The Path to Joy - Homily for February 10

 

Readings for Sunday, February 10 / 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Isaiah 6:1-8  |  Psalm 138  |  1 Corinthians 15:1-11  |  Luke 5:1-11

Homily for Sunday, December 9

Readings for Sunday, December 9 / 2nd Sunday of Advent:  Baruch 5:1-9  |  Psalm 126  |  Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11  |  Luke 3:1-6

You are remembered.

Homily for Sunday, November 11

Readings for Sunday, November 11 / 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time:  1 Kings 17:10-16  |  Psalm 146  |  Hebrews 9:24-28  |  Mark 12:38-44

Generosity with the Lord is a manifestation of our faith in Him. How is your faith?

Faith - Homily for September 16

Readings for Sunday, September 16 / 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Isaiah 50:5-9  |  Psalm 116  |  James 2:14-18  |  Mark 8:27-35

Faith cannot be lost. It can only be living living or dead. How is your faith?

Dealing with the Thorns - Homily for July 8

Readings for Sunday, July 8 / 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Ezekiel 2:2-5  |  Psalm 123  |  2 Corinthians 12:7-10  |  Mark 6:1-6

When 'Thy Will be done' and my own personal will are not the same, how do I respond? Today's readings help us to see the 'how not to respond' and a beautiful of example of 'how to respond' in the person of St. Paul. 

To Touch Him With Faith - Homily for July 1

Readings for Sunday, July 1 / 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24  |  Psalm 30  |    2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15  |  Mark 5:21-43

Faith in God can accomplish marvelous things. The Sacraments and sacramentals of the Church are invitations to us to express faith today and to experience those same miracles in our own life. Jesus, increase our faith!

Stirring Up Faith - Homily for June 24

Readings for Sunday, June 24 / Nativity of St. John the Baptist: Isaiah 49:1-6  |  Psalm 139  |  Acts 13:22-26  |  Luke 1:57-66, 80

The birth of John the Baptist brings his father Zechariah from doubt to faith. In his public ministry, John called the Israelites to repentance and deeper faith. He continues to do the same for us today. 

Lent: Learning to Trust - Homily for February 25

Abraham and Isaac, c.1617 - Anthony van Dyck

Readings for Sunday, February 25 / 2nd Sunday of Lent:  Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18  |  Psalm 116  | Romans 8:31-34  |  Mark 9:2-10

Today we reflect on the faith of Abraham and the role of the Transfiguration in the faith of Peter, James, and John.

Advent: I Have Not Forgotten You - Homily for December 10

St. John in the Wilderness by Jose Leonardo

Readings for Sunday, December 10 / 2nd Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11  |  Psalm 85  |  2 Peter 3:8-14  |  Mark 1:1-8 

While this season is the 'most wonderful time of the year' it is also a time when we experience in various ways the ache of the human heart. To that ache the Lord comes to comfort us and reassure us 'I have not forgotten you.'

The Importance of Oil - Homily for November 12

Readings for Sunday, November 12 / 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Wisdom 6:12-16  |  Psalm 63  | 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  |  Matthew 25:1-13

The Lord clearly reminds us this weekend that we must have oil to be prepared for His coming and the oil is the life of faith and the celebration of the Sacraments. Don't be caught off guard without a full tank!

What kind of God to you pray to? (Homily for October 16)

The Three Ways - Homily for October 9

Readings for Sunday, October 9 / 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time: 2 Kings 5:14-17  |  Psalm 98  |  2 Timothy 2:8-13  |  Luke 17:11-19

