WHO IS NO. 1

This Sunday's Gospel from Matthew is a continuation of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. His challenges to us become even more intense, reminding us that everything flows from God, therefore God should be our FIRST priority.

Jesus tells us we cannot serve two masters, basically you cannot be in love with the things of the world and be in love with God at the same time. One must admit, however, that we are in some what of a trap, or at least we are trying to do a difficult balancing act on very slim-tight rope.

If we say we hate the things of the world, its goods, resources, living beings, everything really, then we are logically saying that the world is no good which stands in direct opposition to Genesis 1:31, "And God looked at everything He made and saw that it was VERY good." Granted this is before the fall of humanity and all that goes along with that. Yet, even with the sin everything is not totally corrupted, rather everything is wounded, therefore some good remains, and yet this wounded(ness) cannot be healed on its own, but only by God.

Because of our wounded nature we misuse the goods given to us. Follow me for a moment. I used to do an exercise in the classroom with my students in posing the following question:

Who or what would you say is the most powerful being\thing in all the universe, a being who knows all things, can be everywhere, sustains all life, etc. if you were to believe in such a being or thing. The response from all was, "GOD."

I would then write GOD in big bold letters on the top left side of the board. Then I would proceed to ask a second question. What or who makes you happy in life, it can be anything or anyone. All of the answers would come back as follows, vacation, cell phone, friends, family, sports, hobbies, hanging out, etc. No one would say God.

I would then propose the following. Does it make sense to leave God out of the second question? If God is the most powerful and the most good isn't it logical that He should be our first priority?

They would all stare at me with open mouths, duh. Just joking, that was me once and sometimes even now as we all have to strive to keep God #1 always.

The Gospel is a reminder to keep God #1. When we do there is no problem with the goods, resources, and even living beings of this world. "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides." Everything is good as along as we keep our priorities straight. Keep God #1. AMEN!

Fr. John

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Word "AND"

If I were to ask you what do you think is the most important word in Catholic theology, what would you say? You may answer, “God,” “Jesus,” “Salvation,” “Sacraments,” “Mass,” etc. All of those words have great meaning, but the most pivotal word, the most foundational word is “And.”

As Catholics we believe in Faith AND Works, we believe in Faith AND Reason, we believe in Scripture AND Tradition, we believe in Free Will AND Predestination, and so on.

Today’s 1^st reading clearly examines this AND principle. Sirach tells us to choose between life AND death, Good AND evil. He instructs us to keep the commandments so that we can be saved.

Today we are in store for an apologetical lesson, this does not mean I am apologizing, rather it means I am defending or explaining why we believe what we believe.

There are Christians, usually of the fundamentalist type who shy away from this word AND, if not altogether get rid of it. Some Christians believe in the Bible ALONE, in Faith ALONE, in Predestination ALONE.

A little explaining here will be good. Some believe that every instruction we adhere to come from the bible only, hence all theological understanding, I repeat ALL, must come from the bible ALONE. When referring to Faith ALONE, Fundamentalists are claiming one is saved (in God’s grace) by belief only and that works are only a natural byproduct of that belief. Some Christians believe that God has preordained everything therefore man does not have free will, or at least a will that can be active in the salvation process or the salvation event.

As Catholics we definitely do not believe in the ALONE concept. Yet, the points our Fundamentalist brothers and sisters adhere to are interesting, it strikes up good conversation and thought. For instance, where does evil come from? If God is sovereign and if God created all things then surely He created evil? If He didn’t then who did, and if someone else created evil then God did not create all things. That statement then touches upon our free will? Do we have one? It is also connected to how we are saved, because if I do not have a free will then I have absolutely nothing to do with my salvation. There is a mouthful going on there, allow me to break it down into simple language.

Sirach tells us to choose between good and evil. He gets this notion from Moses who in Exodus exhorts the Israelites to choose between God’s law and its opposite – death. Man therefore has free will, he can choose. However, we cannot choose correctly or completely without God’s assistance. Man is wounded and he cannot heal himself, but when the healing begins or is offered we can choose to accept or not accept. The same goes for sin.

God did not create evil, rather it is born out of our own selves, the part of us that is wounded. Sirach reminds us, “God does not command anyone to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin. This is also verified in the NT in the letter of James when he states, “God does not entice to evil, it begins with our own temptation which then leads to sin.” Another way to describe this is that sin is an absence of something it is the absence of good like darkness is the absence of light.

