"But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people's sins that they may repent." (Wisdom 11:23)

This was part of the First Reading in yesterday's Mass. It reminds us of an important teaching of revelation. There is a time of mercy and a time of justice. We are in this grace time of infinite mercy from God. It is a time of repentance and forgiveness of our sins and a time of turning more to the Lord for all things. From the time of birth till death, we are in this time of mercy. But at death, we will experience the justice of God. If we die in  union with God, then his justice will be an invitation to eternal life with him. On the other hand, if we die alienated from God, our hearts hardened to him, then his justice will be alienation from him eternally. Not knowing the day or hour of our death, we need to be grateful for his mercy, so as to be ready to respond to his justice.

 Where do we receive strength in our spiritual journey in the midst of the difficulties of life? What gives us hope in days of darkness and tribulations? If not, Jesus, then who? God became man so that, after having experienced the trials and joys of of the human life, he could show us how to walk our own journey. He said that he was the way, the truth and the life. Follow him. He invites all who are weary and heavily burdened to come to him and learn from him. Go to him. He showed us that love was the only way of life for his disciples. Love as he loved. He said that he would be with us always. Trust  in him. He sent  his own Spirit to remain with us and to guide us. Be open to the grace of the Spirit. He gave us his own Body and Blood to eat and drink, as the true food of life. Relish this gift. He invites us to table fellowship with him and others. Others are on the same journey with us. Encourage and strengthen one another. After all this do we feel life and hope? 

 Desolation and consolation are two moments in our spiritual journey. Consolations are the highs, a sense of being loved, a sense of rightness in life. Desolation has a sense of sadness, of being alone, of being lost, of being in the darkness and not  in the light, a sense of hopelessness. In times of consolations, we seem to have a sense of knowing where we are going, our prayer seems to bring us closer to God. In times of desolation, we feel that God has abandoned us, our prayer feels unheard.  Both are important graces in our spiritual journey. For it is in desolation that God brings us into a deeper awareness of sin in our lives. He seems to strip and prune us so that we can have a greater experience of him. In times of desolation we need to ask God for discernment and patience: discernment to know what God wants of us at the moment; patience to wait upon the timing of the Lord. Like the seasons, winter turns to spring and desolation turns to consolation. Watch for it and wait for it. 

 

Homily: Thirty-first Sunday Year C

Reading 1: We acknowledge God’s magnificence and his otherness and our dependency upon him. The truth is that in the presence of God we are nothing. We are like a drop of dew that soon evaporates. But God is merciful to us, temporarily overlooking our sins and giving us a chance to repent.

 

How often and to what depth have we experienced this endless mercy of God? How often have we repented because of the grace of mercy? Why does God treat us with mercy when we are sinners? Because of who he is: God is love and he created us in love, sustains us in love and shares his life with us in love.

 

God hates nothing he created. But Sin he did not create and what sin does to us he did not create. He abhors sin and all it does to us. Yet, in spite of our sinfulness he sustains us because he loves us, having placed his imperishable spirit within us. With his grace he calls us back to repentance. He does not seek the death of the sinner but that he may repent and live forever with him in glory.

 

What is our response? Is it praise and thanksgiving? Or is it focus on our desires to be who we are not or to do what pleases us no matter what?

 

Gospel: Here is one of those encounters with Jesus that changes a person’s life. Zacchaeus is a tax collector. As such he is hated by the people because he serves the Roman Empire by collecting taxes for the Romans and adding a generous fee for himself.

 

Zacchaeus must have heard of Jesus. Maybe he heard that many tax collectors and sinners are following him. Thus, he was curious to see this person and maybe more than curious, maybe hungry for something more in his own life. Because he was short and because he knew the animosity of the people towards him, he climb a tree for a better vantage point.

