Morning of Reflection: Ministry to the Sick 1

Yesterday, I was honored to be asked to conduct a morning of reflection for the Ministers to the Sick from our parish along with and a number of ministers from one of our neighboring parishes, St. Theresa in Belleview, Florida. 

The content of this post includes my brief introduction, followed by the first of three talks. I will include the other two talks in subsequent posts. Each talk was about 30 minutes long.

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Good morning all. As Mary said, I'm Deacon Dana McCarthy, one of the permanent deacons assigned here to St. Vincent de Paul Parish. I've been here for 14 years now - in fact it's 14 years next month - and have seen the St. Vincent de Paul grow from a small but ever more crowded mission church, to a large ever more crowded parish church.

But in all those years this parish has been truly blessed by those who were here from its beginnings, people like Mary Wresh and her husband, Al. The other day I came across a 20-year-old parish booklet filled with photos of parishioners and ministries. I think there were six people in the photo of the Ministers to the Sick.

How many do we have now, Mary? Over 100? 

Before we begin, I suppose you'd like to know what we'll be doing this morning and how we'll be doing it. I intend to give a series of talks on various aspects of your ministry. And after each talk I'll toss out a few questions that I hope you will discuss in small groups. We'll then ask you to present your conclusions so we can all learn from what you discussed.

Nothing complex - a very straightforward approach. And somewhere in the midst of it all, we'll take a break or two.

The overall theme today is healing, but more specifically we'll focus on you, as you carry out your ministry as a Bearer of God's Healing Presence. I planned this to consist of three talks, each relating to a different aspect of this overall theme.

In our first session, we'll look briefly at ourselves, and then look beyond ourselves to those we serve, as we try to comprehend the breadth of their physical, mental and spiritual needs.

In our second session we'll jump right into the Gospel and try to understand, if only partially, what Jesus teaches us about healing.

And in our third session, we'll address the gifts that God offers to those you visit - the gift of Himself, His Eucharistic Healing Presence, and the gift of His Church - and how these gifts must change both you and those you serve.

I also hope to reserve a little time toward the end of our morning to address a variety of issues: 

• Ideas or approaches you'd like to share with the rest of us;
• Questions or difficulties you've encountered, and solutions you've come up with;
• And anything else that relates to how we carry out the work our ministry.

And so I hope this morning will prove valuable, and will help you as you care for God's people, often His most forgotten people.

You are ministers of Word, and Grace, and Healing; you are messengers of God's Presence in the world. And this work you do - God's Work - is not a choice you make...not at all. It is a ministry, and therefore it is a calling. Just as Jesus called His Apostles, just as He called Paul, so He has called you.

In so many ways your calling is unique - one of spiritual and physical healing. God has called you to carry His Son to a world in need of healing. Like Mary, you are a Christ-Bearer, one whose ministry must "magnify the Lord."

Like John the Baptist, you are called to point to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world...to introduce Him to those in need of His Presence. Like John you are sent before the Messiah, the Christ, so you too can say to those you serve, "Here He is...He must increase; you and I must decrease."

And like Peter and Paul and the Apostles, you are called to carry the Church itself to those unable to step through these doors. The Church isn't a building. It's not the Vatican, or the cathedral in Orlando, or St. Vincent de Paul...no the Church is you, and me, and all the baptized. It's the apostolic succession of bishops and popes. It's all those who came before us and those who will come after.

This is your calling, brothers and sisters, the ministry with which God has blessed you - one that should drive you to your knees daily in thanksgiving and humility.

And so, humbled by our call and filled with thanksgiving, let's begin.

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"Again, Good morning, Ministers of Healing!"

That's what you are, you know. Indeed, you are Ministers of Healing, for you take God's healing Presence to His people. This is what we'll be talking about today as we explore just a little piece of this wonderful and very central aspect of your ministry.

In some respects this title - Minister of Healing - is really a much better, more appropriate and descriptive title than the one you've been given. Just think about it: Minister to the Sick. It sounds so very limited, doesn't it?

Some of those you visit are indeed sick, whether in the hospital, a nursing facility, or at home. In truth, though, not everyone you visit suffers from physical or mental illness. Some are progressively or permanently disabled and unable to drive to Mass. But I assure you, they would not like to be called "sick."

Others are recovering from surgery or going through a period of rehabilitation, but they're certainly not physically sick.

And of course there are those who suffer from dementia, Alzheimer's, or other mental afflictions. Indeed, some of these, as their mental condition deteriorates, remain in remarkably good physical condition.

