“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  

Early on, the Jews had the idea of reducing the Ten Commandments into these two categories. The first tablet of the commandments refers to our relationship with God, the second tablet refers to love of neighbor. 

From Deuteronomy: 6 we get to love God. Jesus then adds Leviticus: 19 for love of Neighbor. The Jews recited the prayer from Deuteronomy: 6 two times a day: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.”  This is called the Shema. Jesus is adding the love of neighbor as a completion of the law. Remember, Jesus came to perfect the law; not to change the law. 

By memorizing and reciting the Shema 2 times a day, it shapes your life. It gives it meaning and direction; the way you live each day. It’s hard to go through a stretch of time and not keep God in your sights. So, morning, noon and night, the Shema was the center of one’s life. It's difficult to live your life in opposition to God and recite 2 times to love God with all your heart; with all your soul. 

When people start to live their lives in disobedience to God, the first thing to go is prayer. When a priest goes to the bishop to ask to leave, the first question asked by some is, “when did you stop saying your prayers?”

Love of God and neighbor are the basis of our faith, but remember, it all starts with the individual.  How can you love your neighbor as yourself if you don’t love yourself?  How can you really, truly love God if you don’t love yourself? Many of us sell ourselves short when it comes to loving ourselves.  I am ugly. I am not that smart. I always say the wrong thing in public. I handle social meetings awkwardly. My hair is not right.  I’m fat.  I’m too skinny. Sound familiar? And if you say these things to yourself long enough, you tend to believe them.

God give us the command to love our neighbor because it helps us perfect our love. It is easy to love a God who always loves you but loving that neighbor that irritates you, we can practice how to love better. Our perfection of our love will be in a connection with God in Heaven.  

The central theme of today’s readings is the greatest commandment in the Bible, namely, to respond to God’s love for us by loving Him, and then to express that love in action by loving Him living in our neighbor. Our love for God is tested and put into practice by the way we love our neighbor. 

The first reading, taken from Exodus explains the second greatest commandment, namely, loving one’s neighbors, especially the underprivileged, as one love oneself. The chosen people of Israel should remember that once they were aliens in the land of Egypt. Just as God protected them and treated them kindly, so they are to protect others and treat them with kindness. Thus, they should become a humane society rooted in the basic religious concept of loving God living in their neighbor. 

In the second reading, St. Paul congratulates the Thessalonians on the positive effects of their example of loving one another as Jesus had commanded them to do. Their mutual love and their loving reception of Paul himself and their response to his preaching, he tells them, has bolstered the Faith of Christians elsewhere who have heard about them. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus combines the commandment to love God with the commandment to love one’s neighbor and gives the result as the one Commandment of supreme importance in Christian life. Jesus underlines the principle that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves because, as God’s children, both of us bear God’s image, and to honor God’s image is to honor Him. Love for our neighbor should not be a matter of feelings, but of deeds through which we share with others the unmerited love that God lavishes on us.

There is a legend handed down from the early Church about John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. Of the twelve original apostles, only John lived to a ripe old age. In his later years, not only his body but also his eyesight and his mind began to fail him. Eventually, according to the legend, John’s mind had deteriorated to the point that he could only speak six words, one sentence, which he would repeat over and over. You can imagine the high regard in which the early Church must have held the last surviving apostle of Jesus. The legend says that every Lord’s Day, John would be carried into the midst of the congregation that had assembled for worship in the Church at Ephesus where John spent the last years of his life. Total silence would fall over the congregation, even though they already knew what John was going to say. Then the old man would speak the words, “My little children, love one another.” — Over and over, he would repeat them until he grew tired from talking, and no one yawned, or looked at his watch, or gazed off into space absentmindedly. They listened as John preached his six-word sermon over and over: “My little children, love one another.”

1) We need to love God: Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength as our response to His Love for us means that we should place God’s will ahead of ours, seek the Lord’s will in all things, and make it paramount in our lives. There are several means by which we can express our love for God and our gratitude to Him for His blessings, acknowledging our total dependence on Him. We need to keep God’s commandments, and offer daily prayers of thanksgiving, praise, and petition. We also need to read and meditate on His word in the Bible and accept His invitation to join Him in the Mass and other liturgical functions when we can. 

2) We need to love our neighbor: God’s will is that we should love everyone, seeing Him in our neighbor. Since every human being is the child of God and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, we are actually giving expression to our love of God by loving our neighbor as Jesus loves him or her. This means we need to help, support, encourage, forgive, and pray for everyone without any discrimination based on color, race, gender, age, wealth, personal attractiveness, or social status. Forgiveness, too, is vital. We love others by refusing to hold a grudge for a wrong done to us. Even a rebuke can be an act of love, if it is done with the right heart. We also express love through encouragement and by helping each other to grow. We express agápe love, seeking the true good of another, by meeting a need that God has given us the power to meet, by comforting each other, by teaching each other, and by sharing the Gospel in deeds and in words. We express our love for our neighbor by waiting upon the aged, nursing the sick, patching up quarrels, and listening to the broken-hearted. In short, loving our neighbor is feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, meeting the basic needs of the poor, helping the unemployed, educating the young, and taking care of the old.

At the time of Jesus, Rome had invaded, conquered and now was occupying Israel.  There were those who hated the Romans for this including the Pharisees.  There were also those who cooperated with the Romans.  They saw benefit through the Roman occupation.  One such group was the Herodians.  

Now you would think that the Pharisees wouldn’t have much to do with the Herodians since each was on the opposite side of the issue.  Well, the Pharisees saw that in joining together with the Herodians, they would be able to entrap Jesus in a very clever way. 

Representatives from the two groups came together and posed the question to Jesus about paying the Roman tax imposed upon the Israelites. They asked Jesus if it was alright to pay a census tax to the Romans.  Neither group was really looking for an answer, they were trying to catch Jesus; to put an end to this trouble maker.  

The Pharisees resented the fact that the Romans had made Caesar a god. The coin had the graven image (the emperor) impressed upon it but even more, the lettering on the coin said, “......the emperor the ‘son of god”. The present Caesar’s father was divinized as a god and so his son, now the present Caesar is declared as “the son of god”. However, the Jews needed to have these coins to trade with the occupiers; the Romans. If Jesus said to pay the Census tax, then He would be aligning himself with Rome and show himself as a non-supporter of the Jewish people.  

However, if He said to not pay the tax, then He would be demonstrating to the Herodians that He was a troublemaker who did not wish to follow Roman law.  Either answer would have been bad for Jesus.  It was a very clever situation laid out to entrap Jesus. But Jesus saw through their cunning and out-foxed those who were out to get Him.  Jesus didn’t answer yes or no.  He refused to take sides in the argument and in a very ingenious way he turned the entire scene upside down and directed the minds and hearts of all those present towards the true God. 

Since the money to pay the Census tax had the image of Caesar imprinted on it and that the money was used to pay the tax for Caesar; then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God, what belongs to God.

In Jesus’ statement of giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God, what belongs to God, He demonstrates the nature of our existence; we live in the world, we must deal with the world, but our end is not in the world, rather it is in Heaven with God for all eternity.  

While in this world, we are called to be good citizens.  That includes paying necessary taxes to support the needs of the community.  We are to conduct ourselves as beneficial members of our community and contribute to the workings of the community for its own sake.  

But while we live in this world, we are to remember we are not of this world.  A Christian must live out their life as an example of what God wants us to be; to keep ourselves separate from the evils of the world and to walk each moment as a child of God.

We just heard a story, about the most unlikely alliance imaginable, between the Pharisees and the Herodians, two groups with a long history of hating each other; only brought together by their mutual desire to get rid of Jesus.

We know who the Pharisees were, but, who were the Herodians? They were the descendants of the pagan nation of Edom and forced into conversion by King Hyrcanus, in 130BC. They were given two choices; convert or be removed from their country. Never having fully bought into the Jewish religion, they devolved into a political group, rather than a religious one. They got their name from their support of Herod and his dynasty. They were seen as traitors, due to their support of Roman rule and Greek culture, which promoted pantheism.

The Jews hated paying Roman taxes for several reasons: it was seen as a loss to Jewish sovereignty, support for the Roman army which oppressed them and provided maintenance for Rome’s pagan temples. Stamped on the Roman coin was the image of Ceasar and the inscription: “Tiberias Ceasar, son of divine Augustus.”, which was seen as blasphemy by the Jews.

When Jesus was asked if the Jews should pay Roman taxes, it was designed to be a no win proposition. If Jesus tells them to pay, he’ll be seen as being disloyal to the Jews. If he says don’t pay, he’ll be reported for rebelling against Ceasar. When Jesus says: “Pay to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and to God what is God’s.”, he turns the proposition on it’s head, calling into question, the Pharisees and Herodian’s loyalties! In the battle of wits with Jesus, they had come unarmed!

When hear these same words from Jesus, it’s a call to a practice of detachment. Do my accomplishments in education, career and with my 401K, lead me to imagine that I’m a self-made man? Or, do I grasp the Lord’s words to Israel: “Remember that I am the one who gives you power to get wealth.”?

Do I buy into our culture’s mantra, that my sexuality belongs to me, as a recreational toy? If I believe that I am entitled, to create my sexuality according to my image, am I denying that God was intentional when I was created and there is a spiritual significance to my original form?

Giving back to God what is God’s, is the way of gratitude. It’s the way of letting go of the fantasy that drives me crazy along with everyone around me; that I’m in control. I’m not the one who’s making my heartbeat. I do not give myself more years on this earth or even a single day. 

