30th Sunday of Ordinary Time Homily October 23, 2022

 30^th Sunday of Ordinary Time    Homily                                       October 23, 2022

            Do you enjoy hearing people brag and boast?   Me, not so much.  But that is what we have in two of our readings today.

In our second reading today we heard:  “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”   Remember that?

In our Gospel we just heard: “I fast twice a week and I pay tithes on my whole income.”

Both of these men – and of course it would be men – are boasting.   One is a great saint, for Paulists the greatest saint.  And the other is condemned by Jesus as a hypocrite full of hot air.

What is the difference?  More importantly, how can we distinguish the saint from the sinner?  In politics and on social media we hear a lot of boasting, especially in the campaign ads.  In the Church today we have competing understandings about liturgy and the mission of the Church.  How do we decide which are good, sincere people telling us the truth, and which are bags of hot air selling us a rotten deal? 

Well it ain’t easy. 

          The issue that makes the difference is how you look on everyone else.   The Pharisee in the Gospel despised other people, especially those who did not live up to his moral code.  The Pharisee says: “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector.”   The Pharisee is using his accomplishment to separate and distance himself from others, and worse, to hold himself above others.   As the Gospel states, the pharisees: “were convinced of their own righteousness, and despised everyone else.    

          There are plenty people today, in the Catholic Church, who are convinced of their own righteousness and despise everyone else.         They especially despise Pope Francis for not being strict enough and adhering rigidly to Catholic doctrine, especially about sex.  Pope Francis’ pastoral outreach to the divorce and remarried, to gays and lesbians, to people of other faiths, and other cultural traditions, upsets and angers them.  You can find a lot of that upset and anger on the internet.  And I believe it is pretty clear that, like the self-righteous Pharisee in the Gospel, they despise others who do not come up to their high moral standards, especially around sex.

          On the other hand, St. Paul doesn’t do that.  St. Paul instead gives God the credit for his righteousness.  St Paul recognizes just how much he is like everyone else; not how much he is unlike others.  In recognizing that everything is gift St. Paul admits that he is just like everyone else.  His accomplishments are not from himself, but are God’s gift.  He states: “But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, … The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

          This is a very different approach from the Pharisee.  Paul is full of GRATITUDE.  The Pharisee is full of self-righteousness. 

          None of us chose to be born.  None of us chose when or where to be born.  None of us chose what kind of family with what economic advantages or disadvantages we would have.  None of us earned our health, intelligence or native abilities.  None of us provided for our childhood education, or what inspirations and role-models we would have in life.  None of us chose our gender nor our sexual orientation.  All that, and much, much more was pure gift. 

          In acknowledging our accomplishments we really are thanking God for wonderful gifts we have received.  But we also are recognizing our fundamental identity with all human beings, no matter how enriched or how impoverished, no matter how brilliant or how mentally challenged, no matter how agile or how crippled, for we do not start out on a level playing field.  It is all gift.  All of our accomplishments are fundamentally based on gifts we have received; gifts we did not earn, gifts we did not even deserve. 

          When we boast of our successes and accomplishments, we must boast of them as gifts, and recognize they are given to us by God to share.  The gifts we have in talent and abilities and advantages are not meant for us alone, but for all.  And when we boast we must recognize how all of us - no matter the color or nationality or religion or right handedness or left handedness or politics – all of us are all beneficiaries of God’s love.  And we are all one.  Our boasting is meant to bring us together, not to pull us apart.

          That is why the tax collector went home justified:  not only because he was repentant, but also because he recognized his fundamental humanity, the need we all have before God.  And in that, we all are the same.  AMEN.  

Homily 28th Sunday in Ordinary time Cycle C October 9, 2022

 Homily    28^th Sunday in Ordinary time   Cycle C   October 9, 2022

Our first reading and our Gospel deal with the healing of lepers.  In the time of the prophets and the New Testament, leprosy was a deadly and dreaded disease.   More on this later.

          When our Gospel opens, Jesus is in the border area between Galilee – which was Jewish territory - and Samaria, which was the area of the Samaritans.  The Samaritans were descendants of the northern ten tribes of Israel that were deported by the Assyrians, and they mixed a lot with pagans.  The Jews viewed the Samaritans as heretics, and the Samaritans viewed the Jews as enemies.  So, Jesus is in this tense border area.  We know about tense borders in our state.  That is the kind of place that Jesus is at, on the border.

          A group of lepers stand at a distance, raise their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master!  Have pity on us!”

          We are fortunate to live today when leprosy is not such a horrible disease as it once was.  We have effective medicines and means to deal with this terrible disease. So while leprosy is tragic, it is no longer hopeless. 

          Nonetheless I believe that the example of the lepers can instruct us today.  At the beginning of this Mass we stood and sang, “Lord, have mercy on us.” Just like those lepers in the Gospel.   “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.”  Not because we have leprosy, but because we have sinned and need the Lord’s healing mercy. 

          Jesus instructs the lepers to go show themselves to the priests.  When we sin, we also can go to the priests for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

          One of the lepers, a Samaritan, returns to Jesus to thank him.  He recognizes that Jesus is indeed the true priest, the real mediator between

God and humankind.  And Jesus says something very interesting.  Jesus asks: “Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”

          In Greek, the original language of this Gospel, the term “to give thanks” is “eucharistōn”.  Eucharistōn?   Does that remind you of anything?  Hopefully it reminds you of the word, Eucharist, which is what we are doing right now.  We are giving thanks, recalling what Jesus did for us on the night before He died for us.