And some, like so many in our local community, are simply old and no longer as mobile as they once were. But they too are not sick, unless you consider old age an illness.

Yes, in our ministry we're often confronted by a wide variety of conditions, both physical and mental. But they're not all illnesses, are they? At least not in the way we normally think of illness.

But do you know something? Every person you visit, every person who accepts the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus Christ from you, and even the one who can't or won't accept it, is in need of healing. No exceptions. No one is exempt. You and I and those we visit might not need physical healing every day, but every single one of us needs to be healed...because we are all sinners.

And so, as we progress through the morning, I'd like you to keep that truth uppermost in your mind.

We are all sinners in need of healing.

I'll be repeating that, probably more often than you like.

We are all sinners in need of healing.

Whenever possible, I like to keep things simple. It isn't always easy; and those who know me also know that I can very quickly get swallowed up in the muddy details. I'll try to avoid that today.

Quite simply, then, my focus this morning will be on the needs of those we visit and what God brings to them through us. And in bringing this into focus I hope to expand both your understanding of this ministry and your concept of whom we, as Christians, are called to serve.

Of course, when you're seeking God's will in your life, I can think of no better place to turn than to His Word. So let's go right to the Gospel, specifically Matthew's Gospel, to that wonderfully scary passage where Jesus depicts the Last Judgment - Mt 25:31-46.

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"When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'

Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'

Then they also will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?'

Then he will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

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Now, I won't try to second-guess God - which in itself is sinfully presumptuous - by telling Him how He should weigh our sheepfulness against our goatfulness. Instead let's just look at what Jesus says He expects of us. You all heard it.

Feed the hungry. Give drink to the thirsty. What better food and drink to give to those who hunger and thirst than the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ?

Welcome the stranger. So many in our communities are strangers in need of welcome. Alone, separated from family, without friends, they live lives of desperate loneliness.

Clothe the naked. We might not encounter the naked all that often, but believe me, there are many here in central Florida in need of a winter coat or a good pair of shoes.

Visit the sick - We'll certainly not ignore them today - and the imprisoned. Some of you might be involved in prison ministry, but you don't need to go to the Federal Prison in Coleman to encounter the imprisoned. Many of those you visit are effectively imprisoned in their homes, unable to leave, and  rarely visited.

These are all, of course, elements of the Corporal Works of Mercy, all a part of the ministry to which God has called you.

And did you notice that in our Gospel passage both the righteous and the wicked seem clueless, baffled by Jesus' references to Himself? Neither, really, had recognized Him in the world.

That should lead us to question our own motives. Why do we carry out this ministry?

Is it to please ourselves? To make us feel better about ourselves? To convince ourselves we're good people.

Is it to do good in the world? To right the wrongs we encounter?

Is it to place a check-mark in a box? "Well, I guess I should do something in the Church. Might as well visit the sick."

Or is it to serve Jesus Christ?

Jesus is pretty clear, isn't He? He ties care for others, the need to heal others, to care for Jesus Himself. By serving those who suffer, we serve Him who suffered for our salvation. From this we come to realize that the two great commandments - love of God and love of neighbor - are truly inseparable.

Every person we encounter bears Jesus' own face, and in every sufferer we come to know our suffering Savior. Perhaps Pope St. John Paul said it best:

"Christ said, 'You did it to me.' He Himself is the one who in each individual experiences love; He Himself is the one who receives help...He Himself is present in this suffering person, since His salvific suffering has been opened once and for all to every human suffering" [Salvifici Doloris, VII:29].

It's through the power of the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, that we are united to Jesus and allowed to participate in His saving Cross.  It's through this that we come to know Him and serve Him in our suffering neighbors. You want to know Jesus Christ? Then get to know those you serve in His name. Just as Jesus heals a broken world from the Cross, so too do you carry His healing Presence to those you visit.

The trouble is, we allow our titles to limit our thinking. "I'm a Minister to the Sick," we say to ourselves, without considering all those others in need of God's Presence and, yes, in need of our presence.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta pointed this out to us in her own unique way when she wrote:

Jesus is the hungry to be fed.
Jesus is the thirsty to be satisfied.
Jesus is the naked to be clothed.
Jesus is the homeless to be taken in.
Jesus is the sick to be healed.
Jesus is the lonely to be loved.
Jesus is the unwanted to be wanted.
Jesus is the leper to wash His wounds.
Jesus is the beggar to give Him a smile.
Jesus is the drunkard to listen to Him.
Jesus is the mentally ill to protect Him.
Jesus is the little one to embrace Him.
Jesus is the blind to lead Him.
Jesus is the speechless to speak to Him.
Jesus is the crippled to walk with Him.
Jesus is the drug addict to befriend Him.
Jesus is the prostitute to remove from danger and befriend Her.
Jesus is the prisoner to be visited.
Jesus is the old to be served.

