Streams of Living Water

 

Deacon Dave · Streams of Living Water

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, March 23. 2025. Gospel of St. John 4:5-42. Theme: Streams of Living Water 

 Today’s Gospel presents us with an account of the longest one-on-one conversation that Jesus had with another person during His public ministry. It’s the story of a deeply wounded woman coming to faith in Jesus, of receiving the gift of Living Water which is the grace of God that brings her new life in Christ, and then transforms her into an instrument for inviting others to discover and claim this gift for themselves. 

 The story opens with Jesus, who is tired and thirsty, encountering a woman of Samaria at a well where He is seeking some rest in the shade. She comes at noon because she knows that the other village women will not be there. They always carry out the heavy task of drawing water in the cool of the morning or the breeze of the evening. She was, you see, a woman marked with a scarlet letter due to her multi-amorous history. When Jesus starts up a chat with the lady at the well He is violating two huge cultural taboos of Judaism: Jews do not speak to Samaritans who were considered to be their sworn enemies. And Jewish men do not speak to strange women in public. Ever. By doing these things, Jesus is ignoring centuries of prejudice and discrimination. But then we know now that this is "vintage Jesus"! That was simply who He was and how He acted. 

 As the story unfolds, the woman gradually opens up to Jesus and He, in turn, gradually reveals His true identity to her. Notice that the various ways she addresses Jesus show that she is undergoing a deepening process in her understanding of who He is. Initially, she calls him “Sir’” as she would any man. Next, she thinks of Him as something more than an ordinary man and calls him a “prophet”. Finally, a light clicks on inside her and she hails Jesus as “the Christ”' (which means “the Messiah” in Greek). In response, Jesus goes one step further and reveals Himself as the source of a mysterious ‘Living Water’ (which is a symbol for God’s life-giving life-changing grace). He knows that this Living Water, this grace of God, is what she really needs. It’s what she has been unknowingly yearning and searching for in her multiple relationships with five different men. 

 As a brief aside, we can see at this point of the story that the Samaritan woman has been "looking for love in all the wrong places" (as a famous country-western song puts it.) I am sure we all know those who have done or are doing the same thing even now. And the wrong places where we so often look for love and happiness can be in many other things besides people and relationships. The accumulation of wealth and property, owning luxuriant houses, wearing only brand-name fashions, running ourselves ragged for professional successes, and feverishly exercising for a youthful and fit physique as an antidote to aging, are all things that that people run after in our quest for love and happiness. At first sight these things seem to be the answer, but after attaining some or many of these goals, our broken hearts remain wounded, our interior desires remain unsatisfied, and our deeper longings continue to cry out for fulfillment. And so, we keep on searching….that is, until we really meet Jesus up close and personal as did the Samaritan woman. 

 Now back to the story. The narrative is briefly interrupted when Jesus’ disciples return and discover Him talking with a Samaritan woman. They were very surprised and probably scandalized! But not one of them asks why because they have learned by now to expect the unexpected when it comes to Jesus! In the meantime, the woman who by then had begun to be filled with the streams of Living Water, races back to her village filled with excitement over the holy man whom she has met. She shouts out to her neighbors whom she had previously been avoiding, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have done. Could this be the Christ?” What a twist in the story! What a change of events! The once rejected and scorned woman has now become a bold messenger of God’s love to her village. Having been introduced to Jesus by the witness of the woman, her neighbors now come to believe in Him for themselves and acclaim Him to be the long-awaited Savior of the world. 

 Our Gospel today is a story full of hopefulness and joy. It’s like a preview for each one of us about the new life that can be ours through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We just need to follow the example of that Samaritan woman by spending time with Jesus in honest and mutual dialogue speaking simply and clearly from our hearts. Like her, we need to humbly acknowledge our sinfulness and allow Christ to heal our woundedness. We need to thirst as she did for union with Him, which is made possible for us today through the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Holy Communion is our special one-on-one time with Christ and through our frequent and meaningful reception of this Blessed Sacrament we can experience a gradual and ever-growing personal transformation. Like the Samaritan woman, we can introduce Christ to those with whom we live, work and socialize, sharing with them who Jesus is and what a difference He has made in our lives. Then through our witness they, too, can receive the refreshing streams of Living Water by coming to know Christ for themselves, placing their trust in Him as the Savior of their souls!

