Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072014.cfm

What would you do if you had a chance to talk with God face to face for as long as you would like? Yes, we can talk to God whenever we want to in prayer, but as we all know prayer can be a bit distracting at times with everything else going on around us. It can sometimes be a bit frustrating when we would like a response from God on something, or an answer to a question, but we simply hear nothing. I'm talking about a chance to talk to God free of distractions and you can hear Him speak back to us. Perhaps this is the very thing that will happen when we die: we will simply have a one-on-one meeting with the Almighty. What would you do; what would you say; how would you feel? I've met some people who I think could honestly say that there would be a lot of joy and excitement and they would want to talk to God about any number of things. I think the majority of people would have a mix of nervousness about what to say to Him, with excitement about being with Him, but also some fear of what He might say back to them. I think they would carefully pick and choose what to say to Him, still wanting to say so much, but unsure of what is proper and afraid of what might happen. The last group would be those who would be simply too afraid to saying anything at all. I would hope that this group would be small, but I have a feeling that the number of people in this category is much higher than I would care to admit. These are not the people who are God fearing (those who have a healthy respect for God) but rather those who are so afraid of Him that they don't dare to come close enough to talk with Him or find out what He might want to say to them. They have convinced themselves that God is more full of wrath and condemnation than of love and mercy. They keep Him at arms length, certain that if they get too close to Him it will only mean hell-fire and brimstone.

I don't know exactly why it is that people develop such a negative view of God's relationship with humanity, but I suspect that part of it is the result of an over emphasis of God's punishment of evildoers. Let's take today's Gospel as an example. The parable of the weeds in the field is about both evildoers and the faithful, but it can be easy to focus solely on those lines about collecting the weeds for burning and casting evildoers into the fiery furnace. Sadly, there have probably been more than a few preachers who have chosen to focus primarily on the punishment mentioned in this passage and those like it with the good intention of trying to steer people away from a life of sin, resulting in an unhealthy fear of God. However, I hope that we can all come to see that the purpose of the Gospel is not all about the punishment of sinners. Yes, there is a stern reminder here that God does punish sinners, but when we take a step back and look at this reading with the other readings today and the rest of Scripture, we can see the overall emphasis is on mercy instead of punishment. Consider the reaction of the householder in the parable when he learns about the weeds. If God only cared about punishment and condemnation, the parable would have been about the householder who had all the weeds and the wheat uprooted and burned and then started all over again by replanting with good seed. Instead, the owner is patient and waits until harvest time to separate the good from the bad. Just so, God waits on his punishment as well until He can see who chooses faith and who chooses the life of sin.

The other day I was have dinner with a few other priests in downtown Duluth. One of the priests is a classmate of mine who has been out in Washington D.C. studying canon law. Canon law refers to all the laws that govern how the Church operates. It determines everything from how and when we celebrate the Sacraments to the set up of a parish finance council and making business decisions. One of the other priests asked him how his studies have been going. He replied that he has been amazed at how much mercy is at the heart of canon law. He explained that almost every law of the Church includes an exception to the rule. The laws explain what should normally be done in a situation, but then add, “except where such-and-such is the case” and give other instructions. So often the Church gets a bad rap for having so many rules that say, “Don't do this” or “Don't do that”. The laws actually reflect the mercy of the Supreme Lawgiver and those who study them are reminded that they are to be applied loosely, allowing for many exceptions and always with the salvation of souls in mind. Mercy is the key word here.

The first reading today from the Book of Wisdom should serve as a great reminder to us that God is about mercy and the care of all rather than unjustly condemning people. “There is no god besides you who have the care of all”, we are told. Only God Himself is like this. The reading continues, “For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.” It is God's might and mastery that also makes Him so lenient and merciful. The one speaking in this reading is telling God that He has been a just and merciful leader. The last line of this reading is also very important for what we are looking at today. “You gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.” What this tells us is that an important part of God's justice and mercy is about giving those who have sinned a second chance. That is why we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation: a chance to repent of our sins and start over again with a clean slate.

A valid question at this point might be, “But what if we just keep falling back into the same sin?” That is where the second reading comes in handy. St. Paul is talking more about how the Holy Spirit will help us find the words for prayer, but he is also talking about how the Holy Spirit helps us in following God's will. The Spirit comes to our aid and intercedes for us. We might not even understand how it is happening or understand that it is even happening, but it helps us.

So let us not fear God's wrath or His judgment. Let us instead trust in His love and mercy to help us enter into His eternal Kingdom.

