2019

It is no secret that we live in a materialistic culture. For some people, the pursuit of wealth and possessions has become their religion. Many scripture passages including those we just heard have wise things to say about money and possessions, advising us that we shouldn’t make them into a god. Since life is fragile, these readings caution that we need to sort out what really matters before it is too late, mindful that our greatest need is God. The marquee outside a church once warned those passing by, “Don’t wait for the hearse to take you to church.” Many who are preoccupied with worldly pursuits find little time for God in their daily lives and will often ignore that advice. Someday a hearse may bring them to church one last time but as the late evangelist Billy Graham once said, “You will never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer.” When a very wealthy man in town died, a local news reporter asked the rich man’s pastor, “How much did he leave?” The pastor replied, “He left it all!”In ancient Egypt, the pharaohs thought they could take it with them. King Tut had quite a hoard buried with him, which I viewed in Cairo years ago. Imagine God saying to you, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” They certainly won’t belong to you once you take your last breath. Greed, one of the seven deadly sins, has always been a temptation for many people, blinding them from what really matters. In the past few decades two of the fastest growing industries in our country have been home security systems and self-storage units. What does that say about our culture? How might Jesus adapt this parable if he told his gospel parable to us today? Greed can take on the form of accumulating anything unnecessary, blinding us from appreciating what really matters in life. Jesus cautions “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” Because we tend to buy more than we need or can even use, clutter has taken over our lives, duping us into a sense of false security. Growing up as an army brat, I never lived in one place more than three years until I became a pastor. Now that I have been in one place so long, I have become like that rich man. I don’t have barns full of grains but I have other goods as a consequence of being a packrat. If clutter is taking over your life, if your many possessions possess you, you need a touch of “Kondo magic.” Marie Kondo is a Japanese expert in the science of — no kidding — tidying up. She has written four best-selling books, including The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Her name has become a verb among her millions of fans around the world: “I Kondo-ed everything” means you have purged your house and home of every non-essential thing cluttering up your life. Marie Kondo’s approach to keeping and disposing of possessions center on three principles: First, she advises that you pick up each item you own and ask yourself if that thing “sparks joy.” It takes time and thoughtfulness, but asking that question of every possession can be liberating. If done correctly, you find yourself living happier with less. Second, Ms. Kondo points out that the hardest things to get rid of are the things that make you feel guilty. An example: that expensive dress you bought five years ago and wore only once because it made you feel dumpy, or the ugly but expensive knickknack given to you by a close relative or friend. Let it go — to some charity or local thrift shop like Good Cheer that can see that it’s put to good use. And, third, Ms. Kondo writes, “If you’re having a hard time getting rid of something, thank the item for the role it has already played in your life.” For example, say, Thank you for giving me joy when I bought you or Thank you for teaching me what doesn’t suit me. Then you’re free to let it go. It may all sound ridiculous, but her charming insane tips can bring great peace of mind. You approach what you own as the means to joy and not joy in themselves; in new ways, you realize how blessed you have been in what you have. Marie Kondo’s quirky approach to de-cluttering, like the parable of the rich man’s barns, challenges us to look at all the “stuff” we possess and to realize the real valuables in our lives. Often something’s true worth has nothing to do with its monetary value or the momentary pleasure it gives us. Its value is in the memories it preserves, in the time it saves us for more important and joyful pursuits, in its enabling us to experience the selfless and affirming love of God in the good we are able to do for family and friends. Jesus calls us to take inventory of our lives and the things that “clutter” them and refocus our attention on the things of God: compassion, love, mercy, forgiveness, and consolation. Certainly we will likely have possessions as long as we live and we will leave them behind as well as the people we know and the wisdom we have accumulated, but notice that Jesus tells us throughout the Gospel of Luke of the dangers of wealth for our eternal life. The proper use of our goods, for ourselves and for others, indicates that we must have the right orientation, namely generosity towards others and toward God. It is only when we are rich toward God that we can say to our souls: “Relax, all is in order.”

