Christ the King 2013 - Year C

We really don’t know that much about him.

We know that he lived during the time of Jesus.

Some say that he was a zealot trying to overthrow the Roman occupiers,

others say that he was a crook,

others say that he was a murderer.

Whatever he was we know that he was guilty and that whatever his crime was it the Romans felt that he merited death.

History has given him many names the most common is the “good thief” but others have called him St. Didimus. We know he is a Saint because from the cross Jesus promised him salvation.

Yes he was guilty as charged and from his place of torture he admitted it.

But deep within his heart was a tiny seed of repentance and faith.

We don’t know how it was planted or nurtured but it was there,

and this man’s faith gave him the capacity to to recognized Jesus as the Messiah as a King with a Kingdom, admit his own guilt,  and ask for mercy.

“Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

With those simple words, with that tiny moment of contrition the Good thief was given the promise of salvation.”

No matter what his crimes were Jesus knew that the the good thief recognized that Jesus was God and admitted his guilt and asked forgiveness.

Jesus’ promise was both simple and profound “This day you will be with me in paradise”

God’s mercy and God’s love for each and everyone whether we are guilty or innocent is amazing.

Quite frankly it is often beyond our comprehension.

Once when I was at a local nursing home. A woman said to me,

“I’ve lived a horrible life I’ve made too many mistakes to count.

I’ve hurt so many of the people I love and I have a terminal illness.The Doctor says I am going to die in a couple of months. What should I do, what can I do?”

I told her to ask for the sacrament of the sick and all of her sins would be forgiven.

She looked me right in the eye and said is God that reckless with his mercy ?

She died two weeks later completely reconciled with God.

The story of the Good thief proves that God is indeed reckless with his mercy.

God is reckless with his mercy and God is reckless with his love

The Feast of Christ the King is relatively new to the Church it was started in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.

In 1970  the Anglicans, Lutherans, and many other Protestants as well as by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. All accepted it as a feast

Pius the XI instituted the feast Christ the King because he believed the world was becoming more and more secular and more and more violent and more and more materialistic.

He saw the world drifting from God.

He felt that many were simply forgetting or even worse ignoring God’s place in their lives and refusing to accept that God made us and we belong to him.

Pious the XI believed that the first world war, the rise of communism and the exaggerated materialism of the West all were conspiring  to squeeze God from our lives and with the Feast of Christ the King he sought to remind the world who we are and Who God is.

Let’s ask ourselves

• To we recognized God’s primary place in our lives, or do we think that we are the masters of our own destiny?
• To we remember that every moment of our lives is a gift from God, or do we think that somehow we are entitled to the gift of life?
• Do we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and our King, are we willing to serve Him and follow his plan?

The Feast of Christ the King is important because every year it places all of these questions before our heart and before our mind.

At the last possible moment the good thief recognized God’s rightful place in his life.

Do we ?

Amen

33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C

You know when I lived in Washington people would often come to visit and one of the first things we would do is get on the Metro or the Subway and go to see the sites.

Everyone wanted to see the Capitol Building, the White House, all of the monuments, and the war memorials.

Quite frequently our visitors would remark how beautiful Washington was and what a great country we have.

They were almost always taken in by the grandeur of the Lincoln Memorial or the beautiful reflection of the Jefferson Memorial on the tidal basin on a calm crisp night.

That’s pretty much what was happening in today’s Gospel.

Some of the Jew were looking at the Temple the center of Judaism and complimenting themselves on how beautiful it was and how great their nation was.

During the time of Jesus, life was ok in Israel, while not prosperous, it was at the center of trading routes and people were able to make ends meet.

Its rulers accommodated the Romans who occupied their country and the ruling class became quite rich from their accommodation.

The normal people were being pulled  between their rulers and religious leaders who were comfortable with the status quo and the Zealots who wanted the Romans driven out by armed insurrection.

Both sides viewed their position as God’s will.

In the end the Zealots would win over the country and in 40 short years after Jesus death they would start an insurrection or war with the Romans that would lead to disaster.

One historian states over a million Jews were killed by the Romans and  the beautiful Temple was be destroyed.

The Jewish people who remained were driven from their land and spread out all over the world.

Jesus knew what was coming

He knew that Jerusalem was headed for destruction.

He knew that the faith of his early Jewish followers would be shaken when it happened.

He knew that they would face persecution.

