September 2016 – Journeying Into Mystery

What’s In A Name? A Reflection on the Gospel from the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

As I listened to Fr Dave’s homily this past Sunday, there was one statement he made that had a great deal of impact on me. He noted that in the Gospel, the rich man had no name. Aside from Father Abraham, the only other person in the Gospel that was named was Lazarus, the beggar covered in sores who begged outside the rich man’s house.

I remember Mary Deaner, the Director of Pastoral Ministry at St. Stephen’s in South Minneapolis, telling me one day that one of the greatest gifts that St. Stephen gives to the poor and the homeless that come to the church, was that we knew them by name. I reflected on what she said. The poor and the homeless were not just another nameless statistic in some record book. By knowing their name their humanity was restored to them. Calling them by name reminded them that they were human and that someone cared enough for them to know their name.

The rich man in the Gospel was so self-absorbed, so full of himself, he didn’t need a name because he believed that he would always be remembered for his wealth. This is reminiscent of Psalm 49, prayed in the Liturgy of the Hours on Tuesday night, week two.

‘This is the lot of those who trust in themselves,

who have others at their beck and call.

Like sheep they are driven to the grave,

where death shall be their shepherd

and the just shall become their rulers.

With the morning their outward show vanishes

and the grave becomes their home.

But God will ransom me from death

and take my soul to himself.

Then do not fear when a man grows rich,

when the glory of his house increases.

He takes nothing with him when he dies,

his glory does not follow him below.

Though he flattered himself while he lived:

“Men will praise me for all my success,”

yet he will go to join his father,

who will never see the light any more.

In his riches, man lacks wisdom:

he is like the beasts that are destroyed.’

However nameless the beggar at his door may have been to the rich man, God knew the beggar’s name. God named him Lazarus, and the love and compassion of God for this sick, suffering, neglected man outside the rich man’s door, gifted him with eternal life in heaven. The rich man was rewarded for his neglect of the beggar by spending eternity in eternal damnation.

What I received from the story was had the rich man knew Lazarus by name and responded to the needs of Lazarus, the nameless rich man would have been named and standing by the side of Father Abraham along with Lazarus. Because he willfully neglected Lazarus, the rich man became just one of many nameless souls suffering eternal torment.

Who are the Lazarus’ in our lives? Who are those poor souls around us who are the nameless, and the forgotten in our midst? Do we treat them with the same fear and the same neglect as the rich man treated Lazarus in the Gospel? If the great commandment of Jesus to love God and love neighbor does not compel us to act on behalf of the nameless and the powerless in our society, will the fear of eternal damnation compel us? If, in our society, we are one with the rich man and look upon the plight of the poor and the nameless and adopt the attitude of “I just don’t give a damn,” we may just find that our “not giving a damn,” will become our own self-fulfilling prophecy.

Me Almighty Revised – the homily I gave on Sunday morning

Having given the homily I posted here on Saturday at the 5 pm Mass, I was dissatisfied with it. So, I revised it before I went to bed on Saturday night, and when I couldn’t sleep, revised it again around 1 am. What is below is the homily I gave on Sunday morning, one with which I was more satisfied.

Homily for the 25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, 2016

When I was very little, like many of us, my mom and dad would read to me. I would sit on either side of mom or dad on the couch and my brother, Bill, or sister, Mary Ruth would sit on the other side, as they would read stories to us. They read us many stories from Golden Books, all richly and elaborately illustrated. And, then there were two books, I called them the red and green book, that was read to us. These two books more than likely were bought by my mom.

The red book was about manners. The proper table manners, asking to be excused from the dinner table, how to address people, especially adults, politely. The green book was about behaviors. There were two characters in the green book, Me First and You First. Me First described his behavior. He budged into line ahead of others, he was rude, he interrupted people, he would hog all the dessert for himself and so on. You First, always placed the needs of others first. Obviously, the point that mom was trying to get across to us kids, was that we should emulate the example of You First, NOT Me First. In the simplistic terms of the green book, the gospel today is asking us to make a choice between being either a Me First or a You First.

