TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

19 OCTOBER 2025

 

          On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus continues to teach his disciples how to nurture their faith.  He knows that their faith will be sorely trusted when he will be betrayed, unjustly condemned, and crucified like a common criminal.  So, he insists that they must learn to be persistent.  He not only tells them that they will need to be persistent.  He also tells us that we need to be persistent, as we walk together on our pilgrimage to the new and eternal Jerusalem.

            Our Scripture readings provide three examples of persistence.  One is from the battlefield.  As long as Moses persists in holding up his staff for his warriors to see, they are successful in their battle with the Amalekites.  The second is from a church setting.  Saint Paul addresses Timothy.  As a new pastor, Timothy faces an unknown situation that requires him to be ready.  He must be persistent in preaching, rebuking, correcting, and instructing.  The third example is from a courtroom.  A poor widow who has no power or public standing appears before an unjust judge.  The judge ignores her.  But because she is persistent in arguing her case, he finally relents.  Jesus insists that if a widow can get what she needs from an unjust judge, how much more will we receive from a just God who loves us unconditionally. 

            Persistent faith has four qualities.  Persistent faith relies on God’s power.  The widow has no power whatsoever.  But that does not stop her from pestering the unjust judge.  Like her, we have so little power over what happens to us in our lives.  We must rely on God’s power and grace.  Persistent faith works with others.  Moses must rely on Aaron and Hur to be persistent in holding up the staff.  Persistent faith involves inconvenience.  If we persist in faith, we need to throw out the calendar.  God acts in his own time, not on our time or convenience.  Persistent faith permits us to be inconvenient to others.  We can be inconvenient to others when we are determined to take care of the poor, widows, refugees, and those at the edges of our society.

            Last week, the Lord gave me an unexpected encounter with persistent faith.  Bishop
Rhoades had announced that our annual Continuing Education Days would be dedicated to the upcoming Diocesan Synod.  I didn’t want to go and was tempted to play the “I’m a retired priest” card.  But, I relented and went reluctantly as pastor of this Parish.  As the oldest priest in the group, I felt out of place.  My expectations were very low, and I wanted out.

            But, I was pleasantly surprised.  We were divided into groups of ten and assigned to a particular table.  In my group were priests to whom I rarely talked or with whom I disagree.  Some were priests of a very different generation.  Another was a priest of a religious order whose name I did not know.  There were three sessions.  Each session began with a prayer.  Then each of us were given two minutes to share our thoughts about what is positive about our parishes and the Diocese.  Then we had three minutes of prayer.  Next, each of us had a minute and a half to share what we had heard others say.  Again, there were three minutes of prayer.  Finally, each of us had a minute and a half to speak about what we heard the Spirit saying through us.  On Thursday morning, we received the results of our sessions.  All of us priests agreed that this had been a very positive experience.  I was glad for my persistence in going to the sessions.  And that is the great thing about low expectations.  It is impossible to be disappointed!

            What we did is exactly we as a parish will do.  We have scheduled five sessions on the Tuesdays of November on the themes of the Synod:  Evangelization, Catechesis, Spirituality and Liturgy, Vocations, and Social Outreach to the poor and suffering.  We will have two Consultation Sessions on the first two Sundays of December.  Please be persistent in faith and be part of this process.  Based on my own experience, you will not be disappointed.

 

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

12 OCTOBER 2025

 

          Naaman is an important and powerful leader in the Kingdom of Aram.  However, he has a huge problem.  He has the disease of leprosy.  Not only is it incurable in the ancient world, but it is also contagious.  As a result, lepers not only are afflicted with terrible physical pain.  But they are also kept apart from their community.  He learns from his Jewish slave girl that there is a healer in the Kingdom of Israel, an enemy of his own country.  Hoping against hope, he goes to see the holy man, Elisha.  When Elisha tells him to bathe in the River Jordan, he balks.  The rivers of his kingdom are much grander!  But, he is so desperate that he obeys and emerges healed.  His response to his healing is threefold.  He returns to give thanks to Elisha.  In doing so, he recognizes that the power does not come from the holy man, but from God.  Because he sees that the land on which he is standing is holy, he takes two mule loads of that earth back to Aram.  In other words, he recognizes the power of the one true God, and not his former pagan gods.

