XIII Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

1 Kgs 19:16b, 19-21
Ps 16:1-2,5,7-8,9-10,11
Gal 5:1, 13-18
Lk 9:51-62

I really wonder what would have happened if our Lord had actually called down fire from heaven to smite that town of Samaria.  It almost sounds too perfect: the stereotypical angry god that exacts revenge at the slightest insult.  These two “Sons of Thunder”, James and John, are all too ready for retribution for an offense against the Lord.  But Jesus rebukes them and in some manuscripts, Jesus says, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of; for the Son of man came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”  This idea of revenge and retribution is not in the spirit of the Lord’s purpose.  But some would argue… but wait shouldn’t they deserve punishment and justice?  Before we can understand the Gospel and the scriptures today, we must first take a look at what makes us human.

All of Creation is created by God, this we know.  And even if you subscribe to the Big Bang Theory, there must have been something or someone to have put it there: a Creator.  Amongst all of creation He created us in His image.  Scientists and theorists have tried to propose our evolutionary connection to apes and monkeys; and while that may be biologically sound, we are still a unique species because of a certain power that we have: intellection and reason.  Even animals have basic emotions, but we can think in a manner that is above and beyond the rest of creation.  Cheetahs are faster, bears are stronger, birds may fly, and fish swim in the water, but we have the intellectual power for all those things and more with the power of our mind.  I would propose that this is our greatest asset.  Closely following that asset is another gift that God gives us: free will – freedom.

St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians says, we are set free and not to submit again to the yoke of slavery. For you were called for freedom… but do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.  Live by the Spirit… for the flesh has desires against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.  After the fall of Adam and Eve, the effects of sin mainly the flesh’s appetites have had an edge.  Our animal/creature nature – which makes us like the rest of creation (e.g. hunger, thirst, shelter, desire for reproduction) has been fighting against our ability and desire to live free.  That is not to say that we do not need these things, but quite often our rational power and our will power have been compromised; and they become inverted.  So that when things are a little frustrating we go back to our animal appetites: “This has been a bad day, I need to… (e.g. retail therapy, go to a sports bar, surf the internet, watch television, veg on the couch).  What happens then is that we are yoked with a certain slavery to sin or desire.  We become a beast burdened and controlled instead of having the true dignity of a human person in control of our desires and temptations.  Even if our “addiction” does not need professional help, it is something that turns us and keeps us from God.

But the grace of God and life in the Spirit of God intends us to be something greater – that which He has called us to be: to live in our full potential of knowing, loving, serving, and glorifying Him.  Our will and our ability to reason give us the power to say, “No! I am not going to succumb to sin.  I am better than that and God desires me to be better than that.”

There are many temptations in the world and one of these is the prevalent use of contraceptives, especially as public education seeks to push and encourage it to young people.  To actively promote contraceptives to young people is to say, “Hey, we know you’re an animal and since you can’t control yourself – at least do this.”  I think that young people should be insulted.  The irony is that if you can’t control yourself on the important things in life, then how are you going to control yourself on doing something as simple as taking a pill or putting something on?  We have the ability to control our bodily appetites.  Yes, we get hungry but does that mean we have to pull out a candy bar every time our grumbles?  Yes, there is a desire to love someone but does that mean that one has to have “intimate relations” every time they see each other?  Are you animals, are you rabbits?  No, you are human beings with the gift of knowledge and wisdom; free will and the power to think through your actions and control your desires.

When I hear about the atrocities that happened with the a certain late-term abortion doctor, who was convicted of doing some truly horrendous things to babies and his patients and then I hear about the debate of banning abortion past 20 weeks here in Texas and increasing safety standards in abortion clinics, I think the answers seems obvious.  What is the moral difference between what this particular abortion doctor did and what other abortionists are doing now?  None. It is only a matter of where it is done: inside or outside of the womb.  I believe that the right to choice should be unfettered because of the gift of free will, but if that choice affects another human person, this choice must be checked.  We must respect the dignity and life of the other as well, in this case: the baby.  One with only an animal nature may try the most expedient and convenient way out because that is the natural way of things.  But we again have been blessed with the knowledge and wisdom to realize that life is precious and has dignity and therefore the expediency and convenience must fall back to dignity of life.  Does this mean that we abandon the mother in a crisis pregnancy? Absolutely not!  We are called to provide care and aid to both mother and child in need because they are indeed our vulnerable brothers and sisters in Christ.

