Daily HOMILY for August 12, 2019: Monday 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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Monday 19^th Week in Ordinary Time

Washington Retreat House 

August 12, 2019

TAX EXEMPT ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  The issue of the payment of the temple tax forms the core of today’s Gospel

Ø  Scripture scholars give us some interesting insights into what is going on here

THOUGH HE PAYS TAX ++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  First, in the conversation between Jesus and Peter, what emerges is that kings do not impose taxes on their own family and subjects

Ø  Instead, they collect taxes from foreigners whose country they have defeated and subjugated

Ø  On that, Jesus says that he is exempt from the tax

WHY’S JESUS EXEMPT? ++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Why does he say that?

Ø  Scholars say the king Jesus is referring to here is really God & since J is Son of God, he’s exempt

Ø  So here is a subtle claim to his being Son of God

MODELS DUTY TO SOCIETY +++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Still, J agrees 2 pay tax so as not to offend anyone

Ø  Idea is he wants to be a good example to others

Ø  So upholds need 4 responsibility & duty 2 society

Ø  So he wants to pay the tax

HOW TO MEET DUTY ++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Finally, there’s interesting way 4 getting the $$$

Ø  J tells Peter 2 get the coin out of mouth of a fish

Ø  If it were only so easy to pay our bills that way!

Ø  Well, 1 Scripture scholar clarifies that J refuses to perform miracles for his own benefit or ends

Ø  E.g., in desert he refuses to turn stone into bread

Ø  What J is doing isn’t making something miraculous happen – like getting coin from a fish

Ø  Instead, he’s using an idiom of day and his language and really telling Peter 2 go back 2 his job of fishing and there will B enough $ to pay tax

Ø  In effect saying to Peter, “You’ll get plenty of $$$ out of fish you catch in order to pay the bills”

Ø  Jesus reaffirms a sense of responsibility and work

LESSONS LEARNED +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  We’re not beyond the law

Ø  We can B G-abiding in Jesus who is the Son of God

Ø  And we can be tax-abiding making enough from our labor to do so

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HOMILY for August 8, 2019: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Terranova

August 8, 2019

 

Now That’s Faith!

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato 

Sister’s Dilemma

One day one of our Catholic Sisters was driving to the home of a person who was sick.

This Sister was a nurse and she was doing a home-health-care visit.  She was driving through the streets of the town and lo and behold, her car ran out of gas.

Fortunately, there was a gas station just one block away. Unfortunately, the station had no gas can to lend the Sister and she did not have one either.

But then Sister got an idea.  She had a brand new bedpan in the trunk of her car.

The gas station attendant knew her and trusted her and let her fill the bedpan with gasoline.  Sister carefully carried it back to the car and started pouring the gasoline into the tank.

As she was doing this, a car slowed down to a stop and the driver was just staring at the Sister pouring from the bedpan into the gas tank. He called out through the passenger window,“Now that’s what I call real faith.”

Abraham’s Faith and Life 

This theme of faith emerges in our second reading today.

The author extols the faith of Abraham.  This ancient, Old Testament patriarch was probably illiterate, but he believed firmly in God.

God called him to leave the only land that he knew and journey to a foreign country.  Abraham, because of his faith, did what God asked.

God promised Abraham that he and Sarah, in spite of being older, would have a son.  Abraham, with his faith, trusted God and eventually rejoiced in the birth of Isaac.

God told Abraham that his “descendants would be as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sands on the seashore.”  Abraham had faith and so it happened.

Abraham basically had only one article of faith – he believed in God and trusted in God’s power.  And that one article of faith dominated his life and determined what he did.

We have many articles of faith – the basics are contained in our Profession of Faith.  Like Abraham, we are to allow them to dominate our lives and determine how we live.

  

Our Faith and Life 

For example, to believe in a Creator is to know that the universe is livable and supports us rather than fights us.  To believe in the Father is to understand that God cares and that we have a home to go to.

To believe that God became human is to know that the distance between God and us has been spanned.  It is to understand that God and we can walk life together and can actually love one another.

