Readings: Amos 8: 4-7; St. Paul’s 1st Letter to Timothy 1-8; Luke’s Gospel 16: 1-13
Are you aware how much God loves you? Every day take a moment to say, “Jesus loves me more than I can ever know.” If we do, we will know where our heart’s treasure is; we’ll know the true source of our self-esteem. And should we forget, Jesus remains the source of our daily bread regardless – BUT isn’t it good to be reminded that we rooted in Christ daily? “Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left –and in every direction the traditional Prayer of Saint Patrick encompasses.
I remind us of God’s love in Christ today, because our readings are exceptionally challenging. I don’t think we can take any of the Bible’s challenges to heart, unless we are secure that we are loved. Remember, all Jesus’ challenges are rooted in unconditional, unremitting, relentless love. Dearly Beloved, are we convinced that we are so loved, that we can entertain what Jesus asks of us?
What does he ask? What is the challenge? In the wrestling match between God and mammon, use our possessions well, invest in our common humanity as Children of God, keep the Commandments. In common parlance, Jesus is asking: “Which is the song you want to sing? “Money makes the world go round, the world go round!”) or “When charity and love prevail, there God is ever found?”
Of course, we can’t do without love or money in this world, yet the Gospel insists that we cultivate love as our. When Jesus said, “Render to Caeser what is Caeser’s and to God what is God,” he meant that God is the foundation of life. Thus, all our obligations to the State must be grounded in Love of God and neighbor. Jesus was forever emphasizing the two Great Commandments. These are the foundation of the kingdom of God – the realities we are to live fully here on earth and for eternity. One is found in Deuteronomy 6:4:
Hear, O Israel![b] The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! 5 Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. 6 Take to heart these words which I command you today. 7 Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them on your arm as a sign[c] and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.”
The other in Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
These are the foundational Commandments of the Jewish faith that were and are precisely the ones upon which Chris builds his Church. May we never forget it!
Therefore, Jesus insists that we remain responsible in our worldly concerns – especially our finances, because everything we must be an opportunity for spiritual growth and renewal. This should not seem a daunting way of life. Just as the apostles cried out to Jesus: “Increase our Faith!,” they probably prayed “Increase our Fishing Business!” as much. Because that is what we humans do!
It is natural that as we pray “increase our faith”, we pray “increase how prosperity, too, for that is how we can engage fully in this world. So by all means, ask, “Help my business to improve!” “Help me get that raise I so desperately need!” “Help me balance my budget!” “Help our parish refurbish the roof!” But don’t neglect the faith that supports every prayer, every person. For everyone needs one thing or another, and everyone needs God.
The most important thing to remember: Jesus is not creating a dichotomy, an “either / or” or “black and white” approach to life. Instead ,he is saying, “everything is interconnected.” Being wise in small matters helps us navigate the more difficult, complex issues. Being rooted in faith, conscious of God and God’s will on a daily basis, will help us discern when God is truly working through us and through others, and when God is not. So, as we work and look forward to our paychecks or social security, remember that every move we make, every step we take, is part of our Spiritual journey. Jesus builds on the Scriptures such as today’s First Reading: “God will not forget those who trample on the needy” in their striving for success. God will bless all mindful of our common humanity. That is the heart of spiritual growth.
One of our newly canonized Saints, Pier Giorgio Frassati centered his life in spiritual growth. He steeped himself in Catholic teaching, the writings of Sant Catherine of Sienna, prayer and service. He was fittingly declared a saintly model in the way he balanced his studies in Engineering, his love of sports and recreation (he was a Mountain climber!), with his prayer life as a Third order Dominican — for amid all these enterprises, Pier visited nearby slums in Rome, distributing his personal family allowance to the indigent, the sick, and the miserable. He is a prime example of the holy integration of life in Christ: “Be yourself and be generous.”
May tonight’s Eucharist offer us a deeper experience of God’s love for us, releasing us from our anxieties over what we don’t have, so that what we do have keeps a generous amount of our time, talent, and treasure for others. So that they, too may have an experience of God, that, in turn, affords them time to consider Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
The Gospel was, is, and always will be the GREAT REVERSAL, a re-ordering of the flawed foundations of society. God designed it to “go against the grain,” “swim against the downstream flow,” insisting that in every age “death and resurrection,” or, in secular terms, “improvements in the human condition and mindset in confluence with the True God,” be achieved. The goal, of course, is PEACE, JUSTICE, HARMONY, RECIPROCITY AMONG PEOPLES united in Love of God and Neighbor. But Jesus, ever-the-realist as affirmed by the beautiful phrase in John’s Gospel, chapter 2: who “did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well,” recognized true peace comes with a price. The Crucifixion itself made that very clear.
The Roman Empire did not welcome new perspectives on how to view human nature beyond their own vision of Emperor as god, and a hierarchy of aristocracy, soldiers, merchants, and plebians. Of course, the Holy Spirit is active in all times and places, and there were some Roman Senators inspired to act on behalf of the poor — mostly field hands and laborers, but that depended on individual Senator’s personalities and his political objectives. Beyond that, should “the lowly be lifted up,” according to the Virgin Mary’s MAGNIFICAT, the needs of the poor could be considered treachery. Moreover, Rome was wary of Jewish prophets and religious leaders –often suspect of sedition. Add to that, Jesus was critical of aspects of the Temple Cult –as were some pharisees at that time—and criticism, should it be realized, would prove detrimental to both the Sadducees and the Romans in their delicate, frail, and fragile collaboration on taxes, tourism, immigration and other matters.