To undo the burden of slavery to sin in the world, we must yoke ourselves with Christ: because He assures us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  The story of Elijah and Elisha, when heard against the story of Jesus and the would-be follower, shows how radical that call to discipleship is.  Whereas Elijah allows Elisha to turn back, Jesus replies, Let the dead bury the dead and No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom….  The radical call of Jesus Christ is demanding, but it also helps us to undo that burden and slavery to sin when we put things in right order.  The yoke of Christ helps us in a positive way to see how we are called to something that goes beyond the animal nature into a Divine Relationship with Him.

The laws in the OT were set out to force one into charity without the free will to decide.  But God calls us now to live positively, to Love our neighbor as yourself.  We are called then in freedom, to love as God would love; and not in a spirit of vengeance and retribution – because that is not what God is about.

This past week has been pretty rough in terms of the failure to pass some Texas legislation and the Supreme Court decision.  With these events in the midst of the US Bishops’ campaign “Fortnight for Freedom” (ending on July 4), it seems to just add salt to the wounds.  But our Christian faith and discipleship calls us not to call for revenge and a scorched earth mentality, but to continue in prayer and to build up His Kingdom: to seek the lost and the forsaken, to protect the unborn and those at death’s door (e.g. indigent and Death Row), to welcome the stranger (e.g. immigrants) and marginalized (e.g. homosexuals and disabled).  As the greatest of God’s creation, we have been gifted with purpose and power – now we must use them justly and share the love that God has given to us.  We could be just like the monkeys and apes in the wild.  We could do whatever we want, whenever we want – but that is below our dignity.  We can think, we can reason, and we have a living relationship with God.  He does not promise it to be pain free or without difficulty (as you can see plainly see on the Cross), but He does tell us that the reward and consolation will be great.  Therefore, let us live in and be guided in the Holy Spirit- let us not yoke ourselves to the slavery of sin, but yoke ourselves to Christ who shows us the way.

XI Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

2 Sam 12:7-10, 13
Ps 32:1-2,5,7,11
Gal 2:16, 19-21
Lk 7:36-8:3

 ‘So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’

Every one of you, at some time in your life, has probably dodged a “proverbial” bullet.  Actually, it probably has happened where you didn’t even do anything, you were just bracing yourself for impact – hoping that it wouldn’t hurt… too much.  I remember back in elementary school we had very large classrooms that were divided by a temporary wall.  It was a really solid wall and that wall would divide two different classes of the same grade.  As it happened, I got in trouble and I was sent to the wall.  I had to move my desk to face the wall away from all my other classmates.  Effectively, I was in timeout… for the week.

Well, apparently this strategy of discipline was used with the teacher of the other classroom too and so I had some “timeout prison mates” on the other side of the wall.  My memory is hazy, but I think there were not a few in timeout.  It was a bad week.  But I was bored and feeling a little creative so I decided to try to see who was on the other side by passing notes under the temporary wall.  I felt like Alexander Graham Bell speaking on the telephone for the first time.  Espionage… But not very good because “the MAN” started questioning us timeout prison mates.  When he came to me, I lied.  Knowing that I was a Boy Scout, he even made me put up my hand and say “scout’s honor”.  It was the first time I ever lied (that’s a lie too).  But I was overcome with guilt and at the end of the day, I had prepared a little speech with a full confession and apology.  I had sinned, against my teacher, my God, and my honor.  I was prepared for the worst – a call to my parents and expulsion.  My teacher saw how heavy that guilt was and my desire to come clean, he commended me on my integrity and gave only a single session of detention.  I think I was let off easy because I only had to copy the dictionary up to the letter “L” for liar.

