What are you willing to live for?

32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C

If you were arrested for being a Christian,

would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Deacon John William McMullen

This past summer our family went to a wedding Mass in a church where there was no air-conditioning. The church was sweltering hot – so hot that I had to remove my suit jacket. Many of the other men also removed their jackets as well. And when it came time for the gospel reading, when I went to stand up, my shirt was stuck to the hot wooden pew – as were the other men's shirts – and it was so hot that the varnish on the pews had become gooey and stuck to our shirts. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mass and I love to sing, but even I must admit that this wedding mass was a grueling experience given the extreme heat.

But then I thought what a small problem to have compared to being persecuted or suffering death for our faith!

Imagine being arrested for being a Catholic Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

When we consider all that the saints and martyrs before us sacrificed and risked to practice their faith, we must admit that ours is a comfortable Christianity. Most of us can openly go to  church any Saturday or Sunday that we want.  Yet many skip church if the Mass conflicts with a sporting event or concert. 

Those who have gone before us were willing to give everything, including their lives, for the sake of the gospel!

Why were they willing to lay down their lives for Christ?

What is it that gave them hope that their deaths would not be the end?

Imagine a world where it is illegal to be a Catholic or Christian. Imagine that it was illegal to go to Mass. Imagine it being illegal to gather for community worship.

Unfortunately, we do not have to imagine this. It is happening right now in parts of the world.

Many of our brothers and sisters in the faith have risked their lives to fulfill their Sunday obligation by attending Mass today! And it seems every weekend a different set of Catholics has been attacked and put to death in Pakistan, Egypt, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mauritania, Mali, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, or other parts of the world.

In North Korea Christians are tortured, imprisoned and murdered; subject to public execution. 70,000 Christians are believed to be incarcerated in various prison camps in North Korea, veritable concentration camps.

And off the coast of the Red Sea in the Eritrean Desert there is a Military Prison camp where the authorities use the metal shipping containers to hold prisoners.

100,000,000 Christians today face interrogation, arrest, torture or even murder because of their faith.

Others face public executions by hangings, firing squads, torture, beatings, whippings, beheadings, stoning to death.* (The Global War on Christians by John Allen).

It is stories like these cause each of us to question ourselves: Would I be willing to die for my faith in Jesus Christ?

Therefore while our brother and sister Christians risk their lives to worship as a community on Sunday, what is our excuse?

For some it’s too much to drive an extra five minutes to Mass

Others have to shop on the weekends.

Still others have sporting events on the weekend.

Or Sunday is their only day to sleep in.

Others are more honest. One person flat out told me:  I really don’t have time for it anymore.

On any given Sunday only about 30% of all Catholics in the U.S. will go to Mass. 

This is astonishing, especially when we look to our ancestors in the faith who were willing to suffer martyrdom – in order to give witness to their faith – and the number of Christians being persecuted and being martyred today. Ours is a faith that millions are and have been willing to die for. 

 

The religious persecution of today is similar to what the Jewish people were experiencing in today’s first reading from Second Maccabees. A family of the Jewish faithful are being tortured to death for their belief in the Lord God, but the Jews died for their faith rather than disobeying God’s Commandments.

And despite the fact that they were suffering injustice, they believed that they would rise again.

Then in today’s gospel, the Sadducees – who did not believe in the existence of the human soul or the resurrection of the dead – come to Jesus and engage him in a ridiculous argument.

The Sadducees had a “what you see is what you get” mentality; they believed that this earthly existence is all there is, all that matters.

So in a very real way, the belief in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting clashes with the belief that this life is all there is.

“You’re born, you live, then you die.” Isn’t that what many people say today?

But Jesus points to the age to come, of the resurrected life.

So what is this resurrection of the dead that we believe in, that we profess every Sunday?

I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

 

Do we really look forward to this?

Our fervent hope as Catholic Christians is that we will rise on the last day when Christ will come again.

Our Baptism unites us with the Risen Lord Jesus Christ; and so in a mysterious way we already participate in the heavenly life. Our eternal life begins at our baptism!

