Fr. Leo's Benevolent Blog!

[Hey, Church fans. Ran out of time to post the video. You can check it out on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/stpatsak/ Here’s the text, but if you want the story that makes the homily, you’ve got to go to the vid.

       A scientist was came up to God and said, “Thank you for all your good work, but we don’t need you anymore.”

       “Oh no?” God said. “What do you mean.”

       The scientist replied, “After years of diligent research we now have the means to create life.”

       “Really,” God said, “Please, show me.”

       So the scientist bends down and starts to form a little man out of the clay.

       “Wait,” God said, “No, no, no, no….Get your own dirt!”

       There are many ways in which we are made in the image and likeness of God. For example, we can create, we can love, and in the context of love, we can forgive.

       I have always been struck by the fact that there is no limit to the human person’s capacity to love. Think about it, at what point do you stop loving your spouse, your kids, your good friends? 

       At the same time, it is important not to confuse love with affection, or esteem or infatuation.

       Love is not a feeling. It is a decision that is accompanied by every feeling you can imagine—great joy, great sorrow, great triumph, great tragedy, great encouragement, and great frustration.  Love is hard sometimes.

       Forgiveness is a part of love. So by the same token, forgiveness is hard sometimes too.   

       Thomas Aquinas described love very well when he said that love wants what is best for the other. Often what is best for the other is to forgive them. This is not always easy. Sometimes the offense is so profound and the hurt is so raw, that it’s easy to make the same mistake as so many do with love. It’s essential to remember that forgiveness is not a feeling. It is a decision. As such, it is an act of the will, not of the intellect or the affect.

       It’s a bit paradoxical, but the act of forgiveness is the first thing that needs to happen. We may not want to, but when we forgive the offender, we open the door to grace and most often to reconciliation.

       [The Story of the Duck Blind.]

       I learned that day that forgiveness is a decision, an act of the will that opens to the door to reconciliation.

To forgive the offender, even if they are not repentant is one of the ways where we truly reflect the love of Christ who forgave even those who were crucifying him. It is not only virtuous, but it is essential for anyone who would seek to follow Christ. 

       Love is not a feeling, it is a decision.  Forgiveness is a decision.  Love is not easy. Forgiveness is not easy. It is always worth it.

     Remember when we all thought that the internet would lead to a greater access to ideas and information and a more fruitful exchange of diverse opinions? So much for great expectations. Instead we got trolls. Anonymous acrimonious criticisms of those who disagree.

       To quote Our Lord in another context, “It shall not be that way with you.” (Mt. 20:26).

Everyone makes mistakes, but no one likes their mistakes to be broadcast in public. It’s embarrassing and uncharitable. In our present day, when no thought seems to go unposted, we Christians have a moral duty to preserve the dignity of others, even those who sin against us.

Does that mean we are to be a doormat? Of course not. In charity, we also have a moral obligation to the offender to make them aware of the offense so that they may amend their ways and peace may be restored. In today’s gospel from Matthew 18, Our Lord shows us how to engage in grace-filled “fraternal correction.” Step one, take them off in private and let them know how they have offended.

Here are a few hints:

1. Do not surprise them. Set up a time to meet with the offender so they may prepare mentally for the encounter. It can be as simple as, “I would like to meet with you to speak about what happened in the lunchroom. When is a good time?”

2. Focus on the behavior, not the person. Using the formula: “When you…I feel…because…” is a great tool. For example, “When you made fun of that young person, I was very embarrassed for them and for you, because they have a disability of which you may not be aware.” 

3. Make sure they know you have their best interest in mind. Preface your comments with, “You know, we have been friends for some time and I respect you greatly…”   

I know that I always appreciate when someone corrects me in charity. It helps me to be a better person and a better Christian. As a result, I always try to publicly praise and privately admonish. In this way, we can preserve each other’s dignity, establish deeper communion and build up one another in charity. 

For a holiday weekend, we sure had a lot going on.
We had a beautiful wedding this weekend with Jenna and Jake. It was so moving, even the cake was in tiers.

For a holiday weekend, we sure had a lot going on.

       We had a beautiful wedding this weekend with Jenna and Jake.   It was so moving, even the cake was in tiers.

Moving on…let’s talk about the readings that that Church gives us this week.  I’m going to talk about holy longing and holy sacrifice. 

       Jesus’ words to St. Peter seem pretty harsh given that he has just given him the keys to the Kingdom.  What’s going on here?  Why is Peter getting chewed out for thinking like human beings do and not like God does?

Jeremiah helps us to understand the context. What a marvelous passage about how the word of God burns like a fire in his heart.  He has to let it out or he will burst. 

And then the Psalmist who reminds us that our souls “are thirsting for you, O Lord my God.”

       Indeed.  There is a God-shaped hole in our heart, a holy longing for communion from the very depths of our soul, a deep desire for meaning and belonging that can only be satisfied by union and right relationship with God and others. This is exactly what the prophet Jeremiah and the Psalmist are getting at. St. Augustine also quipped, “Our hearts are restless, O God, until they rest in you.”

       The problem, of course, is that we silly human beings are easily distracted (Squirrel!).  All too often we try to fill that holy longing for lasting communion with all kinds of shiny, twinkly things in the world that tempt us. St. Thomas Aquinas observed that these were typically wealth, pleasure, power or honor. Like fast food, they fill us for a little while, but in the end, they always leave us empty, unsatisfied, and discontent. These are the things that Madison Avenue spends  billions of dollars to convince us will make us happy. They are not bad in and of themselves, but if they become our central desire, then we are thinking “not as God does, but as human beings do.”

