The Banquet Of The Blessed

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Isaiah 25:6-10; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20; Matthew 22:1-14

Some ignored the invitation and went away.
Matthew 22:5

I had not been Catholic long when I heard the following term: “Holy Day of Obligation”.  It struck me as odd.  I didn’t go to Mass because I felt obligated.  I went because it was a tremendous blessing and I didn’t want to miss it.  However, I found that not everyone shares that motivation.  The issue has come to the fore in recent times.  Catholics are typically “obligated” to attend Mass on all Sundays and other Holy Days of Obligation.  But in recent times because of the virus the obligation has been suspended.  Fair enough!  That’s probably a good pastoral practice, given the times.  But how should we respond?

Let’s delve a little bit into the whole idea of “obligation” where Mass is concerned.  Why does the Church even speak in such language?  Understand it like this: the Church obligates her children to Mass on certain occasions the same way that parents obligate their children to three square meals a day.  It is because our mothers know what is good for us that they establish these minimal standards.  There are an abundance of graces available at a single Mass and we are desperately in need of receiving them.  Were we to never come to Mass and feed on the Body and Blood of our Lord, we would be weak and anemic Christians who would eventually die in the realm of the spiritual life of grace.

Unfortunately, we are fallen creatures and we cannot always be motivated by such good and loving overtures.  We sometimes need the fear factor.  This is often criticized as being beneath the dignity of true religion.  But it isn’t.  It’s a natural consequence.  If a mother told her small child not to touch a hot stove because he may be burned or don’t play in the street because he could be struck by a car, she is not unduly frightening the child.  She is merely warning against the real consequences of those actions.  In fact, her warnings will be seen as the loving thing to do once they are properly understood.  This is exactly the case with the Church when she lovingly warns the faithful about the consequences of intentionally missing Mass.  We lose out on the opportunity to receive the graces present and we place ourselves in spiritual danger.

Please bear this in mind as we consider today’s Gospel.

Jesus tells a parable about a king who gives a wedding feast for his son.  Naturally, he expects that people will be honored to attend a feast given by a king.  However, he finds it is quite the opposite.  They begin to make excuses for why they cannot attend.  The king is furious.  He is giving a feast and he will have guests.  So they go out into the highways and bring in whoever they find.

Such is the case with the heavenly banquet.  God has called us to come to the feast.  However, many are content to ignore the invitation.  Then God will look for others.  There will be a feast and He will have guests.  This is why there are so many that we might not think to be suitable guests who actually go in to the feast while we are left out.

I can’t help but feel this is what often happens every Sunday.  We are all called to dine with the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.  The feast is made ready.  But we often ignore the invitation and go away.  We choose golf, or fishing, or vacations, or even just sleeping in to being with the King at the great feast.

Imagine- the Son of God offers Himself freely for us and our response too often is, “I have better things to do.”  This is why it is a mortal sin to intentionally miss Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation. 

But the obligation has been suspended.  These things don’t apply now, right?

For those unable to attend Mass it is never a sin when they are absent.  In the current times, this would include those who have strong reason to believe they would be in danger were they to contract the virus.  But if we are turning away merely because the bishops have lifted the obligation then we are missing the point. 

What if a mother was to tell her sick child it is not necessary for her to come down and join the family for dinner?  Would that apply to the healthy children as well?  Certainly not!  They still need their proper nourishment.  So it is in the spiritual realm.  If we stay away merely for convenience then we are left in the place where we are starving because we are never actually fed the Holy Eucharist.

Dear friends, it is certainly not my intention to add undue burden to those who cannot safely assemble with us.  But it is certainly the point that there are a great many who have adopted absence from the wrong motivation.  Let us return to the Mass, and quickly!  Our Lord awaits.  May He wait no longer!

The feast has been prepared, the guests have been invited, and our Host waits.  To those who gladly accept the invitation, untold graces await.  To those who make excuses, they do so to their own loss.  In the Gospel, eternal punishment awaited those who stubbornly refused the king’s invitation.  The same fate awaits those who stubbornly refuse the grace of God compelling them to join in the feast.  Don’t wait for someone to tell you the obligation has been reinstated.  Instead, choose to join now and be blessed!