The second reading today is St. Paul's letter to Timothy and he is writing about the sufferings he is
baring and how he is even in chains for the love of Christ and for the good of the Gospel as he goes forth to spread the good news of salvation in the world. It's a common thing for him to do - indeed in the lives of the saints as indicated throughout the centuries that it's a good thing for us to reflect on the ways in which we suffer with the Lord, to reflect upon on own sufferings, to reflect upon the sufferings of Christ. In light of that, it came to me of another account of one who was praying with the idea of sufferings - St. Faustina Kowalska. St. Faustina is the great apostle of Divine Mercy. If you pray the Divine Mercy chaplet or if you've ever heard of the Divine Mercy, it came through her. The Lord Jesus appeared to her and gave her the good news to be able to spread His mercy to the world. St. Faustina was one who received a special grace of receiving visions from Christ. The Lord came and gave her a unique experience - not just meditating on the mysteries of the sufferings of Jesus - but experiencing them herself: to experience what it was to be scourged, to experience the crown of thorns, to experience the pain and sorrow of His heart of being rejected by His disciples as they all fled except for John. She experienced these things in a unique way. She knew the sufferings of Jesus, and she tried to unite herself to them. One day she was in the chapel and the Lord came and gave her a different experience of sufferings. And He showed her a multiple of a people, a great number of people; three groups. He looked at her and said, "Do you see these people?" She said, "Yes." And He described them to her, "See the first group. They are simply holding their cross. The second, they have their cross on their shoulder. They are walking, but dragging their cross behind them reluctantly. The third group - see that they are nailed to their cross." She gazed out and saw these things, and the Lord said to her: to the extent to which you unite yourself to my suffering (to the extent to which you nail yourself to the cross, to allow yourself to die) to that extent you will also be with Me in glory. To the extent that you suffer with me, to that extent you will receive glory. That's essentially what St. Paul also says in the scripture today, that if we die with Christ we will live with Him, and if we persevere, we will reign with Him. If we allow ourselves to be united to Christ in His suffering, in imitation of His obedience to the Father, we will share in His glory.

That story came to mind because we essentially see those three groups of people, those three responses to the will of God, in the scriptures today. Two of those we see embodied in the person of Naaman. The ones holding their crosses are the ones who recognize the cross; they see the cross, they know the plan of God, and yet they say, "No." They recognize the cross, but refuse to follow. That was Naaman. We saw in past days (it's not in full text here today) that Naaman was one who was very hard of heart. He was one who was inflicted with an illness. It was common for one to go from place to place to place to find who might be the best healer so that you might be healed. Evidently Naaman had tried a number of places, and yet they were not effective. And so he goes to Elisha, the great prophet of Israel and successor to Elijah, because he knows Elisha is a man of great power, a man of God. Naaman comes to Elisha and says, "I want to be healed. What do I do?" Elisha say, "Go dip yourself seven times in the river." And Naaman comments that there is nicer water where he is from, and that he has seen more healings over there - that seems a rather small thing to do, rather simple, just to dunk himself in the water seven times. "No. I'm not doing that. That's too simple. God doesn't work that way, God wouldn't heal that way. It has to be something much bigger." And he starts to walk away. He sees his cross and says no. Naaman begins to leave, but one of his servants comes up to him and tells him to stop. The servants says, "If He had asked you to do something great and big, something difficult, you would've easily done it because you would've thought that was the will of God for you. But He's asking you to do something so simple. Just to go to the river and wash in it seven times. You've come all this way, all this time, all this effort, all this money, resources for us all to come here with you. Why not just go try?" And Naaman has a moment of conversion and says ok. He goes, plunges seven times in the water (that's where we pick up today) and he is healed. He goes back to Elisha because he realizes who God is, that God doesn't work in exactly the manner he desires, but he is willing to follow the Lord as the Lord desires. To do God's will, rather than to hold the cross, look at it and say no. But rather to climb upon the cross and allow himself and his will to be crucified, that the will of the Father might be made manifest.

It's interesting that he comes back to Elisha and he wants to give a gift, some type of monetary gift or donation to show his gratitude. A lot of times we see that - we receive a blessing from God and we want to do something in return. Elisha says, "No that's not why I'm here. I don't want anything." But we see an interesting response on Naaman's part who says that if Elisha won't take the gift than to at least let him take two mule loads of dirt back home. To us that seems an odd request, but for them it was quite sensible and a profound expression of faith. In the days of Elisha the prophet, there was an understanding that gods were localized, that there was a god of this place, and that place, and the god that place. Wherever you were that's where your god was, that's who your god was. When Naaman realizes he was healed, that's why he says, "Now I believe that there are no other gods, but the God of Israel [the God of this place]." All the others are fake. This One is real, and it's this One that I want to be with, it's this God. But he also knows that he wants to go back home where he's from, so he needs this God, of this land. He wants to take two mule loads worth of dirt, so that the God of Israel might come with him as he brings a part of Israel back home and that he could build an altar on that dirt, and there offer sacrifices to that God. He is essentially saying, "I've been healed and I want to do anything and everything to be united to this God because I know this One has power." A great testament of faith.

