Fr. Rick Spicer

In today’s Gospel, we hear of two very unfortunate incidents that are brought to Jesus’ attention. First, Roman soldiers killed some Jews who were offering sacrifices in the temple and then mixed their blood with the blood of animals the priests offered to God. The second incident involved 18 people who died when a building collapsed on them. The talk of the town was that God was punishing the victims for sins they had committed.

Because pain and awareness of death became a part of life when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, many people in Jesus’ day thought there was a cause and effect relationship between sin and suffering, believing sickness and death were God’s punishment for sin. This conclusion sounds logical but Jesus quickly rejects it.

In the story of Adam and Eve, pain became part of life not as a punishment for sin but as a consequence of their wrong doing. The difference between punishment and consequence is crucial if we are to understand this gospel passage.  Perhaps this story can illustrate the difference.

Driving his new luxury automobile, a drunken driver speeds down the street at 80 mph, fails to stop at a red light and runs into a power pole as he swerves to avoid a pedestrian. The alcoholic suffers a broken leg and totals his new car. A judge suspends his license and orders him to pay a $500 fine. The broken leg and the totaled car are consequences of this drunken driver’s actions but the fine and loss of his license are the punishments. Consequences naturally flow from an action while punishments are imposed by someone else.

Likewise, we can say that suffering and death flow from living in a sinful world. They are not punishments from God for something we did.  Thus, God was not punishing the victims of the two tragedies because of a particular sin they committed.

When my mother died, some people attempted to comfort me with the line that her death was God’s will. I came to realize that her untimely death was a consequence of poor choices she made that impaired her health, but not a punishment from God.  We believe that God knows everything, but since we have free will, a requisite if we are to freely love, God cannot decide the manner or the time of our death.  For the victims of any disaster, I can hardly believe that a loving God would want people to suffer such a fate.  Death strikes them unexpectedly because people choose to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

None of us can predict our future. That death can happen unexpectedly is rarely considered by most of us but it could happen.  Don’t dismiss the possibility that you might die as suddenly as the many victims of the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti did.  If death were to greet you so unexpectedly, would you be ready?

That is the caution Jesus airs, not once, but twice while reflecting on the tragedies brought to his attention. His concern isn’t the fate or judgment of the victims but of the living.  Many of his listeners, he fears, have the mindset that the absence of misfortune in their lives implies that they are living virtuous lives pleasing to God.  Instead of commending them, Jesus warns, “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

The examples which Luke uses of people dying in unexpected ways are are a sobering reminder that our time to respond to Jesus’ warning is limited.  In his letter, Paul cautions that not all the Israelites made it to the land of milk and honey. Instead, they “were struck down in the desert.”  We too are on a pilgrimage to the Promised Land, that place we call heaven, but unless we acknowledge our sins and repent, we too may fall short of our desired destination.

The bottom line is this: where we spend eternity depends on our response to Jesus’ call to repentance. The most obvious advice I can offer is for you to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation during this season of Lent. But there is more to reconciliation than a sacramental encounter with a confessor. Reconciliation also means setting ourselves right in our relationships with others as well as God.

The fig tree’s failure to produce fruit brings to mind something else. Jesus’ call to repentance is not merely a call to turn away from evil but also a plea to produce the fruits of good living. In other words, is our love of God evident in our treatment of others? To answer that question, begin at home and consider how you treat your spouse, your parents, your children, and your siblings. It is easy to take members of our family for granted and forget that they are individuals who deserve our respect.

Outside of the family circle, there are so many ways of showing love in the community.  We can meet God by caring for the poor, the sick, the lonely and the elderly. Just think, we have received in our lifetimes a tremendous amount from others, but how concerned are we about giving something in return? How appreciative, how respectful, how loving are we toward others in our lives? Are we takers and not givers? The warning about the unfruitful fig tree is not given to frighten us but to remind us that our time for doing good is limited. We can’t keep putting off good works indefinitely for someday, there will be no tomorrow for us to get our act together.

Lent is an opportunity for taking a hard look at our lives and asking how we stand before God right now. If we have placed spiritual things on the back burner, then we have forgotten the real purpose of why God gave us life. Like the fig tree, we are expected to produce good fruit. It isn’t too late to change our ways, but someday it will be.

