TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

25 SEPTEMBER 2016

            I wonder if the rich man ever felt uncomfortable when he walked over Lazarus covered with sores and starving at his doorstep, as I feel when I drive by those people holding cardboard signs at street corners in our area.  Whether he did or not, he ignored him and clung to his fine clothing, wine, and good food.  Whether he felt uncomfortable or not, he did nothing to narrow the gap between them.  That distance remained in eternity, with the rich man isolated and Lazarus resting in the bosom of Abraham.  The anonymous rich man remained alone, while Lazarus enjoyed the company of the saints. 

            This parable challenges us to notice those in need and respond to narrow the gap.  Please give your attention to the back of the church, as Bishop Rhoades invites us to respond to the needs of our Diocese through the Annual Bishop’s Appeal.

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

18 SEPTEMBER 2016

          The steward in today’s parable receives a wakeup call.  His master calls him in and fires him for squandering his money.  Much as the prodigal son had decided to return home after squandering his father’s possessions, the steward goes to his master’s debtors and reduces the amount each one had owed.  While the father had embraced his younger son and welcomed him home, the master commends the dishonest steward for acting prudently.

            In this strangest of parables, Jesus is not encouraging us to cheat in our business dealings.  Instead, the parable is about relationships.  The steward has established good relations with his master’s debtors.  The master knows that he will be regarded more favorably by those who owe him money.  Relationships are far more important than possessions.

            Today’s Scripture readings are a wakeup call for all disciples of Jesus Christ.  The Lord challenges us to put him first and to use our possessions as means in our journey to the New and Eternal Jerusalem, and not as ends in themselves.  The prophet Amos reminds us that treating possessions as ends in themselves can make us greedy, ignoring the needs of the poor and exploiting them to increase our wealth at any cost.

            We hear these words on the Sunday when we are invited to renew our commitment to the stewardship of sacrificial giving.  We have renewed our stewardship of prayer during Lent and service during the Easter Season.  The stewardship of sacrificial giving invites us to be good stewards of the possessions that are ultimately gifts from God.  Instead of regarding them as ends in themselves, we share a first and generous portion of them to form relationships with this parish community.  Over the past few years, our parish has taken steps in faith to set aside 8 ½ % of our income to maintain a relationship with our sister parish of Saint Adalbert and with those who ask for financial help.  Read the materials in the packet available in the back of church.  Pray over your decision, and consider the possibility of using online giving as a tool.  I’ve been using that method for a couple of years and find it very helpful. You would expect me to say this.  That is why we have asked Jared and Jenny Dees to tell their story of how they have come to include this third component of stewardship as a way of life.

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

11 SEPTEMBER 2016

          We often talk about searching for God.  We look for ways to find God in our world and in our daily lives.  But, today’s Scripture readings remind us of a greater truth.  God is actively searching for us.  God searched for his people enslaved in Egypt, led them into the freedom of the desert, and remained with them, even when they worshiped false gods.  God searched for Saul of Tarsus as he was on his way to persecute the Christians of Damascus and remained with him as Paul the Apostle.  As Jesus makes clear, God never stops searching for those who are lost.  God never gives up on anyone.

            That is why Jesus asks his rhetorical questions to the Pharisees, the religious shepherds of the people.  He knows the answer to his questions.  No shepherd would leave 99 sheep to search after one lost one and invite others to rejoice with him when he comes home with the wayward sheep on his shoulders.  No woman would waste the expense of lighting a lamp and throwing a party to look for one lost coin when she still has nine.  And no father would throw a huge party for the return of an idiot son who had considered him to be dead and who had wasted half of his inheritance.  Knowing the word “prodigal” to mean excessive and wasteful, it is not only the son who is excessive and wasteful.  It is the father who is excessive and wasteful with his mercy.

            To be honest, we are all the “older sons” of the parable.  We care enough about God’s love to get up and bring our families to observe the Lord’s Day.  We labor, like the older son, to give humble service to the parish.  We sacrifice, like the older son, so that people can marvel at the beautiful building which is overshadowing the car wash on the corner.  And yet, we also know those who are like lost sheep, crying out in pain and not knowing what to do about their situation.  Or we know people who are so lost, that like inanimate coins, they have no idea of how lost they are.  In our families and social circles, we also know people who have made very bad choices which have affected our lives in very negative ways; much like the younger son’s bad choices affected the older son and his rightful share of his father’s inheritance.

