1 Kings 12:26-32; 13:33-34
Psalm 106:6-7, 19-22
Mark 8:1-10
This is the second story we have where Jesus feeds a lot of people with just a little food. In the other story, there are 5000 families, five loaves, and two fish. This time there are only 4000 families, and Jesus starts with more food: seven loaves and a few fish. Also, more food is left over the first time, twelve baskets full versus seven baskets full.
Some scholars think that Jesus only did it one time and the Apostles remembered the numbers differently and made it into two stories, but St. Mark considered the difference between the two stories so important that out of only about 11,000 words in his Gospel, he devotes 160 to tell the story the first time and another 140 to tell it this second time. This would be sort of wasteful just to get both sets of numbers down. No, Mark either wrote both down to let us know that it all happened at least twice or, and this is more likely yet, because he wants us to compare the two events and learn something.
If we are going to learn something, we should begin with the disciples. Did they learn anything? Last time, they told Jesus to dismiss the crowd. This time, they trust Jesus. He calls them, not at the end of one day, but after three days of teaching. Last time, the disciples went to Jesus as it was getting late in the day, because they were afraid that he did not know that the people are hungry; this time, they trust him. Jesus knows that the people need to eat, and he cares that the people need to eat. After two days someone could have accused Jesus of letting the people starve to death, of being uncaring, but Jesus knew that he could provide for the people when the people needed providing for.
Sometimes it seems as if we are not being provided for because we see a need in the future and do not have the solution right now. We do not know how we are going to get over the next mountain which we see looming on the road ahead. Jesus wants us to stop worrying about the next mountain and focus on the road under our feet. We have everything we need for right now. The concerns of each day are sufficient; do not be anxious about tomorrow.
Daily Homilies
Showing posts with label Providence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Providence. Show all posts
December 5, 2012 - Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
Isaiah 25:6-10
Psalm 23:1-6
Matthew 15:29-37
The Scriptures today teach us how greatly God desires to give us what we need. Before he will give, however, we need to look to him in our need. The people on the Lord's mountain cry out that they looked to God for salvation and he saved them. Sometimes we fail to receive because we fail to ask.
Our desire to thank God is itself his gift, but how can we be grateful for a gift unless we knew our need? If we were perfect, our need would be revealed with the gift; as soon as we received anything from God, we would thank him because we would trust that the gift answered our need, but we fallen humans are ungrateful. It is necessary that we feel the need first if we are to be grateful afterward.
Jesus first heals people who felt their need greatly: the blind, the lame, and sick people of every kind. The crowd is amazed and glorifies God. Then, after three days, when the people had exhausted their supply of food, he sees an opportunity to give to these people what they desire. He loves them. He loves us.
What gift is too great for God to give? The apostles doubt that Jesus can provide food to satisfy such a crowd, yet this miracle is as nothing compared to the power of God and the love of God. What need can be greater than our need to be who God calls us to be, our need for sanctification, for justification, our need to be saints? If only we could feel how lacking and empty and useless our lives are otherwise, surely God would not fail to provide every good gift, to send his Holy Spirit into our hearts.
Psalm 23:1-6
Matthew 15:29-37
The Scriptures today teach us how greatly God desires to give us what we need. Before he will give, however, we need to look to him in our need. The people on the Lord's mountain cry out that they looked to God for salvation and he saved them. Sometimes we fail to receive because we fail to ask.
Our desire to thank God is itself his gift, but how can we be grateful for a gift unless we knew our need? If we were perfect, our need would be revealed with the gift; as soon as we received anything from God, we would thank him because we would trust that the gift answered our need, but we fallen humans are ungrateful. It is necessary that we feel the need first if we are to be grateful afterward.
Jesus first heals people who felt their need greatly: the blind, the lame, and sick people of every kind. The crowd is amazed and glorifies God. Then, after three days, when the people had exhausted their supply of food, he sees an opportunity to give to these people what they desire. He loves them. He loves us.
What gift is too great for God to give? The apostles doubt that Jesus can provide food to satisfy such a crowd, yet this miracle is as nothing compared to the power of God and the love of God. What need can be greater than our need to be who God calls us to be, our need for sanctification, for justification, our need to be saints? If only we could feel how lacking and empty and useless our lives are otherwise, surely God would not fail to provide every good gift, to send his Holy Spirit into our hearts.
September 13, 2012 - Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
1 Corinthians 8:1-7, 11-13
Psalm 139:1-3, 13-14, 23-24
Luke 6:27-38
Love. Love. Love. Love. Love is all we need. Love your brothers and sisters. Love your enemies. Love the one who hits you. Love the one who steals from you. Love those who hate you. Love those who curse you. Love sinners. Love everybody. If we do that, we will be children of God, who loves everybody. What does it mean to love? Our readings today give us some practical advice. Love means being merciful. Love means not judging and not condemning. Love means thinking of others before we act. Love means forgiving. Love means giving.
God is love. God gives. God gave us the power to give, to be like him. The more we give, the more like him we are. This is the irony of original sin. Satan told Eve that if she took the fruit and ate it she would be like God, but God never took anything. Taking is the most un-Godlike action that anyone can ever do. When you look at the 10 Commandments, they can be thought of as “Give. Don’t Take. Give. Give. Don’t take. Don’t Take. Don’t Take. Give. Don’t even think about taking. Don’t even think about taking.”
Love means giving without thought for ourselves. This seems hard. If we do not provide for ourself, who is going to? That is the secret. So long as I continue providing for myself, begrudging every small gift which I give out of my limited means, I will be under the impression that my only support is me. If I take Jesus’ advice, and turn all my energy outward into giving, I will find that there is one far richer than I am. This is why St. Francis was richer than Rockefeller. By embracing poverty, he had all the wealth of God.
