1 Kings 11:4-13
Psalm 106:3-4, 35-37, 40
Mark 7:24-30
Who could have imagined that Solomon, the youth who asked God for wisdom because he knew that he was not equal to the task of ruling Israel, would become a corrupt old man with 1000 sexual partners. After beginning so well, Solomon ends so badly.
Whose fault is that? It is not God’s fault. God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond any other human before the time of the Holy Spirit. It is not Solomon’s wives’ fault: they were merely following the religions that they grew up with. Who could have taught them better? Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Solomon could not possibly have loved all these women. Jacob had two wives and could not love both of them. If Solomon had had only one wife, he would have taught her about the God of Israel, the only true God. It is Solomon’s fault. After having every advantage: wisdom, visions of God, and the example of his father, he abandons the faith that he knows is true.
Solomon has a faithfulness problem. He has one thousand wives. He was unable to be faithful to one. He worships all sorts of gods. He was unable to be faithful to one. If I were trying to do a little psychoanalysis of Solomon, I would suggest that his troubles might go back to his mother. He knew that his mother was the wife of another man, whom his father had killed. Even if David gave him the best example he could, he could not correct this bad example. This knowledge must have haunted Solomon his entire life. Whether this was why he chose to have so many wives or why he went along with them in their worship, we do not know, but Solomon’s parents could not be faithful and he could not either, not to a wife and not to God.
For all his wisdom, Solomon could not see this. He knew so much about the world and the sky and the stars but not about himself. Do not make the same error as Solomon. We all have weaknesses. We are all lacking in certain areas of human development. Whether it is because of our upbringing or genetics or whatever, this is the area where we must be particularly open to God’s grace, for it is the place where we are most vulnerable.
Solomon should not have asked for wisdom. God offered him whatever he wanted and Solomon should have asked God for a different gift. He should have asked for faithfulness.
Daily Homilies
Showing posts with label Fidelity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fidelity. Show all posts
November 10, 2012 - Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Philippians 4:10-19
Psalm 112:1-2, 5-6, 8-9
Luke 16:9-15
St. Paul has such a gentle way of speaking with the Philippians about money. First he says that he rejoiced greatly to see the gift, but then he declares that he could have done just fine without the gift, which seems an ungrateful thing to say. He explains that he has learned to live in poverty and riches, in whatever circumstances that he finds himself. Does he say all this to brag about his own goodness? No. He is telling us how a Christian ought to live. A Christian should desire to be rich in the spiritual gifts and above all to have an abundance of love. It should not occur to a Christian to desire material wealth beyond their material need, because we know that happiness does not come from what we possess.
So why did he rejoice so to see the gift? He says that he was more grateful to see their generosity than for the gift itself. He sees the gift as a physical manifestation of their love and concern for him. He has loved them and served them. Anyone who loves someone else desires to be loved in return. Here is proof of that love. And he is proud like a father to see these people whom he brought into the faith show such generosity. By this gift they prove that they understand and embrace the teachings of Jesus. No father who ever saw his son make the touchdown pass to win the game, remembering years of practice in the backyard, has ever been more proud.
Jesus takes a somewhat harsher tone about money. “You cannot serve God and mammon.” The Pharisees sneered at him. They thought that he was simplistic. They see no contradiction between love of God and love of money. We are on the side of the Pharisees. We compartmentalize our lives. We see nothing wrong with pursuing profit while claiming to worship God. Jesus does. “You justify yourselves in the sight of humans.” Even if we can make the most convincing and solid excuses in favor of money, they mean nothing. “For what is exalted among humans is an abomination in the sight of God.” How very many things are like this, not only money! We think they are compatible with worshiping God. We have convincing arguments that there is no reason to give them up as Christians, but we are wrong. A half-hearted Christian is an abomination in the sight of God.
