Is 55:1-3
Ps 145
Rom 8:35, 37-39
Mt 14:13-21
"Separation and Sandwiches"
(Farewell homily to St. Joseph's)
As St. Paul writes today in Romans, “What will separate us from the love of Christ?” He is convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor present or future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any creature will be able to separate us from the love of God. Nothing. Not-a-thing. Nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Wow….just wow. I mean really? Really?!? Nothing!? I guess we’re done here. There’s no need to go to Mass, we don’t need to go to confession; we don’t need to really pray or do anything because we are all going to heaven. Why are we even still here? Why bother? I can go back to the rectory and throw some meat on the grill and eat until we have a coronary or the second coming; you know… whichever comes first.
But seriously, “What will separate us from the love of Christ?” I have looked at this passage for years trying to find something that would separate us from the love of Christ. St. Paul pretty much covers everything that I could think of. But I’ve come to the conclusion that if there really is anything at all that would separate you from the love of Christ, it is probably…yourself; because God is always faithful, and we are not, we sin and fall short all the time. But I’ve also come to the conclusion that if you’re looking for things that will separate you from the love of Christ, then you’ve got it all wrong.
Why are we looking for things to separate us from the love of Christ when we should be looking for things that would bring us closer to the love of Christ?!?! Why would I ever want to separate myself from Him or even stay just where I am? Today’s first reading and the gospel give us an insight: What will unite us to the love of Christ? The answer is, and happens to be one of my favorite topics of discussion is: food. “All you who are thirsty, come to the water…” “you who have no money, come receive grain and eat… come without paying… drink wine and milk… come to me heedfully and listen that you may have life.” You will only be united to the love of Christ if you are starving and thirsting for Him.
If you’ve ever wondered why the Church requires that you fast – that is no food or drinks, except water – for one hour before receiving communion, this is why: It’s not because Holy Mother Church wants to give you a hard time and torture you by denying you that morning donut while you’re driving your family to church. The whole purpose of the fast is so that when we receive our Lord in the Eucharist, we are not only spiritually starving for Him, but also PHYSICALLY starving for Him!
After a long week of laboring for the Lord in your families and wherever you are in the world, you should be tired, and starving – thirsting for the word of God, hungering for the Eucharist. And you know what? Nothing delights a starving man, like myself, more than that first delicious bite of food… a pizza or a huge sandwich perhaps – even if it’s a Reuben sandwich, it would still be pretty tasty if I was starving.
Nothing could separate the people from following after Jesus, and Jesus was moved for the people. Jesus could not even get away; wherever He went, they would catchup! They were hungering for Him, relishing at His every word, and followed Him even as he was trying to get away to mourn the loss of John the Baptist. People came to Him from all over and it was getting late in a place with no food to be found close by. It was evening and the crowds were getting overwhelming. There was no food, no sandwiches, nothing – the people were starving and their faces showed it. The disciples knew that things were going to go awry if the soured crowd didn’t have anything to eat. Looking out at the thousand islands of people sitting out there on the grass you could see them all STARVING… the task of feeding all these people was simply daunting – and there were no sammiches to be found!
Jesus told His disciples not to send them away, but to feed the people. But with what? Lettuce not forget that they had no corned beef or pastrami or anything like that; all they had were five loaves and two fish. All the twelve disciples could mustard up was only five loaves and two fish between them – not a gouda situation. Jesus took the loaves and fishes and said the blessing and distributed to His disciples who in turn distributed it out to the crowd. The crowd was fed and they ended up with twelve baskets full of leftovers.
What I found so interesting about the feeding with the loaves and fishes was how it was done. The hungry disciples had to go to Christ first, offering up the food to the Father in the blessing, and then receive the food from Christ in order to feed the other people. If you think this out… when the disciples ran out of the food in their hands, they had to go back to Christ to get more. And so they constantly went back and forth between Christ and the vast multitude of people; until everyone was full. Isn’t that just like the Mass? We must come to Christ first to be fed and so that we can feed others.
The food comes ultimately from the Lord and we go back to Him when the food runs out. If the people are hungry, we are hungry and what does that mean? We go back to the Lord. What does our responsorial psalm say today? “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.”
Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, but in our Gospel the mediators of that love of Christ are the disciples the future apostles, the future bishops, priests and deacons, and it also includes every one of you. You are the hands and feet of the Lord feeding the crowd, but you need to be hungry and thirsty yourself.
Everything that the disciples have, they give it to the Lord in order to feed His countless flock. It would be no great miracle if the disciples already had plenty of loaves and fishes. The miracle is in the Lord using what little they had to bring about great and miraculous things.
As you may already know this is my last weekend here at St. Joseph’s. I am returning back to St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston and finishing my very last year of studies. Next year, God willing, I will be ordained to the priesthood on June 2nd. I want to publicly thank Bishop Doug Deshotel, Fr. Timothy Heines, Fr. Alfonse Nazzaro, Dcn. Randy Engle, and the entire St. Joseph Parish staff for their mentoring, their patience, and the many opportunities they have given me to help me become a better deacon and a future priest to serve the people of the Diocese of Dallas. All of you at St. Joseph have been so warm and welcoming, and I want to thank you for the tremendous love and hospitality that you have shown me.
I have only been here for a short period of time and yet there are so many of you. I have tried to offer what little I have being a baby deacon and young in years. And if the little “Reuben sandwiches” that I have offered seemed to be overflowing twelve wicker baskets for you, then all the praise, honor, and glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is truly the one that works the miracle of the loaves because he so earnestly desires to feed us with the bread of finest wheat – His own Body and Blood.
So I ask again what I asked at the beginning: “What will separate us from the love of Christ?” Truly? Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ other than ourselves and our desire for Him. But remember that we should not be asking what will separate us from the love of Christ, but rather we should be seeking to find out what will unite us to the love of Christ. Only when we are hungering for God, only when we are starving for him – will we be united to Him. When He gives us Himself to eat in the Holy Eucharist, He will unite us to Himself – and we will never separate ourselves from Him if we are always hunger for Him.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Memorial of St.Martha
Lk 10:38-42
(Given during adoration for the Youth for Life "Pro-Life Boot Camp")
How many of your parents are active in the Church and in your home parishes? That’s pretty good. I’m sure many of your parents are pretty active in the parish because they really love the Lord and really want to serve the Lord. Now how many of you (please don’t raise your hands) have heard your parents complain about how it always seems like they are doing the work and nobody else is doing the work? Or maybe for yourself, that you feel like everyone else is not working as hard as you are? It’s not a fun feeling. Especially those of you who really like to take responsibility into your own hands.
Today is your day!! Because you are a busybody; just like Martha.
But right here right now, all of you are being just like Mary. Because you are sitting here at the Lord’s feet listening to him and spending time with him, while the other Marthas are working. In life, sometimes you are going to be a Martha or you are going to be a Mary. But right now you are Mary.
Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, which one is better… Martha or Mary? Because I want to be the best one. In the Gospel we just heard, it looked like Mary was the better one because Jesus says to Martha that she “…has chosen the better part.” But I’m going to let you in on a little secret. They are BOTH good. They are both the better part, but what separates Martha and Mary is something that Martha does.
Martha was the one who welcomes Jesus into her home. She is the host of this gathering. So it is her responsibility to make sure that Jesus is well taken care of. And everything was going great until….what? Until Martha started looking at what Mary was doing! And that’s when she started to feel envy and jealousy. She wanted to do what Mary was doing and so got distracted from her task.
And speaking of distractions...for those of you that don’t who I am, I’m Dcn. Reuben Chen and I am also a seminarian, which means I am studying to become a priest. Seminarians all goto the seminary, it’s a “priest school” and every day we have Mass and prayers together. We would do a lot of things together and after our prayers were done, we could leave. But when I first entered the seminary, I was young and silly. And I wanted to do my best in seminary and so I tried to pray extra hard. So after Mass, I would stay a little while longer to pray and thank God for the gift of the Eucharist. I would close my eyes and have this long and beautiful prayer and then I would open my eyes and see that my brother seminarians was also still in the chapel. So I closed my eyes and started praying more. Because I didn’t want to be outdone!! And I opened my eyes after I was done and looked around and there were still seminarians praying! I was getting really frustrated! I wanted to be the holiest one, so I prayed some more and some more. And then I opened my eyes and everyone was gone. Finally! Satisfied that I beat everyone at being holy, I got up to goto dinner and guess what? Dinner was over!! I went to bed hungry because I tried to show off. And you know what else? I didn’t feel any holier either.
