2019년 9월 8일 연중 제23주일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
지혜서9,13-18
13 어떠한 인간이 하느님의 뜻을 알 수 있겠습니까? 누가 주님께서 바라시는 것을 헤아릴 수 있겠습니까?
14 죽어야 할 인간의 생각은 보잘것없고, 저희의 속마음은 변덕스럽습니다. 15 썩어 없어질 육신이 영혼을 무겁게 하고, 흙으로 된 이 천막이 시름겨운 정신을 짓누릅니다.
16 저희는 세상 것도 거의 짐작하지 못하고, 손에 닿는 것조차 거의 찾아내지 못하는데, 하늘의 것을 밝혀낸 자 어디 있겠습니까?
17 당신께서 지혜를 주지 않으시고, 그 높은 곳에서 당신의 거룩한 영을 보내지 않으시면, 누가 당신의 뜻을 깨달을 수 있겠습니까?
18 그러나 그렇게 해 주셨기에, 세상 사람들의 길이 올바르게 되고, 사람들이 당신 마음에 드는 것이 무엇인지 배웠으며, 지혜로 구원을 받았습니다.
제2독서
필레몬서9ㄴ-10.12-17
사랑하는 그대여, 9 나 바오로는 늙은이인 데다가, 이제는 그리스도 예수님 때문에 수인까지 된 몸입니다. 10 이러한 내가 옥중에서 얻은 내 아들 오네시모스의 일로 그대에게 부탁하는 것입니다.
12 나는 내 심장과 같은 그를 그대에게 돌려보냅니다. 13 그를 내 곁에 두어, 복음 때문에 내가 감옥에 갇혀 있는 동안, 그대 대신에 나를 시중들게 할 생각도 있었지만, 14 그대의 승낙 없이는 아무것도 하고 싶지 않았습니다. 그대의 선행이 강요가 아니라, 자의로 이루어지게 하려는 것입니다.
15 그가 잠시 그대에게서 떨어져 있었던 것은 아마도 그를 영원히 돌려받기 위한 것이었는지도 모릅니다. 16 이제 그대는 그를 더 이상 종이 아니라 종 이상으로, 곧 사랑하는 형제로 돌려받게 되었습니다. 그가 나에게 특별히 사랑받는 형제라면, 그대에게는 인간적으로 보나 주님 안에서 보나 더욱 그렇지 않습니까?
17 그러므로 그대가 나를 동지로 여긴다면, 나를 맞아들이듯이 그를 맞아들여 주십시오.
복음
루카 14,25-33
그 때에 25 많은 군중이 예수님과 함께 길을 가는데, 예수님께서 그들에게 돌아서서 이르셨다. 26 “누구든지 나에게 오면서 자기 아버지와 어머니, 아내와 자녀, 형제와 자매, 심지어 자기 목숨까지 미워하지 않으면, 내 제자가 될 수 없다.
27 누구든지 제 십자가를 짊어지고 내 뒤를 따라오지 않는 사람은 내 제자가 될 수 없다.
28 너희 가운데 누가 탑을 세우려고 하면, 공사를 마칠 만한 경비가 있는지, 먼저 앉아서 계산해 보지 않느냐? 29 그러지 않으면 기초만 놓은 채 마치지 못하여, 보는 이마다 그를 비웃기 시작하며, 30 ‘저 사람은 세우는 일을 시작만 해 놓고 마치지는 못하였군.’ 할 것이다.
31 또 어떤 임금이 다른 임금과 싸우러 가려면, 이만 명을 거느리고 자기에게 오는 그를 만 명으로 맞설 수 있는지, 먼저 앉아서 헤아려 보지 않겠느냐? 32 맞설 수 없겠으면, 그 임금이 아직 멀리 있을 때에 사신을 보내어 평화 협정을 청할 것이다.
33 이와 같이, 너희 가운데에서 누구든지 자기 소유를 다 버리지 않는 사람은 내 제자가 될 수 없다.”
September 8, 2019
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass
Reading 1
Who can know God's counsel,
or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
and unsure are our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, "Return, O children of men."
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Reading 2
I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.
Gospel
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
"If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.'
