25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Amos 8:4-7
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13
September 22, 2013

Today Jesus tells us the Parable of the Dishonest Steward.  In those days a steward was essentially the complete manager of the owner’s property and affairs.  It was their responsibility to use wisely all that the owner had.  It all belonged to the owner but the steward had full dominion over everything.

So, in “squandering his property”, the steward fails to do the very task he was hired for.

Each and everyone one of us is a steward.  We may “own” things ourselves like a car or a home but really what we have comes from the gifts that God has given us.

In Genesis we read that God gives us dominion over all the Earth.  We often take that to mean we can do whatever we want with it.

That would be irresponsible and it would be wrong.

God has given us gifts and we are given dominion and free will to do whatever we want with what we have given.  That doesn’t mean we should squander what we have been given.

Paul invites us to pray for everyone.  God wills everyone to be saved.  Jesus gives his life desiring that all will be saved.

When we think about the gifts God has given us, we are called to think not just of ourselves but other people.  The question is not how we build up earthly wealth for ourselves or how to make a comfortable life for ourselves.

The question is how we can use our gifts to make the world a better place, how we can help God’s Kingdom to be known in this world.

We need to take care of our needs but not to desire “great wants” for ourselves while others struggle.  This can be a major challenge.  It always has been.

The prophet Amos is speaking to those whose greatest priority is their profit for sales.  They will do anything to make a dollar.  They dread Sabbath and religious feasts because it keeps them from working and making a profit.  They “trample upon the needy” and “destroy the poor” just to make a profit.

Christ has given his Church a mission to proclaim the good news.  This means sharing the faith and caring for those in need and supporting the poor.  To share the faith with someone who doesn’t have food begins with showing them love by helping with their needs.

We can do this individually when we see people in need.  We do as a parish with our Food Pantry, our Thanksgiving Meal program, and Christmas Baskets.  As a parish, we also support our local Catholic Charities office.

Of course, that is all about providing for physical needs.  We also need to share faith, nourishing people’s souls.  That’s what we do with Mass.  It’s also the heart of our religious ed. programs.

We must also think about what we mean when we say “Church”.  We say church with a lower case “c” when we refer to the buildings we call churches but being a “Church” with a capital “C” is not limited to the confines of a building.

We must directly experience “church” through our parish where we come together to worship but “Church” is really about people, caring for and reaching out to.

As Catholics we have the gift of being a universal church spread over the world, linked together with a common faith and a common Mass.

We are part of the Diocese of Rochester.  We are called to collaborate with our diocese (and the whole Church) to fulfill the mission God has given us.

Stewardship means given of our time, talent, and treasures all to make possible the fulfillment of the mission Christ has given us.

As a parish, we are on the right track locally with the ministries I already mentioned but we need to remember Paul’s call to remember everyone and to look beyond Ithaca.

All that I have said flows from our readings today that are the same readings we read every third year on the 25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time but I find these readings especially appropriate this week as our diocese is kicking off our annual Catholic Ministries Appeal.

It’s about ministry but to do ministry in today’s world requires some funding.  The CMA makes up over half the budget for our diocese.

It’s used across our diocese to support hospital and prison chaplains.  It’s used to support campus ministry programs.  It’s used to provide training and support for our religious education and youth programs.

The diocese also provides our parish with technical and administrative support.  Our business relies on the support of the diocese.

Each year, the CMA has a theme and this year’s theme is “We are God’s helping hands.”  Could the CMA be part of how you help others?

We ask for money for our regular collections, for our capital building repairs, and for the CMA.  Our goal for the CMA this year is $54,011, up about $1,800 from last year.  Some might be tempted to give to our capital campaign that we are starting instead of the CMA.  I ask that everyone please continue to contribute to the CMA if you can.  Remember it’s a mandated goal, meaning if we don’t meet our goal we make up the difference.  So, it really doesn’t help to give to our Strengthen Our Foundations Campaign instead of the CMA.

Please pray about you might contribute.

24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32
September 15, 2013

The Israelites had become “depraved.”  How?  Because they had ‘turned aside from the way God had pointed out to them.’

Through Moses God had been teaching the people how to act but while Moses was on the mountain with God, the people carved and worshiped a golden calf, thus breaking the command against idolatry.