From the beginning of creation, God created us in God’s own image. We have the DNA of God’s Divinity within us. This Divine DNA stirs within us the desire for divinity. In the last part of the gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that they have got to make a choice as to who to serve. Will they serve God, or will they serve Mammon? This is an important choice, for who they wish to serve will dictate the path they will follow in their lives.

In choosing to serve God, they will follow the path in becoming Godlike. If they choose Mammon, they will follow the path in trying to become a god. Mammon is the name given to the demon of wealth. It is important to note that Jesus is not condemning money. Money is neither good or evil. Money is only a tool. However, money can be used for either good or evil. Jesus is telling his disciples that if they choose to intentionally choose to be his disciple then the path they must follow is that of serving God, the path into becoming Godlike. This is not the first time that people are asked to make a choice between God or something else. From the very beginning of Genesis, people have had to make similar choices.

Let us revisit Adam and Eve. As we recall, in the Garden of Eden, they had all their needs and wants lovingly met by God. However, that was not enough for them. They were greedy. They wanted more than just to be creatures of a loving God. They wanted to become gods. The serpent tells them to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. In doing so, they would become gods. As we all know, they ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and in so doing they brought ruin upon themselves and all of their descendants, a ruin that continues to afflict humanity today. They introduce into the DNA of humanity, the evil DNA of Original Sin.

All of us struggle with this desire to become Godlike or to become a god. Wouldn’t we all like to have the world revolve around us? The difficulty in becoming a god, is there can only be one god. You can’t have multiple gods, and in becoming a god, the lives of many people will be ruined. Some seeing the power that money wields in the world, believe that they can buy their way into becoming a god. Money can buy power. Money can buy influence. Money can buy people, and can control them. However, in pursuing the path in becoming a god, a path of self-service, only ruin will occur and the one trying to become a god, will ultimately end up serving Mammon, the demon of wealth.

Jesus tells us that if we truly wish to be his disciples, we must choose the path of becoming Godlike. To become Godlike is not achieved in building up the self with wealth and power, rather it is achieved in diminishing the self. To become Godlike is to follow and emulate the life of Jesus. Jesus did not use his divinity to increase his divinity. Rather he used his divinity in order to increase the goodness of his humanity. We could say, that he impoverished his divinity so that he could become truly human, the humanity which God intended at the moment of Creation, the humanity at which Adam and Eve so miserably failed. Very rightly so, St. Paul in observing the life of Jesus calls Jesus the “New Adam.”

If we truly wish to be disciples of Jesus, if we truly wish to be Godlike, then we are called to take all the gifts in which God has given us, whatever those gifts may be, and use them in service of those most in need, especially the poor. We may be gifted with wealth. We may have been given the gift of teaching, or the gift of caring. No matter what gifts we may possess, Jesus calls us to use them in service to others.

The one person who excelled at using the gifts that God gave her for others is Mother Teresa, whom the Church canonized a saint last Sunday. Mother Teresa took all that God had given her and used it in serving the poor, the destitute, and the dying of Calcutta. She had a tremendous amount of fame throughout the world, but used that fame not to advance herself, but used it on behalf of the poor she served. In observing her life, we could see the DNA of God grow and grow within her. And, if we were to point that out to her, she would abruptly say that we were mistaken. Nevertheless, it was very evident that the presence of God within her was tremendous.

Over and over throughout all of the gospels, Jesus tells those who wish to follow him to sell all that we have, give it to the poor, take up our cross and follow him. If we wish to become Godlike, we must follow the example of Jesus and use all that which God has given us in service to God and others, especially those most in need.

We have a choice to make today. Do we serve God or do we serve Mammon? Do we wish to become Godlike, or do we wish to become a god? Do we wish to be “You First”, or do we wish to be a “Me First?” Which will we choose?

Me Almighty – a homily on the gospel of the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

“For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all.”