But seriously, I dodged a bullet there.  I did something wrong and I made it worse by trying to cover it up.  There are consequences of sin that must be dealt with.  King David sinned and the proof of his sin was literally showing.  Instead of trying to make things right, he ended up taking another man’s life.  He had it all and was trying so hard to maintain his dignity that he forgot about God, truth, and righteousness.  Fortunately, God sent the prophet Nathan to help him find his way back to God.  And when David asked for forgiveness it was given.

In the Gospel, we also hear about the incredible forgiveness that comes from God.  The “bullet” was bigger for the sinful woman than the Pharisee, Simon.  The sinful woman was in greater straits of difficulty and she turns to Christ, bathing His feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and kissing His feet as a sign of welcome in hospitality.  The Pharisee – being righteous in the eyes of the law – apparently did not show any signs of hospitality to Christ.  He did not humble himself, he did not even think he needed forgiveness but thought that he was a good man.  Ironically, every time I read this passage I wonder if the Pharisee Simon was so good, righteous, and holy, how did that sinful woman end up in Simon’s house?

An unexamined life – a life where you are looking at other’s sins, other’s faults, lamenting the government or things going on around the world and not looking at your need for forgiveness, for God, for a deeper relationship with Him – is a life like the Pharisee.  All of us sin – it is why we have the Penitential Act at the very beginning of Mass.   Recognizing and acknowledging our sin, asking our Lord’s forgiveness, and being purified before Him… only then can we begin to really open ourselves to God.  If we are to be like the woman – who knows her sin, who knows that she needs God, and desires to honor Him despite her failings – we must start first at examining our consciences: are you following the Ten Commandments – not just “Do not kill. Do not steal.” But the meaning behind those words… “Do I kill with my words, my attitude?  Do I steal from work by being lazy or taking advantage of resources that do not belong to me? Do I keep God as the center of my life? Do I keep Sunday as a day of rest and dedicated to God through Mass and family time?”

If you are unwilling to examine your life, you will continue to think you are sinless.  The mind does this strange trick; it says, “Hey, we are all sinners.”   And yet if you were asked – would you be able to enumerate what has made you a sinner?  The person that comes to me and says, “Father, it’s been years since my last confession and I can’t think of any sins.”  I ask them if they want to be canonized.  I would be happy with just a confession of the sins that they did last week or that day – but to say that there are no sins is a statistical impossibility.  Not saying it’s impossible, but chances are it’s not true.

The reason I am harping on examining your life and your sins is because nothing ventured is nothing gained.  If we do not offer our sins before God – asking forgiveness – if we do not open ourselves and be vulnerable to Him, then we are doing the exact opposite aren’t we?  We close the doors on Him; we are saying we don’t want forgiveness, we don't need You!  But the one who puts it all out there like the woman today in the Gospel walks away with not only her dignity but with a new relationship with Our Lord.  Her gratitude of receiving forgiveness was great because her sin was great.  Would that we have that and want that too?  No, I’m not saying go out there and sin big and then come back for confession.  I am saying that whatever sins that we do have in our life – and we know that they're there – impedes our relationship with God and neighbor.  Once we realize this and we are motivated in love and contrition, we will experience that strong feeling of being forgiven.  Our relationship with God is opening ourselves to His healing of our sin, experiencing His love and compassion, and communing with Him in His glory.  May we pray and offer ourselves to him today as we continue our celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
                           

Corpus Christi

Gn 14:18-20
Ps 110:1,2,3,4  
1 Cor 11:23-26
Lk 9:11b-17

There is a popular saying that the definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Today is the Solemnity of Corpus Christi or the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  A special day dedicated to the Eucharist – a celebration that is being celebrated every day and at every moment throughout the world.  Today is also the anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. I can say that at over 448 Masses since my ordination I have neither gone insane nor have I had a "different result" after celebrating each Mass.  At every Mass, the Eucharist – Jesus’ gift of His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity – is made present to us.  It is the same result and its effect in our lives cannot be measured, but we know that it is profound, especially when we open ourselves to Him.

