LIBRARY OF HOMILIES
FROM
FATHER CHRIS
SEPTEMBER 1999
September 5th - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (English)
September 5th - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Spanish)
September 12th - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (English)
September 19th - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (English)
September 26th - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(English)
C.S. Lewis, an English author and convert
to Catholicism, wrote the Screwtape Letters. The story is about a
senior devil named Screwtape. He is giving advice to his nephew,
a younger demon named Wormwood. The nephew is in charge of tempting
a young man who is a recent convert to the church. The young devil
wants to tempt him in the usual ways: wine, women, cheating. Old
Screwtape tells him that there is another way that will be far more effective.
He tells him to get the young man to join a group of people like himself
at the church. Have them gather together and start criticizing those
who are different from them. Let them take their critical judgment
and build on that to harsh criticism and then to dislike. It will
all be very easy because they can justify it. Get them to say, “We
are all good religious people, so we can judge those who aren’t.”
The temptation in Christianity, and probably
in every religion, has been that those who have seen the light and have
changed their lives begin to look outward and notice all those who haven’t.
I suppose it’s a natural tendency to want everyone to practice the faith
in the same way that we do. Today’s lessons teach us that we must
be very careful about how we correct others. Sometimes it will be
necessary, but it must always be done in love.
God charged the prophet Ezekiel with teaching
the people that they must change their ways. Their sinful ways were
leading them away from God. He told them that they will be swallowed
up by the powerful nations and be swept away if they don’t change.
Ezekiel, like most prophets, wasn’t finding his audience very receptive.
He wanted to stop preaching. Much like Jeremiah last week that thought
he could just stop found that it was a fire within him burning. So
too, Ezekiel discovered that if he tried to avoid preaching his difficult
message God told him that he must. The prophet would not be responsible
if someone didn’t change. He would only be responsible if he didn’t
do what God had given him to do. Ezekiel learned the first lesson
of human nature. You can’t change another human being. You
can only change yourself.
The second lesson of humanity is that most
people don’t like being confronted. If I have done something wrong
I would prefer to catch it myself. I don’t like having someone tell
me that I was wrong or that I didn’t do something the way that I was supposed
to. Yet, all of us have blind spots. Sometimes we don’t see
that we are doing something that harms others. The only way we will
change is by having someone tell us.
What is the way that most of us respond
when we have been offended by someone? We tell another person, but
typically not the one who offended us. Maybe we tell a circle of
friends. We gossip or talk behind the person’s back. We imagine
all sorts of reasons and evil intentions in the heart of the offender.
We get other people to agree with us and tell us that we are right and
the other person is obviously wrong. Does that work? Does it
change anything? No. It might make us feel a little better,
but it doesn’t do a thing to help the person who has caused the harm.
Jesus gives a loving way to confront others.
He tells us, “When you have been offended go to the person alone.”
Work out your difficulty with that individual. If the person is obstinate
or unwilling to see that what they have done is wrong, then bring a witness
along. This person is primarily there to listen, not to gang up on
the other person. They are to be a mediator. Usually having
a third person allows each individual to examine their own prejudices and
see the other person’s side of the story more clearly. Sometimes
even that approach doesn’t work. So, then you bring it to the Church.
How does that occur today? You don’t take
the problem to your attorney and see how much you can sue for. That’s
not what is being said. No, it’s assumed that you will have members
of the community who love both of you and will be willing to act as judge
and jury in the matter. Only if that final method doesn’t work are
you to treat them as an outsider.
I know that many people never take this
route. Most people don’t go to the individual that has wronged them.
We would rather try people in the court of public opinion through gossip.
The Lord presumes that Christians love one another. St. Paul reminds
us that the best way we can be in harmony to others is to owe no one a
debt but that in love. If I love you I will not try to harm you.
Maybe the reason we find it so hard to work out problems is that we don’t
love one another. We don’t love because we don’t know each other.
You can’t love someone you don’t know. How important it is to know
one another to love them fully.
We are asked today to put love into action.
Sometimes the Church is accused of speaking only in generalities.
“Love one another” doesn’t seem to be a very good blueprint for action.
