Daily HOMILY for September 18, 2016: 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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25^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

St. Matthew 5:00pm, St. Mark 7:30am and 9:00am

September 18, 2016

The Weight of a Snowflake

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

The Weight of a Snowflake

Once upon a time, a field mouse asked a wise old owl, “What is the weight of a snowflake?”

The owl answered: “Why nothing! Nothing at all!” The mouse went on to tell the owl about the time he was resting on the branch of a fir tree.

It was snowing and he was counting each snowflake until the number was exactly 3,471,952. Then, with the landing of the very next flake — c-r-r-r-r-r-r-ack!

The branch of the fir tree snapped and the mouse and the snow tumbled to the ground.

The mouse looked up at the owl and said: “Humph! So that’s the weight of nothing?”

Two Points

The anecdote echoes one of the lessons in today’s Gospel.

Jesus says, “If people are faithful in little things, they will also be faithful in greater things. But if people are dishonest in little things, they will also be dishonest in greater ones.”

The point is that everything we do has significance. Sometimes we think that certain of our actions are not that important; that they count for nothing, like a snowflake that seems to weigh nothing.

But the truth is that everything we do has an effect both (1) on our moral character and also (2) on the character of others.

On Our Moral Character

Jesus suggests that we develop moral character by beginning with the little things in our own lives.

From my mother I learned the habit of thinking of others first. My parents were immigrants and or family was a bit underclassed.

Every summer she’d harvest tomatoes from her garden and grade them from the best to the least desirable. She then would give the top 1/3 to neighbors and friends, enjoying their smiles of gratitude. The second 1/3, we ate in salads and sandwiches and the third 1/3 she used for cooking.

From this annual “snowflake” I learned to do the same with my own treasure, time and talents and relish the appreciative smiles of recipients.

Jesus suggests that we need to work at those little “snowflakes” of giving and caring for others.

It is said that, “Integrity does not emerge full blown in us. It is built of thousands of little acts and decisions over many years that form our lasting character.”  The accumulation of years of my mother’s dividing of her tomato harvest did just that.

The Character of Others

Besides building who we are, our little snowflake actions will even have a profound effect on others, especially our children, grandchildren, and youth.

I remember years ago the cheating scam at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. A number of cadets were expelled as a result.

One newspaper reporter studied the situation and found out why these young adults might cheat on their exams.

The reporter concluded that it might have been a 6-year old hearing his father tell someone who was interested in buying his old car that it had never been in an accident, when in truth, it had been rear-ended several years before.

Or a 10-year old might have heard his parents talk about not including on their income tax report some money they had made on the side.

Or a teenager at her first job at a supermarket might have been told to hide the over-ripe strawberries by putting them on the bottom of the box.

The newspaper reporter said that experiences like these could lead children and youth to develop an attitude about cheating on an exam. In truth these little actions by adults begin to form the character of young people.

Conclusion

So, eventually one more snowflake, that apparently weighs nothing, cracks the branch of the tree.

Yes, the same thing can happen to us. Eventually, one more little action that disregards moral norms or conscience can have a decisive influence on our character and make us ill prepared for dealing with the bigger moral decisions in business and relationships.

On the other hand, an accumulation of little things that are done from a sound moral basis will positively mold our character and prepare us for life’s bigger issues.

As Jesus says, “If people are faithful in little things, they will also be faithful in greater ones.”

It leaves us with a personal question: “What are the snowflakes that are accumulating on my own branch of life and how do they impact myself and others!”

Daily HOMILY for September 11, 2016: 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

St. Margaret Church 10:00 and 12:00 am

September 11, 2016

Lost and Found

(Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

Mother Teresa

Last Sunday, Mother Teresa was canonized – declared a saint by Pope Francis.

We now speak of her as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.  She led her Sisters – the Missionaries of Charity – in caring for the least, the lost, and the last in society.

Mother Teresa and her Sisters did this in Calcutta.  They would house and personally care for those who were destitute and literally dying on the streets. 

In some cities in our own country, including Baltimore, the Missionaries of Charity care for persons with AIDS. 

In Baltimore, they can accommodate about twelve persons at a time who are in the advanced stages of this illness and literally have no one to care for them, no place to go, even no place to die.

One of Mother Teresa’s Sisters put it this way. “We want our guests to know that there is a God and that God loves them.”

Seeking Out the Lost

What the Missionaries of Charity do illustrates the lesson of today’s Gospel.

Some of the religious leaders are upset because Jesus is having dinner with “sinners.”  We are not told what sins these people committed, just that they are labeled as “sinners.”

These religious leaders – who frankly seem pretty full of themselves – believe that associating with these “sinners” makes you unclean. 

In response to them, Jesus tells two stories: the one about a shepherd looking for a single lost sheep and the other about a woman looking for a single lost coin. 

So, right at the start, Jesus is challenging the religious leaders.  I say this because the society of that day looked down on shepherds as low-life people and they looked down on women as second-class persons.