There's no limit is there?

I recall once accompanying one our soup kitchen drivers as he delivered food to the poor. When we arrived at one elderly woman's dilapidated mobile home she invited us in, said "Hi" to the driver and then looked at me and said, "Who's he?"

The driver said, "Oh that's the soup kitchen president. He's just riding along with me today."

She laughed and said, "La-de-dah, the president." Then she added, "I used to be a hooker, but not any more. I'm a good girl now."

So I just said, "Well, I'm glad to hear it. I'm still trying to be good." That broke the ice.

Yes, folks, we're called to serve all, even those the world despises. We're called to serve those who make us uncomfortable, those who irritate us, those who sometimes even scare us.

Some years ago, back in my Navy days, I was on a US Marine Corps base and saw a bumper sticker that read, "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out."

Now before you get all aflutter about it, as someone who spent many years in the military, let me say that I understood the sentiment. When everyone you see, everyone around you, is shooting at you, such a statement becomes more understandable.

And, of course, crude as it was, it was a joke - perhaps not meant for pleasant society, but a joke nevertheless.

But, you know, with only a single modification, it can serve us well in our ministry. And so let's rewrite it:

"Love them all and let God sort them out."

You see, we don't do the sorting; we are not to judge. God simply calls us to love.

How blessed you are to realize that as you care for others you care for Jesus Himself. And here we encounter another Gospel paradox: when we keep all for ourselves in this life, we lose our lives eternally; and in giving ourselves away to sufferers, we gain everything. You see, that's what the healer must do. Yes, you must give the other Christ's sacramental Presence, but you must also give yourself.

Do we do that? Or has the practice of our ministry become "procedural" - a repetitive event - follow the rite...

Hello. How are you today?...Our Father, who art in heaven...Behold the Lamb of God...The Body of Christ...God bless you and have a great day...See you next week....Amen.

Let's return to our original thought, the one I told you to keep in mind. Does anyone remember?

We are all sinners in need of healing.

Yes, indeed, but to be a true healers, you and I must turn first to the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit does God's work in the world.

Moved by the Holy Spirit you can invite the other to experience new freedom in his or her life, to lead the other to forgiveness - a forgiveness that so often needs to be self-forgiveness.

Diane and I work as hospital chaplains and once or twice a month we're assigned to a 24-hour on-call ministry. We given a list of all the new admissions and spend several hours trying to visit as many as possible. We visit all regardless of their religious affiliation.

One morning, after we introduced ourselves to a patient, he said, "Well, I was raised a Catholic but I haven't been to church in over 50 years. And believe me, in that time I've done so much bad stuff God wouldn't even look at me."

So Diane and I spoke to him about God's love for him and God's mercy and God's total forgiveness. And then we asked if he'd like to be forgiven, if he'd like to be right with God once again. He couldn't believe it was possible, but we convinced him otherwise.

All he needed was the grace of a good confession and then the Eucharist would fill him with God's healing Presence. Like so many he first had to forgive himself before he could accept and experience God's forgiveness and the healing that follows.

On the day I was ordained a deacon, the bishop looked out at us, and reminded us that we are called to preach, to teach, and to heal.

I can recall thinking...well, okay, I can handle the preaching and teaching part, but how do I go about this healing thing?  Then I had a moment of terror. Maybe I should have thought about this before today, the day of my ordination.

It took me a long time in the trenches before I had even a clue, and I'm still a healer in training. Believe me, it's been a very long apprenticeship, over 20 years. And often enough I can't tell the successes from the failures, and so I simply let God handle it.

"Love them all and let God sort them out."

Let me tell you a story...

Willie came to the Wildwood Soup Kitchen every day, always among the first to arrive, sometimes two or three hours before we actually began serving our daily meal. He'd always ask for a cup of coffee and if I had a few minutes, I'd sit down across the table from him and we'd chat.

