Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:18-25; Luke 13:18-21)

The sixty-two-year-old worker talked of retirement.  He was suffering from two arthritic knees that needed replacement.  He also had a pinched nerve in his shoulder.  It was obviously painful for the man to do a full day’s work.  Many people have difficulty growing old.  Even trusting Christians like St. Paul begin to wonder when they see their bodies failing.

Paul writes of all creation “groaning in labor pains.”  It waits patiently for the redemption promised by the resurrection of Jesus.  Humans, made in the image of God, have the most to hope for.  They will assume glorified bodies like their Redeemer’s that will not age or experience pain.

Two thousand years is a long time to have waited for redemption.  But who is to say that it will not take another two thousand or perhaps two million years?  In the meantime we, given the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit, keep the faith.  We love our neighbor and care for the poor.  Most of all, we thank God for our blessings and pray for our needs.  It is a good life that will be glorified when Christ returns.

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

 Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:18-25; Luke 13:18-21)

Back in the 1960s there were a number of folk songs that expressed the futility of creation.  Peter, Paul and Mary sang of the “Great Mandala” which keeps rotating through cycles of war and peace.  The Kingston Trio popularized “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” which asks when will humanity learn to end war.  In today first reading St. Paul tells Christians not to give up hope for lasting peace.  He expresses this peace as the redemption of our bodies from death.

Paul begins by noting how the world suffers.  Not just humans, he says, but all creation.  Yet Christians have the Holy Spirit which allows them to prefigure the new creation.  The palpable kindness, love, and joy that are found in Christian communities assure that full redemption is on the way.  Meanwhile, Christians carry on in hope that the day of redemption will come soon.  Alternatively, hope assures Christians that if the waiting continues, they will survive the trials.

Paul probably expected the coming of Christ and full redemption long before the two thousand years it has taken so far.  But this time – the “meantime” – has proven to be more than tolerable, even enjoyable for many of us.  It is the Spirit moving us to help one another that allows us to rejoice in the midst of suffering.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:18-25; Luke 13:18-21)

The 62-year old worker talked of retirement.  He was suffering from two arthritic knees that needed replacement.  He also had a pinched nerve in his shoulder.  It was obviously painful for the man to do a full day’s work.  Many people have difficulty growing old.  Even trusting Christians like St. Paul begin to wonder when they see their bodies failing.

Paul writes of all creation “groaning in labor pains.”  It waits patiently for the redemption promised by the resurrection of Jesus.  Humans, made in the image of God, have the most to hope for.  They will assume spiritual bodies like their Redeemer’s that will not age or experience pain.

Two thousand years is a long time to have waited for redemption.  But who is to say that it will not take another two thousand or perhaps two million years?  In the meantime we, given the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit, keep the faith.  We love our neighbor and care for the poor.  Most of all, we thank God for our blessings and pray for our needs.  It is a good life that will be glorified when Christ returns

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:18-25; Luke 13:18-21)

The car window opened, and an object flew out – perhaps a plastic cup – littering the road.  It was a small act of defiance of both law and public decency indicative of a careless person.  But little things add up.  An estimated fifty-one billion articles of litter are deposited on the roads of the United States alone every year! 

Yet litter is hardly the biggest environmental problem.  Other worries far outsize trash on roads.  The way humans consume fossil fuels causes pollution that likely contributes to global warming.  Their cutting down rain forests results in the destruction of animal habitats which, in turn, causes land to dry up.  St. Paul describes the situation well in today’s first reading.  Creation groans in anticipation of a redeemed humanity so that the environment may be saved.

Paul is far from being desperate about the situation.  He perceives creation already being liberated by the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit is changing our hearts to value the environment as a common patrimony.  Good people have begun to cooperate in protecting natural resources.  We want future generations to know the wonder of otters, octopuses, and owls.

Homilette for Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 8:18-25; Luke 13:18-21)

In Robert Duvall’s film “The Apostle” a slick evangelist preacher with an eye for other women kills the man who is having an affair with his wife and then flees the law. He experiences true conversion and begins to preach again but in a much humbler mode. The redemption reaches a climax when the preacher courts another woman whom he is tempted to seduce. But now the man no longer fools himself and resists the sin.

Duvall’s apostle perfectly illustrates the spiritual renewal of which St. Paul writes to the Romans. The redeemed person can no longer live by the flesh and yet his/her body groans with desire. Fortunately God’s Spirit, now within the redeemed, triumphs. Paul indicates the dynamics of the Spirit’s victory. It fills the convert with hope for the recreation of all nature, what we see as the reward of heaven.

We experience our nature at odds with the Spirit in different ways. When we desire to make a cruel remark to someone who offends us, we experience a duel between sin and righteousness. When we are inclined to lie to escape a tax or a fine, we undergo the same war within. At such moments it is helpful to recall that our everlasting life is at stake.