TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

17 SEPTEMBER 2017

          Last Sunday, Jesus taught how to respond when someone in our community sins against us.  Instead of putting the offense on Facebook for everyone to see, he tells us to confront the person.  Once we move past our emotions of anger, a loving confrontation with that person might resolve the issue.  If that doesn’t work, we should gather two others to attempt a negotiation.  We do this when someone we love is in denial about a destructive behavior, and we hope that the person will respond to treatment.  If that does not work, Jesus says that we should go to the Church – talk to the pastor or call the Bishop.  If that does not work, we need to treat the person as a Gentile or tax collector –someone outside our community of faith.  Even this most drastic step is intended to bring reconciliation, because Jesus welcomed Gentiles and tax collectors into his company.  As difficult as these steps may be, Jesus tells us to take them, because we trust that the risen Christ is in our midst, wherever two or three are gathered.

            Peter had been with Jesus long enough to know his teachings on mercy and forgiveness.  Now, he asks how many times he needs to forgive.  Peter thinks he is being generous when he suggests seven times: a Biblical number implying a large number.  But Jesus doubles down and insists that we need to forgive seventy times seven: a limitless number of times.  And to help Peter understand, he tells the parable of the king who forgives the debt of his servant who owes him a huge amount – 100,000 talents.  A talent was the weight that a soldier could carry on his back – 100 pounds.  It would take an army of 100,000 soldiers to pay off this guy’s debt!  The servant could never have paid him back.  But having been forgiven of a debt he could never have paid back, this same servant confronts a fellow servant who owes him 100 denarii.  Instead of forgiving that debt, he throws him into prison.  Because of his lack of mercy, the king responds by handing him over to be tortured.  His lack of mercy becomes his undoing.

            The point of the parable is clear.  As Saint Paul tells us, Jesus Christ gave us his entire life and died on a cross to forgive our debts, to reconcile us with the Father.  We could never pay off the debt of our sins.  He forgave those who murdered him with his last breath and extends that mercy to us.  Saint Paul encourages us to live and die for the Lord.  If we have the courage to forgive another person, then we experience with the Lord a taste of his death, letting go of resentment and anger.  But in dying to our resentment and anger, we also experience a taste of his resurrection, rising to move on without being hindered by bitterness, hatred, and anger.

            We often misunderstand what Jesus means by forgiveness.  In forgiving someone who has hurt us badly, we are not nullifying the damage done.  Nor are we required to be best buddies and continue to allow that person to harm us.  Maybe forgiving that person might mean avoiding any contact.  The act of forgiving moves us past the anger and resentment resulting from the harm done to us.  It may take a very long time, but we know we have forgiven when we can move forward without harboring those angry, hurtful feelings that make us bitter people with chips on our shoulders.

            As a confessor, I have learned a lot about mercy and forgiveness.  If you were ever concerned that the priest may judge the sin of a penitent, there is no need to worry.  We’ve heard just about everything.  In addition, we priests are also sinners in need of God’s mercy.  As a confessor, I think of the mercy that the Lord has given to me in so many times and ways.  And that is the grace of a truly good Confession.  We cannot make the mistake of the servant whose debt was forgiven.  Knowing the mercy we have received, we must move forward and extend that mercy to those who have harmed us, trusting in the Lord’s dying and rising.

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

10 SEPTEMBER 2017

          If we can put the words of Jesus in modern terms, we can understand his words when someone sins against us:  don’t post it on Face Book!  If someone in the parish community does great harm to himself or herself or to other members of the community, Jesus tells us to approach that person with love and in private.  That is much more difficult than posting it on Face Book for all to see!  This approach allows the person to change.  If that does not work, then Jesus tells us to bring two or three witnesses to attempt an “intervention.”  If that does not work, then Jesus tells us to take it to the Church.  Today, that probably means going to the Bishop if the pastor does something stupid!

            However, today we go in the opposite direction.  Please turn your attention to the screen and listen to Bishop Rhoades, as he asks for our support for the Annual Bishop’s Appeal and explains how our funds are used.

