Homily: Feast of all Saints Year A

 Reading 1: Throughout the year we celebrate and remember the many canonized saints. These are the people, who have lived exemplary lives or given their lives for the sake of their faith in Jesus. But the Church today also recognizes the countless saints. who are not canonized, but who are in the presence of God. We hope to be among them one day.

John identifies  some characteristics of both the canonized and the unknown saints. First, they were sealed with the sign of salvation, the sign of the cross. Before and after being  baptized we are signed with the sign of the cross, the sign of our salvation and victory over sin. Secondly, he says we were given a white robe, symbolizing our new life in Christ through whose blood we have been redeemed. Recall the words of Isaiah: "Though yours are scarlet, I will make you white as snow. The palm branch is the symbol of our victory in Christ.

What do saints do in heaven? Their purpose for being created was to praise God. Here, John says they cry out in a loud voice, praising and thanking God for his gift of salvation and eternal life. They bow down and worship him in spirit and in truth.

Reading 2: In the psalm and in the second reading gives us the reason why we are to look forward to being with God. First, we are the people who long to see his face. We are his sons and daughters, children of God, made so by the love of the Father through the death and resurrection of his Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We belong to God. So what must we do in response to this great gift and future promise. Seek to be holy as he is holy. What does the life of holiness look like? It is a life of love, a life of putting on the mind of Jesus Christ.

Gospel: This life of holiness is partially reflected in the Beatitudes. Jesus teaches that the Beatitudes are to become our way of life and thinking,  In stead of being haughty and greedy, we are called to be poor in spirit, totally depending on God for everything. Recognizing our sins and the sins of the world, we weep in repentance for them. 

In stead of seeking honors or signs of acknowledgement from others, we accept ourselves as we are. We seek to do our best to please God.  Above all we seek to be holy. We try to show the same mercy to others which God has shown to us. We desire to keep our mind and heart focus on God rather than be distracted by the world around us. We desire to be a peacemaker. When we are persecuted, we look to Jesus who was also persecuted. 

Is this way of life easy? No but not impossible. How do we know? The countless number of saints in heaven, especially the unknown. They walked this path and attest to its possibility and attainment.

 Thirty-first Sunday Gospel Reflections Year A

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.

· Observe what they teach that is from God, but do not follow their example when it is not of God. In what way is the same true today?

For they preach but they do not practice.

· In what way is this true sometimes in our own lives?

They tie up heavy burdens  (hard to carry) and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.  All their works are performed to be seen. 

· Recall what Jesus taught about praying, fasting and giving alms for people to see.  Their reward is the praise of the people but not the blessing from God. What in our lives reflect the same thing?

They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.

· According to the human interpretation of the Mosaic Law phylacteries were small containers in which verses of scripture written on parchments were stored and worn on the forehead and the left arm. This was to keep the Word of God always before them.

· The Mosaic law also specified that tassels or sown fringes be worn on the corners of one's garment as an external reminder to the person of the need to keep the commandments

· While the phylacteries and the tassels were part of the human additions, the widening of phylacteries and the lengthening of tassels were for show, to bring attention to the religious piety of the person.

They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Messiah.

· What Jesus is condemning is not the teachings, not the external trappings, not the salutations “Rabbi” or “Father” or “Master” but the underlying motive and intention.

· When someone uses this scripture “Call no one Father” as a way of rejecting the role of a priest as Father, do you know how to counteract this attempt?  One rule is to see the context in which a statement is made in the scriptures; another is to see how this is in harmony with the rest of scripture. Here, the context is pride and ostentatiousness or show.  As far as the rest of scripture, one of the commandments is honor one’s father. There can be no contradiction in the scriptures.

The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 

· How well do we live this in our daily lives?

"Let the enemy rage at the gate, let him knock, let him push, let him cry, let him howl, we know for certain that he cannot enter save by the door of our consent." (St. Francis de Sales) 

Temptation is part of each person's journey from Adam and Eve till the last living human being. Even the perfect man, Jesus, experienced many temptations. The one thing that was different between Adam, the man, and Jesus, the Man, was Adam consented to the temptations. Jesus resisted. Adam forgot to keep God as his focus. Instead, he made his need for self-satisfaction the center of his life at the moment. Jesus, on the other hand, chose to keep the Father as his point of reference and not himself. 

