Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here is my homily for this Sunday.  It's a little shorter this week because I spent a few minutes talking about stewardship in the parish this weekend.  I hope this shorter homily still gives you some things to think about.

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A name is much more than just a word people call us by or that we sign with to show ownership of something. A name literally says something about who we are as a person. Throughout Sacred Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, the meaning of each name typically connects with the story of the character. So Abraham literally means “Father of many”, reflecting his role as the father of all Israelite people. The name Moses is meant to sound very similar to the Hebrew word “to draw out” or “I drew him out” because Pharaoh’s daughter drew him out of the Nile when she adopted him. We see that even back to ancient times names were chosen not just to connect a newborn with a relative that shared the same name. The name was meant to show something of what the parents hoped for their child. When God renames a person, it shows what He had planned for him or her as well.

I have mentioned before that I struggle with remembering names. Once or twice when I was teaching at the Catholic School in International Falls, I was having trouble getting names out, so in frustration I announced that from then on all the students would be named “Bob”. Of course there was no one in the class whose name really was Bob or Robert, but that didn’t really matter: I was just doing it to be goofy and the students knew I was just joking around. In all seriousness however, I realize the great importance of knowing names and using them. For many people it can be a great insult if a person doesn't remember another person’s name. A person can be in a crowded room, but if no one knows their name, they will feel like the loneliest person in the world. When someone knows our name and we know theirs, there is suddenly a real connection. We might see the same person every time we go to the grocery store, the gas station, the bank, the post office, etc., but until we learn that person’s name, there won’t be any connection.

I recently heard a homily on the radio that must have been recorded the last time these readings came up in the Sunday Cycle; about three or so years ago. The priest pointed out an interesting fact. Usually when Jesus tells a parable, He describes the characters simply as “a man had two sons” or “a woman losses a coin” or “a man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho”. We are never given a name for these characters. Except with this parable. We hear about Lazarus. And what is even more interesting is that we are told the name of the poor man and not the name of the rich man. This would similar to talking about the biggest fans of a Hollywood actor or actress, and naming those fans but never giving the name of the famous person. We are usually interested in the rich and famous, not the poor and destitute. This rich man was very rich: the fine dining and the purple garments tell us that. But instead of focusing on him, Jesus draws our attention to Lazarus.

I am convinced that the reason for this is so that we identify ourselves with the rich man and not with the poor man. This is not meant to be a feel good story that talks about if we live simply enough we'll get to Heaven. This is meant to shake us and make us consider how we can serve others. Remember last week, I talked about how we are called to use our resources to help others, to find a balance in our lives.

Today our readings are pulling us even deeper. How are we helping others? There are many ways we can do just that. We can certainly help by giving money to the poor, but we can also volunteer at Union Gospel Mission or the Damiano Center or a soup kitchen. We can also help in the Church community as well.

 

Take time today to pray and ask God what He is calling you to.  It might sound scary, but it is well worth it.

Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest

Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest

The Gospel today is about identifying who Jesus is.  Jesus' question to the Apostles, "Who do you say that I am?" is a good question for us to ask ourselves.  We want to show others through our actions and words that we believe Jesus is the Christ and that He is with us.  A great way to show this (certainly not the only way) is to follow the example of St. Vincent de Paul, a priest who worked tirelessly for the poor in the 1600's.  We are called to love our neighbors and when we love we show the love of Christ in our lives.  Let us show this love to all those we meet.

Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

We continue to hear about the return of the Israelites from exile in Babylon in the first reading.  Today we hear about how the people are more interested in building their own nice houses and having their own nice stuff as opposed to worrying about making a suitable place for worship.  But the Prophet Haggai makes a point of saying that it is very important to have a place to come and worship.  This is not just any old place to come a worship either.  This is to be made out of the finest materials and to look the best.  This is calling us, then, to keep in mind the importance of prayer and worship.  It reminds us too to have a place specifically for prayer.  Go to your local church, a chapel, have a place at your house reserved for prayer.  This is the most important thing for our faith.