St. Benedict, best known as the founder of monasticism, was riding horseback one day from one monastery to the next. He passed a beggar, who snarled, “If I had a horse, I could pray too!” St. Benedict smiled and replied, “Friend, if you can pray the Lord’s Prayer without getting distracted, I will give you this horse.” The beggar jumped right in, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…does the saddle come with it?” 

Isn’t that what we often have in mind when we say this awesome prayer? What’s in it for me? Yet there is so much more to this well known prayer than we give credence to.

As we just heard, when Jesus had finished praying, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus then teaches them what has become the most widely said prayer by Christians ever since.

The Lord’s Prayer has always been at the very heart of Christian prayer. Notice that Luke’s version of this prayer is more concise than the one we commonly say that is found in Matthew’s gospel, but it maintains much the same reverence for God’s holiness and offers petitions for establishing God’s kingdom, our daily needs, and the forgiveness of our sins, as well as our forgiveness of others and the ability to withstand the trials of evil.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church outlines five different forms of prayer: prayer of blessing and adoration, prayer of petition, prayer of thanksgiving, prayer of praise, and prayer of intercession. When you stop to consider its richness, instead of hurrying through it, as we often do, you can notice all five forms of prayer are included in the Lord’s Prayer. Still, how much thought do you give to what you are saying?

Notice as you say this prayer that you cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer, and ever once say “I.” You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer and ever once say, “My.” Nor can you pray the Lord’s Prayer, and not pray for another; for when you ask for daily bread, you must include your brother. For others are included in each and every plea: from the beginning to the end, it does not once say “Me.”

That beautiful prayer does contain some troublesome lines. One is, “they will be done.” They are perhaps the most dangerous words we can say. Have you ever given much thought to what that line really means? What if we were to pray, “Thy justice come,” “Thy peace come,” “Thy mercy come,” “Thy politics come,” “Thy economics come”? In fact, we are praying exactly for all of them and more.

We are praying and hoping for God’s kingdom to become a reality: a kingdom that knows neither border nor enemy; a kingdom that exalts humility and compassion over celebrity and wealth; a kingdom that treasures the poor and the sick; a kingdom that is ruled by love of God, where compassion is the measure of all things. In such a kingdom, there would not be refugees fleeing to find a better life for themselves only to then be treated as common criminals. Compassion would compel us to find more humane ways to treat them.

Whenever we say this prayer, we are promising to be conspirators with God in creating his kingdom here and now. So often we envision God’s kingdom as only being in heaven, but his kingdom is to be experienced in our lifetime in this place here and now as well and it can be if we did our part. It’s hard to keep religion personal and private if that is our prayer. We would be justified in skipping this part of the Lord’s Prayer, being very uneasy at that point. Of course, if we ignore that line, then we have only ourselves to blame for the morass our world is in.

The kingdom God envisions doesn’t quite mesh with the kingdom many of us are building. But keep in mind that it’s not our prayer. It’s Jesus’ prayer; the one he taught us to say by heart and to mean what we say. It is Jesus who puts all our loyalties, all our hopes, all our loves on the table, makes us look at them, then makes us pray those dangerous words, “thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Thy will be done, not ours, in our homes, in our offices, in our work places, in our classrooms. We pray that God’s will be done in every moment of our lives as it will be done in heaven. When you stop to think about its message, this prayer is not so much asking God to do what we want but reminding ourselves of what God is asking us to do. Are we willing to make God’s will a reality in our lives?

Prayer worthy of God’s attention seeks the grace to be ready and willing to make God’s will a reality through acts of forgiveness, charity, and justice. Forgiveness brings to mind another troublesome line for many. Oftentimes as a penance, I suggest that penitents say the Lord’s Prayer thoughtfully and then ask themselves two questions. We make the plea, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” yet how often are we willing to practice the art of forgiveness? I invite them to ponder, “Who do I still need to forgive and whose forgiveness do I need for what I have said or done or failed to do?” I then suggest that if any names come to mind to then ask God for the grace to forgive that person or to give that person the grace to forgive them. To quote St Thomas More, “O God, give us the grace to work for the things we pray for.” 