            We do not know the names of the ten lepers in today’s Gospel.  But they have the same problem that Naaman did.  They have an incurable and contagious disease that separates them from their loved ones.  Like Naaman, they have heard of a healer who might help.  Standing at a distance, they cry out to Jesus, calling him “Master” and asking him to have pity on them.  Just as Elisha had given Naaman a simple instruction, Jesus tells them to show themselves to the priests.  They are healed on their way.  Odds are pretty good that nine of the lepers focus on the Law of Moses requiring healed lepers to be inspected by the priests.  They are so happy that they throw away their filthy garments and run home to their families.  But the Samaritan is a foreigner, like Naaman.  He glorifies God and returns to give thanks to Jesus, falling at his feet.  That action suggests that he seen the truth about this healer.  He does not carry away two mule loads of earth.  He leaves with a deep and abiding faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the source of his salvation.

            We come here today, because we are like Naaman and the Samaritan leper.  We recognize God’s power and love in our lives.  We express our deepest gratitude by celebrating the Eucharist together.  That Greek word literally means to give thanks.  We gather every Sunday to express our deepest gratitude to God, acknowledging that all that we have is a gift from God.  We are grateful for our families, all the good things in our lives, our parish community, and countless other blessings which we often take for granted.  I am grateful for my successful visits to Ireland and Rome in the last two weeks.  But we are especially grateful for what we are doing at this Altar.  In the Eucharistic Prayer, we give thanks to the Father for the sacrifice of Jesus made present on this Altar in our liturgical remembering.  That Mystery is the source of our salvation and the ultimate hope that all of us share.

            Saint Paul reminds us, as he does Timothy, that we must be grateful for this central Mystery of our faith in Jesus Christ, which brings us salvation.  In this Mystery, we share in his dying, confident that we will share in his rising.  Saint Paul acknowledges that this is a difficult Mystery to live.  Sometimes we fail to share in the Lord’s dying.  At other times, the difficulties of life tempt us to wonder whether the Lord is truly present in our suffering.  When we fail to live this mystery, we deny him.  But he remains faithful, even when we are unfaithful.  We don’t need to take two mule loads of earth with us from this Mass.  Saint Paul insists that this Mystery is trustworthy.  It is the conviction that God has breathed life into us and is with us at every step in our journey.  We do not need to scoop up two mule loads of dirt from the ground of this church.  We just need to take our Gospel-centered gratitude with us as a daily practice. 

 

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

21 SEPTEMBER 2025

 

          In his parables, Jesus gets the attention of his listeners.  Those who heard this parable in person were ordinary people – peasants, tenant farmers, day laborers, and slaves.  They worked very hard, trying their best to provide for their families from day to day.  In their world, very few people were rich.  People were rich because they inherited their wealth.  They did not work and tended to ignore the plight of those who did.  Jesus got their attention, and they probably cheered for the ingenuity of the steward who got back at his rich master.

            Jesus gets our attention today.  This parable is probably his most challenging and difficult to understand.  The master commends the steward for acting prudently.  How should we understand this parable?  Is Jesus encouraging us to be dishonest with those whom we think do not deserve our honest dealings?  The key lies in what Jesus describes as “dishonest wealth,” which is the wealth we need to sustain ourselves and our families in this world.

The prophet Amos criticizes the people of his day for their misuse of “dishonest wealth”.  Too many of them are greedy and spend their energies filling their homes with nice furniture and adorning them with ivory.  He criticizes the farmers who go to the market to find ways of cheating the poor, robbing them, and trampling on them instead of charging a fair price.  Instead, Jesus says to make friends with “dishonest wealth.” When it fails, as all “dishonest fair” will fail with death, we will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

When Saint Paul writes, he knows that Timothy’s community handles “dishonest wealth” very well.  They work together, live nearby one another, and come together after work to share a life centered on the confession of Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a “ransom for all”.  He tells Timothy and his community to offer supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving for everyone, especially those in authority.  He tells us to do the same.

When we offer supplications, we maintain a mindset of continual prayer.  In offering them, we are reminded to be faithful stewards ourselves, making sure that we manage our “dishonest wealth” to support our families, without cheating or taking advantage of anyone else.  He challenges us to realize what is honest wealth – the mercy, justice, and peace of God’s eternal kingdom.  Honest wealth will continue when “dishonest wealth” comes to an end.

When we offer prayers, we make specific requests to God for ourselves.  In offering these prayers, we ask God to make sure that we do not focus on our own needs at the expense of others.  In offering prayers, we want to do God’s will, and not our own.  We want to make sure that the decisions we make today will please God in the years ahead.

