Weekly HOMILY for October 2, 2011: Parables: Stories with a Punch

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
John Carroll High School
October 2, 2011

Parables: Stories with a Punch
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


MELROSE SUSPENSION BRIDGE

In upstate New York, the 800-foot Melrose Suspension Bridge spans the Niagara River and connects Canada and the United States.

There is an interesting story about the way the bridge was built.

In 1848 Charles Ellet, Jr., a contractor, first flew a kite across the river. Attached to the kite was a piece of string. Attached to the string was a rope. Attached to the rope was a steel cable.

The steel cable was then anchored and used to get the steel girders across span and thus the bridge was built.

This story of the construction of the Melrose Suspension Bridge is what I’d like to call a modern day parable and, in a creative way, it illustrates many points:
o The kite string eventually connecting to steel girders → shows how great things often have humble beginnings
o The creative use of a kite → demonstrates how a seemingly insignificant thing can have great results
o Or moving from string to rope to cable to girder → shows how teamwork and the use of materials of increasing strength can span great distances

Parables – very powerful for teaching lessons, and long after you’ve forgotten who I am, you’ll remember the kite and the bridge over the Niagara River!

Jesus also knows the power of parables and he uses them to get peoples’ attention, indeed to startle or surprise them, and most importantly, to challenge them.


MIRROR PARABLES

Frequently, the Gospel reading at Mass consists of a parable. Today, for example, we hear the Parable of the Tenants and the Vineyard. It is classified as a “mirror parable.”

Such parables act like a verbal mirror. They are told in such a way that the hearer begins to say, “Who’s he talking about?” And like looking in a mirror, we are able to see something of ourselves in the story.

This story of the vineyard is a good example of a mirror parable. The tenants of the vineyard reject each of the servants sent by the owner to collect his share of the grapes. They finally even kill the owner’s son when he sends him.

There’s a real shift in the story when Jesus asks his hearers, “What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”

Remember their response? “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.”

Jesus’ hearers don’t mind the story, until they begin to realize that the tenants represent themselves, the religious leaders. The servants represent the prophets and the owner’s son represents the very person, Jesus, who’s telling the parable.

“Yikes! He’s talking about us” they realize! And they’ve incriminated themselves with their very own words!

Yes, parables are very powerful stories for teaching important lessons.


APPLICATION

Well, it’s application time, Friends, and I would say that either the parable of the Melrose Suspension Bridge or that of the Vineyard would fit you, the graduates of John Carroll High School, on this occasion, your first Alumni Weekend.

If the Bridge strikes your fancy:
o You need to know that the humble beginnings of John Carroll High School have produced ____ of you graduates, men and women who have gone on to make an impact in our community and beyond.
o Like the bridge’s string, cord, steel, girders – simple beginnings with great results
o Imagine all the creative uses your minds have made of ordinary opportunities
o Now not with kites, but with simple resources used in creative ways, like an annual alumni weekend such as you’re celebrating this weekend
o Networking among each other, staying in contact with the School, volunteering, making a financial gift – all contribute to the building up of the school
o It’s the moving from string to rope to cable to girder and how teamwork and the use of materials of increasing strength can achieve great results

On the other hand, if the Vineyard got more of your attention, then:
o Your vineyard is the four years you spent here
o Your vineyard is the value-based education you received
o Your vineyard is the faith in Jesus Christ that was nourished in your high school days

And Jesus would remind you, that you’re the tenant, the holder of these precious gifts and, of course, how have you tended them, grown them, brought them to fruition are the questions he puts to you

So, where are you with:
o Talking up the school?
o Sending your children here?
o Celebrating annual reunions?
o Living out the faith you had nurtured here?
o Financial Support?
o Serving when asked to volunteer?


CONCLUSION

The suspension bridge and the vineyard are not harmless children’s stories.

They are told that we might realize
o Not only that are they addressed to us
o But that they are challenging us to live out our beliefs and values as graduates of John Carroll

Weekly HOMILY for September 25,2011: Two Sons and Doing the Father's Will

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
St. Clement, Lansdowne, St. Mark, Fallston
September 25, 2011

Two Sons and Doing the Father’s Will
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


THE POWER OF "NO" AS CHILDREN

It begins very early in our lives: “Eat all your vegetables.” “No!” “Clean up your room” “No!” “Do your chores.” “No!” Sound familiar? The use of the word “No!” is in full swing by the time we’re toddlers.

Thank God we eventually mend our ways and begin making the right choices and saying “Yes” to what needs to be done … or do we?

The ability to say “No” to lots of things that are actually good for us does have value. Saying no is:
(1) A way of taking a stand, of distancing myself from someone.
(2) It’s using the freedom we have to oppose something we don’t want to consider.
(3) Very often it opens up some psychological space to look things over and ask, “Is this really the stand I wanted to take? Is this really who I am?”
(4) Most of all “No!” opens up a space in which God can touch my heart and change my mind.

That attitude of saying no, and the space that opens up because of it, doesn’t stop with childhood, but continues each day and even into the present.


JESUS' USE OF THE STORY OF THE SONS

Jesus takes up this very human journey of saying-no-and-then-saying-yes, on the one hand, and saying yes-and-then-acting-no on the other in his story of the two sons.

Let’s situate his telling of the story. When Jesus first shares this parable, he does so within the context of a controversy he’s having with the chief priests and elders.

These priests and elders had assumed that their being right with God had earned them entrance into God’s kingdom. These had also assumed that the sinfulness of the tax collectors and prostitutes of their day had sealed their fate as being outside the kingdom.

Jesus makes it very clear: the tax-gatherers and the prostitutes are those who said that they would go their own way and then took God’s way (no→yes). The Jewish religious he’s actually talking to are the people who said they would obey God and then did not (yes→no).

The priests and elders had, in all of their assuming, overlooked the possibility of grace to turn lives and situations that seemed hopeless, around. Remember the “space” I spoke about that saying “No!” gives you?

Nevertheless, Jesus brings the chief priests and elders to the point where they have to admit that the son who first said no and then had a change of heart was the one who did what his father wanted.

This admission is a double whammy:
(1) It leaves them to deal with the fact that the tax-gatherers and harlots, whom they despised as beyond salvation, would actually be granted a share in God’s kingdom, and
(2) They who said yes, and didn’t obey the prophets or Jesus, are really the ones on the outside.


WHICH SON? WHAT DAY!

What does this story of the two sons then, have to teach us?

If you’re a bit of the first son, you may have said “No” to God in any number of ways:
➢ “No” to taking quiet time to pray
➢ “No” to regular worship
➢ “No” to caring for those in need
➢ “No” to the common good
➢ “No” to fidelity to my marriage or
➢ Taking the time to show my love for my children.

The space that our “no” produces allows us to be attentive to God’s grace always calling us to greater union with him.

If, on the other hand, you’re a bit of the second son on another day, that is, you’ve said “yes” with your mouth or in your thoughts, then where are the works that manifest your talk or express your thoughts?

From your seat, “just a little higher” than the seats of others, are you inclined to look down on anyone be they divorced and remarried Catholics, those who only attend Mass at Easter and Christmas, immigrants, or racial minorities?

What you don’t get is that before Jesus we’re all equal, all chosen, all redeemed.


CONCLUSION

With the positions of the two sons, we perhaps find ourselves experiencing any day either
➢ An angry defiant stance before God of “no” and reconsider to a “yes”, or
➢ We start out with good intentions and a hearty “yes” and then go astray living out a “no”

Whether we make a negative first response or we fail in our intentions, there is always a way back. Today’s reading gives us hope.

