"Lord, Increase Our Faith!" (27th Sunday, Year C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

I was looking over my 12 years of homilies to see what I had preached on in the past for this Sunday. Noticeably absent from my collection was any preaching on the 1st reading of Habbakkuk. He is one of the minor prophets, which isn’t a judgement of his importance but instead a description of how little he wrote. The minor prophets only left us a few pages while the major prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah were more prolific and their writings significantly longer. Habbakkuk’s book is only three short chapters and his ministry takes place during the decline of the southern Kingdom of Judah. They were about to be destroyed by the Babylonians and sent into exile. Babylon was considered the worst of worst at the time. They were similar to how Al Quaeda or Isis is regarded in our time. About 150 years before this, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was defeated by Assyria and essentially wiped out by genocide, slavery, and assimilation. While this tragedy was happening, the people of the southern kingdom were largely indifferent, enjoying their life of luxury, and arrogantly thinking, “that sort of thing will never happen to us.” Just a few generations later, here they are, about to be pummeled by the one of the most efficient and ruthless armies of the ancient world.

Habbakuk, on behalf of the people, challenges God and says, “how long are you going to let this go on?” We cry out to do you and you do nothing.” Not a good idea to call out God! The prophet and the people get an answer back from the Lord, much of which is cut out of our reading today. God replies he is doing something amazing, so amazing that if he told Habbakuk, he wouldn’t believe it. He is allowing Babylon to conquer and destroy his own people as part of the Divine Plan. This would be like God saying, “I will let Isis be victorious over America and it is all part of my design. Just have faith.” No one, then or now would believe it! In the end, we see God does just that with the Babylonians. It doesn’t happen right away; in fact, it takes a couple hundred years. But in the end, a Persian King from Babylon, named Cyrus, sets the Israelites free and sends them home. Not only that, he even gives them money, materials, and craftsmen to help rebuild the temple and offer pleasing worship to God. 

But first the Israelites have to be punished. For generations they have ignored the poor and suffering. The people closest to the Lord, they have scorned. God’s people have fallen in love with the things of this world and the comforts it offers. As a nation, they put their trust in acquiring things: riches, power, and prestige. They stopped worrying about what pleases the Lord and instead spent their energy trying to please the world around them. Worst of all, instead of spreading the message of mercy, salvation, worship that came from their covenant with God, they remained silent and ashamed about their special relationship with God. 

God never stops loving his people but they have become so wicked that they will only turn back to him when they see their self-appointed idols of riches, power, and worldly alliances fall apart. Their hearts have become completely hardened. 

Only a person with the gift of Faith, could trust that God would work through the Babylonians. Only a person with Faith can avoid having a hardened heart to the voice of God, as we prayed in our psalm. Only a person with faith can bear their share of hardship for the gospel, as St. Paul encourages Timothy to do in the second reading. And if a person has even the smallest portion of true faith, Jesus assures us that they could say to a tree, “be uprooted and cast into the sea” and that would indeed happen.

The obvious connection between all the Scriptures this weekend then is the gift of faith. With it, we can see God’s hand and his care for us, even in the darkest moments of human history. If Faith informs our daily living, we can be like St. Paul, in prison, writing one of his last communications before execution, and still be full of care and encouragement for others. 

There is another, darker side to the coin as well. Without faith in God, the kind of faith that wants nothing more than to know, love, and serve him, we decline spiritually at a rapid pace, both as individuals and as a society. I found myself thinking about this sobering point repeatedly as I wrestled with the readings for today. Maybe that’s why so many preachers skip over this first reading and simply talk about faith without the troubling background of Babylon looming over the Southern Kingdom. The context of Habakuk raises the uncomfortable possibility that we, as modern Christians, have become blind to or tolerant of the substantial suffering of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters. How often do we cry out for God to save us and put an end to the ills of our society, horrible things like mass shootings, corrupt politicians, hypocritical clergy, broken homes, and the epidemics of suicide, anxiety, depression, and addiction, to name some but not all. And yet, at the same time we have become largely numb to things like abortion, capital punishment, experimentation on humans at the embryonic stage, human trafficking, the constant death and degradation of refugees around the world, homelessness and so much more. Oftentimes we turn look to the idols of money, materialism, politics, and comfort. 