Today we are told how to love one another when there is a conflict.
Love demands concern for the other person. Remember that the other
person is far more important than the conflict or difficulty between you.
If we could only remember that. Amen.
C.S.Lewis, un profesor Ingles que se convirtiò al Catolisismo,
escribiò las Cartas Screwtapes. La historia sobre un diablo
mayor por nombre Screwtape. El le está aconsejando a su sobrino,
un diablito menor llamado Wormwood. El sobrino está al mando
de tentar a un muchacho joven quien es un reciente converso a la iglesia.
El joven diablito quiere tentarlo en una manera normal: vino, mujeres,
y tramperia. El viejo screwtape le dice que hay otra forma mucho
mas efectiva. El le dice que le diga al joven que se una a un grupo
de jovenes como el en la iglesia. Que se reunan y comiencen a criticar
a aquellos que son diferentes a ellos. Que tomen su rasonamiento
critico y construyan sobre eso para hacer critica fuerte y despues
que no le caigan bien. Es muy facil porque en esta forma estan justificados.
Haz que les digan, “Todos somos personas muy religiosas, asi que podemos
criticar aquellos que no lo son.”
La tentaciòn en cristiandad, y probablemente
en toda religion, a sido que aquellos que han visto la luz y han cambiado
su vida comienzan a ver hacia afuera y notar aquellos que no lo han hecho.
Yo supongo que es una tendencia natural querer que todos practiquen la
misma fe que nosotros. La lecciòn de hoy nos enseña
que tenemos que tener mucho cuidado en lo que correjimos en los demas.
Algunas veces será necesario, pero siempre debe de ser con amor.
Dios le manda al profeta Ezequiel a enseñar
a la gente que deben cambiar sus vidas. Su vida pecaminosa les estaba
alejando de Dios. El les dijo que serian tragados por las naciones
poderosas y aniquilados si no cambiaban. Ezequiel, como otros profetas,
no encontraba su audiencia muy receptiva. El queria dejar de predicar.
Tal como Jeremias la semana pasada que pensò que podia solamente
parar encontrò que era como un fuego que lo consumia interiormente.
Tambien, Ezequiel descubriò que aunque trataba de evitar predicar
el mensage dificil que Dios le habia encomendado el tenia que hacerlo.
El profeta no seria responsable si nadie cambiaba. El solo seria
responsable si no hacia lo que Dios le habia ordenado. Ezequiel aprendiò
su primera lecciòn en la naturaleza humana. Tu no puedes cambiar
a otra persona. Tu solo puedes cambiarte a ti mismo.
La segunda lecciòn en humanidad es que
muchas personas no les gustan ser confrontadas. Si he hecho algo
malo prefiero darme cuenta yo mismo. No me gusta que otra persona
me diga lo que estoy mal o que no hice algo de la forma que tenia que ser.
Sin embargo, todos nosotros tenemos faltas. Algunas veces no vemos que
estamos haciendo algo que afecta a los demas. De la unica forma que
podemos cambiar es si alguien nos lo dice.
?De que forma muchos de nosotros reacionamos
cuando alguien nos ofende? Se lo decimos a otra persona, pero generalmente
no a la persona que nos ha ofendido. A lo mejor se lo decimos a nuestro
circulo de amistades. Murmuramos y hablamos a espaldas de esa persona.
Nos imaginamos toda clase de razones e intenciones maleficas en el corazòn
de esa persona. Buscamos que otras personas esten de acuerdo con
nosotros y nos digan que estamos bien y que la otra persona obviamente
está mal. ?Esto trabaja? ?Cambia algo? No. Quizás nos haga
sentir un poquito mejor, pero no hace nada para ayudar a la persona que
nos ha herido.
Jesus nos da una forma amorosa de como enfrentarnos
a otros. El nos dice, “Cuando te ofendan ve a la persona solo.”
