TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

27 AUGUST 2023

SOLEMNITY OF POPE SAINT PIUS X

 

          Jesus has fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish.  He has healed many people.  He has become popular and has raised the expectations of people looking for a messiah to a fever pitch.  A politician or a military leader would have used this popularity for his own advantage and whipped the crowd’s enthusiasm into action.  However, that is not what Jesus does.

            Jesus takes his disciples to an isolated place away from the crowds.  In front of a huge rock foundation with a source of lush water believed to be the gate to the netherworld, he asks them what the gossip is about him.  Their answers indicate that he is seen as the long-awaited messiah.  So, he asks them who they think he is.  Peter blurts out the correct answer:  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus affirms his answer.  It is not a correct guess.  His heavenly Father has revealed this truth to him.  Then Jesus calls Peter the “Rock” and promises to build his Church on the foundation of Peter’s confession of faith.  He assures his disciples that the powers of the netherworld will never prevail.  He gives Peter the keys, the symbol of ultimate authority.  Then he orders his disciples not to tell anyone about this.

            The crowds expect the messiah to be a military leader sent to expel the Romans who are oppressing them.  He would be a son of David.  But their expectations are wrong.  He is not just a descendent of David.  He is the incarnate Son of the living God.  His mission is not to conquer the Romans.  It is to conquer the powers of evil and death by entering into death itself.  Peter objects and tries to talk Jesus out of this idea.  It will take time for his disciples to understand the true identity of Jesus and embrace his saving mission.  They will not understand fully until after they experience the horror of his death and the joy of his resurrection.  Even Peter, the rock of the Church, will fail.  He will deny knowing Jesus three times on the eve of his death. 

            Jesus asks each one of us that same question today.  Who do we think he is?  If we agree with Peter’s answer, then we need to embrace him when things are going well.  We must keep our faith in him, even in the midst of terrible tragedies and difficult times.  He invites us to renew our faith in him as members of his Body, the Church.  Sometimes our membership in the Church is life giving and hopeful.  That is certainly true today as we celebrate our patronal feast.  At other times, we struggle with our identity, especially when scandals in the Church cause us to question.  That can happen when religious leaders behave like Shebna in the first reading.  They have not been stewards of the Church, but stewards of their own interests.

            But Jesus assures us that our Church will prevail.  No matter how many evils may press upon us, the Church will eventually overcome.  His promise is grounded on Peter’s profession of faith.  He entrusted the keys to Peter, who would fail and sometimes be a stumbling block. 

            Today, we celebrate the feast of one of Peter’s successors, Pope Saint Pius X.  Born in northern Italy as Giuseppe Sarto, he was the oldest of eight living children in a very poor family.  As a priest and later as bishop and finally as Pope, he always maintained a humility that enabled him to serve the poor and work for social justice.  As Pope, he encouraged people to be more engaged at Mass and embrace liturgical music.  He permitted children who had reached the age of reason to receive the Lord in the Eucharist.  He was a faithful steward of Christ’s Church.

            The theme for his papacy was “to renew all things in Christ.”  One hundred years later, we ask his intercession as we continue to renew all things at Saint Pius.  As we begin this year dedicated to the Eucharist, we renew our faith in recognizing the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist and trusting that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against us.

 

TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

20 AUGUST 2023

 

          We know Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the healer of illnesses, the gentle giver of mercy, and the Son of God who selflessly gave himself for the salvation of all.  For those reasons, the interaction between Jesus and this Canaanite woman may be shocking.  Jesus and his disciples are in the region of Tyre and Sidon, deep within pagan territory.  The Canaanite woman calls Jesus Lord and Son of David and begs him to heal her daughter who is tormented by a demon.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, ignores her.  When his disciples ask him to send her away, he says that he is sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  When she does him homage and throws herself on the ground and asks for help again, the Son of God calls her a dog.  He says that it is not right to take the food of children and throw it to the dogs.  But the woman comes up with a great reply.  “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  Then, Jesus relents and heals her daughter.