I won't call it a conversation, because Willie was rarely sober, and to be honest, I could understand only about a third of what he said. But we'd talk anyway. We'd talk about God and about heaven and about life and death and about sin and forgiveness. For some reason Willie seemed to think I was the pastor of the Presbyterian church where the soup kitchen is located. And no matter what I said, I couldn't convince him otherwise.

One day I finally said, "No, Willie, I'm a Catholic deacon, over at St. Vincent de Paul's Church."  And he just looked at me, shook his said, and said, "Funny they'd make you pastor here."

Anyway, that was our little ritual every Thursday morning for a year or so. One Thursday morning he asked me if I thought he'd go to heaven. I asked him if he loved the Lord, and he said, "Oh, yes."

And are you sorry for your sins, Willie?" And he said again, "Oh, yes."

So I just said, "You'll be fine, sir."

A few weeks later, early one frosty morning, they found Willie lying in the bushes outside the soup kitchen. He had died during the night. That was about ten winters ago.

You know, I probably learned more about Jesus Christ from Willie than from all the theologians I've heard and read and studied. You see, he had grasped the truth. He knew he was a sinner in need of forgiveness.

In this age when no one wants to take responsibility for anything, when it's always someone else's fault, or society's fault, or our genes' fault, this ragged man, suffering from alcoholism and who knew what else, realized he had sinned and sought forgiveness.

In God's eyes, if not the eyes of the world, Willie was eminently lovable. That's how God sees all of us when we recognize our responsibility for our actions and seek forgiveness. He sees us as lovable. Of course, He loves us anyway, and often enough He loves us into repentance and forgiveness.

Willie neither asked for nor received a physical healing, but God's healing power, His love and mercy, reached out and touched the heart of that man as he faced eternity.
It's important to realize that the healing we need, the healing God offers us, might be something very different from the healing we want.

You know, if you sat down tonight and read all four Gospels from beginning to end, you'd encounter Jesus' healing power on dozens of occasions. But those are just the healing events about which Matthew, Mark, Luke and John provide details. The Gospels are also filled with comments such as this from Matthew 9:

"Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity." [Mt 9:35]

Did you catch that? "...every disease and every infirmity."

Jesus' healing knew no limits, did it? How many did He heal? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? We don't know, do we? But nowhere in the Gospel did He refuse to heal someone.

And so I thought, as healers (and healees), we might want to take a lessons from the Great Healer, and from those he healed, by making a stop in the pages of the Gospel.

But before we do that, let's first think about our ministry and those we are called to serve.

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Note: At this point, I provided the participants with the following questions asking them to discuss them in their small groups.

1.  How did you become a Minister to the Sick? How did God call you? Describe your response.
2. Has your understanding of this ministry, your calling, changed over time? How?
3. What (or who) are the greatest challenges you encounter in this ministry?
4. How have you changed since you became a Minister to the Sick?

Mother Teresa and the Unborn

Like Pope Francis, I know I'll have trouble now calling Mother Teresa "Saint Teresa." She has simply been Mother Teresa to the world for too long, and given her radical humility, I suspect the Church's newest saint won't mind if we continue to call her what we've always called her. Yes, she is a saint, but during much of her 87 years on earth she was also a loving mother to so many of God's forgotten children. Whenever I read that unique description of the last judgment found in Matthew's Gospel [Mt 25:31-46], I think of Mother Teresa who devoted her life to loving and caring for the least brothers and sisters of Jesus. "Jesus in disguise" she called them. She was truly a loving mother to all God's children.

If you happened to watch her canonization Mass on television yesterday, you will have heard the pope's wonderful homily in which he particularly stressed Mother Teresa's commitment to what she often called "the weakest, smallest, and most vulnerable" among us, the unborn. Sometimes, when I actually take the time to consider the truth about abortion, I find it almost inconceivable that such a horror can exist in a civilized society. To accept abortion as anything other than an intrinsically evil act demands a level of moral ignorance or outright depravity that is beyond comprehension. And yet millions of our fellow citizens seem to have little difficulty accepting this evil as a kind of human right. Imagine that! It becomes a human right to destroy another human being simply because he or she is inconvenient.

People speak today about the many evils that plague our world, but Mother Teresa knew that all these pale in comparison to abortion, the world's greatest evil. Abortion is really the overt rejection of God's love; for what is the gift of life if not the most obvious manifestation of God's love for us? And what is abortion if not its repudiation? I don't see how anyone who believes firmly in the right to abort an unborn child can accept the existence of a living, loving God. To believe in both demands some extraordinary moral and intellectual gymnastics. God's love and His command that we carry that love to others cannot coexist with abortion.