To believe that the Son of God suffered and died is to know that absolutely nothing in life can overwhelm us.  It is to understand that it has already been overcome by our Brother Jesus.

To believe that Jesus rose from the dead is to know that nothing in life is futile.  It is to understand that everything we do has value and great potential for good.

To believe in the Holy Spirit is to know that God lives within each of us and forms our deepest identity.  To believe in sacraments is to understand that God comes to us right now through ordinary things like bread and wine.

To believe in the Church is to know that God has formed us into a people, a community.  It is to understand that we are to figure out how to love one another regardless of religious or racial or ethnic or cultural or national differences.

To believe in the communion of saints is to know that our community of life continues even beyond physical death.  And to believe in the forgiveness of sins is to understand that no mistake is fatal in God’s eyes and no hurt between us is so big that reconciliation is impossible. 

Conclusion

They are our basic articles of faith and they can have a profound, positive impact on our lives, if we just allow them to do that. 

And that’s no bedpan story. That real faith in the truest sense! 

HOMILY for August 4, 2019: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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18^th Sunday of the Year, Cycle C

Church of the Nativity

August 3-4, 2019

Ordinary Everyday Miracles

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato  

NEW BEGINNINGS

This week is a week of new beginnings here at Nativity.  

First, we are beginning a new mass schedule starting with this weekend.  So, congratulations for making it to mass on time. 

We are also beginning a brand-new message series all about miracles, but not just any miracles, but about ordinary, everyday miracles, the kind that accompanied the everyday life of Jesus.

He heals the sick, he raises the dead, he multiplies bread and fish and fed thousands 

MIRACLES A SOURCE FOR SCEPTICISM

In this series we’ll be exploring how we process these claims, these stories that seem so far removed from our own experience. 

Not only that, but we’ll be looking to how we can harness their power, their grace in our very own lives. Now, today, in this moment!

I know, perhaps you are skeptical about the miracle claims of the Scriptures. I certainly have been in the past. 

Maybe you reject the very idea of miracles at all. Again, I certainly have in the past.

And that’s OK. 

Knowing that, we have designed this series for you — those of us who believe in miracles and those of us who struggle with our belief in them.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s Gospel tells us about a rich man who tries to be totally self-sufficient.  

He is rich, but you can see from the account that he didn’t enjoy his riches

His riches do neither him nor anyone else any good, Instead, he’s hording his huge harvest

This is a Timonium Tim who lives independent of God, almost as if God doesn’t even exist

But that is not the way God wants us to live

God wants us to live in recognition of, and in grateful for, the blessings, the grace, the miracles that surround us, all the time

CONCLUSION

Join us after communion as Tom Corcoran kicks off this second of our summer series

And know, that it’s been prepared especially with you in mind

Be there or be square!

Daily HOMILY for August 3, 2019: Saturday 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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Saturday 17th Week in Ordinary Time

Retreat and Conference Center at Bon Secours

August 3, 2019

THE POWER OF WORDS ++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Our words can be very powerful

Ø  For example, if we tell children that their dreams to become a microbiologist or a psychologist or what they’re thinking about are unreal, we may be dashing talent that is there and we’re not seeing

Ø  If in anger we tell our youth they are simply immoral instead of just counseling them that what they are doing is wrong, they may feel put down and simply continue on a destructive path

Ø  If we tell a spouse that he or she is insensitive instead of just focusing on the behavior that is bothering us, we may be alienating them and just worsening the situation

Ø  If we call certain groups of people lazy, we may be creating a situation where they end up with no real opportunity to be productive and responsible.

THE POWER OF HEROD’S WORDS ++++++++++++++++

Ø  Today’s Gospel teaches us of the power of words

Ø  Herod is delighted with the dance that the daughter of his new wife Herodias has performed

Ø  He swears that he will reward the girl with whatever she asks for

Ø  The young girl’s mother, Herodias, advises her to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a plate

Ø  Herodias hates John the Baptist because he correctly said that her marriage to Herod was wrong.

