“God’s Got a Plan” – Homily for April Holy Hour

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Homily for April 2019 Holy Hour
Jeremiah 29:10-15
Psalm 31
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Luke 22:39-46

Next week we will celebrate the Passion of Jesus.  We know that God had a plan to save his people that culminated Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection.  Knowing of the Resurrection helps us to see the value of the Crucifixion. 

On at least three distinct occasions Jesus told his disciples about his coming Passion.  He told them that He would be arrested and crucified.  He told them that He would rise on the third day but they had no idea what it meant to rise.  So, it was no consolation for them.  Thus, the Crucifixion made no sense but it was God’s plan.

God has always had a plan.  Sometimes the plan seems obvious.  Other times, we can feel like we have no idea what we are supposed to do.

Sometimes even when we know the plan, it can be difficult to fulfill.  Jesus knew what the Father’s plan was for him.  He knew He must suffer.  Still, in the garden He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me.”  Jesus didn’t want to suffer but He accepted it as He finished his prayer with “still, not my will but yours be done.”

God has always had a plan.  He rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  He formed a covenant with his people that included the Ten Commandments and his promise to be there for his people.  God honored his part but the people sinned. 

God allowed them to suffer the consequences of their choices towards evil.  He allowed them to be defeated by the Babylonians.  Many were taken into exile.  However, that was not the end of God’s plan.  Even as the Exile began, God told his people through the prophet Jeremiah that it would only last 70 years.  God never abandons his people but sometimes do need to wait, knowing God has a plan for our “welfare and not for we.”

God can choose to reveal his plan in any way He wants.  Our goal in prayer should be to follow his plan.

Yet, often we are not patient in waiting for God’s direction.  Sometimes we go and start our own plan.  When we do so, our tendency is to think about what we are good at and focus on that alone.

However, that isn’t always the way God works.  Sometimes God chooses to work through our weaknesses so that we know it his grace at work as He said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weaknesses.”  When we accept our weaknesses, we open ourselves to God’s grace.  We stop trying to do it all ourselves and we let God in.

This doesn’t mean that everything that happens is the way God wants it.  For instance, it’s no secret that attendance at Mass has been going down for years just like the number of priests and religious.  God did not cause the decrease in numbers but He does have a plan on how to deal with it.

God has plans for us as individuals and as a community of believers.  The Catholic parishes of Wayne County spent fifteen months discerning together how to collaborate in light of declining numbers.  Now we have a plan and we await word when it will be implemented.  It won’t be easy but, done well, it will help strengthen our Catholic Church.  Pray that it be done well.

We will lose a Mass (4:30) but we can share ministries.  We can share resources to ease the financial burdens and eliminate needless duplication of efforts.

At the heart of good planning is a desire to do God’s Will.  Jesus gives us the perfect example of this when He prayed in the garden, “not my will but yours be done.”  This becomes our prayer when, in the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “thy will be done.”

Are you ready to surrender to the Father’s Will?

God has a plan for each one of us.  Sometimes the plan is for us to “do something.”  Other times, it is to pray for others to do their part.  Everyone can pray that God’s Will be done.

Remember Jesus’ final words, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” 

Now, look at Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and pray for God’s Will to be done.

5th Sunday of Lent, Year C – Homily

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5th Sunday of Lent, Year C
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6(3)
Philippians 3:8-14
John 8:1-11
April 7, 2019

As Paul writes to the Philippians he tells them, “I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Paul has come to realize the worldly things are not important, hence seeing “everything as a loss.”  How did he come to realize that worldly things are not important?  It is through his encounter with the risen Jesus and everything since then that he has come to see Jesus as the “supreme good.”

As a Jew and a Pharisee, Paul had put his trust in following the Mosaic Law.  Now, he realizes that it is not the Law itself that saves but Jesus.  He has come to realize that he cannot save himself but Jesus can save us.  Jesus is the one who, through his death on the Cross, brings us back from our “captivity to sin”.  It is through his forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation that the Lord restores our spiritual fortunes.

