The Saintly Queen Of Portugal

We are all familiar with Jesus’ saying, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Mt 19:24). However, as always, Jesus leaves us with a word of encouragement and hope, “For man this is impossible but with God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26).

Throughout history, by God’s grace, many rich and powerful people have found their way to heaven and are counted among the saints we honor and venerate.

One of those rich and powerful persons who became a saint was Saint Elizabeth of Portugal.

She was born in 1271 in Spain. Her father was Pedro III who would later be King of Aragon. Though raised with great wealth and privilege, she always sought to live modestly and humbly. Possessed of an intense love for God, she practiced self-denial and frequent penance from a young age.

As was the custom among royalty of the day, she was given in marriage at the age of 12 to King Dinis of Portugal. During those years, she suffered greatly because of his infidelity. Though they had only two children together, he fathered as many as seven children with other women. Nonetheless, Saint Elizabeth was determined to remain faithful to her husband and to lead a model Christian life in hopes of inspiring him to convert to a more moral lifestyle.

The greatest sign of her holiness, however, was her care for the poor. To the outrage of her husband, she would often leave the castle at night to bring them food, clothing and money. Whenever she learned that a beggar had been mistreated by one of the castle guards, she would usher the beggar in, feed him and treat his wounds.

She also had a profound devotion to the Holy Spirit, directing that a church be constructed in honor of the third person of the Blessed Trinity. When the country was suffering from a long drought, Saint Elizabeth promised to donate her crown to that church if God would bring an end to it.

When the drought did end, she established the tradition of feeding all the poor in Lisbon on Pentecost Sunday. At that celebration, she would choose children from the crowd and place the crown on their heads to symbolize that the poor were the true royalty of Portugal, thus committing herself to serving them as she would any other king or queen. 

Though she was a woman of great wealth and power, she chose to use her privilege not to benefit herself but the poorest members of society. In so doing, she is an example to us of the meaning of the feast we celebrate today - The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Though no one more powerful than Jesus has ever walked the earth, He came to serve and not to be served. And He calls upon us who have any wealth or privilege, no matter how meager, to use it in service of others, especially the poorest and weakest.

In today’s gospel, Jesus makes it clear to us that we will be judged at the end of time. It is a fearsome scene which should grab our attention. Furthermore, He lets us know on what terms we will be judged. Did we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned or welcome the stranger? If we have provided for the needs of others, then we will share His victory and be welcomed into His Kingdom. If we have not, then we will be cast off to eternal punishment.

We should pay very close attention to what Jesus has to say to us. It is not enough to say that we believe in Jesus if we reject Him in the poor. It is not enough to say that we came every Sunday to be fed by Him if we failed to feed Him in the hungry. It is not enough to say that we read the Bible everyday if we did not put into practice its mandate to welcome the stranger.

Though these words may cause us to tremble, they should not leave us without hope. Certainly, all of us have fallen short in one way or another in serving our needy neighbor. But it is possible to turn things around because all things are possible with God.

The first step is to ask God for the opportunity to help someone in need. However, be prepared! This is certainly a prayer God will answer when we least expect it. It could be that we see someone stopped at the side of the road who needs help changing a tire. It could be a student being picked on in the schoolyard who needs someone to stick up for him. We never know when needy people will cross our path, but we should never fail to help them. Why? Because we will need that good deed to be counted in our favor when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ more than whatever money or time helping them cost us.

The second step is to practice self-denial on a daily basis. We often do not serve the poor because we are too attached to money and to comfort. However, serving others means going out of our comfort zone and even taking the risk of being hurt. Saint Elizabeth of Portugal prepared for her life of service by refusing to indulge in  the many luxuries of palace life. If we are to follow her example and win praise from Christ when we stand before Him at the end of time, then we must learn to rely less and less on modern conveniences. This will give us the courage to go out of our comfort zone and also leave us with more money to give to others.

Saint Elizabeth of Portugal followed the example of Christ who came to serve and not to be served. Despite her great wealth and privilege, she sought to comfort others rather than live comfortably. We must do the same. This mandate of Jesus is even more urgent in our day when the gap between the wealthy and the poor is widening. And, the truth is that our time is short. It will not be long before we will have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What good deeds will we have to ensure that we are counted among those who are blessed? 

Finding Jesus Among The Poor

Many of the Church’s great saints were soldiers. Such a one was Saint Martin of Tours.

Young Martin joined the Roman army at the age of nineteen. Unlike other soldiers his age, he was a sensitive and spiritual man. Though drawn to the teaching of Jesus and inspired by the lives of the Christians he knew, he did not seek to become a Christian himself.

One day while standing guard by a city gate, he noticed a beggar shivering in the cold. Martin took his sword, cut his cloak in half and gave it to the beggar. That night, he had a dream in which Jesus appeared to him wearing the cloak he had given the beggar. In the dream, Jesus was telling his angels, “This is Martin who shared his cloak with me.” When he woke up the next morning, he arranged to be baptized, left the army and dedicated his life to serving the poor and defending the Christian faith.

Saint Martin experienced the promise that Christ makes in today’s gospel. Whatever we do for the poor, the hungry and the suffering,  we do for Jesus. And, whenever we turn our back on those in need, we are turning our back on Jesus.

Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. We know that earthly rulers live in splendid palaces and wear the finest clothes. They move in the circles of the wealthy and powerful. But Jesus is a different kind of King. Though He is almighty and can do whatever He wills, He chooses to associate Himself with the poor, the meek and the humble. Whereas we can expect to find earthly kings in palaces, we can expect to find Christ the King in factories, in slums and in soup kitchens.

If Jesus seems distant, if we have had trouble finding Him and wondered whether He is really present among us, it could be that we have been looking for Him in the wrong place. If we really want to meet Jesus and get to know Him, perhaps we need to find Him among the people He so strongly identifies with. Maybe we need to break out of our circle of friends and acquaintances and take the risk of going out to the homeless shelters, the hospitals, the prisons and the soup kitchens where we will encounter a Savior who makes His home with the poor. If we want to take our spiritual life to another level and deepen our relationship with Jesus, that might be just what God is calling us to do.

Of course, poverty comes in many forms. Often people with plenty of food and enough money can be poor in other ways. They may find themselves isolated and lonely. They may be caught in addictions and harmful habits. Or they may feel lost with no direction and no meaning in their lives. Jesus also identifies with these spiritually poor people. So besides feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, we are also called to pray for those who have died, comfort those who mourn, counsel those who are confused, and teach those who are in error. If we love Jesus and desire to serve Him, we must be ready to provide for the needs of others no matter what they are. We do so with trust that if God puts a needy person in our path He will also provide us with what we need to help him or her.

Jesus’ words in today’s gospel also mean that we have to start looking at people in a different way.  Too many times as a society and as a nation, we talk about the poor, the unemployed and the immigrant as a problem to be solved. Often they become scapegoats for society’s other problems. This is particularly true of immigrants. But people are never problems to be solved. Rather they are individuals whom we must love. Most importantly, they are Jesus in disguise. And we will be judged by how we treat them both as individuals and as a nation.

We are always asking for God’s blessing, and it is a good thing that we do. Could it be, however, that God’s blessing comes to us through the needy people who cross our path everyday? Could we begin to change our outlook to such a degree that we see the homeless person on the corner, the beggar in the middle of the street and our lonely relative as God’s blessing in disguise? Rather than feeling inconvenienced or put out by those who ask for our help, could we see ourselves being blessed by them instead?

Can we also change the way that we look at our possessions? Are they for our use alone, or are they given to us by God to share with others? Could we ever consider doing without so that we could share more of our goods with the poor? Could we ever consider sacrificing one of our most precious commodities -  our time - to visit someone who is lonely and could use a little of our attention? What might not seem like much to us could make a world of difference to someone in need. And we will find ourselves being immeasurably blessed in return. We may come to see and know Christ in a way we never did before.

Jesus is in our midst, but He is hidden among the poor. One day He will come in glory. Then there will be no doubt that He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Everyone will have to acknowledge Him and bend the knee before Him. And each of us will be judged not just on how often we went to Church and not just  on what Church we belonged to but on how we served Jesus in the poor and needy in our midst. Jesus has already revealed to us what the questions on the test will be. He has also provided us with His word to guide us and His sacraments to strengthen us. There will be no excuse for us if we fail to live up to His expectations. At the same time, there will be untold blessings for us if we serve Him in every needy person we meet along the way.

Jesus Christ, The King Of The Poor

Saint Francis of Assisi is one of the Church's most popular saints. With good reason he is considered the one saint whose life most resembled that of Christ. Of all the good works he performed, one kind deed especially stands out. Shortly after he decided to dedicate his life to God, he came upon a leper in the street. It was customary at the time for lepers to ring a bell to warn people that they were approaching. When the young Francis saw the leper's twisted body and open sores, he felt disgusted and revolted. But, just as suddenly, another feeling came over him. His heart was filled with compassion for the man's suffering. Overcoming his feelings of disgust, he rushed over to him and embraced him as a brother. Inspired by today's gospel reading, Saint Francis understood that it was Jesus he was holding in his arms.

Jesus tells us in today's gospel that we will be judged by how we treat the poor and needy in our midst. He does not tell us this story to scare us, but to encourage us. For, when we find the courage to reach our hand out to another in need, something incredible happens. We discover Jesus. As he says, "Whenever you did it for the least of these, you did it for me." Jesus still walks the earth in the form of the neediest among us.

In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel blasts the "shepherds of Israel." They are both the political and spiritual leaders of the people who have used their authority and power to enrich themselves rather than to protect the sheep. God will not leave the sheep of his flock scattered, terrorized by predators and hungry. If the princes and priests of Israel will not lead, then God himself will come down to tend his sheep. God himself will protect them, feed them and heal them.

This prophecy finds its fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God himself come down from heaven to guide his sheep to everlasting life. His message was not just that a better life was waiting for us in heaven. Rather, Jesus came to show us how even now we could experience the saving love of God. As he told the disciples of John the Baptist, "The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them." With Jesus, the destructive effects of sin and death are being undone and the foundations of a new heaven and a new earth are being laid. It becomes real in the world today by the love which Christians show to those in need.