And at the Second Coming of Christ, our bodies will be raised in a way that goes beyond our imagination and understanding. Our resurrected bodies will be made incorrupt and they will be rejoined to our souls. All people, the good and the evil, will be raised from the dead on the last day. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the voice of the Son of Man] and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:29).

St. John of the Cross said that before the believer is really ready to undertake the spiritual journey he or she must be “deeply struck by the shortness of life…and the need for profound repentance from sin and wholehearted surrender to God” (The Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 1;1).

The reality of death gives an urgency to our lives.

So then how should we live—especially in the face of persecution and the threat of death?

“…Our participation in the Eucharist already gives us a foretaste of Christ's transfiguration of our bodies: so our bodies, which partake of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but possess the hope of resurrection” (CCC 997).

 

The second century theologian Tertullian wrote: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

What is it that gave them hope that their deaths would not be the end?

It was and is because of the hope in the Resurrection of the Dead, the resurrection of Jesus Christ; this is what gave them the courage to risk their lives, to die for their faith and this is what gives us the courage to live for Christ.

If we were to die for our friendship with Christ, would there be enough evidence to convict us?

 

Or would we abandon Him as soon as we learn that the church doesn’t have air-conditioning?

 

Weekly Worship versus Weakened Worship

Jesus as a faithful Jew ALWAYS attended community worship on the Sabbath – be it at a synagogue or at the Temple in Jerusalem. His example is our example. The Christian Sabbath became Sunday because it was the first day of the week when Jesus resurrected. Henceforth the Christian “Sabbath” was Sunday.

 

 

There are 168 hours in a week. What is one hour to give the Lord? Who can make a return to the Lord for all the good that he has done for us?
 
Regarding Weekly attendance at community prayer, the Church teaches what she does based on what Jesus taught and did. Besides, when one member of the body is missing, we are lesser for it.

The Resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental event upon which Christian faith rests (cf. 1 Cor 15:14). We commemorate the day of Christ's Resurrection not just once a year but every Sunday and every Holy Day of Obligation. Saint Jerome said: "Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, it is the day of Christians, it is our day". 

For Christians, Sunday is “the fundamental feast day.” Pope John Paul II taught in a 1998 apostolic letter, Dies Domini, the Day of the Lord, the obligation of celebrating the Sunday Eucharist is not an arbitrary law imposed by the Church but "an indispensable element of our Christian identity".

The Christian identity is formed through personal prayer and communal prayer. The Liturgy, particularly the Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy, forms us as Church. We are formed by Word and Sacrament. When we gather as community in Christ we form the Body of Christ in a special way. When we receive the Eucharist, that is, the Body of Christ, we most fully become the Church, that is, the Body of Christ. 

I use this analogy in class: if we don’t regularly attend practice for sports we won’t be able to play in the game. If we cannot follow the rules of the game, we won’t be allowed to play either. So if we don’t practice our faith or abide by the teachings of our  faith, then how can we claim to be Christians?

 

Sunday Mass attendance (I am slow to use that word because, hopefully, we participate in Mass and not simply punch our ticket) is essential for our faith life as members of the Church. Unfortunately, for some in our culture “faith” or church attendance is nothing more that eternal fire insurance.

In many parts of the world, Christians risk their lives to worship together; martyrs are made every week. Yet for many Christians in the U.S., skipping church is no big deal.
 
Come join the rest of us hypocritical sinners as we journey to the Kingdom together as broken members of the Body of Christ nourished by His grace, His Word, the Eucharist, and encouraged by one another. God raises up a fallen humanity and calls us to reach for the heights of the kingdom, a kingdom where we are to bring God’s kingdom to the present world: on earth as it is in heaven. 
I pray that it be a lifestyle choice for you and your family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Trivialization of the Gift of Human Sexuality and the Gift of Human Life: Victoria's Open Secret

Due to the trivialization of sex, the sexual objectification of the human person, and the widespread acceptance of pornography as normal - even accepted and promoted — the gift of human life has become simply another consumer good to be used and discarded at whim. *Case in point*
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-baby-found-in-suspected-shoplifters-bag-was-born-alive-likely-asph

WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time               Year C     2013        Holy Spirit Parish            13 October 2013

Deacon John William McMullen

Here are the readings for the day: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/101313.cfm

photo courtesy of the internetmonk

 

Where Are The Other Nine?