Today let us pray: “I bring to you Lord, all that I have and all that I am. There’s nothing good that I have achieved or that I own, that did not come through your kindness. Give me the grace to open my hand and let go of all of my attachments, so that I will belong to you and not the things that I own.

Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”. The common theme of today’s readings is the nature of our obligations to God and to our country. The readings show us how, with God’s help, we can be ideal citizens of both earth and Heaven. 

In the first reading and in the Gospel, a world superpower is matched up against the Kingdom of God. Isaiah the prophet foretells how, not by Cyrus’ conscious intention, his policies as Persian Emperor, would become part of God’s saving plan for His chosen people. The words of the Responsorial Psalm, (Ps 96) “Say among the nations: The Lord is King,” summon all Israel, all the nations and all creation to acknowledge and praise God as King of the universe. The Psalm reminds us that when people put God’s Kingdom first, everyone benefits. 

In the second reading, referring to Jesus as “our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul acknowledges Jesus as One who shares Divine power with God the Father. Paul reminds his Thessalonians that it was God Who chose them to live in Him and gave them the power to produce the “work of Faith … labor of Love and endurance of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before God our Father.” It is for this reason that Paul praises his converts in Thessalonica, assuring them, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers.” 

In the Gospel, Jesus escapes from the trap in the question, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” by stating, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” By this answer, Jesus reminds His questioners that if they are that concerned and careful about paying taxes to the state, they should be much more concerned and careful about their service to God and their obligations to Him as their Creator and Lord.

1) We need to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”: Like it or not, it’s a reality that our ancestors created the kind of government that relies on a portion of its citizens’ income to function. Hence, 1) it is the duty of Christians to pay for the services and the privileges that government provides –- like paved roads, police and fire departments, banks, schools, and other necessities. If we refuse to pay taxes, how will these needs be fulfilled? 2) Another way of “giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s” is to participate actively in the running of the government, electing the most suitable candidates, and influencing them through frequent contacts. 3) We must submit to the civil authorities and respect the laws of our country in order to live in peace. As loyal citizens, we must also see to it that our elected representatives are faithful in maintaining law and order in the country and in promoting the welfare of its citizens. When the state oversteps the mark and puts itself in the place of God, Christians are, as a last resort, absolved from obedience. We must give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and not the things that are God’s. We must “obey God rather than human beings.”

2) We need to “give to God what is God’s”: Since everything is God’s, we must give ourselves to Him 100%. We should be generous in fulfilling our Sunday obligations, and we should find time every day for prayer and worship in the family, for the reading of the Bible, and for the proper training of our children in Faith and morals. St. Augustine teaches that when we truly succeed in “giving to God what is God’s,” we are “doing justice to God.” This requires that we return to God, with dividends, that which God has entrusted to us, remembering that we are mere managers or stewards of God’s gifts. Every year, we are invited to make the stewardship pledge of our financial offering to our local Church for the coming year. Our contribution to the parish Church should be an expression of our gratitude to God, giving back to God all that He has given us. This will help us to combat the powerful influence of materialism in our lives and enable the Church to do God’s work. Our cash offerings signify our commitment to the ministries of the Gospel, which are the activities of the Risen Lord! Every pledge fulfilled enables and empowers ministry. Every pledge fulfilled, every dollar contributed, touches a human life and brings it closer to God. Every pledge fulfilled, every dollar given, is transformed into love for someone else and for ourselves. Active participation in the various ministries of the parish is the offering to God of our time and talents, yet another way of giving to God his due, our whole self.

3) We need to check our heart’s investments: When Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” the command really asks us whether we have invested our heart in the right place, in something worthy of our life’s blood, something that will yield a return that’s worthy of a whole human life. There is only one way to find out where our hearts are. Let us check our daily choices, the little ones as well the big ones, and look for the patterns: What do we usually do when decision time comes for where we will spend our prime time and our best energies? These are the infallible indicators of what we truly value, and what we don’t. Whose image do others see when they look at our life? When people see us, do they see Jesus engraved upon us? To the extent that they do, we are making visible the extent to which we belong to the Kingdom of God.

Today, we hear the last parable before Jesus’ suffering and death, The parable of the Wedding Banquet

Again, the Old Testament reading is directly related to the Gospel.  Isaiah speaks of a great banquet. The Jews had an image of the Great Heavenly Banquet of God; the Messianic Banquet.  There are several items to note in Isaiah’s writing. First, the banquet of which Isaiah speaks is a universal banquet.  “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples…” A banquet, not just for the Jews, but for everyone. Today, Jesus is speaking of that Heavenly banquet; 

Suppose you receive an invitation from the Queen of England to a royal wedding feast.  The social event of the season. You know the food and drinks would be good, and you are assured of having a great time. Would you throw the invitation in the trash without even an RSVP? 

Jesus’ banquet is, indeed a Royal wedding banquet and those invited turn it down for frivolous reasons. Work on the farm?  Continue with my business? Some ignore the invitation all together; just toss it in the trash. Some go so far as to actually kill the messengers. 

So here is a twist in the parable; the king traces down the offenders and kills them; burns down their property. Would you kill the postman who brought you the invitation? AND, if you didn’t respond, would you expect the person holding the banquet to come to your house, kill you? Burn down your house.  

But Jesus is referring to the banquet of God. This is no ordinary King; no ordinary banquet.  Today’s parable is the wedding feast of the King’s son.! God is the King; Jesus is the Son; the Son who swallows up death! This banquet is Heaven; life eternal. The refusal to come is actually death. Hell. Another twist. Would you then invite anyone you could find to fill the seats at your banquet? God invites everyone the Heaven. Everyone has the ability to enter; get back to the Garden. We decide whether we will attend or not. 

Finally, yet another twist.  Everyone is invited but someone shows up without a wedding garment. He is bound and tossed “into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. “For the Chief priests, the outer darkness, grinding of teeth would be a clear reference to Hell. 

But does Jesus sound just for tossing someone out of the banquet just for not wearing a wedding garment? No. Our personal wedding garment is the garment of our Baptism, have we not brought to the feast of Heaven at least our Baptism? If not a Baptism of water, at least a Baptism of desire? That “wedding garment” can be taken off.  The salvation we gain from our Baptism can be lost, rejected by sin. By repentance, confession, we regain the “garment of Baptism, our salvation. 

I need to hold on to my wedding garment so that I’ll be prepared to enter the banquet when my invitation appears. If I don’t RSVP and show up, the alternative is our burning destruction. 

I know hardly anything about farming. Also, any plant I take care of has a short lifespan, but to me, quick action is a good plan. Like the servants in the story, I would get rid of the weeds asap. But the field owner has a curious plan: let both grow, since uprooting the weeds might also uproot the wheat. 

Of course, this is a parable, a word picture, and not a farming lesson. Jesus gives everyone's identities a few verses later in the chapter. The farm is the world or the Church. The owner is our Lord. The enemy is the devil, the enemy of all humanity. 

This parable is unique to Matthew, and perhaps we need to let it sit in our minds and germinate like the seeds in the ground in the story. It is annoying to think that bad and hypocritical people exist in the church, and God doesn’t destroy them. Until the very end, the Kingdom of God and the world will contain weedy people, and we must live with them. 

 But consider that God took a risk to plant the Kingdom. Before he made us, there were only angels in the Kingdom, no weedy humans. God counsels us to be patient with the weeds; He has been patient with humanity far longer. Creating the field of the world made Him open to an attack from the evil one, though the demonic corruption of us. Eventually, God made himself vulnerable by becoming a human through the incarnation.  Notice that the Evil One doesn’t have his own field; he must mar the Lord’s field. According to Saint Augustine, this is part of the basic nature of evil. Evil cannot create; only God creates. Evil is parasitic on the good. Evil takes what is good and twists it to evil’s ends.  Evil is, in the end, only destruction and emptiness.

But still, the question is, why doesn't God purge the Church and the world of evil people? Uproot the weeds, right? Perhaps it will cause some damage, but at least the Church would be pure.

It's been tried before and doesn’t work. First, weeds can turn into wheat. Saint Paul was a persecutor of the Church. He wasn’t “Saint” Paul but Saul until the Lord turned him. The first part of Mary Magdalen’s life was bad, until she met Jesus. Zacchaeus, the tax collector for the Romans, cheated and defrauded until he met Jesus. The good thief was a weed until the very last moments on the cross when he talked to Jesus. Blessed Matthew Talbot was an Irishman who lived from 1856 to 1925.  He was an Irish dock worker, an alcoholic, and a thief from the age of twelve. When he was twenty-eight, he pledged never to drink alcohol again, and he kept that pledge for the next forty years, until his death. He spent those forty years practicing self-denial, working hard, paying back his debts, giving everything he had to the poor, sleeping on nothing but a wooden plank, and praying for several hours a day. 

Second, we don’t know the total effect of the weeds. There may be connections we cannot see. For example, their children and /or grandchildren may be great saints. 

Third, those who are wheat at points may become weeds later. Benedict Arnold, before his name became synonymous with treason, was a great American general and patriot. 

Fourth, people we think are wheat may be weeds. Evil is deceptive. Consider Dr. Harold Shipman, an English family physician. He was beloved and trusted by his patients, yet he became one of history’s most prolific serial killers, murdering some of those under his care. Even after he was exposed, some of his patients still believed in him.

