HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH

31 DECEMBER 2023

 

          The readings from the Book of Genesis and the Letter to the Hebrews help us to understand the dynamics of an authentic faith.  Abram heard God’s call and believed that God would settle him and his family in a new home.  Once established in the land, he continued to trust that God would provide Sarah and him with children, even in their advanced in age.  When God finally blessed them with Isaac, their child, Abraham’s faith was tested.  He obeyed God’s command to sacrifice his only son.  Abraham was rewarded with more children than sand on the shore of the sea or the stars in the sky (one of the Covenants in the center aisle).

            Many centuries later, two of Abraham’s children come to the temple in Jerusalem to express their belief in God and dedicate their newborn son.  Joseph and Mary could have ignored the law, given the circumstances of their son’s birth.  They can only afford a pair of turtledoves, unlike most residents of Jerusalem who could bring a lamb for the sacrifice.  They offer their humble sacrifice to express their trust that the Lord would remain with them, no matter what might happen to them.  They meet Simeon, who recognizes their child as the promised messiah for whom he had waited all his life.  Along with the pious old woman Anna, Simeon blesses them but warns them of the pain that will come with their son’s mission.  Their son would obey the will of his Father to go to the sacrifice of the cross to express his total gift of love.

            Saint Luke tells us that Anna is an old widow who has spent her entire life praying in the temple.  That prayer has opened her eyes to see the truth about this child.  Saint Luke does not specify the age of Simeon, even though we often presume that he is an old man.  Whatever his age, his encounter with the child allows him to leave the temple in peace.  This encounter changes his life, much like so many other people who will be changed by their encounters with Jesus Christ as he grows in faith, trust, and obedience as an adult.

            We too have encountered the newborn Christ in this Christmas Season.  Like Simeon, we have held him in our hands or on our tongues when we have received his real presence in Holy Communion.  Like Anna, we can give thanks to the Father for the gift of his only begotten Son.  Like Abraham and Sarah, we can walk away from this Christmas Season with renewed trust that God will continue to be present in our families.

            Our families come in all kinds of sizes and makeups.  Today’s Feast does not invite us to compare our families with the Holy Family.  In fact, we can never compete with a father who obeys messages in dreams, with a mother who never sinned, and with a child who is God.  When I was a child, this feast of the Holy Family always depressed me, because our priests insisted that we must behave like the Holy Family.  As I rode home in the back seat of the car, fighting with my brother and sister, I knew there was no way that we could compete with that family. 

The Feast of the Holy Family invites us to a greater message – to believe in the presence of the Lord, no matter what our family looks like.  If you are a single person, know that Jesus himself embraced that vocation.  If you live in a family torn apart by divorce or separation, trust that the Lord will not abandon you, just as Abraham and Sarah trusted that the Lord would keep his promise in their new land.  If your family is experiencing a painful test of any kind, remain confident that you can survive it, as Abraham did.  No matter what difficulties our families may experience, we are called as a family bound together by baptism to trust that the Lord is present and will remain with us in thick or thin.  Jesus Christ has taken on human flesh and dwells in our midst.  That is what makes us and our families holy.

 

CHRISTMAS 2023

 

          It was exactly 800 years ago on this night that Saint Francis of Assisi put together the first Christmas creche in a cave in Greccio, Italy.  Greccio is a small town near Assisi built on a mountainside.  He wanted the people of Greccio to put themselves in the nativity scene, so that they could experience the presence of the Word made Flesh in their midst – God with us.  He prepared a manger and brought hay, along with an ox and a donkey and other animals.  His friars recruited people from the town to take the roles of the human characters.   

            Saint Bonaventure describes what happened.  Francis, who was a deacon, stood before the manger radiant with joy and chanted the Gospel and preached to the people around the nativity of the poor King.  Overcome with love for him, he was unable to utter his name and called him the Babe of Bethlehem.  Master John of Greccio had left the military and witnessed the miracles that resulted from this first creche.  During the Mass, the baby Jesus appeared in the manger.  Francis went to the manger and held the babe in his arms as if to awaken him from sleep.  The people of the town preserved the hay of the manger, which miraculously cured all diseases of cattle and many other pestilences.

            Eight hundred years later, we continue this practice begun by Saint Francis in the creches which we put underneath our Christmas trees at home.  We have a more than life-sized creche in the Parish Life Center, with lots of hay.  We have the carved olive tree from our Holy Land pilgrimage last year.  It contains hand crafted figures connecting us to our friends in Bethlehem who are suffering so much this Christmas. 

            Our creches invite us to enter more deeply into that great mystery we celebrate today.  Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at.  Instead, he emptied himself and became one of us in the flesh.  He was not born in a royal palace.  Instead, he was born in poverty – in a stable in an insignificant village.  The angels announced his birth not to the rulers in Jerusalem nor to the religious leaders.  They announced it to shepherds living on the margins of society.  The wood of the manger which held him securely would one day give way to the wood of the cross.  On that cross, he would lower himself out of absolute love to take on human suffering and death.  By doing this, he unites himself with our suffering and conquers our death.

            Today, we celebrate this incredible Mystery of God taking on human flesh and dwelling among us.  We hear the announcements of the angels in the Liturgy of the Word and fall on our knees in the middle of the creed, as Saint Francis did in his creche.  Like Francis, we hold the Lord’s real presence in our hands or on our tongues when we receive Communion.  Like the residents of Greccio, we are sent forth to proclaim the Miracle of our Savior’s birth.

