Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 21, 22
THE NARROW GATE, THE WAY TO SUCCESS AND FULFILLMENT
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews, considering the “narrow gate theology,” gives it a different twist (Heb 12:5-7, 11-13). For him, the road less often taken and the gate less often chosen are the paths of God’s discipline. The pain and suffering Christians experience are parts of God’s discipline, given in love. The Greek word paideia, translated here as “discipline,” refers to the process of education and training by which the young Greeks were prepared to be admitted to citizenship in a Greek city. It’s costly, but failure to pay the price costs more. We are being disciplined by our afflictions, strengthened to walk that straight and narrow path – that we may enter the gate and take our place at the banquet of the righteous. The experience is similar to that of a child disciplined by loving parents who desire only to help him grow, mature, and become responsible. God’s discipline can be appreciated only by those who regard their relationship with God as that of a child to a parent (Pv 3:11-12). Unfortunately, we often take God’s discipline differently. Some of us meet God’s discipline with a resigned acceptance that sees no other possible course. Others gulp it down like a bitter pill so as to be done with it as soon as possible. Some respond with self-pity, which, in the end, leads to their collapse. Still others become resentful and turn away from God. However, there are some, who can lift their spirits above present trials and look beyond to the peace and justice (v. 11) which are the fruits of God’s discipline.
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time: August 14, 2022
“I HAVE COME TO SET THE EARTH ON FIRE”
In the Bible, fire is sometimes symbolic of purification (for example, Nm 31:23; Ez 22:19-22), and, more often, is associated with God’s judgment (for example, Jdt 16:17; Is 66:16; Am 7:4; 2 Pt 3:7). The image of fire is also used to symbolize God’s glory (Ez 1:4, 13), His protective presence (2 Kgs 6:17), His holiness (Dt 4:24), His righteous judgment (Zec 13:9), and His wrath against sin (Is 66:15-16). The image of fire is also used of the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11 and Acts 2:3). Fire has many characteristics: it warms, purifies, refines, transforms, and burns. As a purifying force, fire burns up what is useless and refines what is impure besides giving warmth and energy. Elijah brought the fire of judgment on the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs 18:36-40) and the soldiers of King Ahaziah (2 Kgs 1:10-14). John the Baptist promises that Jesus “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”(Mt 3:11), and that promise was fulfilled at Pentecost. James and John wanted to call down fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans who rejected Jesus, but Jesus would not permit it (Lk 9:54). We are also reminded of the prophet’s words, “For he is like a refiner’s fire…” (Mal 3:2). The fire burns hot, removing impurities and leaving only that which is desirable. These meanings suggest that the fire which Jesus brings will consume or purify the world. However, it is also possible that he means that his baptism will be a baptism of fire. In the Aramaic language the word translated as “earth” can also mean “earth-oven,” the common stove in Mediterranean villages, heated by burning dried and salted camel-dung patties. The salt in the dried camel dung acted as a catalyst keeping fire burning for a long time. In that sense, Jesus acts as a catalyst in his believers’ life. “Fire was to be an expected aspect of discipleship in the sense that: (1) baptism into Jesus dying and rising necessarily included a process of purification by his word and the Holy Spirit; (2) those who align themselves with him who is both LIGHT and TRUTH will inevitably know the heat of persecution; (3) the service of the good news will require a zeal so contagious that it will set fire in the hearts of others.”
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: August 07, 2022
RELATIONSHIP BY GRACE
In the first part of today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us what our real treasure should be and how we may keep it safe. The treasure God offers is of far greater value and is more secure than any earthly treasure. Nevertheless, it is possible for us to lose this treasure if we do not guard it carefully. The treasure is the Faith-relationship with God, which the Lord offers us in Baptism, a share in His own Life (Sanctifying Grace) through which we begin, here on earth, to lead our eternal life in Heaven with Him. But this treasure can be stolen by the devil or lost by our lack of vigilance in the midst of our temptations. Jesus uses two comparisons to explain the nature of the vigilance required of us. We must be ready for action like an oriental servant and trimmed for service like an oil lamp. The long flowing robes worn by people of the day were a hindrance to work. When a man prepared himself to work, he gathered up his robes under his girdle (belt) in order to leave himself free for activity. The reference to fastened belts and lamps burning ready (v. 35) also recalls the preparedness for action, which was legislated for Israel in the Passover ritual (Ex12:1). Just as the Israelites were to be ready to pass from slavery to freedom, so are the disciples to live in a state of alertness in order to recognize and accept the Passover which Jesus offers – from sin and death to forgiveness and life. The eastern lamp was often a cotton wick floating in a vessel of oil. The wick had to be kept trimmed at all times and the lamp replenished with oil. Otherwise the light would go out. What Jesus teaches us through these comparisons is that our relationship with God the Father must be constantly replenished by our prayers, our Sacramental life, our reading of Holy Scripture, and our acts of charity. Since the Lord is committed to us in an unbreakable Covenant of love and fidelity, we must, assisted by His grace, respond with equal commitment, no matter how difficult that may be. In His love for us, God always gives us the grace and strength to remain faithful, and He will reward our faithfulness.