There is an old Jewish tale about how two men dealt with the reality of temptation in their lives. Moshe, the drunk, and Fishel, the guzzler, were in a repentant mood when they swore never again to touch a drop so long as they lived. They shook hands on this oath and started home. Soon, they came upon the village tavern. Things were obviously merry in there. Bits of songs floated through the open windows.

“Sounds like a good time,” sighed Moshe, “My old weakness is drawing me.” “I thought we agreed never to set foot in there again,” Fishel replied. Moshe nodded, then suggested that they should close their eyes and run like crazy past the tavern. After awhile they stopped running and opened their eyes. They were past the tavern.

“Nobody is going to say that we are weaklings,” declared Fishel, the guzzler. “With our strong wills, we can overcome every temptation!” Then Moshe responded, “How about going back to the tavern and offering a thanksgiving over a glass of beer?”

On the first Sunday of Lent, we always hear about the three temptations of Jesus. Temptations are very much a part of being human. As this gospel relates, even Jesus was tempted. At times, they can be so seductive, luring even the most saintly among us into sin. When they surface, do we allow them to control us or do we control them, as Jesus did?

In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask our Father to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I cannot imagine that God would ever lead us into temptation. What we are really asking for, according to the Catechism, is “Do not let us yield to temptation but save us from the evil one!”

We think of temptation as that slippery slope into sin, but in biblical times, temptation was seen as a time of testing, a time to choose between being faithful to God or not. In the gospel, we find Jesus passing the test with flying colors.

Because of our freedom to make choices throughout the day, each one of us is put to the test daily. Perhaps they are not as dramatic as the three we find in the gospel, but then our resistance to Satan is not as strong either.

Jesus’ experience in the desert hits home with every one of us. His temptations correspond to three basic needs we each have: the need for pleasure, the need for power, and the need for security. Sometimes, we go about trying to meet these needs in the wrong way or in the wrong place, which can get us into trouble and result in much suffering.

For example, in our quest for pleasure, some of us neglect our inner life. We are busy people, too busy as the saying goes, to slow down and smell the roses. Working overtime to earn the money, we spend too little time nurturing our relationships with God and those close to us. Look back on the past week. Did you spend any quality time with those whom you love?

Another temptation comes to mind that may strike you as odd, and that is the temptation to hold on to emotional baggage, viewing this as a form of power and control over others. We cling to memories that color the way we relate to others which in turn can lead to broken relationships. We ask God to forgive us, yet we are reluctant to forgive others and let go of the hurt, the guilt, the damage that arises from moments of conflict. What do we gain when we are tempted to hold on to our grudges?

A woman hired a professional mover to pack her things. When he asked what she wanted packed, she waved her arms and said, “Everything!” Imagine her surprise when she unpacked the boxes in her new home and discovered that he had followed her directions literally. Along with her furniture and other worldly goods, he had packed her trash bins. “There I was in my beautiful new place with all my garbage, including old newspapers, tin cans,  and banana peels!”

What emotional and spiritual garbage are you carrying around as we venture into Lent? Lent is an ideal time to hand our hurts, betrayals, sins and guilt over to God through the sacrament of reconciliation and allow ourselves to experience affection and esteem again along with God’s divine mercy.

How often are we tempted to think that we are different from others? “I am not like those people,” we claim, acting like the alcoholic who judges others in attendance an AA meeting. Let’s not kid ourselves. We can easily dupe ourselves into believing that we are not sinners, but sin is part of our human nature.  We have our desert full of trials, packaged just for us by the devil who knows our weaknesses and which temptations we have the hardest time resisting.  He tempts us to serve our own needs at the expense of others. Like Moshe and Fishel, we sometimes close our eyes to how sinful some of our choices really are.

Temptation can be compared to the permanent but unwanted guest at our dinner table. When we find ourselves being tempted, remember that Jesus is also a guest at that same table, so we need never face our temptations alone. Paul assures us, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Jesus reminded the devil that the heart of righteousness is commitment to God, not the performance of marvelous deeds. Like Jesus, we must make the ultimate decision to serve God and others as readily as we would serve ourselves. When we resist the temptations to do otherwise, then we know that we are passing the test with flying colors!