The Tempter knows the weakness of each person and tries to exploit this in his effort to separate us from God.  Adam and Eve forgot that they were created by God and depended on God. They sought to be equal to God. On the other hand, Jesus knew he was the Son of the Father. In his humanity, Jesus was dependent on the Father, to do the will of the Father no matter the cost to himself.  This is the example Jesus left us in dealing with the Tempter's effort to separate us from God, the beginning and the end of our life.

 There were three young devils their taking final examination in Hell. They were trembling in cold sweat despite the heat. Their Principal, Professor Satan, looked at them and said: “Just one question, what will you do on earth to bring a rich harvest of souls to me?”

The first devil answered: “I will tell the people that God doesn’t exist.” “Bad approach,” Satan grumbles, “too many know deep in their hearts that my enemy exists, especially when they are about to die.”

The second devil shivered even more when he said: “I will tell them that hell doesn’t exist.” “Bad approach,” Satan sneered, “too many experience already a hell of a life and know that sin leads to eternal misery.”

The third devil was terrified by the bad results of this exam. But he was a clever fellow. He said: “I will tell the people that there is no hurry to change. That there is always a tomorrow.” “Splendid! You may graduate. You will bring souls to me by the millions.”

Procrastination is a very effective tool of the Evil one in luring Christians into a false sense of security. What we do today may be the final seal determining our eternity. We are not guaranteed a tomorrow. Each day of our lives we are called to live a life worthy of our calling as sons and daughters of God. Telling God that we were planning to change will not cut it. God will reveal to us at the time of judgement the many times he offered us the grace to change and the times we rejected his grace. We were like St Augustine who told God that he wanted to be holy, but not today.  

"It is not what men eat but what they digest that makes them strong; Not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; not what we preach but what we practice that makes us Christians."

Being a Christian is not easy today. The world we live in is becoming more secular and pagan with each generation. The practice of our faith in the public arena is being challenged more frequently. Truth is said to be relative not absolute. As Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior of the world, we are called to stand firm and resolute in living our faith publicly. We do so, not for show, but to remind us of what Jesus has done for us. 

There is story about a man going about his community, shooting, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near." He did this for several days. One day a little boy asked him why was he shooting such a message. Nobody was listening. The man said that he was not shooting for others to hear, but that he may not forget. 

We are called to live our faith in Christ publicly so that we will never forget the mercy of God for us on the cross.

"Those who are called to the table of the Lord must glow with the brightness that comes from the good example of a praiseworthy and blameless life. They must completely remove from their lives the filth and uncleanness of  vice. Their upright lives must make them like the salt of the earth." (St. John of Capistrano) 

We are privileged to be invited to the banquet table of the Lord. We are aware how unworthy we are to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. But, since it is the will of the Lord that we receive him in preparation for the eternal banquet in heaven that awaits us, Jesus makes us worthy. Like the person in the Gospel called to the wedding banquet, we must ware the appropriate wedding garment, given to us in baptism.  Before going to the table, if the wedding garment is filthy with the grime of sin, we must wash it in the mercy of God. 

For sin that separates from God, we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation. For sin that is not mortal, we have the penitential rite at the beginning of Mass. This is a grace moment in each Mass to ask forgiveness of our sins, so that can receive the Lord worthily.  Let us not presume on God's mercy. Rather, let us consciously and remorsefully avail ourselves of this grace.

 Today is the feast of St John Paul II. Here is a quote from him.

"It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle" (St John Paul II)

He is the begging and the end of our lives. We can seek true happiness only in and from the One who wants our eternal happiness. Things will only suffice for short lived, temporary, here-today-but-gone-tomorrow happiness. True friends can provide us with some joy, but only Jesus, our friend, will walk with us till the end. Friends and family can do so much and go so far. Only Jesus, who crossed over from this life into the next, will accompany us on that last leg of our journey into the future glory with God, as long as we are sharing in his life at that moment.

Homily: Thirtieth Sunday Year A

Reading 1: Last Sunday, we heard: “I am the Lord, your God. There is no other God besides me.” It was in this context that God revealed the Ten Commandments to his people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The first three deal with our relationship with God directly. The other seven deal with our relationship with one another, especially the most vulnerable: aliens, widows, orphans, the poor and the needy. We are not to oppress, wrong, abuse or take advantage of those who are the most vulnerable in society.

We are to hear the cry of these people in their need. Because of our relationship with God we are to do all we can to help them. Why? God has shown his mercy and love to us.