September 25, 2013Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

September 25, 2013Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Pope Francis made headlines last week with his interview that was published in various Jesuit publications (see my post from September 19th for a link).  During the interview, he was asked who he is as a person.  I am paraphrasing here, but he explained that he is a sinner.  He tries to live his life the best he can, he tries to live a life of holiness, but who he is, is a sinner. 

The readings today remind us that we are sinners, wretched sinners who have no business coming before God in the first place, but through the grace of God, we can begin to go down the path of holiness.  The prophet Ezra talks about reaching out to God despite not being worthy, but that God is still willing to help him.  This can be symbolized by Jesus sending out His disciples to spread the Good News.  They are not worthy of this, they don't even get to bring along the things that travelers of the day would bring like a walking stick, but they trust that God will help them.  So should we.

Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

"Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord" as today's psalm tells us.  We ought to rejoice in the opportunity to come and worship before our Lord and King.  Our first reading from Ezra talks about the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian Exile and that joyous first Passover Celebration after its completion.  Those who were at the celebration understood what it meant to go rejoicing to God's House because they weren't able to do that for around 70 years. 

May we able to rejoice and offer our prayers to God at all times.

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Money is a hard thing to discuss as a Christian. On the one hand, it is something that is very hard to live without. I don't want to say that it is absolutely necessary, but without it, it would be very difficult to provide food, shelter, medicine, clothing, or other real necessities for ourselves and our families. Money is also good for doing things for fun and relaxation: like a family vacation or doing a favorite pastime on a weekend. People also want enough money to save up for retirement. On the other hand money and the pursuit of wealth can quickly turn into an idol for people. Our desire for money becomes more important than our desire for a deeper faith or our desire for Heaven. Besides that, we are all going to die some day, and as the old saying goes, you can't take it with you. So for Christians, the issue is finding a balance when it comes to money and what to do with it. We need money to get by on this Earth, but we don't want it to rule us either.

It is that balance that Jesus is talking about with the parable and other explanatory pieces in the Gospel today. Jesus wants us to find a proper balance when it comes to wealth and to use our finances and other resources for a higher good. He starts out his teaching with the parable that we just heard. I don't know if others think this same way as I do, but whenever I read this parable, it always seems to me to be a little troubling. When we get to the end of the parable and we hear about how this dishonest steward is commended by his master for having acted so prudently, it almost sounds like Jesus is telling us to act dishonestly just as the steward did. Can you imagine if we all started going down to the local banks and started changing people's promissory notes? “Oh, I see you owe $10,000. Well let's make that $5,000. No no! It's okay, Jesus told me to do this. It's alright!” Obviously, it doesn't make any sense that Jesus would have us do something like that.

The point that Jesus is making is that we are to be prudent like the steward, even though his actions may be considered morally wrong. The steward realized that he was about to loose his job, and so he comes up with the idea of lowering the amounts that his master's debtors owed. By doing this, he was taking away the interest that would have been tacked on to what was originally borrowed. So the one who owed 100 measures of olive oil originally only got 50 measures from the rich master, but with interest he owed 100. By lowering this man's debt, he is trying to make friends so he would have somewhere to go when he lost his job. Now, the problem is that this dishonest steward is basically giving away his masters money. That interest was supposed to go to the master. But what Jesus is trying to point out is that even though the steward's actions were dishonest, he was taking prudent action when faced with a crisis, namely losing his job. What we are to learn from this parable is not the stealing and dishonest financial management, but the steward's prudent and decisive action to prepare for his future.

