Friday, September 14, 2018

"BEHOLD YOUR MOTHER."


Homily for Sept. 15th, 2018: John 19:25-27.

Decades ago it was common on Good Friday to preach seven sermons based on Jesus= seven last words from the cross. I preached those sermons myself, over half a century ago. The AThree Hours= Agony,@ as it was often called, started at noon and ended at three, traditionally the hour of Jesus= death, with the church bell tolling 33 times, once for each year of Jesus= earthly life. Interspersed between each sermon or meditation was a hymn and one or more prayers, allowing worshipers who could not remain for the full three hours opportunities to come and go. 

We have just heard the third of Jesus’ seven last words: AWoman, behold your son; son, behold your mother.@ The second half of this word from the cross is addressed to Athe disciple whom Jesus loved,@ as he is always called in the Fourth Gospel -- deliberately left anonymous, many commentators believe, so that he can stand for all those whom Jesus loves, ourselves included. It is because of this third word from the cross that Catholics call Mary Aour blessed Mother.@

          We do not pray to Mary B or to any of the saints B in the same way we pray to God. We ask Mary and the other saints to pray for us. If it is right to ask our earthly friends to pray for us, how much more fitting to ask the prayers of our heavenly friends, especially of Mary, given to us by her dying son as our spiritual mother. The Catechism recommends such prayer in the following words: “Because of Mary’s singular cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church loves to pray in communion with the Virgin Mary, to magnify with her the great things the Lord has done for her, and to entrust supplications and praises to her.” (No. 2682)

          As we remember today the sorrows of Jesus’ mother, we pray, once again, the familiar and well loved words: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

 

Thursday, September 13, 2018

"GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD."


Homily for Sept. 14th, 2018: Exaltation of the Cross; John 3:13-17.

At the center of every Catholic Church in the world, and of most other churches as well, is a cross. The cross hangs around the necks of hundreds of thousands of people in our world who give no other outward sign of being religious. Teachers of young children report that when they offer the youngsters a selection of holy cards and ask them to choose one, time and again children choose the picture of Jesus on the cross.

Why is the cross so important, and so central? Why, after two thousand years, has the cross lost none of its fascination and power?  The best answer is also the simplest: because the cross is a picture of how much God loves us. AThere is no greater love than this,@ Jesus tells us, Ato lay down one=s life for one=s friends@ (John 15:13).AGod so loved the world that he gave his only Son,@ we heard in the gospel. It was the most God had to give. That is why the cross is at the center of every Catholic Church in the world. That is why the cross is also at the center of the Church=s preaching.

Many people associate the words Apreaching@ and Asermon@  with a list of Do=s and Don=ts: all the things we must first do or avoid before God will love us and bless us. Yet the gospel is supposed to be good news. Is it good news to be told that God won=t love us until we have kept enough of his rules to show that we are worthy of his love? That doesn=t sound like very good news to me.  It sounds like horribly bad news.

The gospel is the good news that God loves us just as we are, right now. How much does God love us? Let me tell you. A few years ago we had a 3-year-old Chinese girl, Doris, in our parish pre-school. I went to meet Doris when she was dismissed from school. Together we would stand at the front door, waiting for her mother. How excited Doris was when she spotted her! She would run across the school yard as fast as her little legs could take her, to her mother=s waiting arms. It was heart-stopping. Beautiful as that was, however, it doesn=t begin to compare with God=s love for us.

The One who hangs on the cross, to show us God=s love, says elsewhere in this gospel according to John: AI am the light of the world@ (8:12). And in the continuation of today=s gospel he tells us that our eternal destiny is being determined, even now, by how we react to his light: "Everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.  But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God" (John 3:20f).

Are you walking in the light of Jesus= love? Or do you fear his light because of what it might reveal in the dark corners of your life which, like all of us, you try to keep hidden? We all have those dark corners. Now, in this hour, Jesus Christ is inviting you to put away fear. Come into the bright sunshine of his love. Once you do, the fire of Christ=s love will burn out in you everything that is opposed to his light. Then the reason for your fear will be gone. Then you will have no need to hide. You will be home. You will be safe: safe for this life, but also for eternity.

AWhoever believes in [Jesus Christ] will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their words were evil.@The eternal destiny of each one of us is being determined by our response to the light, and love, of Jesus Christ.  He is waiting for your response, right now.

 

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

"GIVE AND GIFTS WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU."


Homily for Sept. 13th, 2018: Luke 6:27-38.

            “Give and gifts will be given to you,” Jesus tells us in today’s gospel, “a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”    

Is that how we normally think of giving? Don’t we assume that when we have given something away, then it’s gone – and we are poorer? In reality, our gifts do not us make poorer. They enrich us.

Let me tell you about someone afraid to give. She is the mother of two grown children, a son and a daughter. The son is seeking priesthood, as a member of a religious order. His mother wants grandchildren with her husband’s family name. If her son perseveres to ordination, she won’t have them. She thinks that will make her poorer. Every time he goes home, she cries in front of him, and begs him to leave. Friends, there is only one word for that: it's emotional blackmail.

