September 12, 1999 |
1) Sirach 27, 30-28, 7
2) Romans 14, 7-9
3) Matthew 18, 21-35
"Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight" (1). It is apparently the case with the Lord that if we wish something we must cast it out into the world with all our might or it may never return to us. This is obviously so with forgiveness: "Lord, when my brother wrongs me, how often must I forgive him? Seven times?" asks Peter. "No," Jesus replied, "not seven times; I say seventy times seven times" (3). If this is so with anything so important as reconciliation, might it not also be a good approach to time, talent and treasure? The more you give the more likely you are to receive.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
After a long, hot summer, let us change the pace. Have you ever met a serious skier? If you have, you know that skiing is important in his life. You could ask him about skiing in the summer, when there is almost no snow in the mountains, and he would give you an enthusiastic response. In the winter, he is not necessarily hindered because it is a little too cold, or it's snowing, or the snow isn't just perfect.
In some ways, Christianity is similar, it goes beyond fun. When you get right down to the basics, the Gospel is not about fun or entertainment. Serving God is serious business and to be successful at it, we will need to put our all into it. We will not be able to just sit idly by and ask someone to entertain us.
If you asked a serious skier if skiing is fun, he'd give you an enthusiastic Yes! But, I don't think it looks particularly fun. It looks like work to me - exercise to get in shape and a physical workout when you ski. I think it would be cold and wet. However, a serious skier has experienced the thrill. He has seen the view from the top of the mountain on a clear day. He knows the thrill of flying through the air off a jump.
If you were to ask a serious, experienced Christian if serving God is fun, they might say, Not necessarily fun, but it's the greatest thrill of my life! Looking on, you might not see the thrilling part of serving God. You might only see that discipline is needed and that laying down your will is necessary. It doesn't look entertaining. Yet, the serious Catholic Christian has experienced the thrill. They have a spiritual view of Heaven. They have prayed about difficult circumstances and know the the excitement of seeing God step in and make the impossible happen. They know the peace that comes from having committed their life fully to God and have the assurance that everything which happens to them is for their good.
I can go to the ski lodge and look out the window at the skiers. I can try hard to imagine what it must feel like to hear the wind whistle past my head as I fly down the slope. I can discern that there would be some thrill. I can even be entertained by watching them for a while. But the truth is, I am not willing to do what it takes to participate. It might be possible to be like that in regards to serving God. We must look at others who enjoy serving God. We can try to imagine what it must be like and see that there could be some thrill. We might even be entertainment for a while by going to Mass or church-related activities. But we will never know the real thrill unless we do what it takes to participate.
Sometimes a serious skier has an accident. In the same way, a serious Christian may encounter bumps in his spiritual life. He may experience situations that knock him off his feet and make him wonder which way is up. But if he has touched God, if he has felt the thrill and knows the joy, those situations will only make him cling more tightly to God. Serving God will stretch you farther than you thought you could be stretched. It will challenge you more than any ski slope. It won't necessarily give you easy entertainment, but it will give you the thrill of a lifetime...and a hope of eternity. Try it!
In the Peace of Christ,
Deacon Dick
We are all called to the same end: to be with God in eternal happiness.
Through the instrumentality of your parents God loved you into life. YOU are created uniquely to be one of a kind with a certain set of gifts and talents. It is up to you to discover and discern how your particular set of gifts and talents are to be used in this world to build up the "Body of Christ" and give glory to God. Jesus promised His Spirit to be with us always to inspire and guide us to the end for which we are created.
He told us that He would not leave us orphans as if we are abandoned children. We need to pray always to be led by Holy Spirit to discover and fulfill our purpose in life. Pray for us as the "Body of Christ" and for ourselves to discover and fulfill our part. Doing our part is how we find happiness in life.
All of our days are numbered, Now that Christ has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, we count down the days until He returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. Ordinary Time is ordinal time: numbered days, days in which we lay out the scriptures and the prayers to bide our time until Christ returns.