 

Unbeknown to Zacchaeus, the Spirit had informed Jesus that there was someone whom he is to minister to on his journey. When Jesus saw Zacchaeus, his gaze of mercy ministered to the tax collector. The gaze of Jesus goes beyond sin and prejudice. He sees the person with the eyes of God, which does not stop with sin, but sees the potential of a grace-filled life for the person. In this gaze Jesus helped Zacchaeus to see his true worth.

 

Jesus’ interaction with the tax collector angered the people. How could Jesus even think of entering the house of a public sinner! They saw his sins but refused to see their own sins.

 

Zacchaeus’s conversion was swift. He recognized and admited that he had taken advantage of people. He repented of this publicly. He promised to give restitution. Mercy, repentance, restitution lead to the grace of salvation. Are we Zacchaeus or are we among the crowd? Are we seeking something more authentic even though we do not know it? Is Jesus that more?

 

Reading 2: Paul at this point in his Second Letter to the Thessalonians addresses the question of the second coming of Jesus in glory. He begins by focusing on what is more important or the preparation for the second coming of the Lord. He prays that the Christians grow in holiness, fulfilling their call from God. In this way Jesus will be glorified in them and they in him.

 

Then he reminds them that Jesus will come again in glory but we do not know the day or hour. Unfortunately, someone had been upsetting the people by saying it was very soon. As a result, people stop working and just waited. Paul confronts this false teaching by saying the best way to prepare is to grow in holiness day by day, by fulfilling one’s call to live a life of worthiness, while continue to live a normal life.  In this way, whenever the Lord comes, he will find them in relationship to him.

 

"Only Jesus can save us. That is why it is so important to remove your inner eye away from the complexities of your own broken heart toward the pure but broken heart of Jesus. Looking at him and his immense mercy will give you the ability to accept your own imperfections and to really let yourself be cared for by the mercy and love of Jesus." (Henri Nouwen)

When I realize that all is grace and mercy, I can better walk the journey of life I am on. I must cooperate with God's merciful grace, yes. But my cooperation is one percent of the total picture. God's grace provides the rest that I need. He saves me without me doing anything. But he wants me to respond to his gift of salvation at the cost of his life by giving him my life in return. That's my one percent. But that one percent is very important. He gave his total life for me on the cross of suffering. Nothing less than our total life to him will suffice. He doesn't want a fraction of one percent of our life. So much to gain and so much to lose, depending on that one percent. Is God asking too much from us?

 Thirty-first Sunday Gospel C

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. 

· Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. The journey from Galilee to Jerusalem took him through the town of Jericho. This was the town that Joshua and the Israelites conquered as they entered the Promised Land.

Now a man there named Zacchaeus,  who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.  

· Being a tax collector marked him as one who was disliked by the local people. His wealth came from the additional commissions he was able to keep from the taxes of the people.

· He must have heard of Jesus’ reputation. He may have even known Matthew, who was a tax collector before becoming a disciple of Jesus. He was curious to see Jesus.

· The primacy of grace is at play here. Without knowing it, he was being motivated by God to seek to see Jesus.

o The irony is that Zacchaeus sought with great effort to see Jesus, only to discover that Jesus was seeking him.

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." 

· How did Jesus know his name? Was it a word of knowledge? Had they met before? If so, why would Luke say: “he was seeking to see who Jesus was?”

· The grace of salvation was prepared for by the grace of wanting to see who Jesus was. Zacchaeus responds to the different graces he is receiving.

And he came down quickly and received him with joy.  When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."  

· Zacchaeus is known to the local people who have also heard that Jesus was passing through their town. They have no kind words for him, for in their eyes he was a public sinner. For Jesus to stay at his house was contrary to their understanding of the Law.

· How often do we judge others from their public life?

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over." 

· As Matthew left his past behind him, Zacchaeus is willing to do the same.

· The first step to discipleship is acknowledgment of sin, repentance and a firm decision to turn away from sin and to turn to Jesus.

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

· God gives the initial grace, we respond to that grace and God grants us salvation.

