A homily for a Football Team

(Pre- Maritime NY Game - Go Cards)

May the peace of Christ Reign in our hearts…
For a long time now I have decided to always try
and base my reflections on the readings of the day.
I try to reflect on whatever God gives us to reflect on

Today’s readings are not ones that I would have picked
but they are what have given to us
so it is important to think about them on them.

And that is precisely what the first reading is getting at.
Job is angry with God
Job he was a man of outstanding virtue
He had the respect of everyone
He had a certain level of material comfort
but as things are taken from him
And he faces suffering
he gets angry

He begins to fight with God.
He presumes to know more than God Himself
He begins to judge and criticize and second guess
As absurd as it seems... in his mind he makes himself God
He thinks he knows better

And because God loves Job
The proverbial 2X4 comes from the sky

Have you seen heaven?
Do you know were it is?
Have summoned the dawn?
Or seen the gates of the nether world?
Have you seen the source of the Ocean

In reality God puts Job in his place
Basically he says
I am God and you are Job
And I am all powerful and you are not
And I am all knowing and you know very little
Be humble
Know your place
That’s the message of the first reading a very important message indeed

The Gospel from Luke is hard to understand because
it is the last few lines in a very long story.

It almost seems desperate if you can ever call God desperate.
The tone is strong and in your face

It is meant to snap us out of our complacency
When God says
Woe to you
Woe
Woe to you…. That’s not good.

Jesus is simply trying to try one last time
to break through to those places
where the Gospel has already been preached

The people of these Capernaum and Chorazin have heard the gospel preached
The people of these cities have seen miracles
They have experienced the presence of God
They have been blessed... with many blessings

Yet they just won’t change
They are complacent
Comfortable in their error

They refuse to give up their poor choices
and accept God’s will in our lives.

And it as if God wants to get in their face...
I tries desperately to break through

As I think about it
I think it is important for me to hear these readings…
It is important for all of us to hear them.

How often like Job do we
think we know more than God?
How often do we think we can pick and choose
what we are going to follow in God plan?

How often do we say to ourselves and even others…
I understand this so I will follow it
I agree with that so I will make it a part of my life
or
I like that part of God’s law so I will follow it

But that doesn't make sense to me so I won’t follow it.

Sometimes people with this type of attitude are called supermarket
Christians, or supermarket Catholics…

They feel that they have the right to pick and choose what part of God’s law they will follow
Just like Job thought he knew better than God

Fellas our only question should be
can be

Is this part of God’s law or not
If something is part of God’s law we are bound to follow it.

Have we summoned the day
Do we know where heaven is
Have we seen the gates of the netherworld?

Reflecting on the Gospel

We like Capernaum and Corazin have received many gifts
The Gospel has been preached to us
We have received lots of opportunities
The chance to learn, to study
We have a level of material well being
We blessed with the ability to play a sport and be good at it
To have a passion for something that we enjoy doing

We have received so much
and what kind of men have we become ?

I ask myself frequently with all the blessings that I have received
What have I done with them?

I think the tone of the gospel
calls us all to reflect
on what have we done with God’s blessings in our lives

There is always room for improvement in my life
there may be room for improvement in yours too.

Let’s try more and more to conform our lives to God’s law
not just the part we find comfortable or easily understandable.

Let’s allow the blessings we’ve received to change us
and mold us into the men that God would have us be

We are not God
and the blessings we have received
call us to follow God's will without counting the cost.

These are important lessons indeed.
Amen