Today we have a guest blogger from Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, administrator of PRESENTATION OF THE B.V.M CHURCH, PORT EWEN AND SACRED HEART CHURCH, ESOPUS. For more information on this parish, check out their website at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Sacred Heart Churches - Port Ewen - Esopus, NY (presentationsacredheart.org)
Although
I am away on vacation, as your spiritual father I would not leave without
commenting on the readings of this Sunday and our contemporary society. I recall learning that Catholic homiletics
should communicate the kerygma, that is the proclamation of the Word of
God or the Good News and also paraenesis, an exhortation or application
of the divine message to the lives of the listeners. When done correctly, especially in the light
of the Apostolic Tradition (i.e., what Catholics have prayed and
believed across the millennia) and the Magisterium (i.e., the function
of the Church as teacher, especially in matters of faith and morals), we as
Church indeed can read “the sign of the times”, as exhorted by the
Second Vatican Council in Gaudium et spes, n. 4 and other documents of
the Council so that we may live more faithfully on Earth our discipleship of
Christ and so that your life and my life as Christians may serve as
credible signposts and witness to the life (and eternal life) that God
calls us to.
In our relationship with God, do we
love Him more for His gifts and His blessings than for Himself? In other words, do we love the gifts more
than the Giver? Among the teachings
of Msgr. William B. Smith, a moral theology professor of mine – may
he rest in peace – decades ago while I was at St. Joseph’s Seminary at
Yonkers, I recall his observation that given the many blessings America has
enjoyed for many years, that it is hard for Americans to imagine what Heaven
is like or that perhaps some Americans simply imagine Heaven to be the United
States without problems. If we define ourselves firstly by
what job we have (or have had, in the case of retirees) or by our possessions,
both material and intangible, then we lose sight of how God looks at us. He does not regard us by our credentials or
achievements (even if they may be praiseworthy), let alone by race, social
class, or our possessions.
God
looks for faith in Him above all (cf. First Commandment) as He
has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ and through His Church. God also seeks a responsive receptivity
from us when He challenges us through His proclaimed and perused Word to
make more room for Him and His things in our lives. When we become too attached to earthly
things, even if they are good things in themselves, so that we become
unwilling to let God bring us closer to Him by letting go of some
of these items, whether they be material or immaterial (e.g. preferences,
plans, or priorities), then we have hardened our hearts to His voice per
Psalm 90, the Responsorial Psalm for today in the Ordinary Form. When we appear before the Judgment Seat of
Christ at the hour of our death – Kyrie eleison – our material and
almost all of our intangible possessions will be left behind on Earth
as we stand nakedly and transparently before the All-Seeing Judge. However, may we appear before Him clothed
with many moments of sincere prayers and thanksgiving, of reverent partaking of
the sacraments, of moments of attentiveness and study of God’s Word and holy subjects,
of sacrifices made in His name and for His causes, and many Corporal and
Spiritual Works of Charity. These
are the riches “in what matters to God” (Lk 12:21) so that “when Christ
your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.” (Col 3:11).
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