The mystery of God

In his First Letter to the Corinthians chapter 2:1 St. Paul speaks of the mystery of God. “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.”  What is the mystery of God? It is the sum of the revelation of God that could only be known by faith. We have the gift of human knowledge that allows us to comprehend the depths of creation. But this gift is limited to what we can see and touch. But there is a vast knowledge that is outside of the scope of our human ability to know and understand.

St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans explained this mystery of God in this way. “Oh, the depths of the richness of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable are his ways!” (Romans 11:33)

But God in his great love for us has enable us to embrace the mystery of God in faith. This faith is based on a personal relationship with Jesus, who is the Word of God. How blessed are we! But the mystery of God will remain such even in heaven, where faith will still be our only way of comprehending. Thank you, God, for your great love for us. 

The lies that the Devil sows in the heart of Christians are sown to distract and discourage, to confuse and to contradict, to divert and to dilute the truth. This was the intent of the Father of lies when he tempted Eve. He starts with a half truth until we fall for the lie. Like a fisherman, once we fall for the bait he pulls us in. He is subtle and persistent. Because he has lost relationship with God, he seeks to destroy our relationship with God, by separating us from the Source of our life.

Like our ancestors, we are gullible to the sham of the Devil. We have fallen many times because we give him the time of day. We are lured by him into thinking that on our own we will win. He has been at this game of trickery  longer than we have been alive. It is call divide and conquer.

What we fail to do is to remember that we do not have to fight the battle. Jesus has already done that in our stead. We need to keep our heart rooted in Jesus and get behind him, fixing our eyes on him. His strength is sufficient, while on our own we are weak. He will speak the truth of his love to us, countering the lie of the Devil. Listen to his voice and remain free.

One of the tactics of the Devil is to speak lies to us. Rightly is he called the Father of lies. One of his favorite lies is that of fear. These fears are like control bottoms that the Devil presses at will to keep us under his domination. He tells us that we are helpless to overcome these fears and this leaves us hopeless.

The message that brought fear into Jairus’ heart was the death of his daughter. But the truth that Jesus spoke to him was “Fear not”; the remedy Jesus offered was trust. The remedy that Jesus offers us to the sinkhole of fear is himself. “Fear not. It is I. I am with you.” Though the hurricane winds and the power of the waves want to engulf us, Jesus says “Keep your eyes on me and cling to me.” Over the roar of fear comes the assured whisper of trust.

When this trust is expressed in love and when we grow in our love of God, then this love overcomes fear. Listen to the words from St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans.

“Then who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation? Or anguish? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or peril? Or persecution? Or the sword?...But in all these things we overcome, because of him who has loved us. For I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor the present things, nor the future things, nor strength, nor the heights, nor the depths, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 37-39) 

Homily: Twenty-second Sunday Year A

Reading 1: Jeremiah did not want to be a prophet for the Lord, but he submitted to the will of God. Even though God told him that the people would resist and reject his word, Jeremiah probably believed that eventually the people would respond. When they didn’t and when they responded by persecuting Jeremiah, the prophet uttered this cry to God: “You duped me. You tricked me.”

He realized at that moment the hopelessness of his ministry, the ineffectiveness of his message and indeed the suffering he was enduring. He was tempted to abandon the prophetic message and ministry. But something within him would not allow this. He called it a “fire burning in my heart”. What was this? It was his relationship with God, who had made such a major impact in his life that he could not deny nor walk away.

As a result, Jeremiah continued to prophesy, even though he was rejected and persecuted. Without this personal relationship with God, Jeremiah knew his life would not be the same.

Each of us by virtue of baptism and confirmation has been called and anointed to be a prophet of the Lord. We are called to speak the truth of God’s love and plan in word and in action. For this we may suffer. For this we may shrink back and try to run away from the call. Like Jeremiah God pursues us to carry out his message. 

Gospel: In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus asked the apostles who do you say I am? Peter responded: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He answered correctly under the inspiration of the Father, but he did not fully comprehend the full truth of the statement. This is obvious from today’s reading.

Jesus begins to explain to the disciples what it means for him to be the Christ. The Son of Man will suffer greatly at the hands of the religious leaders like Jeremiah, be killed but on the third day rise again. The Christ is to be a suffering Messiah, not a political, revolutionary messiah, which was Peter’s notion.

