June 1999 Homilies

Body and Blood of Christ – June 6th, 1999

Cycle A Readings: Dt 8:2-3, 14-16; 1 Co 10:16-17; Jn 6:51-58

Outline:

1) Appreciating the earth’s bounty

2) Moses and the new manna

3) Jesus the new bread from heaven

4) The story of a broken and healed heart

It’s easy to take for granted the bounty of the earth and the goodness of God when we are comfortable and un-afflicted. Moses reminded his listeners that they should keep in their hearts the memory of the desert and the endless journey of tears and affliction that they underwent. But he reminded them that when they were dying of hunger, God provided them with manna, an unknown and wondrous food. He reminded them that when they were dying of thirst, God brought forth water from the rock. He reminded them that scorpions and serpents could not kill a people that were protected by the God of freedom, the God who was an enemv of slavery. As great as the miracles were, however, Moses reminded the people that it was the word of the saving God that was more important than bread or water. It was the word of God that opened their minds, moved their hearts and sustained them through all of their trials.

But even Moses could not imagine the new type of food that would c)iie day settle on this world. Even Moses could not foresee the manna that would feed people of every land and nation and lead us across the terrible abyss that separates God from humanity. Today, we celebrate and commemorate that bread which devours us and transforms us into a living, unified, transcendent body.

Moses was at the first passover supper that prepared his people for their desperate flight to freedom. For 3200 years Jews around the world have held the annual seder supper to commemorate this event.

Jesus gave Himself as the new manna and the new passover feast. Jesus has become our food in our desperate struggle for freedom that comes from God alone. It is this new manna that helps us enter into the very life of God. Without it we would starve on our immense pilgrimage.

Not too long ago a young man at a well known Catholic University was dumped by his girl friend. This is always a shattering experience. Love is addictive, and the feelings, emotions, and joy associated with it are intoxicating and wonderful. But when suddenly a person is, for whatever reason, abandoned or spurned, the pain is terrible! This young man felt that his life had come to an unexpected and abrupt end. One day he felt worthwhile and fulfilled. One day he felt that he could do and accomplish everything because another human being idolized and cared for him. The next day he felt empty and useless because that person declared she never wanted to see him again.

He missed his classes one day and wandered aimlessly around the campus. The weather was beautiful but there was a life-threatening storm raging in his heart. He had grown accustomed to the love of this young woman and now it was not there. His feelings ran from rage to despair. He felt betrayed, demeaned, cast off as a useless piece of garbage. He felt ashamed even to see his friends. He felt that they would tell him he was a fool for loving such a girl or that he was better off without her. Yet, every fiber in his body told him that was not true. He felt that no one could understand his sorrow.

He was starved for a love he could not have.

He arrived outside the campus chapel and entered. He was not particularly religious, but he felt he had to be alone and, quite frankly, he suspected the chapel would be empty. He was partly right.

No one else was in the chapel yet he was not alone. He had wandered to a place where countless collegians before him had brought similar sorrows and pain. Young men and young women before him had been rejected in love and arrived at the very spot he was sitting. He was not the first and would not be the last to know the shattering reality he was facing. The silence soothed him and the isolation allowed him the luxury of tears. He had found a place he could weep and grieve for his loss without anyone witnessing his weakness and vulnerability.

After a few moments he composed himself and looked quickly around to make certain no one had seen him crying. As he did this, his eyes were drawn to the chapel’s crucifix. He looked at the broken and bloodied body of Christ and ‘-his pain began mysteriously to lessen. He had ceased going to church regularly with the excuse that it was repetitious and boring. He had felt that his life was good, full, and satisfying. With the love of friends and his girl he had felt that he could get along quite nicely without the love of God.

As he looked at the body and blood of the Christ depicted on the crucifix, he realized he was wrong. The broken, defeated, and rejected Christ was the one who understood him and his own agony.

He realized that the countless times he had gone to church, received communion, and said his prayers had prepared him for this first major crisis in his life. He realized that without those apparently boring encounters at Mass over the past two decades of his life, he would have been powerless to face his first real rejection. He left the chapel, thankful for the years he had spent receiving the body and blood of the rejected Lord of life. He understood that his religious faith had saved him and given a realistic perspective to his problems. He also understood that it was time for him to once again reciprocate the never-failing love of the broken Christ of Calvary who longed for His love to be returned even more than the young man longed for the love of his girl.

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Tine – June 13th, 1999

Cycle A Readings: Ex 19:2-6; Rm 5:6-11; Mt 9:36-10:8

The combination of lessons in the Old Testament and Gospel readings for this Sunday is unusually interesting. Both have to do with a special call by God and with a call to ministry in some sense. But in Exodus the whole people is the object, while in Matthew a special group within the people is the concern.

The Exodus reading speaks of Israel, under the leadership of Moses, coming to Sinai after having left Egypt, the land of bondage. Here the Lord was to establish a special relationship between himself and them; it was to be called a covenant, meaning a treaty or pact. Our passage indicates how God looked upon his new covenant partner.

But first there is recorded what God had done for Israel. This is always a presupposition in the biblical concept of any vocation. God acts first and acts out of love. Here he is said to have borne his people to Sinai "on eagle wings" to himself. Eagles are referred to often enough in the Hebrew Scriptures to suggest that the people were greatly impressed by their strength, speed, and concern for their young. Thus they are an apt figure for the Lord’s action on behalf of his own.

More important for our purpose is the manner in which God identifies his "special possession." They are "a kingdom of priests" and "a holy nation." The latter expression is clear enough. "Holiness" is a special characteristic of God (cf. Is 6:3) and describes his freedom from contamination by anything created. Appl ied to Israel it means that she is to show forth by her life her separation from anything defiled or unclean. The covenant laws that follow would show her how she was to achieve that.

Authors differ somewhat in their understanding of "a kingdom of priests." Some would see in it an allusion to the participation whole people in the official liturgy, where the anointed priests play a more specific role. Others see it as a recognition of a ministry to the rest of the world, being the priestly mediators of God’s love to them.

In either case (and both may be true) Israel is said to have, by reason of her call to be a covenant people, a "priestly" role. This concept of a priesthood of all the people is taken over also in the New Testament by the author of 1 Peter where he defines all Christians in the very same terms (2:5.9).

This universal priesthood, conferred at the time of Baptism, is being emphasized anew in our time. This is necessary if the Church is to allow all the rich potential in the laity to be expressed. It should not be at all a threat to the "ordained priesthood," which still has its own special vocation and special ministry.

That special vocation within the larger vocation of the people of God is presented in the Gospel reading. Jesus chooses "the Twelve" from among his disciples for a special task. Some have tried to argue that "the Twelve" were invented by the later Church and then projected back into the life of Jesus. But their arguments have convinced few. Jesus really did choose a special group for a special task.

Matthew uses the term "apostles" here for the Twelve. That is proper enough. The word means literally one who is sent and, in its usage, includes the idea that the one sent has all the authority of the one sending. Thus, just as Jesus is the’apostle of the Father, so the Twelve are the apostles of Jesus.

Which lesson should we emphasize, the priesthood of all Christians or the ordained priesthood of the specially called? Both emphazies, are needed in our day. if we were to emphasize one to the detriment of the other, we would be false to the Scriptures. A "priestly nation" needs its special apostles as much as they need a "kingdom of priests."

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 20th, 1999

Cycle A Readings: Jr 20:10-13; Rm 5:12-15; Mt 10:26-33

In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus’ public ministry is marked by five major discourses, each preceded by an account of various activities of the Lord, including his miracles. The purpose of these discourses is to enunciate some aspect of the Kingdom of God, which was central to Jesus’ message.

First, a word about that Kingdom. The phrase is used to describe God’s loving reign among his people, a reign marked by profound peace and fullness of blessings, unmixed with evil. In the New Testament the Kingdom of God is always seen in the eschatological sense, that is, in a final, fully realized form. When Jesus proclaimed at the beginning of his ministry, "The kingdom of God is at hand" (Mk 1 : 1 5), he was speaking of this climactic manifestation of the Father’s reign.

The early Christians, after Jesus’ resurrection, recognized that the Kingdom had arrived in Jesus’ person and in his message. But it was clear that the world had not accepted that Kingdom; evil still existed in many forms. Hence they looked forward to a final inward breaking of the Kingdom at the time of the Lord’s second coming,

But between that first and second manifestation of the Kingdom much had to be done. A seed had been planted. Workers were needed to prepare for the final harvest. The kingdom message, proclaimed once by Jesus, must be repeated to every generation.

Matthew sees this being done through the Church. He has arranged his five discourses in a way that shows the relationship between the Kingdom of God and the Church. In the first discourse, the Sermon on the Mount (cc. 5-7), we have the message of the Kingdom, a kind of magna carta for those who wish to enter the Kingdom through the Church.

The reading for this Sunday is part of the second discourse (9:35–11: 1). This missionary discourse deals with the mission of the Twelve and how they are to conduct themselves as they take the message of the Kingdom from land to land. A profoundly stirring account, it has been the ideal of missionaries in the Church for centuries.

