FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
The best part of Thanksgiving for me was holding my newest great-niece, now two months old and so very tiny. Her immaculate skin and dainty features were like looking into a sacred icon of God’s beauty. It was indeed a Holy Moment…as I silently said a prayer for her and wondered what God has in mind for her life. Discerning God’s Will for our life and the lives of our children is a significant part of our spiritual development. As this witty friend of mine often says, “This life isn’t a dress rehearsal.”
The season of Advent is four sacred weeks, with scriptures and Mass prayers that help us prepare for two things: the celebration of Christ’s Birth, and for Jesus’ Second Coming at the end of the world. Thinking about when the world will end forces us to think about our own mortality. Many of the saints spoke about how their path to holiness was attained by a regular reflection on their inevitable death.
What we might call a ‘spirituality of our mortality’ helps one remember the sacredness of each day of life with which we are blessed from God.
One non-religious book I find interesting on this subject is called “4000 Weeks” which is the average number of weeks a person lives. The author wants the reader to be more mindful of one’s finitude, our mortality, and how to make better decisions about how we spend the relatively short time we have. How many weeks we have lived is known; how many weeks are left is unknown and an opportunity to make better, holy choices toward our goal of heaven.
Our first reading from Jeremiah today gets us to think about TIME… and how God uses one day at time for our salvation. God is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah about 600 years before Jesus, and says this phrase several times, “In those days…in that time.” God is referring to THE Day …when he will send a Messiah to bring the world a new kind of security and justice. Imagine that! God was planning out his days and weeks 600 years ahead of time.
When we pay attention to how God uses days, weeks, and years, we realize that all of ‘our days’ are actually going toward a direction and purpose. This world…and our lives are NOT randomly passing along. You and I are specifically chosen by God to LIVE in THIS time and place. No longer in “those days” …waiting for a Savior…but in THESE days…with passion and purpose…PART OF Jesus’ Resurrected Life right now.
Basically, we are a part of God’s three-act drama – “those days” when the world waited for a Messiah; “these days” when God came to earth and reunited us to himself; and third act - “that day” yet to come, when Jesus’ Second Coming will draw all of Creation into himself.
The Birth of Jesus literally changed the calendar of humanity…and we now see every year, every day as living IN “that Day,” in the Sphere of Salvation. The world around us tries to convince us that life is a ‘battle’ to get as much done, see as many things possible, and keep as busy and productive as you can -- as if there is a prize at the end for productivity? In our exhaustion with this secular philosophy, we have to humbly admit that THE very best way to live our “4000 weeks” is to keep learning from Jesus’ example…so that we when our days here are over, and Jesus looks us in the eyes, he will recognize us as one of his faithful sheep…who spent our ‘days’ in love and service of others. In other words, this Gospel is meant to help us construct a meaningful life. And Advent is a four-week examination of how we are living the holy life God has given to us.
When Jesus lived here on earth, he saw how misguided we humans spend our time, like sheep without a shepherd, like pilgrims without a purpose. And so he says to us today, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from the anxieties of daily life…and THAT DAY catch you by surprise.” “That day” Jesus is referring to is the one when we stand before him to give an accountability report of how we spent the sacred ‘weeks’ God gave us. “That day” … could be THIS day for some of us, or with certitude it will come in one of the ‘weeks’ we have remaining. For people of faith, ‘that day’ will be a glorious one.
Here in the Eucharist, THIS day is the very best one we have. To be fully present to this great Mystery of Jesus here in our midst, we must let go of “those” days of our past…and “those” days of our future…and delve into the holiness of THIS day, this moment of grace.
CHRIST THE KING
HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
In our Catholic Religion, we have an unusual tradition of collecting relics. Some of our treasured relics are of amazing saints and martyrs, and others are things the early Christians saved having to do with Jesus, like the Manger of his Birth, pieces of the True Cross, and the veil of Veronica to name just a few. Our group of parishioners on a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi last week were blessed to see and pray near some of these treasures. At one of the holy places we prayed, and probably the largest and most unusual artifact we have, is the set of marble steps from the palace of Pontius Pilate, the very staircase that Jesus would have walked up for his meeting with the man who sentenced him to die. The “Scala Sancta/Sacred Steps,” as they are called, were transported centuries ago from Jerusalem to Rome, are now inside a church, where people prayerfully climb on their knees to the top where there is an Altar and a large fresco of the Crucifixion. I describe this one short story of our parish pilgrimage since the conversation in the gospel we just heard… took place at the top of this very flight of stairs.
