Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Times
WATCH THIS HOMILY

Fr. Jim Deiters

Recently we posted photographs from our Sister Parish in Guatemala of a building addition that our parish helped make happen.  We also just learned of new endeavors at our parish there for healthcare which our monthly funds will help the really poor in the mountain villages.  Each time our parishioners visit there, we always come back enriched by their faith and resilience.  But for me personally, I also come back with questions about what else I can be doing to help the poor.  I regularly increase my tithing to the parish and other charities…but it never feels like enough…once you see how most people of the world live with so little.

I would place this Gospel passage in Jesus’ “top five” most challenging messages.  I wish I could avoid preaching about it, especially on our joyful Oktoberfest weekend.  This parable has always made me feel uncomfortable, especially as Jesus vividly describes Hell as a place for those who don’t take care of the poor.  Before we might ‘write off’ the story as one more Gospel about God’s love of the poor and warnings about the risks of material wealth, note that in reality the parable is not a condemnation of wealth per se.  Rather the parable is asking those who do HAVE…whether or not they are sharing what they have?

There is a word in the first reading today that helps clarify the sin we need to avoid to stay out of hell.  And the prophet Amos defines the sin as “complacency.”  Or Pope Francis uses the word “indifference” to describe the greatest sin of our time.  Jesus’ parable shockingly teaches that if a person remains complacent or indifferent to so many in our world asking for help…there is a place of tormenting flames… and a huge “chasm” separating it from heaven.  Jesus regularly addressed the sin of indifference, but in this story, goes right for our jugular when he describes the awful afterlife for the person who did not care for the poor.

Most of the time, the poor of the world go nameless to those of us who have the comforts of food and shelter.  We pray for the poor… in general, we read about poverty statistics…in general, and we see photos of refugees in large general groups on the nightly news.  But when we actually learn the name or life story of a person in need, we think of them differently…as we enter into a certain kind of ‘relationship’ with the person.  

That is why it is no coincidence that in the parable Jesus specifically gives the name Lazarus to the poor person in the story…as he wants the listener to establish a relationship with the poor.  At the same time, we are not given the name of the rich man who had his fame and power during his short earthly life. 

We know that while money and possessions are not evil in themselves, they ‘fill’ our lives so much that we can easily become complacent toward those people in the world who are asking for help.  In the parable, the rich man is condemned for keeping his wealth for himself…and not even noticing the poor.  Most of us do not think of our self as rich, but we can still become complacent toward the poor.  Perhaps it’s the sheer ‘numbers’ of so many poor that makes the duty to help seem overwhelming.  But if we simply START with giving something to the person on the street…and then keep giving more away each month…we can avoid becoming the complacent person in Jesus’ warning.

The foundation of Catholic Social Teaching is this: God is the Lord of creation and the Owner of all things.  Nothing really belongs to us...but is given to us by God to be used wisely and shared with those who have little or nothing.  We are stewards of what God gives us.  We must continually be aware of the devil’s lie that we can keep for ourselves and our children whatever we have earned.   Our material things can easily blind us or make us indifferent to the millions who will go without food or shelter this very day.

Another way of applying our Catholic Social Teachings to our personal budget is by asking the question: What does God want me to do with the things and money I have?  As the late Cardinal George of Chicago said years ago, “The poor need us to lift them out of poverty; we need the poor to keep us out of hell.”

We can certainly be proud of the many ministries at St. Clare we do have that serve the poor.  But those must never leave us complacent, thinking we have done enough.  As we prepare to receive Jesus’ Body and Blood, we are challenged by this Gospel to keep asking ourselves…what else can I do and give away to help so many of God’s children who are suffering and asking for help? 

Holy Spirit, come and help us!

Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
WATCH THIS HOMILY
Fr. Jim Deiters

I am always inspired when people share with me their own story of faith or some kind of ‘conversion’ moment.  Some of these happen at the weekend retreats we offer for women and men next month.  For most of us, a deepening of our faith life happens gradually…as we re-arrange our priorities or come to a new chapter in our life.  But for some, there is a conversion to Jesus that happens at a specific moment, often times after a life crisis, such as a divorce, health emergency, or death of a loved one.  Either way, as Jesus invites each of us to “follow him,” it eventually requires a conscious CHOICE…that from this moment on, I will place God and my Catholic faith as the top priority in my life.  While at first it may seem like a big thing to commit to, it actually is a very freeing thing to do…since it helps us take some things off our ‘plate’ that we thought were priorities.

This very unusual parable that Jesus gives us today centers around one person’s ‘moment’ when he was facing a crisis in his life and had to make a plan for survival.  At first it sounds strange that Jesus uses an example of a cheating person in a parable that is actually about how a disciple must get a real clear “plan” of how they are going to follow Jesus.  As I kept praying over this strange parable, I realized it comes down to THREE STEPS that are needed for a disciple who is ready to go “all in” in prioritizing God in their life.

