The Narrow Gate

Scripture readings for today's mass can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082116.cfm.

We hear in today's gospel someone asking Jesus, "Lord, will only a few be saved?" This, to me, sounds like someone more worried about other people "making it" or "not making it" to heaven. Jesus goes on to point out to "Strive to enter through the narrow gate..." He then goes on to explain that many will attempt but are not strong enough to enter. Jesus is teaching us to not to worry about what others are doing regarding their salvation.

Entry into the kingdom will require more than desire. It demands faith and discipline. It also requires a total allegiance to Jesus. Not everyone has what it takes, and entrance is not automatic. This is exemplified by the master who locks a door with people outside clamoring to get in but having no credentials.

There is only one way to heaven. That narrow way is through salvation won for us by Christ. No one else could open the gates for us. He alone is God and human. He alone could pay the debt of our sins.

We may ask, "Who can enter the narrow gate?" There are some people who would restrict salvation to Christians who were baptized by immersion as adults. That would leave most of us out who were sprinkled or had water poured on us when we were baptized as infants. Other people would assure salvation to Christians who claim to believe in Jesus. Jesus says that belief in him in not enough. Our faith must be active.

What about non-Christians? Can they be saved? Some would say that only those who confess Christ as their personal savior can be saved. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us otherwise in paragraph 847, quoting Lumen Gentium: "Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with sincere heart, and moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation."

In our first reading for today from Isaiah we hear that God wants all people from every nation to be brought to His Holy Mountain. Would our narrow perspective shut out those whom God would welcome?

Entitlement will not count. Not even blood relationship counts. Places of power and prestige have no clout at heaven's gate. The parable of Lazarus  and the rich man show that.

In John's Gospel, Christ says, "I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved." (John 10:9) In today's Gospel from Luke, Jesus says to "enter through the narrow gate." At Holy Mass we receive Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. In a way, that "Gate" enters us. May we never stay far from that Gate - from a relationship with Christ.

A Divided Household

Scripture readings for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/081416.cfm

The gospel for today is a bit hard to take and embrace. Is this the Jesus of love and unity that we all expect? He tells us today, "Do you think that I have come to establish  peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." (Luke 12:51) Our Lord goes on to talk about divisions between Father and Son, Mother and daughter, family member against family member. It sounds shocking to us that faith in Christ should separate parents from children and split families apart. These words of Christ describe the very real experience of the first Christians, where conversion to Christ tore families apart. Back then, becoming a Christian was a dramatic step. In those days there was no "safety net" as we call it today. The family was the safety net. So, to become Christian meant embracing a way of life that separated you from your family and giving up, in effect, the equivalent of a pension, health insurance, social security, EVERYTHING.

Yet this experience still happens today. If you're a member of an Evangelical, Orthodox Jewish, Mormon, or a Muslim family today, and you choose to become Catholic, you are shunned from the family. Even today, when many people tend to take their religion lightly, serious loyalty to Christ makes them uneasy if not hostile.

In today's Gospel we see another side of Jesus, not a peaceful shepherd but the Christ of fire and flame. When Jesus says that He came to light a fire on the earth, He wasn't talking about forest fires or wild fires. The fire of Christ is the fire of conviction, of commitment.

Do we have the conviction about the Lord like Jeremiah, in today's first reading, who opposed the sins of a whole nation and suffered persecution, or like our predecessors in faith that the Letter of to the Hebrews describes who lived by conviction, all the old Testament saints whose pictures  are in churches and prayer books, the cloud of  New Testament witnesses whose loyalty to Jesus Christ shaped their life? How deep is our conviction in Jesus Christ?

It seems that in today's society, there are more people committed to a football, basketball, or baseball team than to Christ. They do not hesitate to wear  team jerseys and insignia while hesitating to wear a cross. They spend more on a season ticket than they do on Church donations. Who's more important to you: the Yankees (or Mets) or Jesus Christ?

The fire Jesus wants is the fire of loyalty and commitment because Jesus did not come to bring an easy peace by sweeping problems under the rug and having us look the other way. He came to bring a spiritual fire, a holy fire, to undo the power of evil in our world and in our selves and to remake the earth in every generation. By Baptism, we are called to join that campaign.

We do this by sharing our faith with our children and our families. We do it by sharing the truth of the Gospel with the people with whom we live and work.We can do it by insisting on honesty and fairness in business, politics, and government.

There is also a personal side to this campaign too. The fire of faith and conviction gives our life energy, direction and definition. Because society's values are confused, ours do not have to be. Because our culture is morally adrift, we do not have to be. We need to be strong in our commitment to following the commandments of God in our life.

