Amazing Mustard-Seed Sized Faith

27^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Oct. 6, 2019. Luke 17:5-10.  Theme: Amazing Mustard-Seed Sized Faith

Our first reading today comes from one of the most remarkable books in the Old Testament. It contains an extended dialogue between the prophet Habakkuk and God. The prophet is confused and upset about God’s apparent lack of intervention into the sufferings of this world. He wants to see God do something about it!  God responds to Habakkuk by reminding him that, while he may seem silent and uninvolved in our world, He is very aware of what is going on and carries out his plans for good through others.

Jesus’ words in today’s gospel about a mustard-seed sized faith are a key as to how God does this.  Some people think that Jesus is putting the disciples down for not having enough faith, but I think what he is really saying is that even just a little faith, small as a mustard seed, contains within it the power to do the impossible.  This small mustard-seed sized faith, planted in the hearts of those who trust in God and who are willing to take a step out of their comfort zone, can bring about incredible responses to Habakkuk’s concern about divine intervention against the evil and injustice in the world.

In 1948, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was just an ordinary nun teaching high school to wealthy girls in India. But every day she came face-to-face with the destitute poverty and hunger of the poor outcasts in the streets.  Her mustard-seed sized faith that God could somehow use her to do something about it moved her to leave her comfortable convent and live among the poor. Many years later, after she was world famous, she was asked how it all started. She replied, “I never thought of doing anything big. I just saw one poor abandoned dying man lying in the street and so I picked him up and brought him home.” Today, there are over 4,000 Missionaries of Charity relieving the suffering of hundreds of thousands across the globe. All because of God acting through one person’s mustard-seed sized faith.

In 1964, Rosa Parks, a devout Christian black woman in Montgomery, AL, was on a segregated bus-ride home after a long day at work. When 4 black passengers were told to give up their seat for white passengers, 3 of them got up but Rosa stayed put. Her mustard-seed sized faith was enough to inform her that she had dignity as a child of God just like anyone else and so she just stayed seated.  Rosa was arrested on the spot and lost her job. Once the word of what she did spread, the black population boycotted the bus system for 381 days, bringing it to its financial knees. This ultimately resulted in a Supreme Court decision opening the doors to racial equality and jump-started the civil rights movement.  All because of God acting through one person’s mustard-seed sized faith.

Also in 1964, Jean Vanier, a Catholic Canadian military officer and escort for the Royal Family, learned about the terrible plight of developmentally disabled adults, who were routinely institutionalized and treated as if they had no human dignity. His mustard-seed sized faith urged him on to do something about it.  So, giving up his commission and high social status, he bought a little house in an ordinary neighborhood and moved into it with two men whom he rescued from an institution. Jean named it “The Ark” in honor of Noah and God’s rainbow of hope, because that was what he wanted to bring into the daily lives of the disabled.  Today, influenced very much by Jean’s faith-based social activism, disabled adults are no longer routinely institutionalized and there are 150 Ark houses in 38 countries of the world. All because of God acting through one person’s mustard-seed sized faith.

Such true stories should make us think: What small act of mustard-seed sized faith is God asking me to do regarding the evil or suffering around me?   Is there something I have felt I should be doing but don’t have the courage to step out of my comfort zone to do? Or perhaps do I think that what I have in mind is too little or too insignificant to make any real and lasting difference?

Mother Teresa never had the slightest clue that picking up one dying man off the street would result in an international movement of service to the poorest of the poor.

Rosa Parks had absolutely no idea that her refusal to give up her seat on that segregated bus would become the catalyst for a worldwide racial equality movement. 

Jean Vanier did not purchase that first Ark house intending to revolutionize the social status and humane treatment of the developmentally disabled throughout the world.

They were, each one of them, simply acting upon their mustard-seed sized faith and doing what little thing they thought they could do at that time and in that place.

And so, let’s each ask ourselves this: How does Jesus want me to respond to the injustice and suffering I see around me? Ask him this question especially today after you receive Him in the Holy Communion and be sure to listen for his voice. Then trust him, be willing to step out of your comfort zone and follow his directions because it’s amazing what God can do through one person’s mustard-seed sized faith!