Saint Joseph, The Man Closest to Jesus

 

Homily for the Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19, 2025. Gospel of St. Luke 2:22-40. Theme:  Saint Joseph, The Man Closest to Jesus

 The fact that Saint Joseph was a vital figure in the story of our salvation is often overlooked.   Not on purpose, of course, but I suppose it's understandable at least on surface level. Jesus is, and must always be of course, the center and focus of our Faith.  And Mary is always close at hand, right there beside Him. But it seems to me that St. Joseph is too often treated as the "forgotten member of the Holy Family", so to speak. To some extent I guess this is not surprising given that from a theological point of view, he seems to be out-shined by a wife who is the all-holy Immaculate Conception and an adopted Child who is the very Son of God. But I think that if we look at it from a different point of view, from the practical instead of the theological, we might better appreciate St. Joseph, who was the man closest to God on planet Earth.

 Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, who has a strong devotion to St. Joseph, wants to bring him out of the shadows and so has written and spoken much about him.  He has asked us to deepen our understanding of this man whom God appointed to be husband and father, provider and protector of the Holy Family of Nazareth. To do so requires intentional determination  on our part because we know so very little about St. Joseph. Scripture doesn’t say much about him and not a single word of his is recorded for us in the Gospels. But we can learn some basic facts about his life and draw important conclusions about his character if we really just stop and reflect on the little information we do have.

 We are told that he was a descendant of the great King David of Jerusalem who had lived 500 years before him.  But by Joseph’s time the royal family had disintegrated socially and was mixed in among the common people. This didn’t, however, change the fact that Joseph was a branch on David’s family tree and the prophets of Israel foretold that the Messiah would be born from this House of David. But how would this apply to Jesus, who was only biologically born from Mary?  Well, this is where we need to know ancient Jewish law. You see, according to this law when a man officially held and named a child at the 8th Day circumcision ceremony, that baby became his very own son and legally inherited his family line. No questions asked. And so the boy whom Joseph officially named “Jesus” thus became like Joseph a member of the House of David.  So, St. Joseph made it possible for the prophecies of the Messiah's lineage to be fulfilled.

 The Holy Bible gives us only a brief two-word introduction to Joseph.  We find it in the Gospel of St. Matthew where he is described as a “just man”.  In our modern language, we would translate this as a righteous man, a holy man, a virtuous man, a man who always did the right thing even at personal cost. For example, when Joseph was informed of Mary’s inexplicable pregnancy, he could have made a big deal out of it. He could have played the victim. He could have embarrassed her and her family in order to save his reputation. But Joseph was willing to let it go and chose the option of a quiet divorce which would cast shadows on his personal integrity.  By taking this route, people would assume that he had “jumped the gun” to his wedding night and thus blame the out-of-order pregnancy on his lack of chaste self-control. They would assume that “poor Mary” had to submit to his desire. Now, if he had divorced Mary publicly he would be declaring that she had been unfaithful and guilty of adultery.  But Joseph wasn’t willing to do this to her and her family because he was a “just man”.  His self-forgetfulness and heartfelt compassion was rewarded with an angel dream in which he was assured that the Child was of God and reaffirmed his commitment to proceed with the bond of marriage.  This example of St. Joseph calls us to be people of integrity, people of our word, people who think of others and do the right thing no matter what the personal cost.