Is the Law (centering on the Ten Commandments) good?  Absolutely!  It came from the Lord.  Yet, Jesus opens a way for us to fulfill the Law in a new way. 

We see this way in the way Jesus responds when the scribes and the Pharisees bring to him a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery.  They speak of how the Mosaic Law prescribed stoning in cases of adultery.  They ask Jesus what He thinks.  They really don’t care what He says.  They are just looking for something to charge him with.

Jesus is not concerned.  He uses the opportunity to teach about forgiveness.  His reply is simple, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

They thought of themselves as holy.  One might think they would go ahead and cast stones but they don’t.  Why?

As this is going on, Jesus is writing something on the ground.  We are never told what He writes but some scholars suggest that perhaps He was writing their sins…greed…theft…envy…coveting.

If you were standing there and Jesus wrote your sins on the ground what would you think? 

None of them say anything.  Rather, “in response, they went away one by one.”  Jesus had said the one without sin could cast the first stone.  While they never name their sins out loud, inside they know their sins.  Thus, they leave in silence, no one throwing a single stone, only Jesus and the woman caught in adultery remain.

Jesus’ words to the woman are simple, “Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and from now on do not any more.”

Isaiah speak of the Lord as the one “who opens a way.”  It is a way of forgiveness.  It is a way that calls us to “remember not the events of the past.” 

We cannot change the past.  We can change what we do in the future.  We need to let go of the past.  However, this doesn’t mean the past is okay.  Jesus is not calling us to ignore the past.  He is calling us to let go of the past. 

When we are the ones who sinned, then we need to admit our sins, we need to confess our sins, to hand them over to God who takes them away.

Jesus never says there is no sin.  Sin is real.  He does not excuse the woman’s sin of adultery.  The last two words of Jesus to the woman are essential.  When He tells her to go, He tells her “do not sin ANY MORE.”  That means she has sinned but He does not condemn for her sin.  He forgives her.

Jesus wants to forgive our sins.  To be forgiven we need to admit our sins, meaning we need to confess them to allow Jesus to forgive us.  We do a penance for our sins to show we are sorry.  We make amends where we can but ultimately we need to go of the past whether we are the sinner or a victim.  If the latter, we need to forgive.  If the former, we need to be forgiven.

God wants to forgive us.  That’s why Jesus died for us.  That’s why we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Pope Francis once said, “The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better.”  The motivation is not based on fear but God’s love.

4th Sunday of Lent, Year C – Homily

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4th Sunday of Lent, Year C
Joshua 5:9a, 10-12
Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 (9a)
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
March 31, 2019

Sometimes I hear parents lamenting that they feel like all they are to their children is a chauffeur and/or a source of money.  “Mom, I need to drive me over to Susie’s house.”  “Dad, I need money so I can go to the movies with my friends.  Oh, and I need you to drive me there.”

In today’s gospel we see this taken to an extreme.  The younger son asks his father for his inheritance now.  No good motive is given for this.  He wants the money so he can leave and do what he wants.

This was allowed at the time but you need to understand the full significance of what the younger son is saying.  The culture of the time allowed him to ask for his inheritance before his father died but to do so would be akin to divorcing his father.  In asking for the money, he is saying he is going to take the money and leave, never to see his family again.  He would be considered dead to his family.

See what I mean when I said this takes a child seeing their parent as a chauffeur or money source to extreme?  He doesn’t want his dad in his life.  He just wants his money.

Remarkably, his father gives him the money and he “set off to a distant country…squandering his inheritance…freely spent everything.”  He made no plans for the future.  If he had planned well, he might have been able to live a long time on his inheritance but because he squandered it, when a severe famine struck, “he found himself in dire need.”

He hit bottom.

Only when he hit bottom did he come to his senses.  He recognized how good life was in his father’s house.  However, because of the way he left, he had no reason to expect his dad to take him back.  He just hopes to become a hired hand there.  He heads back to confess his sins and beg for a job.

His family could choose to forgive him or to be reject him, holding his sins against him.

Which would you choose?

