Love and Forgivness

August 23rd, 2012

Thursday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 36: 23-28: 31-34; Mt 22: 1-14

By Deacon Larry Brockman

Love and forgiveness!  Isn’t it amazing how much Love God has for us, and how far He is willing to go in forgiving us.  The Israeli people ignored the prophets over and over again; ignoring God’s commandments; worshiping false gods; and doing wrong in the sight of the Lord.  And the consequences of their actions were the defeat and exile of the Jewish people.  It was humiliating for them; but it was even more of an insult to their God, because the Lord was the one true God; all powerful and loving.  He had delivered His people from trials; but could not deliver them from themselves and their own evil.  They had to meet him part of the way- they had to at least try to follow His example.  And so, as Ezekiel says, the Israelis had profaned His name; they had turned their back on the legacy of salvation.  Even so, the Lord swept them from wherever they were exiled, and reestablished the Israeli Kingdom.  He gave them yet another chance, such was His love and forgiveness for His people.

   

Jesus parable is a story about love and forgiveness as well.  Jesus talks about a King who invites his people to a joyful and festive celebration- not strangers, but his own people.  But they ignored him; turned their backs on him; and went about their own business.   And that is not all.  The king sends a second set of messengers to the people.  As a loving king, he is willing to forgive them of their selfishness and invite them a second time.  But his messengers are treated all the worse.   

Now of those who did come to the party, there were some who half-heartedly responded to the king.  They came, but they came on their terms.  It was a special celebration to the king; but these few didn’t see it that way.  They didn’t even bother to dress to the occasion.  And so, there are limits to the love and forgiveness of God.  God’s love is unconditional; but it is not unlimited.  Ultimately, God’s offer to love and to forgive us is limited by our need to respond, to reciprocate, to recognize that God’s will is primary and our will must be secondary.

   

One of the worst pains that we suffer in this world is unrequited love; love that you have for someone else, but it is not returned.  Can you sense that kind of pain in the King in the parable?  I certainly can.  And while God is limitless and infinite; He cannot supply both parts of a two way relationship.  And so, by definition, His love and forgiveness have to be limited.

 

Today we would do well to reflect on these aspects of our relationship with God.  Are there areas where you and I are not meeting God at all?  Is there a wall between you and God that has been constructed by your own will in some area- some area where you don’t ask for forgiveness, don’t admit to your sinfulness, or don’t share your love; perhaps because of pride, preoccupation with our own agenda, or lust for things or power?  Are there areas where you don’t let God in, and don’t respond to His invitation.  If there are, remember Jesus’ parting words: “many are called, but few are chosen”. 

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Resurrection of the Body

August 15th, 2012

Assumption

Rev 11: 19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; 1 Cor 15: 20-27; Lk 1: 39-56

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

A paradox!  Life is a paradox, because all of us will experience physical death.  And yet, as our first reading predicts, at the second coming of Christ, humanity’s last enemy, death, will be destroyed, and destroyed forever.  That means that none of those who are saved will really die.  So, all of us are going to die; and yet all of us who are saved will not die but live forever- seemingly a paradox.   

 

I just attended my Cousin Jack’s funeral Monday.  He was the first of my generation in my family to die.  It brought home to me the reality of my own mortality; and that got me thinking about the real implications of the Assumption.  Our church teaches that when we die, we don’t really die; rather, we transition to a different kind of life.  It’s the resurrected state of life in the Kingdom of God that Paul talks about in Corinthians.  But that is not all, because somehow, we will all be reunited with our bodies after the Last Judgment.  Recall that we profess just that in the Apostles Creed.  When we say “I believe in the resurrection of the body”!   

 

Now Jesus lived amongst His disciples for 40 days after Easter in His resurrected body.  So there is the first instance of a resurrected body.  Today, the feast of the Assumption we celebrate a second incidence of a human who remains in their resurrected body- the Blessed Mother.  And so, the implications of the Assumption are clear.  It is not just God the Son, Jesus, who somehow will retain His body in the resurrected state in the kingdom of God but as promised, Christ has conquered death for all of us who are saved, so all of us humans will be reunited with our bodies somehow as well.  Mary is proof of that, and Mary has been seen over the centuries in her resurrected body by many.  She was and is not divine, but fully human, just like you and I.  And so, life remains a paradox- our bodies die, yet somehow, we will not die but will ultimately live forever reunited with our bodies when Christ returns.   