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple."
http://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow
«None of you may become my disciple if he doesn\'t give up everything he has»
Fr. Joaquim MESEGUER García
(Rubí, Barcelona, Spain)
Today, Jesus clearly tells us which is the place all others must take in our hierarchy of love while also explaining how to follow his person portrays our Christian life, a path going through different stages, where we must join Jesus with our Cross: «Whoever does not follow me carrying his own cross cannot be my disciple» (Lk 14:27).
When Jesus tells his disciples: «If you come to me, without being ready to give up your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be my disciple» (Lk 14:26), is He entering into a conflict with the Law of God that orders us to honor our parents and to love our fellow men? Certainly not. Jesus Christ already said He had not come to abolish the Law but to completely fulfill it; accordingly, He is the one to render the correct interpretation. When He demands an unconditional love, distinctive of God, He is pleading that He is God, whom we have to love above everything else and for whose love everything else has to be subordinated. By entrusting God with our lives, we shall also be able to love all the others with a sincere and just love. St. Augustine says: «See, now, how you are dragging your yearning for God's truth and perceiving his own volition in the Holy Scriptures».
Christian life is a non-stop journey with Jesus. Now-a-days, theoretically, many claim to be Christians, but, in fact, they are not sharing their journey with Jesus: they stay put at the starting point and do not even begin their trip, or give it up as soon as they can, or just take a different trip with other fellow travelers. The luggage to carry to make the journey of our life along with Jesus is the Cross, each one with his own; but, all along, with our share of suffering for those following Christ, there is also included the consolation which God soothes his beholders with, in all their trials. God is our hope and the source of life is in him.
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Every day we make commitments. Some are new ones, formulated over our morning coffee, and some are existing ones we are trying to honor, even though we may have made them months, years or decades ago. We are challenged each and every day to remain true to our commitments, but they are so easy to break and so tough to keep.
Think about all the times we vowed to exercise more or to eat less. We were resolute in your conviction, but within weeks or maybe only days, we were back to our old habits. Or, was our vow to be more Christ-like, maybe to follow the example of St. Ignatius and do our daily Exam of Conscience, come rain or shine? How many times were we able to remain true to this solemn vow, this desire of ours to do something of great importance?
Maybe that is what Jesus was intimating when he warned the disciples about the challenges they would face if they agreed to pledge their very lives to his Gospel. The road would be steep and difficult, full of twists and turns that would cause many to lose their way. Had the disciples, like the builders, calculated the true cost of their commitment? Or, were the disciples more like the generals, who realized they might face an insurmountable enemy, and therefore, chose to sue for peace instead of war?
Breaking a vow is humiliating. It makes us feel weak and can hurt those who were depending on us to be true to our word. So how do we, in today’s world, respond to the challenges of discipleship? Do we measure the builder’s costs of being true and faithful to God’s message, or do we rush in unaware of how big Satan’s army is?
Fortunately for us, we have a forgiving God, one who knows our weaknesses and understands that we will stumble and fall repeatedly. Our God extends his hand, to pull us up when our promise of unvarying discipleship falters, helping us to be true to his commandments and his teaching.
Let us approach this day and every day recommitted to our goals and aspirations to improve our personal lives and communities, to better the lives of those with whom we interact, and most importantly, to deepen our relationship with Christ. Let us commit – with courage and excitement – to live a faith-filled life we can be proud of. For despite our frequent stumbles, God is continually there to inspire us to persevere.
And, if our goal is to be more Christ-like in our personal lives, then maybe we, too, should be more understanding of others for we are not alone in the challenge to remain true to our goals and commitments. When our family, friends or co-workers stumble, we can extend a helping hand and support them in their efforts, just as Christ does for us, each and every day.