But the “blazing fire” and ruptures to family life – ‘father against son; mother against daughter” that Jesus anticipates here is the age-old disruption of differing religious and political views within a family, among neighbors, and within society at large. Even before Jesus, the diversity in Jewish beliefs and practices caused friction withing the religious and political realms. The Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospels make clear that people differed on Messianic expectations, and in a belief in life after death. Roman paganism highlighted eternity only for Emperors and an elite group, and belief in Resurrection from the dead was a public conflict between Sadducees and Pharisees. When some members of a family insisted on Jesus as Messiah who rose from the dead – well, claiming certainty about these matters provoked great conflict.
These and other religious, social and political contentions are evident in our times as well–when religion and political discussions are either avoided, conclude in brutal condescension, or erupt violent altercations emotionally and/or physically–we have a sense on what Jesus meant. THE GOSPEL’s Great Reversal is an insistence that Christian Values of Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes – extensions and clarification of the Two Great Commandments: Love of God and Love of Neighbor as we love ourselves and care for our families, must remain the foundation of life. For our faith to be practiced diligently, we must evaluate issues of economy, labor, religious freedom, social norms on the Golden Rule criteria. No society past or present has fully realized these essential Gospel values. How may we contribute to their advancement in our life span? That is the essential Catholic question for today. For until that time when all societal, communal, and international laws and practices are continually evaluated by Love of God and Neighbor, patient perseverance and HOPE must remain steadfast. Indeed, we all have a good deal of work ahead putting our faith into practice, and Jesus will help us through sacrament and inspiration. And this is the Jubilee Year of HOPE to help solidify this concept in our hearts and minds. In this era of constant scapegoating — blaming individuals or groups for all our problems rather than collaborating on addressing the issues, no one person or group warrants Crucifixion or its counterparts in prejudice, or the human causes or emotional and physical suffering for the advancement of others, don’t you agree?
Remember, the prophet Jeremiah suffered for speaking out on God’s behalf – thrown as he was into a cistern of mud, and, if we truly believe Jesus died “once for all,” alleviating suffering remains the challenge for our age, too. We must not be afraid. Let these words from today’s Letter to the Hebrews echo in our hearts: “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood,” knowing that Jesus did resist, and shares his body and blood with us to strengthen in us courage, faith, hope, and love.
The following comes from a short story by Anton Chekhov: There once was a wealthy Russian Matron– demanding, impatient, dismissive to the point of cruelty in the way she treated her maid servant. One day, in a particularly angry and condescending mood, the matron snaps at the young woman as usual. This time, however, she focuses on the girl’s eyes and realizes for the first time the deep humility–the depth of the servant’s unconditional care for the older woman. The matron bursts into to tears. She cries out, “How is it you care for me? I have not shown you the slightest kindness. How is it that you take my abuse time and time again? I am undone!” The matron sits at her desk and sobs uncontrollably, waving the maid away. Chekhov leaves us there. What will happen next? Will any good come of it this encounter or will all go back to the way things were?
Human Nature is filled with contradictions. Often, we are BLIND TO GRACE. Yes, even we disciples get caught up in our own drives, our own priorities, our own needs. We take others for granted. Tempted to believe we are above the common fray; we think we are not like others. We fancy ourselves “superior specimens.” In frivolous moments it may be fun to think that even God could learn a thing or two from us! But should we fully believe that, should we think that our achievements are all that matter in this world, or that beyond our personal comfort, nothing matters, nothing is worth striving for– we are in a bad state. It is called SIN. We are prone to it. It enervates us, makes us fatigued. We live for ourselves without a quest, a greater good, a greater Truth to inspire us. This is why the Mass begins with the Confiteor, or Penitential Rite. This is why the phrase “have mercy on us” is included in the Gloria we pronounce every Sunday. Our souls cannot move into Sacred Space without self-scrutiny for the love of God. And it is because we are loved by God that we trust our failings are forgiven and hope becomes eternal.
Sadly, there are those among us who adopt a different worldview. Oozing arrogance, they stain their souls with overindulgence. They take their delusions of grandeur all too seriously, regarding no one worthy of their time beyond those who serve their purposes and priorities. Often bitter and vengeful, they succumb to the deadliest of the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride beyond the need for relationships, beyond self-scrutiny, beyond the give and take of forgiveness, beyond God.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus stands before such a person. His name is Pilate. Notice the extraordinary contrast between one man and the other. Pilate is cynical. Pilate is bored and bothered. Pilate believes he can afford to be thus, because, after all, he is Caesar’s regent. He has legions of armies behind him.
Jesus on the other hand stands alone, seemingly powerless before this earthly judge. Yet take note of Jesus’ confidence, his self-awareness, his courage to speak TRUTH to Pilate who cannot imagine TRUTH to be POWER. The Truth that Jesus speaks: Life is rooted in the Absolute Goodness of God. Only belief in God, God’s patience, God’s mercy, God’s Justice, and God’s care for creation bring fullness of life. God’s Holy Spirit empowers courage in us to wage against the falsehoods, the evils of this world. Jesus embodies those Truths and invites us to incarnate them, too. Trust in ourselves and in our illusions, well, then our potential for building strong character, our strivings for heaven are lost. Trust in God, in Christ, and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, then Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Courage deliver us into the Kingdom Jesus inaugurated. A kingdom where Faith, Hope, and Love reign eternally.