 Another thing that I notice about Joseph from the Gospel stories is his spirit of prayerfulness that allows him to hear and recognize God’s voice.  We are told how he was able to receive the Lord’s message in dreams and be so convinced that it was indeed God speaking that he did exactly what the dreams indicated. He took Mary as his wife because of a dream. He fled with the Mother and Child to Egypt because of a dream. Years later he returned to Israel with them because of a dream. It seems to me that the only way Joseph could awaken and immediately do what his dreams commanded was because he had trained himself to hear and recognize God’s voice through prayer. This tells me that he must have spent quality time in silent prayer of the heart which breeds a sensitivity to the Divine Presence and Voice.  Through this example, I see St. Joseph calling us to also become people of deep personal prayer and silent meditation, people who learn to hear and recognize the voice of God whispering within us.

 Finally, I am deeply moved by the self-sacrificing love that St. Joseph shows for Jesus and Mary which characterized his entire adult life. His plans for marriage took a turn he didn’t expect when Mary conceived Christ. He sacrificed his sexuality and biological fatherhood, two things deeply dear to every man, for the sake of Mary’s unique role as Mother of the Son of God. And amazingly, it was this ordinary and yet extraordinary Joseph of Nazareth, whom God himself chose to become his male role-model when he came to live in the flesh on planet Earth. The generous and selfless heart of St. Joseph invites us to learn from his example what it looks like to truly love and generously serve those who are entrusted to our care. He devoted his whole life to simply being the best provider and protector, the best husband and father for the Holy Family.

 So, as we celebrate the Solemnity of St Joseph, let's do our best to grow in our understanding and devotion to him. Let’s ask him to help us become virtuous people, prayerful people, people wholly dedicated to loving and serving those with whom we live, work and socialize.  Let’s form the habit of turning to St. Joseph in prayer in our own times of need and with the same confidence that Mary and Jesus had in him. And then just like them, I am sure that we will never ever be disappointed! 

Sharing in the Experience of the Transfiguration

Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, March 16, 2025. The Gospel of St. Luke 9:28-36. Theme: Sharing in the Experience of the Transfiguration  

The Transfiguration of Jesus was a manifestation of who Christ really was and what his mission as the Messiah was meant to be.  Not only did Peter, James and his brother John catch a glimpse of divinity brilliantly radiating from the Lord, but they also heard the voice of God the Father confirming this divinity, declaring that Jesus was his Chosen Son to Whom they must listen, Whose words they must embrace. The Transfiguration sheds light upon two of the most important doctrines of Christianity: that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God Who lived among us as a man (which we call the “Incarnation”) and that He is the Messiah-Savior who set us free from sin and death (which we call the “Redemption”).

Standing next to Jesus in this mystical vision were two great figures of the Old Testament: Moses and Elijah. They were not there as silent witnesses or simply ornamental adornments.  They appeared as living spirits who spoke with Jesus about the things they themselves had foretold concerning Him long before He came to earth. Moses stood with Christ on that mountain as the spiritual leader of the Covenant People of the Promise. Elijah was there as the representative of all the prophets of ancient Israel whose messages kept the hope of a Messiah alive in the hearts of an oppressed people. The three of them were discussing the upcoming “exodus” of Christ which means His approaching Passion and Resurrection. 

St. Luke uses the word “exodus” to intentionally connect the miraculous liberation of the Hebrews out of Egypt with the Redemption Jesus would “accomplish in Jerusalem” by His Cross and Resurrection. This is a very important detail of today’s Gospel because the disciples, like most of the Jews of their time, had some very erroneous ideas about the Messiah and His mission of liberation. You see, the prophets of Israel had foretold that the Messiah would be a Great Hero who would bring the Chosen People to glory and happiness.  Most Jews interpreted this to mean that He would be a great political Warrior-King. They expected the Messiah to overcome their Roman oppressors and re-establish in their place the righteous Kingdom of Israel.  They clung to this idea because it was what they wanted. It was what they thought that God ought to do. But in hindsight we see that they had misinterpreted the Word of God as spoken through the prophets. They had developed mistaken ideas about God, liberation and glory.

