Ash Wednesday
(Joel 2:12-18; II Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6.16-18)
Before computers and electronic scanners it was quite common for a business to yearly set apart a few days, usually in January, to take inventory. During that time they closed the shop in order to check both the goods they had on hand and what they needed to obtain. It was a process that included every employee so that when the business reopened, all would know exactly how the company was doing.
It seems fair to consider Lent as a kind of inventory. We slow down not just for a few days but for six weeks to take account of our lives. Where we have been excessive – partying, perhaps – we want to slow down. Where we may have fallen short – maybe in praying or caring for the needy – we endeavor to make up for lost time. In the epistle today St. Paul pleads with the Corinthians to “be reconciled to God.” That is, they are to settle their accounts, as it were, with the Lord by asking forgiveness for their sins and redoubling efforts to live in accord with Christ’s grace.
“But six weeks is a mighty long inventory,” some might object. True, but we should not pretend that Lent is really a business operation. It is even more like a long retreat in the desert where we come to know the mercy of God as the Israelis did after the Exodus. It is meant to give us a new beginning each year, not in the sense that we go back to where we started from, but that we grow from the best that we were in the past by correcting mistakes and trying harder. It is coming to realize at least a bit more how we have been made members of God’s family with full rights of inheritance to eternal life.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
(James 1:12-18; Mark 8:14-21)
Talk about taking coal to Newcastle – the disciples worry that they have no bread when they the bread of life is sitting in their midst! Typically in this gospel, Jesus’ disciples don’t get it. They fail to understand who Jesus really is. Like with many people today they are so concerned about the food on the table that they do not perceive that he has much more to offer than Wonderbread.
At least the Pharisees think in spiritual terms. But Jesus sees their quest spoiled by arrogance that refuses to recognize him as coming from God. Because they believe Jesus to be an imposter, they have asked him to work a sign, which his failure to perform would disillusion the masses following him. Jesus describes them as leaven because of their puffed-up self-esteem and their theology which would tempt God to deliver a sign on demand. Those who spend time in church should take Jesus’ admonition to heart, “Guard against the leaven of the Pharisees...”
(James 1:12-18; Mark 8:14-21)
Talk about taking coal to Newcastle – the disciples worry that they have no bread when they the bread of life is sitting in their midst! Typically in this gospel, Jesus’ disciples don’t get it. They fail to understand who Jesus really is. Like with many people today they are so concerned about the food on the table that they do not perceive that he has much more to offer than Wonderbread.
At least the Pharisees think in spiritual terms. But Jesus sees their quest spoiled by arrogance that refuses to recognize him as coming from God. Because they believe Jesus to be an imposter, they have asked him to work a sign, which his failure to perform would disillusion the masses following him. Jesus describes them as leaven because of their puffed-up self-esteem and their theology which would tempt God to deliver a sign on demand. Those who spend time in church should take Jesus’ admonition to heart, “Guard against the leaven of the Pharisees...”
Monday, February 15, 2010
Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
(James 1:1-11; Mark 8:11-13)
Recently I was asked to produce a certificate – a sign -- showing that I am ordained in order to celebrate Mass in the prison. In an age when people arrive and leave communities with great frequency, who could blame such an institution for wanting to keep records of its visitors? Perhaps, then, the request from the Pharisees that Jesus produce a sign that he is whom he claims to be is in order. By this point in the Gospel of Mark Jesus has indicated that he can forgive sins and that he is the “Lord of the Sabbath.” But the mighty deeds that he has performed to date are just hearsay to the Pharisees. They want to see him do a work of power to corroborate the assertion that he has been sent from God.
However, Jesus has not come to offer such assurance. He intends to arouse faith that God is bringing about a new creation through him. Although people believe this after witnessing and even hearing about his cures and other wonders, they should not expect that Jesus perform such acts at their command. This would not produce faith in God, but quite the opposite – subjecting God to personal desire. The Pharisees are left frustrated. To avoid such a sensation and, more importantly, to assume the rewards of faith, we want simply to place our trust in Jesus. We will ask his assistance certainly since he has invited us to do so. But we will be careful to add like he did himself in his prayer to the Father, “Not mine, but your will be done.”
(James 1:1-11; Mark 8:11-13)
Recently I was asked to produce a certificate – a sign -- showing that I am ordained in order to celebrate Mass in the prison. In an age when people arrive and leave communities with great frequency, who could blame such an institution for wanting to keep records of its visitors? Perhaps, then, the request from the Pharisees that Jesus produce a sign that he is whom he claims to be is in order. By this point in the Gospel of Mark Jesus has indicated that he can forgive sins and that he is the “Lord of the Sabbath.” But the mighty deeds that he has performed to date are just hearsay to the Pharisees. They want to see him do a work of power to corroborate the assertion that he has been sent from God.
However, Jesus has not come to offer such assurance. He intends to arouse faith that God is bringing about a new creation through him. Although people believe this after witnessing and even hearing about his cures and other wonders, they should not expect that Jesus perform such acts at their command. This would not produce faith in God, but quite the opposite – subjecting God to personal desire. The Pharisees are left frustrated. To avoid such a sensation and, more importantly, to assume the rewards of faith, we want simply to place our trust in Jesus. We will ask his assistance certainly since he has invited us to do so. But we will be careful to add like he did himself in his prayer to the Father, “Not mine, but your will be done.”
