THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

30 OCTOBER 2016

          The Book of Wisdom was written 60 years before the birth of Christ to those who have much in common with us.  We struggle to understand the truths of our faith in a very secular culture.  The same is true for those Jews in Alexandria living in a Hellenistic culture.  Like our secular culture, the Hellenistic culture offered a lot of good things which improved the daily lives of the people.  But, like our culture, the Hellenistic culture posed challenges to believers.

            Hellenists were dualistic in the way they looked at the world.  Matter was seen as evil and spirits as good.  The world was formed by gods who needed to be appeased.  Success depended on appeasing certain gods and accepting the fates.  The Book of Wisdom disputes that claim.  The Book of Wisdom reaffirms what Genesis says:  God created the world as an act of pure love.  Any defect in creation and in human beings is a result of our rejection of God’s plan.  God loves us, even when we sin, and gives us many chances to turn back to him “little by little.” 

            That is what is happening to Zacchaeus.  Like last Sunday’s tax collector, Zacchaeus has done a lot of damage.  He has cooperated with the hated Romans and ripped off his own people.  While most languish under the strain of unfair taxes, he lives a comfortable life.  As the chief tax collector, he is hated even more by the people of Jericho for his despicable actions.  There is no doubt that they equate his shortness in stature with his shortness in morality.  But, like the tax collector in last Sunday’s Gospel, something must be happening in the heart of Zacchaeus.  Little by little, he seems to realize the damage he is doing. 

He must have heard about Jesus.  When Jesus comes to town, Zacchaeus wants to see him.  The nasty little man humiliates himself by climbing a sycamore tree to see him.  Jesus sees the potential goodness in this man who has ripped off so many people and invites himself to stay at his house.  In all of his sinfulness, the chief tax collector is a descendant of Abraham.  Coming down from his humiliating perch, he allows Jesus to lift him up with mercy and forgiveness.  When the people of Jericho object, the chief tax collector demonstrates his intentions to make amends.  He will give away half of his income to the poor.  He will also go well beyond the demands of the Law of Moses.  The Law requires a thief to return the stolen goods along with another one fifth when he voluntarily admits his sin.  Zacchaeus is willing to pay back what the Law requires of a thief forced to make restitution – four times the amount he has stolen.

Each one of us can identify with the chief tax collector of Jericho.  Like Zacchaeus, we have stooped to being short in moral stature.  Whether our sins have been as serious as those of the chief tax collector, they have done damage.  Jesus does not pretend that our actions have not caused damage and pain.  But, he has continued to love us and given us many chances to see our sinfulness little by little.  When we humble ourselves to climb the sycamore tree of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, he lifts us up with his mercy and graces us with the courage to make amends and face the consequences of our bad choices.

If the mercy of Jesus Christ can do this for us, then we can do the same for those who are doing damage to us.  We have to resist the tendency in our secular culture to divide everyone into good and bad people.  With the wisdom of the Gospel, we have to find ways to love those who do us harm, not in terms of having warm feelings toward them, but in terms of wanting the best for them.  We need to provide as many opportunities as possible for them to see their sins little by little.  We need to trust God’s mercy, leaving the judging to God.  

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

23 OCTOBER 2016

          When we hear this parable with 21^st century ears, we tend to identify with the tax collector.  We remember the Gospel stories from Mark and Matthew depicting Pharisees as hypocrites always in opposition to Jesus.  However, first century listeners would have heard something very different.  While the Pharisees certainly used the law and their interpretation of the law for their own benefit, this Pharisee belongs in the Temple.  He is part of a movement which has taken the holiness of the Temple and moved it into people’s families and lives.  More than likely, he is a deeply religious person who does the things he mentions in his prayer.  In fasting twice a week, he shows that he is serious about practicing his faith.  He has embraced the message of stewardship and tithes 10% of his income.  He probably is honest in his business dealings and is completely faithful to his wife.  He is a decent religious man.