Jesus sums up the so-called moral of the story in this way, “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” Jesus is saying that the people who are of the world (that is, not the people who focus on Christ) know how to use their resources to their advantage. They know how to get ahead in this world. Those who Christians need to learn how to use their resources to their advantage as well, but instead of getting ahead in the present world, we want to be able to enter into the life to come: Heaven. Jesus then continues, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” All wealth can cause distractions from what is holy and good; it is of this world and not of Heaven. I'm sure that is why Jesus refers to it as “dishonest wealth”. But if we use that wealth to make friends, if we use it to help those in need, like the poor or the sick or those experiencing difficulties; if we use it for something good and holy, then we are using it for a much higher purpose.

So why is this helping of the poor any advantage to us? I mean, why does it help us to get into Heaven? For one thing, it's kind of common sense. The poor and others who are badly off are, not surprisingly, at a great disadvantage; not only because the have no money and can't do the things they want to do. The rich literally control everything. They set the price on everything and really decide who gets the money. The prophet Amos warns in the first reading about those who are rich and take advantage of the poor. Not only do they charge high prices on things, but they even cheat the poor by decreasing the amount of grain that they claim they are selling. They also rig their scales to their advantage and sell the refuse along with the grain. Amos is warning them that God is not going to forget that they did this to the poor and that He is going to punish them for it. God clearly doesn't want us cheating those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

We are called then to use our wealth, our money, our resources, and our talents for the good of those around us, not just to make our lives comfortable. If we go back to the day's Gospel, we hear further how this will get us to eternal life. “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones.” So if you show that you can use your gifts here on Earth wisely, you will be given more in the life to come. You will be rewarded.

So the point is very simple: use the gifts and resources that you have been given for the good. That might mean, giving money to charities and giving to the Church. It means giving of our time and talent as well. We might as well use it for something. Jesus points out that you can't “serve both God and mammon”. That means if we hold on to our money as well as our talents and abilities, we will be distracted from doing God's will. This doesn't mean we can enjoy these things for ourselves, but it does mean we need to find the balance and help those truly in need.

Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs

Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs

Today is the memorial of the Korean Martyrs.  They are a great example for all of us of living out the faith.  They, in turn, are following the example that St. Paul gives to St. Timothy in the Scriptures today: teach and urge the things that come from God, not evil things.

An interview with the Holy Father: The Real Story.

You may have heard or read in the news today that an interview with Pope Francis has been published today in several Jesuit publications including "America Magazine".  You may also have heard or read that Pope Francis talked how the Church shouldn't talk so much about homosexuality and sex and abortion, and that he is continuing to make "ground-breaking" teachings on these subjects.  While it is true that the Holy Father stated that we need emphasize the mercy of God over talking about a few issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, etc., as usual the media has fallen short of talking about the interview as a whole.

A couple of points: First, the Holy Father talks about a lot more than just that topic.  He talks about his discernment of joining the Jesuits, the influence of culture in his life, his experience in the governance in the Church, the importance of prayer, among other things.  We really get a wonderful insight into the life of this Pontiff.  But you don't see that in the news.

Second, as I mentioned already, even the section that the news is trying focus on is being shown slightly out of context.  True, we might not always hear about the mercy of God as much as we should, but this message from Pope Francis that we must focus more about mercy is hardly a new thing.  The Holy Father is not trying to stop people from talking about these hot topic issues.  Rather, he is trying encourage us all to focus on the love and mercy and forgiveness of God and to invite others closer to God.  Once we help them to feel welcomed in the Church and know of God's love for them, then we can help them to figure out how to grow in holiness.  This might be a lesson in prayer or a lesson in morality or a lesson in Social Teaching or a lesson in Sacred Scripture or other aspects of the faith.  If all we do is beat people over the head with moral teachings, we may scare them away before they come to know Jesus.  Why not talk about that in the news?

Thank you for reading my simple thoughts on this topic.  I invite you read the interview for yourself.  See it for yourself.  Here is the link: http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview.  Enjoy.

Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

God loves us and has therefore shown us great mercy.  He sent His Son to redeem us and we have been forgiven.  Now, like the woman in the Gospel today, we must come before Him and give thanks.  We do not need to give thanks just like she did with ointment and tears and kisses, but we can give thanks in other ways (like in prayer and in not taking for granted the gifts that we have).   Let us give thanks.