Thursday, February 11, 2010
PLEASE EXCUSE THE DISORDER. FRIDAY'S HOMILETTE FOLLOWS THURSDAY'S.
Our Lady of Lourdes
(I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:24-30)
An adolescent boy had a brain tumor. The doctors thought the condition terminal, but the family was determined that something could be done. They decided to seek Our Lady’s assistance at Lourdes. Why not? Since the apparitions of the Virgin there over 150 years ago, there have been sixty-seven officially recognized miracles and seven thousand inexplicable cures. In the case of the adolescent, however, help was given in another form. Not too long after he and his mother returned home from the trip, the boy died. Was the family disappointed that no miracle took place? No, the mother said, going to Lourdes and being with all the pilgrims there enabled the family and the boy himself to face his death with calm assurance that all would be well.
In today’s gospel the mother of a girl possessed by an unclean spirit goes to Jesus seeking similar assistance as the family going to Lourdes. Also like those pilgrims, the woman is not disappointed. Jesus frees the girl of the demon so that she might live not a normal life but one giving praise and thanks to God.
When we are sick and call on God for help, especially in the Sacrament of the Sick, we can be confident that God answers our prayer. He sends the Holy Spirit upon us so that we might face our troubles with courage. Sometimes -- perhaps more often than chance would have it -- we will find the Spirit strengthening us physically. In any case, we will be assured that all will be well.
Our Lady of Lourdes
(I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:24-30)
An adolescent boy had a brain tumor. The doctors thought the condition terminal, but the family was determined that something could be done. They decided to seek Our Lady’s assistance at Lourdes. Why not? Since the apparitions of the Virgin there over 150 years ago, there have been sixty-seven officially recognized miracles and seven thousand inexplicable cures. In the case of the adolescent, however, help was given in another form. Not too long after he and his mother returned home from the trip, the boy died. Was the family disappointed that no miracle took place? No, the mother said, going to Lourdes and being with all the pilgrims there enabled the family and the boy himself to face his death with calm assurance that all would be well.
In today’s gospel the mother of a girl possessed by an unclean spirit goes to Jesus seeking similar assistance as the family going to Lourdes. Also like those pilgrims, the woman is not disappointed. Jesus frees the girl of the demon so that she might live not a normal life but one giving praise and thanks to God.
When we are sick and call on God for help, especially in the Sacrament of the Sick, we can be confident that God answers our prayer. He sends the Holy Spirit upon us so that we might face our troubles with courage. Sometimes -- perhaps more often than chance would have it -- we will find the Spirit strengthening us physically. In any case, we will be assured that all will be well.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:31-37)
The film Babel, an Academy Award nominee a few years ago, showed how the world is interconnected. A Japanese schoolgirl is deaf and mute like the man brought to Jesus in the gospel today. She is also desperately lonely. Her father, who is depressed over the loss of his wife, had been hunting in Morocco where he left his gun with a guide. The guide sells the gun to a herder who presents it prematurely to his son. The son is goaded into shooting at a tour bus and seriously injures a Southern Californian woman traveling with her husband. The couple left their children with their Mexican housekeeper whose reckless nephew takes them across the border, then jeopardizes everyone’s life by trying to evade the Border patrol upon returning. The story leaves the viewer identifying with all of these characters in the global human quest for love.
We should similarly identify with that deaf-mute whom Jesus heals. We too have trouble hearing– not so much with our ears but with our hearts. We too falter in our speech by forgetting to give the testimony of faith to those in need of assurance. In a world where sensual gratification has become not only the lowest common denominator but also the highest recognizable goal, we do well to allow Jesus to open our ears and to straighten our tongues so that we might proclaim what is truly a truer fulfilling. This is the message of Babel – people need to listen carefully to one another and to respond compassionately.
(I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:31-37)
The film Babel, an Academy Award nominee a few years ago, showed how the world is interconnected. A Japanese schoolgirl is deaf and mute like the man brought to Jesus in the gospel today. She is also desperately lonely. Her father, who is depressed over the loss of his wife, had been hunting in Morocco where he left his gun with a guide. The guide sells the gun to a herder who presents it prematurely to his son. The son is goaded into shooting at a tour bus and seriously injures a Southern Californian woman traveling with her husband. The couple left their children with their Mexican housekeeper whose reckless nephew takes them across the border, then jeopardizes everyone’s life by trying to evade the Border patrol upon returning. The story leaves the viewer identifying with all of these characters in the global human quest for love.
We should similarly identify with that deaf-mute whom Jesus heals. We too have trouble hearing– not so much with our ears but with our hearts. We too falter in our speech by forgetting to give the testimony of faith to those in need of assurance. In a world where sensual gratification has become not only the lowest common denominator but also the highest recognizable goal, we do well to allow Jesus to open our ears and to straighten our tongues so that we might proclaim what is truly a truer fulfilling. This is the message of Babel – people need to listen carefully to one another and to respond compassionately.
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