This Gospel for today broadens our view of Christ. From Jesus Christ as Prince of Peace, which is true, to the Christ of fire and flame Who lit a blaze that lights the way for human dignity, repentance, the sacredness of life, a sense of sin burns away evil and deception to clear the way for grace and truth.

Let the fire of your faith in Christ, your conviction about the Lord, clarify your life and light the way for others.

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be!

I visited the Carmelite Monastery in Flemington, New Jersey, last Sunday, August 7th, 2016 and gave the following reflection during the Holy Hour. It was based on the gospel for the readings for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Homily for Carmelite Nuns on August 7^th

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

In today's gospel we hear Jesus talk about giving up everything earthly to be of service to the kingdom of God. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be.” The heart of a priest is that of heavenly treasures and of service to the flock that Jesus placed in his care.

A couple of weeks back we heard of the brutal killing of Fr. Jacques Hamel, the French Priest who was killed by two Muslim Extremist. Fr. Hamel was doing what he has done for years: serving the people of God by celebrating Mass for them. Father Hamel was 85 years old and was living his life in service of the people of God and of his savior, Jesus Christ. He lived out his calling to the priesthood to the very end: he died at the altar of Christ and, as a result, is now a Martyr for the Lord. Father Hamel's treasure was that of heaven.

A brother priest of Fr. Hamel, Fr. Auguste Moanda-Phuatiis is quoted as saying, “He could have retired at 75 years old, but seeing how few priests were around he decided to stay and work, to continue to be of service to people, up until it all ended, tragically.”

Fr. Hamel was that good and faithful stewart that Jesus refers to in today's gospel when he says, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.” Fr. Hamel was distributing the heavenly food, the Body of Christ, when he met such a tragic end.

Another French priest that we can turn to who was a “good and faithful servant” is St. John Vianney, born on May 8^th, 1786, the fourth of six children. He was baptized the same day he was born. He was ordained a priest on August 12, 1815 after years of trouble with his studies in the seminary. In the year 1818 he was assigned to the parish in the small French town of Ars.

It was during this time, after the French Revolution, that he discovered that many people were ignorant of their Catholic faith. It was through his preaching that people started returning to the practice of their faith. St. John Vianney is quoted as saying about the Mass, “All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man.” During the last ten years of his life, he spent up to 16 hours a day in the confessional. Even the bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of the souls awaiting him in his parish. He spent at least 11 or 12 hours a day in the confessional during winter, and up to 16 in the summer. St. John Vianey was a “good and faithful servant.”

Further, in this gospel for today, Our Lord is teaching all of us the need to share. The disciples are encourage to share their material goods. Possessions are never given ultimate value in St. Luke's Gospel. Real treasure is to be found in heaven. We are encouraged by Jesus to share our possessions with the poor and to give alms. These are kingdom values, and they lead to freedom from anxiety related to an abundance of possessions. One must serve God and not material possessions.

We are all encouraged to place God first in all that we do. We are also called, in addition to serving others out of love for God, to pray for our priests who minister to us and are able to bring us Jesus Christ in the various sacraments of the Church. Further, we are to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood.

In addition to praying for an increase in vocations, if we know young men that we would feel would make good priests, do not be afraid to encourage them to consider the priesthood and have them follow through on the possible call to service in the priesthood.

In my parish of St. Lucy's in the Bronx, my pastor, Fr. Pergjini, has a keen eye in spotting young men who may make good priests. As a result, four young men from St. Lucy's parish is entering St. Joseph’s seminary at the end of August. Pray for these men and their vocation to the priesthood.

Let us all be good and faithful servants of the Lord in whatever vocation God has placed us in, whether we're living in a cloister, or are husbands, wives, grandparents, workers in the work place. We are all called to serve God in whatever situation we find. Further we are encouraged to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, and to encourage those we may know who we may feel are called to become priests. It is then that we, too, are good and faithful servants.

The Impossible Dream

The Scripture readings for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/073116.cfm

What is the most important thing in your life? Is it Christ that is the center of all you do? Or is it the things that St. Paul speaks of in his letter to the Colossians: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry? (Colossians 3:5) Paul calls us to put these things to death, and to turn our lives over to God, we are to put on a "new self." Put on Christ who is all and in all.

We learn from Jesus in the parable about the rich fool who has made his possessions more important than his relationship with God. This is not what God expects of us! The rich man thinks he'll have an easy life with no cares and worries now that he has an abundant crop. He fails to realize that God is the center of all who we are. We are not to store up treasure here on earth without realizing that our true home will be in heaven. Yes, belongings and blessings here in this life are nice to have, but only in the sense that we use them in service of others and in deepening our relationship with God. Belongings are not the end all of our lives.