            In his interaction with the Canaanite woman,  Jesus is neither cruel nor uncaring.  He is  emphasizing the divine faithfulness.  God had entered into a series of Covenants with his people and promised to keep them.  We see those covenants displayed in the center aisle.  The Covenant with Adam assures his faithfulness, even when humans reject his love.  The Covenant with Noah promises that God’s care for creation.  The Covenant with Abraham says that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore.   The Covenant with Moses is the central Covenant, establishing God’s permanent relationship to his Chosen People.  The final covenant with David promises that the Messiah will come from his house. 

            Jesus is reiterating God’s faithfulness to his Chosen People.  They may have been the first people God has chosen.  But they are not the only ones.  God loves everyone, even the enemies of his Chosen People.  The prophet Isaiah understands God’s love for everyone.  In today’s first reading from Isaiah, God’s Chosen People have just returned from their exile in Babylon.  Many have intermarried with pagans.  Isaiah welcomes them to the rebuilt temple on Mount Zion, because they have come to love the name of the Lord and have become his servants.  They honor the sabbath and hold to the covenant.

The Canaanites may have been bitter enemies of God’s people.  They may have deserved to be treated like dogs.  But Jesus sees the deep faith of this woman and heals her daughter.  He is already anticipating what he will tell his disciples at the end of the Gospel of Saint Matthew after he had been raised from the dead.  He will tell them to go out to all nations and proclaim the Good News.  They are to welcome all in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus loves us, who have become his disciples through the waters of Baptism.  But he does not love us exclusively.  He challenges us to reach out to those with whom we disagree and with those who are not followers.  Especially in our divided and polarized society, moving out to others who are different from us is extremely important and potentially healing.

In addition, the Canaanite woman teaches us how to make prayers of petition.  She comes to Jesus with a deep faith.  In fact, her faith is deeper than the disciples who have been following him.  She teaches us to pray with perseverance. Even when Jesus seems to ignore her, she keeps asking.  She teaches us to be humble.  In humility, she trusts the goodness of Jesus and is open to whatever way he expresses his goodness and love.  Our persistent prayer does not change God.  God is always good and loving.  It has the power to change us and to accept the Lord’s goodness and love in the way he chooses to give it. 

 

 

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

13 AUGUST 2023

 

            Jesus has just fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish.  This miracle boosts the faith of the disciples, who see that Jesus is greater than Moses, who had trusted that God would feed his  ancestors with manna in the desert.  Jesus dismisses the crowds and makes his disciples get into the boat to precede him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  Then he goes up to the mountain to pray.  As the disciples encounter a fierce storm on the water, they are frightened.

            However, they are not alone.  United with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus is praying for them.  To show that his prayer is not some spiritual abstraction, Jesus walks toward them on the water during the fourth watch of the night (between 3 and six o’clock in the morning).  In fear, they think that he is a ghost.  But Jesus responds with the words that Moses heard from the burning bush:  “It is I,” or “I am who am.”  Peter wants proof.  Jesus invites him to walk toward him.  As long as Peter keeps his eyes on Jesus, he defies all the rules of gravity.  But when he is distracted by the raging storm, he begins to sink.  Jesus grabs him by the hand, pulls him to safety, and calms the storm.  The disciples put their faith in Jesus as the Son of God.

            We who are the Lord’s disciples have all been rocked by storms in our lives.  Today’s readings remind us that fear is a normal reaction.  Elijah was afraid when Queen Jezebel sent her armies to kill him.  He ran into the desert and asked for death.  Instead, the Lord sent an angel to give him water and hearth cakes to sustain him in his journey to Mount Horeb (the northern kingdom’s name for Mount Sinai).  Peter and the other disciples are afraid as the storm tosses their boat about on the waves.  Jesus proves that he is not a ghost when he invites Peter to get out of the boat and walk on the water. 

            Doubt is also part of faith.  After winning an incredible victory over the prophets of Baal, Elijah doubts whether the Lord is really with him.  When he reaches Mount Horeb, he expects to experience God in the ways that God had revealed himself to Moses and the Israelites with fire, wind, and earthquake.  Instead, he experiences the Lord’s presence in a tiny whispering sound.  When Peter takes his eyes off Jesus and feels the wind, he begins to sink into the water.  Jesus responds to his cry for help by grasping him by the hand and pulling him up.

