Imagine if your world were completely turned upside down. What you thought was good and true, was actually evil and false. That is the theme of today’s readings. Jesus said,
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the kingdom of God is yours.
Then he said,
But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
Jeremiah preached,
Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
When Jesus first returned to Nazareth, shortly after his baptism by John the Baptist and his temptation in the desert by Satan, he was just beginning his Galilean ministry. Nazareth was his hometown. They were probably very accustomed to hearing Jesus take his turn as lector in the Synagogue on the Sabbath. But, something was different this day.
Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying:
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Covenant relationship is a major theme in our faith. It is a major theme in the Old Testament. God comes to us. God makes a Covenant with us.
God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
“See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you . . . .
A “covenant” is an unbreakable bond. What is fascinating about this Divine bond is the disparity between the two sides of this covenant. They are not equal. On the one hand there is God; Almighty Creator of the Universe; All love, who loves us unceasingly. On the other side of the Covenant is us, humans, made in his image and likeness. He offers us eternal friendship and eternal life.
God invites us to enter into Covenant Life with Him. We are free to either accept God’s Covenant, or reject it. To ignore God’s Covenant is to reject it.
In that first reading from Sirach, a book of the Wisdom of God, we hear,
“If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live….”
…., and,
Before man are life and death, good and evil,
whichever he chooses shall be given him.”
What a God we have! Whatever we choose shall be given to us. If we choose death, the actions of death, the culture of death, that is what we will be given. If we choose life, the actions of life, the culture of life, that is what we will be given.
“If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live….”
You can count on me
Teleconference for Diocese of Cleveland and Diocese of Austin, February 16, 2016
From this link you can download the ‘You Can Count On Me’ document in PDF format (2018):
You Can Count On Me Guide
We all recognize this gospel of the “Prodigal Son”. It is a parable that Jesus told to teach the Pharisees and scribes to open their hearts and minds. The older son represents the scribes and Pharisees.
According to the parable of the Prodigal Son spends all of the fortune, his inheritance, which his father gave to him. He spent it all on women and parties in a distant country. Then he experienced economic disaster, bankruptcy, and hunger. The son began to reflect and said to himself:
‘How many of my father’s hired workers
have more than enough food to eat,
but here am I, dying from hunger.
I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him,
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I no longer deserve to be called your son;
treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’
People came to Jesus with concerned over the deaths of some Galileans whom Pilate had killed. Their questions came from a familiar Old Testament-related fear that suffering was the result of sin. Remember in the Book of Job that his friends accused him of being a sinner because of his suffering. God rebuked them for that belief.
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!
Or those eighteen people who were killed
when the tower at Siloam fell on them—
do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”
As St. Paul tells us, there are many who,
conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction.
Their God is their stomach;
their glory is in their “shame.”
Their minds are occupied with earthly things.
Their god is their stomach, … they should be ashamed – – and they only think about earthly things.
We begin Lent. Together. Lent is not an individual journey, but a communal journey. We don’t resurrect to eternal life alone, but together. If you don’t get there, perhaps there is no hope for me, either.
There have been a lot of people in my life, even in my own family who claim, “I don’t need organized religion. I can find God on a mountain top or in a sunrise.” That is selfish, lazy spirituality. Of course we can experience God in nature. But there is much more than that involved. Salvation takes a lot more effort than that. We can’t save ourselves, but, if we separate ourselves from our brothers and sisters in faith, our salvation becomes more difficult. God always intended us to seek salvation as a community formed by him. It’s rather like a lifeboat after a shipwreck. We need to stick together, not separate.
Once in a while I reflect, “Why I am a Christian?” Or, “Why am I Catholic?”
The answer almost always takes me back to the Gospel and the impact of the Gospel in my life.
Now, I have to clarify that we are not just talking about the four books at the beginning of the New Testament in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We need to understand what Saint Paul meant by “Gospel” in his letters. When Paul wrote his letters in the 50’s or 60’s in the first generation of the church, these four books we now call “Gospels” did not exist. These books were written much later, perhaps even in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Do you want to live in the Kingdom of God? I have a simple rule of thumb for assuring our lives in the kingdom of God. There are three steps:
First: Don’t miss Mass.
Second: Receive Holy Eucharist every Sunday and as often as you can.
Third: Go to frequent Confession.
It is that simple.
Today I want to speak to you about generosity and tithing. Over the years I have become convinced that tithing and generosity are keys to understanding the maturity of my personal relationship with Jesus and His Church. In fact, I believe that the way we tithe is a test of our relationship with God. If I don’t tithe my relationship with God is not sound, it is naïve, immature. If I don’t tithe my relationship with the Church is on shaky ground.
Pope Francis said last year, “It is an absurd dichotomy to think of living with Jesus but without the church, of following Jesus outside of the church, of loving Jesus without loving the church.”