From the Pastor's DeskSixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (7/18/10) Why worry? That can be the most idiotic statement (“Why? Because the Titanic is sinking!”) or it could be one of the wisest statements. When everything around us is not going the way we want it, we can get very frustrated. When we think we will lose everything we rely on (house, job, life etc.) we can panic and start to flounder like a chicken with its head cut off (Headless Mike the chicken). We can often act like Martha, worried about every little thing. There is an alternative. We can act with calmness and serenity in the face of the same worries, as did Mary. We can see the difficulties of life as opportunities to remind ourselves of what is important, of what blessings we already have. If guests show up unexpectedly, we can, like Abraham and Sarah, welcome them with open hearts and make them feel comfortable. If we are undergoing pain and affliction, we can, like Paul, offer them back to God in union with the sufferings of Christ for the good of the Body of Christ. These are not easy choices. But if our faith is strong, we will experience the peace of Christ even if the Titanic is sinking underneath us. Blessings to all who offer their sufferings to God for us, especially through the most holy prayer of the Eucharist! Amen. Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (7/4/10) “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” (Lk 10:2). Jesus is about to send his disciples-intraining out on their own for the first time and he reminds them that they are involved in God’s harvest. This is like a last minute pep talk from the coach to remind the players that what they do IS important RIGHT NOW. The disciples still have much to learn but they are still able to do incredible things because they are doing them in the name and power of the Lord. Last week we heard about God’s invitation to all of us to be committed fully in his work. Today we get a glimpse of what God can accomplish through us when we agree to be workers in the harvest. One of the weaknesses of Catholicism post Trident was the assumed segregation of work for the Lord between clergy and laity. The lack of education was a major contributing factor to this incomplete understanding. Post Vatican II we are aware that each of us is called to work for the Lord with whatever talents God gives us and wherever we are in our pilgrimage of life. Right here, right now, God calls us to work for his harvest, whether as clergy (and we need to pray for more vocations) or as lay people. We can have enormous effects in this world just by realizing that our ordinary everyday work is for the Lord’s Kingdom. Let us rejoice and let us work! Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (6/27/10) Today’s readings remind us of God’s call to each of us. We are all called to serve God but not all in the same capacity. Not all of us are called to be major prophets, but all of us are called to profess God’s teachings in our lives. The readings do challenge us to realize that our calling by God requires total response. We can’t be looking back or thinking about our former way of life once we have started on the road of discipleship. “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Lk. 9:62). It is similar to the commitment of marriage; anyone who keeps thinking about people they dated before their marriage is not focusing on their commitment to their spouse, they are trying to hedge their bets. But with God there can be no hedging. We are asked to freely make our commitment as soon in life as possible, and then to continually renew and strengthen that commitment through our encounters with trials along the journey of life. GOD IS AND WILL BE WITH US! Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (6/20/10) This week we officially begin summer. Although we may have different routines from the rest of the year, our readings remind us of the one eternal truth of our God’s Love for us. The Lord will always pour out a spirit of grace to purify us from sin and uncleanness, no matter how difficult life may become. Having been purified from sin, the Lord calls us to pick up our cross each day and follow Him. The forgiveness of our sins allows us to walk in the footsteps of the Lord and be His witnesses in our daily lives. We are His witnesses when we grow in holiness, when we forgive one another, when we pray for one another, when we teach one another the truth about God’s gift of life and His gift of salvation available through our repentance. Then we truly walk as His disciples through the cross to the joy and glory of the resurrection. As we prepare to enjoy the summer season, let us not forget our Lord, teacher, and companion! Amen. Third Sunday of Easter (4/18/10) Happy Easter season! It’s good to really celebrate the joy of this season thinking about the victory of Jesus over death and sin and our participation in that victory. There will be many times in our life when we don’t feel particularly victorious, but that happens frequently during the spiritual battles of our life. The superlative good news is that the victory is already won; we just need to have faith during our participation in the daily battle between good and evil. The reading from the Acts of the Apostles shows us that they too had to face persecution for their faith. That is one reason why we read these stories during the Easter season, to remind us that our ancestors in faith also struggled during their daily lives to live the gospel, and that they persevered in remaining faithful as a model for us. In these Easter readings we see the prominent role Peter played in the early church. Last Sunday’s reading had the sick people cured even by the shadow of Peter walking past. In the gospel today Peter receives his final commission from Jesus in a trifold manner to offset his triple denial