Weekly HOMILY for September 18, 2011: Dealing with Envy

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Terranuova Hermitage
September 18, 2011

Dealing with Envy
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


THE PARABLE

There is a stinging line in today’s Gospel parable.

The owner of a vineyard hires workers to pick his grapes. He goes to the center of town where people who want to work hang out, and he hires some workers around 6 o’clock in the morning.

Then the owner goes back there at 9:00am, at noontime, at 3:00pm and even at 5:00pm, and each time he hires more workers. He has a lot of grapes that are ripe and need to be picked that day.

Now it’s starting to get dark. The workday is over and it’s time to pay the workers.

In those days, they don’t pay every two weeks or once a month. And they don’t use direct, electronic deposit into your checking account.

They pay in cash at the end of each day. And here comes the trouble.

First, the vineyard owner pays in reverse order – those hired last, first, and those hired first, last. And on top of that, he pays them all the same amount – the amount he had agreed to pay those hired at 6am.

Well, those workers really get upset with the owner. And it is to them that the owner speaks this stinging question: “Are you envious because I am generous?”


ENVY

What’s important to note here is that if these workers who were hired earlier would not know what the later hires get paid, there would be no problem.

But they do know and that is why they are upset. They are envious of the other workers.

They compare themselves and the amount of their work and their pay with the others and they are really bent out of shape. Now, Jesus is not teaching anything here about management practices or wage and salary scales.

That’s not the point. He is teaching an important personal lesson to each one of us.

He is teaching that we can be envious. We can feel discontented and resentful when we compare ourselves and what we have with others.

This is the core of envy – comparing. Comparing ourselves with others is the seedbed of envy.


COMPARE AND DESPAIR

One of our Catholic spiritual writers today talks about envy.

He gives this simple, pointed saying: “Compare and despair.” “Compare and despair.”

Humanly speaking, we are easily tempted to compare our life and lifestyle with others. The problem is that when we do this, we can so easily feel down about ourselves and resentful of others.

“Compare and despair.” This is envy.

When we compare, we often minimize our own gifts and maximize the gifts of others. We easily minimize or overlook our academic, athletic, musical, or leadership ability.

We easily maximize or overstate the same gifts in others. “Compare and despair” – it’s the root of envy.

And when we compare, we often maximize our problems and minimize those of others. We maximize or overstate the struggles in our family or our financial challenges and on and on it goes.

We easily minimize or overlook the very same realities in others. “Compare and despair” – it’s the root of envy.


AVOIDING ENVY

So, how do we avoid envy? How do we avoid “comparing and despairing”? What does Jesus want us to do?

I see three important practices.

First, stay glued to the Gospels. These are to be the core of our personal and spiritual formation.

The Gospels consistently show that God loves each one of us equally and personally. The vineyard owner in today’s parable is conveying this wonderful truth in the way he pays all the workers.

Second, in a good way, we need to keep focused on ourselves. Each day we need to look at what we positively have – this day of life, family members, a friend, our computer skill, or sense of humor, the basics of food and shelter that we easily take for granted.

It is so easy to overlook who we are and what we have. It is easy to miss God’s gifts because everything is, in truth, a gift from God.

And third, each day we need to thank God. We need to thank God for one thing, and something specific.

This positive gratitude to God will leave little room for the negative envy of others. In a nutshell, be thankful every day.


CONCLUSION

So, a potentially stinging question from a vineyard owner.

“Are you envious because I am generous?” A simple question put to us with a powerful lesson.

Weekly HOMILY for September 11, 2011: Father Nicholas did not preach this weekend

Father Nicholas did not preach this weekend.

Weekly HOMILY for September4, 2011: Did He Hear Your Love?

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Terranuova Hermitage
September 4, 2011

“Did He Hear Your Love?”
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


A BOTTLE OF BOOZE

Recently, a father discovered a half-empty bottle of wine in his teenage son’s bedroom. The father reacted quickly, “How did this get here?” The son mumbled, “I don’t know.”

The father got angrier: “I’ll give you one minute to come up with a better answer than that.” The son: “It belongs to a friend of mine.”

The father: “Do you expect me to believe that?” Immediately the son walked out of the house and slammed the door behind him.

Things got worse, and eventually the father called the counselor at his son’s school. The counselor first asked the father why he was so concerned about the wine and he replied, “I don’t want him to get into trouble.”

The counselor then asked the father why he didn’t want his son to get into trouble. The father answered that he didn’t want his son to get into legal trouble or to get addicted to alcohol and ruin his future.

Again, the counselor pushed the father about the reason for his concern. Finally, he responded, “I love my son and I want the best for him.”

And to that the counselor asked, “Do you think that your son got that message?” And the father sadly replied, “I see what you mean.”


SCRIPTURE

That incident helps us to appreciate today’s Scripture readings.

The passages call us to address situations where someone is doing something that is wrong, harmful or that is personally offensive. The Scriptures give three helpful principles to guide us.


THREE PRINCIPLES

First, we need to make sure our motives for responding are pure. We need to be careful that we are not trying to put others down or get back at them.

Our motive needs to be either the well-being of the other person, like that father for his son, or reconciliation with the other person, like talking with your spouse about something that is bothering you in the relationship. As Saint Paul says today, we need to be grounded in love.

So, in our approach, we need to ask more than accuse, to speak quietly rather than loudly, and to seek agreement rather than argument. Again, that’s all to say that we need to be pure in our motives.

Second, we need to begin by trying to work things out one-on-one. This is the most respectful and least confrontational way of proceeding, and it minimizes defensiveness in the other person.

If this does not work, then we can bring in third parties. Third parties can be family members, friends, a counselor, or a priest.

Alcoholics Anonymous advocates this method when one-on-one fails. They call it an intervention. But always, the goal must be pure: to respectfully persuade the other person that he or she is going in the wrong direction or to help reconcile two people.

And the third principle is that we never give up on another person. In the Gospel, Jesus says that if a person will not listen to a third party, then “treat them as you would a tax collector or gentile.”

Here the Gospel means that we should do what Jesus does with the tax collectors or gentiles. And what does he do?

Jesus does not exclude or excommunicate or refuse to have anything to do with them. On the contrary, he makes a point of hanging out with them, giving his time to them, and even having dinner with them.

Now, no question, that with children and youth, we need to provide direction and rules. And no question, in case of some type of abuse or things like that, with adults we have to protect ourselves or others.

But in general, the direction that the Gospel gives is to respect freedom and allow space for the other person to have a change of heart. Our goal is inclusion and growth, not exclusion and put-downs.


CONCLUSION

So, the Scripture gives us some practical principles about how to proceed in these real-life situations. To some extent, the suggestions are common sense.

They are also verified and confirmed by contemporary psychology. But we can easily forget them and I hope going over them as coming from the mouth of Jesus will make a difference in how we handle similar situations.

Weekly HOMILY for August 28, 2011: Did He Hear Your Love?

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Terranuova Hermitage
September 4, 2011

“Did He Hear Your Love?”
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


A BOTTLE OF BOOZE

Recently, a father discovered a half-empty bottle of wine in his teenage son’s bedroom. The father reacted quickly, “How did this get here?” The son mumbled, “I don’t know.”

The father got angrier: “I’ll give you one minute to come up with a better answer than that.” The son: “It belongs to a friend of mine.”

The father: “Do you expect me to believe that?” Immediately the son walked out of the house and slammed the door behind him.

