Homilies

Last week, I ran across an article on the subject of nones. Have you heard of them? They are those people who check off the box, “none,” when it comes to religious preferences. This reminded me of a parody of the Night Before Christmas, which describes those who make little time for Jesus in their lives.

‘Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house
not a creature was praying, not one in the house.
Their bibles were lain on the shelf without care,
in hopes that Jesus would not come there.

The children were dressing to crawl into bed,
not once ever kneeling or bowing a head;
And mom in her rocker with baby on her lap,
was watching the late show while I took a nap.

When out of the east there rose such a clatter,
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter;
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
threw open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The light of his face made me cover my head,
it was Jesus returning, just like he said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth,
I cried when I saw him in spite of myself.

In the Book of Life, which he held in his hand,
was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word as he searched for my name.
When he said, “It’s not here!” my head hung in shame.

The people whose names had been written with love,
He gathered to take to his Father above.
With those who were ready He rose without a sound,
while all the rest were left standing around.

I fell to my knees, but it was too late;
I waited too long and thus sealed my fate.
I stood and cried as they rose out of sight.
Oh, if only I had been ready tonight.

In the words of this poem the meaning is clear,
the coming of Jesus is drawing quite near.
There’s only one life and when the last name is called,
we’ll find that the Bible was true after all.

With great excitement many who do follow Jesus are awaiting his return. As though this news is too good to be true. Amidst the immensity of all creation, God’s son took on human flesh, became one with us, was born of a virgin who was conceived without sin, mingled in our midst, died for us, then rose from the dead. Now we await his return as the Son of Man.

Meanwhile every Advent as we await his return, we hear the same message from John the Baptist, challenging us to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.” John comes with a message of hope, telling us, “and all shall see the salvation of God.” What awesome news! This is God’s dream for all humanity to help us build a better world. God wants to save us but for that to happen, we need to heed John’s directives, so what is he asking us to do?

John is urging us to think of what we need to let go of that stands in the way between God and us. Is anything blocking you from having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ? What, if anything, is hindering you from savoring the gift of peace that God so generously offers us in the person of his son, Jesus, through the Mass, the Eucharist, the scriptures, and the tenets of our faith?

John the Baptist urges us to fill our valleys and level our mountains, not literally with bulldozers but with attention to what fosters our relationship with Christ and others. The valleys he speaks of are created by kind words never spoken, compassionate deeds left undone, bread not shared, prayers not said, neighbors not welcomed, the poor ignored, deeds and words unforgiven, or expressions of a person’s love that have gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

John challenges us to level our mountains of pride, arrogance, blind ambition, unbridled selfishness, domineering attitudes, all of which preclude us from experiencing and sharing God’s gift of love. He calls on us to smooth our rough ways of anger, impatience, intolerance, prejudice, racism, bigotry, and favoritism that leaves anyone feeling excluded. Heeding John’s call to repentance could result in some of the best Christmas presents that you and others could hope to receive.

Undoubtedly, you have a wish list of what you would like for Christmas, a thing or two that you want to add to your worldly possessions.As many Christmas carols suggest, joy is what many of us are really seeking in life, especially during this time of the year. Might joy be on your wish list? Years ago, a British theologian, Evelyn Underhill, made this observation about joy that I imagine John the Baptist would agree with. “This is the secret of joy. We shall no longer strive for our own way; but commit ourselves, easily and simply, to God’s way, acquiesce in his will and in doing so, find our peace.” To truly prepare for the coming of Christ, the Prince of Peace, accost that which prevents you from acting justly, walking humbly, and loving tenderly. Then see for yourself that Jesus is indeed quite near!

Today we celebrate Jesus Christ as king of the ages. Oddly enough, we do not encounter Jesus in a very majestic setting in this gospel passage. Instead, he appears to be on trial, but actually Pilate is the one on trial and so are we. In his last remark to Pilate, Jesus points out, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Do we?

Listening to the voice of Jesus has guided the conscience of many through out the centuries since Jesus spoke those words. One who listened was Private Joseph Schultz, a loyal, young German patrol soldier on duty in Yugoslavia shortly after Germany invaded it during WW II.

