Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s rarely heard during this election season. Norman Vincent Peale, the proponent of positive thinking, observed “When you pray for anyone you tend to modify your personal attitude toward him.” I think we need more prayer.

If polls are accurate soon half the country may be happy and half unhappy. Politicians in Colonial America sought feedback from constituents by sending assistants to taverns to “go sip some ale and listen to the conversations.” “You go sip here” and “I'll go sip there.” The words “go sip” morphed into the word “gossip.” Maybe that’s what polls are. Enough! On to the Word of God.

Sometimes we ask ourselves: what’s the one thing I want to be remembered for? Or if I could save one item from my house, what would it be? Such questions reveal what’s important to us.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus was asked “Which is the first of all the commandments?” The scribe is asking Jesus to prioritize God's commandments. Without hesitating, Jesus quotes the She’ma, a prayer still recited today by Jews:

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 

That prayer is the farewell address of Moses in the passage from the Book of Deuteronomy. What would we want to say or write in our farewells to those we love?

Jesus quickly adds a quote from the holiness code in the Book of Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribe responds: You are right…to love God and to love your neighbor is worth “more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” I think it's amusing that the scribe tells Jesus, “You’re right.”

The letter to the Hebrews speaks about Jesus Christ, our high priest, who through his death and resurrection opened to all humankind eternal life with God.

Yes, we believe in the mystery of death is eternal life. God called us out of nothingness for a specific purpose and an unimaginable future. The crucified/risen Christ anticipates this future that can be ours.  So how might we experience this glorious future?

One way perhaps is by becoming more aware of the presence of God as we go about our daily routines: yes, work, shopping, travel, exercise, meals with family and friends.

A writer emphasized the importance of the present moment in this:

I have no yesterdays … time took them away;

tomorrow may not be, but I have today.

Make the most of today ...

Take time today to pray; it brings us closer to God.

Take time to be friendly and hospitable; it’s the source of much happiness;

take time to work; it’s the price of success.

And take time to do acts of kindness; it’s the key to heaven.

Yes, let's make the best of each moment. One way is to practice the presence of God. The great masters of Christian spirituality say this practice is an art.  The contemporary Trappist monk, Thomas Keating, promoted through his books this practice which he called Centering Prayer: striving to place ourselves in the presence of God through silence.

And where better to begin than in this liturgy.  Yes, we encounter the living Christ in a privileged way in the liturgy. The Risen Christ is present as we gather: remember the words, wherever two or three gather in my name, there I am in their midst. The triune God dwells in each of us. That is why hospitality is so important. 

In this liturgy we connect as sons and daughters of God our Father, disciples of Jesus, in a way that expresses the unity of the mystical body of Christ.

Jesus invites us through the presider to worship our heavenly Father. It is really Christ who invites us to sing and pray with him.

We encounter the living Christ in the word.  We hear the reader's voice but it is Christ speaking. We ought to listen with open ears and open hearts because Christ has a word, perhaps a single word, meant for each of us, a word that hits home.

Then Christ reveals his presence to us in the reality of his body and blood which he offers to us as spiritual nourishment.

Our Catholic tradition teaches us that the bread and wine truly become the reality of Jesus Christ. Christ offers us himself in the meal we call communion. This is an intensely personal and communal moment in which we are deeply united with Christ and with all who share this sacred meal worldwide. Communion links us through the sacramental body of Jesus Christ to his mystical body.

Yes, this liturgical gathering connects us to a worldwide faith community.  

If we experience the presence of the living Christ, then we shall practice the art of the presence of God more readily in our daily routine.

May God grace us abundantly as we go about our routines and make the best of each present moment. Amen.

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Every youngster knows what Thursday is. "Halloween" is a contraction of All Hallows' Eve. It’s an old-fashioned way of saying "the night before All Saints' Day." So, if your children or grandkids go trick or treating, be sure they have a fun and safe time, and ask them to tell you about their baptismal name saint. One of the best places for a fun and safe Halloween is here on Church grounds beginning at 5:30 pm. 

The Word of God takes us back to the 6th century before Jesus. Jeremiah speaks about hope: a new beginning for a people now conquered but soon to be free, now overwhelmed by tragedies but soon to enjoy prosperity and peace.  Jeremiah challenges us to hope always in God.

The letter to the Hebrews speaks of the saving work of Jesus, our high priest who re-established our relationship with God and one another. The author challenges us to see earthly life in light of our true purpose: a new heavenly reality with God and each other forever.

In the Gospel, Jesus asks a blind man: “what do you want me to do for you?” The person replies: “I want to see.” Jesus replies: “Your faith has saved you.” And the blind man saw. It’s “Amazing Grace” – “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

Jesus asks each of us today what we want him to do for us. How do we answer Jesus?

I would like to speak about another person who was once blind to who Jesus was, and suddenly saw him as the living Christ: St. Paul.

Paul was well educated in Judaism and philosophy. He had also been a rabid persecutor of the early Christians.

Suddenly Paul was blinded by a light from above. The awesome visionary experience of Christ turned Paul’s life around. He became God’s chosen instrument to the non-Jews, a great evangelizer. Paul established faith communities and authored letters shaping the history of Christian thought. For this, he was persecuted and finally beheaded for his faith.