 

In the first reading from Kings, Elisha the prophet tells Naaman the leprous Syrian to do something very common: go wash in the muddy Jordan River. Naaman was shocked by the simplicity of Elisha’s cure.

Naaman wanted to see some of the famous Lord God YHWH action – lightning, fire, smoke, the pizzazz of the almighty, omnipotent! Instead, he is told to go wash in the muddy Jordan River. He did as Elisha had said AND FULLY IMMERSED HIMSELF in the water and was cured. Very simple.

This simple act of being immersed, plunged into the water calls to mind our own baptism. Think of the ordinariness of baptism piercing our way into the life of the Holy Trinity. A simple act brings us into union with Christ! The ordinariness of water conveys God’s abundant grace. And it is in the ordinariness of life where we experience God’s grace; down in the ordinary muddiness of daily life.

In today’s gospel, Jesus travels through Samaria, and is met by ten lepers. These ten lepers were a community based upon their disease and their low social status. It was a community of outsiders, based on their brokenness, based on their disease!

 

Our world praises the beautiful and perfect, while it condemns the needy, sick and suffering, and holds the less fortunate in contempt.

But we are all poor before the throne of God’s Grace! 

And in reality we are all poor, blind, and lame, covered with leprosy of some sort. And no matter how many possessions we have, we are still poor and in need of something – or rather, someone greater than ourselves.

We are all lepers before God. We have the leprosy of sin. And Jesus encounters us in the midst of our lives, sin and all.

Jesus was willing to CLEANSE all ten lepers, yet it was the lone Samaritan who realized he had been healed and returned to Jesus, glorifying God; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. But Jesus asked “Where are the other nine?”

Christ cleanses us all, but how many of us allow Christ to truly heal, restore us to true faith and relationship with one another? And do we return to Christ to give thanks and praise?

But where are the other nine?

The Samaritan is the example for a true disciple. He risks everything by returning to Jesus and worshiping him. But what gave this Samaritan the guts to join Jesus and join his community?! Jesus says it is his faith!

Whereas before the Samaritan was defined by his lack of acceptability and marked by his irreversible illness, he is now recognized for his faith – his abundance of life!

He returns to Jesus to give thanks for he is restored to a relationship of faith in God and Christ and the community!

In a way, this is exactly what we do here week after week! We join the community of Christ and His church!  We come sick, with our leprosy of sin; we acknowledge our sin and pray, Lord, have mercy! And at the same time we are overwhelmed with his love, and say, “Lord, have mercy!”

Christ encounters us right where we are, sins and all! We encounter Christ in the Confessional; in Word of God proclaimed, and the bread and wine transformed into the very body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord!

Jesus says: “Go, your faith has saved you!”

At the end of Mass the deacon or priest says: “Go in peace, announce the gospel of the Lord, glorifying the Lord by your life.” We are sent forth in faith to love and serve the Lord. And we respond: “Thanks be to God.” But what does it mean? Where should we go? What should we do?

We have a task.  And it has a lot to do with Jesus’ question:

“Where are the other nine?”  

You will notice that his question is not answered in the gospel.

Each one of us is like the healed Samaritan. But for each one of us here, there are nine others who are missing.  

 In a way, our community is incomplete, as we can tell by too many empty pews. For every one of us here, where are the other nine? 

All of us have the task of restoring others to Christ and bringing them into the Church. We are sent out on mission—this is the task of evangelization that Christ calls us to, and which Pope Francis has been modeling for us.

Pope Francis’ message for today is: “If we keep our faith only to ourselves, we will become isolated and sick Christians. The proclamation of the Gospel is part of being disciples of Christ… missionary outreach is a clear sign of a mature church community.” (Pope Francis quoting Pope Benedict XVI).

To evangelize others is to invite them into friendship and relationship with Jesus Christ.

There is a simplicity in it. It begins with a smile. We begin by being a friend. We welcome them into our lives. We pray for them. We can invite them to Mass.

But first we ourselves must be in relationship with Jesus; we cannot give to another what we ourselves do not have.  

