31^st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
Wisdom 11:22-12:2
2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10
November 3, 2013

Zacchaeus was seen as a sinner.  He was a tax collector and tax collectors were known for their extortion.  In those days, extortion was almost expected but yet still was stealing and thus broke the commandment.  To add to his bad reputation, he was the chief tax collector, taken as a sign that he was amongst the worst of the sinners.

Yet when Zacchaeus heard Jesus was coming, he very much wanted to see Jesus.

Of course, there were great crowds around Jesus.  Zacchaeus was short and he couldn’t see Jesus through the crowds.  If Zacchaeus was such a terrible person, he probably won’t have cared about seeing Jesus.

But he did care!  His interest in seeing Jesus was strong enough to motivate him to climb the sycamore tree.  Since he was short, climbing the tree might have been a great effort and certainly would not be something a person with the position of chief tax collector would do.  It would be embarrassing.

When he does so, it is Jesus who first speaks to him and tells him he will stay at his house.  Shocking!  Jesus associating with a sinner.

Zacchaeus is so moved as to offer half his possessions to the poor and to repay any extortion four times over.  Clearly, he is sorry for anything he has extorting and turns his heart to Jesus.

Zacchaeus may be short in physical height but now he shows a huge amount of faith.

We all know what it is like to be short in physical health.  We all start out short as little babies.  To relate to how Zacchaeus struggled to see Jesus through the crowds, all any of us has to do is remember our own childhood and going to a parade.  If we weren’t in the front, we missed the entire parade.

We grow up, not all to the same size, but to whatever height we “inherited.”  In God’s eyes our physical height doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter if we are four-foot six or six feet nine.

God is infinite.  We are finite creatures.  No matter how big we are physically, we are nothing compared to God… nothing compared to God.

We might wonder if that is exactly how God looks at us.  Do we seem like nothing to God?  If we feel like God isn’t answering our prayers, we might think God doesn’t care because we are nothing.

Not hardly.  We are created by God and God does not create anything He does not love.

Sometimes it is hard for us to be aware of God’s love.  When we have done something wrong we might think we are not worthy of God’s love.  We are worthy of God’s love but only because God makes us worthy.

We might think if we just behave a little better, then God will love us.  Sometimes, when people realize they keep committing the same sins over and over, they stop going to Confession, thinking they will try and change.  If they do better, they will go to Confession.  Till then, why bother?

Why bother?  Because God is the one who can make us worthy.  We must do our part but we need God’s help.

We are called by God to do great things but we can only accomplish such greatness when we are humble enough to realize we can’t do it by ourselves.  We need God’s help.

We need God’s help in different ways.  Maybe we aren’t big enough physically to do something.  God may help us by giving us a friend or co-worker who is.

We won’t have all the skills we need but God will send us people who do, working together, have what it takes.

Do you think you know everything you need to about our faith?  Well, you probably don’t but if you think you do, then your heart may be closed to learning more about God.

God can only help us when we realize and accept what we are lacking.  If we think we have everything it takes, we close ourselves off to God and to others.

Humility.  Only when we admit that we are short in stature do we allow God to do great things in us.  We need to stop trying to be great ourselves and just try to be faithful.  Then God will make us great.

30^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14
October 27, 2013

I have competed well, I have finished the race.  I have kept the faith.

These are the words Paul writes to Timothy as this letter draws to a close.  Paul was a passionate Apostle for Jesus.  As Paul writes to Timothy, he has been under house arrest.  He continues to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through letters like this.  He knows his life will be given in martyrdom soon.  As he looks back on his ministry, he has no regrets.  He speaks confidently.  I have competed well, I have finished the race.  I have kept the faith.

This same reading is sometimes used at the funeral of a faithful person.  When someone dies, we like to remember the good things they did.  When a person has lived a faithful life, this reading can be very appropriate.

But we are not here today for a funeral.  Our Sunday celebration is not about death but new life, new life shown to us in the Resurrection.

