Homily for Monday, 11 August 2014– Memorial of St. Clare

Monday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28c; Psalm 148:1-2, 11-12, 13-14; Matthew 17:22-27

This homily was given at St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, Rochester, NY.

What does it mean for us to stand with the people who are least powerful among us; who are persecuted; who are poor?

Our Gospel reading today presents us with two seemingly disconnected sections: Jesus’ prediction of his own Passion and death, followed by a strange fish story. In neither of these stories does Jesus say to his disciples what they want to hear. But it is what they, and perhaps we, need to hear. If Jesus’ disciples were hoping to be among the powerful; the elites of the day, Jesus invites them, and us, instead to partake of his own Passion. Jesus invites us to self-denial; to die to what is not of God; to die to competition for power and prestige at others’ expense, a significant ill of our own society today, perhaps more even than of Jesus’ time. In response to Jesus’ invitation to partake of his Passion; to stand with the least powerful; to deny ourselves, Matthew says that his disciples “were overwhelmed with grief.”

What in our world today overwhelms us “with grief”? Perhaps it is the plight of persecuted Christians in Iraq. Perhaps it is the bloodshed in the Holy Land. Perhaps it is the migrant and refugee crisis occurring in our own country. Perhaps it is the ineffective if not muted response to evil; persecution; injustice both in this country and abroad by governments of the most powerful nations. Perhaps it is the ideological polarization of our own society. For me, it is the violence and poverty in our city that I do not need to go far from my own parish to see.

Grief can be a good reaction to injustice; to evil if it leads us at least to want to right these wrongs. However, as Pope Francis warned especially in his letter late last year on “The Joy of the Gospel,” there is the kind of grief that is concerned more with stock market failures than with the poor, hungry, and homeless in our streets. This is the kind of grief that is self-centered; power-centered that Jesus, too, invites us to deny ourselves. The more we live in power and prosperity, the more this kind of self-denial becomes our cross.

So how does our Gospel story today of the fish and the coin for the temple tax relate to self-denial; to our partaking in Christ’s Passion? It does so because, in this parable, we are “the subjects” or, even better understood, the daughters and sons of the King, Jesus Christ, and of his Kingdom. We are among the free; among the powerful. But Jesus invites us, as he invites Peter by asking him to pay the temple tax from the coin in the fish’s mouth, to stand with “the foreigners” who owe the temple tax; with the powerless; with the poor.

Are we willing to accept Jesus’ invitation? Jesus challenges us to take up our cross; Christ’s cross; to stand with and to empower the poor; the persecuted, even if we are among the free; the powerful. Jesus’ words may overwhelm some “with grief.” They may not be words that all want to hear, but I believe they are words we need to hear.

Homily for Tuesday, 18 March 2014‒ Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent

Optional Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Readings of the day: Isaiah 1:10, 16-20; Psalm 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21, 23; Matthew 23:1-12

 

We pray today in our Psalm response, “To the upright I will show the saving power of God.” What does it mean for us to “show the saving power of God”? How can we “show the saving power of God” to one another and to the world?

From time to time, no matter how good we are, temptation will exist to show off the power of ourselves instead of showing the saving power of God. All the telling of the saving power of God, then, will not substitute for showing and living the saving power of God.

Jesus criticizes this very tendency among “the scribes and the Pharisees.” Many of the religious leaders of his time were masters at telling of and at exercising power as if it were theirs to lord over others instead of living God’s power that serves and that saves. They looked to titles that could exploit this power over others, instead of to God’s name that stands for salvation; for power for others; for and with us. They looked to ways of burdening others with laws instead of to ways in which God’s Law could be a gift to the people they served. They looked to honor themselves visibly instead of honoring God who is invisible.

Can we not, and do not some, especially in positions of leadership, fall into these same temptations today? (I speak for myself; these words of Jesus are a constant challenge to me.) How can we show by the way we live and not only tell of God’s saving power?

Do any of us know of one person we could serve today, even in a small way, especially one who could never repay us? Do any of us know of someone in need, even if that need could be satisfied by a kind word or perhaps simply our being present to another person?

We have through our Lenten celebration a beautiful opportunity to make our prayer, the prayer of our Responsorial Psalm today, count: “I will show the saving power of God.” I will not; we will not only tell of God’s power or exercise power in a way that does not contribute to the good of one another, but we will show; we will live the power of God this Lent in a way that serves and that saves.