Momma Tried - Homily 30th Sunday OTA

Last night, Frances I. Malone, the Bishop of Shreveport, told this story at the confirmation mass. As a young child he would want to give his mother a gift and would ask her what did she really want? His mother would reply “I want you to be good and go find something to do.”

I think a lot of us may have been asked for that gift when we were young.

I can remember my brothers and I would ask my mother on her birthday or mother’s day what gifts would she like? She would say “I want your boys to be good and stop fighting each other.”

Momma tried to teach us right.

Today, we have Jesus’ words. The Pharisees, one of them a scholar of the law, are trying to catch Jesus saying something wrong. They asked him “what is the greatest commandment?”

Jesus answered, “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart; with all your soul; and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. The second is like it, “You should love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s where our mothers got it.

Very simply to be good is to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. It is the ultimate good.

One way to love God with all that we are is to go to confession. Confession helps us to acknowledge and speak the times we have not loved God. That is a simple truth about confession, because sin is our failure to love God.

When we go to confession we contemplate our life. And, the more often we go to confession, the easier it is to see how every day in little ways we disappoint God by our sin.

To love God is to be good. It is what the Bishop’s mother new. That is what so many of our mothers and fathers knew. My mother told me, be good. My dad told me and my brothers, all I want is for you boys to grow up to be good and holy young men.

And that is the greatest commandment. But there is also a second part, Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. My mother said it simply - stop fighting.

Yet that seems to be all the world wants us to do. We fight as citizens of the world. We fight as citizens of this country. We fight as families. We fight as members of the Church.

This week Pope Francis made a statement about love. It’s a very controversial statement because he talked about love, homosexuality, and family. And there are different reports as to what he said. The English translation is stated to be different from his words in Spanish.

The Pope’s message is everybody needs love. But many peoples response is anything but love. Some have forgotten we are to hate the sin but love the sinner.

People considering themselves good Catholics speak with hate and venom towards Pope Francis whose teaching is on Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

It is a teaching about recognizing each and every person no matter their sins as a child of God.

The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and our soul and all our mind. As a child of God, we are to love the Lord with all our strength for he is our refuge, our rock, our shield, our stronghold, and the horn of our salvation.

Christians are to imitate Christ by our life. We are to be Christ in this world for others to see by our lives, our actions, and our love. We are to bring the love of God to others in this world.

Nowhere in the gospel of Jesus Christ does he tell us not to love others; even if they are different.

No commandment tells us to hate others because they are different; but Jesus did tell us to bring God's love to others.  

The only sin we are told that is unforgivable is a sin against the Holy Spirit. The greatest sin against the Holy Spirit would be not to love God with all that you are and to not the love of Christ, the Lord God has given to us through the Holy Spirit with one another.

As a country, people have forgotten how to love others. Many political leaders have forgotten how to love others. Those who bring violence and disrespect for the dignity of each and every human life have forgotten love. Sometimes, even believers have forgotten how to love.

Friends, the secret of loving others is to live the greatest commandment - love God with all that you are.  We see how we fail to love God by confession.

Mothers had it right when they said “be good.” That is why I say, “Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by the way you live your life and love one another. Amen”

Invitation - Homily 28th Sunday OTA

Before mass, someone said, I just want to tell say you’ve become a really good preacher. You were always good, but lately you’ve gotten better.

I considered this during the first and second readings. I remembered my first homilies I tried so hard to get right. God would put a message on my heart and I would change it to get it just right. But, I noticed the less I edited the more it touched them people.

God supplies all we need.

He did this week. Friday, at 2:00 p.m., I was on the phone with a customer who did not want to end our conversation. Finally, I said "I need to go, I am preaching this weekend and need to read scripture and pray."

My friend said, I think God is calling me to ministry; but, I been too bad. I not good enough. And, I am definitely not smart enough.

Then he continues. My wife and I were raised Pentecostal but now attend a small Baptist Church. I was asked to be an usher and on the first Sunday when I went to take up the collection, the minister asked me to lead the offertory prayer. .

I had never prayed in public. I stammered, stuttered, and am sure offered the worst prayer. After service, I asked the preacher to please not call on me again. He did, the next Sunday; but then quietly added "Brother Bob, pray from your heart."

One Sunday the preacher came to me and asked "Brother would you consider being a youth minister?"

I had excuses. “I'm too bad, I not good or holy enough.  I'm definitely not smart enough. I’ve never been to seminary. I don’t know the bible well enough. ”

The preacher said, “I don’t either. I am just a country the boy the Lord called to preach the gospel.” Then he added, “I think he is calling you. If not the youth minister please consider teaching youth Sunday school classes with your wife.”

The Sunday school classes had been taught by an elderly couple for many years.  My friend said he explained he would not be comfortable taking Brother Billy’s class. The kids loved him and he loved them. Since his wife’s death the kids were all he had.

The preacher said, just help. The next Sunday, Brother Billy’s class was wonderful, well taught, and full of love. Afterwards, the old man came up to us and said “Thank you for your help, I have been praying God would provide.”

He continued, “I have needed help for this class. My wife helped me for years. She would teach me the lesson, because I cannot read or write.”

My friend said God humbled him at that moment.

Isaiah wrote, God will provide for the needs of his people.  