Just as immediately Peter had proclaimed the truth, he blurted out his real understanding which was not from the Father. Jesus rebuked him for thinking in human terms rather than in God’s. Jesus had freely chosen to do the will of that Father, even to the death on the cross. He came to set the world free from the domination of Satan. He knew he would be rejected and have to give his life for our life. To all this he freely said yes. He didn’t feel duped like Jeremiah. Even when he humanly cried to the Father: “Father, take away this cup of suffering”, he followed with “but not my will but yours be done.”

But Jesus went further than Jeremiah. He said that those who follow him as disciples must in their own way so fall in love with God that they embrace his will in all things. Whatever the cross is, however small or large, the Lord is present with us, inviting us to keep our eyes fixed on him with the faith assurance of life eternal with him.

Reading 2: Paul is concerned about the growth in holiness for the people whom he led to Jesus. Paul, too, experienced rejection and persecution for speaking the message of salvation to Jews and Gentiles. But Paul’s life had been changed by the grace and mercy of God. Paul was called to be an apostle of the Good News. Not only was he concerned to bring people to salvation in Jesus, but to urged them to grow in their new life, so that one day they may be with God forever in glory.

What is his message? They were not only to be converted but to be transformed by the renewal of their minds. How? They were to discern God’s will for them and choose to do what is good, perfect and pleasing to God. This is what Jeremiah sought to do. He chose not to let the people’s negative reaction determine how he should live but to seek to discern God’s will and do it.

Is this our attitude? Peter put it another way. “It is better for us to obey God than man.” It is not easy to discern the will of God. But even this effort and desire is the first step. For it shows that our heart is focus on the Lord and not on others.

“Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. The greatest pain comes from leaving. When the child leaves home, when the husband or wife leaves for a long period of time or for good, when the beloved friend departs to another country or dies … the pain of the leaving can tear us apart.

Still, if we want to avoid the suffering of leaving, we will never experience the joy of loving. And love is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.” (Henri Nouwen)

The mystery of true love involves the mystery of pain. For in loving the other we may feel rejection or non-love in return. The other may not be able to love us as we would wish or to the same decree as we love. Their love may initially excite me but in time become routine or infrequent. Still I am urged to love by God.

Jesus felt this pain in his life. In spite of his tremendous love for each of the twelve disciples, each caused him great suffering when they abandoned him at that time of his arrest, suffering and death. Still, he loved them, not holding their abandonment against them. For he loved them for their sake, not his. He gave his all for them not expecting anything in return. So he does for each of us as a path to follow.  The pain of love does not outweigh the joy of love. That joy is not in or from the other but in and from God, who is love.

Twenty-second Sunday Gospel A

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." 

· Prior to this, Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say I am?” Peter responded: “You are the Messiah.” But the Messiah Peter was thinking about was not the Messiah Jesus was called to be. He would not be a political or military messiah, but a suffering servant who would lay down his life freely out of love and obedience for the salvation of people.

· Peter’s refusal to accept Jesus’ understanding of a suffering servant Messiah, who would die a cruel death but rise again, is seen by Jesus as a distraction from Satan. It was an attempt to divert Jesus from the Father’s call to him. It was the continuation of the temptations in the desert.

· What were the times we did not understand God’s plan in our lives but were distracted by a subtle ploy of Satan to deflect us from what God desired of us?

· How do you think Peter felt when Jesus rebuked him in this way? What would you feel if Jesus said the same to you?

"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself take up his cross, and follow me.

· To deny oneself is to remove oneself as the center of one's focus and instead to make God’s plan our focus.

· What crosses have you had to embrace on your spiritual journey? How has your life been affected and transformed by these crosses?

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct. 

· What do these words of Jesus say to you?

· Jesus makes clear that the condition for being a true disciple is the willingness to give up one’s life for him.

· What are you being called by God to give up in your life so that you will find real meaning in your life?

· Like the disciples, we hear sometimes part of and not the whole message. They stopped listening at the point of his predicted death, but they did not hear the resurrection.  We hear Jesus speak about the cross but we do not remember the reward after death: life everlasting in glory.

· What resolution do we make in response to the words of Jesus?

Though Peter answered correctly when Jesus asked the question, “Who do you say that I am”, Peter didn’t know the full consequence of his statement. To say Jesus is “the Christ” is not enough. Even the demons know who he is. To know and acknowledge this mystery is not complete until we live in such a way that evidences a life-style in accord with it.

Jesus himself indicated such, when he said that people may call him Lord and do mighty things in his name. But they will not enter the Kingdom of God, unless they did the will of God. To acknowledge Jesus as the Christ means to follow his example. His whole life was committed to do the will of the Father in love, even to the death on the cross. So it is for a disciple.