Ø  Finally, because of what he had said publicly, Herod feels impelled to comply with the request and he does so

CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  So, a powerful lesson from this Gospel is that our words are very powerful

Ø  They have the potential for great good and great harm

Ø  We need to think, reflect, and pray before we speak 

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Daily HOMILY for August 2, 2019: Friday 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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Friday 17^th Week in Ordinary Time

Retreat and Conference Center at Bon Secours

August 2, 2019

ADMIRATION AND FAMILIARITY +++++++++++++++++

Ø  A French author names George Sand once made this simple statement: “Admiration and familiarity are strangers.” 

Ø  I suppose that this is another way of saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt” 

Ø  This is the basis for what’s happening in the Gospel

JESUS’ ORDINARINESS +++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Jesus returns to his home town of Nazareth and the people treat him with suspicion and derision

Ø  After all, they had seen him growing up and knew that his home and family were just like their own

Ø  So, how could he be so special?

Ø  They reflect the unfortunate human tendency we all share of missing and even rejecting the talent, wisdom, or brilliance of those we know well

Ø  Perhaps we do this because we just look at the ordinariness of one another

Ø  Or we do it because we only look at the dark sides, the deficiencies of one another

Ø  Or we don’t expect or don’t look for what’s special or unique in those we see all the time

MYSTERY OF THE OTHER +++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  The French writer Gabriel Marcel said that a mystery isn’t something that is so far beyond us that we can’t grasp it

Ø  Rather, it is something that is so near to us that we can’t get a fix on it. It is so close that it simply eludes us

Ø  Perhaps this is why we have a hard time explaining something as important, as pervasive, and seemingly as simple as love

CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Today Jesus stands before the people of his home town with the mystery of God’s presence 

Ø  The mystery is not hidden or complicated, but they miss it and turn him off

Ø  Perhaps the lesson is to look for the positive, the good, for the unique, right in the ordinary persons, events, and things around us

Ø  Noticing in this way, we won’t miss God or Jesus when he is standing right before us with that breakthrough insight, healing word, or kind action

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Daily HOMILY for August 1, 2019: Thursday 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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Thursday 17^th Week in Ordinary Time

Retreat and Conference Center at Bon Secours

August 1, 2019

THINGS NEW AND OLD +++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Today we have the ending  of Exodus at chapter 40

Ø  We see the Arc of the Covenant leading the people as a cloud by day / fire by night

Ø  Matthew concludes a major section on the KoG

Ø  Both show how God is present and how we’re drawn into that presence 

CHANGES REQUIRED ++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  In both, changes are required in the people: 

o  In the Arc (God is on the move; his presence will sustain his people) 

o  And in how K of G is coming into the world (Jesus, personal interiority, and acting in and through us to the world)

Ø  And both readings remind us that changes in how God’s power, God’s grace vis a vis us, are not always easy for it’s God’s plan and not ours

Ø  Changes aren’t easy because admittedly we’re moving from comfort, familiarity, and control into  uncomfortable, unfamiliar and the uncontrollable

IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  While this is true of both Moses and Jesus, there’s an important difference between them that makes the transition, the change, hopeful for us

Ø  Recall that Moses dared NOT enter the Tent of Meeting because the glory of the Lord filled it

Ø  In John’s Gospel in particular, the glory of the Lord fills the person of Jesus / Note the contrast

Ø  Moses doesn’t dare enter the presence; Jesus invites us in — “Come and see” and to even feed on his flesh and blood. Extraordinary!

A STOREHOUSE OF OLD AND NEW +++++++++++++++

Ø  Moses and the Ark, Jesus and the KoG — old & new

Ø  Jesus speaks of a disciple — and here he means you and me — a disciple, as being, “A householder who, “Is able to bring out from his storeroom both the old and the new.” 

Ø  I am seeing that as the “old” of Moses as the Arc and “new” of Jesus as the K of God

Ø  While we respect OT highly, we value the NT more

Ø  And our contrast this morning gives us hope in our own transitions 

Ø  Hope 2 favor the glory of God, not w/ Ark, but w/ J

Ø  That’s good news indeed!

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