Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Weekly HOMILY for August 25, 2013: 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C -- How Narrow Is the “Narrow Gate”?

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21st Sunday of the Year, Cycle C
St. Mark Parish
August 25, 2013

How Narrow Is the “Narrow Gate”?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


The Whisker of a Tiger

A woman begged the village shaman for a potion that would make her husband love her again.

It seems that before he had gone to war, he was warm, loving, and laughed easily, but since his return he was angry, distant and humorless. The more she tried to draw him back to her, the more isolated he became.

After listening to her story, the shaman told her, “I think I can help you. I will make a potion for you, but you must first find one of the ingredients.” She immediately agreed.

The shaman told her that this potion must contain the whisker of a live tiger. “How can I possibly get a whisker from a beast as fierce and powerful as a tiger?” she cried.

But the shaman assured her he could only help make her husband love her again, if she obtained the whisker. The next day she went to a place where she had once seen a tiger. She saw nothing more than monkeys fighting in trees and birds flying in the air.

The second day she stayed longer and found a comfortable place to sit, but still no tiger. Weeks passed. Then one morning she sensed the animal’s presence and then saw him. She didn’t move, but the tiger saw her and ran away.

It was a week before she saw the tiger again. Curiously, because of her gentle presence, the tiger stopped running away.

Finally, after months of bringing the tiger good things to eat and ever so slowly reaching out to pet him, he finally was so comfortable in her presence that he fell asleep, while she stroked his fur.

Once the tiger was asleep, she took out a small pair of scissors and gently cut a single whisker from the tiger’s snout and brought it to the shaman to make the potion that would make her husband love her again.

Surprisingly, the shaman said, “You do not need the potion any longer. Throw away the whisker, but keep the knowledge you have gained. Live by it and your husband will learn to love you once again.”

The Gospel

The man in the gospel also has a question about making things better for himself and gets a strange answer to his request.
His question of Jesus is: “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” It sounds like if few are saved, then he’s not so sure he’s good enough to qualify.
Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly, but turns it around saying, “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
Notice, he’s made it very personal, as if to say, “You’re concerned about how many people are going to be saved? Well, start by looking in the mirror and ask yourself, are you going to be saved.
And then adds: “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able to do so.”
The question then is what is this “door” that Jesus is speaking about? It is the door you might call a change of heart, or an inner transformation, or a different way of looking at things that creates love, mercy, and forgiveness?
 Application of the Story and Gospel

Recall that in our tiger story, it’s the lady who needs to change, not the husband.  In the Gospel, it’s the man asking Jesus the question, who needs to change, as well.
There are no magic potions to loving and being loved, to creating family, to forgiving and being reconciled with one another. There’s no need to get hold of a tiger’s whisker or have a magic potion.
As with the lady in the tiger story, so with the man in the gospel: love, mercy and forgiveness demand the hard work of patience, selflessness, and compassion. These kinds of things are the “narrow door” that is difficult to pass through.

Jesus promises that anyone willing to struggle through the “narrow door,” and similarly anyone who is willing to “befriend the tiger,” will be welcomed into the dwelling place of God.

Conclusion

Are you looking for a magic potion to right the wrongs and reestablish the relationships in your life?
Come back with a tiger’s whisker and in the care, attention, compassion, you will exert in getting it, you’ll have no need of the potion.
You will have acquired all you need to turn your life around. You will have entered the Kingdom of God through the narrow gate!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Weekly HOMILY for August 18, 2013: 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C -- A Gospel to Like or Dislike?

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20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Terranuova Hermitage
August 18, 2013

A Gospel to Like or Dislike?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


I Dislike This Gospel


If I were to give you a list of my favorite Scripture passages, today’s gospel would not be on it.

It is not one of my favorites.  I may even dislike it and I have two reasons for saying this.

Why? It Contradicts

My first reason for disliking it is that it seems to contradict so much of the rest of the Gospel.

Jesus consistently says that he comes for peace and unity.  He wants us to have peace within ourselves and peace and unity with one another.

Even in our liturgy, right before we receive Communion – the sacrament of unity, we say, “The peace of the Lord be with you always.”  We don’t say, “The conflict and division of the Lord be with you.” 

So, what is going on here, what does Jesus really mean?  Apparently the resolution to this is the underlying, Scriptural meaning of the words “fire,” “baptism,” and “division.”

“Fire” is a Scriptural image for decision or choice.  So Jesus is saying that sometimes, maybe often, we will have to make choices whether to follow his way or not.

