What Does God Hate? (26th Sunday, year B)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

One of the best parts of getting to know someone is that you start to discover a whole bunch of little-known facts about them. This happens all the time in families. We know which brother or sister likes this or that food and which vegetables they will secretly feed to the dog when no one is looking. We also know their favorite color, the music they listen to, the car of their dreams, and what they want to be when they grow up, even if it changes every three weeks. If we are lucky, we will also have a friend or two like this. We will be blessed to know their favorite food, their most embarrassing moments, and even the things that drive them crazy. The more we love someone, the more we want to know them. And the more we know someone, the better we can love them because we understand them, with their qualities and preferences that make them unique.

These same principles apply to our God who wants to be friend to us all. In fact, God desires and deserves to be our best friend, the love of our life. He is the one we are called to love above all else in this life. Amazingly, when we love God in this way, we end up enjoying the things and people in our lives more than if we ignored God to focus on them. So, if God is our friend, then those same little things that we know about our family and best friends, well, we should know those about God too! For example, do we know what he loves? Or what makes him happy? And what his dreams are? We can! It’s all there in His Word to us, the Bible, if we are willing to read and listen to it! But for today, I would like us to consider something we probably don’t think about too often. It is an aspect of God that almost seems strange to us. In light of the second half of the gospel, and because he is our friend, let’s take a little time to reflect on what it is that God hates.

This is actually pretty easy. There is only one thing that God truly hates and it is sin. Not sinners, mind you; God loves them. Only sin itself. Everything else God loves. He loves the earth and the planets and the stars in their galaxies. He loves humans and plants and animals and bugs and everything else that is running, flying, or swimming around. In short, He loves everything he has created, because it reflects his goodness and love in some way. So why does God, who is clearly defined by love, find sin so offensive? The answer lies in what sin does, both to God and to the one who sins. 

Sin is defined as any immoral act considered to be an offense against divine law. Sins can be little or large, they can take the form of thoughts, words, actions, or omissions, but they all share one thing in common: they separate us in some way from God and hurt others. Why is this? Well, sin is a deliberate choice to do or not do what God asks. And anytime, we act against what God wants, we end up hurting ourselves, even if it feels good or right at the time we do it. Sin is never in our best interests, even if it seems to be the easier or more pleasant path in the short term. God, who loves us more than we love ourselves, wants us to be happy forever with him. God hates sin because it separates us from him. And not only that, when we sin, we risk losing our happiness and peace and we drive a wedge between us and God. Now, that’s bad enough! But sin gets even worse. Our sins don’t just affect us, they can even cause other people to do wrong. Sin always hurts more people than we know, even though that sin seems private. In truth, there is no such thing as a private sin!

This effect of sin, where our wrongdoing hurts other people and encourages them to sin, is called scandal. Scandal is a concept we don’t hear about too often unless we are speaking about some crazy celebrity behavior. But scandal is a very real consequence of sin and is something each and every person is obligated to avoid. Today’s gospel shows us how seriously God takes scandal, when Jesus says “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” A millstone was a large, heavy stone that was used to crush wheat grain into flour. Having one of these around your neck in the water would mean certain death with no hope of surviving. Our Lord tells us that it is better to have one of those around your neck than to be responsible for leading another person into sin. WOW!

Jesus goes on to say, in the same dramatic fashion, that whatever leads us to sin needs to be cut off, torn out, and cast away from us, no matter what the cost. Does he mean this literally? No! It’s called hyperbole where someone exaggerates to make point. Like when we say “I am dying of thirsty” or “So hungry, I could eat a horse.” However, Jesus is very clear that  he wants us to take sin seriously. He want us to avoid even the circumstances and persons that lead us into sin. Out of love for us and our eternal wellbeing he is warning us that we are accountable for the ways our example might lead others into sin or weaken their faith.

There is only one thing in the whole created world God hates and that is sin. As his children and friends, as the ones who love him, we are called to do everything in our power to avoid sin, even if it means incredible personal sacrifice. We are also required to think of others before we act, knowing that our example, our decisions could cause scandal and make it easier for them to do wrong. No sacrifice is too big if it protects us from hurting God and our immortal souls. Jesus commands us to stop at nothing to protect our relationship with our Heavenly Father and to suffer anything rather than to lead someone into sin. This is a tall order! In fact, we can’t do it on our own. We desperately need God’s grace in prayer and the sacrament of reconciliation to help us avoid sin and the near occasions of sin. And when we fall, God’s healing gift is available to us if we are sorry and ask for forgiveness in this beautiful sacrament

So let us set our minds and hearts on getting to know God better, paying attention to the things he loves and doing the things that make him happy. And let us never forget the one thing he hates, trying always to avoid it in every possible way!

We Are Members of a Team (25th Sunday, Year B)

To listen to this homily, click here.

