SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

28 JULY 2019

          The disciples of Jesus notice that he often goes off by himself to pray.  So, they ask him to teach them to pray, just as John the Baptist had taught his disciples.  Jesus responds by teaching the most important prayer that Christians pray every day.  We are accustomed to pray the version of that prayer from the Gospel of Saint Matthew.  Listening to Saint Luke’s version today gives us a chance to reflect on the words that we often rush through.

            Jesus tells us to call God “Father.”  The Aramaic word he uses is Abba, which means dad or daddy.  Our prayer acknowledges our closeness to him.  But as close as we are, his name is hallowed, because he is holy and totally other than we are.  Throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus proclaims that the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Jesus personifies that Kingdom.  Our prayer reminds us that God dwells with us, even in the midst of sin, hatred, racism, war, and disasters.  We ask for our daily bread.  The Greek words used here are very rare, and they imply that God gives us an overwhelming substance of food.  Of course, we recognize that substance at this Mass, when the accidents of bread and wine are transformed into the substance of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  We ask the Father to forgive our sins, which he has already done in the saving death and resurrection of his only Son.  When we forgive those who sin against us, we are already advancing the peace and mercy of the Kingdom in our midst.  Finally, we ask that we not be subjected to the final test.  In other words, when the Lord comes again in glory (either at the end of the world or at the end of our mortal lives), we will recognize him.

            When we pray this prayer, we are not only praying the prayer that Jesus taught us, but we are also recognizing our status as beloved sons and daughters of the Father.  We are living out our mission as disciples of Jesus Christ.  That is why Jesus tells us to pray often and persistently.  We often see ourselves as the friend in the parable who knocks with shameless resolve until God finally answers our prayers.  That is not what Jesus is telling us.  In his culture, families huddled together in their one room home to sleep.  The father is reluctant to answer the door, because he does not want to disturb his sleeping children.  We are his disciples, those sleeping children whom the Father loves and cares for.  He is not abandoning us when it seems that he gets up to answer other people’s prayers.  He knows our needs and responds to them.

            If any of you have traveled to a third world country, you understand the bargaining skills of Abraham in the first reading.  When I was in Uganda for the dedication of Father Larry’s new church, I saw him buy bananas, the staple food of the country.  He argued and went on and on with the seller, until the seller gave in and offered the price he wanted.  In bargaining with God, Abraham is not trying to change God’s mind.  Instead, his persistent bargaining brings him to the conclusion that Sodom and Gomorrah are completely corrupt and inhospitable towns.  Instead of changing God’s mind, he understands the justice of God.

            In our prayer, most of us have tried to bargain with God.  “I will stop smoking, Lord, if you cure my mother.”  Or, “I will go to Mass every day if you heal my cancer.”  There is nothing wrong with asking God for specific things, even the best of things.  But we must ask with the complete trust that our Father loves us and wants only the best for us.  Saint Augustine argued that God does not grant our requests immediately, because he wants to stretch us.  He wants us to expand our desire for the gift he gives us – the gift of the Holy Spirit – so that we may truly appreciate what we have received.  Our persistent prayer does not change God, our Father.  It changes us; so that we may know more fully the gifts we have already received and often take for granted, even when life becomes very difficult. 

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

21 JULY 2019

          When Abraham sees the three strangers approaching his tent, he is anxious to show them hospitality.  He runs to meet them and bows down in their presence, but he also washes their feet (much as Jesus will wash the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper).  He tells them that he will prepare for them “a little food.”  So, Sarah kneads three measures of flour (40-60 pounds) to make rolls.  Then he gives to his servant a tender, choice steer (500 pounds or more) to prepare.  With curds and milk, he serves the three visitors a lavish meal.  In return, the three strangers (who represent God) promise that Abraham and Sarah, now advanced beyond the age of childbearing, would conceive and bear a son by the time they return the following year.

            Abraham’s lavish hospitality reveals a God who acts in human history, a God who returns to humans much more than they could ever have given to God.  As Christians, we see God’s action fulfilled in the Incarnation of his Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus entered into our human history in every way except for sin.  He was welcomed by people and shared lavish meals with them.  Saint Luke describes one of those meals today.  Given the example of Abraham and Sarah, we would expect Jesus to praise Martha, his hostess who worked hard to give hospitality to him.  But, instead, he praises Mary, who sits at his feet without lifting a finger.  Because so many of us who live busy lives identify with Martha, we wonder what is going on here, knowing that Jesus would have gone away hungry had it not been for Martha’s work.

            In fact, Jesus encourages his disciples to be active and give themselves in humble service. 
Earlier in Saint Luke’s Gospel, he sends his disciples ahead of him to do the work of proclaiming the Kingdom of God.  Last Sunday, we heard the parable of the Good Samaritan, emphasizing our role to serve the needs of our neighbor.  Today, he corrects Martha to give balance.  In the ancient world, only men would sit at the feet of the Master, while women worked in the kitchen.  He supports what Mary is doing in defying that sexual stereotype.  In sitting at his feet, she is listening to the Word and hearing what he is saying.  Jesus had corrected another set of siblings earlier in the Gospel.  When a Samaritan village rejected Jesus and his disciples, James and John wanted him to call down fire from heaven in revenge.   They had not been listening to his word of mercy and love of enemy.  He corrected them and told them to shake the dust from their feet as they continued their journey to Jerusalem.  They needed to let go of the pain of rejection and keep their attention on their mission to proclaim the Kingdom of God

            In his interaction with the siblings Martha and Mary, he provides a similar correction.  We too are busy about many things.  You who are parents give yourselves completely to your children.  You who are young are involved in many positive activities that teach you how to interact with other people.  You who are good stewards giving humble service to the parish and providing critical programs.  However, we must listen to the correction Jesus gives to Martha.  We can easily burn out with too many activities.  We can resent the fact that we do more than others do.  We need to do what Mary does.  We need to take time to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen.  When we hear what he is saying by taking time for individual prayer, we understand the reason for our constant activities – to center our lives on the person of Jesus Christ.