God reminded the Israelites that they were once aliens, enslaved in a foreign land. God heard their cry and delivered them through mighty signs and wonders.  When the shoe is on the other foot how quickly they and we forget our own past. Who is God to you? What has God done for you? What does God ask of you?

Gospel: How did Jesus silenced the Sadducees? They had tried to trick and discredit Jesus concerning the resurrection from the dead, which they did not believe. Jesus turned the tables against them and showed them the absurdity of their thinking.

Now the Pharisees wanted to trap and discredit Jesus. Besides the Ten Commandments, over the centuries the religious leaders had burdened the people by imposing more than over 600 precepts. If they wanted to be righteous, the people had to keep all these precepts exactly.

When asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus, who knew the Scriptures, sums up the Ten Commandments into two. Love God with your whole heart and love your neighbor.  Jesus, as a faithful Jew, knew and recited the great Schema several times during the day, keeping before him his relationship with God. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord alone is God. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength and your neighbor as you love yourself.”

This is the response Jesus give the Pharisees. In another Gospel, Jesus concludes: “Do this and you shall have eternal life.” Basically, Jesus was reminding them to keep first things first.

Our relationship with God can be simple or complicated by us. Everything boils down to our love God and our love of all others.  Why am I doing or saying what I am doing or saying? Is it out of a motive of love of God and love of others? That is the basic message of Jesus. Do everything out of true love. Doesn’t Jesus indicate one of the basic measurement that God will use at our judgment is love.  “What you do to the least, you do to me.”

Reading 2: Paul continues his letter to the Thessalonians. Last Sunday, Paul praised them for receiving the word he preached as truth, because they were convicted by the Holy Spirit.  Paul acted out of love in reaching out to them. They in turned acted out of love in their response. Here he expressed it by saying: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, becoming a model for all believers.” They acted in love, because they were waiting the return of the Lord.

The way to simplify our complicated lives is to choose to love God and our neighbor in all that we do. 

"A moment of crisis is a moment of choice, it is a moment that puts us in front of the decisions we have to make. Everyone in life has had and will have moments of crisis: family crises, marriage crises, social crises, work crises, many crises… This pandemic is also a time of social crisis....This pandemic, too, is a moment of social crisis....In my land there is a saying that says: "When you go on horseback and you have to cross a river, please don't change horse in the middle of the river". In moments of crisis, be very firm in the conviction of the faith....In the moment of crisis there is perseverance, silence; stay where we are, still. This is not the time to make changes. It is the time of fidelity, of fidelity to God, of fidelity to the things [decisions] that we have taken from before. It is also the moment of conversion, because this fidelity will, yes, inspire us to make some changes for the good, not to distance us from the good...Moments of peace and moments of crisis. We Christians must learn to manage both. Both. Some spiritual fathers say that the moment of crisis is like going through the fire to become strong." (Pope Francis)  

In times of crisis and moments of not understanding, we need to make the words of Peter our own. Many of the disciples of Jesus had a crisis of faith over Jesus' teaching on the Eucharist. Many walked away. Peter's response was: "To whom shall we go. You have the words of everlasting life. We have come to believe that you are the Holy One of God."

In times of crisis we can turn to no one other than God and stay on course with him.

Thirtieth Sunday Gospel Year A

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 

· Last Sunday we reflected on one of the many times the leaders tested Jesus in order to trap him or discredit him. Here is another instance of the same.  While the question was valid, the intent was not.

· There were over 600 different laws that were proposed in living a life according to the covenant.  The question deals with priority.

He said to him "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." 

· Love is the most fundamental law and command: love of God and love of others.

· Jesus recognized the Jewish practice of reciting the Shema at least three times a day. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deut 6:4-5). Jesus simplified it.  The command reflects the first three commandments of the Decalogue and roots them in the context of love.

· Then Jesus shows the importance of love of others, which is reflected in the last seven commandments of the Decalogue and again roots them in the context of love.

· In what concrete ways do we live out the word of Jesus in our daily life?

· It is easy to say we love everyone, but is our love sincere? Is it expressed in words or in deeds?

· What can we do this week to reflect the teaching of Christ in our daily lives? Can we become conscious of doing all things in love?

 Jesus says something in the Gospels that should cause us to pause and assess ourselves. In the Gospel of Luke we read this statement: "So it is when someone stores up treasures for himself instead of becoming rich in the things of God." (Lk 12:21) In another place, Jesus said: "Where your treasure is, there is your heart." In another place Jesus said: "What profit a man to gain the whole world but to lose his soul?"