On this feast day, we proclaim the bold truth that Christ is King! As Saint Paul describes it for us in the second reading, Jesus by his death and resurrection has already won the victory over sin and death. Evil has already been defeated. That victory has been revealed to us through faith. It is hidden to give the world time to repent and to be saved. But the day is coming when Jesus' victory will be revealed once and for all. Then there will be no doubt. All people will have to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Until he comes again in glory, Jesus has left it to us to seek out and find those who are lost. Who in our life needs an encouraging word? Who in our life needs a friendly ear? Who in our life could use a visit? Who in our own home needs to know that they are loved and cared for? Like lost sheep, they will not come to us. If we are to live up to the challenge Jesus is giving us, we must go out to them. 

For Christians, salvation is not just a future event awaiting us after death or at the end of the world. Salvation and eternal life are here, today and now. What we as Christians seek to do is bring heaven and its promises down to earth. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," and so we seek in everything we do to bring the love of Christ to those we meet.

Christ now reigns in heaven above. He has come to earth to bring hope and comfort to those who suffer. That same Christ is still among us hidden in the weak, the poor, the outcast and the sick. Saint John of the Cross said, "At the end of our lives, we will be judged on love." If we serve the suffering Christ in those we meet, we can be assured of reigning with Christ the King in his heavenly glory.  

Feeding A Hungry Child

We are living in a world wherein the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Very often, alongside luxury and opulence, there are those who live dangerously close to poverty and destitution. Alongside those who wake up wondering which restaurant they’ll go to for dinner later in the day, there are those who wake up wondering how they will feed their children.

Nowhere is this more true than in California’s Orange County. While we may think of it as the land of the rich and the famous, there are many laborers who are struggling to provide for their families’ most basic needs. In the city of Anaheim where monthly rents far exceed the income of many workers, families are often forced to live in motels to avoid homelessness. It is estimated that as many as one thousand families in Anaheim find themselves in this situation. Because these motel rooms do not often have kitchens and because families often do not have money left over for food, many children go hungry at night.

Bruno Serrato wanted to make a difference.  He was the son of Italian immigrants who struggled to make his way in America. Starting off as a dishwasher, he eventually started a very successful restaurant in Anaheim. To give back to his community, he donated time and money to the local Boys and Girls Club which served the so-called “motel kids”.

When his mother had come to visit him from Italy, he took her to the Boys and Girls Club where he had been volunteering. She talked to a boy who was eating a bag of potato chips and was shocked to learn that that would be his supper for the evening. She turned to her son and said, “Bruno, you have to do something!” He replied, “I am doing something, Mama. I’m giving money to this Boys and Girls Club and volunteering my time.” She said, “No, you have to feed these children.”

Inspired by the concern of his mother, Bruno started “Catarina’s club” in 2005 to provide hot meals for the motel kids of Anaheim. Every evening he personally prepared as many as seventy meals. However, with the economic downturn, he struggled to keep up. His restaurant business was down, he was receiving fewer donations to the Club and the number of children who needed meals was growing. He could have given up on Catarina’s club but he came to love the people he was feeding. So he decided to refinance his house to keep this good work afloat.

Today, he is feeding as many as two hundred children a night in two different locations. The cable news network, CNN, named him one of their heroes for 2011. Bruno does not see himself that way. Rather, he sees himself simply as someone who sees starving children and tries to feed them. If every restaurant followed his example, there would be no more children going to bed hungry every night.

When we use the word “Good Samaritan”, people like Bruno Serrato come to mind. They are those who refuse to look the other way when faced with human suffering. They open their homes and their wallets to those who are suffering, sometimes at a high personal cost. In doing so, they make a difference in the world and inspire others to do the same.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be such people. We are to recognize Jesus not only in His word, not only in the Eucharist but in every person we meet. We are to love each person as we love ourselves. Everyone is our neighbor.

In the parable we are reflecting on today, the Good Samaritan leaves the beaten man in the care of the innkeeper giving him two silver coins. In the same way, our Heavenly Father has left the poor and suffering peoples of the world in our care. As the Good Samaritan left the innkeeper enough to take care of the beaten man, so God has given us enough resources to take care of our neighbors. We have plenty of food, water, clothing and shelter for everyone on the planet. The only reason there is still poverty today is that many of us fail to share what we have with others. It is really that simple. If all of us were to give even just our excess money, food or clothing to those in need, there would be no more poverty.

Our most precious commodity in today’s world, however, is not material possessions but our time. The number one reason we do not help others is because we are too busy. Like the priest and the Levite in the gospel, we are in such a rush and so focused on what we need to get done that we do not even notice the suffering of our brothers and sisters around us. Perhaps it is the case that we keep ourselves so busy because we do not want to see all that suffering. All the activity in our lives is a convenient excuse to ignore the hands reached out to us asking for help.

God is calling us to slow down, to stop and to stoop down to help others. We can be afraid to help because the need is so great and our resources so few. We can feel as though we will get swallowed up. But when we heed God’s call to care for our neighbor, we also become filled with a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. God created us to give of ourselves for others so when we, like Bruno Serrato or like the Good Samaritan, treat our neighbor with love and mercy we are fulfilling the deepest desire of our hearts. We sense the loneliness, depression and anxiety that marks our busy world start to fade away. We feel whole again because we are reconnecting with others.

This is the challenge that God offers us today - to live like human beings, to stop living like robots who rush from one assignment to another without noticing our brothers and sisters in need. This is the power of the gospel to change the world one heart at a time. It has to begin with you and I deciding to look open the homeless person with compassion, to see the needy as our brothers and sisters and to not deny anyone who needs our help.