 

Now there are a couple of important points to make about all of this.  First, how we can be reunited with our bodies, and just what will these bodies be like. Well, these are mysteries- like the incarnation and the resurrection of Jesus are mysteries of faith.  Yes, like many of the tenets of our Faith, we are called to believe in these mysteries of faith. 

 

Second, the experiences of Mary and Jesus in their resurrected bodies are validation of the reality of both the promise of our resurrection and life in the kingdom and the actual demonstration of that reality.  So, although we are called upon to accept as a mystery how all that happens; we have been gifted with the demonstration of that reality through the Gospel account of Jesus resurrection and the appearances of Mary throughout history.   

 

For most of us, when a loved one dies, it seems as if a permanent wall comes down that separates us from them.  We say that we believe that they continue to live, only life has changed for them, but for us, they seem so totally gone.  It’s part of the grieving process that we go through.  Sometimes that feeling of grief is so great that it can cause both doubt in the resurrection, and fear of death of ourselves in our minds.  We see that apparent permanent wall, and it just seems so daunting and real.  Well, that’s what makes the Assumption, and the centuries of validated appearances of Mary, so important for us to recognize, because Mary lifts for us that veil of separation.   

 

In the reading from Corinthians today, Paul says it all very well from a theological perspective.  Christ was raised; the first fruits.  And all of us will follow in the right order when Christ returns.  So, we really don’t need to fear death at all.  But, do we really believe that.  Most of us want validation, and Mary’s Assumption that we celebrate today, is part of our validation.   

 

So rejoice, because our Blessed mother has shown us the reality of our future destiny.  Life everlasting, reunited in our bodies, in the Kingdom of God.

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The Ultimate Covenant- the Kingdom of God

August 9th, 2012

Thursday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Mt 16: 13-23

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Lest we become too critical of Israel for breaking the covenant that the Lord made with them as we listen to the first reading, consider this:  Haven’t we broken our covenant with God as well?  Not just the covenant of Moses’ day, but rather, the New Covenant, the covenant promised in the New Testament? 

 

Jesus promised us Eternal life if we believed that He was the Savior.  That’s right, first we must really believe, and then we must follow after Jesus by using His example, the example left in the Gospel, the new way of living life, by first discerning and then doing the will of the Father, just like He, Jesus did.   

 

And yet, which of us is not guilty of failing to do all that?  In the Gospel, Jesus confirms in his talk with Peter and the disciples, straight up, that He is the Messiah.  And he also tells Him straight up, that by following the will of His Father, He, Jesus, will suffer at the hands of the Jewish leaders, and then die, be buried, and rise from the dead.  And what does his main man Peter do?  This man who is living right alongside the God made man, who tells Jesus that he believes He is the Messiah?  He doubts Him. He even rebukes Him for suggesting such a thing.     

 

How about us, are we any better than Peter?  How many times have we doubted, and not really believed?  Belief implies trust, forbearance, patience, and calmness whenever we are confronted with trials.  It means always knowing in our hearts, that is, believing with our hearts, that God is with us no matter what happens to us.  And there is something else that we need to believe as well.  Because if we believe that God is with us, and we bear up to whatever trials we are tested with, then we need to believe that the reward is great.  Jeremiah sums the reward up very well this way:  “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.  I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more”.   

 

Yes indeed, “after those days”, the days of our life on this earth, we shall all know Him, and our sins will be forgiven forever- such tremendous consolation, and such is our reward, to know God forever; to be in perfect harmony with Him; and to live happily with everyone else who is saved.  Amen! 

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Prophets in Our Time

July 8th, 2012

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ez 2: 2-5; 2 Cor 12: 7-10; Mk 6: 1-6

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Have you ever thought of Jesus as a prophet?  According to Webster’s Dictionary, a prophet is “One who utters divinely inspired revelations”.  Jesus certainly fulfilled that role.  He told everyone about the coming of the Kingdom of God, but people didn’t want to hear about Jesus’ Kingdom.  They wanted to hear about an earthly Kingdom.  People wanted the Kingdom of Israel restored.  They wanted the occupation of the Romans to end with its stifling taxation and government control their lives.  They wanted a Jewish King and an Israeli State that would restore good times. They wanted prosperity on earth; a land full of milk and honey; and lots of money too!   

