31st Sunday in Ordinary Time--Liturgical Cycle C

Lectionary Readings
Reading I: Wisdom 11:22-12:2
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
Reading II: 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10


Homily
Jesus and the disciples approached the neighborhood of Jericho, a vacation/resort city of Palm trees, rose gardens, balsam-scented groves…a place for the important, the wealthy, the government people, merchants’ fine estates. Jesus and the little company of disciples walking with him are only one day’s travel from Jerusalem, and so the grand journey is about to end.

Taking the twelve aside, Jesus said to them, “We must now go up to Jerusalem so that all that was written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man may be accomplished.”

We are coming to the end now of our reading of Luke. The author sums up the teaching of Jesus by presenting two parallel events: the cure of a blind man and the Zacchaeus story.

As Jesus comes into the city of Jericho a blind man calls out: “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” The crowd tries to shut him up.

Jesus asks: “What do you want of me?”

“Lord, I want to see!”

That, of course, is our plea, too. We have experienced the Good News as told by Luke and we want to see.

A bit further into the town Jesus meets Zacchaeus (a small man, we are told by Luke, perhaps to indicate his reputation). He is rich (he can afford a grand banquet), but rich by devious means according to his neighbors—his wealth not earned by skillful merchandising, or heredity, or position. He is pushed aside like the blind man, but he like the blind, attracts Jesus’ attention.

The story is a concrete application of the parables of Chapter 15: The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Lost Son. Luke lets us know this by recording the ending of the story: “The son of man has come to search out and save what was lost.” The table fellowship which follows those parables now follows in a grand banquet at the home of the tax collector.

Jesus says, “Today (each day), I mean to stay at your house.”

This evokes “Give us today our daily bread,” and as we recall the meaning of the word Jesus (the Lord saves God’s people), Jesus (“salvation”) has come to this house.

It is an algebraic equation: Your hospitality equals salvation.

Previously, we spoke of faith as that intimate prayer of contemplation where one leaves oneself wide open to God and therefore to others. Such is hospitality—being open to all in need of comfort and healing, in need of hospitality. It is this openness, this vulnerability which lets God fill us with life. Being open is a whole new way of existing, a new attitude, which is the message of the Good News.

Jerusalem was not hospitable to Jesus. The Sanctus welcome was false. These people were not open in eyes or heart.

As we draw near to the end of Luke, his summary is a simple message: Open your eyes, open your hearts, giving in Eucharist table fellowship; life broken and poured out like bread and wine.

“Today, I mean to stay (abide) in your house.

“Today, Salvation has come to this house.”
--Fr. Pat

Excerpt from "A Catholic's Companion: Liturgical Cycle C" (c)2000 C. Patrick Creed
Published by Watchmaker Press. Maggie Hettinger, editor

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time--Liturgical Cycle C

Lectionary Readings
Reading I: Wisdom 11:22-12:2
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
Reading II: 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10


Homily
Jesus and the disciples approached the neighborhood of Jericho, a vacation/resort city of Palm trees, rose gardens, balsam-scented groves…a place for the important, the wealthy, the government people, merchants’ fine estates. Jesus and the little company of disciples walking with him are only one day’s travel from Jerusalem, and so the grand journey is about to end.

Taking the twelve aside, Jesus said to them, “We must now go up to Jerusalem so that all that was written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man may be accomplished.”

We are coming to the end now of our reading of Luke. The author sums up the teaching of Jesus by presenting two parallel events: the cure of a blind man and the Zacchaeus story.

As Jesus comes into the city of Jericho a blind man calls out: “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” The crowd tries to shut him up.

Jesus asks: “What do you want of me?”

“Lord, I want to see!”

That, of course, is our plea, too. We have experienced the Good News as told by Luke and we want to see.

A bit further into the town Jesus meets Zacchaeus (a small man, we are told by Luke, perhaps to indicate his reputation). He is rich (he can afford a grand banquet), but rich by devious means according to his neighbors—his wealth not earned by skillful merchandising, or heredity, or position. He is pushed aside like the blind man, but he like the blind, attracts Jesus’ attention.

The story is a concrete application of the parables of Chapter 15: The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Lost Son. Luke lets us know this by recording the ending of the story: “The son of man has come to search out and save what was lost.” The table fellowship which follows those parables now follows in a grand banquet at the home of the tax collector.

Jesus says, “Today (each day), I mean to stay at your house.”

This evokes “Give us today our daily bread,” and as we recall the meaning of the word Jesus (the Lord saves God’s people), Jesus (“salvation”) has come to this house.

It is an algebraic equation:

Your hospitality equals salvation.

Previously, we spoke of faith as that intimate prayer of contemplation where one leaves oneself wide open to God and therefore to others. Such is hospitality—being open to all in need of comfort and healing, in need of hospitality. It is this openness, this vulnerability which lets God fill us with life. Being open is a whole new way of existing, a new attitude, which is the message of the Good News.