Will God respond to our prayer for deliverance as he did to Habakuk? That He is indeed doing something amazing, so amazing we wouldn’t believe it if He told us because of our lack of faith. Could it be that many of us in our country and in our Church have hardened our hearts so much that we cannot return to God until we have been purified by suffering and loss, just as the Israelites were? Not an easy thing to consider for sure. But the parallels between their times and ours are eerily similar. 

Only faith will enable us to see God working amidst the sin, sadness, and tragedy that is all too common in our times. Only faith will soften our hearts and move us to work with God to build lives, families, communities and nations that are righteous, compassionate, and focussed on helping others and offering right worship to the Lord. We receive the gift of faith in small, concrete decisions made each day regarding our relationship with God. We soften our hearts by making time each day to pray and listen to God, reading his Scriptures, going on retreat like many of our teens just did, and looking to serve others in the name Jesus, especially the poor, forgotten, vulnerable and inconvenient. We need to make our own the prayer of the apostles today; “Lord, increase our faith.” Even if we just have a little, it can accomplish incredible things. So please give it to us. Make us willing to suffer and do whatever it takes to be faith-filled people. Increase our faith today, tomorrow, and every day, amen!

Procrastination and Rationalization (26th Sunday, Cycle C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

There are many layers to the gospel story we just heard. The most obvious and simple would be that the rich should not ignore the sufferings of the poor. This theme is repeated over and over in scripture, including our readings last week. Another angle might be to warn us about becoming so caught up in our own comfort that we become blind to the needs of other people. It might seem ridiculous that someone could be as callous as the rich man in the gospel but sadly, his example is imitated over and over again in our world, as people go about their business, willfully unaware and unconcerned about the poverty, starvation, persecution, and abuse of so many around the globe. Finally, there is the possibility that the rich man knew about Lazarus and thought about helping him but put it off day after day; he got used to seeing Lararus’ suffering and got de-sensitized. Or rationalized that the poor man didn’t deserve help or should take care of himself. How many days did the rich man make excuses and procrastinate, missing out on the opportunity to help Lazarus and ease his suffering while also helping himself get to heaven? Eventually he ran out of tomorrows and is condemned to hell for his lack of charity, his sin of not doing anything. 

The dangerous twin habits of rationalization and procrastination are familiar to all of us in some way. I would like to home in on one area in particular that seems to be more and more prevalent among Catholics today. I have heard some interesting reasons, (you might call them excuses or rationalizations) to avoid receiving the sacrament of confession. Here are the ones we priests hear all the time, at parish events, wedding receptions, at the grocery store, or anywhere we wear our clerics. Listen to the list and see if any sound familiar!

I don’t need to tell my sins to a priest! I can tell God I’m sorry on my own.

There is no such thing as a private sin. Anytime we do wrong, that sin affects other people, often in ways we cannot imagine and it always wounds the Body of Christ, the Church, of which we are members. The priest is the representative of the Church who gives us forgiveness in the name of God and on behalf of the Church. We have a human need to know, without a doubt, that we have been forgiven. Confession is an incredible gift where we can know for sure that our sins have been wiped away and we can move on. 

It’s embarrassing! What will the priest think of me?

Confession can be embarrassing, like a lot of things that are good for us. Think of going to the doctor or the dentist after a long time! It may be embarrassing but it's not humiliating. Most confessionals have the option for you to go anonymously. And, to be honest with you, unless you go to a brand-new priest, chances are, we’ve already heard someone say what you are about to confess. People just aren’t that original when it comes to sinning. Don’t let embarrassment keep you from experiencing God’s love and peace.

There was one time a priest yelled at me.

If that happened, I’m sorry. It shouldn’t have. But that was one person, one experience. We don’t stop going out to eat if we get bad service at a restaurant. Maybe we avoid that particular establishment or make sure another waiter serves us. We move on and realize that that was the exception, not the norm. If we are boycotting confession because of one bad experience, who are we really hurting?

I always confess the same sins.

Welcome to the human race! Could you imagine if you had to run around and commit different sins in order to go to confession? It would be exhausting! Most of us have certain sins or faults that we will struggle with our whole life: maybe its gossip, lying, losing our temper, or anything else. Even St. Paul had a thorn in the flesh he continually confessed. That’s why confession is not a one-time event. It’s part of a life-long process of conversion.

I can’t think of anything to confess.

 Ummm…you need to talk to your spouse or friends or family a little more often. They will be happy to give you some ideas. If that doesn’t work, I have some great little books by the confessional that help you go through the commandments and evaluate your life. They are free and trust me, they will jog your memory. If neither of these work, then let me know and I’ll work on getting your statue in this church!