When we are doing the work of God, we are honoring Him and doing His work. This is good. But when we start comparing and looking at what other people are doing, we have the temptation to fall into sin. We get all worked up and just end up frustrating ourselves. I didn’t feel holier because I was comparing myself with my brother seminarians and staying extra long to show God I was better than they were. If I had just stayed in the chapel to REALLY give thanks to God, I would have done just that and God would have appreciated it more. But I lost sight of God, by turning to my brothers.
When we are doing the Lord’s work, as we are doing this weekend, we are here to bring ourselves into the presence of God like Mary was at the foot of Jesus. We are here to listen to Him and see what He would have us do. The ministry of pro-life and learning about how and what it means to be pro-life is so important because we can easily be distracted by what other people are doing, both by those who also say that they are pro-life and those that are not.
We are here this weekend to further the pro-life cause, to be a part of the culture of life and not the culture of death. This Holy Hour tonight is not only spent in adoration, a response to God’s love, but to strengthen you and give you the courage and wisdom to face the world tomorrow. For some of you, praying in front of abortion clinics and being active in the pro-life movement is a new thing and can also be a scary thing. When I was growing up, even though I thought I was “pro-life” I always thought that praying in front of abortion clinics was for those religious nuts. Now I know that is I who would be nuts for not praying for an end to abortion and the culture of death. For the seasoned “pro-lifers” you should already know that keeping a strong spiritual life in adoration and the sacrament gives you the strength you need to continue, to keep you focused on the task at hand and not to distract you from self-righteousness or other temptations that the devil uses to try and destroy us.
But for whatever reason you are here, attending this boot camp, you are here not because your parents sent and/or dragged you here, not because you want to have better pro-life arguments so you can know more than anybody else, and not because you want to show other people how pro-life you are. You are here because God has called you to be at His feet. He has called you to be faithful in keeping His mission of bringing the gift of Life to everyone in this world. And you have answered His call by desiring to grow ever closer to Him, falling deeper in love with Him in worship and adoration.
There are times when we are called to be Martha. There are times when we are called to be Mary. Whether we are Martha or we are Mary, remember that you must never lose sight of the Lord and forget why you are doing what you are doing. You are not doing it for yourselves, you are not doing it for other people, you are doing it for the Lord. When you do it for the Lord, you are choosing the better part. And the better part is always with the Lord.
(Given during adoration for the Youth for Life "Pro-Life Boot Camp")
How many of your parents are active in the Church and in your home parishes? That’s pretty good. I’m sure many of your parents are pretty active in the parish because they really love the Lord and really want to serve the Lord. Now how many of you (please don’t raise your hands) have heard your parents complain about how it always seems like they are doing the work and nobody else is doing the work? Or maybe for yourself, that you feel like everyone else is not working as hard as you are? It’s not a fun feeling. Especially those of you who really like to take responsibility into your own hands.
Today is your day!! Because you are a busybody; just like Martha.
But right here right now, all of you are being just like Mary. Because you are sitting here at the Lord’s feet listening to him and spending time with him, while the other Marthas are working. In life, sometimes you are going to be a Martha or you are going to be a Mary. But right now you are Mary.
Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, which one is better… Martha or Mary? Because I want to be the best one. In the Gospel we just heard, it looked like Mary was the better one because Jesus says to Martha that she “…has chosen the better part.” But I’m going to let you in on a little secret. They are BOTH good. They are both the better part, but what separates Martha and Mary is something that Martha does.
Martha was the one who welcomes Jesus into her home. She is the host of this gathering. So it is her responsibility to make sure that Jesus is well taken care of. And everything was going great until….what? Until Martha started looking at what Mary was doing! And that’s when she started to feel envy and jealousy. She wanted to do what Mary was doing and so got distracted from her task.
