Homily for Sunday, 27 October 2013

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
World Youth Sunday 

Readings of the day: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14

How many of us gathered here are in middle school, high school, or college? How many of you are involved in some form of service activity in your school; in your community; in the Church?

Maybe you are part of a peer support group at school, or you tutor other students, or you are on a student council, or you are involved in social justice initiatives through your school. Maybe you help to feed, clothe, and shelter the poor, or advocate for pro-life causes. Maybe you write for a school yearbook or newspaper, or play a sport or are a member of a band or choir. Maybe you do volunteer work. Maybe you are an altar server. Maybe you support a friend who struggles with their faith, or you are accompanying someone who has recently become Catholic or is thinking about it. Maybe you minister with seniors. You probably serve your school; your community; your Church in many ways I have not mentioned…

Often young people do not think of how many ways they serve their community; their country; their Church unless someone asks, and how much this service means to people you serve and, yes, to the Church.

The Church blesses all its people of all ages who serve God through the Church but also through broader society. Particularly on this World Youth Sunday, our youth will receive a special blessing during this Mass. The Church blesses you; God blesses you, our young people; all people of St. Kateri Parish, and your service to others and to the Church.

In light of this, I do not wish to dampen your joy and enthusiasm in serving others, and yet if we are attentive to today’s readings just proclaimed, God’s and the Church’s blessing for all the wonderful ways you are serving and acting as God has created us to serve and act comes with a caution.

Many of us could probably re-tell Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel about the Pharisee and the tax collector almost by heart. The Pharisee stands before God in the temple and lists his accomplishments. His holiness is exemplary and to be encouraged: He fasts twice a week and gives more than fairly of his income to worthy causes, he obeys all the religious laws to the letter, and he lives moderately, is honest, and faithful and chaste.

Meanwhile, the tax collector, who would have been regarded as a traitor to his own Jewish people for charging them taxes above the amount to be paid to the occupying Romans in order to make himself rich, cannot even lift his eyes to God in prayer. In his shame, the tax collector pleads, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

We know that the tax collector, not the Pharisee, ends up right with God. But who among us has ever stopped to ask why the tax collector “went home justified” before God at the end of this parable?

The answer to this question seems easy. The Pharisee is boastful, whereas the tax collector humbly recognizes what all of us are called to acknowledge: That all of us are sinners and that there is no salvation without God.

The Pharisee’s prayer is not, in fact, a prayer. In our Gospel reading we hear that the Pharisee “speaks [his] prayer to himself,” not in gratitude to God. The tax collector actually prays to God for mercy. The Pharisee even says, “Thank God I am not like the rest of humanity… or even like this tax collector.” How arrogant can one be?!

Now let us bring this parable into the context of the present. I speak primarily, but not exclusively, to the young people among us. Youthful exuberance and a willingness to serve one another, to serve the Church, and to serve God are wonderful and blessed. However, have any of us ever listed off, even in prayer, what we have done that should earn favour from other people and even from God?

Imagine this as a prayer: “Lord, I help others in need at school; at work; in my community; in the Church. I give of my time and talents; I give of my income to worthy causes. I defend life from conception to natural death, and I support those in public office who also do so. I live moderately and chastely. I am not aggressive or rude or a bully.”

“Thank God that I am not like the kid who has trouble learning at school or the kid who does not ‘fit in’; that I am gainfully employed or studying, not like that street person; that I am not like the person whose family is in crisis; that I am not like the person who has contemplated, carried out, or participated in an abortion; that I am not like that dishonest politician whose party’s policies I oppose.”

“Thank God I am not like that Pharisee in Jesus’ parable… Or am I?”

The truth is that we are all “like the rest of humanity”; like that Pharisee in today’s Gospel at one time or another, and to be like the Pharisee is usually a good way to be. In Jesus’ time, most Pharisees were well-respected teachers of the Jewish faith. They were not exceptionally rich, nor did they live extravagantly. Most Pharisees did their best to practice the Jewish Law that they preached. Some Pharisees were among the most valued early Christian disciples.

A young, energetic person of Jesus’ time would have wanted to serve as a Pharisee! This is why Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel works so well. The maligned, traitorous tax collector adds shock value to the story. Who would want to be like him when I could be like the righteous Pharisee? Jesus’ assertion that the repentant tax collector “went home justified” would have been scandalous to many of his hearers. Unfortunately, the shock value of the tax collector is lost on many of us today, even if we know this parable almost by rote. 

But all is not lost for the Pharisee. All is not lost (in fact there is much to be gained) for us who are in many ways like the Pharisee. The parable ends short of saying whether the Pharisee ever repented of his self-righteous “prayer-to-self” and, maybe later, prayed to God in thanksgiving for the gifts God gave him to teach and put into practice before the people he served. 

Especially to our young people gathered here (although I address this to all of us): The parable in our Gospel reading today invites us to be like the repentant tax collector. It also invites us to be like the Pharisee; to finish the Pharisee’s prayer in a way that puts us right with one another and with God.