            Today’s Scriptures reflect the message of the Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis.  They invite us to seek out those who are like lost sheep or coins or younger sons.  The younger son comes to his senses when he realized the bad choices he had made.  He has the humility to admit his sins and ask for forgiveness.  He has the determination to make the long trip back home, even if that trip results in his being a slave at his father’s house.  The intention of God’s love is to seek people out and transform them.  Just as God’s love transformed Saul of Tarsus into the great Apostle to the Gentiles, God’s love has the power to transform even those who have damaged us by their bad choices.  Instead of becoming angry or jealous like the older son, Jesus invites us to be honest about what is lost in each one of us and open ourselves to be transformed and rejoice in God’s boundless mercy.

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

4 SEPTEMBER 2016

          Saint Paul presents his friend Philemon with a dilemma.  Philemon’s slave had run away from his master and had come to Saint Paul, who was in prison in Ephesus.  Paul and Onesimus developed a strong relationship, and Paul appreciated the support he received from a slave whose name means “helpful.”  In prison, Paul baptized Onesimus and welcomed him into the Body of Christ.  Paul readily admits his affection for the slave whom he now calls “my child.”  Paul would prefer to keep him as his helpful companion.

            But Paul also knows the law of the Roman Empire.  According to the law, Philemon owns Onesimus as his property.  If you have seen the movie, Twelve Years a Slave, you can more readily understand what it means for an owner to regard another human being as property.  Slavery was part of a vast economic system in the ancient world.  Onesimus became a slave either because his town or village was conquered, or because he was sold into slavery to satisfy a debt.  As a disciple of Jesus Christ, Philemon has to decide how to handle Paul’s request.  Will he take Onesimus back as his slave but treat him kindly because of their common bond in baptism?  Will he free him to reflect the freedom of the children of God?  Will he punish him severely to make sure that his other slaves do not try to run away and rob him of his property?

            We have no idea what Philemon did.  But we do know that the dilemma placed on Philemon is placed on all Christian disciples.  Jesus is very clear about that in the Gospel.  He speaks to the great crowds who are travelling with them.  He is a rock star.  They love his words and admire his healing.  But he wants them to understand that there will be no great crowds surrounding him when he is nailed to a cross.  Most will run away when he gives himself totally out of love.  He wants them to know that he expects them to show this same self-sacrificing love and carry their crosses.  That means putting Jesus Christ ahead of everyone and everything else.

            His words are so harsh that they get our attention.  He is not speaking of the emotion of hate when he talks about hating members of our families.  He is talking about attitudes and patterns of behavior.  If we really love, then our attitudes and patterns of behavior put God first.  Some saints have found that putting God first did alienate them from their families.  That happened to Saint Francis of Assisi when he put God first and defied his wealthy father’s plan to make him a merchant and gave everything away.  The same is true of Saint Thomas Aquinas when he wanted to join the Dominicans.  His family locked him up.  Sadly, our own Father Craig Borchard has suffered when he responded to God’s call to become a priest.  He put God first and paid for it with rejection from members of his family.

            The Rite of Baptism reminds us of the price we pay when we put God first.  The first gift we give at Baptism is the cross.  We trace the sign of the cross on the head of an infant and invite the parents and godparents to do the same.  We do the same with the Rite of Welcome when we prepare anyone over the age of seven for Baptism.  The sponsor traces the sign of the cross over various parts of the Catechumen’s body and then gives a cross to be worn.  We remind them of the cost of discipleship and the need to be prepared for the cross, much as the builder has to calculate before he builds and a leader of an army before the attack.

            Ironically, if we place God first in our lives, even ahead of family members and all possessions, we will love them in a more authentic way.  We will recognize them more clearly as gifts from God to be used on our journey to the new and eternal Jerusalem.  We will not regard them as ends in themselves and the necessary guarantee of our happiness.  Saint Paul challenged Philemon to put God first.  We don’t know what Philemon did, but we can decide for ourselves.

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

28 AUGUST 2016

            The Gospel of Saint Luke contains many stories of Jesus reclining at table and sharing meals.  Sharing meals allowed him to share fellowship and satisfy the deepest hungers of people.  He had fed thousands of people with five loaves and two fish.  He shared meals with sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes.  He would share one last meal with his disciples on the night before he died, giving himself to generations of followers in his real presence under the form of bread and wine.  Jesus considered meals to be sacred events.