Things got worse, and eventually the father called the counselor at his son’s school. The counselor first asked the father why he was so concerned about the wine and he replied, “I don’t want him to get into trouble.”

The counselor then asked the father why he didn’t want his son to get into trouble. The father answered that he didn’t want his son to get into legal trouble or to get addicted to alcohol and ruin his future.

Again, the counselor pushed the father about the reason for his concern. Finally, he responded, “I love my son and I want the best for him.”

And to that the counselor asked, “Do you think that your son got that message?” And the father sadly replied, “I see what you mean.”


SCRIPTURE

That incident helps us to appreciate today’s Scripture readings.

The passages call us to address situations where someone is doing something that is wrong, harmful or that is personally offensive. The Scriptures give three helpful principles to guide us.


THREE PRINCIPLES

FIRST, we need to make sure our motives for responding are pure. We need to be careful that we are not trying to put others down or get back at them.

Our motive needs to be either the well-being of the other person, like that father for his son, or reconciliation with the other person, like talking with your spouse about something that is bothering you in the relationship. As Saint Paul says today, we need to be grounded in love.

So, in our approach, we need to ask more than accuse, to speak quietly rather than loudly, and to seek agreement rather than argument. Again, that’s all to say that we need to be pure in our motives.

SECOND, we need to begin by trying to work things out one-on-one. This is the most respectful and least confrontational way of proceeding, and it minimizes defensiveness in the other person.

If this does not work, then we can bring in third parties. Third parties can be family members, friends, a counselor, or a priest.

Alcoholics Anonymous advocates this method when one-on-one fails. They call it an intervention. But always, the goal must be pure: to respectfully persuade the other person that he or she is going in the wrong direction or to help reconcile two people.

And the THIRD principle is that we never give up on another person. In the Gospel, Jesus says that if a person will not listen to a third party, then “treat them as you would a tax collector or gentile.”

Here the Gospel means that we should do what Jesus does with the tax collectors or gentiles. And what does he do?

Jesus does not exclude or excommunicate or refuse to have anything to do with them. On the contrary, he makes a point of hanging out with them, giving his time to them, and even having dinner with them.

Now, no question, that with children and youth, we need to provide direction and rules. And no question, in case of some type of abuse or things like that, with adults we have to protect ourselves or others.

But in general, the direction that the Gospel gives is to respect freedom and allow space for the other person to have a change of heart. Our goal is inclusion and growth, not exclusion and put-downs.


CONCLUSION

So, the Scripture gives us some practical principles about how to proceed in these real-life situations. To some extent, the suggestions are common sense.

They are also verified and confirmed by contemporary psychology. But we can easily forget them and I hope going over them as coming from the mouth of Jesus will make a difference in how we handle similar situations.

Weekly HOMILY fo August 28, 2011: Becoming More

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Saint Mary Magdalene Mission, Churchville
August 28, 2011

Becoming More
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


THE DANDELION, HARE, AND THE HUNTER

Once upon a time, a dandelion whispered to the nutrients in its soil: “How would you like to become a dandelion? You need only allow yourself to be dissolved in the earth’s water, and I will draw you up through my roots.

“Afterward you will be able to grow and flower and brighten the world.” The nutrients said: “Okay!”

The next morning, a rabbit hopped by and, feeling generous, said to the dandelion: “How would you like to become a rabbit? You would have to let me chew you up and swallow you, and you would lose your pretty petals.

“It would hurt at first, but afterward you would be able to hop around and wiggle your ears.” Not being rooted in just one place sounded good so the dandelion allowed itself to be munched and it became a rabbit.

The next day, a hunter spotted the rabbit, and being in a friendly mood, asked: “How would you like to become a human? Of course, you must let yourself be shot, skinned, stewed and eaten.

“That would be rather painful, but think of what you’d gain. You’d be able to think, laugh, cry, get 50 credit cards and watch football on a wide flat-screen TV.”

The rabbit was scared, but who could pass this up? So, he gave up the carefree life of a rabbit and became a human.

Years later, God noticed this human going about everyday human living. Feeling very fatherly, God said: “Hey! How would you like to become a super-human and live forever?”


BECOMING DIVINE

And that, my friends, is precisely the question God asks each human being.

And, in case we don’t know what is involved in this, God’s Son, Jesus, spells it out: “You have to lose your life to find it.”

Sports coaches and athletes say: “No pain; no gain.” Psychologists say: “Lose your false self to find your true self.” Spiritual writers talk about the “dark night before the dawn.”

What is it that we must lose and what do we gain? Well, the good news is that we don’t lose anything essential to our humanity.

We don’t lose anything that is good within us. All we really lose is our inhumanity, our bad self.


WHAT DO WE LOSE?

For example, we must lose our self-centeredness, which isolates us from other good people. We must lose our prejudices, which blind us to the truth.

We must lose our lust, which distorts our love. We must lose our insecurity, which restrains us from doing or saying what we believe is right.

We must lose our obsession with money, which prevents us from being generous. And we must lose our fear, which strangles our hope.


WHAT DO WE GAIN?

To the degree that we do this losing, we gain. We actually enlarge or expand our humanity.

We don’t have to get there all at once. We can do it step by step.

And we don’t have to advance in every department of life. Actually, most saints are imperfect and unfinished in some way.

The best part is that in fulfilling our humanity, we simultaneously become divine. We participate in divine life.

We become intimate with God and start thinking and loving in a Godly way. We engage in communion and conversation with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.


CONCLUSION

And here is the really best part. In losing our lives in God, we don’t really lose at all as the nutrients in the soil, the dandelion, or the rabbit.

Instead, we retain our own self and grow bigger.

But we have to remember: only with God and only in going through this process of losing can we gain and be our fullest self. And that is tough news and also the great news!

Weekly HOMILY for August 21, 2011: Deacon Preaching Weekend

Deacons preached this weekend at St. Margaret's and St. Marks where Father Nicholas celebrated Masses.

Weekly HOMILY for August 14, 2011: Father Nicholas is away on Vacation

Father Nicholas is away on Vacation this weekend.

Weekly HOMILY for August 7, 2011: Amazing Grace? Yes, It Is!

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
St. Mark Parish, Fallston
August 7, 2011

AMAZING GRACE? YES, IT IS!


AMAZING GRACE

One of our classic Christian hymns is Amazing Grace.

We all know those opening lines: “Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!” We sing of God’s grace saving us.

In our Christian or Catholic vocabulary, we used to use the word grace much more frequently than we do today. Today we still believe in this reality, but we often use other words for it.

Today, more often we speak of the presence, the love, the strength, or the healing action of God. These words help to express the reality of what God does for us or who God is for us.

And, of course, in all of this, God is giving himself to us. God’s action is gratuitous, gratis, and from this we get the word grace.


GOD REACHES OUT

I see today’s Gospel as a story about the grace of God.

Jesus extends himself, his hand and arm, to Peter. Peter is afraid because of the wind and waves on the lake.

The whole point here is that Jesus is here for us when we have to deal with the winds and waves of life. God gratuitously reaches out to us.

God gives us his presence when we are afraid or anxious. God gives us his love when we feel abandoned or alone.

God gives us his strength when we find life difficult or burdensome. And God gives us his healing when we are spiritually injured or even physically ill.


WE REACH BACK

Yes, God reaches out himself to us and the experience of that contact, we call grace.

But, like Peter, we need to allow Jesus to take hold of us. We need to allow him to be present, to love, to strengthen and to heal us.