Pilate does not see this. He does not see Jesus as Jesus is meant to be seen. If he did, he might have noticed Jesus’ compassion and care—yes, care, even for Pilate. He would have seen himself as a lost sheep, recognize his arrogance as his false self — a camouflage for his inner fear and confusion, compelling him to avoid the good, the right, the virtuous and take the easy way out –giving in the manic cries of a crowd who could not see what they were becoming, the temptations to which they succumbed. Alas, neither they nor Pilate took the time for self-scrutiny, for he became their spokesman in the way he scoffs Jesus. Jesus said, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate’s cynical response: “What is truth?”
Happily, we are not celebrating Pilate today. We are worshiping Jesus as Christ and True King, the only TRUE Messiah. Jesus does not compromise eternal verities. Jesus abides in universal, absolute, and necessary Truths that alone offer human fulfillment. Jesus knows too well what Pilate represents–a world that sees no end but its own ends. A world that hides behind delusions of grandeur, manipulating Justice to its own ends.
Today we acknowledge, once again, Christ the King as the only one worthy of the title. We pray that in the presence of temptation, we will not forsake truth, even amid confrontation and conflict. BUT WE WILL FORSAKE EASY WAYS OUT OF DIFFICULT SITUATIONS. We pray to strengthen one another in building character– not compromising our true self – because we do not have to! Jesus is Christ, Lord, and Our God and He is here to help.
How can we make THANKSGIVING a truly prayerful AND joyful day for everyone? Here are suggestions — you cannot possibly observe them all! — but use them as a springboard for your own ideas. Choosing between these activities needs to be a prayerful experience, so allow some space for quiet time, placing all your anticipated guests in your heart and mind before you look through these selections. Pray with them and let your own spirit be inspired!
THE WEEK BEFORE THANKSGIVING
Invite your guests to reflect upon these Two Questions:
What is your best and worst memory of Thanksgiving?
How might you turn both experiences into a prayer for this year? Write your own prayer.
Invite your guests to write their answers on an index card or postcard (or in an email) for their own personal reflection as they anticipate Thanksgiving Day. And- IF THEY ARE COMFORTABLE DOING SO – have them bring their card or printed email to the dinner. Let your guests know that you will invite everyone to share what they wrote as people gather, partake in Hors D’oeuvres, and settle in for the day.
DINNER CONVERSATION option # 1. Throughout the meal, each person will be asked to take what they wrote as their BEST OF MEAL and answer one of the following:
FOR CHRISTIANS: How were these “Best of Thanksgiving Meals” like or unlike a Eucharist or Lord’s Supper?
FOR JEWS: How were these “Best of Thanksgiving Meals” like or unlike Passover or Sukkot meals?
FOR MUSLIMS: How were these “Best of Thanksgiving Meals” like or unlike Ramadan meal celebrations?
FOR SIKHS: How were these “Best of Thanksgiving Meals” like or unlike Langar?
FOR HINDUS: How were these “Best of Thanksgiving Meals” for Thanksgiving like or unlike ONAM?
FOR BUDDHISTS: How were these “Best of Thanksgiving Meals” like or unlike your New Year celebrations?
FOR SECULARISTS: What makes your “Best of Thanksgiving Meals” linger in your memory? What does it tell you about what you value?
After everyone has shared, ask “What insights might you have gained from listening to people’s answers?” At the end of the meal, invite Spontaneous Prayer or lead your guests in a Thanksgiving Prayer from your tradition.
2. DINNER CONVERSATION option # 2. Invite your guests to read (or listen to the YouTube audio of) Truman Capote’s poignant and humorous short story The Thanksgiving Visitor before Thanksgiving Day. Let them know you will be inviting them to share their thoughts and feelings about this story throughout dinner. The story takes place in the past, but the relationship dynamics are perennial. Truman Capote reads “The Thanksgiving Visitor” on YouTube:
Make this an AFTER-DINNER ACTIVITY: Gather your guests to read or listen to The Thanksgiving Visitor – or any short story or children’s book–and discuss it. For Children’s Books, see The Best Thanksgiving Books to Read Aloud – Bookshop.org
3. OPTIONAL CHARITABLE COMPONENT TO THANKSGIVING DAY:INVITE each guest to BRING A SINGLE $ 1. BILL to participate in a PLEASE & THANK YOU GAME. Designate a charity and let them know what the dollars are for in advance. OR before dinner begins, have people choose the charity among three or four (no more than 4) you suggest. (E.G. A local Food Pantry, UNICEF, Habitat for Humanity – nothing partisan or controversial.) Have extra $1. bills around for those who forget to bring any. From the beginning of the Meal to its conclusion, should anyone forget to say “Please” or “Thank You,” (i.e., “Please pass the potatoes” or “thank you for pouring my drink”), he or she gets a WARNING. The SECOND TIME he or she must surrender their dollar into a basket for charity. At the end of the day, people may contribute additional $ if they wish.