Why should I go to a priest who is not married and doesn’t have a family? What can you know about my life?

Can you imagine if we only went to a doctor who had the same illnesses as us? Or grew up in the same town in the same circumstances? Just because a doctor never had cancer doesn’t mean he or she can’t diagnose it for what it is. And, while it’s true I can’t completely relate with being married or having kids, I do know what it is like to be a friend, a family-member, and to care for others and these are the same principles involved in any vocation.

Priests are sinners too! What makes them good enough to hear my confession?

There is nothing me or any other priest has done to earn the right to hear anyone’s confession. It is an honor and a gift I have only because of my ordination and the call to be God’s representative on earth. Trust me, priests are sinners; I will never deny that. That’s why we go to confession just like anyone else. I need confession just as much as you, maybe even more. God could have chosen angels or the Blessed Virgin Mary to forgive sins…but he didn’t. Maybe because the priest knows from personal experience what it means to be weak, sinful, and most importantly, forgiven.

My sin is too big; God won’t forgive me.

This is the most troubling excuse for not going to confession. God stopped at nothing to redeem the world and offer salvation to every single human person. He did not even spare his Son! Jesus wanted to die for you! He laid down his life freely so that there would be no doubt how much he cared for you. The only sin God cannot forgive is the one that is never brought to him. He won’t force his saving grace on us but he is just waiting for us to ask. God has never said no to someone looking for mercy. If you are a big sinner, guess what? So were many of the saints and some of Jesus’ favorite people in the gospel! Through confession and forgiveness of their sins, they didn’t have to be defined by their past. We know them by their future: eternity with God in heaven. 

These are some of the “classic” reasons people give for avoiding confession. If you have avoided this sacrament for any reason, I hope you will make your way to a confessional soon so you can experience the joy of hearing the words of forgiveness, “I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

We Welcome Sinners Because He Does (34th Sunday, Year C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

In our wild First Reading, the Israelites have just been freed from slavery in Egypt by a series of spectacular miracles. One of the first things they do with their God-given freedom is make a statue of a calf out of the gold they took from the Egyptians and declare it their new god. To our seemingly-sophisticated modern minds, this appears to be a ridiculous story. Who would be dumb enough to adore something constructed with their own hands!? Imagine worshipping a molten calf! What fools! Never mind that we give so much of our time, energy, affection, money and waking hours to things like houses, sports teams, cars, careers, and clothes! Or the all-important “bottom line” in business. Don’t we often idolize the current “stars” in Hollywood or at least the fame and glamour they surround themselves with. All things of our own making. Maybe we aren’t so different than the Israelites in the first reading!

God is angry at the people for their fickle hearts. I think the parents among us will understand God’s feelings—-what’s worse than the anger over their disobedience is the hurt and disappointment that his Chosen People so easily abandon him and swear their allegiance to a lump of gold. This people is hopeless, God says to Moses; I ought to destroy them and make a new people out of you, Moses. Deep down, God wants to be merciful to the Israelites, but before he can show mercy, God must first show Moses the evil of the people.

In response to God’s anger at the Israelites, Moses pleads for mercy. Moses does not try to see what the Israelites are doing as “not so bad”, as somehow acceptable or excusable. If he did, then Moses would be morally ignorant. But as a righteous man he he sees evil for what it is. At the same time, Moses entreats God to be merciful by reminding God of the past history of the Israelites. Don’t you remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he asks? They were your servants and so pleasing to you! For the sake of what the Israelite people were in the past, have mercy on them now!

The second reading is about mercy too. Paul explains he once was a persecutor of God’s people. He doesn’t gloss over his own evil past or make excuses any more than Moses did. But Paul says that he obtained mercy from God anyway, because God could see the man that Paul could become. For the sake of the man Paul could be in the future, God had mercy on him.

This theme of mercy in the first two readings is reinforced in the shepherd, the woman, and the prodigal father of the gospel. Our God desires our friendship and wants us to live at our fullest potential, alive with His grace and he will stop at nothing to help us get there. Even when our human sensibilities say enough is enough, that some people are beyond help or not worth the effort, the God of mercy never gives up on us. He wants us be fully alive in mind, body, and soul! Our joy and peace bring happiness to God! This is what Christ describes for us in the parables of today. God isn’t content to have 99 sheep if one is still lost or hurt. God does not rest if he has 9 silver coins but one is missing. And God certainly doesn’t give up on his his children, even after they take their inheritance, run away and cause all sorts of hurt, chaos and pain for him and his household. Even after all of this, God waits for us, he meets us as we return, he rejoices in our coming home to him and his Church. 