of Jesus. We see the great trust Jesus had in Peter, even with all of his weaknesses. Jesus has the same trust in us. Though we are not all called to be “Peter” for the Church, we are called to remain faithful to Jesus’ teaching and be good role models to strengthen each other. When we do this we truly “feed” one another with the grace that comes from our risen Lord Jesus. Amen! Second Sunday of Easter: Divine Mercy Sunday (4/11/10) The Octave of Easter, during which each day is celebrated as Easter Sunday, concludes with the Second Sunday of Easter, called Divine Mercy Sunday. Divine Mercy Sunday recalls the infinite mercy of Jesus, earned through His passion, death and resurrection, ready to be poured out for the forgiveness of our sins. All it takes is the asking, or more accurately, the proper asking. Jesus’ infinite mercy is available for anyone who asks with even the smallest intention of repenting for their sins and changing their life to try to avoid sin. All we have to do is crack our hard hearts just a little bit and Jesus is waiting to jump in. The mistake some people can make is to ask for forgiveness because they are sorry, in a general way, for the harm their sins may have caused, but they have no real intention of changing their lives. This is dangerous because one of the conditions of repentance and forgiveness is a firm intention to “amend our lives.” A firm intention comes from analyzing the patterns of why and how we sin and then taking active steps to try to change those patterns with God’s grace. Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated by praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy on our Rosary beads. In the Chaplet we pray for God’s mercy “on us and on the whole world.” This is a very powerful prayer. Pamphlets are available in the back of church to help you pray this, preferably with your family. Can you imagine how pleased our Lord is with this act of charity on our part? May God bless us in our ministry of praying for each other and the whole world, and may we experience the depth of Jesus’ mercy and love in our own hearts. Happy Easter! Second Sunday of Lent (2/28/10) The Hebrew word for the act of public worship was derived from the word meaning “work.” The people of God were instructed by God to offer worship and sacrifice to God, and it was seen as work. Work means that it is something that requires effort, it is active not passive. Active on the part of the priest in the Old Testament of slaughtering and offering animal sacrifice, and the New Testament offering of the bread and wine that become the sacrifice of Jesus himself. Both sacrifices involve the active act of the priest and the active participation of the people in thinking about the meaning of what is being done. As we heard last Sunday the public worship was meant to include the effort of remembering what God had done for the people and offering thanks to God. Thinking and remembering during worship is definitely work, requiring effort of the mind. When Jesus reveals himself in his transfigured glory, Peter reacts emotionally in wanting to prolong the experience. He hasn’t thought about what it means, he just is focusing on “doing” instead of “listening.” Most of the time physical work is easier than mental work. God the Father has to remind Peter, James and John to focus on listening instead of running around setting up camp. That is a good thought for us this Lent. Perhaps we need to stop being so busy and “listen” to the Lord. That could be our offering of work to the Lord. Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (2/14/10) On this Sunday before we begin Lent, we hear of contrasts in the readings; abundance and lack, desert and blooming, blessings and woes. As always humans are invited to decide whether to trust in God or our own devices. Throughout the Old Testament scriptures, especially the Wisdom literature, we are presented with the lived reality of humans who trusted in God and those who didn’t. When we look at our choices objectively, it’s relatively easy to see the right choices to make. But we are rarely objective about our own lives. We are so caught up in our emotions, our desires, our fears, etc. that it is often hard to choose the right path. Jesus reminds us that the values of the world are not the values of eternal life and joy. Because of the reality of sin and its consequences we are lured into accepting the passing things of life instead of the things that have permanent value. That is precisely why it is necessary to be alert and to carefully examine our values. How do we know what our values are? It’s where we spend our time and money. Examining these can help us pay attention to the right choices that bring God’s blessings. This Lent provides us with another opportunity for this examination. May the Lord illumine our path and bring us to salvation. Amen! The Baptism of the Lord (1/10/10) The feast of the Baptism of the Lord may seem a little out of place to end the Christmas season, since it takes place some 30 years later than the birth. But it is the transition of Jesus from his ordinary worker life to the proclaimer of the coming of God’s redemption for His people. Not only proclaimer, but three years after his ministry begins Jesus actually fulfills our redemption through His loving sacrifice on the cross. Jesus begins His ministry with the same words of all the prophets before Him, “repent.” He then adds, “and believe in the Good News.” The “good news” is that God has come to bring about the redemption of His people (all humanity). Sin and death no longer our ultimate destiny, but rather eternal life is now possible through our acceptance of God’s grace in Jesus. The Baptism of the Lord also shows the transfer of authority from John the Baptist to Jesus, as the symbol of the Holy Spirit, the dove, rests on Him and God says, “This is my