Powerless

There is nothing more that I can do.

There is nothing more that I can give.

I am at the end of my rope.

The widow in today's reading from the first book of Kings has hit rock bottom. There is a famine in the land, and she has run out of food. She has just enough to make two little biscuits for herself and her son, and then she expects to starve to death. There is no one who can help her. She has run out of options and run out of hope.

Any of us, if we were in her shoes, would have laughed at the prophet Elijah's request to bring him a bit of bread. At worst, we would have scolded him for being insensitive to the dire plight of a widow facing starvation and death. He should have been bringing her food.

But the prophet promises that if she will perform this kindness for him, God will reward her for it. In her extreme need, she does not say to Elijah, "I have done enough, and I have given enough." Rather she gives what little she has, and God blesses her beyond measure. God visited her when she was most abandoned and most alone and worked a miracle to save her. But what opened God's hand was her willingness to literally bet her life on the prophet's promise that God would not forget her act of kindness. Faith in the face of impossible circumstances unleashes God's mighty power in our lives.

Each of us has a place in our lives where we feel powerless. It may be in our personal life, in our family or in our work. We feel that we have done all that we can do. We feel that we have given all that we can give. Nothing has changed. We have seen no improvement despite our best efforts. The situation may have become so dire that we have fallen into depression or bitterness because of it. It may be sucking up so much of our energy that we are unable to find joy and peace in our daily lives. We may feel that we are at the end of our rope with no hope in sight. 

It is when we have hit bottom that God comes to meet us. It is when we have exhausted all our options that God reminds us that he alone is all-powerful and that he will help us if we place it in his hands. A simple act of faith is the first step in turning things around for the better. 

However, there is one catch. Before God starts to turn things around in our life, he may ask us to do something we think we are unable to do. As with the widow in today's reading, he may ask us to give something we think we are unable to give. It is God's way of opening a door for us into a world of new possibilities. Mother Angelica who founded the global Catholic television network, EWTN, often said, "If we are unwilling to do the ridiculous, God will be unable to do the impossible." If we want to see a real change in our lives and in our world, we must be willing to trust God and to do whatever he tells us.

In today's gospel reading, Jesus introduces us to another widow and holds her up as an example of faith and generosity. She is also in extreme need, with little to give except two coins worth mere pennies. It was too little to do anyone any good. Though others put into the treasury much more significant sums of money, it is her contribution that Jesus points out and that we reflect upon two thousand years later. The courage and faith she demonstrated in abandoning what little she had into God's hands has done more to confirm and strengthen the faith of believers over the centuries than millions of dollars in contributions could ever have done. Great faith makes even small contributions yield infinite dividends. 

Most of the time, you and I fail to contribute our time, talents or money not because we are selfish and want to keep them to ourselves, but because we do not think it will do any good. We fear that what little we have to give will make no difference. We see how gifted others are and may feel intimidated. Or we may hold our talents in such low esteem that we think anyone can do the same and so we are not needed. But nothing can be further from the truth. God has placed each of us here for a reason. Each of us is irreplaceable. No one else can do what you or I are able to do. No one else can reach the hearts that you or I  are able to reach. Each of our contributions are needed no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. God sees the heart. If we give of our time, talent and money with humility, love and faith, then God will make it multiply and bear fruit beyond our power to imagine.

God has gathered us here today and prepared a meal for us. It is a wafer of bread which seems very small and insignificant. And yet, it happens to be the very flesh and blood of Jesus, the Savior of the World. It is taken from a jar of flour which has never gone empty and has nourished countless saints and sinners throughout the centuries. God never fails to make it available to us, small though it may seem. As we prepare our hearts and minds to receive this tremendous gift of God's love, let us ask him what it is he wants us to do. Where can we give more? Where can we do more? If we think we do not have it within us to go one more day, let us turn to him to find that strength.  And then God's power will be unleashed in our lives in big and small ways. Doors will open for us, and hearts will be touched. And we will know what it is like to have the joy of the Lord be our strength.

Jesus Lives Among Us

To many of those who had gathered for services at a Taylorsville, Utah Mormon church, the sight of Dave Musselman was unusual and unsettling.

His hair and beard overgrown, he sat on a bench wrapped in a blanket staring at his feet and mumbling to himself. When he walked in, many of the congregants turned their heads not wanting to make eye contact with him or engage him in any way. Though a few people welcomed him and even slipped some money into his hand when he wished them a “Happy Thanksgiving,” most treated him politely but with suspicion. In this well off suburb of Salt Lake City, most people had never seen a homeless person and were feeling conflicted between their desire to welcome the stranger and their instinct to protect themselves.

The level of tension rose dramatically in the congregation when the time for the sermon came and the homeless man got up from his seat and stood at the pulpit. Some of the men got up thinking they would need to escort him out. Instead they looked on in shock as Dave took off his wig, pulled off the fake beard that had been glued to his cheeks, cleared his voice and announced that he was their bishop.

Recalling the incident to the local newspaper, the bishop said, “It had a shock value that I did not anticipate. I really did not have any idea that the members of my ward would gasp as big as they did.”

One of the congregants told the same newspaper about her reaction when she learned it was her bishop, “I started feeling ashamed because I didn’t say hello to this man... He was dirty. He was crippled. He was old. He was mumbling to himself.”

