The Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

My Homily from August 24th.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/082414.cfm

          From time to time a person might be asked by another person, whether it is by a parent or a spouse or a sibling or another family member, or whether it is friend or a coworker or a boss, to do a very important task.  It doesn't really matter what the task is; it doesn't even mater if the individuals involved agree on the exact importance of the task.  The one thing that we can be sure about is that there will be consequences if that important task is not completed.  We can all think of examples of some of those important tasks that we encounter in our day to day lives.  These might be things that are clearly very important to everyone or things that seem completely mundane to us, but are very important to loved ones and those we care about.  We also have a pretty good idea of what the consequences might be like if we should fail to complete the task. 

          Part of this whole thing is trust.  When we ourselves have an important task that we want someone else to do for us, we of course ask someone who we trust to do that sort of thing.  Sometimes we might give someone who has broken our trust in the past a chance to redeem themselves, but there is still some trust, or perhaps hope, that things will turn out well.  This also means that we need to be trustworthy before anyone else will trust us with important tasks.  Granted, we might not always want to be the one who is in charge of the important stuff, but I doubt any of us would want to be the one that no one trusts either.  Simply put, there needs to be trust.

          God asks us to do important tasks as well.  Of course these tasks differ from person to person depending on our talents and whether you are dealing with a person who is single, married, or in a religious vocation.  I think the most common example is the call that God gives to all the baptized to go and spread the Good News that Christ died for our sins.  From the moment of our baptism, we are called to tell others about God's love in sending His Son for us.  It is a task that all Christians share, and yet it also one of the most important tasks that God could ask any person to do.  If it weren't for normal everyday Christians like you and me who can tell others of what Christ has done for us, very few people would have heard of who Christ is.  Being a Christian is a very important task.

          As I mentioned before, there are other important tasks that God might ask of us as well.  A married person is called to love and support their spouse.  A person who works outside the home is often called to be an example of Christ in the work place.  A parent who stays at home is called in a special way to care for the children and to make a loving and safe home for their family.  There are various ways a person might be called to serve the Church as well, either as a priest or a deacon, or as a lay person who is employed or volunteers at a parish. 

          The readings today tell us about three different people who were called to important tasks by God.  We can learn from them something of what it means to be called and how we are to respond to that calling.

          In the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah we hear about Shebna and Eliakim.  Shebna is described as being the “master of the palace”.  I mentioned in a homily not too long ago that in ancient Israel the king would appoint a steward who would be in charge at the palace and Jerusalem when the king was absent.  That steward was sometimes called the master of the place.  We might think of him as a prime minister in more modern terms.  Essentially he was the second in command under the king: a very important role to be sure.  We don't know what Shebna did, but we can tell from the first few lines that God wasn't very pleased with the work he had been doing.  God actually has Isaiah the Prophet tell Shebna (the king's right hand man) that he will be removed from his position as steward and will be replaced by a man named Eliakim.  There are several symbols in this prophecy that help show that God plans to transfer this steward position.  God says he will take Shebna’s robes and sash (symbols of his office) and will put them on Eliakim.  Another symbol of this office is the key.  God says, “I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut when he shuts, no one shall open”.  What this is saying is that all the authority will be transferred to Eliakim and he will be making all the decisions.  Lastly, we are told, “I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family.”  This is saying that not only will Eliakim hold on to his position, but his family (his sons and grandsons) will continue to hold on to that position as well. 

          What this means for us is that when God gives us an important task to do, we need to actually do it and show that God can trust us with that task.  Now the good news about this is that God is very merciful.  If we make a few mistakes, but continue to seek forgiveness and to do those tasks to the best of our ability, God will still forgive us and bless us.  However, if we only try to do what we want to do, never mind what God is calling us to, that's something different.  We can see in scripture, those times when Israel leaders only did what they wanted and used the people only to get what they wanted, it doesn't typically work out for those leaders.  God wants us to work with Him, let's show that He can trust us.

          The Gospel tells the story of St. Peter at the town of Caesarea Philippi.  Notice what Jesus tells him once he acknowledges Jesus as the Christ.  First He calls him Rock, meaning a firm steady thing that a foundation can be built on.  Then He says, “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 He said this, the Apostles knew that this was in reference to God making Eliakim the steward.  Now Christ, the Son of God, is making Peter His Steward.  Even today, we can trace the Papacy from Pope Francis all the way back to Peter.  God trusts them and gives them the tools necessary to get the job done.  God wants us to do help in his work as well.  Let us not be like Shebna who disappointed God, but let us be like Peter who was blessed by Christ Himself.

The Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

A couple weeks late, but here is my homily from August 17.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/081714.cfm

          I think that it is safe to say that we have all experienced that awful feeling of being rejected.  Some have experienced it more than others, but it seems to be something all humans experience.  It can start out when we are children and a sibling or a cousin no longer wants to play with us or we get in a fight with a friend at school and we don’t talk for a few days.  As we get older, maybe someone we have a romantic crush on rejects us.  Perhaps a friend or someone we trust betrays us in some way.  Maybe we are not chosen for something that we had really hoped for.  Sometimes that feeling of rejection is short lived and the relationship is healed over time.  Other times the rejection and the hurt remain and we need to seek healing and forgiveness to get past it all. 

          Of course, we can also be mistaken about the rejection.  It is very easy to misinterpret a person’s actions or inactions as a rejection of us or something about us.  In reality it might be that the other person simply forgot something or misunderstood something or is doing things differently than we would do them.  Whatever the details, we thought there was a rejection when there really was not. 

          I think that is exactly what happens at times in our relationship with God.  Perhaps we ask God for something, but then He never seems to answer us.  Maybe we’re used to a feeling of peace when we pray, but suddenly we experience none of that in prayer.  Sometimes we have these times when it feels like God is not listing to us or doesn’t seem to be active in our lives; it is very tempting to assume that God has rejected us in some way.  I get the impression that some people assume that God will reject them because of their sins; as if they are unworthy of His love.  They may even imagine that if they had a chance to talk directly with Jesus about this, the conversation would go very similar to the first part of the conversation that we hear between Jesus and the Canaanite woman in the Gospel today.  What an awful feeling of rejection that would be: going before Jesus with a request as noble as the woman’s request of healing her daughter, only to have Jesus turn His nose up at her and liken her to a common dog!

          God would never reject us, of course.  Our faith tells us that God will always love us.  In just the same way, Jesus does not reject the Canaanite woman.  In fact, many Scripture scholars believe that Jesus had no intention of rejecting the woman or denying her request.  The reason He uses that lines about being only sent for the “lost sheep” and not throwing the children’s food “to the dogs” was because He wanted the woman to respond with her faith.  As a Canaanite, the woman didn’t share the Jewish faith of Jesus and His disciples, yet she acknowledges Him as the “Son of David” and calls Him “Lord” and asks for the miracle.  Jesus knew she had faith that He could do it, but He wanted the others to see her express her faith, so He puts her to a kind of test.  If her faith were not real, she probably would have given up once she saw that Jesus wasn’t making it easy for her.  But she does have faith, and so she keeps asking for her daughter’s salvation even with the difficulties.

          Likewise, God wants us to respond with faith at times as well.  God has His reasons for seeming to avoid or delay answering our prayers.  He also has His reasons for not always being so present in our lives or seeming to have moved out of our lives at times.  We might not ever figure out exactly why those sorts of things happen.  Maybe God wants us to move deeper in our faith, so He moves away for a bit and wants us to follow, much like a parent teaching their child to walk for the first time.  God might delay a response to our prayers because He wants to see how our faith responds to a delay in our plans.  God might also know that what we ask for isn’t really what we need right now anyway, so He gives us something else that will help our faith grow all the more.  Whatever the case may be, God isn’t rejecting us or our request, but is giving us the opportunity to grow deeper in our faith with Him.

          God calls each and every one of us to a deeper relationship with Him.  That is what we see going on in the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah.  As I mentioned before, sometimes we might be scared that we are not worthy of God’s love or worthy to have God listen to our prayers.  In ancient times, the Israelites believed that God only found the prayers and sacrifices of the Israelites to be worthy of Him.  Yet here, God says that those who follow the Sabbath and love His name and keep His covenant will be found acceptable.  Even “foreigners who join themselves to the Lord” are acceptable.  God’s house is a house of prayer for all peoples.  So why should we worry ourselves if our prayers will be accepted as well?  We are to have faith.

          I mentioned at the beginning of this homily about people in general having felt rejected in their lives.  While we do all know what rejection feels like, I hope this homily helps everyone realize that we do not have to let that fear of being rejected rule us: especially when it comes to our relationship with God.  God wants us to grow deeper in our relationship with Him, and just as every relationship requires the individuals to grow in certain ways, so must we.  Let us not fear, but continue in our faith.  God will be there.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/081014.cfm

I have found that a very popular theme that often comes up in various stories in our culture involves the old axiom, “Appearances can be deceiving.” Sometimes a character chooses to disguise themselves to fool another person. Other stories have a character who is forced to take on another appearance, like a curse or a trick in fairytales. Still other stories have characters who simply look different than what their character is really like. In the classic fable of the “Ugly Duckling”, the supposed “duckling” appears to be the ugliest and most awkward of the ducks, until he discovers that he was simply in the wrong nest. Fairytales like “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Princess and the Frog” involve cursed princes who appear to be ugly and deformed. They must convince their lead female characters that they are worth loving despite their grotesque outward appearance.

