Friday, September 27, 2019

THEY WERE AFRAID TO ASK HIM


Homily for Sept. 28th, 2013: Luke 9:43b-45.

          “They were all amazed at [Jesus’] every deed,” today’s brief gospel reading begins. Immediately before this verse Luke has described Jesus’ healing of an epileptic boy, the only son of his father (9:38). The man has already asked Jesus’ disciples for healing, without success. The youth has an epileptic fit even as he is being brought to Jesus. The Lord heals the boy with a word and gives him back to his father. “And all who saw it marveled at the greatness of God,” Luke tells us (vs. 43a).  The opening words of our gospel today follow immediately: “All were amazed at [Jesus’] every deed.”  

          Jesus breaks into the people’s amazement to tell them something he wants them to remember. “Pay attention to what I am telling you” are the words we heard. What Luke writes literally is: “lay up in your ears these words. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” This is so jarring that the people do not understand it. “They were afraid to ask him about this saying,” Luke tells us.

          This fear can be understood if we reflect that the miracle of healing which the people have just witnessed, indeed all Jesus’ miracles, kindled in them a desire for something we all want: a success story. Being betrayed into the hands of men certainly didn’t sound like success. No wonder the people were afraid to enquire too deeply about Jesus’ meaning.

          The day would come, however, when people would understand. After Jesus’ death and burial his women disciples, more faithful than the men, visit his tomb as soon as the Sabbath rest is over, intending to do what had been impossible Friday evening, when the Sabbath had already begun: anoint the Lord’s body. The women find not Jesus’ body but “two men in dazzling garments” (clearly angels) who ask them: “Why do you search for the Living One among the dead? He is not here; he has been raised up.” And then, Luke tells us, the angels tell the women: “Remember what he said to you while he was sill in Galilee – that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” “With this reminder,” Luke writes, “[Jesus’] words came back to them” (Lk 24:4-8).

          We pray, then, in this Mass: “Open our ears, Lord Jesus, to listen to your words. And   when we do not understand, give us patience to await the day when we shall understand, since we shall see you face to face. Amen”

Thursday, September 26, 2019

ST VINCENT DE PAUL


Homily for Sept. 27th, 2013: St. Vincent de Paul.

          St. Vincent de Paul, whom we celebrate today, is an unusual character. Born in 1581 to a poor peasant family in southwestern France, he became a priest – several years under the minimum age – because he thought it would assure him an easy and comfortable life. A priest related to Vincent’s father lived comfortably on the income of a hostel he administered for pilgrims on the way to Compostella in northwestern Spain. Decades later Vincent would say: “If I had known what priesthood was all about, as I have come to know since, I would rather have tilled the soil than engage in such an awesome state of life.”

          Wealthy benefactors financed his university studies in Toulouse. One of them arranged for him to become Pastor of a parish when he was not yet eighteen, and not even a priest. Vincent enjoyed the endowed income, while a poorly paid assistant priest took care of pastoral duties -- something quite possible in the Church of that day. We know little about Vincent’s early years of priesthood. We know, however, that in 1605, while on a coastal voyage in the Mediterranean, he was captured by pirates and spent the next two years as a slave in North Africa. He was freed when his fourth owner took Vincent back to France. Later he would ascribe his liberation to Mary’s intercession.  

          By 1608 Vincent was in Paris. Something of a confidence artist all his life, he got himself appointed chaplain to the queen. This brought him into contact with the chaplain to the French king, a saintly priest named Pierre de Bérulle, who discerned in Vincent a capacity for true holiness. With Bérulle’s help Vincent came to regard realize that priesthood is a service and not a career. While continuing to associate with the rich and famous, he developed a fruitful ministry to the poor, to prisoners, and to his fellow clergy. With associates he founded the Company of the Mission, which continues today, and seminaries to raise the level of the clergy.

When Vincent, now a member of the Council which advised the French king about the selection of bishops, refused the request of a duchess that her son should receive a miter, the enraged lady threw a stool at Vincent’s head, drawing blood. To the lay brother who was with him, Vincent remarked unfazed: “Isn’t it wonderful to see a mother’s love for her son.”

          By 1660 Vincent, now approaching 80, was worn out from his labors and knew he was dying. At four in the morning of Sept. 27th the Lord called him home as he sat by the fire in his room.. It was the hour at which, for years, he had risen from his bed to begin a day filled with prayer and with activity for others. Vincent de Paul was starting his first day of eternity. With joy and gratitude we pray to him: “St. Vincent de Paul, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

 

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

YOU HAVE EATEN AND NOT BEEN SATISFIED.


Homily for Sept. 26th, 2019: Haggai 1:1-8.

          “The time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord,” the people of God tell the prophet Haggai in our first reading. It’s the oldest excuse in the book for failing to do something we know we ought to do. ‘Postpone it,’ we say, ‘the time is not ripe.’ The excuse is so old, in fact, that we have a name for it: procrastination.

          God’s people have come back to Jerusalem from decades of exile and oppression in Babylon. The Temple, the dwelling place of God on earth which was destroyed long ago by their enemies, is still in ruins. But the people are doing just fine, thank you, living high off the hog in their rebuilt paneled McMansions.

          Haggai challenges his people. Are you really happy? “You have sown much, but have brought in little. You have eaten, but have not been satisfied. You have drunk, but not been exhilarated [he’s talking about drinking wine]. You have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed. And whoever earned wages, earned them for a bag with holes in it.”

