Reconciling Justice and Our Self Interests

March 3rd, 2013

Third Sunday in Lent

Ex 3: 1-8a, 13-15;1 Cor 10: 1-6, 10-12; Lk 13: 1-9

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

Things haven’t changed much in 2000 years, have they?  A tower collapses in downtown Jerusalem; a horrendous atrocity occurs in far-away Galatia, and how does the crowd surrounding Jesus interpret these events?  They seem to think that the people who were killed by the tower, or those victimized by the atrocity, were bigger sinners, and so, God was targeting them specifically and what is more, that these victims even deserved it.  It’s as if everyone else has a problem, but we don’t.

But Jesus counters this thinking very sharply.  He says, no, indeed, these people were not greater sinners; they didn’t deserve destruction any more than anyone else; it just happened to be their time.  And then he tells the crowd that unless they all repent, they will suffer the same destruction.

Well isn’t it the same today with us?  We read the news, and are so preoccupied with what’s going on elsewhere, we don’t see the problems in our own home court.  A school massacre occurs in Connecticut or Virginia or Colorado.  And we say, there must be a problem in those places.  Yes, there is a problem there, but there is also a problem right here.  The problem is not selective; it is across the whole country.  It is the work of the devil, and it is influencing all of us just the same as it is influencing people in Colorado or Connecticut or Virginia.  It may manifest itself differently, but it is there all the same.

In the first reading, Moses encounters God through the burning bush.  And the message the Lord gives is this:  That He is their God, and that the people should listen to their God, have faith in him no matter what; keep His commandments; and then he will save them from their terrible enslavement to Pharaoh and Egypt.  Further, the Lord designates Moses as his authority to speak in His name.

Then, in the second reading, Paul points out that even though God was present to the Israelites as they went and they had a leader, Moses, who was trying to guide them as a group, they only paid lip service to Him as their God, and His commandments; and they were not listening to Moses and the other leaders.  And so, many of them really did not please God.  They sought evil things and grumbled, and these were dealt with severely.  So, God can be with us, and His authority can be right in our midst, but unless we recognize Him and respond to Him, we are subject to destruction.  It can happen to us too.

Now, basically, the problem is this:  The secular world is looking for justice, peace, and prosperity.  But we individuals are just looking for our own happiness.  The two need to be reconciled with each other, and that comes through God because only God can bring real truth to this tension.   But, the trouble is that we cannot do it alone with God.  The parable of the fig tree gives us a hint as to the answer.  On its own, the fig tree was floundering.  But notice the landowner agrees to delay destruction of his fig tree while the gardener applies water and fertilizer to it, and gives the tree another year to shape up.  Jesus is telling us that God will delay our destruction as well- if we agree to be watered and fertilized by our caretakers.  In our case, the gardener is the Church- it is the Church that has the water and fertilizer we need, the wisdom and teaching of God, the reconciliation of our self-interests with the greater good of society.

And so, the question for us today is this.  When I am troubled, and pray for God’s help, what resources do I bring to my prayer and reflection?  Do I listen carefully to what the Pope and Bishops have to say?  Do I pay attention to the guidance that God gives me through the Church?  Do I value the Bible and the Catechism and the other resources available from the Church?  Because just like that fig tree in the parable we can only bear fruit if we are properly watered and fertilized with the right sources of inspiration.  If our inspiration and thinking is tied to our own devices, or even worse, to what the secular culture is saying- like the people of Jesus time- then we are in trouble.  But if our inspiration and thinking are based on the foundation that the Church provides, then we will not be caught by surprise when our moment comes.

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Learning to Step Out of Our Comfort Zones

February 28th, 2013

Thursday of the Second Week in Lent

Jer 17: 5-10; Lk 16: 19-31

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

How ironic!  First, Jesus tells the parable about the rich man and Lazarus.  And in that parable, the rich man wants Abraham to have Lazarus rise from the dead to warn his 5 brothers that they need to mend their selfish lives.  But Abraham says that if people will not listen to Moses and the prophets, then neither will they listen to someone raised from the dead!  And then, irony of ironies, Jesus actually went on to raise a person name Lazarus from the grave you know, Martha and Mary’s brother Lazaru!.  And it was in front of the Pharisees and Scribes, too.

And do you know what the Pharisees and Scribes did after that?  They actually plotted to kill Lazarus because of his testimony.  Indeed, the raising of Lazarus was one of the things that pushed the Pharisees over the edge.  After that they wanted to have Jesus arrested and put on trial.  How ironic; and how prophetic Abraham’s words were.

