Homily Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time Feb 14, 2021 St Austin Church, Austin TX

 Homily   Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

             Our first reading today is from the Book of Leviticus, which consists of a lot or regulations and laws.  Our passage deals with people who have skin disease, which could be the deadly and highly contagious disease of leprosy.

            The point of the rules and regulations is to separate and isolate the person with leprosy so it doesn’t spread to the entire community.

            It is something like what we are experiencing with the Covid 19 pandemic which forces us to keep our social distance and to isolate and to quarantine if we have been exposed.  Only the isolation for leprosy was even worse.

            We read: “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garment rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard;  he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!”  … He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.” 

            The disease of leprosy was not only physically devastating, but also a terrible social stigma.

            So in our Gospel today a leper came to Jesus.  First of all, the leper was breaking the law.  He was supposed to stay apart, but this man has faith and so he comes to Jesus.  He pleads: “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  This leper has faith and confidence in Jesus.

            Now it is Jesus’ turn to break the law.  “Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, (which Jesus was NOT supposed to do), and said to him, “I do will it.  Be made clean.”  And “the leprosy left him immediately.”  

            Jesus tells the healed man to show himself to the priest and make the prescribed offering for this healing.  Then Jesus tells him something else.  “See that you tell no one anything…”   

            Jesus wants to keep this miraculous cure secret.  I am not sure why.  Maybe Jesus knew that as soon as word got out He would be mobbed and His movements would be restricted, which is what in fact happened.

            Because, the man did not obey Jesus’s injunction to tell no one about the miraculous cure.  In fact, he “went away and began to publicize the whole matter.”

            Well, can you blame this guy?  I mean, just think of how happy we will all be when we no longer have to socially distance, when we can freely go out and travel, when we can be together with parish and family and friends, when we can shake hands and hug.  We will all be ecstatic.  When we can finally go back to the pre-pandemic “normal” won’t we rejoice?  Won’t we want to hug and share?    Of course we will.

            And for this healed leper it was even greater.  And so even in spite of Jesus’ stern admonition, he shares the good news of his healing, of what Jesus had done for him.

            Now bring this us up to us.  We as Christians, as followers of Jesus, are not called to tell no one about Jesus.   In fact, for us it is just the opposite.  We are commissioned, charged, obligated to spread the Good News, the Gospel.  We are supposed to witness to God’s love for us in Jesus Christ that has saved us from sin and from an empty, pointless existence of selfishness and sin, and saved us for eternal happiness and delight as God’s beloved children.

            If we could only see this salvation correctly and honestly and head on, we would recognize that we have been saved from something far worse than leprosy.  We have been saved by Jesus from sin:  from a pointless, meaningless existence, and have been restored to a loving relationship with God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  That is really something to share, to “publicize”.    We don’t have to do it by words.  It is more effective to do it by our life.  By living and looking like we have heard “good” news, Gospel.

            [[Today at this Mass, four of our parish teenagers, Gillian Lucente, Joe Soltero,

Lauren Willard, Derek Williams, [for the 8:45am Mass...  Kate Brady]

will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.  They will be confirmed in God’s love and in their identity as members of the Body of Christ by being sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit will empower them to live more like Christ, and the spread the Good News of God’s love for us.  ]]

            All of us, by Baptism and by Confirmation, have been healed of a wound deeper than the disease of leprosy.  We are healed of sin, empowered to live not in selfishness nor greed nor despair, but to live as children of the light, children of God. 

            So, follow the example of that loudmouth leper from so long ago.  Go and publicize the whole affair by your actions and your commitments and your words, of God’s saving love and grace in Christ Jesus.  

            God bless!   

Fr. Chuck's Column, February 7, 2021

 

We have a lot coming up in the next week. Let me be among the first to wish you a very Happy Lunar New Year! Sometimes called “Chinese New Year,” it’s another way of looking at time from our typical Gregorian calendar. Perhaps being a particularly lucky day, Lunar New Year, Feb. 12, will cancel out any bad luck from last year.