            Jesus is not telling us that monks and hermits have chosen a better way of being disciples.  Instead, he is speaking to us active disciples and urging us to provide a better balance in the way we live our lives.  Grounded in prayer and reflection, our active service becomes more intense and better focused.  Grounded in prayer and reflection, the action of our foot washing becomes more Christ-centered.  Our action becomes our prayer in serving others.

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

14 JULY 2019

          The scholar of the law knows what he needs to do to inherit eternal life.  He knows the law:  love God with all your heart, all your being, all your strength, all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.  But there is a difference between knowing and doing.  That is why he asks Jesus to answer the question of who is his neighbor. 

            Jesus responds with this beautifully crafted parable.  Both the priest and the Levite know that the robbery victim is their neighbor in need of help.  Jesus gives no reason why they do nothing to help him.  However, the hated Samaritan does something.  He treats the victim as his neighbor.  He gives his resources and time:  pouring wine and oil on his wounds and bandaging them, lifting him on his animal, spending the night with him at an inn, and providing the equivalent of two days’ wages for his care.  His motive:  he is moved with compassion.

            Over the years, Father Larry has become our neighbor.  We have come to know what he needs.  He serves his people in a third world setting with very few financial resources.  We have been moved by compassion at the difficulties of his people.  We have helped him build a hospital in an area where there was no medical care.  We have helped him build a new church, a rectory, a convent, and a school.

            Now he comes to us, because the hospital needs updating.  I visited the hospital at the time when his new church was dedicated.  It was very primitive – no inside plumbing or toilets, minimal housing for the sisters who served the patients, and no residence for the nurses.  Despite the lack of resources, they were grateful for what they had.  When we left, the sisters gave us two live chickens to express our gratitude.  Since we figured that TSA officials at O’Hare would not approve, we gave them to our driver, who took them home to his mother.

            Father Larry comes to us, so that he can improve the services of the hospital.  In his name, I thank you for showing compassion and doing something for our African neighbors, for whom we pray every Sunday.  And now, Father Larry puts in his own two cents.

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

7 JULY 2019

          When Jesus sends out his seventy-two disciples ahead of him, he gives them some very specific instructions.  These seventy-two had experienced the joy of being transformed by their encounter with him.  They had come to understand his unconditional love and the profound peace his presence brought.  Knowing that experience, Jesus sends them out with a definite sense of urgency.  They do not need to take much – no money bag, no sack, and no sandals.  Once they reach their destination, they should enter the house and announce the message of peace that they have experienced.  They should depend on the hospitality of those who receive this peace.  They are to announce that the Kingdom of God is at hand – not a personal salvation in the afterlife, but the presence of unconditional love now.  Having completed their mission, the seventy-two returned with rejoicing that they had shared the Kingdom of God with others.

            We tend to think that this sending of the seventy-two was something that happened in the past.  However, we need to understand that Jesus is talking to us today.  We have encountered the mystical presence of Jesus Christ in our lives.  Many have experienced that presence in a Christ Renews His Parish retreat (a truly shameless plug for the retreat here next weekend!).  We have encountered his unconditional love in our families and in good friends.  I just spent a week with my family on a hiking trip in Oregon.  With a priest in the family, we didn’t have to look for a local church.  We gather here to celebrate the unconditional love of Jesus Christ at this Eucharist.  The Lord did not send the seventy-two out as isolated individuals.  In the same way, he has gathered us here as the Body of Christ, truly present where two or more are gathered.

            He sends us on the same mission as the seventy-two.  We don’t need to take much.  We proclaim the Kingdom of God when we care for the sick or tend to the dying or comfort those in distress.  We make that same announcement when we return insults with kindness at work or school.  We proclaim the Kingdom when we defend the rights of the poor and vulnerable. 

            There is a word for our task.  It is called evangelization, a concept that is foreign to us Catholics.  However, we have embraced the word and placed it as the center of the five year plan for the parish.  In putting together this plan, we are convinced that it is time for us to move beyond our new physical church to become more visibly the Mystical Body of Christ in our world.  Announcing that the Kingdom of God is in our midst can be accomplished by our resolve to be present to others in the name of Jesus Christ.

            Although this task can bring much joy, it also has its challenges.  Jesus warns us, as he warned the seventy-two, that our message will not always be accepted.  We will experience rejection and failure.  We will know the effects of wolves eating away at the Gospel message.  In the process of putting together this five year plan, we were also aware of the terrible wounds inflicted by the clergy abuse crisis.  This crisis can easily cause people to walk away from the Church, instead of being drawn more deeply into it.  That is why I highly recommend that you read Bishop Barron’s new book, Letter to a Suffering Church.  Bishop Barron presents the crisis with honesty and frankness.  But, he also gives us a way forward.

            Jesus tells us to shake the dust that clings to our feet when we suffer failure or rejection.  His advice helps us to move forward.  In shaking the dust from our feet, we let go of the bitterness and anger that come from rejection and failure, and even from the obvious sins of priests and bishops.  In shaking the dust from our feet, we can move forward learning the same lesson as the seventy-two did.  It is not power within the Church that keeps us going, but knowing that our names are written in heaven.