Although the church makes no official distinction between the days of Ordinary Time from Pentecost until Advent, in our lives we experience the subtle shift from the relaxed days of summer to the increasingly active days of autumn. For some of us, the shift comes with the end-of-summer holiday or the beginning of school. Others see work activities shift from tending to harvesting, from stocking shelves to increasing sales, from cashing out an old fiscal year to digging into a new one.
The church's calendar contains some subtle shifts, too. On September 14 we celebrate the Holy Cross, and the waning of the natural world around us points us to the mystery of suffering and redemption. At the end of September we invoke the holy archangels to guard us in the encroaching twilight. And if we listen closely to the scriptures in October, we begin to hear talk of the last days and the final things. These thoughts reach their culmination with the great festival of saints and souls, November 1 and 2. And we spend November remembering the dead, preparing for the end and celebrating Christ, the first fruits harvested of the new creation, the firstborn from the dead.
This is the extraordinary opportunity that autumn's Ordinary Times opens up for us.
Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear or read the expression Y2K, often associated with some imaginable disaster. We don't hear a lot about a much, much older concept that dates back to Israel's relationship with God and is recorded in the book of Leviticus. Pope John Paul II referred to this concept often as he visited with us here in Saint Louis, namely the millennium and its associated Jubilee Year. The technological jargon catches our attention because it is presented in such concrete terms like headlines that proclaim All ATM Machines will fail at the New Year's moment. God's message is much more subtle. His pact with believers is to leave the land fallow in the Jubilee Year so that it can renew itself and produce even more. God's message is a call to sabbath rest, to renewal. The frantic pace of our modern life style has pretty much lost any sense of sabbath rest or the essential pause to renew the self. The millennium reminds us that the God who created us built into the human personality just such a need. I often ask myself what are you so busy about? What would happen if you didn't run around being so busy? The problem is that I shrug my shoulders and don't take the time to answer these questions. But so much of our frantic activity is like Don Quixote charging windmills. I started thinking that the field God is asking me to leave fallow and open to renewal is my inner self. The millennium then becomes a challenge to do something different, to plow into old soil a fertilizer not made by Monsanto but found in God's Word.
COMMENTS FROM OUR PARISH LEADERS
This week we are again challenged by the scriptures to forgive from our heart, to receive God's mercy, (The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a gracefilled way to do this), to remember death...to cease from sin. And, we are comforted as we pray in the Responsorial Psalm: The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in compassion. The psalmist continues: He pardons all your (our) iniquities, heals all your (our) ills, redeems your (our) life from destruction, crowns you (us) with kindness and compassion. What wonderful, consoling promises of our loving God!
The ability to forgive begins with our understanding and belief in the limitless mercy and love of God. Furthermore, the church teaches that the baptized, having experienced this mercy and forgiveness through the redemption of Jesus, are expected and commanded to forgive one another. In today's reading, Sirach says: Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins, will be forgiven. Jesus instructed his disciples and us to pray: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Most of us find it easier to forgive others than to forgive ourselves. So let's consider the question: Do I need to forgive myself for something? What baggage do I need to let go of? Am I really at peace with myself? With God's help we can do it!
Also, with God's help and a team of generous, willing parishioners, we are continuing our RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) process which is now ongoing = classes year round. The RCIA involves all members of the parish community because it is the parish that we uniquely experience Church and live out our Catholic commitment. We ask for your prayers, your support and the continuous witness of your faith as we work with a wonderful group of interested inquirers and candidates. May the Holy Spirit guide and inspire us all!!
Sister JoAn Schullian, Pastoral Associate
Having gone back to St. Meinrad's Seminary this summer for my class's 25th ordination anniversary, I ran across this advice from a homiletics professor to a class of seminarians: "When you speak of heaven, let your face light up with a heavenly glow. Let your eyes reflect your faith! When you speak of hell...well, then your every day face will do."
