31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
October 31, 2010
St. Margaret Parish, Bel Air
What Is Lost Within Us Can Always Be Found!
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
ZACCHAEUS: A BAD PERSON
Poor Zacchaeus was judged as a bad person – a real looser. He was even convinced of that himself.
It was a conviction, given his lifestyle and what those around him circulated.
After all, he is a tax collector, in effect, a traitor to his own people because he works for the occupying Romans who are collecting tax revenues from the Jewish People.
Added to that, he is corrupt and unethical in exacting as much as he can from them. All tax collectors of the day were similarly corrupt.
On top of that, physically Zacchaeus is a small man, very short in height.
No wonder he cannot get through the crowd to see Jesus. When he tries, the others just look down at him and say, “What are you doing here? This is no place for you.”
And they push him to the outside of the circle they are forming around Jesus. Zacchaeus simply cannot get in.
ZACCHAEUS RESPONDS
But Zacchaeus really wants to see Jesus. He has heard about him and is at least curious.
Or perhaps it is a feeling that even though he has so much, something is missing in his life. Something is incomplete in himself. From what he hears about this Jesus, there just seems to be something that arouses his curiosity about him something that attracts him and he wants to at least see him.
On that sunny afternoon, Zacchaeus, a wealthy individual, sees in the distance some poor boys in a tree and that gives him the idea. He runs down the road a spell and climbs the tree.
Jesus and the crowd milling around him finally arrive, passing by the tree. For seemingly no reason Jesus stops … and turns … and looks up and sees Zacchaeus. Their eyes meet and both men are gaze for a moment.
It is Jesus who breaks the silence. “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” “What! Me? This can’t be so!” he says to himself. Nevertheless, Zacchaeus climbs down and happily leads Jesus to his home and welcomes him.
ZACCHAEUS, A GOOD PERSON
Notice now, how some of the people begin to grumble.
“How can Jesus, who is supposed to be such a holy person, do this? Doesn’t he know that this man is no good?”
The murmuring grows as all whisper and nod their heads saying that Zacchaeus is indeed a sinner. On this Jesus would agree. They all say that Zacchaeus is no good. On this, however, Jesus would strongly disagree.
Zacchaeus is a sinner. His ethical life is not good, his decisions are wrong, and his relationships are defective.
But, to say that he is no good would be impossible for Jesus to say simply because Jesus knows that Zacchaeus has been created by his Father.
There is a goodness in him that no one can take away and that has been placed there by God.
Isn’t that what our first reading from the Book of Wisdom says today? “For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.”
OUR GOODNESS
It is this goodness that Jesus comes to reveal in Zacchaeus and in us.
It is this positive good that Jesus finds in Zacchaeus that is awakened and called forth by him. It is this same positive good in us and others that we are to allow Jesus to awaken and call forth.
If we only stress the negative, this goodness will surely get lost, but not in the sense that it is no longer there. A lost key, a lost credit card, or a lost pen is still there, but we just don’t know where and the task is to find it.
It’s like Jesus’ use of lots of lost items: the lost coin, the lost sheep, and even the lost son.
Jesus comes to find this lost goodness and his point is that once it is found it blossoms as quickly and as beautifully as it does in Zacchaeus.
The good news? It can happen in exactly the same thing way – as quickly and as beautifully – for us and for others.
THE RESULTS
So, just think for a moment:
If we receive and embrace this stance of Jesus with Zacchaeus, how much more positively would we view ourselves as good persons?
How much more positively would we enter into the Penitential Rite here at Mass or take part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
If we receive and embrace this stance of Jesus with Zacchaeus, how much more hopeful would we be in addressing the stresses and upsets in our relationships?
And finally, how much of a contribution would our accepting Jesus’ caring for Zacchaeus make to the toxic and negative tone of our nation’s political environment these final days before election day?