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071314.cfm

Today's Gospel about the Parable of the Sower is a very well known passage to most Christians. It is so well known that I think it is very easy for us to get a bit complacent with what it is really trying to tell us to do. We understand what the parable means and what Jesus is telling us in it, that we must listen to the Word of God being spoken to us and understand it, but we become complacent as to what we must do in order to accomplish this. Jesus mentions four different locations where the seeds fall, but it is very easy for us to automatically identify with the seeds that fall on rich soil. In other words, we assume that we are the good little Christians who listen and obey God and all those other examples are there as warnings to all the other people out there who don't listen. The problem is, as we all know, we are not perfect; we do not always listen as carefully as we should. How, then, do we reach that perfection so that we may produce fruit a hundred fold?

It's tempting to think that if we just listen to God's words the best that we can then that same Word will automatically make everything alright; almost as if His words have some sort of magical powers. Many of us grew up hearing fairytales that often include fairy godmothers and wizards and good witches and bad witches and the like. In those stories the trick is to say the magical words just right or complete a simple task and everything will be as it should be. We would all love to have a solution where we could just say the magic words, “bibitty, bobitty, boo” and all our problems are solved or to receive true love's first kiss or click our heels together and everything becomes perfect. It doesn't work that way in real life and neither does it work in the spiritual life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if when we were ready to give our all to Christ we just called out, “Okay God, I'm ready! Do your stuff!” and we just had to stand there with our arms out and waited for God's Word and His graces to wash over us and automatically make us into His perfect follower? However, it requires a much more active participation on our part. Now don't get me wrong; there is still such a thing as God grace. This grace is often called “unmerited grace”, meaning God gives us that grace no matter what we do, or don't do for that matter. I'm not saying that God's help for us is determined by our actions, I am saying that when He does help us, we need to actually respond and use those gifts and graces. We aren't just some passenger along for the ride.

God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah today that His word doesn't go out and return to Him void. Rather it goes out and actually has a great and very powerful effect on others. The image is used of how rain comes and waters the earth and causes things to grow and bear fruit. So what that tells us is that God has spoken and sent His word and His graces upon us. Now, how are we going to respond?

As I mentioned before, Jesus gives us four scenarios of what happens to the seeds of the sower. If we look back over our lives and examine our consciences, I hope we will see that we have at one time or another fallen into more of theses categories than we may realize.

Let us first consider the seed that falls on the path. Jesus tells us this is the one “who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart.” There are times when it is hard to understand what is being talked about. Maybe we don't understand something we read or hear read from Scripture. Maybe we hear something of Church teaching that makes little or no sense to us. In a perfect world we would all seek to understand this better and explain it to each other. But perhaps out of laziness and not wanting to go through all the work, or perhaps out of not wanting to know what it means because we are afraid that we will have to change how we think of other things, we end up not understanding it better. Then what could have been a wonderful lesson of God's unending love for us is taken away forever.

The seed that falls on rocky ground is a person described as “one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.” Whenever I reflect on this one, I picture several times as a teenager when I would go to a youth retreat or to a youth event either at my home parish or something going in Duluth. Many times when I would go on these things something awesome would happen: I would experience God's presence or His grace or His forgiveness or His love in some very intense way. I came away thinking I could do whatever God asked of me. I wanted to hold on to this feeling forever. But then some sort of hardship would take that away. No one would listen to what I wanted to say about Jesus. I wasn't exactly the most popular kid so I didn't have many friends and didn't find the support that I was looking for from my peers. These weren't persecutions per se as Jesus mentions, but they are still hardships that take away what we started out with. Maybe it wasn't at a youth event, but you may have had one of those uplifting spiritual moments in your life that was taken away by hardships caused by others who just didn't get what you experienced.

Similarly we hear about the seed sown among thorns. Jesus tells us that this one “hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit.” This is much like the last example except that it is about the fears and anxieties that we may have about our lives. It is also about the temptations of worldly goods, fears that are easy for us to have.

The key with the last two is to not let those distractions of hardships or stress and temptations towards worldly things to get in our way. This is often easier said than done, but if those are the things that are drawing us away from God, don't you think it is worth finding away around it? Most importantly, let us not forget that God wants us with Him. That means He will be with us to help us past these stumbling blocks. Then we will bear great fruit; then we will experience the never ending joy of Heaven.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070614.cfm

Whenever you see a movie or a TV show where one of the characters is a king or a queen or an emperor or some other nobility, they often portray the character in a very regal setting. They stand and sit very tall and proper and have an air of superiority and loftiness. They show that they consider themselves above all the commoners that surround them. Most often, any nobility that don't share those same mannerisms or traits are shown to be misfits or weaklings. Sometimes the writers do this for comic relief and other times it's a part of a clever plot twist that will later prove that the supposed misfit or weakling is really the strongest and most capable of all. But whatever the plot line is, the point is pretty clear: people expect nobles and monarchs to act a certain way.

