Homily, Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Mt. 6:7-15

Jesus said to his disciples:

"In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your father knows what you need before you ask him.

"This is how you are to pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

"If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

A week ago, Ash Wednesday, the gospel was from Matthew's version of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Today's gospel too is from the Sermon on the Mount. Ash Wednesday's gospel has Jesus teaching us how to give alms [incognito, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing], and how to do penance [do not do penance in order to draw attention to yourself]. But Ash Wednesday's gospel skipped a part of the Sermon on the Mount. The part skipped was today's gospel, Mt. 6:7-15, where Jesus teaches us how to pray. Jesus teaches us the Our Father, what we call The Lord's Prayer. In effect, Jesus teaches us how to give alms, how to do penance and how to pray. And with today's Gospel we can proceed into Lent with the instructions of the Lord on all three.

The Our Father is The Lord's Prayer. But the greatest and most perfect prayer is The Mass where we commemorate the Life of the Lord in two parts: the Ministry of the Word and the Ministry of the Eucharist.

Homily, Saturday, February 25, 2012

Luke 5: 27-32

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

Church tradition has it that Levi, the tax collector and son of Alphaeus, was the evangelist and disciple Matthew. As the disciple Simon had his name changed to Peter as part of his conversion and Saul became Paul as part of his conversion so Levi became Matthew as part of his conversion. The Irish name "Mathuin" means "bear"; the Hebrew name "Matthew" means "gift of God".

And Levi was a wealthy man, leaving everything behind, he got up and followed Jesus. Today's reading from Isaiah says, "If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness and the gloom shall become for you like midday; then the Lord shall guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall rise up, "Repairer of the breach," they shall call you, "Restorer of ruined households." Isaiah's words describe Levi the Jewish tax collector and under the name Matthew the brilliant evangelist, for Matthew wrote his gospel to prove to the Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah foretold throughout the Old Testament. And Matthew wrote to that end and effectively so. And Matthew as Levi the wealthy tax collector gave a great banquet for Jesus and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with Levi and with Jesus.

And the Pharisees and scribes were jealous and complained to the disciples and Jesus answered with one of those sayings familiar to all of us, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

And I add that Peter too was a successful man under the name Simon, the leading fisherman in the Sea of Galilee. If you visit the Sea of Galilee you can see Simon-Peter's house and it is a substantial house even by the standards of today.

February 20, 2012. Homily, Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Saint Peter Damian

Mark 9:30-37

Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death, the Son of Man will rise." But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him.

They came to Capernaum and once inside the house, he began to ask them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they remained silent. For they had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me."

Our true being looks out at the world with words, and it looks up at God with wordless trust.

All Popes, looking back to Peter and through John Paul II and Benedict XVI, signed and sign their missives with the phrase, "The Servant of the servants of God."

His words also say volumes on those couples and individuals who open their hearts and homes to children in adoption and thus freely commit themselves to a lifetime of love and service of God's most helpless angels. Dowling, Have you Heard the Good News?, Reflections on Cycle B, at p. 162.

Jesus was talking about His death to his disciples. Afterwards, His disciples argued about which disciple was the greatest. The disciples thought that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One, who would be King of The Jews as descendant of David. They interpreted that to mean that Jesus would establish an earthly Kingdom, so that the disciples would each be mighty figures in that earthly kingdom. But Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." Jesus then brought His disciples together to instruct them. In His kingdom, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last and the servant of all." Now for our perspective we see what Jesus meant. David's kingdom in the north lasted 250 years until it was conquered by the Assyrians and the ten tribes to the north were scattered and became known as "the ten lost tribes of Israel." Similarly, the two tribes to the south around Jerusalem lasted 400 years until they were conquered by the Babylonians.

But the Catholic Church the kingdom of Jesus not of this world has lasted over 2000 years, and each head of the Church from Peter to our Benedict XVI signs each letter "the Servant of the servants of God".