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for October 24, 2010: A Matter of Perspective
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
October 24, 2010
A Matter of Perspective
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CARL JUNG
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who died almost 50 years ago, is considered the first psychiatrist to state that the human psyche is “by nature religious.”
That’s to say, to be born a human being is to be born with a religious self or psyche.
Jung wrote that, “Christians often ask why God does not speak to them, as he is believed to have done in former days.
“When I hear such questions,” Jung continues, “it always makes me think of the rabbi who asked how it could be that God often showed himself to people in the olden days while nowadays nobody ever sees him.
The rabbi thought for a moment and then replied, ‘Nowadays there is no longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God.”
“No longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God” Jung has put his finger on the prayer-pulse of human beings in much the same way that Jesus does today in Luke’s gospel.
THE PUBLICAN
Notice in Jesus’ parable of the two men at prayer, one man approaches God humbly. Aware of no one else except God, the individual prays simply and quietly.
So clear is his perception of the all-holy and wholly other God that his own sinfulness is revealed, and in the clarity of that moment he prays for mercy.
I just said a mouthful that needs to be understood clearly. The individual takes time (1) To be still, (2) To be aware of God’s presence in his life and perhaps most importantly (3) To be open to what God might have to reveal to him.
And what happens in that quiet, prayerful, open space? He receives a perception of his own sinfulness before this God who is lovingly communing with him.
It is no wonder, then, that out of that communion, that delight, that presence, comes the only appropriate response: (a gesture of bowing low) “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”
THE PHARISEE
As for the other fellow in the gospel – the Pharisee, sort of the “monsignor” of his day – for him the only revelation he experiences is a revelation of himself.
Notice he speaks his litany in his own honor from a skewed perspective of undue self-importance and inordinate pride.
To add to the odiousness of his so-called prayer, he compares himself to others, and in particular to the tax collector standing behind him.
In the rarified atmosphere of his own conceit, there is no room for anyone else much less for the spaciousness of God’s presence.
That perspective and not (1) Taking the time, (2) Having the awareness, (3) Or willing to be open keeps him in this state of bravado: (left hand on hip; right hand on chest.)
Is it any wonder there is no contact with the divine, no being made right with God?
REAL PRAYER
When I use the term “real prayer” I refer to a heart-to-heart encounter of myself with God, not a mindless repetition of the psalms or memorized prayers.
Real prayer is an honest to goodness encounter, as any significant encounter is with someone who is dearly loved. There is no need for lots of words or thoughts. There is simply a resting in and relishing that person’s presence.
Just look into the eyes of someone you love and say nothing for several minutes and you’ll see simple prayerful presence.
It is that sort of a presence, that kind of a prayerful being with God that is expansive and spacious, a presence where I can be who I am without protecting, comparing, or excusing.
What will come up for me in that kind of a gazing at God will be a feeling of humility about even being there with God or deserving such intimacy. I come up with a sense of gratitude that leaves me without adequate words.
CONCLUSION
Whenever the sacred texts are read and proclaimed, as they have been this morning, we have a choice to make.
Will I pray in truth before God like the tax collector – summed up in this gesture (bowing) – or will I preen before God and others – summed up in this one (left hand on hip; right hand on chest)
The first will leave me justified, made right with God, from the encounter; the second I will come away empty.
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
October 24, 2010
A Matter of Perspective
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CARL JUNG
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who died almost 50 years ago, is considered the first psychiatrist to state that the human psyche is “by nature religious.”
That’s to say, to be born a human being is to be born with a religious self or psyche.
Jung wrote that, “Christians often ask why God does not speak to them, as he is believed to have done in former days.
“When I hear such questions,” Jung continues, “it always makes me think of the rabbi who asked how it could be that God often showed himself to people in the olden days while nowadays nobody ever sees him.
The rabbi thought for a moment and then replied, ‘Nowadays there is no longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God.”
“No longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God” Jung has put his finger on the prayer-pulse of human beings in much the same way that Jesus does today in Luke’s gospel.