            On Mount Horeb, Elijah’s faith is renewed, and the Lord sends him back to continue his mission.  Once the storm is calmed, the disciples realize that only God has power over storms, and they profess their faith in Jesus as the Son of God.  When we express our fear and work through our doubts, we too can become more convinced that the Lord is with us and will not abandon us.  At different times in our lives, the Lord invites us to leave the familiar and safe ground on which we have been walking and walk toward him on unfamiliar territory.  Young people need to reflect on how the Lord is calling them to live out their baptismal promises.  It is frightening, but maybe the Lord is calling some of you to a vocation of religious life, marriage, or priesthood.  Mason Bailey is getting out of this familiar boat of Saint Pius to walk toward him as a seminarian at Saint Meinrad.  In the course of all of our lives, we encounter thresholds that force us to leave the familiar and safe ways of living and walk through a new threshold to begin new chapters in life. 

In these threshold moments, we may be afraid.  We may even doubt.  But, if we work through our fears and doubts, we can be convinced that the Lord is with us and will sustain us, as the Lord did for Elijah and Peter.  Sometimes we will experience the Lord’s presence in dramatic ways.  More often, we experience his presence in the silence of our prayers, in the midst of a noisy and distracting world.

 

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD

6 AUGUST 2023

 

          Six days before Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain, he had gathered his disciples in front of a huge rock formation at the temple of a pagan god.  He asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” His disciples gave him a few examples.  Then he asked, “Who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus affirmed his answer and named him the rock, the foundation of his Church.  Then Jesus clarified his mission.  He will not be a messiah who will defeat the Roman occupiers.  Instead, he will be rejected, suffer, die on a cross, and be raised from the dead.  When Peter objects, Jesus calls him “Satan” and tells him to get behind him.

            On this mountain, the true nature of Jesus is revealed to these three chosen disciples.  Transfigured, he is clothed with brilliant light.  Surrounded by Moses and Elijah, the giver of the Law and the greatest of the prophets, he is shown fulfilling all the Scriptural prophesies.  Peter speaks again, wanting to build three tents to make sure that this moment will continue.  Instead, they hear the voice from the bright cloud repeating what was said at the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River:  “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him.”

            Heeding the words of Jesus that they tell no one about this vision, they continue to follow him to another mountain.  On Mount Calvary, on a horribly dark day, Jesus will be stripped of his clothing and die in a cross, surrounded by two thieves.  On that day, there will be no radiant glory.  They will have to wait another three days to see the bright glory of the resurrection.

            As disciples, we have had our transfiguring moments when the glory of the Lord has shone through our lives.  Perhaps it was on the day of marriage or ordination.  Maybe the clarity of God’s presence was revealed in the birth of a child.  Many have experienced those moments on Christ Renews His Parish retreats.  At every Mass, the Lord reveals his transforming love for us.  That love is expressed in the rituals of the Mass.  It is most powerfully revealed in the Lord’s humble presence in bread and wine.  Instead of building tents to prolong our encounter with the risen Lord here, we are sent out to ponder the Word spoken to us at every Mass.

            We have also have experienced the darkness of Good Friday.  We have faced the horror of death, robbing us of those we love.  We have suffered breakups with those who have been closest to us.  We have born the crosses of pain and disease.   We know the bitter taste of disappointment and sorrow.  On this anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, we see the terrifying light of our human potential to destroy and kill.  We do not have to look far to see the crosses all of us must carry.

            The most important cross each of us must carry is the cross of selfless love.  We carry that cross every time we die to ourselves, trusting that our sacrificial acts will give the love of Jesus Christ to other people.  Carrying those crosses of selfless love is not always easy.  Parents who sacrifice everything for their children understand this.  Middle aged children who spend hours caring for their aging parents carry the cross of sacrificial love.  When we give themselves in humble service, we do not experience the bright light of transfiguring glory.

            After they experienced the resurrection and received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Peter, James, and John will finally understand the connection between the cross of Jesus Christ on Mount Calvary and his transfiguration on Mount Tabor.  The same can happen to us.   We recall those transfiguring moments in our lives.  As we move forward, those moments can help us to connect our crosses of selfless giving to the transfiguring glory of the resurrection.