What the parable today demonstrates is just how difficult it is to shake us out of our comfort zone, especially when things are going well for us.  And as a matter of fact, when things are going well people get angry when someone tries to shake them from their apathy about them, especially things that are wrong in this world that people are not facing.  Why?  Because they just don’t want to hear it.

This was the case for the rich man; and the Pharisees were not far behind him.  People can either be too comfortable to care- like the rich man; or they have a vested interest in the status quo and don’t want to hear there is something wrong with it- like the Pharisees.

Boy, do we have that problem today!  Our society has lost sight of evil.  Religious persecution of Catholics, Abortion, Assisted Suicide, Gay Marriage, untreated Mental Illness, Third World Hunger, and a whole host of other evils plague us.  But most of us are too busy and passive about it in our relative affluence.

One of the things we do is to trust the Government to solve these social problems.  But isn’t that what Jeremiah was preaching against in the first reading?  Isn’t that trusting in man; trusting in secular society?  We have a responsibility to help folks who are in need and to help people see the error of their ways.  But we cannot delegate it away through the Government.  Especially now when the secular Government is actually acting to bolster some of these evils; and when the Government has no way to pay for it.

There is one thing all of us can do, and that is to pray.  That’s what the Blessed Mother continually asked us to do when she appeared to visionaries at Medugorje and other places; and it’s what the Church is asking us to do during Lent.  Remember, we are being asked to engage in Prayer, Fasting, and Alsmgiving during Lent.

And what is it that we should pray for.  Lots of things:  our enemies conversion; inspiration on how we can deal with and solve the problems, that God will somehow intercede, perhaps send us a leader; but most of all, to trust that when we pray, our prayers will be answered.

Sometimes todays problems seem overwhelming.  But it is then that we should remember Jeremiah’s words:  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord; whose hope is in the Lord”.  So, pray, pray, and pray some more.

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Our Citizenship is in Heaven!

February 24th, 2013

Second Sunday of Lent

Gen 15: 5-12, 17-18;Phil 3: 17 – 4: 1; Lk 9: 28b-36

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

Guess what?  Our citizenship is in heaven, not on earth!  That’s what St. Paul is telling us this morning.

Does it feel like that to you?  Or are you one of those people that Paul is talking about whose minds are occupied with the things of this world?  Now I’m not talking about right now this morning.  All of you are here this morning to worship the Lord.  But what about when you leave here in 45 minutes or so and for all of next week?  It’s hard to focus on the Lord then, isn’t it?  There’s the kids and the job and the yard and the house payment and the shopping and the laundry and soccer practice and heaven knows what all else.  These are all things of this world; they are not about our heavenly citizenship.  So, how can we focus on citizenship in heaven in the midst of all that?

Well, let’s take Abram as an example.  He was prosperous in the Land of Ur- a great property owner.  He was involved in running a large household and many things of this world.  Yet Abram took the time to reflect on his life, and listen to the urgings of the Lord.  And the Lord told him to pull up stakes and go to a land he would show him.  He didn’t even tell him where that was till he got there.  And then, the passage this morning describes what happened after Abram arrived there.

Indeed, Abram went through a process of centering his life on the Lord in parallel with living in this world.  The fact is that Abram believed there was a Lord, listened to the voice of the Lord in his life; and was open to what the Lord said.  In other words he trusted the Lord, even when it was difficult.  Abram left a life of comfort and control to embrace the perceived will of the Lord.  And he was obedient even in the face of uncertainty.  In a word, Abram had faith and lived in faith, but that was not without its consequences.  Indeed, the move from the land of Ur was painful and involved a lot of self-sacrifices.  Because of his faith and obedience, though, God made a covenant with Abram down to the thousandth generation, one in which he promised his faithful descendants the promised land.  And that promised land symbolizes life in the heavenly kingdom.  In other words, Abram was focused on being a citizen of heaven.

This morning’s Gospel is all about the transfiguration.  And the transfiguration is filled with symbology.  Jesus takes on the appearance of his glorified body- symbolic of what citizenship in heaven will be like.  He is seen with Moses and Elijah, also in their glorified bodies.  Jesus spoke to them about his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem- his exodus- in other words, the voluntary uprooting he would experience from the relatively comfortable life he had been living, nd acceptance of the cross, suffering and death.  So that’s what he was talking to Moses and Elijah about.