So the best plan for us is not to try to classify people, but to make sure, as much as we can, that we are wheat and we help others to be wheat. We pray that in the harvest at the end of the world, we are in the right bundle. 

Today’s Scripture readings offer us a standing invitation to the everlasting joy of the Heavenly Banquet and a loving warning to stay ready always for this Heavenly banquet by constantly wearing the wedding garment, i.e., remaining in a state of grace by avoiding sins and by doing good.

Food is used in all three readings today as an image of God’s favor and presence with His people. In both the first reading and the Gospel, the joys of salvation are compared to a great banquet of rich foods, choice wines and a place at the table with our Divine Host.  In the first reading Isaiah describes the Messianic banquet on the Lord’s Mountain.  The prophet sees the mountain of the Holy City transformed into a grand banquet hall full of life and good things. He paints the picture of “a feast of rich food and choice wines.”  The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 23) describes how, like a totally committed shepherd, God spares nothing in order to provide nourishment for His flock.  

In the second reading, Paul says that he lives like a guest invited to the Kingdom of God, enjoying vast spiritual benefits as a man of Faith.  So, God will provide for us, he assures us, and we, too, “can do all things in God Who strengthens us.”  

In the Gospel’s parable, Jesus describes the eschatological banquet of Heaven.  He characterizes the reign of God as a wedding feast, a banquet of “calves and fatted cattle.”  When the banquet is rejected by the chosen guests, it is offered to all and sundry.  Thus, all the readings suggest that God loves His people and provides for their eternal salvation.  Today’s Scripture readings give us the strong warning that if we do not accept God’s love, if we reject His gift, we can have no place with Him. We have to stay prepared for the freely offered Heavenly Banquet by getting (in Baptism), and wearing every day, the freely given wedding garment of grace always. We “wear” the garment by cooperating with God’s grace in prayer, in attending Mass and receiving the Sacraments with devotion, in doing good and avoiding evil, and in responding to His love by lovingly sharing our blessings with others. The parable warns us that membership in a Church alone does not guarantee our eternal salvation.

1) We need to be grateful to Christ for the invitation to the Heavenly banquet: From the moment of our Baptism, we have been invited to the Heavenly Banquet and provided with the Wedding Garment of Sanctifying Grace.  These great privileges and blessings are freely offered to all, and they are given to us who accept His Gift of Faith, by a loving God.  These daily Divine invitations to salvation are to be welcomed with a willingness to be daily transformed by God’s grace and according to God’s will. But the same obstacles which prevented the Pharisees from entering the Kingdom –- pride, love of this world, its wealth, its power, and its pleasures –- can impede us, too.  Hence, we must be prepared to reject our ordinary inclinations and to offer ourselves in love and service to Jesus and to his people.  That is how we will make, and keep, our Wedding Garment clean and bright every day.  

2)Receiving these gifts of God fully also demands that, instead of remaining marginal members of our parish community, we bear visible witness to our beliefs.  Let us have the consoling conviction that, while as Church members we are expected to contribute actively to its life and witnessing, the forgiveness of God and of the community is always available whenever we fail, and betray its ideals in our weak moments.  Therefore, let us pray that we may keep our Wedding Garments pure and spotless, and that we may become disciples who really practice the teachings of Jesus, rather than remaining mere Sunday Catholics.  Let us pray for a deeper Faith, Hope, and Love, and a better spirit of responsibility to our community.

3) We need to wear our Wedding Garment for the Eucharistic banquet: The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC #1402-1405, CCC #2837) teaches that the Eucharist is the foretaste of the Messianic Banquet. God Incarnate waits for us in His House of Worship, offering Himself for us on our altars and inviting us to the sumptuous Banquet of His own Body and Blood for the nourishment of our souls in the Holy Eucharist.  Hence, we should never approach to receive Jesus in Holy Communion “improperly dressed”—that is, without being in the state of Sanctifying Grace given us in Baptism. St. Paul says we eat and drink condemnation on ourselves when we approach the Sacrament in mortal sin (1 Cor 11:27-32). Just as the king provides clothes for the guests, so Jesus provides the Sacrament of Penance to cleanse our soul, but if we don’t go to confession and instead come to Communion unworthily, we’re just like the person in the parable who nonchalantly tries to show up for the banquet in his own dirty clothes rather than in the vesture given.  

According to St. Gregory, men and women who come to the Wedding Feast with hatred in their hearts do not wear the acceptable garment spoken of in the parable.  Men and women whose Faith and love are cold, who attend Church only for social reasons, to show off their clothes and jewelry, or to visit with acquaintances, are not dressed in a Wedding Garment pleasing to the King, Christ Jesus.  Our Wedding Garment is made of our grace-assisted works of justice, charity, and holiness.  Let us examine ourselves to see whether we have fully accepted God’s invitation to the Messianic banquet, and let us remember that banqueting implies friendship and intimacy, trust, and reconciliation with Christ Who loves us every day of our lives.

     The landowner today has provided for a vineyard.  Everything necessary to produce good grapes can be found:  walls, solid stock of vines, even an area to press out the grapes when they have matured.  The landowner then offers the vineyard to tenants.  Their job is to work the vines; to tend the vines and protect them from too little or too much water.  To protect them from animals who would eat the grapes.  To make sure that what the landowner had started would have a good ending in the harvest. 

The tenants in today’s Gospel are not good stewards of the vineyard.  Rather than providing for a congenial harvest, they provide for a contemptuous reality toward those sent to collect the vineyard’s produce.  

The landowner is seen as God the Father.  The vineyard itself is seen as Israel.  Those killed or beaten are seen as the prophets.  And of course the son of the landowner is Jesus Himself.  

    What should have been a generous return to the landowner is seen as a greedy attempt to possess that which is not given as a possession, but rather as a trust; it was given as something to be nurtured and protected. 

     So the landowner, God, takes the gift of the vineyard away from the badly- natured tenants and will give it to those who will appreciate the gift and tend the vineyard for the landowner, for God. 

The tenants see the vineyard as something they are entitled to rather than something to be cherished and protected.  They don’t see the vineyard as being entrusted to them for care, but rather as something to do with as they please, not as the true and rightful owner pleases.   

The common theme of today’s readings is the necessity of bearing fruit in the Christian life. The readings warn us of the punishment for spiritual sterility, ingratitude, and wickedness.

In today’s first reading, called, Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard, the prophet describes God’s care of, and expectations for, His Chosen People. God’s Chosen People failed to bear fruit, in spite of the blessings lavished upon them by a loving and forgiving God. Further, they were poor tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. Hence, God laments: “I expected My vineyard to yield good grapes. Why did it yield sour ones instead?”

In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 80), the Psalmist pleads with God to look down from Heaven and to “take care of this vine,” knowing that if any good is to come of the vine, it will be the doing of God, not the people.

In the second reading, Paul tells Philippians about the high expectations he has for them, reminding them that they need to become fruit-producing Christians by praying and giving thanks to God and by practicing justice, purity, and graciousness in their lives.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells an allegorical parable in which the landowner is God, the vineyard is Israel as God’s special people, and the tenants are the political and religious leaders of Israel. The story emphasizes the failure of the tenants, the Chosen People of God and their leaders, to produce fruits of righteousness, justice, and mercy. Giving a theological explanation of Israel’s history of gross ingratitude through the parable, Jesus reminds us Christians that, since we are the “new” Israel, enriched with additional blessings and provisions in the Church, we are expected to show our gratitude to God by bearing fruits of the kingdom, fruits of the Holy Spirit, in our lives, giving Him all the Glory.

The parable of the wicked tenants is an allegory told by Jesus during Passover week in the Temple precincts of Jerusalem.  A parable normally presents one lesson and the details are not relevant.  In an allegory, on the other hand, each detail has a symbolic meaning.  This story is one of the three “parables of judgment” which Jesus told in response to the question put forward by the Scribes and the Pharisees about his authority to teach in the Temple.  It was intended to be a strong warning to the Jews in general — and to the Scribes and the Pharisees in particular, as they were planning to kill Jesus, the Messiah for whom Israel had waited for centuries.  Thus, this parable of the wicked tenants is a theological summary of the entire history of the ingratitude, infidelity, and hard-heartedness of the Chosen People.   Its importance is shown by its appearance in all the three Synoptic Gospels.

1) Are we good fruit-producers in the vineyard of the Church?  Jesus has given the Church everything necessary to make Christians fruit-bearing:  a) The Bible to know the will of God.  b) The priesthood to lead the people in God’s ways.  c) The Sacrament of Reconciliation for the remission of sins.  d) The Holy Eucharist as our spiritual Food and Drink.  e) The Sacrament of Confirmation for a dynamic life of Faith.  f) The Sacrament of Matrimony for the sharing of love in families, the fundamental unit of the Church. g) The Sacrament of (Last) Anointing to restore and strengthen spiritual life and bring mental emotional and  physical healing as well, if that is what God wills. h) Role models in thousands of saints We are expected make use of these gifts and produce fruits for God.

 2) Are we fruit-producers in the vineyard of the family? By the mutual sharing of blessings, by sacrificing time and talents for the members of the family, by humbly and lovingly serving others in the family, by recognizing and encouraging each other and by honoring and gracefully obeying our parents, we become producers of “good fruit” or good vines in our families and give God the Glory for these accomplishments.