The first step is acknowledging a kind of ‘crisis’ in our life.  The person in the story realized he was about to lose everything and asks, “What am I going to do” with my life?  It was an ‘awakening’ moment that Jesus invites us to have as well.  We may not think of it as a ‘crisis’ moment, but a disciple must first be ‘awakened’ to the reality that without God, we have nothing.  The fact that you and I are here at Mass today is probably a sign that the Holy Spirit helped us reach this first step. Not something we ‘earned,’ but a GIFT given to us to be used to inspire others to an ‘awakening’ that their life IS in sort of a ‘crisis’ when God is not their center.  We each need to recognize that things are not ‘right’ in my life…and Jesus IS the ‘crisis point’…of either following Him or not.

The second step of ‘conversion’ that the parable teaches is the way a person must go through an honest self-assessment.   The man in the story acknowledges his limitations.  He says, “I’m too weak to dig ditches and I’m ashamed to beg,” in other words I’m in a helpless situation.  His self-awareness puts him in a humbling situation that we each must face in our own life.  As I preached last week, we simply cannot save ourselves.  We can be successful in certain areas and appear to others that we have things together; but deep down we are weak and have some ‘unholy things’ in our life.  We must come to point of doing some self-assessment…as we admit that some things need to change in order to be prepared for our final judgement and attain our goal of sainthood in heaven.

The third step of why the steward is commended is that the person takes action! He creates a specific strategy to correct his dire situation.  The person is in crisis, knows his weaknesses, and then decides to act!  Many good hearted disciples have a desire to change their ways…but we often don’t follow through with a plan.  If we keep ‘saying’ I am going to pray more, start NOW with a specific time in the day; if I know I need to do more to help the poor and those in need, start this week with looking in the bulletin or online for specific ways to do so.  If I know I need to stop complaining and gossiping, start today with more silence and acknowledging other people’s goodness.  Literally on our calendars needs to be times, persons, and places where my strategy and actions are written down for ways I will grow in Christ’s love and service.

As usual, Jesus uses a parable to turn our thinking upside down…and make us sit up and say, “wow, I have some work to do.”  As we approach the Eucharist today, let us pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us through these three steps toward holiness:

1. Holy Spirit…help us be awakened…that we are in a mess…and need God.
2. Holy Spirit…help us with a self-assessment…of our weaknesses and selfish sins…as we realize our dependence on God’s help.
3. Holy Spirit help us take action … to create specific strategies of improvement for our spiritual life and how we will more consciously follow Jesus’ Way.

Then the words of our closing hymn today will ring true when we pray, “I want to walk as a child of the Light, I want to follow Jesus.”
 

Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

WATCH THIS HOMILY

Fr. Jim Deiters

As most of the news this week has been about the death and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II, the focus has been on her historical reign of stability, decorum, and faithful service to her country for over seventy years.  While the world is fascinated by all the Royal history, pageantry, and titles, I have my own interest in her upcoming funeral, since the Church of England has its roots in Catholicism and kept much of our rituals and prayers in their own liturgies.  In this sense, when the world will watch the upcoming funeral, it will be an opportunity for us Christians to evangelize millions of viewers about our belief in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and King of the Universe.  Even though a famous Queen and world Head of State, as a Christian, her body will be placed before a Cross and Altar, with prayers to God asking for Christ to forgive her sins… that her soul may be saved through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.  Elizabeth now lays aside her crown of jewels…and is completely dependent on Jesus’ Crown of Thorns and the one, true Sovereign Power that matters to us all…which is God’s Mercy.

If you noticed, our scriptures today center around God’s desire to save us.  But I’m not sure if these readings mean much to people today…if we don’t first recognize our NEED to be saved.  I preached on this topic of “salvation” two weeks ago, but these readings invite us to go deeper on the topic, especially in the way that St. Paul is sharing his amazement at how God even forgives HIM, as Paul claims to be the “worst of sinners” since he had been persecuting Christians.  We just heard in his letter to Timothy, “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.  Of these I am the foremost.”

St. Paul is challenging us to know is the difference between a ‘knowledge’ that we are saved… and an ‘experience’ of being saved.  We ‘know’ that Christ has saved us through our baptism into his Death and Resurrection.  But until we admit our own weaknesses, sins, and selfish acts, we won’t really experience how much we need Jesus to ‘save us’ from these things that weigh us down with guilt, shame, and a false self. 

