Feast of St. Matthew, apostle and evangelist
(Ephesians 4:1-7.11-13; Matthew 9:9-13)
A social worker in a Catholic nursing home was doing what we might call gospel therapy. She read the first part of a familiar gospel verse to a resident expecting him or her to complete it. It was amazing how many of the verses one aged resident knew. His responses seemed second nature, without thinking much less groping for words. For example, the social worker said something like, “I am the way...,” and the resident replied immediately, “...and the truth and the life.” The worker’s verses included some from the Gospel according to Matthew that are etched in Catholic consciousness like: “Blessed are the poor in spirit...”; “Come after me and I will make you...”; “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine...”
As with the other gospels we can say little with certainty about the background of Matthew’s. Because its Greek language is refined, someone schooled in that language, and not in Hebrew, is believed to have written it. Since it refers to the destruction of the Temple which occurred in the year 70 A.D., it was likely composed after that date. Its familiarity with the Jewish Scripture and customs suggests that the author intended it for a community with at least some Jewish roots.
In the passage selected for today feast, Jesus characteristically quotes the Old Testament. However Matthew alters those words a bit, however. Where the prophet Hosea says that God wants mercy more than sacrifice, Jesus is quoted as saying that God wants mercy and not sacrifice. Whatever Jesus’ original words were, he also expresses his purpose for coming to the world. We should take them to heart because they contain the key to salvation. Let me begin the verse and have you complete it for yourselves: “I did not come to call the righteous...”
Homilette for Friday, September 18, 2009
Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Timothy 6:2c-12; Luke 8:1-3)
When one of the twentieth century’s most famous thieves, Willie Sutton, was asked why he robbed banks, he reportedly answered, “...because that’s where the money is.” Everyone understands what Sutton means because only people breathing their last have no need of money. Like a master key, it seemingly allows its holder access to anywhere.
However, the New Testament makes a poor friend of money. In the Gospel according to Luke Jesus often warns against its accumulation although, as today’s passage indicates, he and his disciples had needs that the women’s money presumably took care of. Perhaps Scripture is no where more wary of money than in the first reading today. We should note, however, that the First Timothy does not condemn money itself, but says that it is “the love of money (that) is the root of all evils...” One does not have to live very long to see people make fools of themselves. Many grade schools students, for example, watched the class hustler swallow a goldfish for a quarter.
Should charities accept money from patently sinful sources? Much good can be done with so-called tainted money, but then virtue’s kissing vice leaves many people morally confused. Scandal must be avoided, but at times thieves may make reparation for their crimes by privately reciprocating institutions that care for the truly needy.
(I Timothy 6:2c-12; Luke 8:1-3)
When one of the twentieth century’s most famous thieves, Willie Sutton, was asked why he robbed banks, he reportedly answered, “...because that’s where the money is.” Everyone understands what Sutton means because only people breathing their last have no need of money. Like a master key, it seemingly allows its holder access to anywhere.
However, the New Testament makes a poor friend of money. In the Gospel according to Luke Jesus often warns against its accumulation although, as today’s passage indicates, he and his disciples had needs that the women’s money presumably took care of. Perhaps Scripture is no where more wary of money than in the first reading today. We should note, however, that the First Timothy does not condemn money itself, but says that it is “the love of money (that) is the root of all evils...” One does not have to live very long to see people make fools of themselves. Many grade schools students, for example, watched the class hustler swallow a goldfish for a quarter.
Should charities accept money from patently sinful sources? Much good can be done with so-called tainted money, but then virtue’s kissing vice leaves many people morally confused. Scandal must be avoided, but at times thieves may make reparation for their crimes by privately reciprocating institutions that care for the truly needy.
Homilette for Thursday, September 17, 2009
Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Timothy 4:12-16; Luke 7:36-50)
Once in medieval times, two monks were walking through a forest and came to a river. There a beautiful young woman was waiting for someone to help her. Because she could not swim, she asked the monks if one of them would carry her to the other side. The older of the monks picked her up and waded across the water with her in his arms. The younger monk was aghast at the action. After they had gone their way, he asked the senior monk if he were not ashamed to hold so intimately such a lovely woman. “Younger brother,” the elder monk said, “I only picked her up in my arms and let her go on the other side of the river. You, however, picked her up in your mind and have not yet ceased to let go of her.”
Like the older monk, Jesus can allow the woman in the gospel today to stroke his feet with tears, hair, and hands without becoming infatuated. He evidently realizes that the woman is not flirting with him but knows that he is God’s messenger capable of bringing peace to her troubled heart. As remarkable as his allowing the woman to shower him with affection is Jesus’ concern for the Pharisee. Perhaps he merely does not want to leave him with the wrong impression, but more likely Jesus desires that Simon recognize and repent his own evil ways. Like the prodigal father who, after celebrating his younger son’s return, leaves the party to address the resentment of his older son, Jesus desires all to become reconciled with God.
Beyond indicating how God is ready to forgive even the gravest of sins, this unforgettable story shows us how to resist sexual temptation. People often show affection to others not to convey desire for sexual intimacy but out of the need for healthy human relations. We are wise not to allow our imaginations to run wild but to respond to all, like Jesus, with concern for their welfare.
(I Timothy 4:12-16; Luke 7:36-50)
Once in medieval times, two monks were walking through a forest and came to a river. There a beautiful young woman was waiting for someone to help her. Because she could not swim, she asked the monks if one of them would carry her to the other side. The older of the monks picked her up and waded across the water with her in his arms. The younger monk was aghast at the action. After they had gone their way, he asked the senior monk if he were not ashamed to hold so intimately such a lovely woman. “Younger brother,” the elder monk said, “I only picked her up in my arms and let her go on the other side of the river. You, however, picked her up in your mind and have not yet ceased to let go of her.”
