1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
Psalm 84:3-5, 10-11
Mark 7:1-13
“Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” King Solomon’s point is that we cannot put God in a box. God is not in anything. When we say he is in eternity, we simply mean he is not in time. When we say that he is in heaven, we mean that he is not on earth. Yet when we say that he is not in time or on earth, we mean that he is not limited to time or earth, but he is obviously present to us where we are on earth, in time. The only place that we say God is not is in our sins, yet he remains fully powerful over our sins though he allows us the power to disobey him.
King Solomon knew all this because he was wise. He did not imagine that he had actually created a house for God. Impressive though it was, it was as nothing in God’s sight. He created the galaxies, would he now live in a small building of stone and metal? Of course not!
Here we have a tension. We call this church the house of God, yet is he any more present here than on top of some mountain or in your kitchen? Some people use this argument to say that we should not have churches or that our churches should be functional buildings, a church on Sunday mornings and a movie theater the rest of the week. Consider how much space is wasted by this large sanctuary where only a few people sit. Consider how much heat is wasted by these tall ceilings. Has all this been done so that God could fit in here? Yet he fits in a small chapel, he fits in the smallest enclosed space, and then again he does not fit in any of these.
No, a house of God does not need to be large so that God would fit, but it does need to be large enough that our idea of God can expand. This one building is set aside as the house of God, not because he needs protection from the rain, but because we need to be reminded that he exists. An auditorium would be so much more efficient than a church, but we would impoverished. If we cannot set part of our city aside to be exclusively the dwelling of God, how would we possibly set part of our minds aside from worldly concerns to think about God.
Daily Homilies
Showing posts with label Priorities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Priorities. Show all posts
January 23, 2014 - Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7
Psalm 56:2-3, 9-13
Mark 3:7-12
How far Saul has come from the days when he used to chase after runaway donkeys! When Saul was named king, it was like winning the lottery, a completely unexpected windfall, but now that he has been king for a few years, he is ready to kill David at the mere suggestion of a threat to his dynasty. It is so easy to go from humble gratitude to presumptuous expectation.
Jonathan, meanwhile, grew up in the lap of luxury, such as it was 3000 years ago, yet he is not afraid. By all rights, he should be the next king. He grew up expecting to be king, and then David appears out of nowhere. But Jonathan did not hate David. In fact, he loved him. Because Jonathan did not have his father’s attachment to the royal throne, he was free to see David not as a threat but as a friend.
Consider us here today. We live like kings. We live better than kings. Who would give up central heating, indoor plumbing, cars, and cell phones for a stone castle? If somehow all of these disappeared, we would complain that we have been treated unfairly. How can a person live without these basic necessities? Yet people did live without them for millennia. Now that we have them, we cannot imagine giving them up. This is how Saul felt at the prospect of returning to the life of a simple farmer.
The things of this world can be tools or chains. If we use them as our servants, they will be tools. If we let our attachment to them cause us to be afraid at the thought of losing them, they will be chains. Whatever you are attached to: technology, position, getting ‘A’s, a television show, having a certain standard of wealth, a relationship with a person, whatever, do not let the attachment bind you.
Every sin is just an attachment that we refused to break. Be stronger than these attachments. Be free, radically free. There is no feeling of power like letting go. Every attachment screams: “You cannot live without me. You will never be happy if you leave me behind.” We know this is a lie. Our happiness does not exist in any of these things. Our happiness is in God. Be ready at all times to cut off an attachment that is preventing you from doing what you ought to do. Sacrifice everything, and be free to follow God.
Psalm 56:2-3, 9-13
Mark 3:7-12
How far Saul has come from the days when he used to chase after runaway donkeys! When Saul was named king, it was like winning the lottery, a completely unexpected windfall, but now that he has been king for a few years, he is ready to kill David at the mere suggestion of a threat to his dynasty. It is so easy to go from humble gratitude to presumptuous expectation.
Jonathan, meanwhile, grew up in the lap of luxury, such as it was 3000 years ago, yet he is not afraid. By all rights, he should be the next king. He grew up expecting to be king, and then David appears out of nowhere. But Jonathan did not hate David. In fact, he loved him. Because Jonathan did not have his father’s attachment to the royal throne, he was free to see David not as a threat but as a friend.