Vincentian Appeal: Touching Hearts & Changing Lives

From the Catholic Liturgy for the 26^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sept. 29, 2019. Gospel of Luke 16:19-31. Theme: Touching Hearts and Changing Lives

(Our parish's annual appeal for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul)

Today’s Gospel of the Rich Man and Lazarus, ends by reminding us that people will not experience conversion of heart simply by hearing Bible stories, such as those about Moses or the prophets.  We are told that not even the eyewitness stories of the Crucified Christ miraculously risen from the dead will do this!  And I am sure we have all experienced this among some of our own family and friends who, having grown up hearing all Moses and the prophets and the Resurrection of Jesus, nevertheless live apart from Christ and his Church.

It’s easy for people to close their ears to mere words, because as we say, “talk is cheap”.  But it’s not so easy to ignore faith-in-action. It’s one thing to hear the Church preaching about taking care of the poor and it’s is quite another thing to see Christians rolling up their sleeves and actually doing it.  This kind of Christianity cannot be ignored. It has the power of God’s grace. It has the power to touch hearts and change lives while doing some good in the world.

And this is precisely what happened in Paris in 1833, a time when France was in the throes of revolution.  The destitute poor were starving and being decimated by sickness in their slums, while the wealthy including many leaders of the Church, like the Rich Man in today’s gospel, were carrying on with their opulent lives. A devout 20-year-old Catholic law student at the Sorbonne University named Frederic Ozanam was challenged by a classmate to shut up about Christ because he was sick and tired of just hearing words from religious people.

In response to this challenge, Frederic gathered together with 5 other students and began to look for ways to put faith-into-action, to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.  Even though it was extremely dangerous, Frederic and his companions decided to go 2-by-2 into the shacks and hovels of the Parisian slums. Through the works of mercy, they gave tangible proof of the love of Christ for the poor, the sick, the suffering and the vulnerable. This was the beginning of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a now world-wide Catholic lay association that today has close to 100,000 members just in the USA alone.

We here at St. Sebastian’s have very blessed to have had a parish Conference of the Society continuously for over 40 years.  Its members, called Vincentians, still go 2-by-2 into the homes of those who ask for their help, just as Frederic and his companions did. They go to discover the suffering that is there and to do their best to help alleviate it. They go as ambassadors of you, the parishioners, whose contributions make it possible to meet the needs they encounter. 

Vincentians are ordinary everyday parishioners whose love for Christ impels them to go out in search of the hungry and sick Lazaruses of today. Some of them are sitting beside you in our pews but you may not even know they are Vincentians because what they do is not about them. Rather, for them it is all about doing something beautiful for God and for the poor who are so often ignored like Lazarus.

And do we might wonder, what does the poor Lazarus that our Vincentians encounter look like today in Marin County? He looks like the Elderly person who has to decide whether to buy food or medicine with the remnant of their social security check because they can’t afford both… He looks like the under-employed working poor who are literally just dollars away from being homeless every single month, living continually under this stress…He looks like the Recovering Addict just out of rehab or the Inmate newly released from prison, who have no source of financial help to get them on their feet and headed in a new direction in life.  If real-life stories like these speak to your heart then please know that there are three ways in which you can personally respond to these cries of the poor…

First, Spiritual Support. The Society is not simply a humanitarian organization like the Red Cross or Peace Corps. It is truly a continuation of the ministry of Jesus who came to heal and bring good news to the poor. This means that we cannot function and bear fruit without a solid spiritual foundation. And so, we and those we serve need your daily prayers.  This is something everyone can do.

Second, Material Support. In a typical month, we Vincentians dispense anywhere from $2-3 thousand for the needy who live within our parish boundaries. We make this formal appeal to you only once a year and simply leave envelopes for your free-will donations throughout rest of the year. I can personally assure you that every penny donated goes directly to the needs of the poor. Today’s second collection is for the support of these works. St. Sebastian parishioners have always been extremely generous to the Society and I am confident that this generosity will continue. Thank you ahead of time!