And like them, I think we all run the risk of developing false ideas about who God is and how he should act in our lives. And I’m sure that we all have our own expectations of what God intervening into our lives should look like.  Our default expectation is that God will grant us all our wishes and make our lives happy and perfect, according to how we ourselves  define “happy and perfect”.  And in doing this we become like those Israelites.  We create an unrealistic god for ourselves, a god fashioned according to our own making, a god of our own imagining and hoping. In other words, we are constructing a “magic genie-in-a-bottle” kind of God, so to speak, and we expect Him to make what we want to happen come about  in our lives.  And when this doesn’t happen according to our preconceived plans, we can easily turn on Him. 

This is very much the same as the Jewish people forming a false idea of the Messiah and then rejecting Him because He was not what they expected Him to be.  Peter, James and John had their erroneous notions shaken up on that mount of the Transfiguration and it’s important that we, too, leave our preconceived ideas and unrealistic expectations behind.  And the best way for us to do this is by heeding the words that God the Father spoke at the Transfiguration when He said about Jesus: “This is my chosen Son, listen to him.” 

The dynamics of the disciples at the Transfiguration can teach us how to “listen to Jesus” through the practice of prayer.  First, like them going away to the mountain, we need to go to a place where we can be alone and undisturbed. We need to get away from our daily routine and from the many distractions that life throws at us, so that we can devote quality time to our relationship with God.   Then, just as they contemplated Christ, we can turn to Him in a story from the Gospels and take our time with it.  We ponder it, we reflect on what Chriost is doing and saying in the story we have chosen to read.  We reflect on it thoughtfully, ruminating over it, thinking about how it can relate to us.  We permit the words and images of the story to penetrate our minds and we ask ourselves what it means for my life.  

In this practice of prayer, we can be like those three apostles looking at the transfigured Jesus and taking it all in.  Like Peter speaking to his transfigured Lord, we can ask Jesus to show us what He wants us to learn from this experience. And then we remain interiorly still and  listen for the voice of the Beloved Son speaking to the ears of our heart.  His words might come to us as an idea or an image that enters into our minds. We can respond back to Jesus sharing with Him our thoughts, feelings and insights into what we have encountered in our prayer. Finally, after our meditation time, we return to our daily duties, treasuring this prayerful experience of Jesus in our hearts, just as Peter, James and John did when they came down off that mountain.  If we practice this type of prayer regularly, we will become more and more aware of the presence of God living within us by grace. We will become more sensitive to the voice of the Lord speaking to us.  We will find that we ourselves are becoming more and more spiritually and interiorly transfigured into the image of Christ, the Chosen Son.

In Solidarity with Jesus

 

Deacon Dave · In Solidarity with Jesus

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, March 9, 2025. Gospel of St. Luke 4:1-13. Theme: In Solidarity with Jesus 

 Not everything that Jesus said and did is recorded for us in all 4 versions of the Gospel. We might find a particular story in Mark and a different one in Luke, and then maybe something totally unique will pop up in John. But when something in the life of Christ is considered to be of the utmost importance it tends to be found in all four Gospels. The Temptation or Testing of Christ by Satan in today’s Gospel is one of these “must-tell” stories because it teaches us two fundamental things, one about Jesus and another about dealing with temptations. 

 First, it conveys to us the stark reality of Jesus’ full and sinless humanity. He was not God play-acting the role of a human being but became like us in every way except for our propensity towards sin. What this means is that Jesus of Nazareth, in addition to maintaining His divinity, had both a body and soul as we all do. And like each one of us his physicality was subject to the debilitating effects caused by original sin which are suffering, sickness and death. But as God the Son, Christ did not suffer from the wound of original sin that is within each one of us. So when it came to temptation, He did not experience the struggle to do good and avoid evil that originates within us, rather, his encounters with temptation came from outside of Himself. 