We come into the world with nothing. We will leave this world with nothing. All our material possessions will be left behind. All that the world thought of me, will become a faded memory. How attentive are we in the things of God, the things that have everlasting value?  Our good deeds done in love do not save us, but they follow us into eternity. These good deeds reflect our gratitude to God for all he has done for us. Out of love, God saved us; out of love we respond. These are the ways we become rich in the things of God. Is it any wonder that God made love the only command he has given us? 

 "Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us  begin." (St Teresa of Calcutta)

How often we find ourselves out of sorts. Is it because we are living in the past, still looking backwards, not letting go our past deeds? Or is it because we are trying to live in the future, forgetting the future is not ours to control? All we have is the present moment. This is the moment of grace given to us by God. What is that grace, if not love.  What we do now will not change the past but it may impact our future. Love is simple but hard. Simple because anyone can love; hard because it calls us to die to self.

"Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure. Somewhere we know that without a lonely place our actions quickly become empty gestures. The careful balance between silence and words, withdrawal and involvement, distance and closeness, solitude and community forms the basis of the Christian life and should, therefore, be the subject of our most personal attention" (Henri Nouwen).

Life is a balance of the both/ands, a balance that is hard sometimes to maintain. As a result, problems begin to develop. For most of us the lack is in the silence and aloneness, in the quiet and in the listening. We need to take our cue from Elijah. In his most uncertain time, as he was running away from disaster, he found God not in the noise around him, not in the obvious, but in the inner stillness. It is there he heard the voice of God and the direction in his life. 

It is easy for us to say that we do not have the time. There is so much on our plate. But if we don't take the time to listen in silence for God's direction, why do we complain that we are always overwhelmed? Only God can sort things out for us. It will not come in an instagram or an email. It will come in the patient waiting in silence.

"God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person? (St. Teresa of Avila).

How often that is not how we think. If someone hurts us, we become fixated on that hurt. We don't let it go. What does that do to our relationship with God? St. Teresa gives us a different approach. To focus on the hurt sees the fault of the other. But in each person there is some good quality. If I think rather about this, the fault of the other dose not become a fixation. I am sure she didn't come to this reality except through much practice. But once she did, how much freer and fuller her life became. That is the journey to holiness. 

"The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness" (Pope Benedict).

The comfort the world offers is here today but gone tomorrow. There is nothing wrong with comfort, as long as it doesn't distract us from the pursuit of the greatness that God sees for us. Comfort can distract us from pursuing our real destiny, which is not earthly but heavenly, not temporal but eternal. Like St. Paul, whether we have or don't have, our sufficiency is from and in God. Otherwise we may seek what is comfortable and easy now, rather than what is God's will for us, what is good, pleasing and perfect.

Homily: Twenty-ninth Sunday Year A

Reading 1: What is the central message of the prophet?  “I am the Lord, there is no other. There is no God besides me.” That is a revealed truth. The prophet reveals that God raised a pagan King, Cyrus, and gave him victory over his enemies, even though Cyrus did not know God. But the real reason God has so blessed Cyrus was for the sake of God’s Chosen People. They were in exile in the land over which Cyrus ruled.

What was God’s plan?  In the first deliverance of the Chosen People God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Pharaoh fought God’s plan to set his people free. Many years later they were again in exile, because the people had forsaken their God and broken their covenant with him. Now, seventy years later, God will not only return the people to the promised land, but would convict Cyrus to enable them financially to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.

In all this, God reveals his power, plan and glory to Cyprus, a pagan, and to the people who belong to God.  As the prophet said: “So that from the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is no other God than the true and only God.”

Where have we seen the hand of God in the most difficult circumstances of our lives? Why has God moved in powerful ways? So that we may know that he is God; that he loves us and that our worship of him may be from our heart.

Gospel: Picking up on the theme of the first reading, Jesus says that a consequence of this truth—there is no other God but God alone—for us to give to God what belongs to God. What is that?  Ourselves in true worship and service of God!

Jesus uses the trap the Pharisees were laying for him to teach them that important lesson. The Romans, who had subjected the Jews, required that they pay a tax in support of the imperial rule. This tax must be paid in Roman coinage, which had the imprint of Caesar’s image. This went against the grain for many Jews.