            We don’t need to take the hay from our creche.  But, we can take the Christmas Miracle with us.  When we are more patient with family members who get on our nerves, we take the Christmas Miracle with us.  When we listen to those with whom we disagree and not write them off, we take the Christmas Miracle with us.  When we maintain hope that wars will end and peace will be established, we take the Christmas Miracle with us.  When we see our infinite God in the small and trivial and insignificant moments of our lives, we take the Christmas Miracle with us.  No matter what may happen in the coming year, we can take the Christmas Miracle to maintain our confidence that darkness will not prevail.  The Christmas Miracle is Emmanuel – God with us, made flesh, and born in our hearts today.

 

 

 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

17 DECEMBER 2023

 

          King David has been very successful.  After years of fighting, he has finally attained peace.  So, he consults with his prophet, Nathan about building a proper temple for the Lord.  He enjoys living in a house of cedar, while the Ark of the Covenant dwells in a tent.  At first, Nathan agrees with him.  However, after consulting the Lord, Nathan comes back to say that God has greater plans for David.  Nathan reminds the king that all of his successes are not his alone.  They are due to the Lord working through him.  His son, Solomon, will build the physical temple.  God will raise up an heir from his house and make his throne will stand firm forever.  God promises to be a father to this heir.  David’s house and his kingdom shall endure forever.

            This is the last of the Old Testament Covenants in our church’s main aisle.  In the center of the mosaic, there is an image of the Ark of the Covenant, carried by David’s ancestors as they journeyed in the Desert of Sinai from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  The Ark of the Covenant contains the tablets given to Moses at Mount Sinai.  Above the Ark is David’s crown.  Like all of the Covenants in our center aisle, this final Covenant represents God’s loving promise and commitment that will never be revoked.

            Saint Luke clearly sees this promise and Covenant fulfilled in the birth announcement to a young Jewish woman in the remote small town of Nazareth.  This birth announcement follows the pattern of former birth announcements in the Old Testament.  The Angel appears and greets Mary with the words, “Hail, full of grace!  The Lord is with you”.  Mary expresses her fear at the sudden and unexpected visit from one of the Lord’s messengers.  Then Gabriel gives her the message.  She is to conceive and bear a son whom she will name “Jesus”.  He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.”  Mary then raises an objection.  She has never been married and has had no relations with a man.  The angel assures her that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her and gives her a sign.  Her elderly cousin, Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, have conceived a child in their old age and are now in the sixth month of their pregnancy.

            Mary trusts Gabriel’s word that nothing will be impossible for God.  Even though Mary has no idea what will be involved, she freely agrees and calls herself the handmaid of the Lord.  She opens herself to God’s word and never turns back.  Through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, Mary becomes the living Ark of the Covenant.  There are no words written on stone tablets in her womb.  Instead, she bears the living Word of God who will change the entire history of the world.

            Mary could have said no to the Lord’s request, as Eve had done at the beginning of time.  Instead, she trusts whatever God has in mind.  She would continue to trust the message of the Angel throughout her entire life.  She may have suffered much.  But she never wavered, whether as an immigrant in Egypt or standing on a hill of execution watching her son die a terrible death.

            Because Mary trusted that the  promise made to David would be fulfilled in her, we will celebrate the Mystery of the Incarnation tomorrow and Monday at all the Christmas Masses.  Mary teaches us how to enter into the Christmas Masses.  Like her, we trust that nothing will be impossible for God.  We trust that our celebration of this incredible mystery has the power to change us.  We trust that the Lord will be present to us, not matter what may happen with our families at Christmas and into the New Year.

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

17 DECEMBER 2023

 

          In this section of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the Prophet speaks for the Lord to a people living in darkness.  They are poor and brokenhearted.  They had been captives in Babylon for fifty years.  They have finally returned to Jerusalem.  Because most of them had been born in exile, they are in the Promised Land for the first time.  After a long journey, they did not find a beautiful temple and a glorious city that their parents had described.  Instead, they found ruins and destruction and devastation.  Now, they have the very difficult task of rebuilding.

            The Prophet tells them to rejoice heartily in the Lord.  Having freed them from captivity, the Lord comes as a bridegroom meeting Jerusalem, his bride.  He promises that she will be clothed in a robe of salvation and wrapped in a mantle of justice and bedecked with jewels.  In other words, God promises that Jerusalem will reclaim her role to reflect God’s glory and power to all the nations.

            In his Gospel, Saint John sees this prophecy fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.  John the Baptist is wildly popular with the people.  He has struck a chord by baptizing those who have a change of heart.  But he is also very humble.  In responding to the questions of the religious leaders, he insists that he is not the Christ, the promised Messiah for whom they had waited for centuries.  He is not Elijah, whom the faithful had expected to come again to save them.  He is not the Prophet, another Moses who will lead his people from Roman control to freedom.  He does not allow his popularity to go to his head.  Instead, he points away from himself to Jesus Christ, who is coming as the light shining in darkness.

            In testifying to Jesus Christ, Baptist is the first of many who will encounter him and become witnesses to other people in the Gospel of Saint John.  This will happen to the woman at the well, the man born blind, and Lazarus.  By insisting on who he is not, the Baptist is pointing to Jesus, the light of the world, who will reveal his divinity by saying “I am”  many times in this Gospel, repeating God’s answer to Moses in asking his identity.  “I am the light of the world.”  “I am the Good Shepherd.”  “I am the bread of life.”  “I am the resurrection and the life.” 

