Homily Ordinary 21A: Following the man with the keys to heaven

 Homily for Ordinary Time – 21^st Sunday Year A 2020

Isaiah 22:19-23, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

Introduction

You have probably heard the argument: “Why should I confess my sins to a priest, a sinful man like me, instead of confessing directly to God?”  Perhaps you, yourself have given that reasoning as your excuse for not going to confession.

Similarly, a few months ago, I was talking to a young lady who had doubts about her self-worth.  But since I was only a visiting priest, I suggested that she talk to somebody: her priest, the school counsellor, a trusted relative, even her friends.  But she too replied to me: “If God knows my problems and is not helping me, why should I talk to others?  How will they help me?”

These questions reflect a problem in our society, the failure to understand that God works through other people to help us, to save us to give us his blessings.  He has always done it this way and continues to do so today.

Scripture and Theology

From the very beginning, when Adam and Eve and their descendants sinned, God used Noah to save the few faithful ones.  He later used Abraham to start a people, the people of Israel that would be his, and that would be the sign and instrument of salvation for the world.  How can we forget Joseph, the son of Jacob, sold into slavery, who saved Israel during the famine generations later!  How can we forget Moses chosen by God to free the people from slavery in Egypt, and his sister Miriam and brother Aaron?  Then there came Eli the priest, Samuel the prophet, David the King.  Then we have prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and others.  And at the end of it all, God sent his Son, Jesus, who as a man walked and preached in the hills and valleys of Palestine.

It should not surprise us then that Jesus continued to operate in the same way.  He chose twelve close friends, the Twelve Apostles, trained them and appointed them over his Church when he returned to the Father.  And in today’s gospel passage we see him take a further step and pick one of them, Simon and elevate him to a position of leadership over the others.

Was Simon the smartest of all the disciples? Probably not; that title would perhaps go to the lawyer Matthew, or the writer John.  Was Simon the one with the most leadership qualities?  Again, probably not.  In fact, if you remember Simon is often goofy and often puts his foot in his mouth.  Just a few weeks ago we heard him try to walk on water to meet Jesus but he became afraid and began to sink. The Lord rescued him saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  At the Transfiguration, his mouth seemed to go ahead of his mind when he suggested they build three tents and basically stay there on the Mountain.  And of course, we cannot forget his denying Jesus not once, not twice, but three times during the Passion of Jesus.  Why then does Jesus say to him: “so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it”?

There is an expression used by those who promote vocations, that God does not choose the able, he enables those he chooses.  This principle applies in a particular way to Peter, who was clearly not very able, but with the Lord’s power he was enabled to carry out this great mission.  For when others had given wrong answers to the question of who Jesus Christ was, some thinking of him as John the Baptist, others Elijah or another of the long-dead prophets come back to life, only Simon gives the correct answer: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  He confesses that Jesus is the promised Messiah who has come to free God’s people from sin.  But notice that Jesus does not attribute this correct answer to Simon’s own intelligence.  He says: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”  Simon is enabled by God to say the right thing as are his successors the Popes, who don’t act in their own name, but in the name and power of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus thus changes his name to Peter, which means “rock” and entrusts him with the task of being the rock of the Church, the source of unity for the Church, the one to feed the sheep, the one who strengthens his brothers.

Christian Life

Since Peter, Popes have carried on that same task of feeding the sheep.  To be honest, some did a terrible job at it, like Shebnar, the King’s chief of staff in the first reading.  But most did a great job, like the last three popes that we have had.

When Pope John Paul II visited Uganda in 1993, I was in college and I was fortunate to attend one of his Masses and see him from about five feet away, as he walked to the altar.  Some of you here might remember his visit to New Orleans in 1987.  As we know, with his world travels to 129 countries, Pope John Paul showed the world and Catholics that the Pope is the father, the papa of all Catholics, just like Jesus told Peter to strengthen his brethren.

But John Paul II, now Pope St. John Paul II did not just travel, he travelled to deliver a message to the world.  He had many things to say.  But his primary message was: "Do not be afraid." Put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World.  This is a message we need to remember again and again, especially during these times of uncertainty.

