11^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13
Galatians 2:16, 19-21
Luke 7:36-8:3
June 16, 2013

Like all of us, the Jews of Jesus’ time had their “rules and customs.”  The Pharisees were among the experts on this.

One of these Pharisees invites Jesus to dine with him, perfectly acceptable behavior.  Who won’t want to dine with Jesus?

However, there is someone the Pharisee, in accordance with the customs of the time, would not want to die with, a sinner.

That is exactly what happens.  Knowing Jesus was there, here comes this sinful woman.  Jews didn’t eat with sinners (I guess that means they ate alone a lot).

What does the woman do?  She washed Jesus’ feet, kissed them, and anointed them.  These were practices that the customs called for the host to tend to.

She never takes a place of prominence.  She knows she is a sinner.  In washing and kissing Jesus’ feet, the sinful woman takes a place of humility.

Not everyone recognizes their own sins.  The prophet Nathan had to point out David’s own sin to him.  David, who already had his own wife, had relations with the wife of Uriah, and then had Uriah killed to cover up the sin.

Without realizing that Nathan was talking about him, David says the sinner must be struck down.  Only when Nathan tells him, it is he who is the sinner does David repent.

God forgave David once he repented.

The Pharisee wanted to get rid of the woman because of her sins.  Jesus would have nothing to do with that.  Instead, he speaks of forgiveness.

The woman showed her faith in what she did for Jesus.  The Pharisee showed his own faith when he judged the woman and wanted to throw her out.

The Pharisee did not see his own sin and thus did not repent and thus could not receive forgiveness.  The woman admitted her sin and received Jesus’ forgiveness.

Do you want to throw all the sinners out of church?  Should we do it right now?  Who would be left?

Who are you like?

Are you like the Pharisee who wants to keep the sinners out and claim to follow all the customs even when you don’t?  How quick are you to judge?

Are you like Jesus, willing to associate with sinners, willing to forgive sinners?

Are you like the woman, a sinner?

When we recognize ourselves as sinners, what do we do?  Do we cover it up like David tried to cover up his sin with the wife of Uriah?

Or maybe we try to do good to make up for the bad?  We should always try to do good and when we don’t, we need to be willing to make amends for the wrong we have done.

There is a danger here.  It isn’t a question of doing more good than bad.  The Law is meant to guide us as we strive to follow Jesus.

The Law describes the works we must do for salvation but the works do not save us.  What does Jesus say to the sinful woman and so many others?  “Your faith has saved you.”

Faith saves us.  Where does that leave our works?  Do they matter?

Part of Luther’s theology with the Reformation was to call for “justification by faith”.  He felt the Church was putting the emphasis on works.

That was the 16^th Century.  A few hundred years later, just before the start of the 21^st Century, the Lutherans and Catholics came together in accord on this.  We are saved through our faith but if we have faith, we will do the works.  The works should never be an attempt to earn our way into Heaven.  Heaven is a gift from the Father in faith.  Works simply flow from the faith.

Is God upset when we sin?  Sure, he is our father and wants to see us do good.  Today is Father’s Day.  We do things to please our earthly fathers.  Let us do the same for our heavenly Father.

10^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
1 Kings 17:17-24
Galatians 1:11-19
Luke 7:11-17
June 9, 2013

When we know someone who is suffering or we are suffering ourselves, we pray for miracles.  This is good.  We should always pray for anyone in suffering.

In offering these prayers, we don’t always get the miracles we ask for.  In fact, sometimes we feel like our prayers don’t ever get answered.

Why doesn’t God answer our prayers?

Of course, there are the theological answers ranging from God knows what’s best and won’t give us something bad to we just need to trust in God.  God will answer our prayers in accord with His will at the appointed time.

These are not the answers we want but we can remember that we can indeed trust in God to take care of us.

I’d like to throw out a question, “Why do we ask for miracles?”  Generally, it’s because someone we care about is suffering.  That’s good.  Keep praying!

Now, another question for us to think about is “Why does God do miracles?”

The simple answer is because God loves the people and wants to help them.  It’s true but this answer begs the question, “Then why doesn’t God help everyone with a miracle?  Does this mean God doesn’t love everyone?”

No, it doesn’t.  God loves everyone.