We are familiar with this intense Gospel scene since we also hear it every Good Friday as well. An interesting juxtaposition… that the Church proclaims this story both…on one of the most somber days of the year…and for this glorious feast when we sing out boldly that Jesus is Our Sovereign King AND the King of the Universe. But my thoughts keep coming back to…wondering what Jesus was praying about as he climbed those stairs before this meeting took place.
Pontius Pilate, in the story, represents any world leader or person in power, who on the outside has a large influence, but inside is a coward and egocentric. He is face to face with the true King of the Universe - the One who was there at the Creation of the world, and whose whole life was selfless love. The gospel author John wants to emboss in our mind the irony of how Jesus’ mission for love, justice, and truth…is looking into the eyes of one whose life is selfishness and deception. At the top of the stairs is the earthly king Pilate who cowardly caves to political pressure…and our humble, heavenly King Jesus, whose ‘throne’ becomes the Cross of Love…and whose only crown is compassion…made of thorns. The author intentionally wants us to see them side by side…and make a choice…about who we follow…and what version of truth we believe.
As we come to the end of our liturgical year with this feast, and begin a new year with Advent next weekend, the image of Christ’s “holy steps,” provide a spiritual examination for us. Our Christian journey is a spiritual climbing toward holiness and heaven. The scriptures and sacraments provide solid ‘steps’ to ascend closer to Jesus. When Jesus says, “everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice,” he is inviting us to take the next ‘step’ toward the sound of his voice and following HIS Truth. More than ever, we need this Gospel of Jesus to be the real ‘truth barometer’ about staying faithful to Christ’s Way of justice, peace, and love.
The challenge of spiritually climbing ‘upward’ is that… we have to be intentional about lifting up and moving one foot at a time… from the step we were before. It takes humility to admit that maybe we have been taking wrong steps… toward a version of ‘truth’ that satisfies my own wants…without cross-examining our ideas with Jesus’ voice of selfless love for others. The stairway of life that we are presently on can be exhausting… when our ‘steps’ become out of sync with Jesus.
To climb Jesus’ way of peace, we must come down from our own stairways of selfishness and pride…and humbly accept Jesus’ invitation to consume His Body and Blood to save us. Here at the Altar, we receive the heavenly food we long for to help us make the sacrifices needed to only walk stairs toward God’s unifying love.
THIRTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
Often times when I am leaving an evening meeting up here at the church, I notice a good number of other groups also meeting in rooms throughout our building. On any given evening, there are many parishioners giving generously of their time, including our wonderful choir donating their Wednesday nights for practice. We are blessed here at St. Clare to have the Holy Spirit’s breath of generosity, that keeps nudging all of us to give the best of our time and financial support for so many great ministries dedicated to God’s glory and honor.
Generosity comes in many different forms: a parent giving up a night of sleep for a crying child; a caregiver who puts in countless hours for a loved one needing help; a person who tithes 10% of their income for God and the Church; or the one spending their Saturday morning at our men’s prayer group or serving in the soup kitchen – this all come from a generous heart. I love the dictionary’s description of generosity that states, “being unattached to one’s things,” with an extra willingness to help others.
For us Christians, being generous takes on another level of spirituality in that we are called to do very generous things for God and others, not simply to be a ‘good person,’ but because we are following Jesus’ example of amazing generosity in the way he emptied himself… all the way to the point of dying for us.
Giving of our time and finances beyond the minimum… is at the heart of the Christian life…since sacrificial love is grounded in the selfless sacrifice Jesus modeled for us. Starting with the Incarnation, Jesus emptied himself of greatness as Almighty God to become a child in Mary’s Womb. In his adult ministry, Jesus rebukes the pompous power often seen in authoritarian leaders…and instead exemplifies a new kind of power by embracing human suffering and even death. Jesus’ whole life is about an abundance of love and giving. Our calling as baptized Christians who follow Jesus is to give of our selves beyond measure… to model Jesus’ example of lavish generosity.