The trap was to see if Jesus approve of this obligation. If he said that they didn’t, the Pharisees would accuse him of sedition. If he that they did would accuse him as a traitor of the Jewish Law. Instead of falling into their trap, Jesus reminded them of the central truth of the Jewish faith: there is only one God.

If a coin stamped with the image of Caesar was to be used as a tax payment, it belongs to Caesar. But if one is stamped with the image of God, then that person needs to give oneself fully to God.  In other words, first things first. God is our first priority.

In Baptism we became a son or daughter of God. We were imprinted with an indelible seal, namely the Holy Spirit. To what extent is our life a reflection of the fact that I belong to God and that all I have is his? Is God my top priority? Or is God one among many?

Reading 2: Paul also picks up on this theme of the centrality of God in our life. He says that he gives thanks to God for what has happened to the people in Thessalonica was through the plan and power of God. They responded to Paul’s preaching of the Good News of Salvation as a result of the grace of the Holy Spirit, who convicted their hearts. Because they so responded to the grace of the Spirit, they have embraced a life of faith, hope and love.  They were seeking to live a life pleasing to God.

We have heard the same Gospel message. We have received the same anointing of the Holy Spirit. How convicted are we? Are the signs of the work of faith, the labor of love and the endurance of hope evident in our lives? Do we know beyond any doubt that we have been chosen and are loved by God? Is our life a response to this truth? 

"All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies" (Blessed Carlos Acutis).

What a perceptive insight from a young teenager, who recently was beatified!

We come into this world as one of a kind, as unique as each snowflake. Our uniqueness is enhanced, when in Baptism we became an adopted son or daughter of God. What will we look like when we die? Will we retain our God-given unique identity or will we allow sin to deform and corrode us like all other sinners who die alienated from God? The brilliance of each saint is different and unique. The darkness of each eternal sinner is the same. What is the difference? Saints overflow with the eternal life of God; eternal sinners exist in the eternal death of darkness. Will you be an original or a photocopy?

Twenty-ninth Sunday Gospel A

Then the Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap him in speech.

· We have another confrontational story between the leaders and Jesus.

· The question that is posed is intended to back Jesus in a corner. Either he will have to side with the majority of the people who oppose this taxation or he will have to support the Roman authorities.  In either case, he will alienate someone.

· Notice how Jesus is not interested in pleasing either one, but only God.

 They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?"

· Do we at times say the right words but we do not mean them? How and when have we been deceptive in our words?

· The Pharisees would be opposed to the payment of the tax; the Herodians would be in favor.

 Knowing their malice, Jesus said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax." Then they handed him the Roman coin.

· By the very fact that they were able to show him such a coin in their possession indicate that they were explicitly acknowledging the right of Rome to tax.

 He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" They replied, "Caesar's." At that he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." 

· Jesus avoids taking sides. But he raises a more important concern: their debt to God for all he has done for them.  Do we sometimes get caught up with less important things and not focus on that which is more important?

· Do I give to each that which is due to that person? Do I give to God what belongs to God? This is true justice.

· Do I sometimes please human beings rather than God for fear of displeasing them?

· What is my attitude when I am rendering to another and to God what is their due? Do I do it grudgingly or with joy and a sense of rightness? Where else do I fall short in following the Word of God? 

"To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless" (G.K. Chesterton)

Who does this better than God himself? In spite of our selfishness, God continues to love us. Why can't we do the same towards others? Even when we deliberately choose sin, God forgives us completely. Are we greater than God? The center of our faith is in God. That is why we can believe what is beyond human experience. There is nothing truly hopeless as long as the foundation of our hope is God himself. What is the common factor in all these? God and our relationship with him!

Is eternal life something in the future or is it here and now? What is eternal life? Is it not life with and in God forever? Is it not God's divine life shared with us? From the moment I was born, though I will die physically, I will live eternally. When I was baptized, I, by the grace of God, was given a share in God's own eternal life. It is the will of God that I live in his life eternally. But whether I do or not, depends on my response to the grace God gives me in my present life. If I cherish his life, then I will persevere in his life. If something becomes more important to me and I choose that over his in-dwelling presence, I will lose a share in his life. If I die in this state, then I will live eternally but not in his eternal life. 

Our attitude should be that of the people in one of Jesus' parables. When one finds a great treasure in a field, a pearl of great price, the person will sell everything in order to obtain this great treasure. What is greater than eternal life in and with God? We didn't have to find this treasure. It was given to us. But how important is it to us and to what length will we treasure it? How conscious am I of this treasure? What am I doing to respond to it?