3) Are we ready to face these hard questions? Have we come close to fulfilling God’s dream about us?  What kind of grapes do we as a parish community produce?  Are they sweet or sour?  What is our attitude toward everything God has given to us?  Are we grateful stewards for everything God has given to us, or are we like the ungrateful tenants who acted as if they owned everything God had given them?  Do we practice justice every day of our lives? Do we recognize the righteousness of God that keeps us from self-righteousness? Do we remember to show mercy?  Is our parish a real sign of Jesus’ presence and love?  What kind of impact do we have?  Do we measure the quality of our parish by what happens during Mass, or on what happens when we leave Church?  Obviously, both are important but there cannot be one without the other.

If I told you that I loved you------that would be nice.  But if I showed you that I loved you, then that would really be a stronger method of communicating my feelings.  Today, in the Gospel, we are told that the son who actually did the father’s will was applauded. It's not enough to say we believe in Jesus Christ, we must demonstrate, in our actions, that we are truly followers of Jesus; that we really do what Jesus asked us to. Anyone can say they’re Christians but the proof is in how we live out our vocations in the world. 

Jesus is in the Temple speaking to the leaders regarding the elders’ reaction to the message of John, the Baptist’s Baptism of repentance.  The first son refers to the prostitutes and sinners who at first, literally said “no” to God, but then they changed their ways to live a virtuous life.  The second son is ascribed to the chief priests and the elders who rejected the Baptist’s message and do not repent, but SEEM to be living a virtuous life. 

This is an indictment of the leaders who reject repentance; an indictment that carries over to the rejection of the leaders even of Jesus, the Son of God; the Christ. They are not listening, and do not turn to repentance.  the twist of the parable is that those less likely to repent do so while the supposedly “learned” scholars of the people overlook the message of repentance. 

This message of repentance is a mainstay of the prophets of the Old Testament; a call to turn from sin.  Then the greatest of all earthly prophets, John the Baptist carries forward the same message. Finally, Jesus, the Son of God fulfills the prophets and those who should know because of the scriptures and practices of the faith reject the good. 

Am I a Christian that merely says, “yes Lord”, or am I Christian who actually does what a Christian should do by my actions?

If I were to stand here and tell you that I loved you and never demonstrated my love for you in action, you would have every right to call me a liar and a hypocrite. Which would you rather me do, to say I’ll get you a drink of water and not follow through, or actually bring you a glass of water? 

Actions speak louder than words.  The most important things Jesus did while He was on earth was His crucifixion, His suffering and death and His resurrection.  If we read the biblical accounts of these works of Jesus, we find that Jesus said very few words.  He demonstrated His love for us, He didn’t just tell us about it.

And people do notice how we act. If I am polite to someone…. people notice. If I go to Mass during the week…. people notice.  If I am generous…. people notice.  If I am nice…. people notice.  However, If I am rude to someone…. people notice. If I am disrespectful…. people notice.  If I am mean ……. people notice. 

There are many people in the world who seldom, if ever will pick up a Bible and read it.  The most compelling evidence for Christianity is not words in a book or even words spoken, it’s how Christianity is lived out by those who say they are Christians.  Can people tell that I am a Christian by the way I act, by the way I carry myself, by the things I do in public?

What will decide our eternal reward or punishment? Our eternal future depends upon our final decision for or against God — our choosing to obey Him gracefully by doing His will or our choosing to go against His will! Gifted with free will, we are the ones who choose our eternal destiny.

Today’s Scripture passages warn us that it is our final decision for or against God that is most important because we are rewarded or punished according to it. In the first reading, Ezekiel’s message from the Lord God to Israel answers the objections of those who think it is “not fair” that God should give such weight to one’s final decision because a person who, after a very long virtuous life, finally chooses sin will be punished, while another, who finally chooses virtue after a life of loose morals, will be rewarded. Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 25), appeals to God in His compassion and mercy, begging Him to wipe away our sins and extend mercy to us. 

The second reading, taken from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, also affirms the truth that the final choice for God, made by perfect obedience to Him, will be rewarded. Paul emphasizes the fact that, because of Christ’s obedience to God’s will, emptying himself, taking human form and humbling himself by accepting death on a cross, that God the Father exalted Christ, bestowed on him the Name above every other name, and made Jesus the recipient of universal adoration. 

In today’s Gospel parable, a man with two sons tells both to go out to work in the vineyard. This parable, found only in Matthew, outlines two responses to God’s call.  The first son says, “I will not,” but changes his mind and does what is needed.  The second son says, “I go, sir,” but does not go.  Verses 31-32 make it clear that the repentant tax collectors and prostitutes are seen in the first son, and the second son signifies the self-righteous among the chief priests and elders.  When John the Baptist called people to repent, tax collectors and prostitutes repented and were baptized.  It was easy for them to repent, because their sins were obvious, even to themselves.  The religious leaders, however, were not able, or ready, to admit their need for repentance, and therefore they rejected John and his call.  So also, they rejected Jesus.  

We are reminded of Jesus’ words earlier in this Gospel, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven” (7:21). The life-saving difference between the two sons was the fact that one had the good sense to remember the love of his father, to turn from evil and decide to do what was right.

(1) We each need to lead a responsible Christian life, saying “yes” to God. Each one of us is responsible to God for every one of our actions, and the just God will punish or reward each of us according to our actions.  As we do not know at what moment death will take us, our only guarantee of dying in God’s friendship is to live in that friendship always, saying “Yes” to God in our deeds. We should become men and women who profess our Faith in word and deed. God is ever with us to strengthen us, to pardon us, and to lift us up again when, through human weakness, we stumble on the road. God is calling us right now, inviting us to work in His vineyard, inviting us to say “Yes” to Him with our words and actions. Let us accept God’s invitation by purifying our hearts frequently in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; by resolving to act upon our promises each morning before we get out of bed; and by declaring interiorly that people will be able to identify us as followers of Christ, not by empty words or pious gestures but simply by our Christian actions. In this way, we shall live a life filled with the joy that doing the will of the Father brings.

2) Instead of trusting in lame excuses, we need to seek God’s mercy.  We often use flimsy excuses to silence our conscience. They run like this: “I didn’t realize how sinful I was”; “I was just too busy with work, family, and a decent social life to have time for Sunday Mass”; “That’s what all my family does – it’s got to be OK!”; “The devil made me do it – it wasn’t my fault!”; “I couldn’t be different from everyone else—I’d look stupid!”; “I meant to straighten things out – I just didn’t get to it.” These are not valid excuses at the judgment seat of God. Hence, if we have been disobedient to God in our past life, we need to knock at the door of God’s mercy now. We need to remember that what God in his mercy did for the tax-collectors and harlots Jesus encountered, the Matthews, the Augustines, and the millions of unknown penitents who are now Saints in Heaven, He can, and will, do for us, if we repent of our past sins and renew our lives as the first-asked son in the parable did. It is never too late for us to be transformed.

Being a Disciple of Christ; being a Christian is not a spectator sport.  By our human nature we tend toward the easy path; we want to drift through life and enjoy the good things of it.  But because of the Incarnation, our souls are awakened to the reality that we are called to be workers in the vineyard of the Lord.  

Man is defined in many scientific ways. Homosapien means rational man. That’s true. That’s what sets us apart from every other animal. Then there is homo faber. Man fabricator or worker with tools. Yes, we have the ability to change our environment and surroundings by making items. But in regards to Christianity, we see ourselves as homo adorans or worshiping man. 

As creations of God, homo adorans is our most complete definition. Our purpose in life? To know, love and serve God in this world so as to be happy with Him in the next.  Everyone is called to worship God by love, service and learning about God and as a result to build up the Kingdom of God. 

The highest form of worship is the celebration God has given us; the Mass. The word Mass comes from the Latin missio meaning mission. The Mass feeds us and “fills up our tanks” as we offer back to God the perfect worship He gave to us. 

But most of us are homo adorans once a week. We have to remember that one hour a week doesn’t cut it. We must worship God every day, and every part of every day. In this, we live out our true relationship with God and our neighbors. We cannot leave the worship at the door of the church; it has to go with us. Remember that Morning Offering. O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I give you my prayers, works and sufferings; our entire life becomes a prayer. Silent prayer is good, but communicating throughout the entire day creates that relationship we want with Jesus.  

From the beginning God wanted us to work in His garden/vineyard and even after the Fall, God graciously blessed mankind to work within the fallen world for the glory of God and the dignity of man.  We depend upon God for everything and we everything we do can be for the honor and glory of God in a reciprocal motion of receiving and giving.    God, in His infinite mercy, will accept what we are able to give Him and some of us won’t see past the church door. But God is grateful for what you ARE doing. But, we can all move towards being the homo adoarans who works throughout the entire “day” of our life worshiping and working for God. 

Today, the parable speaks of wages. All of us are actually working for the same wage; the Kingdom of Heaven.  The mercy of God is so vast! Some of us see the continuous working and worshiping of God early in our lives, others in the “mid-day” of our lives. While still others finally get it at the “dusk” of our lives. 

And in His mercy; it is never too late. We can turn to the work and adoration of God at any time even unto our last breath. Even in this last second, we all receive the same wage; Heaven. 

How are we saved? By grace? By works? Or by a combination of grace and works? In Ephesians, Paul says: “We are saved by Grace, through faith; not by works, so that no man can boast.”. James says: “Show me your faith without works and I’ll show you my faith by my works.”. But what good works did the thief on the cross bring with him to paradise? Only the words: “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”.

The definition of grace is “unmerited favor.” So why in our parable, is Jesus likening the kingdom of heaven to a vineyard where workers are meriting wages?

