Do We Realize His Gifts? [10/9/22]

In our Gospel reading today Luke tells us of the ten lepers who were cleansed by Jesus, but he describes only one of them as “realizing” that he was healed; the one, of course, who returned to Jesus to thank Him.  We might ask how is it possible for someone who is healed of leprosy not to know that they were healed, but it seems to me that Luke is saying that the other nine failed to do just that. And why does he characterize them that way?  Because they failed to say “thank you!”  Now, I’m not sure about you, but this truly gives me a reason to pause. Luke is pretty much saying that if the other nine realized that they had been healed that they would have also rushed to thank Jesus as a pretty much automatic response. Jesus takes us even a bit further. He says “Were not all ten made whole? Where are the other nine?” It sounds to me as if He is actually wondering if the others were healed at all. Before we go any further let’s consider that, in fact, it is quite possible, even most likely that there is an abundance of gifts that the Lord has sent us of which we are absolutely unaware. But then, that leads me to the next question-if we are unaware of a gift, if we do not realize that it has been given to us, have we received it at all? If Jesus heals us but we are not aware of the healing, are we truly healed? And how can we determine if we truly are aware of and have fully received a gift, a blessing or a healing? I would daresay the best way to make this judgment is whether or not we, like the one leper, run to the Lord in thanksgiving. No other response makes any sense. If we are not constantly giving thanks to the Lord for the many blessings that He continually bestows upon us, we can rest assured that there are many, many gifts that He has sent our way that we have not fully realized and therefore not fully received. Let us ask the Lord to help us to fully realize the many gifts that He constantly sends our way so that we might offer Him fitting glory, praise and thanks.

How Long, O Lord? [10/2/22]

 The first verses of our first reading from the book of Habakkuk take us right into age-old questions such as “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  and “If there is a God, why does He allow evil to exist?”.  These questions are age old precisely because there is no answer other than the answer that comes from our faith. 

One thing we can be sure of, however, is that the scriptures do not run away from these questions, they do not pretend that they are not there.  Rather, they delve right into them as does Habakkuk today, as does the entire book of Job, etc. etc. 

The fear that I have is that people who are forced into dealing with these questions in an experiential way will make the only fatal mistake that can be made with regard to living the life of faith.  That is, they will give up.  At some point in their struggle they will conclude that there cannot be a God, and they will give up the chance to meet Him, perhaps when they, unbeknownst to them, were just about to meet Him. 

One of my favorite scripture stories (and I know I say this quite often) is the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel.  Jacob wrestled with the angel all night long because he guessed that there must be a blessing on the other side of the struggle, so he did not give up. In the end, you might say the angel gave up. He knocked Jacob’s hip out of its socket and gave Jacob a blessing. For the rest of his life Jacob walked differently; and not just because his hip was displaced.  He had found God and finally fully believed in Him. 

His journey parallels our own. It might seem as if we also are in a lifelong struggle with the Lord, but our hope must be that it all ends in a blessing.  It is my firm conviction that anyone who promises him or herself that they will all always pursue the truth and never give up in doing so will eventually find God in His time and will walk differently because of it. 

So please, never give up!  And so you might say, “How can I persevere when I see evil and violence all around me?  How can there be a God in the midst of all this darkness and evil?”  My best response to you is this:  How in a world of darkness and evil is there any good at all?  Why do you do good deeds? Why do others do what is good?  Why have people done good things for you?  The point of course is this. If the existence of evil leads us to question the existence of God, then shouldn’t the existence of good lead us to conclude that, at least perhaps, God is? And so, good people, go on with your struggle and never give up. The Lord’s blessing awaits you.

