Sunday, September 23, 2018

Teach us humility O Lord

25thSunday of OT year B 2018:
Today in our second reading we get some more practical wisdom from St. James. You definitely get the feeling that St. James knew what he was talking about.  Today he says: Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.  How true! You don’t have to look far in this world of ours to see just how dangerous jealousy and selfish ambition can be. These attitudes can be very destructive. I think that all of us should take a minute to think whether these attitudes are part of our own lives as well. It can be quite easy to be carried away by the waves of jealousy and ambition.  Maybe at work, we get upset because some other employee seems to get the preference.  In school, we become jealous because another kid gets all the attention.  Or in our lives, we look around and think that the grass is greener everywhere else we look.  These attitudes certainly do not bring us peace.  They cause pain and anxiety.  And we already have enough of those right?    
Also, these attitudes are quite antithetical to the message of Christ.  Jesus Christ is the son of God and he came to serve, not to be served.  He gives us the wonderful example.  If we can follow his lead, we can overcome jealousy and ambition. But, if we struggle with these attitudes, know that we are in good company.  I find this gospel passage more than just a little bit amusing.  Here is Jesus talking about how he will gladly suffer and offer his life for our salvation.  Yet, the apostles are arguing about who is the greatest.  What an amazing contrast.  Christ is the son of God, and he’s talking about being the humblest of all.  The humble fishermen are arguing about who’s the greatest of all.
So, if you think that you need to learn more about humility from Christ, the apostles did too.  We are in good company.  Now, I would be tempted to keep talking about humility and it’s importance.  But, I think all of us here know that humility is important.  We know that jealousy and ambition cause us problems.  We get all that.  How do we grow in humility?
I really liked how the gospel began today.  I think it gives us the insight into how we grow in humility. It begins by saying that Jesus and his disciples left and began a journey.  Along the way, he was teaching them.  The answer is so simple that it can be missed quite easily.  The answer is quite simply being with Jesus.
We will never learn humility on our own.  Rather, we need to learn it from Christ.  But, we can’t learn anything from Christ if we are not with him.  Jesus taught the apostles humility through his own example.  Christ can teach us humility too, but we have to spend time with him.
So, the question we can all ask ourselves today is: am I spending enough time with Christ for him to be able to teach me anything?  First, prayer.  Prayer is the privileged way for us to establish, maintain, and increase our relationship with Christ.  Daily prayer is essential for all human beings.  Is there a time in your day, every day, that you spend it with Christ? If we are going to learn from Christ, he needs a chance to speak to us.  Prayer is that opportunity.
Second, the scriptures.  Reading the bible is an important way for Christ to teach us.  The Bible literally contains the words of Christ. St. Jerome said it so well 1600 years ago: ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.  If we don’t know the bible, we won’t know Christ.  But, the bible can seem intimidating right? Well if so, come to my bible study class tomorrow night.  The first lesson is all about how to read the bible.  It will be helpful for St. John’s gospel.  But, it will also be helpful for the rest of the bible as well.  Another good way to get to know the bible better is to read the daily mass readings every day.  You can get them sent to your email account.  Just go to the USCCB website and sign up.  
I could give you a million more tips.  But, let’s just keep it simple.  If we want to learn from Christ, we need to be near him.  We need to spend time with him, if we want him to teach us.  Prayer and scripture are two amazing ways for us to spend time with Christ and for him to teach us.  St. James teaches us that jealousy and ambition can cause us lots of problems. So, let us all go to Christ and ask him to teach us his way of humility and peace.

Saturday, September 1, 2018

22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

22ndSunday of Ordinary Time year B 2018:
I always love reading St. James’ letter.  I find that he is very down to earth and practical. I really like the line from today’s reading: “be doers of the word, and not hearers only.”  I think that St. James is describing a disconnect that many of us feel from time to time.  We want to do the right thing.  But, if we are honest, we do not do the right thing.  We hear the Word of God, but we find it tough to live it out.  Or maybe this is just me?  
It seems to me that the Pharisees are being challenged by Jesus for the same gap, the same disconnect.  They are passing along the teachings of the Bible, but he is pointing out that they are not getting to the deep truth of the law.  Concerned with actions, they are missing something.  It is good for us to pay attention, because if we stay concerned with actions alone, we will miss something too.
Whenever we read the gospels it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking about the Pharisees as being bad people.  They tend to get the brunt of Jesus’ wrath.  We can even use the word Pharisee as an insult right? Don’t be a Pharisee…  But, Pharisees were anything but bad people.  Pharisees were religious leaders.  They were teachers of the Torah.  They studied the scriptures.  They tried to live the commands.  They tried to teach others to live God’s commands too.  In fact, I often think that they had my job.  As pastor, my job is to receive God’s word. To put it into action in my own life and to teach other people how to put it into action.
So, where do they go wrong?  In today’s gospel, they are focusing on the washing of hands.  Which, I think all of us will agree is a good thing to do, right?  I mean we all agree that cleanliness is a good thing.  And I hope that none of us would say that Jesus is teaching us to break the laws or the commandments.  Actually, what Jesus is doing is showing us that we need to go deeper.  What is the cause of the gap between being hearers and doers of the word?  What is the gap between wanting to do the right thing, and not being able to do it. Simple: the gap is the human heart.
Perhaps the most radical thing that Jesus did was to extend the gospel into the hearts of the faithful.  You see, the law does a great job of telling us about our conduct: do not kill, do not commit adultery, etc.  But, Jesus wants more.  He wants his love and mercy to live in our hearts.  The grace of the New Testament is that God can change us from the inside out.
The Pharisees probably never considered that a person could have a new heart.  Perhaps they never considered that a person could get rid of anger, but they could stop from killing people.  Perhaps they never considered that a person could get rid of lust, but they could stop from committing adultery.  I think we would all agree that abstaining from murder and adultery is really great. But, if we are still holding on to anger, jealousy, lust, envy, etc.  We will never be truly free.
Focusing on the externals is much easier than the conversion of the heart.  This is why Jesus is arguing with the Pharisees today.  Of course it’s important to follow the commandments, but to live freedom to the fullest requires a new heart.  
So, how do we get this new heart?  Number 1: prayer.  God can change us from the inside out.  But, he doesn’t do it against our will.  Prayer is a time for us to call on God and to invite him in.  “Lord, change my heart.  Give me your grace.  Take away my anger, fill me with compassion.”  These prayers are really effective.  And, we only have to pray like this for the rest of our lives.  So, no better time than to start today.
A second step would be to bring some conscious awareness to your thoughts and emotions.  How many of us can even say that we recognize that we are being affected by anger, jealousy or the lot?  Yet, we might say that we are struggling with sin.  Jesus tells us that all sin starts in the heart.  So, if we take some time to bring awareness to what is going on in our internal life, we might find the roots of some of our issues.
Third, it can be really helpful to reach out to another person. If we are carrying around any number of negative feelings and emotions, it can feel overpowering at times.  It’s really hard to change our lives when we are burdened with these things.  Yet, by sharing what is going on with a trusted friend, the burden seems a little lighter.  Also, I find that journaling really helps.  To get negative stuff down on paper helps to take away its power.  
Prayer, awareness, and assistance.  These things can really help to give us a new heart, one that is full of love and goodness.  Because, the Pharisees had one thing right, we do need to follow the commandments. But, Christ has something even more amazing in mind.  He wants us to live a true life of freedom, inside and out.  And isn’t that what we all want?

Called to be Holy

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