strong hot wind and scorching sun of the desert, Jonah is upset that it only lasted one day - and yet again, he is ready to die.
This calling on God to end his life is reminiscent of the plea of Elijah who thought himself a failure as a prophet! God did not answer his cry! Jonah makes the same plea, but it is rather because he is overwhelmingly successful as a prophet! What neither prophet fully understood is that it is God who is in charge of the justice - it is God who is in charge of the punishment, if there is to be any - it is God who arranges and executes the offer of conversion!
Any worthwhile prophet would rejoice in the mercy and graciousness of God - because who knows? one day - in fact, one day, very soon, he himself might be in need of such great mercy and graciousness that belies the system of values of this world!
In the gospel passage today, Jesus teaches the disciples, and all of us to pray: Father (which means: you are totally in charge, we are but children, and adopted children at that!), holy is your name (just saying this makes us holier than we were before we said it, because we exist in him who is holiness), your Kingdom come (a kingdom of truth, goodness, beauty, justice and love - that has a sense all its own, over and above what natural intelligence can deduce). Give us each day our daily bread (give us exactly what we need just for this day, materially, but more especially, spiritually - give us the Bread of Heaven to be our companion along the way home to you), forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone in debt to us (in your kind of mercy and graciousness - which is a totally free gift - forgive us, Father - but, fairly, only to the extent that we are willing to forgive others, all others), and do not subject us to the final test (there will be a Day of Reckoning - but for those who live their lives as closely as possible to the Father and the Son, this day will not be terrible - the test will be an easy one - and the fullness of life will begin at once!)
Our thoughts are not your thoughts and our ways are not your ways - thankfully, and mercifully loving God! On account of this we ask you not to take our lives away! but rather to increase the joy of our lives, according to your justice and your mercy and your love!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Homily for Tuesday October 9, 2007
We actually have two pretty spectacular readings in our Mass today. We have the legendary grandiosity of the first reading, and the amazingly simple reality of the gospel reading.
The story of the conversion of the city of Nineveh at the preaching of Jonah is packed with everything that a good story contains: suspense, drama, humor, surprise and a happy ending! And all of this in just a few short paragraphs. We can consider the story from two points of view: the first, that of the action of the Prophet, Jonah! Instead of trying to run away from God like he did in yesterday’s reading - which caused him to end up on a ship being tossed about in a great storm - the only solution to the problem of which was to be thrown overboard and swallowed up by a large fish - this time when God asks him to do something: preach to the Ninevites to repent: Jonah does not run away - but he is not too thrilled about doing his job, either! Will he do it? Will he not?
He does decide to cooperate fully with God and he begins his trek through this purposely exaggerated “enormously large” city. The enormity of the city, however, was actually not its size but its quantity and quality violence and cruelty. Now, the weapon that God armed Jonah with was just eight words: “Forty days more and Nineveh will be no more!” Were these words enough? Would they change the course of history of this sin-soaked city!
The second point of view of this story is the reaction of the city! They did immediately repent of all their evil doing! What is so surprising here is the speed - it was lightning-fast! This underlines the enormity of the change - it affected the entire city! Every single man, woman and child - even the animals, humorously enough, were joining their masters in putting on sackcloth and ashes and crying out to God for mercy! The king, then, reminiscent of the ship captain of yesterday’s story, implored God’s mercy - the One True God of Israel - and God relented and did not do what he had planned to do against them to punish them for their wickedness. The people began to reform their lives, their morals, their relationships with one another!
Now, did they do this because they believed Jonah, the half-reluctant Prophet? No! They did it because they believed God! They heard and believed the word of God - and the voice of God speaking allowed them to take an accurate accounting of their own lives and they decided that changes were necessary - immediately! Any authentic prophet is but a mouthpiece for God, and not for themselves.