THE PUBLICAN
Notice in Jesus’ parable of the two men at prayer, one man approaches God humbly. Aware of no one else except God, the individual prays simply and quietly.
So clear is his perception of the all-holy and wholly other God that his own sinfulness is revealed, and in the clarity of that moment he prays for mercy.
I just said a mouthful that needs to be understood clearly. The individual takes time (1) To be still, (2) To be aware of God’s presence in his life and perhaps most importantly (3) To be open to what God might have to reveal to him.
And what happens in that quiet, prayerful, open space? He receives a perception of his own sinfulness before this God who is lovingly communing with him.
It is no wonder, then, that out of that communion, that delight, that presence, comes the only appropriate response: (a gesture of bowing low) “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”
THE PHARISEE
As for the other fellow in the gospel – the Pharisee, sort of the “monsignor” of his day – for him the only revelation he experiences is a revelation of himself.
Notice he speaks his litany in his own honor from a skewed perspective of undue self-importance and inordinate pride.
To add to the odiousness of his so-called prayer, he compares himself to others, and in particular to the tax collector standing behind him.
In the rarified atmosphere of his own conceit, there is no room for anyone else much less for the spaciousness of God’s presence.
That perspective and not (1) Taking the time, (2) Having the awareness, (3) Or willing to be open keeps him in this state of bravado: (left hand on hip; right hand on chest.)
Is it any wonder there is no contact with the divine, no being made right with God?
REAL PRAYER
When I use the term “real prayer” I refer to a heart-to-heart encounter of myself with God, not a mindless repetition of the psalms or memorized prayers.
Real prayer is an honest to goodness encounter, as any significant encounter is with someone who is dearly loved. There is no need for lots of words or thoughts. There is simply a resting in and relishing that person’s presence.
Just look into the eyes of someone you love and say nothing for several minutes and you’ll see simple prayerful presence.
It is that sort of a presence, that kind of a prayerful being with God that is expansive and spacious, a presence where I can be who I am without protecting, comparing, or excusing.
What will come up for me in that kind of a gazing at God will be a feeling of humility about even being there with God or deserving such intimacy. I come up with a sense of gratitude that leaves me without adequate words.
CONCLUSION
Whenever the sacred texts are read and proclaimed, as they have been this morning, we have a choice to make.
Will I pray in truth before God like the tax collector – summed up in this gesture (bowing) – or will I preen before God and others – summed up in this one (left hand on hip; right hand on chest)
The first will leave me justified, made right with God, from the encounter; the second I will come away empty.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for October 17, 2010: Perseverance: A Three Legged Stool
29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Bon Secours Spiritual Center
October 17, 2010
Perseverance: A Three Legged Stool
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
WALT DISNEY
A young man wanted very much to become a writer from the time he was a child. When he was 21 and just out of college he was able to get a staff position with a local paper in town.
After a few months work, he was fired for his lack of imagination.
The young man was penniless but resolute. He had to sleep on an old worn out sofa and eat cold beans out of a can, but his determination kept his dream of one day becoming a creative writer alive.
He went on to have that dream realized.
The man? Walt Disney!
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
What makes some folks succeed against all odds and others “crash and burn” at the smallest obstacle?
Today’s Scriptures offer us an answer and quite appropriately in the area of persevering in prayer.
Moses in the first reading and the widow in the third, are concrete examples of how perseverance works and how it gets us through rough times to feelings of success.
On their way to the Promised Land, the Jewish People pass through territory controlled by another nomadic tribe and a tribal war breaks out.
Moses picks out a high spot and, as was the custom of commanders of his day, holds his staff high over his heard to encourage his troops. While his arms are up, his soldiers are winning.
He grows weary after a while, but persists nonetheless. Others come to his aid with a rock to sit on: after a while Aaron and Hur support his arms.
A similar model for perseverance is portrayed in the Gospel where a poor widow without power to control, without money to bribe, without friends to influence is able to get an important magistrate to rule in her favor.