When we offer petitions, we make specific requests to God for someone else.  In light of what we learn about the needs of others in our prayers, we know that we can share a generous portion of our “dishonest wealth” with those who have much less.  We avoid the sinful greed of the people whom Amos criticizes.

Finally, when we offer thanksgiving, we express our gratitude and acknowledge that everything we have is a gift from God.  In gratitude, we share a generous portion of that gift with others in time, talent, and treasure.

When we center our lives on prayer, we avoid corruption and over-consumption.  This kind of prayer helps end arguments and anger.  It helps us to treat leaders and those with whom we disagree with respect.  It opens our eyes to see the needs of others and share generously with them.  We are God’s prudent stewards who are called to use our “dishonest wealth” as a way of embracing a true wealth that cannot be destroyed.  So, let us pray!

 

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

7 SEPTEMBER 2025

 

          As Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem, huge crowds are following him.  They have listened to his preaching, especially about the Kingdom of God already in their midst.  They have been impressed with his miracles and the many ways he has expressed the love of his Father to them.  However, he thins the crowd today with his warnings.  He makes it very clear what it means to be an authentic disciple.  He tells them that they cannot be his disciple without “hating” the closest members of their families and even their own lives.  In using that strong word “hate,” Jesus is not talking about an emotion that would tear apart family relationships.  Rather, he uses that word as a hyperbole to indicate one’s preference.  Disciples must put their relationship with him first and love the members of his or her family less.  Knowing that he will be crucified in Jerusalem, he insists that his disciples must carry their crosses.  He uses two metaphors to underline the conditions of discipleship.  A disciple needs to be like a builder, who carefully calculates the costs required for constructing a tower.  Or a disciple needs to be like a king marching into battle, making sure that he or she is prepared for the consequences.  Authentic disciples must be prepared for the costs of discipleship, willing to put the following of Jesus Christ ahead of all possessions.

As we walk with Jesus Christ on our own pilgrimage to the new and eternal Jerusalem, he gives us this same message.  As disciples, we must put our relationship with him at the center of our lives, even above our closest family members and friends.  But we also know from our own experiences that putting our relationship with Jesus Christ as a first priority will transform our other relationships and make them more precious.  We must be prepared to carry difficult crosses as a result of making these preferences and trust Jesus to be the center of our lives.     

Philemon was a disciple.  He was a close enough friend that Saint Paul took the time to write him a letter.  Philemon owned Onesimus as a slave.  The slave’s name spoke of his worth, because the name means “useful.”  We do not know why Onesimus ran away from Philemon’s household.  But we do know that he was breaking the law in running to Saint Paul.  He not only proved to be useful to the old man in prison.  He became a disciple of Jesus Christ when Saint Paul baptized him.  Through Baptism, Onesimus not only became a sacred child of God.  He also became a brother in Christ to all the other baptized members of the Body of Christ.

Saint Paul now sends him back to Philemon with this letter.  He asks Philemon to receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, but as a brother, beloved to both Paul and his owner as a man in the Lord.  He asks Philemon to welcome Onesimus as he would welcome Paul.

We have no idea what Philemon did when his slave returned.  Did he punish him for running away without permission?  Did he beat him in front of the rest of the slaves to warn them not to attempt this same trick?  Or did he accept the request of Saint Paul to welcome him back as a brother in the Lord?  If he did this, he would be carrying the cross of renouncing one of his possessions and even inviting the rest of the slaves to go to Paul and get baptized themselves.  He would be carrying the cross of losing revenue and security.

We might ask the question:  why did Saint Paul not denounce the cruel and inhumane system of slavery?  Even worse, we are horrified at slave owners in this country using Paul as an excuse to continue to enslave human beings.  The truth is that slavery was such an ingrained part of the ancient world that Paul did not challenge it.  Instead, he focused on the transformation of relationships within the unjust system of slavery.  Within the many unjust situations in our society, we too can focus on ways to transform relationships by being disciples of Jesus Christ.

 

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

24 AUGUST 2025

 

          Saint Luke begins his Gospel in Jerusalem.  Jesus is presented in the Temple as an infant, and Simeon and Anna rejoice to live long enough to encounter the Messiah.  In Jerusalem, at the age of twelve, Jesus is lost in the temple.  His parents frantically look for him for three days until they find him listening to the teachers and asking them questions.  He leaves Jerusalem with his parents to grow up in Nazareth with them.  Saint Luke ends his Gospel in Jerusalem with the death of Jesus on Good Friday, his resurrection on Easter Sunday, and his Ascension.