 

Last Thursday our country with much fanfare once again celebrated its independence. As most of us learned in history, the Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776 to sign the Declaration of Independence, a document that eloquently expressed the deepest convictions of a young aspiring nation.

Back in high school, one teacher had my class memorize its opening lines. “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

For 243 years, possessing such rights have been the American dream and for most of her residents, that dream has been fulfilled. Working together in good times and in bad, the people of this nation have survived wars, scandals, and depressions, seeing their country grow even stronger.

Unfortunately, the dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was not realized by everyone. Prejudice and bigotry have always colored our nation’s history. When Thomas Jefferson wrote “all men,” he wasn’t being inclusive. The notion that a slave would have any such rights was unthinkable to many colonists back then. Such attitudes eventually precipitated a civil war that nearly destroyed our nation. The Civil War should serve as a sobering reminder that no nation dare take its nationhood for granted no matter how long it has existed.

Consider ancient Rome, the greatest empire in the western world when Jesus sent forth his disciples to preach the Good News. It lasted much longer than 243 years. Despite its wealth and dominance in ancient times, Rome eventually fell, because its citizens lost sight of what really mattered.

In his classic study of ancient Rome, Edward Gibbons gave five reasons why this happened. 1. The significant increase in divorce, which as we know today by our own experience, destroys many homes. 2. An increase in taxes to fund a bigger military than was needed and to build arenas for the sake of entertaining the general public. 3. The craze for pleasure, especially brutal sports. The movie,Gladiators, which came out in 2000, showed how the crowds delighted in witnessing the needless slaughter of men. 4. Increased military spending even though Rome’s real enemy was not foreign. 5. Last but not least, the decline in religion in Roman society and in the home even though by then Rome was a Christian nation. I find Gibbon’s diagnosis haunting for he seems to be describing the American scene today.

Inherent in our pursuit of happiness is a deeply rooted yearning for peace. Jesus senses that need and often spoke of giving us his gift of peace. In the gospel he instructed the disciples to begin their ministry on that note, “Peace to this household. If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him.” What does it take for us to find this peace?

The simplest answer would be placing God first in our lives. That advice is implicit in our nation’s motto, “In God we trust.” The peace we yearn for cannot be achieved through self-centered pursuits that result in broken homes or shattered lives, uncontrolled addictions that destroy a person’s dignity, or overindulgence of any kind at the expense of caring for those struggling to survive.  When we place God first, we will discover the emptiness of our worldly notions for pursuing happiness and learn that true happiness and God go hand in hand.

Like the 72 in today’s gospel Jesus appoints every disciple of every time and place, and that includes you and me, to go before him to bring peace into the lives of others. Wherever we go and whatever we do, we have the responsibility and the ability to proclaim the presence of Christ in our midst.

We herald God’s kingdom and conquer evil when we make moral and Christian decisions in our homes, at work and in our daily lives. Be a herald of the gospel that says, “Treat one another with fairness and respect as you also wish to be treated.” Would you, for example, care to be treated in the same way that families fleeing the insurrection in Central America are being treated along our borders?

We are heralds of God’s kingdom and conquerors of evil when we strive to treat each one, especially those in the family, with respect and love. It is easy to fall into habit of speaking ill of one another but such negativity destroys relationships and lives instead of bringing about peace.

We have been called to be heralds of God’s kingdom in our nation as well. When we go forth from here, we can continue the work of the seventy-two to be messengers of God’s reign of peace, compassion and reconciliation.

A country’s greatness is seen in the way it treats its poorest members, not just those who are destitute but also those who are totally dependent and vulnerable from the unborn to those afflicted by dementia and other disabling illnesses to those who are incarcerated or homeless. By actively reaching out to the less fortunate who seek as we do to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we bring a new way of life to our land. Only then can we hope that the American dream will never fade.