            In many ways, we share the darkness of those exiles returning from Babylon six centuries before the birth of Christ.  We live in physical darkness.  Today is one of the darkest days of the year.  We will experience only nine hours and twenty-seven minutes of daylight.  That leaves us with more than fourteen hours of darkness.  Besides physical darkness, we live at a very dark time in history.  We witness the horror of war on too many fronts:  in the war between Israel and Hamas, in the wars in Ukraine and Sudan, and in more conflicts around the world.  Because of the war, there is no celebration of Christmas in Bethlehem this year.  The dignity of human life is ignored on a regular basis in our own country, with gun violence and abortion taking the lives of innocent people.  We live in a deeply divided society where it is easy to shout at one another and argue about what is actually true.  We’ve got climate change, natural disasters and personal insecurity about relationships, jobs, health and retirement.

            And yet, Saint Paul gives us the same advice that the Prophet had given to his people:  “rejoice always.”  On this Gaudete Sunday, we wear rose vestments and light the rose candle.  With John the Baptist, we point away from ourselves and away from any personal darkness to Jesus Christ, the light of the world.  We wait to celebrate his first coming as a poor infant born in a stable.  We wait in joyful hope for him to come again, at the end of our lives or in the second coming.  This darkness will not last.  Our hope is not based on some wishful thinking.  Our hope is based on how God’s light has illumined other dark times.  The light of Christ will prevail.  

 

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

10 DECEMBER 2023

 

          In this section of the Prophet Isaiah, the Prophet speaks a word of comfort to his people.  They need to hear it.  They have languished in captivity in Babylon for five decades.  Everything they had cherished had been destroyed – the city of Jerusalem, their temple, their leadership, and their future.  The Prophet gives them hope.  It is not a hope based on wishful thinking.  It is a hope based on God’s faithful promises in the past.  This hope is based on God forgiving them for their infidelity to the Covenant, as God had done many times in the past.  God will make straight paths for them in the desert, as he had done for their ancestors in leading them through a desert from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  Unlike their human leaders who had served themselves, God will be a loving shepherd leading them back to Mount Zion, where they will once again proclaim tidings of good news.

            That is why the Lord has led us into this Season of Advent.  No matter how messed up our troubled world may be, Advent invites us to renew our hope that the Lord will come again to make all things new.  At the Second Coming, there will be no more brutal wars and disrespect for the dignity of the human person.  No matter how difficult our personal lives may be, Advent invites us to peer through the darkness and see the light of Christ’s love.  This hope is not wishful thinking, like hoping that the Chicago Bears will turn things around and start winning more games.  It is a hope based on God’s action in the past.

            We hear the beginning of the Gospel according to Mark.  He proclaims incredibly joyful tidings.  Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Anointed One, the long-awaited Messiah.  He is the Son of God, not just another human being speaking for God.  Throughout this new Liturgical Year, we will hear from the Mark’s Gospel.  Mark has already given us the truth about Jesus Christ that people will gradually come to know.  With this truth in mind, we can wait to celebrate the first coming of Jesus Christ in a couple of weeks.  We wait in hope to celebrate that birth will make Christmas much more meaningful for us.  Our waiting renews our hope that the Mystery of the Incarnation makes a difference in our lives.  Our waiting also renews our hope that we will be prepared for second coming of Jesus Christ at a time we do not know.

            Saint John the Baptist gives us some hints on how to wait for the Coming of the Lord.  He does not proclaim his message in the sacred temple or on the crowded streets of Jerusalem.  He goes to the barren desert, where he points the way to the promised Messiah.  Mindful of the food consumed by his ancestors in the Desert, he eats locusts and wild honey.  Like Elijah, the first prophet of ancient Israel, he is clothed in camel’s hair.  We don’t need to eat locusts and honey.  We don’t need to go shopping for camel’s hair clothing.  But, the Baptist invites us to withdraw from the hectic pace of the “holiday season” to spend some time in quiet prayer.  When we take a few moments each day to reflect in prayer, we can be more aware of the ways that the Lord has come into our lives.  Our hope is based on the Lord’s faithfulness to us in the past.  Getting to know him better now prepares us for his Second Coming. 

            The Baptist also calls us to repent.  In quiet prayer, we become more aware of the times we have chosen to ignore the Lord’s presence or deny him by our actions.  Instead of carrying our guilt on our shoulders or blaming other people for our problems, we can bring them our sins to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and give them over to the Lord.  In this Sacrament, he truly takes away our sins.  He gives us the grace to move forward and do what the Baptist did – point away from ourselves and draw attention to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  That is our hope.  We will not be disappointed.

 

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

3 DECEMBER 2023

 

          We live in a culture of speed, efficiency, and action.  We connect with each other through instant messaging.  We consume fast food and use microwave ovens to get our meals done faster.  At this time of the year, we are encouraged to get out there and do everything we can to enjoy the “holidays.”  Our Scripture readings today are counter cultural.  They tell us that waiting is important.  We wait to celebrate the first coming of the Lord at Christmas.  We wait in joyful hope for his second coming at the end of time and at the end of our lives.  Waiting is difficult.  But just as cooking together exposes the wonderful aromas of the food we are preparing, waiting also makes the meal we share together much more enjoyable.  If we wait through Advent to celebrate Christmas, that Mystery will have much greater meaning in our lives.

