The Feast of Christ the King

Matthew 25:31-46 

Dear Friends, This famous Gospel text is not as simple and straight forward as it seems on the surface. 

I do not know of anyone who has turned away more needy, homeless and addicted women and their children than my sister who is a nun. If we take a literal interpretation of the text, she is in bad shape.

In reality, she is a 24/7 servant of the poor as a leader of a rehab center for addicted poor women. Her resources are always played out to the limit. Because the program is so good, she has many more applicants than space and program allow. The net result is she keeps the recovering women as long as two years sometimes. The recovery rate for those who stay clean goes beyond 90%. This is phenomenal.

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Well done, good and faithful servant

Matthew 25:14-30 

Dear Friends. The message for us in today’s Gospel is clear: to realize that God is calling us to use our time, talent and treasure to increase the kingdom of God. Our call is to create and support life in all of its various manifestations. The seamless garment of life, from the womb to the tomb. We are invited to enter into and embrace the Gospel message of Jesus by always discovering new horizons of inclusion and acceptance and celebration. Our fundamental human task is to let reality open up the hidden presence of our loving God in all the varied manifestations of humanity.

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Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour

Matthew 25:1-13 

Dear Friends, As we draw near to the end of this Church year, in three weeks, the Church has a message for us about time. It may be better stated that the Church invites us to ponder the mystery of time.

In today ‘s Gospel about the ten virgins both wise and foolish, and next week’s about the men gifted with a sum of money to challenge their responsibility, we are asked to consider the consequences of time coming to an end. Then, after the final Sunday of Christ the King, we begin a new year. In the first three Sundays of Advent we are asked to consider time beginning. Both of these approaches to time offer us a challenge to investigate our life in light of the Gospel.

The story of the virgins and next week’s Gospel about the talents calls us to responsibility for our life. The message is simple and clear. Stay awake and be responsible. What we do with our time is consequential. We will be called to answer for it. There is definitely a limit to this time. “Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord open the door for us.” But He said in reply “,Amen I say to you, I do not know you!’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Mt 25:1-13)

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Call me Tracy

In my second or third year as a young priest, at the end of the Second Vatican Council, I began to tell people to drop the Father and just call me Tracy. Very shortly one of the wise leaders of the parish pulled me aside to tell me a simple truth: It was not about me! 

She said the community needs to respect and honor the role of the priest. It was very important to them. Therefore, I would be wise to stop the nonsense about, “Call me Tracy.”

Jesus is basically saying the same thing in today’s Gospel message. While He is addressing the fault of the Jewish leaders, He is even more forcefully speaking to the disciples about leadership in the Christian community. It must be service first and foremost. “The greatest among you must be a servant.” (Mt. 23:11)

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Laurence Parish

Dear Parishioners, I grew up in St. Laurence parish on the South Side of Chicago. It was a very beautiful and enriching experience in many ways. But like anything else human, it suffered from the blindness revealed in today’s Gospel. Over the years, I have found myself growing in awareness of the many prejudices and ignorance that was implanted in me by my early Irish Catholic formation.

First of all, we had a wide open highway to hell for others. Protestant and fallen away Catholics, especially the divorced, led the parade. The role of women was very clear: in the kitchen and preferably pregnant. The “colored people”, the operative term of respect for African Americans in my youth, were inferior and happy to stay on the other side of 47th St. where God put them. As Catholics we were very patriotic and in full support of the insanity of nuclear escalation.

We were proud to be Catholics leading the way in the censorship of movies to maintain pelvic orthodoxy. I think my Communion line would not have made it past the censors. We never gave a thought to Hollywood’s glorification of booze, smoking and violence. Mexicans were the only Hispanics I knew and this only thru movies. They were always total losers only topped by the savagery of Native Americans who attacked the white settlers.

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The Twenty Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Matthew 22:15-21 

Dear Friends, Today’s Gospel is the first in a series of for different groups that try to entrap Jesus and thus endanger his life. In each case, Jesus turns the issue into a teaching opportunity. 

Today’s message is not the separation of church and state. It is a clear mandate on the centrality of our commitment to God in all things. The Gospel message is a clear and strong invitation to make God the center of all our activities.

The issue of the image on the coin is countered by the continuous and pervasive teaching of Jesus t hat teaches that every human being is in the image of God. “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers (or sisters) of mine, you did for me.” (Mt. 25:40)

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The Twenty Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

St. Matthew 22: 1-14 

Dear Friends, In today’s Gospel reading, Matthew has multiple messages. I want to delve into two points. We have received an invitation to the wedding feast and that has consequences for us. 