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
THE CONSEQUENCES OF LUKEWARM CHRISTIANITY | ||
| "If one of you decides to build a tower, will he not first sit down and calculate the outlay to see if he has enough money to complete the project?" �Luke 14:28 | ||
To be disciples of Christ, we must make the radical decision of totally giving ourselves to the Lord. If we decide to do anything less, our Christian lives will be unfinished, and we will be ridiculed and defeated (Lk 14:29ff). Some Christians in the USA have not made a total commitment to Christ. So they, especially Catholic Christians, are repeatedly portrayed as fools by the media. Moreover, one of the most important works of most Christians is to make disciples of their children. Countless Christian parents have not finished this work, for their adult children are not committed to the Lord. They have been defeated by the world, the flesh, and the devil, and their children are the major casualties of this war. We have ample evidence of the dire consequences of making less than a total commitment to the Lord. Yet "the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans" (Wis 9:14). We need the "Holy Spirit from on high" (Wis 9:17) to confirm us in faith so that we will decide to live for the Lord totally and radically. Come, Holy Spirit! | ||
| Prayer: Father, I repent of giving You anything less than everything. | ||
| Promise: "I did not want to do anything without your consent, that kindness might not be forced on you but might be freely bestowed." —Phlm 14 | ||
| Praise: All praise and all thanksgiving be to You, risen Lord Jesus. By your death and resurrection, You have saved the world. Alleluia! |
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
The true cost of discipleship
Why does the Lord Jesus say we must 'hate' our families and even ourselves (Luke 14:26)? In Biblical times the ｅxpression 'to hate' often meant to 'prefer less'. Jesus used strong language to make clear that nothing should take precedence or first place over God. God our heavenly Father created us in his image and likeness to be his beloved sons and daughters. He has put us first in his love and concern for our well-being and happiness. Our love for him is a response to his exceeding love and kindness towards us. True love is costly because it holds nothing back from the beloved - it is ready to give all and sacrifice all for the beloved. God the Father gave us his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who freely offered up his life for us on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His sacrificial death brought us pardon and healing, new life in the Spirit and peace with God.
The cost of following Jesus as his disciples
Jesus willingly embraced the cross, not only out of obedience to his Father's will, but out of a merciful love for each one of us in order to set us free from slavery to sin, Satan, and everything that would keep us from his love, truth, and goodness. Jesus knew that the cross was the Father's way for him to achieve victory over sin and death - and glory for our sake as well. He counted the cost and said 'yes' to his Father's will. If we want to share in his glory and victory, then we, too, must 'count the cost' and say 'yes" to his call to "take up our cross and follow him" as our Lord and Savior.
What is the 'way of the cross' for you and me? It means that when my will crosses with God's will, then his will must be done. The way of the cross involves sacrifice, the sacrifice of laying down my life each and every day for Jesus' sake. What makes such sacrifice possible and "sweet" for us is the love of God poured out for us in the blood of Christ who cleanses us and makes us a new creation in him. Paul the Apostle tells us that "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). We can never outmatch God in his merciful love and kindness towards us. He always gives us more than we can expect or imagine. Do you allow the Holy Spirit to fill your heart and transform your life with the overflowing love and mercy of God?
The wise plan ahead to avert failure and shame
What do the twin parables of the tower builder and a ruler on a war campaign have in common (Luke 14:28-32)? Both the tower builder and the ruler risked serious loss if they did not carefully plan ahead to make sure they could finish what they had begun. In a shame and honor culture people want at all costs to avoid being mocked by their community for failing to complete a task which they had begun in earnest. This double set of parables echoes the instruction given in the Old Testament Book of Proverbs: "By wisdom a house is built" and "by wise guidance you can wage a war" to ensure victory (Proverbs 24:3-6).
In Jesus' time every landowner who could afford it built a wall around his orchard or vineyard as a protection from intruders who might steal or destroy his produce. A tower was usually built in a corner of the wall and a guard posted especially during harvest time when thieves would likely try to make off with the goods. Starting a building-project, like a watchtower, and leaving it unfinished because of poor planning or insufficient funds would invite the scorn of the whole village. Likewise a king who decided to wage a war against an opponent who was much stronger, would be considered foolish if he did not come up with a plan that had a decent chance of success. Counting the cost and investing wisely are necessary conditions for securing a good return on the investment.
The great exchange
If you prize something of great value and want to possess it, it's natural to ask what it will cost you before you make a commitment to invest in it. Jesus was utterly honest and spared no words to tell his disciples that it would cost them dearly to be his disciples - it would cost them their whole lives and all they possessed in exchange for the new life and treasure of God's kingdom. The Lord Jesus leaves no room for compromise or concession. We either give our lives over to him entirely or we keep them for ourselves. Paul the Apostle reminds us, "We are not our own. We were bought with a price" ( 1 Corinthians 6:19b,20). We were once slaves to sin and a kingdom of darkness and oppression, but we have now been purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who has ransomed us from a life of darkness and destruction so we could enter his kingdom of light and truth. Christ has set us free to choose whom we will serve in this present life as well as in the age to come - God's kingdom of light, truth, and goodness or Satan's kingdom of darkness, lies, and deception. There are no neutral parties - we are either for God's kingdom or against it.