Two of our scriptures today highlight women who demonstrate abundant generosity. The one widow uses her very last handful of flour and oil to make a loaf of bread, not for herself, but for Elijah. And the poor widow in the Gospel story shows a generosity that is beyond our way of thinking – giving to God the very little money that she had to live on. In a scriptural, spiritual way, she prefigures the selfless generosity of Jesus giving his life on the Cross! Think for a moment about Jesus’ generosity that goes beyond human reasoning: after Jesus was falsely accused, spit upon and beaten…and then stripped of everything, including his last piece of clothes, he still gives away the last thing he had…his very life…to show his incredible love for us! This is radical generosity! Jesus becomes the Savior of the world by giving everything away! It goes against everything our world thinks about winning, power, prestige. Our Christian message and witness are needed more than ever in our world today.
I am especially intrigued and challenged by this widow in the first reading who chooses to use her last bit of flour to make food for someone in need. We can often feel like our ‘flour jar’ is running empty. It can feel like others are not doing as much as we are…or giving as much as they can. Other people’s selfishness can tempt us to give up or give less. But this woman in the story places her trust in God’s promise…that your ‘flour jar’ will not go empty. If this widow was standing before us today, I imagine her saying to us, “Believe me, just keep giving…and be assured the Lord will bless you in surprising ways.”
I don’t know about you, but I struggle with this sometimes when I want time to myself after a long day of helping others…or feel a need to keep money for my own needs. But then I think of this poor widow who trusted in God so much that she could throw aside all worries about her future and almost recklessly gives away what she had…and God blessed her life abundantly.
Ultimately it is Jesus’ own example of emptying himself…that we take as our role model. We must re-evaluate the things we cling to…or let go of the idea that there may not be enough if we give our ‘most’ instead of the least. The Eucharist is always a call to conversion, where Jesus asks us to remember and live his example of abundant generosity. The Grace in the Eucharist strengthens us when it can feel like our ‘flour jar’ is running empty…as we place all our trust in Jesus. Christ-centered generosity is what makes for a purpose-filled life. And the more we empty our self, it makes more ‘room’ in the jar of our soul for the Holy Spirit.
THIRTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
Before I got my undergrad degree in Business Administration, I started college wanting to be an architect. My love of classic architecture was helpful in graduate school seminary when we were studying the ancient Jewish Temple and all the historical references to it in the Hebrew Scriptures. As you may know, the structure of the Jewish ritual and their architecture were very influential when the Early Christians were creating the first celebrations of the Eucharist and eventual building of their churches starting in the Fourth Century. As the Temple layout distinguished the sanctuary and Holy of Holies room from the sitting area, so too, Catholic churches are designed to have a clear sanctuary for the Altar of Sacrifice and a Blessed Sacrament Chapel as our own special holy place of God’s Presence.
I bring up these details since the author of Hebrews in our second reading assumes you know this when he is writing about Jesus as our High Priest. Since this Hebrews passage is so central to how we know Jesus and core to what we believe about the Mass, I’m going to make a meager attempt to briefly explain this somewhat complicated Hebrews Letter…so put on your seatbelt!
The writer wants us to understand that with Jesus as God’s eternal High Priest, there is no longer a need for the Temple human priests to offer animal sacrifices for sins. Jesus’ Saving Blood that flowed from the Cross of Calvary into the Chalice of the Last Supper…and into every chalice at Mass, IS what “takes away the sins of the world.” This is why the Early Jewish Christians began calling Jesus “High Priest” and “Lamb of God…” as they reinterpreted their traditions and now saw Jesus as both Priest and Sacrificial Lamb taking away our sins.
But…I am glad you may ask, “then why do we still need priests for Mass?” The answer is exactly why I love talking about the joy and privilege of being a Catholic priest. I say this especially to our young men and their parents to encourage this vocation -- The priest…stemming from his baptism, is called by God to participate IN Jesus’ Priesthood in a unique way. The priest at Mass, and every sacrament, represents Jesus…so we can tangibly see and hear Jesus say, “This is my Body, this is my Blood,” and “Your sins are forgiven.” Very different from any other ‘job’ in the world, a priest unites himself to Jesus’ ministry of leading people to God. A Catholic priest then…enters into the LONG lineage of the ‘Levite priestly caste’ this Hebrew passage is referring to…while at the same time…a priest participates fully into Jesus’ sacramental ministry. (I can get a little emotional about how special this is…and I wish more parents would realize the privilege they also share in if their son is being called to the Priesthood.)