John Paul II was succeeded by Pope Benedict XVI.  I was fortunate that my time of graduate studies in Rome began when he had just been elected Pope.  I often saw him in St. Peter’s Square.  I was even once within five feet of him at a private audience, and saw close up how humble and shy a man he was.  I vividly remember the first words he spoke when he was elected Pope.  He said:

After the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord.  The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with inadequate instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.

Most of all, Pope Benedict taught us a lot.  He used his great intellect, always clear, precise and insightful, to remind us to return to the truth of Jesus Christ.

And now we have another Peter, Pope Francis, the first non-European Pope in modern times.  Several years ago, I attended a Mass presided over by him in St. Peter's Basilica.  Since I was seated right behind the altar, with a clear line of sight, I saw how reverently he celebrated the Mass.

But the biggest contribution of Pope Francis is that he always preaches a message of love and mercy.  He wants all God's sheep, both those in the Church and outside, to receive God’s love and mercy: the unborn and the dying, children and elderly, the sick and the disabled, prisoners and immigrants, people with same-sex attraction as well as the divorced and remarried.  He has even made it a point to visit countries with very few Catholics like Japan, and Morocco, a Muslim-majority country. Like Jesus he has reminded us of the poor.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, many, even Catholics, do not turn to Peter to be the rock of their faith.  Many think of the pope as a politician and will often ask me: "So who is your favourite pope?"  I usually think to myself: "What a stupid question?  Would you ask a child which parent they preferred, or a parent, which child?"  Our Popes are not political candidates to be liked or disliked.  They are entrusted by Christ to captain the Church, often a thankless job, one wrought with attacks even from their own sheep and like for Simon, even martyrdom.

We all want to go to heaven.  Our best bet then should be to follow the successors of the man to whom Jesus said: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Homilia Ordinaria 20A: ¡Todos están invitados al banquete del Señor!

 

Homilía del XX Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario Año A 2020

Isaiah 56:1,6-7; Romans 11:13-15,29-32; Matthew 15:21-28

Introducción

¿Quién está dentro y quién está fuera? Estas son preguntas con las que luchamos todos los días.

·        En el patio de recreo, los niños deben decidir quién estará en su equipo y quién no.  Para las fiestas de cumpleaños y las bodas tenemos que decidir a quién invitar y a quién no.

·        También más allá de la familia, la sociedad debe decidir quién está dentro y quién está fuera. Durante esta epidemia y otros como el ébola, tenemos la cuarentena, que es básicamente una decisión sobre con quién podemos asociarnos y con quién no. Los países tienen que decidir qué extranjeros pueden ser admitidos y cuáles no.

Necesitamos ayuda para tomar bien estas decisiones. Gracias a Dios podemos recurrir a la Palabra de Dios para indicarnos la dirección correcta.

Escritura y Teología

En la primera lectura de hoy, Isaías ayuda al pueblo de Israel a luchar con este problema de quién está dentro y quién está fuera. Esta lectura se sitúa después del exilio del pueblo judío, cuando había aumentado la mezcla de judíos y extranjeros. Y así, los judíos que se sabían a sí mismos como el pueblo especial de Dios, preguntaban: "¿Dios realmente acepta también los sacrificios y oraciones de estos extranjeros?"

E Isaías básicamente responde: "Sí, lo hace". Dios acepta el culto de los extranjeros siempre que cumplan ciertas condiciones mínimas. Esencialmente, como los judíos mismos, estos extranjeros deben observar el día de reposo y deben obedecer los mandamientos de Dios, los que se les aplican. Si los extranjeros mantuvieran estas condiciones, probarían que tenían fe en Dios. Y tener fe en Dios es el criterio básico para la inclusión entre las personas que Dios llama suyas, sean judías o no. Y es por eso que al final de la lectura Dios dice: “mi templo será la casa de oración para todos los pueblos”.

En el evangelio, Jesús se ocupa del mismo problema. El es un rabino judío que intenta reformar su sociedad judía para que pueda ser más fiel a Dios.  Hay una pregunta.  ¿Jesús debería dar este mensaje de salvación y obrar sus milagros también entre los no judíos? La mujer en el evangelio era una cananea, una de los muchos vecinos paganos de los judíos. ¿Debería ayudarla y curar a su hija?