Who do you love first - above all else?
The love of God compels us to choose who or what will be first in our lives. To place any relationship or any possession above God is a form of idolatry - worshiping the creature in place of the Creator and Ruler over all he has made. Jesus challenges his disciples to examine who and what they love first and foremost. We can be ruled and mastered by many different things - money, drugs, success, power or fame. only one Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, can truly set us free from the power of sin, greed, and destruction. The choice is ours - who will we serve and follow - the path and destiny the Lord Jesus offers us or the path we choose in opposition to God's will and purpose for our lives. It boils down to choosing between life and death, truth and falsehood, goodness and evil. If we choose for the Lord Jesus and put our trust in him, he will show us the path that leads to true joy and happiness with our Father in heaven.
"Lord Jesus, you are my Treasure, my Life, and my All. There is nothing in this life that can outweigh the joy of knowing, loving, and serving you all the days of my life. Take my life and all that I have and make it yours for your glory now and forever."
Psalm 90:1-6,12-14,16-17
1 LORD, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn man back to the dust, and say, "Turn back, O children of men!"
4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
5 You sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
16 Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us, yes, establish the work of our hands.
Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Jesus permits us to love family but not more than God, by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D.
"He says, 'He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me' (Matthew 10:37). By adding 'more than me,' it is plain that he permits us to love, but not more than we love him. He demands our highest affection for himself and that very correctly. The love of God in those who are perfect in mind has something in it superior both to the honor due to parents and to the natural affection felt for children." (excerpt from COMMENTARY on LUKE, HOMILY 105)
http://www.homilies.net/
23 Ordinary Time
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33
People get enjoyment from auctions. For example, in my hometown of New York City, a Modigilani and a Picasso were sold at the posh Fifth Avenue Christie's auction house in 1998. The Picasso picture went for a whopping seventeen million dollars. The Modigliani canvas fetched twelve million. In the same batch, there were a Renoir and Van Gogh. I leave to your rich imagination what money those paintings commanded.
Imagine what a price Christie's would have commanded for an original letter, however brief, from Jesus sent to a man requesting, say, a favor. The price would of course have broken right through the top of Christie's financial thermometer. It would have been the World Series of auctions. Just imagine the media hype - TV cameras, journalists, etc!
Unfortunately we do not have such a letter, but we have the next best thing. The Church possesses a short letter from one of the Teacher's most distinguished followers, Paul. It is penned to one Philemon seeking a favor. Seven of its twenty five verses constitutes today's second reading.
This epistle has a particular charm lacked by St Paul's other letters. In the latter, he sketched the beliefs of the early Church. A good part of these messages, as a puzzled St Peter confesses, make for difficult reading. But his letter from Rome to Philemon has him on his knees pleading that he give tender loving care to onesimus, his runaway slave, on his return.
Philemon made his home in Colossae in Asia Minor. Apparently he was wealthy enough to buy the Picassos or Modigilanis of his day. Clearly Philemon owned slaves. But unhappily so did all or, perhaps better, most of the even relatively affluent people of his day. The well-known line that "Rome was built on seven hills and on the backs of seven million slaves" sums up the inhuman situation.
A slave was considered a non-person much as a child in the womb is regarded as such in the United States by law. What abortion is today to much of the US, slavery was to the then Roman Empire. Just as the unborn are called in abortion literature blobs of tissue or flesh, so were slaves commonly looked upon as household tools or pack animals.
Why did not St Paul with all his wisdom condemn slavery? Probably he should have. It is a given that he was an unusually bright and perceptive theologian. However, do keep in mind that the great philosopher Aristotle wrote in defense of slavery as an institution. So too did many, if not most, of the other intellectual heavyweights of the centuries before us.
However, if we Americans are still intent on criticizing St Paul, we would do well to remember our own history. Slavery was of course quite acceptable in this land of the free and home of the brave well into the second half of the nineteenth century. This was true in the northern states as well as the southern. I write these words in New York a few miles from a slave graveyard. To compound this sin against the human person, the US Supreme Court in 1857 issued its infamous Dred Scott decision. That judgment, written by Chief Justice R.B. Taney, decreed that blacks "`whose ancestors...were sold as slaves' were not entitled to the rights of a Federal citizen and had no standing in court." In a word, the federal government was not obliged to protect them. They were non-persons.