Mother Teresa, of course, knew that love is at the heart of God's call to humanity. In her own brief commentary on Matthew's last judgment, she once said:

I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I do know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, "How many good things have you done in your life?" Rather he will ask, "How much love did you put into what you did?”

I remember my own mother once telling me, "What you do is important, but how you do it is even more important." It must be something mothers understand.

Among the more remarkable moments of Mother Teresa's life were those prophetic moments when she confronted the world's elites and revealed God's Word. I've included a few here.

Her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech (December 11, 1979) was a remarkable plea to the world to turn to God and accept His love and mercy. It was also a plea on behalf of the unborn:

"The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing - direct murder by the mother herself. And we read in Scripture, for God says very clearly: Even if a mother could forget her child - I will not forget you - I have carved you in the palm of my hand. We are carved in the palm of His hand, so close to Him that the  unborn child has been carved in the hand of God. And that is what strikes me most, the beginning of that sentence, that even if a mother could forget something impossible - but even if she could forget - I will not forget you. And today the greatest means - the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion."

How interesting that this recipient of the Peace Prize would equate abortion with war and murder, and label it the "greatest destroyer of peace." I suspect that more than a few in the audience were squirming in their seats as they listened to this tiny, humble woman who commanded no armies but did not hesitate to remind them that they too would have to face God's judgment. Here is a video of her acceptance speech:

There were many similar occasions when Mother Teresa lovingly confronted those who had forgotten or neglected God's Word, but perhaps the most memorable was her appearance at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on February 3, 1994.  Her words to President and Mrs. Clinton and that gathering of politicians must have created a great deal of discomfort that morning as she called them to task. Many, perhaps most, were pro-abortion.

"If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.

"By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.

"And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion.

"Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion."

I've included a video of her talk here:

And today, two decades later, just look at our world and how violence has for too many become the means to getting what they want.

As the Church celebrates the heavenly canonization of Mother Teresa, another woman is hoping for a worldly celebration as a result of our presidential election on November 8. She too holds some strong, if radically different, beliefs about abortion. Here's what Hillary Clinton said earlier this year in a campaign speech to Planned Parenthood (Januay 6, 2016), the nation's largest abortion provider:

"Politicians have no business interfering with women's personal health decisions. I will oppose efforts to roll back women's access to reproductive health care, including Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. As president, I'll stand up for Planned Parenthood and women’s access to critical health services, including safe, legal abortion."

Ah, yes, safe for the mother; deadly for the child. It would be interesting to hear Mother Teresa's response...

Saint Teresa of Calcutta

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

― Mother Teresa

Homily: Monday, 27th Week of Ordinary Time

Readings: Jon 1:1-2:1-2, 11; Jon 2:3-8; Lk 10:25-37

Jesus was always teaching, wasn’t He? And like any good teacher, He was always being questioned.

Even as a child, as a twelve-year-old in the Temple, Jesus answers the questions of the wise. Luke tells us that “all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers” [Lk 2:47].

And the questions continued right up to that final barrage of questions Jesus received from Pilate, as He stood before him facing death.

Yes, even Pilate, the upper-class Roman who no doubt considered the Jews little more than rabble – even Pilate sought answers from this Jesus, this teacher whom he would soon judge under man's law.

“Are you the King of the Jews?” [Jn 18:33]

“Where are you from?” [Jn 19:9]

“Do you not you know that I have…power to crucify you?” [Jn 19:10]

And of course that sneering question from Pilate: “What is truth?” [Jn 18:38]

Pilate should have asked, “Who is truth?”, because he was in the presence of the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Yes, almost everyone Jesus met asked Him questions. It’s as if, somehow, they all knew, if only subconsciously, who He really was. Those He encountered seemed to sense He was more than just a teacher.

What did the centurion say as he stood at the foot of the Cross?

“Truly this was the Son of God” [Mt 27:54].

In today’s passage from Luke, Jesus is again asked a question: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" [Lk 10:25]

Jesus didn’t need to invent an answer, for the answer was already there in the Word of God. And so He answered with a question of His own: “What is written in the Law? [Lk 10:26]

The scholar responded correctly, didn’t he? He simply went to Scripture:

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” [Lk 10:27].