Lastly, Vincentian Membership.  If anyone has a desire to give new life to your faith-relationship with God and put your Christianity into concrete practice, then seriously consider making the gift of YOURSELF to the poor as a Vincentian.  There are several ways to do this: active members, associate members and contributing members. Each has its own level of engagement and participation, but all are needed. You will receive both spiritual and practical formation for this task and the reward is eternal. If this idea touches a compassionate-place within you, please contact me or any Vincentian you might know. Come to our monthly meetings which are announced in the Sunday bulletin and learn how we seek to tend to the many bleeding wounds of Lazarus right here in our little part of Marin County.

But no matter if a person is a Vincentian or not, we are all called to give concrete witness to our love for God and our neighbor.  Of course, we must always be willing to speak about our faith as opportunities arise, but even more-so we need to be like Jesus, like St. Vincent de Paul, like Blessed Frederic Ozanam and show the authenticity of our faith with actions more than just words. This is the kind of Christianity that no one can ignore, the kind that has the power to touch hearts and change lives while doing some good in the world.

Purpose-Driven

Catholic Liturgy for the 25^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sept. 22, 2019. Gospel of Luke 16:1-13. Theme: Are You Purpose-driven in the Right Direction?

The parable we heard today was not told in order to give us a lesson in business management or financial investments. So, no need for us to get caught up in the details of the steward cutting his commission to make his customers like him and welcome him into their homes.  Or in wondering what the curious phrase “dishonest wealth” might mean.

It is simply an attention-getting story Jesus used to convey his teachings on wealth, trustworthiness and keeping a proper perspective on material things.  And it’s a reminder that what we do in this life has a direct connection to where we will spend eternity in the next.  Jesus is telling us to be wise in what we do with our money, in how we use it for the sake of the bigger picture of our lives. He wants us to look ahead to the end of our temporary time on earth, and make a long-term investment that will yield for us the dividends of eternal life.

Like the clever steward of the parable, Jesus wants us to be purpose-driven, but he wants us to be purpose-driven in the right direction!  And that direction is towards Heaven. He knows that attachment to wealth and riches too easily become for us an obstacle, a distraction and a deception.  It misleads us away from the ultimate purpose of human life, which is to know, love and serve God in this world so as to be happy with him forever in the next.

And to make sure we could grasp his message in one way or another, Jesus taught us by both word and example.  I think we often seem to forget that, as God-come-in-the-flesh, he could have pre-arranged for himself a life in a luxurious palace with royal parents, but instead he freely chose to enter our world and grow up in the simple home of a poor working class family, becoming himself a laborer in Nazareth. And, for the last three years of his life he lived in utter simplicity, devoting his time and energies to preaching about the true riches that last, the treasure that we make for ourselves in Heaven by our acts of love for God and neighbor.

You see, Jesus knows that the spiritual danger of wealth is not at all in the money itself, but in the attitude, the attachment, of those who possess it, or better yet, who are possessed by it.  Both rich and poor can become consumed with an unhealthy desire for more and more – which we call greed -  allowing it to become a driving force, a central motivation in their lives.

Jesus knows that greed – this obsessive love of money - is such an ugly thing that can fool even the best of us:  It lures us to see people as potential profits or debits instead of as persons.  It tempts us to dismiss the poor and needy as a drain on society.  It motivates us to use our talents primarily for ourselves and our personal advancement instead of also for God’s glory and the good of the human family. It works against us in storing up treasure for Heaven and instead accumulates for the greedy a deposit awaiting them in Hell.

Ultimately, what Jesus is telling us in today’s gospel is that from God’s point of view the amount of money we have matters very little. It’s what we do with it that makes all the difference in this life and in the next.  I think we can each see where we stand in the light of this teaching by honestly asking ourselves some important questions such as: 

·       If I am wealthy, am I attached to the money I have? Would life seem to have become less meaningful if it was all suddenly taken away? 

·       If I am not wealthy, am I obsessed with the desire for the money that I wish I had?

·     Do greed and envy dwell in my heart? Do I truly understand deep within me that while money can take care of my needs, it can never be the source of my joy and fulfilment in life?

·       Do I keep in mind that one day I will have to stand before God and give an accounting of how I used the riches that he has given me?  

·       Do I realize that there is a direct relationship between how I use wealth in this world and where I will spend my eternity in the next?