There are two dangers that we need to be aware of as we reflect on the readings today. The first temptation is to find other people whose lives are a mess, whose problems and sins are much greater than ours and think: I’m not perfect but I’m not as bad as ‘so and so’. We can forget the need we all have for the mercy of God and the forgiveness he offers us, especially through the sacrament of reconciliation. And although it might be true that we don’t need the dramatic conversion of the prodigal son or the obstinate Israelites, every time we sin, we wander away from the love of God. So what are those things, those people, who move us further from the plan that God has for us? Are there things in our lives that threaten to make us lose our way and become lost? What are the works of our hands we are in danger of worshipping?

The second danger is similar to the first. Just as we might be tempted to think we don’t need to be found by God, we can also become indignant at the mercy God shows to others. This self-righteousness is what prevented the pharisees from following Jesus and it happens to the good son in the gospel when his brother returns. Instead of sharing his father’s joy and welcoming his brother back home, he feels resentful and cheated. There is a very real and destructive tendency, even among Christians, to resent the mercy Christ and the Church extend to those who were lost. But nothing could be further from the call each of us has received as sons and daughters of God! As followers of Christ, we are called to be sharers of God’s mercy, working with the Lord to bring people back to his love and grace. We are expected to have that same thirst for souls shown to us by the shepherd, the woman, and the father of today’s gospel, never thinking that a soul is too far gone or beyond hope. We are called to be like Moses, ambassadors of mercy, pleading for God to forgive the offenses of others, especially those dearest to us.

Like Moses, we have to be on guard about cheapening God’s mercy and trying to downplay how serious sin really is. When we look at the conduct of our friends, family, or coworkers, if that person is being sinful, then we need to see clearly those offenses for what they are and not sugar coat them. But what we see when they do evil is not all there is to them. There is what they were in the past, —- the small child their mother and father loved. They weren’t always ensnared by the sin they struggle with now. And then there is what they could become. Maybe like Paul, who once was the chief of sinners, our sinning friend, family member, or co-worker could become the next saint who will transform the Church and the world. Follow the plan in the readings; pray for those who are lost and wandering. Beg God to have mercy on them for the sake of the person they once were and the person they still could be.

Most important of all, ask daily how God is calling you to return to him. In what ways has your soul become lost or injured? Let yourself be found by Him. Accept his mercy and then go out and bring others to that healing forgiveness God longs to share with the whole world.

Give Him the Best, He Will Take Care of the Rest (23rd Sunday, Year C)

The opening phrase of today's Gospel is troubling, especially if we take it at face value. Can Jesus really be telling us to hate the ones most near and dear to our heart? Can the One who professes to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life also insist that we hate our own lives?

This is one of many places in the Gospel where Jesus speaks using something called hyperbole, which is a tactic of using shocking imagery to catch the listener's or reader's attention. Jesus says we cannot be his disciples if we come to him without hating father and mother, wife and husband, children and parents, brothers and sister, and even our own lives. This is shocking and catches our attention. It probably even makes us shake our head in confusion.    

So, what’s this about?  The Lord is not telling us to ignore the Fourth commandment of honoring our father and mother.  He is not telling us to refuse to see God in others. He is waking us up with hyperbole to make sure we don’t miss the demands and sacrifices that come with being His disciples.    

There was a Dilbert comic strip that illuminated this gospel teaching in a humorous way.  As many of you know, Dilbert is a comic strip about office workers with an incompetent, pointy haired boss, people of various abilities, and all sorts of other characters.     

One character is a woman who is continually late for the morning meeting.  One of her co-workers decides to challenge her.     

The strip starts off with the woman saying: "Sorry, I'm late.  Traffic was terrible."    

The co-worker asks: "Isn't the traffic from your house always terrible this time of day?"     

The woman says, "Exactly.  That's why I'm late every day."  

The co-worker continues: "Do you see any way you could fix that?"  

The woman: "Well, I can't control the traffic."  

Co-worker: "You could leave earlier." 

Woman: "Then I wouldn't get enough sleep"  

Co-worker: "You could go to bed earlier."  