Psalm 112:1-2, 5-6, 8-9
Luke 16:9-15
St. Paul has such a gentle way of speaking with the Philippians about money. First he says that he rejoiced greatly to see the gift, but then he declares that he could have done just fine without the gift, which seems an ungrateful thing to say. He explains that he has learned to live in poverty and riches, in whatever circumstances that he finds himself. Does he say all this to brag about his own goodness? No. He is telling us how a Christian ought to live. A Christian should desire to be rich in the spiritual gifts and above all to have an abundance of love. It should not occur to a Christian to desire material wealth beyond their material need, because we know that happiness does not come from what we possess.
So why did he rejoice so to see the gift? He says that he was more grateful to see their generosity than for the gift itself. He sees the gift as a physical manifestation of their love and concern for him. He has loved them and served them. Anyone who loves someone else desires to be loved in return. Here is proof of that love. And he is proud like a father to see these people whom he brought into the faith show such generosity. By this gift they prove that they understand and embrace the teachings of Jesus. No father who ever saw his son make the touchdown pass to win the game, remembering years of practice in the backyard, has ever been more proud.
Jesus takes a somewhat harsher tone about money. “You cannot serve God and mammon.” The Pharisees sneered at him. They thought that he was simplistic. They see no contradiction between love of God and love of money. We are on the side of the Pharisees. We compartmentalize our lives. We see nothing wrong with pursuing profit while claiming to worship God. Jesus does. “You justify yourselves in the sight of humans.” Even if we can make the most convincing and solid excuses in favor of money, they mean nothing. “For what is exalted among humans is an abomination in the sight of God.” How very many things are like this, not only money! We think they are compatible with worshiping God. We have convincing arguments that there is no reason to give them up as Christians, but we are wrong. A half-hearted Christian is an abomination in the sight of God.
November 4, 2012 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Deuteronomy 6:2-6
Psalm 18:2-4, 47, 51
Hebrews 7:23-28
Mark 12:28-34
The debate that the scribe brings to Jesus today is about the first commandment. The scribes often would debate this question. The issue is which commandment overrides the others. If I can only follow one of the commandments, which one should it be? So, for instance, we should not steal, but we should go to Mass on Sunday. So what if the only way to get to Mass on Sunday is to steal a car? Which commandment takes priority? What if we choose a different commandment, about feeding the poor? What if there is someone starving and the only way to feed them is to steal food, should we do it? The scribes used to debate questions like this all the time. Some would say that the first commandment is the Sabbath. Others would say that the first commandment is the sacrifice at the Temple. So a scribe goes up to Jesus today and asks him his opinion on this debate.
Jesus answers the question directly. He does not duck it. He goes back to the Old Testament law, to the first reading we had today, and says, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” And then he adds from another part of the law, “The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” In other words, the law of love is above every other law.
What is love? Love is a feeling. We know this, but it also must be something more than a feeling. If God commanded love in the Old Testament, and Jesus says that these two commandments of love are the most important commandments of all, love has to be an action too. Because how could God command us to feel a certain way? There is no way to make ourselves feel love for someone. We either do or we do not. Love has to be some kind of action that we can do. When these actions come naturally without even trying, that is what it means to be in love. But when they do not come naturally, we are still free to do them. We just have to make a decision to continue loving. The feeling is enough to get started, but eventually, every love requires work.
Blessed John Paul II wrote a book about the actions of love; he said that there are three parts. The three parts apply to every way we mean love: love of God, love of a spouse, love of family, love of the poor. The first part is attraction: thinking about how good the other person is. When we are in love, that is all we can do, even to the point of being blinded, but we can also do it by working at it. The first action of loving God is to think about how good he is: all that he has done for us, and how wonderful he is in himself. The first action of loving a person in need is to consider how good they are, that they are a human being with all the dignity that implies and their own personal accomplishments and talents. Then the person does not get defined by their need; the person is no longer just a problem to solve but an individual with so much to love about them.
The second part of love is desire: desiring to be with the other person. Again, when we are in love, that is all we desire. A person in love can forget to eat or sleep because they only want to be with the one they love. And this too can be done by anyone by working at it, not the desire but the being with. The second action of loving God is to spend time with him. It is what we are doing right now. Perhaps some of you did not have a great desire to come here this morning, but you are still here. With or without the desire, you have chosen to come spend time with God. When we love someone in need, we spend time with them. The need for human contact is just as real as whatever else they need.