During the sermon, the bishop explained to the congregation that his intention was not to embarrass or make them feel ashamed. Rather he wanted to call their attention to the presence of Christ in our midst in the most unlikely of circumstances and the most unlikely of people. Jesus is always near. Most likely he is hiding where we least expect to find Him.

The lesson that this congregation in Salt Lake City learned is the same lesson that we are reminded of throughout the Christmas season but especially on this feast of the Epiphany. Jesus Christ has come to live among us. Though we cannot see Him, He is still among us. However, as Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, He is hiding in the distressing disguise of the poor and needy.

The word “epiphany” means “revelation”. It describes what happens when a truth finally “dawns” on us. Suddenly our eyes are open to an idea or concept which previously made no sense to us. For instance, when the bishop took off his wig and fake beard, it was an epiphany to the congregation who he really was.

When Jesus was born, it was an epiphany of God’s love. It taught us how far He would go to show us His personal love for each of us. It revealed His willingness to share our human condition with all its poverty and weakness. It also revealed that this love is destined for all people whether it be the lowly shepherds huddling in the cold or the cultured and sophisticated Magi from the East. It is a love that is destined for all peoples of every nation. It is a love that especially goes out to the poorest and neediest among us.

Unfortunately, it is a love that is too often rejected. Jesus suffered rejection from the first years of His life when King Herod chose not to welcome Him but to kill Him. Jesus continues to suffer rejection and persecution whenever the hungry are denied food, the poor are denied decent wages and immigrants are denied a warm welcome. In His life, Jesus experienced hunger and poverty and lived the first years of His life as a refugee in Egypt. He told us that He identifies most closely with the needy in our midst and warned us that we would be judged on how we served them. If we call ourselves Christians, then we must be willing to recognize and adore Jesus who chooses to reveal Himself in ways that make us uncomfortable and which may even frighten us.

This is a challenging message. All of us have to admit that we have fallen short. Because we want to protect ourselves and our families, we have been too cautious when dealing with the needy. It could also be that we are influenced by prejudices that blame the poor for their adversity because we think that  they are too lazy to find work. However, if just one time we take the risk of saying “hello” to a homeless person, shaking her hand or offering her some money, then we will see that she is a person just like us, a person with dreams and hopes but who has experienced more tragedies and difficulties than we can imagine.

We will make another surprising discovery as well. We will find love welling up in our hearts, love that we might not have found possible before. It will be a love that changes us because we will never again be able to experience comfort knowing that our brothers and sisters have no home. We will never again be able to enjoy a warm meal knowing that so many others are going hungry. Though this love will not allow us to rest, it will at the same time leave us with abiding peace because we have finally learned how to recognize Jesus, the Lord whom our hearts were created to seek out and adore.

On this feast of the Epiphany we celebrate a God whose love is revealed for all the world to see in the person of Jesus Christ. This love pours itself out in a special way for the poor and needy as we heard proclaimed in today’s Responsorial Psalm - “For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out....the lives of the poor he shall save.” To be able to receive such a wondrous love, we have to recognize our own poverty. If we have enough money, enough food and enough comforts, it is very likely that we do not have enough faith, hope or love. If that is the case, then we have to serve the poor around us. In that way God’s love will be revealed in and through us for all the world to see.

Christians and the Common Good

What is the surest way for a deacon or priest to get himself into trouble? By preaching about politics from the pulpit.

Whenever politics is the subject of a sermon most people will become offended or angered. Some people will take what is said as a condemnation of a certain politician or political party. Others will say that the preacher’s words were too strong while still others will claim that they were not strong enough. One or two people may even storm out of the church enraged that anyone would dare mix religion and politics.

In today’s society we have a tendency to want to separate politics and religion. We see religion as having to do with the after-life and politics with the here-and-now. Religion is private and politics is public. We do not want religious leaders to comment on public policy and we do not want politicians meddling in Church doctrine and discipline. We want to have a clear separation and even a towering wall between the two.

However, as with most issues in life, politics and religion are not always easy to keep apart. As followers of Christ, in particular, we are not only called to be saints in the Kingdom of God but good citizens of our country and of our planet. We bring our faith into everything we do - not only into our homes but into our communities as well. Faith for the Christian is never just a private matter. It touches upon every aspect of our lives including the choices we make as citizens of this great country.

Today’s readings help us reflect on why we are called as a Church to be involved in the political process of our country and how we are to do it.

First of all, our responsibility to stay in touch with current events, to vote our consciences and to lobby our politicians is founded on the commandment that we love our neighbor as ourselves. In the public sphere, our love for neighbor displays itself most keenly in our support for the poor and the needy. As followers of Christ, it is our duty to stand up for the most underprivileged members of society. It is our vocation to give a voice to the voiceless. Though they are the ones who most need the support of government, their concerns too often go unheard because they lack the money and influence to lobby politicians. Many like the unborn, children and immigrants cannot even vote. It is up to us, then, to use whatever influence we have to make sure that their needs are heard and acted upon.

Why should we care for the poor? Because God does. Our first reading from the prophet Amos makes it very clear that God takes note of any injustice that is visited upon the poor. Because they have no one else to defend them, our Heavenly Father promises that He will stand up for them. God will judge harshly those who have failed to see justice done for the powerless. When we stand before Him, we want to be sure that we did all we could in this life to be on the side of the little ones whom He cares so much about.