Son.” Though some of John’s followers found it very difficult to accept this transfer, John himself proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Jesus begins His work of salvation, first by teaching for three years. The teaching was necessary to show the deeper understanding of God’s commitment to us through allowing His Son to sacrifice Himself to become the source of salvific grace for all humanity. The Jews of Jesus’ time and even many people today have difficulty understanding such a God of Love. Do we have difficulty understanding God’s love for us? We need only meditate on the crucifix to begin our understanding. However, we will never fully understand it until we come face to face with Jesus. Epiphany of the Lord (1/3/10) Most blessed and happy New Year! From all of us on the parish staff come our prayers for a holy and grace-filled year. I hope we learned some important lessons in life last year that we may put into effect this year to allow more of God’s love and grace to flow through us. Nobody ever wishes for hard times but often hard times bring us closer to the Love of God through our growth in compassion for our neighbor. Together may we all grow in holiness and love in this new year. The New Year reminds me of the grace of the sacrament of Reconciliation; it is a time for renewal and starting over again. We can let go of the sins and mistakes of the past, though not always their consequences, and begin a new life in God. What a miracle! May God help us with the new life only He can give. Amen! Fourth Sunday of Advent (12/20/09) The fourth Sunday of Advent gospel is “pregnant” with expectation. We see two women, who were not expecting children, suddenly find themselves blessed by the Lord in bearing special children into the world as a gift from God. One of these children is God himself. Elizabeth’s question to Mary, “How has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” is also our question. How is it that the Lord comes to us at Christmas to give us the gift of forgiveness and peace? What kind of a God would do this? That is the question for us to ponder as we make our final preparations for the celebration of the Lord’s breaking into human history. We still live in this in-between time, conscious of our Lord’s great gift to us at Christmas but also aware that we are called to bear Christ into the world. We do this by acting with justice and mercy in the ordinary activities of our daily life. Let us be aware of our participation in the preparation of the coming of the Lord to be with us. Let us celebrate with joy that our God has come and is coming to save us. Amen! Second Sunday of Advent (12/6/09) “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” This is John the Baptist’s call to the people of Judea. It is based on a very practical political wisdom. When the King came to visit outlying areas of the Kingdom, the people would go out and fill the potholes in the road and smooth the way for the King’s chariot. They would do this because when the way wasn’t smooth, the King was in a rotten mood from being jostled and would often take out his ill temper on the people he visited. If humans have the wisdom to do this for earthly kings, don’t you think we should do it for the King of the Universe? How can we prepare the way of the Lord? What are the bumps in the road that we can repair? The bumps that make it difficult for the Lord to visit us are our sins of course. And all sin is a defect in love, either love of God or neighbor. Quite frequently, the lack of love in our life is caused by fear or insecurity. We may be afraid that we won’t have enough (of anything) if we love unconditionally. We may be afraid that our love may be rejected or not respected (it might). We may simply think that we have to take care of ourselves (our families and friends) first, and then we might be able to help others if we have excess. Although this is true to a small extent, the irony is that if we try to hold on to “things” or “attitudes” that are not loving we end up losing them in the long run. But if we freely give them away in love we will never lack love. For instance, we may think that illegal immigrants from Mexico are costing our country too much in jobs or health care. But they are simply our brothers and sisters who are trying to make a decent living, and they do contribute to our country. If we can’t love them, then we can’t love Jesus, who was an immigrant refugee in Egypt. I don’t think it would be smart to argue this one with Jesus! He has the inside track through his own experience. Advent is too short a time to fill in all our potholes. But we can do it in a lifetime, beginning today, knowing that God is indeed with us. Amen! First Sunday of Advent (11/29/09) A new liturgical year begins with our continuing experience of waiting for the coming fulfillment of the Kingdom. Of course, while we are waiting we make plans for our lives, and sometimes those plans get lost or waylaid. I like the expression that says, “Life is what happens while we are making plans for our lives.” Or, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans for the day.” Even though our plans may not come true, God’s plans always come true, even when we sin and seem to change or delay His plans. Our first reading reminds us that God promised his people that He would send a servant who would serve and save His people. That promise was fulfilled 2000 years ago with the birth of Jesus. Now we live in the “already but not yet” time, where the kingdom has already come into the world through Christ but has not yet reached its fulfillment when evil and sin is fully conquered and banished. During this time God has entrusted to us the building up of the Kingdom. It is an awesome responsibility and an awesome honor. God trusts us to do our best to help each other eliminate sin and evil from ourselves and the world in preparation for His return in Glory. May the Lord’s grace come to fulfillment in each of us! Amen!! Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King (11/22/09) The feast of Christ the King ends our Sunday liturgical year. It is a reminder that at the end of time God will still be in control, Christ will rule as king of all creation. It is important to look ahead periodically to keep our focus on the goal, and then return to living out our progress day by day through fidelity to the One God. Jesus tells Pilate that He came into the world to testify to the Truth. I have spoken in the past about the growing attitude in our culture in which everyone decides for themselves what is true. That is one of Satan’s great deceptions of our generation: to confuse people by telling them there are many truths so they don’t follow the One Truth. It is only when we dedicate ourselves to the one Truth of God’s will that we will find integrity in our lives. I am often amazed at what I read in the papers, how often people are confused and become accepting of behavior that is threatening to their salvation, e.g. abortion and sexual deviances from the truth of the virtue of Chastity, such as promiscuity and homosexual practices. Of course there are many other sins but these sins have become legal, e.g. abortion, or are trying to become legal, e.g. homosexual marriages. When we as individuals sit back and allow these sins to become legal we are at least partially responsible for the moral consequences to others who fall into these practices thinking they are morally okay if society approves them. That is why we must be dedicated to the truth, for our salvation and the salvation of our brothers and sisters. The real question for every human life is, “Am I willing to voluntarily submit myself entirely, with all my mind, all my body, all my strength, to Christ the King?” And am I willing to renew that commitment every day of my life and serve the Lord and one another through the Church? Let us begin again right now to turn our lives over to Christ who, through His suffering and death, provides the grace of our salvation. Amen! Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (11/15/09) We are approaching the end of the liturgical year, which ends with the feast of Christ the King on Sunday November 22. The first thing the readings remind us of is the limitation of nature, that all creation will be transformed through a monumental tribulation that heralds the coming of Christ as King. Sometimes we may forget that nature is finite, that we are finite and have limits. Our culture tries to tell us that we can overcome our human limitations through technology, e.g. contraception and embryonic stem cell research and eventually cloning. The denial of our human limitations leads us to try to be god. When we try to be god we actually turn away from the one God and try to recreate ourselves as gods. That happens for instance when we deny the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death. It happens when we try to create life in the laboratory and then destroy it to help someone else. It happens when we deny that there is an objective Truth which is God, and begin to believe that each of us can decide for ourselves what is true and what behavior is acceptable. It happens when we ignore or water down God’s commandments, for ourselves and for others, in the name of our loving “god.” Or, in the terms of some “modern” believers(!?), when we decide that our conscience is god, when what we think is right overrides God’s teachings down through the ages through the Church. When we create god in our image, we end up creating the
circumstances that will bring God’s justice upon a world
which misleads the young and the innocent. Make no
mistake, we are already experiencing some of the tribulations
of turning away from God. I am not saying that the world
will end shortly, only God knows when. But I am saying that
the world, and our country, is going seriously astray from
God. The readings at the end of the liturgical year remind us
that God is God and we are not, we are limited finite beings,
and that there will be an accounting to God’s objective truth
which He has already revealed to the world in Christ Jesus. Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (11/8/09) Both the OT reading from 1st Kings and the gospel this week focus on the poor, or rather the faith of the poor in giving away what they rely on for the hope that God can do something greater in the future. The widow of Zarephath gives up the security of the present in giving away the last of her food during a famine and the widow in the Temple gives away money she needs. Even though they are poor, they both see the need to help others, whether in the person of Elijah or the anonymous recipients of help from the Temple treasury. What an incredible lesson of faith! I wish I had that faith, I wish we all had that faith. We depend so much on what we have because we are afraid of not having, and this can cause us to become self-centered and uncaring about the needs of others who are worse off than us. The miracle of “love of neighbor” is in the ability, or the grace, to see others who are in need and to let go of our fear of not having enough. We live in a society with plenty of things, but we also have the poor who live next door as well as in the world around us. The gospel and Our Lord gently calls us to “Be not afraid.” May we always grow in our faith and serve our Lord in each other. Amen! Solemnity of All Sainte (11/1/09) This weekend we are celebrating two feasts, All Saints Day on Sunday and All Souls Day on Monday. On All Saints Day we rejoice with all the people of God who have gone before us and rest in God’s peace in heaven. On All Souls we pray for all the faithful who have died and not yet completed their purification before entering the presence of God. We commonly refer to these as the souls in purgatory. We might ask why they are undergoing this purification. It is because to abide in the presence of God requires the removal of all remnants of sin on our souls. The remnant of sin on our soul is the temporal punishment due to sin that has not been remitted, even sins forgiven in confession. To put it simply and bluntly, all sinners have to pay the price for sin because of God’s perfect Justice. Remember we have mentioned in the past that God’s infinite Mercy and perfect Justice go hand in hand. God’s infinite Mercy has already been attained for us sinners through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Therefore, the eternal consequences of sin have been fully paid by Jesus for our salvation. All we have to do is repent and ask for God’s mercy and we have salvation. But all sin also has temporal consequences because of perfect justice. When our sins are forgiven in the sacrament of reconciliation through our repentance, we have salvation (assuming we have made a good confession). But we still have to make up for the consequences of sin in time. This is because all sin damages or breaks the bond of relationship of love between us and God and between us and our neighbors. Jesus repairs the damage with God; we are responsible for repairing the damage between us and our neighbors. We pray for the souls in purgatory because our prayers are acts of charity that help repair the damage of sin even in others. We do this because we are trying to learn to Love as Jesus taught us. And we rejoice with the saints who have reached heaven because they are filled with the glory of the Lord. That is our destiny with all in the communion of saints. May God bless us in our witness to Him in this life so we may join our family in heaven. Amen! 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (10/25/09) What is one of the most important characteristics of a disciple, of a follower of God? Faith, hope and love pop to mind immediately. So does courage, humility, service, and many others. But I think one that is often overlooked is simply perseverance. I say simply, but perseverance is not simple, it is profound. To persevere in faith, hope and love is essential for growth in the Spirit, in relationship with God and neighbor. Any one can be faithful or loving when things are going our way. But the true disciple is one who keeps on keeping on when the going gets tough, or even when nothing seems to be happening. We are tempted to give up sometimes when we don’t see results. But as one comic has said, 90% of success in life comes from simply showing up! Sometimes God doesn’t answer our prayers because He is calling us to a deeper relationship of prayer. Sometimes God allows us to be tested so we become stronger in our faith, hope, and love. We can continue to be faithful, hopeful, and loving because we believe to the depths of our being that God has not really left us. He is always with us. That is the covenant Jesus makes with us on the cross, he knows what it is like to feel abandoned and our prayers unanswered. God’s answer to Jesus was the resurrection. That is also his answer to us, through the mystery of our dying in faith we rise again to an even greater faith and love. It is risky. When we are hanging from our crosses, or carrying our crosses, it seems as if there is no answer. That is when we are reminded to persevere. Bartimaeus persevered even when the people around him were rebuking him. If we persevere we are promised by Jesus on the cross that we will come to the resurrection, to a greater relationship with the God who always wants to be with us. May God bless us in our perseverance! Amen! 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (10/4/09) Divorce is a very difficult pastoral issue for those who seek to follow our Lord’s teachings because our society today legitimizes divorce so easily. It’s important to say right away that the Jesus’ teaching on divorce by no means legitimizes any kind of violence, whether physical, emotional, sexual, verbal or any other kind. When there is danger of violence to spouse or children, it may be necessary to remove oneself from danger. And if the separation needs to be permanent the church can review the marriage to determine if a true sacramental marriage existed, what is commonly called the “annulment” process. I fear, though, that today many people may resort to divorce because they lose hope. When problems stay unresolved after many attempts, after years and decades, most people just get worn down. I think our society also tries to tell us that “magic” is what makes a marriage a success, and not the hard work of daily dying to self and rising for the good of the relationship. In the eyes of the world, a happy marriage is supposed to just “happen” because the “magic” was there at the beginning. But because we are all sinners we need to do the work of reconciliation every day with our spouses. Another misconception, often unconscious, is that my spouse is responsible for my happiness. If I am no longer happy it’s my spouse’s fault. However, there is a lot to the saying that, within limits, each person is as happy as he/she chooses to be. And what is the purpose of marriage? Is it just about “my” or “our” personal happiness? Of course not. Isn’t it for the good of the spouses and the good of the children? Marriage and families are the foundation of civilizations. Don’t you find it interesting that Jesus links his teaching on divorce with a teaching that “whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter into it?” When we let our “adult” attitudes get in the way of trying to live as Jesus wants us to live we can end up losing the kingdom. That is, when we decide that what God wants for us is not what “I” want for my relationship, we jeopardize our salvation. The areas of marriage, divorce, and sexuality are where the values of the world differ from God’s. If we trust and hope in God like little children, and work like hell as adults cooperating with God’s grace, then God will truly be with us. Amen. Reprinted from the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time from 10-8-06. 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (9/27/09) Jesus spends a great deal of time teaching his disciples. Although they generally do not understand while he is teaching, they will remember after his Resurrection and Ascension and put it all together. Meanwhile, on their journey, they struggle. Last week we heard them arguing over who was the greatest just after Jesus tells them he will have to suffer and die and then rise. In today’s gospel they seem to be jealous of someone outside their immediate circle doing healings in the name of Jesus. Jesus is unconcerned and tells them that anyone who performs mighty deeds in his name is automatically with them. Then Jesus uses extremely strong language to convey the seriousness of sin. Whatever part of the body causes one to sin ought to be “cut off.” Jesus is not in favor of mutilation of the body but rather trying to get the point across of how serious sin is. He uses the strong images to startle his hearers into understanding. I think today we have lost our sense of fear of the consequences of sin. We particularly don’t seem to be concerned enough with the bad example we give to others, especially those weaker in conscience. But if we lead someone astray, Jesus says the consequences are horrific. A good life well led in the path of the Lord helps others, while a life led off the path of the Lord can condemn others. Let us choose wisely and help each other on our journey back to our God. 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (9/20/09) There seems to be a human tendency to look out for “me” first, including the extensions of “me” we choose, e.g. “my” family or “my” whatever. Perhaps it comes out of our natural instinct for self-preservation. Therefore, when Jesus says that “if anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all,” it is not just a challenge to his disciples, it is a shock. You don’t get ahead by letting others go first, right? Yet that is what Jesus tries, and not very successfully, to teach his disciples. It is only after Jesus gives himself completely on the cross and then rises from the dead that the disciples begin to catch a glimpse of Jesus’ meaning. When we empty ourselves in service of our brothers and sisters, we find ourselves filled with Christ. One of the lessons of Jesus is that by dying to self we actually rise with Him. It seems simple, but it is the hardest lesson of all. If we learn to love others so much that we are willing to give ourselves away completely, we will have found Christ. The first place we learn this is in the family when we learn to make sacrifices for the other members of our family. If we learn the lesson well, although we will have a tendency to fall back into selfish behavior, we graduate to loving others outside our family. First, we learn to love those we meet through school and work and daily life. Then, perhaps the hardest of all, is learning to love those we have never met, our brothers and sisters around the world, especially the sickest and weakest who have no “thing” to give us in return. When we are able to give ourselves away with no expectation of gaining something in return, we have learned the lesson Jesus tries to teach us, true love and service of neighbor. May God bless us on our journey of discipleship until we all meet again in God’s perfect love! 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (9/13/09) Today we hear perhaps the most provocative words in the gospels: “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asked his disciples this question 2,000 years ago. He also asks it of us every day of our lives. The question helps us to think about our relationship to Jesus, to our neighbors, to Christ’s Church. The question also helps us to understand how we have grown in our faith journey. We often speak of our faith life as a journey because we begin our lives not knowing anything about God, and as we progress in our quest to know God it is very much like taking a journey from point A to point B. Point A is not knowing anything about God and Point B is the ultimate knowledge of God when we meet Him at the end of our lives. For many of us, formal religious education ended about the time we celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation. We then started focusing on learning skills for working in the world. We got busy with work, then perhaps marriage, then got really busy with raising children. Along the way we sometimes stopped to dwell on a question of faith that may have arisen, but then we put religious education on the back burner again. Because we have been programmed by the world around us that doesn’t know God, we forgot that the primary purpose of our existence is to know God and to serve Him and our neighbors on our journey home to God. We, humanity, did know God once, but then we sinned and lost our place with God. But the story of our relationship with God is the story of a God who gave us the free will to walk away from Him but did not abandon us. And then our God provided a way for us to find our destiny again (through our redemption in Jesus). Having said all that rather concisely, the question of Jesus still remains for us: “Who do you say that I am?” How do we define our relationship with Jesus? Who is He to me personally? Where am I in my journey of faith? Let’s narrow that down a little. Am I a Seeker? Am I Hungry for Christ? Am I a Servant of Christ? We’ll discuss these terms and questions over the next few weeks and months. Think about it! Amen! |
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