4. Invite your guests to memorizeOVER THE RIVER & THROUGH THE WOODS by Lydia Maria Child in preparation for Thanksgiving and let them know you will have a contest as to who can recite (OR SING) the first three verses by heart. People can access the poem online at Over the River and Through the Wood – Wikipedia (or get the Book out from their library, or purchase it). If they prefer, they can memorize the much shorter poem THE MIST AND ALL by DIXIE WILLSON – Poetry Explorer – Your Free Poetry Website for Classic and Contemporary Poetry OR any other Autumn / Thanksgiving Poem they would like to share. People can recite their poem during dessert or help each other with the verses throughout CLEAN UP.
6. Prepare a Card Table with Index Cards & pens or pencils, a Small Basket or Shoebox and a poster or placard on which you have written these instructions:
Welcome! Take a card and write your response to ONE of the following questions. Do NOT print your name on the card as guests will need to guess “who wrote what” later today.
— “What experience of the past year do I treasure most?”
— “What gift that I received this year (no matter the occasion) continue to bring me enjoyment?”
Place these “Treasured Gift” papers in a small basket or shoebox and place it on or near the dining table. During the first course, invite someone to pick an index card at random from the basket and read it aloud. All the guests try to guess the identity of the author.
THE DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING
• Set DVR to pre-record Thanksgiving Day parade(s) and Football Games; pre-record or purchase/rent CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING or other cartoons. People can watch them during breaks or after dinner and clean-up is over.
Get Access to Music Ready via CD, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube (See item IX below)
If you chose to sponsor the Please and Thank You Game Charity Game, have extra $1. bills handy for those who forgot to bring any.
PRINTOUT A FEELING CHART FOR EACH GUEST. You can distribute copies to everyone as they sit at the table for your first course as a way to PREPARE for your PRAYER. The prayer will begin by acknowledging how everyone at your table is feeling –elated, sorrowful, etc. –an essential way to honor people and emphasize your care for them and invite them to ponder the love of a caring God. See THANKSGIVING DAY Item # 2 BELOW for the “how” and “why” of this Feeling-centered exercise.
A. If you have chosen to engage in “The Treasured Gift” game– Direct your guests to the CARD TABLE. If you did not choose to have people write their “Best” and “Worst” Thanksgiving Memories and Prayer in advance, you could have them write them out now and follow the directions in DINNER CONVERSATIN # 1 above.
B. If you did not choose to have people write their “Best” and “Worst” Thanksgiving Memories and Prayer in advance, you could have them write them out now and follow the directions in DINNER CONVERSATIN # 1 above.
2. TRADITIONAL GRACE “PLUS” – The “+” includes Faith Sharing before the meal. Begin by distributing copies of the Feeling Chart to your guests as they are seated for dinner.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL: EXPLAIN that the purpose in asking people to claim a feeling–and to name it for others to hear–provides us with a way to express our care for one another and respect our differences through attentive listening. The emphasis is on listening so we may address what we hear by way of acknowledging our feelings in our Prayer before our Meal. We ask that no one comment on any one person’s feeling words for there are no right or wrong feelings. “We feel what we feel no matter what the holiday may or may not mean to us.” Feel free to “pass” if you are not comfortable naming what you feel, but we hope you will.
Using the Chart as a guide, each guest may identify one or two “Feeling Words” (“Happy,” “Sad,” “Thankful,” “Frustrated,” etc.). We ask that NO ONE EXPLAIN their choice of word(s). That qualification is VERY IMPORTANT or the prayer before the meal will become unruly. Ask that NO ONE COMMENT on another’s feelings. Should someone start to explain, tell them they can share later, but “please only one or two words” After all of your guests have identified their feelings, pray the following (or use these ideas to create a prayer of your own):
“Dear God, HERE WE ARE! We are family and friends — and we bring all these feelings to you on this Thanksgiving Day. Faith attests that You accept us as we are. Help us open a place for you in our hearts, grant us peace and serenity, help us to identify people, places, and things for which we are grateful. Help us to make the most of this day, this meal, and our time together. Give us the grace to be kind, to be patient, and to affirm the best of what we know and see in one another. We know that Affirmation is the best way to cultivate Gratitude, and we hope that by the end of this day of National Thanksgiving, we may have more ways to affirm and bless one another and sing your praises.”
Then invite everyone to join in your family’s traditional Grace before Meals, OR if your company is of mixed religions, invite each to say his or her traditional grace in addition to your traditional one, OR you could also try this:
“Blessed are YOU, Source of Life, you are known by so many names, help us to experience GRATITUDE, for gratefulness nurtures mutual affection and places us on the path of peace. Bless our Meal and our Conversation. Amen.”
3. FIRST COURSE ACTIVITY (Soup/Salad/Antipasto): Treasured Gifts: During the first course, invite someone to pick an index card at random from the basket and read it aloud. All the guests try to guess the identity of the author. Once identified, invite the author to share why he or she remains thankful for this gift.
4. DURING THE MAIN MEAL: Invite each Guest to share his or her memories of the best Thanksgiving OR ANY SPECIAL MEAL that they have ever experienced and why it is an important memory for him or her. Use the Faith options in Part 1 “The Week Before Thanksgiving” (How this memory corresponds to a religious ritual or occasion) for additional points to share.