So what message can we hear in this reading today that is appropriate for each and every one of us today?  None of us has finished the race.  We do not finish until death.

We don’t have to wait for death to decide if we are living well.  We can ask ourselves each day, have I competed well, have I kept the faith.

Paul lived his live as a sacrifice, a libation, for Jesus.  Do we?

Paul proclaimed the gospel.  Do we?

Paul knew that even when others abandoned him, the Lord was at his side.  Do we?

How well have we learned our faith?  How well have we lived our faith?

When we are asked about learning our faith, our thoughts often zip back to our childhood with Sunday school or Catholic school.  People often think that once we receive Confirmation, we have learned all we need to.  Then our faith may go by the wayside for a while.

When we get “old”, we start thinking about our faith more.  People ask why there are so many old people in church.  Because they are studying up for the final exam!

Thinking about the end of our life puts faith into a different perspective.

As children we learn our faith as “rules” and “facts”.  The “rules”, centered on the Ten Commandments are important.  The “facts”, like that Jesus died on the Cross so that our sins might be forgiven out of love are important.

We should never think we have learned it all.  Confirmation is not graduation.  We have 18 people receiving Confirmation in a couple of weeks but that will not end their faith learning.

That’s why I preach each Sunday, to help us learn and grow in faith.  It’s why I have been doing presentations about our faith.  In the past, Sr. Edna offered sessions for adults and Pat will be doing the same in future.

But I would like to take a moment to focus on two particular age groups.  Today is World Youth Day.  We think of youth as our teenagers but the Church also includes 18-35 year olds here.

Our youth and our young adults are at a crucial point in their lives.  Our youth are in that stage of life of moving from just following “rules” to asking “why?”  When no one is around to answer why, faith can diminish.

Our young adults are moving out on their own, establishing lives for themselves.  If faith doesn’t seem relevant, it isn’t a priority and falls off the radar.

We want to support our youth and our young adults.  Of course, we have our parish school and our religion program that we refer to as FAMBRE but as our children outgrown that age group, we have our middle school youth group with fourteen members.  We have eighteen in our senior high youth group.  I’m happy to say we have fourteen youth going to the National Catholic Youth Conference.

We have also been working to develop activities for our young adults.  Back in January, we started having some events geared to our young adults.  We are now started some activities to support the parents in our parish.

These activities are all geared to make our faith relevant.  It is good that we have but there are a lot of people in these age groups that don’t come than do.

To our youth who aren’t in our youth groups, know you are welcome.  They’ll be meeting about 11:45 over at the school.  If you are in our youth groups, bring a friend.

There are also more young adults in our parish than come.  Think about it.

If you aren’t in these age groups, pray for those who are to come.

As to all of us, may we always live our faith in all we do that we can say the words of Paul, I have competed well, I have finished the race.  I have kept the faith.

29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Exodus 17:8-13
2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Luke 18:1-8
October 20, 2013

Jesus speaks today about the necessity to pray always.

Pray always?

Doesn’t that mean praying 24/7?  How can we do that?  We need to work, sleep, and eat.  We can’t possibly pray always.

Look at the story of Moses.  While Joshua led the Israelites in battle it was Moses’ role to stand atop the mountain with his arms outstretched.  This is a posture of prayer.  It’s how I hold my arms during specific prayers at Mass.  It is a gesture of praising God and opening our arms (lives), inviting God into our lives.

What happened to Moses when his arms got tired?  He got so tired that Aaron and Hur had to hold up his arms for him.

Now, we don’t hold up our arms in prayer for arms to grow physically tired in our prayer but we can tire in our prayer.  We can tire from our prayers that we feel go unanswered.  We can tire when we struggle to feel God’s presence in our prayer.  Prayer can be hard.  To pray always can make it seem impossible.

To help us understand what He means by “praying always” Jesus offers a parable.  The woman is awaiting a court decision.  The judge has a reputation for not rendering decisions immediately.  He doesn’t care what people think or what God thinks.

