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25th Sunday Ordinary Time – God or mammon

Am. 8:4-7; Ps. 113:1-2, 4-8; 1 Tim. 2:1-8; Lk. 16:1-13

God or mammon, the choice is ours.  So is the choice for honesty or dishonesty, truth or lies, generosity or covetousness but both cannot coexist as a reality of the heart.  Mammon is the “devil of covetousness”.  The readings draw for us this contrast that we may discern our true heart’s desire.  The desire for God is a heart of generosity.  Spinoza the philosopher says “if love is the goal, generosity is the road to it.”  God is love thus if we desire love we desire God and if we desire God then generosity is the road to him.  Mammon is the desire of the heart that says “me first” and “too bad so sad for you.” 

The one who holds onto the devil of covetousness is their own God and all others are objects in the way or a means from where to gain the riches the heart desires to possess.  It is the psychology of “winners and losers and all is fair in love and war”.  It makes for great drama in movies and theatre but for the reality of life it is all a tragedy.  To those who “fix our scales for cheating” the Lord says “Never will I forget a thing they have done!” 

Never means never!  So, what about when the Lords says, “I will never again remember their sins” in Jeremiah 31:34 and again in Hebrews 8:12?  In God there is no contradiction.  The difference is between those who choose God, confess and are forgiven and those who chose mammon where the Lord says, “When he is judged, let the verdict be ‘Guilty’, and when he prays, let the prayer turn to sin.” (Ps. 109) We like to say “Don’t mess with Texas”.  Today we hear “Don’t mess with God!” God or mammon is an eternal choice. 

The devil of covetousness is the father of lies and if we believe there are only winners and losers then the choice is to win at the cost of others unless of course you are a follower of the way of the cross, God’s way.  As Mathew 16:26 reminds us “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”  For mammon, if you want to be a winner you accept the premise that others must lose by default.  The “low hanging fruit” of losers to pick on are the poor, those who have the least authority, and those who are most “needy” of the scraps from the table of indulgence.  God or mammon, the choice here is clear.  When God is forgotten the devil wins our souls.  The prudent choice for eternity is God. 

Jesus poses a challenge to us this day to be spiritually prudent.  The account of the rich man and his steward demonstrates “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of the light.”  The children of the light are the baptized children in the faith given the light to act prudently through the Holy Spirit.  Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues to judge rightly the will of God in our lives.  The children of the world as in the steward figure out how to manipulate the situation for their benefit “dishonest in small matters is also dishonest in great ones” yet acting prudently for their own good.  How much more should the children of the light act prudently for their spiritual good?    

Can we say Jesus acted prudently when “Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, he became poor”?  To die to self for the other is love that we may all have the choice of God or mammon, heaven or hell, the Lord’s generosity or our own covetousness.  Are we worth that sacrifice?  The Lord said “yes” and is here to redeem us even if it is one sheep that is one soul at a time.  Why?  Because the Lord cannot deny himself who he is as our Father the creator, the Son the redeemer and the Holy Spirit the sanctifier, the one God in three persons. 

Prudence is living with the end in mind.  What we do matters for the moment and with a lasting consequence.  It is the house that is not built in one day but every day adds to the structure of what is to come.  Scripture reminds of having a house on a firm foundation of faith, hope and love.  The world reminds us that it is also possible to have a house of cards built by illusion, by meta technology and to easily become lost in it.  When the trials of life come there is no solid foundation and it all comes crashing down.  Once a moment of time is gone, we cannot go back and recover it and for some things there is no “reset button”. 

Living with the end in mind does not diminish nor deny the idea of living one day at a time, being in the present, or trusting in the Lord.  We don’t all of a sudden throw caution to the wind with the attitude of “se la vie”, that’s lifeor a “que sera sera” whatever will be will be.  We trust in God’s divine providence yet prudently act as if he has now placed his trust in us because he has.  God is trusting in us as a Father to do the right thing, to be his witness of love, to go into the world not to be immersed in worldly things but to be a voice of truth, Godly truth. 