A primera vista, el pasaje parece sugerir que Jesús no quiere compartir las Buenas Nuevas con los no judíos. “Yo no he sido enviado sino a las ovejas descarriadas de la casa de Israel”, él dice. Pero cuando leemos atentamente y, de hecho, cuando leemos todo lo que Jesús dice en los evangelios, sabemos que el tema es más complicado. De hecho, en este pasaje, Jesús dice estas cosas para darle a la mujer la oportunidad de argumentar su lado, de por qué ella, una extranjera, merece recibir los beneficios del pueblo de Dios. Y ella es a la altura del desafío.

Primero, le dice a Jesús que, si las sobras son lo suficientemente buenas para los perros, Jesús seguramente debe tener algunas sobras en su tesoro de beneficios para los no judíos. Pero, sobre todo, es su perseverancia y su reconocimiento de Jesús como Señor lo que demuestra que la mujer tiene la condición esencial que Isaías había indicado: la fe. Por eso Jesús le dice: “Mujer, ¡qué grande es tu fe! Que se cumpla lo que deseas”. Y en aquel mismo instante quedó curada su hija." Y le concedió su deseo y curó a su hija.

Vida cristiana

Al igual que el pueblo judío de la época de Isaías, al igual que los discípulos de Jesús han dicho, también podríamos querer decirles a los de afuera: "Despídala, porque sigue clamando después de nosotros". ¿Cuál es nuestro criterio para incluir y excluir personas? Permítanme ofrecer tres principios que deben guiarnos cuando tomemos tales decisiones.

El primer principio es que, como católicos, nuestra posición diaria es incluir a todo el pueblo de Dios. Eso es lo que profesamos cuando decimos "Creo en una Iglesia santa, católica y apostólica". La palabra "católica" significa universal, incluyendo todo tipo de personas del pueblo de Dios como Isaías y Jesús nos han mostrado. Y hacemos esto porque Dios desea salvar a toda la humanidad.

De hecho, a veces incluso debemos ignorar lo que parecen ser razones legítimas de exclusión. Por ejemplo, debemos enseñar a nuestros hijos, que, en el patio de recreo, ese niño débil y enfermizo debe ser incluido en nuestro equipo. Sí, probablemente será un lastre, pero entonces no jugamos para ganar la Superbowl, jugamos para el placer. Incluso para la fiesta de bodas, conozco a una pareja joven que decidió hacer un buffet en lugar de una cena sentada, para poder invitar a más familiares y amigos a su boda y no excluir a nadie.

Se cuenta la historia de un hombre protestante que era el único no católico en un pueblo rural. Cuando murió, por supuesto, no pudo ser enterrado en un cementerio católico; así se hacían las cosas en aquellos días. Sin embargo, por consideración, el párroco católico permitió que lo enterraran afuera de la cerca del cementerio católico.

Unos años después, la hija de este hombre regresó a casa y fue a poner unas flores en la tumba de su papá, cuya ubicación fuera de la cerca recordaba muy bien. Pero para su gran sorpresa, no pudo ver la tumba.

Muy enojada, la hija irrumpió en la rectoría y le dijo al párroco lo que pensaba. "No sólo te negaste a enterrar a mi padre en el cementerio", le dijo, "¿sino que incluso en la muerte lo deshonras al destruir su tumba?"

Finalmente, cuando terminó, el sacerdote le dijo: “Señora, no movimos la tumba de su padre; movimos la cerca del cementerio para incluir la tumba de su padre."

Afortunadamente, como católicos, hemos aprendido a ser más inclusivos con nuestros hermanos no católicos: protestantes, musulmanes y judíos. De hecho, como dice el Papa Francisco, mientras discutimos las diferencias de doctrina, debemos practicar un ecumenismo de caridad.

Un segundo principio. Aunque nuestra posición diaria es incluir, a veces debemos excluir personas. Pero cuando lo hacemos, debemos ser guiado por la objetividad. Como Isaías estableció condiciones mínimas objetivas para la admisión de los extranjeros, nuestros criterios también deben ser objetivos. Debemos hacer lo que Martin Luther King soñó para sus hijos, que juzguemos a las personas, no por cosas extrínsecas como el color de su piel, sino por criterios objetivos como el contenido de su carácter.

Por ejemplo, si el tío Julio es un mal hablado, a veces podemos excluirlo de la fiesta, especialmente si hay niños allí. En el escenario nacional, necesitamos esa objetividad para darnos una política de inmigración que acoja o excluya a los inmigrantes y refugiados, no en función de su religión, nacionalidad o raza, sino en criterios objetivos como su necesidad de asilo, seguridad y su dignidad humana inherente.