 

But Jesus didn’t talk about their kind of kingdom.  He had a different concern, and that was his saving message.  Jesus talked about a conversion of the heart- one that started with repentance for one’s sins and Faith in God’s providence and will for them.  Jesus talked about living their faith so that they could become part of an eternal kingdom.  And so, the people remarked: “Where did he get all this from?”  You see, they had lived right alongside of Jesus; he was known to them; and they didn’t see him following the path of a Rabbi.  Far from it, Jesus was self-taught, and was not a disciple of one of their rabbis as their customs required. 

 

And yet, there was something about Jesus’ teaching that rang true.  Indeed, a call for conversion of the heart wakes our consciences out of a slumber.  And Jesus also spoke with authority and with confidence.  His teaching came from a deep seated conviction that they could all sense.  But they didn’t accept it as authentic, because their culture didn’t condone Jesus as a teacher.  He didn’t have a rabbi’s training or credentials.  He didn’t talk about their kind of Kingdom.  And so, they kept on their own course, and were not open- they were of little faith that God had sent someone special to them.  And so, Jesus could not do great things for them because they rejected him and his message.   

 

You know, real prophets have never been very popular.  They shake people up, because they tell the truth- the message that God wants them to proclaim.  Most of the time, that message doesn’t match the people’s concerns; but it may be the core of what’s wrong with society because God sees differently.  God sees the core of the problem. 

 

In the first reading, God tells Ezekiel to hold firm and to speak with resolve in God’s name, whatever God inspires him to say; so that even if the people reject the message, they will know that a prophet has been amongst them.  Prophets over all time have had to follow this advice.   

 

We live in a world that rejects prophets just like the Israelis did.  We are concerned with jobs and taxes and inflation and health insurance; and rightly so, because these are problems in our society.  But what is the root cause of these problems?  What is it that God wants us to know about his plan forward?  That’s what the modern prophets of God will speak to.  And what is the message that we are hearing from our modern day prophets- led by the Church and the Pope and the Bishops?  It is one of love and compassion and holding to the teachings of the Church.  These prophets speak of the importance of the right to life; the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman; and the rights of all people, even illegal immigrants, victims of human trafficking, and the poor.  And many of the spokesmen for the Church- prophets if you will, are right amongst us.  They are our own. 

 

Some people wonder where “they get all this from”.  The answer is simple.  They get the substance of their message from the Catechism because the Catechism summarizes the Scripture and traditional teachings of the Church; but they get the inspiration to speak up from God because it burns within them until they speak out, just like it burned within Ezekiel.   

 

Nowadays, the Church’s message seems to be more and more passionate as the problems gets worse.   First, the US Bishops have spoken as a group on all the major moral issues.  Second, as the attacks on our conscience rights by our Government have intensified; and as the pro-choice and gay rights movements have gotten more aggressive, prophets have risen from amongst us, people like Cardinal Dolan and Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life.  And they are relentlessly bombarding us with the truth, and appealing to us to mend our ways and repent.  They are calling us to action as well.  But, are we listening? Are we responding?   

 

During our recent Fortnight for Freedom the parish held all kinds of events to give us the opportunity to pray as a group; to sacrifice our time and desires in order to listen and respond to God.  These events also provided educational opportunities, ways in which we could find out what the Church teaches and why.  Lastly, we were taught how we could respond; how we could help change things.  There were several hundred people involved, and that is great.  But what about the thousands of others in our parish?  Where were they?  Did they ignore the message because it was just more of the same?  After all, aren’t these people just part of our own community; and “where did they get all this from” and “who gives them this authority”?   

 

Perhaps people feel that they are powerless to do anything.  In which case, we need only to listen to Paul’s words this morning.  Paul was given “a thorn in the flesh” that burdened him.  And ultimately, he came to the conclusion that God would give him sufficient grace to overcome his weakness.  Indeed, God gives all of us sufficient grace to overcome our weaknesses.  All of us can do great things, especially together.  We can all pray, and we can all sacrifice some of our time to listen to God’s call and give Him the opportunity to lead us.   