His father chooses to forgive.  In fact, he is so happy when he sees his younger son returning that he runs out to meet him.  No one would expect him to do it but the father is merciful.  Maybe others would make him a hired hand but the father does more.  He tells his servants to put the finest robe on him and a ring.  This symbolizes the father giving back his full status as his son.  He is so happy that he “celebrates with a feast.”

No one would have expected such a merciful response by the father. 

Let us not forget the older brother.  He has always done as his father asked and never asked for much.  He might seem like the epitome of a good son.

Yet, his reaction to his brother’s return is very different than his father’s.  Clearly, he does not want to forgive his brother.  He is even angry with his father for throwing a feast to celebrate his younger brother’s return. 

He refuses to forgive.  He refuses to show mercy.  He refuses to let his brother begin anew.

There are three characters in this story.  Which one are you like?

  • Are you the younger son who sinned and needs mercy?
  • Are you the father who offers mercy and complete reconciliation?
  • Are you the older son who refuses to forgive and rejoice?

When we are the younger son who sins, is it possible to start over with God?  Of course it is.  God is like the father in the son.  God’s forgiveness and mercy is absolute. 

With God is always possible to become a “new creation.”  When we confess our sins, God removes them (“the old things have passed away) to reconcile us to himself through Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross.

God constantly makes things new for his people.  He leads his people into new life as they enter the promised land with Joshua.  He leads us to new life with Jesus.

Sometimes people think God won’t forgive them.  Why?  Because they are like the older son won’t forgive.  If we think forgiveness is not possible between brothers, it’s not a big step to think God won’t forgive us.

Sometimes, we think we have to fix what we have done before we can be forgiven but we can’t change the past.  Know that God stands ready to forgive.

Paul speaks of a “ministry of reconciliation.”  We all have a part to play in this ministry.  We need to forgive others so we can reconcile with them.  We need to tell them that God is willing to forgive us through Jesus’ death on the Cross.

There is only one thing that stops God from forgiving us.  Us.  We have to let God forgive us.  That means we have to forgive ourselves.

So, again, who are you like in the story?  The younger son who sins, the older son who refuses to forgive, or the father who is just waiting to forgive?

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year C – Homily

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3rd Sunday of Lent, Year C
Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11 (8a)
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Luke 13:1-9
March 24, 2019

Suffering is real.  Some say, “everything happens for a reason.”  Why does suffering happen?

In Jesus’ time a common understanding of suffering was that it was punishment for sin.  Therefore, if you were suffering, it meant you must have sinned.

So, when some people hear how Pilate had some Galileans killed and mingled their blood with the Roman sacrifices, the people interpreted it as punishment for some sin.  Jesus tells them “By no means” is this true. 

Jesus says the same is true for the “eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them.”  They were no “more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem.”

Suffering does happen.  In the Old Testament, the entire book of Job is centered on the question of suffering.  Job is good and wealthy man until he loses everything.  His friends take his losses as proof that he must have sinned to be punished so severely.  He maintains his innocence.  He also holds fast to his faith in God.  As time goes on he begins to wonder about his suffering.  He questions God.  God’s response is that Job, as a human, can’t understand it all.  Job comes to realize that he may not understand but that he can still trust in God.  (Incidentally, Job’s suffering is caused by Satan trying to get him to reject his faith.)

So, what is Jesus trying to tell the people about these two cases of suffering?  While those people were no worse sinners than others, it is a call for us to realize that our time might be short and we need to repent of any sins we have committed.

The story of the Exodus gives us a different perspective on God’s activity in suffering.  The Jews were slaves in Egypt.  They suffered at the hands of the Egyptians.  God “witnessed their affliction” and “heard their cry.”  So, God came “down to rescue them” to lead them to “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

God led them through the waters of the Red Sea as we are led through the waters of baptism.  God fed them with manna as we are fed with the Eucharist. 

Did they suffer?  Yes.  Was there value in the suffering?  As Paul writes, “These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us.”

God gives us many, many chances to stop sinning but there will come a day when there are no more chances.  It might be the day of the Second Coming or it might be the day of our own death as it was for the Galileans killed by Pilate or those at Siloam on whom the tower fell.  Their deaths were not because of their sins but it left them with no more time to repent.