There is a misconception that our actions have little consequence in this world compared to the great cosmos.  We make it all about our own little place, it is all about us so whatever we choose the attitude is “what difference does it make?”  It makes a great difference for God.  It made a great difference for our Blessed Mother to give her fiat to the Lord as a vessel of eternal grace that brought us Christ into the world.  It makes a great difference to the child who is not aborted but given life to make a contribution to this world that can last for generations.  It makes a great difference when a person accepts to carry their cross in redemptive suffering as an offering to God rather than end of life choices through suicide or euthanasia. 

Prudence is acting in right judgment for the whole picture of life, our God given purpose, our calling for this day that leads us to the greater glory of God.  Our choice matters greatly to God.  It unites us to him or separates us from him.  It is the choice of God or mammon, heaven or hell.  Choose wisely! 

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“Do not be afraid” – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

1Kg. 17:10-16; Ps. 146:7-10; Heb. 9:24-28; Mk. 12:38-44

“Do not be afraid” of the sacrifice we may be called to make for the Lord.  If we belong to the Lord then all we are and all we have is of the Lord. Do not be afraid if we are called to offer our “whole livelihood” for the Lord.  This is the testimony of Elijah who calls the widow to trust in the Lord and “make a little cake” for him so that in the end “the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry”.  This is also the testimony of Jesus who recognizes the poor widow who from her poverty “has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood”.  Do not be afraid to leave it all on the field of love for love is what endures and returns multiplied to fill the need. 

“The Lord loves the just.”  Is it justice when Elijah asks the widow to give the last bit of food and take care of him first before taking care of her hunger and her child?  The world would cry out the injustice of the request of Elijah a stranger to this woman.  Elijah however was prepared to offer the widow the promise of the Lord and “gives food to the hungry” not just for that day but “until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth”.  Lord let your justice rain down from heaven to feed the souls who hunger for your righteousness and let us respond with love to the needs of the poor. 

Is it justice that a poor widow gives “from her poverty…all she had, her whole livelihood” to the scribes who “devour the houses of widows” while they sit in “seats of honor in synagogues”?  Clearly Jesus is pointing out the injustice of the scribes who receive from the poor to live their riches and “recite lengthy prayers” but offer nothing in return to feed those who are hungry.  “They will receive a severe condemnation” from the Lord of justice. Do not be afraid to stand for justice.

The Lord of justice enters the sanctuary of the Mass as our high priest who offered his blood once “to take away sin by his sacrifice…Not that he might offer himself repeatedly…but now once for all.”  There is a misconception among some non-Catholics that the Mass is a repeated sacrifice of Jesus on the altar.  This is wrong at two levels, first it is Jesus who offered himself as our high priest, we cannot make another sacrifice of him.  Second, the Mass is a commemoration of the one sacrifice that remains with us for our sins. 

Why does God allow some of his servants to receive the stigmata, the wounds of Christ?  If he is the one who was crucified and died once for our sins what is the meaning of the stigmata in the lives of the saints?  Is it not a reminder of the same suffering of Christ that remains with us for our sins that we continue to commit?  The justice of the Lord suffers today for our sins until the day of his return. Do not be afraid of the sacrifice for justice we may be asked to make for the Lord.

The sacrifice of the Mass is the sacrifice “offered once to take away the sins of many” but not all.  The God of mercy will “bring salvation to those who eagerly await him”.  Like the scribes there are many who “will receive a very severe condemnation.”  For those who believe there is no hell hear these words from the Lord while there is still time for conversion for “human beings die once and after this the judgement”.  Mercy comes to those who seek and justice to those who find.  Justice is what purgatory is all about to be purified in the fire of justice with the promise of eternal glory.  “Condemnation” is what hell is all about for those whose sins remain not by God’s choice but by our own. 