We see a similar testament in the Gospel as we have the ten lepers. Again, one of them is cleansed and comes back and throws himself at the feet of Jesus, much like Naaman did with Elisha, thanking God for such a profound blessings. Again, he too realizes the way in which God has worked, that the will of God has been made manifest. He climbs up onto the cross to rejoice and follow the Lord, whatever may be the cost.

These are two great examples, but the problem is that group of the nine. The nine should trouble us a bit. The nine who receive healing from Jesus Himself. They too receive that simple penance of go wash in the water, except it's go show yourself to the priest - an easy thing. They don't expect God to work in that way, but they kind of humor Him in a sense. And when they are healed, they don't come back. And that group is the middle group that was describe to St. Faustina - the one's who pick up their cross, but still try to go their own way, they drag it grudgingly because they don't really want to follow the will of God, but they will if they have to. That's them - the nine. The ones who go offer, and they recognize the will of God. They go with it a bit, but they still try to make it their own path, still try to make the cross their own, not simply to climb upon it and allow the Father's will to be perfectly completed.

My brothers and sisters, the nine is the easy way, and the nine is us. We are the nine. A lot of times we can be the one who is reluctant and completely hard-hearted to God, and a lot of times we can be the one that's completely open to God and everything He desires of us perfectly. But majority of the time, we are the nine. We are the ones who accept the will of God, but we still want it our way. "I'll do your will Father, but let me tell you how it should be done, when it should be done, and what manner it should be done. I'll do Your will Lord. I'll allow myself to suffering a bit, but I'm not going to the extent at which You desire. I'll do your will, but I'm not going all the way." It's a reluctance of our hearts. Second best when it comes to it.

The scary thing is - the devil loves second best. He loves it. We don't talk about the devil enough these days, unfortunately. Maybe I should. But the devil is real, and the scriptures say that he is prowling about like a roaring lion waiting for someone to devour. He's looking after each of us, every moment of the day, he and the other demons of the earth, prowling around trying to find ways to lead us from Christ. They are not so foolish as to come and put the thought in our mind to completely reject Jesus or completely reject His will. They are not foolish enough to think that we would fall for that because usually we see it for what it is, that it's clearly not God, clearly something that's turning me away from Christ, no. When we see a firm rejection of Christ, we usually recognize it for what it is. The devil knows that. Rather choose that path and be completely rejected, the devil encourages us to choose second best. Whatever he can do to get us a little bit closer to himself and a little bit farther from Christ. Anything that he can do to gain us a little less grace than we would have, to love Christ a little less than we could have, to be able to follow the Lord a little less closely and to be more concerned with my will than I would have been otherwise. That's what the devil loves, and it's our job not to make the devil happy. It's our job to reject his lies, because he's a lie and a deceiver. So often, he points out things to us a if they were good, but it's only because he knows they are the second best, and it's his hope to draw us away form the Lord.

Christ calls us, and He calls us to perfect obedience. To allow ourselves to truly be crucified, and not simply to grudgingly carry our cross, dragging it behind us. He calls us to much more because He wants us to have His glory. Remember, if we die with Him, we will live with Him, and if we persevere, we will reign with Him. To the extent that we allow our sufferings to be united to Him in this life, to the extent that we are obedient to the Father in imitation of Him, to that same extent we will share in His glory. That's a big thing - to allow ourselves to rejoice in the glory of God the Father for eternity. It's the good that Christ calls us to.

There are many things that we could reflect upon on how we respond to the will of God. We could look at how we bear our own crosses, our own sufferings. We could look at the ways in which we desire healing, much like the ones in the Gospels. We could look at the ways in which we struggle with the will of God in various other courses of our life. But I want to invite you to reflect upon three ways in which God calls us to Himself. They are rather simple, and yet I think they are the foundation of our entire life of faith. How obedient are we to the Father's will in the manner of these three things: confession, Mass and daily prayer.

I've often said, and preached a number of times about it, that for us to have growth in the spiritual life, for us to have a life of faith that's actually nourishing and productive, producing fruits of the Holy Spirit, we must go to confession monthly, Mass weekly, and prayer daily. You want growth? There is your system. The Church sets the bar rather low for us because She knows it's difficult for us sometimes, because we do struggle with carrying the cross - nine out of the ten lepers struggled with it. The Church recognizes and sets the bar low for us, but encourages us to go higher. We are required to go to confession once a year. But who among us would rather go an entire year of harming relationships only to have to say, "I'm sorry" once and it covers everything? Do we not rather whenever we hurt someone we love, go back and apologize rather quickly? Do we not rather go back and ask forgiveness for our faults, rather than wait for 2, 10, 12 months later when it doesn't really hit us as much? To go to Reconciliation regularly is a wonderful grace to allow us to encounter the mercy and healing of Christ, to heal the relationship which is so often wounded by our sins though we can be unaware of it.