If Paul of Tarsus were among us today, his IBM word processor might well be sending us a message along these lines. "Fellow Christians, Aristotle, I, and so many others were hoodwinked for centuries on the question of slavery. Our judgment on the question was totally wrong. We should have blown slavery out of the waters lock, stock, and barrel. Had we done so, the barbarism might have ended centuries sooner than it did. Do not let others deceive you into believing that the fetus is not human life. After all, what other kind of life can it be? Fight, lobby, and struggle for the unborn. Today's unborn are yesterday's slaves."
It required the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments to our Constitution to undo the dreadful 1857 Supreme Court decision. Hopefully, with our efforts, a further amendment will protect unborn children.
Oh, incidentally, The New York Times (9/10/00) writes, "By conservative estimates, there are 27 million people working under various forms of slavery in the world today."
Frjoeshomilies.net
23 Ordinary Time
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time: Spiritual Strength in Our Daily Lives
There are many places in the Gospels where the Lord speaks using apocalyptic language. Apocalyptic language, like that in the Book of Revelations, uses shocking imagery to catch the listener's or reader's attention. Today's gospel provides a good example of this. Jesus says that we cannot be his disciples if we come to him without hating father and mother, wife and husband, children and parents, brothers and sister, and even our own lives. This is shocking. This catches our attention.
So, what is this about? The Lord is not telling us to ignore the Fourth commandment, Honor your father and mother. Nor is He telling us to refuse to see God in others. And He is not telling us to ignore God's handwork in our own lives. He is using startling imagery, apocalyptic imagery, to illustrate the demands of being His disciples.
Let me explain this to you in one of the last places you would expect: a recent comic strip. To be precise, a Dilbert strip, one that ran a little while ago. Now for those of you who don't start their day with the comics, Dilbert is a comic strip about office workers with an incompetent, pointed haired boss, people of various abilities, and all sorts of other characters.
one of these characters is a woman who is continually late for the morning meeting. one of her co-workers decides to challenge her.
The strip starts off with the woman saying: "Sorry, I'm late. Traffic was terrible."
The co-worker asks: "Isn't the traffic from your house always terrible this time of day?"
The woman says, "Exactly. That's why I'm late every day."
The co-worker coaxes her along: "Do you see any way you could fix that?"
The woman: "Well, I can't control the traffic."
Co-worker: "You could leave earlier."
Woman: "Then I wouldn't get enough sleep"
Co-worker: "You could go to bed earlier."
Woman: "Then I wouldn't be able to watch Netflix until two in the morning,
An uncomfortable pause is followed by the woman asking: "Do you want me to hate my life?"
The co-worker sighs: "I didn't until now."
Her lifestyle was keeping her from her work. It is not that there is anything wrong with Netflix. The problem is that it became more important to her than her job. So, in her case, she should hate her life and anything that keeps her from doing what she needs to do. Just as we should hate anything that keeps us from doing what we need to do: Serve God.
The parables in today's Gospel about a man considering building a tower and a king preparing for war, tells us that we have to have a plan for how we are going to live as a Christian. We have to ask ourselves how we can best prepare ourselves and the world for the Lord. We have to stop and look at the many threads of our lives and consider how they are woven into the whole cloth. We have our work or our school. We have our families and our friends. We have sports and arts. These are important. We have our bodies. We have to exercise, eat properly and basically take care of ourselves.
Most important, we have those whom we love and those whom we need to seek out and love. All these are the threads that make up the fabric of our lives. We also have to consider what are the parts of our lives that are actually tearing us away from whom we need to be. This means that we have to make hard choices. Maybe we need more sleep and less Netflix, or more family time and less time before a screen, computer, tablet or phone. Maybe we need fewer office projects, school commitments, or any other activities that keep us away from those who need our love.
To be a disciples of Christ means to live beyond the insignificant things that we throw into our lives and to make time first for the things of God. When Jesus speaks about hating father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even our own lives, He is using apocalyptic language, shocking language, telling us to hate anything and anyone that causes us to lose our focus on Him.