Now try this prayer: Thank you, God, for the blessing of youth. Thank you for the energy and exuberance that you have given to me, so that I might serve your people at school, in my community, in the Church.

I thank you that I am just like the rest of humanity: blessed; gifted; learning from your wisdom and the wisdom of others; loved by you and by other people; in need of your loving and saving presence, O God.

For the times when I have thought your gifts to be my own; when I have prayed to myself in arrogance instead of to you in thanksgiving; when I have set myself apart from those less visibly gifted; from “the rest of humanity,” “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!”

The parable of our Gospel reading, placed in today’s context, might then end like this: Having made this prayer to God in thanksgiving and for mercy, the young person (or at least the person young at heart), already blessed beyond measure, went home justified before God.

Homily for Tuesday, 22 October 2013– Ferial

Tuesday of the 29th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Romans 5:12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21; Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17; Luke 12:35-38

Who among us has lamented recently, even in the silence of our own hearts, that there does not seem to be the same inclination as in the not-so-distant past in the Catholic Church to preach on sin, final judgment and, yes, hell? Our Church, some say, seemed to emphasize far more than now what have been called the four “last things”: death, judgment, heaven, and hell.

While I was driving to Mass one day last week, I heard this very complaint voiced on Catholic radio, with the show’s host warning preachers against losing the art of the fire and brimstone homily. I am not about to criticize those of us who have ever held this view. To deny that sin, God’s judgment, heaven, and hell are real would set us as individuals, as a society, and as Church, on a very dangerous path.

But although attentiveness to these “last things” is important, so is attentiveness to first things in order of priority: that our God is a God of mercy and that God wills that all people be saved, even though we are sinners.

Our first reading today from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans makes this point magnificently. St. Paul writes this letter as a criminal trial scene. Many of us can think of at least one famous trial in which someone who was probably innocent was found guilty or, more to the point of Romans, in which someone was almost certainly guilty but was acquitted.

St. Paul, then, asks us to put ourselves into the trial scene of Romans, only we are the defendant. We are sinners before one another and before God, and we are clearly guilty. As St. Paul writes: “all have sinned.” Through our sin, “condemnation came upon all” of us. Yet, Paul continues: “through one righteous act,” the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, “acquittal and life came to all.”

God would make a very poor judge, prosecutor, or juror, since he cannot even ensure that those who are clearly guilty are brought to justice. However, I want God to lead my defense team at the final judgment!

That God will indeed lead our defense in our last moments, as St. Paul assures us, is comforting. However, as St. Paul will say in the same letter to the Romans, God forbid it that we keep on sinning just because we are acquitted of all charges by Christ’s self-sacrifice on the cross!

No, we are invited by this acquittal that none of us deserves to turn from sin out of gratitude for God’s mercy. Today, pray a grateful prayer for this gift, beginning perhaps with the last words we speak before communion: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” If anyone feels so moved, not primarily by your sin but by God’s mercy, you may wish to go to encounter this mercy in an especially profound way in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Let us keep in mind that we are all sinners; that there is judgment; that there is heaven; that there is hell, but above all that God’s justice is tempered with mercy and a will to save. For this, let us be grateful.

Homily for Wednesday, 16 October 2013– Memorial of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and St. Hedwig

Wednesday of the 28th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Romans 2:1-11; Psalm 62:2-3, 6-7, 9; Luke 11:42-46

I imagine that not many of us would enjoy being characterized as judging or, worse, judgmental. Not only is the notion of judging one another or even ourselves difficult for many people, but so is understanding God as a judge. Those of us in legal professions might recoil at the severe criticism in today’s readings by St. Paul and by Jesus of those whose work it was to judge other people according to religious standards: among them the Pharisees and “scholars of the law.”

And yet we are all called to judge more often than we might think, whether between right and wrong; between what is according to God’s will for us and what is not; between a good and a greater or longer-lasting good. To fail in our responsibility to judge these matters is relativism. It is not the way of truth; the way of the Gospel; the way of God.

Scripture does not prohibit us from judging, although some of its sayings can be misinterpreted to mean “do not judge under any circumstance.” In today’s first reading and Gospel reading, St. Paul and Jesus do not prohibit us from judging. However, they do caution us strongly as to how we judge.

Our readings from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans and from Luke’s Gospel identify two ways we understand judgment. In the negative sense of being “judgmental,” some early Roman Christians and some Pharisees and lawyers of Jesus’ time condemned others for “the very same” wrongs they themselves were committing. They were “stubborn” and “impenitent”; going even beyond the necessary observance of the law while neglecting what is most important: “judgment and love for God.”

Here we have the second, positive, sense of the word “judgment.” St. Paul describes God as judge in this positive sense. While God is able to condemn those who unjustly condemn others, in Paul’s words God’s judgment is primarily one of “priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience” that leads us “to repentance.”

What, then, would our world be like if we were to judge and act toward one another with God-like “priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience”? Even as we hold others to account, what would our world be like if we were to hold ourselves to account by the same standards with which we judge others: with self-awareness and occasionally self-criticism (this is difficult!), but with the same “priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience”? We might see this kind of judgment lead many “to repentance.” We ourselves might be led to repentance; to conversion.