The Church calls us to go to Mass once a week. We are obligated once a week on Sundays to attend Holy Mass as well as on the Holy Days of Obligation, so it's about 57 times a year. This year you get off easy because a couple of Holy Days are on Sunday, so I think we are down to 55 days, 55 hours, that God calls us to be at Mass. 55 hours. Who among us has worked more than 55 hours in the past week? Think about the time you put in just in a workweek or the time you spend just on your children or grandchildren. Think about those relationships and how important they are for you. God calls us for 57 hours roughly, a very small amount. He would love more, certainly. But for us to be able to recognize that. Even if that's the best we can do, because work obligations sometimes prevent us from getting to daily Mass and such, but if that's the best we can do - it's to squeeze every drop of the joy, grace and peace that we can out of this Mass. To enter into it as fully as we can, and to rejoice in the celebration of Mass, this encounter with Christ in the altar.

Lastly, daily prayer. Daily prayer is really the key to all of this because we can go to confession frequently, we can go to Mass weekly, but if we don't have that encounter with prayer, our relationship with Christ really will not grow. Because basically it becomes simply a means of becoming a checklist conversation. Our novena prayers, where you pray the same thing every week, on Thursdays we pray a novena to the Mother of Perpetual Help, it's good, it's holy, it's beautiful. But if our relationship with the Lord is based off a script, there's an issue. If our relationship with Christ is based of someone else's words or prayer, rather than my own encounter with Him, allowing my heart to speak to Him and His heart to speak to me, than it's not really a relationship. It's a book, a story we read about. It's not a relationship with Christ.

How faithful are we in obedience to the Father? Confession, Mass, daily prayer. He sets the bar low because He wants us to come, but as soon as we commit, He invites us to come higher, to go more, to go farther, because He loves us. Because He wants us to share in His glory. He wants to have us experience His peace, ultimately just like the ones in the scriptures, because He wants to heal our aching hearts.

Let us pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit in this Mass, the Holy Spirit who is already residing in our hearts by virtue of Baptism, that He might come and be stirred up once again. As the Lord Jesus comes to us in the gift of the Eucharist, we might be able to have those blessed gifts come and conform our hearts, soften our hearts convert our hearts once more today, to be able to seek the will of the Father and to do it with joy.

Increase Our Faith - Homily for October 2

Readings for Sunday, October 2 / 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Habakuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4  |  Psalm 95  |  2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14  |  Luke 17:5-10

Faith is a very important thing in the scriptures. At various points, we hear people praised for their faith, as being the means of their salvation, hearing the word of God and finding trust in Christ. But a lot of times when we say the word "faith," what we think, what we understand and what the world understands as faith, are two very different things. When the world hear "faith," they think often of mere superstition They see us as Christians and if we say the right number of prayers , the right number of times, if we pray the right verse or in the right situation ... if we do things just perfectly, God will reward us, God will bless us. They see it sometimes as a complete submission of self to God and the Church in a mindless manner - to put aside all reasoning, rationality, thought, and whatever God says, we follow whatever. Whatever the Church says, we follow whatever. Whatever the priest says, we follow whatever. If Fr. Brent gets up and says the sky is green, by faith the sky is green. They seem also that prayer or faith is simply an easy way out. They see it as taking the easy way, so they don't have to - so we don't have to - deal with the hard things; Those great mysteries, the sufferings and pains of people throughout the world, unjustly so often. They see faith as us washing our hands saying ... you know, we trust, God is God ... and we chalk it off as nothing big. And they see that as faith, but none of those things are really faith. They are false ideas of faith.

Faith is really what St. Paul describes to St. Timothy in his letter today - a profound trust, a rich trust. A confidence in the Lord that He is with us - that's faith. Knowing that when we pray, yes we pray different prayers, novenas, rosaries and chaplets, but it's not a magically superstitious thing. It's a place where it draws us to an encounter and conforms us to a more confident and trusting relationship with the Lord. 