So this is how it is: everyone gives to themself, and wants God to give them even more. And this is how it supposed to be: everyone gives to others, and God provides for them. Ever since that day in the garden, we have been trained to reach out and take what we want. Jesus is telling us to love by giving. All our inertia is headed in the wrong direction, and we will not find it easy to turn it completely around from taking to giving, but, if we do, our view of life, the universe, and everything will be completely changed.
Psalm 139:1-3, 13-14, 23-24
Luke 6:27-38
Love. Love. Love. Love. Love is all we need. Love your brothers and sisters. Love your enemies. Love the one who hits you. Love the one who steals from you. Love those who hate you. Love those who curse you. Love sinners. Love everybody. If we do that, we will be children of God, who loves everybody. What does it mean to love? Our readings today give us some practical advice. Love means being merciful. Love means not judging and not condemning. Love means thinking of others before we act. Love means forgiving. Love means giving.
God is love. God gives. God gave us the power to give, to be like him. The more we give, the more like him we are. This is the irony of original sin. Satan told Eve that if she took the fruit and ate it she would be like God, but God never took anything. Taking is the most un-Godlike action that anyone can ever do. When you look at the 10 Commandments, they can be thought of as “Give. Don’t Take. Give. Give. Don’t take. Don’t Take. Don’t Take. Give. Don’t even think about taking. Don’t even think about taking.”
Love means giving without thought for ourselves. This seems hard. If we do not provide for ourself, who is going to? That is the secret. So long as I continue providing for myself, begrudging every small gift which I give out of my limited means, I will be under the impression that my only support is me. If I take Jesus’ advice, and turn all my energy outward into giving, I will find that there is one far richer than I am. This is why St. Francis was richer than Rockefeller. By embracing poverty, he had all the wealth of God.
So this is how it is: everyone gives to themself, and wants God to give them even more. And this is how it supposed to be: everyone gives to others, and God provides for them. Ever since that day in the garden, we have been trained to reach out and take what we want. Jesus is telling us to love by giving. All our inertia is headed in the wrong direction, and we will not find it easy to turn it completely around from taking to giving, but, if we do, our view of life, the universe, and everything will be completely changed.
September 6, 2012 - Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
1 Corinthians 3:18-23
Psalm 24:1-6
Luke 5:1-11
St. Peter would not have considered himself a wise man. He was a simple man, a fisherman, but he did think that he knew a thing or two about fishing. He at least would have claimed for himself this kind of practical wisdom. He knew what time of day to go fishing, and he knew where to fish. It says a lot that he was willing to listen to Jesus. He does not say, “Carpentry and preaching is your thing; leave the fishing to me.” He warns Jesus not to expect much, but obeys his command.
All night long, while they worked hard and caught nothing, perhaps they wondered were God was. Maybe they even prayed for fish and saw no answer to their prayers. They did not know that the night without fish was a preparation for the sign that Jesus would work. They did not know that their prayers, their desires, their needs would all be answered in the morning. During the hours of the night, if someone had come and said, “Now where is your God who promises to provide for you?” They would have had no answer.
One night, one year, 50 years: it does not matter. Just because God has not answered our prayers yet does not mean that he will not answer them. We do not know what he will do, in his own time. Are we so wise that we can tell God what he should be doing? We should let him know our needs and desires. He is our Father. We should tell him these things when we pray. But then, when we do not receive what we ask for within our timeframe, our attitude should not be that of the spoiled child who kicks and screams but of the trusting child who keeps asking while never doubting that they will receive.
The day will come when we receive what we ask for. Sometimes we will not wait long. Sometimes the whole night will pass, the opportunity will seem over, and then the answer comes. Everything belongs to us: the world, life, death, the present, the future, all belong to us, and we belong to God. I trust that God’s time is better than my time and his answer is better than what I asked for. Not better in a resigned-to-fate-I-suppose-that-is-better kind of way. Better in a I-would-not-exchange-it-for-what-I-thought-I-wanted-even-if-I-could kind of way.
Psalm 24:1-6
Luke 5:1-11
St. Peter would not have considered himself a wise man. He was a simple man, a fisherman, but he did think that he knew a thing or two about fishing. He at least would have claimed for himself this kind of practical wisdom. He knew what time of day to go fishing, and he knew where to fish. It says a lot that he was willing to listen to Jesus. He does not say, “Carpentry and preaching is your thing; leave the fishing to me.” He warns Jesus not to expect much, but obeys his command.
All night long, while they worked hard and caught nothing, perhaps they wondered were God was. Maybe they even prayed for fish and saw no answer to their prayers. They did not know that the night without fish was a preparation for the sign that Jesus would work. They did not know that their prayers, their desires, their needs would all be answered in the morning. During the hours of the night, if someone had come and said, “Now where is your God who promises to provide for you?” They would have had no answer.
One night, one year, 50 years: it does not matter. Just because God has not answered our prayers yet does not mean that he will not answer them. We do not know what he will do, in his own time. Are we so wise that we can tell God what he should be doing? We should let him know our needs and desires. He is our Father. We should tell him these things when we pray. But then, when we do not receive what we ask for within our timeframe, our attitude should not be that of the spoiled child who kicks and screams but of the trusting child who keeps asking while never doubting that they will receive.
The day will come when we receive what we ask for. Sometimes we will not wait long. Sometimes the whole night will pass, the opportunity will seem over, and then the answer comes. Everything belongs to us: the world, life, death, the present, the future, all belong to us, and we belong to God. I trust that God’s time is better than my time and his answer is better than what I asked for. Not better in a resigned-to-fate-I-suppose-that-is-better kind of way. Better in a I-would-not-exchange-it-for-what-I-thought-I-wanted-even-if-I-could kind of way.