William Shakespeare loved using this theme of mixing up appearances in his comedies. He would often have a character dress as something completely different than who they really where. A king dresses up as a servant as a servant becomes the king in his absence. The king spies on the servant to see what happens. Sort of like an early version of “Undercover Boss” if you remember that show. In another play a woman dresses up as a man and becomes the servant of a duke. He sends his new servant to ask a duchess for her hand in marriage. The duchess can't stand the duke, but falls in love with the new young man, not knowing that “he” is really a her. The servant runs and hides. Meanwhile, her twin brother (who she thought was dead and of course looks exactly like her) shows up. The duchess sees the brother, thinks he is the duke's servant, and proceeds to talk to him about marriage plans for the two of them. As you can imagine, a lot of chaos ensues as they try to figure this mess out.

My point is that there are many stories out there that play off of this theme of deceiving appearances. Even modern movies and TV shows love to include characters like this. They may be disguised as one person and turn out to be someone else. They may give a negative first impression at the beginning, but then prove the hero at the end. The fact that so many of these types of characters have shown up in stories through out the centuries shows that people are intrigued by them and like hearing stories that have that type of plot twist.

The Bible is no exception to this theme of “Appearances can be deceiving.” Look through Sacred Scripture and we can find numerous examples of people whose appearance gave a very different impression than who the person really was. Of course, these are not made up characters, but real people. Consider Moses: raised in Pharaoh's court, exiled for murder, by his own admission was a terrible public speaker, but ended up leading the Israelite people to freedom. The mighty King David: the youngest of eight brothers, a young shepherd boy when he volunteers to slay Goliath, yet he slays Goliath and is still revered as Israel's greatest king. Our Lord Jesus was totally not what people were expecting: born to the wife of a carpenter in a feeding trough in a stable, never ascended to the royal throne, executed as a common criminal, yet He saved us from our sins and is acknowledged by Christians everywhere as the Son of God and King of Heaven and Earth.

Today's readings are also about appearances and what we expect, but instead of looking at a human person and his or her appearance, we are looking at God and how God's appearance does not always match what we expect. We all have an idea in our minds of who God is, how He is going to act, and how He will appear, or more appropriately, how He will manifest His power and might. That picture in our minds of how God will look and act and speak might not always match what we find in the Scriptures.

Let's consider the first reading from the First Book of Kings. Elijah the prophet is on Mt. Horeb, seeking shelter in a cave. God tells him to come out so that he can witness Him as He passes by the mountain. It isn't that Elijah will actually see God walking around in bodily form, but will instead be able to experience the manifestation of His presence there at the mountain. The prophet experiences a strong wind that crushes rocks and earthquakes and a fire, but God isn't in any of those. Then he hears “a tiny whispering sound” and hides his face because he knew that God was there. I don't know about all of you, but when I was quite a bit younger my expectation would have been for God to come in of those more dramatic examples, like fire or lighting. After all, in other Scripture passages, God makes Himself known in a booming voice and earthquakes and burning bushes. Now that I know God a bit better, God coming in a quiet fashion makes much more sense.

My point is, I think many people would expect God to come in a loud sound like a wind rather than a tiny sound. Perhaps it is because God is so powerful that we expect Him to make a more powerful and flashy entrance. Elijah is able to recognize, however, that God has come in this unexpected way. It is because of his faith that he recognizes his Creator and doesn't brush it off as hearing things.

The Gospel reading is also full of unexpected things. Nobody would expect to see their friend walking across the open sea towards their boat. I'm sure the other eleven were surprised to see Peter get out a walk on the water as well. No one can blame the Twelve for not expecting this. What Jesus emphasizes here is their lack of faith. Had they had faith they would not have been afraid in the storm because they would have known God was with them. They would not have freaked out at seeing Jesus walking on the water because they would have known that Jesus was the Son of God. All Twelve may have gotten out and walked on the water because of their faith. But they doubt and so fear takes over. They miss out on an opportunity to experience the presence of God as Elijah does when he shows his faith.