He knew all these things, and he warned both the people of his time and he warns us that a life of faith is not always going to be easy to live.

No one who has ever read the Gospel can say that Jesus didn’t warn us about the cost of discipleship.

There are so many similarities between our current situation and that of the Israel during the time of Jesus.

Like Israel during the time of Jesus, our country is indeed becoming more and more polarized.

We are polarized on key fundamental issues like the economy and health care, marriage and immigration the list goes on and on.

We are becoming so polarized in fact that sometimes it almost seems that our government has stopped functioning. We all remember the shutdown.

During the time of Jesus the simple people were caught in the middle of the two main factions, the zealots and the accommodators and were persecuted by both.
Right now so many of us feel like we are caught in the middle differing world views.

With the fall of Jerusalem the Jewish people and the followers of Jesus suffered religious persecution.

Right now  I believe that our religious beliefs and our religious freedom are slowly being pushed aside by a culture which is growing more and more secular and has less and less room for God.

Try and say Merry Christmas in public and see the reaction.

Fr. Raymond lamented that he went to a card store and could not find one religious Christmas Card.

You know I have this little trick when I go into any store that sells computers. I pull up our parish website and walk away in the hope that someone will see. it

Once I went to a computer store and tried to pull up our parish website on I could not.

When I questioned one of the associates he said that they block all religious sites like they block pornography because they don't’ want to offend anyone.

Personally I believe that in the future it will be more difficult for our children to practice their faith.

I also believe that religious indifference or even persecution will grow more and more prevalent.

In the light of all these things today’s Gospel reminds us to not waiver in our commitment to God and not to lose hope or faith.

We all know how the story ends, good wins and evil loses.

Let us remain steadfast in our beliefs and true to our faith not matter what the cost.

For Jesus warned us about all of these things before they happened and challenged us not to let them shake our faith.

Let us always be true to God’s word

Let us love the world even when it persecutes or marginalizes us.

Let us never forget the poor and open hearts and our resources to those in need.

For Jesus said “by your perseverance you will secure your lives."

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C - 2013

The Kingdom of God is not about numbers.

But every Pastor should know all about the numbers of his parish.

He should know how many families and how many children and how many senior citizens he has in his parish

He should know how much money the parish has in the bank.

He should know the budget and the profit and loss statement like the back of his hand.

He should know how many Catholic families regularly attend Mass.

This week you’ll see the ushers counting because we are starting our yearly October count and it will tell us and the Archbishops’ office a lot about our parish.

When I was at Catholic U we had a November count just like we have an October count here. You would be surprised at how many young people go to Mass in College.

In fact at Catholic U 49% of the Catholic Students went to Mass each Sunday.

Here at St. Paul’s only 22% of the 11000 registered go to Mass each Sunday which is the average for this part of the country… We’ve got work to do.

One time at 9:00 PM Mass the biggest Mass on most college campuses I saw a group of four young men who I hadn’t seen before.

They were there sitting in a row and after they came for a couple of weeks I approached them and asked how they started coming back to Mass and they told me their story

One long weekend they decided to take a road trip to Ocean City Maryland and go [artying… They said they had a great time and when they got back to their motel in the wee hours of the morning they quickly fell asleep.

When they finally opened their eyes Sunday Afternoon one of them was gone.

His stuff was there but he wasn’t.

They went to the beach looked all around and couldn’t find him.

They tried his cell but when they called it started ringing on the table. Wherever he was he didn’t take it with him.

Finally in desperation they spread out and started walking all over town. Two of them got in the car and started driving up and down the Coastal Hwy looking for him.

Finally they spotted him walking about 5 miles from their motel they pulled over and confronted him.

“Dude where have you been ?“ They asked him.

He responded, I went to Mass, I always go to Mass.

Every time my Grandfather sees me, whenever he came to my games, he always said  “if you are there for God  God be there for you.”

They continued their celebrating and that phrase “If you are there for God God will be there for you” stuck in their heads and there were several conversations about faith.

They resolved to go to Mass together on Sundays.

Eventually 1 of the four dropped out of the “Mass Club” as they called themselves but the following year the remaining three joined a bible study in their dorm and in their Junior year all three of them went on mission trips to serve the poor in Latin America.

All that good came from that one little experience.

You know most seeds are tiny, some of them are hard to find and hard to pick up. Look at the seeds for a maple tree. They are really small but they grow into big trees which can pull up your sidewalk and wreck you pipes.