When I was very little, I would sit on either side of mom or dad on the couch and my brother, Bill, or sister, Mary Ruth, would sit on the other side, and they would read stories to us. Along with the many stories that Golden Books published for children, I remember specifically two books that my mother would read to us that were different from the others. We knew them as the red book and the green book. The drawings were less elaborate than those found in the Golden Books. The red book, taught the proper manners to be used in social settings, covering everything from excusing oneself from the dinner table to how to address others with respect. The green book was about learning proper behavior.

There were two characters in the green book. One character was called “Me First” and the other, “You first.” One was never to copy the behavior of Me First, who could be best described as selfish and greedy. Me First would budge into line, take all of the dessert, interrupt others who were speaking, steal from others and so on. That green book left quite an impression on me. Quite simplistically todays scripture readings illustrate the same difference between Me First and You First.

In the very last sentence of the gospel, Jesus states that one cannot serve two masters. One cannot serve God and worship mammon. Mammom was the name given to the demon of wealth. Jesus is telling us we need to choose whom we will serve. We need to pick the God whom we will serve. Choosing who to serve will give us two different paths in life. One path will be that of serving God and our neighbor, the other path will be serving our own self. Jesus is not condemning money, for money, in itself, is not evil. Money is a tool. Jesus warns us that in choosing the God to serve, our money and gifts may be used for good, or for evil. This choice as to which God to serve goes all the way back to the Original Sin committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

God created us male and female in God’s own image. Each and everyone of us has God’s DNA inside of us. And because we carry God’s DNA, we yearn to be divine. This yearning drives us to either become Godlike or to become gods. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had everything going for them. All their needs and all their wants were lovingly met by God. However, Adam and Eve were not satisfied, they were greedy. They wanted more than to be Godlike. They wanted to become gods. The serpent tells them that if they eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, the Tree of Knowledge, they would no longer be mere creatures of God, they would become gods. Their avarice, their greediness brought ruin upon themselves and continues to plague we who are their descendants.

To this very day, all human beings have this inherent desire to become a god. We want everything in the world to revolve around us. In the parlance of the Green Book, we all want to be Me Firsts and will do anything and everything in our power to be Me First. Truth be told, the problem with this desire to be a god, is that the position of god can be held only by one person, not multiple people. This inherent greed to be a god leads to the ruin of many people. The principle tool that many people use to try become a god is money. If we look all around us, we find that money is power. Money can buy us positions of power. Money can buy us influence. With money we can buy, sell, and control people. This leads us to the conclusion that money can also buy us to become a god over all, and the original Sin of Adam and Eve grows within us like a cancer, transforming the goodness of our humanity into evil. Utterly caught up in our own avarice to become a god, we end up serving Mammon, the demon of wealth, and not the God who lovingly created us.

Jesus shows us that the path by which we can become Godlike is not to accumulate and augment our wealth and self, rather we must diminish and impoverish ourselves in service to others, particularly to those most in need. Jesus did not use the immense power he had as God to increase his divinity. He used his divine power to increase the goodness of his humanity. One could say, that he impoverished his Divinity so that he could become the humanity that God meant humanity to be at Creation and at which Adam and Eve so miserably failed. Noting the striking difference between Adam and Eve and Jesus, St. Paul rightly calls Jesus, the New Adam.

Throughout all four gospels, Jesus tells you and I that if we intentionally wish to be his disciples, if we intentionally desire to become Godlike, we must live in service to others. The wealth and the gifts that God has given to us are not meant to increase ourselves but be used and shared with those most in need. The perfect example of this Mother Teresa, canonized a saint last Sunday. The DNA of God within her grew as she gave of herself to God and the poor. While she may have argued she was anything but Godlike, those of us who observed her saw how greatly she grew in God’s likeness. In the Last Judgment scene of Chapter 25 in Matthew’s gospel those who are actively engaged in seeing the Godlike presence in others by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting those in prison, caring for the sick, and welcoming the stranger are the only ones admitted to heaven. Those whose lives were spent in only serving themselves and refusing to serve those in need are sentenced to eternal damnation. Our path to heaven is in the giving of ourselves to others. We cannot buy our way into heaven, we can only buy our way into hell.

