Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 136

Thus says the LORD:

You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!"

Hear now, house of Israel:

Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?

There’s Today's Gospel is a story of two young men. One makes a show of doing the right thing and does nothing. The other refuses to work in his Father's garden; but later thinks better of it, and obeys. One son lives in the world of pretense and illusions; the other lives in the real world as an impulsive young man and an obedient son.

There’s an amusing moment in Woody Allen’s film, The Purple Rose of Cairo, when Henry, a character on the movie screen, pleads with the projectionist not to turn the projector off. In this post-modern film, Woody Allen imagined what might happen if a handsome, romantic movie character jumped off the silver screen into the theater, and took a lonely young woman out dancing. The movie had to stop right there, while the other characters wondered what they were supposed to do. And when the missing character didn’t come back to the theater for several days, the whole movie industry all over the United States was thrown into confusion. 

When the theater manager told the projectionist to turn off the projector and shut down the empty theater because the audience had gone home, one of the images on the screen pleaded, 

“You don't understand what it's like to disappear! To be nothing! To be annihilated! Don't turn the projector off.”

But Woody Allen’s movie was more than a comedy. He worried about actors and politicians and athletes whose entire lives are about being who and what their fans think they are. Real people dream of playing in professional sports or of landing roles on Broadway; but when some people actually succeed they discover that they exist only in the minds of their fans. And there are severe consequences for those who disappoint their fans. 

Jim Backus, who played Thurston Howell III in the situation comedy Gilligan’s Island was severely criticised one evening when he went to a restaurant with his wife, Henny Kaye Backus. A woman in the restaurant accused him of philandering because Mrs. Backus was not Lovey Howell, his on-screen wife – who was played by Natalie Shafer. Fans don’t want to know that the pixels on their TV screens are just actors doing a job. 

Gilligan’s Island went off the air in 1967, long before computers, the Internet, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Now anyone can be a pixel image and cultivate an onscreen persona and make people think they live ideal lives like the characters in the Purple Rose of Cairo. 

But some people think they are Cecilia, played by Mia Farrow. She is a bored housewife in the film who kills time by watching again and again a silly old movie called, “The Purple Rose of Cairo.” These lonely Cecilias post on the Internet like everyone else; but their images are not real and they know it. And so they grumble like Ezekiel’s neighbors, “The Lord’s way is not fair!”

And they really hate God’s reply, 

“Hear now, house of Israel:

Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?

God is real and his Word is True. He is not an imaginary character in the Bible or any other book, movie, or video. And He can demand, as he does to Job, “Who are you to complain against me?”

Where were you when I founded the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

Who determined its size? Surely you know?

Who stretched out the measuring line for it?

Have you entered into the sources of the sea,

or walked about on the bottom of the deep?

Have the gates of death been shown to you,

or have you seen the gates of darkness?

Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?

Tell me, if you know it all.

That truth – that the God who created us with enormous courage and generosity, and who saves us with the crucifixion of his only begotten Son; that truth comes as bad news to people who create self-images, project them into the world, and think that makes them real. In fact they don’t know who or what they are. They’re living in a fiction, and think it should and must and has to go on forever. They’re terrified that someone might turn off the projector and their lives will be turned into a blank screen. 

But the truth about God – that He exists, creates, and cares about us – comes as wonderful news to those who live in the Truth. We know that living a lie and cultivating images are exercises in futility: pointless, frustrating, disappointing and painful. We deserve better because God has made us to be like himself – free, courageous, and generous. 

We don’t amaze anyone with phony happiness; we don’t impress anyone with threats, bullying, or violence. Those who know God know he does not forget us, lose us, or abandon us. We find him here with us even in darkness and silence, in disappointment and loneliness. 

In today’s Gospel a man asked his two sons to “go out and work in the vineyard today.” He was probably upset when the first son said he would not obey; but he was very pleased when the second son said he would. However, the son who refused to go actually went out and worked; and the agreeable boy who said he would work in the vineyard did nothing. 

Finishing that very short story, Jesus did not ask which son pleased his father. Which one showed a better Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, or Instagram picture? 

Rather he asked, “Which of the two did his father's will?" 

On Judgment Day we will be judged for who we are and not for what we look like. People around us may judge our appearance and that's fine for them. But they don’t matter. Those who care about us want to know who we are and why we believe as we do. 