Nature reminds us that there is so much power and potential in the tiniest of seeds.

That simple phrase “ If you are there for God God will be there for you” and the witness of that kid who got up even after a night of partying to go to Mass was like a seed.

It was a tiny seed which bore great fruit.

Every day we plant seeds

Most of them are tiny….

We plant them with  little acts of kindness

and tiny acts of faith.

Quite frequently we never know if they even germinate or bear fruit.

Who knew that those simple words of a loving grandfather would bring three boys to faith and maybe even their future families to faith?

Let us live generous lives

Let us sow good seeds of faith,

We don’t have to make big grand gestures,

simple acts of faith

gentle prayers,

unexpected acts of kindness,

all of these thing can bear tremendous fruit.

Even though he made fun of my beard when I met him in the seminary. I loved Pope John Paul I cried like a baby when he died.

Pope Benedict was a quiet introverted man who did the best he could to shepherd the Church.

When he was elected many people thought he was going to be some kind of enforcer but instead he turned out to be a gentle loving pastor.

And when he just couldn’t handle it anymore he put the interests of the Church above his own interests and resigned.

Now Pope Francis is calling  all of us to live more simple authentic lives of faith.

He’s trying to help us get rid of all of the unnecessary extras which the our Church and it’s leadership has accumulated over the years.

He is calling us back to sow simple small seeds of compassion and kindness.

While he not changing our teaching he is challenging us to change the way we share it.

Love first,

Forgive first,

then teach and inspire

His beautiful simple example is taking the world by storm and even the most skeptical are impressed with his humble example.

Let us all follow in his example and sow the seed of faith, with gentle acts of love and compassion

For remember as Jesus said

"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,

you could say to this mulberry tree,

'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Tiny acts of love, compassion and kindness are powerful indeed.

Amen

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2013

May the peace of Christ reign in our heart…

In Today’s Gospel

The rich man eats sumptuously, and dresses extravagantly.

It is obvious that he has everything he needs and everything he wants.

He is comfortable and satisfied.

For him Life is good.

Lazarus the poor man is so weak he simply lies in the street and he can’t even push away the dogs when they lick his wounds.

He is so hungry that he would have gladly eaten anything, even the scraps that fell from the rich man table. They didn’t have paper towels back then and they didn’t have silverware so they would eat with their hands and the rich used chunks of bread to wipe their hands clean.

They are both children of God in radically different places.

We really don’t know much more about them. /

There were always scraps of food and bread around the table of a rich person.

Jesus doesn’t give us much more detail because it really doesn’t matter.

We don’t know if Lazarus was lazy or just down on his luck.

We don’t’ know if he was smart or not smart.

We don’t know if he was addicted or not addicted.

We don’t know if his poverty was his fault or not.

We don’t know…. and like I said it really doesn’t matter.

Actually there are really only two things that we know about him.

He was poor and he was a good man because he made it into heaven

sadly being poor by itself is not a ticket into heaven.

Rich or poor to get into heaven you have to good person a loving person.

The rich man is not mean.

He doesn’t treat Lazarus disrespectfully.

He doesn’t kick him or taunt him when he passes by.  

So what is is sin?

Plain and simply put the rich man just didn’t seem to notice Lazarus.

You see he had grown so comfortable that he became self absorbed.

In fact, he had grown so self centered that he didn’t have any feelings for the poor or those in need, even those in desperate straits like Lazarus.

The rich man had squandered away or lost the ability to feel for others,

to pity others,

to have compassion on others.

In the eyes of the rich man,

the poor,

those less fortunate,

those who just couldn’t seem to get their act together,

just didn’t matter it was like they were invisible.

How sad, how tragic it is when a heart goes so cold that they no longer have compassion.

How sad indeed!

The rich man’s sin is a sin of omission,

and yet it is a serious sin, a sin that cost him eternal life.

He just did not notice Lazarus, and he did not act.

You know sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that the only time we sin is when we actually do something wrong.

So often we forget that we also sin when we fail to do something good.

It is so important for us to remember that

we sin when we fail to do what love calls us to do.

We sin when we don’t notice or just don’t care about others.