 

I Am A Role Model

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43

Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.  Then the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:9

I remember a number of years ago when NBA star, Charles Barkley emphatically stated, “I am not a role model!”  It was literally a game changer as millions of boys were used to looking up to their favorite athlete in admiration.  Sometime before Barkley’s comment there was the Nike ad campaign that stated “I want to be like Mike” after NBA star, Michael Jordan.  Numerous boys could echo that comment.  Others wanted to be like baseball greats, Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron.  My childhood hero was Roger Staubach, quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970’s.  I wanted to be just like him.

What happened to those days?  Why do more and more celebrities identify with Charles Barkley in not wanting to be a role model?  To be fair to Barkley, his point was largely that parents need to be role models to their children.  But why didn’t he want to be one?  And why is he not alone?

I think this line from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians can shed some light on this idea.  St. Paul regularly used himself as a role model for others to follow.  It wasn’t an egotistical thing either.  It was common in his day for a teacher to use himself as the example for his students to follow.  How else can people learn unless they have role models?  To the Corinthians St. Paul wrote, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ,” [1 Corinthians 11:1].  To the Philippians he wrote, “Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us,” [Philippians 3:17].  Then again in the passage before us he emphasizes that the Philippian believers are to do exactly as he taught them by his own example.  Who of us would dare to say something similar today?

And that’s the point.  Like Charles Barkley, none of us wants to be held up as a role model.  It’s too big a role to fill.  What happens if we fail?  No one wants that kind of pressure.  But Paul willingly took it on and a number of saints have followed in the same vein.  What has happened to us?

First, I would propose that the problem lies in this: that we have not followed the examples that went before us.  Numerous saints are held up to us as examples to follow, but we don’t.  In fact, we sometimes are prone to take pride in the fact that “I’m no saint.”  It sounds akin to “I’m not a role model.”  But God intends that we should follow the examples of the saints.

What do we learn from looking at the lives of the saints?  We learn to deny ourselves, to trust in God, to give to those in need, to live lives of virtue, prayer, and service.  This is the pattern that was presented to us as worthy of imitation, but we have largely left it alone.

If we have not followed the pattern that was handed on to us then it is no wonder that we feel inadequate to model it for others.  So what should we do?

Let’s return to Paul’s statement.  “Keep on doing what you have learned…”  What have we learned?  We have learned the way of Christ which is the way of the cross.  We have learned to deny ourselves and lay down our lives for the good of others.  This is the way of love.  It’s not merely some ideal.  It’s what our Lord calls us to do.  It’s what He expects of us.

“And received.”  What did we receive?  We received Baptism, and along with this we received the Faith of Christ.  We received God’s grace to enable us to resist sin and live holy lives.  All of this was given to us as a gift from God.  What have we done with these graces?

“And heard.”  What have we heard?  We have heard the good news of Jesus Christ: that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our sins against us, but offering us freely the opportunity to become the sons and daughters of God.  Are we listening to that message?  Are we sharing it with others so they can hear it too?

“And seen in me.”  What have we seen?  We’ve watched, as it were, the saints throughout history abandon wealth so others could become rich.  We’ve watched them pour out their lives even to death so that eternal life could be brought to the world.  We’ve watched the grace of God at work in our own lives, for which we have much to give thanks.

If we follow the pattern of those who have gone before us and walk in the way of the cross, which is the way the Church teaches us, then we will have true peace because the God of peace will dwell with us and remain with us.  Everyone craves peace, but few find it because they look for it in all the wrong places.  Only God brings true peace.  And the line of that peace coming to us is in the example of the saints who have gone before us.

But what about the next generations?  Who will be the example for them?  Each generation is in need of a new “incarnation”, that is, they need to see a living example of the things Jesus taught us.  Who will be that example?  Will we do it?  And if we don’t, then who will?

It’s scary to be in the place of an example.  Yet, this is the place God calls us to be in.  He calls us to be patterns for our children, our neighbors, our co-workers, our family, other parishioners; in short- to everyone.  We need to daily seek this grace from our loving God who is more than willing to supply all the grace we need.