            Today, Jesus dines at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, the “holy” people of his day.  The dinner occurs on a Sabbath, the week’s most sacred day set aside for worship of God and time for rest.  The Pharisee had invited a man suffering from dropsy, knowing that Jesus would certainly notice his very visible illness. Not only does Jesus notice the man, but, as Lord of the Sabbath, he heals the man and dismisses him.  He then turns to his hosts and asks what they would have done if a son or an ox had fallen into a cistern.  They are unable to answer his question.  They know that they would have acted, even on a Sabbath, and could not openly challenge Jesus healing one of the Father’s beloved children.

Because our Scripture skips that account, we pick up the story in today’s Gospel.  Instead of sharing a meal in fellowship and communion, they watch him to see what he will do next.  But, he turns the tables on them and watches what they are doing.  He notices that guests are scrambling to get the places of honor at the table.  They compete to assert their close relationship with the host and their importance to him.  Just as he had made a strong statement by healing the man suffering from dropsy, now he tells a strong parable about humility.  Those who grab the best places put themselves at risk when they try to bring honor to themselves.  In a culture of honor and shame, they are shamed when the host tells them to take the lowest place.  Instead, Jesus says, take the lowest place.  If there is an authentic relationship with the host, he will address them with the affectionate title of friend and invite them to a higher position.

Jesus does not confine this parable to those gathered at that meal in the home of the leading Pharisee.  He tells it to us, gathered for this Sacred Meal.  He reminds us that humility is one of the most important virtues in the spiritual life.  The word “humility” comes from the Latin word humus, which means earth.  The Lord has formed us from the clay of the earth.  Truly humble people understand that everything we are and have is a gift from God.  We do not have to build ourselves up for others to see or brag about any of our relationships or any of our accomplishments.  In learning to be truly humble, we make an ultimate act of faith and abandon ourselves to the will and care of God.  We do not deny our gifts.  Instead, we are grateful.

Jesus took the lowest place in taking on human flesh and shared meals with sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes.  He reached out to the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, knowing that they could never repay him.  Because he humbled himself, took the lowest place, and died on the cross, the Father raised him from the dead and seated him at the highest place.  He has invited us to this Sacred Meal, not because we can pay him back, but because he knows the ways each of us are poor, crippled, lame, and blind.  Once he feeds us at the table of his Word and the Table of the Eucharist, he challenges us to do the same.  Last Wednesday, a couple came to my rescue and did the work of hosting a meal for members of Parish Council and their families.  When I thanked them publicly, the woman blurted out:  “Don’t thank us.  We did this to be thanked in heaven!”  That should be true for all of us, as we hear the Lord speaking to us and as we are fed by the Lord’s Body and Blood at this Sacred Meal.

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (FEAST OF ST. PIUS X)

21 AUGUST 2016

          When someone asks Jesus the question of how many will be saved, this person asks the question as a descendent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The questioner probably presumes that only children of Abraham will be saved, excluding all Gentiles, sinners, tax collectors, and others known as public sinners.  Jesus turns that expectation upside down.  He replies to the question on his way to Jerusalem.  Once he reaches Jerusalem, he will enter the “narrow gate” of betrayal, pain, and death on a cross.  He is already striving to enter that narrow gate by the choices he is making on the way.  Instead of bringing attention to himself, he proclaims the Kingdom of God.  Instead of doing what he wants, he pursues his Father’s will.  Instead of having people wait on him, he serves the needs of others.

            Jesus really does not answer that question of how many will be saved.  Instead, he challenges the presumption that belonging to the right group of people is enough to assure salvation.  He warns the assembled crowds that they cannot delay in making a decision to follow him through the narrow gate.  They must decide to follow him now.  Just being with him and listening to his words and eating and drinking in his company will not be enough.  Those who want to be saved must actively pursue the Kingdom of God and its values.  They must strive to know and do the Father’s will.  They must be humble servants.  They must know that striving to enter through the narrow gate involves embracing the cross of Christ on a daily basis.

            Jesus speaks these words to us today as we celebrate our patronal feast day.  We center our celebration of the Feast of Saint Pius at this Mass and all the Masses this weekend.  We do lots of fun things – like gambling, running races, and enjoying each other’s company at the picnic this afternoon.  We give thanks that God has formed us as living stones into a human temple, symbolized by the physical stones of our new church as it gradually takes shape.  But Jesus does not mince words in challenging us to actively strive to enter through the narrow gate.  We can never presume that we are at the head of the line knocking on the door to eternity.  We can never be arrogant and think that we are better than other parishes.  We always need to look for ways to grow into a more authentic faith.  We can always improve the ways we proclaim the Kingdom, pursue the Father’s will, or give ourselves in humble service, especially to the poor.