Now the Apostles were just spellbound by all that.  They wanted to stay there and experience more of the glorified Christ.  But what happens?  The Father envelops them with the shadow of a cloud and speaks to them plainly: “This is my chosen Son, listen to him.”  Listen to him.  We know that the Gospel goes on to tell how Jesus told the disciples that he would be handed over to the authorities, suffer greatly, die, and then, and only then, be raised from the dead.  It was as if the Father was saying to the Apostles: “Listen guys, if you want the glorified state you just saw, listen to my son.  He will tell you what you need to do.”  The trouble was, it wasn’t what they wanted to hear because just after the Father spoke from the cloud, Jesus told them the truth of his suffering and death.  They were incredulous and confused.

It’s not what we want to hear either.  We don’t want to listen to God tell us we need to move out of our comfort zone.  We don’t want to hear that life is anything other than the plate we currently have, and we certainly don’t want to hear about the suffering greatly and take up our cross part.  But we have got to face the reality that life is a continual conversion process, and that conversion process is the one that Abram experienced.  Lent is the ideal time to pull back and follow Abram’s example.  We have to believe that God is calling us; we have to step back and listen to God; we have to follow his voice even in uncertainty and trust that he will lead us to the promised land; and we have to do all of that while living in this world.

Fortunately, few of us are called to give everything up and move away, like Abram.  Rather, we are called to other kinds of conversion.  These calls are the nagging feelings we have when we take the time to pray and reflect that something is wrong in our lives- something with our spouse; some evil influence from our neighbors or friends; some constant temptation we yield to like food, sex, laziness, whatever.

Lent is the time to get in tune with the voice of the Lord.  Now is the time to listen to the Lord tell us “No, follow me instead” whenever we have those nagging feelings that something is wrong.  Because, all of us really do want to be citizens of heaven.

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Ask and You Shall Receive

February 21st, 2013

Thursday of the First Week of Lent

Esth C: 12, 14-16, 23-25; Mt 7: 7-12

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

So, all we have to do is ask and it will be given to us!  Now I know there are some of you out there who are chuckling over that one.  A kind of a cynical chuckle, too.  Because there are lots of times we ask for things from the Lord and it seems like we don’t get them.  So, how can it be that our prayers are always answered?

Well, first notice that our Gospel ends with what seems like a disconnect, something that does not appear to be all that relevant to Jesus claim that God will always answer our prayers.  Jesus says: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you”.  But I think these words from Jesus do help explain the paradox of God answering our prayers when we don’t feel that He has.  Because God is doing to us what we would do ourselves if we had the knowledge, wisdom, and ability that God has.

Think of it this way, and this is a pretty accurate analogy when you really think it through.  When a very young child asks you for something, do you always give them what they want, or do you sometimes, even most of the time, give them something else altogether, and even in some cases, don’t give them anything at all?  You better believe it.  And the reason is that you have their best interests at stake.  You know better than they do what is good and what is bad for them in a given situation, and in fact, you are only doing for them what you would wish they would do for you if the situation were reversed.  That’s why I wouldn’t give my granddaughter the poker for the fire last weekend or give my grandson a third piece of candy when he wanted it, and why I wouldn’t let either of them play near my neighbor’s electric fence.  And clearly, there are times these young children don’t understand.  They can even feel upset and hurt by our lack of responsiveness,

Well, it is the same way between God and us.  God sees what is really best for us.  Sometimes that promotion, that job, that position on the team, that car, and lots of other things that we want are not what is best for us at all.  Occasionally we are lucky enough to recognize the wisdom of God’s actions or lack of action after the fact.  Like when something better came along and we see that we really didn’t want what we originally wanted anyway.

Now a lot of it has to do with what we pray for and how we pray for it.  A mature attitude in prayer really helps- by asking for what we really do need in a really effective way.  The story from Esther is a great example of how we should pray, particularly when we are faced with really difficult situations.  Esther’s was a really dire situation.  Although she was married to the King, the King had been tricked by an unscrupulous person into ordering all of Esther’s people killed.  Notice that Esther does several things in her prayer.  First, she gives praise and acknowledges God.  Then, she is extremely humble and sincere in her request.  Next, she is more concerned for others than her own self.  And, she turns control over to the Lord.  Lastly and most importantly, she is willing to do her part.  Esther is not asking for some miracle, but rather, she is asking for inspiration.  She says “Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion and turn his heart to hatred for the enemy”!  Esther’s prayer was answered, too.

God always answers our prayers.  But we must ask in the right way, and ask for what is really best for us.  Otherwise, God will give us what is ultimately the best for us.  And like a small child, we may be too into ourselves and not into God’s plan to recognize what is best for us.