Sometimes yes, our faith goes beyond reasoning, but it's not because reasoning has been set aside, but because we know that God is able to work miracles. He's able to do things in this world that don't make sense. It's being able to follow in a manner that can look like the easy way out, but really it's the difficult way of staying with people in their suffering, not trying to walk away. This is faith, and it's the faith that the Lord invites us to reflect upon especially in the scriptures this weekend.

The disciples come and look at Jesus - they had been walking with the Lord for a while and they recognize they need more faith - who is telling all these people "your faith has saved you... your faith has healed you." They ask the Lord to increase their faith, "Here I am, Lord. Make it happen Big Guy. Work Your magic, increase my faith." And the Lord responds in an interesting manner, as He always does. He doesn't say "Wish granted, you got faith." Rather He says, "If you had faith the size of of a mustard seed, you'd be able to say to the mulberry tree 'Get up and be planted in the cedar wood." Jesus, in His other parables, uses things in an extraordinary manner. But when it comes to us, He uses the smallest things - a mustard seed. He knows wee struggle with faith. he knows that in the depths of our heart, it's hard to have faith. it may seem like the easy way out, but it's incredibly difficult to have faith, to have that rich trust in our God, to have that confidence that whenever things get difficult that God still is with us when everything around us seems to say otherwise. That kind of faith is difficult. And the Lord says that even if you have the smallest of bits, that's enough. That's a starting point. If we have even the smallest amount of faith, it's something that can grow. It's also interesting that the Lord uses the mustard seed, as so many of His parables involve plants, because plants are a beautiful analogy of the soul. There are seeds, there is growth, there is sometimes a lack of growth, there's the death of the plant, there's pruning, there's seasons, there's fruits - much the same with the soul. The Lord God comes and plants the seed of faith, that little bitty seed of faith in the gift of our Baptism and He invites us to allow it to be nourished. But the only way faith is nourished is for it to be used. We can't just open our arms in front of the church, "Lord increase my faith," and expect it to instantaneously happen. It doesn't work - I've tried. It takes us to go forth and be people of faith. In the little things, to trust in the Lord. That willingness to walk day after day after day, trusting over and over again. Having confidence that the Lord is with us.

As we heard in the Gospel a couple of weeks ago, whenever we are able to make something out of a little bit of wealth, we are trusted with more. If we are faithful with little wealth, God will give us great wealth. And if we put to use the little bit of faith we do have, God will increase it and make it a great faith - a faith that has transforming powers, a faith that whenever the big things come, and we walk in the little ways of faith, trust in the little things, that whenever the hard things come, it seems second nature for us. It's normal for us to trust, despite all things otherwise telling us God is not with us. When we have faith, things change. It's that confidence in the Lord; He calls us to trust and confide in Him. . 

We have these two stories set side by side in the Gospel - the Lord always moves and throws curve balls to keep us on our toes and help us grow in our understanding of things. And so, the disciples are hoping to get a little boost of faith, and in response they get, "If you had even a little bit of faith, you could say to that tree to get up and go into the sea, and it would" - a challenge to recognize they faith that they have. But secondly he gives that parable of the unprofitable stewards/servants. "Who among you would go out and have your servant who has been working in the field, to when he comes home you say, "You sit down. I'm going to serve you dinner." Who among you would do that? Nobody because that's not your job. In fact, it's his job. It's fitting, right, it's the normal thing to do, that when he comes in from a day in the fields, you would say "Now you can finished the second half of your job. You can serve me at table and after that you could have your meal." That's normal. It's a story about justice in a certain sense; what do we deserve.

A lot of times whenever we approach faith, it seems as if that simply having faith in God, simply having that rich trust in the Lord, that sometimes we feel it should be a special gift we get in response. That if I have faith, trust in the Lord and follow His ways, that I should be rewarded and God should give me special blessings for it. That after laboring in the vineyard and trusting in Him, I should go home at the end of the day and God should come serve me. That's kind of what the disciples are looking for. They are looking to have themselves cared for, as Peter elsewhere would say, "Lord, we've give up all these things, what do I get in return." And so to the same things with faith. But that's not exactly how it works, Christ reminds us. He says very gently, connecting the two stories side-by-side, that we ought to have faith, He can work with faith. But also, if we do have faith, good. We are supposed to; we're supposed to have that confidence in the Lord. If we labor in the vineyard all day long and trying to give ourselves and increase that faith by trusting in God through the big and the small. Good. We're supposed to. It's not supposed to be a special privilege for only a few. It's something that all of us are called to.