And to do this we need to keep our eyes fixed on God, on Jesus. Remember, Peter becomes afraid and gets into trouble when he takes his eyes off of Jesus.

He starts to sink when he just focuses on the wind and the waves. The same thing can happen to us.

There will be wind and waves in our lives too – a personal sickness, the death of a loved one, financial troubles, a son or daughter trapped in an addiction, and on it can go. Yes, we all experience winds and waves in our lives.

And in these times, if we keep our eyes focused just on the troubles, we will get overwhelmed and start sinking like Peter. The key is keep your eyes fixed on the Lord.


LOOKING AT JESUS

How do we do this?

My experience tells me that if we are going to keep our eyes on Jesus in the storms of life, we need a pattern for doing this every day, even when there is no storm.

I recommend three habits or actions for doing this.

FIRST, I suggest that every morning you offer a prayer to center yourself on the Lord. You can thank God just for the gift of a new day of life.

You can ask the Lord for strength and guidance in what you have to do in this new day. This kind of brief Morning Prayer, whether our personal weather is calm or stormy, helps us to develop a pattern of keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord.

SECOND, I recommend that we choose a one-sentence prayer and pray it often during the course of the day. For example, “I am with you always,” or “God is love” or “Lord, you are my refuge and my strength.”

A one-sentence prayer like one of these helps us to stay centered on the Lord throughout the day. It helps us to keep our eyes on the Lord whether our personal weather is calm or stormy.

AND THIRD, let’s learn a lesson from Elijah who was looking for God in extraordinary places like strong and heavy wind that was rending the mountains and crushing rocks. But, recall, the Lord was not in the wind. Or in the earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Or the fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

Where did he find the Lord? In the tiny whispering sound! So Elijah hides his face in his cloak. It’s the same Lord we find in the sacraments using ordinary elements like water, oil, bread and wine. And right here in the ordinary and everyday we bow our heads over God’s reaching out to us.


CONCLUSION

When we respond to God in these ways, we are clearing the way for him to take hold of us and be the steady help he wants to be.

And that is Amazing Grace!

Weekly HOMILY for July 31, 2011: Disconnecting in Order to Connect

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Terranuova Hermitage
July 31, 2011

Disconnecting in Order to Connect
By (Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


BEING CONNECTED

It a little over two years ago, that I got a new cell phone – a Verizon Droid.

My Droid keeps me connected with all the parishes I help out in and with the places I am offering retreats. I can place and respond to calls quickly.

As you know I can send and receive text messages and emails. I can get on the Internet, do a Google search for a restaurant, or get directions to your home on the GPS.

Many of you have phones like this and you know exactly what I am talking about. There’s no question about it, there’s a real advantage in being connected like this.


JESUS DISCONNECTS TO CONNECT

On the other hand, one of today’s spiritual writers, a Jesuit priest named James Martin, speaks of the importance of disconnecting.

Martin says that we need to disconnect in order to connect. And isn’t that exactly what Jesus does in today’s Gospel?

Jesus’ spirits are low because he has just heard of the death of his cousin John the Baptist. The passage says that “he withdrew to a deserted place by himself.”

So Jesus disconnects – from his ministry and teaching, from his apostles and everyone. Why does he do this?

I’d suggest that he disconnects in order to connect. He needs to connect with his inner self, with his feelings, his sense of mission, and with the Father.

And what happens is that by his disconnecting, Jesus gets the energy to connect again with others. The passage says that a lot of people show up and we see that he is now able to respond to them.

And then his disconnecting also enables him to connect again with his disciples. They want to send the people away.

But Jesus is again able to draw the best out of them. He moves them to utilize their own resources and take care of the people themselves.

So, Jesus disconnects in order to connect. His connecting with himself and the Father empowers him to connect again with others in a life-giving and positive way.


WE DISCONNECT TO CONNECT

It is easy to say that we also need to disconnect in order to connect, but it is not always easy to do this.

I imagine this is especially challenging for parents with young children or for any adults with long commutes to work and lots of responsibilities. But I want to hold out for this: that we do need some time, if it is only five minutes a day, to turn off the cell phones and be alone with ourselves and with God.

We need this time to disconnect – maybe alone in your bedroom, in your car, taking a walk, or in any quiet place we can find. This disconnecting helps to connect again with our inner self, with what is going on in our lives, with God, and with what God is moving us to do.

It will help us sort out our stresses and upsets. It will help us connect with our best self and with how Jesus moves us to respond to overload or relationship troubles or whatever is weighing on us.

We are also to do this here at Sunday Mass. It is intentional that we are asked to turn off our cell phones here.

We do this disconnect so as to be able to connect with both God and the larger community. Here the Word of God guides us and the Eucharist nourishes us as a spiritual community.

The Word connects us as a community with our resources and gifts, much as Jesus does with the disciples today. It draws us out of ourselves to connect with the larger community of the Church and society and the entire world.

It awakens us from a narrow sense of self and of God that we will probably have if we were just to pray alone at home. It connects us to a fuller, maybe even more accurate sense of life.

And then the Eucharist connects us to Jesus in a way that nothing else can do. It is Jesus, present here for us, nourishing and strengthening us to act – again like the disciples today.


CONCLUSION

In a nutshell – disconnect to connect.

Easy words to remember, maybe not so easy to do! But, important, very important to first espouse and then put into action!

We need to disconnect as much as Jesus did. The stresses of our lives and the problems confronting our country and our world are not going to subside anytime soon.

To be God’s people in this, we need to disconnect. And we need this to connect in a Christ-like, life-giving, positive way – something our world sorely needs right now.

Weekly HOMILY for July 23, 2011: Faith -- More Thank One of Many Gifts

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
St. Mark Parish, Fallston
July 23, 2011

Faith: More Than One of Many Gifts
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


ROSE KENNEDY

Years ago before Katy Curic left The Today Show she was interviewing a reporter who was a personal friend of the Kennedy family. Katy asked how she believed this family had been able to get through so many personal losses.

The reporter, Doris Goodman, thought for a moment and responded, “It was Rose Kennedy. She’s the one who has given this family its underlying strength.”

Goodman recalled an incident in which Rose Kennedy said, “If God were to take away all the gifts I’ve been given, the only one I’d beg him to let me keep would be faith.”

“Faith?” the reporter asked her, “Why keep faith as the very last one?” “Because with faith I’d be able to understand and deal with the loss of all the other blessings I loved.”

Holding on to faith had given Rose Kennedy the ability to deal with the tragic deaths of four of her children.


GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Our Scriptures focus on what’s important in our lives as believers and how we might act in terms of that “most important item” in our lives.

In the Gospel, Jesus uses two images to raise this question.

First, he tells of a man who finds a treasure buried in a field. The man re-buries the treasure then sells all he has for money to buy the field and have title to the treasure.

Jesus’ second image is of a merchant selling all he has so he can buy one valuable pearl. At the time, pearls were more valuable than gold or diamonds.

So, in each parable, we see folks going to great lengths to acquire something that is the most valuable thing in their lives. His point is that we should be ready to give anything for that field, anything for that pearl.

Rose Kennedy understood this point well. For her, “faith” was that treasure that pearl.


A TEMPLATE

A closer look shows us that the gift Rose chose is actually a tool that would help her see and understand all the other gifts. Think of it as a “template” in computer jargon.

When we are typing a letter for the first time on our PC or MAC, the software tells us, “This looks like a letter. Are you typing a letter? If you are, I can help you type the hundreds of letters you type after this one.” All you need do is say, “yes.”