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A Blueprint for Conversion

February 17th, 2013

First Sunday of Lent

Dt 26: 4-10; Rom 10: 8-13; Luke 4: 1-13

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

Lent is all about conversion, and conversion is a continual process.  It never ends, because God is always calling us to a more intimate relationship with Him.  And that means we have got to change.  As I listen to these scriptures,  I see a blueprint in them for the process of conversion.

The first step in our conversion is a change in our attitude- a conversion of the heart.  In the prime of our lives, we are focused on the things of this world- our careers, our spouses and families, our talents and our pleasures.  These things take up most of our time.  And when problems occur, whether they be financial, medical, relationships, or whatever, they really fill up our time and attention, don’t they?  During Lent, we are called upon to try to put all that aside, and reflect on the real meaning of Life and what God’s path through all the difficulties is.

In Paul’s reading, the emphasis is on professing faith on our lips, and then really believing in our hearts- faith first of all, that there is a God, that He sent Jesus to redeem us, and that the death and resurrection of Jesus are our means to salvation and everlasting life.  And this faith leads to knowledge that there is a higher purpose in life than life in this world.  That purpose is union with God and everlasting life in the Kingdom of God.  The path to that salvation involves a more intimate relationship with God- one in which he leads us, we don’t lead ourselves.  That is something that we need to be so convinced of that we believe it deep down in our hearts.  Paul is reminding us that Jesus has promised everlasting life for those who do have faith and do believe in their hearts.

Then, there is the reminder in the Old Testament about how God saved his chosen people and how these people felt an abiding sense of thanksgiving for that.  And in thanksgiving, they offered their best to the Lord- the first fruits of their labor.  So, we need to do the same-  We need to be so thankful that God saved us through Jesus His son that we will offer the first fruits of our labor as well.

What would that be?  Certainly not our animals or our harvest, because those are not the first fruits of our labor.  Rather, the first fruits of our labor are our talents and our time and our treasure.  In other words, our lives cannot be totally focused on ourselves.

Notice that the Gospel starts off with the phrase that Jesus was:  “Filled with the Holy Spirit”.  The good news is that each of us was instilled with the Holy Spirit by virtue of our Baptism and Confirmation.  And so, we just need to awaken that Spirit within us.  Lent is a way we do that- by reflecting on what it is that the Spirit of God is prompting us to do.  And it doesn’t have to be a sweeping change in our lives either.  It is just a matter of letting the Spirit take over so that God can carry our burdens, whatever they are, by having the spirit move us in God’s direction, not our own.  So, if your burden is a loved one who is ill; or an older relative; or children or a career- whatever, now is a good time to reflect on what God has in mind for you.  That’s what Jesus did when he went into the desert- he went there to reflect on how the Father wanted him to proceed with his life.  Filled with the Spirit, he was ready to reflect on how to do that.

But what happened to him is precisely what will happen to you and me when we try to reflect on our lives.  Jesus was accosted by the temptations of the devil.  We hear about three of them.  First, there is the temptation to turn the stone into bread.  Ah, yes.  We would like God to give us exactly what we want when we want it.  We are constantly looking for the “bread” to fill our hunger, whatever it is.  But we don’t live by bread alone, and so whatever it is that we want explicitly may not be the answer to our prayer.  And perhaps, the solution you are hoping for is not the real solution to your problem.  So, we need first of all to trust that God will give us what we really need when we want it.

The second temptation is power and fame.  One thing that we constantly seek in our prayers, if you really think about it, is power; only the power we seek is control.  We want to be in control.  And the reality of life is that we are never really in control.  God is in control, and this is the message that Jesus sends back to the devil when he says:  “Worship the Lord your God alone”.

Lastly, we can sometimes just give up on a situation.  Like when we stuff a problem into the back of our consciousness, and don’t try to deal with it at all.  And yet life goes on; the problem doesn’t go away.  That’s like throwing ourselves down off a mountain top, just hoping that we will be somehow saved.  You see, no matter how much we “trust” in the Lord, we still have an obligation to be involved.  Otherwise, we are putting the Lord to a test.

Each year when Lent arrives, we usually give something up.  Rather than giving up ice cream or beer or candy or even TV this year, try giving up a little of your time.  Go into a desert- a quiet secluded place- and take the time, the time to embrace the Lenten Call to prayer and Conversion.

