TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

29 AUGUST 2021

 

          As a parish, we are getting to know Father Augustine.  He is young, full of joy, and extremely energetic.  Since his arrival at the parish, he vigorously repeats the phrase, “Just do it!” over and over again.  Father Augustine is well aware that he did not invent this phrase.  Nor is he trying to sell Nike shoes and clothing.  Instead, he is expressing his intention.  After many years of preparation, he is excited about putting into action what he has been trained to do:  serving the people of this parish with love.

            The Letter of Saint James gives us the same message.  Saint James tells us centuries before Nike came into existence:  “Just do it!”  In instructing us to be doers of the word instead of just hearing it, he is calling us to act on the word of salvation we received at baptism.  In telling us to act on this word, he knows the difference between hearing and listening.  It is easy to hear something, to allow the words of another to enter into one ear and go quickly out the other.  Listening involves giving the gift of our attention.  The root of the word attention means “to stretch.”  To attend to someone or something literally means to stretch toward.  In hearing God’s word, we attend to it and even become subject to it, like attendants in the courts of kings and queens.  In attending, we are letting ourselves become pliable, stretching, and softening in response to the invitation of the word and the needs of others.  

            That is the message of Moses in first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy.  He tells his listeners that they are a very special people, because God has chosen them to be his own.  God has given them the gift of wisdom, which is the conviction that he is always present and active in their daily lives.  But they also need to be intelligent, or understanding.  Intelligence results from a serious process of discernment.  In being intelligent, they acknowledge that they cannot immediately and completely grasp what God is doing in any situation.  Intelligent people allow their personal assumptions and opinions to be challenged.  Intelligent people do not speak or act like they are God.

            That is the problem with the Pharisees and scribes in today’s Gospel.  They have taken the Law of Moses, and put a fence around it to include 613 individual laws.  These traditions make the Law of Moses a burden, not a gift.  They are so complicated that only the professional scribes can sort them out.  The Pharisees and scribes are urban dwellers.  They can easily purify their hands or vessels, because water is readily available.  However, more rural peasants do not have ready access to water.  Fishermen are unable to avoid contact with dead creatures as they sort out their nets.  As a result, the Pharisees and scribes question their holiness, as they question the holiness of the disciples of Jesus.

            Jesus responds to their questioning and calls them “hypocrites,” citing the prophet Isaiah who criticized the hypocrisy of religion devoid of human conviction.  Because the root word for hypocrisy is to act, Jesus is accusing them of acting as if they are putting the Law into practice.  Their oral laws concerning the use of water to purify do not address the root causes of sin that cause separation and division.  Jesus replaces their oral law with the freedom to love.

            We can exercise that freedom to love and “just do it.”  In this time of deep divisions, we can listen more attentively to the Word of God, allowing it to make us more pliable.  Then we can listen to each other, stretching ourselves to understand where they are coming from.  We do not need to agree with one another.  But we can soften our response.  We have witnessed the masking wars at PHM.  Now we have those wars in our school.  If we can listen more carefully, we can learn to live with one another more completely when this pandemic is finally over.

 

SOLEMNITY OF SAINT PIUS X

22 AUGUST 2021

 

          The Prophet Ezekiel writes to his people who have been scattered into exile.  Their leaders put their energies into caring for themselves instead of caring for the needs of those entrusted to their care.  Unlike shepherds who tended to the needs of their flocks, these leaders tended to their own needs.  Ezekiel comforts his scattered people, assuring them that God has not abandoned them.  He promises that God himself will pasture his sheep.

            This promise has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, whose image is on our triumphal arch.  The Good Shepherd draws sheep to himself, with one of his flock seated securely on his lap.  The Good Shepherd laid down his life for us, his sheep.  We see that total gift on the crucifix hanging above the Altar.