After that, the program will present you with a template in which all letters can be typed.

Thus templates offer you a framework that assists us in dealing with the components of all future letters. They offer alternatives that will make your letter better.

This is precisely what the gift of faith did for Rose Kennedy. It was a template, a way of assisting her in all the “letters” of her life – her losses, joys, sorrows and sad good-bys.


APPLICATION

So what does all this say to you and me?

Chose faith! Say “yes” to faith in Jesus Christ as the most important treasure in your life – sell all you have for faith in the Lord, placing all else at least second and you will have a template, a way of dealing with all that life has dealt you.

Setbacks such as the LOSS OF A JOB OR AN ILLNESS need not be the end. With faith in Jesus and knowing he is at our side, we can tighten the belt a bit, get the courage to be more assertive in our networking for a new joy, or use our recuperation time from an illness to develop a hobby or create a home-based business

The LOSS OF A LOVED ONE NEED not be the loss of our own will to live. With faith in Jesus, we can better learn to trust him with our life and join ourselves to our departed loved ones through increased prayer or service to others in their memory.

The LIMITATIONS OF OUR PERSONALITY, be they anger, impatience, or depression, need not be a strike against us. Again, with faith in Jesus, they can be avenues for understanding how much the Lord loves us and accepts us as we are.

Those sorts of breakthroughs are now possible because we have the template that offers us a framework. It offers us assistance in dealing with the components of all our “future letters.” It offers us alternatives that make our letter better.

When you choose faith in Christ, and you receive the “template,” you don’t have to start from scratch with each trial you encounter, for you now have a framework, a context, to understand all of life’s curves and turns, it’s potholes and open vistas, it’s dead-ends and steep inclines.


CONCLUSION

Rose Kennedy’s choice of “faith first” served her well. We see it in her family’s ability to deal with so much loss.

Faith first can have that same impact in our own lives, as well.

Weekly HOMILY for July 17, 2011: Lessons from Weeds and Wheat Growing Together

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Terrnauova Hermitage
July 17, 2011

Lessons from Weeds and Wheat Growing Together
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


SUNFLOWERS AND WEEDS

I have always enjoyed some gardening – at least when I have time to do it.

I remember once planting sunflowers. I really like them and was looking forward to them forming the background to the other plants and flowers.

Well, as the sunflower seeds sprouted and merged above the soil, there were also some weeds. It was very difficult to tell the difference between the leaves of these weeds and the leaves of the sunflowers.

I realized this too late and pulled up some of the sunflower plants with the weeds. And then I decided to stop weeding in that area.

I figured that soon the sunflowers would grow so tall and start to bloom that it would be easy to tell the difference between them and the weeds. That is exactly what happened and I ended up with some beautiful sunflowers and was easily able to weed around them.


WHEAT AND WEEDS

This experience is almost exactly what Jesus is talking about in today’s parable.

The farmer tells his workers not to pull up the weeds that are in with the wheat. This seems counter-intuitive, against what seems to make sense.

But the farmer’s direction is correct. The type of weed here looks like wheat in its early stages and you might pull up both weeds and wheat.

And beyond that, the kind of weed being referred to had roots that intertwined with the roots of the wheat. So, even if you could identify and pull out the weeds, you would probably injure the wheat in the process.

Well, as with any parable, Jesus is really teaching us something about life and how we are to follow him. There are some excellent lessons here.


NOT SAYING: DON'T GUIDE

First, what is Jesus not saying here?

Jesus is not saying that we should not guide our children and youth. We do need to guide them in what is right and wrong and in choosing good friends.

Also, Jesus is not saying that we should condone or be passive about certain evils – things like foul language, racist remarks, abortion, and on it goes. We need to be a light for our world when it comes to these things.


SAYING 1: DON'T WEED OUT

What then is Jesus saying with this teaching about the wheat and the weeds?

First, he’s saying: “Don’t weed out one another.” He wants us to resist the human tendency to separate, divide, exclude, and shun in all its forms.

Sometimes religion and those of us who are religious can get into this sort of behavior. In recent years, even in our Church, some have wanted to identify those who are weeds and pull them out and exclude them from Communion for reasons well beyond sound Catholic tradition.

This kind of action just does not seem consistent with today’s Gospel. Jesus calls us here to be patient and even give what we might call weeds the chance to grow to become wheat.


SAYING 2: DON'T LABEL

That moves right into the second thing Jesus is saying here. Do not even label others as weeds.

Again, there is a human tendency to do this. The problem is that it is a dualistic approach – we versus them, the good versus the bad.

The best of our Catholic tradition has warned against and even condemned dualism. Jesus calls us to a more unitive approach.

This means that we see both others and ourselves as one because, in fact, there is a mix of wheat and weeds right within me and within you. Jesus is patient with us in letting us grow and wants us to be patient with others in letting them grow.


SAYING 3: NOURISH THE WHEAT

And that moves right into the third point Jesus is making. He wants us to concentrate more on the wheat.

Nourish the wheat, just like the sunflowers in my garden, and it will grow well and be easily distinguishable from the weeds. There will be a good harvest and God in his own way will take care of any weeds.

In other words, act positively in promoting what is good.


CONCLUSION

A Franciscan theologian, Father Richard Rohr, offers some wonderful advice on this topic and I will conclude with his advice.

He says: “If you want others to be more loving, choose to love first. If you want a reconciled outer world, reconcile your own inner world.

“If you notice other peoples’ irritability, let go of your own. If the world seems desperate, let go of your despair.

“If you want a just world, start being just in small ways yourself. If you want to find God, then honor God within you, and you will always see God beyond you.

“For it is only God in you who knows where and how to look for God.” In short, pay more attention to the wheat than to the weeds.

Weekly HOMILY for July 10, 2011: Faith, Humility and Openness: Keys to Listening to God and Others

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
St. Mark Church, Fallston
July 10, 2011

Faith, Humility and Openness: Keys to Listening to God and Others
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


A PROBLEM: LISTENING

Every day we interact with one another, it becomes clearer that our culture has a real problem with listening. There’s a reason for this.

When my father and mother were teaching my brother, sister, and me good manners, they taught us never to interrupt others when they are speaking. They taught us to listen and wait to speak until the other person was finished.

From that lesson learned, my experience is that folks are constantly interrupting each other when someone is speaking. You can also see this on news shows and talk shows that are modeling this as normative behavior to the general public.

We interrupt and do not listen, of if we listen we’re thinking about our response before the person has completed their thought. So often, our response is here (hand high) and what the person said is here. (Hand low; and two missing each other)

Still another lesson preached and learned at home was, “God gave you two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak”

Some of us are two mouths and half an ear. It is no wonder that we’re not communicating!


SOIL TYPES AND LISTENING

Today’s Gospel parable raises this issue of listening beautifully.

The metaphor is clear: the sower or farmer is God or Jesus. The seed is the Word of God.

The soil represents you and me and the different ways we receive or listen to the Word of God. The question is: How do we listen? Which of the four soils are we?

Each tells us how well we listen. I want to propose three requirements that are needed for effective listening, whether it is listening to the Word of God or listening to one another.


LISTENING TO THE WORD

For listening to the Word of God, FIRST WE NEED FAITH. Faith means that we believe that this is really the Word of God himself as it’s entering our very ears.

We believe that the Word who is God really speaks to us in and through the Scripture. We believe that the Word or Son of God is really present in the inspired Word as it is proclaimed here at Mass or as we read it privately.