One day the sergeant called out Schultz and seven other soldiers. They thought they were going on a routine patrol, as they hitched up their rifles. Soon they came to a hill, still not knowing what their mission would be.

Eight Yugoslavs stood on the brow of that hill. Before long, the soldiers realized what their mission was. They lined up. The sergeant barked out, “Ready!” and they lifted their rifles. “Aim!” and they got their sights. Suddenly in the silence that prevailed, there was the thud of a rifle butt hitting the ground.

The sergeant and the seven other soldiers watched as Private Schultz walked toward the eight Yugoslavs. His sergeant ordered him to come back, but he pretended not to hear. Instead, he walked the fifty paces to the mound of the hill, and joined hands with the eight Yugoslavians. There was a moment of silence, then the sergeant yelled, “Fire!” And Private Schultz died, mingling his blood with those innocent men and women. Found on his body was an excerpt from St. Paul, “Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.”

As always, the gospel comes back to haunt us. Light and darkness, right and wrong, principle or compromise, Pilate or Jesus. Each day, the words of Jesus should echo in the ears of every Christian. “For this I was born and I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” That is what we are here for, isn’t it? As his followers, are we testifying to the truth?

Alas, judging by the shape the world is in, not everyone, not even every Christian, is listening to Jesus’ voice and upholding the truth. Instead, many people follow the example of Pilate, choosing instead to ignore the truth and compromise their principles. If we belong to the truth, then we would never compromise what it means to be committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Catechism of the Church tells us what we must do in good conscience. “The duty of Christians impels them to act as witnesses of the gospel and of the obligations that flow from it. Witness is an act of justice that establishes the truth or makes it known.”

By the way we live our lives, we declare where our loyalties lie. Do our values resonate with those spelled out throughout the Gospels and the teachings of our faith? For example, Jesus tells us to extend forgiveness, love, service to the less fortunate, compassion to the sick, and to respect all life. The Church provides a contemporary ring by challenging us to welcome immigrants and oppose euthanasia, abortion, and capital punishment.

“My kingdom doesn’t belong to this world,” Jesus said. So where is it? His kingdom exists wherever people embody Jesus’ manner of acting and relating to one another. With his own life, Jesus demonstrated how to put such values into practice. Down through the centuries, saints, like Private Schultz, have imitated his example and so do we when we truly listen to his voice. As our eternal King, he is deserving of our service.

But let’s not kid ourselves. It isn’t easy in this culture of ours to stand apart from the American dream, portrayed by the entertainment industry, political movements, the courts, to name a few, which often promote causes that run contrary to the message of the gospel and the voice of Jesus Christ.

Our attitude about sin has changed significantly in the past few decades. Consequently, we find ourselves struggling between what we value as Christians and the contemporary wisdom of our times. Each time we ignore the truth of the Gospel; we compromise our values as Pilate did. When we convince ourselves that something that is wrong in the sight of God is OK, then we are not listening to Jesus.

Those who are strangers to his truth fail to see the evil of sin. They think that God’s moral absolutes are negotiable when in fact they are not.

In the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, there is a meditation entitled the Two Banners. On one side is the banner of pride, self-indulgence, and comfort. Does that sound familiar? It is the banner of Satan. On the other side is the banner of humility, sacrifice, and self-denial, the standard of Christ the King. When all is said and done, there is only one banner we can march under: Satan or Christ the King. As I said earlier, by the way we live, we declare where our loyalties lie. So, which banner are you marching under?

If Jesus Christ is your king, then for your sake, listen to him!

In the gospel passage, Jesus heals ten lepers. There’s nothing trivial about this gift. To be cured of this dreaded disease is the same as being freed from prison. Now that they are clean, these ten former lepers can return home to be reunited with their family and loved ones. You’d think that all ten would have come back to Jesus filled with much gratitude for what happened, but only one of them did.

So Jesus asked, “Were not all ten made whole?” he doesn’t answer the question for us, but I would venture to say no, the absent nine were not made whole. Oh, they may have been cured of their leprosy but something was missing. To be a whole person is to acknowledge that we are dependent on one another and on God for our well-being.

