Homily for 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

Readings; NM 11:25-29 , JAS 5:1-6 , MK 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

I went to what at the time was one of the largest High schools in Connecticut. We were so large that we could only fit 3 grades in the high school. Of course, there were groups of people that stuck together. We had the jocks, the cheerleaders, the antagonists and there was the one fraternity. I did not belong to any one of these groups. Like many of my classmates, I would talk with and move between the groups as some of my friends and acquaintances were among them.

There was also a group of folks who believed in sexist and racist ways. I did not mix well with this group of people. When I came across them in the hallways the only reason for us to interact was if we had a class assignment we were working on together. We still managed to work together in these situations without our outlook on life as we knew it.

What I learned most from all of this, even when I was working with people whose philosophy on life was different from mine, was that we can still work together to complete an assignment or project. These groups often interacted in extracurricular activities at the school. Many from the different groups would be together on an athletic team or act together in the school plays.

I have heard from teenagers and from my own children that there is not as much of us vs. them mentality in high school anymore and there are fewer groups to navigate your way through. Of course, what I did hear was there was not the same level of interaction among groups that disagree with each other.

I had the opportunity to see how my school with all its groups that disliked each other handled a tense situation. We had a race riot in the school when I was a sophomore. The riot was so bad they closed the school down at, and we were sent home. I rode on a bus which consisted of 98% African Americans. Most of these folks I knew from growing up in the neighborhood. I chose to ride a different bus home from school that day.

The school was closed the next day to allow things to cool off. When we were to return from school, I had the opportunity to walk a half block to my regular bus or in the opposite direction two blocks to get on a different bus. I as a typical high schooler chose the less strenuous option, the half block walk. When I got on the bus, I was at the last stop, I realized I was the only person on the bus who was Caucasian including the bus driver. I sat in a seat toward the front of the bus, and there was talk amongst some of the guys on the bus how bad they would beat me up on the ride to school. Then one young man stood up and said to those on the bus, that I normally rode this bus, I grew up with many of these guys, and I had never once shown anger toward them.

Now I do not tell you this story today to try and make it sound like I was such a wonderful young man, because I did harbor my own suspicions about some of their actions just because of their race. What I do tell you this story for is because we have devolved into a society where once you are labeled in a specific group you are labeled that way forever. These labels and groups end up doing more harm than good as we see in today’s society.

We hear in today’s readings two discussions about people who were outside the fold still doing things that the inner circle thought was only for them. Joshua complained to Moses that some men were prophesying when they were not on the camp where the 70 received the Holy Spirit. Moses asks Joshua if he was jealous for his sake.

In the Gospel reading, we hear the disciples complaining to Jesus that there are others outside their group that is driving out demons in Jesus’ name. Jesus plainly says that they should not stop them and reminds them that whoever is not against us is for us.

These readings stand to remind us that just because we are inside these walls on Sunday, we are not the only ones who can be called Christians. Jesus goes on to warn the disciples that whoever causes harm to the little ones who believe should indeed begin to change their ways. There are many Christians, Catholic Christians as well that do an excellent job of reminding everyone that they are Christian and then proceed to do very un-Christian like things.

There are also many people who do not make a big deal out of the fact that they are a Christian but certainly prove it by their actions. These can come from defending and assisting those less fortunate, not spreading gossip or in any other way acting immorally.

We hear claims that we are being persecuted as Christians in today’s society, but do we act like a Christian? We hear James remind us what happens when we hoard our treasures or talents from others. He also tells us that we have all been guilty of condemning others when there was no sign of their guilt. By our actions, we may actually take away the faith of a person by how we act. This can be seen in many different aspects of our world today.

This played out in the political arena this week with the reputation destroying rhetoric coming from both sides of the political spectrum. Depending on your side would depend on whether you tried to ruin the reputation of the accused or the accuser.

We see it in the church with the most recent scandals that have erupted in the church. We have lost believers because some of those who lead the faithful acted and continued to work in anything but a Christian manner.

So what can we who stay in the church and participate in politics do? We can begin by reminding ourselves that we will not be the final judges of anyone here in this life. We may think we have that right, but we were not endowed with that ability.

We can also remember that just because we disagree with someone, it does not give us the right to belittle them. As I said at the beginning of this homily I mentioned that I grew up with a high school that could be separated into specific groups. We still managed to work together for the common good.

Do we need to chop off our hand, or gouge our eye out to overcome these faults which are found in each and every person on this planet? No, we can keep from leading people astray by prayerfully and compassionately reminding them of what Jesus taught. We can also lead them to the truths that are found in Christianity by living our faith the way in which we are taught.