On Judgment Day people who are not pretty faces, people who are not pleasant images, people who are not cartoons,  will hear God say, “With you. I am well pleased.” They will hear, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Saturday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 454

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the evil days come
And the years approach of which you will say,
I have no pleasure in them;

Before the sun is darkened...

Many years ago, I could hear the chirp of birds and other daughters of song without hearing aids. I managed to get through twenty years of school un-aided, but I faked a lot and my grades might have been a lot better if I could hear. I can't complain. Due to the good work of a village of dentists the grinders are not yet idle in my mouth, and the windows of my glasses are not blind. 

And, given the stories of many boomers, I could suppose that I have such good fortune because I listened to old people like Qoheleth and remembered my Creator. But mine was not the first generation who "saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked...." (Howl, by Allen Ginsberg) We inherited a fascination for chemical abuse from our ancestors. 

And I might agree occasionally with Qoheleth's sad pronouncement, "Vanity of vanities; all things are vanity." Getting old is not for the faint of heart. 

However, given my years, I think I understand the amazement described in today's gospel. The meaning of the Lord's words was hidden from their sight, "so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying."

Sometimes it's better not to ask. As Qoheleth also said, "There's a time for everything under heaven." And if it's not yet time for me to understand, I'm good with that. It's probably more than I can, or want to, understand. 

Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 453

Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

As I bicycled to theology school back in the early 1970's, I watched one day as a pair of dogs followed their well-worn path over a hill toward a set of buildings. Although the hill was not steep, the path was not straight. It seemed to meander to the left before turning directly toward the buildings.

From my higher vantage on a bicycle, I could see their destination before the dogs saw it. And I supposed that's why their dog path wandered. While I saw beyond the hilltop; they saw only the hill. 

When the Lord "rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone," I suppose he knew better than his disciples what was to happen in Jerusalem. We may suppose he knew this by Divine Inspiration; but it may have been, more simply, inspired intuition. It doesn't take a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Because His mind was unclouded by his personal preferences, or anyone else's; and because he knew a pious scruple about killing innocent persons could not withstand a direct assault of evil, he would certainly die of extreme violence in Jerusalem. Anyone could see that Herodians, Sadducees, and Pharisees collaborated with the Roman to keep the peace. And he had not come to Jerusalem to bring peace. (Mt 10:34)

There is a time for everything under heaven, as Qoheleth said. There would be a time to announce his mission as the Messiah, and a time to reveal his divinity; but there must first be violence -- the violence of a sacrifice, of human sacrifice, of crucifixion. The Son of God would offer himself as a sacrifice to Almighty God for the salvation of the world.  

Those who wait on the Lord learn to wait on his time, and to listen for his signal. Before his death and resurrection, Peter and his buddies often swore their undying loyalty to the Lord; they were ready to die for him! And they would. When that time came for them and they were ready -- but it was not yet.

But the time to declare we are ready to die for him? Does that moment ever come? For some it might. We know ancient and recent stories of martyrs who insistently volunteered to die before they died. Saint Maximillian Kolbe, imprisoned with his Polish people, voluntarily took the place of another who had been arbitrarily chosen to die. Saint Aglaius was assigned to prevent 39 naked Christians from escaping a frozen lake on a bitterly cold night. Inspired by their courage, he stripped and joined them; and is remembered as one of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. When Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions were led away to be martyred, several young disciples chased after them to die with them. 

Few of us can imagine such devotion; nor should we pretend to be ready for That Day. With the Lord's Prayer we pray daily not to be led into such temptation. But we can also pray daily to do God's Will; and we desire to do His Will with all our hearts, souls, mind, and strength. 

Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 452

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities!  All things are vanity!
What profit has man from all the labor
which he toils at under the sun?
One generation passes and another comes,
but the world forever stays.

Qoheleth's day had an important advantage over ours; they believed that "the world forever stays." But thanks to astonomers and physicists of the last few hundred years, we know that the planet we call home has only five billions years left before our beloved Sun expands into a red giant and fries its closest planets, including Mercury, Venus, and Earth. 