 

The jury is out on us American Catholics.  Are we listening to the modern day prophets?  Our current Government has decided not to enforce the Marriage Act; is mandating that our Catholic Institutions pay for and provide insurance that violates our moral principles; has cut off funding to Catholic Charities to care for Human Trafficking victims because we won’t offer victims to birth control and other services; and has changed the law to publicly fund abortion.  But we all have an opportunity to do something about it this year.  Will we be like the Israelis in Ezekiel’s times, who hardened their hearts; or the people in Jesus home town who rejected one of their own?.  Or will we listen to our modern day prophets?  The choice is yours.

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Prayer Must Be Followed Up With Action

June 28th, 2012

 

Thursday of the 12th week in Ordinary Time

St. Irenaeus

2 Kgs 24: 8-17; Mt 7: 21-29

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

 

 

There are two stories about Kings of Israel this week and they both caught my eye.  The one Tuesday from 2 Kings Chapter 19 was about King Hezekiah of Israel.  When Hezekiah learned of the plan of the Assyrians to attack and plunder Jerusalem he went to the temple and prayed fervently for help from the Lord.  And the prophet Isaiah reported back to him that his prayers were heard, and Jerusalem would be spared, which it was; it was saved by the protecting arm of the Lord.   

 

 

 

Not too many years later, the Israelis were faced with a similar threat.  And today, we hear quite a different story and outcome.  King Jehoiacin, and his Israeli people had grown complacent.  They were seemingly oblivious to the threat of the Babylonian invasion.  The Babylonians attacked, and Jehoiacin surrenders Jerusalem to the Babylonians who carry him away, ransack the temple, and begin the famous Babylonian exile of the Jewish people.   

 

 

 

What a contrast.   And what is the difference?  The difference is prayer.  But not just any kind of prayer.  It has to be prayer followed by sincere action.  For as Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the Kingdom of God but only the one who does the will of my Father”.   

 

 

 

Our Saint of the day, St. Irenaeus is a good example.  Irenaeus lived in the 200’s, and he was a staunch defender of the faith.  He was the first to define what books should be in the New Testament, and he used those texts to defend the Church against two heresies.  His efforts were successful against both heresies and, even today, we use the Canon of the New Testament that he defined.  But ultimately, he was martyred for his Faith.   

 

 

 

The defense of Israel against attacks from the outside seems too far and distant to us today; and a 3rd century Bishop defending Christianity against two heresies doesn’t seem any more relevant.  So, we have problems relating to the stories I mentioned.  But are things really so different?  Our Church today is being attacked by massive forces of secularism, not the least of which is the Government’s forced HHS Mandate that tells our Church and Church Institutions what they must pay for and include in health insurance.  But these are not the only issues the Church faces today.  There is the gay marriage issue, and managed health care for the elderly, or Euthanasia, for those who care to read the tea leaves.  And then there are the rights of Catholic Businessmen to dissent from the HHS Mandate.  These and other issues are right behind the Court Decision expected today on Obamacare, 

 

 

 

Our leader now, Cardinal Dolan, and Faithful Catholics need to be firm in our faith and continue to defend our Faith until all of the issues are resolved.  We need to continue to pray and to follow that prayer with actions that fulfill the will of the Father.   

 

 

 

Which one of the Israeli peoples will we be like in this struggle?  Hezekiah and his people, who prayed and reformed, or Jehoiacim and his people who forgot the zeal and faithfulness of their forefathers  and did, or tolerated, evil in the sight of the Lord  Because if we become like the later group, we too can end up with our people carried away into the slavery of oppression and our temples destroyed by the invaders.  The choice is yours.

 

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The Power of Prayer

June 21st, 2012

Thursday of the 11th  Week in Ordinary Time

Sir 48: 1-14; Mt 6: 7-15

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

The Power of Prayer is an awesome thing, because prayer brings us the spirit of God.  And when we are filled with the Spirit of God, we can do incredible things.   

