Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Deuteronomy 31:1-8; Matthew 18:1-5.10.12-14)

University students are especially preoccupied that their sports teams are considered the best; that is, rated number one.  They will chant incessantly as their teams compile an undefeated record, “We’re number one!”  The concern may be truly called sophomoric in light of today’s gospel.

The disciples come to Jesus with the question, “Who is first in the Kingdom of God?”  Pointedly Jesus ignores the concern to give a lesson on service.  He tells them that they must humble themselves like a child so that they may respond to the needs of others.

It is hard to give up our sense of self-importance.  We want to be appreciated for what we do.  But Jesus is reminding us again that we do not earn heaven on our own.  It comes as grace from God to which we respond with the eagerness of children trying to please their parents.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(II Kings 11:4-9.9-18.20; Matthew 6:19-23)

It is said that if you give a child a choice between a worn dime and shiny penny, she will choose the penny. This may be true in general, but often enough there is a different result. Since they have difficulty making choices, children generally want both offerings. A sign of maturity is the ability to decide on a goal and to marshal one’s resources to achieve it.

In the gospel today Jesus is calling his disciples to maturity and beyond. He wants us not only to choose a heavenly treasure but to live implicitly righteous lives in order to achieve it. Wealth is a fleeting blessing, he would say, where divine love lasts forever. To achieve eternal life we are to share with others the love which the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts.

Homilette for Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Memorial of St. Clare, virgin

Deuteronomy 31:1-8; Matthew 18:1-5.10.12-14)

Cardinal John Foley recently told the story of how he became a priest. After high school he entered the Jesuit novitiate but left the Society of Jesus thinking that he might be happier as a diocesan priest. After enrolling in college, he did volunteer work teaching catechism to mentally handicapped children. One day the principal of the school where he taught entered his class and asked the students if they liked Mr. Foley. “No,” one boy answered, “We love Mr. Foley. “Why do you love Mr. Foley?” the principal queried. “Because he teaches us about Jesus” was the boy’s response. Cardinal Foley says that the boy’s answer solidified his vocation. Not long afterward he entered the diocesan seminary.

As Jesus makes clear in the gospel today, working with children or any marginalized people is a sure measure of having accepted Jesus himself. Cardinal Foley considers his mission to children as solidifying his vocation to the priesthood. We might say that work among the marginalized solidifies anyone’s vocation to Christian holiness. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a Christian without genuine concern for the lowly.