            Waiting also opens our minds and hearts to recognize the presence of Christ in our lives now.  The Lord came the first time as a vulnerable infant born in a stable.  He comes now in the form of ordinary bread and ordinary wine.  He speaks to us in ordinary human words.  In telling us to watch and wait in today’s Gospel, he is not giving us a guide to calculate a deadline.  He is giving us an inspiration and warning to live our lives at each moment as we wait for his coming.  In waiting and watching, we are more apt to recognize the surprising ways he comes to us in the people and events around us.

            The key to successful waiting is to spend quality time in prayer.  In addition to Sunday Advent Masses, we offer special liturgies every Tuesday evening to give ourselves the space to wait in joyful hope, instead of frantically rushing around in the “holiday spirit.”  On this First Sunday of Advent, we are all invited to renew our commitment to stewardship of prayer.  Please read the materials we send home.  But for now, please listen to Stephen Jagla, who will talk about his own commitment to the stewardship of prayer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you, Father. My name is Stephen Jagla, I’m married to my wife, Grace, and we have 3 beautiful children, Josie, Sophie, and Luke. We’ve been parishioners here for about three years.    

So, Fr. Bill asked me to consider speaking to you. I asked, ‘what would you like me to talk about?’ He said Prayer. And I said ‘Father! I have three kids under the ages of four! Do you know what my prayer looks like nowadays? Our Mass experience is somewhere between holy contemplation and WWE WrestleMania… mostly the latter! And I’m lucky if we get through one decade of the rosary before our two-year-old starts using our couch as a trampoline!’ 

It’s true, prayer looks completely different for me than it ever has before. Having once discerned priesthood, where daily holy hours were a fixture in my life, this new, more distracted form of prayer seems different. That’s why I’m encouraged by the Church when reading the Catechism’s section on prayer. One paragraph struck me most: Regarding distractions it says, “To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart…a humble awareness before the lord should awaken our preferential love for him”.  It’s this humble awareness, this consistent turning back to the Source, that I know is prayer. 

In teaching our kids to genuflect it’s often very distracted and very cute. One, genuflects toward the back, probably because there’s donuts back there, the other doesn’t quite get the knee thing yet, so she just squats toward Jesus. Imperfect, but so beautiful, their little efforts. And each time, as a dad, I’m totally in love with them and these efforts. Because despite the distractions, I feel like I know their little hearts. If I, as a sinful father know this, how much more does our perfect Father know and love us and our efforts to pray? This is the essence of stewardship. Give yourself to a Giver who has already Given. Let yourself be loved by Him through prayer.

Now, when I think about stewardship, prayer hasn’t always been the first one that comes to my mind. After all, I’m a fundraiser for a living, a “professional beggar” if you will. But as I’ve grown in my faith, and especially as a father, I’ve come to see that being strong in prayer is the single most important thing I can do for my children, my parish.

As much as it’s easy to put off prayer when you’re busy, to say ‘I’ll pray more when the kids are older… when I’m sleeping through the night, nothing makes our family happier or more peaceful than when we’re in the habit of our morning prayer, our nightly rosary.  

And that’s why I’m especially excited to have recently joined St. Pius’s new ministry, Eucharistic Praise and Worship where, once a month, we gather in the evening to sing to Jesus in adoration. And if you’re tempted to think you’re too busy, look no further for inspiration than Teresa Chase, who leads the ministry, playing piano, all while her five kids under the age of six run around her. 

I’m just thankful to be part of a parish that provides so much opportunity for prayer and I encourage you to consider joining a ministry in this new liturgical year, a kind of liturgical New Year’s resolution. But for right now I pray that we might give ourselves completely in this, holy mass, the greatest of prayers, and trust in Him as His beloved little children, distractions, and all.

 

 

OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE

26 NOVEMBER 2023

 

            Both those on the Lord’s right and left side are surprised.  Neither was aware of what their actions mean.  Those on the right did not recognize the Lord when they fed the hungry, or gave drink to the thirsty, or welcomed the stranger, or clothed the naked, or cared for the ill, or visited a prisoner.  At the end of time, they receive a surprising judgment of praise and affirmation.  Those on the left did not recognize the Lord either.  But in refusing to respond to the needs of those who sought their help, they failed to respond to Christ.  They receive a harsh judgment and are consigned to eternal punishment, living forever in what they have failed to do.

            We are the sheep of the Lord’s flock.  It might help us understand how this parable applies to us if we look at the Greek words for “sheep” and “goats.”  The Greek word that is translated as “sheep” can mean any small grazing animal, even small cattle.  The Greek word that is translated as “goat” is the diminutive of a Greek word “wool,” as in “little wooly creatures.”  They are less desirable, because they are not fully grown or have not reached their full potential.  The parable challenges us to behave like fully mature sheep of the Lord’s flock and recognize the Lord in the people we serve.  We cannot be one of the little wooly creatures who care only about ourselves and our own welfare and ignore the needs of others.

            Jesus invites us to grow in maturity as sheep of his flock.  Over the years, I have grown in understanding my role as a sheep called to serve the needs of others.  When I was first ordained, I served as an Associate at Saint Matthew Cathedral, where there were lots of people in need in that neighborhood.  One homeless man kept coming to the side door and asking for the young priest.  He did not want to see Bishop Crowley, the pastor, who clearly had his number!  I would always give him cash, because I did not want to be one of those goats going to hell for failing to recognize Jesus Christ in him.  One day while visiting Memorial Hospital, I heard him yelling for the “young priest” to come to his room.  He had a few of his toes amputated, because he had turned my gift into alcohol and fallen asleep outside in the cold, freezing his toes.  Instead of being a fully-grown sheep, I was for him an enabling wooly creature.        