And speaking of distractions...for those of you that don’t who I am, I’m Dcn. Reuben Chen and I am also a seminarian, which means I am studying to become a priest. Seminarians all goto the seminary, it’s a “priest school” and every day we have Mass and prayers together. We would do a lot of things together and after our prayers were done, we could leave. But when I first entered the seminary, I was young and silly. And I wanted to do my best in seminary and so I tried to pray extra hard. So after Mass, I would stay a little while longer to pray and thank God for the gift of the Eucharist. I would close my eyes and have this long and beautiful prayer and then I would open my eyes and see that my brother seminarians was also still in the chapel. So I closed my eyes and started praying more. Because I didn’t want to be outdone!! And I opened my eyes after I was done and looked around and there were still seminarians praying! I was getting really frustrated! I wanted to be the holiest one, so I prayed some more and some more. And then I opened my eyes and everyone was gone. Finally! Satisfied that I beat everyone at being holy, I got up to goto dinner and guess what? Dinner was over!! I went to bed hungry because I tried to show off. And you know what else? I didn’t feel any holier either.
When we are doing the work of God, we are honoring Him and doing His work. This is good. But when we start comparing and looking at what other people are doing, we have the temptation to fall into sin. We get all worked up and just end up frustrating ourselves. I didn’t feel holier because I was comparing myself with my brother seminarians and staying extra long to show God I was better than they were. If I had just stayed in the chapel to REALLY give thanks to God, I would have done just that and God would have appreciated it more. But I lost sight of God, by turning to my brothers.
When we are doing the Lord’s work, as we are doing this weekend, we are here to bring ourselves into the presence of God like Mary was at the foot of Jesus. We are here to listen to Him and see what He would have us do. The ministry of pro-life and learning about how and what it means to be pro-life is so important because we can easily be distracted by what other people are doing, both by those who also say that they are pro-life and those that are not.
We are here this weekend to further the pro-life cause, to be a part of the culture of life and not the culture of death. This Holy Hour tonight is not only spent in adoration, a response to God’s love, but to strengthen you and give you the courage and wisdom to face the world tomorrow. For some of you, praying in front of abortion clinics and being active in the pro-life movement is a new thing and can also be a scary thing. When I was growing up, even though I thought I was “pro-life” I always thought that praying in front of abortion clinics was for those religious nuts. Now I know that is I who would be nuts for not praying for an end to abortion and the culture of death. For the seasoned “pro-lifers” you should already know that keeping a strong spiritual life in adoration and the sacrament gives you the strength you need to continue, to keep you focused on the task at hand and not to distract you from self-righteousness or other temptations that the devil uses to try and destroy us.
But for whatever reason you are here, attending this boot camp, you are here not because your parents sent and/or dragged you here, not because you want to have better pro-life arguments so you can know more than anybody else, and not because you want to show other people how pro-life you are. You are here because God has called you to be at His feet. He has called you to be faithful in keeping His mission of bringing the gift of Life to everyone in this world. And you have answered His call by desiring to grow ever closer to Him, falling deeper in love with Him in worship and adoration.
There are times when we are called to be Martha. There are times when we are called to be Mary. Whether we are Martha or we are Mary, remember that you must never lose sight of the Lord and forget why you are doing what you are doing. You are not doing it for yourselves, you are not doing it for other people, you are doing it for the Lord. When you do it for the Lord, you are choosing the better part. And the better part is always with the Lord.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
XVII Sunday Ordinary Time, Cycle A
1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12
Ps 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130
Rom 8:28-30
Mt 13:44-52
"Digging Holes"
I was eating my Co-Co Puffs cereal one morning and doing some serious reading and studying on the cereal box. The box had some “interesting facts” on it, one of which was talking about how diamonds were made. Diamonds are made from carbon, like charcoal and it took an intense amount of heat and thousands of pounds of pressure and millions of years of time. It also said that the cereal box was made of carbon too and that if I were to bury it about hundred miles or so down in the ground, a few million years later, give or take a thousand, I would have my very own diamond.
Now I was about 8 years old at the time and I got really excited; and headed to the tool shed to look for a shovel and started my dig down to the center of the earth and maybe to the other side if I had the energy. My friends thought I was going to see my relatives in China. I told them, no not this time… they live in Plano. It was grueling work for an eight year old on a hot day. But I had a pretty good start. I got past the dirt and hit some hard rocks and clay. It was a bit different than the black dirt and so I thought it might be some buried treasure. There was nothing. Well that piqued my interest too. Perhaps there was some buried treasure in my backyard that my parents never told me about. So I started to dig other holes because the top soil was easier to dig than the clay and rocks. So about three in the afternoon, I worked up a good sweat; but I found absolutely nothing. But it did look like a gofer had been doing laps in my backyard. My parents came outside to see what I was up to. I have to say that when I started digging, I didn’t ever remember my parents telling me not to dig holes in the backyard. However, they reminded me of my last project in the backyard when I was looking for fossils…. Needless to say, I had to fill the holes and was grounded. No diamonds or treasure was ever found.