The Lesson of Lazarus [9/25/22]

Largely because of my father, from whom I learned many lessons, I eventually learned what I call the “Lesson of Lazarus.”  It came about pretty much when I was in sixth or seventh grade.  At that time my school work came rather easily for me and I rarely had to study or ever had difficulty with my homework.  However, one of my younger brothers was not so lucky.  Studies did not come easily for him and he very often pleaded with me for help with his homework.  Sadly, I almost never willingly gave him help, and if I did help him it was pretty much because my dad intervened and forced me to do so. On one of those nights we were in his room and it was quite loud. He was very upset that I was once again refusing to help him and I was very emphatically letting him know that I had better things to do with my time than to assist him. At that rather untimely moment my father stepped into the room.  To me he said “Boy, get to your room!” and to my brother he said, “Come with me.”  I quickly scurried to my room but soon realized, because the back stairway was very close to my door, that my father and my brother had gone to the kitchen downstairs.  They were down there for a while and eventually I heard my brother laughing!  This made me a bit distraught so I went down the steps to see what was going on and when I got into the kitchen I could not believe my eyes.  My brother and father were sharing a bowl of ice cream!  I was shocked. I blurted out words to the effect that this was not fair, that really my brother was the one who caused the trouble and that I had not done anything wrong.  Well now I’d thought that I’d really done myself in and that I was going to get it.  But my father simply told me to sit down and said, “Sooner or later you are going to have to realize that life is not so much about the bad things that you didn’t do; it’s about the good things you did do.  Now back to bed and have a good night.”  To me, that is the “Lesson of Lazarus.”  We need to realize that in this parable, the rich man was not condemned for anything he did that was wrong.  He did nothing to Lazarus.  Actually, that was the problem. He did nothing for Lazarus either. He ignored him completely and this was the reason for his eternal punishment.  Lazarus teaches us that at the time of our judgment, the Lord is going to be at least as much concerned about the good we did not do than the wrong we did do.

You Really Can’t Take it With You…Or Can you? [9/18/22]

You Really Can’t Take it With You…Or Can you? Of course, it is a cliché, and we probably all get tired of clichés, but the fact is that many of them are true, as is this one. The monetary wealth that we make and strive for on this earth cannot be taken with us, so it begs at least two questions. First, what are we going to do with our money and second, what are we working for? There is nothing that says that at the end of earthly lives, the one with the most toys is the winner. Actually, one of the lessons that can be taken from today’s Gospel, is that it is pointless to focus our lives on attaining earthly wealth that means absolutely nothing when our earthly life ends. Sadly, we all know too many stories of families (and maybe our family is one of them) who have been torn apart by the wealth left behind by a deceased relative. But Jesus teaches us a very useful and interesting lesson with, of all characters, the unjust steward. He, because of his wrongful behavior, finds himself in a bit of a difficult situation from which he needs to escape. Does this sound like any one we know? How about ourselves? We, like this poor fellow, have done wrong and are going to have to make a case for ourselves before God himself, are we not? So, what’s our plan, or are we even aware that we are in a tight spot? Jesus says that at least the unjust steward realized his situation and put together a strategy to save himself. So, what about us? Jesus says that we actually can use the wealth we have amassed on earth to help to get ourselves into heaven. That’s rather amazing news, isn’t it? Our wealth does not have to be in vain and it can bear fruit eternally! Only thing is…we have to give it away. We need to develop a preferential option for the poor, we need to take care of those less fortunate than ourselves. That’s how we are able to keep what we have earned and gain treasure that lasts forever. There is an epitaph found on an English grave that says the following: "What I kept I lost. What I spent I had. What I gave I have." Again, this might be “cliché-ish,” but it is very true. What we give away with a generous heart, we never lose. It also answers those two questions, about what we should do with our wealth and what we are working for. Our wealth, our gifts, our time and talents can never have a more meaningful purpose than to be used for those who are in need, and our ultimate purpose is to work towards getting our souls to heaven. Maybe that unjust steward wasn’t so bad after all.

On the Outside, Looking In [9/11/22]