Sometimes theology is not a “this or that” proposition. The great harmony between grace and works comes together through the beauty of the Catholic method of contextual interpretation when we lay the gospels side by side with Paul’s letters.

Grace is like a 2-sided coin! The God side of the coin is all grace. He knows who he has chosen since before the foundation of the world. On man’s side of the coin, we must focus on our responsibility to participate in the divine life. Paul advises us: “Give diligence to make our calling and election sure.” The fruit of good works evidences our connection to the vine. It is the vine that generates the fruit. The fruit does not generate the vine.

More than 20 times in the gospels, Jesus says that our sacrifice and service will merit us rewards in heaven. But there is an important difference between the meriting of rewards after our conversion and meriting God’s approval and our entrance into heaven. Paul says: “If we seek to be justified by works, then Christ died for nothing.”!

The catechism of the Catholic Church says that “Man's merit in itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits are pure grace.”

In ways outside of our awareness, the Holy Spirit inspires our good works and predisposes us to do them. At the end of the day, like a loving and proud father, he gives us credit.

The next time someone tells you that you Catholics believe in salvation by works, tell them 2 things: we are on board with salvation by grace and the importance of good works is that they are the evidence of that grace operating in our lives. 

We can never go wrong by following St Augustine’s advice: “Work as though everything depended on you. Pray as though everything depended on God.”

Our readings for this Twenty-Fourth Sunday concern forgiving those who wound us and being reconciled with them. All three readings today remind us of the path to forgiveness, mercy, and reconciliation and challenge us to walk this, the only Way to Life.

Sirach, in the first reading, reminds his listeners that if they don’t heal and forgive and show mercy, they can’t expect to receive mercy from God in return. It is unwise to nurse grudges and wise to forgive because our life span is very short and our eternal destiny is decided by how we forgive, how we work for reconciliation with those who wound us, and how we render humble and loving service to them. In today’s Psalm, (Ps 103), the Psalmist sings, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.” 

In the second reading, Paul reminds us that we have to forgive others because we belong to Christ who, by his own example in forgiving those who killed him, taught us how we must forgive in our turn. Since we humans are related to each other as brothers and sisters of Jesus, we are in the family of God, so hatred and bitterness toward anyone should have no place in our hearts. 

In today’s Gospel, through the parable of the two debtors, Jesus teaches us that there should be no limit to our forgiveness and no conditions attached to our reconciliation. We represent the greater debtor in the parable because we commit sins every day and, hence, we need God’s forgiveness every day. But we must forgive in order to be forgiven. Jesus explains, after teaching us the prayer Our Father, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father also will forgive you. “

1) We need to forgive, forget, and be reconciled: In the light of eternity and the shortness of our span of life, harboring old grudges is pointless. Neighbors who remained hostile and unforgiving till their death are buried a short distance from one another in the same cemetery. Our ability and willingness to forgive are the measure of the depth of our Christianity. The forgiveness that we offer others is the indispensable condition which makes it possible for us to receive God’s forgiveness and to pray meaningfully: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Let us remember St. Francis of Assisi’s prayer: “It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.” Our failure to offer pardon means that we have forgotten God’s goodness or have not fully appreciated the unconditional forgiveness we have received from Him. What God expects from us, and offers us grace to give, is limitless forgiving with the ability and willingness to overlook faults and to keep on loving even in the face of insults.

2) “Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?” Incidents of simple human frailties challenge each of us on a personal level. We need to find healing for painful family relationships. We need to find forgiveness for/from an employer and for/from a friend who has deserted us. We need to find forgiveness for the teacher who may have judged us wrongly. We need to find courage to stop, to be silent, and to pray for grace when we find ourselves in conflict with the one we most trusted, so that we may answer with compassion — not counter-attack nor recriminate, but seek the reasons for what we experience as a betrayal, that we may resolve the issue, be reconciled, and  forgive one another without conditions.

3) We need to think more of the advantage of forgiving: Let us forgive the person who has wronged us before the hatred eats away at our ability to forgive. It will not be easy, but God is there to help us. We can do this by offering that individual to God, not sitting in judgment on him or her, but by simply saying, “Help so-and-so and me to mend our relationship.” Whatever the hurt, pain, disappointment, fear or anger that we may be feeling, we need to say, “God, I give this over to You. I can’t take care of it, but I know that You can. What would You have me to do?” And then listen. This isn’t merely being passive – or passing the buck to God. In fact, it’s just the opposite. This kind of prayer and this kind of listening has to give birth to action, but it is action that realistically acknowledges God’s Lordship, and trusts that, through God’s power, we can do all things, even the impossible . . . like forgiving. Alexander Pope once said, “To err is human, to forgive, Divine.” Believe it – because God alone is the Divine! When we withhold forgiveness, we remain the victim. When we offer forgiveness, we are doing it also for our own well-being. Forgiveness allows us to move beyond the pain, the resentment, and the anger. We always have a choice: to forgive or not to forgive. When we forgive, we make the choice that heals.

 4) We may never forget the hurt we have experienced, but we can choose to forgive. As life goes on and we remember an incident that was hurtful and caused great anger, we need to remind ourselves that with God’s grace we have already forgiven the one that hurt us. Time does heal memories. Time can dull the vividness of the hurt and thus the memory will fade. We must never let the person who hurt us own us. Forgiveness finally changes us from prisoners of our past to freed children of God, at peace with Him, with each other, and with our memories. Now we can see that those who cause such destruction and pain are sinful suffering men and women who need the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ.

The common theme of today’s readings is the impact of our membership in the Church on our “private” lives. Being members of the Church means we belong to the single Body of Christ and form a community of brothers and sisters in Christ. We are, therefore, the “keepers” of our brothers and sisters, for each one of us is important to all the others in our Faith community. That is why we have to be meaningfully present to, and take responsibility for, other people.  Inhuman behavior against defenseless people, like child-abuse, elder-abuse or spouse-abuse, is something about which we need to be really concerned, to the point of taking appropriate action to protect the victims. This individual responsibility in a Christian society includes, as today’s readings remind us, our responsibility for each other. Perhaps the most painful obligations of watchful love are fraternal correction and generosity in forgiving and forgetting injuries.

In the first reading, God tells Ezekiel that he is to be a “watchman for the house of Israel,” obliged to warn Israel of moral dangers.  If Ezekiel should refrain from speaking God’s word, intended to convert the wicked, God would hold Ezekiel responsible for the death of the wicked.  Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 95), urges sinners to hear God’s Voice, not to harden their hearts, and to remember that He is the One Who made us, and the Rock of our salvation. 

In the second reading, St. Paul points out that the love we should have for one another should be our only reason for admonishing the sinner.  Love seeks the good of the one who is loved. Therefore, we should admonish one another so that we all may repent and grow in holiness. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that true Christian charity obliges a Christian not only to assist his neighbors in their temporal and spiritual needs with material help and prayer, but also with correction and counsel for an erring brother or sister who has damaged the community by his or her public sin. If the erring brother refuses a one-on-one loving correction by the offended party, then the Christian is to try to involve more people: first, “one or two others,” and eventually “the Church.” 

If the offender chooses to disregard the believing community’s judgment, the consequence is “excommunication.” This means that if none of the three steps has brought a resolution of the situation, then the wrongdoer should be treated like “a Gentile or a tax collector.” That is, the wrongdoer should be put out of the Church with the hope that temporary alienation alone may bring the erring person to repentance and change. But the excommunication should be carried out with genuine grief (1 Cor 5:2), not with vindictive glee over another’s “fall” or self-righteous pride. Harsh words and an aggressive attitude have no place in a Christian community. Finally, Jesus mentions the efficacy of community prayer in solving such problems, for Christ is present in the praying Christian community. The whole thrust of the passage is that we should all work towards reconciliation rather than punishment.

1) We are keepers of our brothers and sisters: Modern believers tend to think that they have no right to intervene in the private lives of their fellow believers, so they pay no heed to the serious obligation of encouraging an erring brother or sister to give up his or her sinful ways. Others evade the issue saying, “As a sinner, I don’t have the moral courage or the right to correct someone else.” But Jesus emphatically affirms that we are our brothers’ keepers, and we have the serious obligation to correct one who has injured us in order to help our neighbors retain their Christian Faith and practice, especially through our model Christian lives. Have we offered advice and encouragement to our friends and neighbors and co-workers when it was needed, and loving correction in private where that was possible?  Let us admit the fact that a great part of the indifference to religion shown   by our young men and women is due to lack of parental control, training, and example. If the children of Christian families grow up as practical pagans, it is mainly because the Christian Faith has meant little or nothing to their parents.  It is a well-known fact that when parents are loyal to their Faith in their daily lives, their children will, as a rule, be loyal to it.

2) Gather in Jesus’ name and work miracles: Today’s Gospel reminds us of the good we can do together, and of how we can do it. Jesus says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” If any group of us will gather, work, and act with the Holy Spirit guiding us, we become much more than simply the sum of our numbers. Two becomes more than two, and three becomes more than three. The sum of our individual ideas, resources, and abilities becomes much more because of the synergy that God’s Presence provides. In our Faith community, we act together so that we may help one another in God’s Name, thereby multiplying our resources and ability to do what God calls us to do. Today, Jesus makes it clear how important we are, one to another. Through our links to one another in Christ, a capacity rises in our community, enabling us to draw on God’s power to make healing and life-giving love more effective among us, His people. We come together, we stay together, we work together –- in our Lord’s Name, bringing to focus the Presence of God and unleashing the power of the Spirit –- to transform our lives and the lives of all God’s children.    When we gather in Jesus’ name, the action opens our hearts to allow Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, to be a part of us and of what we do. That is what we experience at each Eucharist—we in Him and He in us.