            Striving to enter the narrow gate involves carrying the cross of Jesus Christ on a daily basis.  That can be difficult and discouraging.  The Letter to the Hebrews compares the pain of carrying those crosses with the discipline given by parents to their children.  My father was very hard on me when I was growing up, and I did not like it.  But, as I began to mature, I also began to appreciate that he was forming me as his oldest son to be responsible.  That discipline did not stop with Ordination.  Bishop D’Arcy was always calling me to correct me for something.  I would return from vacation to hear him on my voice mail:  “Bill, this is Bishop D’Arcy.  I know you said not to leave a message, but I am your bishop.”  And then he would correct me for something I had said or done.  Later, I came to understand that he really cared for me as one of his sons.  He saw making me a Monsignor as a way of expressing that care.

            It is good for us to celebrate our annual Feast Day, and it is a great way to get started in the new school year.  The Lord wants everyone to be saved.  But, he does not force his love on us.  He loves us so much that he gives us the freedom to reject him.  He invites us to freely accept it and to continue to strive to enter the narrow door.  He wants us to strengthen our drooping hands and weak knees when the cross seems to bear us down.  He wants us to make straight paths for our feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.

TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

14 AUGUST 2016

          The author of the Letter to the Hebrews compares the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ to running a marathon.  Unlike sprinters, marathoners train for the long haul.  If you have ever run a marathon, or know someone who has, you understand he difficulties.  You know the physical pain, the spiritual stamina, and the determination to keep your eyes focused on the finish line. You also know the importance of crowds of people cheering you on, offering water and healthy snacks, and family and friends waiting at the finish line.  The Letter to the Hebrews points out that Jesus had taken on human flesh and has run that marathon, enduring a shameful death and crossing the finish line.  The saints form that great crowd of witnesses who had also run the race.  Not only do they cheer us on, but they also intercede for us and provide the support we need when we encounter the difficulties of running our marathon as disciples.

            Jesus does not mince words when he warns that there will be costs in our marathon of discipleship.  He speaks in the tradition of the prophets who were hated for speaking the truth.  The prophet Jeremiah preceded Jesus by 600 years and had spoken the truth in the name of God, telling the king that he should surrender to the Babylonian army.  Jeremiah had argued that the real cause of the sufferings of his people were the result of their infidelity to the Covenant.  However, the king regarded Jeremiah as a traitor and accused him of demoralizing the army and the citizens of Jerusalem.  So, he threw Jeremiah into a cistern, where he would have died if a foreigner had not become part of a cloud of witnesses to save his life.

            Jesus not only speaks the truth in the name of God.  He is the Incarnate Word of God.  As he makes his way on his marathon journey toward Jerusalem, he has been faithful to the mission which the Father had given him when his cousin John had baptized him in the Jordan River.  In speaking the truth about God’s Kingdom in both word and action, he has proclaimed a message of radical peace.  But in order for that peace to take root, whatever false peace of the culture remained had to be burned away.  Jesus knows that he will be betrayed in Jerusalem, that he will undergo horrible suffering, and that he will die in complete shame on the horrible tool which the Romans used for execution.  He also warns his followers that they too will be opposed if they ran the same marathon.  By the time Saint Luke had written this Gospel, many Christians were already experiencing the fire of division.  There were divisions in families, especially when disciples remained faithful to the marathon into which they had been baptized.

            The same is true for us.  If we are faithful to the authentic peace proclaimed by Jesus Christ in running our marathon of discipleship, we will sooner or later encounter the fire of division, especially if we have the courage to confront the false peace promised by our culture.  We will be burned if we proclaim that life is a precious gift of God to be respected from conception to natural death, because we will defy the false peace of our culture that individuals matter only when they can produce something.  If we insist on being honest and fair in business, we will be burned by competitors who see nothing wrong with cheating.  If we regard all our possessions as gifts from God that can be shared generously with those in need, then we will be burned by the consumerism that always looks for bargains instead of ways to be generous.

            In four months, we will sing Christmas Carols announcing the birth of the Prince of Peace.  On his marathon journey to Jerusalem, Jesus remains the Prince of Peace.  But he also teaches that embracing his authentic peace involves the burning away of false claims to peace.  He encourages us to endure that fire and keep our eyes on the finish line.  We can do it, because there is a huge crowd of witnesses cheering us on.