· How many people at the same scene had received a similar grace but did not respond to it and as a result did not experience the mercy of Jesus?

· How often have we not responded to the grace from God which would have brought us to a deeper relationship with God? What blocked us? Sin? Fear? Lack of trust? Shame?

· How do we apply the lesson of this event to our life?

 "Christian perfection consists in three things: praying heroically, working heroically, and suffering  heroically." (St. Anthony Mary Claret)

Probably the word "heroically"  will initially discourage some. Maybe we could better understand what he means if we substitute the phrase "with Christ-like love". Can we then pray, work and suffer with Christ-like love" Isn't this what St. Paul implied when  he said, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do it in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."?    In a sense, Jesus make our journey to him easier when he said to love as he has loved. So, today, be conscious of doing in and with love whatever you do. See if that doesn't make a major difference in your life and in the life of others.

 "Live in such a way that all may know that you bear outwardly as well as inwardly the image of Christ crucified, the model of all gentleness and mercy. For if a man is united inwardly with the Son of the living God, he also bears his likeness outwardly by his continual practice of heroic goodness, and especially through a patience reinforced by courage, which does not complain either secretly or in public. Conceal yourself in Jesus crucified, and hope for nothing except that all men be thoroughly converted to his will." (St. Paul of the Cross)

How does our life match against this model put before us in Christ crucified? Does our life reflect his gentleness and mercy, his patience and goodness in the face of people's negative reaction against us? The way Jesus was able to endure his many sufferings and constant attacks was he knew that he was the beloved Son of the Father, in his humanity. He knew that he came to do the will of the Father even while embracing the anger of others. In this he gives us a model to follow. At all times, but especially in times of difficulties, remember that you are the son or daughter of the Father, who is asking you to unite you will with his. In doing this we will reflect Jesus crucified with the expectantly of reflecting Jesus risen.

 "The person who asks for and seeks this one thing from the Lord makes his petition confidently and serenely. He has no fear that, when he receives it, it may harm him, for if this is absent, anything else he duly receives brings no benefit at all." (St. Augustine)

What is that one thing that we should desire and pray for above all else? We can ask for health and blessings, and forgiveness and mercy. All of these are good but will be inconsequential without the one thing. What is that? We were created by God with one purpose. Paul tells us that God "predestined us to be his adopted sons and daughters so that we may be with him forever praising his glory."  Or as St. Augustine said: "This is the one, true and only life of happiness, that, immortal and incorruptible in body and spirit, we should contemplate the Lord's graciousness for ever." What it comes down to is that nothing will full satisfy us except being in full relationship with God eternally.  Desire this. Pray for this. This is the pearl of great price.

 "Rereading one's life...allows us to notice the little miracles that the good Lord works for us every day." (Pope Francis)

Often times in giving retreats I begin by asking the retreatants to do a time line of their lives. I ask them to draw a line across a page. Above the line diagonally write a blessing from the Lord and below the line write diagonally your response. How many signs of God's love come to mind? As you review your life you begin to grasp the enormity of God's love for you and the many times we took his love for granted. This rereading of one's life is a powerful tool to keep our focus on God and learning how he moves in our life. The saying that God writes straight lines with our curves.

 

Homily: Thirtieth Sunday Year C

Reading 1: There are four groups of people listed in the reading whose prayer is heard by God: the weak, the oppressed, the orphan and the widow. What do they have in common? They serve God willingly; their prayer is humble; they are totally dependent upon God. Their prayer is not a matter of words, but an attitude of the heart. They acknowledge who God is and who they are in relationship.

 

God is said to be the God of justice, who judges justly and affirms the right. Normally, we think of justice due to us. But in reference to prayer, it is the justice due to God. Because he is God and we belong to him. We owe him praise, adoration, thanksgiving, honor and glory. This is due him. When these come from a sincere heart that recognizes the truth and lives in the truth, then a person is open to receive God’s blessings.