I believe Paul had a keen insight into what makes people tick. The desire for happiness is universal. We often do things that we think will make us happy, only to end up miserable. Why? Because we sometimes confuse pleasure with happiness. Etched into Paul’s vision were the words of Jesus: "I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."

For Paul, the path to the fullness of life is discipline. Think about it. When we eat well, exercise often, and sleep regularly, we feel alive physically. When we love, when we give priority to our significant relationships, when we encourage people, we feel alive emotionally. When we study the achievements and marvels of the human spirit in various cultures, our world expands and we feel alive intellectually.

And when we take time each day with God in prayer, humbly and openly, we experience more fully the transcendent dimension of our lives, the spiritual, the awesome presence of God. All of these life-giving endeavors require discipline. Discipline sets us free for our ultimate purpose: love of God and our fellow human beings.

Paul grasped this and preached that Christ came to reconcile us with the Father, and in doing so, Christ satisfies the craving for happiness that preoccupies our hearts. Our yearning is ultimately for friendship and intimacy and relationship with our Creator. Augustine’s words in the fifth century echo anew in every place, in every time: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, Lord.”

For St. Paul, Christ is indeed “the way, the truth, and the life.”

And who is this Jesus who captivated Paul and should captivate us? The Gospel writers give us a glimpse. They wrote to different audiences and emphasized different ways in which to follow Jesus.

In Matthew, Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the new Moses, the teacher, the rabbi who instructs the disciples, especially in the Beatitudes; and Matthew invites us to teach as well, especially by example, by the practice of virtue.

In Mark, Jesus is the suffering Messiah—human, approachable. Mark proposes that like the early Christians, we may have to cope with suffering. We may wonder at times if God has forgotten us. But Jesus reminds us, “do not fear. I am with you always.”

In Luke, Jesus is compassionate and forgiving, and salvation is for everyone. Remember the parable of the prodigal son. Luke challenges us to be compassionate and forgiving in our relationships with one another.

In John, Jesus is noble, majestic, divine. “The Word was God.” “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus invites the first disciples to stay with him, and John invites us to stay with Jesus, especially in prayer.

Jesus is more than any one person can describe. What image of Jesus inspires each of us to become the kind of person today that Jesus was? Let that image captivate us the way it captivated so many holy men and women in Christianity.

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Scripture is comprised of human-interest stories. And so is life today. For example, a pastor, while eating lunch in a local restaurant, opened a letter from his mother, and a twenty-dollar bill fell out. He thought, Thanks, Mom. I could use that. But as he left, he noticed a person who seemed “out of work” on the sidewalk. He put the twenty back in the envelope and wrote “Persevere!” and handed it to the man. 

Next day, the same man handed the pastor a big wad of money. The pastor asked, “What’s this?” The man said, “It's your half of the winnings. Persevere won at the track, thirty to one.” That’s an example of perseverance paying off.       

To encourage our own perseverance, the word of God takes us back to the sixth century before Jesus, via the Book of Isaiah. Here is one of the four so-called “servant songs.” The author portrays an innocent servant who suffers and dies so that others can have life. 

The early Christians saw in this song Jesus, who through his death and resurrection re-connected us to the triune God.

The author may be asking us whether we are growing in our relationship with God? The Letter to the Hebrews proclaims a great high priest, completely divine yet completely human, who through his horrific death and glorious resurrection re-establishes our relationship with God. 

And so the question may be: do we realize that at the heart of Christianity is our relationship with the triune God and one another?

In the Gospel, two disciples argue over the privilege of status in “the age to come” without realizing the cost of discipleship here and now. 

Jesus says: “Can you drink the cup that I drink?” That is, the “cup of suffering.” Then Jesus concludes: to be a disciple is to serve others. 

Serving is what true leadership is all about in our faith community. Good leadership, many would argue, is achieving goals for the greater common good and at the same time preserving one's integrity.

In light of the bible readings, I would like to reflect briefly on the mystery of suffering.

Our faith proclaims that hidden in every Good Friday is an Easter hope or joy. Think about it. Someone in a family is diagnosed with a severe illness, or loses a job, or sees a relationship unravel. Together, this family tries to deal with this “cross” and thereby brings hope, healing, and peace to this situation.

We sometimes find ourselves stuck in problems– these challenges may batter and even overwhelm us. Yet our faith challenges us to remember that good ultimately will conquer evil, that love transforms hate, that light shatters darkness. The ministry of Jesus did not end in the tragedy of the cross but in the triumph of the Resurrection.

In his memoir book “The Night,” Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel describes how Nazi guards marched all the inmates at a concentration camp outside and there hung a youngster – as a warning not to try an escape. As the youngster died, Elie Wiesel, a youngster himself, heard a voice say: Where is God now?

This is an eternal question. As we reflect upon the human situation today, we realize the entire planet yearns for God’s healing grace.

There is of course no satisfactory answer to the mystery of suffering and evil. Suffering does sometimes result from immoral behavior, from the misuse of freedom. 