The difference between wisdom and knowledge is simple: knowledge is information, facts, things that you know. Wisdom is the ability to use the knowledge and analyze the situation. When I tried to make my own diamond, I had the knowledge about how diamonds were made, but not the wisdom and prudence to know that the cereal box was giving examples and not the secret recipe to make your own diamonds. God gives us these gifts of wisdom and knowledge… some of us more than others.
In our first reading, when God asks Solomon what Solomon would like, Solomon asks for wisdom. This is an incredible response. It would be like a genie were to appear to you and grant you three wishes, what do you wish for? More wishes. In a sense, it is really ironic that Solomon even asks for wisdom. It takes one with wisdom to know that he is lacking in wisdom and needs more. God applauds this - because with wisdom, Solomon has the power and ability to rule the kingdom well. You have all heard the story of Solomon and the two mothers claiming that an infant was theirs right? Solomon simply said to cut the baby in half so that both women would have the infant. The true mother upon hearing this, would rather let the infant be alive in someone else’s arms than dead in her own. It was Solomon’s wisdom that was able to bring out the truth of the matter with a simple command. Wisdom and knowledge is powerful by itself, but it can be used for good or evil. And therefore, prudence is another virtue that the Lord bestows upon us.
Prudence is what you do with wisdom and knowledge. Solomon was lacking there. He knew the commandments of God, he knew he was not supposed to be worshipping other gods. He let his many wives dictate and influence him to follow foreign gods and led the nation into its downfall. He had the wisdom and the knowledge but lacked to prudence to follow the Lord. Which goes to show us that although we may be super smart, intelligent, geniuses, it does not prevent us from doing foolish things.
The responsorial psalm says, “Lord, I love your commands.” “The law is… more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” “I love your command more than gold…” “…your words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple.” The psalms call us back to God; to realize that He is the one we should seek.
As Christians, we are all predestined to be “conformed to the image of his Son” “called, justified and glorified”. For all the non-Christians or the lukewarm believers out there in the world, God is calling them too. God has blessed us with wisdom and knowledge. We have the sciences, we have the things around us that we know so well. We also have the wisdom and knowledge that comes from God, the prudence from God that allows us to move forward in life, “shedding light and understanding to us”.
Jesus gives us these parables to help us understand what the kingdom of God is like. Solomon only had a taste of it, but only squandered it. But we who have been baptized with Christ, have it in a much fuller way: The "Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field” or “the merchant searching for fine pearls” or the fisherman who was sorting the fish between the good and the bad shows that it takes it wisdom to be able to discern the value in each of these things.
I think the common theme that lies in all of these parables is this: you must know what you are looking for. Can you imagine me as a little boy in my backyard looking for some buried treasure or diamonds? I wouldn’t know where to start looking, for all I know it could be buried in my neighbor’s backyard. The man had to know where and how to find the treasure, the merchant had to know which pearls were good and which were not. The fisherman has to know his fish. Wisdom and knowledge in each of these cases helps you find the valuable things faster. But do you know exactly what are you looking for? You have to have the knowledge of what exactly you are looking for. The wisdom to find it, and the prudence to go and sell all you have to obtain it.
I think there is a tendency in us to be a little distracted and lose focus. Like the story I said in the beginning, I started digging to make a diamond, but then I started looking for buried treasure, only to forget that I had dug up the backyard for fossils a few months before. If you are searching for the treasure in the field and you stop at the first shiny thing that you see, you’ve missed the point. If you are searching for the pearl, and instead buy some gumballs or marbles instead, you’ve been had.