In the stories, then, Jesus first wants us to identify with the shepherd and the woman and is even saying that this shepherd and this woman are images of God.

He’s jolting his listeners to start thinking differently.  What a challenge that is to these people!

And then, in his two stories, he gets to his main point – that we can all be lost in two ways.          

 

Lost Through Our Fault

First, we can be lost as the one sheep. We can wander off and our being lost is our own fault. 

For example, we can choose to stop coming to Mass regularly or stop praying.

The result is that we lose our grounding in God and may well drift into harmful behavior, like divisive and demonizing comments about others, even in the name of God or of what we think is right. We can fall into misuse of the Internet.

When we are lost in these ways, Jesus is saying that God is still there, still loving us and looking for us, just like the shepherd looking for that one lost sheep. 

In fact, when we are like that one lost sheep, our conscience may come into play and we will have some tuggings of guilt feelings.

I suggest that these tugs of conscience and guilt are really God trying to find us and bring us back.  

Finally, notice in Jesus’ image that the shepherd does not scold or punish the lost sheep, but simply carries it back to the flock. What a great example this is for how we, as a Church, are to relate to a lost sheep!

Lost Through No Fault

And then we can be lost like the lost coin. Through this story Jesus is telling us that we may become lost through no fault of our own. 

For example, we can feel lost when we are grieving the death of a husband or wife. Or we can feel lost when we are dealing with depression. 

When we are lost in these ways, even though we may not feel it, God is like the woman looking desperately for the one coin.

God is still there, loving us and wanting to be close to us.  Maybe it will take time for us to feel this.

We may need to push ourselves to pray and come to Eucharist or push ourselves to respond to the companionship of family and friends. 

If we give God a chance in these ways, we can be found and we can find ourselves once again.    

   

Conclusion

So, a powerful lesson today

(1) About God, like a shepherd or a woman, searching for us when we are lost,

(2) About ourselves – about the ways we can be lost and how we might respond when that happens!

Daily HOMILY for August 28, 2016: 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

St. Mark Church, Fallston

August 28, 2016

Humility: Placing God and Others First

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

The Fine Art of Small Talk

Debra Fine offers a highly successful seminar called The Fine Art of Small Talk.

Her seminars attract many well educated professionals who often cringe at the thought of having to make small talk in social settings.

Debra Fine has an interesting insight into the art of chitchat. She says that to be a good conversationalist, we need to focus the spotlight of attention first on others, not on ourselves, and that we hold it there for a while.

A good conversationalist always lets others know that they have our undivided attention. Having our attention begins the process of a relationship.

Then, after others feels that we are interested in what’s going on in their lives, they will usually turn the spotlight back to us and we’ll have a chance to share something about ourselves.

What Humility Is Not

Without intending it, that seminar on The Fine Art of Small Talk contains a significant insight into humility.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says: “Those who exalt themselves shall be humbled and those who humble themselves shall be exalted.”

The OT wisdom writer says a bit of the same, “The more we humble ourselves, the greater we are.”

So, while the scriptures highlight the virtue of humility, they also raise the question as to just what humility is.

Humility is not trying to come across less skilled than we really are or that we put ourselves down and feel that we are less than others.

What Humility Is

Instead, humility has more to do with our center of attention.

1^st it means that in relationship to God, we recognize that we are less, but that we are also loved.

So in this regard, our focus needs to be on God and not on self — the one created, needs to focus on the Creator.

2^nd humility means that in our human relationships, we recognize that each of us is of equal value and dignity.

Again, because the love of God calls us to take the first step in reaching out and relating, our focus, again, needs first to be on the other person and not on ourselves.

So insight here is that the virtue of humility is really about our center of attention, that our center of concern is first on God, then on others.

Not Easy Thing to Do

Let me quickly add:

Ø  It’s not easy for shy folks to turn to another.

Ø  It’s not easy for chatterboxes to listen to the other person.

Ø  And it’s not easy for someone who is driven by personal goals to accomplish, to just sit back and first listen.

Making God and others first, as our center of attention, takes constant effort because so much in our human nature drives us to do the very opposite.

Application

Let’s look at a few examples.

Young children with their toys have a good training ground for learning humility. By sharing toys, they develop the ability to be friends.

Our encouragement helps them to focus their spotlight of concern on others, rather than themselves. That helps them to become humble persons.

Husbands and wives, or two adult friends, also have opportunities for humility. When we see one another after a hectic day or week, you might first be tempted just to unload and dump.

Instead, you might first invite your spouse or friend to share how their day or week has been. This again recognizes them as equally valuable and that is what humility is all about.

A final example might apply to us here at Mass. In our hour at church are we more interested in what God wants to say to us or in what we want to say to God?

Also, do our prayers include the needs of our bigger Church and world and community, or simply our own personal needs?

Again, humility is putting God and others at the center of our attention.

Conclusion

As paradoxical and as contradictory as it may sound to our ears, the words of Jesus will ring true when we practice humility:

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”