 

Elijah and Elisha are good examples.  The spirit that Elisha had a twofold measure of was the spirit that inspired Elijah.  And that spirit was none other than the spirit of God.  Both men could do great things because the center of their lives was the Lord.  They prayed fervently, and followed the Lord in all they did, and so, the Spirit of the Lord was with them.   

 

The Gospel tells us about how Jesus says we should pray.  Some key things we can learn from the Lord’s Prayer come from the order and the tone of the prayer.  First and foremost, Jesus asks us to recognize that God is almighty and that we should praise Him.  Next, we should ask that God’s will be done above all.  Only after praising God and recognizing that we are all subject to His will, is it appropriate for us to ask for something.  And even then, we need to ask for forgiveness for our offenses and forgive others as we expect God to forgive us. 

 

I think that the tone of Jesus prayer is clear.  It is a humble attitude in which we recognize our Lord and savior first, and in a spirit of obedience, ask for the help we need to do His will, and to do it well.

   

Now I could not help but notice how timely these scriptures are.  Because today our parish, our diocese, and our nation, embark on the Fortnight for Freedom- a 14 day period of intense prayer.  It is certainly fitting that all of us be reminded right at the beginning of our efforts, of exactly what kind of prayer we should adopt.  God is not looking for eloquence- long winded, rambling, and detailed prayers that call attention to the process and the ministers.  Rather, our prayers need to be humble, sincere, fervent, persistent, and directed. 

We have a wonderful opportunity to do that as a community over the next 14 days.  And the fact is that if we can do that- especially as a group of committed believers- then imagine the power of the spirit of tens, and maybe even hundreds, of Elijah’s and Elisha’s working together to call upon God for help at this time of our nation’s need to rid our country of the threats to our religious liberty. 

 

So come and join our Fortnight, and pray together as a people.  And together, we shall overcome. 

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Be a Courageous Man!

June 17th, 2012

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ez 17: 22-24; 2 Cor 5: 6-10; Mk 4: 26-34

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Courageous!  Paul advises all of us to be courageous while we are away from our heavenly home, the Kingdom of God, meaning while we are in our earthly bodies.  And so, that’s what Fathers are called to be today, especially in the secular world we live in today- courageous.  We need that courage every day to live out our role as Fathers. 

  

Do you remember Father Larry Richards?  He seemed to energize this Parish during his recent mission here like nobody else in recent years.  We had record attendance; and we saw such enthusiasm for his message, especially among the men.  Many of you bought his tapes and books, like the “Be A Man” Book.  And how appropriate was his message in “Be a Man” for the Fathers out there today.  Because the “Man” that Father Larry told us we were all called to is a courageous men.  Father Larry told us that we men need to stay focused on the ultimate goal, the Kingdom of God.  Because all else, everything of the world, is left behind when we die.  Rather, we need to live as a beloved son of God, and teach our children to live as beloved sons and daughters; we need to repent of our sins and frailties, to live in the Spirit of God, and to be strong yet loving.  We need to be wise in the ways of the Lord, and to do what we were created to do- God’s will for us.  We need to be holy men;  And we need to be men who change the world.  If we can be such men, then we will be men who are courageous.

   

As I look out at all the fathers today, I suspect that most of you are wondering right now how you can meet such a tall order.  And yet God the Father, the ultimate Father, did something to help us.  He sent us His son, Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago to show us the way.  That’s what Ezekiel means by the shoot from the uppermost branches.  The Father is the uppermost branches, and He planted His Son, Jesus amongst us so that we could all learn how to be like Him.  His Gospel and the scriptures and the Church serve to transmit how we should do that.  And just like His son, God the Father will care for us and nurture us who believe in Him and follow Him by sending His spirit to live amongst us, and by giving us the graces to be courageous.  Jesus promised all that before he left us.  The spirit and graces of God are what gives us the courage to walk by faith, not by sight.

   

You know, those of us who are Fathers are truly gifted.  God has given us loving spouses who bear our children; and children are Gods greatest gifts entrusted to us so we can be an example of God’s fatherhood and love.  That, after all, should be our major focus as Fathers.  And God has also given us a challenge- the challenge to be our own persons, yet at the same time provide for our families and take responsibility for the spiritual welfare of our families.  Yes, that’s why we need to be courageous, because it takes courage to follow Jesus and do all of that.  But when we appear before the judgment seat of Christ those of us who have been courageous and met that challenge will receive our heavenly reward- everlasting life with God.