Trata de arreglar la dificultad con esa persona. Si la persona es
obstinante o no está dispuesta a ver que ha hecho mal, entonces
traes un testigo contigo. Esta persona está ahi para escuchar no
para enfrentar a la otra. Estas son mediadores. Muchas veces
tener una tercera persona le da al individuo la oportunidad de refleccionar
sobre sus propios prejuicios y ver la parte de la historia de la otra persona
mas claramente. A veces hasta ese acercamiento no dá resultado.
Entonces, tu lo traes a la iglesia.
?Como trabaja eso hoy en dia? Tu
no llevas tu problema a un abogado para saber por cuanto puedes demandar.
Eso no es lo que se dice. No, se presume que hay miembros de la comunidad
que les aman a ambos y estan dispuestos a actuar como jueces y jurado en
este problema. Solo cuando este metodo no trabaja es que los tratas
como intruso.
? No sé cuantas personas toman esta ruta. Muchas
personas no van al individuo que le ha ofendido. Preferimos jusgar
a las personas a traves de la opinion pública. El Señor
espera que los Cristianos se amen unos a los otros. San Pablo nos
recuerda que la mejor forma de estar en harmonia con otros es de no estar
en deuda con nadie pero en amor. Si yo te amo trataré de no hacerte
daño. Quisás la razòn que se nos hace tan dificil
planchar nuestros problemas es que no nos amamos unos a otros. No
nos amamos porque no nos conocemos. Tu no puedes amar a alguien que
no conoces. !Cuán importante es conocernos unos a otros para poder
amarnos de lleno!
? Hoy se nos pide que pongamos el amor en acciòn.
A veces la iglesia es acusada de hablar en generalidades. “ Amarnos
unos a otros” no parece un buen prototipode para ejercer. Hoy se nos pide
amarnos cuando hay un conflicto. El amor requiere preocuparnos por la otra
persona. Recuerden que la persona es mas importante que el conflicto
o la dificultad entre ustedes. Si solo nos recordaramos de eso. Amen
When I was a teenager I liked Clint Eastwood
movies, especially the Dirty Harry series. Do you remember one of
his famous lines? “Go ahead, make my day!” What made Detective
Harry Calahan interesting to me was his sense of justice. Teens typically
are very sensitive to when things aren’t just. Dirty Harry saw crime
and terror and couldn’t wait to have the slow wheels of justice turn.
He couldn’t see allowing the “bad guys” to get a fancy defense attorney
and then get off on a technicality. Instead, he preferred to handle
things in the street. If they had weapons and fired them, Harry would
return the fire with his weapon. If the bad guys fired first, Harry
would make sure it was the last time they did.
I think there is something inherent in
our American system that makes us like people like Dirty Harry.
We want justice to be done. We want to believe that if you work hard
and live a good life you will be rewarded for it. If you don’t play
by the rules, it is believed, then you should be punished. I guess
this notion goes back to our very foundation as a nation. We said
in the Declaration of Independence that, “We believe that all men are created
equal.” Ever since that time we have been trying to make that a reality.
The problem is that we aren’t always equal. Good guys don’t always
win and bad guys don’t always get punished.
Today’s readings address the problem of
when things don’t work out evenly. What should you do? Instead
of embracing the vision of Clint Eastwood and that brand of strict justice
we are called to embrace the power of the cross and it’s power of forgiveness.
Suppose I were to list sins. Then,
I would ask you to stand if ever in your life you did that sin. I
would ask you to remain standing while I continued to list sins.
Maybe I would start with the big sins. Have you ever killed someone?
Have you ever committed adultery? Maybe a few might stand.
Then I would ask if you have ever lied about another person. More
would stand. Had you ever stolen anything? Some others would
rise. If I included using God’s name in vain, disobeying parents,
racism, lust, envy, greed, and laziness I would imagine that everyone in
the Church would be standing. In other words every single person
has sinned at one time or another. Most of us, if we are honest,
have committed some sins many times. Yet, we are here today.
We humbly ask God to forgive our sin and to redeem us. We believe
that He does.
Yet, how many of us have been estranged
from a family member because they have lied about us, been unfaithful to
their spouse, stolen something that was ours, or any number of things?
Why does that happen?
I would suggest that the reason is that we are more like the
ungrateful servant in the gospel parable than we care to believe.