Sin is a powerful foe.  The devil is a great deceiver.  We become slaves to our sins.  We need to repent with contrite hearts.  We need to ask God to set us free from our afflictions.  Remember how God “witnessed the affliction” of his people in Egypt and “heard their cry?”  Remember how He came down to rescue them?

When we cry out to the Lord with a contrite heart for our sins, He comes down to rescue us.  He does this in Jesus who gave up his place with God to come down to die for our sins.

What afflictions do you face?  What suffering do you face?  What sins do you need to be forgiven for?

Do not fear for “the Lord is kind and merciful…He pardons all your iniquities…He redeems your life from destruction.”  You just have to ask for forgiveness, confessing your sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

“Coming to Know Jesus”

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Homily for March 2019 Holy Hour
Exodus 17:3-7
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (8)
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42

How much do you know about our faith? 

How well do you know Jesus?

I’m sure everyone here tonight knows the Lord’s Prayer by heart.  How much time do you pray about what the words of this prayer that comes from Jesus really mean?

I know at least some of you pray the rosary at least once a day, if not more.  It’s a lot of repetition.  How much do you just say the words without meditating on the words and the mysteries of the rosary?

These prayers are meant to draw us into relationship with Jesus.  The repetition of the rosary is meant to draw us into the presence of the Lord. 

What do you seek from Jesus?

What did the Israelites want from the Lord?  They had cried out the Lord while in slavery in Egypt.  He set them free.  Then, in the desert, they complained about not having food to eat.  He gave them manna, the bread from Heaven.

Then, they grumble against Moses because they did not have water to quench their thirst.  Food is necessary for life.  Likewise, without water we die.  They had every right to ask for food and water.  Yet, it doesn’t say they “asked” for water.  We are told they “grumbled.”  Of course, God provides them water.  He does it in a way no human ever could.  The water flowed from a rock. 

When you are in need, do you come to God with a contrite heart, submitting yourself to our Father’s Will, or do you grumble because God doesn’t make everything easy for you?

We sit before the bread in the monstrance on the altar.  Do we know what the bread has become?

The obvious answer would be yes, it is the Body of Jesus.  If we thought it was still just bread, we wouldn’t be here tonight.

Do you appreciate what it means to say it is the Body of Christ?  Do you fully comprehend the mystery of the Eucharist?

I think a lot of people don’t.  Why else would they not come to church?  If you know it to be Jesus, why not come to Mass?

We just listened to the story of the encounter the Samaritan woman has with Jesus at the well.  On her part, it started as a very superficial conversation.  To her, it was two people who happen to go to the well to get water at the same time.  She recognized Jesus as a Jew but nothing more.

So, she was shocked when He speaks to her, “give me a drink.”   It’s not the words that shock her.  She takes them at face value, thinking He asked for a drink because he had no way to draw water for himself.  She was shocked because no Jew would talk to a Samaritan, let alone a woman.  It just wasn’t done.

Jesus spoke of “living water” but she remained on a surface level and said it was impossible for him to give her water when He has no bucket.

While she remained on a surface level, she was intrigued when Jesus said those who drink of this “living water” “will never thirst.”  How convenient it would be to never have to fetch water again.

I wonder how many people who have some sense of the Eucharist are in a place parallel to the thinking of this Samaritan woman.  They know the Eucharist is something good but have a hard time appreciating or understanding why.

Jesus helped the woman along in her spiritual life by speaking of her husbands, something He would not know if He was just a regular Jew.  So, she came to think He must be a prophet just as some come to realize the Eucharist is not just ordinary bread.

The conversation continues and deepens to talking about Jesus as the Messiah.  She went and told us others what she has discovered about Jesus.  She said to others, ”Could he possibly be the Christ?”  She can’t explain it but she is coming to believe.

The transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus cannot be explained in earthly science.  It is a mystery.  We don’t have to be able to explain it.  Science can’t but we have something better than science.  We have Jesus’ words, “this is my body….this is my blood.”

Look at the bread in the center of the monstrance.  See Jesus.  Now, bask in his presence.