We live in a world that is ready to offer “blood that is not his own” in the sacrifice of abortion for the choice of sexual freedom, in the sacrifice of stem cells from aborted fetuses for research, in the sacrifice of education of children for social reform, in the sacrifice of the poor for economic prosperity, in the sacrifice of the sick for the right to die by choice, in the sacrifice always of the “other” for the good of the self.  This is the right to choose our own condemnation when we follow the teachings of the world because the good of the self always comes at the sacrifice of the “other”. 

Heaven comes at the sacrifice of the self for the other.  We see in the lives of the saints, the martyrs, the souls who quietly give of themselves for us, our parents and grandparents.  We see it in the stories of those who risk their lives every day to protect our peace, to rescue the stranger from a fire, to tend to the sick in hospitals, nursing homes, and during those final days with palliative care.  We see it in Jesus who appeared “to take away our sin by his sacrifice…at the end of the ages”.  This is love, Godly love.  Do not be afraid of being called to offer ourselves for Godly love.  It is the path of justice to heaven. 

It would be a misconception to think that only priests are called to give up their “whole livelihood” for the Lord and follow him.  It is true that the consecration of the priesthood to the church is a call to abandonment of self for the other.  Just like God cannot save us without us neither can the priest.  We each are called to make the same sacrifice in our daily lives.  We can offer up all our daily struggles and sacrifices for atonement of our sin.  We can offer up our work to serve a greater mission of love as we give testimony of our faith by our works.  We can be generous in trusting the Lord by returning to him from the little or the greater of our abundant riches most especially the richness of our love for him.  If it is worth doing it is worth doing for the Lord. 

I heard a story of a poor woman who entered a butcher store and asked for a gift to eat.  The butcher looked at her and said “What will you give me in return for my gift?”  The woman answered, “I have no money to give you but I can go to Mass for you and offer to be there for your soul.”  The butcher was not pleased since he was of little faith but he said, “Ok, go and offer yourself for me at your Mass and I will give you something.”  The woman left and went to the nearby Church, attended a Mass for the butcher and came back to the store.  The butcher was surprised to see her return. 

She said to him, “I have attended a Mass for your soul can I receive something to eat?”  The butcher thought quickly and wrote on a piece of paper “one Mass in exchange for something to eat.”  He placed the paper on the scale and the paper slowly caused the scale to weight down a little.  He took out a small piece of prime meat and placed it on the scale expecting the scale to tilt over.  Nothing happened.  Surprised he grabbed a large piece of ham and laid it on the scale.  Instead of the weight of the ham causing the scale to tip over the paper caused the scale to tip more in its favor.  Shocked he went to the freezer and came out with a quarter leg of beef and hung it on the scale hook.  The scale then went all the way down on the side of the paper.  With no words to say he gave the woman the meat and asked her to remember him in her prayers. 

The value of the sacrifice of the Mass cannot be measured.  It is a sacrifice of love that can transform us, save us and free the souls in purgatory.  It is the gift of love we make for Christ when we come to love him in the Mass.  Do not be afraid to love him by offering our whole being, all that we have and all that we are for our salvation and that of the whole world.  It is the gift that keeps on giving more than we can imagine.  Do not be afraid to love more.

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32nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Stay awake and be ready!

Wis. 6:12-16; Ps. 63: 2-8; 1 Thes. 4:13-18; Mt. 25:1-13

“Stay awake and be ready!” Be ready for the last four things, death, judgement, heaven and hell by active participation in salvation. We live in times of slumber like the five “foolish virgins”.  Are we ready to go to the game on Friday nights?  You bet!  Are we ready to go to Mass on Sunday mornings? Well, we sure like sleeping in.  Even the extra hour of “Fall back” daylight savings time helps only for a short time before we fall back to our slumber.  Stay awake and be ready is an act of prudence that comes from wisdom. Wisdom is a gift of grace from God as “she hastens to make herself known” but it is our act of good judgment that seeks out truth and receives wisdom. 

Stay awake and be ready to receive a word of wisdom from God in prayer.  Ready to sit still and watch some T.V.?  You bet!  Ready to sit still and do the rosary?  By the time we get to the first decade, we are already yawning.  “Behold, the bridegroom!”  Jesus comes in wisdom and is sitting at our gate prepared to speak to our hearts and minds in prayer but our minds are active in our own thoughts drifting away rather than attentive to his desire to make himself known. 