Knowing this, the woman keeps going back to the judge to ask him to render a “just decision”.  I want to emphasis that she is asking for a “just” decision rather than a decision in her favor (although we can imagine that she thinks a just decision would be in her favor).

Finally, the judge renders his decision to get the woman off his back.  Her persistence pays off.

So, does this mean that if we keep “nagging” God He will give us what we what?  Would that imply that we can change the mind of God?

We cannot change God’s mind nor should we want to.  God is the one who knows what is best.  We shouldn’t want to change God’s mind.

So what is the lesson to be learned from the parable?

We see that the woman don’t ask the judge for a decision 24/7 but she did keep going back to the judge.  We need to keep going back to God in our prayers but why bother?  If we can’t get God to do what we want, what’s the point?

I think persistence in our prayers can have an effect on us.  First, when we keep praying for the same thing with an open heart, we see how important it is.  If we just pray for something once, we realize it isn’t that important.

Praying with an open heart (and I emphasis an “open heart”) over and over, can help us to understand where God is leading us.  Maybe God wants to reveal to us part of why things are as they are.

When we pray persistently with an open heart, we can also learn from God what we need to ourselves for God’s will to be done.

So, the persistence in prayer is not meant to change God’s mind but it can change our mind to conform to God’s Will.

Even knowing this, prayer can still be hard.  Sometimes, we never understand why our prayers don’t get answered.  That’s why reading the Bible is important for us to persist and not grow weary.

Reading the Bible with a prayerful open heart helps us to know God’s Will.  The Bible is written by human beings but it is inspired by God as a way to reveal His truth to us.

Reading stories in the Bible we hear stories of others whose prayers weren’t always answered and/or not answered when they wanted.  In the reading the Bible we can see how God has been present to his people throughout the ages even when their prayers weren’t answered.  Readings these Bible stories helps us to know that God will also be there for us.

May we preserve in prayer not to change God’s mind but the God’s will be done.

28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
2 Kings 5:14-17
2 Timothy 2:8-13
Luke 17:11-19
October 13, 2013

Ten lepers, all in need of healing, come to Jesus.  They ask for pity.  With no other action, Jesus tells them to go to the priests.

They go as they are told which actually takes a great deal of faith.  The rules about leprosy said to go to the priests after healing and the priest would declare the person clean.

But the ten lepers haven’t been healed and yet they are going as directed.  This means they have faith in Jesus.  They may not know what is going to happen but they have faith to do what Jesus says.

As they go, demonstrating their faith, they are healed.  This is absolutely wonderful.  Ten people are healed.  What is their response to their healing?  We are not told anything about what nine of them did except they did not return to Jesus.  Only one recognizes the source of their healing and returns to give Jesus thanks.  Only one should gratitude.

It’s pretty easy to remember to ask God for help.  We generally aren’t so good about remembering to thank God.  We may acknowledge that things have improved but do we see God as the source of the good?

Naaman was healed of his leprosy and wants to give Elisha a gift.  But Elisha isn’t the source of the healing.  Elisha knows this and refuses the gift.

There’s nothing wrong in thanking human beings for doing their part but we need to acknowledge God’s hand in it.

Do we even see God’s hand in the good?  When things are bad, we ask God for help but do we take the credit ourselves when things turn out good.

Think of it this way.  This lady was on her way to a very important meeting and couldn’t find a parking spot because one of the local parking lots was torn up.  Not wanting to be late, she offered a prayer to God to help her find a parking place.  She promised she would go to church on Sunday if God would help find a parking spot.  As soon as she finished her prayer, she found a parking spot.  So she told God to “never mind” because she had found a parking spot herself.

She asked God for help and God responded immediately.  But she took the credit herself.

When things turn out good, do we take the credit ourselves, saying it was our hard work and/or expertise?  It’s not that we don’t work hard but do we recognize that we do good because of the gifts God has given us?