At other times, suffering results from a universe in progress, to paraphrase St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. Hurricanes are an example: a natural disaster with which we must grapple.

Ultimately, how to respond to inescapable suffering?

First, remember that God is always near us, bringing us to fuller life. God will never abandon us. The book of Isaiah says, “Can a mother forget her infant…and, even if she does, I will never forget you.”

And second, the mystery of inescapable suffering can have healing and redemptive power. Jesus, through his passion, death and resurrection re-established the relationship we had with God in the beginning. Jesus brought forth for all the best of the Talmud which urged: 

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. 

Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. 

You are not obligated to complete the work, 

but neither are you free to abandon it.”

Yes, our inescapable pains, borne with love, can be redemptive; can bring forth new life in ourselves and in others. The sufferings of Jesus did precisely that. Remember that we have in Jesus a companion able to sympathize with our weaknesses, who has similarly been tested in every way. (Heb.)

We cannot begin to imagine what life after this earthly life will be like. Yet, in light of the word of God, hidden in the sufferings of Jesus on Good Friday was the glory of his resurrection on Easter.

And we can bring Easter hope to someone’s suffering by reaching out with a helping hand, a listening ear, an encouraging message.

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 14 is Columbus Day; it’s also Indigenous Peoples Day. Christopher Columbus symbolizes, for me, perseverance. This sailor and explorer surmised if the world was round, you can reach the east by sailing west. It took a long time to convince Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to fund this exploration.

Columbus' voyages connected the so-called Old and New Worlds. Thus, began the age of great discovery with its triumphs and tragedies.

A person of vision, Columbus never gave up on his dream. And we have our dreams too. Not all dreams come true, but some will if we persevere. 

The word of God takes us back to the wisdom literature of ancient Israel. The author pleads, not for wealth or power or fame or beauty, but for true wisdom.

That enables us to distinguish what’s important in life, to answer those fundamental questions: Why am I here? What is my purpose? Today we might ask God to grace us anew with true wisdom.

The Letter to the Hebrews speaks about the word of God which, like a surgical knife, can open us up and reveal our true purpose: living an other-centered, God-centered life. The author may be asking you and me: what drives us? God and service to our fellow human beings? Or our own self-concerns?

In the Gospel, we have the story of the well-to-do young man who is not content with his life. He’s looking for something more. He wants eternal life. 

Oh, yes, he has observed all the commandments. But he wants to know: what else should he do? And Jesus recognizes the potential for spiritual greatness within him and says: Go, sell what you have and follow me.

Sadly, this person couldn’t give up what he had. He couldn’t see the spiritual potential within himself to follow Jesus.

Yes, the young man was searching for fuller and deeper meaning. The so-called “good life” didn’t seem to satisfy him. 

Wanting to live for something more, greater than oneself, motivates many people.

A well-known twentieth century author of 60 books, Viktor Frankl, was imprisoned in four Nazi concentration camps in WW II. Among the books he wrote is the classic “Man’s Search for Meaning.”

In prewar Vienna, Frankl had a wife, two children, a good psychiatric profession and a comfortable home. But he lost all of these because he was Jewish. In these concentration camps, he lost every earthly thing he treasured – parents, wife, children, profession, home. And these losses brought him face-to-face with the fundamental questions of life: What should I be living for? What is my purpose?

Frankl discovered that people could put up with incredible hardships, cruelties and sufferings, without losing their serenity and respect for others, provided they saw that these hardships had some ultimate meaning.

In their hearts, people yearn for something or someone that can bring greater value to their lives.

This can take different forms: such as family, a profession, a passion for human rights, the greater common good, and so forth. When a person finds something with transcendent meaning, that meaning awakens new energies within. People see more, perform better and, in short, they become men and women of faith.

Every person of faith has someone or something to whom he or she gives their ultimate allegiance. That objective may be something quite finite -- wealth or power as in today’s Gospel -- or it may be God himself, the absolute good.

The 19th century Russian novelist Fydor Dostoevsky in his classic “Brothers Karamozov” wrote: “Every man, every woman, must bend his or her knee before some god.”

You and I profess to find the ultimate purpose of life in a relationship with God, a God who:

--by the power of the Spirit became one of us in Jesus;

--transformed the crucified Jesus into a new heavenly reality; and is alive among us today especially in the sacramental life of our global faith community;

--challenges us to reach out compassionately to his image in our fellow human beings; and eventually to let go of our earthly life so that God can transform us into a new kind of spiritual embodiment, as God transformed Jesus into a new heavenly reality.

Jesus in the Gospel recognized the potential for spiritual greatness in the young man, and when asked, gave him a pathway. But the man walked away.

What obstacles might be within ourself, that keep us from experiencing the fullness of life in God's kingdom? How can we roll away those stumbling blocks that prevent us from following Jesus?

There’s a saying “You don’t know what you have until you lose it.” Challenging times, like hurricanes Helene and Milton, make us aware of our gifts, including the gift of the comfort of home. Let us pray to persevere, to see the potential within one another, to help one another, to realize the incredible ability for goodness that we all have. Amen.