Stay awake and be ready to receive a spirit of wisdom in the sanctuary in our thirst for God.  We cheer the team, “We have spirit, yes we do, we have spirit how about you?”  How about us?  Do we live by the Spirit of God who promises to be with us and come to us in spirit and in truth?  We are to rise up in praise and worship and sing to the Lord.  This is the day the Lord has made for us let us rejoice and be glad.  Glad that God is with us in all our trials and he gives us the Consoler, the Spirit of courage and hope.  Be not afraid! “Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed”. 

Stay awake and be ready for a word of knowledge as he makes himself known in scripture.  The will of God makes himself known in scripture proclaimed for our discernment as it applies to us in our time, our home, our struggles and our blessings.  It is not a word spoken only to the people of its time.  It is alive and active for us to discernment how it applies to my life now.  Let not our minds be dimmed in drowsiness as they drift during the homily and we lose sight of his revelation to our hearts.  A homily helps us with the applied word in a form called exegesis.  Exegesis from Greek means “to lead out”.  It leads us out in a critical interpretation and understanding of scripture.  It leads us out as the applied word to our lives. 

Stay awake and be ready to receive his body and blood as he makes himself known in the breaking of the bread.  We hunger for the good things of life.  We are restless and at times bored looking for fulfillment.  Our souls are restless until we come to rest in the truth, goodness, beauty and unity of Christ.  We are to hunger for and not lose sight of his real presence in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the summit of our faith, hope and love.  We come as unworthy servants but only by his word are our souls healed of sin and purified by grace. 

Stay awake in our actions.  The Church is prudent by making us stand, sit, and kneel during the Mass so we can stay awake, be active participants in prayer and worship.  Our body language speaks loudly of where we are in our relationship with God.  Our souls need to reflect the light of Christ in our behavior and reject the darkness of evil.  “Lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name” says the psalm.  We lift up our hands to pray the prayer Jesus left us in the Our Father.  Mass begins in word and act with the sign of the cross.  It says, “I am a believer!” Who are we to respond as in this world? We respond as the “I AM” a believer!

Stay awake and be ready to confront the evil one seeking to ruin souls when we allow our passions to drive our priorities as “the foolish ones” while the passion of Christ suffers for our sins.  “Then the door was locked” and he said in reply “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you”.  Seems a harsh response for the lack of readiness and poor planning yet it reflects the message of keeping our priorities straight.  God first!  Some say “I am a good person” as if that is all that matters.  Readiness is an active participation in the work of salvation for our souls and those of the whole world. 

Be ready, “Behold the bridegroom!”  Ready as the wise virgins ready with flasks of oil.  The Church prepares us with the oils of salvation; the oil of catechumen, the oil of the sick, and the chrism oil keep the light of our soul shining ready for the bridegroom.  At baptism the light is entrusted to our parents, godparents and the community to keep the light burning.  As we grow the light becomes our responsibility to be the “wise ones”.  No one else can save us or share their “oil of salvation”.  It is the prudent who are prepared to respond to God’s calling.  Every day is a calling to readiness as we do not know the hour or the day of his coming nor the hour or day of our departure from this world. 

Be ready for the four last things!  Death, judgment, heaven and hell we tend to avoid giving it as much thought as it deserves.  We know our time is coming and we are reminded each time someone we know dies.  Our psyche is shaken into this reality and we are encouraged just to move on with our lives.  We are not to move on but be moved deeper into our readiness to face these four last things that lead to eternity.  Do we really move on from having had a loving relationship with someone or do we carry our cross with love in reminder that we are to be prepared for we do not know the hour or day of its coming? 