When Jesus will ask us in judgment, “Who do you say I am”, he will reveal to us in an instant our whole life. There we will see if our profession was mere lip service or a lived conviction. Did we love as we have been loved? Was doing the will of God, in fact, central in our life? 

There is a question that Jesus will ask each of us at the time of our personal judgement after death. It is the same question Jesus asked the twelve disciples: “Who do you say that I am?”  They had followed him for a short time. They had heard his teachings, were privileged to witness many signs and wonders. “Who do you say that I am?” He wasn’t looking for their opinions, which they gave when they reflected what others were saying. Jesus was looking for their present conviction. “Who do you say I am?”

That conviction came to Peter as a personal revelation-grace from God. It was a leaped of faith from any personal feelings or mere human insight. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” From later encounters with Jesus, it is clear that Peter uttered the right words without the right conviction. In Peter’s understanding at the moment, Jesus wasn’t the Christ as revealed by God, but the Christ according to human desires of the Jewish people at the time. 

"Who do you say that I am?" Jesus is addressing you and me with this question now in preparation for the time of our judgment. Do we have an opinion about Jesus or a conviction? Is that conviction based on God's revelation and our acceptance or on our expectation about Jesus, the Jesus we want him to be for us? As Peter came into a full, proper understanding of who Jesus was, will we? "Who do you say that I am" is not a casual question but the fundamental question of our existence.

Homily: Twenty-first Sunday Year A

Reading 1: Shebna, though appointed as head of the palace, was more focus on himself, rather than the needs of the people and the will of God. Eliakim was a nobody in the eyes of others. But God states that he will choose Eliakim to be the master of the palace and will clothe him with authority. He would then care for the people and give right judgment. He will act rightly.

Shebna was governor of the people. Because of pride he was rejected by God. Shebna also favored alliance with Egypt, something God had warned against. On the other hand, Eliakim was faithful and trustworthy. Shebna’s pride was evident, when he had a tomb erected for himself as a large memorial to his greatness.

The two qualities that Eliakim had and Shebna lacked: he was a servant of God and he had a father’s heart.

In the Book of Revelation Jesus is said to be the Key of David, who shuts and no one opens, who opens and no one shuts. As the Key of David Jesus has opened for us the gift of sharing in the life of God through his death and resurrection. Jesus is also the gate of heaven through whom we have salvation. Eliakim is a foreshadowing of Jesus, who is the Master, Lord of Heaven, the beloved servant, Son of the Father, our redeemer and protector.

Gospel: There are two major parts of today’s Gospel. First of all, Jesus, after discipling the twelve for some time wanted to know what have they learned about him. He wasn’t interested in what the crowds said, but where were the twelve in their understanding of who Jesus was. So he asks who do you say I am?

Peter blurted out the truth, “You are the Christ, the Son of God”. Jesus acknowledges the accurateness of the response, but tells Peter he came to this by the grace and inspiration from the Father. We know from subsequent statements and actions of Peter that, though he spoke the truth, he didn’t fully comprehend its full meaning. For him the Christ, the Messiah, would be a victorious, political figure, who would restore the Davidic Kingdom and defeat the Romans. Jesus will have to rebuke him and tell him that the Messiah would suffer, die and rise again, establishing the eternal Kingdom of God. Peter’s confession is the first part of the message. Just as Peter confesses the truth about Jesus, so each of us is called to make our own confession publicly.

The second part links us to the first and second readings. God chooses Eliakim, someone who was a nobody in the eyes of others, and made him governor, giving him the authority and power of the office. Jesus chose Simon in spite of his many short comings, past, present and future and made him the head of his Church, giving him the authority and power of the office. Just as God revealed the identity of Jesus to Peter, God chose and empowered him with a new office.

Reading 2: Paul stands in awe of the reality of God, of the Otherness of God. At the same time, he sees his own imperfection, sinfulness and brokenness. But because of who God is and who calls Paul to be in love, the response that flows from this double awareness is “To him be glory forever.”

What do we do during Mass at the conclusion of the Eucharistic prayer? Having acknowledge the otherness of God, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the changing of bread and wine into his Body and Blood and offering this gift with Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to the Father in thanksgiving for all that God has and is doing in our life, the priest concludes in our name: “Through him, with him and in him all glory and honor is yours almighty Father forever and ever.” We respond: Amen. This is worship in spirit and truth acceptable to God.