Notice what Jesus does in today’s Gospel. In response to the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes, He tells the parables the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Son (aka the Prodigal Son).  And what were they grumbling about?  Well, they were upset that Jesus was welcoming sinners and eating with them.  (I guess that in those days all the tax collectors and sinners wore some kind of identifying insignia, since it seems as though everyone knew who they were.)  Any way, Jesus initially compares the “tax collectors and sinners” to sheep and coins which are found after a period of time of being lost.  He says that just after a lost sheep is found, the shepherd rejoices, and just after someone finds money that was lost he/she rejoices as well.  He says basically that He is like the one who has found the lost sheep or the lost coin. He simply must rejoice; tax collectors and sinners are returning to Him. Many who once were lost are now found.  But then He turns up the heat significantly with the story of the Lost Son.  Here, He basically tells the Pharisees and scribes (and remember the Pharisees and scribes are us!) that not only is He going to rejoice in the returning home of lost sinners as the father in this parable rejoices once the prodigal son returned home, He tells them that they will condemn themselves if they don’t join in the celebration as well.  Please pay close attention to the conversation between the father and the elder son at the close of the parable.   The father basically says that both he (who represents the scribes, Pharisees and us) and his brother (who represents the tax collectors and sinners), are his beloved sons. He also implies that they have both sinned; they both have rejected His love. (How do you think the Pharisees and scribes liked to hear that?) Finally, He says that they both are invited to join him at the banquet. At the end of the story older brother, like the Pharisees, the scribes, and us, have a decision to make. Is he going to acknowledge that he, like his brother, is also sinful and in need of his father’s mercy and join the banquet or not? And what are we going to do? Are we going to do what we need to do to join the eternal banquet, or are we going to find ourselves as did the older brother at the end of the story-on the outside, looking in?

So, How Are You Getting Into Heaven? [9-04-22]

Now that we have arrived at Labor Day weekend something is very clear: summer vacations are pretty much over maybe we can take a moment to look back and reflect on them a little bit.  Hopefully they were beneficial to us; hopefully we did get some rest.  I suppose that if we ask ourselves to try to make a list of things that we remember about our vacations we would not get very far before we realized that a significant item on that list would be the time and effort we put into planning them.  Indeed, if we did not plan them, they most likely would not have happened. Planning, saving money and preparation are essential if we are going to be able to get away or go just about anywhere for that matter. And some of us do make very excellent planners, at least when it comes to vacations, as we try to maximize every moment of our time away. Of course, this is all well and good, and having a good vacation is indeed good for us. But Jesus asks us a rather sobering question in this week’s Gospel.  He does, of course, assume, that we all want to get to heaven, and I am sure that He understands as the country song says that “Everybody wants to get to heaven, but nobody wants to go there now,” but He does want to provoke us to think.  He wants us to think about how we plan out so much of our lives and how we are going to achieve our various goals, and go on this or that trip, etc., etc., and then to ask ourselves how much planning we are putting into getting into Heaven.  It is our ultimate goal, isn’t it?  It is our hoped-for final destination, isn’t it? We don’t just think that we are going to show up at Heaven’s door one day and just walk right in, do we?  Hopefully we will not forget about that one last hurdle we have to get through (you know, it’s called our judgment day) before we can gain admittance. So what kind of planning and preparation are we undertaking for this trip? Summer vacations are over; it is indeed something to think about, is it not?

Conduct Your Affairs with Humility [8/28/22]

This command, which is given to us by the author of the book of Sirach, truly and succinctly sums up the message of today’s readings.  Therefore, it is good for us to reflect what humility is, what it is not, and how it calls us to live.  Obviously, the virtue of humility calls us to make sure that we do not do anything that cultivates within ourselves an attitude or even a pattern of behavior that somehow, we are better or superior to any one. We need to be careful here, because we may have a tendency to conclude rather hastily that we indeed are not displaying any kind of arrogance or condescension. I say this because one of the few indisputable facts that I believe I have correctly discerned in my sixty-two years of life is that we human beings seem to have an amazing ability (no matter what we tell ourselves) to compare ourselves favorably with others, especially in the sphere of morality.  (How is that for modeling humility?)  Neither, however, does humility mean that we should see ourselves as lesser than others. That is another pitfall into which we can fall. We are all equal in the eyes of God. Of course, practicing humility means that we do not brag about any talents or special abilities that we might have, it means that we understand that they are gifts from God.  On the other hand, humility does not mean that we display a false modesty or that we deny the gifts that God has given us.  Humility demands that we recognize all that we have for what they are-gifts from God to be used for the benefit of His Kingdom. Whatever gifts we have-and we all have gifts; (no one is off the hook!)-are to be recognized acknowledged and developed by us and generously used for the betterment of others. Humility is responsible stewardship. We are not to boast about our gifts or hide them under a bushel basket. Humility is the ability to see the world and everyone and everything in it as God does -with complete and utter clarity- and then to conduct our affairs accordingly.