July 9, 2012 - Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Hosea 2:16-18, 21-22
Psalm 145:2-9
Matthew 9:18-26
The first reading today is characteristic of how, when Israel looked back on the Good Old Days, they thought of the time spent wandering in the desert. They did not usually think of the greatest political strength reached under Solomon or the first years in the Holy Land under Joshua. They thought about the forty years that the entire nation of Israel wandered in the desert. "Thus says the LORD: I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt."
But these forty years were a punishment from God. Because of their lack of faith in him, he condemned them to wander for forty years in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. How is it that a time of punishment came to be considered the good old days? Because it was a time when food, manna, fell from the sky. Water came forth from a rock. And above all, they followed a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It would not be correct to say that this was God, but it could be called the finger of God pointing them in the right direction.
At other times in their history, they had better food and drink and better homes and beds, but during those years wandering in the desert, they had a close relationship with the presence of God that could never be equaled. Everyone, rich and poor, depended entirely on God for their daily food and drink. Everyone, rich and poor, went wherever God told them to go. God spoke face to face with Moses, telling the people exactly what he wanted from them. Since the days of Adam and Eve until the days of Jesus Christ, this was the nearest that humans and God ever were.
In each person’s life, there are good times and bad, times of success and times of failure, times of plenty and times of need, times of sickness and times of health, but none of those factors matter when we look back on our life. The best of times were when we were closest to God, and sometimes that was in the desert.
Psalm 145:2-9
Matthew 9:18-26
The first reading today is characteristic of how, when Israel looked back on the Good Old Days, they thought of the time spent wandering in the desert. They did not usually think of the greatest political strength reached under Solomon or the first years in the Holy Land under Joshua. They thought about the forty years that the entire nation of Israel wandered in the desert. "Thus says the LORD: I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt."
But these forty years were a punishment from God. Because of their lack of faith in him, he condemned them to wander for forty years in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. How is it that a time of punishment came to be considered the good old days? Because it was a time when food, manna, fell from the sky. Water came forth from a rock. And above all, they followed a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It would not be correct to say that this was God, but it could be called the finger of God pointing them in the right direction.
At other times in their history, they had better food and drink and better homes and beds, but during those years wandering in the desert, they had a close relationship with the presence of God that could never be equaled. Everyone, rich and poor, depended entirely on God for their daily food and drink. Everyone, rich and poor, went wherever God told them to go. God spoke face to face with Moses, telling the people exactly what he wanted from them. Since the days of Adam and Eve until the days of Jesus Christ, this was the nearest that humans and God ever were.
In each person’s life, there are good times and bad, times of success and times of failure, times of plenty and times of need, times of sickness and times of health, but none of those factors matter when we look back on our life. The best of times were when we were closest to God, and sometimes that was in the desert.
February 11, 2012 - Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
This is the second story we have where Jesus feeds a lot of people with just a little food. In the other story, there are 5000 families, five loaves, and two fish. This time there are only 4000 families, and Jesus starts with more food: seven loaves and a few fish. Also, more food is left over the first time, twelve baskets full versus seven baskets full.
Some scholars think that Jesus only did it one time and the Apostles remembered the numbers differently and made it into two stories, but St. Mark considered the difference between the two stories so important that out of only about 11,000 words in his Gospel, he devotes 160 to tell the story the first time and another 140 to tell it this second time. This would be sort of wasteful just to get both sets of numbers down. No, Mark either wrote both down to let us know that it all happened twice or, and this is more likely yet, because he wants us to compare the two events and learn something.
If we are going to learn something, we should begin with the disciples. Did they learn anything? Last time, they told Jesus to dismiss the crowd. This time, they trust Jesus. He calls them, not at the end of one day, but after three days of teaching. Last time, the disciples went to Jesus as it was getting late in the day, because they were afraid that he did not know that the people are hungry; this time, they trust him. Jesus knows that the people need to eat, and he cares that the people need to eat. After two days someone could have accused Jesus of letting the people starve to death, of being uncaring, but Jesus knew that he could provide for the people when the people needed providing for.
Sometimes it seems as if we are not being provided for because we see a need in the future and do not have the solution right now. We do not know how we are going to get over the next mountain which we see looming on the road ahead. Jesus wants us to stop worrying about the next mountain and focus on the road under our feet. Right now, we are still afloat. We have everything we need for right now. The concerns of each day are sufficient; do not be anxious about tomorrow.
This is the second story we have where Jesus feeds a lot of people with just a little food. In the other story, there are 5000 families, five loaves, and two fish. This time there are only 4000 families, and Jesus starts with more food: seven loaves and a few fish. Also, more food is left over the first time, twelve baskets full versus seven baskets full.
Some scholars think that Jesus only did it one time and the Apostles remembered the numbers differently and made it into two stories, but St. Mark considered the difference between the two stories so important that out of only about 11,000 words in his Gospel, he devotes 160 to tell the story the first time and another 140 to tell it this second time. This would be sort of wasteful just to get both sets of numbers down. No, Mark either wrote both down to let us know that it all happened twice or, and this is more likely yet, because he wants us to compare the two events and learn something.
If we are going to learn something, we should begin with the disciples. Did they learn anything? Last time, they told Jesus to dismiss the crowd. This time, they trust Jesus. He calls them, not at the end of one day, but after three days of teaching. Last time, the disciples went to Jesus as it was getting late in the day, because they were afraid that he did not know that the people are hungry; this time, they trust him. Jesus knows that the people need to eat, and he cares that the people need to eat. After two days someone could have accused Jesus of letting the people starve to death, of being uncaring, but Jesus knew that he could provide for the people when the people needed providing for.