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

It is sure hard to please a Pharisee.  St. John the Baptist was fasting and they thought he was nuts, Jesus ate and drank and they said he was a drunkard and glutton.  Nothing was good enough for them.  They didn't even think they were holy men, let alone a prophet and the Messiah.

What this means to us is that we have to be prepared for what God has in store for us, even if it is different than what we expect.  It can be hard to accept sometimes, but God knows that it is for our own good. So let's just learn to do what God wants us to do.

Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

St. Paul lists off several very good qualities that bishops and deacons need in order to perform their ministries well.  It is also a good reminder to all those who are not in a leadership or ministerial role of how to be a good Christian.  Even though not all people are called to be leaders or teachers or preachers (as our bishops, priests, and deacons are called to do) we can all help by being a good example of what it means to be a follower of Christ.  We are all called to do our part.

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the more well known stories out of Sacred Scripture. Most practicing Christians will know this story. The only problem with having such a well known story is that it is easy to forget what the main point of the story is. Since this is a parable, Jesus clearly meant for us to learn something important from this story. We need to remind ourselves what this tale is all about.

To help us do that, I would like to suggest that we use an exercise that St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote about. St. Ignatius was the founder of the Jesuit religious order and lived in the sixteenth century. As this order was beginning to take shape, St. Ignatius began writing down various exercises that people could do to help strengthen their spiritual life. Just as we need to do physical exercises to strengthen our muscles, so we can do exercises to strengthen our spiritual life. St. Ignatius put all these together into a book, now known as the Spiritual Exercises. One of these exercises involves taking a Biblical passage and picturing yourself in the story. You can picture yourself as one of the main characters, or simply as a bystander or a member of the crowd. You then let yourself become part of the story, imagining what it would have been like to be there, or to see these events happen with your own eyes. One is encouraged to take the time to imagine what we see, feel, hear, smell, or taste as we go through the story. A person might even go beyond the story and consider what we might say to one of the other characters or how we would interact with them.

Since there are three main characters in today's parable, a person could choose any of them and have plenty to reflect on. For this exercise today, however, I want us to focus on the older son: the one who stayed with the father. First, let's picture ourselves as the older son, when the younger son tells the father he is leaving.

Picture the scene of the younger son coming to the father. These two can be anyone you want them to be: maybe it's your own father and another sibling; maybe it's another friend or family member talking to God the Father; or maybe it's just new people you've never met before. This younger, brother, or sister, or friend comes up to the father and says “Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me”. What is your reaction to this? This is not an ordinary conversation between a father and a son, like a teen asking for twenty bucks to go do something. This request is tantamount to saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead! Give me what you were planing to give me for an inheritance so I can just leave!”

As the older son or daughter, what are your feelings? What is your reaction? Your sibling just gave a great insult to a parent. Do you feel anger? He or she should never have said such a thing. Do you feel embarrassment over the childishness of this demand? Perhaps you feel sad that it all had to come this; or sad that this sibling is leaving. Maybe you feel happy or relieved that he or she is leaving after so much stress and frustration.

As you come to grips with your emotions over this demand for the inheritance, you then watch in silence as your father agrees to split the inheritance between the two of you. You feel … what? Anger? Shock? Sadness? Did you expect your father to act differently? Did you expect a fight or an argument or perhaps a flat out refusal to cater to such selfish and immature demand? Do you say something to him, or do you simply leave things unsaid? If you have something to say to the father or to the sibling, go ahead and say it now.

Time goes on and despite whatever feelings you had about the fateful day, you have decided to stay where you are at and continue to work on the family land. Many months have passed since the younger sibling took off for a distant land to seek his or her fortune. Do you ever think about him or her? Maybe your just too busy to give that prodigal sibling another thought. You can't help but notice, however, that your father spends the better part of the evenings simply sitting and staring off in the distance down the road, like he expects someone to come down the road at any moment.