Buried in the fourth Eucharistic prayer is a line, “To the poor, he proclaimed the good news of salvation.” Years ago, a pastor for whom I worked received a letter from someone protesting, “Are you saying that those of us who are not poor aren’t saved?” Had the anonymous author given me a chance to respond, I would have replied, “That’s right!” I would have then cited today’s gospel in which we heard Jesus say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.”  To reinforce his point, Jesus then adds, “But woe to you, who are rich, for you have received your consolation!”

Does this mean that we have to be dirt poor to get into heaven? I doubt God is rejecting those who are financially secure so what gives? In our culture, we think of the poor as having very little. What they have is often in shoddy condition, well used, worn out, ragged, rusty, and ready for the land fill. Jesus doesn’t want his followers literally live in poverty, so what is he getting at with this beatitude and those that follow?

A good starting point would be to understand that to Jesus and the people who first listened to him, being poor meant more than the lack of money. Anyone who was poor also lacked influence and power. Being poor meant being helpless, consequently, many who were poor put their trust in God. The poor know that they cannot depend on the things of this world for lasting happiness. Jesus calls them blessed for they are open to hearing the good news of salvation.

A better way to understand what Jesus is getting across would be, “Blessed are they who realize that they cannot depend on the things of this world for lasting happiness, thus they put their trust in God.” Their dependence on God drives them to say, “Nothing will ever take precedence over Christ in my life.” Can you say that?

For some people that statement does not ring true. They see little need to be dependent on God. Instead, they seek to be in control of what is going on in their lives. When we are taking care of our own needs, we may not realize our dependence on God. I’ll never forget a story that illustrates this point.

A group of eminent scientists got together and decided that man no longer needed God, so they picked a scientist to tell God that they were done with him. The scientist walked up to God and said, “God, we’ve decided that we no longer need you. We’re to the point now that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don’t you just retire?”

God listened patiently to the scientist and then said, “Very well, but before I do, let’s have a man-making contest.” The scientist agreed. Then God added, “Now, we’re going to do this just like I did back in the beginning with Adam.”  The scientist said, “Sure, no problem,” as he bent down to grab a handful of dirt. God looked down at him and said, “Excuse me, get your own dirt!”

When we are in need, our attitude is gratitude. We are not in need, we risk forgetting what it is like to be dependent. The bottom line is this: we are all dependent on God. Without God, we wouldn’t even be alive. All that we have comes from God. We may think that we can earn our happiness with our own sweat, blood and tears or that we can create whatever we need to be content but without God, there is nothing in the world that can give us lasting joy, much less life.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta often said that Christians in the west suffered from a much deeper and pathetic poverty than those whom she and her sisters served in the slums of Calcutta. “The spiritual poverty of the West is much greater than the economic poverty of the East. In the West, there are millions of people who suffer loneliness and emptiness, who feel unloved and unwanted. They are not hungry in the physical sense; what is missing is a relationship with God and with each other.”

I just read a line from another anonymous author, “What makes us discontented with our condition is the absurdly exaggerated idea we have of the happiness of others.” How often do you find yourself comparing your situation to that of others, striving to keep up with the Jones and not feeling satisfied until you surpass them only to discover that no matter how much you have, you still feel that something is missing?

To sum up the readings, what makes one blessed isn’t abject poverty or hunger or sadness but commitment to the Son of Man. Jesus cautions us that either we live for the kingdom and die to our superficial wants or we live for ourselves and lose the kingdom of God. The choice is ours.

Lent begins soon; many of us will endeavor to spend more time with God as we prepare for Easter. Lent is an ideal time for us to step back from the hustle and bustle of our daily routines and evaluate our values from Jesus’ point of view.

His wisdom has withstood the test of time yet there are many in our community who hesitate to really follow his advice.  You likely know some of them: they are preoccupied with worldly pursuits instead of spiritual pursuits. Should they mention to you that something is missing from their lives, that they aren’t truly satisfied or happy, encourage them reconsider making time for God as we journey toward Easter. Invite them to reflect on one of my favorite lines from Robert Frost’s poetry.  “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”  Come Easter, may we all see that making time for God in our lives makes all the difference.