5. AFTER THE MAIN MEAL PRAYER: Post-Meal Prayers have fallen out of fashion. But since Thanksgiving is a Day of Gratitude and therefore a Day of Prayer, schedule a break BEFORE DESSERT (highly recommended), and before your guests leave the table, invite them to share spontaneous prayers for anyone or anything that concerns them. If you wish you could close with Psalm 121.
6. TAKE A BREAK BEFORE DESSERT and invite your guests to engage in some Physical Activity such as a walk outdoors or help in the kitchen, clearing the table, or playing Musical Chairs in the Living Room. MEANWHILE, guests should review their poem (Item # 6 noted above) and be ready to recite it at dessert.
7. DURING DESERT: POEM RECITATIONS.
8. THE FINAL CLEAN UP – HAVE EVERYONE JOIN IN. OR, if there are space limitations in the kitchen, direct those who cannot help to begin Social Activities.
9. SOCIAL TIME:
Community Games to Have on Hand: Charades, Pictionary, Balderdash
Dancing: Access the Music you have chosen via CD, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube
Old Fashioned WALTZ: I recommend “O Mio Babbino Caro” sung by Kiri Takanawa (CD: Kiri Te Kanawa Sings Verdi & Puccini) or on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuYQ9KRJms
MAKE UP DANCES to selections from Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Full Soundtrack (some are downright silly!) available on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsZBEng7aJM
10. LINGERING TIME: Now people can watch the Football replays or evening games, play board games, watch Charlie Brown and other cartoons.
11. FAREWELLS As each person prepares to leave, ask if they would like a final Thanksgiving Blessing. If yes, the Hosts may place their hands on each guest’s head or shoulders and pray the PRIESTLY BLESSING from the Book of Numbers, Chapter 6: 24-26: “The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace! “Conclude with “Safe home! Godspeed! God bless!”
12. FOOTBALL FANS OPTION: If your guest list comprises a majority of Football fans, CONSIDER planning your meal and activities around them. Here is the Game Schedule for this year:
The perennial question “How can we still believe in God with all the sin and evil in evidence in the world?” Comes in many forms and in many particular contexts, all interrelated. The question is often phrased specifically in terms of the sins of Christians as sufficient reason to abandon faith. To me as a Catholic priest, the question is contextualized in whether or not the Catholic Church can be an authentic way to God because of the continual exposing of its sins of child abuse and the removal of the statutes of limitations that bring the egregious sins of the past ever mindful to the present. There is no perfect answer, but this is the best I can do:
“Faith requires us to always look beyond the realities of sin and evil to a much bigger picture. Catholic priests’ sins and sicknesses are worth crying over and indeed a deep wound. Most are now dead, and others have been expelled from the priesthood. Victims have been offered counseling and monetary recompense, inadequate though that may be because of the depth of the betrayal. The “bigger picture” invites us to acknowledge the vastness of sin in every aspect of life and be open to look to those who offer positive witness to hope, humility, and kindness. The Cross of Jesus will always expose sin as it did 2,000 years ago, and faith in Christ invites us to be part of healing its wounds especially when we are tempted to run away as the Apostles ran in horror and disgust only to return because there was nowhere else to turn to live in Hope except in Resurrection. In a strange paradoxical way, failures and sin can motivate greater attention to God and our need for a Church as they can for condemnation of faith. Perhaps staying within a wounded institution helps strengthen our attention to God and all the world” ‘s needs for transformation, healing, and spiritual growth. Some find comfort in other denominations, others in different faith options or humanistic philosophies. Each of us must decide what path we can take or tolerate that helps us hold on to hope and love. Where do we find a place, a people, an institution that will accept us with our own failings and mistakes without denying us encouragement to enhance our better selves and inviting us to a deeper relationship with a merciful God?”
I was giving a retreat. I was preaching on this passage and linking it to Luke’s version of the Beatitudes in which for every blessing there is a woe – “Blessed are the poor for the kingdom of God is theirs. Woe to you who are rich, you have received your consolation.”
A man in the congregation stood up. “I take offense to what you just read. I am sick and tired of the Church preaching against the rich. We do a great deal for our churches. It is because of us you have a new roof on this building. Because of us you priests have food on the table! Where would Catholic Charities be without us?”
I said, “I don’t think this Gospel is condemning your generosity, Sir. Why don’t we explore the passage and see if we can find some common ground.”
He replied, “Dear God, can’t you talk about something else? ” He sat down.
“What is at the heart of the phrase “give all to the poor?” anyway? No one can give all to the poor without becoming destitute. Is Jesus’ phrase “nothing is impossible for God” about making us all destitute? Perhaps the man was right to be offended!
Could it be that “Giving up everything” is about centering ourselves in God – thinking of God in every choice we make, every word we speak?
Do we think of God after a harmonious event?
Do we think of God when we find ourselves in love?
Do we recognize that that woman or man or spouse, or friend who touches our hearts so deeply could be God’s gift to us?
Do we think of God when we get an “A” on a test, celebrate a birthday, or will we, think of God should the Yankees win the world series?
Ultimately, Providence is at work. Our lives are not our own. That is True Wisdom.