Woman: "Then I wouldn't be able to watch Netflix until two in the morning,  

An uncomfortable pause is followed by the woman asking: "Do you want me to hate my life?"  

The co-worker sighs: "I didn't until now."  

Her lifestyle was keeping her from her work.  It is not that there is anything wrong with Netflix (if there is, then I’m in BIG trouble!).  The problem is that it became more important to her than her job. Her love for it has gotten out of proportion. So, in her case, she should hate her current way of life and anything that keeps her from doing what she needs to do. Just as we should hate anything that keeps us from doing what we need to do first and foremost: Love and serve God.   

The parables in today's Gospel tell us we have to have a plan for how we are going to live as Christians. Things won’t fall into place on their own. We won’t become saints and faithful followers of Christ by default; in fact, because of original sin, on our own, we will become the exact opposite. We have to ask ourselves how we can best prepare ourselves and the world for the Lord.  We have to stop and look at the many threads of our lives and consider how they are woven into the whole cloth.  

What are some of those threads? We have work or school.  We have families and friends.  We have sports and hobbies.  We have our bodies. We have to exercise, eat properly and take care of ourselves. Most important, we have those whom we love and those whom we need to seek out and love. All these are the threads that make up the fabric of our lives and each needs to be cared for in the right order and proportion. If we are not constantly examining these different parts of our lives and adjusting the proportion they claim of our hearts, we are in big trouble! 

We also have to consider the parts of our lives that are tearing us away from who we need to be.  This means we have to make hard choices.  Maybe we need more sleep and less social media, or more family time and less time before a screen. Maybe we need fewer office projects, school commitments, sports teams or the million other activities that keep us away from those who have a right to our love and full attention. 

To be a disciple of Christ means to constantly move beyond the eternally-insignificant things we throw into our lives and make time first for the things of God.  When Jesus speaks about hating father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even our own lives, He is using hyperbole to shock us and get us to pause to examine our lives for anything or anyone that causes us to lose our focus on Him.  

One final reflection: Think of all the time, energy, passion, love and hard work you put into the things and people you value most. Our athletes know the amount of sweat, discomfort, soreness and sacrifice that they have committed towards the goal of making the team. Students know the amount of time, concentration, study, repetition, and sacrifice that goes into getting good grades. Friends and spouses know how much is invested in their relationship with their beloved. How many days, weeks, and years have gone into their relationship, the sacrificing that takes place so the other person knows they are loved and valued. The long process of learning how to communicate and understand the other person and building up trust. Those of you with established careers know the pain of putting in long hours, taking the jobs no one else wanted to tackle, of being a team player and working with difficult people. 

In all these cases, we are willing to sacrifice so much to accomplish a good thing that is important to us. Can any of us say that we put at least the same amount of focus, energy, passion, and effort into loving and serving God? I’m not talking about more, just equal amounts! When I thought about this question, writing this homily, I was humbled. I keep my appointments with near-perfect dependability but how often I skip prayer or cut it short? I return emails and phone calls religiously but struggle to talk to God throughout the day. I am current with news and even some celebrity gossip but its like pulling teeth to do spiritual reading. I am proud of how much I have grown as an administrator, woodworker, and human over the last several years but can I stand before God and say the same about my growth as a Christian? I confess that this gospel shows me I have much to work on or, to put it more accurately, there is much in my life I need to surrender to God.

Nothing is more important than loving and serving Him. Not our stuff, not our likes, not our position among peers, our accomplishments, or even the people in our lives. We cannot allow anything to stand in the way of being disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus, help us to give you the best of what we have and who we are and then trust you will place everything and everyone in our lives in the right order for lasting peace, joy, and love. 

Humble Yourself or Be Humbled (22nd Sunday, Cycle C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

For those who are not Christians, one of the hardest things to understand is why we consider pride to be a sin. In our contemporary culture people generally use the word "pride" in a positive sense. For example, it is a good thing to take pride in your work. It means to strive for excellence. We all prefer a mechanic or carpenter or surgeon who takes pride in their craft and we encourage our young people to take pride in who they are and what they do.

We also use the word to signify a type of gratitude, for instance, to take pride in one’s country. I am proud of being an American because I recognize the achievements and benefits of my country. That pride can actually be a form of humility because whatever goodness comes from the United States has very little to do with my tiny contribution but is mostly something I have received as a gift. Pride in our country, our family, and our parish can be a form of gratitude and humility to a certain extent.