Last week, we heard Peter’s confession.  Who do people say I am? “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” So Jesus says to Peter, you are the Rock and I will build my church upon you. Today, in the very next verses of the Gospel, Jesus lays out what is going to happen: He will suffer and die.  Peter, impetuously jumps in to rebuke the one he claims to be the Son of God. Peter tells Jesus, “Let me tell you how it is going to be” Peter has the audacity to tell God what to do! 

Jesus called Peter the Rock is almost immediately renamed Satan who is the very adversary of Jesus and God’s people. Get behind me; you are a hindrance to me.  The Greek for hindrance is “scandalon” from which we have the English word “scandal”. The original meaning of “scandalon” is a rock you stumble over; a rock you trip over when you walk. Peter is the rock of faith when he confesses Christ as the Messiah, but now he is a rock that just gets in the way. 

Many of us stop at “get behind me Satan.” But there is much more in Matthew’s Gospel. The conflict now brings about the opportunity for Jesus to dive deeper into the meaning of his mission of suffering, death and resurrection along with a deep discussion of what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus.  

First, Jesus gives the Apostles the conditions of discipleship: deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me. In today’s world, we mostly think of discipleship as accepting the believes of Jesus’ teachings; a disciple is a believer. The Greek for disciple means student; a learner. A student doesn’t just believe what he is taught, he follows and imitates the Master; you act like him, walk with him. So disciple, we have to accept suffering and we have to imitate Christ. In our contemporary Christian we take the idea of taking up our cross as accepting the day to day sufferings we encounter. And that’s good. But in the time of Jesus, telling someone to take up a cross meant to take up a manner of execution.  (Imagine saying take up your electric chair and follow me.) Jesus is calling us to suffering and death. Jesus is headed towards Jerusalem, to his death.

Next, Jesus outlines the paradox of being a disciple. If we are attacked, our inclination is to run for safety; to protect our lives, but Jesus says, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” If we suffer and die for the sake of Christ, we end up saving our lives. For us, and for Jesus, the only way to the Resurrection is by way of the cross on Calvary. First the cross; then the crown, Good Friday and then Easter. 

Finally, Jesus gives us the cost of discipleship. “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life.” The Greek word usage is psuché which can mean life and also soul; “Or what can we give in exchange for our life; our soul?” Jesus is telling us that salvation cost us nothing in terms of worldly possessions but everything in terms of giving Jesus our hearts, our minds our souls. If we take on the world as our ends, and do not deny ourselves of the contrary attitudes and allurements of the world, we enrich our physical existence, but avoid the things of the soul. There is no doubt to Jesus’ reference to the soul and eternal life since in the last statement for our reading for today, He turns to the end times: “For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.” If we believe, we must act for the sake of our souls and others. 

“Who do you say I am?” ………. Jesus’ question to the apostles can just as easily be meant for us today.  Each one of us has to ask themselves, “Who is Jesus to us?”  

I guess the most important thing to keep in mind when we name who Jesus is His statement, “whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.”

God is everywhere.  In Him, we live and move and have our being. Think of it as if we were fish. Water surrounds us. In water, we live and move and have our being. God dwells with us; all around us and in us. Or, perhaps, in air, we live and move and have our being; air all around us and in us. Take away the fish’s water, our air? our God? We die. That image and likeness we speak of, the soul?  God dwelling within us. 

So go back to whatsoever you do….

When we hurt the least of us, we hurt Jesus. When we help each other, we help Jesus. When we celebrate anyone, we celebrate Jesus. The homeless, the shut-in, the sick, the rich, the happy, the miserable, our enemies…. all the people we come in contact with are the same as coming in contact with Jesus.  Even when we hurt ourselves, we hurt Jesus; help ourselves, we help Jesus.  I am one of the least.  Then, how can we ever hurt another person?  Whether it be by hitting or by words. How can I hurt myself?  How can we hurt anyone without hurting Jesus?

This takes the notion of “what would Jesus do?” to an entirely different level of not just what he would do, but “how would we treat Jesus” in our dealings with each other.  

If each one of us is made in the image and likeness of God, can we not see the dignity each person carries within themselves? “Who do you say I am?” You, Jesus are my family member, the person setting next to me in the church pew, my neighbor, my friend, and yes, even my enemy.  The homeless, the forgotten, the stranger, the prisoner.  You Jesus, are all of us and all of us are You.  All of us are the Mystical Body of Christ and Jesus is the Head. 

Remember the words… “Lord, when did we see you hungry? Lord, when did we see you naked?  Lord, when did we see you thirsty?”  That’s Jesus. That’s who we say He is.  The person right in front of us and also, the person we see when we look in the mirror. 

August 23 XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time

We might call this Sunday “Power Sunday,” because the main theme is the handing over of the “Keys” which open and shut, representing authority in the Church and in the Kingdom. In today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges us to know him personally and to serve him and love him as Lord, and he wants from each one of us our total, whole-hearted response.

The first reading, taken from Isaiah, gives a detailed description of the investiture of a royal court official. The robe, the sash, and the keys are insignia of this office. The Lord God, through Isaiah, tells Shebna that the keys of authority will be taken away from him, the unfaithful, proud “master of the royal palace.” In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 138), David thanks God for having raised him from lowly origins and given him authority as King over the people of Israel.  In the second reading, St. Paul points out that God is the Source of all authority on earth and in Heaven. 

Today’s Gospel passage, giving the Petrine promise of Mt. 16:16-20, defines Catholicism. Here, Jesus reveals his plan to build his Church on the strong bedrock foundation of Peter, to whom he will then give the Keys of teaching and governing authority in the Church. Thus, Simon Bar-Jona receives a new mission symbolized by a change of name, Cephas (Peter), is the rock (petros), on which Jesus will build his Church which the power of evil cannot overcome. Peter and his successors, will be given the Keys of the Kingdom and the power to bind and to loose (make laws; exercise authority) on earth, decisions which Heaven will ratify. Thus, Jesus commissions Peter, giving him authority and leadership in the Church.

The Catholic Church teaches that by giving Peter the “keys” along with the promise that all his decisions would be ratified in Heaven, Christ gave Peter the power of freedom from error when he was officially teaching the universal Church. In other words, Peter received primacy in the Church and the gift of infallibility in his official teaching on matters of Faith and morals. The first Vatican Council defined this Dogma, and the second Vatican Council reconfirmed it. As the Church was to continue long after Peter had died, it was rightly understood from the beginning that those privileges given to Peter which were necessary for the successful mission of the Church, were given to his lawful successors –  the Popes – as well.

1) We need to accept Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior:  Jesus is not merely the founder of a new religion, or a revolutionary Jewish reformer, or one of the great teachers. For Christians, he is the Son of God and our personal Savior.  This means that we have to see Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the Savior, and the Redeemer.  He is our beloved Friend, closer to us than our dear ones, and a living experience, who walks with us, loves us, forges us, helps us, and transforms our lives and outlook. We have to give all areas of our lives to him.  He must have a say in our daily lives, and we must radiate all around us his sacrificial agápe love, unconditional forgiveness, overflowing mercy, and committed service.  The joy, the love, and the peace that we find in Jesus should be reflected in the way we live our lives.

2) We need to experience Jesus as our Lord and Savior and surrender our lives to him. The knowledge of Jesus as Lord and personal Savior should become a living, personal experience for each Christian. This is made possible by our listening to Jesus through the daily, meditative reading of the Bible, by our talking to Jesus through daily, personal and communal prayers, by our offering our lives on the altar with Jesus whenever we attend Holy Mass, and by our leading a Sacramental life. The next step is the surrender of our lives to Jesus by rendering humble, loving service to Him in Himself and in all others, with the strong conviction that Jesus is present in every person. The step after that is to praise and thank God in all the events of our lives, both pleasant and painful, realizing that God’s loving hands are behind everything.

In Jesus’ day, the Jews had no dealings with the Gentile peoples. They did not marry, do business with or associate with them. The unspoken mantra was: “I don’t smoke, I don’t chew and I don’t go with folks who do!”! The disciple’s inability to show compassion to a mother’s desperation, over her daughter being tormented by demons, was born of this mindset.

How was that a compassionate Jesus would use the word dog, in addressing the woman? Rather than using the term as a racial slur, Jesus was simply mimicking the popular Jewish practice of his day, where the word dog was used to distinguish Jews from gentiles. In the way this word was used, it implied a pet, like puppies around a table.

The gentile woman is representative of everyone who does not look like, act like or think like you and me. Until we step out of our religious box and accept people for who they are, they will never relate to us or want what we have. 

Over and over again in the gospels, we see the “Master Bridge Builder” working to bring outsiders in. No where do we hear that Jesus asked someone to convert before he met their need. Because he met their needs, they converted.

If there’s any outsider group that we need to build bridges with today, it’s the 39% of Americans, under 30, who identify as “nones”. Here’s what they say when asked why they have no religious affiliation: 

“I’ve done things like going to church and youth group with my family, but I haven’t felt any religious connection to that. I have not had any moments with God. I've not felt any faith in a divine being.”

How sad to think they looked at church but did not see Jesus! They’ve heard dogma, without hearing practical life application.