The main point of this Hebrew passage is that, while the Jewish ritual depended on a human priest who they had to keep replacing upon his death, Jesus’ Priesthood is eternal…since he rose from the dead and reigns in heaven as our Priest forever. In other words, right now in heaven, Jesus is YOUR priest and mine, standing before the throne of God, offering his life for our sins and praying for your needs. This is why the Crucifix hangs above us…to remind us that Jesus is offering his life for us during the Mass.
In the Mass, as Hebrews points out, we do not keep offering a ‘new’ sacrifice over and over…but we leave this world for a few minutes…and participate in Jesus’ ONE Sacrifice on the Cross. In Mass, we enter INTO the Holy of Holies of Heaven…with Jesus our High Priest saying, “Father forgive them,” washing us clean in his Saving Blood. The best way to participate in all of this when you arrive here…is to be thinking about two things: What do you want Jesus to wash clean and save in your life; and at the same time, give to Jesus your list of gratitude for all He has done for you.
The bloody sacrifices of lambs in the Hebrew ritual are no longer needed…as we have ONE “Lamb of God.” And the Altar of Sacrifice… is the Cross. During the Mass, our High Priest Jesus is standing before the throne of God interceding for you and me. When the Consecrated Host is held up, remember that this is Jesus…who is also in the Holy of Holies of Heaven, washing your sins away…and praying for you and your needs before the face our Heavenly Father.
TWENTY NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
WATCH THIS HOMILYOne of my favorite contemporary authors in spiritual writings talks about how often people will ask him the timeless question, “What is the key to happiness?” He said he has prayed over that question for several years, trying to get the answer down from a whole chapter to one line, which he sums up, “the key to happiness is…wanting the right things.” I have been using those four words, “wanting the right things,” as part of my daily prayer meditation, asking for Jesus’ help.
Part of the spiritual journey is seeing the difference between our ‘wants’ list compared to our actual ‘needs’ for happiness and peace. Our eyesight…is both the greatest of our senses, as St. Thomas Aquinas teaches…, and yet how we use our eyes often gets us in trouble. Because if you think about it, what we see…we usually covet. Marketing experts know this well, so they keep putting their product before our eyes… and so we collect all kinds of ‘stuff’ someone or some advertisement told us we “need.”
It was no coincidence that two of the Ten Commandments from God are, “Do not covet your neighbor’s things… or their spouse.” We often misuse our greatest gift of vision to keep looking in the wrong direction. In other words, to make more holy choices we have to retrain our eyes to focus on holy things. We HAVE the power to change our actions, but often fail to activate our Free Will toward the holy…and then bad habits and addictions develop.
Today’s beautiful Gospel miracle centers on God’s gift of sight. The person who receives his new vision from Jesus…represents each one of us…acknowledging the disabilities our eyes have developed. Even though we have eyesight, we often fail to “SEE” life as we were created to look at it. All the way back to the Garden of Eden, we humans have been looking for ‘fruits’ that give us temporary pleasure or might make us feel like gods…more powerful or better than others. And all the while, God gave us the gift of our eyes to look at Him…and to see other humans and all of His Creation…with respect and love.
I want to highlight TWO parts of the miracle that give us something to work on. The first is what the man Bartimeaus DID before he approached Jesus to ask for the miracle. The phrase that stands out for me is when it says that before Bartimeaus went to Jesus, he “threw aside his cloak.” Those four words represent an important step on our spiritual journey of “throwing aside” any “cloak” or ‘stuff’ that needs to be let go of that keep us from getting closer to Jesus. For some, the ‘cloak’ is a cataract of pride or ego, or a cloak of guilt about our past. The things in which we ‘wrap’ ourselves…confuse our wants from our needs.