Take some time today to reflect on the examples God placed in your life.  Perhaps it was your parents, or a priest.  Maybe it was a family friend, or a school teacher.  Maybe it was a co-worker who modeled Christ to you and brought you into the Faith.  Whoever it was, take some time to reflect on their example and thank God for sending them to you.  Maybe even send them a quick note to thank them if you can.  Then ask the tough question: “Am I ready to be an example to others?”  Probably not.  No one is.  But God will supply the needed grace.  Trust Him and move forward.  Then you will not be afraid to boldly proclaim, “I am a role model!”

 

Obedience and Mercy

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Ezekiel 18:25-28; Psalm 25; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27

We have been treated to wonderful meditations in God’s mercy over the last couple of weeks.  Two weeks ago we heard our Lord call us to forgive seventy seven times, or in other words, to forgive endlessly.  Last week we were confronted with the possibility of the one who is forgiven and redeemed in the eleventh hour.  Today, we continue these meditations by looking at the obedient son.

Jesus gives an example of a man who had two sons.  To the first He says, “Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.”  The son refuses, but then has a change of heart and does so.  The second receives the same directive and says he will go, but doesn’t.  Who, our Lord asks, was obedient to the father?  The first, obviously.  Our Lord is having this conversation with some of the chief priests and elders.  At this point He says to them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.”  The worst of sinners could get in while the religious leaders were left out.  This is good news for the sinner, but bad for the self-righteous.

What makes the difference between the two?  Not intellect, or education, wealth, talent, status, ability, or anything else.  One thing alone makes the difference: obedience!  Obedience is born out of faith.  Any attempt to divorce faith and obedience places one outside of the New Testament experience.  St. Paul speaks of “the obedience of faith” [Romans 1:5].  Both our first and second readings demonstrate it.  Ezekiel speaks of the one who is blessed because in the end he obeyed what God said.  St. Paul holds forth the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in His obedience to the Father “to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

But what makes the difference in our own practical experience?  Sure, we all know we’re supposed to obey the Lord and we also know that we don’t.  That’s why people keep coming back to Confession.  How do we come to the place where we are indeed the obedient people God is calling us to be?

First, I suggest that it begins by apprehending God’s mercy.  What did the tax collectors and prostitutes of Jesus’ day know that we don’t?  They knew the incomprehensible mercy of God.  In their day there was no hope for such as they were.  Jesus not only gave them hope, but forgiveness and an inheritance in the kingdom of God.  The offer is open to us.  Unfortunately, we don’t always perceive it.  Too often, we have the same approach as the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.  “We don’t need forgiveness.  We’ve done nothing wrong.”  I find it telling that when asked, people generally think of themselves as good and when pressed on the issue will often respond with something like, “Well, at least I’m not a murderer or something.”  We’ve placed the bar so low that it’s easy to appear good and feel good about oneself.  But God sees it differently.  He knows we are sinners and He offers forgiveness.  For the person who gains God’s perspective they are overwhelmed at the mercy they are shown.

Second, let me share with you the Gospel Antiphon for today’s Mass.  This is the verse that is said or sung before the proclamation of the Gospel.  Today it comes from John 10:27 and it says this: “My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.”  There’s a lot that’s packed into that one verse, but let me just point out a couple of things that pertain to this idea of apprehending God’s mercy.

How do we know if we are part of God’s flock?  Because we hear His voice.  I don’t mean we hear it audibly, although that could happen.  But in our spirit we can hear Him speaking as clearly as if it were audible.  It may be something that happens during the day, or something someone says.  But most often it’s what happens when we quiet our souls and meditate on sacred scripture.  We hear God speaking there.  When this happens, it’s a sign that you are one of His sheep.

So as His sheep we hear His voice.  Then the verse goes on to say that He know us.  Notice, it does not speak of us knowing Him, although that’s true.  But in this case it is He who knows us.  But doesn’t God know everyone?  Didn’t He create us all?  How could He not know someone?