The third action of love is doing good. When we are in love we want to bring presents and other ways of showing this love. If there is any way we can help the one we love, we are just as grateful to have the opportunity to help as they could ever be to receive help. When we love God we do good things for him. Of course this is difficult because he does not need anything from us. But Jesus says that what we do for the least of our brothers, we do for him. When we serve someone in need it is an act of love not only for them, but also for God. In this way, the love of neighbor is part of the love of God. Since we love God, we have to love his children too.
The feeling of love is perhaps the greatest feeling in all of existence. God gave us the ability to be in love because he wanted us to know how wonderful love is. But the actions of love are greater than the feeling. If we are in love with the feeling of love, we are like addicts going after our next hit. To simply chase that feeling misses the point. It is delightful when it is there because it makes it so easy to love, but the real accomplishment is loving when the feeling goes away.
When we begin following God, we often have that feeling of being in love, but then it goes away. Sometimes people think that they have done something wrong or that they were mistaken in their feelings in the first place. God is trying to draw us closer. When we begin serving the poor in a new way, we can have that feeling of being in love, and then it goes away. The test is whether we continue the actions of love without the feeling. Not because God is just trying to test us, but because if we do we will have something greater. Being young and in love is wonderful, but being married for fifty years, through good times and bad, never giving up on love, is better. Going on a mission trip and being on fire to help others is great, but serving the poor for fifty years, through good times and bad, never giving up on love, is better. Going to prayer and having an experience of love that brings us right up to heaven is amazing, but spending a whole life drawing close to God, through good times and bad, never giving up on love, is what it means to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Psalm 18:2-4, 47, 51
Hebrews 7:23-28
Mark 12:28-34
The debate that the scribe brings to Jesus today is about the first commandment. The scribes often would debate this question. The issue is which commandment overrides the others. If I can only follow one of the commandments, which one should it be? So, for instance, we should not steal, but we should go to Mass on Sunday. So what if the only way to get to Mass on Sunday is to steal a car? Which commandment takes priority? What if we choose a different commandment, about feeding the poor? What if there is someone starving and the only way to feed them is to steal food, should we do it? The scribes used to debate questions like this all the time. Some would say that the first commandment is the Sabbath. Others would say that the first commandment is the sacrifice at the Temple. So a scribe goes up to Jesus today and asks him his opinion on this debate.
Jesus answers the question directly. He does not duck it. He goes back to the Old Testament law, to the first reading we had today, and says, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” And then he adds from another part of the law, “The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” In other words, the law of love is above every other law.
What is love? Love is a feeling. We know this, but it also must be something more than a feeling. If God commanded love in the Old Testament, and Jesus says that these two commandments of love are the most important commandments of all, love has to be an action too. Because how could God command us to feel a certain way? There is no way to make ourselves feel love for someone. We either do or we do not. Love has to be some kind of action that we can do. When these actions come naturally without even trying, that is what it means to be in love. But when they do not come naturally, we are still free to do them. We just have to make a decision to continue loving. The feeling is enough to get started, but eventually, every love requires work.
Blessed John Paul II wrote a book about the actions of love; he said that there are three parts. The three parts apply to every way we mean love: love of God, love of a spouse, love of family, love of the poor. The first part is attraction: thinking about how good the other person is. When we are in love, that is all we can do, even to the point of being blinded, but we can also do it by working at it. The first action of loving God is to think about how good he is: all that he has done for us, and how wonderful he is in himself. The first action of loving a person in need is to consider how good they are, that they are a human being with all the dignity that implies and their own personal accomplishments and talents. Then the person does not get defined by their need; the person is no longer just a problem to solve but an individual with so much to love about them.