 And this is why Satan tempted Jesus at the end of his 40 day fast. The evil one surmised that his only chance of possible success (though he didn’t know he didn't really have a chance) was to attack Jesus at His weakest external moment. He would strike at the opportune time, when Christ was utterly worn out by His extreme fast and probably suffering headaches and blurry vision as well. The fact that Jesus stood up strong to the devil in His diminished condition was proof of His inner sinlessness that remained firm and intact. He was fortified by the Word of God which He had on His lips and in His heart, as St. Paul counsels us in today's Second Reading. Jesus engaged in the spiritual battle of temptation by quoting Scripture. He answered each invitation to sin with the Word of God because it contains great spiritual power. As the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, “The Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” (Heb 4:12). And this is exactly the weapon we need when faced with temptation. 

 And that brings us to the second lesson we can learn from this story and that is how we can best deal with temptations. The fact is that all temptations, no matter what they are specifically about, are all aimed at one thing: enticing us to waver in our relationship with God. Because once we begin to waver, we become much easier prey. Every temptation, whether it comes from within us or outside of us, is aimed at causing us to lose trust in God and to fall for the lie that He is simply trying to ruin our fun and limit our freedom. Temptation turns our attention to the messed up and unbalanced desires that are welled up within us and before we know it, we so easily find ourselves caught up in the enticements of greed or gluttony or lust or any other allurement that falsely promise us happiness and fulfillment. And even though we have fallen for these lies over and over in our lives, and have experienced for ourselves that they don't bring us those false promises, we so easily give into them yet again. This is the dynamic of the wound of original sin at work within us but was not at work within Jesus. 

 Inspired by today’s Gospel story, the ancient desert fathers and mothers, who were the first monks and nuns of Christianity, went into the wilderness of Egypt and the Middle East where they engaged in combat with temptation. They taught that every Chrtistian should build up an arsenal of spiritual weapons precisely to combat the attacks of the devil. We can do this by becoming familiar with Scriptures that particularly speak to our personal struggles and temptations. These Bible verses should be short enough to memorize and go straight to the point. The Psalms of the Old Testament and the Beatitudes of Jesus provide us with many of these short and powerful swords of the Word of God that can be directed towards temptations. 

 Another powerful spiritual weapon that these monks and nuns strongly recommend is the Holy Name of Jesus, particularly in the custom of reciting what is called the "Jesus Prayer”. It is easy to memorize and goes like this, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.” When faced with temptation we can serenely repeat this prayer to ourselves over and over again and it will bring us to a place of interior calm and strength. The desert fathers and mothers found this devotion to be so effective in dealing with temptation that they popularized using a string of beads upon which to repeat the Jesus Prayer and it is still used very much by Christians today. 

 Because temptation is something that every human being must wrestle with until death, all four of the evangelists made a point of including this story in their Gospels. They wanted us to know that Jesus Himself experienced such things and that He is in solidarity with us as we struggle to do good and avoid evil. Their message is that we need never be alone as we face our own personal temptations but can call upon the Lord in our weakness and depend upon Him for strength. But for this to happen, we must choose to intentionally live in solidarity with Him, just as He intentionally chose to live in solidarity with us even in our weakness. This means that we must arm ourselves with the Word of God and call upon the Holy Name of Jesus, both of which are full of power. We must strengthen ourselves with the Sacrament of the Eucharist which is His holy and life-giving Body and Blood, and so deepen our union with Jesus Who will bring His power into our powerlessness and give us victory over temptation.

Fresh Starts & Second Chances

 

Deacon Dave · Fresh Starts & Second Chances

Homily for Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Book of the Prophet Joel 2:12-13. Theme: Fresh Starts & Second Chances 

 Of all the special days within the Church Year, Ash Wednesday seems to draw the largest number of people. Why is that? It’s not a holy day of obligation and it’s always midweek of course…so why do people flock to churches in such great numbers? I think it might be because the Holy Season of Lent, which gets its kick-off on Ash Wednesday, is all about second chances and fresh starts. And who among us doesn’t want a second chance? Who wouldn’t want the opportunity for a fresh start? 