Concern for the poor is not only good religion, it is also sound politics. Government should be on the side of the needy. Wealthy people can take care of themselves. It is the poor who need government to defend them against those who would exploit them. Also, as the saying goes, “Everyone does better when everyone does better.” When the hungry are fed, when the homeless have shelter, when the penniless get an education there is less crime, less disease and less restlessness in society. We all benefit when the common good is served.

Secondly, today’s gospel teaches us that we are all called to be faithful stewards of the good things God has given us. This refers not only to the way we manage wealth, but to our use of this planet. As a society we have become increasingly aware of how our lifestyle affects the environment. In particular, as Christians, we should have an even greater concern for the planet as God’s creation and for nature as the revelation of His goodness and providence. We should be at the forefront of efforts to reduce pollution and preserve nature for everyone’s enjoyment especially for the generations to come.

Our involvement in environmental conservation is particularly important in our world today. Too often, environmental activism is used as a cover for population control. In much of Asia and Africa, we see the distribution of contraceptives, forced sterilization and coerced abortions promoted as a way to reduce the population in the name of cleaning up the planet as if human beings are another form of pollution. As followers of Jesus committed to the belief that every person is made in the image and likeness of God we have an obligation to influence the environmental movement. We must promote the dignity of human beings who are also part of the environment rather than treat them as pollutants to be exterminated for the supposed good of the planet.

Finally, our second reading teaches us that we should pray for politicians and all those who have authority over us. We too often have a disdain for those who enter politics. However, we should be praying for them, asking God to guide their hearts to do justice for the poor and to preserve our planet. Their actions have a tremendous influence over our lives so we should be raising our hands daily to our Heavenly Father asking Him to give us women and men of courage, insight and virtue to lead us as a country and as a world to be more peaceful and more just.

Well, it seems that not too many of you have walked out on me today. I thank you for opening your mind and heart to this message which can too often be seen as too controversial for the pulpit. However, as followers of Christ, we are called to bring the good news of God’s love wherever we go including into the public square and the voting booth. In particular, we are called to announce God’s love for the poor and to preserve His creation for the good of all. Then God’s Kingdom will increasingly influence the earthly city making His peace and justice more of a reality in our world today.

 

God's Little Ones

Who are the people whom the world considers important? Who are the people who show up on the covers of Time, Newsweek and People magazines? They are the women and men with power who make things happen. Or the rich who have luxurious homes and fast cars. They are the "beautiful people" - actors, musicians, politicians - who are attractive and have personalities that get them noticed. These are the people our materialistic culture holds up as "heroes". These are the people our society worships.

But the way we measure importance is far different from the way Jesus measured it. Power, money, looks, charisma - none of that made a person important to him. Instead, Jesus came to serve those who went unnoticed, those who didn't seem to make a difference in society. He came for the sick, the lepers, the poor and all those pushed aside by the world and seen as a drain on its resources. Those were the people he sought out in every city and town he entered. When he preached God's love and concern for every person, he was speaking to them. When he healed, theirs were the bodies he touched. And it was the sinners he chose to eat with, not those who were righteous in their own eyes. Everything Jesus did and said was directed to those who were forgotten, pushed aside, ridiculed and reviled.

And so he taught his followers that the only way that they could be important in God's eyes - the only way that they could get noticed - was to make themselves the slaves of others. If God's loving gaze was always on the poor, then they had to make themselves poor. If it was the sick that God was gathering into his kingdom, then they had to be found among them. The strong would have to make themselves the slaves of the weak, and the rich would have to put themselves at the service of the poor. Jesus taught that his greatest follower would be the one who acted as if everyone else were greater, as if everyone else were holier, as if everyone else were more important.

In today's gospel, Jesus illustrates his point by placing a child in their midst. In doing so, he was stressing that their job was to reach out to those members of society who were the most insignificant. In Jesus' day, children had no legal rights at all and were, therefore, the most vulnerable members of society. Jesus' message was that the greatest of his disciples would be the ones to look after the needs of the most vulnerable, those who otherwise would fall through the cracks.

Why does Jesus insist on this point? Because he believed that every human life had the same value in God's eyes. The poor person's life means as much as the wealthy person's life. The life of the sick is no less valuable than that of the healthy and strong. In God's eyes, the death of an Iraqi soldier is as tragic as the death of an American soldier. A person's power or money cannot make their lives more precious. To God, every human life is worth creating and every human life is worth saving. God never thinks that he has wasted his gift of life on any one of us.

The greatest example of this is the cross. Jesus, the innocent Son of God, the most important person who ever lived, was willing to give his life for each and every one of us. Whenever we are tempted to doubt our own worth or the worth of another person, we must remember that, no matter what we might think about ourselves or others, God thought us precious enough to offer up his Son in sacrifice for us. Jesus was willing to give his life up for ours. How, then, could we ever doubt the inestimable value of each and every human life, no matter how young or how old, how rich or how poor, how weak or how strong?

Jesus calls us who wish to follow him to serve the needs of those society deems unimportant. We must consider the needs of those who normally go unnoticed to be more important than our own because every human being deserves our love and attention.