The GOOD NEWS TODAY IS THAT WE ALL CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD no matter our income, our social contacts, our achievements. When our riches, our accomplishments, root us in a mindset that they come from God –or God’s good purposes– ALL IS WELL, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Nevertheless, riches are but the crust on a loaf of bread. We love the crust – crispy, tasty, buttery. The heart of the bread, however — what Jesus calls the kingdom of God, the bread of life — finds itself in the essence, the nutritive elements in the bread: the yeast, the risen dough. That’s what is important. It is not the crust, but the whole loaf that represents Kingdom that is bread for all the faithful. Best of all, bread is more spiritually nutritious when it is broken and shared.
The man stood up again. He said: “I don’t know why you have to talk about this,” he said. “ Show some gratitude for the wealthy or leave us alone.”
I said, “I am sorry, sir. I thought my reflection would put us on the same page.”
He said, “No, father, we are not on the same page.” Suddenly the congregation, called out in one voice: “Turn the page! Turn the page! Turn the page!”
I would like to leave us with this: We have no idea what happened to the rich young man in the Gospel after he left Jesus’ company. We must take note, however, that although he was wealthy, he was not content, and he WAS asking questions. What if he had stood his ground and said to Jesus, “Explain yourself.” Alas, he did not.
This Scripture reminds us that there is a time for everything under the sun. Maybe the young man in the Gospel just wasn’t ready to go further. The man at my retreat, at least, felt comfortable enough to voice his objections. Who knows what life may have had in store for either one of those rich men? Who knows what questions will arise in the hearts and minds of anyone as we go on our way?
I invite us today to TRUST IN GOD’S TIMING. Trust that today we are hearing what we might need to hear. But, if we are not “hearing what we need to hear,” just knowing that we’re not ready to engage in what we hear- having that kind of self-knowledge – might just be enough to be good for today. What is most important, however, is that we keep coming back. Keep asking, keep praying, keep pitting our answers against others to see what we come up with together. Keep the book open, without judging one other. It is vital that we honor the fact that we are all in different stage in our respective faith journeys. We turn the pages at our own pace, trusting that Jesus, God as a human person, is all in all. That’s true Faith. Who knows? Perhaps, someday, in some way, we may find ourselves all on the same page.
The Canticle of Saint Francis of Assis on his Feast Day 4 October
Today is the Commemoration of the life and witness of Saint Francis of Assisi – a patron and advocate for the Care of Creation in Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, the Anglican and Episcopal Communions, the Lutheran Church, and others. What better way to celebrate his day than by praying Francis’ beautiful Canticle Laudato Si (PRAISE BE YOU!) also known as The Canticle of Thanksgiving for Creation, and “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.”
English Translation:
Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessings.
To You alone, Most High, do they belong, and no man is worthy to mention Your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather through which you give sustenance to Your creatures.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water, which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth, who sustains us and governs us and who produces varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for Your love, and bear infirmity and tribulation. Blessed are those who endure in peace for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no living man can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin. (Yet) Blessed are those who will find Your most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm. Praise and bless my Lord, and give Him thanks and serve Him with great humility.
The Second Reading: The Letter of James 2: 5-10; 12-13
Gospel of Mark 7:31-37
Hold that image: Jesus restoring a man’s hearing, offering him a new beginning – a new life using spittle – his own saliva. That is an earthly vision if there ever was one. Evidently, God’s spirit is active through the very elements that constitute a human being, and all that Nature comprises. Earthy thought, indeed! Earthiness is part of the mindset we must cultivate. Remember Genesis “then the Lord God formed the manout of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Add a little spittle, a little essence of Jesus, and we can be born again. Hear better. See better. Act better.
Laudato Si insists reminds us of our bodies and insists that our lives are not “just about us.” Human beings and Nature are interdependent. Remember: we are not the only species to have come from the ground. It is written: “Out of the ground the Lord God made grow every tree” and “out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air.” That is our deep truth. And truth evokes responsibility, remembering that God placed Adam and Eve on the earth: “to cultivate and care for it.”
We have heard these words at the beginning of our lives–from childhood for most of us. And we have heard them many times since– yes! But in these perilous times, we have come up short! We find ourselves lacking in creative cultivation of what surrounds us; failing to prioritize the interconnectedness “of all things now living.” Many of us are suffer from inertia. After all, what can we do? The answer should be quite clear: Return to the Paschal Mystery! It is TIME for a stronger identification with Christ, the earthbound Incarnation of the Word.
Ah, but the eternal pattern of Dying and Rising is growing out of favor these days. We like the rising, we don’t like the dying. Yet did not Our Lord say, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit?” What prevents us from surrendering to death, to change, to rejuvenation and renewal? The Letter of James warns us against Favoritism – a frequent source of inertia. Indeed, our society encourages us to favor ourselves over others.
Western culture insists we participate in its vision of progress – and who doesn’t like progress? But this progress is based on an economy that advances some at the expense of others. Parts of the world, even people in our own country, go without, or go with less, so we may have more. The earth’s resources are depleted, and animals suffer through it all. Thus, WE SIN, as Scriptures says, “you are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” It is the Law of the Gospel that convicts us. Not the laws of our culture, for these days our society appears to foster hedonism along with progress.