            That is why it is important to recognize that Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem in today’s Gospel.  He teaches people and invites them to become his disciples to join him on his journey.  That journey will end in Jerusalem, where he will be betrayed, forced to endure an unfair trial, and be crucified like a common criminal.  He answers the question about the number of people to be saved by responding, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.”  He is inviting his disciples, and all of us who call ourselves Christians, to walk the same journey with him and be formed by the journey.  That journey will include sharing his cross and trusting that striving to enter the narrow gate of his cross will lead to his resurrection.

At this time of the year, parishes are resuming the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. That is happening here.  Those who have never been baptized or those who have been baptized in another Christian denomination will begin the process of becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.  There are four parts involved in this process.  Participants will live in love within a community.  They will be engaged in listening to the Word, not only at Mass but also in their sessions.  They will learn how to participate in outreach and service.  If they persist in OCIA, they will worship God in spirit and truth. 

These four aspects are part of the journey of faith for each of us.  We continue to learn to live in love within this parish community.  We are engaged in hearing the Word of God every Sunday, or every day if we come to daily Mass.  We are constantly challenged to become more involved in the outreach and service of our parish, especially in reaching out to the poor and marginalized.  When we gather for Mass every Sunday, we worship God in spirit and truth.

As all new Catholics will learn, and as we ourselves have learned, walking with Jesus on this journey and being formed by it is not easy.  We encounter arguments and disagreements within the family of the Church.  We can suffer from ill treatment at work, when we choose to buck a system of doing what is minimally required and pour ourselves into what we are supposed to do.  Young people can be treated unfairly by teachers or coaches.  Friends can betray us.  When we choose to participate in the veiled humor of racist language or the gossipy rumor going around, we will share in the cross of Christ.  Sharing in the cross of Christ is part of our being formed by our journey with him.

The author of the Letter of the Hebrews is aware of the sufferings that disciples must endure as we are formed by our journey with Jesus Christ.  The author urges us to regard our crosses, our failures, and our disappointments, and our pain as “the discipline of the Lord”.  The Letter argues that the Lord loves us and strengthens our resolve as disciples to continue our own pilgrimage with Christ to the New and Eternal Jerusalem.  Referring to the question asked of Jesus today, we need not worry about how many people will be saved.  Instead, we can focus on our own response to follow him and strengthen our resolve to strive to walk as Jesus did, knowing that encountering his cross will be a definite part of our journey with him.                       

 

 

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

10 AUGUST 2025

 

          Jesus responds to his disciples, to his “little flock,” because they are afraid.  He turns their attention away from the world’s concerns and encourages them to focus on a treasure that is permanent and cannot be taken away.  Our first reading from the Book of Exodus gives an example of God’s faithfulness.  God promised the Israelites that he would free them from slavery in Egypt and give them a Promised Land.  It took them forty years, with many difficulties and trials.  But they kept their eyes fixed on that treasure and by faith finally achieved it.  Our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews gives the example of Abraham.  God had promised him the treasure of his own land and numerous descendants.  In faith, Abraham left his homeland and settled in the land that God had promised.  In faith, he never lost sight of the promise of many descendants, even though both he and Sarah were well beyond childbearing age.  In faith, he continued to trust the treasure of descendants that God had promised, even when obeying God’s instruction to sacrifice his only son seemed crazy.

            Jesus encourages his little flock to maintain that same hope.  He has been teaching them that he would be rejected by the religious leaders and be put to death on a cross.  He tells them to keep their eyes on the treasure of a resurrected life that cannot be destroyed.  As the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, Isaac was only a symbol of what would happen in Jesus Christ.  Unlike Isaac, Jesus would actually give his life in sacrifice, promising that those who die with him will also rise with him.  Even when Jesus will be taken from his little flock, they cannot be discouraged.  They must wait in joyful hope for the treasure that awaits them.