I don’t know that mother. And I don’t want to do her any injustice. But I’ve wondered. When Judgment Day comes and the books are opened, will the Lord say to her: ‘Mary, I wanted to give you another son, and even two. Together they would have given you all the grandchildren you could wish for. And you would have been just as proud of them as you are of that son of yours who even now is offering Mass for the repose of your soul. But you said No.’

Contrast that nameless mother with other mothers, and fathers as well, who affirm and support a son’s decision for priesthood. On his ordination day they shed tears of joy and pride at what their son is doing. He’ll never give them grandchildren, true. But he will have countless spiritual children – far more than he could ever have through marriage.

Who do you suppose is happier? the mother who cries in front of her son and begs him turn aside from God’s call? or the parents who joyfully support that call, knowing that the measure with which they measure will be measured back to them?

Think about it.  

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

"WHOEVER WISHES TO SAVE HIS LIFE WILL LOSE IT."



Sept. 16th, 2018: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B.  Mark 8:27-35.
AIM:  To help the hearers surrender more completely to Jesus Christ.
 
An airplane flying across an ocean reaches what pilots call Athe point of no return.@ This is the point after which the plane would require more fuel to turn back than to continue on. Thereafter the pilot knows that there is no return.  He must continue on.
Today=s gospel shows Jesus passing his point of no return. Up to now people have responded to Jesus= message in large numbers. Jesus= disciples, though always slow to understand his teaching, were gradually coming to grasp who Jesus was. A conventional success story still seemed possible.
In today=s gospel, however, Jesus faces, and states Aopenly@ (Mark tells us), that what has once seemed possible is possible no more. He can no longer expect popular acceptance and success. He can only go forward, knowing that ahead lies rejection, suffering, and death. 
Precipitating Jesus= unusually plain statement about the dark future awaiting him, so different from the veiled manner in which Jesus normally spoke about himself, is Peter=s confession: AYou are the Christ.@ At once Jesus commands secrecy about his identity. Why? To prevent misunderstanding. AThe Christ@ means Athe anointed one@ B in other words, the Messiah. The common expectation in Jesus= day was that the Messiah would be a glamorous hero who would liberate his people from the hated Roman government of occupation and lead them to new heights.
Jesus knew that this was not his role. Ahead of him lay not triumph but, by all earthly standards, bitter defeat. This was too much for the disciples to accept.  Peter takes Jesus aside, Mark tells us, Ato rebuke [Jesus].@ Matthew gives us Peter=s words: AMay you be spared, Master! God forbid that any such thing ever happen to you!@ (Mt. 16:22)
Jesus= response to Peter is severe. Calling the man he has just chosen as leader of his inner circle ASatan,@ Jesus tells Peter: AYou are not thinking as God does, but as human beings do.@ The severity of this rebuke shows that Peter=s words were a real temptation for Jesus. Passing his point of no return, abandoning the early hopes of success and accepting rejection, suffering, and death B all that cost Jesus an agonizing struggle. (Cf. Mark 14:34-36; Hebrews 5:7) Jesus= harsh words to Peter reveal how intense this inner conflict was.
In the passage which follows, addressed not only to the disciples but to the whole crowd, Jesus makes it clear that the road he is traveling will have a parallel in the life of anyone who wishes to be his follower. Jesus= final words in today=s gospel are addressed also to us. Listen to them again, in a modern translation.
AAnyone who wishes to be a follower of mine must leave self behind; he must take up his cross, and come with me. Whoever cares for his own safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake and for the gospel, that man is safe.@ [New English Bible]             
Jesus is talking about more than mere self-denial. In telling us that his followers must be willing to Aleave self behind@ and Atake up their cross,@ Jesus means giving up control of our destiny. He is talking about accepting weakness, disgrace, suffering, and death, as Jesus himself accepted these things: in the knowledge that those who do let themselves be Alost@ in this way are found by God.  And not only found: they are taken under God=s special and all-powerful protection.
Jesus is talking (to put it another way) about abandoning the attempts we all  make from time to time to retain total control of our lives. Life never belongs to us in an absolute sense. Our lives are a gift, entrusted to us for a limited time only. Few of us have a century. Try as we may to retain total control of our lives, we never quite succeed. At death we lose all control. Most people discover long before that, however, through life=s changes and chances, that they are not the masters of their fates and the captains of their souls that we all long to be. Making that discovery can be discouraging. For some it is crushing.

There is One, however, who can save our lives for us despite death, indeed through death and beyond. He will do so on the condition, and to the extent, that we begin surrendering control of our lives to him here and now. That is the only way, Jesus tells us in today=s gospel, that we can save or preserve our lives: by turning them over to the One who gave life to us; and who one day will take back his gift, whether we will or not. 

Jesus summons us to do this without anxiety, without fuss, without conditions, and without trying to hold onto a corner of our lives; but simply surrendering all into the hands of the Life-giver. The name which the Bible gives  for this act of total self-surrender is Afaith.@

To the extent that we achieve this faith, through surrender to God, we discover the inner meaning of Jesus= life. And with that discovery we are able to answer the question that Jesus puts to his disciples in today=s gospel B and that he is putting to each one of us right now: ABut who do you say that I am?@

It is the most important question we shall ever be asked.