The readings for today's Holy Mass reminds me of the 1960's play "Man of La Mancha" which is based on the novel by Cervantes, "Don Quixote". The main character, Don Quixote is out to make the world a better place and is considered crazy by all who surround him, both family, and those he encounters during his quest to make the world a better place. Dulcinea, the prostitute that Don Quixote falls in love with, much to her dismay, asks, "Why do you do the things you do?" He responds with the classic song, "The Impossible Dream". Some of the phrases that Don Quixote sings in response to Dulcinea's question is, "to right the unrightable wrong. To love pure and chaste from afar," "To fight for the right. Without question or pause. To be willing to march into Hell for a heavenly cause."

This is what St. Paul is calling us to do in his writing the Colossians by inviting us to put on a "new self", that of service to others and love of Christ. By doing these things for others, in the name of Christ, we will be storing up treasure in heaven.

How do we set our sights on the things of God and the treasures of heaven? We do it when we come to Mass on the weekend rather than skip Mass in order to sleep in late on a Sunday. We do it when we take the time  from a busy day to be with the Lord in prayer and discern His will for our life, with the Sacrament of Penance where we repent the wrong we've done and renew what is good in our life.  We do it when we receive Holy Communion to strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ as the most enduring thing we can have in this world. We do it when we use money and resources  we have to advance the Kingdom of God, to help others along the way.

Build up your spiritual assets in your life. This way, when we meet the Lord, we leave behind everything we have and take with us everything we are and have become.

What are the spiritual assets, the spiritual wealth, we are acquiring to bring before the Lord? If, as the man in Jesus' parable, an accounting were required tonight, what would we bring to the Lord?

Ask and You Will Receive

Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/072416.cfm

In many societies around the world, bargaining for a good price is the customary way of doing things. You are never expected to pay the price that is written on the price tag. You are expected to haggle over the price to bring it down. The merchant knows what you are doing because he or she knows that this is a normal way of doing business. Only in the United States, and perhaps a few other countries, are you expected to pay the list price. Bargaining isn't the US way of doing business.

When Abraham began bargaining  with God, he wasn't haggling over the price of a piece of merchandise. There was something far more serious involved. God was preparing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Although Abraham knew that and the sins of the city, Sodom was also the home of his nephew, Lot, and his wife and family.

At this point of time and history, Abraham did not yet fully trust God. Abraham didn't fully know him in the way he would later on. So he is a little insecure in his attempts to talk to God out of his intended destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

As we heard in our first reading Abraham begins negotiating with God with a question: "Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?" In essence, Abraham is playing with the idea that God wouldn't destroy the innocent. So Abraham appeals to God's sense of fairness.

As the story continues, Abraham almost sheepishly, yet boldly whittles the number of innocent from 50 down to 10. And God agrees, if there are ten innocent people, he will not punish these two cities.

The irony is that there are less than 10 people in Sodom, for Lot and his small family are the only innocent people living there. But God is greater and more generous than Abraham imagined.

Today's Gospel from Luke makes much the same point: God is greater and better than we can imagine. I know if a friend came to me in the middle of the night to give him food for his friends arriving from a journey, I'd be pretty upset. But I know with persistence from my friend, I'd give him what he needs just to get rid of him. In effect, persistence wins out in the end.

Jesus turns this story into a lesson about perseverance in prayer. He draws on human kindness and goodness and points out that even we who are sinners know how to care for one another and be good to one another. How much more will our heavenly Father care for us and willingly do good? God is always there for us in all our needs and knows our needs before we even ask.

Because God doesn't need us to tell him what we need, prayer is not about informing God of our needs. Prayer is more for us than for God. God knows our condition better than we know it ourselves, but wants us to express our faith and confidence in Him through persistent prayer.

Like Abraham, we are to approach God with a degree of confidence and trust -even when our our confidence and trust leaves much to be desired. God can use whatever little trust we have to bring us to greater faith and confidence. God is better than our wildest imagining. He will not be outdone in generosity and goodness.

When we approach the altar for the Eucharist, we confidently express our faith in the goodness of God who laid down his life so that we might have eternal life. There is no greater gift than the Eucharist. We are receiving the Body & Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. It is God's generosity and goodness at it's very best. May we use this opportunity to increase our faith and confidence in God as we make known our needs and petitions to him.

Hospitality

Mass readings for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/071716.cfm

Who do you relate to in today's gospel from Luke? Martha or Mary? In our society of busyness and activity, many people would relate to Martha. Always active, and getting upset at those that we consider lazy. We get upset at those who we feel aren't doing enough of their fair share of things when we have company.