It's the end of a long day, and you start heading back to the house. As you near the house, the sounds of lively music, laughter, and dancing tell you that a great festival is underway. Surprised, you ask one of the servants who is coming from the house what's going on. “Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.” … What?! Whatever you may have thought or felt the last time you saw him or her is long past. All you remember now is the hurt that was caused by that last demand for money and the hasty departure. You have seen the hurt that has been on the face and in the eyes of your father all this time. The hurt that you have felt over all that has happened. Then a thought occurs to you. Wait a minute, your father has been hurt by this too. Dad has been suffering heartache everyday for the past several months. How could he, of all people, possibly forgive him for all that hurt that he has caused; possibly forgive her for all the pain that she has caused? To welcome back this self-centered, ungrateful, conceited, brat after all that. And to top it all off, your father has never even thanked you for staying around and working so hard. Not even a celebration of your own with your friends. You can feel yourself reaching the boiling point.

Your father sends out servants to come and bring you back for the celebration, but you flat out refuse. Eventually he comes out to meet you. You tell him exactly what is on your mind. After all that you have done for him, where's the thanks? But now this son of his – this daughter of his – comes back and now the party starts.

You're not really sure what to expect for a reaction from your father, but you're definitely not expecting this. “You are here with me always,” he tells you. “Everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice”. You look into his eyes. He's worried about whether you're coming in or not, but you realize that there is a joy there that was not there this morning. That joy hasn't been there for many months. Your brother or sister or whoever you've chosen in mind may have been physically gone to you. But to your father, his child has been dead: never to return. But now that child is back, and he can scarcely contain his joy. You stand quietly for a moment and then he invites you back in. Do you accept the invitation, or do you stay outside? That choice is up to you.

There are many different ways that we can look at this story. You can always look through this again. Maybe you're the father, learning to forgive. Maybe you're the younger son, who needs to be forgiven. Or maybe you're the older son, learning what forgiveness means. But the point is, we need to understand how powerful God's forgiveness is. The Mission of the Catholic Church is to bring God's mercy to those in need. Let us not miss that opportunity.

Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Today is the memorial of St. John Chrysostom.  From what I can tell, that last name isn't his family name, but is name given to him because of ability to preach.  It literally means "Golden Tongue".  He was a great preacher and teacher, thus he was named a Doctor of the Church.  He is an example of teaching, not with the "wooden beam" in his eye, but in seeing clearly enough to remove any "splinters" from others.  In other words, he teaches by example as well as through his words of preaching.  May we learn from that example.

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

As Christ's disciples, we are called to love: love our enemies; love those who disagree with us; love those who persecute us.  Not an easy task, but Christ is still there to help us.  He gives us the grace to do it and gives us His Blessed Mother and the saints as examples and as those who we can turn to ask for help.  It will take some work on our part, but it shouldn't feel overwhelming to us either.  Let us love and Christ would have us love.

Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

"Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly".  In other words, do not be obsessed with earthly things.  Focus instead on the things of Heaven.  That is why Jesus tells us "Blessed are you who are poor" and then later, "But woe to you who are rich".  If we focus on Heaven, then we will be blessed; then we will experience not the passing happiness of Earth, but the eternal joy of Heaven.

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

St. Paul is talking about how Jewish people saw circumcision as the mark of belonging to God.  As more and more gentiles joined the early Church however, it was decided that circumcision was not necessary to become Christian.  St. Paul explains to the Colossians that baptism is the new circumcision; that in dying with Christ in baptism, we emerge as sons and daughters of God, shedding away our old sinful self and becoming more like Christ.  Thus we are able to serve Him and be His disciples.  We truly become more like Him.

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

My Homily from last weekend.