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

3 SEPTEMBER 2017

            Last Sunday, Simon Peter correctly identified the true identity of Jesus.  He is the Christ, the Messiah for whom his people had waited for centuries.  In response, Jesus pointed out that Simon Peter did not have a lucky guess.  He had been open to this inspiration from the heavenly Father.  It was a transforming moment for Peter, so transforming that Jesus changes his name to Peter (Petrus, or rock).  On the rock (Petra) of Peter’s faith, Jesus would build his Church.  Firmly established on that rock, the Church would stand firm and weather any storms.

            Today, Jesus explains what kind of Messiah he is called to be.  He is not the Messiah of the popular imagination.  He is the suffering servant.  He turns his face toward Jerusalem, to the city which had rejected the authentic prophets who spoke for God, and announces that he will save his people not by power or force, but by dying on a cross and being raised from the dead. 

Because we are so accustomed to artwork which depicts Jesus dying on a cross, it is difficult for us to imagine what this statement meant to Peter and the other disciples.  They had seen the horror of criminals and insurgents being executed in this most cruel and humiliating fashion.  They knew how the Romans had controlled rebellious people by perfecting this horrible way of dying.  Peter cannot imagine that this kind of death would befall the true Messiah for whom they had waited for so long.  So, Peter rebukes Jesus, “God forbid, Lord!  No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

            Jesus responds to him with anger and firmness.  He calls Peter “Satan,” because the “Rock” has become an obstacle, a “stumbling stone.”  After his forty day fast in the desert, Satan had urged Jesus to satisfy his hunger by changing rocks into bread.  He had offered to Jesus all the power and kingdoms of the earth without going through the cross.  Jesus had come to know that this is not the will of his Father.  He rejects this same temptation from Peter and tells him to get behind him.  In other words, he is offering Peter the chance to change.  He wants Peter and the other disciples to get behind him, to continue to follow him on his way to Jerusalem, to learn the truth of his mission, and to share in the life that will come from the resurrection.  Those who follow Jesus will have to share in his cross, trusting that self-sacrificing love will bring life.

            Jesus is not just speaking to a group of disciples a long time ago.  Because this is the living Word of God, he speaks to us.  He tells us that we too must embrace the cross and deny ourselves, even to the point of losing our lives.  Embracing the cross of Jesus Christ comes in many forms.  We experience the cross when a family member is diagnosed with cancer, or when we lose our job, or when we are confronted with so many of life’s disasters.  We see Christians in Africa and the Middle East literally embracing the cross of martyrdom.  But no matter what form the cross may be, embracing it is always a commitment to give ourselves in sacrificial love and putting that sacrificial love at the center of all of our efforts.

            That is not the message of our culture.  So much of our culture urges us to put ourselves first as number one, to surround ourselves with as many possessions as possible, and to use whatever violence we need to protect ourselves.  Saint Paul had tried that path, until he encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus.  That is why he tells us not to conform ourselves to this age.  He insists that following Jesus Christ and embracing the cross of sacrificial love will transform us.  Like Jeremiah the prophet, we may suffer hardship and even opposition.  But like Peter and the other disciples, we will also learn that embracing the cross of Jesus Christ brings a life that we could never imagine.

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

FEAST OF SAINT PIUS X

27 AUGUST 2017

          Jesus leads his disciples to Caesarea Philippi, a regional center of the Roman Empire.  The city was built beside a dramatic cliff face.  A famous spring emerged from the base of the cliff.  Before Roman occupation, the spring had been known as Panias, because it was the center of worship of pagan gods, especially the god Pan.  To this day, visitors can see carved niches which held the images of the pagan gods.  The city also had political significance.  Herod the Great named it after his patron, Caesar, who regarded himself as a god.  Herod’s son, Philip, changed the name to Caesarea Philippi, to bring attention to his power and control over the area.