Like the cleansed leper we first fall at Jesus’ feet and call him Lord. Therefore, as we go, recognizing that we are cleansed and healed, we seek out the other nine who are not with us and bring them back to Christ, caring for them, especially the needy and most vulnerable, the spiritually sick and dying, welcoming them into our community of faith in Jesus Christ so that they too can be cleansed and healed.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone one us invited just one person back to church?

And if any of you want to invite nine, then, please, by all means, do so!

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful testimony to the faith of this parish family?! Can we imagine the joy?  

 

What are we waiting for?

"Go, your faith has saved you.”

 

WALKING WITH MARY: A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross - by Edward Sri

   

Edward Sri's WALKING WITH MARY: A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross is an incredible biblical meditation upon the life and role of the Blessed Mother in the life of Christ and the Church.

I would love for all my Christian friends to read this biblical meditation, especially those who have relegated Mary to the basement except for her annual pilgrimage upstairs only to be dusted off and placed in the Christmas Creche. Likewise I would recommend it to all my Catholic brothers and sisters who have distanced themselves from both Scripture and Mary and the Sacraments.

Sri takes us through the gospels of Luke and John in a tour de force of the fruits of lectio divina whereby he allows the texts themselves to speak to us, revealing that Mary is indeed Full of Grace, the Queen Mother of the Great King, and the great obedient maidservant who is the first disciple of the Lord Jesus, even while She carried him in the womb with joy beyond all telling.

Arguably, one could meditate upon the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary while reading the chapters that correspond to the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation, and the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple.

Particularly astounding is the revelation that Mary is called by a new name: Full of Grace. She is singled out for a specific mission in Salvation History that no other human person had.

The text also assists us in applying the mysteries of Mary and Christ into our own lives. the resounding message: Be not afraid!

One of my favorite sections of the book covers Mary's Visitation and Mary's Magnificat. Mary praises God for her lowliness and for what He is doing in her life, but then she praises God for what He is doing and will do for all the people of Israel. 

Her Magnificat "prophetically foreshadows her Son's public ministry" and she pre-announces the Gospel of her Son in dramatic fashion. The hungry will be filled, the lowly will be exalted, the proud be cast down and the rich walk away empty. For Jesus will "gather all the suffering and oppressed into the Kingdom...while the proud, the mighty, and the rich who oppose God's people will be cast down." 

For all the religious and Ordained, Oblates and Tertiaries, and all who regularly pray Vespers of the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours, (or anyone who read or prays the Magnificat from Luke's gospel), we are reminded that, we, like Mary and Jesus, are called to feed the hungry, heal and care for the sick, forgive sinners... "extending fellowship to those ostracized in society" so that the downtrodden might be called and raised up as heirs of the kingdom.

Happily, the author does not engage in a polemical debate about Mary - he doesn't have to - but rather he focuses on the Scripture itself and Tradition, with plentiful quotes from Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, as well as other sources through Church history.

I read the book while flying from Indianapolis to Spokane, Washington, and back, and couldn't help but sense Mary's presence. As we soared above the earth, and I peered into the wispy clouds, it gave me an inkling of what Mary must see and feel as she looks upon us who are often out of the wine of mercy and compassion, lacking in the wine of faith or hope, and how she longs to bring our needs to the attention of her Beloved Son: "They have no wine." 

Mary's words to the servants at the Wedding at Cana are her words to us today: "Do Whatever He Tells You."

Well researched and prayerfully prepared, this book is a gift just in time for Advent and Christmas. For those who have read Pope Benedict's book Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, I would place Walking With Mary alongside the pope's work.

DR. EDWARD SRI is a nationally known Catholic speaker who appears regularly on EWTN and is the author of several well-loved Catholic books. He is a founding leader, with Curtis Martin, of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), and he currently serves as vice president of mission and outreach and professor of theology and scripture at the Augustine Institute master's program in Denver, Colorado. Sri holds a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He resides with his wife, Elizabeth, and their six children in Littleton, Colorado. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A Prodigal Father Had Two Sons.....

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. 

So to them he addressed this parable. “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. 

After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.  And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. 

Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” 

So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began. 

Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 

He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf. 

