21st Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C - 2016

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  with her Mom on the phone.

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 sadly 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 else.

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 to her mom.

Obviously the elderly Mother in the story represents God and the busy self absorbed daughter is humanity.

The moral of the story and the first lesson that the Gospel teaches today us is simply this.

During our time on earth God will give us chance after chance after chance

He will forgive us over and over again.

Jesus is reminding us in this Gospel that once we die our choice is made and there are no more second chances.

God will judge us fairly and justly by the lives we have lived and the love we shared.

The second lesson is just as important as the first.

Jesus describes the path to salvation as a narrow door.

It’s a narrow door. He says “Some will try to enter but be not be strong enough”

The message is clear.

Being saved and living with God forever will require some effort some sacrifice on our part.

It will probably require letting go of some things we value.

Picture someone trying to carry all of the things they hold dear through a narrow gate or doorway. Possessions, Opinions, Desires, Prejudices, anger, resentments etc.

If we load ourselves down with lots of things during our life and we refuse to let go of them how will we ever fit through the narrow door to heaven that Jesus is talking about ?

How will we ever get through it ?

Salvation seems to demand that we put things down and let things go.

Over and over in the Gospel Jesus warns us to travel light as we journey through life and yet the world tells us take this and that you need this and you need that you have a right to this and don’t let anyone take that from you.

The world would have us take to ourselves as much as we possibly can and make it difficult for us to get to through the door.

Finally the third lesson about salvation is simply this.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ time believed that  their salvation was assured simply because they were Jews .

They took God’s love

and God’s mercy

and God’s forgiveness for granted

You see it’s not enough to want to be good.

It’s not enough to have been good once upon a time.

Our salvation depends on loving God and loving our neighbor.

Jesus is warning us not to simply presume God’s love or forgiveness.

Remember what we just heard in the Gospel

He will say to you in reply,

‘I do not know where you are from.

And you will say,

‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’

Then he will say to you,

‘I do not know where you are from.

Depart from me, all you evildoers!’

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 even though Salvation is a free gift that God longs to give each of us,

we must live good holy lives which demonstrate that we are willing to accept God’s love and salvation.

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.

And so good people it is  important for all of us to remember that what we do and how we live our lives matters.

One day when our time comes our merciful and loving and just God will do the loving thing and judge us justly by how we have lived and how we have loved.

Our consolation should be that only God knows our hearts

He knows us better than we know ourselves.

God understands all the challenges we faced and the love we have shared.

God loves us and longs to be with each of us forever.

God’s Judgement is final

Our salvation will demand some effort on our part

We should never simply presume God’s love

So Let us be attentive to God’s word today.

Amen

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year C - 2016

Many of us go through life asking questions like:

What do I need to do to be successful?

What do I need to do to be happy?

What should I do to be healthy ?

We ask ourselves over and over again..

What do I need to do to get ahead of the pack and stay there?

How much money do I need for my kids to go to college ?
How much money do I need so that I can retire comfortably ?

These are all valid questions and frankly many of us live with them day in and day out.

But...all of these questions are about our life here on earth,

which we need to remember  is so very short and fragile.

Every week before the start of Mass we read the names of people who have passed away and we have to wonder as they knocked on heaven’s door if they had wished they had spent more time worrying about eternal life.

Today’s gospel asks us, it is wise to spend so much energy only thinking about the here and now and not spend time thinking about forever?

Today’s Gospel and this question reminds us so poignantly  to raise our eyes and our thoughts and our worries beyond  the normal everyday challenges of this life.

There was a little old lady in my very first parish in a very poor violent neighborhood of Rome.  She had all kinds of challenges, she was desperately poor.

One day when I saw her she was so happy I would say she was ecstatic because a distant family member was coming to visit her.

People rarely came to our neighborhood because it was so violent and they were afraid.

If it wasn’t for the church the little lady would have been terribly alone.

She didn’t have money for any special food so she spent the whole day in a park picking mushrooms.

When  I passed her walking home she was so excited because she found some great mushrooms and she would be able to put them in the pasta she was going to serve her guests.

The next day when I saw her I asked how her visit went and how the pasta was.

For the briefest of brief moments she looked sad and then she said.

I put the mushrooms on my porch to dry and someone stole them

but then she quickly added but Father when you think about eternity what difference do those mushrooms make?

The Scholar’s said the way to heaven was

“You shall love the Lord, your God,

with all your heart,

with all your being,

with all your strength,

and with all your mind,

and your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly;

do this and you will live.”