Personally, I think that one of THE main reasons many people don’t come to Mass is that they are not aware of their need for the saving Actions of Christ that happen here in the Eucharist.  In the Mass…Jesus is picking up each of us as “lost sheep” and placing us on his shoulder to celebrate that we ‘let’ him save us!  In the Mass, we are rejoicing with each other… that each of us IS the “lost coin” that God found…to bring us back to his healing Sacrament of Love.  Did you know that God’s Spirit ‘found’ you this morning and led you here?  Every day in my prayer, I have to sit before God and admit I AM “lost,” NOT as a hopeless case, but as a frail, mortal human, whose selfishness can only be forgiven and ‘saved’ by my Savior, Jesus.
While much of the world teaches us to be IN-dependent and a self-sufficient individual, we Christians are unique by admitting our DE-pendency on God, a faith community, and the need to be saved, found, and forgiven by Jesus!

I would like to make one more connection between God’s forgiveness, our first reading from Exodus, and what happens at Mass.  Before Jesus, it was a prophet like Moses, who acted on behalf of the sinful people, asking God to forgive their sins.  But with Jesus as God’s own Son, there is no more need for prophets, since the Crucified and Risen Jesus is forever in heaven interceding for us; but also ‘saving’ us time and again through the Eucharist.  For us, it is Jesus who is at the Altar during the Mass, offering Himself to God for the forgiveness of our sins.  But if a person doesn’t recognize their own weakness and selfishness, they won’t see a need to come to Mass and have Jesus ‘save’ and forgive them.  It is a very humbling thing to admit.  This is why, at the beginning of Mass, we first pray together, “I confess to Almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters that I have sinned.”  It is an admittance of being “lost.”  And by singing our “Kyrie,” which means “Lord have mercy,” helps increase our hunger for God’s Word and the Eucharist to feed us with a new way of living in Christ.

I want to have this reading from Timothy at my own funeral… since I like the way St. Paul celebrates God’s forgiveness as a way for “Christ Jesus to display all his patience” with us.  Whether it be thoughts about our own upcoming funeral or in our daily prayer, Jesus blesses us today in these two parables with an image to reflect on… that God experiences great JOY in finding and saving us. 

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
WATCH THIS HOMILY
Fr. Jim Deiters

While the media often focuses on the negative things happening within our National Government, I am delighted when I learn of some good things our government and military are doing around the world to help those in need.  Recently, our US Government bought the first 150,000 metric tons of grain coming out of Ukraine that has been sent directly to the World Food Program to distribute to various countries where people are starving due to drought.  Parts of Kenya and Somalia have not seen a drop of rain since 2019!  My mind cannot wrap around the fact that about 20 million people are living in deathly famine.  I wonder how our brothers and sisters living in these areas might here this Gospel parable about a banquet where people are more worried about who sits where than the actual food.

What strikes me in the parable is how Jesus plays with the concepts of a table and the message of humility.  In one sense, the first ‘table’ that God created was ‘land,’ where people could sit down together and enjoy endless foods from the banquet of plants God gave us.  But eventually, stemming from Original Sin, we humans set up separate ‘tables’ of tribes and nations…and started creating boundaries around who gets what food…or none at all.  And all the while, God looks at planet Earth as one big table where all his children are equal.  One of the main things that got Jesus in trouble with the leaders of his time was that he started ‘rearranging the seating chart,’ inviting himself to tables with prostitutes and the poor… and then inviting people that everyone else hated to sit as HIS table.

One of the many joys of being a pastor is getting to learn the life stories of our parishioners who come from such a wide variety of ‘table upbringings’ and whose life experiences and talents enrich the ‘banquet table’ of parish life.  But when you get such a mix of people around one Altar, Jesus’ teachings and example of humility challenge each of us to beware of temptations to create our own seating charts based on people who are like me…while God is gathering a very diverse guest list that prioritizes the poor and disabled, we learn from the Gospel.

I think that many of us grew up mistakenly thinking that humility was the opposite of being great.  Rather, since God actually desires us to achieve ‘greatness,’ by using our lives to our fullest potential, striving for a kind of greatness called “sainthood,” while still being humble during the process of getting there.

The word humility comes from the Latin word ‘humus’ or earth; therefore humility in its basic sense means to be grounded, rooted in who we truly are, with no false pretenses or false self.  Real humility neither overestimates nor underestimates one’s abilities and who we really ARE as children of God.  The humble person knows his or her strengths and weaknesses… and chooses to develop the talents they possess as gifts from God to be used wisely for his Kingdom.

We read in the Gospels that each time Jesus encountered people, he always finds for a way to raise people up to their inherent goodness and their proper dignity.  Jesus couldn’t stand people who made others feel small!  He denounced people with big egos and arrogance.  Jesus demonstrated that God sees within every human the potential of each person to be their greatest self!  This is the core of being ‘pro-life’ in its broader context.  The lives of the saints reveal examples of people who found that balance between being humble and doing great things for God.
False humility is when one sells him or herself short and settle for mediocrity, thinking greatness is for someone else.  But there is no patron saint for mediocrity!  So much of our culture tries to convince us that greatness is defined by wealth and power or at what table you sit.  But Jesus teaches us today that the ones whom GOD exalts are those who humbly serve others with their lives.
 
