August 12th, 2007
Today’s gospel is a difficult one on which to preach. It’s pretty demanding and can make us uncomfortable. That part about selling what we have, letting go of all we treasure and trusting in the coming kingdom of God doesn’t compute with our innate need for security. I read a bit of a commencement address titled, “Chase your passion not your pension.” The speaker advised the students, “If you chase money it may catch you and if it catches you, you’ll be forever its slave.” How much better will it be for all of us if we chased and are caught by God? We chase God and we are caught by God every time we try to be the person God calls us to be, we chase God every time we try live like Christ lives.
That part about the servants who fail to follow their Master’s wishes is something we might think about. Some say this part of Luke’s gospel, which was written about 50 years after the resurrection, was meant to apply to the leaders in the Christian community, leaders put in charge of the Master’s household, given the charge of caring for the community. We have those who followed the Master’s directions and we have those who didn’t, those who took advantage of the Master’s absence and abused their position and their authority over the community of faith.
In the history of the church we’ve always had examples of those entrusted with the household of the church community who have been faithful to the Master’s wishes and we’ve had those who have abused their position of authority. In our own time we’ve all been hurt and disappointed and embarrassed by the examples of sexual abuse and the cover up by those in authority. “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”
One of the lessons we might learn from today’s demanding gospel is that our actions have consequences. Our actions, our lifestyles, our attitudes, the way we deal with other people all have consequences. Things come home to roost. If we abuse our bodies by over eating, over drinking, using drugs there will be consequences. Common sense tells us this.
If we are open to and accepting of different ways of thinking and living then the consequence is that we are enriched by a broader view of life and its variety – if we are closed minded we rob ourselves of a richer way of looking at life.
If we recognize the truth that God’s grace works in the lives of people and communities of faiths other than our own, the consequence is that we can come to acknowledge the goodness and holiness in these faith communities. If we believe we have a corner on the truth, we have all the answers, we have a corner of God, then we deny ourselves exposure to the rich traditions of other faith communities
If we stereotype men and women of other cultures, if we speak despairingly of ‘these people’ then we lock ourselves into ignorance of cultures older than our own and we are diminished.
The signs of the times, the changing weather patterns around the globe, the desertification of soil, the destruction of rain forests, the pollution of lakes, the poisoning of the very air we breathe, the diminishment of the cod and salmon and other species, all these facts of life tell us that our consumerism, our gauging of earth’s resources is having consequences on the life systems that maintain the health of Earth. The way we live on Earth will impact us, for the earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth and what we do to the earth we do to ourselves and isn’t that the truth?
We are a blessed people, blessed with faith, family and friends. We live in a blessed land. The Master of the household of creation has entrusted these blessings to each of us. It is best we remember, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.” As we continue to celebrate this Mass may we be graced to appreciate these blessings and use them wisely so that at the Master’s return He may see in each of us a good and faithful servant, worthy of our Master’s love and praise.
| Posted in Homily |
August 5th, 2007
Today’s first reading and the gospel really speak for themselves. We get the message but do we really internalize it. We can see it’s ‘right on’ for people we know but do we apply it to ourselves and our lifestyles.
Years ago we were promised that all this new technology coming down the line would free us up for more leisure time. I remember reading an article on how people have to prepare themselves on how to wisely use all their leisure time that would be theirs in the future. Today we can honestly ask, “What leisure time”? There was something on the radio the other day about the need to take at least a full week’s vacation if we are to benefit from time off. The idea of taking every Friday off through the summer instead of one or two weeks is really not beneficial. We need to take a break, to take a rest. The excuse most people give for not taking time off is that when they come back to work they come back to a full desk worth of work and hundreds of e-mails to be answered.
Vanity of vanities – what do mortals get from all the toil and strain for which they toil under the sun? For all their days are filled with pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest.” Do these words resonate with you? Someone wrote that the word vanity is meant to describe a lifestyle, a mind set, a relationship that is empty of purpose or meaning – it’s like a vapor or a mist – no substance.
And in the gospel Jesus asks the question, “and for what”? Whatever material possessions we amass in life, whatever financial security – we die and then there’s the will. I’ve mentioned it before, there is nothing like a will to divide a family, to bring out the worst in people. The best will ever written was, ‘being of sound mind and body, I spent it all, you pay for the funeral.’