In the gospel passage today Mary is at the feet of Jesus listening to his every word - and Martha is busy about many things! Jesus simply tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better part here. Listening to the voice of God speaking - is always the better part. Listening to the voice of Jesus, by the working of the Holy Spirit deep within us - when he visits the home of our hearts - is worth more than any amount of activity - for this is how we not only find out more about God - but we also find out more about ourselves, and we see that of ourselves we are nothing - we can see our sinfulness - we can see what changes need to be made in our lives - and we like the Ninevites can decide instantaneously to put on the sackcloth and ashes of praise and thanks to God for his great mercy! Jesus already told us he wants mercy from us as his sacrifice! Let us today offer him the sacrifice of a day lived in thankfulness and helpfulness and mercy to others.
Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it!
The story of the conversion of the city of Nineveh at the preaching of Jonah is packed with everything that a good story contains: suspense, drama, humor, surprise and a happy ending! And all of this in just a few short paragraphs. We can consider the story from two points of view: the first, that of the action of the Prophet, Jonah! Instead of trying to run away from God like he did in yesterday’s reading - which caused him to end up on a ship being tossed about in a great storm - the only solution to the problem of which was to be thrown overboard and swallowed up by a large fish - this time when God asks him to do something: preach to the Ninevites to repent: Jonah does not run away - but he is not too thrilled about doing his job, either! Will he do it? Will he not?
He does decide to cooperate fully with God and he begins his trek through this purposely exaggerated “enormously large” city. The enormity of the city, however, was actually not its size but its quantity and quality violence and cruelty. Now, the weapon that God armed Jonah with was just eight words: “Forty days more and Nineveh will be no more!” Were these words enough? Would they change the course of history of this sin-soaked city!
The second point of view of this story is the reaction of the city! They did immediately repent of all their evil doing! What is so surprising here is the speed - it was lightning-fast! This underlines the enormity of the change - it affected the entire city! Every single man, woman and child - even the animals, humorously enough, were joining their masters in putting on sackcloth and ashes and crying out to God for mercy! The king, then, reminiscent of the ship captain of yesterday’s story, implored God’s mercy - the One True God of Israel - and God relented and did not do what he had planned to do against them to punish them for their wickedness. The people began to reform their lives, their morals, their relationships with one another!
Now, did they do this because they believed Jonah, the half-reluctant Prophet? No! They did it because they believed God! They heard and believed the word of God - and the voice of God speaking allowed them to take an accurate accounting of their own lives and they decided that changes were necessary - immediately! Any authentic prophet is but a mouthpiece for God, and not for themselves.
In the gospel passage today Mary is at the feet of Jesus listening to his every word - and Martha is busy about many things! Jesus simply tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better part here. Listening to the voice of God speaking - is always the better part. Listening to the voice of Jesus, by the working of the Holy Spirit deep within us - when he visits the home of our hearts - is worth more than any amount of activity - for this is how we not only find out more about God - but we also find out more about ourselves, and we see that of ourselves we are nothing - we can see our sinfulness - we can see what changes need to be made in our lives - and we like the Ninevites can decide instantaneously to put on the sackcloth and ashes of praise and thanks to God for his great mercy! Jesus already told us he wants mercy from us as his sacrifice! Let us today offer him the sacrifice of a day lived in thankfulness and helpfulness and mercy to others.
Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it!
Monday, October 8, 2007
Homily for Monday October 8, 2007
Today we have two major story-lines to deal with in our readings: the first is the story of Jonah, the Prophet who, even in this brief passage (while he is apparently trying to run away from God) can be seen very clearly as a type (in other ways) for Jesus, who is to come; the second story is about love of neighbor, which means love of everyone - even those who might be diametrically opposed to us in every way.
The fact that Jonah was asleep in the boat and had to be awakened to help calm the storm at sea - was quite clearly a sign of when Jesus was asleep in the back of the disciples’ boat, and a bad squall blew up, and he had to be awakened and asked to help save them! Jonah was willing to do what he could do and so was Jesus! The point of the fact is that Jesus had the power - Jonah just pointed to the power.
When the ship’s crew asked what they could do to calm the sea - which was getting more and more turbulent - Jonah suggested that they pick him up and throw him into the sea. They did and the sea quieted down. Jesus suggested that when he is picked up and nailed to a cross, the storm of sin would subside and there would be quiet and the stillness of redemption!