In the Bible, the theme of the invitation or call is repeated often. Abraham is the first, then Moses, David and the prophets. In the New Testament it is Peter and the Apostles and finally, Paul. We join that very prestigious group in our own lives. We are invited to the wedding feast; we are called to follow Jesus. With the call there are responsibilities.

The often confusing story of the wedding garment helps us to understand this reality. When God calls, and He does so often, we need to take action. We have to accept the message of Jesus. We want to make our yes express itself in a new way of living. The wedding garment means our lifestyle is trying to express the Gospel values. The demands of Jesus’ message are not met by a token effort or just following the crowd. It demands a change of heart, a conversion.

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The Twenty Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

Matthew 21:33-43 

Dear Friends, We are quickly approaching the end of the Church year with our journey in the Gospel of Matthew. The next several Sundays have selections that highlight two things: Jesus’ conflict with the Jewish leaders and His call to make a decision on His message.

Down through Church history these final chapters of Matthew have been distorted to produce an anti-semiticism that has been a gross distortion of the gospel and activities that have been abhorrently inhuman and unjust in the relations between Jews and Christians.

The basic message of the parable of the murderous tenants of the vineyard asks us to face up to the need to make a decision. Will we be stewards of the gifts that God has given us? Are we living the gospel message in our family? Are we making a contribution to our community to make it more life giving to all? Are we being responsible and not squandering the blessings of our environment? Are we responding to the call to act justly and be instruments of peace?

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The Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Matthew 21:28-32 

Dear Friends, today’s Gospel message has a context. It was after Jesus’s’ glorious entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. He then cleansed the temple. The impact of these events led to even deeper conflict with the religious leaders. With today’s parable of the two sons Jesus is not subtle in escalating the tension. 

The parable of the two sons exposed the contradiction of the leaders’ program and the all-inclusive mercy of the God revealed by Jesus. Jesus’s point about the tax-collectors and prostitutes entering the kingdom before the chief priests and elders was intended as a challenge to those who thought themselves to be God’s chosen and, therefore, the favored sons and daughters. Later on, this was going to be a test for the Christian Jews to accept Gentiles into the early church. It is also questions our acceptance of the ever-expanding invitation of the gospel for the outcasts of our day in whatever manner they invade our complacency.

On a personal level, the parable helps us to understand ourselves. It is not difficult to see that we share the ambiguity of commitment that Jesus reveals. The perennial fickleness of the human heart is never far from us. We are both sons at different times in our lives. The struggle for us is to constantly search for the singleness of purpose. We need to make our yes to God more faithful and more determined in our daily lives.

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Twenty Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Matthew 20:1-16 

Dear Friends, Each Sunday the Gospel message invites us into a new world, a world where the values of Jesus call and challenge us to change. In this world, we are told that the last shall be first, the leader is to be the servant of all. The response to violence is not revenge but to turn the other cheek. These are just a few of the world- shattering views Jesus has for us.

The parables are a particular method Jesus uses to crumble our clear and confident grasp on the common sense mentality of how we think that things really are.

Our immediate response to today’s parable is a clear and forceful, “No way!” How can the “dawn to dusk” workers not complain about the inequality of the “one hour crew” for getting equal pay?

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The Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Mt 18:21-35 

Dear Friends. Once again, Jesus uses the misinformed good will of Peter to lead us deeper into the mystery of God’s love.

To understand today’s message, there are several background points that are helpful. First, Peter’s suggestion of seven was quite generous in contrast to the operative law which was “an eye for and eye.” Second, the ten thousand talents were the highest imaginable figure of debt in the mathematics of the day. Third, the servant’s debt was about three months salary. Fourth, the King was a gentile so his forgiveness of the debt was all the more shocking.

The main message the parable is the Kingdom manifests a sea of divine mercy. We need to express the consequences of this gracious gift in our responsibility to our sisters and brothers. This is our struggle, the reality of the weeds and the wheat within our hearts that are confronted with the obvious and overwhelming demands of forgiveness to others.

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Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 18:15-20

Dear Friends,

Today’s message of forgiveness and reconciliation is where the Gospel becomes concrete, where the rubber hits the road.

This message is part of a special section (Mt 18:1-35) on the church as a community. The Christian community is made up of flawed human beings who have a great need to heal the ever-present differences and conflicts that arise. Jesus presents a program of deep insight and wisdom.