Father Murphy
"Signing on the dotted line" always brings a note of finality. It suggests a decision has been reached, a point of commitment. I have signed contracts in the name of parishes. Actions which are relatively easier than the times I sign agreements affecting the flow of personal finances or use of personal time and energy.
Sometimes we find it less difficult to sign on the line; sometimes more difficult. What level of commitment is asked. What length of time. What level of schedule adjustment required to meet obligations which follow signing. Such factors caution against stretching oneself beyond what is reasonable. Still, there is value in making commitments to extend ourselves in service to others as a witness of our commitment to serve God. The principles of stewardship guide and measure appropriate use of God-gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
Levels of commitment follow generosity in saying "yes!," in saying 'I will!" Times for commitment too. When parents request Baptism for an infant, they make a decision and a commitment to "raise the child in the practice of the faith." At some point, the person who receives the Sacrament of Baptism must make that decision their own by choosing to live a committed, personal response to God's call. We must see clearly that any general commitment of service is expressed best in daily actions and attitude. When and where we are short sighted and fail, we can seek renewal with God's grace. When and where we have the insight to see the Lord at work in us and others, we are strengthened in commitments we share.
I've been thinking about...
Take a long, hard look at the word of Sacred Scripture this weekend:
Paul says: Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's (Rom 14:8).
So then, since we are the Lord's, we make the words of Jesus our own: I say to you [you must forgive] not seven times but seventy-seven times
(Mt 18:22).
And then the words of Sirach are understood in context: Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, you own sins will be forgiven (Sir 28:2).
These ideas bring to mind some other passages from the Gospels; for example, Jesus says, If you forgive the faults of others, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours. If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you (Mt 6:14-15) and When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your faults (Mk 11:26).
Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets and to announce the Good News of the reign of God. To do so he had to change the interpretation and application of some of the Old Testament doctrines. One of them had to deal with reconciiation and the restoration of peace.
The hallmark of Christian faith and morals is replacing vengeance, getting even, grudges, recrimination, vendettas, vindictive behavior (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) with forgiveness.
The litmus test for being a follower of Jesus is to see how a person imitates the sacrifice of the cross and the Eucharist and incorporates the preaching of Jesus by demonstrating a life-style (not an occasional event) of forgiveness.
No hurt is too big or too small to be forgiven. Yet, we live in a world, in a society, in a neighborhood, in a parish community, in a school family where forgiveness is in short supply. Perhaps we don't get the message of Jesus. Perhaps we don't want to listen to him. Perhaps we don't take him seriously. Many people, I fear, will have a rude awakening when they stand before the throne of God and find out that their lack of forgiveness has kept them from the Kingdom.
Prejudices, shunning, rash judgments, unbridled criticism, spiteful activity, angry outbursts, etc., all can be signs of this lack of forgiveness. How are you following the mandate of Jesus to forgive?
Father Benet OFM
As the new evangelization unfolds, it must include a special emphasis on the family and the renewal of Christian marriage. In their primary mission of communicating love to each other, of being co-creators with God of human life, and of transmitting the love of God to their children, parents must know that they are fully supported by the Church and by society. The new evangelization must bring a fuller appreciation of the family as the primary and most vital foundation of society, the first school of social virtue and solidarity (Cf. Familaris Consortio, 42). As the family goes, so goes the nation!
The new evangelization must also bring our the truth that the Gospel of God's love for man, the Gospel of the dignity of the person and the Gospel of life are a single and indivisible Gospel (Evangelium Vitae, 2). As believers, how can we fail to see that abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are a terrible rejection of God's gift of life and love? And as believers, how can we fail to feel the duty to surround the sick and those in distress with the warmth of our affection and the support that will help them always to embrace life?
The new evangelization call for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro- life: who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in ever situation. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform (Cf. Evangelium Vitae, 77). I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary.
As the new millennium approaches, there remains another great challenge facing this community of St. Louis, east and west of the Mississippi, and not St. Louis alone, but the whole country, to put an end to every form of racism, a plague which your Bishops have called one of the most persistent and destructive evils of the nation.
Pope John Paul II