Jesus’ parables are calling us not to be distracted by the things of this world. And He leads the way with His own example. What do you think the treasure and the pearl is for God? The Father sent His only Son into the world to be crucified and die on the cross for us. He paid with His very body and blood, all that He was, His very complete self for us to be His sons and daughters. Brothers and sisters: WE ARE THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. WE ARE THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD! He has bought and paid for us so that we can be with Him. It only makes sense that we do the same for Him. The Eucharist, the Mass, it is an act of thanksgiving, it is our act of Thanksgiving to the Father with the Son. Where Solomon’s wisdom failed, where our own distractions and feeble mindedness fails, God has redeemed all of us with His very self.
Jesus’ passion and death on the cross, our treasure, was buried in the tomb, but only to rise again. He is the shining pearl of great price in our lives, lighting the way to heaven. He has given all He has for all of us to be with Him. Doesn’t it make sense for us to do the same? He paid for us with His life – his body and blood. We pay with our love, our worship, our time, our talent, our treasure. In the celebration of Mass, we offer that sacrifice up to the Father. We offer up our treasure, Jesus Christ, to the Father so that His Kingdom comes and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. The Eucharist is our act of worship in sacrifice and thanksgiving for all the good He has done and will do in our lives. As a little boy, I looked for that treasure; as I’m sure many of you have also looked in the fields of life for your treasure. Today, we see that we don’t have to go digging in our backyards, in our workplace, in our schools and stores for treasure or pearls. The treasure that we seek is not in our backyard, but right here, right now with Jesus Christ. In imitation of Him for us, let us honor Him and worship Him with all that we have and all that we are.
Ps 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130
Rom 8:28-30
Mt 13:44-52
"Digging Holes"
I was eating my Co-Co Puffs cereal one morning and doing some serious reading and studying on the cereal box. The box had some “interesting facts” on it, one of which was talking about how diamonds were made. Diamonds are made from carbon, like charcoal and it took an intense amount of heat and thousands of pounds of pressure and millions of years of time. It also said that the cereal box was made of carbon too and that if I were to bury it about hundred miles or so down in the ground, a few million years later, give or take a thousand, I would have my very own diamond.
Now I was about 8 years old at the time and I got really excited; and headed to the tool shed to look for a shovel and started my dig down to the center of the earth and maybe to the other side if I had the energy. My friends thought I was going to see my relatives in China. I told them, no not this time… they live in Plano. It was grueling work for an eight year old on a hot day. But I had a pretty good start. I got past the dirt and hit some hard rocks and clay. It was a bit different than the black dirt and so I thought it might be some buried treasure. There was nothing. Well that piqued my interest too. Perhaps there was some buried treasure in my backyard that my parents never told me about. So I started to dig other holes because the top soil was easier to dig than the clay and rocks. So about three in the afternoon, I worked up a good sweat; but I found absolutely nothing. But it did look like a gofer had been doing laps in my backyard. My parents came outside to see what I was up to. I have to say that when I started digging, I didn’t ever remember my parents telling me not to dig holes in the backyard. However, they reminded me of my last project in the backyard when I was looking for fossils…. Needless to say, I had to fill the holes and was grounded. No diamonds or treasure was ever found.
The difference between wisdom and knowledge is simple: knowledge is information, facts, things that you know. Wisdom is the ability to use the knowledge and analyze the situation. When I tried to make my own diamond, I had the knowledge about how diamonds were made, but not the wisdom and prudence to know that the cereal box was giving examples and not the secret recipe to make your own diamonds. God gives us these gifts of wisdom and knowledge… some of us more than others.
In our first reading, when God asks Solomon what Solomon would like, Solomon asks for wisdom. This is an incredible response. It would be like a genie were to appear to you and grant you three wishes, what do you wish for? More wishes. In a sense, it is really ironic that Solomon even asks for wisdom. It takes one with wisdom to know that he is lacking in wisdom and needs more. God applauds this - because with wisdom, Solomon has the power and ability to rule the kingdom well. You have all heard the story of Solomon and the two mothers claiming that an infant was theirs right? Solomon simply said to cut the baby in half so that both women would have the infant. The true mother upon hearing this, would rather let the infant be alive in someone else’s arms than dead in her own. It was Solomon’s wisdom that was able to bring out the truth of the matter with a simple command. Wisdom and knowledge is powerful by itself, but it can be used for good or evil. And therefore, prudence is another virtue that the Lord bestows upon us.