At the beginning of this mass we prayed the Confiteor or the “I confess prayer”

Please repeat it with me…

I confess to almighty God

and to you, my brothers and sisters,

that I have sinned through my own fault

in my thoughts and in my words,

in what I have done,

and in what I have failed to do;

We have prayed those words over and over again…

May their meaning sink into our hearts

May they change us and transform us…

May they transform our parish, and our town, our state, and our nation.

Loving our neighbor is not something we do when it’s convenient.

Being compassionate to those in need, anyone  in need, is not an option for a follower of Christ.

May our hearts never grow cold.

May we never lose our ability to feel for others,

to be kind to others and merciful to others no matter what.

May the needs of the poor and the weak always pull at our heartstrings and call us to service.

The Gospel this week calls us to examine ourselves,

and ask ourselves…

What have I done  for poor, and the outcast, the lonely, and the sick?

Am I able to look beyond my own world my own interests, my own concerns…

…Lest someday we stand before God and say I’m sorry Lord I simply didn’t notice.

Amen

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time–Year C - 2013

May the peace of Christ reign in our hearts.

This week  when we read this Gospel at our youth group there were lots of questions…

At first glance its is confusing. It almost seems to be praising the deceitful steward who is about to fired for stealing money from his employer. When you look deeper it is actually the shady employer praising the shady steward.
 
Here are three simple points we can take from this complicated Gospel

1. The steward was desperate and so he worked hard to figure out a way to provide for himself.

If all of us worked as hard at being holy as we do trying to get ahead,

If all of us prayed with the same intensity that we watch our investments or bank account,

if we were concerned as much about the things of heaven as we are about the things of earth we would be incredibly different people,

and our homes, our town, our country and our world would be very different places indeed.   

That’s the lesson of the deceitful steward. Let’s think about that for a moment.

2. Material things in and of themselves are not important people are.

Material things our wealth our resources should be directed toward the good of others. We should use our material well being to help others. Even the shady or dishonest Steward understood that.

St. Ambrose said… The rich can indeed help the poor in this world..  but it is poor also help the rich by in next world. 

In other words, the rich man gives the poor bread, a poor man give the rich the ability to store up treasures in heaven.

After reading this Gospel all of us should ask ourselves where should our treasure be or where should we store our treasure, here on earth to be left behind or in heaven where we can enjoy our good works forever.

Just think about that for a minute

3. Many times in our lives it is hard to figure out who we can trust and who we can’t trust.

Jesus in this Gospel reminds us If a person is trustworthy in something small they can be trusted in something big. 

In other words, if you want to see if someone really loves you, don’t look for grand gestures, anyone can do grand gestures. Rather if you want to know if you can trust someone watch them day in and day out over time and you will find out if they care for you or not.

We should work hard for holiness

We should store up our treasure in heaven

and

You can find out who to trust by watching their actions.

Three simple lesson to ponder from today’s Gospel

Amen

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C - 2013

Once when I was walking around my Residence halls to my surprise I found a group of students playing what they called “Bible Roulette”  It must have been a slow night.

They would think of a problem and then randomly open the bible and point at a phrase to see if it applied.

To their surprise many of their random selections seemed to answer their question.

But I cautioned them that  it would be better if they simply read the whole book and not random passages by chance.

Everyone knows that you can’t read one sentence randomly out of context and understand the message of a whole book.

The same thought came to mind this week as I read today’s Gospel because it never really sits well with me.

How could Jesus who calls us to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us,

How could Jesus who calls us to honor our Father and Mother,

How could Jesus who honored and loved his parents with all his heart,

in another breath seemingly command us to hate them.

Remember we have to read the whole book and understand the context and culture in which it is written to understand its message.

The scholars tell us that in this passage Jesus was using an idiomatic phrase and hyperbole to make his point.

Just like a grandma saying to her Grandson eat your supper or I will never buy you ice cream again.

Here is another example:

If in 2000 years someone finds a copy of the Hartford Currant, (God forbid) and on the first page reads that a gunman kills two in bank robbery,

then on the sports page they read, Berlin High School kills defending state champion Xavier HS in season opener,

and when they go to financial page they read Fr. Robert made a killing on the stock market this year.

From the literal meaning of the words without the cultural context in which they were written, They would think that there were murders all over the place

But from the context we would all understand that sadly on the first page there was indeed the tragic loss of life,

the sports page simply reporting that BHS beat Xavier and beat them well in football,

and on the financial page, Fr. Robert made a lot of money on the stock market.