God refers to the people as “stiff-necked”.  God has been generously in leading the Israelites out of Egypt and feeding them with the manna.  Yet, they fail to change their ways.  So God prepares to strike them down but relents because of Moses’ intercession.

In telling the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus teaches us that God does not want to destroy us.  God knows we sin but God wants to forgive us.

Jesus is the ultimate teacher.  Jesus teaches us about God’s mercy so we can have hope.  Jesus teaches us what the commandments really mean for us like when he tells us that when we hear the commandment to not kill, that we should even be angry with others.  Jesus raises the bar but he does so with love and compassion, making sure we know of God’s mercy when we fail.

Jesus teaches in various ways.  Jesus teaches us who he is, in part, by performing miracles, revealing God’s power at work through him.  Jesus preaches on what it means to be a disciple.  Jesus uses parables to help us see our faith in real life.  Jesus teaches us what the commandments really mean for us.

While Jesus is the ultimate teacher, he knows we will not understand everything he teaches so he sends us the Holy Spirit to bring us gifts of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Jesus is the best teacher but he isn’t our only teacher.  Who else do we learn about our faith from?

Now, when we hear the word “teacher” the first thing that might come to mind is school teachers or religion teachers.  However, our first teachers really are our parents.  As little children, we learn by example and correction from our parents but our parents’ role in our teaching does not end when we go off to school.  The church states clearly that the primary teacher of children is their parents.

Parents teach by example and by being involved in their children’s education.

However, parents are not to be the only teachers.  We rely on professionally trained teachers to do much of the teaching.  I am called to teach in the way I preach, breaking open the scriptures and making them relevant for us today.  We have our parish school teachers.  We have our parish catechists for our Family Based Religious Ed.  We have our sacramental prep coordinator.  We have youth group coordinators.  We have our Vacation Bible School and Children’s Liturgy of the Word volunteers.  Many people are involved in the religious education of our children.  We take the responsibility of educating our children very seriously.

It is important for our children to learn about their faith.  In this world, we never learn all there is to know about our faith.  While there is no point when we know it all, we do have a sacrament that marks when we come to awareness of faith.  It’s the Sacrament of Confirmation.  We call it a sacrament of maturity but we don’t mean maturity to say that we know it all.  Rather, maturity refers to us as individuals developing a sense of faith for ourselves.

In November, we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation with the other parishes in our region.  We have nineteen youth who are now beginning formal preparation for Confirmation.   Today we ask them to make a pledge, along with their parents, to commit themselves to the preparation work so now I invite Rich Rasmussen who runs our religious education and sacramental preparation programs to come up as we call our candidates forth.

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 9:13-18b
Philemon 9-10, 12-1
Luke 14:25-33
September 8, 2013

“Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends?”

These are the opening words of our first reading today from the Book of Wisdom.  They are also words that we might relate to very well when things don’t go the way we want.

When tragedy happens, when great illness comes, we wonder why the Lord allows such things.  Often such things don’t make sense to us.  Why are there diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s?  Why is so much violence in places like Syria?  Why can’t I find a job?

I don’t know.  I don’t have all the answers.  We face a struggle between what our body seeks and what our soul seeks.  None of has all the answers.

What we do have is faith.

In faith, in Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and are sealed with the Spirit at Confirmation.  The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, counsel, and fortitude.

Knowledge helps us to know things about God and faith.

Understanding helps us to go beyond simple knowledge to find meaning.

Wisdom helps us see a bigger picture.

Counsel helps us to make good decisions.

Fortitude gives us courage and strength to actually do what is right.

We can ask ourselves if, having received these gifts of the Holy Spirit, do we always make right decisions and do what is right.

We would love to say yes but we are not perfect.  Even with these gifts, we make mistakes.  We don’t always understand.

What don’t we understand?  Well, for instance why is Jesus telling us that we must hate our parents, our siblings, and even our own life?

What ever happened to love thy neighbor?  Wasn’t it Jesus who told us the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love our neighbor?

Then how do we make sense of Jesus telling us to hate our family?

The scholars tell us that the word used in the original Greek, is not “hate” as we might think of it today.  Rather, they say it signifies a lesser degree of love.

This makes some sense, if we love our neighbor and everyone is our neighbor that there is no one to hate.

Of course, we could then ask the question, if the Greek word really doesn’t mean “hate” as we think of hate, then why didn’t they use another word in the English translation of the gospel?

It’s not easy to understand.  I could really use those gifts of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom right now!

