Can AnyBody Help?

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Can Anybody Help?”

First Sunday of Advent, Year B

There was a commercial on TV a while age showing a man riding in circles on his new lawn mower while he tells the viewers that in addition to the lawn mower he also just bought a car and a house among other things. Now he is “Up to his eyeballs in debt.” Then he looks at the camera with glazed eyes and asks, “Can anybody help me?” This is a sad but fairly accurate depiction of our human nature at work. It is not unusual that we dig ourselves a deep hole before we recognize the trouble we are in and ask for help.

Our spiritual lives can be very similar. In the reading from Isaiah the Prophet begs the Lord to come once more to the aid of His people whose sinfulness have made their good deeds seem “like polluted rags. The Prophet dares query God, “Why did you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?”

The first step in solving any problem is first to recognize that we have one, like the fellow in the commercial reaching out to “anybody” who might be able to help him with his financial problems. We do well to take this approach with our spiritual shortcomings and reach out to God and ask Him to “rend the heavens and come down”, and come to our rescue, not in a physical sense as in the Nativity, but as He has promised to “be with us always, until the end of the age.” Mt 28:20

The image of God as the potter and we the clay is a powerful one for us to explore this Advent. Just like clay in the hands of an artisan, God shapes and molds our lives…if we let Him. And that’s the key; God does not barge into our lives but rather waits for an invitation.

Let us invite God into our lives in a deeper and more intimate way this Advent Season so that He can mold us and fashion us into whatever beautiful vessel will be most fulfilling for us. On our part, we need to be watchful so that we may recognize how God is always by our side, constantly shaping us through the events, people and the always-changing circumstances of our lives. This Advent lets be on the lookout for the many ways God comes to our rescue.

Happy New (Liturgical) Year!

and,

Enjoy the Day.

Deacon Tom

Sheep to the Right; Goats on the......

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Sheep to the Right; Goats on the..”

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year C

By way of history, Pope Pius XI established the Feast of Christ the King in 1925 to counterbalance the growing movement toward secularism that arose in the early 20th century. In Germany there was a rise in exaggerated nationalism and the emergence of Nazism. At the same time there was a rising tide of Communism, atheism, totalitarian governments that demanded total sovereignty over people, substituting a nation or an ideology in place of God. This led Pius XI instituting today’s Feast as a way to make us aware that nations can never have complete sovereignty over what belongs to God.

Yet, we know from Sacred Scripture that Jesus rejected the notion of being a King. St. John tells us that when asked by Pilate if He was a King, Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”

So, just what does Jesus’ kingdom that is “not of this earth” look like and how do we show our fidelity to it? The answer is explicitly revealed today that we find in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew’s gospel. The image is stunning. All the people who have ever lived, “all the nations”, are gathered before the “Son of Man”, that is, the King, who separates them into two groups, “the sheep on his right and the goats on his left”. Those on His right He finds favor with because that have fed the hungry, given water to the thirsty. In other words they were able to show mercy and compassion to others during their lifetime by helping them with the necessities of life. Those on His left, however, are damned for they had no sense of the needs of the other. All their efforts were self-directed. They had no consideration for the suffering and wanton deprivation of the neighbors. Each group goes on to share in the joy or suffering they helped create in this life.

Given the outcome from this “judgment” scene that St. Matthew depicts we can easily conclude that the King ruled over a kingdom that necessitated its citizens to care for one another’s material well being; a kingdom whose people were instructed to see to it that no one suffered from want of food, clothing, shelter or loneliness of fear of being forgotten of being a stranger. The punishment is so severe for those who ignored the King’s decree for failing to care for the material well being of others, that we can deduce that this Kingdome was ordered by wisdom and justice and oriented to the supreme good.

We do well to reflect on today’s readings, the last of our Liturgical Year. They speak of a time to come when, as we hear, all will stand in judgment and render an account for our actions and attitudes. They invite us to reflect seriously on how we have treated the poor and marginalized around us and, if needed, to make any changes that we find necessary. At the least, today’s readings should remind us that Christ is our King who calls us to live the beatitudes; to stand besides our brothers and sisters who suffer injustice, persecution, victimization, or deprivation; to work along side with those trying to bring a sliver of hope to our world where hope is so desperately needed.