Sometimes it seems as if we are not being provided for because we see a need in the future and do not have the solution right now. We do not know how we are going to get over the next mountain which we see looming on the road ahead. Jesus wants us to stop worrying about the next mountain and focus on the road under our feet. Right now, we are still afloat. We have everything we need for right now. The concerns of each day are sufficient; do not be anxious about tomorrow.
November 18, 2011 - Friday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Did you notice the parallels between our two readings today? The Maccabees go up to the temple and cleanse it. Jesus goes up to the temple and cleanses it. The Maccabees purified it after a foreign power had come in and turned the temple into a pagan temple. Jesus purified it after the Jewish government themselves chose to let money changers and vendors take over. The Maccabees gathered the whole people together in the temple to praise God and celebrate the dedication of the altar. Jesus gathered the whole people together in the temple because he taught there every day and they hung on his words.
Our first reading today is the story of Hanukkah, which celebrates the cleansing of the temple by the Maccabees. Our Gospel is the story of the new Hanukkah. As Easter is the new Passover, and Sunday is the new Sabbath, and Pentecost is the new Pentecost, so the cleansing of the temple by Jesus is the new Hanukkah. Today, almost 2200 years after the cleansing of the temple, the Jewish people still celebrate Hanukkah; they celebrate how God rescued them from their persecutors and restored to them the ability to worship him as he commanded. We do not celebrate a particular feast day for the cleansing of the temple, but we do celebrate, in the person of Jesus Christ, the power of God to save us. Just as he rescued the Jewish nation from the persecution of the Greeks, so he rescued the whole world from the persecution of Satan. Just as he restored the true worship to his temple, so also he taught us the true sacrifice, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the sacrifice of the Eucharist.
Hanukkah almost always falls during Advent each year. How much more appropriate it would be if Christians, instead of celebrating Christmas before Christmas, would celebrate Hanukkah, remembering how our Lord came to cleanse the temple and how he is coming again to cleanse the whole world. Indeed, we Catholics do this and call it Advent. We light an Advent wreath instead of a menorah but the meaning is the same: we praise the God who saves his people, who rules over all. As Hanukkah celebrates the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem, Advent is the coming of Jesus to cleanse us, the temple of the Holy Spirit. As with every aspect of religion, the meaning, while remaining fundamentally the same, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Did you notice the parallels between our two readings today? The Maccabees go up to the temple and cleanse it. Jesus goes up to the temple and cleanses it. The Maccabees purified it after a foreign power had come in and turned the temple into a pagan temple. Jesus purified it after the Jewish government themselves chose to let money changers and vendors take over. The Maccabees gathered the whole people together in the temple to praise God and celebrate the dedication of the altar. Jesus gathered the whole people together in the temple because he taught there every day and they hung on his words.
Our first reading today is the story of Hanukkah, which celebrates the cleansing of the temple by the Maccabees. Our Gospel is the story of the new Hanukkah. As Easter is the new Passover, and Sunday is the new Sabbath, and Pentecost is the new Pentecost, so the cleansing of the temple by Jesus is the new Hanukkah. Today, almost 2200 years after the cleansing of the temple, the Jewish people still celebrate Hanukkah; they celebrate how God rescued them from their persecutors and restored to them the ability to worship him as he commanded. We do not celebrate a particular feast day for the cleansing of the temple, but we do celebrate, in the person of Jesus Christ, the power of God to save us. Just as he rescued the Jewish nation from the persecution of the Greeks, so he rescued the whole world from the persecution of Satan. Just as he restored the true worship to his temple, so also he taught us the true sacrifice, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the sacrifice of the Eucharist.
Hanukkah almost always falls during Advent each year. How much more appropriate it would be if Christians, instead of celebrating Christmas before Christmas, would celebrate Hanukkah, remembering how our Lord came to cleanse the temple and how he is coming again to cleanse the whole world. Indeed, we Catholics do this and call it Advent. We light an Advent wreath instead of a menorah but the meaning is the same: we praise the God who saves his people, who rules over all. As Hanukkah celebrates the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem, Advent is the coming of Jesus to cleanse us, the temple of the Holy Spirit. As with every aspect of religion, the meaning, while remaining fundamentally the same, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
November 12, 2011 - Memorial of Saint Josaphat, bishop and martyr
Today's Readings
The unjust judge wanted a bribe. Most unjust judges are looking for bribes. Very few, I would suppose, actually like seeing injustice in the world. Perhaps he was just lazy, but, really, how much effort does it take to make a judgment? It is not as if he would have to execute the judgment himself. He just needs to listen to the stories, say a few words, and then hammer his gavel. So I think he wanted a bribe.
He finally makes a decision, not, as this translation suggests, because he was afraid of getting punched in the face, but because he was tired of the widow coming to him every day. He put her off for a while, hoping that she would come offering a bribe, but she never did. Now he decides that it is not worth it. He will make the decision for free, just to get her off his back.
So is God like the unjust judge? No. Jesus’ point is that he is not at all like the unjust judge. God is never weary of listening to us. In fact, he delights in hearing us pray to him. We could never tire God out. The widow can threaten the unjust judge with her constant presence and pleading, but what do we threaten God with, that we would constantly pray? “I am not leaving this church until you answer my prayer.” “Good”, he says.
God is not waiting for a bribe, but he is waiting for faith. He will do his part if we do ours. His part is to give us everything. Our part is to have faith. God will provide, but when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Faith is not a human action; it is a gift from God, but we must choose to hold on to the gift. Faith is believing that God will provide what he has promised. Faith means believing that God is neither too weak to bring about what he promised or too fickle to stand by his promise.