            Our Good Shepherd has entrusted to human beings the care of his flock, his Church.  None of these shepherds are perfect, and none are without sin.  Saint Peter is a good example.  Even though Peter vowed that he would die with Christ, he denied knowing him three times in the courtyard of the high priest out of fear (pictured on the triumphal arch with a charcoal fire and black smoke and the cock crowing).  In today’s Gospel, the risen Christ prepares breakfast for his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (pictured on the triumphal arch with the Sea of Galilee and a charcoal fire with white smoke).  Knowing that Peter has truly repented from his sin, he asks if he loves him.  He asks this question three times, not to rub Peter’s sin into his nose, but to indicate that he has truly forgiven him.  In response, Jesus tells Peter to feed his lambs, tend his sheep, and feed his sheep (with those words above Peter’s image on the left of the triumphal arch).  Jesus could have easily told Peter that he blew it, and that he would choose someone more dependable.  Instead, he knows that Peter will be a better shepherd.  He gives to Peter his mercy and assurance that he will never abandon him.

            Pope Saint Pius X is the 257^th Bishop of Rome.  Like all of Peter’s successors, Giuseppe Sarto was not sinless.  He had his share of weakness and faults, as we all do.  However, he was known for his extraordinary holiness and his efforts to lay down his life for his flock.  His motto was “To renew all things in Christ” (with those words inscribed above his image on the right side of the triumphal arch).  Our parish is the only parish in this diocese under the patronage of Saint Pius X, who was canonized in the early 1950’s.  In celebrating his Solemnity today, we commit ourselves to do all we can to renew all things in Christ.

            We ask for his intercession today as we continue this important work.  We are calling this third year of our five year strategic plan the “Year of Renewal.”  Each month, there will be a specific way in which we are invited to join together in the work of renewal.  During this month of August, we are beginning the process of renewing our parish from the limitations we have suffered in these past sixteen months of the ongoing pandemic.  Celebrating our feast day and our annual picnic in a new way, we are committing ourselves to rebuilding so much of what we lost.  Please pay attention to the monthly themes, which will be announced on our website and in our bulletin.  Next month, for example, we are committing ourselves to renewing our families, our community, and our participation on both of these.  Working together in each of these upcoming specific areas, we can imitate what Saint Pius X was doing in the early years of the 20^th century.  In these early years of this 21^st century, we join together in the work of renewing, trusting the Lord’s presence in our efforts and seeking the intercession of our Patron Saint.  Saint Pius X, pray for us!

 

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

22 AUGUST 2021

 

          Every once in a while, a couple will choose today’s second reading from Saint Paul to the Ephesians as their second reading for their wedding Liturgy.  I love to watch the reaction in the congregation.  Husbands smile and poke their wives when Saint Paul announces that “wives should be subordinate to their husbands in the Lord.”  Many wives frown and poke them back.  They are listening to Saint Paul’s words through 21^st century ears.  They think that Saint Paul is encouraging men to control their wives and dominate them.

            In fact, this is not what Saint Paul is saying at all.  Saint Paul is using first century Roman marriage customs.  At that time, husbands were in complete control of the family, and every member of the family was subordinate to him – wives, children, and slaves.  This cultural pattern lasted for many centuries.  If you have ever been to a play written by William Shakespeare in the 16^th century, wives routinely refer to their husbands as “my lord.” 

            Instead, he is telling the disciples of Jesus Christ who live in Ephesus that their marriages can be visible signs of the mystery of Christ’s relationship with his Church.  Christ is the faithful bridegroom who has given everything to his bride the Church.  Good marriages help us to understand that mystery.  For that reason, husbands and wives need to subordinate themselves to each other out of reverence to Christ.  In subordinating themselves to Christ, wives subordinate themselves to their husbands.  In subordinating themselves to Christ, husbands need to die to themselves for the sake of their families, as Christ died for his bride the Church.  Instead of challenging the marriage customs of his day, he argues that faithful disciples who imitate the love of Christ can transform their lives.