Maybe “hate” is a good word to use.  Doesn’t hearing Jesus say “hate” make us think?  What is our reaction?

Do we say to ourselves it doesn’t make sense and ignore it?

Do we think about what the word “hate” means to us?

Do we think about what the word “love” means to us?

Do we think about what it means for us to love God compared to loving our family?

Do we think about our faith at all?

Jesus turns to a parable about one preparing to build a tower and one preparing for battle.  The leaders take the time to think about what they are getting themselves into.  Do we take the time to think about what we are getting into?  Do we think about what it means, what it takes for us to be Catholics?

The good news is we do have what it takes but only because Jesus has given it to us.

22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a
Luke 14:1, 7-14
September 1, 2013

I think we get confused about what humility is.  Sometimes humility is interpreted as the opposite of pride.  In its sinful meaning, pride means to make ourselves look good (maybe even better than everyone else) and to take all the credit ourselves.

So we interpret humility to mean we never speak about the good things we do.  We can be humble and still acknowledge the good that we do, as long as we acknowledge we do good because of the help of God and others.  In humility we do not think of ourselves as any better than anyone else but neither are we any worse than anyone else.  We are all created equal before God.

Some people try to make themselves look better than they are.  Here Sirach speaks of those who try to live beyond what is within their means.  Sometimes it just seems all we need is a little more money or a little bigger home.  Or maybe we think if we just get that promotion at work, then we can make things right.

Sometimes a little more does help, thinking of those who live in poverty but how do we go about getting that little bit more?

Do we sell our souls to the devil just trying to get that little bit more?

It can seem simple.  I’ve presided at weddings for couples who wait until their 30’s to marry.  Some of them say they intentionally waited to “settle down and start a family” till they got their careers established.  It makes sense and in some ways is a good thing.  But then I wonder does the career end up dominating?  We say when we are young, we’ll work the extra hours just long enough to get established, and then scale back.  This can be great as long as you are able to scale back but for many the long hours never end.

On Monday we celebrate Labor Day.  I think for a lot of people, Labor Day is seen as one of two things.  Either it is unofficial end of summer, a chance for one more picnic, or it is just a good reason to take a long weekend.

There’s nothing wrong with a picnic or a long weekend but Labor Day was not started for either of these.  Labor Day was started to recognize the good we do at work and to promote good working conditions.

As we celebrate this Labor Day, what does it mean for you?  How do you view work?  Does your work fulfill you?  Do you think your work is important?  Do you help others by what you do?  Do you do a good job?

Or is work something you do to make yourself look good?

Is work something you do just to have money to play with?

Some people see “work” as a bad four-letter word.  Work is not a bad thing.  We are created to “work” but not just to work.  God gives each of us gifts to help make the world a better place.  We can find fulfillment in work.  Work is not just our job.  Work extends beyond what we do for pay.

What makes you feel fulfilled?

21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 66:18-21
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Luke 13:22-30
August 25, 2013

Isaiah speaks the message of the Lord that he will invite people of every language to see his glory.  He speaks of how ALL will be an offering to the Lord.  The Lord goes so far as to say He will even call some of the people from other nations to be priests and Levites.

To the Israelites, this would seem astonishing.  They saw themselves as a chosen people and indeed they were.  They also saw themselves as an exclusive people but the Lord didn’t.  To them, it might be astonishing that Gentiles could be part of God’s people.  Even more astonishing is for them to serve as priests and Levites for that was a heredity duty.

The Israelites were indeed a chosen people but salvation would be made open to all.

A few hundred years later, at the time of Jesus, the question of salvation was still open.  We hear a person ask Jesus “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”

An honest question, one that we might all like to know the answer to.  If only a few will be saved, then we know it is not easy.

Jesus tells us that not all are strong enough.  He teaches that the path is not easy, that we must enter through the narrow gate.

This idea of the narrow gate signifies that we cannot do whatever we want and still get into Heaven.  There are rules that must be followed.

So how many will be saved?  Are some destined not to be saved?  We should desire that ALL be saved.  But will all be saved?

In the words of consecration for the wine, we hear words that beg this question.  Referring to the Blood of Christ, we hear the words “which will be poured out for you and for many.”

We used to say “for all”.  Does this mean that we used to belief that all will be saved but now we believe that only many will be saved?