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

At the time, this was pretty much the scariest moment of my life. I am not talking about some near death experience or the first time that I had to preach or celebrate Mass. No I am talking about something much scarier. I’m talking about that first time that I tried to ride a bicycle without the training wheels on. Laugh if you like, but I’m telling you I’m quite sure I saw my life, as short as it was at that time, flash before my very eyes.

All joking aside, I don’t actually remember many details of when I was learning to ride without the training wheels, so it really couldn’t have been all that traumatic. However, I do remember that I was nervous about trying this for the first time. That was because I had gotten very used to those training wheels and was comfortable with them. The thought of having to do something new and different, namely balancing without the help of those simple contraptions, was very scary to me. I didn’t like the idea of having to let go of what was so familiar and comfortable to me. Eventually, however, I had to let go, or I never would have learned to ride on my own.

We all, I believe, have times in our lives when we are being asked to grow in some way or being asked to change something in our lives, but it's difficult to do because we are comfortable with what we are doing or where we are in our lives. We may even recognize that making that change may be in our best interest, but we are simply too afraid to do it. There are several examples that we can use to help illustrate this point. Maybe it is the beginning, or perhaps the ending, of a relationship with someone we care about. It could be a change at work: the offering of a new position; the taking on of more responsibilities; a change in who does what at the office; a change in leadership or management. I have met a lot of people lately who have moved recently or are in the process of it. The packing, sorting, getting rid of unwanted things, finding a new place to live, finding someone to take the old place, and getting to know the new neighborhood or town can be very difficult for people. Life as a student can be relevant to this as well: starting a new school year; switching to a new school; taking on a leadership role with a school organization. For some people these things might not be that hard, for others these can be the hardest things to have to accept.

It is also important that we take into consideration our relationship with God. How might God be asking us to dive deeper into our relationship with Him? It is easy to convince ourselves that we are already in a good relationship with God and that we don't need to do anything different. I go to Mass on Sundays; I say grace at meals and say my prayers before I go to bed at night. I do everything a good Catholic should do. What more could I possibly be doing? The truth is, even though God may be very happy and pleased with how far we have already grown, He is always calling us to a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him. It wouldn't be all that hard to grow in our relationship except that we get comfortable where we are already at, much the same as when we get comfortable with other aspects of our lives, and we are unwilling to enter into that unfamiliar realm.

Our first reading and our Gospel today speak to us about how we are called to grow deeper in our relationship with God. In order to do that, however, we must let go of our old way of life here on Earth. We will have to step out of our comfort zone and into a life that may seem strange and unusual to us. But we need to remember that God is with us.

Our first reading from the Book of Wisdom asks, who can know or understand God? The author explains to us, however, that it is impossible for a human to fully understand God. We humans can barely understand how things work on Earth, we are told. Even today in the 21^st century, scientists are still trying to figure out why gravity works and why it is that electrons and neutrons do what they do. If it so hard to understand that, the author wonders, how can the human soul hope to understand what is in Heaven? In other words God is mysterious. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, the reading continues, we can hope to gain some wisdom and insight. We are told that through the Holy Spirit, “thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.” The grace of the Holy Spirit makes it possible.

So God is able to help us, but we still need to do a little something ourselves. If we are stuck in doing the things we are comfortable doing; if our focus is on being the best and the brightest or of having the best gadgets and the most stuff and being comfortable; if we make no effort at changing and simply resign ourselves to staying just the way we are, then no amount of grace is going to break us free of that.

Jesus seems to be directing us along those lines in the Gospel today as he tells us to hate father and mother, wife and children, and our own life. You don't need me here to tell you that Jesus is not actually telling us to literally hate our family. He told us to love our neighbor, so He certainly meant for us to love family as well. Jesus is telling us to let go of those earthly things that make it difficult to focus on God. Sometimes our concern for pleasing our family or those around us can make it very difficult to pay attention to what God is calling us to. Maybe we're afraid of changing our life, whether it means taking on harder things or taking on something completely unfamiliar to us. Maybe we're afraid to get closer to God because we are afraid of what He might ask us to do. As frightening as it sounds, I think we need to be prepared for hardships in this matter. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Life as a disciple is hard. Letting go of things in our life that we are comfortable with is hard. Having to choose God over the various pleasures of life on Earth is hard, but remember that we are not alone. God is with us, and He will make it possible. It is well worth it.