All this can also be said of movie or TV characters who are supposed to be divine. Whether it is God Himself or one of hundreds of mythological gods or goddesses who have been thought up in course of human history, divine characters are often shown to have the same superiority and loftiness as we see in noble characters. To be cast out and forced to live among mere mortals or to become one of them is considered a severe punishment for many mythical pantheons. Before any of them would even consider listening to the prayers of one of those pathetic mortals on earth, those mortals most offer great worship and/or sacrifice before them. Even our own Almighty God is sometimes portrayed as being so high and almighty that only the privileged few are allowed the honor of having their prayers heard and answered by Him.

Fortunately for us, Sacred Scripture proves that idea to be false. We know that God is not so high and mighty that He would refuse to stoop down to listen to us. He does not consider coming as one of us a punishment, as we can see by the fact that Jesus came to us as one of us. It was a humbling experience for Him to be a helpless baby and to allow himself to be crucified, but it wasn't a punishment for the second person of the Trinity. In fact, Scripture tells us that He did it out of love for all of us; Scripture tells us that God Himself created us and saw that it was very good. So why wouldn't He want to listen and answer the prayers of all of us?

Our first reading from the Book of the Prophet Zechariah talks about the returning of a king to Jerusalem after many years of exile in the East. The prophet tells us to rejoice and shout for joy, because this is to be glad tidings for all of Jerusalem and Israel. He then goes on to describe this king as he enters into the Holy City, “See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.” Now, to our modern ears riding into the capital city on a donkey might not sound all that regal, but in the ancient Near East where horses were few and far between this was as grand a steed as any royalty could hope for. This is a royal entrance being described here. Notice as well that he is being described as a “just savior” and “meek”. So there is this royal entrance, but the tone is different than we might expect: this king is meek and humble and willing to server others as their savior. This is not the typical “conquering hero” that we are used to seeing with kings and all their royal fanfare. This humble tone comes all the more into play when we consider that Christians have long interpreted this passage as referring to Jesus Christ. You may remember from Palm Sunday that this same passage is quoted as Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem as the people wave palms branches in celebration. Not only does this show that Jesus is that meek and humble King, but since Jesus is God, that means that God is meek and humble. If you ask me, that sounds like a wonderful person to have as our God and King!

So what does this mean for us? For one thing, it means that we can fully trust and rely on God because of His love in sending His Son to save us. It also means that we too are called to be meek and humble of heart before God. We can see this in today's Gospel reading. Jesus has been speaking to His Twelve Apostles, when He stops to give praise to God. He says, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.” The term “little ones” at the end is sometimes translated as “the childlike”. It is important to point out that Jesus isn't praising those who are childish or those who act like little ones who act immature. Rather, Jesus is making a distinction between the “childlike” and the “wise and learned”. The wise and the learned think they know it all. Jesus probably had the Scribes and Pharisees in mind when He said this. They constantly question everything that Jesus says and does. Those who are childlike, however, are meek and humble. Like a child who still has that innocence that allows him or her to believe parents and teachers without questioning every single word, Jesus is referring to those who follow His teachings and His words. And since it is the Son who reveals the Father to those who seek Him, it is only the childlike who will come to know the Son and the Father.

Jesus then gives a famous line that has given comfort to many who are sick or suffering in some way: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart”. Jesus calls Himself meek and humble, just as He is referred to in the First Reading and just as we are called to be as “little ones”. He continues, “and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Those who refuse to be childlike or humble will only find a heavy burden in trying to follow Christ. This can apply as well when we try to solve things on our own without God's help, or when we try to break free of a sinful habit without relying on God's grace. But when we do humble ourselves and innocently follow Christ's words as children of God, we will find rest. Let us humbly approach our King and Savior!

Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul

          As you may have noticed, most feast days of saints get skipped during the years when the day lands on a Sunday.  As a result, we don't often get to hear too much about saints on Sunday Masses with just a few exceptions.  Today is one of those exceptions as we celebrate the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. 

          Now, I personally enjoy learning about the lives of saints.  I love studying a little bit about what their lives might have been like and the history of the times in which they lived and I find it very interesting to study their writings that still exist.  However, sometimes I can feel a bit overwhelmed as I read about them.  I don't know if anyone else has had this feeling or noticed this, but it seems like some saints were so holy from the beginning of their lives that it's near impossible for any of us to reach them.  I feel like some days it takes all my energy and will power to take even a few minutes for personal prayer.  St. Therese of Lisieux from the 19^th Century said it best when she wrote, “When reading the lives of the saints, I was puzzled at seeing how Our Lord was pleased to caress certain ones … with such favors that they were unable to soil the immaculate beauty of their baptismal robe”.  Sts. Peter and Paul, I believe, are not examples of this.  When we look at what we know about their lives from Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition we can see that they were ordinary people like us: imperfect and prone to mistakes.  Despite these imperfections, God called them to be shepherd who laid down their lives for their sheep.  Perhaps by studying their lives we will better see how God is calling us, even with our own mistakes and shortcomings. 