In the gospel, we witness a perplexing exchange between Jesus and several would-be disciples. Each person gave an excuse for not following Jesus then and there. To one, Jesus replied, “Let the dead bury the dead.” To another he said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Obviously, Jesus doesn’t want us to neglect our families or leave our dead unburied. His strong Jewish formation would have impressed a better sense of values on him. So what gives? Scripture scholars tell us that Jesus’ comments are deliberate exaggerations used to drive home a point. This tool of good rhetoric is known as hyperbole and Jesus was masterful at using them to get his point across, in this case, the urgency of making real the Kingdom of God here and now. We mustn’t delay in making that happen.

To us modern day listeners, such language may still seem confusing but simply put, half-hearted disciples don’t bring about the Kingdom of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian, noted in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a person, he bids him to come and die.” In this book, he demonstrated that following Jesus is costly and discipleship, lived fully, would indeed cost him his life.

Bonhoeffer’s own religious convictions led him to stand up to the tyranny of Nazi Germany. Implicated in a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was sent to a concentration camp in Bavaria. The ultimate cost of discipleship was demanded of him; on April 9, 1945, he was hanged. Dietrich Bonhoeffer died for the Christian beliefs that formed his life; he was a martyr who never counted the cost.

While discipleship might force some people to decide between life or death, few of us will be asked to pay that ultimate price, but we are still expected to live in a certain way. Being Christian calls us to the fullness of discipleship, so like Bonhoeffer, we cannot count the cost.

The readings today demonstrate the cost of discipleship. Elijah left his parents. Potential disciples of Jesus were told that they too would have to leave family responsibilities behind. In a society based on kinship ties, family or tribal responsibilities are most important. Only for grave reason did one set them aside. Thus Luke is conveying the message that commitment to serving God should supersede all other valid commitments in our lives.

Obviously, not every call to follow Jesus requires leaving one’s family. For many people, it is precisely within the family that discipleship best expresses itself. Parents are expected to commit themselves wholeheartedly to their children, and adult children often find themselves in similar situations with their aging parents.  The message being conveyed is that regardless of our call in life, discipleship requires an unselfish commitment to Christ.

As our life journey continues, our commitments and our relationships change. But one thing is certain; our Christian commitment must be total. True disciples must be willing to forego their possessions, make any sacrifice, and persevere in their response to Christ. Bonhoeffer considered anything less than whole-hearted commitment to Christ to be “cheap grace.” Through baptism, God calls us to be disciples, that is, to live lives of holiness. What has been your response?  

Christian commitment is an action of the heart, not the head. We might give of our financial resources, time, and expertise, but if we do so only as an act of the head, then we will have reservations and constantly be counting the cost. However, if our actions are of the heart, then our commitment will be complete and we will experience the fullness of discipleship. If every Christian were willing to actually become fully committed disciples, the impact on society would be staggering.

In his letter, Paul provides us with some direction for living out our discipleship. He urged the early Christians, “…stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” Later he added, “…serve one another through love.” The whole law, he notes, is summed up in one statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”Love doesn’t mean never having to say you are sorry. Love means that we stop “biting and devouring one another.” Love means that we make peace in our families, at our workplaces, in our country and in our world. Love means that we live lives that are “guided by the Spirit.” Admittedly, this isn’t always easy but then Jesus never claimed that being a true disciple of his would be.

This week our nation celebrates its freedom. Unfortunately in the minds of many, freedom means doing whatever you want. If everyone did that, the outcome would be chaos, not freedom. Freedom is not giving in to every urge or impulse we experience. Instead, freedom means being free to do whatever you should to resist temptations and build the Kingdom of God.

In today’s gospel, Jesus demands a clear, unambiguous and total commitment from those who want to be his disciples. There can be no excuses like “but first…”  “in a minute,” or “on second thought.” To be fit for the kingdom, we must keep our eyes on Jesus and our ultimate destiny, eternal life. Authentic discipleship calls us to always be involved in the hard work of making the reign of God reality, regardless of the cost to us.