SECOND, WE NEED HUMILITY. Humility means that we are aware that we are incomplete, that we are imperfect, that we don’t have it all.

We are aware that we desire and yearn, at least deep down, for completeness, for something beyond ourselves. We yearn for God, for a divine communication, for transcendence.

And THIRD, WE NEED OPENNESS. Openness means that we are awake and alert to the present moment.

It means that we want to take in what is said, that we are willing to have our attitudes, outlooks, feelings, behavior, and relationships changed, changed because of the Word we are listening to.

Imagine the kind of transformation that sort of listening can bring you!


LISTENING TO ONE ANOTHER

Now these same three traits are also essential for listening to one another.

FIRST, WE AGAIN NEED FAITH. Here faith means seeing the other person as made in the image and likeness of God and worthy to be listened to.

It means seeing others as in their own unique way revealing God to us, seeing others as valuable, worthwhile, with something to share with us.

SECOND, WE AGAIN NEED HUMILITY. Here humility means that we see ourselves as one with, as bonded with, others on the same human journey. We’re in this together and can’t make it alone!

It means that we do not see ourselves as above or better than others, that we see ourselves and others as having similar wants and needs, similar challenges and hopes.

AND THIRD, WE AGAIN NEED OPENNESS. Openness means that we are willing to take in the experience of others and not just hold on to my own experience as normative.

We are willing to ask and try to enter into the life of others and not just talk about ourselves all the time.

We’re even willing to have our attitudes, outlooks, feelings, behavior, and relationships changed, changed because of our listening to others.


CONCLUSION

So, these three traits – faith, humility, and openness – help us to be good listeners – listeners to the Word of God and to one another.

These traits, with the listening that results, might just help to ease and even resolve some of the problems in our communications with each other.

Weekly HOMILY for July 3, 2011: What’s Stronger, Wind or Sun? And Why?

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
St. Margaret, St. Mark
July 3, 2011

What’s Stronger, Wind or Sun? And Why?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


AESOP'S FABLE

Seven hundred years before Jesus’ birth, there lived a Greek slave named Aesop.

This man compiled a collection of stories known as Aesop’s Fables. The stories have become a classic and they contain wonderful lessons for living.

One of Aesop’s Fables is tells of a dispute between the sun and the wind about which of them was stronger. The story goes that one day, a man dressed in an overcoat was walking down a country road.

The sun said to the wind, “Whoever gets the coat off that man first will be the stronger.” The wind agreed to the contest and agreed to go first.

And so, the wind blew and blew, but the more the wind blew, the tighter the man held on to his coat. Finally, the wind gave up.

Then it was the sun’s turn and she began to shine. Within a few minutes, the man removed his coat.

The sun won the contest and was declared stronger than the wind. The moral of Aesop’s tale is: you can achieve more by gentleness than by force.


JESUS' HUMBLENESS

Aesop’s moral is the lesson Jesus is teaching us today.

He says: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.” I would suggest that gentleness requires one first to be humble.

Look at Jesus. Though God, he humbles himself to become one of us. He lives our life fully, embracing our humanity with all of its limitations and weaknesses and he loves what he sees in us.

In becoming just like us – yet without our sinfulness – Jesus gives our human nature dignity. Now that’s being humble!


JESUS' GENTLENESS

It is in his humbleness – God meeting us where we are and as we are that makes it possible for Jesus to be so gentle with us. He knows us from the inside.

His gentleness and understanding flow from that very intimate knowledge of us.

Unlike the forceful wind, Jesus is gentle like the warm sun and it’s a gentleness that gets played out in many ways throughout the Gospels.

For example, when Jesus forms a group of followers, he respects these ragtag individuals and their life situations and their freedom, so he simply invites them to follow him, never force or coercing them.

In another situation, Jesus refuses to get caught up in putting down or condemning a woman caught in adultery. He respects her as the person she is sins and all and simply exhorts her to avoid that behavior.

Or again, Jesus likens himself to a shepherd who searches and finds one lost sheep. He doesn’t beat or scold the sheep, but rejoices in finding it and carries it home in his arms.

In so many ways, Jesus shows himself exactly as he describes himself today. “I am gentle and humble of heart.”


"LEARN FROM ME“

Let’s not forget the three words that precede “I am gentle and humble of heart,” namely, “Learn from me.”

The invitation to learn is that we cultivate the traits of humbleness and gentleness in ourselves.

To be humble means we stay in touch with our humanity, that is, we remain aware of our own limitations, weaknesses, struggles, and infirmities.

When looking at someone whom we consider less than us, we understand the old adage: “There but for the grace of God go I” or the Native American saying, “We have to walk a mile in another person’s moccasins to understand them.”

And from this humbleness, will flow a new found gentleness.

(1) Gentleness toward those who do not seem to belong be it the country club, the Catholic Church, the white race, the political party, the ethnic group. Only kindness will reduce those divisions.

(2) Gentleness toward those living with addictions to sex or drugs, those living a lifestyle very different from our own. Only love will have them consider alternatives.

(3) Gentleness toward those who have left the Catholic Church and seem to be floundering not knowing what they believe. Only respect will help them consider their options for living with faith.


CONCLUSION

Aesop’s fable of the wind and the sun helps us to recall Jesus’ words today.

“Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.” Jesus’ humbleness and gentleness will be our real strength in loving others as they are.

Weekly HOMILY for June 26, 2011: Eucharist: The Eye of the Hurricane

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Cycle A
St. Mark, Fallston
June 26, 2011

Eucharist: The Eye of the Hurricane
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


HURRICANES

June 1st began the hurricane season and from June 1 until November 30 the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida will monitor and track all hurricanes in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricanes are actually defined as tropical cyclones originating in the Caribbean. As cyclones they are swirling masses of turbulent, violent air. To be a hurricane and receive an official name like Katrina, Andrew, Rita, Wilma, or Ike, they must equal or exceed winds of 74 mph. Interestingly the Spanish word huracán is derived from the Bahamian word hurakán, which means ‘god of the storm.’

Perhaps the best way to understand this is to imagine a Frisbee with a hole cut out of its center. Imagine that you expand the Frisbee so that it measures 100 miles across and the small hole measures 10 miles across.

Then, spin the Frisbee at the rate of 100 miles an hour. That’s what a hurricane is like.

The interesting thing is that inside the 10-mile wide eye, (demonstrate) there is no wind, no rain at all – just blue skies and sunshine. The eye of a hurricane is peaceful and calm.


THE MASS AS THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE

That image of the eye of a hurricane is a helpful way to understand the Eucharist in our lives as Catholics.

And on this Feast of Corpus Christi I’d like to share some thoughts on what this eye of the hurricane could be for us.

The very way that the Mass is structured, planned, and celebrated affords us some remarkable possibilities for peace and calm in our lives.


THINK ABOUT IT

1) We enter a space that is accepting, hospitable, and kind; a place we are more inclined to be ourselves; a space we are more inclined to put away our anger, resentment, or frustrations and be at peace with ourselves.

We encounter a group of people who, while they know that they are human and less than perfect, want to live life with a sense of hope …

Want to live their lives for something beyond themselves…

Want some help in dealing with the stresses they are encountering.

2) We hear Old and New Testament Scriptures that support that vision of “trying to do better” and we hear a homily that opens us up to new perspectives, new possibilities, new areas of growth.

We hear words that encourage us and give us hope.

3) At the General Intercessions we pray for our needs and the needs of all in the world.

4) The Sign of Peace opens us up to our neighbors immediately around us and a hundred clusters of such sharing of peace bind us together as a larger assembly.