Knowledge here is not the mere knowing of facts, but the knowing of relationship.  Even though God knows everything about us- even better than we do- He can’t know us in relationship unless we invite Him to do so.  What a tragedy- that God who made us in love would be kept from knowing us for a lifetime- and even for eternity.  When we take time to listen for the voice of God we are building a relationship.  Then God knows us and we know Him. 

Then we follow Him.  Because we can hear Him speak and we are in right relationship with Him we have the utmost confidence to follow Him, wherever He may lead.  This is where faith and obedience are seen to coincide.  We believe and so we obey. 

I think the single most important reason for the various messes we are experiencing in our world today is right here.  We don’t believe God and so we don’t obey Him.  What is God saying to you today?  Are you obeying Him?  Have you been putting Him off and telling yourself that you will get to that someday?  Are you like the second son who says he will obey, but doesn’t?  Stop kidding yourself!  If you have no intention of obeying today it is unlikely you ever will.  On the other hand, if you are willing to undergo an honest evaluation today and make a change then you can find yourself in the position of the first son and gain the reward of obedience.

Good Eye!

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Isaiah 55:6-9; Psalm 145; Philippians 1:20-24, 27; Matthew 20:1-16

“Are you envious because I am generous?”
Matthew 20:15

We need to be careful in what sense we take today’s Gospel.  Jesus’ parable about the generous landowner should not be seen as an excuse to put off our wholehearted seeking after God.  Isaiah says in today’s first reading, “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near.
Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving.”  That is the sense we should always have.

Nevertheless, our Lord gives us a wonderful parable about God’s enduring mercy.  In the parable a landowner goes out at the beginning of the workday around 6:00 a.m. to find laborers for his vineyard.  This was in keeping with the times in which men might seek out employment for a day, or even a season, in just such a manner.  As the story goes on, the landowner continues going out at various intervals of the day with his last foray around 5:00 in the evening; only one hour before quitting time.  This is akin to the heart of our Lord who has come to seek and to save the Lost.  He will continue His diligent search, even to the last hour.  At the end of the day, the landowner calls the laborers together to receive their payment.  He begins with those hired last and pays them an entire day’s wage.  Those who worked the whole day thought they deserved more even though their agreement was for a day’s wage.  So they received the same.  Outraged, they protest only to hear the landowner declare that it is his right to do as he wants with his money.  He has not cheated those who were hired first.  He has simply chosen to be generous to those hired later.

I think this story resonates particularly with us as modern Americans.  We instinctively take up the battle cry of those workers who worked the entire day.  One can hear calls to “Unite!”  Yet, that would be to miss the point.  Jesus isn’t trying to set a policy for corporate payrolls.  He’s getting at something much deeper, and I think it’s easy to miss.

It’s the line near the end of the story that tips us off.  “Are you envious because I am generous?”  This is a more colloquial rendering.  The phrase literally reads from the Greek as “Is your eye evil because I am good?”

What Jesus is getting at is the idea that we have a choice in how we will respond to God’s mercy and grace.  Will we recognize it for what it is- something wonderfully good?  Or will we become envious, jealous, or disgruntled and see it as evil?

Let me illustrate.  Last week we spoke of God’s mercy in forgiveness.  We recognized that we may have a tendency to be unforgiving, even in the face of God’s forgiveness of our sins.  This week’s Gospel goes one step further.  Here, we’re ok with God forgiving, but we still want to retain our right to have a better reward than the next guy.  To go back to my illustration from last week, it’s one thing to forgive the 9/11 terrorists, but to think they might inherit the same reward I do in eternal life- maybe not.  It’s at this point that I must discern whether my eye is good or evil.  What if, milliseconds before the plane hit the tower, one of the terrorists instantly saw the evil of his ways and cried out to God for mercy?  How would I feel to have him standing next to me in heaven?  This is exactly the scenario that Jesus has in mind.  Someone saved in the last seconds of the last hour could have equal standing to someone who bore the weight of the spiritual combat for a lifetime.

This is not the place to become a legalist.  I don’t think the parable is intended as a blueprint for the final judgment.  Nevertheless, it is intended to lead us to a place of considering what mercy really means.