Jonah was rescued by a large fish that was sent by God - and he spent three days in the inner recesses of the fish - which most certainly prefigures the three days that Jesus spent in the inner recesses of the earth after his violent death on the cross - which was followed by his glorious resurrection from the dead!
In the gospel passage the Samaritan rescues a poor fellow who was attacked and left for dead on the side of the road - by someone who would be the last to do it - a Samaritan - a person who belonged to a renegade sect of Judaism. This kind-hearted Samaritan did not care that the half-dead man was not a Samaritan - that he was part of an opposing sect - he treated him with mercy and compassion. He lifted him up, carried him to a place where he could be cared for and provided for his needs. Jesus tells this story to demonstrate that anyone and everyone who needs help - who needs to be lifted up, in any way - is our neighbor and our responsibility before God.
Jonah helped the crew of the ship by allowing himself to be lifted up and cast into the sea, the Samaritan helped the unfortunate man by lifting him up and carrying him to safety. God the Father helped all of us to find forgiveness from our sins, and the possibility of eternal life by lifting up his own beloved Son on the Cross so that he could give his life for us and for our salvation! Thank your, Jesus for cooperating in the Father’s plan!
Yes, Lord, you will rescue my life from the pit!
Help me to lift up my neighbor - that is, anyone and everyone whose path will cross mine today! Let me not walk on the other side of the street - but empowered by your Spirit, let me treat with kindness and compassion those who are right in front of me!
The fact that Jonah was asleep in the boat and had to be awakened to help calm the storm at sea - was quite clearly a sign of when Jesus was asleep in the back of the disciples’ boat, and a bad squall blew up, and he had to be awakened and asked to help save them! Jonah was willing to do what he could do and so was Jesus! The point of the fact is that Jesus had the power - Jonah just pointed to the power.
When the ship’s crew asked what they could do to calm the sea - which was getting more and more turbulent - Jonah suggested that they pick him up and throw him into the sea. They did and the sea quieted down. Jesus suggested that when he is picked up and nailed to a cross, the storm of sin would subside and there would be quiet and the stillness of redemption!
Jonah was rescued by a large fish that was sent by God - and he spent three days in the inner recesses of the fish - which most certainly prefigures the three days that Jesus spent in the inner recesses of the earth after his violent death on the cross - which was followed by his glorious resurrection from the dead!
In the gospel passage the Samaritan rescues a poor fellow who was attacked and left for dead on the side of the road - by someone who would be the last to do it - a Samaritan - a person who belonged to a renegade sect of Judaism. This kind-hearted Samaritan did not care that the half-dead man was not a Samaritan - that he was part of an opposing sect - he treated him with mercy and compassion. He lifted him up, carried him to a place where he could be cared for and provided for his needs. Jesus tells this story to demonstrate that anyone and everyone who needs help - who needs to be lifted up, in any way - is our neighbor and our responsibility before God.
Jonah helped the crew of the ship by allowing himself to be lifted up and cast into the sea, the Samaritan helped the unfortunate man by lifting him up and carrying him to safety. God the Father helped all of us to find forgiveness from our sins, and the possibility of eternal life by lifting up his own beloved Son on the Cross so that he could give his life for us and for our salvation! Thank your, Jesus for cooperating in the Father’s plan!
Yes, Lord, you will rescue my life from the pit!
Help me to lift up my neighbor - that is, anyone and everyone whose path will cross mine today! Let me not walk on the other side of the street - but empowered by your Spirit, let me treat with kindness and compassion those who are right in front of me!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Homily for 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
To understand the gospel passage today we need to understand the verses that come just before it! St. Luke’s account of the “Jesus story” has Jesus, in effect, warning the shepherds, the leaders, the church officials (of a distant time) not to be a cause for anyone to abandon the Christian quest! As disciples journey toward Jesus they will be subject to bad example, disedification and scandal - but Jesus very explicitly condemns any church official who is the facilitator of such bad example, disedification and scandal. It is better if a millstone was tied around his neck and he was cast into the sea! Disciples can be as helpless as small children in the face of the mighty force of a person in authority leading them into error and sin!