Pride in the sense of acknowledging a gift received and striving for excellence is obviously a very positive thing. However, in the Bible the word pride has a very different connotation. Pride in the scriptures is better understood as the desire to be in charge, to try and have all the answers, to put my will above the Almighty’s, and forget that I am the creature not the creator. Perhaps it would be better to use the words arrogance and vanity to make this biblical concept of pride more clear. When Christians speak of pride as the head and root of all sin, they are referring to arrogance and vanity.

It is against this sense of pride that Sirach and Jesus are fighting in today's readings. When Sirach says, "What is too sublime for you, seek not," he is not discouraging study and research, but rather a certain type of arrogance. We may have authority in one field like education or engineering, but that does not make us an expert in medicine or finance or theology. The first reading is warning us to know and acknowledge our limitations. Not only that but also suggesting the wiser we become, the more freely we will admit our limits and be humble. Arrogance and vanity are hallmarks of the foolish. Jesus goes a bit further. He tells us to take the lowest place whenever possible. While that may be difficult, it is a beautiful thing when a great person humbles themselves.

About one hundred and sixty years ago, a Scottish surgeon named Sir James Simpson made an important discovery. In 1847, Dr. Simpson was conducting experiments with chloroform. He realized that by using chloroform, doctors could perform intricate operations without causing pain to their patients. His discovery revolutionized modern medicine. Toward the end of his life, Simpson was lecturing at the University of Edinburgh. One of the students asked what he considered his most valuable discovery. The students expected him to say how he came upon the medical use of chloroform. To the surprise of the students, Dr. Simpson replied, "My most valuable discovery was when I discovered myself a sinner and that Jesus Christ was my Savior.” Dr. James Simpson exemplifies the humility that today's readings describe. He is just one example of an expert who was also a humble Christian.

When you think about it, every human relationship depends on humility. A person who is arrogant and vain can never be a good spouse, a good parent or a good friend. They are so full of themselves that they have no room for anyone else. A humble person makes a place for the other person. Sirach put it this way, "conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.”

Humility is not easy to come by. Perhaps sometimes you feel like me; I want to be humble but it’s hard because I’m always right! How difficult to admit that we are sometimes wrong or, to say "maybe I am right, but my relationship to the person I disagree with is more important than proving I am right." Try to hear the words of Sirach in your ear: Conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.

Humility makes possible a relationship with other people. It also makes possible a relationship with God. There is a saying, "maintain your sanity by keeping two things in mind: First, God exists. Second, I am not him." To have a relationship with God, we have to stop trying to be God and accept our limitations. Faith cannot happen if we are not willing to become humble and trust in the Lord’s plan for us and for the world. How can God speak to us if we only listen to His messages that fit with our plans and desires? Many times we let our craving for control get the best of us and try to do things our way, according to our wisdom. How foolish that really is! It’s like saying to God, “step aside and let me show you how things are done.” This way of thinking and living always ends in disaster.

All of us need to grow in humility to some degree. We can easily see the arrogance and vainglory of others, but we have a harder time recognizing our own. We can either submit ourselves freely to these lessons and let God teach us through prayer, service to others, and learning more about him through Church teaching and Scripture. Or we can go the hard way getting humbled by our own pride and vanity as we inevitably discover the limitations of our own abilities and knowledge. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." 

Setting the World on Fire (20th Sunday, Year C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

I am always fascinated by the different images used to portray God. Some famous paintings show a mighty and majestic God. Others show his creative power or fearsome fury. Still others illustrate a God of great love who suffers and dies for us. Oftentimes, contemporary images show God as our friend. You can find pictures of Jesus playing sports with children. There are figurines of Jesus running around with a basketball, football, and soccer ball. Of course he is very friendly and smiling and pretty much looks like an overgrown member of the team-the ultimate ringer! Some folks even take it a step further. I remember attending a youth conference and seeing a t-shirt that said: “Jesus is my home boy.” We like the idea of being able to call God our friend and for good reason. In the gospel of John Jesus says, “I no longer call you slaves but friends.”