            Our parish offers many opportunities to be mature sheep and practice the corporal works of mercy.  You can make casseroles for the Homeless Shelter to feed the hungry.  Or you can join the Saint Vincent de Paul Society or bring food for their pantry.  The refugee resettlement program can always use more volunteers.  Or you can be a minister of hospitality and welcome the stranger coming to Mass.  Our giving tree program provides clothing.  We have many parish outreach programs for the sick and homebound.  Our new prison ministry program is getting off to a good start.  Over time, the Church has added a seventh corporal work of mercy – burying the dead.  Our bereavement ministry can always use more help.  There are many local opportunities to become personally involved in serving the poor.

            Some generous parishioners have donated stained glass windows to be placed in the three rose windows of the church.  The rose window in the nave will depict the Beatitudes from Saint Matthew’s Gospel.  The seven corporal works of mercy will be in the window on one of the transepts, with the seven spiritual works of mercy on the other side.  That window will be a constant reminder that we must continue to become more mature sheep, mindful that in serving those in need, we are serving Jesus Christ himself.  It will also remind us that we must become more aware and receptive to the day-to-day needs of those around us.  If we form a pattern of dying to ourselves and responding to their needs, however big or small, we will avoid being those little wooly creatures who spend eternity stuck on themselves.  

 

THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

19 NOVEMBER 2023

 

          The master in today’s parable is extremely generous.  One talent is eighty pounds of silver or 6,000 denarii.  Since an average laborer earned one denarius for a full day’s work, one talent would give a worker 83 years of labor to invest.  In today’s dollars, he gives some forty million dollars to the three servants in various amounts.

            The master is very confident.  He never questions his servants’ trustworthiness, ability, or integrity.  He seems to have absolute confidence that leaving these huge chunks of money is a wise and prudent decision.  He is so confident that he goes away and probably sleeps well at night on his journey. 

            He has high expectations that his servants will use his gifts wisely.  His expectations are obvious when he praises the first two servants who invested his gifts well.  They had met his expectations fully.  But the third servant does not.  He has buried his talent out of fear.  Unlike the other two servants who obviously love their master, he does not.

            Jesus tells this parable to us, who are his disciples. He has been extremely generous to us.  He has emptied himself for us in the Mystery of the Incarnation, when he took on our human flesh and became one with us in all things but sin.  He has entrusted the fullness of his love to us in his teachings and in the gift of the kingdom of heaven in our midst.  He has given himself out of sacrificial love for us in his death and resurrection.  After he had accomplished his mission, he ascended to the right hand of the Father and gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit.  He has been extremely generous and has withheld absolutely nothing from us.

            We became his disciples when we were baptized.  He chose us, not because of our abilities or trustworthiness or integrity.  He has confidence in us, simply he loves us as his sons and daughters.  He is confident that we can live our baptismal promises in order to share in the fullness of the eternal gifts he has so generously given us.

Like the master in the parable, Jesus has high expectations.  He expects us to return his love by dying to ourselves on a daily basis to share in his rising.  Not only does he expect us to imitate his dying, he is gives every one of us certain gifts to various degrees and abilities.  He expects us to invest those gifts in specific ways by giving humble service.  He expects us to imitate his example of washing the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper.

When he comes again in glory at the end of time, he will reward us for the ways in which we have imitated his sacrificial love and the ways in which we have invested our gifts in humble service.  He warns us that fear is the greatest obstacle to being good stewards.  We may fail to die to ourselves when we are afraid that those deaths will have no reward.  We can neglect to be humble servants, because we are afraid that no one will notice the sacrifices we make.  When we refuse to invest the talents we have been given, we bury those talents in the ground.  When the Lord comes again in glory, there will be a judgment.  He will expect a return on his investment.

Saint Paul gives good advice.  We know neither the day nor the hour the Lord will come for us.   The Lord will come at the end of our individual lives, as he has already come for so many of our loved ones.  He will come at the end of time.  We cannot live in fear, because we do not live in darkness.  We live in the light of faith, the light that instructs us and connects us with Christ the light.  As we wait, we need to be actively involved in our faith, dying to ourselves and our selfishness each day and investing our God-given talents in humble service.  In the light of faith, we keep in mind the incredible generosity of the one who gave his life for us. 

 

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

12 NOVEMBER 2023

 

          During November, while the farmers are harvesting the crops they had planted in the spring, we remember those loved ones whom God has “harvested” in death.  We began the month by celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints.  All those countless men and women, both canonized and those we have known, are interceding for us and giving us examples of holiness.  On the next day, we prayed for all our loved ones who have died.  We continue to pray for them, because we trust in God’s mercy.  They may be going through the process of being purified, with the fire of God’s love burning away what might separate them from God and the saints.

            In praying for the dead, we become more aware of our mortality.  Each of us will be gathered by the Lord, either in our individual deaths, or at the end of the world.  We cannot know the day or time.  This is the concern that Saint Paul addresses in his Letter to the Thessalonians.  They had expected the Lord to return in their lifetime.  However, that second coming has not occurred.  They have expressed their concern to Saint Paul, who tells them to grieve in hope.   Their hope lies in the Paschal Mystery – Christ’s death and resurrection.  Saint Paul promises that those who had died with Christ throughout their lives will share in his resurrection, even though he has not returned in glory.  He says, “then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds.”  He is using symbolic language to assure us that we too will share in the fullness of his resurrection if we share fully in his dying.  He is not talking about what some Biblical readers call “the rapture.”