Who in our lives could be going unnoticed and could use a little love and attention? Do you have a sick relative who would be delighted to get a visit from you? Is there someone at your work who is struggling and could use a helping hand? Is there someone at your school who has trouble making friends and would appreciate it if you sat with him or her in the cafeteria? Is there a poor person asking for hand outs at the light on your way to work whom you could give a dollar to and let know that someone cares for him? Each of us knows such people. They are Jesus approaching us in disguise and asking us if we love him. Even though our society has little use for them, they are God's precious children worth more to him than we can ever know.

What makes a person important in God's eyes? We know that wealth, beautiful homes and powerful positions cannot impress the all-powerful God who created the universe with all its wonders. To impress God it takes a loving heart willing to go out of its way for those who cry out for our help. At the end of time, the world with all its glory will be wiped away. Everything we thought was important will be no more. We will each stand naked before the God who created us, and we will be judged on how we loved the poor people he placed in our lives. Today can be the day when we confess to God that we have been busy trying to impress the wrong people. And today can be the day when we begin to ask him to open our eyes and our hearts to those in our families, in our places of business, in our schools and in our communities who are truly in need and who, therefore, are truly important and deserving in his eyes.

Another old homily from 1991

I preached this homily on last Sunday's readings (26th Sunday of Ordinary Time) way back on September 27, 1991. In the interest of full disclosure, I stole the opening story from one of the faculty members at the seminary.

I once overheard two ladies having a conversation at K-Mart a couple of years ago. One of them was saying how happy she was that their old pastor had retired beacuse all he did was tell the parishioners that they were all going to hell. Her friend then asked her if the new pastor was any better, and she answered, "Yes. He's a much nicer, friendlier guy." Her friend asked her again, "He doesn't tell you that you're all going to hell?" And she answered, "Well, yeah, he does. But he doesn't seem so happy about it."

Like the pastors in this story, it seems that the Bible loves to tell rich people that they are going to hell. Besides today's scathing second reading, there are many sayings of Jesus which suggest that having wealth makes one incapable of entering into heaven. What is the Bible's problem with rich people? Why are the authors of Sacred Scripture so quick to condemn them?

In today's reading, James' major complaint against the rich is that they did not pay their employees a just wage. These rich people gained their wealth by underpaying those who worked the land for them. They lived luxurious and comfortable lives while those who earned money for them worked long, hard hours with nothing to show for it. James warns them that God is not blind to such blatant injustice but will comfort the oppressed laborers by punishing thier wicked employers.

The conviction of early Christianity was that the rich person's plenty came at the expense of the poor. For example, Saint Augustine wrote in the fourth century that anyone who has more food, money or clothing than he or she needs has stolen it from the poor. What the early Christians could not understand was how anyone could eat too much or throw away food if they knew someone else was starving. Because they believed that the goods of the earth were given by God for everyone to enjoy no one had a right to horde if others were starving or in debt. Feeding the hungry and clothing the naked became the number one way of witnessing to their faith in God who loves and watches over the poor and those who are denied their rights.

As citizens of a country with many material blessings we have alot to be thankful for. Most people in this country never worry about having enough to eat. Most people have enough clothes to keep them warm and some kind of home or apartment to live in. But we cannot thank God for the blessings we enjoy without remembering those people in our country and in our world who do worry about how they will feed their families and who may have nowhere to live because they were evicted from their apartments so the landlord could turn them into condominiums.

The God who gave us all that we have and the plenty which we enjoy puts only one demand on us who receive them - that we show our appreciation by sharing those blessings with others, especially with those who are most in need.

Beautiful in God's Eyes

Who are the people whom the world considers important? Who are the people who show up on the covers of Time, Newsweek and People magazines? They are the women and men with power who make things happen. Or the rich who have luxurious homes and fast cars. They are the "beautiful people" - actors, musicians, politicians - who are attractive and have personalities that get them noticed. These are the people our materialistic culture holds up as "heroes". These are the people our society worships.

But the way we measure importance is far different from the way Jesus measured it. Power, money, looks, charisma - none of that made a person important to him. Instead, Jesus came to serve those who went unnoticed, those who didn't seem to make a difference in society. He came for the sick, the lepers, the poor and all those pushed aside by the world and seen as a drain on its resources. Those were the people he sought out in every city and town he entered. When he preached God's love and concern for every person, he was speaking to them. When he healed, theirs were the bodies he touched. And it was the sinners he chose to eat with, not those who were righteous in their own eyes. Everything Jesus did and said was directed to those who were forgotten, pushed aside, ridiculed and reviled.

And so he taught his followers that the only way that they could be important in God's eyes - the only way that they could get noticed - was to make themselves the slaves of others. If God's loving gaze was always on the poor, then they had to make themselves poor. If it was the sick that God was gathering into his kingdom, then they had to be found among them. The strong would have to make themselves the slaves of the weak, and the rich would have to put themselves at the service of the poor. Jesus taught that his greatest follower would be the one who acted as if everyone else were greater, as if everyone else were holier, as if everyone else were more important.

In today's gospel, Jesus illustrates his point by placing a child in their midst. In doing so, he was stressing that their job was to reach out to those members of society who were the most insignificant. In Jesus' day, children had no legal rights at all and were, therefore, the most vulnerable members of society. Jesus' message was that the greatest of his disciples would be the ones to look after the needs of the most vulnerable, those who otherwise would fall through the cracks.