            It is here, where civil governments and pagan gods competed for attention that Jesus asks his disciples his famous question, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  They give him their Gallup Poll findings, each one identifying him with a dead prophet from the past.  But Jesus is more interested in their opinion, who they think he is. Simon Peter blurts out the correct answer, identifying him as the Christ, which literally means “the anointed one.”  In other words, Peter asserts that they cannot depend on the pagan gods to save them.  Nor will Caesar or any of his regional allies save them.  When Simon Peter adds to that title “the Son of the living God,” he identifies the true nature of the teacher to whom he has dedicated his life.

            Jesus points out that Peter could never have figured out his identity on his own.  He says that his heavenly Father has revealed his identity to Peter.  And so, he changes his name.  He is no longer Simon, but Peter (Petrus – rock).  On this rock (Petra), he will build his church.  And he gives to Peter the keys to the kingdom.  Peter will use those keys for the good of the Church. We see those keys pictured in the image of Saint Peter on our triumphal arch.  Those keys will open the gates to eternity.  The way to eternity will not be through the cave at Caesarea Philippi, but through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

            Today we celebrate our patronal feast, who was one of the successors of Saint Peter (pictured on the other side).  Unlike Shebna, who used the keys to the king’s palace for his own good, Pope Saint Pius X used the keys of his office for the good of the Church over a hundred years ago.  In fact, he complained to his friends about how they fussed over him and dressed him up with finery after he was elected Pope.  Today we ask his intercession, as we answer that same question of Jesus, which is addressed to us.  Like the disciples who gathered at Caesarea Philippi, we also live with forces competing for our allegiance.  The false gods today are more subtle than the pagan god, Pan.  Those gods might be wealth, or fame, or glamour, or pleasure.  All pagan gods promise ultimate happiness or success.  Political leaders make all kinds of promises, telling us that our complete allegiance to them will bring happiness or success.

            Just by gathering here at Mass on our feast day, we are acknowledging that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Some of us had a great time at Casino Night, and we will enjoy each other’s company at the picnic this afternoon.  The real challenge for us is to proclaim the identity of Jesus Christ outside of this church building.  We don’t have to carry signs or stand on street corners and harangue people.  All we have to do is to live our faith – to show others by our actions that love is stronger than hate, that putting ourselves last is the way to become first, and that dying to ourselves will give us a share in the rising of Jesus Christ.  Now that we are becoming accustomed to our new church, now is the time for us to realize our status as the Church of Jesus Christ and engage people to join us.  We remain as members of his Church, because we trust his promise that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against us.

TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

20 AUGUST 2017

            A careful reading of the Sacred Scriptures reveals God’s habit of calling certain people over others.  God chose Abel instead of Cain, and Abraham instead of Lot.  God chose David instead of Saul.  God chose the Israelites instead of the Egyptians.  The history of those choices is seen in the mosaics in the center aisle.  God made the first covenant with Adam, promising our first parents that he would never abandon them, even though they had abandoned him.  God promised Noah that he would never again flood the earth, and Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands on the shores of the earth.  God promised Moses that he would remain faithful to his people, no matter what.  To David he promised that the messiah would come from his house, and he entered into the New Covenant with us through his Son, the Lamb of God pictured on the mosaic on the Altar.

            God did not choose any of these people because they deserved it or earned it.  In fact, all who have been chosen by God have sinned and not kept the covenant.  That is why Matthew begins his Gospel with Jesus calling the chosen people to repent.  Jesus calls them to conversion, so that they can respond better to God’s choice and be part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

            That is also why Jesus responds to this Canaanite woman in such a shocking and rude way.  After arguing with the Pharisees about what is clean and unclean, Jesus travels to an unclean territory – Tyre and Sidon.  God’s chosen people considered these pagan residents as dogs because of their cruel treatment.  When this pagan woman approaches him and begs him to help her daughter, she addresses him with the words any good Jew would have understood, calling him Lord, Son of David.  Not only does he ignore her, but he insists that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  When she persists, he says that it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.  With her sense of humor intact, she points out that even dogs get scraps.  Finally, Jesus responds with compassion and heals her daughter. 