   

Now the things I have just talked about, the qualities of a man who is courageous, are not the same as the qualities that our society teaches about being a man.  In our society, it is success in the world that gets rewarded- money and power and physical strength and good looks and education.  These are the hallmarks of a successful man.  But these things are all centered on self; and that is not the message of the Gospel.  Rather, being a courageous man means that we center our attention on God first, our family second, and everything else comes after that.   

What I want for all of us men here today to realize is the essential difference between the successful man as Father Richards has defined him, and the successful man of the world, because today we are in drastic need of real men.  As Father Larry said, these are men who change the world, and the world needs changing right here in America.

   

We are living in a country where the divorce rate is phenomenally high; where the family unit and where the father as the spiritual leader of the family are under constant attack from our secular society, a society that pushes same-sex marriages and other alternate life styles that are contrary to God’s natural Law; and a Government that is trying to force our Church to sanction things that our Church and our hearts tell us are wrong.  Gentlemen, our roles as Fathers are under attack.  What God needs now are courageous men to turn this society around. 

  

How do we do that?  We start with our own families by the example we set; because our children are watching and become what we teach them.  Are we putting our wives and our families first, rather than our own self interests?  What are you doing to reflect the family values and the Church’s teaching in your own families?  And then there is the larger problem of erosion of family values in our society.  Are you involved?  There are plenty of ways to be involved- Respect Life, St. Vincent de Paul, and volunteering your talents in some other way, just to name a few.  Now some people will say, “What can I do that will make a difference”?  Those folks miss the point of today’s Gospel on the Kingdom of God.  Because the fruit of few good men, the smallest of seeds, can result in great things, just like the mustard bush in the Gospel.  That’s what the Kingdom of God is like, and all of you men can help make it happen together. 

  

Earlier, I mentioned the attack on the Church.  One way to get involved right now is to lead your family in support of the Bishop’s call to action in the Fortnight for Freedom that will be held from Thursday, June 21 through Wednesday, July 4.  This parish plans to conduct an evening prayer service each and every day with education sessions that address what is wrong and how you can help. 

 

All of us are busy with the things of the world.  But, our Religious Freedom is important, very important.  I challenge each and every Dad to be courageous and lead your family by example.  Get involved in the Fortnight for Freedom.  Find the time, lead your family, and be a men who together change the World! 

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On Righteousness

June 14th, 2012

Thursday of 10th Week of Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 18:41-46; Mt 5: 20-26

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Righteousness!  Does your righteousness surpass that of the Scribes and Pharisees?  What is righteousness, anyway, because unless we know what righteousness means, we are liable to miss the whole point of the Gospel?   

 

In our society, we usually think of righteousness as meaning “uprightness”   In the sense of “adherence to or conformity to an established norm.”  But that isn’t what it meant in Jesus time and in Jewish culture.  According to the Hollman Bible Dictionary, righteousness is “the fulfillment of the terms of a covenant between God and humanity or between humans in the full range of human relationships”.   

 

Now this is fascinating because the whole emphasis of a Pharisee was strict compliance with the Mosaic Law.  And yet Jesus is telling the people that they must be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees.  And so, is there any hope for us?  Most of us do not devote our lives to the study of the scriptures and strict compliance to the laws of God as the scribes and Pharisees did.  How can we be more righteous than that?   

 

In the First reading, we hear a story about Elijah and King Ahab.  This incident happened just after Ahab had done away with the prophets of the false God Baal, and had accepted the Lord back into his life.  Ahab had begun to reform- and not only that, after a long draught, he climbs the mountain as Elijah bids him and celebrates his conversion with food and drink, trusting in the word of the Prophet Elijah, because Elijah told him his worries were over.  The great draught would end with bountiful rain.  Against all odds, Elijah prays on the mountain for rain; prays over a dry, parched land with a clear blue sky; and commissions his servant to keep watch for the rain that he is sure will come. 