God has chosen us who are nobodies and has made us his sons and daughters. We did nothing to deserve this gift. With his call comes the need for a response. What response can we give him except being the best person we can be in thanksgiving for the gift of himself to us.  Our response is not to be afraid or ashamed of being his son and daughter, acknowledging Jesus as the Christ, our Lord and Savior. Our life as a Christian is forever public not private, regardless of the consequences or reactions from others.  Not only does Jesus ask us the question: Who do you say I am to you? But the world asks the same question: Who you say Jesus is to you? Our speech and actions will be our response.

I came across this quotation from St. Augustine, who lived from 350-430. How appropriate it is for our own day.

“Is there any affliction now endured by mankind that was not endured by our fathers before us? What sufferings of ours even bear comparison with what we know of their sufferings? And yet you hear people complaining about this present day and age because things were so much better in former times. I wonder what would happen if they could be taken back to the days of their ancestors—would we not still hear them complaining? You may think past ages were good, but it is only because you are not living in them...Just think what those past ages were like! Is there one of us who does not shudder to hear or read of them? Far from justifying complaints about our own time, they teach us how much we have to be thankful for” (St. Augustine).

It is easy to complain but so much harder to be grateful. It is easier to be negative but harder to be positive. It is easier to compare one’s situation of difficulty to another’s seeming success, until we step fully into their shoes. There are pluses and minuses in everyone’s life, in every generation, in every era. Be grateful to God that your glass is half full rather than complain that it is half empty. 

Twenty-first Sunday   Gospel A

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  

· Caesarea Philippi was situated about twenty miles north of the Sea of Galilee in the territory ruled by Philip, a son of Herod the Great, tetrarch from 4 B.C. until his death in A.D. 34.  Philip rebuilt the town of Paneas and named it after the emperor and himself.

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 

· If Jesus would ask you the same question, what would you answer? If Jesus asked you that question ten years ago, what would have been your answer?

Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

· Peter acknowledges Jesus under two titles: Messiah (the anointed promised One who would redeemed Israel) and Son of the living God. This is the first clear profession of faith in Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.

· Have we made a personal, public confession of Jesus like Peter did? Do people know where we stand in relationship to Jesus?

 Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

· Do you remember a time in your life that you received a revelation or thought and later realized that it was from God?  What did you do with it?

 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 

· How does this promise of Jesus impact you personally?

Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah. 

· What segment of this reading speaks to you?

Our life is a pilgrimage. On a journey or tour we go to specific sights to see things. On a pilgrimage our focus is to meet a person, specifically God. We are searching for an experience of God. 

The idea of pilgrimage is rooted in the Old Testament. After the Exodus when the Chosen People were settled in the Promise Land, Bethel became a place of pilgrimage. It was the place of Jacob’s vision. Shiloh also was recognized as a holy place. For there the Meeting Tent and the Ark of the Covenant were located for a period of time. Later, Jerusalem under King David became the central place of pilgrimage for the people of the covenant. For it is in Jerusalem that the Ark of the Covenant was eventually located and the Temple built to house it.

In fact, the people were required to make three annual pilgrimages to the Temple for the feasts of Passover or Unleavened Bread, Weeks or Pentecost, and Booths or Tabernacles. It was on these journeys that they would joyfully sing one of the pilgrimage songs, such as found in Psalms 24, as they journeyed with great anticipation. 

Is our life more a pilgrimage or a journey? Are we moving from one sight to the next with photos as souvenirs , or are we growing in our relationship with God?

Our life is a pilgrimage rather than a journey. One is sacred, the other is secular. The points of interest on a pilgrimage are primarily holy places and things. The points of interests on a journey are what the world holds valuable. We are meant to be pilgrims, not tourists.

As such our pilgrimage begins in God, continues with God with the ultimate hope of ending in and with God. Our earthly pilgrimage will have been a time of God’s loving mercy. When we arrive at the end of our physical life, it will be a time of accountability and reckoning, a time of God’s loving judgment. 

I believe that at that point God will show us if our life was a pilgrimage or merely a journey. He will reveal in an instant our earthly life from A to Z. He will show us the many graces of his loving mercy and our many responses, positive or negative.

What do you think you will see in an overall view: life as a pilgrim or life as a tourist? Surely, we will not have been purely a pilgrim. We were a tourist in many ways? The difference will be where were we in relationship to God from A to Z?

What is childlike faith? Because of the relationship between child and parent, the child trusts and believes what the parent says. For the child, without analyzing it, is completely dependent on the parent for everything, from safety to sustenance, from life to love, from care to comfort. This faith and trust enables the child to receive and believe in the word of the parent without question.