Last week I had the blessing of being able to enjoy 5 days of backpacking in West Yellowstone. It was so beautiful there: wild, quiet, remote, and mostly untouched by humans. It was deeply refreshing! But there was a cardinal rule laid down by our guide; no matter how experienced you were or how comfortable you might be on your own, you were part of a group. If one member was having a hard time, we all slowed down. If you needed to sneak off to the bathroom, you let someone else know. And even if you just needed some new socks from your tent or wanted to go somewhere for some quiet reflection, you took your bear spray and let another person know where you would be. In short, we were responsible for each other’s safety and well-being; it was not every person for themselves.

One place where this team approach often gets thrown out is Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world. I thought I wanted to take on Everest after reading Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air 10 years ago. Then I learned it would cost around $100,000 for a guide and equipment. The government of Nepal, where Everest is located, also requires a special course in trekking along with paying $11,000 for a permit to make the climb. Only after all this, could one fly to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and hike ten days to the Everest Base camp. Climbers have to do this in May because there are only a few weeks between the worst of the winter storms and the summer monsoons. Over the years, at least 300 climbers pursuing the peak have died from altitude sickness, running out of oxygen, falls, avalanches, sudden storms, heart attacks, frostbite, snow blindness, and hypothermia. If you make the dash to the summit, you still have to face the equally dangerous descent. Because of the financial and personal costs involved with Everest, people tend to think of themselves rather than others when the summit is on the line.

            These details are necessary to get the full impact of a story involving a guide named Dan Mazur. Early one morning in 2006, Mazur was leading two well-paying clients up Mount Everest. They were only two hours from the summit, with just another 835 feet to go. Then they saw bright colored fabric in the distance.  At first they thought it was a tent, but soon realized that it was an abandoned climber named Lincoln Hall. Hall had made it to the top, but during the descent he became incapacitated from oxygen deprivation. His two Sherpa guides tried to help him, but eventually left to save themselves. When they arrived to safety, they declared that Hall was dead. But Hall wasn't dead. Somehow, he had managed to survive the night without gloves, jacket, sleeping bag, oxygen or food. Hall was hallucinating when Mazur approached him. Mazur and the others spent the next four hours pulling him away from the slopes, giving him bottled oxygen, food and liquids. While they were working hard to save him, two climbers passed them on the way to the summit. Mazur asked them to help but they said they didn't speak English. They certainly weren’t the first to behave this way. Only eleven days earlier, another climber died 1,000 feet into his descent. Dozens of people walked right past him, unwilling to risk failing reaching the top. Mazur radioed the base camp for help and eventually Sherpas made it to them. They helped save Hall, but by that time Mazur and his clients were too exhausted to attempt the peak themselves. Their supplies were depleted and they would not get another chance at the summit. They came home without completing the climb and Mazur did not receive his full commission. But he said he had no regrets. "You can always go back to the summit, but you only have one life to live. If I had left that man to die, that would have been on my mind for the rest of my life.  How could I live like that?"

 

            So, who was the greatest on the mountain? Was it the climbers who supposedly didn’t understand English and made it to the top? Or the others who walked past the dying climber two weeks before? Or was it Dan Mazur and the people with him who spent a great deal of money, time and energy and ended up finding the moral summit 835 feet below the pinnacle of Everest? Their money, time, and effort were not wasted.  They had conquered Everest without reaching the peak. Dan Mazur knew what greatness was. He and those with him put aside their own dreams of conquering Everest for the sake of a fellow climber. 

It is hard to be part of a team. Especially for those of us who are type-A, driven, and independent. I often fall into the attitude of “stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours.” As ghastly as the behavior of many Everest climbers was, we often act in some of the same ways. How often do we pass by those who are hurting physically, emotionally, mentally, or financially? We justify our indifference because we think it’s not my problem. I don’t want to get involved, I don’t have time, someone else will take care of them, or they put themselves in that situation. I know I can be blinded by my own schedule and timelines, becoming a slave to them rather than seeing a perceived interruption as an invitation to serve and help another person. St. James has nothing but harsh words for Christians who are jealous and selfish with their resources rather than using them wisely for the relief of others. How often do we fall into that category? Always wanting more and better things? Excusing ourselves from helping and giving until we reach an imaginary place where we have no more needs and plenty for ourselves? 

 

          Jesus calls us to set aside our own desires for the sake of others. He calls us to seek the greatness of humble generosity, to "rank first" among our families, friends and communities by taking on the spirit and role of servants. Every day, you and I are called to consider others before ourselves. The needs of children, the sick, the poor, the elderly, the foreigner, the homeless … all call us away from ourselves. Every day we have to resist the temptation to selfishness, the temptation to put ourselves before others. Every day we are called to greatness by conquering a mountain much more difficult than Everest. We have to conquer ourselves. And it begins in little things with our families and friends, at home and at work. 

  

            The goal of our lives is union with God. But that union is not achieved apart from others. We are called to help others come to Jesus. We ourselves came to know him through the witness and charity of someone else. The strength to achieve this union comes from Jesus Christ on the cross and working together as a team. He made Himself weak so we could be strong. We pray today for this strength, the strength to reach out to others in charity, the strength to ascend the Mountain of God and to never ignore those in need we meet along the way. 