For many, it is a ‘cloak’ of busyness…in which we have filled up our lives with so many activities…that we simply do not make the TIME for God in prayer. We tell ourselves that the garment of our schedule is too important to “throw aside.” In other words, what ‘cloak’ on your calendar would need to be thrown aside to have time to sit in church for 30 minutes of silence 3 times a week? Or what needs to be ‘tossed’ to create a new habit of attending a daily Mass during the week or to carve out an hour of silence on Tuesday nights for “Quiet on Cross Street” Adoration? For many of us, our busyness becomes a god, a mask that we cling to…to help cover up our insecurities and make us feel important. We keep wanting the wrong things.
For poor Bartimeaus, that wrapping was the only thing he owned…and he “threw it aside,” tossed it out of his life…in order to have a personal relationship with Jesus. The various coverings we carry around create a kind of blindness to realizing how much we NEED Jesus’ help. Pray this week about what is one thing you are willing to ‘throw aside’ in order to have 15-30 minutes of silence with God every day.
The second brief point that stands out for me in the story is… what did Bartimeaus get to SEE when he was healed? The Face of Jesus. Imagine how that changed his life. The author tells us that the person immediately became a follower of Jesus. When we let Jesus restore the way we look at life, our vision will begin to SEE the face of Jesus…in the mirror, in the imperfect lives of others, in the beauty of Creation all around us.
When Jesus asks the blind man, “what do you want me to do for you?” Bartimeaus teaches us a beautiful prayer, “Master, I want to see.” When you sit down for prayer each day this week, simply say, “Jesus, I want to see; I want to see better to want the right things; I want to see…what cloaks I need to throw aside that are keeping me from getting closer to you.” In prayer, sit in silence and let yourself see Jesus’ Face looking at you with Love.
TWENTY EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
I was recently at a birthday party for a little girl who turned five. When it came time to blow out the candles on the cake, it was quite remarkable to see how she took her ‘wish making’ very seriously. She closed her eyes and was concentrating so hard on her wish that her eyebrows and forehead crunched up as if she was ‘channeling’ her wish to come true at that very moment. It got me thinking about my own childhood birthday ‘wish’…that when I grew up I would marry the beautiful girl sitting in front of me at school. By my 9th birthday, my wish had matured greatly…and as I blew out the candles, I simply wished…that she would even NOTICE me! Proof … it’s a good thing that God does not always grant our wishes. Eventually we have to realize that magical ‘wishes’ need to be changed into purposeful prayers…trusting that God will provide for what is best for us…in the long run. It seems so ironic, and perhaps sad, that even though we know God alone will provide what is best for us, why is it that we have such difficulty setting aside time for prayer…the ‘place’ where God quietly assures us that he is taking care of us? The very thing we need to do …is usually the thing we make the least amount of time for.
It truly is a ‘game changer’ if we literally schedule a 15-minute ‘prayer appointment’ with God every morning. And during that time, what would you ‘deep down’ ask God for? Ultimately we all really want the same things don’t we? Once we take away the ‘surface’ desires, like having loads of money or perfect health, our desire for happiness and peace…is what speaks to our inner longings. Today’s readings from Wisdom and Mark’s Gospel help us put words to our universal human yearnings. In our first reading, it is the author of the Book of Wisdom who identifies two gifts that get to the core of our deeper desires…and those are Prudence and Wisdom. Referring to Wisdom in the ‘feminine,’ the author teaches us that if we ask for Prudence and Wisdom from God, they are far greater than any power or money we ‘wish’ could bring us happiness. If we think about how much of the ‘suffering’ in our life… is sometimes rooted in poor choices that we have made, it seems obvious how much we need God’s Wisdom both personally and as a human race. Think about such examples as:
God’s Spirit of Wisdom is exactly what young people need… to discern their vocation in life to know what God wants of them that will bring their greatest happiness; Wisdom is what parents and grandparents need… to know how to raise their children as disciples of Jesus, especially needing Wisdom during the trying teenage years; Wisdom is what every one of us needs… to make wise choices about or life…and how to use our time and money, so as not to get trapped into a meaningless life of surface busyness and materialism.
