Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090714.cfm

It started out simply as a game at a youth group. It seemed like a good challenge for the teens and preteens who had gathered for a day long retreat. I was a seminarian at the time, helping out at a parish.

In this game, each teen had to team up with a partner. In each team, one person had to be blindfolded, the other person had to guide their partner to the other side of a large room using only their voice. So they couldn't grab the person's hand and drag them around. The teams couldn't just go in a straight line, however, as there were several obstacles that the blindfolded team member had to get around. As I recall, there was an orange cone that you had to go all the way around, a jump rope was laying across the floor that you had to jump over. I think they had to walk backwards at one point and maybe they had to do something with a ball. All very simple things to do that are so much harder once your eyes are covered. Of course, the teens were told it was also a race: first team to the other side of the room wins. There was an odd number of students, so there was one girl without a partner. One of the youth ministers agreed to be her partner, and she agreed to be blindfolded.

What happened during the game, was really quite amazing. As soon as everyone was ready, someone said, “Ready, set, go!” Immediately, all the students who were guides began yelling to their blindfolded partners to come as quickly as possible. This resulted in a scene reminiscent of a Three Stooges episode. The blindfolded students began bumping into each other, and tripping over each other and the obstacles (which meant they had to go back and start again) and even going completely in the wrong direction. There was so much yelling they couldn't tell whose voice was their partner's voice and naturally they got confused. The blindfolded students started yelling back, causing more confusion. Also, the guides' “directions” consisted mainly of commands like, “Come this way! No, this way! Now turn! No, the other way!”

Meanwhile, the team with the youth minister and the girl was taking another approach. The youth minister quickly saw that chaos was ensuing, so he came close to his partner and began speaking to her in a normal speaking voice, so she could clearly recognize his voice. Then he said her name and started giving her very clear and calm instructions. He'd say, “Okay, follow the sound of my voice and start walking forward.” Whenever she would get to one of the obstacles, he would have her stop and then explain to her what she needed to do. “Okay, we're at the cone now. You need to walk around it.” So he would actually guide her all the way across the room, giving her help through each obstacle and giving encouragement throughout. Not surprisingly, she was the first to get across the room.

This story isn't just an example of the old adage, “Slow and steady wins the race.” My hope is that it will be a reminder to all of us that we need to help each other from time to time. It might be something simple like holding a door open or helping carry something heavy. It might also require a bigger commitment, like helping a family member or friend with a disability or an illness. There are many ways to help someone else, but the help we offer needs to actually be effective, otherwise we are just yelling in a crowded room, hoping to be heard above the confusion.

In our readings for today, God wants us to help each other grow in holiness by encouraging each other to work on certain areas of our lives. Now, before we get started, I want be clear that God isn't giving us license to go around and tell everyone we know all the grievances we have against them or all the things they do that annoy us. We aren't supposed to go around with spyglasses and keep surveillance on each other. God is talking about lovingly helping those around us to turn away from sin and follow the Gospels more closely.

In the first reading today, Ezekiel is passing along God's instructions to him. As a prophet, God wants him to be a watchman for the people and to pass on warnings and instructions from God. If God tells him to dissuade people from their evil ways, then he needs to do it. If he doesn't and the person dies by his own guilt, God is going to hold him, Ezekiel, responsible. But if he does warn the sinful person and they don't listen, that person will still be punished, but Ezekiel will have done his job and be rewarded for it.

Now, not everyone is called to be a prophet, so we are not all held to the same accountability as Ezekiel was. That being said, we are still called to keep each other accountable. So if we notice our brother or sister sinning in some way, we ought to find an appropriate way to help them. For instance, if we notice someone is spreading gossip or false rumors about another person, instead of getting angry with them or embarrassing them in some way, perhaps we encourage them to talk about something more positive or politely remind them that spreading false rumors is bearing false witness against our neighbor.

Jesus tells us more in the Gospel for today. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” Notice it just starts out as very simple: one person to another. The goal is not to embarrass anyone or shame with guilt. If you brought in a large group right away to accuse one person, they're not going to take it very well. Instead, God says to start out with one on one. If that doesn't work, bring in one or two more, if that doesn't work, talk to the Church.

This is not about forcing each other to do these things as quickly as possible, like it's a race. It isn't about embarrassing anyone or making them feel awful. This is about guiding our brothers and sisters with love towards holiness. When we guide each other we are more likely to pray with each other. And when we pray together, there God will be in our midst.