As early as I can remember as a child my mother would lie in bed and begin acting and saying in Spanish, “Ya me voy a morir!”, “I am now going to die!” Then she would close her eyes and lie motionless.  At first, I would not believe her because she had done it so many times but the longer she laid there even though I knew it was a trick the more it scared me.  Later in life I thought of it wondering why she would play that game on a little child.  As she became chronically ill and into her eighties, I came to realize she understood she lived in poor health and wanted to prepare me for the day and in the event, she died while I was still young.  Fortunately, God blessed her with a long life and she carried her cross of illness for a long time but the gift she left me was a reminder, Be ready, for the last four things to come.

November is the month in the church calendar when we come to the end of the liturgical year and so it is most appropriate to reflect on the four last things, to pray for the dead, to offer Masses for the souls in purgatory still waiting to be washed clean and purified in the fire of mercy.  Let us show mercy by keeping them in our prayers. 

Readiness is the prayer, “Here I am, Lord!”  When the bridegroom comes at his hour will we be the Adam and Eve who hid themselves from the Lord or like a new Adam and Eve purified in the waters of baptism, washed clean in confession, filled with wisdom from obedience to his word and reflecting his image in the sacrifice of love in the Eucharist prepared for his coming?   Be wise people of God, let us keep our light burning brightly ready to say, “Here I am, Lord!” 

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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Mac. 7:1-2, 9-14; Ps. 17: 1, 5-6, 8, 15; 2 Thes. 2:16-3:5; Lk. 20:27-38

“…he is not God of the dead, but of the living”.  The Sadducees denied the resurrection and today the world is full of deniers in the resurrection “for not all have faith” placing their trust in themselves for this time only.  No faith in the resurrection is no hope for a future and without hope the darkness of despair covers the light of truth in the present.  “If this is all there is” as some proclaim then the present is but an experience in search of a purpose.  Where is the meaning of life beyond the emotions of the moment?  It becomes a search for the “feel good” pleasure principle.  Sacrifice and suffering for a greater good is meaningless.  It is all about “me and now”. 

Contrast the belief in denying the resurrection with the story of the seven brothers and their mother from Maccabees. The conviction of these boys in the resurrection shows great courage to accept the evil of their world for the greater good of life eternal.  In the gospel today the Sadducees challenge the belief in the resurrection with their own story of seven brothers with one wife questioning whose wife will she be after death.  Both stories profess a God of the living after mortal death.  In each story there are seven brothers and one woman.  The woman has a different role as mother or spouse.  The seven brothers and the women in each story are a sign of salvation history. 

In Catholic study there is more than the literal understanding of scripture there is also the spiritual sense.  These include the historical context, language and prophetic meaning in what is called the “exegesis” the fullness of truth.  The fact that there are seven brothers in both stories has its own significance.  Seven is a sign of perfection thus the seven brothers who surrender their life for their faith is the perfection of love of God and a foretelling of the perfect sacrifice to come in Jesus Christ. 

For the seven brothers it is “with the hope God gives of being raised up by him” and in Jesus that hope becomes fulfilled.  The seven along with their mother are tortured “with whips and scourges” as Jesus is to suffer for our sin.  There is also the proclamation of one brother, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men” and it is Jesus proclamation to lay down his life freely as he tells Pontius Pilate he has no power if not given by God himself.  Then we have the mother of these brothers in the story.  She is not only a silent witness but a participant in the suffering and death “for the laws of our ancestors”.  In Jesus he also has his mother at his side as a witness to his passion and death suffering in body and soul until the day of her ascension.  In her ascension she becomes our universal mother, mother of the Church, at our side in our sacrifice for her son. 

In Luke’s story we have seven brothers and one woman given in marriage.  Who is the bride of Christ?  It is the Church united to our High Priest and to all the brothers of the priesthood in persona Christi.  Each brother takes in marriage the woman as Christ gives his bride the Church to the priesthood to continue into perpetuity his bride to the world.   Christ through the woman, that is the church gives birth to her sons in the priesthood to remain as signs of Christ to the world in sacrifice of themselves for Christ’s bride, the church. 