You see, it’s not necessary to be a scholar to know God and what He expects of us. Indeed, just moments before Jesus had prayed to the Father:

“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” [Lk 10:21]

But not being very childlike, the scholar, hoping not so much to learn as to justify himself, asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” With that Jesus offers us a gift, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a parable both scholar and childlike can understand:

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho...” [Lk 10:30]

But what exactly did the Samaritan do? After all, he was a Samaritan, despised by the Jews and thought to be outside the Law. And yet, did he not listen to God’s Word? Did he not obey the Law? Well, at the very least, it seems he listened to his conscience and acted righteously. And this set him on the path to eternal life.

Remember that original question: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” [Lk 10:25] This is what Jesus' answer is all about.

Yes, there were three who encountered the wounded man on the road, weren’t there? But only one of the three did anything to help. How did Jesus put it? “Many are called but few are chosen” [Mt 22:14]

And so today, let’s reflect on our own lives. Who are the wounded you and I encounter? Those who are physically wounded? Or mentally wounded? Or spiritually wounded? Do we even recognize them in the busyness of our lives? Or perhaps we do see them, but turn away, preferring not to be bothered. Anyway, someone else will take care of them.

Is that how we hope to inherit eternal life? As Christians we should know better. To inherit eternal life, we must come to know God, to know Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

But this knowing of God is knowledge of love. As John reminds us: to know the Truth that is God is to know God, who "is Love" [1 Jn. 4:16]. It always comes back to Love, doesn’t it? To love the Lord your God with all your being, and to love your neighbor as yourself. How did Mother Teresa put it? "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

Yes, indeed, we spend so much time judging others, and so little time loving them. St. James reminded us all of this when he wrote that "mercy triumphs over judgment" [Jas 2:13].

As we look forward to the Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis, let's make an effort as individuals and as a parish to replace self-absorption with a love for others, to replace judgment with mercy.

Homily: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Readings: Zec 9:9-10; Ps 145; Rom 8:9, 11-13; Mt 11:25-30

A few years ago there was a TV commercial – It was for monster.com, the find-a-job website – depicting a steady stream of kids telling us what they wanted to be when they grew up. One after another, they said such things as: I want to be underappreciated; I want to be a yes-man; I want to file papers all day… on and on they went…Of course it was a parody, all very tongue-in-cheek. It was funny because few children think that way.

I certainly didn’t. When I was a kid the last thing I wanted to be when I grew up was ordinary. I didn’t want some 9 to 5 job. I didn’t want to live an ordinary life, in some ordinary place…not at all. And I certainly didn’t expect a nice, ordinary retirement in a place like The Villages…

You see, as a child, everything around me seemed dull and predictable, all very ordinary. And I wanted an extraordinary life. I couldn’t wait to grow up. I wanted to do exciting things. I wanted adventure. I wanted to be like Steve Canyon or Terry and the Pirates. If those names mean nothing to you, ask someone who’s older. They’ll fill you in.

As it turned out, much of my life was fairly exciting and adventurous, and I was blessed to be a part of some rather extraordinary events. But even they were exceptions. Most of my life was actually pretty ordinary. I married a wonderful, and very extraordinary, woman, settled down, raised four wonderful children, and ended up doing all those normal things husbands and fathers do. As time passed, ever more quickly, I was struck by the reality that those adventures of the past, those remarkable experiences are now just memories. They can’t be re-lived. They’re gone forever. Life just evolves into the ordinary.

How many of us, to compensate for the ordinary in our lives, try all the harder to make retirement something more…to make retirement extraordinary, just like The Villages commercial. Well, folks, look around and you’ll see the answer. It doesn’t take long to realize life in a retirement community isn’t really like the commercial.

Oh, the stress of the workplace may be gone, but for many it’s simply replaced by something else. When we were younger we went to Mass on Sunday and sat in the pew, trying not to think about work and the crises we’d face on Monday morning. Today only the worries have changed. Now you worry about the tests your doctor did last Tuesday...or about your son-in-law who just lost his job…or how you rarely visit your 93-year-old mother in the nursing home...or if you can afford to help your granddaughter who didn’t get that scholarship.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way in retirement. Too many of us are left uninspired, neither healed nor reconciled, not prayerful, or even very thankful. Sunday Mass and the Eucharist become a habit. We focus more on the quality of our parking space. Oh, we pray, hoping God understands; and then find ourselves right back where we started: hoping for the extraordinary in the midst of all the ordinary.

Then we hear the words: “Come to me…”

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” [Mt 11:28-30].