            Saint Paul gives us that same message.  Today’s marriages may take different forms.  But, if we model ourselves after the self-giving love of Jesus Christ, we can allow that love to transform our lives and our culture.  In truth, couples today do not have the support they need to make and keep permanent commitments in marriage.  That is why weekends like Marriage Encounter can help support healthy marriages.  Those whose marriages have ended in divorce need our support as they move forward to be healed and to trust in the presence of the Lord Jesus in their lives as they move forward.  Those who have been widowed also need our help.  We are the Church, walking with them to accept the consolation that the Lord promises to those who grieve.  Those who are called to live as single people need our support.

            The real challenge for married couples is to believe that marriage truly is a Sacrament.  In living the Sacrament of marriage in good times and in bad, they are showing the rest of us what the love of Christ looks like.  In embracing this message of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, they can increase their trust that the Sacramental Grace of marriage is active in them.  That grace enables them to confront the challenges and difficulties in ways they could never have anticipated.

            In today’s Gospel, we hear the end of the “Bread of Life” discourse in Saint John’s Gospel.  Many of his disciples cannot accept that he gives his flesh and blood to them in the form of transformed bread and wine.  They leave him and return to their former ways of life.  They can no longer accompany him.  Peter speaks for us when Jesus asks if he wants to leave also.  “Master, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”  As we receive the Eucharistic Lord at this Mass, we too accept his nourishment to maintain our faith and to accompany him, trusting that he can transform our lives and world.

 

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

15 AUGUST 2021

 

            The Book of Revelation was written to give hope to the baptized who were suffering for their commitment to Christ.  They believed that the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead and rules over the whole world.  However, that belief clashed with the Roman emperors’ claim that they were divine.  The Roman emperor Domitian gave himself the title “Our Lord and our God.”

            To inspire the baptized to live like Christ as their Lord and God, the author of Revelation sets heavenly visions before them.  Heaven is not a distant ideal place. Rather, it is a realm that exists side by side and intermingles with the earthly realm.  In today’s passage, the author presents a hopeful vision.  The woman with the crown of twelve stars on her head represents the twelve tribes of Israel, the Church, from whom the Messiah comes.  She is surrounded by light.  The sun envelops her.  The moon is beneath her feet.  A crown of twelve stars rests on her head.  The dragon represents the powers of darkness over the earth.  The seven crowns represent its false claims to absolute authority.  A sweeping tail demonstrates its paralyzing efficiency.  The red skin symbolizes death, the fate it intends for the woman and for those who believe in her child.  However, the dragon fails.  The newborn is “caught up to God and his throne.”  In other words, earth and heaven are intermingled on the battlefield of the cross.  The Father rescues him from death in the resurrection. 

            As we celebrate the Assumption of Mary into heaven, we reflect more deeply on her role in this Mystery.  The woman is the symbol of the Church.  But Mary is the symbol of the Church who still gives birth in the lives of the faithful.  Pope Saint Leo the Great said:  “Christ placed in the baptismal font the source of his origin in the womb of the Virgin:  the power of the most high and the overshadowing of the water to give rebirth to the believer.”  Another ancient source says, “Mary carried life in her womb; the Church, in the baptismal font.  In the body of Mary Christ put on flesh; in the waters of the Church the baptized put on Christ.”

            That is why this Solemnity of the Assumption is so important.  We put on Christ when we were baptized.  Mary is the first human person to experience the bodily resurrection of her Son.  She is the promise to us that what has happened to her can happen in us.  Her Assumption gives us the blessed hope that where she has gone, we hope to follow.  This blessed hope encourages us to live our faith now, as it encouraged the early Christians to live their faith.

            This blessed hope changes the way we view life-changing decisions.  Instead of repeating the tired phrase, “it doesn’t matter,” we realize that all our decisions great and small, truly matter.  Our decisions to take care of our health and the health of our planet truly matter.  Our decisions to respect life from the moment of conception to natural death truly matter.  Our decisions to remain faithful to our permanent commitments make a difference.