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/083114.cfm

There is a relatively new movie that has grown in popularity in the past several months. Kids all over have been singing along to the songs and have had a great time dressing up as their favorite characters and quoting their favorite lines from the movie. The movie I am referring to is Disney's Frozen. If you're a parent or a grandparent with young children or grandchildren, you've probably heard the main song of the movie, “Let it Go”, just once or twice in the past year or so. Okay, maybe more like once or twice a day. I bring up this movie, because in the midst of all the popular songs, the pretty dresses, the funny snowman who can't wait for summer, the reindeer who has a personality like a golden retriever and the Disney style, feel-good ending there is also a very power Christian message that I think is very important to consider.

Elsa and Anna are two princesses. They are sisters and orphans. Early on we learn that Elsa has the ability to form ice and snow in mid-air, and to freeze anything she touches with her hands or feet. After accidentally hurting her sister with her magic, she avoids all contact with Anna for fear that she might hurt her again. She does this because she cares for Anna, but doesn't understand how she is hurting Anna by being so distant. She is constantly in fear that others will find out about her powers and longs for the day when she can just be herself. Anna has no magical powers. Her greatest wish is to fall in love with the man of her dreams and to no longer be cooped up in her castle by herself. Enter Prince Hans, a handsome young man who sweeps Anna off her feet and tells her he loves her and proposes all on the same night.

I'm not going to go through the whole movie. If you haven't seen it yet, go rent it or borrow a copy: it's well worth it. It's important to point out though: Elsa, Anna, and Hans all think they are looking for true love. In reality, they are only looking for what they want. That is not love. When Elsa sings “Let it Go”, she isn’t just singing about finally being able to be herself and no longer worrying about what others think. She is singing about doing what she wants and not what others want. It’s love of self, not love of another. Anna’s search for love is also self-serving. She is more worried about being loved by someone than about loving someone in return. Hans appears to love Anna at first, but we find he is only interested in marrying a princess so that he can become king. None of these three understand what true love really is.

True love is finally defined just before we reach the climax of the movie. Anna needs an act of true love to save her before she turns completely into ice. She thinks a kiss from Hans will do it (just like any other fairytale), but he leaves her for dead. Filled with despair Anna tells her friend Olaf, a snowman who has come to life, that she doesn't even know what love is. Of all the characters it is this goofy and silly Olaf who is able to define love. “Love”, he says, “is putting someone else's needs before yours”. In other words, to love is to sacrifice oneself for another. Even with this knowledge, Anna still thinks it is about getting a kiss from another man. Finally, she makes the choice to sacrifice herself to protect her sister. In so doing, she saves her sister, herself, and the kingdom. Love is not about what makes us happy, but about providing for the needs of those we love.

Our readings focus on this idea of sacrificial love. They talk about how Christ sacrificed Himself for us and how we are called to give of ourselves out of our love for God. It is today's Gospel that allows us to understand what the other readings are talking about when they mention sacrifice and desiring to be with God. Jesus is explaining to his disciples that He will suffer greatly, be killed, and rise again on the third day. St. Peter, can't believe what he is hearing. He pulls Jesus off to the side and says, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He thinks what he is saying will please Jesus. He thinks that he is speaking out of love for his friend. Jesus sets the Apostle straight, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Peter does not yet understand that Jesus must suffer through His Passion before His mission is complete, and that mission is to save our souls out of God's abundant love. Jesus goes on to explain to His disciples that those who wish to be His disciples, “must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Christ is explaining that if we want to live for eternity with God, if we want to know what true joy is, we must do as He does. God loves us so much that He gives His only begotten Son; Christ loves us so much that He gives His life for our salvation. We must love as God loves so that we will give our lives up to Him.

St. Paul talks about giving up our lives as a sacrifice in his Letter to the Romans. ”I urge you … to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.” We are to offer our very selves to Christ as a sacrifice. When St. Paul or Christ talk about sacrifice, that doesn’t mean we have to necessarily be killed like Christ on the Cross or die like an animal in a bloody sacrifice. It means we give ourselves completely over to God for love of Him. It means we sacrifice doing our own thing so that God may direct our lives more fully. As St. Paul says, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” If we only did what we wanted to, if we conformed ourselves to this current age of doing whatever feels good, then we will miss out on God’s love for us. If, however, we focus on doing God’s will, sacrificing what we want for what God wants for us, then we will have the full benefit of God’s love for us; we will discern “what is good and pleasing and perfect”.

The very thought of sacrifice can be scary. True love can be scary. But with this sacrifice will come God’s love, and that will bring us true joy everlasting.