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Do You Need To See To Believe?

Homily 02 02 2014
6th Sunday OT - A

 
Homily 02 02 2014
6th Sunday OT - A

View the Readings for this day

"Eye has not seen...and ear has not heard...what God has prepared for those who love him." Those words contain God's promise to us regarding salvation.

 

This particular piece of Holy Scripture is dear to the hearts of many faith-filled Catholics. However, it is more than a glowing prediction of eternity for those who follow the Lord and work to fulfill His call to holiness.

There may not be a more adept statement to give us hope - not just hope in the future, but hope in the present - right now.

In some ways our readings for this Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time appear on the surface to be somewhat legalistic. Nevertheless, when we look beyond those surface meanings, we find a depth of stewardship thought worth reviewing and contemplating.

The astute Book of Sirach is filled with so much wisdom and philosophy that it becomes difficult for us to absorb it completely. Evidently written in the 2nd Century before Christ the Book provides insights into much of the lay out in the Gospels.

When we give of ourselves, and everything we have, we trust that God will take care of us. A common theme of St. Paul is that he knows he has not been gifted with great scholarly wisdom, but he is confident of the fact that saved him and us if we follow the Lord's advice and place our trust in His sacrifice and His redemption of us.

This in effect is how he approaches the Corinthians in the second reading. Paul differentiates between the "wisdom of the world" and the "wisdom of God." The secular worldly perspective which seems to go against lives of stewardship does not always reflect the "wisdom of God."

As Catholics and good stewards we are called to a higher life style, one which in Paul's words, "We speak a wisdom to those who are mature, not a wisdom of this age." Those insightful words are as applicable today as they were for the Corinthians in that time.

Stripping away the obvious stated by Jesus in today's Gospel, we must see deeper into what He is teaching us. Like the reading from Sirach, free will is brought into play. Like the reading from First Corinthians, the Lord calls us to a deeper wisdom, a deeper understanding.

We are called to righteousness, living a moral or right life in the eyes of God. The point that Jesus is making to us is that we cannot achieve this level of holiness without God's help. So, as stewards, we must with God's help make the right decisions and live the right way so that it is the wisdom of God which saves us.

We cannot do it without Him.

To demonstrate His point, Jesus contrasts the written law of the Torah with the new attitude of the Kingdom that must motivate the law.

For example Jesus says, "You have heard it said that murder is wrong, but harboring hatred is also wrong even if you don't physically kill someone. Why? Because murder is conceived by hatred.

The trouble with ridiculing and attacking others, whether it be a referee of a basketball game...as many yell out the Zebras are blind...or a public official is that the very bitterness of our attacks makes us hate the other person even more.

The person who hates but does not murder is not a good person; he is just a person who has followed the social norms, perhaps to avoid punishment.

It is the same with all the laws and rules of the New Kingdom. The fullness of the life of the Lord must motivate us rather than the minimal performing the law which motivated the ancient Jews.

One of the ways we can do this is by asking ourselves why we do the things that we do. For example, why do we share our possessions with others? We do this because people are infinitely more important than stuff.

Or, why do we strive to develop our minds, whether we are in school or are long out of school? We do this because we have been given our gifts for others.

Or why are we here in Church? We are here because we as individuals and as a community belong to God and He to us. We need to have this intimate union with Him as a community and as individuals in Scripture and the Eucharist.

It is not in the action itself but it is in the motivation behind the action where the Christian's true identity is found and formed. And that identity is the identity of Jesus Christ.

We are called to take upon ourselves the very identity of Jesus Christ. We are called to be selfless givers. We are called to be eternal lovers of the Father. We are called to rejoice in His presence in our families.

We are called to develop the facility of finding meaning in the laws that God gave us so that our external actions might truly be a reflection of our internal attitudes.

So, is it easier to be a modern Christian than an ancient Jew? Absolutely not. Christianity is extremely demanding upon us all because it calls us to be 100% committed to living in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we make efforts to be wholesome, sincere, than our holiness, yours and mine, will surpass even that of the scribes and Pharisees.

Tall order.

Absolutely.

And that is why we are here today. We are here to ask God to give us the grace to follow His Son.

In the book, Wit and Wisdom from the Peanut Butter Gang, by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. some children offer advice on spotting and dealing with anger.

Morgan, age 11 says, "When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair." Lezlee, age 11 advises, "When your mother is mad and asks you, 'Do I look stupid?' it's best not to answer her." Children become quite adept at spotting the signs of anger because so often they become the unsuspecting target of adult anger.

Martin Luther King admonished his people "to avoid not only violence of deed but violence of spirit." That's sound advice based on the Sermon on the Mount.

Another Illustration: Philip Yancey in his book, What's So Amazing About Grace? tells about a novel by a Nobel prize-winning author that illustrates how anger nursed in the heart destroys a marriage.

In the novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez portrays a marriage that disintegrates over a bar of soap. "It was the wife's job to keep the house in order, including provision of towels, toilet paper, and soap in the bathroom.

One day she forgot to replace the soap, an oversight that her husband mentioned in an exaggerated way ('I've been bathing for almost a week without any soap'), and that she vigorously denied. Although it turned out that she had indeed forgotten, her pride was at stake and she would not back down. For the next seven months they slept in separate rooms and ate in silence.

"Even when they were old and placid," writes Marquez, "they were very careful about bringing it up, for the barely healed wounds could begin to bleed again as if they had been inflicted only yesterday. How can a bar of soap ruin a marriage? Because neither partner would say, "Stop. This cannot go on. I'm sorry. Forgive me."

Today's Gospel gives Jesus' teaching on the indissolubility of marriage and the theme of anger.

What do you think about Christ's vision expressed by Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount? Do you live in harmony with Christ?

Doing so means building meaningful relationships, respecting differences, being consistent, inclusive and unconditional in love for others.

By doing so we make "the reign of God," that new creation envisioned by Mathew's Jesus, into our world. "I have come that you may have life, and have it to the fullest!" That is the challenge set before us.

Persist in your effort to live your life in harmony with his vision. Unless of course you think that "whoever spoke the words in this gospel 'must have been crazy'."

jjl





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Mass Schedule


Saint Aloysius
Tue - Fri - 8:30am
Sat - 5:00pm
Sun - 10:30am

Holy Days
8:30am & 7:00pm

First Friday
8:30am followed by Adoration until 7:55pm

Rosary
- After weekday Mass
- Before Sat & Sun Mass
- Mon - 3:00pm

Reconciliation
Sat - 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Or by appointment



Our Lady Of Lourdes
Sun - 8:30am

Rosary
Before Sunday Mass

Find Us


Saint Aloysius
Address
211 West Mason Ave.
Buckley, WA 98321
Phone: 360-829-6515
Fax: 360-829-5190
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Office Hours
Tue - Fri 9am - 12:00pm



Our Lady Of Lourdes
506 Ash Street
Wilkeson, WA 98396
Phone: 360-829-6515
Fax: 360-829-5190
Map it


 
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