The Narrow, but Wide Open Gate [8/21/22]

“Lord, will only a few people be saved?” is the question that Jesus is asked in today’s Gospel. However, if we listen very closely we realize that He never answers it. Instead, He does what He often does- He capitalizes on the opportunity presented by the question to teach his disciples, and us, a lesson.  Basically, Jesus is saying to us today that asking how many or how few will be saved is not a relevant question because that number is largely determined by us.  The real question, as He puts it, is whether or not we will be strong enough to enter it? And what does He mean by that? Basically, He is saying that on any given day there are many, many choices that we have the opportunity to make, there are many “gates” that we have the opportunity to enter, but there is only one gate that leads to eternal life. Of course, we know that in another place, He teaches that He himself is that gate which leads to life.  The problem is that these other gates, which we might correctly refer to as temptations, are rather wide in comparison to the narrow gate that leads to eternal life.  They also might tend to be a little more glossy, more brightly decorated, and seem to have lots more people going through them and are easier to go through because of their girth and glitter.  The narrow gate is not advertised as well as the others, does not seem so attractive, requires us to go through in single file and does not allow for a whole lot of baggage, if any at all to go through with us.  But it (He) is the only gate that leads to eternal life.  We have to be strong enough to reject the wide gates that are presented to us each day of our lives. This indeed is very difficult to do. But Jesus is saying to us that if we are strong enough to reject the temptations of the world, we will eventually find the narrow gate that will lead us to life. That indeed is Him.  The gate is narrow but it is open wide, open-open to anyone who makes the choices and sacrifices that are necessary to go through it.  The question is not whether there are few or many that will be saved but are we strong enough to choose the narrow, but wide-open gate.

Fire and Nice [8-14-22]

I am sure that a good number of us might find ourselves a little bit unsettled by Jesus’ rather strong language in the Gospel this Sunday.  Many of us probably would not be expecting Jesus to say that He has come to set the earth on fire or that He was coming to establish division rather than peace, but that is exactly what He says today.  On the other hand, we probably simply expect Him to be full of mercy and love and forgiveness, and certainly He is just that. We have become so very accustomed to the stories of His miracles and His many mighty deeds as well as His teachings, His parables, and His proclamation of the Good News, that the language of today’s Gospel may be a bit startling. But, then again, that is perfectly okay if His words do jolt us a bit because that is exactly what they are supposed to do. Today’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus did not come into the world because everything was just fine with the world, but precisely because everything was not. If everything was the way it was supposed to be, there would have been no need for Him to come into the world at all. He came into the world to change it, to make things right and to confront and challenge what was not right with it. Of course, whenever the status quo is challenged, there is discord. Let’s face it, we do not like change. We can tend to lull ourselves into thinking that Jesus never did intend to bring anything like fire or brimstone because He was just an all-around “nice” guy. But that kind of understanding of Jesus would not be correct. Not that there is anything wrong with being nice-being nice can be a nice thing to be. But, if all we are is “nice” in the face of sin and injustice, I don’t think we will do as well as we would like on Judgment Day.  Sometimes we have to confront evil; sometimes we have to breakout of our own comfort zones and disturb the comfort of others. And sometimes, Jesus’ words and teachings will be at odds with our own practice and put us in opposition to others, perhaps even our own family members, etc.  There is no Beatitude that says “Blessed are the nice.” While we should always approach life with a pleasant disposition, we cannot be “nice” no matter what. Like, Jesus, every now and then, we likely will have to set a fire on the Earth for the sake of the kingdom.

"And I Am That No Less Than He" [8-07-22]

Our second reading for today, which reflects on the tremendous faith of Abraham (who is rightly called our Father in faith) reminds me of  the song, “Sometimes by Step, ” which was written and performed by the late Contemporary Christian Artist, Rich Mullins. It is indeed a wonderful song and is on youtube. The lyrics to the chorus and first verse are as follows:

Chorus:
Oh God, You are my God.  And I will ever praise You.  Oh God, You are my God.  And I will ever praise You.  I will seek You in the morning.  And I will learn to walk in Your ways. And step by step You'll lead me. And I will follow You all of my days.

