Monday, XXII week of Ordinary Time (Labor Day)
(Luke 4)
Americans tend to rest or recreate on Labor Day. Unlike the other two national summer holidays, Labor Day has always fallen on Monday to make a long weekend. Also, Labor Day marks the end of the vacation season – the last day of ease before the fall harvest of research papers or of production quotas. Although election campaigns traditionally begin on Labor Day giving some stage for reflection, the United States has deliberately avoided a May 1 holiday when most of the world meditates on the meaning of work.
How opportune then is it for us to have today this gospel passage where Jesus proclaims good news to the poor! We should think of the poor as workers whom technology only in recent times and in some societies has delivered from poverty. Jesus brings salvation for the poor even ahead of the rich since money cannot buy entrance into the Kingdom of God. Rather, it is a humble heart – which workers more than bosses tend to cultivate – that finds God’s favor.
Jesus’ good news includes the message that work itself is a gift from God. Whether we are the architects of a new cathedral that will render glory to God or the bricklayer’s apprentices who mostly mix cement, our work contributes to the improvement of society. It also provides the bread for our tables, the roof over our heads, and medical assistance for our bodily welfare. Finally, work disciplines us to be industrious, efficient, and considerate. We need work almost as much as we need to relax and to celebrate God's goodness.
Homilette for Friday, August 31, 2007
Friday, XXI Week of Ordinary Time
(I Thessalonians 4)
Sometimes we hear the cry, “The Church should get out of the marriage business.” Parish ministers make this complaint with a good intention. They mean to help those who have been involved in failed marriages receive the sacraments.
But how could the Church withdraw from regulating marriage? It is precisely in this relationship that a man and a woman express the deepest dimensions of themselves to one another. It is here as well that most people draw the support to live in the world. God certainly is involved in the marriage relationship, and the Church has the obligation to draw attention to His presence so that the couple may benefit from it. Marriage impediments to sacramental participation indicate that God’s activity has been attenuated and that the situation requires correction.
Certainly the apostle Paul does not refrain from addressing the issue of marriage in his letters to Christian communities. In today’s reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians Paul insists that marriage not be exploitative. A man is not to treat his wife as a plaything to be enjoyed and tossed aside. Rather he must care for and respect his wife like he would his best friend. Perhaps in Paul’s day there was less need than there is today to point out the same truth from the other side. A woman must not consider her husband as a boy who brings home a paycheck. No, she must also love him and support his worthy pursuits.
(I Thessalonians 4)
Sometimes we hear the cry, “The Church should get out of the marriage business.” Parish ministers make this complaint with a good intention. They mean to help those who have been involved in failed marriages receive the sacraments.
But how could the Church withdraw from regulating marriage? It is precisely in this relationship that a man and a woman express the deepest dimensions of themselves to one another. It is here as well that most people draw the support to live in the world. God certainly is involved in the marriage relationship, and the Church has the obligation to draw attention to His presence so that the couple may benefit from it. Marriage impediments to sacramental participation indicate that God’s activity has been attenuated and that the situation requires correction.
Certainly the apostle Paul does not refrain from addressing the issue of marriage in his letters to Christian communities. In today’s reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians Paul insists that marriage not be exploitative. A man is not to treat his wife as a plaything to be enjoyed and tossed aside. Rather he must care for and respect his wife like he would his best friend. Perhaps in Paul’s day there was less need than there is today to point out the same truth from the other side. A woman must not consider her husband as a boy who brings home a paycheck. No, she must also love him and support his worthy pursuits.
Homilette for Friday, August 31, 2007
Friday, XXI Week of Ordinary Time
(I Thessalonians 4)
Sometimes we hear the cry, “The Church should get out of the marriage business.” Parish ministers make this complaint with a good intention. They mean to help those who have been involved in failed marriages receive the sacraments.
But how could the Church withdraw from regulating marriages? It is precisely in these relationships that a man and a woman express the deepest dimensions of themselves to one another. It is here as well that most people draw the support to live in the world. God certainly is involved in the marriage relationship, and the Church has the obligation to draw attention to His presence so that the couple may benefit from it. Marriage impediments to sacramental participation indicate that God’s activity has been attenuated and that the situation requires correction.
Certainly the apostle Paul does not refrain from addressing the issue of marriage in his letters to Christian communities. In today’s reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians Paul insists that marriage not be exploitative. A man is not to treat his wife as a plaything to be enjoyed and tossed aside. Rather he must care for and respect his wife like he would his best friend. Perhaps in Paul’s day there was less need than there is today to point out the same truth from the other side. A woman must not consider her husband as a boy who brings home a paycheck. No, she must also love him and support his worthy pursuits.
(I Thessalonians 4)
Sometimes we hear the cry, “The Church should get out of the marriage business.” Parish ministers make this complaint with a good intention. They mean to help those who have been involved in failed marriages receive the sacraments.
But how could the Church withdraw from regulating marriages? It is precisely in these relationships that a man and a woman express the deepest dimensions of themselves to one another. It is here as well that most people draw the support to live in the world. God certainly is involved in the marriage relationship, and the Church has the obligation to draw attention to His presence so that the couple may benefit from it. Marriage impediments to sacramental participation indicate that God’s activity has been attenuated and that the situation requires correction.
