XXVth Sunday homily
A minister stands before a hall full of graduating theology students and decides to demonstrate the theme of his address. “Please stand up,” he says. “I will read out the names of some high government officials for whom we have a responsibility to pray. If you know that official’s name, keep standing. If not, you sit down.” He begins with the president. No one sits down. Then the state governor, and a few people sit down. When he mentions the senator from the state more people sit down. By the time he gets to the congressperson representing the district only about 25 percent of the audience remain standing. To conclude the demonstration, he says to those still standing: “If you have not prayed for each of these at least once since the beginning of this year, please be seated.” One person, and only one person, is left standing. If we carry out the same demonstration in our church today, how shall we fare?
In today’s second reading, Paul gives instructions to Timothy on Christian worship. The first injunction he gives him is on praying for everyone, especially for civil authorities: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Tim.2:1-2a). Today we take it for granted that we should pray for our leaders, but when we realize that Paul wrote this letter at a time when Christians were going through a most brutal state-approved persecution under the wicked emperor Nero, then the injunction to pray for the emperor raises eyebrows. Why would Christians pray for this emperor and his deputies who are out to eliminate the church?
Paul anticipates the question and gives Timothy two reasons why the church should pray for the king and all who are in high positions. The first reason is “so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity” (verse 2b). The church needed to pray so that the king would reverse his bad and discriminatory laws against Christians, which would enable them to live their lives in quiet and peace, fulfilling their religious obligations without fear of arrest, molestation or death. In other words, they were not praying for the emperor so that he would continue in power with his bad policies and decrees, they were praying so that he would change his heart and his policies against Christians.
The second reason to pray for the emperor is more altruistic. As Christians we know that “God desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (v.4). But the emperor and his nobles are living in the darkness of error and sin. So the church needed to pray for them to come to the light of truth and salvation. The religion of the emperors was emperor worship. In death emperors were deified and proclaimed to be gods, in life there were called sons of god (filii divi). Paul says that they are in error because there is only one God and one Son of God, who mediates between God and humankind, Jesus the Christ. Since the emperor and his officials are in error, Paul enjoins Christians to pray for them so that they may realize that truth and salvation are found in Christ “who gave himself a ransom for all” (v 6).
When Paul asks us to pray for the king, he is not asking us to automatically support the policies of whoever happens to be the head of government. He is asking us to pray so that our rulers may govern us with laws that allow us freedom of worship so that we can freely carry out our religious duties without hindrance. How often do we pray for our leaders ? One out of every 5 persons in the United States is a catholic. Of the remaining 4 are from hundred of other denominations and other religions. So a catholic can play a great role in choosing the leaders to this country if we exercise our voting power responsibly keeping the Christian values in mind.
As Bishop Robert Vasa pointed out, clarifying the teaching of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in their excellent pastoral letter "Faithful Citizenship," a candidate or office holder is disqualified from receiving the vote of a Catholic in good conscience if they hold a pro-abortion position. In other words pro-choice candidates under the current set of circumstances are disqualified because of their pro-death political positions. We cannot vote for them. As the Bishops of Kansas asserted in their voter's guide, "Catholics would 'commit moral evil' by voting for a candidate who supports abortion and other intrinsically evil things. Voting is a moral act, and voting for pro-choice candidates is evil in itself. One becomes a collaborator in evil by so doing. No amount of rationalization can escape this logical and moral conclusion."
The Church clearly teaches that life begins at conception. As Pope John Paul II stated many times, "abortion is murder." Following logically from this, if a single abortion is murder, then 48,000,000 (the approximate number of abortions in this country since Roe v. Wade) of them is genocide. In less than two months you will be casting your votes again to choose leaders. But before doing that spend time in prayer, consult the holy Spirit to know his will.
In this country the signs of the faith can no longer be displayed in public: prayer has been banned in schools, crucifixes have been removed from public buildings, and “Merry Christmas” has been changed to “Happy Holiday.” Let us pray today for our government officials so that they may recognize the universal kingship of Christ and make it possible for us to practise our faith both in private and in public.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
XXIVth Sunday in Ordinary time.