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Carrying Our Cross to Paradise

February 14th, 2013

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Dt 30: 15-20; Luke 9: 22-25

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

It doesn’t get any clearer than today’s Gospel.  First, Jesus tells of his own fate.  He must suffer greatly, be rejected by the supposedly good men of his society, and then be killed.  Then he tells everyone that they must also take up their own cross daily, and die to themselves in order to save their own lives.

You see, a certain kind of suffering is absolutely necessary to salvation.  That’s what both Moses and Jesus are talking about this morning.

Basically, Moses told the people that they had to obey the Lord and His Law at all costs.  Yet, the Israelis disobeyed the law and the Lord over and over again by not having faith that the Lord was with them; by moving off in their own direction; and by testing Him.  They did that to relieve their suffering and fear in the short term.  But in the long term, they ended up wandering aimlessly for 40 years.  So, they suffered greatly despite their own best efforts, and really, as Moses points out, because of their own best efforts.

What about you and I?  Are we strong in our faith, or do we test the Lord and His patience, doing things our way to avoid the suffering God has given us as part of our lives?  We have 40 days to think about it- Lent is just starting.  And that’s what we are asked to do during Lent- to pull back some from the daily grind; cut back on our self-indulgence- that’s the fasting part; recognize that everything is a gift from God and that life is not just about us, so that we should share our gifts with others- that’s the almsgiving; and reflect on what God really is directing us to do with our lives- that’s the prayer part.

The challenge is to sort out God’s plan for us, and not our own plan.  God loves all of us; and He wants only the best for us.  He gives us talents and interests, and relishes in our successes.  And most of us go off and shape our lives around the talents and interests we have.  But there are consequences that follow the free exercise of our talents and interests.  These include how we allocate our time, and how we accept the responsibility that comes with our chosen path in life.  The devil tries constantly to derail us from God’s path, mostly by appealing to our self-interests and by making the desires we have to satisfy ourselves dominant.  We become addicted to video games, watching TV, football, fashion trends, and following celebrities for example.  This takes away from time adults spend with their families and the duties they have as parents.  And it takes away from time children should use for homework and doing their chores.

We neglect the need to take care of ourselves physically- not getting enough exercise, not eating the right kinds of foods.  We avoid taking care of our neighbors when they are in need because we are too busy or we have something else we want to do.  We don’t get involved in finding out more about our faith because our self-interests conflict and always dominate.

Well, this Lent, let’s make an attempt to really pull back and look at our lives.  How am I being pulled by my own self- centeredness so that I am not following God’s plan for me; and how can I change that so that I accept more of the pain associated with not being so self-absorbed?

Try to identify one such thing that is holding you back from God’s plan for you and make a change as part of Lent.  It may be a diet; a may be a little exercise; it may be some time with the family; it may be an effort to get involved in something to help others, or to improve your own spirituality.  And even though it may seem painful at first.  You will be surprised later at how it saves your life.

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Carrying the Light of Christ

January 31st, 2013

 

Thursday of Third Week in Ordinary Time

Heb 10: 19-25; Mark 4: 21-25

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

Guess what!  All of you carry the light of Christ within you.  When you were Baptized, you were given a candle which was lit from the Paschal Candle, and that Paschal candle was first lit from the Easter fire during the Easter Vigil mass.  The paschal candle symbolizes the light of Christ that resulted from His Resurrection.  That means each of you bears the light of Christ within you.

So, the question for us today is simply this:  Is your lamp hiding under the bed?  In other words, are you hiding the light of Christ within you or are you showing it for all to see, effectively evangelizing by word and deed?

There are a couple of ways that you can hide your light.  First, there are those who believe, but they think that their faith is just between them and God.  They don’t need the Church; and they don’t need others.  They just need to talk to God and affirm their belief.   We see these people chastised in our first reading.  Paul says clearly:  “We should not stay away from the assembly”.  And that’s because we really need each other.  God is by His very nature a social being.  First, He is three interrelated persons in one God.  Second, why else would He have made all of us, and then tell us we are made in His image and likeness?  And so He wants us to love and cherish each other, reinforcing our Faith, and giving Him Glory and praise in the assembly.

The second way we can hide our lamps is to keep them neatly hidden right here in the Church.  That’s why the Pope has called the year of Faith.  We have been conned by today’s “inclusive”, secular society, into keeping our faith to ourselves in the name of tolerance of everyone else’s beliefs.  We have bought into the philosophy:  “Let’s not offend others who don’t believe as we do”.