Pink slips and “Dear John” letters have one thing in common: they send a message of rejection. Countless authors have received pink slips for their manuscripts. So have many young men and women from the flames of their hearts. Perhaps I would not be standing here if I hadn’t received such a letter 42 years ago from a young woman named Luz Maria. In the gospel scene, Jesus is the one who is being rejected, just as he expected to be. No prophet, he observes, is accepted in his native place. So long as Jesus announced glad tidings, he was welcomed but the moment his tune shifted, his listeners were filled with fury.

Their reaction seems so outrageous. Why did they shift from a warm welcome to the “urge to kill” so quickly? To understand their reaction, consider this ancient Greek tale about the farmer who had a “perfect” wheat field. Everyone admired it because every stalk was exactly the same height. When asked how he achieved it, he explained, “If a grain sticks its head above the others, I cut it off!”

The folks in Nazareth acted much the same way. For thirty years they had known Jesus as the “son of Joseph.” All that time, he had blended in with the neighborhood. Now as a wandering preacher, he stood out like that overgrown shaft of wheat. What he had to say wasn’t what they expected or wanted to hear.

Identifying himself as the anointed one of God didn’t ruffle their feathers. What irked them was learning that God’s mercy and concern would now be extended to all peoples, not just the Israelites. By mentioning the widow in the land of Sidon and Naaman the Syrian, Jesus in effect was pointing out that all peoples are dear to God and are to benefit from his ministry.

Before we pass judgment on the people in the synagogue for overreacting, consider your reaction to God’s truth. Are we just as blind and narrow-minded to what God has to say at times? Jesus speaks hard sayings. There’s no denying that. Like the people in Nazareth, not all of us always want to hear, much less accept what Jesus has to say through the teachings of our Catholic faith. We act like the patient whose doctor felt he had to be told the truth about his condition. “You are a very sick man. You probably won’t live more than a couple of weeks at most. You should settle your affairs. Is there anyone you want me to call?” “Yes,” replied the patient, “another doctor!”

When we don’t like what we’re told, we are quick to get another opinion. As Paul notes, “When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, think as a child, reason as a child.” How often did we ask one parent for what we wanted if the other parent didn’t give us the answer we wanted to hear?

When given a truth they don’t like, some people will look for another “prophet” who will tell them what they want to hear. Many leave the church to find another one that tells them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.

Three traits in our culture impede people from accepting the divine truth. The most apparent is secularism, which doesn’t actually deny the existence of God. It conveys the message that God is irrelevant. Think of those you know who no longer practice their faith. How important is God to them?

Then there is relativism, the flawed notion that you have your truth and I have mine. This amounts to saying one opinion is just as good as another. In the name of tolerance, absolute truth is ignored or overlooked. Many opinions, especially judicial opinions, are regarded as being morally right when in fact they are not. The latest trend has been judgments rendered by some courts defining same sex unions as marriages.

Some argue that our society is mired in confusion because many choose to listen to politicians instead of prophets. A politician’s success often depends, not on what he or she truly believes but on saying what they perceive people want to hear. A prophet’s success, on the other hand, is measured by saying what people need to hear. Consequently, prophets often rub people the wrong way, just as Jesus did in his first homily.

As Catholics, we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but are we willing to listen to and accept the truth that he offers us? That means realizing that truth isn’t to be found in opinion polls but in the teachings of our faith which are rooted in the word of God. That could also means experiencing the discomfort that comes from literally standing alone at times on a certain principle. How often, for example, have you found yourself in the midst of a conversation that has become coarse or uncharitable? Did you have the courage to walk away or confront the speaker?

We are not all expected to professionally evangelize the good news, standing on street corners thumping on the Bible, but we ought to be committed to living our Catholic faith and that could make us prophets. Clearly, Jesus did not flow with the current of his times nor does he today. He spoke the divine truth, knowing that he would rarely be politically correct. He had no choice for promoting the truth is the prophet’s mission in this world. By virtue of our baptism, that is our mission as well.

This Lent, there will be ads on TV inviting anyone who has left the faith to come home. Perhaps, they may ask you questions.  If so, simply answer their questions as best you can and if you don’t know the answer, invite them to see me or a member of our evangelization team listed on the flyer in last week’s bulletin. What you say and do could be what it takes to bring someone home to the Church, allowing Jesus to cheer as he tears up one of the many rejection letters in his collection.  