 Our first reading today from the prophet Joel tells us that our hope for second chances and new beginnings is based on the fact that God is “gracious and merciful…slow to anger, rich in kindness and relenting in punishment.” As we begin the spiritual journey of Lent, the prophet encourages us to return to the Lord with all our hearts and to work on our ongoing interior conversion through a commitment to spiritual practices. 

And in today’s Gospel, Jesus echoes this message of the prophet Joel and gives us His teaching on three spiritual practices that are known as the “three pillars of Lent”. These are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Notice that Jesus’s words assume that we will be carrying out these spiritual practices. For He did not say “IF” you do them but instead He used the more certain terminology of “WHEN” you do them. This clearly tells us that they are not optional for us, His disciples. So as we put together our personal spiritual programs for Lent, let’s be sure to include something from each one of these pillars so that in some way, shape or form prayer, fasting and almsgiving will each find a place in our preparations for Easter. 

 But before moving on to thinking about what we will do for Lent, let’s stay here at Ash Wednesday and consider for a moment the words we hear upon receiving the blessed ashes on our foreheads. They set the tone for the 40 days ahead of us and can give us a clue as to what each one of us needs to do in order to deepen our relationship with God, strengthen our commitment to Christ, and be of better service to our brothers and sisters in need. 

 There are two short Scripture verses that can be said when imposing ashes. The first is, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” This verse is from Genesis 3:19. The ashes help us to recall that death came into our human experience as a result of the free choice of Adam and Eve to commit the original sin and that we can choose a different path than they did by our own free decision to leave sin behind. These words also summon us to never forget that our lives on planet Earth are temporary. Our immortal souls, that is the part of us that is really who we are as persons, survive our physical deaths. Our time here is just the first stage of the overall story of our personal eternal existence. Where we are going to spend our eternity is up to each one of us and Lent allows us to reorganize our priorities with this in mind. Ash Wednesday, then, is meant to be the kick-off to a new and improved lifestyle that will lead us to eternal happiness. 

 The second Ash distribution verse is this, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” This is a direct quote from the lips of Jesus Christ that has been recorded for us in the Gospels. These words formed the very heart and soul of His teachings and summarized His message of salvation. So a good and helpful spiritual practice for us during this holy season would be to simply memorize these three words - Repent… Believe… Gospel - because they set the tone and give us direction for the fresh start and the second chance that we are hoping for during Lent. 

 “Repent” means to make a 180 degree turn in our attitudes and behavior. It means to make a genuine commitment of concrete change in how we think, how we speak and how we act. It reminds us that “talk is cheap” and that we prove our new outlook by the solid evidence of changed behavior. 

 “Believe” means to trust. When we say that we “believe in someone” it means that we have confidence in them. So, where are we to place our trust? In Jesus Christ, our Merciful Savior. Trust is the fruit of a relationship that is rooted in love and Jesus has earned this trust from us by loving us even to the point of dying for our sake. 

 “Gospel” means “good news”. And the good news is this: that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). In dying for us, Jesus destroyed the power of sin to control us and our destiny. And by His rising from the grave, He conquered the dark gloominess and finality of death, transforming it into the pathway to eternal life for those who trust in Him. 

 So, there we have our foundation for a fresh start and our hope for a second chance. No matter how we have been living up to now, Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent are a reminder that we can make a fresh start and have a second chance; that we can always pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin following Jesus all over again.

Time for A Spiritual Vision Checkup!

 

Deacon Dave · 250301_002

Homily for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, March 1, 2025. Gospel of St. Luke 6:39-45. Theme: Time for A Spiritual Vision Checkup! 