Since the beginning, God has been preparing the world to receive Christ in a very special way.  We hear from the book of Genesis, [that’s the very first book in the Bible in case you brought yours] that this mysterious King of Salem, Melchizedek, offers bread and wine as a priest of God Most High. Hebrews 7:3 – cites this Melchizedek as without any ancestry – without beginning of days or end of life; effectively eternal and a prefiguring of the true high priest Jesus Christ.  He is a king too, the King of Salem.  Salem, Massachusetts? No, the King of Peace (Shalom).  What does Melchizedek offer? This sacrifice and offerings is on behalf of Abraham the father of the people Israel to God Most High.  He offers bread and Wine.  In scriptures, sacrifices usually involve something bloody and slaughtered, but this sacrifice is one of bread and wine, unbloody sacrifice.  Hmmm… does all of this sound familiar?

When Jesus was with the hungry multitude he tells His dear disciples, Give them some food yourselves.  They were fully aware that they are unable to do so and that clear limitations, what could they do they but turn to the Lord to seek help.  The human condition is quite often filled with the simple fact that we are not able to do what needs to be done.  It can be in our daily lives – not having enough time in the day, not having the strength to run that last errand, or just being frustrated that nothing is going your way.  It can be our spiritual lives – not finding that joy that everyone else around you has when they goto church, not seeing how one can sit and pray for five minutes let alone for an hour, or just being frustrated that all the praying you have been doing seems like it is just talking to a wall.  As Blessed Mother Teresa said, “We are called to be faithful not successful.”  So in that faith we turn to Him, “I can’t Lord, but you can.”  Ultimately, the greatest burden and curse that has plagued us is not the number hours of the day or how many years we have left to live, but that our relationship with God was separated by an infinite chasm of sin before Jesus Christ came into the world to redeem it.

What priests of old tried to do with animal sacrifices and sin offerings, Jesus did with His life.  You see when sacrifices and holocausts were offered back then, the meat was not just burned but a meal was shared as well – that peace was offered and a meal shared to recognize the renewed relationship.  We hear in our second reading St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."  What I find fascinating in this passage is this idea of “handing on”.  The Latin word tradere the word from which we get the words tradition, trade, and betray.  So when St. Paul was handing on to us what was handed on to him in this Holy TRADITION, Jesus was HANDING Himself over to be TRADED in our place – to face condemnation for our sins as He was BETRAYED by His friends.  This is a holy exchange: where He would die for us, offer Himself for us, so that we may have an everlasting offering to the Father – an offering that is offered day in and day out!

As a priest stands in the person of Christ – he not only attempts to imitate Him in virtue, but he must be the model of something that is particular to the identity of Jesus Christ: both a priest like Melchizedek and a victim – a sacrificial offering to God.  The priest that offers the sacrifice; and the victim that is being offered – a fragrant offering to the Lord.  Every time I hold the host in my hand as I say the words of Consecration: This is my Body – I offer myself with Christ.  As baptized members of the Body of Christ – all of you are called to offer yourself with me united in worship with Christ to God the Father; for why else would the nuns years ago drill into your heads to say “My Lord, and My God” every time the host is elevated?  Every time I hold the chalice in my hand as I say the words: This is my Blood – I take myself to the Garden of Gethsemane – remembering that our Lord desired that the Father would take the cup away, but ultimately offered Himself obediently to the Will of the Father: Not my will but Thine be done. Can these words be said without a tremble in your voice?  To say them means that I am willing to follow that Will to my death.  Every priest who is worth his salt should know that the offering that they offer in Mass is something incomprehensibly beautiful, mysterious, terrifying, and awesome at the same time.  As I reflect on this day – one year from my ordination, my first anniversary – I hope that I can continue to explore the depths of the Holy Eucharist.  It is truly incomprehensibly beautiful, mysterious, terrifying, and awesome.

It is not insane to do this same thing over and over again and expect a different result because we are always at a different place in our lives and the depths of God’s mystery and blessing is never exhausted.  Therefore I would propose that insanity in this context is to go to Mass day in and day out and NOT have a different result.  The Feast of Corpus Christi is not only a joyful celebration of our redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ but a reminder that the frequency and repetition of our celebration should not breed contempt but rather inspire us to unite ourselves more closely with Corpus Christi – the Body of Christ – both mystical and physically:  Mystically in the Church and physically in the Holy Eucharist.  "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.