The second part of love is desire: desiring to be with the other person. Again, when we are in love, that is all we desire. A person in love can forget to eat or sleep because they only want to be with the one they love. And this too can be done by anyone by working at it, not the desire but the being with. The second action of loving God is to spend time with him. It is what we are doing right now. Perhaps some of you did not have a great desire to come here this morning, but you are still here. With or without the desire, you have chosen to come spend time with God. When we love someone in need, we spend time with them. The need for human contact is just as real as whatever else they need.
The third action of love is doing good. When we are in love we want to bring presents and other ways of showing this love. If there is any way we can help the one we love, we are just as grateful to have the opportunity to help as they could ever be to receive help. When we love God we do good things for him. Of course this is difficult because he does not need anything from us. But Jesus says that what we do for the least of our brothers, we do for him. When we serve someone in need it is an act of love not only for them, but also for God. In this way, the love of neighbor is part of the love of God. Since we love God, we have to love his children too.
The feeling of love is perhaps the greatest feeling in all of existence. God gave us the ability to be in love because he wanted us to know how wonderful love is. But the actions of love are greater than the feeling. If we are in love with the feeling of love, we are like addicts going after our next hit. To simply chase that feeling misses the point. It is delightful when it is there because it makes it so easy to love, but the real accomplishment is loving when the feeling goes away.
When we begin following God, we often have that feeling of being in love, but then it goes away. Sometimes people think that they have done something wrong or that they were mistaken in their feelings in the first place. God is trying to draw us closer. When we begin serving the poor in a new way, we can have that feeling of being in love, and then it goes away. The test is whether we continue the actions of love without the feeling. Not because God is just trying to test us, but because if we do we will have something greater. Being young and in love is wonderful, but being married for fifty years, through good times and bad, never giving up on love, is better. Going on a mission trip and being on fire to help others is great, but serving the poor for fifty years, through good times and bad, never giving up on love, is better. Going to prayer and having an experience of love that brings us right up to heaven is amazing, but spending a whole life drawing close to God, through good times and bad, never giving up on love, is what it means to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
October 29, 2012 - Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
How could we, living in the culture that we do, not stand accused by the first reading today? “No obscenity or suggestive speech.” “Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you.” Could St. Paul have more explicitly condemned our entertainments if he had seen them himself?
Yet how can I preach this without opening myself to the just accusation of the Gospel today, “You hypocrite!” I have often sworn off television and movies only to return to them. Yet I cannot be silent on this topic, letting this clear condemnation pass by lest I be accused myself, because then I would really be a hypocrite. Contrary to the popular use of the word, a hypocrite is not someone who condemns their own sins. A hypocrite is someone who condemns every sin except their own.
So today I will not mince words, because Paul does not. “Be sure of this: no immoral or impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.” And that applies to movies and television too. Whenever I say this, there is always someone who comes to me and talks about the rosary on EWTN. Of course I am not talking about that. I am talking about everything else. If the only television and movies you watch are EWTN and the Discovery channel, fine. But almost everything else is filled with discussions of immorality. What is the average sitcom these days except “obscenity or silly or suggestive talk”? And all these reality shows about dresses and housewives, what are they other than covetousness and greed, celebrating lifestyles that can only be condemned? Listen to the names of these shows, “Modern Family” and “The New Normal”. How is that not the anti-Gospel?
But it is all art and entertainment. And what is a person supposed to do, be entirely separate from the world? And we don’t watch them for those things but for something else. And we just want to relax at the end of the day. “Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.” It would be a shame to go to Hell over a tv show, but Satan will use anything to distract us from God. St. Paul’s point is that we Christians have better things to do with our time, like thanking God and helping others. Satan would rather we waste our lives with television and movies, and the Internet; I am not even going to get started on the Internet.
How could we, living in the culture that we do, not stand accused by the first reading today? “No obscenity or suggestive speech.” “Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you.” Could St. Paul have more explicitly condemned our entertainments if he had seen them himself?
Yet how can I preach this without opening myself to the just accusation of the Gospel today, “You hypocrite!” I have often sworn off television and movies only to return to them. Yet I cannot be silent on this topic, letting this clear condemnation pass by lest I be accused myself, because then I would really be a hypocrite. Contrary to the popular use of the word, a hypocrite is not someone who condemns their own sins. A hypocrite is someone who condemns every sin except their own.