First Verse:

Sometimes I think of Abraham.  How one star he saw had been lit for me.  He was a stranger in this land.  And I am that, no less than he.  And on this road to righteousness, Sometimes the climb can be so steep.  I may falter in my steps.  But never beyond Your reach.  (Chorus)

Imagine for a moment that you are Abraham, and that you are called by God (whom you had never heard of before) to leave everything that was familiar to you behind and to “go to a land that I will show you.”  How would you respond? Well, the fact of the matter is that in a very real way, we are all Abraham. We are called to walk step by step with the Lord to a place that He will show us. And how do we do this? By faith- “the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” Abraham realized that God is, even though he could not see Him, and answered His call, even though he did not hear Him. And, no less than he, we are called to do the same.

Vanity of Vanities or Hakuna Matata? [7/31/22]

This might seem a little strange to some of you but the readings for today make me think of Disney’s movie, “The Lion King.”   There is a particular scene in the original production that has always been a point of reflection for me ever since I first saw it.  I will try to recreate it for you, and hopefully a good number of you will remember it.  I’m sure you will remember in the movie when young Simba has to flee the kingdom of his father and run for his life into the jungle.  Eventually he meets up with his soon-to-be new friends, Timon and Pumbaa, and at least for a while has a rollicking good time.  He was almost able to forget about his father’s death and the terrible evil forces that were controlling his homeland. Almost; but not quite. Right in the middle of his time of “Hakuna Matata,” the messenger from his father’s Kingdom, (Zazu, I believe) finds him and tells him how bad things have become and calls him to come back and fulfill his rightful roll as the Lion King. At this point we have the scene of the nearly full-grown Simba looking into the oasis, and seeing his father’s face as his own reflection.  Simba realizes in this solemn moment that as much as he would love to stay and continue to enjoy the “good life” with his fun-loving friends, the only real life for him was to fulfill the mission for which he was born. In fact, the “good life” was not really life at all but only an illusion-like the illusion spoken about by today’s first reading and by Jesus in the Gospel about the folly of spending so much time building up treasure for oneself on earth only to come to life’s end without ever being able to use it. We need to try to make sure that we are not living by such foolish values, especially because it is so easy for us today to get caught up in the illusion today of living the good life. Ironically it is the one who spends himself hoarding earthly treasure who ends up with nothing. By the same token the only way that we can be sure that we can keep all that we have been blessed with on earth through all eternity is to give it away before it’s too late.

Thy Will Be Done [7-24-22]

Many things about my father (may he rest in peace) used to drive me absolutely crazy.  One of those things was the way he prayed and forced us to pray.  Every night during May and October he would drag all 11 of us into the living room to pray the rosary, without ever really giving us a reason why.  It’s amazing how many of us would be asleep by the time we were finished.  And many, many times throughout the year he would force us to come together to pray for things that he thought we needed, but what really got the best of me was the way he would always begin the prayer. He would always start out by saying, “Lord, if it be Your will, we ask that …,”and finish by saying, “…please give us what we need to accomplish your will.”  To me that just did not make any sense.  Isn’t the whole point of prayer to ask God for what we want and need and not what He wants?  Why would we ask Him for His will to be done? Usually I didn’t say anything because I was a little bit afraid of him, but his manner of prayer did cause me to stew in frustration. Then one day during the summer when I was about 12 years old I had enough and I had to say something. He had called us together to pray for our crops (we were farmers).  He prayed as follows, “Lord, if it be your will, could you provide us with rain so that our corn might grow and sun so that our freshly cut hay might be dry for baling?”  To me just that did not make any sense. He was asking for sun and rain at the same time for adjoining fields. I got my nerve up and said, “Dad that does not make any sense! You asked for it to rain and to be sunny at the very same time!”  In response he said something that I will never forget. He said, “But son, that is exactly what we need. We need rain for the corn and sun for the hay.  What would you have asked for?”  At that moment and to this day, I have no response and have learned a great lesson from his wisdom. And you know what else?  When we pray the Our Father, we are basically praying in the same way that my father always prayed. We are praying that God’s will may be done and that we may have what we need to accomplish His will. My father was right again. It’s still enough to drive me crazy…sometimes!