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 31, 2022
“GENEROUS PEOPLE ARE RARELY MENTALLY ILL.”
Dr. Carl Menninger, the world-renowned psychiatrist, was talking on one occasion to an unhappy but wealthy patient. He asked the patient what he was going to do with so much money. The patient replied, “Just worry about it, I suppose.” Menninger asked, “Well, do you get that much pleasure from worrying about it?” “No,” responded the patient, “but I get terrified when I think of giving some of it to somebody else.” Then Dr. Menninger went on to say something quite profound. He said, “Generous people are rarely mentally ill.” (David A. Renwick, http://www.2preslex.org/S020217.htm.) — I didn’t say that. Dr. Carl Menninger said it. “Generous people are rarely mentally ill.” He is right. People who cannot share with others have deep-seated problems. If your level of giving to the work of God and the service of others requires no sacrifice, then you have Jesus locked in a cupboard, and he is not really living in every part of your life. In today’s Gospel Jesus’ parable, God calls such people “fools.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Seventteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 24, 2022
“PRAYER DOES NOT CHANGE GOD, IT CHANGES ME.”
A colleague asked C.S. Lewis if he really thought he could change God with his prayer for the cure of his wife’s cancer. Lewis replied: “Prayer doesn’t change God; it changes me.” William McGill summed it up this way. “The value of persistent prayer is not that God will hear us but that we will finally hear God.” Keep in mind that Jesus has taught us to address God as Father. A loving Father listens to his child, but does not blindly endorse every request. Instead, the loving Father provides what is needed, including discipline. Bishop Sheen has this comment on prayer: “The man who thinks only of himself says prayers of petition. He who thinks of his neighbor says prayers of intercession. He who thinks only of loving and serving God says prayers of abandonment to God’s will, and that is the prayer of the saints.” To pray is not to impose our will on God but to ask God to make us open to His will; in other words, we pray not to change God’s mind but for God to change ours. The Our Father is the “summary of the whole Gospel” (Tertullian) and it is the “perfect prayer” (St. Thomas Aquinas). “The Lord’s Prayer is the most perfect of prayers… In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, as quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2763)
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: July17, 2022
“START EACH DAY WITH AN HOUR OF PRAYER."
A true story is told by an advertising executive at Reader’s Digest, who found her emptiness filled in by prayer, listening to God, as Mary did in today’s Gospel. In spite of her successful career, she had felt emptiness in her life. One morning, during a breakfast meeting with her marketing consultant, she mentioned that emptiness. “Do you want to fill it?” her colleague asked. “Of course, I do,” she said. He looked at her and replied, “Then start each day with an hour of prayer.” She looked at him and said, “You’ve got to be kidding. If I tried that, I’d go off my rocker.” The consultant smiled and said, “That’s exactly what I said 20 years ago.” The woman left the restaurant in turmoil. Begin each morning with prayer? Begin each morning with an hour of prayer? Absolutely out of the question! Yet, the next morning she found herself doing exactly that. And she’s been doing it ever since. — This woman is the first to admit that it has not always been easy. There have been mornings when she was filled with great peace and joy. But there have been other mornings when she was filled with nothing but weariness. And it was on these weary mornings that she remembered something else that her marketing consultant said. “There will be times when your mind just won’t go into God’s sanctuary. That’s when you spend your hour in God’s waiting room. Still, you’re there, and God appreciates your struggle to stay there.” Today’s Gospel reminds us of the need to combine work and prayer.
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 10, 2022
ARE WE GOOD NEIGHBORS?