All of this cannot be laid at the church’s door. We are living in a culture of syncretism, which is the blending of different religious beliefs, cultures or philosophies, into a new, unified system, where traditions meet and practices are combined. There is a spiritual consumerism, clicking on the Amazon of ideologies, until a person finds the one that fits their lifestyle. For many it becomes a feel good religion, which includes no cross or self-denial!

What can I, as an individual, do that will make any real difference against this huge, cultural shift? Fall back on the simplicity of the gospel! Jesus said: “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me”. He did not say: “If doctrine is lifted up, all men will be drawn to me.”!

Love people enough to listen to their story without judgement or interrupting. As soon as I criticize someone’s beliefs, I’m calling their baby ugly! Defenses come up and communication shuts down. The opportunity for learning is lost! People are not stupid! They know if you love them or if you don’t. Doctrine can be argued, love cannot be.

Never forget, the most powerful tool you have in your bag is your testimony. If I tell you: “When I pray, I have peace of mind.”, what are you going to say? “No you don’t.”?  If I say: “It’s because our marriage has a spiritual base, that it stays together.”, what are you going to say? “No it isn’t.”?

What a difference we can make, if starting today and every day after, we go out of here seeing every encounter that we have with others as a divine appointment, prearranged by the Holy Spirit! How carefully we’d listen! How sensitive we’d become to the expression of the need beneath the conversation! How easily we’d become the kind of healing presence that casts out darkness!

In today’s gospel from Matthew, Jesus is traveling outside of Galilee with some of his disciples. Along the way, they encounter a Canaanite woman. She trails after them shouting and pleading for a cure for her daughter. Jesus doesn’t say anything at first, but as she pleads, he rebukes her, saying that he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. Then, as she keeps shouting, Jesus calls her a dog. The woman doesn’t stop, and finally Jesus cures her daughter. But neither Jesus nor his disciples appear very kind.

But appearances, as the saying goes, can be deceiving. This is a Canaanite woman. The Old Testament has nothing good to say about them. Deuteronomy is concerned that they might corrupt the Israelites. So she is not just a gentile but a member of an ancient enemy group symbolizing everything opposed to the Jews. Yet this person, a member of an excluded group, sees something in Jesus. This something is what she depends on. The cure is not hers by right,

only by the grace and mercy of Jesus. The surrounding context highlights the  significance of this. Encounters with the Pharisees in Matthew’s Gospel bracket this encounter. In an encounter right before today’s gospel, they are hostile to him and are sure of their right to God’s favor by their

ancestry as God’s chosen people. So two encounters, two races, two different attitudes. Speaking of attitudes, Jesus first ignores her and then seems to reject her plea. Jesus is, as always, right; the age of the Church and ministry to the Gentiles has not yet come. He must first call the Jews before the age of the Gentiles. But this woman’s faith moves him to grant her request. Her faith grows in the passage amid his seeming indifference. She first addresses Jesus

as “Son of David,” an ambiguous term that could be political. In the end, she calls him “Lord,” acknowledging much more. So in the passage there are two cures: the woman’s daughter is cured, and the woman herself is cured of her paganism.

Jesus seemed at first to ignore the woman, but he wasn’t; he was strengthening her spirit and deepening her faith. How about us? Don’t we sometimes encounter God’s silence, which can feel like indifference to our troubles? I have; I think most of us have, even great saints. There is a famous story about the great 16th-century mystic Saint Teresa of Avila. As St. Teresa made her

way to her convent during a fierce rainstorm, she slipped down an embankment and fell squarely into the mud. The irrepressible nun looked up to heaven and admonished her Maker; If this is how You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few of them! And yet Saint Theresa also said, “What will He not give us who is both all-powerful and has

such joy in giving?”

There is so much in this Gospel passage; this is only a summary. So I have homework for you. One way to pray over a passage is to imagine yourself as one of the characters in the scene and then try to imagine what that person is thinking. Then apply that to your life. So this week, try to decide which person you might be in this episode of the Gospel.

Are you one of Jesus’ disciples? Annoyed that this woman, a pagan, is bothering Jesus? Are there people in the Church who are just too loud and bothersome? Or are they like this woman, an outsider, that you really wish would go away? Have I treated others suffering as a bother?

Are you the Canaanite woman? The Lord seems to be ignoring your prayer? Can you allow God to increase your faith by continuing to pray, continuing to trust that God is merciful, that God is Love? Is there someone in your life calling for help, asking you to be their advocate? How persistent are we in praying for loved ones?

Are you the sick daughter, unable to help yourself because of physical and/or spiritual illness?

Can you have the humility to accept that we sometimes have to depend on the intercession of others? That is a big part of the communion of the saints in the Church. You can pray for an advocate as assiduous as the Canaanite woman.

Can you identify with the Pharisees who clashed with Jesus immediately before this passage? Do you trust in your own worthiness? Can you instead accept that all of us are sinners, relying on the

mercy of God, and be content with the breadcrumbs from heaven, the bread of angels? Then there is Jesus. We can imagine ourselves as Jesus. He wants us to imitate Him so we can grow in His image. Can we have the wisdom to help others in the way they need? Can we extend grace to those who annoy us, even to our enemies? This passage shows Jesus helping a Canaanite, a traditional enemy of the Jews. What happens when an enemy approaches us? Jesus;

kingdom will expand to include all people, regardless of race or status. As Isaiah, prophecy in today’s first reading says, “For my house will be called the house of prayer for all peoples.”

Water symbolizes many things: life, cleansing, and chaos. In Genesis, the Spirit hovers over the waters expressing God's confident power over chaos. Later, the water washes away all sin, Noah and his family sail on the waters to restart mankind. The Israelites pass through the Red Sea they are surrounded by water which prefigures Baptism. When Israel enters into the promised land, the waters of the Jordan river are stopped by God to allow an easy entrance. A sign of Baptism which leads to the new promised land, the New Jerusalem.

In today's Gospel, the Apostles are on the open sea and Jesus walks out to them. Matthew tells us they are several miles out, so Jesus is not on some sand bar or on the shoreline covered with fog. It is the fourth watch; 3:00 A.M. to 6:00 A.M. It is always darkest before the dawn so it is the darkest part of the night. Frightened by the unexpected view, the followers assume it is a ghost. But Jesus says "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." The translation says, "it is I", but the original has Jesus saying. "Ego eimi "; I AM. Jesus is declaring He is the Eternal God.

Impetuous Peter needs proof. "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." And Jesus says, "Come" and Peter begins to walk on the water toward Jesus. His faith brings him to Jesus, but when he focuses on the surroundings, he sinks. In our faith, we are given a participation in the Divine life so can we have our lordship over evil if we keep God as the focus of our lives, rather than the culture around us.

When we look away to what frightens us, we lose God. Through Christ, we conquer everything. Graft yourself onto Him and you will make it. Peter, "you of little faith, why do you doubt?" There it is, little faith looks away from the source of power. "Let go; let God" and "all to Jesus, I surrender" take on a profound meaning. Lord, increase my faith!

After [Jesus and Peter] got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage. Homage here means they feel down and worshiped Jesus. And they say, "You are the Son of God." Jesus doesn't' stop them but accepts the praise.

Whenever we see the Apostles with Jesus connected with a boat in the Gospels, it represents the Church. In fact, and I've said this before, the place where you are sitting is called the nave, from the Lt. Navis meaning boat. The Church is the boat in which if we stay, and in that "boat" we will be safe from the world around us. Stay in the boat; stay in the Church and believe the great I AM Who tells you to not be afraid.

August 09 IXX Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings for this week speak of God’s saving presence among His people, our need for trusting Faith in our loving and providing God Who always keeps us company, and our need for prayer in storms of life.

The first reading shows us how Elijah the prophet who had defeated the 450 false priests of Baal with the help of just such a trusting Faith in the power of Yahweh, fled to the Lord God for help and strength on Mt Horeb, and encountered Him there in His mercy. 

In the second reading, Paul, addressing, the Romans laments and mourns over the Jews who, having lost their Faith in Yahweh and His prophets, had rejected their promised Messiah, Jesus. Paul tells us later (11:7-24), that God’s plan allowed the Jews to reject Jesus so that a few believers, like Paul, would be free to carry the Good News outside Judaism, evangelizing the Gentiles. 

The Gospel episode occurred during an unexpected storm on the Sea of Galilee in the early morning hours. As Jesus approached the apostles, miraculously walking on water, he allayed their fears by telling them, “It is I.” The Gospel episode also explains how Peter lost his trusting Faith in Jesus for a few seconds, and failed his attempt to walk on water, but was rescued when he called on Jesus for help.

1) We need to call Jesus in the storms facing the Church and our lives. Let us approach Jesus with strong Faith in his ability and willing availability to calm the storms in the life of the Church and in our lives. Church history shows us how Jesus saved his Church from the storms of persecution in the first three centuries, from the storms of heresies in the 5th and 6th centuries, from the storms of moral degradation and the Protestant reformation movement in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and from the storms of sex abuse scandals of the clergy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It is the presence of Jesus which gives us peace even in the wildest storms of life: the storms of anxiety and worry about the future we suffered during the Corona Virus Pandemic (Covid-19), storms of sorrow, storms of doubt, tension and uncertainty, storms of anger and despair, storms of temptations. Storms reveal to us our inability to save ourselves and point us to the Infinite ability and eagerness of God to save us. When Jesus shows up in our life’s storms, we find that we gain strength to do the seemingly impossible. When Jesus shows up, he invigorates, restores, and empowers us to reach the unreachable, to cross the un-crossable. Storms let us know that without him we can do nothing, without him we are doomed to fail. Yet, when Jesus shows up, we gain the strength to join Paul, saying, “In Christ I can do all things.” But this demands a personal relationship with God, with Jesus, enhanced through prayer, meditative study of Scripture and an active Sacramental life. Experiencing Jesus’ presence in our lives, let us confess our Faith in him and call out for his help and protection always.