Throughout its history, our nation has celebrated the simple truth that we owe much to God and for this we are grateful. In 1789, George Washington urged that a day of public thanksgiving and prayer be observed so that we could render “our sincere and humble thanks for his kind care and protection to the people of this country.”

Another president made this observation, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

“But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who has made us.”

That president was Abraham Lincoln. With those words, he proclaimed Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Thursday of November, which our country has done since 1863.

On a day that is largely given over to turkey and dressing, eating and drinking, family and football, we have gathered here this morning to hear the word of God and share in the bread of life, to celebrate the Eucharist, which in Greek, means “Thanksgiving.” No one compels us to be here, but we come, knowing in our hearts and minds and even our gut that it is right and fitting always and everywhere to give thanks to God for all that we have been given.

For some of us the words may not come easy or be spoken with the same vigor and enthusiasm as expressed in these readings. We may have had a year of disappointments and hardships. We may have known the testiness, ill will and peevishness of people from whom we had hoped for love and understanding. We may have tasted illness and death yet no matter what, we know deep in our hearts that God is there even in our driest moments. God never promised us success or happiness or ease. God promises instead to be present to us in our winters, our deserts, our failures, in every moment of our lives.

Expressing our gratitude need not be elaborate; simply to say the words is often sufficient to convey our indebtedness to the donor, whose action usually leaves us richer. If we don’t express them, what message does that send to the giver? If we don’t hear them, are we left thinking that the recipient doesn’t appreciate what we have done? And if we feel slighted, imagine how God may feel for all that we have been given. Unexpressed gratitude is like winking at someone in the dark. You know how you feel about them, but they don’t.

Thank you. Two simple words yet they convey so much, don’t they?

On this day, I especially want to say thank you for the many ways you strive to make our parish a vibrant faith community, so in closing, I say, “Thank you and thank God.”

When it comes to receiving gifts, perhaps you have heard the saying, “It’s the thought that counts.” Yet do you ever find yourself judging a gift by some different criteria such as its size or cost? Instead of being grateful for the giver’s thoughtfulness, we become resentful because the gift we received wasn’t what we wanted or expected.

Judging by such human standards, the widow’s meager gift of two small coins wasn’t much yet according to Jesus, hers was the greatest gift given in the temple that day. What makes her gift so noteworthy wasn’t its value, but the sacrifice involved. Unlike the rich people who put in large sums, which they could easily afford, this widow gave all that she had and that impressed Jesus.

We are missing a valuable lesson here if we see this only as a pep talk on charity. Granted, Jesus is moved by the total generosity of the widow who, despite her poverty, gave all that she had. However, the thought that comes to mind isn’t how generous we are or ought to be in our giving. Rather, how grateful are we for the gifts we have received, especially gifts that Jesus has given us? And what might those gifts be, you wonder? For starters, there is the gift of himself that comes to us in the Eucharist, but lets not overlook the gift of his teachings for building up the kingdom in our midst that we find in the gospels and the Catechism of the Church.

By giving what little she had, the widow placed herself in God’s hands for her well-being. By believing and fully accepting the Good News of God’s love, she could abandon herself into God’s hands. That total surrender expressed well her appreciation of what God has given her.

We have heard the Good News and we have the opportunity to receive the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist because Jesus totally gave himself to us. Consciously or unconsciously we share with others our reaction to Jesus and his Good News. When God is important to us, we convey that importance to others by our words, actions and values, and we choose to live in response to what Jesus has taught us rather than what our peers might value instead.

If we expect others to believe in us and in what we believe, than our lives must be an example of God’s call to holiness. Jesus censors the scribes for putting of airs, walking around with their prayer shawls, pretending to be holy, when in fact, their service to God was a farce for they were really seeking a profit for themselves. How we respond to Jesus’ gift of the Good News impacts our ultimate destiny. As the letter to the Hebrews notes, Christ will appear a second time to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.

How readily do we appreciate what Jesus is endeavoring to give us through his many teachings? He repeatedly urges us to live the truly Christian life, wherein we abandon our selfishness and fears by totally accepting what he is offering, just as the widow did. Whenever we selectively discard some of his gifts, that is, some of his teachings, we can no longer appreciate the full beauty of what he is giving us.