Oops, forgot to post this sooner.  Here is my homily from last weekend.  The readings for the Saturday Vigil or different than those for Sunday, so the link will take you to both sets of readings.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062914.cfm

 

         St. Peter is often referred to as the “Prince of the Apostles”.  He was by far the most outspoken of the Twelve and a clear leader among them.  Jesus even named him as our first Pope.  One might expect that such an important religious leader would be a scholar who was well versed in theology and had studied it since childhood.  As we all know, however, St. Peter was a simple fisherman from Galilee: hardly the perfect candidate to be a great religious leader.  Yet that was who God chose to be that leader.

          As I said before, St. Peter was very outspoken, a trait that earned him praise for his faith, but also criticism for his lack of faith at other times.  In the Gospel of Matthew we hear about Peter's confession of who Jesus is.  Jesus and the Twelve are at a city called Caesarea Philippi.  This city was next to a large cliff into which was carved a temple dedicated to several Greek gods.  Under this cliff was a deep spring which eventually feeds into the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River.  No one knew how deep the spring was, so it was nicknamed, “The Gates of the Netherworld”.  Jesus asks the Twelve, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  They answer with prophets, Elijah, or John the Baptist.  Jesus replies with a second question, “But who do you say that I am?”  Here, Peter responds with a very faith filled answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus praises him and tells him:  “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” 

          Jesus goes on to tell him, “I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  When Israel was its own kingdom, the king would name a man as his steward who would take care of the palace and the city of Jerusalem while the king was away.  This man was the second in command.  By giving Peter the keys to the kingdom, Jesus, as king of Heaven and Earth, was making Peter His steward.  Understand that this is a big move since Rome was in charge and Israel had no real king. 

          So Peter shows his faith in this instance, but we see in other places how little he understood what was going on.  Later on he rebukes Jesus for saying He will die on the cross, but Jesus responds by rebuking Peter: “Get behind me Satan!”  Peter doesn't yet understand that the passion must happen.  We also know the famous story of how Peter denies knowing Jesus three times.  In the Gospel of John, after Jesus' resurrection, the Savior asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?”  Peter responds each time with, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  This is followed by various versions of the command to “Feed my sheep”.  Peter denies Christ three times, but reaffirms his faith three times to make up for it.  It is his faith, not his doubt, that stands out today.  St. Peter died by being crucified upside down; not feeling worthy of being crucified exactly like Jesus.

          St. Paul was also very outspoken.  He wasn't perfect either.  The Acts of the Apostles tells us that he worked very hard to arrest any Christians that he encountered.  He didn't do this to go against God's wishes, but rather he thought he was doing the will of God by following a strict observance of the Jewish faith.  His conversion story is a great example of how God can change our hearts and minds to His will.  He is known today as the Apostle of the Gentiles, because he was very instrumental in bringing the Gospels to the Non-Jewish peoples. 

          Because he had been such an ardent opponent of Christianity, St. Paul had a lot of convincing to do so that his fellow Christians knew he was truly Christian.  In his Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul takes a moment to explain where he is coming from and why they should listen to him.  He explains that the Gospel he preaches is not of human origin, but comes from Jesus Christ.  Paul wasn't taught this Gospel, but it was given to him through a revelation of Christ.  He didn't make it up.  Furthermore, the Apostle explains that his conversion to Christianity wasn't a fluke or something he made up to get into their good graces.  He says, “You heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism” but when God called him, he didn't seek other people.  In other words, he is again affirming that he received all his information from God.  He ends this reading with the instruction, “As to what I am writing to you, behold, before God, I am not lying.”

          St. Paul needed to show that his conversion was complete and that he had a lot to offer as an Apostle.  He also needed to show that he wasn't doing this for his own pleasure, but that he was ready to give his life for the Gospel as Christ did.  In his Second Letter to Timothy, he writes, “I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.”  He is explaining to Timothy, a young bishop, how he sees that his death will be coming soon, but that he knows that God is with him and has helped him run the race well.  He is ready for death.  According to tradition, St. Paul was beheaded in Rome, a few years after St. Peter.

          Sts. Peter and Paul were not perfect.  They had to go through their own conversions to get ready for their work.  But when God finally called, they were ready to lay down their lives for the sheep of Christ's flock.  May their example inspire us to continue in the faith.