But take heart! Strength lies in numbers, friends, and from the number of people here, and the people and parishes we represent, there is hope that our collaboration will turn the tide of earth’s Calamity. How? Through repentance, through prayer, solidarity, and true Worship. Thank God we came to Mass tonight! We need God’s help, and with God’s help we shall overcome.
The task before us is daunting — nothing less than turning our society inside out! But “inside out” is the Gospel, is it not? “The Great Reversal” lifted up the lowly, empowering the deaf to hear contemporary prophets, awakening the weary and downhearted, revitalizing the faithful so that every animal, vegetable, and mineral our land, for our future will flourish. Hear it! See it! Live it!
Tonight, we ask Jesus to strengthen us, to remind us that as we consume His Very Essence in this Eucharist, the Incarnation of the Holy extends through us. Connecting our bodies to His –from the ground up! Now is the time to enflesh Isaiah’s words anew all in our Imitation of Christ, to ‘strengthen hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak.” Even knowing that at times those hands and knees may be our own.
This homily emphasized that, like all plants and animals, God designed humanity to come from the earth. Do you feel comfortable or uncomfortable with this image? Why or Why not?
What are your thoughts about the “Great Reversal” of our society and culture to create a more inclusive world-view with other peoples and with Nature? What might need to be “reversed?” What may need to be retained?
How do you navigate the reality of change and proposals for change? Share fears, anxieties, hopes, and dreams.
Who are the people who “light up our life?” They are the people we are always happy to see – no matter the occasion, no matter what state they find us in -happy, sad, distracted, whatever. They are the people who bring us comfort, joy, hope, and those whom we readily, freely affirm, and who, in turn, affirm us. These are the people who engage us in LIFE – its joys and sorrows, goals and dreams and disappointments. These are the people who are REAL.
In his book ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOPE, Pope Saint John Paul II wrote that “the search for God and the search for ‘self’ is one and the same search.” So, to answer the question who Jesus is, we do well to begin with ourselves.
Who first introduced us to “the Light?” Who brought us to life? Might as well start with our parents – everyone has them, even if they were not the ones to nurture us after birth. But today I am thinking of a most nurturing mother and father, or any caretaker caressing an infant, engaging in a baby’s smiles, the coos. There is not just joy here, but anxieties, too, but not without hope that all will be well, and that this new life will prosper. In all of this, faith offers comfort in this wonderful quote from the prophet Jeremiah 29:11 on behalf of God: “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the Lord—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.”
Keep that quote in mind as we follow our parents or guardians sending us off to school for the first time—feelings of excitement, yes, but also fear, and sadness mixed with longing, acknowledging the passage of time, the deep realities of change. That’s what they felt, and likely, that’s what we felt, too.
Life engages us time and time again and again in all the human realties of thought, and feeling. Our first days of school (thinking of the highs and lows starting Kindergarten!) and later, when we were off to junior high, high school, college. Did he get any easier? One experience building upon another- sometimes “yes,” sometimes “no.” And then, for all the love we may have experienced from those who Light Up Our Life, still, the securities and the insecurities we encounter completing job applications, dating, announcing our engagements or entrance into the priesthood. Love we experience from others could have, can still, if we let us, root us in a deep acceptance of life’s realities, of who we are, who we are not, of successes and failures along the way, of, yes, in religious language, the realities of sin and grace. Faith addresses these realities by acknowledging the Crosses we bear, while knowing that all things will pass. Sorrows can and will be turned to—well, if not always JOY, at least to WISDOM, to greater faith, hope, and, above all, love.
In the powerful Genesis story Adam proclaims one of the great comforts in the Creation, speaking of Eve “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man this one has been taken.” This is part of our comfort and hope. Essentially, we are never alone. We are destined for relationship with God and others. Our Trinitarian Faith affirms God is the essence of Being, i.e., God is Relationship itself, and relationship is the Life God calls us to embrace. This is very important in our response to who Jesus is.
The Church reminds us continually that Jesus is bone of our bones, flesh or our flesh, making Him the light of our lives, indeed, the light of the world. He engaged in the joys of life and its pain, enduring the Passion, the Cross. The Resurrected Jesus refers to himself in a similar way when He says to the disciples: “Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I Myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see, I have.” Thus, we must examen our relationship with HIM and others because we are extensions of Jesus’ very flesh and bones.
THE CREED SAYS: “and (He) became man.” All was created WITH HIM, THROUGH HIM, AND IN HIM to culminate in His person, in a particular historical, biblical time and place. Jesus comprises all aspects of creation -material, emotional, spiritual, and more because of God’s intentionality, that all came before Him and is retained by Him for Him to be part of this world. However, Jesus’ life on earth was not an end in and of itself, but life with a purpose, to engage in the pattern of dying and rising to inaugurate a transition to something yet to be fulfilled, as the Bible says, into “a new heaven, a new earth,” including a newly defined, ever-perfecting humanity for all. For the Creed states “He rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”:
Here we have the vision on our horizon. In these lines we find both a literal and spiritual acceptance of the value of LIFE, physical, human life, in both joys and sorrows, engaging in the thoughts and feelings of parents, single people, babies, children, adolescents, young adults, mature individuals in every stage reminding us to accept the pattern of Jesus which is the pattern of Creation and everything – life, death, rising, renewal, change, dying and rising. This is LIFE in its fullness, LIGHT for our lives, and the depth meaning of love because, as we acclaim in the Creed: and his kingdom will have no end.