Luke’s Gospel reads: “For a time he (the judge) refused, but finally he thought, ‘I care little for God or man, but this widow is wearing me out. I am going to settle in her favor or she will end by doing me violence.’”
What Moses and the widow are confronted with is turmoil, tension and violence and through it, they maintain a perseverance that brings them success. So it was with Walt Disney.
Unfortunately, many of us give up because we may not looking at what makes perseverance possible.
I would like to suggest that for a clearer understanding of what it takes to be successful at prayer – contemplative prayer – can be compared to a three-legged stool.
INTENTION
The first leg is intention. To get through an ordeal, to accomplish a goal, to persevere in living a contemplative lifestyle something has to be important to you. To have an intention is to put your desire into words.
Like the God whom we image, we too have the ability to create out of nothing and where previously no-thing existed, our intention has us creating a friendship, or healing, or forgiveness, or reading a new book, or making time for prayer.
Both Moses and the widow have a clear intention. They each know what they want and can state it.
SUPPORT
Once we have declared ourselves, we need to be willing to ask or accept the support of others.
Support does not mean they take over responsibility for my intention. It means they keep me responsible and challenged. They help me meet the challenge at hand.
It is wonderful the way some folks come to Moses with a rock to sit on and how Aaron and Hur literally hold up his arms. But note, Moses is still the one with the staff in his hands.
TRUST
The third leg of perseverance in prayer is trust.
We need to believe that God will be with us and sustain us in our efforts.
In the Gospel, the poor widow believes that she is right and that God will sustain her to secure justice. Jesus praises her perseverance and compares it to the trust that we should have when we pray to the Father.
So, if we are going through some dry periods of prayer or so busy that time for contemplative prayer takes a back seat, we need to trust that making time is very important even though we think working may be more productive at this moment.
Trust gets us through times when priorities shift dangerously away from our goals.
CONCLUSION
Milking stools are three-legged so they can sit stably on uneven ground.
The 3-legged stool for perseverance in prayer – intention, support and trust – likewise puts us in a stable position for successful grounding.
Bon Secours Spiritual Center
October 17, 2010
Perseverance: A Three Legged Stool
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
WALT DISNEY
A young man wanted very much to become a writer from the time he was a child. When he was 21 and just out of college he was able to get a staff position with a local paper in town.
After a few months work, he was fired for his lack of imagination.
The young man was penniless but resolute. He had to sleep on an old worn out sofa and eat cold beans out of a can, but his determination kept his dream of one day becoming a creative writer alive.
He went on to have that dream realized.
The man? Walt Disney!
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
What makes some folks succeed against all odds and others “crash and burn” at the smallest obstacle?
Today’s Scriptures offer us an answer and quite appropriately in the area of persevering in prayer.
Moses in the first reading and the widow in the third, are concrete examples of how perseverance works and how it gets us through rough times to feelings of success.
On their way to the Promised Land, the Jewish People pass through territory controlled by another nomadic tribe and a tribal war breaks out.
Moses picks out a high spot and, as was the custom of commanders of his day, holds his staff high over his heard to encourage his troops. While his arms are up, his soldiers are winning.
He grows weary after a while, but persists nonetheless. Others come to his aid with a rock to sit on: after a while Aaron and Hur support his arms.
A similar model for perseverance is portrayed in the Gospel where a poor widow without power to control, without money to bribe, without friends to influence is able to get an important magistrate to rule in her favor.
Luke’s Gospel reads: “For a time he (the judge) refused, but finally he thought, ‘I care little for God or man, but this widow is wearing me out. I am going to settle in her favor or she will end by doing me violence.’”
What Moses and the widow are confronted with is turmoil, tension and violence and through it, they maintain a perseverance that brings them success. So it was with Walt Disney.
Unfortunately, many of us give up because we may not looking at what makes perseverance possible.
I would like to suggest that for a clearer understanding of what it takes to be successful at prayer – contemplative prayer – can be compared to a three-legged stool.