Most greeting cards convey trite messages but once in awhile we receive gems that are never forgotten. When I graduated from the seminary 25 years ago, a close friend sent me a card of congratulations I will not forget. The front featured a monk busily writing on a long scroll. He pauses to comment, “Your graduation should be listed amongst the sacred events in the Bible.” Inside, the message continues, “…along with the other miracles!”

So true! For me, graduation was a miracle. After five years of study, I finally had my degree in hand, unlike many of my peers who had dropped out.  We tend to think of miracles as magical, unnatural acts; events beyond our wildest expectations. If my hearing was suddenly restored, that would be a miracle.

Imagine what the reaction would be if anyone today could turn water into wine. Undoubtedly, that would be a major news story that would catch the attention of many curious reporters who would ask, “How did you make this happen?”  I could picture those reporters also asking, “Can you change my worn out $10 bill into a newly printed $100 bill? Can you change my badly dented Ford into a brand new Lexus SUV?” Maybe an illusionist like David Copperfield could pull off such a stunt.

Bent on getting a sensational story, the typical reporter would be apt to miss the whole point of what a miracle is really about. Jesus used miracles to show everyone around him the fullest beauty and expression of God’s love.

John did not even call these events miracles. Through out his gospel, he records seven such incidents, calling them signs. These events were used to reveal Jesus’ true identity to his followers. They pointed to the hour in which Jesus’ divine glory would be revealed, namely his passion, resurrection and the eternal banquet.

The incident at Cana is a very fitting start to Jesus’ public ministry. Unlike other celebrations, a wedding feast denotes the start of new life and the anticipation of many life miracles for the groom and his bride.  Likewise, John provides us with this sign to convey that Jesus and his bride, the Church, have the potential, like any newlyweds do, to change the lives of many.

Miracles bring about change when and where we least expect. Years ago, I saw a movie entitled, A Soldier’s Story. The film was about a black captain in the army during WWII who was sent to a small Louisiana town to investigate the death of a black sergeant. Even though he was a lawyer, this captain, because of his race, encountered much skepticism from the white officers. In the end, he brought immense credibility to his mission of justice. In the closing scene, one white captain offers him a ride to his destination. While driving, he asked, “I guess I have to get used to black officers now?” The reply was predictable. “Guess you have to get used to black officers now.”

I consider the film to be a good example of a miracle because the story portrayed a miracle of accomplishment, a miracle of recognition, a miracle of respect and a miracle of admiration.  Miracles should not be seen only as events that defy the laws of nature but also as unexpected events that happened because someone believed that with God’s grace they could happen.

On Monday, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy as a man who believed in miracles. In 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he expressed his conviction in miracles when he said, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed; we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!”

Contrast the racial attitudes of today with the tensions this country experienced in the mid sixties when Dr. King shared his dream. Did anyone listening to him that day envision that an African-American child born in Hawaii would today be president of this country? Wouldn’t you consider the change in our racial attitudes to be a miracle? I do, even though we as a society still have a long ways to go before we can honestly claim to be living out fully the true meaning of our nation’s creed, namely that everyone from the unborn to the terminally ill is endowed with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of hapness.

The miracles we witness occur because some people believe in themselves, their potential to make a difference, and the divine providence to move forward with their dream.  They recognize that the gifts given them by the Holy Spirit aren’t meant to be kept under wraps but are to be used for building up God’s kingdom.

Unfortunately, many do not believe in the power or reality of miracles. Thus, talents and gifts are ignored or overlooked because they are not seen as the origins of miracles. Age and wisdom are dismissed because they too are not seen as sources of miracles. The ability to alter, to adapt, to amend, to change is not taken seriously. When that becomes our personal creed, then miracles cease to exist for miracles cannot happen unless we dare to believe in them, in God, and in ourselves to create the new life for ourselves and others that only miracles can create.

The challenge posed by these readings is to become more sensitive to the many signs of God’s power and glory. Imagine how our world would change if each one of us took hold of even one of the many gifts we have been given by the Spirit and transformed our lives in the coming year, like water into good wine to be shared with others.  How miraculous that would be!