Message of Mercy

4^thSunday of Lent Year C Prodigal Son:

One of the best parts of my job is the ministry of reading the gospel at Mass.  I get the true privilege and honor of reading and proclaiming the very words of Christ. It’s truly remarkable.  Today, is one of those days where I don’t feel worthy to proclaim such amazing words.  This parable is great.  We could read it the rest of our lives and find something new, something exciting about it.  I’ve read this parable so many times in my life, but each time I hear something new. So, reading or hearing this parable is sort of like a check-up on our life of faith.  

Sometimes we feel like the prodigal son.  We feel lost and sinful, in need of God’s mercy.  Well there is good news for us in this parable. Sometimes we think that we have been working hard in our lives and we can become frustrated at the foibles of others. Well, then today’s gospel is a challenge.  Don’t be like the older son.  Or, sometimes we are being called to emulate the Father’s compassion.  Is there someone you have been hesitant to forgive? Why not rush out there and forgive like the Father?  

This parable shows us the message of mercy.  But, it shows the message from so many different angles. Need mercy, got that covered.  Jealous and frustrated, covered.  Need to be merciful, got it.  Let the parable speak to you this week.

But, I wanted to share with you what I heard when I prayed with this parable this week.  I heard all the amazing details about the rich banquet.  Now maybe that’s because I’m always fixated on food.  Ok, one of my struggles.  But, listen again to the details of the celebration.  The son is dressed in the finest robes, sandals, a ring on his finger, they slaughter the fattened calf, then there is music and dancing. Sounds like a great party.  What was the impetus for that party?  The son returning and the Father granting mercy. Amazing.

Jesus says in another place that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over 99 righteous people who have no need of repentance.  Rejoicing in heaven over the repentant.  Have you ever thought about repentance in that way?  When we repent, when we seek forgiveness, there is rejoicing in heaven. 

So, I’m going to make a request: don’t forget to cause some rejoicing in heaven during this season of Lent.  What do I mean?  Go to confession.  Go to confession because you need God’s mercy.  Go to confession because you need to learn how to be more merciful.  Go to confession and cause great rejoicing in heaven. Let this parable become a part of your life.  Let the message of mercy become your story.  God is excited about mercy.  We should share that excitement by going to confession and receiving God’s mercy.

3rd Sunday of Lent Scrutiny:

3^rdSunday of Lent Year C (Scrutiny reading) 2019: 

As we journey closer to Easter, it is becoming a more intense time of prayer and discernment for our Elect and Candidates.  These men and women are preparing to enter the Catholic Church.  4 of them will receive the gift of baptism.  We understand that the waters of baptism are foreshadowed in the water about which Jesus speaks in the gospel.  I will give you the living water: you will never thirst again.  We truly believe that God is the origin and destiny of every human being.  This means that we were made by God and we were made for God.  In our hearts, we all have a longing for the divine.  We have a thirst that cannot be quenched.  We have a God-sized hole, only God can fill it. Sure, many people try to fill this hole with many things: wealth, honor, privilege, pleasure.  None of these things satisfy.  We will remain thirsty.  Jesus says: this water will satisfy, you will never be thirsty again. My dear Elect, this is the water the Church offers you.  This is the water that Christ offers you.  The waters of Baptism create union with God.  The sacrament of Baptism will give you the gift of faith.

My dear friends here at the Cathedral, keep these men and women in your prayers.  They are on the doorstep of a beautiful adventure, the adventure of faith.  

But, as they are preparing for these sacraments, each of us should also take a moment to renew our own amazement for these gifts.  Most of us here have received the gift of God in baptism.  We have been washed clean of sin and given a new relationship with God as his adopted sons and daughters.  What an amazing gift.  We have received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation. Every week, some of us every day, receive the amazing gift of the Body and Blood of Christ right here in the Holy Eucharist.

These brothers and sisters of ours are preparing to receive these sacraments for the first time.  They are excited and filled with joy.  My prayer is that they never lose this joy, the joy of coming into contact with God.  But, what about all of us?  Sometimes we can lose that awe and wonder.  Sometimes we can take God’s gifts for granted.  But, what a shame that would be.

One line from the Gospel really stood out to me today. Jesus says to the woman: if you knew the gift of God, then you would ask me for the living water.  “If you knew the gift of God.”  Hear Jesus saying that line to each of us, right now.  If you knew the gift of God, how would that change your life?  How would that make you look at the mass?  How would that help you to change your lives?  How might you treat people differently if you knew the gift of God each and every day of your lives?

I think it would make a huge difference.  That is why I want to recommend the practice of Gratitude.  I would recommend that every day you begin by simply remembering the gift of God.  Doesn’t take long.  Spend 3 minutes specifically and consciously remembering the amazing gifts that God has given you. These could be the gifts of life, faith, family, water, air, food, shelter, jobs, kids, etc.  One thing I’m noticing more and more is that all of our news these days is bad news. People just report what’s wrong with the world, what’s wrong with the competing political party, etc.  But, if we don’t take some time to give God thanks for all the good things, we might be tempted to think that our lives are all bad.

If you knew the gift of God every day, it would have a tremendous impact in your life.  Get into the practice of gratitude and you will see big changes.  

First Sunday of Lent

1^stSunday of Lent Year C 2019:

This is the first Sunday of the season of Lent.  These 40 days are meant to be a spring time in our faith.  Hopefully the weather outside will keep getting warm.  Hopefully, the grass and trees will become green, the flowers will come back again.  The same is true of our annual season of Lent.  It’s a chance for new life to grow and flourish within our hearts and lives. I pray that this season of self-denial will be a wonderful season of growth for our whole parish community.

Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, we hear of Jesus’s temptation in the desert.  The story begins in an interesting way.  It says that Jesus was “filled with the Holy Spirit”.  Jesus is able to make it through all the temptations in the desert because he is filled with the Holy Spirit.  Let’s all make a resolution to pray to the Holy Spirit this week as we begin our journey of Lent.  Holy Spirit, come to us.  Fill us with your power.  We are journeying into the desert of Lent.  Keep us safe from the poison of Sin.  Fill us with power to overcome temptations.  May these 40 days of Lent help us to grow in our faith.

I also think this reading helps us to think about how to overcome temptations in our own lives.  Now, if you never have a problem with temptations of any kind, if you have perfect will power, then no need to pay attention to the rest of the homily. But, for me, willpower has always been a challenge.  So, I’ve been reading up on willpower.  Studies have shown that willpower works quite a bit like a muscle.  It can help us to be strong.  But, it can also wear out.  Willpower can be weak, but by exercising it, willpower can get stronger. 

This is really good news.  Willpower is not a set commodity.  You might think: I just don’t have willpower.  Well, the good news is that your willpower can grow and change. 

This is one of the reasons that I really like Lent.  It’s like a chance to boost our willpower. That’s why I would recommend that you take up some kind of practice that might help you where you think you have a challenge in your willpower.  Can’t say no to food?  Give up your favorite food for Lent.  Trouble with responsibility with drinking?  Give up alcohol for Lent.  Internet causes you problems: give up Twitter.  Our Lenten fasts can help us to charge up our willpower reserves.  So, where do you need to grow?

Now, what do we do when we are tempted?  Usually, I just sort of grin and bear it.  I might just try to avoid the thing.  I might just say “no” in my mind a million times.  But, Jesus shows us a different path.  For each of the temptations from the devil he has a response which unwraps the lie of the devil.  Notice, each temptation has a sliver of truth.  If you are the Son of God, command this stone.  Of course, Jesus could command the stone, but Jesus replies that there are more important things than food.  Second, the devil says he can give power and glory, which certainly seems true if you pay attention to the world around us.  But, Jesus says that glory and power belong to God. Throw yourself down, the angels will catch you.  Again, that is likely true.  But, Jesus responds, you shall not tempt the Lord.

This is a really important point when thinking about temptations and willpower.  All too often, we are quickly tempted, and we react without thinking things through. But, if we are able to respond in a healthy way to each temptation, we will see our willpower muscles getting stronger.  

This is another great reason for Lent.  It helps us to work on our reasons for overcoming temptations. Ice cream is yummy.  Yes that’s true, but I’m saying no to sweets so that I can grow closer to God.  I need to fight this person on Twitter who is saying dumb things.  True, these might be dumb things, why not offer up a prayer for that person instead.  This person has a great house and car, I’m jealous.  True it might be a nice house, but I’m going to give up jealous thoughts and just remember how amazing God has been to me.  

So here are the three things from this week’s mass. Number 1, pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that this season of Lent will be a great one.  Number 2, willpower can grow and get stronger, so focus in on where you need to grow this year.  Number 3, Jesus answered all the temptations with a good response.  So, be sure to think through the responses to your temptations.  Let’s pray that God will fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we can always be strong in the face of temptations, not only during this season of Lent, but through the rest of our lives as well.

Fill up your storeroom with good

7^thSunday of Ordinary Time year C 2019:

More sage wisdom from Christ this week.  These last several Sundays we have been learning from Christ how to put into action his own brand of love and mercy.  Today, especially, he is showing us the way to growing in patience and kindness.  Why notice the splinter in your brother’s eye when you have a beam in your own?  I can readily admit that I’m a card-carrying member of the “beam in the eye club.”  I’m an expert at recognizing other people’s problems, when I have enough of my own problems.  So, this is practical advice to grow in patience.

But, I wanted to reflect on another part of the gospel today. I really like this comment from Jesus: A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good; an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil.  This is a good reminder that our actions really begin with our hearts. If our hearts are filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and mercy, then our actions are good and loving and holy.  But, if our hearts are filled with envy, jealousy, lust, greed, etc, our actions turn out to be evil.  What kind of person do you want to be?  If you want to be a good person, and most people generally do say that they want to be good people, then the key is to fill up your heart with goodness.

How do you do that?  I really like this image of a store room.  Jesus says that from the store of good comes good, from the store of evil comes evil.  So, what kind of inventory are you putting into your hearts?  Our daily lives, our little actions, our habits, our thoughts, our motives, these are the ways that we fill out the storeroom of our hearts. So, what does you inventory look like? 

These words from Jesus reminded me of a Native American parable I heard one time that has really stuck with me.  A young man asked his grandfather this question: “Grandfather, how can I be good?  Often, I want to do good and to be good, but it feels like there is a force within me that moves me to choose things that are evil and wrong.”  The grandfather looked at his grandson with love and said: “in the heart of every man and woman there are two wolves who are fighting to win for control of your life.  One wolf is good, the other is evil.”  The grandson replied, “Grandfather, which wolf ends up winning?”  “The wolf that you feed,” he answered.

I really loved this image: the one that you feed.  We often think about good and evil in terms of big and dramatic actions or habits.  But, our hearts are really formed by the small things.  The daily actions.  Which wolf are we feeding?  What are we putting into our storeroom?  

I’ve been reading a lot recently about habits.  I have more than one bad habit that I would like to get rid of.  And I would like to have the habit of better diet and exercise.  From everything I’ve read, the best advice I’ve gotten so far is that the only way to get rid of a bad habit or to start a good habit is to focus on the small things, the microsteps.  These little actions every day feed the good wolf.  These little actions stock up our store room with good.

Jesus calls us to be like him: every disciple will be like his teacher.  Jesus shows us an amazing example of goodness, kindness, love, and mercy.  If we are going to be like our teacher, we are going to need a storeroom that is packed full of goodness.