Building on this reality, Jesus taught the disciples about this quality in their relationship with him. “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it" (Mark 10:14-15). 

That childlike trust was expressed by Peter. After Jesus revealed that he was the true bread from heaven, to be eaten if one wants eternal life, many disciples left Jesus. When Jesus turned and asked the twelve if they wanted to leave too, Peter responded: “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.  And we have believed, and we recognize that you are the Christ, the Son of God” (John 6:69-70). 

Do we have that childlike trust in the words of Jesus like Peter? This childlike trust is not blind faith but enlightened faith because of our relationship with Jesus. Because a child trusts the parent and accepts the word of the parent to be true, so we accept and trust Jesus the God-Man and are able to embrace his word.

Why does Jesus use a child as our model of discipleship? It is because in a child is the absence of duplicity. What you see in a child is what is there. There is no pretense. 

A child sees the world through the lens of simplicity, treasuring things that are meaningful. This simplicity is seen in the awe and wonder of a child’s mind. They see beauty and goodness in things that adults pass over as insignificant. Their seemingly, humanly, undeveloped minds are more in tune with reality than many adults because of their simplicity. That is why Jesus stated unless we become like little children we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Adults tend to clutter their lives with many possessions, none of which will be theirs after death. The child is content with a few things which do not possess him/her.

This simplicity of the disciple of Christ reflects a heart in right order, keeping first things first. The first thing is the Lordship of Jesus before anything else.  As a result, life is seen as a journey, not to rush through to the next destination, but to enjoy the flowers on the way. It is in the present moment that the will of God is revealed and embraced. This takes simplicity.

Homily: Twentieth Sunday Year A

Reading 1: Isaiah is speaking to his fellow Jews, who have not lived up to their covenant with Yahweh. He reminds them: observe and do what is right and just according to the commands God gave them.

In contrast to the infidelity of Israel, Isaiah says that foreigners are showing the Lord the proper response more than the Israelites. They are joining themselves to the Lord, loving him, serving him and obeying him. Those who keep the Sabbath holy, are faithful to the covenant; their prayers will be heard.

Relationship with God was not automatic because one was a descendant of Abraham, or was circumcised, or externally went through the motions of worship. Relationship with God came from a commitment that resulted in doing all from the heart, reflecting that God was at the center of one’s life.

Things have not changed from Isaiah’s time till now. Just as the Old Testament people failed to live up to their call so the New Testament people have done the same. 

Gospel: Here we have an example of the mercy of God shown to a foreigner or Gentile. Jesus emphasizes her faith in him to be able to heal her daughter from some demonic affliction. But this faith is tested not questioned, so that the woman would grow to a deeper surrender to the will of God.

Her faith endures the initial silence of Jesus and the rebuke of the disciples. She persists. Her faith is further tested by Jesus’ response, which on the surface seems harsh and demeaning.  She persists. She is more concerned for the healing of her daughter than for her personal feelings. The test consists in how far will she go for her daughter?

Jesus was stretching her, drawing her more fully into God’s mercy and love through her love for her daughter. Jesus could have easily granted her request at first contact, but did not. He wanted something greater for her than a quick fix.

Sometimes we bring before the Lord our concerns and it seems that the Lord is silent or distant or unconcerned. Rather he is calling us into a deeper relationship of trust and self-surrender, of unconditional love. He desires that we experience a greater understanding of his love and mercy. He doesn’t want to be a quick-fix God, but a God with whom we desire and have an intimate, personal relationship that is based, not only on the answer to our prayer, but to our love and self-surrender to him. Is our relationship based on what he can do for me or on who he is and who I am in relationship with him?

Reading 2: Paul felt continual rejection by the Jewish people to whom he preached the Good News of salvation. In contrast, he found a greater openness among the Gentiles. Even so, Paul still desired the salvation of his own people, regardless of their negative response and ill treatment.

In last Sunday’s reading, Paul stated that he was willing to be separated from God, if it would mean the salvation of the Jews. He believed that God’s call of the Jewish people and the gifts he has given them were irrevocable. The key word is mercy. Until the day of judgment God’s mercy is evident. The gift of salvation is not deserved or earned by Jews or Gentiles. It is a gift from an all-loving God.

Just as God has shown us mercy though we have sinned repeatedly, so Paul believed that God’s mercy will extend to the Jews as well in spite of their rejection of Jesus as Messiah. If it wasn’t for the mercy of God, where would we be?  However, the Day of mercy will cease; the day of judgment will take place.