It's something that God rightly deserves - our trust. He deserves to be completely trusted because He is a loving Father. He's a Father that wants the best for us. He's a Father that comes to us and is willing to give us everything, more than what we dare to ask, as the opening prayer eluded to. We can't even to dare ask for the great gifts that God is willing to bestow upon us every day. That's the love of the Father. And that's why it is right, just, that we should trust in Him. Faith is not a special gift. It's the normal course of the Christian life. And so we ask the Lord to be with us today, and by the grace of this Mass that He would come and strengthen us. We pray that prayer of the apostles we hear today for ourselves, "Lord, increase our faith."

Receiving in Faith

Things & Stuff

Desires and Dreams and Expectations. Oh my!

Sunday, November 8/ 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time:
1 Kings 17:10-16
Psalm 146
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44

As we continue to draw near the end of the Liturgical Year, Mother Church wisely encourages us to make sure we’re detached from the things of the world. It is not hard to find ourselves in a place where we’ve begun to cling to our own will, desires, or expectations. The problem with clinging to the things of this life is that they ultimately fail to satisfy our deepest longings and leave us unable to receive the Will of God, which brings true happiness, on account of us having out hands full of our ‘stuff’. Anyone who has made an act of faith before by giving up something for God knows that the truth of the matter is that God won’t leave us hanging. He always shows up and it’s always better than we could have anticipated. That doesn’t mean we don’t have crosses. Surely we do; we must. But the Will of God is such that we can handle the crosses more gracefully.

To help our reflection this weekend Mother Church brings to mind two women, both poor widows. The first is the widow of Zarephath in her encounter with prophet Elijah. He comes into the area and asks the women for a drink of water and a bit of food. In response we hear the unhappy story of how she was in that very moment going to make a little bit of food for her son and after partaking they would die on account of starvation. You can imagine the great weight on the woman’s heart as she knows that not only is her death imminent, but also that of her son. To this Elijah responds with a word of encouragement and that she not be afraid, that they would not starve. Then he oddly renews his request for some food, knowing she has almost nothing for herself and her son.  In agreeing to his request she essentially shows that she was willing to die for Elijah, in that she gave the last of her sustenance in faith that God would provide. In letting go of her will, her expectations, and likely her desire for the food herself, she was able to receive a new plan that overflowed in its abundance.

To this image we are also given the example of the woman in the Gospel. She, too, is faced with a decision to try to save something for herself or to give up everything in an act of faith. She is applauded by Jesus because her seemingly small gift was her whole livelihood. Following the model of the ancient story and the pattern of God’s love and generosity that is never outdone, I’d love to know the rest of the story. How is it that God responded? Did Jesus do something after this scene that changed everything for her? A miracle at Cana type of miracle? Or something deeper? We’ll find out in Heaven. But before then, we have to follow their example.

To each and all of us God gives the reminder that we cannot continue to cling to the things of this life and be ready for the next one. The Letter to the Hebrews talks about the eagerness of Christians for the Lord’s return, but how many of us would rejoice if Jesus showed up right in front of the altar and said “I’m here, who wants to leave this world and go to heaven right now?” I think some of us might balk and be like those elsewhere who have excuses that they’d love to but they have to take care of just one thing real quick before then. What is it that we are clinging to today? Where is it that the Lord inviting us to a sacrificial gift? An act of faith that seems absurd and yet it is the exact thing the Lord desires? The Lord wills it – can we receive it?

[At this point the homily leads into the reading of Bishop Muench’s address regarding the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. For more information on that –whether to learn about what it does or to make donation online - you can visit baabr.org]

Hands and Boxes

Dominic enjoying a box

Readings for Sunday, September 27 / 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Numbers 11:25-29
Psalm 19
James 5:1-6
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

Pope Francis!

I really hope everyone is reading his homilies and addresses if you’re not watching them. Such richness in his words and some real challenges that invite us to do a little soul searching. If you haven’t, do take the time to read them.