To understand the meaning you have understand the context of the words and the meaning they express

The word Jesus used did not mean to literally hate with anger but rather to prefer or choose.

What Jesus is saying is that Christian discipleship asks that we put God and God’s plan first in our lives no matter what. 

And that’s what this whole Gospel is about.

Jesus wants us all to know that should we chose to follow Him it may very well cost us, and cost us dearly.

One need only to look over to the Middle East now to see how much discipleship is costing Christians, in Palestine, and Egypt, and Syria, most have been forced to flee Iraq.

The Gospel is also reminding us that to be the best Husband or Wife

to be the best Mom or Dad

to be the best priest.

We have to be the best disciples first. 

The best possible way for me to serve you is not attend tons of meetings though it seems I do, but rather to be a holy priest,

If you want to be a great Dad and a great Mom for your children or a great husband and wife for your spouse,  be a holy disciple first and you will be a great parent and a great spouse.

The Scriptures and the history of our church is full of examples of people who paid the price of our faith.

Sometimes Televangelists tell people that discipleship is easy and if you are a good disciple Jesus will make you rich.

Nothing could be farther from the truth

Being a Disciple means carrying your cross

As one commentary put it, bearing your cross means voluntarily exposing ourselves to ridicule and sacrifice in order to follow Jesus.

When we chose to follow Christ we will always carry the cross like he did.

We can never say that we didn’t know or understand the true cost of discipleship.

All we have to do is follow in his footsteps to Calvary.

Are we as a Church, as a parish and as individuals willing to pay the cost of discipleship and follow our Lord?

Our  world, our country, our families desperately need us to say yes!

Amen

22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C - 2013

Not to long ago I was vacuuming my car at the Car wash by Kensington Market. I was working pretty hard because it hadn’t been done for a while.

I was also rushing  because my minutes were clicking away.  All of a sudden someone started calling me repeatedly  Sir are you Robert from the St. Paul?

I looked up and the man was walking toward me .
Are you Robert from St. Paul’s he said again and I said yep that’s me…

He said I saw you at a funeral and I just want you to know that I used to go to St. Paul’s but I gave up on religion, however I like the pope.

I didn’t really understand the point he was making so I asked him...
You gave up your religion but you like the pope?

Yep, he said, I like him because he’s humble and sometimes I even listen to what he has to say.

I thanked him for saying hello and assured him the door was always open at St. Paul. Then I went to find more quarters.

When I was stationed in Assisi I walked out of the Church and there was a man there that looked really familiar.

I went up to him and said sir you look so familiar to me have we met before?  He said I’m Martin Sheen. and when I didn’t recognized the name he simply said I’ve done some acting maybe you saw a commercial or two that I made.

He was so simple and welcoming he had come to Assisi to learn about St. Francis and pray for peace..

He asked me lots of questions about St. Francis and the Basilica.

A couple of days later there was a rerun of  the West Wing in italian on television and I realized that I had been talking to President Bartlett.

If there ever was a virtue that is counter cultural it’s humility.

It is so counter cultural that sometimes people can’t believe their eyes when they see someone important being humble.

The world teaches us to always strive to be number one.

It teaches us to get all the recognition we can and then want more.

We are encouraged not only share our gifts with others butto  make sure everyone knows we’re are sharing our gifts.

When a proud person does something good, their love is not free they expect to get paid with recognition and honor.

When you think about it Our Holy Father hasn’t changed anything that we believe as Catholics.. rather, he simply speaks and lives in a gentle and humble way.

I can’t remember in recent history when the leader of our church has received more positive press and recognition.

All of us have a lot to learn from people like Pope Francis and Martin Sheen.

At this Liturgy we celebrate the most significant moment of all time because at this mass and every mass we enter into the mystery of God’s humility,

the all good, all loving, all powerful, all just God who entered into our lives through the incarnation and sacrificed himself on the Cross for our sins . Only radical love could be this humble.

A later on in this liturgy we will have the chance to receive our humble lord in the sacrament of his Body and Blood

God, the creator of the universe, will change some humble bread and wine into his very body and blood and share himself with all of us the good the bad and the indifferent.

The message of today’s Gospel is pure and simple

We, we as a church have to be more humble more loving more gentle, We can’t change the truths that God has give to us  but we can and must proclaim with generous and gentle and loving lives.

All of us should strive to be just a little bit more humble, never seeking the place of honor or recognition.