            In healing this woman’s daughter, Jesus follows the insights of the prophet, Isaiah.  Isaiah had spoken to his people in Babylon centuries earlier.  In their captivity, members of God’s chosen people had interacted with their pagan neighbors, and some of those neighbors accepted their faith and joined them.  Isaiah points out that God did not choose people so they could be better than anyone else.  Instead, God chose people to be instruments of his mercy, to share God’s love with people different from them.  That is what Jesus does in the Gospel.  He recognizes the woman’s deep faith.  He admires her perseverance and her humility to admit that she did not deserve to be chosen, any more than God’s chosen people had deserved to be chosen.

            We hear this message at time of great division in our country.  Instead of promoting hate, racism, and division, Jesus provides a very different message.  Instead of isolating ourselves from those who are different from us, he pushes us to look at those of different races or ethnic backgrounds as people created in the image of God.  Instead of acting out of fear, he challenges us to get to know them.  Instead of yelling and screaming at each other, he wants us to enter into an honest dialogue.  That is what Saint Paul did.  As a Pharisee, he regarded all non-Jews as dogs.  But after he had encountered Jesus Christ and was rejected by his own people, he got to know the Gentiles on a personal level.  Instead of condemning them, he proclaimed the Gospel to them and welcomed them as God’s chosen people in the New Covenant.  God has chosen us, not because we have earned his choice or deserved it.  He has chosen us to move beyond our comfort zone, to get to know those different from ourselves, and to enter into a personal dialogue inviting conversion and the Kingdom of heaven.  

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

13 AUGUST 2017

          The 14^th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel gives us some valuable lessons about faith.  The chapter begins with Jesus hearing the news of the murder of John the Baptist.  Trusting in his Father and knowing that he will meet the same fate, Jesus triesto go off by himself to mourn the loss of his cousin and pray for strength.  But, he encounters a vast crowd, and he takes pity on them.  He leads them to a deserted place, proclaims the Good News to them, and feeds the five thousand with five loaves and two fish.  Resuming his original intention to pray by himself, he retreats to a mountain and sends his disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee in a boat.  That is where we meet them today.  The disciples are caught in a raging storm.  Jesus waits until the fourth watch of the night to walk toward them on the water.  Peter wants to walk on the same watery surface, only to sink into the sea.  Jesus pulls him up, and calms the waters.

            In his unwavering trust in his Father’s presence, Jesus provides a model for our faith.  But we need to look at the faith of others in this chapter.  The crowd must have had some degree of faith, because they followed him into the deserted place, trusting that he would not leave them to starve.  The disciples had already committed themselves to following him.  But their faith wavers in the raging storm, causing them to think that Jesus is a ghost.  Peter demands further proof, only to sink into the water when fear causes him to take his eyes off Jesus.  After chiding them for their lack of faith, he accepts their profession of faith that he is truly the Son of God, the message that had been announced at the Baptism of Jesus and on the Mount of Transfiguration.

            We want to model our faith on that of Jesus Christ.  However, our lived faith is closer to of the rest of the people in chapter 14.  Like them, we follow him into deserted places, because we have a basic trust that he will not leave us to starve.  But like the Israelites who had followed Moses into the desert for forty years, we often complain and look for signs of his presence.  Like the disciples, we have committed ourselves to Jesus Christ.  But like them, we can easily despair when stormy waters toss us about – either the stormy waters of our personal lives or the stormy waters that toss the barque of Peter (the Church) about.  Like Peter, we think that we can walk on any surface that the Lord Jesus walked on.  But, we become terrified very easily, take our eyes off the Lord, and sink into the waters of doubt and despair.

            More than likely, the disciples thought that Jesus had abandoned them.  Why did he make them enter the boat, especially when there was always a chance of a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee?  Why did he wait so long before walking on the water to save them?  Why did he allow Peter to take those wary steps outside the boat, even when he knew the weakness of his faith?