5) The momentum builds, as in a great symphony, to a climax, where the Lord Jesus himself comes among us and makes his presence felt. It is a presence that each of us is intimately drawn into, as we become what we eat.

And the mood is festive by our singing; the mood is supportive as we stand while others eat; the mood is reflective as we all sit for a time of silence to relish the feast we have consumed.


CONCLUSION

It is said that the eye of the hurricane, as it passes over a place or a group of individuals, lasts only about an hour. Interesting enough, so too does the Eucharistic celebration we call the Mass.

Jesus never intended that we stay in the “eye” of the Eucharist, though it is the essence of peace and calm.

To the contrary, he intended that we go back into the storms of our life: the storms of frustrating work situation, the storms of broken promises, and the storms of difficult relationships.

On this Feast of Corpus Christi we consider what we go back into our storms with, after this hour together.

We are at peace with ourselves; we are at peace with one another; we are at peace with God.

And with the words, “Go the Mass is ended,” we are sent back into our storms renewed, refreshed, and filled with a new sense of hope, as we become the eye of the storm for others.

Weekly HOMILY for June 12, 2011: Communion Through the Spirit Within

Feast of Pentecost, Cycle A
St. Mark, St. Margaret Parishes
June 12, 2011

Communion Through the Spirit Within
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

There is a fifteenth century Russian icon entitled “The Descent of the Holy Spirit.”

This icon – The Descent of the Holy Spirit – depicts Pentecost with complete quiet and calm. It is, in sharp contrast to the strong wind, the fiery tongues, and the fearful disciples, that we see in today’s readings.

The icon portrays the Apostles sitting in a semi-circle in complete serenity and peace. It conveys the coming of the Holy Spirit as an inner event.

The idea is that through the birth of Jesus, God becomes God-with-us. Now, through the sending of the Spirit, God becomes God-with-in-us.

Surprisingly, the figures in the icon are not looking at or talking to or working with one another. Instead, they are all listening intently to the God-within-them.

Each of the persons is portrayed as very differently. Each has different color hair, different way of sitting and even clothes that are different in style and color.

And yet, despite all of these differences, the icon portrays complete harmony. The message is that the God-within-us – The Descent of the Holy Spirit – makes many individuals into a single community.

The icon confronts us with the truth that we are not complete, in and by ourselves, but it also consoles us with the revelation that it is the very God-within-us that brings about our completeness through our communion with others.


THE LESSON OF THE ICON

This fifteenth century Russian icon makes an extraordinary point for our living: The presence of God-within-us can be seen as the common ground between each of us and God. It’s what makes us one.

And so, what we need to do is awaken our awareness to the Spirit’s presence as what grounds us, much as we see the Apostles doing in the icon. This awareness moves us to realize God’s presence and our common grounding with all people.

In this way, our awareness of God-within-us is our union with him but also it speaks of the communion we have with each other. It is the most solid and most lasting basis of community that we could ever hope for.


THOMAS MERTON'S INSIGHT

The well-known Trappist monk and spiritual writer Thomas Merton has a profound insight on this.

I want to read a few sentences of Merton that relate directly to this point. As I read them slowly, please simply take them and relish any insights that surface.

Merton says: “The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless.

“It is beyond words, it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity – we discover an older unity.

“My dear Brothers and Sisters, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not.

“And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.”


CONCLUSION

Merton’s thoughts are simple and yet quite profound.

We sometimes make the differences between us, like the differences in the figures in the icon, we sometimes make these obstacles to communion or community or unity.

➢ Black versus White, Brown versus Yellow – an obstacle to communion!
➢ People in Harford County versus people in Baltimore City – obstacle!
➢ Christians versus Jews – yes, obstacle!
➢ You’re getting the point. Christians versus Muslims – obstacle!
➢ Jews versus Muslims – obstacle!
➢ Catholics versus those who are not – obstacle!
➢ American citizens versus illegal immigrants – obstacle!
➢ Politically liberal versus conservative – obstacle!
➢ Catholic progressive versus traditionalist – obstacle!

Have I left anyone out?

Yes, so often, myself included, allow differences to obscure the communion and community and unity that is there.

As Merton writes, “We are already one.

“What we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.”

This is the Holy Spirit, God-within-us. This is what Pentecost is about.

Weekly HOMILY for June 5, 2011: Baking Cookies: The Kingdom in Our Midst

Ascension of the Lord, Cycle A
St. Mark, Fallston
St. Margaret, Bel Air
June 5, 2011

Baking Cookies: The Kingdom in Our Midst
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


DOUGHJANGLES

Aaron and Eric Ware were not only twin brothers, but also best friends. They did everything together.

Four years ago, Eric died from brain cancer. Eleven-year-old Aaron was at a loss. Unable to accept his twin’s death, Aaron sunk into depression. His worried parents made an appointment with his pediatrician.

During the exam, the doctor noticed something. When she asked Aaron what he liked to do, Aaron smiled for the first time.

“Bake,” he said. “Well, then, that’s what we’re going to do,” the doctor told Aaron. Her prescription: “Start a baking company. Come up with a name for the company.”

She then handed her young patient a $20-dollar bill. “I’m going to be your first investor. You report back to me and we’ll see how it goes.”

Aaron threw himself into the challenge. With the help of his mom and his older brother, Aaron started “Doughjangles. “

He bakes hundreds of cookies each week and sells them to family and friends. Half the proceeds go to the charities that helped Eric. Doughjangles is still going strong.

Says Aaron, “Instead of just watching TV trying to forget, Eric would want me to do something I love doing.” In baking cookies, young Aaron found a way to continue the “work” of goodness and happiness he knew with his brother.


SCRIPTURE

Today is the Ascension of the Lord. It is about the followers of Jesus having a new kind of relationship with him, one beyond the merely physical one of two bodies in the same space together. It’s a new kind of presence to one another.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all place the Ascension as an event on Easter Sunday. For John and his gospel, the Ascension is not an event, but a new existence, a new relationship with God that is built on the former physical one.

So it is not so much Jesus having ascended “up there,” but of God’s greater more intense involvement in human life. It is God’s overcoming all that hinders his involvement with us.

There they are on the mountaintop and as Jesus takes leave of them his final words are, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all, baptizing them and teaching them all that I have told you.”

It is about their confidence and their willingness to act in the name of Jesus and that new life which God is bringing into existence through the death and resurrection of his son.

Aaron was an 11-year old with no hope, his dreams dashed by the death of Eric. But he was open to the words of his pediatrician who spoke to him of (1) His love of Eric and (2) His love of baking.

She, like Jesus, motivated him to act out of that two-fold love (Eric and baking) and he was transformed. In using a talent – baking cookies – and – motivated by his love of his brother – young Aaron found a way to continue the “work” of goodness and happiness he knew with his brother.


APPLICATION

The two men dressed in white who stood atop the mountain, while Jesus was taken from their sight, speak to us as well when they ask, “Men, women, and children of St. Mark’s (St. Margaret’s) why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

What they will learn, as will we, is that Jesus will return through (1) Our love of him and (2) The use of our talents and gifts for the good of others.

Thus for example the gift of listening, grounded in love of Jesus, can give someone who’s lost his job hope or a teen a sense of direction for her life.

Or a monetary gift, again, grounded in the love of Jesus, can put a smile on a single parent struggling to put food on the table.

Or the gift of time, grounded in the love of Jesus, can assist our parish as a volunteer or sitting with the elderly person can bring a smile to one who has been forgotten by family and friends.