It is fitting that the Feast of Christ the King marks the end of our liturgical year. It enables us to move into the Season of Advent anticipating the day when God’s justice and peace will break forth upon the earth. That time when all the kings and prime ministers and presidents, all the rulers who have ever ruled this world, will pay homage and tribute to the one from whom they received their power and to whom they must eventually render an account.

From Servants To Sons and Daughters

Deacon Tom Writes,

“From Servants to Sons and Daughters”

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Parable of the Talents is a cautionary tale that has been appropriate for all ages and especially to our own when the common perception is, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer!” Money, the economy, our social status are so very important to us that they can at times be an obstacle to our spiritual well-being. That’s why Jesus is constantly drawing upon them as the subject matter for His parables and His insights into wealth and possessions and especially our attitudes toward them captured the attention of so many people.

Today’s story is about a man as he makes arrangements to go away on a journey. He entrusts portions of his estate to his servants to manage in his absence. He doesn’t give them any instruction on how to manage his affairs but he does allocate the amount that each will manage according to their abilities. Because of this we may conclude that the Master had some expectations about how each of his servants would manage the portion of the property he entrusted to them. It’s obvious that the Master was looking to increase his wealth and the thought that his money would sit idly by and not get so much as shekel’s worth of interest from the bankers was beyond his imagination. 

If we are able to imagine this parable with some spiritual insight we might easily see that we are the players in the very script we hear today. We are the servants, at least from God’s perspective. And, He has entrusted us with many talents. They are God’s gift to us. What we do with them is our gift to God. It seems from today’s lesson that God is pleased when we are willing to go all out for His kingdom, when we are willing to put the effort and energy into living those values that Christ taught us and actually incorporate them into our lives and giving good witness to those around us. As they say in the financial world… no risk, no reward. Make no mistake about it, trying to live the gospel values in our day is putting ourselves at risk of rejection, humiliation, and even death in some corners of the world today.

Being timid, hoarding or squandering the gifts God has given us stifles the spreading of His kingdom and condemns us to a life of deprivation...we will reap what we sow! We would do a much better job of building up the kingdom if we came to see ourselves not as servants managing someone else’s property, but rather as we really are, sons and daughters of the king who one day stand to inherit the riches of His entire kingdom.

Happy Thanksgiving and may God bless you and your loved ones on this special day. 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

When the Clock Strikes Zero

Deacon Tom Writes,

"When the Clock Strikes Zero”

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Science is shedding remarkable light about the cosmos in which we live. The Hubbell telescope gives us fantastic images of worlds, stars, and galaxies hundred of million, even billions of light years away, images of universes and suns being born and dying. Scientists tell us that our solar system had a beginning and one day our sun will become a super nova that will consume our planet and the others in our universe as well.

That big picture, that notion that all existence is limited and finite escapes us for the most part as we go about our daily lives. Sure, we may see NOVA or a science fiction movie that explores the theme of a “countdown clock”. But the thought that the days of our lives and those of our loved ones and friends are finite is something that, sadly, doesn’t change our behavior very much.

There is a commercial on TV that pictures men and women carrying an eight-foot long check written out various amounts, usually in the millions. In each case the number represents how much money they will need to enjoy retirement. The commercial is presented by the financial service firm eager to help them reach that retirement savings goal. This is a great marking message to encourage those watching to save for your retirement. 

How about a commercial like this? The Ad scans people walking alone a busy street, shopping, running for a taxi, jogging in the park, sitting at their desk at work or school. And, on their shoulder is a digital countdown clock revealing how many seconds they had remaining in this life. A person then asks, “And what are you doing with the time you have left?”

I think the Ad Execs would consider a commercial of this nature to be too dark a message for us to handle. And it would be if, shown with the frequency Ads get on TV! But, what a provocative message that enables us to connect with the story of the ten virgins in today’s gospel, “Are we prepared for when the clock strikes zero?”

You see, our reading from the Book of Wisdom is our guide on how to prepare ourselves for that last moment when the clock strikes zero so that we can experience the best possible life for all the joys God desires us to enjoy on this side of paradise. By loving wisdom, by keeping vigil with her she will lead us to the object of her and our desire, “O Lord our God”, the bridegroom for whom we keep vigil, and from whom nothing can detract us, the one for whom “our soul is thirsting”.