I hope no one loses sleep over that, but it's one more unsettling fact for an unsettled age. Everything passes, never to return, leaving us with memories and scars. And given our penchant for remembering selectively, is neither reliable nor reassuring. 

Scientists tell us about our origins in the past but say nothing helpful about its meaning. And those with no religious imagination suppose a planet with intelligent, self-aware beings is only a fluke. They might agree with Qoheleth and Macbeth. For the cynical, life is nothing more than

...a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Hopeless stories appeal to romantics. They get excited about love stories that end in death. They can boast of their perspicuity: "I knew it all along!"

But Christians are not romantics; our story doesn't end in tragedy. We put our faith in Salvation History, and track its course from Genesis to Revelation; from Eden to Armageddon with innumerable divine revelations along the way. We are never alone; the Lord God goes with us, and especially with those who recognizes his presence. 

Even Herod the tetrarch knew the story of Elijah and other prophets, and saw Jesus' mysterious place within that story. But he could not greet the Lord's mission or purpose, it meant trouble for him. As a sycophant to Roman authority, which knew only power and nothing of God, the Son of God on earth meant nothing but disturbance, change, and Salvation History marching onward toward Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. 

In Roman 8, Saint Paul described our destiny, and it is grand:

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.

For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God;

for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope

that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

 

Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest

 Lectionary: 451

Every word of God is tested;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Add nothing to his words,
lest he reprove you, and you will be exposed as a deceiver.

The Book of Wisdom comprises both the best insights of the ancient Levant -- that area well-placed to learn from the Asian continent and the Mediterranean Basin -- with divine inspiration from the Word of God. The Authors could test the sayings and proverbs of gentile philosophers, merchants, and warriors against their experience with the God who brought Abraham and Sarah to Israel.

After a thousand years of gathering these teachings, they could say with confidence, "He is a strong shield to those who take refuge in him." This insight was more than an old man's advice; elders had learned it from their elders of many generations. 

When I was in my late teens, we used to say, "Trust no one over thirty." Today, that same generation of geriatrics might say, "Trust no one under fifty." In either case, the wisdom of a secularized, sexualizing, power-hungry generation which knows nothing of spirituality and less of God, cannot be trusted.

 I have watched their ideologies manipulate words and their definitions repeatedly. Bad was good in the seventies, and now it's bad again. Gay was happy; now its queer; but queer is good. I don't think so. Forget the word man when speaking of men, and don't even think of calling women girls.

We test their advice, suggestions, and insinuations  against the revealed Word of God and the Magisterium because they can, "add nothing to his words."

"Put falsehood and lying far from me," 

In 1975, some teachers insisted that Jesus never intended to found a Church. They dismissed passages like today's gospel, and the evidence that Jesus had chosen twelve men from his seventy-two disciples; and from those twelve: Peter, James, and John. And from those three, Peter who should hold the keys of the Kingdom. "Written by men!" students of Elaine Pagels argued.  But Pagels founded her own soiree church a few years later. 

We begin each day not thinking of our own wants and wishes, thoughts, ideas and preferences, but with the Word of God. 

Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 450

Like a stream is the king’s heart in the hand of the LORD;
wherever it pleases him, he directs it.
All the ways of a man may be right in his own eyes,
but it is the LORD who proves hearts.
To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

The Book of Proverb suggests ways to assess our spiritual life and emotional well-being, while revealing the purity and goodness of God. Catholic philosophers and great novelists like Dostoevski insist that there is neither judgment nor morality if there is no God. Without the standards of God's perfect goodness, purity, beauty, holiness, justice, and courage we can neither know ourselves nor anyone else. In The Brothers Karamzov, the brothers Ivan and Pavel Smerdyakov conspire to murder their father Fyodor because they agree there is no God to judge them; and, if no one knows of their crime, the parricide means nothing. 

We recognize the arrogant because they think they are gods. But without God they should not be resented. Why would I resent someone who is luckier than me? I would live as they do if Lady Luck -- who has neither plan, expectation, or purpose -- had favored me. Without God I must accept my unhappy fate. "Grin and bear it!" as they say.

But the idea of God persuades me that no one can be truly powerful, good, beautiful, or happy compared with incomperable Perfection of God. And since God has revealed his actual existence and continues to speak through the Church, I know the arrogant will be brought low on Judgment Day. So long as Mercy and Justice are real -- and not just vague ideas for Nietzsche's weak-minded -- I'd be a fool to resent the destiny of the damned. 