Do We Ever Really Listen? To Any One? [7-17-22]

Jesus said to Martha, “Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.”  I am sure we can all relate to how Martha must have felt as she saw Mary relaxing with Jesus. We might think, at first glance, that Jesus’ response demonstrated a lack of appreciation for Martha’s legitimate efforts, but it would be good for us to look at this situation from Jesus’ perspective.  Martha indeed was presenting him with a wonderful gift in preparing His meal for Him, but Mary was also presenting Him with a wonderful gift. She was listening to Him. Martha could have chosen to sit with Him and listen to Him as well, but she did not, and although Jesus was grateful to her, He was also grateful for the choice that Mary had made.  Imagine how Jesus must have felt after speaking to so many people so much of the time. He must have often wondered if anyone ever really listened to Him or if anyone ever truly understood what He was saying.  How often does it feel like, although we have to talk to a lot of people, we have truly been listened to?  And how do we feel when we have actually had the experience of truly being listened to?  I think that we would pretty much all agree that the experience of being listened to is one of the most positive experiences that anyone can ever have.  And so, here was Mary, listening to Jesus.  Of course, Jesus was not going to deny her of this opportunity. Nor was He going to deny Himself of the gift she was giving to Him. He probably needed to be listened to as much as He needed to have nourishment-and so do we, and so do the people we love, and the people who are around us.  Jesus needed someone to listen to Him, He needed Mary to listen to Him, He needs us to listen to Him and we need to listen to Him.  That is one of the main lessons of today’s Gospel: to listen to another human being is no small matter; it is a command of Jesus. To listen is to give a rare gift, to listen is to validate, to listen is to show someone that they matter, to listen is to show that we care, to listen is to heal, to listen is to love. 

In Christ,

Fr. Joseph L. Maloney

Who is My Neighbor? [7-10-22]

On April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. had the following words to say about the parable of the Good Samaritan:

“It is possible that these men (the priest and the Levite) were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for His parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus, it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so, the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

Certainly, that is the point that Jesus is trying to make in today’s Gospel. Being “neighbor” is not something that someone else is or is not; it is something that Jesus commands us to do.

The Kingdom of God is at Hand...Whether We Want it or Not [7-03-22]

The Kingdom of God is at Hand…

Whether We Want it or Not [7-3-22]

There are many interesting points about our scriptural readings this week.  For one thing, the Gospel passage from Luke about the sending of the seventy-two disciples is unique to him. Mark and John do not include a similar story about the “sending out” of Jesus’ followers to proclaim the good news and Matthew’s Gospel speaks only about sending out the 12 Apostles.  Luke, however, describes both the sending out of the 12, which he does in Chapter 9, and the sending out of the “72” in Chapter 10, which we are reflecting upon today.  This is very significant, because one could say that that this means that Luke is trying to say that not only priests (represented by the 12 Apostles) share in the work of evangelization, but that lay people do as well, because “the harvest is great, but the laborers are few.”  It also means that Luke is teaching that the good news is not only for the 12 tribes of Israel, again represented by the 12 Apostles, but for everyone-it was believed in Jesus’ that there were 70 countries in the entire world. It is also interesting to understand that many of the instructions that Jesus gives them has to do with the fact that He was indeed sending them out “like lambs among wolves.”  In Jesus’ world the traveler’s life was literally in the hands of thieves and robbers and was totally dependent on the hospitality of those that they met. That’s why Jesus told them not to carry with them anything of value but to trust in the kindness of those in the towns they visited. The law of hospitality was taken very seriously because it was literally a matter of survival, not just being polite as we think of it today. To violate this rule was to commit a most grievous sin. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because they failed to show hospitality to Abraham. It was so important to Jesus that He ordered His disciples to publicly “shake off from their feet” the dust of any towns that were inhospitable to them.  But even then, they were still to proclaim the good news while testifying against them.  As they were shaking the dust off their feet they were still to cry out that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand for you” whether those people wanted it or not.