Rest! It sounds so tempting, so inviting, so easy. It sounds too easy. What’s the catch, Jesus? Where’s the fine print? If there’s one thing we’ve learned it’s that nothing in this world comes easy. There’s always a price.

And yet, these words don’t go away. The idea of finding rest – of laying down our burdens, of being able to rely on another – simply won’t let us go. No, they don’t go away and they won’t let us go because these words are God’s Word. They’re Jesus Himself, the Incarnate Word of God. And the Word says, I’m not leading you to the answer, or selling you the answer, or bargaining with you about the answer. I AM the answer.

How many of us, despite a loving spouse, dear family and friends, despite successful careers, and yes, despite our profession of faith…how many feel we’re running alone in this life?

You see, brothers and sisters, God is always calling …but so many respond only when they’re weary enough, frustrated enough, wounded enough, empty enough, to hear His invitation: “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me” [Mt 11:28-29]

This is an odd thing Jesus says. It doesn’t seem to make sense does it? Lay down your burdens and strap on a yoke? And this will give us peace and rest? Very odd indeed. And yet, that’s exactly how it works. Taking up the yoke of Christ lashes us to Him. In a way it aligns us; it straightens us out. It allows us to walk with Him, to work with Him, to work for Him. 

The yoke of Christ binds us intimately to Jesus, intimately to the Trinity. The yoke of Christ changes us from solitary and exhausted runners, runners searching for finish lines that aren’t there. It changes us into disciples willing to surrender all to a loving God, disciples who experience the peace of Christ because we recognize Christ in others.

And the yoke of Christ binds us to each other. How did Mother Teresa put it? “If we have no peace, it is because we’ve forgotten we belong to each other.” Did you know that? That we are bound to each other with the yoke of Christ? That we belong to each other? That the homeless, the dying, the hungry, the unborn, the disabled – they belong to you and you to them?

That the imprisoned criminal – the murderer, the rapist, the pedophile – yes, even those who commit the most evil acts – that Jesus Christ wants to save them too, and that He wants to do so through us. He wants to save Democrats and Republicans, Communists, Socialists, and Fascists. He wants to save terrorists and abortionists. He wants us all bound to each other through Him.

Do we really believe we belong to each other…to all of us? Or just to those we like, to those we tolerate? Can we accept the Gospel, without compromise? If we want God’s peace in our lives, we must. And what peace it is. It’s not the peace the world offers, the phony peace and happiness promised by politicians, or self-help gurus, or commercials. No, it’s the peace only God can give.

To receive it, we must take up the yoke of Christ. It sets us free from all the foolishness of the world, from its false pride, and allows us to accept humbly the truth of what life in this world is really all about.

But the yoke of Christ doesn’t prevent all pain. It doesn’t remove our sorrows and burdens. No, indeed, when we take up the yoke of Christ we also join Him on the Cross. But it’s a shared cross, and so, again, the yoke is easy. It teaches us these burdens of life can be shared. They can be transformed, taken up into the heart of God Himself, and returned to us as life.

“Come to me!” Jesus calls to each of us. Stop running your race to nowhere. Stop running from My voice. Turn, listen and respond. Come to me! It’s the invitation of a lifetime and it comes with a promise: “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly”  [Jn 10:10].

You see, brothers and sisters, God yearns, with all the passion of a lover, to give Himself to us, to take us forever into His embrace. St. John explained this when He wrote: “Love, then, consists in this: not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice for our sins” [1 Jn 4:10].

God wants nothing – He wants no thing – from us, except ourselves. And once we accept this…Once we come to Him with nothing but ourselves…Once we deposit all our sorrow and exhaustion and striving at His Heart’s door…Once we decide we want to be His disciple when we grow up…

Then, in exchange for our weakness, our arrogance, all our sins, He will give us the greatest gift imaginable. He will give us Himself. And there’s nothing ordinary about that.

How to Love Like Mother Teresa

The brief video I've included below is worth the three minutes it will take to watch it. It offers some good spiritual guidance on living the kind of life -- a life of love -- that Mother Teresa lived.

Mother Teresa on Abortion

As the nation prepares to vote in Tuesday's elections, it's important to keep in mind the key issue, the issue around which all else revolves. Abortion, the back-room killer of 50 million Americans is the silent sub-text in almost every race. Pro-life candidates have been attacked personally and with such obvious hatred that I'm surprised they have the courage to continue. God bless them.

