August 23, 1998Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time |
The Gospel and the first reading today offer us some contrasts: that of the Universal Call to salvation offered to everyone, but the paradox that the road in which we respond to this call can seem very narrow and difficult, and often impossible to get through! In that sense, this Sunday follows last when we heard that the call to discipleship can often set us apart form the comfortable standards of culture, and important relationships in our lives: the path of true discipleship can often be the rocky and challenging road, and not the wide and easy one! It is not surprising that the universal call to salvation is found in St. Luke's Gospel...it is known as the Gospel to the Gentiles, and was written for the Greek speaking world. The second reading (the epistle), for the letter to the Hebrews again, tells us to "straighten up" and walk straight ahead in the midst of trials, and not to let ourselves grow weak and falter. Fr. Adrian Nocent, OSB, a noted Scripture and liturgical scholar, says that in this letter "trials are not punishments; such a view is inconsistent with God's mercy and certainly does not apply to those who have abandoned themselves body and soul to the Lord. We should rather look at trials as preparation for the glory that awaits us. There is no reason, then, to be discouraged; we should rather regard trials as means of attaining a more perfect union with God, who is proving his love for us through these very trials."
The universal call to salvation, expressed in this Gospel, can lead to a reflection on the word "Catholic" which is the Greek word for universal. I would like to offer a reflection on what it means to be, then, a particular Church, and a Universal Church, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The phrase "particular church", which is the diocese (or eparchy), refers to a community of the Christian faithful in communion of faith and sacraments with their bishop ordained in apostolic succession. These particular Churches "constituted after the model of the universal Church; it is in these and formed out of them that the one and unique Catholic Church exists."
Particular Churches are fully catholic through their communion with one of them, the "Church of Rome" which presides in charity.
Luke, the Gentile, is very interested in God's all-embracing love, a love not limited to certain ethnic or religious groups. In the Gospel Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. Those with him want to know if those who will be saved are few in number. Jesus was not about to set limits on God's saving power. He was concerned that they use God's saving power. They are to know that God's generosity must be matched by generosity on their part. Going through "a narrow door"is difficult; one has to work at it. It isn't like slipping through a wide, open passageway in the midst of a large crowd. There is to be a personal, practical response to God's invitation.
Going through a "narrow door" is difficult; one has to work at it. In order to make it through the narrow door, what changes do you need to make in your life that you have been putting off?
Name a time when you took the easy way out, instead of doing the better course of action.
The Greek word mysterion from which we get the word "mystery" was translated into Latin by two terms, mysterium and sacramentum from which comes our word "sacrament". In later usage the term sacramentum came to emphasize the visible sign of the hidden reality, the mysterium. Christ himself is this mystery of salvation. He is both sacramentum and mysterium. The sanctifying work of Christ is both contained and active in the seven sacraments of the Church, which the Eastern Rites call "the Holy Mysteries." It is in this sense that the Church is called sacrament. A visible sign of the one, holy, invisible God.
Our parish school begins this week. Whenever school starts, I've always felt that the "summer" is over. In addition there are the various parish organizations and committees that are planning their first meeting dates. What happened to the summer? My mom would say that the older you get, the faster time goes. I'm finding that very true.
The Liturgy of the Word and the Gospel of Luke today even points to the time when time will end, the final judgement and who ultimately gets in the "narrow door." Luke has a disciple ask Jesus a question: "Will only a few be saved?" The Isaiah text from our first reading today sets the stage for Jesus in Luke's gospel. Here the table has room for people from far and wide. When the Lord comes to gather all the nations, that is pretty inclusive. But the Lord's response to the question seems to be sharp: "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able."
How do we get in this narrow door? The problem with getting in, according to Luke's story, is not only the logistics of space (the narrow door) but the urgency of time-and the time is now-to live the gospel. To those who found the door to eternity locked and knocked for admittance by claiming to be Jesus' dining companions and to have heard His teachings, His response is simple and stark, "I do not know where you come from!" Because they had not used their experiences of eating with Him and learning from Him to become identified with Him in word and work, because they did not love, share, touch, care and serve as He did, they would find no eternal home with Him.
I think the Gospel today challenges us in many ways and certainly shakes us out of any complacency. Our second reading today from Hebrews is especially encouraging: "Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed." A good positive note to take with us this week.
This week our staff, finance committee, and parish council will meet. Next Sunday new parish council members will be installed: Terry Hughes, Joe Lauber, and Mike Wallace. Our alternates are Bob McNulty, Susie Sheahan, and John Denneen. Please keep all our parish organizations in your prayer and our students and faculty as we begin a new academic year.
Father James Tobin, S.M.
Pastor
Stewardship Prayer: Lord God, you alone are the source of every good gift. We praise you and we thank you for your great power and your tender, faithful love. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we commit ourselves to be good stewards of the gifts entrusted to us, to share our time, our talent, our material gifts as an outward sign of the treasure we hold in Jesus.
Stewardship Reflection: Today's reading from Isaiah describes the Israelites bringing their offering to the Lord "in clean vessels." The gift of myself - my patient endurance and fidelity to the will of God - is as important as the monetary gift I offer.
Elevator Addition and Renovation Project. The contract for the project is with the administration of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. We are awaiting word and signatgure from the Archbishop. As soon as we get it, the contractor is prepared to begin.
Since 1300, every twenty-five years, the Catholic Church has celebrated special years of reconciliation and redemption called "Holy Years." The celebration of the Holy Year in 2000, which the Church calls the Great Jubilee, takes on added significance since it marks two thousand years since the birth of Christ and is the passing of a millennium.