Jerusalem was not hospitable to Jesus. The Sanctus welcome was false. These people were not open in eyes or heart.

As we draw near to the end of Luke, his summary is a simple message: Open your eyes, open your hearts, giving in Eucharist table fellowship; life broken and poured out like bread and wine.

“Today, I mean to stay (abide) in your house.

“Today, Salvation has come to this house.”
--Fr. Pat

Excerpt from "A Catholic's Companion: Liturgical Cycle C" (c)2000 C. Patrick Creed
Published by Watchmaker Press. Maggie Hettinger, editor

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time--Liturgical Cycle C

Lectionary Readings
Reading I: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2-3, 7,17-19, 23
Reading II: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Gospel: Luke 18:9-14

Homily
For all four October Sundays our bible readings at Mass Liturgy present a meditation on the nature of faith. One might say it is an “Octoberfest of Faith.” Our first season of Renew 2000 calls us to deepen this faith, this relationship with our God in Christ.

On the First Sunday, we saw in the prayer of the disciples, “Lord, increase our faith,” that this virtue is a living part of us. Faith is not some static quality or thing, like carrying around a purse or a billfold. Faith is a living relationship with God. It is more like the muscles in our arms and legs. It can lay unused and become weak or it can grow and develop. Like any relationship, our relationship with our God can be deepened, increased, renewed.

The next October Sunday, in the story of the leper who returned to offer thanks and praise, we are told by Jesus that thanking and praising was itself an “act of faith.” “Go,” Jesus said, “your FAITH has saved you.” We come to understand that” acts of Faith” (prayers and praise, communion and conversation) deepen our relationship with God so that we may be numbered among those who are saved, invited to dine in the feast of the Kingdom.

This past Sunday, Jesus tells the story of the corrupt judge who gave in to the woman who kept pestering him to do her justice. Jesus tells us that God will pay attention to one who beseeches him day and night. To be a faith filled person is to be persistent in our relationship with God. One doesn’t go off to get a divorce at the slightest inconvenience or disappointment. Faith is a relationship which persists in the dark night as well as in the light of day.

Today, on this fourth Sunday of our “Octoberfest,” our faith relationship is seen as very close and intimate. God in Christ is ever present to us and we to him.

The Prayer of the Pharisee talks to God about things. It is obviously not a conversation between lovers. The Pharisee gives a grocery list of his accomplishments. Faith prayer, however, is about God and our response to him, about his presence to us in the core of our being. Like a mantra we whisper over and over, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

The faith of the publican is that simple prayer whereby we come into contact with our deepest selves in Christ—God in the core of our being. The real faith prayer, we are told by contemplatives, is the prayer of Christ in our innermost selves. In this intimacy, words are hardly spoken. In Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, we are in the presence of the Divine Being.

“Poured out like a libation,” we call God “Abba, Father!"

Your will be done.
Your Kingdom come.
Give us today our Bread for life.
Forgive us as we forgive those who do us wrong.
Deliver us from the trial."

During this “Octoberfest of Faith” we are called to see that Faith is our conversation with our God from the heart –in the core of our being. THAT is the virtue of faith! We become more and more conscious of the divine presence. The Christ of God, our Savior and Redeemer, speaks to us and we hear his voice; in faith, in this intimate relationship, we whisper to him and he hears our heart.
--Fr. Pat

Excerpt from "A Catholic's Companion: Liturgical Cycle C" (c)2000 C. Patrick Creed
Published by Watchmaker Press. Maggie Hettinger, editor

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time--Liturgical Cycle C

Lectionary Readings
Reading I: Exodus 17:8-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 121: 1-8
Reading II: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Gospel: Luke 18:1-8

Homily
This is the first weekend I have been with you this month. Let me fill you in. The four Sundays of October all stress some aspect of the virtue of faith. The word faith can be used in many ways. It is like some of our English words, e.g. play, which can mean a “play on Broadway”; or we may say – I like to “play” sports or I “play” the piano – or “play” the stereo! Faith can be a set of articles we believe, like “An Act of Faith,” or we can use the word to mean that we have faith in our car starting on a cold morning. The four Sundays of October speak to us about “faith” as a relationship with our God. I call it an “Octoberfest” of Faith.

On the first Sunday we heard the disciples pray, “Lord, increase our faith.” and we examined how our relationship with God can be increased, deepened, made stronger as well as lessened, weakened, destroyed. Like muscles in our arms and legs, our relationship must be exercised and fostered in order to grow and develop.

Last Sunday the Leper who returned, falling on his face, gave thanks and praise and Jesus interpreted those gestures as acts of faith. “Your faith,” he said, “has been your salvation.” We saw that our gestures, especially at Eucharist, are the language of our relationship with the Triune God.