Un tercer principio. En ocasiones, la exclusión es necesaria por el bien de la persona excluida, además del bien de la sociedad. Por ejemplo, encerramos a los delincuentes para que puedan reformarse y regresar a la sociedad como buenos ciudadanos. En la Iglesia tenemos lo que se llama excomunión, un proceso que pone a uno en el frío, para que vea el error de sus caminos y se arrepienta. También, es por eso que nosotros estamos en varios niveles de bloqueo COVID para proteger a los vulnerables.

Conclusión

Y entonces, si Dios ofrece la ciudadanía del cielo a todos los que tienen fe en él, ¿por qué negamos la ciudadanía en nuestra sociedad terrenal a algunas personas, especialmente a nosotros que estamos a punto de celebrar y recibir la Eucaristía, el sacramento de la unidad?

Especialmente dados los recientes eventos en este país, hay algunas preguntas que debemos hacernos.

•      ¿Tengo, a sabiendas o sin saberlo, prejuicios contra personas que son diferentes a mí de alguna manera?

•      ¿Actúo sobre esos prejuicios en lugar de pedirle a Jesús que me sane de ellos?

•      ¿He guardado silencio sobre actos de racismo, odio o prejuicios contra algún grupo?

•      ¿He hablado o actuado de maneras que denigran a individuos o grupos, solo porque son diferentes a mí?

Hagamos nuestra la oración del Salmo de hoy, rezando: “Que te alaben. Señor, todos los pueblos que los pueblos te aclamen todos juntos.  Que nos bendiga Dios y que le rinda honor el mundo entero."

Homily Ordinary 20A: All are invited to the Lord’s Banquet!

 Homily for the 20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2020

Isaiah 56:1,6-7; Romans 11:13-15,29-32; Matthew 15:21-28

Introduction

Who is in and who is out?  These are questions we wrestle with every day.

·        At the playground kids have to decide who will be on their team and who will not. With the help of their parents they have to decide who to invite to their birthday party and who not to invite.  Weddings are a minefield; which family and friends do you invite and which don’t you invite.

·        Even beyond the family, in society, we ask who is in and who is out.  During this epidemic, during previous epidemics like Ebola, we talk about quarantine, essentially deciding who we can associate with and who we cannot.  Clubs and associations have to vote on who can be admitted as a member and who cannot.  Countries have to decide, which foreigners can be admitted and which ones cannot.

How do we make these decisions well?  We need help.  Thankfully as Christians we can turn to God’s Word to point us in the right direction.

Scripture and Theology

In today’s first reading, Isaiah helps the people of Israel to wrestle with this problem of who is in and who is out.  This reading is set after the exile, when the inter-mingling of the Jews and the foreigners had increased.  And so, the Jews who knew themselves to be God’s special people, were asking: "Does God really also accept the sacrifices and prayers of these foreigners?"

And Isaiah basically answers: “Yes he does.”  God accepts the worship of foreigners as long as they fulfil certain minimum conditions. Essentially, like the Jews themselves, these foreigners must observe the Sabbath and they must obey God's commandments, those that applied to them.  If the foreigners kept these conditions, they would prove that they had faith in God.  And having faith in God is the basic criterion for inclusion among the people God calls his own, whether one is Jewish or not.  And that is why at the end of the reading God says: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Do you remember, in elementary school math class, something called the lowest common denominator?  That is the number by which a set of numbers is divisible.  For example, the lowest common denominator of 12, 15, 21 is three, since all these numbers can be divided by three.  Similarly, God is telling the people of Israel that the lowest or minimum common denominator for inclusion among his people is not nationality, but faithfulness to him.

In the gospel Jesus deals with the same problem.  He is a Jewish Rabbi, trying to reform his Jewish society so that they could be more faithful to God.  Should he give this message of salvation and work his miracles among non-Jews as well?  For the woman in the gospel was a Canaanite, one of the many pagan neighbours of the Jews.  Should he help her and cure her daughter?

At first sight the passage seems to suggest that Jesus does not want to share the Good News with non-Jews.  “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” he says.  But when you follow the story closely and indeed when you read everything else that Jesus says in the gospels, we know that the issue is more complicated.  In fact, in this passage, Jesus says these things to give the woman a chance to argue her case, as to why, she a foreigner deserves to receive the benefits of God’s people.  And up to the challenge she is.