Jesus said: “Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” The key word is “become”. Jesus is not suggesting that we physically return to the state of a child, but to the true and saving qualities of a child. When we became an adolescent we lost something essential to our life with God, in fact a number of qualities. We lost the lens of a child looking at reality. We put on new glasses which in a sense gave us a distorted view of life. We saw life no longer as God sees it but as the world presents it.

One of the qualities of a child is innocence. A child has the blessing of being free from the awareness of sin and evil. Let's take the example of the sin of prejudice. A child is not prejudice but sees others as they are. Where does prejudice come from? It is learned from those around us, especially our parents or peers. I recall a story about a little white first grader who had an African-American teacher. He didn't know the difference between white or black. One day he heard some older students talk about people of color, using the "N" word. He was frightened. He ran to his teacher and said that he was afraid of those people. He did not see her as white or black, just as someone who could protect him from whatever. Such is innocence. 

Even though we may have lost our innocence because of sin, we still can become innocent by choosing not to live in sin but to live in the life of Christ as fully as possible. This is what Jesus is urging when he says we must become like a little child. Turn away from sin and cling to the Lord. 

 Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time Gospel A

Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 

• Matthew tells us about a rare event for Jesus, a journey into pagan territory. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in modern day Lebanon. He is there with the diciples for some much deserved R and R.

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon." 

• She is a pagan woman, asking a favor of Jesus, a Jew. She must of heard of his reputation as a healer. Even though she is a pagan, she recognizes Jesus as the Son of David. How? Maybe by the inspiration of the Spirit. She acknowledges something that even most of the Jewish leaders did not.

But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."  

• When were the times we have missed a divine appointment moment because we didn’t want to be bothered? Or was this Jesus' way of drawing out a deeper faith from the woman? Have you ever experienced the silence of God after you have requested his help? Was God drawing something deeper from us?

He said in reply, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 

• Jesus acknowledges that his primary mission was primarily to the people of the Old Covenant. But as we will see he makes exception, as he has done a number of times already. She is a child of God as well as the Chosen people.

• Do you think that Jesus was stretching her, testing her faith? How persistent will she be and to what degree?

But the woman came and did him homage, saying, "Lord, help me." He said in reply, "It is not right to take the food of the children  and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters." Then Jesus said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour.

How great is our faith? Do we give up easily? Are do we persist no matter the cost to us?

As God the Father loves us by creating us in his own image and likeness and as the Son of God loves us by giving his life in ransom for ours, so the Holy Spirit loves us by sanctifying and anointing us for mission. St. Paul tells us that “the love of God is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). We are Temples of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:21). Like Jesus who promised to be with us always till the end, so he tells us that the Spirit, the gift of the Father, will be with us and within us (John 14:17). God pours forth the gift of the Spirit generously. He doesn’t ration the gift of his Spirit (John 3:32) 

We merit none of the above. None of this is due to us out of justice. Rather, each is a revealed attestation of the unconditional love and mercy of God. Once created, I will always exist. But in what state? Once redeemed, I am not guaranteed salvation. I must respond. Once sanctified, I may not remain in God’s life by choice.

God has shown us his love, even before we responded. But without an appropriate response on our part we will show that we are not grateful. Thus, instead of being with God eternally, we will be in everlasting darkness of self-blaming regret and condemnation. The decision is ours. As Moses told the Israelites, so God tells us: I have given you love. Choose life or choose death.

It is hard for us to fully comprehend God’s unconditional love for us, even more so when we reflect on his death on the cross for our redemption. He himself expressed his love when he said, “Greater love has no one than to lay down one’s life for a friend.” But we were not friends, but enemies because of our slavery to sin.

This is how St. Paul explained it:  “Now someone might barely be willing to die for the sake of justice, for example, perhaps someone might dare to die for the sake of a good man. But God demonstrates his love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, at the proper time, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8).

First of all Jesus did not have to die to save us. He chose to out of love. Secondly, he didn’t have to endure the humiliations, buffets and mockeries at the hands of those he created. He chose to out of love for us. Thirdly, Jesus, the innocent One, did not have to experience the excessive scourging and crowning with thorns, which disfigured his body. He chose to out of love for us. Fourthly, the Son of God did not have to struggle under the weight of the cross, tortuously egged on by the soldiers and the jeers of the crowds. He chose to out of love for us. Fifthly, he did not have to die the cruelest of all deaths on the cross. He chose to out of love for us. 

What love response can we begin to give to such tremendous love? Return to and remain in our first love with the God whose love for us is undeniable and beyond human comprehension. Our love never can equate his love but expresses our profound gratitude.