2nd Sunday in Lent, Year C – Homily

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2nd Sunday of Lent, Year C
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14 (1a)
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28b-36
March 17, 2019

Jesus went up on the mountain to pray. 

What does “prayer” mean to you?  It can include recite familiar prayers like the Rosary.  Other forms of recited prayer might include the Divine Mercy Chaplet or whatever your favorite devotion is. 

Do you think this is what Jesus did when He prayed?

In reflecting on what it means to pray, we are told that Jesus “went up the mountain to pray.”  Why a mountain?  We think of God being up in the heavens so going up the mountain was seen as getting closer to God.  The whole point of prayer is to draw us closer to God.  Prayer can be a conversation with God.

Our first reading today is a conversation Abraham (Abram) had with God.  God had promised Abraham that he would have an heir.  Abraham wondered how this was to be since both he and his wife were old.  Ultimately, Abraham “put his faith in the LORD.”  He trusted God because he knew that God loved him and would keep his promise.

Near the end of the passage we read, “a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.”  Some might call this a mystical presence.  Whatever you call it, it was a profound encounter with God that strengthened Abraham. 

We hear in the psalm today, “Your presence, O LORD, I seek.”  Is not the greatest gift we can receive simply know that God is with us?

What difficult situation have you faced lately?  Our first prayer in suffering can (and should) be to ask God to take it away.  In this, perhaps the most common prayer is telling God what we want.  Is prayer just a matter of giving God a list of our demands?

Now, imagine your most recent difficult situation again.  You asked God to take it away.  God said no.  What might be the next thing you ask for in prayer? 

Do you ask to know that God walks with you in the difficult situation? 

Abraham knew that God was there for him.  That is why he “put his faith in the LORD.”  Turning to the gospel, Jesus had just told his disciples about his coming Passion.  He knew they were troubled by what He told them and that they would be even more troubled when it actually happened.  To give them “divine assurance,” He took Peter, James, and John with him so they could see him transfigured, so that they would see his glory.  They also say Moses and Elijah with him to show them that He is the fulfillment of the law.

The experience of seeing Jesus transfigured left Peter not knowing “what he was saying.”  Think of your greatest experience of God.  Can you find works to adequately describe it or does it seem like no words can describe it?  It is the experience that can be most key to know that God is with us.

Thus, prayer has at its heart our desire to open ourselves to God’s love.

Prayer can come in three parts.  First is spoken prayer.  This could be either the recited prayers I mentioned before or the list of our needs we offer to God.  The purpose of “reciting” prayers isn’t to say we did it.  It’s to draw us closer to the Lord.  The point of listing our needs to God isn’t to tell him our demands.  It should be to tell him where we feel we need him most.

A second category of prayer is “mediation.”  This can include recited prayers if we move from just saying the words to thinking about what the story behind the words means to us.  Here one might think of meditating on the mysteries of the rosary as thinking about the important moments of Jesus’ life and what they mean for us.

Mediation can also include reading the Bible but I’m not talking about reading it like any other book.  Meditation means to read a few words or lines while pausing to think about what it means for us.

A third category of prayer is contemplative prayer.  For me, this can be both the most rewarding form of prayer and the most difficult.  It can be difficult because it requires us to stop thinking.  It isn’t about reciting words or meditating upon spiritual writings.  Contemplative prayer calls us to let go of all our thoughts.  This form of prayer is less about conversation with God and more about simply basking in his presence.

Think of when Peter saw Jesus transfigured.  He tried to find words to describe what he saw.  Contemplative prayer says don’t worry about the words.  Just enjoy the moment.

The problem with contemplative prayer is that you can’t make it happen.  If you try to sit there all day and force it to happen, it won’t.  I can’t give you a lesson here about it but here are some basic thoughts.  It means letting go.  If you read about centering prayer (a type of contemplative prayer), it recommends twenty minutes at a time but NEVER start with 20 minutes.  Start with just a couple of minutes after your normal prayer.  Let the thoughts go.  Find a word as simple as the name “Jesus” to repeat over and over to surrender yourself to the moment. 