            Centuries before, Elijah the Prophet asked those same questions.  After most of his people had abandoned their faith, Elijah proved God’s power when he defeated the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel.  His expression of faith in God caused Queen Jezebel to send her soldiers to kill him.  After walking forty days to Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai), he expected to find God in the spectacular signs that Moses and his people had experienced.  But God was not in any of those spectacular signs.  Instead, Elijah encountered God in a tiny, whispering sound (in silence).

            We too have our own expectations of how we can encounter God, especially when life tosses us about like that boat on the Sea of Galilee.  Our Scripture readings invite us to be open to the many ways in which we encounter the Risen Christ.  They also invite us to spend time in silence.  Jesus Christ will not abandon us, any more than he abandoned those people the 14^th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.  Instead, he will calm the storms of life and raise us from the depths of our despair and doubt.  We have to be patient and keep our faith.

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

30 JULY 2017

          Jesus uses two different parables to make the same point.  In the first parable, a poor farmer working on someone else’s farm stumbles upon a buried treasure by accident.  In the second parable, a rich merchant who had been looking for jewels finally finds the pearl of great price.  Both the farmer and the merchant realize the importance of what they have found.  Both sacrifice everything to purchase the treasure and the pearl.

            Jesus uses these parables to teach us about the kingdom of heaven.  We often think of the kingdom of heaven in terms of that happy experience which hopefully awaits all of us after we die.  But in these parables, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as God dwelling in our midst now.  Whether we have stumbled upon God’s presence or have been searching for it for a long time, Jesus invites us to sacrifice to make sure that the kingdom of heaven is ours.

            In order to embrace God’s presence in this kingdom of heaven, we need the gift that Solomon requested when God offered him anything he wanted:  an understanding heart.  With the gift of an understanding heart, Solomon had the wisdom to serve as God’s anointed one in the kingdom he inherited from his father, David.     

We need that same understanding heart, that same wisdom, when we make our decision to embrace God’s dwelling, the kingdom of heaven, in our day.  There are many competing voices today pulling us into many different directions.  We live in a consumer-oriented society that promises happiness if we make the right sacrifices.  Whether the commodity is the flashiest car, or the latest improvement in skin care, or the biggest house, or the latest video game, the advertising industry promises that these things will make us happy.  But, once we have sacrificed some cash to obtain them, we look for the next great thing that will bring us happiness.  These things can easily distract us from entering more fully into the kingdom of heaven and enjoying a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

            We are gathered at this Mass today, because we are wise enough to know that developing our relationship with Jesus Christ is important.  Our Scripture readings challenge us to be wise enough to sacrifice those things that distract us from having a more intimate relationship.  If we spend all our time and energy chasing after possessions and values that do not last, the third parable in today’s Gospel provides a warning for us.  The fishermen separate the good fish from the bad fish at the end of their catch.  The fish do not have any choice.  But, we can make choices.  We have already sacrificed one hour to enter into the real presence of Christ at this Mass.  We pray for the wisdom to choose Christ’s presence in our families, in our service of the poor, and in the many ways the kingdom of heaven is already present.  A friend of mine, who is a recovering alcoholic, told me about the way he stumbled upon the kingdom of heaven.  All of a sudden, he woke up to the fact that what was causing him momentary pleasure was ruining his family and his life.  In embracing his recovery, he had the wisdom to sacrifice an old way of living for a way of participating in the kingdom of heaven.  Sadly, Solomon did not use his gift of wisdom.  He put so many things above his commitment to God that he made many bad choices, resulting in the division of his kingdom after his death. 

It is good for us to hear these parables during these summer months, when we have more time to spend with our families.  Saint Paul shares the wisdom he has received when he insists that all things work for good for those who love God.  Christ invites us to use that wisdom and make the kingdom a priority.  If we make wise choices to be part of the kingdom of heaven now, we will not be separated from that kingdom after our death.