I’d like to tell you a story about a safety deposit box. A good man died. He had two daughters. He thought he wrote a fair will and that they would be satisfied with and respect his will. Not so. For whatever reason, one daughter, in fact the one who had the least to do with her father, thought she deserved more and gave the executor nothing but grief. In the midst of settling everything they found a key to a safety deposit box. What could possibly be in it? The daughter who thought she had been hard done by was sure her father had stashed away a lot of cash. Since she lived out of the country she hired a lawyer to be present when the executor opened the box. She wanted her interests protected. Well the day came to open the box – no cash, no jewelry. Photos of the two girls as children, drawing they had done in kindergarten that had once decorated the fridge door and their adoption papers. These were their father’s treasure. But as the saying goes, “one man’s gold is another man’s junk.” His greedy daughter was not the least bit interested in her father’s gold. Vanity of vanities.
The story Jesus tells of the foolish man with his every expanding appetite for bigger and better barns speaks to anyone of us who imagines “I am somebody because of all that I have.” Every day we are condition to be consumers, never satisfied with what is enough but always lured to needing the biggest, the best, the fastest, the costliest, the handiest, the latest, anything and everything that will help us feel a ‘cut above the rest.’ Vanities of vanities
I like to tell the story of the young newly married couple who were out for a walk one evening. Friends of theirs drove by in a beautiful new car. They waved at each other and the young man looked with envy at that car. He could hardly afford a bicycle. He said to his new bride, ‘don’t worry honey, someday we’ll be rich too.’ Every so wisely she answered, ‘we are rich, maybe someday we’ll have money.’
If you want to see your gold, your treasure, look at your spouse, look at you children, consider your health, and appreciate your Catholic faith that teaches you, “Before the world began God chose us in Christ to be His adopted sons and daughters.”
As we continue to celebrate this Mass, we can pray for ourselves and for each other for the grace to know where our true wealth is to be found. We are all rich with family, friends and faith. Maybe someday we’ll have money.
July 29th, 2007
Remember the story I told last week about the young boy getting ready for his First Communion? I’d told him that when Jesus comes to us in Communion He comes as food and as friend. I asked him what he does when a friend comes to visit. He told me he would chat with Jesus, tell Him how he’s doing and then he would ask Jesus how He’s doing. Perfect prayer is a heart to heart conversation of friends.
In teaching the apostles how to pray Jesus teaches that in prayer we enter into a relationship. When you pray say ‘Our Father’ – we are into a relationship of child to parent. Between parent and child there are healthy relationships and unhealthy relationships. Relationships that are open and honest, supportive and life giving are good relationships. Relationships that are controlling, manipulative and abusive are certainly unhealthy. As a child grows to adulthood his/her relationship with a parent changes, or is supposed to. How often have you heard someone say, or maybe you’ve said yourself – “parents never let you grow up”? We could be forty years old and still being treated like a child. Our decisions are judged, our choices are questioned as if we didn’t have a brain to rub together. We feel our own adulthood; our own life experience is not respected.
In the gospel of today Jesus wants us to enter, through prayer, through that trusting conversation of friends, into an adult relationship with our Father. We come to our Father with our needs and our fears, but first of all we should come with praise and thanksgiving; ‘Hallowed be Thy name.’ One time Jesus told the apostles;” when you pray don’t babble and prattle, don’t use a lot of words.” He told them, ‘your Father knows what you need even before you ask’, He will take care of you, but first of all recognize the One with Whom you are conversing, God Who gives you your very existence.
But we all have difficulty with Jesus’ promise, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open to you.” It’s not been our life experience. In those desperate, frantic times in our lives haven’t we wondered, “Does anyone hear my cry, does anyone hear me knocking”? The story Jesus tells in the gospel is to encourage us to persistency, to never give up.
So Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” so that we will come to prayer with a deep trust in the Father Who loves us, Who knows our needs even before we ask.
You know as parents there are times when you have to say ‘no’ to the persistence, call it nagging, of a son or daughter. Whatever it is they want is so important to them, everyone else has what ever it is, everyone else is going to where they want to go. You are so mean not to give them what they want, right now. But you know it’s not good for them, now is not the time. You’re not being mean, spiteful, you are being loving and caring. Your trust your parental instinct.
Jesus asks us, trust the parental instinct of our God by meaning what we say when we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” In His own agony He prayed, “if it is possible let this chalice pass me by – spare me tomorrow’s pain – “yet not my will but Your will be done.” The prayer that is so common to us asks us to trust the truth, God knows what we need but God sees the bigger picture and there are times when what we want, what we desperately want is not what is best right now.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass in which we will pray the very prayer Jesus taught us, we can pray for ourselves and for each other to trust the parental instinct of God and place ourselves, our worries, our fears, our hopes in our Father’s hands, trusting that when the time is right we will receive that for which we ask, find that for which we seek and the door of our desires will be opened.