The following video contrasts comments made by Mother Teresa with those made by Adolf Hitler. Hitler saw abortion as a tool, as a means to solve what he perceived as the problem of all those "undesirables" who he believed were a threat to the so-called racial purity he envisioned -- an attitude not unlike that of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, who was all wrapped up in the eugenics movement of her time. (See this site for more information.)



Many people seem to think that our nation's problems stem from economic and fiscal failures, or from illegal immigration, or any number of other causes. But the real failure is the failure to love, the failure to see and acknowledge the image of God in each other, the failure to respect every individual life that God has created. This failure, this widespread lack of respect for human life itself, can do nothing but bring a nation to ruin. If you really want to save our nation, then choose life...vote for life.

Upside Down World

There's a story -- and I'm not sure how accurate it is -- that when Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781 the British band of drummers and fifers played the 17th century English ballad, "The World Turned Upside Down." I suppose it must have seemed that way to the British whose supposedly invincible army had just suffered defeat at the hands of this undisciplined band of colonials...who were,of course, helped by the French. But they shouldn't have been too surprised by the defeat at Yorktown since human history is littered with similar events, those unexpected turnabouts when reality mocks the odds. Indeed, the British were the beneficiaries of one such upset in 1415 at Agincourt when, under Henry V and aided by the longbow, they completely overwhelmed a much larger French army. These things happen.

All of this came to mind last night when I was reading Isaiah and came across that wonderful verse: "Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you" [Is 49:15].

When Isaiah asked that inspired question, the idea that a mother might neglect her child or despise the baby in her womb was unthinkable. This is what makes the question and its response so powerful: that we are loved by our God always, even if the unthinkable should happen and our mothers should forget us, even if the world turns upside down. And for centuries, at least in what was once Christendom, the world remained right-side up and mothers didn't think the unthinkable...until the 20th Century.

And what a century is was. Instead of the century of progress promised by the heirs of the Enlightenment, we were given a century of genocide, a century of death in all its forms. It was a century when Stalin and Hitler and Mao and Pol Pot and so many others slaughtered millions to impose their ideologies and their wills. But that just wasn't enough for them and their proteges. Not content with the murder of the walking innocent, they turned to the truly innocent, to the most defenseless among us, to the unborn in the womb. And what efficient killers they have become. For today it is estimated that each year throughout the world 42 million babies are aborted. In other words, 42 million mothers are "without tenderness for the child" of their wombs. Yes, the world has once again turned upside down.

And now, ten years into the next century, the slaughter continues unabated. We, can, however, help stop it. As Christians we can help turn the world right-side up once again. We won't accomplish this through political action, or protests, or letters to the editor, although each of these can help educate those who have allowed themselves to become insensible to the slaughter. No, only God can stop this new holocaust, but we can help bring it about through the power of prayer and fasting. If all Christians devoted one day every week to prayer and fasting I'm convinced that God would bring it to an end...for such is the power of prayer.

But time is running out. As Blessed Mother Teresa asked, "When  a mother can kill her own child, what is left of the West to save?"

Pray for LIFE!

Mother Teresa Dissed by Empire State Building

Here's another one from Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. Rather than edit what he has to say, I've simply provided his complete press release (dated today) below:

EMPIRE STATE BLDG. STIFFS MOTHER TERESA

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

On August 26, the U.S. Postal Service is honoring the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mother Teresa. On February 2, I submitted an application to the Empire State Building Lighting Partners requesting that the tower lights feature blue and white, the colors of Mother Teresa's congregation, the Missionaries of Charity, on August 26. On May 5, the request was denied without explanation.

Mother Teresa received 124 awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Freedom. She built hundreds of orphanages, hospitals, hospices, health clinics, homeless shelters, youth shelters and soup kitchens all over the world, and is revered in India for her work. She created the first hospice in Greenwich Village for AIDS patients. Not surprisingly, she was voted the most admired woman in the world three years in a row in the mid-1990s. But she is not good enough to be honored by the Empire State Building.

Last year the Empire State Building shone in red and yellow lights to honor the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Yet under its founder, Mao Zedong, the Communists killed 77 million people. In other words, the greatest mass murderer in history merited the same tribute being denied to Mother Teresa.

We are launching a nationwide petition drive protesting this indefensible decision (TO SIGN THE PETITION, Click here). We are petitioning Anthony Malkin, the owner of the Empire State Building, to reverse this decision. 

 Join me in signing this petition to honor Mother Teresa, one of the true saints of our time.

Blessings...