Consider us here today. We live like kings. We live better than kings. Who would give up central heating, indoor plumbing, cars, and cell phones for a stone castle? If somehow all of these disappeared, we would complain that we have been treated unfairly. How can a person live without these basic necessities? Yet people did live without them for millennia. Now that we have them, we cannot imagine giving them up. This is how Saul felt at the prospect of returning to the life of a simple farmer.
The things of this world can be tools or chains. If we use them as our servants, they will be tools. If we let our attachment to them cause us to be afraid at the thought of losing them, they will be chains. Whatever you are attached to: technology, position, getting ‘A’s, a television show, having a certain standard of wealth, a relationship with a person, whatever, do not let the attachment bind you.
Every sin is just an attachment that we refused to break. Be stronger than these attachments. Be free, radically free. There is no feeling of power like letting go. Every attachment screams: “You cannot live without me. You will never be happy if you leave me behind.” We know this is a lie. Our happiness does not exist in any of these things. Our happiness is in God. Be ready at all times to cut off an attachment that is preventing you from doing what you ought to do. Sacrifice everything, and be free to follow God.
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.
September 12, 2012 - Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
1 Corinthians 7.25-31
Psalm 45.11-12, 14-15, 16-17 Resp. 11
Luke 6.20-26
In the psalm, the princess is told to forget her former life, because she will be building a new life now. She should forget her nation and her father’s house, because she will have sons instead. It is true that she will always be a daughter, but she is crossing the threshold where she will be seen not as the daughter of her parents but as the mother of her children. None of us are likely to be in the position of an pre-modern princess, but we still proclaim this psalm because we Christians are in a similar situation. We are called to leave behind this life and begin building our new life. In the Gospel, Jesus blesses those who lack something and curses those who have everything they want. If this life has all we need, then we will be unwilling to be torn away from it, but we will have to leave it anyway. The rich will weep because their Lexus is no more.
St. Paul assures us that this world is passing away. He recommends a radical shift in perspective, away from the old, toward the new. This is difficult when we cannot be sure of how much time is left. We do not know if this world will be around for another day or another 10,000 years. Since St. Paul wrote these words, almost 2000 years have passed. Would he have expected that a child in his time would grow up, have a family, live a full life, and die, all without the world ending?
But the end of the world is not only true in a literal, general way. It is also true in a personal way. Not merely that we will die someday and that will be our own little end of the world. The end of our world is something we work toward. Every choice we make is either in favor of the old way, or in favor of the new way. We make the old world end when we choose the new world. When the end of the world comes, whether generally speaking or our own death, we will be prepared by whether we chose the new world in our life. If we lived stuck in the old world, death is scary because it is the end. If we lived striving for the new world, death is exciting because it is the beginning.
Psalm 45.11-12, 14-15, 16-17 Resp. 11
Luke 6.20-26
In the psalm, the princess is told to forget her former life, because she will be building a new life now. She should forget her nation and her father’s house, because she will have sons instead. It is true that she will always be a daughter, but she is crossing the threshold where she will be seen not as the daughter of her parents but as the mother of her children. None of us are likely to be in the position of an pre-modern princess, but we still proclaim this psalm because we Christians are in a similar situation. We are called to leave behind this life and begin building our new life. In the Gospel, Jesus blesses those who lack something and curses those who have everything they want. If this life has all we need, then we will be unwilling to be torn away from it, but we will have to leave it anyway. The rich will weep because their Lexus is no more.
St. Paul assures us that this world is passing away. He recommends a radical shift in perspective, away from the old, toward the new. This is difficult when we cannot be sure of how much time is left. We do not know if this world will be around for another day or another 10,000 years. Since St. Paul wrote these words, almost 2000 years have passed. Would he have expected that a child in his time would grow up, have a family, live a full life, and die, all without the world ending?
But the end of the world is not only true in a literal, general way. It is also true in a personal way. Not merely that we will die someday and that will be our own little end of the world. The end of our world is something we work toward. Every choice we make is either in favor of the old way, or in favor of the new way. We make the old world end when we choose the new world. When the end of the world comes, whether generally speaking or our own death, we will be prepared by whether we chose the new world in our life. If we lived stuck in the old world, death is scary because it is the end. If we lived striving for the new world, death is exciting because it is the beginning.