So the next time we find ourselves worrying about

What this person or that person said,

or how much money we have,

or what color we have to paint the living room,

or whatever...

Let us ask ourselves

When you think about eternity what difference does this really make.

And if we really want to live in God’s Kingdom

Let us occupy ourselves with things that really matter.

Let us Love God,

And Love our neighbor especially those in need whoever they may be.

That’s  what the samaritan did in the Gospel and that’s what we have to do.

Amen

St. Maximilian Kolbe

This week the Relic of Maximilian Kolbe is in our parish so we will speaking at all the masses a little bit about his life and his heroic witness.

Maximilian Kolbe grew up in challenging times.

For much of his life it must have seemed like the world was falling apart.

When Maximilian was born, Poland was partitioned between it’s powerful neighbors.

Poland was a battleground during WWI because it was situated in the middle of the powerful countries that had partitioned it.

When he was a young man The Tsar of Russia was overthrown by a the communist revolution and Russia became a Godless socialist state. That must have been terrifying for a pious simple family of faith from Poland

In all this confusion, social turmoil and violence, Maximillian’s family turned to God for consolation and hope. They never stopped trusting God.

When he was 12 while at prayer he asked the Blessed Mother what should do with his life.

He later recounted that she appeared to him and offered him a choice between two crowns, the red crown of martyrdom and the white crown of purity. He with his passionate young faith he told her he would accept both of crowns.

A few years later he and his brothers entered the Conventual Franciscans. By the age of 20 he had distinguished himself as a friar and had earned a doctorate from the Gregorian University in Rome.

As a young seminarian and priest was very charismatic and natural leader and soon many friars wanted to join him in his ministry.

He always lived very simply but wanted to use any modern means he could to share the gospel.

So after his priestly formation he returned to Poland determined to start a printing publishing house. He had no money but one day in church while prayer at the Blessed Mother statue he found an envelope with the exact amount of money he needed to begin the publishing house.

His life was full of successes.

Eventually he published several Catholic publications.

So manywanted to work with him that he had built a huge Franciscan Friary to hold them all. It was so large that it was called “city” of the Immaculate.

He started missions in Japan and India and everything he touched seemed to thrive.

But we all know that worldly success, even when it is for God is not always an indication of holiness.

When World War II came he started a hospital at the city of the Immaculate treated anyone who would come no questions asked and He and the brothers who remained continued his publications.

Eventually, he was arrested by the Nazi who saw his devotional publications as a threat and he was sent to Auschwitz.

While there he ministered to the other prisoners regularly heard their confessions, helped them face the challenges of life in Auschwits and prepared many for death.

He was revered by fellow prisoners who did whatever they could to protect him from of the Nazis who had a special hatred for Priests.

Then one day three prisoners escaped and the Nazi decided to execute 10 in their place as they were being chosen one of the men spontaneously yelled out “my wife and my children.”

In a moment without hesitation  Maximilian stepped forward and offered himself in the man’s place saying “take me instead he said I am a priest and have no family. “ The Nazi were only too happy to comply.

He and the others were confined to a death bunker where they were denied  food and water for the rest of their short lives. In many of the other death bunkers those condemned went insane as they suffered.

From Fr. Maximillian’s bunker  only prayer and hymns could be heard. He prepared and comforted each man for death and finally when he was the only one left because he did not die quickly enough he was executed by a lethal injection.

Fr. Maximilian had huge successes for God throughout his life but it was that singular moment that moment of self surrender that moment when he offered his life which proved that his faith was real and authentic.

I’m sure he had human weaknesses and idiocracies remember being declared a saint does not mean that someone is perfect. It means that in the end they somehow chose God.

By his self surrender in that one spontaneous moment it became clear to all that Maximilian Kolbe had given his life to God.

We live in challenging and difficult times. Sometimes it seems like our world is falling apart. Sadly our church seem to be emptying out rather than filling up as we face our challenges.

The first thing we have to ask ourselves is in this time of confusion where are we going to place our trust.

With all that was happening around them Maximilian and his family did not surrender to cynicism,

they did not become angry like everyone else,

they did not lose hope. They placed their trust in God.

As confused as things have become of late their example should inspire us to do the same.

It is clear that even at the age of twelve young Maximilian understood that life was not only about him. Even at that early age he was willing to dedicate himself for the good of others.

We need to do a better job at teaching our children that they are not the center of the universe, we need to help them understand that everything does not revolve around what they need and what they want.

We need to plant in their hearts a desire to work for the common good and not only think of themselves.