The apostles know then the importance of carrying out their offices with dignity and respect for all involved - indeed with great love, compassion and mercy: therefore, they ask Jesus to help them “increase their faith.” They know that they need a deepening of their relationship with Jesus (and his Father) in order to do what he asks of them.
In answering them Jesus tells a story and says: “what would you say to your servant (thus establishing clearly the fact that anything the apostles had to give, was first given to them, to be given to others) who had just come in [from doing his job out in the fields]? Would you not continue to treat him as a servant - until the time of service is ended (which will be at the end of time)? Jesus says that this needs to be the case - and that it would seem appropriate for the servant (the apostles) to be grateful for the opportunity to be of service to the Lord, to do what they were told to do - and not to expect preferential treatment, but to say out loud that they were but “unprofitable servants’ doing just what they were obliged to do!
Does this mean that Jesus is not appreciative of their willingness to be his apostles - to be in training to lead the flock of disciples until he comes again? By no means! Jesus is very much appreciative and he constantly rewards those who follow him and his way with countless blessings and helps and aids along the way! But the point of this passage today is that everything, absolutely everything comes from God (the Father’s) sheer graciousness!!! ALL IS GIFT! ALL IS GRACE! ALL IS LOVE! Of ourselves - whether we are an apostle, a disciple, a father, a mother, an office worker, a housewife, a student, a laborer, a politician - we have and are nothing - of ourselves!
An increase of faith means an increase in the appreciation of this very notion: WE HAVE AND ARE NOTHING - OF OURSELVES!
By means of faith we know that the unjust - those who live as though everything is about them - everything is about grabbing as much as you can out of life - everything is about me and me alone - have no integrity and in the end they shall not live, for ever. But the just one - who has heard the voice of the Lord speaking about this matter - and who hardens not his/her heart - will live because his/her life is rooted in giving, in grace, in love - his/her life is rooted in God!
Jesus, in the same gospel passage, tells the apostles, the disciples and all of us that even the tiniest bit of this real, God-rooted, self-denying faith can be the catalyst for some amazing things happening in the practice of loving service. Just as, with a tiny bit of faith - as tiny as a mustard seed - a mulberry tree with an enormous root system can be uprooted instantaneously and transplanted into water, into the sea, so can quite unexpected things happen when our life of giving is fueled by true faith in God’s power and love!
God has given us the Spirit of power and love and self-control, as St. Paul tells us today, so that we can not only bear the hardships of the gospel - the gospel that asks us to be nothing so that we can gain everything; to be humble so that we can be raised up on high for ever one day in the Kingdom; to be servants so that we can become friends; but also that we can find great joy, abounding hope, deep peace which comes from proving our love for God whom we cannot see, by loving our neighbors, wom we can see - not only the people who live in our neighborhood - but all people, everywhere - from the heart!
We pray that the Lord will increase our faith today - so that what we celebrate here makes perfect sense - and so that we can take the fruits of our celebration into our everyday world!
Increase our faith, Lord; increase our faith!
The apostles know then the importance of carrying out their offices with dignity and respect for all involved - indeed with great love, compassion and mercy: therefore, they ask Jesus to help them “increase their faith.” They know that they need a deepening of their relationship with Jesus (and his Father) in order to do what he asks of them.
In answering them Jesus tells a story and says: “what would you say to your servant (thus establishing clearly the fact that anything the apostles had to give, was first given to them, to be given to others) who had just come in [from doing his job out in the fields]? Would you not continue to treat him as a servant - until the time of service is ended (which will be at the end of time)? Jesus says that this needs to be the case - and that it would seem appropriate for the servant (the apostles) to be grateful for the opportunity to be of service to the Lord, to do what they were told to do - and not to expect preferential treatment, but to say out loud that they were but “unprofitable servants’ doing just what they were obliged to do!