Today, we commemorate the fact that God, although one, is not alone because in God there are three persons. The notion of Trinity is difficult to explain and even if I used shamrocks, I would not be able to fully explain this dogma since we do not know much about God. Yet this I do know; none of us, including God, likes to be completely alone. The Trinity reminds us that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in an intimate relationship with one another and us.

We Catholics have many routine practices, and one of them is the way we begin and end our prayers. We rarely pray without making the sign of the Cross, which reminds us of the nature of God. Whether those prayers are at the start of the Mass or grace before meals, we often begin with, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Some make the sign of the cross as they enter a pew or at the holy water font, mindful that we were baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity. In the same way, we end our prayers, including the Mass, by invoking the Trinity.

Why this focus on the Holy Trinity? We make the sign of the cross as a statement of faith. Our belief in the Trinity encompasses not only our notion of God but also who we are and what we are about, made in God’s image.

What distinguished the ancient Hebrews from other ancient peoples was their belief in one God. The rest of the world looked to various gods to explain their questions about life. The Romans, the Greeks, even the ancient Babylonians had elaborate creation stories and gods for every purpose.

The ancient Hebrews were the only ones who believed in one God, a God who was spiritual, a God who was just, a God who created mankind in His image and likeness, namely the image and likeness of love. This God gave humanity the ability to return love to Him, but that meant humankind also had the ability to reject God since love cannot exist without free will. So the first aspect of the Sign of the Cross is that we believe in the God who created us and loves us, the Father.

We make the sign of the cross to affirm that the One who was crucified has saved us. We believe that God’s love for us was so intense that He became one of us while remaining One with the Father. Jesus Christ is our Savior. Without him we would still be in the grips of hatred, sin and death. When we say “He frees us from sin,” we mean that he frees us from the misery that makes life intolerable, leading us to his Presence, Peace, and Happiness.

He became one of us, Christmas. He died for us, Good Friday. He conquered death and restored eternal life for us, Easter. He ascended to the Father, but His Spirit and the Spirit of the Father, the Holy Spirit, was given to us and remains with each of us, Pentecost. Thus, by virtue of our baptism, we each have the Presence and Power of God within us. When Christians follow Jesus’ example and teaching, they make God present on earth to others.

And so we begin our prayers in the Name of the Father who loves us unconditionally, and of the Son who made this love concrete by becoming one of us, dying for us and bringing God’s forgiveness to us and of the Holy Spirit who is God dwelling within us, empowering us here and now. The sign of the cross is an affirmation of our faith; a declaration of who we are: people whom God loves, forgives and empowers.

As we grow in the knowledge that God loves us, and as we experience His Love more and more in our lives, we are transformed. We want nothing more than to spread this Love and we do that whenever we heed God’s command to love one another.

When we recognize that God forgives us, we realize that His Love is infinitely greater than our sins. Some people give up on life because they have given up on themselves. When that happens they go into a downward spin. They continue to do things that lead to spiritual disaster, convinced that God won’t forgive them but Christ came to save us from our sins. He forgives us and calls us to spread that good news to others to let them know that God will forgive them too.

The Holy Spirit gives us the power to lead others to Christ. Every one of us has a unique ability to reflect God’s love in the world. Every one of us is capable of instilling the seed of God’s love in others, making them mindful that they are not alone; that God is with them. We can lead them from a meaningless life to a life of eternal fulfillment.

And so we begin and end our prayers with a statement of who we are and what we are about. We are people who are loved, forgiven and empowered. We find our meaning in life in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

If you have ever seen the play, Godspell, you may recall one of its most famous songs was called Day by Day. The lyrics came from a prayer written by a thirteenth century Englishman, St. Richard Chichester:

“Day by day. Three things do I pray. To see thee more clearly; to love thee more dearly; to follow thee more nearly, Day by day.”