In a sense, the man in the Gospel was asking for wisdom when he approached Jesus with the question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Since heaven is our ultimate goal, a similar version of this question sounds like this, “God, give me your Wisdom to know what I need to do with the time and money that you gave me…to help me stay on the path to heaven.” But like the man in the Gospel, sometimes we do not like God’s response. Jesus’ reply is emphasizing how difficult it is to love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul, if we are attached to our possessions. Basically, Jesus is pointing out the temptations that come with wealth and material things as they tempt a person to define oneself by these things…and begin to create a self-image out of them.
It is so obvious to see this happening in the world around us…as money, privileges, and power are misused by so many who have them. I’ve been thinking about this on a personal level this week…with regard to my own things and savings for retirement. It begs the timeless question of ‘how much is enough?’ We have a long list of amazing Catholic ancestors, like Saints Francis and Clare, who took this challenge from Jesus literally and gave everything away for a life of poverty. It comes down to the basic virtue of “detachment,” realizing… the only ‘possession’ we need… is a personal relationship with Jesus. And the main tool we need to stay clear on this goal…is the Spirit’s gift of WISDOM…for every choice we make. These scriptures today call out to us… to pray for God’s Wisdom every day.
As we approach the Altar…we admit…that we are all poor, in need of God’s Spirit to make us rich in Prudence and Wisdom! Let’s take a moment to think about where in our mind and our thoughts do we want God’s Wisdom to guide us.
Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Homily by Fr. Jim Deiters
Back in the seminary, about a hundred years ago, the professor teaching how to prepare a good homily, jokingly said to us, “Men, when the scriptures for that weekend say anything about marriage or divorce, make sure and give it to the Deacon to preach!” Well, here I am, breaking his rule and taking a stab at this Gospel on the subject.
Since all of us have dealt with divorce on some level within our families, this Gospel can stir up different emotions for us. For some people today, these readings are painful as they remind them of a broken relationship and the agony that goes with ending a marriage. For others, these Scriptures about the permanence of marriage are a positive reinforcement to stick with a relationship that takes a lot of work. For others who are single or widowed, these readings are also helpful in reflecting on the importance of commitments we make.
When I think back on the trials and tribulations that my own parents dealt with in their relationship and raising eight children, I am utterly amazed at couples who DO make it for the long haul. But for those who do go through a divorce, the Catholic Church offers the annulment process that can bring a lot of HEALING… since it helps persons clarify what was the deeper issue and eventually let go of anger and hurt that happens in a divorce.
While all relationship are complex, and marriage takes a ton of patient forgiving, the Church teaches that sometimes, there are valid reasons for a divorce, which is why we have a healing annulment process. Explaining annulments really needs a whole education night; but briefly, an annulment is different than a divorce in that it acknowledges that something was ‘missing’ in the relationship before the wedding day took place. The annulment process asks a person to think about the early history of the relationship…and possibly if the marriage might not have been able to work out in the first place; and maybe… the permanence of the ‘sacramental seal’ from God did not take place over the marriage. While there was a civil marriage, the annulment process asks if God sealed the marriage to be permanent, if He saw there was an inability for it to be a holy, healthy relationship at the start.
Now, let’s look deeper at WHY Jesus addresses this issue. Given a trick question about divorce, Jesus challenged the Pharisees to go back to the Book of Genesis and the original intention that God had when He created man and woman…to be ‘partners’ to one another. The Creation story is about God’s LOVE for us… and God’s intention that we humans live in unity and respect for one another and all of creation. What developed from Original Sin by the time of Jesus… is that the male species turned their role into dominance over women instead of an equal partner. The men created laws for them to divorce a woman for any reason whatever, with women having no say in the matter. Jesus was enraged at how the men treated women. When Jesus takes this strong stance against divorce, he quotes the Genesis story to stand up for women’s dignity and how God had created their original goodness. While Jesus challenges married persons to remain true to their life-long commitment, when he was asked later about how difficult this is, he said, “not everyone is called to” the married life. Not everyone has the abilities… or willingness to make the sacrifices it takes for marriage. And some men are called to make different sacrifices for the Priesthood.
My experience in working with many married people reveals to me that one of the main problems in marriage today is that couples do not make quality TIME for each other in order to become a true companion on the journey to heaven. Between a person’s time for work, the time it takes in raising the children, and other things, too many couples forget to work on their own relationship with one another…and they become ‘roommates’ instead of spouses. They forget they committed to being of “one flesh” with the other. Next to their relationship with God, the number one priority of marriage is one’s spouse.