            Today’s parable directly addresses each of us as disciples of the Jesus Christ.  It is based on the wedding practices of the first century in the Holy Land.  Marriages were arranged by the fathers of the bride and groom, who would go through a time of betrothal.  When the time had come for them to be married, there would be a procession of the bride from her family’s house to the family’s house of the groom.  Sometimes, that procession would be delayed as the fathers made final agreements.  That seems to be the situation in this parable.  The bridegroom and his party have been delayed.  The ten teenage virgins had fallen asleep.  But when the groom and his party arrive, the five wise virgins use the extra oil that they had brought.  The five foolish virgins had not planned ahead do not have enough oil.  They have to run to the local Martin’s and come back too late.  They are locked out of the wedding banquet.

            This parable is addressed directly to us.  We, the disciples of Jesus Christ, the faithful bridegroom, need to be prepared for his coming for us, who are his bride, the Church.  He has already delayed his coming for over two thousand years.  He will come for us at the end of our lives, as he has already come for so many of those whom we love.  We must make sure that we have plenty of oil.  The oil represents our spiritual vigilance, our willingness to put our faith into action by persevering in good works.  Those good works cannot be shared.  The wise virgins are not selfish.  The parable invites us to be honest about how often we are foolish today.  We are foolish when we come to Mass on Sunday and do not put into action in our daily lives the Mystery of the Lord’s dying and rising that we celebrate here.  We are foolish when we refuse to respond to invitations to be humble servants.  We are foolish when we pass up opportunities to be reconciled with those we have offended.  We who are waiting have time to change our ways to become like the virgins who brought extra oil.  The parable is not designed to make us afraid of death.  Instead, this parable and this month of November challenge us to evaluate how much we put our faith into practice.  Armed with this oil, we can be prepared to meet the Lord when he comes, so we can participate in the eternal wedding banquet.

 

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

29 OCTOBER 2023

 

          Today, Jesus is in the temple teaching.  He had entered triumphantly into Jerusalem.  The crowds people welcome him.  But the religious leaders are opposed to him.  He had silenced the Sadducees.  Now, their conservative opponents, the Pharisees try to trip him up.  A scholar of the law, asks what appears to be an innocent question.  It is not.  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  The Pharisees had developed 613 laws from the Law of Moses.  284 are “thou shalt” commandments.  365 are “thou shalt not” commandments.  The scribe has a formal education in all of these commandments and knows them well.  He is testing Jesus, a rabbi from Nazareth with no formal education.  He wants to expose Jesus as a self-taught teacher ignorant of the Law of Moses.

            Jesus walks right through his trap.  He quotes Deuteronomy 6:5.  “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  It is a command prayed by faithful Jews every day – the Shema Israel.  Without hesitating, he quotes Leviticus 19:18.  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Then he says, “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

            The brilliance of his answer lies in his radical connection of these two commandments.  The law is very specific about what it means to love God.  Loving God involves the heart, the center of a person’s being.  Loving God involves the soul, the life form itself.  Loving God includes the mind, which gives understanding and strength to make the right decisions.  Those same qualities apply to loving neighbor.  Love is not just a warm feeling or a strong emotional attachment.  Love involves our entire person centering our lives on God and on our neighbors created in God’s image.  Authentic love is the decision to want the best for another for the sake of the other, whether we like the person or agree with the person.

            Our first reading gives two of the 365 “shall nots” from the Law of Moses.  Both have to do with those on the margins of society.  The first applies to aliens, widows, and orphans.  They have no family ties to support them.  God has a special care for them, especially since their ancestors had been aliens in Egypt themselves.  The second applies to the poor.  Poor neighbors must rely on the generosity of those with more resources to survive.  When those with more resources lend money, they look for collateral to make sure that they will be repaid.  For  the poor, the only collateral they have is their clothing.  The commandment insists that clothing cannot be kept as collateral overnight, because that is the poor person’s only blanket.

            As we apply these two closely connected commandments to our daily lives, we too must be conscious of our responsibility to love those who are at the margins of society today.  Many of our ancestors had come to this country as immigrants.  The plight of refugees has become a divisive political issue.  But our parish is sponsoring refugee families who have been properly vetted through Catholic Charities.  On this first weekend of the month, we can support our Saint Vincent de Paul Society in providing food and necessary funds for those who come to us in need.  We support Father Larry and his parish in Uganda, knowing that they will never be able to repay us.  The same support goes to our sister parish of Saint Adalbert and our Palestinian Christian friends in the Holy Land.  When we respond to their needs, either individually or through our parish, we are keeping the greatest commandment, the command to love God and neighbor.        

 

 

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

22 OCTOBER 2023

 

          In the Ancient Near East, pagans regarded their gods as territorial.  Each god was thought to be in charge of a distinct territory.  However, the Prophet Isaiah reminds his people that the one true God is not territorial.  The one true God has remained faithful to his people in captivity in Babylon, even though the temple, God’s dwelling place, has been destroyed.  God remains with his people, even though they had been unfaithful to the Covenant.

            Today, Isaiah speaks in God’s name to tell his people that they have been forgiven.  God will return them to the Promised Land, and God will do it in a completely unexpected way.  The one true God will use a pagan king who knows nothing about God to allow his people to return.  God exercises his absolute power by choosing King Cyrus as the “anointed one” (literally, as the messiah).  God will use Cyrus to reveal to the nations that there is only one true Lord.