St. Benedict reminds us that humility begins by recognizing our ‘smallness’ before God…and letting the Holy Spirit melt our pride and ego into a grounded holiness where we invite other people to be seated and fed before ourselves.  In our prayer this week, pay attention to moments when you are living to your greatest potential, while humbly giving God the credit for the things we can accomplish.  In the Eucharist....we come face to face with Christ’s selfless humility and greatness...and take his Spirit of humility into our own bodies...to then live in the world as humbly as Jesus himself.
 

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time
WATCH THIS HOMILY
Fr. Jim Deiters

I am not sure why I would be the target of someone randomly coming up to talk to me at the airport…as I was just sitting there by myself, reading my book in my casual civilian clothes.  This young, 20-something man just came up to me and asked, “Have you been saved?”  Now, this poor soul had no idea to whom he was asking this question… and how was he to know that I have a mischievous side that likes to ‘play’ dumb at such moments and find ways to enlighten such persons about the beauty of the Catholic Faith?  He went on to explain that he noticed I was reading C.S. Lewis’ book called “Mere Christianity,” and wanted to know if I needed any help in learning about Christianity and how God wants me to be saved.  His face went a little blank when I answered his question about being ‘saved’ with a response he didn’t expect.  “Hmmm” I said, “I started this morning feeling very saved, when I had my holy hour of prayer; but then I got angry in traffic and said somethings that made me act like I wasn’t saved at all; then the Holy Spirit helped me be super patient with the person at the ticket counter and I was living like a ‘saved’ Christian; and by time I go to bed tonight I will have probably been ‘saved’ by Jesus’ grace about ten times.”  Blank.  We ended up having a good conversation about being Christian…and he admitted that he learned something new… that Catholics are “saved!”

Most often, Christians who want to engage you in the salvation question, usually define being ‘saved’ as a past event that took place on a specific day when they made a confession of faith in Jesus as their Savior.  They believe in a sort of “one and done” saving moment… that once baptized, you have a guaranteed entrance into heaven, no matter what they may do for the rest of their lives. 

The Catholic Church’s understanding of salvation is different.  Jesus Christ came to give us much more than a kind of eternal ‘fire insurance policy’.  For us, salvation in the fuller sense is an ongoing process that won’t be complete until after we die, when we face God for our accountability judgement.  So, when someone asks us whether we’re “saved,” perhaps the best short answer is this: “Yes, Jesus saved me, but I’m doing what the apostle Paul tells us to do in the Bible: I’m still ‘working out’ my salvation day by day” (Phil 2:12).

The ‘salvation question’ goes all the way back to the beginning, as we just heard in the Gospel someone asking Jesus, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”  It’s a numbers question that some Fundamentalist Christians get stuck on as well, trying to limit how many Jesus will let into heaven.  We Catholics let that decision up to God since God can choose to ‘save’ as many as he wants, whether they be Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or others… since the Blood of Jesus washes over the whole world.  Jesus himself ends his parable by emphasizing that we will all be quite surprised at who will be sitting at the Heavenly Table of salvation.

Part of the reason that we Catholics believe that salvation is an ‘ongoing process’ of daily discipleship, comes from how Jesus answers the question.  Jesus says, “Strive to enter the narrow gate.”  The word “strive” means to work on something and keep at it.  Jesus calls salvation a “narrow gate” not so much to be excluding people, but as a reminder that it is not easy to be faithful to His Ways of love, justice, and forgiveness.  Jesus is teaching us that Salvation takes a daily “striving” …to keep practicing new ways of discipleship based on each new ‘chapter’ of our life.  How we live our faith now should look ‘different’ than 5 or 10 years ago.

To go through something narrow, you have to have a strategy.  Discipleship requires a life-long ‘strategy,’ by making a conscience choice to keep learning and integrating Jesus’ commandment of selfless love…daily, and NOT just a one-time promise.  On a practical level, the parable is asking us questions such as… how will you high school students and young adults ‘strive’ to follow Jesus at your age?  How will you married persons keep ‘striving’ to be faithful to your Catholic faith as sacramental partners?  And those of us who are single, widowed, or retired, what new ‘striving’ strategies of discipleship will we implement this month?

