Re-gifting - Reflection 17th Sunday OT A

(Readings)

I had to prepare a presentation for a professional meeting. No specific topic, it just had to be current, profession related, and insightful. I had no idea.

Instead, I studied the word of God for this reflection. The church gives me someplace to start and the Holy Spirit takes over with the message to proclaim.

The message I found is that God gives each of us a gift; but how do we respond and use that gift. How do we re-gifting the gifts of God?

In the first reading, God gave King Solomon a gift of wisdom.  The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream and said ask me and I will give it to you. Solomon’s response was for the wisdom on an understanding heart. In that understanding heart, God gave him so many other gifts.

Solomon re-gifted his understanding heart and wisdom to the people as King Solomon.

Christ gives us gifts even greater than the Wisdom of Solomon. Through Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. With the gift of the Holy Spirit, we get wisdom and also understanding, counsel, knowledge, piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord.

It is a gift that allows us to know the Kingdom of Heaven of Jesus’ parables. The treasure buried in the field and the pearl of great price. The Kingdom of Heaven we should want to achieve. 

Christ’s gift gives us all we need for that and more.

We celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of Confirmation. Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; for you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom

By the presence of the Holy Spirit, we bring our gifts to others. Those instructed in the kingdom of heaven brings from his storeroom both the new and the old. It is a gift we are to share, re-gift to others.  But do we?

Too many people forget the sacrament and put their gifts away to never to use them. The gift of the Holy Spirit becomes like unused and unopened Christmas gifts hidden in the back of the closet. The gifts we receive as believers born in Christ are left unrealized and undeveloped, put away and forgotten.

That is not the way it should be!!

King Solomon was called to be king, sharing the gift wisdom with his people. For that, the Lord promised he would be remembered as great among the kings of Israel. 

Re-gift what Christ has given; bring the old and the new because “All things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

For myself, hopefully, I have grown in the gifts Christ bestowed on me when I was a new believer and have shared them with others. As a spouse, parent, son or daughter, brother or sister or friend each of us should grow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit; re-gifting them to all those we love.  

We are called to share our gifts as disciples; sharing the gospel and proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven. For that, Jesus promised, “The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous.”

Think about the words of wisdom from today’s Psalm:  O LORD, my part is to keep your words. In all your precepts I go forward. The revelation of your words sheds light, giving understanding. Lord, I love your commands.

As a deacon, my ministry is bringing the Gospel to the workplace. Today’s gospel brought me a message for the workplace. You might say, I’ll be re-gifting this gift.

We are all called according to our purpose. King Solomon took the gift the Lord gave him and built up the Kingdom of Israel. Jesus tells us use all He has given us to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Our part is to keep His words and move forward sharing God by a life lived in His gifts.

Do you understand all these things?

Yall be good, yall be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.

Communication - Communication - Communication - Homily 16th Sunday

(Readings)

Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and weeds. This parable was common practice to plant weeds in a field for revenge or hate or competition and it was against Roman law. The weed is called darnel.

It grows like wheat. It looks like wheat. It’s so similar it’s called false wheat; but it’s poison. Eating it makes you sick or worse.

Unless you knew what to look for, it was hard to tell the wheat from the weed. But when ripe, the fruit of the wheat turns a golden brown and the weed turns black. The master gave these instructions: wait until the harvest. Let’s see the fruit.

This week, I worked with great people from my company. My boss gave me these instructions: communication–communication-communication.

I’ve worked in my field for 30 years. In the beginning, every day I would learn something new and then something new again. I still have a lot to learn; but, my learning is not in leaps and bounds as it once was.

The communication instructions I was given was about learning every day. Learn from co-workers, peers, and customers. Most importantly, communicate what I learn so others learn.

That’s easier said than done. To learn more I will have to seek it with intentionality, with a lived life.

It is also the way of faith. Faith comes with intentionality, with a life lived.

Faith is by the grace of God; but to be strong, it needs to be experienced in life. Purposely put faith in our daily life by how we live in Christ and how we bring Christ to others. It’s a lot easier said than done.

Yet, the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness

In the beginning, faith can grow like a mustard seed. Faith gets stronger every day and the next day again. Those who’ve lived long in faith still grow, but maybe in less leaps and bounds as when it was new.  

It is by the intentionality of faith through prayer we communicate with God. It is hard to pray as we ought but by the purposeful intention of prayer we grow in God; so pray – pray - pray.

Pray so that as faith matures, it will continue to grow. Again, seek faith a lived life.

Sometimes the experience of a lived life hurts and all we can do is groan. Offer that as prayer. Scripture says that then, the spirit himself will intercede… and God will hear it and know our intentions.

The Holy Spirit is the source of our prayer.  By grace, the Holy Spirit communicates us to God and God to us to grow our faith. Then by the Spirit that is in us, we communicate God to others.

A couple of weeks ago, Father challenged us to become dynamic Catholics. We are to be good wheat; but, we must be dynamic, which means being Catholic with the intentionality of a lived life.

According Matthew Kelly’s book The Four Characteristics of Dynamic Catholics are prayer, study, generosity, and evangelization.