When we see Martha and Mary, what we should be seeing is the two sides of relating to God in our lives and in the life of the Church. Martha, with all her busyness, is important in getting things done in our lives of service to the Lord. We're busy doing things for the family, paying bills, getting to work and dealing with the boss and those in our work place, etc, etc. When we finally pray, we tend to be still busy. We rattle off our rosary or pray from scripture or do our other prayers that we feel a need to do. All these things are important, but we need the "Mary factor" in order to put balance in our lives! We need to be able to sit at the feet of Jesus, with open ears and open minds to hear Him respond to our cares and concerns that we place before him.

In our first reading from Genesis, we see Abraham, who at this point is about 99 years old. Abraham lived a long life being "busy for the Lord". He's sitting in front of tent, being quiet and prayerful, probably thinking of his relationship with God. His patience is paid off by a visit by "three men standing nearby." (Genesis 18:2) According to tradition, these three men represent the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Abraham responds by being generous to them, and in his hospitality, offers them food and drink. In return to his generosity, the Lord promises that the elderly Sarah will have a son by the following year. This son to be born of Sarah is Isaac. It is through Isaac that the Lord promises: "I will maintain my covenant as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him." (Genesis 17:19) It is through Abraham's active and prayerful service that God blesses him and Sarah.
 
In our readings from Genesis with Abraham, and our reading from Luke with Martha and Mary, we learn that the being quiet with the Lord is necessary for a mature and strong spiritual life. Being in the quiet presence of Christ gives u a chance to pull all the separate strands of our life together. It's much like stopping and looking at a road map (or GPS) to compare where we are with our eternal destination.

It is through this prayer of listening, we begin to recognize the presence of God who comes in all kinds of unexpected ways, as the Lord does to Abraham. The Lord is present to us in good times and in bad times. Everything that happens to us is seeded with grace. Quiet prayer, listening to the Lord, helps these seeds grow.

Further, this quiet prayer allows us to gain spiritual wisdom. It's where we take the word of the Lord and make it truly our own.. Such a time of prayer, listening to the Lord, enables us to discover the particular way we follow Christ as spouse, parent, child of elderly parent, government worker, professional, student, parish priest or deacon. It gives us the kind of wisdom that doesn't come prepackaged out of books but is born in the presence of the Lord.

This kind of prayer, listening to the Lord, is different from "saying prayers" when we so often don't take the time to listen to the Lord because we're so busy speaking.

In our culture we are more into "doing things" than in taking time to reflect. This work ethic can infiltrate our prayer life so that we think that the only kind of prayer worth doing is "saying prayers," working prayers where we feel we're doing something.

But the "prayer of listening" takes its own kind of discipline and strength. The prayer of listening to the Lord takes work but it makes our time with Christ a source of energy and power and vision. Further, this kind of prayer is open to everyone. It has nothing to do with age, income level, IQ, family size, whether someone is male or female, single or married, priest or deacon, or lay person. The Lord touches each of us where we are.

Taking this quiet time is most important in our call as Christians. Take the time necessary to be alone with the Lord. This prayer will bring us closer to Christ, our spiritual center.

Give Peace a Chance

"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." Martin Luther King from "I Have a Dream"

"He said in reply, 'You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. '"(Luke 10:27)

 "All we are saying is give peace a chance." John Lennon

Will this killing ever stop? Five police officer killed who were just doing their jobs in Dallas. Innocent men trying to make their world a safer place by protecting it!

Blacks being killed by the police that are called to protect them!

Innocent people in a gay dance club, there just to have a good time, gunned down due to hatred towards them and their life style!

When will this hatred and violence stop?

We're living in a country where the culture of death has been growing, growing and growing. We live in a country that, since the 1973 disastrous Supreme Court decision, Roe v Wade, made the killing of innocent children in the womb legal. Violence in this country seems to have grown and gotten worse since 1973.  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, "We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of killings, of wars, of hatred. If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other."

We are all called to bring peace into the world, as John Lennon says, "Give peace a chance." Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ calls us to not only love God, but to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our neighbors are those around us. Our neighbors are the police officers called to protect us, our neighbors are those who "look" different than us: they are the blacks, the whites, all those who call America home. Our neighbors are those who are in the LGBTQ community. We must love and respect all people regardless of who they are and how they choose to live their lives!

We are called, as Dr. King tells us, to not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. Dr. King is teaching us to love and respect all people, and to make the world a better place through this mutual love and respect..   

Further, we are called to end the violence of abortion, and realize that what we are killing is a human being. Once this is done, maybe we can move on to make this world a better and safer place for all people.

Black lives matter, white lives matter, police lives matter, LGBTQ lives matter! And human lives in the mother's womb matter!

Give peace a chance!