XXIV-Sunday EXOD 32: 7-14; I TIM 1: 12-17;Gosple: LK 15: 1-32
The parable of the prodigal son, has been called the greatest short story in the world. But, is it in fact a parable about a prodigal son? To put the younger son at the centre of the parable is already to start to misunderstand it. What is at the centre- is the father's great attachment and concern, his willingness to welcome the sinners back. This story reveals 3 amazing things about God's love for us. First, God's love is personal. God doesn't love us globally, but each of us individually in a special, personal way. Second, God's love is unconditional. God does not love us on the condition that we stay good and do not stray into sin. God loves us even when we stray--and to the point of going in search of us. Finally, God's love is a rejoicing love. God's response upon finding us is total joy--with no admixture of rebuke.
The parable of the Good shepherd shows how God is a good shepherd to us. There's an old story, about a little boy who cried out in the night. "Daddy, I'm scared!" Half awake Daddy said, "Don't be afraid, Daddy's right across the hall." There was a brief pause and the little boy called out, "I'm still scared." So Daddy pulled out the big guns, "You don't have to be afraid, God is with you. God loves you." The pause was longer but the little boy called out again, "I don't care about God, Daddy; I want someone with skin on!"
God knew we needed that assurance of someone with skin on. So God wrapped all the glory of heaven into the flesh and blood of Jesus and stepped into this world as the Good Shepherd just to show us how much we are loved. The Good Shepherd isn't satisfied until all of the sheep are safely gathered into the flock. Not even a one percent margin of loss was acceptable. He will not rest if only one sheep is missing, or one coin is lost. They show us that he cares deeply enough to go out of his way to save us when we are lost.
These parables teach us more about the heart of God than a whole library full of theological treatises. All three parables of Luke 15 end with a party or a celebration of the finding. The self-righteous Pharisees, who accused Jesus of befriending publicans and sinners, could not believe that God would be delighted at the conversion of sinners.
The elder brother in the parable of the lost son represents the self-righteous Pharisees who would rather see a sinner destroyed than saved. He reflects the Pharisees' attitude that obedience to Mosaic Law is a duty, not a loving service. Like the Pharisees, the elder brother lacks sympathy for his sibling and levels accusations at him. As a self-righteous person, he refuses to forgive. Thus, his grudge becomes a sin in itself, resulting in his exclusion from the banquet of his father’s love. That is what we all do when we sin. We exclude ourselves from the banquet of God’s love.
The Pharisees could not understand this forgiving image of God, because they have painted their image of God in their own likeness.
Our view of God affects every decision and relationship in our life. Kathleen Chesto wrote to Catholic Digest to tell them about an incident that occurred in her family. Her five-year-old child approached her one day in the kitchen and asked, "Mom, is God a grown-up or a parent?"
Mom was a little puzzled by the question. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said. "Is there a difference between a grown-up and a parent?" "Oh yes," her five-year-old answered quickly. "Grown-ups love you when you are good and parents love you anyway." If we have never received unconditional love, we have never given it. Some of us are still trying to earn our way to heaven. And we are expecting others to earn their way as well, like the pharisees. Jesus is trying to tell us in this parable that God's love doesn't depend on our goodness; it depends on God's character. Here is this truth expressed in I John 4: 10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
God’s love is a persistent, tenacious kind of love. By looking at just how lavish in the parable is the father's welcome for his lost son, we might well say that it is the father who is 'the prodigal', that he is prodigal of his mercy. The father heaps presents on the younger son. Throughout the Bible we are shown just how much care God lavishes on us, despite a catalogue of infidelities and betrayals and failings on our part.
The younger son didn't really know his father. He didn't know how much his father loved him and how eagerly his father wanted to bequeath him prosperity and joy. As a result, he paid his father a colossal insult by demanding his share of the inheritance while his father was still alive.
It was a way of saying that his father would be of more use to him dead than alive. The older son was no better. On the surface he seemed to do everything right, but he had no idea about how much his father cared for him, and so he resented the celebration at this brother's return. Although they had lived their entire lives under the same roof, the two brothers had never opened their hearts to their father; they had closed themselves into the petty little world of their egoism.
We can easily do the same: spend our whole lives as "practicing" Catholics, going through all the right motions and looking great on the outside, but not opening our hearts to God, not getting to know him on a personal, intimate level. That's a risky way to live our faith: we could easily end up separated from the Father for good, eating corn husks and missing out on the joyful celebration of the Father's love.