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

There is a proper time to fast and a proper time to celebrate.  Even though we are no longer required to abstain from meat on Fridays outside of Lent, the Church still teaches that this is a good practice to continue.  Fasting reminds us that we are nothing without God, who has given us everything.  Fasting is also a way to pray to God, asking for what we need or asking blessing on others.  That is why Pope Francis is asking us to fast and pray for Syria this Saturday.  Fasting can be giving up a meal or a particular food.  You can even sacrifice by giving up a something else that you enjoy doing.  On the other side of the coin, we have celebrations and feasts.  Every Sunday, the Octave of Easter, and saint feast days are all celebration days.  Don't forget about those either.  We need both in order to have a beautiful relationship with God.

Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus calls us to come follow Him.  When we hear that the Apostles left everything to follow Him, it can be intimidating to us.  Do I have to give up everything?  We then start wondering if we would have the courage and faith to say yes if Christ called us to something special.  But keep in mind that when Christ does call us, He will give us the Holy Spirit to help us.  He also give us time to get ready.  Peter was nervous about saying yes too (he first tells Christ that he is not worthy).  He also met Jesus earlier than this (see yesterday's Gospel reading).  Jesus must have certainly given Peter the grace necessary to help him make the decision to follow him.  So don't worry.  God will help us.

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time


Jesus cures and heals many different people in the Gospel today.  He starts out in Capernaum and when He tries to leave the people try to stop Him.  He explains that He has to go to other towns and villages in Judea to proclaim the Good News.  What does this mean for us?  It means that God isn't interested in offering salvation to some special group, as if no outsides to this little clique can be a part of it.  No, God is inviting many people to salvation and offering His healing grace.  May the Holy Spirit be with us to draw us ever closer to Heaven.

Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

Pope St. Gregory lived in the 6th and 7th centuries (died in 604).  He is known for his liturgical reform including the music used in liturgies (think Gregorian chant) wrote much about theological, moral, and pastoral subjects, earing him the title of Doctor of the Church. 

I was thinking today how St. Gregory worked hard so that people could know Christ better.  The Gospel shows some discrepancy about how well people know Christ.  The demons know who Christ is.  They know that need to be afraid of him.  The people don't get it though.  They're amazed, but you can tell that they are not yet understanding that this is the Son of God here.  I think it is easy for us today to "forget" who we're dealing with too.  May St. Gregory pray for us that we may always offer prayers and praises to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

My homily from last Sunday:

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

          Sometimes children’s stories can teach us a lot about life.  Sometimes they can even teach us about something we need to know for eternal life.  Remember the story of The Tortoise and the Hare?  I don’t know if all those classic fables and parables are still told in elementary school, but I certainly remember this story.  The moral of the story is probably as famous, if not more famous, than the story itself: slow and steady wins the race.  Despite being the slower of the two animals, the tortoise plugs away at the race and is able to pass up the over-confident hare as he sleeps in the shade. 

There is another way of looking at this story than just the classic slow and steady versus the quick, over-confident, and lazy theme that we typically hear about.  In light of how the readings today have such a clear theme of the importance of humility, I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to think of The Tortoise and the Hare as being about the virtue of humility verses the sin of pride.  When we take a careful look at the character of the hare, we see that he is not just confident that he can run faster than his reptile competitor.  Confidence is one thing: it simply means that we are sure we can accomplish something without much difficulty.  There is nothing wrong with being confident.  When it comes to the hare, though, we are dealing with pride.  When I think of pride, I often picture someone in a big feather-down coat in the winter time that makes the person look twice as big as they really are.  Pride puffs us up.  It makes us think we are much more important than we really are.  Not only are we confident in our abilities, but we are under the delusion that we are better than anyone else around us; maybe even thinking we are the best.  That's what's going on with the hare in the story.  It never even occurs to him that the tortoise might have a chance of winning.  In every version of the story that I remember hearing or seeing as an animated cartoon, the hare even brags that he will jump circles around the tortoise.  He naps in the middle of the race because he is so prideful. 