INTENTION
The first leg is intention. To get through an ordeal, to accomplish a goal, to persevere in living a contemplative lifestyle something has to be important to you. To have an intention is to put your desire into words.
Like the God whom we image, we too have the ability to create out of nothing and where previously no-thing existed, our intention has us creating a friendship, or healing, or forgiveness, or reading a new book, or making time for prayer.
Both Moses and the widow have a clear intention. They each know what they want and can state it.
SUPPORT
Once we have declared ourselves, we need to be willing to ask or accept the support of others.
Support does not mean they take over responsibility for my intention. It means they keep me responsible and challenged. They help me meet the challenge at hand.
It is wonderful the way some folks come to Moses with a rock to sit on and how Aaron and Hur literally hold up his arms. But note, Moses is still the one with the staff in his hands.
TRUST
The third leg of perseverance in prayer is trust.
We need to believe that God will be with us and sustain us in our efforts.
In the Gospel, the poor widow believes that she is right and that God will sustain her to secure justice. Jesus praises her perseverance and compares it to the trust that we should have when we pray to the Father.
So, if we are going through some dry periods of prayer or so busy that time for contemplative prayer takes a back seat, we need to trust that making time is very important even though we think working may be more productive at this moment.
Trust gets us through times when priorities shift dangerously away from our goals.
CONCLUSION
Milking stools are three-legged so they can sit stably on uneven ground.
The 3-legged stool for perseverance in prayer – intention, support and trust – likewise puts us in a stable position for successful grounding.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for October 10, 2010: "Where Were the Other Nine Lepers?
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Terranuova Hermitage
October 10, 2010
“Where Are the Other Nine Lepers?”
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
The Story of the Ten Lepers
"WHERE ARE THE OTHER TEN LEPERS?
Jesus heals ten persons with leprosy.
One returns to thank him. “Where are the other nine?”
The Other Nine
One of the now-clean lepers goes off to build a new life for himself.
He busies himself finding a job, a new place to live, and maybe even a family. He becomes so busy building a new life for himself that he forgets the great blessing he has received.
Another of the lepers is filled with fear and worry because he has few skills and cannot imagine who will hire him and how he will support himself.
He is so afraid and worried that he is virtually paralyzed from doing anything. He remains huddled at the town gate, alone like a leper.
Still another of the lepers determines to even the score with everyone who has ever laughed at him or scorned him or ignored him because of his illness.
He vows: “They will pay for what they did to me.” He is obsessed with vengeance and never experiences any joy in his cure.
One of the now-clean lepers runs as far away as he can.
All he wants is to forget his old life and everything about it. He even tries to block out the cries of others who are suffering.
Another of the lepers just goes out and parties and parties and parties.
His newfound joy lasts as long as the wine and money do. Once they are gone, he has to face his new life lost and alone.
And there is even one leper who believes that there must be a catch and that he is not really clean and healed.
He thinks: “After all, why would anyone, especially God, do this for me?” So, he does nothing and just waits for the leprosy to return.
On it goes with the other nine.
HEALED OR NOT
Without a sense of gratitude for the miracle they have experienced, the miracle does not last very long.
Their self-absorption, their fear and worry, their anger, their repression, their skepticism, their misplaced hope – these responses have just made them lepers all over again.
THE ONE WHO THANKS
But there is the one leper who realizes that he has not just been made clean.
He realizes that he has even been touched by God. And so, he returns to give thanks to Jesus and this reflects the healing that has happened in his soul as well as in his body.
This leper has faith. Faith is primarily the recognition of the love and compassion of God.
This recognition moves us to give praise and thanks to God. In this, the one leper is a great model for us.
OUR RESPONSE
God is in our midst, active in our lives.
But sometimes, like the nine lepers, we are not aware of this. Sometimes our self-centeredness isolates us from one another.
Sometimes our fears and worries trap us. Sometimes our anger dictates our behavior.