Why does Jesus insist on this point? Because he believed that every human life had the same value in God's eyes. The poor person's life means as much as the wealthy person's life. The life of the sick is no less valuable than that of the healthy and strong. In God's eyes, the death of an Iraqi soldier is as tragic as the death of an American soldier. A person's power or money cannot make their lives more precious. To God, every human life is worth creating and every human life is worth saving. God never thinks that he has wasted his gift of life on any one of us.

The greatest example of this is the cross. Jesus, the innocent Son of God, the most important person who ever lived, was willing to give his life for each and every one of us. Whenever we are tempted to doubt our own worth or the worth of another person, we must remember that, no matter what we might think about ourselves or others, God thought us precious enough to offer up his Son in sacrifice for us. Jesus was willing to give his life up for ours. How, then, could we ever doubt the inestimable value of each and every human life, no matter how young or how old, how rich or how poor, how weak or how strong?

Jesus calls us who wish to follow him to serve the needs of those society deems unimportant. We must consider the needs of those who normally go unnoticed to be more important than our own because every human being deserves our love and attention.

Who in our lives could be going unnoticed and could use a little love and attention? Do you have a sick relative who would be delighted to get a visit from you? Is there someone at your work who is struggling and could use a helping hand? Is there someone at your school who has trouble making friends and would appreciate it if you sat with him or her in the cafeteria? Is there a poor person asking for hand outs at the light on your way to work whom you could give a dollar to and let know that someone cares for him? Each of us knows such people. They are Jesus approaching us in disguise and asking us if we love him. Even though our society has little use for them, they are God's precious children worth more to him than we can ever know.

What makes a person important in God's eyes? We know that wealth, beautiful homes and powerful positions cannot impress the all-powerful God who created the universe with all its wonders. To impress God it takes a loving heart willing to go out of its way for those who cry out for our help. At the end of time, the world with all its glory will be wiped away. Everything we thought was important will be no more. We will each stand naked before the God who created us, and we will be judged on how we loved the poor people he placed in our lives. Today can be the day when we confess to God that we have been busy trying to impress the wrong people. And today can be the day when we begin to ask him to open our eyes and our hearts to those in our families, in our places of business, in our schools and in our communities who are truly in need and who, therefore, are truly important and deserving in his eyes.

Blessed Are You

This is an old homily I found on the Beatitudes.


The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. These are the founding documents of our country. They spell out how our country will be governed and what rights we will uphold. They define what kind of nation we are to be.

Today's gospel is the Beatitudes which forms the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is, for Jesus, the constitution of a new people. It's a founding document spelling out for us what kind of church Jesus intends us to be. It's a declaration of independence from a narrow view of religion as just a bunch of "thou shalt nots" to a living relationship with God the Father. Just as Moses climbed the mountain to receive the Law from God and deliver it to His people Israel, so Jesus, from the mount, delivers a new law for a new people.

What kind of people is God gathering? What kind of Church does Jesus intend to found? We hear about it in the Beatitudes. God's people are the poor and the lowly. They are those who have no power in the eyes of the world.

Human governments are formed and run by people with power, wealth and influence. They conquer through force, by gathering strong armies with fearsome weapons.

But God means to conquer the world in a different way. God means to conquer the world one heart at a time.

God whispers to the poor, "Let me be your wealth". The world's riches depreciate in value and are easily depleted, but God's wealth never loses value. God whispers to the sorrowful heart: "Let me be your consolation." The world offers empty words of consolation which cannot reach the depths of the person. Only God can reach the unfathomable depths of the human heart which He created. God whispers to the hungry heart: "Let me feed you." The world's bread only fills the belly for a few hours. Soon, the stomach growls for more. But God's bread is free and satisfying beyond any food the world can offer.

Jesus is gathering a new people, a new Kingdom. Jesus is instigating a revolution of peace and justice, not by means of armies and fire-power, but through simple people who seek to do God's will. Jesus is forming this new people out of you and me with our gifts, with our failures, with our limitations.

If we read the Beatitudes and hear in them a message of resignation before evil, then we really haven't heard Jesus' words. Jesus isn't saying to us that life is hard, but if we tough it out we'll be rewarded in heaven. The Kingdom of God which Jesus preaches about is not an event in some never-never land far off in the future. The Kingdom of God is today. It is here. It is now. Today is the day for the sorrowful to be comforted. Today is the day for the hungry to be fed. Now is the time for mercy and peace to be practised.

Neither are the Beatitudes something for other people to practise and live out. It is not something left up to the bishops, or nuns or other more "spiritual" people. It is for us to do. We are to practice mercy in our day-to-day lives. We are to make peace a reality. And, if necessary, we are to bear insults, ridicule and persecution for the sake of Jesus and the Kingdom which is breaking into our world. If we don't say "yes", if we don't let God conquer our hearts, then this Kingdom cannot be real and effective in the world.

We are gathered here today to witness something spectacular. It will go largely unnoticed. Katie Couric and Bill O'Reilly won't be here to cover it. Nonetheless, something revolutionary is taking place here today. Simple bread and wine will be transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. And, we will be fed by it. God will whisper to our hearts that He wants us for His own people.

Will we take this gift home with us? Will we allow it to transform us, transform our families, transform our work places, transform our world? Only then will this revolution of peace be underway.