For St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a patron of St. Kateri Parish whose feast we celebrate today, judgment and action by these criteria of kindness, forbearance, and patience mean judgment and action in the manner of our loving God. “Love,” St. Margaret Mary said, “triumphs in humility and enjoys itself in unity.”

Here, then, is a litmus test for our judgment: When we judge one another or ourselves, do we judge with love? Do we judge with “priceless kindness, forbearance, and patience”? Do we judge with humility before God, our final judge? Does our judgment in love triumph “in humility and” enjoy “itself in unity”?

Homily for Friday, 11 October 2013– Ferial

Tuesday of the 27th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Joel 1:13-15, 2:1-2; Psalm 9:2-3, 6, 8-9, 16; Luke 11:15-26

If any of you have ever experienced deep, prolonged, or devastating suffering, today’s first reading and Gospel reading may have sounded harsh to your ears.

As a deacon and, God-willing, future priest, I find the Prophet Joel’s message in our first reading to be especially difficult to preach. In the time of Joel, Israel experienced crop failures due to locust infestation. It was up to the “priests [and] ministers of the altar,” to preach a message of repentance and of divine judgment to Israel’s people in the midst of such devastation.

“The day of the LORD,” which the people of Joel’s time would have associated with God’s and their final and decisive victory over suffering, would instead bring more suffering and devastation if they did not repent: “Alas, the day… and it comes as ruin from the Almighty!” This message is not likely one Israel’s people wanted to hear.

Jesus’ message in today’s Gospel reading is no less ominous. After Jesus argues with those in the crowd who accuse him of casting out demons by the power of Satan, he seems to indicate that, at least if the healed person is not careful, the evil spirit of which this person is healed will return with a vengeance. Again, this was not likely a message some people in the crowd following Jesus would have wanted to hear.

What, then, are we to understand from our readings today that seem to portray God as distant from the people’s suffering; as an angry, harsh judge? We find an answer to this question, I believe, in today’s Responsorial Psalm, in which we hear that God “judges the world with justice [and] governs the people with equity.”

Inasmuch as we understand God‒ correctly‒ to be merciful, and so we may find some images of a harsh, judging God in today’s readings troublesome to hear, we must not forget that God is also the ultimate judge. On Sundays, for instance, we pray in our Creed that Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.”

What, then, does understanding God as judge, and balancing this with our image of God as merciful, entail for us?

Just as our Psalm today says that God “judges the world with justice” and “governs the people with equity,” so we, especially those in positions of power and leadership among us, are called to act and judge with justice and equity.

If anyone in our community is in need of basic necessities‒ food; shelter; medical care (a big issue here lately)‒ we are called to ensure those needs are met, or at least to build and contribute to social programs that help to meet those needs. If one is sick, comfort that person. If one sins, admonish but with clarity, concern, and kindness. If one is living her or his life of faith well, encourage that person. Pray for the well being of one another as Church.

These are all actions of justice. These are all actions in imitation of our God, who “judges… with justice” and “governs… with equity.”

Homily for Tuesday, 8 October 2013– Ferial

This homily was given during a Communion Service at an assisted living facility for seniors within St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish.

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Tuesday of the 27th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Jonah 3:1-10; Psalm 130:1b-2, 3-4ab, 7-8; Luke 10:38-42

Does anyone here recall a time when you have felt uncomfortable in the presence of a person in authority, even if that person in authority is not particularly demanding or stern? Has anyone here ever felt ill at ease in the presence of God, or asked what you can do to please God? If your answer is yes to either question, you are not alone.

We have Martha in today’s Gospel reading as an example of someone who was not quite at ease in the presence of Jesus. She is the hard-working servant, always on the go, wanting to impress Jesus with her work ethic, who becomes overburdened with all the serving, until she demands that Jesus tell her sister Mary to help her.

Meanwhile, Martha’s counterpart, Mary, is sitting, totally at ease with Jesus, “listening to him speak.” In response to Martha’s demand that Mary help her with the serving, Jesus makes an essential point: “Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.”

Martha did not do anything wrong or sinful in this encounter with Jesus. In fact, based on this story in Luke’s Gospel, St. Martha is recognized as a patron saint of the unemployed, along with homemakers, servers in restaurants, butlers, cooks, and all single laywomen. When I lived and taught high school in Cali, Colombia two summers ago, we had the Mass of St. Martha every Tuesday to pray through St. Martha’s intercession for the unemployed and underemployed, that they might find dignified work.

But Jesus reminds Martha, and us, that life is more than just work and trying to please others, or even trying to please God, by our labors. The essence of life is simply being in the presence of God; of Christ, at ease, listening attentively and prayerfully.

This is why Jesus says that Mary chose “the better part.” And so we are gathered here at this Communion Service in the presence of Christ, who gives himself to us in the Eucharist. We have listened to the Word of God. We will now receive Christ in the Eucharist. We have chosen the better part.

Sts. Mary and Martha, pray for us.