We can’t imagine how the servant who was forgiven a huge debt that he could
never repay would not have shown equal generosity to a fellow servant that
owed him a fraction of his debt.
The reason was that the servant hadn’t
realized that he had been forgiven. He hadn’t taken it to heart.
If it had dawned on him that he was free from an impossible situation he
would have been overflowing in generosity toward his fellow servant.
You and I have been forgiven of many things,
great and small. But we must recognize that and realize that we don’t
deserve to be in God’s presence today. We don’t deserve to go to
heaven. How could we with our sins ever be in the presence of the
all-perfect God? Yet, we can claim our share of eternity because
of God and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
Now we must be willing to forgive others.
I believe that the forgiveness that Christ is calling us to is much deeper
than simply forgiving the wrongs of someone who has hurt us. It means
that we are willing to give people chances. We are willing to be
patient with those who are different from us. It is an openness to
those who we don’t understand.
When we are willing to allow the grace
of Christ in our lives and be people of forgiveness we discover true power.
Christ had the power to destroy his enemies by calling down a legion of
angels to destroy them. Yet, by dying on the cross he showed us how
God deals with injustice. He showed us that forgiveness is mightier
than the sword. Amen.
Over the last 25 years I have heard statistics
about the use of natural resources in the U.S. Usually the statistics
go something like this: The U.S. comprises about 6% of the world’s
population yet we consume about 80% of the world’s natural resources.
Through the years I often felt very guilty about those statistics.
I thought growing up that this is not fair. We don’t deserve this
kind of consumption.
Recently I heard other statistics that
I had forgotten. The U.S. has about 60% of the world’s resources.
In other words, we consume most of the world’s goods, but they are found
in our soil or we produce them. All of a sudden, it doesn’t sound
so unfair.
I guess we could turn the statistics around
and say that most of the world does not have the resources we do.
They don’t have rich soil to grow all the crops to feed their people.
They don’t have gold and silver resources to use as currency. They
don’t have oil, natural gas or coal to use for energy to power factories.
So, they have to rely on the resources they do have or on the generosity
of the richer nations. That isn’t fair we might say.
I think that by any standard we would like
to choose, the world is not a fair place. It’s not fair that the
average annual income in the U.S. is $20,000 while the average annual income
in Haiti is $54. That is not fair. It’s not fair that we can
grow more food than we can consume and farmers don’t get enough for their
crops and decide it’s more advantageous not to grow crops or raise animals.
Today’s parable strikes us in exactly the
same way. What Jesus proposed is not fair. How can you pay
the same wage to someone who worked one hour as one who worked 8 hours?
It isn’t fair. It’s not, and it’s not supposed to be.
You see this story is not about being fair
or just in an economic sense. It’s not about labor practices or how
to treat one’s employees. Sometimes we have focused on that element
of the story and forgotten that this is a story about the Kingdom of Heaven.
What is Jesus saying? He is saying
that the Kingdom is not about strict fairness or justice. It’s a
variation on the same theme that we have heard the last several weeks in
the readings. God’s notion of forgiveness is not fair. He is
willing to forgive even when we are not. God’s choice of who is welcome
in the Kingdom is not fair either. He welcomes sinners and tax collectors.
He is willing to give the same chance to Gentile and Jew.
Today we are forced to ask if God is not
fair, then how does He act? Maybe the reason we have such a struggle
with this passage is that we tend to think in terms of limits. We
know there are limits to how much oil is in the ground. We know that
there is not an endless supply of goods. So we tend to think in terms
of rationing. How can the most amount of people do with the limited
amount of things that exist? I will call this the sacrificial model.
How much do I need to sacrifice for someone else?
Jesus proposes a generosity model.
He is essentially telling His followers that God is overflowing in generosity.
He has given human beings everything they need. There is no shortage
of air, water, and food-bearing plants and trees. There is enough
land for everyone to live. But more important than that there are
enough natural resources is that there is enough love. God is overflowing
with love. He created us with the same capacity to love. When
we begin to act upon that love there is always a sufficiency.
Today we are asked to be generous.