I am reminded of a conversation that took place between two friends as they toured a famous art museum. After looking around for a while and becoming bored, one friend expressed his dismay by telling his companion, “I don’t think much of these old paintings!” His companion quietly replied, “I would remind you that these paintings are no longer on trial but those who look at them are.” By our reactions to the many gifts Christ has given us, especially the gift of his wisdom, we ultimately pass judgment on ourselves.

Recently, one couple admonished me not to talk politics from the pulpit. Perhaps you agree with them. I don’t see myself talking politics. I never talk about candidates and rarely about initiatives unless the bishops ask me to. I see a distinction between politics and being political. To me politics refers to actual governance while being political is the means for speaking up for the well being of peoples and challenging those who govern when needed. Jesus was political and many Church leaders have followed his example including Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI, and Archbishop Oscar Romero; all have been canonized, which suggest to me that being political for the right reasons leads people to holiness and closer to God.

Jesus never condemns the rich but he cautions that they will find it difficult to enter the kingdom. What matters is not how much money we store in bank accounts or keep in stocks and bonds, but rather for what that money is destined. Will the money be used to assist others, to make the world a better place? Will it be used to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide for the homeless and the poor? Will it be used to promote a culture of life? Do our lives revolve around money or are we dependent on God who truly makes us rich, as did the widow? Would independence or dependence characterize your life and values?

Pope Francis asserts, “An authentic faith involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it. We love this magnificent planet on which God has put us; and we love the human family, which dwells here, with all its tragedies and struggles, its hopes and aspirations, its strengths and weaknesses. If indeed the just ordering of society and of the state is a central responsibility of politics, the Church cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.”

Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Joyce Fienberg, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Melvin Wax, Richard Gottfried, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, and Irving Younger. A week ago, their day was probably not much different than the one you had, but two days later, all that changed for them when they were gunned down in the midst of a prayer service in the deadliest attack ever on Jewish people in our country. They were not Christians but I venture to say that they are amongst the newest saints in heaven.

They lived a life of holiness. They placed God first in their lives. They bore the trials and troubles of life patiently.
They loved their neighbors. They proved that love with deeds of charity and mercy. They forgave those who persecuted them. They lived in peace with God and their neighbor. They promoted peace by their words and actions.
They pondered the questions as to why this world has so much injustice and found that the answers weren’t blowing in the wind after all. Rather, they could be found in the hearts of those yearning to see the face of God.

Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints. The name includes the word “All” for good reason for we are celebrating not just the official saints of our Church who have feast days on the liturgical calendar, saints like Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas More, Frances Cabrini, or saints recently canonized like Mother Teresa, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Oscar Romero but also the ordinary saints who are also there; saints who have no feast days and were never canonized but who lived their faith in anticipation of spending eternity with God.

Our first reading from Revelation gives us a message of hope. The great multitude is from every nation, race, people, and language. They are dressed in white robes, signifying that they once lived as Christ taught. The number of 144,000 is figurative to suggest an extremely large number, one too great to be counted. An assembly that someday will include us if that is our endeavor.

The second reading from John reminds us of how much God loves us, so great that he calls us children and so we are. Then we heard the Beatitudes in the gospel, given to us not as commandments but as a way to live. They are the values and virtues that form the character of saints and hopefully they are evident in our daily lives as well. They help us to live as God’s children.

All Saints’ day commemorates the saints we have known and who have lived among us, the “blessed” of the gospel through whom God touches us and our world, ordinary down to earth folks who endeavored to live holy lives. Today is the festival when we honor the holy men and women who have walked among us and who have touched our lives by their humility and selflessness, their generosity and compassion, just as many of the victims at the Tree of Life synagogue had touched the lives of their friends and colleagues. Let this day be a day to remember the people on our lists of loved ones who have died; those whom we remember with gratitude for the blessings they have been to us; may the lives of our own litany of saints inspire us to follow the example of other grace-filled lives so that, one day, we may join their company in the dwelling place of God forever.

Today’s feast is a festive reminder that each of us is invited by God to be a saint. So happy feast day for with the help of Christ, someday this will also be our feast day.