Do we acknowledge the gifts God has given us?

Do we thank God with gratitude?

Do we live with an attitude of gratitude?

Sometimes we struggle to show gratitude towards people we don’t like.  We judge them (never a good thing) for something in the past and are shocked with they do good.

We should not be shocked when God does good things for us.  I believe God does good things for us all the time.  We just can’t see it because we expect big miracles and miss the little things God does for us.

Or maybe we miss the good things that God gives us because we give all the credit to someone else.  For instance, say we know someone with a terrible illness.  So, we pray for God to help them.  Later they are healed.  Do we give thanks to God or do we give all the thanks to the medical staff?

It’s not that we shouldn’t thank the medical staff.  The role they play is important and they must work hard.  But do we realize that God has given them the gifts to heal us?

Another example – when some people get ready to go on a long trip.  When starting the trip, they take a moment to say a prayer for safe travel.  How many of us remember to thank God when we have safely completed the trip?

It’s when we see God in the simple events of our lives that we begin to live with a real “attitude of gratitude” and appreciate what God does for us.  May we also be grateful to God.

27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4
2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Luke 17:5-10
October 4, 2013

“The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

The apostles had faith but they knew their faith was not as strong as it should be.  How many of us feel the same way?  We have some faith.  We come to church yet we struggle to really live our faith.  It makes us realize our faith is not perfect.  We need God to increase our faith.

Paul writes to Timothy to remind him to stir into flame the gift of God.  God has given us the gift of faith.  We must keep alive the flame of faith in our hearts.

How do we do this?

Well, coming here each Sunday is a key part of our faith.  First, we must realize that our celebration of Mass is meant to give God praise for the blessings that he has already give us and to trust that God will continue to bless us.

As we give God praise, we can also continue to have our faith increased in the words from scripture we share and from the strength we receive in the Eucharist.

As we celebrate Mass to give God praise, we need to reflect on what it is we do at Mass.  It should not be a matter of just knowing what we do at Mass but to think about what it signifies.

Our Catholic Church has a saying in Latin, lex orandi, lex credendi.  Essentially we can translate it as the way we pray signifies what we believe.

Certainly the words we say as Mass signify what we believe.  The Creed summarizes our core belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The Eucharistic Prayer professes our faith in the real presence, how God transforms the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus.  The Lord’s Prayer signifies our trust in God’s will while needing our daily bread to fulfill God’s Will.

However, it isn’t just about the words we use when we pray.  We have images in our church that signify our faith, our belief in the saints and our belief in Mary.  We have not just a cross but Crucifixes to remind that Jesus actually hung on the Cross for us.

We also have our postures at Mass.  We stand as our procession begins signifying the entry of Jesus as our King into our hearts.  We sit to be attentive to the readings but we stand for the Gospel recognizing it contains Jesus’ own words.  We kneel in humbleness.

I suspect most of us are aware that we haven’t stood at the same times as other parishes.  I noticed when I arrived.  Remember ten years ago now when we implemented the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal.  It meant change.  The changes were meant to help us better express our faith just like the new translations.

Some of the changes got interpreted differently in different places.  For instance, we have been standing at the Offertory after I say, “pray my brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.”  That is a reasonable interpretation of the way it is worded in the General Instruction but since then we have learned that it is meant that we stand immediately when I begin, pray my brothers.  That’s what we are going to start today.  It isn’t a huge change but part of what is intended that we are one Catholic Church and we should have uniformity in our posture and actions.

With uniformity in mind, we will continue to stand after the Lamb of God because that is for the bishop to decide and Bishop Clark decreed that across our diocese we will stand.  However, after we receive Communion we will go back to kneeling in the pews, signifying our humility in receiving the Lord in the Eucharist.

You probably heard in the announcements or read in the bulletin the last couple of weeks that we just retrained our Altar Servers.  This is part of these same changes.  The wine will be in the cups before the consecration as an expression of reverence that we believe in the real presence and want to handle the Precious Blood reverently.  We don’t want to spill the Precious Blood so we pour it into the individual cups before the consecration.