These are all communication. Prayer is communication with God. Study is the communication of His knowledge, wisdom, and reason. Generosity is communication of His love and caring. Evangelization is the communication of the gospel of Christ to others. The first three all lead to evangelization. The more you grow in Christ through prayer, study, and generosity the more you desire to share Christ with the world.

Imagine a world living in accord with the greatest commandment. Imagine a world where prayer, study, generosity, and evangelization communicates love of God and neighbor in the most natural and effective way of kindness and friendship.

The world constantly changes for better or worse; full of good or full of poison. It is the way it is because of our human weaknesses, bad seed strewn by the enemy. As dynamic Catholics, we are wheat separated from the weeds by our fruit. We are to live a dynamic communication of God in prayer, study, generosity, and evangelization.

We have to do it intentionally, with a lived life.

Yall be good. Yall be holy. Preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.

Fertile Ground - Reflection 15th Sunday OTA

 Fertile Ground

Readings

"A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

When it comes to mass, you usually see many of the same faces, some faces you don’t see as often, and then some you see once or twice a year.

I was thinking about this in reflecting on the gospel. To grow a seed has to fall on fertile ground. For us to grow in the Gospel, to grow in love, we have to be in fertile ground.

There is an old saying “We are what we eat.”There is something else I have always been told. “All that we hear and we see becomes part of us.

Those two sayings are true for those who consider themselves Catholics. The Mass, the worship of God, and the praise and thanksgiving of the Eucharist, becomes part of who we are. We are what we eat, all that we hear and see becomes part of us.  Today, what we eat, we see, and we hear can be far from God. 

In scriptures Jesus’ followers found Jesus’ teachings hard and left him. But the disciples who stayed asked to whom else shall we go?

That’s what we find in the gospel. It asks are we fertile ground like the disciples who stayed or have we gone somewhere else and become hard, rocky, or thorny ground. Each and every time we turn away or forget or have something more important than God, we become bad ground that cannot grow the seed that is the word God has put in us. Instead, to whom else do we go?

In life, I have been guilty of going somewhere else, probably many of us have. I played golf, instead of coming to mass. Or, the ball game was to start at noon and if mass is long; I’d miss the pregame and some of the first quarter. And, I heard it was to be a great game.

At one time in my life, a child’s ball game or athletic event was more important than mass. The most important thing for my child’s life is to play ball, mass can wait. God’s asks something hard; to whom else shall we go?

At some time, I realized this truth. The truth of those who stayed that Jesus has the message of eternal life.

I understood this parable of Jesus; the hard ground, the rocky ground, and the thorns. My life had been the all those places.

Many times I’ve been hard and indifferent to the word of God. The birds were things I put before God. And because of my hardness and the things I put before  God, truth and love had no chance to grow. I put things before Him; a round of Golf, a ball game, or even work.

There were times I was on rocky ground. I thought I was good Christian but inside I was hateful to the world. Ugly and angry thoughts burned up the good inside of me for no reason other than to justify my own unhappiness. The seed of truth and love of God sown by Jesus could not find fertile soil.

When I was younger I lived among thorns. Even though I knew the love of Christ, I frequented things that were a bad influence not to change hearts; but, more often than not changing mine. Life among thorns can choke the love and goodness in you.

In times I was hard of heart or in a rocky place or living among thorns, God seed was in a little patch of fertile soil my parents had prepared in me. The seed that fell on this rich and fertile place grew. It made me work on the bad places. It worked to soften the hard part of me. I worked on the rocky parts and got the thorns out of my life.

I got away from bad influence of things I saw and heard that became part of me. I ate the body of Christ. I drank His blood. I saw and heard prayers of praise and thanksgiving that drew me closer to Jesus. That little patch of fertile ground became more and more. “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to us....To anyone who has, more will be given.”

Are we being infertile ground so love and truth has trouble growing in us, our spouse, children, and friends?

What are you putting before God? A  ballgame, work, a fishing trip, or maybe a trip to Disney World,  remember, all in this present time is as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.

Consider the example you set for others, because we are what we eat, all that we hear and see becomes part of us. You build fertile ground by the way you live, love, and preach the gospel.

Yall be good, yall be holy. Amen.

Got Burdens? Reflection 14th Sunday OT-A

Readings

Jesus used the words of the prophets to point to who He was. Before we begin, I’ll share these words that point to who we are, “The beginning of the Christian life is easy, the end joyous; but in the middle - battles take place!” (Viola)

Jesus used these words from the Book of Sirach "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."

Jesus refers to himself as a place of rest. These are words of wisdom; especially for those of us in the middle, where battles take place.

There is a young woman, beautiful, with loving husband and healthy and attractive children. She has a great job and a nice home. The world would say she’s got it made; but, she has burdens many will never carry. She battles for peace, trying to break the warrior’s bow that targets her life.

She comes to Jesus each week at mass. She comes with a broken heart washed in tears. She takes all that she has, all her burdens, and gives them to Jesus.

She has realized the truth. We can only give to the Lord who and what we are. This includes the burdens and sufferings in our lives, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest.” This promise is words of comfort.