2) We need to imitate the short prayer of sinking Peter: We are expected to pray to God every day with trusting Faith for the strengthening of our personal relationship with Him and for the courage and humility to acknowledge our complete dependence on Him for everything.  But when we have no time or mental energy for formal prayers, let us use the short prayers in the Gospels, like Peter’s prayer: “Lord, save me!” or the prayer of the mother of the possessed girl: “Lord, help me!” or the blind man’s prayer: “Son of David, have mercy on me!” or the sinner’s prayer: “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!” We get plenty of time during our travels to say the short prayers like the “Our Father”, “Hail Mary” and “Glory be….” We may begin every day offering all our day’s activities to God and asking for His grace to do His will and we may conclude every day before we go to sleep, by asking God’s pardon and forgiveness for our sins. Keeping a Bible on our table will encourage us to read at least a few words of the Bible and thus listen to what God is saying to us.

3) We should not limit God’s saving presence: There are those who would limit God’s presence for their own comfort or security or to keep themselves in power. In years past there were those who would deny God’s presence in slaves. There have been those who would ignore God’s presence in their enemies. There are those who would refuse to believe that God is present in the murderer sitting on death row, in those who are marginalized by our society: the gay person, the addict, the person living with AIDS, the gambler, the prostitute, the illegal alien, the handicapped, to name but a few. It is in situations like these that we have to get out of the boat, surprise others, and show them the reflection of God in such people. Let us always look for ways to be surprised by our God and opportunities to wake one another up to the beauty, the power and the nearness of our loving, providing and protecting God. Let us also pray for a deepening of God’s gift of Faith within us, that we may be able to recognize Him in the ordinary situations of our lives, and humbly pray to Him saying, “Lord, let us see Your kindness, and grant us Your salvation.” 

Jesus has moved to a deserted place.  The Greek used here is Eremos which means a desert. Go back to the Book of Exodus.  Remember the Israelites are in an Eremos, a desert. There, God provides manna; bread from heaven to feed the Jews on their journey to the Promised land.  The Manna is a limitless source, abundant. No one goes hungry and there is no charge; freely given; freely received. Today’s Gospel has Jesus in a desert and the multitudes are fed. No one goes hungry.  Freely given; freely received. 

Jesus is demonstrating parallels to the Old Testament.  Moses is rejected and faces many hardships. He is driven into the wilderness and God provides for sustenance. Jesus is also rejected, in the wilderness, and now He Himself; God, provides food; sustenance along the way. In both Exodus and our Gospel account, food is abundant. Jesus provides enough for everyone to eat and there is an abundance left over. At the Last Supper, we are given the Eucharist; the new food given to us in our wilderness and it is abundant; overflowing; freely given; freely accepted. 

Jesus has the people set down in groups of 50. It would be very difficult and timely to divide 5000 into groups of 50.  As a teacher, it was sometimes difficult to quiet down and organize a class of 30. This is an intentional move on Jesus’ part. Exodus 18:25 describes Moses choosing able men out of all Israel to rule over groups of a 1000, 100, and 50. These leaders, 12 in all, were from the 12 tribes of Israel demonstrating an image governance. Today’s Gospel show another 12, the Apostles, arranging groups.  The symbolism is the same: 12 judges ruling over groups of people who are now the new Israel.  Jesus is proclaiming himself as the Messiah; the new Moses leading his people to a new promised land, the Kingdom of God, setting up a hierarchy of the Church. In Revelation, the New Jerusalem is built on a foundation of 12 precious gemstones. 

Before all this starts, Jesus’ followers tell Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that they can go and fend for themselves.  Disperse the crowd; everyone for themselves; the language of sin. Sin is a division of us from God.  The Greek: diaskorpisi meaning to scatter from which we get the word diabolos; another name for Satan. Satan divides us. We are weaker, running away from God.  Jesus says, “no.” Keep together, even in the most difficult situation.

Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “give them some food yourselves.” How are they supposed to feed the multitudes?  They ask around and find what they do have: 5 loaves and 2 fish.  Jesus takes the little. He blesses and gives it to the hungry and there is more than enough. 12 baskets of food are left over; 12 representing governmental foundation. 

What does this mean to us today?  Do you see something that needs to be done?  What do I do about it? This needs to be corrected. That needs to be corrected. That’s wrong; this is wrong. What do I do about it? Jesus told the Apostles, “you give them something to eat”. But what can I do? Why doesn’t the Church, the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops, the priests do something?  NO, you feed them. Vatican II calls for not only the ordained, but the entire lay apostolate to work for and spread the love of Christ. Spend your life for what satisfies God.

Every major movement in the Church begins small before it grows big. St. Francis divests his wealth and goes it alone. Mother Teresa, a high school teacher, goes it alone. St. Francis Xavier

The common theme of today’s readings is the provident care of a loving and merciful God who generously shares His riches with us and invites us to practice His sharing love in our lives. 

After announcing the return of God’s chosen people to their homeland from Babylonian captivity, the prophet Isaiah, in today’s first reading, concludes his prophecies with God’s invitation to the eschatological banquet. The grace of God is compared to freely given food and drink.  Yahweh’s gracious invitation in the first reading is echoed in the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 145), which reminds us, “The eyes of all look hopefully to You, and You give them their food in due season; You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”  In the second reading, Paul argues that, since God loves us, “nothing can come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus demonstrates the provident care of God the Father by miraculously feeding a multitude of listeners near a remote, desolate village called Bethsaida Julius, where the River Jordan still flows into the north end of the Sea of Galilee. In Matthew’s account, Jesus acts out of his great compassion for the crowds. First, he challenges the disciples to give what they have — five loaves and two fish. Then he performs the four-fold action that prefigures the Eucharist:  He takes, raising His eyes to Heaven blesses, breaks and gives the bread and fish to the assembled multitude, making of them a community of the Lord’s banquet. Just as God supplies the needs of all living beings, so Jesus, His Son, heals the sick and feeds the hungry.  This event indicates God’s power in Christ as well as His mercy.

1) “You give them something to eat.” Today’s readings tell us that God really cares about His people, and that there is enough and more than enough for everybody. Studies show that the world today produces enough food in grain alone to provide every human being on the planet with 3,600 calories a day. Over the past twenty-five years, food production has exceeded world population growth by about 16%.   This means that there is no good reason for any human being in today’s world to go hungry. 

It is too easy to blame God, too easy to blame governments, too easy to see these things as other people’s problems. They are also our problems. That is the meaning of the Eucharist we celebrate here today. In other words, as Christians we have to commit ourselves to share and to work with God in communicating His compassion to all. God is a caring Father, but He wants our co-operation. That’s what the early Christians did, generously sharing what they had with the needy.  They were convinced that everything they needed to experience a fulfilling life was already there, in the gifts and talents of the people around them. People of our time have to be encouraged to share, even when they think they have nothing to offer. Whatever we offer through Jesus will have a life-giving effect in those who receive it. We are shown two attitudes in John’s account (John 6:7-9) of the   Gospel story:  that of Philip and that of Andrew. Philip said, in effect: “The situation is hopeless; nothing can be done.”  But Andrew’s attitude was: “I’ll see what I can do, and I will trust Jesus to do the rest.”  Let us have Andrew’s attitude.

2) God blesses those who share their talents with loving commitment. This is illustrated by Mother Teresa who went to serve the slum-dwellers of Calcutta with just twenty cents in her pocket.  When she died forty-nine years later, God had turned her original twenty cents into eighty schools, three hundred mobile dispensaries, seventy leprosy clinics, thirty homes for the dying, thirty homes for abandoned children and forty thousand volunteers from all over the world to help her.  We can begin our own humble efforts at “sharing” right here in our parish by participating in the works of charity done by different organizations and volunteer groups. We may say, “I do not have enough money or talent to make any difference.”   But we need to remember that the desciples had only five loaves of bread and two fish.  The Bible guarantees that every believer has at least one gift from the Holy Spirit. This is our one “tiny fish.” Perhaps our “fish” is not money, but a talent or an ability that God has given us. We all have something. Let us offer everything to God saying, “Here is what I am and what I have Lord, and You have given me all of it, so I am yours: use me as You will, please” And He will, blessing and amplifying everything beyond our expectations.  As we begin to give, we will discover that the Lord “moves in” where we are not adequate, and He abundantly supplies what is needed. When we give all we have, to God, and we ask Him to bless it, it is then the miracle happens.

3) We need to nourish our souls with Jesus in Word and Sacrament. We nourish our souls with the Word of God (by listening to God through reading the Bible) and with the Bread of Life (by receiving Jesus in Holy Communion). We need to find time to be with Christ both in personal and family prayer, and in Adoration of the Eucharist whenever this is available. One way of listening to God is to read a passage in the Bible until it speaks to the heart, then stop to reflect on the message God is conveying to our hearts. The next step is to respond to God by prayer, which is talking to Him, as to a friend in conversation, telling Him everything and asking Him for whatever we need.