Certainly the apostle Paul does not refrain from addressing the issue of marriage in his letters to Christian communities. In today’s reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians Paul insists that marriage not be exploitative. A man is not to treat his wife as a plaything to be enjoyed and tossed aside. Rather he must care for and respect his wife like he would his best friend. Perhaps in Paul’s day there was less need than there is today to point out the same truth from the other side. A woman must not consider her husband as a boy who brings home a paycheck. No, she must also love him and support his worthy pursuits.
Homilette for Thursday, August 30, 2007
Thursday, XXI Week of Ordinary Time
(Matthew 24)
All Christians love the story of the so-called good thief. He is the man who hung on a cross at the side of Jesus during Jesus’ own crucifixion. In the twelfth century this man acquired a name, “Dismas,” which means death or sunset. The Gospel According to Luke is the only one of the four which mentions the conversation of “Dismas” with Jesus. Interestingly, Luke never calls him a thief. Rather Luke calls him a “criminal” by which he means a marauder or insurrectionist. It has been speculated that the only valid reason that he may be called a thief is that he stole heaven. Without following Jesus, he is awarded a place at Jesus’ side in Paradise.
We might call Jesus himself the “good thief.” In the gospel parable today Jesus compares himself to a thief coming in the night. He means that he will come at the moment when we least expect him to reward his faithful followers with everlasting life.
We can also think of Jesus as a thief in the sense that he steals our souls from the clutches of sin and death. We are all inclined to excess of created goods. Whether it be food, drink, or sex we want more than is good for us. We also like to think of ourselves as more important than others. Jesus’ example and, more importantly, the grace coming from his death and resurrection have enabled us to overcome these tendencies. If we keep on moving with Jesus’ Spirit, we too will have a place at his side in Paradise.
(Matthew 24)
All Christians love the story of the so-called good thief. He is the man who hung on a cross at the side of Jesus during Jesus’ own crucifixion. In the twelfth century this man acquired a name, “Dismas,” which means death or sunset. The Gospel According to Luke is the only one of the four which mentions the conversation of “Dismas” with Jesus. Interestingly, Luke never calls him a thief. Rather Luke calls him a “criminal” by which he means a marauder or insurrectionist. It has been speculated that the only valid reason that he may be called a thief is that he stole heaven. Without following Jesus, he is awarded a place at Jesus’ side in Paradise.
We might call Jesus himself the “good thief.” In the gospel parable today Jesus compares himself to a thief coming in the night. He means that he will come at the moment when we least expect him to reward his faithful followers with everlasting life.
We can also think of Jesus as a thief in the sense that he steals our souls from the clutches of sin and death. We are all inclined to excess of created goods. Whether it be food, drink, or sex we want more than is good for us. We also like to think of ourselves as more important than others. Jesus’ example and, more importantly, the grace coming from his death and resurrection have enabled us to overcome these tendencies. If we keep on moving with Jesus’ Spirit, we too will have a place at his side in Paradise.
Homilette for Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist
(Mark 6)
This curious sidebar in Mark’s gospel describing the martyrdom of John the Baptist resolves what happened to one of the first century’s greatest religious leaders. It also anticipates Jesus’ death.
John was an enormously popular religious prophet whom evidently even Jesus followed for awhile. His being executed without trial and like a dog shows how state power can lay aside human rights with little more consideration than for a paper cup. More than the other evangelists Mark will describe Jesus death as similarly gruesome and unjust. The Jewish leaders have false witnesses testify against Jesus. Pilate will hardly give him a hearing at all. And Jesus hangs on the cross for a full six agonizing hours in this gospel.
“Where is justice?” we want to cry out. It is with God, and He has introduced it into the world with the paschal mystery of Jesus. Just as Jesus’ brutal death ended in the glory of the resurrection so the lives of those who believe in him will be saved. For now we move under Jesus’ inspiration to fortify our society’s mechanisms of justice. We also pray that when injustice strikes despites our efforts to keep it at bay, its victims will be also inspired to respond with the love of enemy which Jesus taught.
(Mark 6)
This curious sidebar in Mark’s gospel describing the martyrdom of John the Baptist resolves what happened to one of the first century’s greatest religious leaders. It also anticipates Jesus’ death.
John was an enormously popular religious prophet whom evidently even Jesus followed for awhile. His being executed without trial and like a dog shows how state power can lay aside human rights with little more consideration than for a paper cup. More than the other evangelists Mark will describe Jesus death as similarly gruesome and unjust. The Jewish leaders have false witnesses testify against Jesus. Pilate will hardly give him a hearing at all. And Jesus hangs on the cross for a full six agonizing hours in this gospel.
“Where is justice?” we want to cry out. It is with God, and He has introduced it into the world with the paschal mystery of Jesus. Just as Jesus’ brutal death ended in the glory of the resurrection so the lives of those who believe in him will be saved. For now we move under Jesus’ inspiration to fortify our society’s mechanisms of justice. We also pray that when injustice strikes despites our efforts to keep it at bay, its victims will be also inspired to respond with the love of enemy which Jesus taught.
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