"The Sounds of Silence”

Deacon Tom Writes,

“The Sounds of Silence”

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

We said goodbye to Summer just last week. The arrival of Fall is usually a time to catch our breath. Vacations have ended; the kids are back to school. We welcome this brief silence before we gear back up for the holidays. Maybe we can craft a new vision for ourselves in the few silent days that Autumn takes root. But this year, for those living in the Caribbean, Eastern Texas, the Florida Peninsula, the Southern coastal United State, there was no quiet time, no chance to reflect on the change of seasons, no chance to catch a breath before things ratchet up again.  

Hurricanes Harvey and Marie and the devastating earthquake in Mexico have taken away any chance for their victims to ponder the change of seasons or to enjoy any quiet time they be accustomed to having this time of year. Key West and Southern Florida were pummeled; many of the islands in the Caribbean were leveled. Parts of Mexico brutally shaken, Puerto Rico was devastated. Nature herself imposed an eerie and unwelcomed silence upon millions of people. No lights or hot water, drinking water, no computers, cell phones or WII, no XBox, no gas, food spoiling in the refrigerator / freezer; no time for silent reflection of any kind. It will take months to return to normal, and, many suggest that there is a new “normal” to which people will have to adjust. In the matter of several hours millions of people were tossed back to bygone days when silence was the natural order of things.

So many people have lost everything they have worked all their lives to obtain. Yet, if the truth be known, they may have been robbed of something I believe is equally important. They have lost that little bit of silence that nature affords those who seek her. Silence i an essential ingredient for spiritual growth. Just like plants need light and water to take root and grow, we need silence if we are to grow spiritually. The language of God is silence and it is in silence that we hear the voice of God. Yet, we live in a society where there is a cacophony of sound surrounding us constantly and making it difficult, if not impossible, to hear the voice of God within. To balance this din we need to find some quiet space to process the events of our lives and find out where God is working in them, or where He is absent. We need some reflection time to let the words of Scripture from the weekend reverberate within us so that the Word of God can come alive in our hearts, take root in us so that we may become living witnesses to the truth that we profess.  

Jesus told the Chief Priests and the elders that, “tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you!” That’s certainly no way to make friends and influence people. Yet, His message is poignantly clear: gaining access to the kingdom of God requires a complete turnabout in our lives. And how could that ever happen if we are not spending quality time, alone and in silence, struggling with our sinfulness, wrestling with those character defects that gnaw at us, or seeking to soften our hardness of heart.

We don’t need another hurricane to come through and leave us in the dark, fearful and unable to enter into the silence of our hearts.  We can make a voluntary choice to unplug ourselves from the noise and din of this world while we pray for those who have lost so much and wait for God to come and fill the silence  in our lives.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Food For Thought

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Food For Thought”

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Most of us tend to dismiss the story we hear in today’s gospel. We don’t like its message; it rubs us the wrong way; it’s contrary to the way we were brought up and our sense of “fairness”. We rationalize that the person who puts in an 8-hour day should earn more than the person who shows up on the job an hour before quitting time. I confess that I would feel cheated if that happened to me. How about you?  Can you blame those who worked all day if they began to protest or for harboring a grudge against the landowner?

“God’s ways” are not “our ways” are they? We know that in our heads. We know that God has a different way of seeing things. In today’s reading we see this element of justice from God’s viewpoint. We are a work-oriented society in America today. I say that grossly aware of the many unemployed and chronic under-employment that we are experiencing. Work is essential to our economic survival and our personal identity. No work equals not only no money but also no identity. And once chronic unemployment sets in, one begins to suffer the degradation of the human spirit, which is a fully unjust condition.

Today we read about a landowner who continues to send workers into the field throughout the day. They work, and if you have ever worked on a harvest, you know they worked hard!  At the end of the day they must provide for their family. An hour’s wage isn’t going to provide adequately for the family. The landowner knows this… and so how does the landowner act?  With justice and compassion; He pays the going daily wage to each and every worker regardless of the number of hours they spent under the sun.

Unjust? What if tomorrow you weren’t hired until 3 o’clock in the afternoon? What if you were the recipient of this landowner generosity…. his sense of justice? Would your attitude change if you were able to provide for your family in good times and lean times? 