We have incredible opportunity to accomplish so much good each and every day with Wisdom to guide us and prepare us for when our clock strikes zero.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image credit: 300 × 300 - pastormikelandry.wordpress.com 

Making It Real

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Making It Real”

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

In today’s Gospel Jesus makes this point speaking of the scribes and the Pharisees, “do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example”. What a remarkably scathing comment! Simply put, the religious leaders knew the law inside and out. They just chose not to exemplify it in their own lives. Rather, they put the burden of practicing the law upon the shoulders of others without lending a hand to help them. 

Looking at the readings for today we see the Prophet Malachi asking the question, “Why do we break faith with one another, violating the covenant of our fathers? Malachi is reciting God’s unending complaint against His people, Why do you turn you back on me? When we look at the Responsorial Psalm we hear the very deepest longing of the human heart, which is to find peace and rest in the Lord.

Reduced to its most basic element, the purpose of religion is to guide us into a meaningful relationship with the Almighty. “Salus Animarum” the salvation of souls, is the mission of the Church, the raison d’etre  -its very reason for being. The religious leaders of Jesus’ time seem to have set that thought aside for their own aggrandizement. They did not understand their purpose was to shepherd God’s sheep, follow the law, and demonstrate its value by way of example. Instead they left the serious work of being in relationship with the Divine for the people to figure out on their own, without any visible encouragement from their behavior. Simply put, the religious establishment was not taking any input...from the prophets, from Father Abraham, or from Jesus.

Now it would be a mistake to think that a rigid mindset like that demonstrated by the religious leaders was confined to antiquity. That simply is not the case. 500 years ago this past Tuesday a German Augustinian monk posted his “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” known as Ninety-five Theses on the door of the All Saints’ church in Wittenberg, Germany. The monk, of course was Martin Luther. The document that he posted began as follows:

Out of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father, Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence in writing.

The document contained ninety - five statements criticizing the Church for corruption in Rome, including the buying of ecclesiastical privileges, nepotism, usury, and the selling of indulgences that would mitigated the temporal punishment that was the residual effect of sins that had been committed. Consensus is that Luther had no intention of setting off a revolution. As stated in the opening statement of his Disputation, he, a qualified and appointed authority was looking for a debate into what he saw were corrupt practices within the church. But...

We know that what followed was one of the most violent upheavals in history, the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation inaugurated by the Council of Trent. Amazingly, the passage of these many years has not seen much progress in the areas of reconciliation and healing. What witness does that provide our modern world? To Jesus’ point to the scribes and Pharisees today: you know what God demands of you...why are you not doing it?

Our human legacy of division and conflict can be traced back to our readings today. Turn away from God, intellectualize His “Statutes and Precepts” and we are bound to encounter hardships and difficulties whose consequences will be difficult to overcome.

Jesus is instructing the scribes and the Pharisees that religion must be “authentic”. It must be “genuine: it must be real; there must be tangible evidence that it is being practiced and leading one to an elevated state of life. For us Catholics it falls upon us to do our part in bearing witness to our faith. It means that we model the example of Jesus and not just give intellectual consent to his teaching. It means that we must personally mimic Jesus’ actions and incorporated his teachings practically into all aspects of our lives.  And by the way, all of this is much easier said than done! Which, undoubtedly, is something that the scribes and Pharisees also knew which is exactly what subjected them to the criticism we hear from Jesus today.

I am always amazed that scripture composed so many years ago sheds valuable light on our human condition today. It is then I recall Paul’s words to the Hebrews, “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart”. (Heb 4:12)

We are, as some say, a “work in progress”. When it comes to our faith that is not such a bad thing. It means that we can always become a better person; we can always grow to become a better version of ourselves; we can be less self-absorbed and more sensitive to the needs of others and become more Christ-like.

With God’s help we can all grow to become the people He has envisioned us to be.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Photo Credit: Lutheran Archbishops Munib A. Younan (L) and Martin Junge (R) during Monday October 31, 2016 ecumenical service in Lund cathedral, Sweden. . TT News Agency/Jonas Ekstromer)