Reminded that I am a sinner delights me, since that proves God's existence; and that I am reasonably happy, that God is merciful. 

And when I think of the saints, especially of Mary, the Mother of God who appears in today's gospel, I am delighted. There are people more blessed than me who live in obscure poverty, as she did! I hear that reassurance when He says: 

“My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist

Lectionary: 643

Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

The Lord describes his mission many times in the New Testament. Among the gospels and letters, they present a mysterious person whom we must receive with our ears through human language, and hear in our hearts. And so, whenever He makes such a statement, we sit up and listen. 

In today's gospel he describes his mission and ours. Told by the Father through the prophets to his heart, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice," he announces, "I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

The statement presents a peculiar dilemma to the devout. Although we hear  the call to righteousness, we sin. We hear the invitation to enter God's presence, and wish with all our hearts to do so, but we sin often and repeatedly. 

It's easy to confess, "I am not worthy to have you enter my house." Many would add, "I am not worthy to enter God's house!" But that cannot be our final response, for his summons awaits and demands more than a polite refusal. Nor can we excuse ourselves with, "I have married a wife and bought a cow."  

And so we accept the invitation not as righteous people but as sinners. Others might see us entering the Church; they might notice our peculiar habits which they might call holy, righteous, and sanctimonious. And they might accuse us of self-righteousness and -- worse! -- hypocrisy. 

And we'll admit they are right. As hypocritical as we might feel, we are righteous -- the New Testament prefers the word saints -- but it's God who has made us righteous. We could not make ourselves elect, righteous, holy, or blessed. As Jesus happily told the Twelve, "Did I not choose you?" (John 6:70)

Faith admits that this is entirely God's doing. The Lord called this sinner while I was still in sin. 

God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

 Our response is really quite simple. Shut up and get in the boat!

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 133

What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?'
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

The parable of the Landowner is one of my favorites, perhaps because my father became a man with the Marine Corps in the South Pacific. He governed his family justly and felt no need to explain himself to his children. 

Because we imagine God as our fathers magnified, I still think of God as both stern and affectionate. I remember with great fondness the privilege of fishing with my dad. The other boys wanted their share of his attention but they didn't want to fish, play ball, or pelt each other with snowballs. 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

As high as the heavens are above the earth,

so high are my ways above your ways

and my thoughts above your thoughts.

 Our faith in God begins with reverence. Or, as the bible says, in Fear of the Lord. I understand many of my generation intensely dislike the word fear when speaking of their spirituality. Many had bad experience of that 'greatest generation" who often threatened, and sometimes beat, their children into submission. More than fear, they dreaded and loathed that abuse. 

A friend told me of how his father threatened him with an iron hard fist. But when he finally struck the teenager, the boy realized he'd survive the blow, and it wasn't that bad. He no longer feared or respected his father. He left home shortly after, and they were never reconciled. 

We hear many threats in the Bible, as the Hebrew prophets fumed about the dreadful ways of Jerusalem's kings and priests. The "holy city" acted no differently than any other city; so why shouldn't it suffer the fate of all human civilizations? The LORD had provided them with holiness, freedom, security, and prosperity; but a few hoarded wealth for themselves for no particular reason. Widows were neglected, orphans went hungry, and alien refugees were unwelcome. When they abused his blessings and ignored his warning, what should the Lord do but withdraw his blessings, and let the pieces fall where they will. 

The rape of Jerusalem by Assyrian and Babylonian armies was dreadful. Many were slain and the elite who were not taken into the Babylonian captivity, fled from Judah, never to return. The poorest of the poor inherited the wasted land. It was the "Crucifixion of the Old Testament;" and only a remnant would return from the "diaspora." 

But God had sworn everlasting fidelity to Abraham, Moses, and David and He has never abandoned his Holy People. Anyone who despises Abraham's descendants today -- whether Jews or Christians -- despises God, regardless of what they say. They will suffer the fate of ancient Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. Only God's people survive the ages; and only because God is faithful. His Word endures forever. 