"BLEST ARE YOU POOR."


Homily for September 12th, 2018: Luke 6: 20-26
How many people here would like to be poor? To be hungry? To be weeping and hated by everybody? If I asked for a show of hands to those questions, how may would go up? Suppose, however, that I asked some different questions: How many of you would like to be rich, well fed, laughing, and well spoken of by all? Aren=t those things we all want? 
How, then, can Jesus pronounce a blessing on those who are poor, hungry, weeping and hated? Are those things good? Of course not! Yet Jesus calls those who suffer these things Ablessed@ C  which means Ahappy.@ To understand why, we must look again at what Jesus says at the end of these beatitudes: Aon account of the Son of man.@ Things evil in themselves C poverty, hunger, weeping, hatred, exclusion C become good when they are the price we must pay for choosing to stand with Jesus Christ. 
When Luke wrote his gospel, almost all Jesus= followers were Jews. Deciding to follow Jesus meant being disowned by family members and exclusion from the synagogue. The passage we just heard immediately follows the call of the twelve apostles, which we heard about yesterday. How do you suppose they felt? They could hardly have been overjoyed. They faced alienation from their friends, loss of their livelihoods, hatred, and much grief. To these frightened, tearful men, uncertain about what they are getting into, Jesus speaks the words we heard in the gospel: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.”

          Where do we stand? With the frightened Twelve whom Jesus calls blessed? Or with the young man who went away sorrowful because he was rich? Let=s not be too sure that Jesus= woes aren=t for us just because we=re not rich. Jesus is not talking about the size of our bank accounts. He is talking about the cost of discipleship. That cost can be high, no doubt about it.  How could they be otherwise when the One who asks these costs of us paid the highest cost of all: life itself?

          Jesus= words in today=s gospel are his encouragement to people who wonder what they have let themselves in for, who wonder if the cost of following Jesus Christ may not be too high. He is speaking them again now, to each one of us. “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.”

Monday, September 10, 2018

THE MAN IN THE MOUNTAIN


Homily for Sept. 11th, 2018: Luke 6:12-19.

          “Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,” we heard in the gospel, “and he spent the night in prayer to God.” What Jesus was about to do was that important. It required a whole night of waiting on God in prayer.

In biblical times, mountaintops were considered especially close to God. Moses received the Ten Commandments atop Mt. Sinai. The dramatic contest between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of the false god Baal took place on Mt. Carmel. Our modern expression, “a mountaintop experience,” denotes an experience of God’s nearness. Martin Luther King used the image of a mountain when he declared, shortly before his tragic assassination, to a rising crescendo of assenting shouts from his hearers: “I’m not afraid any more – Yeah. … I don’t fear any man. – Amen!”…Because I’ve been up to the mountain. – Hallelujah!”

From his disciples Jesus chose twelve. Why twelve? Because God’s people was composed of twelve tribes. Jesus was establishing a new people of God. The twelve men Jesus chose to lead his new people were undistinguished. If they had one common quality it was their ordinariness. About most of them we have only legends. And the lists of names in the different gospels don’t even agree in all cases.

The Lord God called each one of us, when we were still in our mothers’ wombs. “You did not choose me,” he says in John’s gospel. “I chose you” (15:16). The realization that our call, whether as Catholic Christians, priests, or members of a religious order for women or men, originates not in our own choice but in God’s, is reassuring. The man on the mountain knew what he was about when he assembled that first undistinguished group around himself over two millennia ago. Throughout history his choices betray a remarkable sameness. Success depends not on the capabilities of those chosen, but on the wisdom, power, and faithfulness of Him who chooses us. God knows what he is about. It is only in our own minds that the issue is in doubt. 

 

Sunday, September 9, 2018

HEALING ON THE SABBATH


Homily for September 10th, 2018. Luke 6:6-11.

          Rabbis in Jesus’ day said that it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, if the illness was life-threatening. Saving a life took precedence over the command to refrain from work on the Sabbath. The life of the man with the withered hand, whom we have just heard about in the gospel, was not in danger. The man was probably well known to the local community. Jesus’ healings were already famous. It is no wonder therefore, that Jesus’ critics watch Jesus closely to see whether he will heal this man on the Sabbath – “so that they could find a charge against him,” Luke explains.

          Jesus knew what his critics were up to. The gospel writers tell us often about his ability to read minds. So Jesus takes the initiative. “Get up and stand here in front,” Jesus says to the man with the withered hand. With the man standing before him, Jesus challenges his critics by asking: “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath – or evil? To preserve life --  or destroy it?” His critics give no answer. But of course. Any answer they give will land them in difficulties. If they say that healing on the Sabbath is lawful, they will have no grounds for criticizing Jesus. If they call Sabbath healing unlawful, they will discredit themselves with the multitudes who flock to see Jesus and experience his healing power. Telling the man to stretch out his deformed hand, Jesus heals him at once.

          Jesus’ critics are “frenzied,” Luke tells us, and ask “what could be done to Jesus.” None of this remains unknown to him. He continues his course nonetheless. Nothing can stop him from doing what is pleasing to God, rather than man. He asks us to do the same.