God has promised to take care of us. Do we believe him? Sometimes this world causes us to doubt. Sometimes it seems like God is not taking care of someone. There is a lot of suffering in this world. Is there really a just God ruling over it all? I believe there is. I believe independently of my ability to understand.
The unjust judge wanted a bribe. Most unjust judges are looking for bribes. Very few, I would suppose, actually like seeing injustice in the world. Perhaps he was just lazy, but, really, how much effort does it take to make a judgment? It is not as if he would have to execute the judgment himself. He just needs to listen to the stories, say a few words, and then hammer his gavel. So I think he wanted a bribe.
He finally makes a decision, not, as this translation suggests, because he was afraid of getting punched in the face, but because he was tired of the widow coming to him every day. He put her off for a while, hoping that she would come offering a bribe, but she never did. Now he decides that it is not worth it. He will make the decision for free, just to get her off his back.
So is God like the unjust judge? No. Jesus’ point is that he is not at all like the unjust judge. God is never weary of listening to us. In fact, he delights in hearing us pray to him. We could never tire God out. The widow can threaten the unjust judge with her constant presence and pleading, but what do we threaten God with, that we would constantly pray? “I am not leaving this church until you answer my prayer.” “Good”, he says.
God is not waiting for a bribe, but he is waiting for faith. He will do his part if we do ours. His part is to give us everything. Our part is to have faith. God will provide, but when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Faith is not a human action; it is a gift from God, but we must choose to hold on to the gift. Faith is believing that God will provide what he has promised. Faith means believing that God is neither too weak to bring about what he promised or too fickle to stand by his promise.
God has promised to take care of us. Do we believe him? Sometimes this world causes us to doubt. Sometimes it seems like God is not taking care of someone. There is a lot of suffering in this world. Is there really a just God ruling over it all? I believe there is. I believe independently of my ability to understand.
October 1, 2011 - Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
Today's Readings
Jesus informs his disciples that they are living in a blessed time. They are seeing what everyone has been waiting for. They are hearing the Gospel, the Good News with the power to save the world. We are living in that same blessed time. Sure, it would be nice to see Jesus walking around and be able to literally follow him, but we are living in AD.
The mysteries of the universe are unlocked for us. We may not see Jesus walking around right now, but we are actually more blessed than even those Christians who came before us. St. Peter and St. Paul did not have the benefit of the New Testament. St. Therese did not have the benefit of St. Therese. All the saints of the past 2000 years are examples for us. The theology worked out over the past 2000 years makes being a Christian so much easier.
We know that God will forgive our sins. We know that this life is not as good as it gets. We know that the Second person of the Most Blessed Trinity came down from heaven and became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We know that he died and rose again, and we know how we too can participate in this Resurrection. Above all, we have been sent the Holy Spirit, and if he never works the kind of miracle in your life that astounds people, he is working miracles in your life every day nevertheless.
When we consider our age, we probably either think that we are blessed because we live in the age of cars and computers, of antibiotics and airplanes, or we think that we are cursed because we live in the age of abortion and war and many other evils. Yet none of these technological achievements mean anything in comparison to the arrival of Jesus Christ, and none of the evils of this world are more powerful than the Gospel we have received.
Between baptism and confession, we are protected from the evils of this world. In the Eucharist we receive the very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. We are blessed. We have seen and heard and tasted what prior generations could not even have dreamed about. What will we do with this opportunity?
Jesus informs his disciples that they are living in a blessed time. They are seeing what everyone has been waiting for. They are hearing the Gospel, the Good News with the power to save the world. We are living in that same blessed time. Sure, it would be nice to see Jesus walking around and be able to literally follow him, but we are living in AD.
The mysteries of the universe are unlocked for us. We may not see Jesus walking around right now, but we are actually more blessed than even those Christians who came before us. St. Peter and St. Paul did not have the benefit of the New Testament. St. Therese did not have the benefit of St. Therese. All the saints of the past 2000 years are examples for us. The theology worked out over the past 2000 years makes being a Christian so much easier.
We know that God will forgive our sins. We know that this life is not as good as it gets. We know that the Second person of the Most Blessed Trinity came down from heaven and became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We know that he died and rose again, and we know how we too can participate in this Resurrection. Above all, we have been sent the Holy Spirit, and if he never works the kind of miracle in your life that astounds people, he is working miracles in your life every day nevertheless.
When we consider our age, we probably either think that we are blessed because we live in the age of cars and computers, of antibiotics and airplanes, or we think that we are cursed because we live in the age of abortion and war and many other evils. Yet none of these technological achievements mean anything in comparison to the arrival of Jesus Christ, and none of the evils of this world are more powerful than the Gospel we have received.
Between baptism and confession, we are protected from the evils of this world. In the Eucharist we receive the very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. We are blessed. We have seen and heard and tasted what prior generations could not even have dreamed about. What will we do with this opportunity?
August 21, 2011 - Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
In the first reading, Eliakim is promoted to prime minister. The prime minister is not the king, but everyone obeys the prime minister because he is the representative of the king. It is the job of the prime minister to make sure that the will of the king is accomplished day-to-day. The Lord uses specific language when putting Eliakim in this office: “I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut; when he shuts, no one shall open.” It is this same language which the Lord uses to appoint Peter to be his prime minister: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
So Peter is the prime minister of the Church, which we call the “Pope”. Jesus is the king, but he has chosen Peter to be his representative here on earth until he comes back. So that a merely human person could take on this enormous responsibility, God gives to the Pope the grace of infallibility. Infallibility means that the Pope, whether he is personally a good man or a bad man, will never teach falsely about faith or morals. Even when there is a bad pope, and there have been plenty of bad popes, he will never teach what is wrong.