Does this mean that Jesus is not appreciative of their willingness to be his apostles - to be in training to lead the flock of disciples until he comes again? By no means! Jesus is very much appreciative and he constantly rewards those who follow him and his way with countless blessings and helps and aids along the way! But the point of this passage today is that everything, absolutely everything comes from God (the Father’s) sheer graciousness!!! ALL IS GIFT! ALL IS GRACE! ALL IS LOVE! Of ourselves - whether we are an apostle, a disciple, a father, a mother, an office worker, a housewife, a student, a laborer, a politician - we have and are nothing - of ourselves!
An increase of faith means an increase in the appreciation of this very notion: WE HAVE AND ARE NOTHING - OF OURSELVES!
By means of faith we know that the unjust - those who live as though everything is about them - everything is about grabbing as much as you can out of life - everything is about me and me alone - have no integrity and in the end they shall not live, for ever. But the just one - who has heard the voice of the Lord speaking about this matter - and who hardens not his/her heart - will live because his/her life is rooted in giving, in grace, in love - his/her life is rooted in God!
Jesus, in the same gospel passage, tells the apostles, the disciples and all of us that even the tiniest bit of this real, God-rooted, self-denying faith can be the catalyst for some amazing things happening in the practice of loving service. Just as, with a tiny bit of faith - as tiny as a mustard seed - a mulberry tree with an enormous root system can be uprooted instantaneously and transplanted into water, into the sea, so can quite unexpected things happen when our life of giving is fueled by true faith in God’s power and love!
God has given us the Spirit of power and love and self-control, as St. Paul tells us today, so that we can not only bear the hardships of the gospel - the gospel that asks us to be nothing so that we can gain everything; to be humble so that we can be raised up on high for ever one day in the Kingdom; to be servants so that we can become friends; but also that we can find great joy, abounding hope, deep peace which comes from proving our love for God whom we cannot see, by loving our neighbors, wom we can see - not only the people who live in our neighborhood - but all people, everywhere - from the heart!
We pray that the Lord will increase our faith today - so that what we celebrate here makes perfect sense - and so that we can take the fruits of our celebration into our everyday world!
Increase our faith, Lord; increase our faith!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Homily for Saturday October 6, 2007
Certain individuals are called by God to take to heart the words of scripture that they hear proclaimed to them and to live them out in a more intense way than the general population! Bruno of Cologne was one such person in the 11th century! It was his vocation to hear the call of the desert - the call of the heart of Jesus - the call of the way of perfection - and to live these out as a priest, as an educator and as a founder of the first Carthusian monastery, which was roughly based originally on the Rule of St. Benedict!
The Rule of St. Benedict is summarized in one word: LISTEN! Listen to the voice of God speaking - especially in the scriptures - and then respond as you would - respond by your joy, respond by your praying, respond by your singing, respond by your living for the good of your brothers and sisters, respond by your desire to “stay the course” of a life of seeking one thing only: the vision of the face of Christ - in eternity for ever!
Just as St. Paul told the Philippians in our first reading today that Christ was everything to him - that embracing the life and death of Christ in an imitative way was his sole purpose and occupation in this life - so to share one day in the fulfillment of the promise of eternal life in store for those who crossed the finish line looking straight-dead-ahead; so too Bruno and his brother Carthusians sought a life of intense knowledge of Christ and his ways - and a relationship with him as a person - to guide their every step.
In the gospel passage today, Jesus warns those who think that they might want to follow him that it will not be an easy thing: you will be “homeless” in many senses of the term, you will he required to “stay in training” all the days of your life, and you will have to “leave your family and friends behind” in a spiritual way - but the reward for doing such things will be unparalleled! You will enjoy a depth of joy, peace and love that you never thought possible!
Blessed are they who delight in the law of the Lord!: the law of faith, the law of hope, the law of love! for they shall never be disappointed!
And they shall flourish, like the palm tree, for ever!
The Rule of St. Benedict is summarized in one word: LISTEN! Listen to the voice of God speaking - especially in the scriptures - and then respond as you would - respond by your joy, respond by your praying, respond by your singing, respond by your living for the good of your brothers and sisters, respond by your desire to “stay the course” of a life of seeking one thing only: the vision of the face of Christ - in eternity for ever!