June 17, 2012 - Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92:2-3, 13-16
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Mark 4:26-34
I think that a modern person might be tempted to quibble with Jesus’ parable. Jesus says that the seed sprouts and grows but the one who planted it does not know how. Well, that certainly was true 2000 years ago but is it still true? I might not know exactly how a plant sprouts and grows, but lots of biologists do, and if I wanted to I am sure that I could look up on Wikipedia a detailed account down to the exact biochemical processes that cause the seed to react to water and grow into new life.
Indeed, all of science is dedicated to changing the situation that Jesus describes throughout the Gospels, but especially in the Gospel reading today. There was a time when humans had rain come down and could not predict it days in advance. There was a time when we looked at the moon and did not have pieces of it stored away in warehouses.
And it is not only science but cultural progress too. For many of us, our only experience of seed growing into plants is when we planted the beans in Dixie cups in third grade. Even a lot of our gardening these days is done with plants that were grown in greenhouses. The whole concept of taking a precious portion of the food for the year and putting it in the ground with expectation that it would grow into more food for next year is lost on us. That experience of subsistence farming that all those who heard Jesus would have known personally is foreign to us, even most of those who farm these days with GPS and combines.
So when we have a Gospel like the one today, science and progress are the enemies of understanding. Sure we understand intellectually the point that he is making, but we cannot feel its impact because of how separated we are from the realities he is speaking of. What is the solution? We could live like the Amish do and get back in touch with the realities. Some people do that, but it is not very practical. One can be romantic about it, but modern medicine and modern harvest yields are miracles that we can only thank God for.
We can imagine what life would be like if the whole world seemed magical again, if our continued existence depended on the success of a crop that we planted with our own hands. Of course, our imagination will always fall short, but it is a powerful tool for getting in touch with the readings today. A person does well to spend time imagining life out of the Bible: what it would be like to be one of that crowd that was fed with a little bread and fish, what it would be like to walk on water with Jesus, what it would be like to plant a small field and depend entirely on the success of something that we only have a tiny bit of control over.
We live in a world that is very different from the experience that Jesus lived in. Our world has changed in amazing ways in just the last 20 years, and who can guess correctly what the world 20 years from now will be like? It would be great if Jesus came and told us some parables about cell phones and the internet. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like an iPhone.”
But since that is not going to happen, we are left with the important question: is the Bible becoming irrelevant? Many people say that the world has changed a lot and so most of the stories in the Bible need to get updated, especially most of the morality. Something was taught by Jesus and believed for century after century, but we know better now.
This is the great modern struggle: the idea that sometimes the older is better. By the end of two years, I am unhappy with the old technology in my phone that used to be the very best. If 1.0 was good, 2.0 is better. How can we, in a world that is constantly changing, appreciate the value of those things that never change? We want to see the latest viral video, but every time you come to Church we read from the same old book, and Mass is celebrated the same old way. What does it say about us that “same old” is not a compliment?
Our God is the same old God. He existed before time, and he is never going to change. The universe we live in will always be the same old universe. No matter how much scientific progress we make, no matter what is invented in the future, our situation is the same old human situation. What matters, what really matters, is the same old thing that always mattered. What TV shows we have seen, what our high score on Doodle Jump is, how fast our computer is: these things only matter in this world and even then not really. How much we loved other people and how much we loved God: this is what matters.
We all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ and be repaid according to what we did in the body, whether good or evil. That is the same today as when it was written 2000 years ago. That fact, which ought to define how we live our life here, will never change. Whether, 20 years from now, we are all driving flying cars and have robot servants or we are all back to subsistence farming after some big disaster, how we treat other people and how we stretch our minds to reach out to God is all that will matter, because it is all that matters right now and it is all that has ever mattered.
Being mean to people is bad, whether you hit them with a stick or insult them on Facebook. Daily prayer is good, whether you take time away from hopscotch or video games. Even as we become more and more separated from the parables about farming and herding sheep, the point of the parables still apply. Even if we have figured out how plants grow, we will never know how the Kingdom of God is working in this world, how people are brought to greater faith in subtle ways that are not visible day to day but add up over a whole season. And that is what matters.