Let me bring this to other matters closer to home.  How do we react to people who drive recklessly and frustrate us while we’re on the road?  What about similar occasions in stores?  How do we react to the family member who is always asking for a handout, or the beggar on the street corner?  Again, I’m not approaching this from a legal standpoint as if there’s always a particular response that is right, but the question we need to be asking ourselves is this: is my eye good or evil?  Am I joyfully choosing mercy, or bitterly choosing judgment?

Let’s go one step further.  I am greatly disturbed at what’s happening in our country- and in the Church, I’m sorry to say- over a small strip of cloth to be worn over the face as a mask.  We are truly divided in our response.  Those who choose no mask look down on the others and scoff that they are not as enlightened as they are.  Those who choose the mask look at those who do not as if they are selfish boors recklessly endangering the populace.  A little mercy please!  Rather than judge motives, let each be convinced of the rightness of their own actions and choose mercy for the others.  Doesn’t this seem to be akin to having an eye that is good rather than evil?

To have goodness in our eyes is to see through the same lens that God does.  How can we know that?  By what’s written in scripture.  How do we see Jesus?  What does He teach?  How does He act?  Then go and do likewise.  St. Paul refers to this in our second reading when he says, “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”  In other words, he is saying that to go on living is to live as Christ so that it is Christ who is clearly seen in us.  A life lived well in this sense welcomes death at the end for there is certainly an eternal reward.

To have evil in our eyes is to begrudge God’s mercy to others, even while almost expecting it for ourselves.  There is no joy in such a life.  One is eventually consumed with all the self-made rules for living.  In the end, it may well be that God’s mercy is shown to the others, but not for the one who has chosen judgment instead of mercy.

When we can rejoice in God’s mercy shown to those we consider the least deserving then we may know that we are at least on the path of seeing with good eyes.  May God grant us such heavenly vision quickly, and may we discover the joy that comes from the freedom of simply rejoicing in such mercy… wherever it is shown!

 

Hugging Anger

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Sirach 27:30-28:7; Psalm 103; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35

Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.
Sirach 27:30

This week we had our annual remembrance of the tragic events of 9/11.  If you were old enough at the time to understand what was happening on that day then you, like me, probably re-live it to some degree or another every time the anniversary comes around.  I find that I have two primary reactions: grief and anger.

I am grieved because men could be so full of hate and so blinded by deception as to think that God was actually the author of their plans.  I grieve further for the many lives that were lost that day.

But then there’s the anger.  The terrorists apparently had the goal of bringing death, destruction, and grief to our nation.  But they had nothing to personally gain.  They would not become rich, they would not conquer the United States, they would not gain power, or even prestige in the eyes of the global community. 

We are constantly told not to judge, but one can’t help but wonder what the Particular Judgment was like for those men.  We can’t know their eternal destiny, but from all appearances we would expect that they died outside the state of grace.  It’s here that I have a confession to make.  The anger over their actions leads me to believe that they deserved hell, and furthermore, I’m glad if they got it.

That’s a horrific confession.  How can I, who believe God has called me to preach salvation for the souls of others take delight in the death of the wicked?  If God doesn’t, how can I?  It is here that I hear the Lord speaking to me.

Sirach says that wrath and anger are hateful things.  This is the Lectionary rendering.  If you look it up in your Bible it’s even stronger.  It says they are abominations. 

In today’s Gospel our Lord gives us a very graphic picture about the priority of forgiveness.  He tells a parable about a man who owed a ruler more than he could ever pay back in his life.  So the ruler was merciful and forgave the man his entire debt.  But then the man found someone who owed him a small amount of money.  He demanded payment in full and when the other man couldn’t pay, he was thrown into prison along with his family. 

Now here’s the twist.  The townspeople, seeing what had happened, and recognizing the injustice of it, went and told the ruler.  The man was instantly summoned to the ruler to give an account.  “You wicked servant!” he said.  “I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?” 