Instead of viewing what we have as limited resources that must be hoarded
we should see everything as gifts from God to be shared with others in
love. When we change our way of thinking the issue of fairness isn’t
important.
Do you feed the last child born into your
family less food than the first? Do you charge your children for
the water they use in the house or the electricity they use? Would
you think of putting limitations on your love and kindness to any one of
your children? I would doubt it. Jesus is saying that we are
all His children. He doesn’t put limits on the love He has for us.
We shouldn’t do so either. Amen.
St. Peter Claver was born in Spain in1580 of impoverished parents
descended from ancient and distinguished families. He took his vows
in the Jesuits in August 8th, 1604. While studying philosophy at Majorca,
the young religious was influenced by St. Alphonsus Rodriguez to go to
the Indies and save "millions of perishing souls."
In 1610, he landed at Cartagena (modern Colombia), the principle
slave market of the New World, where a thousand slaves were landed every
month. After his ordination in 1616, he dedicated himself by special vow
to the service of the Negro slaves-a work that was to last for thirty-three
years. He labored unceasingly for the salvation of the African slaves and
the abolition of the Negro slave trade, and the love he lavished on them
was truly amazing.
Boarding the slave ships as they entered the harbor, he would
hurry to the revolting inferno of the hold, and offer whatever poor refreshments
he could afford; he would care for the sick and dying, and instruct the
slaves through Negro catechists before administering the Sacraments. Through
his efforts three hundred thousand souls entered the Church.
Furthermore, he did not lose sight of his converts when they left
the ships. In the winter when the ships didn’t come into the harbor
he would follow up on the slaves and encourage them to live as Christians.
He would also prevail on their masters to treat them humanely. He died
in 1654.
Peter Claver knew that he couldn’t change the hearts of the slave
owners or the ship captains, or the African slave-traders all by himself.
He knew the slave trade was too large and too entrenched to be overturned
overnight. Yet, he did what he could do to make a difference in the
lives of the slaves and owners.
The story of the two sons in the Gospel reminds us that words and
actions must go together. The son who tells his father that he will
go to the vineyard but chooses not to has the right outward appearance.
His father would be pleased with his son’s obedience until he realizes
that he didn’t do the work that needed to be done.
The other son would have publicly disgraced his father by saying
to him that he will not follow his wishes, but later repents of what he
has said and does as his father had asked. Neither of the two sons
is perfect. Both have flaws. But Jesus asks, “who is the one
who does the will of the father?”
The only way the second son goes into the vineyard is because he
realizes what he has done. That takes conversion. I believe
that is what St. Peter Claver did for the people of his day. He offered
them another way of thinking. Maybe by showing the slaves compassion
they could begin to embrace Christ. By treating the slaves as human
beings maybe the slave owners could begin to see them in the same way.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he quotes a hymn that tries
to answer the question, “What is God’s love like?” The answer is
that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to us. Jesus, even though
he was God, emptied himself completely and took on the form of a slave.
He embraced our humanity entirely. In doing so he was exalted by
God through the cross and resurrection. To understand the mind of
God one must understand the mystery of the cross.
St. Peter Claver understood that mystery. He became powerful
by becoming a “slave to the slaves.” In our own day we have seen
that same power displayed by Mother Teresa. I don’t recall her ever
challenging the Indian government to change their way of life or their
religious identity. She simply cared for the poorest and sickest
of that society. In doing so she stood as a visible challenge to
any that could stand with hardened hearts.
We could dismiss Peter Claver and Mother Teresa. We might
argue that they lived in lands and times that are different from our own.
Certainly there is truth to that. But today Jesus is calling us to
the same kind of conversion. He is saying to us, “Can you stand before
the powers that be in your world with complete abandon?” Can you
take on the mind of Christ and empty yourself of selfishness, prejudice,
and pride?
The parable of Jesus is open to us today. Christ is calling
us
to go into His vineyard. Will we publicly here declare that we will
and forget everything tomorrow at work or school? Or, will we repent
of our sins admit that we have said no to Christ too many times and make
a difference tomorrow. We will say yes with our actions? Amen.