So today I will not mince words, because Paul does not. “Be sure of this: no immoral or impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.” And that applies to movies and television too. Whenever I say this, there is always someone who comes to me and talks about the rosary on EWTN. Of course I am not talking about that. I am talking about everything else. If the only television and movies you watch are EWTN and the Discovery channel, fine. But almost everything else is filled with discussions of immorality. What is the average sitcom these days except “obscenity or silly or suggestive talk”? And all these reality shows about dresses and housewives, what are they other than covetousness and greed, celebrating lifestyles that can only be condemned? Listen to the names of these shows, “Modern Family” and “The New Normal”. How is that not the anti-Gospel?
But it is all art and entertainment. And what is a person supposed to do, be entirely separate from the world? And we don’t watch them for those things but for something else. And we just want to relax at the end of the day. “Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.” It would be a shame to go to Hell over a tv show, but Satan will use anything to distract us from God. St. Paul’s point is that we Christians have better things to do with our time, like thanking God and helping others. Satan would rather we waste our lives with television and movies, and the Internet; I am not even going to get started on the Internet.
February 18, 2012 - Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Those who teach are under a heavier judgment than those who do not. It is difficult enough to live one's own life correctly, righteously. We are likely to go wrong in so many ways. What a great burden it is then to be responsible not only for one's own actions, but how another person interprets your teaching. I understand what I teach and the limits of what I mean and the exceptions, but I probably do not convey all of that in what I say.
So what are we to do then, since no one can believe unless they have been taught but no one can teach without making mistakes? Those of us who have taken on the great responsibility to teach the faith, whether by a commission of the Church or a special call from God, must dedicate our tongue to the Lord. Someone else might be sarcastic or flippant, someone else might discuss gossip or speak of useless things, someone else might express their own opinion on matters political or religious, but we teachers of the faith will not.
Would it not be better if priests and deacons identified more with the laity, dressed and acted more like everyone else? No. This comes from a good intention, for it is clearly true that priests and deacons are merely men like any other man, but it is mistaken because it does not account for the supernatural Gospel which these men carry.
If out of my mouth comes a preaching of the Gospel, the good news of salvation, then it is absolutely essential that there be no chance of confusion between my own opinions and the teaching of Jesus Christ, and how much more necessary that there be no confusion between my own sins of speech: insulting someone or imprudent topics, and the teaching of Jesus Christ.
By choosing to accept the commission of the Church to teach, we give up our right to express opinions lest the truth of the Gospel should be watered down with private opinions. We give up our right to complain about bad service in a store lest that should seem part of the Gospel. Every Christian teacher is a prophet and every prophet must go into the desert so that their message can be heard apart from the noise of the city. If a Christian teacher brings out into the desert some of the noise of the city in their own speech, where can they go and be heard?
Those who teach are under a heavier judgment than those who do not. It is difficult enough to live one's own life correctly, righteously. We are likely to go wrong in so many ways. What a great burden it is then to be responsible not only for one's own actions, but how another person interprets your teaching. I understand what I teach and the limits of what I mean and the exceptions, but I probably do not convey all of that in what I say.
So what are we to do then, since no one can believe unless they have been taught but no one can teach without making mistakes? Those of us who have taken on the great responsibility to teach the faith, whether by a commission of the Church or a special call from God, must dedicate our tongue to the Lord. Someone else might be sarcastic or flippant, someone else might discuss gossip or speak of useless things, someone else might express their own opinion on matters political or religious, but we teachers of the faith will not.
Would it not be better if priests and deacons identified more with the laity, dressed and acted more like everyone else? No. This comes from a good intention, for it is clearly true that priests and deacons are merely men like any other man, but it is mistaken because it does not account for the supernatural Gospel which these men carry.
If out of my mouth comes a preaching of the Gospel, the good news of salvation, then it is absolutely essential that there be no chance of confusion between my own opinions and the teaching of Jesus Christ, and how much more necessary that there be no confusion between my own sins of speech: insulting someone or imprudent topics, and the teaching of Jesus Christ.