He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”
Luke 15.1-3, 11-32

Today I will tell you this story from the perspective of the older son.

Did you hear that story?  

It was my father who welcomed this Jesus to our home. I think the old man has gone a bit soft in the noggin. ‘Cause if this is where religion is going, then I’m losing mine.

But that story he told about the two sons…. Look, I’m not stupid. I’m the older brother. 

That’s me he’s talking about. No question about it.

It all started a few years ago when my younger brother came to our Father and said, “Look, Pops, I thought you’d be dead by now, and I wish you were dead, but since you’re still up and kicking, I’ve got some wild oats that need sowing; I’ve got people to see, places to go, and women to seduce. I know that you’re not dead yet, but give me what I got coming to me when you go belly-up.”

Well, I said nothing because I couldn’t wait for my father to let him have it. You know, knock his block off.

But do you know what the old man did? He did it! He divided the property between us and gave that spoiled brother of mine everything he wanted!  

Well, you can have him. Let the old man love him…. That son of… his.  Then he left and I said “Good riddance.” 

He and went off to The Palms in Egypt and spent himself at Bordellos; he squandered his money on everything else sinful you can imagine; and then went to Pharaoh’s Palace and lost his assets.

But today…oh, yes, today…that son of his comes back in tatters, nearly naked, smelling like he’s been wallowing in a pig sty, looking like fifty shades of stupid – and what’s the old man do? 

I didn’t see it, but I heard it was a pathetic sight as the old man went running down the hill out to greet him, slobbering kisses on the little loser.

If it had been me, I would have made him come crawling back to me, begging for mercy. But he wouldn’t have gotten any from me. No sir.

And do you know how I heard about the party? Oh, yeah, there’s a party!

I was out working in the field – slaving away for the old man – as usual – and I heard the sound of music and saw people dancing.

Then I smelled barbecue! It was the fatted calf that we were saving for a very special occasion. I helped fatten that calf! I fed it everyday!

But the old man had it slaughtered and served up for the loser!

It’s all wrong! And now the old man has him as the guest of honor – wearing the best robe, fancy shoes, and the family ring!

And I can hardly bring myself to say it, but the Old man wanted me to be the master of ceremonies for this “Welcome home party” for you-know-who. 

Can you believe it? I told him “no way”. I won’t even go in the house and be seen with him and those others.

Why I didn’t even get a kid goat after last year’s harvest, but when that son of his comes home, he kills the fatted calf! 

Did I mention the fatted calf?!

To be honest, now I wish the old man was dead because he’s disgraced our family name.

And if he was dead, then I would show that son of his what’s what. Our reputation is now in danger. 

Look at him in there with that Jesus  eating and laughing with all those sinners as if they’re just an important as those of us who keep the law.

The decent and righteous people will write letters to the chief priest. We’ll be put under investigation all because of the old man’s willingness to forgive so much and so freely.

No, my old man is the real prodigal here. Not my brother—he’s not smart enough to be prodigal—he probably doesn’t even know what the word means.

Wait. Here comes my father.

What about * (Cough) My brother? (pause)

He was lost; as good as dead.

I was lost? I stayed home… 

I stayed home and hated every minute of it?

Well, if you put it like that, yes, I suppose you’re right.

But look at all I do for you! I do everything I’m told.

But this son of yours— I mean my brother - look at all his sins!.....

Oh… I’m obsessing over his sins. Well someone has to!

What do you mean I sound jealous? I followed every rule religiously!

I wasn’t the one out carousing with harlots and publicans!

Look, Old Man, you never once threw me a party –

I never asked.

Yes, but the fatted calf?  We were saving it for a very –

(pause) Oh. This is that very special occasion.

But….  

I am always with you? Well, yes… (pause)

But this mercy thing has gone too far!....

What?  Not far enough?!   You’ve got to be kidding.

You’re waiting for me to offer a toast? 

For my brother!

No. I cannot. I will not join such frivolous feasting! …..

I Must?... Must celebrate?

Joy?          

Mercy?         

Compassion?  

Reconciliation?!     

Forgiveness?      

What should I do? ….. (pause)

(To the people and pause)

What should we do?....       

(pause)

Our Father is waiting for our response.