This is not, of course, only a gift for the man who is the Pope. It is a gift for the whole Church. We are able to relax and trust that whatever the Pope teaches us is true. One great example of this occurred about 40 years ago. Birth control had been condemned for over 1900 years by the whole Christian Church. Slowly in the 20th century, protestants began to accept birth control, but the Catholic Church continued teaching that married couples cannot use birth control. In the 1960’s many people thought that the Church should change this teaching. A commission of lay people and cardinals recommended to the Pope that he teach that the new forms of birth control were different than the old forms and could be acceptable. Then, in 1968, the Pope wrote a document teaching once again that only natural family planning can be used by married couples, that artificial birth control and sterilization was still and always would be unacceptable.
This document certainly did not make the Pope popular. Many people thought they knew theology better than he did. Perhaps they were smarter than the Pope, but he was not teaching what he thought was true, he was teaching what is actually true. As Jesus says to Peter today, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” In the past 40 years, we have come to understand how right this teaching was, largely because of the teaching of Blessed Pope John Paul II. The world hates the Church and is always yelling at the Church to change this teaching, but it will never be changed.
It will not be changed, but not because the Church is stubborn. As Jesus told St. Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This is not to be understood as if the Pope makes the decision and then God obeys. It is actually the opposite. God made the decision and the pope obeyed. This authority to bind and loosen is founded on what Jesus had just said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” It is nonsense to think that God would obey a man if the man was not obeying God first.
We will not be able to receive the gift of trust in the infallibility of the Pope unless we are able to believe that a man knows the will of the Lord. In the second reading, St. Paul asks, “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” There are three persons who I can list who know the mind of the Lord: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but is it possible for a human to know the mind of the Lord? Definitely! The Son is Jesus Christ, one person with two natures, human and divine. Jesus Christ, in his human nature, knows the will of the Father.
Is this just an exception, can a merely human person know the will of God? St. Paul answers yes. Here in the Letter to the Romans, it seems like a rhetorical question, but St. Paul asks it again in his First Letter to the Corinthians, and there he gives an answer: “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” The Holy Spirit, who knows the will of the Lord, lives within our hearts. He is telling each of us, right now, God’s will for us. He does not shout, since this would take away our free will, but if we listen we will hear him whispering.
So it should not seem strange to us that God prevents the Pope from teaching what is not true. We cannot doubt that God can do this when he is living in our own hearts and speaking to us. It seems too good to be true, but nothing is too good to be true. God is true, and he is very, very good. He has not left the Church to founder in its doubts. Over the past 2000 years, we see a continual process of discovering God’s will guided by the Bishop of Rome.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” Who would have thought that a fisherman would be the man chosen to be prime minister of the Church? The primary qualification was not education or human intelligence but the ability to trust God completely. God’s plans are so mysterious, so intricate, so perfect, that we can never understand them, and, if we see a small part of that plan, we may even think it to be foolish. Only in heaven will we see the whole plan, and then it will take us forever, literally forever, to contemplate and understand his wisdom.
We can trust God. He knows what he is doing. He founded the Church and gave us leaders, knowing that they would be sinful men. He intends to save the world through them anyway.
In the first reading, Eliakim is promoted to prime minister. The prime minister is not the king, but everyone obeys the prime minister because he is the representative of the king. It is the job of the prime minister to make sure that the will of the king is accomplished day-to-day. The Lord uses specific language when putting Eliakim in this office: “I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut; when he shuts, no one shall open.” It is this same language which the Lord uses to appoint Peter to be his prime minister: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
So Peter is the prime minister of the Church, which we call the “Pope”. Jesus is the king, but he has chosen Peter to be his representative here on earth until he comes back. So that a merely human person could take on this enormous responsibility, God gives to the Pope the grace of infallibility. Infallibility means that the Pope, whether he is personally a good man or a bad man, will never teach falsely about faith or morals. Even when there is a bad pope, and there have been plenty of bad popes, he will never teach what is wrong.
This is not, of course, only a gift for the man who is the Pope. It is a gift for the whole Church. We are able to relax and trust that whatever the Pope teaches us is true. One great example of this occurred about 40 years ago. Birth control had been condemned for over 1900 years by the whole Christian Church. Slowly in the 20th century, protestants began to accept birth control, but the Catholic Church continued teaching that married couples cannot use birth control. In the 1960’s many people thought that the Church should change this teaching. A commission of lay people and cardinals recommended to the Pope that he teach that the new forms of birth control were different than the old forms and could be acceptable. Then, in 1968, the Pope wrote a document teaching once again that only natural family planning can be used by married couples, that artificial birth control and sterilization was still and always would be unacceptable.
This document certainly did not make the Pope popular. Many people thought they knew theology better than he did. Perhaps they were smarter than the Pope, but he was not teaching what he thought was true, he was teaching what is actually true. As Jesus says to Peter today, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” In the past 40 years, we have come to understand how right this teaching was, largely because of the teaching of Blessed Pope John Paul II. The world hates the Church and is always yelling at the Church to change this teaching, but it will never be changed.
It will not be changed, but not because the Church is stubborn. As Jesus told St. Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This is not to be understood as if the Pope makes the decision and then God obeys. It is actually the opposite. God made the decision and the pope obeyed. This authority to bind and loosen is founded on what Jesus had just said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” It is nonsense to think that God would obey a man if the man was not obeying God first.
We will not be able to receive the gift of trust in the infallibility of the Pope unless we are able to believe that a man knows the will of the Lord. In the second reading, St. Paul asks, “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” There are three persons who I can list who know the mind of the Lord: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but is it possible for a human to know the mind of the Lord? Definitely! The Son is Jesus Christ, one person with two natures, human and divine. Jesus Christ, in his human nature, knows the will of the Father.