 

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

23 JULY 2023

 

          We have seen the realities of these parables over the centuries.  In the mid nineteenth century, a young page in Uganda was baptized and grew in his relationship with Jesus Christ.  With a group of other young pages, Charles Lwanga was sent to a chief of the most powerful tribe.  That tribal chief saw Christianity as a threat and was intent on eliminating Christians.  He was also a pedophile.  Not only did Charles Lwanga resist his immoral actions, but he protected the other pages from the chief’s advances.  As wheat within the midst of weeds, they were executed in brutal ways.  But like the mustard seed, the deaths of these martyrs caused an enormous growth in Christianity in Uganda.  Instead of frightening people by murdering these young men, the chief’s brutal murders caused an opposite reaction.  People were impressed with the heroic witness of their faith and their willingness to shed their blood.  The Church grew because of the witness of these martyrs.  The Church thrived and became a leaven increasing the numbers of the faithful and affecting the life of Uganda.  When I was there for the dedication of Father Larry’s church, I was greatly impressed by the faith of his people.  On our triumphal arch is the image of Saint Charles Lwanga, interceding for us.

            Faith continues to grow in Uganda.  That is why Father Larry is our mission preacher this year.  He is pastor of a large parish of 10,000 people (about the same size as Saint Pius).  With three Parochial Vicars, he serves a parish that includes eight outstations to make it easier for people to walk to Mass on Sunday.  The Archbishop has decided to form a new parish out of one of those outstations.  He has given Father Larry the task of forming that parish, which includes building a church and a rectory.

            Over the years, we have helped him build his parish.  Our generosity has built his main parish church, a health care center, a rectory for the priests, a renovated school, and a number of other projects that have benefitted his people.  Having been there myself, I can attest to Father Larry’s careful use of our funds.  He was on the front page of the local newspaper on the Sunday of the dedication.  The article praised him for giving all his funds to his parishioners.  It drew a sharp contrast with the politicians who used first world donations to enrich themselves.  It pointed to his old shoes and worn out vehicle.

I can also attest to the gratitude of his parishioners.  When we visited the health care facility, the Sisters gave us two chickens to thank us for all the improvements they were able to make.  We decided that they would not fit in our luggage.  So, we gave them to the driver of the van which the Archbishop had given to us.  We received many handwritten notes of thanks.  We felt like rock stars and received a standing ovation when we arrived for the four-hour Mass.

Father Larry appreciates our generosity.  There are envelopes at the end of the pews for your contributions.  You can donate online.  You can bring your check, addressed to Saint Pius, to Mass next weekend.  Now, Father Larry will express his own thanks.

           

 

 

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

16 JULY 2023

 

          The crowd on the shore listening to Jesus tell this parable from the boat would have understood the dynamics of this parable.  They were Palestinian farmers who worked the fertile fields around the Sea of Galilee.  They would have identified with the a farmer sowing his seed.  But as they listened, Jesus would have surprised them and widened their understanding of how God works in their midst.

            No Palestinian farmer would have flung seed so freely.  They know how expensive the seed is and would carefully sow it only on rich soil.  However, God sows his word freely and generously and with great joy.  God spreads his extravagant love  everywhere, knowing that some will accept it and others will reject it.  God sows with anticipation that even those who reject the word or ignore it can have a change of heart and become open to his gracious love.           As precious as seed may have been at that time, God’s word is even more precious.  In telling this parable, Jesus echoes the words of the prophet Isaiah, who compares God’s word to rain that waters the earth and makes it fertile and fruitful.  Isaiah speaks to his people in exile and tells them that God has forgiven their infidelity.  Words have consequences.  Like rain that falls from the heaven, God’s word forgives and returns them to their homeland.  God’s word is active.  The first chapter of Genesis reminds us that God created everything by speaking his word.

            God’s word has incredible power.  But its effect depends on the openness of those who hear it.  Palestinian farmers knew that seed fallen on paths had no chance.  The ground was too hard.  Seed that fell on rocky ground may have sprouted at first, but could not endure due to the lack of good soil.  The seed that fell on thorns showed signs of growth.  But in time, it was choked off and withered.  Palestinian farmers knew that seed sown on rich soil would have a good chance of producing fruit.  They would have hoped for a yield of tenfold.  But they would have been amazed at a yield of a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.