We all have burdens and nobody needs to tell us.  We can look at our life and make a list.  Burdens cannot be erased from lives. Suffering cannot be expunged from the world. But, when burdens or sufferings descend upon us, there is a safe place to go far beyond our troubles, “Come and I will give you rest.”

Those who see clearly know that everything can lead us to God. Everything and everywhere, even burdens and sufferings become a juncture for good and an occasion for encounter with God. 

He will use even bad situations for good. God, the Father, will bend down low to raise us up. He comes to us a humble and loving God. We know “… and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to who the Son wishes to reveal Him.”

He is Jesus, the word of God that lives in the world. He is God that experienced the burdens of humanity, love, hunger, thirst, and sufferings. Jesus Christ is the love of our Heavenly Father that bent down to bring us up.  

God is the Holy Spirit that continues to lift us up. The Holy Spirit is continuously at work in the world and move us towards God’s plan for us.

A plan so perfect even burdens, suffering, and tragedy can bring us to Him. God’s plan makes them part of the solution; so, we see in truth. The truth found in the cross Christ revealed to us. Like the cross which came from this world, burdens and sufferings are parts of living in this world.

We are exposed to a world where success is to have control; control of the situation and others. We are shown that power comes from having an advantage over others. Strength is said to be monetary wealth and possessions.

Jesus says learn from me. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.” Carrying a burden and suffering bears true fruit as we change and heal by taking on the yoke of Christ.

There was a man who was a professional. Successful and prestigious, he had money and power over many. Then his child contracted a terminal illness. It broke him. He could not find comfort in his success, money, power, and prestige.

This man and his family found rest by embracing the meek and humble heart of Jesus. They found the just savior who triumphs over the battles of the world.   

In burdens and sufferings, you know who are in God. Either you turn away from God or you run to Him. God is the one in control. God is the only one with power and advantage over our burdens and sufferings.

Scripture tells us, The Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead will give you life.  Look around, many are quietly carrying their burdens. We don’t know the battles they fight. They come to the one who can give them life. They come to true comfort, the one who gives them rest.

Look at yourself, He will give you rest.                                     

Yall be good, yall be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.

My Worst Nightmare - Reflection 13th Sunday OT A

(Readings)

A professor gave an impassioned lecture on his area of expertise in class. After class a usually half-asleep-back-row student came up and said “Wow! You take this stuff seriously!”

People take stuff they are passionate about seriously. Just look at politics: Democrats and Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives. They take their stances passionately. But in that passion, do they live the ideas they express?

In a restaurant recently, I overheard a man speaking with his coffee break buddies about the virtues of the Democratic party in his county, He stated he would rather do something reprehensible than to shake a Republican’s hand much less  vote for one. Then he went into an elitist and racist tirade against everybody else.

Hearing the rhetoric shouted by Conservative Republican Christians, I wonder do those words go together. Christians are to announce the praises and live the gospel of the one who called then out of darkness. But, praising Christ and living the gospel can go against many people who identify as Conservative or Republican or Liberal or Democrat.

Jesus told us it would even be hard for Christians to praise him and live the gospel. "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me….”

Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, no Christian should ever deny justice to the poor, the sick, the naked, or the homeless. Every Christian should respect the life and dignity of every person, unborn, newborn, elderly, terminal, and even those in prison.  For believers to fail in these is the worst nightmare of our faith.

The media’s new buzzword is “social justice.” This is not something new, Jesus tells us “Take up your cross and follow me.” For Christians, social justice is defined by following Christ. Social Justice must be part of who we are, our faith, and the cross we carry; yet, we fail.

We don’t care enough. We stand behind fake crosses and ignore what we champion. The cause of the weak and poor are just papier-mâché crosses we rally behind. We rail against politicians for in action thinking we are being compassionate but only place blame and never carry the cross.

We live in centrally cooled and heated houses with spare rooms and the homeless people are sleeping outside on pavements. We scrape good food into our garbage disposal, compost piles, or garbage cans; and, under a bridge on the opposite side of town hungry people wait in line for handouts. We want more stuff; yet, the tattered person on the corner scavenged possession fit in a shopping cart. The list can go on and on…

Good people say there are agencies; but, can a mentally ill person find safe shelter or a person with a history find a bed for the night? These will be turned away. And, the world still stands behind labels, throwing insults and rocks to protests. Even Christians fail in the responsibility of their faith.

In all our passion, do we do more than just ask, “Can something be done for them?” The answer is “Yes!”

Whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple— amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward."

Instead of going out to the incarnate suffering world to bring relief, most find it easier to argue, oppose, critique, judge, and evaluate those in need or those who don’t agree. But those of us, “…baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into his death. If we have died with Christ, we shall live with him.”  We are to live His ministry, his works, his caring, and his mercy. Most of all, we are baptized into his love.

My worst nightmare is for all of us to go through life as half-asleep-back-row Christians speaking justice, bringing none. The Lord takes this stuff seriously. “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” It is time for us to take our faith seriously.

Yall be good, yall be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.