The goal of prayer is to open ourselves to God, to let God lead the conversation.  Only then can we be transfigured by the experiences we have in prayer.  It is only when we stop dictating the conversation in prayer that we truly open ourselves to know that God is with him and we put our faith in the Lord.

Video Presentation – “Where Do We Go For Truth?”

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I gave another presentation on Monday. This one, “Where Do You Go For Truth?,” discusses “Truth” and provides some guidance on how we search for God’s Truth to answer the tough questions in a world where society says there is no truth. Hope you enjoy it. It lasts about an hour and a quarter.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

1st Sunday of Lent, Year C – Homily

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1st Sunday of Lent, Year C
Deuteronomy 26:4-10
Psalm 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15 (see 15b)
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13
March 10, 2019

“Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.” 

There are many people who cry to the Lord when they are “in trouble” but don’t pay much attention to the Lord when things are good.  I know in the years when I didn’t go to church, when things were going well, I didn’t pray much but if something was wrong, I’d offer a prayer.  When we face trouble, we ask the Lord to provide us shelter.

While there are more and more people who don’t come to church, the idea of people crying out to the Lord when they are “in trouble” is nothing new.

Think of all the people who came to Jesus to be cured of illness or for exorcism of evil spirits.  They know their troubles and they bring them to Jesus.

We see in the Old Testament.  In fact, in the Old Testament we see a cycle repeating over and over.  When the people are in trouble, they cry out to the Lord.  The Lord hears their cry and rescues them.  In gratitude, they follow the Lord’s way for a while but over time the people once again forget the Lord and fall back into sin.  God allows this.  God also lets them face the consequences of their sins and bad things happen.  They suffer until they realize the error of their ways and again repent and cry out to the Lord for help.

Here one might wonder where society is at right now.  There are people who think society is at its best because of all the “freedoms” people enjoy to live however they want.  I see a different perspective.  The shootings, violence, and partisan politics show a low point in society.  We need to turn back to the Lord.

We need to acknowledge our sins.  We need to acknowledge that we need the Lord’s help.  We cannot rescue ourselves.

God will deliver us as He delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  They had become slaves to the Egyptians.  We become slaves to sin.  Maybe we don’t even recognize our sin.

Are you a slave? 

We can become slaves to sin in that we become fixated on the physical pleasure that can go with some sinful acts.  Our desire to experience that pleasure controls our actions.  It might even become the most important thing.  We put that physical pleasure before the eternal life that Jesus offers us.  Even when we realize our sin, we cannot on our own break free from the sin.  This is what it means to be a slave to sin.  That’s when we need to acknowledge our sins to Jesus who can take them away in the Sacrament of Reconciliation when we confess our sins.  We can’t set ourselves free from sin but God can.

What about becoming slaves to activities that spiritually and morally are neither good or bad on their own but they still come to control our lives?

It might be something as simple as sports that we do for the fun but then require too much of our time and don’t allow us time for family, friends, or God.

It might be power or money.  I know people who wait to get married for years while they “start their career” so they can make money and have status.  They work many long hours to get established, thinking someday they won’t have to work so much and they can get married and start a family.  Do the long hours ever stop?  Does one become a slave to their work under the guise of providing for their family?

Is there sin in this?  Ask yourself if you have made your job and career your “false god”?  Have you made money or sports or leisure activity your “false god”?  If you have, think about the commands to have no “false god” for there is only one god.  Has your attachment to activities or things kept you from keeping the Sabbath holy?

Confess it to God and cry out to him for help.  As we cry out for the help, we need to be in it for the long haul.  We might may not be able to change everything overnight.  It might take time.  Even when we do change, the temptation can remain.  We can be weak against temptation and fall back into sin.

Jesus is the one who is successful against temptation.  He had fasted for forty days.  He was hunger.  The devil knew this and tried to tempt him to change the stone into bread.  Who would blame Jesus if He did this?  Would it be any different than we give up candy and/or snacking for Lent and then when Lent is over, we gorge ourselves on the very thing we gave up.  Has anything changed?