Just as St. Paul told the Philippians in our first reading today that Christ was everything to him - that embracing the life and death of Christ in an imitative way was his sole purpose and occupation in this life - so to share one day in the fulfillment of the promise of eternal life in store for those who crossed the finish line looking straight-dead-ahead; so too Bruno and his brother Carthusians sought a life of intense knowledge of Christ and his ways - and a relationship with him as a person - to guide their every step.
In the gospel passage today, Jesus warns those who think that they might want to follow him that it will not be an easy thing: you will be “homeless” in many senses of the term, you will he required to “stay in training” all the days of your life, and you will have to “leave your family and friends behind” in a spiritual way - but the reward for doing such things will be unparalleled! You will enjoy a depth of joy, peace and love that you never thought possible!
Blessed are they who delight in the law of the Lord!: the law of faith, the law of hope, the law of love! for they shall never be disappointed!
And they shall flourish, like the palm tree, for ever!
Friday, October 5, 2007
Homily for Friday October 5, 2007
Today the Church celebrates the feast of one of its newer saints: St. Maria Faustina Kowalska - the Polish Sister of Mercy who was chosen by Jesus to be his “secretary of the divine mercy message” - a message and a devotion that has grown rapidly, especially in the United States the past several years.
Today’s readings, from the regular cycle of readings fit this feast perfectly. In the first reading from the Prophet Baruch the “people of the exile prayed” justice is with the Lord, our God, and today we are flushed with shame, we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem…that we [all] have sinned in the Lord’s sight…We did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God…and we did evil in his sight!
This very conversion is what the “mercy message is all about” - when once we, any of us human beings realizes that so much of our thinking, our speaking and our behavior is far from the center of the track - we need but allow the mercy of God to draw our hearts to him for he is always, always ready for bestow his mercy and forgiveness whenever we ask!
The alleluia verse today gives us a key to understanding the process: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” The voice of God calling us to repentance and an experience of his mercy is always speaking loudly and clearly - the only thing that can prevent us truly from responding is if we put our spiritual hands up to our spiritual ears and refuse to listen! But if, perchance, today we do hear his voice - may the Spirit begin quickly to unharden our hearts so that we can get the full benefit of his mercy and redemption.
In the gospel passage Jesus is telling everyone that the people of God have always had great prophets, great spokesmen in their midst telling them explicitly about God, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness - his willingness to give them a new start! The greatest of which is he, himself, who is right in their midst. But unfortunately, most of them had hearts so hardened that they could not recognize Jesus for who he truly was!
A great prophet and promoter of Jesus was St. Maria Faustina Kowalska - in our own day - who very carefully followed Jesus’ own instruction as to how to communicate the LOVE, MERCY and FORGIVENESS OF GOD at this particular time in salvation history. She was to see to it - at Jesus’ instruction - that an image of the Risen Jesus with copious rivers of red and white rays emanating from a glowing heart was painted - which would speak of the forgiveness accomplished for all sin (the red rays) and the availability of God’s tremendous graces through the sacraments of the Church (the white rays)! The picture was to be labeled: “Jesus, I trust in you!” He also requested that the Sunday after Easter be designated also as DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY! Pope John Paul II brought about this designation toward the end of his pontificate!
Mercy is God’s greatest attribute - it is how he shows his great power and love! He is so majestic and magnificent that he can show a Father’s tender and delicate love to the most hardened sinner!
“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts!”
St. Maria Faustina, pray for us!
Today’s readings, from the regular cycle of readings fit this feast perfectly. In the first reading from the Prophet Baruch the “people of the exile prayed” justice is with the Lord, our God, and today we are flushed with shame, we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem…that we [all] have sinned in the Lord’s sight…We did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God…and we did evil in his sight!
This very conversion is what the “mercy message is all about” - when once we, any of us human beings realizes that so much of our thinking, our speaking and our behavior is far from the center of the track - we need but allow the mercy of God to draw our hearts to him for he is always, always ready for bestow his mercy and forgiveness whenever we ask!