Psalm 92:2-3, 13-16
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Mark 4:26-34
I think that a modern person might be tempted to quibble with Jesus’ parable. Jesus says that the seed sprouts and grows but the one who planted it does not know how. Well, that certainly was true 2000 years ago but is it still true? I might not know exactly how a plant sprouts and grows, but lots of biologists do, and if I wanted to I am sure that I could look up on Wikipedia a detailed account down to the exact biochemical processes that cause the seed to react to water and grow into new life.
Indeed, all of science is dedicated to changing the situation that Jesus describes throughout the Gospels, but especially in the Gospel reading today. There was a time when humans had rain come down and could not predict it days in advance. There was a time when we looked at the moon and did not have pieces of it stored away in warehouses.
And it is not only science but cultural progress too. For many of us, our only experience of seed growing into plants is when we planted the beans in Dixie cups in third grade. Even a lot of our gardening these days is done with plants that were grown in greenhouses. The whole concept of taking a precious portion of the food for the year and putting it in the ground with expectation that it would grow into more food for next year is lost on us. That experience of subsistence farming that all those who heard Jesus would have known personally is foreign to us, even most of those who farm these days with GPS and combines.
So when we have a Gospel like the one today, science and progress are the enemies of understanding. Sure we understand intellectually the point that he is making, but we cannot feel its impact because of how separated we are from the realities he is speaking of. What is the solution? We could live like the Amish do and get back in touch with the realities. Some people do that, but it is not very practical. One can be romantic about it, but modern medicine and modern harvest yields are miracles that we can only thank God for.
We can imagine what life would be like if the whole world seemed magical again, if our continued existence depended on the success of a crop that we planted with our own hands. Of course, our imagination will always fall short, but it is a powerful tool for getting in touch with the readings today. A person does well to spend time imagining life out of the Bible: what it would be like to be one of that crowd that was fed with a little bread and fish, what it would be like to walk on water with Jesus, what it would be like to plant a small field and depend entirely on the success of something that we only have a tiny bit of control over.
We live in a world that is very different from the experience that Jesus lived in. Our world has changed in amazing ways in just the last 20 years, and who can guess correctly what the world 20 years from now will be like? It would be great if Jesus came and told us some parables about cell phones and the internet. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like an iPhone.”
But since that is not going to happen, we are left with the important question: is the Bible becoming irrelevant? Many people say that the world has changed a lot and so most of the stories in the Bible need to get updated, especially most of the morality. Something was taught by Jesus and believed for century after century, but we know better now.
This is the great modern struggle: the idea that sometimes the older is better. By the end of two years, I am unhappy with the old technology in my phone that used to be the very best. If 1.0 was good, 2.0 is better. How can we, in a world that is constantly changing, appreciate the value of those things that never change? We want to see the latest viral video, but every time you come to Church we read from the same old book, and Mass is celebrated the same old way. What does it say about us that “same old” is not a compliment?
Our God is the same old God. He existed before time, and he is never going to change. The universe we live in will always be the same old universe. No matter how much scientific progress we make, no matter what is invented in the future, our situation is the same old human situation. What matters, what really matters, is the same old thing that always mattered. What TV shows we have seen, what our high score on Doodle Jump is, how fast our computer is: these things only matter in this world and even then not really. How much we loved other people and how much we loved God: this is what matters.
We all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ and be repaid according to what we did in the body, whether good or evil. That is the same today as when it was written 2000 years ago. That fact, which ought to define how we live our life here, will never change. Whether, 20 years from now, we are all driving flying cars and have robot servants or we are all back to subsistence farming after some big disaster, how we treat other people and how we stretch our minds to reach out to God is all that will matter, because it is all that matters right now and it is all that has ever mattered.
Being mean to people is bad, whether you hit them with a stick or insult them on Facebook. Daily prayer is good, whether you take time away from hopscotch or video games. Even as we become more and more separated from the parables about farming and herding sheep, the point of the parables still apply. Even if we have figured out how plants grow, we will never know how the Kingdom of God is working in this world, how people are brought to greater faith in subtle ways that are not visible day to day but add up over a whole season. And that is what matters.