            This truth is at the heart of the conflict in today’s Gospel.  Jesus has been teaching in the temple during the last week of his life.  Many of his parables have been very unflattering to the religious leaders of the people.  So, the Pharisees are trying to get even with him.  They are joined by the Herodians, the supporters of King Herod who owes his power to the occupying Romans.  The two groups have nothing in common, except that they are both opposed to Jesus and his teaching in the temple.

            Their disciples approach Jesus and try to flatter him, telling him what a great teacher he is.  Then they pose a question to trap him.  “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”  If he answers that it is lawful, the Pharisees will use his response to deny that he is the Messiah.  How could a Jewish Messiah support a ruthless and cruel occupation force?  If he answers that it is not lawful, the Herodians will turn him over to the Romans and accuse him of sedition.

            Instead of falling into their trap, he asks for a coin that pays the census tax.  He already has the upper hand, because those disciples should not be carrying a Roman coin.  The coin has the image of Caesar with the inscription:  Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, high priest.”  These same disciples charge a hefty fee to worshippers coming to the temple to purchase coins without that image.  In fact, earlier that week, Jesus had overturned the money changers’ tables in the temple area.  He answers by saying, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

            In essence, he is giving the same message that Isaiah had given to his people in exile in Babylon centuries before.  There is only one true God who remains with his people.  God has made everyone in his image, even Caesar.  Jesus reveals himself as the Son of God who will be sacrificed, not on a sacred altar in the temple, but on an execution hill outside the city.  He will be raised on the third day from the dead.  That death and resurrection will reconcile all people made in God’s image to the Father. 

            As Americans, we often interpret this familiar response to speak of the separation of church and state.  Of course, as citizens of this country, we support our government by voting and paying taxes.  However, his answer goes well beyond a separation of church and state.  We are made in God’s image.  Everything we have is a gift from God.  In gratitude, we give back to the Lord a generous portion of what he has given to us.  Does this sound familiar?  It should, because this is exactly what we mean in describing stewardship as a way of life through prayer, service, and sacrificial giving.

 

 

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

15 OCTOBER 2023

 

          Isaiah speaks of a mountain on which God will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure choice wines.  On this mountain, he will destroy the veil that veils all people.  He will destroy death forever and wipe away the tears of every face.

            Ironically, this prophecy is not fulfilled on the top of a glorious mountain filled with light and glory.  It is fulfilled on Mount Calvary, when Jesus is stripped of his clothes and crucified like a common criminal.  It is a very dark day.  Most of his closest disciples have abandoned him.  There seems to be no hope.  As he dies, Jesus laments that his Father has abandoned him.  The power of death and sin seems to have prevailed.  But, three days later, in the light of the resurrection, it becomes clear that Jesus has destroyed the power of death by entering into it.  His Father has not abandoned him.  Jesus has won the victory by his utter faithfulness to the will of the Father.  He promises that those who die with him will rise with him.

            Jesus tells this parable of the wedding feast to the chief priests and elders of the people in the temple during the last week before his crucifixion.  His parable states that everyone is invited to the kingdom of God, which he has been proclaiming and which he will seal with his death and resurrection.  But the invited guests make all kinds of excuses for not coming.  Then, the king sends out a second invitation, which is also ignored.  So, the king sends his servants to invite anyone whom they encounter in the streets to come to the wedding feast.

            Saint Matthew records this parable after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in the year 70, some forty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The parable makes it clear that Jesus has invited everyone, even the chief priests and elders of the people, to be part of the kingdom of God and share the rich feast of his death and resurrection.   However, they have refused the invitation, along with all those who had heard the prophecy of Isaiah and continue to wait for it to be fulfilled.  Gentiles have taken their place and participate in the Eucharist, sharing fully in the Paschal Mystery; the Lord’s dying and rising.

            It is easy to hear this parable and judge those who rejected the invitation.  “They really blew it,” we might say.  But this response is missing the point of the parable, the living Word of God, spoken to us today.  The last thing we need these days is any kind of antisemitism.  We may have been joined to the Kingdom of God when we were baptized.  But there have been times when we received a call from the Lord to spend more time in prayer or give ourselves in humble service.  There are other times when we walked away from an opportunity to be a good neighbor to someone.  We make excuses or claim to be too busy.  That is why it is important for us to pay attention to the man who is thrown out in the darkness.  He does not violate some strict dress code.  By neglecting to wear the wedding garment, he does not engage in the work of the kingdom.  When we were baptized, we were clothed with a white garment.  We were told to wear that garment.  We wear our baptismal garment when we put our faith into action.

We gather today at the Eucharist, a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure choice wines.  The Mystery of the Lord’s dying and rising is made present here as we remember it.  The Lord feeds us to strengthen our resolve to put our faith into action.  At the end of time, the Lord will enter the world for final judgment, just as the king entered the wedding feast.  He will expect us to wear the wedding garment of repentance and participation in the life of the Church.  We thank God for inviting us to be part of the Kingdom.  We must choose to be intentional disciples and put on Christ as on the day of our baptism.

 

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

8 OCTOBER 2023

 

          In his last week before his crucifixion, Jesus is in the temple and tells this parable to the chief priests and elders of the people.  They are the religious leaders in charge of temple worship.  They are skeptical of his teaching authority.  They understand the context of this parable.  They know that Israel is often pictured as God’s vineyard.  They would pray the same psalm which we just prayed, thanking God for transplanting his vine from Egypt to the Promised Land.  They would know the song which Isaiah sang as our first reading:  that God planted his people on a fertile hillside and did all the work for the vineyard to produce good grapes.  They would agree with Isaiah about the reason for the wild grapes.  Their ancestors had been unfaithful to the Covenant mediated by Moses at Mount Sinai in the Exodus.  They would see the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians as the result of their infidelity.