*****

Anybody that comes by the rectory and goes into the main part of the house is likely to notice something that might seem a bit odd: a few empty boxes scattered here and there.  The reason is pretty simple. Cats like boxes. There are tons of videos on the internet of cats trying to fit into all sorts of little boxes and even some of lions and tigers playing in huge boxes, noting that it’s not just little cats that like them. Cats enjoy boxes, it is said, because it is a place of comfort. There is protection around their sides and it eases their nerves. Looking around the rectory this week got me thinking about what my own box looks like. What is my comfort zone? As NASCAR cars have logos of sponsors and who they support all over them, I began to question what the stickers on my comfort zone box would say. Through the course of the Pope’s visit I’ve been intrigued to see the response of some Catholics whose comfort zones were not acknowledged, or at least not as much as they’d have liked, by the Holy Father and how it became a source of tension. It made me wonder if sometimes rather than being fervent Catholics if we Americans aren’t instead fervent Democrats, Republicans, etc. who simply cover our political logos on our box with those of the Gospel. While the Church is made up of members each with different gifts and who are called to labor and focus upon particular missions and ministries in the Church, we must be willing to stand up for the fullness of the faith and not simply parts of it. It challenged me to pray about not just what my comfort zone is, but also what are those things that ought to be there on account of the faith that I am reluctant to agree to? What are those places where I’m not comfortable with the Church’s teaching or practice? What are those stickers from the Gospel that should be on my box, but aren’t?

This weekend the Scriptures are quite clear in calling us out of our comfort zones. In Numbers we hear of how the Lord God sought to spread around the spirit He had placed upon Moses and to let the 70 assist in the prophetic place he held among the Israelites. This was fine with the Israelites until Eldad & Medad enter the picture. These two were outside of the meeting tent, the place of encounter with God, and received the spirit out in the camp amongst the regular people. Upon receiving the spirit they prophesy and a young man runs to tattle on them to Moses, whereupon Joshua chimes in commanding Moses to ‘make them stop!’ It was fine for the spirit to be spread around. It was fine for Eldad & Medad to receive it. It was fine for them to prophesy. BUT – they had to do it in the confines of the meeting tent. They didn’t know how to handle when things were done differently. What might happen if they start prophesying in the midst of the people? What if the spirit begins to stir things up the camp? What happens if things get messy and don’t go as previously planned? In short, if Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp, the comfort zone can easily be challenged and things have to be addressed that might be difficult to explain or make sense of.

The Gospel has a similar situation with John running to tell the Lord about a man who was casting out demons in His name. His concern wasn’t that he was casting out demons, though. His concern was ‘he does not follow us’. He’s not on our team and he’s doing things that are unexpected and about which we don’t know how to respond. Moses and Jesus have similar responses: don’t prevent them. The situation must certainly have been an uncomfortable one because the disciples had no way of trying to rein in this random exorcist and they’d simply have to do their best to respond to things as they went along. Whoever is not against us is for us.

When we live a life as faithful children of God, as much as we might like to keep things comfortable and as convenient as possible, the Gospel demands that we allow ourselves to get into the messiness of this world and to allow the Gospel to spread in the ways that sometimes challenge us in our faith. The question is this: are we willing to let go of comfort?

Look, Ma! No hand!

You see my hands? I’m quite attached to them. My hands and I have been together for 31 good years now. I know the stories behind the scars and all the imperfections. And not only that, I’m intimately attached to them physically – flesh and bones, tendons and veins. My hands enable me to do so many things with such ease and to accomplish many good works that would be impossible otherwise. And yet the Lord God says that if my hand causes me to sin, it would be better for me to cut it off. No matter my attachment to it – it’s been there my whole life! – it would be better than to keep it and go to Gehenna, aka Hell. The Lord isn’t literal in this statement, otherwise we’d all be fumbling around with no feet, no hands and no eyes and we’d be quite a site to see for people visiting from out of town! The Lord is illustrating for us the importance of being able to let go of those things that encourage comfort and prevent us from living the Gospel more seriously, even if we've been attached to them for whole life. Is my comfort zone worth clinging to all the way to Gehenna? Am I willing to let go of some of my convictions at heart and experience another step in my life-long conversion process?

I’m not saying we need to change the faith. I am saying that we need to revisit from time to time why we do the things we do, why we don’t do the things we don’t do, and whether our deeply held convictions are in accord with the Gospel. May the Holy Spirit, our advocate, come with his gifts of wisdom and courage that we might take up the words of Pope Francis and keep moving forward. Always moving forward.