Each time this gospel story comes up in our three-year cycle of Readings, it haunts me a little bit…reminding me to never assume that I will ‘fit through’ the narrow door of salvation…if I don’t keep striving.  Yes, I am a priest, but, like you, I have to ‘strive’ daily in my discipleship.  But that is also why I get so much joy out of being with you around this Altar…praying together and supporting one another in our striving efforts of following Jesus.  The ministry commitment cards that we will place before God in a few minutes are a symbol of our striving to make sacrifices of our time for God’s Kingdom.  Here, we admit together how much we need Jesus to feed us with his Body and Blood, that helps us stay focused on and prepared for the “narrow gate” of salvation we hope to enter.
 

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Feast of St. Clare of Assisi – Parish Patroness
WATCH THIS HOMILY
Fr. Jim Deiters

The mind and will of a teenager is quite interesting.  Within any given twenty-four hours, they can be super creative, fun, silent, removed, engaged, athletic, lazy, cooperative and rebellious…in one day, by the same human being!  That is why I like to hang out with them occasionally, since I don’t have to live with them!  One amazing teenager we celebrate this weekend is St. Clare, since it was in her late teen years that she had both a life-changing spiritual experience… and at the same time rebelled against her parents’ hopes for her future.

We know that St. Clare was born into a wealthy family of nobility.  Growing up in a palace, she was privileged to be one of the few young girls of the 12^th Century to learn how to read and write.  The problem came when she went to a Lenten prayer service in her town of Assisi and heard this incredible preacher named Francis talk about his experience of ‘falling in love’ with Jesus.   Clare felt a calling when Francis spoke so passionately about Jesus’ simple life of poverty.  It was St. Francis’ words that got Clare in trouble when, through his preaching, her own heart was set on fire with a love of Jesus and her desire to live as poor as Jesus.  Clare, with her teenage ‘rebellious passion’ to do what God was asking of her, had to basically ‘elope’ from her father’s plan for her to marry a prince…since she only wanted to be married to Jesus.

In one sense, this Gospel passage we just heard supports her calling… that pitted God’s Will against her father’s wishes.  While Jesus DOES want peace within families, he also knows that sometimes his followers will feel divided or separated from some of their blood family members when a disciple of Jesus makes choices and values are not shared by their relatives.  While eventually Clare’s father gave in and supported her desire for a simple life of prayer over privileged wealth, (mostly due to her mother’s pious pleading!), her call to be ‘married to Jesus’ definitely led to an initial ‘division’ between Clare and her family.  When one stays faithful to Jesus, in religious life, marriage, or as a single person, The Holy Spirit will use that person’s faithfulness to influence many lives and draw others to God’s Love. 

Clare never imagined that when the Holy Spirit swooped into her heart as a teenager, God would use her love of Jesus in the Eucharist, to change the world…as she went on to found the Poor Clare Order that has gathered thousands of women over the centuries… to be beacons of Eucharistic Light, Love, and Unity… for a world that often times seems dark and divided.

But sometimes, we Christians can feel defeated or like we are a ‘dwindling lot’ as we try and stay true to Jesus’ teachings and a Gospel of Life.  Here we are, like Clare, holding up for the world a Monstrance with the Body of Christ as our Center, while many prefer to hold up violence, lies, and hate as tools for success.

But this is where our passage from Hebrews today gives us encouragement and hope.  The author reminds us that we are not alone in our struggle for truth, peace, and love by telling us, “we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses…as we run the race” of being disciples of Jesus.  The passage goes on to remind us that in addition to knowing that all the saints are cheering us on in our discipleship efforts, the main thing to remember is to “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.”  The writer teaches us that the way that Jesus was able to endure the sufferings of the Cross…was that he stayed focused on the “joy” that was to come later.  What a powerful image this is for us when we are going through our own version of a cross, doubt, or fear – to really believe that God will bring some joy and good out of the present situation that seems quite difficult at the time.

“Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus” is exactly what we need to hear…as our vision can become blurred with worldly anxieties…or we start to ‘believe’ distorted ideas of what God created us to be and become.  St. Clare had this amazing gift of faith in Jesus that she prays for us to have as well.  She grounded herself in knowing that Jesus was truly Present in the Holy Eucharist; and as she consumed his love…and meditated on His Peace in Eucharistic Adoration…she became an embodiment of Jesus’ fire of love.

Here in the Mass, we believe that this whole worship space is filled with a “cloud of witnesses” as the saints and angels join us in worship of God.  Try to imagine all the saints around you during your prayer at Mass and in your daily prayer…as they say to us over and again, “keep your eyes fixed on Jesus; keep your eyes fixed on Jesus…”

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Jim Deiters

One interesting podcast I listen to occasionally is called “Seeking Refuge,” which has amazing, faith-filled stories of people’s resilience who are trying to flee violence or abuse for a safe place to live.  This “Seeking Refuge Podcast” was started by a group of students at the University of South Carolina who want to depoliticize the narrative around the refugee crisis.  The powerful stories reveal the lives of real humans behind the headlines that often make us numb to the global refugee crisis that has over 100 million people right now living without a home.