“I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power, nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:38–39).

This certainty of God's love does not depend upon us but upon the person of God, who is love. We are loved by God, whether we are good or bad. He loves us because what he made he sees as good. At the same time he does not love some of our actions, which separate us from him. In this sense nothing can separate us from God from his part. Our separation comes from our choices, which are selfish rather than other. Even if a person is eternally separated from God by choice, God still loves that person as he respect the free choice the person made. 

Paul is reminding us that if we truly love God, nothing can separate us from him. For in truth when we love God, we choose him over anything that could attempt to separate us from him. That is why our love for God is so essential to our eternal existence. That is why total love of God is the first and most important requirement of our relationship with him. At the same time, we are called to love what God loves, namely, those created in his own image and likeness as ourselves. 

Homily: Twenty-eighth Sunday Year A

Reading 1: The prophet is talking to exiles, who have lost everything in which they had put their hopes in: property, security, freedom, material goods, jobs, house. Why? They had forgotten the God, who is the source of all good things. Instead the people had made good things their god.  Isaiah is calling the people backed to God. He tells them of the rich banquet of food and drink God will provide for his people who turn back to him. The Book of Revelation speaks about the wedding banquet of heaven that awaits us.

Isaiah identifies the one thing that captures the heart of people, namely death. But the death here is not physical death, which separates us from the earthly world and our family and friends. Rather, it is the spiritual, second or eternal death, which separates us from God. What will God wipe away, what is the reproach of the people? It is the sin which leads to the second.

The focus of the prophetic reading is the Lord God will provide the rich banquet, will destroy the second death, will remove the reproach of sin, will save us. Our response: Rejoice and be glad and follow the Lord.

Gospel: The Gospel picks up on the theme of the rich banquet in Isaiah. The king is God; the wedding banquet is in honor of Jesus; the bride is the Church. The invitation was to share in the banquet.

Jesus says that God has prepared a banquet. It is the banquet of salvation and union with God. God has invited to this salvific feast his chosen people. But many refused to come and participate on God’s terms. They were too busy with personal and worldly matters. Eternal salvation was not on their radar screen. Right relationship with God was not their immediate or ultimate concern.

As a result, Jesus says that God will extend his invitation to salvation to others. However, to enter the Kingdom of God there was one stipulation. One must wear the garment of salvation, given to them with the invitation.

What was the wedding garment? In those days, people had a special garment used only at celebrations, such as a wedding. If they were too poor, the host would provide such a garment, so that people would not come to a wedding in their rags or dirty clothing. One person did not respect the host and refused to accept it.

When we were baptized, we were clothed in the life of God, symbolized by the white garment laid upon us. We were told to keep this garment unstained until the day we will meet the Lord face to face. This person did not care about the requirement. It would be like you were invited to a formal ball and the required dress was a formal gown or a tuxedo, would we go with shorts and tennis shoes? Out of respect we would not.

To share life with God eternally, we need to be in right relationship with God, not from our perspective, but from God’s. He is the one who has died on the cross to save us. He is the one who baptized us into his new life. He is the one that sets the stipulations and requirements.

Reading 2: Paul’s writing helps us to recognize the providential care of God in our lives, directly or through others. His focus was not whether he had or did not have or was taken care of or not. His focus was that God will supply our needs, not as we expect but as he sees best for us. At times, he will involve others to take care of our needs and he will involve us to meet the needs of others. Paul’s dependency was on God.

How much do we depend upon God to take care of our needs?  How often have we followed the grace movement of God to take care of the needs of others? 

"The remembrance of my faults humbles me; and it helps me never to rely upon my own strength--which is but weakness--but more than all, it speaks to me of mercy and of love. When a soul with childlike trust casts her faults into love's all-devouring furnace, how shall they escape being utterly consumed?" (St. Therese of Lisieux)

Many times we cling to our fault and failures, our sins and destructive behaviors. Instead, we need to recognize them, acknowledge them but give them to God. His mercy is beyond our understanding. Jesus has already died for our sins and has extended his merciful forgiveness to us. There is no need for us to cling to these, as if they were still ours. For when we do, we are still trying to make up for our sins. We are still trying to earn something from God. This is foolishness and the ploy of the Devil, who seeks to keep us in the bondage of the past, whereas Jesus wants us live in the present moment of his loving mercy. 

 TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY: YEAR A

Jesus again in reply spoke to them in parables, saying, 

· This Gospel parable has a number of similarities with last Sunday’s Gospel, the parable of the tenants: a) two groups of servants are sent.; b)  the murder of these servants; c) the murderers are punished; d)  new groups are given the very privileges the others were offered and proved not worthy.

· Again, this is more of an allegory than a parable: each detail stands for something: a) the king is God; b) the son is Jesus; c) the invited guests are the chosen people of Israel; d) the first servants are the OT prophets; e) the second and third sets of servants are the apostolic and subsequent missionaries; e) the destroyed city is Jerusalem; f) the "good and bad" consists of the diverse background of the members of the Church.

· This is a reflection of salvation history: Old Testament and New Testament times.

 "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. 

· Is 25:6 portrays the messianic kingdom to come as a wedding banquet. Thus, what Jesus is speaking about is not just an ordinary banquet. This is “the” banquet for all eternity. No one has a right to be invited. At the same token, no one should refuse to accept, given the seriousness of the invitation.

He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.

· For the new invitees (converts), the wedding garment is the baptismal relationship between God and them: the life of grace. If a person is not in relationship with God by one’s own choice, that person will not be part of the eternal celebration.

· We are the ones who have been sought out by God and invited. What is the state of our “baptismal garment” at this time? Am I truly responding to God’s invitation to me to share his life for eternity?

 He said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen." 

· What will you do differently this week as a result of your reflections?

A Saint has said: "The greatest honor God can bestow upon a soul is not to give to it great things, but to ask of it great things." 

Why so? Sometimes the person can become spoiled, if it is always given great things by God. An expectation develops that life should always be that. In fact, life is not one blessing after another. What forms the person is, having recognized the great blessings God has already given, the person seeks to respond with loving gratitude. 

What can I do for God? What is the great things God seeks from me? As simple as it is, it is still one of the hardest things for us to do. Total surrender in love to God, seeking to do his will in all things. That's the lesson Jesus revealed to us, both in word and in action. That's the lesson that makes ordinary human beings into saints. 

God desires us to live our present state of life in a way that reflects his glory. He is not asking us to embrace abject poverty, to afflict our bodies with cruel torture, to seek a martyr's death. But he is asking of us to embrace a life of love and service, according to his will. 

 "He (God) does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He will. As St. Paul says: 'God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. So then it is not of him that will, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy' (Romans 9:15-16)" (St. Therese of Lisieux)

How often we get caught in the trap of worthiness or unworthiness. What is the trap? The focus is on us.  The fact is the focus should  be on God. He chooses whom he chooses as he wills. Paul tells us that God chooses the weak to confound the strong and the foolish to confound the wise. None of us is worthy of any of the graces that God lavishes on us. We are simply unworthy, because we are all sinners. Rather than focus on that, we should respond to God's generosity with gratitude and love. As Paul reminds us: There go I but for the grace of God.

"To live in the world without belonging to the world summarizes the essence of the spiritual life. The spiritual life keeps us aware that our true house is not the house of fear, in which the powers of hatred and violence rule, but the house of love, where God resides" (Henri Nouwen).

If we do not keep our eyes on the prize, namely life in and with Christ, then we will be distracted by the allurements along the journey and lose our way. This can easily happen and it is the desire of the Devil that he does all he can to ensure that it does happen. But we belong to Christ, who sends his angels to guide, guard and defend us. St. Paul reminds us that we are citizens and heirs of heaven. Each day we need to remind ourselves of the journey we are on, of the desire of God for us and on our true identity and destination. 

"For (St. Paul) insists that the greater gifts are nothing at al without love and that this same love is surely the best path leading directly to God....Love appeared to me to be the hinge for my vocation....I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no loner, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more. I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocation, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting....O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love....In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction" (St. Therese of the Child Jesus).

In love she found the heart of the central mystery of God. For God is love and all he does is out of love. She came to see that the command of love that God has given us is the key to our relationship with God and others. Love is the only thing that gives meaning to our life. It is so simple yet so profound. Yet, why is it so hard for us to live a life of love to the fullest? The roots of sin are self-focused; while the roots of love is other focused. Love takes us from merely focusing on self to focus on the other for the sake of the other. In that is true freedom. It is in love that we find God.