Today three figures are presented: Moses, Timothy, and the Widow—each are seen in a faith relationship of persistence. A couple of Sundays ago we read from Paul’s letter to Timothy (2 Tim 1:5): “The Spirit God has given us is no cowardly spirit, but rather one that is strong, loving, and wise.” God does not give up on us and in a strong, loving, and wise relationship, people of faith do not give up on God.

This first season of our Renew 2000 invites us to take a close look at our relationship with our God, which is the same thing as saying, take a close look at our faith. The first week we zeroed in on our communion with the Triune God (Father, Son and Spirit) and last week on our relationship with God as Creator and Father of us all. This week we concentrate on our interchange with God the Son, second person of the Trinity-the Word of God made flesh who dwelt among us!

A couple of years ago, before my retirement, I made a habit of visiting the classrooms (all 18 of them) most days in the morning after mass. I would just pop in—nothing formal—and we’d briefly talk about what was on their minds. My favorite was the second grade (when they were in the first grade I had called them “worst graders” and they had retaliated by calling me “grandpa.”) One day we were talking about the “sign of the cross,” (Father, Son and Spirit) and one tike shot up her hand. She said, “Grandpa, which one is your favorite?”

Kids have favorites, you know. Like favorite clothes, TV programs, ice cream flavor, pizza, etc. So which person of the Blessed Trinity is your favorite? Logical question!

And we DO have favorites, you see. We talk to, we thank and praise, God, Father and Creator, when we are overcome with awe at some wonderful works of the Creator and Father, like a sunset or a delicately formed flower.

We stand humble before the Son of God when that powerful Word sinks deep into our hearts.

We Spirit dance with joy at the spark of life in a newborn child.

Suppose we see today the persistence of Moses with his tiring arms outstretched as a figure of that very Word of God, our Redeemer and friend; that all-powerful Word, like a two-edged sword cutting out the cancer of our weakness, our selfishness, our foolishness, so that we stand before our life with courage as one who is strong, loving and wise!

In this view, then, it is not Timothy, it is the inspired Word of God that reproves and corrects and trains in holiness. Timothy is but the figure of that strong, loving and wise Word made flesh, Jesus the Lord, which stays with the task whether convenient or inconvenient—correcting, reproving, appealing—constantly teaching and never losing patience.

Suppose we understand the poor widow as that strong, loving and wise Word of God: that all-powerful Word which persists until the wronged receive justice. Could we be the weak, the unloving, the foolish judges so hounded by that Word, that Christ of God, so tenaciously hounded by that Word that we finally give in, finally surrender ourselves wholly into our God?

We recall Francis Thompson’s Hound of Heaven,

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him...
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat -- and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet
"All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."

We can see in Moses, Timothy, and the Widow powerful expressions of their faith relationship with their God, that majestic Word made flesh, the Son of God, the Hound of Heaven. We are called by our Renew meditation this week to a deeper relationship with the person of Jesus into a faith courage which is strong, loving and wise as we stand daily before the immorality and injustices of the world in which we live and move and have our being.
--Fr. Pat

Excerpt from "A Catholic's Companion: Liturgical Cycle C" (c)2000 C. Patrick Creed
Published by Watchmaker Press. Maggie Hettinger, editor

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time--Liturgical Cycle C

Lectionary Readings
Reading I: 2 Kings 5:14-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:1-4
Reading II: 2 Timothy 2:8-13
Gospel: Luke 17:11-19

Homily
In the Lukan Gospel cycle the four Sundays in October can be described in their liturgical setting as an Octoberfest of Faith. Each Sunday’s scriptures focus in on this virtue. Last Sunday we saw, in the disciples’ cry, “Lord, increase our faith,” that it is more than a set of “creedal” statements to which we give assent, but that it is also a disposition of soul, a relationship with God which can be increased, deepened, fostered. Faith is that loving relationship with another whereby we can know that we trust, rely on, depend on one another. Faith is a loving relationship with God whereby we know we can place ourselves in his caring hands. “Lord,” we pray, “increase our faith;” let us grow in our relationship with you, O God.

In today’s Octoberfest of Faith, the scriptures speak to us of how this faith relationship can be increased and deepened. This week our Renew 2000 calls us to a lively relationship with God, the Creator, God; upon whom everything that “is” depends on God for its is-ness, the very existence of the universe rests on God, the Father and creator of all.

The beautiful story of Elisha and Naaman helps us experience the depth of their relationship with God. After the foreigner is healed, the prophet would not accept Naaman’s “thank-you” offering. The Jewish prophet knew the healing was the Creator’s doing. “Give praise to him.” So Naaman took a load of earth from Israel back home so he could give thanks and praise on holy ground.

The cured Samaritan came back to Jesus praising and thanking him. Jesus accepted the “Thanks,” pointing out that this very act of praising and thanking was itself an act of faith, a relationship with God, our Father and Creator. “Go,” Jesus said, “your faith (your thanks and your praising) has been your salvation.”