Three years ago Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Most of us have been blessed with being witnesses to her life. Those of us who are a bit older remember how stories began to circulate about a nun in India who left the convent in order to care for people dying in the slums of Calcutta, those whom she called the poorest of the poor. We saw her determination to serve God, even if this meant leaving the relative comfort of the Sisters of Loretto where she was the principle of a girls' school, live among those on the streets, and eventually establishing a religious community of those willing to serve God's presence by caring for the dying, the sick, the starving and the abandoned.
More and more people throughout the world heard about Mother Teresa and her sisters, the Missionaries of Charity. In 1979 she received the Noble Peace Prize. We all saw how she would not allow anything to get in the way of her serving God. She and her sisters would spend hours in prayer so they could spend hours serving God's presence in others. In her own way, Mother Teresa taught us today's gospel: we need to hate anything that could keep us from being a disciple of Christ, including the perceptions we have of ourselves.
I have to share with you my favorite Mother Teresa story. There is a great deal written about Mother Teresa, but I don't think you will find this story anywhere else, other than in a past homily I gave. I heard this from Fr. John Fullenbach, a wonderful, wonderful priest. Fr. Fullenbach is a renown theologian who taught in Rome. He related how he contacted Mother Teresa's sisters in Calcutta and asked if he could join them for a few weeks between semesters at the seminary. They welcomed him to join their work. He flew to Calcutta, found the Missionaries of Charities' hospice, and had just finished telling the sister in charge that he was willing to do anything they needed to be done, when another sister came running in saying that there was a man dying on the streets. The sister in charge turned to him and said, "Father, could you please go with her and bring the man back here to the hospice?"
Fr. Fullenbach followed the sister through the back alleys of Calcutta, in and out of narrow streets, and finally came upon what looked from the distance to be a heap of dirty rags. It was the dying man. Fr. Fullenbach bent over him and tried to comfort him and told him that he was going to take him to a nice, clean place where he could be cared for. The man opened his eyes; saw that it was a priest talking to him, and spit in his face. The priest felt a rage rising up within him. He was a distinguished professor. He came all the way from Rome to India to help these people. And this man responded by spitting on him. The sister explained that most of the people on the streets are not Catholic, but we still need to care for them. So, Fr. Fullenbach picked the man up and carried him back to the hospice where the man was cleaned, given fresh clothes, fed a bowl of soup, and put on a bed to die with dignity.
The sisters then asked Father to help out by rolling up some clean strips of cloth that could be used for bandages. He was doing this for about an hour, rolling the strips, and still feeling upset over the man spitting on him. Suddenly the whole hospice shook with the screams of a little girl. on the other side of the room there was a poor little girl, about nine, and covered in sores. She was standing in a basin of water as one of the young sisters was trying to clean her, bathe her sores. The little girl was enraged, hysterical, throwing a fit that she had a perfect right to throw. She kept screaming and kicking and splashing the sister. Father Fullenbach was watching this horrible scene when he noticed everyone looking at one of the doors.
It was Mother Teresa. She had heard the racket and was coming in. She started walking to the little girl. "Well," Fr. Fullenbach thought, "Now we'll see what a saint is made of." As she approached the little girl, she waved the young sister away. The girl saw her and kept screaming, and then began splashing Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa kept walking towards her, very slowly, with a smile of love on her face. By the time she got to the girl, she was drenched, but she didn't seem to mind. Instead, she just kept smiling. Then she held out her arms. The child fell into them and just cried and cried. Mother Teresa let her cry for as long as she wanted. Then the little girl let Mother Teresa wash her and put clean clothes on her. Fr. Fullenbach said to himself, "And that is what a saint is made of."
Nothing is more important than serving God. Not our stuff, not our likes, not our perceived position among our peers, not even the people in our lives. We cannot allow anything to stand in the way of our being disciples of Jesus Christ.
In John 12:25 the Lord tells us: "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal."
Through the intercession of St. Teresa of Calcutta, may we all have the spiritual strength to be disciples of the Lord.
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* Available in Spanish - see Spanish Homilies
23 Ordinary Time
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23 Ordinary Time
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
The opening phrase of today's Gospel is rather puzzling. Can Jesus really be telling us to hate our very closest relatives? And can he who came to give us life insist that we hate our own lives? Many scholars suggest that what we are dealing with is a difficulty of translation. They suggest that Jesus does not actually mean that we should hate our lives or those close to us. They tell us that the idiom used in Hebrew actually means 'love less' and not literally 'hate'. This then leaves us with the idea that we should love Jesus even more than we love our own close family or even our own lives.
