Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, bishop and doctor of the Church
(Matthew 13:54-58)
In one of his novels Larry McMurtry tells the story of an antique collector who buys a precious item from the owners of a second-hand store. The owners ask a price many times below the actual value of the object because they do not know what it is really worth. In the gospel today the townspeople where Jesus grew up similarly do not recognize Jesus for who he really is. Rather, because they know his family, they think that they know him. They do not realize that he is actually the long awaited Messiah who comes to save Israel. Even his miraculous cures and his wonderful teaching do not convince them.
Some of us likewise may be scandalized by the ways that Jesus makes himself present to us. He does not come in a grand banquet which we have to pay thousands of dollars to participate in. No, he becomes present in the simple hosts and the inexpensive wine that we bring to the altar. His teachings, which promise everlasting life, are likewise not complicated theorems that only people as intelligent as astrophysicists can understand. No, they contain the straightforward message that we are to love God above all and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We must be careful not to reject Jesus as his townspeople do in the gospel. Quite the contrary, we must be ever grateful that he makes himself available to us and to all.
Homilette for Thursday, July 31, 2008
Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, priest
(Matthew 13:47-53)
A second century theologian named Marcion taught that Christianity has no need of the Old Testament. Rather, he proposed that St. Paul’s letters along with his own version of the gospel were enough to relate the message of salvation. Although he attracted a considerable following, Marcion was eventually excommunicated. But his ideas have endured. Today some Christians have little use for the story of Israel or mistakenly claim that the God revealed in the Old Testament (whom they mistakenly consider driven by justice) is fundamentally different the God of the New Testament (whom they rightfully associate with love).
In today’s gospel Jesus relates a parable that refutes Marcion and subsequent subscribers to the idea that the Old Testament is excisable. He compares a worthy scribe or, we might say, theologian to a homeowner with a large storeroom. Just as the homeowner brings out both old and new items from his storeroom to accommodate the household so the theologian uses both the New and the Old Testament to describe the Kingdom of heaven. We should note the order the homeowner employs – the new comes first and then the old. Jesus means to say that his teaching, what we find in the New Testament, has a priority over the still indispensable revelation in the Old Testament.
Today we celebrate St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. He too resembles a homeowner using both new and old. He lived in the sixteenth century, a time of challenge for the Church. Protestantism was taking root then throughout northern Europe and the recent discovery of new lands made evangelization a primary concern. Ignatius drew upon new ideas to form his Jesuits without foregoing tradition. He maintained that Jesuits were to incarnate the ideal of “contemplation in action” – active in engaging the new challenges and contemplative in appreciating the Christian legacy.
(Matthew 13:47-53)
A second century theologian named Marcion taught that Christianity has no need of the Old Testament. Rather, he proposed that St. Paul’s letters along with his own version of the gospel were enough to relate the message of salvation. Although he attracted a considerable following, Marcion was eventually excommunicated. But his ideas have endured. Today some Christians have little use for the story of Israel or mistakenly claim that the God revealed in the Old Testament (whom they mistakenly consider driven by justice) is fundamentally different the God of the New Testament (whom they rightfully associate with love).
In today’s gospel Jesus relates a parable that refutes Marcion and subsequent subscribers to the idea that the Old Testament is excisable. He compares a worthy scribe or, we might say, theologian to a homeowner with a large storeroom. Just as the homeowner brings out both old and new items from his storeroom to accommodate the household so the theologian uses both the New and the Old Testament to describe the Kingdom of heaven. We should note the order the homeowner employs – the new comes first and then the old. Jesus means to say that his teaching, what we find in the New Testament, has a priority over the still indispensable revelation in the Old Testament.
Today we celebrate St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. He too resembles a homeowner using both new and old. He lived in the sixteenth century, a time of challenge for the Church. Protestantism was taking root then throughout northern Europe and the recent discovery of new lands made evangelization a primary concern. Ignatius drew upon new ideas to form his Jesuits without foregoing tradition. He maintained that Jesuits were to incarnate the ideal of “contemplation in action” – active in engaging the new challenges and contemplative in appreciating the Christian legacy.
Homilette for Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 15:10;16-21)
St. Teresa of Avila, the mystic-reformer of the sixteenth century, once complained to God of the mistreatment she was experiencing. God responded, “This is how I treat my friends, Teresa.” The saint replied, “Well, then, no wonder you have so few!” Teresa echoes Jeremiah’s sentiments in the first reading today.
Jeremiah has faithfully and selflessly served the Lord. He has performed bizarre activities like burying his rotting loincloth so that God’s message might get through to hard-hearted Judah. Yet the only recognition he receives is condemnation. So Jeremiah protests that God compensates him for all his efforts with what sounds like semi-torturous water-boarding. He says, “You have become for me a treacherous brook whose waters do not abide!”
At times people will misconstrue our best efforts like Judah misjudges Jeremiah’s. When we do something out of love for others, we will hear people questioning our motives, “What’s in it for her?” It is critical that at such times we do not become bitter or, if we have turned antagonistic, that we quickly check ourselves. We would be wise to remember the Lord’s promise to Jeremiah, “...I am with you, to deliver and rescue you.”