 

To serve God willingly is to recognize that he is the Master/Lord of our lives. We owe all to him from creation and sustaining us in existence to redemption, to sanctification and life eternal with him. We have no right to any of these. They are not ours by justice but by mercy. God does not need our prayers or service, but we need God just to be. We are not self-sufficient. Our sufficiency is in God.

 

Does our prayer reflect our dependency upon God? Does it reflect our sincere awareness of the majesty and awesomeness of God? Does it reflect our heart?

 

Gospel:  The prayer of the lowly and the prayer of the self-righteous. Both prayed to the same God. Both prayed out of their relationship with God.  Why was the prayer of one heard and responded to but the other did the expected response?

The self-righteous one focuses on the self and not the Other, on distortion rather than the truth. To show that his prayer was really words directed, not to God, but to himself and those around him.  His relationship with God was based on what he did, not on what God did in his life. He shows that he is not dependent upon God. Instead God should be impressed with his piety and accomplishments. What was he looking for from God? That God would bless him for being such a self-generated good person. But what was one of the flaws of his prayer, besides being self-conceited was that he looked down with contempt on the tax collector.

 

 In contrast, the tax collector recognizes the truth. He has sinned by his actions and life-style. He recognizes his own unworthiness to come into God’s presence. All he could do is admit he was a sinner and throw himself upon the mercy of God, who owed him nothing. He spoke the truth and acknowledged the truth. The psalmist said: the prayer of a contrite and humble heart will be heard by God.

 

Of the two, which on reflects our prayer before God? Do we pray because we believe God owes us something? Or do we pray for his mercy because we know that we are sinners who deserve chastisement in hope of his mercy.

 

Reading 2: The first reading said: “He who serves God willingly is heard.” What does St. Paul say about this? When he was on trial for preaching the word of God, no one supported him, but abandoned him. “The Lord stood by my side and give me strength.” He knew that he was called by God to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to the Gentiles. He knew first-hand the difficulties and sufferings he was enduring, as he sought to fulfill God’s call. He knew that his goal was to be with God forever in heaven.

 

He knew that his end of life was approaching quickly. He said at the beginning of the reading: “I am being poured out as a libation.” His sufferings and struggles were not in vain. The one constant for him was that God was with him. His focus was to complete the work of God. “God will continue to rescue me and bring me safe into his heavenly kingdom.”

 

What is God’s call for us? Are we serving God willingly? Are we convinced that no matter what, God will not abandon us?

 “For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” (Isaiah 41:13)

How often in the midst of our daily struggles and questions we need to be reminded that the Lord is with us! This is the continual theme in the scriptures: God reminding us that he is with us. We do not walk this journey alone. Even in our mistakes and failures, God remains with us, because he loves us. He created us to be with him. Do you think he would not see us through the journey to him? We may not always feel his presence or see his guiding hand, but that does not mean he is not there. He calls us to walk by faith and not by sight. Though we do not see him we are called to believe and trust in his faithful promise to be with us.

 Thirtieth Sunday Gospel C

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.  

· Have we found ourselves at times falling into this same mind-set?

"Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.  

· Jesus was fond of using extreme ends of the spectrum to show the contrast. Here we have the externally devoted religious person and the external public sinner.

The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ 

· Do you hear the self-righteousness of the Pharisee? The focus was on him. His religious works gives him superiority in his eyes over others. It is almost like God should be grateful to him rather than seeing his need for God.

· “Took up his position” Where do you think he stood in the Temple to pray? Why do you think he took that position? Was he there to satisfy himself or God?

o He presumed that his adherence to traditional forms of external piety is an automatic guarantee of divine blessing. He sadly overlooked his need for God’s mercy.

But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' 

· What opposite position did the tax collector take? Where did the truth lie between their two positions and words?

o He recognized that he was a sinner. So he pleaded for mercy from God, not as a merit but as a gift.