       This is why Jesus calls his best friend St. Peter, Satan, and right after he gives him the keys to the Kingdom. Like all the disciples, St. Peter is still thinking that Jesus has come to establish the very political kingdom of Israel. He is seeing exercise of power in the way that the world sees and uses power, not as God sees and uses power.

       Jesus sets him straight immediately. Authority and power in the Kingdom of heaven is not simply being able to compel others to do your will. That is domination. Rather, authority in the Kingdom, and thus in the Church, is only fruitful when it is exercised in service to others. Christ himself told us what he means when he said, “The Son of Man have come to serve, not to be served.” He showed us when he washed the feet of the disciples as he instituted the ministerial priesthood at the Last Supper. The exercise of authority in the Church only makes sense when it is done in the context of service to God and others. Sometimes this means great sacrifice. But where love is present, sacrifice comes readily.

       Jesus picked up his cross as the supreme act of service and sacrifice for us. Can we who would be his disciples do otherwise?

There was a young fellow looking at a plaque on the wall of the church. The pastor came up to him to see what he was doing.

“What are all these names on the wall?” the boy asked.

The pastor replied, “Those are the names or those who died in the service.”

“Oh,” the boy pondered, “Which service, the 8:30 or the 11:30?

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   Words are important. The field of semantics gets a bad rap.  I’m not sure why. It’s really important stuff. How we formulate thought, how we structure and present our ideas and the choice of words we use can make all the difference in whether we are simply speaking, or communicating.

Of course, my mother used to say, “Make your words sweet, for one day you may have to eat them.”

There are rituals of communication in every culture. When to speak and how you speak. Ritual phrases that give context and meaning.

       For example, in our own culture, phrases like, “Once upon a time…” or  “This is a true story, no kidding!”  Or “Here, hold my beer and watch this!”

     There are rituals of communication in every culture. Knowing what they are can make all the difference.  Jesus uses this knowledge to make a very important point about the Kingdom of God in his encounter with the Canaanite woman in today’s gospel passage.

       Remember, the Jews of first century Palestine did not have a lot of interaction with Gentiles. There were many reasons for this, some good, some bad. In any event, her mere presence is irritating to the disciples and they just want her gone. Jesus chooses his words wisely so that his lesson for the disciples can make the best impact. 

       First he says nothing. Is he ignoring her on purpose or just waiting for the right moment? It comes with the disciples’ request to send her away. 

       Next, he states the obvious, at least that which would seem to be obvious to the disciples. As the Messiah, they would expect that he had only come to deliver “the lost sheep of Israel.” Jesus now has the disciples’ full attention. They expect him to put her in her place while      affirming the privilege of theirs.

       Next he says what they are all thinking. Does he really believe that she is a dog? Of course not, but many of them do. He already knows her faith and she shows it with her comment about even the dogs getting the scraps from the table. 

       Next he says and does something truly shocking. He praises her faith and heals her daughter. This rocks the world of his disciples. All their lives they were taught that they were the only ones who would enter the Kingdom, but if he can perform a miracle for this pagan foreigner, what does that say about the nature of the Kingdom. Is there room for Jews and Gentiles? 

       They would do well to listen to the words of the Lord spoken through the prophet Isaiah who said,

       for my house shall be called

       a house of prayer for all peoples.

Indeed, as St. Paul notes in his letter to the Roman, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in the person of Christ and in his Church.

       Paul is struggling with the fact that so many of his fellow Jews did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah and embrace the gospel.  He reasons that once they see how powerfully the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled in the Gentiles, even if only out of jealousy, they will come to faith in Christ. 

       We in the Church should also take heed of the lesson of the Canaanite woman. Sometimes we can get a little smug, even when it comes to our relationship to other Christians. When we do so, we would do well to remember the encounter between Jesus and the Canaanite woman and what he has to teach us about the breadth of God’s mercy.

       The Second Vatican Council says without apology, that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. Namely, it is true that everything Jesus intended the Church to be is found here in the Catholic Church.  But the Council also notes that nevertheless, there are

       “many elements of sanctification and of truth are    found outside of its visible structure.” (LG 8)

So how are we to approach other Christians, or other people of faith? 

       I like the example of the Holy Father, who speaks so eloquently about personal encounter with the other in a spirit of fraternal accompaniment

       This approach dovetails very well with the powerful example of Pope St. John Paul II, who showed us how to stand in the truth in love.

       The Catholic Church shall never compromise the Sacred Tradition or cease to be who Christ has called us to be. But we can change the way we approach others in the world. After centuries of acrimony in our relationship with others, at the Second Vatican Council, the Church chose fraternal dialogue as the way that we will engage the world.

       This includes other Christians, other people of faith, and even people of no faith. As Christ did with the Canaanite woman and with so many others, we hold out the open hand friendship to of all people of good will.

       Remember, whatever Christ touches Christ transforms. The same is true for the Body of Christ, the Church.

       Our job as individuals, as families, as a parish, as an archdiocese and as a universal Church is to become so much a part of our neighborhoods, our town, our country, our world that they cannot imagine life without us.

       It is in our encounter with the world that we truly become Lumen Gentium, a light to the people. 

       Let us be people of such a light, let us allow Christ to touch our hearts and transform them into a heart like unto his own,

       so that in our encounter with others, even those very much unlike us, Christ may touch and transform them,

       and the words of the psalmist may echo through to the four corners of the earth:

        O God, let all the nations praise you!