More Precious Than Treasures and Jewels!

 

Deacon Dave · More Precious Than Treasures and Jewels!

Homily for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 30, 2023. Gospel of St. Matthew 13:44-46. Theme: More Precious Than Treasures and Jewels! 

As with last Sunday, so t0day we are hearing some of Jesus' parables about the kingdom of Heaven. He preached and taught more about this topic than anything else. The kingdom was at the heart of His message and He talked about it in so many ways, saying such things as, "...the kingdom is upon you...the kingdom draws near....the kingdom is in your midst...the kingdom is within you..." Every miracle Jesus worked was also related in one way or another to this central theme. His awesome deeds of healing the sick, expelling demons and raising the dead were unmistakable signs that the kingdom was bursting into human history and God was coming to the rescue of His people. So as disciples of Jesus it’s vitally important for us to understand what He meant by the "kingdom of Heaven '' or its more common alternative expression, the “kingdom of God”. 

I think it’s easiest to first of all say what He does not mean. Jesus was not referring to a kingdom in the sense of a geographical territory or really to any kind of a physical place. Nor was He talking about the Heaven that we think of as our dwelling place in the afterlife. As a matter of fact, Jesus Himself never even called it the kingdom of Heaven. Those words come to us from his apostle, Matthew. You see, when Matthew wrote his Gospel for Jews who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah, he respected their custom of not speaking or writing the word “God”. They considered it too sacred to be used by humans. So, Matthew substituted it with the word Heaven. But the three other Gospel-writers (Mark, Luke and John) all call it the “kingdom of God” because that is what Jesus actually called it. 

So, in any case, what precisely does the kingdom of God mean? This is not an easy question because Jesus Himself never gave us a clear answer! Instead He spoke about the kingdom by using metaphors and parables. But put most simply, the kingdom of God means that in and through Jesus, God was vanquishing the kingdom of darkness by conquering the rule of sin, Satan and death in the lives of those who turn to Him. And entering or possessing the kingdom means that we have chosen to enthrone God as Lord and King of our hearts. It means that we have made an intentional choice to remove ourselves from being the center of our existence and have taken up a new way of thinking, a new way of living that is different from what we were before entering the kingdom. 

Jesus invited all kinds of people to enter into this kingdom and begin living in a right relationship with God. He reached out to the most devout Israelites as well as to the more notorious public sinners. He welcomed both Jews and Gentiles and made no distinction whatsoever among them because He said that God looks at the heart of a person and not at who they were or where they came from. And so Jesus taught that no one was to be denied entrance into the kingdom if they were willing to heed its entrance requirements. He spelled out these conditions for membership in the kingdom right at the beginning of His ministry when He said “The kingdom of God is at hand. So repent and believe the gospel.” 

Thus, the first entrance requirement to the kingdom is that we repent, which means to have a change of heart, a reorientation in our attitude. We make a real effort to give up ways of thinking, speaking and behaving that are not compatible with Christianity. We begin to think differently about God, about life and about our place in this world than we did before entering the kingdom. We begin to receive the Sacraments with a new sense of devotion realizing that they deepen the kingdom of God within us. We look to the Gospel for light as to how we can best live out our relationship with God and neighbor and how we can help others learn about Jesus and enter the kingdom as well. 

The second response Jesus asks of us is that we should believe the Gospel. To believe means to trust and the word gospel means “Good News”. And so we are being invited to have confidence in the Good News proclaimed by Jesus because His words are not those of just a man, but of God Himself Who has come among us in the flesh. And the Good News He tells us is this: that God wants to have an intimate personal relationship with each one of us, no matter who we are or what we are dealing with in our lives. Jesus assures us that the joy of the kingdom of God is something that we can begin to experience here and now and that it will find its ultimate expression in the gift of eternal life. 

This is why He tells us today that learning about the kingdom of God is like discovering a hidden treasure or finding a pearl of great price that is worth possessing at any cost!

Jesus gave us the "Our Father "as THE Prayer of the Kingdom!

Finding an Oasis in the Heart of Jesus

 

Deacon Dave · Finding an Oasis in the Heart of Jesus

Homily for the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 9, 2023. Gospel of St Matthew 11:25-30. Theme: Finding An Oasis in the Heart of Jesus 

Today's Gospel about finding rest and refreshment in Jesus made me think about an oasis in the desert. Perhaps this image came to mind because over half of Israel (its southern region) is one huge dry and long desert. So, the people listening to Christ speaking words of refreshment knew well what it meant to be hot, weary and dusty as they went about their travels and labors. For them, an oasis in the desert was a totally lifesaving and welcome retreat. While we don't live in a desert land as they did, we can often experience a similar kind of need for relief as we journey through life. We have our own versions of weariness, of what it means to be fatigued and exhausted as we live life under the burning heat of our daily demands. But like them we can also seek out an oasis to refresh us, lift us up and keep us going. 

Jesus’ words today invite us to find this oasis in his Heart, a place of peace and refreshment where we can be reinvigorated and find a wellspring of supernatural living water to refresh our sometimes-drooping spirits. One way to discover this spiritual oasis in our daily lives comes from a 16th century bishop who was a popular spiritual director and author, St. Francis de Sales. He was a man of great balance who knew the importance of taking time from the busyness of life for spiritual and emotional refreshment. In one of his writings he makes that point in this way. There was once a group of travelers who were eager to get to where they were going but one of them suggested that they pause a little from their rushing to take a little food and rest a bit before continuing on their way. Even though they thought that they would lose time by doing this, they found that they actually made greater progress and arrived in better spirits because they had paused to rest and relax along the way. 

St. Francis applied that story to understanding about prayer as an oasis. He wrote that at the beginning of one’s spiritual journey, many people mistakenly think that more is better. And so they multiply prayers and devotions which soon begin to take up more and more of their time. Francis admires their enthusiasm but cautions that by acting in this manner they will soon burn themselves out and may even develop a distaste for prayer. He wisely advises not aiming at more prayers, but rather at finding a better and simpler way of praying. He then tells us how to do so. 

We begin by consciously placing ourselves in the presence of the Risen Lord and realize that by faith – that is, by trust in his Word – Jesus is with us as He said He would be. We put away anything that will disturb or distract us from our time with Him. In this intimate interpersonal exchange we share the various thoughts and experiences of our lives, the good and the bad, asking Christ to help us piece it together and make sense of it all. This is what makes our prayer very personal. St. Francis reminds us that prayer is not a one-size fits all reality because each of our lives are very different and so each of us can have our own unique experience of finding an oasis in the Heart of Jesus. 

But St. Francis went even further in telling people how to find an oasis. He taught them how to take it with them in their own hearts as they go back to their busy lives. He even designed a kind of visual aid for this endeavor which consisted of a heart upon which he inscribed two words: “Live Jesus!” Each part of this visual aid is meant to teach us how to draw spiritual water from the oasis of the Heart of Jesus. The heart symbol reminds us our prayer time with Jesus is all about building a relationship of love. And the words, “Live Jesus!” remind us that the fruit of our prayer is to help us become more like Christ.

The blessings of our personal oasis will flow out to others if we strive to “Live Jesus!” in our everyday dealings. We can bring these blessings to others through our words, actions and even just by our presence. And we too will benefit throughout the day from this oasis, for it will send living waters of peace to flow into us, enabling us to find some needed rest during our day in the Refreshing Heart of Christ.

The Israeli Oasis of Ein Gedi