· Our sinfulness is greater than our deeds of goodness many times. If, as we believe that God sees the heart, do you understand the attitude we need to have when we come before the Lord in prayer?

I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

· If humility is truth, what is Jesus saying? We can impress others, but God sees us as we are. Even the Pharisee was a sinner in need of the mercy of God. In that sense he and the tax collector were on the same level before God. What made the difference was one recognized his need for God’s mercy and the other did not.

· How do we apply this parable to our own way of life before God and others?

 "The participation in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ has no other effect than to transform us into Him whom we receive." (Pope St. Leo the Great"

When we eat, the food we consumed is changed into nourishment for our bodies. When we eat the Body and Blood of Jesus we are the ones who are changed. The process for physical food is automatically. We are not even conscious of it. The process for the Eucharistic food is not automatic. It depends upon our conscious response to the communion we share in Christ. The more we desire to be like Christ, the more we will seek to love as he loves. To say with St. Paul, "I live now, not I but Christ lives in me",  becomes a greater reality when we actually do it. Christ gives himself to us to clothe this mortal body with immortality, this corruptible body into incorruptibility. It is the gift of his life through Eucharistic communion that brings about the on-going transformation from the old Adam into the new Adam. Given this awareness, how can people remain indifferent and blaze about the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ?

 Today, we celebrate the Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr. He had a great perspective on life. He said: "Only on my arrival there (heaven) can I be fully a human being." God created us out of love to be with him forever in glory. In this life we seek to become fully who we are meant to be. But it is only if we live and die in Christ, will we will reach our full potential. St. Paul reminds us of a truth that we need to keep before us as we journey in this life. "Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body." Jesus also put it in perspective when he said: "What good is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul." Jesus , Paul and Ignatius had the right perspective. Is this our perspective as well.?

 It is easier for us to see the need to give thanks for the many good things that happen to us in our life. It is not so easy for us to do the same for those events that were painful and we would like to forget. We don't thank God for those moments, but we thank him for his grace and his presence in those moments.  Even though God did not cause them, but permitted them, we thank God that he used them to bring us to a different point in our relationship with him. For each moment and event, each decision, good or bad, God incorporates into the greater plan for our eternal salvation. Lord, thank you for being present with me when I sinned and did not abandoned me. Lord, thank you for the lessons you taught me in those dark moments in my life. Lord, thank your love which has sustained me through the good and the bad.

 "Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are not an “accident,” but a divine choice. It is important to realize how often we have had chances to be grateful and have not used them. When someone is kind to us, when an event turns out well, when a problem is solved, a relationship restored, a wound healed, there are very concrete reasons to offer thanks: be it with words, with flowers, with a letter, a card, a phone call, or just a gesture of affection. . . . Every time we decide to be grateful it will be easier to see new things to be grateful for. Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love." (Henri Nouwen)

One of the areas we may fail the most is in gratitude. As human beings we take for granted the many blessings we receive daily from God. It is not that we are deliberately ungrateful. Rather it is a matter of being inattentive and unconsciously responsive to those gifts of grace.  Every second is a gift. Every breath I take is a gift. What would happened if we begin to be more attentive to these undeserved blessings of daily life? Will our life become more in tune to the voice of God within us, guiding us to his eternal presence? Before going to bed tonight, take a few minutes to give thanks to God for those times and events of our day that were his gifts to us, for those we didn't say thanks at the moment.

 

Homily: Twenty-ninth Sunday Year C

 

Reading 1: The power of prayer. Human power unsupported by God is not power at all. Human power—Joshua and the Israelites were waging war against the Amaleks.  Human power supported by prayer was effected, as was Moses interceding before God for the Israelites. When Moses tired, the enemy had the best; when he persisted, Israel was powerful. Moses wasn’t called by God to fight the battle with the Amaleks with the sword, but with the weapon of prayer.