JESUS is the Godman, who is NOT JUST AN IDEA, CONCEPT, A TEACHING, BUT INCARNATE FLESH, transformed yet all too REAL. This is why the church insists on perpetuating eucharist. This is why we come to the table and worship and be thankful, unafraid of the fullness of life, joys, sorrows, all of it. Again, I repeat that thought I began with from Pope Saint John Paul II wrote “the search for God and the search for ‘self’ is one and the same search.” So here is our answer to Jesus:
Who do we say Jesus is today? “Jesus, you are who we are: We are You, and You are Us. We are bone of your bones, flesh of your flesh, ready to die and rise, picking up our crosses not in despair but in hope and perseverance because that is what LIFE is, both LIGHT and Darkness. For where there is Great LIGHT, there is also Shadow, yet all of it, yes all of it is sustained by LOVE. And that is LIFE in its fullness. So, what can we say to Jesus when he asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus, this is our answer, our answer is this: JESUS you are bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. Jesus, you are LOVE.
GOSPEL OF JOHN 3: “everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
From anxiety to eternity, fear to freedom
At waking, before the demands of the day enter our consciousness, we know who we are and who we are before God. Our being is one with Being, with God, I AM. This is a window into eternity; this is heaven come down to earth. This is eternal life’s prelude. The journey of Faith from Lent to Easter insists we keep cultivating this heavenly reality every day, every week, every month – beyond any liturgical season, every year of our lives. How can this be done? Not by our own merits, but our openness to grace, to allow ourselves to be caught up in the eternal verities.
The Scriptures tell us Abraham surrendered in just that way, in the passage about the STARS in THE SKY. Recall:
GENESIS 15: GOD’S PROMISE TO ABRAHAM
But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, if I die childless and have only a servant of my household, Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant of my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: No, that one will not be your heir; your own offspring will be your heir. 5 He took him outside and said: Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, will your descendants be. 6 Abram put his faith in the Lord, who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness.[b]
At first, Abram’s encounter with God was all about Abram – Abram’s concerns, what Abram needed, what Abram was lacking. But then he silenced his own voice and listened to God. The vision of the Stars of heaven helped faith take hold. Hope became a reality to be lived, savored, and returned to time and time again.
In our first reading we heard the misery of the people exiled, strangers in strange lands. Yet they did not become so caught up in their misery not to recognize the voice of God in a new empire arising: Cyrus, the Persian, inviting people to return to their own lands and worship their own God. Some will choose to stay in their misery, some will return and find new life.
Analogous events are presented to us every day. Not to get so caught up in our woes and misfortunes that we miss the call to choose hope and PEACE in the moment –a vision of eternity accessible in the here and now. Yes, God’s realm, “the kingdom” requires our attention, and eternity will tend to us if we get out of our own way. The Sacraments are our opportunities to experience heaven here and now, and our touchstones to feel heaven’s presence again, later today, tomorrow, and the next day. One hour of peace a week is not enough for anyone! We must surrender to Christ’s peace continually. This is what Saint Paul meant when he wrote “you will be saved by faith.”
This is what the Church means when she says the Sacraments engage us in eternal verities. Of course, it is not a matter of our concentration alone. No, it is – far more a surrender to the Christ who knows our humanity better than we do. The best we can do is admit our distractions, worries, fears at Mass, and merge them into our prayer, consciously asking Jesus for His help in making us present to deeper realities—seeing our needs in a bigger context.
A PARENT with an infant: first objective may be to get the child to sleep so mom or dad could get back to paying bills, or cleaning up dinner, or making phone calls. But when the child smiles and stares into their eyes, they have an opportunity for something greater. There’s eternity in the child’s smile, his or her sparkling eyes. All the work to be done can vanishes from their minds if they let it. If they do – and it is always a choice – they will find themselves in the perfect present – that’s eternity’s realm. If they are smart, they will savor it. They will hear Jesus say, “have faith in God, and faith in me, we are engaging you in eternity.”
And should the child cry uncontrollably, while they are trying everything possible to soothe and comfort, they might do well to think beyond that moment and recognize in one infants’ pain or fear, the pain, and fears of the universe — the cries of victims of war, of hostage, of insult and degradation.
Perhaps, with this larger image in mind, think and feel beyond their own frustration, their own fears. Then, they may experience both irony and mystery as the parents find themselves crying along with their infant. And with that vulnerability, of feeling out-of-control, they just might allow the voice of Jesus to say again and again: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” That is when the best decisions can be made = be it for a crying child, for the parent, for anybody in distress.
We must bring the words of Jesus to heart time and time again. Life comprises far more than just our personal thinking and doing. There is Jesus’s words and ways of thinking that insist eternity is waiting for us in the here and now. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Remember the words of the biblical Job, who, in the midst of his suffering cries out: “I will see God:27 I will see for myself, my own eyes, not another’s, will behold him: my inmost being is consumed with longing.” Eternity beckons even in the most difficult of situations.
Jesus’ words to Nicodemus are for us, too. But we must believe them, internalize them, appeal to them, surrender to them: “so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Lord, we believe! And help our unbelief!
frjamesdiluzio 