God has shown us his love through creation, especially creating man and women in his own image and likeness. And when they sinned, God manifested his love by promising a Savior. We can’t begin to wrap our minds around the actualization of this promise in time. After centuries of preparing a Chosen People to receive this promised Savior, God himself manifested his love for us by becoming man while remaining God. The Word of God, the Son of God, infinite and eternal became a finite being in time and his name is Jesus. “And the Word became flesh, and he lived among us, and we saw his glory, glory like that of an only-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). This consistent, mysterious, and unfathomable love of God for us is made visible and tangible in the person of Jesus the Christ.

 What should our response be? Initially with Peter we say, “Depart from me, for I am sinful.” But ultimately we exclaim in faith with Thomas, “My Lord and my God”. Between those two responses is our journey of growing in relationship with God through his presence in the person of Jesus. It is a growth in love and deeper surrender to his will. 

NOVENA FOR THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY

August 6-14, 2020

Lord Jesus Christ, You have destroyed the power of death and given the hope of eternal life in body and soul. You granted your Mother a special place in your glory, and did not allow decay to touch her body. As we rejoice in the Assumption of Mary, give us a renewed confidence in the victory of life over death. You live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

 Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, we believe in your triumphant assumption into heaven where the angels and saints acclaim you as Queen of Heaven and earth. We join them in praising you and bless the Lord who raised you above all creatures. With them we honor you. We are confident that you watch over our daily lives and we ask that you intercede for us now. (mention your request)

God shows his everlasting and unconditional love in many ways. Yesterday we reflected on God’s love through creating human beings in his own image and likeness. But we know what was the response of the first man and women to God’s love. Not accepting their human limitations as creatures but wanting to be like God in knowing good and evil, they chose to go against the command of God. They sinned. God showed them both justice and mercy out of love. Justice was what was now due to them as a consequence of their choice. They had been given a share in God’s own divine life. When they hid themselves from God, they showed that they had separated from his life. God confirmed this and told them the consequences of their decision. God could have annihilated them, but in love and justice they were banned from paradise.

 On the other hand, God showed them mercy, which they did not deserve. His mercy was revealed in the promise to send their descendants a Savior who would redeem, reconcile and restore them as adopted sons and daughters of God.

 When we sin and separate ourselves from God, the same justice and mercy is shown us in love. In justice we experience the consequences of our sinful choice. But in mercy, God extends his grace of repentance and forgiveness, not just once, but as often as needed. What should our response be? Love, gratitude and a firm amendment. 

Homily: Nineteenth Sunday Year A

 Reading 1:  Elijah, the only living prophet in Israel, confronted the false prophets of Baal with the truth that the God he worshipped was the only true God.  Elijah had these false prophets killed. Queen Jezebel, who followed the worship of Baal was furious and sought to kill Elijah. So the prophet fled to the desert.

 But God had other plans for him. He provided food and drink for Elijah in the desert as he journeyed to the Mountain of God, Horeb.  It was on this mountain that God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses.  Again, God revealed his plan to Elijah.  In that tiny whispering sound, Elijah recognized the presence of God. God directed him go and anoint two kings and his successor, Elisha, as a prophet. This was a defining moment in the prophet’s life.

 What lesson do we take from this word of God? Sometimes we look for God in the signs and wonders of life but fail to recognize him in the stillness of silence—that inner whispering voice ministering to us. What does it take to be attune to this way of God to us? Elijah was a prophet of God in relationship with God. Elijah was obedient to God, even when he suffered at the hands of others for the name of God. It takes discipline to be attentive to the Lord, to discern what is of the Lord and what is not.

Many voices, sounds and events can distract us.  In the midst of these, we must learn to hear the voice of God, like a tiny whispering sound and to act on his message.

 Gospel: Jesus has just fed the 5,000 with a few loaves and fish. He then went up the mountain to pray, to give thanks to the Father and to be opened to what the Father wanted him to do. He had sent the disciples by boat to the other side of the lake. They got caught up in a storm and were struggling to keep afloat.

 In his compassion for them he walked on water to rescue them. In the midst of their fear, his first assuring words were: “Take courage. Fear not. It is I.” Not really sure it was Jesus, Peter made a bold statement. “If it is you, let me come to you on the water.” Jesus’ response: “Come.” Probably with some hesitation Peter responded by stepping over the side of the boat toward Jesus over the waters. This took courage and faith to respond to the invitation of Jesus.