Prudence is what you do with wisdom and knowledge. Solomon was lacking there. He knew the commandments of God, he knew he was not supposed to be worshipping other gods. He let his many wives dictate and influence him to follow foreign gods and led the nation into its downfall. He had the wisdom and the knowledge but lacked to prudence to follow the Lord. Which goes to show us that although we may be super smart, intelligent, geniuses, it does not prevent us from doing foolish things.
The responsorial psalm says, “Lord, I love your commands.” “The law is… more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” “I love your command more than gold…” “…your words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple.” The psalms call us back to God; to realize that He is the one we should seek.
As Christians, we are all predestined to be “conformed to the image of his Son” “called, justified and glorified”. For all the non-Christians or the lukewarm believers out there in the world, God is calling them too. God has blessed us with wisdom and knowledge. We have the sciences, we have the things around us that we know so well. We also have the wisdom and knowledge that comes from God, the prudence from God that allows us to move forward in life, “shedding light and understanding to us”.
Jesus gives us these parables to help us understand what the kingdom of God is like. Solomon only had a taste of it, but only squandered it. But we who have been baptized with Christ, have it in a much fuller way: The "Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field” or “the merchant searching for fine pearls” or the fisherman who was sorting the fish between the good and the bad shows that it takes it wisdom to be able to discern the value in each of these things.
I think the common theme that lies in all of these parables is this: you must know what you are looking for. Can you imagine me as a little boy in my backyard looking for some buried treasure or diamonds? I wouldn’t know where to start looking, for all I know it could be buried in my neighbor’s backyard. The man had to know where and how to find the treasure, the merchant had to know which pearls were good and which were not. The fisherman has to know his fish. Wisdom and knowledge in each of these cases helps you find the valuable things faster. But do you know exactly what are you looking for? You have to have the knowledge of what exactly you are looking for. The wisdom to find it, and the prudence to go and sell all you have to obtain it.
I think there is a tendency in us to be a little distracted and lose focus. Like the story I said in the beginning, I started digging to make a diamond, but then I started looking for buried treasure, only to forget that I had dug up the backyard for fossils a few months before. If you are searching for the treasure in the field and you stop at the first shiny thing that you see, you’ve missed the point. If you are searching for the pearl, and instead buy some gumballs or marbles instead, you’ve been had.
Jesus’ parables are calling us not to be distracted by the things of this world. And He leads the way with His own example. What do you think the treasure and the pearl is for God? The Father sent His only Son into the world to be crucified and die on the cross for us. He paid with His very body and blood, all that He was, His very complete self for us to be His sons and daughters. Brothers and sisters: WE ARE THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. WE ARE THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD! He has bought and paid for us so that we can be with Him. It only makes sense that we do the same for Him. The Eucharist, the Mass, it is an act of thanksgiving, it is our act of Thanksgiving to the Father with the Son. Where Solomon’s wisdom failed, where our own distractions and feeble mindedness fails, God has redeemed all of us with His very self.
Jesus’ passion and death on the cross, our treasure, was buried in the tomb, but only to rise again. He is the shining pearl of great price in our lives, lighting the way to heaven. He has given all He has for all of us to be with Him. Doesn’t it make sense for us to do the same? He paid for us with His life – his body and blood. We pay with our love, our worship, our time, our talent, our treasure. In the celebration of Mass, we offer that sacrifice up to the Father. We offer up our treasure, Jesus Christ, to the Father so that His Kingdom comes and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. The Eucharist is our act of worship in sacrifice and thanksgiving for all the good He has done and will do in our lives. As a little boy, I looked for that treasure; as I’m sure many of you have also looked in the fields of life for your treasure. Today, we see that we don’t have to go digging in our backyards, in our workplace, in our schools and stores for treasure or pearls. The treasure that we seek is not in our backyard, but right here, right now with Jesus Christ. In imitation of Him for us, let us honor Him and worship Him with all that we have and all that we are.
Monday, July 4, 2011
XIV Monday Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Gn 28:10-22a
Ps 91:1-2, 3-4, 14-15ab
Mt 9:18-26
Today’s first reading speaks of Jacob’s ladder. Jacob takes a rock from the shrine and uses it as a pillow. Then he has this dream or vision of God’s messengers going to and from heaven on this ladder and then promise of an inheritance of land, descendents, and the Lord’s blessings – a promise of constant fidelity – that God will never leave him. This is a powerful dream and when Jacob wakes from his sleep, he exclaims his wonder and excitement. He takes that rock and sets up a memorial and pours oil on it, anointing it – exclaiming that this is the place where God dwells and a gateway to heaven.
