Monday, October 26, 2015

Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:12-17;Luke 13:10-17)

An old Catholic family was living in the South during the Civil War.  The family had a slave who continued to stay with it after emancipation.  When the woman died, she was buried in the family plot.  The inscription on her grave read that the woman served the family so long and faithfully that she became one of its members.  Such is the kind of adoption to which St. Paul refers in the first reading today.

Paul reminds his readers that Christ has freed them from slavery to the flesh.  They no longer have to appease the desire for every creaturely pleasure.  Rather the Spirit of love has been poured into their hearts.  Now imitating the goodness of God, they can live for others.  Their expectation is nothing less than the glory of Christ resurrected from the dead.

Sometimes we feel that the only consolation in life is precisely some physical pleasure.  Some even try to justify an illicit affair as “only natural.”  Christ offers something more both in at the end of our days and in the current struggle.  The companionship we offer one another in the Church is palpable.  Satisfying as well is the sense that when we suffer, we join ourselves to Christ.  Because of him and for the sake of our sisters and brothers in the Church, we strive to live every day in God’s grace.

Homilette for Monday, October 26, 2009

Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:12-17; Luke 13:10-17)

Jesuit Scripture scholar Joseph Fitzmyer has shown that the Aramaic word abba is not meant to say “daddy” as we once excitedly learned. Yet we should not become disillusioned. St. Paul may have reverted to the Aramaic word to indicate the esteem that many Jewish children, like himself and his siblings, feel for their fathers. Pious Jewish fathers, at least, are not playboys but providers who raise their children in faith and with love. Sons and daughters of such men fear them when they are small, but as they mature the fright dissolves into love and then into a respect bordering on awe.

Paul is saying that related to God, the same movement from fear to awe is implemented in us believers by the Holy Spirit. Certainly Paul has in mind something more than a change in psychological attitude toward God as the Spirit’s fruit here. He is saying that the Spirit establishes us God’s adopted daughters and sons capable of sacrifices, like that of Jesus, which gain for us access to everlasting life.

Homilette for Tuesday, October 30, 2007

You will find postings for weekdays October 29 and 30 below.

Tuesday, XXX Week of Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:12-17)

Hope has been compared to a little girl walking between her two bigger sisters – faith and love. At times it seems that faith and love have to drag hope along. That is, believing and giving we can find enough satisfaction in life that we do not consider the reward of heaven. Still at other times it is just the opposite. Hope seems to run ahead leading faith and love along.

A woman has cancer that may be incurable. She has unfailingly practiced her faith, and it has provided many blessings. Her husband loves her deeply. Her three children respect her sincerely. Her five grandchildren provide her consolation for the future. For a long time then faith and love have dominated any consideration of eternity. Now, however, hope has to take over.

The possibility of imminent death rivets our attention on the great questions of faith. Is there life after death? When will I experience it? Is it possible that I am not worthy? Hope moves us to believe in God and to use the rest of our time to serve Him. As St. Paul indicates in the first reading, we are not sure of what eternal life consists. We do not see it like we might see pictures of the city where our company is sending us to work. We can only trust in God that the sufferings we now face – whether it be the trials of cancer or the loneliness with which that many old people live -- will end in glory.