We will have to choose right from wrong.  This will be true for business people in their transactions with clients and customers or for priests in the way we speak or act toward parishioners and for all of us.

And then when Jesus speaks of a “baptism with which we must be baptized,” surprisingly he is not talking about a baptism with water.  Instead, in this passage “baptism” means being immersed in suffering.

The idea is that some of the choices that we have to make will involve some hardship.

So it may not be easy for a husband and wife to deal with something that is a problem in their relationship or for teens to refuse to get into drugs or alcohol or sex.

And then, Jesus tops it all off by saying that there will be “division.”  This really flows from what he has already said: sometimes our choices to do the right thing will separate us from others.

We may have to be silent or redirect a conversation that is negatively stereotyping a whole group of people and this may separate us from the group we are with. 

Choosing to do what is good and right is often not the easy way out and it can cause some tension and even division.

So, I guess when I really understand this passage correctly, it does make sense.  It is not inconsistent with the rest of what Jesus says.

Why? It Misleads


But, I do have a second reason why this is not one of my favorite passages: it can be misleading.

This passage seems to lead some people to justify a kind of in-your-face Christianity or Catholicism.  They use it to justify a kind of black and white, almost harsh, and definitely judgmental approach.

We see this in the unnecessary berating of what is called the “secular” and the unnecessary separation of the sacred and the secular.  Frequently in life, things are not so black and white and there is not such a strict division of good and evil.

We see this in-your-face approach that I am talking about in some placards being carried alongside the road, sometimes about the issue of human life, but the placards have divisive and even hateful words.  Pope Francis recently gave some guidance to us priests that tells us something about all of this.

Pope Francis was speaking about the situation where a couple brings a baby to be baptized.  He was referring to situations where the parents are not married or are nor married in the Church.

There have been incidents where priests have refused to baptize a baby in these circumstances.   The Pope simply says: by all means, baptize the baby.

Welcome the parents, bring the baby into God’s family, and encourage the mother and father to be good parents and to share faith with their child.  That is the positive and embracing approach of Jesus of Nazareth.

Refusing to baptize only creates unnecessary division and will probably alienate the couple from the Church and maybe from faith forever.  The Pope’s counsel applies to areas of our ministry as well.

So my point is that in today’s gospel, Jesus is only saying that sometimes, sometimes because of our choice to follow him, division will happen.  But we are not to want this or seek it as a proof of our virtue or in a so-called defense of our faith.

That kind of In-your-face Catholicism or Christianity does little positive good in the long run.  T is not what Jesus is talking about here.

Conclusion


So, there we are.

A challenging gospel passage today, one that I at first glance dislike!  But on second thought, a passage that I also embrace!

Daily HOMILY for August 16, 2013: Friday of 19th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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St. Luke Institute
Friday 19th OT

August 16, 2013

TS ELIOT #1 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø  I remember reading poems & of T.S. Eliot in college
Ø  Most of us have read something he wrote
Ø  In one poem, Eliot writes this:
Ø  “Old men ought to be explorers
Ø  Here and there does not matter
Ø  We must be still and still moving
Ø  Into another intensity
Ø  For another union, a deeper communion”
TS ELIOT #2 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø  Let me just repeat that
Ø  “Old men ought to be explorers
Ø  Here and there does not matter
Ø  We must be still and still moving
Ø  Into another intensity
Ø  For another union, a deeper communion”
A DEEPER JOURNEY ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø  Eliot’s point isn’t just about senior citizens
Ø  About each of us–as get older each year, each day
Ø  We’re 2B moving into deeper communion with God
Ø  And it’s this deeper communion w/ G that lies behind each Scripture reading today
JOSHUA +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø  Joshua in 1st rdg tries 2 persuade Israelites 2 remember all God’s done 4 them in past
Ø  And remembering that, they’re 2 make good choices in present moment
Ø  I.e. they’re 2 live out communion w/ G
Ø  Living out of that, they’ll find strength 2 make good lifestyle choices
Ø  And doing that, very communion w/ G will become deeper
GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø  J in gospel calls 4 faithfulness: faithfulness in marriage 2 one’s spouse, or faithfulness in life of celibacy to one’s commitment to G
Ø  Calls us 2B faithful 2 G & 1 another as G’s been 2 us
Ø  I.e we’re 2 live out of R communion w/ G
Ø  In living out of that, we’ll find strength 2B faithful
Ø  & doing that, R comm w/ G’ll become deeper
CONCLUSION +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø  This, of course, is what Eucharist is all about: R comm w/ G, deepening of that comm & strength 2 live out of that
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++