Well, I’m sorry, but we need to take the light of Christ out of this Church and spread it far and wide for all to see.  And sometimes it may offend people- it offended the Romans, who persecuted the early Christians.  It offended the Nazis and the Communists, who sent those who stood up for their faith to concentration camps and worse.  And it will likely offend today’s secular humanists who believe in gay marriage, abortion rights, atheism, and a whole range of other moral atrocities that Christianity opposes.

Now you might say, it just isn’t right for us to offend others, we should love them instead.  Two thoughts on that.  First, aren’t their beliefs and practices offensive to us?  But that doesn’t stop them from being bright beacons of their position in the public sector.  So much so that Christianity is losing ground fast.  The second thought is this.  Recently I saw a quote from Pope Benedict that made an interesting point about love.  He talked about “love in truth”.  And the long and short of it was this:   We are all being called to love, yes.  But you cannot love someone if you are not being truthful with them.  And one of the worst ways we tell an untruth is by hiding the truth, and by keeping it to ourselves.  It is called a sin of omission.  God is love; and God is truth.  And so, everything we do needs to be done with loving kindness, but we must always represent the truth.  And it is time for our Christian truth to be front and center again in our society.

And so, let us reflect today on how we can come out of this Church and bear the light of Christ in in our secular society.  It is time to get involved.

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Evangelizing as a Senior Citizen

January 27th, 2013

Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Neh 8: 2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Cor 12: 12-14, 27; Luke 1: 1-4, 4: 14-21

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

They were remnants; those who were left over after everyone else had gone.  That’s who the people were that Ezra and Nehemiah were speaking to in the first reading.  You see, the entire nation of Israel was exiled to Babylon.  And after many years, the King of Persia released the remnants.  Most of those that had been exiled were no longer there- they had died during the exile.  To say that they had suffered greatly would be putting it mildly.  They were repressed captives; almost slaves to their captors.  Only a few were living who remembered the good old days of freedom.  But those that did remember returned to Jerusalem.  They were a rag tag group of people, trying to reestablish themselves in their original homeland.  And they brought with them their children and grandchildren who didn’t know anything about the past, except what this remnant could hand down to them.

Now in the scene described in our first reading, this rag tag remnant is experiencing a new found joy because they had finally reached their homeland; they had started reconstruction; and could finally see the effects.  They were overjoyed at truly being free of their oppressors.  Ezra, their prophet, reads the law to them- the law that they had hung on to despite many trials over the years of exile in hopes of this day.  And that is why they were so emotional; that is why the people cried as the historic words of the law were read.

I don’t know about you, but I can identify with these people.  I look back over the 70 or so years of my life, and remember many toils and trials with some great memories sprinkled in between.  But I see a majority of my family gone.  Three of the four parent figures between my wife and I are gone; and all of our aunts and uncles are gone.  It was like I woke up one day and suddenly realized that most of the roots in my family were gone.  We are a rag tag remnant of believers that is left.  We are the elders now; all the young people look to us for the roots of their faith.  And we find ourselves gathered together with others in a similar situation, celebrating our liturgy each week in hope of the joy of an eternal Kingdom, wary of the drudgery of physical life here that gets more taxing with every passing year.  The mind is not as quick; the body is not as nimble; and we are easier victims to illnesses and infirmities.  But there is hope, because the words of our faith still resonate each week as we hear them read, and deep down, we know that we are truly free of the grip of the world, because we have overcome decades of real trials and still have our faith.

And so, just as the Israelis cried with joy when they heard their precious law, we too, can be joyful when we hear our faith proclaimed, and so we say “Amen” to it.  And the essence of our faith is that we are waiting in joyful hope of everlasting life in the kingdom of God, something that our faith and our lives have convinced us is real.

In the second reading, we come to see that all of us together, yes even the rag tag remnant that we are, constitute the real Church- we have our faith that unites us in the Body of Christ.  And that is a strength that we share as a group.  But we still have a mission.  And that mission is to pass on the real faith to our own.  You see, most of the people living today are focused on life in this world, not life in the kingdom of God.  That being the case, they really need us.  Because they need to be focused on what life is really all about.  Those of us who are older and not as nimble, not as quick, and prone to infirmities-  we have the experience that breeds wisdom, the wisdom to know what life is really not all about.  Ultimately it is not all about fame and wealth and pleasure because all of these pass.  Rather, it is about Faith and God and the promise of everlasting life.