That's the trouble with translation; taking things literally word by word can often lead to a confusing picture. What we need to do is to look at a whole ｅxpression and at what the speaker really intends to say. Occasionally we come across words that are quite impossible to translate. In these cases, translators might have to use several words to try to convey the meaning.
It is reckoned that Jesus spoke Aramaic since that was the language of the people of the area in which he grew up; but he would also have used Hebrew since that was the language spoken by the Rabbis and was used for religious texts. He may also have known Greek since that language was widely spoken by the more cosmopolitan elite.
Another reason it is presumed that Jesus spoke Aramaic is because it was the language of the ordinary people and it was these ordinary people who were the focus for Jesus' teaching. But when it comes to the scriptures, we know that the Gospels were written in Greek even though many of the stories about Jesus and accounts of his teaching would have been communicated to the Evangelists in Aramaic. So, you can see that right from the start there is scope for misunderstanding and confusion.
Also, we must understand that when speaking to an audience a persuasive orator doesn't always speak literally or logically. Often, they use exaggeration for effect or in order to hold your attention. The phrase about a camel passing through the eye of a needle is an example of this. Jesus says that it is as difficult for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle as it is for a rich man to reach the Kingdom of Heaven. The image is at the same time grotesque and impossible; but, of course, it is also unforgettable and that is why Jesus used it. Scholars call this sort of thing Biblical Hyperbole.
What we have to do is to take Jesus teaching as a whole; to look at the whole body of his teaching and realise what are the essential elements. Where we discover that there are apparent contradictions, we need to examine the text closely and ask ourselves if Jesus means certain words in a literal way or whether this is to achieve an oratorical effect.
Here in the phrase at the beginning of our text today I think that Jesus is trying to catch our attention. Clearly, he does not want us to hate our fathers and mothers; what he wants us to do is simply not to prefer them above him. Looking at everything he said we see that Jesus' whole thrust is to get us to love more and not less; and he most certainly does not want us to adopt feelings of hate.
We are faced with a similar problem in the last words of today's Gospel text. He says, 'In the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.' Does Jesus really want us to give up all of our possessions? If so, then how would we live? It would be very hard to survive without clothing or housing or food.
Of course, Jesus has quite a lot to say about poverty. And while we know that Jesus was not attached to material possessions he was certainly not as strict as John the Baptist who lived on locusts and wild honey. We know that Jesus was wearing a seamless robe at the time of the crucifixion which was perceived to be valuable by the soldiers who decided that the best thing to do would be to cast lots to see who would get it.
Also, we know that Jesus also took part in lavish meals laid on by local worthies who wanted to question him. We know too about the woman who Jesus permitted to anoint his feet with precious oil. We can think of other occasions when Jesus was not particularly attached to poverty. As we did before we have to see his teaching as a whole and when we do so we realise that what he really means is that we should not put attachment to possessions above love of him or the demands of discipleship.
Jesus sees material possessions as useful but transitory. He also realises that a superabundance of material things can bind a person. He realises that it is easy to be greedy and avaricious and that these things blind us to the importance of the spiritual life.
In the middle of the text given today we find two parables; one about the man who underestimated the cost of building a tower and so couldn't finish it and the other about a king marching to war against an adversary with double the number of soldiers. It is not at first clear what these two parables have to do with the rest of the text which is essentially about putting love of Jesus above everything else.
Probably St Luke had heard these parables and thought they were important and so had to find a place to insert them into his Gospel and he probably thought that this place was as good as any. The parables are about preparedness and the importance of making sure that you have the wherewithal to achieve your goals. Maybe this is the connection that Luke saw; that if our goal in life is to love Jesus above all things then we must think in a practical way about what this really means. If we want to love Jesus over everything and everybody then we have to make some real concrete decisions about how to achieve this goal. And it is useless to attempt to love Jesus in a half-hearted way or to put things or people above loving him because, if we do this, we are sure to fail.
Loving Jesus then is the goal; placing love of him higher than anything else in our lives. We can do nothing more worthy in life than making the love of Jesus our wholehearted objective.
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September 4, 2016 Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