May we love love each other expecting nothing in return.
May our love always be free seeking nothing in return and may our lives be humble.

Amen

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C - 2013

I once heard a story about a very kind elderly woman who had one daughter.
She loved her daughter and always looked forward to seeing and being with her.

The daughter however was often busy and unable to come and visit.
Sometimes she could not even spare the time to talk on the phone with her Mom.

There was always some pressing issue that needed attention or she just had so much on her plate.

When she did come to visit she often arrived late, stayed a short time and left early.

The mother never got angry, she never held a grudge,  she always forgave her daughter even though she longed for more time and attention from her.

As the mom got older and more dependent on her daughter the visits became even less and less.

Finally, the Mom died but the daughter arrived late as usual and was unable to say goodbye.

The next day after her mother had died the daughter went to the funeral home to make the arrangements.
But to her surprise they had already been made by her Mom.

When the daughter tried to change some of the details but she was told that her mom had left that responsibility to someone .

Leaving the Funeral Home the daughter drove to her Mom’s home. To her surprise her key no longer worked in the door and she could not get into the house.

A neighbor saw the daughter trying to get and and came over.

Your Mom had us change the locks as soon as she passed away and she left me in charge of the house and the property…

The daughter was shocked and dismayed yet there was nothing she could do there was no way to make amends.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ time believed that because the Jews were God’s chosen people that their salvation was assured.

Because of this they took God’s love
and God’s mercy
and God’s forgiveness for granted, just like the daughter in the story to her mother for granted.

Today’s Gospel is not easy to hear but the message is clear Jesus was warning the religious leaders of his time and he is warning us that our salvation must earned, and that it is not assured.

He even goes so far to say that salvation is not necessarily easy to obtain.

““Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. “

Yes God loves us.
Yes God longs to be with us  in heaven forever.
Yes God is good and merciful.
Yes to all these things.

But God is also just.
God is and must be as just as he is loving,
as just as he is merciful,
as just as he is forgiving.

It is so important for us to remember that what we do and how we live our lives matters.

No one wants to be loved half heartedly.
No one wants a relationship which is really going through the motions.
Who wants a friend who views their relationship with us as a burden or obligation.

One day when our time comes our merciful and loving and just God will be forced to judge us justly and fairly
by how we have lived and how we have loved.

Sadly and tragically this Gospel seems to imply that there are some who will expect to enter through the door only to find themselves locked and their key no longer able to open them.

The Gospel today is not an easy one to listen to but it is important for each and everyone of us to take to heart.

Lest one day we be heard saying something like…

But I went to Mass on most Sundays at St. Paul’s
and I said my prayers
and I tried not to hurt anyone

And God respond depart from I don’t know where you come from.

The woman in the story neglected her Mom but when she realized it there was nothing she could do to fix it.

Pray we don’t find ourselves in the same situation when we knock on heaven’s door.

Let us one and all be attentive to these most sobering word and never stop trying to be the generous and loving and caring people God created us to be.

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C - 2013

Once I knew a young man who grew up on the streets in Newark. His family disintegrated when he was a little boy and he was shuttled from aunt to uncle to grandparents, never feeling really wanted or loved.

He was angry and always in trouble.  His only solace came from his friends whom he called “his brothers” He told me once that  he was willing to die for them.

After years of chaos through God’s grace he came to his senses in the back seat of a police squad car and decided to change his life around.

He got involved in his church and somehow got admitted to Catholic U. As graduation approached all he talked about was wanting to introduce me to his friends.

Truth be told no one came, none of his family and none of his so called brothers, not one.

I ran around and got some kids and we were the only ones screaming for him when he got his diploma.

His friends refused to come because they said he was different he had changed. Obviously he had changed, changed for the good.

and Jesus said...

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

There was a man I knew who worked in a marketing firm.

His whole office was excited about a conference they were all attending. They were especially excited about the evening activities they were planning.

When it came time to go to the “gentlemen’s club” and that’s an oxymoron if there there was one....

He simply said “I’m going to say back and relax tonight. His co-workers were not happy.

When he got back into the office he was called in by his boss who said that his co-workers were complaining about his work ethic at the conference and that he was not a team player.

All that man did was follow his conscience and refuse to join in the evening activities.

And Jesus said

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

There was a lady who worked in an office which was abuzz because the boss was going away.