When the conflict happens, Jesus asks us to approach it with humility and radical forgiveness. Recall the advice from the Sermon on the Mount (Mt.5-7). There are all kinds of teachings about forgiveness and reconciliation. One really relevant one in today’s case is, “Remove the wooden beam from your eye first, then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” (Mt 7:5)

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Sunday of Ordinary Time

Matthew 16: 21-27

Dear Friends,

From time to time, when I am frustrated working with people, especially in the Church, I say Jesus made only one mistake. He chose to let people to do His work. Of course, this is basically no different than what Peter told Jesus in today’s Gospel.

In the beginning of the Gospel of John we have a world shattering proclamation, “The Word became flesh.” (Jn 1:14) This is God’s plan. This is how Jesus accepted the call to save the world. Becoming flesh was not an isolated event. It is in accepting the totality of His humanity that God chose to save the world. This means He accepted all of us as we are as part of His reality.

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The Twenty First Sunday of Ordinary Time

Matthew 16:13-20

Dear Friends,

Peter had quite a journey from the time Jesus asked him to leave his boat and nets and follow Him. He saw it all: the blind seeing, the lame walking, the devils cast out, the loaves and the fish and, of course, his short, ill-fated attempt to walk on the water and so much more. Now Jesus asks the question, “Who do you say I am?” (Mt 16:15)

Peter was ready or at least he thought so. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Mt 16:16)

Peter got it right. Jesus says, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my heavenly Father.” (Mt 16:17)

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Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Matthew 15:21-28

Dear Friends,

It is very hard for us to grasp how deeply the Jews at the time of Jesus cherished their role as the chosen people of God to the exclusion of all others. It colored their reality with a clear vision and acutely guarded set of protocols that defined all social interaction with the Gentiles.

The early Christian Church struggled for two generations to break loose of this bondage of exclusiveness. Down through history the Church and all societies have continued to manufacture a mirror of this of elitism.

Today’s story from St. Matthew’s Gospel is as relevant as the latest blog filling the internet each hour.

Over the centuries, Christian voices have produced some incredible fantasies to explain away Jesus’ harsh language addressed to the Canaanite woman. It still stands for what it is: a statement of the blind prejudice of His times. I especially like those who claimed it was protocol not prejudice.

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The Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary time

Matthew 14: 22-33

    Today’s Gospel story of Jesus walking on the water is filled with symbolism and echoes of the divine in the Old Testament.  Most immediately the story of the boat in the storm is the manifestation of the Church’s struggles in the first days of her existence and down through history.  Likewise, the episode with Peter faltering is an expression of the basic human experience of being totally vulnerable.

    Peter is bold and adventurous in his cry out to Jesus, “If it is you Lord, command me to come to you on the water.” (Mt 14:28)  Peter begins his walk but reality grabs hold of his weak faith.  As Peter faces his moment of truth and begins to sink, his cry, “Lord, save me!” (Mt. 14:30), expresses the naked and unfiltered truth of our humanity.  In the end, we are totally dependent on God.

    Jesus says, “Do not be afraid!” (Mt. 14: 27).  This phrase is one of the most common in all of Scripture.  It is uttered over three hundred times in the Bible.  Each time it reveals the presence of a saving and compassionate God.  To call it a statement of comfort is very short of the mark.  It reveals a God profoundly engaged in the human struggle with the power of healing and deliverance.  In today’s episode as an example, Peter ends up back in the boat rather than at the bottom of the sea. 

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A Slow Journey of Love for God’s Word

I

It was 1954, nine years before Vatican II. I was completely packed to leave for the Carmelite seminary. My dilemma was that I still had a gift of a large bible. Like most Catholics at the time, I had no interest in the bible. However, I had great love and respect for my parish priest who had given it to me. Love for my mentor won out. I reluctantly took the bible.

    Over the years, I continued to drag the bible with me until in my final few years I began to use it in my studies. After about a decade of studies and formation, I finally began to develop some appreciation and a little enthusiasm for the bible. Slowly, I was learning that my spirituality was completely devoid of the gift of God’s Word. It was only after the teachings of Vatican II began to seep into my consciousness in my first years as a priest that I began a journey leading to true love for the bible. Now, after fifty-eight years as a priest, I say that not a day goes by that I do not appreciate the bible more. It is a source of wisdom and light and a guide to daily experience.