            Jesus gives three examples of how faithful people prepare for the treasure promised them, especially during uncertain times.  He gives as his first example servants preparing for a master to return from a long journey.  At the end of time, or at the end of our individual lives, we can maintain confidence in the Lord by living as faithful servants.  Instead of living in fear and dread, we are expected to be good servants, good stewards.  We prepare by engaging in prayer, serving the poor and those who depend on our help, and welcoming those who come into our midst.  If we prepare like humble servants, then we can expect the master to do for us exactly what he had done at the Last Supper.  He will sit us down at table, wait on us, and wash our feet, as he washed the feet of his disciples.

            The second example is that of a prepared householder.  We do not know the time of the Lord’s coming either at the end of time and at the end of our lives.  But he will come like a good thief.  The good thief will look for the many ways we are active in building up the Kingdom of God, even in the midst of so much discouragement and opposition.

            Third, he calls us to be faithful people.  Instead of sitting around worrying about so many things out of our control, we need to be faithful in pursuing our responsibilities.  Parents are most faithful when they carefully attend to the growth of their children.  Parishioners are most faithful when we continue to pray together, serve each other’s needs, and continue to meet the needs of those who come to us from the margins of society.  We have work to do with the parish, friends, family, community, and where we work.

            Like Abraham, like the Israelites in the desert, and like Jesus himself, we must maintain the virtue of hope.  Pope Francis knew what he was talking about when he assigned that virtue to this Jubilee Year.  In a world which disappoints us and frustrates us in so many ways, we can continue our journey to the new and eternal Jerusalem if we maintain the virtue of hope in our lives.  Faith is indeed the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.

 

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

27 JULY 2025

 

          The disciples of Jesus ask him to teach them how to pray.  In response, he teaches them the “Lord’s Prayer.”  It is not the Lord’s Prayer that we know so well from the Gospel of Saint Matthew.  Saint Luke’s version is shorter and centered more on the present, with God’s name hollowed, the kingdom come, the daily bread we receive now, and the forgiveness that we receive and are expected to give to others. 

            To explain this prayer, he tells the parable of a man who knocks on his neighbor’s door in the middle of the night asking for three loaves of bread.  The neighbor finally opens the door and grants his request because of his persistence.  The Greek word which Saint Luke uses is even stronger.  The neighbor complies because his friend is completely shameless.  Not even his neighbor’s resistance can stop him from asking for what he needs.

            We see this same persistence in the first reading from Genesis.  Abraham is persistent as he shamelessly begs God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, where his nephew Lot and his wife and two children live.  Abraham knows the wickedness of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He knows their complete lack of hospitality and their sexual offenses.  But he asks God to recognize the innocent people of Sodom and Gomorrah.  If you have ever traveled to the Middle East, you can recognize what Abraham is doing.  He begins by asking God to spare the cities if there are at least fifty innocent people.  In Middle Eastern markets, the merchant sets a large amount for a purchase.  The buyer barters with him at the lowest amount, until they come to an agreement.  When I was on my Sabbatical 25 years ago, I bought stuff at the markets in the West Bank.  I was terrible at bartering, because I viewed the process of bargaining as an angry argument.  However, another priest in our group knew exactly how to barter.  I came to realize that in their back and forth bartering, they were entering into a relationship.  Once the purchase was complete, the merchant often invited the buyer to have a cup of tea with him.

            Abraham is not bartering with God.  Instead, he enjoys an intimate relationship with God that allows him to be shameless in his speaking.  He is aware of God’s mercy, especially in God’s merciful gift of a son to him and Sarah in their old age.  In his shameless conversation, he is trying to find at least ten innocent people.  But he learns that there are only four innocent people.  In the course of speaking with God, he learns that God’s mercy is always tempered by God’s justice.  Sodom and Gomorrah must face the consequences of their inhospitality.

            Jesus encourages us to be persistent, to be shameless in asking, in seeking, and in knocking.  That is the way we need to pray.  However, we have also learned from our experience of praying that we do not always receive what we ask.  We do not always find what we seek.  The door that we keep knocking on is not always opened for us.  That is why authentic prayer demands that we remain grounded in our relationship with God and trust that our persistent and shameless prayers will eventually be granted in ways that we do not expect.

            Jesus promises that the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask.  As Saint Paul reminds us, we entered the tomb of Jesus Christ when we were drowned in the waters of Baptism.  We emerged to share in his resurrection and receive that gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit will never disappoint us as we attempt to live the Paschal Mystery.  Just as the shameless and persistent prayer of Jesus himself in the Garden of Gethsemane was finally answered in the resurrection, we can trust that God will give to us whatever we need as we persist shamelessly in prayer.