As the sheep that strayed out far from the herd, the younger son is lost from home, and this is reflected in the geographical distance he travels away from home; he ends up in a distant country. Like the coin that was lost in the house, the older brother stays put, but he risks getting lost by cutting himself off from his brother and his father. There are separations that need no great physical gap. The Pharisees “lived” in the house of God, but could not experience the forgiving love of God, the publicans and sinners were away from the so called people of God, but experienced the forgiving love of God through Jesus. This parable teaches us that it is possible to live "in the Father's house" without really getting to know the Father.
This can be for us a Sunday of self-reflection and assessment. As forgiven prodigals, we must be forgiving people. God’s forgiving attitude was shown by Jesus when he prayed for his killers saying that they did not know what they were doing (Luke 23:34). If those who killed the Son of God could be forgiven because they acted in ignorance, then every human sin could be forgiven because there is an element of ignorance that clouds our spiritual and moral insight at the moment of sin.
Nine years ago today, the United States suffered the greatest terrorist attack ever on American soil, with almost 4,000 dead. To mark that event this Sunday is observed as peace and justice Sunday. It brings us face to face with the ugly face of world terrorism on the one hand, while on the other it makes us to look up to God for the ever growing problems we find ourselves surrounded with. God created a just and peaceful society for us to live. But our sins disrupted that peace in the world. The so called terrorists act out of ignorance, blinded by wrong teachings of fanaticism. They need God’s grace to see the wrong they do and seek God’s forgiveness for their wrong. In the perspective of the terrorists, others are at wrong, not they. If there is something wrong on our side as a nation, we need self examination and see the wrong on our side to rectify and seek God’s grace to remove the speck or log, out of our eyes. As we pray for peace in the world let’s ask God to give eternal light and peace to all who died on 9/11/2001 at World Trade Centre. Christianity will be known by the fruits of love, kindness, compassion and mercy. As Christians, being led by the Holy Spirit, let’s show our identity by the forgiveness we offer who hurt us.
The parable of the prodigal son, has been called the greatest short story in the world. But, is it in fact a parable about a prodigal son? To put the younger son at the centre of the parable is already to start to misunderstand it. What is at the centre- is the father's great attachment and concern, his willingness to welcome the sinners back. This story reveals 3 amazing things about God's love for us. First, God's love is personal. God doesn't love us globally, but each of us individually in a special, personal way. Second, God's love is unconditional. God does not love us on the condition that we stay good and do not stray into sin. God loves us even when we stray--and to the point of going in search of us. Finally, God's love is a rejoicing love. God's response upon finding us is total joy--with no admixture of rebuke.
The parable of the Good shepherd shows how God is a good shepherd to us. There's an old story, about a little boy who cried out in the night. "Daddy, I'm scared!" Half awake Daddy said, "Don't be afraid, Daddy's right across the hall." There was a brief pause and the little boy called out, "I'm still scared." So Daddy pulled out the big guns, "You don't have to be afraid, God is with you. God loves you." The pause was longer but the little boy called out again, "I don't care about God, Daddy; I want someone with skin on!"
God knew we needed that assurance of someone with skin on. So God wrapped all the glory of heaven into the flesh and blood of Jesus and stepped into this world as the Good Shepherd just to show us how much we are loved. The Good Shepherd isn't satisfied until all of the sheep are safely gathered into the flock. Not even a one percent margin of loss was acceptable. He will not rest if only one sheep is missing, or one coin is lost. They show us that he cares deeply enough to go out of his way to save us when we are lost.
These parables teach us more about the heart of God than a whole library full of theological treatises. All three parables of Luke 15 end with a party or a celebration of the finding. The self-righteous Pharisees, who accused Jesus of befriending publicans and sinners, could not believe that God would be delighted at the conversion of sinners.
The elder brother in the parable of the lost son represents the self-righteous Pharisees who would rather see a sinner destroyed than saved. He reflects the Pharisees' attitude that obedience to Mosaic Law is a duty, not a loving service. Like the Pharisees, the elder brother lacks sympathy for his sibling and levels accusations at him. As a self-righteous person, he refuses to forgive. Thus, his grudge becomes a sin in itself, resulting in his exclusion from the banquet of his father’s love. That is what we all do when we sin. We exclude ourselves from the banquet of God’s love.