Like the older monk, Jesus can allow the woman in the gospel today to stroke his feet with tears, hair, and hands without becoming infatuated. He evidently realizes that the woman is not flirting with him but knows that he is God’s messenger capable of bringing peace to her troubled heart. As remarkable as his allowing the woman to shower him with affection is Jesus’ concern for the Pharisee. Perhaps he merely does not want to leave him with the wrong impression, but more likely Jesus desires that Simon recognize and repent his own evil ways. Like the prodigal father who, after celebrating his younger son’s return, leaves the party to address the resentment of his older son, Jesus desires all to become reconciled with God.
Beyond indicating how God is ready to forgive even the gravest of sins, this unforgettable story shows us how to resist sexual temptation. People often show affection to others not to convey desire for sexual intimacy but out of the need for healthy human relations. We are wise not to allow our imaginations to run wild but to respond to all, like Jesus, with concern for their welfare.
Homilette for Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Memorial of St. Cornelius, pope, and St. Cyprian, bishop, martyrs
(I Timothy 3:14-16; Luke 7:31-35)
“You will be known by the company you keep,” our mothers used to tell us. They were only repeating a proverb that generally serves its listeners well. Not only are people inclined to judge us as good or bad on the basis of our associates, but also we tend to become like our friends.
But folk wisdom has its limitations. What do we do, for example, when proverbs contradict one another? Is “discretion the better part of valor” or is “the one who hesitates lost”? Obviously, we have to look beneath the surface to attain the truth in matters like this. Just so, Jesus appeals to his listeners in the gospel today to look beyond what meets their eyes to the effect that his eating and drinking with sinners creates. He is not conforming to their sinful ways, but sinners are leaving behind their sins like corn dogs at a gourmet fest.
Jesus is telling us not only to stop judging by superficial criteria but also to step out of our social confines. He wants the young to greet the elderly, blacks and whites to dialogue together, and workers to extend a hand to the unemployed. Whether we talk about Jesus or not when we reach beyond our typical company, we give testimony to his goodness by imitating his ways.
(I Timothy 3:14-16; Luke 7:31-35)
“You will be known by the company you keep,” our mothers used to tell us. They were only repeating a proverb that generally serves its listeners well. Not only are people inclined to judge us as good or bad on the basis of our associates, but also we tend to become like our friends.
But folk wisdom has its limitations. What do we do, for example, when proverbs contradict one another? Is “discretion the better part of valor” or is “the one who hesitates lost”? Obviously, we have to look beneath the surface to attain the truth in matters like this. Just so, Jesus appeals to his listeners in the gospel today to look beyond what meets their eyes to the effect that his eating and drinking with sinners creates. He is not conforming to their sinful ways, but sinners are leaving behind their sins like corn dogs at a gourmet fest.
Jesus is telling us not only to stop judging by superficial criteria but also to step out of our social confines. He wants the young to greet the elderly, blacks and whites to dialogue together, and workers to extend a hand to the unemployed. Whether we talk about Jesus or not when we reach beyond our typical company, we give testimony to his goodness by imitating his ways.
Homilette for Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
(I Timothy 3:1-13; John 19:25-27)
It is tempting to hear these nearly final words of Jesus as an only son’s concern for his widowed mother after he dies. However, the context calls for a different and perhaps richer interpretation. Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus does not look back to his childhood family but beyond to his divine one. Here we can see him giving his mother to his beloved disciple and his beloved disciple to his mother so that they too might be part of God’s eternal family. Their coming together will initiate the community called Church as they become adopted children of God and heirs of places in the heavenly household. When Jesus expires, John says that he “hand(s) over his spirit.” We may consider his mother and beloved disciple as the recipients of that spirit springing the Church into existence.
Yet Mary is still “the Mother of Sorrows.” Artists never depict this moment of church formation as a happy one. Rather they show Mary with tears in her eyes and, sometimes, John too distressed to show his face. It is not that they, or we in similar moments of loss, are too much part of the world to feel satisfaction that their loved one is heaven-bound. Rather, Jesus has loved them both so long and so well that being deprived of his presence will test their endurance. Thus, the scene provides us with a lesson about love. Worthy human love always makes us want to be united with the object of our love. Such love (eros in Greek) grows into divine love (agape in Greek or caritas in Latin) when God’s grace enables us to give the beloved back to God knowing He will reunite him or her to us forever.
(I Timothy 3:1-13; John 19:25-27)
It is tempting to hear these nearly final words of Jesus as an only son’s concern for his widowed mother after he dies. However, the context calls for a different and perhaps richer interpretation. Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus does not look back to his childhood family but beyond to his divine one. Here we can see him giving his mother to his beloved disciple and his beloved disciple to his mother so that they too might be part of God’s eternal family. Their coming together will initiate the community called Church as they become adopted children of God and heirs of places in the heavenly household. When Jesus expires, John says that he “hand(s) over his spirit.” We may consider his mother and beloved disciple as the recipients of that spirit springing the Church into existence.
Yet Mary is still “the Mother of Sorrows.” Artists never depict this moment of church formation as a happy one. Rather they show Mary with tears in her eyes and, sometimes, John too distressed to show his face. It is not that they, or we in similar moments of loss, are too much part of the world to feel satisfaction that their loved one is heaven-bound. Rather, Jesus has loved them both so long and so well that being deprived of his presence will test their endurance. Thus, the scene provides us with a lesson about love. Worthy human love always makes us want to be united with the object of our love. Such love (eros in Greek) grows into divine love (agape in Greek or caritas in Latin) when God’s grace enables us to give the beloved back to God knowing He will reunite him or her to us forever.
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