The alleluia verse today gives us a key to understanding the process: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” The voice of God calling us to repentance and an experience of his mercy is always speaking loudly and clearly - the only thing that can prevent us truly from responding is if we put our spiritual hands up to our spiritual ears and refuse to listen! But if, perchance, today we do hear his voice - may the Spirit begin quickly to unharden our hearts so that we can get the full benefit of his mercy and redemption.
In the gospel passage Jesus is telling everyone that the people of God have always had great prophets, great spokesmen in their midst telling them explicitly about God, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness - his willingness to give them a new start! The greatest of which is he, himself, who is right in their midst. But unfortunately, most of them had hearts so hardened that they could not recognize Jesus for who he truly was!
A great prophet and promoter of Jesus was St. Maria Faustina Kowalska - in our own day - who very carefully followed Jesus’ own instruction as to how to communicate the LOVE, MERCY and FORGIVENESS OF GOD at this particular time in salvation history. She was to see to it - at Jesus’ instruction - that an image of the Risen Jesus with copious rivers of red and white rays emanating from a glowing heart was painted - which would speak of the forgiveness accomplished for all sin (the red rays) and the availability of God’s tremendous graces through the sacraments of the Church (the white rays)! The picture was to be labeled: “Jesus, I trust in you!” He also requested that the Sunday after Easter be designated also as DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY! Pope John Paul II brought about this designation toward the end of his pontificate!
Mercy is God’s greatest attribute - it is how he shows his great power and love! He is so majestic and magnificent that he can show a Father’s tender and delicate love to the most hardened sinner!
“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts!”
St. Maria Faustina, pray for us!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Homily for Thursday October 4, 2007
Today we celebrate one of the most beloved saints in the Church: St. Francis of Assisi. What makes him admired and imitated in so many varied ways and forms is the fact that he went right to the heart of the gospel to find what he was looking for! We know that Francis was searching for something more than what the wealth of his family could provide. And so, quite literally he gave up everything, including his clothing, to begin a life that could be labeled as a “love-affair” with the Crucified Christ!
As Saint Paul told the Galatians that he never wanted to boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ - so too Francis made the same claim. And in fact, he meditated so profoundly on the cross and wounds of Christ Crucified that he was granted the extraordinary privilege of bearing the marks of Christ’s own Passion in his own body: the stigmata.
Though Francis meditated to the extreme on the depths of Christ’s love in giving his life on the Cross - he did not do so without also considering Christ’s subsequent resurrection from the dead! Francis knew that the excruciating suffering of the Passion led to the astounding joy and glory of the resurrection! Francis, then, was a joyful servant of the cross!
Jesus told all of us that to be with him in eternity would involve carrying our own cross while here on earth - preferably, willingly and joyfully! Because we make up what is still lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for both we and our brothers and sisters, and the whole world continue to sin day after day - and in a very real sense still contribute to the suffering of Christ on the Cross!
Francis had a deep insight into sin - because of the innocence and purity of his life. The more humble he was - the more he saw that of himself he was nothing at all - without God, and his grace and his love! He also knew that the way he saw things as a human being was for the most part exactly opposite of the way God sees them. But Francis also knew that the gospel message of Jesus turned everything on its head. Jesus was a man of contradiction - though, for those with faith, it all makes perfect sense.
The gospel calls us to do what we do not want to do: bring love where there is hatred, pardon where there is injury, union where there is friction, truth where there is error, faith where there is doubt, hope where there is despair, light where there is darkness, joy where there is sadness! These are not easy things to do by any means! On our own we cannot do any of them! With God we can do all of them - and the more we pray for the light and strength of the Holy Spirit the easier and lighter the tasks become!
Francis had child like faith. That is why he so easily went to the heart of the gospel message - that is why he understood the contradictions of the “Jesus Way” - and that is why he was called upon by Jesus to preach to all creation what had been revealed to him at the foot of the Cross of Jesus! Francis wanted only one thing: and that was to be happy with God’s own happiness! And God wanted to give him this happiness. He found out that to be happy he had to give it all away to and for his brothers and sisters - especially the poor! and together with them live like the flowers of the field and the birds of the sky! trusting God for everything! He did and they did and we can too if we choose to - and one day, with Francis be born to eternal life! Amen.