The ladies all planned to go work as usual but spend the whole day shopping on the internet instead of working.  The woman who kept on task and chose to do the right thing was ostracized and made to feel so uncomfortable that she quit.

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

A young man was helping a contractor during the summer it seemed whenever they finished a job there were tons of materials left over and all of it was gathered up and taken to his co-workers house.

When inquired about all of the extra materials his co-worker said I always tell them I need almost double of what I do need and then I keep the excess.  Then he offered the kid some tools but when he refused the stolen tools and the rest of the summer was not pleasant.

Even though he was a great worker needless to say he didn’t get the job the next summer.

I could go on and on and on but you get the point.

All of these people chose to do the right thing.

All of these people followed their conscience and all of them suffered for it.

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

When we hear those words they just don’t make sense to us.

Jesus doesn’t want to create division but he wants us to clearly understand that when we follow him, when we try to realize God’s will in our lives, we can be pretty sure that there will be consequences and sometimes difficult consequences.

Because Jesus chose to follow His Father’s will,

because he refused to be the type of political messiah that Judas wanted him to be,

Judas betrayed him and he was executed on the cross.

Being ostracized, or shunned, being made fun of or not hired again are all painful experiences but they are all possibilities which we should realize can happen if we are true to ourselves and true to God’s will.

The Gospel today reminds us about the cost of discipleship.

I once had an old priest say to me Robert if you find being a Catholic and being a priest and being a friar easy, maybe you’re not doing a good job at any of them.

Let’s pray that we can be willing to pay the cost of discipleship even when it hurts.

Let’s pray that both we and our children and our grandchildren will have the courage to do the right thing even if it means being misunderstood or shoved away.

For Jesus said

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division. 

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year C - 2013

I have to admit I’m kind of surprised that my homily last week generated so many comments both positive and negative.

I don’t mind the comments at all, everyone who emailed me or spoke to me or facebooked me, was very considerate.. It is OK to have different opinions as long as we are respectful.

You know when your friars or deacon preach it is not our task to tickle your ears.

When we preach it is not always meant to make you or even ourselves feel good or comfortable.

Many things that Jesus said did not make his disciples feel good at all.
In fact some of his followers left after they heard him preach just read the Gospel of John Chapter 6 which we call the Bread of life discourse.

I can’t promise you that you will not be offended when I preach.
I can’t promise you that you will find it entertaining,
Some priests can be like a stand up comedian most cannot.
Is it really fair to expect us to entertain you like Jay Leno?

I can’t promise that my delivery will always be great, sometimes I have a lot on my mind or I’m just having a bad day. (Priest’s have those too)

What I can promise you is that I take this privilege I have of speaking to you,my ministry of preaching  very seriously.

I prepare my homilies and and trust me  my preparation for next week’s homily will begin tonight.

I will also promise you that I always try to find some way to bring the God’s word and our lived experience together .

I always want to  say something that relates to our lives and is not just a bunch of sweet nothings.
And finally I  promise you that my homilies will be the fruit of my prayer.

I will do my best to let God speak through me, we all know that I am far from perfect, a very broken vessel to be sure.

If what we say touches you then it a gift from God not a gift for me.

If what we say does not relate to your experience in anyway I assure you it’s not for lack of trying.

Now let’s take a quick look at today’s readings.

Once I heard a story about a little boy who was trapped on the second floor  balcony of his apartment building by a fire.  His Dad somehow got out and was on the the ground yelling for him to jump.

The little boy yelled back I can’t jump because I can’t see you. There was just too much smoke and fire for him to see his father.

The father yelled back It’s ok to jump I can see you I’ll catch you trust me and jump.

When he heard this the boy jumped safely into his father’s arms.

That little story speaks to today’s readings really well because all of them speak about faith, having faith.

Almost everyday God calls us to jump into his arms even when we are afraid and can't seem to see him.

Just like the little boy had to have faith in his father.

Abraham had to have faith when God called him to leave all that was familiar to him and go to a strange and foreign land.

Abraham and Sarah had to have faith when God promised them a child after years and years and years of disappointments. There are a number of young couples who find themselves in the very same situation.

Today’s Gospel also speaks about faith.
It calls us to have faith that this life is not all there is and reminds us to invest in our heavenly future.

It reminds us to store up our treasure for our journey home to heaven and place our trust in God not things or wealth or riches.

Sometimes we say to ourselves If I just had a little more in my retirement fund.
If only my nest egg could be just a little bigger....