Tragic stories remind us that the Love of God is life itself, both demanding and serious. We dare not suppose we can live recklessly, and put off listening to His Voice until the last minute. I have met many elderly people who now suffer alcohol-related dementia and cannot hear the words of assurance the priest or minister offers. We pray for them – may God have mercy on them – and hope that perhaps our faith in God might make a difference on the Judgment Day. 

God’s love is demanding and serious, so is human life. I learned that also from my father, who’d seen action in the South Pacific. When our human nature doesn't get what it wants, it reverts to violence; and there is no compunction, remorse, or regret in that struggle. The killing is arbitrary, like crime in the United States. Anywhere, anytime, we may be called to give an accounting of our life. 

And so we practice reverence, devotion, awe, or – as I prefer – the Fear of the Lord. It is not easy or fun. It entails prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – that is, real sacrifice. The Old and New Testaments warn us against hypocritical piety – 

Do not put your trust in these deceptive words: “The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD!”

Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with your neighbor; if you no longer oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow after other gods to your own harm, only then will I let you continue to dwell in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors long ago and forever.

But look at you! You put your trust in deceptive words to your own loss. (Jeremiah 7:4-7)

The Bible also tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Our fidelity and knowledge begin with reverence for God. We bow in grateful worship before the Landowner who owes us no explanation for his generosity. 

But the pagan god we call efficiency demands abortions, euthanasia, artificial insemination, and surrogate pregnancy; all of which violate the beauty and holiness of human life. Human sciences without reverence often generate nonsense. We have only to watch artificial intelligence, which knows neither fear nor reverence, promise efficiency and effectiveness at the cost of human dignity. Communists and Nazis promised the same prosperity and security to Russia and Germany; they had only to murder millions of helpless people. 

Yet even now—says the LORD—

return to me with your whole heart,

with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Rend your hearts, not your garments,

and return to the LORD, your God,

For he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,

and relenting in punishment.

Perhaps he will again relent

and leave behind a blessing (Joel 2:12-14)

Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 448

So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible.
It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious.
It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.

Mediterraneans of the first century, like many people today, believed vaguelly in an afterlife But they did not expect a Happy Hunting Ground, happily-ever-after, or Eternal Bliss. The Greek Odyssey and Roman Aeneid describe a dark, miserable place where the only relief is forgetfulness. Arriving souls drank from the River Lethe and became lethargic. They forgot they'd ever lived. When Odysseus visited his old friend Achilles, the shade declared he'd rather serve like a slave on earth than rule in Hades. In the Mediterranean afterlife of Jesus's day, royalty was reduced to peasantry but peasants were not raised to royalty. 

Greek philosophy recognized the corruptibility of the human body, even before it dies. After death its fate is even less promising, as its parts dissemble and fall into humus. Can dirt be resusitated or resurrected?  

Given that fatal insult to human dignity, we must be more than mud. There is a driving force, often recognizable in certain persons and in many instances, which animates the body, giving it identity, rationality, and purpose. It defies the disintegrating forces and enables even old, infirm people to lead vigorous lives. That force they called the soul, and most people recognize how powerful persons remain present long after they're dead. When the body dies, the soul resides somewhere else.  

The Christian doctrine of resurrection fit neatly into that dualistic belief. On the Last Day the Lord will return the soul to a newly charged and extraordinarily healthy body. We insist on that when we recite the Apostles Creed, "I believe... in the resurrection of the body." 

A modern, Christian philosophy, heavily committed to the sanctity and dignity of personal identity, recalls the Lord's calling Lazarus from the tomb. His moldering body heard that familiar voice speaking with astonishing authority, and came out. But it was a resuscitation, rather than resurrection, and it foreshadowed great things for those who believe in Jesus. 

That same authority which called light out of darkness and everything out of nothingness, can certainly speak to dust and call those who belong to him by their names; with their identity, memory, and history intact. It can restore lost individuals to their families and nations. The Lord of eternity will not forget those who never forgot him despite the passage of time.

They have only to answer his call with the obedience of Abraham, Lazarus, and Jesus. "Here I am! I come to do your will."

 

Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 447

Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out....

Four priest-friars live here at Saint Anthony Friary, next to the parish church in Clarksville, Indiana. Eyebrows go up when people hear of four priests in a Catholic parish that, nowadays, might be sharing a pastor with one or two other churches. Why this embarrassment of riches?