By choosing to accept the commission of the Church to teach, we give up our right to express opinions lest the truth of the Gospel should be watered down with private opinions. We give up our right to complain about bad service in a store lest that should seem part of the Gospel. Every Christian teacher is a prophet and every prophet must go into the desert so that their message can be heard apart from the noise of the city. If a Christian teacher brings out into the desert some of the noise of the city in their own speech, where can they go and be heard?
February 9, 2012 - Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Who could have imagined that Solomon, the youth who asked God for wisdom because he knew that he was not equal to the task of ruling Israel, would become a corrupt old man with 1000 sexual partners. After beginning so well, Solomon ends so badly.
Whose fault is that? It is not God’s fault. God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond any other human before the time of the Holy Spirit. It is not Solomon’s wives’ fault: they were merely following the religions that they grew up with. Who could have taught them better? Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Solomon could not possibly have loved all these women. Jacob had two wives and could not love both of them. If Solomon had had only one wife, he would have taught her about the God of Israel, the only true God. It is Solomon’s fault. After having every advantage: wisdom, visions of God, and the example of his father, he abandons the faith that he knows is true.
Solomon has a faithfulness problem. He has one thousand wives. He was unable to be faithful to one. He worships all sorts of gods. He was unable to be faithful to one. If I were trying to do a little psychoanalysis of Solomon, I would suggest that his troubles might go back to his mother. He knew that his mother was the wife of another man, whom his father had killed. Even if David gave him the best example he could, he could not correct this bad example. This knowledge must have haunted Solomon his entire life. Whether this was why he chose to have so many wives or why he went along with them in their worship, we do not know, but Solomon’s parents could not be faithful and he could not either, not to a wife and not to God.
For all his wisdom, Solomon could not see this. He knew so much about the world and the sky and the stars but not about himself. Do not make the same error as Solomon. We all have weaknesses. We are all lacking in certain areas of human development. Whether it is because of our upbringing or genetics or whatever, this is the area where we must be particularly open to God’s grace, for it is the place where we are most vulnerable.
Solomon should not have asked for wisdom. God offered him whatever he wanted and Solomon should have asked God for a different gift. He should have asked for faithfulness.
Who could have imagined that Solomon, the youth who asked God for wisdom because he knew that he was not equal to the task of ruling Israel, would become a corrupt old man with 1000 sexual partners. After beginning so well, Solomon ends so badly.
Whose fault is that? It is not God’s fault. God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond any other human before the time of the Holy Spirit. It is not Solomon’s wives’ fault: they were merely following the religions that they grew up with. Who could have taught them better? Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Solomon could not possibly have loved all these women. Jacob had two wives and could not love both of them. If Solomon had had only one wife, he would have taught her about the God of Israel, the only true God. It is Solomon’s fault. After having every advantage: wisdom, visions of God, and the example of his father, he abandons the faith that he knows is true.
Solomon has a faithfulness problem. He has one thousand wives. He was unable to be faithful to one. He worships all sorts of gods. He was unable to be faithful to one. If I were trying to do a little psychoanalysis of Solomon, I would suggest that his troubles might go back to his mother. He knew that his mother was the wife of another man, whom his father had killed. Even if David gave him the best example he could, he could not correct this bad example. This knowledge must have haunted Solomon his entire life. Whether this was why he chose to have so many wives or why he went along with them in their worship, we do not know, but Solomon’s parents could not be faithful and he could not either, not to a wife and not to God.
For all his wisdom, Solomon could not see this. He knew so much about the world and the sky and the stars but not about himself. Do not make the same error as Solomon. We all have weaknesses. We are all lacking in certain areas of human development. Whether it is because of our upbringing or genetics or whatever, this is the area where we must be particularly open to God’s grace, for it is the place where we are most vulnerable.
Solomon should not have asked for wisdom. God offered him whatever he wanted and Solomon should have asked God for a different gift. He should have asked for faithfulness.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)