Our particular passage deals with persecution and how they are to respond to it. They must have no fear, and they must have complete confidence in the Master. While the directives contained here, as we have said, are intended primarily for missionaries, Jesus would surely expect everyone of his followers to be formed by them in some way.

What do they tell us? First, that the Kingdom message is explosive. It will make people rise up and try to stop those who preach it. It is a message that, once understood, people either accept wholeheartedly or reject violently

The Lord tells us to speak out our Kingdom convictions in public. Jesus was able to reach only a tiny part of the Near Eastern world. His followers must be his voices down through the ages and throughout the world.

Despite the risk, our confidence and assurance lie, not in the acceptance of what we stand for by others (this may happen, but our experience may also be that of Jeremiah in the first reading), but solely in the Lord’s concern for us. He takes care of his own. That, too, is a feature part of the Kingdom message. It is what makes the whole missionary task possible.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 27th, 1999

Cycle A Readings: 2 K 4:8-11, 14-16; Rm !6:3-4, 8-11; Mt 10:37-42

Outline:

1) A promise fulfilled

2) Stresses and strains

3) All consuming love is our consolation, challenge, and reward

The book of Kings was written during a time when the people of Judaea were without homeland or rulers. It was composed during the time of the Babylonian exile either in Babylon itself or in Palestine by the few people who were left behind. The Book of Kings shows graphically how the rulers and people alike had let down God but God never abandoned them. The Book of Kings illustrated over and over in small events and large that the word of God never faltered and His promises were always kept. In our first reading, we see a generous woman who constantly pro-vided the prophet Elisha with shelter and food. As a rcward, she received the promise of a baby son. Though the promise seemed unlikely to be fulfilled because of the age of her husband, the word of God came to pass just as the prophet foretold. This story and others like it encouraged a despairing people to continue to hope for a return to their homeland even when it seemed like an impossible dream.

The Roman Christians who Paul addresses in today’s second reading were for the most part free but under great stress. They were under stress because of the interior battle against sin which we all take part in. Sin manifests itself in many forms and guises. It is the root of all deception and evil. One of the manifestations of sin is conflicts that are based purely on race, ethnic backgrounds and gender. The Roman Christians were divided more or less equally between Jewish and Gentile elements. This produced stresses and strains. Beside the interior stresses within themselves and their community, the community was under enormous pressures. The Roman Emperor demanded total loyalty and in fact wanted to be treated as a god on earth. The Roman Christians gave such loyalty to Christ alone. They ultimately paid for it with their lives.

Paul’s great letter to them addresses their needs and gives them his answers to the conflicts they faced. Though he was known to individuals at Rome, he was a stranger to the community as a whole. He did not found the community there. This letter serves as his introduction to them all. In today’s selection from Chapter six of the letter, he assures them that sin is already defeated in them if they are baptized and buried with Christ. Christ is the glory of the Father. Christ is the manifestation of the Creator’s love for all people. Christ is the lord of life and His followers will never die.

The only thing that dies in the believer is death and sin. Everything else has eternal life.

For the Roman Christians who literally put their lives on the line because of their belief, this was a comforting and encouraging message. For us, who have also been baptized into Christ, we should take strength from this revealed truth. The strength we gain should be used to fight selfishness, arrogance, hatred of self and neighbor, and indifference towards a suffering world. The comfort we take from the scriptures should transform us into prophets for our own times and situations.

In Matthew’s gospel passage Jesus talks to His apostles about love, loyalty, risk taking, rewards. Jesus shows that His love is all-consuming and can’t be replaced even by the deepest types of family love. He pro-claims that all who love the truth of prophets who speak in His name and His place will receive a prophet’s reward. The woman who showed mercy to Elisha gave birth to her very own son. The people in Rome who accepted Paul even though they did not know him, accepted Christ. The people who carry out acts of charity in Christ’s name are likewise rewarded.

Our world is essentially the same as that of the first century. Our world is afflicted with sin in all of its forms and human suffering is compounded by human cruelty. Yet, God is working wonders in this world just as He did during the time of Elisha. Christians are heroically following Christ just as they did in ancient Rome. And most importantly of all, prophets continue to proclaim and manifest the truth and power of Christ on earth.

At times we are prophets ourselves and at other times we are sup-porters of the prophets, In either case we fulfill our obligations as citizens of the Kingdom of Christ. Our lives can be as full as the woman who supported with her hospitality the prophet Elisha, as dynamic as the Apostle Paul’s and as loving as Christ’s if the Lord of life lives in us and through us.

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