Next Sunday, February 14, is the Sixth Sunday of good old ordinary time, and also St. Valentine’s Day. For us here at St. Austin parish/school, it is also a special day of preparation for Lent, which commences the following Wed., Feb. 17.

Because of the pandemic restrictions we follow to keep us all safe, we are discouraging the in-person reception of ashes on Ash Wednesday. You can still get ashes as you do not have to be ordained to distribute ashes. Every year lay ministers help us in the distribution of ashes, and this year we are extending that invitation to all our parishioners. Next Sun., Feb. 14, we will have a special drive-thru on the blacktop for all parishioners and school families and friends. Come with your Mardi Gras masks over your face masks. Decorate your vehicle for Mardi Gras, and bring cleaning supplies to donate to Casa Marianella. You will receive containers of blessed ashes, with instructions for you to use in your own home and neighborhood on Ash Wednesday.

The Knights of Columbus will again serve as the vehicle parade marshals, with vehicles assembling at 2:15 p.m. in the parish garage on MLK and San Antonio Street, with the parade up San Antonio and through our blacktop commencing at 2:30 p.m.

Come and celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, and receive your container of ashes. All this on next Sunday, Feb. 14, beginning at 2:30 p.m. See you there!

God bless!

 

Homily Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time A February 7, 2021

 Homily    Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time   A    February 7, 2021

 Did you like our first reading?     It is really a downer.  “Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?  Are not his days those of hirelings?”  Notice that verse 5 has been left out, skipped over.  It is pretty gross. You can look it up on your own.   And the reading ends on this ‘happy’ note: “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.”

          This is a great reading for a time of pandemic.  We all know people who have succumbed to this plague.  We have all lost family or friends, or been sickened ourselves.  We can identify with Job in this reading, and his downer of an attitude.

          I think this downer of a reading is given to us at the beginning of our liturgy today as a reality check.  It is a reminder of the seriousness of sin and our situation left to our own devices, without the intervention of a savior.

          Skip now to the Gospel. Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, and the result is “she waited on them.”   The healing not only saved her, but empowered her to be of service.  Salvation comes not just for our personal benefit, but so we can truly be of service to others.

          Then we are told something that I find interesting.  “When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.  The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons…” 

          Notice the time.  When a Gospel writer tells you the time most often it means something.  It was after the sun had set and it was dark. 

         First century towns in Galilee were not lit up like Austin.  When the sun went down it was dark.  Very dark.  And that was the time of crimes, of evil.  It was the time of the devil.   Jesus does not wait till it is dark to do His healings as a convenience to those who had day jobs and so waited until they were off of work.  No, Jesus cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, to show His complete power over evil, even in the night, in the domain of evil.   Jesus is, in a sense, showing off.  He is flexing His muscle.  He is making in abundantly clear that He is stronger than evil.  Jesus goes into the devil’s home turf to show that He is even stronger than death.  //

          In the midst of this downer of a time, a time of social isolation, of economic disruption and hardship, a time of sickness and death, we are called, like Job, to be realistic, to not make light of the problems and reality we face, to look clear eyed and soberly at the truth of our predicament.  But we do not give up.  We do not collapse.  We do not despair. 

          Instead, we put our hopes and our faith in Jesus Christ.  Christ has rescued us from sin and from eternal death.  He is our hope, our Savior.  He saves us from a meaningless and pointless life, and He saves us for service, for love, for a life of value and meaning now, and for the fullness of life hereafter. 

          Following His way to Life is not easy, but He gives us the help of the Holy Spirit.

    Today, at this Mass, we pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to come down on [11:30 = Ms. Jenna Estes    5:30 = Mr. Peter Wallace] to confirm her/him, that is to make her/him strong and steadfast in the faith, even in the face of evil and sin. 

          All of us, by Baptism and Confirmation, are blessed and empowered to carry on the fight of Jesus against evil and against sin, both in our own hearts, and in our society and world, even after the sun has set.

          Jesus is Risen!   Alleluia!