Thoughtout his life Maximilian took the time to properly discern God’s will.

He never did anything without taking it to prayer and discerning if what he hoped to do was for the good of God’s Kingdom.

We need to ask ourselves how often do I seek to understand God’s will rather than our own will. How often do I place the good of God’s Kingdom, the spiritual lives of our famllies before my needs and my wants. Or is it vice versa.

Finally there will come a moment in our lives or several moments in our lives when love will call us to make a special sacrifice.

Someday God is going to call us to step out of our ordinary lives and do something heroic just like he called Maximillian.

Maybe it will be taking care of our elderly parent or infirm spouse or child.

Maybe it will be bringing someone in need into our home

Maybe it will be forgiving someone we love for the hundredth time

Maybe it will sharing something we need for ourselves with a person in need rather than just giving for our leftovers

Maybe we will even be called in someway to give our lives to someone out of love

When God calls, will we be willing to step out of our everyday life and say yes take me. Here I am take me.

Maximilian did and that moment proved his faith was real.  Amen

13th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year C - 2016

While Jesus was with us he was a very charismatic and caring person and many were moved by his words and inspired by his actions.

So it’s natural that people wanted to follow him,  

They wanted to live like he lived and practice what he preached.

They wanted to be his disciple.

In today’s Gospel we have four different passages which speak about following Christ and explain the cost of being his disciple.

The stories or encounters described in the Gospel probably did not happen all at once The writer of the Gospel of Luke grouped them together to teach us about what is necessary for discipleship.

In the first little story the disciples ask Jesus if they should call down fire fire on a samaritan town that refused to welcome him.

Jesus quickly rebuked them. When did Jesus ever call down fire on anyone ?

You see the only way a person can become an authentic disciple of Christ is when their heart is change.

You can’t bully or punish someone to faith.

This is a grave mistake which the church in its zeal for souls has made over and over again throughout history.

The only we can bring a person to faith is by loving them and giving them good example.

The second person who wants to follow Jesus, doesn’t really know what the cost of discipleship will be.

Jesus reminds him "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the I have nowhere to rest my head."

You see some people think that following our Lord is going to make them rich or give them power and influence.

Trust me usually the opposite is true.  

Despite what the televangelists may tell you Jesus never promises prosperity to his disciples the only promise he makes is the cross.

The cross which he willing carried for the salvation of the world.

When Jesus invites another person to follow him the man responds ”let me bury my father first.”

At first Jesus response to the man seems harsh, until you understand what the young man was really saying.

You see  the greek scholars tell us that the man was really saying “let me follow you once my father is dead.” But from the text we don’t even know if his father was old or infirm.

The reality of the young man’s response is this. Yes, he wants to follow Jesus but only when it is convenient for him, not necessarily when Jesus calls.

Jesus tells the young man and us that when God calls we need to respond period.

Discipleship depends on God’s time not on our time.

When a child is really sick or in desperate need no one can imagine a Mom or Dad responding I’ll get to you when it’s convenient to me.

Like love compels them to act right away so should love compel us to answer God’s call when he calls.

Finally, one last person who wanted to be a disciple said “let me go and say goodbye to my family.” It seems like a reasonable request. And indeed the prophet Elijah in the first reading allowed Elisha to go say good by to his family

But when you think about it

No one can really move forward while looking backward.

Once our heart is fixed on discipleship, then that is where we must place all of our efforts.

It is impossible to have our feet in two worlds and serve them both well.

And so dear friends all of us are here or all of us should be here because we want to be faithful followers of Christ faithful disciples.

Let us never expect to profit from our discipleship.

May our love and the gift of our lives be completely free not expecting anything in return.

Let us never try to bully or shame someone into faith.

May people be brought to faith because of our good example and the generous way we share our lives with others.

Let us answer God’s call when he calls, when he needs us,  or when his people need us.

Not when we don’t have any better offers or when it is convenient to us.

Finally, once we say yes to God may it be a firm “yes” a positive “yes”.

May we be single hearted in our service to God’s Kingdom.

We can’t serve our own interest and Gods’

There is no looking back once we say Yes to our Lord.

We are sitting here today in these pews because men and women of every generation  have selflessly said yes to God’s call.

In this time of confusion, when so many things are changing and uncertain.

In this time when there seems so much anger and angst about how things are going.

We don’t need more angry people.

The world and future generations need a selfless humble  church

with selfless humble people ready and willing to give their lives away to God and his people and build up God’s kingdom

May we too follow him with generous hearts. Amen