Any person discerning if he or she is called to the marriage vocation…must be reminded that marriage is about choosing a partner who will help you grow in holiness and lead you closer to God…, not just picking someone who is good-looking and who has similar interests. Since beauty and common interests fade away, a relationship must be based on the deeper values of faith and unconditional love to last for a lifetime. The Church teaches that the sacrament of marriage is to mirror God's love for us… and Christ's love for his Church.
Whether you are single, divorced, widowed, or married, this Gospel challenges ALL of us to remember that our relationships are to become reflections God’s Love! This is why we NEED the Eucharist…to become a reflection of Jesus. In the Mass we bring to God our struggles and desires for holy, healthy relationships…and God, in return, gives us the Body and Blood of Jesus to help us BE a mirror of God’s love to others.
May this Eucharist strengthen each of us in our varied vocations to be more forgiving, committed, gentle, and loving with each other.
TWENTY SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
One of the beautiful things I love about our parish Oktoberfest is how it gives each person an opportunity to serve and be generous with their time, resources, and hospitality. Studies show that the more a person shares generously of their time, finances, and kindness…the happier they are. The happiest people I know are also the most generous people I know. A lack of generosity is usually based on fear – a fear that I won’t have enough money or time for other things.
One of God’s greatest attributes is generosity. We see God being outrageously generous in the works of his Creation – from bountiful harvests to the vastness of the oceans, to the precious life of each new baby. Jesus was constantly practicing generosity in how he treated people, going out of his way to care for the sinner and those unwelcomed by others. Two of our scriptures today reveal God’s generosity that we are called to practice our self.
The first image of generosity we heard is what God did through Moses as he blessed the seventy elders. From the Book of Numbers, we hear this great depiction of God taking “some of the Spirit that was on Moses...and spread it out among more leaders so that they too could prophesy.” In other words, God decided to not limit his graces to one person or small group. BUT some of the people reacted with fear, worried about who might get some of the Spirit’s blessings. Moses steps forward and speaks from his generous heart saying, “would that the Lord bestow his spirit on them ALL!”
Similarly, when Jesus’ disciples saw that some people, who were not in ‘their group,’ were healing people through Jesus’ name, they complained that others would have such authority. They had a fear that someone else who was not a part of them… would “use up” the healing power of Jesus name…as if it has a limit! Of course, both stories are about US...often prejudging or complaining about who God might include in the work of the Kingdom. Sometimes we just can’t imagine that God would let some of the gifts of his Spirit come upon her? In him?
And all the while, God is recklessly pouring out his Spirit beyond the boundaries and categories that we create. Like the disciples of Moses or Jesus, we can get frustrated when see the workings of the Spirit flow outside of our confined ideological or theological boxes. It’s not that God doesn’t care who serves in his name; it’s just that God’s Wisdom of choosing his servants or witnesses is not based on our human way of thinking; and it can shock us that God would be so generous and inclusive of the Spirit’s blessing and as coworkers in the Kingdom.
In this context, two ways that we can all practice Christ-like generosity is through open-mindedness and gratitude. Starting with the virtue of gratitude, when we notice the blessings in our life and the gratuitous abundance of God’s graces in all of creation, gratitude helps us realize that God’s Goodness has no limits. Practicing gratitude helps us want to be more generous with what we have…and be grateful for the gifts in other people. These scriptures call us to be grateful for the extravagant way that God showers his blessings upon people we never imagined.
And this leads to “open mindedness,” asking the Holy Spirit to help our minds and hearts be more receptive to seeing some spark of God’s goodness in others. We know from Salvation History, that the Holy Spirit has been constantly surprising the world by whom the Spirit chooses to get involved. From prophets like Eldad and Medad, to Job, to the Virgin Mary, to uneducated fisherman of Galilee, to you and me in this very room. And all the while, we try to set up boundaries and boxes about who WE think should be counted as ‘in’ or ‘out’ of God’s limitless graces.