Plow Much? [06-26-22]

That is an interesting question, isn’t it?  I ask it because the topic of plowing comes up in both the First Reading and the Gospel today, which is certainly very unusual. I, while I never considered myself to be a prolific plowman, have plowed a few fields in my day, so I feel like I can say a little something on the topic.  It is an activity which requires focus, yet which can be very relaxing as well. It takes a lot of time and patience. Plowing is not an end in itself, but it must be done before the planting can take place. No field can ever plow itself, nor can plowing ever be undone. A field cannot be “unplowed.” Once one field is plowed there are only two choices. One can either stop plowing altogether, or move on to another field. And by the way, plowing is real work.  Jesus shows us in today’s Gospel that He knows something about plowing as well.  He actually compares plowing to discipleship. Jesus says that if we are going to follow Him, our lives will change and we can never look back, we can only look forward. As Jesus says, and I know from experience, one never plows in a straight line if he/she keeps looking back over where the plow has just been, and it is so very tempting to do just that.  The only way to plow in a straight line is to is to keep one’s eyes focused in a forward direction. Likewise, the only way to be a disciple is to keep our eyes focused on Him. Jesus is not static, He keeps moving.  If we keep looking back to former ways of life we will lose sight of Him.  Becoming a true follower of Jesus is not a whimsical proposition. It is a serious choice which can only be made after much practical thought and  much prayer.  And a little background in plowing just might help us in our discernment process.

We Are Not Alone [6-19-22]

My guess is that many of us have found ourselves at one time or another in our lives facing very difficult circumstances, obstacles or challenges.  Maybe you are in the midst of one of those chapters in your lives right now.   Maybe you’ve felt like, or you feel right now that there is no way you can ever see yourself coming through whatever it is you were or are facing. Maybe during those times you have had people say something to you, something that you know was meant to be a word of consolation, but those words did not do much consoling. Maybe you have heard those words from close friends, family members or even from priests or religious, and maybe you’ve even said those words to others yourselves because you did not know what else to say.  The words that I am talking about are certainly well intentioned, but they ring hollow, and they probably accomplish more for the one speaking them than they do for the one hearing them.  What are those words? “God does not give you anything that you can’t handle.”  A lot of us have heard those words, haven’t we?  Probably a lot of us have spoken those words as well.  I know that I have spoken them, as a priest to people who were in need of consolation but not for many years now. Why? Because my life experience has taught me that they are simply not true, or at least they are not completely accurate.  I have learned over and over again that God does indeed present me with challenges, with situations, with problems etc. etc. that I cannot handle by myself.  He does so all the time. And why does He do this? Well, I cannot say that I have the absolute answer to this question, but I will offer two of my best thoughts. First, let’s honestly look at things in our lives that we have handled completely by ourselves. How did they turn out?  Did they turn out the way we wanted them to? More importantly, did they turn out the way God wanted them to?   Secondly, and I think this an even better explanation, God wants to be our strength. He wants to be our strength. He wants us to come to Him always and especially in times of great pain, distress and confusion, because He knows that’s what’s best for us. To make those words true we need to say something like this: God does indeed give us challenges that we cannot handle by ourselves, but we are never by ourselves. He is always there, ready to walk with us side by side, hand in hand to share our pain and burdens with us and even to provide us with Himself as nourishment along the way. That’s what we celebrate today, on this solemnity of Corpus Christi; that Jesus is always there for us, as close to us and essential to us as food and drink. “Take and eat, this is my body; take and drink, this is my blood which will be shed for many.”  He does indeed give us challenges that we cannot handle alone, but we are never alone.

The Most Holy Trinity: Some Lessons We Can Learn [6-12-22]

The following is largely a paraphrasing of some reflections and comments from Fr. Anthony Kadavil.  There are several lessons we can learn from the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  One is that we are called to respect ourselves and others. We are made in the image and likeness of and are called to live lives that are worthy of being in His presences.  We are called to lead lives that are pure and holy and to practice justice and charity. Likewise, we are called to encourage and respect others as “Temples of the Holy Spirit,” who are also called to dwell in the presence of God. Another lesson is that God is the source of our strength and courage. Our trust and faith that God is within us is what gives us the courage to face the difficulties and challenges of our lives. It is His presence in us that enables us to face the persecution that we will experience because of our faith in Him. Thirdly, the Trinity is meant to be the model for our Christian families. The love, unity and joy that is so very much present among the Father, Son and Spirit is an example for us to mirror within our own families. Finally, we are called to become more like the Holy Trinity though all of our relationships. Each of us are called to be in a relationship with others and in a relationship with God. We need to pull ourselves away from the individualism to which society calls us and think in terms of “God, others and me” rather than “me, myself and I.” Like God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, we are called to be builders of love in our families and communities, to reconcile and make peace and to teach the truth. In the end, we can call ourselves Catholic Christians, only insofar as we are in relationship with God and with others.