            By the time Saint Matthew wrote this Gospel, those who read it would have experienced the reality of this parable.  They would have known those who rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the beginning.  They would have been saddened when others abandoned the Gospel and their hope for the kingdom of heaven because of persecution.  Loved embraced the Gospel at first.  But, consumed by their desires for wealth and prosperity, they left the community of the Church and pursued more comfortable ways of life.  However, those who opened their hearts and minds and souls to the Gospel would have already understood its power to transform them.

            Jesus speaks this parable directly to us, who gather to hear the Word of God.  Each of us has experienced these four reactions to God’s Word in our individual lives.  We may come to Mass with anger and resentment.  If our hearts remain hardened and we hold on to that bitterness when we leave Mass, the Word has no effect.  Sometimes, difficult problems cause us to wonder whether God is in our midst or not, and the power of the Word withers.  At other times, we are so busy climbing the ladder of success or working to provide a lot of stuff that we do not devote time to experience the Lord’s presence in our families.  There are even other times when we become like that rich soil and allow the word of God to take hold of us and transform us.      

            Saint Paul points out that we already have the first fruits of the Spirit.  Those first fruits of the Spirit are given through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The Word of God can allow those first fruits to grow and flourish, even as creation groans with eager expectation.

 

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

9 JULY 2023

 

          Today’s passage from the Gospel of Saint Matthew comes at the end of a chapter filled with doubt and disbelief.  At the beginning of the chapter, John the Baptist sends a message through his disciples to ask if Jesus is the Messiah.  Or should he look for someone else.  His  question is remarkable, especially given the fact that John had leapt in his mother’s womb at the Visitation.  John had baptized Jesus in the Jordan and pointed to him as the Messiah.  In his dark place in a cell, facing execution, John has his doubts.  Jesus responds by telling his disciples to look around to see the signs.  Blind people are regaining their sight.  The lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.

            Jesus then praises John the Baptist, in the face of his doubts.  He points out how fickle people can be.  First, they criticize John for his austerity.  Then they accuse Jesus of being a drunkard and eating and drinking.  The villages of Chorazin and Bethsaida see the signs and refuse to believe in him.  They are proud, arrogant, and self-absorbed.  They may be considered the “wise and learned.”  But they refuse to believe.  So, Jesus gives credit to “little ones,” who put their faith in him.  The “little ones” are the people of the land.  The religious leaders have written them off, because they accuse them of being incapable of living the demands of the law, which is like a yoke bearing them down.  Jesus invites us, his disciples today, to be the little ones and bear his easy yoke and his light burden.

            We became his disciples when we passed through the waters of Baptism.  Saint Paul insists that we are no longer in the flesh.  In other words, we no longer have a human nature that is centered on ourselves.  We are in the spirit, where our human nature is centered on God.  If we live our baptismal promises, if we remain in the spirit, then we can take the yoke of Jesus Christ and learn from him.  We who are disciples have our share of yokes which we carry that make life burdensome.  Yokes come in different sizes and weights.  They can be as heavy as bearing a serious illness or suffering through a difficult breakup.  Yokes can include working in a job that is oppressive or grieving the loss of a loved ones.  The yoke of Jesus was hardly easy or light.  The yoke of the cross caused horrible pain, suffering, and death.  And yet his death was not the end, because the yoke was broken by his resurrection.  In accepting his yoke, we do not shoulder our burdens alone.  We are yoked to him, much as a beast of burden is yoked to another animal to make the task of bearing a heavy plow or wagon much easier.

            Jesus says that he is meek and humble of heart.  We tend to think of the word “meek” in negative terms.  In those negative terms, a meek person becomes a weak individual who cannot stand on his or her two feet.  That is not what Jesus means.  Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah when he comes down the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday riding on the back of a donkey.  He does not enter Jerusalem as a fierce warrior on the back of a powerful horse.  He enters with humility and peace.  He is meek in the sense that he acts out of a controlled power.  He is obedient and open to the Father’s will.  He is not easily provoked.

            As the Lord’s “little ones,” we too can imitate his meekness.  We can discern the Lord’s will for us as we continue to live our baptismal promises and remain open to what the Lord has in store for us, no matter how old or how young we may be.  Like Martin Luther King, we can use non-violent means to stand up to hate, hostility, and division.  We can continue to get to know Jesus better in our daily lives.  When we know Jesus better, then we know what it means to be meek.  We can accept his yoke as we continue to bear our own yokes and burdens.