            That is not true of the tax collector.  He is not a decent person.  He works for the hated Romans to collect outrageous amounts of taxes to fund their oppressive occupation of the Jewish homeland.  While his fellow Jews become more impoverished under the weight of unfair taxation, he lives a comfortable life.  He and his fellow tax collectors are traitors who enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.  Although he does not mention his sins in his prayer, the Pharisee is probably correct in judging him to be greedy, dishonest, and adulterous.  More than likely, the weight of his sins brought him to his knees to consider how his lifestyle and his actions have ruined his relationship with God and with other people.  He can only repeat the words of Psalm 51:  “Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

            Jesus says that the tax collector goes home justified.  Weighed down by sinfulness and shame, the tax collector addresses God directly.  He trusts that God welcomes and loves every honest and contrite heart.  He experiences the incredible mercy received by the prodigal son.  God justifies him in a way that he could never have earned.  In this Year of Mercy, the tax collector helps us to understand what Pope Francis is talking about when he speaks of mercy.

            To be honest, we are more like the Pharisee than the tax collector.  We care enough about our faith to gather together in this Temple to praise and thank God for all we have.  We are serious about religious practices when we fast during the season of Lent and listen to talks about stewardship.  We work at giving back to God a portion of what God has given to us.  We try to be honest in our business dealings and faithful to our spouses.  But, we can also be like the Pharisee in making judgments.  We can always find someone less faithful and more sinful than ourselves.  We can look down on a neighbor whose car never leaves the garage on Sunday morning and who will show up for First Communion.  When we move into the new church, we might resent that some who have never sacrificed for the capital campaign will be just as welcome as those who have made great sacrifices.

            The parable warns us against making these kinds of comparisons.  The parable tells us to address our prayers to God, and not just speak prayers to ourselves.  The parable invites us to acknowledge the ways in which we have failed and to ask for God’s mercy.  That is what Saint Paul does when he writes to his friend, Timothy.  Paul had been a Pharisee.  Paul speaks of the successes he has enjoyed and the faithful ways in which he has run the race.  But Paul addresses his prayer directly to God.  Paul knows his accomplishments are not a result of his own efforts, but because of God’s grace working through his actions.  That needs to be our prayer.  We can also focus on running the good race and keeping the faith.  We leave the judgment of those who do not run as well as we do to God and trust in his merciful love for everyone.

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

9 OCTOBER 2016

          The parables of Jesus speak to our imaginations.  In today’s parable, Jesus invites us to imagine a poor widow with no power pestering an unjust judge with lots of power.  There is nothing good about this judge, since he has no respect for God or for anyone else.  But, this widow keeps pestering him until he finally gives in to her.  He rules in her favor, not because there is anything good about him, but because he is afraid that she will beat him up!  Those who heard this parable from the mouth of Jesus must have laughed.

            This parable is about persistence.  The widow succeeds, because she is persistent and will not quit.  But we cannot imagine that God grants our requests only when he gets tired of hearing from us.  Unlike the unjust judge, God is love and complete goodness.  We do not change God’s mind through our persistence in prayer.  Instead, persistent prayer changes us!  If we continue to bring our needs persistently in prayer before God and continue to trust in God’s love for us, our prayer will open us more completely to the way God looks at things.  Once we become more aware of God’s will and plan for the world, persistent prayer brings a deeper assurance that justice will eventually triumph.  The battle between good and evil has already been won by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Like Moses, we raise our hands in prayer confident of that victory.  But, we tend to get discouraged when we experience the effects of sin and evil.  We need to support one another in prayer and trust in the power of that prayer, just as Aaron supported Moses and kept his hands raised in prayer.  The battle won by Jesus Christ over sin and death will triumph, just as Joshua and his army defeated the forces of Amalek. 