As Saint Paul told the Galatians that he never wanted to boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ - so too Francis made the same claim. And in fact, he meditated so profoundly on the cross and wounds of Christ Crucified that he was granted the extraordinary privilege of bearing the marks of Christ’s own Passion in his own body: the stigmata.
Though Francis meditated to the extreme on the depths of Christ’s love in giving his life on the Cross - he did not do so without also considering Christ’s subsequent resurrection from the dead! Francis knew that the excruciating suffering of the Passion led to the astounding joy and glory of the resurrection! Francis, then, was a joyful servant of the cross!
Jesus told all of us that to be with him in eternity would involve carrying our own cross while here on earth - preferably, willingly and joyfully! Because we make up what is still lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for both we and our brothers and sisters, and the whole world continue to sin day after day - and in a very real sense still contribute to the suffering of Christ on the Cross!
Francis had a deep insight into sin - because of the innocence and purity of his life. The more humble he was - the more he saw that of himself he was nothing at all - without God, and his grace and his love! He also knew that the way he saw things as a human being was for the most part exactly opposite of the way God sees them. But Francis also knew that the gospel message of Jesus turned everything on its head. Jesus was a man of contradiction - though, for those with faith, it all makes perfect sense.
The gospel calls us to do what we do not want to do: bring love where there is hatred, pardon where there is injury, union where there is friction, truth where there is error, faith where there is doubt, hope where there is despair, light where there is darkness, joy where there is sadness! These are not easy things to do by any means! On our own we cannot do any of them! With God we can do all of them - and the more we pray for the light and strength of the Holy Spirit the easier and lighter the tasks become!
Francis had child like faith. That is why he so easily went to the heart of the gospel message - that is why he understood the contradictions of the “Jesus Way” - and that is why he was called upon by Jesus to preach to all creation what had been revealed to him at the foot of the Cross of Jesus! Francis wanted only one thing: and that was to be happy with God’s own happiness! And God wanted to give him this happiness. He found out that to be happy he had to give it all away to and for his brothers and sisters - especially the poor! and together with them live like the flowers of the field and the birds of the sky! trusting God for everything! He did and they did and we can too if we choose to - and one day, with Francis be born to eternal life! Amen.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Homily for Wednesday October 3, 2007
Jesus, in the gospel passage today, makes it very clear that following him requires our undivided attention: undivided in mind and heart! undivided in affection and action! He makes it clear that it is not to be an easy thing. But that it was be incomprehensibly rewarding: fullness of life in the Kingdom of God.
The alleluia verse sums it up: I consider all things so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Having a deep, personal and unitive relationship with Jesus is the very goal of life. In fact all of creation is tending towards eternal union with him: who is and will be all in all!
May we never forget for a moment during the day, Jesus, and his love for us! May we see the image of Christ crucified and risen at every turn. May we see Christ coming again to judge us according to our deeds of loving - then we shall be following him as we ought - and we will be deserving of a place with him in eternity!
God favored Nehemiah who wanted to help put Jerusalem back together again after it was besieged - God will favor us if we help to put the world we find ourselves in back together again, especially since it has already been redeemed by the Blood of Christ! We need but pray for all of our brothers and sisters and fellow human beings throughout the world - and do what we can to make visible the reality of God by our loving service and dedicated care to them!
So be it! This day!
The alleluia verse sums it up: I consider all things so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Having a deep, personal and unitive relationship with Jesus is the very goal of life. In fact all of creation is tending towards eternal union with him: who is and will be all in all!
May we never forget for a moment during the day, Jesus, and his love for us! May we see the image of Christ crucified and risen at every turn. May we see Christ coming again to judge us according to our deeds of loving - then we shall be following him as we ought - and we will be deserving of a place with him in eternity!
God favored Nehemiah who wanted to help put Jerusalem back together again after it was besieged - God will favor us if we help to put the world we find ourselves in back together again, especially since it has already been redeemed by the Blood of Christ! We need but pray for all of our brothers and sisters and fellow human beings throughout the world - and do what we can to make visible the reality of God by our loving service and dedicated care to them!
So be it! This day!
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