Jesus teaches us in many ways that we have to rethink our attitudes in how we treat one another. God’s way is the best way to build and sustain a just society, one where everyone shares fairly in the work and rewards of labor. We see that intention and opportunity are as important as pure productivity in the kingdom of which Jesus laid the foundation.

We see God in today’s scripture as one whose generosity is beyond our comprehension. We know from our knowledge of scripture that God is good to everyone, that “he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust (MT 5:45).” This is an amazing thought! For Jesus constantly challenges us to imitate Him and see things the way that God sees them and to act accordingly… with justice, mercy, and compassion.

Please keep all the victims of the recent natural disasters in your prayers.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Forgiveness

Deacon Tom Writes,

Forgiveness

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

There is no shortage of media reports of the civil wars and violence that inflame our world. So many of our brothers and sisters endure unimaginable suffering inflicted by others who share a different ideology, suffer from a delusion that they are the only ones who “know God’s Will” while inflicting much suffering on the innocent or who believe in their own superiority and divine mandate to dominate and suppress others. How are people able to forgive those who have brought such pain and suffering into their lives? How can anyone put their life back together after such traumatic suffering without resorting to the ancient custom of revenge and retaliation toward those who have caused their suffering?  

The people of South Africa and Ireland seemed to have met with some success in ending the violence.  In the case of South Africa ending apartheid, the legalized segregation of the population into black and white, was crucial in stopping the brutality.  In the case of Ireland, years of economic domination gave way in the late 1980’s to a period of economic growth and stability that has been a significant factor helping build a bridge to a new era of peace and cooperation between former adversaries. 

In these two examples where ancient rivalries have yielded to a day of peace, there is another dynamic at work that draws its inspiration from the Triumph of the Cross. The spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation that emanates from Christ’s salvific action is beginning to take root. If you look at Christ as the victim who represents all the victims who have ever suffered throughout time, before Him and after Him, then we can see in His death that there is no need for further victims.  The message of the cross is this:  NO MORE VICTIMS. 

This message has been slow to take root, but as fragile as that root may be, it is showing signs of life.  For we could not experience the reconciliations that have happened in Ireland or in South Africa and in other places where former adversaries now live side by side, unless we understand that our spiritual destiny is tied up with that of our torturers, “unless each of your forgives your brother from your heart”.  We are called to love others as God loves us.  This is the only way we will have a future.  If we are not able to get beyond the violence, the violence will consume us.  For Christians, violence stops at the cross. 

This is the real Triumph of the Cross: that we are learning how to forgive others as Jesus did.  May God give us the courage, strength, and wisdom to forgive also.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom  

Love In Action

Deacon Tom Writes,

Love in Action

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

There is a very wise saying that cautions, “Before you tell someone what you’re going to do, tell them what you have done”. In other words, it is experience that counts more than talk!

It’s no different on the spiritual plain. The essence of spiritual life is action. There must be growth in the form of a deeper understanding of self and God, of movement in the form of a change of heart that gradually becomes less self-absorbed and more concerned about the well-being of others; of activity in the form of service to the “least of my brothers and sisters” (Mt 25:45). St. Paul writes to the Romans that keeping the law means obedience to the commandments to do no harm by not murdering, not committing adultery, not stealing, etc. But these and “whatever other commandments there may be”  (Rom 13:9) are all housed together within the framework of the great commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk 12:31) which encapsulates the entirety of the law.

If love is the ultimate sign of the depth of our faith and the fulfillment of the law, if love shows our willingness to put others before self, then one of the mantras of our contemporary society is appropriate for us…. more is better in spiritual matters. The difference, between God’s way and the way of the world, of course, is that there are no negative side effects to loving without limit. Actually, it is our spiritual goal: to grow in love each and every day.

Love in action is what Christ demands of His disciples. We are expected not only to be the messengers of His words, but also doers of His works. This is what it means, to deny oneself and take up the cross daily and follow Him (Lk 9:23). This is the difficult work of discipleship. Christian love demands that we love when love is needed, not just when we feel in the mood. These times call for an outpouring of self-sacrificing love, the love Jesus poured out on us. There are so many people in need in Texas, in Syria, in far away places and around the corner. The need is overwhelming, not just for financial assistance but for a spiritual response also, through our prayers and sacrifices. We are “One body in Christ” (Rom 12:5) St Paul reminds us. In the Spirit of that unity, may we reach out to our brothers and sisters in needs so that we too may, “Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer”. (Rom 12:12)

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom