20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
Matthew 15:21-28
August 17, 2014

Jesus finds time to withdraw to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  One might expect this to be a place where Jesus might find some rest.  He has been ministering to the Jews and is widely known about them but Tyre and Sidon are Gentile regions.

So Jesus may have gone there looking for some rest but he is recognized by a Canaanite woman.  She is not a Jew yet she comes to Jesus in faith.  She comes to Jesus in need for her daughter.  She even calls him Son of David indicating a faith not found in some of the Jews.

At first Jesus ignores her.  It’s what any self-respecting Jew would have done in those days.  The Jews saw themselves as a chosen people with an elite status.

The woman persists and Jesus replies that he was sent to the lost sheep of Israel so he is not there to help her.  She persists in her request and Jesus heals her daughter.

Jesus’ ministry in the gospel focuses on the Jews but is not exclusive to them.  After Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection, the disciples go out to the Gentiles.

However, God’s offer of salvation to the Gentiles did not start when the disciples went out or with Jesus’ own help for the Gentiles.  God’s offer of salvation has always been available to all

For instance, 600 years before the birth of Jesus, today we hear Isaiah speak, “the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord.”  The foreigners were not Jews.  They grew believing in other (false) gods.  While the Israelites saw themselves as elite, God says his salvation is open to all who love the Lord and keep the Sabbath holy.

God’s love is open to all but not all are aware of God’s love.  When we see people who do not believe in God, we should be moved with compassion for them.  That compassion includes being aware of their needs and doing what we can to help them.

One way we do this as a Church is through Catholic Charities.  Catholic Charities exists to respond to our mission to help those in need but it is not just Catholics they help.  Catholic Charities doesn’t exist to make people become Catholic.  Catholic Charities exists to show people that they are loved by us and by God.

To understand Catholic Charities is not just to know what they do.  We must know why they do it, love and mission.

For me this idea of mission is important.  I serve on the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities locally because I believe in the mission.

When I give my own money to charities, this sense of mission is very important to me.  Most of the money I give is to Catholic groups but in no way simply because they are Catholic or any idea on my part to help just Catholics.  I give to Catholic agencies because I know they do not help just Catholics but respond to anyone in need that they are able to.

The reason I choose to give to Catholic agencies is the mission and values.  When I give to Catholic agencies, I know they will not use it for things that go against my beliefs.  My beliefs are very important to me.  An important part of our belief is that God’s salvation is open to all.  What do you do to help others know of God’s saving love?

18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 55:1-3
Romans 8:35, 37-39
Matthew 14:13-21
August 3, 2014

When Jesus got off the boat he was immediately greeted by a vast crowd.  He had gone off to be by himself after hearing of the death of John the Baptist so he could have been upset to see the crowds.  Have you ever thought you just wished people would leave you alone?

That wasn’t Jesus reaction.  When he saw the crowds he was immediately moved with pity for them.  He knew their hunger and their pain.

Since the feeding of the five thousand immediately follows this line, we might rush to think that Jesus knew they needed something to eat and that is why he had pity for them.  Maybe but we should note that there is some break in what we are told because after Jesus is moved with pity the next sentence before the feeding says “when it was evening.”  I don’t know if it was a few minutes or a few hours but some time anyway.  Jesus saw more than just their physical hunger.

The need for physical food is obvious.  The disciples knew this but seeing the vast crowd they saw no way for them to feed them all.  So they told Jesus to dismiss the crowds so the people could find food for themselves.

Jesus had a better way.  From five loaves and two fish, he feed the vast crowd and there was more left over than they started with.

Our need for physical food is real but Jesus’ feeding of the crowd is not just about physical food.  Jesus feeds us not just physical but spiritually.

Let’s take a step back in time to Isaiah.  Isaiah invites all who are thirsty to come to the water and those who are without money to come and receive grain.  Isaiah speaks in terms of physical food but he speaks of a far greater hunger, hunger for God.

The people who Isaiah is speaking to have been in Exile and felt separated from God.  Isaiah assures them that God will nourish them.

Not only is our physical hunger real, so too is our spiritual hunger.  As much as we need physical nourishment we need spiritual nourishment.

When we face anguish or distress or the “sword” we might feel separated from God.  It is precisely in these times that we can feel separated in God, right when we need God most.

Paul is convinced that none of these things separate us from God.  I will say there is one thing that can separate us from God.  It is sin but God can change that too.  The Israelites had been in exile because of their sin but God forgives them.

How does God feed us?

God feeds us in prayer and in scripture.  God feeds us with the grace of his forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  God feeds us with the Body and Blood of Jesus.

We come here to pray and to celebrate the Eucharist.  As we come forth for Communion we receive bread and wine as physical food but of course a little piece of bread, a sip of wine can do little to satisfy our physical hunger and thirst but it feeds us spiritually with infinite grace.

We are fed with the Bread of Life.

17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 13:44-52
July 27, 2014

How valuable is the Kingdom of Heaven to us?

Does the word “treasure” fit?

How much a treasure is it?

Jesus talks about a treasure so valuable that when found, a person would give up anything for it.  What are you willing to give up for Heaven?

Or perhaps the better question might be, ‘what won’t you give up for Heaven?’  If there is something you won’t give up … well that’s a problem.  Remember Jesus gave up his life so we could go to Heaven.

Let’s look at it another way.  God said to Solomon, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.”  If God made the same offer, no strings attached, what would you ask for?  What’s running through your mind right now?

Would you ask for money?  Prestige?  Power?  Less materialistic would you ask for the ability to be able to understand how your spouse thinks?

Solomon could have asked for anything.  He could have asked for everything to be done for him but he doesn’t.  Instead he asks for what he needs to be able to do what God asks of him.

Solomon recognizes the important task he has been given as king.  He also recognizes that he is a “mere youth” and doesn’t know “how to act.”

He asks for an “understanding heart” and the ability to “distinguish right from wrong,” two things that we all need.

So maybe we need to ask ourselves what do we feel lacking in, not in terms of money but in what we need to accomplish the task before us.

Actually, maybe we even need to take a further step back and ask ourselves what we are supposed to be doing.  Are we not able to do what we attempt because we are lacking something or is it because it isn’t God’s will?

So the first question should be to ask what does God want us to do.  Here lies our need for an “understanding heart” and the ability to “distinguish right from wrong.”

The second question is what do we need to do it.  This means we must be willing to admit our failings and weaknesses.

And then I think that could be one more thing we might need to ask for, the courage to actually do what God asks of us.

16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Romans 8:26-27
Matthew 13:24-43
July 20, 2014

Our God is all-knowing and all-powerful.  There is nothing God cannot do.  God can choose to do whatever he wants.

What does God choose to do?  God chooses to love.

When we sin God could choose to destroy us or to abandon us.  Instead, because God loves, he chooses to show leniency.  God doesn’t have to forgive us but he does.  God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

Won’t it be nice if we always made good choices?  God loves us enough to give us free will.  Unfortunately, we don’t always choose to do what is good in God’s eyes.

We can look at the world and see bad events.  There is violence in our streets; like in Chicago where every weekend for a few weeks there have a significant number of shootings.

It’s across the world.  There’s the kidnapping of almost 300 girls in Nigeria a few weeks ago.  For the past two weeks, Hamas and Israel were exchanging missile fire.  On Thursday, Israel went into Gaza with ground forces.

There has been conflict in Ukraine.  On Thursday, a passenger plane was shot down by a missile over Ukraine.  They are still sorting this out but we assume it has something to do with the conflict there.

None of this is God’s will.  It happens because of the choices people make.  We can, we must pray for an end to all of this violence.  Unfortunately, it continues because people continue to make bad choices.

God could choose to end all of it but God is lenient.  God gives us second chances, and third chances that we need.

We hear Jesus telling the parable about the good seed and the weeds.  The workers want to rip out the weeds.  It’s standard gardening to get rid of the unwanted weeds.

Should God get rid of all the bad?  We desire a world full of good people but unlike with weeds there are no unwanted people.  God wants everyone to be part of his kingdom.  That’s why God is lenient.  That is why God sends his only Son to redeem us.  Jesus also tells the parable of the mustard seed, the smallest of seeds but it grows into the largest of plants.  In the little seed is great potential.

God has planted the seed of good in all of us and gives us the time we need to make something good.  But we do not have an eternity to do good.  The time to stop sinning is now.  We must act out of love, the same love that God shows for us.

15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 55:10-11
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-23
July 13, 2014

Jesus drew large crowds whenever he arrived in a town.  Why?  People must have known about him.  The only way they could have known about Jesus is because people were talking about him.  God did not send an email blast to everyone in a town to announce Jesus’ was speaking.  News about Jesus spread by word of mouth.

Now we don’t what people were saying about Jesus to others.  One would think they must have been telling people about the miracles Jesus did.  After all, people came to Jesus looking for miracles.  Hopefully people also talked about what Jesus said.

Now these people were just meeting Jesus themselves so they may not have known much about him.  That’s ok.  The first step in sharing the faith is not a theological discourse.  It must begin with simply talking about our experience of Jesus.  This is the seed of faith that we can all share.

Today we hear Jesus tell the story of the Parable of the Sower.  Often when we hear this parable discussion focuses on which category of seed do we fall into?  Are we like the seed and the rocky ground, hearing about our faith but not doing with it or do we bear fruit in our faith thirty or sixty or a hundred fold?

Today I would like to look at this parable from a different angle.  How might we be like the sower?

Ask yourself what you can do to spread the seeds of faith.

Often we might what to say evangelization is a job for others but I would say that almost everyone here has at least one way that you must be a sower of seeds of faith.

It’s called parenthood.

Every parent is called to instruct their child in faith.  It begins in having the child baptized but the parents duty is not done there.  Children need to be in church (Jesus says let the little ones come to me).  Sometimes there are people who say little children don’t belong in church until they know how to behave.  I say the only way they will learn how to behave in church is to be in church.

The parents’ responsibility does not end in just bringing the child to church.  Pray with them at home too.  Teach them what you know, show them faith is important.  When they reach school age, bring them to religion classes or our parish school.

So, again, parents are to be sowers of faith with their children but parents are not the only ones to sow faith.  We must all help sow faith.

We live in a world of thorns.  It isn’t easy to hear and to truly listen about faith in Jesus.  There are lots of distractions and temptations.  Some people are not interested.  We cannot and should not force faith on them.  It is their choice and we are not responsible for their choice.

But we are responsible for our own actions.  If we do our best to learn about our faith for ourselves and do our best to share our faith, then God will not hold us responsible for the choices that others make.  However, if we do nothing to share our faith with others, then God will judge us accordingly.

Faith is not a gift to be hidden under a bushel basket.  It is a gift to be shared with all.  Go and sow seeds of faith.

14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Zechariah 9:9-10
Romans 8:9, 11-13
Matthew 11:25-30
July 6, 2014

Why are you here?

This might seem like a simple question with an obvious answer but I think it is a question that we need to ask ourselves from time to time.

So, again, why are you here?

For some it might be because we came with someone else.  It’s a starting point.

For some we come out of obligation.  We are supposed to come on Sunday.  God can work with this.

For some it has been a good week and we come to give thanks.  Maybe there are even some that it wasn’t such a good week but they come thankful for God’s presence in the bad times.

Then there are those who come looking for something.  How’s it going to help me?

We come to give God praise but ultimately we do get something out of it.  First and foremost we get grace.  We hear God’s Word to guide us and the Eucharist to strengthen us.

Maybe we come simply seeking some rest.  It is in this context that we hear Jesus’ words “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

The reality is that on any given Sunday, we can come to church for a few of the reasons I mentioned.  Sometimes it just boils down to life isn’t easy and we need some help and rest.

This gospel passage is sometimes read at the funeral of people who have faced a lengthy illness.  In faith, we understand that in death, our loved one is set free from all earthly burdens and goes to be with God to find eternal rest in Heaven.

For us who are living, we need “rest” even now and we don’t want to have to wait till we die to get it.

We each have our own burdens.  It may be sickness, aging, job, financial, or family problems.  Sometimes we go looking for the easy way out.  In prayer we ask God to free us from our burdens but to do so remember Jesus’ words in the garden, Father, let this cup pass from me but not my will but yours be done.

We should ask begin by thinking about evaluating our burdens and seeing if there is an easy way out but sometimes the easy way out isn’t the best way out.  Do you think the Crucifixion was the easy way out for Jesus?  If it was, I hate to think what the hard way would have been like.

We know the reality is that God doesn’t keep us free from burdens.  Jesus doesn’t say there are no burdens when we follow him.  He does say his way is easy and light. 

So we pray for Jesus to help us through our burdens that we might find rest.  Coming here today should be part of the rest.  Prayer in general should help us find rest.

Sometimes the best rest involves prayer but no words.  When we pray, we should tell God all our problems.  There is no need to hold back with God.  He has big shoulders so God can take it.

This is an important part of finding rest as it helps us open up to God.  However, I think there is an important part of our relationship with God that sometimes we forget or don’t know how to do.

Sometimes we arrive at church just as Mass begins and leave as quick as we can.  So throughout our time here, something is always going on.  If we do come early or hang around for a couple of minutes afterwards, we are talking to other people.  Sometimes we are saying our own prayers.  Do we ever just sit and be quiet?  It can seem difficult but sometimes it is exactly the rest we need.

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul
Vigil
Acts 3:1-10
Galatians 1:11-20
John 21:15-19
Day
Acts 12:1-11
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
Matthew 16:13-19
June 29, 2014

Today would normally be the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time but June 29^th is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul as Apostles.  Because it is a Solemnity it takes precedence over the Sunday.

One could ask the question why is this a solemnity.  Solemnities are the highest feasts of our church.  Most saint days are memorials (some optional, some obligatory) while some of the more well know saints are celebrated with feasts.

Solemnities are even higher than feasts.  Saints Peter and Paul are honored as the well most well-known of the apostles.

We often contrast the two.  Peter preached to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles.  Peter saw Jesus here on Earth while Paul did not become Christian till after Jesus’ death.

We have to be careful how we look at these contrasts.  For instance, sometimes Peter is remembered for ministries to the Jews but we must realize he did also minister to Gentiles like Cornelius and his family.  Likewise, we must remember that while Paul is known as the Apostle to the Gentiles, that whenever he entered a new town, he always began by first going to the Jewish synagogue to preach to the Jews.

We might remember Peter as the one who denied Jesus three times but he is also the one who professed his love for Jesus three times.  Likewise, we can remember that Paul first persecuted the Christians before becoming one himself.

Peter knew the human Jesus while Paul saw the risen Jesus but what matters is that they both had a personal encounter with Jesus.

Peter and Paul had a lot in common.  They were both called by the Lord Jesus himself to be Apostles.  They were both persecuted, arrested, and martyred for their faith (something they share in common with Jesus).

We might see Peter and Paul as extraordinary people called to an extraordinary role as Apostles.  If that is all we see, we might praise them for their ministry but we might not see a personal connection to them.

But we should…

Before being called by Jesus, Peter was an ordinary fisherman.  Yet Jesus had a plan for him as he does for each of us.

Paul was a zealous Jew, aggressively persecuted the Christians, seeing Jesus as a false messiah.  It took a direct intense encounter with Jesus to get Paul to change.  How often do we think we have all the answers only to find out we were wrong?  Are we open to undergoing conversion?

As persecuted Christians, Peter and Paul set an example of perseverance for us.  When persecuted they could have easily given up and walked away.  Even when arrested, they are given a chance to renounce the Christian faith but they didn’t.  So they both become martyrs.

Paul writes to Timothy, “I have competed well, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Can we say the same?

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us!