          What’s the reason for this frustration? The people have looked after themselves. But they have neglected the Lord God. The first thing we owe Him is worship. That’s why the Church asks us to come to Mass on the Lord’s day. ‘But I don’t get anything out of it,’ many say; or “Mass is boring.’ The proper answer to such complaints is: “So what?” We don’t come for moral uplift, for a nice warm feeling inside, to be entertained by lively music or a sparkling homily, or to rejoice in human togetherness. Those things may happen, or they may not. But they are not the reason why we come. We come to worship! To praise and thank God who gives us all that we have, and all that we are – sin excepted: our sins are all our own. We come, in short, not to get, but to give.

          And all experience teaches that those who get most are those who give most generously, never thinking of themselves, but only of the Lord God, who gives us always so much more than we deserve.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

"TAKE NOTHING FOR THE JOURNEY."


Homily for Sept. 25th, 2019: Luke 9:1-6.

          “Take nothing for the journey,” Jesus tells the Twelve as he sends them out “to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” He wants those whom he commissions as his messengers to travel light. They are to depend not on material resources, but on the Lord alone.

          Jesus’ words are especially relevant today. All over the world, the forces hostile to the Church are rising. In our own country the government is trying to impose on Catholic organizations, such as Catholic hospitals and universities, requirements which we cannot, in conscience, accept. We are being asked, for instance, to pay for sterilization and abortion. In Ireland, unlike the United States a historically Catholic country, there is even an attempt to pass a law which would compel priests, in certain instances, to violate the seal of the confessional. TV entertainers air gross jokes about Catholic priests which they would not dare make about Muslim imams or Jewish rabbis. And the media show little interest in reporting studies which show that Christians are the Number One target of religious persecution in the world today.

          We rightly lament this tide of anti-Christian and anti-Catholic sentiment. But it has a good side as well. Whenever in its two thousand year history, the Church has been favored by the powers that be, whether financially or in other ways, it has grown spiritually flabby and weak. The Church is always at her best in times of persecution. When persecution is raging it is difficult, mostly impossible, to see this. Things become clear only when we look back. So let’s look back.

In recent centuries the most violent attack on the Church came in the French Revolution, which started in 1789 and lasted more than a decade. Thousands of priests were murdered under the guillotine. Most of the French bishops fled the country. Those who remained had to accept restrictions on their ministry which they justified on the plea that there was to other way to continue offering the sacraments to God’s people. 

As the Church moved into the nineteenth century, however, there was an explosion of religious vocations in France, and the foundation of an unprecedented number of new religious orders, for both men and women.

          When we grow discouraged at the hostile forces confronting us, we need to remember: God can bring good out of evil – and he does, time after time!

Monday, September 23, 2019

JESUS' TRUE FAMILY


Homily for Sept. 24th, 2019: Luke 8:19-21.

          Jesus’ mother and his brother come to visit him, our gospel tells us. His brothers? The word which Luke uses means “relatives” or “kinsmen.” From antiquity Catholics have believed that Mary had no other children but Jesus. Having given herself completely to God by responding to the angel’s message that she was to be mother of God’s son with the words, “Be it done to me according to your word,” it was inconceivable that Mary could give herself to another. This is why she is called “Mary ever virgin.” 

          Jesus’ mother and his other relatives are unable to get to him, we heard, “because of the crowd.” Those four words give us a glimpse of what life was like for the Lord on most days of his public ministry. He was constantly hemmed in by people: shoving, pushing, shouting, trying to get his attention. This explains why Jesus retreated, whenever he could, to what the gospels call “a deserted place” – somewhere where he could be alone with his heavenly Father. 

          When Jesus is told that his mother and other relatives are trying to get to him through the crowd, he responds with words that sound like a put-down: “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” In reality the words are not dismissive. Can there be any doubt that Mary truly listened to God’s word and acted on it? Jesus’ words are extensive: they extend the limits of his family to anyone who truly listens to his teaching and acts on it – in other words, to us.

          God’s word comes to us in many ways: through Holy Scripture, read out here in church, or pondered over as we read the Bible for ourselves. God’s word comes to us also through the teaching of his Church, and through the still, small, but powerful voice of conscience.

          How better, then, could we respond to Jesus’ words in today’s gospel than with the simple prayer of the boy Samuel, when he heard his name being called as he was sleeping in the Temple: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Sam. 3:10).

Sunday, September 22, 2019

"TO ANYONE WHO HAS MORE WILL BE GIVEN."


Homily for September 23rd, 2019: Luke 8:16-18.

          “To anyone who has, more will be given, and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Those words from today’s gospel reading seem terribly unfair, don’t they. To understand what Jesus is saying, we must note first that he speaks in the passive: “more will be given;” and “what he has will be taken away.” That is what Bible scholars call “the theological passive.” It is a way of saying that God will give more to anyone who has, without actually pronouncing the word “God,” which was forbidden to Jews; and that God will take away from anyone who has not.

          Even when we have understood this, however, we are still left with the seeming injustice. What Jesus is saying is this. Those who open themselves in faith and hope to Jesus’ message of God’s love and salvation quickly grow in understanding of the message. Those who close themselves to the message, demanding some “sign” – a dramatic proof which will compel them to believe – are unable to understand the message, and forfeit the offer of salvation.

          Teachers see something similar in the classroom all the time. Students who work hard, do their homework, and listen closely, grow rapidly in understanding. Those who are lazy, or think they know it all already, quickly fall behind and, over time, understand little or nothing. This is not a question of justice or injustice. It is simply the way things are.

          Jesus’ concluding words, “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear,” are his grateful tribute to those who have opened their minds and hearts to him. Remembering that the word “blessed” also means “happy,” we pray:

          “Lord, if today we hear your voice, harden not our hearts.”