Do You Believe in Miracles? (23rd Sunday, Year B)

 To listen to this homily, click here.

Few things capture the Christian imagination like Jesus’ miracles. It’s difficult not to wonder what it must have been like to see someone go from being sick, possessed by evil spirits, or even dead, to suddenly and completely restored to health. Perhaps some of us are a little cynical and try to reduce each of these healing moments to merely natural or medical explanations. Others, believe them but don’t think they happen anymore; the wonders of Jesus and the power they display were a sort spiritual one-hit wonder that the rest of us missed out on because we weren’t around at that time. A few still see miracles happening all around them large and small. So what is the best way to view these incredible feats of Jesus? What was their purpose? Was it to convince people that he was the Messiah? Was it to end all suffering in the world? If so, then they failed on both accounts! Even as Jesus was working his miracles, there was confusion among the crowds and his followers about what they meant and why He was doing them. 

In our time, many Christians tend to think that the healing of people was the main goal in Jesus’ life. But after this Sunday there are only four more healings by Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. Why? In the first seven chapters, he had worked so many cures that people were mobbing him.

And that was the trouble. He was in danger of becoming famous as a mere wonder-worker. People were confusing the signs of his power as the purpose of his life on earth. Because of this, they were besieging him at every stop, thinking that he would solve all their earthly problems. He was in danger of being regarded as a little more than a medicine man, wise teacher, and clever fixer.

But would any of these roles properly reveal God’s love for the world and its people? Jesus thought not. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus stopped the miracles and began a new phase of his mission. He turned his face toward Jerusalem…and towards the cross.

This change of direction will come next week. Suddenly and without warning Jesus will say to the disciples, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise”. What more shocking statement could this supposedly invincible leader and healer make to them? How could death go together with healing?

I will never forget how hard my family prayed when my sister Theresa was born. Both she and my mom faced life-threatening issues. It seemed inconceivable that the God of love and healing would not answer our prayers! Praise God, my mom pulled through but my sister died after just one day. We were all heartbroken and shaken to our core. Yet in the midst of our tragic loss we also discovered that that God had been manifested in Theresa’s short life and resulting death. In the time she was with us, we had received a love from God and others we had never experienced and seen the power of our faith in a way it had never been shown before. Even in the sadness, we felt God’s presence and care; he was closer in some of those horrible days than I have have ever felt before or since. Theresa was baptized and confirmed before she died which provided incredible comfort to us all. Our sorrow was immersed in love and Theresa was safe in God’s arms. Through it all God’s intimate presence was enough, more than enough actually, through the love and kindness of friends, family, clergy, and so many others. 

So how does this tie back to the miracles of Jesus? Every human person is created to be loved by God, not simply to have good health, riches, success, or a comfortable existence. True life consists of love given and received with God and with others, rather than having a life where things always go our way or we somehow avoid sadness and loss. There is a greater good than these earthly things and that ultimate good is a relationship with the God who made us, who loves us and who stops at nothing to save us. Even when we feel far from God, he is never far from us and often in these darkest times, we end up seeing how close he really is. Such an intimate relationship sends us out to help give God’s love to the world. Miracle cures help for a while, but pretty soon suffering and death have to be faced and accepted as part of this wounded world. A world without sickness and death has not yet arrived and can only be enjoyed in the perfect place we call heaven. Sometimes when we pray for miracles, we do not realize that we are asking God to give us something that cannot be found here and now. 

For this reason, Jesus moves toward the events that will show God’s solidarity with us in our anguish, our rejections, and in that inevitable moment which each and every one of us will face sooner or later: death. Beyond cures, which are wonderful yet temporary, God gives us companionship during each instant of our life if we are willing to see it. The miracles of Jesus, the miracles which continue even now, are awesome and good, they strengthen our faith and deepen our hope, but they only point to a time and place that hasn’t yet arrived. Until all souls are united in perfect friendship with God, there will continue to be times when we pray for healing, for sparing, and so many other things yet those prayers are not granted in the way we wish. That is not God ignoring us or our pain; but rather mysteriously allowing it for reasons we may not understand until we stand before Him. One thing we can say with confidence: God’s decision whether or not to work miracles for specific things will always be based on what will ultimately lead us back to him. If they would somehow lead us away or distract, then he will point towards the cross, just like he will soon do in Mark’s gospel! 

This Sunday at Mass, let us ask ourselves whether the intimate presence of God is part of what we desire in our own lives. Do we know that Christ is deeply involved in our lives and always near us? Do we love God for who he is or only for what he might do for us? Do we let his love flow into us and through us to others, or must it just fight its way through? Is our ultimate happiness bound up in passing things like health, comfort, riches, and earthly life? At the first sign of suffering, death and loss, do we blame God and abandon him? 

It’s been 24 years since my sister died and there are still many things I do not understand about her loss. But even with that mystery and many unanswered questions, I know without a doubt that God was with her, with me, and with my family. Perhaps our prayer today is simple, especially if we are in a time of loss, isolation, or confusion, “Jesus, help us to hear you, however you want to speak, as the deaf man finally could.” Amen.