Our theology has not changed.  In fact, in the official Latin text, the words here did not change.  It has always been ‘for many’.

Why the distinction?

Salvation is possible for all.  Jesus wants everyone to be saved but Jesus knows not all will accept the gift.

What must we do to accept the gift?  We must enter through the narrow gate.  We must live as Jesus calls us to live.  Not everyone will.  God knows we are not perfect but we must try.  As long as we try, when we fail, God forgives us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

It isn’t enough just to show up in church.  People tell Jesus that they ate and drank in his company but He tells them he does not know them.

Salvation is a gift open to all.  Are we willing to live in a way that accepts the gift?

20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10
Hebrews 12:1-4
Luke 12:49-53
August 18, 2013

They are after Jeremiah to get rid of him.  Why?  We’re told it’s because he is demoralizing the soldiers and all the people.  They think he doesn’t care about the ‘welfare of the people.’

The fact is Jeremiah cares.  Jeremiah is a prophet and all he is doing is delivering God’s message.  If the people would just listen to him and follow his guidance their welfare would improve.

They don’t want to listen to him.  He’s telling them they have to change their ways and they deny it.

So, the princes go to King Zedekiah who lets them do as they wish with Jeremiah.  He couldn’t change their minds and rather than upset them, he lets them have their way.  He’s just trying to “keep the peace” but in reality that isn’t what happens.  Real peace comes in doing God’s will.

Jeremiah endured suffering and persecution.  Jeremiah sought to lead people to a lasting peace not just what would make them happy for a day.  Jeremiah wasn’t interested in just “keeping the peace.”

Jesus isn’t just “keeping the peace.”  For this, Jesus was persecuted and crucified.  Jesus knew what was going to happen.  He could have kept his mouth shut but he didn’t.

If Jesus had kept his mouth shut, we would never have heard his teaching.  All the people he cured would have continued to suffer.  Nothing would have changed.

Jesus did not keep his mouth shut for our good.  He spoke up and what he said caused division.  I don’t think Jesus wanted to cause division but he knew what he said would because not everyone wanted to hear what he had to say.  They knew how they wanted things to be and if Jesus didn’t do what they wanted, then he wasn’t the Messiah.

What did Jesus come for?  “To set the earth on fire.”

Fire can be thought of in different ways.  Fire can be seen as a force of destruction.  Fire can also be seen as cleansing, removing the bad so that what is good can thrive.  Fire can also be thought of as a sign of enthusiasm like when we say we are on fire with the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus says he comes to set the world on fire, he’s referring to cleansing and enthusiasm.  Destruction may come but it is not Jesus’ goal.  Jesus comes to lead all to the Father.

Have you told others about Jesus?  Many in our society might tell us not to bother other people with such things.  We “keep the peace” by not talking about Jesus.  We “keep the peace” by not talking about sin.

It seems simple.  Aren’t we supposed to get along with everyone?  If we want to get along with our family, we keep our mouth shut.

But Jesus says if we follow him, there will be division between family.

Family is important.  Jesus calls us to love and care about others.  Loving Jesus can mean loving our family but loving Jesus also means standing up for what we believe in.

It’s not just with family.  The same can be true in work or in play.  I’m not talking about “forcing God” on someone.  Do we even mention God?  Or if someone invites us to do something that is wrong in God’s eyes do we go along just not to upset them? If we see someone “erroring in sin” do we bit our tongue or so we speak up for what we believed in?

Jesus spoke up for what he believed in.  He did it with words in his preaching and he did it by hanging on the Cross.

How about you?  Has Jesus set your heart on fire with faith?

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 18:6-9
Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19
Luke 12:32-48
August 11, 2013
It’s all about faith.

We’re here today because we are drawn here in faith.  We’re here because we seek God in faith.

We’re here today because we need faith.

The Israelites had faith when God came to save them.  They felt secure when God bestowed the 10^th plague on the Egyptians because God told them he would spare their children.

But what is faith?

Faith is not about factual knowledge.  If you look the word up in the dictionary it will say ‘to believe in what cannot be proven.’  We’re human.  We want proof in human terms but faith isn’t about human knowledge.

The Letter to the Hebrews speaks of faith as “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.”

We do not put our faith in what we can see.  We put our faith in the one that is unseen, God.

What about how Hebrews described faith as “the realization of what is hoped for”?