 

When we pray, God helps us always. It may not be in the way we desire or expect, but God will respond. The greatest intercessory prayer was the prayer of Jesus from the cross. This prayer was the gift of his life for our salvation. With arms outstretched he was obedient to the Father out of love even to the death of the cross.

 

We heard a few weeks ago Paul exhorting that we should raise our hands, praying for the needs of others. Our prayer is sustained when others join us in that prayer, like Aaron and Hur holding Moses’ arms. It was the persistent intercessory prayer of this community of three that gave the impetus and power of God to Joshua and his troops to overcome their enemies.

 

Our prayer of intercession is pleasing to God for it reflects our love for the one we are praying for. It is a reflection of the centrality of God and our dependency upon God for all things. Intercessory prayer does not change God’s mind, but allows us to be part of God’s plan for the person or situation. To intercede, someone has said, is to stand in the gap.

 

Gospel: Again, the theme of persistence in prayer. In Luke there are certain classes of people who are vulnerable and marginalized. He shows Jesus reaching out to them and ministering to them or using them as examples in his teachings.

 

Here it is a widow, who has a just cause against her adversary. She is totally bereft and dependent on God for her survival. The judge, who hears her case, gives her no immediate satisfaction or resolution. But she persistently approaches the judge with her case. He finely gives in to her request.

 

Jesus says that his Father is not like the judge, for God cares for us and our needs. He wants the best for us. However, he wants us to be persistent as a sign of that we have no one but him to take care of our needs and the needs of others. It is our faith in him as a loving Father that allows us to be persistent in our prayer.

 

The disturbing statement is the last: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” What does faith and prayer have in common? We pray to God because we believe and are committed to him. The persistency is also in faith, even if we do not have all the answers. Our faith in God does not waver because thanks happen to good people or our prayer was not fully answered the way we wanted.

 

Our persistence in prayer is predicated on who God is and not on ourselves or what God does or does not do.  The persistency is not just in the asking for something but in coming to God, expressing our acceptance, acknowledgement, dependency upon God. We come because he is God.

 

Reading 2: Paul gives us two points. Remain faithful to the Word of God, which is capable of giving us wisdom for salvation through faith in Jesus. We need to read and reflect on the Word of God for different reasons, but especially that we may be competent and equipped for the work of the Gospel.

 

The second point is that we need to share with others the Word of God for their up building and salvation.

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do." (Pope Saint John XXIII)

Words of wisdom! Too often we live in our fears, frustrations and failures rather than in the present moment, open to the grace of each moment. The fears, frustrations and failures create a cloud of hopelessness and uselessness. The grace of the moment enables us to see the light in the midst of the darkness, our purpose in the midst of aimlessness, the possibilities in the midst of sameness. It is God's desire that we be attentive to and embrace the grace of each moment. For these will lead us into his will, where we will find ultimate fulfillment. The journey may seem long but the destination is eternal.

 Twenty-ninth Sunday Gospel C

Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. 

This parable is found only in the Gospel of Luke.

This encouragement to pray always is also found in 1 Thess 5:17. 

How often we find ourselves in this state of mind. We pray and nothing                                                               happens. So we practically stop praying. This happens because we don’t believe that God hears us. In this parable Jesus teaches us the importance of continuing to pray even if there seems at the moment to be no response.

He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ 

Widows were often powerless and vulnerable at that time. Many depended on the support of others, mainly family. 

Maybe the reason the judge seemed to ignore her was that her adversary may have been a rich friend of his whom he didn’t want to alienate.

For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,  because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’” 

As she persisted in her petition, the parable urges us to be persistent in our prayer. We should persevere in faith and tirelessly petition God for our needs. 

She is pleading, not for a handout, but for justice, that which is due to her. The judge was acting indifferent, at first, to her need which was a violation of justice. He eventually caved in because of her persistence and what she was asking for was her due. 

The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.  Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?  I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.”

God will come to our aid, not because we are pestering him, but because our persistence reflects our trust and faith in him.