            There is another way to look at this parable.  Instead of seeing God as the unjust judge, we can see God as the poor widow.  If God is the poor widow, then we become the unjust judge.  God persistently pursues us to draw us more closely to him and make us more faithful and intentional disciples.  That is what Saint Paul says to his friend, Timothy.  The Lord first pursued Timothy through the faith of his mother and grandmother.  When he passed through the waters of baptism, he was incorporated into the mystery of Jesus Christ.  The Lord continued to pursue him when Paul laid hands on him and appointed him as leader of the Christian community.  He became discouraged in that role.  So, Paul tells Timothy to read the Scriptures and preach their truth.  Just as the Lord has been persistent in forming him as an intentional disciple, Timothy must persist in trusting that God is in charge.

            The Lord is persistent in pursuing us.  He has incorporated us to himself when we were baptized.  If we look closely at the events of our lives, we can see how the Lord pursues us to take our baptismal promises seriously.  He speaks to us in his Word at this Mass and when we open the Scriptures in our private prayers.  He feeds us with his Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  He uses the ordinary experiences of our lives to form us into more intentional disciples.  He pursues us though retreats like Christ Renews His Parish and through involvement with various ministries in the parish to become more intentional disciples.  He never gives up on us, because he wants us to know the fullness of his victory over sin and death in the New and Eternal Jerusalem.

            It is sometimes tempting to give up, especially when things are not going well, or when it seems that the Lord does not answer our prayers.  The Lord continues to persistently pursue us at every level.  He invites us to pray with persistence in response, trusting that the victory has been won and will be fully realized in God’s time.

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

9 OCTOBER 2016

          Saint Luke does not tell us why nine of the ten healed lepers do not return to thank Jesus.  We can only guess.  Maybe they were so excited about the removal of their pain and isolation that they rushed home and forgot.  Leprosy was a terrible scourge in the ancient world.  Not only did the disease cause horrible pain.  It also isolated the leper completely from the community, in an effort to protect the rest of the community from being infected.  Or, maybe they concluded that the Law of Moses healed them.  They might have thought that they were entitled to being healed, because they followed the Law and were going to show themselves to the priests.

            Saint Luke clearly tells us that Jesus is disappointed that only one leper has returned to give thanks, and this leper is a Samaritan, a person clearly outside the Law of Moses.  Jesus had been expecting the return of all ten, because he was not finished with them.  He had intended the physical healing as a first step to open their eyes to see that the messianic age is now present in him.  They may have been healed.  But, in their failure to express gratitude, they did not receive the ultimate gift of Jesus – the gift of salvation, given to the healed Samaritan leper.

            We can learn a very important lesson from this healing miracle.  We must admit that we have more in common with the nine healed lepers than we think.  Like them, we have received many blessings.  Our lives are blessed in more ways than we can imagine.  Despite troubles and difficulties, we have the best standard of living of anyone in the entire world.  It is easy to take our standard of living for granted.  So many times, it is only when we travel to Third World countries or participate on mission trips to impoverished areas of our own country that we fully realize how blessed we are.  Those experiences open our eyes to the fact that it is easy to consider ourselves entitled to our blessings; much like the Jewish lepers might have felt entitled to the healing they received in following the Law of Moses.  When we have an attitude of entitlement, then we forget to express our gratitude.  We think that we have earned the good life, forgetting that everything we have is ultimately a gift from God.  Like children who become accustomed to lavish gifts at Christmas or at birthdays, we expect our blessings to happen.

            If we listen to the first reading from the Book of Kings, we learn another lesson from Naaman, a Syrian general living 800 years before the birth of Christ.  Naaman had everything:  wealth, power, prestige, and a very fit athletic body.  He led soldiers into battle and plundered his enemies, enriching himself and his family.  But, he lost all of that when he was afflicted with the disease of leprosy.  As a leper suffering physical pain and emotional trauma from being separated from his community, he was humbled to ask for help from Elisha, a prophet in enemy territory.  Things got worse when Elisha told him to plunge into the River Jordan seven times.  The rivers in Syria were much better!  But, he did it and was healed.  His leprosy humbled him to ask for help and brought him to believe in the God who healed him through Elisha. 