And so, we still have a mission to evangelize others- our families and loved ones in particular.  It’s ironic that the Gospel today shows Jesus launching his career.  For 30 years- some 90% of his life, Jesus was just like any one of us- and in fact, was just a carpenter’s apprentice and then a carpenter.  But he basically returns to Nazareth after his Baptism, and announces to the world that he is off on his mission- his mission as the Messiah.

Indeed, it is never too late for us to evangelize even if it is 90% or more into our lives.  We do it with the prayer life and commitment to our faith that others see; we do it by the dignity of our acceptance of God’s will for us, and we do it when we project our hope for Everlasting life in the world to come.  So let us all keep doing it.

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Establishing a Relationship with Jesus Our Priest

January 24th, 2013

Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

St. Francis de Sales

Heb 7: 25b – 8:6; Mark 3: 7-12

Dc. Larry Brockman

It is something that we just don’t understand.  We just can’t relate to it- this business of sacrificing animals to God.  But in the Old Testament days, that is how people approached their God.  The Lord of the Old Testament seemed so distant, so overwhelming, so impersonal, and even fearful.  And so, the people would take their gifts to a Priest, who had to be from the Levite Tribe, and hope that, following the precise methodology handed down through Moses, and through the intercession of that Priest, their appeal to God might be answered.

Now these sacrifices started as offerings from the heart.  They were animals that really meant something to those who offered them, because livestock was at a premium and was critical to the society.  These people were nomadic herders and farmers, not city dwellers with 9 to 5 jobs.  And unlike today, meat was not commonly eaten- it was the exception and a treat.  And so the hope was that really giving something up that meant something to you, would save you from your sins, and restore you to God’s favor.  But over time, these sacrifices became more mechanical and scripted.  So that they lost significance in terms of sincerity.  Following the formula became a culturally necessary thing to do, and not necessarily an offering from the heart.

In our first reading today there are some very detailed theological concepts discussed about priests and how Jesus relate to priesthood.  But the basic point is that Jesus changed everything.  Jesus sacrifice was necessary and sufficient to achieve salvation.  We can’t justify or atone for our offenses by offering up animals, and it is not burnt offerings and animals that appease our God.  Jesus sacrifice did the atonement.  So Old Testament style priesthood is no longer applicable.  That means it is our relationship with Jesus that matters now because he is our high priest and can intercede for us.  And like anyone else that we have a relationship with, it needs to be built on faith and trust in each other.

In our Gospel today, we hear that so many people believed in Jesus’ power, that they were coming from far and wide, and from outside the area.  And they were pressing so hard on him that he was concerned about being crushed.  And we hear that many of these people were cured. Now when we hear stories of specific people being cured elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus is always quoted as saying that “Your Faith has saved you”.  And we can surmise that this was the case for those who were cured in this large crowd as well.

So, we need Faith, real faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, not sacrifices of animals.  And we need a corresponding commitment to Jesus and his way of life.  That’s how we develop a relationship with Jesus.  When we have such a relationship with him, then when we pray, he can and will intercede to the Father for us.

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Change We Can Believe In

January 20th, 2013

Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Is 62: 1-5; 1 Cor 12: 4-11; John 2: 1-11

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

My how things have changed in the last 40 years!  I can remember when hand held audio and video communications were just a “Dick Tracy” fantasy.  But there were still school prayers and opening prayers at our public meetings.  Recently I went to an Orange County School Board Meeting that was opened with a “moment of silence”!  Most of us lived in a conventional family.  Our Dad’s worked, but Mom stayed home, and everybody sat down together to a home cooked meal each night.  A college education was the exception not the rule.  Gay marriage was unheard of; and abortion was illegal.  America was a very giving and Christian oriented country, with many people housing an older relative in their family.  And we donated Millions- sending financial aid around the world.  We were a net supplier of missionary priests and nuns.

Today, we have become the World’s technology leader and the richest country in the world.  We have cell phones and I Pads and all kinds of technology that allow us to do things in the palm of our hands that a whole building full of electronics were needed to do in 1973.  A college education is considered a must.  More often than not, both Mom and Dad work, and everybody in the family has their own car.

But despite all our technology and material advances, something dreadfully wrong with our society today, because school prayer and opening prayers are a thing of the past.  We have to import priests from Africa and Asia.  Over half of our families are families with a divorce.  Only two thirds of our children live in a home with two parents; only a third of us eat together as a family, older people find themselves abandoned in institutions, and there are Government panels limiting their medical services.  Gay marriage is fast becoming accepted, and one third of all pregnancies end up in abortion in this country every year- one third of them.  Yes, that’s 1.2 Million abortions a year in this country alone, and some 56 million abortions since Roe v Wade exactly 40 years ago Tuesday.