February 7, 2012 - Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
“Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” King Solomon’s point is that we cannot put God in a box. God is not in anything. When we say he is in eternity, we simply mean he is not in time. When we say that he is in heaven, we mean that he is not on earth. Yet when we say that he is not in time or on earth, we mean that he is not limited to time or earth, but he is obviously present to us where we are on earth, in time. The only place that we say God is not is in our sins, yet he remains fully powerful over our sins though he allows us the power to disobey him.
King Solomon knew all this because he was wise. He did not imagine that he had actually created a house for God. Impressive though it was, it was as nothing in God’s sight. He created the galaxies, would he now live in a small building of stone and metal? Of course not!
Here we have a tension. We call this church the house of God, yet is he any more present here than on top of some mountain or in your kitchen? Some people use this argument to say that we should not have churches or that our churches should be functional buildings, a church on Sunday mornings and a movie theater the rest of the week. Consider how much space is wasted by this large sanctuary where only a few people sit. Consider how much heat is wasted by these tall ceilings. Has all this been done so that God could fit in here? Yet he fits in a small chapel, he fits in the smallest enclosed space, and then again he does not fit in any of these.
No, a house of God does not need to be large so that God would fit, but it does need to be large enough that our idea of God can expand. This one building is set aside as the house of God, not because he needs protection from the rain, but because we need to be reminded that he exists. An auditorium would be so much more efficient than a church, but we would impoverished. If we cannot set part of our city aside to be exclusively the dwelling of God, how would we possibly set part of our minds aside from worldly concerns to think about God.
“Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” King Solomon’s point is that we cannot put God in a box. God is not in anything. When we say he is in eternity, we simply mean he is not in time. When we say that he is in heaven, we mean that he is not on earth. Yet when we say that he is not in time or on earth, we mean that he is not limited to time or earth, but he is obviously present to us where we are on earth, in time. The only place that we say God is not is in our sins, yet he remains fully powerful over our sins though he allows us the power to disobey him.
King Solomon knew all this because he was wise. He did not imagine that he had actually created a house for God. Impressive though it was, it was as nothing in God’s sight. He created the galaxies, would he now live in a small building of stone and metal? Of course not!
Here we have a tension. We call this church the house of God, yet is he any more present here than on top of some mountain or in your kitchen? Some people use this argument to say that we should not have churches or that our churches should be functional buildings, a church on Sunday mornings and a movie theater the rest of the week. Consider how much space is wasted by this large sanctuary where only a few people sit. Consider how much heat is wasted by these tall ceilings. Has all this been done so that God could fit in here? Yet he fits in a small chapel, he fits in the smallest enclosed space, and then again he does not fit in any of these.
No, a house of God does not need to be large so that God would fit, but it does need to be large enough that our idea of God can expand. This one building is set aside as the house of God, not because he needs protection from the rain, but because we need to be reminded that he exists. An auditorium would be so much more efficient than a church, but we would impoverished. If we cannot set part of our city aside to be exclusively the dwelling of God, how would we possibly set part of our minds aside from worldly concerns to think about God.
January 19, 2012 - Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
How far Saul has come from the days when he used to chase after runaway donkeys! When Saul was named king, it was like winning the lottery, a completely unexpected windfall, but now that he has been king for a few years, he is ready to kill David at the mere suggestion of a threat to his dynasty. It is so easy to go from humble gratitude to expectation.
Jonathan, meanwhile, who grew up in the lap of luxury, such as it was 3000 years ago, yet he is not afraid. By all rights, he should be the next king. He grew up expecting to be king, and then David appears out of nowhere. But Jonathan did not hate David. In fact, he loved him. Because Jonathan did not have his father’s attachment to the royal throne, he was free to see David not as a threat but as a friend.
Consider us here today. We live like kings. We live better than kings. Who would give up central heating, indoor plumbing, cars, and cell phones for a stone castle? If somehow all of these disappeared, we would complain that we have been treated unfairly. How can a person live without these basic necessities? Yet people did live without them for millennia. Now that we have them, we cannot imagine giving them up. This is how Saul felt at the prospect of returning to the life of a simple farmer.
The things of this world can be tools or chains. If we use them as our servants, they will be tools. If we let our attachment to them cause us to be afraid at the thought of losing them, they will be chains. Whatever you are attached to: technology, position, getting ‘A’s, a television show, having a certain standard of wealth, a relationship with a person, whatever, do not let the attachment bind you.