So many of us worry and worry and worry.. about our  retirement investments.

We make a grave mistake if all we do is worry about balance  in our earthly 401ks.

We must never forget to build up our treasure in our heavenly retirement fund. 
We all know you can’t take our money with us.

The only thing that we can deposit in our heavenly investments are  good deeds and acts of love.

One day when we knock on the pearly gates may we present to God a beautiful treasure of generous lives well lived and well loved.

How much is in our heavenly Pension Fund.

That’s a very important question indeed.
Amen

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time–Year C

You know whenever I go to a new assignment I have a very strange ritual.

When I have free time I simply take my car and go out driving.

I don’t take a map, but just drive until I find a road that I recognize. Sometimes I end up going down the same street twice or three times and people begin to wonder.

When I came to Kensington I did the same thing. I drove all over the place and as I drove in New Britain I noticed that when the immigrants came they built three family houses.

We don’t have any of those in Buffalo most of our houses went up only two floors.

I talked to people I came to understand that extended families would move into those house in New Britain and it was not uncommon for Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents, and cousins would all live in the same house.

They were like apartment buildings for extended families and sometimes if there were more siblings your aunts and uncles and cousins would also live in buildings a couple of houses down the street.

New Britain is not a large city geographically and if people had to get someplace they would usually walk to the store or Church.

It seems that as these immigrant families got more settled and saved their pennies many eventually moved to Berlin and as I walk around town especially in this area there are lots of little Cape Cod houses where these families moved.  These little houses had a bathroom and two bedrooms on the first floor and sometimes a bedroom upstairs. Our neighborhood is full of them interspersed with old farm houses. I think the big influx was in the late 50s and early 60s. That’s when St. Paul’s exploded and they built the School and the new wing and expanded the friary to accommodate the influx.

When these families moved to Berlin. It was like moving up. Now each family had their own four walls and a yard. They could yell and not be heard by the in-laws but they also lost the regular presence of their extended family. You could not walk to places from their new homes so they got a car to go visit their extended family.

In the late 60’s and 70s places like Parish Drive were built they weren’t little Cape Cod homes any more they were split ranches with a family room and attached 2 car garages. People were livin large for sure.

If you keep walking around town it is easy to see that no one is building two bedroom cape cods with a single car garage anyone. 

Now the houses are much larger with bigger lots. There are two or three car garages , that’s a long way from the three story houses in New Britain or Hartford or wherever.

With each generation the houses seem to get bigger and bigger obviously making them more expensive.

This same process was repeated all over our country as the suburbs grew up.

Several years ago some of the kids in the Architecture School Catholic U gave me a lecture on the disaster of Suburbia, They felt very strongly that the suburbs contributed to the decay of our cities, a two class society, a lot more pollution and distressed our extended families. They went on and on and on. In fact right now there is a movement to move back into the cities.

Some of you are thinking Fr. Robert get to the point. Well here it is.

You know It seems the rich man in the Gospel could never get enough.

He worked harder and harder and got richer and richer but he never was satisfied. He always wanted more.

When he finally had enough it was too late for him to enjoy what he had worked so hard for.

This Gospel is very important for us.

It seems we are in the same situation. 

We as a nation and we as individuals always seem to want more.

Our houses and our expectations get bigger and bigger. Now we need Great rooms and multiple bathrooms, granite countertops and swimming pools in the back yard. There is not one TV but many and we don’t know how we could live without central air. (We have global warming you know)

Extended families don’t live on top of each other anymore.

They don’t live on the same street.

You can’t go to downstairs to your grandma’s house if you don’t like what your mom made for Supper.

Sometimes Mom isn’t even home for supper because now she has to work just to make end meet and keep up the payments on the big house.

How many baseball games and dance recitals have been missed because Mom and Dad had to work.

How many families are able to have common meals or quality time together.

Why do I hear so many times “Father at the end of the day I’m just too exhausted to pray”

This Gospel should cause us all to stop and think, yes our living standard has risen substantially but are we really better off?

With our personal debt and national debt will our kids and grandkids ever be able to reach our level of affluence ? Is it really fair to give them this expectation ? Are we leaving the world better off or worse ?

The Gospel today challenges us all to ask ourselves when is enough enough ?

When can we get off the treadmill of material well being and live?

Are we rich in worldly things or are we rich in the things of God ?

A very important question indeed.

Amen