What is happening to our country and our World?  Why don’t we publicly recognize God in our society?  What happened to the sanctity of marriage and the family?  Where is our sense of Christian self-sacrifice?  Where is the value of human life in our society, especially for the very young and old?

Now I could go on and on talking about the problems with where we are today compared to where we were as a society 40 years ago- about how the broken families of today, especially those without a father, produce children with drastically higher tendencies to have behavior disorders; much higher runaway and school dropout rates; and even have a much greater tendency to pathological anger, leading to murder and rape.  We have all seen incidents of that recently, haven’t we.

And I could go on and on about how this breakdown of the family has led to a lack of vocations in the church, to single parent families living in poverty, and to a lack of morals and self-absorption in a significant portion of the younger generation.  And how that has led to a tremendous increase in unwed mothers, by a factor of greater than 2 to one in the last 40 years.  And how all this contributes to the abortion rate, euthanasia, and all the rest; and how it is an endless spiral downward.  But I would be preaching to the choir, because this is the bedrock of Christian living, our parishes.  These problems just don’t happen here.

Rather than the problems, it is time for us to focus on solutions.  Even if most of us still believe and are faithful to the Church’s teaching and our Christian values, we need to do something about all those others out there who have the problems.  Because the problems affect our brothers and sisters, whom we are all called to love as much as ourselves no matter what they have done, especially in this year of Faith when we are called to evangelize.

I’d like to point out three things about today’s scriptures that help us respond to this call.    First, it truly is time, with all these problems in our society, for us to stand up and do something about them.  You see, Isaiah’s words are as true to us today as they were for people three thousands of years ago:  “For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.”  You and I are being called not to be silent, not to be quiet; to respect life; to put God back in our society; to restore the sanctity of a Christian family to our society; and to instill in our children and grandchildren a spirit of self-sacrifice and commitment to God in their lives

Second, we have the ideal example- the Gospel of Jesus.  You see, up until today’s bible story, Jesus led a quiet life as a Carpenter’s son and apprentice for 90 percent of his life- the first 30 years.  But after he was baptized, he went into the desert, discerned God’s will for him, and then he went into public ministry doing his Father’s will.  That’s the message today- a coming out for Jesus.

How about you and I?  What is our “coming out” incident where we recognize that there are higher purposes to our lives and we get involved?

And the third message today is that we all have been given the tools.  God has given all of us unique talents.  In Corinthians, Paul tells us:  “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.  To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.”  Then he names some of them: Wisdom; Knowledge, Faith, Mighty Deeds; Prophecy; Discernment, Languages, and so on.  Yes, one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.  But they are to be used for the common good, the building of the Kingdom of God.  They are not to be used just for our own benefit, but for the benefit of all of God’s people.  And this is the right time for all of us to pool our resources together and work for that benefit.

We live at a time in which, in the name of tolerance, society has been conned into accepting marriage by gay people.  And many think a woman’s right to “choose” trumps an unborn child’s right to life.  Society has given up the majority’s right to pray in public and as a group in deference to a small, vocal minority.  States are actually passing laws allowing assisted suicide.  And most Catholics are standing by and watching the Government take away our religious liberties by forcing businesses and individuals to pay for and support immoral elective procedures and capabilities.  Yes, it is happening today.  These things are wrong and we need to stand up, take a position, get involved, and change it all.  It would be change we can all believe in!

Yes, there are folks involved already.  But you know something- it’s the same people involved in everything- a small percentage of you.  Where are all the others?

So, the question is how, how can a fire be lighted under more of our believers to make a difference?  We’re not talking about dropping a few bucks in the collection- although that helps.  We are talking about getting involved.

A good first step is prayer- like making a commitment to Perpetual Adoration, or just signing up for spiritual adoption which we will do in just a few minutes.  Both of these require a simple commitment to regular prayer.  But that’s a good start, because it begins a change in heart.  And there are plenty of other ways to get involved in the parish-  Respect Life, St. Vincent de Paul, Ministry to the Sick, Faithful Citizenship, Knights of Columbus, and Helping Hands to name a few.  There are social action programs and groups associated with the Diocese.  And volunteer organizations like the JMJ Center and Coalition for the Homeless.  If none of that appeals to you, follow your own passion to make a difference.  But make a commitment to get involved.    This is the year of Faith.  Let’s show we’ve got faith by living it.

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