But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

That is a haunting question. In spite of the difficulties of our human life, will our faith in him as our Lord and God, continue to be present, even when our prayers do not seem to be answered? How strong is your faith in the midst of tragedy and struggles?

 "Loving Savior, be pleased to show yourself to us who knock, so that in knowing you we may love only you, love you alone, desire you alone, contemplate only you day and night, and always think of you. Inspire in us the depth of love that is fitting for you to receive as God. So may your love pervade our whole being, possess us completely, and fill all our senses, that we may know no other love but love for you who are everlasting. May our love be so great that the many waters of sky, land and sea cannot extinguish it in us: many waters could not extinguish love." (St. Columban)

Growth in the spiritual life is rooted in the basics. Love. This prayer of St. Columban should be our daily desire. For what matters at the end of our life is the depth of love within us, especially our love for God. The saints came to this realization and because of it they are honored as saints. How conscious are we in doing all things in love? Isn't this the basic commandment that Jesus has given to his followers? If it wasn't possible for us to root all things in love, Jesus would not have commanded it. So today, try to be attentive in the many things you do, to try, with the grace of God, to do them in love. You will not be a hundred percent successful, but with faithfulness you will be become more loving.

 Have you ever thought of seeking power through powerlessness? Our broken humanity has been taught that the powerful succeed; the weak don't. We are taught that might makes right. Yet, the more power we have the more power we want. We are never satisfied. In the end those who had external power end up just as dead as the one who had no power. Jesus came to teach us a different model. He allowed himself to be powerless before his accusers and attackers in order to manifest real power in self control. He  had the power to eliminate them. He chose not to. Instead,  he showed us the power of forgiveness over the power of retaliation; the power of love rather than hate and anger. He revealed the paradox of power through the ministry of service. "Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart." Our real power is not in ourselves but in God.

 St John Henry Newman described holiness in these words: “The Christian has a deep, silent, hidden peace, which the world sees not… The Christian is cheerful, easy, kind, gentle, courteous, candid, unassuming; has no pretense… with so little that is unusual or striking in his bearing, that he may easily be taken at first sight for an ordinary man”

Basically, he is saying that a person of holiness is one who seeks to be a virtuous person. The opposite of virtue is vice, which is what sin is. To grow in holiness is to strive to put sin out of our lives. To do this the person seeks to cultivate the virtues that will draw one closer to Christ. This is a conscious effort that is a response to grace. We cannot do this merely on our own will power. We need to be sustained by the strength of God's grace and love to grow in holiness. How conscious are we of seeking to live a life of virtue? What virtue do you need to focus on at this stage of your life? What can you do to make this a consistent part of your life? Start with one and then move on to another.

 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28).

Am I one of the people Jesus is inviting to come to him? Do I feel weary and overwhelmed by the situations in my life that I have been dealing with for a long time?  Am I one who has been struggling with a particular sin, addiction or scarred memories? Am I weighed down by guilt and shame from past decisions I have made?  Is my life full of ups and downs, disappointments, failures, illnesses, grief, betrayals, rejection or family issues? Am I one who is beset with worries and anxieties of all kinds? Am I one who feels unloved, unappreciated, taken for granted, abused and walked all over? “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Do I hear the Lord’s invitation to me as life-giving and liberating? If so, then bring him your burdens. And hear him say, "Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart. You are not alone, I am with you. I added your burdens to the cross I carried."

 

Homily Twenty-eight Sunday Year C

Reading 1: What is unusual about the first reading is that Naaman is a pagan, who has leprosy. He hears of a prophet in Israel, who has healed. He goes to him. Instead of coming out to Naaman, Elisha sends a servant to tell Naaman to go to the Jordan river and plunge in seven times. Initially, Naaman was angry. He expected that his rank as an official of the King of Assyria would warrant the prophet to come and pray over him and heal him. Instead, he was told to go do an ordinary thing, which he could have done in his own country.