Three of us are retired, and the fourth is no youngster. Only he is a full time pastor; another is part-time; and the third and fourth live in residence. I free lance in local parishes, hospitals, and funeral homes.

But -- why four priest together? Because we are Franciscans and our most important ministry to the Church is to be a human community. And we are conspicuously human! The band of men and women who followed the Lord in Galilee and Judah were also quite human, as the Gospels attest. If they had any distinct asset among them other than their following the Lord, it was certainly invisible to the world. 

Today's gospel shows that, in communion with the Lord, several people of different genders, ages, races, and political persuasions can live, enjoy, thrive, and praise God together. There are challenges because each one is a sinner; and blessings, because they are God's holy people.

The United States is suffering an epidemic of loneliness which is becoming universal, a planet-wide pandemic. Many people still try to live together as married couples; but often with the proviso that, "If it doesn't work out, we can get divorced." That means they will never fully depend on one another. Their marriage is not built on the rock of faith.  

Sadly, many people choose adulterated forms of marriage that include "openness," homosexuality. childlessness, and abortion. Many people, finding no suitable partner, dote on their dogs and cats. As Paul McCartney sang, 

"All the lonely people; 

where do they all come from? 

All the lonely people; 

where do they all belong?

In communion, friars belong to one another and to God, and invite the world to know and worship God with us. In communion with the Son of Mary we forgive one another seventy-seven times seven times (and then some.) In communion with the Son of God we worship the Father in the Spirit of Jesus and Saint Francis.  

Franciscan feast of the Stigmata of Saint Francis

 Readings from Franciscan Lectionary

...may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, 

Three days after the feast of the Holy Cross, Franciscans throughout the world remember the astonishing gift which Saint Francis received two years before he died: the painful wounds of Jesus in his hands, feet, and side. Only one friar, a nurse, knew of them because he hid them with rags. But one man, happening to touch his side accidentally, heard him yelp with severe pain. 

Like every other grief, Francis received these miraculous signs of God's love with gratitude. They were not pleasant  but they were good; and they led him into closer union with Jesus. Saint Bonaventure said they were seals of God's approval like the imprint of a signet ring on melted wax. As a sealed envelope carries an important message, Francis carried an important message in his life and suffering for the entire world.

Unlike the Poverello, Saint Paul spoke freely of his innumerable wounds which remained after many scourges and beatings. When the world looked with contempt on any kind of weakness, the Apostle announced that they were proofs of God's personal attention to those who suffer. He could also point to the contempt of Jews and gentiles for himself and his message; their hostility also proved his credibility since fallen humanity wants to hear nothing of the Gospel. 

During a difficult time in my life I accepted that message and recognized depression as a severe and strict teacher who would teach me what I had failed to learn about myself. Depression proved that my way wasn't working; it told me I must forget many things that I took for granted, and attitudes I'd copied from others. They did not serve God and did not belong to me. 

Loneliness, disappointment, boredom, and the contempt of others: all may serve as God's directives, and welcomed with gratitude. 

Saint Francis, the wealthy young man, recognized Lady Poverty as a beautiful young widow who'd been forgotten, abandoned, and despised since Jesus died on the Cross. As his spouse, she taught him more about the One he loved, how to walk in his footsteps, and to carry his cross. 

Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs

 Lectionary: 445

...bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.

Saint Paul urged his Corinthian congregation to be founded on love. It is the foundation or anchor for faith and hope, and all the other virtues. If we think of the Cardinal Virtues in a Trinitarian way: Love is the Father; the Son is Faith; and Hope, the Spirit. 

If one should need or expect an answer to the question, "Why?" Love is the reason. 

God had no need to beget a Son and be known as Father; nor to spirate a Holy Spirit. His Reason is simply grace, or Love. 

Anyone who would probe the mighty works of God (Sirach 18:4) should learn to be content with that answer. Don't make it more complicated with words like deserved, earned, or merited. They will learn that it is God alone who probes the human heart and understands its subtle workings, misconceived opinions, and infinite longing. (Jeremiah 17:10) Despite whatever we might think of our own worth or that of others, God loves.