We may never experience Jesus walking on the water or God coming past a mountain, but there are times when God is doing something in our lives that we do not expect. Will we respond with faith like Elijah did and welcome God's presence in our lives no matter how complicated it is? Or will we respond with fear and doubt because we do not want to accept what God is doing? Let us not sink as Peter did, but walk with faith in Christ.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/080314.cfm

“What do I have to do?” That is a question that many people seem to like to ask from time to time. Its use spans many different activities and walks of life. You might hear it asked in school, “What do I have to do to pass this class?” or “to get an ‘A’ in this class?” Upon finishing high school or college we might hear someone ask, “What do I have to do to get this job?” Later on the question may turn to, “What do I have to do to get a raise or a promotion?” Even among Christians, it is not unheard of to hear people ask the question, “What do I have to do to get into Heaven?”

On the surface, these questions might seem to be fairly normal questions requesting typical information. However, when you think about these questions, you can see that they are not really asking about how to be a good Catholic, or how to be a good employee or student. Actually it is asking for the least amount of information. When we ask, “What do I have to do…?” what we are really asking is, “What is the least amount of work that I need to do in order to get what I want?” We are actually looking for the minimum of the requirements: “What is the minimum amount of points I need to get 90%?” “What is the minimum work needed to get that job or that promotion?” “How many prayers do I have to say or how many Masses do I have to go to in order to be ‘good’ with God?”

There is a related question that I have heard several times as a priest. People want to know, at what point in the Mass do you have to come in by in order for it to count? In other words, how late is too late for Mass? The simple answer is: there is no specific time set that a person has to be at Mass. I have been told that before the Second Vatican Council, when Mass was still all in Latin, people were taught about a specific time in the Mass that you had to be there by in order to fulfill your Sunday obligation. No such time has been set for the current Mass. Rather, the encouragement is for all people to be there for the entirety of Mass. The temptation for most people when they are given a minimum requirement is to only do the minimum. If the Church set a time that you have to be at Mass in order for it to count, many people would wait until that moment to come in. By not setting that minimum, we are simply saying we want the people at the whole Mass. Yes, things happen that make us run late from time to time. Not a big deal. But if we are late all the time, maybe we should re-think our Sunday mornings so we can be in the church from the beginning of the opening hymn. The same can be said for the end of the Mass. Sometimes there are emergencies that require us to leave early on rare occasions. But if we are leaving early every week, there is something very wrong going on. We are asked to be here for the entire Mass: not to come in at the Gloria or leave right after Communion or before the final hymn, but to be here from the first hymn until the last hymn is sung. It’s one hour out of our whole week, can't we at least do that?

Now, to be fair, not everyone is interested in only doing the minimum requirements, whether it is about the spiritual life or our day to day earthly life. Those who particularly enjoy something or who have a particular passion for something will often go well beyond the normal call of duty, so to speak. We all need a reminder every so often to encourage us to not just settle for the bare minimum. Especially when it comes to the spiritual life, going beyond the minimum requirements helps show our love for God.

Our readings today illustrate how God's love goes well beyond the minimum requirements. In the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah, God is inviting the people to come back to Him using the image of a grand banquet. The people of Judah had angered God by worshiping false gods and not following God's Commandments. Their punishment was a long exile in the land of Babylon, in modern day Iraq. Now God is inviting them back to His loving embrace, offering forgiveness and an over abundance of grace. There is also a physical aspect to this as they were allowed to return to their homeland soon after this.

Listen to what God is telling us. First we are told to come to the water. This is a fine commodity in desert region. Then we are told to receive grain and wheat without cost. Things are getting generous. Then we are told we can drink wine and milk without cost as well. Now things are getting lavish. Why focus all our wealth and strength on things of this earth that will only waste away, God asks us. Focus on God, and we will have everything that we need, plus so much more! These images of free food and choice wine and milk represent, not just good, not just physical luxuries, but also Heavenly graces given freely.

Moving on to the Gospel, we hear Matthew's version of the feeding of the five thousand. In front of all these witnesses (well over five thousand including the women and children) Christ Himself multiplies the food. Now these loaves are probably small barley loaves that look more like diner roles. The fish are also small, not much bigger than a perch, maybe smaller. That meal was enough for two people at best: nothing too fancy here. With this great miracle of multiplying the food, however, these five thousand-plus men, women, and children are satisfied and there are still leftovers! This is not the lavish banquet that Isaiah described before, but it still helps us see the generous heart of God. He could have given each of them just enough to get them to the next village; He could have had Jesus end His curing of the sick sooner so they could have departed earlier in the day. Instead, He gives what the people needed, and then some, just as the prophet had foretold.

God gives us an abundance of His love and grace. How will we respond so that we can worship Him in thanksgiving and praise Him in what we do? Let us not settle for what we have to do, but what we want to do out of our love for Him.