Now watch carefully what happens.  The entire debt of the first man was reinstated and he was thrown into prison.  He would never be able to pay the debt.  He would die in prison.  And listen to our Lord’s conclusion: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

Here’s what He’s saying.  If we don’t forgive others then God won’t forgive us.  The debt we owe to God is immense and it makes any debt someone else owes us miniscule by comparison.  While our sins may have been washed away in Baptism and forgiven in the Eucharist or Reconciliation, our entire debt is reinstated if we refuse to offer forgiveness to others.

Now at this point it’s worth talking about exactly what forgiveness is and isn’t.  Let’s start with the latter.

Forgiveness is not somehow saying that was done to us is ok.  It’s not ok.  It isn’t somehow to justify the perpetrator.  That is, unfortunately, how our society looks at it now.  “Oh, well they probably had an abusive childhood so they don’t know any better.”  Or, “They were suffering from depression, or some other mental illness.”  The list goes on.  It doesn’t take the sting out of the wrong done.  Sure, there are times when there are mitigating factors.  But more often than not, it’s simply because we are sinners at heart and when we allow the sin nature to get the upper hand we will inevitably do something that hurts others.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean all is well and we should just go on with life.  It means a true injustice has been done and that’s why there’s something to forgive.  To forgive doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look for justice, or that we shouldn’t take measures to ensure safety.  If someone is in an abusive relationship the first thing they need to do is get away.  If that leads to divorce, or separation from parents then it does.  But in the midst of it all Christ still calls us to forgive and there’s a particular reason why.  It’s because His grace gives us the ability to forgive.  When we forgive we demonstrate His love to the world.

Let me come back to the 9/11 attackers.  I need to forgive them in my heart.  They’re dead and neither my wrath, nor my forgiveness will benefit them.  Their fates are sealed and they are in the hands of God.  But if I allow the anger and bitterness of that day to seize control of my heart then I forfeit all the grace God offers and I become a debtor again.

This doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge the heinousness of their crimes.  It doesn’t in any way justify their actions.  And were we to find others who were complicit with them it would not keep me from insisting that justice be carried out and those people answer for their crimes.  It just means that I offer mercy instead of judgment.  Judgment I leave to the Lord.

We all have similar issues in our lives.  In this fallen world it’s virtually impossible to make it through without having something calling for forgiveness.  Please don’t make the mistake of hardening your heart and thinking that somehow this is getting back at the perpetrator.  It’s not.  It’s just cutting you off from God’s grace.

One final note: forgiveness does not mean that we need to feel anything.  When someone has hurt us it will take some time- possibly a lifetime- until we can work through the emotion.  But in our will we have the capacity to choose to forgive.  And the more we make that choice the more forgiveness takes hold of our heart instead of bitterness.

Years ago I was angry about another matter in which I wondered where justice was.  The Lord spoke quietly, but firmly to my heart: “Justice is in the same place it was for you- at the cross!  There I bore all the sins of humankind.”  I was humbled.  The same holds true for this circumstance.  I am not God.  I have no right to call for justice when I am in such need of forgiveness myself.

Listen to Sirach again.  “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.”  Don’t hug wrath and bitterness.  They are no friends.  They will destroy your soul in the end.  Instead, allow the Spirit of Christ to take hold; the One who prayed, “Father, forgive them.”

 

 

The Church

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20

“… listen even to the church…”
Matthew 18:17

This week we hear Ezekiel call out to us as a watchman on the tower.  The watchman’s duty was to sound the alarm if the enemy was coming.  In so doing he alerted the people to make ready for a defense. 

In today’s Gospel, our Lord outlines the way to resolve disputes.  First go to the person who has sinned against you.  If they cannot be reconciled then take two or three others.  If they won’t listen to them then tell it to the church.  And if they refuse to listen even to the church then let them be cast out.  But this begs the question in our modern day, “Which church?”

There are, by rough estimate, 30,000 denominations of Christianity.  In light of the fact that our fundamental message is love this is an indictment.  Truth be told, the divisions began even in the apostolic era.  But for our purposes we can see the first great division taking place in roughly 1054 A.D. with the split between East and West in what would result in what we now think of as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.  The next great division took place in the 16^th century with the Protestant Reformation.  Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and some others were among the first to break from the Catholic Church and form their own churches.  They were followed in time by the Anglicans and the Radical Reformation which brought about the Anabaptist stream and their modern descendants: the Brethren, the Mennonites, and the Amish.  Baptists, Methodists, Church of Christ, Holiness, Pentecostals, Charismatics, and non-denominationals would all follow in time until we have reached the regrettable situation we have now in our day where we are often sadly divided from one another.  True, that in more recent times there have been movements toward reconciliation and reunion.  But we still remain largely divided.