Some might even see it as a good thing to do in his hunger.  Yet, Jesus knows He has not been given this power for selfish gain. 

Jesus resisted all the “power and glory” that the devil offered him.  This could be like the temptation of career and status that we face.

What is your Achilles’ heel?  What is your greatest temptation?  Does it relate to a real need that you need help to fulfill or is it a want or simple pride that you need to let go of?

What can you do to free yourself of the temptation?   What help do you need from the Lord?

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily

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8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Sirach 27:4-7
Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16 (see 2a)
1 Corinthians 15:54-58
Luke 6:39-45
March 3, 2019

“Can a blind person guide a blind person?”  If they try, they may “both fall into a pit.”  If a blind person went walking down Main Street when the construction is going on, they might end up in a trench.  The blind person needs someone to tell them what they are getting into. 

Of course, Jesus is referring to more than just physical blindness.  When we face moral choices in our lives, how well do we know what our faith teaches and why so that we can apply it to whatever situations we face.

Do we even know what sin is?  People don’t take about sin much anymore.  Some because they want to downplay, or even hide, their own sins.  Others say who are we to judge?  They say we shouldn’t force our values on others. 

They would take Jesus’ words, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” to support their position of not talking about the sin of others.  However, Jesus does not say to never “remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” 

No, Jesus’ point is that we need to “Remove the wooden beam from your own eye FIRST.” 

We need to acknowledge and address our own sins first and then help our “brothers” with their sins.  This gives us creditability instead of being hypocrites. 

If we try to talk about the sins of others without first addressing our own brings to mind the saying, “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

Are you aware of your own sins?  If you are, are you trying to correct them, or do you make excuses why it isn’t that bad?  If you aren’t conscience of any sin, is it because you are able to resist sin, or do you just not recognize it?  Or do you ignore it?

The thing is, even if you fail to see your own sins or fail to correct them, there may be someone else who does see your sins and sees you ignore them.  They see you as the hypocrite when you “complain” about the sins of others.  Then, again, we are left without creditability. 

This can be true for us as individuals.  Unfortunately, it is also true for us as a church right now.  There were perpetuators who committed the terrible sin of child sex abuse.  There is no excuse for this.  If it has happened to you or someone you know, I don’t know what to say except that I am sorry and pray that you receive any help you need.

If these sins weren’t bad enough, there follows the sin of the coverup.  Rather than confront the problem, it was hidden.  Unfortunately, there were cases where the priest was able to continue in their sin because of the church falling short of dealing with the problem.

If you shake the sieve long enough, “the husks appear.”  So, it is with our sins individually and collectively.  Sooner or later it comes to the surface.

Now, as a result of the coverup, there are those who don’t want to listen to the church because the church’s failure to respond appropriately damaged or shattered its moral creditability.  Sin has its consequences.

As a church, we need to address the past actions of our leaders.  This is very difficult.  People have been hurt and suffered.  There is no way to undo what has happened.  When the scandal broke in 2002, the new “charter” was issued as a huge positive step forward.  However, we have learned in the past year it was not enough.  There is still work to be done. 

We need to pray for the innocent victims of clergy abuse.  We need to pray for the faith of the people affected.  We need to pray for the purification of the church and the renewal of the clergy.  We need to pray that we all get back to seeing the Lord as the true moral authority.  There is “truth.”  (Next week, I will be doing a presentation about where we go for truth.) 

Jesus is the way and the truth and the life.  We need to seek this truth.  We need to ask God to lift the blindness from our souls so that we might see our sins and deal with them.

The church has its share of the blame to carry, not just because of the coverup of abuse by clergy.  We have fallen short of helping our people understand not just what our faith teaches but why.  Without this, we do not give people what they need to make good moral decisions.

Who do you go to for answers about faith and morals?  Why?  Do you make sure it isn’t someone who is spiritually blind? 

For instance, think of the role of godparents.  I think many parents see picking godparents as a way of honoring the person.  It is but that is not the purpose.  As much as being chosen a godparent can bestow an honor, even more so it bestows a duty.  A godparent’s duty is to help their godchild grow in faith.  That’s why our Church says the godparent must be baptized, confirmed, and actively practicing their faith.  If they are not living their faith, how can they help their godchild to?