Interestingly, for much of our Judeo-Christian family history of 4000 years, many of our ancestors have lived as refugees.  If you think about how Joseph had to take Mary and baby Jesus and flee to Egypt as refugees for a couple years to avoid the killings of Herod; and closer to home, some of our own family immigrants coming to the U.S. had to move around due to the persecutions of Catholics in the early years of our country.  But way back in our history, we hear in our Hebrew scriptures today about how our great heroes Abraham and Sarah and their families lived in tents most of their lives, refugees seeking some new ‘promised land’ that God had assured for them.

The author of Hebrews focuses on how much FAITH it takes when you don’t really know where you are going.  If we look at the word ‘refugee’ from this perspective of life’s “unknowns,” this passage invites us to consider our own anxieties about our future and seek out the kind of faith that Abraham and Sarah had who are the ancient great-grandparents of the three monotheistic religions of Christianity, Jews, and Muslims.  Listen again to this testimony from today’s reading, “By faith Abraham and Sarah went out, not knowing where they were going” but trusting in God’s Promise to care for them.

In one sense, we are ALL just ‘passing through’ this life on earth; but as Christians, we know that we do have a true home in heaven with God.  As much as we work to set up ‘roots’ with land and a house here on earth, our only everlasting home will be in the halls of heaven.   And as I often teach our youth, what you choose to DO with the time God gives you…should always be based on where you’re “going.”  And when we remember that our ultimate destination is to be with God in heaven, then we base our choices on how they can help us stay on the path toward Jesus’ Face.  Holiness is about making one holy choice at a time.  In THIS moment, in these 24 hours, I will make decisions based on how it helps me get to heaven and follow Jesus’ Way.

But here is where faith comes into play in our choices.  First, we have to really BELIEVE that God made us, loves us beyond imagining, and has a plan for us to be reunited with him after our ‘wondering around’ here on earth.  Secondly, I have to BELIEVE that Jesus is God and his teachings will help me get to heaven, my home.  If we center our lives on these basic tenets, they guide all our life choices…THROUGH faith!

I like the way the Catholic Catechism describes faith as “a personal adherence to God’s Will” and “submitting my will and intellect to God’s Truth” about how I should live my life.  Think about how many of our fears and anxieties are caused by a lack of faith…that God will carry me through my challenges.  Especially in our culture which teaches that we can do whatever we want with our life and bodies, regardless of God’s Will for us, we need an extra abundance of GRACE to remain faith-filled…to do what GOD wants of me…and not my own will.  This extra grace we depend on comes to us in the sacraments…in which God wants to pour into us all the grace we need to stay strong in faith, at every moment, all the way to our homeland in heaven.

If the idea of heaven seems too far off or too elusive, there is a particular word in this Hebrews passage that can help us see how God wants to be a part of our every moment.  The author describes God as an “architect.”  If we imagine that God is the architect of our life, then we know that God has designs for our happiness and the beautiful person he wants us to be “built into.” Faith, from this perspective, means letting go of fear about our future, and having what I might call a ‘construction conversation’ every day with God about what the Holy Spirit wants to build with my life.  If I invite God’s Spirit to guide my life’s choices, then I am putting FAITH into practice by aligning my will to God’s dream for my life.  You and I are here this morning because we DO have a seed of faith inside of us.  In your prayer this week, imagine that seed growing…with deeper trust in God.

Our ‘Architect’ God has beautiful designs not only for our life here on earth, but Jesus assures us that God is also building a room for us in heaven.  This Eucharist is the ultimate source of GRACE to help us keep growing in faith, truly trusting that God holds us in the palm of his hand. 
 

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
WATCH THIS HOMILY

Fr. Jim Deiters

A few weeks ago, scientists working with the new Webb Telescope shared with the world its first glorious photographs of God’s awesome cosmos.  At first, I was most fascinated by the colors radiating from far-distant galaxies; but more mind-boggling is that the distance of these stars is about 13 billion light years away.  While I don’t understand much of the vocabulary of astrophysicists, I am fascinated by their study of what is “matter” and how physical things possibly disappear in gravity centers called black holes.  Part of my fascination is because in the classroom, students often ask, “If God existed before creation, how did God create things out of nothing?”  If we merge the questions of super-smart scientists with those of sixth-graders, it comes down to trying to define what is “matter,” where does it come from, and where does it go.

It may sound like a stretch, but I am struck by the way Jesus ends his parable with the use of the word “matter” by asking us, “are you focused on what ‘matters’ to God?”  Jesus sees how we humans do love all kinds of ‘matter’… which we collect for temporary pleasure.  Jesus is simply asking us what all our ‘stuff’ means to us…and how we balance out the joy we get out of material ‘matter’…with the spiritual matters of God.