What motive lies behind every sin? An attachment that we refused to break. Be stronger than these attachments. Be free, radically free. There is no feeling of power like letting go. Every attachment screams: “You cannot live without me. You will never be happy if you leave me behind.” We know this is a lie. Our happiness does not exist in any of these things. Our happiness is in God. Be ready at all times to cut off an attachment that is preventing you from doing what you ought to do. Sacrifice everything, but be free to follow God.
How far Saul has come from the days when he used to chase after runaway donkeys! When Saul was named king, it was like winning the lottery, a completely unexpected windfall, but now that he has been king for a few years, he is ready to kill David at the mere suggestion of a threat to his dynasty. It is so easy to go from humble gratitude to expectation.
Jonathan, meanwhile, who grew up in the lap of luxury, such as it was 3000 years ago, yet he is not afraid. By all rights, he should be the next king. He grew up expecting to be king, and then David appears out of nowhere. But Jonathan did not hate David. In fact, he loved him. Because Jonathan did not have his father’s attachment to the royal throne, he was free to see David not as a threat but as a friend.
Consider us here today. We live like kings. We live better than kings. Who would give up central heating, indoor plumbing, cars, and cell phones for a stone castle? If somehow all of these disappeared, we would complain that we have been treated unfairly. How can a person live without these basic necessities? Yet people did live without them for millennia. Now that we have them, we cannot imagine giving them up. This is how Saul felt at the prospect of returning to the life of a simple farmer.
The things of this world can be tools or chains. If we use them as our servants, they will be tools. If we let our attachment to them cause us to be afraid at the thought of losing them, they will be chains. Whatever you are attached to: technology, position, getting ‘A’s, a television show, having a certain standard of wealth, a relationship with a person, whatever, do not let the attachment bind you.
What motive lies behind every sin? An attachment that we refused to break. Be stronger than these attachments. Be free, radically free. There is no feeling of power like letting go. Every attachment screams: “You cannot live without me. You will never be happy if you leave me behind.” We know this is a lie. Our happiness does not exist in any of these things. Our happiness is in God. Be ready at all times to cut off an attachment that is preventing you from doing what you ought to do. Sacrifice everything, but be free to follow God.
January 2, 2011 - Saints Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church
Today's Readings
Religion is a system of belief with a core belief at the center, a reason for all the other beliefs, the central point on which every other belief is balanced. It is not true that the other beliefs can be cast aside or kept depending on our personal preference, but they remain peripheral to the central belief. The other parts of religion may be very important, but everything starts with one act of faith.
For Judaism, the central belief is a promise made to Abraham, fulfilled in Moses. If it were discovered that Moses was actually named Tom, that would not change the Jewish religion, but if it were proven that the Lord did not save the descendants of Abraham from slavery in Egypt then the whole faith would be shaken.
For Christians, our central belief is in a person, the person of Jesus Christ. Sometimes people try to shock us by showing that Jesus was actually born in March, but whether he was born in winter or springtime is not nearly as important as that he was born. God, the creator of the universe, was born of a woman. For our sake, he became one of us, a human. The central fact of Christianity contains the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If that is true, then everything else can be important in its own way. If that is false, none of the other stuff matters.
This is what St. John is saying in his letter. He says that anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ is a liar. Perhaps this statement is not the most ecumenical or interreligious, but the central fact must either be true or false. We cannot follow a religion if the central idea of the religion is a lie. Christmas might have Christmas cookies and a Christmas tree and Christmas presents, but if Jesus were not born, there is no point in having Christmas at all.
St. John knew Jesus personally. He spoke with him; he ate with him; he followed him. He wants to express to us that the central fact of Christianity is not merely an intellectual idea that some wise person thought up. At the core, it is about a man he knew, who lived, who died, yet who still lived. He was not only a man. He was God. That is the kind of fact that can change everything.
Religion is a system of belief with a core belief at the center, a reason for all the other beliefs, the central point on which every other belief is balanced. It is not true that the other beliefs can be cast aside or kept depending on our personal preference, but they remain peripheral to the central belief. The other parts of religion may be very important, but everything starts with one act of faith.