This Jubilee will begin on December 24, 1999 when Pope John Paul II opens a special door in St. Peter's Basilica, known as the Holy Year door. The Holy Father invites us to use these preparatory years (1997-1999) as an opportunity to reconfirm our faith, sustain our hope, and rekindle our charity. They are an opportunity to renew our spirit by deepening our spiritual lives, becoming holy people through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father.
IN 1990, VACLAV HAVEL, THEN PRESIDENT OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA, chastised his people for abandoning those central values so necessary for community and human life. He wrote: "Notions such as love, friendship, compassion, humility and forgiveness have lost their depth and dimension, and for many of us they represent merely some kind of psychological idiosyncrasy, or appear as some kind of stray relic from times past, something rather comical in the era of computers and space rockets." The next millennium will be filled with more computers and more space rockets. But will it also be filled with God's spirit of compassion, love and forgiveness?
The first Monday of September is Labor Day. And while most people think of it as the last holiday of summer, or a perfect day for a picnic, it is really much more important than that. Labor Day is a celebration of the rights of people who work. They have a right to decent pay, to enough rest, to safe working conditions and to fair treatment. Years ago, not everyone was sure of getting these things.Even today, people struggle for their rights as workers. This is a day to remember that people's work should dignify them, not destroy them. Over the years, many of our leaders, including popes and bishops, have spoken out on the dignity of work and on the rights of workers. This is a day to appreciate the work people do for you.
In whatever ways you keep Labor Day, begin it in your home with this prayer from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers:
God our creator, we are the work of your hands. Guide us in our work, that we may do it, not for ourselves alone, but for the common good. Make us alert to injustice, ready to stand in solidarity, that there may be dignity for all in labor and in labor's reward. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen
What is God? It may seem like one of the most difficult questions of all time. Yet the answer could not be more beautiful. God can be found all around you-in each person that touches your life, in every living creature, in the splendor of all Creation. God is the beauty in a little flower. God is warm rays of sun in winter, the radiance of new-fallen snow, and the magnificent design of a snowflake. God is the joy of friendship and the love that thrills the human heart. Joseph F. Girzone
The Introduction points out the "different duties and responsibilities with respect to the word of God" which are shared among the members of the assembly. All hear the word but only the ordained or those entrusted with such a ministry may expound on its meaning through preaching (LFM 8). By these different roles, the "Church keeps alive and passes on to every generation all that she is, all that she believes" (LFM 8). Good preaching relies on the working of the Holy Spirit, "if the word of God is to make what we hear outwardly, have its effect inwardly" (LFM 9). By the inspiration of this same Spirit, the entire liturgy becomes the voice of the Church at prayer and the rule and support of all Christian life (LFM 9).
Recalling that "the preaching of the word is necessary for the ministry of the sacraments, for these are sacraments of faith, which is born and nourished from the word," the Introduction describes a twofold table of God's word and of the Eucharist. "From the one it grows in wisdom and from the other in holiness" (LFM 10). In their unity is formed a single act of divine worship.
-- Newsletter of the Committee on the Liturgy of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Volume XXXIV, February-March 1998.
God of Light and Wisdom thank You for giving me
a mind that can know and a heart that can love.
Help me to keep learning every day -
no matter what the subject may be.
All knowledge leads to You;
let me know how to find You and love You
in all the things You have made.
Encourage me when the studies are hard
and when I am tempted to give up.
Enlighten me when my brain is slow
and let me to grasp the truth held out to me.
Enable me to put my knowledge to use
in building the Kingdom of God on earth
so that I may enter the Kingdom of God in heaven.
Lord Jesus Christ,
imbue me with the knowledge
of both secular and religious subjects
that is necessary to my task on earth.
Let me have the suitable qualifications
and a pedagogical skill
that is in harmony with the discoveries
of the contemporary world.
Help me to be united with my students
by the bond of love,
and work in partnership with their parents
to stimulate the students to act for themselves.
Even after their graduation
let me continue to assist them
with advice and friendship.
Bestow on me an apostolic spirit
to bear witness, both by life and by instruction,
to the unique Teacher - You, Jesus Christ.
O glorious St. Joseph, to you God committed the care of his only begotten Son amid the many dangers of this world. We come to you and ask you to take under your special protection the children God has given us. We consecrate them to you today, that through this consecration they may become your foster children. Guard them, guide their steps in life, form their hearts after the hearts of Jesus and Mary. St. Joseph, who felt the tribulation and worry of a parent when the Child Jesus was lost, protect our dear children for time and eternity. May you be their father and counselor. Let them, like Jesus, grow in age as well as in wisdom and grace. Preserve them from danger and make them strong in temptation. Give us the grace one day to be united with them in heaven forever. Amen.
1) Isaiah 66, 18-21
2) Hebrews 12, 5-7. 11-13
3) Luke 13, 22-30
"Try to come in through the narrow door. Many, I tell you, will try to enter and be unable,"(3) Jesus says. Perhaps, if the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the door to heaven is constructed from the deeds of our lives. The door is as narrow as ourselves. If we are self-obsessed and self-centered there will not be room for us to pass. But if, on the other hand, we are broadly generous and other-directed the door will be as wide as our hearts.
To that end we have been given stewardship over time, talent and treasure. We can afford to be generous because we are working with gifts that actually belong to God and not to ourselves. God has given us the tools and the skills to widen the narrow door. Jesus was well acquainted with a carpenter's skills. Invite him to help you rebuild the narrow door. Place time, talent and treasure as the service of the Lord.
Next Sunday the reading's will be: 1)Sirach 3, 17-18. 20. 28-29; 2)Hebrews 12, 18-19. 22-24; 3)Luke 14, 1. 7-14.