(Jeremiah 15:10;16-21)
St. Teresa of Avila, the mystic-reformer of the sixteenth century, once complained to God of the mistreatment she was experiencing. God responded, “This is how I treat my friends, Teresa.” The saint replied, “Well, then, no wonder you have so few!” Teresa echoes Jeremiah’s sentiments in the first reading today.
Jeremiah has faithfully and selflessly served the Lord. He has performed bizarre activities like burying his rotting loincloth so that God’s message might get through to hard-hearted Judah. Yet the only recognition he receives is condemnation. So Jeremiah protests that God compensates him for all his efforts with what sounds like semi-torturous water-boarding. He says, “You have become for me a treacherous brook whose waters do not abide!”
At times people will misconstrue our best efforts like Judah misjudges Jeremiah’s. When we do something out of love for others, we will hear people questioning our motives, “What’s in it for her?” It is critical that at such times we do not become bitter or, if we have turned antagonistic, that we quickly check ourselves. We would be wise to remember the Lord’s promise to Jeremiah, “...I am with you, to deliver and rescue you.”
Homilete for Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Memorial of St. Martha
(John 11:19-27)
In the Gospel of John, Martha seems to be the same kind of go-getter that we see in the Gospel of Luke. We remember how she chides Jesus there for allowing her sister to sit at his feet while she busies herself with the chores of entertaining. Here she starts on the same critical tone as she reminds Jesus that Lazarus would not have died if he had been there. Then she expresses a degree of faith in Jesus by saying that God would give him anything that he asks. Jesus helps her to see that he is more than a healer and holy man. He is “...the resurrection and the life.” Of course, Jesus eventually raises Lazarus from the dead.
We may ask why Martha is considered a saint. Is it just because she expresses belief in Jesus? No, there is more to it than that. Saints are both intercessors and models. Martha petitions the Lord on behalf of her brother as a faith-filled intercessor. In doing so, she shows us how to pray. We do not need half-dollar words to pray, but we have to see Jesus as a friend who can help us. Let us refer to him first in any situation of distress and then figure out what we might do to alleviate the need.
(John 11:19-27)
In the Gospel of John, Martha seems to be the same kind of go-getter that we see in the Gospel of Luke. We remember how she chides Jesus there for allowing her sister to sit at his feet while she busies herself with the chores of entertaining. Here she starts on the same critical tone as she reminds Jesus that Lazarus would not have died if he had been there. Then she expresses a degree of faith in Jesus by saying that God would give him anything that he asks. Jesus helps her to see that he is more than a healer and holy man. He is “...the resurrection and the life.” Of course, Jesus eventually raises Lazarus from the dead.
We may ask why Martha is considered a saint. Is it just because she expresses belief in Jesus? No, there is more to it than that. Saints are both intercessors and models. Martha petitions the Lord on behalf of her brother as a faith-filled intercessor. In doing so, she shows us how to pray. We do not need half-dollar words to pray, but we have to see Jesus as a friend who can help us. Let us refer to him first in any situation of distress and then figure out what we might do to alleviate the need.
Homilette for Monday, July 28, 2008
Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Matthew 13:31-35)
The parable section in Matthew’s gospel challenges astute readers. In it Jesus says that the comparisons or parables he uses are intended to confuse listeners. Yet we hear the parables as expressive images invoking wonder for God’s Kingdom. The paradox may be explained by observing that believers take the parables as true revelation of God’s love while skeptics only find them indicative of Jesus as a creative preacher.
Still we must struggle at times to understand the parables which are by nature open to different interpretations. The parable of the yeast, for example, may be heard as an indication of how a small infusion of grace can reap great blessing or as a mode of expressing God’s ability to transfer a defect into an instrument of His glory. An example of the latter interpretation is a priest who confesses that he spent much of his youth in egotistic pursuits. Then he converted his ways and felt God’s call. Now as pastor of a small church, he specializes in youth ministry.
Jesus’ parables do reveal him as a mesmerizing preacher. But this is only one aspect of his multiform identity. He is also recognized as a prodigious healer. We can easily expound on the list of characteristics. Most significantly, Jesus is the God who humbled himself to become our brother and savior.
(Matthew 13:31-35)
The parable section in Matthew’s gospel challenges astute readers. In it Jesus says that the comparisons or parables he uses are intended to confuse listeners. Yet we hear the parables as expressive images invoking wonder for God’s Kingdom. The paradox may be explained by observing that believers take the parables as true revelation of God’s love while skeptics only find them indicative of Jesus as a creative preacher.
Still we must struggle at times to understand the parables which are by nature open to different interpretations. The parable of the yeast, for example, may be heard as an indication of how a small infusion of grace can reap great blessing or as a mode of expressing God’s ability to transfer a defect into an instrument of His glory. An example of the latter interpretation is a priest who confesses that he spent much of his youth in egotistic pursuits. Then he converted his ways and felt God’s call. Now as pastor of a small church, he specializes in youth ministry.
Jesus’ parables do reveal him as a mesmerizing preacher. But this is only one aspect of his multiform identity. He is also recognized as a prodigious healer. We can easily expound on the list of characteristics. Most significantly, Jesus is the God who humbled himself to become our brother and savior.
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