Or the gift of a car ride, grounded in the love of Jesus, can get a very appreciative senior to a doctor.


CONCLUSION

In baptism, the Gospel preached by Jesus is passed on to us – we become witnesses of the great Easter event and accept responsibility for the “work” of telling the people in our lives the good news of the empty tomb and that Jesus is alive and alive in us.

The question that is left for us is, “Where is my relationship with Jesus in the midst of my own loss, pain, longing, unsettlement and to what is that relationship calling me?”

Weekly HOMILY for May 29, 2011: Jesus and the Overcoming of Loneliness:

6th Sunday of Easter, Cycle A
St. Mark, Fallston
May 29, 2011

Jesus and the Overcoming of Loneliness
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


LONELINESS STUDY

Two years ago, the University of Chicago released the results of a study on loneliness, which found that about 25% of the American population frequently feels lonely. It also found that loneliness is increasing.

Among the factors causing the increase are our longer life spans, more years spent in widowhood, and the rising number of single-person households.

One particular finding is that we Americans tend to feel lonely on special occasions, occasions when being together is the social norm, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, etc. Feelings of loneliness are more frequent at these times.

The study says that loneliness has more to do with the quality rather than the quantity of relationships.

Studies of college students show that incoming freshmen are particularly lonely during the first quarter of school. Interestingly, this is true even though they have roommates and are surrounded by other people.

Again, the finding is that it is not the number but the quality of relationships that determines whether we feel isolated or lonely.


“I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ORPHANS”

In today’s gospel, Jesus addresses this human reality of our loneliness.

He knows that he is about to suffer and die and leave the Apostles. He senses their anxiety about being left alone, without him. And so, Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphans. You will realize that I am in my Father (demonstrate) and you are in me (demonstrate) and I in you (demonstrate).”

Jesus promises to be with us through his Spirit, the Holy Spirit. In this way, he addresses very directly our feelings of isolation, abandonment and loneliness.

Furthermore, Jesus makes his presence through the Spirit concrete in two ways for us. They are: (1) Sacraments, and (2) Community.


1. THROUGH SACRAMENTS

First of all, our sacraments are visible, earthly, even physical ways for Jesus to be in direct contact with us through his Spirit and while the Spirit is unseen, its effects, its impact is very visible.

For example, we have the physical experience of Jesus’ presence through the water of Baptism that we feel as we are sprinkled. We also have a physical experience of the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands pressed on the crowns of our heads and the anointing with oil at Confirmation.

And then, here at Mass, the Eucharist is the supreme tangible, physical experience of God’s presence. In the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest places his hands over the bread and wine.

And in the name of all of us he invokes the words: “Let your Spirit come upon these gifts so that they may become for us the body and blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.” The unseen Spirit enlivens and effects – through our experience of faith – the physical presence of Jesus in the now sacred bread and wine.

The result is that when we eat the consecrated bread and drink the consecrated wine, that same life-giving Spirit enters us and becomes one with us and we physically experience Jesus becoming one with us.

Thus we are drawn up into the life of God and God within us – all through the Eucharist. As Jesus says today, “you live in me and I live in you.”


2. THROUGH COMMUNITY

The second way that Jesus remains with us is through community. He says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst.”

Oftentimes we are tempted to go it alone or “slug it out” in life, to think that we do not or should not need others.

It is very important not to fall into this temptation. This path easily leads to isolation and loneliness.

Perhaps this is why God’s entire action throughout the Bible is always directed to us as a people, a community.

Jesus draws the first disciples together as a community and makes this his primary way to be with us. Remember he doesn’t appear after the Resurrection to individuals!

When we join with other persons of faith, either here at Mass or in the service of others, we are energized. And this happens because we are drawn out of ourselves – out of our aloneness or loneliness – and into relationship.

A key part of being in community is to reach out to those who may be alone or lonely – a struggling single parent, a grieving widowed neighbor, an elderly parishioner in a nursing home.

The idea is that we are empowered by Jesus’ presence here in the community and then we reach out to draw others into that same abiding presence.


CONCLUSION

So, Jesus touches a troublesome, maybe even a threatening human feeling today – loneliness.

He assures us: “I am in my Father (demonstrate) and you are in me (demonstrate) and I in you (demonstrate).”

And then he does this for us through sacrament and community – a great message!

Weekly HOMILY for May 22, 2011: We Know Whose Baby This Is!

5th Sunday of Easter, Cycle A
Our Lady of Grace
(Sister Mary Therese’s Farewell Mass)
May 21, 2011

We Know Whose Baby This Is!
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


NEW BABY

When a new baby is born and family members gather to celebrate the event, it is amusing to watch how everyone tries to analyze the infant’s genealogy from its physical characteristics.

“He has Grandpa Carl’s jaw.” “She has Aunt Mae’s eyes.” “He has his father’s ears.” “She has her mother’s nose.” “He’s the spitting image of Carl when he was a child.”

We like to see characteristics that identify someone as a member of the family. It’s a way of claiming someone new as one of our own. Or to put it another way, we like to see family members in the physical features of a newborn.


WHAT DOES GOD LOOK LIKE?

As Christians, we accept the fact of God’s existence, but as human beings we are very curious about God’s identity and characteristics. What is God really like, we wonder.

Images of God are as numerous as our human imagination allows. Artists throughout history have depicted God in a multitude of forms – anything from a concrete image of a grandfatherly old man to the more abstract concept of “the Force.”

These and all images of God are important because they have consequences. For example, an image of God as vindictive can lead us to be vindictive or harsh or even warlike.

An image of God as judgmental can lead us to feel distant from God or afraid of God or inappropriately guilty. So, how we image God and see God’s traits and characteristics is very important.


GOD LOOKS LIKE JESUS

In today’s gospel, we see the very human and curious Philip.

Philip asks Jesus, “Show us the Father” – “Show us God.” Jesus responds by presenting himself as a mirror of God.

He says, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” And again, “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.”

To put it simply, Jesus is the self-revelation of God. We believe that if we look at him, we see God’s self-manifestation – who God is, what God looks like.

Saint John in his gospel calls Jesus the Word of God – God’s self-expression. We accept Jesus as the Son of God.

In his very being, his concerns, his thoughts, and his actions, Jesus reflects the mind and heart of God. And so, similar to our looking at a baby and seeing the parents or grandparents in the baby’s features, we can look at Jesus and see his Father, God himself.


MYSTERY AND KNOWLEDGE

No question, we believe that God is mystery, that God is beyond our human ability to know and understand completely.

But by looking at Jesus, we believe that we can learn and know a great deal about God. The characteristics w see in him, we can attribute to God.

When we hear Jesus saying, “Let those among you who are without sin cast the first stone,” we know that God is patient and forgiving. When we see Jesus mingling with tax collectors and other so-called sinners, we know that God is absolutely inclusive and outreaching.

When we hear Jesus talking about the shepherd seeking out the one lost sheep, we know that God values each one of us personally. And when we hear Jesus saying “Whatever you do for the least of my brothers and sisters, that you do for me,” we know that God is especially compassionate and empathetic for anyone in any kind of need.


CONCLUSION

Read the gospels with an eye on Jesus and you can see God in action.

In the words of Jesus, hear God speaking
In the concerns of Jesus, see God’s concerns
In the gestures of Jesus, see the gestures of God.

Your curiosity – and fears – about God can be laid to rest – like Phillip’s in today’s gospel – the more you look at and come to understand Jesus.