Again, this begs the question, “Which church is referred to in our Lord’s teaching?”  Naturally, we would respond by saying the Church which He founded.  Well, which one is that?  Or is it somehow all of them put together?  

Let’s quickly dispense with the second option.  Jesus speaks of both a visible church and a unified church so that its decisions stand and are not undone or reversed by the church down the street.  So we cannot imagine that He had the present situation in mind.  Let’s also dispense with the notion that there is no true Church.  Our Lord promised that His Church would endure and the gates of hell could not prevail against it.  Furthermore, the Holy Spirit was given, among other reasons, to guide the Church into all truth.  We cannot for a moment think that our Lord was unable to make good on His word or that the Holy Spirit has failed in His mission.

Then which Church is the true Church?  I contend that the Catholic Church is in full the true Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ, propagated by the apostles, entrusted to the Fathers, and persevering to the present day.

To be the true Church one would need to show an unbroken history that goes back to our Lord and His apostles.  That takes most groups out.  Most of our modern churches are not older than the 1500’s and most of our most popular churches originated within the last century or two, and some within the last decade.  These groups may think they have recovered the apostolic faith, but without a living tradition to guide them it’s like thinking you could reconstruct the ancient Roman Empire based on what is written about it.  It might be close, but it could never be exact.

Only the Orthodox have a sound argument at this point.  With them there are many more similarities than differences from the Catholic Church.  Where differences exist they require more explanation than I have space for here.  However, I will say that it largely centers on the papacy.  I believe the papacy is a vital aspect of the Church and without it we are cast adrift without a clear direction.  The theological deadlock that has existed in the various Orthodox Churches over a number of issues bears out my point.  Admittedly, there have been issues with the papacy through the years, but those issues had to do more with the man than his office.  The Pope has been the final court of appeal throughout the centuries and has guided the Church through many difficulties during that time.

Why this polemic on the Catholic Church?  Because our world needs to see the witness of a unified Church walking in love and providing unequivocally the truth which all people so desperately need.  I ask this question to our brothers and sisters in Christ outside of the Catholic Church: what fault have you found with the Catholic Church that keeps you outside?  Please, let us have conversation.  Let us reason together.  Let us see if the barriers can be removed and we can dwell together in love and unity.

To my fellow Catholics I make this plea: do not be content to merely belong to the Catholic Church, but rather to live out vibrantly all that she teaches.  Treasures untold have been bequeathed to us by our faithful forebears, but for most of us we are content to leave them as displays in museums rather than to appropriate them for our own lives.  May it not be so any longer!  Our Lord Jesus Christ has done all to give us salvation and this salvation comes to us through the primary means of grace: prayer and the Sacraments, not the least of which is the Holy Eucharist.  Lay hold of these treasures and enter into the holiest place to drink deeply of the love of God.

The watchman in our day is sounding the alarm.  The enemy is not only outside, but actually inside among us.  He sows division and discord.  His goal is the total destruction of the Church and the ruin of souls.  We cannot allow it to continue.  We must defend that for which our Lord gave all.  He gave us a Church- His Church, which continues to the present day in the Catholic Church.  If you agree, then rise up with me to sound the alarm.  And if you don’t agree then please at least tell us why.  Truth is too important to bypass for a passive peace.  The time is long past to rectify what divides us.  Souls hang in the balance and the Enemy must be driven out.  Let us not waste another moment!

Basic Discipleship

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 63; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24

The cross!  It’s still, as it ever was, at the heart of our faith.  A crucifix is at the front of our churches.  It hangs at the end of our rosaries.  It’s the sign we make over ourselves before and after we pray, when we enter the church for Mass, and any time we are petitioning God for a blessing.  Some of our churches are in the shape of a cross.  Some of us wear one around our neck.  It’s everywhere.  But maybe that’s the problem.  We’ve become so used to seeing it that we have become inoculated to its meaning. 