Pentecost: It's Why I Believe [06-05-22]

Well folks, I might as well come right out with and finally say it, and maybe you have already figured it out, but I tend to be a rather skeptical person. I definitely would fall into the “trust but verify” category.   It is not my normal way to just accept things, especially those things that seem to defy reason and logic without at least some kind of serious scrutinizing on my part.  In my late teens and young adulthood, which is probably at least somewhat typical, I did not know what I believed; I wasn’t even sure if I believed in God. I questioned pretty much every thing. And I truly questioned the Resurrection; I was not impressed by the fact that the stone was rolled away or even that Jesus’ body was not there.  I mean, really, if you were Mary Magdalen, would those circumstances have led you to conclude that Jesus was alive? I don’t think so.  Than we get into the eyewitness accounts, and while they do give more substance, I probably would still remain a doubting Thomas. I mean, after all, like Thomas thought, if the other apostles had seen the risen Jesus, then why did they stay locked in the  Upper room?  As a matter of fact, they stayed in that room until guess when?  Pentecost would be the answer.  I have no doubt something really big and really special happened on that day. And whatever it was that did happen put their hearts on fire and allowed them to change the world and literally bring us to the faith today.  I have no other explanation for what happened after Pentecost, except that the apostles were literally transformed on that day.  It is pretty clear that they were going nowhere before Pentecost happened. But after Pentecost there was nowhere they didn’t go. Furthermore, it only makes sense that what they proclaimed was the truth and the inspired Word.  For me, Pentecost, is what makes it all make sense. Just look at what didn’t happen before and what did happen after.  I challenge any one to come up with another explanation.  The long and the short of it is that because of Pentecost I believe, and it just might be why you believe as well.

When You Get Caught Between the Ascension and Pentecost [5-29-22]

With today’s celebration of the Seventh Sunday of Easter we find ourselves between the time when Jesus has left His mission completely up to His Apostles and before they were fully empowered by the Spirit to accomplish that mission.  That will not come until Pentecost. For now it is good for us to reflect on what Jesus says to us today:  “Holy Father, I pray not only for my disciples, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.”  It seems to me as if the Lord is saying is that if His teaching and presence to us on this earth are to be of any enduring value they must be put at the service of the Lord’s will to bring all people together in faith in God the Father so that the world may know that the Father has sent the Son, and that the Father loves all of us just as He loves his own Son.  Right here, Right now we need to ask ourselves in a very practical way, how the Lord’s gift to us can help us to accomplish the mission that the Lord has put before us. To help us to answer this question we need to look no further than the Words that Jesus will speak to us next week on Pentecost Sunday: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always. “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Those who do not love me do not keep my words.” Yes, it always comes down to this: loving Jesus means keeping his commandments. Any accomplishment that we achieve through the grace of God is fulfilled when we give to it the purpose of helping us to better keep His commandments and love Him which by definition means to love all people as one in union with the Father and the Son.  We do need to ponder this truth, and even be awestruck by it, but at the same time we need to understand one of the lessons of the Ascension.  Of course, the apostles were completely dazzled and utterly speechless as they saw Jesus ascend into heaven, but they were soon brought back to earth by the words of the angels who said to them:  “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking up at the sky?”  While we must reflect on the awesomeness of God and His message and His commands and how they relate directly to our accomplishments, we must not fall into the trap of admiring and marveling at Jesus so much that we forget to follow Him that we forget that we must do what He does.  As Jesus forgives, we must forgive; as Jesus heals, we must be agents of healing; as He loves, we must love. When we get caught between the Ascension and Pentecost, we cannot allow ourselves to become so awestruck by the glory of God that it prevents us from doing His will.  Instead of just “standing there” we need to do His will, in the faith that that the Spirit of Pentecost is right around the corner.