 

Why did God answer Elijah’s prayer?  Because Elijah was a righteous man.  Elijah believed; Elijah trusted; and Elijah acted in the name of and on behalf of the Lord- always.  Elijah had even patched things up with his enemy Ahab who had been after him relentlessly.  Elijah kept his part of the Jewish Covenant with the Lord, and that’s what righteousness means.   

 

Sometimes life throws us serious curves and difficulties.  And we pray, and we pray, and we pray.  But do we have righteousness in our hearts.  It is not so much a matter of keeping the commandments, although that helps.  It is more a matter of always believing in God; always trusting in God; and always acting on God’s behalf- that is, doing His will for us.  It is a covenant relationship that we have with God; and it is a covenant that involves our hearts, not just our minds as it was with the Pharisees. 

 

Notice that Jesus talks about settling with our brothers before we come to the altar.  That’s the other part of righteousness in the definition- being in a right relationship in our dealings with others.  And so when we are in a right relationship with God and our neighbor., then when we pray, we will be praying with a sense of righteousness.  And like Elijah, we can be confident of great things from the Lord. 

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A Good Christian Life

May 31st, 2012

Visitation

Rom 12: 9-16; Luke 1: 39-56

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Love and Humility!  They go hand in hand, two sides of the same coin.  And our Blessed Mother exhibits these two qualities so very well as she visits her cousin Elizabeth.  Mary has been chosen by God to be the God bearer- the mother of Almighty God born man.  But rather than get all puffed up about her role what does she do after she learns of it?  She visits her cousin Elizabeth and serves her for the final 3 months of her pregnancy.  She realizes how she has been chosen, and in the longest quote from Mary that we have in the Bible, she proclaims this famous prayer to her cousin, Mary’s Song of Praise, a song of praise that is full of love and humility.  Yes, Mary lived a life of love and humility. 

  

I couldn’t help but make the connection with the words in Paul’s epistle this morning, as Paul leaves us all a roadmap for how to live a Good Christian life.  Sometimes we make that more difficult than it is because we don’t understand what the Lord is calling us to do.  We hear of the stories of great men and women in our society, and, especially when we are young, we aspire to greatness.  As life unfolds before us, we meet challenges with resolve to be great, to do great things- to be the world’s best athlete; a world renown musician or singer; the next trend setter in technology, like the guy who invents the next Twitter or Facebook; or to become a doctor or engineer or lawyer or politician or whatever; and to really make a difference in the world.  As we get older, reality slowly dawns on us and most of us never achieve the greatness of our hopes. 

And yet, we can become eminently more successful than most of the world’s success stories because mixed in with whatever we want to do, and actually do in this world with the talents God gave us, is our real purpose in life.  You see, like Mary, God has his plans for us.  They may include great things by the world’s standards, or they may be filled with the very ordinary things of life. 

But mixed in with them is the need for us to live a Christian life.  And living that Christian life is what our roadmap to the kingdom of God is all about.  It’s all about how we relate to people along the way- loving with sincerity; being fervent in the spirit; treating others with honor; rejoicing in hope; enduring affliction; persevering in prayer; associating with the lowly and not being haughty.  Yes, it’s all about the things that Paul mentions this morning.

   

And each of us is given the opportunities to demonstrate our Christianity as well, to live these Christian values while we pursue our own dreams.  Only sometimes they seem to inconvenience us, like the people in need we encounter and the interruptions that life sends our way- illnesses, setbacks, failures, and moral challenges.  But they are all God’s little moments in our lives, our opportunities to shine, to be a Christian; to be humble and loving. 

Embrace them, and be a Christian.  And let your soul proclaim the greatness of the Lord.

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A Mother’s Kind of Love

May 13th, 2012

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1 John 4: 7-10; John 15: 9-17

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

How many of you would lay down your life for your friends?  And yet, that is what we are being called to do by Jesus.  That’s the kind of love we are being asked to show.