 

However, he was urged by his attendants to do what prophet told him, in other words, be submissive and obedient.  He does and he is healed.  He returns to the prophet to pay for his services. Elisha refuses. The healing was to bring Naaman to the revelation that the God of Israel was the true God.  He is now a changed man, not only physically but spiritually. He has had a conversion.  He asks to take dirt from Israel back to Assyria so that he can offer sacrifice and worship to the God of Israel. 

 

Jesus uses this event later on to emphasize that just like Elisha only healed a pagan and not his own, so Jesus will not be able to heal in his own Nazareth because of their lack of faith. Obedience to the word of God leads to faith and conversion.

 

What can we learn from this event? When God moves in a mighty way in our lives how vocal and public are we in praising and thanking God? Did our life change?

 

Gospel: Again, we have the healing of lepers.  To be a leper was to be relegated to a life of isolation and slow painful death.  Their community is one another. When the ten asked to be healed, Jesus puts their faith to a test. He tells them to go to the Jewish priest who would attest to their healing. This was a double test of obedience: obey the Law of Moses which required this and obey the word of Jesus without seeing any results immediately.

 

Once healed they were to give thanks to God by offering a sacrifice. One man of the ten, a Samaritan, went further. He came back to thank Jesus.  Like Naaman, he recognized what God had done through Jesus, the new Elisha, through the ministry of word. Not only was he healed he was converted. As a result, he received an additional and greater gift than the other nine. He received the grace of salvation. Ten were physically healed. One was additionally healed spiritually. How often like the nine we are satisfied with the physical and missed the greater spiritual gift God has for us?

 

We are all spiritual lepers, for we are all sinners. We are all in need of spiritual healing. The one that can heal us is Jesus. He does that in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and in the Sacrament of Eucharist. How grateful are we when we receive absolution and when we receive Jesus’ Body and Blood? Is our gratitude superficial or profound? Is our life any different afterwards than before? The healed leper was given a new lease on life. Now he did not have to live in isolation and shame, in guilt and rejection. Jesus wants to do the same for us.

 

Reading 2: Paul never took his faith in Jesus for granted. He was willing to embrace sufferings for it. In spite of his imprisonment for the sake of the Gospel, Paul still preached the saving plan of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Why? Because he wanted all to be saved. Nothing matter to Paul, not life or death. The only thing was that he would come to a deeper sharing in the life of Christ. He desired to keep pushing forward, seeking the prize of eternal salvation and life with God, which Jesus promised to those who made him the Lord of their lives and were obedient to do his will in all things. Paul knew in faith that Jesus’ promises were true and that God was faithful to his promises.

 Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. I would like to share on of his sayings. "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

Do you desire to be with God forever in glory? Of course you do! Where to start? Jesus has saved us and has made it possible for us to be with him. In fact, he desires that we will be with him. What do we have to do on our part.? Start by doing what's necessary. Get serious about the sins in your life that are stumbling blocks to the fuller life with Jesus. Only by God's grace can you make progress in this area. As you are uprooting sin then, again by God's grace, you can do what is possible, grow in holiness. Uprooting sin are that are vices will enable us to grow in holiness  through the virtues. As we continue to keep our eyes on Jesus, sharing in his life in this life, we will find ourselves dying in him into the true life. Then the impossible is reached, eternal life with God. All by God's grace and our yes. 

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

"Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing make you afraid. All things are passing. God alone never changes. Patience gains all things. If you have God you will want for nothing. God alone suffices." (St. Therese of Avila)

What if we adopted this attitude as we deal with the various situations in our daily life? Would our life have a different focus and purpose? We are like Peter, who as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, was able to walk on water. But when he took his eyes off the Lord and looked at himself, he faltered and sank.  Can we train ourselves to keep our eyes on the Lord and not on the problems of life? No, the problems will not go away, but we can deal with them better in God's company rather than alone. Isolation and self-focus are the temptations that distract us from our call to be one with the Lord in all things.