          This Gospel story about the healing of the lepers is really about us, and our healing – not from physical leprosy – but rather from sin.  While this Gospel is frequently used on Thanksgiving, it really is not about gratitude, but about Jesus healing us from something even worse than leprosy, and that is sin.  And so this Gospel11214 applies to us all, because, regrettably, we all sin. 

We are gathered here to do eucharist, to give thanks to God for God’s saving action in Jesus Christ.  What Jesus says to the healed leper in the Gospel He says to us today: “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”   And that is good news indeed!

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C October 2, 2022

27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time   Cycle C       October 2, 2022

 In today’s second reading we hear from St Paul’s second letter to Timothy.  Timothy was a Bishop in Ephesus, appointed by Paul and apparently very close to Paul.   In his two letters to Timothy, St Paul is continually exhorting, prodding, encouraging, warning, urging, pushing Timothy to be forceful and faithful in preaching the Gospel.  So today we hear: “stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. What does it mean to “stir into flame?”  Well, if you have ever built a campfire, or lit a fire in a fireplace, you arrange the wood, start the fire and it burns well for a while.  But after about half an hour the fire dies down.  So you grab a metal poker, or a stick, and poke the fire, knock off some of the ash, move the logs around, so it flares up and has flames again.  That is what St Paul means by “stir into flame”.    Paul continues:  “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. “

          The fact that St Paul found it necessary to continually prod Timothy has led some Scripture scholars to speculate that Timothy was not an ideal disciple and assistant.  No one is sure exactly what Timothy’s problem was.   Perhaps Timothy was committed to the Gospel, but lacked ambition.  Maybe he was just a teeney bit lazy.  Maybe he was not a self-starter the way Paul was.  Maybe he was more of a go with the flow kind of guy and not attracted to working hard all the time.  Could be.  If so, then I could identify with Timothy, and perhaps a few of you could too.

          Or perhaps Timothy was committed to the Gospel, but rather timid: he did not like upsetting people, did not like rocking the boat and causing upset and consternation, he wanted people to like him, and he did not want to incur people’s hatred and persecution.  So, this is why Paul keeps exhorting Timothy to boldness and to action and insists on the cost of proclaiming the Gospel and the need to suffer with Christ.   If this is true about Timothy, then again I could identify with him, and perhaps a few of you could too.

          Or perhaps Timothy was committed to the Gospel, but had a hard time setting and keeping his priorities straight, forever distracted by the gnat-like cloud of many things to do, distractions and demands on his time and energy, forever being taken away by things of lesser account and not focusing his energy and time on what was really important.  So St Paul keeps calling Timothy back to the main task at hand, that is, preaching the Gospel, and not getting bogged down by meetings and fund-raisers and charity breakfasts and thousands of other demands on his time and energy.  If so, then I could identify with Timothy, and perhaps a few of you could too.

          In today’s reading St. Paul urges:  “I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.  For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. “

          Like St. Timothy, brothers and sisters, most of us need that reminder, we need to stir into flame the gift of God that we received at our Baptism and Confirmation.  We did not receive a spirit of cowardice, but rather of power and love and self-control.

Power: not in the sense the world understands power, as being able to be in control and to push my will onto others, but rather the kind of power Jesus showed us, the power to serve and to give ourselves away in love.

          Love:  not in the sense the world understands love, as a feeling, an emotional state you fall into, as something that takes control of us; but rather the kind of love Jesus showed us; the love that is a decision, a commitment, an act of will that does something and produces fruit in service, in care, in compassion, in forgiveness, in truth-telling, in love.

          Self-control: not in the sense the world understand self-control as repressing yourself and denial, but rather the kind of self-control Jesus showed us, the self-control that is the discipline to be true to your most authentic and deepest self, to the you God created you to be, to be thoroughly and completely integrated and authentic.

          “I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.  For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. “

          Of course, St Paul’s exhortation is today addressed to us.  We all know that we live in extraordinary, and often difficult, times.  There are major divisions in our world, our own country, in the church, often in our own communities and homes, and even in our own hearts.  Rather than poking the hornets’ nest, the temptation is lay low, not make a scene, and go with the flow. 

          But the truth of the Gospel is too important just let it slide by.  St Paul is urging all of us to “stir into flame the gift of God that you have received..”  Paul is urging us to BOLDNESS in living the Gospel fully, authentically, publicly, so as to give witness.  Do people know, by your actions, that you are a Christian?  Is there anything about your lifestyle that marks you as a follower of Christ?  If being a Christian were a crime, could any court find enough evidence of your Christian life to convict you?   Or would you get off because all you do is pay lip service to Christianity and not really live it? 

          Stir into flame the gift of God you have received!   A gift that empowers you to hold your tongue when you want to put another person down.  That empowers you to cheerful generosity to those in need.  That empowers you to speak the truth when it is unpopular and unwanted.  That empowers you to seek the good of others even at the expense of your own.  That shows forth the Spirit of Christ in your actions, words, and behavior. 

Be on fire with the Holy Spirit!     Amen.