Miracles are great in and of themselves but God also has another purpose in doing miracles.  To understand this purpose, let’s look at the last line of our first reading, “The woman replied to Elijah, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God.”

Elijah comes to stay at the widow’s house.  After he arrives, her son becomes ill and dies.  She blames this on Elijah.  In turn, Elijah cries out to ask God to breathe life again into her son.  God does the miracle through the prayers of Elijah.  Through this miracle, the woman comes to understand that Elijah is a man of God.

That’s the broader purpose of the miracle.

Jesus finds himself in a similar situation in Nain.  We are told the only son of the widow dies before Jesus’ arrival.  Jesus is not blamed for the man’s death.  No one asks Jesus to do a miracle for the man.  So why do Jesus’ do this miracle?

We are told “he was moved with pity.”  Why?  She was a widow and this was her only son.  In the culture of that time, a woman without a husband and no male children would have no means of owning anything and had no status.  The widow would have been without any means to provide for herself.

Jesus knows her dilemma and so, without being asked does the miracle for the woman.  The miracle is good for the woman and her son.

It’s also good for us.  First, it helps us to understand that Jesus is indeed Son of God because we see the power of God at work through him.

It also sets an example for us.  We aren’t going to do a miracle like raising the dead but we can remember how Jesus recognized the needs of the woman.  Do we recognize the needs of those around us and do what we can to help them?

It’s tough.  First of all, our first response to someone really in need might be to think what they need is money.  Often, money is a big part of what they need but it isn’t the only thing they need.

Maybe they need food.  Can we give some?  Maybe they need a place to stay?  Where might we direct them?  After all, we aren’t going to want to let a stranger stay in our own house, are we?

We might also wonder who is really in need?  Charity seems to be getting complicated.  I myself choose to help others by given any more I wish to go to the poor to groups like Catholic Charities.  Then, in turn, they can help the person with not just a handout but with a hand up.

So, there are ways we can help with material needs.  Maybe we don’t have the means to help in this way or seek to do more.  There is another need we can help with.

We all need to know someone cares.  The widows would have been left alone.  God provided.  Jesus was there at Nain.  Do we let people in need know we care?

Jesus died miracles so people would know of his love.  Do we share that love with others?

Corpus Christi, Year C
Genesis 14:18-20
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 9:11b-17
June 2, 2013

Melchizedek offered bread and wine in recognition of Abraham’s victory over the “enemy”.  No explanation is offered for why bread and wine is used and Melchizedek is never heard from again.

Moving forward over 2,000 years, Jesus ministers to the people’s hunger with five loaves of bread and two fish.  With so little, Jesus feeds 5,000 people with ordinary bread.

The disciples had seen the need of the people and thought it impossible for them to feed so many people with so little so they tell Jesus to ‘dismiss the crowd’ so they can find food for themselves.

What they apparently have forgotten is how God has been feeding people for ages with bread.

Remember the Manna?

At the Israelites left Egypt in the Exodus, they had no food to eat.  They feared that God had abandoned them in the desert and that they would die of starvation.  They were wrong.  God heard their cry and sent down Manna as bread from Heaven which never ran short all the years they were in the desert.

Bread is a basic staple of life.

God provided bread for the Israelites in the desert.  God provided bread for Elijah and the widow in the drought.  Jesus provided bread for the crowd of 5,000.

Jesus continues to provide bread for us today but it is no longer ordinary earthly bread.  Well, actually it is but it is more than just ordinary bread.

The bread we receive from the altar is little in earthly terms.  A cracker is bigger than the portion of the bread we receive but the bread we receive is so much more than we see.

We are physical beings.  We need physical food but we are also spiritual beings who need spiritual food.  We need spiritual nourishment lest our souls perish as the Israelites had feared their bodies would perish.

Where do we find spiritual nourishment?  We can find it through prayer and scripture but the place where we best receive the spiritual nourishment we need is in the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of the Eucharist.

For us, it is the Body and Blood of Jesus.  Some Christian denominations don’t believe in the Real Presence.  Why do we?

It is not some crazy idea that humans thought up.  Paul shares with the Corinthians where he received the idea to celebrate the Eucharist.  It was not from other humans.  He makes it clear when he says “I received from the Lord.”