 The three major world religions each have a particular passage taken from their holy books which expresses the central teaching of their faith and who they are as a people. One could say it’s a kind of “mission statement” as to how they live out the faith that they profess with their lips. And each of them also have a special time of year particularly devoted to entering deeper into their faith by prayer and repentance, renewing their commitment to God as they understand Him. 

 The mission statement of Judaism, for example, is expressed in the Shema, a prayer that begins with: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone…” and then it goes on to remind the Jews of their obligations to God. And every year - from Rosh Shanna to Yom Kippur - the Jewish people observe 10 days of reflection on how they have lived out their relationship with God. 

 Islam’s mission statement is called the Shahada, which is a very short profession of faith that declares: “There is only one God and only one prophet of God, Mohammed.” Their penitential time of year is the month-long Fast of Ramadan, which calls the Muslim people to submit themselves to spiritual purification. 

 What about Christianity? Our mission statement is taken directly from the lips of Christ and we call it the Great Commandment because that’s what Jesus called it: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.” The Great Commandment expresses the very core teaching of the Lord and therefore, it should be enshrined in the heart of every Christian. 

 The collection of short sayings of Jesus in today’s Gospel summon us to refocus our spiritual vision; to examine our interactions with others to see how authentically we are living our mission statement of observing the Great Commandment of Love. 

 Jesus says the bind cannot lead the blind…how is our spiritual eyesight? Are we trying to see life from God’s point of view by reading the Scriptures and pondering them in our hearts? Try reading the Word of God a bit more this Lent to refocus your spiritual vision. 

 Jesus says to remove the beam from our own eye …do we know what constitutes that beam in our eye? That is, are we aware of what behavior or attitude is blocking us from loving God with all that we are and from loving our neighbor as ourselves? Start making a review of the day before you go to sleep. Evaluate where you succeeded and where you need to improve in living as a Christian. 

 Jesus says that what we cherish in our hearts is what will really guide our decisions and actions…So, let’s ask ourselves with gut-honesty: do we hold the Great Commandment of Love as the treasure of our hearts? Is it guiding our relationships? 

Try doing the following simple spiritual practice this Lent: Memorize the Great Commandment and recite it twice a day throughout Lent, so as to enshrine it in your heart. Recite it first thing in the morning to remind you to make choices consistent with your faith. Then repeat it at night as a way to review your day to see where it was lived well and where improvement is needed by God’s grace. 

 This simple program of recalling and repeating the Great Commandment can help keep our mission in mind and remind us to put concrete acts of love into practice throughout the day. This is particularly challenging for us when dealing with people who are regulars in our everyday lives as St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said: “It is easy to love the people who are far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give food to relieve the hunger of a stranger, than it is to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved among our own family. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.”

Do I Smell Like a Rose or a Cattlefield?

 

Deacon Dave · Do I Smell Like a Rose or a Cattlefield?

Homily for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feb. 23, 2025. Gospel of St. Luke 6:27-38. Topic: Do I Smell Like a Rose or a Cattlefield? 

 During his college years in England, the famous Hindu activist, Mahatma Gandhi, began reading the New Testament simply out of curiosity. Jesus’ teachings made an unexpected and deeply positive impression upon him. He was especially moved by the Gospel passage that we heard today which says: “...love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you…” These words revealed to him that in Christianity there was no room for revenge, retaliation, or “getting even”. Instead, Christians were to intentionally act as peacemakers who choose to break the cycle of violence and aggression when it enters their lives. After reading the Gospels Gandhi exclaimed to a friend, “If you Christians truly believed and lived these teachings of your Master, you would be a powerful force of change throughout the whole world.” 

 He was so impressed by Christ that he began to seriously explore the possibility of becoming a Christian himself. So, one Sunday he decided to attend services at a local Episcopalian church. But as he reached the doors, his entrance was immediately blocked by a minister who greeted him with a racist insult and then laid into him saying, “There’s no room for your kind in this church. Get out of here or I’ll have my ushers throw you down these steps”. Gandhi’s path to Christ had sadly been derailed by the scandalous behavior of someone who claimed the name of Christian but certainly didn’t choose to act like one. Gandhi himself later said, “I would’ve become a Christian myself, if it wasn’t for the Christians.“ However, he never lost his admiration for Christ. 