Psalm 18 adds the same reason for our salvation. After a long list of the usual human complaints there is a marvelous display of pyrotechnics when God comes down through ominous thunderclouds on the back of a cherub. The psalmist announces with enormous relief, "He saved me because he loved me." Does anyone want more reason than that?

The Love of God comes to us and through us and impels us (2 Cor 5:14) to love one another. It is not possible to receive God's love without acting as a channel, a pipeline, to others who experience God's love through us. It is a catholic kind of love which cannot discriminate on the basis of gender, nationality, friend, family, or foe. Although my fallen human mind might prefer to love someone else, the Love of God has no time for such nonsense. Who are you to tell me whom you should love? As Saint Paul said, love "does not seek its own interests."

You might well ask, "Do you, Father Ken, live up to that standard?" 
And I can only reply, "That's for God to judge. If you ask me I'll say, 'I think not." But that's only an opinion; and, by definition, ignorant."
And then I'll go back to praising God for as long as life permits. 

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

 Lectionary: 444/639

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother

and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,

and Mary Magdalene.

Susan Boyle, among many others, has sang Keith Richard's lullaby to his son, 

Wild horses couldn't drag me away

Wild, wild horses couldn't drag me away.

The romantic song, like all romantic songs, poetry, and music expresses our human longing for God, even when they seem to be about something else. As Saint Augustine prayed, "Our hearts are restless till we rest in thee!"  

The song surely applies to Mary's presence on Calvary. No Roman soldiers, Jewish mob, or family ties could prevent her from standing on Calvary as her son died. In her heart she would die with her son and be raised up with an entirely new family, represented by the Lord's "Beloved Disciple." 

Nor can wild horses prevent her from beholding her Son in every son and daughter who comes to her. We belong to her as surely as she belongs to us. 

Jesus alluded to the new family he gives us in the fourteenth chapter of Saint Luke' gospel:

Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them, “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." (25-27)

and in Mark 3:  

“Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (34-35)

To survive in our time, our human relations must be founderd in the family the Lord gives us. As Saint Francis said, "The Lord gave me brothers." (And Clare and her disciples were his sisters.) "The family is, so to speak, the domestic church." (Lumen Gentium, paragraph 11)

We look to the New Testament to teach us what marriage and family really mean. 

• To be real, a married couple must look like the marriage of God and his people, of Jesus and his Church. They trust and rely on each other. 
• Parents look to God the Father for the Spirit who authorizes their right to discipline their children; and these disciples learn self-discipline and wisdom by their instruction, stories, and humility. 
• Biological brothers and sisters look to the New Testament, where those find brother and sister describing the relations of men and women in the Church. With God's inspiration, biological kin become disciples of Jesus, and more worthy of one another's trust. 
• The dignity of married couples, parents, and siblings radiates the aura of God's presence. 
• And even their occasional betrayals, like those that happen in every human society, can be transformed by the Cross as the family shares practices of atonement and penance. They learn and learn again that God is our unity, and God's glory is our purpose. They've no time for carrying grudges, not even overnight.
• Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil. Ephesians 4:26

Under the influence of that Spirit which brought Mary to Calvary, wild horses cannot tear them apart. 

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

 Lectionary: 638

"No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

High over the altar, every Catholic church offers a clearly visible crucifix  to the entire congregation. We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, as the Author of Hebrews commanded us. We, 

...persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.

Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

So long as we are in this world we endure opposition from sinners who would persuade us that our fixation on the suffering of Christ, our grief as we contemplate his agony, and desolation in his death are not really necessary. We should get over it when we hear that he was raised up on Easter. Didn't he know all along that he would rise from the dead? Weren't his collapse and anguished prayer in Gethsemane only showing us how much he could act like us?

The crucifix above the altar demands our full attention and silences their irrelevant, distracting questions. We may want to find in Church guidance and encouragement, but we go there to praise God for the sacrifice He has made for our salvation. We cannot forget that he has paid the ransom not with silver and gold but with His own flesh and blood. There on the Cross we see the flesh we must eat, and the wounds that drain his blood into the cup which we share. 

With our eyes fixed on him, we see One who has come from heaven for us; and, having ingested us into his body as we ingest him into ours, rises with us before his Father. 