If something is already realized, then we know it to be.  We have knowledge that it is real.  We don’t need faith in what has already happened.

However, knowing the events of the past can give us hope for the future.  The Bible is full of stories of how God has been present for his people throughout the ages.  The Bible tells us of God’s promises to his people and how he has fulfilled those promises over the ages.

The Bible also has Jesus’ promises that he will always be there for us and sends us the Holy Spirit.  Because the Bible shows us how God kept his promises in the past, in faith we trust in God’s help for the future.

Abraham serves as our example of faith.  When God told him to go to another land, Abraham went without knowing exactly where he was going.  In faith he trusted in God’s promise of an heir.  Ultimately, Abraham had such great faith that he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac at God’s command.

We seek faith like that of Abraham.

Jesus says to his disciples “Do not be afraid.”  We may face distress and difficulty in this world but we can do so because we put our trust in the “inexhaustible treasure in heaven.”

It isn’t easy to endure the things of this world but with God’s grace we do.  It is by God’s grace that we can keep vigilant.

Vigilance is not easy.  It takes strength.  It takes patience.  It takes faith.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, people thought the second coming was going to happen immediately and they were very vigilant.

Two thousand years latter and the Second Coming still hasn’t happened.  Do we relax our vigilance, saying there is always tomorrow?

No.  Obviously, the Second Coming hasn’t happened but in those 2,000 years countless people have been born into the world.  Some died young and some lived a hundred years.  None of them lived forever.

Maybe the Second Coming will come today.  Maybe it won’t.  We might die today, we might not.  We do not know the hour nor the day.  Let us be vigilant in faith.

18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Luke 12:13-21
August 4, 2013

Qoheleth speaks of vanity and putting too much effort into building up earthly things?  What is the point?

A person asks Jesus for help with handling the family inheritance.  Jesus isn’t interested in such earthly matters.

The rich man enjoys a wonderful harvest, so large he doesn’t have room to store it all.  Yet, it still wants to keep it all for himself.  Jesus never begrudges him for store up some.  That is what you needed to do.  The harvest comes but once a year.  We need to store enough for the season.

This man received a harvest greater than what is enough.  We are called to share our abundance with other people but apparently the thought never crossed this man’s mind.

He might say that he’s saving it for a rainy day.  That’s what we might keep “enough” for but presumably the man’s barns were already big enough for “enough.”

Even if he is truly just keeping his abundance for a rainy day, he is thinking only of himself and earthly things.

That’s not following Jesus.

Paul speaks of how we have died with Christ.  In dying with Christ in Baptism, we are called to realize that the things of this earthly word are not where our priorities should lie.  We are to “seek what is above”, meaning godly things.

We need to change from the ‘old self’ to the ‘new self’ in Christ.  That’s means thinking about more than just ourselves.

It means looking at the world as God sees it.  We can be great at compartmentalizing our lives.  We think we must keep our work, family, and faith all separate but our faith is meant not to be one part of our lives but rather part of everything we do.

For instance, does our faith become part of our decision making process?  Let me offer an example of what might seem to have nothing to do with faith but can.

Probably most people here either own a car now or have in the past.  What thoughts entered your mind when you were picking the car out?

Maybe how many passengers it can carry.  How about whether to get a 2 door or 4 door with the children?  Maybe you carry a lot of building materials and need cargo space?  Maybe you need something a handicap person can get in and out of.

These are all important things to think about when buying a car.  We buy a car to serve a purpose so we need to make sure it will serve the purpose.

But what are some other reasons we might pick a car?  Do we pick a car with a big engine to impress people?  Do we buy a luxury car to impress people?  Do we buy a big truck to look down on people?  Viewed from a faith perspective, none of these are good reasons.  In fact, they are sins of pride and maybe gluttony.

The “pride” would, of course, be in trying in impress people.  Gluttony could be involved in buying more of a car than we need, using too many materials or using too much gas.

Our faith is to be part of our decisions.  We need to make our faith part of our whole lives, defining who we are.  It’s something we must all do but we do it best when we start young with our children.  I’ll throw in a plug here for our parish school, where faith is taught right in the classroom alongside the academic subjects of math, science, English, and social studies.

So how well do you do with integrating faith into your whole life?  This doesn’t necessarily mean, for example, talking explicitly about our faith at work but it does mean making our faith part of our own decisions at work.

So again, how are doing at living out our faith?