One of the great joys of being a pastor is to see how diverse the personalities and gifts within a parish community are! In order for our parish community to thrive, we each have to ‘let go’ of any own preconceived notions of who God might send into the vineyard of parish life. Jesus teaches that even with the human limitations of the diverse personalities of disciples that we are…we must let go of fear or judgment and let the Holy Spirit lavishly dish out blessings and graces...beyond the peripheries of our imagination.
Come Holy Spirit! Enkindle within us the fire of Your Love!
TWENTY FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
FR. JIM DEITERS
Although she died before some of you were even born, Mother Theresa, now “Saint Mother Theresa,” made a global impact by her love and care for the poorest of the poor, starting in India, but establishing her Religious Order throughout the world. Such was her influence, that when she was invited to speak to the United Nations in 1985, owning nothing but a sari and pair of sandals, she was introduced as the “most powerful woman in the world.” Mother Theresa was the antidote for people chained with greed…and the medicine for anyone stuck on the ladder of power and prestige. One of her most inspiring stories embossed in my mind is when she described that she literally carried in a man from the streets who was close to death and covered with worms on his flesh. As she washed his body, he looked up and said, “Even though I was treated like an animal on the street, I can die like an angel, cared for and loved.” Moments later before he died he said, “I am going home to God.”
We have to keep the memory of Mother Theresa alive in our world today, as we are tempted to buy into the culture’s clamor for fame and wealth, while casting aside the poor, those with addictions, and the stranger seeking a safe place to live. Mother Theresa, along with other saints like Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Vincent de Paul, teach us to develop the virtue of humility THROUGH specific actions of caring for people in need. Selfless love makes humility grow.
Since all three of our readings today address the sins of pride and jealousy, it gives us the opportunity to reflect on the virtue of HUMILITY, the main virtue that counters these vices. The letter from St. James today, particularly rebukes those who let jealousy and self-ambition cause divisions in the community. And in the Gospel, the disciples get ‘caught’ by Jesus in their ambitious conversations about “who is the greatest.” Of course, the scriptures are always meant to serve as a ‘mirror’ that challenge us to examine our own life as to how these same un-Christian behaviors play out in the way we sometimes let jealousy and self-ambition take us down paths that are opposite of what Jesus modeled for us.
So how do we grow in the virtue of humility to counter our false pride? First, humility requires an awful lot of honest self-awareness. St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes, “There is nothing more effective for acquiring humility, than to find out the truth about oneself.” This means a daily self-examination before God in prayer, asking God to make us more aware of our own failings and less time counting the sins of others. THIS is very difficult since our minds are always noticing other people’s shortcomings.
We are not talking about a ‘false’ humility…in which one puts themself down or doesn’t get involved thinking they don’t have much to offer. True humility recognizes one’s dependence on God…and allowing GOD to take our lowly lives and raise us to a Gospel-kind of ‘greatness’ that is grounded in humble service and care of others. This is why Mother Theresa, in her days, was called the “greatest woman in the world.” She would sit in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament every morning for an hour, beginning her day by placing her “small life” before the face of God…and then letting the Holy Spirit ‘raise up’ her life to do ‘great things’ in caring for those most in need. Now, we can’t all be just like her, but we ARE called to find our own path to sainthood…and make the sacrifices it takes to practice one holy moment at a time.
In this Gospel, Jesus flips the conventional idea about who is “great” by saying greatness is acquired and learned by being a “servant” of others. This radical teaching of Jesus is so important for all of us, and especially significant for all younger persons discerning how to be ‘successful’ in life. But many of us who spent years climbing the ladder of society’s idea of greatness, hear this Gospel and realize we want and need to be ascending toward something more fulfilling. Here at the Altar we admit that the only ladder we need is the one that leads to holiness and heaven --- who IS Jesus Christ.
As we pray for the Holy Spirit to help us grow in the genuine humility that Jesus taught us, listen and pray with me a small section from an ancient Litany of Humility that many saints used in their own spiritual path:
From the desire of being esteemed and honored by others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved by others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of looking more important than others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being greater than others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated if I use my gifts, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being laughed at if I do what is right, Deliver me, Jesus.
Oh Jesus, grant us the grace to become more humble like you.
TWENTY FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
WATCH THIS HOMILY