Have you ever slowed down enough to notice the kinds of things we do to show our appreciation and thanks and praise, our basic respect and love, for one another? I am thinking of my Dad who never failed at the end of the workweek to bring home some little gifts for my mom, and to my brother and me when we were in grade school. For mom it was usually one cut flower; for us it was something from his office—a paper clip, a scratch pad, a pencil, a rubber band—whatever.

Our Sunday liturgy is crammed full of these simple gestures and signs of faith—of our relationship with the Creator God, Our Father in Heaven. The Vatican Council in fact said of these gestures, “Good Liturgy (good signs, good gestures) increases faith; bad Liturgy weakens our faith (relationship).” The recalling of our baptism as we sign ourselves with Holy Water on entering the assembly, the way we reverence the Eucharistic presence, our standing at attention, kneeling in adoration, and sitting for attentive listening, the honest attempt at song, the bringing up our tithes in forms of bread and wine, the greeting and hospitality of the “peace” rite, the communion procession to the altar table, the reflective silence, the way we dress. These are all gestures and signs that, when placed with reverent thanks and praise, are expressions of faith and those very human acts increase that faith, that loving relationship with our God.

And all of creation is made up of God’s signs, God’s gestures, to us—signs of the Father and Creator’s loving call to a relationship with each of us. And our human gestures, like those of Naaman and the Samaritan, increase and deepen our faith, our relationship with our God and with one another.
--Fr. Pat

Excerpt from "A Catholic's Companion: Liturgical Cycle C" (c)2000 C. Patrick Creed
Published by Watchmaker Press. Maggie Hettinger, editor

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time--Liturgical Cycle C

Lectionary Readings
Reading I: Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (8)
Reading II: 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Gospel: Luke 17:5-10

Homily
Today is the first Sunday of our parish Renew 2000 and the first week of our small group prayer meetings. As a community of God’s people, all of us in this first phase of six weeks are called to a meditation on our relationship to God, to one another and to all creation.

Our Liturgies for the four Sundays of October focus on the virtue of faith, which is another way of saying “on our relationship with God and all creation.” In fact, I like to call it an “Octoberfest” of Faith. Each Sunday we will be presented with various aspects of our Faith, of our relationship with God, with one another, and all things.

“Good (just) people,” the prophet Habakkuk writes today, “are vital people because of their faith,” are alive with zest because of their relationship with their God and His creation. And Paul states, “Guard the rich deposit of Faith,” that rich gift which has been passed on to us, which makes a person “strong, loving and wise.” And in the Gospel the prayer of the apostles rings in our hearts, “Lord, increase our Faith,” increase our getting along with God, with one another, and with all of God’s wondrous works.

Sometimes we get the word “faith” mixed up with what rather than who we believe in. We tend to think that the virtue of faith is all those things we recite, like in the Act of Faith or the Apostle’s Creed or Mass on Sundays and the like. But the virtue of Faith is a relationship with our God, how God fits into our lives—or rather how we fit into God’s life.

The faith of the scriptures is an affair of the heart before it can ever become a matter of the intellect. A person can get “A’s” in all their religion classes and never really come to commune with God as Creator or Jesus as one’s Lord and Savior or the Spirit as Life.

We come to really know someone by living with them, as in a family. Knowing about someone is not the same thing as knowing the person. It is through the family of the Church that we come to experience God and to be in a relationship with him. And this is what we mean by the virtue of Faith, our relationship with God and one another.

In the second reading today, Paul reminds Timothy that this faith experience began in his life when he, Paul, acting in the Spirit, ordained him by the laying on of hands. Paul touched him. Timothy was touched, was influenced, thus teaching us that Faith is not only a faith in the person of Jesus but that very faith, that very relationship, is to be passed on through a faithfilled people. We are called to touch one another with the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus.

As we stand on the threshold of a gigantic religious revival, a renewal effort beginning today, to which all of our nearly 200,000 Catholic people in this central part of Kentucky are called to participate.

Like the apostles who prayed “Lord, increase our faith,” we pray for an increase, a deepening, of our relationship with our God by increasing, by deepening our communion with one another. Let your hand touch our hearts, O God, that we might fulfill our role of “giver of the Spirit” as well as “receiver of the Spirit.”

Through our “faith sharing,” the sharing of our relationship with God and one another, we will be the instrument for others coming to deepen their faith, deepen their relationship with the divine persons, and they in turn shall lay their hands, shall touch, us so that the spirit will mold and form us all into a people who are “strong, loving and wise.
--Fr. Pat

Excerpt from "A Catholic's Companion: Liturgical Cycle C" (c)2000 C. Patrick Creed
Published by Watchmaker Press. Maggie Hettinger, editor