The words “this is my Body” and “this is my Blood” come from Jesus himself.  He doesn’t say ‘this is a symbol of my body and blood.’

Why do we repeat it?  First of all, we should not think of it as simply repeating it.  Rather than repeating what was done before, God makes present today what was done 2,000 years ago.  Still, why do we continue to carry out this action?

Because Jesus says “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Do we know how God makes the Crucifixion of Jesus at Calvary present today?  No, it’s a mystery.

Do we know how God makes the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus?  No, it’s a mystery.

Last week, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and I talked about the Trinity being a central mystery of our faith.

The Real Presence in the Eucharist is another mystery of our faith.  We don’t know how it happens but we believe because we trust in Jesus’ words.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

Today we give thanks for the gift of the Eucharist.

The Most Holy Trinity, Year C
Proverbs 8:22-31
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
May 26, 2013

Today we honor the Trinity, a nice simple topic to talk about right?

All I need to do today is explain the Trinity right?

No, it isn’t.  Three persons yet one God.  What does that really mean?  Some people try to explain it with a three-leaf clover.  Somebody tried sharing an explanation with me once that used the idea of ice, water, and stream.  Having minored in Chemistry in college, my response to that explanation was it was wrong.

In a previous parish, I prepared what I thought was a great homily on the Trinity.  After Mass a person told me it was the best explanation of the Trinity they had ever heard.  Then the person began to repeat what they thought I said.  It was a heresy condemned in the 3rd Century (which was not what I said), point being it’s hard to explain the Trinity.

The Trinity is literally a mystery.  We can’t understand it completely.  Does that mean we don’t try to understand it at all?  No, we are to work to deepen our understanding of the Trinity and what it means for us. But in the end, we need to accept what we cannot understand.

That’s why we call it faith.  Faith means to believe in what cannot be proven.  We want answers.  We get some answers but we don’t get all the answers we want.  We never do!

The Trinity is a central mystery of our faith.  That’s why we begin and end our prayers with the Sign of the Cross.  The word “trinity” is not found in the Bible.  In stories like the Baptism of Jesus, all three persons are present together, Jesus, the voice from the Father, and the Holy Spirit coming down upon Jesus as a dove.

Likewise, our Creed clearly includes all the three persons of the Trinity but it does not use the word “trinity.”  What the Creed does say about the Trinity is the relationship involved.  Jesus is the only begotten Son, God from God, light from light.  The Holy Spirit is the giver of life who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

The three are always working as a team. They do not do a solo act.  We want to separate them into three but you can’t understand the Father without the Son and the Holy Spirit comes not of self but as sent by the Father and Son.  What Jesus began in accord with the Father’s Will, the Holy Spirit brings to completion.

It has been this way for eternity.  The Holy Spirit was not “created” by the Father or the Son after the Resurrection.  Jesus’ existence did not begin with his conception in Mary’s womb.

All three have existed for all eternity as one.

We want to split them apart.  We think of the Father as the image of God as portrayed in the Old Testament, being before Jesus, but Jesus was always “in the plan” heard in the prophecies about the coming messiah but even as far back as Genesis when God speaks of the one who will strike at the serpent’s head.

The Holy Spirit is not spoken of as much until the New Testament but there are references in the Old Testament.

It’s always been three working together as one.  They are a team.

We see it as different phases.  We often see it as the Father is the image of God in the Old Testament (but is never called Father in the Old Testament) who lays down the rules.

Jesus then comes to help us understand what the rules are really about.

Lastly, the Holy Spirit comes to help us apply all that the Father and the Son has revealed to our lives.

But we can’t think of it as three different people, each having their own approach.  As children, we can learn what we ask our parents about.  We know to ask Dad for certain things because Mom will say no and vice versa.

It’s not that way with God.  God is three persons but one God, all working together in unison.

What we see is a God is all-knowing and so understands that we can’t handle it all at once.  God gives us knowledge about our faith in steps.  First, come the rules, and then understanding, and then living it.  Isn’t it the same way that we learn everything?

God gives it to us in ways we can understand.  We don’t get all the answers but God always walks with us.  We know God’s love because of what we see Jesus do for us on the Cross.  We feel God’s presence because the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

For all that we don’t know, God gives us faith.

Three persons yet one awesome God.