If we as Catholics believe that God is Sovereign and we believe in predestination does that mean that God planned for people to get sick, for young people to die, for marriages to fail, etc? Sickness and death is not a product or outcome of God, rather sickness, death, and misery are the outcome or product of our humanness, a humanness that is wounded, one that God is always looking to bring back to its original state, a state of perfect grace. That has already begun with Jesus’ sacrifice.

The best argument to show that God is sovereign and that we do have free will is love. Love explains everything better than what any one theologian, scholar, philosopher, etc. could ever answer. Love demands that free will be respected and it also demands that God who is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and prefect to order all things and keep them in control. Love would not be love if God’s influence forced us to do good or to do evil. Love would also not be love if God detached himself from our everyday lives; it gives us a sense of peace and sense of comfort knowing that God is control.

How then does it work, that I can have free will and God still be sovereign? It is a deep mystery, but in the Church’s humble reflection it believes that when God made His plan and when He executes it He included within it all our choices. If we believe in free will alone, then God is a bystander, someone who leaves us to our own devices. If we believe in predestination alone then God is a bully, someone who forces Himself on others. We believe in both, Predestination AND Freewill. It brings balance and understanding to some very difficult concepts. So do not forget the word AND, it is quite important, it helps us understand our part on this great journey of life and it also helps us understand God’s active role in our lives, basically it is the bridge between the human AND divine. To delete the word AND from our theology leaves us a bridge that is broken, one we cannot pass over. We must keep that bridge intact, it is our means to understand ourselves as well as to understanding a loving God.

Fr. John

God calls us by Name and and Sends us forth

This week is our fourth week in our series, "Liturgy: The Work of the People." This week focuses on "being sent," or commissioned. When we are called and sent by God we are Apostles. Below is my reflection for this Sunday's presentation.

Apostles (Called by name and then sent)

CALLED by Name

Our relationship with God is on a first name basis. He calls us by name and we call Him by name. This proves that the relationship is personal and profound. Relationship with God is not just for canonized saints, but for everyone. Allow me to share some Scripture with you showing that God calls us by name.

My people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, (2 Chron. 7:14)

But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine. (Is. 43:1)

The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (Jn 10:3)

He went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons: (he appointed the twelve:) Simon, whom he named Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. (Mk. 3:13-19)

SENT

The LORD said to Abram: "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you." Abram went as the LORD directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. (Gn. 12:1-4)

What was Abraham sent to do? He was sent to go and become the father of nations, i.e. of Israel, eventually Christians, and Muslims. In order to do this God needed someone who was willing to listen, to respond, and finally to do as asked. Abraham was asked to be an example of love, not so much for himself, though his own salvation and friendship with God must have been dear to him, but rather, Abraham served as an example to us. The example being, that I will do for God even if He asks for the impossible, i.e. go and leave this place and head out to a land I will show you, believe that your wife will have your own child – though you are both in your seventies, sacrifice to me your only son…Abraham listens, responds, and does, he is an apostle.

In the New Testament we have many characters that listen, respond and then go forth as apostles. Mary being the prototypical example of a person called by name and then sent, “Hail Mary, full of grace…” and then living out the mission entrusted to her, being the mother of God. The 12 apostles were also called and then sent. Think of the passages where Jesus sends them out two by two to preach the kingdom, in the final chapter of Matthew when he commissions them to baptize, etc.

This was not just for someone else who lived long ago. We are commissioned in the same way. We attend this liturgy because we desired to gather, and then to listen to God’s Word, respond in our hearts, and when we leave here, just like Abraham, Mary, and the 12 apostles, we too will bring the Good News to the whole world.

The mass means nothing if it is not lived beyond these doors. If after I leave here and I live contrary to the life Jesus asks that I live, well then, I am a hypocrite. I understand we all have some hypocrisy in our lives, because we are all sinners, but I am talking about serious sin. If mass is simply another obligation to fulfill, then your faith begins here but it also ends here. That is not the goal of liturgy. The goal God has for us is that when He speaks to us He does so for a purpose and that is - that we go out and present Him to the world. How do we do that you may ask? Well, simply, just be your Christian self, to do so means that the mass does not end here, but is alive in each of us everywhere we go. A true apostle knows this, but more importantly lives it!

Fr. John