            This blessed hope focuses our attention on the importance of living with high expectations.  Our faith tells us that we are moving toward transformation, not dissolution. In God’s time, heaven and earth will be transformed into a new heaven and a new earth.  Death will not be the end, both in our individual lives, and in the life of the world.

            This blessed hope keeps our eyes focused on Jesus Christ.  In celebrating the Assumption, our attention and energies are drawn to the person of Jesus Christ.  That is what both Elizabeth and Mary do in the Gospel.  Elizabeth recognizes the great gift in the womb of her cousin.  Even her child leaps for joy in her womb.  Mary praises God for the workings in her life.  She encourages us to go in haste to be a people full of grace, not living in anxiety of the future, but waiting in joyful hope and trust that the promise of the Lord will be fulfilled. 

 

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

8 AUGUST 2021

 

          Elijah addresses a prayer to God in the first reading.  As the only remaining prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel, he had won a stunning victory over the pagan prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.  Through his efforts, God had consumed the sacrifice offered on the altar.  Elijah then slit the throats of the pagan prophets.  However, in winning that victory, he had enraged the pagan Queen, Jezebel, who now had sent her armies to pursue and kill him.  Feeling that God had abandoned him, he asks for a peaceful death in the desert.

            Instead, God sends an angel to give him a hearth cake and a jug of water.  Hearth cakes are dense and dry, formed simply from flour and water.  On land, it is known as “hardtack” and at sea “sea biscuit.”  Hearth cakes are easy to carry, packing a lot of calories, and they last for months.  Because they are not particularly tasteful and hard to bite into, travelers must soak them in water before eating them.  Strengthened by this food and water, Elijah walks through the desert to Mound Horeb (also known as Mount Sinai).  There his prayer is answered in a way he could never have expected.  God had formed the Covenant on that mountain with Moses.  Now Elijah encounters that same God, with the Covenant sealed and continued for all time.

            The crowd in today’s Gospel also addresses a prayer to Jesus.  They had been impressed when he fed 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish in a deserted place.  They have followed him around the Sea of Galilee.  Now, they want him to continue to feed them, as Moses had fed their ancestors in the desert.  Instead, he tells them that their prayer will be fulfilled in ways they could never have expected.  Once they can accept the truth about him, they can embrace the mystery of the Incarnation.  He is the living bread come down from heaven.  He will give himself to them and nourish them for eternal life.  We who have read the Prologue to the Gospel of Saint John know this truth.  He is the Incarnate Word who has pitched his tent and dwells among us.  But they refuse to believe him, because they think that they know his origins.  They know his mother and the one whom they presume is his father.

            We too address prayers to God on a daily basis.  We ask for any number of good things:  health for ourselves and for our children.  We ask for a good job to provide for our families.  We ask the Lord to spare our afflicted friends and relatives from death.  We ask for a quick end to this current pandemic, which is raising its ugly head again.  It is fine to ask for these things, as Elijah asked for a peaceful death in the desert, and as the crowd in the Gospel asked for food.  Sometimes the Lord answers these prayers in the way we ask.  At other times he does not.

            But he promises us what he promised that crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  He promises an intimate relationship with him that even death cannot destroy.  His promise rests in the Eucharist we celebrate.  If we eat the unleavened flour and water that has been transformed into his Body, we will live forever.  Not only that, but we will be strengthened by this bread from heaven to continue our journey, just as Elijah was strengthened by the hearth cakes and water on his journey to meet the Lord on Mount Horeb.

            That is why we will be dismissed at the end of this Mass and told to go in peace.  As Saint Augustine noted, we become what we receive.  We are formed a little more into the Body of Christ to be imitators of God, as Saint Paul points out to the Ephesians.  We can be more kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven us in Christ.  Those simple actions have a greater effect than we think, especially in our troubled and divided world.