July 22nd, 2007
Martha must have been one of those wonderful hosts who can cope with unexpected guests and whip up a delicious meal by using up a lot of leftovers. Just put more water in the soup. Martha was a doer, she was a practical woman. She must have found it hard living with her sister Mary who was more of a thinker, a ponderer. Mary was also quite bold. According to the culture of the times – a culture still very strong in the Middle East – Mary was out of place, mixing the sexes was taboo. Those others, all men, who were listening to Jesus must have been uncomfortable with Mary intruding into their little group and acting as if she belonged. They would have agreed with Martha’s complaint, get Mary into the kitchen where she belonged.
Jesus appreciated Martha’s hard work, she was a fuss pot, worried about many things. He also appreciated Mary’s need to listen to His message, to hear the word of God. Strengthened by that word Mary would be about the tasks of her own life including preparing a meal.
Most of us live busy lives. I see men and women walking down the street carrying their laptops, bringing work home, the day never seems to end. To keep your head above water you have to be busy about many things. Working over time is par for the course. If you won’t do it they will find someone else who will. There is so little time to stop and think, so little time to ponder about life, about the health of our relationships, about the health of our relationship with God.
The Benedictines are the oldest order in the church, founded by St. Benedict in the 5th century. He wrote a simple rule and their mission statement is – to work and to pray. We will come to holiness, to a full, healthy and holy life through work and prayer.
The crazy pace of life today certainly calls for work but if we are to live balanced lives we have to stop and smell the roses – stop and enjoy the people with whom we live, stop and appreciate friends, stop and take in the beauty of nature.
This is all common sense, we know its true but we keep putting off taking the time to be in a quiet place and space. We keep putting off making a time to be still – to pray.
A number of years ago I was interviewing a young boy for his first communion. I told him, ‘when Jesus comes to us in communion He comes as food and as friend.’ What do you do when a friend comes to visit? We chat, he answered. Well when Jesus comes to visit what will you do.” We’ll chat, he answered, What will you chat about? He thought for a bit and then said, ” Well first of all I’ll tell him how I’m doing.” OK, then what? ‘Well then I’ll ask Him how He’s doing.” Perfect prayer. The conversation of friends.
We are all too busy. I think we all have within us a Mary who keeps trying to calm down our busy, busy Martha, a Mary who keeps trying to get us to sit at the Lord’s feet and listen. As we continue to celebrate this Mass and with the words of the gospel that recognizes work and listening, we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we get our act together and find the time and make the time to chat with the One who wants to know how we’re doing.
July 15th, 2007
Today’s parable speaks for itself. Its message is simple – ‘go and do likewise.’ Live the law of love. See in every person we meet, family, friend, or stranger – a brother or a sister. We are called to cross the road, to be with those who are in need, whatever their need may be. We are called to make the effort to put aside our own needs, our own busyness, our own preoccupations, and make ourselves available to a person in need, again, be that person family, friend or stranger.
I read this little reflection on today’s gospel: “Jesus is the compassionate stranger to our fallen, robbed-of-innocence humanity. Jesus comes to our side of the rode and takes us into the inn of His embrace after tending to our wounds through the Sacraments. Oil and wine are the healing bandages of His touch. Healed by His touch we are sent back on our own journeys, we are to ‘go and do likewise.’
That seems to sum it all up. But it’s not easy. There can be so much within us, mind sets, prejudices that keep us from crossing the road to be there for a man, woman or child in need. We can be so judgmental when we see a panhandler begging at a traffic stop, ‘what’s wrong with that kid, why doesn’t find a job?’ We can be turned off, disgusted when we see a person sleeping on a downtown street. We can automatically judge such persons as lazy, freeloaders, unwilling to work. We have no idea of the demons that may torment their broken lives. We tire of all those people with their hand out begging, shaming us into dropping a loonie or toonie into their unwashed hands. When’s it going to stop? It will never stop. Christ’s parable will always be here to challenge us to put aside our needs, go out of our way, and meet the needs of a brother or sister, be they family, friend or stranger.
Most of us have no idea what it’s like trying to survive on welfare – we forget what these good people had to cope with when their welfare payments were cut by up to 25% a few years back – and little has been done to make up for that loss. We have no idea of how humiliating it is for a father or a mother to stand in line at a food bank so they can feed their children. Has the term, ‘the working poor’ had any impact on our consciousness of the life situation of so many people in this city?
As a parish family we do our best to ‘cross over’ to those in need. We have a hard working and generous St. Vincent de Paul Society supported by all of you who remember the poor as you leave the church, we have good people providing casseroles for the Good Shepherd Centre every month, we have people who bring food every Sunday to support a food bank, and you are always generous in supporting the appeals that come our way so often. So many of you do ‘cross the road’ to be there for people in need. Please never give up on your good deeds of kindness.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other that if and when we see someone in need we will have the generosity to cross the road and be there for them – that we be blessed with the goodness of heart to ‘go and do likewise’ and be there for others as Christ has been there for us.
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