This is a very interesting parable-question that Jesus poses to us since it is God himself who brought “matter” into existence…but then realized that we humans often like to ‘store up’ so much ‘material matter’ that it can sidetrack us from the more important non-material matters of God – such as our love and care for others, as well as the spiritual life of our soul.  All the material ‘matter’ that God blesses us to even have is meant to fill us with an overabundance of gratitude…that leads to generosity…in giving away as much as possible…which then frees our soul to be centered on God.

Jesus obviously noticed the burden that material things can add to the human heart if not used wisely for God’s Kingdom.  However, Jesus is not condemning wealth in itself.  The parable simply points out that the more a person accumulates, it can lead to self-centeredness.  Because notice in the story that the only person the rich man consults about what to do with his abundance…is himself!  It is a tragic story since the man’s wealth…ended up being his poverty.
 
Interestingly, Jesus connects his teaching on what really matters… with a reminder of how short life is and that any day could be our last.  This parable then helps us clarify what to bring to God in prayer this week, namely this:
Each day we have to remain aware that this very day could be our last day here on earth.  In other words, if this IS the last week of your life, what would you being doing differently with your time and money?   When we seek the Holy Spirit’s gift of Wisdom, it helps us sort out the difference between “matter” and WHAT matters…to God.

It makes me think of Mr. Louis Rasp, the parishioner farmer who lived so simply and then in 2001, donated these 20 acres of land for us to build this church.  Shortly before he died, I went to visit him in the nursing home and thank him once again.  But before I could say a word, even in his frail health, he reached out and grabbed my hand, and with tears in his eyes, said, “Thank you.”  I asked, “why are you thanking me?”  And he said, “For giving me the opportunity to give this gift to God’s Church before I meet him face to face.”  He passed the next week.

In a sense, we all have versions of “storage barns,” or ‘mounds of matter’ that gives us a sense of security.  But in reality, we come here to Jesus in the Mass because we recognize our inner poverty and need for God.  Here at the Altar, God miraculously takes the matter of bread and transforms it into the ‘matter’ of God’s very Self.  God feeds us with the Eucharist to give us the Holy Spirit’s gift of WISDOM…to help us discern what really matters in the short life we have…and for the COURAGE to make any changes in our life that are needed...to stay focused on our path to heaven.
 

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
WATCH THIS HOMILY
Fr. Jim Deiters

When I was visiting with a young family a couple weeks ago, I first joked with the children if they were ready to head back to school yet; after they told me about their summer camps, vacation, sleepovers, and books they were reading, the working, single mom looked up at me with an exhausted smile and said, “It’s a lot of moving parts!”  “Moving parts” is probably a good way to describe our life at times…as we sort out our priorities from the many demands on our time.

Jesus is definitely interested in learning about the ‘moving parts’ of our life as we know from the scriptures that he often invited himself over to people’s homes.  And based on his visit to Martha and Mary’s house, we find out that Jesus is less interested in the meal to be served and more intrigued to learn about what’s going on in the lives of his followers.  Since we know that Jesus liked being in people’s homes, what would Jesus find going on in your house if he showed up this week? 

There are so many things to say about this beautiful Gospel story of Jesus at Martha and Mary’s home.  Most importantly, it is one of those passages that needs to be understood in light of the other sections that Luke writes before and after it: basically, it’s three stories woven next to each other to describe the three parts of a Christian disciple.  The preceding story of the Good Samaritan, which we heard last Sunday, emphasizes that a disciple needs to SEE the needs of others and help them.  Mary’s story is about a disciple who must LISTEN to God.  And the third section that we will hear next Sunday is on the Our Father – teaching about the importance of prayer.  Seeing, Listening, Praying.  In other words, Luke is teaching us that discipleship includes three parts: love of others, love of God, and prayer!  In this sense, we are in the middle of a three-part series on discipleship!

This ‘middle’ story of Mary listening to Jesus, is meant to teach us about keeping God before all the other “moving parts” in our life.  As a matter of fact, Jesus describes Mary’s example of listening as the “better part.”  Jesus tells Martha that in the midst of all the other things going on, there is really only “one thing needed” – paying attention to Jesus’ WORDS and teachings.  All the other ‘moving parts’ of our life must be secondary to God’s Word.

If you think about it, we listen to a lot of words in any given day.  We fall into the trap of giving a lot of energy to some ‘words’ that are not actually helping our faith life.  We read and listen to all kinds of words about politics, what to eat, what to wear, or what everyone else is doing.  We let our ears take in all kinds of ‘words’ marketed as ‘truth’ …but often don’t make the time to read and listen to these Words of the Gospel that come straight from God!