The Pharisees could not understand this forgiving image of God, because they have painted their image of God in their own likeness.
Our view of God affects every decision and relationship in our life. Kathleen Chesto wrote to Catholic Digest to tell them about an incident that occurred in her family. Her five-year-old child approached her one day in the kitchen and asked, "Mom, is God a grown-up or a parent?"
Mom was a little puzzled by the question. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said. "Is there a difference between a grown-up and a parent?" "Oh yes," her five-year-old answered quickly. "Grown-ups love you when you are good and parents love you anyway." If we have never received unconditional love, we have never given it. Some of us are still trying to earn our way to heaven. And we are expecting others to earn their way as well, like the pharisees. Jesus is trying to tell us in this parable that God's love doesn't depend on our goodness; it depends on God's character. Here is this truth expressed in I John 4: 10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
God’s love is a persistent, tenacious kind of love. By looking at just how lavish in the parable is the father's welcome for his lost son, we might well say that it is the father who is 'the prodigal', that he is prodigal of his mercy. The father heaps presents on the younger son. Throughout the Bible we are shown just how much care God lavishes on us, despite a catalogue of infidelities and betrayals and failings on our part.
The younger son didn't really know his father. He didn't know how much his father loved him and how eagerly his father wanted to bequeath him prosperity and joy. As a result, he paid his father a colossal insult by demanding his share of the inheritance while his father was still alive.
It was a way of saying that his father would be of more use to him dead than alive. The older son was no better. On the surface he seemed to do everything right, but he had no idea about how much his father cared for him, and so he resented the celebration at this brother's return. Although they had lived their entire lives under the same roof, the two brothers had never opened their hearts to their father; they had closed themselves into the petty little world of their egoism.
We can easily do the same: spend our whole lives as "practicing" Catholics, going through all the right motions and looking great on the outside, but not opening our hearts to God, not getting to know him on a personal, intimate level. That's a risky way to live our faith: we could easily end up separated from the Father for good, eating corn husks and missing out on the joyful celebration of the Father's love.
As the sheep that strayed out far from the herd, the younger son is lost from home, and this is reflected in the geographical distance he travels away from home; he ends up in a distant country. Like the coin that was lost in the house, the older brother stays put, but he risks getting lost by cutting himself off from his brother and his father. There are separations that need no great physical gap. The Pharisees “lived” in the house of God, but could not experience the forgiving love of God, the publicans and sinners were away from the so called people of God, but experienced the forgiving love of God through Jesus. This parable teaches us that it is possible to live "in the Father's house" without really getting to know the Father.
This can be for us a Sunday of self-reflection and assessment. As forgiven prodigals, we must be forgiving people. God’s forgiving attitude was shown by Jesus when he prayed for his killers saying that they did not know what they were doing (Luke 23:34). If those who killed the Son of God could be forgiven because they acted in ignorance, then every human sin could be forgiven because there is an element of ignorance that clouds our spiritual and moral insight at the moment of sin.
Nine years ago today, the United States suffered the greatest terrorist attack ever on American soil, with almost 4,000 dead. To mark that event this Sunday is observed as peace and justice Sunday. It brings us face to face with the ugly face of world terrorism on the one hand, while on the other it makes us to look up to God for the ever growing problems we find ourselves surrounded with. God created a just and peaceful society for us to live. But our sins disrupted that peace in the world. The so called terrorists act out of ignorance, blinded by wrong teachings of fanaticism. They need God’s grace to see the wrong they do and seek God’s forgiveness for their wrong. In the perspective of the terrorists, others are at wrong, not they. If there is something wrong on our side as a nation, we need self examination and see the wrong on our side to rectify and seek God’s grace to remove the speck or log, out of our eyes. As we pray for peace in the world let’s ask God to give eternal light and peace to all who died on 9/11/2001 at World Trade Centre. Christianity will be known by the fruits of love, kindness, compassion and mercy. As Christians, being led by the Holy Spirit, let’s show our identity by the forgiveness we offer who hurt us.
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