Jesus taught us to pray “Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done. ”Every day, it’s prayed hundreds of thousands of times. Hopefully, hundreds of millions of times - Christianity is l the most widely practice religion in the world.

Ideally 2.4 billion people daily will pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” That is a lot of people praying for an invitation to the wedding feast.

So when the invitation goes out, we will see how many will come.

The invitation is something special. The Prophet Isaiah calls it feast of salvation. He writes: The LORD God will destroy death, wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove.

Jesus parable is about the promise of salvation. It was a message meant for the Pharisees, elders, and all the Jewish people. It is a warning for Christians today.

Our salvation depends on us making the correct response to God’s invitation. So, Jesus tells the parable with two parts.  

The first is about those who seem to be worthy, the favored ones. However, they insult the King and his heir by declining the invitation. They put their own interests first.  Something is more important to them than their salvation.

The second part of the story focuses on those who would never have considered getting an invitation. The rest of us, the bad and good, those who don’t think they’re worthy to receive the Kings invitation.

Jesus tells us that God wishes salvation for all since He makes the invitation to everyone. If we sincerely accept that invitation it will change us. That change is our wedding garment.

There is warning for those who don't get it right. They will be cast out into the darkness where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Think about what that means. Although we want everyone to be in heaven - Hell is real and we must take it seriously. Hell is not filled by the ones that God rejects but by those who reject God.

Like the invited guests who spurned the king’s invitation, they will never know the heavenly banquet because they unknowingly chose hell.

Friends, the truth is God invites us to this wedding feast every day; all of us, bad and good alike. None of us are worthy. The invitation of salvation is for all. It is an undeserved, unmerited grace that comes to us in God’s lovingkindness. It is God’s will that is to provide for all his people’s need.

Believers pray, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done”. Hopefully millions and millions times a day.

Be good, be holy and preach the gospel everyday by the way you live your life and love one another. Amen

Wild Grapes - Reflection 27th Sunday OTA

I am saddened by what I see in the world. I am not surprised. I am not surprised at the violence in the streets. I am not surprised that people are celebrating the President’s COVID diagnosis and wishing he dies.

That is evil; but, it seems it is the way people are turning. People are turning hate the sin, love the sinner to a more virulent, if you think an evil is sin then you are the sinner and we  hate sinners.

People of faith have seen this coming for a some time. In her 1985 visit to the United States Mother Teresa said that in a country where people fight for the right to kill babies, there is true evil. (paraphrased)

An article a couple of weeks ago in an interfaith blog told the story of a woman who left behind her Christian faith to join the Satanic Temple. She said “This Church is not about Satan. (It’s in the name).  She said that the Satanic Temple was good people wanting to do good. It’s about egalitarianism, social justice, and the separation of church and state.

The devil is the great deceiver, the prince of lies. He disguises evil to easier to accept. Do not be surprise by terrible actions in a world that normalizes evil. Do not be deceived by the wild grapes planted in the vineyard.

To stand up against the evil in the world, God’s people cannot lose faith. Morals cannot slip. Eternal truths cannot be tainted.

St. Paul wrote, “Keep on doing what you have learned, received, heard and seen. The God of peace will be with you.

The word for that is perdurance. It means permanence, persistence, and to last forever. It is from the philosophical theory of persistence and identity. It is when something keeps its identity even though everything is working against it.

The things God taught through the prophets are eternal truths. The gospel of Jesus will always be the good news. Remember these things. Know these truths. Study the Gospel.

Christians suffer a lack of perdurance. Look at the reading today, it was absent from even in the LORD's vineyard.

Isaiah writes about God’s vineyard. God planted it. Fed it with his presence; but it went wild. The people of Israel looked at the ungodliness around them and liked it. They worshiped idols. They didn’t follow God’s direction. 

The people of Israel still wanted to be in God’s vineyard, safe, protected and taken care of by God; but, they wanted it to be there by the rules they made.

Israel didn’t persist in what God asked. They didn't endure in their faithfulness. They failed to live up to the identify God had given them.  In punishment, God abandoned protection of Israel. Israel was conquered, destroyed, and the people scattered.

Jesus tells a similar parable. To have a good vineyard, the vineyard owner had tenants to take care of the vines. They tenants became greedy and decided they wanted the fruit for themselves. God sent his servant and even his son to set the tenants straight. The rebellious tenants beat them, stoned them, and killed even the son.

The people did not endure in faith. They did not want God’s way; they wanted their own way.

Today, many look at envy on the sinfulness of those who fail God’s love. The world is now full of “what’s important to me”, ever sinking morals, and influences of the media. The vineyard is full of wild grapes. People celebrate it.

That is not what God asks of us. He asks be persistent in faith. He asks for endurance the truths he set forth. He asks believers to be permanent in that identify.

Most in the world has become like the tenants of the vineyard, not wanting to give to God the fruitfulness of our lives.

Friends, “Keep on doing what you have learned.”  It is as valid today as it was when St. Paul wrote it. Follow what you have been taught and stay true to the Gospel. The Gospel does not change. God has not and does not change, forever.

Through prayer, we are given a better understanding of God’s unchanging truth. In this world full of wild grapes, you will not have to worry. You will have joy and love. You will find the peace of God.

After all, God’s love for us has perdurance, forever.

Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by the way you live your lives. Amen.