            But Jesus is not talking about their ancestors.  He is addressing this parable to them.  In the parable, he reminds them that God has sent prophets through the centuries to speak the truth to Israel, the tenants of the vineyard.  But their ancestors had ignored the true prophets and killed many of them.  Now, he speaks of God sending his own son to the vineyard to obtain its produce.  When they agree that the tenants should be put to a wretched death, Jesus quotes Psalm 118 and points out that he is the stone rejected by the builders.  He is the cornerstone.  Because they refuse to listen to him, the kingdom of God will be taken away from them and given to a people that will produce good fruit.

            We can easily make the same mistake that the chief priests and elders made.  We can say, “Wow, those religious leaders really blew it.  They were blind to the message of Jesus.  We are glad that the kingdom is given to us.”  But Jesus is addressing this parable to us.  This is the living Word of God.  We are the current tenants of the vineyard, of the Kingdom of God.  Jesus challenges us to see whether we are producing good fruit.

            This month of October is dedicated to the respect for human life.  It might provide some questions about how we are tending the Lord’s vineyard.  How are we helping mothers to make the decision to give life to their unborn children?  In what ways do we support families who are raising children with disabilities?  What are we doing to welcome the immigrant fleeing from oppression?  How do we make sure that elderly people are not alone in bearing their burdens?  How do we support the terminally ill and give them the courage to face death with faith?       

            These are just a few ways we can bear fruit in a culture which does not put much value on the sanctity of human life.  We live in a polarized society that is often hostile to faith and discourages genuine dialogue and respect for each other.  In the first century, the community of faith in Philippi faced similar challenges.  Saint Paul gives them and us good advice.  He says that worry and anxiety are wastes of time and energy.  They drain the hope of believers.  Instead, he tells us to engage in prayer and petition, giving thanks for all that has been given to us.  When we follow his advice, then we can see the Kingdom of God already present more firmly in our midst.  With eyes of faith, we can embrace what is true and honorable, what is just and pure, what is lovely and gracious. 

            Unlike the listeners of the parables of Isaiah and Jesus, we can listen to the Word of God proclaimed and change our ways.  The Lord has carefully planted faith, hope, and love in our midst.  He is looking for good fruit.  And our culture needs the fruit that we can provide.

 

TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1 OCTOBER 2023

 

          To understand today’s parable, it is important to put it into context.  Jesus has just entered the Temple in his last week before he will be executed at the order of the religious leaders. They demand to know on whose authority Jesus is teaching.  Instead of responding, Jesus asks them a question.  “Where was John’s baptism from?  Was it of heavenly or of human origin?”  They discussed this question among themselves and realized its implications.  If they say “of heavenly origin,” Jesus will want to know why they did not believe him.  If they say “Of human origin,” they will fear the crowds who regarded John as a prophet.” 

When they say that they do not know, Jesus answers their question with this parable.  Tax collectors and prostitutes did shameful things.  But they listened to John the Baptist and changed their ways.  With true repentance, they did the Father’s will and accepted the Baptist’s word that Jesus is the long-promised Messiah.  They are like the first son.  In refusing to obey his father, he acts very shamefully in an honor and shame society.  But he changes his mind, obeys his father’s will, and works in the vineyard.  That is exactly what the tax collectors and prostitutes do when they recognize the truth about Jesus Christ.

            The religious leaders act honorably in public.  They lead the worship in the Temple and offer sacrifice and retain their positions as respected leaders.  They are like the second son.  He honors the father with his words but refuses to work in the vineyard.  They refuse to listen to John the Baptist and do not follow the will of the Father in recognizing the truth about Jesus Christ.  Instead, they condemn him to a cruel, public, and horrible death.

            Jesus speaks this parable to each one of us.  Sometimes, we are like the first son.  Maybe we’ve had a bad day, or maybe we are busy, or maybe we are tired.  Someone has asked us to do a favor.  And we have turned them down.  Then, we might realize that we are not as busy as we had thought.  Or maybe we feel bad about a look of disappointment on the person’s face.  Or maybe we felt guilty.  Whatever is the case, we change our minds and hearts and did what we were asked to do.

            At other times, we are like the second son.  We faithfully come to Mass every Sunday and are recognized as practicing Catholics.  But we can easily give lip service to the demands Jesus makes of us in the Gospel.  When we are sent from Mass to act as members of the Body of Christ, we might refuse to work on forgiving injuries.  Or we make excuses for entering into humble service. On this Respect Life Sunday, we may speak eloquently about being pro-life.  But, we ignore the invitations in the bulletin and do nothing to be part of our parish respect life ministry.  Or, we simply detach ourselves from the Mystery we have just celebrated.  In failing to do the Father’s will, it is easy to look down on the “tax collectors and prostitutes” of our day – those people who do not do profess the values we extol with our lips.

            Whether we find ourselves in the position of the first or second son, the Lord Jesus calls us to repentance, to a complete change of heart.  That is what Saint Paul recommends to the Church at Philippi and to us.  We must assume the same humility that we see in Jesus Christ, who did not deem equality with God something to be grasped (as Adam and Eve had done).  Rather, he humbled himself, taking on the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, humbling himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.  If we can imitate his total self-giving and obedience to the Father, we can share in the exaltation bestowed on Jesus by the Father.  We can offer more than lip service to the Father’s will.  We can put words into action.