When we lead by example in word and deed, we can accomplish great things. I learned valuable lessons in high school when I was forced to interact and work with people that I strongly disagreed with. The lessons I learned helped me in my life and the experience gained in doing these things showed me there are right ways and wrong ways in which to lead your life. How we lead our lives and interact with those, we disagree with, or those who have done horrific things goes a long way to show the world what a Christian currently is. Do we all show the right example?

Homily for 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

Readings; IS 35:4-7A, JAS 2:1-5, MK 7:31-37

When I was younger, I was reminded on many occasions to clean out my ears so that I could hear what I was being told. This was usually said when I either ignored something or made like I did not understand.  I have even been accused of not listening to my wife. As my children grew up, I realized what my parents and wife were talking about as my children seem to be situationally hard of hearing.

I am sure there are people here who know fellow parishioners who are going through difficult times, but they seem to be some of the happiest folks we know. They are listening to and living God’s word. When we live as if this life is not the end but a step to eternal life, we realize being open to the word of the One who promises eternal life is a good idea. The best example of this I remember seeing was a young lady who was making her first communion. She was in the end stages of fighting brain cancer, a fight she eventually lost, but during her time here she showed us all the unbridled joy that can come with being open to God’s call. She happened to pass away in the early morning hours on the day of my ordination. I was made aware of this not long before the ordination Mass was to begin. The one thing I remembered was the Joy she exuded on receiving the Eucharist the first time.

In the gospel today Jesus meets a man who is deaf and also has an impediment in his speech. It is his friends who bring him to Jesus. We note the sensitivity of Jesus. He takes the man apart from the others, in order to cure him. We see the gentleness of Jesus in dealing with the man in a very personal and caring way. He doesn’t want to embarrass him or treat him as a case. He treats him like another human being in need of respect and gentleness because of his situation.

How many of us have been in a position to do the same but were situationally hard of hearing? When we were baptized whether it was as infants or as adults one piece of the Gospel is repeated. Ephphatha is a word that means be opened. In the baptism right as our ears are touched we are told “The Lord has made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May He soon touch your ears to receive His word, and your mouth to proclaim His faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father. Amen.”

When we are open to this we can be part of what we hear in the first reading;

Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense, he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.

Now you definitely do not want to hear me sing a solo, but the idea is when we live for God, as He calls us to, we need to be open and honest with ourselves as well as others. This is something we cannot do if we are not open to listening to others. By listening to others we can learn things not only about ourselves, but where we may not be open.

As James reminds us today when we treat people differently because of their dress, appearance, financial situation, or their employment, then we are not living to do God’s word. We are supposed to treat all with equal dignity and respect, even when we disagree with them. This is a crucial piece of the puzzle. When we listen to others with respect, we have the ability to learn the reasoning behind their thinking. While we may still disagree with them, we will not need to attack them because we now have an understanding of why they could think this way.

When we listen to God’s word and proclaim his word, we show the world a better way to live. Today in society we hear such a destructive message. We are to work hard and make as much money as possible so we can spend it on things that allow us to be happy because we have more stuff. We try to keep up with our neighbors, all the time becoming more tired, stressed out and less connected.

Less connected is probably not something you would think we have in today’s world. We have instant access to as much information as we want. The so-called social media platforms are making us less social. We see people at restaurants sitting with each other, and both spend the entire time engrossed not in conversation with each other, but in their “smartphones.”

Now I am not saying that all these inventions and information are a bad thing. How we utilize them is where we can get off track. We begin by starting to weed out voices we do not want to hear and only listen to those we agree with. We become closed to new ideas and viewpoints. This leads to us being more isolated, closed, just the opposite of Ephpatha.

We are called to be opened. This means open to helping those less fortunate than us. Open to learning from different perspectives and not closing ourselves from society but being an active participant.

Now, this openness needs to work both ways as well. We need to be open enough to share our trials and tribulations. This can lead to others learning from us what not to do. This could lead to some penance we need to endure, but in the end, we will be working toward our eternal reward.

When we are open to dealing with adversity openly and honestly, we can experience short-term pain, but in the long term gain our eternal reward. Individually we experience these things on a regular basis. How we deal with them, we can see how open we are to listening to God’s word.

We will be sharing in the Eucharist celebration shortly. Are we all being as open as the young lady was when we approach the altar? We can all be open to God’s word, and while we may not proclaim the Gospel out loud, we can do so by our actions. When we are open to the Joy that comes from listening to and living the Gospel, we will show this to others, and they may want what we have.