Sometimes our skepticism or doubting or questioning becomes an end in itself. Sometimes our misplaced hopes and values lead us away from the divine, the transcendent, away from God.
When all of this is the case, we do not experience God in everyday life. And so, we need to look to the one leper for our lead on this.
We need to approach life with a sense of faith. We are to realize the presence and love of God in the birth of a baby, in the magnificence of creation, in the tenderness of a spouse, in the skill of a doctor, in our own ability to bring life to another through our love and care.
CONCLUSION
Maybe the bottom line is that for no reason other than love so profound that we cannot fathom it, God has breathed life into us and given many other gifts to us as well. Our only fitting response is to stand humbly before God in quiet thanks.
This gratitude can transform us. It can make so much of life an experience of God’s presence, love, grace, and healing action.
Terranuova Hermitage
October 10, 2010
“Where Are the Other Nine Lepers?”
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
The Story of the Ten Lepers
"WHERE ARE THE OTHER TEN LEPERS?
Jesus heals ten persons with leprosy.
One returns to thank him. “Where are the other nine?”
The Other Nine
One of the now-clean lepers goes off to build a new life for himself.
He busies himself finding a job, a new place to live, and maybe even a family. He becomes so busy building a new life for himself that he forgets the great blessing he has received.
Another of the lepers is filled with fear and worry because he has few skills and cannot imagine who will hire him and how he will support himself.
He is so afraid and worried that he is virtually paralyzed from doing anything. He remains huddled at the town gate, alone like a leper.
Still another of the lepers determines to even the score with everyone who has ever laughed at him or scorned him or ignored him because of his illness.
He vows: “They will pay for what they did to me.” He is obsessed with vengeance and never experiences any joy in his cure.
One of the now-clean lepers runs as far away as he can.
All he wants is to forget his old life and everything about it. He even tries to block out the cries of others who are suffering.
Another of the lepers just goes out and parties and parties and parties.
His newfound joy lasts as long as the wine and money do. Once they are gone, he has to face his new life lost and alone.
And there is even one leper who believes that there must be a catch and that he is not really clean and healed.
He thinks: “After all, why would anyone, especially God, do this for me?” So, he does nothing and just waits for the leprosy to return.
On it goes with the other nine.
HEALED OR NOT
Without a sense of gratitude for the miracle they have experienced, the miracle does not last very long.
Their self-absorption, their fear and worry, their anger, their repression, their skepticism, their misplaced hope – these responses have just made them lepers all over again.
THE ONE WHO THANKS
But there is the one leper who realizes that he has not just been made clean.
He realizes that he has even been touched by God. And so, he returns to give thanks to Jesus and this reflects the healing that has happened in his soul as well as in his body.
This leper has faith. Faith is primarily the recognition of the love and compassion of God.
This recognition moves us to give praise and thanks to God. In this, the one leper is a great model for us.
OUR RESPONSE
God is in our midst, active in our lives.
But sometimes, like the nine lepers, we are not aware of this. Sometimes our self-centeredness isolates us from one another.
Sometimes our fears and worries trap us. Sometimes our anger dictates our behavior.
Sometimes our skepticism or doubting or questioning becomes an end in itself. Sometimes our misplaced hopes and values lead us away from the divine, the transcendent, away from God.
When all of this is the case, we do not experience God in everyday life. And so, we need to look to the one leper for our lead on this.
We need to approach life with a sense of faith. We are to realize the presence and love of God in the birth of a baby, in the magnificence of creation, in the tenderness of a spouse, in the skill of a doctor, in our own ability to bring life to another through our love and care.
CONCLUSION
Maybe the bottom line is that for no reason other than love so profound that we cannot fathom it, God has breathed life into us and given many other gifts to us as well. Our only fitting response is to stand humbly before God in quiet thanks.
This gratitude can transform us. It can make so much of life an experience of God’s presence, love, grace, and healing action.
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