Why did he begin to sink? He took his eyes off Jesus and began to focus on himself. He can’t be walking on water; this is humanly impossible. He is a sinner, unworthy. He has much shame and guilt. He began to sink. What was the saving grace that prevented him from being engulfed in the waters of despair and emptiness? He cried out to the Lord in his awareness of his own weakness. Jesus readily embraced him. His faith in Jesus was still not strong enough to totally surrender himself into the arms of Jesus. He let his own inadequacies come in between him and Jesus. Jesus did not reject Peter for his lace of faith and love, merely challenged him.

Often God invites us out of our comfort zone to step out in faith, doing that which is humanly impossible. How strong is our faith? What are the sins and addictions which distract us and cause us to be frightened? Where are we afraid to surrender totally in the arms of Jesus, no matter our past? What was impossible for Peter on his own, namely, walking on water was possible as long as Peer placed his gaze on the Lord.

Reading 2: This faith relationship with God on Paul’s part brought him to a point where he recognized what God had done through the chosen people. The greatest gift of God was the coming of the Christ, God becoming man. Because of his faith, Paul was willing to sacrifice his life that the Israelites may be saved.

At the same time there is a deep sorrow in Paul. Though the people were chosen by God, who revealed himself to them, who entered into covenant with them, blessed them with the Law, the prophets and the promise, they rejected the Messiah when he came.

Even so, Paul’s love and zeal for his people was such that he was willing to sacrifice himself for them. He was willing to be separated from God if only the chosen people would turn their hearts back to God.

Do you love your spouse and your children that much that for their salvation you would be willing to sacrifice yourself?

Have you ever reflected on your existence? Are you an accident or a conscious choice of God before your parents conceived you? The Scriptures tell us that before time began, God foreknew us and chose us to exist at a particular time and place. Why? God is love and love desires to express itself outside of self, not for itself but for the other. My existence has less to do with me than with God. I do not deserve to exist, but do as a pure gift of God. 

Not only do l exist out of love, but I have been created in God’s own image and likeness, with the ability to know and choose and to live eternally. But God was not finished. He sustains me in being every second of my existence. Why? The catechism says that I was created to know, love and serve God so that I might be happy with him. Though I am a creature of God, I am unique in so far as God’s desire for me. What should my response be today and each day? Consciously and intentionally out of love to live in union with God in a spirit of loving gratitude. I can't repay God for his love shown in creating, endowing, sustaining and calling me to something greater, but I can respond with love.

In baptism we enter into a personal and communal covenant with God as a result of his love.  Alienated from God from birth, now through a rebirth we become a new creature. Our first birth was a sign of God's love; so too our second birth through the life giving waters of baptism is a sign of his love. We experience through the mercy of God the redemptive grace of reconciliation and salvation, with God because of God's love. The grace won for us through Jesus' death and resurrection is given to us in this present moment.

But his love doesn't end there.  God freely chooses to adopt us as his son or daughter. We enter into a personal covenant with him and become a member of his Body, the Church. The baptismal waters is the sign of this New Covenant. As part of this sign we were marked with the sign of the cross, reminding us that we belong to God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We were anointed with the oil of Chrism, reminding us that now, because we belong and are covenanted to God, we share in the life and ministry of Jesus as priest, prophet and King. 

In all this, what did we do? Nothing! What can we do in response to God's love just at that one moment of time in our journey of life? Love! Be faithful to our covenant! Live a life committed to God to whom we belong! Grow as a son or daughter of the Lord in  holiness of life! Renew our yes to this covenant on a daily basis! Let nothing separate us from the love of God! If I am separated because of my sinful folly, return to the Lord as soon as possible. Return in love.

"'I stand at the door knocking and waiting; whoever lets me in, with him I will sup" (Rev. 3:20). You need not seek Him here or there, He is no further than the door of your heart; there He stands patiently awaiting whoever is ready to open up and let Him in. No need to call to Him from afar: He can hardly wait for you to open up. He longs for you a thousand times more than you long for Him: the opening and the entering are a single act. (Meister Eckhart)

How often have we felt that God was far away from us, while in reality he is not? Did Jesus not say I will be with you till the end of time? Why else would he reveal himself to us as Emmanuel, God with us? He is always near us, knocking at the door of our heart. But because of the noise within us we cannot hear his knock or his voice. I must heed the words of the psalmist: "I will sit in silence and hearken to what God speaks within me" (Ps. 84:9). It is only when there is a degree of inner silence will I be able to detect the call of the Lord. As another psalmist wrote: “Be still and know that I am God.” Learn to set some quiet time in your busy life, so that you can hear the voice of God within you.