A good neighbor does not say, “I do what I want to do,” or even, “I do what I have to do,” but, “I do what I ought to do.” The lawyer’s question— “Who is my neighbor?”—reveals that he was really self-centered. The parable makes us realize that every human person is our neighbor. How have we been good neighbors this week? To whom did we behave in a neighborly way? The parable is a condemnation of our non-involvement as well as an invitation for us to be merciful and kind to those in need, including those in our family, school, neighborhood, and parish. We are invited to be people of generosity, kindness, and mercy toward all who are suffering. A sincere smile, a cheery greeting, an encouraging word of appreciation, a heartfelt “thank you” can work wonders for a suffering soul. Within every society, there is fear of those who are “different,” who differ from us in religion, skin-color, dress or language. The parable invites us to make them neighbors. Why? Because “one’s neighbor is the living image of God the Father, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and placed under the permanent action of the Holy Spirit. One’s neighbor must therefore be loved, even if he or she is an enemy, with the same love with which the Lord loves him or her.” (Pope St. John Paul II, Sollicitudo ReiSocialis, 1987).
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 03, 2022
“AMERICANS ARE WILLING TO LIE AT THE DROP OF A HAT.”
That is the conclusion of a recently published book entitled The Day America Told the Truth. The book is based on a survey which supports the fact that an alarming number of the citizens of our country have chosen the way of falsity–rather than the virtue of truth. Of those polled, ninety-one percent said they routinely lie. Assured of anonymity, the cross-section of Americans responding to some eighteen hundred questions, made the following admissions: 86% said that they lie regularly to parents; 75% lie to friends; 73% lie to siblings; 69% lie to spouses. One of the authors says that “lying is a part of Americans’ lives.” — Does anything strike at the heart of virtue and morality more than the erosion of truth? To the folks who founded our country, it was inconceivable that the daring experiment of freedom would prosper without the blessing and the guidance of God, or that it would continue without the moral commitment of the people tempered by God’s judgment. Because of those beliefs, they drafted laws, and set in place the structures of a government which would encourage people to seek and uphold the truth, to choose what is right and to do it, and to live out what God required through the high moral demands of Scripture and the ethical teachings of Jesus. Thomas Jefferson, who, by his belief and commitment, helped shape the foundations of America perhaps more than any other person, revealed how intensely he believed in this moral accountability before God when he said, “I tremble for my country when I remember that God is just!” Today’s Gospel tells us how Christians should bear witness to Christ by the truth by their lives of integrity and holiness.
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: June 26, 2022
WHOEVER KEEPS LOOKING BACK IS UNFIT
We all admire people who do their duty, come what may. Even pagan poets, like the Roman Horace praised the man who was “tenacious of purpose.” After all, countless others depend on us to be steadfast. They lean on us, and if we fall, they will fall. Our Lord reminds us in today’s Gospel that our very salvation depends on constancy: “Whoever puts his hand to the plow but keeps looking back is unfit for the reign of God.” (Lk. 9.62). Naturally everybody fears he may be unequal to duty. Today, however, people seem almost paralyzed about committing themselves. Some avoid the formalities of marriage so as to avoid its obligations. Some seek divorce because their marriage vows inhibit their “freedom.” Many priests and sisters have recently abdicated their vows. Have some of them “kept looking back”? The story of St. Noel Chabanel reminds us that God expects our commitment and intends to help us live up to it. Father Noel was a 17th century French Jesuit who volunteered to work as a missionary to the Huron Indians in the present province of Ontario, Canada. It was a wild and difficult mission for even the most adaptable of missionaries. For Noel, the assignment ran completely against his tastes. He could not master the difficult Huron language. He found the country barbarous, the lifestyle of the Indians repulsive, and their food revolting. Nevertheless, he made a solemn personal vow that, much as he hated his surroundings, he would remain there until his death. After all, he had come to seek souls, not pleasure. God answered his commitment with a marvelous reward. On December 8, 1649, one of the Indians, acting out of hatred for Christianity, slew Father Chabanel. On June 29, 1930, Pope Pius XI canonized him and seven others as the North American Jesuit Martyrs. St. Noel’s steadfast commitment was perfectly in keeping with the idea of constancy expressed by the founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius Loyola: “Lord, teach me to be generous: teach me to serve You, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to seek reward, except that of knowing that I do Your will.”