Over and over again, Jesus tells those who wish to be his disciples that we must first sell everything we have, give it to the poor, pick up our cross and follow him. To become Godlike, to have the DNA of God grow within us, we must diminish ourselves, impoverish ourselves in the manner of Jesus by the giving of ourselves and our gifts to others. As St. Paul states so very well in the second reading for today, “For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all.”

Jesus gives us a choice at the end of today’s Gospel. We can either serve God or Mammom. We can either be You First or Me First. Whom will we serve?

So what’s in your wallet? A reflection on the gospel for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

What do we value the most in our lives? There will be a variety of answers to that question ranging from wealth, possessions, security, health, freedom, relationships with family, and so forth. I, personally, think the answer to the question is the word, “control.” To have wealth and possessions, to have health, to have freedom gives us control to do that which we want to do, to fulfill our every whim. Control is what we want, and when we do not have control, we feel our lives suffer.

In the second reading, we hear of St. Paul’s imprisonment. This vital man, one who traveled extensively has completely lost control of his life. If we listen between the lines of Paul’s words, Jesus’ haunting words to Peter in the epilogue of John’s Gospel can be heard. “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Knowing full well that he would never walk out of that prison cell as a free man, Paul, nonetheless shows no despondency. He sounds content. Why?

Paul knows that the real question in life is not that which we value the most. Rather, the real question in life is what is upon what foundation upon are our lives built? Jesus tells us in the Gospel that Paul has built his life on a foundation that will never collapse. Paul has built his life upon the foundation of the One who created him, namely, God.

In a nation where one’s success is judged primarily on how much money one earns, how much property one owns, how many possessions one owns, it would seem that Jesus’ words would be falling on deaf ears. It matters not what side of the political aisle to which one adheres. We, as a nation, hear relentlessly the propaganda of prosperity as the only means by which one is able to gauge success and by which we can control our lives. The commercials that assail us throughout the day on our radios, televisions, tablets and cell phones, the insane promises of political candidates, entertainments, everything hammers this message without mercy.

Even when it comes to education, perhaps one of the most valuable commodities that society can offer a citizen, we are told that the foundation of education is not to expand our knowledge and of the world, or to better our lives more fully. We are told to be educated so that we can earn more money than the next person, to advance ourselves to a higher economic level within our society, to gain control. The whole notion of a “college liberal arts education” is scoffed at and ridiculed by the wealth chasers of our society.

At the present, with wealth and the acquisition of wealth as the only goal in life, our nation’s foundation is built on nothing more solid than quicksand. How well do the words from the Book of Wisdom described the situation in which we are living. “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.”

So Jesus is asking us to examine very carefully upon what are we basing our lives. What is the foundation of our lives? This is a very pertinent question if we are to be a disciple of Jesus. If our lives are based only upon that which our world recommends, then we will be incapable of being a disciple of Jesus. All the propaganda of wealth, security, possessions will not advance us as disciples of Jesus. In fact, if our sole attention is spent pursuing those ends, then our progress to be disciples of Jesus will be impeded.

Throughout all four Gospels, we are told by Jesus that if we are to be his disciples we must travel lightly and be willing to hand the control of our lives over to God. He tells us to jettison all that will impede our travel. If we have luggage, how much junk of our world have we packed into that luggage? If we insist on carrying our luggage as we follow Jesus, we will lag behind Jesus and, eventually, be left behind. How are we to get into heaven if we all the stuff by which we keep control of our lives is weighing us down?

If wealth is weighing us down, get rid of it. If security is weighing us down, get rid of it. If our possessions are weighing us down, get rid of it. Even if our personal relationships are weighing us down, get rid of them. If God is truly the foundation upon whom our lives are built, then, all we need to carry to follow Jesus is our cross, and, like St. Paul leave the rest to God.

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