Is this just an exception, can a merely human person know the will of God? St. Paul answers yes. Here in the Letter to the Romans, it seems like a rhetorical question, but St. Paul asks it again in his First Letter to the Corinthians, and there he gives an answer: “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” The Holy Spirit, who knows the will of the Lord, lives within our hearts. He is telling each of us, right now, God’s will for us. He does not shout, since this would take away our free will, but if we listen we will hear him whispering.
So it should not seem strange to us that God prevents the Pope from teaching what is not true. We cannot doubt that God can do this when he is living in our own hearts and speaking to us. It seems too good to be true, but nothing is too good to be true. God is true, and he is very, very good. He has not left the Church to founder in its doubts. Over the past 2000 years, we see a continual process of discovering God’s will guided by the Bishop of Rome.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” Who would have thought that a fisherman would be the man chosen to be prime minister of the Church? The primary qualification was not education or human intelligence but the ability to trust God completely. God’s plans are so mysterious, so intricate, so perfect, that we can never understand them, and, if we see a small part of that plan, we may even think it to be foolish. Only in heaven will we see the whole plan, and then it will take us forever, literally forever, to contemplate and understand his wisdom.
We can trust God. He knows what he is doing. He founded the Church and gave us leaders, knowing that they would be sinful men. He intends to save the world through them anyway.
July 31, 2011 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Our reading today from Isaiah tells us three reasons why it is better to get what we need from the providence of God than to try to grasp after it ourselves. First of all, it is free. Second, it is better. Third, it is complete. God tells us that he will give us for free. “Come, without paying and without cost,” he says. This is a good deal. God also tells us that he will not just cover our basic needs. He is not only serving bread but “wine and milk” and “rich fare”. This is a very good deal. Usually, when you get something free, you get what you pay for, but God says that we can give us, for free, something better than we can buy with money. God also warns us that when we try to buy our happiness, it “fails to satisfy”. This is because we do not even know what we really want, but God does know. He can fulfill desires that we never even knew we had.
What great promises! We would be fools not to take God up on this offer. Except…. In the psalm today, we repeated, “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.” This is great news, but is it true? We are told, “He answers all our needs”, but does he? Where is it? Where is this great, free, perfect satisfaction that we have been promised? This seems to be another case where the reality fails to live up to the advertisement.
Of course, it is about 95% true. Consider all those things that if you were suddenly lacking you would desperately want: life, oxygen, health, use of your body, water, food, safety. It is easy to miss the many ways that God does provide for our lives every day, in each moment of every day. We really do not notice the providence of God. We only notice the other 5%. Parents know what I am talking about. Your children do not notice that you do their laundry, feed them, and give them a place to live. If you stopped doing their laundry, if you stopped providing food, if you stopped paying the electric bill, they would suddenly become very aware of what you were not doing for them.
But what of this other 5%? The psalm promised that God would provide all of our needs. What is left over, what God is not providing, is also for our benefit. We would be ungrateful spoiled brats if we never knew what it was to need something. Isaiah, in the midst of the advertisement, repeats over and over again: “Come.” God has come almost all the way to us, but the other 5% is our room to come to God.
We are tempted to fill what we lack with inferior products: lust, greed, laziness, gluttony, envy, anger, and pride, but all these will fail to satisfy. A bag of potato chips, the latest gadget, a 10-hour I Love Lucy marathon all fail to satisfy us. For a moment, it seemed as if these sins were what we were looking for, but they only last for a time and we have to seek them out again. These inferior products do not give us a place to rest; they only pacify our desires for a little while. We need the real deal. We were made for God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
We can see the reality of this in the great miracle of the Gospel today. I am not referring to the multiplication of the loaves, although that is nice too. I am referring to the words of the disciples: “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” The disciples, concerned for the well-being of the crowd (and probably for their own stomachs as well), tell Jesus to dismiss the crowd. Now, I understand that manners were different 2000 years ago in Palestine, but I am not ready to believe that 5000 families usually stood listening to a preacher until they starved to death. Most of you would not think of leaving this Church until I say, “The Mass is ended; go in peace”, but, if I stood here and preached until 9 o’clock tonight, I feel sure that the Church would be empty. Manners have their limits.
It is not even as if everyone would have to leave. A few hundred people could have gone to town and brought back wheelbarrows of food. Yet, as long as Jesus kept preaching and healing, no one was willing to leave. These people had found something, something that satisfied them. They came for many reasons, to be healed, to see a prophet, to hear a preacher, but they found the love of Jesus Christ, and they were not willing to give up that love, not even to go get some food.
The love of Christ is free, better than anything else we can get, and the only thing that can really satisfy us anyway. St. Paul gives us another reason why the love of Christ is the best: nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Our stuff can be stolen, and people can break our hearts; our reputations can be destroyed by lies or even the truth, and we can even disappoint ourselves, but not even death can separate us from the love of Christ. If Satan stood here in all his evil power and cunning, he could fool us, he could hurt us, but he could not make Christ stop loving us. Everything we love on this earth could be taken from us by a tornado, but not even a tornado could make Christ stop loving us.
No matter we do or have done to us, no matter how far we think we have run away from God, if we turn around we will find Christ right there. We would have to be fools to seek our happiness in food or TV or on the Internet, and we are fools. We have all often tried to satisfy our need for God with what is not God. Still, the invitation remains: “Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?” Come to God. He wants to give you everything. He is not going to shove it down your throat. He cannot give it to you unless you seek it, and you do want it, even though you do not know your own desires.