Today’s Gospel calls us back to the cross.  It’s a reminder that this is a fundamental aspect of our faith.  I like to think of this passage as instructions for basic discipleship.  What does it mean?  What is Jesus talking about when He says that in order to follow Him we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him?

Let’s begin with the first part.  What does it mean to deny yourself?  Picture a courtroom.  Imagine that you are the key witness in a murder trial.  The defendant’s alibi rests on your testimony.  He states that he was with you at the time of the murder.  When you take the stand and you are sworn in the prosecutor asks you if you can corroborate the defendant’s testimony.  That’s when you look straight at the defendant as you say, “I’ve never seen this person before in my life.”  At this point, the defense’s case goes out the window, and the defendant is found guilty and sentenced to death.

Now picture the same scene, but this time you are not only the star witness, you are also the defendant.  That’s what it means to deny yourself.  It means you deny having anything to do with your old life and you walk away unfazed by the consequences of your testimony.  

Now imagine that this entire scene has taken place 2,000 years ago in a region of the Roman Empire.  Since you have been condemned to death you are sentenced to public execution by crucifixion.  You are given a rugged, wooden cross, and told you must carry it to the place of your execution.  Then you must follow your executioner out to the place where you will be crucified.  That’s the picture that would have been in anyone’s mind that was in Jesus’ original audience when they heard these words. 

Again, this is basic discipleship.  I think a lot of us look at this as a bonus level of discipleship for the people who are “really into it”.  But that’s not the case.  One doesn’t even begin to be a disciple until this has taken place.

Now here’s the problem.  We keep wanting to lay down our cross and call for a re-trial.  We want an opportunity to convince the star witness to change their testimony and agree with us.  And that’s where the trouble starts.

If you saw a man carrying a cross in ancient Rome or Jerusalem, you knew one thing: this man has no future plans.  There is nothing for him but suffering, humiliation, and death. 

How are we to live this out in our present time?  How do we live crucified?

Again, let us return to the analogy.  We are to completely turn our back on ourselves.  In doing so, we come face to face with Jesus.  We willingly lay down our lives in order to gain His.  “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  It is His life that is to be lived out through ours.  By dying to self we open ourselves up to a resurrection of new life; of divine life.  “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me,” (Galatians 2:20).

Right now we are facing unique and challenging times.  Foremost, in my opinion, is the great division that is taking place in our nation, and even in our churches over the issues of the pandemic, racial injustice, and the upcoming presidential election.  I am not troubled by the fact that good Christian people- true disciples- have differing opinions.  Rather I find it disturbing that we are allowing ourselves to be divided over the issues.  To live crucified is to live separate from the world around us and to bear witness of the love of Christ.  It is to die to our own right to be right.  The true test of discipleship in our present context is not whether or not we wear a mask, or which side of the Black Lives Matter we are on, or who we will vote for in the upcoming election.  The true test is if, in spite of differences, we love our neighbor, our Christian brothers and sisters, and even our enemies.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is time, and well beyond time, that we would again be known by the fundamental badge of Christianity- love.  But this love is no mere sentiment.  It is born amidst the ravages of the crucified life and therefore loves radically, in ways inconceivable to the world around us.  This is the love that loves an enemy, turns the other cheek, and goes the extra mile.  This is the love that willingly lays down one’s life to serve others.  The disciple who has been fully trained in the way of the cross recognizes that he has no rights and, because he is dead, becomes a conduit for the living love of Christ!

No matter how far down the road we have gone, there’s an opportunity to retrace our steps and find the cross we left lying in the dust.  Go there.  Find it, and lift it up again.  You will feel its weight and you will want to recoil from it.  But be encouraged.  Our Lord is there to bear the weight with you.  He will be faithful to walk this way with you.  He has already walked it Himself.  You will lay down your life.  But as He says, in the end you will find it again.  Only the life you find will not be the same one you laid down.  It will be resurrection life!