After Communion, I will begin purifying the chalice I use at the altar, again as a sign of reverence.  The ciborium and chalices we use at Mass are not ordinary table ware to throw in the dishwasher.  The purification by the clergy signifies our ritual perfection of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Does this mean we were doing it all wrong before?  No.  We were doing to the best of our ability with the knowledge and understanding we had.  The Church has come to realize that we need to constantly reflect on what we do at Mass to make sure it expresses our faith.  That’s why the translations change.  It is an ongoing process.  I mentioned before the changes we made ten years ago.  What some don’t know is that when we began using the new translations, some of the General Instruction translation was also “tweaked” to make sure it is expressing what it should.

Lex orandi, lex credenda.  May the way we pray at Mass express the belief we hold in our hearts.

26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Amos 6:1a, 4-7
1 Timothy 6:11-16
Luke 16:19-31
September 29, 2013

Paul writes to Timothy to offer him guidance as the leader of a community.  Paul’s instructions to Timothy might sound simple.  “Compete well for the faith” and “keep the commandment without stain or reproach.”

It’s not a long list of rules that seems impossible.  Basically, Paul is telling Timothy to live in accord with God’s plan, avoiding sin.  It is what we want to do but it isn’t as easy as we would like.

The fact of the matter is that we fall short at times.  We sin.

Generally, I think when we talk about sin we tend to focus on what we did wrong.  The commandments follow this approach, don’t steal, don’t kill, and don’t lie.  We also think of sin in terms of feelings like angry and greed.  This still focuses on what actually happens (emotions).

Our readings today point to another type of sin, sins of omission.  What is it that we should do but don’t?

The rich man in the gospel is an excellent example.  He’s rich with fine linens and extravagant food.  Yet, there is poor Lazarus is sitting right at the rich man’s door but he does nothing to help Lazarus.  How much could he have done?  We don’t know except that since he was rich, he clearly could have done something.

So, in examining our conscious we need reflect on what we could have done?  Would there be any end to this?  We could second guess ourselves on everything and then some.  I don’t think we need to do this on everything.

Our conscience will help us to realize what we need to think about.  First and foremost, if we feel bad about something we didn’t do, then we need to reflect on it.

We can ask ourselves why we did or didn’t do something?  The rich man didn’t help Lazarus.  Why?  Was it because of greed (desiring to keep his riches for himself)?

Or was he complacent, like those that Amos talks about?  Do we look at the poor and say we don’t care?  Maybe this is the way the rich man felt about Lazarus.  He only seemed to care about Lazarus when he realized he was sent to Hell instead of Heaven.

I don’t mean to make anyone feel bad by pointing out sins you had never thought of.  We are basically good.  We are created in God’s image.  We are created to be good and to do good.  We just mess up along the way and need forgiveness.

The good news is God wants to forgive.  If there was no hope of God forgiving us, God would never have sent his son to die for us on the cross.  What possible benefit could there be in Jesus’ death if not for the forgiveness of our sins?

Jesus’ death is the ultimate expression of God’s love.  There is nothing God won’t do for us.  God’s forgiveness knows no limit.

However, there is something we must do to receive God’s forgiveness. I believe God is always ready to forgive but God doesn’t force his forgiveness on us.

To receive God’s forgiveness, we must ask for it.  To ask for God’s forgiveness, we must first admit we have done something wrong.

To do so, Jesus has given us the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, commonly known as “confession” but it is most than just confession.  This sacrament is all about fixing what has been broken by sin.  The point is to be reconciled to God.  God is the only one who can make this happen.

We should not dread the sacrament but rather see it as a gift.  In December, we will have twenty-four students in our parish receive this sacrament for the first time.  Today they begin their final preparations by pledging in prayer and study.  Their parents pledge their support and