Is there some sin in your life that God is calling you to work on for Lent this year?  Are you praying for our institutional church to be purified and restored to serve as God directs? Let us pray for healing of all sins and a return to the fullness of faith.

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily

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7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13 (8a)
1 Corinthians 15:45-49
Luke 6:27-38
February 24, 2019

Most of what Jesus says in today’s gospel can be summed up in one sentence from the beginning, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

This isn’t the way many people today.  They might ask, “why should I do good to someone who hates me.”  It might seem impossible to love our enemies, after all, if I love them are they really my enemy?

To that I will offer two responses.  First, if our loving them has stopped them from being our enemy, that is a very good thing, perhaps the very point of loving our enemies.

Secondly, to ask if we can love our enemies we need to ask what it means to love.  Despite Facebook giving us the impression that we can have hundreds of friends, not everyone is our friend.  People that we have never met are not our friends in the sense of knowing them but that doesn’t mean that we can’t care about them.  St. Thomas Aquinas said, “to love is to will the good of another.”  We are not to curse those who curse us.  In loving our neighbors as God loves us, we wish and pray for the best for everyone, even if they mistreat us.

Why?  Why pray for them?  Why do good to those who hate us?

First, because it is the right thing to do.  Think of what we pray during the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come.”  If we want to change the world, someone has to be the first to “do good.”

How much fighting goes on because we think the other person started it?  When siblings fight, one might blame the other for starting it.  When gangs fight, their defense often is based on claiming the other gang was the first to start it.  What about multi-generational rivalries?  For example, the way the Protestants and Catholics had long clashed in Ireland.  How about the Jews and Palestinians in Israel? 

Does anyone know who started it?  It goes on for too long to worry about who started it.  It is time to end conflicts like this, not by war but with love.

When it seems hard to “do good to those who hate you,” start with a prayer “for those who mistreat you.”  Pray for them to receive the blessings they need.  Pray that they be open to God’s Will.  Pray that you are open to God’s Will.

Is it possible to love our enemies?

Yes.  We need to look no further than our first reading.  Saul was the king but David was the one to defeat the Philistines.  David was held in higher esteem by the people. 

Rather than being grateful for what David did, Saul was jealous of him.  David had married Saul’s daughter and Saul’s son Jonathan was David’s best friend.  Yet Saul’s jealousy controlled his actions.  He went with 3,000 men “to search for David” with plans to kill him. 

David knew this.  Those who knew of this would not have faulted David for killing Saul.  It would have been seen as self-defense.  Yet, when David came upon Saul and his troops sleeping, David refused to kill Saul.

He does take Saul’s spear, goes a distance away, and calls out to them so that Saul might know that David had the opportunity to kill Saul but did not.  Why should Saul know this?  To break the cycle of violence in the only way possible with love.

As I already said, David could have chosen to kill Saul and many would have seen it as justified.  Yet, Saul’s men may not have.  They might have pursued David and the violence continue.

David chose the way of love.  It is what God does with us when we sin, “Not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes.”  God forgives us when we sin.  We need to do the same.

In ten days, we will start Lent.  What are you going to do for Lent?

Is there someone you have refused to love or do good to?  Perhaps Lent is the time to start praying for those who have mistreated you.  Maybe it is time to stop mistreating others and choose to do good.

How are we to do this?  It is not easy.  To do so we need grace.  Maybe for Lent you need to do something to open yourself to God’s grace.  How about attending daily Mass?  If everyday isn’t possible, how about once a week?  If 8:00 a.m. is too early, during Lent we have Mass on Friday’s at 11:00 a.m.  If you work during the week, we have Mass Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. 

If you can’t make Mass, how about Stations of the Cross Friday evening to think about how Jesus suffered for us?  We have Stations in English at 6:00 p.m. in our church and in Spanish at 7:00 p.m. in the chapel.

If you can’t do that, for Lent, just ask God to help you open yourself to his love, his grace so that you in turn may “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”