    One of the keys for me on the journey from ignorance and indifference to love and commitment for God’s Word was this. I began to understand the bible as a story that is, indeed, our story.

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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 14: 13-21

Dear Friends,

    Today’s passage in Matthew is about the loaves and fishes.  This story is appears six different times in the Gospels.  Likewise, it is the only miracle story that is in all four Gospels.  No doubt, it has a powerful message for us.

    The story looks backwards and forward in the Divine Plan.  It clearly has echoes of the manna in the desert (Exodus 16) and Elisha’s similar fete of feeding the crowd with a few loaves. (2 Kings 4:42-44)  More importantly, the language Jesus uses is similar to the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. (Mt 26:26) Finally, it foreshadows the Messianic banquet at the end of time.

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Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary time

Matthew 13: 44-52

Dear Friends,

    Today is the third Sunday of parables in Chapter thirteen in the Gospel of St. Matthew.  Many scholars of the Bible say today’s parable of the treasure is the most important of all the parables.  

    It begins with the statement, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” (Mt. 13:44).  In the three Synoptic Gospels this phrase, “the kingdom of heaven” or “kingdom of God” in Mark and Luke, is at the center of Jesus’ teaching and ministry.  In its most basic expression it is God’s plan in Jesus to overcome evil with love.  It is a process of liberation from all the consequences of sin.  Thus the miracles are all manifestations of God’s presence bringing wholeness and freedom.  The ultimate expression of the inflowing of divine power is in the conquest of death in the Resurrection.

    The Kingdom is God’s gift.   We do not earn it but we need to be open to its call.  The Kingdom is a situation that allows us to enter and participate in the very life of God.   The Kingdom is walking with Jesus where the values of the gospel message fill our heart and life.

    In chapter thirteen of Matthew the phrase “kingdom of heaven” appears nine times.  So the question for us is how does the simple little story of the found treasure connect us to this great saving and liberating action of God revealed in Jesus?  The parable of the treasure, more clearly than most other parables, tells us how we experience God and what we need to do when this great gift engulfs us.

    There are three simple steps in the parable.  There is a finding, a selling and a buying.

    The finding is the very common human encounter with something or someone.   The encounter touches the deepest hunger in the human heart.  It might be something as profound as falling in love, having a child or losing a loved one.  Or it may be a bit more mundane like deciding to go to college or becoming more active in the parish or community.   Endless expressions of this finding fill our human journey.  They all, simple or profound, are the action of God’s grace.  God is never finished in his calling and coming.

    To get hold of the gift we need to sell.  We need to empty out.  We need to make space.  We need to die to our comfort and control.  We need to accept the fact that our little world needs a real change.  In the end, selling costs no less than everything.

    When we accept the challenge we become free and empowered to enter into a new world, a new reality where God takes a more prominent place of honor.  This is the buying.

    The process never ends.  It is all leading to a personal and social transformation.  This is called the kingdom of heaven in the Gospel of St. Mathew.

    The parable of the treasure with its simplicity opens up how we experience God in the normal course of our daily life.  It is an unending call that comes from a gracious God to tap the endless hunger in our restless hearts.  The ultimate expression of the treasure is Jesus. 

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Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

St. Matthew 13:24-30

Dear Friends,

    I had my introduction into this parable of the weeds and the wheat when I was a sophomore in high school.  It was the time of the McCarthy hearings on TV.  The politics of the day were about the infiltration of Communists into our government and society.  I was very interested in this.

    At first, it was very confusing because there were two items that were very clear in my world.  Communists were as bad as you could get and Catholics were good.  As the TV drama evolved, I slowly had to change.  Even though Senator McCarthy was against the Communists and he was a Catholic, I began to realize he was in the wrong.  Eventually, he was censored by the Senate, one of only three such condemnations in the history of our country.  

    This was the beginning of a lifetime journey where the clear black and white of my world had to give way to an acceptance of the grey of a complex world.

    Today’s parable of the weeds and the wheat, like all the parables, speaks to us of the coming of God’s Kingdom, Jesus’ main message.  As we enter into the parable we begin to learn how we experience the presence and action of God in our daily life.  It is clear God is in charge of the harvest.  We tend to take over the job.  Most of us have at least a Master’s degree in determining the good guys from the bad guys.  Jesus would rather that we let the Father take on that task.  That is why a turned cheek is much more in tune with Jesus’ message than a clenched fist.

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