Month: February 2017

Right relationships and the law – a preemptive homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

My granddaughter, Alyssa and our Great Pyr, Henri, being in right relationship. (photo by Deacon Bob Wagner)

With executive orders flying out of the White House willy nilly, and accusations of “so-called” judges blocking these orders because they violate the Constitution of the United States, the readings for this coming Sunday on the law and the intent of the law is very timely. Were I to give a homily for this weekend, this is how I would approach it.

HOMILY FOR THE 6TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A, 2017

When we look at a symbol what do we see? A symbol is more than just what is seen on the surface. Take the American flag as an example. On the surface, the American flag is a rectangular piece of cloth. Imprinted in the upper left corner of the flag is a blue field upon which 50 white stars are placed. The remainder of the flag has 13 bars of alternating red and white color running horizontally across the flag. On its surface value, the American flag is a very colorful collage of red, white and blue colors and shapes.

However, symbols cannot be taken just on their surface value. Each symbol possesses a depth of emotional and intellectual meaning for the one seeing it. The American flag will instill in the viewer a feeling of pride, a feeling of sacrifice, and a feeling of reverence. A Nazi Germany flag with a red field, with an interior white circle upon which is imprinted a black Swastika, instills in the viewer an emotion of dread and anger, and the knowledge of the atrocities committed by its followers.

The same approach we take to symbols must also be taken for laws. On the surface, laws are rules that citizens are required to follow. We have laws governing business and corporation transactions. We have laws governing human behavior. We have laws governing the protection of the environment. We have laws governing how goods are produced. We have laws governing the growing, selling, and preparation of the food we eat. On the surface, a law tells us what to do and we, as citizens, are required to follow it.

However, laws are more than just mere words on paper that human beings are required to blindly follow. Laws possess a hidden depth of meaning. At a much deeper level, laws are about the inter-relationships that human beings have with one another, and with the environment. Laws are created to either respect or disrespect these relationships. A law that discriminates or demeans another human being for whatever reason is considered a bad, or immoral law. A law that supports and protects another human being is considered a good, or moral law. It is the depth of meaning to law that Jesus is addressing in today’s gospel.

Religious law is about the inter-relationship that human beings have with God, and how that relationship is lived out in relationship with other human beings, and with God’s creation, including all of nature. Jesus teaches that there is more to law than just merely going through the motions of following it. Anybody can do that.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees were good at obeying the letter of the law, so much so, that instead of worshiping God who created the law, they  worshiped the letter of the law, not God. They were guilty of the sin of idolatry by making the law their false idol. Blind obedience to the letter of the law prevented them from seeing the relationship that God intended when the law was first created.

To drive this point home, Jesus gave the people some very extreme examples of how they had to get beyond the letter of the law so that they could be in touch with the “right relationship” that God intended by the law.

It is not enough to refrain from killing another human being. One must first address the anger that drives another human being to murder. One must not just refrain from committing adultery. One must first address the lust that drives a husband or wife to commit adultery. One must not just refrain from bringing a gift to the altar when involved in a personal conflict with another human being. One must first address the conflict and resolve and heal the brokenness that conflict has created with the other person. Then, only then, can a gift be brought to the altar. Jesus emphasizes that one must always look beyond the letter of the law to see revealed the intent behind the law, to see the relationship that must be respected and protected behind the law.

To just follow the letter of the law is not enough for salvation. Mere lip service to the law is not enough.  To faithfully follow the law, we must allow the spirit of the law to penetrate our hearts, minds, and souls, allowing our right relationship with God to direct our thoughts, our words, and our actions.

Being the light on the mountaintop. A homily for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Syrian refugees on the Aegean Sea. (Photo: Filip Singer, European Pressphoto Agency)

HOMILY FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A, 2017

What does it mean when Jesus says, “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”?

Isaiah the prophet spoke to us in the first reading today. “Thus says the LORD: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.”

There was a news story this past week about the Greek Fishermen from the Island of Lesbos who, from the year 2015 to the present, have rescued from the Aegean Sea over 800,000 refugees fleeing the war raging in Syria. Upward of 3000 Syrian people arrive on the shores of the island every day. One of the fishermen, Costas Pinteras said, “Up until this year, the sea for me meant fishing. This year, it has changed things. Now, it means fishing for people. The consequences have been a drop in my income because when I see someone in urgent need when I’m out fishing, I drop everything and go to help, because my work is not as important as saving human lives. The worst thing is the drowned people, drowned mothers, drowned children. The pictures I saw during those incidents which I was seeing almost on a daily basis would come back to me while I was trying to sleep in bed at night. I kept seeing repeated pictures of the same incidents as nightmares. I couldn’t sleep at all.”

Another person, Aphrodite Vatis, who runs a hotel on the island and is now busy looking after the refugees in a refugee camp on the Island said, “It’s (the refugees)  changed, first of all, my daily reality. I wake up now and the first thing I have to do is go to my family’s hotel and see, are there boats arriving? How can we help them? And this is in the morning. I have children, I have a husband. I have my own business. And so, the daily things that we take for granted, I was able to realize that I took a lot of things for granted very quickly, even just a moment of free time, a moment of spending with your own children. These are the things that I miss because there is no more free time. Also, moments of feeling carefree, they don’t exist any more because we see what is going on around us in other parts of the world. And, it has come to our doorstep.”

In the light of what Costas, Aphrodite and the prophet Isaiah have said, let us visit again the words of Jesus which we have just heard in the Gospel today. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

Jesus tells all of us who are baptized that we must be the light of God for the world. All good things, all light originates with God. It is only being in relationship with God that we can experience God’s light. If our relationship with God is true, it will compel us to go forth and produce good deeds so that those good deeds will shine a path of glory to God for all people to follow.

In the letter from St. James, he emphasizes more is required to be God’s light for the world than just prayer. Our prayer life with God must compel us to do good works.  St. James writes, “What good is it, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, faith is dead. For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” In other words, when Jesus tell us to do good deeds, is not a suggestion. It is a command.

Costas and Aphrodite are ordinary people, and more than likely belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. Like all of us ordinary people, they do the things we all do. They go out and work and provide for the well-being of their families. These two very ordinary people have a faith and a relationship with Jesus that has compelled them to do incredible and extraordinary things from which so much good and light is produced. As Aphrodite says, “moments of feeling carefree, they don’t exist anymore because we see what is going on around us in other parts of the world. And, it has come to our doorstep.” Drawing from the deep well of their faith in God and their relationship with Jesus Christ, Costas and Aphrodite, and all those who live on the Island of Lesbos, have set their light on the mountain top for all to see. From this little island in the Aegean Sea, these simple, ordinary people have become the light of Christ to all the world.

How about you and me? How brightly does our light shine to all in the world? Does the light from our good works shine a path of glory to God for all to follow? Is it a bright light like that which shines from a Lighthouse? Or, is it our light like the dim light from a flashlight whose batteries are dying. In the Vigil Prayers from the Catholic Order of Christian Funerals, these words are prayed for the deceased. “Blessed are those who have died in the Lord; let them rest from their labors for their good deeds go with them.” The light from our good deeds not only lights a path for others to God. It lights our path to our God when we die. How bright a light will we produce?