Sunday, February 23, 2025

SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(I Samuel 26:2.7-9.12-13.22-23; I Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38)

Today's gospel touches on a very pressing political issue in recent years. Read carefully, it can lead us to a greater compassion for immigrants and a policy to lessen a world-wide crisis.

Jesus is in the middle of his “Sermon on the Plain” in the Gospel according to Saint Luke. It is the counterpart to the more famous “Sermon on the Mount” in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. In truth, neither comprises a complete sermon. Rather, both are compilations of various sayings of Jesus organized around different themes. In Saint Matthew Jesus chooses the mountain to deliver his high teachings on morality. Saint Luke reserves the mountains for prayer and has Jesus giving moral lessons on a plain.

We heard the first part of the “Sermon on the Plain” last Sunday. Jesus announced four beatitudes consoling the oppressed and four “woes” warning the oppressors. Now Jesus focuses on divine love; that is, love that seeks nothing in return. It gives of itself simply to help the other. The surprising thing is that Jesus requires his disciples to practice this kind of love toward their enemies as well as their friends.

Enemies are not only those who would harm us but also those who threaten our interests. People in rich countries often see immigrants as enemies who want to take advantage of the resources of their adopted land without contributing proportionally. In Italy for many years the Roma, often called “zincari” (the Italian word for “gypsies”), have attracted the opprobrium of the people. Roma women can be seen begging in public places with their children. Meanwhile, their men have the reputation of being pickpockets and thieves. Generally, Italians resent the Roma and want them deported. The ethics that Jesus proposes in the gospel urges another stance. He calls on the disciples to support the Roma. This may be in direct aid or in contributions to charities that care for the poor.

Right now the entire world is focused on what the president of the United States will do with the millions of undocumented immigrants in America. Will he begin mass deportations, or will he limit his extraditions to those undocumented who have committed crimes? In this gospel Jesus is addressing individuals, not governments. However, it can be said that deporting millions of people would reflect a stance of disdain and abuse, not gospel love.

The second part of the reading has to do with the treatment of one's neighbor - that is, an acquaintance who might ask us for a loan. According to Jesus, we should respond in favor of this type of person, not react against him. It is really the same kind of response that we should give to our enemies. Instead of worrying about our own interests, we should act with the true interests of other people in mind. In short, as children of God, we are to treat everyone as the One who blesses everyone.

Certainly the Gospel of St. Luke has exquisite stories and portraits of Jesus. We hear of the Prodigal Son and of Jesus forgiving the “Good Thief” in this gospel alone. But the beauty of the images that the gospel leaves us does not diminish the vehemence of Jesus’ demands in this gospel. In fact, it increases their force because only with divine love -- a strong love that seeks nothing in return -- are we going to become people with everlasting beauty. Only with divine love, are we going to become sons and daughters of God.

Thursday, September 9, 2021

 Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, priest

(Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 6:27-38)

Few have fulfilled Jesus’ commands in today’s gospel like St. Peter Claver.  A Jesuit missionary during the 17^th century, Peter Claver entered fetid slave ships to minister to their human cargo.  He gave instruction in the faith as well as food, medicine, bread, and lemons.  It is said that Claver catechized and baptized more than 300,000 African slaves!

In the gospel Jesus admonishes his disciples to love those in need.  He does not mean that they are merely to think of or even to pray for them.  Love is very practical in Scripture.  Jesus is telling his disciples to help those without resources.  Like Peter Claver assisting African slaves, Jesus disciples are to give food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, and shelter to the homeless.

It is not hard to bring old clothes to Goodwill or to serve in a soup kitchen once every month.  But as the ministry grows to gathering, assorting, and hauling a whole parish’s donations or serving food three times weekly, the work becomes a burden.  We do it not only because of the Lord’s command, but also because mystically we meet him in the effort.

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 6:27-38)

Paper ghosts, witches, and skeletons have already invaded department stores.  Halloween decorations can be purchased now for an event still seven weeks away! Children and certainly some adults as well are wondering what costume they will put on.  Today’s first reading suggests some articles for Christians to wear.  They are to be put on not just on one day a year but every day.

The passage recommends that the Colossians “put on…heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” It means that they are to practice the virtues of forbearance and love. In his Letter to the Romans St. Paul says it even more poetically.  “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ…,” he says. He wants his readers to act like Jesus day in and day out.  If they do not know how, they might check today’s gospel for instructions.

It has been said that it is easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking than to think yourself into a new way of acting.  In other words, if we wish to lose weight, it is better to eat less and exercise more than to imagine ourselves as thin.  Alternatively, if we wish to become like Christ, we best stop judging others and pray for those who mistreat us.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 6:27-38)

In yesterday’s mass the gospel reading began Jesus’ great sermon.  Many think of that sermon being delivered on a mountain because that is setting in the longer, more demonstrative version of the Gospel according to Matthew.  In Luke’s gospel, however, from which we hear these days, mountains are reserved for Jesus’ communion with the Father.  The third gospel describes the plain as the place of encounter between Jesus and other humans.

Jesus is addressing his disciples when he says that they should turn the other cheek and lend to those who have never given them anything.  In other words, he is telling them not to react to others but to be proactive like God in treating them kindly.  There is a story of a man who lived by the sea and every morning would throw the starfish marooned on the beach back into the water.  Why did he bother to save a few starfish?  Conscious of it or not, he did it in fulfillment of Jesus’ command to be proactive in treating others with kindness.

In the great sermon Jesus lays out the oral form of his New Law.  To be sure, it is impossible to uphold this law under the condition of original sin.  But Christ has afforded us the Holy Spirit, the essence of the New Law, who enables us to do the impossible. 

Homilette for Thursday. September 11, 2008

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

(Luke 6:27-38)

When is a victim not a victim? The answer is when the victim takes control of the situation. “Victim” comes from the Latin word victima meaning a creature used in a sacrifice. Sacrificial objects are usually unknowing and passive. They neither resist nor collaborate in the sacrifice. The gospel passage today recommends that Christians not act like victims when we are called to suffering. No, we are to take the initiative in an extraordinary way.

Jesus strings together a series of responses to injury under the rubric: love your enemies. Christians are to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, and to pray for those who mistreat us. We also turn the other cheek when someone strikes us, offer our shirt when they take our coat, and give to others without demanding repayment. Jesus also tells us why we want to treat our enemies so benignly. By our love for all, we show ourselves to be true children of God who will provide us an eternal reward.

In the last few years a number of Catholic Christians in Rwanda have demonstrated that fulfilling Jesus’ mandate in this passage is possible. In the genocide of 1994 killers took the lives of half a million people. In 2001 an archbishop started a process of truth-telling, public confession and requests for forgiveness in the midst of a widespread study of Scripture. One man has forgiven eight people who confessed to taking part in the killing of sixty-five of his relatives!