For Judaism, the central belief is a promise made to Abraham, fulfilled in Moses. If it were discovered that Moses was actually named Tom, that would not change the Jewish religion, but if it were proven that the Lord did not save the descendants of Abraham from slavery in Egypt then the whole faith would be shaken.
For Christians, our central belief is in a person, the person of Jesus Christ. Sometimes people try to shock us by showing that Jesus was actually born in March, but whether he was born in winter or springtime is not nearly as important as that he was born. God, the creator of the universe, was born of a woman. For our sake, he became one of us, a human. The central fact of Christianity contains the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If that is true, then everything else can be important in its own way. If that is false, none of the other stuff matters.
This is what St. John is saying in his letter. He says that anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ is a liar. Perhaps this statement is not the most ecumenical or interreligious, but the central fact must either be true or false. We cannot follow a religion if the central idea of the religion is a lie. Christmas might have Christmas cookies and a Christmas tree and Christmas presents, but if Jesus were not born, there is no point in having Christmas at all.
St. John knew Jesus personally. He spoke with him; he ate with him; he followed him. He wants to express to us that the central fact of Christianity is not merely an intellectual idea that some wise person thought up. At the core, it is about a man he knew, who lived, who died, yet who still lived. He was not only a man. He was God. That is the kind of fact that can change everything.
September 22, 2011 - Thursday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Abraham Maslow is famous for his theory of the Hierarchy of Needs. The basic idea is that before a person can worry about things like self-esteem or having a nice job, they must have things like breathing and eating taken care of. This theory has some truth to it, but we also know that we rational human beings are not ruled by our needs. We may decide to put off eating in order to get an important project done at work, and there are many reasons why we might hold our breath. People can even choose to die for a righteous cause.
Our readings today show us how religion fits into our hierarchy of needs. The Jews in our first reading are not hostile to religion; indeed, they would be described as very religious, but when they returned from exile, they decided to take care of their basic needs first. They put off building the temple until they had built their homes and planted crops and saved up a little money. They kept putting off building the temple, until 20 years had passed since they returned from exile. Still the people were saying, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”
Would the time ever come? Would there ever be a time when everything was perfect: lots of money and peace and security? No. We cannot always wait until conditions are optimal before we begin building. Good enough has to be good enough. When our ancestors built this church, they had not satisfied every worldly desire first. Each of us has a temple to build in our lives. We build it by going to Mass and praying and works of mercy and fasting and giving alms. If we put off any of this until we are comfortable in the world, we will never get this temple built.
If we delay serving the poor until we have extra time, we will never serve the poor. If we delay giving money to the Church until we have extra money, we will never support the Church. If we delay praying until we are done with whatever else we wanted to do, we will never pray. Air, food, and water are good things, but religion has to be our first priority. When praying is as important as breathing, when fasting is as important as eating, then we will have conquered this world.
Abraham Maslow is famous for his theory of the Hierarchy of Needs. The basic idea is that before a person can worry about things like self-esteem or having a nice job, they must have things like breathing and eating taken care of. This theory has some truth to it, but we also know that we rational human beings are not ruled by our needs. We may decide to put off eating in order to get an important project done at work, and there are many reasons why we might hold our breath. People can even choose to die for a righteous cause.
Our readings today show us how religion fits into our hierarchy of needs. The Jews in our first reading are not hostile to religion; indeed, they would be described as very religious, but when they returned from exile, they decided to take care of their basic needs first. They put off building the temple until they had built their homes and planted crops and saved up a little money. They kept putting off building the temple, until 20 years had passed since they returned from exile. Still the people were saying, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”
Would the time ever come? Would there ever be a time when everything was perfect: lots of money and peace and security? No. We cannot always wait until conditions are optimal before we begin building. Good enough has to be good enough. When our ancestors built this church, they had not satisfied every worldly desire first. Each of us has a temple to build in our lives. We build it by going to Mass and praying and works of mercy and fasting and giving alms. If we put off any of this until we are comfortable in the world, we will never get this temple built.
If we delay serving the poor until we have extra time, we will never serve the poor. If we delay giving money to the Church until we have extra money, we will never support the Church. If we delay praying until we are done with whatever else we wanted to do, we will never pray. Air, food, and water are good things, but religion has to be our first priority. When praying is as important as breathing, when fasting is as important as eating, then we will have conquered this world.
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