Nevertheless, it can be easy to end up with a narrow image of God. Maybe he is someone so far away that he is not part of our everyday lives. Or, if we are not careful, we can confine him to simply being one of the guys, someone we can decide whether or not we want to hang out with. But Jesus, in addition to being our friend, is also our Lord and Savior. He did not become Incarnate simply to be nice, cool, or another inspiring historical person. He came to save humanity from sin and death. In these roles of Lord and Savior, he sometimes demands things that are difficult. Jesus does not simply want to play baseball or football. As Lord, he will also ask us to do things that are difficult, unpleasant, and hard to understand. As a most wise and caring friend, he  challenges us, rebukes us when we break the rules, and teaches us important lessons in life, even when it means a little suffering.

This image of Jesus is a little less popular. So far, I have not seen pictures of Jesus showing a red card or ejecting a child from a baseball game. Nor have I seen a figurine of Christ taking the car keys away from a careless teenager or telling a disobedient child to go to the time-out chair. The fact is, the notion of Jesus as disciplinarian doesn’t sell real well and it doesn’t necessarily sit very well with us either.

The Jesus of today’s gospel is a far cry from the caricature of a smiling, laughing Jesus that many people are comfortable with. He is also a far cry from the nice-guy, “family values” Jesus that dominates the discourse of so much modern Christianity. If “setting the world on fire” means “dividing families,” then do we really want to preach on this gospel? Isn’t there enough tearing our families apart? Today’s readings are not encouraging division and mayhem but are reminding us that the gospel is not simply about “being nice.” In fact, God’s prophetic call disrupts the status quo and can even put us at odds with those closest to us if they are not committed to the truth of the Gospel. In the first reading we hear about the saga of Jeremiah, who had been an advisor to King Zedekiah. Yet after just a little lobbying, the king gives him over to his tormentors, mainly because of Jeremiah’s unpopular predictions of Jerusalem’s impending fall to Babylon. Like Jeremiah, the Psalmist finds himself in the “pit of destruction” and the “mud of the swamp,” crying out to God in classic lament form: “Lord, come to my aid! O my God, hold not back!” In a similar context of collective suffering, the writer of Hebrews exhorts his community to persevere in running the race of faith, even to the point of shedding blood. In Luke, the refining fire of Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God is burning a path right through the most intimate of relationships, the human family.

So what is the point here? Are we supposed to leave church and start arguments and divisions within our families and friendships? No, certainly not! But can we ignore these challenging words of Jesus and just write them off as him having a bad day or exaggerating his teaching? Definitely not! Jesus doesn’t utter words that are useless or meaningless. Every phrase is meant to help us get to heaven and if we try to pick and choose, we do so at our own peril!

Jesus says that he has come to set the world on fire for the gospel. This fire won’t necessarily bring peace and harmony. It can produce divisions even within a family if God and holiness are not the number one priority. So how does this truth reconcile with another truth that Christians are supposed to live in peace with everybody? How can Jesus say he came on purpose to set things on fire?

We have to understand what true peace is first. Peace is a kind of order and unity. We have true peace with other people when we share the same fundamental values and priorities and this “oneness” unites us around goodness. That last condition matters. A mother who is one with her toddler because she does everything her baby wants does not have peace. She is actually his prisoner, and her giving in to his every wish could end up being the worst possible thing for the baby and her on so many levels. Peace results only when she and her baby are one with each other in what is good for both of them, for her as mother and for him as the child.

Of course, the same point applies to adults. It’s impossible to have true peace in the world and true peace in the Church by just wanting to get along, be nice to each other, and avoid any arguments. That is a good place to start but there has to be something much more profound and noble that unites us. That thing, that person is Jesus and the gospel way of life he teaches. Nothing, not even beautiful family relationships can come before that. If it does, the resulting peace will be uneasy and temporary. Worst case, our desire to avoid spiritual conflict can result in the loss of heaven for ourselves and others. 

Today’ readings should make us a little uncomfortable. They challenge the notion that we are simply called to be nice people and get along with others no matter what. Jesus’ mission and desire is this: be on fire for goodness. Our God is a consuming fire of love, and there is peace for us only if we are one with him in that fire. One last point: the thing about fire is that it is always either growing or going out. It never simply stays the same. So where is our fire right now? Is it growing hotter and stronger or going out little by little?

May Jesus find within our hearts a fire that is raging for goodness, holiness, justice, and peace, not simply for ourselves but for others as well! 

Don't Trust the Wrong Things!! (18th Sunday, Year C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

The first reading for today is not exactly uplifting. The author of this book is a total spiritual Debbie-downer. Some think that this book of Ecclesiastics was  either written by King Solomon in his last days or about him from someone who knew his thoughts and feelings at the end of his life. 