By contrast, the tortoise is an example of humility.  He doesn't presume to brag about his abilities, nor does he attempt to rub it in the face of the hare about who will win and who will lose.  He doesn't even seem to have any idea who will win and he doesn't even seem to care who does win in the end.  All he knows or cares about is that he is going to try the best he can with the abilities that he has.  That is more or less what humility is all about: knowing what one's gifts and abilities are and being satisfied with those gifts and abilities.  If the tortoise would have been prideful, he would have given up as soon as he saw that the hare had him beat with speed.  But because he was humble, he persevered and kept up a slow but steady pace and won as a result.  

So now, we can see why it was to the tortoise's advantage to be humble, but what does that have to do with us?  Why do the readings today take all that time to tell us the importance of humility?  Well, Jesus' parable helps show that staying humble when it comes to finding a place to sit at a dinner will certainly save us some embarrassment.  However, if we take the time to look more closely at the readings, we will find that it goes much deeper.  It has to do with our relationship with God. 

Consider the words that we heard from the Book of Sirach.  “Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.”  God is not looking to have a relationship with the greatest and the most powerful of humanity.  He is not going to be all the more impressed with us because we can do all the things that might impress other human beings; like being the person who gives the best gifts or does the most impressive things or even appears to be the most holy or spiritual.  God wants the person who is humble.  The prideful person is more interested with showing how good they are at various things and showing how impressive they are.  The prideful person wouldn't be interested in a deeper relationship with God because they are too busy showing how great and strong they are to others.  I know from personal experience that when pride is getting the best of me I start caring less about my relationship with God and care more about proving myself to others and showing off my gifts and talents.  Humility finds us eventually, however, because even if we don't choose humility ourselves, we will be humbled in some way, because we can never do it all by ourselves.

Our second reading for the Letter to the Hebrews does not mention “humility”, but it is about coming to know God better.  The author starts out in this passage by explaining that the audience did not come to know God like the people of the Old Testament did.  They could never come to know God better because they heard from Him from a distance: through fire (like Moses and the burning bush) or from darkness and trumpet blasts.  Even when God tried to speak to them, they preferred that Moses would be their intermediary between God and them.  The author continues, however, that we Christians have come to know God better.  We have actually approached Mount Zion, where the temple is and where God dwells on Earth.  We have come to know Jesus, who is God made flesh, who came and dwelt among us, and who died for us.  It was through Christ, who humbled Himself to the point of living and dying as one of us, that we have come to know Christ better.  Humility is what brings us closer.

Finally, we have the example of the parable.  As I mentioned before, the need for humility is not simply about avoiding embarrassment, whether because we are asked to move to a lower place of honor or because we have lost a race to someone much slower than us.  Jesus' point is that if we are filled with pride, if our focus is on ourselves and how we can get more for ourselves, we are only going to remain distant from God and never come to know Him better.  Even if God tries to intervene and come to bring us closer to Him, we will be too distracted by our pride to notice the difference.  Humility is our ticket into Heaven.

So let us strive for humility, my brothers and sisters.  Let us keep in mind that we can never do anything apart from God.  He is the greatest; we are but His servants.  There is always someone better than us in some way.  Keep to humility.  I suggest regular reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  We can't remain prideful when we are making ourselves look at the sins we have committed and what we can do to improve.  Remember that God will always help us as well.  Let us strive for holiness.