   

Several years ago, I presided at a funeral for a lady.  She had come over here from England and was running her own business with her husband when she came down with cancer.  Her husband told me a very interesting story about her.  He told me about the special relationship she had with her one and only son.  It seems that when they first got married, she really wanted to have children.  But the doctors told her that because of a medical condition she had, she could not carry a baby to birth without severe risk of death.  A couple of years later, she became pregnant, and the same doctors told her that she had to abort her child or die.  She just couldn’t do that.  She had always wanted a baby with all her heart, and she had fallen in love with the unborn child.  And so, she carried that baby through till birth and suffered through a very, very difficult pregnancy.  The doctors were constantly advising her to abort her child or die.  But she was willing to sacrifice her own life for her child.  That, brothers and sisters, is the kind of love that Jesus is talking about.  It’s the kind of love that is unselfish; love that is a commitment to a higher purpose.  And it is no secret, it is the kind of love that Mothers have for their children.   

Today, we celebrate Mother’s Day, and rightfully recognize the love that our Mother’s have for us.  It is the kind of love that gets Mom’s up at all hours to feed and change their babies; the kind of love that sacrifices career and personal goals so that a child is taken care of; and it is the kind of love that sacrifices our own wants and needs so that our children will have the very best.  And so, we honor all our mothers today for the unselfish love they have given us.

   

But let me go back for a moment and ask this question:  How can we love God all the time like Moms love their children?  We can understand a Mom’s love for her child, and we can understand how God loves us like that- giving up His own son Jesus for us.  But how can we love God like that? 

  

First, we have to listen to God.  We have to hear what he wants of us.  A mother knows how to listen to her child.  She is in tune with the words, the body language, and the overall status of her child at all times.  We need to do the same thing with God.  God wants the very best for us but we must listen to him.  He talks to us through the ordinary events of life: our prayers, the pangs of our conscience, and the opportunities that present themselves in the events of our lives.  Because of the Christ that is in all the people around us, God is relating to us all the time.  Yes, the people around us are calling out to us as Christ for our love and help.  And so, when we show kindness to others, we are loving God.

   

And finally we need to lay down our life for God  We do that whenever we make sacrifices for others- like a mother that puts her day out with the friends on the back burner when her child needs help.

   

Now even though the love of God is unconditional, and we are being asked to love the same way, there is another side to love that we should talk about.  Because as much as God loves us; and as much as we love our children; there is always the possibility that this love will be rejected.  Sometimes our children reject our love.  And sometimes we reject God’s love for us.  There is something we need to learn from that.  First, that we have to keep right on loving whether the love is returned or not.  That’s what God does for us.  Now there are many Moms out there who feel a great sense of loss because the love they have for their children has been rejected or forgotten.  But they continue to love their children.  So secondly, we need to forgive those who love us, and return that love.  That is the real love of God at work.  God loves all of us that way. 

  

Now, when it comes to the Church, we often use the term Holy Mother the Church.  Why? Because the Church acts in our interest like a mother.   The Church has a responsibility to always tell us the truth- God’s truth, just like we tell our children the truth.  As children, sometimes we listen; and sometimes we don’t.  But no matter what we have done, no matter how we may have rejected her in the past, the Church is always there to welcome us back; and she is constantly nurturing our needs.  She does that with the Sacraments and with Church Teachings.  She teaches us how to live like Jesus and love.

   

For some time now, the Church in this country has been caring for the people of God in a free and open environment.  So, the Church operates schools and hospitals and adoption agencies and services for the poor.  She provides those services to one and all; but only in so far as they are provided consistent with Church teachings.  This is what we would expect from a good mother- that everything she does be done with the best of intentions. 

  

As it turns out, Holy Mother the Church needs us now because She is being attacked.  Secular society and the Government are telling Holy Mother the Church what She must do through the HHS Mandate.  They are telling the church that she has no right to help others outside our faith unless she is willing to compromise Her own beliefs.  This is something the Church cannot, and will not do.  The Church will close up all her services before that happens. 

  

Jesus says that the way you will know if He remains in you is if you keep His commandments.  The Church knows that, and for that reason will not compromise on the commandments.  All of us need to keep God’s commandment as well, to love God, and our neighbor as ourselves and to follow what the Church teaches.  We also need to support our mothers.  Those who have loved us unconditionally, loved us as they love life itself.

   

In this time of need, we need to be there for Holy Mother the Church as well.  We need to love the Church, the body of Christ with our actions and words and hearts; loving Her as we love our own lives.   

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