 He was once asked which means of social communications media he thought would be the most effective way for Christians to spread the teachings of Jesus in the world? He replied: “None of them, for a rose does not need to preach and proclaim itself. It simply spreads its aroma and its attractive fragrance is its own powerful sermon.” I think that this poetic response can be a good opportunity for each of us to ask ourselves: Does my Christianity smell like a rose, attracting others by its fragrance to Jesus? Or does it smell more like a drive down HWY 5 past the cattle-fields of Harris Ranch? 

 I would imagine that while most of us would like to think that we smell like a rose, the truth is that all too often, we reek with the muck of the cattle-fields. The reason for this isn’t because we don’t know the teachings of Jesus or how we should act as Christians. We all know that to love someone in a concrete, tangible fashion means to treat them with kindness no matter who they are or how they treat us. And we all know that we are to forgive those who offend us even when it’s tough to do. And when it comes to judging others, we are well aware that we cannot make a true assessment of anyone’s behavior since we cannot know their minds nor peer into their hearts. And yet…we continue to be rude and to gossip; we continue to judge and condemn people anyway. Why? How come? 

 The Bible tells us that the reason is because the wound of original sin resides within all of us and acts like a spiritual disability that makes us tend towards selfishness. And this is true for everyone because it attaches itself to our human nature from the first moment that we are conceived. But this isn’t a valid excuse for our ongoing unChristian behavior, because Christ has made it possible for this wound to be healed and for the disability it causes to be gradually overcome. He began this healing process for each one of us at our Baptism and continues applying the spiritual medicine of His grace to us throughout our lives IF, and this is a BIG IF…IF we desire it, IF we ask for it and IF we open our hearts to receive it. 

 And we’re not left in the dark as to how this can happen for us. At the Last Supper, Jesus Himself told us that the Word and the Eucharist are two special ways by which He would come to live within us, healing us from the inside out. He promised to make His dwelling place within those who love Him and are obedient to His Word and He also said that He would abide within those who eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, filling them with His Divine Presence and Power. And so it’s through Jesus-living-in-us and strengthening us by Word and Sacrament, that we can gradually become like those roses Gandhi was talking about that exude the sweet aroma of Christ to those around us. By our intentional Christian behavior we can draw others to the Lord or at least give them reason to pause and rethink their ideas about Christ and Christianity. 

 Lent, which will be here very soon, is a time to refocus and renew our relationship with Christ. And at the top of our list of “things to do for Lent” should be an increased devotion to both the Word and the Eucharist. We should ask ourselves how we can make them a more fruitful part of our personal spiritual program. Attending an extra Mass during the week would be an excellent decision because nothing can take the place of actually becoming one with the Risen Lord Jesus in Holy Communion. And in addition to the Liturgy it would be extremely beneficial to spend some quality time with the Word of God every day, for it too brings the Divine Presence and Power of Christ into our hearts. Jesus Himself told us so! And it’s quite simple to do because all you need to bring to this beautiful devotion to the Word of God is yourself and a Bible, so it’s a spiritual practice that can be done by anyone, anytime, anywhere. 

 We each have the duty to work on our relationship with Christ if we want to claim the name of “Christian”. And in claiming this name, we must be sure to act in such a way that we do not become one of those roadblocks to Jesus, such as Gandhi experienced. Instead, we need to become that fragrant rose that preaches Christ simply by its aroma, that is, by the example of authentic Christianity. You see, we each have a great social responsibility in this regard because, as the late Pope Benedict XVI once said, “...people today need to know that the happiness they are seeking, the happiness they have a right to enjoy, has a name and a face: and it is Jesus of Nazareth.”