First, she tells Jesus that if left-over scraps are good enough for the dogs, Jesus surely must have some left-overs in his treasury of benefits for the non-Jews.  But most of all, it is her perseverance and her recognition of Jesus as Lord that show that she has the essential condition that Isaiah had indicated: faith.  That is why Jesus says to her: “O woman, great is your faith.  Let it be done for you as you wish.”  And he granted her wish and healed her daughter.

Christian Life

Like the Jewish people of Isaiah’s time, like the disciples of Jesus, we might also want to say to outsiders: "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."  What is our criterion for including and excluding people?  Let me offer three principles that should guide us when we make such decisions.

The first principle is that as Catholics our default position is to include all God’s people.  That is what we profess when we say “I believe in one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.”  The word “Catholic” means universal, including all manner of God’s people like Isaiah and Jesus have showed us.  And we do this because God wishes to save all humanity.

In fact, sometimes we must even ignore what seem like legitimate reasons for exclusion and include.  For example, we must teach our children, that on the playground, even that weak and sickly boy must be included on our team.  Yes, he will probably be a liability, but then we are not playing to win the Superbowl, we are playing to enjoy a game.  Even for the wedding party, I know a young couple that decided to do a buffet rather than a sit-down dinner, so that they could invite more family and friends to their wedding and not exclude anyone.

A story is told of Protestant man who was the only non-Catholic in a rural town.  When he died, of course he could not be buried in a Catholic cemetery; that is how things were done in those days.  Out of consideration, however, the Catholic pastor allowed him to be buried right outside the fence of the Catholic cemetery.

A few years later, the daughter of this man returned home and went to put some flowers at her dad’s grave, whose location outside the fence she remembered very well.  To her great dismay, she could not find the grave.

Very angry, she stormed into the rectory and gave the pastor a piece of her mind.  “Not only did you refuse to bury my father in the cemetery,” she told him, “but even in death you dishonour him by destroying his grave?”  She went on and on, for quite a while, about all that is wrong with the Catholic Church.

Finally, when she was done, the priest told her: “We did not move the grave of your father; we moved the fence of the cemetery, to include your father’s grave.”

Thankfully as Catholics we have learnt to be more inclusive of our non-Catholic brethren: Protestants, Muslims and Jews. In fact, as Pope Francis says, while we discuss differences of doctrine, we must practice an ecumenism of charity.

A second principle.  Although our default position is to include, sometimes we must exclude people. But when we do our decision making must be guided by objectivity.  Like Isaiah laid down objective minimum conditions for admission of foreigners, our criteria must also be objective.  We must do what Martin Luther King dreamt for his children, that we judge people, not by extrinsic things like the colour of their skin, but by objective criteria like the content of their character.

And so, if Uncle Jimmy is jerk and foul-mouthed, we can sometimes exclude him from Thanksgiving dinner, especially if there are going to be children there.  We have schools for boys and schools for girls.  On the national stage, we need such objectivity to give us an immigration policy that welcomes or excludes immigrants and refugees, not based on their religion, nationality or race, but on objective criteria like their need for asylum, security, and their inherent human dignity.

A third principle.  Exclusion is sometimes needed for the good of the person excluded, in addition to the good of society.  For example, we lock up criminals so that they might reform and return to society as good citizens.  In the Church we have what is called excommunication, a process that puts one out in the cold, like the penalty box in hockey, so that they might see the error of their ways and repent.  That is why are in various levels of lockdown to protect the vulnerable.

Conclusion

And so, if God offers the citizenship of heaven to all who have faith in him, why do we deny citizenship in our earthly society to some people, especially we who are about to celebrate and receive the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity?

Especially given the recent events in this country, here are a few questions we should ask ourselves.

·        Do I knowingly or unknowingly hold prejudices against people who are different from me in any way?

·        Do I act on those prejudices rather than ask Jesus to heal me of them?

·        Have I been silent on acts of racism, hate or prejudice against any group?

·        Have I spoken or acted in ways that denigrate individuals or groups, just because they are different from me?

Let us make the prayer of today’s Psalm our own, praying: “May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you!  May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear him!”