October 30, 2009, Homily, November 3, 2009.

Luke 14:15-24

One of those at table with Jesus said to him, "Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God." He replied, "A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, 'Come, everything is now ready.' But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, 'I have purchase a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them :I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.' The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.' The servant reported, 'Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.' The master then ordered the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my house may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

The Gospel of the Lord.

If you really want to do something, you always find time and opportunity to do it. If you don't want to do it, one excuse is as good as another. To excuse yourself is to accuse yourself, say the French: qui s’excuse s’accuse. Some of us spend a great part of the day making excuses. We even make excuses to ourselves, incredibly expecting ourselves to believe them. It would be interesting to study them as a kind of literary genre. They are a catalogue of dishonesty. An honest failure is a fine thing, but dishonesty has nothing to be said for it. So in Jesus’ story, the master sent out for some honest failures: “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” When there was still room, he sent out for more – from the highways and the byways.

October 26, 2009. Homily October 27, 2009.

Luke 13:18-21

Jesus said, "What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches."

Again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened."

The Gospel of the Lord.

At the time of Jesus, people expected that the messianic kingdom would be established with great fanfare and triumph. There would be a lot to see and hear.

The ego always looks for a big deal: this is its trademark. When you hear intense people talking big, with phrases like “I strongly believe,” or “I'm deeply convinced,” you can be pretty sure that they mean just the opposite. The strength of the conviction shows the strength of the doubt.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".

Percy Byshe Shelly

October 20, 2009. Homily October 24, 2009.

Luke 13: 1-9.

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they ere greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you that if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!"

And he told them this parable: "There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in this orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, "For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?" He said to him in reply, "Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it my bear fruit in the future. If not, you can cut it down."

The Gospel of the Lord.

This is about untimely death. My class-mate Don Pillsbury on our 50th anniversary class masthead even though he is deceased six months. We know his death was untimely because he was in my college class.

The genesis of these stories in the first part of this Gospel seems to be that Pilate wanted to build an aqueduct to bolster Jerusalem's inadequate water supply and to finance the project from monies taken from the Temple treasury. The Jews gathered to demonstrate and to protest; Pilate's soldiers mingled with the protestors. When the protestors grew unruly, the soldiers sought to put down the unruliness; violence ensued, and some of the protestors were killed and more injured.

Pilate pressed ahead with his aqueduct; one of the towers collapsed and eighteen workers were killed.

To become a deacon one goes through formation. As part of formation, each of the persons studying to be a deacon is to write an autobiography explaining the genesis of his desire to become a deacon. My submission started with the words of the parable from this Gospel:

There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in this orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, "For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?" He said to him in reply, "Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it my bear fruit in the future. If not, you can cut it down."

I then continued. I am that fig tree. And continued, that I had been exposed to the Church from my grandmother, my mother, my uncle the priest and my aunt, the nun. Each had pressed me to follow in the way but I had refused. I kept refusing until finally I decided that the Church needed me, I would accept, and then let the administration of the Church reject me. But God interfered to protect me and to encourage me through the 58 years before I applied, my acceptance, the four years of formation, the class work, the administration of the Diaconate, and on to my ordination. I am that fig tree, the ground around me cultivated, fertilized, until I bore fruit to follow in the way of the Lord. I am that fig tree.

October 18, 2009. Homily October 20, 2009.

Luke 12: 35-38

Jesus said to His disciples" "Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Optional memorial of St. Paul of the Cross, the founder of the Passionists.

In the day time, the "second watch" is 9 AM to Noon; and the "third watch" is Noon to 3 PM. In the night-time, the "second watch" is 9 PM to Mid-Night and the "third watch" is Mid-Night to 3 AM.

Jesus often cautioned his disciples, and thus us, to be ready. For, we know neither the day nor the hour.

The people of ancient Palestine wore loose flowing gowns because of the heat and would adjust the gowns by pulling material up over their belts: ankle length for walking, knee length for work in the fields, thigh length for dragging in the nets.

We are all stewards and servants of the Lord.

October 15, 2009. Homily, October 17, 2009

Luke 12:8-12:

Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.

"Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say, For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Antioch, a bishop of the Church, martyred in 107, in his 80's, paraded before his churches on the way to Rome to be executed, and as such a martyr (witness), to Jesus Christ. He was executed in the Roman Coliseum; his form of execution was to be torn apart by wild animals. In his words, "I am God's wheat and I shall be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may become the pure bread of Christ.” On his travel to Rome, he wrote seven letters that are part of the Scripture of the Church. Ignatius of Antioch is one of the ancient fathers of the Church.

Our entrance antiphon this morning: "With Christ I am nailed to the cross. I live now not with my own life, but Christ lives within me. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and sacrificed himself for me."

October 11, 2009. Homily, October 13, 2009

Luke 11:37-41

After Jesus has spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, "Oh, you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Those who sincerely serve God must be pure and clean - not only outside but within as well.

Cardinal Carl Wotyla was entering the Sistine Chapel for the consistory that would choose the successor to John Paul I, Cardinal Wotyla was carrying Mao's little red book, the book of sayings. A fellow Cardinal observed this and upbraided the Cardinal for reading a communist work. Cardinal Wotyla responded, "My conscience is clear."

Santo Subito. That was the consistory which made him Pope John Paul II.

Mt. 5:17-18:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophet. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments ill be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

The dietary laws of the Old Testament make sense today: wash your hands before eating (dirty hands carry disease), do not eat pork (the meat of animals with cloven hoofs, includes venison; trichinosis), do not eat shellfish (spoil readily).

October 6, 2009. Homily, October 10, 2009.

10 October Lk 11:27-28

While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’ The human being is both flesh and spirit. When the woman in today's Gospel called out to Jesus "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you", she was emphasizing the physical aspect of the human being. The word "Hebrew" as in "the Hebrew people" is derived from the Hebrew word "hebiru" meaning "wind" or "spirit". Jesus in responding to His Hebrew audience "Blessed rather are the those who hear the word of God and obey it", emphasizes the spiritual aspect of the human being. Jesus came to heal the sinful, nourish the spirit, and show the way to eternal life. His Passion was His crucifixion, death and resurrection. He stayed on earth after His Resurrection for forty days and then ascended into Heaven. His Ascension made room for the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit who came and abides with us to help us understand that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus shows us the way to eternal life.