Crucified with him we cannot be surprised by opposition from sinners; nor can we refrain from laughing HA-lleluia! at their confusion, defeat, and rout. With our eyes fixed on him we cannot be defeated. They may shear our hair off but they cannot harm us, for...

...not a hair on your head will be destroyed.

By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 130

His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! 
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?

Today's Gospel comes to us during a weekend when we have remembered a terrible tragedy that was inflicted upon the United States 25 years ago. We have observed this weekend with great sadness and continuing grief over those who were killed; the spouses who were widowed and the children orphaned. The gospel speaks to us at a very difficult moment. 

Because this parable's wicked servant is so familiar to us, we should ask what he was thinking. Despite its flagrant obscenity, we can recognize his attitude perhaps in some people we have met; perhaps in our own attitudes. 

First, we have to notice his ridiculous reply to his master’s decision. The Evangelist has told us “...he had no way of paying it back.” The king knew that and so did everyone else; so he only following standard operating procedure. He would cut his losses by selling the slave, his wife and children, and everything they owned. 

In a last ditch effort to save himself, the slave begged, “‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’” But everyone knows that this manager lost control of his management a long time ago. There is no reasonable hope that he might pay it back. Someone else might; but he lacks the talent, the discipline, and the wisdom to regain his losses. He is completely over his head but still denying the obvious to himself and everyone else. 

To everyone’s astonishment, and despite the pathetic display, the king is moved by another impulse. He is apparently a decent human being and not inclined to follow SOP even when he must lose a fortune. 

“Moved with compassion, the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.”

Perhaps his noble clemency saved him the trouble of seeking redress, which was hopeless in any case. 

But what did the slave think about his unexpected reprieve? We can speculate on that. I think he walked out saying, “What a fool the king is! And I conned him with my helpless act.” 

Like the king and everyone else in the room, he was disgusted by his grovelling but told himself, “It was a stroke of genius! I faked my pathetic helplessness and pulled it off! ” He could not think of his loss of dignity; he would never be like the psalmist who called himself, “a worm and no man.” Nor would he “rely on the Lord.”

So when he happened to meet another servant who owed him far less and was perfectly capable of repaying the minor debt, he refused to play the fool as the king apparently had. Noble clemency was far beyond his ken; even the suggestion of mercy was ludicrous to his wicked mind. 

However, his stupidity shocked everyone, both his fellow servants and the king. They had supposed he certainly do to others as had been done to him. 

But the world in his evil mind, with no resemblance to reality, nothing had been given to him, nothing was forgiven; and nothing had changed. In this liar’s mind, reality is plastic and malleable; it conforms to his opinions, desires, and needs. If the king had forgiven the enormous debt, the slave saw neither compassion nor mercy; it was only a calculation for unknown reasons.

He thought he had conned the king, but he would certainly not be conned by this other fellow. He was wise to their tricks! 

But we have read in the Bible how we must never ignore God’s mercy, or suppose that we deserve his blessings. God will not be taken for granted. When the wicked servant in the Lord’s parable failed to recognize the mercy he had been shown, and failed to show mercy to another, he was treated with justice. 

Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers

until he should  pay back the whole debt. 

So will my heavenly Father do to you,

unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

God prefers mercy. He wants to use mercy on every occasion. But he has other ways of leading us to virtue, and sometimes punishment may do the trick. We call it "tough love." The wicked servant, under torture, might discover that a change of heart changes his fortune. The Bible doesn’t say he was killed; the until shows there is still a way out even for fools. Don’t bet on it! But it could happen.

The Lord’s parable in Matthew 18 is an obvious paraphrase and commentary on his teaching in chapter 6:

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

And those two verses were explications of Matthew 6:12, which we all recite daily:  “...and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” 

If you take God’s blessings for granted; if you hold onto resentments and demand repayment for real and imaginary debts, be warned. Anyone, be they pope, president, senator, or humble worker, may be turned over to the torturers until they pay the last penny. 

As we recall 9/11, we must also remember the persistent words of scripture, “We have sinned, we and our fathers have sinned.” In the worst of times, when disaster had fallen upon Israel and Jerusalem had been destroyed, the prophet Daniel asked for God's mercy with a fervent prayer that began with, “We have sinned, we and our fathers have sinned.

We know we are forgiven because we forgive us as God forgive us.