            In one way or another, each of us is a leper.  Each of us has something in our lives that causes pain and separation.  Leprosy can bring us to our knees in such a way that we cry out for help.  Our leprosy can bring us to the God who can heal us and bring us salvation.  Once we understand our need for salvation, we can express gratitude for all the gifts God has given us.  We often talk about Saint Pius being a stewardship parish.  This is the heart of living stewardship as a way of life:  a deep and abiding gratitude for all the gifts God has given us.  And that is why we are here today:  to give thanks to God for all of the gifts God has given us and to continue to seek the salvation won for us in Christ Jesus.

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2 OCTOBER 2016

          Saint Paul knows that his friend Timothy is discouraged.  Things had not been going well for Timothy as he leads the Christian community.  So Paul writes to him and speaks from his own experience.  He had been persecuted, rejected, and imprisoned for preaching the Gospel.  From his prison cell, Paul gives solid advice.  He reminds Timothy of the flame of faith given to him first at his baptism, and then again when Paul had laid hands on him to entrust to him the apostolic duty of guarding the rich deposit of faith.  Paul encourages him not to give in to a spirit of cowardice and to use his God-given gifts of power and love and self-control.

            Those gifts are worth examining.  The Greek word for “power” is the root word for our English word, “dynamite.”  If Timothy can use his power in a positive way, he can do what God does.  Instead of blowing up what holds the community together, Timothy can use his power to shake things up, bring hope from despair, and forgiveness from resentment.  The word he uses for “love” has nothing to do with feelings or emotions.  He speaks of the love of Jesus Christ, who gave completely of himself for our salvation.  Even if Timothy gets nothing back in return, his active love for his people will build up his community in ways he cannot imagine.  Finally, Timothy needs to use his gift of self-control.  If he is going to fan the flame of faith into a fire that cannot be extinguished, he needs to be disciplined in living his vocation.

            In today’s Gospel, the Apostles are beginning to understand that being a disciple can be difficult and demanding.  So, they ask Jesus to increase their faith.  He tells them that if they have faith the size of a mustard seed (which is really small), they can accomplish wonders, like causing mulberry trees to fly into the sea!  Jesus does not use the word “faith” as a quantity which can be measured.  Rather, faith is a deep and abiding trust in God and God’s working in our world.  Trusting in God admits that they can accomplish very little on their own.  As long as they see themselves as servants of the Gospel and give themselves continually in humble service, their faith will allow God to accomplish more than they can ever imagine.

            Last month, Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa a Saint.  With faith the size of a mustard seed, she began her ministry of service by picking up lepers and dying people from the streets of Calcutta and caring for them.  As we know from one of her biographers, she often did not feel anything of God’s presence.  But she persisted with her mustard seed of faith and her humble service.  Today, her community of sisters has extended to the entire world, caring for those most at the fringes of society.  Hundreds of them gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for her canonization.  It was her faith (the size of a mustard seed) in God and her humble service that accomplished more than she could ever have imagined.

            Each of us has some degree of faith.  Otherwise, we would not be here today.  Even if our faith is the size of the mustard seed, we struggle to trust in God.  That faith enables us to accomplish what seems to be beyond our strength.  We can use the gift of power to forgive terrible hurts and blow up lingering resentments that paralyze us from reaching out to those who have harmed us.  We may not be capable on our own, but God can work through us.  We can use the gift of love to put ourselves in humble service of others.  Like Mother Teresa’s investment, the Lord can transform our acts of service into something truly beautiful beyond our imagining.  We can use the gift of self-control to order our lives in such a way that God can work through us and our actions.  After all, we are unprofitable servants.  We cannot accomplish much on our own and from our limited perspective.  But, God can accomplish incredible things through us, as long as we use those gifts given to us at our Baptism:  power, love, and self-control.