Mary, in the story, represents that ‘middle part’ of discipleship that requires us to set aside time on a regular basis to “sit at the feet of Jesus” for the real Word our soul needs.  In the midst of all life’s ‘moving parts,’ there are different ways of choosing the “better part” of time at Jesus’ feet.  One way is to set aside time each day to pray with the Gospel assigned for that day and reflect on what Jesus is asking of you.  Another way to listen to God… is in Eucharistic Adoration when we can quiet ourselves down with God…and for a brief time, turn off all the other “moving parts.”

Mary is that disciple who models how to put all the other ‘moving parts’ of her life in perspective to the “better part” of time with Jesus.  This ‘middle piece’ of discipleship requires tough choices about what ‘moving parts’ in our life need to be eliminated or put aside…as ‘necessary’ as we think they are.  Our friend, St. Martha, challenges us to spend some time this week reviewing our list of ‘anxious things’ that keep us too busy to simply sit at the feet of Jesus. 

In the Mass, Jesus is the One hosting the dinner party and we are privileged guests, hungry for both his Word and his Body and Blood.  We need the Holy Spirit in the Eucharist to nourish our souls and help us sort out some of the ‘moving parts’ in our life that don’t allow for us to have time with the “better part” – Jesus.
Let us humbly place ourselves at the feet of Jesus in this Mass... and be immersed in God’s forgiveness and love.
 

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
WATCH THIS HOMILY

Fr. Jim Deiters

I always enjoy conversations with our military parishioners as I am inspired by the various missions they do for the protection of our country and world.  Awhile back, when I asked one of our Generals about his recent trip, he shared that one of his stops was in Turkey, at a base that is critical to the work of NATO and peace in the Middle East.  We talked about the rich history of that region which is where St. Paul set up various missions when the Christian faith was just beginning.  We know that most of St. Paul’s letters were to communities in Turkey and Greece.  One of his letters that we read from today, was addressed to the Christians living in the town of Colossae, which is located right between two of our present military bases in Turkey.  One of the main challenges that Paul had in teaching the people of this region in the First Century about Jesus was their entrenched beliefs in mythology and various spirits and gods ‘up there’ vying for power.  The Colossians did believe in some invisible ‘higher power’ but never really had a name for it.

Hold that thought as I re-read the opening line of Paul’s letter: “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God.”  Now this sounds obvious to us Christians who know Jesus to be the Revelation of God’s very Self.  But to many in the First Century, they had created all kinds of names for spirits and powers who they thought ruled the world.  Paul writes that no matter what you call all those other spirits, such as “dominions” or “principalities,” Christ Jesus existed before all of them and all those ‘things’ “came into being THROUGH and for Him.”

All of this may sound a little heady, but St. Paul is trying to address this great Mystery about God as a Trinity that stirs up questions in our own minds…such as when my students ask me, “How in the world could God possibly have existed before anything was even created?” Paul addresses these timeless human questions with this beautiful phrase, “Christ is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  I love this idea that Christ “holds all things together.”  This can be especially helpful for us to cling to when it can feel like our world is chaotic or falling apart.  How comforting to know…that all the pieces of our life that are not making sense at the time…or when it feels like a lot of uncertainty, everything is still being “held together” by God’s loving hand.

Now, let’s apply this to what happens here in the Mass.  First, let’s look at the space around us.  We designed the pillars and gothic arched ceiling to follow an ancient architectural style that represents our prayers rising up to God.  The stone columns symbolize the coming together of heaven and earth, with Jesus reaching into our humanity and then raising us up into God’s Divinity in heaven.  Applying St. Paul’s spirituality then, when it can feel like our life (down here) is stuck in humdrum routines, we come here to pray with one another and ask Jesus to raise us up into a more meaningful existence IN Him; our hymns and prayers reach into the heavens!

Following up on that, it is from this very scripture passage of Colossians that we also get our beautiful doxology prayer chanted in the Mass, “Through him, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours Almighty Father forever and ever.”  And then we sing out with full voice and the ringing of bells, “Amen!”  All the previous parts of the Mass lead up to this great “Amen,” which translated means, “Yes!  We believe” that it is THROUGH Jesus, WITH Jesus, and IN Jesus, that all things came into being…and are being reconciled and drawn up INTO God’s life of love and peace.

If we adults and young people came to appreciate this deeper meaning of the Mass… and let ourselves be “drawn up” INTO Christ, it puts into perspective our fears and anxieties…as we realize that Christ Jesus is “holding all things together” with great love for us.  Like St. Paul was trying to get the Colossians to let go of false gods, his message rings true for us…who often mistakenly seek out other things and people to satisfy our inner longings.

How beautiful and powerful it is to think that…the Son of God, who was there before all things came into being, and IN him the “fullness of all things dwell,” THIS Christ Jesus…is about to enter into our body, mind, and soul in the Eucharist. 
In your prayer this week, LET Jesus…hold all things together for you.