I thought it was kind of funny that he would take that much interest in a rock – setting up a memorial and anointing it with oil. It’s just a rock right? (On a side note, please do not take any bricks or rocks from St. Joseph when you go home today. I don’t think you will have any visions.) Our responsorial psalm today says that we place our trust in God. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention something about Independence Day and today’s responsorial psalm lends itself to that. I cannot help but think about what we put on our money – “In God we trust” on our money, rather than putting our money on God. God is our rock and our foundation – all our trust then is on Him. And this is why Jacob wanted to honor the rock in a special way. The rock that Jacob takes is not God, but it gives him something tangible and physical on which to hold. It serves as a reminder of an encounter with God and the promise that God has given him. The attachment to the physical place serves as a ladder or a means to encounter God. The shrine and the rock he took from the shrine was what allowed Jacob to have this vision.
What I think is so amazing about our faith and specifically the Catholic faith is that we have that same connection as Jacob. The physical rock, the physical place connects us to the heavens. We come from all over to worship here in this sanctuary. We offer sacrifice to God the Father through Jesus Christ and the altar that you see here was also anointed with oil before it was first used. This is a holy place, this is the place where the ladder from earth to heaven and heaven to earth. On this spot, every single day of the year and every time we offer Mass, there is a ladder that goes to heaven. We send our prayers – our burdens, sacrifices, joys, thanksgiving, and sacrifices, like incense rising up in the air. What comes back from heaven? The Bread of Life, the Eucharist. Angels carry our prayers and sacrifice up to heaven and the Lord comes down to be with us in the Eucharist. The altar is called the “axis mundi” – the axis of the world – where Earth offers up and heaven kisses earth with the greatest gift of all – Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Ps 91:1-2, 3-4, 14-15ab
Mt 9:18-26
Today’s first reading speaks of Jacob’s ladder. Jacob takes a rock from the shrine and uses it as a pillow. Then he has this dream or vision of God’s messengers going to and from heaven on this ladder and then promise of an inheritance of land, descendents, and the Lord’s blessings – a promise of constant fidelity – that God will never leave him. This is a powerful dream and when Jacob wakes from his sleep, he exclaims his wonder and excitement. He takes that rock and sets up a memorial and pours oil on it, anointing it – exclaiming that this is the place where God dwells and a gateway to heaven.
I thought it was kind of funny that he would take that much interest in a rock – setting up a memorial and anointing it with oil. It’s just a rock right? (On a side note, please do not take any bricks or rocks from St. Joseph when you go home today. I don’t think you will have any visions.) Our responsorial psalm today says that we place our trust in God. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention something about Independence Day and today’s responsorial psalm lends itself to that. I cannot help but think about what we put on our money – “In God we trust” on our money, rather than putting our money on God. God is our rock and our foundation – all our trust then is on Him. And this is why Jacob wanted to honor the rock in a special way. The rock that Jacob takes is not God, but it gives him something tangible and physical on which to hold. It serves as a reminder of an encounter with God and the promise that God has given him. The attachment to the physical place serves as a ladder or a means to encounter God. The shrine and the rock he took from the shrine was what allowed Jacob to have this vision.
What I think is so amazing about our faith and specifically the Catholic faith is that we have that same connection as Jacob. The physical rock, the physical place connects us to the heavens. We come from all over to worship here in this sanctuary. We offer sacrifice to God the Father through Jesus Christ and the altar that you see here was also anointed with oil before it was first used. This is a holy place, this is the place where the ladder from earth to heaven and heaven to earth. On this spot, every single day of the year and every time we offer Mass, there is a ladder that goes to heaven. We send our prayers – our burdens, sacrifices, joys, thanksgiving, and sacrifices, like incense rising up in the air. What comes back from heaven? The Bread of Life, the Eucharist. Angels carry our prayers and sacrifice up to heaven and the Lord comes down to be with us in the Eucharist. The altar is called the “axis mundi” – the axis of the world – where Earth offers up and heaven kisses earth with the greatest gift of all – Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
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