If we recall Solomon, we remember he was one of the most blessed men that ever lived. His father, king David, left him a prosperous and powerful kingdom. Before he ever ascended to the throne, he had wealth, peace, and a powerful army. As a young man, God came to him and said what do you want from me? Solomon said just give me wisdom, which pleased God greatly at the time. 

However, as the years went by, Solomon, even though he was continually blessed with every good thing this world can offer, continued to store up these things apart from God. He stopped developing his relationship with the Lord and eventually the wealth, the power, the hundreds of wives, and the massive armies could not fulfill this once wise man. The more he tried to find happiness and fulfillment in these things, the emptier he became. If you read the complete book of Ecclesiastes, you will detect a deep sense of bitterness and cynicism. The conclusions of the author? Nothing in life lasts. Good people and bad people both die in the end. Wisdom won’t save you. Just have a good time. Eat drink and be merry.

How depressing if this is all there is to life! Why in the world would the church use this at mass, much less keep this in the bible?!

I think for two reasons: One, many people struggle with this dilemma. In our time, we are in the position of Solomon. We have so many good material things. We are wealthy in comparison to 90% of the planet. We have more food than we can eat. We have easy access to knowledge and education. We take for granted so much that the rest of the world only dreams of. And yet, so many are profoundly unhappy and feel empty. Our riches and abundance, apart from God, do not fulfill us. The dissatisfaction of Solomon resonates deeply with modern culture. Our wise Church knows that this book can speak to us and offers it to us as a sort of spiritual warning not to rely only on human wisdom or resources to get through our time on earth. 

The second and more important reason is that there is an answer for the sadness and despair of Solomon just as there is an answer for the despair and depression of modern society. That answer can only be Jesus. He is the true wisdom that Solomon lost. He is the bridge to a relationship with the living God. He is the victor over death who brings meaning and strength to every triumph and tragedy, to good times and bad. The first reading doesn’t make sense in the bible or at Mass unless we read it with Jesus as the answer. If we just stay at the level of the author, it simply expresses the limits of human wisdom and understanding which isn’t enough to get through the mysteries of this life.

The parable of Jesus in the gospel builds on this theme of trying to find fulfillment in the things of this world. The Lord’s remark that, “...though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions”  is particularly appropriate for our society: In our society having is equated with being and having more is interpreted as being more. The reverse side of this coin is that having less is interpreted as being less and the glaring inequality in having is echoed in the terrible inequality of respect offered to those who have less.

We want to remember that every parable of Jesus is meant to be applied on three levels: first, as it applies to our world, second as it applies to the Church, and lastly, as it applies to us as individuals. Jesus’ stories and wisdom found the parables can’t reach their fullest power and relevance unless we reflect on them in this three-fold way. When we do, it’s amazing how relevant and powerful they still are!

With this in mind, the story of the rich man offers two points worthy of consideration. The first point is the rich man’s self-centeredness. The wealth resulting from his abundant harvest will be enjoyed by him alone. An abundant harvest would most likely require a larger work force, but the idea of sharing with the laborers the benefits of the bumper crop never crossed the rich man’s mind. We may not be rich farmers ourselves, but we have all been blessed with a variety of gifts, an abundant crop. We need to be willing to share with others the benefits of that crop or risk becoming the man who is completely unprepared to meet God when his life is over.

The other point in the parable is the trust and energy he puts in the harvest. He is banking on this abundance to be his refuge and happiness. It’s his safety net. And yet, once he dies, it is absolutely meaningless. The things he spent so much time and energy building up can do nothing for him in death and just crumble away.

These are sobering lessons to reflect on. But better to think about them now and make the necessary adjustments and changes than to realize it when it is too late! And so today we ask ourselves, “Are there worldly things in which I put my trust, trust that is only meant for God?” Do I hope to find fulfillment and happiness in the things of this world, things which can be very good, but which ultimately will crumble away. Lastly, how much of my time and energy am I putting into developing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? The one thing that will last and bring perspective to the good and bad times of life? This is the most important thing that death cannot take away!

If there are changes we need to make to our thinking and acting, that’s ok. But let’s not put it off until tomorrow. Most importantly, let's never forget that our peace, happiness, and security can never come from what what material things we have stored up for ourselves but only through a living relationship with Jesus Christ!