Our reading today from Isaiah tells us three reasons why it is better to get what we need from the providence of God than to try to grasp after it ourselves. First of all, it is free. Second, it is better. Third, it is complete. God tells us that he will give us for free. “Come, without paying and without cost,” he says. This is a good deal. God also tells us that he will not just cover our basic needs. He is not only serving bread but “wine and milk” and “rich fare”. This is a very good deal. Usually, when you get something free, you get what you pay for, but God says that we can give us, for free, something better than we can buy with money. God also warns us that when we try to buy our happiness, it “fails to satisfy”. This is because we do not even know what we really want, but God does know. He can fulfill desires that we never even knew we had.
What great promises! We would be fools not to take God up on this offer. Except…. In the psalm today, we repeated, “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.” This is great news, but is it true? We are told, “He answers all our needs”, but does he? Where is it? Where is this great, free, perfect satisfaction that we have been promised? This seems to be another case where the reality fails to live up to the advertisement.
Of course, it is about 95% true. Consider all those things that if you were suddenly lacking you would desperately want: life, oxygen, health, use of your body, water, food, safety. It is easy to miss the many ways that God does provide for our lives every day, in each moment of every day. We really do not notice the providence of God. We only notice the other 5%. Parents know what I am talking about. Your children do not notice that you do their laundry, feed them, and give them a place to live. If you stopped doing their laundry, if you stopped providing food, if you stopped paying the electric bill, they would suddenly become very aware of what you were not doing for them.
But what of this other 5%? The psalm promised that God would provide all of our needs. What is left over, what God is not providing, is also for our benefit. We would be ungrateful spoiled brats if we never knew what it was to need something. Isaiah, in the midst of the advertisement, repeats over and over again: “Come.” God has come almost all the way to us, but the other 5% is our room to come to God.
We are tempted to fill what we lack with inferior products: lust, greed, laziness, gluttony, envy, anger, and pride, but all these will fail to satisfy. A bag of potato chips, the latest gadget, a 10-hour I Love Lucy marathon all fail to satisfy us. For a moment, it seemed as if these sins were what we were looking for, but they only last for a time and we have to seek them out again. These inferior products do not give us a place to rest; they only pacify our desires for a little while. We need the real deal. We were made for God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
We can see the reality of this in the great miracle of the Gospel today. I am not referring to the multiplication of the loaves, although that is nice too. I am referring to the words of the disciples: “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” The disciples, concerned for the well-being of the crowd (and probably for their own stomachs as well), tell Jesus to dismiss the crowd. Now, I understand that manners were different 2000 years ago in Palestine, but I am not ready to believe that 5000 families usually stood listening to a preacher until they starved to death. Most of you would not think of leaving this Church until I say, “The Mass is ended; go in peace”, but, if I stood here and preached until 9 o’clock tonight, I feel sure that the Church would be empty. Manners have their limits.
It is not even as if everyone would have to leave. A few hundred people could have gone to town and brought back wheelbarrows of food. Yet, as long as Jesus kept preaching and healing, no one was willing to leave. These people had found something, something that satisfied them. They came for many reasons, to be healed, to see a prophet, to hear a preacher, but they found the love of Jesus Christ, and they were not willing to give up that love, not even to go get some food.
The love of Christ is free, better than anything else we can get, and the only thing that can really satisfy us anyway. St. Paul gives us another reason why the love of Christ is the best: nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Our stuff can be stolen, and people can break our hearts; our reputations can be destroyed by lies or even the truth, and we can even disappoint ourselves, but not even death can separate us from the love of Christ. If Satan stood here in all his evil power and cunning, he could fool us, he could hurt us, but he could not make Christ stop loving us. Everything we love on this earth could be taken from us by a tornado, but not even a tornado could make Christ stop loving us.
No matter we do or have done to us, no matter how far we think we have run away from God, if we turn around we will find Christ right there. We would have to be fools to seek our happiness in food or TV or on the Internet, and we are fools. We have all often tried to satisfy our need for God with what is not God. Still, the invitation remains: “Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?” Come to God. He wants to give you everything. He is not going to shove it down your throat. He cannot give it to you unless you seek it, and you do want it, even though you do not know your own desires.
January 29, 2011 - Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Our first reading from Hebrews explains to us what faith means by giving examples from the life of Abraham. The last example is when Abraham took his son Isaac on the mountain to sacrifice him because God told him to. This is a story that people usually misunderstand. Most people who hear this story think that Abraham expected to walk down the mountain without his son. This is not true. Abraham had been promised grandchildren through Isaac. Therefore, he knew that Isaac would not be killed or, if he were killed, “he reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead.”
This fact changes our entire understanding of the episode. Abraham was relying on the promise of God. Abraham’s faith was that he always expected the promise to be fulfilled, no matter what. He knew that God could carry out his promise. He knew that God would not lie. Therefore nothing stopped him from taking Isaac up on the mountain. Nothing stopped him from tying up his son. Nothing stopped him from raising the knife. And if an angel had not stopped him, nothing else would have prevented him from killing his own son, because he knew that, somehow, Isaac would live to have children.
The disciples in the boat in today’s Gospel are in a different situation. Jesus did not make any promise to them about not dying in a storm, yet he still accuses them of not having faith. But since faith is believing that God will fulfill his promises, how have the disciples failed? When they were afraid they turned to Jesus. Their failure was in their fear. We have a new promise from God: Jesus. Jesus is the promise. St. John tells us that perfect love casts out all fear. He also says that this is love: not that we love God but that he loves us and sent his only son.
God sent Jesus, therefore we have no reason to be afraid. Fear is an emotion foreign to a true Christian. There will be difficulties in our life; there will be suffering, but what could we possibly be afraid of? Poverty? Blessed are the poor. Weakness? God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Suffering? We make up in our bodies what was lacking in the suffering of Christ. Death? Jesus conquered death. When fear remains in you, in me, in all of us, we must hold fast to God’s promise to us: Jesus.
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