These stories speak to the truth of Jesus in the resurrection already “to him all are alive”.  The only question left is in what state of living.  Is it before the glory of God, in purgatory, or in hell?  In the glory of God “my joy will be full…I shall be content in your presence”.  In purgatory we suffer our purification awaiting the glory to come longing for atonement especially through the prayers of the church.  In hell “there will be no resurrection to life” only a continuous agony of pain.  The great mercy of God is waiting.  What is our response to him today?  Lord “keep me as the apple of your eye.” 

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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2017

Wis. 55: 12:13, 16-19; Rom. 8: 26-27; Mt. 13: 24-43

Judgement Day, Heaven or Hell!  “Lord you are good and forgiving…judge with clemency.”  I am reminded of a priest covert from a Protestant faith on the EWTN program Journey Home who said Catholics don’t preach much on heaven and hell.  Perhaps this is because the focus is on repentance as pilgrims in our journey home to heaven.

The Master over all things does not need our repentance.  Repentance is for our good not his and we should not expect leniency but offer our works to receive this grace.  Scriptures says, “See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone…For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” (Ja. 2: 24, 26).  The Catechism teaches the necessity of faith, “therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, or will anyone obtain eternal life” (CCC: 161).  Faith is the mustard seed to grow through works into the largest of plants in a mature soul.  Faith alone is not salvation it is the seed in the journey to salvation nourished by the works of love to our God of love.  What are these works?  They are the works of love in mercy and obedience to his commandments.

Today’s gospel makes clear there is no universal salvation, a “free ticket” everyone gets to have.  Some people think everyone is going to heaven and/or there is no hell.  There is good seed, the children of God and weeds, the children of the evil one.  Who are the children of the evil one?  Those committed to the works of the evil one.  Let us not judge the person that is the work of God.  Let us judge the works of evil for they will be known by their works.  Commitment to a culture of death whether in the name of religion or as a State’s rights are a judgment the works of the evil one against the good of humanity.

In our country we have reached a stage in the culture of death called the “right to die”.  In England the judicial system has ruled it has the right to decide the option of death for little Charlie J., the infant born with a rare disease.  The state determines life and death not the parents.  The court has ruled the parents have no rights to seek further medical care for a child and he needs to be taken home to die.  The battle is on.  We are not far behind in our laws.  Take for example the Church opposition of contraception early in the debate while other faith denominations supported it.  No one then thought of late term abortions much less partial birth abortions would be a legal reality.  It was for the first trimester of pregnancy or in cases rape or danger to the mother.  Today body parts are on the market for sale.  Who all participates in the works of the evil one becomes a child of the evil one.

The works of the evil one include those that “cause others to sin”.  Here we must examine our conscience.  As a culture we value personal responsibility for our actions yet we are quick to blame, “he made me do it or she made me mad”.  Is it not that there is a sense of mutual responsibility for the ultimate sin.  We acknowledge the reality of cause and effect.  Anyone who has dealt with or lived through domestic violence learns understands the cycle of abuse from one generation to another.  How many souls will our actions impact for good or evil?  How many generations will the impact have?

We also have the expression, “I don’t know what got into me, the devil made me do it.”  The devil has received its just punishment but our judgment awaits his day.

In Spanish we have the expression, “En acción de gracias”, “in act of thanksgiving” God is merciful.  Scripture says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God, it is not from works, so no one may boast.”  (Eph. 2:8)  Have we found a contradiction in scripture?  This completes our understanding of faith and works.  God alone saves!  There is no target of works we must reach to be saved for one to say “I met the goal and another I didn’t do enough”.  Works are the cause and effect of faith.  Just as faith has a cause and effect of love as scripture says, “…if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”  Faith works through love in its works.  We reside in his love through our works of mercy and obedience.  It is not either or but both and, both faith and works belong together in salvation history.

The kingdom is like yeast, a little raises three measures of good bread.  Jesus is our yeast and the woman is the church kneading the flour to give us a whole batch of children of God.  Together we will feed the hungry souls of righteousness.

The faith of a mustard seed means we must take that leap of faith and trust God with how he calls us to good works.  Heaven is calling.  What is our response today?

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